Case history

A 36 years old woman in 18 weeks pregnancy with chief complaints of the lower abdominal distension and a sense of chest tightness was administrated by the out-patient service of department f obstetrics. No vaginal drainage and bleeding were observed. She had one time of gravidity and born the healthy baby with natural labor six years ago. No other diseases history was recorded. The CA125 level was 525.20 U/mL, CA199 level was 22.11U/mL and CEA level was 1.31ng/mL. On US, the reports revealed the bilateral cystic mass in the adnexal region. For the further evaluation the etiology of suspected masses, the clinicians recommended the MRI examinations with the permission of the patient. MR imaging was performed using a 1.5-T MR system (Magnetom Avanto, Siemens, Erlangen, Germany) with a phased-array coil. On MRI, the bilateral giant, lobular cystic mass occupied the whole abdominal cavity with homogeneous hypointensity on T1-weighted imaging (T1WI) and hyperintensity on T2-weighted imaging (T2WI) (Figure 1). For the safe of fetal, no contrast material was used in this case. The patient was performed the laparoscopic surgery three days after MRI performance. Cyst aspiration was undergone under the laparoscopic surveillance. The final pathological diagnosis was the bilateral ovarian luteinizatied cysts. The informed content from the patient with permission of usage of related MRI images was obtained during preparation of this manuscript.

Figure 1
A 36-year-old woman in second trimester with bilateral ovarian luteinizatied cysts. On axial T1WI (A) and T2WI (B), the giant cystic mass(*) displayed as the homogeneous low signal on T1WI and high signal on T2WI; on coronal T2WI (C), the giant cystic masses(arrowhead) was more clearly outlined resembling the inflatable ovarian follicles. The residual ovarian stroma centrally located in the mass. Note, the pregnant uterus (short arrow) was revealed in the centre of pelvic cavity. On diffusion weighted Imaging (DWI) and Apparent Diffusion Coefficient (ADC) map, the mass displayed as the homogenous intermediate signal on DWI (D) similar to muscle signal and high signal on ADC map (E).

Discussion

Theca-lutein cyst ( Hyperreactio luteinalis) is a rare benign physiological ovarian enlargement with multiple theca lutein cysts caused by increased human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) serum levels. It occurs during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle or during early pregnancy[1,2]. Such condition is also associated with ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS), an iatrogenic complication following drug therapy (ovulation treatment) for infertility [1,3]. Theca-lutein cyst usually accompany with the gestational trophoblastic disease, multiple pregnancy, ovulation treatment and oral estrogen[3]. Bilateral giant theca-lutein cysts secondary to normal pregnancy as in this reported case is particularly uncommon. Here, we firstly reported MRI and DWI findings of the theca-lutein cyst in pregnant woman in the second trimester. On MRI, the accumulation of expanded follicles in each of ovary made it as the multilocular cystic tumors. However, the residual ovarian stroma(solid component) may rend them to be differentiated from ovarian cystadenoma.

References
1. Yacobozzi M, Nguyen D, Rakita D (2012) Adnexal masses in pregnancy. Seminars in Ultrasound, CT and MRI 33:55-64.

2. Takeuchi M, Matsuzaki K (2011) Magnetic resonance manifestations of hyperreactio luteinalis. Journal of Computer Assisted Tomography 35:343-346 .
3. Ackerman S, Irshad A, Lewis M, Anis M (2013) Ovarian cystic lesions: A current approach to diagnosis and management. Radiologic Clinics of North America 51:1067-1085.

Corresponding author

He Zhang
Department of Radiology
Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital
Fudan University
China


At the beginning of the 1990s, the World Bank introduced conditionalities to reform the forest concession regime in Central Africa and continuously intervened, inter alia, in Cameroon, Congo, Gabon and the DRC up to 2010. The reforms were designed to achieve two immediate objectives: (i) increase the price of the resource through competitive market procedures or, if inapplicable, through taxation, (ii) break down the patronage system that governed the forest permits allocation. These efforts have been supported by national reformers, and fought against by various vested interests such as the timber companies, but also officials in the forest departments. Because of the difficult political economy, reform ambitions have been lowered, and only a certain proportion of the policy measures initially contemplated has been implemented. This called for a completion of the reform agenda and fine tuning. But by the middle of the 2000s, the evolution of paradigms in tropical forestry gave the critics of the WB policy of concession reforms opportunities to challenge the orientations followed hitherto in Central Africa. The 2013 Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) report of the WB forestry policy, criticizing the WB's management efforts to reform concession regimes in Africa, testified to this change of paradigm. The critics are of mixed mind, with community advocates favoring more pressure on the African governments to dismantle the concession regime and proponents of "performance-based aid" seeing REDD+ as an opportunity to withdraw from direct sectoral intervention. Paradoxically, in spite of REDD+ initiatives and rhetoric, forestry has tumbled in the national policy agendas and forest concessions or protected areas are encroached by agribusiness plantations and mines with the implicit support of large fractions within governments. (Resume d'auteur)


Factors that explain the likelihood of completing a Chapter 13 repayment plan were identified. Using data from 489 Georgia participants who completed a 3-hour workshop, how factors differed for first-time and repeat filers were investigated. Results indicated that repeat filers were more likely than first-time filers to start an emergency fund, to reduce spending, and to write a spending plan. For repeat filers, six of seven recommended financial management practices were related to the likelihood of completing the Chapter 13 plan. For first-time filers, one practice, organization of financial records, was related to a higher likelihood to complete the Chapter 13 plan. Financial knowledge scores were not related to the likelihood of plan completion for either group.


Background: Pulmonary TB is an infectious disease of the respiratory tract caused by bacteria. Dental health professionals such as dentists and dental nurses are in charge of health personnel to prevent, treat, cure, teeth the mouth, so as not to arise or aggravate toothache. In doing their job as dental health workers is expected to use gloves or masks, and always wash their hands to avoid the transmission of pulmonary TB disease. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted involving 78 dental health professionals in 50 primary health centers that were chosen in six districts in three provinces of Banten, South Kalimantan and Gorontalo. Data were obtained by interviews and processed using SPSS Results: More than 90% dental health workers in work wore masks gloves and washed their hands after work. There was a signifi cant relationship between exercise with dental health professionals with a p value of 0.007, which means a signifi cant. Conclusion: In performing their duties, dental health workers have already used personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves, and washed their hands and did enough exercise. Recommendation: need to increase knowledge about pulmonary TB in dental health professionals.


In Jammu and Kashmir there is acute shortage of fodder for livestock husbandry particularly during winter. To improve the productivity of animals availability of adequate quantity of nutritive fodder is a prerequisite. An experiment was conducted during the winter (rabi) seasons of 2009–10 and 2011–12 at Srinagar on silty clay loam soil, to study the effect of different sowing times, fertility levels and cutting management on fodder production potential of oat (Avena sativa L.). The treatments consisted of 3 sowing dates, viz. 20 September, 30 September and 10 October; 3 fertility levels, viz. 150 kg N + 30.8 kg P + 33.3 kg K, 125 kg N + 26.4 kg P + 24.9 kg K and 100 kg N + 22 kg P + 16.6 kg K/ha; and 2 cutting management, viz. single cut at 50% flowering and double cut on 15 December and 50% flowering stage. Highest green fodder (37.3 t/ha) and dry-fodder yield (10.2 t/ha) were recorded with 30 September sown crop, which was at par with crop sown on 20 September. Net returns ( 33,858/ha) and benefit: cost ratio (1.96) were higher with crop sown on 30 September. Application of 150 kg N + 30.8 kg P + 33.3 kg K/ha recorded significantly higher green fodder (36.2 t/ha) and dry fodder yield (10.2 t/ha). Net returns ( 32,990/ha) and benefit: cost ratio (1.83) also improved with this treatment. Among cutting management practices, double cut recorded significantly higher green and dry fodder yields than single-cut practice. Double-cut practice registered higher net returns ( 30,634/ha) and benefit: cost ratio (1.7).


The most recent observations of well correlated seismic phases in the high frequency coda of local earthquakes recorded throughout the world are reported. In particular the main results, obtained on two active volcanoes, Teide and Deception, using small array are described. The ZLC (Zero Lag Cross-correlation) method and polarization analysis have been applied to the data in order to distinguish the main phases in the recorded seismograms and their azimuths and apparent velocities. The results obtained at the Teide volcano demonstrate that the uncorrelated part of the seismograms may be produced by multiple scattering from randomly distributed heterogeneity, while the well correlated part, showing SH type polarization or the possible presence of Rayleigh surface waves, may be generated by single scattering by strong scatterers. At the Deception Volcano strong scattering, strongly focused in a precise direction, is deduced from the data. In that case, all the coda radiation is composed of surface waves.


We introduce a novel approach for controlling fast chaos in time-delay dynamical systems and use it to control a chaotic photonic device with a characteristic time scale of approximately 12 ns. Our approach is a prescription for how to implement existing chaos-control algorithms in a way that exploits the system's inherent time delay and allows control even in the presence of substantial control-loop latency (the finite time it takes signals to propagate through the components in the controller). This research paves the way for applications exploiting fast control of chaos, such as chaos-based communication schemes and stabilizing the behavior of ultrafast lasers.


After the dissolution of apartheid, racial classification has lost its official and legal validity in South Africa. However, race is still a prominent model for social organisation and racial identities continue to influence the lives of most, if not all, South Africans. The endurance of the social and material reality of blackness and whiteness has been closely examined by anthropologists and other researchers but what about those who do not necessarily conform to either one of these social categories? This thesis focuses on the Coloured population in South Africa, which during the time of apartheid, were officially classified as a separate racial grouping. Today, large parts of the Coloured population are distant descendants of 'interracial relations' between the Black, White and indigenous population. They are an extremely diverse group of people with root in many different parts of the world but their collective experience of social and spatial separation from the White and Black population has nevertheless generated a sense of community that continues to operate in post-apartheid South Africa. Based on four months of fieldwork in South Africa, this thesis explores the concept of Coloured identity in an attempt to explain how this former racial category has been and still is, made into a socially relevant category in the informants' lives. I also try to illustrate the very multifaceted and unstable notion of colouredness by examining the relationship between the informants' racial identities and their class identities. This intersectional approach has allowed me to examine Coloured identity as a complex lived experience that reaches far beyond its initial function.


In land-based gas turbines, thermal barrier coatings are used for thermal insulation of hot components (combustor, turbine vanes and to some extent blades). The thermal barrier maintains the metal temperature of a coated component at moderate temperature levels during turbine operation. If the coating spalls off, the underlying metal will suffer from creep damage and oxidation with risk of severe machine damage. Therefore coating integrity must be maintained, putting forward demands on a reliable assessment of coating life. This is especially crucial if a design with long inspection intervals is required. In the present work, plasma-sprayed NiCoCrAlY and NiCrAlY bond coats with an yttria partially stabilised zirconia top coat are studied. At the interface between the metallic bond coat and the ceramic top coat delamination cracks are prone to form upon thermal or/and mechanical cycling. Microstructural evaluations show that interface cracks (within the thermally grown oxide) and interface-near cracks (within the partially stabilised zirconia) contribute to damage development. From microstructural investigations of tested material delamination crack growth data has been recorded. Via a damage measure the recorded crack growth data are coupled to the load condition at the crack tip through FE-modeling. In the present work a fatigue life prediction model has been used based on a Paris law-approach. The model is physically sound in the sense that it takes the local stress-state (from thermal and mechanical loading) into account. By calculation of energy release rate at the crack tip and allowing for mode mixity, the delamination behaviour can be modeled according to observations. Through the fracture mechanics approach the model is general and will therefore be suitable for fatigue life predictions in the presence of thermal as well as mechanical loads. The model is calibrated against and verified for results from fatigue tests. By comparison of model predictions with results from test with different conditions, the model is shown to be capable of predicting results with good accuracy.


The goal of humankind is to alleviate the suffering from disease and quest is to have good and robust health always. The gain of knowledge through research is one of the primary steps towards the same. With the newly emerging infectious diseases, increase in the antimicrobial resistance and also the increasing incidences of noncommunicable diseases have thrown at us new challenges to develop better diagnostics, drugs, medical devices, and vaccines.

The present century is the era of biotechnology and information technology. Biotechnology has become the amalgamation of several technologies ranging from the field of biomedical research and synthetic biology and further transcending to engineering, nanotechnology, and bioinformatics. Biomedicine have gone a step further converging biology, chemistry, and physics which have led to increasing the understanding of the pathophysiological processes by deciphering the molecular interaction that plays a significant role in the cellular mechanism and thus devising new strategies to produce new diagnostics and therapies.

Health innovation process needs a boost to stem the declining productivity and high turnover rates of drugs with escalating cost. So, the promotion of newer technologies and innovation is the need of the hour. It is imperative to have health innovation reach the masses and add a value to the public health system of nations across the globe. With adequate impetus we are ushering in today the era of knowledge driven, evidence-based innovation in fields of biotechnology and biomedicine, leading to development of platform technologies which can have global implications.

This special issue in the journal of Biomed Research is a step towards the path which brings us to the forefront of new innovations and technologies that transcend all aspects of translational research and have high significance in the public health arena. Hence the editors have selected the cutting edge research in the field of medical biology which has bearing in the future of science.

The paper by Y. Qin et al., which have found that DNA vaccine encoding BCR/ABL-hil2 enhances the in vivo humoral and cellular responses in BABL/c mice, hence presenting a new targeted immunotherapy approach which holds promising finding for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). The paper postulates these findings and if the research is translated to effective DNA vaccine in humans for CML patients, it will help in the treatment of residual disease after the treatment with chemotherapy or targeted therapy.

New research in antimicrobial therapy has become a very essential tool to fight infection in context of growing antibiotic resistance. The paper by J. J. G.-R. Rodriguez et al., has given alternate strategy with cloned antimicrobial peptide PaDef homologous to defensins from Mexican avocado (Persea americana var. drymifolia). This paper reports the antimicrobial activity of defensin from avocado against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The alternative method of pathogen control paves the way for development of new treatment regimes against infectious pathogens.

The effect of curcumin from Curcuma longa L. (from the family Zingiberaceae) on fighting oxidative stress in liver and brain in mice fed with excessive alcohol was studied in the paper by C. W. Pyun et al. The finding showed that curcumin increases brain and hepatic phosphatidylcholine hydroperoxide levels in mice after consumption of excessive alcohol, hence proving the effectiveness of consumption of daily curcumin intake in protecting the liver and brain against alcohol induced oxidative stress.

The G. C. Fontes et al., paper on characterization of alginate and OSA starch bead for the use of controlled release carrier for penicillin is an important finding to alleviate the discomfort of patients undergoing conventional administration of the vital drug. This paper also has long implications on designing public health intervention for delivery of essential drugs.

The paper by M. P. L. Cunha et al., is the analysis of the vaccine adverse event reporting in the state of Rondonia, Brazil during the first ten years (1998–2008) after introduction of vaccines for BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guerin), DTwP/Hib (hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis + hemophillus influenza b), DTP (diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis), MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) and yellow fever (YF) is a major impact paper on public health. This study is of paramount importance which can help the regulators and clinicians alike from all over the world in gauzing the effectiveness and adverse reaction that can be anticipated from the regular vaccines that are a part of immunization programs of many countries around the world.

The simple model to analyze assessment of the antitoxin antibodies in the paper by A. Skvortsov and P. Gray also is an essential scientific finding which was once validated experimentally will be a very useful tool to assess in vitro the potential of protective antibodies for further evaluation in vivo.

The compilation of the articles in the special issue is very good read of high impact research and important scientific findings would have robust impact on strategizing innovative solutions of public health interventions globally; hence, all editors have selected the most promising research for publication.

Nirmal K. Ganguly

Simon Croft

Lalji Singh

Subrata Sinha

Tanjore Balganesh


The report is prepared on the example of the sedimentary basins of the Pacific margin Russian sector; the most part of them is located in the offshore (Tatar strait, the Sea of Okhotsk, the Bering Sea). Factual material is represented by seismic survey and drilling data and also the data of observations by the sections of a sedimentary cover in outcrops. The basins are filled in Cenozoic deposits; they are characterized by the high velocity of sedimentation and a dislocated sedimentary cover. It determined the specificity of a sequence analysis. Sedimentary covers are divided by unconformity surfaces into structural-stratigraphic complexes. The last correspond to transgressive-regressive cycles of duration of 5-25 million years; by a volume they are close to supercycles (cycles of 2-nd order) of a sequence-stratigraphical scale. Sequences (cycles of 3-rd order) are determined only in the separate parts of the section; but their mapping is decisive for paleogeographical reconstructions, reconstituting the sedimentation structure of a sedimentary cover and the arrangement of hydrocarbon systems.


This study is part of a 2014-2020 longitudinal study series that aims to study the lives of poor women across five themes, namely access to social protection, employment, women migrant workers, maternal and reproductive health, and violence against women (specifically domestic violence). by studying the lives of poor women in five districts in Indonesia (deli serdang, cilacap, timor tengah selatan, kubu raya, and pangkajene and its archipelago), this study developed a preliminary picture of the lives of poor women in relation to the five themes.
the access of fhf to government social protection programs in general is lower than that of mhf. meanwhile, the choice of employment for poor women is affected by local natural resources, the economic activity of their place of residence, and their education level. women migrant workers generally work in the informal sector that do not require special education and skills, and these women have a weak legal position that puts them in a vulnerable position which leads to the violation of their rights and harassment by employers.
poor women's understanding of maternal and reproductive health is highly influenced by their level of education and also the availability of public facilities. study area communities still have low awareness in regards to violence act against women, and domestic violence is still a taboo issue to discuss; thus, reporting levels are still low. a thorough understanding of the characteristics of women's poverty and fhf is the key to design a social protection agenda that is able to alleviate poverty among women.
keywords: poor women's access, poverty, women


Variants of surgical repair for patency of the esophagogastroduodenal tract, used in the treatment of 64 patients with combined burn strictures of the stomach and esophagus are presented. The scope of reconstructive operations depended on the patientsT baseline status, the severity of concomitant diseases, the pattern of anatomical disorders of burned organs. In short distal burn strictures of the esophagus and stomach, esophagogastrostomy and gastroduodenostomy were performed (2). If the burn stricture was in the pyloric area, pyloroplasty was performed (9). In patients with antral and pyloric stenoses, gastroduodenal anastomosis was formed (3). If burn damage to the stomach could not be clearly differentiated, gastroenterostomy was made. If there were scars in the stomach, it was respected by one of BillrotTs methods (30). Only in 8 of the 64 patients reconstructive operation on the stomach could be combined with esophagoplasty and in 4 cases stepwise esophagoplasty was performed by transpositing a small intestinal graft to the neck. Esophagoplasty was made with a fragment of the ileocolon in 32 patients, with that of the left half of the colon in 23, one and 6 patients underwent intrapleural and small intestinal esophagoplasty, respectively. Esophagoplasty with local tissues was performed in 2 patients. Postoperative mortality was 6.25%.


As of today, mobile software development teams can follow a number of different development and distribution strategies, ranging from native apps, to mobile web apps, hybrid apps, and the recently emerging progressive web apps. This talk provides a state-of-the-art overview of the development strategies and technologies for developing mobile apps, each of them with its own advantages and drawbacks. In this context, the use of web technologies is discussed as a promising investment for moving forward one of the most intriguing challenges in the world of mobile apps: its fragmentation with respect to mobile platforms. A discussion of research challenges, and thus opportunities, closes the talk.


Ubiquitous computing (ubicomp) is an emerging paradigm for interaction between people and computers. A guiding principle of ubicomp is to break away from desktop computing to provide computational services to a user when and where required. Although there has been a lot of experimental work in ubicomp, there has been little effort to define an agenda in ubicomp for HCI researchers. In this paper, we attempt to remedy that problem by defining the space of ubicomp applications in terms of the level of user mobility and transparency of interaction. Increases in user mobility will come with technological advances, but increased interaction transparency will come only with breakthroughs in HCI research. We conclude the paper with a discussion of two functional themes that we have found important across a number of ubicomp systems —context-awareness and automated capture, integration and access. Each of these themes raises special HCI issues and, together with the taxonomy for ubicomp applications, defines a clearer agenda for HCI research in ubiquitous computing.


In an opening review of the literature it is shown that two of the factors most widely supposed to produce error in syllogistic reasoning, namely, the 'atmosphere' of the premises and the emotional significance of the content of the argument, respectively could not, and have not been shown to, have this effect. Other factors liable to produce such errors are: misunderstanding of the universal affirmative (as implying the truth of its converse), a conflict between the truth-value of a conclusion and the validity of the corresponding argument as a whole, and an inadequate grasp of, or adherence to, the 'logical task'. In Chapter 2 the selection, on the basis of performance on two Forms of Section B of Valentine's Reasoning Tests, of a (PR) group of 22 'poor reasoners' and a (GR) group of 'good reasoners', matched one to one on a composite measure of their (superior) academic attainment and ability is described. Preliminary evidence relating to the difference between the groups is considered and the materials and procedure in the first, 'five types of statement' (5TS), experiment described. This experiment applies a form of Wason's 'card-taming task' to the three types of statement occurring most frequently in the criterion Valentine test, namely, the universal affirmative in categorical form (a), the universal negative (e) and statements of the form, 'Only X's are Y's', and to two other types incorporating logically important connectives, the universal affirmative in hypothetical form (Ah) and a universal-disjunctive (Ad).The assumption underlying the 5To experiment is that a difference between the groups in their grasp of any of the types of statement will be reflected in a difference in the success with which they tackle the task with respect to that statement-type. Significant differences were found on A and F and on one aspect of the response to Ah, but not on E or on Ad. A progressive analysis of responses to different statement-types suggests the operation of other, unsuspected, factors and throws doubt on the validity of the use of the card-turning task as a measure of the relative difficulty of different statement-types.In the later (4To) experiment, incorporating modifications to the materials and procedure, it was possible to establish (l) the persistence of the differences on A and F over a period of 12 to 18 months, (2) the superiority of the GR group in learning to make the correct response to A and (3) the significantly greater proneness of the PR group to a type of error which can only reflect a tendency to misunderstand A statements in the way described in the first paragraph. Other aspects of the task less immediately related to the difference between the groups are also considered. Chapter 4 closes with some examples, drawn from the history of psychology, of the sometimes serious practical consequences of the misunderstanding mentioned under (3) and a discussion of possible sources of this error. Chapter 5 describes the use of Wason's 'construction task' to investigate the possibility that PR subjects have significantly more difficulty than their GR counterparts with the negative particle, a very important element in all reasoning. The outcome is somewhat equivocal, there being a significant difference between the groups on the false- affirmative condition (which incorporates a single negative component, the 'semantic' notion of falsity) and when this condition is combined with the true-negative, but not on the false-negative which includes both negative components. This last result, it is suggested, may be due to the conspicuous instability of the response-time measure of difficulty in this case. Chapter 5 also considers evidence (from scores on the E.P.I.) about the extraversion and emotionality of the two groups, it having been argued that differences in either of these dimensions of personality might be partly responsible for difficulties with the negative particle. Although the differences are in the expected direction none is large enough to be significant on a two-tailed test. A small but significant correlation between scores on the N scale of the E.P.I. and latency of response to the true-negative condition when both groups of subjects are taken together lends, again in the absence of corroboration from the false- negative condition, rather uncertain support to the Eifermann hypothesis of a relationship between emotionality and slowness of response to negative statements,A concluding chapter reviews the outcomes of the above researches, considers an alternative interpretation of the 5TS results and indicates some possible points of departure for future research in this area.


How and why has it come to pass that children as young as 12 in the UK are being injected with a novel form of mRNA technology that is unlicensed, has no long-term safety data, and remains in clinical trials until May 2023? This article traces the path by which the unthinkable became an alarming reality between October 2020 and September 2021 and also follows developments since then. Working chronologically, the actions and claims of the manufacturers, the regulators, politicians, and in particular the establishment media in promoting "COVID-19 vaccination" for children are examined. The actions taken by policy makers are juxtaposed to scientific evidence available showing that there has never been any rational justification for the mass rollout of "COVID-19 vaccines" to children. The rollout has been predicated on shifting narratives, obfuscations, faux justifications, outright lies, regulatory capture of supposed guardians of the public interest, and mass propaganda. Evidence of actual and potential injuries to children has accumulated from before the beginning of the rollout, in spite of repeated attempts to cover it up, and yet, the under-12s are now also in the crosshairs and children are being targeted for "booster shots." A clear picture emerges of collusion and corruption at the highest levels in forcing through an agenda that runs contrary to public health, democracy, and freedom. It is becoming clear that the rollout to children has nothing to do with "SARS-CoV-2" and everything to do with ongoing efforts to refashion the international monetary system in the image of central bank digital currencies and biometric IDs. In pursuit of that agenda, the transnational ruling class has revealed that it is willing to maim and kill children knowingly, creating enormous potential for a backlash as the public becomes aware of what is being done.


This paper describes the design and implementation of the first functional medium-voltage impedance measurement unit capable of characterizing in-situ source and load impedances of dc- and ac-networks (4160 V ac, 6000 V dc, 300 A, 2.2 MVA) in the frequency range from 0.1 Hz-1 kHz. It comprises three power electronics building blocks, each built using SiC MOSFET H-bridges, features great reconfigurability, and allows both series and shunt perturbation injection in order to achieve accurate impedance characterization of the Navy's shipboard power systems. With extraordinary advantages featured by the power electronics building block modular concept, and unconventional power processing benefits offered by SiC semiconductors, development of the unit shown in this paper unquestionably enables both, improvement of the existing, and design of the future, stable and reliable electrical Navy shipboard platforms with advanced electrical energy generation and modern distribution architecture.


A research program was undertaken to discover the corrosion mechanism of portland cementitious materials to acid rain attack in China. The deterioration process and corrosion products of hardened ordinary portland cement pastes in pH 2 simulated acid rain solution were analyzed by XRD and BSE. The results indicate that the destruction of hardened portland cementitious materials by acid rain attack in China is predominantly due to the coordinated effect of H+ and SO42- of acid rain solution, and gradually occurs from the surface to the interior of materials. The corrosion products are mainly a white mushy mixture consisting of silica gel (SiO2•nH2O), alumina gel (Al2O3•nH2O) and dihydrate gypsum (CaSO4•2H2O) crystal. During the process of acid rain attack, the deteriorated specimen can be divided into corrosion layer, affected layer and unaffected layer.


Abstract As an emerging inhalational exposure, electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have rapidly gained public awareness with increasing use among adolescents and adults, leading to increased primary use by adolescents and increased secondhand exposure to emissions in infants, children, and adolescents. Although the long-term health risks for primary use and secondhand emission exposure are unknown, limited data from animal studies suggest that there is the potential for long-term lung injury and altered neurocognitive development in children with exposure to nicotine-containing aerosols. In this pediatric-focused review, we discuss the history of e-cigarettes, the demographics of adolescent users, effects on health, and current legislative efforts to protect infants, children, and adolescents from exposure.


In the era of deep learning, word embeddings are essential when dealing with text tasks. However, storing and accessing these embeddings requires a large amount of space. This is not conducive to the deployment of these models on resource-limited devices. Combining the powerful compression capability of tensor products, we propose a word embedding compression method with morphological augmentation, Morphologically-enhanced Tensorized Embeddings (MorphTE). A word consists of one or more morphemes, the smallest units that bear meaning or have a grammatical function. MorphTE represents a word embedding as an entangled form of its morpheme vectors via the tensor product, which injects prior semantic and grammatical knowledge into the learning of embeddings. Furthermore, the dimensionality of the morpheme vector and the number of morphemes are much smaller than those of words, which greatly reduces the parameters of the word embeddings. We conduct experiments on tasks such as machine translation and question answering. Experimental results on four translation datasets of different languages show that MorphTE can compress word embedding parameters by about 20 times without performance loss and significantly outperforms related embedding compression methods.


Marion Nestle, author of a recently acclaimed book on food politics, has written a new book devoted to food safety. It is addressed to general readers as well as scientists who wish to know more about the issues underlying disputes about the safety of our food supply but who lack prior knowledge about the food industry, its lobbying and marketing strategies, or the political regulation of food supply and public health. Nestle's decision to write this book appears to have been partly inspired by the extensive media coverage in recent years given to food scandals, food-borne human diseases, fears with regard to genetically modified foods, and, recently, consideration of the vulnerability of food and water supplies to terrorist activity.

This new book presents the thesis that food safety is a political issue. Sections on pathogens in the food supply and food biotechnology are followed by a concluding section that summarizes the main arguments, reviews the reasons why the food supply might serve as a medium of terrorist activity, and makes a number of grounded recommendations regarding the future of food safety.

A safe food, according to Nestle, is "one that does not exceed an acceptable level of risk" (p. 16). Decisions about acceptability, it is argued, involve opinions and values, as well as science. For this reason, a "science-based" approach to food safety, which balances risk against benefits and costs and contributes to the estimation of risk, is distinguished from a "value-based" approach focused on the acceptability of risk, which tends to balance risk against dreaded outcomes or feelings of outrage. This point is not presented here in the familiar form of a distinction between expert and lay perceptions of risk. The author recognizes the fact that scientific questions do not arise in value-free contexts and that value-based approaches often consider scientific arguments. The argument is rather that when commercial interests are at stake in decisions about the acceptability of risks, these decisions unavoidably become political issues. Nestle points out that it is often difficult to distinguish science-based from value-based aspects of conflicting policies. Most of the book is accordingly devoted to examining actual disputes about food safety in a manner that distinguishes these aspects.

Nestle has sought to write a balanced book rather than a political manifesto. Her perspective is that of a trained scientist and professional nutritionist with considerable experience in consultancy and other dealings with both the food industry and public authorities engaged in the tasks of regulating the safety of food supplies. Nestle is critical of players in both of these fields. She claims and seeks to demonstrate that food companies tend to accord priority to commercial interests rather than consumer protection, even to the point of strongly resisting public policies designed to control pathogens in the food supply, while government agencies often tend to support business interests at the expense of public health. These views are controversial and are unlikely to convince all stakeholders in food safety issues. Nevertheless, they are presented in a series of carefully documented cases, likely to prove useful to readers who approach the text with a view to making up their minds and irritating to those who feel themselves criticized. It is balanced in the sense that one cannot claim that Nestle disregards science-based arguments regarding the safety of food biotechnology, merely that she respects the legitimacy of value-based concerns about genetically modified foods. These include concerns with regard to the environment, health, and the rights of consumers to choose, which in turn impose demands regarding such issues as contamination, traceability, and labeling. Given the interests at stake in these issues, some readers may wish to interpret this stance as support for the anti-biotechnology lobby.

This book should be read and discussed in university departments that prepare students for work in food-related fields. It introduces a range of safety concerns that should become salient issues of discussion in the classroom. Its weaker points include a somewhat narrow focus upon national issues. There is a tendency to equate government agencies with existing U.S. institutions, while suggesting in passing that control systems in some European countries are more effective; equally, there is a tendency to equate science with the natural as opposed to the social sciences, neglecting much relevant social research with regard to globalization, distribution networks, and consumption, as well as such issues as trust and accountability. No book, however, can reasonably be expected to cover the entire field. This one raises many important issues and does it well.


Hyperlipidemia is frequently associated with insulin resistance states as found in type 2 diabetes and obesity. Effects of free fatty acids (FFA) on pancreatic beta-cells have long been recognized. Acute exposure of the pancreatic beta-cell to FFA results in an increase of insulin release, whereas a chronic exposure results in desensitization and suppression of secretion. We recently showed that palmitate augments insulin release in the presence of non-stimulatory concentrations of glucose. Reduction of plasma FFA levels in fasted rats or humans severely impairs glucose-induced insulin release. These results imply that physiological plasma levels of FFA are important for beta-cell function. Although, it has been accepted that fatty acid oxidation is necessary for its stimulation of insulin secretion, the possible mechanisms by which fatty acids (FA) affect insulin secretion are discussed in this review. Long-chain acyl-CoA (LC-CoA) controls several aspects of the beta-cell function including activation of certain types of protein kinase C (PKC), modulation of ion channels, protein acylation, ceramide- and/or nitric oxide (NO)-mediated apoptosis, and binding to nuclear transcriptional factors. The present review also describes the possible effects of FA on insulin signaling. We showed for the first time that acute exposure of islets to palmitate upregulates the intracellular insulin-signaling pathway in pancreatic islets. Another aspect considered in this review is the source of FA for pancreatic islets. In addition to be exported to the medium, lipids can be transferred from leukocytes (macrophages) to pancreatic islets in co-culture. This process consists an additional source of FA that may plays a significant role to regulate insulin secretion.


Coagulation and the immune system interact in several physiological and pathological conditions, including tissue repair, host defense, and homeostatic maintenance. This network plays a key role in diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) by involving several cells (CNS resident cells, platelets, endothelium, and leukocytes) and molecular pathways (protease activity, complement factors, platelet granule content). Endothelial damage prompts platelet activation and the coagulation cascade as the first physiological step to support the rescue of damaged tissues, a flawed rescuing system ultimately producing neuroinflammation. Leukocytes, platelets, and endothelial cells are sensitive to the damage and indeed can release or respond to chemokines and cytokines (platelet factor 4, CXCL4, TNF, interleukins), and growth factors (including platelet-derived growth factor, vascular endothelial growth factor, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor) with platelet activation, change in capillary permeability, migration or differentiation of leukocytes. Thrombin, plasmin, activated complement factors and matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1), furthermore, activate intracellular transduction through complement or protease-activated receptors. Impairment of the neuro-immune hemostasis network induces acute or chronic CNS pathologies related to the neurovascular unit, either directly or by the systemic activation of its main steps. Neurons, glial cells (astrocytes and microglia) and the extracellular matrix play a crucial function in a "tetrapartite" synaptic model. Taking into account the neurovascular unit, in this review we thoroughly analyzed the influence of neuro-immune hemostasis on these five elements acting as a functional unit ("pentapartite" synapse) in the adaptive and maladaptive plasticity and discuss the relevance of these events in inflammatory, cerebrovascular, Alzheimer, neoplastic and psychiatric diseases. Finally, based on the solid reviewed data, we hypothesize a model of neuro-immune hemostatic network based on protein–protein interactions. In addition, we propose that, to better understand and favor the maintenance of adaptive plasticity, it would be useful to construct predictive molecular models, able to enlighten the regulating logic of the complex molecular network, which belongs to different cellular domains. A modeling approach would help to define how nodes of the network interact with basic cellular functions, such as mitochondrial metabolism, autophagy or apoptosis. It is expected that dynamic systems biology models might help to elucidate the fine structure of molecular events generated by blood coagulation and neuro-immune responses in several CNS diseases, thereby opening the way to more effective treatments.


The cerulean warbler is defined as a conservation reliant species, meaning that their future depends on the application of conservation forest management practices. The declining populations of –4.2% per year since 1966 have gained the cerulean warbler status as a focal species of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and listing as vulnerable to extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Avian ecologists only have a rudimentary understanding of cerulean warbler habitat associations and preferences. The first objective of our study was to conduct point count studies to survey for presence of the cerulean warbler. The second objective was to perform habitat analysis on known nest sites. Results indicate that cerulean warblers have an association with gaps located near contiguous forest. These results are supported by the location of successful nests in gaps with increased foliage cover with decreased height. It is suspected that the nests occurred in gaps because singing females, who probably chose the nest-sites, could be heard with little acoustic interference from the foliage.


We study the problem of establishing secure communication channels in resource-constrained wireless networks using key predistribution. Pairwise communication channels between nodes are secured using link keys which are established as a function of cryptographic seeds predistributed to each node. We propose a general model for seed assignment which regulates the number of nodes sharing each seed. In addition, we provide a general model for wireless network connectivity where communication is restricted by both radio range and an independent pairwise relationship. We provide probabilistic analysis for network connectivity and resilience to node capture in terms of our seed assignment and network connectivity models. Finally, we provide a numerical example demonstrating how the proposed approach reduces key wastage while maintaining resilience to node capture of prior results.


Using a unique data-set from the Pearl River Delta in China, we examine the factors associated with rural-urban migrants' participation in and expenditure on illegal gambling. The characteristics that have the largest marginal effects on participation and expenditure are gender, whether one also participates in the legal lottery and playing mahjong and other card games. Of the variables specific to the migration experience, we find that living in a factory dormitory increases the probability of participating in the illegal lottery, and that migrants who are unwilling to give up their farmland are less likely to participate in the illegal lottery. We also find that having a network of female friends is negatively correlated with participation in the illegal lottery. However, other variables specific to migrants, such as willingness to obtain a local hukou and remittances, were found to have an insignificant effect on participation.


Besides forming a very important component of the chromosome, the telomeres have extremely significant modes of action and functions, right from maintaining a basic infrastructure and integrity of the chromosome vis a vis the other chromosomes, telomeres are responsible for the cell divisions and replicative senescence of the cell. The number of mitotic divisions which a cell will go through in its life span while passing through the cell cycle is governed inturn by these telomeres, the crux of the entire functioning of these chromosomal components suggests that they are the ticking clocks of the cell and when they diminish or are worn out so does the cell reach it's senility at the fag end of it's replicative life--resulting fate being--the cell is sent to it's grave yard (the final destination). Clinical implications include--regulation of cell life spans, regulating the cell's replicative behavior and it's utility in forming cells which usually are impossible to divide or replicate, telomeres regulate the cloning process,the telomeres play a major role in predicting the fate of a neoplastic cell and finally enhancing the life span of a single cell, the organ, the body as a whole by enzymes which expand the telomeres--the telomerase.


Generic language (e.g., "tigers have stripes") leads children to assume that the referenced category (e.g., tigers) is inductively informative and provides a causal explanation for the behavior of individual members. In two preregistered studies with 4- to 7-year-old children (N = 497), we considered the mechanisms underlying these effects by testing how correcting generics might affect the development of these beliefs about novel social and animal kinds (Study 1) and about gender (Study 2). Correcting generics by narrowing their scope to a single individual limited beliefs that the referenced categories could explain what their members would be like while broadening the scope to a superordinate category (Study 2) uniquely limited endorsement of gender norms. Across both studies, correcting generics did not alter beliefs about feature heritability and had mixed effects on inductive inferences, suggesting that additional mechanisms (e.g., causal reasoning about shared features) contribute to the development of full-blown essentialist beliefs. These results help illuminate the mechanisms by which generics lead children to view categories as having rich inductive and causal potential; in particular, they suggest that children interpret generics as signals that speakers in their community view the referenced categories as meaningful kinds that support generalization. The findings also point the way to concrete suggestions for how adults can effectively correct problematic generics (e.g., gender stereotypes) that children may hear in daily life.


Cyclophosphamide (CPA) is a potent and highly effective chemotherapeutic and immunosuppressive agent that has been marketed for about 50 years. Reports of its teratogenicity emerged just after the Teratology Society was established, and from that time forth CPA has been inextricably linked to the Society's goal of understanding and preventing birth defects. CPA teratogenesis was previously reviewed (Mirkes, 1985), and since that time the pathways leading to teratogenesis have become more complicated, with many contradictions. By causing DNA strand breaks, crosslinks, and adducts, CPA is highly effective at disrupting the integrity of the genome. This was the focus of CPA teratogenesis research for many years. However, it is now clear that CPA disrupts the embryonic epigenome and the functionality of the proteome, and that these perturbations are related to teratogenesis. CPA also induces cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis in the embryo but there is conflicting data as to whether these changes are embryoprotective or teratogenic. In addition, CPA has made a number of diverse contributions to the field of developmental toxicology. For example, the concept of male-mediated teratogenesis, in the absence of compromised fertility parameters, was established using CPA. Antivivisectionist sentiment has produced a resurgent interest in in vitro developmental toxicity screens, and with it the need to identify proteratogens that typically are false negatives in such systems due to the relative dearth of P-450 activity in early embryonic tissues. The requirement of P-450 for CPA-mediated embryotoxicity has made CPA an excellent tool with which to probe the metabolic competence of adjunct P-450 supplements in these in vitro systems. Recently, it was noted that in utero exposure to CPA disrupts the immunofunction markers at parturition, suggesting CPA may be a future model for developmental immunotoxicology.


Two additional cases of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug induced meningitis are reported. Consideration should be given to this etiology in all cases of meningitis in which a specific etiology is not found, especially if the meningitis is recurrent.


Accurate diagnosis is the prerequisite for effective treatment of diseases. Various biostatistics indices have been used to evaluate the performance of diagnostic tests. The distribution of test results commonly shows a relatively fixed overlap between the diseased and non-diseased populations, and the two main properties of laboratory tests sensitivity (Se) and specificity (Sp) usually demonstrate an inverse relationship of each other. An inverse relationship is also seen in the two sides of a right triangle where the hypotenuse serves as an integrated functional index of the two sides, as reflected in the geometric equation Pythagorean Theorem (PT). We have developed a novel test performance index named diagnostic availability (DA) based on the theory of PT, which integrates and reflects the combined efficiency of Se and Sp. When Se and Sp were changing inversely as seen in the vast majority of clinical settings, DA was superior to the other indices diagnostic efficiency (DE), Youden index, and Kappa coefficient (К) in reflecting the overall test performance of a test. It was also the only one responsive to the reciprocal changes of Se and Sp. Therefore, we propose the additional consideration of DA besides Se and Sp during the determination of the optimal test result cut-off point. In the rare scenarios that Se and Sp are changing in the same direction, DA, J and К outperforms DE in reflecting test performance. Furthermore, DA can also help identify the better test when two tests exhibit similar areas under the curve (AUC) in the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis. In conclusion, DA is a novel index for overall performance evaluation of diagnostic tests reflecting the combined efficiency of Se and Sp. It shows superiority over other commonly used indices in the assessment of overall test performance and serves as a valuable addition to the existing indices.


Abstract Introduction The purpose of the present study was to examine self-perceived stress of health professions students at the Faculty of Medicine Foča, and to explore its association with anxiety, depression and health-related quality of life. Methods The cross-sectional study enrolled 451 students at the Faculty of Medicine (medicine, dentistry, nursing and speech therapy). Survey instruments were distributed at the conclusion of the spring semester during the last required lecture for each year and study programme class. Perceived stress was assessed using the 14-item Perceived Stress Scale. The students were evaluated for symptoms of depression and anxiety, using Zung's self-assessment inventory for depression and the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). European Quality of Life-5 dimensions were used for describing and evaluating health. Multivariate analyses were carried out using logistic regression to examine the relationship between the outcome variable and selected determinant factors. Results A high degree of stress was reported by 1.6% of students, while the majority of students had either moderate (70.6%) or low degree (27.5%) of stress. The significant independent factors associated with perceived stress were anxiety score (OR, 0.339; CI 95%, 0.276-0.403) and EQ-5D score (OR, 0.044; CI 95%, 0.033-0.085). A high degree of perceived stress (OR, 0.624; CI 95%, 0.507-0.704), the presence of depression (OR, 0.800; CI 95%, 0.513-1.087), and low quality of life were associated with anxiety (OR, 0.073; CI 95%, 0.018-0.128). Conclusion Higher levels of perceived stress predispose health professions students for anxiety and lower quality of life. The study programme was not a significant determinant of perceived stress sore.


In this paper, an effective method is presented to improve thickness uniformity in nickel electroforming process. In most electroforming processes, thickness ratio of edge to center is 2.5~4 and the shape of the electroforming zone is naturally a concave. Dividing conductive zone of electroforming structure to redistribute current density was applied to improve electroforming uniformity. Theoretical analysis and experimental results verify that a proper dividing method can improve the electroforming uniformity effectively. In the experiment, the thickness ratio of edge to center decreases from 2.91 to 1.88.


Several needle types can be used to draw up intravenous drugs. Compared with sharp-bevelled hypodermic needles, blunt fill needles are thought to reduce the risk of needlestick injury [1]. The addition of a filter to a blunt fill needle reduces the risk of injecting glass vial fragments, but has not been shown to improve patient safety and incurs increased cost, implying that the use of blunt fill filter needles should be restricted to highrisk patients such as neonates and the critically ill [2], or injections to high-risk sites including the eye or subarachnoid space. We found that 15/24 (63%) anaesthetists of varying grades at the Royal Oldham Hospital used both hypodermic and blunt filter needles when drawing up drugs for intravenous use. The choice of needle depended mainly on whether there was a rubber bung on the ampoule, whether the ampoule was glass and the volume of drug being drawn up. Only three anaesthetists stated that they used filter needles to reduce the potential risk of harm from particulate glass injection, but they were not aware of any published evidence supporting such risk reduction. Only three different anaesthetists were aware of the cost implications of their needle choice. We noted a marked difference between the unit cost of 19-G and 21-G hypodermic needles (B Braun, Melsungen, Germany, £1.96 (€2.44, $3.12) and £1.57 (€1.95, $2.50) per box of 100, respectively) and 18-G blunt fill and 18-G blunt fill filtered needles (BD, Franklin Lakes USA, £6.70 (€8.34, $10.68)/100) and £32.68 (€40.68, $52.08)/100), respectively, at our hospital. We calculated that replacing all blunt fill filter needles (annual cost £13 595 (€16 920, $21 661)) with blunt fill non-filter needles (equivalent cost £2787 (€3469, $4443)) for intravenous drug administration would save £10 808 (€13 452, $17 226) annually, or £12 940 (€16 105, $20 621) if filter needles were replaced with hypodermic needles. Due to the increased cost and lack of evidence for their use, we intend to restrict the use of blunt fill filter needles in our hospital to preparing drugs for central neuraxial blockade and ophthalmic anaesthesia, and for high-risk patients, at the anaesthetist's discretion. Repeated on a national scale, we suggest that this approach could earn significant savings for the National Health Service.


Collaboration @ work was first defined in the Collaboration @ work report 2004 as "collaboration among individuals engaged in a common task to achieve a shared objective using collaboration technologies". At that time the focus was on collaboration services providing functionalities at middleware level which could be reusable at the application level. Reflecting this focus, the Research European Union 6th Framework Programme Strategic Objective 2.5.9 "Collaborative working environments" was drafted up to achieve a common repository of collaboration services to be invoked by collaboration tools and integrated into large validating applicators. A budget of 40 Mio € is devoted to this Strategic Objective (SO) in 2005. Work to be carried out within this SO will contribute to the use of collaborative technologies with a mediating role among distributed workers and as a glue of diverse technologies (such as mixed-reality, visualisation, interfaces technologies) to support collaboration among people and other artefacts (robots, actuators, sensors).


Inflammation is the hallmark of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli-induced bovine mastitis. Organic selenium can activate pivotal proteins in immune responses and regulate the immune system. The present study aimed to investigate whether selenomethionine (SeMet) attenuates ESBL E. coli-induced inflammation in bovine mammary epithelial cells (bMECs) and macrophages. Cells were treated with 0, 5/10, 10/20, 20/40, or 40/60 μM SeMet for 12 h and/or inoculated with ESBL-E. coli [multiplicity of infection (MOI) = 5] for 4/6 h, respectively. We assessed inflammatory responses, including selenoprotein S (SeS), Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), Ikappa-B (IκB), phospho-NF-κB p65 (Ser536), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activities. Treatment with 40/60 μM SeMet promoted cell viability and inhibited LDH activities in both bMECs and macrophages. Inoculation with ESBL-E. coli reduced cell viability, which was attenuated by SeMet treatment in bMECs and macrophages. SeMet increased ESBL E. coli-induced downregulation of SeS and decreased LDH activities, TLR4, IκB, phospho-NF-κB p65 (Ser536), IL-1β, and TNF-α protein expressions in bMECs and macrophages. In addition, knockdown of SeS promoted protein expression of TLR4-mediated nuclear factor-kappa (NF-κB) pathway and BAY 11-708 inhibited TNF-α and IL-1β protein levels in bMECs and macrophages after ESBL-E. coli treatment. Moreover, ESBL-E. coli inoculation increased monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1), C–C motif ligand 3 (CCL-3), and CCL-5 mRNA expressions in bMECs. In conclusion, ESBL-E. coli induced expression of MCP-1, CCL-3, and CCL-5 in bMECs and then recruited and activated macrophages, whereas SeMet attenuated ESBL E. coli-induced inflammation through activated SeS-mediated TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway in bMECs and macrophages.


A primary motivation for providing education and training is to equip the workforce with the skills it requires to meet the needs of industry. Furthermore, as training takes some time to accomplish, the training that is provided today must be targeted at the needs of industry at some time in the future. Hence workforce development requires access to a labour market forecast of some kind. Formal labour market forecasts produced using an economy-wide model have several features which ought to make them attractive to policy makers. For example, they embody modern economic theory and large amounts of relevant economic data, they are comprehensive and coherent, and they can be updated regularly at reasonable cost. Yet many training professionals are reluctant to avail themselves of formal forecasts, preferring instead to rely on more informal methods such case studies, graduate destination surveys and surveys of business opinion. Formal forecasts are held to be too unreliable for most policy purposes. It is argued in this paper that the reluctance is misplaced and, indeed, that it constitutes an unnecessary barrier to efficient workforce development. The discussion draws on a detailed analysis of the performance of a labour market forecasting system built around the MONASH applied general equilibrium model of the Australian economy. Using forecasts published over the last thirteen years, the paper reviews their accuracy for industries, occupations and regions, and compares them with forecasts derived from time series extrapolation. The paper also reviews various qualitative arguments concerning reliability that have been advanced in the literature. Finally it considers the system adopted for allocating training resources in Australia, noting particularly that it fails to deliver a suitably articulated view of the future state of the economy which it is designed to service. The paper also reviews various qualitative arguments that have been advanced against the use of formal labour market forecasts in workforce development. It suggests five propositions which should guide such considerations, but which are often ignored by the education and training community.


The article relates details of the history of research into the causal association of cigarette smoking and lung cancer on the basis of multidisciplinary studies that have explored the epidemiology, biology, chemistry, and biochemistry of tobacco carcinogenesis and research in behavioral sciences and health education that has sought to address one of our nation's foremost public health problems. Recalling past and present challenges and achievements in all of these areas, the author then outlines his vision for addressing this health problem in the future. This is laid out for various segments of the research community and for society as a whole, i.e., Cancer Centers and hospitals, epidemiologists, laboratory scientists, legislators, educators and behavioral scientists, and the media. It is proposed that for the current policy initiatives in tobacco-related cancer control to succeed, there needs to be a focus on preventing the initiation of tobacco use among children and adolescents. All segments of society can help to achieve this goal. In the nation's research planning, there needs to be a proper balance between basic and applied research, including research on and application of preventive principles, because cancer need not be an inevitable consequence of aging but is largely preventable.


Non-metric distances are often more reasonable compared with metric ones in terms of consistency with human perceptions. However, existing locality-sensitive hashing (LSH) algorithms can only support data which are gauged with metrics. In this paper we propose a novel locality-sensitive hashing algorithm targeting such non-metric data. Data in original feature space are embedded into an implicit reproducing kernel Krein space and then hashed to obtain binary bits. Here we utilize the norm-keeping property of p-stable functions to ensure that two data's collision probability reflects their non-metric distance in original feature space. We investigate various concrete examples to validate the proposed algorithm. Extensive empirical evaluations well illustrate its effectiveness in terms of accuracy and retrieval speedup.


This thesis consists of a proposal for an exhibition titled Focus: Architecture in Photographic Exhibitions 1858–1861. Drawn from the collection of almost three hundred nineteenth-century architectural photographs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the exhibition explores the topic of architectural photographs exhibited between 1858 and 1861. This two-part thesis first approaches the exhibition from a practical side, outlining the steps in preparing the photographs for display. An essay follows, investigating the role of the Architectural Photographic Association in the context of the photographic market of this time. The thesis also includes appendices relating to various aspects of the exhibition design process, including an object checklist, matting and framing recommendations, condition reports, wall labels, wall elevations, and an informational brochure.


Answering connectivity queries in real algebraic sets is a fundamental problem in effective real algebraic geometry that finds many applications in e.g. robotics where motion planning issues are topical. This computational problem is tackled through the computation of so-called roadmaps which are real algebraic subsets of the set V under study, of dimension at most one, and which have a connected intersection with all semi-algebraically connected components of V. Algorithms for computing roadmaps rely on statements establishing connectivity properties of some well-chosen subsets of V , assuming that V is bounded. In this paper, we extend such connectivity statements by dropping the boundedness assumption on V. This exploits properties of so-called generalized polar varieties, which are critical loci of V for some well-chosen polynomial maps.


The p53 protein plays a central role in controlling the fate of cancer cells. At moderate levels of DNA damage, the concentration of the phosphorylated form of p53 undergoes temporal oscillation with a period of a few hours. In Dr. Shi's lab, single-cell measurements were carried out using the p53-YFP fusion proteins and time-lapse fluorescence microscopy. We report here a detailed study of the image data. From the time series of the p53 concentration in individual cells, we deduce the amplitude and period of the oscillation. The pulse-to-pulse and cell-to-cell variability of the oscillation is characterized. We then carry out a computational study of a mathematical model that involves a negative feedback loop between p53 and Mdm2 proteins. We have determined the phase diagram of the model, and studied the sensitivity of the properties of the oscillating state against the model parameters. Although only p53 concentration is measured in the experiment, we show that careful analysis of the pulse shape can nevertheless yield valuable information on the underlying molecular processes, and shed light on the possible origin of the observed cellto-cell variations.


LEWIS, AND W. A. CORPE. Prodigiosin-producing bacteria from marine sources. Appl. Microbiol. 12:13-17. 1964.-Two aerobic, gram-negative, red-pigmented, rod-shaped bacteria were compared morphologically and physiologically with Serratia species, which they resembled superficially. The pigment produced by the marine isolates was shown to be similar to prodigiosin, the red pigment of S. marcescens. The isolates had a single polar flagel-lum, were oxidative, and did not produce acetoin from glucose or reduce nitrates, which made them distinct from both S. marcescens and S. marinorubra. The latter conformed well to the descriptions of S. marcescens in Bergey's Manual. The marine isolates displayed an absolute growth requirement for sea water or its equivalent. The growth requirement for sea water was re-placed by sea-water levels of sodium, potassium, and magnesium chloride. Pigment was produced only when this salt mixture was further supplemented with calcium chloride. Neither sea water nor a high salt level was required for growth or prodigiosin synthesis by the Serratia species examined.


Over $1.7 billion has been spent on the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) since 1985. The purpose of this study is to show that these expenditures have aided the environment. Rather than quantify changes in environmental variables, a spatial econometric model is used to test if CRP enrollments are greater in counties with poorer environmental quality. In seven of nine regions, CRP enrollments are higher in counties with an environmental concern. This positive finding justifies past expenditures by the CRP and supports continued funding as an environmental program. The CRP is targeting current environmental concerns that will lead to future improvement.


Context: Onychomycosis refers to the fungal infection of the nail bed and secondarily of the nail plate.
In HIV infection it is characterized by being clinically more aggressive, with rapid spread to the feet and
hands, having higher frequency of proximal white subungual type.
Setting and design: The study was conducted for a period of 12 months. During this period a total of 325 HIV positive
patients who attended the dermatology out patients department were screened for the features of onychomycosis and
48 clinically diagnosed cases of onychomycosis were selected for the study. 40 HIV negative cases with onychomycosis
were selected as controls.
Aim: To find out the clinical pattern of onychomycosis in HIV infected individuals with special reference to common site
affected, type of onychomycosis and to isolate the pathogens responsible for the disease and to compare it with the
control group.
Methods and Materials: 48 clinically diagnosed cases of onychomycosis with HIV were taken into study. Nails were
examined clinically to find out the pattern of involvement. Nail clippings were subjected to KOH direct microscopy and
fungal culture.40 patients with onychomycosis who were negative for HIV were taken as controls.
Statistical analysis: P value was found out using Fisher's exact test
Results: Commonest age group affected was 25-34 years (45.80%). Thickening and opacification of nails was the commonest
presentation noted. Toe nails either alone or with finger nails affected in 79.15%.Distal and lateral subungual
onychomycosis was the commonest clinical type found in 33 (82.5%) patients. Proximal subungual onychomycosis alone
was seen in 2(4.16%) and combination in 4(8.33%) patients whereas that was not observed in any of the patients in the
control group. Direct microscopy of the nail clipping was positive in 19(39.50%) patients and culture was positive in
15(31.25%).Trichophyton Rubrum in 6(40%), Candida Albicans in 5(33.33%) were the important pathogens isolated.
Conclusion: In our study thickening and opacification of the nail was the commonest nail change with toe nail involvement
in most of the cases. PSOM was seen only in HIV with Trichophyton Rubrum as the main pathogen.


Most manufacturing industries in Nigeria are currently experiencing hardship due to the high increase in price of diesel for fuelling the generating sets as alternate power supply because of epileptic power supply in the country. This has led to many industries relocating outside the country, loss of job and increment in price of goods and services. The aim of the study is to examine the threat facing the Nigerian manufacturing industries using generating sets as their alternate source of power. Some industries were considered in this research and in which some of the challenges facing the industry were itemized. Part of these problems includes; cost of fuelling and maintaining the generators, down time by the generating sets when there is break down of equipment and facilities, inability to satisfy the customer's needs on time due to irregular power supply. This research established the amount of fuel used by each of these industries visited to power their generators daily, weekly, monthly and also yearly, compared with the amount paid to Distribution Company (public utility). But these industries couldn't depend solely on the public utility power for their operations due to the epileptic power supply in the country. Hence, the necessity for a steady power supply using public utility is very important thereby reducing the cost of fuelling of generating set and cost of production of goods and services.


Financial regulators have recently faced enhanced judicial scrutiny of their cost-benefit analysis (CBA) in advance of significant reforms. One facet of this scrutiny is judicial skepticism toward experimentation (and the real option to abandon) in the CBA calculus. That is, agencies have arguably been discouraged from counting as a benefit the value of information obtained through adopting new regulations on a provisional basis, with an option to revert to the status quo in the future. We study field experimentation versus more conventional forms of CBA (or analytic learning) in a regulatory-judicial hierarchical model. We demonstrate that there is no principled basis for dismissing (or demoting) experimentalism and that such rationales deserve a place in agencies' standard CBA arsenals. Nevertheless, our analysis also reveals an institutional reason for the tension between the judiciary and regulators, suggesting that regulators are plausibly too eager to embrace field experimentation while judges are simultaneously too recalcitrant.


Ecologically important traits of insects are often affected by facultative bacterial endosymbionts. This is best studied in the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum, which is frequently infected by one or more of eight facultative symbiont species. Many of these symbiont species have been shown to provide one ecological benefit, but we have little understanding of the range of effects that a single strain can have. Here, we describe the phenotypes conferred by three strains of the recently discovered bacterium known as X‐type (Enterobacteriaceae), each in their original aphid genotype which also carries a Spiroplasma symbiont. All comparisons are made between aphids that are coinfected with Spiroplasma and X‐type and aphids of the same genotype that harbour only Spiroplasma. We show that in all cases, infection with X‐type protects aphids from the lethal fungal pathogen Pandora neoaphidis, and in two cases, resistance to the parasitoid Aphidius ervi also increases. X‐type can additionally affect aphid stress responses – the presence of X‐type increased reproduction after the aphids were heat‐stressed. Two of the three strains of X‐type are able to provide all of these benefits. Under benign conditions, the aphids tended to suffer from reduced fecundity when harbouring X‐type, a mechanism that might maintain intermediate frequencies in field populations. These findings highlight that a single strain of a facultative endosymbiont has the potential to provide diverse benefits to its aphid host.


The second part of the results based on a glasshouse experiment. The inoculant effectiveness of 4 VA mycorrhizal fungi and 1 ectomycorrhizal fungus alone or in combination on the growth of Eucalyptus globulus and E. urophylla saplings was reported. There were substantial differences on the growth among treatments (P < 0.005). Large responses of height growth and biomass stimulated by fungal inoculation were observed for both plants during 16-week growing in a sterilized Karrakatta yellow sand. Average heights of inoculated E. globulus and E. urophylla seedlings were respectively increased by up to 28.86% (Laccaria+Scutellospora, LS) and 86.65% (Laccaria+Glomus, LG), compared to those of uninoculated ones at 16 weeks after inoculation. Dry weights of sapling were up to 129.93% (tops) and 119.93% (roots) for E. globulus, 133.34% (tops) and 174.83% (roots) for E. urophylla respectively relative to controls. The growths of both plants were more significantly enhanced by dual inoculation with Laccaria and one of 4 VA mycorrhizal fungi than those inoculated individually. There were strong interactions between fungal colonization and plant growth, which reflected the inoculation efficacy. Ectomycorrhizal fungi had a major impact on root system form-substantially reducing the proportion of fine roots (specific root length), but this did not occur when only VAM fungi were present. The results also revealed that phosphorus level in soils greatly affected the growth of plants and interacted fungal efficacy as well.


Abstract The rice weevil Sitophilus oryzae is considered the major problem in stored rice in Sri Lanka. Due to the adverse effects of pesticide usage, research on the re-evaluation and use of many ethnobotanicals as alternative storage pest control agents has been intensified. Although plant materials with insecticidal properties provide small-scale farmers with a locally available, eco-friendly and inexpensive method of control of storage insect pests, lack of understanding and knowledge prevent their widespread application. The present study was therefore undertaken to investigate the effectiveness of the botanical Olax zeylanica in controlling infestations of the rice weevil with the view of fulfilling this lack. In two separate bioassays, c ontact/feeding and fumigant toxicity of powdered leaves of O. zeylanica were tested against 1-7 days old adults under laboratory conditions. All experiments were conducted using a no-choice bioassay apparatus. Contact/feeding toxicity was tested by directly exposing weevils to 1.0, 3.0, 5.0 and 7.5g of leaf powder mixed with 100g of rice grains while f umigant toxicity was evaluated by using the same doses where weevils were exposed to fumes emitted from the leaf powders. In both bioassays 100% mortality of the weevils was observed within 18 hours of exposure to 3.0, 5.0 and 7.5g doses of leaf powder. Percentage weevil mortality in treated rice tested with three doses of leaf powder at all the time intervals (except for 1.0g) was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than that of the corresponding control. No Contact/feeding toxicity was recorded when weevils were directly exposed to 1.0g leaf powder whereas only 14% weevil mortality was observed even after 24hours of exposure to fumes of leaf powder. Results also revealed that weevil mortality increased both with increasing dose and time of exposure. It is of interest to note that in both bioassays a 100% weevil mortality was obtained after 18 hours of exposure to a lower amount of leaf powder such as 3.0g, when the adults were either directly exposed to the leaf powder or to its fumes. Moreover, LD 50 values of 2.55g and 2.08g for leaf powders obtained after 12 hours of exposure to insects in contact /feeding toxicity test and fumigation test respectively indicated that leaf powder is more toxic to weevils when they were in direct contact with it. Findings of the present study bears out the exceptionally high efficacy of O. zeylanica leaves applied directly mixed with the food material or introduced as a fumigant to suppress weevil infestations in stored grains and strengthen the possibility of using this plant as an alternative to synthetic chemicals in storage pest management. Keywords : Olax zeylanica, Sitophilus oryzae, Direct Contact/Feeding Toxicity, Direct Fumigation Toxicity


This study analyses the price adjustment of the U.S beef sector using monthly prices of the farm, wholesale and retail levels for the period of 1970-2014. The objectives are to investigate both speed and magnitude of price adjustment. To this purpose, the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) and historical decomposition graphs are applied. The results indicate that retail prices have lower speed of adjustment than wholesale prices. Also, the magnitude of price adjustment in the presence of the Great Recession shock, as an exogenous shock, is different for each level of the U.S. beef marketing chain such that wholesale prices show a higher magnitude of price adjustment toward the long-run equilibrium. Finally, it is concluded that with respect to both speed and magnitude of the price adjustment, the U.S. beef sector has asymmetric price adjustment, pointing to inefficiency of the U.S. beef supply chain. These results have welfare implications for the U.S. beef consumers and producers.


Eating disorders have increased drastically in recent decades. They are also the deadliest of all psychological disorders. To date, research has elucidated successful treatment procedures for particular eating disorders (e.g., Binge Eating Disorder and Bulimia Nervosa), but struggled to identify efficacious treatment for others (e.g., Anorexia Nervosa). Eating disorders are often accompanied by serious health repercussions, making treatment efficacy and efficiency more imperative. Up until recently, research on eating disorders has focused almost solely on Caucasian, middle-class females. However, recent research indicates eating disorders are also prevalent in minority groups, and treatment specifications for these groups are limited. It is an ethical responsibility to provide the best care to clients, and without proper cultural consideration for minority groups and subsequent tailored interventions, minorities will continue to receive subpar care. This paper reviews etiological factors for eating disorders, identifies current treatment standards, and suggests cultural influences that may impact treatment among females.


Whereas for many truths, truthmaker theory offers a plausible account, there are certain kinds of truths for which the theory seems less helpful: principally (though not exclusively) analytic truths. I argue that an augmentation of the usual idea of truthmakers can solve this problem. Moreover that once solved we are able to look afresh at the nature of mathematics, whether conceived as analytic or synthetic, necessary or contingent, and reduce the ontological options. I also argue that it was Quine's reformulation of analyticity, deployed in place of the correct Leibniz-Wolff-Kant account, which led to his holistic account of knowledge and pragmatist account of scientific revisability.


Floral organogenesis of Titanotrichum oldhamii (Hemsl.) Soler., the only species in the genus and endemic to East Asia, was observed under SEM. We found that the development of calyx, corolla and androecium belongs to pentamerous pattern. They come respectively from primordia of calyx, corolla and androecium, and all differentiated from the flower primordium. The zygomorphism of corolla and androecium is derived from quicker growth of the upper lip of corolla and delay in development of the staminode. Initiation of sepal primordia and their development are not consistent in order; the order of initiation is from adaxial central primordium, abaxial two primordia and finally lateral two primordia, while the order of development is first adaxial central sepal, lateral two and finally abaxial two. Sepals are valvate in flower bud. Initiation of corolla lobe primordia and their development are consistent in order, i.e. first abaxial central lobe (central lobe of the lower lip), lateral two (lateral two lobes of the lower lip) and finally adaxial two (two lobes of the upper lip). The aestivation of corolla is imbricate, and the order from outside to inside is the central lobe of the lower lip, lateral two of the lower lip, and finally two of the upper lip or lateral two lobes of the lower lip, two of the upper lip and central one of the lower lip. Stamen primordia are alternate to the corolla lobe primordia, with the anterior two primordia later than the posterior two in initiation; staminode primordium is simultaneous with the posterior two in initiation, but smaller, and opposite to the adaxial carpel (upper lip of stigma). Compared to the patterns of floral organogenesis of Rehmannia (Scrophulariaceae), Whytockia and Rhynchoglossum (Gesneriaceae), the present authors found that the floral organogenesis is diverse and does not form two distinct patterns among these four genera. Based on the results we tend to consider that the conventional demarcation between the Scrophulariaceae and Gesneriaceae using number of ovary locules (two vs one) and placentation (axile vs parietal) is questionable.


Methods: 361 Han Chinese elderly in Beijing were included. These subjects underwent the following procedures: (1) Personal medical history and physical examination; (2) Routine blood chemistry and urine analysis; (3) Left ventricular mass index was obtained by echocardiography, and ultrasound evaluation of carotid intima-media thickness. We tested the genotypes of six single nucleotide polymorphisms on chromosome 9p21 (rs2383206, rs10965234, rs10965235, rs10757277, rs10811656 and rs1333047).

Results: For the SNP rs2383206, Genotypes with allele A (AA/AG) was significantly associated with higher CCA IMT (p=0.003). For the SNP rs1075277, Genotypes with allele A (AA/AG) was significantly associated with higher CCA IMT as well (p=0.021). This phenomenon was not observed in ICA IMT and LVH. After adjustment for age, sex, BMI, SBP, DBP, TC, FPG, general linear regression analysis demonstrated that age (?=0.145, p=0.009) and rs1075277 (?=-0.115, p=0.037) were independently associated with CCA IMT. But there was no association between rs2383206 with CCA IMT.

Conclusions: In a cross-sectional study of Han Chinese elderly in Beijing, chromosome 9p21 locus showed a significant association with carotid atherosclerosis, especially CCA IMT. However, there was no association between 9p21and LVH.


In this paper a game is used to compare the licensing of a cost reduction innovations under lost profits (LP) and unjust enrichment (UE), both damage rules that are used by courts in the calculation of damages when a patent has been infringed. The market is composed by two homogeneous firms that compete in quantities (Cournot), both firmas produces a homogeneous good. One of the firms (patent holder) develops a cost reduction innovation (drastic or non-drastic) and got a patent for this innovation. Under the shadow of probabilistic property rights, It is founded that licensing by using royalty rate is preferred compared with fixed fees, also it is observable little licensing (just big innovations). By comparing LP against UE, it is concluded that for drastic innovation the patentee and licensee are better off under LP. However social welfare is greater under UE. In the case of a non drastic innovation the results do not show a rule better than the other one.


The observed durations of prompt gamma-ray emission from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are often used to infer the progenitors and energetics of the sources. Inaccurate duration measurements will have a significant impact on constraining the processes powering the bursts. The "tip-of-the-iceberg" effect describes how the observed signal is lost into background noise; lower instrument sensitivity leads to higher measurement bias. In this study, we investigate how observing conditions, such as the number of enabled detectors, background level, and incident angle of the source relative to the detector plane, affect the measured duration of GRB prompt emission observed with the Burst Alert Telescope on board the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory (Swift/BAT). We generate "simple-pulse" light curves from an analytical fast rise exponential decay function and from a sample of eight real GRB light curves. We fold these through the Swift/BAT instrument response function to simulate light curves Swift/BAT would have observed for specific observing conditions. We find duration measurements are highly sensitive to observing conditions and the incident angle of the source has the highest impact on measurement bias. In most cases duration measurements of synthetic light curves are significantly shorter than the true burst duration. For the majority of our sample, the percentage of duration measurements consistent with the true duration is as low as ∼25%–45%. In this article, we provide quantification of the tip-of-the-iceberg effect on GRB light curves due to Swift/BAT instrumental effects for several unique light curves.


Carbon fiber reinforced aluminum layer laminate (CARALL), which were consisted of various numbers of CFRP prepregs, adhesive films and aluminum sheets, were fabricated by an autoclave. Impact damage behaviors of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) and CARALL were investigated. The impact damage resistance of CARALL was significantly higher than that of CFRP. Compression after impact (CAI) tests was conducted to investigate the effect of impact damage on the compression strength of CARALL and CFRP specimens. The CAI strength of CFRP and CARALL decreased with increase of impact energy. However, CAI strength of CARALL is higher than that of CFRP, which can be attributed to the excellent impact damage absorbability of aluminum sheet in CARALL.


: An account is given of the "oxygen theory" of biomagnetic effects, whereby molecular oxygen is the primary, elementary, and fundamental material affected by the influence of a permanent magnetic field (PMF). The ability of a PMF to alter inductively the motion of paramagnetic O2 dissolved in a fluid, and to uncouple it from other substances which participate in oxidative processes leads, first of all, to a disturbance of O2 transport and to a disturbance of cellular bioenergetic processes. A series of biomagnetic effects are explainable on the basis of the suggested mechanism. Experimental data regarding changes in pO2 in tumor tissue under the influence of a PMF, and data concerning the inhibition of growth of reinoculated tumors (Pliss' lymphosarcoma and RS-1) under the combined influence of PMF and hypothermia, are given as indirect support of the oxygen mechanism of PMF effects and the oxygen-peroxide mechanism of carcinogenesis.


The Japanese word, Ikumen which originated from Ikemen (handsome men) refers to those "cool" fathers who are actively involved in caring for their own children. This word has become well-known among the Japanese public as evidenced by it being nominated one of the top 10 words in 2010 Buzzwords-of-the-Year Contest. In this lecture, we focus on this Ikumen phenomenon by describing historical and contemporary social, economic and political factors that contributed to the increase of Japanese fathers' participation in child care. Antecedents and consequences of fathers' participation in child care will also be examined from sociological perspectives. Most of the findings presented in this lecture come from the data collected in two projects, "Gender Sensitive Approaches to Work-Life-Balance" and "Parenting in IT Society." Our analyses show that workplace factors as well as family socialization are significant factors affecting paternal involvement. Implications of our research findings will also be discussed in relation to policies, education and practice.


Artificial intelligence is currently powering diverse real-world applications. These applications have shown promising performance, but raise complicated ethical issues, i.e. how to embed ethics to make AI applications behave morally. One way toward moral AI systems is by imitating human prosocial behavior and encouraging some form of good behavior in systems. However, learning such normative ethics (especially from images) is challenging mainly due to a lack of data and labeling complexity. Here, we propose a model that predicts visual commonsense immorality in a zero-shot manner. We train our model with an ETHICS dataset (a pair of text and morality annotation) via a CLIP-based image-text joint embedding. In a testing phase, the immorality of an unseen image is predicted. We evaluate our model with existing moral/immoral image datasets and show fair prediction performance consistent with human intuitions. Further, we create a visual commonsense immorality benchmark with more general and extensive immoral visual contents. Codes and dataset are available at https://github.com/ku-vai/Zero-shot-Visual-Commonsense-Immorality-Prediction. Note that this paper might contain images and descriptions that are offensive in nature.


Will the current trend of the Industrial Age, focused on profits, greed, material wealth, and mass consumption continue? Inequality and polarization, which are seen in today's world, are ranked as the top drivers of global risks. Unequal community threatens democracy. Communities with greater inequality are more violent, have more people in prisons, more mental illness, lower life expectancy etc.. On the other hand, communities with greater equality have higher abundance and lower stress. Among eleven factors most important for classroom learning, social and emotional factors accounted for eight. Our emotional and social IQ developed over millennia of living in groups will continue to be one of the vital assets that give human workers necessary tools for creating and building a world of 21st century. Today's education system is based on the model which was essential for industrial era and mass production. With fast technological development the approach to teaching should be changed. We need new curriculums for new skills and new learning concepts. The aim of the article is to raise awareness regarding the planet's and mankind's future and to stress the importance of education and designation between résumé virtues and the eulogy virtues.


The Brazilian Atlantic Forest is one of the world's major biodiversity hotspots and is threatened by a severe habitat loss. Yet little is known about the processes that originated its remarkable richness of endemic species. Here we present results of a large‐scale survey of the genetic variation at the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of the pitviper, jararaca lancehead (Bothrops jararaca), and two closely related insular species (Bothrops insularis and Bothrops alcatraz), endemic of this region. Phylogenetic and network analyses revealed the existence of two well‐supported clades, exhibiting a southern and a northern distribution. The divergence time of these two phylogroups was estimated at 3.8 million years ago, in the Pliocene, a period of intense climatic changes and frequent fragmentation of the tropical rainforest. Our data also suggest that the two groups underwent a large size expansion between 50 000 and 100 000 years ago. However, the southern group showed a more marked signal of population size fluctuation than the northern group, corroborating evidences that southern forests may have suffered a more pronounced reduction in area in the late Pleistocene. The insular species B. alcatraz and B. insularis presented very low diversity, each one sharing haplotypes with mainland individuals placed in different subclades. Despite their marked morphological and behavioural uniqueness, these two insular species seem to have originated very recently and most likely from distinct costal B. jararaca populations, possibly associated with late Pleistocene or Holocene sea level fluctuations.