Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) is a commonly used secondary high explosive in various industrial and military munitions. The stability and chemical compatibility plays a vital role in use of this explosive material. Earlier studies show the presence of other compounds effect the thermal stability of high energetic materials. The present work is aimed at studying the changes in decomposition pattern of PETN in presence of Oxalic acid (OA). Results provide clue about the manner in which the decomposition takes place and the nature of intermediate products that are being formed during the course of decomposition.


To sum up MCPs from the skin of tilapia could accelerate the
healing process and improve the healing effect of skin scald
wounds by reducing inflammation, promoting granulation tissue
formation, and facilitating rapid proliferation of epithelial cells,
endothelial cells and fibroblasts.
I recommend that this kind of treatment should be used in the
Middle east because of the availably of Nile tilapia fish which
makes it cheaper than other courses of treatment and more
sufficient and has better results in healing wounds.


Nucellar tissue cultures of polyembryonic Citrus sinensis cultivar Valencia Late and Citrus limon cultivar Rough Lemon produced somatic embryos within 60 days of culture on Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal medium supplemented with 0.4 g l-1 of filter-sterilised casein hydrolysate or 10% coconut water. Embryos that were separated and subcultured in MS media containing casein hydrolysate or coconut water but without hormones, first developed roots within 4 to 8 months and then shoots within 6 to 9 months of in vitro culture. Plantlets were transplanted to soil from 7 to 9 months after initiation. Callus-like tissue consisting of pseudobulbils was observed after 4 to 5 months from the time of initiation. Pseudobulbils developed into visible embryos with multiple cotyledons when subcultured into MS media containing casein hydrolysate or 10% coconut water after 19 to 27 days of in vitro culture. These embryos produced plantlets in which roots developed after 6 to 10 months and shoots formed after 8 to 11 months from the time of initiation.

Key Words: Citrus, nucellar embryo culture, somatic embryogenesis
(African Crop Science Journal: 2000, 8(2): 109-116)


OBJECTIVES
Treatment protocols derived from research literature can help therapists provide more rigorous treatment and more systematic assessment of client progress.

METHOD
This study applied research findings about the influence of task, subject, and feedback parameters on adult performance with block designs to an occupational therapy treatment protocol for parquetry block assembly--an activity occupational therapists use to remediate constructional deficits. Task parameter research suggests that parquetry tasks can be graded according to the features of the design cards, with cards having all block boundaries drawn in being easier than those with some block boundaries omitted.

RESULTS
Subject parameter findings suggest that clients' lesions and initial constructional competence can influence their approaches to parquetry tasks.

CONCLUSION
Feedback parameter research suggests that a combination of perceptual and planning cues is most effective for parquetry tasks. Methods to help clients transfer constructional skills from parquetry to functional tasks are also discussed.


The wiki was rather aptly described by Ward Cunningham as 'the simplest online database that could possibly work'. Wiki implementations are available for almost every system, even the most unexpected, and the concept is mature enough to take seriously as one of a number of possible enabling technologies for computer-mediated communication and information storage and retrieval. When considering the addition of a wiki implementation into a given environment, it is nonetheless important to ensure that the application chosen has the right span of features for the user requirements; furthermore that the expected users are comfortable with the software, its capabilities, and the intended community


Managed grasslands are characterized by rotations of leys and arable phases. Soil structure is inherited from the last tillage operations (ploughing, harrowing) and evolves during the leys because of climate, earthworms and roots activity, fertilisation, cutting operations or cattle trampling. We tested the effects of the duration of the leys, cattle trampling, and fertilisation on the infiltration of water in the soil profile in managed grasslands. The experiment was situated within the dairy crop rotation on loamy sand at the Foulum experimental farm (Denmark). Irrigation experiments were performed in the 1st and the 3rd year of pasture, with or without slurry application or grazing, and in winter rye. Each plot was irrigated during an hour with 18.5 mm of water containing a non-reactive tracer (KBr). 24 hours after the irrigation, macropores larger than 1 mm were recorded on horizontal plan at five depths (0.1, 0.3, 0.4, 0.75 and 1.0 m), Bromide concentration in soil was analysed at the same depths and the density of earthworm was recorded. The density of macropores was not directly influenced by the factors tested. Abundance of anecic earthworms was larger after three years of pasture and was not affected by grazing or by fertilisation. Water infiltration rate was not influenced by fertilisation. Infiltration rate was reduced after three years of pasture due to settlement, but exceeded infiltration rate in the arable phase of the rotation. Infiltration pattern in plots in grazing regime indicated occurrence of preferential flows down to 0.4 m depth. Rain water may bypass the soil matrix under similar or more extreme conditions than this experiment. We expect such hydraulic functioning to reduce the risk of leaching the nitrate contained in the soil water.


The present study was conducted in six fish markets of Rajshahi city during July 2011 to June 2012. The main objectives of this study was to investigate the marketing channel, marketing cost, marketing margin and the problems associated with fresh fish marketing in Rajshahi city in order to provide recommendations for better fish marketing system. Primary data were collected from 50 fish traders and 150 consumers through previously prepared questionnaires and the secondary source of information consist of published materials such as journals, textbooks, newspaper etc. The results of this study revealed 10 fish marketing channels in fresh fish marketing. The highest and lowest average fish price were recorded as USD 5.99/kg and USD 1.89/kg for cat fish and snake heads respectively. Average marketing cost was found as 6.27% of the final retail price. The market margins for all intermediaries varied from 23.37% for cat fish to 48.57% for prawn species with an average of 40.75%. In contrast, producers' or fishermen's share ranged from 51.43% for prawn species to 76.63% for cat fish with an average of 59.25%. The major problems associated with the fish marketing were- presence of long fish marketing channels, involvement of unnecessary middlemen, inadequate and unplanned infrastructural development, rough and unhygienic method of handling, improper and insufficient use of ice, contamination and lack of knowledge on quality aspects among fish traders, insufficient hygienic auction and retail spaces, absence of cold storage facility, inadequate drainage facilities and lack of modern weighing system. Introducing government fish shops, planned infrastructural development of fish markets, introduction of wholesaling and retailing facilities, provision for government and private funding assistance for fish traders, hygienic conditions of landing centers and markets, training and extension works in marketing and management of relevant market research, formation of fishermen or fish producers' cooperative society, sufficient auction and retail places, improved sanitation and drainage system, digital weighing system, government run fish transportation system with proper storage facilities are recommended for more efficient fresh fish marketing system in Rajshahi city. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/on.v10i1.7773


An active target with plastic scintillating fibers has been constructed. This active target serves as a production target of hyperons, as well as a scattering target, and works as a 4/spl pi/-detector for charged particles. This system is designed for measurements of hyperon-proton scattering for hyperon momenta of several hundred MeV/c. A spectrometer system for the incident beam and outgoing particles of the hyperon production reaction is linked with this target-detector in order to provide triggers for the imaging device of this detector system. As a control of this detector, the decay constant of the /spl Sigma//sup -/ hyperon has been evaluated.


Delays in the freshwater spawning migrations of anadromous fishes at upstream barriers are well documented, but underlying mechanisms causing slowed migrations are seldom known. Using acoustic accelerometer transmitters and generalized linear models, I investigated how alterations in flow at a diversion dam in British Columbia, Canada, affected the activity, behaviour and passage success of a Fraser River sockeye salmon population (Oncorhynchus nerka). Spilling excess water through the radial gate of the dam decreased the attraction efficiency of a vertical-slot fishway by 90% and increased delay below the dam by 2 h, which had adverse effects on passage. Relative to males, female sockeye salmon had significantly lower passage success (73% vs. 94%), attraction efficiency (79% vs. 100%) and passage efficiency (89% vs. 94%) at a fishway, delayed longer in the dam tailrace (mean ± standard error (SE): 20.8 ± 4.1 h vs. 14.6 ± 3.2 h), and resorted to anaerobic swimming efforts for a greater percentage of time (0 – 61.3% vs. 0.7 – 2.7%). Given that the persistence of Pacific salmon populations relies on the spawning success of females, understanding how males and females vary in their response to modified flow regimes will improve the management of complex fish-


The presence of highly electronegative atoms in Li-ion batteries anticipates the formation of σ-hole regions that may strongly affect the ionic conductivity. The σ-hole consists of a region of positive electrostatic potential extending in the direction of the covalent bond between atoms of groups IV–VII due to anisotropic charge distribution. Graphite electrodes in Li-ion batteries that become halogenated due to the electrolyte, as well as some solid electrolyte materials, can exhibit these σ-holes. Since Li-ions should be able to drift in any part of the battery, the fact that they can be attracted and eventually absorbed by regions of strong negative potentials produced by high-electronegativity counterions becomes detrimental to ionic conductivity. Therefore, the presence of positive well-defined regions, repulsive to the Li-ions, might act as lubricant for Li-ions drifting through electrolytes, thus improving the Li-ion conductivity. In addition, the σ-holes might also have a strong effect on the formation of the passivating layer, known as the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) at electrode surfaces, which is of paramount importance for the performance of rechargeable batteries. Here we investigate the existence of σ-holes on surfaces of graphite anodes and of a few solid electrolytes by examining the electrostatic potentials calculated using density functional theory.


American Needle, Inc. v. National Football League decisively rejected the argument that a professional sports league is a "single entity" exempt from Section I antitrust scrutiny, yet this immunity argument had barely been interred before some commentators sought to articulate alternative grounds for immunizing sports leagues and other joint ventures from scrutiny. This Essay argues that these new theories of sports league immunity – one of them based on American Needle itself, and another rooted in an enigmatic statement by the Supreme Court, in Texaco Inc. v. Dagher, about the "core functions" of joint ventures – are inconsistent with both American Needle and with bedrock principles of antitrust law.


HiRadMat is a new facility under construction at CERN that will provide the users with the possibility to investigate the behavior of materials when irradiated with pulsed high energy and high intensity beams extracted from the CERN SPS. The need for such a facility was raised by the LHC collimation project to expand our present knowledge about the resistance of materials under impact with high energy protons. This paper will discuss the material parameters for which a deeper knowledge would be needed for extensive use in high-energy accelerators, and the kind of test that can be conducted in HiRadMat to improve this knowledge. In particular we will discuss destructive testing, meaning test of materials beyond the limit of rupture or at phase change, and damage testing that should reveal changes in materials properties due to long term irradiation below the rupture limit. The facility could be used as well for calibration of radiation detectors like BLMs. The main difficulty connected with the test is how to observe material changes. Some preliminary ideas on on-line and postirradiation tests will be outlined.


ABSTRACT The run-up features of breaking solitary waves over a plane sloping beach are described using both high-speed images and a systematic data analysis. Experiments were conducted in a smooth, rectangular and prismatic channel. The main hydraulic parameters investigated include relative wave height, stillwater depth, and channel bottom inclination. The various types of wave breaking are discussed, including the plunging, spilling, and surging breaker types in addition to the amplitude evolution due to wave shoaling. Furthermore, the generation and propagation of bores is examined. A detailed data analysis, based on hydraulic similitude, allows for deriving mathematical expressions that are considered to represent the observed wave features. The research includes film-like image series describing the wave run-up features, allowing for a description of the flow complexities observed and the beauties associated with wave run-up. This research excludes a numerical analysis, given the complexities due to turbulence generation and air entrainment.


OBJECTIVE
To present the technique for intra-articular catheter placement and report the clinical outcomes of 38 cases of equine synovial trauma and/or infection treated with broad-spectrum antimicrobials administered via an intrasynovial catheter (ISC).

DESIGN
Retrospective study.

PROCEDURE
Medical records of 38 horses treated for synovial trauma and sepsis with frequent antimicrobial administration through an ISC from 1995 to 2008 were reviewed. Follow-up information was obtained via clinical re-evaluation or telephone contact with the owners.

RESULTS
The majority of horses (84%) received amikacin and Timentin(R) four times daily. In addition, synovial lavage through the ISC was carried out in 27 horses (71%). Only radiological evidence of osteolysis had a significant negative impact on both lameness at the time of hospital discharge and the long-term outcome. In total, 92% of horses treated with frequent antimicrobial administration through an ISC had clinical resolution of infection. Catheter obstruction occurred in three cases, necessitating replacement or removal, and two synovial fistulae developed at sites of open drainage. The majority of horses treated had a favourable outcome, with 86% being at least pasture sound and 43% returned to riding.

CONCLUSION
Septic synovial structures treated with frequent antimicrobial administration through an ISC had a good prognosis for survival and 43% returned to riding, which is consistent with the results of other studies. The use of a simple ISC should be considered when broad-spectrum intrasynovial antimicrobial administration and lavage of a septic synovial structure are indicated.


In an era of multiparty, multijurisdictional, multidistrict litigation, federal cases have grown increasingly complex. As judges struggle to manage complicated cases, a new litigation paradigm has emerged. Rather than attempting to try all cases in one action, federal judges are now breaking the litigation down into smaller pieces, using "fast tracks" or "bellwether" cases, hoping that resolution of one or two cases will lead to settlement of the rest. Inevitably, because the cases involve identical fact issues and identical defendants, the doctrine of prior adjudication comes into play. This article identifies and analyzes significant issues that arise in the application of the doctrine of prior adjudication to multiparty, multijurisdictional, multidistrict litigation. These issues include: (1) whether issue preclusion applies where an appeal is pending; (2) whether invocation of issue preclusion is proper where its use would effectively foreclose the right to jury trial; (3) the issue preclusive effect of an order denying class certification; (4) whether a subsequent court is bound by the preclusion rules of the prior court; and (5) whether vacatur nullifies the issue preclusive effect of a judgment.


Research demonstrates that the negative relationship between Openness to Experience and conservatism is heightened among the informed. We extend this literature using national survey data (Study 1; N = 13,203) and data from students (Study 2; N = 311). As predicted, education – a correlate of political sophistication – strengthened the negative relationship between Openness and conservatism (Study 1). Study 2 employed a knowledge-based measure of political sophistication to show that the Openness × Political Sophistication interaction was restricted to the Openness aspect of Openness. These studies demonstrate that knowledge helps people align their ideology with their personality, but that the Openness × Political Sophistication interaction is specific to one aspect of Openness – nuances that are overlooked in the literature.


The relationship among job satisfaction, affective commitment, service-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty were examined for a sample of 249 hairstylists and 1 of their corresponding customers. Employee satisfaction was positively related to service-oriented OCBs, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty, whereas affective commitment was not related to these outcomes. The extent to which the predictor variables interacted with one another and the role of employment status on these relationships was also explored. High levels of job satisfaction or affective commitment resulted in more service-oriented OCBs for employees and self-employed workers, whereas high levels of both resulted in more service-oriented OCBs for owners.


Background: Publishing research papers for academic fraternity has become important for career advancement and promotion. Number of publications in peer reviewed journals and subsequent citations are recognized as measures of scientific success. Non-publishing academicians and researchers are invisible to the scientific community. Discussion: With pressure to publish, misconduct has crept into scientific writing with the result that research misconduct, plagiarism, misappropriation of intellectual property, and substantial unattributed textual copying of another′s publication have become common. The Office of Research Integrity, USA, defines research misconduct as "fabrication, falsification or plagiarism in proposing, performing or reviewing research, or in reporting research results." Although plagiarism is difficult to define in few words, it can be viewed as the stealing of another person′s ideas, methods, results, or words without giving proper attribution. The Office of Research Integrity defines plagiarism as being "theft or misappropriation of intellectual property and the substantial unattributed textual copying of another′s work." Plagiarism is one of the most vehemently derided breaches of research integrity as it undermines the original and honest contribution to an existing body of knowledge. Conclusion: Plagiarism has many forms viz. blatant plagiarism, technical plagiarism, patchwork plagiarism, and self-plagiarism. In any form, the plagiarism is a threat to the research integrity and is unacceptable. We do need to detect such acts and effectively prosecute the offenders.


This Article recovers the forgotten ideas about public constitutionalism in seventy published addresses given at cemetery dedications from Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story's address at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1831, to the addresses by Edward Everett and Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg in November 1863. It reveals an important, but forgotten, set of ideas that provided a precedent for Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Those addresses, including Lincoln's, reveal the centrality of constitutional values—as opposed to constitutional text—in framing Americans' interpretation of the Constitution. Pre-Civil War Americans had a vibrant public discussion of constitutional principles, in addition to constitutional text. These were ideas propagated on such diverse occasions as July Fourth celebrations, arguments in the Supreme Court, dedication of public monuments, lyceum addresses, and college literary society lectures. For Americans, especially those of the Whig Party, the Constitution was a key component of culture and a key unifier of the nation. Cemetery dedications are one place where Whigs turned to promote their constitutional values. The cemetery supported constitutional values of Union, respect for property, and obedience to the rule of law. Rural cemeteries promoted Whig constitutional ideals about order, patriotism, and Union. Those values were at the center of the debate over the response to secession and they were put into practice by soldiers along Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg in 1863. Lincoln's address at Gettysburg reflects the appeals to sentiment and Constitution that were so frequently invoked in the thirty years before the War. This hidden history reveals how those ideas mobilized support for Union and, thus, how public constitutional thought affected the actions of voters, jurists, and politicians.


Hunt and Kaloshin (1999) proved that it is possible to embed a compact
subset X of a Hilbert space with upper box-counting dimension d into RN for any
N > 2d+1, using a linear map L whose inverse is Holder continuous with exponent
α < (N - 2d)/N(1 + τ(X)/2), where τ(X) is the 'thickness exponent' of X. More
recently, Ott et al. (2006) conjectured that "many of the attractors associated with
the evolution equations of mathematical physics have thickness exponent zero".
In Chapter 2 we study orthogonal sequences in a Hilbert space H, whose
elements tend to zero, and similar sequences in the space c0 of null sequences.
These examples are used to show that Hunt and Kaloshin's result, and a related
result due to Robinson (2009) for subsets of Banach spaces, are asymptotically sharp.
An analogous argument shows that the embedding theorems proved by Robinson
(2010), in terms of the Assouad dimension, for the Hilbert and Banach space case
are asymptotically sharp.
In Chapter 3 we introduce a variant of the thickness exponent, the Lipschitz
deviation dev(X). We show that Hunt and Kaloshin's result and Corollary 3.9 in
Ott et al. (2006) remain true with the thickness replaced by the Lipschitz deviation.
We then prove that dev(X) = 0 for the attractors of a wide class of semilinear
parabolic equations, thus providing a partial answer to the conjecture of Ott, Hunt,
& Kaloshin.
In Chapter 4 we study the regularity of the vector field on the global attractor
associated with parabolic equations. We show that certain dissipative equations
possess a linear term that is log-Lipschitz continuous on the attractor. We then
prove that this property implies that the associated global attractor A lies within
a small neighbourhood of a smooth manifold, given as a Lipschitz graph over a
finite number of Fourier modes. This provides an alternative proof that the global
attractor A has zero Lipschitz deviation.
In Chapter 5 we use shape theory and the concept of cellularity to show that if
A is the global attractor associated with a dissipative partial differential equation in
a real Hilbert space H and the set A - A has finite Assouad dimension d, then there
is an ordinary differential equation in Rm+1, with m > d, that has unique solutions
and reproduces the dynamics on A. Moreover, the dynamical system generated by
this new ordinary differential equation has a global attractor X arbitrarily close to
LA, where L is a homeomorphism from A into Rm+1.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
The Asymptomatic Carotid Atherosclerosis Study (ACAS) Doppler validation study assessed the performance of individual Doppler machines across a spectrum of laboratories. We attempted to establish a threshold specific to individual machines to predict angiographically defined hemodynamic stenosis. The reliability of these Doppler ultrasound criteria was prospectively and independently evaluated among patients screened with ultrasound in the ACAS trial.

METHODS
Regression techniques were used to establish the relationship between Doppler velocity and percent stenosis by angiography for 63 specific Doppler machines. This relationship was used to establish a Doppler threshold to provide a 90% positive predictive value (PPV) of a 60% stenosis by angiography. The sensitivity of each Doppler machine to detect a 60% stenosis (at the 90% PPV threshold) was estimated. The efficacy of these Doppler thresholds was then prospectively evaluated by calculating the PPV among ACAS participants eligible by ultrasound.

RESULTS
Of the 63 machines, 13 (21%) had an excellent sensitivity (80%+) at 90% PPV. In 32 devices (51%) only a marginal sensitivity (50% to 80%) could be achieved. In 9 devices (14%) the sensitivity was poor (0% to 50%), and in 9 (14%) no threshold could be established. Despite the heterogeneity of Doppler performance, the standardization program worked as designed in the ACAS trial. Of 825 surgical patients, 399 were eligible by Doppler and 395 subsequently underwent angiography. Of these, 32 (8.1%; 95% confidence interval, 5.4% to 10.8%) did not have hemodynamically significant stenosis by arteriography, a proportion nonsignificantly lower than the planned 10% by the PPV.

CONCLUSIONS
The performance of Doppler ultrasound was highly variable. This suggests that Doppler performance is likely overstated in the literature, but specific devices may perform satisfactorily to detect individuals with hemodynamically significant stenosis. Because performance differs substantially among devices, local investigators are strongly urged to maintain local standardization series. With such standardization, ultrasound performance is sufficient for admission to clinical trials and as the is sufficient for admission to clinical trials and as the basis for carotid surgery. However, without quality control many ultrasound machines are not adequate to accurately predict the degree of carotid stenosis and should not be the only test to decide whether surgery is warranted.


A triaxial failure criterion was applied with the theory of plasticity to model the behavior of reinforced concrete structures subjected to impact loading. The concrete nonlinearity, the cracking in the concrete elements, and the loading and unloading were simulated using an elastic-plastic fracture model. The influence of the loading rate on the concrete can readily be introduced by modifying the level of the yield and loading surfaces if the necessary data are available. In tension, a smeared crack model was used with a tension-softening model for the retained postcracking stresses. The reinforcing bars were represented by tensile stiffeners that were smeared in the appropriate direction over the element cross section. Verification of the analytical procedure was carried out using previously published results from scale model tests on a reinforced microconcrete beam and a portal frame, as well as from a test on a full-scale reinforced concrete beam. It was found that the maximum impact load, the propagation of the cracks, and the failure modes can be predicted with reasonable accuracy using the proposed approach. The approach can be used in the design of reinforced concrete structures subjected to impact loads.


In pattern recognition, better classification or regression results usually depend on highly discriminative features (also known as attributes) of datasets. Machine learning plays a significant role in the performance improvement for classification and regression. Different from the conventional machine learning approaches which train all features in one batch by some predictive algorithms like neural networks and genetic algorithms, Incremental Attribute Learning (IAL) is a novel supervised machine learning approach which gradually trains one or more features step by step. Such a strategy enables features with greater discrimination abilities to be trained in an earlier step, and avoids interference among relevant features. Previous studies have confirmed that IAL is able to generate accurate results with lower error rates. If features with different discrimination abilities are sorted in different training order, the final results may be strongly influenced. Therefore, the way to sequentially sort features with some orderings and simultaneously reduce the pattern recognition error rates based on IAL inevitably becomes an important issue in this study.
 Compared with the applicable yet time-consuming contribution-based feature ordering methods which were derived in previous studies, more efficient feature ordering approaches for IAL are presented to tackle classification problems in this study. In the first approach, feature orderings are calculated by statistical correlations between input and output. The second approach is based on mutual information, which employs minimal-redundancy-maximal- relevance criterion (mRMR), a well-known feature selection method, for feature ordering. The third method is improved by Fisher's Linear Discriminant (FLD). Firstly, Single Discriminability (SD) of features is presented based on FLD, which can cope with both univariate and multivariate output classification problems. Secondly, a new feature ordering metric called Accumulative Discriminability (AD) is developed based on SD. This metric is designed for IAL classification with dynamic feature dimensions. It computes the multidimensional feature discrimination ability in each step for all imported features including those imported in previous steps during the IAL training. AD can be treated as a metric for accumulative effect, while SD only measures the one-dimensional feature discrimination ability in each step. Experimental results show that all these three approaches can exhibit better performance than the conventional one-batch training method. Furthermore, the results of AD are the best of the three, because AD is much fitter for the properties of IAL, where feature number in IAL is increasing.
 Moreover, studies on the combination use of feature ordering and selection in IAL is also presented in this thesis. As a pre-process of machine learning for pattern recognition, sometimes feature orderings are inevitably employed together with feature selection. Experimental results show that at times these integrated approaches can obtain a better performance than non-integrated approaches yet sometimes not. Additionally, feature ordering approaches for solving regression problems are also demonstrated in this study. Experimental results show that a proper feature ordering is also one of the key elements to enhance the accuracy of the results obtained.


Abstract We propose a new method to evaluate the diversity of ichnofossils from outcrop. Ichnodiversity (defined here as the number of ichnotaxa) characterizes paleoenvironmental conditions. However, the apparent numbers of ichnotaxa observed in outcrops are significantly affected by differences in areas of exposed outcrops. This study proposes a new method to evaluate ichnodiversity, independent of outcrop exposure bias, by using an image-resampling technique combined with the shareholder quorum subsampling method. In this method, the relationship between observed and detected numbers of ichnotaxa is estimated by subsampling from existing outcrop images. The relative diversity of ichnotaxa is obtained at a given value of the estimated coverage parameter, representing the ratio of the observed number of ichnotaxa to the actual diversity. The method was verified by analyzing artificial images of ichnoassemblages, and the method successfully estimated reasonable values of relative diversity of ichnotaxa. It was also suggested that the spatial distribution patterns of ichnofossils on the bedding planes does not affect the estimated intensity of ichnodiversity when using this method. This method was also applied to field data pertaining to deposits of the submarine channel-levee complex in the Oligocene Izaki Olistolith of the Nichinan Group, southwest Japan. As a result, the ichnodiversity of the successions in the Izaki Olistolith was reconstructed to be relatively high in channel deposits and low in levee deposits.


INTRODUCTION
Diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is a major complication of diabetes mellitus, as it can physically and emotionally impact the person. Its management can be challenging and expensive depending on severity of the wound and presence of infection.

BACKGROUND
The fat-soluble molecule, vitamin D has gained great importance ever since its pleiotropism has been recognized. Its efficacy could be attributed to the presence of the vitamin D receptors in most of the body tissues. Vitamin D plays a significant role in cell proliferation, differentiation, and immune modulation. It modulates the T and B cells resulting in the suppression of the immunoglobulins, autoimmunity, and inflammation.

METHODS
We performed a literature search with the objective to highlight the role of vitamin D in peripheral vascular disease and peripheral neuropathy, which are the major risk factors for DFU, as well as evidences of its role on wound healing and management of DFU.

RESULTS
Preclinical and clinical studies have shown that vitamin D influences multiple phases of wound healing and thereby accelerates the process. It modulates various cells involved in proliferation and remodelling phases. Vitamin D also enhances the expression of antimicrobial peptides that help to eliminate the microbes, as well as suppress the proinflammatory responses, while enhancing the anti-inflammatory responses.

CONCLUSION
This review concludes vitamin D to have a protective role in the immune and vascular system, improve glycaemic outcomes, and wound healing. Therefore, vitamin D could be a preferred adjuvant in the management of DFU.


pISSN: 2093-940X, eISSN: 2233-4718 Copyright c 2016 by The Korean College of Rheumatology. All rights reserved. This is a Free Access article, which permits unrestricted non-commerical use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Original Article Journal of Rheumatic Diseases Vol. 23, No. 6, December, 2016 https://doi.org/10.4078/jrd.2016.23.6.373


During a hypothetical severe accident in a pressurized water reactor (PWR), fission products (FPs) are released from the nuclear fuel and may reach the reactor containment building. Among the FPs, ruthenium is of particular interest due to its ability to form volatile oxide compounds in highly oxidizing conditions. In addition, ruthenium is a very hazardous compound because it is chemically toxic and also because of its radiotoxicity. The topic of ruthenium is examined in terms of nuclear safety issues. A review of the literature regarding ruthenium oxides properties, gaseous and aqueous chemistry is compiled. The study focuses on ruthenium tetroxide (RuO4), which is highly reactive and volatile and is the most likely gaseous chemical form under the conditions prevailing in the containment. The interactions between ruthenium oxides and containment surfaces, which could be most important in overall ruthenium behavior, are also discussed. Finally, an evaluation of the possible revolatilization phenomena of ruthenium adsorbed on PWR containment surfaces or dissolved in the sump under superoxidizing conditions (radiolysis) is also presented. In this case, ruthenium dioxide (RuO2) must also be considered. Knowledge of all these phenomena is required to accurately predict ruthenium behavior and to make a best-estimate assessment of the potential ruthenium source term.


Transforming growth factor beta1 (TGFbeta1) has been shown to exert strong inhibitory effects on adrenocortical cell steroidogenesis. However, the molecular targets of TGFbeta1 in adrenocortical cells appear to differ between species. Here, we report the first characterization of the regulatory effects of TGFbeta1 on the steroidogenic functions of the human adrenocortical tumor cell line NCI-H295R. After treatment with 2 ng/ml TGFbeta1 for 24 h, basal production of corticosterone, cortisol and androstenedione was dramatically decreased. When TGFbeta1 was added simultaneously with forskolin, the production of cortisol and 11-hydroxyandrostenedione was decreased by 85% whereas that of deoxycortisol was increased. When TGFbeta1 was added simultaneously with angiotensin II, aldosterone production was reduced by 80%. We observed that TGFbeta1 strongly inhibits forskolin-induced steroid 11beta-hydroxylase activity and CYP11B1 mRNA levels, as well as angiotensin II-induced aldosterone synthase activity and CYP11B2 mRNA levels. CYP11B1 and CYP11B2 gene products thus appear as the major steroidogenic enzymes down-regulated by TGFbeta1 in the human adrenocortical tumor cell line NCI-H295R.


Natural fruit finger drop in bananas is one of the major concerns of producers as well as consumers. The aim of this study was to estimate the genetic diversity among 15 diploid bananas with different levels of resistance to finger drop (RFD) using SSR and ISSR (inter-simple sequence repeat) markers, and assess the possibility of association of bands with RFD variables (v1 and v2) via nonparametric methodologies. Molecular genetic analysis revealed that the dendrogram generated by SSR markers used as co-dominant markers better discriminated the genotypes as to genome constitution, genealogy, and RFD. Although nonparametric tests are limited in terms of inferences, they are very useful when data do not follow normal distribution, such as the case in our study. Bananas are parthenocarpic, which hinders obtainment of representative genetic linkage maps and linkage studies due to small number of segregating populations; a pre-requisite for mapping and QTL studies. Therefore, non-conventional methodologies, such as nonparametric tests, become an attractive alternative to overcome this barrier. In our study, the nonparametric tests, Kruskal-Wallis and Spearman correlation, revealed negative and positive associations with RFD for 12 bands (7 from ISSR markers and 5 from SSR markers) with high positive and negative correlations. The results show potential for future sequencing of bands, obtaining sequence-characterized amplified region markers, validation, and subsequent possibility for application in marker-assisted selection in banana genetic breeding programs. This is the first report of the use of nonparametric statistics in attempt to evaluate the association between fruit finger drop and ISSR bands in Musa spp.


This study was designed to quantify the effect of soyhulls on N and AA digestibilities of soybean meal for growing pigs. Soyhulls were incorporated into 17% CP diets containing 33.25% soybean meal (SBM) at 0, 3, 6, or 9% (as-fed basis) and fed to 35-kg barrows to determine their effect on apparent and true digestibility of DM, GE, N, and AA measured at the terminal ileum. Positive and negative control diets containing 1.05% lysine were formulated with 35% SBM and 27% soy protein concentrate (SPC), respectively. A low-protein, casein-based diet was used to estimate endogenous AA losses. Soyhulls were incorporated into experimental diets at the expense of cornstarch, and SBM levels were adjusted to accommodate the contribution of CP from soyhulls. Fourteen pigs were surgically fitted with simple T-cannula at the distal ileum and fed the seven semipurified cornstarch diets based on a replicated 7 x 7 Latin square design. Each period lasted 7 d, with diet acclimation from d 1 to 5 and ileal sample collection for 12 h on d 6 and 7. Feed was offered at a level of 90 g/kg BW(0.75) in two equal portions at 0800 and 2000. Apparent ileal digestibilities of DM and GE decreased approximately six percentage units with the addition of soyhulls (linear, P < 0.05), whereas N was not affected. Both apparent and true ileal digestibilities of arginine, histidine, lysine, phenylalanine, aspartic acid, serine, and tyrosine also exhibited a decrease (linear, P < 0.05) of up to five percentage units with the addition of soyhulls. True ileal lysine digestibility of SBM decreased from 90.3 to 87.7% with the addition of 9% soyhulls. The endogenous nutrient fraction measured at the distal ileum was rich in proline, glutamic acid, and glycine, with losses greater than 1,000 mg/kg of DMI for each AA, and contained minimal amounts of tryptophan, methionine, and cystine. The current data suggest that a 0.2% decrease in some true ileal indispensable AA digestibilities may result with each 1% increase in soyhull inclusion in semipurified diets containing SBM as the sole source of AA as fed to growing pigs.


Neural word embedding approaches, due to their ability to capture semantic meanings of vocabulary terms, have recently gained attention of the information retrieval (IR) community and have shown promising results in improving ad hoc retrieval performance. It has been observed that these approaches are sensitive to various choices made during the learning of word embeddings and their usage, often leading to poor reproducibility. We study the effect of varying following two parameters, viz., i) the term normalization and ii) the choice of training collection, on ad hoc retrieval performance with word2vec and fastText embeddings. We present quantitative estimates of similarity of word vectors obtained under different settings, and use embeddings based query expansion task to understand the effects of these parameters on IR effectiveness.


This paper concerns a new Quantization Scheme for efficient encoding of waveforms below or about one bit per sample. This technique is then applied to the encoding of baseband residual signals to demonstrate the feasibility of (baseband) Residual Excited LPC at 2400 hit/sec. The technique called "Spherical Vector Quantization" is described in which a block of n consecutive samples is quantized as a vector. The magnitude of the vector is transmitted independently of the vector's orientation. This vector's orientation is vector quantized using a codebook which can be seen as representing a set of N points on a unit hypersphere. The cases for blocks of n = 8 and 24 are discussed which make use of results by Conway and Sloane on regular point lattices. For n = 8, the algorithm is detailed which solves both the problem of finding the closest point on the hypersphere and the problem of determining the index of that point. Experiments involving SVQ in coding the speech baseband residual are described which show in particular that subband coding does not contribute any quality improvement when SVQ is used.


BACKGROUND
The identification of biomarkers identifying onset of human immunodeficiency virus-associated dementia (HIV-D) is critical for diagnosis and the elucidation of pathophysiologic pathways.

OBJECTIVE
To examine the association between platelet decline from baseline and HIV-D.

DESIGN
Prospective cohort study within the North-East AIDS Dementia cohort.

SETTING
Four participating referral centers in the United States.

PARTICIPANTS
A total of 396 subjects with advanced human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection recruited between 1998 and 2003 and undergoing serial neurologic assessments. Eligibility criteria required CD4 cell counts less than 200/microL or less than 300/microL with evidence of cognitive impairment. A cohort subset without prevalent HIV-D at baseline and without incident HIV-D at the visit immediately after baseline was analyzed (n = 146). Main Outcome Measure Time to first diagnosis of HIV-D.

RESULTS
After a median follow-up of 31.1 months, 40 subjects developed HIV-D. Platelet decline from baseline was associated with the development of HIV-D when examined as a time-dependent variable lagged by 6 to 12 months before outcome (multivariate hazard ratio [HR], 2.39; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.14-5.02; P = .02). This association was stronger during the first 2 years of follow-up (multivariate HR, 6.76; 95% CI, 2.36-19.41; P < .001) than during later years (multivariate HR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.33-2.67; P = .90).

CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that individuals with declining platelet counts are at greater risk for HIV-D and that the dynamics of circulating platelets vary with respect to the temporal progression of HIV-D. This highlights an avenue to be explored in the understanding of HIV-D pathogenesis.


Objectives: Sleep disturbance may be an important prognostic variable driving patients to seek treatment for rotator cuff disease related shoulder pain. Currently, little is known on the influence of rotator cuff pathology on sleep. The purpose of this study was to determine which patient factors correlate with sleep disturbance in patients with atraumatic rotator cuff disease. Methods: A prospective, nonrandomized single surgeon cross-sectional cohort study was performed evaluating the effects of rotator cuff disease on sleep quality. Time-zero prior to treatment intervention outcomes data was collected including the Single Assessment Numeric Evaluation Rating (SANE), American Shoulder and Elbow Score (ASES), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), patient demographics and medical comorbidities. Statistical analysis included Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis to determine which patient reported factors were associated with sleep quality disturbance. Results: 147 shoulders in 131 subjects 66 right 49 left 16 bilateral (66 male, 65 female) with a mean age 56.4 were enrolled. There were 92 subjects with rotator cuff tendinitis, and 34 subjects full thickness rotator cuff tears confirmed on MRI. The mean SANE was 48, VAS 4.85, ASES 52, PSQI 8.26±5.0, and 92% of subjects reported nocturnal shoulder pain. Pearson correlation coefficient determined that female sex (males -0.23, p=0.001), higher pain VAS score (+0.26, p=0.003)), depression (+0.39, p<0.0001), presence of low back pain (+0.36, p<0.0001) smoking (+0.22, p=0.01), diabetes (+0.19, p=0.03), presence of osteoarthritis (+0.19, p=0.03), and NSAID use (+0.17, p=0.05) were associated with poor sleep quality. Factors associated with worse sleep quality. Age, SANE, ASES, presence of full thickness RCT, presence of biceps pain, or cervical spine symptoms were not 1predictive and did not correlate with worse sleep quality. Conclusion: Based on our findings pain, female gender, depression, presence of low back pain, smoking, diabetes mellitus, and prior NSAID use are all factors associated with worse sleep quality in patients with rotator cuff disease. These results demonstrate that the sleep quality does not seem to correlate with severity of rotator cuff pathology.


Ekaterina Krekhovets - Senior Lecturer at the Department of Economic Theory and Econometrics, Faculty of Economics, National Research University-Higher School of Economics (Campus in Nizhny Novgorod). E-mail: email@example.com Oleg Poldin - Candidate of Sciences in Radio Physics, Senior Researcher at the International Research Laboratory for Institutional Analysis of Economic Reforms, National Research University-Higher School of Economics, Moscow. E-mail: email@example.com Address: 25/12 Bolshaya Pecherskaya str., 603155 Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Federation. Thе social capital of students is an important resource developed at university, along with professional competencies. We analyze friendship and study help networks among first-year students, examine network structures, and calculate network parameters and correlations between them. Student relations in different programmes are identical in nature, which is proven by similar structures of both friendship and help networks. We identify statistically significant correlations between network parameters of outcoming and incoming interpersonal ties, as well as between academic performance and peer network status. Friendship ties are more numerous, stable and reciprocal than study help ones. Each network has students who hold the key positions in terms of betweenness and popularity. Academic performance is a significant factor affecting student status in study help networks. We suggest that students holding the key positions in both betweenness and popularity enjoy the best opportunities for using their social capital. higher education, social capital, social networks, study help networks, friendship networks, popularity, network centrality, betweenness.


This thesis presents a study of vortical flows and vortex breakdown over slender delta wings. The formation of leading edge vortices over a slender delta wing provide advantageous aerodynamic characteristics at low velocities and angles of incidence. However, as the incidence of the planform is increased these vortices are affected by changes in the flow behaviour, which causes them to become unstable and breakdown into an incoherent form. This vortex breakdown is detrimental to the aerodynamic characteristics of the wing and can cause instability of the aircraft. Due to this adverse effect, it is important to understand the behaviour of such flows. Computational fluid dynamics is one method which, due to the development of numerical methods and the rapid advances in computer technology, is becoming increasingly valuable for the analysis of vortical flows and vortex breakdown and this thesis assesses the use of CFD to predict these types of flows. To perform this assessment two test cases are considered under different flow regimes. The first test case considers transonic flow and is investigated using steady state calculations and the second test case considers the unsteady subsonic behaviour of the flow. The behaviour of the flow over slender delta wings under transonic conditions is highly complex. With the occurrence of a number of shocks in the flow, vortex breakdown is abrupt and the overall behaviour is quite different to that for subsonic flow. To consider this, the flow over a 65° sharp leading edge delta wing is analysed for a transonic Mach number of M = 0.85 at two incidences: ? = 18.5° and 23°. A Boussinesq based RANS turbulence model is used which has been modified for vortical flows. The flow solutions are compared to existing experimental data and show good agreement for the cases considered and a number of shock systems within the flow are identified. However, a discrepancy with the experimental data is shown where the critical incidence for the onset of vortex breakdown on the wing is under-predicted. A sensitivity study of the flow to a number of computational factors, such as turbulence model and time accuracy, is undertaken. However, it is found that these parameters have little effect on the overall behaviour of the transonic flow and the occurrence of vortex breakdown. From analysis of the solutions, it is determined that the onset of vortex breakdown is highly dependent on the vortex strength and the strength and location of the shocks in the flow. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).


The Keokuk County Rural Health Study (KCRHS) is a unique, population-based
prospective study of a sample population in an agricultural county in southeastern
Iowa. The study presently has 1,005 participating households, stratified into three
distinct groups (town, rural non-farm, and farm households) based on the location of
the dwelling or home. Participating households receive a medical screening at the
medical clinic, located in the county seat. An environmental evaluation is conducted at
the residence or farm, consisting of a combination of personal interviews, walk-through
observations, and the measurement of a limited number of environmental parameters.
Older homes are associated with the use of lead paint, ungrounded electrical systems,
asbestos-containing building materials or insulation, and the presence of lead pipe or
lead solder in the drinking water system. Approximately 69% of the dwellings in the
Keokuk County Rural Health Study were constructed prior to 1970. Twenty percent
were constructed prior to 1900. Carbon monoxide measurements ranged from 1 to
9 ppm in 19% of the households. Three homes had carbon monoxide concentrations
exceeding 50 ppm. Twenty percent of households had no grounded outlets in high-risk
basement or bathroom areas. While nearly 80% of the surveyed households had at least
one smoke detector in the home, only 63% of the residences had a minimum of one
operating smoke detector. Forty-one percent of households had a water temperature in
excess of 130°F and 18 households had water temperatures in excess of 150°F, posing a
risk for burns and scalding. By promoting a partnership between the academic and
local communities, the Keokuk County Rural Health Study can assist local citizens in
addressing numerous public health issues. Programs underway include increasing
community awareness of the importance of the use of seat belts and child restraints,
correct placement and testing of smoke alarms, fall prevention, protecting the public
from carbon monoxide poisoning, avoiding burns from hot water, and identifying
electrical hazards.


The dynamics and evolution of populations will critically depend on their spatial structure. Hence, a recent emphasis on one particular type of structure — the metapopulation concept of Levins — can only be justified by empirical assessment of spatial population structures in a wide range of organisms. This paper focuses on Aphodius fossor, a dung beetle specialized on cattle pastures. An agricultural database was used to locate nearly 50 000 local populations of A. fossor in Finland. Several independent methods were then used to quantify key processes in this vast population system. Allozyme markers and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences were applied to examine genetic differentiation of local populations and to derive indirect estimates of gene flow. These estimates were compared to values expected on the basis of direct observations of dispersing individuals and assessments of local effective population size. Molecular markers revealed striking genetic homogeneity in A. fossor. Differentiation was only evident in mtDNA haplotype frequencies between the isolated Åland islands and the Finnish mainland. Thus, indirect estimates of gene flow agreed with direct observations that local effective population size in A. fossor is large (hundreds of individuals), and that in each generation, a substantial fraction (approximately one‐fifth) of the individuals move between populations. Large local population size, extreme haplotype diversity and a high regional incidence of A. fossor all testify against recurrent population turnover. Taken together, these results provide strong evidence that the whole mainland population of A. fossor is better described as one large 'patchy population', with substantial movement between relatively persistent local populations, than as a classical metapopulation.


— this model is already quite common for consumer apps like email and photo sharing, and for certain business applications. In this paper we present a way to secure the data using different compression and encryption algorithms and to hide its location from the users that stores and retrieves it. As with the Internet, on-demand applications have grown so ubiquitous that almost every business user interacts with at least one, whether it's an email service, a Web conferencing application, or a file hosting system. The data is stored at multiple places over the information space (over the Internet). It sounds similar to file hosting websites which stores the data that is being uploaded by different users and can be retrieved using proper authentication. The only difference is that the system for which paper is presented is an application based system like which will run on the clients own system. This application will allow users to upload file of different formats with security features including Encryption and Compression. The uploaded files can be accessed from anywhere using the application which is provided. We believe this system serves as a foundation for future work in integrating and securing information sources across the World Wide Web.


This article recounts the author's personal history as a graduate student and faculty member at the University of Michigan and as a founder of Applied Dynamics International (ADI). It traces the use of analog computers in various research projects for the US Air Force, Rand Corporation, and the Office of Naval Research, including the development of a simulator for aircraft flight equations with six degrees of freedom. It also discusses the founding of ADI in 1957 and the development of their product line of analog computers.


This chapter considers concepts of activism and Black presence in experiences of dance in museums. Working through concepts of Afropessimism, Afrofuturism, and the theoretical gathering notion of a Black Commons, I will offer four case studies of dance in the museum that render the space towards collective Black possibilities. The choreographic works Dapline! (2016), fastPASTdance (2017), as well as a reconstruction of Instead of Allowing Some Thing to Rise Up to Your Face Dancing Bruce and Dance and Other Things (2000) and the moving-image object APESHIT (2018) offer evidence of a special possibility for Black dance in the museum space; a creation of social space too-often denied to Black people in diaspora.


The Laramide orogeny of the western United States is proposed as a modern analogue for the Silurian-Devonian Acadian orogeny and subsequent diachronous, voluminous, short-lived magmatism and basin formation in the northern Appalachians. Shallowing of the Benioff zone accounts for several enigmatic features associated with plate convergence in the northern Appalachians, including (1) Wenlockian-Ludlovian termination of arc-related magmatism in the Avalon terrane followed by a period of relative magmatic quiescence from 395 to 380 Ma, and (2) diachronous migration of the Acadian deformation front from ca. 415 Ma in the southeast to ca. 370 Ma in the northwest, extending more than 600 km into the continental interior. The flattening of the subduction zone is attributed to overriding of a plume by the convergent margin, which may explain (1) the abrupt termination of magmatic quiescence by 380–370 Ma, and voluminous felsic magmatism and production of plume-related lamprophyres in the southeast (Meguma terrane) as the plume thermally eroded the oceanic lithosphere, causing melting of the lower crust; (2) Late Devonian regional high-temperature, low-pressure metamorphism in the Meguma terrane related to the thermal anomalies above a plume; (3) synchronous Devonian emplacement of Meguma gold deposits and associated siderophile elements, possibly derived from fluid circulation above an ascending plume; (4) rapid Late Devonian uplift and erosion of as much as 10 km due to dynamic uplift over a plume; (5) migration of magmatism to the north (Avalon terrane, Cobequid highlands) so that plume-related Carboniferous magmatism occurred in and around the Carboniferous-Permian Maritimes basin; (6) the high-density lens at the base of the crust beneath the Maritimes basin, the product of plume-derived underplated mafic rocks; and (7) a subsidence mechanism for formation of the Maritimes basin by cooling of a decapitated plume head.


Introduction: To determine the prevalence of reaching multiple Healthy People 2020 (HP 2020) objectives including nutrition and weight status, sleep health, physical activity, health-related quality of life, social determinants of health, and education among low-income, diverse children and adults. Methods: Children ages 5- to7-years-old (n = 150; 47% female) and their parents (mean age = 35; 91% mothers) from 6 racial/ethnic and immigrant/refugee groups (n = 25 from each; African American, Native American, Hispanic, Hmong, Somali, White) participated in this cross-sectional mixed-methods study. Results: Overall, the majority of HP 2020 objectives were not being met across this low-income, racially/ethnically diverse, and immigrant/refugee sample of children and adults. In particular, African American children and parents consistently fell below the majority of the HP 2020 targets, with only 5 of the 24 HP 2020 objectives being met. Additionally, immigrant children and parents met less than 2/3 of the HP 2020 objectives. Discussion: Concerted public health efforts are needed to address the disparities in reaching the HP 2020 objectives and informing the development of the future HP 2030 objectives among low-income, racially/ethnically diverse, and immigrant children and parents. In order to achieve and assess the current and future HP objectives in these diverse populations, changes may be needed in both interventions and assessment tools.


This research work was developed in order to determine the influence of organizational climate in the performance of the company's operating personnel Ripley S.A.-Trujillo With the determination of this work, the company will focus on the most relevant points that are working correctly, allowing adequate performance within the organization. For this research report descriptive design was used - transactional, statistical, and a survey was conducted as a research technique. In surveys conducted by company personnel Ripley S.A.-Trujillo We note that organizational climate affects job performance of workers doing the latter is not suitable. To conclude the same is expected that the development of this work is of great use to bring awareness to each member of the organization so that improved organizational climate allows them to obtain better job performance, it should be noted that has shown that workers could perform better if we focus on the main points to bring an entire organizational climate.


A good strategy to conquer the Escherichia coli-cause food-borne disease could be bacteriophages. Porins are a type of β-barrel proteins with diffuse channels and OmpA, which has a role in hydrophilic transport, is the most frequent porin in E. coli; it was also chosen as the potential receptor of the phage. And the Rz/Rz1 was engaged in the breakup of the host bacterial external membrane. This study aimed to analyze the amino acid of OmpA and Rz/Rz1 of lytic bacteriophage from Surabaya, Indonesia. This study employed a sample of 8 bacteriophages from the previous study. The OmpA analysis method was mass spectrometry. Rz/Rz1 was analyzed using PCR, DNA sequencing, Expasy Translation, and Expasy ProtParam. The result obtained 10% to 29% sequence coverage of OmpA, carrying the ligand-binding site. The Rz/Rz1 gene shares a high percentage of 97.04% to 98.89% identities with the Siphoviridae isolate ctTwQ4, partial genome, and Myoviridae isolate cthRA4, partial genome. The Mann–Whitney statistical tests indicate the significant differences between Alanine, Aspartate, Glycine, Proline, Serine (p=0.011), Asparagine, Cysteine (p=0.009), Isoleucine (p=0.043), Lysine (p=0.034), Methionine (p=0.001), Threonine (p=0.018), and Tryptophan (p=0.007) of OmpA and Rz/Rz1. The conclusion obtained from this study is the fact that OmpA acts as Phage 1, Phage 2, Phage 3, Phage 5, and Phage 6 receptors for its peptide composition comprising the ligand binding site, and Rz/Rz1 participates in host bacteria lysis.


Close control of blood glucose levels significantly reduces vascular complications in Type I diabetes. A control method focusing on the rate of change of blood glucose level is developed to utilize emerging technologies in blood glucose biosensors. The controller developed provides tighter, more optimal control of blood glucose levels, while robustly handling variation in patient response and sampling rate. Particular emphasis is placed on the controller simplicity and robustness necessary for medical devices and implants. A PD controller with a heavily weighted derivative term is found to outperform the more proportional-weighted controllers in oral glucose tolerance testing. Simulation results show reductions of over 50% in the magnitude and duration of blood glucose excursions from basal levels that are slightly better than normal non-diabetic response as modelled. Comparison with normal response indicates that the physiological control system has some measure of both proportional and derivative control as the basis of glucose regulation.


Most of robotic soft pads studied so far were made with a thick layer of homogeneous material shaped around a rigid core; their behavior has been widely investigated in the literature, mainly under compressive contact load, showing typical non-linear relationship between contact deformation and applied load (the so called power law). This paper proposes differentiated layer design, that is the adoption of a single elastic material, dividing the overall thickness of the pad into layers with different structural design (e.g. a continuous skin layer coupled with an internal layer with voids). The purpose is to modify the actual pad compliance and the resulting power law; in particular, given the material and the allowable pad thickness, to increase the compliance with respect to a non structured pad. Some possible internal layer structures are described, compatible with rapid prototyping manufacturing. Their compressive behaviors are tested and comparatively evaluated showing that the concept can work and be exploited for useful application.


There are intersections that can occur between the respective peak Australian school education policy agendas. These policies include the use of technologies in classrooms to improve teaching and learning as promoted through the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians and the Australian Curriculum; and the implementation of professional standards as outlined in the Australian Professional Standard for Principals and the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. These policies create expectations of school leaders to bring about change in classrooms and across their schools, often described as bringing about 'quality teaching' and 'school improvement'. These policies indicate that Australian children should develop 'democratic values', and that school principals should exercise 'democratic values' in their schools. The national approaches to the implementation of these policies however, is largely silent on promoting learning that fosters democracy through education, or about making connections between teaching and learning with technologies, school leadership and living in a democracy. Yet the policies promote these connections and alignments. Furthermore, understanding democratic values, knowing what is a democracy, and being able to use technologies in democratic ways, has to be learned and practiced. Through the lens of the use of technologies to build digital citizenship and to achieve democratic processes and outcomes in schools, these policy complexities are examined in order to consider some of the implications for school leadership.


The article gives an overview of the evolution of the legislation from seventeen Eastern European countries on the interruption of pregnancy and on the criminal laws on abortion. The critical analysis of the norms analyzed in their historical evolution is used to reconstruct the demographic politics of the countries taken in examination that turn abortion into a family-planning and birth-control tool. Nowadays, this choice characterizes the sovereign policies and affects the self-determination of women in the management of their bodies and their fertility. The procreation choices are used as a tool for repopulating the territory, enhancing the autochthonous component in order to combat emigration and the development of a multi-ethnic, multicultural and multi-religious society


This study was carried out to analyze the nutrient composition of wild tubers belonging to Dioscorea genus of the Dioscoreaceae family consumed by the ethnic groups in the Jeypore District of Koraput region in Odisha, India. The collected tubers are significant storehouses of energy and nutrition and also, they are known to produce large quantities of energy in relatively less time than the other crops. We have selected six wild species of Dioscorea collected from Odisha among the twenty-six reported species of India, along with five locally available cultivated tuber varieties of different genera from Tamil Nadu markets for comparison. The objective of this study is to understand the major source of nutrition of the ethnic groups, who consume local plant varieties collected from the wild and also to compare them with that of commercially available cultivated varieties in the view of the prevailing biodiversity and the varied agro-climatic conditions in India.


As a widely observable social effect, influence diffusion refers to a process where innovations, trends, awareness, etc. spread across the network via the social impact among individuals. Motivated by such social effect, the concept of influence maximization is coined, where the goal is to select a bounded number of the most influential nodes (seed nodes) from a social network so that they can jointly trigger the maximal influence diffusion. A rich body of research in this area is performed under statistical diffusion models with provable submodularity, which essentially simplifies the problem as the optimal result can be approximated by the simple greedy search. When the diffusion models are non-submodular, however, the research community mostly focuses on how to bound/approximate them by tractable submodular functions so as to estimate the optimal result. In other words, there is still a lack of efficient methods that can directly resolve non-submodular influence maximization problems. In this regard, we fill the gap by proposing seed selection strategies using network graphical properties in a generalized threshold-based model, called influence barricade model, which is non-submodular. Specifically, under this model, we first establish theories to reveal graphical conditions that ensure the network generated by node removals has the same optimal seed set as that in the original network. We then exploit these theoretical conditions to develop efficient algorithms by strategically removing less-important nodes and selecting seeds only in the remaining network. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first graph-based approach that directly tackles non-submodular influence maximization.


The neurophonic is a sound-evoked, frequency-following potential that can be recorded extracellularly in nucleus laminaris of the barn owl. The origin of the neurophonic, and thus the mechanisms that give rise to its exceptional temporal precision, has not yet been identified. Putative generators of the neurophonic are the activity of afferent axons, synaptic activation of laminaris neurons, or action potentials in laminaris neurons. To identify the generators, we analyzed the neurophonic in the high-frequency (>2.5 kHz) region of nucleus laminaris in response to monaural pure-tone stimulation. The amplitude of the neurophonic is typically in the millivolt range. The signal-to-noise ratio reaches values beyond 30 dB. To assess which generators could give rise to these large, synchronous extracellular potentials, we developed a computational model. Spike trains were produced by an inhomogeneous Poisson process and convolved with a spike waveform. The model explained the dependence of the simulated neurophonic on parameters such as the mean rate, the vector strength of phase locking, the number of statistically independent sources, and why the signal-to-noise ratio is independent of the spike waveform and subsequent filtering of the signal. We found that several hundred sources are needed to reach the observed signal-to-noise ratio. The summed coherent signal from the densely packed afferent axons and activation of their synapses on laminaris neurons are alone sufficient to explain the measured properties of the neurophonic.


Based on administrative panel data from Norway, we examine how social insurance claims spread among neighbors and former schoolmates. We use a fixed effects methodology that accounts for endogenous group formation, contextual interactions generated by predetermined social factors, and time-constant as well as time-varying confounders. We report evidence that social insurance claims are contagious. There are significant local peer effects both in the overall use of social insurance and in the propensity to use one particular social insurance program rather than another. The magnitudes of the estimated peer effects rise consistently with measures of geographical and relational closeness.


This article considers changes in poverty rates under the Howard government. We also make three methodological contributions. We consider the statistical significance of the estimated changes in poverty. We propose a decomposition technique that reconciles the trends in absolute and relative poverty. We also use 'poverty profiles', which illustrate sensitivity to alternative poverty lines. We find decreases in absolute poverty and increases in relative poverty, both of which are statistically significant over a range of poverty lines. At a poverty line equal to half of the median income, the increase in relative poverty is statistically significant for all people and borders on significance for children.


Compliant, large deformation actuating functional fabrics are essential to next-generation wearables, aerospace structures, and medical devices as they excel at traditional mechanical performance metrics while being soft and pliable. Actuating functional fabrics have been implemented from a variety of multifunctional material systems and fabric manufacturing techniques. A specifically intriguing combination of material system and fabric manufacturing technique are contractile shape memory alloy (SMA) knitted actuators, which generate recoverable actuation deformations of up to 50%, provide actuation forces on the magnitude of 1 N–10 N, are biocompatible, and actuate in response to thermal stimuli. However, the prediction of the knitted functional fabric actuator performance is inherently difficult due to the complex geometry of knitted architectures and the nonlinear material behavior of most multifunctional fibers. This paper presents an empirical model of the contractile SMA knitted actuator performance based on the definition of a dimensionless geometric parameter, the knit index (ik). An experimental study of the contractile SMA knitted actuator quasi-static uniaxial thermo-mechanical performance validates the knit index and the wire diameter as the smallest set of performance-predicting geometric parameters. An empirical model is formulated for the prediction of the contractile SMA knitted actuator performance based on geometric inputs (forward design) and the recommendation of geometric parameters that accomplish specific performance metrics (inverse design). The process of describing and predicting the performance with dimensionless geometric parameters is a step to understanding the mechanics of contractile SMA knitted actuators, has merit for the design of other actuating functional fabrics, and propels the creation of novel wearables, medical devices, and aerospace structures with large actuation deformations.


Composts can influence soil fertility and plant health. These influences can be positive or negative, depending of the quality of the composts. In order to estimate the potential of Swiss composts to influence soil fertility and plant health, one hundred composts representative of the different composting systems and qualities available on the market were analyzed. The organic substance and the nutrient content of the composts varied greatly between the composts; the materials of origin were the major factor influencing these values. The respiration rate and enzyme activities also varied greatly, particularly in the youngest composts. These differences decreased when the composts become more mature. Maturity, the degradation stage of the organic matter, depended not only on the age of the compost, but also on the management of the process. The Nmineralization potential of compost added to soil showed that a high proportion of young composts immobilized the nitrogen in the soil. Two compost parameters allow to predict the risk of nitrogen immobilization in soil: the NO3- and the humic acids contents.The phytotoxicity of the composts varied very much even in mature composts, showing that the storage of the compost plays a decisive role. While the majority of composts protected cucumber plants against Pythium ultimum, only a few composts suppressed Rhizoctonia solani in basil. With respect to disease suppression, the management of the maturation process seems to play a major role. In field experiments, some biologically immature composts immobilized nitrogen in soil and reduced growth of maize. With additional fertilization, however, it was possible to compensate this effect. Digestates and composts increased the pH-value and the biological activity of soil. These effects were observable also one maize season after compost application. In conclusion, big differences were observed in the quality of composts and digestates, and in their impact on soil fertility and plant health. The management of the composting process seems to influence the quality of the composts to a higher extent than the materials of origin or the composting system. More attention should be paid to biological quality of composts, in order to produce composts with more beneficial effects on crops.


: Composite materials with 83 wt.% of the 0.7Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 -0.3PbTiO 3 distributed in phosphate-bonded ceramics were prepared at three different pressures. A phosphate matrix comprises a mixture of an aluminum phosphate binder and melted periclase, MgO. All samples demonstrate a homogeneous distribution of the ferroelectric perovskite phase and are thermally stable up to 900 K. At higher temperatures, the pyrochlore cubic phase forms. It has been found that the density of the composites non-monotonously depends on the pressure. The dielectric permittivity and losses substantially increase with the density of the samples. The fabricated composites demonstrate diffused ferroelectric–paraelectric transition and prominent piezoelectric properties.


The commercial interest in proximity services is increasing. Application examples include location-based information and advertisements, logistics, social networking, file sharing, etc. In this paper, we consider positioning of devices based on time series proximity reports from a mobile device to a network node. This corresponds to nonlinear measurements with respect to the device position in relation to the network nodes. Therefore, particle filtering is applicable for positioning. Positioning performance is evaluated in a typical office area with Bluetooth-low-energy beacons deployed for proximity detection and report. Accuracy is concluded to vary spatially over the office floor, and in relation to the beacon deployment density.


Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare tumour occurring after asbestos exposure. Most cases are unresectable at the time of diagnosis and the prognosis is very poor. Platinum based chemotherapy, with or without added antiangiogenics is standard first-line treatment. However, its efficacy is limited, patients with unresectable disease have a median 12 months overall survival and the benefit of treatment is only 3 months. The immune micro-environment plays a crucial role in tumour development. Local immunosuppression involving, but not limited to, the expression of T cell inhibitory receptors, favours tumour growth. Moreover, chronic stromal inflammatory response and the presence of lymphocytic infiltration and macrophages are all prognostic factors. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) targeting programmed death protein 1 (PD-1), its ligand (PD-L1) and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) are able to block inhibitory signals on T cells, thus enhancing the immune anti-tumour response. PD-L1 is expressed in 60% of MPM and associated with poor prognosis. Several studies have shown encouraging results in single agent or combination checkpoint inhibition in MPM. Furthermore, T cell-mediated treatments are being developed with promising results, as are chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells targeting mesothelin, a highly expressed protein in MPM. In this review, we examine currently available data, as well as ongoing trials in the field of immuno-oncology for MPM.


As engineering programs have begun to infuse sustainability into their undergraduate curricula, assessment tools are needed to further inform these reform efforts. The goal of this project was to demonstrate the use of a new rubric to examine students' abilities to engage in sustainable design. The rubric includes 16 sustainable design criteria and rating scales to capture student performance and instructor/sponsor requirements. Three judges used the rubric to evaluate 40 capstone design projects completed between 2002 and 2011 by civil and environmental engineering seniors at a large, research intensive university. Results indicate that sustainable design performance in the capstone course changed little over 10 years, despite efforts to integrate sustainability into the curriculum. Students tended to address those criteria that were explicitly required of them by instructors or external project sponsors, which were related to social sustainability more than other sustainability dimensions. As a result, more explicit integration of sustainable design requirements into capstone courses may be needed to ensure that students understand the importance of, and are able to practice, developing designs in a sustainable manner.


1. High-salt, high-carbohydrate and low-protein diet induces remarkable elevation of blood pressure in spontaneous hypertensive rats (SHR). 2. These animals have low serum potassium, low blood urea nitrogen and high blood sugar. 3. Heart weight is increased in proportion to the elevation of blood pressure. 4. Kidney weight of rats receiving the high-salt, high-carbohydrate and low-protein diet was, by contrast, smaller than SHR receiving a normal diet. 5. The kidneys of SHR receiving a high-salt, high-protein diet were twice as heavy as the kidneys of normal rats. 6. Similar dietary modifications in Goldblatt hypertensive rats to those in SHR produced similar changes in blood pressure and heart weight.


A generalization of the additive Gaussian two-way channel to M users is considered. Such channels contain implicit feedback in the sense that the channel output signals observed by the different encoders are correlated. While the benefits of feedback are shown to be negligible at high SNR, for moderate SNR, feedback can play a significant role in boosting the sum-rate performance. To highlight this potential gain, the special case of the M-user multiway channel with a common output is considered. By taking insights from Kramerpsilas Fourier MEC, a feedback strategy is introduced and shown to strictly dominate the performance of a pre-log optimal non-feedback strategy. Furthermore, an upper bound is derived to show this feedback strategy achieves the sum-rate capacity beyond a certain SNR threshold. Under per-symbol power constraints, this upper bound can be tightened to show the feedback strategy is sum-rate optimal for all SNR values.


The scope of this work focuses on the aspects of quality and safety assurance of the iron cast manufacturing processes. Special attention was given to the processes of quality control and after-machining of iron casts manufactured on automatic foundry lines. Due to low level of automation and huge work intensity at this stage of the process, a model area was established which underwent reorganization in accordance with the assumptions of the World Class Manufacturing (WCM). An analysis of work intensity was carried out and the costs were divided in order to identify operations with no value added, particularly at individual manufacturing departments. Also an analysis of ergonomics at work stations was carried out to eliminate activities that are uncomfortable and dangerous to the workers' health. Several solutions were proposed in terms of rationalization of work organization at iron cast after-machining work stations. The proposed solutions were assessed with the use of multi-criteria assessment tools and then the best variant was selected based on the assumed optimization criteria. The summary of the obtained results reflects benefits from implementation of the proposed solutions.


Applications running on a UNIX platform need to be notified when some activity occurs on a socket or other descriptor, and this is traditionally done with the select() or poll() system calls. However, it has been shown that the performance of these calls does not scale well with an increasing number of descriptors. These interfaces are also limited in the respect that they are unable to handle other potentially interesting activities that an application might be interested in, these might include signals, file system changes, and AIO completions. This paper presents a generic event delivery mechanism, which allows an application to select from a wide range of event sources, and be notified of activity on these sources in a scalable and efficient manner. The mechanism may be extended to cover future event sources without changing the application interface.


The spontaneous generation of homogeneous chromomagnetic fields in the lattice SU(3) gluodynamics is investigated in the deconfinement phase of the model. A new approach based on direct measurements of the field strength on a lattice is developed. Vacuum magnetization is established by its influence on the probability density function of the simulated field strength. It is found that both the chromomagnetic fields corresponding to the diagonal SU(3) generators are simultaneously condensated and appear to be spatially co-directed. No vacuum magnetization is detected for the other SU(3) components. The temperature dependence of the spontaneously generated fields in physical units is fitted in the temperature interval 200 MeV - 200 GeV as the usual power law with the anomalous dimension.


It is well recognized that chronic medical conditions can have a significant impact on an individual's emotional wellbeing. In particular, medical conditions can generate psychological issues such as anxiety and depression, which in turn could precipitate poor coping, poor adjustment and non adherence to treatment. In addition, concerns around prognosis and diagnosis are often central to the psychological problems associated with chronic illness. Thus, there has been considerable interest in the services of clinical psychologists within medical settings globally. However, few studies have explored the value of clinical psychology in Asian medical settings. This presentation reviews the existing literature and discusses the value of clinical psychology in medical settings in Singapore, where the profession is still being established. The objective was to illustrate how psychological input can improve symptom management, quality of life, and adherence to treatment in medical settings in Singapore. It was concluded that there is a valuable role for clinical psychologists in Singaporean medical settings. Psychological management can improve symptom management, quality of life, adherence to treatment and self efficacy.


The current smart grid is undergoing a drastic change in order to deal with increasingly diversified and various service requests from the huge number of users. The next-generation smart grid, characterized by service-oriented middleware, will be upgraded by jointly employing the technologies in the areas of communications, control, and computing. To design a general middleware, an efficient design principle plays a fundamental role, while reliable communication infrastructure and heterogeneous applications lead to sustainability and stability. In this article, we propose an integrated and efficient middleware for heterogeneous services in a smart grid. Specifically, we first develop a mutual application access control principle that keeps users obtaining a satisfying assignment. Next, a collaborative and dynamic information exchange infrastructure is proposed for different smart meters, and a local information collector is designed to implement the communication and computing through power management messages. Finally, we present four steps to design a flexible service-oriented middleware for heterogeneous applications. Numerical simulation results are provided to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed middleware.


At present, a great deal of the scholarly research on Indonesia focuses on the processes of Islamisation. This paper will discuss a phenomenon that seems to point in a different direction, namely the contemporary reconfiguration of dukun/spiritual experts called paranormal. These mystics indicate a peculiar form of pluralism. They are an assemblage of tradition and modernity, locality and translocality, religion and mysticism, spirituality and business, and global esotericism and popular psychology. Most of them belong to the urban middle class, are highly professional, and make extensive use of modern mass media to advertise their supernatural skills. Yet, how do they position themselves in Indonesian and global cultural contexts? This paper identifies the ongoing ambivalence between cosmopolitan ideas and their rupture in polarising, orientalist, and occidentalist imaginaries. Finally, a new understanding of cosmopolitanism is suggested that expands the reference beyond the world of humans by also including a plurality of supernatural powers.


Half-vortices have been recently shown to be the elementary topological defects supported by a spinor cavity exciton-polariton condensates with spin-anisotropic interactions [Y. G. Rubo, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 106401 (2007)]. A half-vortex is composed by an integer vortex for one circular component of the condensate, whereas the other component remains static. We analyze theoretically the effect of the splitting between TE and TM polarized eigen modes on the structure of the vortices in this system. For TE and TM modes, the polarization states depend on the direction of propagation of particles and impose some well-defined phase relation between the two circular components. As a result elementary topogical defects in this system are no more half-vortices but integer vortices for both circular components of the condensate. The intrinsic lifetime of half-vortices is given and the texture of a few vortex states is analyzed.


BACKGROUND
Ophthalmic evaluation of patients with keratoconus (KC) often reveals highly myopic and irregular astigmatic refractive corrections. Irregular corneal astigmatism and central corneal scarring in patients with KC often result in a loss of best-corrected spectacle acuity. Rigid gaspermeable contact lenses generally optimize visual acuities for patients with KC.

CASE REPORTS
Two cases are discussed of patients who manifested clinically diagnosed KC but unusually good unaided Snellen visual acuities (20/25+ or better) in both eyes.

CONCLUSION
Good unaided visual acuities are not necessarily inconsistent with the diagnosis of KC.


The Australian genus of Eurybrachidae (Hemiptera, Fulgoromorpha) Kamabrachys gen. nov. is described to accommodate Platybrachys signata Distant, 1892 and Euronotobrachys plana Kirkaldy, 1906, the former being the type species. The new combinations Kamabrachys signata (Distant, 1892) gen. et comb. nov. and K. plana (Kirkaldy, 1906) gen. et comb. nov. are subsequently proposed. Ten new species are also included in the genus and described: K. andersoni gen. et sp. nov., K. brennani gen. et sp. nov., K. campbelli gen. et sp. nov., K. danielsi gen. et sp. nov., K. falcata gen. et sp. nov., K. fasciata gen. et sp. nov., K. pedemontana gen. et sp. nov., K. rieki gen. et sp. nov., K. v-carinatum gen. et sp. nov. and K. waineri gen. et sp. nov. The male and female genitalia of each species are illustrated and photographs of habitus, distribution maps, biological data and an identification key are provided. The mating behaviour of K. signata is described, illustrated and discussed. The genus Kamabrachys currently contains 12 species and is associated to trees in the family Myrtaceae.


In 1967 three black men were killed and nine other people brutally beaten by, as John Hersey describes it in The Algiers Motel Incident, an "aggregate of Detroit police, Michigan State Troopers, National Guardsmen, and private guards who had been directed to the scene." Responding to a telephoned report of sniping, the police group invaded the Algiers Motel and interrogated ten black men and two white women, none of whom were armed, for an hour. By the time the interrogators left, three men had been shot to death and the others, including the women, beaten.


This monograph examines research needs in computer aided production management (CAPM). Recommendations for future research and its organisation are made. The monograph is based on an in‐depth study of current CAPM practice in a varied sample of 33 companies. The study conclusions confirm many existing beliefs. Many companies are paying inadequate attention to the necessary prerequisites for successful CAPM implementation. The prerequisites change as the extent of CAPM system integration increases. Organisational rather than implementation issues dominate as integration increases. The proposed research would bring together existing knowledge of best CAPM practice to form methodologies for the audit, design and implementation of CAPM systems. The aim is to reduce the time‐span of the learning curve required for successful CAPM integration. The methodologies need to be specific to particular industrial sectors.


Health monitoring of laboratory rodents not only improves animal health but also enhances the validity of animal experiments. In particular, infections of laboratory animals with murine parvoviruses influence biomedical research data. Despite strict barrier housing, prevalence remains high in animal facilities, leading to increased risk of parvovirus introduction after the import of contaminated mice. Unfortunately, hygienic rederivation can be challenging, since gametes often contain residual virus material. Consequently, the process has to be closely monitored with highly sensitive diagnostic methods to verify parvovirus decontamination of the rederived progeny. However, diagnostic sensitivity of traditional methods is often low and requires testing of large animal cohorts. Therefore, we aimed to develop a powerful quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay for the fast and reliable detection of murine parvoviruses in different sample materials. We validated the assay within an infection experiment and systematically analysed various animal-derived and environmental sample materials. We further developed a strategic risk assessment procedure for parvovirus monitoring after embryo transfer. Our novel qPCR assay reliably detected parvovirus DNA in a broad variety of sample materials, with environmental samples dominating in the acute phase of infection, whereas animal-derived samples were more suitable to detect low virus loads in the chronic phase. Here, the assay served as a highly sensitive screening method for parvovirus contamination in mouse colonies, requiring significantly lower sample sizes than traditional methods like conventional PCR and serology. Thus, the use of our novel qPCR assay substantially improves parvovirus diagnostics, enhancing research validity according to the 6Rs.


Abstract. Northwestern Alaska has been highly affected by changing climatic patterns
with new temperature and precipitation maxima over the recent years. In
particular, the Baldwin and northern Seward peninsulas are characterized by
an abundance of thermokarst lakes that are highly dynamic and prone to lake
drainage like many other regions at the southern margins of continuous
permafrost. We used Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and Planet
CubeSat optical remote sensing data to analyze recently observed widespread
lake drainage. We then used synoptic weather data, climate model outputs and
lake ice growth simulations to analyze potential drivers and future pathways
of lake drainage in this region. Following the warmest and wettest winter on
record in 2017/2018, 192 lakes were identified as having completely or
partially drained by early summer 2018, which exceeded the average drainage
rate by a factor of ∼ 10 and doubled the rates of the previous
extreme lake drainage years of 2005 and 2006. The combination of abundant
rain- and snowfall and extremely warm mean annual air temperatures (MAATs),
close to 0 ∘C, may have led to the destabilization of permafrost
around the lake margins. Rapid snow melt and high amounts of excess
meltwater further promoted rapid lateral breaching at lake shores and
consequently sudden drainage of some of the largest lakes of the study
region that have likely persisted for millennia. We hypothesize that permafrost
destabilization and lake drainage will accelerate and become the dominant
drivers of landscape change in this region. Recent MAATs are already within
the range of the predictions by the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Scenarios Network for Alaska and Arctic Planning (UAF SNAP) ensemble climate predictions in
scenario RCP6.0 for 2100. With MAAT in 2019 just below 0 ∘C at the nearby Kotzebue, Alaska, climate station, permafrost aggradation in drained lake basins will become less likely after drainage, strongly decreasing the potential for freeze-locking carbon sequestered in lake sediments, signifying a prominent regime shift in ice-rich permafrost lowland regions.