The scope, frequency, and intensity of the recent reforms to Canadian immigration, refugee, and citizenship policies have made the process of gaining access to permanent status in Canada lengthier, more complicated, and more onerous with little opportunity to appeal or review denied applications. The current federal government has an ambitious roadmap outlined for the immigration, refugees and citizenship portfolio. The one-day workshop titled "Prolonged Precarious Status in Canada: Generating policy directions for the new federal government" sought to provide concrete policy recommendations to the new Minister as he responds to his mandate.
Twelve experts selected on the basis of their scholarship and engagement with policy makers, civil society organizations, and the broader community found that the problem of prolonged precarious status in Canada touches upon two broad categories of persons: persons with temporary residence (mainly temporary migrant workers, refugees and refugee claimants) and persons with no status (ascribed by the state designating their entitlement to rights and access to services). Their recommendations are divided into three broad categories: revisions, repeals, and proposed additions to current policies. All experts noted that policy action must involve meaningful consultations with activists, labour unions, and civil society organizations, alongside a variety of governmental bodies across municipal, provincial, and federal jurisdictions. There is consensus that current migration management involves a greater but concerning reliance on temporary status and that such reliance leads to abuse, exploitation, family separation, and contributes to racialized and criminalized misinformation about migrants. This policy brief calls for a systemic approach to not only reviewing temporary and precarious status in Canada, but also recommends that permanent status should be used more.


Recently, a lot of research efforts have been made to optimize the large amounts of energy consumed by different devices in data centers, including servers, cooling, and the data center network (DCN). Unfortunately, current research addresses these devices mostly in a separate manner, leading to inferior optimization results. This paper proposes PowerNetS, a power optimization framework that coordinates servers and DCN, as well as cooling, for minimized power consumption of a data center. PowerNetS leverages workload correlation analysis for more energy savings during server and traffic consolidations. More importantly, PowerNetS tries to change the DCN topology during server consolidation, in order to have more intra-server traffic and shorter flows that go through fewer switches. For example, two virtual machines previously located on two different servers can now be migrated to the same server, so that the flow between them no longer needs to use switches, which allows more devices to sleep for energy savings without network performance degradation. PowerNetS has been implemented on a physical testbed with 6 servers and 10 virtual switches that are configured using a production 48-port OpenFlow switch. Our evaluation with Wikipedia, Yahoo!, and IBM traces shows that PowerNetS can save up to 51.6% of energy by coordinating servers and DCN, which is 44.3% and 15.8% more than two state-of-the-art baselines, respectively. By further coordinating with cooling to utilize different cooling efficiencies at different locations within a data center, PowerNetS can achieve 8.8%–14.6% additional energy savings.


A bryozoan faunule including 15 species has been collected from the upper 5 ft. of the Osgood formation (Niagaran [Silurian]) as exposed in the Southeastern Materials Corporation quarry in the SW 1/4, sec. 22, T. 8 N., R. 11 E. at Osgood in Ripley County, Indiana. The following new species are established: Ceramopora vesicularis, Fistulipora promiscua, Heterotrypa? perplexa, Cyphotrypa osgoodensis, Stigmatella dubia, Hennigopora apta, and Monotrypa exserta. An unnamed species of Trematopora Hall is described. The bryozoans are associated with brachiopods, trilobites, corals, cystoids, nautiloids, and abundant arenaceous foraminifers. The fossils are embedded in gray highly calcareous shale that contains thin beds of gray coarse-grained argillaceous limestone. The most abundantly represented genus is Fistulipora McCoy; specimens of this genus are assigned to the new species Fistulipora promiscua which displays considerable structural variability in tangential and longitudinal sections. The next most abundant genus is Monotrypa Nicholson which is represented by 3 species. The bryozoan genera in this faunule include: Ceramopora Hall, Cheilotrypa Ulrich, Heterotropa.? Nicholson, Cyphotrypa Ulrich & Bassler, Stigmatella Ulrich & Bassler, Hennigopora Bassler, Hallopora Bassler, Trematopora Hall, Diplotrypa Nicholson, and Pachydictya Ulrich. Stigmatella, Heterotrypa?, and Cyphotrypa have not been reported previously from the Osgood. Specimens of fenestellid bryozoans are rare and poorly preserved.


An experiment was conducted in 2004 to assess the major pests associated with stored maize, the damage and losses they cause in Jimma Zone, Oromia Regional State. Fifty farm stores were assessed. Seventeen arthropods, thirteen Coleopterans, three Lepidopterans and one Acarina were documented from the samples collected. Maize weevil (Sitophilus zeamais) followed by grain moth (Sitotroga cereallela), rice weevil (Sitophilus oryzae) and flour beetle (Tribolium confusum) were the major pests of stored maize in the study area. A major finding of the experiment was that a storage pests particularly, S. zeamais is the dominant and most important pest of maize in Jimma Zone. This pest was found in abundance in all areas assessed damaging maize grain. Farmers want to store maize grain for food security, seed, and to sell when the prices are high enough. However, this pest is a major challenge. Quantitative average grain damage of 64.50% and losses of 41 to 80% are common in the store within three to six months after storage. It is recommended that an integrated weevil management method should be implemented to prevent the high quantitative and qualitative grain losses incurred so as to contribute towards family food security in Jimma Zone.

 Key words: Storage pests, pest status, Sitophilus zeamais, grain damage, grain loss.


Performance is a medium through which alternate perspectives can occupy alternate spaces. Where the rendered media of advertisements, reportage and documentary appeal primarily to the intellect of the viewer, the ephemeral nature of performance tends to first engage the emotions and senses of an audience. By practicing across film, graphic design and data-visualization, audio-visual performers can document themes of social relevance and it could be said that through such transdisciplinary practice, a form of 'documentary performance' emerges. This premise has led me to harness audio-visuals toward championing social topics. Thematically, my current performances question whether industrial fishing methods are sustainable. Performing to varied audiences in varied contexts has given me insight into the impact that a documentary style of performance can have. This paper documents my process toward realizing such a performance paradigm - a transdisciplinary practice fusing film, science, technology and art. ©Journal of Professional Communication, all rights reserved.


The individual, organisational and societal impact of psychological distress among working populations is well established. Recently, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has been identified as a promising approach for improving the psychological wellbeing of distressed employees. Nonetheless, few studies have examined the efficacy of ACT in the occupational context and even fewer studies have conducted comprehensive tests of the mechanisms of therapeutic action in ACT.

The current research examined the efficacy of a one day ACT intervention that was delivered to NHS employees experiencing psychological distress. A key focus of this research was an examination of the mechanisms of therapeutic action in ACT. In study one, a non-randomised controlled design was used with 17 participants assigned to the ACT intervention and 18 participants assigned to a waiting list. A two-week and three-month follow-up period was used in this study. Participants originally assigned to the waiting list went on to receive the intervention after the three month follow-up and were again assessed at two-weeks and three-months post-treatment. In study two, six of the participants were interviewed about their views on the aspects of the ACT intervention that promoted psychological changes and their responses were analysed thematically.

Compared to the control group, participants who received the intervention displayed statistically significant reductions in the severity of psychological distress at two-weeks and three-months post-treatment. Importantly, the majority of participants displayed clinically significant change at both assessments. In line with ACT's theoretical underpinnings, the intervention significantly increased participants' psychological flexibility and mindfulness skills and decreased cognitive fusion. However, in a multiple-mediator statistical analysis, improvements in psychological distress were only mediated by improvements in psychological flexibility. The themes generated from the thematic analysis converge with the quantitative data—resembling closely the construct of psychological flexibility. Limitations of the study and implications for future research are discussed.


Residence time varies from approximately 0.05 to 200 hours. Short residence times are indictative of depleted phosphate, active metabolic activity, or both. The turnover rate of phosphate is between 0.1 and 1.0 mg of phosphorus per cubic meter, per hour, regardless of phosphate concentration, except in biologically active systems where it is 1.0 to 20. The turnover rate of phosphate may be more important than the phosphate concentration in maintaining highly productive systems.


Relations mined from texts and structured information from databases have been mapped to concepts defined in biomedical ontologies and to a predicate dictionary. Concepts and predicates are represented by nodes and edges in this graph and can be queried for relations between concepts. The graph combines relations extracted from Medline abstracts with relations obtained from the UMLS and databases as UniProt, EntrezGene, Comparative Toxicogemics Database, and from the datasets from the Linked Open Drug Data (Drugbank, DailyMed, and Sider). The approach was tested on 61 cerebral spinal fluid and 207 serum compounds of migraine patients. A cloud of all biomedical concepts related to the concept migraine in this graph was used to construct a set of cerebral spinal fluid compound concepts and a set of serum compound concepts. For each of the relations in the cloud provenance is available and provided. These sets were evaluated against two manually created sets of compounds. The evaluation showed that this graph based method retrieves relevant compounds with mean average precision values of 0.32 and 0.59, respectively.


This article provides a historical overview of the development of Western psychotherapy in China based on existing scholarship and my own ethnography. I describe a meandering trajectory embedded in the shifting political, social, and economic circumstances: the tentative beginning in the Republican period, the transmutation and destruction in the Maoist period, the relatively slow recovery and progress in the earlier reform period, and the eruption of the psycho-boom in the new millennium. Emphasis is placed on the reform period that began in the late 1970s, but by incorporating the previous periods I intend to show that the long-term process is highly relevant to the current psycho-boom. I further reveal that the development of psychotherapy in China has involved a dual process— both the building of this new profession and the infiltration of related ideas into the broader society—and that this duality is particularly evident in the recent psycho-boom. Finally, I discuss the implications of the new Mental Health Law and the preliminary signs that psychotherapy as a profession is taking root in urban China.


Software for running a cyclic current reversal polarization voltan_nagram has been developed for use with a EG&G Princeton Applied Research Model 273 potentiostat/galvanostat system. The program, which controls the magnitude, direction and duration of an impressed galvanostatic current, will produce data in ASCII format which can be directly incorporated into commercial spreadsheets [Lotus, Quattro] for graphical representation of CCRPV voltammograms. The program was used to determine differences in corrosion resistance of 440C martensitic stainless steel produced as a result of changes in microstructure effected by tempering. It was determined that tempering at all temperatures above 400"F resulted in increased polarizability of the material, with the increased likelihood that pitting would be initiated upon exposure to marine environments. These results will be used in development of remedial procedures for lowering the susceptibility of these alloys toward the stress corrosion cracking experienced in bearings used in high pressure oxygen turbopumps used in the main engines of space shuttle orbiters.


This paper interprets private label marketing as a retailer instrument for overcoming the double-marginalization problem inherent in the distribution of well-known manufacturer brands. Retailers with some degree of market power carry private label substitutes for popular national brands in order to capture more profit from the vertical structures they share with brand manufacturers. Thenet effect of private label marketing is to improve the performance of distribution channels. After presenting a formal model and deriving analytical results, the paper gathers some empirical evidence that supports these results. Copyright 1995 by MIT Press.


Abstract. The ocean thermal field is often represented in hurricane-ocean interaction by a metric termed upper Ocean Heat Content (OHC), the vertical integral of ocean temperature in excess of 26°C. High values of OHC have proven useful for identifying ocean regions that are especially favorable for hurricane intensification. Nevertheless, it is argued here that a more direct and robust metric of the ocean thermal field may be afforded by a vertical average of temperature. In the simplest version, dubbed T 100 , the averaging is from the surface to 100 m, a typical depth of vertical mixing by a category 3 hurricane. OHC and T 100 are well correlated over the deep open ocean in the high range of OHC, ≥75 kJ cm−2. They are poorly correlated in the low range of OHC, ≤50 kJ cm−2, in part because OHC is degenerate when evaluated on cool ocean regions, ≤26°C. OHC and T 100 can be qualitatively different also over shallow continental shelves: OHC will generally indicate comparatively low values regardless of the ocean temperature, while T 100 will take on high values over a shelf that is warm and upwelling neutral or negative. In so far as the ocean thermal field alone is concerned, these warm, shallow continental shelves would appear to be as favorable for hurricane intensification as are warm, deep ocean regions.


The intracellular concentrations of adenylates and the value of the adenylate energy charge in Schizosaccharomyces pombe have been determined. Dilution of extracts before enzymically converting AMP and ADP to ATP was necessary for the quantitative measurement of all three adenylates. Using trichloroacetic acid or perchloric acid extracts of exponentially growing cultures, the energy charge was calculated to be 0.8 to 0.9; the value rose to about 0.95 in the stationary phase of growth. Lower energy charge values (0.6 to 0.64) were obtained using chloroform extracts. During the last 2.5 h of a 4 h treatment of an exponentially growing culture with 2′-deoxyadenosine, and during the induced synchronous growth that followed subsequent removal of the inhibitor, the pool sizes of all three adenylates oscillated. Minimal ATP/ADP ratios (and energy charge values) occurred concurrently with maximal rates of respiration that were relatively insensitive to stimulation by carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone. Cultures not treated with 2′-deoxyadenosine but centrifuged and resuspended in fresh medium, showed a transient extensive increase in the ATP/ADP ratio 1 to 2 h after resuspension. However, rates of O2 uptake, in the absence or presence of carbonyl cyanide-m-chlorophenylhydrazone, increased smoothly throughout this period. The results suggest that, in 2′-deoxyadenosine-induced synchronous growth, respiration rates may be controlled by the intracellular ATP/ADP ratio, and demonstrate that division synchrony is not induced by depletion of ATP pools.


Introduction Certain digestive cancers, especially colorectal cancer, may be related to asbestos exposure. The aim of our study was to estimate the incidence of digestive cancers within a cohort of asbestos plant workers. Methods Our study was based on a retrospective cohort of 2,024 male and female workers occupationally exposed to asbestos, in the Calvados département (France). Data on the cases of digestive cancers were collected thanks to the Calvados' digestive cancer registry. For each localization, the observed number of cancers was calculated from 1st January 1978 to 31st December 2009 and compared with the expected number among the local general population, using Standardised Incidence Ratios (SIR). Asbestos exposure was assessed for each subject, using the company's specific job exposure matrix, and according to three indicators: duration of exposure, Cumulative Exposure Index (CEI), mean atmospheric level. Results One hundred and nineteen cases of digestive cancers were observed, for an expected number of 77 (SIR = 1.54 [1.28; 1.85]). A significant excess of risk was observed for peritoneal mesothelioma, especially in women (SIR = 43.0 [13.9; 100]). Significantly elevated SIR were also observed among men for: all digestive cancers, even when excluding peritoneal mesothelioma (SIR = 1.50 [1.23; 1.82]); esophageal cancer in general (SIR = 1.67 [1.08; 2.47]) and among those with CEI above 80 fibres/ml.years (SIR = 1.90 [1.16; 2.94]); liver cancer (SIR = 1.85 [1.09; 2.92]). Concerning colorectal cancer, a significant excess of risk was observed for men with exposure duration above 25 years (SIR = 1.75 [1.05; 2.73]). Conclusions Our results are in favour of a link between long-duration asbestos exposure and colorectal cancer in men, which is consistent with most of the literature. They also suggest a relationship between asbestos exposure and cancer of the oesophagus in men. Finally, there might be an association with small intestine and liver cancers in men.


Imaging spectrometers are essential instruments for hyperspectral remote sensing systems that capture pupil-plane spectral radiance from a scene and ultimately form it into a hyperspectral data cube for processing, analysis, and information extraction. An imaging spectrometer is an EO/IR system, thus it contains all of the basic imaging system components outlined in the previous chapter, exhibits similar design challenges, and is characterized by some of the same performance metrics. In addition to imaging, however, an imaging spectrometer must also capture radiation spectra for each image pixel with adequate fidelity; this places additional demands on system design and adds another dimension to performance
characterization. The primary design challenge is that a hyperspectral data cube is
essentially a 3D construct, with two spatial dimensions and one spectral dimension, while FPAs are 2D. Therefore, some means are necessary to capture this additional dimension. Often this is done using the time dimension. Various designs that perform this function in different ways are explored in this chapter and subsequent two chapters. In this chapter, we focus on arguably the most common type, the dispersive imaging spectrometer. Dispersive spectrometers use either a prism or grating to spatially spread a spectrum of incident radiation across a detector array. In a dispersive imaging spectrometer, depicted conceptually in Fig. 7.1, the spectrum is dispersed in one direction, while the image is relayed in an orthogonal direction. In the direction of dispersion, it is necessary to limit the field of view to one spatial element; this is performed using a slit. If the field of
view is not thusly limited, irradiance distribution on the detector array will resemble an image with large lateral chromatic aberration. In that way, a back-end spectrometer only captures a single line of the 2D field produced by front-end optics. A scanning mechanism, such as the pushbroom or whiskbroom method discussed in Chapter 6, is required to image from frame to frame in a direction orthogonal to the slit. As this occurs, a hyperspectral data product is formed as a sequence of spatial-spectral frames, as depicted in Fig. 7.2. The composite set forms a hyperspectral data cube.


High rise structures with strengthened stories are widely used nowadays. A rational seismic design procedure for this kind of structure is thus necessary. Based on mode theory and direct displacement based seismic design of multi-story buildings, this paper proposed a new direct displacement based seismic design procedure. In the proposed method, each mode of the high rise structure is equivalent to a single degree of freedom (SDOF) system. Seismic response of each mode is calculated and adds up to consider the contributions of higher modes. Considering the characteristic of strengthened stories, two stories above the strengthened stories are taken as the "key stories", whose performance indicates the performance of the building. The proposed procedure is logical, simple and can serve for reference of actual design.


The integration of augmented-reality (AR) in medical robotics has been shown to reduce cognitive burden and improve information management in the typically cluttered environment of computer-assisted surgery. A key benefit of such systems is the ability to generate a composite view of medical-informatics and the real environment, streamlining the pathway for delivering patient-specific data. Consequently, AR was integrated within an orthopaedic setting by designing a system that captured and replicated the userinterface of a commercially available surgical robot onto a commercial head mounted see through display. Thus, a clinician could simultaneously view the operating-site and realtime informatics when carrying out an assisted patellofemoral-arthroplasty (PFA). The system was tested with 10 surgeons to examine its usability and impact on procedurecompletion times when conducting simulated PFA on sawbone models. A statistically insignificant mean increase in procedure completion-time (+23.7s, p=0.240) was found, and the results of a post-operative qualitative-evaluation indicated a strongly positive consensus on the system, with a large majority of subjects agreeing the system provided value to the procedure without incurring noticeable physical discomfort. Overall, this study provides an encouraging insight into the high levels of engagement AR has with a clinical audience as well as its ability to enhance future generations of medical robotics.


Previous research in crash injury severity analysis has largely focused on level of injury severity sustained by the driver of the vehicle or the most severely injured occupant of the vehicle. While such studies are undoubtedly useful, they do not provide a comprehensive picture of the injury profile of all vehicular occupants in crash-involved vehicles. This limits the ability to devise safety measures that enhance the safety and reduce the injury severity associated with all vehicular occupants. Moreover, such studies ignore the possible presence of correlated unobserved factors that may simultaneously influence and impact the injury severity levels of multiple occupants in the vehicle. This paper aims to fill this gap by presenting a simultaneous model of injury severity that can be applied to crashes involving any number of occupants. A copula-based methodology, that can be effectively used to estimate such complex model systems, is presented and applied to a data set of crashes drawn from the 2007 General Estimates System (GES) in the United States. The model estimation results provide strong evidence of the presence of correlated unobserved factors that affect injury severity levels among vehicle occupants. The correlation exhibits heterogeneity across vehicle types with greater level of interoccupant dependency in heavier sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks. The study also sheds light on how numerous exogenous factors including occupant characteristics, vehicle characteristics, environmental factors, roadway attributes, and crash characteristics affect injury severity levels of occupants in different seat positions. The findings confirm that rear seat passengers are less vulnerable to severe injuries than front row passengers pointing to the need to enhance vehicular design features that promote front row occupant safety.


The large number of xenophobic attacks that broke out in different places in South Africa during 2008 was still continuing unabated 10 years later. We were stressed to come to terms with the reality that this occurred in a country that is globally considered to be an example of reconciliation. It is clear that we were confronted by the politics of fear, which were manifested in xenophobia and all the other -isms. In this article, the primary causes of these xenophobic outbreaks were scrutinised and placed within the wider framework of a culture of fear. The central research question is: Why are we still struggling with this phenomenon more than a decade after it first appeared on South African soil? In-depth analysis will be performed on what is lying behind the culture of fear underlying these acts of violence. After exploring some of the factors related to a culture of fear by making use of a sociological frame, the author moved on to answer a second question: How do we, as preachers, researchers and practical theologians, respond in a theological way to the challenges posed by a xenophobic culture in our preaching activities? Finally, the impact of violence and fear on the practice of preaching within a Christian context was discussed.


Morphine-6-glucuronide is a minor metabolite. representing 5% of an
administered dose of morphine. The metabolite has analgesic activity
exceeding that of morphine and may contribute to analgesia following
morphine administration.
The aims of the study were to attempt to identify the reasons behind the
improved activity of morphine-6-glucuronide over the parent compound
and to examine a series of 6-substituted compounds, based on 6-substituted
benzoate esters, as potential mimics of morphine-6-glucuronide.
Morphine-6-glucuronide was seen to have similar affinity to morphine at
l1-opioid receptors as assessed by ligand-binding assays in mouse brain
homogenates. However a three-fold improved affinity at S-opioid receptor
binding sites was observed and a ten-fold reduction in affinity at K-opioid
sites. Using in vitro bioassay systems the glucuronide showed a two-fold
improved potency over morphine in both the guinea-pig ileum and the
mouse vas deferens preparations. Following in vivo (s.c.) administration in
the mouse the glucuronide was seen to be equipotent with morphine in the
tail-flick test, but was of much longer duration, lasting up to 9 hours. Exvivo
binding assays confirmed that morphine-like material was still
present in the central nervous system six hours after administration of the
glucuronide, but was not observed at a similar time after morphine
administration. Activity was retained if the hydroxyl groups of the sugar
moiety of the glucuronide were protected as esters. In contrast the more
prevalent morphine metabolite morphine-3-glucuronide was inactive in
all in vitro and in vivo tests used and did not antagonise morphine in
vitro or in vivo. A group of 3-substituted derivatives containing saturated
and unsaturated substituents did show affinity for opioid receptors but no
agonist activity of the compounds could be demonstrated in vitro. A series of synthetic 6-substituted compounds showed a variety of affinities
for, and agonist potencies at, opioid receptors, though low affinity at Kopioid
receptors was a general finding. For example, morphine-6-
nitrobenzoate was l1-opioid receptor preferring, while morphine-6-
phthalate had improved O-opioid receptor affinity and acted via Il-opioid
receptors in the mouse vas deferens and in vivo. However the compounds
were weaker than morphine and the duration of action in vivo was shorter
than morphine-6-glucuronide.
The conclusions from these studies are that morphine-6-glucuronide and
morphine have similar in vitro affinities at the l1-receptor, although
morphine-6-glucuronide has somewhat improved binding affinity for Il
receptor sites, it has less affinity for K receptor sites. Pharmacokinetic
reasons are probably responsible for the improved activity and duration of
action of morphine-6-glucuronide over morphine. None of the synthetic
compounds examined are potentially useful as direct mimics of the
glucuronide because morphine-6-glucuronide is more potent and has a
longer duration of action than the synthetic derivatives, though alteration
at the 6-position of the morphine nucleus can lead to dramatic changes in
selectivity and potency of ligands for the differing opioid receptors.


This paper examines the relationship between firm performance, measured by Tobin's Q, and board diversity. Board diversity is measured by age differentials, gender diversity, board size, number of board members with higher education, and number of nationali-ties included in the board. The data were collected from firms on the OMX Stockholm 30, for the years 2006-2010. Because data were collected from 5 years, a panel type re-gression is used. Furthermore the regression of this paper corrects for time specific ef-fects. This paper contributes to the field of research by investigating the Swedish market in a quantitative manner and using these specific five explanatory variables as a measure of board diversity. The result of this paper shows a clear overall relationship between board diversity and firm performance. More specifically, the education and nationality variables are not significant. The size variable is significant and negatively correlated to firm performance, while the gender and age variables show a significant and positive re-lationship to firm performance.


BACKGROUND
To analyze the knowledge of the facts on the part of the female population of Mallorca with regard to the causes of cancer, the beliefs regarding diagnosis and treatment and their attitude toward prevention.

METHODS
A descriptive cross-section study of a random population sample (n = 124) of women within the 40-69 age range. The questionnaire includes socio-demographic variables, risk factors, early warning symptoms and beliefs regarding diagnosis and treatment and attitudes toward prevention.

RESULTS
Cigarette smoking (92.7%; CI:88.1-97.3) and drinking alcoholic (85.7%; CI:79.4-92.0) are the most well-identified causes. Also the presence of a lump in the breast (92.6%; CI:87.9-97.2) and changes in a mole or wart on the skin (89.7%; CI:84.2-95.2%). The underestimate the role of the diet (44.4%; CI:35.1-53.8) and overestimate the environmental factors. The knowledge and use of self-examination procedures on the breast are associated directly with the degree of education (p < 0.05). Most believe that early diagnosis improves the prognosis (IC:94.2-99.5) and that treatment is beneficial (85.2%; CI:78.5-91.9). They consider surgery to be the most highly effective method, and in the event of any doubt they would first see their primary care physician (41.9%; CI:33.2-50.6). It is mainly older women having a low level of completed schooling who get their information regarding cancer above all from the television (43.5%; CI:34.8-52.3). Worthy of special mention is the very small impact of health care personal as a source of information (6.5%; CI:2.1-10.8).

CONCLUSIONS
A major knowledge of the facts exists regarding the causes and warning signs, although some misconceptions do exist. In view of future prevention campaigns, educational measures addressed mainly to older women having a low level of completed schooling should be carried out.


Early embryogenesis is the crucial stage of development that results in the distinction of cell lineages with varying developmental potentials. The first lineage decision involves the transition from totipotent cells into two tissues: the inner cell mass and the trophoblast. Knowledge of how lineage is regulated is important for the agricultural, clinical and therapeutic industries that rely on artificial reproductive technology to progress. However, our current understanding of pre-implantation embryonic development is heavily based on the mouse model. Species-specific regulation of early embryogenesis is an important consideration that has not yet been thoroughly investigated. Cattle provide an opportunity for a new model of embryonic development that will not only serve the agricultural industry but provide new insights that will help establish bovine embryonic stem cells.
In this study, I have established a timeline of protein expression during bovine embryonic development during the first 7 days in in-vitro culture. The results show that compaction and polarisation events in cattle are not only delayed compared to the mouse but asynchronous. The establishment of distinct transcription profiles is also delayed in the bovine embryo, suggesting a lack of lineage commitment at the early blastocyst stages. Contrary to the mouse, pluripotency regulator, SOX2, and trophoblast marker GATA3 are not regulated by the YAP-TEAD4 transcriptional complex in cattle, shown by manipulating YAP activity using Verteporfin and LPA. It has also been demonstrated through further functional analyses using Y27632 and Go6983 that the apical domain, responsible for regulating Hippo pathway activity in mice, is not necessary for lineage specification in cattle.
Instead, we propose that transduction of mechanical cues via YAP operates in parallel to the Hippo pathway to establish lineage-specific transcription profiles. The urgency of the mouse blastocyst to implant has meant the species have evolved ways to utilise available signaling machinery to rapidly commit cells to trophoblast lineage. Cattle, who have a much longer pre-implantation period, coordinate information from various signaling inputs to progressively establish lineage commitment. This coordination has created a functional redundancy of the Hippo pathway in the first lineage decision.


We present a method for detecting and modelling rails in mobile laser scanner data. The detection is based on the properties of the rail tracks and contact wires such as relative height, linearity and relative position with respect to other objects. Points classified as rail track are used in a 3D modelling algorithm. The modelling is done by first fitting a parametric model of a rail piece to the points along each track, and estimating the position and orientation parameters of each piece model. For each position and orientation parameter a smooth low-order Fourier curve is interpolated. Using all interpolated parameters a mesh model of the rail is reconstructed. The method is explained using two areas from a dataset acquired by a LYNX mobile mapping system in a mountainous area. Residuals between railway laser points and 3D models are in the range of 2 cm. It is concluded that a curve fitting algorithm is essential to reliably and accurately model the rail tracks by using the knowledge that railways are following a continuous and smooth path.


In patients with chronic heart failure, myocardial contractile responsiveness to dobutamine is diminished as a result of beta-receptor desensitization due to chronic adrenergic activation. Changes in beta-receptor effector mechanisms are more marked in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDCM) than in ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy. As the magnitude of the dobutamine effect is proportional to the severity of left ventricular systolic dysfunction, the heterogeneous cardiotonic effects of dobutamine in IDCM may represent different evolutive stages of a progressive disease process. On the basis of this pathophysiologic background, some studies were undertaken to investigate the prognostic and functional implications of dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) in IDCM. Prognostic studies consistently suggest that myocardial response to dobutamine is related to the clinical outcome. However, the limited number of patients and events in the individual studies are important limitations. Moreover, the impact of beta-blockers on the potential ability of DSE to predict the prognosis needs to be assessed. A few studies also suggest that changes in left ventricular systolic function parameters following dobutamine infusion are related to exercise tolerance, as assessed by peak exercise oxygen consumption and functional recovery of the failing myocardium. The data suggest that DSE is a promising method, which may improve the risk stratification process in patients with IDCM and provide further insights into the pathophysiologic mechanisms underlying progressive systolic pump dysfunction and exercise intolerance. Further studies are however needed to define the role of DSE in IDCM.


A sink node must be aware of the identifications (node IDs) of those all sensor nodes which contribute in aggregated value of sensors data in order to derive exact result of them in privacy preserving data aggregation scheme for wireless sensor networks (WSNs). This is possible only when if there exists such a scheme which can transmit IDs of all the participating sensor nodes to the sink node. But, currently existing TinyOS based privacy preserving data aggregation protocols for WSNs can not transmit the IDs of those all sensor nodes which contribute to aggregated value of sensor data to the sink node due to following two reasons. The first is that TinyOS offers limited payload size of 29 bytes. The second is that each sensor node ID is transmitted as a plaintext (2 bytes) to the sink node. As a result, it restricts sending IDs of all contributed sensor nodes. To resolve the problem, we, in this paper, propose a novel mechanism in which a special set of real numbers are assigned as the IDs of sensor nodes so that a single bit is sufficient to hold ID of a sensor node during transmission of aggregated data to the sink node. For this, we, first, generate fixed size signatures for the IDs of all sensor nodes and then superimpose the signatures during data aggregation phase. By analytical evaluations, we show that our scheme is more scalable and energy efficient than the existing work to transmit IDs of sensor nodes to the sink node.


This work is focused on a Roman cremation burial coming from Este (Padova – North-eastern Italy) dated to the third quarter of the 1st century AD. Discovered at the beginning of the Twentieth century and never published in a systematic way, the grave goods of the tomb are now preserved in the National Archeological Museum of Este.
The paper initially moves from the study of the funerary context to the reconstruction of the burial dynamics and the discussion of the original grave goods, whose number was probably increased once the items entered in the Museum collections. The attention is then focused on the artefacts identified as part of the original group. Except for some of them, specifically intended for the funeral celebrations, most of the items deal with the human being: there are jewels, toilette and spinning tools, games and an exotic amulet (a specimen of cypraea pantherina), together used to build up the image of the deceased. Taken from the everyday life, these artefacts highlight some aspects of the Roman world, slightly overlooked in the academic literature. Considered together, they show us the identity of the deceased, perhaps a marriageable young lady, even in the absence of the human remains.


In-situ applications such as Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery (MEOR) and remediation of contaminated sites demand production of biosurfactants in large quantities under oxygen limiting conditions. Few microorganisms have been isolated so far which can cater such need. In this paper, the characteristics of a biosurfactant produced under complete anaerobic conditions are presented. A novel biosurfactant producing microorganism, Pseudomonas sp ANBIOSURF-1 was isolated in our laboratory, from a microbial consortium enriched from municipal sewage sludge. The microorganism utilized vegetable oils and produced biosurfactant under complete anaerobic conditions. TLC tests revealed the presence of sugar and lipid as hydrophilic and hydrophobic moieties respectively. The biosurfactant synthesized under anaerobic condition thus belonged to class of glycolipids similar to that of rhamnolipids. The biosurfactant had a very low CMC value of 52 mg/l. The biosurfactant displayed good emulsifying activity over chlorinated solvents than the petroleum derivatives. The results suggest that Pseudomonas sp ANBIOSURF-1 could potentially be used for remediation of sites contaminated with chlorinated solvents through in-situ biosurfactant production.


Seasonal labour migration has not declined in spite of MGNREGA in Jharkhand. Nearly 30% villagers do migrate for 4-6 months to brick kiln along with their families. Article reviews the reason for migration based on a qualitative study conducted through FGD and PLA in 12 villages of Bero and Itki blocks of Ranchi district. Study analyses the type, pattern, cause and effect of migration to brick kiln and impact of such migration on children. It was reported children's vulnerability increased due to migration much to the ignorance of the parents and due to their fatalistic life style. Article throws light on plausible way forward from this vicious cycle.


Organisational and managerial decisions are influenced by corporate sustainability pressures. Organisations need to consider economic, environmental and social sustainability dimensions in their decisions to become sustainable. Supply chain decisions play a distinct and critical role in organisational good and service outputs sustainability. Sustainable supplier selection influences the supply chain sustainability allowing many organisations to build competitive advantage. Within this context, the social sustainability dimension has received relatively minor investigation; with emphasis typically on economic and environmental sustainability. Neglecting social sustainability can have serious repercussions for organisational supply chains. This study proposes a social sustainability attribute decision framework to evaluate and select socially sustainable suppliers. A grey-based multi-criteria decision-support tool composed of the 'best-worst method' (BWM) and TODIM (TOmada de Decisão Interativa e Multicritério – in Portuguese 'Interactive and Multicriteria Decision Making') is introduced. A grey-BWM approach is used to determine social sustainability attribute weights, and a grey-TODIM method is utilised to rank suppliers. This process is completed in a group decision setting. A case study of an Iranian manufacturing company is used to exemplify the applicability and suitability of the proposed social sustainability decision framework. Managerial implications, limitations, and future research directions are introduced after the application of the model.


A quantitative description of the violation of the second law of thermodynamics in relatively small classical systems and over short time scales comes from the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. It has been well established both theoretically and experimentally, the validity of the fluctuation theorem to small scale systems that are disturbed from their initial equilibrium states. Some experimental studies in the past have also explored the validity of the fluctuation theorem to nonequilibrium steady states at long time scales in the asymptotic limit. To this end, a theoretical and/or purely numerical model of the integral fluctuation theorem has been presented. An approximate general expression for the dissipation function has been derived for accelerated colloidal systems trapped/confined in power-law traps. Thereafter, a colloidal particle trapped in a harmonic potential (generated by an accelerating one-dimensional optical trap) and undergoing Brownian motion has been considered for the numerical study. A toy model of a quartic potential trap in addition to the harmonic trap has also been considered for the numerical study. The results presented herein show that the integral fluctuation theorem applies not only to equilibrium steady state distributions but also to nonequilibrium steady state distributions of colloidal systems in accelerated frames of reference over long time scales.


Inappropriate attachment/tension between chromosomal kinetochores and the kinetochore microtubules activates the spindle assembly checkpoint, which delays anaphase by blocking the ubiquitin-mediated degradation of securin/Pds1p by APC. The checkpoint proteins Mad2 and Mad3/BubR1 bind to Cdc20, although how they inhibit APC is unclear. We investigated the roles of two evolutionarily conserved KEN boxes and a D box within Mad3/BubR1. Although such motifs usually mediate APC-substrate recognition and ubiquitination, they have no apparent role in Mad3p turnover in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Instead, these motifs are important for Mad3p function in the checkpoint and for binding to Cdc20p. We show that the Mad3p D box and KEN boxes function together to mediate Cdc20p–Mad3p interaction and that Mad3p and an anaphase-promoting complex (APC) substrate, Hsl1p, compete for Cdc20p binding in a D-boxand KEN-box-dependent manner. In vivo, we observed an increased binding of Cdc20p to Mad3p and decreased binding to Hsl1p upon checkpoint activation. Furthermore, we demonstrate that Mad2p stimulates the association between Mad3p and Cdc20p and that this stimulated binding requires KEN box 1 within Mad3p. These findings implicate Mad3p as a pseudosubstrate inhibitor of APC, competing with APC substrates for Cdc20p binding. We present a model aimed at unifying previous analyses of checkpoint function by focusing on the Mad3–Cdc20 interaction.


: Background impulse activity (BIA) of fastigial nucleus (NF) of the rat cerebellum has been analyzed. Prevalence of stationary impulse flows (IFs) and their irregularity of various types are found out, regular components of IF occurring frequently. Nonstationary IFs are detected as well, but they are studied only in 15% of a total number of units. A serial correlation analysis of duration of interspike intervals (ISIs) in case of stationary IFs and nonstationary ones permits stating six main varieties of ISI dynamics: 1) independent accidental distribution of impulse sequences; 2) irregular changes (acceleration or deceleration) of IF rate with positive correlation coefficients (CCs) in a range of initial five ISI orders; 3) irregular appearance of combined short and long intervals with negative CC in neighbouring ISIs; 4) periodic changes of IF rate, in particular, as grouped discharges varying in total duration and frequencies (4 and 5 IF varieties); 5) in case of negative values of CCs of the first order the recorded IFs in the primary complex serial correlograms have been determined as the 5th dynamic variant; and, finally, 6) prolonged cycles of BIA acceleration or deceleration with positive CCs up to 10-20 and higher orders. One third of NF units recorded have other BIA variations with the characteristics similar to types 2-3 and 6 mentioned above. They are considered to be induced by various correlations existing also at high-order ISIs. Formation of IFs registered and their pattern changes can serve as an adequate index of current state of cellular activity recorded extracellularly from small size cells of the CNS.


Sequence-to-sequence models have shown success in end-to-end speech recognition. However these models have only used shallow acoustic encoder networks. In our work, we successively train very deep convolutional networks to add more expressive power and better generalization for end-to-end ASR models. We apply network-in-network principles, batch normalization, residual connections and convolutional LSTMs to build very deep recurrent and convolutional structures. Our models exploit the spectral structure in the feature space and add computational depth without overfitting issues. We experiment with the WSJ ASR task and achieve 10.5% word error rate without any dictionary or language model using a 15 layer deep network.


Metabolic and inflammatory responses and changes in fatigue were studied in groups of patients undergoing either laparoscopic (n = 14) or open (n = 10) elective cholecystectomy. The mean(s.e.m.) cortisol concentration was significantly (P<0·001) increased from 342(80) and 424(91) nmol l−1 before operation to 895(46) and 966(53) nmol l−1 after surgery in patients undergoing laparoscopic and open cholecystectomy respectively. There was no difference in cortisol response between the groups. Glucose concentration was increased (P < 0·02) at the end of surgery from mean(s.e.m.) preoperative levels of 5·54(0·15) and 6·16(0·15) mmol l−1 to postoperative values of 7·46(0·29) and 8·46(0·86) mmol−1 for the laparoscopic and open procedures respectively. The mean glucose concentration during the initial 12 h after surgery was significantly greater (P < 0·02) following open than laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The mean(s.e.m.) albumin concentration fell significantly (P < 0·01) during surgery by an equivalent extent from 38·9(0·77) and 38·5(1·10) g l−1 to 35·2(0·79) and 34·6(0·97) g l−1. The mean (95 per cent confidence interval) interleukin (IL) 6 concentration peaked 4 h after surgery at 57·2 (44·6–73·4) pg ml−1 following laparoscopic and 99·3 (72·8–135·4) pg ml−1 after open cholecystectomy. Mean (95 per cent confidence interval) C‐reactive protein (CRP) levels at 24 h were 17·0 (12·7–21·2) and 49·0 (25·3–93·6) mg l−1 and at 48 h 28·0 (21·4–35·4) and 70·0 (36·4–133·6) mg l−1 following laparoscopic and open operations. The differences in IL‐6 and CRP level between the groups were significant (P < 0·01). Mean(s.e.m.) fatigue scores were significantly (P < 0·05) increased from preoperative values of 2·4(0·24) and 2·6(0·44) to 5·5(0·56) and 6·8(0·51) at 24 h after laparoscopic and open operations. At 48 h the mean(s.e.m.) fatigue score (5·6(0·57)) remained significantly (P < 0·05) raised only after open cholecystectomy. Hand grip strength was significantly (P < 0·05) reduced only after the open procedure, to a mean(s.e.m.) of 88(6) per cent of the preoperative value. These results demonstrate that aspects of the metabolic and acute‐phase responses are attenuated following laparoscopic cholecystectomy, consistent with a reduction in tissue trauma.


This paper reformulates the problem of recommending related queries on a search engine as an extreme multi-label learning task. Extreme multi-label learning aims to annotate each data point with the most relevant subset of labels from an extremely large label set. Each of the top 100 million queries on Bing was treated as a separate label in the proposed reformulation and an extreme classifier was learnt which took the user's query as input and predicted the relevant subset of 100 million queries as output. Unfortunately, state-of-the-art extreme classifiers have not been shown to scale beyond 10 million labels and have poor prediction accuracies for queries. This paper therefore develops the Slice algorithm which can be accurately trained on low-dimensional, dense deep learning features popularly used to represent queries and which efficiently scales to 100 million labels and 240 million training points. Slice achieves this by reducing the training and prediction times from linear to logarithmic in the number of labels based on a novel negative sampling technique. This allows the proposed reformulation to address some of the limitations of traditional related searches approaches in terms of coverage, density and quality. Experiments on publically available extreme classification datasets with low-dimensional dense features as well as related searches datasets mined from the Bing logs revealed that slice could be more accurate than leading extreme classifiers while also scaling to 100 million labels. Furthermore, slice was found to improve the accuracy of recommendations by 10% as compared to state-of-the-art related searches techniques. Finally, when added to the ensemble in production in Bing, slice was found to increase the trigger coverage by 52%, the suggestion density by 33%, the overall success rate by 2.6% and the success rate for tail queries by 12.6%. Slice's source code can be downloaded from [21].


The corrosion risk of stainless steel is more pronounced in chloride containing carbonated concrete than in salt enriched alkaline concrete. Therefore doubts had been existed that stainless steel is sufficiently sure in cracked concrete of parking decks and walls by the road side contaminated with de-icing salts. Cracks can carbonate quickly and are open for chloride penetration. Electrochemical corrosion potential measurements and corrosion tests on cracked beams, reinforced with welded stainless steel bars, could not confirm this assumption. Stainless steel reinforcement, licensed in Germany, is also suit for the very unfavourable case of highly chloride contaminated cracked concrete.


This study aims to revitalize the role of performing arts in the midst of their people and empower actors performing arts theater Cirebon. For this research it intends to get a model, both studies as well as in contemporary packaging that can empower local performing arts community needs in his day. The method used in this research using phenomenological approaches and qualitative paradigms. To get the model studies and packaging theatricals, data search focus is directed on material performance, elements of the show, and the structure of the show, and the values and performances are still to be understood today's society. After going through a series of studies will be conducted packaging theatricals, especially against the compaction duration, the addition and reduction of material performance, the actualization of the elements of the show with no change in the structure and values that exist and are still subjected to by society. The results of this study is a model study and packaging theatricals Cirebon. Model studies and packaging generated theatrical Cirebon expected to inspire the folk performing arts theater in Indonesia, for the performing arts community continues to live and support his supporters.

Keywords: Model, performing art, empowerment, and revitalization


The introduction of the Reduced height (Rht)-B1b and Rht-D1b semidwarfing genes led to impressive increases in wheat (Triticum aestivum) yields during the Green Revolution. The reduction in stem elongation in varieties containing these alleles is caused by a limited response to the phytohormone gibberellin (GA), resulting in improved resistance to stem lodging and yield benefits through an increase in grain number. Rht-B1 and Rht-D1 encode DELLA proteins, which act to repress GA-responsive growth, and their mutant alleles Rht-B1b and Rht-D1b are thought to confer dwarfism by producing more active forms of these growth repressors. While no semidwarfing alleles of Rht-A1 have been identified, we show that this gene is expressed at comparable levels to the other homeologs and represents a potential target for producing novel dwarfing alleles. In this study, we have characterized additional dwarfing mutations in Rht-B1 and Rht-D1. We show that the severe dwarfism conferred by Rht-B1c is caused by an intragenic insertion, which results in an in-frame 90-bp insertion in the transcript and a predicted 30-amino acid insertion within the highly conserved amino-terminal DELLA domain. In contrast, the extreme dwarfism of Rht-D1c is due to overexpression of the semidwarfing Rht-D1b allele, caused by an increase in gene copy number. We show also that the semidwarfing alleles Rht-B1d and Rht-B1e introduce premature stop codons within the amino-terminal coding region. Yeast two-hybrid assays indicate that these newly characterized mutations in Rht-B1 and Rht-D1 confer "GA-insensitive" dwarfism by producing DELLA proteins that do not bind the GA receptor GA INSENSITIVE DWARF1, potentially compromising their targeted degradation.


Networks (graphs) in psychology are often restricted to settings without interventions. Here we consider a framework borrowed from biology that involves multiple interventions from different contexts (observations and experiments) in a single analysis. The method is called perturbation graphs. In gene regulatory networks, the induced change in one gene is measured on all other genes in the analysis, thereby assessing possible causal relations. This is repeated for each gene in the analysis. A perturbation graph leads to the correct set of causes (not necessarily direct causes). Subsequent pruning of paths in the graph (called transitive reduction) should reveal direct causes. We show that transitive reduction will not in general lead to the correct underlying graph. There is however a close relation with another method, called invariant causal prediction. Invariant causal prediction can be considered as a generalisation of the perturbation graph method where including additional variables (and so conditioning on those variables) does reveal direct causes, and thereby replacing transitive reduction. We explain the basic ideas of perturbation graphs, transitive reduction and invariant causal prediction and investigate their connections. We conclude that perturbation graphs provide a promising new tool for experimental designs in psychology, and combined with invariant prediction make it possible to reveal direct causes instead of causal paths. As an illustration we apply the perturbation graphs and invariant causal prediction to a data set about attitudes on meat consumption.


Recommendation systems are used to improve the convenience and efficiency for users tobook hotels. The most widely used method in recommendation systems is collaborativefiltering. A critical step of the collaborative filtering method is to analyze one user'spreference and recommend products or services to the user based on other similar users'preferences. However, collaborative filtering is vulnerable for recommendation when it isdifficult to obtain user preferences, in the situation where e.g. a user provides none or veryfew comments on products or services. The problem occurring in this situation is called thecold start problem. This thesis proposes an improved method which combines collaborativefiltering with data classification to recommend suitable hotels to new users. The accuracy ofthe recommendation is determined by the rankings so that evaluations are conducted on theTop-3 and the Top-10 recommendation lists using the 10-fold cross-validation method andROC curves. The results show that the Top-3 hotel recommendation list proposed by thecombined method has the superiority of the recommendation performance than the Top-10 listunder the cold start condition in most of the times.


Context. Mixed-morphology supernova remnants (MM SNRs) are a mysterious class of objects that display thermal X-ray emission within their radio shell. They are an older class of SNRs, and as such are profoundly affected by the environment into which they evolve. VRO 42.05.01 is a MM SNR of puzzling morphology in the direction of the Galactic anticentre.
Aims. Low-frequency radio observations of supernova remnants are sensitive to synchrotron electrons accelerated in the shock front. We aim to compare the low-frequency emission to higher frequency observations to understand the environmental and shock acceleration conditions that have given rise to the observed properties of this source.
Methods. We present a LOFAR High Band Antenna map centred at 143 MHz of the region of the Galactic plane centred at l = 166 ° ,  b = 3.5° at 143 MHz, with a resolution of 148″ and an rms noise of 4.4 mJy bm−1. Our map is sensitive to scales as large as 6°. We compared the LOw Frequency ARay (LOFAR) observations to archival higher frequency radio, infrared, and optical data to study the emission properties of the source in different spectral regimes. We did this both for the SNR and for OA 184, an H II region within our field of view.
Results. We find that the radio spectral index of VRO 42.05.01 increases at low radio frequencies; i.e. the LOFAR flux is higher than expected from the measured spectral index value at higher radio frequencies. This observed curvature in the low-frequency end of the radio spectrum occurs primarily in the brightest regions of the source, while the fainter regions present a roughly constant power-law behaviour between 143 MHz and 2695 MHz. We favour an explanation for this steepening whereby radiative shocks have high compression ratios and electrons of different energies probe different length scales across the shocks, therefore sampling regions of different compression ratios.


Research in Taiwan has shown that aboriginal students often have low self-esteem and a negative view of their life due to their heritage. This research studied 14 Taiwan aboriginal students to understand how the experience of aboriginal dance club influenced their ethnic identity. The result showed that the experiences of socializing with other aboriginal group members and learning about traditional tribal culture creating a more positive ethnic identity. Moreover, through international performances, they gained self-confidence and diverse perspectives. The study suggests that schools should give support to students to learn about their ethnic culture to explore their ethnic identity.


BACKGROUND AND AIM
As National Dental Associations and dental faculties can be considered as the two major institutions representing national organised dentistry, their further extended collaboration is crucial in responding to the many global oral health matters and issues. The main aim of the present study is to analyse the nature and extent of the partnership between the dental faculties and NDAs.

METHODS
A questionnaire was developed focusing on the relationship between National Dental Associations and the dental faculties within the World Dental Federation-European Regional Organisation zone regarding their major professional activities such as dental education, workforce issues, improvement of national oral health, science and knowledge transfer. The questionnaire was sent to 173 dental faculties within the countries in the European Regional Organisation zone.

RESULTS
Response rate was 62/173 (35.8%). Major activities of dental faculties were listed as implementation of new technologies into practice (72%), followed by improvement of national oral health (65%), while the least involved activity was dental workforce issues (42%). The dental faculties perceived their relationship with the National Dental Associations as quite satisfactory in the field of continuing education and science and knowledge transfer. However, their relationship was suggested to need significant improvement when dealing with undergraduate dental education curriculum, dental workforce issues and negotiations with the authorities regarding professional matters/issues.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Despite the fact that there are differences between the perceived competences and responsibilities of the two bodies, the presence of so many potential areas of collaboration, the increasing expectations from the individual dentists/dental profession and the new challenges of the dental profession give this relationship significant importance. Communication, regular contacts, more joint activities and improved collaboration is needed between dental faculties and National Dental Associations to overcome such professional matters and issues.


ABSTRACT The process followed to configure the software PRESTo (PRobabilistic and Evolutionary early warning SysTem; University of Naples Federico II) to operate in the Ibero‐Maghrebian region (IMR) is described, and its performance in the first five months is analyzed. During this period, a total of 147 earthquakes were detected by PRESTo, with good epicentral location and magnitude estimation. The performance of PRESTo and its results for the 25 January 2016 M w  6.3 and 23 January 2016 M w  4.5 earthquakes are analyzed in detail, as these are the largest that occurred inside and outside the seismic network at the IMR during the studied period. The first warning is obtained at 24 and 55 s after the origin time, respectively, with an accurate location and magnitude for both events at the last estimation. Finally, the main differences between PRESTo's estimates and those obtained by the Instituto Geografico Nacional are discussed, and improvements are proposed to decrease the time needed to issue the alert. This study shows that the actual PRESTo earthquake early warning system configured for IMR generates effective warnings. However, to decrease the warning time, the geometry, density, and data transmission of the seismic network must be improved.


The primary objective of this dissertation was to investigate the role of altered vision and proprioception in the control of vertical posture. Four separate experiments involving 38 healthy subjects were conducted to study feedforward and feedback components of postural control. The experimental method involved external perturbations delivered at the shoulder level. Electrical activity of muscles and ground reaction forces were recorded and analyzed.
In the first study visual acuity was altered by using differently powered glasses while the role of different visual cues (static vs. dynamic) was investigated in the second study. The third study laid insight on the role of altered proprioception in the control of posture by using miniature tendon vibrators. The outcome of the fourth and final study further established the significance of both somatosensory and proprioceptive inputs in the control of posture while maintaining balance on different support surfaces.
The outcomes from these studies will help us understand how humans control their posture under conditions of altered vision and proprioception. It also provides a background for new rehabilitation interventions focused on improving balance in the elderly and patients with sensory deficits.


This paper discusses the design, build, and demonstration of two hybrid electric fuel cell utility vehicles for a program sponsored by DLA (Defense Logistics Agency). The design emphasis for the utility vehicles was range extension over state of the art battery systems using a fuel cell power plant. The design work involved vehicle modeling in PSAT to evaluate different battery technologies and compare the effects of different hydrogen storage technologies on vehicle performance and overall range. The comparative analysis showed that 350 bar compressed hydrogen storage maximized vehicle range and produced a final vehicle design that demonstrated a 300+ mile range during commissioning trials.


ABSTRACT In anoxic sediments, bacterially-mediated sulfate reduction can play a major role in both carbonate and sulfide mineral diagenesis. In order to understand better the complex interrelationships involved in these diagenetic processes, diagenesis of iron sulfide and carbonate minerals was studied in the poorly-sorted siliclastic-dominated sediments from Baffin Bay, Texas. The production of pyrite dominantly takes place in the top 20 cm of sediment. A good correlation (r2 = 0.76) is observed between the total inorganic sulfur (TRS) content of the sediments and the percentage of the sediment that is fine-grained ( 0.8) degrees of Fe pyritization, and elevated C/S ratios compared to normal marine sediments indicate that reactive iron probably limits sulfide burial in sediments from this region containing more than about 1 wt. % organic carbon. A major ( 10 fold) increase in CO2 driven by sulfate reduction is closely related to a large decrease in dissolved calcium in the upper 1 m of sediment. The major decrease in dissolved calcium is probably due to the precipitation of calcium carbonate. Dolomite was observed in these sediments, and favorable conditions for its formation are present. However, a detrital origin for the dolomite cannot be ruled out.


Citrus Variegated Chlorosis (CVC) caused by Xylella fastidiosa is one of the most important diseases for Brazilian citriculture. The CVC is a vascular disease with a long incubation period and symptoms similar to other disorders, and this factors difficult the CVC quantification in the field. Two methods of CVC assessment were compared in this study. The first method was based on a descriptive rating scale with four ratings, commonly used for the disease quantification. The second one was based on the incidence of symptomatic branches. The quantification of CVC through these two methods was carried out in a 10-year-old 'Natal' sweet orange orchard. The descriptive scale considered the symptoms of the entire plant. The disease incidence was evaluated in 36 branches in each plant. The assessments were conducted by three raters in 144 plants in July 2006 and July 2007 as well as in March and November 2008. The descriptive scale did not allow an accurate assessment and resulted in a moderate strength of agreement among the raters. On the other hand, the incidence quantification of CVC through the symptomatic branches showed high repeatability among the raters. We suggest the use of incidence of symptomatic branches as variable for CVC quantification.


Aim of the study and theoretical background
Sport federations face various challenges due to the expectations of their environment and the demands of their member organizations. Increasingly, federations are professionalizing to address these challenges (Dowling, Edwards, & Washington, 2014; Nagel, Schlesinger, Bayle, & Giauque, 2015). Strategic development is crucial to professionalization (Shilbury & Ferkins, 2011), as this defines the future direction for any federation. In general, organizational strategy can be developed using one of two different approaches
(Nagel & Schlesinger, 2012; Sontag, 2011). In a top-down approach, strategy is initiated, shaped and controlled by a federation's legitimate power (e.g. board, management), whereas a bottom-up approach sees strategy developed from the base level of the federation by involving various actors at different organizational levels. The aim of this study is to analyze the choice of strategic development approach by federations and consider the associated reasons and consequences of this choice.
Methodology and data analysis
The strategic development process was analyzed through a case study of Swiss Triathlon. The case study approach gives a holistic, in-depth analysis of complex phenomena (Skille, 2013), for this case study, identifying the approach, underlying reasons and leading consequences of strategic development. The case study of Swiss Triathlon is particularly appropriate, as over the past years the federation has developed strategy using both top-down and bottom-up approaches. Thus, this case provides a suitable comparison of the two approaches. The federation's strategic development process in 2013–2016 and 2017–2020 were reconstructed, and the procedure and contents, underlying reasons and objectives, and implementation were compared. Analysis of the two strategy concepts and accompanying documents (with a total of about 250 pages), as well as two guided interviews with the actors responsible for the strategy provided the data for the research. This data was analyzed using structuring qualitative content analysis.
Results, discussion, and implications
The results show that the two strategies clearly differ from each other. The 2013–2016 strategy was developed using a top-down approach, where only a few actors from the management carried out the strategy concept in a short time. The strategy exclusively focused on high-performance sport and aimed to meet the external requirements of the umbrella organization in order to secure financial support. However, the implementation of the strategy failed due to resistance and disinterest of the member organizations. In contrast, the strategy 2017–2020 was executed as a bottom-up process where all stakeholders and Units were involved (e.g., board, management, representatives of regional and local member organizations) in order to guarantee broad support. The strategy focused on internal interests and requirements and aimed to develop the overall organization. The elaboration of this strategy concept took considerably more time. The results of this study illustrate the challenges for sport federations who are attempting to balance internal and external expectations and demands, and are uncertain about the choice of appropriate strategy for development. The results also indicate that a participatory, bottom-up strategy development Approach seems more appropriate for federations, as this corresponds to their self-understanding as an interest organization. Although this is only a single case study, the results may yet be applicable to other federations that face similar challenges in negotiating internal and external demands.


Program auralization aims to communicate information about program state, data, and behavior using audio. We have argued that music offers many advantages as a communication medium [Alty 1995]. The CAITLIN system [Alty and Vickers 1997; Vickers 1999; Vickers and Alty 1996, 1998] was constructed to provide auralizations within a formal structured musical framework. Pilot studies [Alty and Vickers 1997; Vickers 1999] showed that programmers could infer program structure from auralizations alone. A study was conducted using 22 novice programmers to assess (i) whether novices could understand the musical auralizations and (ii) whether the musical experience and knowledge of subjects affected their performance. The results show that novices could interpret the auralizations (with accuracy varying across different levels of abstraction) and that musical knowledge had no significant effect on performance. A second experiment was conducted with another 22 novice programmers to study the effects of musical program auralization on debugging tasks. The experiment aimed to determine whether auralizations would lead to higher bug detection rates. The results indicate that, in certain circumstances, musical auralizations can be used to help locate bugs in programs and that musical skill does not affect the ability to make use of the auralizations. In addition, the experiment showed that subjective workload increased when the musical auralizations were used.


Salinity is one of the most damaging abiotic stresses due to climate change impacts that affect the growth and yield of crops, especially in lowland rice fields and coastal areas. This research aimed to isolate potential halotolerant plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria from different rhizo-microbiome and use them as effective bioinoculants to improve rice growth under salinity stress conditions. Bioassay using rice seedlings was performed in a randomized block design consisting of 16 treatments (control and 15 bacterial isolates) with three replications. Results revealed that isolates S3, S5, and S6 gave higher shoot height, root length, and plant dry weight compared with control (without isolates). Based on molecular characteristics, isolates S3 and S5 were identified as Pseudomonas stutzeri and Klebsiella pneumonia. These isolates were able to promote rice growth under salinity stress conditions as halotolerant plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria. These three potent isolates were found to produce indole-3-acetic acid and nitrogenase.


Attracted by the promise of greater market exposure and increased revenues, firms across a wide variety of industries have undertaken significant investments in online channels. However, while some firms' entire business models revolve around this initiative, others have made only limited commitments to online channel ventures. What accounts for these marked differences in commitment to online initiatives, and do firms reap the performance benefits of increased levels of commitment? Furthermore, how do firms' internal and external capabilities affect their propensity to establish and succeed with online channel ventures? Drawing on marketing, innovation, and information systems perspectives, along with insights from the resource-based view of the firm, we propose an integrative conceptual framework that helps answer these questions. We ground our hypotheses in the context of retailers' online channel development efforts, and test our conceptual framework with data collected via a Web-based survey of 550 retailers. We find evidence of significant positive returns to investments in online channels. Furthermore, we observe the divergent effects of different sets of capabilities on commitment and performance. Importantly, although we find that the direct effect of firms' information systems capabilities on online performance appears to be negative, the indirect effect (mediated by commitment) is positive. Our study also examines the impact of firms' established distribution channels on levels of commitment to, and performance of, the online channel. We find that firms' established distribution channels act as double-edged swords, with divergent effects on commitment and performance. We also find evidence of diminishing returns to commitment as a function of established distribution presence, thereby suggesting that the rewards of commitment do not accrue equally to all firms.


In vitro tests conducted with extracts rich in tannins have identified several biological activities of this class of substance. Thus, this paper intends to evaluate the antibacterial activity of tannin-rich fraction obtained from leaf extracts of Anacardium humile A.St.-Hil. Extracts of A. humile leaves in 70% acetone were semi-purified with ethyl acetate and butanol. We quantified the total tannins of the semi-purified fractions, of the crude extract and of aqueous residues and then performed tests of the antibacterial activity of the tannins against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853 and Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212. All positive extracts underwent tannin isolation using a Sephadex LH-20 column. The tannins isolated from the samples were quantified and tested for the minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBC). The tannins from crude extracts, semi-purifications and residues showed inhibition of S. aureus growth with MIC=500 g mL-1. All tannin fractions showed MIC against all strains and MBC, except against E. faecalis. The tannin fractions from Anacardium humile have antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomononas aeruginosa and Enterococcus faecalis and, therefore, may be promising for future synthesis of new antibacterial agents.


Diverse therapeutic agents, such as certain antibiotics, diuretics, and analgesics can cause functional and morphological damage to the inner ear. Noise present in recreational or occupational environment may also be potentially damaging to the auditory system when combined with some ototoxic therapeutic agents. This article documents recent research and controversies about the site and mechanism of action of major ototoxic drugs, noise-drug interaction, and possible prophylaxis against such ototoxicity.


Meteosat images are routinely processed at Transvalor / MINES ParisTech for assessing the solar radiation at ground by the means of the Heliosat-2 method. So far, Heliosat-2 was launched every night to update the HelioClim-3 (HC3) database with the images collected during the day. HC3 data were thus available so far at d-1. Several requirements were made by customers of HC3 for a real-time and forecast capability for horizons up to 2 h. It would help in managing the PV plants or intelligent buildings, and eventually increasing the financial gains. The major challenges to develop such a capability were pertaining to the scientific domain in order to find an accurate method, and to operational constraints. The constraints are on both sides: provider and customer. The method should be fast enough to enable the processing of large areas such as Europe, and its outputs should be such as they can be directly ingested in the own processes of the customers. The selected model is based on a local persistence and has been validated against in situ measurements. A prototype has been set up and tested for several weeks by 15 customers. The customers used the outputs of this prototype as inputs to their own processes and made their own validation by comparing the results against measurements of, e.g. PV yield. The feedback gathered from testers was overall positive and a new operational service was set up based on the prototype (http://www.soda-pro.com/soda-products/real-time-and-forecast). Further validation campaigns are planned during the second semester of 2015, either by comparing to ground measurements or performed by users with their own criteria.


During a recent cruise to investigate the cold-water coral habitats in the eastern Gulf of Mexico seven scale worm species (Polychaeta: Aphroditiformia) were found, with four of them new to science: Laetmonice tunicata sp. nov. (Aphroditidae); Eunoe purpurea Treadwell, 1936, Gorgoniapolynoe caeciliae (Fauvel, 1913), Harmothoe dannyi sp. nov., Harmothoe cedrici sp. nov. and Subadyte campechensis sp. nov. (Polynoidae); and Leanira robusta Verrill, 1885 (Sigalionidae). An extended taxonomic account is given for all species, with detailed descriptions and figures for the new species. Three of the five polynoid species were found associated with a coral host: E. purpurea with Bathypathes cf. alternata Brook, 1898 (Antipatharia); G. caeciliae with Acanthogorgia armata Verrill, 1878 and Candidella imbricata (Johnson, 1862) (Octocorallia) and H. dannyi sp. nov. with Stylaster erubescens Pourtalès, 1868 (Hydrozoa). These associations are characterized in detail and documented by in situ ROV pictures and microscopic images and videos of the live animals, together with their respective host.


Much of the debate around government communications has focused on the use of special advisers, the lobby system and the centralisation of the system under Alastair Campbell. This is a legitimate focus and much has been said on this topic which is borne out by our own research.2 However the purpose of this submission is to raise a different set of issues which are less often discussed. These relate in particular to the organisation of the civil service and government communications and to the increased role of commercial agencies and commercial criteria in running and evaluating government communications. I wish to concentrate on six aspects. These do not fit very neatly under the headings of the review but are most relevant to the issues of context, politicisation and organisation.


This article examines the influence of majority shareholder ownership on real earnings management. It investigates whether there is a conflict between or an alignment of majority and minority shareholders' interests. If majority shareholders' interests are aligned with those of minority shareholders, a greater majority shareholder ownership lowers real earnings management. On the other hand, if they are not aligned, majority shareholders' attempts to exploit minority shareholders will increase real earnings management. This study does not find a systematic relationship between majority shareholder ownership and real earnings management. However, real earnings management significantly decreases in the upward earnings management incentive bracket as majority shareholder ownership increases. This occurs primarily because majority shareholders are more sensitive to upward real earnings management, which has a negative effect on future performance. These results suggest that the larger the ownership of majority shareholders, the more they play a positive role in mitigating real earnings management. This positive role is only effective in the post‐Asian economic crisis period. These results may suggest that the economic crisis in Korea helped majority shareholders more conscious of the long‐term costs of real earnings management. These findings support the convergence‐of‐interests hypothesis, providing evidence by investigating real earnings management instead of accruals‐based earnings management.


Peer review of teaching has become an accepted educational procedure in Australia to quality assure the quality of teaching practices. The institutional implementation of the peer review process can be viewed as genuine desire to improve teaching quality or an imposition from above as a measure of accountability and performativity. One approach is to conduct the peer review process as a team or a triad, involving a group of three academics. This article reviews this process of peer review through the eyes of the participants. The results of the study indicate that the peer review process upon which this study is based, has the potential to not only significantly impact academics' pedagogy but to improve teaching confidence and associated benefits in regard to evidence based teaching for promotional opportunities.


We have determined the nucleotide sequence of the region of the rubella virus genome which encodes amino acids 195-296 of the E1 glycoprotein (E1-195-296) from a panel of 22 rubella viruses obtained from Europe, USA and Asia between 1963-1995. E1-195-296 contains neutralizing and haemagglutinating determinants, and may represent a major antigenic domain. The nucleotide sequence divergence of the 22 rubella viruses compared to the Therien strain sequence ranged from 0.65-7.14%. The greatest sequence divergence occurred in two rubella viruses of Indian origin, and was more than twofold greater than that previously reported for rubella virus. The majority of nucleotide changes occurring in the 22 viruses did not effect the deduced amino acid sequence of E1-195-296. Two rubella viruses isolated from cases of reinfection in pregnancy did not exhibit nucleotide sequence variation resulting in changes in the deduced amino acid sequence of E1-195-296, suggesting that antigenic change within this region of E1 is not associated with rubella reinfection. A rubella virus isolated from a synovial fluid sample exhibited a nucleotide substitution in a putative neutralization domain contained within E1-195-296. Phylogenetic analysis was performed to study the relationship between E1-195-296 coding sequences of the 22 viruses in this report and corresponding sequences of other rubella viruses in the databank.


(a) Authority. This part is issued under the authority of sections 10A, 10B, 11(i), 11(j), 13, 13A, 14(d), and 19 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 248(i)–(j), 343 et seq., 347a, 347b, 347c, 348 et seq., 357, 374, 374a, and 461). (b) Purpose and scope. This part establishes rules under which a Federal Reserve Bank may extend credit to depository institutions and others. Except as otherwise provided, this part applies to United States branches and agencies of foreign banks that are subject to reserve requirements under Regulation D (12 CFR part 204) in the same manner and to the same extent as this part applies to depository institutions. The Federal Reserve System extends credit with due regard to the basic objectives of monetary policy and the maintenance of a sound and orderly financial system.


Skin is the barrier that segregates the body from the outer environment. Besides protecting the body from water loss and microorganism infection, it has an important cosmetic role. Young and beautiful appearance may have a positive influence on people's social behavior and reproductive status. Cleopatra, the Egyptian queen is said to have indulged in daily donkey-milk baths, a practice which apparently required over 700 donkeys to accomplish. The alpha hydroxy acids in the milk is believed to be anti-aging and skin-softening agents. Tang-dynasty ruler and sole female emperor of China, Wu Zetia, maintained a lifelong interest in skincare formulas. She mixed her "fairy powder" (made of carefully harvested and prepared Chinese motherwort) with cold water in order to wash her face each morning. The empress was a famed beauty well into her old age. The most hair-raising entrant in this list, 16th century Hungarian countess Elizabeth Bather is infamous for being one of the world's first documented female serial killers. Most of her life is shrouded in mystery and legend-the most famous story being that she would regularly bathe in the blood of her female victims. Mary, Queen of Scots, the ill-fated and attractive adversary of Elizabeth I, spent her sixteenth-century happier days on her estate in Edinburgh, Scotland, where her beauty regimen was said to include white-wine baths. In addition to wine's antiseptic alcohol content, it was also was thought to improve complexion in general. Crème Celeste, a favorite product of empress Elisabeth (Sisi) of Austria, was a concoction of spermaceti (a wax found in the head of sperm whales), sweet almond oil, and rosewater. She would apply this daily and at night, she was known to coat her face in raw veal and crushed strawberries, kept in place with a custom-made leather mask. The skin folds are indicative of an aged personality, but not youthfulness. So, everyone wants to look younger for whole of the life, which lead to the discovery of many surgical and non-surgical treatment modalities to improve the youthfulness. Since the introduction of Botox in 2002 after FDA approval more aesthetic procedures using Botox were performed by aestheticisms involving plastic surgeons and dermatologists. However, many scientists are now starting to view physical aging as a disease process. The cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in aging reveal an intricate series of signals, markers, and pathways, all of which are programmed to monitor and control the lifespan of a cell as it ages. By studying these molecular events and pathways, the field of anti-aging will be furthered by the use of more and more cosmetics.

Abstract

As the most voluminous organ of the body that is exposed to the outer environment, the skin suffers from both intrinsic and extrinsic aging factors. Skin aging is characterized by features such as wrinkling, loss of elasticity, laxity, and rough-textured appearance. This aging process is accompanied with phenotypic changes in cutaneous cells as well as structural and functional changes in extracellular matrix components such as collagens and elastin. With intrinsic aging, structural changes occur in the skin as a natural consequence of the biological changes over time and produce a certain number of histological, physiological, and biochemical modifications. Intrinsic aging is determined genetically (influence of gender and ethnic group), variable in function of skin site, and also influenced by hormonal changes. Visually it is characterized by fine wrinkles. By comparison, "photoaging" is the term used to describe the changes occurring in the skin, resulting from repetitive exposure to sunlight. The histological, physiological, and biochemical changes in the different layers of the skin are much more drastic. From a mechanical point of view, human skin appears as a layered composite containing the stiff thin cover layer presented by the stratum corneum, below which are the more compliant layers of viable epidermis and dermis and further below the much more compliant adjacent layer of subcutaneous white adipose tissue. Upon exposure to a strain, such a multi-layer system demonstrates structural instabilities in its stiffer layers, which in its simplest form is the wrinkling. These instabilities appear hierarchically when the mechanical strain in the skin exceeds some critical values. Their appearance is mainly dependent on the mismatch in mechanical properties between adjacent skin layers or between the skin and subcutaneous white adipose tissue, on the adhesive strength and thickness ratios between the layers, on their bending and tensile stiffness as well as on the value of the stress existing in single layers. Gradual reduction of elastic fibers in aging significantly reduces the skin's ability to bend, prompting an up to 4-fold reduction of its stability against wrinkling, thereby explaining the role of these fibers in skin aging. Anti-aging medicine is practiced by physicians, scientists, and researchers dedicated to the belief that the process of physical aging in humans can be slowed, stopped, or even reversed through existing medical and scientific interventions. This specialty of medicine is based on the very early detection and prevention of age-related diseases. Physicians practicing anti-aging medicine seek to enhance the quality of life as well as its length, limiting the period of illness and disability toward the end of one's life. Anti-aging medicine encompasses lifestyle changes (diet and exercise); hormone replacement therapies, as needed, determined by a physician through blood testing (DHEA, melatonin, thyroid, human growth hormone, estrogen, testosterone); antioxidants and vitamin supplements; and testing protocols that can measure not only hormone levels and blood chemistry but every metabolic factor right down to the cellular level.

Keywords: Skin Care; Anti-Aging; Photoaging; Wrinkles; Antioxidants; Keratinocytes; Retinoids


The past decade has seen a remarkable series of advances in machine learning, and in particular deep learning approaches based on artificial neural networks, to improve our abilities to build more accurate systems across a broad range of areas, including computer vision, speech recognition, language translation, and natural language understanding tasks. This paper is a companion paper to a keynote talk at the 2020 International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) discussing some of the advances in machine learning, and their implications on the kinds of computational devices we need to build, especially in the post-Moore's Law-era. It also discusses some of the ways that machine learning may also be able to help with some aspects of the circuit design process. Finally, it provides a sketch of at least one interesting direction towards much larger-scale multi-task models that are sparsely activated and employ much more dynamic, example- and task-based routing than the machine learning models of today.


According to the findings of many authors, occlusion of bypass grafts may develop as early as during surgery in 4-12% of patients. At discharge from hospital this index may reach 5-20%, increasing to 30% within the first year. Incompetence of bypass grafts is in many cases a consequence of errors in surgical technique and may therefore be decreased by means of improving the control over quality of coronary bypass grafting. Using the method of ultrasound Doppler flowmetry in the conditions of artificial circulation and clamped artery, we assessed a total of 64 composite bypass grafts. Blood flow was assessed by such parameters as the pulsatility index (PI), mean volumetric blood flow velocity (Qmean), and percentage of diastolic volumetric filling (DF). The obtained results were statistically processed. The mean values of blood flow parameters were obtained, followed by determining dependence between peripheral resistance (PI) prior to removal of the clamp from the aorta and peripheral resistance (PI) measured after termination of extracorporeal circulation.


Nonconvulsive status epilepticus (NCSE) is a condition where the patient is exposed to abnormally prolonged nonconvulsive epileptic seizures (NCES)(epileptic seizures without evident physical symptoms). Hence, the diagnosis can only be stated by means of EEG monitoring. NCSE and NCES are associated with severe irreversible brain damage and poor outcome. Hence, the prompt recognition of patients at risk of suffering NCSE is necessary in order to manage them properly and to prevent further brain injury. However, despite the clinical efforts to manage NCES and NCSE, and improve the patient's outcome, monitoring this pathology in real-time is very difficult. In a previous work of these authors, a patient specific method is proposed to detect the NCES. This method identifies the NCES by exploiting the similarity between the first NCES detected by the physician on the EEG and the rest of NCES in the recording. The method used a support vector machine classifier to perform the classification, obtaining specificity, and sensitivity, results over 98%. However, the method was vulnerable to missclassify epochs with EEG patterns resembling a NCES. In this paper, we propose a complementary method based in partial least squares (PLS) to improve the identification of the NCES patterns of the previously proposed method in dubious EEG segments. The proposed method improved the SVM based model performance obtaining specificity ans sensitivity values over 99%.


Abstract Ceramide transfer protein (CERT) mediates non‐vesicular transfer of ceramide from endoplasmic reticulum to Golgi apparatus and thus catalyzes the rate‐limiting step of sphingomyelin biosynthesis. Usually, CERT ligands are evaluated in tedious binding assays or non‐homogenous transfer assays using radiolabeled ceramides. Herein, a facile and sensitive assay for CERT, based on Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), is presented. To this end, we mixed donor and acceptor vesicles, each containing a different fluorescent ceramide species. By CERT‐mediated transfer of fluorescent ceramide, a FRET system was established, which allows readout in 96‐well plate format, despite the high hydrophobicity of the components. Screening of a 2 000 compound library resulted in two new potent CERT inhibitors. One is approved for use in humans and one is approved for use in animals. Evaluation of cellular activity by quantitative mass spectrometry and confocal microscopy showed inhibition of ceramide trafficking and sphingomyelin biosynthesis.