Digital technologies are constantly changing and school guidance counsellors (SGC) are challenged to keep up with the adolescents use and acquisition of new technologies. There is limited research investigating the impact of providing practicing SGCs with professional development and support in implementing digital technologies. In a rural district in Queensland, Australia, nine secondary SGCs in public schools experienced a customised professional development program in the use of digital technologies. The aim of this face-to-face professional development digital technologies in their school guidance and counselling program. Following the professional development, the researcher and SGCs collaboratively designed nine activities incorporating digital technologies which were then used as an intervention in six schools. These activities were implemented with Year 11/12 students over 16 school weeks. The researcher used Activity Theory as a conceptual and methodological framework to help understand the changes that resulted from the activity generated by the use of digital technologies by SGCs and Year 11/12 students. Data were collected through mixed methods instruments using pre- and post- surveys, pre- and post- semi-structured focus group interviews, SGC diaries, SGC research meetings unstructured observations. A total of 123 students completed the pre- and post- surveys.

The following significant differences (p <.05 level) emerged from the study:

1) SGCs increased their use of the mobile phone in their guidance and counselling service delivery at school.
2) Students decreased their frequency of use of data projectors at school.
3) SGCs increased their frequency of use of apps in their guidance and counselling service delivery.
4) Students increased their frequency of use with eight of the eleven listed digital technologies.
There were some specific SGCs' technological duties and responsibilities that increased over the research period. These included, providing up to date information, providing information for the School Guidance and Counselling web page, organising an electronic newsletter, using apps that complemented SGC's interventions, and managing a School Guidance and Counselling blog.
6) There were increases in students' technological duties and responsibilities which included trying to apply new information to their lives that they had received from the SGCs' use of technologies, checking the School Guidance and Counselling webpage and regular checking of SGC emails.
7) Following the intervention, students' results demonstrated increases in them feeling part of the school guidance and counselling community, that SGCs' use of digital technologies had built a stronger relationship with them and that they had a good relationship with the SGC.

Additional quantitative findings emerged from the study:

1) A further quantitative finding of the study established that the majority of students (73%) agreed that the school guidance and counselling service had improved through the use of digital technologies. This was supported through student comments regarding improved accessibility to the SGC, improved quantity, access and application of information and enhanced communication with the SGC.
2) All SGCs affirmed that digital technologies had improved the service. This was supported through SGC comments of improved and increased communication with students and greater access and contact with students.

The following qualitative findings emerged from the study:

1) There was an increase in how SGCs used digital technologies in their school guidance and counselling service through: Data Management, Communication and Collaboration, the use of the World Wide Web, and the use of available Multimedia.
SGCs highlighted that digital technology rules fell into four themes: maintaining confidentiality, following policy requirements, ensuring safety, and work technology entering SGCs' private lives. SGCs viewed the technology rules to be appropriate and needed to protect both student and SGCs.
3) Students highlighted that digital technology rules also formed four rule groups: ensuring safety, using social media, respecting others, and using digital devices. Students viewed the technology rules to be appropriate and needed. Rules that constrained students included blocked websites.

Conclusions from this study:

This short form customised face to face professional development program increased SGCs' knowledge, confidence and skills while using digital technologies in their service delivery. Results indicate that professional development in the use of digital technologies can result in changes in SGC behaviour and improve school guidance and counselling service delivery. In the main, students appear willing to engage in enhanced use of digital technologies by SGCs. Research results indicate that if SGCs are given the appropriate professional development in technology, access to appropriate technological devices, and support in implementation, the school guidance and counselling service will improve. SGCs are prepared to use digital technologies in their role however they appear wary of technology that increases workload for little perceived benefit.


This study used the concept of resilience as a framework to explore the response of a traditional rice-dominated agricultural society to past climatic variability in the Hai River Basin, North China Plain. In agriculture-based communities, the performance of resilience refers to the functions of cropping and water systems and the flexibility to respond to an uncertain climate. With limited water inflow, the responses to the recent historical precipitation variability in this case study demonstrated that the local people were adjusting to both interannual variability and extreme drought through their collective and individual actions. In the short term, the local people coped by adjusting the planting area and individually switching from planting paddy rice to less water-intensive crops in order to adapt to a severe, continuing drought. However, because of poor management of the water system by community leaders and the lack of an adequate budget for the collective action of rice cropping, the shift in land use to rice cropping as an adaptation to the recent increased precipitation was not usually reversible. In the long term, the agricultural production of most villages became less resilient to current precipitation variability, despite the intention of most villagers to change the current cropping system to improve their low household staple food selfsufficiency. This study indicated that over the long term the social resilience and adaptive capacity of agricultural communities and their associated stakeholders must be built on and enhanced to better cope with the constraints and opportunities of current climate variability. New institutional arrangements, including collective irrigation regimes and community leadership capabilities, are required to build social resilience and to enhance adaptive capacity for future uncertainties.


We investigate the non-adiabatic processes occurring during the manipulations of Majorana qubits in 1-D semiconducting wires with proximity induced superconductivity. Majorana qubits are usually protected by the excitation gap. Yet, manipulations performed at a finite pace can introduce both decoherence and renormalization effects. Though exponentially small for slow manipulations, these effects are important as they may constitute the ultimate decoherence mechanism. Moreover, as adiabatic topological manipulations fail to produce a universal set of quantum gates, non-adiabatic manipulations might be necessary to perform quantum computation.


In this paper we first show how to determine the T-forward adjusted risk-measure using the concept of fundamental solution to linear PDE's. After that, relying on Fourier transformation we derive bond-and bond-option prices for the Extended Vasicek model from Hull and White (1990) and the Quadratic Interest Rate model. With respect to the Quadratic Interest Rate model we succeed in carrying the analysis much further than Jamshidian (1996).A special discrete time model - which in some cases is appropriate for the Quadratic Interest Rate model - is also derived.The last part of the paper analyse Monte Carlo techniques in connection with spot-rate models with a time-dependent drift. We also introduce a method - using the concept of forward induction - that constrain the Monte Carlo simulated spot-rate process for the matching of the initial yield-curve. For the pricing of path-dependent contingent claim, we deduce that, even though Monte Carlo is the natural method to use, it might not be the most efficient one - at least not when the spot-rate is Markovian.


Hybrid magnetic resonance guided radiotherapy (MRgRT) devices allow imaging the patient during treatment by means of non-ionizing radio-frequency. This technology enables real-time image guided radiotherapy, thereby it is expected to improve treatment precision and clinical outcome. In order to use hybrid MRgRT devices clinically, dosimetry needs to be performed in the static magnetic field of the magnetic resonance imaging scanner for commissioning and quality assurance measurements. For this purpose, the applicability of two detector types - ionization chambers and optically stimulated luminescence detectors (OSLDs) - for dosimetry in magnetic fields was investigated in this work by means of experimental measurements and Monte Carlo simulations. The ionization chambers show a response that depends on the magnetic field strength and orientation as well as on the sensitive chamber volume. Likewise, the effective point of measurement is influenced by these parameters. In order to account for these effects, magnetic field correction factors were calculated. Also the response of OSLDs was found to depend on the magnetic field strength and direction. No substantial change in their angular dependence due to the magnetic field could be measured. In conclusion, both detector types can be used for precise dosimetry in high magnetic fields when applying the calculated magnetic field correction factors or when calibrating the detectors directly in the magnetic field.


Based on the favorable effect of the elements Al and Si on the improvement in reducing hydrogen permeability, a new combined process of simultaneous aluminizing and siliconizing, followed by oxidizing treatments using double glow plasma technology on 316L substrate was developed in this work. Microstructure and phase structure of as- prepared coating was examined by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. The results showed that the simultaneous aluminizing and siliconizing coating consisted of an outer aluminide layer (dissolved Si) and a diffusion zone. After a combined process, a continuous and compact Al2O3-rich coating was formed at the outermost surface. SiO2 was also detectable in the oxide coating.


RU 486 (mifepristone) has proved to be a remarkably active antiprogesterone and antiglucocorticosteroid agent in humans. The mechanism of action of RU 486 involves the intracellular receptors of the antagonized hormones progesterone and glucocorticosteroids. At the molecular level, the most important features are high binding affinity to the receptor, interaction of the phenyl-aminodimethyl group in the 11 beta-position with a specific region of the receptor binding pocket, and RU 486-induced transconformation in the ligand binding domain. These properties have consequences at different steps of the receptor function as compared with agonists. However, this cannot be limited to the RU 486-receptor interaction; for instance, a switch from an antagonistic property to an agonist activity is possible, depending on the intervention of other signaling pathways. Derivatives with only one of the two antagonistic properties (antiprogestin, antiglucocorticosteroid) would be desirable in spite of similarities between the steroid structures, receptors involved, and responsive machineries in target cells. Clinically, the RU 486 plus prostaglandin method is ready to be used on a large scale, and is close to being as practical and safe as any medical method of abortion may be. The early use of RU 486, as a contragestive--that is, for use by a woman as soon as she fears a pregnancy she does not want--will help to defuse the abortion issue. Research should now be conducted to define an efficient and convenient contraceptive method with RU 486 or other antiprogestins. The usefulness of RU 486 for obstetrical indications, including facilitation of difficult delivery, has to be assessed rapidly. Gynecological trials, particularly in leiomyomata, should also be systematically continued. The very preliminary results obtained with tumors, including breast cancers, do indicate that further studies are necessary.


We revisit the classic regret-minimization problem in the stochastic multi-armed bandit setting when the arm-distributions are allowed to be heavy-tailed. Regret minimization has been well studied in simpler settings of either bounded support reward distributions or distributions that belong to a single parameter exponential family. We work under the much weaker assumption that the moments of order $(1+\epsilon)$ are uniformly bounded by a known constant B, for some given $\epsilon > 0$. We propose an optimal algorithm that matches the lower bound exactly in the first-order term. We also give a finite-time bound on its regret. We show that our index concentrates faster than the well known truncated or trimmed empirical mean estimators for the mean of heavy-tailed distributions. Computing our index can be computationally demanding. To address this, we develop a batch-based algorithm that is optimal up to a multiplicative constant depending on the batch size. We hence provide a controlled trade-off between statistical optimality and computational cost.


Immersive Analytics (IA) uses immersive virtual and augmented reality displays for data visualization and visual analytics. Designers rely on studies of how accurately people interpret data in different visualizations to make effective visualization choices. However, these studies focus on data analysis in traditional desktop environments. We lack empirical grounding for how to best visualize data in immersive environments. This study explores how people interpret data visualizations across different display types by measuring how quickly and accurately people conduct three analysis tasks over five visual channels: color, size, height, orientation, and depth. We identify key quantitative differences in performance and user behavior, indicating that stereo viewing resolves some of the challenges of visualizations in 3D space. We also find that while AR displays encourage increased navigation, they decrease performance with color-based visualizations. Our results provide guidelines on how to tailor visualizations to different displays in order to better leverage the affordances of IA modalities.


Low-input agriculture is dominant farming style in majority of the Central and East European (CEE) countries. However, the shift from high-input agriculture as practised during the communist time to the present low-input farming was not the result of a designed policy for agricultural development but rather the consequence of a socio-political evolution from state economy to market economy.

Ten years after the transition, the agricultural policies of most Central and East European countries are still at the "crossroad". They are characterised by a diversity of visions on the further development and concepts how to implement these visions. The agri-environmental component of the current CEE's agricultural policies either doesn't exist or is rather vague and underdeveloped. Most of the CEE countries still aim at restoring agri-chemical inputs to the pre 1990 level.

The low-input farming is not necessarily environmentally friendly since it often doesn't pay sufficient attention to the environmental degradations caused by agricultural operations. This type of farming too can lead to severe soil erosion, declining biodiversity and building up of pests and diseases. Besides, the low-input farming is often not economically viable.

To enable development of environmentally friendly agriculture in CEE countries, a three-track policy approach is suggested. Its measures should:
1. improve environmental and economic performance of the current low-input agriculture;
2. promote further development of pioneering organic agriculture, and
3. convert the remaining high-external-input regime to integrated agriculture.

A mix of policy instruments (regulative, economic, informative, institutional and voluntary) should be put in place to facilitate further development of this three-track policy.

The calculation from a recently finished Phare project in Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania suggests that a tree-track policy approach make an interesting policy option both from the economic and environmental point of view. A share of as little as 30% of improved low-input agriculture and organic agriculture in the total agricultural production results in gross national agricultural production values comparable to those obtained by the conventional scenario. However, when the external (environmental) costs of N-leaching are internalised into the price of the produce by charging a shadow price of €1 per kg of nitrogen leached, the sustainable scenario showed even greater economic benefit. It resulted in net national agricultural production values of 5% (Romania), 16% (Bulgaria) and 40% (Hungary) higher than by the conventional scenario. At the same time, the sustainable scenario exhibits substantially lower nitrogen leaching (45% in Romania, 34% in Bulgaria and 18% in Hungary) as compared with the conventional scenario. This nutrient emission reduction complies quite well with the targets set for nutrient reduction for the Danube River and the Black Sea.

Establishment of an international facility to support national teams in preparing and implementing the-three track policy would enable a concerted action in CEE countries.


Abstract With a large variety of communication methods and protocols, many software architects face the problem of choosing the best way for services to share information. For communication technology to be functional and practical, it should enable developers to define a complete set of CRUD methods for the processed data. The research team compared this paper's most commonly used data transfer protocols and concepts: REST, WebSocket, gRPC GraphQL and SOAP. A set of web servers was implemented in Python, each using one of the examined technologies. Then, the team performed an automated benchmark measuring time and data transfer overhead for a set of defined operations: creating an entity, retrieving a list of 100 entities and fetching details of one entity. Tests were designed to avoid the results being interfered with by database connection or docker-compose environment characteristics. The research team has concluded that gRPC was the most efficient and reliable data transfer method. On the other hand, GraphQL turned out to be the slowest communication method of all. Moreover, its server and client libraries caused the most problems with proper usage in a web server. SOAP did not participate in benchmarking due to limited compatibility with Python and a lack of popularity in modern web solutions.


A simple measurement method for pressure sensitive adhesives (PSA) in an agglomeration deinking system of mixed office waste paper was studied. This method was based on the different scanning performance of ink and PSA specks in hot-pressed and oven-dried handsheets with the change of contrast values that had been selected and set in the image analysis software. The numbers of ink specks per square meter (NPM) were well recognized at both low and high contrast values and exhibited a very good linear relationship within a range of contrast values. The PSA specks, on the other hand, could not be recognized at the low contrast values and could only be recognized at high contrast values. The NPM value of the ink specks was found to have the highest values at the high contrast values and could be accurately predicted by its NPM value at the low contrast values. Thus, the NPM value of the PSA specks could be easily calculated by the total NPM of the handsheet at the high contrast value minus the projected NPM of the ink specks from its low contrast conditions. Compared to the dye method, which was also used on the measurement of microstickies, this method is suggested as a simple and quick laboratory tool to measure the relative quantity of PSA in the mixed office waste paper with minimum interference from the residual toner ink.


Lymphoid follicles (LFs) that have a similar organization to lymph nodes are found in small airways and alveoli in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), but the mechanism of their development is unclear. During lymph node ontogeny lymphotoxin (LT)-expressing lymphoid-tissue inducer cells induce lymphokine production (mainly CXCL13) to LT-receptor-expressing stromal cells. Lymphokines attract haemopoietic cells leading to lymphoid organ development. We examined peripheral lung tissue from COPD patients with LFs (COPD-LF + ), without LFs (COPD-LF - ) and never-smokers. Lung CXCL13 was significantly increased in COPD-LF + compared to COPD-LF - and never-smokers and positively correlated to surface area of LFs. Immunostaining showed CXCL13 expression in B cell areas of LFs. Flow cytometry indicated that among lung cells, B cells have the highest expression for LT receptors. Ex-vivo, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and a LT-receptor agonist induced CXCL13 production to whole lung cell cultures from COPD-LF + . The LPS induction of CXCL13 was decreased by neutralizing LT. Depletion of B cells from the cultures significantly decreased CXCL13 and LT. Isolated lung B cells showed high migration towards lung tissue homogenates from COPD-LF + that was significantly decreased by CXCL13 neutralization. When isolated lung B cells were exposed to CXCL13, LT was significantly increased, indicating a positive feedback loop between LT and CXCL13. We propose that the initiating event to LF formation in CODP is B cell stimulation, leading to LT expression and CXCL13 production. CXCL13 positively feeds back LT, amplifying its levels and attracting more B cells that organize themselves into LFs.


Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are both common diseases, which together afflict approximately 25 million Americans. Although expiratory airflow obstruction is the common physiologic abnormality, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are characterized by unique pathologic findings, clues from clinical histories, and laboratory test results. Despite some overlap in these characteristics, it is usually possible to differentiate these two conditions. This distinction is important for the healthcare provider to communicate a realistic prognosis to the patient and the patient's family, and to institute appropriate therapy.


Co-sited with TA/TALE, the Non-Imaging CHErenkov Array (NICHE) will measure the flux and nuclear composition of cosmic rays from below 10^16 eV to 10^18 eV in its initial deployment. Furthermore, the low-energy threshold can be significantly decreased below the cosmic ray knee via counter redeployment or by including additional counters. NICHE uses easily deployable detectors to measure the amplitude and time-spread of the air-shower Cherenkov signal to achieve an event-by-event measurement of Xmax and energy, each with excellent resolution. NICHE will have sufficient area and angular acceptance to have significant overlap with the TA/TALE detectors to allow for energy cross-calibration. Simulated NICHE performance has shown that the array has the ability to distinguish between several different composition models as well as measure the end of Galactic cosmic ray spectrum.


Aim: This qualitative research with gender perspective aims to illustrate the usefulness of Focus Group Discussion in the study of factors influencing gender relations, based on the conceptions of urban community members. The methodology included focus groups with n=5 women and n=5 men members of the community selected. For the systematization of the data handled Atlas ti 6.2 (Demo) and the stage of reasoning of the testimony was used discourse analysis. The results showed: Gender relations based on the traditional gender represent a risk to physical and mental health of the group being studied. Demonstration of manhood, individuality and promiscuity in the male gender, put them in such risk. In female gender submissiveness may trigger low self-esteem, blaming and mental suffering. Conclusions: This study describes how Focal Group Discussion represented an effective tool during the exercise of community nursing because this kind of technique promoted dialogue and exchange with community members.


Cam mechanisms have many applications in automatic machinery. Considerations of dynamic performance require the profile shape to be defined indirectly from the follower motion, the flexibility of timing and configuration introducing additional variables. Consequently the design and manufacture of new master cams using conventional techniques is laborious and expensive. Precision is essential since the follower motion is sensitive to minor dimensional inaccuracies and discontinuities of curvature. The object of this investigation is to simplify both the design and manufacture of a new master cam. The author's survey of previous work showed it necessary to establish the design sequence before the processes involving greatest effort could be isolated. His associated study of existing profile copying and generating devices found none which satisfied the criterion of extensive application, but identified weaknesses of previous designs. This thesis considers the adaption of the copying principle to manufacture cam profiles from the intrinsic shape of a leaf spring deflected to suit specified boundary conditions, so eliminating dependence upon co-ordinate data, complex transmissions and special templates whilst relying upon the repeatability of an instrument in preference to the positioning accuracy of a machine-tool. Profiles for two distinct follower motions can be derived by this means, their characteristics resembling those of SHM and cycloidal motion respectively. The characteristics are functions of the displacement equation. A search revealed no comparison nor experimental verification of previously published analyses of the elastica. Limitations of the previous analyses led the author to derive new solutions using the method of perturbations; these have the advantage of simple computation and give a direct solution for any intermediate position. Experimental studies showed good co-relation between theoretical and measured deflections. The attachments were designed and manufactured and profiles cut using this process.


Novel silver(i) complexes of the type [AgCl(PPh3)2(L)] {PPh3 = triphenylphosphine; L = VTSC = 3-methoxy-4-hydroxybenzaldehyde thiosemicarbazone (1); VMTSC = 3-methoxy-4-[2-(morpholine-1-yl)ethoxy]benzaldehyde thiosemicarbazone (2); VPTSC = 3-methoxy-4-[2-(piperidine-1-yl)ethoxy]benzaldehyde thiosemicarbazone (3)} were synthesized and fully characterized by spectroscopic techniques. The molecular structures of complexes 2 and 3 were determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. Compounds 1-3 exhibited appreciable cytotoxic activity against human tumor cells (lung A549, breast MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7) with IC50 values in 48 h of incubation ranging from 5.6 to 18 μM. Cellular uptake studies showed that complexes 1-3 were efficiently internalized after 3 hours of treatment in MDA-MB-231 cells. The effects of complex 1 on the cell morphology, cell cycle, induction of apoptosis, mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm), and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production have been evaluated in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells MDA-MB-231. Our results showed that complex 1 induced typical morphological alterations of cell death, an increase in cells at the sub-G1 phase, apoptosis, and mitochondrial membrane depolarization. Furthermore, DNA binding studies evidenced that 1 can bind to ct-DNA and does so without modifying the B-structure of the DNA, but that the binding is weak compared to that of Hoechst 33258.


Pose graph optimization is an elegant and efficient formulation for robot localization and mapping. Experimental evidence suggests that, in real problems, the set of measurements used to estimate robot poses is prone to contain outliers, due to perceptual aliasing and incorrect data association. While several related works deal with the rejection of outliers during pose estimation, the goal of this paper is to propose a grounded strategy for measurements selection, i.e., the output of our approach is a set of "reliable" measurements, rather than pose estimates. Because the classification in inliers/outliers is not observable in general, we pose the problem as finding the maximal subset of the measurements that is internally coherent. In the linear case, we show that the selection of the maximal coherent set can be (conservatively) relaxed to obtain a linear programming problem with ℓ1 objective. We show that this approach can be extended to (nonlinear) planar pose graph optimization using similar ideas as our previous work on linear approaches to pose graph optimization. We evaluate our method on standard datasets, and we show that it is robust to a large number of outliers and different outlier generation models, while entailing the advantages of linear programming (fast computation, scalability).


The words and images in this photo-poetic essay were generated in the urban crisis-scape of Athens between July 2014 and February 2015. The work reflects on several questions: How does one evoke and conjure up the contemporary moment of crisis in the urban landscape? Can the conventional tools and methodologies of archaeology and archaeological ethnography be of any use in that endeavour? Where do these tools meet other expressive modalities such as poetry? What does it mean to "do" archaeology amidst the contemporary ruination? Is our impulse to record and to archive, the most appropriate reaction to it? The images are not meant to act as illustrations for the poems. Both components stand on their own, maintaining their autonomy. They are closely linked, however: not only do they share locality and time, but they also enact other, subtle and oblique connections, not all of them apparent to their author.


Background and Aim: Work related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are common problems among the workers engaged in unorganised sector. Working as a house maid is a very old profession. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of WMSDs in house maids of Kolkata. Methods: Ninety-four house maids (age range of 20–60 years) engaged in different household works for minimum 3 years of duration were recruited in this study by random sampling method from different parts of Kolkata, India. They were divided into four groups based on their age and years of working. Physical parameters, assessment of musculoskeletal disorders and analysis of posture were done by using standard methods and procedures. Results: The study revealed different grades of pain in different parts of the body, maximum being the prevalence of low back pain. The intensity and localisation of pain varied in different age groups showing significant relationship with working experiences and daily working hours. Body part wise pain varied during work, rest and sleep times. Conclusion: WMSDs and pain experienced by the house maids were due to their constrained and awkward working postures for longer duration which need to be corrected with immediate interventions.


Some applications require an energy transfer without contacts and wires. The mutual inductive effects between two coils allow to transfer energy to an electronic consumer through an air gap. This paper presents an analytical model of a coreless transformer used to design a contactless energy transfer from a platform to a notebook battery charger. By defining the geometric parameters of the transformer, the model is able to compute its magnetic parameters. It is then possible to get the electric quantities with a circuit simplification process. In the scope of an industrial project, this study has been successfully applied to a notebook battery charging platform.


Background: Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has been shown to be the most effective reperfusion strategy in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Aim of the Work:To investigate the association the effectiveness of a combination therapy (pretreatment with high dose atorvastatin and Intra Coronary tirofiban) for the prevention of noreflow in patient with acute STEMI will undergo primary PCI. Patients and Methods: This study enrolled 100 patients admitted with first acute STEMI and at high clinical risk for no Reflow. High risk patients (no-reflow score ≥ 8) were randomly divided into a controlled group A (50 patients) received conventional treatment and a combination therapy group B(50 patients) received combination treatment (atorvastatin 80 mg and IC tirofiban).The patient was considered to exhibit a no-reflow phenomenon if blood flow in the IRA was a TIMI≤2 flow despite successful dilatation and absence of mechanical complications such as dissection, spasm or angiographically evident distal embolization after completion of the procedure. Results: The rate of no-reflow was significantly lower in combination therapy group (10 %) compared to control group (36%).Regarding Indirect perfusion outcome: We found that percent of ST resolution and peak CKMB were significantly higher in combination therapy compared to control group (P value = 0.013 – 0.001 respectively).Ejection fraction tend to be higher in the combination therapy group but not statistically significant (P>0.05).Regarding in hospital complication and 30 days MACE; we found that heart failure symptoms were significantly lower in combination group therapy during in hospital stay and at 30 days follow up (3% and 2% respectively). The composite end point of 30 days MACE occur only in 3% in combination therapy group while 10 % in control group (P =0.033). using Kaplan Meier curve for free survival MACE at 30 days there were also significant different regarding free event rate for MACE, log rank =4.737, P =0.030. We also observed that high thrombotic burden (thrombus grade ≥ 4) was independent predictor for angiographic no reflow (p =0.012), and the use of combination therapy were strongly independent predictors for prevention of no reflow (p =0.002) with relative Risk reduction 72.2% and absolute risk reduction = 26%. Conclusion: Combination of pre-procedure high dose atorvastatin and IC bolus tirofiban can effectively reduce the incidence of no-reflow after primary PCI in patients with acute myocardial infarction who are at high risk of no-reflow.Large thrombus load is independent predictor of angiographic no reflow after primary PCI. However, this combination therapy is strong independent predictors for prevention of angiographic no-reflow.


IgG devoid of neutralizing activity and isolated from donor plasma by chromatography formed immune complexes with coxsackievirus B4 (CVB4) and significantly increased the infection of peripheral blood mononuclear cells with CVB4. The major host cells for CVB4 infection enhanced with IgG are monocytic CD14+ cells. The roles of CVB and adenovirus receptor and Fcgamma receptor II and III have been shown. Increased viral replication and the release of infectious particles were demonstrated when interferon (IFN)-alpha produced by infected cells was first neutralized by use of antibodies. The CVB4 IgG-induced synthesis of IFN-alpha by monocytes reflected entry and uncoating of CVB4 but not of viral replication and required the presence of CVB4 RNA inside the cells. Thus, CVB4 can infect monocytes by an antibody-dependent mechanism through interactions between the virus, antiviral antibodies, and specific receptors that result in IFN-alpha production.


Strain S5(T), a novel bacterium that was isolated for its capability to respire selenate to elemental selenium, is described. In addition to selenate respiration, it was also capable of dissimilatory selenite, arsenate and nitrate reduction with short-chain organic acids such as pyruvate, lactate and acetate as the carbon sources and electron donors. The isolate was unable to grow fermentatively. Strain S5(T) was isolated from sediment of an estuarine canal in Chennai, India. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene of this novel isolate revealed that it belonged to the family Chrysiogenaceae with sequence similarities of 92 and 98  %, respectively, with the type strains of Chrysiogenes arsenatis and Desulfurispirillum alkaliphilum, its closest known relatives. Strain S5(T) and D. alkaliphilum were closely related in terms of their 16S rRNA gene phylogeny; however, they varied greatly in their genomic DNA G+C content (56 mol% versus 45 mol%) and cellular fatty acid compositions, as well as in many metabolic capabilities. Strain S5(T) represents a novel species for which the name Desulfurispirillum indicum sp. nov. is proposed; the type strain is S5(T) (=DSM 22839(T) =ATCC BAA-1389(T)).


In pregnant women, low molecular weight heparin is recommended as the preferred agent for venous thromboembolism prophylaxis and treatment. Despite their widespread application, heparin-induced skin lesions are probably under-reported and under-estimated. We present a case report of a primigravida treated with low molecular weight heparin for deep vein thrombosis, who developed a delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction to enoxaparin, tinzaparin and dalteparin. As the patient was pregnant, treatment options were restricted. Tolerance was achieved with dalteparin with adjuvant administration of prednisolone. An attempt to decrease prednisolone dose triggered delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction recurrence that was solved by keeping the initial prednisolone prescription. To the best of our knowledge, there are no described cases using this approach. In cases of delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction to low molecular weight heparin during pregnancy our case suggests that switching low molecular weight heparin and adjuvant administration of prednisolone can be an option.


ABSTRACT Human population growth has resulted in more frequent interactions between humans and wildlife, making it increasingly important to understand how anthropogenic disturbance affects animal populations. A number of recent studies on birds have shown that individuals experiencing high levels of disturbance are frequently more aggressive than conspecifics living in less disturbed areas. Our study asked whether heterospecific aggression varied in Western Bluebirds (Sialia mexicana) breeding in artificial nest boxes over a gradient of human disturbance in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada. Unlike most previous studies, which have investigated effects of high disturbance (urbanization), our study focused on sites with lower rates of human disturbance, including ranch lands, vineyards, and recreational trails. Using decoys and playback, we measured the response of bluebird pairs to a simulated territory intrusion by one of two heterospecifics: a competing cavity nester, the House Wren (Troglodytes aedon), and a non-competing species, the American Goldfinch (Spinus tristus). We asked whether this response varied with the level of human disturbance experienced by the pair, and also whether aggression was correlated with female flight initiation distance (FID; a measure of boldness), local density of boxes in a territory, and presence of neighboring cavity-nesters. Overall, aggression was significantly higher towards the competitor stimulus (wren) than the non-competitor (goldfinch). Aggression towards the wren model did not change with disturbance level; however, aggression towards the goldfinch model increased significantly in more disturbed areas. Female FID did not vary across disturbance categories, but was correlated with aggression towards the wren, where individuals that responded more aggressively had marginally larger FIDs (i.e., behaved less boldly). Female FID was not correlated with aggression towards the goldfinch. Birds nesting in territories with more boxes tended to be more aggressive towards the wren, and birds nesting in territories with one or more box-nesting neighbors were significantly more aggressive towards the wren than birds without neighbors. Neither of these factors was correlated with aggression towards the goldfinch. Thus, the predicted association between disturbance and aggression was detected only in response to the non-competitor species (goldfinch), whereas aggression towards the competitor species (wren) varied with territory quality and number of competitors. Our study shows that variation in low levels of anthropogenic disturbance may be associated with behavioral effects in bird populations, and serves as a reminder that different factors may influence the expression of aggression in different contexts.


This paper discusses the linguistic labels that an expert would use to describe the effects of different types of resource substitutions and shows how a simple fuzzy aggregation method can be used to assess the net effect of the substitutions. A Petri net model, which can accommodate multiple resources and dynamically generate activity schedules taking into consideration resource availability and substitution, is used for illustration. The simple example presented brings out the usefulness of fuzzy operations and Petri net techniques for real-time project activity scheduling by monitoring quantity and quality of multiple resources in a resource-constrained project environment. The methodology can be equally effectively extended to incorporate other external factors such as weather conditions, changes in work specifications, changed conditions in contracts and cash flow.


In this work, we developed a simple and sensitive colorimetric detection platform for specific DNA sequences by using peroxidase mimetics of platinum nanoparticles supported on reduced graphene oxide. This nanocomposite possessed the combined advantages of platinum nanoparticles (superior peroxidase-like activity) and reduced graphene oxide ( p -stacking interaction with single-stranded but not double-stranded DNA). The catalytic activity was strongly dependent on the chloroplatinic acid-to-graphene oxide mass ratio during the synthesis step, with an optimum ratio of 7:1. Unlike natural peroxidase, the nanocomposite had excellent stability over wide ranges of temperature (4–90 1 C) and pH (1–13). For DNA detection, the nanocomposite had higher affinity for the single-stranded probe (in the absence of target) than the probe–target duplex. The probe-bound nanocomposite was stabilized against salt-induced aggregation and thus upon the addition of 3,3 0 ,5,5 0 - tetramethylbenzidine and hydrogen peroxide to the supernatant, an intense blue color was generated. The linear range and limit of detection of this assay platform were 0.5–10 nM and 0.4 nM, respectively. Moreover, this platform featured high specificity that 3-base-mismatched sequence could be distinguished with the naked eye and 1-base-mismatched sequence with absorbance measurement. Furthermore, the applicability for real sample detection was demonstrated by polymerase chain reaction product analysis. Taken together, this new platform is well suited for point-of-care and on-site nucleic acid testing.


Mitochondrial ferritin (FtMt) is a novel iron storage protein with high homology to H-ferritin. Unlike the ubiquitously expressed H- and L-ferritin, FtMt is expressed in specific tissues such as the testis, heart, and brain. The function of FtMt is not fully understood; however, evidence suggests that it has a neuroprotective role in neurodegenerative diseases. We have previously reported that FtMt is expressed in catecholaminergic neurons of the monkey brainstem. To explore FtMt expression in human dopaminergic neurons, we designed a novel monoclonal antibody, C65-2, directed against human FtMt. Here, we report the properties of our C65-2 antibody. Western blots analysis and immunoabsorption tests demonstrated that the C65-2 antibody specifically recognized FtMt with no cross-reactivity to H-ferritin. Immunohistochemistry showed that the C65-2 antibody detected FtMt in neurons of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) in humans and monkeys. We confirmed that FtMt is expressed in dopaminergic neurons of the human SNc. Our results suggest that FtMt is involved in various physiological and pathological mechanisms in human dopaminergic neurons, and the C65-2 monoclonal antibody promises to be a useful tool for determining the localization and biological functions of FtMt in the brain.


Modern management in sustainable agriculture requires the fast information about condition of cultivated plants and the quick response to undesirable phenomena such as appearance of pests. The use of drones for spraying plants will allow for rapid application of plant protection agents on the growing areas. In this paper were presented results of research into the impact of rotors rotary speed of moving drone on the spray deposition on plant surfaces. The liquid was sprayed from the drone with the use of the XR 11002 flat fan nozzle at the pressure 0.2 MPa. The drone moved on a track with the permanent speed of 1.3 m∙s. The liquid sprayed, which was water coloured with nigrosin, settled on foil testers that were secured on three levels (the upper leaf surface, the middle part of the plant, the level of soil under plants) in mustard plants. The height of the sprayer nozzle mounted on the drone over the plants was 0.6 m. The tests were conducted at the zero speed of the rotors and at rotations of 1500 and 4000 revolutions∙min. The impact was found of the rotational speed of the drone rotors on the change of the distribution of liquid settling on the testers.


Phosphorus (P) losses through tile drained systems in agricultural landscapes may be causing persistent eutrophication problems observed in surface water. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the state of the science in the Agricultural Policy/Environmental extender (APEX) model related to surface and tile P transport. This was accomplished using data from a monitored corn-soybean rotation field in the St. Joseph River watershed, IN. The estimation of soluble phosphorus (SP) in surface runoff and tile flow in APEX includes a user defined linear (based on GLEAMS) and nonlinear (Langmuir) sorption option. The results suggest that the inclusion of the Langmuir isotherm improved (18%) SP sorption estimates in surface runoff during the corn year only when P inputs were added, whereas the linear method was more appropriate during the soybean year when no fertilizers were applied. Similarly, SP estimates in tile flow were improved (30%) when using the Langmuir option during the corn year, though the overall model performance predicting this variable were very poor. Modeling improvements of P partitioning processes in APEX can help predict more realistic outputs. Yet to achieve this in tile flow, water percolation processes need to be improved to reflect preferential flow conditions often found in long-term no-till fields and in soils with high clay content. Greater accuracy in the estimation of the effect of artificial drainage systems, common in the US Midwest, should result in the improved evaluation of agricultural conservation practices in order to examine strategies that could reduce P losses for water quality purposes.


I developed a high power blue laser for use in scientific and technical applications (eg. precision spectroscopy, semiconductor inspection, flow cytometry, etc). It is linearly polarized, single longitudinal and single transverse mode, and a convenient fiber coupled continuous wave (cw) laser source. My technique employs external cavity frequency doubling and provides better power and beam quality than commercially available blue diode lasers. I use a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) stabilized infrared (IR) semiconductor laser source with a polarization maintaining (PM) fiber coupled output. Using a custom made optical and mechanical design this output is coupled with a mode matching efficiency of 96% into the doubling cavity. With this carefully designed and optimized cavity, measurements were carried out at various fundamental input powers. A net efficie ncy of 81 % with an output power of 680 mW at 486 nm was obtained using 840 mW of IR input. Also I report an 87.5 % net efficiency in coupling of blue light from servo locked cavity into a single mode PM fiber. Thus I have demonstrated a total fiber to fiber efficiency of 71% can be achieved in our approach using periodically poled potassium titanyl phosphate (PPKTP). To obtain these results, all losses in the system were carefully studied and minimized.


Online news media have spurred new concerns for a new ethics for online-journalism. Many online news media are unregulated and often cross the line in their reporting negating journalism ethics as practiced in the mainstream media. Questions that arise given the ethical challenges of online-journalism are whether online new media are exempt for ethical standards practiced in society or whether they require a new and different sets of ethics specific for online media. How do online media managers, editors and journalists approach their practice in relation to upholding journalistic integrity? This paper seeks to address these ethical issues by way of a case study with the Zambian Watchdog. Through critical analysis and speculation, the paper provides suggestions that online news managers, editors and journalists would apply if they were to be considered ethically astute.


The clinical and ultrasonographic features of seven horses with coxofemoral subluxation are presented. Affected horses included five adult geldings (11-20 years), one large pony (6 years) and a 3-month-old filly. All were lame at the walk except for the pony with grade 3/5 lameness. Lameness was acute in all horses, but three horses progressed after initial improvement. Crepitus, muscle atrophy, and pelvic asymmetry were inconsistent findings. Ultrasonographic diagnosis of subluxation required dynamic visualization of femoral head displacement from the acetabulum while placing weight on the affected limb and subsequent replacement into its normal position upon limb resting. Acetabular rim fractures and joint effusion were visible regardless of weight bearing status in six horses each. No fractures were identified in the pony; the only patient with a good outcome. Six horses had a poor outcome with severe chronic lameness, four of which were euthanized. Postmortem ventrodorsal radiographs obtained in two horses confirmed subluxation only on extended limb projections, but not on hip-flexed projections. Acetabular rim fractures were not visible radiographically in either horse but were confirmed at necropsy. Subluxation was due to an elongated but intact ligament of the head of the femur in both horses. Osteoarthrosis was evident ultrasonographically, radiographically, and at necropsy. Dynamic ultrasonography was readily performed in the standing horse and produced diagnostic images with a low frequency curvilinear transducer. The apparent poor prognosis for horses with subluxation and acetabular fracture illustrate the importance of this imaging technique to identify affected horses.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the efficacy of lidocaine spray 10% to tetracaine 2% solution, as a local anaesthetic for patients undergoing monopolar submucosal diathermy of the inferior turbinate.

METHODS
A prospective study was conducted on 48 patients undergoing submucosal diathermy of the inferior turbinate. Patients were randomly assigned to receive tetracaine 2% solution (24 patients) or to receive lidocaine spray 10% (24 patients). Patients were asked to evaluate the severity of pain during the procedure using a visual analogue scale. Patient data, pain scores, and potential complications were assessed statistically.

RESULTS
The tetracaine group had significantly lower mean pain scores compared to the lidocaine group: 2.29 vs. 3.04 (p < 0.001). There were no complications or side effects from tetracaine.

CONCLUSION
Tetracaine 2% solution applied locally is an easy, safe, inexpensive, and effective analgesia for submucosal diathermy for inferior turbinate hypertrophy.


Under the current period background of big data and cloud computing, there is a huge demand for professionals in related fields such as information technology (IT). To solve this problem, this paper puts forward an IT professional talents training model based on animal cell structure by comparing the structures of animal cells and its efficient operation principle with IT professional training model system. According to the efficient-working principle of 'Nucleus-CytoplasmEnvironment', this model is built as a 'Class (The Core)-College (Internal Environment)-Enterprise (External Environment)' training model for IT-majored students. The motivation is to cultivate students' abilities in these four aspects: structure, application, analysis and innovation, namely, regarding theory teaching as the core, college practice training as the pulling force and enterprise project resources as the pushing force. The reliability and validation of this model have been demonstrated by simulation results in Wuhan University of Science and Technology.


The construct of novelty is an important primitive for theories of organization learning, strategic change, and innovation. The organizational pursuit of novelty is generally theorized as necessary for long-term organizational adaptation and survival yet variance increasing in the short term. We argue that the recent explosion of studies of exploration and exploitation tend to conceptualize and operationalize novelty quite narrowly. In contrast, we treat novelty as a multidimensional construct and discuss implications of this approach for future research.


The importance of multifunctional farming activities is clearly demonstrated by the significant changes made to the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in its rural development policy. Multifunctionality has received a lot of attention over the last decade from scholars and policy-makers. A new rural paradigm stands out as the interrelationship between agriculture, landscape protection and social services (e.g. Social Agriculture, Teaching Farms, Social Farms, Horticultural therapy and so on). Models based on forms of solidarity or trust could be a crucial driver for fostering the competitiveness of rural areas. Evaluation tools are needed for analyzing the current system and for improving the social approach. The aim of this paper is to provide an analysis of the educational and social opportunities deriving from multifunctional agriculture. Furthermore, we define indicators focusing on the social/education dimension. The paper is structured as follows: after a review of literature and policies on the social/health dimension of rural development, we investigate the role of didactic agriculture and the 'helping relationship' and so we define new Non-Commodity Outputs (NCOs). In addition, starting from the house of functions model by Fleskens (2009), we define a Multifunctional Agricultural House taking into account the educational and network dimension of an agricultural system; we then select indicators having an educational, social and helping dimension. Finally, conclusions are drawn.


Since the method of performing displacement measurement and stress assessment of material by non-contact comes to capture the spotlight, study of the digital image correlation method which adopted the pattern-matching method for asking for displacement by deformation of a surface speckle pattern has been advanced. When the configuration for an analysis was settled in the rectangle and the square region, the whole-field mesh generation was also possible, but when it became a complicated configuration, the background etc. entered and mesh generation was affected. In order to solve such a problem, even if the object for an analysis was a complicated configuration, it aimed at generating a mesh automatically and obtaining appropriate analysis output in the displacement analysis and stress analysis using the generated mesh. In addition, the validity of the result was verified by the comparison with the finite element method. By this study, the convenience and availability of the digital image correlation method was improved remarkably, and it became clear to become a leading tool in health monitoring.


The notion that becoming poor was primarily the result of an economic crisis in the labor market or a rise in the price of food does inadequate justice to the evidence in the records of the Hospital of Charity in eighteenth-century Turin. Although any crisis has the potential to reduce the standard of living in a general population, only certain families become impoverished; others manage to withstand difficult times more or less unscathed. Moreover, individuals and families become poor not only during widespread economic hardships but also under normal conditions. A general crisis may be an aggravating factor, increasing the likelihood of poverty, but it is neither a necessary nor a sufficient cause. The case of Turin suggests a combination of multiple contingencies as the key to how people became poor. Among them, an imbalance in the ratio between workers and mouths to feed in a family was the most important.


Social media have become a central source for news and current affairs information. This article focuses on the overarching attributes that shape how people come in contact with news, engage with news, and are affected by news on social media. Although all social media are different and change constantly, news experiences on these platforms can consistently be characterized as personalized, incidental, non-exclusive, as well as granularized and social (PINGS). Accordingly, this article introduces the PINGS framework, which acts as a systematization of social media news experiences and can be used to map key opportunities and challenges of using news across various social media platforms. In addition to presenting the framework components, the article also discusses how researchers can investigate PINGS in empirical studies.


The series of Mount Merapi eruptions, which involved a big explosion on 26 October 2010, had been made the damages. It caused the residents, especially those having responsible for other people such as mothers, volunteers, teachers and village apparatus, get depressed. They went through so much depression because besides as survivors their beings were important to others. Therefore, the impacts they felt were not only physical but also psychological. In addition to depression, they were attacked by anxiety. The subjects of this research were groups of mothers, volunteers, teachers and village officials of Sirahan Village, Magelang Regency. Intervention of Hope to lessen depression was taken to them in order to help them face the postdisaster situations. Hope Intervention covered session aiming to identify goals, plan strategies and strengthen motivation to reach the goals. The intervention was taken in four-time meeting with duration of more or less two hours per meeting. The research used a design involving untreated control group with dependent pre-test and post-test and waiting list control group. The control group was given the same treatment after the research process ended. The scores gained by both groups were analyzed with Mann-Whitney Test. The data resulted from observation were analyzed qualitatively. Both analyzing methods showed that there was significant difference of the average of depression rate between the experiment group and the control group at the pre-test and post-test with the value of F = 11.589; p=0.001 (p<0.05). This result showed that hope intervention had significant influence on decreasing the depression rate in the experiment group compared with that in the control group. Therefore it can be concluded that Hope Intervention can lessen depression in the survivors of natural disaster. © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of CPSYC 2014.


Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) plays an important role in Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). Therefore, targeting COX-2 alone or in combination with other therapeutic agents may be a potential new effective treatment for patients with CCA. This study aimed to investigate whether Interleukin-6 (IL-6) receptor antibody could enhance the inhibitory effects of NS-398, a selective COX-2 inhibitor, on CCA cell proliferation and invasion. Human extra-hepatic CCA cell line QBC939 was used. Cell proliferation and invasion was examined by CCK-8 assay and transwell assay, respectively. The levels of Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and IL6 in the supernatant of QBC939 cells were measured by ELISA. The administration of NS-398 and/or IL-6R antibody markedly decreased the production of PGE2 and IL6 in QBC939 cells, and inhibited the proliferation and invasion of QBC939 cells. The combination of both NS-398 and IL-6R antibody was more potent to inhibit the production of PGE2 and IL6, as well as the proliferation and invasion of QBC939 cells than either agent alone. Moreover, the inhibition of QBC939 cell invasion by NS-398 and IL-6R antibody was abrogated by pre-treatment with PGE2. In conclusion, NS-398 and IL-6R antibody have synergistic anti-tumor effect on CCA cells. Our findings provide a rationale for the development of COX-2 and IL6 based combination therapy for effective treatment of CCA patients with poor prognosis.


AIM
To assess the esthetic and clinical performance of a novel self-tapping implant system for single-tooth restorations in the esthetic zone after immediate placement and provisionalization.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This cross-sectional study included 52 patients contributing a total of 52 immediately placed and restored implants with ≥12 months after functional loading, comparing two different implant systems: Straumann® BLX (Institut Straumann AG, Basel, Switzerland; 25 patients) and Ankylos® (Dentsply Sirona, Hanau, Germany; 27 patients). As the primary outcome measure, peri-implant tissue esthetics were assessed by means of pink esthetics score (PES) rated by three independent clinicians. Moreover, as secondary outcome measures, the peri-implant tissue health was assessed by means of bleeding on probing, probing depth, and suppuration. Apart from that, the modified plaque index, keratinized mucosa width, and the presence of mucosal recessions were also assessed. When clinical signs suggested the possibility of peri-implantitis, radiographs were indicated to assess progressive bone loss.

RESULTS
The mean PES ratings were 12.10 ± 1.10 for Ankylos versus 11.2 ± 1.86 for BLX, both achieving good esthetic results without significant differences (p = 0.143). There were no differences among most clinical parameters (plaque, bleeding on probing, probing depth, peri-implant mucosal recession), although peri-implant mucositis was present in one-third of the cases. The inter-rater agreement on esthetics was not significant (p < 0.250).

CONCLUSION
Within the limitations of the present study, it was concluded that the use of either BLX or Ankylos implant systems was associated to comparable peri-implant health and good pink esthetic outcomes during immediate implantation and restoration protocols, for at least 12 months.


Recently, many vision applications tend to utilize saliency maps derived from input images to guide them to focus on processing salient regions in images. In this paper, we propose a simple and effective method to quantify the saliency for each pixel in images. Specially, we define the saliency for a pixel in a ratio form, where the numerator measures the number of dissimilar pixels in its center-surround and the denominator measures the total number of pixels in its center-surround. The final saliency is obtained by combining these ratios of dissimilarity over multiple scales. For images, the saliency map generated by our method not only has a high quality in resolution also looks more reasonable. Finally, we apply our saliency map to extract the salient regions in images, and compare the performance with some state-of-the-art methods over an established ground-truth which contains 1000 images.


In comparison to cell division, the mechanisms underlying cell growth are poorly understood. Progress towards understanding the latter requires systems in which cell growth can be studied independently from proliferation. Cardiomyocytes terminally differentiate and lose the capacity to divide shortly after birth in mammals. Enlargement of existing cardiomyocytes accounts for the increase in heart size that occurs during post-natal development. This increase in cell size, in the absence of proliferation, is known as hypertrophy. Cardiomyocyte hypertrophy also occurs in the adult heart in response to a range of physiological stimuli, allowing the heart to adjust its contractile capacity according to demand. However, if sustained, cardiomyocyte hypertrophy is associated with several serious cardiovascular disorders, and is an independent risk factor for heart disease. One of the key hallmarks of hypertrophy is an increase in protein synthesis; however, the mechanisms responsible for this increased translation are not fully understood. RNA polymerase III (pol III) plays a vital role in protein synthesis by producing several components of the cellular biosynthetic machinery, including transfer (t)RNAs and 5S ribosomal (r)RNA. Thus, this project aimed to investigate whether pol III transcription is upregulated during hypertrophic growth, and if so, to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for such control. Various stimuli induce hypertrophy in primary cultures of rat cardiomyocytes. Data presented in this thesis show that this hypertrophic growth accompanies a substantial increase in transcription by pol III, along with markedly elevated levels of various pol III products, including tRNAs and 5S rRNA. Furthermore, analysis of mouse ventricular tissue demonstrated that pol III transcription is also enhanced during hypertrophy in the myocardium in situ. Several proteins are known to regulate transcription by pol III in proliferating cell lines. These include activators, such as c-Myc and extracellular signal- regulated kinase (ERK), and repressors, such as the retinoblastoma protein (RB). Summary In addition, these molecules have been implicated in the regulation of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy; therefore, their involvement in pol III transcriptional control was investigated in these terminally differentiated cells. This revealed that c-Myc and ERK, which are known to promote hypertrophic growth, can activate pol III transcription in cardiomyocytes. On the other hand, although normally associated with controlling the cell division cycle, RB has recently been implicated as a negative regulator of hypertrophy, and in the present study, RB was shown to attenuate transcription by pol III in the heart. The activation or inhibition of pol III transcription by these proteins is likely to contribute to their ability to induce or repress hypertrophic cell growth. Therefore, proliferating and non-dividing terminally differentiated cells appear to use some common means to regulate pol III transcription, and hence cellular biosynthetic capacity. However, a novel pol III transcriptional control mechanism was also identified in this study, namely the hypertrophy-associated, ERK-mediated induction of the pivotal pol Ill-specific transcription factor Brf1. Further work is required to establish whether Brf1 induction contributes to increased pol III transcription during the growth of other terminally differentiated cell types, or whether this mechanism is unique to cardiomyocytes. Thus, numerous mechanisms contribute to the control of transcription by pol III in cardiomyocytes, suggesting that such regulation is a critical determinant of hypertrophic cell growth. In summary, this thesis has identified a previously undescribed means by which hypertrophic stimuli could increase the protein synthetic capacity of cardiomyocytes, and has delineated the mechanisms responsible. This has important implications for understanding the molecular basis of pathological cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, and cell growth in general.


We analyze spin-dependent transport through a spin-diode in the presence of spin-flip and under influence of temperature bias. The current polarization and the spin accumulation are investigated in detail by means of reduced density matrix. Results show that the spin accumulation is linearly increased when the metallic electrode is warmer whereas, its behavior is more complicated when the ferromagnetic lead is warmer. Furthermore, spin-flip causes that the current polarization becomes not only a function of spin-flip rate but also a function of temperature. The current polarization is reduced up to 90% if the time of spin-flip is equal to the tunneling time. The behavior of spin-dependent current is also studied as a function of temperature, spin-flip rate, and polarization.


We introduce definitions of computable PAC learning for binary classification over computable metric spaces. We provide sufficient conditions on a hypothesis class to ensure than an empirical risk minimizer (ERM) is computable, and bound the strong Weihrauch degree of an ERM under more general conditions. We also give a presentation of a hypothesis class that does not admit any proper computable PAC learner with computable sample function, despite the underlying class being PAC learnable.


Learning Objectives: Children with congenital heart disease (CHD) frequently get malnourished due to many factors including hypermetabolic state, inadequate caloric intake, malabsorption, genetic factors and fluid restriction as part of hemodynamic intervention. This nutritional status may affect the early postoperative outcome after pediatric cardiac surgery Methods: Prospective observational cohort study included all pediatric cardiac surgery patients over 2 yr. nutritional status assessed preoperatively according to Waterlow classification and calculated prognostic nutritional index (PNI). The following end points were recorded: patients NPO days, number of days to achieve Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA), weight gain /loss during ICU stay, ICU mortality, PCICU length of stay, hospital length of stay, ventilation hr and rate of infection. Results: 85 children were evaluated. At admission 36.4% (31/85) of the patients were severely malnourished. The usual intake was < 50 % of RDA at admission in 37.6% and was associated with severely malnutrition (P = 0.0001). Mean of the PNI was worse in the infected patients compared to the non-infected (P = 0.017). Comparing severely malnourished (n=31) to rest of our study population (n=54), the mean length of hospital stay was 22.84 ± 25.95vs20.67 ± 14.71 days; (95% CI -6.84–17.37P 0.038). Length of ICU stay was 13.27 ± 37.26 vs 7 ± 6.75 days, (95% CI -4.36–16.89P = 0.014). Patients with severe malnutrition were kept NPO longer postoperatively with mean 3.40 ± 5.56 vs 1.82 ± 1.45 days,(95% CI -0.05–3.21-P= 0.003). Delay in feeding postoperatively were associated with higher risk of infection (P =0.03). No statistically significant relation between mortality or ventilation hr in ICU and the malnutrition category of the patients Conclusions: Children with CHD were significantly malnourished preoperatively and had further loss in weight postoperatively. Delayed postop feeding was associated with higher rate of infection. Management by "specialized pediatric nutritionist" during outpatient visits and during hospital stay may optimize the nutritional status perioperatively.


We present an algorithm that labels linear features with two matched toponyms describing the left and the right side of a line, respectively. Such a pairwise line labeling strategy is commonly used in manually produced maps to differentiate administrative or other geographic divisions. Our approach solves two basic tasks of the automated map labeling problem, namely candidate-position generation and position evaluation for a given scale. The quality of the name placement is evaluated by comparison to a set of established cartographic principles and guidelines for linear features. We give some results of our experiments based on real datasets. The implementation of our algorithm shows that it is simple and robust, and the resulting sample maps demonstrate its practical efficiency.


In the Hellenistic empires of Alexander the Great and his successors in Greece, Egypt and the Near East, new forms of court culture and political ideology developed during the last three centuries BCE. Appropriated by Parthian kings and Roman emperors alike, the culture of these Macedonian courts eventually influenced the evolution of royal ideology and court culture in both western Europe and the Islamic East. In this first all-embracing study of the Hellenistic royal court the author endeavours to explain, among other things, the success and long life of Hellenistic royal culture. This study has a broad set-up. It discusses the social, cultural and formal aspects of court society, palace architecture, royal patronage of the arts and sciences, and monarchic representation. The focus is on the three principal Macedonian dynasties: the Antigonids (Macedonia and Greece), Ptolemies (Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean) and Seleukids (Asia Minor, the Near East and Iran). , In Chapter 1 (titled 'Court, kingship and ideology') the methodological en theoretical framework is set out, using recent literature about court culture, state formation and political representation in varying cultures and periods. Hellenistic kingship is defined by the centrality of war and conquest in both ideology and practice. Chapter 2 ('Palaces') discusses the architecture and decoration of royal residences, accentuating the ideological implications, particularly regarding the connection of (royal) palace and (autonomous) city. Chapter 3 ('Court society') discusses the social, formal and political aspects of the court: the courtiers (the so-called 'friends of the king'), the royal family, giving i.a. new interpretations of the position of the queen and the crown prince, as well as the dynamics of faction and succession strife. In Chapter 4 ('Cultural and scientific patronage') a new explanation is given for the remarkable fact that the artistic and scientific life, notably, but not exclusively, at the Ptolemaic Museum at Alexandria, was characterised by intellectual freedom and a preference for innovation, leading e.g. to the formulation of heliocentric theory in astronomy, the first steam engine, the empirical examination of the human vascular and nervous system, and the development of new forms of poetry and scholarship. This chapter also discusses cultural interaction and the significance of the 'Hellenism' of the courts for royal imperial rule. Chapter 4 ('Ritual and ceremonial') extensively deals with public representation: inauguration rituals, ceremonial entries into cities, religious festivals and processions. It will be shown that ritual and ceremonial emphasised the divinity of the ruler, particularly his role as a victorious saviour and bringer of peace, prosperity and order. In the last chapter ('Synthesis: A Golden Age') it is argued, contrary to prevailing opinion, that the Hellenistic monarchies followed the example of their Mesopotamian, Persian and Egyptian predecessors of claiming absolute rulership over world empires that knew no limits. As they also incorporated more 'individualistic' or 'western' aspects of kingship from Greco-Macedonian tradition, the Hellenistic empires developed a form of monarchical representation that was suitable to serve as the foundation for the imperial ideology of the Roman Empire succeeding them.


The eighteenth century saw a remarkable increase in the number of works written by women, and also the number of women who made a living by writing. For the first time, being a writer was a viable career choice for a woman, and it was possible to support a family by writing, despite the backlash some individual writers, such as Mary Wollstonecraft, faced for their work.
This thesis focuses on the work women did in the eighteenth-century theatre, and how they reconciled the demands of being a professional writer with their society's gender expectations. By analysing a variety of play texts written by different women, I show that they engaged critically with ideas about female virtue, the marriage market, and women's participation in the literary scene, the working world, and national politics. The plays of this period are relatively under-researched, and often do not appear at all in critical studies of eighteenth-century literature. My aim, therefore, is to rectify this situation, and to join other critics in rediscovering this interesting and vital era of female playwriting.


Abstract In this paper, we use a time splitting method with higher-order accuracy for the solutions (in space variables) of a class of two-dimensional semi-linear parabolic equations. Galerkin-Chebyshev pseudo spectral method is used for discretization of the spatial derivatives, and implicit Euler method is used for temporal discretization. In addition, we use this novel method to solve the well-known semi-linear Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) model equation and obtain solutions with higher-order accuracy. Furthermore, we compare the results obtained by our method for the semi-linear parabolic equation with the available analytical results in the literature for some special cases, and found excellent agreement. Furthermore, our new technique is also applicable for three-dimensional problems.


A report describes the history and the continuing evolution of an avionic system aboard the space shuttle, denoted the caution and warning system, that generates visual and auditory displays to alert astronauts to malfunctions. The report focuses mainly on planned human-factors-oriented upgrades of an alphanumeric fault-summary display generated by the system. Such upgrades are needed because the display often becomes cluttered with extraneous messages that contribute to the difficulty of diagnosing malfunctions. In the first of two planned upgrades, the fault-summary display will be rebuilt with a more logical task-oriented graphical layout and multiple text fields for malfunction messages. In the second upgrade, information displayed will be changed, such that text fields will indicate only the sources (that is, root causes) of malfunctions; messages that are not operationally useful will no longer appear on the displays. These and other aspects of the upgrades are based on extensive collaboration among astronauts, engineers, and human-factors scientists. The report describes the human-factors principles applied in the upgrades.


The capability maturity model (CMM) approach to software process improvement is the most dominant paradigm of organizational change that software organizations implement. While some organizations have achieved various levels of success with the CMM, the vast majority have failed. In this paper, we investigate the assumptions about organizational culture embedded in the CMM models and we discuss their implications for software process improvement (SPI) initiatives. In this paper, we utilize the well-known competing values model to surface and analyze the assumptions underlying the CMM. Our analysis reveals contradictory sets of assumptions about organizational culture in the CMM approach. We believe that an understanding of these contradictions can help researchers address some of the difficulties that have been observed in implementing and institutionalizing SPI programs in organizations. Further, this research can help to open up a much-needed line of research that would examine the organization theory assumptions that underpin CMM. This type of research is important if CMM is to evolve as an effective organizational change paradigm for software organizations.


This study engages in the examination of the role of journalism in a time of violent conflict and explores the discourse that has come to be known under the umbrella term "peace journalism." Through a case study of the Open Broadcast Network (OBN) coverage of the Bosnian conflict, the study analyzes the initial lessons learned from one of the original implementations of peace journalism precepts in violent conflict. As demonstrated by the fleeting and partial success of OBN, the news media can play a role in transformation of conflict but the feasibility and accomplishments of such practice depend upon a variety of variables.


The acoustic design of classrooms has traditionally focused on pupils hearing the
teacher. There is a need for guidance on the consideration of voice ergonomics for
teachers in classroom design.
This project undertook measurements of teachers' voices in classrooms with different
acoustic properties to examine possible relationships between voice parameters and
classroom acoustics. The mean voice level measured was classified as 'loud' (based on
guidance values) and the participants spoke for a large proportion of the day (average
21%).
Those teaching in rooms with higher unoccupied noise levels spoke with a higher
sound level. There was a significant, moderate, positive correlation between voice
levels in female participants and the unoccupied noise levels in the same region of the
noise spectrum as the fundamental frequency of the female voice. There were signs of
a similar relationship for male participants. This indicated that the control of low
frequency noise levels and reverberation times (not currently covered by schools
guidance documents in England) may be important in reducing voice levels and the
associated vocal risks.
An online survey was also undertaken which gathered 153 responses and included
questions on voice problems, voice training, classroom acoustics and general health.
The respondents reported a number of interesting findings. 66% reported having
experienced voice problems, with many continuing to work despite these problems. A
relatively small proportion of respondents had received voice training (41%), and many
reported shouting or raising their voice.
There were greater rates of reported voice problems in teachers of young children and
those teaching in open plan classrooms. Subjectively the main acoustic issues for
teachers were inadequate internal sound insulation and excessive reverberation.
External noise intrusion was not reported as significant.


In plants and fungi, sphingolipids, characterized by the presence of a sphingoid base (SB), comprise neutral classes, including ceramide (Cer) and glucosylceramide (GlcCer), and acidic classes, including glycosyl inositol phosphoryl ceramide (GIPC). The major class of plant and fungal sphingolipids is GIPC; however, owing to their complicated extraction and analysis, there is still little information regarding the food characteristics of GIPC compounds. In the present study, we evaluated the content and SB composition of highly polar sphingolipids (HPS) in materials that had been obtained from our previous food processing study for GlcCer and Cer. This assessment was based on the changes that occur in HPS containing GIPC in sake rice (saka-mai) during the rice polishing and sake (rice wine) brewing process. In addition, we report a new investigation into the composition of sphingolipids in koji rice and sake yeast. HPS levels were the highest among the sphingolipid classes in brown rice cultivars and highly polished rice. Sake and sake lees (sake-kasu) were produced using three different starter cultures. In sake lees, Cer levels were the highest among the classes, while HPS was greatly reduced based on the amount of highly polished rice and koji rice, and these HPS were mainly composed of sphinganine (d18:0), which is a minor SB in highly polished rice, koji rice, and sake yeast. In addition, considerable levels of free SBs, mainly comprising d18:0, were detected in sake lees. The levels of HPS and free SBs in sake lees were dependent on the starter culture. These results suggest that HPS was hydrolyzed to Cer and that sake yeast also affected the levels of Cer and free SBs during brewing. One interesting question raised by these results is whether changes in the class and base compositions of sphingolipids during brewing contribute to taste of the final product and other food functions.


India's first generation of economic reforms made a significant change in the perception of the role of local self-government bodies in the Indian public governance system. One of the important reforms introduced during this period was the Constitution (Seventy-fourth Amendment) Act, 1992. This reform empowered the urban local bodies in India to function as local self-governments as the third tier of governance. With the view to further strengthen these urban local bodies in their financial management the central government also developed guidelines for moving to a double entry accrual-based accounting system through the introduction of a National Municipal Accounts Manual. This working paper provides guidance for implementing municipal accounting reforms in ADB's urban projects in India. The objectives of this paper are to highlight the importance of implementing accounting reforms in the urban local bodies, to inform the processes involved in the implementation, and thus to provide the way forward to improve urban local bodies' financial status and overall management.


4 Abstract: Technological development has resulted in a boundary free digital world. This development has resulted in transaction through virtual money instead of real. One of the most popular forms of online trading is E-ticketing. Android Phones can reduce the trouble of the customers to stand in queue and book the tickets. With the advent of the smart cards the overhead of waiting for ticket was reduced but the user should always remember to carry the card with him. Moreover one has to pay attention that it is not misplaced or stolen. After that came E-Ticketing where passengers have to carry a SMS or a printout of the ticket booked online. But that required laptops or desktop for booking. Currently there is a mobile ticketing system provided by the Indian Railways implemented in Chennai and Mumbai. The proposed system aims to eliminate drawbacks of the currently implemented mobile ticketing. Thus came into front the use of smart phone application where carrying a smart phone will do all the work. This proposed system aims to provide tickets without Internet and GPS which mainly makes the current implementation of the mobile ticketing less popular. The ticket can be bought easily and ticket will be present in the customer"s phone in the digital data. The Ticket Checker will scan the QR code for checking the integrity of the ticket.


Land degradation (LD) and desertification is a serious ecological, environmental, and social-economic threat in the world, and there is a demanding need to develop accountable and reproducible techniques to assess it at different scales. In this study to assess LD and desertification with the help of Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) in the study region for the period of past 29 years i.e., from 1990 to 2019. The severity of LD and desertification was assessed quantitatively by collecting twelve soil samples in the study region, and analyzing the eleven soil Physico-chemical parameters and these values have made correlated with Digital Number (DN) values with LANDSAT 8 satellite image. The land cover analysis of LANDSAT imagery revealed that the water body slightly increased from 0.29% in 1990 to 0.46% in 2019, and built-up-land increased from 2.87% in 1990 to 5.31% in 2019. Vegetation is decreased from 52.03% in 1990 to 28.57%. Fallow land, degraded land, and desertified lands are increased at alarming rates, respectively 13.71% to 26.35, 18.57% to 22.31%, and 12.53% to 17.00%. It is also established that the multi-temporal analysis of change detection data can provide a sophisticated measure of ecosystem health and variation, and that, over the last 29 years, considerable progress has been made in the respective research.


What is the purpose of health care? What is the purpose of health insurance? When people fall ill, they seek health care in order to get better. But insurance has a slightly different function: Its main role is not to protect our health per se, but to protect our finances. For most people, lifetime health expenditures are quite low. However, some people have enormous health costs owing to major illnesses or health conditions. And this is where health insurance comes in?its goal (like that of any other form of insurance) is to protect these individuals against large, and sometimes ruinous, health expenditures. Has the recent health reform served this purpose?


To better understand the nature of the multiphase material found in outflowing galaxies, we study the evolution of cold clouds embedded in flows of hot and fast material. Using a suite of adaptive mesh refinement simulations that include radiative cooling, we investigate both cloud mass loss and cloud acceleration under the full range of conditions observed in galaxy outflows. The simulations are designed to track the cloud center of mass, enabling us to study the cloud evolution at long disruption times. For supersonic flows, a Mach cone forms around the cloud, which damps the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability but also establishes a streamwise pressure gradient that stretches the cloud apart. If time is expressed in units of the cloud crushing time, both the cloud lifetime and the cloud acceleration rate are independent of cloud radius, and we find simple scalings for these quantities as a function of the Mach number of the external medium. A resolution study suggests that our simulations accurately describe the evolution of cold clouds in the absence of thermal conduction and magnetic fields, physical processes whose roles will be studied in forthcoming papers.


Background: Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among men living in the United States. All men diagnosed with prostate cancer must undergo the complex process of treatment decision-making. Men have to be exposed to a range of issues related to treatment care planning and aftercare before they can make an informed treatment choice. The literature suggests that many men make prostate cancer treatment decisions before having all of their information needs satisfied. Patients who do not satisfy all of their information needs before undergoing treatment will have unmet needs. Men with unmet needs are more susceptible to making ill-informed choices and selecting treatment options that are poorly aligned with their preferences. Objectives: To quantify levels of unmet treatment information needs and to explore sociodemographic correlates of unmet needs among a sample of localized prostate cancer survivors. Methodology: From 2013 to 2014, sixty-three prostate cancer survivors completed self-administered surveys on a touch-screen computer. All participants were 40 years or older, self-identified as African American or White, was treated for or actively monitoring localized prostate cancer (Stage T1 or T2), and lived or worked in Western New York or Georgia. The survey collected information on sociodemographic variables, information seeking behavior, and treatment information needs. Unmet treatment information needs were classified as details or issues that survivors deemed important to know but did not explore before making their treatment decision. Each of the 20 treatment information need items was rated as "0 = unimportant" or "1= important". An unmet needs composite scale was created which ranged from 0 - 20 (α = 0.895). Univariate statistics (frequencies, means and standard deviations) were computed to describe the study sample. Bivariate (T-test, ANOVA and Chi-square) and multivariate statistics were computed to examine associations between study variables. Significance levels for all statistical procedures was set at p ≤ 0.05. Results: Most participants were White (58.7%), college graduates (54.0%), not working (58.7%), married (78.4%) and had annual household incomes of $45,000+ (49.2%). A majority of participants (57.0%) reported at least one unmet information need (range = 0 – 19 unmet needs, mean = 2.83). African Americans reported more unmet needs than Whites (3.64African American vs. 2.50Whites). Results from multiple linear regression analysis indicated that race (β = -2.14, p = 0.05), income (β = -4.60, p = 0.01), and insurance status (β = 6.73, p = 0.01) were significant predictors of unmet information need (F(9,41) = 2.34; p = 0.03). African Americans were less likely to get information they wanted about "How different treatment options work (χ2 = 0.02)" and "How much time is required to complete treatment (χ2 = 0.04)."Conclusions: These results suggest that many prostate cancer patients do not receive all of the information they deem important for treatment decision-making. Treatment information seeking behavior appears to be an emerging area of disparity for African Americans and men with lower income. Patient centered interventions need to be developed and implemented to reduce unmet treatment information needs within these medically underserved populations. Citation Format: Jarrett Johnson, Sarbesh Pandeya, Ahmed Kabore, Stuart H. Tedders, Levi Ross. Examining sociodemographic differences in unmet treatment information needs among localized prostate cancer survivors. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Ninth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2016 Sep 25-28; Fort Lauderdale, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2017;26(2 Suppl):Abstract nr A54.


Purpose: To optimise breath-hold contrast-enhanced MR angiography (MRA) in infants and children with suspected congenital heart or thoracic vessel malformation. Material and Methods: Thirty-nine children (median age 1 year) were examined, using five different ultrafast MRA sequences with a TR between 3.2 and 5.0 ms and the contrast agent meglumine gadoterate. A test injection was used to determine contrast travel time. Different parameters for contrast injection were evaluated. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) measurements were performed and image quality and injection timing were evaluated. Results: MRA was successful in all patients and image quality was considered very good in 52%. Adequate SNR was achieved with no significant differences between the MR sequences. SNR decreased only 25-30% between subsequent scans. The mean contrast dose was 0.23 mmol/kg. The mean scan time was 12.5±3.8 s; the shorter scan times made dynamic examinations possible with high temporal resolution. Highest spatial resolution was obtained with TR 4.6/5.0 sequences. Conclusion: A contrast dose of 0.2 mmol/kg b.w. is recommended with an injection rate of 0.5 to 1.2 ml/s, depending on patient size and scan time. The scan delay time should equal the contrast travel time for optimal vessel enhancement. In the future, contrast-enhanced MRA may be a potential alternative to angiocardiography in infants and children.


Summary The Sahel in West Africa is a major wintering area for many western Palearctic migrants. The breeding populations of many of these have declined over the past 50 years. However, there have been few intensive field studies on migrant ecology in the Sahel and these were generally within a very restricted area. Consequently our knowledge of the distribution of species within this extensive area and the habitat associations of these species is limited. Understanding these habitat associations is essential for the effective conservation management of populations. We brought together a group of experts and consulted a wider group by email to assess the main Sahelian habitat types used by 68 African-Eurasian migrant bird species. Those species that showed strongest declines during 1970–1990 were associated with more open habitats than those newly declining during 1990–2000, when declining species were associated with habitats with more shrubs and trees. Populations of species that winter in the Sahel are generally stable or increasing now as rainfall has increased and is now near the long-term average for the Sahel. Those which use the Sahel only as a staging area are, in many cases, in rapid decline at present.


Mycotic aneurysm after bacteremia is a rare diagnosis in children and adolescents. We report the case of a previously healthy adolescent who presented with chest pain and fever and who developed a mycotic aneurysm of the aorta after contracting community-acquired, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Early recognition of widening of the patient's superior mediastinum, noted during a comparison of the patient's initial and follow-up chest radiographs, prompted computed tomographic angiography of the chest and led to a timely diagnosis, rapid surgical intervention, and a good clinical outcome. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of mycotic aortic aneurysm from community-acquired methicillin-resistant S. aureus in a healthy adolescent who had no predisposing cardiac or aortic anomalies.