This paper sets out to examine the suitability of blogs as organisational learning tools within project-based organisations. Three distinct yet interrelated issues are covered. Firstly, the applicability of blogs as a potential learning tool within project-based organisations is discussed. Secondly, the association between blogs and the concept of organisational learning is clarified. Thirdly, the question of whether blogs have the means to allow an organisation to transform itself into a learning organisation is assessed. Due to fact that there is an apparent lack of empirical research in relation to blogs, this paper also outlines an empirical research study by the authors involving the use of blogs within a project-based organisation and presents the research questions, methodology, objectives and research techniques of the study. It is hoped that the significance of this study in attempting to bridge the gap between theory and practice of organisational learning may be seen as an important contribution to the organisational learning literature. The progression of the discipline of organisational learning is dependent upon such unique empirical studies that illustrate various approaches towards its facilitation within diverse organisational settings.


Abstract There are currently no three dimensional numerical models which describe the magnetic and energetic formation of prominences self-consistently. Consequently, there has not been significant progress made in understanding the connection between the dense prominence plasma and the coronal cavity. We have taken an ad-hoc approach to understanding the energetic implications of the magnetic models of prominence structure. We extract one dimensional magnetic field lines from a 3D MHD model of a flux rope and solve for hydrostatic balance along these field lines incorporating field-aligned thermal conduction, uniform heating, and radiative losses. The 1D hydrostatic solutions for density and temperature are then mapped back into three dimensional space, which allows us to consider the projection of multiple structures. We find that the 3D flux rope is composed of several distinct field line types. A majority of the flux rope interior field lines are twisted but not dipped. These field lines are density-reduced relative to unsheared arcade field lines. We suggest the cavity may form along these short interior field lines which are surrounded by a sheath of dipped field lines. This geometric arrangement would create a cavity on top of a prominence, but the two structures would not share field lines or plasma.


When planning a new educational program concern has been given to the fact that a new coming student at the University does not know anything about scientific reading and writing. Also a new student does not have an academic study technique. Students have a wage idea of what to do during their studies at the University. Therefore the two first courses in the educational program came to be focusing perspectives on knowledge and learning and an introduction to their studies to come. The article reflects on instructional strategies and learning outcomes in academic studies, using a narrative research approach. Narratives are used in four ways. Student narratives are used for data collection. Teachers use narratives as instructional strategy. Narratives are in this research used as an analytical tool and in this article as a research presentation model. Qualitative narrative statements from students have been taken at four occasions, direct after the courses, three months after, one, two and three years after the courses. Interpretations of the narratives have shown that students forget the course content rather soon after a course where mainly surface instructional strategies are used. They express though, that the surface learning have eased their learning capability when studying subjects later in their study program. This generative effect should be regarded we think when planning academic course programs. Another reflection is that students are better able to fulfil the academic deep learning studies when they get an early introduction of academic studies concerning critical scientific reading and writing. Also instructional strategies that early introduce concepts and views in generative topics make learning more efficient. When teachers and students communicate and are able to create a positive and for the students developing study climate, learning is promoted.


Infection is a common problem in elderly patients, the most common infections being those in the urinary tract and the respiratory tract. In geriatric practice, infection is most frequently seen in combination with many other problems. The geriatric presentation is described in which patients may present with an increased dependency upon care providers due to the development of fresh problems like falls, immobility, confusion, incontinence of urine, and fecal impaction with incontinence. It is important to recognize this presentation and not to miss the diagnosis. It is well recognized that pneumonia is the most frequently missed diagnosis in the elderly. An increase in dependency should not be ignored and attributed to old age. The presence of pathophysiological changes and organ involvement, together with fever, raised white count, or elevated ESR, are strongly supportive of a diagnosis of infection. Once identified, the infection can usually be appropriately treated, resulting in significant improvement in multiple geriatric problems which these patients suffer from.


Background The number of patients undergoing hip arthroscopy for labral tears has increased, but labral tears are sometimes seen in asymptomatic patients with femoroacetabular impingement (FAI). The frequency of this finding, however, has not been well characterized nor is the proportion of patients with previously asymptomatic labral tears who may later become symptomatic. Questions/purposes The purpose of this study was to determine (1) the prevalence of labral tears and other intraarticular pathology in the asymptomatic contralateral hip of patients undergoing surgery for symptomatic FAI; (2) the likelihood that the asymptomatic hip had become symptomatic at latest followup; and (3) any association between MRI findings and age, sex, and body mass index (BMI) in both symptomatic and asymptomatic sides. Methods This study included patients who were diagnosed with unilateral symptomatic FAI between 2013 and 2015 and who had an available MRI of both hips. The study included 100 patients (47 females, 53 males) with a mean age of 33 years (range, 17-57 years). Patients with a symptomatic contralateral hip (n = 56) or an unsuitable MRI for review based on both reviewers' consensus (n = 344) were excluded. The MRI of both hips was independently evaluated by two orthopaedic surgeons and interobserver reliability tested. The interobserver reliability for the two surgeons' MRI ratings was almost perfect (&kgr; ≥ 0.85). The presence of a labral tear, an acetabular chondral lesion, subchondral acetabular cysts, and fibrocystic changes in the femoral head-neck junction was documented for both hips. At latest followup, asymptomatic hips were investigated for any symptomatic labral tears or surgical procedures resulting from FAI. Results A labral tear was recorded in 97 (97%) and 96 (96%) of symptomatic hips, respectively, for each surgeon's evaluation. A labral tear was also detected in 41 (41%) and 43 (43%) of asymptomatic hips. In addition, an acetabular chondral lesion was detected in 32 (32%) and 35 (35%) of the symptomatic hips and 15 (15%) and 17 (17%) of the asymptomatic hips. At latest followup, nine of the patients were diagnosed with symptomatic labral tears in the contralateral asymptomatic hip and were treated. None of the radiologic parameters examined demonstrated an association with patient age, sex, or BMI in either symptomatic or asymptomatic hips. Conclusions Labral tears and acetabular chondral lesions are common in the asymptomatic contralateral hip of patients undergoing surgery for FAI. The incidence of a symptomatic labral tear in these asymptomatic hips was 9% during 2 years of followup. We suggest that the decision to perform chondral or labral surgery in patients with FAI should be made with caution considering the relatively high prevalence of labral tears in asymptomatic hips and the low chance of development of symptoms. Level of Evidence Level IV, case-series study.


This Essay argues that the rise of the administrative state has led to an overabundance of criminally enforceable regulations, so many in fact that the law has become in many ways unknowable. At the same time, a large portion of criminal lawmaking has moved away from the politically accountable legislature and into the "expert" agencies. The combination of inscrutability and lack of accountability has led to a corresponding loss in the efficacy and legitimacy of the criminal law itself. There are many old, adaptable criminal laws that already cover the conduct that agencies criminalize by regulation. Given the costs, the legislature should not only avoid making new delegations of criminal lawmaking power to agencies, it should consider contracting their power by repeal, sunset, and jury empowerment.


In culture containers with sediment on the bottom, two of six species of planktic foraminifera reveal characteristic benthic activities, such as reorientation, crawling, and burrowing. Globigerinella siphonifera creates well-organized burrows and excavated sediment on a circular pile. Globorotalia menardii and Globigerinella siphonifera have specific crawling and burrowing orientations, with crawling speeds of up to 1 mm/min and burrowing speeds of 0.5–2 mm/hr. Globigerinoides ruber, Globigerinoides sacculifer, Hastigerina pelagica, and Orbulina universa did not exhibit any benthic activity and died on sediment substrates. The ability to live in a benthic mode may be a strategy in species adapted to the deep chlorophyll maximum, or neritic environments, where they exploit floating organic aggregates (marine snow) as a pseudobenthic habitat and a source of food. Benthic and pseudobenthic behavior may have been widespread in Mesozoic planktic foraminifera and may explain their widespread occurrence in epicontinental seas.


In this report the neutron-gamma discrimination capabilities of the new type of solid organic scintillator, EJ-299-33, was investigated using several pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) techniques. Among others, the analog zero-crossing method andthe digital charge-comparison and integrated-rise-time method were tested. The parameters of the digital PSD methods were optimised individually and the figure-of-merit was measured for each method and compared in different energy windows.The photoelectron yield of the setup was measured using two different photomultiplier tubes (PMT), a 3 inch diameter ET 9821 and a 5 inch diameter ET 9390KB. The highest photoelectron yield was measured with the ET 9390KB, which was the PMT used for the neutron-gamma discrimination capability measurements.In this work, four decay constants were found for the scintillator decay times. These were found by fitting average neutron and gamma-ray waveforms with the convolution of severeal exponential functions, that describes the light emission intensity of the scintillator, with an approximation of the PMT response function. Thebest agreement was found for the assumption that the scintillator light emission intensity is governed by four decay constants. The intensity of the two slowest components contain information about the incident particle.


STUDY OBJECTIVES
Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), the mainstay treatment for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), involves administration of air under pressure to the upper airway. A well-known but poorly understood side effect of positive airway pressure therapies is aerophagia, air entering the esophagus and stomach rather than the lungs. Gastric distension, a consequence of aerophagia, can increase gastroesophageal reflux (GER) by increasing transient lower esophageal sphincter relaxations, the most common cause of reflux. This study aimed to determine: (i) the prevalence of aerophagia symptoms in a group of OSA patients on CPAP therapy, and (ii) whether aerophagia symptoms are related to an increase in prevalence of GER symptoms.

METHODS
Consecutive OSA patients undergoing polysomnography for the purpose of optimizing their CPAP therapy completed a validated questionnaire regarding GER symptoms and aerophagia symptoms. Complete datasets were collected for 259 individuals (203 males).

RESULTS
The group with aerophagia symptoms (n = 130) had a greater prevalence of frequent (≥ once a week) GER symptoms (29% vs. 10%, p < 0.05) and nighttime GER symptoms (9 vs. 2%, p < 0.05) than those without aerophagia (n = 129). The group with nighttime GER symptoms (n = 27) had a greater prevalence of aerophagia symptoms (63% vs. 23%, p < 0.05) than those without nighttime GER symptoms (n = 232).

CONCLUSIONS
In patients with OSA being treated with CPAP, the prevalence of GER and nighttime GER symptoms is greater in those with symptoms of aerophagia than those without. CPAP-induced aerophagia might precipitate GER, particularly nighttime GER, by exacerbating transient lower esophageal relaxations through gastric distension.


Fitness For Change and Alberta Health Care Organizations: A Management Perspective What constitutes the definition of organizational effectiveness and the capabilities required for dealing with change among the Regional Health Authorities in Alberta was investigated. The perceptions of Regional Administrators and Medical Directors from across the province were measured in accordance to a dual methodology approach (survey plus case study interviews). The Survey of Organizational Fitness provided a means to acquire a measure of "fitness" along the key dimensions of environment; performance; capabilities and characteristics; levers for change; the capacity to change and learn; and strategic orientation in approaches to change (Theories E, EO or O). Theory E is based on the creation of economic value and Theory O on developing lasting organizational capabilities, the ideal objective is to integrate the two (Theory EO). The results indicate that although the majority of Regional Health Authorities perceive themselves as subscribing to a combined theoretical approach to change (Theory EO), those that subscribe solely to Theory E rate themselves as achieving overall higher levels of organizational effectiveness.


Analysts of civil war settlements have devoted significant attention to how the security of warring parties can be enhanced to reduce their mutual vulnerabilities and foster peace. Less work has been done, however, on another serious challenge of postwar settings: the security of the general population. Once safe from the crossfire of warring armies, civilians often face new threats from violent criminals, excombatants, rioters, vigilantes, or members of other ethnic groups with whom they are to cohabit under a peace agreement. In the aftermath of virtually all the civil wars of the 1980s and 1990s, civilians perceived greater insecurity, often as a result of documented increases in violent crime. Ironically, in places like El Salvador and South Africa, civilians faced greater risk of violent death or serious injury after the end of the conflict than during it. [1] Even in cases where the end of civil wars has incontrovertibly reduced the dangers to civilians, postwar crime waves have been common, as have civil disturbances of various kinds. The postwar public security situation is not entirely bleak: some aspects of peace settlements foster perceived and real improvements for the security of the general population. These include enhanced human rights protections, punishment for past human rights violations, and provisions to disarm combatants and civilians after wars. As compared to these various measures, reform of security institutions may have somewhat less impact on societies like Rwanda, where large portions of the populace are implicated in ethnic hatred and violence. Nevertheless, security reforms remain one of the most important mechanisms for preventing political violence and common crime in many postwar settings. As police scholar David Bayley puts it, "The police are to government as the edge is to the knife." [2] Where police are repressive or politically biased, formal democratic rules and equality before the law can mean little in practice. Where the police are dominated by one ethnic group, members of excluded groups will likely turn to alternative, ethnically based mechanisms to provide security. And where no public security provisions are made, organized crime can assume such proportions as to produce corrupt mafia states, possibly with the complicity of international actors. Conversely, police who are effective in protecting individuals from criminal threats, who respect individuals' rights, and who protect vulnerable groups regardless of ethnicity or political orientation can create a positive climate even when broader political arrangements are uncertain or less than democratic. [3] Despite the myriad dangers for public security after conflict, relatively few civil war settlements explicitly set forth a road map for restructuring security forces in ways that reorient public safety toward protecting citizens rather than the regime. Of eighteen recent cases, minimal police reforms were included in twelve agreements (see Table 1). In most of these cases, few specifics were stipulated beyond the inclusion of former enemies into police forces and brief commitments to human rights standards and professionalization. The general neglect of public security provisions in peace accords reflects the logic of peacemaking; the parties, and outside mediators, tend to focus on the post-settlement security of the civil war adversaries themselves, since this is what will make or break a peace process in the short run. Indeed, inattention to public security issues has seldom, if ever, caused renewed civil war. It has, however, contributed to extreme hardships and undermined longer-term prospects for both peace and democracy. Most civil war peace accords in the post-Cold War period have depended to some extent on liberal political institutions, including elections with at least two competing parties, constitutional systems with checks and balances, and minimum political and civic rights. …


Objective: This study investigated the relationship between joint physical custody and children's mental health, and tested whether interparental conflict moderated the association.
Background: Joint physical custody is an emerging post-separation care arrangement that is expected to counter the negative effects of family dissolution on children's overall well-being. There is, however, substantial disagreement about the impact that joint physical custody may have on children's mental health when interparental conflict is high.
Method: The statistical analysis was based on data from the Family Models in Germany (FAMOD) study, which was conducted in 2019. The analytical sample consisted of 1,087 post-separation families practicing either sole physical custody or joint physical custody. Linear regression models were estimated to determine the relationship between physical custody arrangements, interparental conflict, and children's mental health problems.
Results: Living in a joint physical custody arrangement was positively related to children's mental health, whereas high levels of interparental conflict were negatively related to children's mental health. However, when levels of interparental conflict were high children in joint physical custody arrangements displayed levels of mental health problems that were quite similar to those of children in sole physical custody arrangements.
Conclusion: The findings emphasize that joint physical custody is not a "one-size-fits-all model" that is suitable for all post-separation families, and that it is only beneficial for children's mental health when interparental conflict is low.


In marine benthic organisms with a pelagic larval phase, assessment of recruitment reg- ulation necessitates accurate estimates of larval supply and initial settlement densities. We assessed 2 commonly used methods for estimating decapod larval supply, plankton net tows and artificial settle- ment substrates (ASS), together with a new technique using passive-migration traps. The aim was to evaluate how these methods estimate larval supply and settlement of 3 common decapod species (the shore crab Carcinus maenas L., the brown shrimp Crangon crangon L. and the grass shrimps Palae- mon spp.) in a microtidal nursery area on the Swedish west coast, and to assess how these estimates relate to the juvenile recruitment of these species. Discrete plankton net tows outside the shallow nursery area collected a higher proportion of larvae at an early development stage, compared to the other methods, and produced only a snapshot of the variable water-column abundance of shore crab and grass shrimp larvae that correlated poorly with numbers collected with ASS at the same location. Artificial settlement substrates appeared to produce good, integrated relative estimates of shore crab larval supply and settlement. The number of larvae collected from ASS correlated significantly with larval abundance estimated by passive-migration traps in shallow nursery areas, and reflected changes in shore crab settlement densities in caged mussel habitats. We did not detect any effect of predation on ASS placed in nursery areas. However, a large proportion (an estimated 83%) of shore crab postlarvae appeared to emigrate from ASS immersed for periods longer than 12 h, possibly during the night. All grass shrimp larvae appeared to emigrate from the collectors within 24 h, suggesting that ASS immersed longer than 12 h do not produce useful integrated estimates of larval supply for this species. These results demonstrate the importance of assessing postlarval emigration patterns from ASS to optimize immersion and collection time, and to avoid confounded estimates of larval abun- dance and settlement. A new method using replicated passive migration traps that fished continuously in opposite directions (on-shore and off-shore) gave promising integrated estimates of net fluxes (total number immigrating minus number emigrating per unit time) of both pelagic postlarvae and early benthic juvenile stages of crabs and shrimp. The majority of the brown shrimp recruits were young juveniles, demonstrating the importance of incorporating juvenile migration in recruitment studies of motile benthic species. High numbers of shore crab and grass shrimp larvae were found to emigrate from the bay, indicating that many decapod postlarvae found in nursery areas may be transitional. The emigrating larvae were on average in an earlier development stage than those migrating to the bay. These short-term experiments demonstrate the importance of assessing larval development stage and migratory behavior when estimating larval supply and settlement for recruitment studies.


SUMMARY: The growth of Escherichia coli strain B/r on nutrient agar is the same as in broth with regard to the initial lag period and the rate of increase during the exponential phase. On nutrient agar, growth is finally slowed down either when individual colonies contain more than 219 bacteria, or when the total number of bacteria/4 in. plate exceeds 1010. The rate of mutation to phage resistance was measured by a modification of Demerec's method of spraying plate cultures with a phage aerosol, and counting resistant survivals. With the phage T1, after twelve bacterial generations on nutrient agar at 37°, the value of 0.74 ± 0.04 mutations/108 bacterial divisions was obtained, and after eighteen bacterial generations, 0.70 ± 0.04. Resistance to Tl phage is probably brought about by at least five separate mutations, as shown by tests of resistance to other phages. Different strains of E. coli yield different proportions of some of these mutants. Thus strain B/r yielded a lower proportion of the mutant B/1 than did strain B. Furthermore, as different strains of Tl phage may contain varying amounts of the phage mutant T1h, capable of lysing the bacterial mutant B/l, but not B/1, 5, variations in the relative proportions of B/1 and B/1, 5 may also occur when different samples of phage are used. Consequently, constancyof mutation rate can only be guaranteed for given cultures of both bacteria and phage.


Advocates of evidence-based policymaking (EBP) often argue that policy decisions are improved when they are
informed by rigorous and accurate scientific evidence. However, some critical authors argue that public policies
cannot be decided on technical evidence alone. They stress that calls to simply 'base' policy on evidence risks ignoring
the fundamental importance of politics as a mechanism to debate and choose between multiple competing social
concerns, and further risks imposing de facto policy priority on those concerns which have been measured, or those
which are conducive to measuring in particular ways. At times, debates between these groups appear to paint an
intractable difference of opinion on the role that evidence can or should play in policymaking. However, here we
argue that both sides have valid concerns to consider, yet their concerns are very different in nature. For champions
of evidence, there is a problem with the politicisation of science – the ways that political interests appear to drive
the misuse, manipulation, or cherry picking of evidence to promote political goals. This can otherwise be defined as
a concern over technical bias in the use of evidence – evidence utilisation that does not follow principles of scientific
best practice (which can include invalid uses of individual pieces of evidence, as well as failing to systematically
include all the relevant evidence that best answers a particular question) and which therefore leads to poorer policy
outcomes than would otherwise be possible.
The critical policy perspective, on the other hand, points
to the problems caused by the depoliticisation of politics
– in particular the ways in which social values can be
obscured or marginalised through the promotion of
certain forms or bodies of evidence. This is also a form of
bias, but can be alternatively termed issue biasto capture
how evidence utilisation can shift the political debate to
particular questions or concerns in a non-transparent
way. The first form of bias broadly reflects the value of
scientific fidelity, while the second broadly reflects the
value of democratic representation.
This brief defines these concepts and explores the
political origins of these different forms of bias in order
to help move beyond the debates between evidence
champions and critical perspectives, as well as to help
guide efforts to avoid bias or mitigate its impact.


According to Ps 138:8 Yahweh is present also in the netherworld. Thus the distance between humans and Yahweh after death is not greater than it has been during their lifetime (and before their birth). This paper proposes to understand the view of death in Ps 139 not as a precursor of later hopes for a life after death, but rather as a critical answer to such hopes in the spirit of Qoheleth and Ben Sira (following Gen 3).


A mathematical model of the growth of multicentrical tumors under conditions of the tumor cells interactions with cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL), natural resistant factors and cells and migration CTL between tumor focuses is presented. For any finite number of the tumor focuses at the comparatively low intensity migration of CTL the dynamic stability conditions among multicentrical tumors and the immune system were obtained.


There is an increasing requirement for tools to assess and improve animal welfare in an objective and scientifically based manner. In our research a concept of welfare is applied which states that welfare is determined by the balance between positive and negative experiences. This concept implies that an interaction exists between stress systems and reward systems in the brain and, as a consequence: (I) negative experiences induce an increased sensitivity (ie need) for positive experiences; and (II) negative experiences can be compensated for by positive experiences. On this basis, two uses of reward-related behaviour can be hypothesised: (I) reward sensitivity may be used as a tool to assess the state of an animal in terms of welfare because it can indicate the current state of the balance that is dependent on previous (stressful) experiences; and (II) regular presentation of rewards may serve as a tool to counteract stress by shifting the balance to the positive side and, thus, to improve welfare. In order to investigate this, we used the rat as a model. Reward sensitivity was determined by the spontaneous behavioural response shown during expectation of a reward (ie anticipatory behaviour). A third (III) use of reward-related behaviour derives from the fact that anticipatory behaviour is influenced by the (rewarding) properties of the forthcoming reward (or other event) and, thus, may serve as a tool to assess the animal's perception of this reward/event. This paper presents a descriptive overview of the evidence obtained thus far for the three proposed uses of reward-related behaviour. The biological background of our concept of welfare can be generalised to all (vertebrate) species, and anticipatory behaviour can be evoked in a wide range of other species. Therefore, this tool for measuring and improving the welfare of captive animals has great potential and will contribute to a good quality of life for captive animals.


Objective To explore the efficacy of the hospital glycemic management system with information integration in patients with malignant tumors and hyperglycemia. Methods Three hundred ninety-three patients diagnosed with malignant tumors with hyperglycemia and hospitalized in the non-endocrinology department of a specialized cancer hospital from March 2019 to November 2020 were recruited. All the patients were diagnosed and treated according to the clinical department and disease course. In total, 196 patients were divided into the control group, who received the conventional blood glucose management mode, and 197 patients were divided into the intervention group, who received the hospital glycemic management system with information integration. The average daily glucose levels were recorded before and after breakfast, lunch, and dinner, at bedtime and at night. The average glucose level, glucose compliance rate, hypoglycemia rate, hyperglycemia rate, glucose measurements per day, average number of hospitalization days and patient satisfaction were compared between the groups. Results In the intervention group, the average glucose level was significantly lower than that in the control group (P<0.05). The hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia rates in the intervention group were lower than those in the control group (P<0.05). The glucose compliance rate in the intervention group was higher than that in the control group (P<0.05). The highest blood glucose level in the intervention group was lower than that in the control group (P<0.05), and the lowest blood glucose level was higher than that in the control group (P<0.05). The glucose measurements per day in the intervention group were higher than those in the control group, and the average number of hospitalization days in the intervention group was lower than that in the control group (P<0.05). Patient satisfaction in the intervention group was higher than that in the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion The hospital glycemic management system with information integration significantly improved the glycemic management of patients with malignant non-endocrine tumors and hyperglycemia, including their glucose level and glucose compliance rate, as well as patient satisfaction, and reduced the average number of hospitalization days and risk of hyperglycemia/hypoglycemia.


In this paper, the design of three stage hybrid architecture for controlling and preventing certain disturbances caused in transmission lines is studied. The transmission lines of modern power systems are equipped with WSN (Wireless Sensor Network). Since WSNs are capable of cost efficient monitoring over a wide range of geographical areas. Consequently monitoring of mechanical parameters of transmission line in smart grid is achieved. The hybrid architecture composed of three stages wired, wireless and cellular technologies. The main intention of this paper is to study the cost efficient monitoring of various mechanical parameters which affecting the transmission line in smart grid. The placement problem for the optimal placement of cellular towers is solved to minimize the installation and operational costs.


There is widespread evidence that the family has undergone profound social changes in the past decades. However, the interpretations of these changes remain diverse and inconsistent, particularly when it comes to international comparative research. This reinterpretation of the empirical evidence has grown from the co-operation of researchers from ten European countries. It overcomes the limitations of international demographic statistics by using sample surveys and the available register data in order to study the interaction of political, economic, and demographic factors in the changing forms of private lives during the 1980s. The standardized framework connects the macro perspective of national policy peculiarities with the micro perspective of an analysis of the changing living arrangements of two cohorts of women--those starting families and those whose children are leaving home. Thus, the book provides new interdisciplinary insights into country-specific information and tools for specific thematic comparisons. The evidence presented in this study reveals strong and persistent between-nation differences in the ways people adapt their lives, and the choices they have to make between work and family life, to changing circumstances. Confronted with national cultural and political attitudes, as well as differences in institutional designs concerning the family, these differences between nations in the priorities of various forms of family life are explained as the reactions of rational actors to various normative orientations and institutional opportunities.


NR0B1 is the causative gene for X-linked adrenal hypoplasia congenita, characterized by adrenal insufficiency, hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, and infertility. We identified an NR0B1 frameshift mutation in a boy with precocious puberty who had no signs of adrenal insufficiency. Blood examination revealed elevated testosterone levels and gonadotropin hyperresponses to gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) stimulation, together with normal adrenal hormone levels. GnRH analog treatment partially ameliorated his clinical features. Molecular analysis identified a p.Glu3fsAla*16 in NR0B1. These results expand the clinical manifestations of NR0B1 mutations to include central precocious puberty without adrenal insufficiency. NR0B1 mutations likely underlie androgen overproduction via GnRH-dependent and -independent mechanisms.


The prediction of natural gas consumption is crucial for Turkey which follows foreign-dependent policy in point of providing natural gas and whose stock capacity is only 5% of internal total consumption. Prediction accuracy of demand is one of the elements which has an influence on sectored investments and agreements about obtaining natural gas, so on development of sector. In recent years, new techniques, such as artificial neural networks and fuzzy inference systems, have been widely used in natural gas consumption prediction in addition to classical time series analysis. In this study, weekly natural gas consumption of Turkey has been predicted by means of three different approaches. The first one is Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA), which is classical time series analysis method. The second approach is the Artificial Neural Network. Two different ANN models, which are Multi Layer Perceptron (MLP) and Radial Basis Function Network (RBFN), are employed to predict natural gas consumption. The last is Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS), which combines ANN and Fuzzy Inference System. Different prediction models have been constructed and one model, which has the best forecasting performance, is determined for each method. Then predictions are made by using these models and results are compared.


Objective To compare adherence and persistence to typical versus atypical antipsychotics and between specific atypical agents in the usual care of schizophrenia and to examine the association between adherence and persistence. Method Data were drawn from a 3-year prospective, nonrandomized, noninterventional study of schizophrenia conducted during 1997–2003. Initiators on haloperidol, risperidone, olanzapine, quetiapine, and clozapine with at least 1 year of follow-up were included (n = 878). Adherence (Medication Possession Ratio, MPR) and persistence (time to all-cause medication discontinuation) were assessed using medical record prescription information. Analyses employed multivariate statistics adjusted for group differences. Results Overall, 58% of the patients were deemed adherent (MPR >80%). Adherence rates were higher: for atypical (59.4%) than typical antipsychotics (34.5%, p < 0.001), for clozapine (77%) than each comparator excluding olanzapine (p < 0.01), and for olanzapine (64%) than risperidone (57%, p = 0.027) and quetiapine (52%, p = 0.019). Differences between risperidone and quetiapine were not statistically significant. Adherence and persistence were highly correlated (r = 0.957, p < 0.001). Conclusion In the usual care of schizophrenia, medication adherence and persistence appear to be highly correlated and to significantly differ between typical and atypical antipsychotics and among atypical agents. The choice of antipsychotic may play a meaningful role in patients' adherence to and persistence with antipsychotic medications.


In vitro cultivation method is a proper way to fast propagation of commercial rose cultivars with high uniformity, and even today, it is regarded as a desirable solution for correction through genetic manipulation. In order to study the effect of hormone and culture medium on the micropropagation potential of GolD damask rose, an experiment was conducted as a completlely randomized design with three replications. In this study, Lateral bud explants, 5 culture media including MS, 1.2 MS, VS, 1.2 VS, and WPM with four plant growth regulators including benzylaminopurine (BAP), 2-isopentenyl adenine (2iP), naphthalene acetic acid (NAA), and indole butyric acid (IBA) were evaluated at concentrations of 0, 0.5, 1, and 1.5 mgL-1. The results of analysis of variance showed a significant difference between culture media, type and causality of hormones, and their interaction for the studied traits. The best response for these traits was obtained from VS medium, and the weakest response was taken from WPM medium. The results of interaction effect showed that the highest values for shoot length, greenness, percentage of yellow leaves, fresh and dry weight of shoots in VS medium were obtained using BAP hormone at a concentration of 1.5 mgL-1. The highest mean of rooting percentage, fresh and dry weight of roots was obtained in VS medium using 1.5 mgL-1 IBA.


ABSTRACT As an extension to an activity introducing Year 5 students to the practice of statistics, the software TinkerPlots made it possible to collect repeated random samples from a finite population to informally explore students' capacity to begin reasoning with a distribution of sample statistics. This article provides background for the sampling process and reports on the success of students in making predictions for the population from the collection of simulated samples and in explaining their strategies. The activity provided an application of the numeracy skill of using percentages, the numerical summary of the data, rather than graphing data in the analysis of samples to make decisions on a statistical question. About 70% of students made what were considered at least moderately good predictions of the population percentages for five yes–no questions, and the correlation between predictions and explanations was 0.78.


In this paper we investigate lower bounds for $$I(\sigma)= \int^H_{-H}\vert f(\sigma+it_0+iv)\vert^kdv,$$ where $f(s)$ is analytic for $s=\sigma+it$ in $\mathcal{R}=\{a\leq\sigma\leq b, t_0-H\leq t\leq t_0+H\}$ with $\vert f(s)\vert\leq M$ for $s\in\mathcal{R}$. Our method rests on a convexity technique, involving averaging with the exponential function. We prove a general lower bound result for $I(\sigma)$ and give an application concerning the Riemann zeta-function $\zeta(s)$. We also use our methods to prove that large values of $\vert\zeta(s)\vert$ are ``rare'' in a certain sense.


Assurance of learning is the key to students' academic success. To this end, one of the largest historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the United States administers the Educational Testing Service Major Field Test for Business (ETS MFT-B) to assess student learning of business concepts. This study used a set of predictor variables to explain the ETS MFT-B performance at the subject HBCU. The results of the study are expected to close the gap between student performance and expected outcomes in the subject institution, as well as contribute to the broader issue of improving curriculum and teaching effectiveness in business schools in the United States. Using data from fall 2012 to fall 2018, the findings of the regressions indicated that new variables, namely, English language proficiency, hours attempted to hours earned, first-generation student status, and desire to pursue higher studies were important predictors of the ETS MFT-B total score and subscores. Among the traditional variables, the cumulative GPA and student's major area were important predictors. These findings point toward several corrective actions in the assurance-of-learning process for the subject school. The subject school can add a business English class to the curriculum, improve teaching effectiveness, provide advising assistance when students retake classes, and adopt measures that will motivate students to prepare for the ETS MFT-B.


Since 2004, there have been several reports of Influenza A virus (FLUAV) infection in dogs. Dogs have been infected with equine influenza H3N8, avian influenza H3N2 and H5N1, and the pandemic H1N1 virus. Because ofrecent avian and equine influenza outbreaksin Italy, the objectives of the present study were to estimate the level of exposure of Italian dogs to influenza A viruses and to assess a diagnostic algorithm for detection of FLUAV exposure in dogs. Sera collected from 6,858 dogs from 2006 to 2008 were screened in a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA) for antibodies to the highly conserved influenza A nucleoprotein. Samples positive in the cELISA were confirmed by testing in hemagglutination inhibition (HI) and fluorescent antibody test (FAT). Two seropositive dogs had antibodies to H3 hemagglutinin proteins, consistent with exposure torecent canine and equine subtype H3N8 viruses. Using a Bayesian model, the sensitivity and specificity of the cELISA were estimated as 93.98% (probability intervals [PI]: 81.67–99.08%) and 98.71% (PI: 98.43–98.96%), respectively. After accounting for the imperfect sensitivity and specificity ofthe cELISA, the Bayesian posterior prevalence of FLUAV exposure among tested Italian dogs was 0.5% (PI: 0.1–1.4%). The study results indicate that screening with a cELISA for influenza A nucleoprotein antibody, followed by confirmatory testing with HI and/or FAT, is a highly sensitive and highly specific approach for diagnosing FLUAV exposure in dogs.


This paper aims to investigate the persistence of Chinese mutual funds performance. A simple approach developed by Dutta and Su (2008) – a direct annual examination of whether a fund beat the market proxy or not – has been used in this study. The sample consists of 42 mutual funds over the period from 2002 to 2009; the Weighted Chinese Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share stock market index has been developed as the benchmark. This study finds winners like to repeat their performance in negative market returns; while losers in really good years, on average, are more likely to repeat their performance. There is no evidence to show any long term persistence existing in Chinese mutual fund market during 2003 to 2009.


The purpose of structural health monitoring is to evaluate structural behavior due to various external loads through installation of appropriate measurement. Accordingly, a guideline for monitoring standards is necessary to evaluate the safety and performance of a structure. This paper introduces preliminary design of SHM for high-rise buildings, which is the stage creating a guideline. As for preliminary design of SHM, first step is to calculate the displacement and member force through structural analysis. After that, limitations or qualifications are proposed for management. Secondly, based on the results from first step, issues related monitoring such as monitoring method, measurement type, or installation location are determined. This method leads building managers to reasonably define the structural safety over the whole life cycle. Furthermore, this experience contributes to development of SHM forward and it is expected to be useful for other types of structures as well such as spatial structures or irregular buildings.


We present year-long, near-infrared (NIR) Hubble Space Telescope (HST) WFC3 observations of Mira variables in the water megamaser host galaxy NGC 4258. Miras are asymptotic giant branch variables that can be divided into oxygen- (O-) and carbon- (C-) rich subclasses. Oxygen-rich Miras follow a tight (scatter ∼0.14 mag) period–luminosity relation (PLR) in the NIR and can be used to measure extragalactic distances. The water megamaser in NGC 4258 gives a geometric distance to the galaxy accurate to 2.6% that can serve to calibrate the Mira PLR. We develop criteria for detecting and classifying O-rich Miras with optical and NIR data as well as NIR data alone. In total, we discover 438 Mira candidates that we classify with high confidence as O-rich. Our most stringent criteria produce a sample of 139 Mira candidates that we use to measure a PLR. We use the OGLE-III sample of O-rich Miras in the Large Magellanic Cloud to obtain a relative distance modulus, μ4258 − μLMC = 10.95 ± 0.01 (statistical) ±0.06 (systematic) mag, that is statistically consistent with the relative distance determined using Cepheids. These results demonstrate the feasibility of discovering and characterizing Miras using the NIR with the HST and the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope and using those Miras to measure extragalactic distances and determine the Hubble constant.


Continuous and intensive use of the soils of the Lower-Middle Sao Francisco River Valley (Vale do Submedio Sao Francisco) through the growing of mango trees in irrigated systems has caused soil degradation and consequently threatened the quality and sustainability of this agribusiness activity in the region. The predominant soil cover in this region has a sandy texture and low organic matter content and water retention capability, which are further compromised by high temperatures and insolation which cause serious restrictions to agricultural productivity when associated with inadequate irrigation management. The aim of this paper was to study crop systems (green manures) used as cover crops and green manure in the establishment of a ?Kent? mango tree orchard by means of quantification and mineral composition of the plant matter resulting from each one of the formative prunings. The leguminous plants used in the intercropped plant mixture were: Calopogonium mucunoide Desv., Crotalaria juncea L., Crotalaria spectabilis Roth., Canavalia ensiformes DC., Cajanus cajan L., Dolichos lablab L., Mucuna aterrina L., and Mucuna conchinchinensis L. The mixture also included non-leguminous species, such as: Sesamum indium L., Chysantemum peruviamum maius, Ricinus communis L., Penissetum americanum L. and Sorghum vulgare Pers. Three plants per plot in four replications were used for evaluations. The mean value of fresh matter production resulting from each one of the four prunings of establishment of the orchard showed that the intercropped plant species mixture with 75% leguminous plants and 25% non-leguminous plants increased plant vigor. Increases were 16.6, 19.7, 45.1 and 23.9% at pruning 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively, when compared to the treatment of spontaneous vegetation without soil turnover. Significant differences were observed between the treatments in relation to total content of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and magnesium in the leaves and accumul ated branches at the end of the formative prunings of the plants. The use of intercropped plant species mixtures allows the orchard establishment period to be shortened, which makes it possible to advance the time for beginning management of flower induction and production of mango trees of the Kent cultivar.


Modern cloud providers offer dense hardware with multiple cores and large memories, hosted in global platforms. This raises the challenge of implementing high-performance software systems that can effectively scale from a single core to multicore to the globe. Conventional wisdom says that software designed for one scale point needs to be rewritten when scaling up by <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10-100\times$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:mrow><mml:mn>10</mml:mn><mml:mo>-</mml:mo><mml:mn>100</mml:mn><mml:mo>×</mml:mo></mml:mrow></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="wu-ieq1-2898401.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref1">[1]</xref> . In contrast, we explore how a system can be architected to scale across many orders of magnitude by design. We explore this challenge in the context of a new key-value store system called Anna: a partitioned, multi-mastered system that achieves high performance and elasticity via wait-free execution and coordination-free consistency. Our design rests on a simple architecture of coordination-free actors that perform state update via merge of lattice-based composite data structures. We demonstrate that a wide variety of consistency models can be elegantly implemented in this architecture with unprecedented consistency, smooth fine-grained elasticity, and performance that far exceeds the state of the art.


A closed-loop power control strategy, which includes both power control and power allocation functions, for a code-division multiple-access system is proposed. The target power level for a minimum mean squared error (MMSE) or a matched filter (MF) linear receiver is iteratively computed, and the power control command (PCC) is generated by comparing the received power with the generated target power. The PCC history and the channel fade slope information, which contains the Doppler effect, are used to generate variable stepsizes for regulating the transmit power level. Closed-loop power control is based on a criterion that minimizes the average transmit power and the standard deviation of the received power/signal-to-interference ratio. The power control strategy also tends to reduce the bit error rate. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed power control algorithm. The results also indicate that the tracking ability of the MMSE and MF receiver is essentially similar, except that the average transmit power is lower with the MMSE receiver but is more complex to implement.


We propose and experimentally demonstrate a new method of seeing objects hidden in a scattering medium from multiple speckle images. The objects hidden between two biological tissues (chicken breast) are reconstructed from many speckled images formed by a microlens array. Each microlens from the array projects a small different speckle image of the hidden object onto a CCD camera. The entire noisy images from the array are digitally processed to obtain the desired image of the hidden objects. Following the first proposed method, a different algorithm implemented on the same optical system has been developed. This modified algorithm, based on the point-source reference method improves the resolution of the previous method. Laboratory experiments with two kinds of objects are presented.


In this modern era, aspects related to stock returns are a very important part of the economy. The actions of entrepreneurs regarding stock returns are largely determined by fundamental factors that work as indicators for entrepreneurs interested in the stock exchange market. This research focuses on analysing the influence of fundamental factors on stock returns in a financial stock exchange market. The study aimed to reveal the influence of fundamental factors on stock returns with a small sector scale, in a financial field. This study uses a descriptive approach with empirical methods, to identify factors found in both consumer and financial industries listed on Indonesia's Stock Exchange. The population of study comprised of companies involved in the consumer and financial goods industry group, listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange market. Data collection was conducted using interviews, questionnaires, observations. The results showed that inflation, exchange rates, interest rates and economic growth have an influence on stock returns in the financial sector in the Indonesia's Stock Exchange, reflected in the period between 2004 and 2018. It has been concluded that the financial institutions listed on Indonesia's Stock Exchange, their economic activities are influenced by inflation, exchange rates, interest rates and economic growth which are mainly considered by investors when it comes to calculating stock returns.


Background: Despite the rights of persons with mental illnesses (PwMI) are protected by law in India, human rights of PwMI is being violated in many ways. There is dearth of literature on the human rights of PwMI in India. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted to understand the perceived human rights temperature of community in PwMI. Data were collected from PwMI (diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and schizoaffective disorder, and symptomatically stable for 3 years) seeking outpatient psychiatric treatment from private psychiatric hospitals and clinics in Kozhikode (Calicut) district of Kerala state, India. Data were collected using "Taking the Human Rights Temperature of Your Community" which was modified and validated in Indian population and a sociodemographic schedule which was prepared by the researchers. Results: The majority were males (54.2%). Mean duration of illness as 10.42 ± 6.43 years. Mean score of the human rights temperature was 68.31 ± 5.95. Perceived major concerns in the areas of career opportunity (59.5%), discrimination in hiring for work (61.3%), help and care in development of PwMI (64.5%), equal opportunity to avail treatment and cost incurred in it (60.5%), involvement in decision making (46.7%), and responsiveness of the community when any rights violation happens (44.9%). Conclusion: Human rights of PwMI are a major concern. Functioning of the mental health authority and legal aid clinics has to be strengthened to address rights issues of PwMI.


Major industry-led initiatives such as RISC-V and OpenTitan strive for verified, customizable and standardized products, based on a combination of Open Source Hardware (OSHW) and custom intellectual property (IP), to be used in safety and security-critical systems. The protection of these products against reverse-engineering-based threats such as IP Theft and IP Piracy, Hardware Trojan (HT) insertion, and physical attacks is of equal importance as for closed source designs. OSHW generates novel threats to the security of a design and the protection of IP. This paper discusses to what extent OSHW reduces the difficulty of attacking a product. An analysis of the reverse engineering process shows that OSHW lowers the effort to retrieve broad knowledge about a product and decreases the success of related countermeasures. In a case study on a RISC-V core and an AES design, the red team uses knowledge about OSHW to circumvent logic locking protection and successfully identify the functionality and the used locking key. The paper concludes with an outlook on the secure protection of OSHW.


Cancer cells and their surrounding non-malignant cells, including immune cells, signaling molecules, stromal and extracellular matrix, create the tumor microenvironment (TME). The composition of this TME plays important roles in tumor progression, evading growth suppressors and activating metastasis. However, the regulatory mechanism and function of each constituent remains poorly understood. With several checkpoint blockade therapy studies, the presence of PD-L1 has been reported to be a promising marker to predict positive response. Current IHC methods to measure PD-L1 are subjective and highly variable. A higher-throughput and standardized solution that can systematically measure gene expression of cells present in the TME has emerged to be a more desirable alternative. Here, we applied the OncomineTM Immune Response Research Assay to measure the expression of 395 genes in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) samples from 40 matched FFPE and fresh frozen sample types. This assay leverages NGS technology to sequence and count reads derived from the original transcript. With an input requirement of 10 ng of total RNA, libraries were generated, templated on the Ion ChefTM and sequenced on the Ion S5TM System. Results showed that, despite small input amount, the expression profiles of FFPE and fresh frozen samples are highly correlated with an average correlation greater than 0.9. We selected 22 genes out of the panel to validate expression with qPCR using FFPE samples. These genes were selected to cover a range of low, medium, and high expressors per our NGS data. Again, we observed a strong correlation (R ~ 0.9) between NGS and qPCR data. Approximately 80% of the 40 samples show moderate to high expression of CD8+ T cell cytokines, IFNG and TNFa. We further found that the expression of CD8A and CD8B are highly correlated with CD4, suggesting the co-presence of both cytotoxic and helper T cells. High correlation among CD4, FOXP3, TGFB1, and IL2RA (CD25) also suggests that their expression can be used as markers for the presence of Treg cells. We conducted a differential expression analysis between a group of samples (n=8) with high percentage of surrounding and infiltrating lymphocytes and another group (n=5) with low stromal content but devoid of infiltrating lymphocytes. Interestingly, we found a large number of genes which annotated as markers for infiltrating lymphocytes (CTSS, CXCR4, CD37, SRGN, FCER1G, SAMHD1, and GZMA) are significantly up-regulated in samples with high percentage of surrounding and infiltrating lymphocytes. In summary, this study highlights the robustness of using a targeted panel to understand the composition and regulatory mechanism of the TME and tumor immune response. Citation Format: Yuan-Chieh Ku, Warren Tom, Yongming Sun, Alex Pankov, Tim Looney, Fiona Hyland, Janice Au-Young, Ann Mongan. A targeted NGS solution to evaluate gene expression signature of the tumor microenvironment from 40 NSCLC FFPE and matched fresh frozen samples [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5364. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-5364


We relate three-dimensional loop quantum gravity to the combinatorial quantisation formalism based on the Chern-Simons formulation for three-dimensional Lorentzian and Euclidean gravity with vanishing cosmological constant. We compare the construction of the kinematical Hilbert space and the implementation of the constraints. This leads to an explicit and very interesting relation between the associated operators in the two approaches and sheds light on their physical interpretation. We demonstrate that the quantum group symmetries arising in the combinatorial formalism, the quantum double of the three-dimensional Lorentz and rotation group, are also present in the loop formalism. We derive explicit expressions for the action of these quantum groups on the space of cylindrical functions associated with graphs. This establishes a direct link between the two quantisation approaches and clarifies the role of quantum group symmetries in three-dimensional gravity.


The O((3)P) + C(2)H(4) reaction provides a crucial, initial understanding of hydrocarbon combustion. In this work, the lowest-lying triplet potential energy surface is extensively explored at the multiconfiguration self-consistent field (MCSCF) and MRMP2 levels with a preliminary surface crossing investigation; and in cases that additional dynamical correlation is necessary, MR-AQCC stationary points are also determined. In particular, a careful determination of the active space along the intrinsic reaction pathway is necessary; and in some cases, more than one active space must be explored for computational feasibility. The resulting triplet potential energy surface geometries mostly agree with geometries from methods using single determinant references. However, although the selected multireference methods lead to energetics that agree well, only qualitative agreement was found with the energetics from the single determinant reference methods. Challenges and areas of further exploration are discussed.


Alkenes are industrially important platform chemicals with broad applications. In this study, we report a microbial conversion route for direct biosynthesis of medium and long chain terminal alkenes from fermentable sugars by harnessing a novel P450 fatty acid (FA) decarboxylase from Macrococcus caseolyticus (OleTMC). We first characterized OleTMC and demonstrated its in vitro H2O2-independent activities towards linear and saturated C10:0-C18:0 FAs, with the highest activity for C16:0 and C18:0 FAs. Combining protein homology modeling, in silico residue mutation analysis, and docking simulation with direct experimental evidence, we elucidated the underlying mechanism for governing the observed substrate preference of OleTMC, which depends on the size of FA binding pocket, not the catalytic site. Next, we engineered the terminal alkene biosynthesis pathway, consisting of an engineered E. coli thioesterase (TesA*) and OleTMC, and introduced this pathway into E. coli for direct terminal alkene biosynthesis from glucose. The recombinant strain E. coli EcNN101 produced a total of 17.78 ± 0.63 mg/L odd-chain terminal alkenes, comprising of 0.9% ± 0.5% C11 alkene, 12.7% ± 2.2% C13 alkene, 82.7% ± 1.7% C15 alkene, and 3.7% ± 0.8% C17 alkene, and a yield of 0.87 ± 0.03 (mg/g) on glucose after 48 h in baffled shake flasks. To improve the terminal alkene production, we identified and overcame the electron transfer limitation in OleTMC, by introducing a two-component redox system, consisting of a putidaredoxin reductase CamA and a putidaredoxin CamB from Pseudomonas putida, into EcNN101, and demonstrated the terminal alkene production increased ∼2.8 fold after 48 h. Overall, this study provides a better understanding of the function of P450 FA decarboxylases and helps guide future protein and metabolic engineering for enhanced microbial production of target designer alkenes in a recombinant host.


Introduction: Somatic calreticulin (CALR) mutations were discovered in patients with essential thrombocythemia (ET) and primary myelofibrosis (PMF) and have been shown to be mutually exclusive with Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) and thrombopoietin receptor (MPL) mutations. Recent studies demonstrated that the binding of CALR mutant proteins to MPL induces constitutive activation of the JAK/STAT pathway, thus causing cellular transformation and abnormal megakaryopoiesis. Additionally, it has been reported that patients carrying homozygously mutated CALR ins5 exhibit myeloperoxidase (MPO) deficiency as a result of the absence of CALR chaperone function. However, the impact of CALR mutant homozygosity vs. heterozygosity in CALR del52 mutations as well as on hematopoietic differentiation has not yet been studied. Furthermore, clonal heterogeneity of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell (HSPC) populations in a patient, together with technical limitations isolating single clones, are major challenges, when determining the impact of CALR mutant zygosity on clonal composition and diversity in MPN. To overcome these limitations, we generated patient-specific iPS cells carrying homozygous or heterozygous CALR mutations or their wild-type counterparts to study their roles in hematopoietic differentiation.
 Methods: iPS cells were generated by reprogramming peripheral blood-derived mononuclear cells from three patients carrying CALR del52, ins5, or del31 mutations using a CytoTune iPS 2.0 Sendai Reprogramming Kit. Individual colonies were picked and screened for CALR genotypes by PCR. Pluripotency of iPS cells was confirmed by immunofluorescences, and the clones were screened for additional mutations using panel-based next generation sequencing (NGS). Subsequently, CALR iPS cells were subjected to embryonic body formation, mesoderm commitment, and hematopoietic differentiation using our standard in vitro differentiation protocol. CD34+ HSPCs were MACS-sorted and characterized by flow cytometry, cytospins and RNA expression analysis on days 10, 15, and 20 during differentiation. Hematopoietic progenitors, erythrocytes, granulocytes, and megakaryocytes were identified by defined lineage markers. MPO expression was assessed by flow cytometry and cytochemical staining.
 Results: We established patient-specific iPS cells carrying CALR del52, ins5 or del31 mutation after written informed consent (Table 1). Pluripotency markers OCT4, Tra-1-60 and Tra-1-81 expression were confirmed in all iPS cell clones. In accordance with findings in peripheral blood cells, we detected MPO deficiency in homozygous iPS cell-derived CD15+ cells from CALRins5- and, in addition, also from CALRdel52-mutated patients (pMFI=0.0106 and pMFI=0.0187, resp.). Intriguingly, in vitro hematopoietic differentiation assays revealed additional abnormalities, such as decreased CD66b+ granulocytes derived from homozygous CALR del52 or ins5 iPS cells vs. heterozygous iPS cells on day 10 (pdel52=0.0303 and pins5=0.0253, resp.) and a trend towards increased KIThigh+CD45+ cells. Megakaryopoiesis, defined by CD41+CD42b+ cells, was increased in CALRins5 homozygous vs. heterozygous clones (p=0.0031). However, this bias was not observed in all clones, indicating clone-specific megakaryocytic differentiation potential. No phenotypic differences during hematopoietic differentiation were observed in iPS cell-derived progenitors carrying heterozygous CALRdel31 mutation and its isogenic unmutated CALR controls. Furthermore, our NGS data revealed patient-specific sets of co-occurring mutations in iPS cell clones, which may have contributed to the observed patient-specific phenotypes. As an example, the IDH2 R140Q mutation, reported to block cell differentiation, was found in approximately half of the CALRdel52 iPS clones, and these clones failed to differentiate into the hematopoietic lineage in vitro.
 Conclusions: We successfully generated patient-specific CALR mutant iPS cells. Upon in vitro differentiation, we detected MPO deficiency and aberrant granulocytic differentiation in CALR homozygous but not heterozygous or wild-type clones. Thus, it is now possible at the single stem cell level to further analyze the molecular mechanisms of CALR-mutant induced MPO deficiency and altered hematopoietic differentiation, in order to better understand disease biology in ET and PMF.

 Brümmendorf: Merck: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy, Research Funding; Pfizer: Consultancy, Research Funding; Janssen: Consultancy; Takeda: Consultancy.


The nature of the irradiation embrittlement phenomenon in selected austenitic superalloys was evaluated in tubular specimens compression tested at elevated temperatures. Materials included the commercial alloys Inconel 706 and Nimonic PE-16 and two experimental alloys. All are precipitation hardenable and were irradiated from 2.8 to 7.1 x 10 2 2 n/cm 2 (E>0.1MeV). The tests revealed marked ductility losses in all alloys, the most severe embrittlement occurring at 110°C above the temperature at which the materials were irradiated. In some instances, zero ductility was recorded. The testing further revealed that short-term post-irradiation heat treatments produced moderate to high levels of ductility recovery without significant losses in strength. Extensive scanning and transmission electron microscopy examinations have indicated that the low ductility behavior is associated with intergranular fracture and the copious precipitation of y' along or adjacent to grain boundaries. Based upon these results it is concluded that the principal cause of embrittlement in these alloys is the precipitation of y' along grain boundaries during irradiation. The segregation of silicon in addition to titanium and aluminum is considered a major factor in the embrittlement mechanism.


Fifty-two asymptomatic adults who were between twenty and thirty-five years old had arthrography of the wrist with use of a single injection into the radiocarpal joint. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the integrity of the triangular fibrocartilage, the scapholunate ligament, and the lunotriquetral ligament. Contrast medium was injected under fluoroscopic guidance, and posteroanterior and lateral radiographs of the wrist were made after the subjects had performed exercises of the wrist. No patient who had a history of trauma to the wrist, pain in the wrist, or inflammatory arthritis was included in the study. All of the subjects had an examination of both upper extremities that included measurement of the active motion of the wrist with a goniometer, strength-testing with a Jamar dynamometer, ballottement and testing for impingement, and palpation for tenderness. Plain radiographs were evaluated, and the ulnar variance was recorded. The arthrograms revealed an abnormal communication of the contrast medium in fourteen wrists (27 per cent), and four of the fourteen had multiple areas of communication. The abnormal communication was through the triangular fibrocartilage alone in six wrists, the scapholunate ligament alone in two wrists, the lunotriquetral ligament alone in two wrists, and in more than one of these areas in four wrists. A positive arthrogram was associated with a greater positive ulnar variance. All of the subjects had symmetrical motion of the wrists and grip strength, and none of them had tenderness in the wrist. There were no complications related to the arthrography. Perforation of a ligament in the wrist is common in young asymptomatic adults.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Commercial donut pillows are used during lengthy surgical operations. With the patient anesthetized, the multiple pressure points on the head and wrinkling of the skin cut off blood circulation in the face, which leads to facial decubitus ulcers [1].Cellular type materials such as foam, which are used in these pillows, are very effective in reducing pressure points by transferring pressure into shear forces [2]. In a similar way to surgical pillows, these materials are used to reduce foot pain due to plantar pressure in foot orthotics [3].However, these same shear forces lead to wrinkling of the skin which generates sores. These shear forces are related to shear stress in the pillow. Pressure normal to the pillow surface is related to normal stress in the pillow, which also leads to soring. Thus, the optimal pillow design, which reduces sores due to pressure points and wrinkling, would be characterized by the design where optimal values of the normal and shear stress are obtained [2].In a previous study [2], a surgical pillow design was developed which implemented foam wedges. The angle these foam wedges made with the transverse plane was determined to be the angle that gave minimal values of the normal and shear stresses. Thus this new pillow design reduced pressure sores as well as sores due to wrinkling of the skin.The use of foam wedges has some fundamental disadvantages. Chief among these disadvantages is that the wedges have planar surfaces which do not match the curvature of the human body well. This tends to make the wedges uncomfortable and ineffective. In addition, the manufacturing of small wedges which then have to be connected to the main pillow structure is cumbersome and inefficient.In this study, a new pillow design was developed which is based on the contour of the patient's body to generate supportive surfaces that not only match the patient's shape exactly but which minimizes normal and shear stresses.Copyright © 2017 by ASME


The internationalization of economy as a result of business globalization and the ongoing development of international cooperation have led to the globalization of financial markets, which has forced the convergence of accounting systems and implicitly generated a universal accounting language. The process of globalization has a significant impact on accounting diversity that tends to diminish, leaving room for uniformity in terms of respecting the cultural, ethical and traditional values of each state. Current accounting regulations at international level are aimed at harmonization, convergence and compliance. The need for harmonization and uniformity in accounting implies the establishment of norms and rules, i.e. the normalization of it. Therefore, objectives, concepts, rules, methods and procedures for obtaining and using financial-accounting information are set and regulated. In this context, the relationship between uniformity and diversity in the international accounting harmonization process needs to be carefully considered, it is necessary to know the opinion of specialists about their perception of the impact of accounting harmonization on uniformity and diversity Diversity in itself must not encourage resistance to change; the process of harmonization once started will certainly continue, and it is necessary to understand what will be preserved from what we call accounting diversity and how will accounting reasoning, alternative accounting treatments or creativity specific to the accounting profession adapt to the new conditions. Index Terms Accounting harmonization, accounting normalization, diversity, international accounting standards, uniformity.


Ocean colour is defined as the water hue due to the presence of tiny plants containing the pigment chlorophyll, sediments and coloured dissolved organic material and so water colour can provide valuable information on coastal ecosystems. The 'Ocean Colour project' collects data from various satellites (e.g. MERIS, MODIS) and makes this data available online. One method of searching the Ocean Colour project data is to visually browse level 1 and level 2 data. Users can search via location (regions), time and data type. They are presented with images which cover chlorophyll, quasi-true colour and sea surface temperature (11 μ) and links to the source data. However it is often preferable for users to search such a complex and large dataset by event and analyse the distribution of colour in an image before examination of the source data. This will allow users to browse and search ocean colour data more efficiently and to include this information more seamlessly into a framework that incorporates sensor information from a variety of modalities. This paper presents a system for more efficient management and analysis of ocean colour data and suggests how this information can be incorporated into a multi-modal sensing framework for a smarter, more adaptive environmental sensor network.


This paper reviews some of the possible architectures that can be used for the deployment of Interplanetary Internet. In fact, the task of optimizing space system architectures is very complex, and it is not possible to design and analyze all possible configurations. Therefore, it is useful to have a clear vision of a large set of possible configurations, so that a remarkable subset can be extracted to allow the successive design optimization. We considered spacecrafts orbiting around the planets, spacecrafts orbiting around the sun and spacecrafts orbiting around a Lagrangian point. Furthermore, Flower constellations are considered as a viable tool to optimize the visibility of the network nodes. 1 2


Aim: This article aims to analyze the ability of public service advertising videos on the dangers of alcoholic drinks on a Youtube channel.

Method: Using discourse analysis with the power relation theory from Michel Foucault. The research focuses on knowledge and discourse. The object under study is a public service advertisement about the dangers of alcohol use in the form of videos uploaded through a YouTube account.

Result: Public Service Video Ads lack credibility to distribute knowledge about the dangers of alcoholic drinks. This can be seen from the number of people watching the video, which is less than the video audience of the manufacturer of alcoholic drinks. Thus, in terms of quantity and quality, the public service Advertisements video does not have enough credibility to spread knowledge about the dangers of alcoholic drinks; neither does it have the power to influence the attitudes, thoughts and behavior of people consuming alcoholic beverages.

Conclusion: Government efforts to socialize the dangers of alcoholic beverages to the public are still very minimal. Public Service Advertisements that should be an effective media to counter the trend of alcoholic beverage consumption have not been done on a large scale. Youtube media that provide video upload services are apparently dominated by videos made by the general public and high school students. As a result, this Public Service Ad video is less authoritative compared to the manufacturer's alcoholic beverage advertisements. In terms of message content, story and cinematography, this Public Service advertisement is of very low quality compared to the manufacturer's alcoholic video advertisement


A combination of economic transformation, political transitions and changes in media have substantially, if incrementally, altered the terrain for political participation globally, particularly in ...


BACKGROUND
Abdominal pain is often evaluated using imaging, most often with computed tomography (CT). While CT is sensitive and specific for certain diagnoses, small bowel thickening is a nonspecific finding on CT with a broad differential diagnosis including infection, inflammation, ischemia and neoplasm.

METHOD
A review of medical records of patients who underwent CT scans of the abdomen and pelvis over a one-year period and exhibited small bowel thickening were retrospectively evaluated to determine the final diagnosis.

RESULTS
The etiologies of small bowel thickening on CT were as follows: infection (113 of 446 [25.34%]); reactive inflammation (69 of 446 [15.47%]); primary inflammation (62 of 446 [13.90%]); small bowel obstruction (38 of 446 [8.52%]); iatrogenic (33 of 446 [7.40%]); neoplastic (32 of 446 [7.17%]); ascites (30 of 446 [6.73%]); unknown (28 of 446 [6.28%]); ischemic (24 of 446 [5.38%]); and miscellaneous (17 of 446 [3.81%]).

CONCLUSION
Infectious and inflammatory (primary or reactive) conditions were the most common cause of small bowel thickening in the present series; these data can be used to formulate a more specific differential diagnosis.


Peel powder and juice of fresh pomegranate (Punica granatum) were utilized to prepare cookies as sources of antioxidants, along with the other common ingredients, in the present study. The components were added in different proportions during the cookie preparation and their rheological, sensory and antioxidant properties were evaluated. Chemical composition (moisture, protein, carbohydrate and ash) and antioxidant profile (DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging, contents of total polyphenolics, flavonoids and anthocyanins) of control and fortified cookies was determined. Sensory evaluation was done by a panel of 10 tasters, using 9-point hedonic test. It was observed that DPPH radical scavenging activity in the fortified cookies was significantly improved, probably due to incorporation of less polar phytochemicals. This was substantiated by the fact that flavonoid and anthocyanin contents were also significantly increased in the fortified cookies. Maximum limit of fortification was 50% for juice and 10% for peel powder as sensorial parameters deteriorated beyond such limits. The study indicated that addition of pomegranate peel powder or juice in cookies preparation could enhance its nutritional quality without affecting the rheological, sensorial and antioxidant properties.


They can also comment on area plans for the Service, including such things as hospital closures. Hospital waiting lists and visiting times are another legitimate interest and the councils can inspect clinics, health centres, and hospitals as well as look at domiciliary services. This gives their 20 or so members, appointed largely by local authorities and voluntary organizations, quite a powerful voice in the N.H.S. If the profession can make allies of these new bodies then the consequences for the N.H.S. might be surprisingly constructive. But should the councils overplay their inspectorial role then the outcome would be less happy.


Several hydrophobic long-chain quaternary ammonium and phosphonium ionic liquids (ILs) with functionalized aromatic anions were prepared following a metathesis route using tricaprylmethylammonium chloride (Aliquat 336) and trihexyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium chloride (Cyphos IL101) as precursors. The incorporation of aromatic anions bearing hydroxy-, methoxy-, thiol-, and thioether functionalities as well as tetraphenylborate anions resulted in an increased chemical stability of the ILs and an alteration of their physico-chemical properties. Furthermore, aromatic anions significantly decreased the water solubility and water uptake of both ammonium and phosphonium-based ILs. Thiol- and thioether ILs were applied for the extraction of platinum from aqueous phase using liquid phase micro-extraction. Time dependent studies showed a rapid elimination of up to 95% platinum after 30 min. With a leaching of the anion <0.01 wt-% into the aqueous media, the evaluated ILs were found to be suitable as extracting agents for platinum from aqueous solutions.


Observations on Chelonia mydas agassizii have been carried out on a monthly basis for the last 2 years along the Chinchorro beach in Arica (northern Chile), with the aim of monitoring and describing genetic and population parameters in this group of turtles. Eighteen Ch. mydas agassizii individuals were captured and marked from December 2011, to July 2013. These individuals had long carapace of 47 to 75.7 cm, of which 11 were identified as females and the rest were of undetermined sex (individuals of smaller sizes). We were only able to recapture one of such individuals 6 months later in the same feeding area. Sequencing of the mtDNA Control Region showed 4 haplotypes: 3 that had never been described before and one observed in several regions of the Pacific (Japan, Mexico and Ecuador). This information suggests that Ch. mydas agassizii may stay in the same feeding zone for months. Nevertheless, the genetic information did not indicate any association between the individuals captured from the Chinchorro Beach and a nesting area in the Pacific.


This paper argues that it is useful to regard `reputational risk' as a pervasive logic of organizing and organizational attention. First, we suggest that the risk management agenda has expanded from its roots in technical analysis to become a cornerstone of good governance and responsible actorhood. We illustrate this claim in the context of English universities. Second, we suggest that this expansion in the reach and significance of risk management has increased organizational orientations to reputational risk and to more defensively and legalistically framed forms of asset management. Specifically, organizations are responding to the growth of external bodies which evaluate and rank, and thereby generate reputational risk. In the context of universities, we argue that this leads both to specific transformations in organizational practices in response to ranking systems, and also to an increased generalized concern with reputational risk, which is a symptom of late modern insecurity.


Long, warm seasons that are inadequately filled by sole crops can be more productive when more fully utilized by intercrops. The effect of plant densities and plant maturity on the magnitude of this increased productivity is not well documented. During two seasons of ≥190 d at 29°38'N lat, maize (Zea mays L.) at 12 densities (from 1.0 to 10.0 plants m -2 ) and two soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] cultivars, representing Maturity Groups VIII (Cobb) and VI (Davis), at three densities (3.0, 8.5, and 24.0 plants m -2 ) were grown in intercrop and sole crop in fan designs. Soybean was planted 56 d (1985) and 31 d (1986) after maize. Soybean density did not affect maize yield (P ≤ 0.05). Although predicted sole-crop Cobb and Davis seed yields were not different (P ≤ 0.05), averaging 336 g m -2 , the two cultivars were differentially affected by maize density. Each unit increase in maize density (plants m -2 ), reduced soybean seed yield 20% for Cobb and 47% for Davis at 3.0 soybean plants m -2 and 7% for Cobb and 35% for Davis at 24.0 soybean plants m -2 . Cobb had two to three trifoliolates expand after maize removal, while Davis had all leaves fully developed at maize harvest. Land equivalency ratios (LER) were <1.1 for Davis-maize and peaked at 1.4 for Cobb-maize. Area-time equivalency ratios (ATER) were <0.8 for Davis-maize and peaked at 0.9 for Cobb-maize. Davis-maize was not a viable intercrop. The Cobb-maize intercrop at 24 soybean plants m -2 over a range of maize densities utilized the long growing season more productively (LER = 1.4) than in sole crop ; the increased productivity was due to increased season use (ATER < 1.0).


Background. The Health Promoting Schools Initiative can provide a platform to explore integration of oral health promotion activities within the broader context of healthcare delivery. Objectives. To understand the contextualised delivery of oral health service provision within Health Promoting Schools, to conduct a situational analysis of existing services provided at these schools and to review current health and education policies. Methods. The explorative study design used a mixed methods approach. Twenty-three schools of a total sample of 154 were selected using multistage cluster sampling. Data collection comprised policy reviews, a self-administered questionnaire, a data capture sheet and an interview schedule. The study was approved by the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (HSS/0509/013D). Results. Although policies included statements on oral health promotion, this was not translated into practice at school level. Barriers and challenges identified for successful implementation of an oral health promotion programme included lack of funds, human resources, knowledge and ownership, as well as high workloads and time constraints. Conclusion. Current delivery of oral health promotion services within the Health Promoting Schools Initiative will not reap the desired oral health outcomes owing to the inherent mismatch between policy planning and implementation. More research needs to be conducted to address opportunities and challenges facing educators and other oral healthcare providers working in the school environment.


Universal domain adaptation (UniDA) aims to transfer knowledge learned from a labeled source domain to an unlabeled target domain under domain shift and category shift. Without prior category overlap information, it is challenging to simultaneously align the common categories between two domains and separate their respective private categories. Additionally, previous studies utilize the source classifier's prediction to obtain various known labels and one generic "unknown" label of target samples. However, over-reliance on learned classifier knowledge is inevitably biased to source data, ignoring the intrinsic structure of target domain. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a novel two-stage UniDA framework called MATHS based on the principle of mutual nearest neighbor contrast and hybrid prototype discrimination. In the first stage, we design an efficient mutual nearest neighbor contrastive learning scheme to achieve feature alignment, which exploits the instance-level affinity relationship to uncover the intrinsic structure of two domains. We introduce a bimodality hypothesis for the maximum discriminative probability distribution to detect the possible target private samples, and present a data-based statistical approach to separate the common and private categories. In the second stage, to obtain more reliable label predictions, we propose an incremental pseudo-classifier for target data only, which is driven by the hybrid representative prototypes. A confidence-guided prototype contrastive loss is designed to optimize the category allocation uncertainty via a self-training mechanism. Extensive experiments on three benchmarks demonstrate that MATHS outperforms previous state-of-the-arts on most UniDA settings.


Job insecurity is a significant current social issue in many European countries. Slovakia and Estonia significantly differ in the prevalence of job insecurity. The main aim of the present study was to compare Slovakia and Estonia in regard to job insecurity by looking at socio-demographic, job and organisational predictors and individual and social consequences based on ESS round five data. The secondary aim was to examine relationships between job insecurity and its predictors as well as job insecurity and its consequences. The analysis covered employed people with unlimited or limited contracts, working 40-50 hours per week, within the age range of 20-60. The results suggested significant differences in the predictors of job insecurity for Slovakia and Estonia. However, the individual, social and economic consequences of job insecurity were similar for both countries. This study contributes to an enhanced understanding of job insecurity predictors and consequences in the European region.


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

AT-Rich Interaction Domain-containing protein 5a (ARID5A; also known as Modulator Recognition Factor 1(MRF1)) was first cloned in our laboratory by screening a cDNA library of Tera-2 mRNA with an oligonucleotide probe from the major immediate early gene of human cytomegalovirus. It has been reported that ARID5A forms a complex with androgen receptor (AR) in yeast two hybrid assays and suppresses the transcriptional activity of AR in transient transfection assays. In this study, we report that the knockdown of Arid5a expression inhibits proliferation of LNCaP cells on the contrary to the expectation from the transient transfection assay. We found that proliferation of cells stimulated by the treatment with dihydro-testosterone (DHT) was suppressed when Arid5a expression was down-regulated by siRNA technology. Flow cytometer analysis showed that DHT-stimulated cell cycle was arrested at G1 phase after the knockdown of Arid5a expression. Oil Red O staining assays showed that the inhibition of Arid5a expression led to decreased DHT-induced lipid accumulation. Our data further proved that the knockdown of Arid5a expression inhibited the protein expression of DHT-induced sterol regulatory element binding transcription factor 1 (SREBP-1). In addition, Western blot analysis revealed that the down-regulation of Arid5a decreased the expression of cell survival/proliferation and cell cycle regulation proteins, such as hypoxia inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF1a), cyclin D1 and cyclin D3. Real time PCR data revealed that the knockdown of Arid5a expression did not affect the steady level of HIF1a, cyclin D1 and cyclin D3 mRNA. These suggested that knockdown of Arid5a expression affected protein expression at translational and/or post-translational level. Mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) is a well-known factor in regulating the cap-dependent protein synthesis. Western blot analysis indicated that the suppression of Arid5a expression had no effects on the activity of mTORC1. However, knockdown of Arid5a expression increased the phosphorylation of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2a (eIF2a) which inhibited translation initiation. S35 labeling assay confirmed that the knockdown of Arid5a expression suppressed the global protein synthesis. In order to find out the mechanisms of Arid5a-dependent phosphorylation of eIF2a, we tested four known kinases which were responsible for the phosphorylation of eIF2a. Two of the four eIF2a kinases, general control non-derepressible 2 (GCN2) and RNA-dependent protein kinase (PKR)-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK), were activated by the suppression of Arid5a expression. We are currently studying on the mechanisms by which ARID5A regulates GCN2 and PERK kinase.

Citation Format: Chao Sun, Viktor Chesnokov, Keiichi Itakura. Knockdown ARID5A suppresses proliferation of LNCaP prostate cancer cell through the inhibition of global protein synthesis. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 1405. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-1405


AbstractObjectives: To determine symptoms and their effects of attentiondeficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adult patients with multiple sclerosis. Studies of psychiatric comorbidities in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) have reported greater rates in MS patients than the general population.
Methods: Subjects consisted of 72 relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis patients and 57 controls. Demographic characteristics including age, gender, education level, duration of disease and Expanded Disability Symptom Scale (EDSS) were recorded. ADHD symptoms were assessed by Adult Attention Deficit/HyperactivityDisorder Self-Report Scale (ASRS). Furthermore, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Short Form-36 (SF-36) were also applied.
Results: MS patients had statistically significant higher the rate of ADHD mean scores compared to controls. Patients with MS had statistically significant higher rate of clinical elevation in ASRS scores. There were 26 MS patients and 4 controls with ADHD symptoms. ASRS scores in MS patients were associated with SF- 36 mental and physical component scores and depression and anxiety scores.
Conclusion: ADHD symptoms may develop in adults MS patients and are associated with lowered quality of life and increased psychosocial morbidity. In the future, more comprehensive investigations could clarify origins of ADHD symptoms in adult MS patients.


A computational technique is proposed which combines the string method with a sampling technique to determine minimum free energy paths. The technique only requires to compute the mean force and another conditional expectation locally along the string, and therefore can be applied even if the number of collective variables kept in the free energy calculation is large. This is in contrast with other free energy sampling techniques which aim at mapping the full free energy landscape and whose cost increases exponentially with the number of collective variables kept in the free energy. Provided that the number of collective variables is large enough, the new technique captures the mechanism of transition in that it allows to determine the committor function for the reaction and, in particular, the transition state region. The new technique is illustrated on the example of alanine dipeptide, in which we compute the minimum free energy path for the isomerization transition using either two or four dihedral angles as collective variables. It is shown that the mechanism of transition can be captured using the four dihedral angles, but it cannot be captured using only two of them.


Because of the advantages of compact size and high efficiency, today PMSM motor has attracted the attention in aerospace applications. We have designed a super high speed PMSM motor with 92% efficiency novel for a cryo-cooler compressor for NASA recently. The rated speed of the motor is 136 krpm and the rated output power is 1.85 kW. Considerable attention has been paid in the design due to the super high speed range of operation. In the paper, we will present our analysis and design approach based on computer modeling and simulation.


Lipid metabolism, lipid peroxidation and hemocoagulation were studied in 276 patients with ischemic brain disease which developed due to atherosclerotic stenoses of the extracranial cerebral arteries (ECA). The main biochemical parameters were evaluated bearing in mind to the severity of vascular and ischemic lesion of the brain. It has been revealed as s result that the rise of the degree of arterial stenosis correlates well with the growth of the content of atherogenic lipoproteins and of the atherogenicity index. Total cholesterol (Chs) and low density lipoproteins (LDL) have a greater effect in the early disease stages whereas the high triglyceride content combined with LDL plays a relatively more important part in the late stages of vascular lesion. Both medium and high degree stenoses of the ECA are associated with a significant increase in the activity of lipid peroxidation and the build up of the number of primary products of free radical oxidation in the overwhelming majority of patients. Changes in the hemostatic system toward hyper-coagulation are associated with the high thrombotic preparedness of blood. The treatment of patients suffering from cerebral ischemia and atherosclerotic stenosfia of the EGA requires correction of the disorders in lipid metabolism, hemocoagulation and hyperreactivity of the vessel wall in different stages of disease.