Future changes in water availability due to climate change (CC) are of paramount importance for food security of millions of rural people worldwide. Many recent extremes of water shortage followed by devastating floods reflect some of the climate change predictions, which are gradually becoming more certain and alarming. Appropriate measures in agricultural water management can greatly reduce poor people's vulnerability to CC by reducing water related risks and creating buffers against often unforeseen changes in precipitation and water availability. An appropriate water research agenda is essential to improve our knowledge of the linkages between water, food and CC and guide the right investments aimed at improving resilience of farming communities and food security. This agenda includes understanding the adaptation and mitigation roles of agricultural practices and water resources management options, characterization of climate change impacts at different scales, and evaluation of water implications of direct climate change mitigation interventions. This agenda will result in strategies that contribute to reduced risk and enhanced resilience of agricultural systems. Building on its research capital in the water, food and livelihood nexus, IWMI is in a good position to help formulate and implement this agenda.


We advocate the use of ontologies for relaxing and restraining queries, so that they retrieve either more or less answers, enabling the exploration of a given dataset. We propose a set of rewriting rules to relax and restrain conjunctive queries (CQs) over datasets mediated by an ontology written in a dialect of DL-Lite with complex role inclusions (CRIs). The addition of CRI enables the representation of knowledge about data involving ordered hierarchies of categories, in the style of multi-dimensional data models. Although CRIs in general destroy the first-order rewritability of CQs, we identify settings in which CQs remain rewritable.


Abstract. In recent years, sea spray as well as the biological material it contains has received increased attention as a source of ice-nucleating particles (INPs). Such INPs may play a role in remote marine regions, where other sources of INPs are scarce or absent. In the Arctic, these INPs can influence water–ice partitioning in low-level clouds and thereby the cloud lifetime, with consequences for the surface energy budget, sea ice formation and melt, and climate. Marine aerosol is of a diverse nature, so identifying sources of INPs is challenging. One fraction of marine bioaerosol (phytoplankton and their exudates) has been a particular focus of marine INP research. In our study we attempt to address three main questions. Firstly, we compare the ice-nucleating ability of two common phytoplankton species with Arctic seawater microlayer samples using the same instrumentation to see if these phytoplankton species produce ice-nucleating material with sufficient activity to account for the ice nucleation observed in Arctic microlayer samples. We present the first measurements of the ice-nucleating ability of two predominant phytoplankton species: Melosira arctica, a common Arctic diatom species, and Skeletonema marinoi, a ubiquitous diatom species across oceans worldwide. To determine the potential effect of nutrient conditions and characteristics of the algal culture, such as the amount of organic carbon associated with algal cells, on the ice nucleation activity, Skeletonema marinoi was grown under different nutrient regimes. From comparison of the ice nucleation data of the algal cultures to those obtained from a range of sea surface microlayer (SML) samples obtained during three different field expeditions to the Arctic (ACCACIA, NETCARE, and ASCOS), we found that they were not as ice active as the investigated microlayer samples, although these diatoms do produce ice-nucleating material. Secondly, to improve our understanding of local Arctic marine sources as atmospheric INPs we applied two aerosolization techniques to analyse the ice-nucleating ability of aerosolized microlayer and algal samples. The aerosols were generated either by direct nebulization of the undiluted bulk solutions or by the addition of the samples to a sea spray simulation chamber filled with artificial seawater. The latter method generates aerosol particles using a plunging jet to mimic the process of oceanic wave breaking. We observed that the aerosols produced using this approach can be ice active, indicating that the ice-nucleating material in seawater can indeed transfer to the aerosol phase. Thirdly, we attempted to measure ice nucleation activity across the entire temperature range relevant for mixed-phase clouds using a suite of ice nucleation measurement techniques – an expansion cloud chamber, a continuous-flow diffusion chamber, and a cold stage. In order to compare the measurements made using the different instruments, we have normalized the data in relation to the mass of salt present in the nascent sea spray aerosol. At temperatures above 248 K some of the SML samples were very effective at nucleating ice, but there was substantial variability between the different samples. In contrast, there was much less variability between samples below 248 K. We discuss our results in the context of aerosol–cloud interactions in the Arctic with a focus on furthering our understanding of which INP types may be important in the Arctic atmosphere.


The problem of the firm bankruptcy prediction was investigated by foreign researchers in the 1930s and it still remains relevant. Since the publishing of Altman's (1968) major work, based on multiple discriminant analysis (MDA), this methodological area has considerably changed. Taking into consideration that new data have appeared in the course of time, companies' average size has changed, and the accounting standards have changed (Altman, Haldeman, & Narayanan, 1977), methods and models should be renewed so as to be appropriate for current situation. The purpose of this paper 1 is to reveal factors causing bankruptcy and use models appropriate for prediction bankruptcy in the area of a construction industry during the financial crisis. This investigation has been carried out on the basis of logit and probit analysis. The main reasons of bankruptcy revealed in the course of this investigation are the following: (1) non-optimal capital structure formation; (2) ineffective liquidity management; (3) decrease in assets profitability; and (4) decrease in short-term assets turnover. The most reliable indicators which give warning of bankruptcy ahead of others are financial instability and liquidity ratios.


Abstract Based on recently published prevalence data of virulence-associated factors in avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) and their roles in the pathogenesis of colibacillosis, we developed a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as a molecular tool supplementing current diagnostic schemes that mainly rely on serological examination of strains isolated from diseased birds. Multiple isolates of E. coli from clinical cases of colibacillosis known to possess different combinations of eight genes were used as sources of template DNA to develop the multiplex PCR protocol, targeting genes for P-fimbriae (papC), aerobactin (iucD), iron-repressible protein (irp2), temperature-sensitive hemagglutinin (tsh), vacuolating autotransporter toxin (vat), enteroaggregative toxin (astA), increased serum survival protein (iss), and colicin V plasmid operon genes (cva/cvi). In order to verify the usefulness of this diagnostic tool, E. coli strains isolated from fecal samples of clinically healthy chickens were also included in this study, as were uropathogenic (UPEC), necrotoxigenic, and diarrhegenic E. coli strains. The application of the multiplex PCR protocol to 14 E. coli strains isolated from septicemic poultry showed that these strains harbored four to eight of the genes mentioned above. In contrast, those isolates that have been shown to be nonpathogenic for 5-wk-old chickens possessed either none or, at most, three of these genes. We found only one enterohemorrhagic (EHEC), one enteropathogenic (EPEC), and two enterotoxic (ETEC) E. coli strains positive for irp2, and another two ETEC strains positive for astA. As expected, UPEC isolates yielded different combinations of the genes iss, papC, iucD, irp2, and a sequence similar to vat. However, neither the colicin V operon genes cva/cvi nor tsh were amplified in UPEC isolates. The multiplex PCR results were compared with those obtained by DNA–DNA-hybridization analyses to validate the specificity of oligonucleotide primers, and the protocol was concluded to be a useful, sensitive, and rapid assay system to detect avian pathogenic E. coli and differentiate them from nonpathogenic strains and those belonging to other pathotypes.


Abstract The breakdown of lycopene in the presence of reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen species has been studied in order to identify key in vitro intermediates. These compounds may in turn be produced as metabolites in the body and may have significant physiological properties, such as increased antioxidant capacity. We have studied the in vitro degradation of lycopene in solvent, in plasma and in low density lipoprotein, when challenged with freshly generated gaseous cigarette smoke or free radicals generated in situ by S-morpholinosydonimine at 37°C. The emphasis has been to establish the major intermediates and to compare the data with previous studies using different reactants. We have found that (13Z)-lycopene is the major intermediate in both cigarette smoke and S-morpholinosydonimine reactions (representing ≥60% of the converted (all-E)-lycopene at ∼50% depletion). Additionally, (9Z)-lycopene and various (all-E) and (Z)-lycopene epoxides were predominant. Notably, (5Z)-lycopene appeared to be the most stable form of lycopene under the stated conditions. Previous theoretical studies of isomer thermodynamics and rotational energy barriers for carbon double bonds fully support the pattern of isomer production and stability. In contrast to β-carotene studies, nitro-derivatives of lycopene could not be detected. In conclusion, (Z)-lycopene production and (5Z)-lycopene stability may help explain elevated (Z)-lycopene in plasma over (Z)-lycopene content in lycopene-containing foods in the diet.


BACKGROUND
Mutations of the BRCA 1/BRCA 2 genes strongly predispose towards the development of contralateral breast cancer. We therefore investigated a hospital-based series of patients with bilateral breast cancer and a comparison group of patients with unilateral breast cancer, pairwise matched by age and family history, for mutations of the BRCA 1/BRCA 2 genes.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Between 1995 and 2000 genomic DNA from blood samples of 75 patients with bilateral breast cancer, who received postoperative radiotherapy, was analyzed for mutations of all coding regions and flanking intron sequences of the BRCA 1/BRCA 2 genes by single strand conformation polymorphism analysis (SSCP) and sequencing of aberrant findings. The results were compared to 75 unilateral breast cancer patients who were screened for common mutations in the BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 genes. Treatment results of patients with bilateral disease were analyzed with regard to a possible carriership of a BRCA 1/BRCA 2 gene mutation.

RESULTS
Five distinct frameshift deletions (one in BRCA 1, four in BRCA 2) were identified in six patients with bilateral breast cancer. Three of six carriers developed local relapse, whereas this was the case in only nine of 69 non-carriers. After radiotherapy local relapse occurred in five patients (five of 126 irradiated breasts or chest walls). Three of these patients (60%) were carriers of a pathogenic BRCA 1/BRCA 2 mutation. In the comparison group of patients with unilateral breast cancer three pathogenic BRCA 1 mutations were identified.

CONCLUSIONS
We failed to confirm an increased prevalence of BRCA 1/BRCA 2 mutations in our hospital-based series of patients with bilateral breast cancer. However, local relapse, especially when occurring after radiotherapy, may be predictive for an underlying pathogenic BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 gene mutation in patients with bilateral breast cancer.


In the past decade, vision/sensing systems techniques have received significant attention for applications in robotics and automation. The thrust of automation and robotics for space applications has been proposed for increased productivity, improved reliability, increased flexibility, higher safety, and for the performance of tasks unsuited to humans. These benefits can be insured through automating time-consuming tasks, increasing productivity/performance of crew-accomplished tasks, and performing tasks beyond the capability of the crew. This paper provides a review of efforts currently in progress at the NASA/Johnson Space Center and at Rice University, the accomplishments to date, and some of the anticipated future developments. Both systems and algorithms are discussed. The evolution of future vision/sensing is projected to include the fusion of multisensors ranging from microwave to optical with multimode capability to include position, attitude, recognition, and motion parameters. The algorithms for information extraction would incorporate aspects of intelligence and knowledge for the interpolation and extrapolation of the needed data. The key features of the overall system design will be small size and weight, fast signal processing, robust algorithms, and accurate parameter determination. These aspects of vision sensing will also be discussed in this paper.


In a moment familiar to many of us, one of the authors of this piece attended a philosophical meeting on the topic of Emmanuel Levinas. "So, you are in communication studies," said a philosopher during a break. "Why would a speech person be interested in Levinas?"
This paper probes the place of speech in Levinasian ethics. We hope to show that when philosopher Emmanuel Levinas rested his compelling life project on ethics, he said something new about the act of speaking itself. First, for Levinas, speaking begins with the imperative issued by the presence or face of the other. He calls that issuance the saying. Antecedent to words, the saying is the commitment of an approach to the other, the move to response, the signifying of signification. Second, the saying moves into language where it is subordinated to the said. It is in the coordination of the saying and the said that ethics shows itself or is betrayed. Although the saying is perhaps overwhelmed by the said, it remains present even in absence. Third, for Levinas we can sense the ineffable, yet present, call to responsibility in the trace. The trace, and here Levinas brings God to mind, reveals the saying, and is communicated in the face.((1)) The face, the saying, and the trace are where the Levinasian responsibility of the one for the other takes form. They are the home of ethics.((2))


The separation of single channel polyphonic music signal has attracted significant attention in recent years, and it is also a challenging problem in sound source separation field. In this paper we propose an algorithm to separate polyphonic music signal in single channel. This algorithm estimates multiple fundamental frequencies in frequency domain and combines the Bayesian harmonic model to estimate other parameters of the music signals, and then it realizes the separation by using all the estimated parameters. The experimental results show that the proposed method can efficiently separate polyphonic music signals in single channel.


Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic inflammatory musculoskeletal disease characterized by musculoskeletal and cutaneous inflammation. In the recent EQUATOR study (NCT03101670), patients (pts) with active PsA receiving the oral, selective Janus kinase 1 (JAK1) inhibitor filgotinib (FIL) had significant and sustained improvements versus placebo (PBO) in clinical signs and symptoms. We present here updated results of the EULAR 2019 presentation of EQUATOR on circulating biomarkers in PsA.To evaluate the impact of FIL on the levels of circulating proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, adhesion molecules, and markers of matrix remodeling in EQUATOR pts with active PsA.EQUATOR was a 16-week, double-blind, multicenter, Phase 2 study in pts with active PsA. Pts were randomized 1:1 to FIL 200 mg (n=65) or PBO (n=66) once daily. Serum samples (FIL n=60 and PBO n=61) were collected at baseline (BL) and at Weeks 1, 4, and 16. The association of BL biomarkers with PsA disease characteristics was analyzed by Spearman's rank-order correlation. Biomarker changes from BL were assessed in time-paired serum samples using multiplex and high sensitivity ELISA-based assays. Analytes were grouped by hierarchical clustering; treatment effect on a biomarker was defined as a difference in change from BL between pts receiving FIL versus PBO. Improvements in PsA clinical signs and symptoms were determined by assessing changes from BL in a number of clinical disease activity scores including psoriatic arthritis disease activity score (PASDAS), psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) and disease activity index for psoriatic arthritis (DAPSA) scores.BL levels of numerous biomarkers were associated (p<0.05) with clinical measures of PsA. Several clusters of biomarkers were identified based on the rate and magnitude of FIL treatment response. Cluster 1 included biomarkers with substantial reductions from BL with FIL by week 1, such as the acute phase proteins CRP and SAA (>50%), and the inflammatory mediators IL-6, CXCL10, and IL-23 (>25%). Cluster 2 included biomarkers of cell adhesion (ICAM-1, VCAM1) with a 5%–15% reduction from BL with FIL by week 1. Cluster 3 included biomarkers of matrix remodeling (MMP1, SC1M) with a delayed >25% reduction from BL with FIL that was significant by Week 4. Finally, Cluster 4 included biomarkers with a modest (5%–10%) increase from BL with FIL (Eotaxin, IL-15, and adiponectin). Spearman rank correlation analyses showed that at BL, many biomarkers were positively associated with disease scores, and tended to segregate between psoriasis weighted scores such as PASI and arthritis weighted scores such as DAPSA. The observed decrease in proinflammatory cytokines were associated with on-treatment improvements from BL in disease score for pts receiving FIL.Compared with PBO, FIL significantly decreased BL levels of circulating biomarkers associated with PsA disease activity, including proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, adhesion molecules, and markers of matrix remodeling. The observed decreases in circulating proinflammatory cytokines and biomarkers of both bone pathobiology and psoriatic disease suggest that FIL improves PsA clinical signs and symptoms at a molecular level. These findings are consistent with reduced disease activity in pts with PsA and suggest that FIL treatment leads to a rapid and sustained reduction of inflammation in PsA.This study was funded by Gilead Sciences, Inc. Editorial support was provided by Fishawack Communications Inc and funded by Gilead Sciences, Inc.Dafna D Gladman Grant/research support from: AbbVie, Amgen Inc., BMS, Celgene Corporation, Janssen, Novartis, Pfizer, UCB – grant/research support, Consultant of: AbbVie, Amgen Inc., BMS, Celgene Corporation, Janssen, Novartis, Pfizer, UCB – consultant, Wendy Jiang Shareholder of: Gilead Sciences Inc., Employee of: Gilead Sciences Inc., Angie Hertz Shareholder of: Gilead Sciences Inc, Employee of: Gilead Sciences Inc, Vlad Malkov Shareholder of: Gilead Sciences Inc., Employee of: Gilead Sciences Inc., Oh Kyu Yoon Shareholder of: Gilead Sciences Inc., Employee of: Gilead Sciences Inc., Mona Trivedi Shareholder of: Amgen and Gilead Sciences, Employee of: Gilead Sciences, Muhsen Alani Employee of: Gilead Sciences, Lene Vestergaard Shareholder of: Gilead Sciences Inc., Employee of: Gilead Sciences Inc., Robin Besuyen Shareholder of: Galapagos, Employee of: Galapagos, René Galien Shareholder of: Galapagos, Employee of: Galapagos, Amer M. Mirza Shareholder of: Gilead Sciences Inc., Employee of: Gilead Sciences Inc., Vinod Chandran Grant/research support from: Abbvie, Celgene, Consultant of: Abbvie, Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, Eli Lily, Janssen, Novartis, Pfizer, UCB, Employee of: Spouse employed by Eli Lily


At present, thanks to advances in medicine, the life expectancy of people living with HIV continues to rise. However, as these patients begin to live longer, they are more likely to suffer complex health-related challenges of the infection, associated physical and physiological co-morbidities and potential adverse effects of treatment. The amount of education physiotherapy students receive on HIV and rehabilitation remains to be minimal. This editorial presents an interesting overview of this condition in relation to how future physiotherapists are going play a key role in the management of patients with HIV.


Self-testing is a fundamental technique within quantum information theory that allows a classical verifier to force (untrusted) quantum devices to prepare certain states and perform certain measurements on them. The standard approach assumes at least two spatially separated devices. Recently, Metger and Vidick [MV21] showed that a single EPR pair of a single quantum device can be self-tested under standard computational assumptions. In this work, we generalize their techniques to give the first protocol that self-tests N EPR pairs and measurements in the single-device setting under the same computational assumptions. We show that our protocol can be passed with probability negligibly close to 1 by an honest quantum device using poly(N) resources. Moreover, we show that any quantum device that fails our protocol with probability at most ǫ must be poly(N, ǫ)-close to being honest in the appropriate sense. In particular, a simplified version of our protocol is the first that can efficiently certify an arbitrary number of qubits of a cloud quantum computer, on which we cannot enforce spatial separation, using only classical communication.


BACKGROUND:
 Cerebral arterial calcification has been reported to be associated with lacunar infarction and white matter hyperintensities. The aim of the present study was to determine the association between arterial calcification and cerebral microbleed (CMB) which is a small hemorrhagic lesion in the brain and is known to be associated with small vessel disease (SVD).

 METHODS:
 We identified 834 consecutive patients with acute ischemic stroke who visited a tertiary university hospital within 7 days of symptom onset and underwent both CT angiography and brain MR imaging. Calcifications in the intracranial internal carotid artery (ICA) were graded on CT angiography. CMBs were counted relative to their location on susceptibility-weighted imaging. The association between ICA calcification and CMB was tested using logistic regression analysis.

 RESULTS:
 The patients ranged in age from 26 to 111 years (67 ± 12.7 years, mean ± standard deviation). ICA calcification and CMB were found in 660 patients (79.1%) and 335 patients (40.2%), respectively. On multivariable analysis, ICA calcification was associated with CMB of any location (odds ratio (OR) 1.76, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.31 - 2.36 for mild calcification; OR 2.86, 95% CI 2.01 - 4.08 for severe calcification, respectively). More robust association was found between calcification and CMB in the basal ganglia, thalamus, or brainstem (odds ratio (OR) 1.76, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.27 - 2.44 for mild calcification; OR 3.51, 95% CI 2.39 - 5.14 for severe calcification, respectively). However, ICA calcification was not associated with CMB strictly located in the lobar area.

 CONCLUSIONS:
 ICA calcification is an independent predictor for deep CMB but not for a strictly lobar CMB. Our findings add evidence to the hypothesis that cerebral arterial calcification is associated with SVD and might contribute to the elucidation of the pathogenesis of SVD.


Population-based learning techniques have been proven to be effective in dealing with noise and are thus promising tools for the optimization of robotic controllers, which have inherently noisy performance evaluations. This article discusses how the results and guidelines derived from tests on benchmark functions can be extended to the fitness distributions encountered in robotic learning. We show that the large-amplitude noise found in robotic evaluations is disruptive to the initial phases of the learning process of PSO. Under these conditions, neither increasing the population size nor increasing the number of iterations are efficient strategies to improve the performance of the learning. We also show that PSO is more sensitive to good spurious evaluations of bad solutions than bad evaluations of good solutions, i.e., there is a non-symmetric effect of noise on the performance of the learning.


Submonomer synthesis of aza-peptides featuring regioselective alkylation of peptide-bound aza-Gly residues provided ten aza-analogues of the Growth Hormone Releasing Peptide-6 (GHRP-6) in 15-42% yield and purity generally >or=90%. Circular dichroism demonstrated that azaPhe-peptide 7a induced a beta-turn conformation which may be responsible for its 1000-fold improvement in GHRP-6 selectivity for the CD36 receptor. This versatile method for making aza-peptides avoids solution-phase hydrazine synthesis and is well suited for studying side-chain-activity relationships of biologically active peptides.


Current bone marrow dosimetry methods inherently assume that the target cells of interest for the assessment of leukemia risk (stochastic effects) or marrow toxicity (deterministic effects) are uniformly localized throughout the marrow cavities of cancellous bone. Previous studies on mouse femur, however, have demonstrated a spatial gradient for the hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells, with higher concentrations near the bone surfaces. The objective of the present study was to directly measure the spatial concentration of these cells, as well as marrow vasculature structures, within images of human disease-free bone marrow. Methods: Core-biopsy samples of normal bone marrow from the iliac crest were obtained from clinical cases at Shands Hospital at the University of Florida Department of Pathology. The specimens were sectioned and immunohistochemically stained for CD34 (red) and CD31 (brown) antigens. These 2 stains were used simultaneously to differentiate between hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (CD34+/CD31−) and vascular endothelium (CD34+/CD31+). Distances from hematopoietic CD34+ cells and blood vessels to the nearest bone trabecula surface were measured digitally and then binned in 50-μm increments, with the results then normalized per unit area of marrow tissue. The distances separating hematopoietic CD34+ cells from vessels were also tallied. Results: Hematopoietic CD34+ cells were found to exist along a linear spatial gradient with a maximal areal concentration localized within the first 50 μm of the bone surfaces. An exponential spatial concentration gradient was found in the concentration of blood vessel fragments within the images. Distances between hematopoietic CD34+ cells and blood vessels exhibited a lognormal distribution indicating a shared spatial niche. Conclusion: Study results confirm that the spatial gradient of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells previously measured in mouse femur is also present within human cancellous bone. The dosimetric implication of these results may be significant for those scenarios in which the absorbed dose itself is nonuniformly delivered across the marrow tissues, as would be the case for a low-energy β- or α-particle emitter localized on the bone surfaces.


Bench chip budding was tested as an alternative to T-budding of roses in field bush production. Greater than 90% success was obtained when 'Mirandy' scions (Rosa hybrida L.) were bench chip budded to rooted 'Brooks 56' R. multiflora Thunb. rootstocks with a Liliput budding tool. Growth of chip budded scions was inhibited by the presence of rootstock lateral shoots. This correlative inhibition was overcome by selected forcing, girdling, and pruning treatments to promote vigorous scion growth. Best chip bud growth was obtained when scions were budded onto the same side as rootstock lateral shoots and rootstock stems were partially cut or girdled. A positive correlation existed between 'Mirandy' scion shoot growth and flowering.


This thesis is concerned with the remediation of acid herbicides by the use of calix[4]arene based receptors attached to silica. Following a review on the chemistry and uses of herbicides, main aspects of Supramolecular Chemistry (with particular emphasis on calixarene receptors) and previous work in the area, the main objectives of the thesis are outlined. Thermodynamic parameters of solution of 5,11,17,23-tetra-rer/-butyl-25,27-bis(ethylamine)ethoxy-26,28-dihydroxy calix[4]arene (receptor) are reported. Several techniques were used to investigate the interaction of this macrocycle with the acid herbicides. Thus from 1H-NMR studies on 5,11,17,23-tetra-tert-butyl-25,27-bis(ethylamine)ethoxy-26,28-dihydroxy calix[4]arene and several acid herbicides in CD3CN and CD3OD at 298 K, it is concluded that the tertiary amino groups on the pendant arms of the ligand provide the active sites of interaction with these acids. Conductometric measurements were performed with the aim of determining i) the composition of the ligand-herbicide interaction and to gain information regarding the strength of interaction of the ligand with acid herbicides in acetonitrile, methanol and N,N-dimethylformamide at 298.15 K. ii) the degree of association of these acids in the non-aqueous media. Conductance data were used to calculate the equilibrium constants (proton transfer, association and overall constant) resulting from the interaction process between the calix[4]arene amino derivative and the herbicides. In doing so, the mathematical treatment developed by Danil de Namor and co-workers to derive equilibria data for a 1:1 process was extended for processes involving interactions between one unit of macrocycle and two units of herbicide. Lower rim calix[4]arene amino derivatives (partially and fully substituted) were attached onto a silica-based solid support. Following the characterisation of modified silicas, the ability of these materials to remove acid herbicides from water was tested. The enthalpy associated with the extraction process was calorimetrically determined. Final conclusions and suggestions for further research in this area are given.


DNA is a major target for drugs used in cancer therapy. However, DNA interactive chemotherapeutics are limited by adverse effects due to their poor selectivity. The bis-phenazine compound XR5944 is a DNA bis-intercalator and potent anticancer drug which reached phase I clinical trials. The DNA binding mode and mechanism of XR5944 are unique, allowing it to recognize and bind the estrogen response element (ERE) sequence to inhibit ERα activity and making it highly effective against ER-positive breast cancer in vitro. Understanding XR59449s novel mechanism of DNA recognition may allow the further development of anti-cancer agents capable of overcoming drug resistance to current anti-estrogen treatments by directly targeting transcriptional control, bypassing the hormone-receptor complex currently targeted by anti-estrogen treatments. In this study, we used nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to determine the structure of XR5944 in complex with its preferred DNA duplex sequence identified its binding mode. The structure of the 2:1 complex of XR5944 with the naturally occurring TFF1-ERE exhibits several unexpected features. Our NMR structure shows the two phenazine moieties are well stacked and the carboxamide amino linker lies in the major groove of DNA. At both binding sites in the 2:1 complex, XR5944 intercalates strongly at one site but weakly at the other. The binding sites within a native promoter sequence appear to be context- and sequence- dependent. Taken together, our results highlight that the DNA binding of a bis-intercalator is different from the simple addition of two single intercalation sites. Our study suggests that improved XR5944 derivatives targeting EREs may be designed through optimization of aminoalkyl linker and intercalation moieties. Citation Format: Clement Lin, Raveendra I. Mathad, Neil Sidell, Danzhou Yang. DNA recognition by XR5944, a novel bis-intercalator and potent anticancer drug. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 2445. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-2445


A rapid and simple high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the analysis of 1,3-dihydroxy-2-methylxanthone (DHMXAN) in biodegradable poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanosphere and nanocapsule formulations is developed and validated. The method does not require any complex sample extraction procedure. Chromatographic separation is made with a reversed-phase C18 column, using methanol-water (90:10, v/v) containing 1% (v/v) acetic acid as a mobile phase at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. Identification is made by UV detection at 237 nm. The isocratic system operates at ambient temperature and requires 7.5 min of chromatographic time. The developed method is statistically validated according to ICH guidelines and USP 29 for its specificity, linearity, accuracy, and precision. The assay method proposed in this study is specific for DHMXAN in the presence of nanosphere and nanocapsule excipients. Diode-array analyses confirm the purity of DHMXAN peak in stress conditions (> 99.0%). The method is shown to be linear (r > or = 0.999) over the concentration range of 0.25-3.0 microg/mL. Recovery ranges from 99.0% to 102.7% (RSD: 1.49%) and from 98.3% to 101.6% (RSD: 1.07%) for nanospheres and nanocapsules, respectively. Repeatability (intra-assay precision) and intermediate precision is acceptable with RSD values ranging from 0.6% to 1.9% and from 0.3% to 2.0%, respectively. The method is shown to be suitable for the evaluation of DHMXAN content entrapped in PLGA nanoparticles.


The long-term hail suppression projects arouse the public opinion's intrest in the levels of pollution that may be reached in the precipitation.  Even though the seeding material that is usually employed is AgI, and in spite of numerous references denying the toxicity of these emissions, it is easy to estimate the amount of AgI in rainwater, and the results obtained reassure the public opinion.  Within the hail suppression project corresponding to the acronym PALA (Plan for Hail Suppression Aims), which has been carried out in Leon (Spain) since 1986, there is a network of generators giving a total of nearly 200 grams of AgI per hour.  34 rain gages were employed to collect rainwater samples that have then been analyzed to determine the silver concentration.  The average concentration on seeding days in 4.6 ppb, which is well below toxic concentration levels.


Motivated by recent detections of pulsar wind nebulae in very-high-energy(VHE) gamma rays, a systematic search for VHE gamma-ray sources associated withenergetic pulsars was performed, using data obtained with the H.E.S.S. (HighEnergy Stereoscopic System) instrument. The search for VHE gamma-ray sourcesnear the pulsar PSR J1718-3825 revealed the new VHE gamma-ray source HESSJ1718-385. We report on the results from the HESS data analysis of this sourceand on possible associations with the pulsar and at other wavelengths. Weinvestigate the energy spectrum of HESS J1718-385 that shows a clear peak. Thisis only the second time a VHE gamma-ray spectral maximum from a cosmic sourcewas observed, the first being the Vela X pulsar wind nebula.


Volumetric visualisation of Fourier spectral data is a powerful but computationally intensive tool for understanding growth models. Visualising frequency-domain spectral representations of simulation model variables that are normally defined on a spatial mesh can be a useful aid to understanding time evolutionary behaviour. While it is common to study the symmetric or spherically averaged FFT of models, we consider rendering the full 3D FFT representations in interactive time. We use volume rendering methods to study the FFT and also consider asymmetric model cases where spherical averaging would be misleading. We discuss visualisation of Fourier-transformed data fields and some techniques for analysing and interpreting them. We present some application examples and implementations of rendering iso surfaces in the spectral scattering representation of of the normal and small-world rewired Ising model using Graphical Processing Units(GPUs) that allow both simulation and rendering to be achieved in interactive time.


The widespread use of computer experiments for design optimization has made the issue of reducing computational cost, improving accuracy, removing the "curse of dimensionality" and avoiding expensive function approximation becoming even more important. Metamodeling also known as surrogate modeling, can approximate the actual simulation model allowing for much faster execution time thus becoming a useful method to mitigate these problems. There are two (2) well-known metamodeling techniques which is kriging and radial basis function (RBF) discussed in this paper based on widely used algorithm tool from previous work in modern engineering design of optimization. An integral part of metamodeling is in the method to sample new data from the actual simulation model. Sampling new data for metamodeling requires finding the location (or value) of one or more new data such that the accuracy of the metamodel can be increased as much as possible after the sampling process. This paper discussed the challenges of adaptive sampling in metamodel and proposed an ensemble non-homogeneous method for best model voting to obtain new sample points.


Haptoglobin (Hp) synthesis occurs almost exclusively in liver, and it is rapidly upregulated in response to stress. Because many of the pathways that initiate hepatic Hp synthesis are also operative during acute kidney injury (AKI), we tested whether AKI activates the renal cortical Hp gene. CD-1 mice were subjected to six diverse AKI models: ischemia-reperfusion, glycerol injection, cisplatin nephrotoxicity, myoglobinuria, endotoxemia, and bilateral ureteral obstruction. Renal cortical Hp gene induction was determined either 4-72 h or 1-3 wk later by measuring Hp mRNA and protein levels. Relative renal vs. hepatic Hp gene induction during endotoxemia was also assessed. Each form of AKI induced striking and sustained Hp mRNA increases, leading to ∼10- to 100-fold renal Hp protein elevations (ELISA; Western blot). Immunohistochemistry, and isolated proximal tubule assessments, indicated that the proximal tubule was the dominant (if not only) site of the renal Hp increases. Corresponding urinary and plasma Hp elevations were surrogate markers of this response. Endotoxemia evoked 25-fold greater Hp mRNA increases in kidney vs. liver, indicating marked renal Hp gene reactivity. Clinical relevance of these findings was suggested by observations that urine samples from 16 patients with established AKI had statistically higher (∼12×) urinary Hp levels than urine samples from either normal subjects or from 15 patients with chronic kidney disease. These AKI-associated urinary Hp increases mirrored those seen for urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipoprotein, a well accepted AKI biomarker gene. In summary, these studies provide the first evidence that AKI evokes rapid, marked, and sustained induction of the proximal tubule Hp gene. Hp's known antioxidant, as well as its protean pro- and anti-inflammatory, actions imply potentially diverse effects on the evolution of acute tubular injury.


Abstract— A power quality issue basically deals with any occurrence manifested in current, voltage or frequency deviation that results in damage, upset or failure of end use equipment. The non-linearity in the properties of power electronics devices and the higher switching frequency are the main causes of power quality issue. Thus this paper deals with power quality improvement by shunt active power filter to eliminate voltage and load current harmonics and for reactive power compensation. A shunt active power filter based on the instantaneous active and reactive current component (Id – Iq) method is proposed to compensate first harmonic unbalance. A theoretical study based on synchronous detection method is done in this paper and the simulation results are analyzed regarding the harmonics compensation. Simulations are carried out with PI controller for the (Id – Iq) control strategies for different voltage condition using MATLAB/ SIMULINK.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Vitamin D deficiency is endemic in children with CKD. We sought to investigate the association of genetic disposition, environmental factors, vitamin D supplementation, and renal function on vitamin D status in children with CKD.

DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS
Serum 25-hydroxy-vitamin D, 1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D, and 24,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D concentrations were measured cross-sectionally in 500 children from 12 European countries with CKD stages 3-5. All patients were participants of the Cardiovascular Comorbidity in Children with Chronic Kidney Disease Study, had CKD stage 3-5, and were age 6-18 years old. Patients were genotyped for single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the genes encoding 25-hydroxylase, vitamin D binding protein, 7-dehydrocholesterol reductase, and 24-hydroxylase. Associations of genetic status, season, local solar radiation, oral vitamin D supplementation, and disease-associated factors with vitamin D status were assessed.

RESULTS
Two thirds of patients were vitamin D deficient (25-hydroxy-vitamin D <16 ng/ml). 25-Hydroxy-vitamin D concentrations varied with season and were twofold higher in vitamin D-supplemented patients (21.6 [14.1] versus 10.4 [10.1] ng/ml; P<0.001). Glomerulopathy, albuminuria, and girls were associated with lower 25-hydroxy-vitamin D levels. 24,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D levels were closely correlated with 25-hydroxy-vitamin D and 1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D (r=0.87 and r=0.55; both P<0.001). 24,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D concentrations were higher with higher c-terminal fibroblast growth factor 23 and inversely correlated with intact parathyroid hormone. Whereas 25-hydroxy-vitamin D levels were independent of renal function, 24,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D levels were lower with lower eGFR. Vitamin D deficiency was more prevalent in Turkey than in other European regions independent of supplementation status and disease-related factors. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the vitamin D binding protein gene were independently associated with lower 25-hydroxy-vitamin D and higher 24,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D.

CONCLUSIONS
Disease-related factors and vitamin D supplementation are the main correlates of vitamin D status in children with CKD. Variants in the vitamin D binding protein showed weak associations with the vitamin D status.


Underground water pollution, especially groundwater of the Pleistocene layers has been recognized by many researchers. These records are often based on the results of water quality monitoring of different monitoring networks: the National Monitoring Network, the monitoring network of the Natural Resources and Environment Department of Ho Chi Minh city, the monitoring network of the Saigon Water Supply Company. The records show that in the underground water of the Pleistocene layers appeared metals such as copper, lead (Pb), zinc, arsenic, cadmium, manganese (Mn), aluminum (Al), nickel, mercury... However, the content of many metals has not reached the limit of pollution. In this study, the authors used the monitoring results of the National Monitoring Network for the period 2000 - 2016 and focused on metals such as Al, Mn and Pb in the water of Pleistocene aquifers - It has already exceeded the allowable standards at some monitoring sites. The results show that the content of Mn and Al metals in the Pleistocene aquifers varies significantly between 2009 and 2013, while for Pb - a sharp increase from 2013 to 1016. Causes leading to the development of Al and Mn pollution, mainly due to geological, hydro-geological conditions and impacts caused by heavy groundwater exploitation in the Pleistocene aquifers.


Datura innoxia indigenous shrub in South Asia region belongs to the family Solanaceae which contains medicinal important alkaloids (hyoscine, atropine, hycosamine, etc). Thirty adult rabbits of mixed breed, male and female were pretreated with 0.1 mg/500 mg of crude extract (1% of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solution) and injected 5 min later with 0.01 mg/500 mg of detomidine (group A, n=15) or Saline (group B, n=15). Mean arterial pressure, measurements and electrocardiography were performed for 65 min. After injecting crude extract of D. innoxia, the heart rate was increased by 45 and 46.34% in groups A and B, respectively. Heart rate remained increased after the injection of detomidine returning to base line values after 15 min. No increase in the mean arterial pressure (MAP) was noted in group B rabbits. Crude extract shortened PR and QT interval in both groups but after detomidine, PR and QT interval were enlarged significantly at the end of the experiment. The second degree atrioventricular was blocked in two rabbits after 40 min only in group B. It was concluded that alkaloid present in D. innoxia prevented detomidine induced Bradycardia and might be useful during combination against the Bradycardia induced by alpha-2 agonist in the rabbits.


Upcoming fast vision techniques for finding image correspondences enable reliable real-time visual homing, i.e. the guidance of a mobile robot from a arbitrary start pose towards a goal pose defined by an image taken there. Two approaches emerge in the field that differ in the fact that the structure of the scene is estimated or not. In this paper, we compare these two approaches for the general case and especially for our application, being automatic wheelchair navigation.


Aging is a universal normalising process . No gender identity, no body form, no sex/sexuality is necessarily fixed in time and none of these facets of the human spirit are invulnerable to the ongoing processes of aging . Aging unites us in a way that no other process can . It is universal and inevitable . The emergence of a vocal population of transgender individuals of all ages mandates that we address the problems of aging in this population . The combined stigma of being elderly and transgender can serve as a strong traumatising force in the lives of such individu- als . In this article, we focus on the interaction of aging, non-normative body forms and identities, and the law.


Background: Current motor rehabilitation strategies for people who suffered a stroke focus on occupational therapy and physiotherapy and rely on repetitive, intensive and task-oriented training of the body parts that are affected by functional impairments. Though these training methods are generally effective, rehabilitation therapy is often perceived as monotonous and mundane, which could result in an incomplete recovery as patients lack in motivation to do the training exercises as recommended. Motion-based gaming consoles as the Nintendo Wii offer several ways for deployment that can help to facilitate the recovery of motor functionality and increase patient motivation. A great number of health practitioners affirm that the Wii is a feasible tool for stroke rehabilitation purposes. Still, relevant research that focuses on an assessment of the feasibility of the system is limited and there is a need for more comprehensive work in this field.
Objective: This systematic review aims at summarizing the scientific work that is done in the field of integrating the Nintendo Wii into rehabilitation interventions for stroke patients.
Methods: The review is based on a systematic literature search that was focused on interventions that make use of games and game elements in health contexts. The initial search yielded 4556 publications that were subsequently screened with regard to their relevance for this review, by using several established eligibility criteria. The use of these criteria ensured that the studies, that were featured in this review included a discrete intervention that was aimed at stroke rehabilitation and incorporated the Nintendo Wii. The data that were extracted from these studies were categorized into 5 different fields, namely study characteristics, intervention characteristics, evaluation of outcome measures, major advantages and limitations.
Results: The final outcome of the screening phases yielded a number of 9 publications that met all of the established criteria for the inclusion in this systematic review. The major results that were derived from these interventions showed that Wii-based stroke therapy leads to significant improvements in motor functionality and increases patient motivation and engagement. Major advantages of the Wii system include the absence of adverse effects and the possibility that the Wii can be used for patients in the chronic phase post-stroke. Major limitations were identified as the Wii-gaming exercises required constant supervision and additional input from therapists and the integrated game feedback was not sensitive to measure a patient´s performance and progress in a compatible way.
Conclusions: The findings of this research suggest that the Nintendo Wii is a feasible tool for stroke rehabilitation purposes that can keep up with traditional therapy approaches with regard to the functional outcomes and succeeds in enhancing active participation in the therapy sessions. The use of the system holds limitations in the field of home deployment as it requires constant attendance by healthcare professionals. Still, the results of this study suggest that the system is feasible for a wide-scaled integration into stroke therapy.


Most studies have shown that when men have higher levels of education they are less likely to beat their wives. Some have also shown that consumption of alcohol tends to be a negative catalyst in provoking inebriated males to commit domestic violence against their intimate partners. Thus, understanding the likely causes and/or associated factors of intimate partner violence with ever more concentrated studies is imperative. Studies in the past have not examined four possible categories of husbands to determine a correlation to intimate partner violence: those that are educated and tend to be alcoholics, those that are educated and tend not to drink alcohol, less-educated individuals who tend to be alcoholics, or those that are less educated and tend to not to be alcoholics. Employing the Demographic and Health Survey data for Nigeria, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, this study has shown the likelihood of each category of husband to perpetrate domestic violence on intimate female parnters in Nigeria, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan using the multivariate logistic regression at a 95% confidence interval. From the research it has been found that a husband's educational level in and of itself offers no significant correlation to IPV perpetration in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, whereas in Nigeria, educated men were a little more likely to perpetrate IPV compared to men with less education as seen in the following: AOR 1.14, CI 1.02-1.27; p-value < 0.001. In all, alcoholic men were at least 3 times more likely to commit IPV than non-alcoholic men as suggested in the formula of: CI 3.08-5.56; p-value < 0.001. In Nigeria, men with little or no education, who lived in rural areas and were non-alcoholics were less likely to perpetrate IPV compared to their counterparts in urban areas as suggested by AOR 0.75, CI 0.61-0.93; p-value < 0.01, while alcoholic men with little or no education, who lived in rural areas, showed the strongest proclivity to beat their wives as suggested in AOR 4.37, CI 3.5-5.42; p-value < 0.001. Alcohol seems to outweight the effects of education as an instigator of domestic violence. Its introduction consistently increases the likelihood of IPV and strengthens its statistical significance across sites.


ABSTRACT High physical stability is required for the development of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) into successful therapeutic products. Developability assays are used to predict physical stability issues such as high viscosity and poor conformational stability, but protein aggregation remains a challenging property to predict. Among different types of stresses, air–water and solid–liquid interfaces are well known to potentially trigger protein instability and induce aggregation. Yet, in contrast to the increasing number of developability assays to evaluate bulk properties, there is still a lack of experimental methods to evaluate antibody stability against interfaces. Here, we investigate the potential of a hydrophobic nanoparticle surface-mediated stress assay to assess the stability of mAbs during the early stages of development. We evaluate this surface-mediated accelerated stability assay on a rationally designed library of 14 variants of a humanized IgG4, featuring a broad span of solubility values and other developability properties. The assay could identify variants characterized by high instability against agitation in the presence of air–water interfaces. Remarkably, for the set of investigated molecules, we observe strong correlations between the extent of aggregation induced by the surface-mediated stress assay and other developability properties of the molecules, such as aggregation upon storage at 45°C, self-association (evaluated by affinity-capture self-interaction nanoparticle spectroscopy) and nonspecific interactions (estimated by cross-interaction chromatography, stand-up monolayer chromatography (SMAC), SMAC*). This highly controlled surface-mediated stress assay has the potential to complement and increase the ability of the current set of screening techniques to assess protein aggregation and developability potential of mAbs during the early stages of drug development. Abbreviations:AC-SINS: Affinity-Capture Self-Interaction Nanoparticle Spectroscopy; AMS: Ammonium sulfate precipitation; ANS: 1-anilinonaphtalene-8-sulfonate; CIC: Cross-interaction chromatography; DLS: Dynamic light scattering; HIC: Hydrophobic interaction chromatography; HNSSA: Hydrophobic nanoparticles surface-stress assay; mAb: Monoclonal antibody; NP: Nanoparticle; SEC: Size exclusion chromatography; SMAC: Stand-up monolayer chromatography; WT: Wild type


The BCG strain of tubercle bacillus, originally a virulent bacillus of the bovine type, provides a classical example of in v/tro attenuation after prolonged cultivation on a glycerol-potato-bile medium (1). Similar reductions of bacillary virulence have also been accomplished by cultivation of virulent forms at low hydrogen ion concentrations (2, 3) and by growth beneath the surface of fluid media (4-6). Although naturally occurring in ~/vo attenuation of virulent tubercle bacilli has been reported, particularly in association with lupus (7), it has been the general experience of investigators that experimental attenuation of virulent tubercle bacilli by in v/vo methods was unsuccessful; even prolonged growth of mammalian tubercle bacilli in the bodies of cold-blooded animals has not resulted in any significant reduction of virulence (8). As virulent tubercle bacilli which gain access into animal tissues are largely phagocytosed by mononudear cells, it seemed a reasonable assumption that if destruction of bacilli or alteration of bacillary virulence were to occur, a propitious time for this would be during growth of bacilli in these cells. An earlier paper (9) has shown that passage of virulent tubercle bacilli in an immune system (monocytes of BCG-immunized rabbits cultivated in homologous immune serum medium) resulted in decreased capacity of bacilli to induce degeneration of normal monocytes.


Economic and agricultural policies in West Africa have evolved progressively over the last 20 years. Since the early 1980s, most countries in the region have implemented macroeconomic stabilisation and structural reforms to reverse balance of payments deficits, improve economic growth and reduce the bias against agriculture. Specific policy reforms included devaluation of overvalued exchange rates, reduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers, removal of regulatory controls on input and output markets, and elimination of state-owned marketing boards, subsidies and price controls. The domestic policy environment, while still far from ideal, is now generally considered to be more conducive to agricultural growth and trade. At the same time, changes in the international environment have been much more dramatic. Globalisation, manifested in increased international trade, foreign direct investment and capital flows, is a phenomenon that is likely to assume greater importance in the future. Since crop and livestock products are inherently tradable, globalisation presents new opportunities and challenges. Opportunities exist to find new markets for new products at higher prices and thus increase both employment and incomes, but access to the lucrative markets in the developed countries is cumbersome and complex. The evidence on the policy reforms that have been undertaken in several West African countries is reviewed and their impacts on crop–livestock outputs, prices, food security and incomes summarised. The manner in which changes in the external environment have reinforced or contradicted domestic policy reforms in promoting growth of crop–livestock production and trade are examined. Emerging global agricultural trade issues that are of relevance to countries in the region and that need to be addressed to improve these countries' chances of participation in the new global economy and protect their economies from global market instability are highlighted. Perspectives are offered on future policy research that will provide information needed to develop strategies to improve food security, livelihoods and sustainable growth of crop–livestock systems in West Africa.


ABSTRACT: Like many restaurant chains, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts earns revenues from both company-owned stores and from franchisee-owned stores. Following its April 2000 IPO, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts entered into several joint ventures with franchisees to develop new stores. In some situations, the Company also re-acquired franchise rights from its franchisees. This case provides you with the opportunity to assess analyst forecasts of Krispy Kreme's earnings following the release of its February 3, 2002 financial statements. Through analysis of footnote disclosures on the Company's joint ventures and repurchased franchises, you will identify potential problems with Krispy Kreme's business outlook that were not discussed in the analyst reports.


Batteries have an important role in the development of electrical energy utilization, such as in renewable energy and electric vehicles. Batteries with good performance would support the devices which utilized them. Because the amount of energy stored in a battery is limited, so battery getting charging and discharging cycles. Improper charge and discharge process could decrease the battery's performance. Therefore battery management system (BMS) is very necessary so that could maintain performance of the battery at optimum condition. One of the important aspect in BMS is state of charge (SoC), which indicate the amount of energy left in the battery. In this work, SOC estimation calculated using Coulomb Counting method which is calculate and compare the electric charge that came in and came out the battery. Upon Coulomb counting on discharging and charging process, battery's SoC estimated by different ways, namely calculate the Peukert's effect and calculate charging efficiency, respectively. Modified Peukert relationship includes current rate parameters are affecting discharge capacity of a battery. Higher Peukert constant would lead to decreasing of operational battery module voltages. Moreover, it could be studied that Peukert only has an effect in the changes of discharge capacity at zero point of SoC. Furthermore, from experimental result it has been known that energy stored in the battery might be has different deep of discharge depends on Peukert constant.


New variants of concern (VOCs) now account for 67% of all Ontario SARS-CoV-2 infections. Compared with early variants of SARS-CoV-2, VOCs are associated with a 63% increased risk of hospitalization, a 103% increased risk of intensive care unit (ICU) admission and a 56% increased risk of death due to COVID-19. VOCs are having a substantial impact on Ontario's healthcare system. On March 28, 2021, the daily number of new SARS-CoV-2 infections in Ontario reached the daily number of cases observed near the height of the second wave, at the start of the province-wide lockdown, on December 26, 2020. The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 is now 21% higher than at the start of the province-wide lockdown, while ICU occupancy is 28% higher (Figure 1). The percentage of COVID-19 patients in ICUs who are younger than 60 years is about 50% higher now than it was prior to the start of the province-wide lockdown. Because the increased risk of COVID-19 hospitalization, ICU admission and death with VOCs is most pronounced 14 to 28 days after diagnosis, there will be significant delays until the full burden to the health care system becomes apparent.


The tolerance of creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.) seedlings to many herbicides has not been evaluated. Three fi eld studies were conducted between fall and spring from 1998 to 2002 to assess creeping bentgrass seedling tolerance to fi ve herbicides and paclobutrazol. The primary objectives of this investigation were to assess bentgrass tolerance to these chemicals when applied at various timings following seedling emergence, and establishment of new seedlings as infl uenced by potential soil residues in the spring following a fall application of the chemicals. Treatments were applied 2, 4, or 7 weeks after either 'Crenshaw' or 'L-93' creeping bentgrass seedlings had emerged. Siduron (6.7 and 9.0 kg·ha -1 ) and bensulide (8.4 kg·ha -1 ) were noninjurious when applied two weeks after seedling emergence (2 WASE). Bensulide (14 kg·ha -1 ), ethofumesate (0.84 kg·ha -1 ), prodiamine (0.36 kg·ha -1 ) and paclobutrazol (0.14 kg·ha -1 ) were too injurious to apply 2 WASE, but they were generally safe to apply at 4 WASE. Chlorsulfuron (0.14 kg·ha -1 ) was extremely phytotoxic to seedlings when applied 2 WASE. Plots were treated with glyphosate and overseeded the following spring. The overwintering soil residuals of prodiamine and bensulide (14.0 kg·ha -1 ) unacceptably reduced spring establishment. All other herbicides and paclobutrazol had little or no adverse residual effects on spring establishment. Chemical names used: N-(phosphonomethyl)gycline (glyphosate); (±)-(R*,R*)-beta- ((4-chlorophenyl)methyl)-alpha-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-1H-1,2,4-triazole-1-ethanol (paclobutrazol); 2-ethoxy-2,3-dihydro-3,3-dimethyl-5-benzofuranyl methanesulfonate (ethofumesate); S-(0,0-diisopropyl phosphorodithioate) ester of N-(2-mercaptoethyl) benzenesulfonamide (bensulide); (1-(2-methylcyclohexyl)-3-phenylurea) (siduron); N 3


Phenotypic of Soybean at Two Extreme Condition of Light Intensity. Cultivation of soybean inrow rubber area was one of extensification programme for improving national soybean production. Theproblem on row rubber area was the low light intensity that could disturb soybean growth. Plant breedingfor creating tolerant variety for low light intensity was doing until now. Bogor Agricultural University hadmany lines for being candidate of tolerant variety. F6 soybean population from single seed descentmethode need to explored for that trait on low light intensity condition. The aim of this research was toknow the differences of soybean phenotypic between on low light intensity and full light intensity condition.The research was done on March – May 2009. Randomized complete block design with 3 replicationwas using as experimental design which lines as the treatment on two condition (low light and full lightcondition). The result saw that low light intensity was changing type of soybean growth, determinatebecame indeterminate type of growth. Low light intensity made soybean became early on floweringfase and water content on seed was increase. Low light intensity made decreasing the productivity until37.25% than full light intensity condition.


The contribution of central vs. peripheral mechanisms in mediating increases in plasma norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (Epi) during endotoxicosis were studied. Plasma catecholamine responses after endotoxin were assessed in conscious animals and in animals without central regulatory mechanisms (pithed rats). In conscious rats, endotoxin (1.5 mg/kg i.v.) induced a marked elevation in plasma NE after 90 min (3-fold), but elevations were not seen in pithed rats. Endotoxin also induced a profound increase (12- to 13-fold) in plasma Epi in conscious rats, but increases were less (2- to 3-fold) and delayed in pithed rats. These results suggest that central mechanisms are essential in plasma NE response to endotoxic challenge, whereas plasma Epi response involves both central and peripheral mechanisms, with the former being dominant. In conscious adrenal-denervated animals, plasma Epi was not elevated until 90 min postendotoxin. This delayed Epi elevation was approximately one-third of the maximal response observed in conscious adrenal-intact rats. In pithed adrenal-denervated rats, plasma Epi at 90 min postendotoxin was also increased to a level comparable to that in pithed adrenal-intact rats. These results imply that a significant fraction of peripheral release of Epi with endotoxicosis is nonneurogenic.


Objectives Several physiological abnormalities that develop during COVID-19 are associated with increased mortality. In the present study, we aimed to develop a clinical risk score to predict the in-hospital mortality in COVID-19 patients, based on a set of variables available soon after the hospitalisation triage. Setting Retrospective cohort study of 516 patients consecutively admitted for COVID-19 to two Italian tertiary hospitals located in Northern and Central Italy were collected from 22 February 2020 (date of first admission) to 10 April 2020. Participants Consecutive patients≥18 years admitted for COVID-19. Main outcome measures Simple clinical and laboratory findings readily available after triage were compared by patients' survival status ('dead' vs 'alive'), with the objective of identifying baseline variables associated with mortality. These were used to build a COVID-19 in-hospital mortality risk score (COVID-19MRS). Results Mean age was 67±13 years (mean±SD), and 66.9% were male. Using Cox regression analysis, tertiles of increasing age (≥75, upper vs <62 years, lower: HR 7.92; p<0.001) and number of chronic diseases (≥4 vs 0–1: HR 2.09; p=0.007), respiratory rate (HR 1.04 per unit increase; p=0.001), PaO2/FiO2 (HR 0.995 per unit increase; p<0.001), serum creatinine (HR 1.34 per unit increase; p<0.001) and platelet count (HR 0.995 per unit increase; p=0.001) were predictors of mortality. All six predictors were used to build the COVID-19MRS (Area Under the Curve 0.90, 95% CI 0.87 to 0.93), which proved to be highly accurate in stratifying patients at low, intermediate and high risk of in-hospital death (p<0.001). Conclusions The COVID-19MRS is a rapid, operator-independent and inexpensive clinical tool that objectively predicts mortality in patients with COVID-19. The score could be helpful from triage to guide earlier assignment of COVID-19 patients to the most appropriate level of care.


In this article, an alternative randomized response model is proposed. The proposed model is found to be more efficient than the randomized response model studied by Bar-Lev, Bobovitch, and Boukai (2004). The relative efficiency of the proposed model is studied with respect to the Bar-Lev et al. (2004) model under various situations.


Sentiment analysis is a method for reviewing products or services to determine opinions or feelings about a product. The results of the analysis can be used by companies as evaluation materials and considerations to improve the products or services provided. This study aims to test the level of public sentiment on the quality of Bank Mandiri services that have received ISO 20000-1 with the application of sentiment analysis using the K-NN algorithm based on ITSM criteria. The initial classification in this study uses the lexicon method by detecting words included in sentiment words, the results of which are included as labels on training data and test data. Formation of the classification with the K-NN algorithm by taking into account the results of the training data indexing and weighting of the test data, with the value of k as the decision maker limit. The trial results of 10 scenarios show that the classification using the K-NN algorithm as a sentiment classification is 98% accuracy value of 50 test data to 600 training data, with 24% getting positive sentiment, 22% negative sentiment and 55% neutral sentiment, with f -measure 95.83%. while in testing 100 the test data obtained 79% accuracy value with 21% getting positive sentiment, 42% negative sentiment and 38% neutral with an f-measure value of 68.42% Keywords: K-NN Algorithm, Sentiment Analysis, Bank Mandiri, Twitter. Analysis Of Warganet... 14 ADI Journal on Recent Innovation (AJRI) p-ISSN : 2685-9106 Vol 1 No. 1 September 2019 e-ISSN : 2686-0384


Objective: The objetive of this study is to assess the level of oxidative stress by the exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in volunteers who cleaned up the crude oil spilled from the Hebei Spirit on the Coast of Taean County, Korea. Methods: The study subjects were 46 volunteers and 37 controls from the National Institute of Environmental Research. A self-administered questionnaire was used for volunteers to examine their working environment and health effects. Urinary concentrations of hippuric acid, 1-hydroxypyrene, and 2-naphthol were measured as exposure markers for VOCs and PAHs, and urinary thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) levels were measured as oxidative stress markers. Results: Sixty-four percent of the respondents presented a variety of symptoms, including sore eyes and throat, nausea, dizziness, headache, low back pain, and leg pain after participating in the cleanup operation. Urinary 2-naphthol and TBARS concentrations appeared higher in the volunteers. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that urinary TBARS and 8-OHdG levels were positively correlated with urinary 2-naphthol and 1-hydroxypyrene concentrations respectively, especially among the volunteers. Conclusions: The result implies that participating in cleanup work of oil spills may have a possibility to induce oxidative damage by exposure to PAHs in crude oil.


The Dissertation deals about migration and migrant rights in Germany and Europe. Even if many scholars have elucidated with convincing clarity that western nation states can produce an improvement of migrant rigths because of the autonomy of the legal system, the focus of this work is to point out the vulnerability of the legal process. The political and judical regulation of migration in Germany over the last forty years shows that the discretionary power of the authorities regarding to non-nationals is much stronger than regarding to nationals. And because of the transformation of the former welfare states to 'competition states' migration policies will be subsumed more likeley under the aspect of competitive advantages as in the era of the welfare state. The author persits that the judical improvement of migrant rights should be understood in terms of the national state and refers to political and economical general conditions courts can not (or will not) disregard in their decision - making -process.


German cockroaches (Blattella germanica) are distributed worldwide. Pathogens present on cockroach have always raised safety concerns. Present study aimed to check the bacterial autoaggregation and hydrophobicity potential. Cockroaches were trapped from house sewerage of Lahore, Pakistan in March 2016 and bacteria were isolated from external as well as internal part of cockroach. For isolation from internal colon part of digestive tract were serially diluted and selected (IM1 and IM3) from bacterial growth on agar plates while isolates from external surfaces of cockroach were selected by surface swabbing (EM4, EM5 and EM6). Morphological and biochemical characterization of isolates showed diverse morphology. The auto aggregation was recorded in all isolates after 4 hours of culture incubation. Results of hydrophobicity assay showed that isolates IM1, IM3, EM5 showed 98.09 %, 80.5 %, 90.33 % affinity towards toluene, respectively. Bacteria commonly associated with common pests, cockroaches showed the tendency to adhere to different biotic and abiotic surfaces. Isolate IM3 showed 35 % auto-aggregation after 4 hours while isolate EM4 showed 47 % aggregation as compared to rest of isolates. Result showed that on the basis of bacterial cell surface hydrophobicity and auto aggregation tendency of cells towards adherence and aggregation on host increases.


Several newly developing hybrid imaging methods (e.g., those combining electrical impedance or optical imaging with acoustics) enable one to obtain some auxiliary interior information (usually some combination of the electrical conductivity and the current) about the parameters of the tissues. This information, in turn, happens to stabilize the exponentially unstable and thus low-resolution optical and electrical impedance tomography. Various known instances of this effect have been studied individually. We show that there is a simple general technique (covering all known cases) that shows what kinds of interior data stabilize the reconstruction, and why. Namely, we show when the linearized problem becomes an elliptic pseudo-differential one, and thus stable. Stability here is meant as the problem being Fredholm, so the local uniqueness is not shown and probably does not hold in such generality.


Venera 13 and Venera 14 transmitted almost complete panoramic views of their landing sites. Analyses of the photographs show the presence of rock formations undergoing geomorphic degradation. The formations display ripple marks, thin layering, differential erosion, and curvilinear fracturings. Some of them are interpreted as lithified clastic sediments. The lithification could have taken place at depth or at the surface, resulting in a type of duricrust. The origin of the sediments is unknown but could be aeolian, volcanic, or related to impacts or to turbidity currents.


Catalytic combustion is generally accepted as an environmentally preferred alternative for the generation of heat and power from fossil fuels mainly due to its advantages related to the stable combustion under very lean conditions with low emissions of NOx, CO, and UHC at temperatures lower than those occurred in conventional flame combustion. Despite these advantages, the commercial application of catalytic combustion has been delayed because of complicated reaction processes and the difficulty in developing appropriate catalysts with the required stability and durability. To develop the catalytic combustors, detailed studies on the combustion characteristics of catalytic combustion should be conducted. To the end, in current research, quantitative studies on the combustion characteristics of the catalytic combustors, with a Pd-based catalyst for MCFC power generation systems, relying on numerical simulations have been conducted. In addition, data from experimental studies of variations in outlet temperatures and fuel conversion, taken after operating conditions have been used to validate the present numerical approach. After introducing the governing equations for mass, momentum, and energy equations as well as a description of catalytic combustion kinetics, the effects of the excess air ratio, space velocity, and inlet gas temperature on the catalytic combustion characteristics are extensively investigated. Quantitative comparisons are also conducted with previous experimental data. Finally, some concluding remarks are presented. Keywords—Catalytic combustion, Methane, BOP, MCFC power generation system, Inlet temperature, Excess air ratio, Space velocity.


Christopher Caldwell argues that President George W. Bush inherited many problems from the Clinton years. President Bush was similar to his predecessor as a baby-boomer, his amiability, and his solipicism. However, the Bush administration did make policy choices from a significantly different ideological base. Caldwell considers how and why policy determinations were made in economic matters and tax cuts, the re-invasion of Iraq, civil liberties and international relations. He summarizes with a first draft on the Bush legacy. Michael Lind maintains that President George W. Bush's tenure in office marked the end of the conservative movement in US politics. He outlines the history of the conservative movement from Goldwater's presidential run in 1964 to 2008. The administration's failure to privatize Social Security, rolling back the New Deal, marked conservatism's limits for the US electorate. Moreover, the president's foreign policy was too much of a departure from liberal internationalism or Kissingerian realism for broad public support as were proposed immigration policy and reductions of civil liberties. As a result, the former consensus within the Republican Party has been shattered. The accompanying audio files provide the complete recording of the two talks.


In June 2009, the Ricci v. DeStefano case was decided by five of the nine U.S. Supreme Court judges. This case impacts public-sector employers by expanding on the rule called a "strong basis in evidence." Under this rule, a public-sector employer cannot engage in certain activities for the asserted purpose of avoiding or remedying unintentional disparate impact, unless the employer has a "strong basis in evidence" to believe it will be subject to disparate-impact liability. The evidence for this rule must be in place before a public-sector employer takes a race-conscious action to minimize adverse impact. This article critically evaluates the test validity discussion that occurred in the Ricci case; addresses topics relevant to the new rule not covered by the decision, such as the cutoff used, weights used, differentiating requirements of the rank-ordered list, and the rule of three; and describes guidelines for conducting a particular kind of study in an employment context, called a Croson Study, that can be used to gather a "strong basis in evidence." This article identifies circumstances under which a Croson Study is needed, and how to do it that will allow public-sector employers to evaluate whether they may be justified—using the Supreme Court's "strong-basis-in-evidence" rule—to institute race-conscious remedies under Title VII.


The past decade has seen exciting changes in how we develop and test software. Researchers have invented numerous techniques and criteria that are now mature enough to be ready for industrial use. During this time, the need for reliable software has grown enormously. The user base is expanding, technological advances put software into more mission-critical locations, software continues to grow in complexity, and secure software must be correct software. However, many of the strongest testing ideas invented by researchers have not yet been adopted by industry. In particular, one of the hardest problems in software testing is automatic generation of test inputs; a problem with many sophisticated solutions from the research community but for which industry tools only have primitive solutions. This talk will discuss automatic test data generation in the context of the model-driven test design process, then discuss mismatches between testing in industry and techniques from the research community. The talk will discuss why industry needs to improve testing, explore some of the difficulties in transitioning testing research results to industrial use, and close with a description of practical, usable engineering tools that can incorporate the best automatic test data generation ideas in pragmatic ways.


In the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996 Congress decided to limit the exclusion for personal injury awards in Internal Revenue Code section 104(a)(2) to any compensatory damages received on account of personal physical injuries or physical sickness. Previously the law did not contain the word "physical." Thus, Congress intended to eliminate the benefits of the exclusion for non-physical torts such as employment discrimination and defamation. Unfortunately, neither the law nor legislative history provides sufficient explanation of the meaning of "physical." The author discusses the nature of the ambiguities and suggests that the whole purpose of the exclusion is being frustrated because Congress should have focused on what the author calls the "human capital" theory of the exclusion. As a result, the author suggests alternatives to the wording of the exclusion to permit non-taxability only to the extent the victim suffered a loss to his/her physical well being including emotional trauma. In the case of damages awarded for loss of earning power, they should, unlike current law, be taxed even in the case where the victim suffered a physical injury or sickness.


We propose to present a mathematical model of heterogeneous tumor growth based on experiments by M. Carré. This model is a competition ODE model and takes into account tumor cells sensitive or resistant to chemotherapy. The originality of the model relies in the control of the resistant cells by the sensitive cells when the chemotherapy only acts on the sensitive cells. First we prove that this simple model is able to simulate various situations that M. Carré has experimented in vitro. Specially metronomic (i.e. low-dose) chemotherapies are more efficient than the classical Maximum Tolerated Dose treatment. This confirms the hypothesis of M. Carré that metronomic therapy take better account of the complex relations of sensitive and resistant cells. Second, we study optimal treatments to control the global size of the tumor. Such optimal control problems can lead to singular controls of the tumor size. These mathematical results have to be confirmed by in vitro experiments, but this work will help in understanding the mode of action of metronomic chemotherapy and thus in calibrating them.


In this study an attempt has been made to produce titanium-aluminium dispersed hard nitride layer on mild steel surfaces by preplacement of 50 % Ti and 50 % Al powder mixture and then melting with TIG torch under nitrogen environment. Parameter such as heat input of the torch was varied between 540, 608 and 675 J/mm and its effect on the resolidified melt pool was studied. Glazing under all energy inputs produced more than 1mm thick resolidified clad layer. The microstructural analysis revealed the clad layer with dispersion of dendrites of Ti-Al nitrides and Ti- Al intermetallic in ferrite matrix. The concentration of dendrites were found to be maximum near the surface and decreased at deeper depths.The maximum hardness of the modified surface layer was found to be 900 Hv compared to180 Hv of the mild steel substrate.


One hundred patients underwent transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) creation for variceal bleeding (n = 94), intractable ascites (n = 3), hepatorenal syndrome (n = 2), and preoperative portal decompression (n = 1). Shunts were completed in 96 patients. Portal vein pressure was reduced from 34.5 mm Hg ± 7.6 (standard deviation) to 24.5 mm Hg ± 6.2; the residual portal vein‐hepatic vein gradient was 10.4 mm Hg ± 0.9. Acute variceal bleeding was controlled in 29 of 30 patients. Of the 96 patients who underwent successful TIPS creation, 26 have died and 22 have undergone liver transplantation; the remaining 48 patients have survived an average of 7.6 months. Variceal bleeding recurred in 10 patients. Fifteen patients developed shunt stenosis (n = 6) or occlusion (n = 9). Patency was reestablished in eight of the nine occluded shunts. Seventeen patients developed new or worsened encephalopathy. The authors conclude that TIPS creation is an effective and reliable means of lowering portal pressure and controlling variceal bleeding, particularly in patients with acute variceal bleeding unresponsive to sclerotherapy and patients with chronic variceal bleeding before liver transplantation.


Polymorphic inversions are ubiquitous across the animal kingdom and are frequently associated with clines in inversion frequencies across environmental gradients. Such clines are thought to result from selection favouring local adaptation; however, empirical tests are scarce. The seaweed fly Coelopa frigida has an α/β inversion polymorphism, and previous work demonstrated that the α inversion frequency declines from the North Sea to the Baltic Sea and is correlated with changes in tidal range, salinity, algal composition and wrackbed stability. Here, we explicitly test the hypothesis that populations of C. frigida along this cline are locally adapted by conducting a reciprocal transplant experiment of four populations along this cline to quantify survival. We found that survival varied significantly across treatments and detected a significant Location x Substrate interaction, indicating local adaptation. Survival models showed that flies from locations at both extremes had highest survival on their native substrates, demonstrating that local adaptation is present at the extremes of the cline. Survival at the two intermediate locations was, however, not elevated at the native substrates, suggesting that gene flow in intermediate habitats may override selection. Together, our results support the notion that population extremes of species with polymorphic inversions are often locally adapted, even when spatially close, consistent with the growing view that inversions can have direct and strong effects on the fitness of species.


Abstract We document a novel strategic motive for family business groups to utilize their internal capital markets (ICMs) during financial crises. We find that crisis-period group ICM activity is targeted toward exerting product market dominance over standalone rivals. Groups make significant post-crisis gains in market share that are concentrated among affiliates (and industry segments within affiliates) operating in highly competitive product markets, where capturing such gains is difficult in normal times. These patterns are observed only in emerging markets, suggesting that ICMs enable groups to exploit crises to realize long-term competitive advantages only when rivals face chronic financing frictions.


High brightness electron beam is one of fundamental technique in high current electron accelerator. The thermionic dispenser cathode can provide greater reproducibility, longer pulse lengths and lower emittance beam than field emitting cathode. Here we introduce the vacuum diode design which can produce a long duration pulse with 3/spl mu/s flat-top, 300 amperes' electron beam at a cathode test stand.


Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) is the most common of all thyroid diseases and is characterized by abundant lymphocyte infiltrate and thyroid impairment, caused by various cell- and antibody-mediated immune processes. Viral infections have been suggested as possible environmental triggers, but conclusive data are not available. We analyzed the presence and transcriptional state of human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) in thyroid fine needle aspirates (FNA) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 34 HT patients and 28 controls, showing that HHV-6 DNA prevalence (82% vs. 10%, p≤0.001) and viral load were significantly increased in FNA from HT patients, and thyrocytes from HT FNA displayed a 100-fold higher HHV-6 DNA load compared to infiltrating lymphocytes. In addition, while HHV-6 was strictly latent in positive samples from controls, a low grade acute infection was detected in HT samples. HHV-6 variant characterization was carried out in 10 HT FNA samples, determining that all specimens harbored HHV-6 Variant A. The tropism of HHV-6 for thyroid cells was verified by infection of Nthy-ori3-1, a thyroid follicular epithelial cell line, showing that thyrocytes are permissive to HHV-6 replication, which induces de novo expression of HLA class II antigens. Furthermore, HHV-6-infected Nthy-ori3-1 cells become targets for NK-mediated killing, NK cells from HT patients show a significantly more efficient killing of HHV-6 infected thyroid cells than healthy controls, and HT patients have increased T-cell responses to HHV-6 U94 protein, associated to viral latency. These observations suggest a potential role for HHV-6 (possibly variant A) in the development or triggering of HT.


We have previously reported that the malignant phenotype of human liver carcinoma cell line BEL-7404 was reversed by antisense EGFR RNA. The aim of this paper is to explore the effects of an oligomer targeted to mRNA for EGFR and growth of BEL-7404 cells. A 21-mer oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) complementary to the 5' initiation region of mRNA for EGFR was synthesized and added to medium. The results showed that the growth of BEL-7404 cells was inhibited by ODNs at concentration of 3.2 mumol/L. Inhibition of DNA synthesis of BEL-7404 cells was dose-dependent and reached to 62.1% at 3.2 mumol/L as measured by 3H-thymidine incorporation test. The inhibition of EGFR gene transcription of the cells was up to 10.5% and 14.3% respectively after incubation with ODNs by 5 and 24 hours as measured by densitometric scanning of dot (RNA) blots of EGFR. The EGFR protein (P 170) expression was also found to be blocked by 4 days' antisense oligomer treatment up to 37.4% as measured by densitometric scanning of specific band of Western blot. The oligonucleotide phosphorothioate (S-ODNs) complementary to the same region of the gene was also synthesized and its growth inhibition effects on BEL-7404 cells were compared with those of unmodified oligomers. ODNs attained their highest effect within 30 hours. The proliferation inhibition rate of the cells didn't increase when cells were cultured in serum free medium. In contrast, the S-ODNs induced inhibition reached comparable level after 96 hours treatment as measured by 3H-thymidine uptake and the effect lasted longer, 1 mumol/L S-ODNs showed a little effect on BEL-7404 cells' proliferation. We concluded that the antisense oligomers directed to mRNA for EG-FR could inhibit the BEL-7404 cells growth by blocking the EGFR gene expression in some degree and the phosphorothioate analogues were more stable than the unmodified ODNs in vitro.


Abstract Despite the growth in studies of Russian social policy, the reality of the social policy process – most of which is regionally based – remains a puzzle. In this article, we stake a claim for the importance of studying street-level social service provision in Russia's regions to advance the understanding of social policymaking in authoritarian-leaning regimes. We show that – albeit in small ways in only some places – Russia has expanded its welfare state, taking on an issue neglected by the Soviet regime in response to activism. Using the lens of work against domestic violence, we conduct a case study of women's crisis centres in Saint Petersburg. We show the limitations of the two usual state-society frameworks – those looking at civil society and at the welfare state. Building on their strengths, we construct a de facto feminist framework that focuses on how much and what kind of help citizens receive from both state and societal actors. In Russia's social policymaking, shaped by federalism, we find mixed success –civic organizations have weakened, but the state has taken on civic initiatives at local levels – and point to the importance of the informal politics of speaking in code and navigating elite networks.


Interest in magnetic bubble memory technology has increased enormously over the past year. The levels of activity and investment have reached a stage where it can be confidently predicted that 1981 will see their widespread use as digital storage elements in production equipment. This paper reviews what bubbles are, how they work and the architecture of present-day chips. The device manufacturing technology is outlined and some projections made for future advancements in storage density, device price and performance. Applications of bubble memory devices are discussed in terms of the market areas and equipment types for which they are eminently suited. A detailed description of some commercial board level bubble memory systems is given to illustrate the performance achievable as well as design considerations that need to be taken into account in using bubbles. Finally reference is made to end-user equipment and applications that incorporate bubble memories.


DURING the past 12 years, measurement of blood levels of activity of various enzymes in man has been established as a valuable laboratory aid in the diagnosis of myocardial damage.' Basic biochemical studies had demonstrated relatively large tissue activity levels of various enzymes and suggested that tissue damage or disease might be reflected by elevation of normally low, base-line values in the circulation. The widespread tissue distribution of the clinically significant enzymes, however, precluded the desired specificity of a laboratory test. Any cause of acute tissue breakdown (trauma, infection, ischemia, infarction, neoplasia) in any of several tissues (heart, liver, skeletal muscle, kidney, brain, erythrocytes) may cause comparably elevated serum levels, presumably by release of enzymes from the damaged tissue(s). Resultant increases in serum levels appear to be more sensitive indicators of tissue damage than previously available indices, such as the erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and C-reactive protein. Experimental animal studies have indicated that as little as 1 g of infarcted heart muscle may be detected, that the degree and duration of serum enzyme elevations are roughly proportional to the mass of the infarcted muscle, and that enzyme elevations