ProTherm 2.0 is the second release of the Thermo-dynamic Database for Proteins and Mutants that includes numerical data for several thermodynamic parameters, structural information, experimental methods and conditions, functional and literature information. The present release contains >5500 entries, an approximately 67% increase over the previous version. In addition, we have included information about reversibility of data, details about buffer and ion concentrations and the surrounding residues in space for all mutants. A WWW interface enables users to search data based on various conditions with different sorting options for outputs. Further, ProTherm has links with other structural and literature databases, and the mutation sites and surrounding residues are automatically mapped on the structures and can be directly viewed through 3DinSight developed in our laboratory. The ProTherm database is freely available through the WWW at http://www.rtc.riken.go.jp/protherm.html


Homozygous tau mutant (τss) hamsters show an extremely short (20 h) circadian period (τ) that is attributable to altered enzymatic activity of casein kinase 1ε. It has been proposed that coupling of constituent circadian oscillators is strengthened in τss hamsters, explaining their tendency to show strong resetting after prolonged exposure to constant darkness. To evaluate further the circadian organization of τss hamsters, the authors assessed the extent of shortening of period as an aftereffect of exposure to light:dark cycles whose period (T) is 91% of τ and the ability of constant light to induce splitting. They find that τss hamsters show aftereffects comparable to wild types, indicating that normal CK1ε activity is not required for T cycles to shorten τ. This finding also contradicts the proposal that circadian period is homeostatically conserved. However, the authors find that τss hamsters rarely show splitting in constant light. Furthermore, LL does not induce lengthening of τ or reduction of activity duration (α) in these mutants. The authors' findings support the conclusion that the τ mutation alters the coupling between constituent circadian oscillators.


Until recently, successful patent plaintiffs would almost always be awarded injunctions against future infringement. Thanks to a recent change in remedies jurisprudence, however, patent plaintiffs today are often denied injunctions and awarded, instead, ongoing royalties. This change was made for reasons that have nothing to do with the pace of litigation. But the change turns out to meaningfully reduce the cost of delay. After all, delay is costly in cases that possibly involve injunctions because, in those cases, every extra day of litigation is another day during which the accused infringer might wrongfully use the patented technology. In cases without injunctions, by contrast, delay simply takes a day for which the accused infringer might have been paying a court-ordered ongoing royalty and transforms it into a day for which the accused infringer might instead pay court-ordered backward-looking damages. Either way, the infringer is paying a fee. Either way, that fee is determined by the court. As a result, certain types of patent cases should today slow down. That is, courts should extend deadlines and even stay certain cases, in that way making room for tailored, accuracy-enhancing delays that previously might have seemed too costly to embrace.


The investigated nanometric magnetite powders were synthesized electrochemically, and examined by XRD and SEM techniques. Their reduction was conducted through the isothermal heating in hydrogen in the temperature range from 600 to 860 K. Kinetics of the hydrogen recovery process during oxidation of freshly formed Fe powders in a water vapor stream was also studied. It was assumed that the solid-gas reaction is diffusion controlled, and Jander's model was applied to describe it. The experimental data suggest that the reoxidation process proceeds in two stages, at various activation energies. By changing the conditions of the electrochemical (EC) process we were able to produce the iron oxide powders with optimal particle size and activity, for pure hydrogen production through appropriate reduction/oxidation processes.


As social networking sites (SNS) have been actively used as a platform for the political participation, this study investigates factors influencing SNS users' political participation intention and behavior in developing countries. More specifically, based on the integrated model of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and Civic Voluntarism Model (CVM), we develop a research model on how technological factors (e.g., performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions) as well as social factors (e.g., political interests and experience) influence Facebook users' political participation intention, which lead to actual political participation behavior, focusing on the Cambodian context. Our research model will be empirically tested with survey samples gathered from Cambodian Facebook users and their actual political behaviors, measured by counting actual comments of each survey respondent one month after the survey. While prior studies have only focused on either technological or social influencing factors on online political participation, this paper is among the first attempts to investigate them from integrative and comparative perspectives. By highlighting the relative impacts of each factor in the context of developing countries, where direct and public challenging or criticizing on the government is still a fear for most citizens, this paper would provide an important lesson for other developing countries with a similar political environment.


The thesis involves the development and implementation of a new and

robust control system based on permeability trends but at the same time capable of

reducing aeration proportionally to permeate flux. Permeability was made a key

parameter for directly comparing temporary changes in membrane performance.

Transmembrane pressure and flux were gathered every 10 seconds and permeability

values were automatically calculated; different mathematical algorithms were applied

for the signal filtering of on-line data. Short term and long term permeability trends

were compared once a day, and a control action was applied proportionally to the short

term/long term permeability ratio without exceeding the aeration flow recommended by

the membrane suppliers.


Modern communications networks have many challenges and opportunities for improvement. Data integrity and its Security over a communication network is one of such challenges. Digital Watermarking have been proposed as a new method to impose ownership verification and protect data from tempering by illegitimate user. To make digital watermarking more effective digital signature or message authentication code is inserted in the whole message. This paper proposes a method using both Digital Watermarking and Signature so that data integrity can be verified at the receiver end of the network.


A mathematical model (Core Model) is presented that describes the gross dynamic behavior of the demographic transition|falling death rates lead to population increase, temporarily rising birth rates, temporarily increased population growth, decreased fertility, aging of the population, and nally a steady population size higher than the initial population. Core Model captures these features. The model is based on three fundamental observations 1) people are born, 2) people die, some at a young age, the rest at an old age, and 3) people give birth more often when conditions are favorable than not favorable. In addition to boundary conditions, Core Model has one free parameter, which is associated with the rate at which fertility adapts to changing conditions. Core Model predicts that aging populations are a natural consequence of the dynamics and the speed at which the population fertility adapts to changing death rates. The model captures the qualitative features of actual country demographic dynamics with European countries making up most of the post-transition populations and Sub-Saharan Africa making up those countries just entering the transition.


Nine examples of polyostotic histiocytosis without visceral involvement with long-term follow-up are presented. Only one patient had the complete Hand-Schüller-Christian disease triad of multiple osteolytic lesions, diabetes insipidus, and exophthalmos. Three of the nine patients had solitary osseous lesions when first seen but other lesions developed within ten years. The other six had multiple lesions when first seen. In no case was progression to systemic histiocytosis observed. Eight patients were well and in good health seven to 18 years after initial diagnosis. One died indirectly of his disease. Low-dose radiation therapy seems to accelerate healing of lesions.


Agents operating in a multi-agent environment must consider not just their actions, but also those of the other agents in the system. Artificial social systems are a well-known means for coordinating a set of agents, without requiring centralized planning or online negotiation between agents. Artificial social systems enact a social law which restricts the agents from performing some actions under some circumstances. A robust social law prevents the agents from interfering with each other, but does not prevent them from achieving their goals. Previous work has addressed how to check if a given social law, formulated in a variant of ma-strips, is robust, via compilation to planning. However, the social law was manually specified. In this paper, we address the problem of automatically synthesizing a robust social law for a given multi-agent environment. We treat the problem of social law synthesis as a search through the space of possible social laws, relying on the robustness verification procedure as a goal test. We also show how to exploit additional information produced by the robustness verification procedure to guide the search.


Among the proprotein-processing subtilisin-related endoproteases, furin has been a leading candidate for the enzyme that activates the hemagglutinin (HA) of virulent avian influenza viruses. In the present study, we examined the cleavage activity of two other recently isolated ubiquitous subtilisin-related proteases, PACE4 and PC6, using wild-type HA of A/turkey/Ireland/1378/83 (H5N8) and a series of its mutant HAs. Vaccinia virus-expressed wild-type HA was not cleaved in human colon adenocarcinoma LoVo cells, which lack active furin. This processing defect was corrected by the expression of furin and PC6 but not of PACE4 and a control wild-type vaccinia virus. PC6 showed a sequence specificity similar to that with the endogenous proteases in cultured cells. When LoVo cells were infected with a virulent avian virus, A/turkey/Ontario/7732/66 (H5N9), only noninfectious virions were produced because of the lack of HA cleavage. However, when the cells were coinfected with vaccinia virus that expressed either furin or PC6, the avian virus underwent multiple cycles of replication, indicating that both furin and PC6 specifically cleave the virulent virus HA at the authentic site. These data suggest that PC6, as well as furin, can activate virulent avian influenza viruses in vivo, implying the presence of multiple HA cleavage enzymes in animals.


This paper examines the impact of demographic, socioeconomic and risk aversion factors on diversification in Australian household asset portfolios using Wave 6 of the HILDA Survey. Household assets are categorised as home and other property, superannuation, equity and cash investment, business assets, bank accounts, life insurance, trust funds and collectibles. The characteristics examined include family structure and composition, the source and level of income, age, gender and attitudes towards financial risk taking. The diversification measures comprise a naive index, a Hirschman-Herfindahl concentration index, a Shannon entropy index, absolute and relative benchmark indexes and a market asset share index. Tobit models are used to identify the source and magnitude of the factors associated with diversification. The results indicate that Australian household portfolios have very low levels of asset diversification and that the factors analysed exert a major impact. Importantly, the behaviour observed in household portfolios appears to bear little relation to the central predictions of classic portfolio theory.


Abstract. Mohammed MA, Nuryanto A, Kusmintarsih ES. 2021. Genetic differentiation of dengue vector Aedes aegypti in the small geographical scale of Banyumas District, Indonesia based on Cytochrome Oxidase I. Biodiversitas 22: 675-683. Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus, 1762) is a major vector of arboviruses. Currently, Ae. aegypti is spreading throughout the Banyumas District, Central Java, Indonesia and there is little information regarding the genetic variation of this species, yet the information is essential to develop effective vector control measures. The aims of this study was to evaluate the genetic differentiation of Ae. aegypti populations in South Purwokerto and Cilongok subdistricts. Mosquito larvae were collected using oviposition traps inside houses in South Purwokerto and Cilongok (Jastaba village). Twenty larvae of Ae. aegypti, ten from each location were identified and used for genetic analysis. Analysis of mitochondrial cytochrome Oxidase I (mtCOI) produced around 600 bp fragments, detecting ten haplotypes. The haplotype diversity and nucleotide diversity indices were higher in South Purwokerto samples. Tajima and Fu's statistics indicated that the sampled populations were in genetic equilibrium. Indices of demographic history were fit for a spatial expansion model. Higher genetic variation was observed within the population compared to between the populations. Furthermore, strong genetic difference was detected between the two populations, with highly significant FS (p < 0.0001). Weak haplotype sharing occurred between the two populations assuming that the gene flow was facilitated by human transportation. All haplotypes were a cluster of single clades and closely related to haplotypes generated from previous studies in Central Java.


The Internet of Things (IoT) is the network of physical devices, vehicles, home appliances and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and connectivity which enables these objects to connect and exchange data. Each thing is uniquely identifiable through its embedded computing system but is able to inter-operate within the existing Internet infrastructure.

 In the present book, fifteen typical literatures about Advances in Internet of Things published on international authoritative journals were selected to introduce the worldwide newest progress, which contains reviews or original researches on Diffusion of the "Internet of Things" , regulations and scope of the Internet of Things, Ethical Design in the Internet of Things, etc. We hope this book can demonstrate advances in Internet of Things as well as give references to the researchers, students and other related people.


The use of background quasars provides a powerful tool to probe the cool gas in the circumgalactic medium of foreground galaxies. Here, we present new observations with SINFONI and X-Shooter of absorbing-galaxy candidates at z = 0.7-1. We report the detection with both instruments of the Hα emission line of one sub-damped Lyman α (sub-DLA) at zabs = 0.941 87 with log N(H I) = 19.38^{+0.10}_{-0.15} towards SDSS J002133.27+004300.9. We estimate the star formation rate: SFR = 3.6 ± 2.2 M⊙ yr-1 in that system. A detailed kinematic study indicates a dynamical mass Mdyn = 109.9±0.4 M⊙ and a halo mass Mhalo = 1011.9±0.5 M⊙. In addition, we report the [O II] detection with X-Shooter of another DLA at zabs = 0.7402 with log N(H I) = 20.4 ± 0.1 towards Q0052+0041 and an estimated SFR of 5.3 ± 0.7 M⊙ yr-1. Three other objects are detected in the continuum with X-Shooter but the nature and redshift of two of these objects are unconstrained due to the absence of emission lines, while the third object might be at the redshift of the quasar. We use the objects detected in our whole N(H I)-selected SINFONI survey to compute the metallicity difference between the galaxy and the absorbing gas, δ _{H I}(X), where a positive (negative) value indicates infall (outflow). We compare this quantity with the quasar line-of-sight alignment with the galaxy's major (minor) axis, another tracer of infall (outflow). We find that these quantities do not correlate as expected from simple assumptions. Additional observations are necessary to relate these two independent probes of gas flows around galaxies.


This research was carried out to examine the relationship between mental skills and anxiety interpretation in secondary school hockey athletes. There are 108 participants (54 males, 54 females) aged between 14 and 17. These participants are athletes from three secondary
schools. The average age of the participant is 15.17 (SD = 1.18). The results indicated that the direction of anxiety interpretation between the male and female athletes are the same but different in terms of intensity (coginitive anxiety interpretation direction, somatic anxiety and self confidence). Based on the predicted mental skills of athletes, it was concluded that self belief (M = 1.54 for males and M = 1.06 for females) was seen as the motivating factor or facilitative to the performance of the athletes. There was also a difference on how mental skills are related to anxiety intensity and self confidence. Recommendations for future research were also suggested.


SINGH, l� RA B.: Lenticular and lenticular-like bedding in the Pre carobrian Telemark Suite, Southern Norway. Norsk Geologisk Tidsskrift, Vol. 48, pp. 165-170, Oslo 1968. A thick succession with lenticular and lenticular-like bedding is described from the basal part of the Seljord quartzites of the Telemark suite. As a result of slumping, concretionary processes, and metamorphism this succession has been modified so that it gives a false impression of being a quartz conglomerate with flattened pebbles. A possible environment of deposition was one of a shallow sea in which tida! currents were active.


The overriding clinical and academic challenge that inspires this work is the lack of a universally accepted, objective, and feasible method of measuring facial deformity; and, by extension, the lack of a reliable means of assessing the benefits and shortcomings of craniofacial surgical interventions. We propose a machine learning-based method to create a scale of facial deformity by producing numerical scores that reflect the level of deformity. An object detector that is constructed using a cascade function of Haar features has been trained with a rich dataset of normal faces in addition to a collection of images that does not contain faces. After that, the confidence score of the face detector was used as a gauge of facial abnormality. The scores were compared with a benchmark that is based on human appraisals obtained using a survey of a range of facial deformities. Interestingly, the overall Pearson's correlation coefficient of the machine scores with respect to the average human score exceeded 0.96.


Thromboangiitis obliterans (Buerger's disease) is a rare, nonatherosclerotic segmental inflammatory vasculitis that commonly involves small- and medium-sized vessels. Ischemic tenderness impairs patient quality of life and places patients at high risk for amputation. The only definitive known treatment is smoking cessation. Far-infrared (FIR) therapy has shown promising effects on blood flow and healing, but its use in patients with Buerger's disease has not been reported. A 31-year-old man with a 15-pack-year history of smoking, no drug abuse, and no other significant medical history, trauma, or family history diagnosed with thromboangiitis obliterans presented for care at the authors' clinic. Claudication with severe tenderness of both legs and an ischemic ulcer over the right big toe were noted. After surgical debridement of the devitalized tissue, the patient received FIR therapy (5-25 µm, peak at 8.2 µm) applied 25 cm above the surface of the ischemic wound for 40 minutes, 3 times per week. The patient also tapered his smoking. The wound started to heal; granulation tissue was evident and, after 8 weeks, the right lower extremities gradually rewarmed from 24° C to 28° C as measured on the dorsal foot. His pain level decreased from 8 to 5. FIR therapy was continued until the patient stopped smoking (8 months). At the 10-month follow-up visit, the wound had healed completely and resting pain had improved. The results of this case study suggest additional research to explore the potential effects of FIR on patients with thromboangiitis obliterans is warranted.


Purpose - The study aimed at understanding the level of inefficiencies in the potato market chain. Farmers sell potato to traders but continue to complain of limited market access and low profits. The purpose of this paper is to determine market efficiency and profits of the potato market chain, and factors that influence the profits. Design/methodology/approach - The study focussed on potato farmers, traders and small-scale processors. It was conducted in Kabale and Mbale districts being the major potato producing areas in Uganda, and Kampala being a major potato market. Data were collected from 180 farmers, 60 traders and 32 small-scale processors. Descriptive and regression methods were used to analyse the data. Findings - There were three major potato market chains and all were profitable and efficient. The farmer-buyer node was the most efficient (efficiencies of 128-159 per cent). The trader node efficiency ranged between 56 and 81 per cent. Sex of chain actor, group marketing, contract duration and distance to market were among the factors that affected profits. Research limitations/implications - Processors considered were those operating on very small scale, hence results do not apply to large-scale processing. Consumers were not included but the data and results are adequate for the study objective. Originality/value - This paper provides empirical information that serves as a basis to adopt market options for increased benefits to various chain actors.


Road situation analysis in Interactive Intelligent Driver-Assistance and Safety Warning (I2DASW) systems involves estimation and prediction of the position and size of various on-road obstacles. Real-time processing, given incomplete and uncertain information, is a challenge for current object detection and tracking technologies. This paper proposed a development framework and novel algorithms for road situation analysis based on driving action behavior, where the safety situation is analyzed by simulating real driving action behaviors. First, we review recent development and trends in road situation analysis to provide perspective for the related research. Second, we introduce a road situation analysis framework, where onboard sensors provide information about drivers, traffic environment, and vehicles. Finally, on the basis of the previous frameworks, we proposed multiple-obstacle detection and tracking algorithms using multiple sensors including radar, lidar, and a camera, where a decentralized track-to-track fusion approach is introduced to fuse these sensors. In order to reduce the effect of obstacle shape and appearance, we cluster lidar data and then classify obstacles into two categories: static and moving objects. Future collisions are assessed by computation of local tracks of moving obstacles using extended Kalman filter, maximum likelihood estimation to fuse distributed local tracks into global tracks, and finally, computation of future collision distribution from the global tracks. Our experimental results show that our approach is efficient for road situation evaluation and prediction


Antimony is one of the most toxic pollutants in industrial and mineral wastewaters threatening the life of humans and other creatures. We simulated the adsorption of antimony in the presence of nano-zero valent iron (nZVI) adsorbent, on kaolinite and in the presence of nZVI coated on kaolinite from mineral wastewater using VISUAL MINTEQ 3.1 software. Our aim was to determine the factors affecting the adsorption of antimony by applying simulation. The simulation was performed using an adsorption model of a diffuse layer model. The results of the simulation indicated that the nZVI concentration, initial concentrations of antimony and pH factor are effective on the adsorption of antimony. In the conducted stimulation, the optimum pH was 2-5 and the highest adsorption occurred in an acidic state. With increasing initial concentrations of antimony in the simulation, we concluded that nZVI had absorbed various concentrations above 90% and, by increasing the concentration of nZVI, antimony adsorption rate increased. The increased surface area of nZVI and the expansion of more interchangeable surfaces available for reaction with antimony ions causes more antimony ions to be adsorbed. In all cases, the coefficient of determination between the laboratory results and the model predictions that was obtained was more than 0.9.


This article examines data presented in Katz' book, Boiling Energy: Community Healing among the Kalahari Kung, particularly with regard to plant drugs present in the community during the 1968 visit. The author argues that the similarity of the Bushman trance state, kia and that of drug-induced altered states of consciousness has been paid too little attention in the research, and that an enigma currently exists with regard to the degree to which plant drugs may have influenced the !Kung trance phenomenon and healing beliefs. The author discusses the existing evidence for plant drug use based on Katz' research and the specimens currently on hand at the Harvard Botanical Museum herbarium, and presents a Table which contrasts drug-induced behaviors and ideologies of societies known or suspected to have used mind-altering drugs with similar behavior/beliefs of the !Kung. It is suggested that the influence of a number of psychoactive drugs may have played a much more pivotal role in Bushman behavior and belief than is generally acknowledged.


Automated slicing aims to identify subsets of evaluation data where a trained model performs anomalously. This is an important problem for machine learning pipelines in production since it plays a key role in model debugging and comparison, as well as the diagnosis of fairness issues. Scalability has become a critical requirement for any automated slicing system due to the large search space of possible slices and the growing scale of data. We present Autoslicer, a scalable system that searches for problematic slices through distributed metric computation and hypothesis testing. We develop an efficient strategy that reduces the search space through pruning and prioritization. In the experiments, we show that our search strategy finds most of the anomalous slices by inspecting a small portion of the search space.


Micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) based capacitive pressure sensors are typically fabricated using silicon micromachining techniques. In this paper, novel liquid crystal polymer (LCP) based capacitive pressure sensors, fabricated using printed circuit processing techniques, are reported. LCP exhibits good dimensional stability, material flexibility, high chemical resistance, and extremely low moisture absorption, which makes it suitable for MEMS applications. The pressure sensor comprises of a cylindrical cavity formed by a sandwich of LCP substrate, LCP spacer layer with circular holes and LCP top layer. The bottom electrode and the top electrode of the capacitive pressure sensor are defined on the top surface of the LCP substrate and the bottom surface of the top LCP layer, respectively. A typical pressure sensor with a diaphragm diameter of 3.2 mm provides a total capacitance change of 0.7627 pF for an applied pressure in the range of 0-170 kPa.


We study a fundamental problem in data analytics: similarity search under edit distance (or, edit similarity search for short). In this problem we try to build an index on a set of n strings S = s1, ..., sn, with the goal of answering the following two types of queries: (1) the threshold query: given a query string t and a threshold K, output all si ∈ S such that the edit distance between si and t is at most K; (2) the top-k query: given a query string t, output the k strings in S that are closest to t in terms of edit distance. Edit similarity search has numerous applications in bioinformatics, databases, data mining, information retrieval, etc., and has been studied extensively in the literature. In this paper we propose a novel algorithm for edit similarity search named MinSearch. The algorithm is randomized, and we can show mathematically that it outputs the correct answer with high probability for both types of queries. We have conducted an extensive set of experiments on MinSearch, and compared it with the best existing algorithms for edit similarity search. Our experiments show that MinSearch has a clear advantage (often in orders of magnitudes) against the best previous algorithms in query time, and MinSearch is always one of the best among all competitors in the indexing time and space usage. Finally, MinSearch achieves perfect accuracy for both types of queries on all datasets that we have tested.


Samples were collected monthly from 10 different stations between April, 1993, and March, 1994, in order to determine the Chironomidae fauna of Gumuldur Stream in Izmir, Turkey. Ten species were found in the stream as determined from qualitative analyses of the samples. Of these, 5 species belong to the subfamily Orthocladiinae and the remaining 5 belong to the subfamily Chironominae. This is the first study reporting the existence of these species in Gumuldur Stream.


Context. Clouds are ubiquitous in exoplanet atmospheres and they represent a challenge for the model interpretation of their spectra. When generating a large number of model spectra, complex cloud models often prove too costly numerically, whereas more efficient models may be overly simplified.
Aims. We aim to constrain the atmospheric properties of the directly imaged planet HR 8799e with a free retrieval approach.
Methods. We used our radiative transfer code petitRADTRANS for generating the spectra, which we coupled to the PyMultiNest tool. We added the effect of multiple scattering which is important for treating clouds. Two cloud model parameterizations are tested: the first incorporates the mixing and settling of condensates, the second simply parameterizes the functional form of the opacity.
Results. In mock retrievals, using an inadequate cloud model may result in atmospheres that are more isothermal and less cloudy than the input. Applying our framework on observations of HR 8799e made with the GPI, SPHERE, and GRAVITY, we find a cloudy atmosphere governed by disequilibrium chemistry, confirming previous analyses. We retrieve that C/O = 0.60−0.08+0.07. Other models have not yet produced a well constrained C/O value for this planet. The retrieved C/O values of both cloud models are consistent, while leading to different atmospheric structures: either cloudy or more isothermal and less cloudy. Fitting the observations with the self-consistent Exo-REM model leads to comparable results, without constraining C/O.
Conclusions. With data from the most sensitive instruments, retrieval analyses of directly imaged planets are possible. The inferred C/O ratio of HR 8799e is independent of the cloud model and thus appears to be a robust. This C/O is consistent with stellar, which could indicate that the HR 8799e formed outside the CO2 or CO iceline. As it is the innermost planet of the system, this constraint could apply to all HR 8799 planets.


The principle that courts should construe statutes to avoid constitutional problems that might require their invalidation has been conventionally accepted by both state and federal courts at least since Justice Brandeis set out this prudential requirement in Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority in 1936. Almost 50 years later in Michigan v. Long, the United States Supreme Court adopted a bright line standard to determine when it was appropriate for the Court to review state court decisions that discussed both state and federal law in resolving an issue. The Court held that it would be free to review all such cases in the future unless the state court's opinion included 'a plain statement' that it was based on an 'independent' and 'adequate' state law ground. Left open is the question of how these long accepted rules of constitutional adjudication fit together? What if the state court does not look to federal constitutional law to resolve the merits of a constitutional claim, but instead discusses federal constitutional law as a basis for giving a challenged state statute a narrow construction to avoid having to reach the federal constitutional question. To what extent, if any, should the Supreme Court be able to review such state court decisions under the authority of Michigan v. Long? In reconciling these doctrines in this article, we suggest that both the Ashwander avoidance principle and the presumption favoring Supreme Court review in Michigan v. Long are both best understood as judicial attempts to respond to concerns about political accountability. Further, we argue that the plain statement requirement of Michigan v. Long more effectively furthers political accountability goals than does Ashwander's emphasis on the narrow construction of statutes to avoid constitutional conflicts. Building on this foundation, we provide a framework by which the Supreme Court might apply the Michigan v. Long requirement to state court decisions in which state law is interpreted to minimize the risk of federal constitutional violations.


This paper takes the delta oasis of Weigan and Kuqa rivers in Xinjiang as the study area. Fusion image of SAR (Radar-sat image) combined with visible spectrum remote sensing image (TM image) is used to extract soil and vegetation water content in arid oasis. Based on the Normalized Difference Moisture Index extracted from homochronous visible spectrum re- mote sensing data, this thesis utilizes "water-cloud model" to wipe off vegetation influence from total backscattering coefficient of radar data and sets up the relationship between soil backscattering coefficient and soil moisture. Correlation coefficient for HH Polarization is R 2 =0.5227, for HV Polarization is R 2 =0.3277. Result shows that in arid and semi-arid area where the main crops are cotton and corn, the combination of C- band HH polarization radar data with visible image performs well in the study


Transitioning to university may be especially difficult for students who expect perfection from themselves. Self-critical perfectionism has consistently been linked to poor mental health. The current study compares a diathesis-stress and a downward-spiral model to determine why self-critical perfectionism is detrimental for mental health during this transition. First-year students (N = 658) were recruited before beginning university in August and contacted again in October, January, and April. Participants completed measures on perfectionism, stress, and depressive symptoms. Evidence was found for a downward-spiral model with self-critical perfectionism but not a diathesis-stress model. Students higher in self-critical perfectionism were more likely to experience increased stress and depressive symptoms in a circular and additive manner. Conversely, students higher in personal-standards perfectionism experienced less stress and subsequent depressive symptoms. This research provides a theoretical model for why self-critical perfectionism is related to poor mental-health outcomes that become sustained over time.


A new species of the genus Pichia has been recovered 38 times in the Sonoran Desert from "rot pockets" of cereoid cacti and from Drosophila species which utilize the cacti. We have named the species Pichia amethionina due to its absolute requirement for methionine or cysteine. P. amethionina is heterothallic and demonstrates an agglutination reaction when opposite mating types are mixed. Two varieties are designated based on the combination of mannitol assimilation and ecological habitat. P. amethionina var. amethionina, the type variety, was recovered from cacti in the subtribe Stenocereinae and cannot assimilate mannitol, whereas P. amethionina var. pachycereana was found in cacti of the subtribe Pachycereinae and can assimilate mannitol. Results are given which demonstrate that the assimilation of mannitol is controlled by a single genetic locus. An evaluation of the interfertility and postmating viability among the two varieties and possibly identical organisms was made. The base composition of the nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid (average of 10 strains) is 33.05 ± 0.19 mol% guanine plus cytosine. The type strain of P. amethionina and of the type variety, P. amethionina var. amethionina, is UCD-FST 76-401B (=ATCC 36080 = CBS 6940). The type strain of P. amethionina var. pachycereana is UCD-FST 76-384A (=ATCC 36079 = CBS 6943).


This paper discusses the interrelations among wealth, reservation wages and search effort. A theoretical job search model predicts wealth to affect reservation wages positively, and search effort negatively. Subsequently, reduced form equations for reservation wages and search intensity take these theoretical results to the data. The data used is a Dutch panel, containing detailed information on individual wealth and income, subjective reservation wages and proxies for search effort. The main empirical results show that wealth has a significantly positive effect on reservation wages of both household heads and spouses, and a significantly negative effect on the search effort of household heads.


Elastic energy is critical for amplifying muscle power during the propulsive phase of anuran jumping. In this study, we use toads (Bufo marinus) to address whether elastic recoil is also involved after take-off to help flex the limbs before landing. The potential for such spring-like behaviour stems from the unusually flexed configuration of a toad's hindlimbs in a relaxed state. Manual extension of the knee beyond approximately 90° leads to the rapid development of passive tension in the limb as underlying elastic tissues become stretched. We hypothesized that during take-off, the knee regularly extends beyond this, allowing passive recoil to help drive limb flexion in mid-air. To test this, we used high-speed video and electromyography to record hindlimb kinematics and electrical activity in a hindlimb extensor (semimembranosus) and flexor (iliofibularis). We predicted that hops in which the knees extended further during take-off would require less knee flexor recruitment during recovery. Knees extended beyond 90° in over 80% of hops, and longer hops involved greater degrees of knee extension during take-off and more intense semimembranosus activity. However, knee flexion velocities during recovery were maintained despite a significant decrease in iliofibularis intensity in longer hops, results consistent with elastic recoil playing a role.


Spyware poses a serious threat of privacy infringement to unassuming internet users across the globe. Existing European legislation attempts to protect end-users from unethical processing of their personal data. Spyware technologies, however, are skirting these laws and often times breaking them entirely. Outlawing the technology used in spyware and strengthening the legal consent requirement to mine data are statutory solutions that can prevent spyware users from skirting the law. An internationally standardized technology education system for the judiciaries in Europe and the U.S. can help ensure that when spyware users do break the law, they cannot hide by escaping from one nation to another without being held accountable. Transnational improvements are necessary to remedy the global spyware epidemic.


This paper attempts to describe part of the history of Chinese rural migration to urban industrial areas. Using a case study of a township in Sichuan, the author examines a type of rural development which she defines as a "bottom-up" style strategy of regional development. Different types of social mobility are observed in the case study, and over its long history, migration in the township has offered diverse means of social mobility to the local peasants. The paper concludes by considering the diversity and limits of Chinese social mobility at this stage.


A new nonlinear disturbance observer (NDO) for robotic manipulators is derived in this paper. The global exponential stability of the proposed disturbance observer (DO) is guaranteed by selecting design parameters, which depend on the maximum velocity and physical parameters of robotic manipulators. This new observer overcomes the disadvantages of existing DOs, which are designed or analyzed by linear system techniques. It can be applied in robotic manipulators for various purposes such as friction compensation, independent joint control, sensorless torque control and fault diagnosis. The performance of the proposed observer is demonstrated by the friction estimation and compensation for a two-link robotic manipulator. Both simulation and experimental results show the NDO works well.


Corrections and Clarifications The Research News article "Obesity sheds its secrets" by Trisha Gura (7 Feb., p. 751) erroneously attributed the initial cloning of the agouti gene to Bill Wilkison's team at Glaxo Wellcome in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The mouse version of the gene was instead cloned in 1992 by Richard Woychik at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and his colleagues Scott Bultman and Edward Michaud. Woychik also collaborated with Wilkison on the 1994 cloning of the human agouti gene. The Introduction to the Letters section of 13 December (p. 1821) should not have implied that the quartz spear point shown on the cover of the 19 April 1996 issue (and reprinted with the Introduction) was found at the excavation at Caverna da Pedra Pintada at Monte Alegre in the Brazilian Amazon. The point was found at a nearby site on the Tapajós River.


Background With the looming fear of costs for cancer care escalating over the next decade, the general aim of policy makers the world over is directing efforts towards "bending the cost curve". Pancreatic cancer is on the rise and pancreatoduodenectomy is the only curative option available. The aim of the current report is to analyze the published literature on data addressing the issue of costs in pancreatic cancer surgery (with a focus on pancreatoduodenectomy) in an effort to determine how disparate are the lines of investigation of health economics and quality indicators of surgery. Methods A systematic and comprehensive search of major reference databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMed, and the Cochrane Library) was undertaken using a combination of text words "cost", "pancreatoduodenectomy", "pancreaticoduodenectomy", "health care", "surgery". The search was restricted to human studies published in literature but was not language restricted. Results The initial search yielded 116 studies of which 25 manuscripts were retrieved for further evaluation. Of the 25 studies retrieved, 7 manuscripts were excluded from the final analysis as the variables analyzed did not significantly influence the costs of pancreatoduodenectomy. The factors most frequently noted (≥2 studies) to influence costs of pancreatoduodenectomy were hospital and surgeon volume the occurrence of complications and the implementation of clinical pathways. Conclusions Using pancreatoduodenectomy, as an example, it is evident that the key to 'bending the cancer cost curve' is designing strategies to improve quality of the not only the procedure, but the process. Costs and quality cannot be separated. Reduction in costs can, and must only, be achieved by targeting excellence. Received September 20th, 2015 Accepted October 30th, 2015


Radio science (RS) experiment in Akatsuki mission observes the vertical structure of the Venusian atmosphere from about 35 km to 90 km altitude. Akatsuki RS mainly probes the low and middle latitude regions thanks to the near-equatorial orbit in contrast to the previous radio occultation experiments using polar orbiters. By using more than 30 profiles of the temperature and the pressure obtained by 2017, the background profiles and the local time-dependent structures were studied. The pressures below the cloud layer are systematically different from those in the Venus International Reference Atmosphere that was developed based on the measurements made by early 1980s. Significant local-time dependence of the pressure below the cloud was also seen, suggesting downward propagation of thermal tides that are generated near the cloud top. Such thermal tides can transport zonal momentum from the lower atmosphere to the upper atmosphere, thereby sustaining the super-rotation.


This paper describes the principles of economics and their application to oral health and health care. After illustrating the economic determinants of oral health, the demand for oral health care is discussed with particular reference to asymmetric information between patient and provider. The reasons for the market failure in (oral) health care and its implications for efficiency and equity are explained. Moreover, it is described how economic evaluation can be used to maximize oral health gains in scenarios of scarce resources. The behavioural aspects of patients´ demand for and dental professionals´ provision of oral health services are discussed. Finally, methods for an optimized planning of the dental workforce are discussed.


This paper aims to investigate the effect of human resource development practices on creating a learning organization. More specifically the effect of each one of the HRD practices (training and development, organization development, and career development) on creating learning organizations (through Peter Senge's five disciplines) will be investigated. The study is conducted in the banking sector, in Cairo-Egypt, as one of the most challenging sectors in driving the economy. A mix of qualitative and quantitative approaches is used in this study. Semi-structured in-depth personal ten interviews are conducted with senior HR managers to get an insight of the relationship between HRD practices and the learning organization which will eventually assist in the interpretation of the employees' self-administered questionnaire analysis. The questionnaire sample consists of 285 participants who were drawn from different private banks working in Cairo-Egypt. A convenience sampling procedure was applied to reach the participants in their workplace. The study indicates that HRD has an impact on the overall learning organization in the banking sector; as it affects System Thinking and Mental Models the most; followed by Shared Vision, Team Learning and Personal Mastery respectively. The study also found that the three dimensions of HRD affect LO; where Training and Development is the most effective HRD practice, as it is the only one that has an impact on all of Senge's five disciplines. Organization Development is the second HRD practice affecting Learning Organization and Career Development is the third; as both practices affect only three of the five disciplines.


Based on the multiscale character of wavelet transform, the method of wavelet transform de-noising (WTDN) is introduced to improve the signal-noise ratio (SNR) of sampled data and to enhance the accuracy of pole identification of system with N4SID (numerical algorithms for subspace state system identification) method. The WTDN method does not require extra limit of the frequency range for the processed signal, and does not need a prior estimate of impulse response for identified system. So it is especially suitable to de-noise the wide-band signal and the noisy impulse response of the blind system. The results of numerical simulation indicate that the WTDN method is reliable. The WTDN method is used to process the sampled data from actual preamplifier coupled to a gas detector. The experimental results show that the WTDN method improves effectively the SNR of sampled data, which can help to enhance the accuracy in pole identification of system with the N4SID method.


Early development in fish is dependent on essential nutrients present in the egg. Vitamins E and A are critical to the normal development of fish embryos. Vitamin E functions primarily as an antioxidant to protect unsaturated lipids from oxidative degradation. Vitamin A or its provitamin carotenoid forms support growth, are required for the differentiation and maintenance of epithelial tissue and can be converted to forms of the vitamin that are potent morphogens. Fish cannot synthesise either of the vitamins, so the maternal dietary content of each prior to oogenesis is an important determinant of reproductive fitness. Here we review the basic metabolism of vitamins E and A and carotenoids and their processing from the maternal diet and deposition into eggs. Evidence for the link between levels of each of the vitamins in eggs and measures of reproductive fitness are also discussed.


Background At the Division of Functional Genomics, Research Center for Bioscience and Technology, Tottori University, we have been making an effort to establish a genetic testing facility that can provide the same screening procedures conducted worldwide. Methods Direct sequencing of PCR products is the main method to detect point mutations, small deletions and insertions. Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) was used to detect large deletions or insertions. Expansion of the repeat was analyzed for triplet repeat diseases. Original primers were constructed for 41 diseases when the reported primers failed to amplify the gene. Prediction of functional effect of human nsSNPs (PolyPhen) was used for evaluation of novel mutations. Results From January 2000 to September 2013, a total of 1,006 DNA samples were subjected to genetic testing in the Division of Functional Genomics, Research Center for Bioscience and Technology, Tottori University. The hospitals that requested genetic testing were located in 43 prefectures in Japan and in 11 foreign countries. The genetic testing covered 62 diseases, and mutations were detected in 287 out of 1,006 with an average mutation detection rate of 28.5%. There were 77 samples for prenatal diagnosis. The number of samples has rapidly increased since 2010. Conclusion In 2013, the next-generation sequencers were introduced in our facility and are expected to provide more comprehensive genetic testing in the near future. Nowadays, genetic testing is a popular and powerful tool for diagnosis of many genetic diseases. Our genetic testing should be further expanded in the future.


The Xiaowan Hydropower Project is located in the middle and lower reaches of the Lancang River in Yunnan Province, China. The arch dam of this project, with a height of 294.5m, is by far the highest dam of its type that has been completed in the world. The great water potential makes it necessary to assess the seepage behavior in the dam-foundation system. Due to the complexity of geological conditions and seepage control system, the research is full of challenges. In this paper, the finite element method (FEM) is adopted to simulate the three-dimensional seepage field. The initial flow method and the boundary pre-adjustment method are combined to obtain the seepage free surface and overflow surface under complicated boundary conditions. The hydraulic potential contours, seepage gradient, drainage discharges, and so on, are all analysed and the results show that the seepage control system is reasonable and effective. Furthermore, the results of the seepage field can provide suitable seepage load in the stress-strain and stability analysis for the dam-foundation system of Xianwan. At present, the project is in good operation.


A hybrid model based on nonlinear control systems and on control affine systems is investigated. For both cases the defining dynamics (or vector fields) at a given time may undergo abrupt changes. Using the framework of viability theory, a controller is proposed that keeps the states within some user-specified region. This desired region is defined by constant bounds on individual states as well as by bounds on state-dependent functions. A viable cascade controller (VCC) is introduced which combines a typical (existing) controller (C) with a viable controller (VC). We assume that a design for C is given. The design of VC is based on computation of the velocity controlled regulation map which provides a set of control inputs that will both keep the states within the viable region as well as prevent these states from approaching the boundary of the viable region at high velocity. Theoretical background for the design of VCC is presented with a simple example which is used to demonstrate some of the computations. This approach is then applied to a batch polymerization process and simulation results are provided.


Abstract:This article highlights the activities of Soviet Central Asian intellectuals within the Soviet Committee for Solidarity with African and Asian Countries (SKSSAA). It focuses on the activities of the SKSSAA directly related to UNESCO. The article's main argument is that the SKSSAA activated the UNESCO East-West Project (1956–1966) with the specific aim to advance a historical agenda that posited the Afro-Asian Peoples' Solidarity at its center. When looking at the UNESCO Peoples' History of Asia project, this article examines the intermediary role of Soviet Central Asian intellectuals, and it suggests that their approach to history resonated with lived experiences of complex solidarities that often transcended the boundaries of states. While there were political reasons for the disintegration of the UNESCO History of Asia project, such as the Indo-Chinese border war, the UNESCO regimes of professionalization seriously undermined the imaginary landscapes that the Peoples' History of Asia project sought to sustain.


Contraceptive prevalence is rising and fertility is falling in Kenya, and the speed with which these changes are occurring suggests that Kenya has passed a turning point and entered a transition. In this paper the author explores these recent trends with data from the 1989 Kenya Demographic Health Survey and several other small-scale surveys and qualitative research studies. Underlying the changed contraceptive – fertility behaviour, there appears to have been a major shift in attitudes regarding desired family size. In the second part of the paper the earlier almost universally pessimistic predictions regarding fertility in Kenya, which now appear to have been wrong are considered. Since Kenya has emerged as a bellwether among sub-saharan African states, these earlier predictions are re-examined with a view to learning from their mistakes. It is concluded that incorrect theoretical paradigms and assumptions led to the erroneous results, rather more than incorrect data, or analysis.


The Antibacterial activity of four different extract viz. hexane, ethyl acetate, methanol and aqueous of six medicinal plants of Gujarat, India each belonging to different families were evaluated against mastitis pathogens viz. Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, E.coli, Pseudomonas mendocina, Micrococcus pyogens. The in vitro antibacterial activity was performed by agar well diffusion method. The aqueous and hexane extracts were less active but methanol and ethyl acetate extracts showed high degree of antibacterial activity against the tested bacterial strains. The most active antimicrobial plants were Rauvolfia serpentina, Cinnamomum zeylanicum and Azadirachta indica. The Staphylococcus aureus was the most resistant bacteria while Pseudomonas mendocina was the most susceptible bacteria. Amongst the plant species screened, methanol extract of Rauvolfia serpentina root showed best antibacterial activity. Primary qualitative analysis of phytochemicals showed presence of different phytochemicals in the extracts used in this study.


Since the introduction of the lasso in regression, various sparse methods have been developped in an unsupervised context like sparsePCA which is a combination of feature selection and dimension reduction. Their interest is to simplify the interpretation of the pseudo principal components since each is expressed as a linear combination of only a small number of variables. The disadvantages lie on the one hand in the difficulty of choosing the number of non-zero coefficients in the absence of a criterion and on the other hand in the loss of orthogonality properties for the components and/or the loadings. In this paper we are interested in sparse variants of correspondence analysis (CA) for large contingency tables like documents-terms matrices. We use the fact that CA is both a PCA (or a weighted SVD) and a canonical analysis, in order to develop column sparse CA and rows and columns doubly sparse CA.


Background and Objective: There is no standard questionnaire on smoking cessation in smokers according to precaution adoption process model (PAPM). Therefore, the present study aimed to design and psychometrically evaluate a smoking cessation instrument in patients hospitalized in Babol, Iran, according to PAPM. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive and instrument validation study. In this study, 470 smokers hospitalized in hospitals affiliated to the Medical University of Babol, Iran, were selected based on the available sampling method. Those who were highly dependent on nicotine were selected. The designed questionnaire was examined in terms of face validity, content validity, construct validity, and internal consistency. The reliability of the questionnaire was examined using Cronbach's alpha and internal consistency. Results: Most of the people were with moderate dependence on nicotine (86%) at the fourth level (28.9%) of the pattern. The results of content validity showed content validity ratio of 0.83 and content validity index of 0.98. Seven factors were extracted from exploratory factor analysis. The results of exploratory factor analysis according to Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure and Bartlett test were 0.93 and 1124.63, respectively. The results of confirmatory factor analysis of instruments for 470 subjects were extracted with X2 and degree of freedom of 2.86, mean of error square of 0.06, goodness of fit index of 0.9, and adaptive goodness of fit of 0.9 Cronbach's alpha (0.93) and correlation (0.99) confirmed the reliability of instrument in test–retest method. Conclusion: The findings showed that smoking cessation instrument based on PAPM has acceptable reliability and validity to determine the behavior of smoking in smoker men and can be used in studies on change in behavior and designing intervention programs to stop smoking.


Every theatralite developed an open system of transformation/transmutation or that transmutation of something in something other (in Bogatyrev 1971: 31 — transformation in different form) which systematized the sign components on the stage and organized the creation of stage semiosis by the actor, transformed into image, through the stage space, costume, musical environment up to the communication with the spectator and his interpretation. This work keeps an attitude towards theatre, as semiotic system, has appeared as configuration by functions; a structure which illustrated other structures and in its own multifunctionality requires a specific communicative environment, representation and aesthetical functionality, what is transform it into a system. In the process of communication between stage and audience that dialectics of the relationships between actor and spectator creates the basic component of performance, and, in the process of representation, theatre manifested its basic function — construction of the architectonics of theater semiosis or whole of this, which we divided on: actor's play and transmutation (stage figure), stage architecture, costume, musical environment, light design, etc. In that performativity the theatre representation are constructed by a triple-componential utterance, configured by the actor, stage figure (transmutation) and dramatic character or if we defined it by the semiotic point of view — interaction between the subject of performance, its basic theme or concept and the purely authors utterance (speech). The representation of persona dramatica, as a structural combination from the autonomous and informational sign structures, characterized the art of performance as a representational, in a sense of presented; and in a same time, the performance has appeared the meaningless images and from that point of view, it is representative art as a combination of these appears on the stage, even in the sense of notations.


Oncolytic viruses have emerged as a promising strategy for cancer therapy due to their dual ability to selectively infect and lyse tumor cells and to induce systemic anti-tumor immunity. Among various candidate viruses, coxsackievirus group B (CVBs) have attracted increasing attention in recent years. CVBs are a group of small, non-enveloped, single-stranded, positive-sense RNA viruses, belonging to species human Enterovirus B in the genus Enterovirus of the family Picornaviridae. Preclinical studies have demonstrated potent anti-tumor activities for CVBs, particularly type 3, against multiple cancer types, including lung, breast, and colorectal cancer. Various approaches have been proposed or applied to enhance the safety and specificity of CVBs towards tumor cells and to further increase their anti-tumor efficacy. This review summarizes current knowledge and strategies for developing CVBs as oncolytic viruses for cancer virotherapy. The challenges arising from these studies and future prospects are also discussed in this review.


Background
Previous studies have shown that enteral nutrition (EN) helps reduce severe postoperative complications after esophagectomy. However, the incidence of jejunostomy-related complications is approximately 30%. We evaluated the operative outcomes in patients who did not receive EN via feeding jejunostomy after esophagectomy.

Methods
We retrospectively reviewed 76 consecutive patients with esophageal cancer who received radical esophagectomy. Operative outcomes were compared between 33 patients who received postoperative EN via feeding jejunostomy (group A; from May 2014 to September 2015) and 43 patients who did not receive EN via feeding jejunostomy (group B; from September 2015 to December 2017).

Results
The American Society of Anesthesiologists performance status score of the patients in group B was significantly higher than that of patients in group A (P=0.002). The postoperative morbidity rate was comparable between the two groups (group A, 30.3% vs. group B, 44.2%, P=0.217). No significant between-group differences were observed in the incidence of infectious complications, postoperative hospital stay, readmission within 30 days after discharge, or pneumonia after discharge within 6 months. The incidence of bowel obstruction was significantly higher in group A than in group B (group A, 9.1% vs. group B, 0%, P=0.044). Two patients in group B required nutritional support via total parenteral nutrition due to bilateral vocal cord palsy or pneumonia.

Conclusions
Jejunostomy-related bowel obstruction in the patients with feeding jejunostomy was significantly higher than that in the patients without jejunostomy. There was no increase in postoperative complications (including pneumonia) in the patients who did not receive EN via feeding jejunostomy. Our results suggest that routine feeding jejunostomy may not be necessary for all patients undergoing esophagectomy.


AIM: The recommended treatment for acute cholecystitis is early laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) within 72 hours after onset of symptoms. However, palliative treatment using percutaneous transhepatic gallbladder drainage (PTGBD) is often chosen for clinical and logistical reasons, including difficulty performing early surgery due to manpower constraints. The goal of this study was to investigate the clinical significance of PTGBD on the outcome of patients with cholecystitis in our hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Relationships between preoperative drainage status (treatment with or without PTGBD) and clinicopathologic factors were examined in 190 patients with cholecystitis who underwent LC. The short-term impact of preoperative drainage on prognosis was evaluated by univariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS: Preoperative PTGBD was performed in 24 patients (12.6%). The average period between PTGBD and LC was 21.0 days. Preoperative PTGBD had a significant correlation with operation time and length of stay (LOS) after surgery (p<0.0001). In patients aged ≥65, preoperative PTGBD was found to be a significant short-term prognostic factor in univariate analysis (LOS: 10.43 vs. 5.39 days, p<0.0001) and multivariate analysis (p=0.0488). CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative PTGBD is correlated with an extended hospital stay after surgery and is an independent short-term prognostic factor in cholecystitis patients aged ≥65 years old.


Introduction: Fixed orthodontic treatment causes chronic low grade irritation on the oral mucosa. Tobacco smoking is considered to be a risk factor in the development of oral cancer. This study involves a cytomorphometric analysis on the buccal mucosal cells in patients undergoing fixed orthodontic treatment who are tobacco smokers.
Methods: Exfoliated buccal mucosal cells were obtained from orthodontic patients (smokers & non-smokers) as well as smokers and non-smokers who are not undergoing any orthodontic treatment. Smears were stained with rapid PAP stain and digital images of 50 cells were analysed using the Image J software.
Results: Statistical analysis revealed that there were significant increase in the values of nuclear and cell diameter between non-smokers undergoing orthodontic treatment and smokers (p<0.001 & p=0.014 respectively), and between non-smokers undergoing orthodontic treatment and smokers undergoing orthodontic treatment (p<0.001 & p=0.015 respectively). Also, nuclear area and cell area showed significant differences between many of the study groups.
Conclusion: It can be concluded that there are nuclear and cellular alterations in patients undergoing fixed orthodontic treatment who are smokers


Rapidly growing demand for channel capacity and limitations in satellite power and frequency spectrum is urging the utilisation of higher frequency bands. Attentions are focused on 20/30 GHz and above which will provide many services due to large the available bandwidth and small size of earth segment. However, the main problem revolves around the severe attenuation by hydrometeors, specifically rain which significantly degrades communications quality. The available propagation data in 20/30 GHz bands in Europe is not sufficient for designing reliable communication systems. Olympus provides a unique opportunity for collection of long term propagation data to investigate the effects of hydrometeors at 12.5, 20 and 30 GHz. An experimental arrangement has been established for 20 GHz beacon measurements at the University of Surrey. Copolar and cross polar measurements were taken but only the copolar attenuation data has been analysed. On 29th May 1991 Olympus lost attitude and orbit control. In its absence the Russian satellite (MAYAK) transmission was recorded, after modification in the receiving equipment. Data recorded from the MAYAK beacon had large cyclic variation, a peak to peak variation of several decibels was observed which were removed at the data preprocessing stage. A limited data was collected from MAYAK since Olympus was restored in mid August 1991 and beacon measurements were continued as before. A few significant propagation events recorded using MAYAK are also presented in the thesis. Olympus showed peak to peak diurnal variation of few decibels which was removed by the data pre-processing software before any statistical analysis of the data. Another experimental arrangement for collection of weather data has also been established. A new time integration technique for calculation of rain rate using low resolution rain gauge has been introduced which produced better results and they were verified using rain attenuation prediction models. The limited data set obtained from Olympus and MAYAK beacons was compared with rain attenuation models as well as European and UK experimental results. Cranes rain attenuation prediction for Guilford yielded best fit to the measured data. There is also a good correlation with the other European measurements. However, comparison with the BTRL was not in full agreement because the BTRL measurements were taken uninterruptedly over a period of one year while the measurements taken at Guildford were short term and interrupted several times due to loss of Olympus, software and hardware development for alternative satellite. Long term data is required for more meaningful comparison. The system has been developed to receive and record data reliably. Data recording is in continuous progress more than one year's data has been obtained but only preliminary recorded data is analysed in this thesis.


How should socio-legal theory conceptualise 'emotion' as an aspect of social relations that law addresses? This paper uses a concept of affective community – communal social relations dominated by emotional elements – to analyse basic problems for legal regulation that are typical in social relations founded on emotion.
What regulatory challenges does affective community pose that may be unique to it, and how does affective community itself produce, shape or constrain regulation? If relations of community presume a degree of stability (continuity and mutual trust), what, in general, promotes such stability in affective relations and what threatens it? What contribution, if any, can state law make to create or maintain such stable conditions? What general problems exist for state law in intervening in affective community? What kinds of demands can properly be made on law in this area?
By developing the idea of affective community and exploring its regulatory implications, this paper sketches a theoretical framework by means of which fundamental questions about relations of law and emotion can be structured.


Ti ions were implanted into H21 steel to improve the surface structure of oxides in H21 steel. The wear characteristics of the implanted steel was measured and compared to the performance of the un-implanted steel by a line-cutting apparatus and an optical interference microscope. The Ti concentration depth profile of the implanted steel was measured by Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS). The structure and composition of oxides were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. The results showed that the improved wear resistance of the implanted steel was mainly due to the structure and composition changes of the surface oxides after Ti ion implantation.


This paper is aimed at the problem of designing optimized interleavers for parallel concatenated convolutional codes (PCCC) that satisfy several requirements simultaneously: 1) designing interleavers tailored to the constituent codes of the PCCC; 2) improving the distance spectra of the resulting turbo codes which dominate their asymptotic performance; and 3) constructing optimized interleavers recursively so that they are implicitly prunable. Two more modifications of a previously developed iterative interleaver growth algorithm (IGA) of polynomial complexity [F. Daneshragan et al., Sept. 1999] are presented to improve the performance of the optimized interleavers at a reduced complexity: 1) a growing window is used to trap error patterns of proper length in order to form the cost function; and 2) we employ error feedback to further improve the distance spectrum, of the optimized codes and to reduce complexity. The optimization is achieved via constrained minimization of a cost function closely related to the asymptotic bit error rate (BER) or frame error rate (FER) of the codes.


Coupling is a common approach for constructing new chaotic systems. In this paper, we present a novel way of coupling, which is utilized to construct a new chaotic system. Afterwards, a pseudorandom bit generator is proposed based on it. Next, we employ five statistic tests to evaluate the pseudo randomness of generated sequences. Linear complexity and cipher space are analyzed at last. All the results demonstrate that the proposed generator possesses excellent properties.


ABSTRACT Adult human enteroviral heart disease is often associated with the detection of enteroviral RNA in cardiac muscle tissue in the absence of infectious virus. Passage of coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) in adult murine cardiomyocytes produced CVB3 that was noncytolytic in HeLa cells. Detectable but noncytopathic CVB3 was also isolated from hearts of mice inoculated with CVB3. Sequence analysis revealed five classes of CVB3 genomes with 5′ termini containing 7, 12, 17, 30, and 49 nucleotide deletions. Structural changes (assayed by chemical modification) in cloned, terminally deleted 5′-nontranslated regions were confined to the cloverleaf domain and localized within the region of the deletion, leaving key functional elements of the RNA intact. Transfection of CVB3 cDNA clones with the 5′-terminal deletions into HeLa cells generated noncytolytic virus (CVB3/TD) which was neutralized by anti-CVB3 serum. Encapsidated negative-strand viral RNA was detected using CsCl-purified CVB3/TD virions, although no negative-strand virion RNA was detected in similarly treated parental CVB3 virions. The viral protein VPg was detected on CVB3/TD virion RNA molecules which terminate in 5′ CG or 5′ AG. Detection of viral RNA in mouse hearts from 1 week to over 5 months postinoculation with CVB3/TD demonstrated that CVB3/TD virus strains replicate and persist in vivo. These studies describe a naturally occurring genomic alteration to an enteroviral genome associated with long-term viral persistence.


Cotton linter pulp was oxidized in the TEMPO-NaBr-NaClO system with ultrasonic treatment, and cellulose nanocrystals having high carboxylate content were produced directly. Results showed that the C6 primary hydroxyl group of cellulose fiber was converted to the carboxylate group, whose amount could be up to 1.66 mmol/g. During the oxidizing reaction, some of the amorphous region in the cellulose fiber was modified and gradually hydrolyzed, but the crystalline region still remained. It was also shown by TEM (Transmission electron microscopy) that the widths of cellulose nanocrystals were approximately 5-10 nm, and the lengths were approximately 100-400 nm. The high carboxylate content cellulose nanocrystals could be produced in one step by this method, yielding a stable and well dispersed aqueous suspension.


The notion of good citizenship is a neglected concept within the theoretical
literature and in empirical investigations. The field of citizenship studies is now
vast and multidisciplinary yet there has not been a specific study aimed solely
at uncovering what it means to be a good citizen. This research responds to
this deficiency by undertaking a theoretical analysis of the components of
good citizenship, combined with the creation of a consensus view of
citizenship experts and a set of lay perspectives on good citizenship. The
methodology is concerned with examining the characteristics of good
citizenship from an expert point of view using a modified Delphi study. Two
methods of data collection—semi-structured interviews and focus groups—were
used to research the lay perspectives on what it means to be a good citizen. [Continues.]


SUMMARY This paper presents new proofs of four stability properties (semiglobal strict passivity, semiglobal asymptotic stability, semiglobal input-to-state stability, and semiglobal uniform ultimate boundedness with an arbitrarily reducible ultimate bound) of a rigid-link manipulator under proportional-integral-derivative (PID) position control. The proofs employ a strict Lyapunov function and a novel parameterization to provide four inequality conditions for the stability properties. In those inequalities, arithmetic operations on physical quantities are physically consistent if the joints are all revolute or all prismatic. A gain selection procedure is presented by which the ultimate bounds of velocity error, position error, and its integral can be independently designed.


Nowadays, the development of information technology is keeping in a fast speed. Large amount of information are exchanged too active to identify the original owner. A serious problem of digital contents copyright violation is happening today and the most effective manner to avoid it is digital watermark technology. In this work, a new approach for digital watermark embedding is presented. This method is different from the traditional ways which are pixel-exchanging and frequency-domain-based watermarking scheme. It combines the pixel-exchanging scheme and frequency-domain-based scheme by exchanges the lower bit plane and imitates the imaging process of a true-lens-imaging system respectively. On the other hand, This method use the point spread function as secret key that keeps the security and spread the embedded information to all bit plane of the image that keeps the robustness. Numerical simulation examples show the effect.


A total of 46 crude oil samples recovered from the surrounding Niuzhuang sag were investigated to gain insight into the petroleum systems in the Dongying depression. Chemometrics identified four genetically distinct oil families. Family 1 fails to match any of the source rocks that have been discovered thus far. The candidate source rock must contain algal organic matter that could produce more negative carbon isotopic composition, large quantities of wax, C29 steranes, and tricyclic terpenoids compared to the Eocene Shahejie (Es) Formation intervals Es3 and Es4 and deposited in a reducing, stratified saline water environment. Family 2 is featured by high ratios of sterane/hopane, gammacerane/hopane, and C35/C34 homohopane and low pristane/phytane ratios. The source rock is the upper Es4 interval. Family 3 is characterized by distinctive or even opposite features to family 2. The source rock is the lower Es3 interval. Family 4 is a mixed oil derived from the lower Es3 and upper Es4 source rocks at different thermal maturation. Three end-member oil samples, EM1, EM2, and EM3, were identified by alternating least-squares. As a minor contributor, EM1 has an average value of 10%. As the main contributors, EM2 and EM3 average 53% and 37%, respectively. Oil samples from EM1 and EM2 are derived from the upper Es4 source rock, but EM1 was generated at a lower thermal maturity than EM2. Oil from EM3 was derived from the lower Es3 source rock at peak hydrocarbon generation.


As the computing world "goes multicore", high performance library development finally becomes a nightmare. Optimal programs, and their underlying algorithms, have to be adapted to take full advantage of the platform's parallelism, memory hierarchy, and available instruction set. To make things worse, the best implementations are often platform-dependent and platforms are constantly evolving, which quickly renders libraries obsolete. As a consequence, developers are forced to permanently re-implement and re-optimize the same functionality and often even revert to assembly coding just as 50 years ago.
 A number of research efforts have started to address this problem in a new area called Automatic Performance Tuning with the common goal to rethink the way libraries are created. In this talk we present Spiral (www.spiral.net), a program generation system for linear transforms. Spiral generates highly optimized, platform-tuned implementations of transforms directly from a problem specification. For a user-specified transform, Spiral generates alternative algorithms, optimizes them, compiles them into programs, and "intelligently" searches for the best match to the computing platform. The main idea behind Spiral is a mathematical, declarative framework to represent algorithms and the use of rewriting systems to generate and optimize algorithms at a high level of abstraction. Optimization includes parallelization for vector architectures, shared and distributed memory platforms, GPUs, and even FPGAs. Experimental results show that the code generated by Spiral competes with, and sometimes outperforms, the best available human-written library code. Further, recent research shows that it may be possible to extend Spiral into other domains such as coding or linear algebra. As for the question in the title: Spiral shows that, at least for well-understood problem domains, a positive answer may be in reach.


Cardiovascular disease is still the main cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Currently, the frontier of research into cardiovascular disease is the field of non-coding RNA. In this review, information was collected on the use of micro-RNAs as non-invasive biomarkers and their role in pathophysiological processes and therapeutic applications. In the case of microRNA-1 and microRNA-133, the roles and regulatory mechanisms of them are reviewed for arrhythmia, myocardial infarction, diabetic cardiomyopathy, myocardial hypertrophy, cardiomyocyte differentiation, and cell reprogramming. It was observed that microRNA-1 and microRNA-133 do not exist independently, but are two co-transcriptional and cooperative regulatory factors. They have diagnostic value as biomarkers, but also have the potential as therapeutic targets such as for antiarrhythmia and cardiac reprogramming.


In large networks due to the large number of transmissions it is unlikely that a slot will be used only by a single wireless node. In this paper, a Cutting Plane approach is proposed in order to combine the minimum latency transmission scheduling problem with power expenditure minimization. The problem is partitioned into a Master Problem and a Subproblem; the main objective of the Subproblem is to minimize the total power expenditure. The Cutting Plane algorithm used is evaluated with regard to its performance and the outcome is that the power expenditure is reduced significantly, while achieving the minimum latency transmission scheduling. One of the drawbacks of the proposed approach, however, is the fact that although it reduces the power significantly, the computational time required is quite large, pointing to further research towards that direction.


OBJECTIVES
This study compares the uniportal with the 3-portal video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) by examining the data collected in the Italian VATS Group Database. The primary end point was early postoperative pain; secondary end points were intraoperative and postoperative complications, surgical time, number of dissected lymph nodes and length of stay.

METHODS
This was an observational, retrospective, cohort, multicentre study on data collected by 49 Italian thoracic units. Inclusion criteria were clinical stage I-II non-small-cell lung cancer, uniportal or 3-portal VATS lobectomy and R0 resection. Exclusion criteria were cT3 disease, previous thoracic malignancy, induction therapy, significant comorbidities and conversion to other techniques. The pain parameter was dichotomized: the numeric rating scale ≤3 described mild pain, whereas the numeric rating scale score >3 described moderate/severe pain. The propensity score-adjusted generalized estimating equation was used to compare the uniportal with 3-portal lobectomy.

RESULTS
Among 4338 patients enrolled from January 2014 to July 2017, 1980 met the inclusion criteria; 1808 patients underwent 3-portal lobectomy and 172 uniportal surgery. The adjusted generalized estimating equation regression model using the propensity score showed that over time pain decreased in both groups (P < 0.001). There was a statistical difference on the second and third postoperative days; odds ratio (OR) 2.28 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.62-3.21; P < 0.001] and OR 2.58 (95% CI 1.74-3.83; P < 0.001), respectively. The uniportal-VATS group had higher operative time (P < 0.001), shorter chest drain permanence (P < 0.001) and shorter length of stay (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS
Data from the Italian VATS Group Database showed that in clinical practice uniportal lobectomy seems to entail a higher risk of moderate/severe pain on second and third postoperative days.


Hollywood spreads the fictions of whiteness around the world.--Hernan Vera and Andrew M. Gordon As long as race is something only applied to non-white peoples, as long as white people are not racially seen and named, they/we function as a human norm. Other people are raced, we are just people.--Richard Dyer Introduction In this paper, using insights from critical race theory and critical whiteness studies, we argue that the movie White Chicks, while certainly a comedy, takes seriously the critical capacity of the black gaze to tease out the subtleties of whiteness. We argue that White Chicks, directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans and written by Keenen Ivory Wayans, Shawn Wayans, and Marlon Wayans (the latter two playing the main characters) has the power to produce "the shock of being seen" (Sartre 115). On this score, the Wayans brothers resist the hegemony of the white gaze through filmic agency. Not only through enacting and performing whiteness, but through the mimicry of predominant racist images of the black body, the Wayans brothers are able to create an effective space of opposition and critique. Even the tide of the film, White Chicks, engages in a process of nomination that frames and clearly delineates its theme of interrogation. Due to space limitations, the themes that we explore constitute only a select few of the many important themes generated within this filmic text. One underlying premise that informs our scholarship in this paper is that White Chicks constitutes an important popular cultural site that speaks to complex silent assumptions that inform the American imaginary around issues of race. While we are critical of the class and essentialist presuppositions that inform the expression "urban black behavior," it is our position that the Wayans brothers enact, and indeed exaggerate various stereotypical forms of black behavior in order to interrogate the white imaginary. This does not mean, however, that the Wayans brothers buy into a thin, non-complicated understanding of "blackness." In fact, the Wayans brothers complicate the stereotypes precisely through their filmic exaggerations. Such exaggerations function as a subtext that speaks to the Wayans brothers' sense of self-reflexivity regarding white myths vis-a-vis the black body. And while the white imaginary is no doubt inflected by class and other nonracial registers, our characterization of whiteness as it operates in the film as a signifier of power and privilege is one that captures various social ontological manifestations of whiteness across nonracial variables. Naming Whiteness Under the influence of European travelogues and colonial films, white philosophers, anthropologists, ethnographers, and fiction writers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the West came to understand nonwhites as inferior Others. More specifically, the construction of the concept of race functioned epistemologically and ontologically as a prism through which the Other was constructed and rendered subhuman. The Other was deemed inferior in virtually every way--intellectually, morally, and culturally. The Other was constructed as savage, uncivilized, barbaric, evil, lustful, different and deviant in comparison to whites. Whiteness, on this score, served as a metanarrative in terms of which nonwhites functioned as "things" to be exploited and used in the service of white people. "In the white mind, racial others do not exist on their own terms but only as 'self-objects' bound up with the white self" (Vera and Gordon 3). Winthrop Jordan points out that the Great Chain of Being or scala naturae became the ordering hierarchical structure in an age when the West was obsessed with scientific discovery and exploration and "served as a powerful means of organizing the facts of the natural world" (101). Nonwhite bodies constituted part of the natural world; they were constructed as part of the chaotic and exotic natural landscape in need of being ordered, properly identified and categorized, and subdued by those (whites) who thought of themselves as the very expression of a teleological order that privileged whiteness as the quintessence of beauty, intelligence, and cultural and historical progress. …


Purpose: Despite routine use, clinical tests used to diagnose subacromial impingement often display poor diagnostic accuracy. A lack of anatomical validity may contribute to the poor diagnostic accuracy. The current study aimed to examine the anatomical validity of measuring subacromial pressure in the HawkinseKennedy impingement test in a cadaveric shoulder. Methods: Subacromial pressures were measured using pressure transducers in non-provocative and provocative HawkinseKennedy test positions using an ABA research design with 25 repeated measures in one cadaver. Data collected included pressure at four subacromial locations (coracoid process, coracoacromial ligament, anterior acromion and posterior acromion), and observation of anatomical structures impinging on transducers. The split-middle method of visual analysis and the Reliable Change Index (RCI) were applied to examine any differences between provocative and non-provocative positions. Results: There was increased pressure in the provocative position at the coraco-acromial ligament, which impinged biceps brachii, and at the anterior acromion, which impinged the rotator interval. Conclusion: Findings of the current study provide evidence that suggest that structures other than the rotator cuff tendons may be impinged during the HawkinseKennedy test.


Trauma and Critical care is an Open Access, peer reviewed Journal dedicated to publish high quality articles covering wide range study areas of Trauma and Critical care. Trauma and Critical care aims to provide the international platform for all the doctors, researchers, and scientists to disseminate advancing knowledge. Trauma and critical care is an important aspect of medical treatment. Immense care, attention, accurate decision making skills is required in such conditions. Journal of Trauma and Critical Care would like to serve the research and academic community dealing with critical medical issues involving trauma, critical care and emergency medicine. This is a peer reviewed open access journal dedicated to disseminate valuable scientific information in relation to the above mentioned subject category. Articles from the elite academic community contributing novel information are welcome in the form of a research, review articles, case reports, short communication, Editorial etc. All the articles submitted to the Journal- Trauma and critical care will undergo double blind peer review process through the Editorial Manager System. The Editorial Manager System helps in maintaining the quality of the peer review process and provides easy access to the authors to track the status of the manuscript, including evaluation and publication in an automated way. Submit manuscripts at https://www.scholarscentral.org/ submissions/trauma-critical-care.html
Trauma: Trauma is "a passionate reaction to an awful occasion like a mishap, assault, or cataclysmic event." However, an individual may encounter trauma as a reaction to any occasion they find truly or sincerely compromising or hurtful. A damaged individual can feel a scope of feelings both following the occasion and in the long haul. They may feel overpowered, powerless, stunned, or experience issues preparing their encounters. Injury can likewise cause physical side effects. Trauma can have long haul consequences for the individual's prosperity. On the off chance that side effects continue and don't diminish in seriousness, it can demonstrate that the injury has formed into a psychological well-being issue called post-horrendous pressure issue (PTSD).
Critical care: The specialized care of patients whose conditions are lifethreatening and who require comprehensive care and constant monitoring, usually in intensive care units. Also known as intensive care. Intensive care medicine, also called critical care medicine, is a medical specialty that deals with critically ill patients who have, are at risk of, or are recovering from conditions that may be lifethreatening. It includes providing life support, invasive monitoring techniques, resuscitation, and end-of-life care. Doctors in this specialty are often called intensive care physicians, critical care physicians or intensivists. Intensive care relies on multidisciplinary teams composed of many different health professionals. Such teams often include doctors, nurses, physical therapists, respiratory therapists, and pharmacists, among others. They usually work together in intensive care units (ICUs) within a hospital.
Critical care medicine: Critical care medicine encompasses the diagnosis and treatment of a wide variety of clinical problems representing the extreme of human disease. Critically ill patients require intensive care by a coordinated team. The critical care specialist (sometimes referred to as an "intensivist") may be the primary provider of care or a consultant. The intensivist needs to be competent not only in a broad range of conditions common among critically ill patients but also with the technological procedures and devices used in intensive care settings. The care of critically ill patients also raises many complicated ethical and social issues, and the intensivist must be competent in areas such as end-of-life decisions, advance directives, estimating prognosis, and counseling of patients and their families.


Abstract Objective The aim of this qualitative study was to test the comprehensibility of the preliminary food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG) for healthy South African children aged 1–7 years. Objectives included assessing exposure to FBDG, comprehension of the proposed paediatric FBDG (PFBDG) and whether the guidelines can be used in meal planning. Design Focus group discussions were used to collect data. Discussions were facilitated by the investigator in either English or Afrikaans, according to a predetermined discussion schedule. Focus groups were formed on the basis of language and socio-economic status (SES). Setting Areas within the City of Cape Town representing lower, middle and upper SES groups. Subjects A total of seventy-six English- and Afrikaans-speaking mothers were contacted via randomly selected consenting preschool groups to participate voluntarily. Results Most mothers reported that they do not use guidelines. They had a good grasp of the concepts of and need for PFBDG. They suggested slight alterations to wording/phrasing of the guidelines. The most problematic guidelines were those regarding starch, milk and sweet treats/drinks. No substantial differences were found between English and Afrikaans data. Differences were found between SES groups, with the upper SES groups comprehending the guidelines better. Conclusion The proposed PFBDG were well received. The target population that would benefit the most from these guidelines would be the less educated, lower SES groups. The present study shows that once the guidelines have been modified, they may be used as a comprehensive guide for nutritional education.


: To improve the operational efficiency of multidrug therapy (MDT) implementation in rural areas, an investigation into the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour of leprosy patients and their family members as well as primary health care (PHC) workers towards MDT was carried out in Yangzhou and Dongtai Districts of China. A sample of 370 leprosy patients, 594 family members and 730 PHC workers was interviewed or investigated individually using questionnaires. The results showed that: 1, the presently used MDT is acceptable to a wide range of patients although a small number of patients have various problems in their treatment; 2, the patients' habit in daily drug administration, their awareness of the risk of default and confidence in MDT have a positive influence in increasing drug compliance; and 3, the supervision and encouragement of family members to patients' treatment which is associated with their knowledge on MDT is also beneficial to patients' drug compliance. However, only half of the PHC workers had a basic knowledge of MDT and a desire to participate in MDT implementation, a finding which clearly calls for urgent attention and improvement. In order to ensure the effective implementation of MDT, there is a need to educate leprosy patients and their family members as well as PHC workers to establish the patients' correct awareness of MDT, obtain the family support and motivate the PHC workers.


Donor governments are prioritizing aid 'results' in advance of the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HFL4) in Busan, Korea, due to take place at the end of 2011. But there is a real risk that their efforts will lead to a poorly designed results policy that could undo years of work to make aid more useful for fighting poverty. In Busan, donors must focus on ensuring that aid produces the results that matter most to people living in poverty. It is crucial that they stand by the commitments they made in the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action, and go further to ensure that aid is more effective in bringing lasting change. Evidence shows that donor efforts to measure results could in fact pose a threat to achieving this goal, as a number of donors implement results policies based on proving results and value for money to domestic constituencies.Donors must resist the temptation to prioritize results that they can count in the short-term but which will count less to poor women and men in the long-term. The risks and unintended but very real consequences of their focus on results must be taken seriously, or we will see history repeat itself. Ensuring that aid has maximum impact is a crucial step towards reducing poverty and inequality, and mutual accountability for development results is a key Paris Principle. But in order for Busan to advance a meaningful results agenda, national and international donor policy on results must prioritize the 'right' results.