By using the H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 11 from the Tanegashima Space Center, in the south of Kagoshima Prefecture Japan, ETS-VIII (Engineering Test Satellite VIII) has been launched successfully in the end of 2006. The ETS-VIII is one of the largest geostationary Sband satellites in the world to meet future requirements of voice and data communications, broadcasting and global positioning [1]. Backward-looking, there are various types of antennas which developed aiming at ETS-VIII [2]-[5]. A part of the antennas [3] have been experimented outdoor by use of a pseudo-satellite station. Moreover, in order to obtain a good performance antenna to clarify suitably result on frequency characteristic, return loss, and radiation pattern, and also to obtain a simple configuration such as small, light and low profile, a left-handed circularly polarized stack-patch microstrip array antenna is proposed. The antenna was calculated by the Method of Moments using probe-fed pentagonal array antenna as radiating patch and triangular array antenna as parasitic patch with dielectric relative permittivity 2.17 and loss tangent 0.0009. In this paper, it discuss about the performances of antenna above at El=48° both of calculation and measurement results, the examined of performance beam antenna at low elevation, and the performances of antennas to take in signal from ETS-VIII satellites. The measured results at El=48° agree well with the calculated results of 5 dBic gain, and the 3-dB axial ratio beamwidth of the whole azimuth range about more of 120° for each beam coverage in the conical-cut direction satisfy for ETS-VIII applications.


Indentation tests are used to detail firmness profiles from intertidal creek deposits and wave-exhumed substrates at Willapa Bay. Both of these sedimentological settings are characterized by occur- rences of modern Glossifungites assemblages. Firm substrates associ- ated with the intertidal-creek deposits are derived from dewatered modern sediments, whereas firmgrounds associated with wave erosion consist of dewatered and compacted Pleistocene strata. The Pleistocene firmgrounds are notably firmer than those derived from modern de- posits. A strong correlation between sediment firmness and burrowing behavior is evident in these deposits. In tidal-creek systems, the comparatively firm cutbank is character- ized by unlined, large-diameter, open burrows that form a Glossifun- gites assemblage. Intertidal point-bar deposits contain a softground suite consisting of mucous-lined, small-diameter, dominantly vertical traces. Finally, a softground suite of robust, mucous- or mud-lined, vertical and horizontal traces are observed in intertidal-flat deposits. In contrast, Pleistocene firmgrounds generally contain large- and small-diameter traces, with dominantly vertical architectures (Thalas- sinoides-, Gastrochaenolites-, Diplocraterion-, or Arenicolites-like bur- rows), depending upon the firmness of the substrate. Glossifungites occurrences on modern firmgrounds are temporally insignificant, whereas similar occurrences in Pleistocene substrates are temporally significant. Contrasting these two databases suggests that the stratigraphic significance of a Glossifungites-demarcated disconti- nuity can be assessed in the rock record. Several criteria that are useful for identifying temporally significant surfaces are suggested, including: absence of compaction of the Glossifungites assemblage; presence of well-preserved burrow sculptings; and planar to gently undulatory ero- sional surfaces as opposed to surfaces with notable topographic relief. Conceptual models demonstrate that muddy substrates potentially re- quire several millennia to compact and dewater. Sandy deposits, on the other hand, have indeterminate significance.

http://research.eas.ualberta.ca/asirt/folders for web/downloads/2000_JSR_Gingras temporal glossi.pdf


Background Early diagnosis of colorectal cancer (CRC) is likely to reduce burden of disease and improve treatment success. Estimation of the individual patient risk for CRC diagnostic determinants in a primary care setting has not been very successful as yet. The aim of our study is to improve prediction of CRC in patients selected for colonoscopy in the primary healthcare setting using readily available routine healthcare data. Patients and methods A cross-sectional study was carried out in the Julius General Practitioners' Network database. Patients referred for colonoscopy by their general practitioner (GP) between 2007 and 2012 were selected. We evaluated the association between long-term registered patient characteristics, symptoms and conditions, and colonoscopy test results with multivariable logistic regression. Results Two per cent (2787/140 000) of the patients between 30 and 85 years were found to be newly referred for colonoscopy by their GP, of whom 57 (2%) were diagnosed with CRC. Age 50 years or over, hypertension and the absence of preceding consultations for abdominal pain were independent predictors for CRC and/or high-risk adenomas, with an area under the curve of 0.65. Conclusion Three factors in routine care data combined might prove valuable in future strategies to improve the prediction of CRC risk in primary care. Improvement in quality and availability of routine care data for research and risk stratification is needed to optimize its usability for prediction purposes in daily practice. Impact Only referring patients at the highest risk for colonoscopy by the GP could decrease superfluous colonoscopies.


Do Americans, in all their cultural diversity, share any fundamental consensus? Does such a consensus, or anything else, make America exceptional in the modern world?Since 1960 most historians have answered no--except perhaps for the current nostalgia for the Eisenhower years (the "Ozzie and Harriet" years of popular recollection) of middle-class American prosperity.In "Republic of the Dispossessed" social historian Rowland Berthoff maintains not only that there was--and still is--a middle-class consensus and that America is exceptional in it but that it goes back some five hundred years. The consensus stems from all those European peasants and artisans who, from 1600 to 1950, fled dispossession in the Old World. They brought with them basic social values that acted as a template for middle-class American values. To consider modern American society as exceptional--that is, as distinctive and different from any contemporary European pattern of thought--is therefore, in Berthoff's theory, not at all the "illogical absurdity" that current conventional wisdom makes it.The Berthoff thesis, as he develops it in these ten essays from throughout the course of his career, is well worth a second look by those within and beyond the field of social history. It suggests that the ideal--both peasant and classical republican-- of maintaining a balance between personal liberty and communal equality has long inspired American reaction to the drastic modern changes of industrialization, urbanization, and immigration.Observing that most Americans still see themselves as independent, basically equal, middle-class citizens, Berthoff explains the current apprehension among Americans that at the end of the twentieth century they are once again being dispossessed-- thus, the current emphasis on "traditional values." Because that problem is the same that worried their European ancestors as much as five hundred years ago, Berthoff argues, the time has come to face the question head-on.


To increase crop production and improve food self-sufficiency, rain-fed agriculture need to be supplemented with irrigated agriculture. To this end, a large number of reservoirs had been constructed in Ethiopia. However, reservoirs are suffering from sedimentation. This study was conducted in Minizr catchment, NW Ethiopia to (1) quantify the sediment entering Koga reservoir, (2) to assess the functioning and effectiveness of the existing man-made sediment trapping (ST) measures and natural sediment sinks, and (3) to design a possible solution to tackle the problem. Results of three years (2013-2015) field data show that 38% of the transported sediment was trapped within the Minizr catchment. Although considerable efforts were made to trap the sediment within the catchment through implementing various ST measures, lack of an integrated ST approach causes the remaining 62% of the sediment load still entering Koga reservoir.


INTRODUCTION
Behavioral economic theory views addiction as a reinforcer pathology characterized by excessive demand for drugs relative to alternatives. Complementary to this theory, Lamb and Ginsburg (Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, 164, 2018, 62) describe addiction as a behavioral allocation disorder and predict that decisions to drink under increasingly stringent constraints are a central indicator of addiction. This study used a modified demand-curve paradigm to examine alcohol demand in the context of a next-day contingency (high opportunity cost demand) as a specific indicator of a severe pattern of alcohol problems.

METHODS
Participants were 370 undergraduates (61.1% female, 86.5% white, Mage  = 18.8) reporting multiple past-month heavy drinking episodes (5/4 drinks per occasion for men/women) who completed 2 versions of an alcohol purchase task (APT), along with measures of past-month alcohol use and problems. In 1 APT (low opportunity cost), students imagined they had no next-day responsibilities, and in the other APT (high opportunity cost), they imagined having a 10:00 am test the next day. Item-response theory analyses were used to determine mild and severe alcohol problems from the Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire (Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 67, 2006, 169), and the most and least severe binge drinking days throughout the week.

RESULTS
Low opportunity cost demand (β = 0.15, p = 0.02) significantly predicted beyond high opportunity cost demand for the least severe problems, and high opportunity cost demand (β = 0.17, p = 0.009) significantly predicted beyond low opportunity cost demand for the most severe problems. Similarly, low opportunity cost demand (β = 0.26, p < 0.001) was more highly associated with weekend drinking, whereas high opportunity cost demand (β = 0.21, p = 0.001) was more highly associated with weekday drinking.

CONCLUSIONS
The current results suggest high opportunity cost alcohol demand is a distinct marker of severe alcohol problems among college student heavy drinkers.


Osteoartheritis is a degenerative joint disease characterized by gradual
degeneration of the joint cartilage, osteophyte formation, fibrillation and articular cartilage cracks.
Platelet rich plasma (PRP) contains growth factors and promotes regeneration of bones. Therefore the
purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of PRP on cartilage repair in the osteoarthritis
model in rabbits.
Materials &Methods: In this study, 25 white New Zealand rabbits of both sexes were used. The
anterior cruciate ligament of the right knee joint was resisted under general anesthesia. Eight weeks
following the operation, they were divided into five groups. The first group served as the control group
that received no treatment. The rest of rabbits received autogenic PRP in their joints. The rabbits were
euthanized and the joints were sampled for histopathologic study at 8 and 12 weeks post PRP
injection.
Results: The results proved that the autogenic PRP is rich of growth factors and repairs the
degenerated joints histology significantly compared to the control group and is useful in the treatment
of osteoarthritis.
Conclusion: PRP can be used to treat the joints affected by oateoarhteritis


Abstract : This monograph discusses the role of intelligence in support of operational art. Intelligence support at all levels of war is critical for the commander to successfully apply force to achieve the established goals and objectives. This is particularly true at the operational level where the operational commander must translate strategic objectives into tactical actions. This monograph examines the characteristics and nature of intelligence support to the operational artist. The monograph first determines the definition of intelligence and its principles and characteristics. Intelligence is defined as information or knowledge of the enemy and environment, both of which are packaged for a specific customer's use in decision making. Furthermore, the principles of intelligence are based on the component parts of knowledge, otherwise identified as the verb know. The principles are detect, recognize, and understand, representing levels of perception higher than the previous. Finally, the characteristics of intelligence are identified as relevant, timely, accurate, and predictive. Since operational art is rooted in theory, the monograph then briefly discusses the theoretical basis of the terms center of gravity, decisive point, and indirect approach from the standpoint of Carl Von Clausewitz, Antoine Henri Jomini, and Sun Tzu respectively. These concepts provide the basis to discuss operational art, or maneuver warfare. The monograph defines operational art as the conduct of military activities at the operational level through the translation of strategic objectives into tactical actions. More importantly, the tasks of the operational artist are defined.


We present the results of extensive multi-frequency monitoring of the radio galaxy 3C 120 between 2002 and 2007 at X-ray (2–10 keV), optical (R and V bands), and radio (14.5 and 37 GHz) wave bands, as well as imaging with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) at 43 GHz. Over the 5 yr of observation, significant dips in the X-ray light curve are followed by ejections of bright superluminal knots in the VLBA images. Consistent with this, the X-ray flux and 37 GHz flux are anti-correlated with X-ray leading the radio variations. Furthermore, the total radiative output of a radio flare is related to the equivalent width of the corresponding X-ray dip. This implies that, in this radio galaxy, the radiative state of accretion disk plus corona system, where the X-rays are produced, has a direct effect on the events in the jet, where the radio emission originates. The X-ray power spectral density of 3C 120 shows a break, with steeper slope at shorter timescale and the break timescale is commensurate with the mass of the central black hole (BH) based on observations of Seyfert galaxies and black hole X-ray binaries (BHXRBs). These findings provide support for the paradigm that BHXRBs and both radio-loud and radio-quiet active galactic nuclei are fundamentally similar systems, with characteristic time and size scales linearly proportional to the mass of the central BH. The X-ray and optical variations are strongly correlated in 3C 120, which implies that the optical emission in this object arises from the same general region as the X-rays, i.e., in the accretion disk–corona system. We numerically model multi-wavelength light curves of 3C 120 from such a system with the optical–UV emission produced in the disk and the X-rays generated by scattering of thermal photons by hot electrons in the corona. From the comparison of the temporal properties of the model light curves to that of the observed variability, we constrain the physical size of the corona and the distances of the emitting regions from the central BH. In addition, we discuss physical scenarios for the disk–jet connection that are consistent with our observations.


Consciousness has been taken as a phenomena of alertness or awareness to the outer world, sensory information input as well as inner self. It is exhibited in different forms of behavior. It has been presumed by the philosophers as well as neuroscientist that the processes of consciousness are being operated by brain and it has a definite neural activity involvement. But what are the exact neural correlates of consciousness and how body physiology is linked with the phenomena of consciousness is still not clear. In the present article the views of several Philosophers, Neuroscientists and Physiologist have been quoted and reviewed in trying to understand basic nature and physiological significance of consciousness.


With aging of population, there has been a significant increase in the number of patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases. This results in an increased cost of healthcare associated with hospitalization, treatment and monitoring. In this paper, an architectural framework of a system that utilizes mobile technologies to enable continuous, wireless, electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring of patients anytime anywhere is presented. The intelligent agents residing in the system detect any anomalous ECG readings and trigger an alarm that would be sent to the healthcare center in case of an emergency. The proposed system would not only provide a better quality of life to the patients by giving them the independence to move around freely in addition to continuous monitoring of heart but will also save healthcare costs associated with prolonged hospitalization of cardiac patients.


Entrepreneurship has an increasingly important role in economic growth and development in both developed and underdeveloped countries. Also, various forms of entrepreneurial behavior are important in promoting economic and social development. Thus, it is not surprising that entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial activity have received a significant attention from both academics and policy makers. It is important for both groups to better understand the various factors that affect and stimulate entrepreneurial behavior. Previous research has shown that entrepreneurial intentions of individuals represent effective and strong explanatory factor that predicts quite well their future entrepreneurial behavior. Also, entrepreneurial intentions are crucial to the entrepreneurial process as an important first
step in a series of actions that leads to the creation of entrepreneurial project. Although there are different theoretical models of entrepreneurial intentions in the extant literature, they actually contain conceptually related elements and offer quite comparable interpretations of entrepreneurial intentions. In order to explore entrepreneurial intentions and their antecedents in South-East European context we have conducted a paper-and-pencil self-administered survey among students of economics and business in four South-East European countries, namely: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia. The sample consisted of 1200 respondents, 300 of respondents from each country included in study. The highly structured questionnaire with set of items derived from the literature and Likert-type scale were used as data collection instrument. The following scales were included in the questionnaire: locus of control, risk taking propensity, perceived barriers, perceived support factors, personal attitude towards
entrepreneurship, perceived behavioral control, subjective norm and entrepreneurial intention (Lumpkin, 1985; Luthje, Franke, 2003; Linan, Chen, 2009). Collected data were analyzed with multiple regression technique in order to explore the effects of various antecedents on entrepreneurial intention in the context of South-East European countries. The results indicate that personal attitude towards entrepreneurship, perceived behavioral control and subjective norm positively and significantly affect entrepreneurial intent. Respondents from Bosnia and Herzegovina exhibit higher levels of entrepreneurial intent compared to other observed countries. The findings of our research provide better understanding of entrepreneurial intentions and their antecedents in the specific post-transition context of South-East European countries.
Theoretical and policy implications of research findings are discussed in the paper.


This bulletin is a report of research under Project 3, 'Improvement of swine through breeding,' Department of Animal Husbandry in cooperation with the Regional Swine Breeding Laboratory, A.H.R.D., A.R.S., U.S. Department of Agriculture--P. [2].


BACKGROUND
In order to investigate platelet activation after contact with artificial materials, which is an important aspect of biocompatibility especially for the blood-contacting devices, platelet morphological modifications and spread area were evaluated by light microscopy and image analysis after contact with glow discharge-treated polybutylene terephthalate coated with a polymer for platelet concentrate filtration.

METHODS
A hydrophilic polymer made of partially hydrolyzed polyvinyl-acetate containing polyethylene oxide/poly-propylene oxide copolymer block as lateral chains (PVA) (Biofil S.r.l., Cavezzo, Modena, Italy) was evaluated. After contact with PVA, platelets were allowed to settle on a siliconized slide and then fixed and stained. The specimens were analyzed by image analysis. The percentages of spreading, round and dendritic shapes, as well as the presence of aggregates, were evaluated, and the mean area of the spread platelets was measured.

RESULTS
PVA induced significant variations neither in the percentages of shape change distribution, nor of the mean spread area. However it determined a statistically significant reduction in platelets with the area from 60 to 70 mu 2. Such minimal variations agree with the results we obtained in the past, namely a non significant platelet adhesion induced by the same material.

CONCLUSIONS
The method confirms the results of platelet adhesion and release reaction (the study of release reaction needs more refined but more expensive methods). However, the study of morphological modifications by image analysis is not suitable for testing materials that induce massive platelet adhesion, because the number of the residual platelets could be too low for the microscopic evaluation.


This study examines the association of audit fees with audit quality among a total of 104 and 108 non-financial companies listed on GCC stock markets for the periods preceding and subsequent the event, respectively, over the period 2005–2010. Using OLS regression, the results show that there is a significantly positive association between audit fees and audit quality for the periods preceding and subsequent the new auditor selection. Further, the results of this study contribute to the existing theory and empirical evidence of how the audit fees are associated with audit quality in the periods preceding and subsequent to the new auditor selection. This study offers policy-makers additional evidence to be used for setting up and/or enacting regulations in GCC region regarding issues related to audit fees.


Purpose To clone, map, and determine the site of expression (mRNA and protein) of the alpha subunit of the receptor for ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTFRalpha) in the normal adult canine retina. Methods The complete coding sequence of the canine CNTFRalpha cDNA was cloned, and radiation hybrid (RH) mapping was used to determine the chromosomal localization of the gene. CNTFRalpha mRNA expression in retina and other tissues was examined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The cellular distribution of CNTFRalpha in the canine retina was studied by in situ hybridization and immunocytochemistry. Results Canine CNTFRalpha shares a high degree of homology with the human, mouse, and rat coding sequences, both at the nucleotide and amino acid level, but has lower homology with the chicken. CNTFRalpha was RH mapped to CFA 11 (Canis familiaris autosome 11) in the dog, a region showing homology to the short arm of human chromosome 9 (9p13). The gene is transcribed in retina, brain, spleen, lung, liver, and kidney. In the retina, CNTFRalpha was highly expressed by photoreceptors, but both the transcript and protein were also found in the RPE, inner nuclear layer, and ganglion cells. Conclusions These findings demonstrate that CNTFRalpha is expressed by rods and cones in the normal adult canine retina and suggest that ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) could have a direct photoreceptor rescue effect by binding to CNTFRalpha in these cells. This could open novel pathways for the treatment of retinal degeneration in animal models and humans.


There are no set guidelines on how to interpret the criteria's in the adjustment rule within the meaning of the companies act. The criteria's are not discussed in literature and the Swedish case law in this area is very limited. A reason for the limited use of the adjustment rule is the slow and very costly process, which does not grantee the outcome of the case. Because of the lack of case law regarding damages and the adjustment rule it has not been up for discussion. The responsibility of a CEO or member of the board is a very central part in a working company. The rules for damages must therefore work as an incitement for a member of the board or CEO to show care and make decisions the very best of interest of the company. All types of companies involve some form of risk taking. The rules within the companies act shall not discourage the board or CEO to make well calculated decisions that in the end can become a loss-making deal. The adjustment rule in the companies act is written in very general terms. This is because of the large type of situations that can occur in a company. Sweden's and the rest of Scandinavia's legal systems are very much alike. To try and understand how the adjustment rule is supposed to be processed; a comparison is going to be made with another Nordic country's equivalent rule, in this case Denmark. This can shed more light on how to interpret the adjustment rule within the meaning of the companies act, and if there are any differences between the two countries in the usage of this rule. If there are any differences, is the difference more beneficial seen to the person who has caused the damage? There are only minor differences between the two countries and the usage of the rule. However these differences can be seen at more beneficial to the person who has inflicted the damage, when using Denmark's adjustment rule.


Lost plays are a source of significant information on playwrights, playing companies, audiences, and venues in Shakespeare's England. They include plays by Shakespeare, Marlowe, Jonson, and other canonical playwrights in addition to anonymous plays and the writings of lesser known writers. Details preserved depend upon the record, but may include title, date, authorship, company affiliation, plot, and even details of performance. This edited collection examines assumptions about what a lost play is and how it can be talked about; how lost plays can be reconstructed, particularly when they use narratives already familiar to playgoers; and how lost plays can force us to reassess extant plays, particularly through ideas of repertory studies. Lost plays, it argues, improve our knowledge of playwrights' and playing companies' overall dramatic output.


Background & Aim: Heart disease is one of the most common disorders in the worldwide and Coronary Artery ByPass Graft (CABG) is importand surgical procedure in the patients. In this regard, one of the intervention is, extubation process in the patients. To recognize the related variables on duration of extubation and the expected time of quality nursing care, the aim of this study was to determine correlation of the variable and predicting extubation time to improve quality of nursing care. In other words, this study was conducted to determine any relationship between preoperative factors such as demographic and physiologic variables with extubation time after CABG. Material & Method: This study was a descriptive design; with census sampling method. The sample size was 150 patients who were undertaken CABG surgery. For data gathering, patients records were used and in some cases, when it was necessary to collect more information, the data were gathered from patients' discharge plan. Result : The results showed that 72.6% of the subjects were males and the remaining were females. Mean and standard deviation of age were 56.6 ( (cid:2) 9.93) years. Most of the subjects (76.7%) had stenosis in three vessels. With regard to the different study variables, the mean of extubation time was less than or equal 12 hours, in younger patients (<50 years) compared to the other age groups (P<0.01). Also Mann whitney U test showed that extubation time in balloon pump users were more than others (P<0.05) and the extubation time was longer than the other groups. Conclusion: Findings of this study, indicate that older age groups with using balloon pump need more attention in extubation, and early extubation can lead to early discharge and may decrease hospitalzation costs.


Bone dysplasias comprise of a condition where the normal bone is replaced with fibrous tissue. Periapical Cemento-Osseous Dysplasia (PCOD) is a benign fibro-osseous condition where bone tissue is supplanted with fibrous tissue and cementum-like material. This condition affects mostly mandibular anterior region and rarely occurs in the maxilla. PCOD is seen above 30 years of age and has slight female predilection. Generally the teeth related to such lesions appear to be vital and are usually asymptomatic. These lesions are mostly seen during routine radiographic examination whose presentation may vary from complete radiolucency to dense radiopacity. The advent of Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) has brought a massive change in the field of dentistry which has become an important tool for diagnosis. Hence we hereby present an unusual case of cemento-osseous dysplasia in an unfamiliar location with an atypical presentation. The shape of the pathology was completely idiosyncratic and different from an orthodox lesion of COD, as the lesion was observed to grow out of the palatal surface with a prominent palatal expansion. This case highlights the importance of CBCT in radiographic diagnosis and in evaluating the characteristics of such lesion, which present with high diagnostic dilemma.


Abstract. This paper presents a new fully automatic method for quickly finding the average peak emission height of a single auroral structure from a pair of all-sky camera images with overlapping fields of view. The peak emission height of the aurora must be estimated in order to calculate several other important parameters, such as horizontal spatial scales, optical flow velocities, and ionospheric electric fields. In most cases the height is not measured, but a value is assumed, often about 110 km. It is unclear how accurate this assumption is. A future statistical study of the auroral height in which the method presented here will be applied to many years of observations will lead to more accurate assumptions of the height with quantitative error estimates, and therefore more accurate estimates of parameters derived using these assumed auroral heights. In the present work the performance of the new method is compared to another recent automatic method. It is found that the new method measures the peak emission height regardless of the shape of the volume emission rate profile, unlike the other recent method. However, the new method is less suitable than the other method for analysis of very wide auroral arcs (>30 km) or for aurora in the magnetic zenith of one of the images.


The necessity for cooperation among intelligent machines has popularised cooperative multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) in AI research. However, many research endeavours heavily rely on parameter sharing among agents, which confines them to only homogeneous-agent setting and leads to training instability and lack of convergence guarantees. To achieve effective cooperation in the general heterogeneous-agent setting, we propose Heterogeneous-Agent Reinforcement Learning (HARL) algorithms that resolve the aforementioned issues. Central to our findings are the multi-agent advantage decomposition lemma and the sequential update scheme. Based on these, we develop the provably correct Heterogeneous-Agent Trust Region Learning (HATRL) that is free of parameter-sharing constraint, and derive HATRPO and HAPPO by tractable approximations. Furthermore, we discover a novel framework named Heterogeneous-Agent Mirror Learning (HAML), which strengthens theoretical guarantees for HATRPO and HAPPO and provides a general template for cooperative MARL algorithmic designs. We prove that all algorithms derived from HAML inherently enjoy monotonic improvement of joint reward and convergence to Nash Equilibrium. As its natural outcome, HAML validates more novel algorithms in addition to HATRPO and HAPPO, including HAA2C, HADDPG, and HATD3, which consistently outperform their existing MA-counterparts. We comprehensively test HARL algorithms on six challenging benchmarks and demonstrate their superior effectiveness and stability for coordinating heterogeneous agents compared to strong baselines such as MAPPO and QMIX.


This study examines the co-construction of identities, and the pragmatic strategies used by two interlocutors in a U.S. Hispanic political debate, conducted in Spanish, to construct those identities and align with the viewers. The framework used for analysis is informed by the notion of political cognition (van Dijk 2002; Pavlenko and Blackledge 2004), as well as by the concept of alignment (Goffman 1983; Linell 1994; Koike 2003). Among the identities co-constructed by the participants were self- and other-constructed identities. The linguistic strategies used for identity negotiation included deictic markers, speech styles and, especially, pragmatic implicatures. The analysis illustrates the role of political cognition and alignment strategies in the debate context according to the candidates' perceptions of their audience, which can be seen as a reflection of the Texas Hispanic population today.


Stable matchings may fail to exist in the roommate matching problem, both when utility is transferable and when it is not. We show that when utility is transferable, the existence of a stable matching is restored when there is an even number of individuals of indistinguishable characteristics and tastes (types). As a consequence, when the number of individuals of any given type is large enough there always exist "quasi-stable" matchings: a stable matching can be restored with minimal policy intervention. Our results build on an analogy with an associated bipartite problem; it follows that the tools crafted in empirical studies of the marriage problem can easily be adapted to the roommate problem.


Organic anion-transporting polypeptides (OATP) 1B1 and OATP1B3 are drug transporters mediating the active hepatic uptake of their substrates. Because they exhibit overlapping substrate specific-ities, the contribution of each isoform to the net hepatic uptake needs to be considered when predicting drug-drug interactions. The relative contribution of OATP1B1- and OATP1B3-mediated uptake of statins into hepatocytes was estimated based on either relative transporter protein expression data or relative activity data. Therefore, kinetics of eight statins and OATP1B1- and OATP1B3-specific reference substrates was determined in OATP1B1- and OATP1B3-expressing human embryonic kidney 293 cells and in human cryopreserved hepatocytes. Absolute OATP1B1 and OATP1B3 protein abundance was determined by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry in all expression systems. Transporter activity data generated in recombinant cell lines were extrapolated to hepatocyte values using relative transporter expression factors (REF) or relative activity factors (RAF). Our results showed a pronounced OATP1B1 and comparatively low OATP1B3 protein expression in the investigated hepatocyte lot. Based on REF scaling, we demonstrated that the active hepatic uptake clearances of reference substrates, atorvastatin, pravastatin, rosuvastatin, and simvastatin were well predicted within twofold error, demonstrating that OATP1B1 and OATP1B3 were major contributors. For other statins, the net hepatic uptake clearance was underpredicted, suggesting the involvement of other hepatic uptake transporters. Summarized, we showed that REF- and RAF-based pre-dictions were highly similar, indicating a direct transporter expression-activity relationship. Moreover, we demonstrated that the REF-scaling method provided a powerful tool to quantitatively assess the transporter-specific contributions to the net uptake clearance of statins in hepatocytes. differences in uptake clearances obtained in incubations in the presence and absence of transporter inhibitors was assessed by unpaired, two-tailed Student ' s t test. Differences were considered to be statistically significant for P values below 0.05. For parameter estimation based on data fitting, the co- efficients of determination (R 2 ) were determined to assess the goodness of fit. Moreover, fold-error deviations between the observed and predicted hepatic PS act,max values were calculated to assess the performance of the REF- and RAF-based prediction methods.


Forty patients with a well‐documented history of seasonal hay fever and a positive skin‐prick test specific to grass pollen, including Bermuda grass and maize pollen (Zea maize), were allocated randomly on a double‐blind basis to receive either an oral mixed grass–maize pollen extract or a matched placebo during the 1981/1982 grass pollen season. After 12 months the code was broken and patients on placebo were transferred to active therapy while patients on active therapy continued with maintenance therapy for another 12 months during the 1982/1983 grass pollen season. The assessment of the effect of the orally administered grass–maize pollen extract was on the clinical symptoms. During the first year the patients on active therapy had significantly fewer hay fever symptoms during the summer months compared with the placebo group. During the second study year, with all patients on active therapy, both groups had markedly milder symptoms compared with the placebo group. Side–effects were negligible. This study concludes that oral immunotherapy with grass‐maize pollen extract in grass pollen‐sensitive seasonal hay fever patients is safe and effective.


Two-Dimensional (2D) materials such as graphene, Transition Metal Dichalcogenides (TMDs) and Metal Monochalcogenides (MMs) are the next generation of smart devices because of their outstanding novel properties. Monolayer (one molecule thick.) of famous TMDs such as MoS2, MoSe2, WS2 and WSe2 exhibit phenomenal physical properties including but not limited to low-energy direct bandgap and large piezoelectric responses. These have made them potential candidates for cutting-edge electronic and mechanical devices such as novel transistors and PN-junctions, on-chip energy storage and piezoelectric devices which could be applied in smart sensors and actuators technologies. Additionally, reversible structural phase transition in these materials from semiconducting phase (1H) to metallic phase (1T') as a function of strain, provide compelling physics which facilitates new era of sophisticated flexoelectric devices, novel switches and a giant leap in new regime of transistors.
 One iconic characteristics of monolayer 2D materials is their incredible stretchability which allows them to be subjected to several percent strains before yielding. In this thesis I provide facile techniques based on polymer encapsulation to apply several percent (6.5%) controllable, non-destructive and reproducible strains. This is the highest reproducible strain reported so far. Then I show our experimental techniques and object detection algorithm to verify the amount of strain. These followed up by device fabrication techniques as well as in-depth polarized and unpolarized Raman spectroscopy. Then, I show interesting physics of monolayer and bilayer TMDs under strain and how their photoluminescence behaviors change under tensile and compressive strains. Monolayers of TMDs and MMs exhibit 1-10 larger piezoelectric coefficients comparing to bulk piezo materials. These surprising characteristics together with being able to apply large range strains, opens a new avenue of piezoelectricity with enormous magnitudes higher than those commercially available. Further on 2D materials, I show our transport experiments on doped and pristine graphene micro devices and unveil the discoveries of magneto conductance behaviors. To complete, we present our computerized techniques and experimental platforms to make these 2D materials.


This paper attempts to examine the current view of the informal sector, particularly as stated in the I.L.O. report, It suggests that the I.L.O. view is optimistic in thinking that the informal sector can be made more productive simply through organisational changes in its relationship to both government and industry. It tries to examine the constraints that act on the informal sector and concludes that it is limited in its ability to transcend barriers to entry into the formal sector through lack of access to capital resources, and is unable to gererate this capital from its own production surplus. Two case studies are given, one of an informal motor repair workshop and the other of a successful manufacturer of beds. The paper concludes that these constraints disqualify the informal sector from serious consideration as a dynamic growth point in the economy of Kenya.


The patient was a 69-year-old man who had a two-year history of slowly-progressive gait disturbance, paresthesia of the distal legs and bilateral hearing impairment. Nerve conduction study showed symmetric motor-dominant axonal polyneuropathy of the legs. Gadolinium-enhanced brain and spinal cord MRI revealed bilateral vestibular schwannomas, and multiple small schwannomas in the cauda equina, the surface of spinal cord and lumbar muscles. Genetic examination disclosed a point mutation in the exon 2 (T161C: L54P) of the neurofibromatosis 2 (NF2) gene, and the diagnosis of NF2 was made. It has been reported that axonal polyneuropathy is frequently observed in patients with NF2. Therefore, it is possible that axonal polyneuropathy of the present patient may be due to the abnormality of the NF2 gene, but not to the direct compression of the tumors, because the localization of his schwannomas in the cauda equina and the spinal cord could not explain his symmetric polyneuropathy. Although this patient showed no characteristic clinical manifestations such as cutaneous lesions, gadolinium-enhanced brain and spinal cord MRI was useful for the detection of asymptomatic schwannomas. NF2 should be considered as a differential diagnosis in patients with axonal polyneuropathy, even if it is late-onset.


In the early 1940s, Haavelmo proposed a probabilistic structure for econometric modeling, aiming to make econometrics useful for public decision making. His fundamental contribution has become thoroughly embedded in subsequent econometric research, yet it could not fully answer all the deep issues that the author raised. Notably, Haavelmo struggled to formalize the implications for decision making of the fact that models can at most approximate actuality. In the same period, Wald initiated his own seminal development of statistical decision theory. Haavelmo favorably cited Wald, but econometrics subsequently did not embrace statistical decision theory. Instead, it focused on study of identification, estimation, and statistical inference. This paper proposes statistical decision theory as a framework for evaluation of the performance of models in decision making. I particularly consider the common practice of as-if optimization: specification of a model, point estimation of its parameters, and use of the point estimate to make a decision that would be optimal if the estimate were accurate. A central theme is that one should evaluate as-if optimization or any other model-based decision rule by its performance across the state space, not the model space. I use prediction and treatment choice to illustrate. Statistical decision theory is conceptually simple, but application is often challenging. Advancement of computation is the primary task to continue building the foundations sketched by Haavelmo and Wald.


In tricuspid annuloplasty intraoperative "real time" evaluation using transoesophageal echocardiography requires normal flow to get reliable result. It means that the patient has to be already weaned from the cardiopulmonary bypass by the time of evaluation. In the authors' experience a well functioning tricuspid annuloplasty prevents back-flow through the valve. It can be observed on on-pump beating heart. If the tricuspid valve is competent, it is unnecessary to suck the blood flowing back through the coronary sinus while closing the right atrium. This observation seems to correlate well with post cardiopulmonary bypass transoesophageal echocardiography measurements and the control transthoracic echocardiography right before discharging the patients. These statements are based on a group of 72 patients. Sixty-nine patients (95.8%) were discharged (early mortality 4.2%). Only in one case we could observe a discrepancy between the intraoperative surgical observation and the postoperative echocardiographic finding. Development of functional tricuspid regurgitation in left-sided heart disease is a warning sign for myocardial impairment, which is an indication for surgery. Tricuspid annuloplasty can be performed even with moderate to medium grade regurgitation because it improves the early and late outcome. The described method is an adequate method for intraoperative evaluation of the repaired tricuspid valve competency.


Soils contaminated with toxic and persistent pollutants pose different and serious hazards to the environment and human health. Multidisciplinary procedures that are considering models for the prediction of risk for long-term exposure are needed. The present paper illustrates the operating mode and utility of an environmental software able toe0) integrates the dose-response modeling as a major part of hazard characterization in order to assess the quantitative risk from carcinogens. In this way, risk assessment is used as a method for the investigation of contaminated sites. The method is demonstrated on a Romanian field site, contaminated with petroleum products. For the assessment of human health risks from oil-contaminated sites, the contaminants of concern are considered as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (MAHs), and heavy metals, chemicals known as human carcinogens. Quantitative risk calculations revealed an individual risk of 1.07 × 10−5 for children and 6.89 × 10−6 for adults. The paper represents a utility example of an environmental software solution that could be considered by decision-making factors in approving certain projects. The software tool is helpful for protecting the environment and human health.


Pea aphids were reared aseptically in the laboratory and fed on strains of Erwinia aphidicola, Erwinia herbicola, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli and bacterium W, an aphid enterobacterium, by mixing with a synthetic diet to determine whether these bacteria have pathogenicity to the insect. It turned out that Er. aphidicola and Er. herbicola grew in aphid gut, while K. pneumoniae, Es. coli and bacterium W were effectively eliminated. In the case of Er. aphidicola, ingestion of a single dose of 10(3) CFU/ml was enough to infect aphid gut and to prevent post-final ecdysis growth of the insect. As a result, the body weight of the infected aphids was significantly reduced (p<0.01). A concentration of 10(5) CFU/ml of Er. aphidicola caused aphid mortality. In contrast, Er. herbicola demanded 10(5) CFU/ml to colonize in aphid gut, and seemed to have no effect on insect health.


Money plant or annual honesty (Lunaria annua L.) is an ornamental landscape plant used in flower beds and borders and also in flower arrangements. It is a biennial plant with large, pointed, oval leaves. Plants of L. annua showing white-to-cream, blister-like lesions on leaves and siliques (2) were found in private gardens where approximately 800 plants of 1,000 (approximately 80 to 90%) that were observed showed symptoms. The disease was also found in two ornamental nurseries, although it was limited to a few mother plants because of extensive fungicide treatments. The gardens and ornamental nurseries were located in Potenza Province (Basilicata Region, southern Italy). Sporangiophores were mostly straight or arched and almost cylindrical with attenuated base and flat or rounded apex and measured 29.2 to 33.4 × 12.8 to 13.4 μm. Sporangia, produced in chains and joined by short connectives, exhibited a spherical or angular shape, were subhyaline, contained vacuoles, and had average maximum and minimum diameters ranging from 15.8 to 18.8 and 14 to 16 μm, respectively. The morphological characteristics closely resembled those reported for Albugo candida (Pers.) Kuntze (3). Sori were collected from naturally and artificially inoculated tissues of L. annua, with the aid of a stereomicroscope, and used to extract genomic DNA via a DNeasy Plant Mini DNA extraction kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) according to the manufacturer's directions. The extracted DNA was used as a template for amplification of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of rDNA with primer pair ITS4/DC6 (1,4) and sequenced. One sequence, GenBank Accession No. GQ328846, matched several sequences of A. candida (Pers). Kuntze (e.g., GenBank Accession Nos. GQ328837, GQ328836, GQ328835, GQ328834, and AF271231), showing 98% identity. Pathogenicity tests were performed and repeated twice. Leaves of 10 healthy seedlings of L. annua were surface cleaned during several washings with distilled water and then spray inoculated with a suspension of 103 sporangia/ml of A. candida. Five healthy seedlings were spray inoculated with the same volume of sterile water and served as controls. Inoculated seedlings were maintained in a moist chamber for 48 h at 20°C before being moved to a shaded glasshouse at 16 to 24°C and 90% relative humidity. White rust symptoms, similar to those observed in natural conditions, appeared on leaves of inoculated seedlings 10 to 14 days later, demonstrating that A. candida was the causal agent of the disease. Control plants remained symptomless. White rust has been reported on L. annua in Europe (Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom) and in the northwestern United States (3). To our knowledge, this is the first report of A. candida infecting annual honesty plant in Italy. References: (1) P. Bonants et al. Eur. J. Plant Pathol. 103:345, 1997. (2) D. Choi et al. Mycotaxon 53:261, 1995. (3) D. A. Glawe et al. Online publication. doi:10.1094/PHP-2004-0317-01-HN. Plant Health Progress, 2004. (4) T. J. White et al. Amplification and direct sequencing of fungal ribosomal RNA genes for phylogenetics. In: PCR Protocols. A Guide to Methods and Applications. Academic Press, San Diego, CA, 1990.


We examine models and prospects for proton annihilation to dileptons, a process which violates baryon and lepton number each by two. We determine that currently Super-Kamiokande would place the most draconian bound on $pp \rightarrow \ell^+ \ell^+$, ruling out new physics below a scale of $\sim 1.6$ TeV. We also find present and future hadron collider sensitivity to these processes. While 8 TeV LHC data excludes new physics at a scale below $\sim 800$ GeV, the reach of a 14 TeV LHC run is $\sim 1.8$ TeV, putting it on par with the sensitivity of Super-Kamiokande. On the other hand, a 100 TeV proton-proton collider would be sensitive to proton annihilation at a scale up to 10 TeV, allowing it to far exceed the reach of both Super-Kamiokande and the projected 2 TeV reach of Hyper-Kamiokande. Constraints from neutron star observation and cosmological evolution are not competitive. Therefore, although high-luminosity water Cherenkov experiments currently place the leading bounds on baryon and lepton number violation, next generation high-energy hadron colliders will begin surpassing them in sensitivity to some $B/L$-violating processes.


In recent years, deep learning-based networks have achieved state-of-the-art performance in medical image segmentation. Among the existing networks, U-Net has been successfully applied on medical image segmentation. In this paper, we propose an extension of U-Net, Bi-directional ConvLSTM U-Net with Densely connected convolutions (BCDU-Net), for medical image segmentation, in which we take full advantages of U-Net, bi-directional ConvLSTM (BConvLSTM) and the mechanism of dense convolutions. Instead of a simple concatenation in the skip connection of U-Net, we employ BConvLSTM to combine the feature maps extracted from the corresponding encoding path and the previous decoding up-convolutional layer in a non-linear way. To strengthen feature propagation and encourage feature reuse, we use densely connected convolutions in the last convolutional layer of the encoding path. Finally, we can accelerate the convergence speed of the proposed network by employing batch normalization (BN). The proposed model is evaluated on three datasets of: retinal blood vessel segmentation, skin lesion segmentation, and lung nodule segmentation, achieving state-of-the-art performance.


Background Our knowledge of how to create safety cultures is extremely limited. This research utilized an unusual opportunity to longitudinally study how the same intervention—an evidence-based bundle, including bedside multidisciplinary rounds and a quality-safety checklist—altered culture differently on three inpatient hospital units. Objectives Using methods from both anthropology and quality improvement, this research evaluates the dynamic process of implementing a highly complex culture change intervention by: (1) describing the units at baseline, (2) characterizing the transformation of units during implementation, and (3) identifying the activities and contextual factors that accelerated or hindered the implementation process. Methods Three inpatient internal medicine units in the US and Australia were studied over two years. Data collection included over 420 hours of ethnographic participant observation, 102 semi-structured interviews with hospital staff, and 141 safety culture questionnaires. Qualitative data was coded and analyzed using modified grounded theory, and triangulated against the quantitative using iterative constant comparison and cross-case analysis. Results The intervention successfully disrupted cultural norms on one unit, but unexpectedly failed to do so at another. The implementation was well-resourced and consistent between units. However, the failed unit suffered from an inadvertent reinforcement of hierarchy within rounds, mutations in the meaning of checklists, and interactions with local hierarchies and conceptions of nurse-patient relationships. Conclusions This research informs the design of subsequent culture change interventions, as reports of failure to change culture are rare in the literature. This study uniquely expands previous understanding by building a framework based in the social sciences for understanding and changing safety culture.


Streptococcus agalactiae and Streptococcus pyogenes are two related human pathogens causing different diseases. This thesis focuses on a number of surface proteins expressed by S. agalactiae and S. pyogenes and, more specifically, the molecular and biological characterization of these proteins. The first paper describes the novel Blr protein of S. agalactiae, which together with the previously described Slr protein of S. pyogenes identifies a family of streptococcal proteins with leucine-rich repeats (LRRs). Characterization of Blr and Slr revealed that the two proteins are efficiently camouflaged by other surface components. In S. agalactiae, exposure of Blr was increased ~100-fold in a mutant lacking the polysaccharide capsule, whereas S. pyogenes mutants lacking M protein and/or protein F displayed ~20-fold increased surface exposure of Slr. It seems possible that the camouflaging structures are downregulated during some parts of the infection process, thus exposing the Blr and Slr proteins on the streptococcal surface. In the second paper, we analyzed a key problem in the vaccine field, the identification of antigens that elicit protective immunity. Our studies were focused on the immune response to the S. agalactiae proteins Rib and alpha. These proteins contain a unique N-terminal region and long repetitive C-terminal sequences. The immune response against pure Rib or alpha was almost exclusively directed against the repeat region, i.e. very few antibodies were directed against the N-terminal regions. Thus, the N-terminal region is nonimmunodominant in both Rib and alpha. Nevertheless, a fusion protein comprising the N-terminal regions of Rib and alpha elicited antibodies that were protective. Importantly, studies of the S. pyogenes M22 protein showed that the N-terminal region, which is targeted by opsonic antibodies, was also nonimmunodominant. Together, these results indicate that nonimmunodominant regions are of general interest for vaccine development. The third paper addresses the role of fibrinogen (Fg) in bacterial virulence. We characterized the Fg-binding B repeat region of the S. pyogenes M5 protein. In a mouse model, a mutant lacking the Fg-binding domain was severely attenuated, indicating that binding of Fg plays a key role in virulence. Similarly, a bacterial mutant lacking the most N-terminal part of the M5 protein was avirulent. Together, these data indicate that two separate regions of M5 are important for virulence. The function of bacteria-bound Fg is not known, but our data support the notion that bound Fg protects the bacteria against complement deposition and thereby against phagocytosis. (Less)


Lotte Wellton (2017): Making Meals in Restaurants. Daily Practices and Professional Ideals. Örebro Studies in Culinary Arts and Meal Science 12. Thanks to the gastronomic development in recent decades in Sweden, the restaurant industry is growing significantly and has opportunities to attract new and wider groups of labour. However, despite media images of successful chefs and culinary creativity, there is a common perception of tiring working conditions and low wages that prevent restaurants from attracting staff. The overall aim of this thesis is to elucidate how professionalism is done and reproduced inside the restaurant industry by means of practice theory and the Five Aspects Meal Model. By an empirically grounded understanding of daily practices in small restaurants the thesis will show and explain how professionalism including leadership, is formed and understood among restaurant practitioners. Additionally by conceptualizing professionalism in restaurant work the thesis will provide a solid basis for the discussion of how knowledge transfer in the restaurant industry can develop. The scientific methods used in two studies were qualitative: interviews with owners/managers/head chefs of small restaurants in a tourist resort and in four major cities in Sweden, and in-depth workplace observations including talks with the owners/managers/head chefs and their staff. The results show how daily work in restaurants contain conflicting practices, such as time-consuming workload and slow knowledge growth together with lack of control and planning that collide with expectations of creativity and development. Leadership in restaurant kitchens is dependent on knowledge of materiality and ability to show and guide staff as well as having overview and foresight in the daily work. The results also suggests that professionalism in the industry entails practices of mastering the materiality, observant management and, time use including loyal perseverance. The thesis contributes to an in-depth discussion of professionalism in restaurants and the industry's ability to develop time-use, leadership, and new ways of learning, in order to attract and retain staff.


The problem of the inward solidification of a two–dimensional region of fluid is considered, it being assumed that the liquid is initially at its fusion temperature and that heat flows by conduction only. The resulting one–phase Stefan problem is reformulated using the Baiocchi transform and is examined using matched asymptotic expansions under the assumption that the Stefan number is large. Analysis on the first time–scale reveals that the liquid–solid free boundary becomes elliptic in shape at times just before complete freezing. However, as with the radially symmetric case considered previously, this analysis leads to an unphysical singularity in the final temperature distribution. A second time–scale therefore needs to be considered, and it is shown that the free boundary retains its shape until another non–uniformity is formed. Finally, a third (exponentially short) time–scale, which also describes the generic extinction behaviour for all Stefan numbers, is needed to resolve the non–uniformity. By matching between the last two time–scales we are able to determine a uniformly valid description of the temperature field and the location of the free boundary at times just before extinction. Recipes for computing the time it takes to completely freeze the body and the location at which the final freezing occurs are also derived.


Based on the ethnography of two co-development projects run by Ghanaian migrants to Italy, this article explores migrants' political subjectivity by examining practices and discourses on migration as a resource for development. In Ghana, which is considered one of the African states more pro-active in designing policies to channel migration for development, diasporic groups have been re-articulated as part of the transnational nation. In Italy, where migrants are incorporated as subaltern subjects, migration and development policies have been interpreted as an inclusive tool for promoting socio-economic integration in the country of immigration. In this scenario, where neo-liberal policies celebrate migrants' potential as development agents, the analysis focuses on the way Ghanaian migrants imagine and encounter the state of both origin and destination while reflecting and embodying discourses, becoming development brokers, and struggling to be recognized across borders.


Based on the purpose of the bridge health monitoring, a new health monitoring system, including hardware and software part, is proposed for cable-stayed bridges in detail. The system is categorized as five sub-systems covering sensor system, data acquisition system, data analysis system, simulation analysis system, and warning system. Many monitoring parameters including environment wind, temperature field, humidity field, strain, deflection, cable forces, and traffic can be obtained by those five sub-systems. The purpose and monitoring content of each parameter are illustrated in the paper, and moreover, the method of the layout of the measuring points is put forward.


Background It is important to characterize the functioning of elderly adults in different care contexts and evaluate their suitability to the condition of the elderly population. Therefore, the present study 30 aimed to compare the functional profiles of institutionalized and noninstitutionalized older adults; to evaluate the effect of biological and sociodemographic factors on the determination of functional profiles and to evaluate the probability of an older adults obtaining a certain overall functional profile based on his/her age. centers (100) and institutionalized elderly living in nursing homes (376). The data were 38 collected using the semi-structured interview method and it was applied the Elderly Nursing 39 Core Set. 40 The Elderly Nursing Core Set model tested consisted of 22 items in five domains: "Self-Care - 42 Activities of daily living (a)"; "Self-Care - Activities of daily living (b)"; "Mental Functions"; 43 "Communication" and "Support and Relationships". Women, older participants, illiterate 44 elderly and institutionalized participants had worse functional profile results. 45 Conclusions 46 Age, female sex, lack of education, and institutionalization are negatively related to the 47 functional profile. Given the association between education level and functioning, it is 48 necessary to promote the training of elderly individuals throughout life. The implementation of 49 social and health responses should allow elderly individuals to remain in their homes, given the 50 influence of functioning on self-care and quality of life. 51


This research examines whether there is a gap in wages between women and men starting to work in the public sector, and if so — what the reasons are for the gap and how it developed over the past 16 years. The research shows that at the start of the period a significant wage gap existed in favor of men, that this gap decreased over the 16 years covered by the research, and that since 2001, there is no difference in the average wage at the time of starting to work between men and women. The narrowing of the gap reflects the fact that men's real wages at the time of starting to work grew during the 16 years by only five percent, while those of women grew by 27 percent. The wage gap can be attributed to two influences: the difference in human capital, which creates a legitimate gap, and the difference in the return to human capital which creates an illegitimate gap. The decrease in differences in human capital between men and women to a situation in which women currently enjoy an advantage, has led to a narrowing in the wage gaps between them This narrowing is a result, among other things, of the accelerating process of academization among women, by virtue of which the proportion of women entering professions whose average salary is relatively higher has grown steadily. No less significant has been the decline in the return to human capital among men relative to women, and this too has led to reducing the wage gap. A further examination showed that when the research population is "uniform" between the sexes, wage gaps between men and women are even smaller, even though they have grown during the past four years. Furthermore, it was found that on starting to work, men generally received higher grades than women for the same profession. In this area as well, women's relative situation has improved significantly over the years.


Background: Red cell distribution width (RDW) is a critical parameter that is reported to have a relation with the incidence and prognosis of cerebrovascular strokes. Altered RDW has been shown to predispose to the development of vascular thrombosis which is the underlying cause of cerebrovascular disease. We in the current study tried to evaluate the relationship between RDW values and stroke severity and prognosis. Methods: N=50 cases of acute ischemic stroke and age and sex-matched controls were included in the study. The patients were analyzed with a detailed history with the profile of stroke, GCS, NIHSS, mRS, including risk factors such as hypertension, Diabetes mellitus, IHD, and vascular risk factors. All the patients were subjected to 12 lead ECGs, 2D Echo, and CT scans. The sample was sent to the Department of Pathology for complete blood analysis including RDW. Results: the cases were divided into two groups those with RDW ≥14.5 and those with RDW ≤14.5. We found 62% of cases with RDW ≥14.5 and 28% cases with RDW ≤14.5. We found CRP levels, MCV, Modified Rankin Scale mRS, and Stroke size significantly increased in patients with RDW ≥14.5. Analysis of cases based on RDW in both groups the p-values was found to be 0.0122 considered significant. The diagnostic value of RDW levels at the cutoff value of 13.5 found the sensitivity was 76.5% and specificity was 75.8%. Conclusion: RDW is an important indicator of the prognosis of ischemic stroke. Although the exact mechanisms underlying it has not been fully elucidated, it may be used routinely in laboratories as it is inexpensive, and when combined with GCS, NIHSS, and mRS parameters it could provide information on stroke severity and increased risk of mortality.


In order to obtain thin film dielectric layers with very low dielectric constants for use in microelectronic devices, polyimide nanofoamed films has been prepared from the polyimide precursors (PMDA-ODA) and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) in N,N-dimethylacetamide. The synthesization process included blending polyimide as the major phase with a minor phase of the thermally labile PEO blocks. The foamed films were characterized by a variety of experiments including TG and SEM, and the experimental results indicated that the labile PEO would undergo oxidative thermolysis to release small moleculars from the matrix so as to leave voids into the polyimide matrix. The dielectric properties of the films were studied over broad frequency ranges. The dependences of dielectric constant on the PEO content in the films and frequency were discussed. The films with a proper amount of PEO displayed relatively low dielectric constant compared to the pure polyimide film. Thin film foams with high thermal stability and low dielectric constants can be prepared using the approach.


Customer knowledge is highly valued in today's business environment where supply is more than demand and firms are trying their best to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Building customer knowledge base through knowledge management provides firms with strategic weapon for customer value creation, average level of customer knowledge enhancement, cost and time reduction, service quality improvement and quicker customer knowledge creation. The main objective of this study is to propose a conceptual framework for exploring the relatedness of the three dimensions: resource provision, knowledge management process and customer knowledge performance. The proposed conceptual framework emphasizes the link between knowledge management with corporate mission and vision and that they set out the direction of corporate knowledge management. This study takes a kitchenware manufacturer and seller in Taiwan as an example to perform a field study to collect the concerned data for exploring the expressed relatedness among the three dimensions of the proposed framework as reported by the respondents in the case company. From the responses of the surveyed case company, it is also demonstrated how customer knowledge can be enhanced through resource provision and knowledge management and that people who surely understand their corporate mission and vision can outperform in knowledge management process and in customer knowledge performance compared with people who do not in this particular setting.


Aims: To determine cause specific mortality in a cohort of 2266 chemical workers exposed to benzene in various manufacturing processes after 1935. Methods: The cohort has accumulated over 80 000 person-years of observation; about 70% of the workers were followed for more than 30 years since first exposure. Results: Mortality from non-malignant diseases of the blood was increased (SMR 2.17, 95% CI 0.87 to 4.48), and correlated with duration of benzene exposure, although risk had decreased from the previous investigation of this cohort. The risk for leukaemia was slightly above background (SMR 1.14, obs 12, 95% CI 0.59 to 1.99) but has also decreased since the earlier study of this cohort. SMRs for acute non-lymphocytic leukaemia (ANLL), chronic lymphatic leukaemia, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma were 1.11, 0.42, and 1.06 respectively. There was evidence of a weak trend of increasing SMRs for leukaemia and possibly ANLL with increasing low-level cumulative exposure but not with other measures. Conclusion: Leukaemia and ANLL results were consistent with the mildly increased risk estimates from lower exposure subgroups of the Pliofilm cohort.


Land is the most important agricultural asset. Income risk due to farmland price volatility creates economic hardship for rural communities. Although inflation explains much of the farmland valuation problem, it remains to some extent a puzzle. We use wavelet-based statistical methods supported by econometrics to test a simple asset pricing model of land values in which a speculative price bubble is found in the real option value to land development. Theory suggests land as an asset is a good candidate for this hypothesis. The results show that a short-run speculative bubble appears to have been active in some years.


In this thesis crackling systems have been investigated. Applying an external force on these systems they respond with events of all sizes. The size distribution follows a power law of the form S¯ . Dierent types appear in nature like avalanches or earthquakes. A magnet exposed to an external magnetic eld will "crackle" as well during its magnetization. Applying the Ising model on the system, a C++ code has been developed to simulate this process. The resulting data has been used to discuss the system with concepts of statistical mechanics like universality or scale invariance. Varying the level of impurity of the magnet, the disorder R, the system exhibits a continuous nonequilibrium phase transition. At its critical point RC the described power law behavior occurs. The critical exponent has been extracted fitting the histogram data with a power law curve. RC has been determined using the behavior of a scaling function for different values of R.


Genetic risk scores (GRSs) are weighted sums of risk allele counts of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with a disease or trait. Construction of GRSs is typically based on published results from Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWASs), the majority of which have been performed in large populations of European ancestry (EA) individuals. While many genotype-trait associations have been shown to generalize from EA populations to other populations, such as Hispanics/Latinos, the optimal choice of SNPs and weights for GRSs may differ between populations due to different linkage disequilibrium (LD) and allele frequency patterns. This is further complicated by the fact that different Hispanic/Latino populations may have different admixture patterns, so that LD and allele frequency patterns may not be the same among non-EA populations. Here, we compare various approaches for GRS construction, using GWAS results from both large EA studies and a smaller study in Hispanics/Latinos, the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL, n = 12, 803). We consider multiple ways to select SNPs from association regions and to calculate the SNP weights. We study the performance of the resulting GRSs in an independent study of Hispanics/Latinos from the Woman Health Initiative (WHI, n = 3, 582). We support our investigation with simulation studies of potential genetic architectures in a single locus. We observed that selecting variants based on EA GWASs generally performs well, as long as SNP weights are calculated using Hispanics/Latinos GWASs, or using the meta-analysis of EA and Hispanics/Latinos GWASs. The optimal approach depends on the genetic architecture of the trait.


This thesis explored the hypothesis that cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and its reactivation may be a shared mechanism linking psychosocial and behavioral factors with the age-associated decline in immunity, known as immunosenescence. The first empirical chapter (Chapter 3) showed that psychological stress factors were positively associated with CMV reactivation, as measured by increased CMV-specific IgG antibodies (CMV-IgG) among those infected, while socioeconomic and lifestyle factors were associated with CMV infection rates. Chapter 4 investigated personality traits and revealed that increased neuroticism predicted elevated odds of CMV infection and higher conscientiousness was associated with lower CMV-IgG levels. Chapter 5 demonstrated that more frequent physical activity was associated with lower levels of highly-differentiated T-cells, but this association was reduced to non-significance by adjustment for CMV infection. Chapter 6 showed that dysregulated glucose metabolism, measured as higher glycated hemoglobin levels, was associated with increased highly-differentiated T-cells in CMV-infected individuals. Furthermore, hyperglycemia interacted with CMV infection for a further increased accumulation of these cells. In sum, these results suggest that CMV and psychosocial and behavioral factors co-determine the progression of immunosenescence, and that CMV reactivation may reflect imbalance among these factors. Thus, CMV reactivation is proposed as a common pathway in psychobiological relationships with immunosenescence.


PURPOSE
To report on the first collaboration of the Department of Defense Center for Prostate Disease Research concerned with the relationship between African American race and biochemical disease-free outcomes after definitive radiation therapy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Information from the medical records of 1,806 patients (1,349 white, 343 African American, 42 of "other" races, and 72 of "unknown" races) treated with definitive radiation therapy between 1973 and 2000 was reviewed. Patients receiving adjuvant hormonal therapy or postoperative adjuvant or salvage radiation therapy were excluded. Biochemical failure was calculated in over 96% of cases by using ASTRO criteria; patients with fewer than three follow-up visits were considered to have biochemical failure with a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) value more than 10-fold the previous value or with any value greater than 50.0 ng/mL. Median radiation therapy doses were similar. The median follow-up was 58.4 months. Kaplan-Meier tests, Cox proportional hazards regression analysis, and log-rank tests were used for data analysis.

RESULTS
There was no statistically significant difference in biochemical disease-free survival according to race when patients were stratified according to T stage. African American race conferred a negative prognosis for patients with lesions of Gleason biopsy score 7 (P =.004) but not for patients with lesions of Gleason score 2-4 (P =.14), 5-6 (P =.79), or 8-10 (P =.86). Similarly, African American race conferred a negative prognosis in patients with PSA values of 20.1-50.0 ng/mL (P =.01) at presentation but not in patients with PSA values less than or equal to 4.0 ng/mL (P =.84), 4.1-10.0 ng/mL (P =.71), 10.1-20.0 ng/mL (P =.75), or above 50.0 ng/mL (P =.15) at presentation. At multivariate analysis, race was not a statistically significant predictor of outcome.

CONCLUSION
In the equal-access health care system of the Department of Defense, African American race is not associated with a consistently negative prognosis in patients treated with definitive radiation therapy for prostate cancer. Race appears to confer a negative prognosis only in patients with advanced disease at presentation.


Acute respiratory infection is the third most frequent cause of mortality worldwide, causing over 4.25 million deaths annually. Although most diagnosed acute respiratory infections are thought to be of viral origin, the aetiology often remains unclear. The advent of next‐generation sequencing (NGS) has revolutionised the field of virus discovery and identification, particularly in the detection of unknown respiratory viruses. We systematically reviewed the application of NGS technologies for detecting respiratory viruses from clinical samples and outline potential barriers to the routine clinical introduction of NGS. The five databases searched for studies published in English from 01 January 2010 to 01 February 2021, which led to the inclusion of 52 studies. A total of 14 different models of NGS platforms were summarised from included studies. Among these models, second‐generation sequencing platforms (e.g., Illumina sequencers) were used in the majority of studies (41/52, 79%). Moreover, NGS platforms have proven successful in detecting a variety of respiratory viruses, including influenza A/B viruses (9/52, 17%), SARS‐CoV‐2 (21/52, 40%), parainfluenza virus (3/52, 6%), respiratory syncytial virus (1/52, 2%), human metapneumovirus (2/52, 4%), or a viral panel including other respiratory viruses (16/52, 31%). The review of NGS technologies used in previous studies indicates the advantages of NGS technologies in novel virus detection, virus typing, mutation identification, and infection cluster assessment. Although there remain some technical and ethical challenges associated with NGS use in clinical laboratories, NGS is a promising future tool to improve understanding of respiratory viruses and provide a more accurate diagnosis with simultaneous virus characterisation.


Adaptive management (AM) is a systematic process for improving environmental management policies and practices in a way that incorporates uncertainty and learning. In the realm of natural resources, AM is increasingly being used by management agencies in the United States (e.g., U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service) and non-governmental organizations (e.g., The Nature Conservancy and World Wildlife Fund). As such, it is important that students in natural resources, conservation, and environmental management majors become familiar with the concepts of AM. This case study uses the real-world example of the Herring River estuary restoration project (Cape Cod, MA) to demonstrate the theoretical processes involved in adaptively managing an ecosystem governed by ecological uncertainties and a wide range of stakeholders. Through the incorporation of role-play, students gain experience with the AM framework while actively learning about the role of uncertainty and stakeholder perspectives in decision-making. The case was tested with a group of students from an introductory course on environmental conservation to gauge student interest and verify proof of concept. Following the case study, students felt that they would be able to define adaptive management and explain the concept to their classmates, despite no prior exposure to AM.


The following thesis concerns pulse shaping and optical waveform manipulation for all-optical signal processing of ultra-high bit rate serial data signals, including generation of optical pulses in the femtosecond regime, serial-to-parallel conversion and terabaud coherent optical time division multiplexing (OTDM). Most of the thesis is focused on the utilization of spacetime dualities for temporal pulse shaping and Fourier transformation. The space-time duality led to the implementation of the optical Fourier transform (OFT) technique which was used as a crossing bridge between the temporal and spectral domain. By using the frequency-totime OFT technique or optical temporal differentiators based on long-period gratings (LPGs), it was possible to generate narrow at-top pulses in the picosecond regime, and use them for mitigation of timing jitter or polarization dependence effects in OTDM demultiplexing experiments. The frequency-to-time technique was deployed also for implementing an alloptical synchronizer and re-timer. By using the specular phenomenon, time-to-frequency OFT, it was possible to develop a novel scheme for serial-to-parallel conversion, implemented via four-wave mixing (FWM) between dispersed OTDM data and linearly chirped pump pulses. This resulted in spectral compression, enabling the OTDM tributaries to be converted directly onto a dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) grid. The serial-to-parallel conversion was successfully demonstrated for up to 640-GBd OTDM signals, reaching DWDM grids ranging from 100 GHz down to 25 GHz spacing, compliant with ITU-T specications in terms of wavelength spacing and allocation. The final part of this thesis presents the latest results in OTDM transmission systems in combination with digital coherent detection, which enabled record-high serial data rates on a single-wavelength channel. The experimental results demonstrate 5.1- and 10.2-Tbit/s OTDM data signals achieved by 16-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (16-QAM), polarization multiplexing and symbol rates as high as 640 GBd and 1.28 TBd. These signal were transmitted with no penalty over 80- and 29-km dispersion-managed ber (DMF).


Abstract A growing body of literature has documented leadership styles by gender. This study examines if directors of Master of Public Administration (MPA) programs accredited by the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration exhibit gender differences in leadership styles. Such differences may affect the implementation of public administration and how effective MPA directors are in achieving positive outcomes. Using a mixed methods approach—specifically, exploratory sequential design utilizing qualitative data and analysis, followed by a quantitative survey—we find that there are some gendered differences among public administration directors. In particular, we find that women directors are significantly more likely than their male counterparts to exhibit traits that resemble transformational leaders. However, we also find that male and female directors converge in terms of other styles of leadership.


Administration of adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate with theophylline produced testosterone-like induction of hexokinase, phosphofructokinase, pyruvate kinase, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase in the seminal vesicles of both orchidectomized and immature rats. The N6-O2'-dibutyryl analog of this cyclic nucleotide produced greater increases in vesicular enzyme activities than those induced by the parent compound. The observed enhancement of the key glycolytic enzymes and of hexose monophosphate shunt dehydrogenase was significantly inhibited by actinomycin D and cycloheximide. The evidence indicates that cyclic adenosine monophosphate may be involved as an intermediary in the action of androgenic hormones on male accessory sex organs.


Tipping points—where a small perturbation triggers a large response—can occur in many complex environmental systems. They produce abrupt and sometimes irreversible change, are inherently difficult to predict, and thus pose considerable challenges to the occupants and managers of those systems. However, tipping points can also represent opportunities. Here, different mathematical types of tipping points and different environmental processes that can give rise to them are distinguished. Then, I chart the crucial role that tipping points played in creating the modern Earth system. Looking ahead, potential large-scale tipping points are briefly reviewed before highlighting systems that could harbor tipping points across mechanisms and scales. The prospects for anticipating tipping points, avoiding dangerous ones, and encouraging others are outlined. Finally, a series of virtuous tipping points are identified, which can help transform the relationships between human societies and the environmental systems we d...


Background: Recently, internet hospitals have been emerging in China, saving patients time and money during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, pharmacy services that link doctors and patients are becoming essential in improving patient satisfaction. However, the existing internet hospital pharmacy service mode relies primarily on manual operations, making it cumbersome, inefficient, and high-risk. Objective: To establish an internet hospital pharmacy service mode based on artificial intelligence (AI) and provide new insights into pharmacy services in internet hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: An AI-based internet hospital pharmacy service mode was established. Initially, prescription rules were formulated and embedded into the internet hospital system to review the prescriptions using AI. Then, the "medicine pick-up code," which is a Quick Response (QR) code that represents a specific offline self-pick-up order, was created. Patients or volunteers could pick up medications at an offline hospital or drugstore by scanning the QR code through the window and wait for the dispensing machine or pharmacist to dispense the drugs. Moreover, the medication consultation function was also operational. Results: The established internet pharmacy service mode had four major functional segments: online drug catalog search, prescription preview by AI, drug dispensing and distribution, and AI-based medication consultation response. The qualified rate of AI preview was 83.65%. Among the 16.35% inappropriate prescriptions, 49% were accepted and modified by physicians proactively and 51.00% were passed after pharmacists intervened. The "offline self-pick-up" mode was preferred by 86% of the patients for collecting their medication in the internet hospital, which made the QR code to be fully applied. A total of 426 medication consultants were served, and 48.83% of them consulted outside working hours. The most frequently asked questions during consultations were about the internet hospital dispensing process, followed by disease diagnosis, and patient education. Therefore, an AI-based medication consultation was proposed to respond immediately when pharmacists were unavailable. Conclusion: The established AI-based internet hospital pharmacy service mode could provide references for pharmacy departments during the COVID-19 pandemic. The significance of this study lies in ensuring safe/rational use of medicines and raising pharmacists' working efficiency.


Image compression using transform coding technique has been widely used in practice. However, wavelet transform is the only method that provides both spatial and frequency domain information. These properties of wavelet transform greatly help in identification and selection of significant and non-significant coefficients from amongst the wavelet coefficients. Wavelet transform based image compression result in an improved compression ratio as well as image quality and thus both the signficant coefficients and their positions within an image are encoded and transmitted. In this thesis a wavelet based image compression system is presented that uses mathematical morphology and self organizing feature map (MMSOFM). The significance map is preprocessed using mathematical morphology operators to identify and creat clusters of significant coefficients. A self-organizing feature map (SOFM) is then used to encode the significance map. Experimental results are shown and comparisons with JPEG and JPEG 2000 are made to emphasize the results of this compression system.


Chitosan prepared from natural biopolymer chitin and cast into membranes has been tested as wound dressing at the skin-graft donor site in patients. Bactigras, a commonly used impregnated tulle gras bandage, served as a control. Chitosan membrane, prepared with a 75% degree of deacetylation and a thickness of 10 microm, was used in nonmesh or mesh form. The progress in wound healing was compared by clinical and histological examination. Itching and pain sensitivity of the wound dressed area was scored with the use of a visual analogue scale. Mesh chitosan membrane in contrast to the nonmesh membrane allowed blood to ooze into the surrounding gauze. After 10 days, the chitosan-dressed area had been healed more promptly as compared with the Bactigras dressed area. Moreover, the chitosan mesh membrane showed a positive effect on the re-epithelialization and the regeneration of the granular layer. The data confirm that chitosan mesh membrane is a potential substitute for human wound dressing.


Objectives  This presentation offers an insight on the rationale of "not unjust discrimination" used by the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) to justify the legal discrimination of same-sex partnerships in their official documentation. From a psychological perspective, an analysis of religious discourse on homosexuality is fundamental to detect persisting conditions of social injustice towards LGB people, which impact on their well-being.
Design
The research is innovative in the academic panorama and consists in an extensive discourse analysis applied to 26 documents of public domain released by the Roman Catholic Church between 1975 and 2015. Method The documents were selected according two main criteria: they are available on the official Vatican website, and they explicitly contain the Holy See position towards homosexuals and same-sex partnerships recognition. The documents selected were systematically analysed using discourse analysis to identify the interpretative repertoires (Potter & Wetherell, 1987; Potter 2012) and the ideologies underpinning the heterosexist arguments (van Dijk, 1993; 2011).
Results
Three main interpretative repertoires on homosexuality were identified: a serious depravity, a grievous anomaly, and a social threaten. These topoi mutually reinforce and sustain in the RCC discourse against the recognition of same-sex partnerships.
Conclusions
The interpretative repertoires are deployed in an ongoing ideological discourse aimed at sustaining an alleged superiority of heterosexual marriage over any other form of love. In particular, we will discuss the use of sexual orientation as a salient social category, and its implications for the RCC argument that it is "not unjust discrimination" not allowing equal rights to homosexuals.


From the 1990s onwards the use of digital technology for voice and image transmission (GSM mobile telephones, satellite transmissions and Frame Relay and ATM networks) has brought about the convergence of information technology and telecommunications, leading to the birth of the ICT (Information & Communication Technologies) sector. Currently, internal telephone networks, LANs, internet connections and geographical data transmission networks are being unified in most organizations of a certain size .


This paper describes a systematic study of the influence of optical, physical, and chemical methods used for fingerprint enhancement on subsequent DNA analysis of biological stains. Latent fingerprints as well as fingerprints in contact with blood and saliva on different surfaces were treated with dactyloscopic methods. As a general finding, subsequent STR profiling of the blood/saliva traces led to good results after all the enhancement methods included in this study. Concerning blood enhancement procedures, the airbrush technique showed deleterious effects on subsequent STR analysis in some cases. We therefore recommend the implementation of the layer technique, as it brings advantages for fingerprint enhancement as well. It could also be shown that, as can be necessary in practical casework, two enhancement methods can be performed on a single stain without having influence on STR profiling. In terms of methodological variety, this paper reflects a comprehensive study performed on STR profiling after fingerprint enhancement methods, including rare methods and variations of techniques, which can be a useful alternative in certain case scenarios.


Although several fungal organisms are known to infect human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients, the diversity of yeast pathogens that infect individuals in South Africa is not known. In the present study sputum samples were collected from HIV positive patients who presented at the hospital with tuberculosis (TB). The yeasts organisms were isolated using potato dextrose agar and identified by germ tube test, CHROMagar and Urease based agar. The production of biofilm was tested using the microtitre plate method. The activities of amphotericin B, fluconazole and ketaconazole were tested using the standard disc diffusion method. Out of the 91 patients, 53 (58%) were females. Thirty seven patients (41%) were aged between 26 and 45 years old. The most common isolates were Cryptococcus neoformans (28%), followed byCandida parapsilopsis (19%), Candida krusei (16%), Candida albicans (15%) and Candida tropicalis (13%). The different species showed high levels of drug resistance to fluconazole (74.0%), ketaconazole (74.0%) and amphotericin B (33.7%). Biofilm production was observed in 28% of all the isolates and was not associated with drug resistance (p > 0.01). This study showed that the lungs of HIV patients with TB are often colonized by opportunistic yeasts such as Cryptococcus and Candida spp. The most common isolates included C. neoformans, C.  parapsiliosis, C. krusei and C. albicans, and amphotericin B was the most active drug against these organisms. Further studies are needed to determine the potential impact of these organisms on the emergence of multi-drug resistant (MDR) and extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB).

 Key words: Candida spp, Cryptococcus neoformans, co-infections, epidemiology, fungal infections, HIV and AIDS, opportunistic infections, tuberculosis, Venda and South Africa.


Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a lethal disease characterized by pulmonary vascular remodeling due to smooth muscle hypertrophy, endothelial proliferation, and adventitial fibrosis. This remodeling progressively obliterates a large cross section of the lung vasculature, turning the normal low pressure pulmonary circulation into a hypertensive circuit and eventually leading to pump failure of the right ventricle. In the past 20 years, multiple effective therapies for PAH have been validated in clinical trials and these drugs have dramatically improved the quality of life of PAH patients. Yet drugs that halt or reverse vascular remodeling have remained elusive and many treated subjects still die (1). Like many seemingly sporadic diseases a subset of PAH is inherited (familial PAH, or FPAH) which enabled the discovery in 2000 via positional cloning that haplo-insufficiency of BMPR2 is the genetic basis of FPAH (2). BMPR2 is a receptor within the TGF-β superfamily. Subsequently, sporadic BMPR2 mutations were also found in a minority of non-familial (idiopathic) PAH patients (3).


High-efficiency red phosphors with non-rare-earth activators are emerging as an alternative for next generation solid-state warm white LEDs. Their optical properties depend strongly on the local site symmetry and the crystal field strength. Herein we present the pressure tuning of structural and photoluminescence (PL) properties of Mn(4+)-doped BaTiF6 up to 40 GPa. In situ high pressure synchrotron X-ray diffraction, Raman and PL spectroscopy studies show that the crystal symmetry changes from trigonal at ambient pressure to monoclinic from 0.5 GPa and triclinic above 14 GPa, attributed to the distortion of (Ti/Mn)F6 octahedra. The red emission peaks shift monotonically to longer wavelengths due to the reinforced crystal field strength within MnF6 octahedra as pressure increases. A detailed comparison of emission shift rate, PL intensity and FWHM between Mn(4+)-doped BaTiF6 and ruby (Cr(3+)-doped Al2O3) was performed using neon pressure transmission medium. This demonstration provides not only an efficient way to artificially tune the emission properties of practically useful phosphors by means of hydrostatic pressure, but also alternative candidates as potential pressure gauges for high pressure techniques.