For Juan Campues, a farmer living 100 km outside of Quito in Ecuador, two microloans would enable him to rent a tractor, buy seed and fertilizer, and become financially independent of his parents. His father used to borrow from a government-run agricultural bank, but the loan turn-around time was far too long. Quick loan processing and disbursements are crucial for agricultural borrowers like Juan. As he says, ´Farmers can´t afford to wait months for a loan to be processed. The price of potatoes can change a lot in that time´.

To address the needs of rural entrepreneurs such as Juan, Banco Solidario, ACCION International´s local microfinance partner, is now equipping its loan officers with personal digital assistants (PDAs) and PortaCredit, a customized software application that has greatly improved the efficiency of the process of approving and issuing microloans.

The PortaCredit application for PDAs has been designed by ACCION International, a nonprofit organization with a network of microfinance institutions (MFI) throughout Latin America, the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa. By synthesizing financial analysis, loan processing, and an understanding of the needs of the microenterprise sector, ACCION has created software that can be tailored to an institution´s lending structure and management information system (MIS) configuration. With PortaCredit, loan officers can record new client data; calculate financial indicators; decide with the applicant on favourable loan terms by running different repayment scenarios; and handle reports of late payments, loan maturities and restructuring.

Banco Solidario
Representatives of ACCION and Banco Solidario began working together in 2001 to customize PortaCredit for the bank´s lending methodology and information systems. Since implementing PortaCredit with its urban clients, the bank has seen its loan portfolio quality improve because decisions are more systematic and fewer loan applications have incomplete borrower information. The time it takes to process each application has been halved, so that Banco Solidario has been able to extend its outreach to more microentrepreneurs.

Traditional banks and MFIs are often reluctant to lend to rural clients because of the high operating costs, the time it takes to reach them, and the risks associated with agricultural businesses. ACCION´s technical staff are now further adapting the PortaCredit application to reflect the information needed in rural loan applications, and Banco Solidario´s unique agricultural microlending methodology, which takes into account risk factors such as climate, growing season, and market price fluctuations. Following a period of testing and evaluation, Banco Solidario expects to begin implementing the PortaCredit application for its agricultural borrowers in 2004.

Challenges
There are challenges to implementing PortaCredit, however. For Banco Solidario, purchasing PDAs for its 155 loan officers is prohibitively expensive. The technology is changing so quickly that the PDAs may become obsolete and need to be replaced in just six months. The bank is currently using Palm m105 models, but would like to upgrade to hardware with wireless capability. With a new handheld and a wireless connection to the central office in Quito, a loan officer visiting a rural client could upload the microloan application to central office, and receive a message that the loan has been approved just ten minutes later. Meanwhile, the disbursement information would be sent to the nearest branch office where the client would be able to pick up a cheque in just a few hours. In Ecuador, however, the cost of wireless communication is still high, so Banco Solidario is investigating bulk rates for satellite communication time.

In spite of these challenges, ACCION´s PortaCredit technology offers significant benefits both to local MFIs and to agricultural borrowers in Ecuador. ACCION plans to extend PortaCredit for rural lending to other partner programmes in Latin America.

mailto:firstname.lastname@example.com

Laurie Gutierrez is Senior Associate, Communications at ACCION International. For more information, visit

http://www.accion.org

www.accion.org

PortaCredit TM is a registered trademark of ACCION International.


Abstract The design of new generations of nuclear reactors will involve fine representations of the theoretical models. Advanced computational methods capable of solving large-scale problems dealing with large and complex systems are required. Therefore, the solution to challenging large-scale neutron transport problems is becoming more and more pressing in nuclear engineering applications. The increase in high-performance computing resources have made possible direct application of transport methods to large-scale computational models. However, many numerical acceleration techniques common to lattice transport codes are not applicable to three-dimensional geometries with heterogeneous material zones, especially for the eigenvalue problems with high-dominance scattering ratio. Consequently, large heterogeneous reactor problems have remained computationally intensive and impractical for routine engineering applications. One of the alternatives is to use high-performance computing methods to solve such problems in reasonable time. In this context, we propose an approach based on high-performance computing techniques to solve large-scale neutron transport problems using a three-dimensional characteristics method. A performance model is then introduced to analyze the three-dimensional characteristics solvers in the context of hybrid shared/distributed memory modern architectures. Several numerical results and discussions are presented including a scalability analysis done to predict the performance on a large number of processors.


Twenty patients with rheumatic heart valve disease undergoing valve replacement were randomly divided into 2 group (n = 10): phosphocratine (neoton) group (group CP) in which 4.0 g neoton was used intravenously 2 days before operation and control group (group C) in which 5% G. S instead of neoton. The results showed that spontaneous recovery rate of heart beat in group CP was significantly higher than that in group C; requirement of inotropic drugs, serum MDA value and ultrastructural changes of myocardium were less in group CP than those in group C. There were no differences in release of myocardial enzymes and myocardial ATP content between 2 groups. It is suggested that neoton is an effective cardioprotective drug.


This study was conducted at DAWASCO HQ with the aim of accessing the impact of organizational culture on employees' withdrawal intentions in public institutions in Tanzania. Various indicators such as feeling tired with the job responsibilities, feeling work boredom, feeling unwilling to work every day, departing from work before required time, inability to meet target, passive compliance, absenteeism and arriving at work beyond required time were used to test if employees intend to withdrawal from the job. The specific objectives of the study was to describe the organizational culture at DAWASCO, to examine the employee's perception levels of withdraw intentions and to assess the extent to which selected withdraw intentions are associated with organizational culture. The questionnaire method was used to obtain information from 60 respondents. The findings were presented in tables and bar graphs so that they can easily be understood. The findings revealed that some organization culture such as the use of clock-in-clock-out system, attendance book, and provision of organization loans have significant impact to employees' withdrawal intentions. The study recommends that, DAWASCO and other public institutions in Tanzania should try to overlook the organization behaviours that may forms culture which cause employees to withdrawal from their jobs.


A phage cocktail was applied to honeydew melon pieces 1, 0.5, and 0 h before contamination with Listeria monocytogenes strain LCDC 81-861 and 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 h after contamination. The phage application was most effective when applied 1, 0.5, or 0 h before contamination with L. monocytogenes, reducing pathogen populations by up to 6.8 log units after 7 days of storage. This indicates that under commercial conditions, if contamination occurs at the time of cutting, phage would have to be applied as soon as possible after cutting the produce. However, all phage applications from 1 h before to 4 h after contamination and all phage concentrations ranging from 10(4) to 10(8) PFU/ml reduced bacterial populations on honeydew melon pieces. Higher phage concentrations were more effective in reducing pathogen populations. A phage concentration of approximately 10(8) PFU/ml was necessary to reduce the pathogen populations to nondetectable levels immediately after treatment, and pathogen growth was suppressed by phage concentrations of 10(6) through 10(8) throughout the storage period of 7 days at 10 degrees C. In an attempt to enhance the effectiveness of the phage cocktail on low pH fruit, such as apples, the phage was applied in combination with MnCl2. This combination, however, did not enhance the effectiveness of the phage on apple tissue. The results from this study indicate that the effectiveness of the phage application on honeydew melon pieces can be optimized by using a phage concentration of at least 10(8) PFU/ml applied up to 1 h after processing of the honeydew melons.


This paper describes the cunning ant system (cAS), which can be used to optimize problems with candidate solutions represented by permutations. cAS generates new candidate solutions from a combination of the pheromone density and the archive of past candidate solutions. Performance of cAS is demonstrated on two important classes of permutation problems: (1) the traveling salesman problem and (2) the quadratic assignment problem. In both problem classes, cAS is shown to perform very well and outperform other techniques for solving these problems. The paper also discusses how the efficiency of cAS can be further improved by combining cAS with local search and by parallelizing cAS using a master-slave architecture. Finally, the paper presents a pheromone-density entropy measure, which can be used to measure the potential of cAS and other ACO algorithms to generate novel, fitter solutions.


ABSTRACT In this study we investigate the complementary effect of firm-level incentives and IFRS adoption on the informativeness of accounting reports in Brazil. Using a specially constructed corporate governance index—Brazilian Corporate Governance Index (BCGI)—we show that the quality of corporate governance is linked to the growth opportunities firms face. Consistent with the argument that accounting numbers are essential elements of corporate governance arrangements, we show that improvements in corporate governance are associated with economically material and statistically significant improvements in indicators of accounting quality. We also show that corporate governance quality and accounting quality are also positively affected by cross-listing, although cross-listing is not the only driver of either of these quality choices. Our results also show that IFRS adoption leads to an increase in the informativeness of accounting reports in Brazil, especially for firms that do not possess the ex ante in...


According to Haidt's 'social intuitionist model', empirical moral psychology supports the following conclusion: intuition comes first, strategic reasoning second. Critics have responded by arguing that intuitions can depend on non-conscious reasons, that not being able to articulate one's reasons does not entail not being responsive to reasons, and that the relations between intuitions and reasoning can be truth-tracking and principled in ways overlooked by Haidt. This debate involves a false dichotomy: that either reasoning is truth-tracking, or else our reasoning is purely strategic and manipulative in nature. Reason-giving also, I argue, performs other important functions in moral and social life. A robust willingness to offer reasons in favour of our convictions is itself a virtue we seek and appreciate in others. Others' willingness to reason with us is itself a good we enjoy at their hands, or that they confer upon us. What we give each other in being willing and determined to reason together is, among other things, respect for, and good-will towards, each other.


Corporate governance is a set of systems and rules governing corporate organs and stakeholders in the context of rights and obligations. One of the objectives of implementing corporate governance is to create and add value to stakeholders in the long term. Corporate governance can increase firm value by increasing investor confidence in improving performance and reducing the risk of fraud. Investors prefer companies that have good corporate governance. Aside from corporate governance, the firm value can also be influenced by the profitability of the company. The reason is that investors are more interested in companies that have high profitability. This study aims to determine the influence of corporate governance which is proxied by the Proportion of Independent Board of Commissioners (X 1 ), Board of Directors (X 2 ), Audit Committee (X 3 ), Managerial Ownership (X 4 ) and profitability which is proxied by Return on Assets (X 5 ), Return on Equity (X 6 ) as an independent variable on firm value (Y) as measured by Tobin's Q. This type of research is an explanatory research with a quantitative approach. This research was conducted on 16 samples of mining companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange on period 2016-2018. Samples were obtained through purposive sampling method. The analysis technique is used multiple linear regression. Keywords : Proportion of Independent Board of Commissioners, Board of Directors, Audit Committee, Managerial Ownership, Return on Assets, Return on Equity, Firm Value


Governmental support in the formation of economic and intellectual potential of Kuzbass contributes to more comfortable conditions for development of business and improvement of life quality of the population. Strategic branding tools are an effective mechanism which allows building up long-term and trusting relationship with the local people and introducing certain values. The effect of external shocks including the COVID-19 pandemics on the functioning of social and economic spheres also reveal the necessity of their structural transformation and the need for raising digitalization level. The authors of the article suggest a number of strategic initiatives aimed at improving the business reputation of Kuzbass. Kuzbass Trading House can become a centre for promoting Russian hi-tech companies abroad, presenting investment projects. It also can act as an integrator of international engineering projects and a driver for technology transfer. As digitalization tends to spread wider and wider the authors suggest creating an electronic platform «KuzbassTrade» to improve the performance of Kuzbass Trading Centre and build the financial stability of the region. The platform will function as a virtual presentation of products, services and technologies of local representatives of corporate and scientific sectors. State institution «Agency for Investments Attraction and Protection» and leading higher educational institutions and research organizations of Kuzbass should strategically take direct part in creating a unified chain for determining innovative technologies to be implemented (including patent landscape and market niche analysis) and form investment package offers for building new manufactures and consortiums.


Abstract Outsourcing information systems on a large scale is a difficult challenge. The public sector has seen some spectacular information systems (IS) outsourcing failures. Public officials have come under fire for sloppy management of IS outsourcing engagements and legislators are demanding higher standards of outsourcing practice and more accountability from public sector managers. This paper analyzes a large outsourcing contract for software maintenance services in Alberta, Canada from a risk perspective. This contract offers insights into how one public organization approaches the risks inherent in the practice of IS outsourcing. We use a risk framework and content analysis to identify which risk management strategies are included in the contract and how they are implemented. Although IS outsourcing risk factors are widely acknowledged in the literature, they may not be fully specified in the outsourcing contracts implemented in some public organizations. Our findings highlight some of the differences in the suggestions made in the academic literature on IS outsourcing and the techniques implemented in an actual outsourcing contract to manage the risks inherent in this growing sector of the international economy. We also find that not all risks need to be addressed in the contract to have a successful outsourcing relationship. Keywords: Outsourcing, Public Sector IT Management, Information Systems Management, Risk Management, Contracts.


From the perspective of rural industrial development, this paper summed up representative research results of China's new countryside construction, including approval of criteria for classification of rural industrial structure, definition and scope of rural industrial development, introduction and application of industrial development theory, existing problems, causes and countermeasures of three times of industrial development in rural areas, and experience of foreign rural industrial development model. Among these researches, most researches are general and narrow about achievements in rural industrial development, while the causes are little touched upon. In future, it is expected that the research on rural industrial development in new socialist countryside construction will be deepened and specified.


250 patients with fever, hepatomegaly and eosinophilia were investigated for parasitic infection by stool, urine, thick blood smear examination and sero-diagnosis (ELISA for anti-Toxocara and IFA for anti-Fasciola). Those with patent parasitic infections (41) and anti-Toxocara seropositivity (10) were excluded from follow up. The other were 3 months followed up. The detected infections were 10 Ascaris, 15 Strongyloides, 20 Toxocara, and 25 Schistosoma mansoni. Other 30 were positive for Fasciola eggs. No other infections were found in the remained 109 patients. IFA anti-Fasciola antibody titres were significantly higher among Fasciola group than any other groups. It is concluded that IFA anti-Fasciola antibody titre greater than or equal to 1/256 with ethanol fixed antigen sections is of value in diagnosis of acute fasciolitic hepatic syndrome.


The colours and architectural characteristics of building facades are the major factors affecting the general appearance of cities. When cities are examined from various perspectives, first impressions are obtained from the geometrical forms and facade colours of buildings. The facade colour arrangements should reflect the features of the region and buildings. In this context various features of natural and artificial environments such as plant life, water elements, climate, and historical texture should be examined, and a facade colour arrangement should be designed according to the examination results. In addition, the other factors effective in determining the colour and style of a building, such as social-cultural background of the society and traditional and natural building materials, should not be forgotten because in some regions traditional buildings with special construction styles, materials, and colours create a specific identity for the settlements and cities. The aims of this article are to elucidate the colour contrast, colour arrangement, and colour design stages of mass housing and to explain the colour design of Bizimkent Mass Housing, which was constructed in a new dwelling zone in Istanbul, Turkey, as an example of such an arrangement. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 27, 291–299, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/col.10068


Modern organizational leaders must rise to the challenge of making both ethically sound decisions as well as traditional fiscal decisions in order to remain competitive in today's marketplace. It is critical for leaders to be mindful of how emotions may assist or hinder them throughout the ethical decision-making process. Attempting to ignore the emotional component of ethical decision making or pretending that emotions do not exert influence on decisions is foolhardy and disregards both empirical and theoretical research suggesting otherwise. The challenge for leaders is how to best incorporate emotion into ethical decision making. This chapter examines several theoretical models of emotion and ethical decision making, applies theoretical and empirical findings to explain how two common emotions—anger and anxiety—impact ethical decision making, and provides recommendations for leaders seeking to improve ethical decision-making outcomes.


Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) are nuclear receptors that exert important functions in mediating the pleiotropic effects of diverse exogenous factors such as  physical exercise and food components. Particularly, PPARs act as transcription factors that control the expression of genes implicated in lipid and glucose metabolism, and cellular proliferation and  differentiation.  In this review, we aimed to summarize recent advancements reported on the effects of lifestyle and food habits on PPAR transcriptional activity.


This paper describes the first radar based forecast of flow and/or water level in sewer systems in Denmark. The rainfall is successfully forecasted with a lead time of 1-2 hours, and flow/levels are forecasted an additional 1⁄2-11⁄2 hours using models describing the behaviour of the sewer system. Both radar data and flow/water level model are continuously updated using online rain gauges and online in-sewer measurements, in order to make the best possible predictions. The project show very promising results, and show large potentials, exploiting the existing water infrastructure in future climate changes


The effect of purified toxin A and partially purified toxin B on rabbit ileum and colon was investigated. Toxin A caused tissue damage which was followed by permeability changes and fluid accumulation in both tissues. Toxin A did not increase the permeability of the colon to the extent observed for ileum; secreted fluid contained less protein of plasma origin. Toxin B had no effect on either tissue. Secretory and tissue damaging properties of crude C difficile toxins were found to be due to toxin A.


This study aims to describe and classify the kuweni mango plants in Bungku Tengah Subdistrict especially in Matansala and Bahoruru Villages through morphological characters and leaf anatomy to look for parent trees. Observations of morphological characteristics were carried out in the villages of Matansala and Bahoruru, while leaf anatomical observations were carried out in the Laboratory of Plant Pests and Diseases, Faculty of Agriculture, Tadulako University, from December 2016 to May 2017. Observation were carried out under a microscope with a scale of 400 times magnification. After all the primary data was collected, a dendrogram analysis was performed using the SYSTAT 8.0 program. The results showed morphological and anatomical characters observed based on cluster analysis described in the form of dendrograms. Unselected accessions in the combined dendrogram are caused by the concept of distance used. In the dendrogram analysis of the distance cluster formed, it can be interpreted that the farther the distance to the right, the more various similarities of characters from the accession. Conversely, the farther the distance to the left, the more similar the character of the kuweni accession.


Classical estimation techniques for linear models either are inconsistent, or perform rather poorly, under α-stable error densities; most of them are not even rate-optimal. In this paper, we propose an original one-step R-estimation method and investigate its asymptotic performances under stable densities. Contrary to traditional least squares, the proposed R-estimators remain root-n consistent (the optimal rate) under the whole family of stable distributions, irrespective of their asymmetry and tail index. While parametric stable-likelihood estimation, due to the absence of a closed form for stable densities, is quite cumbersome, our method allows us to construct estimators reaching the parametric efficiency bounds associated with any prescribed values (α0,b0) of the tail index α and skewness parameter b, while preserving root-n consistency under any (α,b) as well as under usual light-tailed densities. The method furthermore avoids all forms of multidimensional argmin computation. Simulations confirm its excellent finite-sample performances.


Abstract The article argues that job retention should be a central aim and practice of human resource management (HRM). Set against the global COVID‐19 crisis, theoretical insights are drawn from strategic HRM planning and the economics of 'labour hoarding' to consider the potential benefits of workforce furloughing. Furlough has been supported in the UK by the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which represents a novel, but temporary, state‐led shift from the UK's market‐orientated restructuring regime. We argue that the withdrawal of state‐financed furlough may mean a quick return in UK firms to the management of redundancy. Yet, if the crisis is to generate any benefit it must create the conditions for a more collaborative HRM that delivers for workers as well as business, with job retention as a core priority. While change in this direction will mean confronting deep‐rooted challenges—such as job security, good work and worker voice—such change remains vital in creating better and healthier workplaces.


Stable tandem duplications were shown to originate from conjugational recombination between Escherichia coli HfrH strains carrying mutations for the deo operon. The duplications deoC deoD/deoA deoB::Tn5 usually constitute approximately 5% of the Deo+ offspring. The effect of mutations for the recQ, uvrD, and recJ genes on the frequency of duplications was studied. The CM1563 strain carrying the recQ mutation was shown to give, as a recipient, 20% of duplications in the Deo+ offspring. However, this property of CM1563 seems to depend on the presence of a spontaneous mutation of unknown nature, which also increased UV sensitivity of bacteria. The recQ mutation itself increased the frequency of duplications by less than 50%. The recJ mutation did not virtually affect the frequency of duplications. The uvrD mutation possessing the recombinogenic effect was shown to increase the frequency of deo+ recombinants and simultaneously decrease the frequency of duplications. Tandem duplications are assumed to be normal intermediates of multi-stage conjugational recombination initiated by the integration of the proximal region of the Hfr chromosome into different nonhomologous regions of the recipient chromosome.


Progressive supranuclear palsy with predominant cerebellar ataxia (PSP-C) has been reported as a rare clinical subtype, but the underlying pathology of its cerebellar ataxia remains unclear. Here, we report a patient with the coexistence of PSP with pontocerebellar atrophy and myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1). A 73-year-old man who was an asymptomatic carrier of DM1 (66 CTG repeats) started developing ataxic gait with multiple falls, visual blurring, double vision, and word finding difficulty at age 62 and was initially diagnosed with multiple system atrophy (MSA). Subsequently, the diagnosis was changed to PSP due to hypometric downward gaze, reduced blink frequency, symmetric bradykinesia, rigidity, and the absence of autonomic dysfunction. He eventually developed delayed grip opening with percussion myotonia at age 72. At autopsy, severe neuronal degeneration and astrogliosis in the pontocerebellar structures suggested MSA, but immunohistochemistry for α-synuclein did not reveal neuronal or glial cytoplasmic inclusions. Immunohistochemistry for phospho-tau and 4-repeat tau confirmed a neuropathological diagnosis of PSP with exceptionally numerous coiled bodies and threads in the pontine base and cerebellar white matter. This unusual distribution of 4-repeat tau pathology and neuronal degeneration with astrogliosis is a plausible clinicopathological substrate of PSP-C.


Benzene is an established cause of adult leukemia, but whether it is associated with childhood leukemia remains unclear. We conducted a meta-analysis in which we reviewed the epidemiologic literature on this topic and explored causal inference, bias, and heterogeneity. The exposure metrics that we evaluated included occupational and household use of benzenes and solvents, traffic density, and traffic-related air pollution. For studies of occupational and household product exposure published from 1987 to 2014, the summary relative risk for childhood leukemia was 1.96 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.53, 2.52; n = 20). In these studies, the summary relative risk was higher for acute myeloid leukemia (summary relative risk (sRR) = 2.34, 95% CI: 1.72, 3.18; n = 6) than for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (sRR = 1.57; 95% CI: 1.21, 2.05; n = 14). The summary relative risk was higher for maternal versus paternal exposure, in studies that assessed benzene versus all solvents, and in studies of gestational exposure. In studies of traffic density or traffic-related air pollution published from 1999 to 2014, the summary relative risk was 1.48 (95% CI: 1.10, 1.99; n = 12); it was higher for acute myeloid leukemia (sRR = 2.07; 95% CI: 1.34, 3.20) than for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (sRR = 1.49; 95% CI: 1.07, 2.08) and in studies that involved detailed models of traffic pollution (sRR = 1.70; 95% CI: 1.16, 2.49). Overall, we identified evidence of associations between childhood leukemia and several different potential metrics of benzene exposure.


Besicovitch (1934) and Eggleston (1949) analyzed subsets of points of the unit interval with given frequencies in the figures of their base-p expansions. We extend this analysis to self-similar sets, by replacing the frequencies of figures with the frequencies of the generating similitudes. We focus on the interplay among such sets) self-similar measures? and Hausdorff measures3. We give a fine-tuned classification of the Hausdorff measures according to the singularity of the self-sitnilar meas;ures with respect to those measures. We show that the self-similar measures are concentrated on sets whose frequencies of similitudes obey the Law of the Iterated Logarithm.


A new steganographic method for data hiding in Microsoft Word documents by a change tracking technique is proposed. The data embedding is disguised such that the stegodocument appears to be the product of a collaborative writing effort. Text segments in the document are degenerated, mimicking to be the work of an author with inferior writing skills, with the secret message embedded in the choices of degenerations. The degenerations are then revised with the changes being tracked, making it appear as if a cautious author is correcting the mistakes. The change tracking information contained in the stegodocument allows the original cover, the degenerated document, and, hence, the secret message to be recovered. The extra change tracking information added during message embedding is vital in a normal collaboration scenario, and so hinders ignorant removals by skeptics. Experiments demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method


A transformational leader explains how leaders transform organizations by creating, communicating and inspiring. To shift a change in instilling a culture of madrasah with good teaching and learning process, fulfillment and repair facilities, academic achievement and extracurricular, religious worship, discipline and cooperation of both internal and external. The purpose of this study was to find out why the headmaster who can instill cultural transformational madrasas, the role of transformational leadership and the success of transformational leadership role in instilling a culture of madrassas in the province of Jambi. The approach used in this study is a qualitative descriptive approach. Data collection techniques using observation, interviews and documentation. Analysis of the data using the model of Miles and Huberman and data validity technique uses triangulation data. The results of the study, namely: Principals have Muslim personality as Prophet, know the needs of members, build confidence and members, building a shared commitment to make the shift towards change for the better, creative, productive and innovative, exemplary and courage to face challenges, sensitivity to complaints and suggestions of members, deliberation and spirit of motivation. The role of transformational leadership Principals for direction (Direction Setter), change agents (Agents of Change), interpreter Talk (Spokesperson), coach (Coach) is good, fund support (support-getter), the guarantor of success (success-guarantor) and a guide to make the shift change labih good (path-finder). The practical implications, namely: The role of transformational leadership Principals in instilling a culture of madrasah is to apply Idealiced influence, Inspirational motivation, Intelelectual stimulation and Individualized consideration and achieving success with the personality of a good leader, also by a factor of education, experience high and good cooperation.


Microcystic adenoma (serous cystadenoma) of the pancreas (MA) is an unusual benign tumor of uncertain histogenesis. We have studied 14 cases of MA from 11 women and three men. The average age at diagnosis was 64 years. Six tumors were discovered incidentally. Tumors varied from 2.5 to 12 cm in greatest dimension and all were multicystic; eight tumors were located in the pancreatic head, two in the body, and three in the tail. Each tumor was composed of variably sized cysts lined by simple cuboidal or flattened, focally glycogen-rich epithelium. The stroma was variably collagenized and showed highly vascularized, delicate to broad fibrous septae, which focally contained dystrophic calcification, cholesterol clefts, and hemosiderin. Immunohistochemical studies were performed on eight cases to determine the cell of origin. Epithelial membrane antigen and a lowmolecular-weight keratin, detected by monocolonal antibodies PKK1 or AE1/AE3, were diffusely seen in tumor cells of all cases. Tumor cells were uniformly negative for carcinoembryonic antigen, chromogranin, inslin, glucagon, somatostatin, vasoactive intestina peptide, pancreatic polypeptide, and a low-molecular-weight keratin detected by monoclonal antibody PKK2. Tumor cell antigen reactivity most resembled that seen in normal centroacinar and ductal cells. Electron microscopy of seven cases showed primitive tumor cells with irregularly spaced, short, blunt microvilli, luminal occluding junctions and belt desmosomes, bundles of filaments including dense bodies in both apical and basal cell cytoplasm, sparse organelles, and variable but often pronounced amounts of glycogen. These ultrastructural features most closely resembled the normal pancreatic centroacinar cell. Based on both immunohistochemical and ultrastructural features described above, we conclude that the centroacinar cell is the cell of origin of MA.


In Germany and elsewhere, few hospital electronic patient record usability surveys are available. Moreover, there seems to be a complete lack of validated instruments in the respective literature. Hence, this study's purpose is to validate a scale for measuring the usability of hospital electronic patient record systems. The data used for the study's analyses (n = 949) were originally obtained during the German national initiative 'Hospital IT User Questionnaire'. In the course of the study, reliability and exploratory factor analyses were conducted and psychometric tests showed a reliable, valid and suitable instrument. Descriptive data analysis suggests a generally low user perception and variances hint at a high potential for future improvements. To our knowledge, this study shows that a general inventory (subscales from the IsoMetrics inventory) can be applied to measuring hospital electronic patient record usability as well. The validated instrument can be used to inform healthcare providers, decision makers and politicians of a given state of usability, discrepancies between different hospitals or systems providers, and serve as a basis for improvements.


Lattice degeneration has certain invariable histologic features but presents clinically in a variety of similar and dissimilar forms. Photographic documentation and statistical data on the evolution of round atrophic holes and of white lines are represented which tend to support the view that all of these clinical forms actuallysent one basic disease process.


High accuracy optical processors based on the algorithm of digital multiplication by analog convolution (DMAC) are studied for ultimate performance limitations. Variations of optical processors that perform high accuracy vector-vector inner products are studied in abstract and with specific examples. It is concluded that the use of linear analog optical processors in performing digital computations with DMAC leads to impractical requirements for the accuracy of analog optical systems and the complexity of postprocessing electronics.


Contemporary Māori writer Alice Tawhai has published two collections of short stories, Festival of Miracles (2005) and Luminous (2007). Tawhai's narratives portray Māori people living an array of diverse lifestyles and her collections include stories about isolation, gangs, substance abuse, identity, education, art and spirituality; her work has been reviewed in literary magazines and online as new fiction that reflected a contemporary society in Aotearoa and these literary reviews imply that Tawhai's stories are a reflection of Māori people. For Māori readers, Tawhai's narratives demand a different interpretation of the text, a different way of reading, in order to read these stories of their own merits. To this end, this thesis proposes a practice for reading called 'Māori literary nationalism' which is based on a book called, American Indian Literary Nationalism whose proposed literary practice can be suitably adapted for a Maori literary context. One of the most important components of Maori literary nationalism is the idea of keeping Māori as the central focus, analyzing Māori literature with an insider's view. Māori literary nationalism provides a space for Māori readers to discuss literature, exchange ideas and encourage dialogue amongst each other. More importantly Māori literary nationalism offer Māori readers an opportunity to read Alice Tawhai's work in a way that foregrounds the uniqueness of her short stories.


Background: The evidence on harms and benefits of e-cigarettes partly concerns whether their use encourages smokers to quit. We addressed this using data from the nationally representative PATH study, with detailed accounting for potential confounding variables. Methods: We considered adults aged 25+. Our original analyses, reported in version 1 of this paper, used data for Waves 1 to 3, separate analyses considering Waves 1 to 2, 2 to 3 and 1 to 3. These related baseline ever e-cigarette use (or e-product use at Wave 2) to quitting at follow-up, adjusting for confounders derived from 55 candidates. Sensitivity analyses omitted ever other product users, linked quitting to current e-cigarette use, and used values of some predictors modified using follow-up data. Additional analyses used data for Waves 1 to 4, separately considering sustained, delayed and temporary quitting during Waves 1 to 3, 2 to 4 and 1 to 4. Sensitivity analyses considered 30-day quitting, restricted attention to smokers attempting to quit, and considered ever smokeless tobacco or snus use. Results: In the original analyses, unadjusted odds ratios (ORs) of quitting smoking for ever e-cigarette use were 1.29 (95% CI 1.01-1.66), 1.52 (1.26-1.83) and 1.47 (1.19-1.82) for the Wave 1 to 2, 2 to 3, and 1 to 3 analyses. These reduced after adjustment, to 1.23 (0.94-1.61), 1.51 (1.24-1.85) and 1.39 (1.11-1.74). Quitting rates remained elevated in users in all sensitivity analyses. The additional analyses found associations of e-cigarette use with sustained, delayed and temporary quitting, associations little affected by considering 30-day quitting, and only slightly reduced restricting attention to quit attempters. Ever use of smokeless tobacco or snus also predicted increased quitting. Conclusions: As does most evidence from clinical trials, other analyses of PATH, and other epidemiological studies, our results suggest using e-cigarettes helps adult smokers to quit.


Real-time traffic signal control presents a challenging multiagent planning problem, particularly in urban road networks where, unlike simpler arterial settings, there are competing dominant traffic flows that shift through the day. Further complicating matters, urban environments require attention to multimodal traffic flows (vehicles, pedestrians, bicyclists, buses) that move at different speeds and may be given different priorities. For the past several years, my research group has been developing and refining a real-time, adaptive traffic signal control system to address these challenges, referred to as scalable urban traffic control (Surtrac). Combining principles from automated planning and scheduling, multiagent systems, and traffic theory, Surtrac treats traffic signal control as a decentralized online planning process. In operation, each intersection repeatedly generates and executes (in rolling horizon fashion) signal-timing plans that optimize the movement of currently sensed approaching traffic through the intersection. Each time a new plan is produced (nominally every couple of seconds), the intersection communicates to its downstream neighbors what traffic it expects to send their way, allowing intersections to construct longer horizon plans and achieve coordinated behavior. Initial evaluation of Surtrac in the field has demonstrated significant performance improvements, and the technology is now deployed and operating in several U.S. cities. More recent work has focused on integrating real-time adaptive signal control with emerging connected vehicle technology, and exploration of the opportunities for enhanced mobility that direct vehicle (or pedestrian) to infrastructure communication can provide. Current technology development efforts center on vehicle route sharing, smart transit priority, safe intersection crossing for pedestrians with disabilities, real-time incident detection, and integrated optimization of signal control and route choice decisions. This article provides an overview of this overall research effort.


Page 1 of 7 MP #289 See Policy CPT/HCPCS CODE section below for any prior authorization requirements SCOPE: Providence Health Plan, Providence Health Assurance, Providence Plan Partners, and Ayin Health Solutions as applicable (referred to individually as "Company" and collectively as "Companies"). APPLIES TO: All lines of business BENEFIT APPLICATION Medicaid Members Oregon: Services requested for Oregon Health Plan (OHP) members follow the OHP Prioritized List and Oregon Administrative Rules (OARs) as the primary resource for coverage determinations. Medical policy criteria below may be applied when there are no criteria available in the OARs and the OHP Prioritized List.


Anomalous atmospheric light phenomena tend to occur recurrently in several places of our planet. Statistical studies show that a phenomenon's real recurrence area can be identified only after pondering reported cases on the population number and on the diffusion of communication media. The main scientific results that have been obtained so far after explorative instrumented missions have been carried out are presented, including the empirical models that have been set up in order to describe the observed reality. Subsequently, a focused theorization is discussed in order to attack the physical problem concerning the structure and the dynamics of "light balls" and the enigma related to the central force that maintains them in spherical shape. Finally, several important issues are discussed regarding methodology, strategy, tactics and interdisciplinary approaches.


Using the Gidaspow model as the momentum exchange coefficient to take a full-loop simulation of miniature circulating fluidized bed gasifier (CFBG) in the lab, and taking mutual influence of different parts in consideration, it focus on the gas-solid flow structure in the riser in this paper. The heterogeneous behavior in the CFBG riser and the radial profiles of solid volume fraction under different solid inventories in simulation are showed in this paper as a replenishment of certain data which are hard to measure in experiments. The results showed it can't form an obvious core-annulus flow because of the riser's high height-diameter ratio and the big refeed line diameter. There are clusters growing and dissipation in a short time. A turning point of pressure drop may be seem as a separation of dense area and dilute area.The three-dimensional (3D) simulation revealed the solid flux and the pressure drop agree with the experimental data.


The Rush Ranch Open Space Preserve (Rush Ranch) is located at the northwestern edge of the Potrero Hills and includes the largest remaining undiked tidal wetland within the Suisun Marsh region of the San Francisco Estuary. The brackish tidal wetlands grade into the transitional vegetation and undeveloped grasslands of the Potrero Hills, and we describe diverse vegetation that reflects the estuarine position, land use history, and hydrogeomorphic complexity of the site. We present a useful framework for future study of vegetation at this San Francisco Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve site. Rush Ranch includes four major estuarine geomorphic units that are widely distributed in the region and support vegetation: subtidal channel beds, fringing tidal marsh, tidal marsh plain and tidal marsh–terrestrial ecotone. These are distinguished by small variations in hydrology and elevation, as noted and described through field observations and historic vegetation-mapping data. We discuss vegetation within each of these landforms, considering each vegetation community as a function of changing physical environment and biological interactions. Past land use and exotic plant species invasions have substantially altered Rush Ranch's tidal marsh vegetation patterns. Our results indicate 27% of the current estuarine wetland-associated flora at Rush Ranch are exotic species, and several are highly invasive. Despite these influences, Rush Ranch's position in the landscape provides important and increasingly rare habitat linkages between the tidal marsh and upland grasslands, which allows great potential for restoration and enhancement. We present a detailed flora and vegetation analysis by hydrogeomorphic setting to provide an ecological framework for future monitoring, research, and adaptive conservation management at Rush Ranch.


Over the past three decades, Narragansett Bay has undergone various ecological changes, including significant decreases in water column chlorophyll a concentrations, benthic oxygen uptake, and benthic nutrient regeneration rates. To add to this portrait of change, we measured the net flux of N2 across the sediment–water interface over an annual cycle using the N2/Ar technique at seven sites in the bay for comparison with measurements made decades ago. Net denitrifi cation rates ranged from about 10–90 lmol N2– N m h over the year. Denitrification rates were not significantly different among sites and had no clear correlation with temperature. Net nitrogen fixation (-5 to -650 lmol N2–N m -2 h) was measured at three sites and only observed in summer (June–August). Neither denitrification nor nitrogen fixation exhibited a consistent relationship with sediment oxygen demand or with fluxes of nitrite, nitrate, ammonium, total dissolved inorganic nitrogen, or dissolved inorganic phosphate across all stations. In contrast to the mid-bay historical site where denitrification rates have declined, denitrification rates in the Providence River Estuary have not changed significantly over the past 30 years.


The microbial diversity of Lobatus gigas has not been thoroughly studied despite of them is a specie endangered. Knowledge of microbiota may help to improve the conservation and cultivation of this species. The objective of this study was to evaluate the bacterial populationsassociated with the gonad and the gut compartments of the wild endangered L. gigas from the Caribbean Seaflower Biosphere Reserve, using microbiological methods and culture-independent molecular tools. The genetic profiles of the bacterial populations were generated and Temporal Temperature Gradient Electrophoresis (TTGE) was used to compare them with total DNA. A genetic and statistical analysis of the bacterial communities revealed a low level of diversity in gonad tissue based on the number of bands detected using TTGE. In addition, statistical differences in bacterial community structure were found between the foregut and hindgut tissue of L. gigas. The dominant phylogenetic affiliations of the gonad bacteria, as determined using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, belong to Ralstonia (50%). The possible involvement of this genus in the reproduction and development of the conch is discussed. On the other hand, the bacterial phylotypes from foregut and hindgut included members of  Alphaproteobactera (12.5%), Betaproteobacteria (12.5%), Gammaproteobacteria (12.5%), Bacilli (31.25%), Clostridia (6.25%), Actinobacteria (6.25%), Mollicutes (6.25%) and Deinococci (6.25%) classes. Knowing the composition of the gonad and foregut and hindgut bacteria of L. gigas is the first step toward exploring the proper management of this species, as well as provides useful information to future researches that allow a better understanding of the role of these bacterial populations in the health and reproductive rate of L. gigas.


The poems of Philip Larkin seem at first uniquely selfcentred,
concentrating emphatically on a picture of the
character of the poet himself, to a point where the life and
times of this character, objectively described and defined
by his actions, seem to dominate the poems.
Yet despite the unusually high profile of the poet himself
(or "himself"), Larkin's work is very far from self-centred.
On the contrary, running through the poems is a pronounced inclination to look less to the self than to things other,
less to the real than to the ideal, less to the near than to
the remote: to look, in short, not "Here" but "Elsewhere. "
The centrifugal structure in which thoughts of the self give
way to thoughts of things other has two main expressions:
the social and the transcendent. In looking away from the
self to the lives of others--the social expression--the poet draws the kind of contrast which serves, very often, only to
underline a sense of separation between the self and others.
There is similarly a gap at the heart of those poems--mainly later works--which compare real life with a notional ideal,
or contrast presence with absence. The same centrifugal impulse is at work in these contrasts, though its expression
might be called transcendent or metaphysical. The common
ground is the comparison between self and not-self.
These contrasts are examined here from a variety of angles: Chapter One concentrates on a semantic approach, Chapter Two
on a metaphorical, and Chapter Three on a linguistic
analysis. The fourth chapter examines the role of the theme
in Larkin's prose fiction, and the fifth applies the theme
to the single subject of love.
The closing chapter then relates the conclusion reached in
the poems--that the separation of "Here" from "Elsewhere" is
unalterable, and indeed should be relished--to the tradition
to which it belongs, which is the Romantic tradition.


This paper presents a capacitated lot-sizing problem in flow-shop system with energy consideration. The planning horizon is defined by a set of periods. Each period is characterized by demand, duration, electricity cost and maximum peak power. Both non-linear and linear mixed integer programming are proposed to solve the problem with the objective of minimizing the production costs. The costs are considered as the sum of electrical, holding, setup and power demand costs. Computational experiments are presented and the numerical results are discussed and analyzed to evaluate the efficiency of those methods.


Over the past thirty years, the United States Supreme Court and the Judicial Conference have modified the Rules of Civil Procedure to address concerns that litigation costs too much, takes too long, and leads to unjust results. The Supreme Court's opinions have focused primarily on fortifying what I refer to as the "gateways" of civil procedure – including motions to dismiss, for class certification, and for summary judgment – where judges can dismiss cases that do not meet the applicable standards, thereby eliminating additional cost and delay. The Judicial Conference, in contrast, has focused primarily on regulating what I call the "pathways" – non-dispositive, context-specific decisions during discovery and before trial – to target problems of cost and delay while allowing the case to proceed. Scholars have exhaustively dissected and debated these gateway and path-way changes but have paid less attention to what these conversations – and the underlying rules – share in common. This Article offers a unified framework with which to understand the Rules' two contrasting strategies to achieve just and efficient outcomes and examines available evidence measuring their relative effectiveness at achieving their shared goals. Stepping back, the Article asks how best to understand the roles of gate-ways and pathways in civil process and the sensibility of proposals for re-form.


Introduction: The expression of programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) and its correlation with the prognosis of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) remains controversial. Objectives: This study aimed to study PD-L1 expression in tumor cells and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in patients with RCC and its association with clinicopathological factors and survival outcomes. Patients and Methods: PD-L1 expression in tumor cells and TILs was analyzed using immunohistochemistry (IHC) from patients with histologically proven RCC. Results: PD-L1 was positive in tumor cells for 55.8% of patients. PDL-1 expression in TIL was reported in 31.2 % of patients. Patients with PDL1 positive tumor cells had higher median tumor size (P=0.07), higher nuclear grade (P=0.56), and higher lymphovascular invasion (LVI) (P=0.23). Patients with PDL1 positive TILs were significantly associated with larger median pathological tumor size (P=0.02), higher probability of renal fat invasion (P=0.001), higher nuclear grade (P=0.05), higher probability of positive margin (P=0.02), positive LVI (P=0.03), higher pathological T stage (P=0.0004); whereas patients with PDL-1 negative TILs had earlier stage at presentation (stage I-II) (P=0.004). There was no statistically significant difference in disease-free survival (DFS), progression-free survival (PFS), or overall survival (OS) for PD-L1 expression of tumor cells and TILs. Conclusion: PDL1 positivity in TILs and not in tumor cells was significantly associated with more aggressive features, and higher stage. No association was found with DFS, PFS, or OS. These data suggest that PD-L1 expression of TILs in RCC tumors contributes to cancer aggressiveness.


This note aims to investigate the price dynamics between Ukrainian feed wheat exports and U.S. maize exports employing the method by Enders and Siklos (2001) to allow for threshold adjustment. The analysis reveals slow amounts of adjustment towards equilibrium for a positive change in the equilibrium relationship, but a substantial amount of adjustment for a negative change in the equilibrium relationship. This would imply that Ukrainian prices would have to decrease at a faster rate in order to retain their market share. The fact that there is some evidence of asymmetric price adjustment is not surprising given that Ukraine is a minor exporter in relation to the U.S. and that policy intervention exists in the Ukrainian wheat market. The nature of price dynamics sheds light on how Ukraine has been strategically responding to U.S. maize exports since the mid 1990s.


This review paper on John Dewey, the pioneering educationist of the 20th century, discusses his educational thoughts, and writings, which gave a new direction to education at the turn of the century. Dewey's contributions are immense and overwhelming in the fields of education, politics, humanism, logic, and aesthetics. This discussion will focus on Dewey and his philosophy related to educational approaches, pedagogical issues, and the linkages that he made between education, democracy, experience, and society. At the heart of his educational thought is the child. Dewey's idea on humanism springs from his democratic bent and his quest for freedom, equity, and the value of child's experiences.


The field of positive youth development encompasses a broad spectrum of youth programs and organizations. Outdoor and adventure education programs are well-positioned to be a part of the movement toward a positive developmental approach to youth programming. The purpose of this study was to determine whether an adventure-travel summer camp program (Longacre Expeditions) had positive effects on the life effectiveness of adolescent participants. The study measured attributes of Life Effectiveness of participants using the Life Effectiveness Questionnaire Version-H (LEQ-H). The instrument was administered at the commencement, conclusion, and six months following the program. Composite LEQ data and subscale data were analyzed using one-way repeated measures ANOVA with follow-up pairwise comparisons. Independentsamples t-tests were used to examine for differences related to demographic variables. The analysis showed significant improvement in participants' LEQ scores between the start and end of the program; however, increases in scores were not maintained at a significant level six months after the program. Significant increases in participants' scores were found in the two subscales of social competence and emotional control between the start and end of the program. Social Competence is defined as a person's degree of personal confidence and self-perceived ability in social interactions; Emotional Control is defined as the extent to which an individual perceives he or she maintains emotional controls when he or she is faced with potentially stressful situations (Neill, Marsh, & Richards, 2003). For mean composite LEO scores, social competence subscale, and emotional control subscales effect sizes were small. Neither age nor gender was found to have made a difference in composite LEQ scores. Significant differences were found between short and long programs from the start of the program to six months afterward. These specific findings provide some additional evidence of this program's ability to affect the life effectiveness of its participants immediately following the program. The findings also suggest that longer programs (18+ days) have greater potential to affect lasting change. Generalizations based on these results should take into account the strength of the effect sizes as well as the diminishing effects over time.


The UPTD Puskesmas the hope of Raya Pekanbaru owns the number of be in the low teens the age of 15-24 the years that came and visited and hiv testing as much as 292 people, have been given counseling as much as 200 people, told there were hiv positive 2 a person, and given chief assessor numbers counseling after the test hiv as much as 207 people. Data on the sexually transmitted infection ( IMS ) in adolescents the age of 15-24 years who got serious disease would as much as 92 a person with 4 the syphilis and 15 a person gonorrhea (GO).The purpose of this research to gain an understanding of the factors causing the behavior runs the risk of HIV/AIDS in adolescents.The place of research in four to senior high school in the working areas of the UPTD Puskesmas the hope of Raya Pekanbaru. A design study analytic cross-sectional with the total sample 314 teenagers appeared.An analyzer used the univariat, bivariat (chi square), and multivariate (regression double logistic).The analysis multivariate variable are associated with risky behavior hiv the sexes (OR: 28,838 CI: 95 % 9,084-91,549) and neighborhood (OR: 0,104 CI: 95 % 0,026-0,418). Conclusions sexes 28 times had a chance to behave risky HIV/AIDS and neighborhood 3 times risky HIV/AIDS. Advice recommended for the UPTD Puskesmas and schools turn back pkpr and activities youth to enhancing teen health.


The functioning of production enterprises is based on satisfying the needs of customers through the timely manufacture of products in accordance with the demand existing on the market. The availability of the offered range of products is guaranteed by a correct preparation of forecasts of potential orders. This article presents a multiple-regression-method-based tool supporting the planning of production volumes in an enterprise depending on the calendar month. Reliability analysis of the developed model through the analysis of residuals and their autocorrelations and partial autocorrelations is also presented.
JEL classification: C2, C22.


The first-ever Ukraine cyberattack on power grid has proven its devastation by hacking into their critical cyber assets. With administrative privileges accessing substation networks/local control centers, one intelligent way of coordinated cyberattacks is to execute a series of disruptive switching executions on multiple substations using compromised supervisory control and data acquisition systems. These actions can cause significant impacts to an interconnected power grid. Unlike the previous power blackouts, such high-impact initiating events can aggravate operating conditions, initiating instability that may lead to system-wide cascading failure. A systemic evaluation of "nightmare" scenarios is highly desirable for asset owners to manage and prioritize the maintenance and investment in protecting their cyberinfrastructure. This survey paper is a conceptual expansion of real-time monitoring, anomaly detection, impact analyses, and mitigation framework that emphasizes on the resulting impacts, both on steady-state and dynamic aspects of power system stability. Hypothetically, we associate the combinatorial analyses of steady state on substations/components outages and dynamics of the sequential switching orders as part of the permutation. The expanded framework includes: 1) critical/non-critical combination verification; 2) cascade confirmation; and 3) combination re-evaluation. This paper ends with a discussion of the open issues for metrics and future design pertaining the impact quantification of cyber-related contingencies.


Acylation-stimulating protein (ASP) is a small, basic, human plasma protein that markedly stimulates triglyceride synthesis in human adipocytes and cultured human skin fibroblasts. The present studies examine the response to ASP of cultured skin fibroblasts from normal subjects patients with hyperapobetalipoproteinemia, patients with familial hypercholesterolemia, and patients with hypertriglyceridemia without hyperapobetalipoproteinemia. Triglyceride synthesis induced by ASP did not differ significantly among the normals, the patients with familial hypercholesterolemia, and the patients with hypertriglyceridemia with normal low density lipoprotein (LDL) apolipoprotein B levels; however, on average, it was markedly reduced in the patients with hyperapobetalipoproteinemia. In all groups studied, evidence of specific saturable binding of radioiodinated ASP was present. Binding, however, was significantly reduced in the groups with hyperapobetalipoproteinemia whereas the other three groups were indistinguishable. By contrast, LDL-specific binding was reduced only in the patients with familial hypercholesterolemia. There was a significant direct relation between the degree of ASP binding and the triglyceride synthesis inducible by ASP. In addition, with the exception of the patients with familial hypercholesterolemia, there was an inverse relation between both ASP-specific binding and ASP-induced triglyceride synthesis in fibroblasts to LDL levels in plasma whereas no relation was evident to plasma high density lipoprotein and very low density lipoprotein.


ABSTRACT Submerged palaeolandscapes can contain pristine underwater heritage. Regular monitoring of these areas is essential to assess and mitigate threats from development including construction, mining, and commercial trawling. While bathymetry alone may be insufficient to detect submerged palaeolandscape features, it can nonetheless recognize previously mapped structures that have a topographic expression. The Sentinel-1 constellation will provide unprecedented access to freely available, high-resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data, acquired systematically and with long-term continuity, and may constitute a cost-effective solution for the monitoring of submerged palaeolandscapes. The article shows the application of a recently developed bathymetric algorithm to Sentinel-1 SAR data over a region of the southern North Sea. Results show general agreement with water depth data obtained from the European Marine Observation and Data Network portal for bathymetry (EMODnet). To assess the support that SAR bathymetry can provide to the analysis of submerged palaeolandscapes, the Sentinel-1-derived water depths were compared to a palaeolandscape map of the same area produced by the North Sea Palaeolandscapes Project (NSPP). Results show a clear correspondence between certain topographic structures identified in the Sentinel-1 water depth map and features interpreted by the NSPP as early Holocene lakes, rivers, and landscape topography.


We develop a model to show that cartels that produce goods with lower durability are easier to sustain implicitly. This observation gen- erates the following results: 1) implicit cartels have an incentive to pro- duce goods with an inefficiently low level of durability; 2) a monopoly or explicit cartel is welfare superior to an implicit cartel; 3) welfare is non-monotonic in the number of firms; 4) a regulator may demand inefficiently high levels of durability to prevent collusion.


This paper presents thermal buckling analysis of rectangular functionally graded plates (FG plates) with an eccentrically located elliptic cutout. The plate governing equations derived by the first order shear deformation theory (FSDT) and finite element formulation is developed to analyze the plate behavior subjected to a uniform temperature rise across plate thickness. It is assumed that the non-homogenous material properties vary through the plate thickness according to a power function. The developed finite element (FE) code with an extended mesh pattern is written in MATLAB software. The effects of aspect ratio of the plate, ellipse radii ratio, position and orientation of the cutout, boundary conditions (BCs) and volume fraction exponent are investigated in details. The results of present code are compared with those available in the literature and some useful design-orientated conclusions are achieved. © 2015 IAU, Arak Branch. All rights reserved.


This article develops and empirically tests a tractable general equilibrium model of corporate financing and investment dynamics in a trade-off economy where heterogeneous firms face unobservable disaster risk and engage in rational Bayesian learning. The model sheds light on leverage cycles. During periods absent disasters: equity premia decrease; credit spreads decrease; expected loss-given-default increases; and leverage ratios increase. Time-since-prior-disaster is the key model conditioning variable. In response to a disaster, risk premia increase while firms sharply reduce labor, capital and leverage, with response size increasing in time-since-prior-disasters. Firms with high bankruptcy costs are most responsive to the time-since-disaster variable. Disaster responses are more pronounced than in an otherwise equivalent economy featuring observed disaster risk. Empirical tests of novel corporate finance predictions are conducted. Consistent with the model, we find empirically that leverage and investment are increasing in time-since-prior-recessions, with the effect more pronounced for firms with low recovery ratios.


Heterotrimeric G proteins, consisting of α, β and γ subunits, mediate a variety of signaling pathways in eukaryotes. We have previously identified two genes, gna-1 and gna-2, that encode G protein α subunits in the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa. Mutation of gna-1 results in female infertility and sensitivity to hyperosmotic media. In this study, we investigate the expression and functions of gna-2. Results from Western analysis and measurements of gna-2 promoter-lacZ fusion activity indicate that gna-2 is expressed during the vegetative and sexual cycle of N. crassa in both A and a mating types. Activating mutations predicted to abolish the GTPase activity of GNA-2 cause subtle defects in aerial hyphae formation and conidial germination. Extensive phenotypic analysis of Δgna-2 strains did not reveal abnormalities during vegetative or sexual development. In contrast, deletion of gna-2 in a Δgna-1 strain accentuates the Δgna-1 phenotypes. Δgna-1 Δgna-2 strains have a slower rate of hyphal apical extension than Δgna-1 strains on hyperosmotic media. Moreover, Δgna-1 Δgna-2 mutants have more pronounced defects in female fertility than Δgna-1 strains. We propose that gna-1 and gna-2 have overlapping functions and may constitute a gene family. This is the first report of G protein α subunits with overlapping functions in eukaryotic microbes.


PurposeThe purpose of this study was to prospectively test the hypothesis that image overlay technology facilitates accurate navigation for magnetic resonance (MR)–guided osseous biopsy. Materials and MethodsA prototype augmented reality image overlay system was used in conjunction with a clinical 1.5-T MR imaging system. Osseous biopsy of a total of 16 lesions was planned in 4 human cadavers with osseous metastases. A loadable module of 3D Slicer open-source medical image analysis and visualization software was developed and used for display of MR images, lesion identification, planning of virtual biopsy paths, and navigation of drill placement. The osseous drill biopsy was performed by maneuvering the drill along the displayed MR image containing the virtual biopsy path into the target. The drill placement and the final drill position were monitored by intermittent MR imaging. Outcome variables included successful drill placement, number of intermittent MR imaging control steps, target error, number of performed passes and tissue sampling, time requirements, and pathological analysis of the obtained osseous core specimens including adequacy of specimens, presence of tumor cells, and degree of necrosis. ResultsA total of 16 osseous lesions were sampled with percutaneous osseous drill biopsy. Eight lesions were located in the osseous pelvis (8/16, 50%) and 8 (8/16, 50%) lesions were located in the thoracic and lumbar spine. Lesion size was 2.2 cm (1.1–3.5 cm). Four (2–8) MR imaging control steps were required. MR imaging demonstrated successful drill placement inside 16 of the 16 target lesions (100%). One needle pass was sufficient for accurate targeting of all lesions. One tissue sample was obtained in 8 of the 16 lesions (50%); 2, in 6 of the16 lesions (38%); and 3, in 2 of the 16 lesions (12%). The target error was 4.3 mm (0.8–6.8 mm). Length of time required for biopsy of a single lesion was 38 minutes (20–55 minutes). Specimens of 15 of the 16 lesions (94%) were sufficient for pathological evaluation. Of those 15 diagnostic specimens, 14 (93%) contained neoplastic cells, whereas 1 (7%) specimen demonstrated bone marrow without evidence of neoplastic cells. Of those 14 diagnostic specimens, 11 (79%) were diagnostic for carcinoma or adenocarcinoma, which was concordant with the primary neoplasm, whereas, in 3 of the 14 diagnostic specimens (21%), the neoplastic cells were indeterminate. ConclusionsImage overlay technology provided accurate navigation for the MR-guided biopsy of osseous lesions of the spine and the pelvis in human cadavers at 1.5 T. The high technical and diagnostic yield supports further evaluation with clinical trials.


The burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is growing swiftly in low-resourced countries resulting in deleterious health resembling the NCDs burden in high-resourced countries. Despite the availability of information on the escalating adverse economic and health effects of NCDs globally, specific strategies designed to address the growing burden of NCDs in low-resourced countries remain substandard. Research engines like EBSCOhost, Science Citation Index, CINAHL database, PsycINFO, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, published and unpublished abstracts and a hand search of reference lists and table of contents of relevant journals and books were searched from January 2011 to June 2019. In total, 84 studies met the inclusion criteria. Most studies confirm that lowresourced countries compared with high-resourced countries battle to implement NCDs prevention strategies; fail to record data on the risk factors of NCDs; medical records and surveillance data are unavailable. Due to a lack of knowledge and skill, low-resourced countries show no urgency to implement a systems approach for NCDs management. The findings confirm disparities between high-resourced and low-resourced countries regarding NCDs prevention, availability of quality data, and strategies to prevent and manage NCDs through a systems approach that can assist healthcare institutions in reducing the damaging effect of NCDs globally.


: Of 31 patients with gastrectomy and isoperistaltic interposition of a long jejunal loop, a follow-up examination was possible in 13 cases. Gastroscopy and biopsy were performed in 10 of these patients. The time between operation and follow-up examination was 3 months to 2 1/2 years. At the time of operation 15 patients were older than 70 years (48.4%) and the 3 postoperative deaths belong to this age-group (9.6%). 10 patients died (32.3%). The various complaints were registered with a questionnaire and show the good function of the substitute-stomach. Once we saw a leakage of the oesophago-jejunal anastomosis and once reflux oesophagitis (3.2%). The laboratory findings showed no remarkable changes. In X-ray studies a distension of the transposed jejunal segment was never seen and the insignificant histological changes do not correlate to the time after operation. Neither muscular wall hypertrophy nor an increase in goblet cells was observed.


Detritus is a central feature in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems. Despite the ubiquity of detritus, ecologists have largely ignored its role in influencing food web structure. We used a meta-analytic approach to ask three questions about how detritus affects food web structure in a wide variety of ecosystems. First, what is the effect strength of detritus on primary producers, detritivores, herbivores, and predators? Second, what functional role does detritus serve for consumers (energetic, habitat, or both)? Third, how does the effect of detritus on consumers vary between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems? We found that detritus has strong positive effects on primary producers and consumers in a wide range of ecosystems types. Detritus has a positive direct effect on detritivores by providing both an energetic resource and habitat (refuge from predators). Detritus has equally strong positive effects on herbivores and predators, driven by a positive direct effect of habitat. Detritus has positive effects on consumers in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems with 1.7 times stronger effects in terrestrial ecosystems. These results suggest that detritus has strong effects on food-web structure in a variety of ecosystem types. Even the portion of the food web that is linked most strongly to living plant tissue as its primary energy source is strongly positively affected.


The main goal of the power systems planning is the optimal management of the energy resources in order to ensure a safe and reliable operation. Otherwise, the system operation and reliability will be compromised, as happened in Colombian between 1992 and 1993 due to a high dry period. The planning process must be anticipative to the uncertainty, obtaining a solution accounting for multiple future scenarios. This uncertainty is commonly represented by scenario trees [?]. The simultaneous consideration of all the future scenarios usually leads to apply mathematical decomposition techniques due to computational burdensome. The main decomposition techniques are the Benders' decomposition, [?], and the Stochastic Dual Dynamic Programming, [?]. Real applications of these methods have as main disadvantage the strong dependence of the solution on random processes, requiring to reduce the number of scenarios. As a consequence, the robustness of the solution is not guaranteed, especially when draws are made in the early stages of the optimization horizon. The approach presented here has two main characteristics. Firstly, when the forward pass needs draws due to the tree size, they are made as far as possible to the star of the horizon. This decreases the number of stages for the decomposition algorithm, improving the runtimes. Secondly, recombining trees are applied for the uncertainty representation. This improves the backward pass by obtaining more future information to be considered in the previous stages, helping to the convergence speed. This approach is being used for planning the Colombian electric system, showing results consistent with other commercial tools, but with much lower execution times.


Lysosomal storage diseases (LSD) are a heterogenous group of more than 40 inborn errors of metabolism that are due to specific defects of lysosomal en-zymes, lysosomal membrane proteins or transporters respectively. All LSD are inherited autosomal recessively with the exception of MPS II (M. Hunter), Fabry Disease and Danon Disease that are inherited as X chromosomal traits. Although individually rare their cumulative prevalence may be as high as 1:800 in certain ethnic populations. LSD in general are progressive multiorgan disorder with about 50% having significant central nervous involvement. Each LSD comprises a more or less unique clinical spectrum with patients at the more severe end showing in-creased morbidity and mortality whereas patients at the milder end of the spectrum having only subtle clinical signs. Patients with mild disease may of-ten go unrecognized for many years. Therapy of LSD consisted mainly of palliative treatment until the recent de-velopment of enzyme replacement therapies for Gaucher, Pompe and Fabry Diseases as well as Mucopolysaccharidosis types I and II (MPS I/II) Lysosomes are intracellular organelles that encompass numerous hy-drolases and other enzymes that break down different compounds derived from intermediary metabolism such as complex lipids, carbohydrates and others. During the last years the interest for the LSD has significantly increased due to the development of novel therapies including enzyme replacement thera-pies (ERT) and substrate inhibition therapy. Additional therapies such as chaperone therapy are currently evaluated in phase I and II trials. Currently ERT are available for MPS I, II, VI, Fabry, Pompe and Gaucher diseases. In ad-dition SRT has been licensed for Gaucher disease. The aim of this paper is to give a brief overview of the treatable LSD, to summarise the guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and disease management, to summarise data from ERT registers and to analyse eventual fields of con-flict. For this purpose a thorough Medline search up to August 2008 was per-formed using the following key words: MPS I, MPS II, MPS VI, Pompe, Fabry, Gaucher, enzyme replacement therapy, treatment and registry respectively. In addition all pharmaceutical companies involved in manufacturing recom-binant enzyme and/or substrate inhibition therapies were contacted for fur-ther information. These companies included Actelion, Biomarin, Genzyme and Shire.


The ontogenetic development of the overt motor and the electrical signalling behaviour in larvae of a
West African elephantfish, Pollimyms adspersus, were studied. At an age of 35-40 days, hovering in
mid-water was first observed. Before that time, the larvae moved only occasionally and rested in the
nest that was guarded by the male parent. The very low electric organ discharge (EOD) rate of 2.4 ± 0.9 Hz observed in 8- to 10-day-old larvae (that generate their first EODs on day 8) increased to an
adult rate of 8.4 ± 1.7 Hz in 21- to 25-day-old larvae. Even 8- to 10-day-old larvae generated a
trimodal inter-EOD interval distribution (with three distinct discharge rates), similar to that observed
in adults, although larval interval modes were of much longer duration. For the first (high rate) mode,
the trend towards shortening stabilized already at the age of 21-25 days, whereas for the second and
third (low rate) modes, this occurred only at an age of around 61-70 days.
Inter-EOD interval patterns recorded during swimming behaviour of 8- to 10-day-old larvae closely
resembled that observed in juveniles (exceeding 100 days): there was a single mode only, and EOD
rate was increased (13.1 ± 3.2 Hz).
Artificial stimulation with natural inter-EOD interval pattems previously recorded from other larvae
or the nest-guarding male did not evoke any responses in 14-day-old larvae, apart from a brief EOD
stop response to stimulus onset. However, even in larvae as young as ll days, Preferred Latency
Responses of their EODs to an artificial series of stimulus pulses (constant rate of 5 Hz) were observed
at a stimulus intensity of 120 µVp-p/cm. In the youngest larvae, 36-ms latencies were most frequent;
this shortened to 19 ms in 31-day-old larvae (approaching the adult value; Kramer, 1978). The time
pattern oT EOD generation in P. adspersus larvae resembled that in mature specimens even before the
adult electric organ became functional.


This study examines the capacity of neoliberalism and organizational socialization to shape alternatively certified teachers' preparation and understanding of their teaching roles within the context of Teach for America. Using theoretical lenses of both neoliberalism and organizational socialization, I conducted a qualitative study on Teach for America teachers' previous educational experiences, participation in the program, and the impact of this preparation on their careers post-teaching. None of the five participants are currently classroom teachers. Data collection included semi-structured interviews and critical discourse analysis of program documents. Findings reveal how participants' educational and program experiences challenged their initial conceptions of teaching and learning and left them minimally prepared and supported for the pedagogical and sociopolitical components of teaching in high-needs areas. Conclusions illuminate TFA's efforts to shape participants' understanding of teaching and learning—framing teaching as a temporary career—in order to create and sustain a broader movement in education and beyond that is reflective of neoliberal ideas. Recommendations for future research encourage the investigation of teacher preparation organizations as social and political actors, along with calling for a larger, more collective investment in teacher education.


Marine dinoflagellates are an ecologically important group of protists within the plankton, performing key process such as photosynthesis, heterotrophy and toxin production. Some dinoflagellates are also capable of producing bioluminescence and they are the most abundant protists that produce light in the surface waters of the oceans. This study employed molecular tools to investigate the identity of bioluminescent species, the genetic basis, diversity and functional regulation of bioluminescence, and the distribution of marine bioluminescent dinoflagellate populations. Using "universal" and taxon specific PCR primers designed to amplify the luciferase gene (lcf), the distribution of this gene within dinoflagellates was found to be taxon specific and the first lcf sequences obtained from four genetically distant genera revealed a previously unknown high diversity of this gene. The luciferin binding protein gene (lbp) was detected for the first time in three genera of ecologically important gonyaulacoid dinoflagellates, showing that this understudied gene is common in dinoflagellate bioluminescence systems. Phylogenetic analyses of both lcf and lbp provided new insight on species divergence within the toxic genus Alexandrium and pointed out important pitfalls in using protein coding genes for phylogenetic studies. The lcf PCR primers were employed in the first field study using a molecular approach to detect natural populations of bioluminescent dinoflagellates, showing that this approach outperforms optical bioluminescence measurements and that their distribution and composition is intimately tied to hydrographic patterns that create distinct environmental zones. The lcf PCR primers were also employed to study the regional variation in bioluminescence of Noctiluca scintillans, showing for the first time that the environment maintains or eliminates bioluminescence, by finding that a hydrographically isolated non bioluminescent variety in the west coast of the USA has "switched off" its bioluminescence system while diverging to possibly become a different species. Also, a novel lbp was discovered in N. scintillans which improved the current model for the evolution of bioluminescence genes in dinoflagellates. This thesis is the first study to employ molecular tools in a comprehensive and multifaceted investigation of dinoflagellate bioluminescence and has contributed significantly to building a fundamental understanding of this remarkable phenomenon.


Since optimization on Riemannian manifolds relies on the chosen metric, it is appealing to know that how the performance of a Riemannian optimization method varies with different metrics and how to exquisitely construct a metric such that a method can be accelerated. To this end, we propose a general framework for optimization problems on product manifolds where the search space is endowed with a preconditioned metric, and we develop the Riemannian gradient descent and Riemannian conjugate gradient methods under this metric. Specifically, the metric is constructed by an operator that aims to approximate the diagonal blocks of the Riemannian Hessian of the cost function, which has a preconditioning effect. We explain the relationship between the proposed methods and the variable metric methods, and show that various existing methods, e.g., the Riemannian Gauss--Newton method, can be interpreted by the proposed framework with specific metrics. In addition, we tailor new preconditioned metrics and adapt the proposed Riemannian methods to the canonical correlation analysis and the truncated singular value decomposition problems, and we propose the Gauss--Newton method to solve the tensor ring completion problem. Numerical results among these applications verify that a delicate metric does accelerate the Riemannian optimization methods.


Osteomyelitis is an infection of the bone, which may be caused by direct pathogen inoculation following trauma of surgery, contiguous spread from adjacent soft tissue or joint, or hematogenous spread from a focus of infection. Hematogenous osteomyelitis accounts for 20% of all cases of osteomyelitis.1 This type of osteomyelitis most often affect the long bones and vertebrae, although it could also affect other sites such as pelvic bones or clavicle.1 Mycobacterium tuberculosis is one of the causes of hematogenous osteomyelitis,comprising of 10 to 35 percent of extrapulmonary tuberculosis, or 2% of all tuberculosis cases.2,3 Joint involvement, when occur, is usually monoarticular, and mainly affect the weight-bearing joints such as hip or knee. Polyarticular cases occur in 10– 15% of extrapulmonary tuberculosis cases in developing countries.4 Tuberculous osteomyelitiscases are reported to be decreasing in number, probably because of earlier diagnosis and promptmanagement. In this article we report a case oftuberculous osteomyelitis in a patient with miliary tuberculosis


OBJECTIVE Glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 receptor is encoded by GLP1R. The effect of genetic variation at this locus on the response to GLP-1 is unknown. This study assessed the effect of GLP1R polymorphisms on insulin secretion in response to hyperglycemia and to infused GLP-1 in nondiabetic subjects. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Eighty-eight healthy individuals (aged 26.3 ± 0.6 years, fasting glucose 4.83 ± 0.04 mmol/l) were studied using a hyperglycemic clamp. GLP-1 was infused for the last 2 h of the study (0.75 pmol/kg/min over 121–180 min, 1.5 pmol/kg/min over 181–240 min). β-Cell responsivity (ΦTotal) was measured using a C-peptide minimal model. The effect of 21 tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in GLP1R on ΦTotal was examined. RESULTS Two SNPs (rs6923761 and rs3765467) were nominally associated with altered β-cell responsivity in response to GLP-1 infusion. CONCLUSIONS Variation in GLP1R may alter insulin secretion in response to exogenous GLP-1. Future studies will determine whether such variation accounts for interindividual differences in response to GLP-1–based therapy.


In the past decade, wildfires around the world have continued to increase in size, severity, and cost. The number of people living in wildland areas has also increased, putting public safety, homes, roads, public infrastructure, water quality, and valued natural resources at risk from wildfire and secondary fire effects. Major concerns after wildfires are the increased runoff and erosion due to loss of the protective forest floor layer, loss of water storage, and creation of water repellent soil conditions. To reduce the potential postfire erosion and flooding, various postfire mitigation treatments are commonly used on highly erodible areas. We have developed and implemented rapid response approaches to compare treatment effectiveness by monitoring sediment yield and runoff response from hillslopes and small catchments. High-intensity rainfall simulation and concentrated flow (rill) experiments are done to compare treated and untreated areas within a burned area. Small watershed impoundments and/or sediment fence barriers are established within weeks following a forest fire and are monitored for three to five years to measure runoff and sediment yields from natural rainfall. These rapid response protocols allow measurements to be made during the first postfire year when runoff and erosion are likely to be greatest with continued monitoring through the initial recovery period. Our study sites in the Western U.S. encompass a range of rainfall regimes including monsoonal rains in the southwest (Arizona and New Mexico), thunderstorms in the Colorado Front Range and Northern Rockies, and wet frontal systems in Southern California. A paired watershed study that examined the effectiveness of contour-felled log erosion barriers found that runoff, peak flows, and sediment yields were generally lower on the treated sites compared to the control sites for lower intensity storms (storms with less than a 2-yr, 10-min maximum rainfall intensity return interval I10-min); however for higher intensity storms (2-yr or greater return interval I10-min) there was no detectable treatment effect. Mulch treatments (agricultural straw, wood shreds or wood strands) appear to out-perform the barrier-type treatments in reducing erosion and can be effective even for the higher intensity events. Our research results have brought a shift in post-wildfire erosion management strategies. For example, in the 1990's contour-felled log erosion barriers were commonly used to mitigate hillslope erosion on forested landscapes; but this treatment is seldom used today. Since 2002, mulches, especially agricultural straw, are increasingly used for post-fire hillslope stabilization.


Software systems exceeding a certain critical size easily become difficult to maintain and adapt. Requirements change, platforms change and if a system does not evolve properly, its usefulness will decay over time. This document presents MSE a robust, scalable, extensible interexchange format and FAMIX 3.0 a family of metamodels to represent source code.


Two bacterial isolates, designated strains 5420S-26(T) and 5516S-1(T), were recovered from air samples collected in Suwon, Korea. Cells of both strains were aerobic, Gram-negative, motile rods. Phylogenetically, these strains were positioned within the radius of the genus Massilia. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that the strains shared 97.3 % sequence similarity and had sequence similarities of 94.9-98.1 % with respect to type strains of species belonging to the genus Massilia. In DNA-DNA hybridization tests, the two strains showed <39 % relatedness with respect to strains of closely related species of the genus Massilia and 27 % relatedness to each other. Both strains contained Q-8 as the predominant isoprenoid quinone and possessed summed feature 3 (comprising C(16 : 1)omega7c and/or iso-C(15 : 0) 2-OH) as the major fatty acid. Strain 5516S-1(T) was found to contain the fatty acid C(20 : 0) (in small amounts), a feature that served to distinguish it from both 5420S-26(T) and recognized members of the genus Massilia. The DNA G+C contents of 5420S-26(T) and 5516S-1(T) were 67.8 and 66.6 mol%, respectively. Phylogenetic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic data accumulated in this study revealed that 5420S-26(T) and 5516S-1(T) represent novel species of the genus Massilia, for which the names Massilia niabensis sp. nov. (type strain 5420S-26(T) =KACC 12632(T) =DSM 21312(T)) and Massilia niastensis sp. nov. (type strain 5516S-1(T) =KACC 12599(T) =DSM 21313(T)) are proposed, respectively.


India is predominantly agriculture based country and large number of females work in agriculture sector as labourers. These women labourers work for the survival of the family. Their busy schedule, long duration of work and extreme poverty hold them back in spending adequate time and mind for their children. Present book is an attempt to study the effect of maternal deprivation due to work on the development of children. An effort was made to determine whether or not maternal absence due to employment and consequent substitute supervision arrangement of mother is significant in the lives of children. Significance is measured in terms of broad developmental variables leading to child's achievement, intelligence, personal and social adjustment. This book will meet the requirements of, and will be found useful by, every one, who has a role to play in this field, including the Developmental Scientists, Teachers, Policy makers, Social Workers, Government Officials, Government Departments and General Public at large.


Objective: The aim of this study was to characterize Spanish cedar (Cedrela odorata L.) fruits and seeds, and to evaluate the effects of provenance, substrata, and fertilizer on germination and plant quality in nursery.
Design/Methodology/Approach: The fruits and seeds from Spanish cedars were collected in three different towns: C-32 (Francisco Trujillo Gurria), C-40 (Ernesto Aguirre Colorado), and C-41 (Carlos A. Madrazo). Those towns are in Plan Chontalpa, Tabasco, Mexico. After they were harvested, the samples were morphometrically characterized. Seed production efficiency (SPE), germination (%), and Dickson Quality Index (DQI) were estimated. Two completely randomized experimental designs with factorial arrangement of treatments were used. The factors were the provenance, four or three substrata, and two levels of Greenfool® 600 fertilizer.
Results: Fruits of 3.46 cm in length and 1.81 cm in width were collected; the mean number of seeds per fruit was 49.36. Seed production efficiency ranged from 48.1% to 52.72%, with 32.86% germination. The seeds from Town C-41 obtained the highest germination percentage, with the use of black soil:sand as substrate. The plants fertilized and developed in black soil:sand substrate obtained a higher DQI.
Study Limitations/Implications: The activity restriction caused by the Sars-Cov-2 pandemic was the main limitation. The lower number of producers and plantations from Town C-32 was the implication.
Findings/Conclusions: Fruit and seed characteristics were different among provenances. The provenance impacted on seed germination, but not on the plant quality index (DQI). Instead, the substrate and fertilizer impacted on the DQI.


Internal radiolabelling procedures were used to radiolabel the oligosaccharide determinant of the glycopeptidolipids (GPL) from serovars 4 and 20 of the Mycobacterium avium complex. Mycobacteria were cultured in the presence of [6-3H]fucose, [2-3H]mannose or [methyl-3H]methionine, after which radiolabelled native lipid was extracted and distribution of radioactivity in native and deacetylated lipid was determined by thin-layer chromatographic methods. Incorporation of radiolabel was confirmed by examining acid hydrolysates of purified GPL for 3H-labelled sugars on cellulose thin-layer plates. Least incorporation of radiolabel into GPL was observed with [6-3H]fucose, whereas better incorporation was obtained with [2-3H]mannose and [methyl-3H]methionine. Use of [methyl-3H]methionine resulted in the radiolabelling of the methylated sugars in both the oligosaccharide determinant and the 3,4-di-O-methylrhamnose located at the terminus of the peptide core. Use of [2-3H]mannose resulted in the incorporation of radioactivity into the oligosaccharide determinant as 2-O-methylfucose, found in the GPL of both serovars 4 and 20. GPL radiolabelled with [2-3H]mannose were subsequently examined in macrophage cultures and found to be relatively inert to degradation by those phagocytic cells. These results substantiate earlier findings with the GPL of serovar 20 and indicate that these mycobacterial components may play a role in pathogenesis.