A simple axion model is proposed in the scenario of large extra dimensions where the gravity scale is as low as 1 TeV. To obtain an intermediate-scale decay constant of the axion, the axion is assumed to live in a subspacetime (brane) of the whole bulk. In this model there appear Kaluza-Klein modes of the axion which have a stronger interaction than those of the graviton. The axion brane plays the role of an absorber of the graviton Kaluza-Klein modes. For these reasons, the phenomenology and cosmology of the axion become highly nontrivial. We discuss various cosmological constraints as well as astrophysical ones and show that the model is viable for certain choices of the dimensionality of the axion brane. The structure of the model proposed here provides a viable realization of the fat brane idea to relax the otherwise very severe cosmological constraints.


Objectives: To evaluate association of genetic polymorphisms in GSTM1, T1, and P1 genes with cervical cancer (CC) susceptibility and effect of passive smoking.Methods: The polymorphisms in GSTM1 and T1 were analyzed by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (mPCR) and GSTP1 by PCR - Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) in 150 CC cases and 165 healthy controls.Results: CC cases showed significant association with marriage age, parity and hemoglobin level (p<0.0001). GSTM1 (-/-) genotype was prominent among cases (30.0 %) whereas on combined analysis, GSTM1(-/-) / T1(-/-) and GSTM1(-/-) / P1(A/G or G/G) genotypes showed 2.75 and 2.98 times higher susceptibility to CC respectively. Triple combinations of GSTM1 (-/-), T1 (+/+) and P1 (A/G or G/G) genotypes showed significant association (P=0.02) with a 3.04 times risk of developing CC. Further analysis of cervical cancer histological subtypes such as squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma revealed an association of GSTM1 (-/-), GSTP1 A/G and G/G genotypes in adenocarcinoma cases alone (4.01, 2.25 and 2.40 folds respectively). Out of all the CC cases, passive smokers with GSTM1 (-/-) and GSTP1 (G/G) genotypes showed 4.19 and 2.88 times respectively of increased risk of developing the disease.Conclusions: This study confirms the possible interactions between different GST polymorphisms and passive smoking in cervical cancer cases from North India.


The nonuniformity of creep and shrinkage caused by drying, and to a lesser extent by temperature gradients, causes significant self-straining in containment shells. This condition can be of two types: (1) Local, within the cross section of the wall, or (2) global, due to differences in the deformation of the cylindrical shell and foundation slab, or the dome, the ring, and the hoop tendon buttresses. By approximate calculations, in which cracking is neglected, these effects are shown to be quite significant as compared with other loads in service conditions, whose effect is also normally evaluated without consideration of cracking. For quantitative design predictions, the stress relief due to cracking must be considered. By means of a numerical example, it is demonstrated that the age-adjusted effective modulus method permits a very simple analysis of these effects.


Abstract Introduction: The aim of the study was to gather nation-wide epidemiological and clinical data in order to characterize community-acquired sepsis in the Faroe Islands, and to compare these data with epidemiological studies performed in other geographical areas. Methods: A prospective, observational study conducted from October 2013 until April 2015 to characterize sepsis, and to calculate incidence rates for community-acquired sepsis of any severity, community-acquired severe sepsis, community-acquired septic shock and community-acquired sepsis without community-acquired severe sepsis or community-acquired septic shock. Results: Of 5279 admissions, 583 cases fulfilled the criteria for community-acquired sepsis of any severity. The mean age of all cases was 67.6 ± 18.3 years. Men accounted for 298 (51.5%) admissions. Charlson comorbidity index was greater than 2 in 247 (42.4%) cases. The incidence of community-acquired sepsis of any severity was 1414/100,000 person-years at risk (95% CI, 1374–1440). The incidence rate for community-acquired sepsis without community-acquired severe sepsis and community-acquired septic shock was 719/100,000 person-years at risk (95% CI, 695–742), for community-acquired severe sepsis 644/100,000 person-years at risk (95% CI, 623–668), for community-acquired septic shock 51/100,000 person-years at risk (95% CI, 45–58). The highest incidence was seen in elderly patients. Conclusion: The incidence rates were slightly higher in men and increased with age, especially in those older than 85 years. Incidence rates of sepsis of any severity were higher than previously published from other countries.


The Will to Power represents Nietzsche's critical, analytic, deconstructive and interpretive tool, while globalization designate a doctrinal process of advancement and increase in interaction among countries, facilitated by progressive technological development, communication, knowledge and skills, as well as interaction of cultural values, systems and practices. Globalization, as a doctrine, has brought with it both negative and positive values, and has invariably posed serious challenges to Africa in relation to the erosion of her cultural values, especially, her most cherished cultural values. This challenge becomes very significant, especially with regards to the fact that these values are Western oriented and, in most cases, not congenial with the African cultural milieu. The implication of this phenomenon is the increase in the rate of cultural adulteration of Africa by the West and her epistemic dependency on the Western world. In line with the above, the problem this paper tackles is how to harness the positive values of globalization while, at the same time, checkmating its ugly effects on African cultural values. The main purpose of the paper is to provide a way of tackling the challenges posed by globalization, on African values system, while strategically mapping out a way of harnessing its positive principles. Using the method of historical hermeneutics and textual analysis/exposition, this paper argues that Nietzsche's principle of the Will to Power, as a deconstructive and analytic principle, constitutes a sifting tool towards harnessing the positive values of globalization on African culture while, at the same time, checkmating its ugly menace. Keywords: globalization, will to power, superman, nihilism, perspectivism, democracy, politics of subjectivity, revaluation of values, cultural adulteration, critical literacy and epistemic dependency. DOI : 10.7176/RHSS/9-20-08 Publication date :October 31 st 2019


The ionic basis of the action potential was investigated using intracellular microelectrodes in single smooth muscle cells freshly isolated from the stomach of the toad Bufo marinus. When [Ca2+]0 was elevated (> 8mM), action potentials were readily elicited, which had similar characteristics to those found in many tissue preparations of visceral smooth muscle. There was a decrease in membrane resistance at the peak of the action potential and during the undershoot. The following evidence indicated that the inward current is carried by Ca2+: 1) Raising [Ca2+]0 from 15 to 49.6 mM in the presence of 18.2 mM tetraethylammonium chloride (TEA) increased the maximum rate of rise and the overshoot amplitude, the latter by 15 mV, i.e., 29.5 mV/10-fold change in [Ca2+]0. Changing [Na2+]0 from 11.8 to 81.8 mM had no significant effect on the maximum rate of rise or the overshoot. 2) The action potentials were blocked by 8 mM Mn2+ ([Ca2+]0 = 14.6 mM) but not by 14.3 microM tetrodotoxin (TTX) ([Na2+]0 = 100 mM). 3) Action potentials could be elicited when [Ba2+]0 or [Sr2+]0 were present in high concentrations ([Ca2+]0 less than or equal to 31 microM,[Na2+]0 = 11.8 mM). Both the maximum rate of rise and overshoot amplitude of the action potential increased as the membrane potential became more negative, suggesting increased activation of the inward current. Both TEA and Ba2+ prolonged the action potential, suggesting that a K+ current is responsible for repolarization. Action potentials could also be elicited on anode break at elevated [K+]0 (91 mM).


Background: Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an atypical, belligerent tumor that matures into cancer in the pleura, a stratum of tissue bordering the lungs. Pleural mesothelioma is a common type of mesothelioma that accounts for about 75 percent of all mesothelioma diagnosed yearly in the United States. Diagnosis of mesothelioma takes several months and is expensive. Given the difficulty of diagnosing MPM, early identification is crucial for patient survival. Our study implements artificial intelligence and recommends the best fit model for early diagnosis and prognosis of MPM. Method: We retrospectively retrieved patient's medical reports generated by Dicle University, Turkey and implemented multi-layered perceptron (MLP), voted perceptron (VP), Clojure classifier (CC), kernel logistic regression (KLR), stochastic gradient decent SGD), adaptive boosting (AdaBoost), Hoeffding tree (VFDT), and primal estimated sub-gradient solver for support vector machine (s-Pegasos). We evaluated the models, compared and tested using paired T-test (corrected) at 0.05 significance based on their respective classification accuracy, f-measure, precision, recall, root mean squared error, receivers characteristic curve (ROC), and precision-recall curve (PRC). Results: In phase-1 SGD, AdaBoost.M1, KLR, MLP, VFDT generates optimal results with the highest possible performance measures. In phase-2, AdaBoost with a classification accuracy of 71.29% outperformed all other algorithms. C-reactive protein, platelet count, duration of symptoms, gender, and pleural protein were found to be the most relevant predictors that can prognosticate mesothelioma. Conclusion: This study confirms that data obtained from biopsy and imagining tests are strong predictors of mesothelioma but are associated with high cost, however, can identify mesothelioma with optimal accuracy. Predictive analytics without using biopsy results can diagnose mesothelioma with acceptable accuracy. Implementation of phase-2 followed by phase-1 can address diagnosis expenses and maximize disease prognosis. Additionally, results indicate improved MPM diagnosis using AI methods dependent upon the specific application.


It is essential for financial institutions and academicians to
 understand volatility spillover and financial market returns. However,
 previous studies examined the effects of direct spillover only and
 ignored those of the newly emerging stock markets. Therefore, this study
 attempts to estimate the time-varying volatility of Pakistani and
 leading foreign stock markets. It also tries to explore the direct and
 indirect volatility spillover effect between Pakistani and eight leading
 foreign stock markets. Daily data were used from nine international
 equity markets (KSE 100, NIKKEI 225, HIS, S&P 500, NASDAQ 100, DOW
 JONES, GADXI, FTSE 350 and DFMGI) for the period between 2005 and 2016.
 The univariate GARCH and GJR models were employed for analysing
 volatility, and the multivariate GARCH Diagonal BEKK model was used to
 explore direct and indirect volatility spillover effects. In order to
 analyse the volatility spillover effect during and after the global
 financial crisis period, the data were categorised into two periods:
 between 2005 and 2009 and between 2010 and 2016. The Chow break-point
 test was also employed to identify structural breaks in return series
 due to global financial crises. Direct and indirect spillover effects
 were found between KSE100, S&P 500, NASDAQ 100, DOW JONES and DFMGI.
 Keywords: Volatility, Spillover, Equity Market, Financial Crisis and
 GARCH


The variability associated with testing lots of shelled corn for aflatoxin was investigated. Eighteen lots of shelled corn were tested for aflatoxin contamination. The total variance associated with testing shelled corn was estimated and partitioned into sampling, sample preparation, and analytical variances. All variances increased as aflatoxin concentration increased. With the use of regression analysis, mathematical expressions were developed to model the relationship between aflatoxin concentration and the total, sampling, sample preparation, and analytical variances. The expressions for these relationships were used to estimate the variance for any sample size, subsample size, and number of analyses for a specific aflatoxin concentration. Test results on a lot with 20 parts per billion aflatoxin using a 1.13 kg sample, a Romer mill, 50 g subsamples, and liquid chromatographic analysis showed that the total, sampling, sample preparation, and analytical variances were 274.9 (CV = 82.9%), 214.0 (CV = 73.1 %), 56.3 (CV = 37.5%), and 4.6 (CV = 10.7%), respectively. The percentage of the total variance for sampling, sample preparation, and analytical was 77.8, 20.5, and 1.7, respectively.


This paper presents a methodological framework for evaluating marine areas in Greece for the purpose of identifying the most adequate sites for Hybrid Offshore Wind and Wave Energy Systems (HOWiWaES), with special focus on the HOWiWaES' environmental impact assessment evaluation. Nine evaluation criteria that reflect various environmental, economic, technical and socio-political aspects are considered, including Wind Velocity (WV), Wave Energy Potential (WEP), Water Depth (WD), Distance from Shore (DS), Connection to Local Electrical Grid (CLEG), Population Served (PS), Shipping Density (SD), Distance from Ports (DP) and Environmental Performance Value (EPV). Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is performed to hierarchically rank twelve predefined siting alternatives. Questionnaires are used to collect information on pairwise comparisons of the evaluation criteria from a group of stakeholders/experts. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are used as a metric tool for pairwise comparisons of each siting alternative with respect to the first eight evaluation criteria, while the last criterion is assessed through the development of an innovative environmental impact assessment tool. The results indicate that WV, WEP and EPV present the evaluation criteria with the highest relative significance, while PS, DP and SD correspond to less influencing criteria. The proposed methodology can be easily applied to other countries worldwide for supporting socially accepted siting of HOWiWaES.


To avoid ischaemic secondary insults after severe head injury (SHI) it would be helpful to know the relationship between cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) and intracranial pressure (ICP). Static cerebrovascular autoregulation (AR) was tested in 14 patients after SHI. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) was varied to detect changes in intracranial pressure (ICP) indicative of intact AR. Three types of responses were observed: (1) MAP elevation causes an increase in ICP; (2) MAP elevation has no or very little effect on ICP; (3) MAP elevation lowers ICP; Changes between types 1/2 and type 3 suggests AR breakpoints. Varying response types and breakpoints were observed between and within patients. Lower AR breakpoints were seen from 60 to 80 mmHg CPP, upper breakpoints were as high as 112. CPP monitoring achieves a twofold utility in targeted therapy: (1) defining the range of intact AR; and (2) lower AR breakpoint assessment to avoid secondary insults. Although the precise relationship between pAR breakpoints and the adequacy of cerebral perfusion to meet metabolic needs remains unclear, a technique such as described here is simple and has much to offer in targeting therapy toward specific pathophysiological processes in traumatic brain injury.


Purpose. The study compared the perceived value of occupation among a sample of individuals with long-term mental illness to a sample of people not diagnosed with mental illness. As well, it investigated whether diagnostic and demographic factors were related to perceived occupational value among the individuals with mental illness. Finally, the study examined the relationship between occupational value and ratings of health and well-being. Method. One hundred and three individuals with mental illness and 28 healthy individuals were recruited for the study. Results. Overall occupational value among the individuals diagnosed with mental illness differed only marginally from the healthy group, indicating that perceived occupational value was by and large not related to mental illness. Among the individuals with mental illness, having children living at home was related to occupational value. There were moderate to strong associations between occupational value and measures of health and well-being. Practice Implications. This study provides important insights into occupational value among individuals with persistent mental health problems and provides some preliminary evidence in support of the Value, Meaning and Occupation Model.


There is an increasing demand for imaging methods that can be used for automatic, accurate and quantitative determination of the amounts of abdominal fat. Such methods are important as they will allow the evaluation of some of the risk factors underlying the 'metabolic syndrome'. The metabolic syndrome is becoming common in large parts of the world, and it appears that a dominant risk factor for developing this syndrome is abdominal obesity. Subjects that are afflicted with the metabolic syndrome are exposed to a high risk for developing a large range of diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiac failure, and stroke. The aim of this work


ABSTRACT N-nitrosodiethanolamine (NDELA), a type of nitrosamine, is a possible human carcinogen that may form in cosmetic products. The aim of this study was to examine the formation and inhibition of NDELA through chemical reactions of secondary amines including mono-ethanolamine, di-ethanolamine (DEA), and tri-ethanolamine (TEA), and sodium nitrite (SN) under varying conditions such as pH, temperature, and fluorescent, ultraviolet (UV), and visual light (VIS) using liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy. In a mixture of TEA and SN under acidic conditions pH 2, residual NDELA concentrations rose significantly under various storage conditions in the following order: 50°C > 40°C > UV (2 W/m2) > VIS (4000 lux) > fluorescent light > 25°C > 10°C. In a mixture of DEA and SN under the same acidic pH 2 conditions, NDELA formation was significantly elevated in the following order: UV (2 W/m2) > VIS (4000 lux) > 50°C > 40°C > fluorescent light > 25°C > 10°C. Inhibition of NDELA formation by d-mannitol, vitamin C (Vit C), or vitamin E (Vit E) was determined under varying conditions of pH, temperature, and fluorescent, UV, and VIS. At high concentrations of 100 or 1000 µg/ml, Vit E significantly decreased residual NDELA compared with control levels under acidic pH 2, but not under basic pH 6. Among various antioxidants, Vit E reacted more effectively with many nitrosating agents such as nitrate and nitrite found in cosmetic products. Therefore, to reduce NDELA, it is recommended that cosmetics be stored under cool/amber conditions and that Vit E or Vit C inhibitors of nitrosation be optimally added to cosmetic formulations at concentrations between 100 and 1000 µg/ml.


Until recently, death used to be a solemn occasion among the Tiv. The Tiv mourning custom of festivities during period of mourning compels the bereaved to provide for sympathisers instead of being provided for. This switch of roles and its supposed implications on bereaves motivated this research. A qualitative case study approach was used for analysis. A total of 125 participants, 84 males and 41 females of varying ages from 16 years and above from 6 Local Government Areas of Benue State responded to in-dept interview guide and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs). Participants' review was done to confirm the accuracy of perspectives. Findings indicated among others that the Tiv are affected by bereavement on several dimensions of health, but the ability or otherwise to organise festivities today seems to determine bereaves' outcome. This custom seems to be a product of redefinition of values by the elite to display affluence and is ignorantly copied within the society. Its practice has brought untold hardship on the poor but increased the status of the rich. The custom apart from being counter-productive, precludes younger Tiv from appreciating the functional aspects of funerals, thereby leading to distortion in recognition of the needs of bereaves. Education and re-orientation of the people to correct this anomaly is highly necessary.

 Key words: Tiv, festivities, mourning, bereave, Benue State.


Objective: To assess the teaching qualities of supervisors in post graduate residency training.
Study Design: Cross sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: This multicenter study was conducted at four medical colleges and six affiliated postgraduate training institutions of Rawalpindi/Islamabad, from Feb to May 2017.
Methodology: Total 242 post graduate trainees evaluated teaching qualities of their supervisors on a five point likert scale of SETQ tool. Trainees having experience of more than six months enrolled in all post graduate courses like MCPS, FCPS, MS/MD and M.Phil were included in this study from basic, preclinical and clinical specialties. Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 21. Frequencies were calculated for computed scores categories of individual domain as well as for total SETQ computed scores. Chi square test was applied to find out association between SETQ computed scores and age, gender, specialty, qualification and duration of experience of supervisors as well as for different variables related to trainees.
Results: Cronbach's α value of tool was 0.73. Overall teaching practices were categorized as "Good" by 220 (90.9%) trainees. More than 85% trainees evaluated their supervisors as "Good" regarding each of individual domains (Professional attitude, learning climate and evaluation) of SETQ except for communication of goals and feedback domain. Lowest evaluation scores (79.3%) were observed for "Feedback" domain. Statistically significant association was found between SETQ score and qualification of supervisors (p=0.04).
Conclusion: Despite of work load and patient care responsibilities, the supervisors are evaluated to have good teaching qualities and practices by postgraduate trainees.


Introduction Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WRMSD) are highly prevalent among Information Technology (IT) professionals. However, the risk factors associated with the development of WRMSD are not clear. Hence, the objective of this study was to evaluate the risk factors that predispose IT professionalsto the development of WRMSD. Methods A prospective analysis of 7280 employees of a single IT company in an Industrially Developing Country was conducted. Among them, 5210 were males and 2070 were females, between the ages 20 to 60 years. The employees were evaluated by a detailed questionnaire consisting of demographic data, job details, health status, physical risk factors, short-form Work Style Questionnaire and Nordic Musculoskeletal Pain Questionnaire. The data were extracted and statistical analysis was done. Result The mean age of the employees was 32.5 years.58% of the employees were diagnosed by an experienced occupational health physician (OHP) to have a WRMSD, which predominantlyincluded myofascial pain syndrome of the neck, upper and lowerback. Age, Body Mass Index (BMI), working hours and work-style were positively correlated (r<0.01) with the presence of WRMSDs, as higher the age and BMI, increased working hours and higher work-style score showed higher prevalence of WRMSD. On the other hand,rest breaks during work, regular exercises and formal ergonomics training were negatively correlated (r<−0.01) with the presence of WRMSDs, as more frequent breaks, regular exercises and ergonomics training showed lower prevalence of WRMSD. Also, the presence of co morbidities like diabetes, hypothyroidism and osteopenia/osteoporosis had a positive influence on the prevalence of WRMSDs in the study population. Other specific factors like work experience, hand dominance, type of computer used also had an influence on the development of WRMSDs. Discussion The risk factor analysis gives an insight to the appropriate areas of ergonomic interventions among IT professionals.


Through a convergence of factors - a president who vowed in his 1992 campaign to "end welfare as we know it," a majority Republican Congress who pledged to reform welfare in its policy manifesto Contract with America (Gingrich, Armey, & the House Republicans, 1994), and an impending November 1996 election creating pressure for candidates from both parties to make good on those earlier promises - the federal government will soon enact the most sweeping revision of social welfare policy since the New Deal. President Clinton has signed the Personal Responsibility anti Work Opportunity Act of 1996, ending Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and instituting far-reaching changes in aid to needy people and immigrants in this country. This new law is one thread in a far-reaching change in the federal policy fabric, that of "devolution" of policy making to states. Devolution means that the federal government will give more discretion to the states and will maintain less oversight of social policy as implemented by states. Devolution could lead to great variations in social policy the likes of which we have not seen in this century. Although health care, Medicaid, and child welfare policy, especially foster care, have yet to see major federal legislative changes, numerous bills have been considered at the federal and state levels. Although many of these changes are not described in terms of children's policy, they will affect children disproportionately. These policy revisions are aimed at the poor population, and children are the majority of the poor population in the United States. Analysts have estimated that two of every three people affected by welfare reform will be children (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 1996). Devolution Revolution and Welfare Reform If the "devolution revolution" (Nathan, 1996) proceeds as outlined, welfare and other major federal programs will be delegated to the states. Nathan, McGrath, and O'Heaney (1996), in a concise and cogent history of federalism in the 20th century, credited Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon with instituting federalist policies in the first "block grant" programs such as Johnson's Law Assistance Block Grant in 1967 and Nixon's State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act of 1972 (which expired in 1986), the Community Development Block Grant, and Title XX of the Social Security Act. According to Nathan et al., the philosophy behind the Johnson-Nixon brand of federalism was that greater flexibility for states and localities would allow them to reform government-sponsored social services in ways that would improve coordination and efficiency and allow the local community to determine needs and set priorities in selected areas of social policy. President Nixon felt strongly that certain public-sector responsibilities should remain centralized, including health, welfare, and the environment. Under Nixon's new federalism, funding was increased to states and localities while categorical programs and restrictions were relaxed or eliminated in the new block grant programs. The late-1990s brand of federalism differs from its precursors in several ways. First, the welfare and health programs considered sacred by earlier federalists are now the objects of devolution, breaking down a national standard for support of poor people, including health care. Second, today's devolution of power in matters of social policy is combined with drastic reductions in federal revenues to support the states' new discretion. States will be freer to devise and implement welfare and health programs for poor people, but they will have up to 20 percent less federal support to do so, pushing the burden to state and local taxes or resulting in dramatically reduced programs for poor families. It is not coincidental that these changes are taking place at a time when economic forces and the power base in this country are shifting. Conservative states in the South and West are booming economically, whereas the eastern and western coastal states are struggling to restructure their economies to promote technological and service industries. …


FIBOS (FIber Bragg gratings for Optical Sensing) is one payload used to monitor temperature and strain during a nanosatellite mission. Description of the payload and in-orbit results are presented. Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors offer attractive and robust solutions for temperature and pressure monitoring in a spacecraft. Moreover, they can be embedded in composite structures or attached on their surface for structural health monitoring during the entire life cycle of a satellite, from integration and qualification tests, to final operation. FIBOS contains two FBGs to measure temperature and strain during one space mission called OPTOS. The mission, developed by INTA (Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial), was a low-cost nanosatellite based on a triple configuration (3U) of the popular Cubesat standard. OPTOS was launched in November 2013 and was operative during two years. Its main goal was to validate and demonstrate the suitability of novel technologies for space applications inside a miniaturized area with big restrictions in terms of mass and power consumption. This work describes the payload components. FIBOS contains commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) parts like a monolithic tunable laser and a conventional InGaAs pigtailed photodiode. The optical sensor head includes two FBGs mounted onto a steel mechanical structure to monitor temperature and strain. Results of the mission are presented. Measurements performed during the operation in-orbit show good agreement with calibration data performed on earth inside a thermalvacuum chamber (TVC). This paper shows a demonstration of a fiber optic sensor based on FBGs in space environment.


Internships have become a common curricular element of parks, recreation and conservation programs that prepare young adults for entry-level positions within the field. As such, professional practitioners are called to supervise these young adults, thus helping them to promote their professional and personal growth in ways that will support their transition from college to career. The Student Conservation Association (SCA), the nation's oldest and largest present-day conservation service corps, routinely places over a thousand young adults in parks, recreation and conservation internships each year. Through the SCA Young Adult Internship Program, participants gain professional experience and skills while working for hosting parks and public land agencies. The SCA internship program is dependent upon professional practitioners within these agencies who serve as supervisors for interns. While a number of positive outcomes for young adults have been linked to the completion of internships like the one provided by the SCA, in order for benefits to be more fully realized, those who structure and supervise these early work experiences need to incorporate practices that target young adult professional and personal growth. Accordingly, it can also be helpful if supervisors consider what strengths interns naturally bring to the internships and what areas might be in need of further development. In an attempt to identify and explore pre-professionals' strengths and weaknesses, supervisors' final evaluations for over 2,000 interns participating in a Student Conservation Association Young Adult Internship Program during a two-year period were compiled and analyzed. Evaluation results suggest that the vast majority of young adult SCA interns are a valuable asset for the hosting agencies as they typically have positive attitudes and high enthusiasm, a solid work ethic, and the ability to embrace teamwork required to complete assigned tasks and projects. Although these findings are encouraging, when considering their interns as future professionals, supervisors also highlight their need to further advance a number of dispositional qualities, most notably self-efficacy, as well as certain transferable skills such as communication across various contexts and settings. These findings suggest that to assist young adults as they transition from an academic to a work environment, supervisors who structure and support internships should intentionally implement practices that effectively target professional and personal maturation and key transferable skills. Subscribe to JPRA


Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica, is a major part of the proto-Pacific supercontinental margin. On the basis of new geochronological and geochemical data relating to its pre-Jurassic evolution, Marie Byrd Land is subdivided into western or interior ("Ross") and eastern or exterior ("Amundsen") provinces, equivalent to two superterranes in New Zealand. The Ross province is characterized by Cambrian? metagraywackes and I-type orthogneiss dated at 505±5 Ma by U-Pb SHRIMP (Sensitive High Resolution Ion Microprobe). Its magmatic record consists of Devonian-Carboniferous (375±5 Ma and circa 339±6 Ma), predominantly I-type granitoids, and further minor granitic magmatism in Permo-Triassic times. This Paleozoic history is comparable to that of the Gondwana margin in northern Victoria Land, western New Zealand, and SE Australia. The Amundsen province has no observed Paleozoic graywacke succession; evidence from Rb-Sr and U-Pb SHRIMP dating supports calc-alkaline granitoid events in Ordovician/Silurian (450–420 Ma) and Permian (276±2 Ma) times. The latter may be the previously unknown source of Permian volcanic detritus in the Ellsworth and Transantarctic mountains. The Amundsen province is considered to be the equivalent of the Median Tectonic Zone of New Zealand, and arc magmatism of comparable ages is found in the Antarctic Peninsula and Thurston Island. The underlying lithosphere of the two provinces may be distinguished by Nd isotope data; granitoids and metasedimentary rocks of the Ross province have Meso-Proterozoic Nd model ages, generally 1300–1500 Ma, compared to 1000–1300 Ma for the Amundsen province. On the basis of published palaeomagnetic data, the two provinces amalgamated to form Marie Byrd Land in mid-Cretaceous times, only shortly before rifting of the New Zealand continental block away from Antarctica.


While there is extensive research on family violence and delinquency in Western literature, this topic is notably rare in Arab literature, including that from Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, although the association between being exposed to family violence and committing delinquent acts has been established in several Western studies, less is known about this association in the Saudi setting. This study sought to explore the extent and nature of these two phenomena in Saudi Arabia. It also aimed to examine the risk and protective factors that might be associated with the likelihood that girls who had experienced or witnessed family violence would then go on to commit delinquent acts.

Given the dearth of literature on the association between family violence and female delinquency in Saudi Arabia, an exploratory study design was considered as the most appropriate method for this research. Data were collected through a self-completed questionnaire. The study sample consisted of 12- to 18-year-old female students (n=422) from intermediate and secondary schools in the Makkah area (western Saudi Arabia).

Both family violence and female delinquency were found to have a relatively high prevalence. Physical abuse was shown to be the most common form of family violence, and brothers were the most common perpetrators of physical and sexual abuse. These results, which contrasted with a number of Western and other Saudi studies, point to sibling abuse as an area that is in need of further investigation. The current study indicated that violent offences, reported by 35 percent of the participants, were the most prevalent type of delinquency. This was unanticipated, given the highly conservative nature of Saudi society.

The current study demonstrated significant associations between risk factors and the likelihood of female delinquency. In addition, the research suggests that if protective factors are absent or weak, then the likelihood that a young female will commit an antisocial behaviour offence is higher. Females exposed to family violence were found to be less likely to commit violent offences.

The findings of the present study suggest that the problems of family violence and female delinquency are relatively common. More research is needed to assess the extent and nature of these problems at the national level. Moreover, the government should implement new policies and practices to address these problems head-on.


Mobile devices are playing a vital role in information processing systems in day to day life. Current trend suggests that smart phones are going to be the first-most computing devices which many people will carry with them for maximum time everywhere. However, smart phones are still lacking behind the essential resources. This demands the need for Mobile Cloud Computing, where the key elements of data storage and data processing are carried outside the mobile devices. So this provides flexibility to mobile users as, the application and the data stored remotely can be accessed on-the-fly with high speed networks. Variation among the mobile network on basis of elements such as, bandwidth, unstable network and its uncertain availability are barriers for Quality Of Services in the performance. Thus the solution is to connect the mobile devices heterogeneously where they work collaboratively as resource providers. Our mechanism suggest for "Mobile to Hub to Cloud" model which can tackles the network disparity problem. A scenario gives the perfect example for the need of such model, mobile users in areas with infrastructure where the costs of accessing the network is too high, such as traveler who doesn't wished to pay high roaming charges. Thus the suggested model can evaluate the following options: storing data in mobile hubs and improving the message delivery performance. So as in our example, traveler now can push the data onto the mobile buffers or hubs which in turn will send it to the cloud server.


With the capability of employing virtually unlimited compute resources, the cloud evolved into an attractive execution environment for applications from the High Performance Computing (HPC) domain. By means of elastic scaling, compute resources can be provisioned and decommissioned at runtime. This gives rise to a new concept in HPC: Elasticity of parallel computations. However, it is still an open research question to which extent HPC applications can benefit from elastic scaling and how to leverage elasticity of parallel computations. In this paper, we discuss how to address these challenges for HPC applications with dynamic task parallelism and present TASKWORK, a cloud-aware runtime system based on our findings. TASKWORK enables the implementation of elastic HPC applications by means of higher-level development frameworks and solves corresponding coordination problems based on Apache ZooKeeper. For evaluation purposes, we discuss a development framework for parallel branch-and-bound based on TASKWORK, show how to implement an elastic HPC application, and report on measurements with respect to parallel efficiency and elastic scaling.


Some studies have found different distribution patterns for the lipid profile of high altitude populations, having found the majority of them a more favorable one in these subjects. The objective of this study is to describe the lipid profile of a high altitude population and relate it to the waist circumference, body mass index, gender, and age. A descriptive study was done in an adult population, 30 yr old and above, of the town of San Pedro de Cajas (SPC), Peru, located at 4100 m (13,450 ft) above sea level. One hundred and two representative individuals (38 males and 64 females) were included. HDL cholesterol and triglyceride means were elevated, whereas total cholesterol means were average, and LDL cholesterol means were low. The BMI mean was 25.4 +/- 3.7. We observed a high prevalence of hypercholesterolemia (34.3%) and hypertriglyceridemia (53.9%) in both genders. Higher prevalences of low HDL (45.3%), abnormal waist circumference (64%), and obesity (14.1%) were found in women (p < 0.001). A higher prevalence of low HDL in overweight/obese (74.2%) and abnormal waist circumference (77.4%) subjects was evident (p < 0.001). We found high prevalences of hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia for both genders and important prevalences of risk factors for cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease, such as hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL, abnormal waist circumference, and obesity, in high altitude natives, especially in women.


Olive production in the first few years after planting depends on how the canopy covers the hedgerow and develops flowers. Therefore, optimum irrigation management should look for the minimum amount of water required for maximum growth and bud initiation. The response of a young hedgerow olive orchard to different irrigation strategies was recorded for 3 years after planting in 2003. Observations included stem water potential (stem), leaf conductance (gl), shoot and trunk growth, canopy development, and flowering. During the first year, olives received 74 mm of irrigation. During the second and third years, three irrigation treatments (T2, T3, and T4) were scaled back from a control (T1) that was irrigated to maintain soil close to water-holding capacity. T1 received 56 and 106 mm of irrigation in the second and third years, respectively. Treatments T2, T3, and T4 received 82%, 64%, and 46% of the water applied to T1 in the second year and 76%, 72%, and 29% in the third year of growth, respectively. Trees in T1 displayed different physiological and growth behaviors between years. stem, gl, and shoot growth were 131%, 31%, and 56% lower in the third than in the second year, respectively. Irrigation treatment had no significant effect on evaluated parameters in the second year, except on stem in T4 that fell below that of the other treatments in late September. In the third year, shoot growth, trunk diameter, and leaf area density in T4 decreased 52%, 13%, and 31% compared with T1, respectively. Nevertheless, external surface area and canopy volume were not significantly affected by irrigation treatment. The start of flowering, recorded in the third and fourth years, was not significantly affected by the irrigation received in previous years. Because water stress did not advance flowering, maximum growth should be the main objective in irrigation management of young olive orchards. No differences were observed between T3 and T1 in any of the vegetative, canopy development, or inflorescence parameters recorded, although stem and gl were significantly lower in T3. During the second and third years, T3 can be considered the most efficient irrigation treatment with 36 and 76 mm of irrigation for each year, respectively


Summary Red blood cells' (RBC) rheological properties are disturbed in chronic venous disease (CVD). The aim of the study was to compare deformability and aggregation of erythrocytes taken from the varicose vein and the antecubital vein of patients with chronic venous disease. Blood samples were taken from twelve CVD patients presenting clinical, aetiological, anatomical and pathological elements (CEAP) stages II and III. Blood was sampled from varicose veins and antecubital veins of patients (as control). Deformability and aggregation of RBC were analysed with a Laser-assisted Optical Rotational Cell Analyser (LORCA). A significant increase in deformability was found in varicose vein RBC for shear stress values 4.24, 8.23 and 15.96 Pa as compared to RBC from the antecubital vein. The aggregation index was significantly lower and aggregation halftime was significantly increased for RBC taken from antecubital veins than for RBC from varicose veins. In conclusion, RBC taken from varicose and antecubital veins of CVD patients are not entirely rheologically comparable and show different deformability and aggregation. Varicose vein RBC are more deformable and show a higher tendency for aggregation than antecubital vein RBC. Perhaps the deformability of varicose vein RBC has been increased as a compensation mechanism in subjects with CVD, due to increased resistance in their microcirculation.


Black holes are real astrophysical objects, but their interiors are hidden and can only be "observed" through mathematics. The structure of rotating black holes is typically illustrated with the help of special coordinates. But any such coordinate choice necessarily results in a distorted view, just as the choice of projection distorts a map of the Earth. The truest way to depict the properties of a black hole is through quantities that are coordinate-invariant. We compute and plot all the independent curvature invariants of rotating, charged black holes for the first time, revealing a landscape that is much more beautiful and complex than usually thought.


ABSTRACT Periodicities of 15 cyclic sections of the Cisco Group are tested through gamma and spectral analyses. The sections are composed of marine and nonmarine carbonate and siliciclastic rocks deposited on the Eastern Shelf, north-central Texas, in Late Pennsylvanian and Early Permian time. Gamma analysis generates facies-dependent thickness-time conversion factors ('s) to construct -corrected time series, which are more realistic than the uncorrected series obtained by proportional conversion. Positive and stable 's and improved resolution of the corrected spectra indicate successful tuning. On the Cisco spectra, a short-eccentricity peak (95-131 ky) is the most prominent and persistent; long-eccentricity (413 ky) and obliquity (34 and 43 ky) peaks are persistent, and precessional index peaks (17 and 21 ky) are less persistent. A persistent peak of period 50-80 ky may be a combination tone between obliquity and precessional index cycles. Non-Milankovitch peaks are sporadic. The validity of gamma and spectral results is indicated by consistent -estimated ages among the Cisco sections and reasonable effective sedimentation rates calculated on the basis of Milankovitch spectral calibrations. The results, combined with geologic evidence, suggest that the Cisco cyclicity was controlled dominantly by Milankovitch climatic forcing.


These experiments were designed to test the hypothesis that avid phosphate reabsorption by the pars recta accounts for the resistance to the phosphaturic effects of acute dexamethasone (DEX) and parathyroid hormone (PTH) infusions in rats fed a low-phosphate diet. Acute infusion of DEX [0.4 mg/(kg X h)] increased the fractional delivery of phosphate (FDPi) to the late proximal tubule from 7.1 +/- 2.1 to 14.4 +/- 3.5%, whereas FDPi to the early distal tubule and urine were not different. PTH alone [1 U/(kg X min)] increased FDPi to the late proximal tubule from 4.0 +/- 1.1 to 15.7 +/- 3.7%, whereas FDPi to the early distal tubule or urine was not different. The combination of DEX and PTH further increased FDPi to the late proximal tubule (32.7 +/- 6.4%) and resulted in an increase in fractional excretion of phosphate (FEPi), in spite of the fact that the FDPi to the early distal tubule was not significantly increased. The increased delivered load of phosphate to the pars recta following inhibition of phosphate transport in superficial proximal convoluted tubules resulted in a comparable increase in phosphate reabsorption in the pars recta, based on linear regression analysis, in rats fed low-phosphate diet but not in rats fed normal phosphate diet. These results demonstrate that acute infusion of DEX or PTH inhibits fractional phosphate reabsorption in the superficial proximal tubule but does not result in an increase in FEPi due at least in part to avid phosphate reabsorption in the superficial pars recta in rats fed low-phosphate diet.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Existing distance measures of time series such as the euclidean distance, DTW, and EDR are inadequate in handling certain degrees of amplitude shifting and scaling variances of data items. We propose a novel distance measure of time series, Spatial Assembling Distance (SpADe), that is able to handle noisy, shifting, and scaling in both temporal and amplitude dimensions. We further apply the SpADe to the application of streaming pattern detection, which is very useful in trend-related analysis, sensor networks, and video surveillance. Our experimental results on real time series data sets show that SpADe is an effective distance measure of time series. Moreover, high accuracy and efficiency are achieved by SpADe for continuous pattern detection in streaming time series.


Since 2002, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management has used the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) to monitor efforts by federal executive agencies to manage human capital. Public management researchers have used FEVS data to produce dozens of peer-reviewed publications on a range of topics of interest to policy makers, practitioners, and academics. Despite the proliferation of these empirical studies, the field of public management until now has lacked a critical assessment of the FEVS and of how researchers have used the data. In this article, the authors discuss the strengths of the FEVS and the opportunities this survey has created for public management researchers. Despite important contributions made to the literature using the data, there are weaknesses in the content, design, and implementation of the FEVS. The authors offer a set of recommendations for refining the survey and its implementation with the aim of improving the quality and value of the data. In doing so, they hope to foster a dialogue between public management researchers and the Office of Personnel Management on the future of the FEVS and to forge a stronger link between these two communities.


Modelling and analysis for the design and operation of manufacturing systems is a vital need. For semiconductor manufacturing systems, which are large scale systems, discrete Petri nets do not constitute an adequate tool for modeling and analysis. In fact, use of discrete Petri nets is confronted with tile state explosion and the high cost of simulation. In this paper, hybrid Petri nets are presented as powerful tools for modeling and simulation of semiconductor manufacturing systems. This model has been used for modeling and simulation of a real life electronic components manufacturing system. It provides an accurate and first simulation of this system.


We study the vacuum correlations of a gravitational field in any dimension $Ng2$ using the perturbative expansion to order $G$. It is known that the usual Green's functions are meaningless in quantum gravity; moreover, we show that the traces of the holonomies of the Christoffel connection vanish, revealing a striking difference between gravity and Yang-Mills theories. In order to define meaningful holonomies we make two physical requirements: (1) the contours of the loop integrals must have "geodesic form and size;" (2) the full rotation matrices, not just their traces, must be averaged. Following these ideas we compute a "dumbbell correlation function" which turns out to behave like $\frac{G}{{D}^{N+2}}$, where $D$ is the geodesic distance. Finally, we write a gauge-invariant quantity which could replace the Wilson loop in reproducing the static potential energy between two sources.


In this work an injectable and self setting calcium phosphate/albumen foam is developed. The effect of both the amount of albumen and the particle size of the starting a-tricalcium phosphate (a-TCP) powder on the injectability of the cement paste is studied. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and infrared (IR) analysis of the samples reveal that the hydrolysis of a-TCP to calcium deficient hydroxyapatite (CDHA) is not affected by the addition of albumen. A foamed structure formed by spherical pores with diameters between 100 and 500 µm is observed by SEM. This porous structure is maintained after injection of the paste, although some deformation of the pores is produced due to the extrusion process. The injectability of the cements is increased by the presence of albumen as compared with cements prepared in the same conditions but without foaming agent.


Aims: This symposium will focus on the association between wellbeing (occupational stress, interpersonal relationships, burnout and engagement), organizational factors (job characteristics, team work, organizational culture) and quality of care in health care professionals (HPs). Specifically, the symposium will: 1. highlight how burnout and quality of care are interrelated 2. identify the role of individual factors and the organizational context in shaping HPs' work experience and strain 3. demonstrate how complementary methodological approaches are necessary 4. argue for an organizational-level perspective in designing interventions to reduce burnout and improve quality of care. Rationale: One of the biggest risks in patient safety today is HPs themselves. The symposium invites both academics and practitioners to reflect on how the quality of HPs impacts on their patients' care. There is a need to strategically link HPs wellbeing and performance outcomes. Complementary qualitative and quantitative research designs have the potential to better show the relationship between the individual and organizational levels of a health care system. Summary: Despite the resources spent in preventing burnout across Europe, the incidence of burnout among HPs keeps increasing. Five presentations illuminate the nexus between HPs wellbeing and quality of care. We will discuss: the role of interpersonal relationships in connecting occupational stress, quality of care, and the organizational culture in nurses (Todorova et al.), the association between quality of work, burnout, and perceived quality of care of the disabled (van der Doef et al.), how goal orientation predicts burnout and engagement in emergency nurses (Adriaenssens et al.), the effects of teamwork in predicting burnout and engagement using a multilevel design (Spânuet al.) and how physician burnout can be an indicator of the organizational functioning (Montgomery).


This article offers a examination of the character and function of the lay visions in the miracle book of Halle, a collection of sixty miracle accounts (ca.1380-1526). While visionary experiences in (semi-)monastic contexts as well as visions of spiritually gifted saintly individuals in the world are well-testified, the visionary experiences of ordinary lay people of different social strata are ephemeral phenomena that have scarcely left any trace in history, and of which miracle books provide the only testimonies. However, a profound study of lay visions in miracle books is yet to be undertaken. Possibly, this article can inform such future research by pointing at the existence of gender specific patterns, the catalyzing influence of the night and crises on the visionary incident, the role of the cult statue and the relation between vision accounts and authorship.


This paper is researching different kinds of biomass based fuels and contains a case study of a reheating furnace, furnace 301, at SSAB. The purpose was to find out which type of bio fuel was best suited for the furnace application. An experiment at KTH in Sweden was observed to better understand the process of creating a gas fuel from pellets and a mass balance was done to show the difference between using a new kind of bio mass based fuel and the current use of liquid petroleum gas. Results from the experiment and mass balance show that syngas is the fuel best suited for furnace applications as well as a general idea of how to integrate it into the furnace design. Three enlarged gasifiers, with a fuel output of 32 MW, will be needed to meet the requirements in an industrial application. If furnace 301 at SSAB would be active all year around with no stops in the production, an amount of 153760 ton pellets will be needed per year which is equal to 367407 tons of wood per year.


Public comments are being solicited on this draft guide (including any implementation schedule) and its associated regulatory analysis or value/impact statement. Comments should be accompanied by appropriate supporting data. Written comments may be submitted to the Rules and Directives Branch, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Comments may be submitted electronically through the NRC's interactive rulemaking Web page at http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/regulatory/rulemaking.html. Copies of comments received may be examined at the NRC's Public Document Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD. Comments will be most helpful if received by December 15, 2006.


Background & Aim: The choice, acceptance and satisfaction of women with different types of contraceptive methods would affect their quality of life and sexual function. The aim of this study was to determine and compare the female sexual satisfaction with different types of contraceptive methods in clients referred to Qazvin city clinics. Material & Methods: It was a descriptive cross-sectional study that was carried out among 467 women in 6 midwifery units of Qazvin city health centers in 2009 using cluster random sampling method. Sexual satisfaction was assessed with Larson Sexual Satisfaction Scale among women using different contraceptive methods. Data analysis was performed by descriptive and inferential statistics (Chi-square test, Pearson correlation test and ANOVA) using SPSS-PC (v.16). Results: According to the findings, the percentage of using withdrawal, condom, OCPs, DMPA, IUD, TL and vasectomy were 25.5%, 26.3, 13.3%, 6.6%, 18.8%, 6% and 3.4%, respectively. Most of the participants (54.9%) had moderate sexual satisfaction. there were a significant difference between the mean score of sexual satisfaction and use of different types of contraceptive methods (P=0.041). The most sexual satisfaction was found with condom (28.6%) and withdrawal (26.5%) methods. Conclusion: The findings revealed that contraceptive methods can affect women's sexual satisfaction. Accordingly, executing family planning training programs for counselors regarding the suitable choose of contraceptive method considering women's sexual satisfaction is recommended.


Scintillators are currently widely used in high energy physics, nuclear physics, nuclear medical imaging, industrial exploration, security inspection and so on. The development of new applications puts forward the new requirements for scintillators, and it is becoming extremely urgent to discover the new scintillators. In recent years, perovskite materials present their advantages in the field of solar cell, light-emitting diode, laser, photodetector, memory and so on, owing to their high carrier mobility, long diffusion distance and continuously adjustable emission wavelength. Therefore, the perovskite-based scintillators have attracted great attention and interest due to their low detection threshold, high light yield, fast attenuation, and tunable emission wavelength. This review article summarizes the crystal structure and luminescence properties of organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite and inorganic perovskite scintillators. In addition, the fundamental application of perovskite scintillators for radiation detection has been discussed. The goal of this review article is to introduce the recent advances and development in perovskite scintillators, and a particular focus is given on the challenges and perspectives for their enormous potential application in nuclear medical imaging and radiation detection.


Based on observations during four scientific expeditions to the Kara Sea and the Siberian rivers Ob and Yenisei we determined the discharge, distribution and characteristics of dissolved organic matter (DOM). Surface concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) ranged from 151 IlM C in the northern Kara Sea to 939 IlM C in the river Ob. The estimated annual mean DOC concentration in the Yenisei (681 IlM C) was slightly higher than in the Ob (640 IlM C). Dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) concentrations typically varied between 5 and 15 IlM N with higher values in the rivers. Freshwater discharge and DOC concentrations experienced pronounced seasonal variations strongly affecting the spatial and temporal distribution of DOM in the Kara Sea. The largely conservative distribution of DOC and DON along the salinity gradient indicated the predominantly refractory character of riverine DOM. This observation was consistent with laboratory experiments, which showed only minor losses due to flocculation processes and bacterial consumption. Optical properties and relatively high C/N ratios (19 to 51) of DO M suggest that a large fraction of river DOM is of terrestrial origin and that phytoplankton contributed little to DOM on the Kara Sea shelf during the sampling periods. Together, the rivers Ob and Yenisei discharge about 8 Tg DOC yr- I into the Kara Sea. Due to the absence of efficient removal mechanisms in these estuaries the majority of riverine DOM appears to pass the estuarine mixing zone and is transported towards the Arctic Ocean.


Background: Preterm infants can be inadvertently exposed to high tidal volumes (VT) during resuscitation in the delivery room due to limitations of available equipment. High VT ventilation of preterm lambs produces cerebral white matter (WM) pathology similar to that observed in preterm infants who develop cerebral palsy. We hypothesized that human amnion epithelial cells (hAECs), which have anti-inflammatory and regenerative properties, would reduce ventilation-induced WM pathology in neonatal late preterm lamb brains. Methods: Two groups of lambs (0.85 gestation) were used, as follows: (1) ventilated lambs (Vent; n = 8) were ventilated using a protocol that induces injury (VT targeting 15 ml/kg for 15 min, with no positive end-expiratory pressure) and were then maintained for another 105 min, and (2) ventilated + hAECs lambs (Vent+hAECs; n = 7) were similarly ventilated but received intravenous and intratracheal administration of 9 × 107 hAECs (18 × 107 hAECs total) at birth. Oxygenation and ventilation parameters were monitored in real time; cerebral oxygenation was measured using near-infrared spectroscopy. qPCR (quantitative real-time PCR) and immunohistochemistry were used to assess inflammation, vascular leakage and astrogliosis in both the periventricular and subcortical WM of the frontal and parietal lobes. An unventilated control group (UVC; n = 5) was also used for qPCR analysis of gene expression. Two-way repeated measures ANOVA was used to compare physiological data. Student's t test and one-way ANOVA were used for immunohistological and qPCR data comparisons, respectively. Results: Respiratory parameters were not different between groups. Interleukin (IL)-6 mRNA levels in subcortical WM were lower in the Vent+hAECs group than the Vent group (p = 0.028). IL-1β and IL-6 mRNA levels in periventricular WM were higher in the Vent+hAECs group than the Vent group (p = 0.007 and p = 0.001, respectively). The density of Iba-1-positive microglia was lower in the subcortical WM of the parietal lobes (p = 0.010) in the Vent+hAECs group but not in the periventricular WM. The number of vessels in the WM of the parietal lobe exhibiting protein extravasation was lower (p = 0.046) in the Vent+hAECs group. Claudin-1 mRNA levels were higher in the periventricular WM (p = 0.005). The density of GFAP-positive astrocytes was not different between groups. Conclusions: Administration of hAECs at the time of birth alters the effects of injurious ventilation on the preterm neonatal brain. Further studies are required to understand the regional differences in the effects of hAECs on ventilation-induced WM pathology and their net effect on the developing brain.


We present first results from an X-ray study of the Hubble Deep Field North (HDF-N) and its environs obtained using 166 ks of data collected by the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) on board the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. This is the deepest X-ray observation ever reported, and in the HDF-N itself we detect six X-ray sources down to a 0.5-8 keV flux limit of ≈4 × 10-16 ergs cm-2 s-1. Comparing these sources with objects seen in multiwavelength HDF-N studies shows positional coincidences with the extremely red object NICMOS J123651.74+621221.4, an active galactic nucleus (AGN), three elliptical galaxies, and one nearby spiral galaxy. The X-ray emission from the ellipticals is consistent with that expected from a hot interstellar medium, and the spiral galaxy emission may arise from a "super-Eddington" X-ray binary or ultraluminous supernova remnant. Four of the X-ray sources have been detected at radio wavelengths. We also place X-ray upper limits on AGN candidates found in the HDF-N, and we present the tightest constraints yet on X-ray emission from the SCUBA submillimeter source population. None of the 10 high-significance submillimeter sources reported in the HDF-N and its vicinity is detected with the Chandra ACIS. These sources appear to be dominated by star formation or have AGNs with Compton-thick tori and little circumnuclear X-ray scattering.


[1] The stark differences between the current solar minimum and the previous one offer a unique opportunity to develop new constraints on mechanisms for heating and acceleration of the solar wind. We have used a combination of numerical simulations and analysis of remote solar and in situ observations to infer that the coronal heating rate, H, scales with the average magnetic field strength within a coronal hole, Bch. This was accomplished in three steps. First, we analyzed Ulysses measurements made during its first and third orbit southern and northern polar passes (i.e., during near-solar minimum conditions) to deduce a linear relationship between proton number density (np) and radial magnetic field strength (Br) in the high-speed quiescent solar wind, consistent with the results of McComas et al. (2008) and Ebert et al. (2009). Second, we used Wilcox Solar Observatory measurements of the photospheric magnetic field to show that the magnetic field strength within coronal holes (Bch) is approximately correlated with the strength of the interplanetary field at the location of Ulysses. Third, we used hydrodynamic simulations to show that np in the solar wind scales linearly with H. Taken together, these results imply the chain: H ∝ np ∝ Br ∝ Bch. We also explored ideas that the correlation between np and Br could have resulted from interplanetary processes, or from the superradial expansion of the coronal magnetic field close to the Sun, but find that neither possibility can produce the observed relationship. The derived heating relationship is consistent with (1) empirical heating laws derived for closed-field line regions and (2) theoretical models aimed at understanding both the heating and acceleration of the solar wind.


Alcohol-related problems (assaults, accidents and/or crimes) and alcohol abuse are recurrent societal problems leading to high social costs. Finding adapted policies to tackle this issue isn't a trivial task due to the highly complex nature of alcohol consumption as many interrelated risk factors interact in a hardly predictable way. This paper describes an agentbased simulation model, called SimARC (Simulation of Alcohol-Related Consequences), aiming at exploring the complex interplay of these factors following a generative process whereby theory and model co-evolve within iterative loops. To explore the complexity of alcohol use and abuse, we need not only to include the aforementioned risk factors but also their evolution and highly dynamical interactions across scales. Therefore, our agent-based model aims to encapsulate several levels of reality. Considering an ontology as catalog of elements and relation amongst those elements, our ontologydriven behavioral model includes: neuro-biological responses to alcohol use (individual level), peer influence channeled through various social networks (meso-level) and societal responses to alcohol-related problems (meta-level). This ontological framework aims to establish a robust test-bed to analyze – in silico – the plausible consequences of various public policies related to alcohol abuse in public venues. After a brief review of the literature, we present SimARC's core structure and preliminary results. Keywords-agent-based model; ontology; alcohol; social simulation; public health.


Nowadays, creation, exchange and transfer of knowledge (CETK) are turning into the most significant activity for companies. This article sheds light on Swedish and Bulgarian companies within a mature industry in terms of their knowledge flows for collaboration and innovation. Companies from the two countries as well as Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and large firms are compared. Quantitative and qualitative research methods are combined. A set of variables which have a positive relationship with the companies' research and development (R&D) activities and innovation is developed. It was found out that the set of variables employed can predict the innovation and R&D of companies, laying of electrochemical and conversion surface treatments with functional and decorative purposes (ECSTFDP) for the sample. In both countries innovation and R&D are positively affected by places for knowledge exchange followed by collaboration factors and market situation. However, the factors for collaboration and interaction are the most important for increasing the innovation activities in companies with ECSTFDP, irrespective of size, age and country of operation. Moreover, the article reveals the vital role of the social element in the CETK, which is also emphasized in the knowledge management literature. Furthermore, it illustrates that companies are influenced by the number of factors in this collaboration and actively evaluate the trade-offs from it. Additionally, the dynamics of the market is setting the pace and degree of newness of innovation and R&D activities.


ABSTRACT Sub-Saharan Africa is rapidly urbanising. This urbanisation may contribute to socio-economic development as more people participate in the urban economy. Nevertheless, rapid urbanisation is not always sustainable. Primary cities often grow fast, leaving secondary towns lagging behind with weaker economies. Viable strategies for sustainable urbanisation may therefore also need to focus on developing secondary towns. Nevertheless, very few studies, hitherto, have assessed the (relative) importance of secondary towns in urbanisation process in Sub-Saharan Africa. We aim to address this gap by studying the patterns and explanatory factors of urban population growth in Uganda. Based on a longitudinal analysis of population rank-size distribution, we show that the population distribution gap between secondary towns and the primary city is widening. Nevertheless, statistical analyses further indicate that secondary towns with above 50 000 inhabitants have the highest population growth rates. This indicates that future investments should aim at upgrading socio-economic infrastructures in secondary towns.


© Institute of Mathematical Statistics, 2014. In astrophysics a common goal is to infer the flux distribution of populations of scientifically interesting objects such as pulsars or supernovae. In practice, inference for the flux distribution is often conducted using the cumulative distribution of the number of sources detected at a given sensitivity. The resulting "log(N > S)-log(S)" relationship can be used to compare and evaluate theoretical models for source populations and their evolution. Under restrictive assumptions the relationship should be linear. In practice, however, when simple theoretical models fail, it is common for astrophysicists to use prespecified piecewise linear models. This paper proposes a methodology for estimating both the number and locations of "breakpoints" in astrophysical source populations that extends beyond existing work in this field. An important component of the proposed methodology is a new interwoven EM algorithm that computes parameter estimates. It is shown that in simple settings such estimates are asymptotically consistent despite the complex nature of the parameter space. Through simulation studies it is demonstrated that the proposed methodology is capable of accurately detecting structural breaks in a variety of parameter configurations. This paper concludes with an application of our methodology to the Chandra Deep Field North (CDFN) data set.


Background: Worldwide, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Breast cancer screening has been found effective in early diagnosis and decreasing mortality rates. Aim of the study: To assess Saudi Women's knowledge, attitudes and practices towards breast cancer screening in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and investigate factors that influence these practices. Methods: This is a cross-sectional community-based survey; a self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from a convenience sample of females with a wide spectrum of socio-demographic profiles. A scoring scheme was used to score women's responses. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify factors associated with screening practices viz. breast self-examination (BSE), mammography and attitudes. Results: The study included 407 females, mean (± S.D) age of 28 years (± 8.5); 45% were married and 40.2% had a university degree. Only 30% of females practiced BSE and 25% had ever performed mammography. Stepwise logistic regression analysis revealed that inappropriate attitude is independently predictable by inadequate knowledge (p<0.0001). Factors independently associated with BSE practice in the stepwise logistic regression analysis were being married (p<0.05), appropriate attitude (p<0.05), adequate knowledge (p<0.05) and performing a mammography test (p<0.0001). Factors independently associated with performing mammography were age greater than 40 years (p<0.05), higher knowledge score (p<0.0001) and practicing BSE (p<0.0001). Conclusion: These study findings indicate significant inadequate knowledge, inappropriate attitude towards breast cancer as well as suboptimal screening practices among Saudi women. Therefore, preventive educational campaigns employing innovative strategies to increase population awareness, particularly targeting future generations through schools and university curricula, should be urgently implemented to reverse the course of the upward growing incidence of breast cancer disease in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.


The IFS Green Budget forecast is that the government will need to borrow slightly less in 2010–11 (£2.9 billion) than the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts. But this is in the context of a deficit which we expect to be at £145.6 billion this year. Having set out his fiscal consolidation plan, it is important that Chancellor George Osborne resist the temptation to engage in any significant net giveaway in the Budget.


Skeletal material first appears in the rock record in the terminal Ediacaran, leaving most of the Earth's history only to minute organic fossils. Aside from abundant acritarchs (unicellular organic-walled phytoplankton) present from at least ~2.5 Ga, other Proterozoic organic fossils of complex (eukaryotic) organisms include fungi and macroscopic algae of still debated taxonomy. Often preserved as flattened carbonaceous filaments in several morphologies: (1) rounded, (2) stick-like elongate and (3) branching, these Neoproterozoic fossils, including Chuaria, Morania, Beltanelloides, Vendotaenia, possess limited characters and differ little in gross morphology. As a result, other methods are needed to elucidate their biological affinities and, ultimately, phylogeny.Here we present the comparison of the Raman spectra analysis of different macroalgal genera from Yakutia, Siberia, as well as that of a putative polychaete Sabellidites from the East European Platform, dated to the early Cryogenian (840-700 Ma) and lowermost Cambrian respectively.Data from the vibrational modes of organic molecules from the wall of unmineralised organisms reveal their chemistry and partially wall ultrastructure, presumably an indication of their relationships. Polyaromatic chain hydrocarbons and n-aliphatic pyrolysates suggest algal affinity for some of the Neoproterozoic organic problematica, yet most of the Raman spectra results are still difficult to fully identify, partially owing to the thermal maturity of the host rocks. However, there are clear differences between various groups, differentiating between parts of a single plexus (cf previous studies of Chuaria-Tawuia suggesting them to be components of a multicellular plant) and elements from other taxa. Additionally, the distinct organic matter spectra of Chuaria and Sabellidites indicate that Raman spectroscopy could be a useful method in identifying different branches of the early eukaryotes.As they are usually shallow-water and dependant on sunlight, the record of sturdy photosynthetic macroorganisms in the Neoproterozoic strengthens the evidence that limits the extent of the harsh environmental conditions during the Cryogenian period, at least during the Kaigas and Sturtian glaciations.


Marfan syndrome (MFS) is a rare genetic disorder of connective tissue caused by mutations in the FBN1 gene, which result in alterations of fibrillin-1 and dysregulation of TGF-b bioavailability in the extracellular matrix. MFS is a clinical diagnosis. It is crucial to prevent acute aortic dissection; nevertheless it is difficult, due to the high degree of clinical variability of the disease. A quantitative definition of craniofacial abnormalities associated with MFS is not available and they are usually evaluated through a qualitative impression. The study aimed to better characterize the facial phenotype associated with MFS, identifying new morphometric features useful for the diagnosis of the disease. 3D facial images of 61 Italian subjects diagnosed with MFS, aged 16-64 years (21 males, mean ± SD age 38 ± 15 years; 40 females, mean ± SD age 41 ± 13 years), and divided in 6 non-overlapping age groups, were obtained by stereophotogrammetry [1]. From the coordinates of 50 soft-tissue facial landmarks, linear distances and angles were measured; z score values were calculated comparing patients with healthy Italian reference subjects (400 males, 379 females), matched for gender and age group. Statistical comparisons were performed by Student's t test. All subjects with MFS showed a greater facial divergence (p<0.001; mean z score = +1.9) and a reduced facial height index (p<0.001; mean z score = -1.9), being both the values mostly influenced by a shorter mandibular ramus (p<0.001; mean z score = -1.9) and an overall mild but significant increase of facial height (p<0.001; mean z score = +1.2). Gender differences or age-specific trends were not observed. Quantitative facial abnormalities pointed out in the current study enrich the information about the phenotypic expression of MFS and suggest their usefulness in the recognition of the disease.


A 59-yr-old female Nile hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) was diagnosed and treated for severe dermatitis. Lesions included large areas of depigmentation, erosions, and ulcerations on glabrous skin areas, limbs, and perineal region. Histopathologic lesions included a markedly edematous, focally eroded, ulcerative to necrotic epidermis; foci of keratinocyte apoptosis; and a mixed suppurative dermatitis. Most of the dermal vessels had variable hyalinized walls with plump endothelial cells and frequent intramural neutrophils, and some vessels had vascular thrombi consistent with vasculitis. Culture of the lesions yielded beta-hemolytic Streptococcus, Morganella morgannii, and Enterococcus sp. The hippopotamus was successfully treated with sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim, amoxicillin, and pentoxifylline for more than 2 mo, and the condition did not recur over the subsequent 16 mo.


Abstract We study a variant of Gilbert's disc model, in which discs are positioned at the points of a Poisson process in ℝ2 with radii determined by an underlying stationary and ergodic random field φ:ℝ2→[0,∞), independent of the Poisson process. This setting, in which the random field is independent of the point process, is often referred to as geostatistical marking. We examine how typical properties of interest in stochastic geometry and percolation theory, such as coverage probabilities and the existence of long-range connections, differ between Gilbert's model with radii given by some random field and Gilbert's model with radii assigned independently, but with the same marginal distribution. Among our main observations we find that complete coverage of ℝ2 does not necessarily happen simultaneously, and that the spatial dependence induced by the random field may both increase as well as decrease the critical threshold for percolation.


Corneal neovascularization (CNV) may be a physiological response to various stimuli, but a chronic and persistent upregulation of neoangiogenesis can result in pathological CNV. Pathological blood vessels are immature and lack structural integrity, predisposing the cornea to lipid exudation, inflammation, and scarring. CNV can therefore become a potentially blinding condition. In this review, we frame CNV in an epidemiological perspective, consider risk factors for CNV, provide an overview of CNV pathogenesis, and consider the impact of CNV on corneal transplantation. We consider treatments that are of largely historical interest, before reviewing contemporary medical and surgical treatments. Within medical treatments, we report on steroids, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents, antivascular endothelial growth factor agents, and cyclosporine. Within surgical treatments, we report on the use of lasers, photodynamic therapy, superficial keratectomy, and diathermy/cautery-based treatments.


Selective chromatic adaptation occurs when a change in spectral distribution and/or luminance of an adapting field alters the sensitivity of the eye (as measured by the reciprocal threshold of superposed test flashes) differentially with respect to wavelength of the test stimuli. A convenient test of selective chromatic adaptation is to measure homochromatic (e.g., red on red) and heterochromatic (e.g., red on green) thresholds for two different relative spectral distributions, each being used in a conditioning field as well as in a test flash. An index η¯ is defined by the sum of the two homochromatic thresholds minus the sum of the two heterochromatic thresholds, where all values are expressed in log units This index expresses the factor by which the heterochromatic thresholds are lower than the homochromatic ones (the heterochromatic threshold-reduction factor or HTRF). It is shown that η¯ must equal zero for an eye having only one class of spectrally selective mechanism; data obtained under scotopic conditions are presented to verify this conclusion. It is also shown that if η¯ is significantly different from zero, more than one class of mechanism must have contributed to the threshold response, and further that these two or more classes of mechanisms have been selectively adapted. Data are also presented to illustrate such selective adaptation where η¯ has been measured at photopic levels as a function of field luminance and spectral separation between stimuli being compared.


Patients who had reconstructive breast surgery at the time of mastectomy (immediate) or within 1 year (early) had significantly less recalled distress about their mastectomy than those who had it more than 1 year later (delayed). Women who had immediate or delayed reconstructive surgery had similar levels of psychological symptoms, which were slightly lower than those reported by women in the early reconstructive group. The wish to wear a wider range of clothes and the wish to be rid of the external prosthesis were common motivations for reconstructive surgery. The desire to improve sexual relations or one's marital state was less common and should be viewed with caution when presented as the primary motivation for this procedure.


Conceptual design is the first phase in the design process in which all the requirements and design objectives are synthesized into conceptual alternatives. In practice today, major decisions regarding the buildings function, massing, and overall form are usually made during the first phase. Considering structural performance requirements during conceptual design enhances interdisciplinary interaction, and creates a visual link between form and numeric performance evaluations, reducing work on poorly performing solutions. To include structural performance in conceptual design requires, amongst other things, the availability of tools such as simulation software, suitable for conceptual studies.The aim of the research is to develop new efficient methods and procedures for supporting an interactive and iterative design process that includes engineering aspects. By integrating engineering knowledge and physical aspects in the developed tools, a more efficient and better-adapted design process can be obtained. Supporting an interactive and iterative design process requires new interaction models and numerical approaches in the tools used.The research is limited to three different areas. The first area is related to conceptual studies for reducing ground borne wave propagations in an urban scale. A tool is developed for simulating forms with masses placed on top of soil in an urban scale and studying the resulting effect that the forms have on the propagating waves. The tool uses the finite element method and studies the vibration reduction effects in the frequency domain. Paper A presents the tool and draws some conclusions related to the levels of vibration reduction for various patterns, showing that some patterns are effective in mitigating the incoming vibrations. The approach in the tool makes it possible to obtain results in minutes, allowing the user to generate many alternative proposals quickly, and act as an aid in brainstorming sessions.Papers B and C focus on a recent extension of the finite element method, isogeometric analysis, that is the subject of the second area. The implementation of isogeometric analysis with membrane elements for form finding of efficient shapes for shells is presented. The dynamic relaxation method is used for finding the static solutions. The method is employed directly on design geometry, which is described by non-uniform rational b-splines (NURBS), without the need for any further discretization. Paper B investigates various selections of mass and damping for the dynamic relaxation method with NURBS based membrane elements. The resulting methods are implemented in two plug-ins for the computer aided design applications Rhinoceros 3D and Grasshopper 3D, of which the former is presented in Paper C. The method describes form found geometries well with very few elements and can be used to explore different efficient shapes for shells very rapidly and directly in design software, and is thus suited for design explorations.The third area is about graphic statics -- an old method which is again gaining popularity due to progress in CAD and computational methods. The strength of the method is in an intuitive and graphical representation of form and the internal forces of static equilibrium, which are presented in two diagrams -- the form diagram, and the force diagram. The current research efforts in graphic statics aim to apply the method as a design tool rather than to use it for analysis. A second aim is to investigate the benefits of computer based graphic statics. Paper D presents a root finding approach for computing a form diagram based on manipulations of a force diagram. Paper E presents an algebraic method for computing form diagrams based on force diagrams. Paper F presents an application of graphic statics for automatically generating initial strut-and-tie patterns.


OBJECTIVE
To review the efficacy of placebo in comparison with atypical and typical antipsychotics for the treatment of schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder and to evaluate the pertinence of using placebo in clinical trials with antipsychotics.

METHOD
Trials in which the atypical antipsychotics were compared with typical antipsychotics and placebo were included. A search was conducted using the terms 'amisulpride', 'aripiprazole', 'clozapine', 'olanzapine', 'quetiapine', 'risperidone', 'sertindole', 'ziprasidone' and 'zotepine'. Main efficacy parameters were calculated using the proportion of 'events' (defined as a deterioration or lack of improvement by at least 20% in Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale or Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale) and the pooled relative risk with random effects, with their respective 95% confidence intervals. We also calculated the necessary sample sizes in studies in which the study drug is compared to a typical antipsychotic or placebo.

RESULTS
The pooled efficacy rates observed were 40.8%, 34.9% and 21.3% for the atypical antipsychotics, typical antipsychotics and placebo, respectively. One hundred and sixty six patients would have to be included when a new drug is compared with placebo if calculation is based on a difference of 20% found between the atypical antipsychotic and placebo and 2,054 if the difference sought were that found between the atypical antipsychotic and the typical antipsychotic, i.e. 6%. The estimated therapeutic failures would be 115 of the 166 patients when the study drug is compared with placebo, and 1,274 failures in the 2,054 patients when the study drug is compared to the typical antipsychotic.

CONCLUSIONS
Placebo controlled studies may reduce the number of individuals exposed to the harmful effects of ineffective drugs.


We have studied the port-automation system which is requested by the steep increment of cost and complexity for processing the freight. This paper will introduce a new algorithm for navigating and controlling the unmanned lifting vehicle (ULV). The camera has the optical distortion in nature and is sensitive to the external ray, the weather, and the shadow, but it is very cheap and flexible to make and construct the automation system for the port. So we tried to apply to the ULV for detecting and tracking the lane using the CCD camera. In order to make the error stable and exact, this paper proposes new concept and algorithm for obtaining the error is generated by the virtual photo-sensor array (VPSA). VPSAs are implemented by programming and very easy to use for the various autonomous systems. Because the load of the computation is light, the ULV utilizes the maximal performance of the CCD camera and enables the CPU to take multi-tasks. We experimented on the proposed algorithm using the mobile robot and confirmed the stable and exact performance for tracking the lane.


According to the Blacks' Diminished Return theory, the health effects of high socioeconomic status (SES) are systemically smaller for Black compared to White families. One hypothesis is that due to the existing structural racism that encompasses residential segregation, low quality of education, low paying jobs, discrimination in the labor market, and extra costs of upward social mobility for minorities, Black families face more challenges for leveraging their education to escape poverty. Aims: Using a nationally representative sample of American families with children, this study investigated racial variation in the effects of highest education of parents on family's ability to scale poverty, defined as the household's income-to-needs ratio. Methods: This cross-sectional study used data from the National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) 2003–2004—a nationally representative telephone survey that included 86,537 parents of children 0–17 years old. The sample was composed of White (n = 76,403, 88.29%) and Black (n = 10,134, 11.71%) families. The independent variable was highest education of the parents. The dependent variable was household poverty status (income-to-needs ratio). Race was the focal moderator. Linear regression was used in the pooled sample, as well as by race. Results: In the pooled sample, higher education of parents in the household was associated with lower risk of poverty. Race, however, interacted with parental education attainment on household-income-to-needs ratio, indicating smaller effects for Black compared to White families. Lower number of parents and higher number of children in Black families did not explain such racial disparities. Conclusions: The economic gain of parental education on helping family escape poverty is smaller for Black than White families, and this is not as a result of a lower parent-to-child ratio in Black households. Policies should specifically address structural barriers in the lives of all minorities to minimize the diminished return of SES resources across racial minority groups. Policies should also enhance quality of education and reduce the extra cost of upward social mobility for racial minorities. As the likely causes are multilevel, the solutions should also be multilevel. Without such interventions, it may be very difficult if not impossible to eliminate the existing economic and health gap between racial groups.


Video communication with quality of service (QoS) is an important and challenging task. To have QoS provision or guarantee at the application level in the current best-effort Internet, congestion control and error control are two effective approaches. In this paper, we propose a new network-adaptive rate control scheme for scalable video communication in conjunction with Unequal Loss Protection (ULP). The proposed scheme not only adapts the bit rate to the dynamical network condition, but also has the error-resilient capability. In other words, our proposed approach is capable of simultaneously controlling congestion and error occurred across the Internet. More specifically, first, we dynamically estimate the available network bandwidth on the fly. Secondly, congestion control is performed to smoothly adjust the sending rate for continuous media. Thirdly, network packet loss rate is taken into account while performing rate adaptation at the bitstream level by minimizing end-to-end distortion. Lastly, error protection at packet level is added using ULP while performing rate control. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.


Background— Diabetes mellitus is a major risk factor for cardiovascular mortality by increasing endothelial cell (EC) dysfunction and subsequently accelerating atherosclerosis. Extracellular-signal regulated kinase 5 (ERK5) is activated by steady laminar flow and regulates EC function by increasing endothelial nitric oxide synthase expression and inhibiting EC inflammation. However, the role and regulatory mechanisms of ERK5 in EC dysfunction and atherosclerosis are poorly understood. Here, we report the critical role of the p90 ribosomal S6 kinase (p90RSK)/ERK5 complex in EC dysfunction in diabetes mellitus and atherosclerosis. Methods and Results— Inducible EC-specific ERK5 knockout (ERK5-EKO) mice showed increased leukocyte rolling and impaired vessel reactivity. To examine the role of endothelial ERK5 in atherosclerosis, we used inducible ERK5-EKO-LDLR−/− mice and observed increased plaque formation. When activated, p90RSK associated with ERK5, and this association inhibited ERK5 transcriptional activity and upregulated vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 expression. In addition, p90RSK directly phosphorylated ERK5 S496 and reduced endothelial nitric oxide synthase expression. p90RSK activity was increased in diabetic mouse vessels, and fluoromethyl ketone-methoxyethylamine, a specific p90RSK inhibitor, ameliorated EC-leukocyte recruitment and diminished vascular reactivity in diabetic mice. Interestingly, in ERK5-EKO mice, increased leukocyte rolling and impaired vessel reactivity were resistant to the beneficial effects of fluoromethyl ketone-methoxyethylamine, suggesting a critical role for endothelial ERK5 in mediating the salutary effects of fluoromethyl ketone-methoxyethylamine on endothelial dysfunction. Fluoromethyl ketone-methoxyethylamine also inhibited atherosclerosis formation in ApoE−/− mice. Conclusions— Our study highlights the importance of the p90RSK/ERK5 module as a critical mediator of EC dysfunction in diabetes mellitus and atherosclerosis formation, thus revealing a potential new target for therapeutic intervention.


Astronomically forced insolation changes have driven monsoon dynamics and recurrent humid episodes in North Africa, resulting in green Sahara Periods (GSPs) with savannah expansion throughout most of the desert. Despite their potential for expanding the area of prime hominin habitats and favouring out-of-Africa dispersals, GSPs have not been incorporated into the narrative of hominin evolution due to poor knowledge of their timing, dynamics and landscape composition at evolutionary timescales. We present a compilation of continental and marine paleoenvironmental records from within and around North Africa, which enables identification of over 230 GSPs within the last 8 million years. By combining the main climatological determinants of woody cover in tropical Africa with paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic data for representative (Holocene and Eemian) GSPs, we estimate precipitation regimes and habitat distributions during GSPs. Their chronology is consistent with the ages of Saharan archeological and fossil hominin sites. Each GSP took 2–3 kyr to develop, peaked over 4–8 kyr, biogeographically connected the African tropics to African and Eurasian mid latitudes, and ended within 2–3 kyr, which resulted in rapid habitat fragmentation. We argue that the well-dated succession of GSPs presented here may have played an important role in migration and evolution of hominins.