In 2016 and 2017, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene established Neighborhood Health Action Centers (Action Centers) in disinvested communities of color as part of a place-based model to advance health equity. This model includes co-located partners, a referral and linkage system, and community space and programming. In 2018, we surveyed visitors to the East Harlem Action Center to provide a more comprehensive understanding of visitors' experiences. The survey was administered in English, Spanish, and Mandarin. Respondents were racially diverse and predominantly residents of East Harlem. The majority had been to the East Harlem Action Center previously. Most agreed that the main service provider for their visit made them feel comfortable, treated them with respect, spoke in a way that was easy to understand, and that they received the highest quality of service. A little more than half of returning visitors reported engaging with more than one Action Center program in the last 6 months. Twenty-one percent of respondents reported receiving at least one referral at the Action Center. Two thirds were aware that the Action Center offered a number of programs and services and half were aware that referrals were available. Additional visits to the Action Center were associated with increased likelihood of engaging with more than one program and awareness of the availability of programs and referral services. Findings suggest that most visitors surveyed had positive experiences, and more can be done to promote the Action Center and the variety of services it offers.


Meade is nineteen and living in Paris with her twin brother, Ben Ho, far from their privileged upbringing in Nashville, Tennessee. Hers is a restless quest of balancing addictions: to her brother, her pills and her purging. But when Ben Ho falls for a girl at art school, Meade's precarious equilibrium is shaken. Meade descends into a vortex of glamour and passion with the fashion photographer who becomes her lover. As her sexual obsession shifts from her brother to her troubled Iranian lover, Meade cannot know she has made a tragic match with someone whose secrets go further, deeper and darker than anything she can fathom. A stark, unflinching novel with a dark heart, "Comes the Night" chronicles a fevered and tormented journey through the frothy, glossy world of fashion and the shadowy recesses of love.


While steric hindrance can be particularly large in dendritic molecules, it is usually implicated with difficulties in the synthesis of higher generation structures and restricted access of reagents, including bond-cleaving agents, to the dendritic interior. A different situation, where the steric hindrance is translated into a steric strain within the dendritic molecule and, consequently, causes enhanced decomposition of the dendron-containing structure, has only occasionally been reported and exclusively for dendronized polymers. In this work we describe post-synthetic cleavage of sterically congested third-generation oligoether dendrons from solid supports, followed by their disassembly into monomeric building blocks under acidic conditions. This disassembly was monitored by H NMR, revealing the intermediate fragment structures and the exact order of bond cleavage within the dendritic molecule. These conclusions were supported by MS analysis of the cleavage mixtures. Though distinguishing between steric and electronic reasons of molecular disassembly can be a challenging task, we were able to analyze these factors separately by monitoring the dendron disassembly and comparing the rates of "decay" of parent dendrons and their fragments. This comparison reveals that while the electron donation of the steric congestion-inducing alkyl substituents is a prerequisite for the disassembly of the structures, this disassembly is very strongly accelerated in the sterically crowded dendrons and intermediates, where both steric and electronic factors contribute in a synergistic way to the disassembly phenomenon.


This report discusses the High Pressure Coolant Injection (HPCI) system which has been examined from a risk perspective. A System Risk- Based Inspection Guide (S-RIG) has been developed as an aid to HPCI system inspections at the Enrico Fermi Unit 2 Nuclear Power Plant. Included in this S-RIG is a discussion of the role of HPCI in mitigating accidents and a presentation of a PRA-based failure modes which could prevent proper operation of the system. The S-RIG uses industry operating experience, including plant-specific illustrative examples to augment the basic PRA failure modes. It is designed to be used as a reference for both routine inspections and the evaluation of the significance of component failures.


In this paper, the authors propose a recognition method of hand written Hangeul. Hangeul characters are basically classified to 6 patterns by the positions of their elements. Using these characteristics of Hangeul, the pattern of the given character is determined by its peripheral distribution and the other features, and the character is resolved into its elements which are the vowels and the consonants. They are recognized by the optimized neural network. To optimize the neural network, we discuss optimization of the neural network parameters, such as the inclination of the sigmoid function, the numbers of the input layer's units and the hidden layer's units.The constructed recognition system is applied to non-learning Hangeul written by some Korean peoples, and recognition rate of 97.6 % is obtained.


One of the main and crucial strategic projects that any university, or an institution of higher learning, has been recently involved in is the creation and development of an institutional repository. The AMUR repository is an open web-based archive of scholarly material that originated in 2010 and has aggregated a collection of more than 12,000 diverse digital objects. This paper presents the types of grey literature that have been archived in the repository. The following key elements concerning grey digital objects are presented: policy of the repository, legal issues, standards for metadata and the language coverage. In addition, usage data are provided.


It is well known that microplastics (<5 mm in size) are omnipresent in the marine environment and will hardly degrade but merely fragment over time. Furthermore, standardized and reliable methods to securely detect microplastics are yet to be set. Determining the abundance and identity of microplastics is a crucial objective in microplastic research, especially with regard to requested monitoring. Nevertheless, information on the abundance and composition of microplastics in the North Sea is still scarce particularly concerning the lower-micrometer range (<500 µm). Hence, we analysed samples from two complex environmental matrices at 24 stations in the southern North Sea. Surface water samples were collected with a 100 µm net attached to a neuston catamaran and sublittoral sediments were taken with a Van Veen grab. To isolate microplastics (11–5000 µm) sediments were first subjected to a density separation performed with the MicroPlastic Sediment Separator (MPSS) and a zinc chloride solution (ρ = 1.7 g cm-³). Subsequently, a highly promising enzymatic-oxidative purification was applied to all samples using newly developed microplastic reactors. This was followed by a state-of-the-art analysis via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) imaging. This provides information on polymer quantities, types and sizes as well as spatial distribution of microplastics in North Sea surface waters and sediments. Results show that microplastics are present in all of the analysed North Sea samples exhibiting a variety of polymer types, dominated by rubbers, polyethylene, polypropylene and acrylates/polyurethane. Concentrations ranged from 0.1 to 2.1×10² particles m-3 in surface waters and from 2 to 1.5×10³ particles kg-1 of dry sediment. Concerning size, the vast majority of the detected microplastic particles (95%) was less than 75 µm in length. Finally, this study aims at contributing to a basis for future monitoring measures and stresses the need to include microplastics in the lower-micrometer range into these approaches.


The advanced characteristics of synchrotron x-ray sources make it possible to implement radiology with powerful and innovative approaches. We review in simple terms the conceptual background of such approaches, then we present a number of selected examples. The practical tests concern life-sciences specimens as well as materials-science systems.


This paper reports on the design and fabrication of Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) single mode rib waveguide. PDMS was chosen as the base material for both the core and cladding of the waveguide. Such a PDMS waveguide allows an easy integration with microoptical components for lab-on-a-chip systems fabricated by soft lithography fabrication methods. The modification of the PDMS refractive index was achieved by diluting the base material with hexane. The fabricated PDMS rib waveguides were characterized for mode profile characteristics and the results confirmed the excitation of the waveguide's fundamental mode. The propagation loss was characterized at a wavelength of 635 nm and found to be 0.48 dB/cm. Such a low loss waveguide is useful as basic building block for complex microphonotnics device.


The Controller Area Network with Flexible Data-Rate (CAN-FD) is a new communication protocol to meet the bandwidth requirements for the constantly growing volume of data exchanged in modern vehicles. The problem of frame packing for CAN-FD, as studied in the literature, assumes a single sub-system where one CAN-FD bus serves as the communication medium among several Electronic Control Units (ECUs). Modern automotive electronic systems, on the other hand, consist of several sub-systems, each facilitating a certain functional domain such as powertrain, chassis and suspension. A substantial fraction of all signals is exchanged across sub-systems. In this work, we study the frame packing problem for CAN-FD with multiple sub-systems, and propose a two-stage optimization framework. In the first stage, we pack the signals into frames with the objective of minimizing the bandwidth utilization. In the second stage, we extend Audsley's algorithm to assign priorities/identifiers to the frames. In case the resulting solution is not schedulable, our framework provides a potential repacking method. We propose two solution approaches: (a) an Integer Linear Programming (ILP) formulation that provides an optimal solution but is computationally expensive for industrial-size problems; and (b) a greedy heuristic that scales well and provides solutions that are comparable to optimal solutions. Experimental results show the efficiency of our optimization framework in achieving feasible solutions with low bandwidth utilization. The results also show a significant improvement over the case when there is no cross-domain consideration (as in prior work).


Bacterial persistence is caused by the presence of rare, slowly growing bacteria among populations of rapidly growing cells. The slowly growing bacteria are tolerant of antibiotics and other environmental insults, whereas their isogenic, rapidly growing siblings are sensitive. Recent research has shown that persistence of the model organism Escherichia coli depends on toxin-antitoxin (TA) loci. Deletion of type II TA loci reduces the level of persistence significantly. Lon protease but no other known ATP-dependent proteases is required for persistence. Polyphosphate and (p)ppGpp also are required for persistence. These observations led to the proposal of a simple and testable model that explains the persistence of E. coli. It is now important to challenge this model and to test whether the persistence of pathogenic bacteria also depends on TA loci.


A prospective study of 100 children aged 2-17 years (68 girls) with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) was initiated to follow changes in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ), growth of the craniofacial complex and de- velopment of the dental occlusion, and to relate the findings to clinical and laboratory parameters. The mean age at onset was 5.5 years. The debut type was acute febrile in 14, pauciarticular in 64, and polyarticular in 22 patients. At examination, at mean age 9 years, 45 patients had pauci- snd' 55 polyarticular JRA. Definite radiographic TMJ changes were found in 41 patients (unilaterally in 17). 130 children without joint disease served as controls. Of the patients with radiographic TMJ changes, 65 % had clinical symptom and/or signs, the most frequent being restricted mouth opening. Of the patients without radiographic TMJ changes, 19 % had uncertain clinical fmdings (pain, tender- ness or slightly restricted mouth opening). Radiographic TMJ changes were significantly related to early onset of JRA, long disease duration, actual polyarticular type, high disease activity, impaired functional capacity and general health, splenomegaly and kidney involvement, low hemogle bin and high gammaglobulin concentrations. A significant relationship was also found with radiographic changes of the cervical spine. Radiographic examination seemed es- sential for the diagnosis of TMJ arthritis.


In today's world, programming teachers perform tedious tasks, which are time consuming; for instance, preparing and marking daily assignments, preparing and marking programming projects, preparing and marking short exams, etc. These tasks distract programming teachers from fulfilling their key role – teaching. Therefore, using automated marking approach with ability to communicate with students is highly desirable. Despite the existing approaches for automated student marking, there is still a need for more improvement. An automated program marking approach is proposed in this study based on a proposal by iMarking®. This approach automates the process of marking and assignments submission and facilitates the communication between teachers and students by designing and implementing a web-based application. In addition, the proposed approach adopts Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to extract the text from images to be evaluated using novel evaluation metrics. The novel evaluation metrics are formulated based on observation and experiment and aim to calculate the matching similarity and mismatching percentage of the submitted student answers when compared with the optimal answers. Evaluation results from a sample of 100 different programming questions show that the proposed approach is efficient in automatically marking the student answers with 100% accuracy. Furthermore, it is found to be time saving – approximately 197 seconds for marking ten questions – which is in line with the objective of creating a more efficient system for teachers.


Using TiCl4 and CuCl2 as precursors, the sols were prepared. The coatings of Ti/Cu oxide were formed on both glass and alumina substrates by dip-coating method. XRD results showed that the coatings could be composed of anatase TiO2, CuO and M6O type oxides. The M6O type oxide on glass substrate is in the form of Cu3Ti3O, however is Cu2Ti4O on alumina substrate. The formations of the CuO and M6O are related to the Cu:Ti ratio. A high Cu:Ti ratio corresponds to the CuO, whereas to the M6O. Also the sols were analyzed by infrared spectroscopy and the mechanism of the formation of the coatings was discussed in the paper.


A technique of displacement and force measurements with a photodiode quadrant detector in an optical tweezers system is presented. The stiffness of optical trap is calibrated and the leukemia cell membrane tension is measured. The results show that the optical tweezers combined with the quadrant detector is a very useful tool for detecting the displacement and force with a millisecond-order response.


Abstract.
 The Upper Cretaceous "redbeds" of the lower Tremp Formation (South-Central Pyrenees, Spain) contains an ichnofauna consisting of Taenidium barretti, Taenidium bowni, Loloichnus isp., Arenicolites isp., Planolites isp., and Palaeophycus isp. This ichnofauna occurs in deposits formed in tide-influenced meander loops and their associated overbank mudflats. Evaluation of the taphonomic controls on the Tremp ichnofauna shows that (1) two morphotypes of Taenidium barretti are controlled by the substrate consistence, (2) Arenicolites may be enlarged by erosion processes, and (3) Taenidium barretti and Planolites isp. are not the same ichnotaxa showing different types of preservation. The meniscate fill in Taenidium barretti suggests that this structure was produced by deposit feeders. The Tremp ichnofauna is grouped into two trace-fossil assemblages, a depauperate subaquatic monospecific Planolites suite and an assemblage representing the Scoyenia Ichnofacies. Trace-fossil distribution reflects paleoenvironmental changes in the meandering channels along the stratigraphic section with the Planolites suite in the lowermost part of the lower interval and the Scoyenia Ichnofacies in the middle and upper intervals. The lowermost suite may be likely formed seaward of the maximum salinity limit, under extreme brackish-water conditions, whereas the Scoyenia Ichnofacies records a freshwater assemblage that was formed landward of the maximum salinity limit, reflecting deltaic progradation.


There is considerable public debate over the use of antidepressants in pregnancy. In this article, we offer a commentary on Gail Robinson's important overview of the current controversies. Dr Ronbinson gives a thorough review of the literature, including the risks posed by both antidepressants and depression itself. We summarize her arguments and point out that, in the public conversation, the risks posed to a fetus from antidepressants are consistently overestimated while the risks of untreated depression are consistently underestimated because of the pervasive stigma against mental health. We review recent lay media analyses and urge our fellow physicians to make decisions about prescribing in pregnancy on the basis of evidence and individual patient needs rather than media and stigma.


This paper is investigating, through a mixed-method research combining interviews and an online survey, how BI vendors differentiate themselves when it comes to application integration, security issues and pricing strategies. The conclusion is that BI vendors differentiated themselves mainly by having individual definitions of what BI is. Buyers are therefore advised to compare vendors through the vendor's definition of Business Intelligence. Security issues were mainly user centric and pricing strategies implied that vendors approach buyers in a similar way where they offered standardized software bundles that would require some degree of customization in order for the buyer to derive the maximum benefit from the applications. It can be deduced from the obtained results that most competitive BI vendors are acting more homogenous towards buyers when they offer their products and handle customers, compared to niche BI vendors.


Purpose
Sustainable development has now been recognised as the pivot around which development activities should revolve. Banking is an important component in the same and adoption of sustainable banking practices by various banking institutions is a strong driver to achieve sustainable development. The purpose of this paper is to study the level of adoption of sustainable banking tools and the extent to which banking institutions practice the same in India. In addition, the banking institutions have been ranked and categorised on basis of their sustainable banking performance.

Design/methodology/approach
The proposed framework focuses on the environmental and social conduct of the banks, who address the issues of sustainability in Indian banking sector. As there is a difference in the economic standards of developed and developing countries, the review of literature helps to figure out the gap in specific frameworks for assessing sustainable banking practices in developing countries. Previous researchers have made an attempt to develop a general framework for assessing the sustainable banking efforts of the banking sector. These studies fall short of indicators on the social dimension of sustainability specifically in the context of less developed countries like India, the social dimensions are is equally a major thrust area along with environmental indicators. Content analysis technique has been used to evaluate sustainable banking performance of the banks and Mann–Whitney U test used to determine the differences in sustainable banking performance of the banks in India.

Findings
In Indian banking sector, the adoption of the international sustainability code of conduct is still in its nascent stage. The research indicates that sustainability issues which are of the highest priority for the banks are directly related to their business operations such as financial inclusion, financial literacy and energy efficiency, and banks are more focussed on addressing social dimension of sustainability in banking rather than important dimensions of sustainable banking, namely, environmental management, development of green products and services and sustainability reporting.

Practical implications
The application of the proposed framework reflects the status quo of sustainable banking in India. This study is useful for the banks and all the stakeholders in understanding more about the shortcomings in integrating sustainability issues in banking. Further, the present study also redresses the extant research dearth in the field of sustainable banking in the Indian context.

Originality/value
This is one of the first studies evaluating the sustainable banking performance of the Indian banking sector.


ABSTRACT Objective: Postoperative adhesions are among the major causes of morbidity and mortality following abdominal surgery. As an antioxidant and antiinflamatory agent, the potential effect of ethyl pyruvate on adhesion prevention has not been clearly studied. We aimed to investigate the possible anti-adhesive effect of ethyl pyruvate compared with an effective barrier membrane, Seprafilm, in a rat cecal abrasion model. Materials and Methods: Male Wistar albino rats separated into three adhesion model groups (n = 8, each) with applications of different agents during surgery: control (intraperitoneal normal saline), Seprafilm group (intraperitoneal Seprafilm), and Ethyl pyruvate group (40 mg/kg intraperitoneal ethyl pyruvate). Postoperative adhesion was graded both macroscopically and histopathologically. Malondialdehyde and nitric oxide levels were determined from tissue samples for assessment of oxidative stress. Results: Seprafilm and Ethyl pyruvate groups had lower adhesion scores (both macroscopic and microscopic) and decreased malondialdehyde and nitric oxide levels compared to the control group (p < 0.05 for all parameters). The results were comparable for both Seprafilm and Ethyl pyruvate groups for all parameters (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Intraperitoneal ethyl pyruvate application reduced the incidence and the extent of postoperative adhesions in rat cecal abrasion model. Ethyl pyruvate also had comparable overall efficacy for adhesion prevention as Seprafilm.


A 70 year old heart and renal transplanted man was hospitalized twice for acute abdominal pain with jaundice, inflammatory syndrome and cholestasis following colchicine therapy. All signs and symptoms abated after colchicine's withdrawal. Because the investigations remained negative and the temporal relationship positive, an adverse drug reaction to colchicine was considered possible.


In view of the irrational phenomenon of many highly educated intellectuals showed non-rational behavior; it consider that the reason for this non-rational behavior is caused by the artificial fragmentation of scientific attainment education and humanistic spirit education in modern China higher education. This article maintains that healthy higher education should be based on scientific literacy, oriented by humanistic spirit, and to aim at the promotion of students personality perfection. Based on these, this paper ideal is the unity of human spirit education and science literacy education in modern Chinese colleges and universities is need urgently, that is to fully integrate the human spirit and science literacy, practice the way of the combination of science and humanities education. Focus on the combination, the connotations, objectives and ways to realize are disscussed in this paper, it is thinking that practices the combination of science and humanities education way should develop education theory, establish the educational methodology suitable for the science and humanities education, and seek the reuniting of science and humanities education from the history of science literacy education and humanities spirits education, reform the probleme in the combination of science education and humanities education, to carry out the education of science and humanities at the same time, reshaping the values of today higher education.


Background : Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common chronic rheumatic diseases that causing pain and disability. The imaging of knee OA were found in 15,5%  men and 12,7% women of Indonesia population. Radiography is still used as a standard modalities in assesing OA progression, and Kellgren-Lawrence scale (KL) is the most common measurement used byclinicians. Superficial cartilage degradation is the first sign of OA, the early detection of the superficial cartilage degradation is very important for diagnosis. Our study was established to assess the correlation between OA grading in femorotibial joint examined by standard Kellgren-Lawrence scale (KL) measurement with cartilage defects examined by ultrasound.Methods : Observational analytic study with cross sectional and consecutive sampling was performed. Rank Spearman test for correlation of OA grading, cartilage defect, BMI and joint malalignment. McNemar test for correspondence between the location of the narrowing of the femorotibial joint and location of cartilage defects.Result : Correlation of OA grading of femorotibial joints (KL) with cartilage defects grading on ultrasound resulted r =0.459, p 0,05; correlation of cartilage defect grading with BMI or joint malalignment also resulted p>0.05. McNemar test for location of the narrowing of thefemorotibial joint with location of cartilage defects on ultrasound resulted p = 1.00, k = 0.714. There was a significant positive correlation of OA grading of femorotibial joints (KL) with cartilage defects grading on ultrasound. There was no significant correlation between OA grading of femorotibial joints (KL) with BMI and joint malignment, and no significant correlationbetween cartilage defects grading with BMI and joint malalignment. There is a correspondence between the location of the narrowing of the femorotibial joint with location of cartilage defects on ultrasound.Conclusion: For assesing the grade of osteoartritis, cartilage defect grading and assesment by ultrasound can be used as an alternative to X-Ray KellgrenLawrence scale (KL) measurement.Keywords : femorotibial joint, cartilage defects grading, osteoartritis grading examination, BMI, joint malalignment.


Any serious attempt to give an account of the cognitive aspect of science – as contrasted with e.g. its social or cultural aspects – cannot ignore the automation revolution. In the conception presented in this paper the results of computer science are taken seriously and integrated with many of the ideas concerning what constitutes scientific inquiry that have been proposed at least since the early Middle Ages. The central idea is that of reliable inquiry. Science makes explicit and elaborates on the methods of acquiring beliefs in our daily life. The central question a scientific method applied to inquiry needs to face is if it is reliable in getting to the truth. On the reliabilist criteria presented here, if a method is logically warranted to get to the right answer – given data and background knowledge available – and to stick to it afterwards, then it is reliable. This is a normative theory, but the standard of reliability is adjusted to the domain of the inquiry at hand. This paper presents the central tenets of the reliabilist conception of science and briefly outlines the main results underlying it. Roughly, the aim of science is interesting truth about the world around us (scientific realism) and reliabilist epistemology affords us precise answers as to how far science can succeed in this task – given the methods, goals and background assumptions available. The philosophical task to deliver an adequate understanding of science is taken to be continuous with scientific research itself (naturalism), a major part of which is concerned with delivering causal explanations (causality) and can only be carried out with limited resources (computability). Many of the ideas integrated into the reliabilist conception of science and precisely articulated therewith have appeared earlier in both philosophy and science (history of ideas). I conclude the exposition of the ideas integrated into the reliabilist conception of science with discussions of sample case studies where the reliabilist conception of science has been applied to actual scientific research. For obvious reasons none of the grand conceptions of science from the distant past is adequate. Towards the end of this paper I give some substance to the claim that among the few contemporary conceptions of science reliabilist epistemology is the the most comprehensive account. For only it systematically elaborates the ideas of reliability and computability accompanying science from its inception. None of the past or contemporary alternatives to a thoroughly revised understanding of science offered by the reliabilist approach can embrace the recent outburst of new sciences such as computer science, Bayesian statistics and cognitive science. An outline of open problems and directions for future research concludes the paper.


Preferred conformers generated from motuporamine and anthracene-polyamine derivatives provided insight into the shapes associated with polyamine transporter (PAT) recognition and potentially dihydromotuporamine C (4a) bioactivity. Molecular modeling revealed that N(1)-(anthracen-9-ylmethyl)-3,3-triamine (6a), N(1)-(anthracen-9-ylmethyl)-4,4-triamine (6b), N(1)-(anthracen-9-ylmethyl)-N(1)-ethyl-3,3-triamine (7a), N(1)-(anthracen-9-ylmethyl)-N(1)-ethyl-4,4-triamine (7b), and 4a all preferred a hoe motif. This hoe shape was defined by the all-anti polyamine shaft extending above the relatively flat, appended ring system. The hoe geometry was also inferred by the (1)H NMR spectrum of the free amine of 7a (CDCl(3)), which showed a strong shielding effect of the anthracene ring on the chemical shifts associated with the appended polyamine chain. This shielding effect was found to be independent over a broad concentration range of 7a, which also supported an intramolecular phenomenon. The degree of substitution at the N(1)-position seems to be an important determinant of both the molecular shape preferences and biological activity of anthracenylmethyl-polyamine conjugates.


On March 1, 1966, the voters of Tucson approved the Pueblo Center Redevelopment Project Arizona s first major urban renewal project which targeted the most densely populated eighty acres in the state. For close to one hundred years, tucsonenses had created their own spatial reality in the historical, predominantly Mexican American heart of the city, an area most called la calle. Here, amid small retail and service shops, restaurants, and entertainment venues, they openly lived and celebrated their culture. To make way for the Pueblo Center s new buildings, city officials proceeded to displace la calle s residents and to demolish their ethnically diverse neighborhoods, which, contends Lydia Otero, challenged the spatial and cultural assumptions of postwar modernity, suburbia, and urban planning. Otero examines conflicting claims to urban space, place, and history as advanced by two opposing historic preservationist groups: the La Placita Committee and the Tucson Heritage Foundation. She gives voice to those who lived in, experienced, or remembered this contested area, and analyzes the historical narratives promoted by Anglo American elites in the service of tourism and cultural dominance. "La Calle" explores the forces behind the mass displacement: an unrelenting desire for order, a local economy increasingly dependent on tourism, and the pivotal power of federal housing policies. To understand how urban renewal resulted in the spatial reconfiguration of downtown Tucson, Otero draws on scholarship from a wide range of disciplines: Chicana/o, ethnic, and cultural studies; urban history, sociology, and anthropology; city planning; and cultural and feminist geography."


25 This paper presents a defect-to-yield correlation for marginally printing defects in a gate and a contact 4X DUV reticle by describing their respective impact on the lithography manufacturing process window of a 16 MB Flash memory device. The study includes site-dependent sort yield signature analysis within the exposure field, followed by electrical bitmap and wafer strip back for the lower yielding defective sites. These defects are verified using both reticle inspection techniques and review of printed resist test wafers. Focus/Exposure process windows for defect-free feature and defective feature are measured using both inline SEM CD data and defect printability simulation software. These process window models are then com pared against wafer sort yield data for correlation. A method for characterizing the lithography manufacturing process window is proposed which is robust to both marginally printing reticle defects and sources of process variability outside the lithography module. Lithography S P E C I A L F O C U S


The recent decision of the South African Constitutional Court raises great concern on whether the leading economy of the continent and the role model country in Legal developments is taking a healthy route in deciding their international trade policy. As many other countries, South Africa might be experiencing problems with having two parallel regulations with moderately similar aims, but both with a different scope of reach. On the one hand, South Africa is an enthusiastic producer and enforcer of competition laws and policies that apply only locally, and gladly agrees to the international commitments of free trade. On the other hand, inside institutions are using the WTO agreements (more specifically the anti-dumping agreement) to prevent competition from international economic rivals by hindering their access to the South African market. The importance of establishing whether South Africa uses trade remedies anti-competitively is also pertinent to the global debate. The way the biggest economy in Africa deals with the situation is useful in trying to find a response to the problem of anti-competitive trade remedies that suits the interests of Africa and that is globally feasible. This paper will explore these issues from the perspective of the constitutional court rulings in International Trade Administration Commission v SCAW South Africa, and it will try to find a way to reconcile competition and anti-dumping in this particular case with the final aim to use it as a possible tool in the construction of a harmonized system of international trade.


A possible link between oncogenes and tumor angiogenesis has been implicated by the finding that expression of various oncogenes, particularly mutant ras, can lead to a marked induction of a potent paracrine stimulator of angiogenesis, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). We sought to determine how oncogenic ras induction of VEGF is mediated at the molecular level and whether the mechanisms involved differ fundamentally between transformed epithelial cells and fibroblasts. Our results suggest that in a subline (called RAS-3) of immortalized nontumorigenic rat intestinal epithelial cells (IEC-18) that acquired a tumorigenic phenotype upon transfection of mutant ras, up-regulation of VEGF occurs in the absence of an autocrine growth factor circuit. The expression of VEGF mRNA and protein by RAS-3 cells was strongly suppressed in the presence of LY294002, an inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol 3*-kinase, but remained largely unaffected in the same cells treated with an inhibitor (PD98059) of mitogen-activated protein/extracellular signal-regulated kinase kinase 1 (MKK/MEK-1). This is consistent with the observation that overexpression of a constitutively activated mutant of MEK-1 (DN3/ S222D) in the parental IEC-18 cells did not result in up-regulation of VEGF production. The impact of mutant ras on VEGF expression was also significantly amplified at high cell density, conditions under which RAS-3 cells became less sensitive to LY294002-induced VEGF downregulation. In marked contrast to cells of epithelial origin, ras-transformed murine fibroblasts (3T3RAS) up-regulated VEGF in a manner that was strongly inhibitable by MEK-1 blockade (i.e. treatment with PD98059), whereas these cells were relatively unaffected by treatment with the phosphatidylinositol 3*-kinase inhibitor LY294002. In addition, VEGF was upregulated by 2–3-fold in NIH3T3 cells overexpressing mutant MEK-1. Collectively, the data suggest that the stimulatory effect of mutant ras on VEGF expression is executed in a nonautocrine and cell type-dependent manner and that it can be significantly exacerbated by physiological/ environmental influences such as high cell density.


The pharmacological profile of FK480[(S)-(+)-N-<1-(2)-fluorophenyl)-3,4,6,7-tetra hydro-4-oxo-pyrrolo(3,2,1-jk) (1,4)benzodiaze-pine-3-yl>-1H-indole-2- carboxamide], a novel cholecystokinin type-A (CCK-A) receptor antagonist, was compared with that of the CCK-A receptor antagonist, loxiglumide. Both FK480 and loxiglumide inhibited 125I-labeled CCK-8 (125I-CCK-8) binding to rat pancreatic and guinea-pig gallbladder membranes with IC50 values of 0.40 +/- 0.04 and 0.06 +/- 0.02 nM for FK480 and 330 +/- 66 and 66 +/- 10 nM for loxiglumide, respectively. These two agents also inhibited 125I-CCK-8 binding to guinea-pig brain (cerebral cortex) receptors with respective IC50 values of 72 +/- 11 nM and > 10 microM, indicating less affinity to central receptors. Intravenous administration of FK480 (ED50 = 18 micrograms/kg) was 2800 times more potent than that of loxiglumide (ED50 = 50 mg/kg) in inhibiting CCK-8-induced pancreatic amylase secretion in rats. Furthermore, FK480 had ED50 values of 10 and 8.4 micrograms/kg, respectively, in antagonizing CCK-8-induced inhibition of charcoal meal gastric emptying in mice when administered orally 1 or 5 hr before the CCK-8. Loxiglumide (ED50 = 23.5 mg/kg, when administered orally 1 hr before the CCK-8) also antagonized it, but its activity was 2400 times less than that of FK480. We conclude that FK480 is a potent, orally effective CCK-A receptor antagonist with long duration of action.


For the differential privacy under the sub-Gamma noise, we derive the asymptotic properties of a class of network models with binary values with general link function. In this paper, we release the degree sequences of the binary networks under a general noisy mechanism with the discrete Laplace mechanism as a special case. We establish the asymptotic result including both consistency and asymptotically normality of the parameter estimator when the number of parameters goes to infinity in a class of network models. Simulations and a real data example are provided to illustrate asymptotic results.


General purpose computers find increased use within behavioural, psychological, and neuroscientific experimentation , which raises concern for the timing accuracy that can be obtained with such systems. Here, we assessed the timing accuracy of such machines, considering both differences between different hardware and different versions of the Windows™ operating system (OS); Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. The variability varied widely across machines and OS versions. The indeterministic variability within each OS and computer combination was mostly within +/-30 ms, and had a non-normal distribution with many small deviations and few large deviations. These large deviations are a characteristic feature that seems to constitute occasional additional delays up to about 150 ms. Thus, although measurements recorded from a general purpose PC running Windows should have an accuracy of-30 to +50 ms, occasionally larger variations suggest that experiments need a large test base to avoid significant distortions of the results.


This article summarizes 10 years of ethnographic research in the Okavango Delta and describes how local communities are collaborating with government, tour operators, and conservationists to manage wildlife through the Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) program. CBNRM channels social and economic benefits to communities in exchange for their participation in wildlife conservation. Benefits include secured access to land, institutional support, employment, and share of profits from wildlife tourism. By some accounts, CBNRM has effectively achieved co-management and wildlife conservation; by others, the program has achieved only rhetorical success. We highlight collaboration between social actors at various levels—community, government, tourism industry, international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)—as one indicator of success. We then consider the steps that need to be followed to ensure that collaboration leads to long-term conservation. Experiences from this case may provide insights for co-management and conservation in other places where the fate of biodiversity and local livelihoods are entwined.


In recent years, to a large extent the emergence and development of micro businesses has shown the gaps of comparative advantages between large and medium sized enterprises and small enterprises. Owing to its economics of scope in production, micro businesses contribute to the development and prosperity of the overall market. For the multinational micro business, it is exposed to associated micro political risks in a foreign market in different developing stages (i.e. startup, developing, and mature periods). However, literature review indicates that little work has been done to assess and manage the political risks of multinational micro businesses, let alone provide the multi-stage analysis. To address this problem, this paper develops a multi-stage data envelopment analysis (MSDEA) model to investigate the influence of micro political risks on the efficiency of multinational micro businesses. The main influence factors of the micro political risks in the host country in different stages of startup, developing, and mature periods have been modeled by the MSDEA, to provide new perspectives on the influence mechanism of micro political risk on the multinational micro business. Then the decision makers can assess their companies' micro political risks in different stages and hence develop target-oriented risk prevention policies. Empirical analysis has been implemented in this paper, along with discussion of potential strategies on assessment and management of the micro political risks for multinational micro businesses. The analysis results demonstrate that the factor of labor conditions was the critical one in the development of the multinational micro business in the startup stage. Good labor conditions may be more likely to avoid micro political risk. The factor of the congruence with national economic interests and goals also impacted the development of the multinational micro business in the startup stage. Hence, the findings of this work could provide valuable reference for multinational micro businesses in restraining the micro political risk.


Music is important in most people''s lives independent of their cultural origin. Music can foster bonds between people and communicate values and identity. This thesis examined the social psychological functions of music across cultures. It investigated two social functions in detail: music preferences as expressions of personal and cultural values, and the social bonding function of shared music preferences. Furthermore, this thesis explored how these social functions relate to personal and cultural functions of music. This broader perspective offered an integration of the social functions into a holistic topography of musical functions. Six cross-cultural studies were conducted with the overarching objective to advance research on social functions of music preferences in cross-cultural contexts. Studies 1 and 2 explored the associations between music preferences and personal and cultural values drawing on Attitude-Function Theory and Expectancy-Value Theory. Study 1 revealed that preferences for global music styles (such as Rock, Pop and Classical music) were consistently associated with personal value orientations across four cultures and across two value measurements. Study 2 explored the tendency of societies to appreciate global music styles in association with their cultural values. Findings of a multicultural study and a meta-analysis confirmed that cultural values were related to societal music appreciation. Studies 1 and 2 advance our understanding of people's musical choices based on personal and cultural values. Studies 3 and 4 tested a novel model illuminating social bonding through shared music preferences. The model proposes that the value-expressive function of music preferences plays a crucial role in musical social bonding. Two studies supported the model empirically. A dyadic study among roommates in Hong Kong (Study 3) demonstrated that roommates who shared music preferences had similar value orientations, which contributed to perceived similarity between roommates leading to interpersonal attraction. The social perception experiment (Study 4) among German Metal and Hip-hop fans showed that shared music preference with a musical ingroup member was a robust vehicle for social bonding. In both studies, musical social bonding was facilitated by value similarity. Studies 5 and 6 offered holistic psychological investigations situating and relating individual, social, and cultural functions of music as perceived and used by culturally diverse samples. While the multicultural qualitative Study 5 identified a variety of personal, social and cultural functions of music, the quantitative Study 6 aimed to measure a selected number of these functions. Both studies revealed that the social bonding function of music was closely related to the value-expressive function. The social bonding function represented the centre of a holistic topography of musical functions. Its importance was independent of cultural background and socio-demographic variables in the present samples indicating universal characteristics. The findings of this thesis contribute novel perspectives to contemporary music reception research as well as cross-cultural psychology. Using an explicit cultural-comparative approach beyond previous mono-cultural social psychological research on music it advances our understanding of music in a global context. It revealed that people use music similarly across cultures for expressing values, for social bonding and for multiple other functions. This thesis underscores that music is a powerful prosocial resource.


This perspective on Liby et al. (beginning on page 1427 in this issue of the journal) discusses the importance of the finding that two synthetic triterpenoids prolonged survival in a pancreatic cancer mouse model. This finding is significant because pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest human cancers. These compounds inhibited the interaction between NF-κB and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3, and determining the mechanisms underlying this inhibition will help to rapidly move these compounds into phase I clinical trials. Cancer Prev Res; 3(11); 1379–81. ©2010 AACR.


Achermann, S. 2020. Prediction in Typical and Atypical Development. Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Social Sciences 179. 81 pp. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 978-91-513-0940-8. Forming predictions about what is going to happen next is a crucial ability that develops early in life. Theory and some empirical evidence suggest that predictive abilities may be impaired in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The overarching aim of this thesis is to investigate early measures of prediction in relation to concurrent and later outcomes in typical and atypical development, with a particular focus on ASD and related behavioral problems. In Study I, we used motion capture technology to examine prospective motor control and its relationship to executive functions in typically developing 18-month-olds. Our findings showed that motor control is associated with executive functioning in infancy. Study II investigated motor control in infants at low and elevated likelihood for ASD and examined how these measures relate to later development. We found group differences as well as similarities in motor control in 10-months-olds with and without a familial history of ASD. Early motor measures were related to general developmental level, but not ASD symptomatology in toddlerhood. Using eye tracking, Study III examined how infants with later ASD and neurotypical infants form predictions about visual object motion. Our findings indicated that infants with later ASD were able to form predictions about object motion and adapt to simple changes in motion patterns, and that their performance did not differ from the performance of neurotypical infants. In Study IV, we surveyed parents about their experiences during participation in an infant sibling study of ASD as a first step to understanding the benefits and risks associated with this type of research. Parents were generally positive about their experiences both from their own perspective as well as, the child's perspective. This thesis illustrates the potential of using advanced technology, such as motion tracking and eye tracking, to study and compare prediction in typical and atypical development. It points to the important role of prediction and motor control for child development, but fails to find a specific link to ASD.


Isaiah Berlin was born a century ago. One of the most celebrated British thinkers of the twentieth century, he was a tireless champion of freedom and diversity against control and conformity. His generous, open vision of life is displayed with special immediacy in his brilliant pen-portraits of contemporaries, Personal Impressions, in which he sees the point of radically differing personalities, enters into their distinctive outlooks, and describes his encounters with them, in arrestingly idiosyncratic prose. The Book of Isaiah turns the tables on Berlin, offering a series of personal impressions of him and his ideas by a range of people who knew him, or have been affected by his work. This multi-faceted testimony enriches and supplements Michael Ignatieff's celebrated authorised biography. The volume includes tributes written when Berlin died, essays specially commissioned from friends and from students of his work, and a previously unpublished family memoir by Berlin's father, which preserves for his son, and for posterity, the story of his Hasidic forebears, and of the many relatives murdered by the Nazis. The result is a collection indispensable both for existing enthusiasts and for those who are curious to learn about Berlin's unique, compelling appeal. HENRY HARDY is a Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford, and one of Isaiah Berlin's Literary Trustees.


According to the TNM-System classification for the cancer of pancreas 331 subjects were collected. Some important factors were associated with the survival time of patients, i.g. the localization, the size and the histological type of tumors. It is well known that when distant metastases are found, only a palliative operation is possible while metastases in the regional lymph nodes are considered as a critical moment of the treatment of this disease. Teamwork is strongly recommended between the surgeon and pathologist to achieve better results as it is presented by classification. Following this fact it is possible to determine accurately the actual stage of any cancer of pancreas. As a result of the present findings it should be suggested to establish comparable and standardised programs for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.


A 2-D finite element code has been developed for the solution of arbitrary geometry cable SGEMP and box IEMP problems. The quasi- static electric field equations with radiation- induced charge deposition and radiation-induced conductivity y are numerically solved on a triangular mesh. Multiple regions of different dielectric materials and multiple conductors are permitted.


Electrochemical detection of the rat basophilic leukemia (RBL-1) cells has been carried out by applying cyclic voltammetry. The detection system consists of a basal plane pyrolytic graphite electrode and a porous nitrocellulose membrane filter to trap RBL-1 cells. When the potential of the graphite electrode was run in the range of 0-1.0 V vs SCE, RBL-1 cells gave peak currents at 0.34 V vs SCE as well as 0.65 V vs SCE. There is a linear relationship between the peak current at 0.34 V vs SCE and the cell numbers of RBL-1. In the range of (0.4-2.0) X 10(5) cells. The peak current of RBL-1 cells was attributed to serotonin. When dinitrophenylated bovine serum albumin (DNP-BSA) as a model allergen was added to RBL-1 cells sensitized with anti-DNP IgE, the peak current decreased because of the degranulation of RBL-1 cells leading to serotonin release. On the other hand, RBL-1 cells sensitized with anti-DNP IgE did not respond to egg white, pollens, house dust, and milk.


This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of three Chinese herbal crude polysaccharides on immunoglobulin A secreting cells and serum antibody titers in vaccinated chickens. A total of 450 14-day-old chickens were randomly assigned to nine equal groups and all chickens were vaccinated. Concurrent with the first vaccination, chickens in groups 1 to 8 were intramuscularly injected with four crude polysaccharides among which the astragalus polysaccharide (APS) was selected as positive control at high and low doses, and group 9 (control group) with saline once a day for three successive days. The numbers of positive immunoglobulin A (IgA) secreting cells and the serum specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody were determined by immunohistochemistry and micro method. The results showed that the individual administration of any of the three crude polysaccharides could significantly increase the number of IgA secreting cells, and the maximum numbers of increased IgA secreting cells in the cecum tonsil and duodenum in the three polysaccharides groups were 37.7 and 33.5 when compared with the controls, and those of the APS groups were 33.9 and 32.7. These three crude polysaccharides at appropriate doses also significantly enhance anti-Newcastle disease virus antibody titers, and the maximum antibody titerincrease in the three polysaccharides groups was 1.6 log2 when compared with the control group, and those of the APS groups was 1.7 log2. These findings indicated that the appropriate doses of the three crude polysaccharides possess significant immune enhancing properties of mucosa and humoral immune responses, which have similar effect with astragalus polysaccharide, and may be useful as a new type of immune potentiator during vaccination.

 Key words: Chinese herbal crude polysaccharides, vaccine, immunity, chickens.


The paper offers an overview of the literature on bundling in the telecommunications sector and its application in the Spanish market. We argue that the use of bundling in the provision of services is associated to technological reasons. Therefore, there appears no need to regulate bundling activities. However, this is not to say that other related telecom markets should not be scrutinized and regulated, or that the regulator should not pay attention to other bundling-related anticompetitive practices.


aetiology. Our experience is similar to that reported by others. 3 If the condition is infective in origin one might expect, as in acute vertebral osteomyelitis, to find extensive local bony destruction, a more chronic course, and positive blood, biopsy or aspiration cultures. In the two patients reported by Shah and Miller where an organism was isolated from blood cultures, we agree that antibiotic treatment was indicated. We would not agree that broad spectrum antibiotics should be offered to all cases. In the absence of proved bacteriological infection bed rest alone has been shown to be adequate treatment.1 3 Controversy will continue until a control study of antibiotic treatment is performed.


We provide evidence on the dynamic effects of fuel price shocks, shipping demand shocks, and shipping supply shocks on real dry bulk freight rates in the long run. We first analyze a new and large dataset on dry bulk freight rates for the period from 1850 to 2020, finding that they followed a downward but undulating path with a cumulative decline of 79%. Next, we turn to understanding the drivers of booms and busts in the dry bulk shipping industry, finding that shipping demand shocks strongly dominate all others as drivers of real dry bulk freight rates in the long run. Furthermore, while shipping demand shocks have increased in importance over time, shipping supply shocks in particular have become less relevant.


Objective: To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the Combitube in the hands of intensive care unit nurses under medical supervision compared to the endotracheal airway in the hands of intensive care unit physicians during cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Methods: A prospective study of intensive care patients was performed over a seven-month period. Thirty-seven patients suf-fering from cardiac arrest were studied in a medical intensive care unit. Patients underwent emergency intubation with either the Combitube inserted by nurses or with the endotracheal airway introduced by physicians, and subsequent mechanical ventilation. Intubation time and blood gases were analyzed. Results: Intubation time was shorter with the Combitube (18.5 ±6.2 vs 27.2 ±7.3 seconds, p <.001). Evaluation of blood gases after 20 minutes of mechanical ventilation showed comparable results between both devices. The mean PaO 2 values were slightly higher during ventilation with the Combitube (123.5 ±19.6 vs 106.5 ±20.3 mmHg, /x.OOl). Conclusion: The Combitube in the hands of intensive care nurses was as effective as the endotracheal airway in the hands of intensivists during cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The Combitube may be used whenever endotracheal intubation cannot be performed immediately.


In this study the excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), and related metabolic measures, following a 50 minute run compared to two 25 minute runs all at 70 per cent of peak VO2 in six women were investigated. Open-circuit spirometry procedures were used and appropriate control conditions were maintained for all trials. Following exercise, VO2 returned to baseline within 30 minutes for all three exercise trials. Magnitude of EPOC was also similar after all runs. However, the combined magnitude (expressed in kcals) of the two 25 minute runs was significantly greater than the continuous 50 minute run (13.88 vs 6.39). Heart rate remained elevated above baseline, and respiratory exchange ratio was lower than baseline 30 minutes after exercise. It is concluded that split exercise sessions can significantly increase post-exercise caloric expenditure. However, the overall magnitude of the increase is small.


Omptins represent a family of proteases commonly found in various Gram-negative pathogens. These proteins play an important role in host–pathogen interaction and have been recognized as key virulence factors, highlighting the possibility of developing an omptin-based broad-spectrum vaccine. The prototypical omptin, His-tagged recombinant Pla, was used as a model target antigen. In total, 46 linear and 24 conformational epitopes for the omptin family were predicted by the use of ElliPro service. Among these we selected highly conserved, antigenic, non-allergenic, and immunogenic B-cell epitopes. Five epitopes (2, 6, 8, 10, and 11 corresponding to Pla regions 52–60, 146–150, 231–234, 286–295, and 306–311, respectively) could be the first choice for the development of the new generation of target-peptide-based vaccine against plague. The partial residues of omptin epitopes 6, 8, and 10 (regions 136–145, 227–230, and 274–285) could be promising targets for the multi-pathogen vaccine against a group of enterobacterial infections. The comparative analysis and 3D modeling of amino acid sequences of several omptin family proteases, such as Pla (Yersinia pestis), PgtE (Salmonella enterica), SopA (Shigella flexneri), OmpT, and OmpP (Escherichia coli), confirmed their high cross-homology with respect to the identified epitope clusters and possible involvement of individual epitopes in host–pathogen interaction.


This article offers an interpretation of the crisis of the Bolivian Left in the mid-1980s, perhaps the most spectacular of all those suffered by the Latin American Left over the course of the decade. The author shows that the main distinguishing feature of the Bolivian case was the exceptional political power of the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB). It was this that enabled the union federation first to impose a highly expansive wage policy on the Unión Democrática y Popular (UDP) government, and then to veto its attempts to move towards a more realistic financial policy. The author goes on to argue that, in this second period, when the undesired consequences of the government's economic policy were sufficiently obvious to persuade the union to change its original strategies, the institutional structure that the COB had inherited from the past restricted and ultimately eliminated the union's strategic capacity. In this interpretation, the power of the union vis-à-vis a weak government, coupled with the union's own weakness as a corporate actor, gave rise to an accelerated process of institutional decline under the UDP government. This process was marked by the increasing prevalence of particularist and partial rationalities over the collective rationality, taking Bolivia to a Hobbesian situation, in which any actor capable of imposing a new order – however authoritarian or exclusive – would enjoy widespread support and legitimacy.


Purpose of review Diagnosis and management of tuberculosis (TB) remains challenging and complex because of the heterogeneity of disease presentations. Despite effective treatment, TB disease can lead to significant short-and long-term health consequences. We review potential acute and chronic complications of TB disease and current management approaches. Recent findings Acute and subacute complications of TB disease are attributable to structural damage or vascular compromise caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, as well as metabolic abnormalities and host inflammatory responses. TB-related sepsis is a life-threatening acute complication for which current diagnostic and management approaches are likely inadequate. Therapeutic intensification and usage of immunomodulators are areas of ongoing research. Paradoxical reaction or symptom worsening during TB treatment may benefit from corticosteroids. Despite successful cure of TB, chronic complications can arise from anatomic alterations at disease sites. Examples include mycetomas developing within residual TB cavities, impaired pulmonary function, or focal neurologic deficits from tuberculomas. Summary Effective management of TB requires attention to potential structural, metabolic, vascular, and infectious complications. In some instances, individualizing treatment regimens may be necessary. Imunosuppression and other host factors predispose to complications; others occur despite adequate treatment. Public health TB programs and health systems require additional resources to provide comprehensive TB and post-TB care.


Arctic permafrost coasts make up about one third of the global coastline and are likely to witness some of the most dramatic changes linked to changing environmental conditions in the 21st century. Increasing sea level, warming sea temperatures, longer open water season and increasing open-water area all bear the potential to increase the frequency of storm surges impacting the coasts and inducing coastal erosion. The consequences are obvious to the human eye in the form of threats to community and industry infrastructure, especially on ice-rich coasts like the southern Laptev Sea and the southern Beaufort Sea but they are also palpable in the impact on sediment and nutrient pathways in the nearshore zone. Coastal erosion delivers annually just as much particulate organic carbon to the ocean as rivers do if not more. These large quantities of carbon are released from the coast throughout the thaw season, contrary to arctic rivers which unleash most of their sediment laden during the spring discharge peak. The current knowledge on carbon release from coastal erosion is scarce, despite the availability of these quantitative estimations at the global level. Coastal erosion, ground ice contents, coastal geomorphology vary greatly spatially and make it difficult to estimate the amount of organic carbon being released locally as well as its impact on the nearshore environment. I this study, we show results from two studies conducted in the southern Laptev Sea, along the shore of the Bykovsky Peninsula, and in the southern Beaufort Sea, along the Yukon Coastal Plain and show the challenges associated with the computation of carbon budgets for coastal areas. We selected these two areas because they are both ice-rich, yet of a very different stratigraphic nature, one being made of syngenetic ground ice (Laptev Sea), the other of epigenetic ice (Beaufort Sea). We emphasize the need to consider the whole coastal stratigraphic column, including its subaqueous part, in the computation, as well as the role of coastal thermokarst, the inclusion of ground ice and difficulty in finding adequate geospatial datasets to perform envelope calculations.


There is little research into online trolling on platforms with anonymity and geolocation features. On platforms such as Jodel, Whisper, and Yik Yak, anonymity may trigger online trolling and deviant behaviors, but geolocation features may hinder these behaviors through the imposition of territorial community norms and composition. Our study aims to address this gap through content analysis of 3,697 unique posts on Yik Yak, an anonymous geolocal platform that ceased to exist in 2017. Based on code co-occurrence, we found that trolling posts frequently include community-harming behaviors, such as insults, snark, and the use of vulgar language, and are more likely than other posts to include memes and vulgar language. We also found that territorial community events mediated the extent of community-building and community-harming behaviors, which increased or decreased on the platform according to changes in community composition context. Thus, we conclude that sociotechnical features of the platform in dynamic contexts affected online trolling behaviors by enabling and constraining manifestations of community-harming and community-building behaviors.


Constructing compilers is hard. Optimising compilers are multi-million dollar projects spanning years of development, yet remain unable to fully exploit the available performance, and are prone to bugs. The rapid transition to heterogeneous parallelism and diverse architectures has raised demand for aggressively-optimising compilers to an all time high, leaving compiler developers struggling to keep up. What is needed are better tools to simplify compiler construction. This thesis presents new techniques that dramatically lower the cost of compiler construction, while improving robustness and performance. The enabling insight for this research is the leveraging of deep learning to model the correlations between source code and program behaviour, enabling tasks which previously required significant engineering effort to be automated. This is demonstrated in three domains: First, a generative model for compiler benchmarks is developed. The model requires no prior knowledge of programming languages, yet produces output of such quality that professional software developers cannot distinguish generated from handwritten programs. The efficacy of the generator is demonstrated by supplementing the training data of predictive models for compiler optimisations. The generator yields an automatic improvement in heuristic performance, and exposes weaknesses in state-ofthe-art approaches which, when corrected, yield further performance improvements. Second, a compiler fuzzer is developed which is far simpler than prior techniques. By learning a generative model rather than engineering a generator from scratch, it is implemented in 100× fewer lines of code than the state-of-the-art, yet is capable of exposing bugs which prior techniques cannot. An extensive testing campaign reveals 67 new bugs in OpenCL compilers, many of which have now been fixed. Finally, this thesis addresses the challenge of feature design. A methodology for learning compiler heuristics is presented that, in contrast to prior approaches, learns directly over the raw textual representation of programs. The approach outperforms state-of-the-art models with hand-engineered features in two challenging optimisation domains, without requiring any expert guidance. Additionally, the methodology enables models trained in one task to be adapted to perform another, permitting the novel transfer of information between optimisation problem domains. The techniques developed in these three contrasting domains demonstrate the exciting potential of deep learning to simplify and improve compiler construction. The outcomes of this thesis enable new lines of research to equip compiler developers to keep up with the rapidly evolving landscape of heterogeneous architectures.


Background: Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is a frequent disorder that is associated with many serious diseases. However, the findings of an evaluation of IDA-associated gastrointestinal disorders are lacking among African American patients. Aim: To determine the most prevalent gastrointestinal lesions among African American patients with IDA especially in young men. Methods: We reviewed medical records (n = 422) of patients referred for evaluation of IDA from 2008 to 2012. Iron deficiency anemia was diagnosed using clinical laboratory tests. The results of esophagogastroduodenoscopy, colonoscopy, and pathology specimens along with demographic data were abstracted and analyzed using Stata. Results: The mean age was 61.9 years, and 50.5% were women. In total, 189 patients (45%) had gross gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding. The most frequent diagnoses were gastritis (40%), benign colonic lesions (13%), esophagitis (9%), gastric ulcer (6%), and duodenitis (6%). GI bleeding was significantly more frequent in men (P = 0.001). Benign and malignant colonic lesions were significantly more present among older patients: 16% vs 6% (P = .005) and 5% vs 0% (P = .008), respectively. Colitis was more prevalent in younger patients (⩽50): 11% vs 2% (P = .001). In patients with gross lower GI bleeding, the top diagnoses were gastritis (25%), benign colon tumors (10%), and duodenitis (6%). Colon cancer was diagnosed among 15 patients, and all these patients were older than 50 years of age. Conclusions: Gastritis and colonic lesions are most common associated lesions with IDA among African Americans. So bidirectional endoscopy is required for unrevealing of the cause of IDA in asymptomatic patients.


The extrahaustorial membrane (EHM) is a host-derived interfacial membrane encasing the haustorium of powdery mildew fungi. Arabidopsis thaliana RESISTANCE TO POWDERY MILDEW 8.2 (RPW8.2) is specifically targeted to the EHM via two EHM-targeting signals. Here, we demonstrate that proper coordination between the trafficking forces engaged via the EHM-targeting signals and the nuclear localization signals (NLSs), as well as the nuclear export signals (NESs), in RPW8.2 is critical for the activation of cell death and defense. We show that in the absence of pathogens, RPW8.2 is partitioned between the cytoplasm and the nucleus, and turned over via both the 26S proteasome- and the vacuole-dependent pathways. Enhanced cytoplasmic localization of RPW8.2 by tagging it with a NES led to lethal cell death. By contrast, enhanced nuclear localization of RPW8.2 by adding an NLS to it resulted in resistance to powdery mildew. Whereas expression of the NES-containing C-terminal domain of RPW8.2 in the cytoplasm is sufficient to trigger cell death, no such cell death-inducing activity is found with RPW8.2 variants that contain the two EHM-targeting signals along with the NES-containing C-terminal domain. In addition, we present evidence for the involvement of a leaf senescence pathway in RPW8.2-mediated cell death and defense. Taken together, our data suggest that RPW8.2 is subject to adjustment by distinct and perhaps coordinated mechanisms for its localization and function via interaction with the multiple intramolecular trafficking signals, which should provide further insights into RPW8.2-activated, EHM-focused resistance against powdery mildew.


The novel human coronavirus (CoV) 2019, similar to previous severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus-1 outbreaks, has posed the unprecedented challenges that have shaped global action on preventive and easy to employ measures and policies, including regular disinfection. There is an indiscriminate use of antimicrobial agents, which may pose toxicity to humans, environmental hazards, and, in some cases, development antiviral drug resistance. This review comprehensively highlights the physical and chemical countermeasures applied to prevent various CoV infections and their potential toxicity on humans and the environment, as well as the danger of developing drug resistance. Literature information was sourced from PubMed, ScienceDirect, Embase, MEDLINE, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases using Google Scholars and Free Full PDF as search engines. Articles written in the English language were retrieved and included in the study. Researches covering the literature on physical and chemical severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus-2 preventive measures, their toxicity, and possible ways of developing drug resistance were also discussed. The literature review reveals that physical inactivation under the influence of temperature, humidity, and light, especially ultraviolet-C radiation, has proven effective in reducing the spread of CoV infections. Similarly, chemical countermeasures such as the use of alcohol- and iodine-based disinfecting agents have demonstrated inhibitory potentials of the viruses on surfaces depending on nature, dose, and exposure time. The inactivation occurs through the interference of these agents with the lipid envelope, thereby disrupting the viral activity. A vast majority of the antimicrobial agents are reported to contain corrosive chemicals that are toxic to humans, especially children, and the environment. The toxicity is due to the unhealthy accumulation and pollution caused by the inappropriate disposal of biomedical waste. This study showed that chemicals might have long-term effects on public health, such as reproductive disorders, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancers, skin damage, and central nervous system impairment. Therefore, further research on long-term preventive alternatives such as the formulation of these agents with natural products as active ingredients is necessary to mitigate the effects of alcohol- and iodine-based chemicals on humans and the environment. © 2022. Sani Yahaya Najib et al.


Autophagy is an essential catabolic pathway responsible for the maintenance of organismal homeostasis. Degradation of damaged organelles and proteinaceous aggregates predominantly takes place via autophagy and a proper function of autophagy is vital for cellular surveillance. Given their postmitotic nature, neurons are particularly vulnerable to stress and, consequently, robust housekeeping systems are required to guarantee the adequate functionality and viability of neurons. A vast literature links defective autophagic function to neurodegenerative diseases and dietary/pharmacological activation of autophagy has been proposed as potential strategy to fight these diseases. Here we summarize the recent progress on the research of neuronal autophagy highlighting the unique features of autophagy in neurons. In the last section, we discuss about therapeutic strategies modulating autophagy to preserve neuronal surveillance during aging.


Summary
1. Recent bark beetle outbreaks in North America and Europe have impacted forested landscapes
and the provisioning of critical ecosystem services. The scale and intensity of many
recent outbreaks are widely believed to be unprecedented.
2. The effects of bark beetle outbreaks on ecosystems are often measured in terms of area
affected, host tree mortality rates, and alterations to forest structure and composition.
3. Impacts to human systems focus on changes in property valuation, infrastructure damage
from falling trees, landscape aesthetics, and the quality and quantity of timber and water
resources.
4. To advance our understanding of bark beetle impacts, we assembled a team of ecologists,
land managers and social scientists to participate in a research prioritization workshop.
5. Synthesis and applications. We identified 25 key questions by using an established methodology
to identify priorities for research into the impacts of bark beetles. Our efforts emphasize
the need to improve outbreak monitoring and detection, educate the public on the
ecological role of bark beetles, and develop integrated metrics that facilitate comparison of
ecosystem services across sites.


This article focuses on an application of the Triandis Model in researching Internet usage and the intention to use Internet. Unlike other TAM-based studies undertaken to date, the Triandis Model offers a sociological account of interaction between the various factors, particularly attitude, intention, and behavior. The technique of Structural Equation Modeling was used to assess the impact those factors have on intention to use the Internet in accordance with the relationships posited by the Triandis Model. The survey was administered to Croatian undergraduate students at and employed individuals. The survey results are compared to the results of a similar survey that was carried out by two universities in Hong Kong.


During the summer of 2018, a team of community members, led by University of Idaho Extension, performed a Rapid Market Assessment (RMA) of the Moscow Farmers Market, located in Moscow, Idaho. The RMA data was used by University of Idaho faculty to conduct an economic assessment of the Moscow Farmers Market using IMPact Analysis for PLANing (IMPLAN). The purpose of the study was to understand the economic footprint of the market, including estimating the market's economic contribution to the City of Moscow's investment in market operations and management and the economic contributions to the local economy in Latah County, Idaho. It is clear from this analysis that the Moscow Farmers Market is a significant asset to the City of Moscow and has significant positive direct and indirect contributions to the local economy. With the rise of COVID-19, it is important that the success of the Moscow Farmers Market be monitored, and that support be provided to market vendors and downtown shops to ensure their rebound post-pandemic.


In order to simulate the polyhedral grain nucleation in alloys, 3-D cell population growth processes are studied in space-filling periodic cellular systems. We discussed two different methods by which space-filling polyhedral cellular systems can be constructed by topological transformations performed on "stable" 3-D cellular systems. It has been demonstrated that an infinite sequence of stable periodic space-filling polyhedral systems can be generated by means of a simple recursion procedure based on a vertex based tetrahedron insertion. On the basis of computed results it is conjectured that in a 3-D periodic, topologically stable cellular system the minimum value of the average face number 〈f〉 of polyhedral cells is larger than eight (i.e. 〈f〉 > 8). The outlined algorithms (which are based on cell decomposition and/or cell nucleation) provide a new perspective to simulate grain population growth processes in materials with polyhedral microstructure.


Historically, the spice sector (consisting mainly of cinnamon, pepper, clove, cardamom, nutmeg and mace) has played a key role in the economy of Sri Lanka In the current international trading situation; the sector is facing several challenges and threats related to spice marketing. The traditional value chain of spice in Sri Lanka is characterized by decentralized purchasing, low quality product, wastage, low price , low essential oil quality, bad pre harvest technology and post harvest technology and presence of a number of intermediaries without value adding to functions, such as village collectors, village traders, wholesale buyers, commission agents and auction brokers. This has resulted in low value adding in the supply chain and brand deterioration. In the international spice trade ongoing changes are occurring in the export procurement systems and world trade agreements in terms of increased quality, food safety due to the development of high quality, high value demanded market. These factors have created a new demand pattern shifting the focus towards continuous supply of high quality and safe value added products with improved processing technology & packaging. The impact of modem and restructured markets has a number of repercussions on farmers who are unable to keep up with emerging marketing trends. This situation has triggered the need for new innovative processing practices and appropriate technologies working with farmers in improving their ability to face restructured market conditions. The research primarily focuses on the qualitative, descriptive analysis of the problem. The locations Matale district is selected in terms of provincial secretary divisions. There are some limitations due to time frame and human errors. Research is an empirical study conducted with four objectives, namely; (a) the post harvest technology of spices in the perspectives of Quality management, "Food safety, Technology management. (b) the current Spice industry situation against global competition.(c) strengths and weaknesses to propose basics of a niche marketing strategy. (d) key factors to develop Ceylon spices as a reputed brand. Assessment of the post harvest technology evidently indicated that there is a general degradation in most of the factors related to quality, food safety, and technology management. The quality parameters which are recommend by the American Spice Traders Association (ASTA) such as macro cleanliness, microbial load, pesticides metal contamination and aflatoxin possibility of contamination in pre harvest and post harvest operations is high due to ineffective handling of the pre and post harvest processes. The model practices set by ISO 22000/HACCP is not complied with in the current practices of pre harvest and post harvest operations. The overall conclusion of the study is that it is necessary to launch a holistic action plan to overcome these unhealthy practices. There is a considerable deficiency of the current spice industry situation against global competition. In the analysis of form basics of niche marketing strategy it is clearly evident that Sri Lankan spices are quite popular in the world market due to its intrinsic quality and therefore international marketing can be done by capitalizing on this aspect. There is provision in recent international trade agreements on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to form geographical areas based on brand name for agricultural products. There is a good brand in a true cinnamon market as Ceylon Cinnamon. Forming a Ceylon Spice brand is not much of a challenge if the recommendations of the researcher are given


Necrotic enteritis (NE) has re-emerged following restriction of antimicrobial usage and costs $6 billion every year worldwide. The primary objective of the studies was to evaluate prevention and treatment of NE using a microbiota metabolic product, secondary bile acid deoxycholic acid (DCA), in drinking water. Day-old birds were tagged and placed in floor pens. In experiments 1 and 2, the birds were infected with Eimeria maxima (Em) at d 18 and C. perfringens at d 23 and 24 and the birds were euthanized at d 26. In experiment 3, birds were infected with Eimeria at d 20 and C. perfringens at d 25 and 26 and euthanized at d 27. DCA was administered in drinking water at 1.91, 0.95, or 0.48 mM, respectively. Small intestinal content and tissue were collected for histopathology and molecular study. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA followed by t-test. NE birds in experiment 1 developed subclinical signs of NE, while NE birds in experiment 3 suffered acute NE. DCA at 1.91 mM attenuated the BWG loss in experiments 1 and 3. Consistently, it reduced NE-induced intestinal histopathology in experiments 1 and 3. However, in experiment 2 because of minimal body weight alteration in Em and NE birds compared to noninfected birds, no tissue was collected. DCA reduced NE-induced expression of inflammatory gene Infγ in experiment 1. Similarly, DCA reduced elevation of NE-associated C. perfringens luminal colonization in experiment 1. Using targeted metabolomics (LC-MS/MS) of bile acids, we found that NE was associated with reduction of total bile acids in ileal content. The second objective of the studies was to examine improvement of broiler chickens growth through modulating gut microbiota. Mouse specific pathogen free (SPF) stool was cultured on Brain Heart Infusion (BHI) agar under anaerobic or aerobic condition and collected as SPF anaerobic (SPF-Anaero) and aerobic (SPF-Aero) microbiota. Day-old birds were tagged, weighed and randomly assigned to 9 pens. The birds were then orally gavaged with PBS, 10 CFU/bird SPF-Anaero, or 10 CFU/bird SPF-Aero. Body weight was measured at d 0, 14, and d 28, and euthanized at d 28. Data was analyzed using one-way ANOVA followed by t-test. Birds colonized with SPF-Anaero grew 15% heavier during d 0-14 (28 vs. 24 g/day/bird, P= 0.0009) compared to control birds, while birds colonized with SPF-Aero gained 8% more body weight compared to control birds (26 vs. 24 g/day /bird, P= 0.02). Consistently, SPF-Anaero birds grew faster compared to control birds during d14-28 (67 vs. 60 g/day/bird, P= 0.007). SPF-Anaero and SPFAero birds grew 15 and 4%, respectively, heavier on accumulative body weight gain compared to control birds (47 vs. 42 g/day/bird, P= 0.0009; 44 vs. 42 g/day/bird, P= 0.03, respectively). In conclusion, microbial metabolic product DCA in drinking water prevents NE-induced BWG reduction and histopathology, perhaps through reducing C. perfringens colonization and/or bile acid restoration. Modulating microbiota could be used as an antimicrobial free alternative to improve bird body weight gain. These findings may offer an alternative strategy to use of DCA and microbiota for NE prevention and growth promotion.


Objective: In today's work environment, specifically in health care, mindfulness is a personal and professional strategy to improve performance and productivity. To influence the patient and care team hospital experience through the concepts of mindfulness and perception. Methods: This was a prospective observational project completed by medical/surgical nurses using an online survey pre- and post an educational program and an aggregate score of the 5 nurse-sensitive questions on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey, a survey based in the United States that is mailed to patients post discharge to home to measure patient satisfaction with their hospitalization. The HCAHPS survey is a patient satisfaction survey required by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for all hospitals in the United States. The purpose of the HCAHPS survey is to provide a standardized survey instrument and data collection methodology for measuring patients' perspectives on their hospital care and hospital experience. Results: The aggregate nurse-sensitive HCAHPS scores increased from 85.5 to 89.8 over one month. For mindfulness, after the educational program, among the ten nurse survey questions the percentage went up as much as 0.57%. Conclusions: An educational program related to the benefits of mindfulness can positively effect nurses' engagement in the workplace and positively increase HCAHPS scores. Continuing education on mindfulness should carry over month to month. In this research project, participants provided feedback to the researcher of feeling empowered to bring in new ideas, present different ways to grow, and tackle challenges.


Abstract Heat transfer to an oscillating vertical annular flow through a porous material is investigated experimentally. The flow media includes stationary stainless steel wool filter and monoethylene glycol (which is known as a coolant, heat transfer agent or antifreeze) as the working fluid. Reciprocating forced oscillations are imposed on the single-phase monoethylene glycol via a frequency controlled dc motor and a piston-cylinder device where displacement amplitude is kept constant. Electrical heater occupies the inner section of the vertical annulus which provides constant heat flux. The analysis is carried out for two different heat fluxes and for five different frequencies and the effect of these on the temperature field and resultant heat convection coefficient are studied. A cycle and space averaged Nusselt number correlation is fitted which is useful in predicting rate of heat transfer from oscillating flows through highly porous and permeable solid media (such as in filters) at low actuation frequencies and at low heat flux rates. Developed correlation equation is validated for monoethylene glycol, glycerol and water. Oscillatory antifreeze flow in porous filter is proposed as a remedy for the limited thermal conductivity of the water-monoethylene glycol solution. These results also have possible applications in fluid pumping technology in converting of low-grade thermal energy to pumping work.


This thesis analyses discourses of national identity and the nation, using the case study of New Zealand. The main empirical data are 'ordinary talk', from 41 New Zealanders interviewed in London in late 1994 and early 1995. The thesis investigates the work which is done in participants' talk by constructions of national identity and the nation. The first major focus is how national identity is used in the construction of self-identity. The analysis includes different ways of understanding the 'self', the interpretative resources available for the construction of an identity as a New Zealander, including alternative categories and positive and negative stereotypes, and the way that speakers position themselves in relation to New Zealand and other New Zealanders. A second focus is how constructions of nation and the national do ideological work around contentious issues, that is, work which has implications for relationships of power and authority in a broad socio-economic context and which tends to silence and delegitimise certain voices and identities, especially by establishing and reinforcing certain practices and relationships as 'normal' and therefore invisible and/or uncontentious. Finally the thesis considers how such constructions accommodate changes which are frequently associated with globalization and a decline in the relevance of the nation state. These changes include the reduced state provision of services, resulting from the reduction or abandonment of 'welfare state' policies; challenges from new migrants and from an indigenous minority to the status of the dominant population group; and the opening of national borders to both investment and migration. The analysis shows the continuing salience and ideological relevance of national identity


Oxygen vacancies are widely investigated because they are a vital factor in semiconductor photocatalysis. The formation of oxygen vacancies mainly depends on a reduction method with a complicated process which causes environmental pollution. In this research, a precursor with deficient oxygen atoms was selected and the amount of reacted oxygen used to form the defected target product was limited, which is an novel and environmentally friendly solid-state strategy to create oxygen vacancies in situ on the surface or into the bulk lattice of titanium dioxide (TiO2) without using any reducing gases and reductive reagents. In particular, the precursor of ammonium oxofluorotitanate (NH4TiOF3) containing only one oxygen atom was designed and synthesized, and then, the amount of oxygen atoms was controlled to react with the titanium atoms in the as-created precursor. Finally, both the internal and exterior oxygen vacancies were simultaneously introduced into TiO2. The obtained photocatalyst, BNC, has a better photocatalytic performance for degradation than the photocatalyst BN5-NH obtained using traditional means of reduction. The photocatalytic degradation rate of BNC for model organic contaminants reached 95% after 12 min illumination. The photocatalytic performance was not obviously weakened after 15 months of use. This work provides a new and environmentally friendly method to create the surface or bulk oxygen vacancies for semiconductor materials, and may prepare the way for the design and synthesis of new and diverse defective materials for various applications.


ABSTRACT This article undertakes an analysis of the symbolism present in the architecture and design in nineteenth century British banking. It focuses upon the headquarters of National Provincial Bank of England, which was built in the 1860s. It explores the symbols and messages that those at the bank wished to communicate to those that viewed the building. The analysis finds that those at the bank impressed its national identity, achieved through its extensive branch network, as its key message which differentiated it from its rivals. Other symbols emphasized that it had adapted to the local market and was equal in terms of competency and richness in comparison to its competitors. We argue that these messages became part of the organization's identity and its brand, as well as the culture of the City of London more broadly. The article provides a new explanation for symbolic meanings represented by bank architecture. It integrates the existing discussion of bank architecture in historical research with the theoretical frameworks and literature being developed in organizational identity and branding.


In order to interact with people in a natural way, a robot must be able to link words to objects and actions. Although previous studies in the literature have investigated grounding, they did not consider grounding of unknown synonyms. In this paper, we introduce a probabilistic model for grounding unknown synonymous object and action names using cross-situational learning. The proposed Bayesian learning model uses four different word representations to determine synonymous words. Afterwards, they are grounded through geometric characteristics of objects and kinematic features of the robot joints during action execution. The proposed model is evaluated through an interaction experiment between a human tutor and HSR robot. The results show that semantic and syntactic information both enable grounding of unknown synonyms and that the combination of both achieves the best grounding.


Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) and their receptors (FGF receptors) constitute a signalling system conserved throughout animal evolution. Most members of the FGF family signal across adjacent tissue boundaries and are essential for a variety of developmental and physiological processes. One subfamily of vertebrate FGFs, that may have originated in primitive chordates, appears to have evolved novel functions within neurons. Another subfamily of FGFs has acquired hormone-like properties, regulating physiological processes in the adult.

Keywords:

fibroblast growth factor (FGF);
FGF receptor tyrosine kinase (FGFR);
endocrine hormone;
heparin/heparan sulfate;
neurophysiology;
klotho


Myocardial infarction is a leading cause of death among all cardiovascular diseases. Cell therapies using a cell population enriched with endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), expanded CD133+ cells, have promise as a therapeutic option for the treatment of ischemic areas after infarction. Recently, secreted membrane vesicles, including exosomes and microvesicles, have been recognized as new therapeutic candidates with important roles in intercellular and tissue communication. Expanded CD133+ cells have the ability to produce extracellular vesicles (EVs); however, their effect in the context of the heart is unknown. In the present study, we evaluated the effectiveness of the systemic application of expanded CD133+ cells and expanded CD133+ cell-derived EVs for the treatment of ischemic cardiomyopathy in a rat model of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and examined the hypothesis that the EVs, because of their critical role in transferring regenerative signals from stem cells to the injured tissues, might elicit an equal or better therapeutic response than the expanded CD133+ cells. We demonstrate that the systemic application of expanded CD133+ cells and EVs has similar effects in infarcted rats. Few animals per group showed improvements in several heart and kidney parameters analyzed, but not significant differences were observed when comparing the groups. The systemic route may not be effective to treat ischemic cardiomyopathy; nonetheless, it may be a beneficial therapy to treat the side effects of AMI such as kidney damage.