In the same way that the Web has evolved from being a technology designed to aid scientific collaboration to one which is employed extensively in e-business and increasingly in e-learning, the Grid is also evolving from its original concept as a highly distributed dynamic source of computing resources "on tap", like the power grid, for e-science, to a means of supporting enterprise computing across heterogeneous, distributed, virtual organisations. However, even the most recent ideas associated with the Grid, as represented by the Open Grid Services Architecture (OGSA) have not yet explicitly addressed e-learning. Considerable experience has been gained over recent years through the development, deployment and management of Distributed Learning Environments (DLEs). This paper draws upon that experience to summarise Quality of Service (QoS) for e-learning, and discusses how these can be supported by the OGSA.


In recent years, there have been significant improvements in models for predicting the properties of the radiated sound when the time‐varying configurations of the vocal tract and laryngeal structures are known. These advances have been especially evident for models of consonant production, for which there are rapid movements of the articulators and consequent rapid changes in the properties of the sound. Experience gained with these models has made it possible to infer articulatory and laryngeal configurations and movements from appropriate measurements of the sound. Several examples are given to illustrate how these inferences can be made. These include: (1) detailed measurements of the changing spectra of frication and aspiration noise at the release of a stop consonant to infer the position and rate of release of the major articulator and the changes in the laryngeal configuration; (2) measurements to indicate the time course of the velopharyngeal opening; and (3) measurements from which the glottal configuration can be estimated. [Research supported in part by the NIH.]


CRISPR/Cas9 is now regularly used for targeted mutagenesis in a wide variety of systems. Here we report the use of ribozymes for the generation of gRNAs both in vitro and in zebrafish embryos. We show that incorporation of ribozymes increases the types of promoters and number of target sites available for mutagenesis without compromising mutagenesis efficiency. We have tested this by comparing the efficiency of mutagenesis of gRNA constructs with and without ribozymes and also generated a transgenic zebrafish expressing gRNA using a heat shock promoter (RNA polymerase II-dependent promoter) that was able to induce mutagenesis of its target. Our method provides a streamlined approach to test gRNA efficiency as well as increasing the versatility of conditional gene knock out in zebrafish.


HISTORY
A 10-year-old North Indian boy presented with swelling of multiple joints in his hands for the past 3 years. This swelling involved the small joints of his hands and some restriction of joint movement, without any associated tenderness or morning stiffness. No other joints were symptomatically involved. Prior to visiting our hospital, he had received disease-modifying antirheumatoid drugs for suspected juvenile idiopathic arthritis, without any clinical benefit. On examination, the metacarpophalangeal and interphalangeal joints were nontender but had swelling and flexion deformities. He also had a short stature (below the third centile) for his age. Inflammatory markers, including erythrocyte sedimentation rate (7 mm per hour; normal range, 0-22 mm per hour) and C-reactive protein level (1.5 mg/L; normal level, <10 mg/L), were normal, and the rheumatoid factor test result was negative. A skeletal survey of the patient was performed.


Introduction Previous research in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection indicates that hypogonadism is common in men with HIV infection, and may be the first or most sensitive endocrine abnormality. We examined the prevalence of hypogonadism and its association with some related factors among a group of HIV+ Patients in Shiraz-Iran. Material and method: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 222 male HIV-positive patients referred to Shiraz voluntary counselling centre were recruited based on convenience sampling from May to October 2010. All patients provided informed consent and blood samples were collected after an overnight fast to measure free testosterone (FT) concentration, HGB, LH, FSH, and Prolactine. The body mass index (BMI) of all patients was also measured. Results The mean age of the participants was 37.4 ± 7.4 years. Fifty four (24.32%) of the patients had developed AIDS, 180 (64%) were HCV-positive and 23 (8.3%) were HBS-positive. About 42% of participants were on MMT programme. According to the BMI, 15.1% were underweight, 7.6% were overweight, and 0.4% was obese. Based on free testosterone (FT) level, 66.8% had hypogonadism and among them 30.8% were primary and 69.1% were secondary Hypogonadism. We divided participants to Hypogonadal(n = 84) and ugonadal(n = 133) groups. Based on univariate regression analysis, the results showed that decreased FT level were associated with age, methadone use (OR = 1.74, CI: 0.97–3.1), LH (OR = 0.91CI: 0.87–0.95), HGB (OR = 0.788, CI: 0.69–0.89), BMI (OR = 0.88, CI: 0.79–0.98) and PRL(OR = 1.18(CI: 1.09–1.28) but FT had not significant association with Diabetes, Smoking, Hepatitis and being on AIDS stage. Conclusions The prevalence of hypogonadism was high. Increasing age, high level of serum Proloctine, lower body mass index and anaemia were associated with hypogonadism. Increasing one unit of LH and HGB could have a protective effect on hypogonadism.


This text is not a research paper, nor an epistemological reflection about the field of comparative education. It is an essay in the literal meaning of the word—'an attempt, trial, that needs to be put to test in order to understand if it is able to fulfil the expectations'—in which we introduce an interpretation of the current condition of the field of comparative education. In the introduction to this essay we discuss the current phenomenon of a regained popularity of comparative educational research. We believe that this situation has both positive and negative consequences: it can contribute to the renewal of the field or it may be no more than a brief fashion. Our reflections focus on the uses of comparative research in education, not on any precise research question. Even so, only for illustrative purposes, we present some examples related to the European Union. We then go on to discuss current comparative practices, arguing that comparative educational studies are used as a political tool creating educational policy, rather than a research method or an intellectual inquiry. In the two main sections of this text we define two extreme positions: comparison as a mode of governance and comparison as a historical journey. We do recognise that between these two extremes there is room enough to imagine different positions and dispositions. But our intention is to separate very different traditions of the comparative field analytically. Throughout the article we build a case in favour of a comparative-historical approach. Nevertheless, we argue that the reconciliation between 'history' and 'comparison' will only be possible if we adopt new conceptions of space and time, and of space-time relationship. This is a condition required for the understanding of comparative research in education as a historical journey.


Prostate Cancer (PCa) is one of the leading medical issues faced by men worldwide and is the most prevalent cancer diagnosed in men in both Europe and the United
States. Some prostatic cancers present as an indolent disease with no clinical symptoms during the lifetime of the patient, and in many cases, men die with the
disease rather than from it (insignificant PCa). However, for some PCa patients the disease takes a much more aggressive route, spreading into the seminal vesicles,
bladder, and rectum and further metastasising to the lymph nodes, bone and other organs. Measurement of prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels in serum is routinely used for PCa diagnosis and monitoring disease progression (Lilja, H., et al. 1987; J. Clin. Invest 80: 281-285). Conversely, PSA levels can also rise as a result of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) and hence this marker provides little or no insight into the biology of an individual's prostatic disorder. There is no outright test that can distinguish between significant and insignificant disease. There is an unmet need for
better biomarkers to stratify patients into the most appropriate treatment option for their individual prostatic disease. The overall aim of this research was to generate PCa-specific antibodies, namely anti-prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) and anti-secreted frizzled related protein-2 (SFRP2) antibodies, for application in Immunohistochemistry (IHC) to enhance or improve prostate cancer diagnosis.
Using a specific targeting strategy, anti-SFRP-2 and anti-PSMA fragment antibodies were successfully produced and characterised. The generation and characterisation
approach applied required a combination of the use of a novel antigen expression strategy (for the production of SFRP2), high-throughput assay screening with 'stateof-the-art' multiplexed surface-plasmon resonance-based instrumentation and standard analytical techniques. The selected recombinant antibodies were demonstrated to match the performance of current commercially available polyclonal antibodies.
In addition, the use of bispecific antibodies for therapeutic and diagnostic application was described and the first step in 'proof-of-concept' studies establishing a novel bispecific antibody generation approach is presented.


The objective of this work is to define best practices in the management of geothermal exploration data. This study builds on a questionnaire to survey the geothermal data management practices in mature geothermal markets. The inquiry targeted public Regulatory entities with overview of geothermal resources as well as public and private developers. Topics covered in the questionnaire range from the country status to the database set up. The questionnaire focused on the specifications, usage and investments required for installing/maintaining information systems capable of managing exploration data. In addition, information on the different regulatory frameworks and company policies for managing/sharing exploration data has been gathered to identify the requirements imposed on the design of information systems. The responses were analyzed to identify commonalities in data management practices. They reveal that installing an Information System (IS) is the best practice to systematically and securely manage exploration data. They also provide recommendations with respect to the regulatory framework, data types, data collection methodologies, data storage, data quality control, data accessibility and dissemination, IS architecture, financial investments and human resources required to develop a state-of-the art IS. These results will guide the design of future technical assistance programs for beneficiaries of World Bank support to geothermal exploration activities and it is our belief that they will be beneficial for the geothermal sector at large.


The Karadere area to the east of Safranbolu in NW Anatolia is one of the very few localities in Turkey where the contact between the Cadomian basement and the Lower Palaeozoic transgressive succession is well exposed. The Ordovician graptolite Rhabdinopora flabelliformis (Eichwald) ssp. was found in the basal part of the Bakacak Formation, indicating an Early to early Late Tremadocian age for the beginning of the Palaeozoic transgression in the Zonguldak terrane. A few metres above this occurrence, another horizon contains Paradelograptus cf. antiquus (T. S. Hall), which mainly ranges into the Late Tremadocian. Higher up in the Ordovician succession, a new graptolite bed confirms an early Darriwilian (Dw1) age for the middle part of the Karadere Formation with the occurrence of the biozonal index Levisograptus austrodentatus (Harris & Keble) and the first record of Tetragraptus cor (Strandmark) in the area. The palaeobiogeographic distribution of these Karadere fossils is in agreement with a peri-Gondwanan affinity of the Zonguldak Terrane of the Pontides, NW Anatolia, during the Early-Middle Ordovician.


Eva Gore-Booth was born on 22 May 1870 into a wealthy Anglo-Irish family in the West of Ireland. The Gore-Booth's owned Lissadell House, a seventy-two roomed Greek revival mansion situated on a 32,000 acre estate in county Sligo. Eva's parents were conscientious landlords and when a second wave of famine swept across the area, during the winter of 1879-80, they opened their food store for any tenant in need. This sense of responsibility for others less fortunate was to have an impact on the Gore-Booth children old enough to appreciate this event. The eldest of the Gore-Booth children, Constance, later Countess Markievicz, was to become a significant figure in the fight for Irish independence and a most accomplished Minister for Labour in the first Dail Eireann. Eva's older brother, Josslyn, became an influential advocate of co-operative farming in Ireland and worked closely with the agricultural reformer, Horace Plunket. Eva rejected her aristocratic life-style and moved to the industrial city of Manchester in 1897 where she lived and worked amongst the working classes, many of whom were Irish emigrants.
While in Manchester Gore-Booth became a successful and resourceful trade unionist and social reformer. She established unions for women workers previously ignored by mainstream organisations. In particular, she supported women in occupations thought to be morally precarious such as barmaids, circus performers, flower-sellers and pit-brow lasses. In her most infamous campaign, protecting the rights of women to work as barmaids, she orchestrated the defeat of no less an adversary than Winston Churchill. Due to her determined political campaigning she ousted Churchill from his Manchester constituency at a 1908 by-election, at a time when women had no entitlement to vote in general elections. Gore-Booth worked tirelessly for women's suffrage and played an instrumental role in achieving votes for women. As well as her union work and suffrage campaigns, Gore-Booth authored nineteen volumes of published poetry, philosophical prose and drama. She was a persistent contributor to newspapers and journals as well as writing, sometimes politically contentious, pamphlets.
During World War One, Gore-Booth became a militant pacifist supporting conscientious objectors and publishing highly controversial condemnations of the war. Adopting a pacifist stance in England at this time was a particularly defiant act. Gore-Booth was at risk of appearing unpatriotic or worse labelled as a German sympathiser. She was a dedicated champion of Irish independence and in the wake of the Easter Rising, she supported the families of men killed during the insurrection, most notably Michael Mallin's wife, Agnes, and Francis Sheehy-Skeffington's wife, Hannah. Gore-Booth launched a campaign for the reprieve of Roger Casement's death sentence, which although ultimately unsuccessful, gained international attention.
Gore-Booth became particularly concerned about capital punishment in the wake of the Easter Rising. Her concerns were realised when the Restoration of Order to Ireland Act was introduced in 1920 to quell the Irish war of Independence. The Act resulted in an alarming rise of execution rates in Ireland the following year. Gore-Booth remained politically active until her death in 1926 at the age of 56. She died at her then home in Hampstead, London with her partner, Esther Roper, by her side.


Sociologists and other social scientists have recently renewed their interest in the concept of trust. Multidisciplinary studies have identified social psychological, economic, and structural determinants of trust; traced its development in interpersonal relationships; and explored its transformation in response to modernization. Drawing on ethnographic research at a multinational corporation operating in a politically charged environment, we reexamine these approaches to trust. We explore trust relations between Israeli and Jordanian managers in an Israeli-Jordanian industrial site. Trust, always tenuous in multinational collaboration, poses formidable challenges to this fragile relationship between former enemies. Comparing trust relations during normalization and political unrest provides a natural experiment for observing how forms of trust change in response to a transformed political environment. We show how Jordanians and Israelis apply different forms of trust alternately and interchangeably, transcending cultural dichotomies such as tradition and modernity and deviating from presupposed developmental paths. Following practice theory, our "trust repertoires" approach depicts actors as knowledgeable agents who select, compose, and apply different forms of trust as part of their cultural repertoires. By applying forms of trust, actors demarcate the boundaries of their social relationships. At the same time, actors' strategies are inextricably intertwined with the power structure and political context. In the conclusion, we consider the implications of this analysis for control and coordination in the workplace, including labor process theories.


Since rules - legal, ethical or otherwise - cannot determine their own application, they require persons of flesh and blood to interpret and apply them in concrete cases. Presidents and prime ministers, judges, prosecutors, mediators, leaders of international organizations, and even religious leaders and public intellectuals make decisions on how best to understand rules and how best to apply them. It stands to reason that their character traits influence the sort of decisions they take. This book provides the first systematic framework for discussing global governance in terms of the virtues, and illustrates it with a number of detailed examples of concrete decision-making in specific situations. Virtue in Global Governance combines insights from law, ethics, and global governance studies in developing a unique approach to global governance and international law.


The radiolytic preparation of CdS nanoparticles stabilized in colloidal zeolites is presented. Nanosized zeolites with different structural frameworks, i.e. FAU and MFI, are used as host materials for the stabilization of different amounts of Cd2+. The colloidal zeolites are stabilized in ethanol and then subjected to γ-irradiation in the presence of mercaptoethanol to generate HS− anions that diffuse and react with Cd2+ to form CdS. The growth of the CdS nanoparticles is supported by the results of UV-vis absorption and emission spectroscopy. The formation of CdS is mostly limited by the total irradiation dose, and the size of the CdS NPs can be controlled; thus, small isolated CdS oligomers to larger interconnected clusters with tunable optical properties can be formed.


We describe a new kludge scheme to model the dynamics of generic extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs; stellar compact objects spiraling into a spinning supermassive black hole) and their gravitational-wave emission. The Chimera scheme is a hybrid method that combines tools from different approximation techniques in General Relativity: (i) A multipolar, post-Minkowskian expansion for the far-zone metric perturbation (the gravitational waveforms) and for the local prescription of the self-force; (ii) a post-Newtonian expansion for the computation of the multipole moments in terms of the trajectories; and (iii) a BH perturbation theory expansion when treating the trajectories as a sequence of self-adjusting Kerr geodesies. The EMRI trajectory is made out of Kerr geodesic fragments joined via the method of osculating elements as dictated by the multipolar post-Minkowskian radiation-reaction prescription. We implemented the proper coordinate mapping between Boyer-Lindquist coordinates, associated with the Kerr geodesies, and harmonic coordinates, associated with the multipolar post-Minkowskian decomposition. The Chimera scheme is thus a combination of approximations that can be used to model generic inspirals of systems with extreme to intermediate mass ratios, and hence, it can provide valuable information for future space-based gravitational-wave observatories, like LISA, and even for advanced ground detectors. The local character in time of our multipolar post-Minkowskian self-force makes this scheme amenable to study the possible appearance of transient resonances in generic inspirals.


A recent library institute on privacy noted that "privacy … is crucial to free speech, freedom of thought, and equal access to information," now challenged by the "mass collection of … data," and that "our profession has been slow to respond [to this] threat." The failure is broader: a theoretical approach to privacy unmoored from contemporary reality. It is the context of what has been known for some time that reveals the shortcomings of privacy theories. This article will review where our current theories come from: the broader field of information ethics and its intellectual framing of privacy issues. The article will review theoretical and historical insights that should inform our ideas about what privacy is and when it is effectively absent or invaded. These insights provide a much more informative context for democratic values, concluding with recommendations to blend the two traditions and move privacy forward.


Heeding calls for contextualizing entrepreneurship research and for greater attention to the role of sector in entrepreneurship research, we conduct a systematic literature review of extant research in agricultural entrepreneurship. Recent and rapid vertical integration and rationalization within the agricultural sector provides a dynamic setting for scholars to investigate entrepreneurship theory and practice. We identify three key contextual dimensions of the agricultural sector: identity, family, and institutions, which provide promising opportunities for future research and the potential to contribute to and extend current theoretical and empirical analyses of entrepreneurship research.


Eye movements were recorded from 20 mildly affected patients with Huntington's disease (HD) who were divided into two groups, 10 patients with onset of symptoms before age 30 and 10 with onset of symptoms after age 30. In the younger onset group (HD < 30), peak saccade velocities were low (<255 deg/sec for 20-deg saccades) in six of the 10 patients, whereas none of the 10 patients in the older onset group (HD > 30) had peak saccade velocities lower than 300 deg/sec. Latencies for volitional saccades were greater than normal in the HD > 30 group, but were normal for the HD < 30 group. The ability to maintain steady fixation in the face of a distracting visual stimulus was decreased, to the same degree, in both groups of HD patients. In addition, 70% of the HD < 30 group had an affected father, while 70% of the HD > 30 group had an affected mother. These findings suggest that the pathophysiology of the slow saccades, initiation deficit, and excessive distractibility in HD are different.


This dissertation examines how the modern Irish novel negotiates shifting cultural
conceptions of death and dying across the twentieth century. Analyzing a cross-section of
important novels — James Joyce's Ulysses, Kate O'Brien's The Ante-Room, Samuel
Beckett's Malone Dies, John McGahern's The Barracks and Anne Enright's The Gathering
— my study will argue that the Irish novel has long grappled with the meaning of life and
death in a world where religious and secular conceptions of the nature of life and death have
continually intersected and conflictually coexisted. Though sometimes viewed as a wholly
secular form, the novel in the Irish context has struggled to reconcile Catholic views of life
and death that stress the importance of a "good death" and the rewards of eternity with
secular worldviews that stress the importance of personal fulfillment in this life and that see
death as a final and absolute ending. The novel genre may be secular in its general tendency,
but it is also a dialogic form that puts antagonistic conceptions of death and dying into
contention with each other, and it is the conflict between these colliding conceptions of death
that lends modern Irish narrative fiction much of its interest.
The story of death and dying in the Irish novel is not simply one of declining
Catholicism and rising secularism. This study shows that while Irish Catholic notions of
death and dying were always challenged by alternative secular value systems, these secular
value systems have also struggled to find meaningful alternatives to religious notions of
death.
Death and Dying in the Modern Irish Novel is part of a wider body of criticism that
deal with the meaning and function of death in the modern novel such as Garrett Stewart's
Death Sentences: Style of Dying in British Fiction and Frederick Hoffman's The Mortal No:
Death and the Modern Imagination. This study makes a distinctive contribution to this
scholarship by focusing on the specific way that death shapes the structure, form and
development of the Irish novel and how these novelistic depictions interrogate existing
cultural attitudes towards death and dying.


In this paper, the free vibration analyses of aluminum-foam sandwich structures were completed numerically. Foam and aluminum (Al) were used for the core and surface layers of the sandwich structure, respectively. In addition, an adhesive was used as a thin film. Natural frequencies and mode shapes of the sandwich structure were obtained for different thickness core and surface materials. For this, three different sandwich structures, different thickness of the core with same surface layers and the same core thickness with different surface layers thickness, were modeled as SS1, SS2 and SS3. Analyses were performed by ABAQUS/Standard finite element software. The increase in the thickness of the Al layer generally caused a decrease in the frequency, but this decrease is not very dramatic. The increase in the thickness of the core has caused a serious increase in the frequency of the sandwich structure.


My objective in this commentary2 is to describe and discuss a major threat to the continued thriving of science in our society, which is all the more insidious because it is largely unrecognized by those in the scientific community who are in a position to rectify the problem. Astute people in that community are well aware of many threats to science that include but are not limited to the following: appalling public scientific illiteracy; the unfortunate resurgence of "magic thinking"—reflected in turn in the reappearance of Creationism, which is hostile to evolution—and the billions of dollars spent on evidentially baseless "alternative medicine"; the fact that more cryptozoology books are sold than all bioscience books; young students, particularly women, being unwilling to enter biomedical research out of fear of being compelled to "hurt animals"; and, as I have discussed elsewhere, ubiquitous iconic Frankensteinean imagery that informs public reactions to scientific advances in biotechnology. These latter issues are detailed in my book on the ethics of biotechnology (Rollin 1995). The one threat that I describe below— Scientific Ideology—has escaped serious mainstream attention. Personal Experience


: In males spermatogenic impairment is associated with a wide range of chromosomal anomalies, including XYY trisomy, XO monosomy with sex reversal and heterozygosity for many structural rearrangements. Common to all these anomalies is the presence of unpaired chromosome segments during pachytene. The stage at which spermatogenic cells are lost varies markedly from one anomaly to the next. The present paper considers the possibility that there may be a common mechanism underlying these various manifestations of spermatogenic failure. An analysis of meiotic data from XYY mice had previously pointed to a causal relationship between the presence of unpaired elements at pachytene, and a failure to reach metaphase II (MII). In apparent contradiction to this is the observation that sex-reversed XO mice form reasonable numbers of round spermatids (implying progression beyond MII) despite the presence of the unpaired X. However, evidence is presented that the round spermatids of XO Sxr mice are diploid, the second meiotic division having been omitted. Most of these spermatids degenerate during spermiogenesis, but a few very abnormal sperm are produced. The female counterparts of male sterile chromosome anomalies are usually fertile, so the mechanism causing the spermatogenic failure has been presumed to be inoperative in females. However, recent work on female XO mice has revealed that although they are fertile as adults, there is nevertheless extensive oogenic failure (a 60% reduction as compared to controls) during late pachytene. It is proposed that there is a mechanism operating in both males and females which selectively removes gametogenic cells in which there has been meiotic pairing failure. In females the mechanism is not completely efficient, so that sufficient of the 'at risk' oocytes usually survive to allow fertility. In males the severity and stage of spermatogenic loss is presumed to be related to the extent of the pairing failure at pachytene. In male mammals spermatogenesis is disrupted by a wide range of karyotypic anomalies. These include XYY trisomy; XO monosomy with sex reversal; X- or Y-autosome translocations; partial or complete autosomal trisomies; heterozygosity for some autosome-autosome translocations; double heterozygosity for some Robertsonian translocations and heterozygosity for some other structural rearrangements (e.g. rings, insertions, some inversions). Common to all these anomalies is the presence of incompletely paired (synapsed) regions at pachytene. The severity of the spermatogenic impairment and the stage most affected vary widely.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


In this study we used 2 experimental approaches to evaluate the stability of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) phenotypes, selected AMR genes, and selected virulence genes in Enterococcus faecalis during manure storage on a commercial swine farm. Isolates of E. faecalis were obtained directly from fresh fecal material (n = 120) and from the manure storage facility (n = 85) and compared. Tetracycline resistance and the virulence genes cob, esp, eep, and ccf were detected at lower frequency in manure isolates than in fecal isolates. A second approach consisted of immersing in diffusion chambers pure cultures of E. faecalis that varied in their AMR phenotypes and virulence genotypes in the swine manure storage facility for 8 weeks, sampling periodically, and evaluating the recovered strains for changes in their genotypic or phenotypic characteristics. Enterococcus faecalis populations declined exponentially, with rate constants ranging from 0.011 to 0.022 h(-1). Among the AMR and virulence genes examined, 1 AMR gene (sat4) and 7 virulence genes (agrB(fs), cob, cpd, cylB, efaA(fs), enlA, and esp) were lost at low frequencies in the recovered strains. The AMR phenotypes were stable during the incubation, with minimal loss (P > 0.05) of the streptomycin-resistance phenotype. Overall, these results suggest that some attributes of public health significance in populations of E. faecalis decrease in frequency during manure storage.


Appropriate care and monitoring of the condition of patients with diabetes is indispensable from the regular measurement of hemoglobin A1c levels. Under well defined criteria hemoglobin A1c levels may also support the diagnosis of diabetes. This review provides a short description of the major principles of methods used for hemoglobin A1c determination and it reviews conditions interfering with the results. It also presents cut-off values for therapeutic decision making. As the results of world-wide efforts for standardization of hemoglobin A1c values obtained with different tests in different laboratories, the hemoglobin A1c results are comparable and can be used for clinical decisions. However, hemoglobin A1c should be considered with a particular caution in patients with hemoglobinopathies and in those with conditions affecting the average life-time of red cells.


Scalable monitoring of traffic flows faces challenges posed by unrelenting traffic growth, device heterogeneity, and load unevenness. We explore an approach that tackles these challenges by shifting a portion of the monitoring-task execution from an overloaded network element to another element that has spare resources. Moving the entire execution of the task to a lightly loaded element might be infeasible because execution on multiple elements is inherent in the task or requires at least partial participation by the particular overloaded element (e.g., flow-size computation at the ingress element for billing purposes). Distributed execution of a stateful traffic-monitoring task has to be robust against packet reordering or loss, i.e., network noise. This paper designs robust traffic monitoring where the goal is to determine a flow metric for each flow exactly in spite of network noise. We follow the open-loop paradigm that does not add any control packets, communicates flow state in-band by appending few (on the order of 2 or 4) control bits to packets of the monitored flows, and keeps latency low. We consider the task of flow-size computation, analytically derive conditions assuring correct operation of the designed algorithms, and evaluate the algorithms on realistic traffic traces. The algorithms successfully distribute the monitoring-task load without imposing significant computation or storage overhead.


Functional analyses of the adaptor molecule RIAM highlight the importance of integrin-mediated signaling in immune function and cancer biology. Gloss Rap1-interacting molecule (RIAM) is a multidomain protein that regulates multiple functions in immune cells. RIAM contains an RA (RalGDS/AF-6 or Ras-association) domain, a PH (pleckstrin homology) domain, and two proline-rich regions. It also contains two putative coiled-coil regions at the amino (N) terminus. The simultaneous interaction of PH and RA domains with their partners results in relocation of RIAM to the plasma membrane upon cell activation. Through its N terminus, RIAM interacts with various sites of talin, leading to talin-mediated activation of integrins. RIAM controls cell adhesion and migration and is involved in the regulation of innate and adaptive immune responses and in the invasion and migration of cancer cells. Thus, RIAM might be an attractive therapeutic target to modulate immune cell processes mediated by β2 integrin interactions in immune cells but also to block cancer cell migration. This review includes four figures and 95 references. Lymphocyte activation requires adhesion to antigen-presenting cells. This is a critical event linking innate and adaptive immunity. Lymphocyte adhesion is accomplished through LFA-1, which must be activated by a process referred to as inside-out integrin signaling. Among the few signaling molecules that have been implicated in inside-out integrin activation in hematopoietic cells are the small guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) Rap1 and its downstream effector Rap1-interacting molecule (RIAM), a multidomain protein that defined the Mig10-RIAM-lamellipodin (MRL) class of adaptor molecules. Through its various domains, RIAM is a critical node of signal integration for activation of T cells, recruits monomeric and polymerized actin to drive actin remodeling and cytoskeletal reorganization, and promotes inside-out integrin signaling in T cells. As a regulator of inside-out integrin activation, RIAM affects multiple functions of innate and adaptive immunity. The effects of RIAM on cytoskeletal reorganization and integrin activation have implications in cell migration and trafficking of cancer cells. We provide an overview of the structure and interactions of RIAM, and we discuss the implications of RIAM functions in innate and adaptive immunity and cancer.


Field‐aligned currents (FACs), also known as Birkeland currents, are the agents by which energy and momentum are transferred to the ionosphere from the magnetosphere and solar wind. This coupling is enhanced at substorm onset through the formation of the substorm current wedge. Using FAC data from the Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment and substorm expansion phase onsets identified using the Substorm Onsets and Phases from Indices of the Electrojet technique, we examine the Northern Hemisphere FACs in all local time sectors with respect to substorm onset and subdivided by season. Our results show that while there is a strong seasonal dependence on the underlying FACs, the increase in FACs following substorm onset only varies by 10% with season, with substorms increasing the hemispheric FACs by 420 kA on average. Over an hour prior to substorm onset, the dayside currents in the postnoon quadrant increase linearly, whereas the nightside currents show a linear increase starting 20–30 min before onset. After onset, the nightside Region 1, Region 2, and nonlocally closed currents and the SuperMAG AL (SML) index follow the Weimer (1994, https://doi.org/10.1029/93JA02721) model with the same time constants in each season. These results contrast earlier contradictory studies that indicate that substorms are either longer in the summer or decay faster in the summer. Our results imply that, on average, substorm FACs do not change with season but that their relative impact on the coupled magnetosphere‐ionosphere system does due to the changes in the underlying currents.


Restoration of Alnus formosana (Burk.) Makino on landslide areas is important for agroforestry, forestry and soil erosion control in Taiwan. To ensure successful reforestation, A. formosana seedlings have to develop strong root system for nutrient and water acquisition as well as anchorage. Inoculating of A. formosana with symbiotic nitrogen-fixing actinobacteria Frankia may help mitigate drought and nutrient deficiencies on landslide sites. However, the effects of Frankia inoculation on growth, root architecture and mechanical properties of A. formosana seedlings are not well understood. In this research, a Frankia strain AF1 was isolated from actinorhizal nodules of local A. formosana and recognized as Frankia species, and its influences on growth performance and root mechanical properties of A. formosana seedlings were examined and analyzed. The results showed that the inoculated seedlings had significantly larger height and root biomass, longer root length, and more root tip number than that of the non-inoculated controls. Consistently, the inoculated seedlings had statistically significant higher uprooting resistance, root tensile resistance force and tensile strength than the controls. The results reveal that this native Frankia strain can promote growth performance, root system architecture, anchorage ability and root tensile strength of A. formosana.

 Key words: Actinorhiza, Betulaceae, inoculation, root morphology, tensile strength, uprooting resistance.


The role of Acidithiobacillus group of bacteria in acid generation and heavy metal dissolution was studied with relevance to some Indian mines. Microorganisms implicated in acid generation such as Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans and Leptospirillum ferrooxidans were isolated from abandoned mines, waste rocks and tailing dumps. Arsenite oxidizing Thiomonas and Bacillus group of bacteria were isolated and their ability to oxidize As (III) to As (V) established. Mine isolated Sulfate reducing bacteria were used to remove dissolved copper, zinc, iron and arsenic from solutions.


When assessing areas o f clinical pathology and substance abuse, clinicians are not always provided with critical background information needed to assess properly and diagnosis their clients. For various reasons, full disclosure is not forthcoming during the initial intake or assessment process. Inadequate knowledge will, in turn, affect treatment planning. Valid and reliable assessment instruments are an invaluable resource for extracting additional facts. This study investigated that criterion validity between the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (MCMI-III) and the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory-3 (SASSI-3), as well as attempted to replicate psychopathology subgroup clusters as noted in a study by McMahon, Malow, and Penedo (1998). Finally, the current study predicted that a portion of the relationship between the MCMI-III and the SASSI-3 could be explained by a relatively large canonical dimension. All predictions were successful.


While social policy falls predominantly under national rather than European Union (EU) jurisdiction, there are nonetheless multiple ways in which social policy and social outcomes in EU member states have been affected by EU membership. This paper draws on existing evidence and analysis to review the consequences for UK social policy of the decision to leave the EU. We focus predominantly on the implications of the British government's pledge to 'take back control' of money, borders and laws. Our conclusion is that Brexit is likely to have negative effects on the quality of public services and, for some groups in particular, social rights, and that these effects are likely to be greater the more distant are the future trading and wider relationships between the UK and the EU27.


Non-traditional agriculture is a multi-phased approach to the production of farm crops, and their marketing. Here we refer only to plant crops, not animal. There are parallel approaches required to insure maximum possibility of a successful and continuing program. Rather than being compartmentalized, techniques required include information on production possibilities, market needs, packing and grading standards, shipment to markets and subsequent sales. Best results usually follow from using a crop somewhat familiar in cultural requirements to those grown by local farmers, and one for which there is an existing market. Packaging and grading must be uniform and are often best served by being done at one central point. One of the promising areas of production is the harvesting of marketable forest understory plants concurrently with planting of small plots of the same plant to produce a marketable volume.


In the stream of the new evangelization: An attempt to reconstruct the linguistic image of evangelization in the Bible, Catechism of the Catholic Church and in texts of contemporary evangelists The article is an attempt to present the linguistic image of the notion of "evangelization", namely its cognitive structure in the Bible, in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and in selected source texts, thematically related to the so-called new evangelization. It applies the method of description of the major aspects of a notion, which is used in ethnolinguistics. For evangelization, such aspects are: object and subject of evangelization; the place and time of evangelization; the ways and methods of evangelization; the circumstances related to the event of evangelization conditions; the effective works of evangelization; the definitions of evangelization; the works focused on evangelization; the acts of evangelization; the features of evangelization; the phenomena related to evangelization; and what serves the purpose of evangelization. On the basis of the presented analysis, it is pointed out that during the last 20 years in the teachings of the Catholic Church's evangelists the semantic range of the notion "evangelization" has changed.


We study values for cooperative TU-games which are convex combinations of the Shapley value and the solidarity value, introduced in our recent paper [1]. First, we axiomatize the convex combination of the two values in the case when the coefficients are given exogenously. Next, we give an axiomatic description of the whole family of such values.


ultrasound examination contributes to a correct diagnosis of endometrial malignancy: the higher the color content of the endometrium the higher the risk of cancer. Multivariate logistic regression models including clinical variables (e.g., age, use of HRT, body mass index), gray scale ultrasound findings, and Doppler findings can be used to calculate the individual risk of malignancy. The clinical value of mathematical models has not been determined.


After having found hundreds of extra-solar planets, the radial-velocity (RV) technique starts to be limited by intrinsic stellar signals. Indeed, at the level of the best spectrographs, one starts to see the effects induced by stellar pressure waves, convection, surface activity coupled with stellar rotation, and magnetic cycles. The questions of how to extract and analyse the different stellar signals from RV data, and how to mitigate their contributions have been studied in detail. In addition, optimizing the observational strategy to look for planets can also help in mitigating short-term stellar signal effects. As a result, a few dozen of the lowest mass planets known so far have been discovered following the work performed in this thesis. Among these planets, we have discovered Alpha Centauri Bb, the lightest extra-solar planet detected so far with the RV technique, and the closest one to our Solar System.


GRASP (GReedy Augmented Sequential Patterns) is an algorithm for automatically extracting patterns that characterize subtle linguistic phenomena. To that end, GRASP augments each term of input text with multiple layers of linguistic information. These different facets of the text terms are systematically combined to reveal rich patterns. We report highly promising experimental results in several challenging text analysis tasks within the field of Argumentation Mining. We believe that GRASP is general enough to be useful for other domains too. For example, each of the following sentences includes a claim for a [topic]: 1. Opponents often argue that the open primary is unconstitutional. [Open Primaries] 2. Prof. Smith suggested that affirmative action devalues the accomplishments of the chosen. [Affirmative Action] 3. The majority stated that the First Amendment does not guarantee the right to offend others. [Freedom of Speech] These sentences share almost no words in common, however, they are similar at a more abstract level. A human observer may notice the following underlying common structure, or pattern: [someone][argue/suggest/state][that][topic term][sentiment term]. GRASP aims to automatically capture such underlying structures of the given data. For the above examples it finds the pattern [noun][express][that][noun,topic][sentiment], where [express] stands for all its (in)direct hyponyms, and [noun,topic] means a noun which is also related to the topic.


We report the fabrication and characterization of magnetic polymer nanocomposites for a wide range of sensing applications. The composites are made of magnetic nanowires (NWs) incorporated into polymers such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) or UV sensitive SU-8. The developed composites utilize the permanent magnetic behavior of the NWs, allowing remote operation without an additional magnetic field to magnetize the NWs, which simplifies miniaturization and integration in microsystems. In addition, the nanocomposite benefits from the easy patterning of the polymer leading to a corrosion resistant, highly elastic, and permanent magnetic material that can be used to develop highly sensitive systems. Nanocomposite pillars are realized and integrated on magnetic sensor elements to achieve highly sensitive and power efficient flow and tactile sensors. The developed flow sensor can detect air and water flow at a power consumption as little as 80 nW and a resolution up to 15 μm/s with easily modifiable performance. A tactile sensor element prototype is realized using the same concept, where a pressure range of 0-169 kPa is detected with a resolution of up to 1.3 kPa.


This book is divided into three sections: (1) Jobs, Careers, and Global Mobility; (2) Innovations from International Collaborations; and (3) Women Leaders of the Global Chemistry Enterprise. Chapter 1 is an overview chapter that summarizes the contents of all the chapters and also provides the background and the framework for the themes delineated in the book. This book is intended to be useful to a wide range of audiences in the global chemistry enterprise, including scientists and engineers in academia, industry, government, non-profit organizations, and small businesses, as well as undergraduate and graduate students. For people interested in jobs, careers, and international educational and training opportunities, they may want to read Chapters 1-3. Particularly useful are the many resources currently available at ACS (and elsewhere) that are shown in those chapters. International collaboration is becoming an increasingly useful tool for career success. Chapter 5 (by Carroll) gives an overview of ACS products and services that can be used to facilitate international collaboration. Chapters 6-17 give many excellent examples of international collaborations and the positive outcomes resulting from such collaborations. Finally, Chapters 18-33 present the stories of 16 successful women scientists throughout the world who have overcome bias, family demands, and other difficulties to achieve notable success in scientific scholarship and/or professional leadership. These stories should be inspirational to all male and female readers.


A 76-year-old female presented with constipation and anorexia. Computed tomography( CT) revealed a saccular aneurysm (35 mm in diameter) directly over the root of the celiac artery, and she was referred to our department and was admitted. Klebsiella pneumoniae was detected in blood culture. Although antibiotics were administered, the inflammatory response was not improved. On day 8 after hospitalization, CT revealed the aneurysm increased. Therefore, surgery was performed. Aneurysm was observed adjacent to the celiac artery. The excised aorta included the descending thoracic aorta and the superior mesenteric artery, and was replaced with a rifampicin-soaked Vasctec Gelweave 24 mm vascular graft with branches. After hemostasis, omental implantation was performed around the vascular graft. Before surgery, sufficient antibiotics administration is desirable to bring the infection under control. However, if infection is uncontrollable with progressive enlargement of the aneurysm, as in this case, surgery is unavoidable. A combination of treatments was successful.


Membrane proteins perform a vast range of vital biological functions and are the gatekeepers for exchange of information and matter between the intracellular and extracellular environment. However, membrane protein interactions can be challenging to characterise in a quantitative manner due to the low solubility and large size of the membrane protein complex with associated lipid or detergent molecules. Here, we show that measurements of the changes in charge and diffusivity on the micron scale allow for non-disruptive studies of membrane protein interactions in solution. The approach presented here uses measurements of key physical properties of membrane proteins and their ligands to characterise the binding equilibrium parameters. We demonstrate this approach for human aquaporins (AQPs), key membrane proteins in the regulation of water homeostasis in cells. We perform quantitative measurements to characterise the interactions between two full-length AQP isoforms and the regulatory protein, calmodulin (CaM), and show that CaM selectively binds AQP0. Through direct measurements of the diffusivity and mobility in an external electric field, the diffusion coefficients and electrophoretic mobilities are determined for the individual components and the resulting AQP0-CaM complex. Furthermore, we obtain directly the binding equilibrium parameters and effective charge of each component. These results open up a route towards the use of microfluidics as a general platform in protein science and open up new possibilities for the characterisation of membrane protein interactions in solution.


This study is about service quality dimensions that affect customer satisfaction in budget hotels in Kota Kinabalu.The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction. Besides that, this study also seek to determine whether moderating variables (age, nationality and past experience) will affect the relationship between service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction. The research questions measured based on SERVQUAL model (Parasuraman et.al. ,1988).The service quality dimensions include tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. A survey was conducted among budget hotel guests that stayed in all 24 budget hotels in Kota Kinabalu. A total of 201 usable questionnaires were collected for this study. This findings confirmed that perceived service quality dimensions have significant positive effect on customer satisfaction in the budget hotels industry in Kota Kinabalu. Eventhough, there is a positive relationship, not all of the five service quality dimensions are significant in their relationships. It is found that reliability, assurance and empathy have significantly influence on customer satisfaction. Interestingly, this study discovered that tangibles and responsiveness are not regarded as significant to determine customer satisfaction. The results also shows that the past experience (moderating variable) has significant relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction whereas age and nationality do not have significant influence on service quality and customer satisfaction. For practitioners, it is worth noting that tangible and responsiveness is not an important service quality dimensions for guests to stay in the budget hotels. Kota Kinabalu is an emerging market for tourism industry. It is suggested that the budget hotels operators need to pay more attentions to emphasize on these significant underlying service quality dimensions as well as past experience to enhance customer satisfaction and customer loyalty; in order to maximize budget hotels profit for the future.


This study offers a number of contemporary qualitative and mixed methods research lessons regarding cross-language research and research in closed social and political contexts such as post-Soviet countries, especially how such research may be adapted to disruptions like those posed by the COVID pandemic or other disasters. The lessons draw from a study of policy learning among government officials in Kazakhstan which illustrated several methodological strengths and weaknesses and generated a number of methodological recommendations. In particular, while the literature on best practices for research in closed contexts emphasizes deep interactions to develop trust, the COVID pandemic and other disruptions may force researchers to transition to online modalities and constrain options. We suggest strategies to overcome these limitations, including supplementing findings from interviews with content analysis or other multimethod approaches. Additionally, we argue that researchers in post-Soviet and post-colonial contexts must be particularly attuned to the challenges of cross-language research and the combination of local languages with the language of the colonial power. These lessons hold relevance for researchers working in a variety of contexts as they conduct research during times of disasters and geopolitical instability.


integrative aspects of normal and abnormal function of cells and components of the respiratory system. It is published 12 times a publishes original research covering the broad scope of molecular, cellular, and


Voice digital assistants must keep up with trending search queries. We rely on a speech recognition model using contextual biasing with a rapidly updated set of entities, instead of frequent model retraining, to keep up with trends. There are several challenges with this approach: (1) the entity set must be frequently reconstructed, (2) the entity set is of limited size due to latency and accuracy trade-offs, and (3) finding the true entity distribution for biasing is complicated by ASR misrecognition. We address these challenges and define an entity set by modeling customers true requested entity distribution from ASR output in production using record deduplication, a technique from the field of entity resolution. Record deduplication resolves or deduplicates coreferences, including misrecognitions, of the same latent entity. Our method successfully retrieves 95% of misrecognized entities and when used for contextual biasing shows an estimated 5% relative word error rate reduction.


Two NE‐trending belts of mainly subaerial dacitic to rhyolitic flows and tuffs occur in the area between the towns of Lampang and Denchai in northern Thailand. In the western belt (Doi Ton), the rocks have been pervasively altered to quartz keratophyre; rocks in the eastern belt (Doi Luang) are generally less altered. Mobile chemical components such as Na2O and K2O show wide variation, particularly in samples from the Doi Ton belt. However, low Zr/TiO2 ratios and low Nb and Ta contents support an origin at a convergent plate margin. A positive epsilon Nd value of +4.9 for rhyolite from the Doi Luang belt supports derivation from a primitive crustal source. A rhyolite sample from the Doi Luang belt yielded a U–Pb zircon age of 240 ± 1 Ma (early Mid‐Triassic). The Doi Ton and Doi Luang belts are part of the Lampang volcanic belt, which can be traced to the north into the Lincang–Jinghong volcanic belt in southern China. Comparison with published petrological data from the Lincang–Jinghong belt shows strong similarity, including the widespread development of keratophyric mineralogy and chemistry. The Lampang–Lincang–Jinghong belt formed at an early Mid‐Triassic convergent plate margin, and is similar in age and tectonic setting to the more mafic Phetchabun volcanic belt on the east side of the Nan River suture zone. These data constrain the timing of final amalgamation between the Indochina and Shan‐Thai terranes to Mid‐Triassic or younger.


Introduction: Body composition contributes to explosive performance by influencing the power to body mass ratio (Cronin & Hansen, 2005). Measurement errors are seldom considered when evaluating body composition changes determined with DXA. We assessed the reliability of DXA in an applied setting, quantified body composition changes across a training year, and investigated their association with physical performance. Methods: Forty-eight athletes [12 skeleton (7 elite; 5 talent squad), 8 rugby union, 14 swimming, 14 athletics] underwent two DXA scans, typically within 48 hours. Typical error of the measurement (TEM; %) for total body mass (TBM), non-bone non-fat (lean) mass (LM), fat mass (FM), and leg lean mass (LLM) were calculated. Elite skeleton athletes underwent three further scans (representing two training blocks and the competition season) alongside physical tests (countermovement jump and leg press). Training block 1 focussed on hypertrophy, whereas block 2 involved higher velocity, sprint-based training. Body composition changes between each scan were calculated. Relationships between changes in body composition and performance were tested using Pearson correlation coefficients. Results: TEMs for all participants were: TBM, 0.6%; LM, 0.9%; FM, 3.9%; and LLM, 1.2%. Mean (± SD) changes in TBM for elite skeleton athletes were 1.6 ± 2.7%, 1.1 ± 2.0% and 0.7 ± 2.3% across training block 1, block 2, and the competition season, respectively. LM and LLM increased across block 1 (LM, 3.0 ± 2.4%; LLM, 2.7 ± 2.6%) with decreases occurring across block 2 (LM, -0.9 ± 2.6%; LLM, -1.6 ± 2.4%) and the competition season (LM, -1.6 ± 3.1%; LLM, 1.1 ± 2.4%). FM decreased across both training blocks (block 1, -4.3 ± 8.5%; block 2, -3.0 ± 7.2%) and increased across the competition season (12.9 ± 7.4%). Significant relationships (p < 0.05) were found between changes in LM and performance (jump, r = 0.61; leg press, r = 0.40) and between changes in LLM and jump performance (r = 0.65). Discussion: Many body composition changes observed in this study were above the TEM even with a less stringently controlled scanning protocol than previously suggested (Nana et al., 2012). Therefore, DXA was able to detect real body composition changes, which appear to reflect the emphases of each training block and the nature of the competition season. Relationships between changes in LM and performance demonstrated the important influence of body composition on strength and power indices. References:Cronin, J. & Hansen, K. (2005). J Strength Cond Res, 19, 349-57. Nana, A., Slater, G., Hopkins, W. & Burke, L. (2012). Med Sci Sports Ex, 44, 189-9.


Early stage of diabetic kidney disease (DKD) involves loss of podocytes, consequently causing albuminuria. SGLT2 inhibitors demonstrated renoprotective effects in DKD, but the mechanism for protection in early DKD is unclear. Here, we investigated the effects of ertugliflozin in high-fat diet (HFD) -induced DKD model, in vivo and in vitro. 5-week-old male C57BL/6J mice were supplemented with HFD for 24 weeks to develop HFD-induced DKD. Ertugliflozin was administrated orally by pre-mixing with HFD for 16 weeks. We evaluated body weight, random blood glucose levels, albuminuria and glucose and insulin tolerance test were performed at 12 weeks after ertugliflozin administration. The renal cortex was collected for histologic examination and SGLT2 expression on podocytes were measured. Albuminuria was significantly decreased in ertugliflozin group compared with HFD group at 12 weeks of ertugliflozin administration (p=0.011) . Body weight, random and fasting blood glucose was not significantly different between HFD group. Glucose and insulin tolerance test showed significant improvement in ertugliflozin group compared with HFD group at 12 weeks (p=0.0004) . In immunohistochemistry studies, glomerular volume and mesangial expansion were attenuated in the ertugliflozin group by 27.6% and 27.8% respectively, compared to HFD group (p=0.002 and p=0.005, respectively) . Glomerular basement membrane thickness was decreased by 45.4% in ertugliflozin group compared to HFD group (p=0.0004) . Significant increase of SGLT2 mRNA expression by 1.6-4.8 fold after 24 hour-albumin expose was observed and SGLT2 protein was increased 1.1-1.3 fold compared to control. Ertugliflozin attenuated diabetic kidney disease in HFD-induced DKD by mitigating glomerular integrity, preserving podocyte morphology, with decreased albuminuria. Upregulation of SGLT2 in podocyte in albuminuric DKD could be suggested as possible target for renoprotective action of SGLT2 inhibitor.

 H.Kim: None. B.Cha: None. H.Lee: None. B.Lim: None. H.Choi: None. E.Kang: None. Y.Kim: None. R.Kim: None. S.Lee: None. Y.Yang: None. H.Park: None. N.Jeon: None. M.Lee: None. Y.Lee: None.

 Severance Hospital Research fund for Clinical excellence (SHRC) (C-2021-0007)


The qualitative ideas put forward by Geyer and Lee are given quantitative content by constructing a similarity transformation which reexpresses the Dyson boson images of the single-j shell fermion operators in terms of seniority bosons. It is shown that the results of Otsuka, Arima, and Iachello, or generalizations thereof which include g bosons or even bosons with J>4, can be obtained in an economic and transparent way without resorting to any comparison of matrix elements.


Fibroblast growth factor-1 (FGF-1) is highly expressed in motor neurons and can be released in response to sublethal cell injury. Because FGF-1 potently activates astroglia and exerts a direct neuroprotection after spinal cord injury or axotomy, we examined whether it regulated the expression of inducible and cytoprotective heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) enzyme in astrocytes. FGF-1 induced the expression of HO-1 in cultured rat spinal cord astrocytes, which was dependent on FGF receptor activation and prevented by cycloheximide. FGF-1 also induced Nrf2 mRNA and protein levels and prompted its nuclear translocation. HO-1 induction was abolished by transfection of astrocytes with a dominant-negative mutant Nrf2, indicating that FGF-1 regulates HO-1 expression through Nrf2. FGF-1 also modified the expression of other antioxidant genes regulated by Nrf2. Both Nrf2 and HO-1 levels were increased and co-localized with reactive astrocytes in the degenerating lumbar spinal cord of rats expressing the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-linked SOD1 G93A mutation. Overexpression of Nrf2 in astrocytes increased survival of co-cultured embryonic motor neurons and prevented motor neuron apoptosis mediated by nerve growth factor through p75 neurotrophin receptor. Taken together, these results emphasize the key role of astrocytes in determining motor neuron fate in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.


Within–host competition in multiply infected hosts is considered an important component of host–parasite interactions, but experimental studies on the dynamics of multiple infections are still rare. We measured the infection frequencies of four strains of the fungal endophyte Epichloë bromicola on two genotypes of its host plant Bromus erectus after single–and double–strain inoculation. Double–strain inoculations resulted in fewer double, but more single, infections than expected on the basis of infection frequencies in single–strain inoculations. In most cases, only one of the two strains established an infection, and strains differed in their overall competitive ability. This pattern resembles the mutual exclusion scenarios in some theoretical models of parasite evolution. In addition, competitive ability varied with host genotype, which may represent a mechanism for the coexistence of strains in a population. Hence, considering the genetic variation in both host and parasite may be important for a better understanding of within–host dynamics and their role in epidemiology or (co)evolution.


Quatenary fluvio-lacustrine basin-fill sediments in the southern part of the Kathmandu Basin was studied in order to clearify the stratigraphy and reconstruct the sedimentary environment during the initial stage of the Paleo-Kathmandu Lake. Six stratigraphic units; Tarebhir, Lukundol, Itaiti, Kalimati, Sunakothi Formations and Terrace gravel deposits, have been described based on field observation of lithology and sediment distribution. The Tarebhir Formation is the basal unit which is overlained by alluvial fan of the Itaiti Formation in the southern part and by the marginal lacustrine deposit of the Lukundol Formation towards the northern part. Further 3 km toward the north from the basin margin at Jorkhu the the Lukundol Formation is overlain by the open lacustrine facies of the Kalimati Formation. At the same locality the latter is overlain by fluvio-lacustrine facies of the Sunakothi Formation. Moreover, the Terrace gravel deposits erosionally cover the Sunakothi Formation. The Kalimati Formation thickens northward, while the Sunakothi Formation thickens between the central and southern part of the basin. The study shows that the Sunakothi Formation is of fluvio-lacustrine (fluvial, deltaic and shallow lacustrine) origin and extends continuously from the southern margin (~1400m amsl) to the central part (~1300m amsl) of the basin. It also indicates that sediments of this formation were deposited at the time of lake level rise and fall. Thick gravel sequence in the southern margin represents the alluvial fan before the origin (before 1 Ma) of the Paleo-Kathmandu Lake, while thick gravel sequence situated above the Sunakothi Formation is the Terrace gravel deposits of the late Pleistocene age (14C method), deposited during and after the shrinkage of the Paleo-Kathmandu Lake from south to north. doi: 10.3126/bdg.v11i0.1544 Bulletin of the Department of Geology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal, Vol. 11, 2008, pp. 61-70


Little is known about the effects of the inter-institutional linkages created through the establishment of the codecision procedure on decision-making in the Council of the European Union. After a review of the existing literature and theories on this topic, we examine to what extent the codecision procedure leads to more involvement of ministers in Council decision-making and to a more powerful position of the Presidency in the internal negotiation process of the Council. The results show that the initially positive effect of codecision on the politicization of Council decision-making has been offset in recent years by a growing lack of transparency in inter-institutional proceedings caused by the use of informal trialogue negotiations to conclude the procedure early. However, our study also suggests that the country holding the Presidency does not occupy a more privileged position in the Council's internal co-operation network as a result of these developments. Thus, with respect to the Council, informal inter-institutional negotiation practices seem to decrease the transparency of the decision-making process and the accountability of the actors involved, but they may not have as adverse an effect on who gets what in terms of policy as previously thought.


An Australian National Consensus Position on Outcomes and Indicators for Diabetes
Education identified knowledge and understanding as the outcomes most directly
affected by diabetes education. A subsequent literature review failed to identify a
validated, suitable questionnaire for measuring knowledge. Consequently, we aimed to
develop a minimum diabetes knowledge questionnaire (DKQ) suitable for people with
both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Content validity was established through literature review, Delphi survey of 52
opinion leaders and a workshop of Australian Diabetes Educators (n ≥300). The resulting
instrument was tested for internal consistency on 129 and for reliability on 57 people with
type 1 and type 2 diabetes, respectively. The final questionnaire contains: 12 multiple choice questions common to type 1 and
type 2 diabetes, e.g. normal blood glucose levels, complications, diet, exercise, selfmonitoring
of blood glucose, annual check-ups, support services, and sick-days; two
questions for people on oral medication/insulin only; and one question (sick-days) for
people with type 1 diabetes only. For the first 12 questions, the internal consistency was good (Cronbach's α=0.73);
with the additional item for type 1 diabetes, the internal consistency was slightly better
(α=0.79) as it was with the additional items for people on medication/insulin (α=0.76). No
particular item seemed to adversely affect the overall consistency of the questionnaire. Comparing test-retest pilots, total scores showed good reliability with no evidence of
change over time (t=1.73; df=56; p

The DKQ is now ready to use for evaluating knowledge outcomes of diabetes
education.


Interspecific studies indicate that sperm morphology and other ejaculatory traits diverge more rapidly than other types of character in Drosophila and other taxa. This pattern has largely been attributed to postcopulatory sexual selection involving interaction between the sexes. Such divergence has been suggested to lead rapidly to reproductive isolation among populations and thus to be an 'engine of speciation.' Here, we test two critical predictions of this hypothesis: (i) there is significant variation in reproductive traits among incipient species; and (ii) divergence in interacting sex–specific traits exhibits a coevolutionary pattern among populations within a species, by examining geographical variation in Drosophila mojavensis, a species in the early stages of speciation. Significant among–population variation was identified in sperm length and female sperm–storage organ length, and a strong pattern of correlated evolution between these interacting traits was observed. In addition, crosses among populations revealed coevolution of male and female contributions to egg size. Support for these two important predictions confirms that coevolving internal characters that mediate successful reproduction may play an important part in speciation. The next step is to determine exactly what that role is.


Abstract. A set of coupled ocean-atmosphere simulations using state of the art climate models is now available for the Last Glacial Maximum and the Mid-Holocene through the second phase of the Paleoclimate Modeling Intercomparison Project (PMIP2). This study presents the large-scale features of the simulated climates and compares the new model results to those of the atmospheric models from the first phase of the PMIP, for which sea surface temperature was prescribed or computed using simple slab ocean formulations. We consider the large-scale features of the climate change, pointing out some of the major differences between the different sets of experiments. We show in particular that systematic differences between PMIP1 and PMIP2 simulations are due to the interactive ocean, such as the amplification of the African monsoon at the Mid-Holocene or the change in precipitation in mid-latitudes at the LGM. Also the PMIP2 simulations are in general in better agreement with data than PMIP1 simulations.


Aim: To describe the prevalence and nature of disturbed behaviour, in the general hospital setting. Method: A cross-sectional survey was conducted, from July to October 2006, in all adult inpatient wards within the six general hospitals in Leeds of patients presenting with disturbed behaviour in the preceding 7 days. Disturbed behaviour was defined as behaviour interfering with care of the patient or with that of other patients, or behaviour that placed the patient, the staff or others at risk. Anonymised data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. Results: All of the 87 hospital wards were studied, containing a total of 1773 beds. 42 male and 26 female patients (n = 68) were identified by nursing staff as patients with disturbed behaviour in the time period covered, with 33 patients being ⩽65 years of age and 35 being elderly (>65 years of age). An almost equal proportion of the younger and older patient groups placed themselves or others at risk. In the majority of cases, aggressive behaviour by patients was directed towards staff rather than other patients. 60 patients required additional staff time due to the disturbed behaviour, 34 required additional medication, and 22 patients were referred to liaison psychiatry. Conclusions: Disturbed behaviour presents in the general hospital in less than 4% of patients, both above and below the age of 65 years, but consumes a disproportionate amount of resources. Responses required to manage this include additional medication, additional staff time or other interventions. The quantity and nature of disturbed behaviour in the general hospital have implications for effective service provision and development.


Water level manipulations are one of the most effective tools in wetland management, provided fluctuations are well-timed and controlled. Manipulations are most effective on sites with (1) a dependable water supply, (2) an elevation gradient that permits complete water coverage at desired depths over a majority of the site, and (3) the proper type of water control structures that enable water to be supplied, distributed, and discharged effectively at desired rates. The size and location of structures are important, but timing, speed, and duration of drawdowns and flooding also have important effects on plant composition, plant production, and avian use. When optimum conditions are not present, effective moist-soil management is still possible, but limitations must be recognized. Such situations present special problems and require particularly astute and timely water level manipulations. For example, sometimes complete drainage is not possible, yet water is usually available for fall flooding. In such situations, management can capitalize on evapotranspiration during most growing seasons to promote the germination of valuable moist-soil plants. Timing of Drawdowns


Abstract. The frequency of dry-season droughts and wet-season storms has been predicted to increase in subtropical areas in the coming decades. Since subtropical forest soils are significant sources of N2O and NO3−, it is important to understand the features and determinants of N transformation responses to the predicted precipitation changes. A precipitation manipulation field experiment was conducted in a subtropical forest to reduce dry-season precipitation and increase wet-season precipitation, with annual precipitation unchanged. Net N mineralization, net nitrification, N2O emission, nitrifying (bacterial and archaeal amoA) and denitrifying (nirK, nirS and nosZ) gene abundance, microbial biomass carbon (MBC), extractable organic carbon (EOC), NO3−, NH4+ and soil water content (SWC) were monitored to characterize and explain soil N transformation responses. Dry-season precipitation reduction decreased net nitrification and N mineralization rates by 13–20 %, while wet-season precipitation addition increased both rates by 50 %. More than 20 % of the total variation of net nitrification and N mineralization could be explained by microbial abundance and SWC. Notably, archaeal amoA abundance showed the strongest correlation with net N transformation rates (r  ≥  0.35), suggesting the critical role of archaeal amoA abundance in determining N transformations. Increased net nitrification in the wet season, together with large precipitation events, caused substantial NO3− losses via leaching. However, N2O emission decreased moderately in both dry and wet seasons due to changes in nosZ gene abundance, MBC, net nitrification and SWC (decreased by 10–21 %). We conclude that reducing dry-season precipitation and increasing wet-season precipitation affect soil N transformations through altering functional microbial abundance and MBC, which are further affected by changes in EOC and NH4+ availabilities.


In this paper, five major shifts in engineering education are identified. During the engineering science revolution, curricula moved from hands-on practice to mathematical modeling and scientific analyses. The first shift was initiated by engineering faculty members from Europe; accelerated during World War II, when physicists contributed multiple engineering breakthroughs; codified in the Grinter report; and kick-started by Sputnik. Did accreditation hinder curricular innovations? Were engineering graduates ready for practice? Spurred by these questions, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) required engineering programs to formulate outcomes, systematically assess achievement, and continuously improve student learning. The last three shifts are in progress. Since the engineering science revolution may have marginalized design, a distinctive feature of engineering, faculty members refocused attention on capstone and first-year engineering design courses. However, this third shift has not affected the two years in between. Fourth, research on learning and education continues to influence engineering education. Examples include learning outcomes and teaching approaches, such as cooperative learning and inquiry that increase student engagement. In shift five, technologies (e.g., the Internet, intelligent tutors, personal computers, and simulations) have been predicted to transform education for over 50 years; however, broad transformation has not yet been observed. Together, these five shifts characterize changes in engineering education over the past 100 years.


Laboratory experiments were developed to incorporate pharmaceutical engineering concepts into Freshman-level engineering courses. The goal is to increase the interest of pharmaceutical engineering in students and provide the necessary background for more advanced courses in the field. The experiments can be used on an individual basis, or grouped into themes for more focused learning objectives. The following laboratory experiments are available at the pharmaceutical knowledge and training website www.PharmaHUB.org under the Teaching Resources tab.


Silver Diammine Fluoride (SDF), which contains fluoride, is known to inhibit tooth enamel demineralization and increase fluoride concentrations in saliva and urine. The aim of this study is to analyze the fluoride concentration in urine after application of SDF on tooth enamel. Urine from four subjects was collected prior to, 30 minutes after, and two and three hours after the application of SDF, and an ion-selective electrode was used to measure the fluoride concentrations. There was no significant difference between time 1 and time 2, time 1 and time 3, time 1 and time 4, time 2 and 3 (p > 0.05), and there was a significant difference between time 2 and time 4 as well as time 3 and time 4 (p < 0.05). There was a decrease in the concentration of fluoride ions in urine from the baseline to 30 minutes after application, and an increase from baseline to two and three hours after the application of SDF.


This paper discusses the need for an integrative literature review on data visualizations, particularly in health and medical contexts. The paper analyzes 25 studies across disciplines. The findings suggest there is little agreement on the best way to visualize complex data for lay audiences, but some emerging effective practices are being develop. Pictographs, icon arrays, and bar charts seem to hold promise for comprehension by users, and visualizations need to be kept as simple as possible with attention to integrating other design features such as headings and legends. The review ends with five specific research areas in which technical and professional communicators should focus their attention on empirical studies that examine: interactive displays, merge attention and comprehension, look at numeracy and risk and finally, cross health and medical subjects.


OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the clinical effectiveness and incremental cost-effectiveness of amantadine, oseltamivir and zanamivir for seasonal and post-exposure prophylaxis of influenza.

DATA SOURCES
A MEDLINE search strategy was used and searches were carried out in July 2007.

REVIEW METHODS
An independent health economic model was developed based on a review of existing cost-effectiveness models and clinical advice.The model draws together a broad spectrum of evidence relating to the costs and consequences associated with influenza and its prevention. Where direct evidence concerning the effectiveness of prophylaxis within specific model subgroups was lacking, the model uses estimates from mixed subgroups or extrapolates from other mutually exclusive subgroups.

RESULTS
Twenty-six published references relating to 22 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were included in the clinical effectiveness review, along with one unpublished report. Eight, six and nine RCTs were included for amantadine, oseltamivir and zanamivir respectively. The study quality was variable and gaps in the evidence base limited the assessment of the clinical effectiveness of the interventions. For seasonal prophylaxis, there was limited evidence for the efficacy of amantadine in preventing symptomatic, laboratory-confirmed influenza (SLCI) in healthy adults [relative risk (RR) 0.40, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.08-2.03]. Oseltamivir was effective in preventing SLCI, particularly when used in at-risk elderly subjects (RR 0.08, 95% CI 0.01-0.63). The preventative efficacy of zanamivir was most notable in at-risk adults and adolescents (RR 0.17, 95% CI 0.07-0.44), and healthy and at-risk elderly subjects (RR 0.20, 95% CI 0.02-1.72). For post-exposure prophylaxis, data on the use of amantadine were again limited: in adolescents an RR of 0.10 (95% CI 0.03-0.34) was reported for the prevention of SLCI. Oseltamivir was effective in households of mixed composition (RR 0.19, 95% CI 0.08-0.45). The efficacy of zanamivir in post-exposure prophylaxis within households was also reported (RR 0.21, 95% CI 0.13-0.33). Interventions appeared to be well tolerated. Limited evidence was available for the effectiveness of the interventions in preventing complications and hospitalisation and in minimising length of illness and time to return to normal activities. No clinical effectiveness data were identified for health-related quality of life or mortality outcomes. With the exception of at-risk children, the incremental cost-utility of seasonal influenza prophylaxis is expected to be in the range 38,000-428,000 pounds per QALY gained (depending on subgroup). The cost-effectiveness ratios for oseltamivir and zanamivir as post-exposure prophylaxis are expected to be below 30,000 pounds per QALY gained in healthy children, at-risk children, healthy elderly and at-risk elderly individuals. Despite favourable clinical efficacy estimates, the incorporation of recent evidence of viral resistance to amantadine led to it being dominated in every economic comparison.

CONCLUSIONS
All three interventions showed some efficacy for seasonal and post-exposure prophylaxis. However, weaknesses and gaps in the clinical evidence base are directly relevant to the interpretation of the health economic model and rendered the use of advanced statistical analyses inappropriate. These data limitations should be borne in mind in interpreting the findings of the review.


Recent cosmic-ray measurements have found an anomaly in the cosmic-ray energy spectrum at GeV-TeV energies. Although the origin of the anomaly is not clearly understood, suggested explanations include the effect of cosmic-ray source spectrum, propagation effects, and the effect of nearby sources. In this paper, we propose that the spectral anomaly might be an effect of reacceleration of cosmic rays by weak shocks in the Galaxy. After acceleration by strong supernova remnant shock waves, cosmic rays undergo diffusive propagation through the Galaxy. During the propagation, cosmic rays may again encounter expanding supernova remnant shock waves, and get re-accelerated. As the probability of encountering old supernova remnants is expected to be larger than the younger remnants because of their bigger sizes, reacceleration is expected to be produced mainly by weaker shocks. Since weaker shocks generate a softer particle spectrum, the resulting re-accelerated component will have a spectrum steeper than the initial cosmic-ray source spectrum produced by strong shocks. For a reasonable set of model parameters, it is shown that the re-accelerated component can dominate the GeV energy region while the non-reaccelerated component dominates at higher energies, thereby explaining the observed GeV-TeV spectral anomaly.


BACKGROUND After the Sandy Hook shootings and the resulting Hartford Consensus, as well as the recent Boston Marathon bombing, the need for a uniform, detailed, and aggressive prehospital extremity exsanguination control protocol became clear. We hypothesized that most states within the United States lack a detailed uniform protocol. METHODS We performed a systematic nationwide assessment of emergency medical services (EMS) prehospital extremity exsanguination control protocols. An online search (updated February 7, 2015) identified state-, region-, or county-specific EMS protocols in all 50 states. If unavailable online, protocols were retrieved directly by contacting each state's Department of Public Health (or other appropriate agency). Two investigators independently screened each extremity exsanguination control protocol. Protocols were first grouped into three categories: I, tourniquet not mentioned; II, tourniquet mentioned, without specific guidance; III, tourniquet mentioned, with specific guidance related to type, indications, application technique, and safety concerns. Each protocol was then scored on a five-point scale for comparison. RESULTS Forty-two states (84%) had statewide and 14 (28%) had at least one county-specific protocol. Seven states (16%) had no statewide protocol but at least one county-specific protocol (range, 1–10). Mississippi had neither statewide nor county-specific protocols. Of statewide protocols, 4 (9.5%) were in Category I, 23 (54.8%) in Category II, and 15 (35.7%) in Category III. The mean score for statewide tourniquets was 2.4/5 (SD, 1.25; range, 0–5). Thirteen (31%) statewide protocols referred to "commercial" or "approved" tourniquets; only three (7%) recommended a particular commercial device. The mean score for the county-specific protocols of states with no statewide protocol was 3.10 (SD, 1.56; range, 0–5) CONCLUSIONS Throughout the United States, there is considerable variability in EMS protocols addressing the management of extremity exsanguination and an alarming absence of specific guidance for tourniquet use. Most states do not have a uniform, detailed, and aggressive prehospital extremity exsanguination control protocol. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Epidemiologic and prognostic study, level III.


The generation of mean magnetic fields is studied for a simple non-helical flow where a net cross helicity of either sign can emerge. This flow, which is a lso known as the Archontis flow, is a generalization of the Arnold‐Beltrami‐Childress flow, but with the cosine terms omitted. The presence of cross helicity leads to a mean-field dynamo effect that is known as the Yoshizawa effect. Direct numerical simulations of such flows demonstrate the presence of magnetic fields on scales larger than the scale of the flow. Con trary to earlier expectations, the Yoshizawa effect is found to be proportional to the mean magnetic field and can therefore lead to its exponential instead of just linear amplification for magnetic Reynolds numbers that exceed a certain critical value. Unlike α effect dynamos, it is found that the Yoshizawa effect is not noticeably constrained by the presence of a conservat ion law. It is argued that this is due to the presence of a forcing term in the momentum equation which leads to a nonzero correlation with the magnetic field. Finally, the applicati on to energy convergence in solar wind turbulence is discussed.


Diabetes mellitus is a condition in which a person has a high blood sugar/glucose level. This is because the body does not produce enough insulin, or because the body cells do not properly respond to the insulin that is produced. Herbal treatment for diabetes has been a part of traditional medicine for thousands of years. The natural herbs for diabetes treatment focus on lowering blood sugar, reducing the damaging effects of the disease and maintaining of a safe, healthy level of blood glucose. Many diabetic patients seeking an alternative treatment to traditional drugs turn to natural herbs for help. This review article provides very useful information of officially-approved antidiabetic natural ingredients [Table 1] by KFDA, thereby providing consumers with a wise decision when they purchase the effective nutraceuticals for diabetes. Therefore, medicinal herbs may be used to prevent and treat diabetes reliably and safely when the government approves the ingredients or products officially.


The transition of the Somali Current from northeast monsoon conditions to southwest monsoon conditions was observed from April through August 1979. The northeastward flow associated with the Somali Current of the southwest monsoon progressed from the equator in April to 4�N in August. The separation of the current from the coast, as observed at the northern boundary of the northeastward flow, did not intrude north continuously, but rather in distinct steps. South of 4�N, the circulation was characterized by the incorporation of increasing amounts of somewhat more saline water from the south and east into the boundary current. A clockwise gyre with northeastward flow along the coast developed between 6� and 10�N during June.


The case of King v Burwell refocused attention on the different paths states followed to implement the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA includes 3 distinct approaches to organizing health insurance marketplaces. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia established state-based marketplaces (SBMs) that allow states to design and operate online insurance marketplaces, certify qualified health plans, and assist consumers through outreach and educational efforts. Seven states adopted state partnership marketplaces (SPMs) that delegate operation of the online website to federal officials, while retaining control over plan management, consumer assistance programs, or both. Twentynine states opted for federally facilitated marketplaces (FFMs), for which federal officials perform plan management and consumer assistance services and also operate the online marketplace. The uncertainty surrounding the US Supreme Court's ruling in King led many supporters of the ACA to urge the states that opted for FFMs or SPMs to quickly establish SBMs to ensure that their residents


This dissertation reveals how religious factors affected the development of the Korean War. Much prior research has analyzed the causes and nature of the Korean War, in part because of the war's impact upon later events, from the Cold War to the presentday geopolitical standoff. Though the war has been much-studied, religious factors have rarely been included in these analyses. This de-emphasis of religion may be a justifiable simplification in general war historiographies, but not in the specific case of Korea. This current study uncovers the unique role of religion in Korean-American relations and in Korean culture and politics, prior-to-and-during the time of the Korean War. The Korean War ushered in a time of intimate collaboration between state and non-state actors, unparalleled in American diplomatic and military history. Because American missionaries had been working among Koreans for many years, they possessed the language skills, human connections, and geographical knowledge that the US military lacked. From the early days within the Pusan Perimeter through the late period at P'anmunjom, American missionaries were highly visible on the frontline, at the negotiation table, and in the POW camps. They were also important to the battle of propaganda. Their letters and reports aroused sympathy in America for the Korea people. In addition to the contributions of American Missionaries, the effect of Korean Christians was an equally important factor to the shaping of the conflict. Churches were rather influential within Korean society; clergymen were active in Korean politics; and many of the top politicians were Christians. Christianity was a major obstacle to Communist control of the North and subversive activities in the South. With the assistance of foreign funding, churches were transformed by the ravages of war into an important source of charitable assistance for millions of impoverished refugees. Although this study looks at religious factors in general, the discussion focuses primarily on Protestant churches and Protestant missionaries. These Protestant churches, of all religious institutions in Korea, exerted an influence far disproportionate to their percapita membership. Similarly, these Protestant missionaries, of all religious actors, had significant influence upon the American military and upon the American public. In particular, the majority of missionaries who stayed behind and worked effectively with the Korean government and US military were from the American Presbyterian missions. They took the initiative on relief efforts and set the standard for others to follow. This dissertation makes an important contribution to religious history as well. In the process of assessing the impact of Christianity upon the Korean War, this dissertation begins by examining Christianity's development within Korea, primarily from the arrival of American missionaries in the late Choson period. Christianity is found to have had a strong impact upon Korea's social development, internal politics, and foreign-relations. The Christian community was an important part of the independence movement against Japanese control. When one considers that South Korea has emerged today as one of the most Christianized of nations, that every elected Korean president has been a Christian, and that Korea now sends out more missionaries than any nation besides America, then the historical value of such a study of into Christianity's origins becomes clear.


Schema matching is a task at the heart of integrating heterogeneous structured and semi-structured data with applications in data warehousing, process matching, data analysis recommendations, Web table matching, etc. Schema matching is known to be an uncertain process and a common method of overcoming this uncertainty is by introducing a human expert with a ranked list of possible schema matches from which the expert may choose, known as top-K matching. In this work we propose a learning algorithm that utilizes an innovative set of features to rerank a list of schema matches and improves upon the ranking of the best match. The proposed algorithm assists the matching process by introducing a quality set of alternative matches to a human expert. It also serves as a step towards eliminating the involvement of human experts as decision makers in a matching process altogether. A large scale empirical evaluation with real-world benchmark shows the effectiveness of the proposed algorithmic solution.


Objectives: This community-based study was done to assess the awareness of people regarding the ill effects of consanguinity
and to observe its association with various sociodemographic variables and complications among children. Methods:
Houses were chosen by systematic random sampling method and any married person in each household was interviewed.
Results: Only 35 (18.7%) out of 187 participants were aware of health hazards associated with consanguineous marriages.
The prevalence of consanguineous marriages was found to be 23 (12.3%). History of consanguineous marriage was seen
significantly more among illiterates (P = .05) and respondents with parental history of consanguinity (P < .001). The mean
age at marriage was found to be significantly lower among women married consanguineously (P = .05). Congenital anomalies
(P = .02) and low birth weight (P = .05) was seen significantly more among children with parental history of consanguinity.
Conclusion: Large-scale awareness campaigns are needed to address the ill effects of this seemingly innocuous cultural
practice.