The contemporary society being an educational society, points out a number of aspects that require the elaboration of the educational policy directions and the reconfiguration of the educational paradigms, at the macro and micro level, starting from elements such as: the high degree of abstraction of some knowledge products; restructuring of the values system promoted by the society; accelerating the dynamics, the pace of changes; scientific, technical, cultura etc., general; the mobility of social life, the need to change tasks, roles and statuses, professions; the evolution of the labor market. Thus, contemporary education systems underline the role of "the teacher who is a facilitator of learning, a student among students, a person who sees learning through the eyes of students." (John Hattie, 2014) In this context, we propose an analysis of identifying the particularities of teacher-student interaction from the perspective of learning environments.
We will analyze certain factors, such as: the course materials, the quality of the educational materials from the program, their attractiveness, presentation, clarity, content and references to other materials; quality of the teachers activity: the degree in which it is able to offer help, encouragement and guidance (good communication with the teacher improves the student's learning performance); feedback on the learning process, the recorded performances, the speed and clarity of the reaction received throughout the training program, either in the online environment or in the traditional environment, of the student class; interaction and collaboration with colleagues, how they are able to provide support and encouragement.
The present study aims at three important objectives: identifying the students' preference for using the learning environment; analyzing the quality of knowledge acquisition in relation to the preferred learning environment; identification of the particularities of the teacher-student interaction from the perspective of the learning environment.


Background: Guava leaves contain tannins and saponins that have been known to have anthelmintic effect. This study aimed to determine the effect of guava leaf extract toward mortality of Ascaris suum, Goeze in vitro Methods: The study was a laboratory experimental research using the post-test only controlled group design. Subjects were adult Ascaris suum, Goeze. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling. Subjects were divided into 7 groups, each group consisting of 5 worms, replication performed 4 times. Saline solution was used in negative control group, pirantel pamoate 5 mg/ml was used in positive control group, while the treatment group used guava leaf extract concentration of 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100%. Worms were immersed in the test solution at 25 mL and was incubated at 37 ̊. Observations were made every 1 hour for 7 hours and counted the number of dead worms for 7 hours. Data were analyzed with Kruskal-Wallis test, followed by Mann Whitney test and probit analysis. Results: Total number of dead worms after 7 hours of observation in the negative control group was 0, guava leaf extract concentration of 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100% respectively by 4, 7, 12, 20, and 20, and in the positive control group was 20. Kruskal Wallis test results showed a significant difference, while Mann Whitney test showed some significant and unsignificant differences among those groups (p <0.05 and p> 0.05). Probit analysis showed LC50 and LC90 respectively at concentration 54.320% and 74.516%.. Conclusions: Based on this study, it can be concluded that the guava leaf extract affects mortality of Ascaris suum, Goeze in vitro, the increased concentration of extract increases the number of deaths of worms.


In this paper we provide an assessment of the impacts of Regional trade agreements (RTAs) on agricultural trade, putting emphasis on the role of rules of origin (RO) which are always part of these agreements. We distinguish trade in raw agricultural products and trade in processed food products. Our sample includes 180 countries over four time periods: 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2011. We consider the main trade agreements involving major world exporting countries of agricultural commodities and food products. Using a gravity model, we introduce dummies for controlling for the multilateral resistance terms and we use the Poisson-Pseudo Maximum Likelihood (PPML) estimation method to deal with zero trade flows. Econometric results globally confirm that RTAs have a positive impact on trade between member countries, a negative or a non significant direct impact of RO, a negative or a non significant cross impact of RTAs and RO. Our estimation results globally support a significant non linear impact of RTAs, its positive effect on trade between members decreasing with the degree of restrictiveness of involved RO. As expected, our results suggest that trade in food products is more sensitive to RTAs and their RO than trade in agricultural products. Contrary to expectations, our estimation results do not support clear differentiated impact of RTAs and involved RO on North to South and South to North agrifood exports. Finally, our results suggest that RO matter regarding the trade impacts of RTAs.


In this study, the non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of epoxy functionalized poly(hedral oligomeric silsesquioxane) (G-POSS) reinforced plasticized or unplasticized poly(lactic acid) (PLA) was investigated. Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) was used as plasticizer at a constant content of 10% by weight. A micro-compounder was used to prepare PLA/G-POSS, PLA/PEG, and PLA/PEG/G-POSS nanocomposites. G-POSS content was varied as 1, 3, 7, and 10 wt%. Avrami, Ozawa, and combined Avrami-Ozawa kinetic models were implemented to understand the non-isothermal crystallization behavior of aforementioned nanocomposites. Moreover, the nucleation activity of G-POSS particles was investigated in terms of Dobreva and Gutzow models. The data for kinetic analysis were obtained through differential scanning calorimeter. It was found that the crystallization rate of both plasticized and unplasticized PLA nanocomposites increased with the addition of G-POSS. It was highlighted that G-POSS is an effective nucleating agent for plasticized and unplasticized PLA nanocomposites. In parallel, these findings were in good agreement with activation energies obtained from Friedman model. In addition, all kinetic results were supported by polarized optical microscopy. POLYM. COMPOS., 2015. © 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers


This study probed into the effects of the use of school punishments as management tool on secondary school students' behaviours. The study examined the types of punishments used in secondary schools, types of misbehaviours as well as types of punishments given against misbehaviours. The study also examined the presumed effects of punishments and the alternatives to physical punishments. The study found that 55.9% of respondents said that removal or not of physical punishment would increase misbehaviours. This is contrary to 44.1% of the respondents who said that removing physical punishments in secondary schools will lead to a decrease of misbehaviours in secondary schools. Furthermore, the study found that many respondents do not support the idea of continued use of physical punishments in schools. This was indicated by 62.7% of the respondents who said that physical punishments should not continue being used in secondary schools while, the remaining 37.3% said it should continue. A survey design and qualitative approach with support of some elements of quantitative approach were used to collect data. The study was conducted in six secondary schools in Mafinga Township in Mufindi district with a total of 310 respondents. The respondents were sampled through purposive sampling. Data were collected using rating scales and interviews. Qualitative data were analyzed by using descriptive analysis and quantitative data were analyzed through SPSS 16.0 version. The findings of the current study have indicated that the use of physical punishments is not in favour of many respondents, that is teachers and students. Therefore, the study recommends introducing and using alternatives to physical punishments so as to help students build self discipline in secondary schools.


Probability density function (PDF) control strategy investigates the controller design approaches in order to to realise a desirable distributions shape control of the random variables for the stochastic processes. Different from the existing stochastic optimisation and control methods, the most important problem of PDF control is to establish the evolution of the PDF expressions of the system variables. Once the relationship between the control input and the output PDF is formulated, the control objective can be described as obtaining the control input signals which would adjust the system output PDFs to follow the pre-specified target PDFs. This paper summarises the recent research results of the PDF control while the controller design approaches can be categorised into three groups: 1) system model-based direct evolution PDF control; 2) model-based distribution-transformation PDF control methods and 3) data-based PDF control. In addition, minimum entropy control, PDF-based filter design, fault diagnosis and probabilistic decoupling design are also introduced briefly as extended applications in theory sense.


Background The initial tension applied to an anterior cruciate ligament graft at the time of fixation modulates knee motion and the tibiofemoral compressive loads. Purpose To establish the relationships between initial graft tension, tibiofemoral compressive force, and the neutral tibiofemoral position in the cadaveric knee. Study Design Controlled laboratory study. Methods The tibiofemoral compressive forces and joint positions were determined in the anterior cruciate ligament-intact knee at 0°, 20°, and 90° of knee flexion. The anterior cruciate ligament was excised and reconstructed with a patellar tendon graft using graft tensions of 1, 15, 30, 60, and 90 N applied at 0°, 20°, and 90° of knee flexion. The compressive forces and neutral positions were compared between initial tension conditions and the anterior cruciate ligament-intact knee. Results Increasing initial graft tension increased the tibiofemoral compressive forces. The forces in the medial compartment were 1.8 times those in the lateral compartment. The compressive forces were dependent on the knee angle at which the tension was applied. The greatest compressive forces occurred when the graft was tensioned with the knee in extension. An increase in initial graft tension caused the tibia to rotate externally compared with the anterior cruciate ligament-intact knee (1.5° and 7.7° of external rotation when tensioned to 90 N at 0° and 90° of knee flexion, respectively). Increases in initial graft tension also caused a significant posterior translation of the tibia relative to the femur (0.9 and 5.3 mm of posterior translation when tensioned to 90 N at 0° and 90° of knee flexion, respectively). Conclusion Different initial graft tension protocols produced predictable changes in the tibiofemoral compressive forces and joint positions. Clinical Relevance The tibiofemoral compressive force and neutral joint position were best replicated with a low graft tension (1-15 N) when using a patellar tendon graft.


Process variations in nanometer technologies are becoming an important issue for cutting-edge FPGAs with a multi-million gate capacity. Considering both die-to-die and within-die variations in effective channel length, threshold voltage, and gate oxide thickness, we first develop closed-form models of leakage and timing variations at the FPGA chip level. Experiments show that our models are within 3% from Monte Carlo simulation, and the leakage and delay variations can be up to 3/spl times/ and 1.9/spl times/, respectively. We then derive analytical yield models considering both leakage and timing variations, and use such models to evaluate FPGA device and architecture under process variations. Compared to the architecture similar to a commercial FPGA and device setting from ITRS roadmap, device tuning alone improves leakage yield by 39% and architecture and device co-optimization increases leakage yield by 73%. We also show that LUT size 4 gives the highest leakage yield, LUT size 7 gives the highest timing yield, but LUT size 5 achieves the maximum combined leakage and timing yield. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first in-depth study on FPGA device and architecture co-evaluation considering process variations.


Inadequacy of family resources to purchase health care is the major reason poor, near-poor, and underserved children and youth do not obtain needed preventive, acute, and chronic health care services. 1 Other factors also can significantly limit access to health service, such as distance to facilities, availability of health providers, barriers in the organization and function of the health care system, and the attitudes and behaviors of patients. 2,3 However, inadequacy of resources to purchase medical care is the central problem. The child population whose families are unable to afford medical insurance coverage now includes 27 to 28 million infants, children, and youth who are uninsured, partially insured, or enrolled in Medicaid. The number of pregnant women who cannot afford care must also be considered when addressing the health care needs of children. Twenty-seven percent of women between ages 20 and 24 years are without private health insurance, as are


There is a growing recognition of the effectiveness of locally led processes of social change and development. However, most of the case studies that have been discussed in the literature are focused on programs run by international development agencies. This article examines three locally led processes of change in the Pacific. These include the Simbo for Change Initiative in the Solomon Islands, the Voice in Papua New Guinea and a regional process led by the Green Growth Coalition. We explore how local understandings of leadership, preferences for informal ways of working, holistic ways of thinking, the importance placed upon maintaining good relationships and collective deliberation fundamentally shaped each of the cases. We note how these preferences and ways of working are often seen, or felt, to be at odds with western modes of thought and the practice of development agencies. Finally, we conclude by exploring how these initiatives were supported by external agencies, and suggest further research of this type might provide benchmarks by which Pacific citizens can hold their governments and development agencies to account.


The LIM domain only protein 7 (LMO7), a member of the PDZ and LIM domain‐containing protein family is a candidate gene with possible roles in embryonic development and breast cancer progression. LMO7 has been linked to actin cytoskeleton organization through nectin/afadin and to cell–cell adhesion by means of E‐cadherin/catenin. In addition, LMO7 has been shown to regulate transcription of the nuclear membrane protein Emerin and other muscle relevant genes. In this study, we used in situ hybridization to investigate LMO7 expression during embryonic development in three widely used vertebrate model species: the zebrafish, the chicken and the mouse. Our temporal and spatial gene expression analysis revealed both common and distinct patterns between these species. In mouse and chicken embryos we found expression in the outflow tract, the inflow tract, the pro‐epicardial organ and the second heart field, structures highly important in the developing heart. Furthermore, gene knockdown experiments in zebrafish embryos resulted in severe defects in heart development with effects on the conduction system and on heart localization. In summary, we present here the first developmental study of LMO7. We reveal the temporal and spatial expression patterns of this important gene during mouse, chicken and fish development and our findings suggest essential functions for LMO7 during vertebrate heart development. Developmental Dynamics 237:3940–3952, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


This Article examines the conflict-management role conferred upon the law within Western liberal democracies in the context of cultural tensions involving religious minorities. The Article finds that a threatened hegemonic Christian identity and secular illiberal sentiments disguised in liberal narratives often motivated legislative and judicial actions curtailing the freedom of religious minorities in leading liberal democracies. Based on these findings, this Article challenges the shortcomings of existing liberal scholarship to account for the potential bias presented in the liberal preference to facilitate cultural conflicts through legal means. Yet, the Article suggests that law's limitations as a neutral vehicle in conflict resolution does not necessarily counteract its ability to manage conflicts. The continued attractiveness of law as the principal conflict-resolution device in liberal democracies springs from its political nature, namely the recognition that shifts in political power could translate into legal change.


Population genetic analysis was performed on data from 42,695 purebred beef calves from seven breeds born from 1981 to 2005 in Hungary. Animal model were used for the estimations. Sire, herd, age of dam at calving, birth year, season of birth and sex of calf had significant effects on 205-day calf weaning weight for each breed. Direct heritability value estimates (h2d) were 0.18 to 0.61, the maternal heritability values (h2m) from 0.07 to 0.38, and the total heritability values were between 0.09 and 0.35. The direct-maternal genetic correlations (rdm) were high and negative for all the breeds varying from -0.63 to -0.88.


Selecting a CASE tool is a complicated process. Selection criteria must be determined, CASE tools must be evaluated against the criteria, and a decision must be made. Successful CASE selection, however, must go beyond technical factors and consider additional issues. The common critical failure points in these additional issues which must be addressed for the selection to be successful through the lifecycle of the tool are identified. These include getting the selection process correct, having the prerequisites in place prior to selecting tools, knowing and understanding the organization, evaluating the product under performance stress, and managing exceptions.


Despite all the written works circulated or published so far, the effort to develop Islamic economics as a discipline does not seem to have brought about the expected results. This paper argues that it is the absence of a clear notion of what economics can be considered (and henceforth be given the prefix) Islamic that impedes the development of Islamic economics. To rectify the problem, this paper proposes three conditions under which an economics can be considered Islamic. This paper further proposes that the scope of Islamic economics consists of four distinguished fields of work, and that the methods used in the development of Islamic economics vary depending on the end sought within each of these fields of work. This paper finally expands on three implications, which together give rise to a hope that to develop Islamic economics and its body of knowledge can be much less complicated than what Islamic economists have ever thought. This paper as a whole can be seen as a beginning statement toward a new, more comprehensive framework of Islamic economic analysis.


Nonlinear solution of reinforced concrete structures, particularly complete load-deflection response, requires tracing of the equilibrium path and proper treatment of the limit and bifurcation points. In this regard, ordinary solution techniques lead to instability near the limit points and also have problems in case of snap-through and snap-back. Thus they fail to predict the complete load-displacement response. The arc-length method serves the purpose well in principle, received wide acceptance in finite element analysis, and has been used extensively. However modifications to the basic idea are vital to meet the particular needs of the analysis. This paper reviews some of the recent developments of the method in the last two decades, with particular emphasis on nonlinear finite element analysis of reinforced concrete structures.


Experimental approaches are increasingly being adopted across many policy fields, but innovation policy has been lagging. This paper reviews the case for policy experimentation in this field, describes the different types of experiments that can be undertaken, discusses some of the unique challenges to the use of experimental approaches in innovation policy, and summarizes some of the emerging lessons, with a focus on randomized trials. The paper concludes describing how at the Innovation Growth Lab we have been working with governments across the OECD to help them overcome the barriers to policy experimentation to make their policies more impactful.


Purpose: Stock split is a stock price, tock liquidity is influenced by high low stock prices, then the stock split is the right action to maintain stock liquidity so that the price becomes small and fluitive(Kurniawati, 2013). Stock price splitting is an event rarely performed by issuers.Currently, issuers carrying out stock split activities are still relatively few because basically stock split is only done by companies that have high share prices. If the performance of the company is good, the share price will be high, but if the stock price continues to rise, it will cause a decrease in investor interest to buy the company's shares due to high stock prices. This study aims to determine whether there is a stock price movement when the company is doing a stock split and to find out whether research on stock price movements caused by stock split is following signaling theory and trading range theory. Fluitive stock prices that are affected by stock split can be seen by calculating the abnormal return of the company's close price.If the result of the calculation has a negative effect then the stock split does not have a good effect on stock price liquidity but if it has a positive effect then the stock split gives a positive effect on stock price liquidity.This is what influencing researchers to conduct research in Indonesian Syariah Stock Index because there is still little research on stock split event in Islamic stock market. Methodology Approach: This study analyzes the movement of stock prices for 60 days, with following day calculation, 30 (thirty) days before the stock split, and 30 (thirty) days after the stock split. This study uses secondary data, namely data from reports of companies that have carried out a corporate action stock split and obtained data through the official website www.idx.co.id andwww.finance.yahoo.com. The researcherusescloseprice data ofdailystockpricesfromcompaniesthatmakestockpricesplitsandbecomepartof 2018 Syariah Indonesia stockindex. The independentvariable in this study isthestocksplitandthedependentvariableofthis study isthestock price. 10 companypopulations were used in this study, and its testing wasonlyconductedon 7 samplecompaniesthatmetthecriteriaaccordingtothepurposive sampling method. In analyzing data the researcher used abnormal returnanalysiswiththeactualreturn-expectedreturn method. ThenormalitytestusedisKolmogorov Smirnovtest. Hypothesis testing usedone-sample t-testandpairedsamples t-test, theauthor'sprocessthisresearch data usingthe program SPSS 18(Yustisia, 2018). Findings:The final results of the test using paired sample t-test showed a very significant value that is 0.039 and smaller thanα= 0.05 which means there is a movement in stock prices for 30 (thirty) days before the stock split and 30 (thirty) days after the stock split, so this study concludes that the movement of sharia stock prices at ISSI 2018 is affected by the stock splitting event indicated by the results significant paired sample t-test. In the perspective of Signaling Theory and Trading Range Theory of 7 companies that conduct stock split, the results shown by this study are following both theories, namely, when a company does a stock split, the stock market shows the existence of stock fluctuations, both before the split event and after the split event The results of the calculation of the actual return of 5 companies experienced good liquidity, while 2 companies experienced liquidity, but not so fluitive. Practical Implications:Someresearchers say that stock price movements are affected by stock split events, but some studies also say the opposite, this results in the incompatibility of previous research with the theoretical basis of signaling theory and trading range theory. Research on stock price movements influenced by stock split still produces different conclusion.This is the basis for conducting this research. Originality:Corporate action in the form of a stock split carried out by the issuer has an impact on the liquidity of stock prices, but it needs to be considered because internal factors of the company such as company performance will be taken into consideration.Besides internal factors, stock prices can also be influenced by external factors namely government policies or influential issues in investors' decision to continue buying shares or not. In this study there are significant stock price movements between events before and after the stock split. It is known that in testing 30 (thirty) days before the stock split event there was no stock price movement, but there was a significant stock price movement after 30 (thirty) days after the stock split.


The debate about cutting taxes for corporations and the wealthy is a false one. The issue is not whether transnational corporations and the very rich benefit from tax cuts, but that many of them walk away from all taxes. A General Accounting Office report found that between 1996 and 2000, 61 percent of all U.S. companies paid zero federal taxes. They accomplish this primarily through "profit laundering," a phrase that ought to be on the lips of every social critic.


In this study we hypothesized that reduced renal mass (RRM) hypertension, which is associated with a chronic reduction in vessel density, could reduce steady-state muscle performance. Vessel density and isometric tetanic force from the in situ gastrocnemius-plantaris-soleus muscle group were studied in age-matched normotensive sham-operated control (HSS) and hypertensive RRM rats on a high-salt (4.0% NaCl) diet (HSRRM) and a low-salt (0.4% NaCl) diet (LSS and LSRRM, respectively). The Achilles tendon was isolated and connected to a force transducer. Peak isometric tension elicited by sciatic nerve stimulation (1/s for 10 min, 50 impulses/s for 330 ms) was not different between the groups. In the LSS, HSS, and LSRRM groups, tension decreased similarly at 3 min to 375 +/- 22, 447 +/- 26, and 424 +/- 21 g/g, respectively. Tension was significantly reduced in the HSRRM group (203 +/- 45 g/g) relative to the LSS, HSS, and LSRRM groups by 3 min. These differences in steady-state tension persisted throughout the remainder of the experiment. Microvessel density, measured by the lectin fluorescence technique, was reduced significantly only in the soleus, plantaris, and medial gastrocnemius of the HSRRM rats. We conclude that RRM hypertension results in reductions in vessel density (rarefaction) that are associated with decreased steady-state muscle performance.


The development of monitoring systems of healthcare on the basis of WSN has seen a significant increase on a large scale in previous years. These systems are more prevalent because of the importance of human life and the provision of appropriate technologies to be applied. Therefore it must be appropriate to the requirements of healthcare. In this paper, a real-time healthcare monitoring system based on WSN is designed. The system senses and displays ECG, SPO2, heart rate (HR), breathing, respiratory rate, blood pressure and temperature of a patient. A new algorithm is developed in this paper to measure a respiratory rate from breathing (Airflow sensor). The system features a friendly GUI in base station which is easy to use and very simple to administer by a specialist doctor. The network technology, which is used in the system is a star topology with wireless ZigBee protocol. In base station, LabVIEW software and Visual studio 2012 are used to do tasks such as a processing, monitoring, graphical user interface, reporting, and alarming. The aim of this paper is to design a real time healthcare monitoring and alarming system using WSN for sensing breathing, ECG, temperature, SPO2, and blood pressure through Zigbee protocol.


Workers' compensation was arguably the first widespread social insurance program in the United States - before social security, Medicare, or unemployment insurance - and the most successful form of labor legislation to emerge from the early progressive movement. In "A Prelude to the Welfare State", Price V. Fishback and Shawn Everett Kantor challenge widespread historical perceptions by arguing that workers' compensation, rather than being an early progressive victory, succeeded because all relevant parties - labor and management, insurance companies, lawyers, and legislators - benefited from the ruling. Rigorous and convincing, "A Prelude to the Welfare State" is a major reappraisal of the causes and consequences of a movement that ultimately transformed the nature of social insurance and the American workplace.


Internet routing scalability issue is one of challenges of future Internet architecture. The global routing table is inflating with the growing number of networks connected to the Internet and the more-specific prefixes from multi-homing and traffic engineering operation requirements. Many engineering solutions have been proposed. In this paper, we propose a scalable routing architecture in a long-term intention for future Internet. Different from previous work, this architecture maintains AS landmark information for improving route forwarding table (FIB) aggregatability. Our evaluations on real BGP routing tables show that it can lead to an aggregated FIB of size less than 6%~22% of the original FIB size. It can be incrementally deployed in the Internet.


This paper documents the US Federal Aviation Administration's Aircraft Fire Safety R&D program. Areas featured include: • Fuel tank flammability research in support of a new fuel tank flammability reduction rule. Both small and large scale testing, as well as computational modeling is discussed. • Development of upgraded flammability test standards for materials in inaccessible areas of an aircraft, including ducting, electrical wiring and composite structure. • Halon replacement efforts to develop test standards and test agents for use in engine nacelles, cargo compartments and handheld extinguishers. • Developing standards for the safe transport of batteries and fuel cells in both the cargo compartment and in the passenger compartment. • The use of magnesium in the aircraft interior. Initial testing will examine the use in seat frames. If it is determined that magnesium can safely be used in seats, other applications, such as ducting and galley carts, will be explored. • Fire protection for freighter (all cargo) aircraft. This work is aimed at possible improvements in protection in the cargo compartments. Additionally, this paper discusses international cooperation in the area of aircraft fire safety R&D. FAA also conducts long-range research to develop the enabling technology for ultra-fire resistant materials, and to advance the scientific basis for understanding, measuring and predicting the burning behaviour of aircraft materials. This long-range R&D is not addressed in this paper.


The article presents a new technique for the preparation of cytological preparations, which can significantly increase the yield of cellular elements from traces of biological origin on material evidence. The use of this technique increases the percentage of positive results when conducting forensic cytological studies.

The study found that the use of an ultrasound bath in forensic examination of cigarette butts increases the number of cells removed by an average of 5-7 times compared to the conventional method of preparation of cytological drugs.

The analysis of the data also indicates that the storage time of cigarettes in the laboratory does not significantly affect the amount of cellular element extraction. Some difference in the average number of cells, for example, the shelf life of 1 month and 3 months, can be explained by the "dry" way of smoking cigarettes.

The use of this method in the examinations showed that ultrasound treatment does not affect the further investigation of these deficiencies in order to identify the antigens of the ABO system and to establish the category of excretion of smokers.

The application of this method makes it possible to use much less material in the examinations, and treatment with saline solution allows to save the biomaterial for further research by the method of DNA analysis.

Thus, the use of an ultrasound bath for the preparation of cytological preparations for cigarette butts can be recommended to forensic experts-cytologists for practical work, which will significantly increase the percentage of positive results in establishing the sex of saliva on these objects.


This Article examines the implications of an increased role for Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) in United States agency decisionmaking. Specifically, it contemplates where TEK might substantively and procedurally fit and, most importantly, whether a final agency action based on TEK would survive judicial scrutiny. In the midst of a growing body of scholarship questioning the wisdom of deference to agency expertise9 and the legitimacy of the administrative state writ large,10 this Article argues that there remains an important space in administrative rulemaking for the consideration of ways of understanding that differ from traditional Western norms. TEK can and should fill that space. Acknowledging the gatekeeping role of courts in deciding the categories of science or knowledge that deserve consideration,11 this Article spends considerable time engaging with the jurisprudence of judicial deference both to agency interpretation of statutes and to agency choice amongst experts in the face of uncertainty or disagreement. Ultimately, the fate of any future TEK-based action will depend on the specific details relevant to those analyses.


Aims: To evaluate the accuracy of sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast cancer patients at this institution, using combined technetium-99m (99mTc) sulphur colloid and patent blue vital dye. Methods: From March 2007 to July 2008, 50 patients with a tumour of less than 3 cm and with clinically negative axillary lymph nodes underwent sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB), followed by axillary lymph node dissection (ALND). Sub-areolar 99mTc sulphur colloid injection was performed the day before surgery, and patent blue vital dye was also injected sub-areolarly at least 5 minutes before surgery. Sentinel lymph node was identified during the surgical procedure, using a gamma probe and direct vision. All sentinel nodes underwent frozen section analysis. Later haematoxylin and eosin staining and immunohistochemical analysis were performed. Finally, SLNB was compared with standard ALND for its ability to accurately reflect the final pathological status of the axillary nodes. Results: The sentinel lymph node (SLN) was identified in 48 of 50 patients (96%). The number of sentinel lymph nodes ranged from one to four (mean 1.48) and non-sentinel nodes ranged from seven to 27 (mean 14.33). Of the 48 patients with successfully identified SLNs, 29.17% (14/48) were histologically positive. Sensivity of the SLN to predict axilla was 93.75%; accuracy was 97.96%. The SLN was falsely negative in one patient—6.25% (1/16). Conclusions: The SLNB represents a major advance in the surgical treatment of breast cancer as a minimally invasive procedure predicting the axillary lymph node status. This validation study demonstrates the accuracy of the SLNB and its reasonable false negative rate when performed in our institute. It can now be used as the standard method of staging in patients with early breast cancer at this institution.


Gallinacin-3 and gallopavin-1 (GPV-1) are newly characterized, epithelial beta-defensins of the chicken (Gallus gallus) and turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), respectively. In normal chickens, the expression of gallinacin-3 was especially prominent in the tongue, bursa of Fabricius, and trachea. It also occurred in other organs, including the skin, esophagus, air sacs, large intestine, and kidney. Tracheal expression of gallinacin-3 increased significantly after experimental infection of chickens with Haemophilus paragallinarum, whereas its expression in the tongue, esophagus, and bursa of Fabricius was unaffected. The precursor of gallinacin-3 contained a long C-terminal extension not present in the prepropeptide. By comparing the cDNA sequences of gallinacin-3 and GPV-1, we concluded that a 2-nucleotide insertion into the gallinacin-3 gene had induced a frameshift that read through the original stop codon and allowed the chicken propeptide to lengthen. The striking structural resemblance of the precursors of beta-defensins to those of crotamines (highly toxic peptides found in rattlesnake venom) supports their homology, even though defensins are specialized to kill microorganisms and crotamines are specialized to kill much larger prey.


This article investigates contemporary attempts to reform the institution
of the university according to neoliberal ideological influences
and oppositions to them. It employs Doreen Massey's concept of
space to focus on relations and separations made in the process. My
ethnography of the University of Helsinki's 375th anniversary celebration,
which turned into a public spectacle of various visions of higher education, constitutes the main empirical material. Finland's ambivalent position in the world renders the spatial work of forging connections and disconnections particularly conspicuous. It enables specific neoliberal aspirations (such as to be among 'the world's best universities' amidst global competition) to become very strong but also allows additional trajectories, like the one about higher education as public goods, to present themselves as legitimate alternatives. The centre-periphery relations are therefore critical sites for analysing the contemporary university transformation, since they appear to be key drivers of the reform but also the primary source of resistance to it.


Laser Thomson scattering (LTS) is shown to provide a useful means for measurements of negative ion density in a glow discharge plasma. Because the saturation energy density is so low that complete photo-detachment occurs at a very early stage of the probing laser pulse for the LTS measurement, the main part of the laser pulse is Thomson scattered by the photo-detached electrons as well as those already generated in the discharge. The energies of photo-detached electrons are below the energy difference between the photon energy and the electron affinity of the negative ions, and Thomson scattering from these appears below the difference energy. The principle has been tested using the second harmonic of a YAG laser light (532 nm) against an inductively coupled plasma operated in a mixture of Ar(80%)/O2(20%) at a pressure of 20 mTorr, and yielded the negative ion density of 1.5×1017 m-3, which amounted to 37% of the electron density of 4.1×1017 m-3 or 27% of the negative charges (electrons and negative ions).


The aim of the study is to determine how the aspects of conversational interactions are realized in the conversation. The researcher collects and analyzes data by applied qualitative content analysis through documentation technique. The data of this study were the utterances while the source of data is a video of the interview between the interviewer (Kevan Kenney) and the interviewee (Agnez Monica a.k.a Agnez Mo) in Build Talk Show. The source of the data was downloaded from the official Youtube channel of Build Talk Show with a duration of 27:03 minutes. The data analysis is based on the theory of conversation analysis proposed by Paltridge. The results of this study show that the interviewer (Kevan Kenney) employed the aspects of conversational interactions in asking and responding to the questions of the interviewee. The aspects of conversational interactions such as opening conversation, adjacency pairs, preference organization, turn taking, and feedback were used. Where as, closing conversation and repair categories were not used by interviewer throughout the conversation. On the other hand, the interviewee used Turn Taking, Feedback and Repair, but Opening and Closing Conversation, Adjacency Pairs, and Preference Organization were not used by the interviewee throughout the conversation. So, five of seven aspects of conversational interactions in conversation are applied. Those aspects of conversational interactions are realized in this conversation because it is the standard in conversation, and the interviewer and interviewee applied the aspects of conversational interactions in order to seek the information from the interviewee, to give the clarification of the issues and make a good communication in that conversation.


Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow maintains healthy brain homeostasis, facilitating solute transport and the exchange of brain waste products. CSF flow is thus important for brain health, but the mechanisms that control its large-scale movement through the ventricles are not well understood. While it is well established that CSF flow is modulated by respiratory and cardiovascular dynamics, recent work has also demonstrated that neural activity is coupled to large waves of CSF flow in the ventricles during sleep. To test whether the temporal coupling between neural activity and CSF flow is in part due to a causal relationship, we investigated whether CSF flow could be induced by driving neural activity with intense visual stimulation. We manipulated neural activity with a flickering checkerboard visual stimulus and found that we could drive macroscopic CSF flow in the human brain. The timing and amplitude of CSF flow was matched to the visually evoked hemodynamic responses, suggesting neural activity can modulate CSF flow via neurovascular coupling. These results demonstrate that neural activity can contribute to driving CSF flow in the human brain and that the temporal dynamics of neurovascular coupling can explain this effect.


The book "Gender, I-deology" is a collective volume of essays on the representation of gender difference, and on the ideological implications of the conventions or representational strategies used in texts. It includes essays on film, literature, and critical theory, written from a number of perspectives associated to feminist criticism. My contribution is the introduction to the volume, and deals with the main guidelines of discourses on gender. I examine a number of social contexts, institutions, behavioral and linguistic practices which contribute to the discourse on gender: sexuality, essentialist and constructivist social theories, ideas about masculinity and femininity, individuality, the organization of work, the discourse of love, of family and marriage, the discourse of history, and last but not least the linguistic implications of generic difference and the ideological role of feminist criticism in the development of a critical awareness with respect to gender roles and stereotypes. I expound a theory of the role of stereotypes and of their unthinking use, as a relevant element in the present economy of gender. The paper has a linguistic-semiotic dimension, as it relates aspects of the use and generation of discourse and aspects of critical discourse analysis, viewing both from the standpoint of a theory of social processes which contribute to the formation of gender as a cultural, ideological and discursive object. There is, thus, an analytic continuum linking critical discourse and the social construction of gender through semiotic practices.


Answering to the request for feedback on the Guidance on the Implementation of Plan S, we here, as a group of individuals interested in the future of Open Science, provide our perspective. We see Open Science as the approach of doing sound, innovative scholarly research (not just sciences, but also humanities, etc.) that opens up research and does not exclude people. Open Science encourages this by starting from three fundamental freedoms of open research: research outputs can be reused, can be modified, and the modified and unmodified output can be shared with others without restriction. In doing Open Science, authority and standards do not have to be enforced with copyright law, such as non-derivative clauses, but can be set by community standards; just like attribution (i.e., citation) is a community standard.


Abstract McDeLicious is an extension to the MCNP Monte Carlo code with the ability to simulate the generation of source neutrons based on D-Li interaction processes. This paper presents an overview of the McDeLicious approach for the D-Li neutron source term modeling including latest code extensions, improvements, validation efforts, and applications to IFMIF neutronics analyses. The current McDeLicious capabilities include the generation of source neutrons and photons based on evaluated d + 6,7Li cross-section data and the sampling of the impinging deuteron beam intensity distribution using fitting functions or probability tables. The McDeLicious software has been updated to comply with the standard of the state-of-the-art version 5 of the MCNP code. A message passing interface program version enables one to run McDeLicious in parallel mode on large computer clusters. McDeLicious is in routine use for IFMIF neutronics calculations employing different nuclear data including a test version of the recent FENDL-3 nuclear data.


Regulators of G-protein signaling (RGSs) are recently identified negative regulator of G-protein signaling, most of the RGSs act as GTPase activating proteins (GAPs). RGSs can selectively act on Gas and their effects are scrupulously regulated in vivo. It is believed that we can learn more about regulation of signal transduction from the development of research on RGSs.


OBJECTIVE
Phenotypic differences between moyamoya disease (MMD) and moyamoya syndrome (MMS) remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether such differences exist when presentation, procedure-related, and outcome variables are compared quantitatively.

METHODS
The study cohort included 185 patients with moyamoya presenting to the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions between 1994 and 2015. Baseline demographic, angiographic, and clinical characteristics were compared between patients with MMS and MMD, in addition to procedure-related complications and length of stay (LOS) after surgery. Stroke-free survival was compared between both disease variants after diagnosis. Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression were used to compare stroke-free survival between surgically treated and conservatively managed hemispheres in both types of disease, while evaluating interaction between disease variant and management.

RESULTS
The cohort consisted of 137 patients with MMD (74%) with a bimodal age distribution and 48 patients with MMS (26%) who were mostly under 18 years of age (75%). Underlying diseases included sickle cell disease (48%), trisomy 21 (12%), neurofibromatosis (23%), and other disorders (17%). Patients with MMS were younger (p < 0.001) and less likely to be female (p = 0.034). Otherwise, baseline characteristics were statistically comparable. The rate of surgical complications was 33% in patients with MMD and 16% in patients with MMS (p = 0.097). Both groups of patients had a similar LOS after surgery (p = 0.823). Survival analysis (n = 330 hemispheres) showed similar stroke-free survival after diagnosis (p = 0.856) and lower stroke hazard in surgically managed patients in both MMD (hazard ratio [HR] 0.29, p = 0.028) and MMS (HR 0.62, p = 0.586). The disease variant (MMD vs MMS) did not affect the relationship between management approach (surgery vs conservative) and stroke hazard (p = 0.787).

CONCLUSIONS
MMD and MMS have largely comparable clinical and angiographic phenotypes with analogously favorable responses to surgical revascularization.


Irrigation facilities in the cold winter deserts (CWDs) of Uzbekistan are very traditional and poorly managed, resulting in low water use efficiency and low productivity. Improving the irrigation facilities in these deserts is a key priority for the country. This study intended to contribute towards the development of the irrigation systems through identification and quantification of the relative implicit values smallholder farmers confer to the key characteristics of irrigation facilities. We elicited preferences with discrete choice experiments, estimated willingness to pay for these attributes using random parameters logit models, and analyzed heuristics in the choice process using a series of latent class models. Our results show that farmers have clear preferences for higher watering frequency and no interest in sharing irrigation water with downstream users. We also observed that there are distinct groups of farmers with comparable but different levels of preference. The development of irrigation facilities in the water-scarce parts of Uzbekistan would benefit from careful consideration of the preferences of the target communities and targeting of the schemes based on the broad heterogeneities within the communities. This will aid in the maintenance of irrigation systems and, as a result, increase agricultural production and productivity.


Abstract A novel X-ray diffraction method, allowing the position-resolved imaging of a polycrystalline specimen using the diffracted radiation, was applied for in situ investigation of recrystallization of cold-rolled copper. A large area of the specimen could be observed simultaneously, yielding information about nucleation and growth of many individual crystallites. The recrystallization process showed a stochastic behavior which can be described by the model of self-organized criticality.


Pravadoline is a novel cyclooxygenase-inhibiting analgesic with a preclinical profile of activity in vivo clearly distinct from that of other cyclooxygenase inhibitors. The purpose of the present study was to assess the possibility that pravadoline possesses pharmacologic actions in addition to inhibition of cyclooxygenase. The data demonstrate that pravadoline inhibits neuronally stimulated contractions of the guinea pig ileum and mouse vas deferens preparations. These actions of pravadoline are not shared by known cyclooxygenase inhibitors, but are mimicked by close structural analogs of pravadoline devoid of the ability to inhibit prostaglandin formation. Some structural analogs were inhibitory also in the rat vas deferens preparation. The inhibitory effects of pravadoline and a representative noncyclooxygenase-inhibiting analog in isolated tissue preparations are not mediated by an interaction with muscarinic cholinergic, adrenergic (alpha-1 or alpha-2), serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine2 or 5-hydroxytryptamine3), opioid (mu, kappa or delta), purinergic (P1), neurokinin-1, bradykinin (B2) or prostaglandin (E2) receptors. It is concluded that pravadoline and aminoalkylinodole analogs are inhibitory in several bioassay systems via a presynaptic mechanism which does not involve inhibition of cyclooxygenase, or the activation or inhibition of several known receptors. The relevance of this mechanism to aminoalkyindole actions in vivo is the subject of future studies.


In the context of mine warfare, detected mines can be classified from their cast shadow. A standard solution is to perform image segmentation first (we obtain binary from graylevel image giving the label zero for pixels belonging to the shadow and the label one elsewhere), and then to perform a classification based on features extracted from the 2D-shape of the segmented shadow. Consequently, if a mistake happens during the process, it will be propagated through the following steps. In this paper, to avoid such drawbacks, we propose a novel approach where a dynamic segmentation scheme is fully classification-oriented. Actually, classification is performed directly from the raw image data. The approach is based on the combination of deformable models, genetic algorithms, and statistical image models.


This article offers a perspective on the role of philosophy in relation to other academic disciplines and to society in general. Among the issues treated are the delimitation of philosophy, whether it is a science, its role in the community of knowledge disciplines, its losses of subject matter to other disciplines, how it is influenced by social changes and by progress in other disciplines, and its role in interdisciplinary work. It is concluded that philosophy has an important mission in promoting clarity, precision, and open-mindedness in academic research and in society at large.


Our three-dimensional organotypic culture revealed that human histone demethylase (KDM) 4C, a histone lysine demethylase, hindered the acini morphogenesis of RWPE-1 prostate cells, suggesting its potential oncogenic role. Knockdown (KD) of KDM4C suppressed cell proliferation, soft agar colony formation, and androgen receptor (AR) transcriptional activity in PCa cells as well as reduced tumor growth of human PCa cells in zebrafish xenotransplantation assay. Micro-Western array (MWA) analysis indicated that KD of KDM4C protein decreased the phosphorylation of AKT, c-Myc, AR, mTOR, PDK1, phospho-PDK1 S241, KDM8, and proteins involved in cell cycle regulators, while it increased the expression of PTEN. Fluorescent microscopy revealed that KDM4C co-localized with AR and c-Myc in the nuclei of PCa cells. Overexpression of either AKT or c-Myc rescued the suppressive effect of KDM4C KD on PCa cell proliferation. Echoing the above findings, the mRNA and protein expression of KDM4C was higher in human prostate tumor tissues as compared to adjacent normal prostate tissues, and higher KDM4C protein expression in prostate tumors correlated to higher protein expression level of AKT and c-Myc. In conclusion, KDM4C promotes the proliferation of PCa cells via activation of c-Myc and AKT.


The paper describes an approach to an optimal gaze control system for autonomous vehicles. This gaze control system should not only determine the viewing direction ad hoc for the present moment, but also plan and optimize the viewing behavior in advance for a certain period of time. For planning the viewing behavior the situation must be predicted. The expression 'situation' includes not only the physical situation, but also the so-called perceptive situation and subjective situation. The perceptive situation takes the present perception status, the present knowledge and the perception capabilities of the autonomous vehicle into consideration. The subjective situation contains locomotion tasks, status of vehicle sensors and actuators and subjective meanings of external objects resulting from the own point of view. For simulating the situation, the states and variances of all objects must be predicted. In the system for EMS-Vision, parts of the gaze control unit are already implemented and tested in both UBM test vehicles VaMoRs and VaMP. The embedding of the gaze control unit in the EMS-Vision architecture is discussed.


This paper examines the sources of firm product and process innovation in Norway. It uses a purpose-built survey of 1604 firms in the five largest Norwegian city-regions to test, by means of a logit regression analysis, Jensen et al.'s (2007) contention that firm innovation is both the result of 'science, technology and innovation' (STI) and 'doing, using and interacting' (DUI) modes of firm learning. The paper classifies different types of firm interaction into STI-mode interaction (with consultants, universities, and research centres) and DUI-mode interaction, distinguishing between DUI interaction within the supply-chain (i.e. with suppliers and customers) or not (with competitors). It further controls for the geographical locations of partners. The analysis demonstrates that engagement with external agents is an important source of firm innovation and that both STI and DUI-modes of interaction matter. However, it also shows that DUI modes of interaction outside the supply chain tend to be irrelevant for innovation, with frequent exchanges with competitors having a detrimental effect on a firm's propensity to innovate. Collaboration with extra-regional agents is much more conducive to innovation than collaboration with local partners, especially within the DUI mode.


A diverse group of 25 faculty and graduate students participated in the 2008 Teaching Research Methods (TRM) track. Participants represented a range of institutions—public and private, urban and rural, domestic and international, large research universities and teaching colleges. Presentations provided evidence of the heterogeneity in methods instruction and of pedagogical innovations in course design and delivery. The discussion in this year's meeting echoed and built upon prior meetings, reflecting the workshop format and participation of several track members in successive TLC meetings. The recommendations formulated by the track will be discussed following a brief summary of the presentations and discussion.


This paper asks what motivates Western donors to provide foreign aid to Nepal. Results reveal existence of both donor interest and recipient need considerations in the disbursement of aid to this country over the period 1981 to 2005. Donors' desire for promotion of commercial opportunities, their general economic affluence, as well as Nepal's per capita GDP are all significant determinants of aid. On the other hand, neither Nepal's economic growth nor its people's political freedoms and civil liberties bear a significant relationship to the level of assistance it receives.


Tobacco smoking is a risk factor for cancers of the liver and gastrointestinal (GI) tract, but the causal agents responsible for these cancers are uncertain. 2-Amino-9H-pyrido[2,3-b]indole (AαC) is an abundant heterocyclic aromatic amine present in tobacco smoke. AαC is a liver carcinogen and both a transgene mutagen and inducer of aberrant crypt foci in the colon of mice. We hypothesize that AαC may contribute to DNA damage and tumorigenesis in these organs of smokers. The potential of AαC to induce DNA adduct formation in liver, organs of the GI tract, lung, and urinary bladder, which are target organs of cancer in smokers, was examined using the C57BL/6 mouse as an animal model. AαC (400 or 800 ppm) and 2-amino-3,4-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (MeIQ) (300 ppm), a liver and colon carcinogen in C57BL/6 mice, were given in the diet for up to 12 weeks. Liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry was employed to measure DNA adducts. The major DNA adducts of both carcinogens were identified as deoxyguanosine-C8 adducts. The levels of formation of AαC- and MeIQ-DNA adducts were similar in liver and extrahepatic tissues when adjusted for dose. The highest levels of adducts occurred in liver, followed by urinary bladder, and then in cecum and colon; lower DNA adduct levels were formed in the lung and pancreas following 12 weeks of feeding. The high levels of AαC adduct formed in liver, GI tract, and bladder of C57BL/6 mice reinforce the notion that AαC may contribute to DNA damage and cancer of these organs in smokers.


We review our experience in the treatment of complex large chest-wall defects needing a multidisciplinary approach due to primary or secondary neoplasms. Non-small cell lung cancer with chest-wall invasion cases are excluded. Fifteen patients underwent whole thickness resection of the chest wall due to lesions affecting at least three ribs, sternum, clavicle or thoracic spine and the surrounding soft tissue. Previously operated breast cancer and sarcoma were the most frequent diagnoses. Partial or total sternectomy plus rib resection was performed in 8 patients. Immediate closure of the defects was performed in all cases: 12 with single prosthesis placement and 3 with a rigid one of methylmethacrylate. Coverage was achieved using myocutaneous flaps in most cases and, in one case, using the greater omentum that supported a free split-thickness skin graft. No 30-days mortality was recorded. Three patients had a post-operative complication. Mean hospital stay was 11.7+/-9 days. All cases of primary tumours were alive at the time of review (range: 6-126 months). In conclusion, resection and immediate reconstruction of large chest wall defects can be accomplished without operative mortality and low morbidity whenever close cooperation between plastic and thoracic teams exists.


A data stream generated from hysteresis-based multi-scroll chaos is proposed in this paper. The mathematical model of the multi-scroll chaotic attractor is a continuous-time linear third-order system with a feedback of hysteresis-series. The pseudo random data stream is generated from the state values of the third-order systems at the instance of hysteresis switching. Thanks to the complicated dynamical behavior of the multi-scroll chaotic attractor, the resulted data stream demonstrates highly unpredictability which is ideal for security use. Due to the simplicity of system model, the data stream can be generated in resource limited environment, such as mobile computing environment and wireless sensors. The data stream generation has been implemented in mobile phones with J2ME. It has the potential to be used as one time pad key in protecting information in ubiquitous computing environment. The resulting cipher can achieve high security strength with low cost.


Abstract This article presents the results of a study in which the Estonian audiences of various stage versions of the same opera (live opera theatre performance and live-in-HD, which were shown at cinemas) during the same season were compared in a social constructivist paradigm to underline whether, and to what extent, audiences' membership, cultural consumption preferences, attitudes, expectations, values and perceptions differ or coincide, thereby revealing what audiences distinguish as the differences or similarities between live and mediated opera performances. It presents the preference dimensions of the Estonian opera audience and provides an opportunity to discuss the issue of whether a technologically mediated cultural event offers any new opportunities for traditional opera to expand its audience, or whether it captures the audiences and creates competition for the theatres whose performances are not mediated. The survey was carried out among audiences attending performances of Carmen (Georges Bizet, 1875) in the 2014/2015 season at five different venues in Estonia. The findings revealed that, due to the fact that the hierarchy of motivators for the target groups of live and live-in-HD opera differs, it does not support the idea that opera theatre will gain new audiences from cinema or vice versa.


Insufficient descriptions of
 what
 comprises animal-assisted interventions and
 why
 and
 how
 they are presumed to work pose significant challenges to their replication and further scientific development. The purpose of this study was to construct a comprehensive research-based logic model describing a promising program of equine-assisted activities for older adults with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Logic models can advance scientific development of innovative programs by elucidating their critical elements. Employing the qualitative method of directed content analysis, we conducted secondary analyses of previously collected interviews of five providers and fieldnotes of each programmatic session. Employing quantitative direct observational methods, we conducted secondary analysis of eight previously collected hour-long videotapes of four older adults with dementia during the program. The resulting logic model from our secondary analysis of mixed methods data elucidated the program's purpose, assumptions, programmatic activities, and outcomes, plus congruent linkages across these elements. These findings can guide replication of the program in multiple research and practice contexts and support its future scientific development. Next research steps include evaluating short- and long-term outcomes beyond participants' direct experiences of the program, clarifying the program's optimal dosages, and ensuring fidelity of its implementation. This logic model may also help to inform scientific development of other animal-assisted interventions.


The purpose of this study was to investigate Omani 12 th grade students' perceptions about scientists and their work and accordingly propose some recommendations in order to encourage new generations to choose science and engineering-oriented specialisations in higher education. A 37-item questionnaire was designed to determine these perceptions and to find out if there are any differences in perception between males and females. The questionnaire was administered to 943 randomly selected students from ten schools in four Educational Governorates in the Sultanate of Oman, of which 411 were male and 532 female. The findings indicated that the four main resources used by Omani students to get information about scientists and their work are, the media, books, the internet, and the content of the school curriculum. The majority of students have clear perceptions of scientists' work, but are less clear about scientists' relationship with the society.


This paper explains the teaching experience of the "Service Learning" methodology, and it hopes to point out the possibilities that it offers for the teaching of ethics, as well as for the stimulation of social responsability and to form values in the frame of curricular activities in nursing. This methodology searches to encourage, on one hand, students' compromised participation in the teaching-apprenticeship process and, on the other hand, to fortify the giving component of a good quality' component for the community. As an experienced pedagogical frame, it strengthens the critical thought and problems' resolutions, and it encourages a formal reflection during the experience.


The evolution operator method is applied to studying the time-dependent and spin-related electron transport through a quantum dot coupled to two magnetic-metal leads. When the microwave field is applied on quantum dot there are additional peaks of PAT current besides the main peak of resonant tunneling current, and the energy distance between peaks relate to the frequency of microwave fields. Furthermore, Furthermore, owe to the magnetism of lead, the spin-up and spin-down current is different in the parallel magnetization configuration while the same in the antiparallel magnetization configuration.


Introduction The ability of sex workers to access healthcare and STI/HIV prevention education and tools is directly impacted by policy and law. Australia provides a unique case study of the direct effects of criminalisation, licensing, and decriminalisation on access to healthcare and rates of STI/HIV transmission as each state and territory has differing models of regulation operating side by side. New South Wales decriminalised sex work in 1995 in response to government findings of systemic police corruption; criminal laws repealed and police no longer regulators, sex work is regulated through standard occupational, planning and industrial mechanisms. Methods Scarlet Alliance, the peak national sex work organisation, collects data directly from sex workers via forums, working groups and surveys. We conducted an in-depth, five stage consultation with sex workers from a range of genders, experiences and backgrounds. We reviewed health research and government reports to examine policy successes and areas in need of reform. Results Under decriminalisation NSW sex workers have better access to healthcare and STI/HIV education and prevention tools including free, confidential and anonymous sexual health services as well as peer-led services. Higher rates of safer sex, lower rates of STIs and improved Workplace Health and Safety were also evident, while in other jurisdictions sex workers continue to face barriers to treatment and other health services and often work outside legal frameworks. Conclusion Decriminalisation is the optimal regulatory model and is supported by the UNFPA, UNDP, UNAIDS, WHO and Amnesty International as critical to HIV prevention and for human rights. Despite 22 years of evidence of its success, barriers remain to the uptake of this model in Australia and globally including political pressure to criminalise clients, hostile funding environments, the booming "rescue industry and institutional discrimination. The Australian case study supplies valuable evidence for governments, researchers, the health sector and the global sex work community.


Since the beginning of the new millennium, educational research and policy making have increasingly involved integration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (i.e. STEM). Integration of the four disciplines is argued to provide students with contextualized learning experiences that resemble real-life work in STEM fields, along with solutions to interdisciplinary problems that human face. In the U.S., the STEM movement has been boosted by global economic-based competition and associated fears, in terms of STEM graduates, when compared with other nations. However, many critiques question the nature and goals of this competition, as well as, the possibilities to improve STEM talents through the current conceptualizations and practices of STEM education. Through Lyotard's (1984) conceptions of knowledge in the postmodern society, this paper analyzes some aspects of the STEM educational movement. It explores the construction of STEM discourse within competitive frames that place prime value on high performativity. There seem to be two characteristics of current STEM education that support performativity; these are an increased focus on technological and engineering designs, and a tendency for interdisciplinary education/curriculum integration. At the same time, the eagerness for performativity and competition seems to drag STEM education into selectiveness, thereby jeopardizing its possible benefits. Recommendations for educators are finally discussed.


Background: There is a mutual relationship between sleep duration and obesity. We studied the relationship between sleep duration with obesity and dietary Intake. Methods: This crosssectional study was conducted on 444 male students in Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Science. Dietary intake was analyzed by food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Anthropometric indices were analyzed. Participants were being asked about their sleep duration and they were categorized into three groups according to their responses (less than six hours, between six and eight hours, and more than eight hours). Results: Macronutrient, micronutrient, and antioxidant intake did not show significant difference between three groups. Moreover, we did not observe any significant difference between anthropometric indices (weight, body mass index, waist circumference, and percentage body fat). Conclusions: Our study results show no significant relationship between sleep duration, nutrition pattern, and obesity. Further study is recommended. Keywords—Sleep duration, obesity, dietary intake, crosssectional.


We use data from a large-scale field experiment to explore what influences the effectiveness of online advertising. We find that matching an ad to website content and increasing an ad's obtrusiveness independently increase purchase intent. However, in combination, these two strategies are ineffective. Ads that match both website content and are obtrusive do worse at increasing purchase intent than ads that do only one or the other. This failure appears to be related to privacy concerns: the negative effect of combining targeting with obtrusiveness is strongest for people who refuse to give their income and for categories where privacy matters most. Our results suggest a possible explanation for the growing bifurcation in Internet advertising between highly targeted plain text ads and more visually striking but less targeted ads.


Use of context has been prevailing in distributed computing with the emergence of mobile computing. An entity is said to be context-aware if it responds to context changes. These distributed context-aware entities share context information in order to make intelligent decisions or carry out important tasks. MediaSense, an Internet-of-Things (IoT) platform, offers such intelligent provision of context information to any host-anywhere. However, such an IoT platform is facing challenge of discovering context entities. In view of this, this paper particularly addresses the challenge of discovering distributed context entities by extending the distributed protocol, Distributed Context eXchange Protocol (DCXP), for MediaSense platform. In response, an artefact based on publish/subscribe model has been explored to overcome the challenge which enables fast context entity discovery.


This article presents a new prior setting for high-dimensional generalized linear models, which leads to a Bayesian subset regression (BSR) with the maximum a posteriori model approximately equivalent to the minimum extended Bayesian information criterion model. The consistency of the resulting posterior is established under mild conditions. Further, a variable screening procedure is proposed based on the marginal inclusion probability, which shares the same properties of sure screening and consistency with the existing sure independence screening (SIS) and iterative sure independence screening (ISIS) procedures. However, since the proposed procedure makes use of joint information from all predictors, it generally outperforms SIS and ISIS in real applications. This article also makes extensive comparisons of BSR with the popular penalized likelihood methods, including Lasso, elastic net, SIS, and ISIS. The numerical results indicate that BSR can generally outperform the penalized likelihood methods. The models selected by BSR tend to be sparser and, more importantly, of higher prediction ability. In addition, the performance of the penalized likelihood methods tends to deteriorate as the number of predictors increases, while this is not significant for BSR. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.


The Drag Temperature Model (DTM) is a semi empirical model describing the temperature, density and composition of the Earth's thermosphere, which is mainly developed for orbit computation. The total density data used in the latest version, DTM2012, includes high-resolution CHAMP and GRACE data. DTM2012 was constructed with the data used in DTM2000 as well, but with an improved algorithm. The bias and precision of the model is evaluated by comparing to the observations according to a metric, which consists of computing mean, rms and correlation. This evaluation shows that DTM2012 is the most accurate model for the data that were assimilated. Comparison to independent density data shows that it is also the most accurate model overall and a significant improvement over DTM2009 and JB2008 under all conditions.


Orthogonal tests are designed for hybrid fiber reinforced concrete. Bending toughness of hybrid fiber reinforced concrete, with the substrate intensity C30, the quantity of the volume for the steel fiber dosage 0~1.5% and polypropylene fiber dosage 0~0.3%, are studied. The results show that the hybrid fibers significantly improve the toughness of the concrete matrix. When the dosage reaches to a certain number, the affection of fiber toughness is decreased. Based on the test results the best dosage of hybrid fibers which is the steel fiber 1% mixed with 0.1% polypropylene fiber is recommended.


The Persian Gulf is the most strategic waterways in the world due to its importance in the global oil transportation. Due to the war and high rate of water evaporation, extended drilling and oil extraction, land-based sources, dumping from ships and other human activities, water pollution has increased alarmingly. Many sea birds and other species of marine life have perished because of millions of tonnes of crude oil entering into the Gulf. The ecosystem is vulnerable and conservation of its marine environment is highly recommended. The potential biodegradation of crude oil was assessed based on the development of a fermentative process with a marine bacterium which has been isolated from the Persian Gulf. This gram negative, spherical shape bacterium could degrade 50% of crude oil content and the cell growth curve of it was drawn on the basis of biomass high amount and its maximum production rate was determined which was diminished from 60 (before optimization) to 27 hours. It can grow on different carbon sources including crude oil and n-alkanes and produce biosurfactant which was revealed to be rhamnolipid. The biosurfactant extracted by special method from M3 medium and pursued by Thin Layer Chromatography. The outcomes of biomass production by crude oil and nalkanes were so much different and showed that the hydrocarbon complexity and configuration plays a significant role in the biodegradation procedure. These bacteria can be used in environmental risk management by focusing on strategies to prevent this human made disaster.


Background: Therapeutic drug monitoring of immunosuppressant drugs are used to monitor drug efficacy and toxicity and to prevent organ transplant rejection. This study evaluates the analytical performance of semi-automated electrochemiluminescence immunoassays (ECLIA) for cyclosporine (CSA), tacrolimus (TAC) and sirolimus (SRL) on the Roche cobas e 411 analyzer at a major transplant hospital to assess method suitability and limitations. Methods: Residual whole blood samples from patients undergoing immunosuppressant therapy were used for evaluation. Imprecision, linearity, functional sensitivity, method comparisons and lot-to-lot comparisons were assessed. Results: Total imprecision ranged from 3.3 to 7.1% for CSA, 3.9 to 9.4% for TAC, and 4.6 to 8.2% for SRL. Linearity was verified from 30.0 to 960.9 μg/L for CSA, from 1.1 to 27.1 μg/L for TAC, and from 0.5 to 32.3 µg/L for SRL. The functional sensitivity met the manufacturer's claims and was determined to be <6.5 μg/L for CSA, 1.1 μg/L for TAC, and <0.1 µg/L for SRL (CV≤20%). Deming regression analysis of method comparisons with the ARCHITECT immunoassay yielded slopes of 0.917 (95%CI: 0.885-0.949) and r of 0.985 for CSA, 0.938 (95%CI: 0.895-0.981) and r of 0.974 for TAC, and 0.842 (0.810-1.110) and r of 0.982 for SRL. Deming regression analysis of comparisons with the LC–MS/MS method yielded slopes of 1.331 (95%CI: 1.167-1.496) and r of 0.969 for CSA, 0.924 (95%CI: 0.843-1.005) and r of 0.984 for TAC, and 0.971 (95%CI: 0.913-1.030) and r of 0.993 for SRL. Conclusions: The cobas e 411 ECLIA for CSA, TAC, and SRL have acceptable precision, linearity, and functional sensitivity. The method comparisons correlated well with the ARCHITECT immunoassay and LC–MS/MS and is fit for therapeutic drug monitoring


Malaysia's industrial relations (IR) has been characterized by extensive state control guaranteeing a high level of managerial prerogative within the workplace, minimal overt conflict and very little bargaining power for labour. These arrangements were an integral component of the package to attract investors when Malaysia's industrialization strategy focused on low-cost, export-oriented industries. Since then, however, Malaysia has adopted the goal of developed country status by 2020 and embarked on a higher value-added, more capital-intensive industrialization strategy. This paper analyzes current Malaysian IR at the workplace level, posing the question as to whether the economic progress towards 'Vision 2020' is being accompanied by a transformation of Malaysia's IR. It will be seen that there is evidence of substantial growth in training, the implementation of multi-skilling in some workplaces as well as isolated instances of some 'lean production' practices. Fundamental change, however, is not occurring; workers remain excluded from the decision-making process both within and outside the workplace.


Michael Reich is having severe doubts about how he split the equity with his co-founders two months ago, when they completed a one-page "November Agreement." Since then, Michael has found an angel investor and has worked non-stop on the business, while one co-founder was off enjoying the winter break with his family and the other worked on lucrative consulting contracts for other companies. Michael has just sent his co-founders a proposal that would re-allocate the equity within their founding team, and all three founders are getting ready to reopen a negotiation they thought had been finalized.


Progesterone receptors in the autonomous rat mammary tumor MTW-9B are reduced 80 to 90 percent after ovariectomy, but are not reduced if ovariectomized animals are given estrogen. Tumor growth, however, is independent of estrogen status and insensitive to pharmacological doses of estradiol. This represents an unusual system characterized by a selective action of an inducing agent on the genome.


We reassess the driving forces behind the recent decline of corporate tax rates in Europe. Using data for up to 32 countries from 1983 to 2006, we analyze the role of economic and financial openness as well as tax competition while allowing for dynamic adjustment to shocks and period-specific as well as country-specific effects. While openness does not seem to be systematically related to corporate tax rates, our findings suggest that countries compete over statutory tax rates. In contrast, we do not find competition over effective marginal rates. While the short-run impact of tax competition on corporate tax rates seems to be modest, the interplay of tax competition and a sluggish adjustment of tax rates over time implies that permanent shocks to individual countries have substantial long-run effects on equilibrium tax levels in all countries.


: From October 1992 to December 1994, 2732 cycles of treatment by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) were carried out in couples mainly with severe male-factor infertility. The overall fertilization rate in these 2732 cycles was 71% of intact oocytes. However, in 76 (72 couples) of these cycles, none of the injected oocytes became fertilized, so the total fertilization failure rate was 3% (76/2732 cycles). Details of these 76 cycles were analysed. The results show that total fertilization failure after ICSI may be explained by different factors related to (i) semen characteristics (only immotile or round-headed spermatozoa for ICSI) or (ii) the oocytes (number, abnormal morphology, damage after ICSI). Of 26 couples, 22 achieved fertilization in their subsequent ICSI cycles. In conclusion, total fertilization failure after ICSI for the treatment of severe male-factor infertility was mainly caused by the poor viability of the spermatozoa used for injection; it was also associated with a low number and poor quality of oocytes. Repeated ICSI treatment may be useful or necessary in couples with total fertilization failure.


AIM
To estimate the detection rate and spectrum of primary drug resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MBT) in patients with tuberculosis (TB) in relation to their human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status in a region with high HIV infection rates (the Perm Territory) and to compare of drug-resistant MBT (DR-MBT) in patients with HIV/TB co-infection, by using phenotypic and molecular genetic testing (MGT) methods.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS
The results of sputum bacteriological examination were analyzed in 178 HIV-infected patients and 354 non-HIV-infected individuals with a TB diagnosis made in the period July 1, 2014 to August 1, 2015. The diagnostic algorithm for all patients involved a duplicate sputum test for MBT by two techniques: fluorescence microscopy (FM) and inoculation into the Levenstein-Jensen dense culture medium. In patients with HIV/TB, the bacteriological examination was complemented with two more methods: detection of MBT DNA by a real-time polymerase chain reaction assay using the AmpliTube-RV system (Synthol, Russia); and inoculation into the Middlebrook liquid nutrient medium, by applying the automated BACTEC MGIT 960 system.

RESULTS
In patients with HIV/TB, the sensitivity of FM proved to be lower than in those with TB (24.2 and 32.8%, respectively; p<0.05) and that of inoculations into the dense culture medium was comparable regardless of HIV status (60.7 and 57.1%, respectively; p>0.05). The primary drug resistance of MBT in patients with HIV-TB was higher than that in HIV-negative individuals (60.2 and 41.6%, respectively; p<0.05). The phenotypic method (inoculation into the Levenstein-Jensen culture medium) and MGT revealed their agreement for the resistance of MBT to rifampicin (the most clinically significant drug in the choice of treatment policy) in 88.5% of the patients with HIV/TB.

CONCLUSION
In patients with HIV/TB, the sensitivity of FM for detecting acid-resistant mycobacteria was lower than in those with TB and that of inoculations into the dense medium was comparable regardless of HIV status.


The objective of this paper is to identify the main trends in the representation of Serbian literature in Ukraine during the last twenty years, to trace the ways and means of shaping the corpus of the Serbian literature translated into Ukrainian, to determine the factors influencing the reception of Serbian belles-lettres in Ukraine, as well as changes taking place in translation policies, publishing strategies and formats of presenting translations. Translation is considered the key to understanding and identifying another nation as well as a mirror in which the reader not only sees the reflection of the Other, but also investigates their own face.


This chapter is about the minimum time evolution between two quantum states considering the dynamics obeying either time-invariant Hamiltonians or time-varying ones. Merit figures are defined to help quantum control designers to define optimiza‐ tion parameters. The expressions are derived from the time-energy uncertainty relations and a practical case is studied as an example.


Agarwood has so high value that can trigger an excessive agarwood encroachment in nature; it threatened the agarwood availability. Agarwood cultivation was the right solution to overcome the Agarwood insufficiency. Currently, bioserum has been found to form Agarwood rapidly. It was found by Kusnadi and introduced to the public by BPDASHLWSS (The watershed management and protection forest inquiry). The formation and effectiveness process of bioserum has not been researched yet scientifically. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the success rate of Agarwood formation and the quality of Agarwood with combined injections treatments on tree branches of Aquilariamalaccensis. This research used a complete randomized design with 3 treatments. Each treatment consisted of several vertical injection hole spaces: 5 cm, 10 cm, and 15 cm. The horizontal space for these three treatments was the same, 5 cm.  The result showed that the best vertical range of injection was 10 cm. Therefore, each injection hole would produce separate agarwood chips. A 10-cm vertical range injection also made the rest wood between the injection holes not too wide. This Agarwood was classified into kamedangan class with the average weight of 2 g/chips.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Following a stroke quality improvement clustered randomized trial and a national acute ischemic stroke (AIS) directive in the Veterans Health Administration in 2011, this comparative case study examined the role of advanced practice professionals (APPs) in quality improvement activities among stroke teams.

METHODS
Semistructured interviews were conducted at 11 Veterans Affairs medical centers annually over a 3-year period. A multidisciplinary team analyzed interviews from clinical providers through a mixed-methods, data matrix approach linking APPs (nurse practitioners and physician assistants) with Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research constructs and a group organization measure.

CONCLUSION
Five of 11 facilities independently chose to staff stroke coordinator positions with APPs. Analysis indicated that APPs emerged as boundary spanners across services and disciplines who played an important role in coordinating evidence-based, facility-level approaches to AIS care. The presence of APPs was related to engaging in group-based evaluation of performance data, implementing stroke protocols, monitoring care through data audit, convening interprofessional meetings involving planning activities, and providing direct care.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE
The presence of APPs appears to be an influential feature of local context crucial in developing an advanced, facility-wide approach to stroke care because of their boundary spanning capabilities.


As a non-linear finite element analysis software ANSYS/LS-DYNA is used to carry out virtual reliability test in transmission mechanism of reciprocating compressor and response surface method is used to analyze reliability and sensitivity of sliding bearing according to testing data. This paper uses ANSYS to preprocess testing models of virtual prototype and put out the K file; designs sample points of random variables based on central composite method and modifies the K files to carry out random sampling of prototype and uses LS-DYNA970 to solve the submitted K files repeatedly; plots relationship curves of output responses and time history and gets a group of sample points of structure response with post-processing results of LS-PREPOST. Lastly this paper uses response surface method to build limit state equation and analyze reliability and sensitivity of sliding bearing, and provides theoretical basis for design of bearing.


Stability of inviscid shear shallow water flows with free surface is studied in the framework of the Benney equations. This is done by investigating the generalized hyperbolicity of the integrodifferential Benney system of equations. It is shown that all shear flows having monotonic convex velocity profiles are stable. The hydrodynamic approximations of the model corresponding to the classes of flows with piecewise linear continuous and discontinuous velocity profiles are derived and studied. It is shown that these approximations possess Hamiltonian structure and a complete system of Riemann invariants, which are found in an explicit form. Sufficient conditions for hyperbolicity of the governing equations for such multilayer flows are formulated. The generalization of the above results to the case of stratified fluid is less obvious, however, it is established that vorticity has a stabilizing effect.


Leprosy is a chronic infectious peripheral neuropathy caused by Mycobacterium leprae. The different clinical presentations of the disease are determined by the quality of the host immune response. Early detection of leprosy and treatment by multidrug therapy are the most important steps in preventing deformity and disability. Thus the early recognition of the clinical leprosy presentation is essential. Mononeuritis, mononeuritis multiplex (MM), polyneuritis (MM summation) are the most frequent. The frequent anesthetic skin lesions are absent in the pure neuritic leprosy presentation form. Isolated peripheral nerve involvement is common, including the cranial ones. Arthritic presentation is occasionally seen, usually misdiagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis. Attention should be given to autonomic dysfunctions in leprosy. There are clinical presentations with severe neuropathic pain - painful small-fiber neuropathy. Leprous late-onset neuropathy (LLON) clinical presentation should be considered facing a patient who develop an inflammatory neuropathy many years after a previous skin leprosy treatment.


Zintl compound n-type Mg3(Sb,Bi)2 was recently found to exhibit excellent thermoelectric figure of merit zT (∼1.5 at around 700 K). To improve the thermoelectric performance in the whole temperature range of operation from room temperature to 720 K, we investigated how the grain size of sintered samples influences electronic and thermal transport. By increasing the average grain size from 1.0 μm to 7.8 μm, the Hall mobility below 500 K was significantly improved, possibly due to suppression of grain boundary scattering. We also confirmed that the thermal conductivity did not change by increasing the grain size. Consequently, the sample with larger grains exhibited enhanced average zT. The calculated efficiency of thermoelectric power generation reaches 14.5% (ΔT = 420 K), which is quite high for a polycrystalline pristine material.


The strength of Ni3Al nanocubes under compression, as well as the underlying dislocation mechanisms, are analysed in molecular dynamics simulations. For this purpose, the bond-order parameters analysis is extended to multi-atomic systems in order to identify the intrinsic planar defects in Ni3Al. We benchmarked different interatomic potentials and compared the results with experimental ones. The different potentials resulted in different elastic responses under compression but all yielded abruptly at a compressive stress of about 7–8 GPa, followed by a large strain burst. The nanocubes yielded by nucleating Shockley partial dislocations at the vertices on {1 1 1} ?> planes, leaving a structure of faulted planes. The mechanical response was found to be size independent, which we attribute to the cubical shape of the nanoparticle and the lack of stress gradients at its vertices.


Performance characteristics of a two-dimensional isentropic diffuser have been experimentally determined at a Mach number of 3.85. At zero angle of attack, a maximum total-pressure recovery of 0.41 was obtained with a supercritical mass-flow ratio of 0.95. As a consequence of the twin-duct arrangement of the diffuser, a large discontinuity in pressure recovery and mass flow with a characteristic hysteresis was encountered between critical and subcritical operation. An asymmetric shock pattern with large-scale separation and flow reversal in one of the passages occurred at reduced mass flows. Pressure and force data presented for an angle-of-attack range from zero to 4 degrees.


The potential threats of bacterial resistance, especially widespread multi-drug resistance, are of major concern. The scenario of a patient dying from an infection caused by a multi-drug resistant organism is now a reality. Infections caused by resistant strains of bacteria are related to higher morbidity and mortality. β-Lactam antibiotics are a broad class of antibiotics, consisting of penicillin, cephalosporin, Monobactam, and carbapenems. β-lactam antibiotics are used to treat various infections. β-lactamases are enzymes responsible to provide resistance to β-lactam antibiotics. Among Gram-negative bacteria, the emergence of resistance to expanded-spectrum cephalosporin has been a major concern. Initially a limited number of bacterial species that could mutate to hyper produce their chromosomal class C β-lactamase were found but now, resistance appeared in large number of bacterial species due to the production of TEM- or SHV-type ESBLs. In our study non clinical samples were selected to study the prevalence of drug resistance. After placing the various generations of β-lactam drugs we found that they were also resistant up to 4th generation of β-lactam drugs. This study confirms the growing incidences of β-lactam resistant strains in bacterial species of community origin. Int J Appl Sci Biotechnol, Vol 3(2): 248-255 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ijasbt.v3i2.12480