The incompatibility of perinatal undernutrition and adequate nutrition during development increases the risk of early onset of non-communicable diseases in adulthood. However, it has been considered that maternal physical activity may attenuate these effects. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of physical training during pregnancy on body weight gain, waist circumference, glycaemia and cholesterolemia in adult offspring submitted to perinatal undernutrition. Female Wistar rats (n = 12) were divided into four groups: control (C, n = 3), trained (T, n = 3), undernourished (D, n = 3) undernourished and trained (T+D, n = 3). During gestation and lactation, D and T+D groups were fed a low protein diet (8% casein) and C and T groups fed a normal protein diet (17% casein). The protocol of moderate physical training was performed on a treadmill (5 days/week, 60 min/day, at 65% of VO2max) and began 4 weeks before pregnancy. At pregnancy, the duration and intensity of training were reduced (5 days/week, 20 min/day, at 30% VO2max) until the 19th prenatal day. At weaning, male pups (CP = 9, TP = 9, DP = 7, T+DP = 9) received standard diet and evaluations took place at 270 days old. Abdominal circumference (AC) was evaluated in relation to body weight. Enzymatic colorimetric method glucose-oxidase/peroxidase and cholesterol-oxidase was used to evaluate fasting glycaemia and cholesterolemia, respectively. Rats from DP group showed high body weight gain during growth, values of CA, glycaemia and cholesterolemia when compared to CP. Concerning the T+DP group,body weight gain was attenuated, and the CA, glycaemia and cholesterolemia were normalized (p<0.05). These results demonstrate that physical training during pregnancy reduces the effects of perinatal undernutrition on some murinometric and biochemical indicators of adult offspring.


Activated macrophages have the capacity to selectively in jure neoplastic cells. Morphological observations by others suggest that the final effectors of macrophage-mediated tumor cytotoxicity are lysosomes of activated macrophage origin which are translocated directly into susceptible target cells. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively determine if elevated levels of specific lysosomal activity are present in tumor cells exposed to activated macrophages in vitro. Effector macrophages were obtained from the peritoneal cavities of A/ BAŒF/F50+and C3H/HeN(MTV~) glucan-treated mice in which the mammary tumor virus is negative. Target cells were tumorigenic and nontumorigenic fibroblast cell lines derived from the same two strains. Macrophage-dependent target cell cytotox icity was quantitated using [3H]thymidine incorporation inhibi tion and 51Crpostlabeling assays. Tumor lysosome activity was quantitated using newly developed microspectrophotometric assays for the lysosomal hydrolase acid phosphatase and for the lysosomotropic probe acridine orange. The results dem onstrate that the specific lysosomal activity of tumor target cells correlates directly with the degree of tumor cytotoxicity generated by effector macrophages. Interestingly, this macrophage-induced elevation of tumor lysosome activity does not appear to represent the acquisition of macrophage-derived organelles; rather, it appears to represent an increase in the number or size of intact, endogenous tumor lysosomes due to macrophage-dependent reduction of tumor cell density. This finding suggests that clinically proven tumor growth-reducing regimens such as host macrophage activation may be useful adjuncts to cancer therapies designed to selectively promote and labilize tumor cell lysosomes.


We present a deep learning based method for segmenting acute brain infarcts in MRI images using a novel input enhancement strategy combined with a suitable non-stationary loss. The hybrid framework allows incorporating knowledge of clinicians to mimic the diagnostic patterns of experts. More specifically, our strategy consists of an interaction of non-local input transforms that highlight features which are additionally penalized by the non-stationary loss. For brain infarct segmentation, expert knowledge refers to the quasi-symmetry property of healthy brains, whereas in other applications one may include different anatomical priors. In addition, we use a network architecture merging information from the two complementary MRI maps DWI and ADC. We perform experiments on a dataset consisting of DWI and ADC images from 100 patients to demonstrate the applicability of proposed method.


Background: Beneficial microbes can be actors in maintaining or stimulating barrier function, and may counteract pathogen-infection. Lactobacilli are particularly recognized for enhancing intestinal barrier function and to confer protective effects against multiresistant pathogens. Various L. acidophilus strains support intestinal immune barrier function and have been shown to improve resistance to pathogens. Although less extensively studied than beneficial bacteria, other food-based ingredients that can contribute to strengthening barrier function are dietary fibers. For instance, inulin and fructooligosaccharides (FOS) have recently been shown to enhance barrier function and protect against barrier dysfunction. Effects of these ingredients on intestinal barrier function were evaluated by quantifying regulation of gene expression by microarray. Methods: Caco-2 cells were incubated with probiotic strains or inulin-type fibers for 6 hours, total RNA was extracted and Affymterix Human Gene 1.1 ST arrays were used to analyze the gene expression profiles. Results: Only L. acidophilus modulated a group of 26 genes related to tight-junctions. Inulin-type fructans, L. brevis W63 and L. casei W56 regulated other genes, unrelated to tight junctions. L. acidophilus also had unique effects on a group of 6 genes regulating epithelial phenotype towards follicle-associated epithelium. L. acidophilus W37 was therefore selected for a challenge with STM and prevented STM-induced barrier disruption and decreased secretion of IL-8. L. acidophilus W37 increases TEER and can protect against STM induced disruption of gut epithelial cells integrity in vitro. Conclusion: Our results suggest that selection of specific bacterial strains for enforcing barrier function may be a promising strategy to reduce or prevent STM infections.


A simple symmetry reduction procedure is repeatedly used to obtain infinitely many symmetries and then the exact solutions of the Burgers equation. Some sets of exact solutions such as the rational solutions, rational-kink solutions and error function solutions are explicitly given. As a byproduct the recursion operators can be re-obtained at the same time.


The acoustic noise and the mechanical behavior of electrical machines gain significance day by day. Applying electrical machines such as induction machines with squirrel-cage rotors (IMs) as power-steering drives in automotive applications requires very strict constraints for the behavior of the motor for both electromagnetic and mechanical means. Therefore, it is of particular interest to analyze the machine's behavior in both means, depending on the technical faults that are caused by manufacturing processes and unavoidable mechanical tolerances. The studied IM is a mass series product and does not allow for expensive manufacturing. Hence, the impact of the technical faults must be estimated and contained. Finite-element models allow for a structured but complex analysis of these tasks.


SYNOPSIS:  We examine the association between goodwill impairment charges and analysts' forecast accuracy and dispersion. We compare a test sample of firm-quarters with reported goodwill impairment charges during 2003–2007, and two control samples (matched on propensity scores and performance) of firm-quarters that do not report impairment charges. We find that analysts' forecasts are less accurate and more dispersed for the impairment sample than for the control samples. The magnitude of impairment charges is also negatively associated with forecast accuracy and positively associated with forecast dispersion. However, two forms of monitoring, auditor industry specialization and institutional ownership, reduce the adverse effect of goodwill impairments on analyst forecast dispersion. JEL Classifications: G14; M41; M44


This paper presents a fault monitoring of DC motors. A neural network is prepared to processes the inputs parameters "motor speed and current" collected from sensors and delivers condition states of the DC motors "good, fair or bad". FPGA Spartan 3 kit board is used to implement the proposed monitoring network and the circuits are designed for data acquisition to makes an interface between motors analog collected data and FPGAs digitals inputs ports. The designed circuits are intended to gather analogs readings from the target motor and converting them into digitals to be compatibles with FPGAs inputs ports specifications. The neural networks which are designed based on backs propagation trainings are implemented using Xilinx Spartan-3A Starter FPGAs Kits boards .


Primary focus of this study centres around trekking guides' perceptions and awareness on their chosen field of work. Attention is paid on highlighting their plight as well. Twenty-five Nepali trekking guides from Gorkha were interviewed at their place of work in Kathmandu to ascertain why they decided to enter into the trekking industry as a trekking guide. Reasons for becoming a trekking guide were explored using in depth interviewing techniques and a Grounded Theory approach to collect the data. The trekking guides transitioned into their career through travelling to Kathmandu in order to continue their education. They needed to support themselves by seeking out other employment opportunities. The livelihood of trekking guide provided this prospect for them. Qualifications in topography, antiquity, society, wildlife, trekking routes, high altitude sickness and emergency treatment, structural design, archaeology and religious belief in Nepal were all cited by the participants as being part of a qualification set required to work as a trekking guide. Many of the participants also spoke about risk in their employment. Risk to themselves and to the trekkers they guide were important themes to emerge from the research. Social welfare and financial aid policy and legislation for the families left behind to continue alone after trekking guide death would be one way forward for this revered and necessary group of Nepali workers to be recognized for the important work they do for their nation.


Background: Blood Exposure Accidents (BEAs) are frequent in healthcare settings and may cause such severe consequences as HIV and
Hepatitis B and C infections.
Objective: to determine the attitudes and practices of nursing students facing BEAs.
Materials and Methods: this was a cross-sectional prospective study conducted from August 16 to 23, 2011 at the "Institut National de
Formation des Agents de la Sante d'Abidjan" (the National Institute in charge of training Health Workers). Data were collected by means of
self-administered questionnaires.
Results: out of 266 student nurses included in the study, 73.3% were females while 26.7% were males. Their mean age was 29 years [20 years -
37 years]. A previous training was conducted on BEAs for 67.3% of nursing students. Those students who were immunized against hepatitis B
were 75.2%. Needle recapping was practiced by 43.6% of nursing students. Unclean needles were eliminated in containers by 96.2% of the
students and waste containers were within close reach of only 65.4%. Glove wearing was systematic in 77.1% of the students. Before the survey
38% of nursing students had been victim of BEAs at least once. Those BEAs were not reported in 68.3% of the victims.
Conclusion: the attitudes and practices of nursing students are inadequate with regards to BEAs. A module on Hospital Hygiene is necessary in
view of improving the training of nursing students.


Collagen is the most abundant protein in vertebrates, which constitutes about 30% of the total proteins and has been widely used in food, cosmetic, biomedical, and pharmaceutical industries. The conventional source of collagen is from bovine and pig. However, the outbreak of prion diseases, such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, has resulted in anxiety among users of collagen derived from these land animals. Thus, there is need to find an alternative source of collagen. Fish is one of the candidate as such alternative sources because fish is unlikely to be associated with prion diseases. In addition, their skin, bones, scales, are rich in collagen type I. A simple method has been used for the isolation of collagen from the Antarctic region fish scales. At first, the scales were solublized using acetic acid containing EDTA. Then the solublized collagen was precipitated by using NaCl. The results of sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis confirmed the purity of extracted collagen and showed that obtained collagen was composed of two different α-chains (αl and α2), which were in accordance with the type I collagen. β component was also found in lesser amounts in this collagen samples. Next, collagen samples were hydrolyzed with pepsin at 370C for 24 h. According to obtained results collagen was cleaved into low-molecular weight fragments and peptides with molecular weight ranging from 26 to 2 kDa. The effect of collagen fragments on obesity development was investigated using animal model of obesity. For this purpose, the rats were fed with a high-calorie diet, which consisted of a standard meal (60%), pork fat (10%), eggs (10%), sugar (9%), peanuts (5%), dry milk (5%) and sunflower oil (1%) for four weeks. After that the animals were orally administrated with marine collagen fragments extracted from the Antarctic region fish scales each second day for five consecutive weeks. It was shown that treatment with collagen fragments led to decrease of body weight and body mass index of the animals, which were on high-calorie diet (HCD). Found changes could be result of decrease of food intake and increase of water intake in compare with the rats in HCD group.


Abstract The essay explains the origin, scope and forms of the anti-liberal surge taking place in Central and Eastern Europe. Why have voters across the region deserted the liberal politicians who managed to secure peace and prosperity on the ashes of communism? Does the erosion of democratic values and institutions lead to autocracy, or something novel? Special attention will be devoted to the issue of order and chaos in the broader European setting. Can order be maintained without shared values across EU member states? The conclusions will point to the variety of hybrid regimes in Central and Eastern Europe and assess their impact.


Human gammadelta T lymphocytes play an important role in nonadaptive reactions to infection and early tumor defense. This is the first report that freshly isolated, native gammadelta T cells of some healthy donors can kill human neuroblastoma cells to varying degrees. Their killing ability was increased and maintained during expansion and cultivation with interleukin-2 (IL-2; 400 IU/mL) for as long as 30 days (100% specific lysis at an effector-to-target cell (E:T) ratio of 20:1). gammadelta T lymphocytes without this spontaneous killing ability gained a specific cytolytic activity of 81% +/- 10.4% SD after stimulation with IL-2 for 24 hours. gammadelta cells were isolated from peripheral blood by positive enrichment (using a magnetic cell sorting system; purity, 95.2% +/- 3.2% SD, n = 21). High natural cytotoxic activity against human neuroblastoma cell lines (>50% specific lysis at an E:T ratio of 20:1) was exhibited by one of 11 donors, whereas two of 11 showed medium cytotoxicity (30% to 50% specific lysis). Eight of 11 donors showed very slight or no lytic activity against human neuroblastoma cells (<30% specific lysis). gammadelta T cells were also cytotoxic against Daudi (32.7% specific lysis at an E:T ratio of 20:1), Raji (10.3%), Colo 205 (23.1%), A 204 (54%), K 562 (100%), and SK-N-MC (100%) cells. Isolated gammadelta T cells were grown in Iscove modified Dulbecco medium with IL-2 (400 IU/mL). Increased cell proliferation (38.5% to 182%) was induced with phytohemagglutinin, IL-15, Clodronat, OKT3, or various combinations of these. Results of cold target inhibition assays suggest a natural killer-like activity of the gammadelta T-cell killing mechanism. Peptidase or papain render neuroblastoma cells unsusceptible to gammadelta T-cell killing, suggesting the involvement of antigen peptide(s) in the process of neuroblastoma cell killing. Treatment with acid phosphatase reduced specific lysis by 66.5% +/- 34.1% SD, which suggests a binding to phosphorylated neuroblastoma cell-surface structures in the killing mechanism of gammadelta T cells. Heat shock did not affect the extent of neuroblastoma killing by gammadelta cells. Recognition of neuroblastoma cells by gammadelta cytotoxic T lymphocytes is negatively regulated by major histocompatibility complex I receptors. Evidence for natural and inducible cell cytotoxicity of gammadelta T cells against human neuroblastoma cells, easy propagation, purification, and missing alloreactivity in mixed lymphocytes cultures indicates a role for this subpopulation of T lymphocytes in adoptive immunotherapy.


A phytochemical investigation into the stem bark of Bauhinia rufescens (Fabaceae) has resulted in the isolation of α-amyrin acetate, sitosterol 3-O-β-D-xylopyranoside, menisdaurin, sequoyitol and linoleic acid. Their structures were determined using spectroscopic data as well as comparison with literature data. The antimicrobial assay has been tested against Gram positive, Gram negative bacteria and fungal strains, while the tyrosinase inhibition assay was examined using L-Dopa as a substrate of tyrosinase enzyme. α-amyrin acetate, sitosterol 3-O-β-D-xylopyranoside, menisdaurin and sequoyitol showed minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) values in the range of 900-450 μg/mL against all bacterial strains, while the MIC values for the fungal strains were recorded in the range of 450-112 μg/mL. In the tyrosinase inhibition assay, α-amyrin acetate was found to be moderately active against tyrosinase enzyme with an inhibition of 62.0% lower than the positive control, kojic acid (85.0%).


The majority of the artificial neural network (ANN) applications to water resources data involve the employment of the feed forward back propagation method (FFBP). In this study, an ANN algorithm, generalized regression neural network (GRNN), was employed in monthly mean flow forecasting. The performances of the GRNN and the FFBP methods were compared initially for forecasting of monthly mean river flows and training the neural networks using the observed data; then the forecasting study was carried out using the AR model-generated synthetic monthly mean flow series for training stage. The GRNN simulations did not face the frequently encountered local minima problem of the FFBP applications and did not generate forecasts that are physically implausible. It was seen that FFBP forecasting performance was sensitive to the randomly assigned initial weights. This problem, however, did not occur in the GRNN simulations. The GRNN approach does not require an iterative training procedure, unlike the FFBP method. GRNN forecasting performance was found to be superior to the FFBP, statistical, and stochastic methods in terms of the selected performance criteria.


The provision of relief to civilians in armed conflict is a sensitive activity, subject to specific regulation in IHL treaties. Challenges emerged on the ground have questioned the comprehensive nature of this legal framework and generated debate on the concept of humanitarian assistance itself, the role of different kinds of actors (local/external, governmental/nongovernmental, armed/unarmed) in providing it, and the value and meaning of the principles traditionally associated to it—humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence. This research, examining the evolution of State practice and opinio juris, provides a comprehensive analysis of the legal regime applicable to the provision of relief to civilians in armed conflict and the different categories of actors involved in it, identifying answers offered by international law (primarily IHL) to issues emerged in practice.
It is argued that humanitarian assistance is a well-defined and limited concept under IHL. Rules on this issue have been subject to progressive development, e.g. those on the protection of humanitarian workers in non-international armed conflict, but State practice has revealed that sovereignty remains important, and the principles of humanitarian assistance continue to embody the balance acceptable to States between military necessity and humanitarian considerations. No right to access or to provide humanitarian assistance without consent from the Parties concerned has developed, including no right to provide relief in non-international armed conflict in territory controlled by non-State armed groups without State consent. Participation in the provision of humanitarian assistance by local and external actors is not prohibited, but the level of protection they enjoy depends on their position under IHL. Different regimes are applicable to distinct armed actors (belligerents/peacekeepers/external armed forces/private security companies) but in all cases respect for the principle of distinction is central. In general, special protection for relief actions and actors remains connected to respect for the principles of humanitarian assistance. This has been confirmed by belligerents' reactions to the increased engagement of humanitarian organisations in protection, as the second essential component of humanitarian action: belligerents have claimed their entitlement to require respect by humanitarian personnel also for the most contested principle—neutrality, meaning non-interference in hostilities and even abstention from involvement in politics.


In theory, the higher the covalent index value of a metal ion, the greater its potential to form covalent bonds with biological ligands. Metabolism-independent equilibrium metal ion adsorption to freeze dried Rhizopus arrhizus biomass was found to increase in the order Sr2+ < Mn2+ < Zn2+ < Cd2+ < Cu2+ < Pb2+ and positively correlated with covalent index. Adsorption was rapid and 95% complete within five minutes of metal-microbe contact, and equilibrium was independent of solution biomass concentrations.

The potential of a metal to displace other preloaded cations from the biomass ligands, and the extent to which a preloaded ion inhibited the adsorption of another both increased with increasing covalent index for Mn2+, Zn2+, Cd2+, Cu2+ and Pb2+. An almost complete inversion of this order was observed in the case where Sr2+ was the primary binding test ion. According to the hard and soft principle of metal ions, Mn2+, Zn2+, Cd2+, Cu2+ and Pb2+ are classified as soft-borderline, Sr2+ is classified as hard, and theoretically the polar nature of these cations increase in the same order as covalent index.

As a consequence of metal ion adsorption, Ca2+ and Mg2+ displacement from the biomass ligands was observed for both hard and soft borderline ions, whereas displacement of H+ was observed for soft borderline ions only. Overall, the soft borderline ions exhibited a significant degree of both covalent and ionic binding, and the hard metal Sr2+ was found to exhibit ionic binding only. Linear reciprocal Langmuir and Scatchard transformation plots reflected the predominantly ion exchange mechanism of Sr2+ and Cd2+ adsorption, and a curved Scatchard transformation plot reflected the more covalent nature of Cu2+ adsorption.

The transformation and accumulation of the oxyanion selenite (1000 |imol I'1) by a growing Penicillium species was investigated over a 2 week period. Selenium in the aqueous phase decreased by ca. 49.8%, and selenium accumulated by the fungal biomass totalled ca. 36.6%. Transformation into volatile selenium compounds amounted to an average value of ca. 8.8%, and the process was determined to be both growth and nongrowth associated. Activated charcoal traps were successfully used to retain the volatile selenium compounds which were determined to be organic in nature. The reduction of selenite to amorphous elemental selenium was observed only during the decline phases of growth. Selenite transformation, particularly reduction to amorphous elemental selenium, was enhanced by the addition of amino acids and vitamins to the aqueous medium, and with such amendments selenite reduction was observed both during the rapid and stationary phases of growth.


TiC-based cermets attract much attention because of their excellent wear-resistance, high hardness at high temperature, good chemical stability, superior thermal deformation resistance. Therefore, titanium carbide is mainly used for cutting tools, grinding wheels, coated cutting tips and coated steel tools. In this research, Fe-TiC composite materials were fabricated by spark plasma sintering (SPS) after mechanical alloying. TiH2 and graphite powders were used to synthesize TiC phase. In order to compare the properties of sintered materials using mixture powder (D'AE+TiH2+graphite), commercial TiC powder was mixed with Distaloy AE (D'AE) powder as a same mechanical alloying method. Then, the shape of each mixture powder (D'AE+TiH2+graphite, D'AE+TiC (commercial)) and sintering properties were compared. TiC phase was synthesized by self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) reaction during spark plasma sintering. It was confirmed by using X-ray diffraction (XRD). Energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to observe shape of mixture powders and also sintering properties were examined such as hardness, relative density. In case of sintered material for 10min holding time at 1373K after mechanical alloying for 1 hour with D'AE, TiH2 and graphite, it indicated higher hardness value 49HR-C than a case using D'AE and TiC powder.


Objective: This study aimed to survey clinicians' attitudes in Singapore and Hong Kong toward clozapine and elucidate the barriers to its prescription in patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia.
Methods: All clinicians in psychiatry in both regions were invited through email to participate in an anonymous online survey. The survey collected information on the participants' characteristics, their experience with clozapine initiation, perceived usefulness of clozapine, barriers to clozapine initiation, and factors that might improve clozapine use. Data collection took place between December 2018 and March 2019 in Singapore and September 2019 and February 2020 in Hong Kong.
Results: A total of 261 clinicians (156 in Singapore, 105 in Hong Kong) responded to the survey. The majority of participants believed that clozapine was an effective and satisfactory treatment for schizophrenia. Clinicians were most concerned about the need for frequent blood monitoring (84.5% in Singapore; 87.5% in Hong Kong), clozapine's tolerability (51.9% in Singapore; 61.6% in Hong Kong), and medical complications (54.8% in Singapore; 49.1% in Hong Kong). Compared to Hong Kong, more clinicians in Singapore endorsed an underutilization of clozapine (67.9% in Singapore; 51.4% in Hong Kong) and a greater need for outpatient resources in terms of clinic and administrative support (74.4% in Singapore; 59.0% in Hong Kong) to improve clozapine prescription.
Conclusions: The underutilization of clozapine in treatment-resistant schizophrenia remains a concern in both regions. An integrated clozapine service that addresses the system barriers and clinicians' confidence in prescribing clozapine and managing its adverse effects would greatly improve the utilization of clozapine.


ABSTRACT Aspergillopepsin B was identified in culture broths of Aspergillus awamori by in situ detection of its proteolytic activity and by immunodetection with anti-aspergillopepsin B antibodies. Severe thaumatin degradation was observed after in vitro treatment of thaumatin with purified aspergillopepsin B. The pepB gene encoding aspergillopepsin B of A. awamori was cloned and characterized. It is located in chromosome IV of A. awamori, as shown by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and encodes a protein of 282 amino acids with high similarity to the aspergillopepsin B of Aspergillus niger var. macrosporus. The pepB gene is expressed at high rates as a monocistronic 1.0-kb transcript in media with casein at acidic pH values. An antisense cassette constructed by inserting the pepB gene in the antisense orientation downstream from the gpdA promoter resulted in a good level of antisense mRNA, as shown by reverse transcription-PCR. Partial silencing of the pepB gene by the antisense mRNA resulted in a 31% increase in thaumatin yield. However, significant residual degradation of thaumatin still occurred. To completely remove aspergillopepsin B, the pepB gene was deleted by double crossover. Two of the selected transformants lacked the endogenous pepB gene and did not form aspergillopepsin B. Thaumatin yields increased by between 45% in transformant APB 7/25 and 125% in transformant 7/36 with respect to the parental strain. Reduction of proteolytic degradation by gene silencing with antisense mRNA or total removal of the aspergillopepsin B by directed gene deletion was a very useful method for improving thaumatin production in A. awamori.


This study aims to determine the effect of the use of media the influence of the science learning media on a scientific approach to scientific literacy skills and self-efficacy of students on human respirator material. This study uses an experimental method, the sample consists of 2 classes, cognitive learning achievement data using tests, affective aspects of learning achievement using a questionnaire, hypothesis testing using the right-hand t-test. The data analysis technique used is the n-gain test and independent sample t-test using SPSS version 16.0. The results showed that students who were taught using science learning media on a scientific approach had a good effect on scientific literacy and self efficacy better than students who were taught the lecture method. Students with high scientific literacy ability produce better average performance than students with low scientific literacy ability, and there is an increase in the self efficacy of students learning by using learning media


Introduction Failure to recognise and respond to patient deterioration in an appropriate and timely manner has been highlighted as a global patient safety concern. Early Warning Scores (EWSs) using vital signs were introduced to address this concern, with the aim of getting the patient timely and appropriate treatment. The National Early Warning Score 2 (NEWS2) is in use across the NHS, and many other settings globally. While patient improvements have been shown, research has identified that the NEWS2 is not always used as intended. Therefore, this review will use a realist approach to understand what the mechanisms are that influence appropriate use (or not) of the NEWS2 in acute care settings, how, for whom and in which contexts. The findings will inform clinicians of what helps and/or hinders appropriate use of the NEWS2 in clinical practice, thus helping to facilitate successful implementation. Methods and analysis Our realist review will follow Pawson's iterative six step process: (1) Development of initial programme theory. (2) Searching the literature; an information scientist will develop, pilot and refine the search strategy. A systematic search will be completed, based on subject relevancy on the following databases: Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Medline, Embase (OvidSP), Web of Science (Science Citation Index and Social Science Citation), Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Joanna Briggs Institute, Ethos, Proquest Dissertations and Theses Global, and Google Scholar for documents dating from 1997 (date of the first published EWS) to present. To retrieve additional relevant data 'snowballing' (finding references and authors by hand, contacting authors, searching reference lists and citation-tracking using Google Scholar) will be used. Inclusion criteria include all documents (including grey literature) that relate to the use of EWSs/NEWS2 in the English language only. Documents set in the paediatric, maternity and primary care settings will be excluded. (3) Selecting documents and quality appraisal. (4) Extracting and organising the data. (5) Synthesising the data. (6) Disseminating the findings. We will recruit a group of stakeholders comprised of experienced clinicians who use the NEWS2 as part of their clinical practice to provide feedback throughout the review. Step 1 has already begun with the development of an initial programme theory. This initial programme theory presents how the NEWS2 is supposed to work (or not), it will now be developed, tested and refined. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval is not required for this study as it is secondary research. Dissemination will include a peer-reviewed publication and conference presentations. Findings will also be amplified through social media platforms with user friendly summaries. Our stakeholder group will also contribute to dissemination of findings in their clinical areas and among existing networks. PROSPERO registration number CRD42022304497.


Using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and the tracer indocyanine green (ICG), we quantified blood flow in calf muscle and around the Achilles tendon during plantar flexion (1-9 W). For comparison, blood flow in calf muscle was determined by dye dilution in combination with magnetic resonance imaging measures of muscle volume, and, for the peritendon region, blood flow was measured by (133)Xe washout. From rest to a peak load of 9 W, NIRS-ICG blood flow in calf muscle increased from 2.4+/-0.2 to 74+/-5 ml x 100 ml tissue(-1) x min(-1), similar to that measured by reverse dye (77+/-6 ml x 100 ml tissue(-1) x min(-1)). Achilles peritendon blood flow measured by NIRS-ICG rose with exercise from 2.2+/-0.5 to 15.1+/-0.2 ml x 100 ml(-1) x min(-1), which was similar to that determined by (133)Xe washout (2.0+/-0.6 to 14.6+/-0.3 ml x 100 ml tissue(-1) x min(-1)). This is the first study using NIRS and ICG to quantify regional tissue blood flow during exercise in humans. Due to its high spatial and temporal resolution, the technique may be useful for determining regional blood flow distribution and regulation during exercise in humans.


To investigate impact of hyperlipidemia on clarithromycin pharmacokinetics in Wistar rats, hyperlipidemia was successfully induced by providing high fat diet (rich of cholesterol) for 6-8 weeks. Pharmacokinetic parameters of clarithromycin in induced hyperlipidemia and control group (non-hyperlipidemia) were determined in rats after oral (10, 20, and 100 mg/kg) single administration of clarithromycin. Group allocation for in-vivo study (n=6) as follows: G1: Vehicle control, G2-G4: Non-hyperlipidemic rats treated with clarithromycin, G5-G7: hyperlipidemic rats treated with clarithromycin. For In-vitro study (n=4): G8: Non-hyperlipidemic rats pooled liver homogenate, G9: Hyperlipidemic rat pooled liver homogenate for investigation of clarithromycin metabolism. For biliary excretion studies (n=4): G10: non-hyperlipidemic rats treated with clarithromycin and G11: Hyperlipidemic rats treated with clarithromycin. The area under the plasma concentration–time curve (AUC 0–∞ ) and the peak plasma concentration (C max ) of clarithromycin (non-hyperlipidemic group) was 1.77 ± 0.33 µg. h/mL and 0.47 ± 0.06 µg/mL for 10 mg/kg; 5.63 ± 1.51 µg. h/mL and 1.21 ± 0.11 µg/mL for 20 mg/kg; 58.97 ± 12.74 µg. h/mL and 12.48 ± 3.8 µg/mL for 100 mg/kg, respectively. In hyperlipidemic group the AUC 0–∞ andC max of clarithromycin was 3.47 ± 0.82 µg.h/mL and 0.84 ± 0.09 ug/mL for 10 mg/kg; 12.21 ± 2.83 µg.h/mL and 2 ± 0.24 µg/mL for 20 mg/kg; 141.88 ± 54.03 µg.h/mL and 20.57 ± 7.6 µg/mL for 100 mg/kg, respectively. Over all exposure was significantly increased in hyperlipidemic groups at across the tested doses. The percentage remaining of clarithromycin in hyperlipidemic rat's liver homogenates and biliary excretion was significantly (P<0.05) high as compared with non-hyperlipidemic rats. The % dose excretion of clarithromycin in urine was lower as compared with bile in hyperlipidemic rats. Conclude that the clarithromycin was considerably affected by hyperlipidemia. The enhanced area under the curve of clarithromycin in hyperlipidemic rats might be mainly due to inhibition of the CYP mediated metabolism in the liver by hyperlipidemia which was reproduced in bile and urine.


Coastal dunes are scattered in many places around Brittany, Western France, the largest dune belt being found in the south between Lorient Roadstead and the Quiberon Peninsula. Their primary construction was initiated during a slight regression interrupting the Holocene transgression just after the Bronze Age (± 2400 BP). They continued to be locally fed until the 18th Century, but at present time new dunes are no longer built, except for a case found in the Bay of Audierne, and for the feeding in situ of beach ridges by wind, e.g. at Goulven, Pays de Leon, which does not lead to edification of real eolian dunes. Following the Second World War, coastal tourism and urbanization have threatened these dune belts. Scientists and activist groups interested in nature conservancy have approached commune councils and civil engineers with information concerning dune degradation and management. With the help of the French Ministry for Environment, the situation has been gradually improved. During the past decades, many areas have been protected by processes of dune preservation without preventing access to beaches. The type of management of the protected or restored dune remains, however, a matter of discussion.


Design for product family is an efficient way to guarantee the idea of mass customization to be implemented successfully. This paper presents an approach to architecting a product family that aims to provide methodological guidance for enterprises which plan to implement strategy of product family design. Based on the conventional methodology of designing for a single product, this paper respectively demonstrates the methods of requirement modeling, function-principle modeling and structure modeling in details according to the characteristics of product family design, and also some key approaches in different design processes are presented.


Dynamic latent variable modelling has provided a powerful tool for understanding how populations of neurons compute. For spiking data, such latent variable modelling can treat the data as a set of point-processes, due to the fact that spiking dynamics occur on a much faster timescale than the computational dynamics being inferred. In contrast, for other experimental techniques, the slow dynamics governing the observed data are similar in timescale to the computational dynamics that researchers want to infer. An example of this is in calcium imaging data, where calcium dynamics can have timescales on the order of hundreds of milliseconds. As such, the successful application of dynamic latent variable modelling to modalities like calcium imaging data will rest on the ability to disentangle the deeper- and shallower-level dynamical systems' contributions to the data. To-date, no techniques have been developed to directly achieve this. Here we solve this problem by extending recent advances using sequential variational autoencoders for dynamic latent variable modelling of neural data. Our system VaLPACa (Variational Ladders for Parallel Autoencoding of Calcium imaging data) solves the problem of disentangling deeper- and shallower-level dynamics by incorporating a ladder architecture that can infer a hierarchy of dynamical systems. Using some built-in inductive biases for calcium dynamics, we show that we can disentangle calcium flux from the underlying dynamics of neural computation. First, we demonstrate with synthetic calcium data that we can correctly disentangle an underlying Lorenz attractor from calcium dynamics. Next, we show that we can infer appropriate rotational dynamics in spiking data from macaque motor cortex after it has been converted into calcium fluorescence data via a calcium dynamics model. Finally, we show that our method applied to real calcium imaging data from primary visual cortex in mice allows us to infer latent factors that carry salient sensory information about unexpected stimuli. These results demonstrate that variational ladder autoencoders are a promising approach for inferring hierarchical dynamics in experimental settings where the measured variable has its own slow dynamics, such as calcium imaging data. Our new, open-source tool thereby provides the neuroscience community with the ability to apply dynamic latent variable modelling to a wider array of data modalities.


In the autumn of 2015 more than 32 000 asylum-seekers arrived in Finland, most of them traveling through the Tornio border crossing point from Haparanda, Sweden. The situation was exceptional and as a response, the Finnish government relocated hundreds of security authorities and servicemen to register the asylumseekers and to control the border crossing. In the research literature such a border securitization, an approach where migrants and asylums are approached from the viewpoint of security instead of human rights, is considered problematic. This paper examines the local authorities and civic actors' stories of border securitization and asylum reception in Tornio by employing everyday geopolitics as a theoretical and methodological framework. Everyday geopolitics approach is sensitive to the practices and experiences of border securitization at local and intimate scales. The main research finding is that local actors are aware of the wider geopolitical and societal discourses of threat. However, their stories of local and everyday practices emphasize feelings of safety, trust and cooperation at both national and supranational scales. Instead of focusing the feelings of safety merely on the discursive production of threat and danger, it is important to unfold the more contextual, local and mundane interpretations of border securitization.


BACKGROUND
Many millions of people living with dementia around the world are not diagnosed, which has a negative impact both on their access to care and treatment and on rational service planning. Telehealth - the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to provide health services at a distance - may be a way to increase access to specialist assessment for people with suspected dementia, especially those living in remote or rural areas. It has also been much used during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is important to know whether diagnoses made using telehealth assessment are as accurate as those made in conventional, face-to-face clinical settings.

OBJECTIVES
Primary objective: to assess the diagnostic accuracy of telehealth assessment for dementia and mild cognitive impairment. Secondary objectives: to identify the quality and quantity of the relevant research evidence; to identify sources of heterogeneity in the test accuracy data; to identify and synthesise any data on patient or clinician satisfaction, resource use, costs or feasibility of the telehealth assessment models in the included studies.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched multiple databases and clinical trial registers on 4 November 2020 for published and 'grey' literature and registered trials. We applied no search filters and no language restrictions. We screened the retrieved citations in duplicate and assessed in duplicate the full texts of papers considered potentially relevant.

SELECTION CRITERIA
We included in the review cross-sectional studies with 10 or more participants who had been referred to a specialist service for assessment of a suspected cognitive disorder. Within a period of one month or less, each participant had to undergo two clinical assessments designed to diagnose dementia or mild cognitive impairment (MCI): a telehealth assessment (the index test) and a conventional face-to-face assessment (the reference standard). The telehealth assessment could be informed by some data collected face-to-face, e.g. by nurses working in primary care, but all contact between the patient and the specialist clinician responsible for synthesising the information and making the diagnosis had to take place remotely using ICT.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two review authors independently extracted data from included studies. Data extracted covered study design, setting, participants, details of index test and reference standard, and results in the form of numbers of participants given diagnoses of dementia or MCI. Data were also sought on dementia subtype diagnoses and on quantitative measures of patient or clinician satisfaction, resource use, costs and feasibility. We assessed risk of bias and applicability of each included study using QUADAS-2. We entered the results into 2x2 tables in order to calculate the sensitivity and specificity of telehealth assessment for the diagnosis of all-cause dementia, MCI, and any cognitive syndrome (combining dementia and MCI). We presented the results of included studies narratively because there were too few studies to derive summary estimates of sensitivity and specificity.

MAIN RESULTS
Three studies with 136 participants were eligible for inclusion. Two studies (20 and 100 participants) took place in community settings in Australia and one study (16 participants) was conducted in veterans' homes in the USA. Participants were referred from primary care with undiagnosed cognitive symptoms or were identified as being at high risk of having dementia on a screening test in the care homes. Dementia and MCI were target conditions in the larger study; the other studies targeted dementia diagnosis only. Only one small study used a 'pure' telehealth model, i.e. not involving any elements of face-to-face assessment. The studies were generally well-conducted. We considered two studies to be at high risk of incorporation bias because a substantial amount of information collected face-to-face by nurses was used to inform both index test and reference standard assessments. One study was at unclear risk of selection bias. For the diagnosis of all-cause dementia, sensitivity of telehealth assessment ranged from 0.80 to 1.00 and specificity from 0.80 to 1.00. We considered this to be very low-certainty evidence due to imprecision, inconsistency between studies and risk of bias. For the diagnosis of MCI, data were available from only one study (100 participants) giving a sensitivity of 0.71 (95% CI 0.54 to 0.84) and a specificity of 0.73 (95% CI 0.60 to 0.84). We considered this to be low-certainty evidence due to imprecision and risk of bias. For diagnosis of any cognitive syndrome (dementia or MCI), data from the same study gave a sensitivity of 0.97 (95% CI 0.91 to 0.99) and a specificity of 0.22 (95% CI 0.03 to 0.60). The majority of diagnostic disagreements concerned the distinction between MCI and dementia, occurring approximately equally in either direction. There was also a tendency for patients identified as cognitively healthy at face-to-face assessment to be diagnosed with MCI at telehealth assessment (but numbers were small). There were insufficient data to make any assessment of the accuracy of dementia subtype diagnosis. One study provided a small amount of data indicating a good level of clinician and especially patient satisfaction with the telehealth model. There were no data on resource use, costs or feasibility.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
We found only very few eligible studies with a small number of participants. An important difference between the studies providing data for the analyses was whether the target condition was dementia only (two studies) or dementia and MCI (one study). The data suggest that telehealth assessment may be highly sensitive and specific for the diagnosis of all-cause dementia when assessed against a reference standard of conventional face-to-face assessment, but the estimates are imprecise due to small sample sizes and between-study heterogeneity, and may apply mainly to telehealth models which incorporate a considerable amount of face-to-face contact with healthcare professionals other than the doctor responsible for making the diagnosis. For the diagnosis of MCI by telehealth assessment, best estimates of both sensitivity and specificity were somewhat lower, but were based on a single study. Errors occurred at the cognitively healthy/MCI and the MCI/dementia boundaries. However, there is no evidence that diagnostic disagreements were more frequent than would be expected due to the known variation between clinicians' opinions when assigning a dementia diagnosis.


With GIS spatial application model, from the angles of space developing and changing, explore the motion and change rules of urban development in the process of urbanization, and improve scientific nature and accuracy of forecast. To analyze the characteristics and their driving forces of changes in urban construction land and urban expansion space, first we have explored space model of urban expansion theoretically, then made some research combining the examples of urban spatial and temporal changes in Luoyang City. Study the laws of urban expansion from the angles of temporal and spatial variation with GIS space analysis model, thereby explore the internal mechanism of urban spatial variation, which can be provided with better research efficiency.


The National Institute for Healthcare and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance on the identification and management of familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is welcome and much needed.1 FH is among the most common autosomal dominant inherited conditions, affecting around 1 in 500 people in the UK, with an estimated 116 000 heterozygotes (although homozygotes occur only in around 1 per million). The condition is characterised by a number of well-defined genetic defects mainly in the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor, less commonly in apolipoprotein B, and rarely in proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) genes. These gene defects lead to abnormal receptor-LDL interactions, reduced LDL metabolism, consequent high levels of LDL cholesterol and a high propensity to oxidation of cholesterol leading to atherosclerosis. FH is an important preventable cause of premature coronary heart disease (CHD), as high levels of mortality and morbidity are seen in people with untreated FH; cumulative risk of premature cardiovascular disease with heterozygous FH (age at onset before 50 years) are around 50% in men and 30% in women.2 With the advent of statins, the standardised mortality rate for patients aged 20–60 years with FH has fallen from 8.1 to 3.7, equating to almost a decade of extra life years.3

This NICE guidance coincides with a raft of other cardiovascular guidelines recently published, including stroke, type 2 diabetes and lipid modification. A mantra common to all new NICE guidelines is that of patient-centred care—the involvement of patients in therapeutic decisions is strongly encouraged. As FH may be detected in childhood, involvement of families in screening and therapeutic decisions, and managing transition from paediatric to adult care is also emphasised.

With respect to the diagnosis of FH, NICE advocates the use of the "Simon Broome criteria" for stratification into definite, or possible FH. These criteria are widely accepted and …


From submerged cultures of Scytalidium sp. 36-93, ten metabolites were isolated due to their effects on dihydroxynaphthalene (DHN) or DOPA melanin biosynthesis. Four of the compounds, scytalols A (1a), B (1b), C (2) and D (3), are new secondary metabolites, the structures of which were determined by spectroscopy, while the other compounds are known. Scytalols A (1a) and D (3) are selective inhibitors of DHN melanin biosynthesis and exhibit no antifungal or cytotoxic activities. Nectriapyrone, 6-methoxymellein and 4-chloro-6-methoxymellein stimulated the formation of DOPA melanin in B16-F1 melanoma cells in the absence of melanin-stimulating hormone.


This paper approaches some of the characteristics of the regional development of Serbia, from the perspective of two models of territorial organization: one is governmental (administrative and statistical), and the other is functional. The imbalances in the levels of development of various territorial units of Serbia (regional disproportions) are the consequence of many structural disharmonies, material limitations, and problems with population structure, during many years, all worsened by political and economic events at the end of the twentieth century. Also, in this paper we point out the main characteristics of undeveloped regions, the criteria with which we can define them, and a typology of the municipalities inside each such region.


As they are not subjected to natural selection process, de novo designed proteins usually fold in a manner different from natural proteins. Recently, a de novo designed mini-protein DS119, with a βαβ motif and 36 amino acids, has folded unusually slowly in experiments, and transient dimers have been detected in the folding process. Here, by means of all-atom replica exchange molecular dynamics (REMD) simulations, several comparably stable intermediate states were observed on the folding free-energy landscape of DS119. Conventional molecular dynamics (CMD) simulations showed that when two unfolded DS119 proteins bound together, most binding sites of dimeric aggregates were located at the N-terminal segment, especially residues 5–10, which were supposed to form β-sheet with its own C-terminal segment. Furthermore, a large percentage of individual proteins in the dimeric aggregates adopted conformations similar to those in the intermediate states observed in REMD simulations. These results indicate that, during the folding process, DS119 can easily become trapped in intermediate states. Then, with diffusion, a transient dimer would be formed and stabilized with the binding interface located at N-terminals. This means that it could not quickly fold to the native structure. The complicated folding manner of DS119 implies the important influence of natural selection on protein-folding kinetics, and more improvement should be achieved in rational protein design.


Kiwifruit has been one of the most profitable fruit species in the orchard business in Turkey for more than 25 years. In Turkey, the volume of kiwifruit production is relatively lower than that in China, Italy, New Zealand, and Chile. However, Turkey is one of the top countries in the world in terms of production area. Most kiwifruit orchards are quite new. Furthermore, production is increasing every year. Clearly, quality will be much more important in the near future; therefore, kiwifruit growers will have to use modern techniques that will improve the quality of the fruits to ensure better taste. In the first few years, because of lack of technical knowledge, many kiwifruit orchards were run with incorrect systems. Nowadays, with improved knowledge, modern kiwifruit orchards have been started in different regions throughout Turkey. At the start, the yield was only 20-30 t ha‑1; however, in recent years, it has risen to 40-50 t ha‑1. Intensive use of fertigation and plant-growth regulators has contributed to increased yield. Ridge planting in groundwater and employing water sprinklers are methods used in modern orchards. An extensive mini-sprinkler system has been introduced to protect new orchards from frost. Also, the method of using a net system to cover the plants is gaining widespread adoption in Turkey. Growers are building artificial windbreaks using polythene fabric. A proper sanitary management plan would involve controlling the presence of Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa) in kiwifruit orchards. In this ever-changing world, kiwifruit farming needs to use new cultivars, training systems, disease-, pest- and weed-control techniques, fertilization strategies and irrigation systems, which should be adapted to changes. Otherwise, it will fall to competition and lose its profitability. While cultivars are the obvious and visible innovations, improved production and postharvest systems are also important for the success of the orchard business. Therefore, when considering the increasingly competitive conditions in the orchard industry, all techniques must be applied as a holistic approach to ensure quality production.


Abstract : The lower 60 miles of the Ohio River seems to be a relatively undisturbed segment of this large river. Together with its natural flood-plain' lakes it supports a rather diverse fauna and flora which would be affected by proposed navigation projects in the area. Of the three basic alternative plans the rehabilitation of existing locks and dams 52 and 53 would have the least impact on the aquatic biota. Replacement of the two smaller dams with a single large dam would result in the destruction of some gravel substrates valuable to mussel communities and fishes, and would permanently connect one slough with the river. This permanent connection would result in a replacement of the unique slough biota with the typical riverine biota. The third alternative, removal of the two small dams and maintenance of open river conditions through construction of wing dikes and channel dredging, would have the most serious detrimental impact on aquatic life. These effects would result from sedimentation of existing gravel and sand deposits which are valuable areas for maintaining benthic invertebrates and fishes.


Computing constrained shortest paths is fundamental to some important network functions such as QoS routing, MPLS path selection, ATM circuit routing, and traffic engineering. The problem is to find the cheapest path that satisfies certain constraints. In particular, finding the cheapest delay-constrained path is critical for real-time data flows such as voice/video calls. Because it is NP-complete, much research has been designing heuristic algorithms that solve the - approximation of the problem with an adjustable accuracy. A common approach is to discretize (i.e., scale and round) the link delay or link cost, which transforms the original problem to a simpler one solvable in polynomial time. The efficiency of the algorithms directly relates to the magnitude of the errors introduced during discretization. In this paper, we propose two techniques that reduce the discretization errors, which allows faster algorithms to be designed. Reducing the overhead of computing constrained shortest paths is practically important for the successful design of a high-throughput QoS router, which is limited at both processing power and memory space. Our simulations show that the new algorithms reduce the execution time by an order of magnitude on power-law topologies with 1000 nodes. The reduction in memory space is similar.


Cyclosporine is mainly used as Immunosuppressant after different kinds of transplantation including bone marrow, lungs, kidneys, liver, heart, and other types of organ transplantations. Immunosuppressants diminish organ rejection and elongate the survival of the transplanted organs. Due to the narrow therapeutic ranges and significantly
high interindividual and intraindividual variability in blood levels of cyclosporine, there is essential and vital need of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of this drug in order to maintain the patient within the required therapeutic concentrations, which consequently lead to optimizing the clinical outcome and decrease the hazard of toxicity or rejection following organ transplantations. The current review article was aimed to present data for using a single or possibly two blood sampling strategy to be used for TDM of cyclosporine in order to assess the optimal blood levels of cyclosporine used in organ transplant recipients. The results showed that steady state blood concentration of cyclosporine obtained after 2 hours (C2) and possibly after 3 hours (C3) of drug administration are the best sampling time points which reflect total drug exposure (area under blood concentration versus time curve=AUC) and consequently reflecting the effect and the adverse effect(s) of cyclosporine. On the other hand, blood samples obtained at other time points particularly steady state trough concentration obtained before the next dose (C0) demonstrated poor correlation with total drug exposure and consequently the clinical outcome of the drug. Moreover, this study also demonstrated that for organs transplantations TDM of cyclosporine and assessing the clinical conditions of the patients should be routinely performed in order to adjust the dose to get optimal effect and to diminish the adverse effects of the drug. This review article focused on the findings which indicated that monitoring steady-state blood levels of cyclosporine after 2 hours (C2) and likely after 3 hours (C3) of drug intake may be used as ideal surrogate index in TDM of cyclosporine and for predicting the clinical outcome of the drug in all and different types of organs transplantations.


This paper introduces the OpenBuild toolbox for MATLAB. OpenBuild is a toolbox for advanced controller design for buildings heating ventilation and air conditioning systems, with emphasis on Model Predictive Control. It provides researchers in the control community the ability to test algorithms on a wide range of realistic simulation scenarios, by providing most of the data needed to perform simulation and optimization. It combines the convenience of controller design in MATLAB with the simulation capabilities of the building simulation software EnergyPlus. It includes a building modeling tool to construct linear state-space models of building thermodynamics based on building description data, making it useful for design of optimal controllers requiring a good prediction model, as well as providing the input data necessary for simulation such as weather, occupancy and internal gains data. The ability to co-simulate the building between MATLAB and EnergyPlus enables fast prototyping and validation of the models and controllers. This paper presents the working principles and functionality of OpenBuild.


Holistic processing has been shown to be a behavioral marker of face recognition and object recognition in experts. We tested Chinese literates who can read and write Chinese characters (Writers) and Chinese literates whose reading performance far exceeded their writing ability (Limited-writers). We found that Writers perceived Chinese characters less holistically than Limited-writers. In addition, the holistic processing effect was found to be dependent of writing experiences rather than reading and copying performances. This effect may be due to Chinese Writers exhibiting a better awareness of the orthographic components of Chinese characters than Limited-writers. While Hsiao and Cottrell (2009) showed that reduced holistic processing is a marker of visual expertise in Chinese character recognition, our findings further suggest that such reduction is related to writing experiences in Chinese. This study is also the first to report on the Chinese reading population that has far poorer writing performance than reading performance.


The dissimilar metal welds between the Inconel 600 flow element and the SA-106 Grade B carbon pipe with Alloy 82 or Alloy 182 filler material of some CANDU® designs have been identified as being susceptible to Primary Water Stress Corrosion Cracking (PWSCC). Initiation and growth of PWSCC in a Dissimilar Metal Weld (DMW) are driven primarily by Welding Residual Stresses (WRS). The present paper focuses on the experimental study of weld residual stress distribution in manually and mechanically fabricated DMWs with emphasis on the effect of repair.
 A series of DMW samples are firstly fabricated in accordance with the original welding procedures for those DMWs in the field, which were fabricated in 1970s and 1980s. Multiple thermocouples were used to record the temperature evolution during the entire welding process. These samples were then examined by ASME qualified personnel in accordance with the requirements for Class 1 weld in Article 9 of Section V of ASME BVPC using Visual Testing (VT) and Radiography Testing (RT). Repair was then performed in some samples, and further NDE examinations were performed. The qualified samples (with and without repair) were finally subject to destructive weld residual stress measurement using contour method.
 It is observed that weld repair dramatically changes the distribution of weld residuals tress. The use of a constant through-thickness WRS of 60,000 psi (415 MPa) is justified as the bounding case.


Anecdotal case reports and uncontrolled observational studies in the medical literature claim that vaccines cause chronic diseases such as asthma, multiple sclerosis, chronic arthritis, and diabetes. Several biological mechanisms have been proposed to explain how vaccines might cause allergic or autoimmune diseases. For example, allergic diseases might be caused by prevention of early childhood infections (the "hygiene hypothesis"), causing a prolongation of immunoglobulin E-promoting T-helper cell type 2-type responses. However, vaccines do not prevent most common childhood infections, and large well-controlled epidemiologic studies do not support the hypothesis that vaccines cause allergies. Autoimmune diseases might occur after immunization because proteins on microbial pathogens are similar to human proteins ("molecular mimicry") and could induce immune responses that damage human cells. However, wild-type viruses and bacteria are much better adapted to growth in humans than vaccines and much more likely to stimulate potentially damaging self-reactive lymphocytes. Consistent with critical differences between natural infection and immunization, well-controlled epidemiologic studies do not support the hypothesis that vaccines cause autoimmunity. Flaws in proposed biological mechanisms that explain how vaccines might cause chronic diseases are consistent with the findings of many well-controlled large epidemiologic studies that fail to show a causal relationship.


This occasional paper analyzes the general security issues and trends relating to maritime trafficking of radiological and nuclear material using small vessels, minor ports, and unchecked areas of coastline existing in the Eastern Indian Ocean Region today. By the Eastern Indian Ocean Region is meant the area starting from the tip of the Indian peninsula in the west to the Straits of Malacca in the east. It lays focus on the potential sources of nuclear or radiological material that may be trafficked here. It further undertakes a study of the terrorist groups active in the region as well as the multinational or national interdiction organizations that have been created to counter maritime threats. It also seeks to discern the various technologies for detecting materials of concern available in the area. Finally, it ascertains possible methods and technologies to improve the maritime security system in the region.


The present study was carried out to know the present status including general information, feeding, breeding, housing, milking etc. and costs and returns of small dairy farms, to compare the productive and reproductive performance of crossbred and indigenous cows and to make recommendation for development of small scales dairy farming. With this view, the empirical data were collected by using pretested questionnaire. The study was conducted at preselected 30 dairy farms in Chittagong suburban area, and four months-long survey was diminished on thirty small dairy owners. It appeared that 57% farm owners belong to business class and remaining 43% to different categories. Fifty three percent took dairying as a side-business whereas only 47% took it as a main business enterprise. Major percentage of farm owner education level was Higher Secondary (60%). The dry period, calving interval, services per conception and day's open of crossbred was 98.5±18.9, 419±11,3.1±0.82, 118±25.8 and indigenous was 140±10.4, 428±24.7,1.95±0.44, 137±7.78 respectively. The study showed that there were significant (P<0.01) differences within the dry period, services per conception, calving to first service, highest and lowest milk production and lactation period of crossbred and indigenous dairy cows. The study also showed non-significant differences within calving interval for crossbred and indigenous. In case of small dairy farming, the farms were facing a lot of problems such as scarcity of feeds and fodder, high price of concentrate and lack of technical knowledge. This type of dairy farming will be a potential sector for economic development of Bangladesh. International Journal of Natural Sciences (2015), 5(2) 59-65


Power has become a burning issue in modern VLSI design. In modern integrated circuits, the power consumed by clocking gradually takes a dominant part. Given a design, we can reduce its power consumption by replacing some flip-flops with fewer multi-bit flip-flops. However, this procedure may affect the performance of the original circuit. Hence, the flip-flop replacement without timing and placement capacity constraints violation becomes a quite complex problem. To deal with the difficulty efficiently, we have proposed several techniques. First, we perform a co-ordinate transformation to identify those flip-flops that can be merged and their legal regions. Besides, we show how to build a combination table to enumerate possible combinations of flip-flops provided by a library. Finally, we use a hierarchical way to merge flip-flops. Besides power reduction, the objective of minimizing the total wirelength is also considered. The time complexity of our algorithm is Θ(n1.12) less than the empirical complexity of Θ(n2). According to the experimental results, our algorithm significantly reduces clock power by 20-30% and the running time is very short. In the largest test case, which contains 1 700 000 flip-flops, our algorithm only takes about 5 min to replace flip-flops and the power reduction can achieve 21%.


Purpose
This purpose of this paper is to examine cultural orientations and intention of Ghanaian women to engage in entrepreneurship while assessing the role of perceived support system. The aim is to contribute to the literature in the sub-Saharan African context where women entrepreneurs are generally under-researched, despite their increasing significant roles in socio-economic development in the continent even in the face of huge cultural barriers.

Design/methodology/approach
The study uses a hierarchical regression analysis and Hay's PROCESS moderation technique to analyze survey data from 190 female students from Ghana, Africa.

Findings
The results indicate that uncertainty avoidance and power distance cultural orientations have significant positive and negative effects, respectively, on women's participation in formal entrepreneurship. However, collectivism and masculine cultural orientations do not have any effect on their intention to engage in formal entrepreneurial activity. The study further shows that perceived support system has a buffering effect on the destructive consequences of power distance culture on formal entrepreneurship intentions. On the contrary, perceived support does not moderate the relationship between uncertainty avoidance, collectivism and masculine cultural and formal entrepreneurial intention.

Practical implications
Given the fact that most African governments are making efforts to accelerate the growth and development of their economies via entrepreneurship and economic empowerment, this study's findings encourage stakeholders to implement measures to leverage on the positive dimensions of cultures to facilitate the development of formal entrepreneurship among Ghanaian women while mitigating the negative consequences of cultural practices. The findings further highlight the need to evaluate the current level of support given to women in Ghana. The study suggests that provision of sufficient level of support can make women more willing to challenge the status quo in power distance cultures and take personal initiatives, thereby leading to more formal entrepreneurial actions.

Originality/value
This study is a significant addition to women entrepreneurship literature because the role of culture in females' intention to participate in entrepreneurship is generally an under-researched area. Besides, our examination of national cultural variation at the individual level on formal entrepreneurship intention in a heterogeneous setting is novel. The study also highlights the buffering roles of perceived support on the destructive consequences of power distance cultural orientation on formal entrepreneurial development among women.


Background and objective: Widespread use of PCV7/PCV13 in children has resulted in a significant reduction of pneumococcal diseases in adults. Pneumococcal pneumonias due to PCV13 vaccine serotypes particularly in CAP without bacteremia are not known. In Spain, where PCV13 is mainly available in private market for healthy children (estimated uptake ≈70%), we assessed the burden of disease caused by PCV13 serotypes in immunocompetent subjects >18 years hospitalized with CAP in 3 Spanish hospitals (November 2011-May 2013).

Methods: In subjects hospitalized with CAP, microbiological confirmation was sought by the novel UAD (Pfizer's PCV13 serotype specific urinary antigen detection test), BinaxNow & conventional cultures. Serotyping of pneumococcal isolates was accomplished in a central laboratory using Quellung reaction.

Results: S. pneumoniae infection was microbiologically confirmed in 232 cases (30.7%) of 756 enrolled patients by any diagnostic test. Positivity rates for the different tests were: UAD: 63%; BinaxNow: 57.3%; blood cultures: 16.8%; pleural fluid culture: 2.5%; sputum: 9.4% and others: 0.8%. Table shows PCV13 vaccine type distribution in invasive1 and non-invasive2 pneumococcal CAP.

![Figure][1]

Conclusion: Almost 20% of hospitalized CAP in immunocompetent adults in Spain were caused by one of the serotypes included in PCV13.

 [1]: pending:yes


It has been proved that artificial intelligence leaned on self-checking is an efficient factor for increasing metrological reliability of measuring instruments. The possibility to create intelligent measuring instruments based upon redundancy of measurement information and informational redundancy of a measuring transducer is presented. Practical examples are provided.


Using the quasiclassical Green's function formalism, we study the influence of the odd-frequency spin-triplet superconductivity on the local density of states (LDOS) in a diffusive ferromagnet (DF) attached to a superconductor. Various possible symmetry classes in a superconductor are considered which are consistent with the Pauli's principle: even-frequency spin-singlet even-parity (ESE) state, even-frequency spin-triplet odd-parity (ETO) state, odd-frequency spin-triplet even-parity (OTE) state, and odd-frequency spin-singlet odd-parity (OSO) state. For each of these states, the pairing state in the DF is studied. Particular attention is paid to the study of spin-singlet s-wave and spin-triplet p-wave superconductors as the examples of ESE and ETO superconductors. For the spin-singlet case the magnitude of the OTE component of the pair amplitude is enhanced with the increase of the exchange field in the DF. When the OTE component is dominant at low energy, the resulting LDOS in the DF has a zero-energy peak (ZEP). On the other hand, in DF/spin-triplet p-wave superconductor junctions the LDOS has a ZEP in the absence of the exchange field, where only the OTE pairing state exists. With the increase of the exchange field, the ESE component of the pair amplitude induced in the DF is enhanced. Then, the resulting LDOS has a ZEP splitting. We demonstrate that the appearance of the dominant OTE component of the pair amplitude is the physical reason for the emergence of the ZEP of the LDOS.


This PhD thesis describes the experimental study of wurtzite III-nitride semiconductors grown on non-polar crystal orientations, namely (1120) a- and (1010) m-planes. Hindered by poor material quality, they were not as extensively investigated as the polar basal (0001) c-plane. Nevertheless, the renewed interest in this topic has been gaining momentum since 2000, thanks to the improvement in material quality. The motivation is to overcome the quantum-confined Stark effect (QCSE) in heterostructures grown on c-plane, which is induced by the intrinsic spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization field. QCSE weakens the performance of c-plane optoelectronic devices such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes and it can be avoided by growing these devices on non-polar planes. In addition, non-polar LEDs are also featured by the spontaneously polarized light emission and thus have a large potential for liquid crystal display backlighting application. This thesis includes two aspects: (1) Since previous study in our laboratory was lacking before this work, the first target was to establish the heteroepitaxial growth procedures for a- and m-plane GaN layers on r- and m-plane sapphire substrates, respectively, by hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE). Then, smooth planar templates have been obtained. Particularly, m-plane GaN has been demonstrated on m-plane sapphire. Further analysis revealed that actually three orientations (two semi-polar and one non-polar) can be grown on m-plane sapphire through the modification of sapphire surface chemistry and/or growth procedure. Nevertheless, the material quality of these non-polar templates is inferior to that of c-plane as they are characterized by the presence of high-density stacking faults and threading dislocations. To reduce the defect density, epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) technique has been applied. As a result, material quality close to that of planar c-plane was achieved in GaN layers overgrown on the mask areas. Overall, the experimental results revealed peculiar characteristics of non-polar orientation, induced by the intrinsic anisotropy of wurtzite structure parallel and perpendicular to the basal plane. It also lays the foundation for further improvement in material quality. (2) Based on these aforementioned results, the next stage was to investigate the heterostructures grown on those HVPE ELO templates. GaN/AlGaN single quantum wells (QWs) and AlN/GaN distributed Bragg reflectors (DBR) have been grown by NH3-source molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The experiments confirm that QWs are free from QCSE and their optical properties are comparable to those grown on planar c-plane templates. Furthermore, nitride-based microcavities (MCs) have been demonstrated on a-plane ELO templates. Their optical properties are encouraging and open the way for more sophisticated structure aimed at polariton physics. In conclusion, non-polar a- and m-plane GaN planar and ELO templates have been obtained through epitaxy on r- and m-plane sapphire substrates, respectively, by HVPE. Nanostructures such as QWs, DBRs, and MCs have been grown on non-polar HVPE GaN ELO templates by MBE.


This paper considers inference for both spatial lattice data with possibly irregularly shaped sampling region and non‐lattice data, by extending the recently proposed self‐normalization (SN) approach from stationary time series to the spatial setup. A nice feature of the SN method is that it avoids the choice of tuning parameters, which are usually required for other non‐parametric inference approaches. The extension is non‐trivial as spatial data has no natural one‐directional time ordering. The SN‐based inference is convenient to implement and is shown through simulation studies to provide more accurate coverage compared with the widely used subsampling approach. We also illustrate the idea of SN using a real data example.


Open surface water bodies play an important role in agricultural and industrial production, and are susceptible to climate change and human activities. Remote sensing data has been increasingly used to map open surface water bodies at local, regional, and global scales. In addition to image statistics-based supervised and unsupervised classifiers, spectral index- and threshold-based approaches have also been widely used. Many water indices have been proposed to identify surface water bodies; however, the differences in performances of these water indices as well as different sensors on water body mapping are not well documented. In this study, we reviewed and compared existing open surface water body mapping approaches based on six widely-used water indices, including the tasseled cap wetness index (TCW), normalized difference water index (NDWI), modified normalized difference water index (mNDWI), sum of near infrared and two shortwave infrared bands (Sum457), automated water extraction index (AWEI), land surface water index (LSWI), as well as three medium resolution sensors (Landsat 7 ETM+, Landsat 8 OLI, and Sentinel-2 MSI). A case region in the Poyang Lake Basin, China, was selected to examine the accuracies of the open surface water body maps from the 27 combinations of different algorithms and sensors. The results showed that generally all the algorithms had reasonably high accuracies with Kappa Coefficients ranging from 0.77 to 0.92. The NDWI-based algorithms performed slightly better than the algorithms based on other water indices in the study area, which could be related to the pure water body dominance in the region, while the sensitivities of water indices could differ for various water body conditions. The resultant maps from Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 data had higher overall accuracies than those from Landsat 7. Specifically, all three sensors had similar producer accuracies while Landsat 7 based results had a lower user accuracy. This study demonstrates the improved performance in Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 for open surface water body mapping efforts.


Contemporary argumentation theories highlight the importance of Others for contributing to and critiquing an individual's reasoning and/or argumentation. Reasoners and arguers are encouraged to interact with imagined constructs such as a community of model interlocutors or universal audience. These model interlocutors are theoretically meant to bring to mind reasons and counter-considerations that may not have been conceived of otherwise so as to improve the overall quality of an instance of reasoning or argumentation. Overlooked, however, is the impact of differing individual's imaginative abilities. This paper argues that more important than relying on an Other, real or imagined, reasoners and arguers would do just as well to improve their own creative abilities first. Consulting a real or imagined Other may help in some cases help, but such a strong reliance on Others comes with serious limitations.


The propagation of microwave is affected by rain and dust particles causing signal attenuation and de-polarization. Computations of these effects require knowledge of the propagation characteristics of microwave and millimeter wave energy in the climate conditions of the studied region. This paper presents effect of wind and humidity on wireless communication such as microwave links in the North West region of Libya (Al-Khoms). The experimental procedure is done on three selected antennae towers (Nagaza station, Al-Khoms center station, Al-Khoms gateway station) for determining the attenuation loss per unit length and crosspolarization discrimination (XPD) change. Dust particles are collected along the region of the study, to measure the particle size distribution (PSD), calculate the concentration, and chemically analyze the contents, then the dielectric constant can be calculated. The results show that humidity and dust, antenna height and the visibility affect both attenuation and phase shift; in which, a few considerations must be taken into account in the communication power budget. Keywords—Attenuation, scattering, transmission loss.


History generally accords the development of the single-period, discrete-time Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) to the works of Sharpe (1964), Lintner (1965a,b) and Mossin (1966). We explore the early work of another notable financial economist, Jack L. Treynor, who also deserves credit for the original Capital Asset Pricing Model because of his revolutionary manuscripts—"Market Value, Time, and Risk", Treynor (1961), and "Toward a Theory of Market Value of Risky Assets", Treynor (1962)—which were circulated during the 1960s in mimeographed draft form but have never been published in an academic or practitioner journal. Mr. Treynor's early work appears to have predated and anticipated Sharpe (1964), Lintner (1965a,b) and Mossin (1966). However, while financial economists initially credited Mr. Treynor for his innovation, the Treynor CAPM has not enjoyed a broad public reach. This, apparently, is the reason Mr. Treynor is not consistently recognized as one of the primary architects of the CAPM.


In this paper, we present an effective non-contact technique for the measurement of human hand motion for application to a human-machine interface. We propose a new method for detecting the motion of a subject's hand with respect to a given measurement electrode; this method involves the measurement of the current generated due to the difference in the capacitance between a subject's hand and the measurement electrode. An occurrence model for the electrostatic induction current generated due to a change in the electric capacitance between the electrode and human body has been proposed. This model effectively explains the behavior of the electrostatic induction current flowing through the measurement electrode. This method can be used to detect the direction and velocity of the subject's hand movement under perfect non-contact conditions.


BACKGROUND
Adverse discharge disposition, which is discharge to a long-term nursing home or skilled nursing facility is frequent and devastating in older patients after lower-extremity orthopaedic surgery. Predicting individual patient risk allows for preventive interventions to address modifiable risk factors and helps managing expectations. Despite a variety of risk prediction tools for perioperative morbidity in older patients, there is no tool available to predict successful recovery of a patient's ability to live independently in this highly vulnerable population.

QUESTIONS/PURPOSES
In this study, we asked: (1) What factors predict adverse discharge disposition in patients older than 60 years after lower-extremity surgery? (2) Can a prediction instrument incorporating these factors be applied to another patient population with reasonable accuracy? (3) How does the instrument compare with other predictions scores that account for frailty, comorbidities, or procedural risk alone?

METHODS
In this retrospective study at two competing New England university hospitals and Level 1 trauma centers with 673 and 1017 beds, respectively; 83% (19,961 of 24,095) of patients 60 years or older undergoing lower-extremity orthopaedic surgery were included. In all, 5% (1316 of 24,095) patients not living at home and 12% (2797 of 24,095) patients with missing data were excluded. All patients were living at home before surgery. The mean age was 72 ± 9 years, 60% (11,981 of 19,961) patients were female, 21% (4155 of 19,961) underwent fracture care, and 34% (6882 of 19,961) underwent elective joint replacements. Candidate predictors were tested in a multivariable logistic regression model for adverse discharge disposition in a development cohort of all 14,123 patients from the first hospital, and then included in a prediction instrument that was validated in all 5838 patients from the second hospital by calculating the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (ROC-AUC).Thirty-eight percent (5360 of 14,262) of patients in the development cohort and 37% (2184 of 5910) of patients in the validation cohort had adverse discharge disposition. Score performance in predicting adverse discharge disposition was then compared with prediction scores considering frailty (modified Frailty Index-5 or mFI-5), comorbidities (Charlson Comorbidity Index or CCI), and procedural risks (Procedural Severity Scores for Morbidity and Mortality or PSS).

RESULTS
After controlling for potential confounders like BMI, cardiac, renal and pulmonary disease, we found that the most prominent factors were age older than 90 years (10 points), hip or knee surgery (7 or 8 points), fracture management (6 points), dementia (5 points), unmarried status (3 points), federally provided insurance (2 points), and low estimated household income based on ZIP code (1 point). Higher score values indicate a higher risk of adverse discharge disposition. The score comprised 19 variables, including socioeconomic characteristics, surgical management, and comorbidities with a cutoff value of ≥ 23 points. Score performance yielded an ROC-AUC of 0.85 (95% confidence interval 0.84 to 0.85) in the development and 0.72 (95% CI 0.71 to 0.73) in the independent validation cohort, indicating excellent and good discriminative ability. Performance of the instrument in predicting adverse discharge in the validation cohort was superior to the mFI-5, CCI, and PSS (ROC-AUC 0.72 versus 0.58, 0.57, and 0.57, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS
The Adverse Discharge in Older Patients after Lower Extremity Surgery (ADELES) score predicts adverse discharge disposition after lower-extremity surgery, reflecting loss of the ability to live independently. Its discriminative ability is better than instruments that consider frailty, comorbidities, or procedural risk alone. The ADELES score identifies modifiable risk factors, including general anesthesia and prolonged preoperative hospitalization, and should be used to streamline patient and family expectation management and improve shared decision making. Future studies need to evaluate the score in community hospitals and in institutions with different rates of adverse discharge disposition and lower income. A non-commercial calculator can be accessed at www.adeles-score.org.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
Level III, diagnostic study.


Several countries require monitoring to be conducted near activities that have the potential to disturb or harm marine mammals in order to estimate the possible impacts and/or to trigger appropriate mitigations measures.
Monitoring typically involves the use of trained personnel to conduct visual observations. However, visual
observations are limited to animals at the surface and further by periods of darkness and inclement weather
conditions. Various technologies for improving the effectiveness of monitoring continue to be developed,
including passive and active acoustics and low-light and infrared (IR) imaging devices. The use of IR imaging
technology may allow the detection of marine mammals at night and improve the detection during all periods
through the use of automated detection algorithms. An advanced IR camera system capable of simultaneously
monitoring 360° around a vessel was tested during a two month seismic operation in the Alaskan Chukchi Sea.
This particular installation allowed monitoring of 270° ahead and to the sides of the vessel with a picture
refresh rate of 5 Hz. The IR pictures were displayed in real-time on two monitors and visual observers recorded video during marine mammal sightings for retrospective analyses. Approximately 180 whale blows were detect-able in the recorded IR imagery. Smaller whales (Dall's porpoise) were detectable at distances of several hundred meters, while blows from large baleen whales were seen at distances up to 7 km. The IR camera was also able to detect the majority of walrus that surfaced within 1 km of the vessel, with some detection out to a maximum distance of 1.5 km. Detection and tracking software recorded the swimming path of some Pacific walrus as the seismic vessel passed the animals. The IR camera system showed substantial promise for improving the effectiveness of detecting marine mammals at the surface, although improvements to auto-detection software are necessary.


International refugee law permeates a plethora of international, national and local arenas and is developed, interpreted and applied by a wide range of very different actors. In this diversity of contexts, how do we best study the role and place of this body of law? This article advocates for the application of ethnographic approaches in the study of international refugee law, where the positivist legal approach heavily dominates the field. It argues that ethnography's contribution to knowledge on international refugee law lies not only in its methods, but also in its perspectives on questions of power, knowledge, reflexivity and subjectivity. The article illustrates the value of the ethnographic approach through three vignettes focusing on (i) the concept of 'refugee'; (ii) refugee rights-claiming and rights-mobilization; and (iii) actors and processes in the creation and spread of international refugee law norms.


In this study, 72 one-day-old, male, Avian race, broiler chicks were used. The birds were divided into 6 equal groups. While the first group was kept as a control, groups 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 received for 45 d the feed containing 0.25% of sodium bentonite, 0.5% of sodium bentonite, 1 ppm of aflatoxin (AF) (approximately, 85% B1, 10% B2, 3% G1 and 2% G2), 0.25% of sodium bentonite with 1 ppm of AF, and 0.5% of sodium bentonite with 1 ppm of AF, respectively. At the end of the experiment, the animals were sacrificed, blood was collected and plasma was separated. Plasma triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), testosterone, and growth hormone (GH) levels were measured. A significant decrease was detected in plasma T3 and T4 levels in groups 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, and a significant increase in plasma testosterone level in groups 2, 4, 5 and 6, compared to the control group. FA and sodium bentonite, which were given alone, were found to be effective on T3, T4, and testosterone contents. In the case of their combination, there was no certain evidence that the adsorbent ameliorated the effects of AF. Therefore these parameters could not be used in in vivo studies of binding the FA with sodium bentonite in broiler chickens.


Recent demands by atmospheric scientists and policy makers for immediate, comprehensive, and effective responses to the threat of global climate change have focused political attention on policies and laws that affect the quality of the environment. In January, the Reagan White House blocked the issuance of policy guidance that would have directed federal agencies to consider global climate change in the preparation of environmental impact statements (EIS). The Bush administration now has an early opportunity to reverse this decision. Using detailed computer models of the Earth's climate, atmospheric scientists have produced startling scenarios of the future climate conditions that will results from increased atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases. These projections predict higher average temperatures, changes in patterns of precipitation, greater seasonal and annual variability in weather, and an increased frequency of such extreme events as droughts and floods. Planning for adaptation to a changing climate will be far more difficult than acting now to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. While current models depict global changes reasonably well, they cannot accurately predict local and regional changes in the temperature and precipitation patterns. Unresolved questions about future impacts only underscore the need to act now to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The sooner action is taken, the more effective it will be. If policy responses are delayed, the eventual magnitude of climate change will be greater, and more radical measures will be required. In 1969, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) mandated that every arm of the federal government integrate environmental values into all aspects of work, At the heart of NEPA lies a strict requirement that the preparation of a detailed EIS precede all major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment.


p16Ink4a is a tumor suppressor and a marker for cellular senescence. Previous studies have shown that p16Ink4a plays an important role in the response to DNA damage signals caused by telomere dysfunction. In this study, we crossed Wrn−/− and p16Ink4a−/− mice to knock out the p16Ink4a function in a Wrn null background. Growth curves showed that loss of p16Ink4a could rescue the growth barriers that are observed in Wrn−/− mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs). By challenging the MEFs with the global genotoxin doxorubicin, we showed that loss of p16Ink4a did not dramatically affect the global DNA damage response of Wrn−/− MEFs induced by doxorubicin. However, in response to telomere dysfunction initiated by the telomere damaging protein TRF2ΔBΔM, loss of p16Ink4a could partially overcome the DNA damage response by disabling p16Ink4a up-regulation and reducing the accumulation of γ-H2AX that is observed in Wrn−/− MEFs. Furthermore, in response to TRF2ΔBΔM overexpression, Wrn−/− MEFs senesced within several passages. In contrast, p16Ink4a−/− and p16Ink4a−/−Wrn−/− MEFs could continuously grow and lose expression of the exogenous TRF2ΔBΔM in their late passages. In summary, our data suggest that in the context of telomere dysfunction, loss of p16Ink4a function could prevent cells from senescence. These results shed light on the anti-aging strategy through regulation of p16Ink4a expression.