Importance
Medications to reduce risk of breast cancer are effective for women at increased risk but also cause adverse effects.

Objective
To update the 2013 US Preventive Services Task Force systematic review on medications to reduce risk of primary (first diagnosis) invasive breast cancer in women.

Data Sources
Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and Database of Systematic Reviews, EMBASE, and MEDLINE (January 1, 2013, to February 1, 2019); manual review of reference lists.

Study Selection
Discriminatory accuracy studies of breast cancer risk assessment methods; randomized clinical trials of tamoxifen, raloxifene, and aromatase inhibitors for primary breast cancer prevention; studies of medication adverse effects.

Data Extraction and Synthesis
Investigators abstracted data on methods, participant characteristics, eligibility criteria, outcome ascertainment, and follow-up. Results of individual trials were combined by using a profile likelihood random-effects model.

Main Outcomes and Measures
Probability of breast cancer in individuals (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC]); incidence of breast cancer, fractures, thromboembolic events, coronary heart disease events, stroke, endometrial cancer, and cataracts; and mortality.

Results
A total of 46 studies (82 articles [>5 million participants]) were included. Eighteen risk assessment methods in 25 studies reported low accuracy in predicting the probability of breast cancer in individuals (AUC, 0.55-0.65). In placebo-controlled trials, tamoxifen (risk ratio [RR], 0.69 [95% CI, 0.59-0.84]; 4 trials [n = 28 421]), raloxifene (RR, 0.44 [95% CI, 0.24-0.80]; 2 trials [n = 17 806]), and the aromatase inhibitors exemestane and anastrozole (RR, 0.45 [95% CI, 0.26-0.70]; 2 trials [n = 8424]) were associated with a lower incidence of invasive breast cancer. Risk for invasive breast cancer was higher for raloxifene than tamoxifen in 1 trial after long-term follow-up (RR, 1.24 [95% CI, 1.05-1.47]; n = 19 747). Raloxifene was associated with lower risk for vertebral fractures (RR, 0.61 [95% CI, 0.53-0.73]; 2 trials [n = 16 929]) and tamoxifen was associated with lower risk for nonvertebral fractures (RR, 0.66 [95% CI, 0.45-0.98]; 1 trial [n = 13 388]) compared with placebo. Tamoxifen and raloxifene were associated with increased thromboembolic events compared with placebo; tamoxifen was associated with more events than raloxifene. Tamoxifen was associated with higher risk of endometrial cancer and cataracts compared with placebo. Symptomatic effects (eg, vasomotor, musculoskeletal) varied by medication.

Conclusions and Relevance
Tamoxifen, raloxifene, and aromatase inhibitors were associated with lower risk of primary invasive breast cancer in women but also were associated with adverse effects that differed between medications. Risk stratification methods to identify patients with increased breast cancer risk demonstrated low accuracy.


Malignant melanoma is the deadliest of skin cancers. Melanoma frequently metastasizes to the brain, resulting in dismal survival. Nevertheless, mechanisms that govern early metastatic growth and the interactions of disseminated metastatic cells with the brain microenvironment are largely unknown. To study the hallmarks of brain metastatic niche formation, we established a transplantable model of spontaneous melanoma brain metastasis in immunocompetent mice and developed molecular tools for quantitative detection of brain micrometastases. Here we demonstrate that micrometastases are associated with instigation of astrogliosis, neuroinflammation, and hyperpermeability of the blood-brain barrier. Furthermore, we show a functional role for astrocytes in facilitating initial growth of melanoma cells. Our findings suggest that astrogliosis, physiologically instigated as a brain tissue damage response, is hijacked by tumor cells to support metastatic growth. Studying spontaneous melanoma brain metastasis in a clinically relevant setting is the key to developing therapeutic approaches that may prevent brain metastatic relapse. Cancer Res; 76(15); 4359-71. ©2016 AACR.


The aim of this work was to find a new stable laccase against inhibitors and study the decolorization ability of free and immobilized laccase on different classes of dyes. Spores from a halotolerant bacterium, Bacillus safensis sp. strain S31, isolated from soil samples from a chromite mine in Iran showed laccase activity with maximum activity at 30 °C and pH 5.0 using 2, 2-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) (ABTS) as the substrate. The enzyme retained about 60% of its initial activity in the presence of 10% (v v-1) methanol, ethanol, and acetone. In contrast to many other laccases, NaN3, at 0.1 and 1 mM concentrations, showed a slight inhibitory effect on the enzyme activity. Also, the spore laccase (8 U l-1) decolorized malachite green, toluidine blue, and reactive black 5 at acidic pH values; the highest decolorization percent was 75% against reactive black 5. It was observed that addition of ABTS as a redox mediator enhanced the decolorization activity. Furthermore, immobilized spore laccase encased in calcium alginate beads decolorized 95% of reactive black 5 in the absence of mediators. Overall, this isolated spore laccase might be a potent enzyme to decolorize dyes in polluted wastewaters, especially those containing metals, salts, solvents, and sodium azide.


Set in a jungle village in eastern Borneo during the 1880s, Almayer's Folly recreates the many conflicts - economic, religious, racial, cultural, sexual - of imperial Europe with the colonized East Indies through Joseph Conrad's story of Kaspar Almayer's personal tragedy: his loss of both his daughter of mixed race to her native lover and his dream of finding enough gold to return to Amsterdam in triumph. The introduction gives the history of the composition of Conrad's first book, which was started in London in the autumn of 1889 and completed four and a half years later; the manuscript went with him to the Congo, Australia, the Ukraine, Belgium, Switzerland and France on his travels as a seaman and on holiday. During this long gestation, some of the chapters were typed twice, and later Conrad's slightly foreign English was tidied several times by publishers. The novel has suffered seven layers of unauthorized intervention, as set out in the essay on the text and the apparatus. The notes explain Malay terms and historical references, and there are two regional maps. This is the text of Almayer's Folly, established through modern textual scholarship, as Conrad would have liked it to have appeared in 1895.


Education system in India is at a tipping point. A large number of institutions in higher education are churning out lakhs of students' every year with less number of them finding gainful employment. The scenario is same for engineering, pharmacy as well as management students'. The college culture is being impacted by internet and technology bringing in diversion and also new ways of learning methods. Presently, various avenues available for students' to study ranges from all-in-one study material and online courses to training institutes which are found to be more attractive than the regimented classroom teaching. A study is undertaken to find out the variables affecting the academic performance of students' in management courses in terms of Semester Grade Point Average (SGPA) scores. With the government plan to have better outcomes of the reimbursement scheme the study indirectly aims to find the variables that affect the academic performance to enable government to introduce better monitoring controls. The findings statistically show a strong and significant correlation of academic performance with gender and class attendance and are found to predict the performance outcome of the students'.


Background: There is evidence that adipocytokines play an important role in metabolism and in inflammation. Because human metabolism dramatically changes in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and chronic inflammation is the hallmark of the disease, we studied serum levels of leptin, adiponectin, resistin, and ghrelin in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) in comparison with healthy controls (HC). Methods: Leptin, adiponectin, resistin, and active ghrelin serum levels were measured in 100 IBD patients (46 UC and 54 CD) and in 60 matched HC using commercially available enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays. Leptin, adiponectin, resistin, and ghrelin levels were correlated with disease activity, type, localization, and treatment. Results: Mean serum leptin levels were 10.6 ± 2.0 ng/mL in UC patients, 12.5 ± 2.6 ng/mL in CD patients, and 15.0 ± 1.8 ng/mL in HC (P = .01). Mean serum adiponectin levels were 9514.8 ± 787.8 ng/mL in UC patients, 7651.1 ± 613 ng/mL in CD patients, and 7270.6 ± 559.4 ng/mL in HC (P = .05). Mean serum resistin levels were 21.2 ± 2.2 ng/mL in UC patients, 18.7 ± 1.6 ng/mL in CD patients and 11.8 ± 0.6 ng/mL in HC (P = .0002). Mean serum ghrelin levels were 48.2 ± 4.2 pg/mL in UC patients, 49.4 ± 4.6 pg/mL in CD patients and 14.8 ± 3.0 pg/mL in HC (P < .0001). Serum levels of these adipocytokines were not correlated with either C‐reactive protein levels or the clinical indices of activity. No association between serum adipocytokines levels and disease localization in both UC and CD patients was found. Only serum ghrelin was significantly higher in ileal compared with colonic CD (P = .04). Conclusions: Serum levels of adiponectin, resistin, and active ghrelin are increased whereas serum levels of leptin are decreased in patients with IBD. Further studies are needed to elucidate the role of adipocytokines in IBD.


In this paper, a constantly sampled current controller is proposed such that the controlled current can track the command within a specified error bound to guarantee the desired power quality. The authors further propose a simple two-value inner bound for current error comparison to determine the right time to add the zero-mode control to reduce both the switching frequency and the resulting current error. Moreover, an upper bound of the constant sampling period for the controller to guarantee the desired performance is derived and some design criteria are given for proper coordination among the design parameters. Finally, some simulation and experimental results are given to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed current controller.


Abstract Existing sequence-stratigraphic models for shoreline deposits commonly assume a constant process regime throughout the relative-sea-level (RSL) cycle over a wide range of timescales (third-order cycles as well as high-frequency, fourth- and fifth-order cycles), with the possible exception that tidal processes may be more important during transgressions. However, the dominant process affecting the coastal zone is a function of multiple interdependent factors and can change at any time during high- or low-frequency RSL cycles; indeed, changes are possible on timescales as short as 1,000 years. Thus, the relative intensity of wave and tidal processes may change gradually or abruptly on a regional scale because of changes in bathymetry or coastal morphology caused by rising or falling water levels, and/or changing shelf width. The specific nature of the response varies as a function of the physiographic and tectonic setting because the attenuation or amplification of wave and tidal action is strongly dependent on local and regional bathymetry and coastal morphology. Fluvial energy may also vary with sea-level change, as a result of climate change. Moreover, whereas most facies and sequence-stratigraphic reconstructions are based on river-, wave- or tide-dominated end-member environmental models, the majority of real-world environments are of mixed-energy character where these processes coexist in subequal proportions. In such mixed-energy coastal environments, changes in the relative intensity of the depositional processes on a local scale can also cause stratigraphic variations in the nature of the deposits as the environments migrate laterally. Reconstructions of regional or local process changes are complicated by the fact that changes in the grain size delivered to the coast, as a result of systematic variations in fluvial accommodation and the degree of bypass, may cause product changes without any change in the processes. Fine and very fine sand, such as is dominantly delivered to the transgressive and highstand coastlines favors the preservation of wave-generated hummocky and swaly cross stratification, whereas medium and coarse sand, as is delivered to the falling stage and early lowstand coastlines, permits the development of current-generated (including tide-driven) cross stratification. Future sequence-stratigraphic models need to incorporate and be more sensitive to such process and product changes.


BACKGROUND
Patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer have a poor prognosis. Sacituzumab govitecan is an antibody-drug conjugate composed of an antibody targeting the human trophoblast cell-surface antigen 2 (Trop-2), which is expressed in the majority of breast cancers, coupled to SN-38 (topoisomerase I inhibitor) through a proprietary hydrolyzable linker.

METHODS
In this randomized, phase 3 trial, we evaluated sacituzumab govitecan as compared with single-agent chemotherapy of the physician's choice (eribulin, vinorelbine, capecitabine, or gemcitabine) in patients with relapsed or refractory metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. The primary end point was progression-free survival (as determined by blinded independent central review) among patients without brain metastases.

RESULTS
A total of 468 patients without brain metastases were randomly assigned to receive sacituzumab govitecan (235 patients) or chemotherapy (233 patients). The median age was 54 years; all the patients had previous use of taxanes. The median progression-free survival was 5.6 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.3 to 6.3; 166 events) with sacituzumab govitecan and 1.7 months (95% CI, 1.5 to 2.6; 150 events) with chemotherapy (hazard ratio for disease progression or death, 0.41; 95% CI, 0.32 to 0.52; P<0.001). The median overall survival was 12.1 months (95% CI, 10.7 to 14.0) with sacituzumab govitecan and 6.7 months (95% CI, 5.8 to 7.7) with chemotherapy (hazard ratio for death, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.38 to 0.59; P<0.001). The percentage of patients with an objective response was 35% with sacituzumab govitecan and 5% with chemotherapy. The incidences of key treatment-related adverse events of grade 3 or higher were neutropenia (51% with sacituzumab govitecan and 33% with chemotherapy), leukopenia (10% and 5%), diarrhea (10% and <1%), anemia (8% and 5%), and febrile neutropenia (6% and 2%). There were three deaths owing to adverse events in each group; no deaths were considered to be related to sacituzumab govitecan treatment.

CONCLUSIONS
Progression-free and overall survival were significantly longer with sacituzumab govitecan than with single-agent chemotherapy among patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. Myelosuppression and diarrhea were more frequent with sacituzumab govitecan. (Funded by Immunomedics; ASCENT ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02574455; EudraCT number, 2017-003019-21.).


In his preface to Samuel and Kings (the Prologus Galeatus), Jerome sets forth a theory of the Old Testament canon that allows for no room between the canonical books and the apocrypha. However, Jerome elsewhere maintained a more neutral or even positive view of some of the non-canonical books, even accepting their use within the ecclesiastical liturgy. Jerome's seemingly inconsistent attitude toward some books he classifies as "apocrypha" has led scholars to posit a development in Jerome's canonical theory, such that his earlier position was accepting of books that he later excluded, and to suppose that Jerome's use of the word "apocrypha" in the Prologus Galeatus relied on a neutral definition of the term. This paper examines the evidence for these claims and finds them wanting. While Jerome consistently regarded the books labeled "apocrypha" in the Prologus Galeatus as outside the canon, he chose to propagate an especially harsh judgment against these books especially in this preface. The confusion arising from Jerome's comments may be explained as a consequence of a multi-faceted plan to realign the church's Old Testament with the Hebrew Bible, a plan that Jerome articulates only partially on any given occasion.


PASS, which stands for Peer Assisted Study Sessions, is a long running and internationally renowned form of peer learning that involves trained higher year students (PASS leaders) working in pairs to facilitate regular study groups with students in the year below. Not only does it aim to widen participation by providing a support mechanism aimed at helping students stay in Higher Education but the use of PASS has been shown to enhance academic performance and promote the development of skills and attributes to strengthen employability. This is particularly the case for PASS leaders who are often described as the 'real winners' in the process. However, research in this area is limited. With this in mind, this paper sets out to describe the particular benefits of PASS for peer leaders and, in so doing, draws on some peer mentoring research, much of which has been conducted in an American and Australian context. As such, the paper should be of particular interest to those wishing to determine whether the various claims can be generalised to the PASS process, as it currently exists within the UK.


We investigated patterns of variation in alkamides and cichoric acid accumulation in the roots and aboveground parts of Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench. These phytochemicals were extracted from fresh plant parts with 60% ethanol and quantified by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. Concentrations of alkamides and cichoric acid were measured on a dry-weight basis (mg·g(-1)). For total alkamides, concentrations among individual plants varied from 5.02 to 27.67 (mean = 14.4%) in roots, from 0.62 to 3.42 (mean = 1.54) in nearly matured seed heads (NMSH), and 0.22 to 5.25 (mean = 0.77) in young tops (about ½ flower heads, ¼ leaves, and ¼ stems). For cichoric acid, concentrations among individual plants varied from 2.65 to 37.52 (mean = 8.95), from 2.03 to 31.58 (mean = 10.9), and from 4.79 to 38.55 (mean = 18.88) in the roots, the NMSH, and the tops, respectively. Dodeca-2E, 4E, 8Z, 10E-tetraenoic acid isobutylamide and dodeca-2E, 4E, 8Z, 10Z-tetraenoic acid isobutylamide (alkamides 8/9) accounted for only 9.4% of the total alkamides in roots, but comprised 87.9% in the NMSH, and 76.6% in the young tops. Correlations of concentrations of alkamides or cichoric acid between those of roots and those of the NMSH were not statistically significant, and either within the roots, the NMSH, and the young tops. However, a significant negative correlation was observed between the concentration of cichoric acid in the roots and in young tops, and a significant positive correlation was observed between total alkamide concentration in the roots and cichoric acid concentration in the young tops. These results may be useful in the genetic improvement of E. purpurea for medicinal use.


Two isoforms of DNA topoisomerase II, alpha and beta, coded by separate genes, are expressed in actively cycling vertebrate cells. Some previous studies have suggested that only topoisomerase II alpha remains associated with chromosomes at mitosis. Here, the distributions of topoisomerase II alpha and beta in mitosis were studied by subcellular fractionation and by immunolocalization. Both isoforms of topoisomerase II were found to remain associated with mitotic chromatin. Topoisomerase II alpha was distributed along chromosome arms throughout mitosis and was highly concentrated at centromeres until mid-anaphase, particularly in some cell types. Topoisomerase II beta showed weak concentration at centromeres in early mitosis in some cell types and was distributed along chromosome arms at every stage of mitosis through telophase. These studies suggest that in most cells both the major topoisomerase II isoforms may play roles in chromatin remodeling during M phase.


This paper demonstrates a high performance silicon nanowire MOSFET built on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform. Stress-limiting oxidation technique was exploited for dual nanowire channel formation. To further improve the performance of the device, TaN metal gate is used instead of the conventional polysilicon gate. The thin silicon bridge between the two nanowires provides a small boost in the drive current, without degrading the short channel performance. The novel structures are able to achieve excellent electrical performances, high drive current of 927 muA/mum for p-channel and 554 muA/mum for n-channel, near ideal subthreshold slope (SS), and low drain-induced barrier lowering (DIBL).


A global switching on-the-fly trajectory surface hopping dynamics simulation at the 3SA-CASSCF(12,11)/6-31G* quantum level has been employed to probe the photo-induced Wolff rearrangement (WR) reaction of 5-diazo Meldrum's acid (DMA) within three low-lying electronic excited states. The present simulation predicted that the branching ratios for relaxing back to the ground state, isomerizing to diazirine, and reaction to ketene I via carbene I are 69% ± 0.1, 3% ± 0.4, and 28% ± 0.1, which are in excellent agreement with those obtained by the femtosecond spectroscopy experiment, 67%, 3% and 30%, respectively. In particular, the present simulation revealed that the major WR reaction to ketene I pathway is stepwise via the excited-state to carbene I (17.8% ± 0.2) and via the ground-state to carbene I (8.7% ± 0.2), and the minor pathway is concerted synchronous (1.5% ± 0.6). The photo-induced WR reaction of DMA has been quantitatively interpreted in terms of the distribution of extended seam surfaces as a function of CN dissociation bonds for two important conical intersections within three low-lying electronic excited states. Ultrafast dynamic time constants have been estimated to be about 500 fs ± 120 fs and 180 fs ± 80 fs for the stepwise and the concerted WR reaction to ketene I which are also in good agreement with those determined by the experiment. Therefore, the photo-induced excited-state WR reaction mechanism has been quantitatively revealed by the present real-time dynamics simulation.


Abstract There are over 350 million chronic carriers of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in the world, of whom about a third eventually develop severe HBV-related complications. HBV contributes to liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma development. Remarkable progress has been made in selective inhibition of HBV replication by nucleoside analogs. However, how to generate protective antibody of HBsAb in HBV-infected patients after HBV-DNA becomes negative still remains a challenge for scientists. In this study, we show that OmpC-HBsAg 'a' epitope chimeric protein vaccine can break HBV tolerance and induce protective immunity in HBV transgenic mice based on mimicking T cell-independent antigen to bypass T cells from the adaptive immune system. The antibodies induced by the vaccine have the ability to prevent HBV virion infection of human hepatocytes.


This report reviews recent developments in ethylbenzene (EB) manufacturing technologies and studies in detail the suggested process; Production of Ethylbenzene via Side Alkylation of Toluene by Methanol. The desired amount of ethylbenzene as the product is 303 tonne/day, which finally reduced to 30.21 tonne/day .For this production rate, a 322 tonne/day feed rate containing toluene and methanol was calculated to reach to 99.2% of purity. Chapters 1 through 3 provide an introduction to ethylbenzene and different feasible process for producing of this chemical. A detailed consideration of the process of producing ethylbenzene by toluene and methanol is presented in chapter 4. The use of computer software in process design as well as simulation and calculation parts are described in chapter 5 followed by a discussion on human health, environmental and safety aspects of the main products in chapter 6. The various costs involved in industrial processes, cost estimation, cost accounting and other subjects dealing with economics are covered both qualitatively and quantitatively in chapter 7 and finally, a discussion and conclusion on report writing in chapter 9.


Background Malaria control efforts have a significant impact on the epidemiology and parasite population dynamics. In countries aiming for malaria elimination, malaria transmission may be restricted to limited transmission hot spots, where parasite populations may be isolated from each other and experience different selection forces. Here we aim to examine the Plasmodium vivax population divergence in geographically isolated transmission zones in Thailand. Methodology We employed the P. vivax merozoite surface protein 3β (PvMSP3β) as a molecular marker for characterizing P. vivax populations based on the extensive diversity of this gene in Southeast Asian parasite populations. To examine two parasite populations with different transmission levels in Thailand, we obtained 45 P. vivax isolates from Tak Province, northwestern Thailand, where the annual parasite incidence (API) was more than 2%, and 28 isolates from Yala and Narathiwat Provinces, southern Thailand, where the API was less than 0.02%. We sequenced the PvMSP3β gene and examined its genetic diversity and molecular evolution between the parasite populations. Principal Findings Of 58 isolates containing single PvMSP3β alleles, 31 sequence types were identified. The overall haplotype diversity was 0.77±0.06 and nucleotide diversity 0.0877±0.0054. The northwestern vivax malaria population exhibited extensive haplotype diversity (HD) of PvMSP3β (HD = 1.0). In contrast, the southern parasite population displayed a single PvMSP3β allele (HD = 0), suggesting a clonal population expansion. This result revealed that the extent of allelic diversity in P. vivax populations in Thailand varies among endemic areas. Conclusion Malaria parasite populations in a given region may vary significantly in genetic diversity, which may be the result of control and influenced by the magnitude of malaria transmission intensity. This is an issue that should be taken into account for the implementation of P. vivax control measures such as drug policy and vaccine development.


Oospores of Phytophthora infestans produced in vitro and in planta, from a cross between US-17 and US-8 genotypes, were exposed to a variety of environments and their survival was assessed. Additionally, the pathogenic characteristics of some resultant progeny isolates were assessed. Viability of oospores as measured by plasmolysis declined slightly over a period of 18 months whether they were stored in water at 4°C, in soil at 18°C, or in soil under natural field conditions. In comparison, viability as measured by germination was lower overall but appeared to increase after storage in soil. Oospores produced in planta were buried in the field in the fall of 1998, and were capable of infecting both tomato and potato leaflets when recovered in May 1999. Single oospore progeny (n = 53) from the in vitro cross were analyzed individually for genetic and pathogenicity characteristics. All 53 progeny tested for restriction fragment length polymorphisms with probe RG57 were hybrids. All but one progeny produced sporulating lesions on detached potato or tomato leaflets in growth chamber tests, but most lesions were smaller and developed more slowly than those produced by either parental isolate. In a further test of pathogenicity, under field conditions, none of a subset of 10 A2 progeny was capable of initiating a detectable epidemic in small plots of either potatoes or tomatoes.


The relationship between a bank's capitalization and liquidity position has important implications for regulatory policies. This is because banks as financial markets' outlet are regarded as one of the important chains in the economy in performing the resource distribution function which exposes it to liquidity risk arising from different terms of assets and liabilities maturity. This study sought to establish the effect of bank capitalization on the liquidity of Commercial banks in Kenya using the annual data of 42 banks for the period 2010 to 2014. The results of panel data regression reveal that bank size, capital asset ratio and the asset quality are positively related to bank liquidity and are all significantly related to bank liquidity. The implication is that better capitalized banks tend to create more liquidity, which supports the 'financial fragility-crowding out' hypothesis. This finding has important policy implications for emerging countries like Kenya as it suggests that bank capital requirements, that is, recapitalization policy, implemented to support financial stability, may enhance the level of liquidity. The financial regulatory body needs to provide appropriate effective measures to adequately enhance transparent accountability in the capitalization process. The study also recommends that bank capitalization should be encouraged in all commercial banks and other financial institutions so that performance can be enhanced. Institutions should endeavor to retain earnings to boost up capital rather than paying exorbitant bonuses. Well-capitalized Institutions have lower financial risk and thus are more likely to survive financial crisis thus, a well-capitalized banking system will ensure financial stability and make the industry more resilient against external shocks and risk.


ABSTRACT This article discusses the implementation of an ePortfolio-based learning environment with Bachelor of Education students. The intention was for the platform to be an agency for the development of reflection. The environment scaffolded reflection through (1) exemplars of good practice, (2) the opportunity for discussions and (3) activities to support the development of reflection. There were issues within the research around the introduction of the platform at the particular stage of the students' degrees but the environment was successful in the provision of a teaching and learning platform. The findings provided design principles for a model to guide the development of similar learning environments including (1) the need for the ePortfolio platform to be embedded across the degree programme with (2) regular tasks for the students to complete that (3) have a clear purpose that the students are aware of and (4) utilise interaction patterns that mimic the structures of social media.


The Intellectual Property High Court of Tokyo has ruled in its first decision ever on indirect patent infringement. The alleged infringement of a so-called software patent was of high interest to the public due to the involvement of the well-known Japanese word-processing software Ichitaro and the graphic software Hanako . The Intellectual Property High Court finally ruled that though an indirect infringement of the product claims of the software patent had taken place, this software patent could not be enforced due to the lack of an inventive step. An indirect infringement of the process claim has been completely denied.


During the last decade violence against women and girls also referred to as "violence against women" has gained international recognition as a grave social and human rights concern affecting virtually all societies. Epidemiological research has demonstrated that violence against women (VAW) is a major cause of ill health among women and girls. The impact of VAW can be seen directly through death and disability due to injuries as well as indirectly through increased vulnerability to a host of physical and mental health problems. Violence and the fear of violence severely limit womens contribution to social and economic development thereby hindering the achievement of important national and international development goals such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger and improving maternal and child health. (excerpt)


We present Cassini Langmuir probe measurements of the highest electron number densities ever reported from the ionosphere of Titan. The measured density reached 4310 cm−3 during the T85 Titan flyby. This is at least 500 cm−3 higher than ever observed before and at least 50% above the average density for similar solar zenith angles. The peak of the ionospheric density is not reached on this flyby, making the maximum measured density a lower limit. During this flyby, we also report that an impacting coronal mass ejection (CME) leaves Titan in the magnetosheath of Saturn, where it is exposed to shocked solar wind plasma for at least 2 h 45 min. We suggest that the solar wind plasma in the magnetosheath during the CME conditions significantly modifies Titan's ionosphere by an addition of particle impact ionization by precipitating protons.


Rosamond Rhodes contends, by reference to seven examples, that medical ethics is distinctly different from non-medical ethics. Each of those examples, on proper examination, illustrates precisely the opposite contention. It is clear not only that medical ethics relies on the same principles as non-medical (and indeed non-professional) ethics, but that it should so rely. A distinctively medical ethics would be dangerous: it would divorce ethical medical decision-making from the patients whom medicine exists to serve.


Nowadays, big data systems (e.g., Hadoop and Spark) are being widely adopted by many domains for offering effective data solutions, such as manufacturing, healthcare, education, and media. A common problem about big data systems is called anomaly, e.g., a status deviated from normal execution, which decreases the performance of computation or kills running programs. It is becoming a necessity to detect anomalies and analyze their causes. An effective and economical approach is to analyze system logs. Big data systems produce numerous unstructured logs that contain buried valuable information. However manually detecting anomalies from system logs is a tedious and daunting task. This dissertation proposes four approaches that can accurately and automatically analyze anomalies from big data system logs without extra monitoring overhead. Moreover, to detect abnormal tasks in Spark logs and analyze root causes, we design a utility to conduct fault injection and collect logs from multiple compute nodes. (1) Our first method is a statistical-based approach that can locate those abnormal tasks and calculate the weights of factors for analyzing the root causes. In the experiment, four potential root causes are considered, i.e., CPU, memory, network, and disk I/O. The experimental results show that the proposed approach is accurate in detecting abnormal tasks as well as finding the root causes. (2) To give a more reasonable probability result and avoid ad-hoc factor weights calculating, we propose a neural network approach to analyze root causes of abnormal tasks. We leverage General Regression Neural Network (GRNN) to identify root causes for abnormal tasks. The likelihood of reported root causes is presented to users according to the weighted factors by GRNN. (3) To further improve anomaly detection by avoiding feature extraction, we propose a novel approach by leveraging Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). Our proposed model can automatically learn event relationships in system logs and detect anomaly with high accuracy. Our deep neural network consists of logkey2vec embeddings, iii three 1D convolutional layers, a dropout layer, and max pooling. According to our experiment, our CNN-based approach has better accuracy compared to other approaches using Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) on detecting anomaly in Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) logs. (4) To analyze system logs more accurately, we extend our CNN-based approach with two attention schemes to detect anomalies in system logs. The proposed two attention schemes focus on different features from CNN's output. We evaluate our approaches with several benchmarks, and the attention-based CNN model shows the best performance among all state-of-the-art methods.


This project examines new dialogues between glaze, the (ceramic) body and form (shape).
The project involves exploring how altering the formulation of a ceramic body can dramatically alter the visual (and aesthetic) appearance of the glazed surface.
Under high temperature firing conditions in particular, altering the composition of clay bodies, through additions of both inert and fluxing aggregates has been found to massively change the performance (fluidity, colour and texture) of the fired glazed surface. Testing procedures involve systematically adding varying amounts of material to differing clay bodies, firing them at different temperatures and under differing kiln atmospheres.

The research project also explores how the visual and textural properties of glaze can be effected and manipulated by both subtle and dramatic changes to the underlying form.
At high temperatures, ceramic glazes become in effect a fluid glass (supercooled). Glazes in a molten, fluid state migrate down vertical ceramic surfaces according to the composition of the glaze and increases in temperature. My work explores how subtle manipulation of the clay surface, can alter and direct glaze flow. Where glaze gathers in thicker flows, colour becomes more intense and otherwise unseen interesting effects develop, due to deeper accumulations of ceramic oxides and pigments.

Individually or in combination, through altering the way ceramic glazes melt, flow and accumulate, these two processes can dramatically enhance the visual appearance and drama of glazed ceramics.


Mesozoic and Precambrian rocks are exposed in the Danakil Alps of coastal Eritrea, but the Danakil Depression between the Alps and the Ethiopian plateau is covered by Tertiary-Quaternary rocks. The physiography, structural geology, regional stratigraphy and evaporite lithofacies distribution of this area all suggest that it is underlain by an asymmetrically subsided block of old sialic crust. The western edge of this block has subsided deeply along the Ethiopian rift and is covered, in the Danakil Depression, by an evaporite-basalt veneer, but its eastern edge has been uplifted as the Danakil Alps. These are bounded on the east by a rift escarpment facing the Red Sea. Although geologic data here is sparse compared to the Danakil region, certain features suggest that a similar asymmetrically subsided block of older sialic rocks, with an evaporite-basalt veneer, may also lie beneath much of the Red Sea. This tectonic evolution apparently commenced in Miocene time with rifting near the centre of an earlier Mesozoic-Paleogene sedimentary basin. Uplift along this central rift caused tensional failure along a secondarily induced rift to the west, and east-side-down subsidence along this structure formed the asymmetrically subsided block. There were apparently two successive cycles of this tectonic activity. The earlier, of Miocene age, formed the easterly (Red Sea) block with a thicker veneer of older evaporitebasalt, and the later, of Plio-Pleistocene age formed the westerly (Danakil) block with a thinner veneer of younger evaporite-basalt. The separation of Arabia from Ethiopia across the southern Red Sea would thus be relatively minor, presumably represented by the width of the Red Sea's axial trough plus a few kilometres across each of the Danakil Alp and Ethiopian rifts. Similar tectonic developments may accompany initial rifting and separation in the development of ocean basins by seafloor spreading, and might explain why oceans like the Atlantic, that have apparently developed in this manner, are fringed by shallow continental shelves with thick evaporite sequences and steep walled submarine canyons.


Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) impact vocational, educational, and psychosocial aspects of a patient's life and may cause patients to miss work or school or underperform. This study describes loss of productivity in Hispanics with IBD in the workplace and educational settings, along with the patient's perception.

 Patients with IBD attending a tertiary care clinic were given a self-administered survey related to loss of productivity in employment and education. The questionnaire acquired qualitative and quantitative data about the patients' past and present work and educational settings. Productivity was determined by the number of absences or early leaves from school or work due to disease manifestations. The patient's perception regarding psychological aspects of their condition was assessed. Descriptive statistics were used for sociodemographic data, perceptions regarding their condition, and clinical history as captured by the questionnaire. This study is approved by the MSC IRB.

 100 patients (M/F: 50/50, CD/UC: 72/28, age range: 18–61, mean age: 29.78 ± 9.81) participated. 45 participants were working, 16 were studying, and 25 were working and studying. 89% of those working had to leave early or miss work due to disease manifestations and, among those, 51% had more than two absences in a given month. During their school years, 100% had absences or had to leave class early because of the disease. 61% said that their condition has a negative effect in their daily lives. Furthermore, 61% perceived their disease affects moderately to severely their daily life. However, 61% expressed that their disease has minimal or no effect on their self-esteem, 75% denoted that their disease does not impact their familial relationships and 74% indicated that they manage their disease with a positive mindset. There was no significant association between sex (p=0.71) or diagnosis (p=0.31) and perception of disease severity.

 Work and study absences due to IBD manifestations were frequently reported in the study, translating into decreased productivity. Perception of disease severity was independent of diagnosis and sex. A majority perceived that IBD affected daily life moderately to severely. Strategies to improve work and study conditions may result in improved productivity.


Introduction: COVID-19 could be a human beta corona virus that have
 potential source of severe widespread respiratory and asymptomatic multiple
 pathophysiological conditions and is belonging to the SARS and MERS β-corona
 viruses linage that have inflated mortality rates and acute potential of pandemic.
 The viral envelope surface spike glycoprotein (S) binding with host cell receptor
 angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and conciliate fuse the virus particle
 inside the host cell membranes, promising spike protein substantially important
 to endocytosis and host species an involuntary orienting response.
Methods: Within the present in-silico study, two plant bioactive compounds
 namely ALS-1 and ALS-2 (from Alangium salvifolium) were analyzed for his or
 her inhibitory role on fusion peptide region or S2 HR-1 domain and efficiently
 block virus entry into host cell by applying the molecular simulation, docking
 studies. Other parameters viz. determination of molecular interaction-based
 binding affinity values, protein-ligand interactions, Lipinski rule of 5, functional
 properties and biological activities for the above compounds were also calculated
 by employing the acceptable bioinformatics tools.
Results: The results of docking analysis clearly showed that ALS-1 has highest
 binding affinity with trimeric Spike glycoprotein (-11.6 kcal/mole) and ALS-2 (-10.8
 kcal/mole). Based on protein interaction analysis both phytoderivatives bind
 HR-1 (fusion peptide) domain. Other parametric results showed good absorption
 activity and not violated Lipinski score of drug-likeness.
Conclusion: Therefore studied plant derivatives may have the potential to play
 a big role as 2019 n-CoV fusion peptide inhibitor, revealing influential inhibitory
 activity against S-participated endocytosis and 2019 n-CoV viral infection,
 suggesting further optimizations (3-DQASR) and pharmaceutical development of
 both derivatives, respectively, to stop and treat novel COVID-19 infection.


INTRODUCTION N200 and P300 event-related evoked potentials provide sensitive measurements of sensory and cognitive function and have been used to study information processing in patients with schizophrenia and their unaffected first-degree relatives. Reduced amplitude and increased latency of N200 and P300 potentials have been consistently reported in schizophrenia. Thus, event-related evoked potentials abnormalities are promising possible biological markers for genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia. OBJECTIVE To assess the association of changes in latency, amplitude and topographic distribution of potentials N200 and P300 of patients with paranoid schizophrenia and their healthy first-degree relatives, in families with schizophrenia multiplex. METHODOLOGY We measured latency and amplitude of the N200 and P300 component of evoked potentials using an auditory odd-ball paradigm in 25 schizophrenic patients (probands) from 60 families multiply affected with paranoid schizophrenia, 23 of their non-schizophrenic first-degree relatives and 25 unrelated healthy controls, through a study of family association. RESULTS Schizophrenic patients and their relatives showed significant latency prolongation and amplitude reduction of the N200 and P300 waves compared to controls. Left-temporal as compared to right-temporal N200 and P300 were significantly smaller in schizophrenic patients and their non-schizophrenic first-degree relatives than in controls. Our results suggest that event-related evoked potentials abnormalities may serve as markers of genetic vulnerability in schizophrenia. CONCLUSIONS Confirming results of other researchers, this present study suggests that latency prolongation and amplitude reduction of the N200 and P300 waves and an altered topography at temporal sites may be a trait "marker" of paranoid schizophrenia.


Solid epithelial tumours are complex structures in which the associated stroma supports cancer cells (Quail and Joyce, 2013). During metastatic progression, cancer cells disseminate from their tissue of origin and recapitulate the tumour structure at distant organs, including the stromal compartment. Metastasis initiating cells (MICs) are functionally discriminated among the bulk of cancer cells for their high ability to establish metastasis (Malanchi et al., 2012, Baccelli et al., 2013). Additionally, efficient metastasis requires the expression of specific molecules within the local microenvironment (Oskarsson et al., 2014). Thus, a favourable microenvironment or niche is a crucial early step in metastatic progression. However what features of MICs mediate metastatic niche activation is poorly characterised. One strategy adopted by metastatic cells to disseminate from primary tumours is the activation of the developmental programme epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). However, EMT is a reversible programme that needs to be inhibited at the target site for tumour cells to re-acquire epithelial characteristics compatible with metastatic outgrowth (Nieto, 2013). To successfully metastasise cancer cells need to retain self-renewal and growth properties through epithelial plasticity. This implies that during metastasis 'stemness' should not be strictly coupled to EMT as previously suggested (Mani et al., 2008). To date, both the potential advantage of disseminated cancer cells mesenchymal status and the source of their epithelial plasticity at the metastatic site remain unknown. In this thesis we use metastatic breast cancer models to elucidate the enhanced niche-induction ability of mesenchymal MICs, its relationship to EMT and the source of its epithelial modulation during metastatic colonisation. Importantly, we identify THBS2 as a novel effector linked to the EMT status of cancer cells that enhances stromal niche activation. Subsequently, the newly activated stroma triggers cancer cell BMP-dependent re-epithelialisation promoting metastatic outgrowth. Thereby, we describe a temporally controlled metastatic colonisation where the EMT status of cancer cells promotes its own inhibition via a cancer cell-stromal crosstalk that initially enhances metastatic niche formation, and ultimately favours a cancer cell proliferative state compatible with metastatic outgrowth.


In this paper I study how labor market institutions at the time of a trade reform determine the post-reform dynamics of unemployment. I first document that for a large group of developing countries (1) unemployment increases on average following a trade reform, (2) there are significant cross-country differences in unemployment response, and (3) cross-country variation in the labor market institutions in place at the time of the reform can account for the observed unemployment changes. I interpret this evidence through the lens of a model of international trade, featuring heterogeneous firms, endogenous industry dynamics, search and matching frictions in the labor market and duality between formal and informal employment. I estimate the model to match the pre-liberalization firm dynamics in Colombia and Mexico, two countries that differed by the labor regulations in place at the time of trade liberalization, and I characterize numerically the full transition path towards the new steady state. I show that the dynamic response of unemployment to a reduction in trade costs is non-linear across different combinations of labor market institutions in place at the time of the reform. Consistent with the cross-country evidence, the response is stronger and more persistent when the firing costs are lower and the statutory minimum wage and unemployment benefits are larger. On average, these three institutions together account for up to 58 percent of the increase in unemployment in the case of Mexico, and up to 32 percent in the case of Colombia.


In the theory of management and practice of contemporary enterprises there is a need for socially responsible behavior. A great impact on the rise of social-economic consciousness of enterprises was made by a bulk of problems caused by negative consequences of their activities, which gave rise to boycott of consumers and other stakeholders. This resulted in the decrease of enterprise credibility, ruin of their reputation, built in years, and failure in competitiveness. An enterprise management team has realized that irresponsible behavior towards the environment could have a "boomerang effect". On the other hand, responsible behavior of enterprises towards stakeholders, society, and environment could contribute to the achievement of competitive advantage. For example, by ensuring good working conditions for employees, by the instigation of non-discrimination, by respecting human rights, and by offering a possibility of advancement, enterprises become attractive for new employees, and attract the most talented people. By insuring transparency towards shareholders, and respect of their rights, by continuous reporting, and risk management, enterprises become attractive for new investments. By offering quality, healthy, and safe products, and by living up to their promises about after-sale services, enterprises become attractive for consumers. Talented employees, substantial capital, and safe market are the key conditions for achieving enterprise competitive advantage. This way, responsibility towards stakeholders, who own resources as a source for value creating, has a direct impact on the competitive advantage of enterprises. Besides direct impact, responsible behavior towards society and the environment has an indirect impact on the increase of enterprise competitiveness. Hence, it is obvious that socially responsible behavior of enterprises becomes an important factor of their survival and success.


Zinc acetate and ammonium bicarbonate are used as raw material, zinc oxide prepared by direct precipitation of new technology. This paper discusses the effection of the formation in zinc oxide from the reactant concentration of zinc acetate, HCO3-/Zn2+ molarity ratio, reaction temperature, reaction time and condition in thermal decomposition of basic zinc carbonate. Using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetric / differential thermal analysis (TG / DTA) and other methods, preparation of nano-ZnO are characterized. Good conditions for the better system of nano- ZnO are 0.75mol /L in the concentration of zinc acetate solution, 2.5:1 in bicarbonate of ammonia and zinc acetate molar ratio, 45 °C of reaction temperature, 1.0h of reaction time, and 350 °C in thermal decomposition temperature, 3.0h of pyrolysis time. Zinc oxide obtained average particle size is 20 ~ 80nm, for the hexagonal crystal form.


Dielectric relaxation of aqueous protein solutions show many anomalous properties. For example, (i) protein solutions have higher static dielectric constant compared to that of pure water, (ii) the real part of the dielectric function (DF) exhibits a crossover with varying concentration, and (iii) the imaginary part of DF exhibits a bimodal frequency dependence. There is no coherent microscopic explanation available for any of these phenomena. Here we present the first unified, microscopic theory of the dielectric relaxation spectra of an aqueous protein solution that explains all the above anomalies, with excellent agreement with all the known experimental results.


Objectives To estimate the incidence of, and investigate risk factors for, postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) requiring transfer to obstetric care following birth in midwifery units (MU) in the UK; to describe outcomes for women who experience PPH requiring transfer to obstetric care. Methods We conducted a national population-based case-control study in all MUs in the UK using the UK Midwifery Study System (UKMidSS). Between September 2019 and February 2020, 1501 women with PPH requiring transfer to obstetric care following birth in an MU, and 1475 control women were identified. We used multivariable logistic regression, generating adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to investigate risk factors for PPH requiring transfer to obstetric care. Results The incidence of PPH requiring transfer to obstetric care following birth in an MU was 3.7% (95% CI 3.6%-3.9%). Factors independently associated with PPH requiring transfer to obstetric care were smoking during pregnancy (aOR = 0.73; 95% CI 0.56–0.94), nulliparity (aOR = 1.96; 95% CI 1.66–2.30), previous PPH (aOR = 2.67; 95% CI 1.67–4.25), complications in a previous pregnancy other than PPH (aOR = 2.40; 95% CI 1.25–4.60), gestational age ≥41 weeks (aOR = 1.36; 95% CI 1.10–1.69), instrumental birth (aOR = 2.69; 95% CI 1.53–4.72), third stage of labour ≥60 minutes (aOR = 5.56; 95% CI 3.93–7.88), perineal trauma (aOR = 4.67; 95% CI 3.16–6.90), and birthweight 3500-3999g (aOR = 1.71; 95% CI 1.42–2.07) or ≥4000g (aOR = 2.31; 95% CI 1.78–3.00). One in ten (10.6%) cases received a blood transfusion and one in five (21.0%) were admitted to higher level care. Conclusions The risk factors identified in this study align with those identified in previous research and with current guidelines for women planning birth in an MU in the UK. Maternal outcomes after PPH were broadly reassuring and indicative of appropriate management. NHS organisations should ensure that robust guidelines are in place to support management of PPH in MUs.


A unique collaboration of over 900 scholars from around the world, the Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures crosses history, geographic borders and disciplines to create a ground-breaking reference work reflecting the very latest research on gender studies and the Islamic world. No other reference work offers this scale of contributions or depth and breadth of coverage. Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures is set to become an essential reference work for students and researchers in the fields of gender studies, Middle Eastern and Islamic studies, as well as scholars of religion, history, politics, anthropology, geography and related disciplines. The encyclopedia consists of six volumes (including an Index volume), published from 2003 to 2007. The Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures is also available online. For more information see Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures Online.


The principle of sustainability has been studied by different sciences with the purpose of formulating clear and concrete models. Much has been discussed about sustainability, and several points of view have been used to try to explain it; environmental science emerges from various environmental discourses that are willing to establish a new concept for understanding this complexity. This way, we focus on the activity of ecotourism as a way to integrate sustainable practices proposed by environmental science, and thus, make it possible to create a new perspective for eco-tourists and the managers of tourist destinations towards nature. The aim of this study was to suggest a direction for environmental awareness, based on environmental science, to change the eco-tourist's view of nature in ecotourism tours. The methodology used was based on a case study concerning the Jalapão State Park JSP, located in the State of Tocantins, Northern Brazil. The study was based on discussions, theoretical studies, bibliographical research and on-site research. We have identified that to incite the tourists' awareness, they need to visit nature to understand the environmental problems and promote actions for its preservation. We highlight in this study actions to drive their human perception through environmental science, so that the ecotourism itinerary tours to the JSP, promote a balance between the natural environment and the tourist, making them, in this way, environmental tourists. Keywords—Science, environmental, ecotourism, Jalapão.


This study aims to explore factors affecting the creative teaching efficacy of technical and vocational education teachers, and to make suggestions for creative teaching. The research method is survey research. Using "A Survey on Factors Influencing Technical and Vocational Education Teachers' Creative Teaching Efficacy" as a research tool, this study surveys 314 technical and vocational education teachers. The results find that teachers' perceived "organizational innovative climate" has significant and direct impact on "creative teaching efficacy." In addition, "self-efficacy for creative teaching" has significant and direct impact on "creative teaching efficacy." "Organizational innovative climate" has significant and indirect effects on "creative teaching efficacy."


Abstract. Networks that merge and harmonise eddy-covariance measurements from many different parts of the world have become an important observational resource for ecosystem science. Empirical algorithms have been developed which combine direct observations of the net ecosystem exchange of carbon dioxide with simple empirical models to disentangle photosynthetic (GPP) and respiratory fluxes (Reco). The increasing use of these estimates for the analysis of climate sensitivities, model evaluation and calibration demands a thorough understanding of assumptions in the analysis process and the resulting uncertainties of the partitioned fluxes. The semi-empirical models used in flux partitioning algorithms require temperature observations as input, but as respiration takes place in many parts of an ecosystem, it is unclear which temperature input – air, surface, bole, or soil at a specific depth – should be used. This choice is a source of uncertainty and potential biases. In this study, we analysed the correlation between different temperature observations and nighttime NEE (which equals nighttime respiration) across FLUXNET sites to understand the potential of the different temperature observations as input for the flux partitioning model. We found that the differences in the correlation between different temperature data streams and nighttime NEE are small and depend on the selection of sites. We investigated the effects of the choice of the temperature data by running two flux partitioning algorithms with air and soil temperature. We found the time lag (phase shift) between air and soil temperatures explains the differences in the GPP and Reco estimates when using either air or soil temperatures for flux partitioning. The impact of the source of temperature data on other derived ecosystem parameters was estimated, and the strongest impact was found for the temperature sensitivity. Overall, this study suggests that the choice between soil or air temperature must be made on site-by-site basis by analysing the correlation between temperature and nighttime NEE. We recommend using an ensemble of estimates based on different temperature observations to account for the uncertainty due to the choice of temperature and to assure the robustness of the temporal patterns of the derived variables.


In this paper, the implementation of COST 259 channel models in macrocells, using a stochastic approach in terms of tapped delay line (TDL) models is presented. The implementation of this wideband channel is very important for link level simulation in future wireless systems that exploit space-time processing techniques using multiple antenna elements. Major channel effects are discussed and incorporated into existing channel models. The temporal correlation is realised by using a power spectrum shaping filter whereas the spatial correlation is achieved by invoking a canonical Gaussian approach. Furthermore, antenna effects as well as array geometries can be taken into consideration for the development of compact antenna arrays at the user's terminal. The array implementation is focused at the mobile station (MS) point of view.


Introduction: Undiagnosed aortic coarctation discovered in the adults represents surgical challenge due to more extensive pathological changes and collateralized circulation. Although a considerable number of cases can be relived through catheter intervention, still some cases are not suitable for this approach. Five to 30% of patients with previous coarctation repair have re-coarctation and require re-intervention and some cases are associated with concomitant cardiac pathology. Ascending to descending aortic bypass graft via the posterior pericardium allows simultaneous intracardiac repair or an alternative approach for these groups of patients. Patients and methods: We reviewed the data of 7 patients that underwent extra-anatomic ascending to descending aortic bypass grafting through median sternotomy between February 2011 to December 2014. Concomitant procedures performed in 5 patients included the following; ventricular septal defect closure (VSD), coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), mitral valve replacement (MVR), aortic valve replacement (AVR), and resection of a subaortic membrane. They were 5 males and 2 females with mean age 37 years ranging from 18 to 45 years old. Results: All patients survived the operation and were alive with patent CoA bypass graft at a mean follow up of 21.6 ± 10.0 months. No graft-related complications occurred. Systolic blood pressure decreased after surgery by an average of 46 mmHg. Conclusion: Ascending to descending aortic bypass through a median sternotomy and posterior pericardiotomy is safe technique when patients present in adulthood with re-coarctation and concomitant cardiac lesions.


Objective: To develop an evidence-based clinical practice guideline (CPG) through a broad-based consensus process on best practices for chiropractic management of patients with chronic musculoskeletal (MSK) pain. Design: CPG based on evidence-based recommendations of a panel of experts in chronic MSK pain management. Methods: Using systematic reviews identified in an initial literature search, a steering committee of experts in research and management of patients with chronic MSK pain drafted a set of recommendations. Additional supportive literature was identified to supplement gaps in the evidence base. A multidisciplinary panel of experienced practitioners and educators rated the recommendations through a formal Delphi consensus process using the RAND Corporation/University of California, Los Angeles, methodology. Results: The Delphi process was conducted January–February 2020. The 62-member Delphi panel reached consensus on chiropractic management of five common chronic MSK pain conditions: low-back pain (LBP), neck pain, tension headache, osteoarthritis (knee and hip), and fibromyalgia. Recommendations were made for nonpharmacological treatments, including acupuncture, spinal manipulation/mobilization, and other manual therapy; modalities such as low-level laser and interferential current; exercise, including yoga; mind–body interventions, including mindfulness meditation and cognitive behavior therapy; and lifestyle modifications such as diet and tobacco cessation. Recommendations covered many aspects of the clinical encounter, from informed consent through diagnosis, assessment, treatment planning and implementation, and concurrent management and referral. Appropriate referral and comanagement were emphasized. Conclusions: These evidence-based recommendations for a variety of conservative treatment approaches to the management of common chronic MSK pain conditions may advance consistency of care, foster collaboration between provider groups, and thereby improve patient outcomes.


In some real applications, such as medical diagnosis or remote sensing, available training data do not often reflect the true a priori probabilities of the underlying data distribution. The classifier designed from these data may be suboptimal. Building classifiers that are robust against changes in prior probabilities is possible by applying a minimax learning strategy. In this paper, we propose a simple fixed-point algorithm that is able to train a neural minimax classifier [i.e., a classifier minimizing the worst (maximum) possible risk]. Moreover, we present a new parametric family of loss functions that is able to provide the most accurate estimates for the posterior class probabilities near the decision regions, and we also discuss the application of these functions together with a minimax learning strategy. The results of the experiments carried out on different real databases point out the ability of the proposed algorithm to find the minimax solution and produce a robust classifier when the real a priori probabilities differ from the estimated ones.


To obtain information on differences between the metabolic pathways of the herbicide glufosinate (trade names: BASTA, LIBERTY) in non-transgenic, glufosinate-sensitive plants and in transgenic, glufosinate-resistant plants, the metabolism of 14C-labeled glufosinate and its enantiomers L- and D-glufosinate was studied using cell cultures of oilseed rape and corn. Transformation of glufosinate in both sensitive and transgenic rape cells remained at a low rate of about 3-10% in contrast to corn cells, where 20% was transformed in sensitive and 43% in transgenic cells after 14 days of incubation, the rest remaining as unchanged glufosinate. In sensitive rape and corn cells the main metabolite was 4-methylphosphinico-2-oxo-butanoic acid (PPO) with 7.3 and 16.4%, respectively, together with low amounts of 3-methylphosphinicopropionic acid (MPP), 4-methylphosphinico-2-hydroxybutanoic acid (MHB), 4-methylphosphinicobutanoic acid (MPB) and 2-methylphosphinicoacetic acid (MPA). An additional metabolite formed in transgenic cell cultures was 2-acetamido-4-methylbutanoic acid (N-acetyl-L-glufosinate, NGA), which was formed at rates of 3.2% in rape and 16.1% in corn. A further minor metabolite, not yet identified, was detected in both cell types. The liberation of 0.2% 14CO2 indicates further metabolic steps prior to a limited mineralization in plant cell cultures. L-glufosinate was transformed into the same metabolites as the glufosinate racemate. D-glufosinate was not metabolized.


Differences in dynamic capabilities (DCs) help explain firms' abilities to change. DCs research has explored what DCs might be and generic categorisations of them after they have emerged, but little light has been thrown on the specific practices that enable or inhibit their emergence. This study explores how DCs emerge and why firms might develop DCs differently under the same market conditions.   This thesis sought to understand these questions and respond to calls for longitudinal empirical studies to extend DC theory by studying the paths of four professional services firms in New Zealand over three decades. Using a multi-case study design and thematic analysis, this research applied Teece's (2007) framework of sensing, seizing and transforming capabilities to identify the presence of DCs within each case, before attempting to identify the enablers and inhibitors influencing the development of such capabilities. While elements of each generic class of DC were evident in each case, the findings suggest that in order to utilise DCs to adapt effectively to environmental changes, a firm must deploy all three classes of capabilities at the same time.   This research contributes to the DC literature by proposing a prioritised typology of antecedents that may help stimulate Teece's sensing, seizing and transforming DCs, while identifying the rigidities that could inhibit their development. The empirical results reported on in this thesis suggest that similar firms' development of DCs may be different because of idiosyncratic leadership and culture that can limit a firm's ability to perceive the importance of DCs. Other characteristics that inhibit the development of DCs include centralised, non-participative cultures and high internal (or inward looking) orientation. These results extend current theory about triggers for developing DCs by identifying that the strongest triggers may be either serious macro-economic events or internally driven by firm-defined goals or strategies.


In comparison to the interpretation of classification models, the explanation of sequence generation models is also an important problem, however it has seen little attention. In this work, we study model-agnostic explanations of a representative text generation task -- dialogue response generation. Dialog response generation is challenging with its open-ended sentences and multiple acceptable responses. To gain insights into the reasoning process of a generation model, we propose a new method, local explanation of response generation (LERG) that regards the explanations as the mutual interaction of segments in input and output sentences. LERG views the sequence prediction as uncertainty estimation of a human response and then creates explanations by perturbing the input and calculating the certainty change over the human response. We show that LERG adheres to desired properties of explanations for text generation including unbiased approximation, consistency and cause identification. Empirically, our results show that our method consistently improves other widely used methods on proposed automatic- and human- evaluation metrics for this new task by 4.4-12.8%. Our analysis demonstrates that LERG can extract both explicit and implicit relations between input and output segments.


Carbon-based anodes are technologically highly relevant for Li and post-Li ion batteries. While the storage mechanism of Li in graphite is essentially understood, the alkali metal intercalation into carbon derivatives has been strongly debated. Here, we present a combined computational and experimental study on the intercalation of Li and Na into hard carbon, elaborating on the impact of different alkali metals on the storage mechanism. Our results give strong evidence that the intercalation of Li and Na into hard carbon follows the same route and moreover, shows that in operando Raman scattering is a sensitive and powerful tool for characterizing the intercalation mechanism in carbon based materials. In fact, by exploiting the so-called double resonance, even information on the electronic structure can be obtained. Finally, theoretical predictions for the insertion mechanism of K are presented.


The landmark recognition problem is far from being solved, but with the use of features extracted from intermediate layers of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), excellent results have been obtained. In this work, we propose some improvements on the creation of R-MAC descriptors in order to make the newly-proposed R-MAC+ descriptors more representative than the previous ones. However, the main contribution of this paper is a novel retrieval technique, that exploits the fine representativeness of the MAC descriptors of the database images. Using this descriptors called "db regions" during the retrieval stage, the performance is greatly improved. The proposed method is tested on different public datasets: Oxford5k, Paris6k and Holidays. It outperforms the state-of-the-art results on Holidays and reached excellent results on Oxford5k and Paris6k, overcame only by approaches based on fine-tuning strategies.


Background: COVID-19 pandemic has drastically affected the mental health of people worldwide, with emergence of new mental health problems and worsening of the existing ones. Objectives: This research was conducted with the objective to study the level of mental wellbeing among adult general population during COVID-19 pandemic in India and to identify the association of socio demographic factors with the level of mental wellbeing of study subjects. Methods: It was a community based online cross sectional study involving general population more than 18 years of age. Data collection was done by using a goggle form link which was circulated via online platforms. Data was analyzed using Microsoft excel and SPSS version 21. Qualitative data was expressed in proportions or percentages and quantitative data was expressed in mean and standard deviation. Chi square test and logistic regression analysis was done to find out association of demographic factors with mental wellbeing. Results: 58.4% subjects had normal mental wellbeing score while 25.1% were found to be at risk of developing psychological distress and 16.5% were at risk of depression. Lower wellbeing scores were significantly associated with younger (<36 years) as well as older age (>55 years), female gender, divorced or widowed, unemployed, businessmen and students. Lowe scores were also associated with increased consumption of alcohol and tobacco. Conclusion: A large proportion of study population had a poor mental wellbeing during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic.


Finding a feasible lecture/tutorial timetable in a large university department is a challenging problem faced continually in educational establishments. This paper presents an evolutionary algorithm (EA) based approach to solving a heavily constrained university timetabling problem. The approach uses a problem-specific chromosome representation. Heuristics and context-based reasoning have been used for obtaining feasible timetables in a reasonable computing time. An intelligent adaptive mutation scheme has been employed for speeding up the convergence. The comprehensive course timetabling system presented in this paper has been validated, tested and discussed using real world data from a large university.


While the majority of businesses around the world are micro -enterprises, they are the most vulnerable and are often run by people with limited resources, and skills to be able to avail the benefits of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). These are a form of small business which employs between 1-5 people and face challenges of limited resources, skills and ability to grow. When they do adopt IT their potential to survive and grow increases as they are then able to participate in the global economy. The challenge for global development lies in enabling these micro-enterprises to adopt the appropriate IT solution that fits their needs. Often the tools available to them are either too expensive or require more resources than they have available. Cloud computing offers an opportunity to support the growth of micro-enterprises by enabling low cost IT solutions to be made available to them so that they may adopt with little effort or skill. Since their ability to adopt technology depends upon the unique conditions in which they find themselves, we apply the extended information architecture framework to assess the impact of Cloud computing intervention on micro-enterprise growth. The analysis using this framework enables an understanding of the ways in which Cloud computing functionality and processes may support the growth of micro-enterprises. Following an analysis of these results, this paper also provides recommendations for the use of cloud computing interventions to enable growth of micro-enterprises. The contribution of this paper is in the extended information architecture framework through which cloud computing interventions may be developed and assessed to suit local conditions.


ABSTRACT FPH-1 is a new class A carbapenemase from Francisella philomiragia. It produces high-level resistance to penicillins and the narrow-spectrum cephalosporin cephalothin and hydrolyzes these β-lactam antibiotics with catalytic efficiencies of 106 to 107 M−1 s−1. When expressed in Escherichia coli, the enzyme confers resistance to clavulanic acid, tazobactam, and sulbactam and has Ki values of 7.5, 4, and 220 μM, respectively, against these inhibitors. FPH-1 increases the MIC of the monobactam aztreonam 256-fold and the MIC of the broad-spectrum cephalosporin ceftazidime 128-fold, while the MIC of cefoxitin remains unchanged. MICs of the carbapenem antibiotics imipenem, meropenem, doripenem, and ertapenem are elevated 8-, 8-, 16-, and 64-fold, respectively, against an E. coli JM83 strain producing the FPH-1 carbapenemase. The catalytic efficiencies of the enzyme against carbapenems are in the range of 104 to 105 M−1 s−1. FPH-1 is 77% identical to the FTU-1 β-lactamase from Francisella tularensis and has low amino acid sequence identity with other class A β-lactamases. Together with FTU-1, FPH-1 constitutes a new branch of the prolific and ever-expanding class A β-lactamase tree.


A perennial problem in teaching and learning pertains to who should determine objectives for instruction. Objectives need to be selected carefully so that relevant subject matter and skills are taught and learned. The time that pupils are in school is short. Most pupils attend for eight years of elementary and four years of secondary plus one school year of kindergarten. Each school year is basically nine months in duration. The author discusses issues related to who is best situated and prepared to select these objectives. The Basics and Instructional Objectives Advocates of the basics believe that there is a body of knowledge that all pupils should achieve. The body of knowledge represents essential content in English and literature, social studies, science, mathematics, art, music, and physical education. The first four academic disciplines mentioned are the big four and are conceived to receive major attention. Academic specialists in their academic area of specialty need to help in choosing what is salient for pupils to learn. The agreed upon objectives should then be available for teachers to use as bench marks for instruction. Only the basics or essentials should be emphasized in instruction. Implications for stressing the basics in the curriculum are the following: 1. The basics can be identified and represent what are essential for pupils to learn. 2. Trivia is reduced in the curriculum. 3. Academic specialists outside the local classroom determine what pupils are to learn. Questions that might be asked about the basics include the following: 1. How relevant can these learning be made for pupils, when they are externally selected by those removed from the classroom setting? 2. Should pupils be involved in choosing their own sequence in learning opportunities? 3. Is it possible to select and agree upon which are the basics (Ediger, 1995, 116-117)? Higher Standards There are many advocates of setting higher standards for pupils to achieve. They believe that objectives for pupils to achieve are too lax. The United States will then not remain competitive with other nations in the economic world. Thus, pupils need more challenge and to achieve more complex objectives than is presently the case. There are selected assumptions concerning setting higher standards for pupils to achieve (Ediger, 1998, 52). 1. Pupils can achieve at a level that the schools are not emphasizing. 2. Learners will not be ready for the work place if higher standards are not emphasized presently in the classroom setting. 3. Experts need to set high standards for pupils to achieve. Questions that need to be asked concerning a higher standards philosophy of instruction might be the following: 1. How do individuals involved in setting higher standards for pupils to achieve have knowledge of how difficult the objectives should be for pupil achievement? 2. Does higher academic achievement in school make for better workers later as adults at the work place? 3. Will teaching and education improve with pupils being required to achieve higher standards? Constructivism and Objectives of Instruction With constructivism, pupils are rather heavily involved, with teacher assistance, in determining objectives, learning opportunities, and evaluation procedures (Ediger, 1998, 24). Pupils and teachers, according to constructivism, are in the best position to determine the curriculum, not outsiders who decide upon higher standards for pupils to achieve, nor those who determine the basics (Ediger, 1995). Pupils with teacher assistance also are in the best position to determine sequence in the curriculum. It is the pupil who must experience sequence. The focal point is the pupil when the philosophy of constructivism is emphasized in ongoing lessons and units of study. …


Real-time sonography was compared to low-kilovoltage radiographs in the diagnosis of intra-tendinous calcifications in 10 patients with chronic patellar tendonitis. In these patients sonography demonstrated thickening (100% of cases) and hypoechogenicity (90% of cases) of the patellar tendon. Ultrasound disclosed all calcifications displayed on radiographs showing hyperechoic foci. The associated acoustic shadow was absent in one case of a calcification less than one millimeter in diameter. Real-time ultrasound appears highly reliable in the diagnosis of even minute intra-tendinous calcifications. It also provides an accurate three-dimensional localization of the calcific deposits in the tendons.


Abstract Detrital zircon U–Pb ages in 37 sandstones from late Early – Late Cretaceous marine and non-marine successions across southern Zealandia indicate a provenance from local basement within present-day Zealandia. Samples from Taranaki Basin were derived from Median and Karamea batholith granitoids with transport directions from west to east. Samples from West Coast, Western Southland and Great South basins contain components derived more locally and more variably from Median Batholith and Rahu Suite granitoids and/or the Palaeozoic Buller Terrane. West Coast Basin samples have more plutonic contributions and Great South Basin localities have more Albian-aged (c. 110–100 Ma) zircons. Samples from Canterbury Basin were sourced from Torlesse Composite Terrane basement. The provenance variations are present in both marine and non-marine sandstones and suggest localized watersheds. This fits an interpretation of Late Cretaceous deposition in rift-controlled basins across southern Zealandia during pre-Gondwana break-up regional extension. More speculatively, some additional source areas may have been created at the rifted margins of Zealandia during this break-up.


Statistics gathered at the Medical University of South Carolina from 1973 to 1978 indicate a dramatic change in the etiologic agents of tinea capitis in Charleston since the 1950s. The preponderant agent is now Trichophyton tonsurans, which produces lesions that are not fluorescent in a Wood's lamp examination (long-wave ultraviolet). Trichophyton tonsurans caused 90.6% of 265 culture-proved cases of tinea capitis in the 1970s, but in the 1950s it was responsible for only 1.6% of 378 cases. The study emphasizes that cultures are necessary because the increase in nonfluorescent tinea capitis throughout the United States presents unsuspected diagnostic problems to physicians who are not aware of the change in etiologic agents.


In this paper, we describe a closed-loop pathological tremor attenuation system using Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES). The proposed strategy, which is based on the modulation of joint impedance using FES, was developed after experimental evidence was obtained on open-loop trials with tremor patients. The method relies firstly on an online tremor estimation algorithm, which also filters the voluntary motion performed by the patient. Based on this information, the impedance of the trembling joint may be increased accordingly by applying the appropriate stimulation parameters on a pair of antagonist muscles that act on the joint, thus attenuating the effects of tremor. An experimental evaluation of the system, which involved 4 healthy subjects and 1 tremor patient, is also presented.


This paper analyzes the determinants of interethnic marriages by immigrants in the United States. The dependent variable is intermarriage across ethnic groups (on the basis of ancestry and country of birth) and the inclusion of the explanatory variables is justified by a simple rational choice economic model. A binomial logistic regression is estimated using data from the 1980 US Census, the last Census where post-migration marriages can be identified. Results show that the probability of intermarriage increases the longer a migrant resides in the U.S. and the younger the age at arrival. Both relationships can be attributable to the accumulation of US-specific human capital and an erosion of ethnicspecific human capital. Inter-ethnic marriages are more likely between individuals with similar education levels, providing evidence of positive assortative mating by education for immigrants. The construction of the availability ratio for potential spouses from one's own group and group size using data from several Censuses provides a more accurate measure of the marriage market. Intermarriage is lower the greater the availability ratio and the larger the size of one's own group. Linguistic distance of the immigrant's mother tongue from English indirectly measures the effect of English language ability at arrival and is found to be a significant negative predictor of intermarriage. Those who report multiple ancestries and who were previously married are more likely to intermarry.


Inertial fusion target physics imposes important constraints on the design of linacs for heavy-ion fusion. The most challenging constraint from a scientific standpoint is the requirement that the accelerator deliver more than 10{sup 14} W of beam power to a small quantity (less than 100 mg) of matter. The most challenging constraint from an engineering standpoint is accelerator cost. This paper explains the target physics requirements and shows how they lead to constraints on the usual accelerator parameters such as kinetic energy, current, and emittance. It will be shown that improvements in the final focusing system would have a beneficial effect on both scientific feasibility and cost. The paper also discusses experiments that are presently underway in the United States, specifically, experiments on high-current injectors, recirculating induction accelerators, transverse beam combining, and a proposed accelerator called ILSE. Hardware development for ILSE is now in progress.


Osteosarcoma (OS) is a bone malignancy with high incidence. The underlying molecular mechanisms that are associated with the development of OS need further investigation. In this study, we showed that SLC34A2, a member of the solute carrier gene family, was significantly downregulated in OS patients and cell lines. Overexpression of SLC34A2 inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion of OS cells. Mechanistically, we found that SLC34A2 interacted with PTEN, and inactivated the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. Collectively, our results demonstrated that SLC34A2 plays important roles in regulating the cancer cell growth of OS. The downregulation of SLC34A2 in OS patients suggested that it might be a promising target in the diagnosis and therapy of OS.


Experimental assessment of bronchopulmonary responses to inhaled materials should commence with an analysis of the integrated function of the several defense mechanisms of the lung. The use of radioactive tracer-labelled bacterial aerosols delivered in a quantitative airborne fashion provides an overall evaluation of the hazard of inhaled materials to bronchopulmonary phagocytic activity and clearance. The method permits the division of experimental efforts early in the course of investigation into those that should be directed toward the pathophysiology of transport mechanisms, particularly the mucociliary stream, and those that should be directed toward the pathophysiology of phagocytic mechanisms at deeper levels of the lung. This division early in the experimental program gives justification to more intensive efforts to pursue pathogenic agents in in vitro systems.


Background: For Japanese people living with HIV, this study aimed at the following: verifying the three-factor model of stress-related growth scales; confirming the impact of stress-related growth on mental health and physical symptoms; and determining differences in the effects of stress-related growth on health by time since HIV diagnosis. Methods: A cross-sectional anonymous self-administered online survey which was prepared on the basis of the participatory research method was conducted from July 2013 to February 2014 and from December 2016 to July 2017 for all Japanese web users living with HIV. We analyzed the data of 1,422 participants who responded regarding the number of years since diagnosis and where transmission was sexual. The mean age (standard deviation) was 38.6 (8.3) years. Results: Stress-related growth comprises three factors: self-perception, interpersonal relationships, and philosophy of life. In the group over 4 years since diagnosis, logistic and Poisson regression analysis simultaneously including all the scales showed a positive effect; in the group with less than 4 years since diagnosis, such an association was found only for self-perception. In the group with over 4 years since diagnosis, positive growth in interpersonal relationships and self-perception led to reduced somatic symptoms; however, philosophy of life was linked to increased physical symptoms. When the group with less than 4 years since diagnosis was included, no correlation was evident with philosophy of life; positive growth in self-perception led to reduced physical symptoms; positive changes in interpersonal relationships produced increased physical symptoms. Conclusions: Toward assisting people living with HIV/AIDS, we found that personal and group relationships played an important role in creating positive changes regarding respondents' perceptions of life and other people.


Background: Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months after delivery plays a crucial role in preventing infants morbidity and mortality. Exclusive breastfeeding intention during pregnancy is one of predictors of this behavior. Determining the effective factors in exclusive breastfeeding intention helps plan for promoting breastfeeding intention and behavior. The aim of this study is to determine predictive factors of exclusive breastfeeding intention in pregnant women, based on the theory of planned behavior. Materials and Methods: This analytical study was conducted in 2014 on 224 primigravide women referred to Health Centers of Kashan. The samples were randomly selected from 16 health centers. The mothers completed the questionnaires of demography, intention, attitude, subjective norms and the perceived behavior control. A linear regression analysis was used to identify independent predictors of the exclusive breastfeeding intention. Results: In regression model, the perceived behavior control (β=0.42, p<0.001), attitude (β=0.27, p<0.01) and subjective norms (β=0.18, p=0.059) were predictors of the exclusive breastfeeding intention. This model could explain 63% of the variance of the exclusive breastfeeding intention. The knowledge and demographic factors were not predictors of the intention. Conclusion: The results reveal the perceived behavior control, attitudes and subjective norms could predict exclusive breastfeeding intention, so they should be considered as general guidelines in designing educational interventions in order to improve exclusive breastfeeding in women.


This thesis analyses the relationship between the increasingly important sovereign CDS spreads and exchange rates, from a macroeconomic perspective. It attempts to address an existing gap in the empirical literature, which to date has paid limited attention to the role of exchange rates in influencing sovereign CDS spreads, and vice versa. In exploring the relationship between sovereign CDS markets and foreign exchange markets, I find relatively strong evidence of a causal relationship between these two variables. In a longer-term cointegrating relationship, I find that sovereign CDS spreads have different impacts (positive or negative) on exchange rates depending on the structural characteristics of the domestic export sectors of the countries studied. Turning to the second moment of exchange rates and sovereign CDS spreads, I examine the relationship between the volatility of sovereign CDS spreads and the volatility of exchange rates for developed economies (proxied by an index containing 10 Eurozone countries) and emerging economies (proxied by Brazil and Russia). My findings point to different mechanisms of transmission between sovereign CDS markets and foreign exchange markets with regard to developed and emerging economies: for developed economies, exchange rates affect sovereign CDS spreads through the volatility, whilst in emerging economies the exchange rates affect sovereign CDS spreads at the price level. To further analyse the determinants of sovereign CDS spreads, I incorporate additional macroeconomic fundamentals in addition to exchange rates into a model to explain sovereign CDS spreads. The results show that sovereign CDS spreads are indeed driven by most macroeconomic fundamentals. However, these results do not hold during periods of economic turmoil, in which the rising risk aversion of investors becomes a principal influence behind the sovereign CDS spreads. As changes in exchange rates are able to capture changes to risk aversion through trading in foreign exchange markets, the exchange rate retains its explanatory power to sovereign CDS spreads in 'normal' as well as 'crisis' conditions. Overall, the study provides strong support for the claim that exchange rates are an important determinant of sovereign CDS spreads, in addition to the interest rate which is highlighted in the literature review. The exchange rate – as an important fundamental indicator – can reflect the general domestic economic status, the relative international competitiveness of countries, as well as capture changes in risk aversion among investors. Therefore, using exchange rates to explain sovereign CDS spreads can help to account for both domestic and international dimensions of the 'health' of an economy as well as changes in investors' attitudes.