The authors introduce a new approach to identifying and monitoring systemic risk that combines network analysis and tail risk contribution (TRC). Network analysis provides great flexibility in representing and exploring linkages between institutions, but it can be overly general in describing the risk exposures of one entity to another. TRC provides a more focused view of key systemic risks and richer financial intuition, but it may miss important linkages between financial institutions. Integrating these two methods can provide information on key relationships between institutions that may become relevant during periods of systemic stress. The authors demonstrate this approach using the exposures of money market funds to major financial institutions during July 2011. The results for their example suggest that TRC networks can highlight both institutions and funds that may become distressed during a financial crisis.


Polyacrylonitrile(PAN) microspheres were synthesized by soapless emulsion polymerization of acrylonitrile(AN) in water. The effects of monomer and initiator concentration on the conversion of AN and the diameter of microspheres were investigated. The results showed that when the concentration of monomer increases, the conversion of AN decreases while the diameter of PAN microspheres increases. When the concentration of initiator increases, the conversion of AN and the diameter of PAN microspheres both increase. For this method of PAN microspheres synthesis, the highest conversion of AN is about 60% and the diameter can be controlled in need ranging from approximately 140 to 500nm.


Performance management is an important issue for Internet servers working in the unpredictable and highly dynamic environment. Feedback control is considered as a potential theoretical tool. However, due to the weakness in capturing the nonlinear natures of Internet servers, the classical linear control designs have been demonstrated ineffectiveness when handling varying workloads to provide sufficient performance guarantees. This paper attempts to apply linear-parameter-varying (LPV) approaches to modeling and controlling the Web server system for absolute connection delay guarantee. To achieve these goals, a LPV model, wherein the workload intensity is considered as the scheduling parameter, is identified experimentally to approximate the Web server system and then a LPV controller is designed for the LPV model. Model validation proves the LPV model is much more accurate than the LTI model with the same order. Closed-loop simulations under fluctuated workloads demonstrate that, the performance of the LPV controller overpasses the proportion-integral controller. By exploring the nature of dependence of server model on the workload intensity, the proposed LPV approach for absolute delay guarantee may find its applications in many other server performance control problems e.g., admission control, quality-of-service (QoS) control and power control.


Energy supply is of vital significance for the functioning of the society and represents an important element both of the national and of the international security. The security of energy supply and the protection of energy infrastructure are part of the security concept of the overall critical infrastructure and represent one of crucial preconditions for the development of any community. Energy security is threatened due to the fact that the world reserves of oil and natural gas are unequally distributed, and insecure transport via third countries additionally threatens the security of energy supply. The issue, not only of security but also of the possibility of energy supply lies certainly also in the limited non-renewable sources of energy. The paper will, therefore, consider the possibilities of continuous energy supply in the form of the development of renewable sources of energy.


High throughput screening technologies have generated a huge amount of biological data in the last ten years. With the easy availability of array technology, researchers started to investigate biological mechanisms using experiments with more sophisticated designs that pose novel challenges to statistical analysis. We provide theory for robust statistical tests in three flexible models. In the first model, we consider the hypothesis testing problems when there are a large number of variables observed repeatedly over time. A potential application is in tumor genomics where an array comparative genome hybridization (aCGH) study will be used to detect progressive DNA copy number changes in tumor development. In the second model, we consider hypothesis testing theory in a longitudinal microarray study when there are multiple treatments or experimental conditions. The tests developed can be used to detect treatment effects for a large group of genes and discover genes that respond to treatment over time. In the third model, we address a hypothesis testing problem that could arise when array data from different sources are to be integrated. We perform statistical tests by assuming a nested design. In all models, robust test statistics were constructed based on moment methods allowing unbalanced design and arbitrary heteroscedasticity. The limiting distributions were derived under the nonclassical setting when the number of probes is large. The test statistics are not targeted at a single probe. Instead, we are interested in testing for a selected set of probes simultaneously. Simulation studies were carried out to compare the proposed methods with some traditional tests using linear mixed-effects models and generalized estimating equations. Interesting results obtained with the proposed theory in two cancer genomic studies suggest that the new methods are promising for a wide range of biological applications with longitudinal arrays. INFERENCE OF NONPARAMETRIC HYPOTHESIS TESTING ON HIGH DIMENSIONAL LONGITUDINAL DATA AND ITS APPLICATION IN DNA COPY NUMBER VARIATION AND MICROARRAY DATA ANALYSIS by KE ZHANG B.S., Wuhan University, China, 1996 M.S., Kansas State University, 2004 A DISSERTATION submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Statistics College of Arts and Sciences KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY Manhattan, Kansas 2008


In this work, we describe an autonomous mobile robotic system for finding and investigating ambient noise sources in the environment. Motivated by the large negative effect of ambient noise sources on robot audition, the long-term goal is to provide awareness of the auditory scene to a robot, so that it may more effectively act to filter out the interference or re-position itself to increase the signal-to-noise ratio. Here, we concentrate on the discovery of new sources of sound through the use of mobility and directed investigation. This is performed in a two-step process. In the first step, a mobile robot first explores the surrounding acoustical environment, creating evidence grid representations to localize the most influential sound sources in the auditory scene. Then in the second step, the robot investigates each potential sound source location in the environment so as to improve the localization result, and identify volume and directionality characteristics of the sound source. Once every source has been investigated, a noise map of the entire auditory scene is created for use by the robot in avoiding areas of loud ambient noise when performing an auditory task.


Where rivers near the coastline, the receiving basin begins to influence flow, and gradually varied, nonuniform flow conditions arise. The section of the river affected by nonuniform flow is typically referred to as the backwater segment, and for large lowland rivers, this portion of the river can extend many hundreds of kilometers above the outlet. River morphology and kinematics vary in the backwater segment; however, these channel properties have not been explicitly related to properties of the flow and sediment-transport fields. This study examines the influence of spatially and temporally varying flow velocity and sediment transport on channel properties for the lower 800 km of the Mississippi River, a section of the river that includes the backwater segment. Survey transects (n = 2650) were used to constrain the cross-sectional area of water flow every ∼312 m along the Mississippi River channel for eight successive intervals of water discharge. Assuming conservation of water discharge, the local flow velocity was calculated at each transect by dividing water discharge by the local measurement of cross-sectional flow area. Calculated flow velocity was converted to total bed stress using a dimensionless friction coefficient that was determined by optimizing the match between a predicted and a measured water-surface profile. Estimates for the skin-friction component of the total bed stress were produced from the values for total shear stress using a form-drag correction. These skin-friction bed-stress values were then used to model bed-material transport. Results demonstrate that in the lower Mississippi River, cross-sectional flow area increases downstream during low- and moderate-water discharge. This generates a decrease in calculated water-flow velocity and bed-material transport. During high-water discharge, the trend is reversed: Cross-sectional flow area decreases downstream, producing an increase in calculated water-flow velocity and bed-material transport. An important contribution of this work is the identification of a downstream reversal in the trend for channel cross-sectional area due to variable water discharge. By accounting for the spatial divergences in sediment transport predicted over an average annual hydrograph, we demonstrate the tendency for channel-bed aggradation in much of the backwater reach of the Mississippi River (150–600 km above the outlet); however, a region of channel-bed erosion is calculated for the final 150 km. These results help to explain the spatial variability of channel morphology and kinematics for the lower Mississippi River, and they can be extended to other lowland river systems near the coastline.


SUMMARY Private group insurance contracts in property and person insurances enhance goals' execution in protection of diff erent categories of insured against risks, but also they cover needs of citizen for protection within the social insurance and fi nancial services. Beside its clear importance for execution of certain state politics in several areas, it is an opportunistic question if its regulation is necessary, particularly because of the fact there are legal systems that do not have any specifi c provisions about group insurance contracts, those that regulate certain situations only, to the legal systems regulating group insurance contract in detail. Th is paper deals with legal framework of the group insurance contract in the European comparative law.


Plants endemic to oceanic islands represent some of the most unusual and rare taxa in the world. Enzyme electrophoresis was used to assess genetic diversity within and divergence among all endemic species of a small genus of plants on the Canary Islands. Our results show that the genus Tolpis is similar to many other island groups in having generally low allozyme divergence among species, with the highest divergence found among four groups of endemics. The two rare and highly localized species T. glabrescens and T. crassiuscula are each divergent from all other species in the Canaries. Tolpis coronopifolia is also divergent at allozyme loci; this is the only endemic species that is a self-compatible annual (or weak biennial). A large, morphologically variable species complex consisting of T. laciniata and T. lagopoda together with several named and unnamed morphological variants shows low allozyme divergence among its elements. The evolution of polyploidy from diploid ancestors in situ in oceanic archipelagos is uncommon, but the tetraploid T. glabrescens is an exception. Allozyme data do not implicate any extant diploid Tolpis species as parents of the polyploid. It is possible that T. glabrescens originated early in the evolution of Tolpis in the Canary Islands and that its parents are now extinct. The nonendemic T. barbata shows no greater divergence from the Canary Island endemics than some endemics exhibit among themselves. Both changes in allele frequencies and unique alleles are responsible for genetic divergence among species of Tolpis.


The values behind the question of landscape appreciation and evaluation also inform the greater question of landscape content. Here the content of landscape architecture is taken as the raw material transformed through design, material from which we may derive pleasure and/or significance. What sort of raw material, its potential and its relevance, is the essay's subject. Admittedly, structure, space, and pattern may constitute content in and of themselves, a poetics of form and space. But deeper works may result from using these vehicles to embody other types of content, among them the understanding and judicious application of ecological processes (including the immediate as well as larger site over time), and the regard for humans singly and in groups, contemporary and over time. The manner in which the designer addresses these factors may also elevate a physical statement of these concerns, alone or together, to a poetic level. It is admittedly a difficult task, and without doubt, no work is ever perfect in all respects. Nonetheless, several landscape architects currently in practice have produced designs with these considerations at their core. The work of Hargreaves Associates in the United States, and Georges Descombes and Dieter Kienast in Switzerland serve as the prime case studies. The landscape architect's project here utilizes the eternalized moment of history to inform the making of physical places. The landscape must succeed in the present—social provisions, construction intelligence, aesthetic interest—amalgamating the voices of the past with those of the "now."


The present study relates to the evaluation of the subacute toxicity of a pesticide widely used in agriculture in the Batna region on a few parameters related to liver and thyroid functions in domestic rabbits. Our experimental study was performed on 12 mature male rabbits of the genus Cuniculus lepus, which were divided into 2 groups (n = 6): a control group (G1) and a treated group (G2) with Rivanebe®80 orally for 15 days. Analysis of the results obtained has shown that treatment with Rivanebe®80 causes harmful effects on the organism, resulting in a significant increase in body mass and consumption of food by treated animals, compared to the control group. In addition, a hepatotoxic effect by a significant increase in the mass of liver and biochemical parameters was reported including hyperglycemia, hypertriglyceridemia, hypercholesterolemia, and an increase in bilirubin and transaminases. Finally, a disturbance of the thyroid function or a significant decrease of the thyroxin plasma levels was also reported.


Some alternatives for speeding up finite-element computations by use of a vector-parallel shared memory multiprocessor are presented. The whole solution process is dealt with, including the calculation of element contributions (integration), global matrix construction (assembly), and resolution of the large sparse linear systems thus arising. The vector-parallel algorithms are implemented and compared on an Alliant FX/80, providing an automatic compiler, thus making parallel programming easier. The best choice between the possible combinations of the algorithms presented is discussed, considering the global performances. The ICCG (incomplete Cholesky preconditioned conjugate gradient) method, associated with parallel assembly and vectorial integration on finite elements, is the best for smooth problems. With nearly singular matrices, or when a smaller residual on the solution is needed, the direct method gives less time-expensive solutions. >


The proximal region of mouse chromosome 17 contains many genes affecting embryonic development, germ cell differentiation, and the immune system. Although the study of natural variation, including t haplotypes, has yielded some information about the function of these genes, spontaneous variants often exhibit manifold genetic effects and are generally not carried on inbred backgrounds. To clearly connect phenotypes with the actions of individual genes, mutants in which genes are altered singly are needed. Therefore, we used a highly efficient point mutagen, N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea, in combination with classical breeding schemes to induce and identify recessive lethal mutations in the t region. Of 350 mutagenized gametes examined, at least 10 independent recessive embryonic lethal mutations have been identified; an additional two are perinatal lethals. A spontaneous brachyury mutation, TWis, arose on a genetic background that permits high-resolution mapping of the induced recessive mutations against cloned DNA sequences from the t region. One lethal mutation is an allele at the quaking locus. The multiple alleles of quaking and the feasibility of high-resolution mapping permit investigation of the pleiotropic action of this locus in mammalian development.


This paper presents a comprehensive numerical and experimental study of Planar Inverted-F Antennas (PIFA) involving all the parameters which may affect the characteristics of PIFA. It is found that PIFA characteristics are affected by a number of parameters including the dimensions of the ground plane, length, width, height and position of the top plate, positions and widths of shorting pin/plate and feed pin/plate. It is also found that the width of feed plate plays an important role in broadening the antenna bandwidth. It is shown that a fractional impedance bandwidth up to 65% can be obtained using an optimized design. Furthermore, a new empirical formula is introduced for the estimation of the central operational frequency of PIFA. These results are very useful for aiding PIFA design in practical applications.


In the context of increased emphasis on quality assurance of teaching, it is crucial that student evaluations of teaching (SET) methods be both reliable and workable in practice. Online SETs particularly tend to raise criticisms with those most reactive to mechanisms of teaching accountability. However, most studies of SET processes have been conducted with convenience, small and cross-sectional samples. Longitudinal studies are rare, as comparison studies on SET methodological approaches are generally pilot studies followed shortly after by implementation. The investigation presented here significantly contributes to the debate by examining the impact of the online administration method of SET on a very large longitudinal sample at the course level rather than attending to the student unit, thus compensating for the inter-dependency of students' responses according to the instructor variable. It explores the impact of the administration method of SET (paper based in-class vs. out-of-class online collection) on scores, with a longitudinal sample of over 63,000 student responses collected over a total period of 10 years. Having adjusted for the confounding effect of class size, faculty, year of evaluation, years of teaching experience and student performance, it is observed that the actual effect of the administration method exists, but is insignificant.


Improving rural health service delivery is a major challenge in India as 73 percent of its population resides in rural areas. Recognizing the need to improve rural health service delivery, the Government of India launched the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in 2005. The NRHM aims to undertake architectural correction of the rural health system through communitization, improved management, flexible financing, innovations in human resource management, and strengthened monitoring against standards.This paper describes an innovative leadership development and organizational effectiveness intervention for district health teams comprising district and block (sub-district) level health officials in three districts of Jharkhand, a state with low socio-economic conditions. The intervention over a period of three years comprised of a sequence of short-term training programmes in leadership and organizational effectiveness with on-the-job support through follow-up between training programmes. The intervention led to increased focus on health system performance by the district health teams in these districts although the results varied.The district health teams strengthened public-private partnerships, accelerated communitization process, improved functionality of facilities, and demonstrated role models. However, several factors also limited the potential impact of the intervention. These include serious human resource constraints, frequent transfers of district heads, procedural hurdles in funds flow from state to districts and quality of governance. Despite these constraints, leadership development and organizational effectiveness intervention is an effective instrument for strengthening rural health system. The paper presents recommendations on how its impact can be further increased.


We present our first efforts towards building a single multilingual automatic speech recognition (ASR) system that can process code-switching (CS) speech in five languages spoken within the same population. This contrasts with related prior work which focuses on the recognition of CS speech in bilingual scenarios. Recently, we have compiled a small five-language corpus of South African soap opera speech which contains examples of CS between 5 languages occurring in various contexts such as using English as the matrix language and switching to other indigenous languages. The ASR system presented in this work is trained on 4 corpora containing English-isiZulu, English-isiXhosa, English-Setswana and English-Sesotho CS speech. The interpolation of multiple language models trained on these language pairs enables the ASR system to hypothesize mixed word sequences from these 5 languages. We evaluate various state-of-the-art acoustic models trained on this 5-lingual training data and report ASR accuracy and language recognition performance on the development and test sets of the South African multilingual soap opera corpus.


A theoretical analysis of the conditions and ignition of a drop of water–carbon fuel has been carried out. A mathematical model of the ignition process has been developed, which is characterized by well-known descriptions of the processes of interaction of gaseous combustible (volatile) and oxidative (air) components near the surface of the drop (and after the particle drying). The analysis of the influence of the kinetic scheme of the process of thermochemical reaction and oxidation on the main characteristics of the ignition of drops of water–carbon fuel (ignition delay time—tᵢgₙ) has been carried out. The comparison of the experimental and theoretical values has shown their good correspondence. The experiments have been carried out on the facility that provides the conditions adequate to the characteristic zones of the steam and hot water boilers. According to the results of mathematical modeling, the prognostic potential of two significantly different kinetic models of oxidation of the main gaseous combustible components of pyrolysis products (carbon monoxide CO, hydrogen H₂, and methane CH₄) has been analyzed. It has been established that the one-stage model of volatile ignition describes the ignition process quite well in the induction period. The deviations in the ignition delay times obtained in the framework of two different kinetic models do not exceed 5% over the entire range of variations in the heating conditions possible in practice. The results of numerical simulation show that taking into account the multistage nature of gas-phase ignition reactions of water–coal fuel particles (oxidation of hydrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide with air oxygen) does not lead to significant (in the practice of fuel combustion processes) changes in ignition delay times.


Background and Hypothesis:
In the US today, over 95% of healthcare institutions operate using the electronic health record (EHR). While proven to be a substantial improvement to medical practice, the substantial amount of retained information within those records has made searching the EHR for relevant material difficult and too time consuming. We hypothesize that by providing a search function within the EHR with added capability of collaborative filtration, physicians will be better able to retrieve important patient information and thus provide more efficient care.

Project Methods:
Emergency Department physicians of Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital and Indiana University Health Hospital were recruited to partake in this study based on their use and familiarity of the EHR Cerner and/or Health Information Exchange (HIE) CareWeb Search function. Participants filled out a pre-interview, Likert-scale questionnaire to determine their general impressions of search functions and the frequency with which they were used. Additional insight was obtained during an interview focusing on participants' previous experiences searching within the EHR/HIE. Participants were then shown a mock-up of potential collaborative filtering integration into CareWeb in order to collect opinions regarding the feature's usability/practicality, display/format, and a number of suggested terms.

Results:
From the pilot study, current challenges that limit clinician search function use include limited time in clinician workflow, information overload, and inaccurate results. Clinicians are more likely to conduct searches when treating patients who have limited medical history, complex histories, known recent visitations, and/or who have been seen at other institutions. Participants demonstrated interest in a collaborative filtration search feature; they expressed a preference to have the feature recommend five related search terms.

Potential Impact:
The data from this study aims to refine the way healthcare providers search within the EHR/HIE. This will allow healthcare providers to more efficiently extract relevant patient information for improved healthcare delivery and proficient clinician workflow.


Every modern car has a remote control for wireless unlocking. Wireless drivers for unlocking the vehicle using frequency in the ISM bands. ISM bands are unlicensed bands. They are usually used for industrial, medical and scientific purposes. The question is whether wireless transmission parameters are sufficient and do not violate defined range of ISM band. Another important aspect is the security of the wireless transmissions and any other signal interference. The problem of interference plays an important role in ensuring the quality and safety of wireless communications, especially when wireless networks can be found everywhere. The issues of remote control vehicles is very important due to the resulting security of a guarded vehicle. One of the major risks that may occur are data transmission that the signal is blocked by another signal and the end user does not notice. In this case, does not lock the vehicle nor ensuring its securing security system. Tests which were performed accurately determined the bandwidth of broadcast remote control for each vehicle. Vehicles for which the tests were conducted are standard vehicles used to frequent occurrence. These are the following types: Alfa Romeo, Hyundai, Mercedes, standard broadcast of jammers. All test drivers worked in the band ISM433. These tests clearly demonstrated that not every manufacturer strictly observes ranges of ISM band. This may affect traffic on surrounding licensed bands.


Ankle/foot pain is a common complaint encountered in clinical practice. Currently, due to the complex anatomy, the diagnosis and management of the underlying musculoskeletal disorders are extremely challenging. Nowadays, high-resolution ultrasound has emerged as the first-line tool to evaluate musculoskeletal disorders. There have been several existing protocols describing the fundamental sonoanatomy of ankle/foot joints. However, there are certain anatomic structures (e.g., Lisfranc ligament complex or Baxter nerve) which are also clinically important. As they are rarely elaborated in the available literature, a comprehensive review is necessary. In this regard, the present article aims to brief the regional anatomy, illustrate the scanning techniques, and emphasize the clinical relevance of the ankle/foot region.


Changes in the conceptrations of guanosine 3'-diphosphate 5'-diphosphate (ppGpp) in Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides f. sp. denitrifican.r were followed during adaptation for growth under denitrifying conditions. The addition of nitrate or nitrite to photosynthetically-grown 32Plabelled cells resulted in a rapid intracellular accumulation of [32P]ppGpp. Coincident with the rise in concentration of the nucleotide there was an abrupt decrease in the rate of [3H]uridine incorporation into acid-precipitable cell material. Under these conditions an enhancement of nitrate and nitrite reductase activities was observed. However, washed cells preincu bated with 5 mM-ascorbate for 60 min did not accumulate ppGpp in response to the addition of nitrate, but the denitrifying enzymes were synthesized. The data indicate an involvement of ppGpp in regulating denitrification, possibly in response to changes in the distribution of available reducing equivalents between photosynthesis and denitrification linked electron transfer when nitrate is included in the growth medium.


A 2-phase study was conducted to evaluate the ability of the NEB-1 strain of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) to potentiate common bacterial pathogens of swine. In phase I, 25 of 50 4-5-week-old specific-pathogen-free (SPF) pigs were exposed to NEB-1 PRRSV (day 0). Seven days after virus inoculation, 8 groups received 1 of 4 bacterial pathogens: Haemophihs parasuis, Streptococcus suis, Salmonella cholerasuis, and Pasteurella multocida. The ability of NEB-1 PRRSV to produce clinical disease, viremia, neutralizing antibody, gross and microscopic lesions and to potentiate bacterial pathogens was assessed. Response to NEB-1 PRRSV was similar among inoculated pigs; prolonged hyperthermia, lethargy, mild to moderate dyspnea, and cutaneous erythema were consistent clinical signs. No clinical differences were observed in groups after bacterial challenge. Virus was isolated from serum at weekly intervals through the end of the study, and all PRRSV-inoculated pigs had seroconverted by study termination. Two of 5 pigs died in non-PRRSV-inoculated groups challenged with H. parasuis and Streptococcus suis. Mortality in PRRSV-infected pigs was limited to 1 of 5 pigs from the Salmonella cholerasuis-challenged group. Gross lesions were seen in pigs dying after inoculation in H. parasuis- and Streptococcus suis-inoculated groups, in Salmonella cholerasuis-and P. multocida-challenged pigs, and in 1 non-PRRSV-inoculated control pig. Microscopic lesions consisted of mild to moderate proliferative interstitial pneumonia, nonsuppurative myocarditis, lymphoid hyperplasia, and nonsuppurative encephalitis in PRRSV-inoculated pigs. Findings in phase I indicated that NEB-1 PRRSV does not potentiate bacterial disease while inducing consistent clinical signs, viremia, seroconversion, and microscopic lesions. Based upon initial findings in phase I, in phase II, 18 of 36 4-6-week-old SPF pigs were exposed to NEB-1 PRRSV (day 0). Two days after virus inoculation, 2 of 4 groups were exposed to either Streptococcus suis or P. multocida. Clinical findings were similar to those of phase I. One of 6 pigs died in each of the Streptococcus suis-challenged groups. Animals succumbed 3 and 5 days after bacterial challenge in the non-PRRSV-inoculated and PRRSV-inoculated groups, respectively. Mild gross and microscopic pulmonary lesions were observed. Phase II findings support the conclusions of phase I that NEB-1 PRRSV does not potentiate certain bacterial infections of swine.


Intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration is associated with low back pain (LBP). It has been suggested that changes in the IVD physio-chemical microenvironment (i.e. hypoxia, reduced nutrient and acidic conditions) may lead to disc degeneration. Studying the response of human nucleus pulposus (NP) cells to these conditions could establish the causal relationship between IVD microenvironment and aberrant cellular behaviour, characteristic of disc degeneration. Human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) are a promising cell population for disc regeneration. However, knowledge of their survival and functioning in the microenvironment of the IVD is still lacking. Moreover, in vitro co-culture model studies that are used to study MSC/disc cell interaction, also need to consider the effect of the microenvironment on cellular responses. BM-MSCs and degenerate NP cells were cultured alone or co-cultured in monolayer under hypoxia (2%O2), reduced nutritional (2% serum or/and 5mM glucose) and acidic (moderate pH 6.8 or severe pH 6.5) conditions alone or in combination for 7 days. Cell viability, proliferation, gene and protein expression was assessed. Degenerate NP cells and BM-MSCs maintained good cell viability under all conditions. Both cell types demonstrated overall similar proliferation and gene and protein responses under the majority of the conditions and combinations studied. Hypoxia promoted aggrecan and versican matrix biosynthesis in both cell types. Nutrient deprived and moderate acidic conditions (pH 6.8) inhibited proliferation of both cell types. Interestingly the combination of hypoxia with these conditions showed a protective effect in modulating cell proliferation. These results imply that hypoxia may be beneficial in some instances. Nutrient deprived conditions had a relatively minor effect on degenerate NP cell gene and protein expression but these conditions specifically inhibited VCAN expression in BM-MSCs. The combination of hypoxia with these conditions increased or restored VCAN expression. Interestingly the combination of hypoxia with reduced glucose conditions increased aggrecan and versican matrix biosynthesis in both NP cells and BM-MSCs. The combination of hypoxia and complete nutrient deprived conditions (both reduced serum and reduced glucose) impaired ACAN, VCAN and PAX-1 gene and aggrecan and versican protein expression in degenerate NP cells implicating disc hypoxia and complete nutrient deprived combined microenvironment in accelerating degenerate changes in NP cells. In contrast, these conditions showed no such detrimental effects on BM-MSC gene and protein expression. pH 6.5 was critical for both cell types proliferation and ACAN and VCAN gene expression suggesting that severe acidic conditions may exacerbate degenerative changes and be inhibitory for implanted MSCs. Finally, a combination of hypoxia, complete nutrient deprived and moderate acidic conditions, reduced cell proliferation without affecting the gene expression profile of both cell types. IVD-like physio-chemical microenvironmental conditions also appeared to influence differentiation of BM-MSC and modulation of degenerate NP cell phenotype observed during co-culture. Noticeably hypoxia, reduced serum or reduced glucose conditions stimulated BM-MSC differentiation and modulation of degenerate NP cell phenotype. Hypoxia also increased or recovered changes at gene expression level in both BM-MSCs and degenerate NP cells under nutrient deprived (reduced serum or/and reduced glucose) conditions during co-culture. Degenerate NP cell and BM-MSC co-culture also showed noticeable increase in aggrecan and versican biosynthesis under hypoxia and reduced glucose combine conditions, implicating these in improving the co-culture responses. Severe pH condition alone, pH 6.8 in combination with hypoxia and finally all IVD-like physio-chemical conditions together compromised co-culture responses. Such results imply that IVD-like physio-chemical microenvironmental conditions may influence MSC based regenerative outcomes. This work has increased our understanding about the influence of disc harsh microenvironment on degeneration and regeneration processes.


Water-storage containers are common in households where access to water is scarce and often act as breeding sites for vector mosquitoes. Bacteria in these containers may be important for attracting or repelling ovipositing mosquitoes. We hypothesized that bacterial community composition in water-storage containers would represent either inhibitory or suitable environmental conditions for mosquito larvae. To investigate this, we characterized the bacterial community composition in water-storage containers and correlated these communities to Aedes and Anopheles larval densities. Water samples were collected over two years from 13 containers in an Indian village and analyzed by high throughput 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Comparisons of bacterial community composition between water with and without mosquito larvae showed that Xanthomonadaceae, Comamonadaceae and Burkholderiaceae were more common (P < 0.05) in absence of larvae, while Lachnospiraceae, Synechococcaceae, Alcaligenaceae and Cryomorphaceae were more common (P < 0.05) in presence of larvae. Indicator analysis identified operational taxonomic units designated as CL500-29 marine group (Acidimicrobiaceae) and FukuN101 (Microbacteriaceae) for absence and presence of larvae, respectively. These results contribute to the understanding of which bacteria, directly or indirectly, can be linked to absence or presence of mosquitoes around households and set the basis for potential measures to be taken against these vector mosquitoes.


Cutaneous melanoma, developed from cutaneous melanocytes, is an aggressive tumor - responsible for more than 80% of death from skin cancer - with an incidence that continuously increases all over the world. Vitiligo is an acquired skin depigmentation due the autoimmune destruction of melanocytes. This disease can be isolated, associated to other autoimmune disorders, or sometime associated to melanoma. Interestingly, development of vitiligo in melanoma patients is associated with a better overall survival. Melanoma is considered a very "immunogenic" tumor that can induce spontaneous anti-tumor responses. Even when these responses are detectable, they usually have a poor clinical impact, with no or very partial tumor regression. Many tumor escape mechanisms can explain this failure of the immune system to eradicate the tumor. Melanocyte-specific T cell responses, similar to those observed in melanoma patients, are detected in vitiligo patients. In this context these T cells do result in the destruction of melanocytes, and induce the autoimmune depigmentation of the skin. Studying why T cell with the same specificity are able to kill their target in one disease - vitiligo-, and inefficient in another – melanoma – is a way to optimize immunotherapy of melanoma.


A mobile robot we have developed is equipped with sensors to measure range to landmarks and can simultaneously localize itself as well as locate the landmarks. This modality is useful in those cases where environmental conditions preclude measurement of bearing (typically done optically) to landmarks. Here we extend the paradigm to consider the case where the landmarks (nodes of a sensor network) are able to measure range to each other. We show how the two capabilities are complimentary in being able to achieve a map of the landmarks and to provide localization for the moving robot. We present recent results with experiments on a robot operating in a randomly arranged network of nodes that can communicate via radio and range to each other using sonar. We find that incorporation of inter-node measurements helps reduce drift in positioning as well as leads to faster convergence of the map of the nodes. We find that addition of a mobile node makes the SLAM feasible in a sparsely connected network of nodes


The UMLS Metathesaurus and the Semantic Network (SN) were created in the absence of a comprehensive curated genomics terminology and before the recent quantitative and qualitative explosion of genomic knowledge. In this paper we evaluate the internal consistency of the SN's categories relevant to genomics and propose changes to improve its ability to express genomic knowledge. We evaluate the completeness of the SN with respect to genomic concepts by extracting genomics vocabulary from leading texts and databases of genomic information and comparing the extracted vocabulary to the SN. We propose corresponding extensions to the SN to fill identified gaps.


Background: Some social, medical or functional aspects are associated with a greater use of health care resources, although this does not necessarily imply an inappropriate usage of the same. The aim of this research is that of ascertaining the influence of health condition on hospital stays and inappropriate stays among the population over 64 years of age. Methods: A cohort representative of the population over age 64 in the Judicial District of Toledo (n=3214) whose health condition had been previously evaluated was studied over an eighteen-month period identifying the income and length of stays at the public hospitals, the appropriateness of which was evaluated by the Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol. Associations analyzed were those of the cohort socio-demographic characteristics, health condition-related variables and morbidity with frequency and hospitalization rates and with inappropriate stays and admissions. Results: During the 18 months of study 410 individuals were hospitalized, who generated 546 admissions (frequency rate=17.0 admissions/100 rooms) and 7015 stay days (hospitalization rate = 218.3 stays/100 rooms). 18.9% of the admissions and 49.9% of the stays were evaluated as inappropriate. Hospitalization was associated with a worse health condition, institutionalization, male sex, certain pathologies and previous health services usage. Patients characteristics were not associated with the percentage of inappropriate stays. 97.5% of inappropriate stays were attributed to hospital scheduling problems and physicians' practices. Conclusions: Socio-demographic factors, morbidity, health condition and previous health service usage are shown as good hospitalization predictors for senior citizens, but these factors are not related to inappropriate hospitalization usage.


Holliday et al suggested that rehydration in hypovolaemic children with acute gastroenteritis should be by rapid infusion of isotonic saline.1 The authors refer to studies demonstrating a faster return of antidiuretic hormone (ADH) levels to normal as a marker for the restoration of intravascular volume in children receiving rapid intravascular volume expansion. The authors also mention that ADH secretion in children with gastroenteritis is stimulated by nausea and vomiting. Nausea and vomiting is fuelled by starvation ketosis2 in dehydrated children with gastroenteritis. In addition to gastroenteritis induced acidosis, the rapid application of isotonic saline also predictably causes significant hyperchloraemic acidosis by reducing the strong anion gap.3 Induction of hyperchloraemic acidosis has been demonstrated in double-blind randomised controlled trials of patients receiving rapid isotonic saline infusions as volume replacement therapy during operations in theatre.4 The resulting hyperchloraemic acidosis can reduce gastric perfusion and the glomerular filtration rate,5 and prompt the administration of unnecessary additional fluid boluses by physicians who may think the metabolic acidosis is caused by hypovolaemia. Isotonic saline infusion is also unable to switch off ketogenesis, leaving the patient exposed to nauseating amounts of ketone bodies. Glucose application is essential to reduce ketone bodies by stimulating insulin secretion and thus switching off ketogenesis.6 The authors also seem to advocate …


: Honey has been used long ago to treat wounds and cutaneous ulcers, and its healing properties have recently been rediscovered. Its applications on wounds or infected burns give satisfactory results. In a study of 40 patients with wounds of various origin honey provided healing in 88 percent of the cases. At the end of the healing process a few microorganisms were isolated from the wounds, but they did not prevent consolidation. This treatment, therefore, seems to be effective; moreover, as it is simple and inexpensive it should be better known and added to the list of commonly used antiseptic products.


This paper addresses top-down end-to-end user-oriented performance requirements pertaining primarily to voice and digital data services. The discussion of requirements for voice parameters accounts for the performance of existing analog and mixed analog/digital networks, as well as the likely effects on performance of short, medium, and long term evolution toward the ultimate all digital ISDN. The requirements for digital data parameters necessarily reflect an evolutionary process which is less consistent than for voice, and therefore these requirements are less definitive in nature. The discussions of voice and digital data performance apply largely to a wide variety of appropriate network designs, transmission schemes, and switching architectures. Both traditional parameters, as well as contemporary parameters associated with new and evolving systems, are considered. The emphasis is on the performance of nation-wide public and private networks, but the paper also considers the constraints of international connections.


The development of molecular markers for genomic studies in Mangifera indica (mango) will allow marker-assisted selection and identification of genetically diverse germplasm, greatly aiding mango breeding programs. We report here our identification of thousands of unambiguous molecular markers that can be easily assayed across genotypes of the species. With origin centered in Southeast Asia, mangos are grown throughout the tropics and subtropics as a nutritious fruit that exhibits remarkable intraspecific phenotypic diversity. With the goal of building a high density genetic map, we have undertaken discovery of sequence variation in expressed genes across a broad range of mango cultivars. A transcriptome sequence reference was built de novo from extensive sequencing and assembly of RNA from cultivar 'Tommy Atkins'. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in protein coding transcripts were determined from alignment of RNA reads from 24 mango cultivars of diverse origins: 'Amin Abrahimpur' (India), 'Aroemanis' (Indonesia), 'Burma' (Burma), 'CAC' (Hawaii), 'Duncan' (Florida), 'Edward' (Florida), 'Everbearing' (Florida), 'Gary' (Florida), 'Hodson' (Florida), 'Itamaraca' (Brazil), 'Jakarata' (Florida), 'Long' (Jamaica), 'M. Casturi Purple' (Borneo), 'Malindi' (Kenya), 'Mulgoba' (India), 'Neelum' (India), 'Peach' (unknown), 'Prieto' (Cuba), 'Sandersha' (India), 'Tete Nene' (Puerto Rico), 'Thai Everbearing' (Thailand), 'Toledo' (Cuba), 'Tommy Atkins' (Florida) and 'Turpentine' (West Indies). SNPs in a selected subset of protein coding transcripts are currently being converted into Fluidigm assays for genotyping of mapping populations and germplasm collections. Using an alternate approach, SNPs (144) discovered by sequencing of candidate genes in 'Kensington Pride' have already been converted and used for genotyping.


This study investigates the possibility of implementing national psychological defence measures utilizing social media. These measures are understood as an exercise of political power and are contextualised in the contemporary global information arena using Castells theory of communication power in the network society, while employing PSYOPS methodology to further understand the tactical dimensions. It also attempts to evaluate the prevalence of "filter bubbles" and the potential hindrance such may be to successful implementation. Results show that key audiences can be reached and effectively influenced through the use of social media advert targeting systems and open source, fact-based information campaigns.


We report that cells refractory to canine coronavirus (CCV) and feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV) became susceptible when transfected with a chimeric aminopeptidase-N (APN) cDNA containing a canine domain between residues 643 and 841. This finding shows that APN recognition by these viruses is species related and associated with this C-terminal domain. The human/canine APN chimera was also able to confer susceptibility to the porcine transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV), whereas its human/porcine homolog failed to confer susceptibility to CCV and FIPV. A good correlation was observed between the capacity of CCV, FIPV, and TGEV to recognize the different interspecies APN chimeras and their ability to infect cells derived from the relevant species. As an exception, TGEV was found to use a human/bovine APN chimera as a receptor although itself unable to replicate in bovine cells.


Background: Mental health nursing has been reported as a stressful speciality, with low job satisfaction. Method: An extensive literature search was performed aiming to identify and review research studies that investigate variables which influence stress and job satisfaction of nurses working in mental health settings. Results: This review shows that a variety of factors influence stress and job satisfaction of mental health nurses. Among these, clinical leadership and quality inter-professional collaboration between nurses and doctors and amongst nurses are particularly important. Nurses' job satisfaction was found to be influenced primarily by psychological stress and the quality of clinical leadership. Conclusions: The influence of the quality of collaboration amongst nurses and between nurses and doctors on nurses' job satisfaction is uncertain. A strong negative relationship was found between clinical leadership, inter-professional collaboration, stress and job satisfaction. Although a positive relationship between clinical leadership and nurses' job satisfaction was found, the association between clinical leadership and quality of inter-professional collaboration is unclear. The association between these variables and job satisfaction is positive but tenuous. In addition, a positive but weak relationship was revealed between the clinical leadership and the quality of relationships amongst nurses. Organisational issues, lack of nursing staff and patient care were found to be related to ward type mental health nurses' stress emerged as mediating variables between stress and job satisfaction. A hypothetical model of the relationships between these variables is presented for testing at a future study.


Objective. To investigate the effects of etanercept (ETN) on lipid metabolism and other known cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA). Methods. In an observational cohort of 118 consecutive patients with PsA, CVD risk factors were assessed over 5 years. Mixed-model analyses were performed to investigate the effects of ETN therapy on CVD risk factors over time. Results. Disease Activity Score in 28 joints, C-reactive protein (CRP), and erythrocyte sedimentation rate decreased during therapy with ETN. There was an increase in total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLc), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. The TC/HDLc ratio remained unaltered. The apolipoprotein B to apolipoprotein A-I (apoB/apoA-I) ratio decreased significantly. An increase in CRP was associated with an increase in the apoB/apoA-1 ratio. Conclusion. Serum lipid concentrations showed small changes over a 5-year period of ETN therapy and were inversely associated with inflammatory markers. Other CVD risk factors remained stable. The apoB/apoA-1 ratio decreased over time and an increase in disease activity was associated with an increase in this ratio. However, this modest lipid modulation cannot explain the observed beneficial CV effects of ETN, and ETN likely exerts those effects through inflammation-related mechanisms.


At mid-20th century, U.S. reformers undertook to grow government through reliance upon contractors. The reformers understood that they were engaged in reform of Constitutional dimensions that would challenge the premise that officials should retain the capacity to supervise and evaluate the basic work of government. The reform yielded major successes, but the challenge to the premise of official control remained unaddressed. By consequence, the country never debated and developed a coherent framework - both of law and underlying cultural bedrock - for a world in which the presumption that officials have the ability to account for the work of government is no longer be valid. In this context, the article discusses three competing Constitutional visions or models for holding contractors (and other third parties who perform the government's work) accountable. These visions are: (1) the presumption of regularity/rule of law/public law vision, which, as enshrined in current law and policy, presumes that officials have the experience and expertise to oversee and control government; (2) the governance/accountability vision which, reflecting operative bipartisan political consensus, presumes that public purposes are best performed by a mixture of state, market, and civil society actors and focuses not upon who does the public's work, but on fostering accountability for that work; and (3) the muddling through/common law vision, which accepts that rules of public law should apply to those who perform public tasks and applies them on an ad hoc basis. The article explains that each alternative vision has its strengths, yet each is suboptimal, and provides a roadmap for choosing between and among the alternative visions.


We present a study of candidate galaxy–absorber pairs for 43 low-redshift QSO sightlines (0.06 < z < 0.85) observed with the Hubble Space Telescope/Cosmic Origins Spectrograph that lie within the footprint of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey with a statistical approach to match absorbers with galaxies near the QSO lines of sight using only the SDSS Data Release 12 photometric data for the galaxies, including estimates of their redshifts. Our Bayesian methods combine the SDSS photometric information with measured properties of the circumgalactic medium to find the most probable galaxy match, if any, for each absorber in the line-of-sight QSO spectrum. We find ∼630 candidate galaxy–absorber pairs using two different statistics. The methods are able to reproduce pairs reported in the targeted spectroscopic studies upon which we base the statistics at a rate of 72%. The properties of the galaxies comprising the candidate pairs have median redshift, luminosity, and stellar mass, all estimated from the photometric data, z = 0.13, L = 0.1L *, and log(M*/M⊙)=9.7 . The median impact parameter of the candidate pairs is ∼430 kpc, or ∼3.5 times the galaxy virial radius. The results are broadly consistent with the high Lyα covering fraction out to this radius found in previous studies. This method of matching absorbers and galaxies can be used to prioritize targets for spectroscopic studies, and we present specific examples of promising systems for such follow-up.


Finite difference modeling of elastic wavefields in 2.5D is described in the velocity-stress formulation for anisotropic media. The 2.5D modeling computes the 3D elastic wavefield in a medium which is translation invariant in one coordinate direction. The approach is appealing due reduced storage and computing time when compared to full 3D finite difference elastic modeling. The scheme handles inhomogeneities in mass density and elastic moduli, includes free-surface and perfect matched layers as absorbing boundaries. High order finite difference operator allows the use of a coarse mesh, reducing the storage even more without producing numerical dispersion and numerical anisotropy. Numerical experiments show the accuracy of the scheme, its computational efficiency and the importance of 2.5D modeling in complex elastic media.


All appliances contain an important quantity of steel and iron. These can be further recycled at the end of product usefulness. A component of the appliances is the bodies. These are made from galvanized steel. A study for the zinc coated layer removal from the surface of the galvanized steel, prior to recycling the steel scrap by melting in the steelmaking process is presented.


Cryogenic creep testing methods are examined and evaluated. Because of the difficulty in testing at cryogenic temperatures and the relatively low creep rates that are observed at temperatures below 77 K, cryogenic creep systems must have very sensitive strain measurement capabilities and be extremely stable. A 0.05% change in load or a 0.001 mV change in strain signal over a 200 h test can change the observed creep rate by as much as 10% in high-purity aluminum. An evaluation is made based on experiments using several different loading techniques; comparisons are made to the results of others. Discussions of various data collection methods, test fixtures, strain measurement methods, temperature control methods, and material dependencies are also included.


Background: The incidence of dyslexia in Indian primary schoolchildren has been reported to be 2%–18%, dysgraphia 14%, and dyscalculia 5.5%. India is thought to have approximately 90 million people with varying degrees of learning disabilities (LDs) and an average class in school has about five students with LDs. A recent news article in Times of India states that dyslexia is the most common LD with nearly 35 million children suffering from it. Aim: The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of selected LDs among primary school children through primary school teachers. Methodology: Quantitative, exploratory research approach with survey design was used to assess the prevalence of selected LDs among primary schoolchildren through 100 primary school teachers as samples in selected primary schools students of Delhi using sociodemographic datasheet and structured questionnaire tool. Results: Evaluation of the questionnaire from 100 teachers identified that 784 (26%) students were at risk of developing LDs among 2934 children. The study shows that out of 784 primary schoolchildren identified at risk, 54.9% were identified having dyslexia, while 23.9% were identified having dysgraphia, and 21.1% were identified having dyscalculia. Conclusion: It is concluded that 26% of the primary school students are at risk of developing selected LDs. Teachers whose class students were found to be at risk of developing LDs were asked to see further medical help.


The results of splenectomy for hematologic disorders in 200 patients have been evaluated. Anticipated good results were achieved in all patients with hereditary spherocytosis and over 80% of patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. A hematologic improvement in patients with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, thalassemia, myeloid metaplasia, and malignant hemopathy occurred in a significant percentage of cases. The overall in-hospital mortality was 7% but was totally related to the primary disease process. It was concluded that the results justify broadening the indications for splenectomy in patients with hematologic disorders.


The essence of episodic memory is our ability to reexperience past events in great detail, even in the absence of external stimulus cues. Does the phenomenological reinstatement of past experiences go along with reinstating unique neural representations in the brain? And if so, how is this accomplished by the medial temporal lobe (MTL), a brain region intimately linked to episodic memory? Computational models suggest that such reinstatement (also termed "pattern completion") in cortical regions is mediated by the hippocampus, a key region of the MTL. Although recent functional magnetic resonance imaging studies demonstrated reinstatement of coarse item properties like stimulus category or task context across different brain regions, it has not yet been shown whether reinstatement can be observed at the level of individual, discrete events—arguably the defining feature of episodic memory—nor whether MTL structures like the hippocampus support this "true episodic" reinstatement. Here we show that neural activity patterns for unique word-scene combinations encountered during encoding are reinstated in human parahippocampal cortex (PhC) during retrieval. Critically, this reinstatement occurs when word-scene combinations are successfully recollected (even though the original scene is not visually presented) and does not encompass other stimulus domains (such as word-color associations). Finally, the degree of PhC reinstatement across retrieval events correlated with hippocampal activity, consistent with a role of the hippocampus in coordinating pattern completion in cortical regions.


Learning about and experiencing enterprise whilst at university can lead to enhanced employability and entrepreneurship skills, and can suggest an alternative career option in business start-up or self-employment. However, educators are often resistant to helping their students learn about enterprise and entrepreneurship, or may struggle to fit additional learning opportunities in an already full subject-specific curriculum. This paper offers two case studies showing how students can learn about their subject through enterprise-related assessment tasks such as a tendering exercise or an ideas pitch. In both case studies, the emphasis is on the subject-specific learning, but enterprise and entrepreneurial skills are also acquired. Formal and informal evaluation shows that students are enthused by the tasks, and that staff benefit from increased knowledge of enterprise issues and links with the business community.


Previously, we have established an epsilon library and selected out a series of RNA aptamers with higher affinity to P protein based on the in vitro Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment (SELEX) in duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV) system. In order to study the structural elements within the epsilon that is essential for initiating priming of HBV reverse transcriptase (P protein), all selected aptamers were subjected to in vitro priming assay and RNA secondary structure probing. We found that all those aptamers supporting priming had an undamaged bulge, while those lacking of the bulge no more support priming. Our results suggest an undamaged bulge within Depsilon is indispensable for initiating priming of P protein.


Two different DNA-based techniques viz, simple sequence repeat (SSR) and inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers were used to estimate genetic diversity among 20 rice genotypes possessing different physiological mechanisms contributing to salt tolerance. A total of 11 clear and repeatable bands were amplified from ten selected SSR primers pairs and 43 fragments were detected from nine ISSR primers. The level of polymorphism was 1.1% with SSR compared to 90.7% with ISSRs. Mean genetic similarity of 0.88 based on SSRs and 0.85 using ISSRs was observed. A total of 43 (39 polymorphic) and 11 bands were detected using 9 ISSR primers and 10 well distributed mapped SSR markers, respectively. Estimates of genetic similarity of ISSRs based on the 39 polymorphic markers between 20 rice cultivars ranged from 0.55 for PR108/CSR19 to 0.94 for Pokkali/CSR20 with an average of 0.81. The estimates revealed by the 11 polymorphic SSR bands showed the average value (0.94) and also the range of genetic similarity (from 0.86 to 1.00 for CSR22/CSR18 and CSR24/CSR20, respectively) reflecting their hyper variability and their high resolution power. The findings are likely to expedite breeding new salt tolerant cultivars by involving parents from diverse molecular clusters.


We examined the effects and feasibility of a twice-weekly combined therapy of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) and exercise on physical function improvement in frail and pre-frail elderly people requiring long-term care. We used a crossover design in which the combination of exercise and nutritional interventions was carried out twice a week during cycles A (3 months) and B (3 months) and the exercise intervention alone. The exercise intervention entailed the following 5 training sets: 3 sets of muscle training at 30% of maximum voluntary contraction, 1 set of aerobic exercise, and 1 set of balance training. For the nutritional intervention, 6 g of BCAAs or 6 g of maltodextrin was consumed 10 min before starting the exercise. We determined grip strength and quadriceps muscle isometric strength, performance on the Functional Reach Test (FRT) and the Timed Up and Go test, and activity level. In the comparison between the BCAA group and the control group after crossover, the improvement rates in quadriceps muscle strength and FRT performance were significantly greater (by approximately 10%) in the BCAA group. In the comparison between different orders of BCAA administration, significant effects were shown for the quadriceps muscle in both groups only when BCAAs were given. The combination of BCAA intake and exercise therapy yielded significant improvements in quadriceps muscle strength and dynamic balance ability.


Background The incidence of child labour, especially across the developing nations is of global concern. The use of children in employment in developing economies constitutes a major threat to the societies, and concerted efforts are made by the relevant stakeholders towards addressing some of the factors/issues responsible for the menace. Significant risk factors include socio-demographic and economic factors, including poverty, neglect, lack of adequate care, and exposure of children to various grades of violence, parental education status, gender, place of residence, household size, residence's type or size, wealth index, parental survivorship and household size. Objectives This study, therefore, focuses on identifying socio-demographic/economic and geospatial factors associated with child labour participation. Methods We utilised 2014 Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) from the Ministry health and Population in Egypt, with the record of 20, 560 never married children aged 5-17years engaging in economic activities, in and out of their home. The data focused on demographic and socio-economic characteristics of household members. Multivariate Bayesian geo-additive models were employed to examine the demographical and socio-economic factors for children working less than 16hrs; between 16 and 45hrs and above 45hrours weekly. Results The results showed that at least 31.6% of the children in the age group from 5-10 were working, 68.5% of children aged 11-17 years engaging in child labour (wage), while 44.7 of the children in the age group from 5-10 were engaged in hazard work. From the multivariate Bayesian geo-additive models, the female children (with male children as reference category) working at least 16hrs (OR: 1.3; with 95% CI: 1.2-1.5) are more likely to be engaged in child labour than those working 16 to 45hours (OR: 1; 95% CI: 0.3-1.5). Children born to women without formal education, under non-hazardous jobs, irrespective of the hours spent at work, were mostly exposed to child labour with following percentages: 52.9%, 56.8%, 62.4%, compared to children of mothers with some levels of education. Finally, children that have experienced psychological aggression and physical punishment are mostly exposed to child labour than those without such experience across the job types and hours spent. Conclusion This study revealed a significant influence of socio-demographic and economic factors on the children labour and violence against children in Egypt. Poverty neglects, lack of adequate care and exposures of children to various grades of violence are major drivers of child labour across the country. North-eastern region of Egypt has a higher likelihood of child labour than most other regions, while children who live in Delta are more engaged in hazard work.


As argued by scholars such as Lina Khatib, Ariella Azoulay and W. J. T. Mitchell, the production and circulation of images recorded by citizens played a crucial role during the 2011 Egyptian uprising. The use of images attracted global attention, mobilized action and actively performed the protests' crucial aims to renegotiate the country's body and image politics. The inherent act of protest in citizen photography and the "war of presence" spilled over into the act of archiving the protests as a form of resistance in itself. Consequently, a large number of online archive projects were launched during the 2011 uprising. What role does this large body of visual material and the online archives that store it play today, eight years after the outbreak of the uprising? With a focus on Egypt, this paper asks whether the dynamics of these archives "died" with the violent crackdown on public protest and the increased censorship imposed on citizens by the current military regime. Through an examination of archive "858: An Archive of Resistance" by Mosireen Collective, I propose ways in which digital archives containing images produced by civilians serve as sites on which the "war of presence" can continue to be fought within present-day Egypt.


Recent reports of remarkably high oxide ion conduction in a new family of strontium silicates have been challenged. It has recently been demonstrated that, in the nominally potassium substituted strontium germanium silicate material, the dominant charge carrier was not the oxygen ion, and furthermore that the material was not single phase (R. D. Bayliss et. al., Energy Environ. Sci., 2014, DOI: 10.1039/c4ee00734d). In this work we re-investigate the sodium-doped strontium silicate material that was reported to exhibit the highest oxide ion conductivity in the solid solution, nominally Sr0.55Na0.45SiO2.775. The results show lower levels of total conductivity than previously reported and sub-micron elemental mapping demonstrates, in a similar manner to that reported for the Sr0.8K0.2Si0.5Ge0.5O2.9 composition, an inhomogeneous chemical distribution correlating with a multiphase material. It is also shown that the conductivity is not related to protonic mobility. A density functional theory computational approach provides a theoretical justification for these new results, related to the high energetic costs associated with oxygen vacancy formation.


Abstract The aim of this study has been to compare the aboveground biomass (AGB) in six tropical forests in southeastern Mexico using generic and species-specific models at tree, species, and community levels. The dbh of 2,352 trees ≥10 cm was measured at 115 plots. AGB was estimated using Chave et al.'s generic model, with the most reliable specific equations extracted from the literature and online databases. Overall, we found 45 specific models applicable to 55.4% of the species present. In 30% of the species examined, there was a difference in AGB between the different methods used. Using specific equations at the community level, the estimate for AGB increased by 9.1% (x = 166.6 Mg ha−1 ± 27.5 SD) compared to the generic model alone (p < 0.04). Based on the consistency of overestimation at all sites, we concluded that for these particular tropical rainforests, applying specific models to the small proportion (≤10%) of dominant tree species (≥ 5% relative biomass) was sufficient to improve the accuracy of community level AGB estimates. This justifies increasing the number of databases of specific models particularly for highly productive rainforests. We therefore recommend that this approach be applied to provide further evidence to facilitate model choice.


The work arose from an applied research project commissioned by the
Manpower Services Commission. The aim of the project was to produce
guidelines for effective learning in the Open Tech, based on a thoroughly
researched understanding of open learning at technician level. A review of
the literature led to the proposal that the research should examine
technicians' experiences of learning from a phenomenological perspective,
with particular attention to the intentions and meanings underlying their
approaches. In response to this proposal, a metatheory was formulated to
establish the assumptions on which the research should be based. The
metatheory incorporated a view of man as a natural learner, implying that
the research should seek to understand why natural learning behaviour is
inhibited. The view of science specified that the outcome of the research
should be the development of an appropriate and useful model of
technician open learning.
The development of this model was 'grounded' in the empirical study of
British Telecom open learning students. The study incorporated both an
experimental learning, task and focused interviewing. Notable dimensions
emerging from learners' accounts of their experiences of learning
included: orientations to study, conceptions of learning, and locus of
control in learning. Relationships between these dimensions were explored
and a series of 'procedural steps' was proposed, which outlines the key
processes necessary to effective learning in this context. This empirical
analysis led to the formulation of the 'multi-dimensional' model of
learning, which suggests that meaningful learning arises as a learner
interacts with a task in pursuit of his own learning intentions. On the
basis of this definition it was possible to identify the qualities of
meaningful learning, and to recognise the equivalence of the notions of
meaningful, effective and autonomous learning. The model was tested and
elaborated, using data from a further study of a different group of
technicians undertaking open learning courses. Finally, the practical
applications of the model for the Open Tech were explored.


Purpose of reviewThis review summarizes the recent progress in defining the patterns of genetic evolution giving rise to relapse in follicular lymphoma and multiple myeloma, and discusses their implications with respect to 'personalized medicine'. Recent findingsHigh-throughput sequencing studies have uncovered a large degree of clonal heterogeneity within tumors, and found that subclones have a variable contribution to relapse. Recent studies aimed at defining patterns of clonal evolution have revealed that serial tumors in some malignancies share their ancestry in a less evolved common progenitor cell (CPC) that bears only a subset of the mutations that are present in the fully evolved tumors that present clinically. This pattern of 'divergent evolution' means that the majority of 'actionable mutations' in tumor specimens are absent within the progenitors that give rise to relapse. SummaryFollicular lymphoma and multiple myeloma are clinically, biologically and genetically distinct mature B-cell malignancies. However, recent studies have found them to share important similarities in their patterns of genetic evolution. Tumor cells that constitute subclonal populations within these tumors, or between consecutive tumors, share their origins within a genetically less evolved common progenitor cell. This pattern of evolution indicates that current therapies are unable to eradicate these less evolved populations that are at the root of relapse. This suggests that in order to obtain the best results with modern 'targeted therapies' that are directed towards 'actionable mutations', these mutations should be considered within the context of the evolutionary stage at which mutations are acquired, not simply on a presence or absence basis.


By means of the yeast two-hybrid system, we have discovered a novel physical interaction between the adenovirus E1A oncoprotein and Ran, a small GTPase which regulates nucleocytoplasmic transport, cell cycle progression, and mitotic spindle organization. Expression of E1A elicits induction of S phase and centrosome amplification in a variety of rodent cell lines. The induction of supernumerary centrosomes requires functional RCC1, the nucleotide exchange factor for Ran and, hence, a functional Ran network. The E1A portion responsible for the interaction with Ran is the extreme NH2-terminal region (amino acids 1–36), which is also required for the induction of centrosome amplification. In an in vitro assay with recombinant proteins, wild-type E1A interferes with nucleotide exchange on Ran, whereas an E1A mutant, deleted from the extreme NH2terminal region, does not. In addition, we detected an in vitro interaction between Ran and HPV-16 E7 and SV40 large T antigen, two oncoproteins functionally related to E1A. These findings suggest a common pathway of these oncoproteins in eliciting virus-induced genomic instability.


The difficulty of controlling a wildfire may be increased if the fire involves a linear disturbance. Cured grass allows fire to spread quickly and for extended distances. Accurately predicting fire behaviour and thus understanding possible tactics to slow or stop fire spread require a knowledge of the amount of fuel available to burn. The Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada (FERIC) tested a technique to quickly assess grass fuel loads using a grass disc meter developed in South Africa that is used to determine a relationship between disc height and fuel load.


The effects of aging on the responsiveness of hippocampal neurons to iontophoretic application of L‐glutamate and AMPA were studied in vitro. There were no effects of age on neuronal responses to L‐glutamate; however, CA1 pyramidal cells of old rats, but not granule cells in the fascia dentata, showed both a smaller reduction in extracellularly‐recorded synaptic responses following application of AMPA (presumably mediated by depolarization), and smaller extracellular "DC" fields (measured by subtracting the DC potentials at the dendrite and soma following AMPA application in the dendrites). To examine the cellular bases of this age‐related alteration in AMPA sensitivity, two additional electrophysiological approaches were used: (1) measurement of the amplitude ratios of extracellular EPSP and fiber potential components of the Schaffer collateral‐CA1 response; (2) measurement of intracellularly recorded unitary EPSPs and quantal analysis of their fluctuations. The interpretations that would be placed on four hypothetical possible outcomes of such experiments are outlined and assessed in relation to the experimental data. The pattern of results obtained in the present experiments supports the following conclusions: In old rats, individual Schaffer collateral synapses do not appear to have altered AMPA receptor properties, as neither the mean size of the unitary synaptic response nor the apparent quantal size differs between age groups; however, the data do support the conclusion that there are fewer synapses per Schaffer collateral branch in old versus young CA1 pyramidal cells.


In the present article, I question the claim that a literacy bias is responsible for the fact that major theoreticians underestimated or ignored the role of literacy in spoken language. Instead, I argue that the strongly modular, localist and symbolic information-processing approach to cognition that has dominated psychological science throughout the 20th century has prevented cross-fertilization and the emergence of a unified theory of written and spoken language processing. I show that the recognition of the fundamental role of phonology in reading had suffered from exactly the same "bias", which had eventually been overcome not by breaking the "literacy glasses" but by shifting theoretical frameworks. I conclude by arguing that a marriage between cognitive science, evolutionary biology and neuroscience is needed more than ever to develop a unified, developmentally, biologically and evolutionary plausible theory of written and spoken language.


Simulation has been defined as the representation of something as real. It is necessary for performing the ultrasound-guided vascular cannulation technique correctly. The use of training models for diagnostic or therapeutic procedures: improves the quality of care for patients; decreases stress level that it can produce the realization of a new technique directly on the patient and; can be used as many times as the model is reproduced, also serving as a method for the resolution of some problems that may appear related to the in vivo technique. The evidence shows that simulation plays an important role in the acquisition of skills to perform invasive procedures. The use of ultrasound in vascular accesses whether peripheral or central, arterial, or venous, improves the success rate in the canalization and reduce the complications derived from the technique in certain critical situations (coagulopathy, thrombocytopenia, obesity, etc.) specially in pediatric patients given the variability of depth and diameter of its vessels with respect to the adult population. To facilitate learning in the technique of echoguided puncture, a training model is presented that is easily reproducible, economical and with a high fidelity in relation to the punctures performed on the patient.


This paper investigates the relationship between the propensity to seek for professional advice, financial knowledge and overconfidence, as well as the determinants of financial knowledge and overconfidence for a representative sample of Italian financial decision makers. The demand for financial advice is found to be positively related to financial knowledge and negatively related to overconfidence as measured by the mismatch between perceived and actual capability. High self-assessment of one's own competence turns out to be significantly and negatively associated with high levels of financial knowledge, which in turn is higher among male, wealthier and more risk averse individuals. These findings show that financial advice acts as a complement rather than as a substitute of financial capability, thus confirming the concerns about regulation of financial advice being not enough to protect less sophisticated investors needing it most. Moreover, behavioural traits such as self-confidence do play a role in financial choices and are related with the level of financial literacy. Therefore, investor education programmes may be beneficial not only directly, i.e. by raising financial competence, but also indirectly, i.e. by enhancing people awareness in their financial capability and by hindering overconfident behaviours and behavioural biases. The paper contributes to the regulatory debate on the development of financial advice as a tool of investor protection. It also delivers relevant policy insights for the Italian context, where the vast majority of individuals exhibit both a low degree of literacy and a high propensity towards informal rather than professional advice.


We highlight the need for – and describe initial strategies to find – new digital-optical basis functions and performance merit functions to serve as a foundation for designing, analyzing, characterizing, testing, and comparing a range of computational imaging systems. Such functions will provide a firm theoretical foundation for computational sensing and imaging and enhanced design software, thereby broadly speeding the development of computational imaging systems.


President George W. Bush and Senate majority leader Bill Frist have recently publicly advocated teaching intelligent design in science classes. Their endorsement of a discredited, nonscientific view could signal a huge step backward for scientific education. It is time for educated, motivated scientists to get involved and to educate others.


Recreation of flight trajectory is important among research areas. The design of a flight trajectory recreation and playback system is presented in this paper. Rather than transferring the flight data to diagram, graph and table, flight data is visualized on the 3D global of ossimPlanet. ossimPlanet is an open-source 3D global geo-spatial viewer and the system realization is based on analysis it. Users are allowed to choose their interested flight of aerial mission. The aerial photographs and corresponding configuration files in which flight data is included would be read in. And the flight statuses would be stored. The flight trajectory is then recreated. Users can view the photographs and flight trajectory marks on the correct positions of 3D global. The scene along flight trajectory is also simulated at the plane's eye point. This paper provides a more intuitive way for recreation of flight trajectory. The cost is decreased remarkably and security is ensured by secondary development on open-source platform.


Objective: To evaluate and quantify surgical skill by grading surgical performance of the pancreaticojejunostomy from robotic pancreaticoduodenectomies (RPDs). We hypothesized that video grading of surgical performance would contribute to estimating risk of postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) after pancreaticoduodenectomy. Background: POPF majorly contributes to pancreaticoduodenectomy morbidity. Risk scores [Fistula Risk Score (FRS) and Braga] derived from patient variables are validated for predicting POPF. Birkmeyer et al showed assessment of surgical proficiency is an important component of outcomes. Methods: POPF was diagnosed using International Study Group definition. Technical performance of robotic pancreaticojejunostomy video was graded by 2 blinded surgeons using: (1) pancreaticojejunostomy step-by-step variables [PJ-specific variables (PJVs); max = 115]; and (2) the Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills (OSATS) score. Results: One hundred thirty-three pancreaticojejunostomies were analyzed. POPF was 18%. Higher FRS (P = 0.011) and Braga (P = 0.041) scores predicted POPF. Graders' subjective prediction did not correlate with FRS/Braga scores. Grader 1 scores (P = 0.043), but not grader 2 (P = 0.44), predicted POPF. PJV scores >105 were predictive of POPF (P = 0.039). Scoring only PJV duct-to-mucosa stitches (max = 50) was highly predictive of POPF (P = 0.0053). Higher OSATS scores were associated with a decreased rate of POPF (P = 0.022). On multivariate analysis, adding technical scoring to statistically significant patient variables (ie, gland texture) improves the model and can independently predict POPF. The strongest predictive model for POPF consisted of soft gland (odds ratio = 18.28, 95% confidence interval = 2.19–152.57) and low OSATS (odds ratio = 0.82, 95% confidence interval = 0.70–0.96). OSATS, modeled with FRS or Braga scores, independently predicted POPF. Conclusions: This is the first study to demonstrate that technical scoring of a surgeon's performance independently predicts patient outcomes in pancreatic surgery. Future studies should consider how to validate and incorporate technical metrics.


This paper estimates the investment and subsidy costs that may be needed to bring light-duty battery and fuel cell electric-drive vehicles into the U.S. market in large numbers by 2035, along with the investment costs and subsidies for associated electricity and hydrogen refueling infrastructure. We estimate that during this 20-year transition period, the investments (additional purchase costs) for the vehicles and the first costs of installing refueling stations and charging infrastructure could total $300 to $600 billion dollars. Purchase cost increments for vehicles typically make up 70-80% of these costs. Using a breakeven cost analysis and taking into account fuel savings, we estimate that subsidy levels for vehicles may be 10-20% less than these first cost increments. The separate subsidies required for fuel infrastructure are estimated to be a very small percentage of their investment costs, particularly if hydrogen refueling infrastructure becomes commercially viable after an initial period of introduction in early adopter (or "lighthouse") cities, as we assume in our scenario. Several sensitivity analysis cases do not change the general conclusions regarding the magnitudes of investments and subsidies. These investments and subsidies are found to be a relatively small share of total projected U.S. consumer spending on new vehicles and fuels over the next 20 years, and could be paid for with small percentage fees on new vehicle sales and a few cent increase in fuel taxes.


This essay adapts the concept of "shitty automation," developed by Brian Merchant to name frustrating experiences with automated systems, to describe how human input—our labor, bodies, biases, prejudices, and desires—remains invisibly present in automated systems. Tracing a lineage of automation from Jacques de Vaucanson's Canard Digerateur (1739) and Wolfgang von Kempelen's mechanical Turk (1770) to contemporary artist Trevor Paglen, who uses Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) to create artworks, this essay considers how humans "stay in the loop" in automation and what "shitty automation" reveals about human culture, our desires, and the evolution of AI.


Pakistan has multilingual, widespread canvas of radio, television, print and online media outlets operating at local, national and international levels. In the past one decade, mushroom growth of electronic and online media has revolutionized traditional journalism practices. Private television and FM broadcast industry has accommodated a large number of graduates at notable pay rewards, that has heavily attracted youth to join media education for perusing better career opportunities. Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) has invested generous recourses to strengthen media education curricula, pedagogies and faculty at public sector universities. HEC and public universities are collectively working on empowering teaching faculty, mass communication research and media training facilities for better education of this leading discipline among humanities and social sciences. This paper presents the media education scene in Pakistan by analyzing curricula, training facilities, research and teaching practices at public sector universities of the country. The study considers the public sector universities of all provinces of Pakistan (Punjab, Balochistan, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federal Capita Territory) offering Media/Communication Studies at undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral levels. Content analysis of syllabi/curricula investigates common practices and modern trends in courses offered at various academic levels. It further explores the potential facilities and faculty possessed by each university offering the discipline. Some effective strategies are recommended at the end of this paper to strengthen the quality of mass communication education in Pakistan. The results present inter-university as well as inter-province analysis of media education in the country.


Automated story generation is the problem of automatically selecting a sequence of events, actions, or words that can be told as a story. We seek to develop a system that can generate stories by learning everything it needs to know from textual story corpora. To date, recurrent neural networks that learn language models at character, word, or sentence levels have had little success generating coherent stories. We explore the question of event representations that provide a mid-level of abstraction between words and sentences in order to retain the semantic information of the original data while minimizing event sparsity. We present a technique for preprocessing textual story data into event sequences. We then present a technique for automated story generation whereby we decompose the problem into the generation of successive events (event2event) and the generation of natural language sentences from events (event2sentence). We give empirical results comparing different event representations and their effects on event successor generation and the translation of events to natural language.


We present observations with the planet finder Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch (SPHERE) of a selected sample of the most promising radial velocity (RV) companions for high-contrast imaging. Using a Monte Carlo simulation to explore all the possible inclinations of the orbit of wide RV companions, we identified the systems with companions that could potentially be detected with SPHERE. We found the most favourable RV systems to observe are: HD 142, GJ 676, HD 39091, HIP 70849, and HD 30177 and carried out observations of these systems during SPHERE Guaranteed Time Observing. To reduce the intensity of the starlight and reveal faint companions, we used principal component analysis algorithms alongside angular and spectral differential imaging. We injected synthetic planets with known flux to evaluate the self-subtraction caused by our data reduction and to determine the 5σ contrast in the J band versus separation for our reduced images. We estimated the upper limit on detectable companion mass around the selected stars from the contrast plot obtained from our data reduction. Although our observations enabled contrasts larger than 15 mag at a few tenths of arcsec from the host stars, we detected no planets. However, we were able to set upper mass limits around the stars using AMES-COND evolutionary models. We can exclude the presence of companions more massive than 25–28 MJup around these stars, confirming the substellar nature of these RV companions.


The optimal treatment of adenomas of the papilla of Vater has still not been definitively established, and the endoscopic excision of such lesions has received little attention in the literature. We report here the cases of two patients with familial adenomatous polyposis, in whom ampullary adenomas measuring 8 and 20 mm, respectively, were treated using one-piece snare excision of the lesion together with the papilla (snare papillectomy), followed by temporary biliopancreatic drainage. Procedure-related complications were an oozing-type hemorrhage and a mild pancreatitis, easily controlled by conservative measures. During the 18-month follow-up, one patient had a small recurrence that was successfully retreated. Further endoscopic and biopsy controls were negative. Although limited, our experience and the data in the literature indicate that snare papillectomy is a viable alternative to surgery for benign ampullary adenomas. Excising both the lesion and the papilla offers good oncological debridement and, unlike laser or thermal ablation, allows a complete histological evaluation of the pathological tissue. However, snare papillectomy should always be associated with temporary biliopancreatic drainage before or after the procedure in order to prevent ductal obstruction and serious pancreatitis. This maneuver should therefore preferably be performed by experienced endoscopists trained in therapeutic endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography and hemostatic techniques.


Recent advances in the investigation of brain-gut interaction in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) were reviewed. Brain is suggested to play an important role in the pathophysiology of IBS on the basis of the following evidence. (1) Stress often induces major symptoms of IBS patients (Drossman et al., 1982), simultaneously with colonic hypermotility (Fukudo et al., 1987) or dysmotility of the small intestine (Kumar et al., 1985). (2) IBS patients rarely express symptoms or small intestinal dysmotility during sleep (Kellow et al., 1990). (3) IBS patients complain of more pain with balloon distension of the colon or rectum than normal controls; visceral perception is enhanced in IBS (Whitehead et al., 1990). (4) IBS patients often show psychoneurotic symptoms and extra-colonic somatic symptoms (Young et al., 1976). (5) There are some animal (Williams et al, 1987) or human (Dinan et al, 1990) experiments which indicate the possible involvement of brain peptide or brain monoamine in IBS. (6) Dysrhythmia or increased beta power in electroencephalogram is observed more often in IBS patients than in the normal controls (Fukudo et al, 1991) in addition to abnormal REM sleep in IBS patients (Kumar et al., 1992). These observations support our hypothesis that not only the gut but also the brain show dysfunction and exaggerated responsivity to the stimuli in IBS. Further research on brain-gut interaction in IBS is warranted.