The essay "Polemo. Work in the folk chants from Salento" examines in depth the theme of work found in traditional songs all over the province of Lecce. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Salento peninsula was geographically in a very peripheral position, with an inadequate network of roads, and a poor and underdeveloped economy. Yet, in spite of the local and cultural limits, this little strip of land – where the linguistic island of Grecia Salentina is located – had developed several possibilities of self-sustenance, giving its inhabitants the chance to make the most of their hidden skills. Through their traditional chants, the people from Salento expressed their passions and moods, linked to their working environment, their unstable life conditions and their everyday life. From audio materials, we can get very useful knowledge that helps us to really understand the working dynamics of the lower class people. For example, all the jobs, which don´t exist anymore, once shaped and diversified society. Some of these jobs, such as carpenters or barbers, were preferred to others, being less hard and unstable. The kids used to leave school very early or they wouldn´t attend school at all, and in this case they were directed to do practical activities. Through these songs we understand that women, usually submissive in our stereotypes, were actually independent in their working and domestic contexts. They played an active role in domestic management and, when the cultivation of tobacco plantation was introduced in Salento, they became part of that working world.


ABSTRACT Some firms use hidden knowledge facilitators (HKFs) to facilitate knowledge sharing among employees within intrafirm online communities. These firms hope for enhanced knowledge sharing outcomes within their organizations without letting employees know that HKFs exist. Yet, the extent to which HKFs' interventions are effective remains unknown to researchers and managers. Built on the knowledge sharing (KS) literature, this study explores the unique roles of HKFs as moderators between a company and its employees. We develop several hypotheses to test the impact of the quantity and quality of HKFs' online interventions on several KS outcomes. By analyzing log data of a Chinese corporation's online R&D community, we find that (1) the quantity of HKFs' intervention has a mostly positive impact on KS outcomes; (2) the quality of HKFs' intervention has a mixed impact on several KS outcomes, depending on which aspect of quantity is considered; and (3) the quality of HKFs' intervention also moderates the positive impact of the quantity of HKFs' intervention in different ways on different intended KS outcomes. This study makes a clear contribution to the literature on knowledge sharing and knowledge facilitation by demonstrating the impact of HKFs on KS outcomes in a Chinese context.


Exaggerated cardiovascular (CV) responses to exercise can lead to adverse CV events. Previous studies have reported that P2X3 receptors, found on the peripheral endings of afferents, contribute to an exaggerated exercise pressor reflex in individuals with CV-related diseases. One way to investigate the role played by these receptors in CV pathophysiology is through immunoblotting. The Jess (Protein Simple) provides an automated option for the protein separation and immunoblotting of the traditional Western Blot and allows for total protein staining, an improvement over the use of loading controls to normalize for sample loading variability. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop a protocol, using the Jess, for quantifying P2X3 receptor protein expression in the L4 and L5 dorsal root ganglia (DRG) of healthy and type 1 diabetic rats. METHODS: Streptozotocin (STZ), 50 mg/kg, or a vehicle (CTL) was injected i.p into fasted Sprague Dawley rats (n=7 each group). After a minimum of 3 weeks, L4 and L5 DRG were excised, immediately placed in HBSS, and then stored at -80°C until subsequent analyses. For quantification, samples were lysed and protein was isolated (Macherey-Nagel) and then quantified (Qubit protein assay kit). For an initial Optimization Run a single test sample lysate was used; different protein concentrations (0.1 1.4 mg/ml) were tested against multiple Anti-P2X3 (Novus Biologicals) dilutions (1:25 – 1:250). Sample lysates (3 μl) and required reagents were loaded into a microplate as per manufacturer's instructions and then the microplate and capillaries were loaded into the Jess. Over 3 hours; protein separation, antibody incubations, washes, and detection were all performed automatically within the Jess. The data from that run provided the optimal protein concentration and antibody dilution that were then used for the Sample Run, which involved running the CTL and STZ sample lysates. For the Sample Run, protein normalization reagent was added to the microplate in order to normalize for sample loading variability using total protein staining. RESULTS: Optimization Run A protein concentration of 1.4 mg/ml and a dilution of 1:250 for the P2X3 antibody were found to be optimal. This determination was based on the combination of a low background signal from the antibody and a detectable target protein signal. Sample Run We found that P2X3 receptor protein expression decreased in STZ rats compared to CTL rats (0.82 ± 0.09 vs 1.00 ± 0.19; n=7 both groups, p=0.03). CONCLUSION: Using the Jess, an automated protocol was developed that detected differences in P2X3 receptor protein expression in rats with and without diabetes. Advantages over the traditional Western Blot include: a run time of 3 hours, reduced user-associated variability thru automation, and the capability of using total protein staining to normalize for sample loading variability. Technological advances such as the Jess are a step towards addressing current rigor and reproducibility concerns.


Introduction: The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) is a brief screening and diagnostic tool for depression. It has been used in research and clinical practice in primary care and other clinical and non-clinical settings. The PHQ-9 has not had its validity examined in psychiatric and psychological settings in Iran. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the validation of the Farsi version of the PHQ-9. A convenience sample of 130 Iranian volunteer psychiatric outpatients was selected from psychiatric and psychological clinics. They completed the PHQ-9, the Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15), the World Health Organization-five Well-Being Index (WHO-5), and the short form of the Beck Depression Inventory-13 (BDI-13). Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, Cronbachâ��s I±, Pearson correlation coefficient, principal component analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis. Results: Mean score of the PHQ-9 was 12.83 (standard deviation=6.25), indicating moderately severe depression in the sample. Cronbachâ��s I± coefficient for PHQ-9 was 0.88, and one-week test-retest reliability 0.79. The PHQ-9 correlated 0.64 with PHQ-15,-0.35 with WHO-5, and 0.70 with BDI-13, indicating good construct and criterion-related validity. The results of the factor analysis of PHQ-9 items identified and confirmatory factor analysis confirmed a single factor labeled general depression. Conclusions: The PHQ-9 appears to have a unidimensional structure, adequate validity and reliability, and can be useful in epidemiological/research settings. Based on previous literature and on the present findings, the PHQ-9 may have applicability to other contexts in the studied population, but this needs to be confirmed by other studies. © 2018, Sociedade de Psiquiatria do Rio Grande do Sul. All rights reserved.


An 8-year-old girl was admitted to our department because of acute pancreatitis. She had undergone laparoscopic cholecystectomy 2 weeks previously. A 13-mm dilatation of the common bile duct (CBD) and a biliary tract obstruction next to the papilla were observed on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) during hospitalization (▶Fig. 1). After endoscopic sphincterotomy was carried out during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), proteinaceous material was removed from the distal end of the bile duct (▶Fig. 2), with resolution of the biliary obstruction. When radiographic contrast dye was injected into the distal bile duct, the pancreatic duct, a dilated CBD similar to a choledochal cyst, and a long common channel were observed (▶Fig. 3). Therefore, a pancreaticobiliary maljunction (PBM) was suspected. Subsequently, an intraductal cholangioscopy using the SpyGlass DS Direct Visualization System (Boston Scientific Co., Natick, Massachusetts, USA) was performed to confirm a PBM type I, in which the pancreatic duct enters the CBD (▶Fig. 4; ▶Video1). PBM is a congenital anomaly in which the pancreatic and bile ducts are joined outside the duodenal wall, usually forming a long common channel [1]. There are two modes of junction: type I (pancreaticobiliary type) and type II (biliary–pancreatic type) [2]. The incidence is 4.1% [3] and it may or may not be associated with biliary dilatation (i. e. congenital choledochal cyst). Because of the PBM, the junction is not directly affected by the sphincter of Oddi; therefore, continuous reflux between the pancreatic and biliary juices occurs, which results in protein plugs. Different pathological conditions have been associated, such as acute pancreatitis, gallstones, and biliary cancer (gallbladder and bile duct) [4]. PBM can be diagnosed either by imaging tests (ERCP, percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography, MRI) or surgical examination [5]. We showed that intraductal cholangioscopy using the SpyGlass DS System can be a novel diagnostic tool that allows direct visualization of a PBM.


Previous studies have shown that G9a, a lysine methyltransferase, inhibits autophagy by repressing the transcription of autophagy genes. Here, we demonstrate a novel mechanism whereby G9a/GLP inhibit autophagy through post-translational modification of ATG12, a protein critical for the initiation of autophagosome formation. Under non-stress conditions, G9a/GLP directly methylate ATG12. The methylated ATG12 undergoes ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation, thereby inhibiting autophagy induction. By contrast, under stress conditions that elevate intracellular Ca2+ levels, the activated calpain system cleaves the G9a/GLP proteins, leading to G9a/GLP protein degradation. The reduced G9a/GLP levels allow ATG12 to accumulate and form the ATG12-ATG5 conjugate, thus expediting autophagy initiation. Collectively, our findings reveal a distinct signaling pathway that links cellular stress responses involving Ca2+/calpain to G9a/GLP-mediated autophagy regulation. Moreover, our model proposes that the methylation status of ATG12 is a molecular rheostat that controls autophagy induction.


Automatic Emotion Recognition (AER) is an emerging research area in the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) field.

As Computers are becoming more and more popular every day, the study of interaction between humans (users) and computers is catching more attention. In order to have a more natural and friendly interface between humans and computers, it would be beneficial to give computers the ability to recognize situations the same way a human does. Equipped with an emotion recognition system, computers will be able to recognize their users' emotional state and show the appropriate reaction to that. In today's HCI systems, machines can recognize the speaker and also content of the speech, using speech recognition and speaker identification techniques. If machines are equipped with emotion recognition techniques, they can also know "how it is said" to react more appropriately, and make the interaction more natural.

One of the most important human communication channels is the auditory channel which carries speech and vocal intonation. In fact people can perceive each other's emotional state by the way they talk. Therefore in this work the speech signals are analyzed in order to set up an automatic system which recognizes the human emotional state. Six discrete emotional states have been considered and categorized in this research: anger, happiness, fear, surprise, sadness, and disgust.

A set of novel spectral features are proposed in this contribution. Two approaches are applied and the results are compared. In the first approach, all the acoustic features are extracted from consequent frames along the speech signals. The statistical values of features are considered to constitute the features vectors. Suport Vector Machine (SVM), which is a relatively new approach in the field of machine learning is used to classify the emotional states.

In the second approach, spectral features are extracted from non-overlapping logarithmically-spaced frequency sub-bands. In order to make use of all the extracted information, sequence discriminant SVMs are adopted.

The empirical results show that the employed techniques are very promising.


Due to its ability to solve all main problems associated with digital goods, Digital Right Management is the favourite option used by companies to tackle piracy. The aim of this article is to discuss the consequences of DRM for consumers, firms and society. The rationales of DRM are discussed and the expected benefits for firms are presented. It is shown that the advantages brought by DRM to firms go beyond what would be needed for an efficient provision of digital goods. In contrast, consumers are likely to see few benefits in DRM. This article demonstrates that even a standard DRM system is unlikely to improve social welfare. The article concludes with some public policy and corporate strategy recommendations.


Software product line (SPL) and open source software (OSS) have emerged as successful modes of developing software. There is an increased interest in developing suitable approaches for combining the promised advantages of SPL and OSS. Researchers and practitioners have been emphasizing the need of exploiting the ever growing repositories of OSS components for developing SPLs. However, there is no conceptual model for guiding the process of developing OSS-based SPLs. In this paper, we propose a model for developing software product line using open source software. This paper identifies and elaborates the essential phases and activities of the proposed model of developing OSS-based SPLs. This model emphasizes the vital role of software architecture and asserts that software architectures of OSS can be exploited to establish a SPL. To demonstrate this, we have evaluated Eclipse's architecture for its potential to support different flavors of a system.


We consider the nonlinear eigenvalue problem M(λ)x = 0, where M(λ) is a large parameter‐dependent matrix. In several applications, M(λ) has a structure where the higher‐order terms of its Taylor expansion have a particular low‐rank structure. We propose a new Arnoldi‐based algorithm that can exploit this structure. More precisely, the proposed algorithm is equivalent to Arnoldi's method applied to an operator whose reciprocal eigenvalues are solutions to the nonlinear eigenvalue problem. The iterates in the algorithm are functions represented in a particular structured vector‐valued polynomial basis similar to the construction in the infinite Arnoldi method [Jarlebring, Michiels, and Meerbergen, Numer. Math., 122 (2012), pp. 169–195]. In this paper, the low‐rank structure is exploited by applying an additional operator and by using a more compact representation of the functions. This reduces the computational cost associated with orthogonalization, as well as the required memory resources. The structure exploitation also provides a natural way in carrying out implicit restarting and locking without the need to impose structure in every restart. The efficiency and properties of the algorithm are illustrated with two large‐scale problems. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Studying the interface region of a protein complex paves the way for understanding its dynamics and functionalities. Existing works study a protein interface region by the composition of its residues, by the geometry of the interface residues, or by directly aligning interface regions. Very few works use graphs as the tool for modeling the interface regions. In this work, we use interface residues for forming networks from a set of protein structures, and then find subgraphs that are frequent in those networks. For finding such subgraphs, we use a scalable frequent subgraph mining algorithm, which can mine frequent sub-network patterns of a specific size. We then discover the functional motif along the interface region of a given protein from those mined subgraphs. In our experiment, we use PDB structures from two dimeric protein complexes: HIV-1 protease (329 structures) and triosephosphate isomerase (TIM) (86 structures). The proposed frequent subgraph based approach discovers the graphs representing the dimerization lock which is formed at the base of the structure, in 323 of the 329 HIV-1 protease structures. Similarly, for 86 TIM structures, the approach discovers the dimerization lock formation in 50 structures. Our method captures the locking mechanism at the dimeric interface by taking into account the spatial positioning of the interfacial residues through graphs.


Osteosarcoma is the most common primary cancer of the bone and third most com- mon cancer in children and adolescents with approximately 900 new cases annually in the United States. A major facet of osteosarcoma is its high level of genomic instability, in particular chromosomal instability, which is the result of increased or decreased chromosome number in a cell. Furthermore, pain is the most common symptomatic feature of osteosarcoma that lacks effective therapy. Pain in osteosarcoma is relatively more com plicated than many other painful conditions requiring a more thorough understanding of its etiology, pathobiology, and neurobiology to allow the development of better therapies for reducing pain in osteosarcoma patients. Studies are underway to define the diverse modalities of presentation, growth, development, metastases, and nociception in osteosarcoma. New data from human studies in combination with data from studies incorpo- rating transgenic mouse models of osteosarcoma are providing valuable insights into the mechanisms underlying the development of both the tumor and the tumor-induced pain. These new data will undoubtedly lead to improved prognoses, as well as the development of novel therapeutics that will significantly decrease bone cancer pain.


Turbulent vortices in smoke flows are crucial for a visually interesting appearance. Unfortunately, it is challenging to efficiently simulate these appealing effects in the framework of vortex filament methods. The vortex filaments in grids scheme allows to efficiently generate turbulent smoke with macroscopic vortical structures, but suffers from the projection-related dissipation, and thus the small-scale vortical structures under grid resolution are hard to capture. In addition, this scheme cannot be applied in wall-bounded turbulent smoke simulation, which requires efficiently handling smoke-obstacle interaction and creating vorticity at the obstacle boundary. To tackle above issues, we propose an effective filament-mesh particle-particle (FMPP) method for fast wall-bounded turbulent smoke simulation with ample details. The Filament-Mesh component approximates the smooth long-range interactions by splatting vortex filaments on grid, solving the Poisson problem with a fast solver, and then interpolating back to smoke particles. The Particle-Particle component introduces smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) turbulence model for particles in the same grid, where interactions between particles cannot be properly captured under grid resolution. Then, we sample the surface of obstacles with boundary particles, allowing the interaction between smoke and obstacle being treated as pressure forces in SPH. Besides, the vortex formation region is defined at the back of obstacles, providing smoke particles flowing by the separation particles with a vorticity force to simulate the subsequent vortex shedding phenomenon. The proposed approach can synthesize the lost small-scale vortical structures and also achieve the smoke-obstacle interaction with vortex shedding at obstacle boundaries in a lightweight manner. The experimental results demonstrate that our FMPP method can achieve more appealing visual effects than vortex filaments in grids scheme by efficiently simulating more vivid thin turbulent features.


Introduction PART ONE: BETWEEN ECONOMICS AND ECOLOGY: SUSTAINABILITY IN POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE The Uncertain Quest for Sustainability - Douglas Torgerson Public Discourse and the Politics of Environmentalism Sustainable Development as a Power//Knowledge System - Timothy W Luke The Problem of 'Governmentality' Towards a Sustainable Future - Hector R Leis and Eduardo J Viola The Organizing Role of Ecologism in the North-South Relationship PART TWO: ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY-MAKING: BEYOND INDUSTRIAL IDEOLOGY AND TECHNOCRATIC STRATEGY The Unnatural Politics of Natural Resource Agencies - Michael Black Fishery Policy on the Sacramento River Environmental Technology and the Green Car - Lamont C Hempel Towards a Sustainable Transportation Policy The North American Free Trade Agreement and the Environment - Derek Churchill and Richard Worthington Economic Growth Versus Democratic Politics Environmental Policy in Chile - Eduardo Silva The Politics of the Comprehensive Law PART THREE: TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE: ENVIRONMENTAL VALUES, INSTITUTIONS AND PARTICIPATORY PRACTICES Environmental Values for a Sustainable Society - Robert Paehlke The Democratic Challenge Acid Rain in Great Britain - Maarten A Hajer Environmental Discourse and the Hidden Politics of Institutional Practices Hazardous Waste Policy, Community Movements, and the Politics of Nimby - Frank Fischer Participatory Risk Assessment in the USA and Canada Industrial and Environmental Crisis - Paul Shrivastava rethinking Corporate Social Responsibility Strategic Management and Business Policy-Making - Josephine McCloskey and Denis Smith Bringing in Environmental Values Appendix: Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect - Rodney White Implications for International Environmental Policy


A previously developed deterministic steady state module for modeling methanogenic biofilm reactors has been revised to enlarge the model application range and to deal with system dynamics. Two models for the hydrolysis of non-active biomass representing extreme alternatives: without biomass hydrolysis (model A) and with complete and instantaneous hydrolysis of non-active suspended and attached biomass (model B) were investi- gated. Both models resulted to be suitable for simulating highly anaerobic loaded systems. However, only model B showed good agreement between experimental and calcu- lated values at low organic loading rates. The values of the specific biofilm detachment rate and the specific microbial death rate of the original model were re-estimated for model B based on a set of step-type disturbances on the organic loading rates. At loading rates ranging between 2 to 4 g COD per day per liter of expanded bed applied to a lab-scale fluidized bed reactor, the parameter estimates were 0.0269 Lg -1 d -1 and 0.061 d -1 for the specific biofilm detachment rate and the specific death rate, respectively, with a 95% chi-square confidence level.


The process of DNA condensation into nanometer-scale particles has direct relevance to several fields, including cell biology, virology, and gene delivery for therapeutic purposes. DNA condensation has also attracted the attention of polymer physicists, as the collapse of DNA molecules from solution into well defined particles represents an exquisite example of a polymer phase transition. Here we present a quantitative study of DNA toroids formed by condensation of 3 kb DNA with hexammine cobalt (III). The presence or absence of static loops within this DNA molecule demonstrates the effect of nucleation loop size on toroid dimensions and that nucleation is principally decoupled from toroid growth. A comparison of DNA condensates formed at low ionic strength with those formed in the presence of additional salts (NaCl or MgCl2) shows that toroid thickness is a salt-dependant phenomenon. Together, these results have allowed the development of models for DNA toroid formation in which the size of the nucleation loop directly influences the diameter of the fully formed toroid, whereas solution conditions govern toroid thickness. The data presented illustrate the potential that exists for controlling DNA toroid dimensions. Furthermore, this study provides a set of data that should prove useful as a test for theoretical models of DNA condensation.


Abstract Poling of calcium and zirconium modified lead titanate pyroelelectric thin films has been studied. Poling temperature and electrical field were optimized to achieve high figure of merits. It was found that thermal activation is important to obtain highly poled films. Defect-dipole complexes are supposed to play a major role to retain the polarization and also to enhance it. Porous calcium substituted films achieved an up to three times higer voltage response than zirconate substituted thin films, because porosity decreased the dielectric constant significantly.


OBJECTIVE
This study evaluated a modification of the critical time intervention (CTI) community case management model for homeless veterans with mental illness who were leaving Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) inpatient care. CTI offers time-limited intensive case management designed to negotiate transitions from institutional settings to community living.

METHODS
CTI was implemented at eight VA medical centers through a training program that used primarily teleconference-based case review. A comparison cohort (phase 1) of 278 participants was recruited before CTI was implemented, and a treatment cohort (phase 2) of 206 participants was recruited after implementation and offered CTI. Mixed-regression models were used to compare outcomes in phase 1 and phase 2 and controlled for baseline differences between participants in the two phases.

RESULTS
Measures of client service delivery show that CTI was successfully implemented at most sites. Phase 1 veterans had a better work history and more drug use at baseline than phase 2 clients had. Controlling for these differences, veterans in phase 2 on average had 19% more days housed in each 90-day reporting period over the one-year follow-up (p<.002) and 14% fewer days in institutional settings (p=.041). Veterans in phase 2 also had 19% lower Addiction Severity Index (ASI) alcohol use scores (p<.001), 14% lower ASI drug use scores (p=.003), and 8% lower ASI psychiatric problem scores (p=.001).

CONCLUSIONS
A sustained training program can be used to implement CTI in systems that have little past experience with this approach and can yield improved housing and mental health outcomes.


Introduction Help4Mood is an interactive system with an embodied virtual agent (avatar) to assist in self-monitoring of patients receiving treatment for depression. Help4Mood supports self-report and biometric monitoring and includes elements of cognitive behavioural therapy. We aimed to evaluate system use and acceptability, to explore likely recruitment and retention rates in a clinical trial and to obtain an estimate of potential treatment response with a view to conducting a future randomised controlled trial (RCT). Methods We conducted a pilot RCT of Help4Mood in three centres, in Romania, Spain and Scotland, UK. Patients with diagnosed depression (major depressive disorder) and current mild/moderate depressive symptoms were randomised to use the system for four weeks in addition to treatment as usual (TAU) or to TAU alone. Results Twenty-seven individuals were randomised and follow-up data were obtained from 21 participants (12/13 Help4Mood, 9/14 TAU). Half of participants randomised to Help4Mood used it regularly (more than 10 times); none used it every day. Acceptability varied between users. Some valued the emotional responsiveness of the system, while others found it too repetitive. Intention to treat analysis showed a small difference in change of Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-2) scores (Help4Mood –5.7 points, TAU –4.2). Post-hoc on-treatment analysis suggested that participants who used Help4Mood regularly experienced a median change in BDI-2 of –8 points. Conclusion Help4Mood is acceptable to some patients receiving treatment for depression although none used it as regularly as intended. Changes in depression symptoms in individuals who used the system regularly reached potentially meaningful levels.


We study the problem of estimating the mean of a distribution in high dimensions when either the samples are adversarially corrupted or the distribution is heavy-tailed. Recent developments in robust statistics have established efficient and (near) optimal procedures for both settings. However, the algorithms developed on each side tend to be sophisticated and do not directly transfer to the other, with many of them having ad-hoc or complicated analyses.
In this paper, we provide a meta-problem and a duality theorem that lead to a new unified view on robust and heavy-tailed mean estimation in high dimensions. We show that the meta-problem can be solved either by a variant of the Filter algorithm from the recent literature on robust estimation or by the quantum entropy scoring scheme (QUE), due to Dong, Hopkins and Li (NeurIPS '19). By leveraging our duality theorem, these results translate into simple and efficient algorithms for both robust and heavy-tailed settings. Furthermore, the QUE-based procedure has run-time that matches the fastest known algorithms on both fronts.
Our analysis of Filter is through the classic regret bound of the multiplicative weights update method. This connection allows us to avoid the technical complications in previous works and improve upon the run-time analysis of a gradient-descent-based algorithm for robust mean estimation by Cheng, Diakonikolas, Ge and Soltanolkotabi (ICML '20).


Transfer of compounds across cellular barriers is a critical step of compound uptake into organisms. Using in vitro barrier systems to evaluate such transfer is attractive because of the higher throughput and reduced resource needs compared to animal studies. Thus far, however, studying the transfer of hydrophobic and volatile compounds was hampered by the unavailability of in vitro exposure systems that allow for stable and predictable chemical exposure concentrations. To overcome this limitation, we constructed a novel exposure chamber, TransFEr, and tested it with an in vitro epithelial barrier model using the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) intestinal cell line, RTgutGC. Key features of the chamber are its closed design and rotatable silicon segments, which can serve for chemical dosing and sampling. Using the fragrance damascone beta (log KOW: 3.7, log HLC: −3.9) as a pilot chemical, we were able to demonstrate that our exposure chamber provides for stable chemical exposure concentrations and full mass balance. The RTgutGC epithelium served as barrier for damascone beta transfer, which we attribute to chemical retention and biotransformation in the intestinal cells. Nevertheless, substantial transfer of the chemical across the epithelium occurred. When a chemical sink, i.e. a silicon segment, was included in the basolateral chamber to mimic blood constituents binding in vivo, transfer was about three-fold enhanced. We suggest that the presented methodology can help to obtain insights into chemical uptake mechanisms via the intestinal or other epithelia of fish and other animals for hydrophobic and volatile chemicals.


The PEAR (Power Efficiency though Activity Recognition) framework is presented using an ECG-based body sensor network as a case study. PEAR addresses real-world challenges in continuously monitoring physiological signals. PEAR leverages a wearable sensor's embedded processing power to conserve energy resources. This is accomplished by performing some data processing on the sensor and reducing the overhead of wireless data transmission. A coarse-grained decision tree-based activity classifier was implemented on a sensor node to recognize the sensor wearer's activity level. Using the wearer's activity level, the sensor dynamically manages its activities-sampling of the ECG sensor, processing of the data, and wireless transmission — to minimize overall power consumption. This paper describes the design and implementation of RR interval extraction and activity recognition modules on a SHIMMER sensor node. An activity-aware energy model is presented along with energy profiling results. The level of energy conservation varies with a wearer's level of activity, and a sensitivity analysis shows that PEAR's advantage over standard body sensor network architectures increases with more activity. In a user study, our participants were active 18%–28% of the time. Based on this level of activity, our implementation of PEAR increases battery life up to 2.5 times when compared to conventional ECG sensing approaches. This approach is applicable to a broad range of pervasive health applications that incorporate continuous monitoring of physiological signals.


Computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems must constantly cope with the perpetual changes in data distribution caused by different sensing technologies, imaging protocols, and patient populations. Adapting these systems to new domains often requires significant amounts of labeled data for re-training. This process is labor-intensive and time-consuming. We propose a memory-augmented capsule network for the rapid adaptation of CAD models to new domains. It consists of a capsule network that is meant to extract feature embeddings from some high-dimensional input, and a memory-augmented task network meant to exploit its stored knowledge from the target domains. Our network is able to efficiently adapt to unseen domains using only a few annotated samples. We evaluate our method using a large-scale public lung nodule dataset (LUNA), coupled with our own collected lung nodules and incidental lung nodules datasets. When trained on the LUNA dataset, our network requires only 30 additional samples from our collected lung nodule and incidental lung nodule datasets to achieve clinically relevant performance (0.925 and 0.891 area under receiving operating characteristic curves (AUROC), respectively). This result is equivalent to using two orders of magnitude less labeled training data while achieving the same performance. We further evaluate our method by introducing heavy noise, artifacts, and adversarial attacks. Under these severe conditions, our network's AUROC remains above 0.7 while the performance of state-of-the-art approaches reduce to chance level.


Black deaths in custody To the Editor: In a recent leading article in this Journal, Goldneyand Reser' discussedAboriginal deaths in custody (prisons and police lockups); they concluded (to paraphrase their words) that this complex issue had been confused by Aborigines' dramatic over-representation in custody, which contributed to the (erroneous) impression that they had experienceda greater rate of deaths in custody. Their conclusion (re prison deaths) is based on the similarityofthe figures0.13 (the proportion of Aboriginal deaths in prison over the nine years 1980 to 1988) and 0.15 (the proportion of Aboriginal prisoners in Australia as given by prison census on June 30, 1987). At best, all that can be concluded from this argument is that the probability of being Aboriginal, given that a death occurred on a certain day, is closeto the probability of beingnonAboriginal; it says nothing about the probability of individuals dying ultimately in custody. And even this conclusion of similar risks depends crucially on the typicality of the proportion 0.15, obtained from a census on one particular day during the nine years, whereas in fact such "census" figures show large variations between States, between localities within States, and between and within years. It follows that in some localities, at some times, risks of dying may indeed differ significantly between Aboriginals and nonAboriginals. A thorough analysis of more detailed data than are availablev':" should be undertaken to assess these differences before the very strong conclusion of similar risks is drawn. (The police lockup data as discussed by Goldney and Reser are useless for the purposes even of their calculation since they do not count distinct persons.) Goldney and Reser acknowledge a commonplace in Australian criminology, that the "exposure time" of Aboriginals to incarceration, and henceto the risk of dying in custody, is greater than that of non-Aboriginals. But what is not made clear is how dramatically this difference in exposure to custody can be expected to impinge on probabilities of prisoners' deaths. Exposure time is related to the complexconcept of a person's "criminal career" , and data are currently available in this respect only for Western Australian prisoners. Using such information, we calculate" a higher probability of death in Western Australia for individual Aboriginals as compared with nonAboriginals by a factor of at least 3. The practical effect of this is that, within a given cohort of Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals, a much higher proportion of the former will be observed ultimately to die in custody. The inference to be drawn from Goldney and Reser's discussionis that custodial practices do not contribute to higher risks of Aboriginals dying in custody, and this further implies that racial discrimination or racially insensitive procedures amongst custodial staff do not exist or are irrelevant. Yet such discriminatory attitudes have been documented.s' and to claim that they have no bearing on the quality of custodial practices defies common sense. After over 200 years of abuse, neglect and oppression of the Aboriginal people, much more consideration is due to them than to suggest that, via "misinterpretation and error", no problem in the administration of custody exists. R.G. Broadburst, MPbil R.A. Maller, PbD Crime Research Centre and Department of Mathematics University of Western Australia, Nedlands, WA 6009 I. Goldney RD, Reser JP. Aboriginal deaths in custody. Med J Au., 1999; 151: 181-182. 2. Biles 0, McDonald 0, Fleming J. Australian deaths in custody 1980-1988, Research paper no. 7. Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, 1989. 3. Biles 0, McDonald 0, Fleming J. Australian deaths in prisons 1980-1988. Research paper no. II. Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, 1989. 4. Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (J. Muirhead, Commissioner). Interim report. Canberra: AGPS, 1988. 5. Broadhurst RG, Maller RA. White man's magic makes black deaths in custody disappear, in preparation. 6. Roberts L. Chadbourne R, Murray R. Aboriginal/police relations in the Pilbara: a study of perceptions, Special Cabinet Committee on Aboriginal/Police Relations, Perth. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 1986. 7. Foley M. Aborigines and the police. In: Hanks P, Cohen B, eds. Aborigines and the law. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1980.


This Article is an invited contribution to a symposium held at Duke University Law School under the title "The New European Choice-of-Law Revolution: Lessons for the United States?" The Article disputes part of this title by contending that, unlike its American counterpart, European private international law(PIL) has rejected the route of revolution and has instead opted for a quiet and continuing evolution. Nevertheless, this evolution has produced statutory rules and exceptions that resolve several categories of tort conflicts in the same way as American courts after four decades of "revolution," experimentation, and reinventing the wheel in each case. The quality and efficiency of these rules suggest that revolution is not necessarily the most productive nor quickest route to renewal and improvement. The Article concludes that the European experience can help American conflicts law overcome its innate anti-rule syndrome and develop its own rules without surrendering the methodological or substantive gains of the choice-of-law revolution. Thus, the Article answers affirmatively the question posed by the Symposium's subtitle. The Article also turns the Symposium's question in the opposite direction by asking whether the American conflicts experience holds any lessons for Europe. The Article concludes that a discerning examination of this experience can help European PIL in several ways, including fine-tuning its own choice-of-law rules, allowing more flexible exceptions, overcoming its own phobias against issue-by-issue analysis and depecage, and recognizing and appropriately resolving certain false conflicts.


Few MOOCs offer laboratory work as part of their educational material, yet it is known that hands-on sessions are important components of science and engineering education. Equally important is understanding how students are using labs as part of their learning activity outside the constraints of space and time. In this work we present the initial results of the usage of a remote lab provided as part of a Control Systems MOOC.


As the contribution of renewable energy sources is increasing year over year, the effect of harmonics on power system becomes important, and it requires special attention. In conventional power sources, the harmonics is not generated at the source side; only load side is contributing in the harmonics. But renewable energy sources, particularly wind and solar, are based on power electronic devices, so it generates harmonics. This harmonics may have an adverse effect on the system. Harmonic resonance is one of the phenomena, due to which the harmonics are amplified and give rise to several trivial issues. Various methods are used to control the harmonics in the system. Harmonic filter is one of the simple ways to absorb the harmonics generated at load and generation side. Various filter designs have been found in literature as well as in the field. The filters are classified according to their design, construction and operation method. There are two main categories, active filters and passive filters. The passive filters are widely used due to its simplicity and lesser cost. However, to achieve the better performance, it is also used with active filters, and this combination is known as hybrid filter. The response of filters is modified as per the system requirement using various techniques. In this work, the impedance characteristics of various filters are discussed and analysed. Also, how the control structure of power electronic devices affects or modifies the output impedance of converter is also discussed.


Solution of difficult groundwater flow and transport problems is made easier when the groundwater equipotentials are coupled with streamlines. This approach, embedded in a new formulation of the Complex Variable Boundary Element Method (CVBEM), is shown to readily solve groundwater flow and transport problems. Examples of this method are presented for recalcitrant problems related to flow under a dam, dipole transport, and regional groundwater flow. The presented technique solves the two-dimensional Laplace equation using Ordinary Least Squares (CVBEM/OLS). This strategy is used to determine unknown boundary values at nodes along the exterior boundary. Once all boundary values are known, the problem is reformulated in the complex potential plane to solve for the complex position of specified potential-streamline pairs so that the flownet can be constructed. This strategy greatly simplifies the determination of groundwater flownets, capture zones, solute-front migration, and travel times.


Information systems education objectives must continually adapt to a dynamic marketplace for knowledge and skills. For faculty developing programs that better prepare students for this demanding environment, existing research and guidelines provide a foundation to develop relevant coursework. However, an examination of peer institutions indicates a significant variance in how institutions of higher learning address the requirements of local markets as they prepare their students for careers. This study reviews previous information systems curricula research, examines current guidelines for information systems education, analyzes adherence to those guidelines, and summarizes innovative approaches being used by business colleges in the U.S. to prepare students. Our findings indicate that even as the number of information systems programs decline, colleges are looking for relevant ways to serve their students and communities. For information systems education to remain connected to the marketplace, the value provided by a degree in information systems must be clear to future employers. This paper concludes by offering insights gained by an analysis of thriving programs to assist faculty working on improving their undergraduate information systems curriculum.


This Monograph provides a comprehensive overview of tobacco cessation, from health policy to patient care. Broad in scope, this state-of-the art collection is broken down into four sections: the changing landscape of the tobacco epidemic and challenges to curb it; treatment of tobacco dependence (pharmacotherapy, behavioural support); improving the care of patients with particular conditions who smoke (asthma, COPD, TB, cardiovascular diseases, etc.); and prevention. It also deals with some of the more controversial topics such as e-cigarettes and web applications. Readers will gain an understanding of how to implement smoking cessation into their everyday practice, but will also expand their knowledge about the policy and systems changes needed for population-wide smoking cessation.


Suicide is a complex, multidimensional event with a host of contributing factors. Suicidal emergencies are among other behavioral and psychiatric emergencies that provide the basis for emergency department visits. Therefore, emergency departments are ideal clinical environments for the assessment of suicidal patients. A case example from an emergency department visit is provided as a basis of discussion as we describe subpopulations at high risk for suicide and review critical assessment parameters for the recognition and treatment of suicidal patients. Lastly, factors associated with patient satisfaction and treatment compliance are addressed to promote positive health outcomes among suicidal patients.


Objective: Family meals, particularly those occurring in calm environments, are associated with numerous health benefits for both children and parents. However, families often struggle to share meals, with the frequency declining as kids get older. This qualitative research study aimed to explore the factors influencing family meal behaviors.
Methods: Parents (n=38) and school-age children (n=37) participated in focus group discussions guided by Social Cognitive Theory.
Results: Content analysis results indicate that parents and children believed family meals were important, promoted communication, and strengthened family bonds. Parents and children reported that a calm, enjoyable, conflict-free mealtime environment bolstered mealtime enjoyment and increased the likelihood of regular family meals. Busy schedules were the greatest barrier to family meals identified by children and parents. Strategies for overcoming barriers to family meals identified by parents were similar to those shared by kids and included keeping mealtime conversations positive, altering schedules to accommodate family mealtime, planning ahead, using time saving strategies and recruiting kids to help with meal preparation.
Conclusion: This qualitative research study provides novel insights into parents' and school-age children's cognitions (e.g., beliefs, attitudes), barriers, and facilitators related to family meals. Consideration of these insights during the development of nutrition education interventions has the potential to improve intervention effectiveness in increasing family meal frequency.


In many areas of visual surveillance, the observed activity follows re-occurring patterns. This paper demonstrates how such patterns can be exploited to improve the detection rate of independent event detectors. We present a temporal model based on pairwise correlations between event timings, which efficiently exploits limited training data. This is combined with the response from potentially heterogeneous independent event detectors to improve the robustness of detections over extended sequences. We demonstrate the efficacy of our system with rigorous testing on a large real-world dataset of aircraft servicing operations. We describe the implementation of a binary classifier based on local histograms of optical flow which is used as the independent event detector in our experiments.


Online intermediaries are omnipresent. Each day, across the globe, the corporations that run these platforms execute policies and practices that serve their profit model, typically by sustaining user engagement. Sometimes, these seemingly banal business activities enable principal perpetrators to commit crimes; yet online intermediaries are almost never held to account for their complicity in the resulting harms.

This Article introduces the term and concept of platform-enabled crimes into the legal literature to draw attention to way that the ordinary business activities of online intermediaries can enable the commission of crime. It then singles out a subset of platform-enabled crimes—those where a social media company has facilitated international crimes—for the purpose of understanding and addressing the accountability gap associated with them.

Adopting a survivor-centered methodology, and using Facebook's complicity in the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar as a case study, this Article begins the work of addressing the accountability deficit for platform-enabled crimes. It advances a menu of options to be pursued in parallel, including amending domestic legislation, strengthening transnational cooperation between international and domestic prosecutors for criminal and civil corporate liability cases, and pursuing de-monopolizing regulatory action. I conclude by acknowledging that the advent of platform-enabled crimes is not something that any single body of law is equipped to respond to. However by pursuing a plurality of options to address this previously overlooked form of criminal facilitation, we can make a vast improvement on the status quo.


Provider organizations will need to be in closer touch with their medical staffs in order to successfully anticipate and react to the many changes that lie ahead in the financing and delivery of health care services. This will mean understanding both physicians feelings and expectations. If you were asked today how satisfied your physicians are with your HMO, what would be your reply? How would you know? This staff-model HMO conducted a formal survey of its physicians to determine their expectations of the organization and their level of satisfaction with their work and environment. Such a tool is recommended for others interested in maintaining good relations with their physicians.


Right heart failure may be the ultimate cause of death in patients with acute or chronic pulmonary hypertension (PH). As PH is often secondary to other cardiovascular diseases, the treatment goal is to target the underlying disease. We do however know, that right heart failure is an independent risk factor, and therefore, treatments that improve right heart function may improve morbidity and mortality in patients with PH. There are no therapies that directly target and support the failing right heart and translation from therapies that improve left heart failure have been unsuccessful, with the exception of mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists. To understand the underlying pathophysiology of right heart failure and to aid in the development of new treatments we need solid animal models that mimic the pathophysiology of human disease. There are several available animal models of acute and chronic PH. They range from flow induced to pressure overload induced right heart failure and have been introduced in both small and large animals. When initiating new pre-clinical or basic research studies it is key to choose the right animal model to ensure successful translation to the clinical setting. Selecting the right animal model for the right study is hence important, but may be difficult due to the plethora of different models and local availability. In this review we provide an overview of the available animal models of acute and chronic right heart failure and discuss the strengths and limitations of the different models.


The first goal of this work involved the study of the effect of variables the HDDR processing, such as: the added pressure of H2 in the system, the time of heat treatment and recombination of Pr12Fe65.9Co16B6Nb0.1 alloy with the aim of improving the magnetic properties like the magnetic properties of the Pr14Fe63.9Co16B6Nb0.1 alloy (Br= 865mT and iHc= 790mT). The second aim of the work involved the characterization of HDDR powders that were analyzed by X-ray diffraction for identification and quantification of crystalline phases. These materials were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).


When machine learning is applied in healthcare, exploring the output model is a critical part of research but can also help the healthcare practitioners. We present Health Wellness Profile UI (shortened as HWProfile UI, available at https://hwprofile.eu-de.mybluemix.net), an exploratory interface developed as part of ProACT (https://proact2020.eu), an H2020 European funded project which aims at advancing home-based integrated care through IoT, analytics and a behaviour change framework. This interface has been conceived with the aim of easing the exploration of a holistic model for the person or cohort of patients, based on a Bayesian Network that represents older patients with multimorbidity, with variables scattered on several dimensions (demographics, clinical, behavioural). HWProfile UI demonstrates a novel and interactive way to navigate probabilistic conditional dependencies through a dynamic view, with the goal of being easily understandable by stakeholders coming from different domains (e.g. IT specialists, nurses, psychologists, etc.).


The purpose of the present study was to design a standard battery of tests capable of quantitatively characterizing ataxia and concomitant neurological signs in the rat. In addition to a systematic analysis of the walking gait of animals, tests for activity, catalepsy, rigidity and various reflexive responses were included in the battery. The standardization of the test system was performed by determining and comparing neurobehavioral effects produced by 3-acetyl pyridine, acrylamide, pyrithiamine and thiamine deficiency, four experimental treatments reported to induce ataxia in animals. Results indicate that profiles of neurobehavioral disturbances accompanying ataxia in animals varied distinctively with each experimental treatment.


The large number of coupled lines in an interconnect structure is a serious limiting factor in simulating high-speed circuits. Waveform relaxation based on transverse partitioning has been previously presented to address this problem for interconnects with constant per-unit-length parameters. This paper extends the waveform relaxation technique to handle the more difficult and important case of frequency-dependent parameters. The computational cost of the proposed algorithm grows linearly with the number of coupled lines


A summary of information is presented for 122 Soviet peaceful nuclear explosions (PNE) detonated during the 1965 to 1988 time period. The data presented include detonation times, locations, explosion yields, and depths of burial, as well as summary information regarding the explosion configurations and source emplacement media. This summary is intended to provide a concise reference for use in research studies of the seismic data recorded from this unique set of explosion sources.


Background and Objective: Hand dermatitis is the most common subtype of occupation-related skin disease. Regardless of its underlying cause, hand dermatitis results in significant impairment and a negative impact on quality of life. Any case of unilateral hand dermatitis should have a high index of suspicion for an allergic contact dermatitis. Conclusion: We report two cases of unilateral hand dermatitis. The first case is a 53-year-old female with a unilateral dermatitis of the left hand. The second case is a 53-year-old male with dermatitis of the right hand. Both cases highlight an interesting presentation of unilateral hand allergic contact dermatitis secondary to an occupational exposure.


Numerical and experimental results on the effect of randomness in superlattices having a small number of randomly distributed well widths are reported. The numerical results indicate the splitting of the extended state miniband into sub-minibands of localized states having a disorder-induced fine structure. The comparison between the experimental results for low-temperature absorption spectra and the computed joint density of states of the investigated samples confirms the predicted features. The high-temperature photoluminescence intensity of random superlattices is observed to be enhanced with respect to the ordered case.


In electrical discharge machining (EDM), material is removed by a series of electrical discharge between the electrode (tool) and the workpiece that develops a temperature of about 8,0000C to 12,0000C. Due to high temperature of the sparks, work material is melted and vapourized, at the same time the electrode material is also eroded by melting and vapourization. Electrodes wear (EW) process is quite similar to the material removal mechanism as the electrode and the workpiece are considered as a set of electrode in EDM. In the present study effort has been made to reduce EW by cooling, using liquid nitrogen during the EDM of titanium alloy. Investigation on the effect of cooling on electrode wear (EW), material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness (Ra) of the workpiece was carried out. Current (I), pulse on-time (ton), pause off-time (toff) and voltage (v) were considered as the machining parameters. Design of experiment (DOE) was used to design the experimental works. Cooling of electrode by this technique reduced the melting and vapourization of electrode material and enhances electrode life. It was possible to reduce EW up to 27% by applying this technique while MRR and Ra were improved by 18% and 8% respectively.


Though this book contains numerous clear illustrations, it is far more than an atlas, since a brief but very informative text discusses all aspects of the diseases considered in the volume. But of greater importance, it includes a distillate of wisdom of a recognized authority who has devoted a great share of his professional life to this single anatomic area. The application of sound judgment is nowhere more important than in surgery of the biliary tree. The author has succeeded admirably in his presentation of decisions to be taken when, as commonly happens, preoperative evidence is incomplete or conflicting, or when the operative procedure is confused by the disease process. Other surgeons obviously will have some differences of opinion about the application of certain techniques. For example, a more determined effort to secure a patent ampulla of Vater is preferred by many. If this is done, the necessity of immediate


Rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD) is a critical health threat to the rabbit industry in Europe. In 2018, the French rabbit industry adopted a voluntary control plan against this disease. In this context, two epidemiological studies were conducted on RHD outbreaks that occurred between 2013 and 2018 in France. The objectives were to describe the spread of RHD due to the new genotype RHDV GI.2 (rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus GI.2) and to identify rearing factors influencing the occurrence of the disease in order to guide the prevention measures recommended in the control plan. An analysis of cases on 295 farms between 2013 and 2017 showed that 32% of farms were affected at least once; the incidence of the disease increased in 2016-2017 compared to 2013-2015. Farms already affected in 2013-2015 had a higher risk of being infected in 2016-2017 than those that remained unaffected until 2015 (Relative Risk and 95% Confident Interval 1.7 [1.1-2.7]). A case-control study carried out between 2016 and 2018 on 37 outbreaks and 32 control farms revealed variability in biosecurity and decontamination practices between farms. The risk of being infected tends to be linked to these practices, but certain structural factors (e.g. the manure disposal system, transfer of rabbits at weaning) could also influence the risk of virus introduction into farms. In the context of a limited vaccination coverage of the farms (only females are vaccinated), these hypotheses will be studied further, using information from the RHD outbreak monitoring system implemented at the same time as the control plan in 2018.


Abstract The taxonomy and phylogeny of the perennial North American Apiaceae subfamily Apioideae endemic to western North America (north of Mexico) have posed great challenges to systematists. Available classifications based on morphological characters are in general inconsistent and unsatisfactory, and cladistic analyses based on these data are limited to only a few taxa and a small number of characters. In this study, we scored 54 morphological characters from 123 taxa of North American Apioideae (representing 111 species in 21 genera) to construct an estimate of phylogenetic relationships and to compare the results obtained with those inferred for the group through previous studies using molecular data. The morphological and combined (morphological and molecular) datasets were analyzed using maximum parsimony (with equal, proportional, and successive approximations weighting strategies and Goloboff fit criterion applied to the morphological characters) and Bayesian approaches. Phylogenetic trees derived from morphological characters are largely congruent with those derived from molecular data, upon the collapse of weakly supported branches. The least number of most parsimonious trees is derived from the combined analysis when morphological characters are given proportional weights, and these trees are fully congruent with those derived from molecular data alone. The results revealed that many morphological characters used previously to delimit genera are highly homoplastic, such as the presence of a carpophore, stylopodium, pseudoscape, and dorsal wings, the number of vittae, and the orientation of fruit compression. The results also supported the monophyly of the group, in accordance with previous molecular studies. Three major clades and several well-supported subclades are tentatively circumscribed, thus facilitating future phylogenetic and revisionary studies.


Two mutagen-sensitive loci of Drosophila melan- ogaster, mus-105 and mus-109, previously identified by viable al- leles, are shown to specify essential functions. Lethal alleles at the loci produce larvae that have degenerate imaginal discs and die at the larva-pupa boundary. Our data suggest that the causes of lethality are intolerable levels of cell death produced by high fre- quencies of chromosome aberrations (in excess; of 0.5 aberration per cell per cycle).: The pattern of aberrations is a locus-specific character. In mus-105 mutants the most common aberrations are breaks and exchanges 'in euchromatic portions of the -genome whereas in mus-109 mutants the most common aberrations are breaks at heterochromatin-euchromatin junctions. The sensitivity of these junctions to breakage in mus-109 mutants is a property of all such junctions whethernatural or produced by a rearrange- ment that juxtaposes heterochromatin and euchromatin. Larvae carrying the combination of two viable mutants, mus-105A1 mus-109D1, die at the larva-pupa boundary and display a high fre- quency of aberrations (0.7 per cell vs. 0.075 for either mutant alone) clustered at euchromatin-heterochromatin junctions. This synergistic interaction suggests there is a class of lesions that can be repaired by both mus-105+ and mus-109+. Thus, the apparent euchromatic specificity of mus-105+, which was inferred from the pattern of predominantly euchromatic breakage observed in mus- 105 mus-109+ flies, is in fact generated by the wild-type function of mus-109+ masking an effect of mus-105 in the heterochromatin. The fact that lethal mutants at the mus-105 and mus-109 loci have small imaginal discs coupled with the observation of a maternal effect of mus-105 suggests a paradigm for the control of cell di-


THE DEVELOPMENT of effective Psychopharmacological agents confronted the psychiatric profession with the inadequacy of its diagnostic system for the provision of rational indications and contraindications for drug therapy. Within each standard diagnostic group there are wide variations in drug-induced behavioral reactions. Therefore, clinical treatment with psychotropic agents has been governed by rule of thumb modified by trial and error. This paper will emphasize the utility of psychiatric diagnosis when appropriately modified for prediction of treatment outcome. The issue of the prediction of drug effect is one of considerable practical and theoretical importance. It is difficult to arrive at generally valid conclusions predictive of drug effect from clinical empiricism because of spontaneous remissions, uncontrolled fluctuations of life circumstance, and the meager abilities of many psychiatric patients to describe objectively their level of cognitive, affective, and social functioning. Most systematic attempts to predict treatment


In this paper we present a procedure for fabricating an array of micropolarization filter array via an optimized interference lithography and microfabrication procedure. The filter array is composed of two linear polarization filters offset by 45 degrees with pixel pitch of 18 microns. The individual polarization filters are composed of aluminum nanowires with 140 nm pitch, 140 nm height and 70 nm width. The maximum extinction ratio of the pixelated filters is measured to be 95 at 700 nm wavelength.


ABSTRACT In mice and humans, there are two known members of the Huntingtin interacting protein 1 (HIP1) family, HIP1 and HIP1-related (HIP1r). Based on structural and functional data, these proteins participate in the clathrin trafficking network. The inactivation of Hip1 in mice leads to spinal, hematopoietic, and testicular defects. To investigate the biological function of HIP1r, we generated a Hip1r mutant allele in mice. Hip1r homozygous mutant mice are viable and fertile without obvious morphological abnormalities. In addition, embryonic fibroblasts derived from these mice do not have gross abnormalities in survival, proliferation, or clathrin trafficking pathways. Altogether, this demonstrates that HIP1r is not necessary for normal development of the embryo or for normal adulthood and suggests that HIP1 or other functionally related members of the clathrin trafficking network can compensate for HIP1r absence. To test the latter, we generated mice deficient in both HIP1 and HIP1r. These mice have accelerated development of abnormalities seen in Hip1 -deficient mice, including kypholordosis and growth defects. The severity of the Hip1r/Hip1 double-knockout phenotype compared to the Hip1 knockout indicates that HIP1r partially compensates for HIP1 function in the absence of HIP1 expression, providing strong evidence that HIP1 and HIP1r have overlapping roles in vivo.


: Synthesis of peptides during polymerization of GlyNH2 and PheNH2 has been demonstrated by means of gel-chromatography and thin-layer chromatography. The optima of pH and temperature have been estimated for the reaction. Grem's salt, tripolyphosphate and pyrophosphate were shown to cause the stimulatory effect on the peptide formation, but there was no correlation between the yield of the peptides and the hydrolysis of the polyphosphates. On the basis of the experimental data, it has been concluded that hydrolysis of polyphosphates is not an energy source for the polymerization of GlyNH2 and PheNH2. Therefore, polyphosphates cause catalytic effect on the peptide synthesis from the amides of amino acids in homogeneous medium.


Several studies carried out on the effects of stubble and crop residue incorporation have shown positive effects on chemical-physical soil characteristics. However, not all studies agree on the extent of soil organic matter increase which derives from this process, as this effect is strongly affected by other factors: the pedo-climatic features of the area in which the study is carried out, the type of crop residue incorporation and the agronomical management adopted to improve the decomposition of the incorporated fresh organic material. The burning of stubble and straw is common in the areas where cereals are traditionally grown. The adoption of this method is based on different technical and work-related factors, which become less important when taking into account the impact on the local environment and soil. A research is currently carried out at the CRA-SCA experimental farm in Foggia (Southern Italy) on the effects of either residues incorporation or burning on the chemical-physical characteristics of the soil and on the wheat yield performance since 1977. This experiment allows for a comparison among the effects of burning, the simple incorporation of stubble and crop residues and incorporation carried out with some agronomical techniques (such as the distribution of increasing amounts of nitrogen on crop residue before incorporation) and the simulation of rain (50 mm) on the decomposition of organic material. The objective of the study was to understand the effect of the different residues management practices on soil chemical properties after 32 years of experimentation). The simple incorporation of straw and stubble showed a slight increase in organic soil matter of 0.7% with respect to burning. The best results for soil organic carbon and soil quality were obtained when residual incorporation included a treatment with additional mineral nitrogen.


COMMAND Abstract. SCIAMACHY limb scatter radiance measurements at selected wavelengths in the HARTLEY bands have been used to retrieve ozone profiles in the upper stratosphere and lower mesosphere. Comparisons with profiles measured by a ground based radiometer in Norway, MIPAS on board ENVISAT, HALOE on UARS and MLS on AURA indicate an agreement within 15% between 40 and 55 km and show that the retrieval provides reliable ozone profiles at these altitudes. Above 55 km, an increasing overestimation is observed. Beside the profile comparisons, further retrieval features of the current retrieval (version 1.26) are described.


Background: Stem cells are one of the rare cell populations in each tissue, whose presence is proven in different types of tissues in the human body. The purpose of this study was to carry out simultaneous investigation into renal stem cells, which are similar to stem cell populations (CD133+) in normal part of the human kidney of a patient afflicted with renal cell carcinoma.
Methods: After kidney dissection, its normal part was divided into papilla, medulla, and cortex. Then, the stem cells of each part were separately isolated. Two cell groups (A and B) were considered. Group A contained the MACS-isolated CD133+ cells and group B consisted of the cells, which had not been sorted by any markers. After enzymatic digestion, all isolated cells in both groups were cultured. The cells of each part were analyzed by flowcytometry, proliferation assay, karyotyping and gene expression.
Results: The results of the present study show that CD133+ cells are renal stem cells and they are found in every three parts of the kidney, but their frequency is higher in papilla. The cells in group B expressed cell surface marker CD44 significantly. The high expression of OCT 3/4, NANOG, SOX2 and SCA-1 genes was seen in both groups, but the expression of REX1 gene in group A was 5 times more than in group B.
Conclusion: It seems that CD133+ cells are the most original cell population found in papilla of human kidney with high frequency. The finding has explored a new horizon towards appropriate selection of stem cells subpopulations (CD133+ cell from healthy part of renal carcinoma) to be used in cellular therapeutic approaches in more defined manner.


It is underlined the great importance of accidents, as they present with high frequency, account for a large number of deaths and suffering and have deep economic costs. During last years the prevention of accidents has notably reduced, their frequency and negative outcomes. However, remarkable differences exist across the European Union countries. Thus, it should be emphasized the importance of implementing, more and better, all kind of preventive measures.


Two main aspects of the in vitro mouse foetal liver cell assay for Erythroid Stimulating Factor (ESF) in human sera have been investigated. The haem extraction process has been shown to give specific and quantitative recovery of 59Fe labelled haem from haemoglobin thus confirming that the material assayed in human sera is stimulating the synthesis of this protein. The extraction procedure can be simplified considerably by prior mixing of the reagents without significantly influencing the results. Several serum constituents (citrate, testosterone, B12, folic acid and iron) have been investigated over a range of concentrations for possible effects on the cultures. Generally only small effects on haem synthesis were observed. It is concluded that variations in the levels of these factors in sera from treated patients will not produce any significant alterations in the estimated ESF concentrations.


Many questions in natural science and engineering are transformed into nonlinear equations to be found. Newton iterative method is an important technique to one dimensional and multidimensional variables and iterative process exhibits sensitive dependence on initial guess point. A composite discrete chaos dynamical system was constructed by two special discrete chaos dynamical systems and initial points were produced by proposed chaos system. For the first time, a new method based on composite discrete chaos dynamical system to obtain locate initial points to find all solutions of the nonlinear questions was proposed. The numerical examples in linkage synthesis and approximate synthesis show that the new method is correct and effective.


Abstract Aerial photography and satellite imagery of the Petersen ice shelf, Nunavut, Canada, from 1959 to 2012 show that it was stable until June 2005, after which a series of major calving events in the summers of 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2012 resulted in the loss of ∼61% of the June 2005 ice-shelf area. This recent series of calving events was initiated by the loss of extensive regions of ˃50-year-old multi-year landfast sea ice from the front of the ice shelf in summer 2005. Each subsequent calving event has been preceded by open-water conditions and resulting loss of pack-ice pressure across the front of the ice shelf, and most occurred during record warm summers. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) ice thickness measurements and RADARSAT-2 derived observations of surface motion indicate that tributary glaciers provided total ice input of 1.19-5.65 Mta–1 to the ice shelf from 2011 to 2012, far below the mean surface loss rate of 28.45 Mta–1. With recent losses due to calving and little evidence for current basal freeze-on, this suggests that the Petersen ice shelf will no longer exist by the 2040s, or sooner if further major calving events occur.


Overview: Acceptance, whether it be by friends, family, teachers, or peers, is crucial for any teen. Finding acceptance can be significantly more difficult for a teen going through the coming out process or maybe one that has already done so but is still not feeling completely okay in his or her own skin. Along with the fact that the world is highly a heteronormative one, society holds extremely shortsighted views and lacks knowledge on the subject of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning sexualities, and this ultimately plays a huge role in why LGBTQ teens are either too afraid to come out or do not feel the acceptance they should. Feeling alone, and like they cannot relate to anyone around them, causes some teens to turn to suicide. Suicide rates among adolescents who identify as LGBTQ are rising. In her article, "Suicide in Young Adult Literature," Paula Berger acknowledges that, "Teenage suicide has reached epidemic proportions in the United States and is therefore an important issue in contemporary society" (14). She goes on to say that, "...for those teenagers that have suicidal thoughts, these novels can show them that they are neither unique nor alone in their feelings of despair and hopelessness, but others have shared these same feelings and have found constructive ways to handle them" (14-15). Berger expands on how young adult novels on suicide are helpful to readers who have suicidal thoughts. The same concept applies to LGBTQ teens. If they are able to relate to characters in the novels that they read in the classroom, LGBTQ teens will realized that they are not the only ones going through these kinds of experiences, and this is a potential aid in ultimately terminating the issue of suicide among young adults. In his article, "Suicide Risk and Sexual Orientation: A Critical Review," Martin Plöderl proved through individual studies, reviews, and meta-analyses that "sexual minority individuals are at greater risk for suicides and suicide attempts, compared to their heterosexual counterparts"(724). Thus integrating and mainstreaming LGBTQ Young Adult Literature into the classroom setting is beneficial and should be part of the curriculum. It not only helps LGBTQ identifying teens to feel acceptance in their daily lives, but also fosters learning and understanding for heterosexual teens, parents, and teachers.


This article presents the results of experimental studies to determine the composition of the ointment "Antibovasin" with a wound healing and anti-inflammatory effect. 16 series of studies of ointment compositions were performed using the method of planning the experiment, a 4x4 Latin square. The optimal composition of the ointment was calculated by the function of desirability, which corresponded to the specified values of the quality indicators.


Purpose The purpose of this study was to identify genetic risk loci for retinal traits, including drusen, in an Amish study population and compare these risk loci to known risk loci of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods Participants were recruited from Amish communities in Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. Each participant underwent a basic health history, ophthalmologic examination, and genotyping. A genomewide association analysis (GWAS) was conducted for the presence and quantity of each of three retinal traits: geographic atrophy, drusen area, and drusen volume. The findings were compared to results from a prior large GWAS of predominantly European-ancestry individuals. Further, a genetic risk score for AMD was used to predict the presence and quantity of the retinal traits. Results After quality control, 1074 participants were included in analyses. Six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) met criteria for genomewide significance and 48 were suggestively associated across three retinal traits. The significant SNPs were not highly correlated with known risk SNPs for AMD. A genetic risk score for AMD provided significant predictive value of the retinal traits. Conclusions We identified potential novel genetic risk loci for AMD in a midwestern Amish study population. Additionally, we determined that there is a clear link between the genetic risk of AMD and drusen. Further study, including longitudinal data collection, may improve our ability to define this connection and improve understanding of the biological risk factors underlying drusen development.


This paper provides a snapshot of the whole number knowledge of nearly 2000 Australian primary school children that was gained through use of a one-to-one assessment interview. The assessment data was related to a corresponding growth point framework that describes learning trajectories in counting, place value, addition and subtraction strategies, and multiplication and division strategies. The findings highlight the broad distribution of growth points in each domain for each grade level, and the wide distance between the lowest and highest growth points in each grade level and each domain. This demonstrates the complexity of classroom teaching and highlights the challenge of meeting each student's learning needs. Particular issues related to children's learning emerged from the data, and these suggest important themes for teacher professional learning and for refining mathematics curriculum. These include: (1) interpreting 2-digit and 3-digit numbers; (2) using reasoning strategies as opposed to counting-based strategies in addition and subtraction; (3) and strategies for solving partially modelled and abstract problems in multiplication and division.


Trends in digital communications are opening up commercial applications to code division multiple access (CDMA). The paper presents an analytical model for the effects of nonlinearities and mobile channel on the performance of synchronous QPSK code division multiple-access (CDMA) systems. The combined effect of both the travelling wave tube (TWT) power amplifier exhibiting AM-to-AM and AM-to-PM conversion, down-link thermal noise and the multipath fading mobile channel are taken into consideration in the analysis. System performance in terms of the error probability is explored.


PURPOSE
To determine the effectiveness of an infusional chemotherapy regimen in patients with HIV-associated lymphoma treated before and after the use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in routine clinical practice.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Ninety-eight assessable patients with HIV-associated intermediate- or high-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma received cyclophosphamide 200 mg/m(2)/d, doxorubicin 12.5 mg/m(2)/d, and etoposide 60 mg/m(2)/d (CDE) given by continuous intravenous infusion for 4 days (96 hours) every 4 weeks plus filgrastim. Concurrent antiretroviral treatment consisted of the nucleoside analog didanosine in the first 43 patients enrolled before December 1996 (pre-HAART group), or HAART in the remaining 55 patients enrolled after that time (HAART group).

RESULTS
Complete response occurred in 44 patients (45%; 95% CI, 35% to 55%). Failure-free survival and overall survival (OS) at 2 years was 36% (95% CI, 26% to 46%) and 43% (95% CI, 33% to 53%), respectively. At the time of the analysis, 30% in the pre-HAART group were alive compared with 47% in the HAART group; when adjusted for varying length of follow-up, patients in the HAART group had improved OS (P =.039). Patients in the HAART group experienced less grade 4 nonhematologic toxicity (22% v 42%; P =.037), thrombocytopenia (31% v 52%; P =.033), and anemia (9% v 27%; P =.021), and had fewer treatment-associated deaths (0% v 10%; P =.013).

CONCLUSION
Infusional CDE is an effective and potentially curative regimen for patients with HIV-associated lymphoma. Patients treated in the HAART era have less chemotherapy-associated toxicity and improved survival.


The conventional three-stage BCR sequential extraction method was employed for the fractionation of heavy metals in sewage sludge samples from an urban wastewater treatment plant and from an olive oil factory. The results obtained for Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb and Zn in these samples were compared with those attained by a simplified extraction procedure based on microwave single extractions and using the same reagents as employed in each individual BCR fraction. The microwave operating conditions in the single extractions (heating time and power) were optimized for all the metals studied in order to achieve an extraction efficiency similar to that of the conventional BCR procedure. The measurement of metals in the extracts was carried out by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The results obtained in the first and third fractions by the proposed procedure were, for all metals, in good agreement with those obtained using the BCR sequential method. Although in the reducible fraction the extraction efficiency of the accelerated procedure was inferior to that of the conventional method, the overall metals leached by both microwave single and sequential extractions were basically the same (recoveries between 90.09 and 103.7%), except for Zn in urban sewage sludges where an extraction efficiency of 87% was achieved. Chemometric analysis showed a good correlation between the results given by the two extraction methodologies compared. The application of the proposed approach to a certified reference material (CRM-601) also provided satisfactory results in the first and third fractions, as it was observed for the sludge samples analysed.


Following the 1789 revolution, France experienced a series of political and social changes: a succession of different political regimes created instability and a crisis of confidence between the ruling and the emerging classes, undermining social peace. As social inequalities increased, criticism against the judiciary became more prominent, particularly in literature. Such is the story of the hero of Les Miserables, Jean Valjean, whose hunger leads him to commit a crime because he has no choice, Hugo tells us. It is in this troubled context that the the vigilante and the fugitive emerges in the novel, as if literature was the way to exorcise evil and promote the good. These characters' existence is determined by their ultimate goal, to restore order in a society in despair, which seeks an ideal to strive for: "Rewarding good, pursue evil, alleviate suffering, probing all wounds of humanity to try to save some souls from perdition, that is the task that I have given myself", says Prince Rodolphe in Les Mysteres de Paris. These heroes live on the margins of society, often the victim of injustice themselves. They are the defenders of the weak and the oppressed.
These characters in Sue, Dumas, and Hugo are represented in an extraordinary way, heroes in the mythological sense, who have qualities superior to their fellow men, who are alone in being able to distinguish good from evil, the just from the unjust. These characters' greatness of soul is revealed throughout their quest. This study will focus on these characters while trying to understand the need for such heroes in the post-revolutionary novel. Often, when talking about serial novels, critics paints a very simple portrait of these extraordinary characters while insisting on the fact that such characters are created by the author mostly as a strategy to interest the reader: a simple plot with a hero who pursues the good against a variety of villains who are after him. This explanation does not seem sufficient to us, and as we have demonstrated in our study, there is far more at play in this need for the existence of this extraordinary hero. Sue, Dumas and Hugo all strived to provide their character with a strong legitimacy in his pursuit of justice both within the fiction and for the readers themselves.
The education of this hero is essential to understanding his actions, and this is most visible with the external help he receives, support which plays the role of a moral compass. These characters all have guides, mentors whose importance cannot be understated, such is their influence in the inner development of their protege. These mentors, in particular in Les Miserables and Le Comte de Monte-Cristo, play a central role both in the birth of these heroes – as points of origin for their transformation from ordinary to extraordinary men – and in the sustained faith in justice that follows these characters' every move.
But the pursuit of justice by these heroes is not without its failings, and we will see the effects and consequences of their actions. Can the amount of Rodolphe's good actions make one forget or forgive his cruelty towards the school teacher? Vigilantes often invoke the help of God in their actions, they present themselves, as Monte Cristo does, as "angel[s] of Providence", or are perceived in this way by other characters, such as in the case of Rodolphe. We will investigate why such an appeal to divine justice is needed and how invoking God's intervention helps the vigilante in his task. Shouldn't individual initiative be sufficient as a means to improve society?


A series of cyclometalated Z-selective ruthenium olefin metathesis catalysts with alterations to the Nheterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligand were prepared. X-Ray crystal structures of several new catalysts were obtained, elucidating the structural features of this class of cyclometalated complexes. The metathesis activity of each stable complex was evaluated, and one catalyst, bearing geminal dimethyl backbone substitution, was found to be comparable to our best Z-selective metathesis catalyst to date.


The mainstream of the existing approaches for video prediction builds up their models based on a Single-In-Single-Out (SISO) architecture, which takes the current frame as input to predict the next frame in a recursive manner. This way often leads to severe performance degradation when they try to extrapolate a longer period of future, thus limiting the practical use of the prediction model. Alternatively, a Multi-In-Multi-Out (MIMO) architecture that outputs all the future frames at one shot naturally breaks the recursive manner and therefore prevents error accumulation. However, only a few MIMO models for video prediction are proposed and they only achieve inferior performance due to the date. The real strength of the MIMO model in this area is not well noticed and is largely under-explored. Motivated by that, we conduct a comprehensive investigation in this paper to thoroughly exploit how far a simple MIMO architecture can go. Surprisingly, our empirical studies reveal that a simple MIMO model can outperform the state-of-the-art work with a large margin much more than expected, especially in dealing with longterm error accumulation. After exploring a number of ways and designs, we propose a new MIMO architecture based on extending the pure Transformer with local spatio-temporal blocks and a new multi-output decoder, namely MIMO-VP, to establish a new standard in video prediction. We evaluate our model in four highly competitive benchmarks (Moving MNIST, Human3.6M, Weather, KITTI). Extensive experiments show that our model wins 1st place on all the benchmarks with remarkable performance gains and surpasses the best SISO model in all aspects including efficiency, quantity, and quality. We believe our model can serve as a new baseline to facilitate the future research of video prediction tasks. The code will be released.


BACKGROUND
The causes of acute decompensations of patients with systemic autoimmune diseases are not well known.

AIM
To describe the causes for consultation in an emergency room of patients with systemic autoimmune diseases.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Review of medical records of patients with systemic autoimmune diseases, aged over 14 years, consulting in an emergency room of a general hospital during three months.

RESULTS
In the study period, 166 patients with systemic autoimmune diseases consulted in the emergency room, of a total of 18,153 consultations (0.9%). Patients with rheumatoid arthritis were those that consulted with higher frequency (37%) followed by patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (21%). The most common causes for consultation were cardiovascular diseases in 25%, followed by digestive disorders in 15%. The most common diagnosis was chest pain with suspected ischemic heart disease in 36%. No differences in cardiovascular risk factors were observed between those patients consulting for cardiovascular diseases and those consulting for other causes.

CONCLUSIONS
The most common cause of consultation in the emergency room of patients with systemic autoimmune diseases is cardiovascular.


This quantitative correlational study determined the challenges and the coping strategies during the pandemic of the 12 school administrators and 94 elementary teachers in Sindangan South I and II Districts, School Year 2020-2021.  Specifically, it discussed the trainings and webinars attended; seriousness of the technological, financial and pedagogical challenges encountered; and acceptability of the coping strategies.  A questionnaire-checklist was used and analyzed using five-point Likert scale.  Reliability test using Cronbach alpha was determined using SPSS. The Mann-Whitney U and Spearman rho tests were used in statistical inference.  The study disclosed that the school heads have set their highest priorities in preparing their constituents in times of eventualities, and security and health of the school's stakeholders.  Both groups of participants noted the serious challenges they encountered during the pandemic in terms of technology, financial and pedagogies.  They had very acceptable coping strategies in terms of technological, financial and pedagogical challenges. The two groups of participants agreed on the challenges they encountered. They have conflicting views and perceptions on coping financial challenges.  The trainings and webinars attended were not vital and contributory to their views on challenges.  The acceptability of coping strategies was not associated with their attendance to trainings and webinars. The study recommends for the provision of trainings and webinars on ICT skills and utilization; better equip their schools with educational technology; strengthen collaboration with stakeholders; and future researches to venture on psychological factors contributing to teachers' willingness to use technologies.


Researchers have investigated the factors that influence environmental behavior for decades. Two often-investigated phenomena, connectedness to nature and self-efficacy, often correlate with environmental behavior, yet researchers rarely analyze those correlations along with underlying cultural factors. We suggest that this is a substantial oversight and hypothesize that cultural factors affect environmental behavior, particularly through an interplay with the connectedness to nature and self-efficacy constructs. To test this hypothesis, we surveyed eighth-grade students on the island of Hawaiʻi. The instrument included items to assess connectedness to nature and self-efficacy (both frequently measured in environmental behavior studies) and multiple measures of behavior. Most of the behavior measures are commonly used in studies of environmental behavior, and one was developed in collaboration with local partners to reflect more culturally specific modes of environmental behavior. With those partners, we also developed a construct reflecting the relevance of local culture. We explored the relative influence of the more commonly investigated constructs (connectedness to nature, behavioral variables) along with the newer construct (cultural relevance). We found that, when we took those considerations into account, cultural relevance significantly predicted connectedness to nature, self-efficacy, and a commonly used behavioral measure. Our results thus suggest that many models of environmental behavior may be misspecified when they omit critical culture- and ethnicity-related factors. This may be particularly important in contexts with high cultural, racial, and ethnic diversity or in contexts where mainstream Western environmental approaches are non-dominant. Our results emphasize the importance of addressing ethnicity and culture in environmental thought and action.


ABSTRACT Pneumonia due to Pneumocystis jirovecii (PCP) is a frequent infection among HIV-positive or other immunocompromised patients. In the past several years, PCR on pulmonary samples has become an essential element for the laboratory diagnosis of PCP. Nevertheless, very few comparative studies of available PCR assays have been published. In this work, we evaluated the concordance between four real-time PCR assays, including three commercial kits, AmpliSens, MycAssay, and Bio-Evolution PCR, and an in-house PCR (J. Fillaux et al. 2008, J Microbiol Methods 75:258–261, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mimet.2008.06.009), on 148 pulmonary samples. The results showed concordance rates ranging from 81.6% to 96.6% (kappa, 0.64 to 0.93). Concordance was excellent between three assays: the in-house assay, AmpliSens, and the MycAssay PCR (kappa, >0.8). The performances of these PCR assays were also evaluated according to the classification of the probability of PCP (proven, probable, possible, or no final diagnosis of PCP) based on clinical and radiological signs as well as on the direct examination of bronchoalveolar lavage samples. In the proven PCP category, Pneumocystis jirovecii DNA was detected with all four assays. In the probable PCP category, the in-house PCR, AmpliSens, and the MycAssay PCR were positive for all samples, while the Bio-Evolution PCR failed to detect Pneumocystis jirovecii DNA in two samples. In the possible PCP category, the percentage of positive samples according to PCR varied from 54.5% to 86.4%. Detection of colonized patients is discussed. Finally, among the four evaluated PCR assays, one was not suitable for colonization detection but showed good performance in the proven and probable PCP groups. For the three other assays, performances were excellent and allowed detection of a very low fungal burden.


During the last years it was otten maintained that the state is dead, However, in the course of the economic crisis the state has turned out capable of acting. State interventions play with the fight of the crisis a central role. Steps to the nationalisation of enterprise cause special interest, The article examines, which interests stand behind this type of state intervention, who is in this case really the state and which consequences arise for left movements, Nationalisation is described as a contradictory process whose results depend highly on the legal capacity of left movements.