This paper presents a method for analyzing oral examinations with an extended, many-faceted Rasch model that calibrates medical specialty candidates, protocols, and raters. Significant variance was found among protocol difficulties and rater severities. When candidates' raw scores were compared with calibrated measures corrected for the bias caused by the particular protocols and raters encountered, variation between candidate scores and measures were observed. The data were found to fit the Rasch model well enough to be suitable for making measurement on oral examinations more objective as well as providing specific feedback to oral examination raters. In this example a medical oral examination was used; however, the techniques are applicable to any situation in which trained professionals rate candidate or patient performances. For occupational therapists, potential applications include evaluation of a student's fieldwork performance or observation of a patient's task performance.


Reaching agreement among a set of mobile robots is one of the most fundamental issues in distributed robotic systems. This problem is often illustrated by the gathering problem, where the robots must self-organize and meet at some location not determined in advance, and without the help of some global coordinate system. While very simple to express, this problem has the advantage of retaining the inherent difficulty of agreement, namely the question of breaking symmetry between robots. In previous works, it has been proved that the gathering problem is solvable in asynchronous model with oblivious (i.e., memory-less) robots and limited visibility, as long as the robots share the knowledge of some direction, as provided by a compass. However, the problem has no solution in the semi-synchronous model when robots do not share a compass, or when they cannot detect multiplicity.
 In this article, we define a model in which compasses may be unreliable, and study the solvability of gathering oblivious mobile robots with limited visibility in the semi-synchronous model. In particular, we give an algorithm that solves the problem in finite time in a system where compasses are unstable for some arbitrary long periods, provided that they stabilize eventually. In addition, we show that our algorithm solves the gathering problem for at most three robots in the asynchronous model. Our algorithm is intrinsically self-stabilizing.


The paper summarizes the main findings obtained during the development and management of a longterm seismic structural monitoring system installed in a historic monumental church, the Basilica S. Maria di Collemaggio, which was heavily damaged in the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake. Critical issues and potential benefits in the use of wireless sensor network technology for the long-term monitoring of a monumental masonry structure in a seismic area are analyzed and discussed. The specific features of the implemented system, purposely designed to detect earthquake-induced vibrations, are illustrated. The information collected during preliminary tests and three years of data acquisition is presented, together with careful evaluations on the operating system performance. Some advancements with respect to the traditional procedures of the operational modal analysis are introduced, in order to check whether the natural frequencies and the modal damping ratios may depend on the vibration amplitude of the structural response to a non-stationary seismic excitation. In this respect, the identification results obtained from different techniques commonly used to estimate the modal parameters of time-variant systems, such as the Wavelet Transform (WT) or the ShortTime Fourier Transform (STFT), are compared. Moreover, the seismic data may suffer from severe noise contamination, that could compromise the data processing and interpretation. In this respect, denoising procedures of the signals are applied to determine the real influence of the instrumental noise on the identification results obtained using data registered during different seismic events. Finally, optimization solutions for a rapid assessment of the main modal characteristics in the case of the seismic-induced vibrations are discussed to define possible strategies of damage identification.


This study aims to analyze the influence of Brilink Agents Perception on the decision to use BRI branchless banking service through the AIDA model. The research method is carried out by modeling the Structural Equation Model (SEM) regarding the relationship between brilink agent perceptions of the relative advantage, risk, trust, usefulness, and security as well as the agent's perception of awareness, interest, desire and action. Data collection techniques were carried out by distributing questionnaires to the community around Brilink agents by cluster random sampling. From these results it can be seen that for the brilink agent user model variables that have a dominant influence are trust, security, usefulness, risk, and relative advantage. As for the non-brilink agent model, the most dominant variables are risk, security, trust, relative advantage and usefulness. The results of using SEM also found that the influence of Brilink Agent's perception of the AIDA variable (awareness, interest, desire, and action) had a greater indirect effect, that is, the brilink Agent's perception variable affected awareness then awareness affected interest, desire, and then action. In addition to knowing the effectiveness of brilink agents, a customer response index value is calculated with the results of the Customer Response Index value at each stage having a value above the minimum value so that it can be said that the brilink agent has a good effectiveness.
Keywords: branchless banking, customer response index, structural equation model, AIDA


The goal of this dissertation research is to understand structural violence in the Barry Farm Public Dwellings, a public housing community in the District of Columbia (Washington, DC). The dissertation argues that a local urban renewal program called the New Communities Initiative (NCI), which is intended to end racialized urban ghettos in the District of Columbia, is a form of structural violence that instead continues inequality. The dissertation proposes an original explanatory framework based on a sociospatial binary of Western Superior Culture (WSC) and Non-Western Inferior Others/Truly "Truly" Disadvantaged Others (NWIO/TTDO). Poor African Americans represent the NWIO and the TTDO, its subset of increasingly vulnerable public housing residents. The dissertation argues that the elite WSC group dispenses structural violence to manufacture the NWIO/TTDO as an inferior status group and their environment as an African American urban ghetto (AAUG) and to maintain the NWIO/TTDO's function as an antithetical reference group. I examine the Farms community both historically and in the contemporary moment to (1) discover structural violence's real but hidden perpetrators; (2) to demystify structural violence by making sense of its perpetrators' motivations; and (3) to understand the nature of its victims' agency. Between 2007 and 2013, I utilized windshield tours, participant observation, interviews, archival research, and oral histories to collect ethnographic data. This dissertation's analysis suggests that continuous structural violence has produced a fragmented community where history and cultural heritage are being lost and collective agency is difficult to form. The dissertation focuses on the lived experiences and mobilization efforts of Farms Public Dwellings community residents that distort and threaten the binary relationship between the WSC and the NWIO/TTDO. I argue that the NCI program is intended to maintain the WSC–NWIO/TTDO binary by relocating the NWIO/TTDO spatially. This spatial reformation represents the expansion of privilege space and the ritualization of White supremacy. By ritualization, I mean White Supremacy on the one hand manufactures AAUG as problem communities and then assume the sole responsibility to reform and displace these problem sites to confirm their own superior status. To counterbalance the hegemonic narratives that accompany and justify the Farms Public Dwellings community residents' displacement, the dissertation documents residents' pain, adaptive and agentive struggles. As the Farms residents struggle to survive, this dissertation intends to amplify their cries for justice and their demands for a quality of life befitting citizens of the District of Columbia and America.%%%%Black studies%%%%Cultural anthropology%%%%Social structure%%%%Barry Farms, HOPE VI, Kalfani Nyerere Ture, place, race, structural violence%%%%Anthropology%%%%Degree Awarded: Ph.D. Anthropology. American University


Objective. To investigate the healing effects of diagnostic ultrasound in a standardized rat femur fracture model. Methods. Thirty‐two male rats aged 14 weeks were used, and each rat's right femur was osteotomized and stabilized under anesthesia. The rats were then divided into 4 groups. Five days after surgery, ultrasound was applied every fifth day with diagnostic sonographic equipment and a probe with a 7.5‐MHz frequency and 11.8‐mW/cm2 total output intensity for 10 minutes in each session. Ultrasound was applied 8 times in group A, 3 times in group B, and only once in group C. Ultrasound was not applied to sham‐operated group D. Healing and callus formation of the rats' femur fractures were evaluated by radiography and dual‐energy x‐ray absorptiometry. Results. Dual‐energy x‐ray absorptiometric and radiographic results showed that the ultrasound therapy accelerated the fracture healing. Radiographically, groups A and B showed better fracture healing than groups C and D. Ultrasound exposure increased both the whole‐bone mineral density and the density at the fracture region, increasing in parallel with the exposure period. Conclusions. This study confirms the previously shown efficacy of low‐intensity ultrasonic stimulation in acceleration of the normal fracture repair process even when performed with a diagnostic sonographic device.


Aims: To investigate the situations of abnormal glucose metabolism and dysfunction of pancreatic islet beta cells in subjects of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) with cirrhosis. Methods: 106 hepatitis B virus (HBV) positive subjects with liver cirrhosis as well as with different grade of Child-Pugh and 37 healthy subjects were included in this study. The oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), C-peptide and insulin release test were detected. Plasma glucose and insulin levels were analyzed periodically for 2 h after oral glucose loading. Results: There was no significant difference in the level of fasting plasma glucose and C-peptide between cirrhosis group and control group (P>0.05). The levels of OGTT 2 h glucose, insulin and C peptide were significantly higher in cirrhosis group than control group (P<0.01). Peak plasma glucose levels were obtained at 60 min in normal group and cirrhosis group. The peak in- sulin and C-peptide response occurred at 60 min in normal group, whereas it was delayed to 120 min in cirrhosis group. There was a significant difference between two groups in the pattern of plasma glucose levels at correspond - ing time points (P<0.05). The OGTT 2 h glucose and insulin levels were positively correlated with Child-Pugh Score (r1 = 0.389, r2 = 0.508, P<0.01). Conclusion: These findings implied that there was a certain degree of insulin resistance and abnormal glucose metabolism in the patients with liver cirrhosis.


Stylometry is a method for identifying anonymous authors of anonymous texts by analyzing their writing style. While stylometric methods have produced impressive results in previous experiments, we wanted to explore their performance on a challenging dataset of particular interest to the security research community. Analysis of underground forums can provide key information about who controls a given bot network or sells a service, and the size and scope of the cybercrime underworld. Previous analyses have been accomplished primarily through analysis of limited structured metadata and painstaking manual analysis. However, the key challenge is to automate this process, since this labor intensive manual approach clearly does not scale. We consider two scenarios. The first involves text written by an unknown cybercriminal and a set of potential suspects. This is standard, supervised stylometry problem made more difficult by multilingual forums that mix l33t-speak conversations with data dumps. In the second scenario, you want to feed a forum into an analysis engine and have it output possible doppelgangers, or users with multiple accounts. While other researchers have explored this problem, we propose a method that produces good results on actual separate accounts, as opposed to data sets created by artificially splitting authors into multiple identities. For scenario 1, we achieve 77% to 84% accuracy on private messages. For scenario 2, we achieve 94% recall with 90% precision on blogs and 85.18% precision with 82.14% recall for underground forum users. We demonstrate the utility of our approach with a case study that includes applying our technique to the Carders forum and manual analysis to validate the results, enabling the discovery of previously undetected doppelganger accounts.


While computer systems are ubiquitous and prevalent in our daily lives, they are not free from bugs and misbehavior. Those can either be existent in hardor software components and may thus influence the application and data we use on the systems. Among other, causes for bugs and misbehavior are increasing design complexity, smaller hardware fabrication sizes, or expanding software complexity. Furthermore, intentionally inserted backdoors are a conceivable scenario, too. Eventually, it requires trusting the vendors that their hardand software components operate as expected and that they are free from bugs and backdoors. This work introduces a novel approach for verifying the correctness of an application execution without being dependent on trusting the vendors. The approach named Securing Process Execution by Recording and Replaying the Inner Process State (SPERRIPS) verifies the correctness of application execution across two different systems on the abstraction level of system calls (syscalls). Therefore, the application is executed and traced on two different systems to detect possible deviations in their executions. An execution is correct and verified if it runs identical on both systems and if there are only acceptable differences in the execution. In the case of unacceptable differences, the application execution will be aborted. This work introduces acceptable and unacceptable differences on the example of the syscalls of the cat application while respecting, among others, different system environments, activated Address Space Layout Randomization, and nested structures. Potentially detected unacceptable differences indicate misbehavior, rooted in a component below the considered abstraction level of syscalls in one of the two systems. In particular, this affects either hardware components or internal operating system kernel procedures. This thesis proposes both a conception and an implementation of SPERRIPS. The implementation has been evaluated with four different applications, namely echo, hostname, cat, and ping. It demonstrates the feasibility of the approach to successfully verify application executions' correctness and detect differences in their executions. All side-effects on application execution through intentionally inserted malicious Linux kernel modifications have been detected.


Administering 3-aminopicolinate to rats starved for 24h immediately initiated a progressive increase in blood glucose concentration. Hyperglycaemia was not the result of glycogenolysis, nor was it due to an inhibition of insulin release, since it caused marked hyperinsulinaemia. The rate of [6-(3)H]glucose disappearance from the blood of the intact rat was not altered by 3-aminopicolinate, indicating that it does not cause hyperglycaemia by inhibiting glucose utilization or by causing a redistribution of total body glucose. 3-Aminopicolinate increased the rate of fall in the specific radioactivity of blood [6-(3)H]-glucose, indicating dilution of the glucose pool by newly synthesized glucose. The rate of (14)C incorporation into blood glucose from [(14)C]alanine and [(14)C]lactate was increased 90 and 35% respectively, whereas that from [(14)C]glycerol and [(14)C]xylitol was either unaffected or slightly decreased by 3-aminopicolinate administration. Liver phosphoenolpyruvate of rats was increased to four to seven times the normal concentration 10min to 1h after injections of 50-300mg of 3-aminopicolinate/kg body wt. and the amounts of 2-phosphoglycerate and 3-phosphoglycerate were increased to three to four times normal. The high concentrations of liver phosphoenolpyruvate, 2-phosphoglycerate and 3-phosphoglycerate, as well as the enhancement of gluconeogenesis from lactate and alanine, but not from glycerol or xylitol, is compatible with an enhancement of gluconeogenesis at a step between pyruvate and the triose phosphates. After injections of 3-aminopicolinate, liver malate, citrate, aspartate, alanine, lactate and pyruvate were also increased, but to lesser extents than was phosphoenolpyruvate. The increases in some of these metabolites were approximated after an intravenous infusion of glucose, so their elevated concentration after 3-aminopicolinate administration could have been, in part, a consequence of the hyperglycaemia. The possibility is considered that 3-aminopicolinate stimulates gluconeogenesis in vivo by facilitating Fe(2+) activation of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase as it does with the purified enzyme in vitro [MacDonald & Lardy (1978) J. Biol. Chem.253, 2300-2307]. In this effect 3-aminopicolinate may simulate the physiological role of the naturally occurring ferroactivator protein [Bentle & Lardy (1977) J. Biol. Chem.252, 1431-1440].


A rising number of school leadership changes have been occurring in South African schools as a large proportion of incumbent principals near retirement age. While this presents opportunities to replace weaker school principals with better performing ones, these changes may also destabilise school environments and impede on learning. This paper explores how these principal change events affect school performance in the context of South Africa using a unique administrative dataset constructed by linking payroll data on the population of public school principals to national data on schools and matriculation examination outcomes. Exploiting the panel structure of the data, a school fixed effects strategy suggests that principal changes are indeed detrimental to school performance especially when leadership changes are due to principals exiting the public education system. These results are robust to using an alternative estimation strategy proposed by Heckman, Ichimura and Todd (1997) which combines propensity score matching with a difference-in-difference estimation strategy. The paper also considers two mechanisms through which school leadership changes may impact on school performance, namely through rising promotion rates and teacher turnover.


We describe a case of asymptomatic struma ovarii in a 61-year-old woman who presented with elevated thyroglobulin level during checkup. Tc-99m pertechnetate whole-body scintigraphy showed a normal thyroid uptake, and an increased uptake localized on the upper left side of the urinary bladder corresponding to the ovary. Pelvic SPECT/CT confirmed increased uptake localized in left adnexal area. Histopatologic verification confirmed the diagnosis of struma ovarii. We report an unusual case of incidental diagnosis of struma ovarii with Tc pelvic SPECT/CT imaging.


Abstract : The Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle's (BFV) introduction in 1983 inaugurated a fundamental change in the perception of the mechanized infantryman's role in combat. For the first time, the mechanized infantry company/team possessed the requisite organic firepower to support the maneuver of its dismounted infantry while simultaneously supplementing the anti-armor firepower of its accompanying tanks. The thesis of this paper is that the price for this capability is a focus on gunnery training at the expense of dismounted infantry individual and collective tasks -- recognized prior to the Bradley's introduction as the core element of the mechanized infantry company's contribution to the combined arms team. In the introduction, the monograph introduces a definition of combined arms taken from the 1982 edition of FM 100-5 that states 'Combined arms is defined as two or more arms in mutual support to produce complementary and reinforcing effects that neither can attain separately.' Using this criteria, the monograph then examines the theoretical and doctrinal basis for the effectiveness of the combined arms organization and the role of the mechanized infantryman on the battlefield. In the section that follows, the explanation of complementary and reinforcing effects is expanded, and its evolution in doctrine is explored. An examination of the fighting doctrine and training doctrine pertaining to mechanized infantry follows. Finally, using CTC observations and indicators from recent mechanized infantry command experience, the monograph evaluates the current level of dismounted mechanized infantry proficiency. The monograph ends by offering several changes to the current training program for mechanized infantry units to enable them to train and fight more effectively as combined arms organizations.


n 34 total metastatic imaged sub-micrometer resolution Visual quantify phenotypic (j) For MDA-MB-231 ROIs, the cell in ROIs of metastatic colonies = 11) and co-option = 8) statistically (P 0.0058). The center line and error bars in i and j the and s.d., with the associated data points P values i and j were calculated a two-sample t-test. Scale-bar lengths are follows:


Domain adaptive pretraining, i.e. the continued unsupervised pretraining of a language model on domain-specific text, improves the modelling of text for downstream tasks within the domain. Numerous real-world applications are based on domain-specific text, e.g. working with financial or biomedical documents, and these applications often need to support multiple languages. However, large-scale domain-specific multilingual pretraining data for such scenarios can be difficult to obtain, due to regulations, legislation, or simply a lack of language- and domain-specific text. One solution is to train a single multilingual model, taking advantage of the data available in as many languages as possible. In this work, we explore the benefits of domain adaptive pretraining with a focus on adapting to multiple languages within a specific domain. We propose different techniques to compose pretraining corpora that enable a language model to both become domain-specific and multilingual. Evaluation on nine domain-specific datasets-for biomedical named entity recognition and financial sentence classification-covering seven different languages show that a single multilingual domain-specific model can outperform the general multilingual model, and performs close to its monolingual counterpart. This finding holds across two different pretraining methods, adapter-based pretraining and full model pretraining.


For over a hundred years (1714 - 1830) a King George sat on the British throne. It was a time of transformation, as cities grew, industry thrived and trade expanded round the world. New prosperity was celebrated in great country houses and beautifully landscaped gardens, while taste and elegance drove social etiquette and fostered a new consumer boom. Travel became easier, from Grand Tours for the rich to journeys by stagecoach or private carriage for others, encouraging the spread of fashions and ideas. An explosion in print culture also brought new horizons, as an increasingly literate society devoured newspapers, satirical pamphlets, magazines and the newly emerging novel form. Yet what do we really know about the people of this Augustan age, whose beliefs and preoccupations have so influenced our own? Georgians Revealed explores the realities of their daily lives through a fascinating variety of objects, from playbills to porcelain, architects' plans to fashion plates. The compelling selection traces the Georgians' famous love of shopping and celebrity, gambling and domestic design, and navigates the rules that governed behaviour from ballrooms to the sporting world. It shows how a passion for entertainment created innovations such as the circus, pantomime and modern ballet, as well as the pleasure gardens and masquerades that brought the spice of intrigue and danger to their clientele. Spanning high culture and business, consumerism and crime, Georgians Revealed unravels the contradictions and concerns that link the Georgian era so closely to our own. Accompanies a major exhibition at the British Library, opening 8 November.


Newly graduated nurses show lacking skills and competences regarding the ability to make appropriate clinical assessment of acute, complex care situations. There is also a lack of translated, qualitative relevance-evaluated and reliability-tested rubrics in the Swedish language. The purpose of this method article was to translate, and conduct a relevance evaluation and reliability test of the identified Lasater Clinical Judgment Rubric (LCJR). In this article, the Swedish translation LCJR (S) is presented. The results showed that the LCJR (S) was both qualitatively relevant and quantitatively reliable. We claim that there are several advantages to systematic use LCJR (S) for assessment of nursing students' clinical judgement in laboratory simulation environments with acute patient situations.


: C12 and E2 monoclonal antibodies to keratins stained taste bud cells of foliate papillae as well as the cells of the associated glands. H4 monoclonal antibody to keratin reacted with the surrounding epithelial cells and did not react with the taste bud cells. The results show that the keratin subtype differs between taste bud and surrounding epithelial cells. The similar keratin composition of taste bud and associated gland cells confirm the view on the existence of the same type of cells in these two structures.


The paper addresses the role of indicators to promote transitions towards a more sustainable transportation future in Japan. Existing international literature suggests a potential key role for performance measurement and indicator systems to strengthen such policies. The research explores to what extent governance frameworks associated with 'new public management' reforms in Japan also provide an enhanced basis to promote sustainability within transportation. A framework is derived based on the assumption that the effectiveness of such frameworks in this regard depends on the way sustainability is represented, as well as how the framework is integrated with decision making processes. Japan is used as a case, because Japanese transport seems to perform well in certain aspects of 'sustainability', while Japanese transportation policy also faces significant management challenges. A range of governance measures have been adopted to assist in managing transport policy challenges, including the application of experimentation, monitoring and evaluation of plans, policies and institutions. The paper looks at two cases of policy management within Japanese transportation: The first is the performance evaluation framework for the road sector used by the Japanese Ministry of Land Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). The second is the so-called 'Eco-model' cities program, also undertaken by the MLIT, using the case of Toyama City for illustration. In each case the approach to performance measurement is outlined, the actual application is presented, and the results in terms of how the indicators contribute to promote sustainable transport will be reviewed. A finding is that indicators in both programs seem to have limited positive influence on sustainability, with the most and visible effects in the latter one. The institutional context seems important for the strength of influence.


Let CMSO denote the counting monadic second order logic of graphs. We give a
constructive proof that for some computable function $f$, there is an algorithm
$\mathfrak{A}$ that takes as input a CMSO sentence $\varphi$, a positive
integer $t$, and a connected graph $G$ of maximum degree at most $\Delta$, and
determines, in time $f(|\varphi|,t)\cdot 2^{O(\Delta \cdot t)}\cdot
|G|^{O(t)}$, whether $G$ has a supergraph $G'$ of treewidth at most $t$ such
that $G'\models \varphi$. The algorithmic metatheorem described above sheds new
light on certain unresolved questions within the framework of graph completion
algorithms. In particular, using this metatheorem, we provide an explicit
algorithm that determines, in time $f(d)\cdot 2^{O(\Delta \cdot d)}\cdot
|G|^{O(d)}$, whether a connected graph of maximum degree $\Delta$ has a planar
supergraph of diameter at most $d$. Additionally, we show that for each fixed
$k$, the problem of determining whether $G$ has an $k$-outerplanar supergraph
of diameter at most $d$ is strongly uniformly fixed parameter tractable with
respect to the parameter $d$. This result can be generalized in two directions.
First, the diameter parameter can be replaced by any contraction-closed
effectively CMSO-definable parameter $\mathbf{p}$. Examples of such parameters
are vertex-cover number, dominating number, and many other
contraction-bidimensional parameters. In the second direction, the planarity
requirement can be relaxed to bounded genus, and more generally, to bounded
local treewidth.


Determining maize water content variability is necessary for crop monitoring and in developing early warning systems to optimise agricultural production in smallholder farms. However, spatially explicit information on maize water content, particularly in Southern Africa, remains elementary due to the shortage of efficient and affordable primary sources of suitable spatial data at a local scale. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), equipped with light-weight multispectral sensors, provide spatially explicit, near-real-time information for determining the maize crop water status at farm scale. Therefore, this study evaluated the utility of UAV-derived multispectral imagery and machine learning techniques in estimating maize leaf water indicators: equivalent water thickness (EWT), fuel moisture content (FMC), and specific leaf area (SLA). The results illustrated that both NIR and red-edge derived spectral variables were critical in characterising the maize water indicators on smallholder farms. Furthermore, the best models for estimating EWT, FMC, and SLA were derived from the random forest regression (RFR) algorithm with an rRMSE of 3.13%, 1%, and 3.48%, respectively. Additionally, EWT and FMC yielded the highest predictive performance and were the most optimal indicators of maize leaf water content. The findings are critical towards developing a robust and spatially explicit monitoring framework of maize water status and serve as a proxy of crop health and the overall productivity of smallholder maize farms.


Past research has provided evidence of the role of some personal characteristics as risk factors for depression. However, few studies have examined jointly their specific impact and whether country characteristics change the probability of being depressed. In general, this is due to the use of single-country databases. The aim of this paper is to extend previous findings by employing a much larger dataset and including the country effects mentioned above. The paper estimates probit models with country effects and explores linkages between specific environmental factors and depression using data from the 2007 Gallup Public Opinion Poll. Findings indicate that depression is positively related to being a woman, adulthood, divorce, widowhood, unemployment and low income. Moreover, there is evidence of the significant positive association between inequality and depression, especially for those living in urban areas. Finally, some population's characteristics facilitate depression (age distribution and religious affiliation).


Long term peritoneal dialysis (PD) treatment results in submesothelial fibrosis, neoangiogenesis, and ultrafiltration failure (UFF). Peritoneal lymphangiogenesis with increased lymphatic absorption is very likely to contribute to UFF in peritoneal fibrosis. We generated two non-bacterial rat models, a scraping model and a zymosan injection model, which are useful for investigating the pathophysiology of fibrosis, neoangiogenesis, and lymphangiogenesis triggered by peritonitis-induced inflammation. We found that transforming growth factor-b (TGF-b) increased expression of an important lymphangiogenic growth factor, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-C in peritoneal mesothelial cells. Inhibition of TGF-b signaling reduced VEGF-C expression and lymphangiogenesis in parallel with reduction of fibrosis and inflammation, and that treatment with soluble VEGF receptor (VEGFR)-3 specifically suppressed lymphangiogenesis and improved impaired ultrafiltration in a peritoneal fibrosis model. Blocking of VEGFR-3 signaling might be a useful strategy to improve lymphangiogenesis-dependent UFF. Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF/CCN2), an important determinant of fibrotic tissue remodeling, was also associated with VEGF-C expression and lymphangiogenesis in human PD effluents, human peritoneal biopsies, and in a rat peritoneal fibrosis model, and a positive correlation between CTGF and VEGF-C enhancement was observed in peritoneal mesothelial cells treated with TGF-b1, implying a possible novel role for CTGF in PD-related peritoneal lymphangiogenesis. Lymphangiogenesis is also associated with tubulointerstitial fibrosis in kidney diseases. We observed that TGF-b, VEGF-C, and lymphatic vessels were time-dependently increased in a rat unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) model, and that TGF-b increased VEGF-C production in cultured renal tubular cells and macrophages, while inhibition of TGF-b signaling reduced VEGF-C expression and lymphatic vessel formation in the UUO model, similar to our findings in the peritoneal fibrosis model. Furthermore, CTGF knockdown reduced VEGF-C expression and decreased lymphangiogenesis in parallel with reduction of fibrosis in the mouse UUO model, while CTGF increased VEGF-C production in renal tubular cells. On the other hand, CTGF could directly bind to VEGF-C, and thereby suppress VEGF-C-induced lymphatic endothelial cells growth, but this direct inhibitory effect of CTGF on VEGF-C was abrogated by cleavage of CTGF. Thus, we identified a role for CTGF in renal lymphangiogenesis both through the regulation of VEGF-C production and activity. We also evaluated the effect of aging on tissue response to kidney injury, and found that UUO kidneys of old mice showed less interstitial fibrosis compared to young mice. This was associated with increased bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) 6 and decreased CTGF expression. Our further observations that CTGF directly bound to BMP6 and suppressed BMP6 downstream signaling, suggested that the renoprotective effects of preserved BMP6 expression might be further upregulated by the lower CTGF expression in old UUO kidneys might be responsible for the less fibrotic response in older kidneys. Finally, CTGF is also an important mediator of renal allograft fibrosis and we identified tubulointerstitial CTGF [removed]CTGFti) at 3 months as an independent predictor of interstitial fibrosis (IF) and tubular atrophy (TA) at 5 years after transplantation in stable renal transplant recipients, and that CTGFti and urinary CTGF levels at 3 months when added to donor age improved prediction of later IF/TA development.


Scattered light and ghosts in WFPC2 images are discussed, with emphasis on their eeects on imaging of faint objects near bright ones. Scattering within about two arcseconds is primarily due to diiraction eeects from zonal errors in the HST optics. At larger angles, the main source of light is scattering from the CCD surface. Also, a number of ghosts are present in WFPC2. Some of these may be mistaken as stars, and others may interfere with the imaging of nearby material. The eld dependence of the WFPC2 PSF is also discussed. PSF structure can change appreciably across a single chip due to obscuration shifting, focus, coma, and astigmatism changes. These changes can aaect PSF subtraction and proole tting photometry.


The precise effect of noise on HOC (higher-order crossing) sequences is examined, settling some issues not dealt with previously. It is shown that it is possible to construct HOC sequences that converge to true discrete frequencies in a mixed spectrum even for very low signal-to-noise ratios. The availability of the correlation function is then assumed. When the expected HOCs (from repeated differences) are known, the correlation function is automatically known as well. However, other quantities, not just the expected HOC, can serve the same purpose. For example, under the Gaussian assumption, the correlation function can be obtained from that of the binary process derived by clipping the original process at any level. >


Thyroid nodules are present in upto 50% of the population worldwide, and thyroid malignancy occurs in only 5–15% of nodules. Until now, fine-needle biopsy with cytologic evaluation remains the diagnostic choice to determine the risk of malignancy, yet it fails to discriminate as benign or malignant in one-third of cases. In order to improve the diagnostic accuracy and reliability, molecular testing based on transcriptomic data has developed rapidly. However, gene signatures of thyroid nodules identified in a plenty of transcriptomic studies are highly inconsistent and extremely difficult to be applied in clinical application. Therefore, it is highly necessary to identify consistent signatures to discriminate benign or malignant thyroid nodules. In this study, five independent transcriptomic studies were combined to discover the gene signature between benign and malignant thyroid nodules. This combined dataset comprises 150 malignant and 93 benign thyroid samples. Then, there were 279 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) discovered by the feature selection method (Student's t test and fold change). And the weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was performed to identify the modules of highly co-expressed genes, and 454 genes in the gray module were discovered as the hub genes. The intersection between DEGs by the feature selection method and hub genes in the WGCNA model was identified as the key genes for thyroid nodules. Finally, four key genes (ST3GAL5, NRCAM, MT1F, and PROS1) participated in the pathogenesis of malignant thyroid nodules were validated using an independent dataset. Moreover, a high-performance classification model for discriminating thyroid nodules was constructed using these key genes. All in all, this study might provide a new insight into the key differentiation of benign and malignant thyroid nodules.


U.S. agricultural exports rose in both value and volume in fiscal year (FY) 1987 for the first time in nearly a decade, gaining $1.6 billion and 20 million tons. u.s. ~ agricultural imports fell in FY 1987 for the first time in 5 years. U.s. agricultural exports to the European Community (EC) rose 5 percent in FY 1987, after 4 years of decline, to $6.8 billion.


This report presents the results of an investigation of the spinning characteristics of NY-1 naval training biplane. The results of flight tests and an analysis based on wind-tunnel test data are given and compared. The primary purpose of the investigation was the determination in flight of the effect of changes in mass distribution along the longitudinal axis, without change of mass quantity or centroid. Other effects were also investigated, such as those due to wing loading, center-of-gravity position, dihedral of wings, control setting, and the removal of a large portion of the fabric from the fin and rudder. The wind tunnel test results used in the numerical analysis were obtained in the 7 by 10 foot wind tunnel through an angle-of-attack.


Epidemiological studies show that stimulating activities reduce therisk of dementia. In animal models of Alzheimer disease, there have been conflicting results of the effects of environmental enrichment (EE) on disease-related amyloid pathology. Here, we tested the direct effect of EE, independently of amyloid pathology, on brain neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), which best correlate with dementia. We exposed transgenic mice (E257K/P301S-Tau-Tg driven by the natural tau promoter) to moderate nonstrained EE or regular environment. Concomitant with neurogenesis, we detected a decrease in NFT burden and a decrease in the activation of microglia in EE versus regular-environment mice. There was also a trend toward improvementin cognitive tasks in the EE mice. Increased immunoreactivity of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which is involved in the regulation of tau phosphorylation, was detected in the EE mice, suggesting its possible involvement in the beneficial effects on NFTs and other parameters in the EE mice. These results suggest that NFTs may be directly responsive to environmental stimulating activities and that even nonstrained activities may mitigate tauopathies independent of theinvolvement of amyloid.


Time-of-flight, neutron powder diffraction to 1000°C provides precise octahedral site occupancies and intersite distribution coefficients for MnMgSiO4 and MnFeSiO4 olivines. Intersite exchange occurs in minutes down to 500°C. Equilibrium distribution coefficients show that manganese ordering into the larger octahedral site decreases with increasing temperature. Exchange energies are 15.7 and 10.1 kilojoules per mole for magnesium-manganese and iron-manganese, respectively. Distribution coefficients deduced for FeMgSiO4 olivine suggest an exchange energy of 4.8 kilojoules per mole. Intersite exchange energies are consistent with diffusion coefficients in the order iron > magnesium > manganese. Geothermometry based on magnesium-manganese and iron-manganese exchange may be possible only for samples equilibrated below 500°C.


The authors investigate the role and impact of hedge fund investors on bankrupt firms. They find that hedge funds provide liquidity for troubled firms and help enhance their profitability. Comparing the performances in post-bankruptcy to pre-bankruptcy levels, bankrupt firms with hedge fund involvement tend to be in better shape compared to the ones without any type of vulture investor involvement. On the other hand, firms having hedge funds among their investors show comparable results to those with other vulture investors, such as private equity funds. In addition, the improvements appear to take place only in the short run. The involvement of hedge funds does not guarantee better stock performance. Hedge funds appear to be more financial than strategic players, as they rarely help troubled firms go through a systematic restructuring to achieve sustainable improvements.


Since Edward Said published his seminal study on Orientalism, the notion of the Orient has been heavily discussed and hotly debated in both the Eastern and Western worlds. While early studies of Orientalism mainly underline Western fantasies of an exotic East as the West's "other," Chinese scholars have also been inspired to reconceptualize the notion of the Orient in recent decades. By examining the formation of the notion of dongfang 東方 (the Orient) through journal publications, academic disciplinary construction, and the writing of oriental history, this article observes how the Chinese world of letters identified China with the Orient when China attempted to accommodate itself to a Eurocentric historical narrative in the 1920s. The article further investigates how the Chinese achieved a strategic alliance with Soviet Russia in the 1950s to confront the Western cultural centers of Europe and the United States and how Chinese academia repositioned itself in response to the adoption of Western criticism on Orientalism in the 1980s. This article also traces the institutionalization of oriental literature studies in modern China under the influence of both Soviet Russian and Western European academia to investigate how reimagining the Orient has enabled Chinese scholars to reorient Chinese literature within the genealogy of world literature. This article thus aims to shed light on the Chinese reconfiguration of Chinese cultural identity in an ongoing negotiation between East and West.


The σ54 factor is highly conserved in a large number of bacterial species. From the complete genome sequence of Rhodobacter sphaeroides, it was possible to identify four different sequences encoding potentially functional σ54 factors. In this work, we provide evidence that one of these copies (rpoN2) is specifically required to express the flagellar genes in this bacterium. A mutant strain carrying a lesion in the rpoN2 gene was unable to swim even though the RpoN1 and RpoN3 proteins were present in the cytoplasm. The possibility that the different copies of the σ54 factor might be specific for the transcription of a particular subset of σ54 promoters was reinforced by the fact that a mutant strain carrying a lesion in rpoN1 showed a severe growth defect in nitrogen‐free culture medium, even though the rpoN2 and rpoN4 genes were actively transcribed from a plasmid or from the chromosome. Different mech‐anisms that might be responsible for this specificity are discussed.


The basic principle of the hyperbaric oxygenation therapy (HOT) is to increase the dissolved oxygen in the blood when it is administered at high pressure. Then O2 will be distributed to the tissues through the pressure gradient, in this way obtaining an hyper-oxygenation of the tissue that has anti-inflammatory and pain-killing effects and induces augmentation of bacterial permeability to the antibiotics, neo-angiogenesis, enhancement of lymphocytes and macrophages function, augmentation of the testosterone secretion (in male), and healing of wound. These positive effects can be used in urology in several conditions: Scroto-perineal fascitis; Radiation-induced cystitis (and proctitis); Interstitial cystitis (urgency-frequency syndrome); Chronic pelvic pain. Our experience and the specific literature on this subject, suggest that HOT, sometimes associated with other medical and surgical therapies, can be a useful tool for treating such urologic diseases; in some cases this use is codified (Fournier's gangrene and Radiation-induced cystitis) in others (urgency-frequency syndrome and chronic pelvic pain) it represents a promising technique and needs further research.


The workshop provided the opportunity to discuss issues and develop and integrate ideas. The following recommendations for public policies, education programs, and high-priority research initiatives were developed: Recommendations for Public Policies: Focus on prevention by requiring school programs to emphasize appropriate diet, physical activity, and general health guidance to promote cardiovascular health and prevent disease through federal funding. Provide better access to exercise (city planning, work-site interventions). Influence food availability and accessibility. Influence reimbursement policies for effective early intervention and prevention strategies for obesity. Reevaluate policies for use of drugs in the treatment of obesity. Recommendations for Education Programs: Sponsor scientific workshop to: Define the most appropriate weight standards for prevention and treatment. Identify who should lose weight and why, when, and how. Promote the fact that obesity is an important health risk factor, even at moderate levels, and that excess visceral fat is particularly hazardous. Target health care professionals, consumers, and the media for education about: Nature of obesity as a heterogeneous syndrome. Recommendations for diet, exercise, behavioral interventions, drugs, and surgery. Recognition of special needs of populations of different ethnicity, gender, age, etc. State-of-the-art treatment and treatment programs. High-Priority Research Initiatives: Build better bridges between basic research and treatment/prevention practices. Acknowledge that obesity is a heterogeneous syndrome that may best be characterized as different obesities. Research on defining subtypes. Implications for etiology and treatment. Better characterization of genotypes and phenotypes. Study the effects of weight loss, weight gain,and weight cycling on medical and psychosocial outcomes and mortality.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


In the present article authors analyze in detail organizational and legal bases of the courts of general jurisdiction in Russian Federation operation and functioning from different points of view. Authors explains major changes that occurred in Russian Federation in the past years and presents new technologies implementation in to the court operation process and outlines some related organizational and legal questions. Authors analyze questions of the state automated system of Russian Federation "Justice" implementation and functioning, present reasons for it's creation and full functioning. Opinions of specialists, barristers and solicitors are presented, authors correspond above opinions to the personal scientifically based researches and present results of analyses to readers. As a conclusion authors present personal advices on the changes in current legislation of Russian Federation that would positively affect the system of courts of Russian Federation in whole and Courts of General Jurisdiction in Russian Federation specifically and would assist as an Instrument of Human Rights and Freedoms Protection in Russian Federation.


Eight-month-old calves, housed under maximum isolation, were exposed to pathogenic Leptospira interrogans serovar hardjo by the conjunctival route or IV. One calf served as an unexposed control. Infection was monitored serologically (microscopic agglutination test and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; ELISA) and by leptospiral culture isolation from periodic urine samples and from the kidneys, epididymides, and aqueous humor collected at slaughter. Microscopic agglutination test titers of greater than or equal to 1:40 were detected among all IV exposed calves at postinoculation day (PID) 7 and among conjunctival exposed calves at PID 14. By ELISA, all IV exposed calves were positive by PID 3, whereas conjunctival exposed calves were positive at PID 14. The ELISA was more sensitive for the detection of antibodies against leptospires in cattle. Leptospires were isolated from the urine of 4 calves and from the kidney of 3 calves exposed by the conjunctival route, but not from IV exposed calves. The results indicated that the conjunctival route of exposure was a more natural and successful route for experimental infection of cattle with serovar hardjo.


Anthropogenic climate change poses a threat to all people and governments, but the response to that threat varies enormously across countries. Some adopt politically costly and economically challenging climate change mitigation policies, while others deny that climate change is occurring. Why do some countries adopt effective climate change policies while others do not? To answer this fundamental question, this paper analyses the political economy determinants of climate change policy around the world. In order to measure climate change policy, we introduce a new index, the 'Climate Laws, Institutions and Measures Index' (CLIMI), the first systematic attempt to measure countries' policy responses to the risk of climate change. CLIMI covers all the relevant institutions and sector-specific policies in 95 countries, representing 90% of the world's GHG emissions. We then use CLIMI to examine the political and economic factors that determine countries' choices to implement policies to tackle climate change. We find that the level of democracy alone is not a major driver of climate change policy adoption, but that public knowledge of climate change is. Not surprisingly, a high concentration of carbon-intensive industry in the economy hinders the adoption of climate change policy. Countries in which the citizenry has a better public awareness of climate change have more effective climate policies regardless of the presence of democratic institutions.


As more and more businesses move online, research into the determinants and measurement of online service quality has become a research imperative (Zeithaml et al., 2000; Bitner, Parasuraman et al., 2005). Notwithstanding, research in this area is still in its infancy and much of the existing research is largely anecdotal, centering on consumer perceptions and ignoring the business customer perspective. As a result, to date, limited insights have been gained. This study represents a first attempt at addressing this gap in the scholarly literature. A two-phase study design was used to 1) explore the meaning of B2B online service quality, 2) identify its key determinants and 3) develop a valid and reliable measure for the construct. In Phase I of the study, 16 in-depth interviews with business customers from a range of industry sectors were conducted. Results revealed that business customers expect online service levels at least equal to that provided in offline service environments. The results also revealed that business customer's assessment of online service quality is formed across ten key determinants: Website Design, Ease of Use, Technical Reliability, Usefulness, Intuitiveness, Presentation, Accuracy, Availability, Service Reliability and Flexibility. In Phase II of the study, a measure of online service quality (OLSQ scale) was developed and empirically tested and validated from data collected from 699 customers of a large Australian corporate supplier. Items included in the measure were derived from the Phase I interviews and refined through an expert review process. Two plausible measurement models were then specified and data-model fit of each of the models examined. A second-order factor structure, comprising three dimensions, Service Quality, Web Quality and Technical Quality, consisting of 20 items was derived from the evaluation. Validity and reliability of the measure were then assessed and confirmed. Collectively, the results provide support for the soundness of the measure's factor structure and its psychometric properties. The attributes of OLSQ identified in this study provide a starting point on which providers can base the development of their online service strategy and modifications to strategy as customer needs and expectations change over time. In order to do this, providers need a valid and reliable instrument to gather information about customer service requirements and indicators of the quality of their online service offering as perceived by customers. It is envisaged that the OLSQ measure will also act as a diagnostic tool, assisting providers in pinpointing weaknesses in their online service strategy, enabling them to take corrective action where necessary. The results of this study also provide a starting point from which providers can base future research into the determinants and measurement of B2B online service quality.


Diabetes is a disease that arises due to the loss or impairment of the body's ability to control the blood glucose level. Hyperglycemia leads to alterations in the structural functions of both macro and microvascular systems, causing vascular complications in diabetic patients such as the diabetic foot ulcer. In diabetic wounds, inadequate angiogenesis is one of the significant pathological factors hindering the progression to regular healing events. During wound healing, various cells orchestrate to promote angiogenesis. Therefore, this thesis aims to explore the impact of delivering a pro-angiogenic gene encoding for stromal-derived factor-1 alpha (SDF-1α), using a collagen-based scaffold into potential cell types involved in wound healing. Functional impact following the delivery of the gene was assessed on mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), human endothelial cells (ECs), human Schwann cells (SCs), and ultimately, human diabetic adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs). The first aim (Chapter 2) of this thesis was to assess the transfection efficiency of non-viral vector polyethyleneimine (PEI) based polyplex on MSCs in 2D, and develop gene-activated scaffolds by incorporating the polyplex nanoparticles to a collagen-chondroitin sulfate scaffold (3D). The results demonstrated that the use of PEI as a gene delivery vector induces transient expression of the transgene in both 2D and 3D. When the SDF-1α gene was delivered using the PEI polyplex system, the MSCs demonstrated successful translation of the SDF-1α gene into high levels of the therapeutic protein. Further, the delivery of SDF-1α gene using the gene-activated scaffold (SDF-1α GAS) induced early activation of the MSCs that exerted significantly high pro-angiogenic paracrine action on endothelial cells. The second objective (Chapter 3) of the thesis was to assess the provasculogenic impact of SDF-1α GAS on human endothelial cells and its co-culture with human ADSCs. The results demonstrated that SDF-1α GAS effectively supports endothelial angiogenesis in a well-regulated manner by desirably preserving the junctional integrity, which is essential for maturation of the endothelial network. Co-culturing with ADSCs promoted better stability and maturation. This effect was further enhanced when supported by SDF-1α GAS. Additionally, SDF-1α GAS activated co-culture group demonstrated a strong capacity to signal Schwann cells to differentiate towards a pro-neurogenic phenotype by influencing their cellular organization into bunger band-like structures. The third objective (Chapter 4) of the thesis was focused on the functional impact of SDF-1α GAS on human Schwann cells for reinnervated wound healing applications. When activated with SDF-1α GAS, SCs demonstrated a significantly enhanced production of proangiogenic VEGF that significantly induced endothelial angiogenesis. Meanwhile, Schwann cells within the SDF-1α GAS also demonstrated a strong capacity to differentiate towards a reparatory phenotype as indicated by their significantly high expression of neurotrophin receptor p75NGFR. Furthermore, this phenotypic change was associated with an extensive remodeling event that progressed through a profound increase in the deposition of the pro-neurogenic matrix laminin. The final objective (Chapter 5) of this thesis was to assess the functional impact of SDF-1α GAS on diabetic human ADSCs as an approach to develop autologous tissue-engineered graft. Overall, diabetic ADSCs on SDF-1α GAS demonstrated a strong functional resemblance to that of the healthy ADSCs on gene-free scaffold, indicating a transition towards a more healthy-like response than diabetic ADSCs without GAS. This response was noted in the secreted factors from diabetic ADSCs on SDF- 1α GAS, which became more capable of inducing strong and early proangiogenic responses on endothelial cells. Additionally, SDF-1α GAS promoted fibronectin remodeling and enhanced the deposition of collagen and elastin matrix in diabetic ADSCs. Meanwhile, healthy ADSCs on SDF-1α GAS achieved this effect with minimal activation of inflammatory and angiogenic factors, demonstrating accelerated cellular maturation for healing. When incorporated into a tri-culture angiogenesis model, diabetic ADSCs actively sustained the pro-vasculogenic response in the tri-culture construct as well as their ability to induce migration of endothelial cells. Collectively, the research presented in this thesis show that SDF-1α GAS exerts diverse functional response in potential cell types involved in wound healing. Particularly, we show that SDF-1α GAS consistently mediates the activation of strong pro-angiogenic response in these cells including diabetic stem cells, suggesting that SDF-1α GAS a highly biosinstructive platform for diabetic wound healing applications.


In vehicular ad-hoc network (VANET), the reliability of communication is associated with driving safety. However, research shows that the safety-message transmission in VANET may be congested under some urgent communication cases. More spectrum resource is an effective way to solve transmission congestion. Hence, we introduce cognitive radio (CR) enabled VANET (CR-VANET), where CR device can detect possible idle spectrum for VANET communications and assist to timely broadcast safety-message. Given high-speed mobility of vehicles and dynamically-changing availability of channels, a novel prediction algorithm is proposed to pick out the channel with the greatest probability of availability, which can meet the quality of service (QoS) requirement of urgent communications and effectively avoid conflict with licensed users. Specifically, the spatiotemporal correlations among historical spectrum sensing data are exploited to form prior knowledge of channel availability probability, and Bayesian inference is used to derive posterior probability of channel availability. Comparing with other spectrum detection methods, the proposed algorithm has more than 8 percent detection performance improvement at false alarm probability 0.2, and thus can avoid access conflict with licensed users dramatically. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm always has larger packet reception probability (PRP) and lower transmission delay compared with conventional VANET broadcasting. Hence, the proposed algorithm can improve reliability of safety-message transmission and enhance driving safety significantly.


ABSTRACT The transition from driving to driving cessation in older adulthood is considered a major life transition where resulting disruptions can impact sense of self. Such transitions at this life stage offer both a challenge and opportunity to consider the relationship between disruption, adaptation (or not) of occupational patterns, and perceptions of life roles. The current study examines this process of adaptation where the focus is on exploring how disruption, loss, and identity over time are negotiated at this life stage. Semi-structured interviews with each participant explored this process. Based on these interviews and corresponding narrative analysis, the trajectories of each of the five older adults (4 male, 1 female; aged 73-90) were categorized and mapped. The analysis indicated the narrative slopes of three participants were 'progressive' (more ups than downs), one participant was 'stable' (landing where one started), and the remaining participant was 'regressive' (more downs than ups). Results from this study suggest the process of negotiating the transition from driver to non-driver was non-linear, meaning the ensuing adaptations to everyday life involved a major reorganization of occupations and routines. Social support and finding alternative ways of doing were key to negotiating this transition. Challenges experienced during the transition and/or, a failure to adapt, suggests an ongoing and growing disconnect in life roles. Further study of the impact of such disconnection and the ramifications on not only the person but also their social network is warranted.


This new method for fractionating alkaline phosphatase isoforms in hepatobiliary disorders is based on isoelectric focusing on a mixed-type polyacrylamide support containing an immobilized pH gradient with a superimposed carrier-ampholyte gradient. The high-Mr alkaline phosphatase forms typical of hepatobiliary disease (greater than 1 mega-dalton), which cannot migrate into the Immobiline gel, are disaggregated in zwitterionic detergents (the most effective being sulfobetaine 3-12)--20 g/L in the sample, 5 g/L in the gel--suggesting that they are still complexed with membrane fragments or that they tend to aggregate spontaneously in solution. These isoforms focus in the pI 5-6 range (while alkaline phosphatases in normal serum focus in the pI 4-5 interval) in immobilized pH gradients, but behave as strongly acidic components by agarose isoelectric focusing in the presence of carrier ampholytes, suggesting that they are strongly complexed with the latter. On treatment with neuraminidase, the low-pI isoforms in normal serum focus in the pI 5-6 range typical of the hepatobiliary isoforms, suggesting that the latter are poorly glycosylated. By a second-dimension run, in a porosity gradient, followed by activity staining, all alkaline phosphatase forms that have entered the Immobiline gel in the first dimension (normal forms and high-Mr species) exhibit the same Mr (ca. 140,000 Da), suggesting that no new chains are synthesized in hepatobiliary disorders.


Abstract Hydrokenomicrolite, (□,H2O)2Ta2(O,OH)6(H2O) or ideally □2Ta2[O4(OH)2](H2O), is a new microlite-group mineral approved by the CNMNC (IMA 2011-103). It occurs as an accessory mineral in the Volta Grande pegmatite, Nazareno, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Associated minerals are: microcline, albite, quartz, muscovite, spodumene, "lepidolite", cassiterite, tantalite-(Mn), monazite-(Ce), fluorite, "apatite", beryl, "garnet", epidote, magnetite, gahnite, zircon, "tourmaline", bityite, and other microlite-group minerals under study. Hydrokenomicrolite occurs as euhedral octahedral crystals, occasionally modified by rhombododecahedra, untwinned, from 0.2 to 1.5 mm in size. The crystals are pinkish brown and translucent; the streak is white, and the luster is adamantine to resinous. It is non-fluorescent under ultraviolet light. Mohs hardness is 4½-5, tenacity is brittle. Cleavage is not observed; fracture is conchoidal. The calculated density is 6.666 g/cm3. The mineral is isotropic, ncalc = 2.055. The infrared spectrum contains bands of O-H stretching vibrations and H-O-H bending vibrations of H2O molecules. The chemical composition (n = 3) is [by wavelength-dispersive spectroscopy (WDS), H2O calculated from crystal-structure analysis, wt%]: CaO 0.12, MnO 0.27, SrO 4.88, BaO 8.63, PbO 0.52, La2O3 0.52, Ce2O3 0.49, Nd2O3 0.55, Bi2O3 0.57, UO2 4.54, TiO2 0.18, SnO2 2.60, Nb2O5 2.18, Ta2O5 66.33, SiO2 0.46, Cs2O 0.67, H2O 4.84, total 98.35. The empirical formula, based on 2 cations at the B site, is [□0.71(H2O)0.48Ba0.33Sr0.27U0.10Mn0.02Nd0.02Ce0.02La0.02Ca0.01 Bi0.01Pb0.01]Σ2.00 (Ta1.75Nb0.10Sn0.10Si0.04Ti0.01)Σ2.00[(O5.77(OH)0.23]Σ6.00[(H2O)0.97Cs0.03]Σ1.00. The strongest eight X-ray powderdiffraction lines [d in Å(I)(hkl)] are: 6.112(86)(111), 3.191(52)(311), 3.052(100)(222), 2.642(28)(400), 2.035(11)(511)(333), 1.869(29)(440), 1.788(10)(531), and 1.594(24)(622). The crystal structure refinement (R1 = 0.0363) gave the following data: cubic, Fd3̄m, a = 10.454(1) Å, V = 1142.5(2) Å3, Z = 8. The Ta(O,OH)6 octahedra are linked through all vertices. The refinement results and the approximate empirical bond-valences sums for the positions A (1.0 v.u.) and Y′ (0.5 v.u.), compared to valence calculations from electron microprobe analysis (EMPA) and ranges expected for H2O molecules, confirm the presence of H2O at the A(16d) site and displaced from the Y(8b) to the Y′(32e) position. The mineral is characterized by H2O dominance at the Y site, vacancy dominance at the A site, and Ta dominance at the B site.


Cardiovascular disease remains the biggest cause of deaths worldwide. The percentage of premature death from this disease ranges from 4% in high income countries and 42 % in low income countries. This shows the importance of predicting heart disease at the early stage. In this paper, a new unsupervised classification system is adopted for heart attack prediction at the early stage using the patient's medical record. The information in the patient record are preprocessed initially using data mining techniques and then the attributes are classified using a Fuzzy C means classifier. In the classification stage 13 attributes are given as input to the Fuzzy C Means (FCM) classifier to determine the risk of heart attack. FCM is an unsupervised clustering algorithm, which allows one piece of data to belong to two or more clusters. The proposed system will provide an aid for the physicians to diagnosis the disease in a more efficient way. The efficiency of the classifier is tested using the records collected from 270 patients, which gives a classification accuracy of 92%. The result shows that the proposed clustering algorithm can predict the likelihood of patients getting a heart attack in a more efficient and cost effective way than the other well known algorithms. KEY TERMSFUZZY C means clustering algorithm, cardiovascular disease, classification,pre-processing.


This paper investigates the potential of radio frequency thermal plasma chemical vapor deposition for producing Sr-doped La-Mn-perovskite and yttria-doped zirconia layers for solid-oxide fuel cells. Aqueous solutions were used as starting materials and were injected into the hot plasma core by means of an air-assist atomizer. Test results show how the microstructure, dopant distribution, and phase purity of the resulting layers depends both on process conditions and the material system. Paper includes a German-language abstract.


CRISPR-Cas9 is the state-of-the-art technology for editing and manipulating nucleic acids. However, the occurrence of off-target mutations can limit its applicability. Here, all-atom enhanced molecular dynamics (MD) simulations – using Gaussian accelerated MD (GaMD) – are used to decipher the mechanism of off-target binding at the molecular level. GaMD reveals that base pair mismatches in the target DNA at specific distal sites with respect to the Protospacer Adjacent Motif (PAM) induce an extended opening of the RNA:DNA heteroduplex, which leads to newly discovered interactions between the unwound nucleic acids and the protein counterpart. The conserved interactions between the target DNA strand and the L2 loop of the catalytic HNH domain constitute a "lock" effectively decreasing the conformational freedom of the HNH domain and its activation for cleavage. Remarkably, depending on their position at PAM distal sites, DNA mismatches leading to off-target cleavages are unable to "lock" the HNH domain, thereby identifying the ability to "lock" HNH as a key determinant. Consistently, off-target sequences hampering the catalysis have been shown to "trap" somehow the HNH domain in an inactive "conformational checkpoint" state (Dagdas et al. Sci Adv, 2017). As such, this mechanism identifies the molecular basis underlying off-target cleavages and contributes in clarifying a long-lasting open issue of the CRISPR-Cas9 function. It also poses the foundation for designing novel and more specific Cas9 variants, which could be obtained by magnifying the "locking" interactions between HNH and the target DNA in the presence of any incorrect off-target sequence, thus preventing undesired cleavages.


Obesity and metabolic side effects such as diabetes mellitus are major concerns in public health. Mentally ill people are a high risk subgroup for obesity and metabolic syndrome because of behavior, non treatment, and medication side effects. In this research, I conducted a retrospective chart review to compare the weight and body mass index of consumers who were prescribed antipsychotic Type 1 or Type 2 medications. The sample was drawn from consumers attending the Consumer Advocacy Model (CAM) program which is an outpatient substance abuse and mental health treatment program in the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine Department of Community Health. The primary aim of the study was to evaluate this local clinical population and make recommendations in the context of upcoming universal health coverage plan for prescribing antipsychotic medications. This is based on lowering the cost and increasing effectivity of medication use in treatment for this population. Method: Medical charts of 195 patients seen at the Consumer Advocacy Model (CAM) Urbana, Ohio location were reviewed, and this data was analyzed. A review of other patients 'subjective experiences were also gathered from the Consumer Health Resource Group, (Consumer Health Reports, 2011). Results: During a period of four months, 42 patients were prescribed risperidone; 59 were prescribed olanzapine; 53 were prescribed Seroquel; and 46 were prescribed three other antipsychotics. The predominant adverse effects produced by most of the antipsychotic Type 2 drugs consisted of weight gain and sedation.


Objectives: To investigate sexual dysfunction in married, literate females diagnosed with migraine. Methods: Twenty-two literate, married female patients with migraine presenting to our outpatient clinic (Ankara) were asked to complete the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) questionnaire. Age, body mass index (BMI), employment status, and responses to FSFI questionnaire were analyzed using the Chi-square test to check whether they were correlated with total FSFI scores. Results: The mean age of females was 30.9±5.7 years, and their mean FSFI score was 27.5±7.5. FSFI scores were significantly associated with employment status and BMI (p<0.05). Conclusion: Based on FSFI, there was no significant difference in the severity of sexual dysfunction among female patients with migraine compared with healthy subjects in previous population-based studies.


Beginning with the seminal work of Manski (1990), there has been a growing literature on estimation and inference on partially identifiable parameters, including the distribution and/or quantile functions of the heterogeneous treatment effect. This article applies and extends the bounding approaches that Williamson and Downs (1990) and Fan and Park (2010, 2012) to partially identify distribution of treatment effects of class size reduction (CSR). Empirical data I used are from the Project STAR. Conducted by Tennessee State Department of Education in 1985-1988, it was a large-scale, randomized experiment designed to investigate the effect of CSR on student performance.
As an extension of the bounding approach that Fan and Park (2010) used, I proposed bounds for the conditional probability distribution function of treatment effects on pre-treatment outcomes. Although it was hard to find definitive properties of the conditional distribution due to the nature of bounding approach, I find the approach is insightful and has a potential.


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Frege's theory of indirect contexts and the shift of sense and reference in these contexts has puzzled many. What can the hierarchy of indirect senses, doubly indirect senses, and so on, be? Donald Davidson gave a well-known 'unlearnability' argument against Frege's theory. The present paper argues that the key to Frege's theory lies in the fact that whenever a reference is specified (even though many senses determine a single reference), it is specified in a particular way, so that giving a reference implies giving a sense; and that one must be 'acquainted' with the sense. It is argued that an indirect sense must be 'immediately revelatory' of its reference. General principles for Frege's doctrine of sense and reference are sated, for both direct and indirect quotation, to be understood iteratively. I also discuss Frege's doctrine of tensed and first person statements in the light of my analysis. The views of various other authors are examined. The conclusion is to ascribe to Frege an implicit doctrine of acquaintance similar to that of Russell.


Supernovae of type Ia (SNe Ia) are believed to be thermonuclear explosions of carbon-oxygen white dwarfs (CO WDs). However, the mass accretion process onto CO WDs is still not completely understood. In this paper, we study the accretion of He-rich matter onto CO WDs and explore a scenario in which a strong wind forms on the surface of the WD if the total luminosity exceeds the Eddington limit. Using a stellar evolution code called modules for experiments in stellar astrophysics (MESA), we simulated the He accretion process onto CO WDs for WDs with masses of 0.6-1.35Msun and various accretion rates of 10^{-8}-10^{-5}Msun/yr. If the contribution of the total luminosity is included when determining the Eddington accretion rate, then a super-Eddington wind could be triggered at relatively lower accretion rates than those of previous studies based on steady-state models. The super-Eddington wind can prevent the WDs with high accretion rates from evolving into red-giant-like He stars. We found that the contributions from thermal energy of the WD are non-negligible, judging by our simulations, even though the nuclear burning energy is the dominating source of luminosity. We also provide the limits of the steady He-burning regime in which the WDs do not lose any accreted matter and increase their mass steadily, and calculated the mass retention efficiency during He layer flashes for various WD masses and accretion rates. These obtained results can be used in future binary population synthesis computations.


Red Araza, or Red Strawberry Guava ( Psidium cattleianum Sabine) is a native Brazilian Atlantic Forest species of the Myrtaceae family, whose seeds exhibit integumental dormancy. Due to its importance to different industries worldwide, recent research efforts are seeking to expand this species' micropropagation processes using in vitro seedling germination, especially since in vitro micropropagation of adult plant material has, so far, been limited. This research effort evaluated different methods of overcoming integumental dormancy during in vitro germination of the Red Araza, so as to allow future micropropagation of the species. The seeds' emergence and vigor were evaluated based on mechanical and acid scarification, using different substrates and immersions in solutions with different levels of gibberellic acid (GA 3 ), and on the influence of the pre-immersion of seeds in water and sulfuric acid. The mechanical and acid scarification of the seeds, combined or separate, resulted in higher in vitro germination percentages and a higher germination rate index (GRI). Pre-immersion in distilled water (20 hours) also proved to be efficient for the germination of the Red Araza seed, with 76.2% of the seeds germinating and a higher speed of emergence (GRI = 0.18). When compared to a Murashige and Skoog (MS-zero) medium, sowing in a hydrophilic cotton substrate showed greater emergence and vigor, with approximately 70% of the seeds germinating. Treating the seeds by pre-immersing them in GA 3 turned out to be unnecessary. The methods used for overcoming integumental dormancy during in vitro germination of Red Araza seeds proved to be efficient, and could be used to develop micropropagation protocols of seminal origin for this species.


Generally, the inverse magnetic fabric describes inverse relationship between magnetic fabric and petrofabric, where magnetic lineation is parallel to the pole of petrofabric foliation. On the other hand, the term "normal magnetic fabric" is used when the magnetic fabric matches with the petrofabric. However, naturally occurring samples can contain both components. In this case one of the fabrics may overprint the other one, or a composite magnetic fabric can occur instead. That usually makes any interpretation very difficult. Here, we present new methods for separation of inverse and normal magnetic fabric components. First method is based on simple chemical destruction of one component in the sample. Delicate treatment with the samples allows to preserve remaining body of the sample that can be remeasured again without one component. In our case, iron carbonates responsible for inverse magnetic fabric component were dissolved in hydrochloric acid. The second method is based on the mathematical separation of one component fabric from the original composite fabric. The one component fabric can be reached by above described chemical destruction or using another method such as measurements of anisotropy of anhysteretic remanent magnetization / anisotropy of anhysteretic susceptibility (McCabe et al., 1985, Jackson, 1991) or heating treatment (De Wall & Warr, 2004). Both our new methods for separation of AMS fabrics will be presented together with software we created.


Light-emitting diode (LED) large-scale uniform rectangular illumination has a wide range of applications and is usually created by an irradiance superposition scheme. Abandoning the traditional method, we propose an approach to generate this illumination mode and enhance efficiency. With this method, an independent rectangular irradiance distribution is generated by each LED lens unit, and the large-scale illumination is obtained by arraying the irradiance distribution. Two slim direct-lit LED backlightings with a distance-height ratio of 3 were designed. An optical performance with irradiance nonuniformity less than 0.0228 and efficiency greater than 96% were obtained. Compared with the traditional methods, the efficiency is significantly enhanced and the number of the LED units is dramatically reduced by this new method.


An oxidase-positive, small gram-negative rod was isolated on Thayer-Martin medium (TM) inoculated with pharyngeal swabs obtained during surveys to detect Neisseria carriers. In one survey, this organism was isolated from 48% of the subjects, and 50 or more colonies were present on the majority of the primary isolation plates. Other characteristics of the organism, which has been given the provisional designation "TM-1," include: delayed production (2 to 10 days) of acid from glucose, formation of gas during nitrate reduction, and the frequent formation of "pits" in the agar surface. On TM, nonpitting colonies of TM-1 are morphologically similar to colonies of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and N. lactamica. Comparison of the characteristics of TM-1 strains with other similar fastidious gram-negative organisms encountered in clinical laboratories indicates that TM-1 is a distinct species. Further studies are required before proper taxonomic placement can be made.


Aim: Untreated dental caries is accounted to influence youngsters' wholesome status and development, yet proof on this relationship is clashing. The point of this examination was to evaluate the relationship between dental caries in both the essential and lasting dentition and nourishing status (counting underweight, ordinary weight, overweight and hindering) in youngsters from Cambodia, Indonesia and Lao PDR over a time of 2 years. A subsequent target was to evaluate whether healthful status influences the emission of lasting teeth. Methods: The data used came from the "Fit for School Health Outcome Study": a 3-year partner focus involving young people from 84 elementary school in Cambodia, Indonesia and Laos. In each school, an irregular sample of sixto seven-year-olds was selected. Dental caries and odontogenic diseases assessed using World Health Organization (WHO) standards and the pufa file. Our current research conducted at Lahore General Hospital, Lahore from May 2019 to April 2020. Estimates of weight and height were converted to BMI for age and z-scores for age, and then classified by weight and height according to WHO standard methods. Cross-sectional and longitudinal affiliations were dissected using the Kruskal Wallis test, Mann Whitney's U-test, and the multivariate strategic and direct relapse test. Results: Data for 1,564 youth (mean age at baseline = 7.8 years) were dissected. The levels of dental caries and odontogenic contamination in the essential dentition were overall most noticeable in underweight youth, as well as in troubled children, and least noticeable in overweight youth. In addition, dental caries in sixto seven-year-olds was fundamentally linked to an increased risk of being underweight and was impeded two years after the fact. These links have not reliably found for dental caries and odontogenic contamination in the long-term dentition. In addition, underweight linked to fewer teeth being flossed for life in children between six and seven years of age and after two years of age. Conclusion: Underweight and hindered development are related with untreated dental caries and a deferred ejection of lasting teeth in kids from Cambodia, Indonesia and Lao PDR. Discoveries recommend that oral wellbeing may play a significant part in kids' development and general turn of events.


A study was made of camel's milk proteins, of their fraction and amino acid composition. It was shown that the content of the total protein in camel's milk does not depend on the season and constitutes 4.26 g/100 g product on the average. Examination of the fraction composition of camel's milk proteins revealed 74.1% of casein and 25.9% of serum proteins (of the total content). Of the total amount of serum proteins, albumins constitute 18.8%, globulins, 13% and proteoso-peptones, 17.8%. A study was also made of the amino acid content of camel's milk to reveal all the indispensable amino acids in the amount of 36.1%. Tryptophan is a limiting amino acid.


In this thesis, I have constructed a model in which three distinct actors are in a complicated relationship and sought three answers to the following three main questions. The first one is about the analysis of customers' purchase decisions under the condition of not having information about prices of goods and valuations for that goods before traveling the shopping mall. The second one is related to the analysis of the price decisions of two similar retail stores in the case of charged rental contracts managed by the shopping mall. The last one is the analysis of the determination of parking fee that is known by the customers in advance and of optimum rent contracts including fixed and percentage rent. It is found that the equilibrium parking fees are always less than the marginal cost of supplying parking spaces, which implies that the mall determines the parking fee as a loss leader. The second result is that the price of goods are determined at the monopoly prices even if they sell a similar type of products, which the market tends to compete. And the last result is that shopping mall must implement positive percentage rent toward stores to increase its profit, which perfectly complies with data related to rent leases in shopping centers.


BACKGROUND
Headache is one of the most common causes of emergency care and migraines are the most common primary headache in this regard.

OBJECTIVE
The aim of this research study was to assess the incidence of medical consultations due to headache, along with demographic characteristics and treatments pertaining to cephalalgia that were offered to patients cared for in supplemental healthcare emergency rooms.

METHODS
In 2017, a total of 11,105 consultations took place, and 4,865 (43.8%) of them were complaints relating to headache. 407 records of patients with headache were randomly selected and assessed. Demographic, clinical and therapeutic data were collected using a structured form.

RESULTS
The cause of headache was diagnosed as migraine in 60.0% of the patient records. Patients were mostly female (75.2%), with an average age of 33.9 ± 13.7 years. Patient management consisted of administering dipyrone in 62.4% of cases, antiemetics in 66.9%, corticosteroids in 58.9%, opioids in 24.3% and NSAIDs in 13.5%. Use of opioids was associated with a diagnosis of migraine (OR 2.4; CI 1.4-3.9; p = 0.001). Patients who received opioids were kept under observation for longer periods of time (OR 3.4; CI 2.1-5.4; p < 0.001) and exhibited a higher rate of use of antiemetics (OR 11.0; CI 4.7-25.9; p < 0.001), compared with patients who did not receive opioids.

CONCLUSION
Dipyrone and antiemetics were administered to most of the patients. Opioids were used for a significant proportion of these individuals, despite the diagnosis of migraine, a condition for which their use is discouraged.


STEM education is advocated as enhancing learning in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics through delivering meaningful learning experiences to students. Although the benefits of integrating STEM into school curricula appear to warrant implementation, observations are that many teachers and pre-service teachers are not adopting STEM education. Opportunities to address STEM education with pre-service teachers may be stymied by the pre-service teachers' conceptualisations of how they use mathematics and how their students will use the mathematical concepts learnt in the classroom. This study examined links between pre-service teachers' perceptions of their use of mathematics in their everyday lives and their beliefs regarding the relevance of classroom mathematics to students' everyday lives. The participants (n=698) were first year Early Childhood and Primary pre-service teacher education students and they completed an instrument measuring their conceptualisations of mathematics. Pre-service teacher profiles were created based on the level of agreement indicated towards specific statements based on how mathematics was conceptualised from the data collected. Results suggest that pre-service teachers' conceptualisations of mathematics relates to their attitudes towards their use of mathematics in their everyday lives, numeracy in everyday life, and classroom mathematics. The study proposes that pre-service teachers' personal use of mathematics in decision making and the perception of the relevance of mathematics to children's everyday lives are identification factors in STEM being integrated into their teaching practice. Discussion of this research centres on the potential implications for the development of STEM experiences in pre-service teacher education.


Melt processable plasticized cellulose diacetate (CDA) was prepared using triacetin (TA) as a plasticizer and its mechanical properties were characterized. The processability of the plasticized CDA was further enhanced by using a small amount of epoxidized soybean oil as a secondary plasticizer. The glass transition temperature of the plasticized CDA was observed at 50°C lower than that of the virgin CDA and the incorporation of 5 % of ESO also resulted in an additional 20°C decrease in the Tg value. In order to obtain practical processing conditions, a plasticizer content of more than 20 wt % should be used.


ABSTRACT The glycoprotein (G protein) of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) is primarily organized in plasma membranes of infected cells into membrane microdomains with diameters of 100 to 150 nm, with smaller amounts organized into microdomains of larger sizes. This organization has been observed in areas of the infected-cell plasma membrane that are outside of virus budding sites as well as in the envelopes of budding virions. These observations raise the question of whether the intracellular virion components play a role in organizing the G protein into membrane microdomains. Immunogold-labeling electron microscopy was used to analyze the distribution of the G protein in arbitrarily chosen areas of plasma membranes of transfected cells that expressed the G protein in the absence of other viral components. Similar to the results with virus-infected cells, the G protein was organized predominantly into membrane microdomains with diameters of approximately 100 to 150 nm. These results indicate that internal virion components are not required to concentrate the G protein into membrane microdomains with a density similar to that of virus envelopes. To determine if interactions between the G protein cytoplasmic domain and internal virion components were required to create a virus budding site, cells infected with recombinant VSVs encoding truncation mutations of the G protein cytoplasmic domain were analyzed by immunogold-labeling electron microscopy. Deletion of the cytoplasmic domain of the G protein did not alter its partitioning into the 100- to 150-nm microdomains, nor did it affect the incorporation of the G protein into virus envelopes. These data support a model for virus assembly in which the G protein has the inherent property of partitioning into membrane microdomains that then serve as the sites of assembly of internal virion components.


PURPOSE
To retrospectively establish normal values for pulmonary vein diameter, cross-sectional area, and shape depicted at computed tomography (CT).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Institutional review board waived patient consent requirement and approved the study. Thin-section contrast material-enhanced spiral chest CT scans in 104 patients, 68 women and 36 men (age range, 19-86 years; mean, 49 years) referred to exclude pulmonary embolism, were retrospectively reviewed. Short-axis diameter and cross-sectional area of the four major pulmonary veins (right inferior and superior, left inferior and superior) were measured at a workstation by using oblique reconstructions. Each vein was measured at six locations, 5 mm apart, starting at atrial ostium. Each measurement was performed three times by an experienced thoracic radiologist, and the mean value was recorded. Roundness was estimated by comparing the ratio of the calculated cross-sectional area to that measured. Mixed effects model was used to compare men and women relative to the distribution of diameters and surface areas and to compare roundness of the right and left veins.

RESULTS
Mean pulmonary vein diameters at the ostia were variable: right superior, 11.4-12.4 mm; left superior, 9.6-10.5 mm; right inferior, 12.3-13.1 mm; and left inferior, 9.0-9.9 mm. Diameter and cross-sectional area of the left superior pulmonary vein were significantly larger in men than in women (P < .005). As expected, the caliber of three of the four veins gradually increased as they approached the left atrium. Caliber of the left inferior pulmonary vein decreased as it entered the left atrium. None of the veins were round; all were ovoid. Left-sided veins and venous ostia were less round than right-sided veins (P < .001).

CONCLUSION
Pulmonary vein diameter, cross-sectional area, and shape vary. Particular care must be taken when the left inferior pulmonary vein is evaluated for stenosis, as it normally narrows as it enters the left atrium.


This paper analyses the relation between authority and incentives. It extends the standard principal--agent model by a project selection stage in which the principal can either delegate the choice of project to the agent or keep the authority. The agent's subsequent choice of effort depends both on monetary incentives and the selected project. We find that the consideration of effort incentives makes the principal less likely to delegate the authority over projects to the agent. In fact, if the agent is protected by limited liability, delegation is never optimal.


ABSTRACT This review study aims at providing a fine-grained picture of the research from 1985 to 2019 on teacher emotions. A narrative approach was adopted to undertake the review of 812 articles. The method was constructed under the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Based on evidence drawn from existing models and the literature, this review constructed a refined Teacher Emotion Model. This Teacher Emotion Model represents a dynamic, interrelated relation among different elements with one-way, reciprocal and correlative relations between antecedents, teacher emotions and consequences. Implications with regard to theory and foci for future research are then discussed.


Abstract Several neurological variables have been investigated as premorbid biomarkers of vulnerability for schizophrenia and other related disorders. The current study examined whether childhood dyspraxia predicted later adult nonaffective–psychosis-spectrum disorders. From a standardized neurological examination performed with children (aged 10–13) at genetic high risk of schizophrenia and controls, several measures of dyspraxia were used to create a scale composed of face/head dyspraxia, oral articulation, ideomotor dyspraxia (clumsiness), and dressing dyspraxia (n = 244). Multinomial logistic regression showed higher scores on the dyspraxia scale predict nonaffective–psychosis-spectrum disorders relative to other psychiatric disorders and no mental illness outcomes, even after controlling for genetic risk, χ2 (4, 244) = 18.61, p < .001. Findings that symptoms of dyspraxia in childhood (reflecting abnormalities spanning functionally distinct brain networks) specifically predict adult nonaffective–psychosis-spectrum disorders are consistent with a theory of abnormal connectivity, and they highlight a marked early-stage vulnerability in the pathophysiology of nonaffective–psychosis-spectrum disorders.


In faeces and ileal digesta samples of 31 intact (INT) as well as 73 surgically differently prepared pigs bacterial fractionations and 2.6-diaminopimelic acid (DAP) estimations were carried out in order to calculate the bacterial N proportion in faeces N and digesta N after feeding various diets. Because of a high individual variability and the analytical variation width of the DAP/N-ratios no distinct influences of the fed diets could be found. The average DAP/N-values in the faeces (0.224) of INT pigs ranged in the same magnitude as in the digesta (0.0272) of ileorectostomized (IRA) pigs with open colon descendens (IRAo), where a digesta backflow is possible. Distinct lower DAP/N-ratios (0.0125 resp. 0.0043), however, were found in the digesta of pigs with ileo-caecal cannulae (IZB) or IRA pigs with closed colon (IRAg). On the base of various premises (N of the "bacterial fraction" C is only bacterial N; the DAP found in fraction A originates from intestinal bacteria adhering to feed particles) conducted calculations of the bacterial N proportions (in per cent of total N) led to the following data: Faeces of INT pigs: 43.0 ... 68.2 vs. 69.6 ... 89.0; digesta of operated pigs (except protein free diet) IRAo: 22.3 ... 57.0 vs. 46.2 ... 73.8; IZB: 17.0 ... 35.7 vs. 25.2 ... 53.6; IRAg (only 3 pigs): 23.6 vs. 24.2. The proportion of bacterial N in the digesta N of protein free fed IRAo pigs was 22.0 vs. 22.6%.