A software framework (iAssist) has been developed for intelligent patient monitoring, and forms the foundation of a clinical monitoring expert system. The framework is extensible, flexible, and interoperable. It supports plugins to perform data acquisition, signal processing, graphical display, data storage, and output to external devices. iAssist currently incorporates two plugins to detect change point events in physiological trends. In 38 surgical cases, iAssist detected 868 events, of which clinicians rated more than 50% as clinically significant and less than 7% as artifacts. Clinicians found iAssist intuitive and easy to use.


Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common, chronically recurring skin disorder. Dry skin is a common finding in patients with AD, apart from the dermatitis. Although there are obvious clinical signs of an impaired barrier function of the skin, few investigators have studied this aspect of AD. The stratum corneum, where the barrier is located, has been studied with different techniques in patients with AD, and the results are now presented. The water-binding capacity of dry atopic skin was found to be reduced when measured with an in vitro microbalance technique. TEWL (transepidermal water loss) measured with and Evaporimeter Ep1, was increased in dry skin and in clinically normal skin of atopics on predilection areas. Water content was decreased in dry atopic skin, when measured with the Corneometer CM 420. In a quantitative electron microscopic study, the lamellar bodies were found to have an increased relative volume in dry atopic skin. When using chromatographic analysis, preliminary data suggested reduced amounts of extractable stratum corneum lipids in patients with AD. In a clinical study, 80% of the patients with AD regarded their skin as being dry. Fifty percent were found to have areas of dry skin, on clinical examination. By scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the surface pattern of dry atopic skin was found to be coarse and irregular. When using profilometry, quantitative differences in roughness parameters were found in dry atopic vis-à-vis to normal skin.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Organic production has been practiced in the United States since the late 1940s. Since then, the organic industry has developed from small gardens to large farming operations. The government has proposed standards to establish what products may be classified as 'organic.' Organic products are those produced with no synthetic pesticides. Due to the laborious workload of producing products without synthetic pesticides, organic products are often sold at a premium. New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania have relatively more organic production than other states due to the higher value of land in the area and proximity to New York City and Philadelphia. This is because organic production commonly reaps higher profits per acre than conventional production does. The purpose of this study is to produce a profile of the typical organic farmer in these states, and to determine how satisfied they are with the current marketing channels that are open to them to market their organic produce. Specifically, the objectives are to determine producer characteristics such as: • The average acreage in organic production. • The variety of organic produce sold. • The different modes of advertising used in the sale of organic produce. • The marketing channels used, such as wholesale, retail and direct marketing. Additionally, three econometric models are formulated to estimate the following: • The characteristics of organic farmers that plan to extend their organic production over the next five years. • The characteristics of organic farmers that have had increases in gross sales per year over the last five years. • The characteristics of organic farmers that are satisfied with their returns from organic production. The logit framework is used for the regressions in this analysis because its asymptotic characteristic constrains the predicted probabilities to a range of zero to one. The v estimation method is the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE). Hence, given certain organic producer characteristics, the probability that the producer plans to expand their production is found. Similar explanations exist for the other two models. The three models are estimated using information obtained from the producers' questionnaire located at the end of this report. These models identify the factors that significantly contribute to producers' satisfaction with profits and the growth of the organic portion of their business. As expected, the average organic farm size of the sample was extremely small when compared to the mean farm size of each of the participating states. Furthermore, less than 18 percent of the respondents indicate that they are not satisfied with the profit margin they are able to generate from their organic production. Tomatoes were organically grown by more growers than any other crop was organically grown. However, producers reported the highest satisfaction with their returns from the three commodities grown by the fewest number of growers (apples, cattle and milk). Those organic producers who plan to extend their production in the next five years are likely to currently rent some of their land, to produce cattle but not milk, to grow herbs, to use Integrated Pest Management (IPM), to provide forms of agritourism such as hay rides and pick-your-own farms, to be younger farming operations, and to have had an increase in sales over the last five years. About two-thirds of the sample plans to increase production. Those organic producers that have had increases in gross sales per year over the last five years are likely to have at least 70% of their land in organic production, to grow vegetables but not herbs, to use labels to identify their products as certified organic, and to be younger farming operations. Again, about two-thirds of the sample has had increases in gross sales over the last five years. vi Those organic producers that are satisfied with their returns from organic production are more likely to be older farming operations, to have had an increase in sales over the last five years, to use labels to identify their products as certified organic, and to produce cattle. About two-fifths of the sample reported that they are satisfied with their returns from organic production. This report is phase one of a two phase report. Phase II will focus on the consumer characteristics of those who buy organic produce. The models in this report correctly predict the state of the dependent variable at least in 65% of the responses, while two of the models predict correctly 71% of the responses. This phase of the main report accomplishes finding the characteristics of organic producers that plan to expand their operations, that have had an increase in sales over the last five years, and that are satisfied with their organic production returns. This knowledge will be used in conjunction with Phase II to produce an over-all picture of the organic industry in the northeastern United States.


The aim of this research was to investigate the leaf surface microstructure, pigments spectrum, hormones status and lipids composition of halophytes Polygonum maritimum L. and Euphorbia paralias L. that grow under natural conditions on the dunes of Pomorie Lake, (Bulgaria). It was shown that the existence in saline and dry soils provided among others adaptive mechanisms by specific microstructure of leaf. The adaxial and abaxial surfaces of P. maritimum leaves are covered with a dense layer of cuticle wax, stomata are located on the leaf both sides below the cuticle level. In E. paralias the cuticle is also well developed on the adaxial surface of leaf laminas. The epidermis of the leaf lower side is covered with a less dense cuticle layer formed by large wax crystals. This plant has stoma pores only on the abaxial side of small leaves below the cuticle level and they are surrounded with hump-shaped cuticle constructions. A high amount of carotenoids (as compared with that of chlorophylls) in P. maritimum leaves indicates that these pigments have a light-collecting function and could transfer an additional energy to chlorophylls. The high performance liquid chromatography method has been used to provide a qualitative and quantitative analysis of hormones. It was shown that in leaves of E. paralias and P. maritimum free abscisic (ABA) and conjugated indole-3-acetic (IAA) acids prevailed. A high level of active ABA is correlated with the salt tolerance and ability to survive and grow in stress conditions. A high level of conjugated form of IAA demonstrated that activity of this hormone is limited. The cytokinins qualitative and quantitative analyses demonstrated that in E. paralias leaves zeatin forms dominated, and the level of inactive cytokinins (cis-zeatin and zeatin-Oglucoside) was much higher than that of active ones (trans-zeatin and zeatin riboside). P. maritinum leaves contained a significant quantity of isopentenyl forms – isopentenyladenine and isopentenyladenosine, and among zeatin forms, zeatin-O-glucoside prevailed. Studies on the fatty acids content showed that in halophytes the salt resistance mechanism is based on the regulation of plasmatic membrane transport function that involves non-saturated fatty acids. The presence of a large amount of saturated fatty acids provides a decrease of membrane permeability and better resistance against soil salinity.


An enclosed sea such as the Mediterranean is particularly susceptible to ship-associated impacts due to the high volume of shipping routes, long history of use, shallow sensitive habitats and sensitive deep-sea ecosystems. This report describes the potential effects of maritime traffic in the Mediterranean and recommends management and mitigation measures.


Acute heart failure (AHF) is defined as the rapid onset of symptoms se condary to abnormal cardiac function. It is a syndrome and has a va riety of potential etiologies. AHF is a very polymorphic conception and can be related with abnormalities in cardiac rhythm, systolic or diastolic dysfunction or preload and afterload mismatch. The cornerstone of ma nagement includes therapy directed towards the underlying cause of heart failure. On the other hand, if the underlying cause is irreversible  –  a heart assist device or even heart transplantation may be needed. Therefore, while awaiting their availability, vital organ perfusion remains crucial. In these settings, intravenous cardio-/vaso- active agents are necessary. With few exceptions, most vasopressor and positive inotropic agents are symphatomimetic amines that exert their action by binding and sti mulating adrenergic receptors. They are powerful drugs with a considerable potential for toxicity. Vasopressor and inotropic support in case of AHF helps to win the time until a more definitive treatment becomes available. Therefore, AHF management must be directed to establish and eliminate deteriorational factors, however, not the correction of particular hemodynamic parameters.


Electronic noise in a device is often an irritating source of interference. In very small quantum devices, however, noise may have interesting physical properties. In his Perspective, Kouwenhoven describes experiments with devices that allow the passage of electrons from one resevoir to another through a small channel. For some conditions, the electrons act more like quantum waves rather than particles and the electronic noise in this structure can be made to vanish completely.


Heterotherms vary their use of torpor and choice of refugia to deal with energetic stresses such as reproductive activity and extreme weather. We hypothesized that a temperate-region bat would vary its use of heterothermy in response to air temperature but use of torpor would also be influenced by reproductive stage and roost choice. To test this hypothesis, we collected data on skin temperatures of female Indiana bats (Myotis sodalis) carrying temperature-sensitive radiotransmitters during the summers of 2013–2015. We also measured internal temperatures and external characteristics of roosts used by these bats. We analyzed the influence of daytime air temperature, roost canopy closure, roost type, and bat reproductive stage, on daily heterothermy index and torpor characteristics of 17 bats during 103 full roost days (data collected consistently from when a bat entered its roost in the morning to when it emerged at night). Our data showed that Indiana bat heterothermy was influenced by reproductive stage, roost choice, and weather. Although they used torpor, pregnant bats were the least heterothermic (daily heterothermy index = 3.3 ± 0.6°C SE), followed by juvenile bats (5.6 ± 0.5°C), lactating bats (5.7 ± 0.5°C), and one postlactating bat (13.2 ± 1.6°C). Air temperature also influenced heterothermy of pregnant bats less than bats of other reproductive stages. Thermoregulatory strategies varied on a continuum from use of normothermia in warm roosts to use of long and deep bouts of torpor in cool roosts. The thermoregulatory strategy used seemed to be determined by potential reproductive costs of torpor and energetic consequences of weather. Because Indiana bats used different degrees of heterothermy throughout the summer maternity season, managers should offer maternity colonies an array of refugia to facilitate varying behaviors in response to weather and energetic demands.


This article highlights the progress in the field of radical ring-opening polymerization (RROP) of cyclic ketene acetals for the synthesis of functionalised polyesters, (bio)degradable vinyl polymers, and speciality designed degradable polymers. The method of radical ring-opening polymerization offers the advantage in either making special functional polyesters which are not possible by conventional methods or for making polyesters for special applications where low volume shrinkage is of utmost importance. Furthermore, the beauty of radical ring-opening polymerization is in making a new class of degradable materials called poly(vinyl-co-ester)s. Having ester linkages distributed onto the vinyl polymer backbone is emphasised, no other method can combine vinyl polymer backbone with ester units in a random way. The method has opened new opportunities of using the known biomaterials for degradable applications. Other possibilities and challenges in using this method are making specialised degradable materials like ionomers and polymeric-inorganic hybrid materials, which are also discussed in detail.


This research is a feasibility study of a multiproduct Biorefinery from using cotton gin waste in West Texas. This region is traditionally known by its important production of upland cotton and where there is an important concentration of gin mills. An important and cheap quantity of cotton gin waste results from the ginning process could be transformed from a liability with respect to environment to a valuable feedstock to produce a portfolio of bio-products in small and distributed biorefineries. This research shows that such small projects are promising with weather and market risks taken into account.


Experiments were conducted to evaluate the thermal entropy generation, frictional entropy generation, and exergy efficiency of reduced graphene oxide (rGO)–Fe3O4–TiO2 hybrid nanofluid flow in a circular tube under laminar flow. The ternary nanoparticles were synthesized using the sol–gel technique and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The stable ethylene glycol-based ternary hybrid nanofluid was prepared and its thermophysical properties, heat transfer, friction factor, and pumping power at various values of particle weight concentrations (0.05–0.2%) and Reynolds number (211–2200) were studied experimentally. Nusselt number, heat transfer coefficient, friction factor, and exergy efficiency augment with increasing values of particle loading and Reynolds number. Results show the thermal conductivity and viscosity increase, as compared to the base fluid, by 10.6% and 108.3% at ψ = 0.2% and 60 °C. Similarly, for ψ = 0.2% and Reynolds number of 1548, and in comparison to the base fluid data, the Nusselt number and heat transfer coefficient enhancement are 17.78% and 24.76%, respectively, the thermal entropy generation reduction is 19.85%, and the exergy efficiency enhancement is 6.23%. At Reynolds number of 221.1, the rise in pressure drop, pumping power, and friction factor is 13.65%, 11.33%, and 16%, respectively, for ψ = 0.2% as compared to the base fluid data. The overall thermal performance of the system is enhanced by 14.32%. New equations are developed for the evaluation of the thermophysical properties, Nusselt number, and friction factor.


Studies have been made on the neuronal composition of the central nervous system of the Nudibranch molluscs from the White Sea -- Coryphella rufibranchialis, Dendronotus arborescens and Cadlina laevis -- at various stages of their postlarval development, Localization maps for the largest neurons were composed. For C. rufibranchialis and D. arborescens, about 65--78 neurons were mapped; some of the characteristics of these neurons were investigated, such as age changes in the body size, the shape, pigmentation and neurosecretory activity. Using impregnation of silver nitrate into slices, two types of branching of neuronal processes were revealed (nervous cells with "branching" and "bifurcational" axons).


When this essay was published, nearly thirty years ago, America was in the midst of the Bretton Woods system, a Keynesian international monetary system that had been foisted upon the world by the United States and British governments in 1945. The Bretton Woods system was an international dollar standard masquerading as a "gold standard," in order to lend the welldeserved prestige of the world's oldest and most stable money, gold, to the increasingly inflated and depreciated dollar. But this post-World War II system was only a grotesque parody of a gold standard. In the pre-World War I "classical" gold standard, every currency unit, be it dollar, pound, franc, or mark, was defined as a certain unit of weight of gold. Thus, the "dollar" was defined as approximately 1/20 of an ounce of gold, while the pound sterling was defined as a little less than 1/4 of a gold ounce, thus fixing the exchange rate between the two (and between all other currencies) at the ratio of their weights.


Small molecule donor/polymer acceptor bulk-heterojunction films with both compounds strongly absorbing have great potential for further enhancement of the performance of organic solar cells. By employing a newly synthesized small molecule donor with a commercially available polymer acceptor in a solution-processed fullerene-free system, a high power conversion efficiency of close to 4% is reported.


Age is an important factor correlated with stroke prevalence and independently influences stroke outcome especially in Japanese longevity society. To re-evaluate the characteristics of acute ischemic stroke in the old-old, analyses of clinical data on 426 patients registered at a Japanese tertiary emergency hospital were performed under appropriate statistical methods. Clinical features, stroke subtypes, current-known risk factors for stroke, time from onset to arrival, the National Institute of Health Stroke scale (NIHSS) score on admission, length of hospital stay, modified Rankin Scale (mRS) at discharge were compared between two stratified groups by age-at-onset (≧75 and < 75 years old). Significant differences were demonstrated in categories of sex, NIHSS score, length of hospital stay and m-RS. Current-known risk factors for stroke except atrial fibrillation were not prominent in the elderly group. Our study revealed that clinical phenotype and outcome in stroke patients would have been modified and re-evaluation of risk factors is necessary for prevention of ischemic stroke in Japanese longevity society.


Abstract Chaenorhinum gerense is an eastern Mediterranean species with rare distribution and a large variety in plant and seed morphology. In this study, the accuracy of the taxonomic status of this species, which was initially reported by P.H. Davis as C. rubrifolium from south eastern Turkey, is discussed and the typical representatives of C. rubrifolium were collected for the first time for Turkey from Muğla province, southwestern Anatolia. C. gerense is closely related to the C. rubrifolium, from which it differs by having a small and cream corolla with red blotch, capsule as long as or smaller 1/2-calyx teeth and triangular or rectangular blunt crest on seed. Detailed descriptions and identification keys for these two taxa are provided.


This article looks beyond the traditional compliance-based model of police oversight to discuss the emerging contributions of external oversight agencies to proactive police reform. Drawing on the approach of Problem Oriented Policing and the Scan, Analyse, Respond, Assess (SARA) problem-solving model, the article provides a framework to highlight a number of activities that identify and analyse problems in the police integrity domain, and design and implement solutions that impact positively on the police and communities. The article provides examples of agency activity for each stage of the SARA model and case studies to illustrate the whole model in practice.


Globally, it is possible that less than half of all patients are treated in compliance with guidelines and more than half of all patients fail to take their medicines as prescribed or dispensed. Such inappropriate use is wasteful of resources and causes patient harm in terms of lack of satisfactory outcome, serious adverse events and increased antimicrobial resistance. Combating inappropriate use of medicines involves four major steps: measuring the use of medicines; identifying the determinants of inappropriate use; developing, implementing and evaluating the impact of interventions to improve the use of medicines while taking into account the factors underlying inappropriate use; and working towards an enabling policy framework that encourages appropriate use. Global evidence on how to effectively combat inappropriate use of medicines is discussed herein, with reference to the aforementioned four steps. Most interventions undertaken to combat inappropriate use of medicines have been educational in nature, have had a relatively small impact and have not taken into account the determinants of behavior. A combination of interventions, involving managerial as well as educational components, appears to be more effective than a single intervention. Less than half of countries have a policy framework that actively encourages appropriate use of medicines. Since health systems are varied and complex, a nationally coordinated package of interventions and policies, contextualized to each country, will be needed to have any substantial impact on medicine use. There is now increasing global awareness of the need to strengthen health systems, to have national coordination to combat inappropriate use of medicines and to have coordination of international aid to developing countries in order to ensure it contributes to combating inappropriate use of medicines. The opportunities this presents for combating inappropriate use of medicines are discussed in this article.


Abstract Background. Quantitative estimates of the global burden of the 1957 influenza pandemic are lacking. Here we fill this gap by modeling historical mortality statistics. Methods. We used annual rates of age- and cause-specific deaths to estimate pandemic-related mortality in excess of background levels in 39 countries in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, and the Americas. We modeled the relationship between excess mortality and development indicators to extrapolate the global burden of the pandemic. Results. The pandemic-associated excess respiratory mortality rate was 1.9/10 000 population (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2–2.6 cases/10 000 population) on average during 1957–1959. Excess mortality rates varied 70-fold across countries; Europe and Latin America experienced the lowest and highest rates, respectively. Excess mortality was delayed by 1–2 years in 18 countries (46%). Increases in the mortality rate relative to baseline were greatest in school-aged children and young adults, with no evidence that elderly population was spared from excess mortality. Development indicators were moderate predictors of excess mortality, explaining 35%–77% of the variance. Overall, we attribute 1.1 million excess deaths (95% CI, .7 million–1.5 million excess deaths) globally to the 1957–1959 pandemic. Conclusions. The global mortality rate of the 1957–1959 influenza pandemic was moderate relative to that of the 1918 pandemic but was approximately 10-fold greater than that of the 2009 pandemic. The impact of the pandemic on mortality was delayed in several countries, pointing to a window of opportunity for vaccination in a future pandemic.


A new distributed neural information-processing model is proposed to explain the response characteristics of the vestibulo-ocular system and to reflect more accurately the latest anatomical and neurophysiological data on the vestibular afferent fibers and vestibular nuclei. In this model, head motion is sensed topographically by hair cells in the semicircular canals. Hair cell signals are then processed by multiple synapses in the primary afferent neurons which exhibit a continuum of varying dynamics. The model is an application of the concept of "multilayered" neural networks to the description of findings in the bullfrog vestibular nerve, and allows us to formulate mathematically the behavior of an assembly of neurons whose physiological characteristics vary according to their anatomical properties.


Transparent conducting Ti-Al co-doped zinc oxide films (TAZO) with high transparency and relatively low resistivity have been successfully prepared by direct current magnetron sputtering. The effect of sputtering power on the structural, optical, and electrical properties of Ti-Al co-doped films were investigated. The XRD patterns show that the thin films were highly textured along the c-axis and perpendicular to the surface of the substrate. The electrical resistivity decreases when the sputtering power increases from 40W to 120W. When the sputtering power is 120w and the target-substrate distance is 60mm, it is obtained that the lowest resistivity is 3.23×10-4Ω·cm.The lowest stress is 0.864Gpa in all the deposited films. All the films present a high transmittance of above 91% in the visible range.


Bilateral asymmetry of the paired claws of the lobster Homarus americanus is determined during the fourth and fifth juvenile stages by differential reflex activity; the side with the greater activity becomes the crusher while the contralateral side becomes the cutter. Juvenile lobsters reared during this critical period with a substratum that could not be grasped or with reduced input from predominantly internal mechanoreceptors (proprioceptors) (achieved by cutting the dactyl and its chordotonal organ or by tenotomizing the claw opener or closer muscles) failed to develop a crusher claw and hence remained bilaterally symmetrical: they developed paired cutter claws. Therefore, the proprioceptive component of the reflex activity is implicated in bringing about the initial lateralization of the claw ganglion into a crusher and a cutter side. Moreover, lobsters with a single claw reared without a substratum developed a crusher on the intact side only if the intact claw was exercised. In the unexercised condition, differences in reflex activity between the side with a claw and the side without one were insufficient for the development of a crusher claw on the intact side. A minimal amount of reflex activity is necessary for the development of a crusher. Lobsters reared with this minimal amount of activity in both claws developed asymmetrical claws rather than paired crusher claws. This means that initial lateralization of the claw ganglion into a crusher side, on a random basis, inhibited the opposite side from also becoming a crusher. This would explain why we failed to produce lobsters with paired crusher claws and why they were seldom found in the wild.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study is to report surgical skills for CI cases with modiolus ossification and to investigate the relation between post-operational electroneurophysilogical test result and speech recognition result. Further more, we also attempt to confirm indications for CI in this specific population.

METHOD
Based on temporal bone HRCT, 7 subjects were identified as modiolus ossification from 101 cases with cochlear ossification. Modiolus ossification is confirmed by CT scan if CT value in modiolus reaches or exceeds 900 HU with the exception of congenital modiolus ossification or modiolus seal off. Electroneurophysiological test was conducted intra- and pos-operationally speech tests were applied for 7 subjects.

RESULT
Normal impedance value was observed by intro-operational measurement in 7 subjects. EABR test was conducted and negtive response was observed in only 1 subject, while other 6 subjects were confirmed with atypical EABR waves which were observed in apical and middle turn region. Hearing threshold test (in sound field) was applied, no auditory response was recorded for the subject without EABR waveform, while hearing threshold in average for the other 6 subjects was 75 dB. Results of speech tests (Mandarin) were followed as 0 for the one without EABR wave, while 100% (simple finals test) and 30% (simple initials test) for the other 6 subjects.

CONCLUSION
Optimal multichannel CI surgery that inserting and locating electrode array spirally is very frequently interrupted by ossification,which was indentified with atypical EABR wave and relative poor speech recognition results, especially in modiolus ossification case. A post-operative negative EABR response may indicate surgical failure following cochlear implantation.


The dynamics of wave packets in the fractional Schrödinger equation is still an open problem. The difficulty stems from the fact that the fractional Laplacian derivative is essentially a nonlocal operator. We investigate analytically and numerically the propagation of optical beams in the fractional Schrödinger equation with a harmonic potential. We find that the propagation of one- and two-dimensional input chirped Gaussian beams is not harmonic. In one dimension, the beam propagates along a zigzag trajectory in real space, which corresponds to a modulated anharmonic oscillation in momentum space. In two dimensions, the input Gaussian beam evolves into a breathing ring structure in both real and momentum spaces, which forms a filamented funnel-like aperiodic structure. The beams remain localized in propagation, but with increasing distance display an increasingly irregular behavior, unless both the linear chirp and the transverse displacement of the incident beam are zero.


Agriculture contributes largely to the economic growth of developing countries such as the Philippines. However, it is highly dependent on climate. The impending changes in climatic variables thus pose questions about its economic impacts on agricultural crops such as rice. There has been no study yet on the quantified positive or negative impact of changing weather patterns on the rice farmlands of Davao Region, Southern Philippines. Thus, this study used the Ricardian model in estimating the marginal effect of significant weather variables on the net revenue per hectare of rice farmlands in Davao Region. Farm net revenue per hectare was regressed on socio-demographic variables and on weather variables that affect rice growth, namely: rainfall, air temperature, air humidity, and wind speed. Primary survey on 44 rice farm households was conducted in 2015 for the socio-demographic variables and the computation of the farm net revenue per hectare, while secondary data for 2015 on the weather variables were obtained from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) website. Results showed that air temperature and air humidity significantly affect the net revenue per hectare. Specifically, when air temperature increases beyond 27.03 °C, farm net revenue per hectare decreases. Farm net revenue also decreases when air humidity goes lower than 84.66%. Currently, the average air temperature and air humidity in the Davao Region are 26.75 °C and 85.18%, respectively. A unit increase in air temperature from the current average value reduces farm net revenue by PhP 116,420.50 per hectare, while a unit increase in air humidity raises farm net income by PhP 8,168.00 per hectare. This study recommends further educating people, particularly rice farmers, on mitigating the effects of changing weather conditions. Strategies and policies are crucial in order for farmers to adapt to these changing conditions.


Training is at the heart of the European TAPE project. The project is directed at cultural and research institutions that (also) hold audiovisual materials, as a minority collection in what are usually largely paper-based holdings. TAPE's training programme includes European workshops (in English) as well as national/regional events (in national languages). Since the start of the project already ten workshops took place, and more will follow.


Tropical rainforest rehabilitation is one method to recreate, establish, and accelerate natural successional processes. Tropical rehabilitation has occurred on the Atherton Tableland for 15 years. Currently, rehabilitated sites on the Atherton Tableland are monitored by tree planting agencies for two to three years to reduce exotic species. The 10-12 years following the last monitoring period provides the opportunity to investigate successional processes of these rehabilitated sites.

One method to investigate rehabilitation management is through the soil seed bank. The composition and recruitment pattern of seeds in the soil seed bank may offer information on species that have the potential to germinate in rehabilitated sites following a disturbance. This knowledge is useful to predict future successional patterns within rehabilitated sites.

This study investigated the soil seed bank composition of rehabilitated sites adjacent to – and isolated from – remnant rainforest. In addition, it was determined whether distance from seed source influenced exotic species composition and native species recruitment that occurred to rehabilitated sites. Seventeen rainforest study sites were chosen for investigation: six remnant rainforest sites, six rehabilitated sites adjacent to remnant rainforest, and five rehabilitated sites isolated from remnant rainforest. Twenty soil samples were collected (60 x 60 x 50 mm deep) for each site, and overstorey plant species were recorded. Germination of soil-stored seeds occurred for three months, and seedling identification occurred on a weekly to fortnightly basis. Following species identification, life history traits were collected including: origin (native or exotic), life form, dispersal mechanism, seed size, successional stage, and whether species were recruited to the rehabilitated sites.

Non-parametric tests, Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA and Mann-Whitney U-tests were used to determine whether differences occurred between sites in number of seeds, number of species, or life history traits. Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficient identified positive and negative associations among life history traits.

A total of 10,938 seeds germinated from the 17 study sites, and 10,226 were exotic. Exotics represented 328 germinants and 40 species of remnant rainforest sites; 4,864 germinants and 34 species of adjacent rehabilitated sites; and 5,034 germinants and 31 species of isolated rehabilitated sites. There were no significant differences in number of exotic seeds and species between the adjacent and isolated rehabilitated sites, which indicate that distance from seed source did not affect the exotic composition of rehabilitated sites. The exotic species found in the soil seed banks were herbs and grasses. Herbs and grasses had a significant positive correlation with wind dispersal, small sized seeds, and early successional species.

A total of 238 seeds were native recruits. Native recruits represented 120 germinants and 20 species of remnant rainforest sites, 33 germinants and 5 species of adjacent rehabilitated sites, and 85 germinants and 4 species of isolated rehabilitated sites. There were no significant differences in native recruit germinants among the remnant rainforest sites, the adjacent rehabilitated sites and the isolated rehabilitated sites; however, there were significant differences in the number of native species recruited between the three rainforest site types. There were significantly more species recruited to the remnant rainforest sites than the adjacent rehabilitated sites. However, the results indicate that location of rehabilitation planting (adjacent or isolated) does not affect native species recruitment. The native recruited species were shrubs and trees. There was a significant positive association between life form and wind dispersal, small sized seeds, and early successional stage.

The soil seed bank composition suggests that 10 – 12 years following weed control, exotic species may germinate after a disturbance and establish the rehabilitated sites. These results have significant implications for future rehabilitation efforts on the Atherton Tableland due to evidence of exotic herbaceous dominance, which requires longer and more intense management.


Tojo, or outer-castle, system in Satsuma is unique in Japan under the Baku-Han Regime. The system was the basic unit in Satsuma's social structure. The system survived the enforcement of "Genna-no-ikkoku-ichijorei" (Order of Bakufu restricting the number of castles to one in each han). This paper is an attempt to give an account of the process of its establishment and consider the implications of the functions of such a system of social organization on Satsuma's internal and external policy.Tojo-system was a social institution with decentralized military deployment. Under this system Shimazu, the feudal Lord of Satsuma, divided its territory into 113 districts. The administrative functions were performed by the distinctive samurai-group headed by jito. The office of jito was called "jito-kariya", and the zone of residence for the samurai group was named "funioto". The jito was entitled to serve as the commander who could mobilize the samurai group to form an army corp at an emergency. In Satsuma all the samurai, except for about 5, 000 Kagoshima jokashi (the castle town samurai), resided in fumoto living on farming. Those samurai were earlier called Tojo-shuju, or goshi later. The Tojo zones were not the same as those in the age of the Warring States. Most of them were settled in the early part of the Tokugawa Era under the new system that had replaced the older one.The Tojo-system was constructed incrementally in the process of Shimazu's integration of three shu, or provinces: Satsuma, Osumi and Hyuga. There is some reasonable ground for identifying the year of the establishment of this system as around the fifth year of Keicho (1600).The Shimazu family founded its dictatorship in 1600 after the long battles that ravaged the area since 1526 when Takahisa succeeded the dynasty. The Shimazu successively conquered the antagonistic local clans in the domain, with the final battle ending in the defeat of Ijuin Kogan (Shonai-no-ran, 1599-1600).Around the mid-1590s Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the Grand Warrior Lord of the nation, ordered a land survey (1594-1595), which benefited the Shimazu as they conducted-a large-scale replacement of the leading vassals to achieve their hegemony.As a step toward integration the Shimazu started to build new Tojo as well as to re-arrange the existing ones throughout the territories. Because of their strategic importance the Tojo at the border, such as Izumi on the gateway to Higo, Okuchi to Kuma, and Takaoka and Shibushi to Hyuga, commanded Shimazu's most serious attention. Shimazu placed his most trusted and influential samurai heads to those places where they promoted drastic social reforms and set up a strict control system for the trans-border traffic.


Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) experience symptoms (e. g. abdominal pain, bloating, or diarrhoea) that could be partially due to food intolerances or malabsorption. Thus, those patients could restrict some foods in their diet to avoid the symptoms. Among others, they could restrict their intake of dairy products, since lactose intolerance is one of the most prevalent intolerances. Although the role of lactose intolerance in IBD has been studied, the results are not entirely conclusive.
 Recently, we analysed the genetic basis of IBD in a Basque cohort and we have taken advantage of the data we had available to study the role of the lactase non-persistence in IBD.

 The genotype of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs4988235 was retrieved from 1427 individuals (492 IBD cases and 935 controls from the general population) studied previously in a Basque cohort. The G allele of that SNP is associated with the non-persistence of lactase and the individuals were classified as carriers and non-carriers of that allele.
 The effect of the carriership of that allele in the risk of IBD was analysed through generalized linear models, adjusting by the first four principal components of the genetic distance between individuals. In addition, IBD subtypes and behaviour and location of Crohn's Disease (CD) were analysed.

 On the whole, 1089 individuals (76.31%) were carriers of the non-persistent lactase allele. This high prevalence is due to the effect of the mixture of modern European (where the 68.08% was carrier) and ancient European (87.45%) ancestries of the actual Basque population.
 Although there is a trend, the carriers of the non-persistent lactase allele did not show a significantly higher risk of developing IBD (OR=1.5, 95%CI: 0.9-2.5, P=0.0749). When subtypes were analysed, there was no higher risk of developing Ulcerative Colitis (P=0.4261), while the risk of developing CD approached formal significance (OR=1.4, 95%CI: 0.99-1.9, P= 0.0584).
 Considering this result, we further analysed the effect of the non-persistent lactase allele regarding the behaviour or location of CD. The carriers of the non-persistent lactase allele had a higher risk of penetrating CD (OR=2.7, 95%CI: 1.1-7.9, P=0.0437) and of colonic CD (OR=4.7, 95%CI: 1.4-29.4, P=0.0375).

 Although the sample size was limited, the carriers of the non-persistent lactase allele were higher in penetrating CD and colonic CD than in the general population. Thus, lactose consumption could affect those cases of CD and, therefore, follow-up analyses are needed to validate these results.


Amperometric biosensor based on enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE; EC 184.108.40.206) was tested for pesticide methamidophos assay. Biosensor consists from four screen printed platinum electrodes on ceramic strip. AChE was physically adsorbed onto the electrode surface. The measuring principle was based on the inhibition of AChE activity in the presence of methamidophos. The proposed method limit of detection was 2.45 nM, responding to 3.46 pg of methamidophos detected absolutely when we consider the sample volume.


The occurrence frequency of cirrus clouds as function of ambient relative humidity over ice, based on in-situ observations performed during the INCA experiment, show a clear difference between the campaign carried out at Southern Hemisphere (SH) midlatitudes and the campaign carried out at Northern Hemisphere (NH) midlatitudes. At a given relative humidity above ice saturation, clouds are more frequent in the NH. At relative humidities near ice saturation, clouds defined as containing particles with sizes larger than 0.55 µm diameter and an integral number density above 0.2 cm -3 were present 70% of the time during the SH campaign, whereas clouds where present 95% of the time during the NH campaign. Using a size threshold of 1 µm diameter to define the presence of clouds result in a less frequent occurrence of 60% of the time in the SH campaign and 75% of the time in the NH campaign. The data show that the presence of particles is a common characteristic of cirrus clouds. Clouds at ice saturation defined as having crystal sizes of at least 5 µm diameter and a number density exceeding 0.001 cm -3 were present in about 80% of the time during the SH campaign, and almost 90% of the time during the NH campaign. The observations reveal a significant cloud presence fraction at humidities well below ice saturation. Local minima in the cloud presence fraction as a function of relative humidity are interpreted as systematic underestimation of cloud presence because cloud particles may become invisible to cloud probes. Based on this interpretation the data suggests that clouds in the SH form preferentially at relative humidities between 140 and 155%, whereas clouds in the NH formed at relative humidities less than 130%. A simple assumption about the probability to reach successively higher humidities in an ice supersaturated air parcel provides a model that explains the main trend of the cloud presence fraction as function of relative humidity. If adiabatic processes are assumed a cloud water content distribution can be derived from this probability model. The resulting distribution agrees well in shape compared to observations, but the observed mean cloud water content is less than expected from simply adiabatic processes.


Radio resource management (RRM) plays an extremely important role in efficient utilization of the limited radio resources to provide guaranteed quality of service (QoS). Power and transmission rate cotrol are considered as two primary RRM components in mobile cellular systems. The former method is well-known for upholding required signal quality and reducing the energy consumption, while the latter is used to maximize the system throughput. In this thesis, the algorithm of simultaneously adapting transmission power and data rate to maximize system throughput and minimize the power consumption for W-CDMA system is proposed [1]. The greedy rate packing (GRP) allocation scheme is applied in the rate adaptation, where the higher transmission rate is assigned to the users with better channel conditions meanwhile mminimizing the transmission power. It can be interpreted that more resources, such as power and transmission rate, are allocated at time instants when channel conditons are favourable. As a result, the resource allocation will be working in an efficient way. Another problem in power control is that using fixed stepsize power control (FSPC) can not fully react to the changing of the fading fluctuations when mobile speed changes. A novel dynamic stepsize power control (DSPC) algorithm [2] is presented as well, so as to enhance the system performance. The performance of the proposal algorithms are evaluated through computer simulations, and compared with the traditional approaches from the literature. We model and stmulate all major components of the system within an accurate frame/time slot structure specified in the UMTS W-CDMA system. Numerical results verify that significant performance improvement can be achieved with the proposal algorithms.


Usually, studies analyzing terrorism focus on the total number of casualties or attacks in a given county. However, per capita rates of terrorism are more likely to matter for individual welfare. Analyzing 214 countries from 1970-2014, we show that three stylized findings are overturned in terms of sign, magnitude, and statistical significance when investigating terror per capita. Democracy, previously associated with more casualties, emerges as a marginally negative predictor of terror per capita. A larger share of Muslims in society is, if anything, associated with less terrorism. Similar conclusions apply to language fractionalization.


Public key encryption was first proposed by Diffie and Hellman [16], and widely popularised with the RSA cryptosystem [37]. Over the years, the security goals of public key encryption have been studied [17, 22], as have adversary models [30, 36], and many public key cryptosystems have been proposed and analysed.It turns out that the security of many of those cryptosystems [16, 18, 22, 29, 34, 35] are based on a common class of mathematical problems, called subgroup membership problems. Cramer and Shoup [10] designed a chosen-ciphertextsecure cryptosystem based on a general subgroup membership problem (generalising their previous work [9]), and provided two new instances. Yamamura and Saito [41] defined a general subgroup membership problem, catalogued several known subgroup membership problems, and designed a private information retrieval system based on a subgroup membership problem. Nieto, Boyd and Dawson [31] designed a cryptosystem based on essentially a symmetric subgroup membership problem (see Section 4.4 and Section 6.1).Chapter 2 and 3 contain certain preliminary discussions necessary for the later work. In Chapter 4, we discuss subgroup membership problems, both abstractly and concrete families. For all of the concrete examples, there is a related problem called the splitting problem. We discuss various elementary reductions, both abstract and for concrete families. In cryptographic applications, a third related problem, called the subgroup discrete logarithm problem, is also interesting, and we discuss this in some detail. We also discuss a variant of the subgroup membership problem where there are two subgroups that are simultaneously hard to distinguish. We prove a useful reduction (Theorem 4.11) for this case. The technique used in the proof is reused throughout the thesis.In Chapter 5, we discuss two homomorphic cryptosystems, based on trapdoor splitting problems. This gives us a uniform description of a number of homomorphic cryptosystems, and allows us to apply the theory and results of Chapter 4 to the security of those cryptosystems.Using the technique of Theorem 4.11, we develop a homomorphic cryptosystem that is not based on a trapdoor problem. This gives us a fairly efficient cryptosystem, with potentially useful properties.We also discuss the security of a homomorphic cryptosystem under a nonstandard assumption. While these results are very weak, they are stronger than results obtained in the generic model.In Chapter 6, we develop two key encapsulation methods. The first can be proven secure against passive attacks, using the same technique as in the proof of Theorem 4.11. The second method can be proven secure against active attacks in the random oracle model, but to do this, we need a certain non-standard assumption.Finally, in Chapter 7 we discuss a small extension to the framework developed by Cramer and Shoup [10], again by essentially reusing the technique used to prove Theorem 4.11. This gives us a cryptosystem that is secure against chosen ciphertext attacks, without recourse to the random oracle model or nonstandard assumptions. The cryptosystem is quite practical, and performs quite well compared to other variants of the Cramer-Shoup cryptosystem.


In this paper we describe a scalable algorithm for the simultaneous mapping and localization (SLAM) problem. SLAM is the problem of acquiring a map of a static environment with a mobile robot. The vast majority of SLAM algorithms are based on the extended Kalman filter (EKF). In this paper we advocate an algorithm that relies on the dual of the EKF, the extended information filter (EIF). We show that when represented in the information form, map posteriors are dominated by a small number of links that tie together nearby features in the map. This insight is developed into a sparse variant of the EIF, called the sparse extended information filter (SEIF). SEIFs represent maps by graphical networks of features that are locally interconnected, where links represent relative information between pairs of nearby features, as well as information about the robot's pose relative to the map. We show that all essential update equations in SEIFs can be executed in constant time, irrespective of the size of the map. We also provide empirical results obtained for a benchmark data set collected in an outdoor environment, and using a multi-robot mapping simulation.


Abstract. Satellite retrievals of column-averaged dry-air mole
fractions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), denoted
XCO2 and XCH4, respectively, have been used in recent years to
obtain information on natural and anthropogenic sources and sinks and for
other applications such as comparisons with climate models. Here we present
new data sets based on merging several individual satellite data products in
order to generate consistent long-term climate data records (CDRs) of these
two Essential Climate Variables (ECVs). These ECV CDRs, which cover the time
period 2003–2018, have been generated using an ensemble of data products
from the satellite sensors SCIAMACHY/ENVISAT and TANSO-FTS/GOSAT and (for
XCO2) for the first time also including data from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2) satellite. Two types of products have been generated:
(i) Level 2 (L2) products generated with the latest version of the
ensemble median algorithm (EMMA) and (ii) Level 3 (L3) products obtained
by gridding the corresponding L2 EMMA products to obtain a monthly
5∘×5∘ data product in Obs4MIPs (Observations for Model Intercomparisons Project) format. The L2 products consist of daily NetCDF (Network Common Data Form) files, which contain in addition to the main
parameters, i.e., XCO2 or XCH4, corresponding uncertainty
estimates for random and potential systematic uncertainties and the
averaging kernel for each single (quality-filtered) satellite observation.
We describe the algorithms used to generate these data products and present
quality assessment results based on comparisons with Total Carbon Column
Observing Network (TCCON) ground-based retrievals. We found that the
XCO2 Level 2 data set at the TCCON validation sites can be
characterized by the following figures of merit (the corresponding values
for the Level 3 product are listed in brackets) – single-observation random
error (1σ): 1.29 ppm (monthly: 1.18 ppm); global bias: 0.20 ppm (0.18 ppm); and spatiotemporal bias or relative accuracy (1σ): 0.66 ppm
(0.70 ppm). The corresponding values for the XCH4 products are single-observation random error (1σ): 17.4 ppb (monthly: 8.7 ppb); global
bias: −2.0 ppb (−2.9 ppb); and spatiotemporal bias (1σ): 5.0 ppb (4.9
ppb). It has also been found that the data products exhibit very good
long-term stability as no significant long-term bias trend has been
identified. The new data sets have also been used to derive annual XCO2
and XCH4 growth rates, which are in reasonable to good agreement with
growth rates from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
based on marine surface observations. The presented ECV data sets are
available (from early 2020 onwards) via the Climate Data Store (CDS,
https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/, last access: 10 January 2020) of the Copernicus Climate
Change Service (C3S, https://climate.copernicus.eu/, last access: 10 January 2020).


This thesis is written as the final project of the Hotel Management Program which analyze about communication condition between the service and bar staff at The Oriental Swan Restaurant, and how it is related to the misunderstanding that often happens between them. In an organization, communication among the individuals is very important in order to achieve the goal. Especially in restaurant business which always connects with the guest satisfaction, the communication between the staffs that operates a restaurant has to be smooth. Otherwise, the staffs can not be well informed and can lead a misunderstanding between them. This research categorized as a qualitative research which the writers used both interview and observation methods to gain the relevant data about communication between service and bar staff in The Oriental Swan Restaurant. This thesis is divided into six sections or chapters. In the first chapter of this thesis, the writers will introduce the reader to the subject of their research. It will discuss their research background, problem statement, research question and objective, and the conceptual model of this problem. The introduction to the company where the research is executed can be found in the second chapter. Detailed information about the history of the company, their mission and vision, products, target group, position in market, organization chart, and also a clear description about task and responsibilities per job can be found here. The third chapter is started with the literature review. Not only describing the relevant theoretical concepts that they picked but the writers also relating it with the application in the restaurant. At the end of this chapter, the reader can find an explanation about association between every concepts and summary of the theory. In the fourth chapter, the writers will describe the planning of the primary research process. A brief explanation about why the writers used qualitative methods will be given in details. Not only the problems and obstacles during the research but also appropriate counter efforts will be described in this chapter. The writers, explaining what is doing right and wrong, will give an objective evaluation of the research process. The fifth chapter describes the data analysis based on the research that had been conducted in The Oriental Swan Restaurant. The writers base the case study on the literature review, in-depth interviews with the supervisor, the part timer, the service and bar staff, and also on the observation during the operational hour in the restaurant. The last chapter is the conclusion from all the contents of this thesis. Limitations of the research and suggestion for further research will be given. Some suggestions will be made to develop a better communication between service and bar staff in order to minimize misunderstanding between them.


p53 and its related genes, p73 and p63, are members of the p53 gene family. While p53 is the most frequently mutated gene in human tumors, p73 and p63 are rarely mutated or lost in cancers. Although p53-deficient cancer cells are often less responsive to chemotherapy, they are not completely drug resistant, suggesting that other apoptotic pathways are at work. Interestingly, several studies have shown that p73, and more recently p63, are involved in cellular response to cancer therapy, while others have indicated that p63 and p73 are required for p53-induced apoptosis, delineating functional interplay between p53 family members. The latest reports in this field have established that Nutlin-3, a selective inhibitor of p53-MDM2 interaction, disrupts p73-MDM2 and enhances p73 function in p53-null cells, and that a p53-derived peptide that targets iASPP--a common negative regulator of p53 family members--can trigger cell death via a p73-dependent mechanism. It has also been shown that a small-molecule RETRA suppressed mutant p53-bearing cancers cells through a p73-dependent salvage pathway. Finally, there is increasing evidence that cleaved fragments of p53, p63 and p73 are involved in apoptosis and it remains to be determined whether or not pro-forms of the p53 family play an apoptotic role mediated by cleavage. This review will highlight research into drugs and mechanisms that activate p63 and p73, since these proteins are not mutated in cancers and as such are potential candidates for replacing p53 in p53-deficient cells. It will therefore focus on recent findings in the search for pathways and molecules capable of modulating p53 family protein activities and restoring response to cancer therapy, particularly in tumors bearing p53 mutations.


The electromagnetic standing wave becomes one of the main sources of plasma nonuniformity in large area capacitively coupled rf reactors. In cylindrical reactors with a central rf connection or one-dimensional linear reactors with rf connections at both extremities, Gaussian shaped electrodes can be used to suppress this standing wave. In this work, we present a two-dimensional quasiplanar circuit model and a numerical method for calculation of the electrode shape that can suppress the standing wave effect in large area rectangular reactors. It is shown that the calculated shapes are not Gaussian, and are not only a function of the reactor dimensions and excitation frequency, but are also strongly influenced by the position and number of rf connections, as will also be the case for a cylindrical reactor with a noncentral rf connection. However, when a shape has been determined for a given reactor geometry and rf excitation frequency, then it is shown that it remains independent of the plasma provided that the electromagnetic skin depth in the plasma remains large enough such that skin effects remain negligible. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.


The Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region has made laudable progress in the past fifteen years in reducing poverty, building the middle class, and promoting prosperity for all levels of society. Extreme poverty, defined in this region as life on less than $2.50 a day, has declined by half, while in 2011 for the first time in recorded history the LAC region had a larger number of people in the middle class than in poverty. Across this region of close to 600 million people, the poor have been gaining faster than the already well off. But despite these impressive achievements, about 80 million people still live in extreme poverty, half of them in Brazil and Mexico. And millions more who have risen out of poverty risk being pulled back down into it by economic shocks and severe weather brought on by climate change. This brief reviews the LAC's progress toward these objectives, outlines the continuing challenges and proposes a policy framework for keeping the region on its upward arc and picking up the speed.


Objective Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection has been known to damage the microstructural integrity of white matter (WM). However, only a few studies have assessed the brain regions in HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Therefore, we sought to compare the DTI data between HIV patients with and without HAND using tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS). Materials and Methods Twenty-two HIV-infected patients (10 with HAND and 12 without HAND) and 11 healthy controls (HC) were enrolled in this study. A whole-brain analysis of fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), radial diffusivity (RD), and axial diffusivity was performed with TBSS and a subsequent 20 tract-specific region-of-interest (ROI)-based analysis to localize and compare altered WM integrity in all group contrasts. Results Compared with HC, patients with HAND showed decreased FA in the right frontoparietal WM including the upper corticospinal tract (CST) and increased MD and RD in the bilateral frontoparietal WM, corpus callosum, bilateral CSTs and bilateral cerebellar peduncles. The DTI values did not significantly differ between HIV patients with and without HAND or between HIV patients without HAND and HC. In the ROI-based analysis, decreased FA was observed in the right superior longitudinal fasciculus and was significantly correlated with decreased information processing speed, memory, executive function, and fine motor function in HIV patients. Conclusion These results suggest that altered integrity of the frontoparietal WM contributes to cognitive dysfunction in HIV patients.


The use of business excellence models (BEM) has become popular in the last two decades, and several companies have learned how to use them and gained from such models. More companies, we assume, have experienced problems when using such models because of various weaknesses such as too-sophisticated assessment criteria, excessive paperwork, cumbersome procedures and a lack of focus, which have limited its use in practice. To respond to some of those problems, a new overall business excellence framework (BEF) has been developed which recommends adaption instead of adoption of existing BEM. The suggested overall BEF helps to integrate BEM with management tools/techniques and the organisational culture/characteristics for guiding an organisation towards business excellence. A document-based empirical case of a world-class company, Boeing Aerospace Support, was investigated to illustrate how the overall BEF may work in practice as a complement to an existing BEM when companies adapt such models to their specific contexts.


Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) gas sensor based on gated lateral bipolar junction transistor (LBJT) was developed in this study. The device was fabricated using 0.35-μm logic process by Magnachip-Hynix Co. Ltd. under the Integrated Circuit Design education Center Multi Project Wafer (IDEC-MPW) program. Solvatochromic dye as the sensing membrane was coated on the floating gate of the device. A semiconductor test and analyzer (STA-EL421, ELECS) was used to measure the sensing results. Following the results, we found that the sensing device which used the gated LBJT device has fast responsibility and reversibility to VOC gases (acetone etc.).


As a result of a national curriculum review in England (Department for Education [DfE], 2011), a new curriculum for design and technology (DT two potential consequences are the nature of D&T in secondary schools changing to reflect local perceptions of the subject and maybe D&T being removed from the curriculum completely. The pressure on D&T's curriculum content is likely to come from different stakeholders such as senior school leaders, D&T teachers, and pupils. D&T school departments could respond to this pressure by adapting the curriculum to popularise the subject or produce high exam results with a consequence that much of the subject's value is lost. This paper reports on a small research project conducted in two secondary schools where stakeholder representatives were interviewed to identify their values of D&T. These different stakeholders were interviewed using the active interview method (Holstein & Gubrium, 1995), coded following Aurebach and Silverstein's method (2003) and their values compared to Hardy's values framework (Hardy, 2013b). Analysis shows most stakeholders believe a key value of D&T is to provide 'practical life skills' (Hardy, p.226), whilst only one recognizes that learning in D&T involves 'identifying problems to be solved'. The outcomes from the research are being used to support critically reflective conversations within both D&T departments (Zwozdiak-Myers, 2012) framing their evaluation of their local curriculum and making changes to their curriculum.


This article proposes a radically new solution to the so-called paradox of blackmail -- i.e., the puzzle that it should ever be criminal to threaten what it would be lawful to do. After reviewing and criticizing theories grounded on the competing notions that society may legitimately criminalize conduct if, respectively, it produces adverse consequences in the aggregate, or it is wrongful in itself, the article suggests that explaining and justifying blackmail's criminalization requires recourse to a novel criterion of criminalization. The article then proposes -- consistent with both retributivist and consequentialist versions of the general justifying aim of the criminal law -- that society may criminalize conduct that both causes cognizable harm and is likely to be undertaken with morally bad motives (regardless of whether the act is wrongful in itself). Focusing on the paradigmatic case of a threat to reveal an adulterer's infidelities unless paid off, the article demonstrates that the conditional offer of silence provides strong circumstantial evidence that the actor would have morally bad motives were he to disclose the information he threatens. Accordingly, there would be nothing problematic about criminalizing performance of the act, in which event criminalization of the threat would no longer be puzzling. In short, and contrary to common wisdom, the blackmailer's threat is not necessarily morally worse than the act threatened; it is only evidence that the act threatened would be morally blameworthy on this particular occasion, because badly motivated (in which case so is the threat). After explaining criminalization of blackmail in its paradigmatic form, the article proceeds to explore the proper contours of the crime by examining several variations upon the central case, including "market-price" blackmail, and conditional threats to expose criminal wrongdoing. The article concludes by offering some exploratory thoughts regarding possible broader implications of the evidentiary theory.


Nerve growth factor (NGF), in addition to being a neurotrophic substance, has effects on the endocrine and immune systems. For example, intravenous injection of NGF results in a cascade of events leading to an increase in glucocorticoid secretion. While this response appears to be mediated centrally, there has been no evidence that circulating NGF has access to the CNS. Using intravenous injections of 125I‐NGF, we find specific uptake at 1 hr but none at 6 hr, into homogenates of the basal forebrain, cerebellum, frontal cortex, hippocampus, and olfactory bulb. By autoradiography, uptake is localized to circumventricular organs, deep layers of the cerebellum, and all layers of the hippocampal region CA1, but not the dentate gyrus. Thus, uptake of blood‐borne NGF could affect the hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal axis via binding to NGF receptors present in the hippocampus. However, the sources of endogenous NGF, the mechanism of access through the blood‐brain barrier, the eventual fate of NGF entering from the blood, and the physiological significance of this uptake remain to be elucidated. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The paper will focus on subjunctive complements in Slavic languages, comparing them with their counterparts in Romance languages, where the subjunctive has been much more extensively studied than in Slavic. We will observe that, despite the surface morphological contrasts in subjunctive marking between these two language groups, subjunctives in Slavic and Romance nonetheless share the bulk of the underlying semantic and syntactic clausal properties. As a result, Romance and Slavic subjunctive will be analysed as constituting a common clausal mood category, which corresponds to a distinct syntactic clause type.


The aim of this study was to determine whether postpartum variations of plasma IGF-1 and IGFBP concentrations, oocyte production and quality were related to parity and subsequent conception rate in Holstein dairy cows. Holstein dairy cows [10 primiparous (PP) and 22 multiparous (MP)] were allotted in six batches and sampled once weekly between calving and oestrous synchronization treatment started at 71.2 ± 2.0 days postpartum. During the 3 weeks before treatment, ovum pick-up (OPU) was performed twice weekly. Oocytes were scored on a 4-point scale, and oocytes from OPU1, 3 and 5 were fertilized in vitro. Seventeen cows became pregnant after first and second AI and were considered as fertile (F), while the others were considered to be subfertile (SF). Logistic regression was carried out to investigate the relationships between repeated measurements and fertility including parity and batch effects in the models. Likelihood of fertility significantly increased when plasma urea and IGFBP-3 concentrations decreased and was higher in PP compared with MP cows. There was a trend for fertility to increase when plasma IGF-1 concentrations increased (p = 0.07). In vitro cleavage and development rates were similar between SF and F cows (46.4% and 28.3% in SF vs 55.0% and 22.1% in F). Parity had an effect on plasma IGF-1 concentrations (PP: 61.65 ± 2.67 vs MP: 41.63 ± 5.81 ng/ml, p < 0.001), mean number of follicles aspirated per session (PP: 5.7 ± 1.3 vs MP: 9.5 ± 0.8, p < 0.05) and fertility (PP: 8/10 = 80% vs MP: 9/22 = 41%, p < 0.05) but not on the number of oocytes recovered per session nor their quality. In conclusion, postpartum plasma urea and IGFBP-3 concentrations, but not oocyte production and quality before breeding, were related to subsequent conception rate in our experimental design. Parity had a significant effect on energy status, follicular growth and fertility and needs to be considered when investigating relationships between nutrition and reproduction.


Intrusion detection is an important and challenging problem that has a major impact on quality and reliability of smart city services. To this extent, replay attacks have been one of the most common threats on smart city infrastructure, which compromises authentication in a smart city network. For example, a replay attack may physically damage smart city infrastructure resulting in loss of sensitive data, incurring considerable financial damages. Therefore, towards securing smart cities from reply attacks, intrusion detection systems and frameworks based on deep learning have been proposed in the recent literature. However, the absence of the time dimension of these proposals is a major limitation. Therefore, we have developed a deep learning-based model for replay attack detection in smart cities. The novelty of the proposed methodology resides in the adoption of deep learning based models as an application for detecting replay attacks to improve detection accuracy. The performance of this model is evaluated by applying it to a real life smart city dataset, where replay attacks were simulated. Our results show that the proposed model is capable of distinguishing between normal and attack behaviours with relatively high accuracy. In addition, according to the results, our proposed model outperforms traditional classification and deep learning models. Last but not least, as an additional contribution, this paper presents a real life smart city data set with simulated replay attacks for future research.


Purpose – the purpose of this research is to identify the influential factors on customer satisfaction in the Iranian furniture market in order to get acquainted with the fundamental items for planning future sales programs with the purposes of extolling competitive advantages.
Design/methodology/approach – A commixture of 6 items and 31 factors were educed from interviewing with 20 experts in furniture designing and manufacturing industry. The collected data from customer need indexes in previous research were also used.
Findings – results showed that such factors as economic factors weighting 0.32, product specifications weighting 0.21 and credibility weighting 0.19 were the most important indexes and price weighting 0.195, fame weighting 0.131, quality, durability and resistance weighting 0.116, paying conditions weighting 0.095, designing and decorating in virtual softwares before ordering weighting 0.074, updatedness weighting 0.064 and interaction approach with the weight of 0.42 were the most considerable influential sub-indexes on the satisfaction of the Iranian furniture market customers.
Research limitations/implications – by the enhancement of competition throughout the world markets and the inevitable presence of Iran in it, the market activists' concentration should shift towards paying comprehensive attention to desires and needs of furniture market customers.
Practical implications – some important issues on planning suitable manufacturing and marketing programs in furniture market are introduce so that the activists be aware of considering the growing knowledge and awareness of end-users which increases the pressure on the manufacturer side. There are also some solutions in terms of internal and external organizational factors with regard to the complex nature of competitive environment in furniture market.
Originality/value – the paper provides an examination of effective factors on customer satisfaction with a focus on past experiments and the perspectives of furniture market experts.


These 49 technical papers discuss the state of the art in urban stormwater management technology. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, scientists, researchers, practicing engineers, and administrators detail the linkages between various BMP designs and their performance and ability to mitigate the impact of urbanization on receiving waters. Topics covered include: urban watershed trends; regulatory and institutional perspectives; BMPs and linkages to in-stream integrity; need for and examples of in-stream controls and habitat enhancements; policy issues related to zero and de-minims impact development policies; design for sustainable water resources; information and monitoring needs to evaluate impacts mitigating potential of BMPs; and experience and science outside the United States. Cover photo includes: Stream stabilization in Denver, Colorado, as a part of the restoration of lower Goldsmith Gulch. Photo is used with permission of the Urban Drainage and Flood Control District.


AI Planning has been widely used for narrative generation and the control of virtual actors in interactive storytelling. Planning models for such dynamic environments must include alternative actions which enable deviation away from a baseline storyline in order to generate multiple story variants and to be able to respond to changes that might be made to the story world. However, the actual creation of these domain models has been a largely empirical process with a lack of principled approaches to the definition of alternative actions. Our work has addressed this problem and in the paper we present a novel automated method for the generation of interactive narrative domain models from existing non-interactive versions. Central to this is the use of actions that are contrary to those forming the baseline plot within a principled mechanism for their semi-automatic production. It is important that such newly created domain content should still be human-readable and to this end labels for new actions and predicates are generated automatically using antonyms selected from a range of on-line lexical resources. Our approach is fully implemented in a prototype system and its potential demonstrated via both formal experimental evaluation and user evaluation of the generated action labels.


Culture is increasingly an important consideration in peace operations. Efforts to ameliorate culture-based difficulties between organizations participating in missions and between mission elements and local populations are proliferating. These focus on providing guidance about what to expect and how to act toward individuals from other cultural groups. This article shows that such advice is insufficient for understanding how culture affects peacekeeping. A general framework is presented for linking cultural elements to a deeper symbolic level from which peacekeeping derives its legitimacy, standing, and authority. The importance of the root metaphor of the United Nations as an institution for creating a world in which national interests and cut-throat geopolitical power relations are trumped by collective action is explicated. Peacekeeping is shown to be linked to this root metaphor through a number of behavioral inversions. When those inversions are not part of a peacekeeping mission, the entire instrument of peacekeeping is destabilized.


Performance of the ITER is anticipated to be highly sensitive to the edge plasma condition. The edge pedestal in ITER needs to be predicted from an integrated simulation of the necessary first-principles, multi-scale physics codes. The mission of the SciDAC Fusion Simulation Project (FSP) Prototype Center for Plasma Edge Simulation (CPES) is to deliver such a code integration framework by (1) building new kinetic codes XGC0 and XGC1, which can simulate the edge pedestal buildup; (2) using and improving the existing MHD codes ELITE, M3D-OMP, M3D-MPP and NIMROD, for study of large-scale edge instabilities called Edge Localized Modes (ELMs); and (3) integrating the codes into a framework using cutting-edge computer science technology. Collaborative effort among physics, computer science, and applied mathematics within CPES has created the first working version of the End-to-end Framework for Fusion Integrated Simulation (EFFIS), which can be used to study the pedestal-ELM cycles.


Vision-language modeling has enabled open-vocabulary tasks where predictions can be queried using any text prompt in a zero-shot manner. Existing open-vocabulary tasks focus on object classes, whereas research on object attributes is limited due to the lack of a reliable attribute-focused evaluation benchmark. This paper introduces the Open- Vocabulary Attribute Detection (OVAD) task and the corresponding OVAD benchmark. The objective of the novel task and benchmark is to probe object-level attribute information learned by vision-language models. To this end, we created a clean and densely annotated test set covering 117 attribute classes on the 80 object classes of MS COCO. It includes positive and negative annotations, which enables open-vocabulary evaluation. Overall, the benchmark consists of 1.4 million annotations. For reference, we provide a first baseline method for open-vocabulary attribute detection. Moreover, we demonstrate the benchmark's value by studying the attribute detection performance of several foundation models.


Abstract Background and study aims Confocal laser endomicroscopy (CLE) allows mucosal barrier defects along the intestinal epithelium to be visualized in vivo during endoscopy. Training in CLE interpretation can be achieved didactically or through self-directed learning. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of expert-led didactic with self-directed audiovisual teaching for training inexperienced analysts on how to recognize mucosal barrier defects on endoscope-based CLE (eCLE). Materials and methods This randomized controlled study involved trainee analysts who were taught how to recognize mucosal barrier defects on eCLE either didactically or through an audiovisual clip. After being trained, they evaluated 6 sets of 30 images. Image evaluation required the trainees to determine whether specific features of barrier dysfunction were present or not. Trainees in the didactic group engaged in peer discussion and received feedback after each set while this did not happen in the self-directed group. Accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of both groups were compared. Results Trainees in the didactic group achieved a higher overall accuracy (87.5 % vs 85.0 %, P = 0.002) and sensitivity (84.5 % vs 80.4 %, P = 0.002) compared to trainees in the self-directed group. Interobserver agreement was higher in the didactic group (k = 0.686, 95 % CI 0.680 – 0.691, P < 0.001) than in the self-directed group (k = 0.566, 95 % CI 0.559 – 0.573, P < 0.001). Confidence (OR 6.48, 95 % CI 5.35 – 7.84, P < 0.001) and good image quality (OR 2.58, 95 % CI 2.17 – 2.82, P < 0.001) were positive predictors of accuracy. Conclusion Expert-led didactic training is more effective than self-directed audiovisual training for teaching inexperienced analysts how to recognize mucosal barrier defects on eCLE.


The design of wireless broadband networks is a complex optimisation problem that involves locating and configuring the network infrastructure in order to produce the best network performance. There are many constraints and objectives, which are often in direct competition. Network operators are obviously keen to reduce capital expenditure and operating costs, but at the same time need to ensure that the network covers enough potential subscribers, achieves the required quality of service and provides sufficient capacity. To accurately assess the technical and economic performance of the network requires detailed data concerning the demographics and propagation within the region. Due to the size and scope of the problem, it is hard for ad hoc or manual planning approaches to produce an optimal network design. This paper describes a mathematical model and automated software tool developed for planning hybrid wireless networks for broadband access. By making use of metaheuristic optimisation algorithms, the tool is able to produce high quality solutions in a reasonable time. The process is demonstrated using a case study based on planning a hybrid 40 GHz and WiMAX access network for Oslo using detailed demographic data. The benefits arising from a detailed planning model are illustrated by considering a WiMAX deployment in the city of Oxford in the UK for various degrees of data accuracy.

This paper is based on work in the project BROADWAN, partly funded under the Information Society Technologies (IST) priority of the European Commission Sixth Framework Programme.


A prevalence survey on hepatitis B and C infections was carried out to obtain national estimates and assess epidemiological dynamics and underlying risk factors. Overall prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) of 2.5% and 4.8%, respectively, reflected a combined infection rate of 7.6% in the general population, consistent with an ongoing high burden of chronic liver disease (CLD). There was significant association of these viral infections with a range of risk factors led by reuse of syringes. These findings validate currently implemented strategies by the national programme for the control of hepatitis viral infections, including universal vaccination of newborns and high-risk groups, support of auto-disable syringes, promotion of infection control and patient safety, public health education, and management of needy CLD patients as a poverty-reduction health intervention.


Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) has a well deserved reputation for systematic and thorough evaluation of failures at the system, sub-system or component level in all manufacturing and processing sectors. These organizations are looking for the final product to be "safe and reliable". FMEA helps designers to identify and eliminate/control dangerous failure modes, minimizing damage to the system and its users. This paper, as an extension to the prior research work, introduces an insight into the reasons of failure and its effects in a thermal power plant opted for the case study, based on conceptual designs in context of FMEA. The analysis takes into account preparation of appropriate diagnostic and maintenance procedures with the aim of enhancement of thermal plant reliability. The FMEA technique used may be helpful for the design and maintenance departments to curtail the downtime of the plant.


This research was undertaken to achieve two main objectives. The first objective was to investigation whether working capital management (WCM) is associated with profitability of Alternative Investment Market (AIM) listed Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) companies. The second objective was to investigate through a questionnaire survey the WCM practices of AIM listed SMEs and their effect on profitability from the perspective of financial directors. These two objectives were met by the use of a mixed research method approach. The study employed two research methods by collecting both quantitative and qualitative data. The financial data analysis is based on the annual reports of 160 AIM listed SMEs over a six year period (960 firm years) for the period 2005 to 2010. The findings of the panel data regression analysis show that SMEs with shorter inventory holding period, shorter accounts receivable period and shorter accounts payable period are more profitable. However, no evidence was found that cash conversion cycle has any effect on profitability of AIM listed SME companies. Under the control variables the corporate governance factors including: board size, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) age, CEO tenure and directors remuneration were found to be statistically significant in explaining the profitability of AIM listed SME companies. Also, the following company specific characteristics were found to have statistically significant effect on AIM listed SME companies' profitability: company age, company size, asset tangibility, gross working capital efficiency and working capital requirement. In terms of the WCM practices, a questionnaire analysis was used. Questionnaires were sent to 248 companies to examine the WCM practices of AIM listed SME companies from the view point of financial directors. The analysis employed both t-test and one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The findings of the t-test and one-way ANOVA analysis indicate that there are significant differences in the perception of financial directors about each component of WCM. First, there are differences in the educational level and work experience of financial directors and their attitude towards WCM. Second, there are differences in the importance attached to the effect of each component of WCM to profitability. Third, the results indicate significant differences in the way AIM listed SME companies set target level and strategy pursued for each component of WCM.


Follow-up is more and more used in medicine/doping control to identify abnormal results in an individual. Currently, follow-ups are mostly carried out variable by variable using ''reference intervals" that contain the values observable in 95\% of healthy/undoped individuals. Observations of the evolution of the variables over time in a sample of $N$ healthy/undoped individuals, allows these reference intervals to be individualized by taking into account the possible effect of covariables and some previous observations of these variables obtained when the individual was healthy/undoped. For each variable these individualized intervals should contain 95\% of observable values compatible with previous observed values in this individual. General methods to build these intervals are available, but they allow only a variable by variable follow-up whatever the possible correlations over time between them. In this article, we propose a general method to jointly follow-up several correlated variables over time. This methodology relies on a multivariate linear mixed effects model. We first provide a method to estimate the model's parameters. In an asymptotic framework ($N$ large enough), we then derive an individualized prediction region that should contain 95\% of observable values of all variables compatible with previously observed values. Sometimes, the sample size $N$ is not large enough for the asymptotic framework to give a reasonable prediction region. It is for this reason we propose and compare three different prediction regions that should behave better for small $N$. Finally, the whole methodology is illustrated by the follow-up of kidney insufficiency in cats.


INTRODUCTION: Dengue viral infection has a wide range of severity levels and requires different levels of medical attention. Early severity prediction using clinical features is difficult. Certain lymphocytic subtypes can be used to predict severity; we postulate that peripheral blood counts can also predict severity, which would be more useful in smaller rural hospitals. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to compare the peripheral blood counts between patients with mild dengue infection and those with severe dengue infection and identify simple yet sensitive early severity predictors. METHODS: We enrolled 91 patients with serologically confirmed dengue infection who were admitted to King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital. Their leukocytic counts on admission were compared. Potential predictors were identified by using receiver-operating-characteristic analysis. RESULTS: Compared with patients with mild infection, those with severe infection (dengue hemorrhagic fever grade II or worse) had a higher leukocyte count (3580 vs 3050 cells per μL; P = .04), and fewer had leukopenia on admission (70% vs 89%; P = .03). They also had a lower percentage of "typical" lymphocytes (24% vs 40%; P = .02). Two predictors were identified; either one classified ∼19% of all admitted patients as being at low risk. Typical lymphocyte counts of <40% excluded patients with mild disease with 89% sensitivity and 24% specificity (negative predictive value: 77%; positive predictive value: 45%). A combination of parameters [(white blood cells per μL) + 470 × (% typical lymphocytes) + 5 × (atypical lymphocytes per μL) ≥−14 950] improved the sensitivity and specificity to 92% and 26% (negative predictive value: 82%; positive predictive value: 46%). CONCLUSIONS: The absence of leukopenia and a low percentage of typical lymphocytes predict severe dengue illness. Simple hematologic parameters may be used to reduce unnecessary admissions of patients with suspected dengue infection in the absence of more sophisticated predictors.


Family members also known as Patients' Guardians (PG) are involved in caring for acutely ill inpatients in Malawian hospitals. Family participation in caring for acutely ill adult inpatients is adopted from the Family Centred Care approach. Using a focused ethnographic approach, we explored the perspectives of PGs and nurses on the burden of the caring role on PGs and their adaptation. Twelve PGs and eight nurses were purposively sampled to participate in the study. Data collection was done using participant observation, and in-depth interviews. Nvivo 12 software was used for coding and categorising data into themes that emerged. The findings were analysed using Spradley's Developmental Research Strategy. Three cultural domains emerged from the findings of this study: PG diverse roles and responsibilities, PG burden to the caring role and coping with the caring role. Nurses should effectively assess PGs' ability to cope with the caring role to facilitate their adaptation.


Worldwide, there are over one hundred tools dealing with various aspects of sustainability. The aspects of sustainability included in the rating tools are different, as are the stages at which rating tools are used in the planning and design, and post construction stages of different building types. This paper presents a snapshot of various rating tools for sustainability nationally and internationally and presents rating tools that are relevant for Australia. The research process was a literature review using various primary and secondary sources, including the internet. The Building Code of Australia determines minimum regulatory standards for buildings nationally. However, there are state based variations covered in the Building Code of Australia Appendices for various jurisdictions around Australia. The paper explains which rating tools are required to meet the minimum standards for certification and which represent best practice. The first section is the introduction where the role of the BCA and the ABCB is explained. This is followed by a brief overview of the rating tools globally. The next section describes Australian tools and reviews what is available in the residential sector followed by voluntary tools and product and LCA tools. This is followed by discussions and conclusion. A 'Rating Tools Rundown' is presented as Appendix A, which captures the intent of relevant Australian tools and their applications.


The nutritive quality of guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba) residues (GR) was
investigated and the effects of partial replacement of wheat straw by GR on
nutrients intake, digestibility, and growth performance. Twenty four male
lambs, with average body weight (BW) of 40.3 ± 2.5 kg were divided into three
groups. Lambs were fed individually for 104 days with concentrate mixture (18%
crude protein) and wheat straw as a total mixed ration. Wheat straw was
replaced with 0, 100 and 145 g/kg dry matter guar residues. All rations were
isonitrogenous and isocaloric. The fattening trial lasted 104 days. At the end of week 10 of
the trail, a
digestion trial was performed using six lambs from each group. The composition
of nutrients in the GR was 87%, 8.5%, 56.4% and 40.1% for DM, CP, NDF and ADF,
respectively. DM and crude protein (CP) intake were not affected by the
inclusion of GR. However,
neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF) intake were lower
in lambs fed GR compared to control lambs. At the end of the experiment, lambs
fed 100 and 145 g GR/kg DM diets gained more weight (P version (CR). Results from this work suggested that GR had advantages compared to regular roughage (wheat straw) in regard to parameters
investigated as well as the significant reduction in fattening diets cost.


Background TGFß overproduction in cancer cells is one of the main characteristics of late tumor progression being implicated in metastasis, tumor growth, angiogenesis and immune response. We investigated the therapeutic efficacy of anti-TGFß peptides in the control of angiogenesis elicited by conditional over-expression of TGFß. Methods We have inserted in human MCF7 mammary-cancer cells a mutated TGFß gene in a tetracycline-repressible vector to obtain conditional expression of mature TGFß upon transient transfection, evaluated the signaling pathways involved in TGFß-dependent endothelial cells activation and the efficacy of anti-TGFß peptides in the control of MCF7-TGFß-dependent angiogenesis. Results TGFß over-expression induced in MCF7 several markers of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. Conditioned-medium of TGFß-transfected MCF7 stimulated angiogenesis in vivo and in vitro by subsequent activation of SMAD2/3 and SMAD1/5 signaling in endothelial cells, as well as SMAD4 nuclear translocation, resulting in over-expression of the pro-angiogenic growth and differentiation factor-5 (GDF5). Inhibition or silencing of GDF5 in TGFß-stimulated EC resulted in impairment of GDF5 expression and of TGFß-dependent urokinase-plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) overproduction, leading to angiogenesis impairment. Two different TGFß antagonist peptides inhibited all the angiogenesis-related properties elicited in EC by exogenous and conditionally-expressed TGFß in vivo and in vitro, including SMAD1/5 phosphorylation, SMAD4 nuclear translocation, GDF5 and uPAR overexpression. Antagonist peptides and anti-GDF5 antibodies efficiently inhibited in vitro and in vivo angiogenesis. Conclusions TGFß produced by breast cancer cells induces in endothelial cells expression of GDF5, which in turn stimulates angiogenesis both in vitro and in vivo. Angiogenesis activation is rapid and the involved mechanism is totally opposed to the old and controversial dogma about the AKL5/ALK1 balance. The GDF-dependent pro-angiogenic effects of TGFß are controlled by anti-TGFß peptides and anti-GDF5 antibodies, providing a basis to develop targeted clinical studies.