This study examined whether entrepreneurs see themselves as good strategic planners and understand key factors that contribute to plan their business endeavors. This is a quantitative-qualitative research. 339 entrepreneurs ahead of businesses with at least 5 years of existence in Sao Paulo, Brazil answered a survey with 27 validated questions about planning, strategy and entrepreneurship. Data was analyzed through factorial analysis. Results showed six factors named external environment, innovation, internal environment, experience, mission and impulsiveness. The qualitative part of the study brought a discussion about these factors. The relevance of the internal and external environments is shown by the important relationship and influence that these may exercise in the performance of the enterprise, including information about best practices of the market in the production of products/services in comparison to internal strengths and weaknesses. In contrast to environmental uncertainty and variations, that makes the planning effort extremely difficult for entrepreneurs. We suggest that their personal abilities can compensate the lack of planning, including their innovative ability together with accumulated experience. Thanks to these qualities, entrepreneurs are constantly honing their abilities to create and manage their businesses and, over time, achieving success. The factors rose on the analysis shows that the strategic planning initiatives of entrepreneurs balance both environmental facts and personal abilities. The theoretical approach of effectuation and causation explains how entrepreneurs deal with this balance when deciding to act impulsively or planned in certain conditions, representing the key contribution of this article.


The Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) is designed for DHH undergraduates who plan to enter Ph.D biomedical and behavioral sciences.


BACKGROUND
This study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of using the computerized imaging Seed Analysis System (SAS) in the biometric and morphophysiological characterization of seeds and the initial growth of seedlings from peach rootstocks.

METHODS
The experimental design was completely randomized with five replicates of 20 seeds. The variables analyzed were the seed humidity content, length and width of seeds measured by SAS technology and manual measurements, mean germination time, germination percentage, radicle length and width, taproot length, length of the aerial part and taproot/aerial part ratio.

RESULTS
The highest seed length, germination percentage (100%) and lower germination time (11.3), were obtained with the cv. Capdeboscq while, 'Tsukuba 1', 2' and 3' had intermediate seedlings length, varying from 1.55 to 1.65 cm with mean germination times between 14.5 and 18.0 days and average germination percentage of 96%. The computerized analysis of images is fast and efficient for biometric evaluations such as seed width and length, as well as initial growth of peach tree seedlings. The cvs Capdeboscq, Flordaguard and Tsukuba 2 presented greater radicle width, length and a mean taproot/aerial part ratio equal to 2, as well as higher number of adventitious roots, which indicated a strong positive correlation between radicle length, taproot length and initial seedling growth.

CONCLUSION
The continuity of the research will certainly allow the development of reliable procedures for other species, besides allowing the identification of wider alternatives for the use of this system for the expansion of knowledge in the areas of physiology and evaluation of the physiological potential of seeds.


Methanol dehydrogenase was found to be present in subcellular preparations of methanol-grown Methylosinus trichosporium and occurred almost wholly in the soluble fraction of the cell. The enzyme, purified by DEAE-Sephadex and Sephadex G-100 chromatography, showed broad specificity toward different substrates and oxidized the aromatic alcohols benzyl, vaniUlyl, and veratryl alcohols in addition to a range of aliphatic primary alcohols. No enzyme activity was found toward the corresponding aldehydes of the alcohols tested. The Km for methanol was 50 FM, and that for the aromatic alcohols was in the range of 1 to 2 mM. EDTA and p-nitrophenylhydrazine, which are inhibitors of methanol oxidation in whole cells of methylotrophs, had litte effect on activity of the purified enzyme. The results now extend the range of substrates oxidized by methanol dehydrogenase to include the aromatic alcohols.


Young men (ages 15–24) may benefit from community-based connections to care since many have sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs and low care use. This study describes nonclinical community-based youth-serving professionals' (YSPs) SRH knowledge, confidence, past behaviors, and future intentions to talk with young men about SRH and refer them to care, and examines factors associated with care referral intentions. YSPs (n = 158) from 22 settings in one mid-Atlantic city answered questions about the study's goal, their demographics and work environment from August 2014 to December 2015. Poisson regression assessed factors associated with YSPs' care referral intentions. On average, YSPs answered 58% of knowledge questions correctly, knew 5 of 8 SRH care dimensions of where to refer young men, and perceived being somewhat/very confident talking with young men about SRH (63%) and referring them to care (77%). During the past month, the majority (63%) talked with young men about SRH but only one-third made care referrals; the majority (66%) were somewhat/very likely to refer them to care in the next 3 months. Adjusted models indicated YSPs were more likely to refer young men if they had a very supportive work environment to talk about SRH (adjusted RR = 1.51, 95% CI [1.15, 1.98]), greater confidence in SRH care referral (1.28 [1.00, 1.62]), and greater SRH care referrals in the past month (1.16 [1.02, 1.33]). Nonclinical community-based YSPs have poor-to-moderate knowledge about young men's SRH care, and less than one-third reported referrals in the past month. Findings have implications for educating YSPs about young men's SRH care.


In post-reform China, rapid motorisation causes various problems like traffic congestion, diminishing road safety and air pollution. Adequate policies necessitate an understanding of the forces behind changing mode choices, but the rapidly developing literature is not complete yet. This paper aims to help fill that gap with an analysis of mode choice for commuting and shopping-leisure trips in Nanjing. Using the Nanjing Residents Travel Survey, we find that models with the same independent variables explain mode choice in Nanjing better than in other cities in the world. Comparatively, members of 'adult families' use public transport and walking more often than the private car and bicycle. And inhabitants of danwei neighbourhoods walk more often than residents in commodity housing estates. These conclusions suggest that ongoing socio-spatial transformations will push mode choice in China further towards private car use.


The main aim of this research was an attempt to clarify whether the protagonists of bacterial
bone destruction were of a bodily origin as opposed to environmental contamination by soil
bacteria and furthermore to demonstrate a time frame for such attack. It is hypothesised
that bacteria from the gut commensal flora are responsible for micro-focal destruction (MFD)
of bone postmortem that leaves distinctive tunnels. Microorganisms live with a person
throughout their life and somewhat ironically after death persist to exploit this now nonoperational
substrate. They continue to thrive and without a working immune system are
capable of crossing mucosal barriers and invading both soft and hard body tissues.
Experimental protocol using pigs as human analogues were combined with archaeological
sections of both humans and animals. The experimental research was almost absolute in
the conclusion that only the fetal material was free of MFD one year post-mortem; these
were entirely skeletonised and open to contamination by soil bacteria. All of the other pigs
had suffered some form of attack, including those that had not skeletonised and were not
therefore subjected to soil bacteria. The archaeological material tended to support the
hypothesis that endogenous gut bacteria were the cause of MFD as both fetal material and
animal bones were much less likely to be affected. It is suggested that soil bacteria are not
normally accountable for MFD although their involvement cannot be ruled out entirely and
they may be involved at a later stage. It is therefore likely that endogenous gut bacteria
having access to a dead body immediately are most often the cause of MFD and that this
occurs well within the early postmortem period. This has negative implications for
biomolecular studies and positive implications for in-situ preservation.


Many efforts have been done towards secure MANETs, but the conventional lines of defense are still inefficient to put all attacks off. This article examines survivable approaches whose goal is to enable networks to fulfill correctly their critical functions even in the presence of attacks or intrusions. We introduce the most relevant survivable MANET initiatives where either preventive or reactive defenses are combined with tolerant ones. We classify the defense lines taking into account intrusion tolerance mechanisms and also identify properties and requirements of survivability. The initiatives are categorized in three groups: routing discovery, data transmission and key management. For each one, they are correlated in terms of requirements and properties. The survey shows that security solutions do not yet explore relevant survivability properties and have only focused on one network layer or one type of attack.


Droplets of nanoliter and subnanoliter are useful in a wide range of applications, particularly when their size is uniform and controllable. Examples include biochemistry, biomedical engineering, food industry, pharmaceuticals, and material sciences. One example of their many fundamental medical applications is the therapeutic delivery system for delivering site-specific therapy to targeted organs in the body and as the carriers for newer therapeutic options. The size, the size distribution, the generation rate and the effective manipulation of droplets at a scale of nano, pico, femto and even atto liters are critical in all these applications.  We make an overview of microfluidic droplet generation of either passive or active means and report a glass capillary microfluidic system for synthesizing precisely controlled monodisperse multiple emulsions and their applications in engineering materials, nanofluids, microfibers, embolic particles and colloidosome systems. Our review of passive approaches focuses on the characteristics and mechanisms of breakup modes of droplet generation occurring in microfluidic cross-flow, co-flow, flow-focusing, and step emulsification configurations. The review of active approaches covers the state-of-the-art techniques employing either external forces from electrical, magnetic and centrifugal fields or methods of modifying intrinsic properties of flows or fluids such as velocity, viscosity, interfacial tension, channel wettability, and fluid density, with a focus on their implementations and actuation mechanisms. Also included is the contrast among different approaches of either passive or active nature.


Background: Toxocariasis is a zoonotic geo-helminthes infection with reactive respiratory changes occurring in response to its larval migration. The aim of this study was to determine the Toxocara seropositivity in asthmatic children and to assess its relation to clinical signs, laboratory tests and epidemiological risk factors.Methods and findings: 120 asthmatic and 60 non-asthmatic children were included in the study. The anti-Toxocara IgG antibodies were investigated in all serum samples using ELISA. The Toxocara seropositivity was significantly higher in asthmatic group than the control one; 84% and 16%, respectively. There was significant difference between both groups regarding IgE level, eosinophilia, geo- eosinophilia, geo- geo- phagia, splenomegaly and hepatomegaly with no significant difference as regard gender, locality, lymphadenopathy and contact with pets.Conclusion: Toxocara infection should be considered as a potential environmental risk factor inducing asthma among children population in developing countries.


The importance of developing a stable, efficient and low-cost catalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is at its pinnacle due to the reaction's poor reaction kinetics. Porous organic polymers (POPs) have recently emerged as a versatile platform for the development of conventional heterogeneous catalysts, but their role in developing electrocatalysts for water splitting is underexplored. Herein, we report the synthesis and characterization of an azo-functionalized POP (NDI-PG) in aqueous solution, under mild conditions, via the diazo coupling of redox active naphthalene diimide (NDI) based diamine with phloroglucinol. The azo nitrogen from the NDI diamine and one of the adjacent phenolic oxygen atoms in the POP are utilized to coordinate CoII (CoII-NDI-PG) and the resulting complex can be exploited as an OER electrocatalyst. CoII-NDI-PG with a metal loading as low as 8% exhibited the best electrocatalytic activity toward water oxidation in alkaline solution with an overpotential of 340 mV. Additionally, the catalyst showed an improvement in the reaction kinetics with a low Tafel slope of 68 mV per decade. This report also compares the electrocatalytic activity of a CoII coordinated POP containing benzidine (CoII-BD-PG) in place of NDI diamine. NDI, being a redox active planar moiety unlike benzidine, exhibits better π-electron delocalization facilitating an uninterrupted charge transfer which is beneficial for electrocatalysis.


The Universal Basic Education Programme in Nigeria and the "Grundskola" Education Programme of Sweden are situated within the large context of a global quest for Education for All (EFA). Both programmes have a fundamental principle in common, that is everybody must have access to equivalent education and both are comprehensive and co-educational. Consequently, this paper compared the UBE with the Grundskola by examining the similarities and differences, the unique features of each programme and the extent that the Nigeria UBE can benefit from the Sweden's Grundskola proclaimed as one of the best primary education in the world. The paper discusses the objectives, curriculum content, methodology and organization and the teaching force. The paper therefore suggests that the UBE of Nigeria be strengthened with quality regulatory roles, ensure increased in enrolment into the teacher education programme with quality training, ensure better funding, review curriculum to expunge irrelevant contents and include new ones in line with global demands, entrench innovative approaches of teaching and ensure proper adherence to policy implementation.


The abrasion resistance of concrete has been becoming more and more attention, this paper used ball bearing abrasion resistance test (GB/T16925-1997) to investigate the influence of mineral admixture on concrete abrasion resistance. Results indicates that concrete which is higher w/b (w/b = 0.5) can improve its abrasion resistance at 90d age when mixed with fly-ash, while mixed with both fly-ash and slag can improve its 28d and 90d abrasion resistance. Concrete which is lower w/b (w/b = 0.31), either mixed with fly-ash or with both fly-ash and slag, its abrasion resistance at 28d and 90d descends as well as the mixture content increased.


A multilayer particleboard panels, consisted of sugarcane bagasse reinforced composite as core material and hybrid composites made with Pinus taeda particles and Malva fibres as facing materials, were designed and evaluated in this work. Tukey test was used to identify the effect of the facing material, considering different combinations of Pinus taeda particles and Malva fibres, on the bulk density, thickness swelling, flexural strength, flexural stiffness and X-ray densitometry. A spray-up process was used to spread castor oil based polyurethane resin upon the dispersive phases followed by a hot compaction at 100oC. The particleboards were classified as medium density panels in accordance to the Brazilian, American and Canadian Standards. All treatments reached the minimum strength except for elastic modulus. Tukey test demonstrated the flexural strength and modulus responses for all treatments were statistically similar. Hybrid particleboard consisted of 75% of Pinus taeda wood and 25% of Malva fibres revealed a promising sustainable material for furniture industries, combining strength, low-cost and lower thickness swelling values.


How do immigrant and minority youth navigate between and within their heritage culture and the majority culture of the wider society? Acculturation theory and research point to a widespread preference for integration (adopting and maintaining bicultural affiliations) and a strong link between integration and psychological wellbeing. Despite compelling empirical evidence about the psychological and social benefits of integration, there is limited research about how immigrant and minority youth go about achieving it. This thesis examines the mechanisms underpinning cultural identity integration, how immigrant and minority youth select desirable aspects of both cultures and blend them together in a novel way (hybridising) or shift between and across cultural identities depending on situational factors (alternating). The research is based on the core model developed by Ward and associates, which demonstrates that a motivation to integrate activates both hybrid and alternating identity styles but that these styles lead to different cultural identity outcomes (consolidation versus conflict) and have divergent effects on wellbeing (Ward, Ng Tseung-Wong, Szabo, Qumseya & Bhowon, 2018). The thesis has three main objectives: 1) to test the core mediational model of cultural identity negotiation with other minority groups and in other cultural contexts; 2) to extend the model by exploring how socio-political factors and family dynamics affect cultural identity styles and their outcomes; and 3) to explore gaps and omissions in the model to guide future research. To these ends, mixed methods are used across three studies with Arab youth in New Zealand and Arab-Palestinian youth in the state of Israel. The first study tested the mediational model of cultural identity negotiation quantitatively with Arab minority youth in New Zealand and expanded Ward et al.'s (2018) model by testing contextual variables as antecedents of the hybrid and alternating cultural identity styles and their outcomes. Subsequently, the second study uses the same methodology to investigate the experiences of young Palestinian citizens of Israel. The core mediational model was replicated in both contexts. Findings from both studies revealed that family context exerted similar influences on cultural identity styles while socio-political factors affected cultural identity styles and wellbeing in different ways. In addition, the alternating identity style appeared to be more responsive to contextual factors (family dynamics and socio-political context) than the hybrid identity style. The third study aimed to gain a broader and deeper understanding of the findings from the previous two studies, using qualitative methods to draw on the cross-cultural insights derived from a comparison of the New Zealand and Israel contexts. The qualitative study brought the individual agency into the spotlight as participants discussed selecting different strategies across work, home and university settings. When young people described their lived experiences, the alternating identity style emerged as a beneficial strategy enabling them to bridge cultural contexts without negative outcomes. Youth often had access to more than one cultural identity style and proactively interchanged them resiliently and flexibly to navigate a wide range of social environments. The combination of studies in this thesis provided additional insights into acculturation literature, integration and cultural identity styles. The findings of the research programme have contributed to gaining novel perspectives in understanding youth experiences during acculturation. More specifically, findings of this thesis led to greater understanding of what contextual factors influence the bicultural interplay of ethnic and civic participation and identity among multicultural youth. The mixed method design also has significant contributions that enabled a contextually situated understanding of the experiences of Arab youth within their cultural and socio-ecological environments and their experiences as minorities in two very different country contexts.


Swine erysipelas is among the diseases that causes great economic losses in swine cultures worldwide. The disease is caused by the bacterium Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, and the surface protein SpaA is one of its main antigens. Herein, we report studies concerning the development of recombinant vaccines against swine erysipelas based on the SpaA antigen. Protein production for a subunit vaccine formulation was studied in shaken flasks and 5.0 L bioreactors. For this propose, a 1026 bp fragment of the spaA gene was cloned in Escherichia coli cells under the lac promoter control. The recombinant organism (E. coli BL21(DE3) pET28a_spaA) was cultivated in fed batch using complex medium with glycerol as carbon source. Nonconventional induction strategies were evaluated and high protein yield (158 mgprot/gDCW) and productivity values (0.4 gprot/L.h) were reached. The same antigen was cloned for expression and secretion in attenuated Salmonella typhimurium cells to obtain a live bacterial vector for the SpaA antigen. The recombinant lineage was able to express and secrete the SpaA fragment fused to the alpha-hemolysin secretion signal both in vitro and in vivo. High plasmid maintenance was observed in both conditions. The vaccinal vehicle showed to be able to colonize the Peyer patches and to invade the gut epithelial barrier in the inoculated animals. Immunization tests in murine model showed that the recombinant antigen delivered by Salmonella cells inoculated by oral route induced the production of seric IgG antibodies anti-SpaA. According to the literature, these antibodies must be able to promote pathogen opsonization in case of infection, contributing to confer a protective immunity against swine erysipelas to the vaccinated animals. In summary, this work presents contributions to development of subunit vaccines against swine erysipelas, in the form of recombinant protein formulations, or SpaA antigen delivery by attenuated S. typhimurium cells.


This thesis presents the theory and the experiment results with adaptive filtering algorithms. The experiments are based on the ultrawideband (UWB) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data. Several algorithms are investigated in this thesis such as Least Mean Square (LMS), Normalized Least Mean Square (NLMS), Leaky Least Mean Square (LLMS) and Recursive Least Square (RLS). First, the theory behind the above algorithms are briefly reviewed. Then, the experiments based on UWB SAR data are carried out. The aim is to design adaptive filters to cancel the unwanted noise present in SAR data as much as possible. The theory and experiments are started with the conventional LMS algorithm that is relatively simple for implementation and eligible to make an evaluation of the performance of the adaptive filter. The investigation is followed by NLMS, LLMS and finally RLS. The results achieved in this study also show that there is a gap between computer simulations and practical applications in applying the adaptive algorithms. For this reason, studies on using the adaptive algorithms for practical applications are still needed and therefore continued in the future.


Actuality of the theme reside that research is done in a new and necessary light of concept of sustainable development and also offers the possibility of using the forms and methods of development. Conceptuality sustainable development offers insight into the shape analysis, and the method to develop economically and socially, whose fundamental element can be created balance between social and economic systems and the factors that make up natural capital. The presence of sustainable development in Romanian economy means healthy growth based on the principles of fulfillment of human life, but also a concern of putting a service to harmonize environmental factors sustainable factors. Analysis of the number of tourist arrivals in the period 2007-2013 in tourist areas aims to identify prospects for growth in the number of arrivals of tourists in Romania by applying a methodology based on econometric models rigors requirements that ensure the formulation of relevant conclusions on the extent of flow trends foreign tourists.


Spontaneous pneumomediastinum is a rare occurrence in patients on mechanical ventilation. It usually occurs as a complication of endotracheal intubation, causing a defect in the membranous posterior wall of the trachea. Rarely, a defect in the anterolateral tracheal wall results in pneumomediastinum. The most likely pathophysiology resulting in weakening of the anterior fibrocartilaginous trachea is reduction in the vascular supply causing ischaemia. We report here a case of pneumomediastinum in a patient with myasthenia gravis on mechanical ventilation due to an anterior tracheal wall defect, which possibly resulted from ischaemia of the tracheal wall secondary to steroid use or previous prolonged endotracheal intubation.


The ability of lanthanum (La3+) to block calcium efflux from smooth muscle cells of the rabbit aorta has been examined. La3+ promotes the very early phase of 45Ca efflux, which is extracellular in origin, and partially inhibits the latter, cellular portion. Stimulation of 45Ca efflux caused by the release of intracellular 45Ca with either 10(-4) M dinitrophenol or 10 mM caffeine was not reduced by pretreatment with 10 mM La for 40 min, whereas stimulation due to norepinephrine was abolished. It was concluded that during the use of the "La method" for measuring cellular 45Ca there is an underestimation due to unblocked 45Ca loss. This loss can be reduced by processing tissue at 2 degrees C, which inhibits transport processes. The time course of 45Ca uptake and the stimulation of uptake by high K+ are qualitatively but not quantitatively similar if tissues are washed at 37 and 2 degrees C. Tissues washed in La3+ at 2 degrees C for 60 min retain approximately double the cellular 45Ca of those washed at 37 degrees C. This methodology provides an improved correlation between estimates of cellular calcium derived from 45Ca uptake and 45Ca efflux experiments.


The Locked-In Syndrome is a medical condition regarding awake subjects that are aware and conscious but are not able to communicate verbally and physically; they are subjected to complete paralysis of almost all voluntary skeletal muscles, except for those who regulate vertical eye movements and eye-blinking. This condition is also described as pseudocoma and is mainly due to ventral pontine injuries. The future aim of this research project is to develop a BCI for single trial EEG analysis, that would be able to recognize specific patterns in the electrical activity of the brain, called movement-related cortical potentials. Among these event-related potentials, those of great interest for this study are readiness potentials, that generate when volitional movements are performed. The research work was divided into two parts: the experimental data collection and subsequent data analysis. Habit and perceived tiredness can be listed among the factors that affect the readiness potential; in this preparatory study, the aim was to find evidence of that. Experimental data collection took several months and involved healthy subjects of age 20 to 60 and one injured subject, in minimally conscious state. The subjects underwent completely voluntary and semivoluntary tasks. The event-related potentials were extracted by simple averaging of the trials; the epochs ended with muscular activation. The algorithm successfully proved lateralization of the readiness potentials and identification of the main differences between the voluntary and semivoluntary task. In particular, by implementing a matched filter on semivoluntary task data, it was observed that the first epochs feature higher correlation, and that the latter decreases going towards the end of the trial. This suggests that habit and perceived mental tiredness affect the characteristics of the readiness potential, bringing brain electrical activity towards a quasi-involuntary pattern.


Abstract : Whether to pursue the continued development of a United States antisatellite in the 199Os will prove a difficult choice for defense planners. Making a case for the weapon system in the bipolar world seems intuitively obvious to ASAT advocates. The US was faced with a formidable foe possessing weapons in superior numbers in many categories. The Soviet Union also recognized the force-multiplier effect space systems had for its forces made the Soviet Union appear an even more formidable enemy. Pursuing a US ASAT in that era appeared to many a logical, necessary choice to negate such advantages. Responding to the perceived threat, the Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Carter administrations chose a two-track policy for the US ASAT program-arms control and ASAT research and development short of actual deployment. The Reagan and Bush administrations chose a different policy, opting for outright deployment convinced that verifiable arms controls on ASATs were unachievable and Soviet space systems must not be allowed to operate in sanctuary. Fearing an escalation of the arms race to space, Congress, in large part, has thwarted the plans of these administrations with ASAT testing bans and reduced funding. A new ASAT policy seems appropriate as the US faces an entirely new, but uncertain, threat with the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the rise of a multipolar world. Analyzing the ASAT debate from the past and the dynamics of the emerging space environment and threat can help in formulating that new ASAT policy-a continued ASAT research and development program, short of production and deployment, and arms control combined with collective security to diminish threat uncertainty.


1. Although nighttime awakenings are common in the second half year and beyond, this is not a developmental necessity; rather, most normal infants gain the capacity to "sleep through the night" by 6 months of age. 2. There is not a single cause of (or a single treatment for) nighttime awakenings and crying; many factors may be responsible, and these must be identified and individually treated if there is to be resolution. 3. What are often perceived as abnormal awakenings are really only the normal awakenings associated with normal sleep stage cycling, and, parents9 "treatment" of these awakenings with interventions, such as rocking or feeding, only make it more difficult for the child to go back to sleep without them after subsequent awakenings. 4. No evaluation of a sleepless child is complete without a thorough understanding of the child9s daily schedule. The child9s sleep schedule may be consistent and his sleep normal, and only the timing may be shifted from that desired by the parents. The bedtime difficulties or early morning awakenings generated in this setting may be handled inappropriately by the family, creating even more complicated problems. Or, the schedule may be irregular, sleep/wake rhythms may not adjust, and any of a variety of apparent sleep disorders may appear.


By charting US GDP growth rates beginning from 1953
through the Bush administration of 2008, an inverted "V" pattern
appears with 1980 as an approximate pivot point. The observable upward trend of
the US economy after WWII and before 1980 coincides with more active public
domestic budgets when compared with budgets after 1980. Political discourse in
the late 20th century suggests an economic policy shift away from public
investments toward private sector interests which may have contributed to
structural changes in the US economy. After charting preand post-1980 US
quarterly GDP data, a fifty-six-year naturally occurring quasi-experimental
design [1] displays two periods of different economic outcomes. By exploring a
plausible contributor to the change in economic trend data using applied math,
concerned parties may begin to map out the unknown unknowns of economic
performance. This paper uses the best linear unbiased estimator of Gauss and
Markov to quantify economic rates of growth in each period. Pearson's correlation
coefficient attempts to characterize mathematically the impact of systemic
political change on US economic performance. Finally, a Chow
test confirms structural change is afoot. With the help of statistical
analysis, this paper explores if the increase in US business majors since
1980 has or has not delivered ever improving US GDP growth from 1980-2008. This
work is important as the economic health of a nation over the long run allows
nations to protect and provide for their citizens.


Aggressive PDAC correlates with increased G-CSF production and accumulation of immunosuppressive cells. Treatment of mouse models with gemcitabine and anti–G-CSF was efficacious. Analysis of clinical data indicates a subset of patients for whom this treatment might be effective. The survival rate for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains low. More therapeutic options to treat this disease are needed, for the current standard of care is ineffective. Using an animal model of aggressive PDAC (Kras/p48TGFβRIIKO), we discovered an effect of TGFβ signaling in regulation of G-CSF secretion in pancreatic epithelium. Elevated concentrations of G-CSF in PDAC promoted differentiation of Ly6G+ cells from progenitors, stimulated IL10 secretion from myeloid cells, and decreased T-cell proliferation via upregulation of Arg, iNOS, VEGF, IL6, and IL1b from CD11b+ cells. Deletion of csf3 in PDAC cells or use of a G-CSF–blocking antibody decreased tumor growth. Anti–G-CSF treatment in combination with the DNA synthesis inhibitor gemcitabine reduced tumor size, increased the number of infiltrating T cells, and decreased the number of Ly6G+ cells more effectively than gemcitabine alone. Human analysis of human datasets from The Cancer Genome Atlas and tissue microarrays correlated with observations from our mouse model experiments, especially in patients with grade 1, stage II disease. We propose that in aggressive PDAC, elevated G-CSF contributes to tumor progression through promoting increases in infiltration of neutrophil-like cells with high immunosuppressive activity. Such a mechanism provides an avenue for a neoadjuvant therapeutic approach for this devastating disease. Cancer Immunol Res; 5(9); 718–29. ©2017 AACR.


Patients with hereditary haemochromatosis (HH) may present arthralgia in the hands and large joints or severe arthropathy mimicking osteoarthritis typically involving metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints 2 and 3.1–3 This arthropathy, which may seriously affect quality of life, was reported to occur in 20%–50% of HH patients with articular complaints and can coexist with calcium pyrophosphate deposition.4–6

Hand arthropathy is not alleviated by phlebotomy, and in a few patients, disease is refractory or intolerant to standard treatments such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), low-dose colchicine or analgesics. Thus, these patients remain without adequate treatment.

Given the frequent presence of local inflammatory symptoms in MCP joints and the discovery that interleukin 1β (IL-1β) plays a key role in the pathogenesis of arthritis due to …


A classification of deformations of the nose is proposed. All deformations are classified into 5 degrees: I) deformations involving one compartment of the nose, II) two compartments, III) three compartments, IV and V) combined deformations involving more than 4 compartments. This classification helps the physician to be better oriented in the great variety of combined deformations of the nose and permits a more accurate planning of the steps of surgery. This classification is not a final or exhausting, it is merely an attempt to present a scheme of the great variety of combined deformations of the nose and attract the attention of specialists to development of better classifications needed by practical medicine.


Structural variations (SVs) represent a large fraction of all genetic diversity, but how this genetic diversity is translated into phenotypic and organismal diversity is unclear. Explosive diversification of dog coat color and patterns after domestication can provide a unique opportunity to explore this question; however, the major obstacle is to efficiently collect a sufficient number of individuals with known phenotypes and genotypes of hundreds of thousands of markers. Using customer-provided information about coat color and patterns of dogs tested on a commercial canine genotyping platform, we identified a genomic region on chromosome 38 that is strongly associated with a mottled coat pattern (roaning) by genome-wide association study. We identified a putative causal variant in this region, an 11-kb tandem duplication (11,131,835–11,143,237) characterized by sequence read coverage and discordant reads of whole-genome sequence data, microarray probe intensity data, and a duplication-specific PCR assay. The tandem duplication is in an intronic region of usherin gene (USH2A), which was perfectly associated with roaning but absent in non-roaned dogs. We detected strong selection signals in this region characterized by reduced nucleotide diversity (π), increased runs of homozygosity, and extended haplotype homozygosity in Wirehaired Pointing Griffons and Australian Cattle Dogs (typically roaned breeds), as well as elevated genetic difference (FST) between Wirehaired Pointing Griffon (roaned) and Labrador Retriever (non-roaned). Surprisingly, all Dalmatians (N = 262) carried the duplication embedded in identical or similar haplotypes with roaned dogs, indicating this region as a shared target of selection during the breed's formation. We propose that the Dalmatian's unique spots were a derived coat pattern by establishing a novel epistatic interaction between roaning "R-locus" on chromosome 38 and an uncharacterized modifier locus. These results highlight the utility of consumer-oriented genotype and phenotype data in the discovery of genomic regions contributing to phenotypic diversity in dogs.


This paper analyses how mass violent conflict and the legacy of conflict affect households in developing countries. It does so by pointing out how violent conflict impairs a household's core functions, its boundaries, its choice of coping strategies and its well-being. The paper contributes to the literature on the economics of conflict, reconstruction and vulnerability in three ways. First, it addresses explicitly the level of analysis in the context of conflict by contrasting strengths and weaknesses of a unitary approach to the household and extending it to intra-household and group issues. Second, it identifies important research gaps in this field. Third, it highlights the economic situation of war widows in conflict-affected countries and discusses a case study of widows of the Rwandan genocide.


Water is an essential element for the environment, food security and sustainable development. However, uncoordinated and competitive use of the resource can lead water to face the "tragedy of the commons". Fragmented effects done so far in watershed management did not bring significant changes. Integrated water resource management is the ideal solution for sustainable development of the basins. This paper is targeted at assessing the challenges and opportunities of implementing integrated water resource management intervention in Omo-Gibe basin. The sample micro watersheds were strategically selected considering its accessibility for four-wheel vehicle and horse transportation. Five percent of the sample respondents were randomly selected for interview. Data were collected from all relevant sources through field observation, key informants interview, focused group discussion, household survey and review of documents. The collected data were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics including chi-square and t-test, using SPSS vision 20. The evidence in the basin shows that biophysical, socio economic and hydro political factors govern the implementation of integrated water resource management. Large proportion (65%) of steeply slope and land degradation, lack of understanding of IWRM principles and practices (72%), absence of river basin authority, no habit for planning together, lack of water resource infrastructure and innovation (81.9%), and weak local institutions commitment to transfer principles into practices were the major problems of the basin. In spite of having those limiting factors, the effort of the government through making policy on water resource management is a prospect for the basin, besides harmonious cultural interaction of the community to live together with nature and themselves. The Omo-Gibe River Basin has right to exist in harmony with its ecosystem to function sustainably. Human induced factors were limiting the wise use of scarce natural resources in the basin. Therefore, successful implementation of integrated water resource management though developing river basin authority, capacity building and enabling the environment is important for the basin, and for the country at large.

 Key words: Basin authority, capacity building, enabling environment, river.


In June 2014 the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to cut the rate on its deposit facility (DFR) by 10 basis points (bp) into negative territory an unprecedented move as no major central bank had used negative rates before. This decision was part of a more comprehensive monetary policy easing package which eventually also included the introduction of targeted long-term refinancing operations (TLTROs) and a large-scale asset purchase programme (APP) of private and public sector bonds. Further rate cuts of 10 bps each followed in September 2014 December 2015 and March 2016 bringing the DFR to -0.40 percent.


This paper presents the simulations, fabrication and measurement of a tunable planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA). The antenna is made with three patches, connected and disconnected with RF-MEMS switches. Measurements show a tuning range from 1.5 GHz to 1.1 GHz depending on the switch state. The tunable antenna has a good matching better than 8 dB.


This thesis describes study designs for the robust evaluation of complex patient safety interventions. Fundamentally, study designs available to measure the effectiveness of patient safety interventions fall into two categories – those that use contemporaneous controls, and those that do not. A review of the recent literature (245 citations) revealed that most studies were single-centre (63%), and the majority of these did not use contemporaneous controls (84%); whilst in multi-centre studies (37%) the number of studies using contemporaneous controls (49%) equalled the number of studies that that did not (51%). Studies that do not use contemporaneous controls dominate the literature, but they are weak and subject to bias. The thesis further discussed a case-study, as an exemplar for the evaluation of a highly complex patient safety intervention – the Safer Patients Initiative (SPI), which sought to generically strengthen hospitals, whilst improving frontline activities. The evaluation was a before and after study, with contemporaneous controls. It used mixed-methods, so that the triangulation of a one type of research finding could be reinforced when corroborated by the finding of another type. Uniquely, it also, compared the rates of change across control and SPI hospitals – an approach referred to as the "difference-in-difference" method.


Leaf production dynamics of timothy (Phleum pratense L. cv. Tarmo) and meadow fescue (Festuca pratensis Huds. cv. Kalevi) were studied in Finland under field conditions in mixed swards containing timothy, meadow fescue and red clover (Trifolium pratense L. cv. Bjorn) harvested by cutting. Fifteen randomly selected tillers of both species were marked and leaf number, leaf appearance rate (LAR), leaf elongation rate (LER), leaf senescence rate (LSR) and leaf live span (LLS) were followed through weekly observations. Concurrently another set of fifteen tillers of each species was dissected on each occasion to determine the number of unemerged leaves and development stage of the apex. The first observation period was between 26 April and 22 June and the second between 22 July and 22 September.

The species differed clearly for most of the measured parameters but most differences were dependent on the season. In spring, timothy started growth earlier, had higher LAR (+57%), produced more leaves (+83%) with higher LERgross (+58%), higher LSR (+61%), higher LERnet (+54%) and produced larger tillers (+193% in leaf area) than meadow fescue. In autumn, timothy still had a higher LAR (+80%), produced more leaves (+60%) with higher LERgross (+36%), but had also a higher LSR (+77%) and thus similar LERnet (0%) to meadow fescue. Timothy tillers were only slightly larger than meadow fescue tillers (+20% in leaf area). The consequences of these findings on competition in mixed swards and implications for grazing theories are discussed.


The authors propose a simple algorithm to reconstruct the image of objects embedded in a finite-sized dielectric background. The algorithm is based on the concept that an undistorted image may be reconstructed if the true range profiles of the embedded object can be obtained. Neglecting the phenomena of multiple reflections and the bending effect of wave propagating in the dielectric, they propose a simple algorithm to compensate the electrical length of the wave traveling in the dielectric. Although the assumptions made are not precise, nevertheless, experimental results show that the proposed method is very time-efficient, and is effective in reconstructing a recognizable image of the object embedded in a background having moderate dielectric constant and smooth air-dielectric boundary shape. >


Objectives: The principal aim of this project was to learn from corporate executives about the most important components of a business case for employer leadership in improving community health. Methods: We used dialogue sessions to gain insight into this issue. Results: The strongest elements included metrics and measurement, return on investment, communications, shared values, shared vision, shared definitions, and leadership. Important barriers included lack of understanding, lack of clear strategy, complexity of the problem, trust, lack of resources and leadership, policies and regulations, and leadership philosophy. Substantial variability was observed in the degree of understanding of the relationship between corporate health and community health. Conclusions: The business case for intentional and strategic corporate investment in community health occurs along a continuum has a set of clearly defined elements that address why investment may make sense, but also asks questions about the "what-to-do" and the "how-to-do-it."


Humidity sensing properties of luminescent metal–organic framework (MOF) polymer mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs) 3∞[Ba0.98Eu0.02(Im)2]@PSF (Im = imidazolate, PSF = polysulfone Ultrason® S), 3∞[Sr0.90Eu0.10(Im)2]@PSF, and 3∞[Ce(Im)3ImH]·ImH@PSF were investigated. MMMs show superior properties compared to bulk MOFs especially in stability, handling and long-term monitoring. In order to evaluate these films for such real status analyses, both their sensitivity and stability were determined and compared to bulk MOFs. Therefore, the progress of the humidity induced luminescence intensity quenching of the MMMs and the corresponding bulk substances was investigated for several pre-set relative humidities at room temperature. The MMMs show distinct and diverse luminescence loss and sensitivity rendering the monitoring of a very low relative humidity of only 2% accessible.


ECOLOGY/EVOLUTION
The understanding of food webs in soil has lagged behind that of above-ground or aquatic systems because of the bewildering complexity of soil organism communities and the sheer intractability of making observations and doing experiments in soil. It has long been thought that invertebrates in forest soils derive most of their carbon from leaf litter that falls from trees. Pollierer et al. used a construction crane to alter the isotopic ratio of 13C and 12C supplied (as CO2) to the canopy of a Swiss forest. They then reciprocally transferred the resultant leaf litter to neighboring forest areas that had experienced a normal isotopic ratio of CO2, and measured the isotopic ratios in the tissues of soil animals. The carbon isotopic ratio in the invertebrates more closely matched that of the tree roots rather than that of the leaf litter to which they were exposed, indicating that the diet of these animals derived primarily from root tissue and exudates as compared to fallen leaves (which therefore appear to be processed largely by microorganisms). If this pattern extends to other temperate forests, the configuration of below-ground food webs and patterns of carbon flux might have to be reconsidered. — AMS

Ecol. Lett. 10 , 729 (2007).


A theory of when to defer a decision is proposed, according to which a decision maker defers if and only if his confidence in the relevant beliefs does not match up to the stakes involved in the decision. It uses the model of confidence in beliefs and the notion of stakes introduced in Hill (2010). Firstly, a representation of deferral of binary choices is proposed and axiomatised; it can alternatively be considered as a representation of incomplete preferences, where indeterminacy of preferences is interpreted as taking the deferral option. Then the question of what the decision maker would do if he was not allowed to defer is studied; mild axioms governing the relationship between preferences in the presence and absence of a deferral option characterise a simple model of how forced choice relates to choice where deferral is possible. Finally, the results are extended to deferral of choices from non-binary menus. Compared to existing accounts of deferral, the theory proposed here is unique in analysing deferral entirely in terms of the attitudes of the agent at the moment of choice, rather than his expectation about his or others' future attitudes, for example. Preliminary axiomatic analysis shows that this difference is behaviourally meaningful.


Carlson, Emily Me, you and the dance: Effects of individual differences and social context on music-induced movement Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, 2018, 91 p. (JYU Dissertations ISSN 2489-9003; 33) ISBN 978-951-39-7590-6 (PDF) To dance is usually to dance with someone else. Dance often takes place in social contexts such as a club or party, where individuals' movements not only reflect their own traits and feelings but can the movements of others in many ways. The aim of this thesis is to study some of the factors that may affect music-induced movement in social contexts, particularly trait empathy. The thesis also aims to investigate the influence of inherently dyadic features, such as similarity between dance partners, and to explore how entrainment and interaction can be quantified in a free dance movement context using a variety of analytic approaches. A first analysis of individual dance data from 30 participants found correlations between Big Five personality traits and responsiveness to small changes musical tempo but failed to find a relationship between dispositional empathy and participants' adjustment to musical tempo. This suggested that, in dance, empathy may more readily manifest interpersonally than individually. To explore this further, a motion capture study was conducted in which 73 participants were recorded dancing alone and with several partners to music excerpts from eight different genres, which were selected using a novel, data-driven approach to identifying naturalistic stimuli. Kinematic movement features were extracted from these data for comparison with self-report measures of empathy and personality traits. Subsequent analysis using the Social Relations Model found that partners with greater trait empathy altered their movements more in responses to different partners than those with less empathy, while agreeableness was linked to head movements. A perceptual experiment was then carried out using animations created from data of dyads whose members' empathy scores were either both high, both low, or high and low respectively, with 33 participants rating dyads' level of interaction and similarity. Analysis showed that dyads combining highand lowempathy members were rated as interacting more than others. Finally, rated stimuli were analyzed using computational methods, with an aim to develop quantitative descriptions of entrainment. It was found that dyads who were rated as highly interactive moved at more similar periodicities, tended to orient their heads towards each other, and to use their hands significantly more during dance. Taken together, these results paint a multi-dimensional picture of motoric entrainment and engagement in the dyadic dance setting, providing direction and motivation for further investigation into free dyadic dance movement.


While free and open source software becomes increasingly important in geospatial research and industry, open science perspectives are generally less reflected in universities' educational programs. We present an example of how free and open source software can be incorporated into geospatial education to promote open and reproducible science. Since 2008 graduate students at North Carolina State University have the opportunity to take a course on geospatial modeling and analysis that is taught with both proprietary and free and open source software. In this course, students perform geospatial tasks simultaneously in the proprietary package ArcGIS and the free and open source package GRASS GIS. By ensuring that students learn to distinguish between geospatial concepts and software specifics, students become more flexible and stronger spatial thinkers when choosing solutions for their independent work in the future. We also discuss ways to continually update and improve our publicly available teaching materials for reuse by teachers, self-learners and other members of the GIS community. Only when free and open source software is fully integrated into geospatial education, we will be able to encourage a culture of openness and, thus, enable greater reproducibility in research and development applications.


The enzymes catalase and superoxide dismutase play major roles in protecting phytopathogenic bacteria from oxidative stress. In Xanthomonas species, these enzymes are regulated by both growth phase and oxygen tension. The highest enzyme levels were detected within 1 h of growth. Continued growth resulted in a decline of both enzyme activities. High oxygen tension was an inducing signal for both enzyme activities. An 80,000-Da monofunctional catalase and a manganese superoxide dismutase were the major forms of the enzymes detected at different stages of growth. The unusual regulatory patterns are common among several Xanthomonas strains tested and may be advantageous to Xanthomonas species during the initial stage of plant-microorganism interactions.


Smallest rectilinear paths are rectilinear paths with simultaneous minimum numbers of bends and minimum lengths. Given two pairs of terminals within a rectilinear polygon, the authors derive an algorithm to find a pair of noncrossing rectilinear paths within the polygon such that the total number of bends and the total length are both minimized. Although a smallest rectilinear path between two terminals in a rectilinear polygon always exists, they show that such a smallest pair may not exist for some problem instances. In that case, the algorithm presented will find, among all noncrossing paths with a minimum total number of bends, a pair whose total length is the shortest, or find, among all noncrossing paths with a minimum total length, a pair whose total number of bends is minimized. They provide a simple linear time and space algorithm based on the fact that there are only a limited number of configurations of such a solution pair.


Abstract. The Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) is a network of ground-based Fourier transform spectrometers (FTSs) that record near-infrared (NIR) spectra of the sun. From these spectra, accurate and precise observations of CO2 column-averaged dry-air mole fractions (denoted XCO2) are retrieved. TCCON FTS observations have previously been used to validate satellite estimations of XCO2; however, our knowledge of the short-term spatial and temporal variations in XCO2 surrounding the TCCON sites is limited. In this work, we use the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) Eulerian three-dimensional transport model and the FLEXPART (FLEXible PARTicle dispersion model) Lagrangian particle dispersion model (LPDM) to determine the footprints of short-term variations in XCO2 observed by operational, past, future and possible TCCON sites. We propose a footprint-based method for the collocation of satellite and TCCON XCO2 observations and estimate the performance of the method using the NIES model and five GOSAT (Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite) XCO2 product data sets. Comparison of the proposed approach with a standard geographic method shows a higher number of collocation points and an average bias reduction up to 0.15 ppm for a subset of 16 stations for the period from January 2010 to January 2014. Case studies of the Darwin and Reunion Island sites reveal that when the footprint area is rather curved, non-uniform and significantly different from a geographical rectangular area, the differences between these approaches are more noticeable. This emphasises that the collocation is sensitive to local meteorological conditions and flux distributions.


Objective The purpose of this study is to investigate the knowledge, practices, and attitudes among female university students in South Africa regarding emergency contraceptives (EC). Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 582 female university students who were selected using multi-stage sampling techniques. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to find significant predictors for EC awareness. Results The average age of the female students was 20.9 years (SD = 3.0) and 57.2% were presently sexually active. Overall, 49.8% of the participants reported having heard about EC prior to the study. Regarding sexual activities among the female students, 53.2% reported to have sex, and 21.2% of the sexually experienced students used EC prior to the study. Regarding the effectiveness of EC, 29.5% students said it could be used up to 72 hours after unprotected sexual intercourse, and 8% said it could be used just before sex. About two-thirds (61.8%) would recommend the use of EC and 63.2% would use it if they needed. The multivariate analysis indicated that students who were older (>20 years), presently sexually active, and living with their parents were more likely to be aware of EC (p<0.05). Conclusion The students' knowledge and utilization of EC were low. Health education and promotion should be targeted towards these students, and the EC services should be offered on campus.


The global transcriptional regulator H-NS selectively silences bacterial genes associated with pathogenicity and responses to environmental insults. Although there is ample evidence that H-NS binds preferentially to DNA containing curved regions, we show here that a major basis for this selectivity is the presence of a conserved sequence motif in H-NS target transcriptons. We further show that there is a strong tendency for the H-NS binding sites to be clustered, both within operons and in genes contained in the pathogenicity-associated islands. In accordance with previously published findings, we show that these motifs occur in AT-rich regions of DNA. On the basis of these observations, we propose that H-NS silences extensive regions of the bacterial chromosome by binding first to nucleating high-affinity sites and then spreading along AT-rich DNA. This spreading would be reinforced by the frequent occurrence of the motif in such regions. Our findings suggest that such an organization enables the silencing of extensive regions of the genetic material, thereby providing a coherent framework that unifies studies on the H-NS protein and a concrete molecular basis for the genetic control of H-NS transcriptional silencing.


Simultaneous determination of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) in rat blood and brain microdialysates by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FL) was developed. Microdialysates were directly subjected to derivatization with 4-(4,5-diphenyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)benzoyl chloride (DIB-Cl). The DIB-derivatives of MDMA, MDA and the internal standard, 1-methyl-3-phenylpropylamine (MPPA), were isocratically separated on an ODS column using a mixture of 50 mm phosphate buffer (pH 7.0)-acetonitrile-methanol-2-propanol (50:45:5:2, v/v/v/v %) as an eluent at a flow rate of 1.5 mL/min. The calibration curves of MDA and MDMA spiked to blood and brain microdialysates were linear over the ranges 2.5-500 and 5.0-1000 ng/mL, respectively. The detection limits of MDA and MDMA were 1.2 and 4.2 for blood and 1.3 and 4.8 ng/mL for brain, respectively. Additionally, the intra- and the inter-assay precisions were lower than 5.6% for the blood and brain microdialysates (n = 4). The proposed method was successfully applied for the monitoring of MDMA and its metabolite MDA in rat blood and brain microdialysates, and the pharmacokinetic parameters of MDMA and MDA in the microdialysates after administration of MDMA (5 mg/kg, i.p.) with or without caffeine (20 mg/kg, i.p.) were evaluated.


A large part of the general population is potentially exposed to excessive concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO), both in the domestic and work environment. Beside acute, often fatal poisoning, the possibility of occult intoxication should be considered; this condition can affect people who are often unaware of the existence of a toxic exposure in their homes or work places. We describe two non-smoking patients, husband and wife, 53 and 57 years old, respectively, who suffered cephalea, nausea and neurobehavioural disturbances during a period of approximately one year; these symptoms were reported to improve or disappear on several occasions during the patients' absence from home. Careful anamnesis suggested a protracted exposure to nonlethal concentrations of CO contaminating the patients' bed-chamber from the misfunctioning flue of the heating system. It was not possible to measure carboxyhaemoglobinemia until approximately 24 hours since the last presumptive exposure. The levels found were therefore relatively low (4-5%), yet higher than the reference values for normal non-smoking subjects. Carboxyhaemoglobin concentrations almost returned into the normal range during the period of hospitalization. These two cases exemplify how low level CO exposure may cause aspecific pathological manifestations that are often misdiagnosed or overlooked.


In the last two decades, the use of oxygenated fuels, like methanol and ethanol, pure or in mixture with gasoline, has been growing due to benefits introduced into the air quality. In Brasil, the fraction of light duty vehicles powered by pure hydrated ethanol is estimated at about 4 million, while the remaining vehicles actually utilize a mixture (22:78 v/v) of ethanol:gasoline. As a consequence, there's a need for the availability of methods that can provide the evaluation of possible impacts of alcohol emissions in the formation of chemical species in the atmosphere, as ozone, aldehydes, carboxylic acids and so on. In this paper, methanol and ethanol are discussed in their general aspects, as well as their atmospheric sources, chemical reactivity and available methods of analysis.


: Automated experimental and pathology data collection and reporting systems are utilized at the National Center for Toxicological Research to increase the efficiency of the variety of research studies being performed. In order for the ED01 study to be conducted in an effective manner, usage of these automated systems was considered advantageous due to the study size, approximately 24,000 mice. The large volume of pathology and other experiment data generated in the study required detailed quality assurance and data retrieval, and the use of automated systems allowed this to be performed much more easily than with manual methods. This paper addresses the methods employed to ensure quality and to provide the data retrieval capabilities necessary for conducting and analyzing the ED01 study.


The quest for a PTAS for Nash equilibrium in a two-player game seeks to circumvent the PPAD-completeness of an (exact) Nash equilibrium by finding an approximate equilibrium, and has emerged as a major open question in Algorithmic Game Theory. A closely related problem is that of finding an equilibrium maximizing a certain objective, such as the social welfare. This optimization problem was shown to be NP-hard by Gilboa and Zemel [Games and Economic Behavior 1989]. However, this NP-hardness is unlikely to extend to finding an approximate equilibrium, since the latter admits a quasi-polynomial time algorithm, as proved by Lipton, Markakis and Mehta [Proc. of 4th EC, 2003].

We show that this optimization problem, namely, finding in a two-player game an approximate equilibrium achieving large social welfare is unlikely to have a polynomial time algorithm. One interpretation of our results is that the quest for a PTAS for Nash equilibrium should not extend to a PTAS for finding the best Nash equilibrium, which stands in contrast to certain algorithmic techniques used so far (e.g. sampling and enumeration).

Technically, our result is a reduction from a notoriously difficult problem in modern Combinatorics, of finding a planted (but hidden) clique in a random graph G(n, 1/2). Our reduction starts from an instance with planted clique size k = O(log n). For comparison, the currently known algorithms due to Alon, Krivelevich and Sudakov [Random Struct. & Algorithms, 1998], and Krauthgamer and Feige [Random Struct. & Algorithms, 2000], are effective for a much larger clique size k = Ω(√n).


ABSTRACT The establishment of bacterial communities in two healthy babies was examined for more than the first 10 months of life by monitoring 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) diversity in fecal samples by PCR and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and by analyzing the sequences of the major ribotypes. DGGE profiles of the dominant populations in the intestines of the infants were obtained by analyzing daily or weekly fecal samples. After delivery, the germfree infant gastrointestinal tracts were rapidly colonized, and the succession of bacteria in each ecosystem was monitored. During the first few days of life the profiles were simple, but they became more complex as the bacterial diversity increased with time in both babies. Clone libraries of amplified 16S rDNA fragments from baby feces were constructed, and these libraries allowed identification of the bacterial types by comparative DNA sequence analysis; the bacteria identified included members of the genera Bifidobacterium, Ruminococcus, Enterococcus, Clostridium, and Enterobacter. Species most closely related to the genera Bifidobacterium and Ruminococcus in particular dominated the intestinal microbiota based on the stability over time and the numbers, as estimated by the intensities of the bands. However, 19 of the 34 cloned rDNA sequences exhibited less than 97% identity with sequences of known bacteria or cloned sequences in databases. This study showed that using PCR-DGGE and 16S rDNA sequence analysis together resulted in a dynamic description of bacterial colonization in the infant intestinal ecosystem and allowed visualization of bacteria that are difficult to cultivate or to detect by other methods.


ABSTRACT In the nineteenth century, Britain was the epicentre of pen-making, with around 75% of the world's dip pens being manufactured in Birmingham. While the ownership of dip pens was initially restricted to upper-class Victorians due to their expensive cost, the introduction of mass-production techniques and the 1870 Education Act led to their adoption by the lower classes. The democratisation of the dip pen offered manufacturers an attractive new opportunity to capitalise on Britain's deeply rooted class structure and use the pen as a strategy of distinction. This paper explores how dip pens, inkwells and blotters became marketed by manufacturers in ways that tapped into collective consciousness on social status, power and one's sense of limitations, thus reinforcing class divisions. In doing so, it uses Bourdieu's notion that personal possessions are the 'practical affirmation of an inevitable difference' and become the coordinating frame within which social life is grouped. This paper also investigates how Englishness, the notion of Empire and nationalism were used to sell pens abroad. It determines that pen manufacturers were able to build a highly lucrative trade through the exploitation of the 'social conditioning' of consumers on class and national identity.


A reconnaissance of Holocene stratigraphy beneath fringing marshes of the Valdivia estuary, where an M 9:5 earthquake caused 1-2 m of regional coseismic subsidence in 1960, shows only fragmentary evidence of prehistoric coseismic sub- sidence. In most of the 150 hand-driven cores that were examined, a distinct uncon- formity separates 0.5-1.5 m of late Holocene tidal and floodplain mud, peat, and sand from underlying middle Holocene subtidal mud and sand. At the Las Coloradas site, where stratigraphy is best preserved, two A horizons of marsh and meadow soils abruptly overlain by sand and mud probably record coseismic subsidence shortly fol- lowed by tsunamis. The amount of subsidence during the earthquakes proved difficult to reconstruct with a diatom transfer function because of differences between modern and fossil diatom assemblages. Maximum 14 C ages on macrofossils from the two A horizons at the Las Coloradas site of 1.7-1.3 ka and 2.7-1.7 ka allow correlation of the younger horizon with either of two of six 14 C-dated A horizons buried by tsunami sand or post-tsunami tidal sand 200 km to the south at Maullin, and with a lake-wide mass wasting event in Lago Puyehue, 100 km to the southeast. Tidal records of prehistoric coseismic subsidence at Valdivia are scarce because of a sea-level fall of 3-8 m over the past 6000 years, erosion of marsh and meadow soils during subsidence-induced flooding of the estuary, and largely complete land-level recovery during cycles of coseismic subsidence and postseismic uplift. Online Material: Diatom species data from the Las Coloradas site, Valdivia estuary.


Remote sensing techniques are being used increasingly to address volcanological problems. This thesis is concerned with the interpretation of multispectral infrared data of volcanic thermal features.

Data from the two short wavelength infrared (SWIR) bands of the Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) are used to constrain sizes and temperatures of subpixel resolution hot spots. Analysis of a 1989 TM scene of Lonquimay volcano suggests a cooling from 250 to 170°C of the crust of an active lava flow down 1.5 km of its length. Estimates of the summed radiative and convective heat losses from the flow top fall from 6 to 3 MW per 30 x 30 m pixel downflow.

Thermal data were collected at volcanoes in Chile, Nicaragua and Italy to test assumptions explicit in such calculations. These surveys suggest that SWIR emission from fumarole fields is dominated by that from the interior walls of vents, and that surface temperatures around fumarole vents are lower than those of typical active lava bodies. The relative response of the two SWIR sensors of the TM is sensitive to such differences and therefore provides a basis for the interpretation of thennal anomalies known only from satellite data.

Comparison of measurements in the two SWIR bands is petfonned with fourteen TM scenes recorded between 1984 and 1991, of a persistent hot spot at Lascar volcano, Chile. Evolution of the thennal source is charted by comparing the summed spectral radiance in each of the SWIR bands. Thus it appears that Lascar has experienced at least two periods of lava dome growth punctuated by the explosive eruptions of 1986 and 1990.

Infrared sensors to be deployed on forthcoming remote sensing platfonns, including the Japanese Earth Resources Satellite and NASA's Earth Observing System, promise to constrain thennal emissions from volcanoes more effectively than possible with existing orbital systems. These investigations will improve understanding of the physical processes that influence the emplacement of lavas, as well as the potential for detecting eruption precursors and evaluating volcanic hazards.


Unlike European species, the potential of Nearctic syrphids as biological control agents is still poorly studied. However, the American hoverfly, Eupeodes americanus (Wiedemann), has recently demonstrated promising traits as a biocontrol agent, notably against the foxglove aphid, Aulacorthum solani Kaltenbach, on pepper. The present study aims to extend our knowledge of the American hoverfly by evaluating its potential as a biocontrol agent in a banker plant system against the melon aphid, Aphis gossypii Glover, in a greenhouse cucumber crop. The preimaginal development and voracity of E. americanus were compared when preying upon the focal prey/pest (A. gossypii) or the banker prey (bird cherry-oat aphid, Rhopalosiphum padi L.) by daily observations of larvae from egg to adult. Preimaginal development time, survival rate, and occurrence of deformation were similar on both prey species. The weight of third instar and pupae, however, was higher for larvae that fed on the banker prey. The ad libitum voracity of the syrphid larvae was generally very high and did not significantly differ between prey species, except for the third-instar larvae which consumed more focal prey. Results suggest that a banker plant system involving the bird cherry-oat aphid may be a promising tactic for utilizing E. americanus for melon aphid biocontrol.


Historically, the world economy has been dominated by a single currency accepted in the exchange of goods and assets among countries. In recent decades, the U.S. dollar has played this role. The dollar acts as a "vehicle currency" in the sense that agents in nondollar economies will generally engage in currency trade indirectly using the U.S. dollar instead of using direct bilateral trade among their own currencies. A vehicle currency is desirable when there are transactions costs of exchange. This article constructs a dynamic general equilibrium model of a vehicle currency. We explore the nature of the efficiency gains arising from a vehicle currency and show how it depends on the total number of currencies in existence, the size of the vehicle currency economy, and the monetary policy followed by the vehicle currency's government. We find that there can be significant welfare gains to a vehicle currency in a system of many independent currencies. But these gains are asymmetrically weighted toward the residents of the vehicle currency country. The survival of a vehicle currency places natural limits on the monetary policy of the vehicle currency country.


An algorithm for computing wavefronts, based on the high frequency approximation to the wave equation, is presented. This technique applies the level set method to underwater acoustic wavefront propagation in the time domain. The level set method allows for computation of the acoustic phase function using established numerical techniques to solve a first order transport equation to a desired order of accuracy. Traditional methods for solving the eikonal equation directly on a fixed grid limit one to only the first arrivals, so these approaches are not useful when multi-path propagation is present. Applying the level set model to the problem allows for the time domain computation of the phase function on a fixed grid, without having to restrict to first arrival times. The implementation presented has no restrictions on range dependence or direction of travel, and offers improved efficiency over solving the full wave equation which under the high frequency assumption requires a large number of grid points to resolve the highly oscillatory solutions. Boundary conditions are discussed, and an approach is suggested for producing good results in the presence of boundary reflections. An efficient method to compute the amplitude from the level set method solutions is also presented. Comparisons to analytical solutions are presented where available, and numerical results are validated by comparing results with exact solutions where available, a full wave equation solver, and with wavefronts extracted from ray tracing software.


Background: The management of chronic degenerative joint disorders such as osteoarthritis (OA) with ayurvedic medicines provides a safe and effective alternative. Ayurvedic medicines possess analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and immunomodulator activities. Aims: The main aim of the study was to assess the efficacy of Ayuartis capsule in patients suffering from OA of the knee(s). Materials and Methods: Thirty-one patients suffering from OA knee(s) were recruited after evaluating them as per inclusion/exclusion criteria. Patients were advised to take two Ayuartis capsules twice daily orally for 90 days. Knee joint(s) pain was assessed on the Visual Analog Scale. Patients' joint pain, stiffness, and physical functions were assessed on the Western Ontario McMaster University Osteoarthritis (WOMAC) index. Quality of life (QOL) and the time required to walk 50 feet was evaluated. Patients were called for follow-up visits on every 15th day till 90 days. Adverse events and vitals were recorded at every visit. Safety laboratory investigations were done before and after the completion of trial. Statistical Analysis: Data describing quantitative measures are expressed as mean ± standard deviation. The comparison of variables representing categorical data was performed using pair t-test. Results: The mean joint pain reduced significantly by 53.82% on day 90. The mean WOMAC combined score, pain score, stiffness score and difficulty score reduced significantly by 50.88%, 54.96%, 58.76% and 49.02%, respectively on day 90. A significant improvement was observed in mean QOL of patients. A significant reduction in mean time required to walk 50 feet was observed. Majority of the patients had shown good overall improvement and excellent tolerability to the trial drug. Conclusion: Ayuartis capsule is a safe and effective medicine for the treatment of OA of the knee(s).


The purpose of this investigation was to examine the development of self-regulation across preschool and early childhood, with an emphasis on identifying basic developmental processes, implications for adjustment, and contextual influences. Study 1 utilized a path analytic framework to assess longitudinal transactional relations between emotion and behavior regulation. Study 2 utilized a latent change analytic framework to assess the development of self-regulation and the influence of context. The use of these two complementary paradigms sought to clarify individual patterns of growth and stability, and to elucidate the mechanism behind potential cross domain effects.Data were drawn from a diverse sample of 250 children who completed annual observational assessments of regulation during laboratory tasks at ages four, five, and six. Additional measures included parent report of adversity exposure, teacher report of social competence, internalizing problems, and externalizing problems, and laboratory-measured academic achievement. Study 1 found modest stability of regulation across early childhood, and bidirectional prospective relations between emotion and behavior regulation. Better behavior regulation at age four predicted better emotion regulation at age six, while better emotion regulation at age five predicted better behavior regulation at age six. Each cross-domain longitudinal relation controlled for the stability of prior within-domain regulation and concurrent cross-domain relations. Behavior regulation evidenced direct relations with adjustment in multiple domains, with indirect effects of emotion regulation emerging through its effect on behavior regulation. Study 2 found that emotion and behavior regulation evidenced different patterns of growth. Emotion regulation improved from age four to five, and remained relatively constant from age five to six. Furthermore, higher levels of cumulative adversity predicted a decrease in the slope of emotion regulation trajectories, such that children who experienced more adversity improved less in emotion regulation over time. There was no significant effect of adversity on initial levels of regulation. Although behavior regulation appeared to increase in a linear fashion, a latent change model could not be fit successfully, which precluded assessing the effect of adversity on behavior regulation, or interrelations between regulatory trajectories. Implications are for the development of context-sensitive interventions and increased specification of key domains of self-regulation in investigations.


Nine types of footsnares were tested on captive coyotes {Canis latrans) at the United States Department of Agriculture Predator Research Facility. Preliminary results indicate that the E-Z Lee, Nelson, Freemont, and Godwin leg snares can be effective in restraining coyotes while causing only minor leg injuries. Additional testing will be required to determine the effectiveness of these devices in different field situations. Four types of coyote leghold traps were evaluated to determine the injuries they inflict on captured coyotes. The No. 3 1/2 McBride padded trap caused the least injury in comparison to 3 other trap models that were tested. Available data on injuries associated with different traps will assist in determining what types of capture devices meet standards set by the International Organization for Standardization. The potential implementation of International Trap Standards will most likely determine the future use of traps and snares in much of the world. Wildlife managers should continue to search for improvements if they desire to maintain the use of traps in the future. Page 91 in R.E. Masters and J.G. Huggins, eds. Twelfth Great Plains Wildl. Damage Control Workshop Proc, Published by Noble Foundation, Ardmore, Okla.


Background The role of the right atrium (RA) is under-researched within pulmonary vascular disease. The aim was to investigate the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) derived RA volume and function in the diagnosis and management of pulmonary hypertension (PH). Methods Patients attending the pulmonary vascular clinic were retrospectively analysed. Inclusion criteria were cardiac MRI and right heart catheterisation within 48 hours. Standard cardiac-gated balanced steady state free precession sequences were used. End-systolic volume (ESV) and diastolic volume (EDV) were calculated using Simpson9s numeric integral applied to manual RA area tracings in the 4-chamber stack sequence. Results 71 PH patients were included, mean age was 65 ± 15.5 years and 67.6% (48) were female. RA function was shown to correlate with cardiac index (R=0.69) and mean RA pressure (R=-0.64), P RA ejection fraction ≤ 28.3% was shown to have moderate sensitivity (80%) and specificity (71%) for identifying patients who met diagnostic criteria. RA ESV ≥48.0 ml was useful (sensitivity 96%, specificity 78%) for identifying patients with a high RA pressure, see figure 1. Conclusion RA pressure is a known prognostic indicator; this study suggests high RA pressure can be detected using cardiac MRI. RA function has been shown to correlate well with haemodynamic measurements and clinical data. Further research into the natural history of RA volume change in PH is needed.


This paper considers the impact of interleaving and combining multiple DMT symbols in a single RS codeword on the performance of Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Lines (ADSL) in the presence of impulse noise. In recent years there has been an increasing interest in xDSL technology due to its high data rate capability and relative ease of deployment. Impulse noise is one of the main impairments for xDSL systems and different framing techniques are aimed at mitigating the impact of impulse noise. In the ADSL standard techniques for interleaving and combining of several consecutive symbols into a single FEC codeword are used. This paper considers the performance of the above techniques at higher layers of the protocol stack. The results are based on simulations of a generic ADSL system with a new broadband-oriented impulse noise model. The conclusions include a comparison between the packet error rates of the two techniques at different bit rates and the interaction between them when used together. The aim of this research is to find a suitable set of framing parameters and help designers in their choice of single or dual latency ADSL systems.


Inflation target formulations differ across countries and over time. Most widespread are point targets, target ranges, hybrid combinations of the two, or mere definitions of price stability. This paper proposes a novel empirical measure of expectations anchoring based on the cross-sectional distribution of private sector inflation point forecasts. Applying this to a panel of 29 countries, it finds three main results. First, a numerical target definition per se does not improve anchoring compared to a definition of price stability, while the formulation of a numerical reference point increases the degree of anchoring. Second, point targets and hybrid target formulations are associated with better anchoring than target ranges. Third, periods of persistent target deviations lead to an increase in tail risks to the inflation outlook. Conditional on such periods, point targets and hybrid targets attenuate tail risks to the inflation outlook, with a stronger quantitative effect for point targets. The results are consistent with models suggesting that targets ranges are interpreted as zones where monetary policy is less active.


A method for data alignment of device characteristics as measured on Process Control Monitors (PCM) with the circuit level performance of adjacent multithrow switch circuits has been developed. This technique provides a powerful method for correlating extrinsic and intrinsic device characteristics with circuit performance. This method provides a valuable tool that is being used to improve device modeling, device development and production yields.


Africa's current democratic outlook is a relic of the crowning vestige bequeathed by the colonial metropolis as a sign of the African's attainment of political freedom. As if to suggest that at the occasion of the attainment of that freedom, the African had become human, the metropolis demanded that formerly colonised territories had to democratise. This democratisation had to be of the same hue as of the metropolis. A particular aspect of Western democracy that has been deemed problematic on the African continent is its adversarial form crystallised by open and vicious competition for power between political parties. First to reject this party-polity were the first generation of African leaders. Disastrously for them, both their theories and practices were to be discredited, and as the personae fell so did their theories. The prominent African philosopher Kwasi Wiredu has led a sustained onslaught on the party-polity. He has attempted to show that this polity has several problems including that it is a poor version of democracy as well as that its structures promote considerable harm in the form of unb ridled competition for power, which all result in exclusionary politics. In the process of arguing for a more inclusive polity, consensual democracy, Wiredu has set his sights on outlining the precise nature of how such a polity is more democratic while at the same time shunning party politics. What I seek to do here is to present an assessment of some of Wiredu's arguments in support of consensus as a non-party polity. I wish to argue that the attempt of doing away with party politics is not very compelling. I also wish to show why those who read Wiredu's position as a return to a one-party state should receive a sympathetic hearing.


During the solar minimum, solar activity was extremely low for an extended period, and the present maximum of sunspot cycle 24 is the lowest in the last 100 years. It is not clear what long-term solar activity variations we can expect in the future: whether this is just the end of the recent decades of high solar activity, or whether the Sun is entering a Maunder-type minimum. Moreover, it is not clear to what extend our present understanding of how the Sun influences the geospace - which is based on instrumental observations taken during only the period of high solar activity in the second part of the 20th century - will hold during periods of more moderate to low solar activity that may follow. And it is still more unclear how all this would affect global climate change, or how important becomes the penetration of various inputs from the Earth's lower atmosphere to the ionosphere and plasmasphere. the Committee On Solar-TErrestrial Physics the scientific of the Sun and Its Terrestrial Impact" (VarSITI) which will focus on the recent and expected future solar activity and its consequences for the Earth, for various time scales from the order of thousands years to milliseconds, for various locations and their connections from the solar interior to the Earth's atmosphere. In to elucidate these various Sun-Earth connections, we much closer communications between solar scientists (solar interior, atmosphere, and heliosphere) and geospace scientists (magnetosphere, ionosphere, and atmosphere). Campaign observations/data analysis for particular intervals, VarSITI web pages (http://www.varsiti.org/), mailing lists, and newsletters, are developed for this purpose. Four scientific projects are carried out under the VarSITI program: (1) Solar Evolution and Extrema (SEE), (2) International Study of Earth-Affecting Solar Transients (ISEST/MiniMax24), (3) Specification and Prediction of the Coupled Inner-Magnetospheric Environment (SPeCIMEN), and (4) Role Of the Sun and the Middle atmosphere/thermosphere/ionosphere In Climate (ROSMIC). These four projects will be carried out in collaboration with relevant satellite and ground-based missions as well as modeling efforts to facilitate the implementation of the projects. We will also discuss the collaboration with other on-going international projects like the UN-based space weather activities, particularly for promoting VarSITI-related science in developing countries, and ICSU World Data System (ICSU-WDS).


Understanding of airflow characteristics in nasal cavity is closely related with the physiological functions, like air-conditioning and smelling, and pathological aspects in nasal breathing. Several studies have utilized physical models of the healthy nasal cavity to investigate the relationship between nasal anatomy and airflow. The next step on this topic is naturally studies for disordered nasal airways and this is the main purpose of this article. Airflows in the pathological nasal airways, including nasal cavity and upper pharynx, of Korean adults are investigated experimentally by PIV measurement technique and air resistance measurements. Quantitative data for normal and pathological nasal airway are obtained. Average and RMS velocity distributions are obtained for inspirational and expirational nasal airflows. The CBC PIV algorithm with window offset is used for PIV flow analysis. PIV measurements of nasal airflow for nasal cavities with 50% and 70% adenoid vegetation are conducted for the first time. The asymmetric nasal cavities, due to either congenital deformity or injury, are also investigated. Comparisons in nasal airflows for both normal and abnormal cases are also appreciated and airflow characteristics that are related with the abnormalities in nasal cavity are proposed.


An electronically controlled antenna array consisting of one active element and a number of parasitic elements can be used for direction finding. Array directivity is controlled by exchanging the position of the feed and the parasitic elements. An array of four monopoles on a ground plane provides 360 degree azimuthal coverage with no moving parts, provides excellent directional resolution and can be controlled using a simple microcontroller. The antenna design, its application to direction finding and reliability in noisy environments are presented.


We survey commercial bank lenders to better understand how they evaluate and react to variation in financial statement quality and how they view recent changes in accounting standards. A unique aspect of this study is that our respondents focus on medium-size loans to private companies. In fact, more than 90 percent of the survey respondents primarily make credit decisions on loans between $250 thousand and $50 million. This is in contrast to prior archival research, which focuses primarily on very large loans to public firms or very small loans to private firms. We find that lenders in our sample distinguish among financial statements in terms of quality, including conservatism, primarily on the basis of accrual patterns and restatements. While this general result holds throughout our sample, financial statement quality is substantially more important for lenders making larger loans (over $10 million) as compared to very small loans (under $1 million). In addition, bank lenders are much more likely to respond to low quality reporting with collateral and guarantee requirements than with an increase in the interest rate charged. This finding is consistent for lenders making both larger and smaller loans. Finally, despite concerns in the academic literature, bank lenders in our sample actually hold a neutral-to-positive view of recent changes in accounting standards. In addition, most do not support current efforts to exempt private companies from some accounting standards.


In the article for the first time the properties of nanodiamond complexes with dexamethasone obtained by two different approaches - attachment of the drug to the surface of nanodiamond and to the nanodiamond, covered by silica layer – were compared. It was found that the synthesized nanocomposite ND@silica@Dex is able to retain a greater amount of drug and allows achieving prolonged release of dexamethasone. These properties of the complexes ND@silica@Dex provide prospects for their use as drug carries.


The study of sexual selection has traditionally focused on events and behaviours immediately surrounding copulation. In this study, we examine whether carry-over effects from the non-breeding season can influence the process of sexual selection in a long-distance migratory bird, the American redstart (Setophaga ruticilla). Previous work on American redstarts demonstrated that overwintering in a high-quality habitat influences spring departure dates from the wintering grounds, advances arrival dates on the breeding grounds and increases apparent reproductive success. We show that the mixed-mating strategy of American redstarts compounds the benefits of overwintering in high-quality winter habitats. Males arriving to breed in Canada from high-quality winter habitats arrive earlier than males from poor-quality habitats, resulting in a lower probability of paternity loss, a higher probability of achieving polygyny and ultimately higher realized reproductive success. Such results suggest that the process of sexual selection may be influenced by events interacting throughout the annual cycle.