A fter a long and sometimes painful incubation period, biochemical research on aging has done what we all do eventually: It's come of age. The goal of the field is a deeper understanding of the fundamental mechanisms that lead to the slow, insidious postmaturational declines in structure and function observed in most organisms. Evolutionary biologists appear to be unanimous in their conclusion that senescent phenotypes are still in the population because they have escaped the force of natural selection. But we also know that life history parameters, including variable rates of aging, are highly plastic. Given the opportunity, such as a new ecological niche for the evolution of alternative gene actions, nature can devise clever methods for superior maintenance of the soma. It is our job to reveal these secrets in order to enhance our health spans as well as our life-spans. To facilitate this process, on 3 October Science launched a new knowledge environment focused squarely on the biology of aging. Named SAGE KE (Science of Aging Knowledge Environment), this Web site (at ) is designed to help scientists in and outside of the field of aging stay abreast of the diverse facets of aging research.

To push our understanding of the aging process ahead will require the recruitment of a wide range of scientists, including those who have not yet thought of their work in the context of aging. Nucleic acid, protein, carbohydrate, and lipid biochemists; endocrinologists; neuroscientists; geneticists; organ and integrative physiologists; population biologists; and many others—we want them all to join us in this quest. Models of aging can offer some special advantages for their research. Phenotypes in old cells and animals can act as amplifiers of signals that would otherwise escape detection. The emerging innovations in genomics and proteomics will help us define these signals. That task has only just begun. There is currently a flurry of activity regarding the use of expression microarrays in aging tissues of many organisms. The rapid progress in the characterization of human single-nucleotide polymorphisms has made genome-wide linkage and association studies more feasible for the detection of important alleles for senescent phenotypes and for unusual longevity. There will be full employment for human statistical geneticists for years to come, as we try to confirm controversial results!

Meanwhile, I urge the funding agencies to continue their support of research on aging in model organisms. The most exciting recent advances in biogerontology have made use of simple organisms that are amenable to genetic analysis. The remarkable potential of allelic variants at the daf 2 pathway to modulate the life-span of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans was quickly shown to have a counterpart in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster , and there is evidence that comparable mechanisms may be operative in mice. This makes a strong case that at least one class of genetic "geromodulators" has been evolutionarily conserved. The best bet is that it evolved to maximize reproductive fitness in "feast or famine" environments. These results also point to a powerful central neuroendocrine control of life history strategies, although research on Werner syndrome is consistent with peripheral mechanisms of somatic cell aging that are independent of central controls. Clearly, there is not one process of aging but multiple processes.

We are far from having magic elixirs to prevent or reverse aging. But such interventions may not be out of the question for the distant future; for example, superoxide dismutase/catalase mimetics (which inactivate damaging reactive oxygen species) or caloric restriction can extend the life-span of model organisms. We will know more about this possibility when we understand the precise molecular mechanisms that respond to variations in fuel utilization.

The encyclopedic nature of the field and the exponential rates at which scientific information relevant to the biology of aging is increasing make it difficult to keep up with the literature. Fortunately, the age of digitized data and the Internet has arrived in the nick of time. The SAGE KE is designed to help digest these rich fruits of past and current research. Although we offer no panaceas, like so many of the translational products of aging research we do provide a measure of palliation!


OBJECTIVE
To investigate plasma lactate concentrations of etorphine-immobilized moose in relation to environmental, temporal and physiological parameters.

STUDY DESIGN
Prospective clinical study.

ANIMALS
Fourteen female and five male moose (Alces alces), estimated age range 1-7 years.

METHODS
The moose were darted from a helicopter with 7.5 mg etorphine per animal using projectile syringes and a dart gun. Once immobilized, the moose were approached, a venous blood sample was obtained and vital signs including pulse oximetry were recorded. Diprenorphine was administered to reverse the effects of etorphine. Timing of events, ambient temperature and snow depth were recorded. Blood samples were cooled and centrifuged before plasma was harvested and frozen. The plasma was thawed later and lactate analysed. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and regression analysis.

RESULTS
All animals recovered uneventfully and were alive 12 weeks after immobilization. Mean +/- SD plasma lactate was found to be 9.2 +/- 2.1 mmol L(-1). Plasma lactate concentrations were related positively to snow depth and negatively to time from induction of immobilization to blood sampling. The model that best described the variability in plasma lactate concentrations used induction time (time from firing the dart to the moose being immobilized). The second best model included induction time and snow depth.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Plasma lactate concentrations in these etorphine-immobilized moose were in the range reported for other immobilized wild ruminants. Decreasing induction time, which may be related to a more profound etorphine effect, and increasing snow depth possibly may increase plasma lactate concentrations in etorphine-immobilized moose.


Energy-efficient thermal management systems for Emobility help to decrease energy consumption and increase range. Due to transient external conditions and the increasing system complexity, optimization-based control approaches are required in order to harness the full potential of such systems. In (Fischer et al., 11th Int. Modelica Conf, 2015), we have presented a model-based development cycle for a thermal management system in Emobility to this end. In this article, we build upon this work to describe the use of this model within a nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) approach. The main benefits of using an advanced optimization-based control system in this application are a) the ability to control the battery temperature and the cabin temperature simultaneously, b) the increased energy efficiency achieved by exploiting the predictive character of the optimizationbased control approach, c) the possibility to include operational limits as constraints in the optimization problems and d) the fast reaction to disturbances or model parameter changes. We evaluate the merit of the proposed advanced control system by way of a comparison to conventional PID controller.


The amylose content, amylographic characteristics and storage proteins of milled rice grains on the primary and secondary rachis branches were investigated. The amylose content of grains on the primary rachis branches with superior palatability was higher than that on the secondary rachis branches. Grains on the primary rachis branches showed higher maximum viscosity and breakdown values, and lower gelatinization temperature than those on the secondary rachis branches. These results suggested that the palatability of cooked rice of grains with high amylose content and amylogram values was superior to that with low amylose content and amylogram values within a cultivar under the same cultural conditions. In terms of protein fraction in the starchy endosperm, there was little difference in prolamin content and in albumin + globulin content between grains on primary and those on secondary rachis branches, whereas total protein content and glutelin content of grains on the primary rachis branches were noticeably lower than those on the secondary rachis branches for all the cultivars. Total protein, glutelin and prolamin content of a good palatability cultivar, Koshihikari were lower than those of moderate palatability cultivars Nipponbare and Reihou. These results indicate that, among storage proteins, glutelin and prolamin play important roles in rice palatability and that it is possible to use glutelin as an indicator of palatability within a single cultivar and prolamin as an indicator of palatability among cultivars.


: The results of glioma chemotherapy obtained so far have been rather disappointing. New attempts have been made to kill glioma cells with autonomic drugs. Experiments were done with rat C-6 glioma cells in the cell culture. Among all cholinergic blockers tested, only the irreversible cholinergic blockers such as bromoacetylcholine (BrACh), iodoacetylcholine and alphabungarotoxin were effective to inhibit glioma cells (with 50% cytolytic doses of 6.7 x 10(-6)M, 3.0 x 10(-6)M and 7.4 x 10(-5)M respectively). It is interesting to note that the hydrolytic product of BrACh, bromoacetate, was as potent as BrACh to inhibit glioma cells. Most of the adrenergic blockers, both reversible and irreversible ones, showed no cytolytic activity on glioma cells with concentrations up to 1.0 x 10(-4)M except phentolamine and propranolol which showed weak cytolytic activities. It is interesting to note, on the other hand, that 6-hydroxydopamine (an adrenergic neuron degenerating agent) and 5,6-dihydroxytryptamine (a serotonergic neuron degenerating agent) also showed mild cytolytic effects on glioma cells with 50% cytolytic doses of 5.0 x 10(-5)M and 5.3 x 10(-5)M, respectively.


We use a simple, sociophysical, agent-based model to gain insight into the relationship between the strength of academic research groups and the researchers they contain and to investigate the optimal size of research groups in a number of academic disciplines. The model suggests a linear relationship between group research quality and group quantity up to an upper critical mass. It further suggests that above this size, research quality no longer increases significantly with group quantity due to a tendency for large research groups to fragment. We use the results of the UK's Research Assessment Exercise to establish empirical evidence that, although the best research groups tend to be large, they frequently tend to have characteristics more akin to small and medium groups. This may be interpreted as indicating that the optimal size of research groups is slightly in excess of the upper critical mass. We speculate that a strong degree of cohesiveness lies behind the success of such groups. The principle managerial message coming from this analysis is that emulation of such success involves optimization of the quality and quantity of communication links between research group members.


Point-of-interest (POI) recommendation that suggests new places for users to visit arises with the popularity of location-based social networks (LBSNs). Due to the importance of POI recommendation in LBSNs, it has attracted much academic and industrial interest. In this paper, we offer a systematic review of this field, summarizing the contributions of individual efforts and exploring their relations. We discuss the new properties and challenges in POI recommendation, compared with traditional recommendation problems, e.g., movie recommendation. Then, we present a comprehensive review in three aspects: influential factors for POI recommendation, methodologies employed for POI recommendation, and different tasks in POI recommendation. Specifically, we propose three taxonomies to classify POI recommendation systems. First, we categorize the systems by the influential factors check-in characteristics, including the geographical information, social relationship, temporal influence, and content indications. Second, we categorize the systems by the methodology, including systems modeled by fused methods and joint methods. Third, we categorize the systems as general POI recommendation and successive POI recommendation by subtle differences in the recommendation task whether to be bias to the recent check-in. For each category, we summarize the contributions and system features, and highlight the representative work. Moreover, we discuss the available data sets and the popular metrics. Finally, we point out the possible future directions in this area and conclude this survey.


We describe a simple 4-PPM demodulator that uses analog delay lines and simple 1-bit comparators to determine the least-significant bit and most-significant bit of the 4-PPM encoded data without additional digital signal processing. We show that with good optical filtering the comparator-based demodulator can theoretically operate with sensitivity only 0.23 dB from the optimum 4-ary receiver. We describe as an example of this approach the demodulator built for the Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration and show measured performance within 1.1 dB of the expected sensitivity. The technique is extendable to higher-order, and higher-symbol-rate orthogonal modulation formats.


Objective: Our aim was to assess the role of the body mass index (BMI) in the clinical response to systemic treatment for psoriasis. Methods: A nationwide cohort study of patients receiving a new systemic treatment for plaque psoriasis at reference centres in Italy was conducted. Information was gathered through a web-based electronic form. Patients being maintained on the same medication and with data available at 8 and 16 weeks by March 31, 2007, were eligible. The outcome was a reduction in the Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) of at least 75% at follow-up compared to baseline (PASI-75). Results: Out of 8,072 patients enrolled, 2,368 were eligible and analysable at 8 weeks and 2,042 at 16 weeks. PASI-75 was achieved by 819 patients (34.5%) at 8 weeks and 1,034 (50.6%) at 16 weeks. The proportion steadily decreased with increased values of BMI. Compared to normal weight (BMI = 20–24) the adjusted odds ratio for achieving PASI-75 in obese patients was 0.73 (95% CI = 0.58–0.93) at 8 weeks and 0.62 (95% CI = 0.49–0.79) at 16 weeks. The impact of the BMI did not show remarkable variations according to the drug prescribed at entry. Conclusion: The BMI affects the early clinical response to systemic treatment for psoriasis.


This paper studies the relationship between company ownership and market liquidity using a panel regression approach. The data sample contains detailed transactions data from a limit order driven stock market, and a full breakdown of company ownership into five distinct owner types as well as outside owner concentration and insider holdings. In line with theoretical predictions, owner concentration is found to be negatively related to spreads and information costs. A somewhat weaker negative relation is also found between spreads and insider holdings. No strong relationship can be documented between liquidity and institutional ownership. Ownership variables which a ect spreads do not in general jointly affect depth in the predicted way, suggesting that spread and depth measure different dimensions of liquidity. Finally, a one-way Granger causality relation from ownership structure to liquidity is hard to document.


Background/Aim: High expression of the Bcl-2-interacting cell death suppressor (BIS), an anti-apoptotic protein, in various human cancers is linked to a poor outcome. The purpose of this study was to clarify whether BIS is associated with the migration and invasive characteristics of A549 cells. Materials and Methods: BIS-knockout (KO) cells were prepared by the CRISPR/Cas9 method. The aggressive behaviors of A549 cells were analyzed by wound healing and a transwell invasion assay as well as 3D spheroid culture. Results: BIS depletion resulted in significant inhibition of the migration and invasive potential of A549 cells which was accompanied by an increased ratio of E-cadherin/N-cadherin and a decrease in the mRNA levels of Zeb1, Snail, Slug and MMP-2. NF-κB activity was suppressed in BIS-KO A549 cells due to the decrease in p65 protein levels, but not in mRNA levels. Conclusion: BIS regulates cell invasion and the induction of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) phenotype in A549 cells probably via the NF-κB signaling pathway.


This article describes the results of the first report of bupropion sustained release (SR) in nondepressed females with hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD). Eligible females entered a 4-week, single-blind, placebo baseline phase . Subjects, all of whom did not respond to placebo, continued in a single-blind active treatment phase where they received bupropion SR for up to 8 additional weeks. We assessed HSDD by using investigator ratings of sexual desire and sexual functioning. Of the 51 evaluable subjects who entered the active treatment phase, 29% responded to treatment with bupropion SR. Bupropion SR was generally well tolerated. Pending the results of further study, bupropion SR may offer a treatment option for women with HSDD.


The paper shows the recurrence and cross recurrence plots of three time series, concerning data of the solar activity. The data are the sunspot number and the values of solar radio flux at 10.7 cm and of solar total irradiance, which are known as highly correlated. To compare the series, the radio flux and irradiance values are monthly averaged. Recurrence plots display the oscillating behaviour with remarkable features. Moreover, cross recurrence plots help in identifying time lags between the sunspot number maximum and the maximum of radio or irradiance signals, in circumstances where the data values are highly dispersed. Image processing is useful too, in enhancing the monitoring. An interesting behaviour is displayed by cross recurrence plots of irradiance, which are not symmetric with respect to the line of identity.


: A cytopathic rotavirus was isolated from calves with symptoms of diarrhea and underwent 15 passages in bovine embryo kidney cell culture. The specificity of the isolate was confirmed by the neutralization test, immunofluorescence, electron microscopy. The CPE of the isolated in bovine embryo kidney cells was similar to that of the reference strain.


To describe quantitatively the in vivo distribution and elimination of insulin, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) separation was applied to the pharmacokinetic study of human insulin labeled with 125I at tyrosine A14 (A14-125I-insulin) as a tracer. Intact A14-125I-insulin levels were determined by HPLC and trichloroacetic acid (TCA) precipitation in plasma and various tissues after its intravenous bolus injection into mice. TCA precipitation consistently overestimated the intactness of A14-125I-insulin compared with HPLC, possibly due to the presence of both a TCA-precipitable intermediate degradation product of labeled insulin found in HPLC elution profiles and reported high-molecular-weight forms of labeled insulin in plasma. Thus, TCA precipitation gave a considerably lower total plasma clearance (Cltot) value than HPLC. The half-life of A14-125I-insulin was prolonged by a simultaneous injection of 8 U/kg unlabeled insulin, and labeled insulin behaved similarly to [14C]inulin (an extracellular fluid marker). The concentration time profiles of HPLC-separated labeled insulin in plasma were analyzed by a noncompartmental moment method, and both Cltot and steady-state apparent volume distribution (VDSS) of A14-125I-insulin were considerably decreased by unlabeled insulin coadministration. In particular, VDSS of labeled insulin decreased by 79%, similar to that of inulin (181 ml/kg), suggesting that the nonspecific binding of labeled insulin to tissues was so small that VD88 of labeled insulin was reduced to the extracellular fluid volume (∼20% of the body weight) when its receptor binding was blocked effectively by unlabeled insulin. This observation, together with the 63% reduction of CI,tot by unlabeled insulin coadministration, demonstrated that saturable, receptor-mediated processes of distribution and elimination are essentially involved in the pharmacokinetics of HPLC-separated A14-125I-insulin.


Energy-dispersive imaging spectroscopy of X-ray emission from the Earth's aurorae promises to further knowledge in the field of aeronomy. Time- and spatially-resolved observations of fluorescence from the dominant atmospheric components require the detection of X-rays as soft as 390 eV with a resolution of no more than 100 eV at these energies. The Auroral X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (AXIS) instrument of the Disturbed and quiet time Ionosphere-thermosphere System at High Altitudes (DISHA) mission is expected to perform these observations. The baseline instrument design has suggested the use of an electron-multiplying charge-coupled device (EMCCD). The EMCCD's electron-multiplying register can reduce the effective readout noise and enable the detection of signals as small as a single photoelectron. For the detection of soft X-rays, however, the noise penalty from the EM register's stochastic process degrades energy resolution. Emerging CMOS image sensors (CIS), particularly the Teledyne e2v CIS221-X test device, with back illumination, full depletion (with 36 μm thickness), large pixel sizes (40 μm), and low readout noise (3 e- rms effective) are expected to achieve the required performance without the effects of the EM register. Simple models for X-ray event sensitivity, detectability, and resolution, indicate that candidate CIS equal or better EMCCD performance. Furthermore, CIS offer other advantages including lower power consumption, higher operating temperature, and increased radiation hardness. However, these sensors introduce other behaviors that may impact their apparent benefits, which initial experimental testing and analyses are working to understand.


Cyanides enter the environment through both natural and man-made sources. Natural sources include cyanogenesis by bacteria, fungi and plants. A number of cyanide catabolising microorganisms have also been reported in literature. This is the first reported instance of cyanide catabolism in Trichoderma harzianum. Four strains of T. harzianum, one of T. pseudokoningii were evaluated. An investigation was made into the occurrence and distribution of the cyanide catabolising enzymes. Three enzymes, cyanide hydratase, beta-cyanoalanine synthase and rhodanese, were studied. All the strains showed a high capacity to degrade cyanide via both the cyanide hydratase and rhodanese pathways, beta-cyanoalanine synthase activity, however, was not detected in any of the selected strains. In the studies on the kinetic characterization of the rhodanese enzyme, a broad pH optimum of 8.5 - 10.5 was obtained for all the strains and a broad temperature optimum of 35 - 55 °C was also observed. The KmCN and Vmax values ranged from 7-16 mM and from 0.069 - 0.093 betamoles. Min-1. mg protein-1, respectively, between the selected strains of Trichoderma. Strong evidence of cyanide biodegradation and co-metabolism emerged from studies with flask cultures where glucose was provided as a co-substrate. The rate of degradation of 2000 ppm CIST was enhanced almost three times in the presence of glucose. Plant microcosm studies carried out using pea and wheat seeds too gave further corroboration of the cyanide degrading and plant growth promotion capabilities of Trichoderma. Microcosms set-up with cyanide at 50 or 100 ppm CN, in the presence of Trichoderma, showed germination of both pea and wheat seeds. There was no seed germination in any of the controls in the absence of Trichoderma inoculation.


Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is generally held to infect B cells and epithelial cells, although there are now reports of EBV infection in normal T cells and neoplastic T-cell diseases. In patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, EBV is associated with the benign epithelial lesion, hairy leukoplakia, and has been reported in up to 80% of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related B-cell lymphoma. This study shows the presence of EBV in malignant oral T-cell lymphoma in three AIDS patients, two of whom had concurrent manifestation of hairy leukoplakia. The T-cell lineage of the tumor cells was determined by positive immunophenotyping for T-cell markers and lack of B-cell or nonhematopoietic (cytokeratin) determinants. All tumors contained monoclonal T-cell populations shown by polymerase chain reaction, which showed amplification of T-cell receptor gamma chain DNA without evidence of Ig heavy chain gene rearrangement. Furthermore, these lesions showed the presence of EBV DNA and expression of EBV latent gene products in the tumor cells. EBV involvement in AIDS-related T-cell lymphoma has not been widely reported and may represent a further manifestation of opportunistic EBV infection arising in the HIV-immunocompromised host.


The major objectives of this study were to identify spectral characteristics associated with rice yield and to establish their quantitative relationships. Field experiments were conducted at Shi-Ko experimental farm of TARI's Chiayi Station, during 2001 to 2005. Rice cultivar Tainung 67 (Oryza sativa L.), the major cultivar grown in Taiwan, was used in the study. Various levels of rice yield were obtained via nitrogen application treatments. Canopy reflectance spectra were measured during entire growth period and dynamic changes of characteristic spectrum were analyzed. Relationships among rice yields and characteristic spectrum were studied to establish yield estimation models suitable for remote sensing purposes. Spectrum analysis indicated that the changes of canopy reflectance spectrum were least during booting stages. Therefore, the canopy reflectance spectra during this period were selected for model development. Two multiple regression models, constituting of band ratios (NIR/RED and NIR/GRN) were then constructed to estimate rice yields for first and second crops separately. Results of the validation experiments indicated that the derived regression equations successfully predicted rice yield using canopy reflectance measured at booting stage unless other severe stresses occurred afterward.

 Key words: Rice yield, canopy reflectance, prediction model.


A novel biomass-derived magnetic nanocomposite, named BMN, was fabricated via one-step pyrolysis process. BMN exhibited excellent AsIJIII) removal capability, high adsorption capacity (16.23 mg g−1), magnetism, reusability and low cost. Importantly, when BMN was loaded onto sponges with a microporous structure, its removal of AsIJIII) from soil capability was improved. The system of BMN and sponges could efficiently remove AsIJIII) from soil and the resulting BMN/sponge/AsIJIII) complex could be easily separated from soil using a magnet. In addition, when BMN was loaded on filter paper, the system of BMN and filter paper could be conveniently used as an excellent filter layer to control migration of AsIJIII) in soil. Pot incubations indicated that BMN could increase the pH of soil and decrease the concentration of available arsenic in soil. AsIJIII) ion removal by BMN occurred via three pathways: (1) adsorption of AsIJIII) anions via electrostatic attractions, (2) oxidation of AsIJIII) to AsIJV) by reactive oxygen, and (3) immobilization of AsIJIII) and AsIJV) by iron nanoparticles. Therefore, this work provides a low-cost method for removal of AsIJIII) from soil, also promoting recovery and utilization of palm waste.


In the paper, The Global satellite position system (GPS), the geography information system (GIS) , the expert system (ES) and ontology technology are introduced. Based on technology, we design and implement an intelligent management system for the maize In JilinLin province of China .In this system, rule-based expert system is used to deal with knowledge about maize and GIS is used to deal with spatial information, while Ontology technology is used to deal with the spatial relationships. The practice shows that the use of the intelligent system can notably improve the maize planting.


The concept of networking plays an increasingly important role in the successful functioning
of organizations. Nowadays there are even network organizations that companies can join
via a membership. Although we already have some knowledge about networking, this
knowledge is often derived from quantitative studies about individual or organizational
functions of networking in separate organizations. The Dutch Council of Shopping Centers
(the NRW) therefore commissioned a qualitative study of the individual and organizational
functions of a membership of their network organization.
The study consisted of thirty face-to-face interviews with individuals from the different
disciplines that are represented within the network. These disciplines were: project
developers, retail, and government. Among the participants were 22 members and eight nonmembers
of the NRW. The non-members were all familiar with the network and attended at
least one meeting.
The interviews were based on the Critical Incident Technique (CIT). The Critical Incident
Technique was chosen to understand the specific knowledge and experiences of
participants. The Critical Incident Technique focused on events in which personal or
organizational advantages and/or disadvantages of the membership of the network
organization were experienced. Apart from the critical incidents, a number of general
questions about the network organization were asked.
The results showed that, apart from individual and organizational functions, there is also a
third category: a combination of individual and organizational functions. These functions are
beneficial for individuals and organizations. The functions of the various categories are
closely related, but there are also differences to note. The functions are explained below.
The organizational functions are knowledge functions, network functions and positioning
functions. The knowledge function for organizations consists of knowledge that organizations
gather within the network. Organizations use this knowledge as a basis for organizational
innovation. The network function for organizations consists of the entry to relations and the
expansion of their network. Organizations use relations to achieve business objectives. The
positioning function consists of the possibilities for organizations, offered by the network
organization, to be visible within the network.
The individual functions consist of knowledge and network functions. The knowledge function
of individuals consists of the personal development individuals gather by participating within
the network. Members develop new insights and skills (example: presenting, discussing)
within the network. The network encourages the development of incubators (under 35)
particularly within the network. The network organization organizes additional meetings for
them. The difference between the organizational network function and the individual network
function is the use of the network. Individuals use relations to find a job and for information
and knowledge gathering.
The individual and organizational functions consist of knowledge and network functions. The
knowledge function consists of the knowledge that members gather within the network and
that they can apply in their job performance. The network function relates to the use of
relationships to achieve job-related purposes. Through the network the lines to relations are
shorter and a staff member can switch faster. Both features ensure that an individual can
perform his duties better. When an individual performs better, the organization also performs
better.
8
The distribution of the function to the disciplines differs mainly for retailers. Retailers score
lower on the organizational knowledge function, on the individual knowledge function and on
the knowledge function of the combination category. Retailers give hereby announces that
the discussed subjects within the NRW are of little relevance to them. They feel
misunderstood by the other disciplines within the network. As a result of this there is a lack of
confidens among retailers and they are less willing to share knowledge and information
within the network. Because they have less information and knowledge exchange they
realize fewer new insights. Therefore the knowledge function is less effective for them. All
disciplines said that there is an imbalance in information and knowledge input within the
network through the disciplines. They also appointed that the knowledge is sometimes
insufficient profound.
The network provides a coordinating and facilitating role for members. They organize
meetings in which they bring members together in a network. During these meetings they
stimulate knowledge development. Therefore an active participation of the members is
relevant. Participants experience the informal setting of these meetings as positive. This
promotes the sharing of knowledge between participants and contributes to the trust that
members experience within the network. Also face-to-face contact and the physical
interactions during meetings have positive affect on experiencing trust in relationships.
Network organizations are advised to examine issues that are important for all participating
disciplines within the network. If this is not feasible, then it is better to organize general
meetings and targeted meetings. Also an equivalent information and knowledge input of the
disciplines is important. Therefore it is recommended to limit participation of members of the
various disciplines during meetings. Finally, the knowledge depth is important for members of
network organizations. Members need sufficient depth of information transmission and
knowledge sharing. The task of the network is to offer members this information depth.


The distribution of economic resources in society is a central concern for social policy. But research in this area has primarily concentrated on the bottom of the economic distribution, namely 'the poor'. In this article, we argue that it is time for social policy to move away from a narrow focus on poverty to consider the broader issue of inequality between different groups in the economic distribution and, by implication, the position of better-off citizens. This raises a number of conceptual challenges due to the current lack of consideration of wealth and inequality at a political, theoretical or empirical level. The article discusses the challenges and concludes by outlining a possible research agenda. However, the underpinning argument is that social policy needs to develop a broader understanding of the economic distribution.


Using an idealized width-averaged process-based model, the role of a mud pool on the bed and time-varying river discharge on the trapping of fine sediment is systematically investigated. For this purpose, a dynamically and physically motivated description of erodibility is presented, which relates the amount of sediment on the bed to the suspended sediment concentration (SSC). We can distinguish between two states: in the availability-limited state, the SSC is limited by the amount of erodible sediment at the bed. Over time, under constant forcing conditions, the estuary evolves to morphodynamic equilibrium. In the erosion-limited state, there is an abundant amount of sediment at the bed so that sediment pickup occurs at the maximum possible rate. The SSC is then limited by the local hydrodynamic conditions. In this state, the estuary keeps importing sediment, forming an erodible bottom pool that grows in time. These two states can be used to explain the response of an estuary to changing river discharge. Under availability-limited conditions, periods of high river discharge push estuarine turbidity maxima (ETMs) downstream, while drier periods allow ETMs to move upstream. However, when the estuary is in an erosion-limited state during low river discharge, a bottom pool is formed. When the discharge then increases, it takes time to deplete this pool, so that an ETM located over a bottom pool moves with a significant time lag relative to changes in the river discharge. Good qualitative agreement is found between model results and observations in the Scheldt Estuary of surface SSC using a representative year of discharge conditions.


This research was conducted with the aim of studying the impact of managers' leadership style on employees' creativity with considering the mediating role of organizational structure in Metal Industries of Kaveh Industrial City at 2012. The populution of the research was including 4700 employee involved in metal industries of Iranian Kaveh Industrial City and among whom, 355 people was considered as sample by using Cochran formula and sampling method of rational random classification. Data collection was carried out through questionnaires. Technical characteristic of questionnaire including reliability and validity studied by using of various criterion, for example Alpha Chronbach method used as one of the methods of reliability assessment for this research, that reliability coefficient obtained for standard questionnaires MLQ leadership style 0.81, Torrance creativity 0.84 and Robbins organizational structure 0.78. Also to test the validity of questionnaires we used content validity and construct validity. Data analysis was carried out through SPSS, Smart PLS and Lisrel software in two aspects of descriptive (frequency, frequency percentage, mean, Standard deviation) and inferential (Structural Equation Modeling, Shapiro-Wilk Test, Pearson correlation coefficient, Exploratory factor analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Simple and multi-variable linear regression). The results showed that there is a significant relationship between manager's leadership style and its dimensions with employees' creativity; there is a significant relationship between manager's leadership style and its dimensions with organizational structure; besides, there is a significant relationship between organizational structure and its dimensions with employees' creativity. Also in relationship between managers' leadership style and creativity, organizational structure variable play the role of mediator. Keywords: Leadership Style, Creativity, Organizational Structure, Metal Industrial


AgCu nanoparticles (NPs) of near-eutectic composition were
prepared by various route of wet synthesis. Nanoparticles
suspended in nonpolar solvents were prepared by solvothermal
synthesis from metallo-organic precursors. AgCu colloids in
aqueous solution were obtained by hydride reduction of Ag and
Cu nitrates under action of different stabilization substances.
The different surface stabilizing agents were used. Chemical
characterisations of as-synthesized AgCu NPs were done using
inductively-coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry
(ICP-OES). The optical properties of nanoparticles were
monitored using UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The size of colloid
nanoparticles was measured by both dynamic light scattering
(DLS) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) method in some
extra cases. Zeta potential of AgCu colloids was measured by
electrophoretic method. Size and shape of metal core of
nanoparticles and morphology of aggregates were investigated by
electron microscopy (SEM, TEM and HRTEM), the thermal
properties of AgCu nanoparticles were evaluated by differential
scanning calorimetry (DSC) and temperature controlled X-ray
diffraction method (t-XRD). Mass loss under heating inside
inert and air was monitored by thermo gravimetric analysis
(TGA). The fraction of organic matter was deduced from ICP-OES
analysis and compared to TGA mass loss. The adsorption maxima
in UV-Vis region were occurred. Hydrodynamic size of AgCu NPs
measured by DLS was compared with the metallic core size
obtained by electron microscopy. The morphologies of aggregates
were observed as well as the phase transformation (t-XRD) that
undergoes at heating to liquid temperature (DSC). The obtained
results were compared with respect to perspective use.


Developing an efficient spectrum access policy enables cognitive radios to dramatically increase spectrum utilization while assuring predetermined quality of service levels for the primary users. In this paper, modeling, performance analysis, and optimization of a distributed secondary network with random sensing order policy are studied. Specifically, the secondary users create a random order of the available channels and then find a transmission opportunity in a distributed manner. By a Markov chain analysis, the average throughputs of the secondary users and average interference level between the secondary and primary users are evaluated. Then, a maximization of the performance of the secondary network in terms of throughput while keeping under control the average interference is proposed. A simple and practical adaptive algorithm is established to optimize the network. Finally, numerical results are provided to validate the analytical derivations and demonstrate the performance of the proposed schemes. It is shown that distributed algorithms can achieve substantial performance improvements in cognitive radio networks without the need of centralized operations or management.


our centre, at between 26 to 33 weeks of gestation in order to screen for subtle fetal cerebral lesions. Gestational age was established according to crown-rump length. Fetal cerebral maturation was characterized according to gyration for gestational age in both twins. One donor presented a delay in fetal cerebral maturation at 28 weeks of gestation. This fetus had growth retardation < 3th percentile. Delayed gyration consisted of a 2 week-delay as compared to that of its co-twin. Neurological development was normal in both twins at 3, 6 and 12 months of age. In conclusion, delay in fetal brain maturation may occur in TTTS even in cases with two survivors and a normal outcome. This should be accounted for in the follow-up of these cases.


Motivated by a problem of transmitting supplemental data over broadcast channels (Birk and Kol, INFOCOM 1998), we study the following coding problem: a sender communicates with n receivers R1,..., Rn. He holds an input x ∈ {0,01l}n and wishes to broadcast a single message so that each receiver Ri can recover the bit xi. Each Ri has prior side information about x, induced by a directed graph Grain nodes; Ri knows the bits of a; in the positions {j | (i,j) is an edge of G}.G is known to the sender and to the receivers. We call encoding schemes that achieve this goal INDEXcodes for {0,1}n with side information graph G. In this paper we identify a measure on graphs, the minrank, which exactly characterizes the minimum length of linear and certain types of nonlinear INDEX codes. We show that for natural classes of side information graphs, including directed acyclic graphs, perfect graphs, odd holes, and odd anti-holes, minrank is the optimal length of arbitrary INDEX codes. For arbitrary INDEX codes and arbitrary graphs, we obtain a lower bound in terms of the size of the maximum acyclic induced subgraph. This bound holds even for randomized codes, but has been shown not to be tight.


Thermal control elements, i.e., thermal diodes, switches, and regulators, can control the heat flow in an analogous way in how electronic devices control electrical currents. In particular, a thermal diode allows a larger heat flux in one direction than in the other. This has aroused the interest of researchers working on the thermal management of electronics, refrigeration, and energy conversion. Solid-state thermal diodes are attractive because they are silent, reliable, lightweight, and durable. While some solid-state thermal diodes have been developed at the nano- and microscale, the leap to the macroscale has yet to be made. A macroscale thermal diode would play a crucial role in the future development of applications related to caloric refrigeration and heat pumping. Additionally, the temperature changes of caloric materials (due to the caloric effect) are ideal for testing these thermal devices. This paper aims to numerically evaluate the influence of a macroscopic solid-state thermal diode in a magnetocaloric refrigeration device under transient and quasi-steady-state conditions. Materials with different temperature-dependent properties were analyzed, and the most promising ones were selected for the operating range of a magnetocaloric device (290–296 K). The highest achieved magnetocaloric thermal rectification ratio under transient conditions was up to 295-times higher than with quasi-steady-state operation. This shows that transient operation should be considered for future progress with this technology.


Nowadays, gathering accurate and meaningful information about the urban environment with the maximum efficiency in terms of cost and time has become more relevant for city administrations, as this information is essential if the sustainability or the resilience of the urban structure has to be improved. This work presents a methodology for the automatic parametrization and characterization of different urban typologies, for the specific case study of Santiago de Compostela (Spain), using data from Aerial Laser Scanners (ALS). This methodology consists of a number of sequential processes of point cloud data, using exclusively their geometric coordinates. Three of the main elements of the urban structure are assessed in this work: intersections, building blocks, and streets. Different geometric and contextual metrics are automatically extracted for each of the elements, defining the urban typology of the studied area. The accuracy of the measurements is validated against a manual reference, obtaining average errors of less than 3%, proving that the input data is valid for this assessment.


The lively debate regarding the surgical treatment options of mitral valve regurgitation continues and remains dynamic. This is likely due to the prevalence of degenerative mitral valve disease, not just in the United States, but all around the world. With the emergence of the concept of the mitral valve "Centers of Excellence" and newer and ever-evolving repair techniques, mitral valve repair has far surpassed replacement in popularity. Because of the observed superiority of mitral valve repair—both anecdotally and by multiple large studies that have recently emerged (1-3)—we are witnessing a paradigm shift in which mitral valve repair is preferred over replacement. This is reflected in the latest guidelines, in which repair is strongly recommended as the preferred surgical intervention for severe degenerative mitral regurgitation by both the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology and European Society of Cardiology (4,5).


Changes in vegetation and soil properties following permafrost degradation and thermokarst development in peatlands may cause changes in net carbon storage. To better understand these dynamics, we established three sites in Alaska that vary in permafrost regime, including a black spruce peat plateau forest with stable permafrost, an internal collapse scar bog formed as a result of thermokarst, and a rich fen without permafrost. Measurements include year‐round eddy covariance estimates of carbon dioxide (CO2), water, and energy fluxes, associated environmental variables, and methane (CH4) fluxes at the collapse scar bog. The ecosystems all acted as net sinks of CO2 in 2011 and 2012, when air temperature and precipitation remained near long‐term means. In 2013, under a late snowmelt and late leaf out followed by a hot, dry summer, the permafrost forest and collapse scar bog were sources of CO2. In this same year, CO2 uptake in the fen increased, largely because summer inundation from groundwater inputs suppressed ecosystem respiration. CO2 exchange in the permafrost forest and collapse scar bog was sensitive to warm air temperatures, with 0.5 g C m−2 lost each day when maximum air temperature was very warm (≥29°C). The bog lost 4981 ± 300 mg CH4 m−2 between April and September 2013, indicating that this ecosystem acted as a significant source of both CO2 and CH4 to the atmosphere in 2013. These results suggest that boreal peatland responses to warming and drying, both of which are expected to occur in a changing climate, will depend on permafrost regime.


The contents of total polyribosomes and the ratio of free to membrano-bound polyribosomes as well as the number of poly(A)-containing RNA in cytoplasm and in two classes of polyribosomes of the liver were studied in rats chronically treated with diethylnitrosamine. A decrease in the number of total polyribosomes and changes in the ratio of free to membrane-bound polyribosomes toward a decrease of the latter were found within the whole period of carcinogenesis. The absolute amount of the free polyribosomes per 1 gr of the liver tissue did not differ significantly from the normal values but the number of the membrane-bound polyribosomes in the treated animals was 2-2,5 times as low. The amount of poly(A)-containing RNA in the postmitochondrial fraction increased and decreased in free polyribosomes. A redistribution of the templates by free and membrane-bound polyribosomes in cytoplasm of the hepatocytes during hepatocarcinogenesis due to the disturbances in the equilibrium between these two classes of polyribosomes is suggested.


Historical tectonism and climate oscillations can isolate and contract the geographical distributions of many plant species, and they are even known to trigger species divergence and ultimately speciation. Here, we estimated the nucleotide variation and speciation in three closely related Populus species, Populus tremuloides, P. tremula and P. davidiana, distributed in North America and Eurasia. We analysed the sequence variation in six single‐copy nuclear loci and three chloroplast (cpDNA) fragments in 497 individuals sampled from 33 populations of these three species across their geographic distributions. These three Populus species harboured relatively high levels of nucleotide diversity and showed high levels of nucleotide differentiation. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that P. tremuloides diverged earlier than the other two species. The cpDNA haplotype network result clearly illustrated the dispersal route from North America to eastern Asia and then into Europe. Molecular dating results confirmed that the divergence of these three species coincided with the sundering of the Bering land bridge in the late Miocene and a rapid uplift of the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau around the Miocene/Pliocene boundary. Vicariance‐driven successful allopatric speciation resulting from historical tectonism and climate oscillations most likely played roles in the formation of the disjunct distributions and divergence of these three Populus species.


Muscle fatigue has been thought to be one of the causes of pain associated with temporomandibular disorders. A multitude of variables could contribute to neuromuscular fatigue when a subject attempts to sustain a given force. In studies of jaw muscles the endurance limit has been related to a failure in electrical conductivity (transmission fatigue), an increasing imbalance in the intracellular contents of muscle fibers (contraction fatigue), and the onset of pain. This review describes the principles that underlie fatigue and the results of studies of jaw muscle fatigue. Attempts are made to explain why various studies may have produced different results.


BACKGROUND
 There is growing interest in identifying and recruiting research participants from health systems using electronic health records (EHRs). However, few studies have described the practical aspects of the recruitment process or compared electronic recruitment methods to in-person recruitment, particularly across health systems.

 OBJECTIVE
 The objective of this study was to describe the steps and efficiency of the recruitment process and participant characteristics by recruitment strategy.

 METHODS
 EHR-based eligibility criteria included being an adult patient engaged in outpatient primary or bariatric surgery care at one of 5 health systems in the PaTH Clinical Research Network and having ≥2 weight measurements and 1 height measurement recorded in their EHR within the last 5 years. Recruitment strategies varied by site and included one or more of the following methods: (1) in-person recruitment by study staff from clinical sites, (2) US postal mail recruitment letters, (3) secure email, and (4) direct EHR recruitment through secure patient web portals. We used descriptive statistics to evaluate participant characteristics and proportion of patients recruited (ie, efficiency) by modality.

 RESULTS
 The total number of eligible patients from the 5 health systems was 5,051,187. Of these, 40,048 (0.8%) were invited to enter an EHR-based cohort study and 1085 were enrolled. Recruitment efficiency was highest for in-person recruitment (33.5%), followed by electronic messaging (2.9%), including email (2.9%) and EHR patient portal messages (2.9%). Overall, 779 (65.7%) patients were enrolled through electronic messaging, which also showed greater rates of recruitment of Black patients compared with the other strategies.

 CONCLUSIONS
 We recruited a total of 1085 patients from primary care and bariatric surgery settings using 4 recruitment strategies. The recruitment efficiency was 2.9% for email and EHR patient portals, with the majority of participants recruited electronically. This study can inform the design of future research studies using EHR-based recruitment.


For many, the self-evident use of the car blends out other possible mobilities. We seek a way to unfold the future by questioning other ways of moving around and living. In order to do so, we consider automobility as a problem to which solutions can be found by co-projecting into the future, together with Swiss residents. Our method consists in interviews conducted under the hypothesis of a replacement of the car. We propose a series of images: car-less lives, models of spaces, and a plurality of paths towards mobility after the car.


False memories: Young and Older adults think of semantic associates at the same rate but young adults are more successful at source monitoring. Abstract Two experiments explored whether the higher vulnerability to false memories in the DRM (Deese, 1959; Roediger & McDermott, 1995) paradigm in older compared to young adults reflects a deficit in source monitoring. In both experiments, adding together the number of falsely recalled critical lures and the number of critical lures produced on a post-recall test asking participants to report items that they had thought of but did not recall indicated that the critical lures were activated during the experiment equally often in young and older adults. However, older adults were more likely than young adults to say that they had actually heard the lures. When strongly encouraged to examine the origin of memories (Experiment 2), the warning substantially reduced false recall in young but not older adults. These results are consistent with the idea that older adults have more difficulty later identifying the source of information that was activated as a consequence of intact semantic activation processes.


Cloud-based applications such as Google Docs, Skype, Dropbox, and SugarSync are revolutionizing the way that we interact with the world. Members of the millennial generation (those born after 1980) are now becoming senior residents and junior attending physicians. We describe a novel technique combining Internet- and cloud-based methods to digitally augment the classic study group used by final-year residents studying for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada examination. This material was developed by residents and improved over the course of 18 months. This is an innovation report about a process for enhanced communication and collaboration as there has been little research to date regarding the augmentation of learner-driven initiatives with virtual resources.


The last decade has seen rapid developments in the field of biological therapy for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Understanding the immunopathogenesis of IBD has led to identification of distinct immunological targets. Such targeted therapy with antitumour necrosis factor (TNF) monoclonal antibodies is now in widespread use for both Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). Beyond this, therapies with other anticytokines are in various stages of development, including antibodies against interleukin 6 (IL6), IL12/23 and interferon γ (IFNγ).

The rationale for targeting these cytokines is largely derived from observations regarding the cytokine profile in intestinal tissues from patients with generally long-standing IBD, and from experiments utilising animal models of the disease. Analysis of the mucosal T cell phenotype had until recently largely supported the concept of CD as a Th1 disease, driven by IL12 and characterised by the production of the signature cytokine, IFNγ, and UC as an atypical Th2 disease characterised by production of cytokines such as IL13. More recently, the discovery of the Th17 lineage, driven by IL23 (as well as IL6 and transforming growth factor β) and characterised by IL17 production has led to a re-evaluation, and the realisation that a number of inflammatory conditions in which Th1 was previously considered central, may actually be Th17 dependent. Amongst these are several experimental models of colitis, and there is emerging evidence of CD as a Th17 disease. To add to the complexity, in contrast to mice, in humans a significant proportion of Th17 cells also secrete IFNγ, thus displaying a mixed Th17/Th1 cytokine phenotype, particularly in the gut.1 Furthermore, a number of observations regarding Th17 cells challenge our concepts of terminal T cell lineage commitment, with the demonstration that regulatory T cells can differentiate into inflammatory Th17 cells.2 A number of …


Clustered interval‐censored survival data are often encountered in clinical and epidemiological studies due to geographic exposures and periodic visits of patients. When a nonnegligible cured proportion exists in the population, several authors in recent years have proposed to use mixture cure models incorporating random effects or frailties to analyze such complex data. However, the implementation of the mixture cure modeling approaches may be cumbersome. Interest then lies in determining whether or not it is necessary to adjust the cured proportion prior to the mixture cure analysis. This paper mainly focuses on the development of a score for testing the presence of cured subjects in clustered and interval‐censored survival data. Through simulation, we evaluate the sampling distribution and power behaviour of the score test. A bootstrap approach is further developed, leading to more accurate significance levels and greater power in small sample situations. We illustrate applications of the test using data sets from a smoking cessation study and a retrospective study of early breast cancer patients.


Using the theory of axiomatic design, the optimization method of high speed milling cutter was investigated, and the optimization designs of teeth distribution and dynamic balancing were created by means of function decomposition and grey cluster analysis. Results showed that the method solved effectively the problem of parameters interaction and functions coupling in optimization design of cutter, the effects of simplifying design process and improving collaborative design were validated in development of cutter. Experiments indicated that the vibration in high speed machining aluminum alloy was depressed, the cutter held higher cutting stability, and its cutting performance met the optimization design requirement of high speed milling cutter.


IntroductionChildren who have been maltreated during early childhood may experience a difficult transition into schooling, due to maladaptive development of the abilities that are important for positive school adaptation. An understanding of how different dimensions of maltreatment relate to children's school readiness is important for informing appropriate supports for maltreated
Objectives and ApproachIn this study, the Australian Early Development Census scores of 19,203 children were linked to information on child maltreatment allegations (substantiated and unsubstantiated), including the type of alleged maltreatment, the timing of the allegation (infancy-toddlerhood or preschool), and the total number of allegations (chronicity).
ResultsChildren with a maltreatment allegation had increased odds of poor school readiness in cognitive and non-cognitive domains. Substantiated maltreatment was associated with poor social and emotional development in children, regardless of maltreatment type, timing, or chronicity. For children with unsubstantiated maltreatment allegations, developmental outcomes according to the type of alleged maltreatment were more heterogeneous; however, these children were also at risk of poor school readiness irrespective of the timing and/or chronicity of the alleged maltreatment.
Conclusion/ImplicationsThe findings suggest that all children with maltreatment allegations are at risk for poor school readiness; these children may benefit from additional support to increase the chance of a successful school transition. Interventions should commence prior to the start of school to mitigate early developmental difficulties.


In a study of 28 ventilated patients in the ICU, cimetidine was ineffective in maintaining gastric pH above 4. Quantitative and qualitative bacteriological examination of daily gastric aspirates showed that when the pH was above 4, there was rapid colonization with high counts of organisms, predominantly coliforms. Progressive colonization by yeasts, independent of pH, was noted in nearly one-half of the patients. Gastric colonization has possible implications in terms of crossinfection of development of aspiration pneumonia. As these are seriously ill patients with compromised gastrointestinal (GI) barriers and decreased immunity, the large numbers of bacteria or their endotoxins may contribute to the high incidence of septicemia.


With the development of Internet techniques, data volumes are doubling every two years, faster than predicted by Moore's Law. Big Data Analytics becomes particularly important for enterprise business. Modern computational technologies will provide effective tools to help understand hugely accumulated data and leverage this information to get insights into the finance industry. In order to get actionable insights into the business, data has become most valuable asset of financial organisations, as there are no physical products in finance industry to manufacture. This is where data mining techniques come to their rescue by allowing access to the right information at the right time. These techniques are used by the finance industry in various areas such as fraud detection, intelligent forecasting, credit rating, loan management, customer profiling, money laundering, marketing and prediction of price movements to name a few. This work aims to survey the research on data mining techniques applied to the finance industry from 2010 to 2015.The review finds that Stock prediction and Credit rating have received most attention of researchers, compared to Loan prediction, Money Laundering and Time Series prediction. Due to the dynamics, uncertainty and variety of data, nonlinear mapping techniques have been deeply studied than linear techniques. Also it has been proved that hybrid methods are more accurate in prediction, closely followed by Neural Network technique. This survey could provide a clue of applications of data mining techniques for finance industry, and a summary of methodologies for researchers in this area. Especially, it could provide a good vision of Data Mining Techniques in computational finance for beginners who want to work in the field of computational finance. KeywordsData mining, Computational finance, Credit rating, Loan prediction, Money laundering, Stocks prediction.


This research focuses on designing an indoor navigation application for disabled users. Outdoor navigation systems make use of GPS satellites to locate users; this same technique, however, is not reliable enough for indoor way-finding. Indoor Positioning Systems (IPS) exist but rely on complex and expensive networks. Described here is a new approach towards such indoor navigation, reporting on research related to the interactions and user experiences involved in locating a user within a building. Interactions are customized to suit the needs of individual users when way-finding helping to ensure that the tool is both usable and accessible by users of varying abilities.


Due to outstanding properties, the lead perovskites exhibit great potentials in optoelectronic applications, while still facing serious issues due to its high toxicity and instability. This necessitates the development of environmental-friendly lead-free double perovskites nanocrystals with low toxicity and tunable desired properties via size-control. In this review, we present the synthesis routines of lead-free perovskite nanocrystals, followed by detailed discussion of common characterization techniques and potential applications. This work is aimed for providing more insights in the property-tuning and synthesis of high-quality nano-size lead-free perovskites.


Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, is bedevilled with various conflicts which have been exacerbated by the multiplicity and diversity which characterize the nation. The country is a multi-ethnic, multicultural, multiregional and multi-religious society. And while such arrays of features are not peculiar to Nigeria, managing them has greatly propped up various conflicts, with religious conflict emerging as one of the most devastating of all. It would appear as though, more than any other single issue, religious conflict has become a threat to national cohesion, stability and development. It has led to fears, suspicions, unrest; mass displacement of people, destruction of lives and property; consequently leading to major set-backs for nation building. The three main religions of Nigeria are the Indigenous Religions, Islam and  Christianity, with Islam and Christianity having almost equal strength of adherence.  While the indigenous religions have generally been tolerant and accommodating of the two "guest" religions, contestations and incessant violent clashes have characterized the relationship between Muslims and Christians, particularly in Northern Nigeria, and this has been on the increase in frequency, intensity and sophistication. This situation has led to the emergence and deployment of numerous approaches towards transforming conflicts in order to ensure peaceful co-existence of all the people. The task of this thesis is to contribute practical, theological reflections to the ongoing search for how Nigeria will end the undesired religious conflict between Muslims and Christians and build a peaceful and harmonious society. To do this, John Paul Lederach's conceptual framework for conflict transformation was adopted and explained in chapter one; and two religious conflicts which took place in the Northern Nigerian cities of Jos and Maduguri were empirically investigated through intensive fieldwork. A review of relevant literature was carried out in chapter two and an elaborate explanation of the socio-scientific and theological methodologies adopted for the research was presented in the third chapter. In order to establish the causes, manifestations and consequences of the conflicts, chapter four and five explored their remote and root causes. Because this research is grounded on the assumption that religion is not just a source of conflict, but a resource for peace, and on the contribution of faiths to contemporary public debates, it provides a new approach which challenges the religious institutions, particularly the Church, through its pastoral ministry, to become actively involved in  the transformation of conflict in the nation. The research holds that the greatest  contribution of religion to the quest to transform religious conflict in Nigeria is through a practical theology which should be demonstrated in both spirituality and strategy. As such, and based on empirical findings from the zones of conflict, a theology of hospitality is suggested in chapter six, as a gradual but effective method of transforming relationships between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria. While the approach does not preclude other approaches, it offers the enormous resources, possibilities and opportunities, ingrained within the religious domain for conflict transformation in contemporary Nigerian society. The strategies for achieving the desired transformation of the situation of conflict on short and long-term basis through the theology of hospitality are suggested in the seventh chapter. URI http://hdl.handle.net/1842/5464 Collections Divinity thesis and dissertation collection Privacy & Cookies Takedown Policy Accessibility Contact Towards a theology of conflict transformation: a study of religious conflict in contemporary Nigerian society


This study addresses the debate about whether adult language learners have access to the principles and parameters of universal grammar in constructing the grammar of a second language. The data are based on two related experiments. The first examines the interpretation of English reflexive pronouns by native speakers of Japanese and of Spanish. The second experiment examines the interpretation of the Japanese reflexive zibun by native speakers of English and of Chinese.
Three hypotheses are evaluated: (a) that UG is unavailable, and that processing strategies or other non-linguistic principles guide second language acquisition; (b) that UG is available only in the form in which it is instantiated in the learner's native language; (c) that UG is fully available, including the ability to re-set parameters to UG-sanctioned values not instantiated in the learner's native language.
The results show that learners observe constraints defined by Manzini and Wexler's parameterized version of Principle A of the binding theory and support the proposal that adult learners have access to universal grammar. A final chapter reviews the experimental data in the light of recent accounts of cross-linguistic variation in the grammar of anaphors which reject parameterization of the binding principles in favor of a "movement to INFL" analysis.


Tycoons and politicians are the main players of tourism in most parts of the world, and they often use tourism as a tool for gaining economic and political power, and creating a positive, albeit propagandized, image of their country. The paper is based on a positive example of an approved project by the Government of Vojvodina Secretariat for Science and Technological Development. The main goal of this paper is to show whether the local residents are familiar with the project and how much they know about project, and what is their opinion about the impact which this project or other similar projects have on the observed area (Fruska Gora Mountain – Serbia). The conclusion is that there is a direct positive relationship between residents' perceptions of the benefits of tourism and their political support. The method survey was conducted on a random sample of the residents of seven local settlements (the sample of 249 participants). The data were processed with the SPSS program (version 17.0). Chi-square test is used to determine the frequency of specific deviations.


Until recently influenza vaccines have always been administered by deep subcutaneous or intramuscular injection. They provoke the appearance of antibodies in the blood against both the haemagglutinins and the neuraminidases of the viruses they contain. On the whole, the protection they afford is related to the titres of these antibodies in the blood. However, the mechanism of immunity against influenza is complex and some workers have suggested that local antibodies in the nose and upper respiratory tract (IgA) are more effective in protection than those circulating in the blood (mostly IgG). These antibodies have been claimed to be more effectively elicited by a vaccine administered as a fine intranasal spray instead of being injected. A nasal spray would avoid the risk of a sore arm.


In this article, we consider a higher-order numerical scheme for the fractional heat equation with Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions. By using a fourth-order compact finite-difference scheme for the spatial variable, we transform the fractional heat equation into a system of ordinary fractional differential equations which can be expressed in integral form. Further, the integral equation is transformed into a difference equation by a modified trapezoidal rule. Numerical results are provided to verify the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed algorithm.


Currently, clinical trials with programmed death-1 (PD-1) inhibitors exclude patients with preexisting autoimmune disorders such as Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS). Therefore, the scientific literature has limited information about the efficacy and safety of PD-1 inhibitors in cancer patients with autoimmune disorders. Immune checkpoint inhibitors can exacerbate preexisting autoimmune disorders and can induce severe immune-related adverse events. Here, we report the case of a 73-year-old female patient with history of GBS and mismatch repair deficient metastatic colorectal cancer who achieved a durable complete response to pembrolizumab. The patient was maintained on intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) during her treatment without any neurological exacerbations. This case highlights the feasibility of PD-1 inhibitors in select patients with neurological autoimmune disorders and calls for more systematic evaluation of checkpoint inhibitors in patients with cancer and GBS, especially with the known link between this disorder and malignancy.


A supermassive black hole (SMBH) ejected from the potential well of its host galaxy via gravitational wave recoil carries important information about the mass ratio and spin alignment of the pre-merger SMBH binary. Such a recoiling SMBH may be detectable as an active galactic nucleus (AGN) broad line region offset by up to 10\,kpc from a disturbed host galaxy. We describe a novel methodology using forward modeling with \texttt{The Tractor} to search for such offset AGN in a sample of 5493 optically variable AGN detected with the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). We present the discovery of 9 AGN which may be spatially offset from their host galaxies and are candidates for recoiling SMBHs. Five of these offset AGN exhibit double-peaked broad Balmer emission from an unobscured accretion disk and four show radio emission indicative of a relativistic jet. The fraction of double-peaked emitters in our spatially offset AGN sample is significantly larger than the 16\% double-peaked emitter fraction observed for ZTF AGN overall. In our sample of variable AGN we also identified 52 merging galaxies, including a new spectroscopically confirmed dual AGN. Finally, we detected the dramatic rebrightening of SDSS1133, a previously discovered variable object and recoiling SMBH candidate, in ZTF. The flare was accompanied by the re-emergence of strong P-Cygni line features indicating it likely is an outbursting luminous blue variable star.


Drawing on 70 interviews with humanitarians, members of governments, and civil society organisations, including refugee-led organisations, from major refugee-hosting countries in 2020 and 2021, this article explores the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on humanitarian localisation and international refugee commitments, notably the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR). It highlights the work and widening recognition of refugee-led organisations during the pandemic, examining how they could be more prominent within the broader localisation agenda and ways in which the GCR and accompanying Global Refugee Forum may have contributed to some of their greater recognition today. Informant perspectives are shared on challenges to localisation wrought by the pandemic, including limited time, lack of communication with beneficiaries, and constrained budgets, and recommendations are presented on how to further refugee leadership and localisation in the ongoing context of Covid-19.


This article explores the complex relationship between disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of ex-combatants (DDR) and transitional justice. While both DDR and transitional justice often operate simultaneously, neither process has traditionally been designed with the other in mind. In fact, they are often in tension or competition, pursuing competing demands and potentially drawing on the same scarce donor pools. While scholars and practitioners of transitional justice have become somewhat attuned to the presence of DDR processes in countries emerging from conflict, and the challenges and opportunities they present for transitional justice, we observe that by comparison, it is only fairly recently that DDR policies, if not programmes, have begun to take account of the demands and practice of transitional justice. We argue that while the activities of DDR and transitional justice may often be in tension, in some instances they might be designed to operate in a more complementary fashion. However, for this to even be conceivable, it is essential that scholars and practitioners of each seek to understand the work of the other better.


"American exceptionalism" has been used to reference the United States' outlier policies in various contexts, including its love for litigation. Despite Americans' reverence for their "day in court," their zest for contractual freedom and efficiency has prevailed to result in U.S. courts' strict enforcement of arbitration provisions in both business-to-business ("B2B") and business-to-consumer ("B2C") contracts. This is exceptional because although most of the world joins the United States in generally enforcing B2B arbitration under the New York Convention, many other countries refuse or strictly limit arbitration enforcement in B2C relationships due to concerns regarding power imbalances and public enforcement of consumer protections. The resulting clash in arbitration policy has left consumers in cross-border cases uncertain whether they must abide by arbitration clauses in an increasingly global marketplace.


Linguists are able to describe, transcribe, and classify the differences and similarities between accents formally and precisely, but there has until very recently been no reliable and objective way of measuring degrees of difference. It is one thing to say how varieties are similar, but quite another to assess how similar they are. On the other hand, there has recently been a strong focus in historical linguistics on the development of quantitative methods for comparing and classifying languages; but these have tended to be applied to problems of language family membership, at rather high levels in the family tree, not down at the level of individual accents. In this article, we outline our attempts to address the question of relative similarity of accents using quantitative methods. We illustrate our method for measuring phonetic similarity in a sample of cognate words for a number of (mainly British) varieties of English, and show how these results can be displayed using newer and more innovative network diagrams, rather than trees. We consider some applications of these methods in tracking ongoing changes in English and beyond, and discuss future prospects.


Six-layered W-TiC/Cu functionally graded materials were fabricated by resistance sintering under ultra-high pressure and exposed in the edge plasma of HT-7 tokamak.Microstructure morphologies show that the TiC particles distribute homogeneously in the W matrix,strengthening the grain boundary,while gradient layers provide a good compositional transition from W-TiC to Cu.After about 360 shots in the HT-7 tokamak,clear surface modification can be observed after plasma exposure,and the addition of nano TiC particles is beneficial to the improvement of plasma loads resistance of W.


In light of a recent paper, we review, and reassess, the validity of the pachycephalosaurid dinosaur Stegoceras novomexicanum (Dinosauria: Ornithischia: Pachycephalosauridae). Specimens that are referred to Stegoceras novomexicanum are all late Campanian (early Kirtlandian) in age and are not only from a restricted stratigraphic horizon at the Fruitland/Kirtland transition, but also from a small geographic area of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico. While some of the characters initially used in diagnosing this taxon may be representative of an earlier (sub-adult) ontogenetic stage, such as the reduction of the size of the posteromedial extension of the parietal and the size of the supratemporal fenestrae, several other characters confirm its validity. These include the shape of the posteromedial extension of the parietal, the relative position of the supratemporal fenestrae, the shape and degree of inflation of the nasal boss, morphology of the prefrontal-frontal suture, curvature of the frontal-parietal suture, and its relative overall size and gracile form relative to the type (lectotype) of Stegoceras validum from the Judithian of Alberta, Canada. Although the holotype of Stegoceras novomexicanum may represent a sub-adult individual, it also possesses some diagnostic features that are indicative of an adult. This combination of features may indicate heterochrony for Stegoceras novomexicanum within the Pachycephalosauridae. Recently recovered small-bodied, high-domed pachycephalosaurid specimens from the Fruitland-Kirtland transition further support our interpretation that this taxon represents a distinct, small-bodied adult pachycephalosaurid in New Mexico. The previously described paratypes, and newly collected specimens, are conservatively assigned to cf. Stegoceras novomexicanum, as all this material comes from a very restricted stratigraphic interval and geographic area.


Dynamic (4D) PET imaging is a routinely used technique applied in clinical studies, and is now also finding application for high resolution animal PET systems. The usual method of implementing the image reconstruction involves separating the acquired data out into lower-count discrete time frames, resulting in increased image noise. This paper presents two further developments for one-pass 4D list-mode expectation-maximization (EM) reconstruction, which has already demonstrated enhanced reconstruction quality for image sequences compared to conventional strategies, as well as significantly reducing reconstruction time. The technique, which is an extension of one-pass 3D list-mode EM, filters a previously reconstructed frame, which is then used as a starting image for the following frame, thus including prior object information. A new approach to postreconstruction smoothing is also proposed, which in some cases is able to reduce noise without loss of resolution. Using measured quadHIDAC data from a moving point source and a specially designed liquid flow experiment, and a rat scan, the two approaches are compared to the uniform image initialization method in terms of spatial and temporal resolution, noise, and accuracy of time-activity curves. Preliminary results, using resolution recovery, indicate the potential of achieving ultrahigh spatial resolution with good temporal resolution, arising from improving the use of otherwise wasted prior information.


Consumers face many options that are presented to them as bargains, but in reality, they only subjectively construe a fraction of them as valuable. The authors propose that consumers are particularly attracted to offers they perceive as more valuable than the marketer presumably intended. Consistent with this analysis, six experiments indicate that consumers may perceive customized offers that are presented as tailored to their individual preferences or circumstances as less valuable than offers that seem to fit their preferences and provide value without the marketer's explicit intent. The experiments also suggest that the urge to exploit unintended value reflects a competitive desire to outsmart the market. The findings have theoretical implications for understanding consumers' subjective perceptions of value as well as important practical implications for designing customized offers and targeted promotions.


Nowadays, the concept of personalized therapy gains momentum. Pharmacogenomics, which represents a first answer to these needs, has the drawback of neglecting some variations of therapy response due to non-genetic factors. The aim of this paper is to investigate the feasibility of a non-genetic approach to personalized therapy, via the point-of-care drug monitoring in biological fluids with electrochemical biosensors. The proposed biosensor is based on the use of P450 enzymes as probe molecules, thanks to their key role in human metabolism. Multiwalled carbon nanotubes are used to enhance biosensor sensitivity. Results show how the proposed system is capable to detect drug amounts within the corresponding pharmacological ranges in human serum.


This article examines the impact of information asymmetry on the movement of London–Antwerp exchange rates against the backdrop of the Great Debasement of 1544–51. The case of the revaluation of gold coins in the Habsburg Netherlands in 1539, about which the sovereign and the public possessed similar information, is used as the benchmark to judge how far the speed of adjustment was affected by information asymmetry. This article is also part of the recent literature that estimates the degree of financial market integration in late medieval and early modern Europe. In the framework of the threshold autoregressive model, the speed of adjustment and the transaction costs associated with arbitrage are estimated, and the results are judged using the speed of communication as a benchmark since the flow of information played a critical role in financial arbitrage. The results reveal that the sixteenth-century London–Antwerp exchange markets were already as integrated as that during the late nineteenth century, but information asymmetry severely disturbed the effectiveness of exchange arbitrage.


Recent work on multilingual AMR-to-text generation has exclusively focused on data augmentation strategies that utilize silver AMR. However, this assumes a high quality of generated AMRs, potentially limiting the transferability to the target task. In this paper, we investigate different techniques for automatically generating AMR annotations, where we aim to study which source of information yields better multilingual results. Our models trained on gold AMR with silver (machine translated) sentences outperform approaches which leverage generated silver AMR. We find that combining both complementary sources of information further improves multilingual AMR-to-text generation. Our models surpass the previous state of the art for German, Italian, Spanish, and Chinese by a large margin.


Impervious surfaces negatively impact physical and chemical aspects of waterways. Buncombe County, NC has experienced urban growth in recent years and is expected to expand in the foreseeable future. The upper French Broad River (UFBR) watershed (which contains this county) and 14 of its subwatersheds were assessed for threats of water quality impairment based on the extent and rate of expansion of impervious cover in 2006, and the water quality of these systems was projected for 2030. With the use of ArcGIS mapping software, percent impervious groundcover was calculated. It was determined that, by the year 2030, Mud Creek would become degraded and that Hominy Creek, Swannanoa River and UFBR as a whole would become impaired due to the impervious surface cover, which will increase runoff, erosion and nonpoint pollution, harming the aquatic organisms. Further research using data over multiple years, perhaps also examining landuse history, is required to determine if the findings have significance. Management practices to increase forest cover and environmentally friendly urban development planning may help improve impaired streams and prevent environmental degradation in the future. Impervious cover is just one of many aspects of water quality that must be analyzed to determine the health of the whole watershed and could be useful for formulating restoration and preservation strategies.


MCNPX (Monte Carlo N‐Particle eXtended) is a general‐purpose Monte Carlo radiation transport code with three‐dimensional geometry and continuous‐energy transport of 34 particles and light ions. It contains flexible source and tally options, interactive graphics, and support for both sequential and multi‐processing computer platforms. MCNPX is based on MCNP4c and has been upgraded to most MCNP5 capabilities. MCNP is a highly stable code tracking neutrons,
photons and electrons, and using evaluated nuclear data libraries for low‐energy interaction probabilities. MCNPX has extended this base to a comprehensive set of particles and light ions, with heavy ion transport in development. Models have been included to calculate interaction probabilities when libraries are not available. Recent additions focus on the time evolution of residual nuclei decay, allowing calculation of transmutation and delayed particle emission. MCNPX is now a code of great dynamic range, and the excellent neutronics capabilities allow new opportunities to simulate devices of interest to experimental particle physics, particularly calorimetry. This paper describes the capabilities of the current MCNPX version 2.6.C, and also discusses ongoing code development.


Objectives: To investigate the contribute of sonographic followup in the clinical management of incidental unilocular >5 cm and multilocular ovarian cysts 5 cm and multilocular ovarian cysts ( 50%) and/or sonographic parameters. Demographic, sonographic and pathologic data were recorded. Results: Median age (IR) was 70 years (61–75). Median years after menopause (IR) were 23 (12–27). Mean BMI (±SD) was 27 kg/m2 ±5. Mean parity (±SD) was 2 ± 1. 5 women reported bilateral cysts. 39 cysts were unilocular, 28 multilocular. Median cyst diameter (IR) of unilocular and multilocular ovarian cysts was 55 mm (50–62) and 42 mm (30–57), respectively. The median follow-up period was 24 months (11–46). Surgery was performed in 9 cases: 2 dropout and 7 volume changes. No malignant lesions were reported at histology. Conclusions: Sonographic follow-up might be a useful option in the clinical management of incidental unilocular >5 cm and multilocular ovarian cysts <7 cm in post-menopausal women. Larger and longer multicentres studies with strict sonographic parameters are needed to support this potentially safe conservative management.


A formative evaluation of life‐skills learning modules with men and women in a residential prisoner reentry program where careful attention was given to voice, power, and engagement, is described and analyzed. The author reflects on the evaluation process through the critical theory lens of "being self‐critical can illuminate how practices maintain oppressive conditions." Questions about whose voices remained dominant and whose power was suppressed are discussed. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc., and the American Evaluation Association.


Is 'development' a concept that properly belongs to mind and morality and, if it does, what account can we give of moral development now that Piagetian and Kohlbergian models are increasingly being abandoned in developmental psychology? In addressing this central issue, it is hoped that the paper will contribute to the quest for a new integrated model of moral functioning, called for in the September 2008 Special Issue of the Journal of Moral Education (37[3]). Our paper argues that the notion of moral development is fully justified, though it does not occur via invariant stages. Rather, each child is an emergent self‐organising organism in which development is highly variable, dynamic and often non‐linear. By viewing each child as a self‐organising being and adopting the notion that moral development is dynamic and emergent from the predilection to value, the paper points towards a new account of moral development that opens up new avenues for educational research and moral education in schools.


The incidence and risk factors of chlorpropamide-induced hyponatremia were assessed in diabetic outpatients. In 176 chlorpropamide-treated patients, 11 (6.3%) exhibited hyponatremia (serum sodium ≤ 129 meq/L) during the mean follow-up period of 7.4 yr. In contrast, only one (0.6%) developed hyponatremia in 162 tolbutamide or glibenclamide-treated patients (P < 0.005). Moreover, administration to elderly patients and combination with thiazide diuretics were regarded as significantly potent risk factors for the development of hyponatremia in patients receiving chlorpropamide.


Methotrexate is extensively used in the treatment of psoriasis. Although safe and effective, its use may inadvertently lead to intoxication. We report a 50‐year‐old woman being treated with methotrexate for psoriasis who developed methotrexate intoxication after drinking beetroot juice as a herbal remedy. Patients should be warned about the potential adverse effects of herbal therapies during methotrexate treatment.


An important problem for many kinds of knowledge systems is their initial set-up. It is difficult to choose the right information to include in such systems, and the right information is also a prerequisite for maximizing the uptake and relevance. To tackle this problem, most developers adopt heavyweight solutions and rely on a faithful continuous interaction with users to create and improve content. In this paper, we explore the use of an automatic, lightweight ontology-based solution to the bootstrapping problem, in which domain-describing ontologies are analysed to uncover significant yet implicit relationships between instances. We illustrate the approach by using such an analysis to provide content automatically for the initial set-up of an organizational memory.


The aim of this study is to compare the application efficiency between costal manual sprayer and an engine powered. Trapezoidal architecture of coffee plants and leafs position constitute a large obstacle to spraying. In this context, application technology became an important factor. One alternative is the use of air assistance to accomplish the distance between the sprayer and the application target. This experiment was entirely randomized with four replications, comparing the two spraying equipments regarding the coverage percentage in three different heights (superior, median and inferior), two different leafs position (external and internal) and two foliar faces (abaxial and adaxial), totalizing 48 plots. The spray rate used was 100L.ha -1 , composed by a water solution with fluorescent tracer. Based on results observed from leafs located in the external position and leafs from internal position of the median height, they denote that the utilization of air assistance is more efficient in leafs percent coverage in coffee plants than a conventional sprayers. This result was especially noted at the abaxial leaves side in the external position, as well as on both sides of the leaves positioned internally and in the plant medium.


Aims: The aim of this study was to study the relationship between the hypertriglyceridemic-waist (HTGW) phenotype and the risk of carotid artery atherosclerosis (CAA) in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes.
 Methods: A total of 2651 consecutive in-patients with type 2 diabetes (mean age 56±11 years, 58% women) were included. CAA was determined by Color Doppler Ultrasonography and defined by the formation of detectable carotid artery plaques. Logistic regression analysis was applied to relate HTGW phenotype to CAA.
 Results: The prevalence of CAA was 46.3% and 26.2% respectively in patients with and without HTGW. Compared with participants who had no HTGW, those with the HTGW phenotype had higher levels of systolic blood pressure (139.2 mmHg vs. 132.7 mmHg, p < 0.05) , fasting plasma glucose (9.1 mmol/L vs. 8.5 mmol/L, p < 0.05) , HbA1c [73 mmol/mol (8.83%) vs. 63 mmol/mol (7.95%) , p < 0.05], apolipoprotein B (0.95 g/L vs. 0.89 g/L, p < 0.05) , C-reactive protein (8.23 mg/L vs. 4.92 mg/L, p < 0.05) , TNF-α (26.46 pg/ml vs. 16.80 pg/ml, p < 0.05) and mean intima-media thickness (0.85 mm vs. 0.79 mm, p < 0.05) , but lower levels of apolipoprotein A1 (1.21 g/L vs. 1.33 g/L, p < 0.05) . The hypertriglyceridemic-waist phenotype was associated with CAA (OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.07-2.24) , after adjusting for age, sex, duration of diabetes, body mass index, smoking, HbA1c, apolipoprotein B and C-reactive protein.
 Conclusion: Among patients with type 2 diabetes, simultaneous measurement of waist circumference and triglycerides could be used as an inexpensive and simple approach to identify individuals with CAA.

 L. Zhang: n/a. Y. Yang: None. J. Wang: None. Y. Dong: None.