Powdery mildew (PM) is a worldwide-occurring plant disease caused by ascomycete fungi of the order Erysiphales. A conspicuous number of plant species are susceptible to this disease, the occurrence of which is increasing due to the influence of climate change. Symptoms are easy to recognize by the powdery whitish fungal structures growing on the surface of plant organs. Severe infections cause significant losses in crops, such as tomato, cucumber and wheat, as well as in ornamentals, like rose and petunia. Accordingly, breeding crops with a robust immunity to this disease is of great economic importance. A significant step in this direction was the discovery of mlo (mildew locus o) mutant alleles of the barley HvMlo gene, which are responsible for the non-race specific resistance to the barley PM pathogen, Blumeria graminis f.sp. hordei (Bgh). During the years, this recessively inherited resistance was observed to be durable, contrary to the short life-span of resistances conferred by dominant resistance (R-) genes used in barley breeding programs. Studies on the histological mechanisms of the mlo-based resistance showed that the PM pathogen was stopped during penetration of the cell wall by the formation of a papilla. This structure prevents the formation of the feeding structure of the pathogen, called a haustorium. After sequencing many plant genomes, we are discovering that MLO genes are not only typical of this cereal, but are ubiquitously present in higher plant species in multiple copies per species, forming a gene family. The impairment of some members of a number of ever increasing plant species lead to broad-spectrum resistance towards their adapted PM pathogens. For example, in tomato the ol-2 gene, naturally harbored by the cherry tomato Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme, represents the loss-of-function allele of the SlMLO1 gene, conferring resistance to the PM pathogen Oidium neolycopersici (On). Consequently, the use of mlo mutants represents a suitable alternative to the classical use of R-genes in breeding programs. In Chapter 2 , we describe the in silico identification of the complete tomato SlMLO gene family using the available information in the SOL genomic network database. In total, 16 tomato SlMLO members were cloned from leaf, root, flower and fruit of the susceptible tomato cv. Moneymaker to confirm the sequences retrieved from the database and to verify their actual expression in these tissues. We observed the presence of various types of splicing variants, although their possible functional meaning has not been investigated. Motif analyses of each of the translated protein sequences and phylogenetic studies highlighted, on one hand, amino acid stretches that characterize the whole MLO family, and, on the other hand, stretches conserved in MLO homologs that are phylogenetically related. Following a gene expression study upon On inoculation, we identified members of the SlMLO family that are upregulated few hours after pathogen challenge. Except SlMLO1, none of the three newly identified homologs in clade V, thus phylogenetically close to SlMLO1, are induced. Interestingly, two homologs, each found in different clades, are upregulated similarly to SlMLO1. Using an RNAi approach, we silenced the additional clade V-SlMLO homologs, namely SlMLO3, SlMLO5 and SlMLO8, to investigate their possible role in PM resistance. We observed that none of these homologs if individually silenced, leads to PM resistance. However, if SlMLO5 and SlMLO8 are silenced together with SlMLO1, a significantly higher level of resistance is achieved compared to plants carrying the ol-2 allele. The role of SlMLO3 could not be verified. We, therefore, concluded that there are three SlMLO genes in tomato unevenly contributing to the PM disease, of which SlMLO1 has a major role. Chapter 3 focuses on the components of the tomato mlo-based resistance. In Arabidopsis, it is known that four members of the SNARE protein family, involved in membrane fusion, are involved in mlo-based resistance. In this chapter, we focused on the identification of tomato homologs of the Arabidopsis syntaxin PEN1 (AtSYP121). Among the group of syntaxins identified in tomato, two were closely related to each other and also to AtPEN1, denominated SlPEN1a and SlPEN1b. Another Arabidopsis syntaxin that shows a high level of homology with PEN1, called SYP122, was also found to group together with the newly identified SlPEN1 genes. However, the role of SYP122 in plant immunity was not shown in literature. After obtaining individual silencing RNAi constructs, we transformed the resistant ol-2 line, and we challenged the obtained transformants with the adapted PM On, and the non-adapted Bgh. Interestingly, we observed a significant On growth and an enhanced Bgh cell entry only in SlPEN1a silenced plants but not in SlPEN1b silenced ones. We performed a protein alignment of tomato and Arabidopsis functional and non-functional PEN sequences. The presence of three differently conserved non-synonymous amino-acid substitutions is hypothesised to be responsible for the specialization in plant immune function. In Chapter 4 and Chapter 5, we build up a body of evidence pointing to the fact that the function of the MLO susceptibility genes is highly conserved between monocot and dicot plant species. In Chapter 4 we started by identifying and functionally characterizing two new MLO genes of Solanaceous crops affected by the PM disease, tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) and eggplant (Solanum melongena). We named them NtMLO1 and SmMLO1 in the respective species, as they are the closest homologs to tomato SlMLO1. By overexpressing these genes in the resistant ol-2 line, we obtained transgenic plants that were susceptible to the PM pathogen On. This finding demonstrates that both heterologous MLO proteins can rescue the function of the impaired ol-2 allele in tomato. In addition, we found in tobacco NtMLO1 an amino acid (Q198) of critical importance for the susceptibility function of this protein. In Chapter 5 , we used the same approach adopted in Chapter 4  to show that other MLO proteins of more distant dicot species, like pea PsMLO1, can rescue the loss-of-function of the tomato ol-2 allele. And finally, we stretched this concept also to monocot MLO proteins, using barley HvMlo. While performing these experiments, we could verify that the function of the monocot and dicot susceptibility MLO proteins does not rely on the presence of class-specific conservation. The latter can be the reason for the phylogenetic divergence, placing monocot MLO proteins in clade IV and dicot MLO proteins in clade V of the phylogenetic MLO tree. However, functional conservation might depend on crucial shared amino acids of clade IV and V MLO proteins. Therefore, we also conducted a codon-based evolutionary analysis that resulted in the identification of 130 codons under negative selection, thus strongly maintained during evolution. In Chapter 6 we introduce the PM disease in cucumber caused by Podosphaera xanthii (Px). We cloned the candidate susceptibility gene for PM in cucumber, CsaMLO8, from susceptible and resistant genotypes. The latter was described as an advanced cucumber breeding line characterized by hypocotyl resistance. In this line, we found the presence of aberrant splicing variants of the CsaMLO8 mRNA due to the insertion in its corresponding genomic region of a Class LTR retrotransposon. Heterologous expression of the wild-type cucumber allele in the tomato ol-2 line restored its PM susceptibility, while the heterologous expression of the aberrant protein variant failed to do so. This finding confirms that the resistance of the advanced cucumber breeding line is due to the disruption of the coding region of this gene. We also showed that the expression of CsaMLO8 in the susceptible genotype is induced by Px in hypocotyl tissue, but not in cotyledon or leaf. Finally, by examination of the resequencing data of a collection of 115 cucumber accessions, we found the presence of the TE-containing allele in 31 of them among which a wild cucumber accession that might have been used in breeding programs to obtain resistance to the PM disease in cucumber. In Chapter 7 a novel loss-of-function allele of the SlMLO1 gene is described, designated m200. This allele was found in a resistant plant (M200) from a mutagenized tomato Micro-Tom (MT) population obtained with the chemical mutagen ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS). The m200 mutation corresponds to a nucleotide transversion (T a A) which results in a premature stop codon. The length of the predicted SlMLO1 protein in the M200 plant is only 21 amino acids, thus much shorter than the predicted protein of the previously described ol-2 allele, consisting of 200 amino acids. Thanks to the development of a High-Resolution Melting (HRM) marker designed to detect the m200 mutation, we observed that this allele confers recessively inherited resistance in backcross populations of the resistant M200 plant with MT and Moneymaker. Histological study showed that the resistance of the m200 mutant is associated with papilla formation. Finally, we compared the rate of On penetration in epidermal cells of m200 plants with the one of plants carrying the ol-2 allele and the transgenic plants in which multiple SlMLO homologs were silenced, generated in Chapter 2. Ultimately, in Chapter 8 the results of the previous chapters are discussed in the context of 1) practical applications in breeding programs aimed at introducing the mlo-based resistance in new crops, 2) possible research aimed at unraveling the function of the MLO protein and 3) the role of other SNARE proteins.


Artificial reef in Malaysia currently are growing. Exploring and study on artificial reef is carried out by several agencies such as Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) and SIRIM Bhd Malaysia. SEAFDEC especially thorough research contributed to marine life. According to Ahmad Ali SEAFDEC has been using reinforce concrete materials since 1986 until today, in Pulau Payar Marine Park Kedah. They discover that the concrete artificial reef is difficult to produce, suitable for small fishes. It is easier to build an artificial reef using stoneware ceramic than concrete cement. The ceramic reef can stand drastic thermal change that happen under sea-bed, which could break the cement artificial reef. However, ceramic stoneware clay is an alternative materials for an artificial reef alternative because it is cheaper and it is has better quality. This research is to exploit the local stoneware clay from the area of Sabak Bernam because the area is closer to the sea to setup artificial reefs. Other than that, it facilitates the process of artificial reef production. Most of the artificial reef design in Malaysia does not have an artistic impact. The sculpture artificial reef could attract art lovers to enjoy the beauty of the underwater art gallery. The objective in this research is to introduce new design for artificial reef in Malaysia. The new developed design of artificial reef will remain as a shelter and source of food for marine life. The study will be a new design development for the future artificial reef in Malaysia.


The context of mobility raises many issues for GIS applications. Mobile device limitations, including pen input whilst in motion, result in interfaces which are difficult to navigate and interact with. However, comparatively little research has been conducted to address the interface mobility problem for GIS. We are particularly concerned with the limited interaction techniques available to users of mobile GIS which play a primary role in contributing to the complexity of using such an application whilst mobile. Our research focuses on multimodal interfaces as a means to present users with a wider choice of modalities for interacting with GIS applications. The focus of this paper concerns a comprehensive user study which demonstrates the benefits, in terms of usability and efficiency, of a multimodal interface for the CoMPASS mobile GIS which we have developed.


Practice during investigative interview training is crucial for interviewers to develop the ability to adhere consistently to best-practice interview procedures. Given the constraints around using trained actors in the role of the child during practice interviews, this study examined whether officers themselves were able to play this role in a manner known to facilitate interviewers' performance. At baseline, 24 police officers' ability to adhere to five rules that were developed to train actors how to play the role of the child were measured. They were then given simple instructions about each of the five rules, and their ability to adhere to these rules was measured a second time. The results showed that participants naturally adhered to two of the rules at baseline (providing broad disclosure initially and responding with no more than four pieces of information to open-ended questions). Their performance improved for one rule (introducing conversational tangents) after receiving the simple instructions; however, participants' performance showed less improvement for the other two rules (responding with a non-feasible response to complex questions and responding to specific questions with few words). Overall, the results supported the use of fellow interviewers in the role of the child during practice interviews.


I ntroduction:Â Echinococcus multilocularis is the cause of alveolar hydatic cysts in intermediate host, found in the liver and lungs. Alveolar hydatid diseas is the most lethal of helminthic diseases, with radical surgery still being the only curative therapy. The aim of this study was to report a splenic alveolar hydatic cyst. Case Report:Â The patient was a 62 years old man, from a rural region of Ghochan, Khorasan Province, Iran, who was referred to surgeon, complaining left upper quadran abdominal pain. In CT scan 2 cysts were seen in the right lobe of liver and a septal cyst in spleen. After operation, evacuating and unroofing of the liver cysts, splenectomy was performed. Diagnosis was based on pathologic and histologic examinations. In macroscopic examination spleen was massive and cystic, composed of multiple irregular cysts with infiltrative appearance. The inner part of cysts contained brown necrotic and gelatinous material, at microscopic examination there was a thin acellular laminated layer but the germinal layer and protoscolex were not seen. After a week the patient recovered and left the hospital with good general condition. Conclusion:Â In conclusion, the presence of this case showed that life cycle of echinococcus multilocularis can be completed in this province. Medical managers and practitioners must notice this disease as a differential diagnosis for malignant of liver and spleen, as well as for prevention and control of the disease itself.


In vitro chemosensitivity testing of short term primary glioma cultures derived from brain biopsies is still in the research phase and has not yet found a place in clinical use. The main reasons for this slow progression are the small amounts of tissue available and the lack of a suitably sensitive assay capable of use in the clinical setting. This study examines whether the MTS and ATP cell survival assays, which determine cytotoxicity via colorimetric and luminescence analysis respectively, could potentially fulfill this role. Primary glioma cultures were tested for chemosensitivity using the MTS and ATP assays and were found to be generally sensitive to cisplatin and paclitaxel but relatively resistant to carmustine and etoposide. For both assays, LD50 values lay in the range 2 - 130 μg/ml but in the vast majority of cases, those obtained by the ATP assay were markedly lower those obtained by the MTS assay. Moreover, at cell numbers less than 2000 in the cases of paclitaxel and carmustine and less than 4500 in the case of cisplatin, these drugs were generally indicated as ineffective against the glioma cultures tested by the MTS assay but effective against these cultures by the ATP assay. These data clearly demonstrate that the ATP assay is more sensitive when estimating small cell numbers generated by primary glioma cultures from brain biopsies and more reliably detects higher kill rates by anticancer drugs. This study also supports the feasibility of using the ATP assay for chemosensitivity testing in a clinical setting.


OBJECTIVE
To describe the clinical and epidemiological features of hepatitis B virus infection in Israeli children, and to evaluate their response and compliance to therapy.

METHODS
We retrospectively studied 51 patients (34 males, 17 females), aged 2-18 years, from several medical centers in Israel.

RESULTS
Of the 51 patients, 38 with elevated transaminase, positive hepatitis B e antigen and/or HBV DNA, and histologic evidence of liver inflammation were treated. Interferon was administered by subcutaneous injections three times a week for 3-12 months (dosage range 3-6 MU/m2). Only 16% were native Israelis, while 78% of the children were of USSR origin. A family history of HBV infection was recorded in 25 of the 51 patients (9 mothers, 16 fathers or siblings). Five children had a history of blood transfusion. The histological findings were normal in 3 patients, 24 had chronic persistent hepatitis, 14 had chronic active hepatitis and 2 had chronic lobular hepatitis. Five children also had anti-hepatitis D virus antibodies. Twelve of the 38 treated patients (31.5%) responded to IFN completely, with normalization of the transaminase levels and disappearance of HBeAg and HBV DNA. In no patient was there a loss of hepatitis B surface antigen. The main side effects of IFN were fever in 20 children, weakness in 10, headaches in 9, and anorexia in 6; nausea, abdominal pain, and leukopenia were present in 3 cases each. The response rate was not affected by age, country of origin, alanine/aspartate aminotransferase levels, or histological findings. However, a history of blood transfusion was a predictor of good response, 60% vs 27% (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
We found IFN to be a safe and adequate mode of treatment in children with chronic HBV infection, regardless of their liver histology and transaminase levels. Therefore, in view of the transient side effects associated with this drug, we recommend considering its use in all children with chronic hepatitis B.


Fires in wood waste storages cause financial losses, are difficult to extinguish, and emit large amounts of fire effluents. The mechanisms related to fires in wood chip piles are not well elucidated. To find suitable preventive measures for handling such fires in wood waste, a better understanding of the physical properties of wood waste is needed. The present study investigates how granularity affects mechanisms of smoldering fire and transition to flaming in wood chip piles. Eighteen experiments with samples inside a top‐ventilated, vertical cylinder were conducted. Heating from underneath the cylinder induced auto‐ignition and smoldering fire, and temperatures and mass loss of the sample were measured. The results showed that granularity significantly affects the smoldering fire dynamics. Material containing larger wood chips (length 4‐100 mm) demonstrated more irregular temperature development, higher temperatures, faster combustion, and higher mass losses than material of smaller wood chips (length <4 mm). The larger wood chips also underwent transition to flaming fires. Flaming fires were not observed for small wood chips, which instead demonstrated prolonged and steady smoldering propagation. The differences are assumed to be partly due to the different bulk densities of the samples of large and small wood chips affecting the ventilation conditions. Increased knowledge about these combustion processes and transition to flaming is vital to develop risk‐reducing measures when storing wood chips made from wood waste in piles.


This paper describes an iterative technique for gradually deforming a mask binary image with successive local affine transformation (LAT) operations so as to yield the best match to an input binary image as one new and promising approach toward robust handwritten character recognition. The method uses local shapes in the sense that the LAT of each point at one location is optimized using locations of other points by means of least-squares data fitting using Gaussian window functions. It also uses a multiscale refinement technique that decreases the spread of window functions with each iteration. Especially in handwritten character recognition, structural information is indispensable for robust shape matching or discrimination. The method is enhanced to explicitly incorporate structures by weighting the above least-squares criterion with similarity measures of both topological and geometric features of the mask and input images. Moreover, deformation constraints are imposed on each iteration, not only to promote and stabilize matching convergence but also to suppress an excessive matching process. Shape matching experiments have been successfully carried out using skeletons of totally unconstrained handwritten numerals. >


In company with the data explosion over the past decade, deep neural network (DNN) based software has experienced unprecedented leap and is becoming the key driving force of many novel industrial applications, including many safety-critical scenarios such as autonomous driving. Despite great success achieved in various human intelligence tasks, similar to traditional software, DNNs could also exhibit incorrect behaviors caused by hidden defects causing severe accidents and losses. In this paper, we propose DeepHunter, an automated fuzz testing framework for hunting potential defects of general-purpose DNNs. DeepHunter performs metamorphic mutation to generate new semantically preserved tests, and leverages multiple plugable coverage criteria as feedback to guide the test generation from different perspectives. To be scalable towards practical-sized DNNs, DeepHunter maintains multiple tests in a batch, and prioritizes the tests selection based on active feedback. The effectiveness of DeepHunter is extensively investigated on 3 popular datasets (MNIST, CIFAR-10, ImageNet) and 7 DNNs with diverse complexities, under a large set of 6 coverage criteria as feedback. The large-scale experiments demonstrate that DeepHunter can (1) significantly boost the coverage with guidance; (2) generate useful tests to detect erroneous behaviors and facilitate the DNN model quality evaluation; (3) accurately capture potential defects during DNN quantization for platform migration.


The focus of family planning programmes has shifted away from an emphasis on controlling fertility towards helping individuals achieve their reproductive goals. This article seeks to expand knowledge about the quality of integrated services from the perspective of clients at health facilities in KwaZulu-Natal. The results from 300 structured interviews with clients visiting health facilities found that overall quality of services was relatively high. However, the quality of services varied somewhat between rural and urban areas. Clients visiting urban health facilities reported greater satisfaction with services than clients visiting rural health facilities. The interviews with clients suggests that existing efforts to integrate services has had limited success. Clients were rarely offered an expanded range of services during their visit. In most cases, clients only received services for which they presented at the health facility.


We propose a general iterative contextual pixel classifier for supervised image segmentation. The iterative procedure is statistically well-founded and can be considered a variation on the iterated conditional modes (ICM) of Besag (1983). Having an initial segmentation, the algorithm iteratively updates it by reclassifying every pixel, based on the original features and, additionally, contextual information. This contextual information consists of the class labels of pixels in the neighborhood of the pixel to be reclassified. Three essential differences with the original ICM are: (1) our update step is merely based on a classification result, hence a voiding the explicit calculation of conditional probabilities; (2) the clique formalism of the Markov random field framework is not required; (3) no assumption is made w.r.t. the conditional independence of the observed pixel values given the segmented image. The important consequence of properties 1 and 2 is that one can easily incorporate rate common pattern recognition tools in our segmentation algorithm. Examples are different classifiers-e.g. Fisher linear discriminant, nearest-neighbor classifier, or support vector machines-and dimension reduction techniques like LDA, or PCA. We experimentally compare a specific instance of our general method to pixel classification, using simulated data and chest radiographs, and show that the former outperforms the latter.


The Boy with the Cowbell & The Bull of Nybacken: A Queer Reading of Vilhelm Moberg's The Emigrants Novels
This article presents a queer reading of Vilhelm Moberg's The Emigrants novel series (1949–1959), in which norm-breaking aspects of the text are accentuated. The series consists of some of the most read and beloved Swedish novels of all time, and tells the story of a group of farmers emigrating to North America in the mid-nineteenth century. Up until now The Emigrants novels have not been read using a queer perspective. The focus of this reading is the close relationship between the two young farmhands Robert and Arvid. The latter is rumored to engage in bestiality, which in this article is interpreted as a transgression from normative heterosexuality. Also, neither Robert nor Arvid express desire towards women; these men are each other's primary life partners. By emphasizing expressions of queerness around them – including the prevalence of animality and queerly connoted animals – this article shows that it is possible to read the men's relationship as a romantic love story.


This handbook series comprises six volumes: The first volume focused on incentives that insure accountability of the public sector, measuring government performance in the delivery of public services, addressing social issues in government decision making, improving governance through better policy and expenditure evaluations, principles and practices of intergovernmental fiscal relations, and harmonizing fiscal decentralization with regional disparities and fiscal constraints.


The interest of science in compounds that have antioxidant, antitumoral and cardio protective properties and can be founded in food has risen in nowadays. The case of resveratrol, a stilbene founded in wine, originated from grape as response of the wine against the damages, is the biggest case of studies. Resveratrol took all this attention after the term of French Paradox that describe the low incidence of French population, in cardiovascular disease as they are known as a regular wine consumer. The evaluation of bioavailability and toxicity of resveratrol in organism has been conducted with both methods, in vitro and in vivo. A number of studies have given evidences about the pathways how resveratrol is metabolized, the mechanism of action and its pharmacokinetic properties. But even now that is clear how resveratrol metabolism works there are a lot of questions, but the question to take in consideration is: which is the best way to intake these compounds to produce a pharmacological effect? The key for a pharmacological effect is the bioavailability of non-metabolized resveratrol. Higher the quantity of non-metabolized resveratrol, higher is the pharmacological affect. Oral intakes from wine or supplements are the only ways of resveratrol delivery. Coupling the resveratrol with detonation nanodiamonds (DNDs) raises the bioavailability of resveratrol and its pharmacological effect.


We propose a method to automatically tune a patient-based virtual environment training simulator for abdominal needle insertion. The key attributes to be customized in our framework are the elasticity of soft-tissues and the respiratory model parameters. The estimation is based on two 3D Computed Tomography (CT) scans of the same patient at two different time steps. Results are presented on four patients and show that our new method leads to better results than our previous studies with manually tuned parameters.


The influence of angiotensin II blocker in thrombocytes aggregative capacity in patients with arterial hypertension and metabolic syndrome was assessed. 32 patients were treated with eprosartan during 16 weeks. Dynamics of lipid peroxidation in plasma and thrombocytes, liquid part of blood and platelets antioxidant immunity, thrombocytes aggregative capacity were assessed. The results were processed using Student's test. The use of eprosartan in patients with arterial hypertension and metabolic syndrome has positive influence on peroxidation syndrome and optimizes thrombocytes aggregation.


In 1505, the humanist Johann Reuchlin (1455-1522) published a booklet titled Doctor iohanns Reuchlins tutsch missiue, warumb die Juden so lang im ellend sind (Johann Reuchlin's German-language open letter [discussing] why the Jews have been in "exile" so long). One may debate whether or not Reuchlin's "German open letter" is to be understood as merely repeating the "conventional view that they [the Jews] were suffering for the sins of their forefathers who had mur-dered Jesus." However, such an interpretation is a far too simplified summary of this rather unusual, "somewhat mysteri-ous tract." Reuchlin felt sincere concern over the continued suffering of the Jews and sought to understand it for many years.


In order to estimate jitter and shimmer, we suggest a method for the detection of precise pitch and amplitude of voiced speech signal. After low-pass filtering, voiced/unvoiced decision and pitch detection is performed using the average magnitude difference function. We find a minimum value at t=/spl tau/ and also check the possible minimum value at t=/spl tau//2, /spl tau//3, /spl tau//4, /spl tau//5, /spl tau//6. By the application of adaptive threshold, we can estimate pitch more accurately.


We analyse the spatial diversity of a multipath fading process for a general geometrical base of a dense antenna array in the plane and characterise it by the eigenvalue spectrum of the spatial autocorrelation kernel. We show how this diversity spectrum can be calculated for any spatial fading statistics represented by the power azimuth spectrum (PAS). Numerically calculated diversity spectra help to optimise the geometry of the antenna array. They demonstrate that the diversity gain of a onedimensional uniform linear array may be very small for a PAS with small angular spread. Circular arrays turn out to be more robust. For a channel coded system, diversity spectra give useful hints to design the time interleaving depth which is necessary to exploit the diversity gain of the code.


Col. Ed Dooley created these computer reconstructions of Lexington's Main Street in 1867 based on existing buildings or from historic photographs. Using Google SketchUp software, he was able to model these buildings in 2-D and 3-D to near exact dimensions and design, basing his decisions on images where he had clear visual evidence to flesh out a particular building. These images were on display along with historic photographs, text describing the buildings' features and history, and contemporary images of the buildings or locations along Main Street in the Rockbridge Historical Society during 2013. Here are thirty two 2-D images and exhibit panels created by Dooley for the RHS exhibit. Col. Dooley took all the present day photographs himself. Historic photos of the Dold/Dever Building, the Barclay Building, and the Burton-White building, as well as the Miley print of town showing the roof of the Court House and the photograph of Nannie Jordan are part of Washington and Lee University's Special Collections and are shown with permission. The historic photo of the Lexington Hotel is part of Virginia Military Institute's Archives and is shown with permission.


Background/Context Previous work on the use of open educational resources in K–12 classrooms has generally focused on issues related to cost. The current study takes a more expansive view of openness that also accounts for adaptation and sharing in authentic classroom contexts. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study The study seeks to understand what a group of practicing teachers who have been introduced to an expansive vision of openness in practice perceive to be its major potentials and barriers. Setting This study took place in two settings: 1) a series of structured summer open education institutes and 2) teachers' authentic classroom contexts 6 months after the institutes. Population/Participants/Subjects A group of practicing K–12 elementary and secondary teachers (n = 101) self-selected to participate in the institutes and the study. Intervention/Program/Practice Institutes were focused, 3-day events wherein teachers constructed PLCs for learning about open education and applying their understanding toward creating open educational resources for their classrooms. Research Design This mixed methods study consisted of phenomenological methods for collecting and analyzing qualitative data from a large group and survey analysis and inferential statistics for clarifying results and determining unification of voice among participants. Data Collection and Analysis Data collection consisted of a series of large focus group / incubator sessions, an evaluative survey, and a follow-up survey. Items for the follow-up survey were constructed out of emergent themes from the focus group / incubator sessions. Findings/Results Results revealed that participants uniformly believed that openness offers pedagogical, economic, and professional potentials for practice, but that major barriers to diffusion exist at the macro and local levels due to the political and economic realities of the teaching profession. Conclusions/Recommendations Openness in practice has great promise for K–12 teaching and learning, but educators, researchers, and legislators should reexamine the meaning of open in educational practice to consider its benefits beyond cost and advocate for those practices that lead to greater freedom and professionalization of teaching.


Human factor (HF) is an important concern for most industry especially for the
chemical and petrochemical industry. This is because; many accidents in such
industry are contributed by human error. It can be proved that the incident rate due to
HF had increased from time to time. There are findings based on survey show that
64% oftotal incidents are mainly due to human error. Thus, a study regarding human
factor, method to quantitatively estimate the contribution of HF and how to reduce it
using Inherent Safety (IS) principle need to be developed.
Therefore, a new tool which is simple and cost optimal approach had been chosen to
satisfy the need. This method is referred to Inherent Safety Tool (1ST) using fuzzy
analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) theory in index computation; a type of
trapezoidal fuzzy number (TFN) ranges to identify fuzzy evaluating vector. The tool
can be simplified as Human Performance using Fuzzy Inherent Safety Tool or HuPFiST.
This tool is aim to support decision making and control human error in order
to improve human performance while working. The application of pair-wise
comparison matrix and TFN could be used for human error occurrence and mitigate
the end results of HF. Lastly, this study also used the case study process to identify
the TFN and end result for concept validation.


Overprecision (overconfidence in interval estimation) is a bias with clear implications for economic outcomes in industries reliant on forecasting possible ranges for future prices and unknown states of nature such as mineral and petroleum exploration. Prior research has shown the ranges people provide are too narrow given the knowledge they have – that is, they underestimate uncertainty and are overconfident in their knowledge. The underlying causes of this bias are, however, still unclear and individual differences research has shed little light on traits predictive of susceptibility. Taking this as a starting point, this paper directly contrasts the Naïve Sampling Model and Informativeness-Accuracy Tradeoff accounts of overprecision – seeing which better predicts performance in an interval estimation task. This was achieved by identifying traits associated with these theories – Short Term Memory and Need for Cognitive Closure, respectively. Analyses indicate that NFCC but not STM predicts interval width and thus, potentially, impacts overprecision.


: The results of treatment have been analyzed for 45 patients with nonspecific spontaneous hemopneumothorax. Therapeutic policy was decided upon individually basing on the patient's condition and clinical appearance of the disease. Urgent surgery was performed in 68.0% of patients for continuous intrapleural bleeding and tense pneumothorax. The rest cases underwent pleural puncture. Pleural drainage failed to eliminate spontaneous hemopneumothorax in all the patients. The causes of SHP were established mostly intraoperatively. In 81.8% of the cases it resulted from a rupture of a bullous lung. Long-term follow-up (1-18 years) of 28 patients treated surgically and conservatively recorded no recurrences.


Interprofessional collaboration is vital to the delivery of quality care in long-term care settings; however, caregivers in long-term care face barriers to participating in training programs to improve collaborative practices. Consequently, eLearning can be used to create an environment that combines convenient, individual learning with collaborative experiential learning. Findings of this study revealed that learners enjoyed the flexibility of the Working Together learning resource. They acquired new knowledge and skills that they were able to use in their practice setting to achieve higher levels of collaborative practice. Nurses were identified as team leaders because of their pivotal role in the long-term care home and collaboration with all patient care providers. Nurses are ideal as knowledge brokers for the collaborative practice team. Quantitative findings showed no change in learner's attitudes regarding collaborative practice; however, interviews provided examples of positive changes experienced. Face-to-face collaboration was found to be a challenge, and changes to organizations, systems, and technology need to be made to facilitate this process. The Working Together learning resource is an important first step toward strengthening collaboration in long-term care, and the pilot implementation provides insights that further our understanding of both interprofessional collaboration and effective eLearning.


Thirty-one complexes of bis-(benzimidazole, benzothiazole, and benzoxazole) compounds with Zr(IV) metal centers were synthesized, characterized, activated with methylaluminoxane (MAO), and then tested for catalytic ethylene polymerization. The activities of the various catalysts were found to be functions of the heteroatoms in the ligand frameworks and the structure around the active metal center. The highest activity was obtained with 38/MAO (424 kg E/mol cat. h). The produced polyethylenes showed high molecular weights (41/MAO, 1.9 $\times$ 10$^{6}$ g/mol) and broad molecular weight distributions (38/MAO, M$_{w}$ = 9.64 $\times $ 10$^{5}$ g/mol, PD = 23). This could result from different interactions of the MAO counter ion with the heteroatoms of the catalyst ligand generating different active sites.


-The algebraic curve that attracted considerable interest in recent years is called Elliptic Curve (EC). This is due to the computational complexity of its arithmetic over a finite field. The complexity of its arithmetic operations granted EC highly interest for many applications, especially in Cryptography. The scalar multiplication plays an important role in the performance of the elliptic curve cryptosystem (ECC). This paper focused on optimizing the performance of this important operation, which is called elliptic curve scalar multiplication (ECSM). As known from previous works, this operation can be sped up using one of the most important representations called Mutual Opposite Form (MOF). Based on this representation, we proposed an algorithm to improve the performance of ECSM. The efficiency of the proposed algorithm is enhanced in terms of computation time compared to the existing standard ECSM methods.


The quasi-Monte Carlo (QMC) method is a powerful numerical tool for pricing complex derivative securities, whose accuracy is affected by the smoothness of the integrands. The payoff functions of many financial derivatives involve two types of nonsmooth factors: an indicator function (called jump structure) and a positive part of a smooth function (called kink structure). This paper develops a good path generation method (PGM) for recovering the superiority of the QMC method on problems involving multiple such structures. This is achieved by realigning these structures such that the associated nonsmooth surfaces are parallel to as many coordinate axes as possible. The proposed method has the advantage of addressing different structures according to their importance. We also offer a systematic measurement of different structures for quantifying and then ranking their importance. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the proposed method is more efficient than traditional PGMs for pricing exotic options, suc...


The exposure of normal mice to whole body hyperthermia (1 h WBH at 39 or 40 degrees C), 20 or 48 h prior to total body irradiation (TBI) with lethal doses of gamma-rays affords significant protection as assessed by survival. The radioprotective effect of WBH, as observed in normal mice, diminished in tumour bearing mice depending upon the size of tumour. Treatment of tumour bearing mice with mild WBH, 20 h prior to local irrradiation (LIR), did not protect the transplanted tumour against radiotherapy with a single dose of 20 Gy or fractionated dose (in five fractions) of 7.5 Gy on alternate days. In fact, mild WBH treatment enhanced the tumour regression and increased the mean survival time after fractionated dose therapy. However, the prior mild WBH was found to be ineffective in protecting normal tissue, as assessed by skin contraction after local irradiation (50 Gy). This indicates that mild WBH treatment given 20 h prior to local radiotherapy enhances fibrosarcoma tumour regression but cannot protect skin (normal tissue) against local irradiation. It appears that radioprotection of animals by WBH may be the consequence of its radioprotective effect on haemopoietic tissues mediated through certain cytokines. Perhaps WBH may not have a radioprotective effect on other tissues, as evident from skin contraction studies.


The release of carbon from newly thawed permafrost is estimated to add between 0.05 and 0.39 °C to the simulated global mean surface air temperature by the year 2300. The release of the potent greenhouse gas CH4 following permafrost thaw is thereby of particular concern. Models simulated a contribution of CH4 to the radiative forcing from thawing permafrost of up to 40% for the maximum extent of thermokarst. Batch experiments on thawed permafrost samples, however, have rendered the contribution of anaerobically produced carbon and in particular of CH4 to be surprisingly weak and CH4 production which is realized through methanogenic archaea was reported to be low and associated with long lag phases . This leads to the hypotheses that initial methanogenic population sizes and/or substrates are limiting factors in permafrost. The objective of this study is to identify constraints for CH4 production in thawing permafrost. We analyzed several low Arctic permafrost cores of up to 3 m depth of different land cover types, sediment properties, age and stratigraphy for methanogenic abundance, potential methane production and predictors of both. We found that methanogenic population size and substrate pool are constraints on methane production but unlike expected, they do not fully explain low CH4 production rates in thawing permafrost. Even when both, population size and substrate concentrations, were large, the potential production of CH4 was still comparably low. Furthermore we show that the potential production of CH4 in thawing permafrost is a function of the methanogenic population size if substrate is not the limiting factor and that the methanogenic population size in turn is a function of the carbon density. Based on our study we propose that on the long term after permafrost has thawed, growth and community shifts within the methanogenic population will occur which potentially will increase methane production by orders of magnitude.


Deduplication, which can save storage cost by enabling us to store only one copy of identical data, becomes unprecedentedly significant with the dramatic increase in data stored in the cloud. For the purpose of ensuring data confidentiality, they are usually encrypted before outsourced. Traditional encryption will inevitably result in multiple different ciphertexts produced from the same plaintext by different users' secret keys, which hinders data deduplication. Convergent encryption makes deduplication possible since it naturally encrypts the same plaintexts into the same ciphertexts. One attendant problem is how to reliably and effectively manage a huge number of convergent keys. Several deduplication schemes have been proposed to deal with the convergent key management problem. However, they either need to introduce key management servers or require interaction between data owners. In this paper, we design a novel client-side deduplication protocol named KeyD without such an independent key management server by utilizing the identity-based broadcast encryption (IBBE) technique. Users only interact with the cloud service provider (CSP) during the process of data upload and download. Security analysis demonstrates that KeyD ensures data confidentiality and convergent key security, and well protects the ownership privacy simultaneously. A thorough and detailed performance comparison shows that our scheme makes a better tradeoff among the storage cost, communication and computation overhead.


With the fast pace of globalization and knowledge-driven economy, the notion of trust in intra- and/or trans-organizational relations has attracted enormous attention both in academic research and business practices. It has been recognized that trust as a central mechanism
within and between organizations plays a crucial role for economic performance. Trust relationship at personal levels is particular important in an environment where the institutional foundations for trust are still underdeveloped. China is commonly regarded as a country with
low levels of institution-based trust. As a consequence, the quality of business relations, economic transactions and strategic alliances are strongly dependent on the degree of trust at personal levels.

The objective of this study is to contribute to our understanding of trust relationships between hierarchies within Chinese organizational settings. In this paper, we present our empirical research on trust at personal levels carried out in a large Chinese state-owned enterprise. Three hypotheses that characterise the subordinate's trust in the superior are developed and tested. Based on the statistical evaluations from 1216 samples collected, factors that influence the truster's propensity to trust are outlined. The determinants for the trustee's trustworthiness are analysed. In conclusion, we emphasis that further research on trust at personal levels in different enterprises, and trust at organizational levels are needed in order to draw a generalised picture on trust relationships in organizational settings.


Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) with reclaimed water plays a particular role in water stress mitigation, due to both the large potential benefits achieved in terms of sustainable water resources management as well as the complexity of the planning and implementation. This paper focuses on the role of policy in establishing water quality related legal frameworks that are crucial for MAR development. It analyses and compares the current practice of shaping boundary conditions, particularly in a European context but with some international comparison. The work reports on the legal aspects considered most relevant for MAR in the European Union and summarises issues addressed in aquifer recharge regulations and guidelines. Some potential actions are proposed to develop a suitable guidance framework for further exploitation of MAR benefits.


Increasing focus on so-called normal-tension glaucoma has raised questions concerning the mechanism by which intraocular pressure (IOP) may play a role in the pathophysiology of glaucomatous optic neuropathy. However, examination of pressure-relationships suggests that an increase of a few mm Hg in IOP within the normal-tension range may double the magnitude of one important physiologic parameter, the magnitude of the intravascular waterfall effect at the exit of the central retinal vein (CRV) from the globe. This, in turn, increases the pulsatility or the velocity and turbulence of blood flow, depending on the extent of the restriction to venous outflow at the passage of the CRV through the lamina cribrosa. In the absence of such restriction, increased CRV pulsatility, especially in combination with brief IOP spikes, can be expected to cause foci of microvascular collapse in the optic nerve head. These foci can be converted to permanent vascular defects depending on additional risk factors, such as abnormal blood rheology ro platelet aggregation. Greater than normal laminal restrictions can, on the other hand, reduce perfusion pressure and can cause turbulence-induced endothelial damage and thickening of the CRV wall, ultimately further reducing perfusion pressure. These considerations suggest the hypothesis that the size and configuration of the venous outflow channel through the lamina cribrosa is a primary determinant of the extent of vascular and ultimately neuronal damage that occurs at a given IOP level in normal-tension and hypertensive primary open-angle glaucoma.


The way people live in cities forms human activity patterns, which affects how urban systems work. Therefore, it is essential to understand human activity patterns, where precise prediction of human movements and mechanistic modelling of human activity patterns are the two keys. Most of existing work on prediction of human movements cannot deal with activity changes, leading to a negative impact on the predictive accuracy. Furthermore, the majority of current work on modelling human activity patterns are mainly researched from spatiotemporal perspectives, but the motivation behind is usually being neglected, which is crucial to understanding activity changes. The objective of this study is to develop models and methods to better understand human activity patterns using crowdsourcing and geosocial media data. Thus, in this thesis, a method is first developed to detect activity changes, based on which a Markov chain-based model is developed to predict human movements. Then, semantics is introduced to uncover the motivation associated with the corresponding spatiotemporal patterns, which can infer what people do and discuss in a location at a specific time. Finally, human activity patterns are modelled from both spatiotemporal and semantic perspectives.
A 6-year GPS dataset of human movement in Beijing, China was used to evaluate the proposed predictive model. The results show that the predictive model can yield accurate prediction of the movement for those users who have significant activity changes (with R2 improved from 0.295 to 0.762). A whole-year geo-tagged tweets posted within Toronto, Canada was acquired to analyze human activity patterns. A network model was finally created by the proposed approach to represent human activity patterns. The experimental findings demonstrate that most of the individuals (61%) have a regular activity pattern, while only a small number of people (10%) have a different activity pattern from the mass. With the inclusion of semantic information together with the spatiotemporal data as well as detecting the activity changes, such an approach can enhance the capability of human mobility and activity modelling, and thus pave the way for a more mechanistic understanding of how urban systems are being shaped, as well as how their sub-systems/components interact.


In this paper, we propose a new method to construct an edge-preserving filter which has very similar response to the bilateral filter. The bilateral filter is a normalized convolution in which the weighting for each pixel is determined by the spatial distance from the center pixel and its relative difference in intensity range. The spatial and range weighting functions are typically Gaussian in the literature. In this paper, we cast the filtering problem as a vector-mapping approximation and solve it using a support vector machine (SVM). Each pixel will be represented as a feature vector comprising of the exponentiation of the pixel intensity, the corresponding spatial filtered response, and their products. The mapping function is learned via ∊-SVM regression using the feature vectors and the corresponding bilateral filtered values from the training image. The major computation involved is the computation of the spatial filtered responses of the exponentiation of the original image which is invariant to the filter size given that an IIR O(1) solution is available for the spatial filtering kernel. To our knowledge, this is the first learning-based O(1) bilateral filtering method. Unlike previous O(1) methods, our method is valid for both low and high range variance Gaussian and the computational complexity is independent of the range variance value. Our method is also the fastest O(1) bilateral filtering yet developed. Besides, our method allows varying range variance values, based on which we propose a new bilateral filtering method avoiding the over-smoothing or under-smoothing artifacts in traditional bilateral filter.


In an effort to develop a Standard Reference Material (SRM™) for Seebeck coefficient, we have conducted a round-robin measurement survey of two candidate materials—undoped Bi2Te3 and Constantan (55 % Cu and 45 % Ni alloy). Measurements were performed in two rounds by twelve laboratories involved in active thermoelectric research using a number of different commercial and custom-built measurement systems and techniques. In this paper we report the detailed statistical analyses on the interlaboratory measurement results and the statistical methodology for analysis of irregularly sampled measurement curves in the interlaboratory study setting. Based on these results, we have selected Bi2Te3 as the prototype standard material. Once available, this SRM will be useful for future interlaboratory data comparison and instrument calibrations.


The paper deals with the problem of safety evaluation of cryptographic modules used within safety-related control system for applications with increasing safety integrity level. The requirements to cryptographic techniques in safety-related communication for railway application are describe. The mainly part is oriented to description of mathematical apparatus for an error probability of cryptography code with a safety code, used in an additional safety communication layer. The practical results are related with the quantitative evaluation of an average error probability of code word for Euroradio protocol recommended for communication in European Train Control System.


This study reported on perceived benefits and barriers of exercise among men with histories of sexual violence (SV) and compared these perceptions by activity level and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) status. An online, cross-sectional, survey of men with histories of SV (N = 198) was completed using Amazon Mechanical Turk. Inclusion criteria were identifying sex at birth as male, age between 18 and 65 years, self-reported history of SV, and living in the United States (U.S.). A total of 1,260 men were screened for the study, of which 316 met the inclusion criteria, and 198 met all data quality requirements and were included in the study. Sociodemographic information, exercise behavior, PTSD symptoms, and perceived exercise barriers/benefits were collected. Comparisons by activity and PTSD status were analyzed. Additionally, two open-ended qualitative research questions were included to provide nuance to perceived barriers/benefits of exercise. The most salient benefits included physical performance, psychological outlook, and preventative health. Open-ended responses also noted the mental and physical benefits of exercise. The most salient barrier was physical exercise, with open-ended responses emphasizing lack of time, chronic pain and health concerns, and poor mental health and lack of motivation as impediments to exercise. Significant differences were found in benefits (psychological outlook, physical performance) and barriers (exercise environment, high time expenditure, and family discouragement) between active and insufficiently active men with histories of SV (ps < .05; Cohen's ds = 0.32-0.57). Significant differences were found by PTSD status on benefits (physical performance, social interaction, and preventative health) and barriers (exercise milieu, time expenditure, hard physical exercise, family discouragement) (ps < .05; Cohen's ds = 0.40-1.10). Findings provide new gender-specific strategies for promoting exercise among men with histories of SV: integrating exercise physiologists into trauma recovery programs, psychoeducation, engaging friends and family members, peer-support, and building self-efficacy.


Overexpression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is regarded as a causative factor in the onset of tumorigenesis of the breast. In this study, we investigated the effects of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) on COX-2 transcription in MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Results of transient transfection studies revealed that treatment with a CLA mix or selected isomers (c9, t11-CLA; t10, c12-CLA) at concentrations ranging from 20 to 80 micromol/L, attenuated COX-2 transcription induced by the proinflammatory agent 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA). In addition, the CLA mix inhibited TPA-induced activity of the collagenase-1 promoter. Using electrophoretic mobility shift assays, we found that the CLA mix reduced TPA-induced recruitment of nuclear proteins to a cAMP response element (CRE) in the COX-2 promoter and a consensus TPA-responsive element (TRE) in the collagenase-1 promoter. Both CRE and TRE are binding sites for activator protein-1 (AP-1). Binding studies revealed that the t10, c12-CLA isomer was more effective than the CLA mix or c9, t11-CLA in reducing binding of cJun to either the COX-2 CRE or collagenase-1 TRE, whereas linoleic acid increased binding to both elements. Overexpression of the AP-1 member, c-Jun, reversed the inhibitory effects of the CLA mix on COX-2 transcription, and restored binding of nuclear proteins to the CRE and TRE. Collectively, these results suggest that CLA represses AP-1-mediated activation of COX-2 transcription.


The nucleation and growth of electrochemically formed Pt adlayers on highly boron-doped, polycrystalline diamond thin-film electrodes were investigated using chronoamperometry. The experimental i - t curves measured at different fixed potentials were analyzed and compared to theoretical curves for the two limiting cases of three-dimensional nucleation and growth, as described by Scharifker and Hills [Electrochim. Acta, 28, 879 (1983)]: instantaneous and progressive. Metal phase formation at short times proceeded via a more instantaneous nucleation mechanism at lower overpotentials (η < -700 mV) on both microcrystalline and ultrananocrystalline diamonds. However, there was a transition on both diamond types to a progressive mechanism at higher overpotentials. Based on the results, apparently, there exists a relatively constant nucleation site density on these conducting polycrystalline films at lower overpotentials, with new nucleation sites developing over time at higher overpotentials. We suppose that the initial nucleation is strongly related to heterogeneities in the density of electronic states (DOS) across a film brought about by variations in the local boron and hydrogen content more so than variations in the physicochemical properties. The shift to a more progressive nucleation and growth mechanism is consistent with an increased DOS at more negative overpotentials. Some comparison measurements are reported for glassy carbon and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite.


. Dense blooms of filamentous diazotrophic cyanobacteria are formed every summer in the Baltic Sea. These autotrophic organisms may bypass nitrogen limitation by performing nitrogen fixation, which also governs surrounding organisms by increasing bioavailable nitrogen. The magnitude of the nitrogen fixation is important to estimate from a management perspective since this might counteract eutrophication reduction measures. Here, a cyanobacteria life cycle model has been implemented for the first time in a high-resolution 3D coupled physical and biogeochemical model of the Baltic Sea, spanning the years 1850-2008. The explicit consideration of life cycle dynamics and transitions significantly improves the representation of the cyanobacterial phenological patterns compared to earlier 3D-modelling efforts. Now, the rapid increase and decrease of cyanobacteria in the Baltic Sea is well captured, and the seasonal timing is in concert with observations. The current improvement also had a large effect on the nitrogen fixation load and is now in agreement with estimates based on in situ measurements. By performing four phosphorus sensitivity runs, we demonstrate the importance of both organic and inorganic phosphorus availability for historical cyanobacterial biomass estimates. The model combination can be used to continuously predict internal nitrogen loads via nitrogen fixation in Baltic Sea ecosystem management, which is of extra importance in a future ocean with changed conditions for the filamentous cyanobacteria.


Smart phones have become a powerful platform for wearable context recognition. We present a service-based recognition architecture which creates an evolving classification system using feedback from the user community. The approach utilizes classifiers based on fuzzy inference systems which use live annotation to personalize the classifier instance on the device. Our recognition system is designed for everyday use: it allows flexible placement of the device (no assumed or fixed position), requires only minimal personalization effort from the user (1–3 minutes per activity) and is capable of detecting a high number of activities. The components of the service are shown in an evaluation scenario, in which recognition rates up to 97% can be achieved for ten activity classes.


This paper discusses the market for farmland in North Carolina and presents the results of the 1980 North Carolina Rural Real Estate Market Survey. Land value data that are currently available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Colmlerce are discussed and trends in real and nominal land values in North Carolina and the nation are examined. Several agricultural and nonagricultural factors that influence demand for North Carolina farmland for farm use and for conversion to nonfarm use are identified. Results of the 1980 survey provide information on (1) the nature and extent of farmland market activity in North Carolina based upon the judgment of survey respondents, and (2) average land values for actual sales of farmland both remaining in farming and being converted to nonfarm use. Considerable emphasis is given to the influence of nonfarm factors on land values and the land market.


Two statistical thermodynamic models, the nonrandom hydrogen bonding (NRHB) theory, which is a compressible lattice model, and the simplified perturbed-chain-statistical associating fluid theory (sPC-SAFT), which is based on Wertheim's perturbation theory, were used to model liquid-liquid equilibria and predict the fraction of non-hydrogen bonded molecules in various hydrogen bonding mixtures. Carefully selected binary mixtures, which include water-hydrocarbon, 1-alkanol-hydrocarbon, water-1-alkanol, and glycol-hydrocarbon, were used to benchmark the accuracy of the models. Both models yielded satisfactory and often very similar results for the phase behavior of the investigated mixtures. sPC-SAFT yielded more accurate predictions, while NRHB yielded more accurate correlations, in mixtures of water with normal alkanes and cycloalkanes. In water-aromatic hydrocarbon mixtures, satisfactory correlations were obtained only when solvation was accounted for. Both models resulted in satisfactory correlations for all other mixtures, while for specific mixtures, one model may perform better than the other. Finally, both models, despite that they are based on totally different approaches for the treatment of hydrogen bonding, yielded similar predictions for the fraction of non-hydrogen bonded molecules (monomer fraction) in pure 1-alkanols and in 1-alkanol-n-hexane mixtures.


Neuroradiology, Hôpital Maison-Blanche, Reims, France. Purpose WEB Flow disruption is an innovative endovascular treatment for wide-neck bifurcation aneurysms. Prospective multicenter GCP (Good Clinical Practice) studies conducted in Europe (WEBCAST, French Observatory, WEBCAST-2) and USA (WEB-IT) have shown the good safety and efficacy of the device in the treatment of wide-neck bifurcation aneurysms. This series is evaluating the performance of the 21 System. Methods Patients with wide neck bifurcation aneurysms treated with WEB-21 were prospectively included in this single-center series conducted in Reims (France). Adverse events were reported and analyzed. Aneurysm occlusion was evaluated at the end of the procedure, 24 hour, 3 months, and 6 months using the 3 grade scale: complete occlusion, neck remnant, and aneurysm remnant. Results A total of 35 patients (24 females, 68.6%) aged 32 to 78 years were included. Thirty-seven aneurysms were treated with WEB-21. Aneurysm location was middle cerebral artery in 18/37 aneurysms (48.6%), internal carotid artery in 7/37 (18.9%), anterior communicating artery in 6/37 (16.2%), and basilar artery in 6/37 (16.2%). Aneurysm size (transverse diameter) was between 2.5 and 6.9 mm. Neck size was greater than 4 mm in 16/37 aneurysms (43.2%). 35/37 aneurysms (94.6%) were treated with WEB SL and 2/37 (5.4%) with WEB SLS. Placement of the WEB device was feasible in 36/37 aneurysms (97.3%). In 1 patient, placement of the WEB was not possible due to the angle between the aneurysm and the parent artery. During catheterization of the aneurysm sac, perforation of the parent artery occurred leading to subarachnoid bleeding and death 4 days later (mortality: 1/37, 2.7%). No thromboembolic event or aneurysm rupture was observed during the treatment. There was no morbidity related to the procedure (0.0%). As of now, angiographic follow-up (3–12 months) was obtained in 31/37 aneurysms (83.8%). Anatomical results were complete aneurysm occlusion in 20/31 aneurysms (64.5%), neck remnant in 9/31 aneurysms (29.0%), and aneurysm remnant in 2/31 aneurysms (6.5%). Conclusion This preliminary evaluation shows a good safety and efficacy of the WEB 21 system. Disclosures L. Pierot: 2; C; Microvention/Sequent. S. Soize: None. M. Gawlitza: None.


We present an Arctic sea-ice observation system that focuses on unique direct observations of sea ice plus snow thickness. A network of research institutions, the Alfred Wegener Institute, York University and the Norwegian Polar Institute, maintain an observation system that is embedded in several national and international projects and supported by research partners. Activities in the field include the use of long-range polar research aircraft and helicopter operations from research icebreakers and bases on land. Data collections are based on electromagnetic induction sounding and consistent time series are available in key regions of the Arctic Ocean since 2001. The increased use of polar research aircrafts in recent years has resulted in several initiatives that aim for long-term observations of ice thickness during seasonal minimum and maximum sea-ice extent in the Arctic. The scientific payload of the research aircraft of type Basler BT-67 and its capability to fly low-altitude surveys makes it an ideal tool for the validation and on-going verification of various satellite remote sensing products. The availability of airborne sea-ice thickness information spans the periods of different satellite sea-ice thickness retrieval concepts, such as the radar altimeters from Envisat and CryoSat-2 as well as the laser altimeter from ICESat-1 and -2. Wherever possible, the airborne surveys are accompanied by in-situ observations on the ice surface to compile a hierarchy of validation data from local to basin scales. Results of the observation network have found broad use for studying inter-annual variability and changes of sea ice thickness as well as the validation of satellite data products. We identify a gap of observations over the multi-year sea ice zone during the melt season and early freeze-up. We also stress the need for the continuation of a coordinated observational program that has produced a time series of sea ice thickness only paralleled by submarine observations. We plan to augment the observation system by simultaneous measurements of snow depth and to investigate opportunities for technological advances, such as the utilization of unmanned aerial systems.


Scientific debates involve academic discussions associated with topics, techniques, and even societal aspirations. Still, scientists are also concerned with the management of science. New institutional demands and opportunities enable scientists to better manage the ways in which outputs are produced and disseminated. REGION is indeed a clear example of academic answers to such new challenges and trends. Parallel discussions and changes are also taking place in academic institutions. In 1954 Walter Isard founded the Regional Science Association. Over time the Association has changed and nowadays the organizational structure serves as an umbrella organization overseeing superregional organizations, including the European one, ERSA, which likewise, covers 19 sections. Regional science is not only an academic discipline. Practitioners and policy makers are also involved at conferences and workshops. Meetings, such as the upcoming 2016 ERSA Congress in Vienna, are an imperative ingredient to the assignments of researchers and policy makers alike. As Borghans et al. (2010, p. 868) point out, conferences "provide the possibility to acquire feedback on a paper, to get informed about the work of others, and to talk to colleagues to exchange ideas. A relaxed atmosphere and being away from the office can promote creativity". Nevertheless, discussions are not only taking place in shared physical spaces. They are also occurring in the literature, particularly in journals, newsletters and in electronic media. In our first Editorial we briefly reviewed several historical papers addressing the state of the art of Regional Science as a discipline. The third volume of REGION picks up the baton and presents a Manifesto proposing the creation of a new think-tank platform – the Regional Science Academy. We are proud to publish such an outcome, for it presents REGION as an environment that houses and promotes such discourse. In this line, we will be pleased to publish reactions to the Manifesto in the future. The journal is in excellent shape, with several Special Issues in preparation, receiving high quality submissions and waiting for new ones. We take this opportunity to thank Roberto Patuelli for his excellent service to REGION as Managing Editor in the last two years. He took over the responsibility and difficult mission of launching a new journal. The Editorial Team in an optic of shared responsibility continues this task, pursuing with haste the inclusion of this journal in to the most prestigious indexing platforms. We are proud of our journal and want the world to know that Regional Science now has an open-access publication with the highest standards for quality.


This study investigates the effect of the European sovereign debt crisis on alternative capital sources of public companies from France, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Specifically, it studies which financing choices expose a company to potential bank lending and demand shocks during the Euro crisis. To this end, the study employs average treatment effect estimations and difference-in-differences regressions to show whether financially more (less) constrained companies use more (less) alternative capital than matching control companies. I find that two of three financially more constrained company groups show higher use of alternative capital sources than matched companies due to evidence for bank lending shocks in Germany and France. Companies with a high financial dependence behave against the expectation because of high cash holdings and lower need for alternative capital. Companies with high cash holdings showed signs of a demand shock. Swiss and British companies appear to be much less affected by the Euro crisis because of weaker financial ties with the most affected southern Eurozone economies.


A novel current controllable floating or grounded inductor simulator circuit with minimum elements is proposed. The circuit uses two dual output- second generation current controlled conveyors (DO-CCCIIs) with parasitic resistance at terminal X and one grounded capacitor externally connected. Proposed circuit is suitable for fully integrated circuit design. Analysis and simulation results are included.


The letters written by Win Jenkins in Tobias Smollett's Humphry Clinker (1771) have certainly not gone without scholarly comment. Until now, however, attention seems to have been directed entirely toward linguistic vagaries narrowly conceived rather than toward the broader stylistic and representational mode that these eccentricities of idiom serve. In particular, an exchange between W. Arthur Boggs and Arthur Sherbo raised the issue as to whether Win's fractured word-forms could properly be seen as coinages. (1) I wish here to widen the discussion a little and propose that the mode of writing Smollett uses for Win's letters is modeled directly on Swift's poems composed, wholly or partly, in the voice of a serving maid. In fact, the evidence suggests that Smollett may have taken some of his particular usages and expressions quite openly from this source. The best known of Swift's exercises in the vein described here is "The Humble Petition of Frances Harris," written c.1701, first published in 1709, and included in Swift's Miscellanies of 1711. A second and equally effective use of the mode comes in "Mary the Cook-Maid's Letter to Dr. Sheridan," written c.1718 and first published in 1732. A number of Swift's later poems on Irish subjects incorporate similar versions of the "cook-maid" theme, however, especially within the so-called Market Hill group of poems. The most relevant of these for our purposes is "The Grand Question Debated," which includes passages written in the voice of Lady Acheson's waiting woman, Hannah. This poem, composed c.1729, was first published in 1732. All three of these works were included in George Faulkner's canonical edition of the Works in 1735, the basis for subsequent collections of Swift throughout the eighteenth century. All were therefore available to Smollett. It should be added that scholars have observed minor raids on Swift's work on previous occasions, including a possible recollection of A Modest Defence of Punning in one of Win Jenkins's verbal distortions. (2) This suggestion is made in the standard edition of Humphry Clinker; no reference is made there to the poems, except in a single case where the editor, Thomas R. Preston, glosses the expression "Hail fellow, well met" by citing an instance in one of Swift's other Market Hill poems, "My Lady's Lamentation and Complaint against the Dean" (Smollett 332). (3) The characteristics that define the mode under review and that point toward Smollett's imitation of it might be listed under several headings. Swift employs what is fundamentally a trope of garrulity: a single voice is allowed to soliloquize at length. In the cases of "The Humble Petition" and "Mary the Cook-Maid's Letter" we have a complete monologue. In "The Grand Question Debated," the maid-servant rattles on, with only a brief interjection by her mistress; we are led to understand that Lady Acheson feels she ought to stop her tattling maid but enjoys the gossip too much to be able to do so. The first two poems employ an unusually long line, spilling over from about fourteen to sixteen syllables; the third poem manages to convey a similar air of garrulity with a basic eleven-syllable line. All three use a headlong syntax, exemplified by these lines in "The Humble Petition of Frances Harris": "Now you must know, because my Trunk has a very bad Lock, / Therefore all the Money, I have, (which God knows, is a very small Stock,) / I keep in my Pocket ty'd about my Middle, next my Smock" (5-7). (4) The essence of the style is found in a racy demotic language, including dialect forms--here Irish, of course--along with distorted word forms (as when Hannah uses "creter" for "creature"), colloquial cliches of the sort Swift collected for Polite Conversation, below-stairs slang, and many proverbial or folk expressions. There is no use of malapropism in the narrow sense, although Mrs. Harris produces a kind of malapropist proper noun when she converts Lord Drogheda into "Lord Dromedary" (l. …


This study was carried out in Bingol province on eastern Anatolian Region between 2013 and 2015. In this study, we obtained 14 bitter vetch genotypes from different sources. The experiment was carried our in three replications in randomized block design. Each plant was weekly measured for 6 weeks starting from germination. For each plant, plant height, fresh and dry stem weight, fresh and dry leaf weights were determined. Logistic, Richards and Weibull growth models were fitted to describe the growth pattern of the genotypes. The best fitting model criteria used were coefficient of determination and mean squared. Richards's growth model was found to best fit the data for most of the genotypes. Logistic model was the worst fit. In Turkey, climate and soil properties have very large variations. For this, local genotypes showed large variation according to plating areas. YEREL LICE genotype showed more stable and it is the height identified all growth models than other local genotypes. However, IFVE 2923 SEL and IFVE 2977 SEL 2802 these genotypes gave positive results in different environmental conditions.


ABSTRACT As an acute respiratory infectious disease, COVID-19 threatens the safety of global public health. Given the current lack of specific treatment against this disease, research and development of vaccines have become sharp weapons for overcoming the pandemic. mRNA vaccines have become the lead in COVID-19 vaccination strategies due to their advantages, such as rapid industrial production and efficacy. A total of 137 COVID-19 vaccines have entered the clinical trial stage, among which 23 are mRNA vaccines, accounting for 17% of the total vaccines. Herein, we summarize the research and developmental processes of mRNA vaccines as well as the approach for protecting the human body against infection. Focusing on the latest clinical trial data of two COVID-19 mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Modena, we discuss their effectiveness and safety. Finally, we analyze the challenges and problems that mRNA vaccines face in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic.


Rodents cause substantial damage and losses of foodstuffs around the world. They also transmit many diseases to humans and livestock. While various methods are used to reduce damage caused by rodents, rodenticides remain an important tool in the toolbox. However, like all tools, rodenticides have advantages and disadvantages. Several considerations are shaping the future of rodenticide use, including manufacturing and registration costs, concern about toxicity levels and nontarget animal hazards, potential hazards to children, reduced effectiveness of some formulations, and humaneness to the targeted rodents. Many of these disadvantages apply to anticoagulant rodenticides, and their use is being more restricted in numerous settings. This paper discusses rodenticide use but also alternative control methods such as traps, exclusion, habitat management, repellents, and fertility control. While there have been relatively few new developments in rodenticides and other rodent control methods in the last several decades, new formulations and active ingredients are being investigated so that these concerns can be addressed. Some of these new developments and research results are also discussed.


Current practice guidelines recommend considering a diagnosis of MODY in patients with a strong family history but without typical features of type 2 diabetes (T2D) (i.e., obesity, insulin resistance, high-risk ethnicity) or type 1 diabetes (T1D) (i.e., islet autoantibodies). We aimed to test if these criteria apply to a racially diverse pediatric patient population. Using EPIC Population Health, we retrospectively reviewed electronic medical records (IRB H-41512) of youth diagnosed with MODY between 2013-2017 in a large academic pediatric hospital in Southwestern U.S. We found that, out of 46 patients with MODY, 50% (n=23) had MODY 2, 17.3% (n=8) MODY 3, 17.3% (n=8) MODY 5, 8.6% (n=4) MODY 1, 2.1% (n=1) MODY 4, and 8.6% of patients had a clinical diagnosis of MODY due to inability to perform molecular testing. The mean (SD, range) age of diabetes diagnosis was 10.1 years (4.4, 2-17); 52% of patients were females; 50% were non-Hispanic white, 32.5% Hispanic, 6.5% African American, 6.6% Lebanese, 2.2% Asian and 2.2% others/unknown. Notably, 15.2% (n=7, all with a molecular diagnosis of MODY) had positive islet antibodies, 8.6% (n=4) Hashimoto's thyroiditis and 2.1% (n=1) vitiligo. Obesity/overweight was present in 23.8%, 15.2% had hypertension / prehypertension and 21.7% had dyslipidemia. Diabetes was absent in parents and siblings of 26% (n=12) of patients, although in 5 patients, the mother had gestational diabetes. Persistent microalbuminuria was found in 2 youth with MODY 2 and diabetic neuropathy in 1 patient with MODY 2. The mean (SD, range) time between the diagnoses of diabetes and MODY was 14.3 months (22.3, 1-120). In conclusion, youth with MODY often were of ethnic minorities, lacked a family history of diabetes and had characteristics typical of T1D or T2D, suggesting that the current guidelines to consider a diagnosis of MODY may not apply to a racially diverse U.S. pediatric population. Furthermore, in contrast to previous studies, we identified microvascular complications in youth with MODY 2. Disclosure S. Relan: None. F.C. Hessel: None. K.D. Timmons: None. R. Sonabend: None. M.J. Redondo: None.


The design of every aspect of the urban landscape—from streets and sidewalks to green spaces, mass transit, and housing—fundamentally influences the health and safety of the communities who live there. It can affect people's stress levels and determine whether they walk or drive, the quality of the air they breathe, and how free they are from crime. This book provides a compelling look at the new science and art of urban planning, showing how scientists, planners, and citizens can work together to reshape city life in measurably positive ways. It demonstrates how well-designed changes to place can significantly improve the well-being of large groups of people. The book argues that there is a disconnect between those who implement place-based changes, such as planners and developers, and the urban scientists who are now able to rigorously evaluate these changes through testing and experimentation. It covers a broad range of structural interventions, such as building and housing, land and open space, transportation and street environments, and entertainment and recreation centers. Science shows we can enhance people's health and safety by changing neighborhoods block-by-block. The book explains why planners and developers need to recognize the value of scientific testing, and why scientists need to embrace the indispensable know-how of planners and developers. It reveals how these professionals, working together and with urban residents, can create place-based interventions that are simple, affordable, and scalable to entire cities.


Faunal composition and diversity of macroinvertebrate assemblages in the gray facies of nineteen "core" shales of Mid-continent Pennsylvanian cyclothems confirm the offshore marine origin previously established for those shales. Diverse assemblages of only calcitic fossils that show grain corrosion at northern Midcontinent localities (Nebraska/Iowa) indicate deposition under oxic to slightly dysoxic conditions within the calcite lysocline but below the aragonite compensation depth for this particular sea. Southward (Kansas), sparser calcitic faunas indicate that "core" shales there were deposited farther from the northern shoreline in water of greater depth and less bottom oxygen, closer to or locally below the calcite compensation depth. Farther southward near the Ouachita detrital source (Oklahoma), greater influx of sediment permitted rapid burial of shelled organisms to overprint the effects of lysoclines and compensation depths. Both the originally aragonitic molluscs as well as calcitic organisms are preserved in those shales. Fine detrital grain size, radiolarian-bearing nonskeletal phosphate, and pelagic fauna (ammonoids and conodonts) further substantiate an offshore marine origin for the black "core" shale facies that is surrounded by the gray facies, and which was deposited in a probably deeper, more continually anoxic environment where most benthos was excluded.


We study the characteristics of large online social networks through an extensive analysis of over 1.9 million MySpace profiles in an effort to understand who is using these networks and how they are being used. We study MySpace through a comparative study over three different, but related, facets: (i) the sociability of users in MySpace based on relationship, messaging, and group participation; (ii) the demographic characteristics of MySpace users in terms of age, gender, and location, and a study of how these factors correlate with their privacy preferences; and (iii) the text artifacts of MySpace users, which can be used to construct language models that distinguish MySpace users not just by who they say they are but also by the language model they employ. We find a number of surprising results and conjecture several potential research directions based on our observations


BACKGROUND
 Health information technologies (HITs) such as electronic health records (EHR) and telemedicine services are currently used to assist clinicians provide care to patients. There are many barriers to HIT adoption, including mismatches between investments and benefits, disruptions in the workflow, and concerns about privacy and confidentiality. The lack of HIT training of health professionals as a workforce is an increasingly recognized and understudied barrier.

 OBJECTIVE
 The purpose of this study is to describe what courses on HIT topics are available at the graduate level for future health professionals in the European Union (EU) and to explore possible determining factors for their exposure to these courses.

 METHODS
 A cross-sectional descriptive study of EU medical schools was performed to explore the prevalence of HIT courses. The curricula of all identified higher learning institutions that offer a medical degree were manually explored to identify graduate-level courses that offer specific training on HIT topics. HIT topics were defined as courses or subjects that provided knowledge on the design, development, use, and implementation of HIT. Associations among potential factors such as population, yearly medical graduates, total number of physicians, EHR presence, and gross domestic product (GDP) were explored.

 RESULTS
 A total of 302 medical schools from the 28 member states of the EU were explored. Only about one-third (90/302, 29.80%) of all medical degree curricula offered any kind of HIT course at the graduate level; in the medical schools that offered HIT courses, the courses were often mandatory (58/90, 64.44%). In most EU countries, HIT courses are offered in less than half of the medical schools, regardless of the country's GDP per capita. Countries with the highest percentages of HIT course presence have the lowest GDP per capita. There seems to be a weak inverse correlation (–0.49) between the two variables (GDP per capita and HIT course presence). There is a trend between the availability of medical human resources and an increase in the presence of HIT courses, with Romania, Croatia, and Greece as outliers in this respect.

 CONCLUSIONS
 The current state of medical training in the EU leaves much room for improvement. Further studies are required for in-depth analysis of the content and manner of instruction that would fit present and future needs of HIT.


The gas-phase dissociation of protein assemblies is becoming crucial for the application of mass spectrometry to structural biology. However certain aspects of the dissociation mechanism remain elusive. Moreover, many protein complexes resist dissociation at the energies accessible with current instrumentation. Here we report new insights into the collision-induced dissociation mechanism of protein assemblies. By holding activation energy constant and varying the charge state of the precursor ion, we show that the total charge of the precursor ion dramatically influences the internal energy required to dissociate monomers from the protein assembly. Furthermore, we have developed a modified quadrupole-time-of-flight instrument capable of accessing activation energies higher than previously possible. Under these conditions, protein assemblies eject subunits with excess internal energy that subsequently fragment into peptides. Together, these data indicate that the non-covalent dissociation is limited by the amount of charge available and not merely the activation energy, and they project the exciting possibility of extracting sequence information directly from intact protein complexes in the gas phase.


Aircrew are familiar with distortion in the apparent duration of elapsed intervals of time, and they are aware of factors which may accentuate this distortion. It is apparent that the content of the interval and the attitude of the individual towards it are of paramount importance in determining punctuality. Three separate laboratory experiments on Man constitute 'the basis of this research. Their objective was to investigate a few of the factors thought to be relevant to an understanding of some of file mechanisms which underly the accurate assessment of the duration of an elapsed interval. In the first laboratory experiment it was shown that the apparent duration of a ten-minute interval was decreased by the performance of a tracking ten and increased by exposure of the subject to irrelevant alteration in the environment. By obtaining a quantitative subjective assessment of alertness and a measure of skin resistance change, it was demonstrated that the subjects' level of arousal was increased by both performance of the task and exposure to the environmental distraction. No significant relationship between arousal and apparent duration could be elicited. In the second experiment it was demonstrated that a 1 kc/B tone increased the apparent duration of a ten-second interval as determined by the method of serial reproduction, but only when it was presented in the judgment interval. No consistent distortion was obtained when the resistance to respiration was increased. In the last experiment, evidence was obtained which suggests that the relative duration of a one-minute Interval is related to the attitude of the individual towards its content " the stronger the view expressed, foe it preference in its favour or aversion against it, the longer the apparent duration of the interval. It is concluded that any composite theory of the mechanism of the perception of time must include an understanding of cognitive and affective processes. To aircrew, as control-system operators, time perception is a matter of practicality; in order to reduce the incidence of human error, it is advised that they rely implicitly on accurate chronometers to assess the duration of an elapsed interval and achieve punctuality.


This research studied the shear and flexural behaviour of fiber reinforced lightweight self-consolidating concrete (FRLWSCC) beams made of three different fibers such as: High-Density Poly Ethylene (HDPE), Crumb Rubber (CR) and Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) compared with lightweight self-consolidating concrete (LWSCC) beams. The performances of all beams were described based on load-deformation or moment-rotation response, strain developments, crack characterization, failure modes, ductility, stiffness and energy absorbing capacity. All FRLWSCC shear beams showed higher ultimate shear resistance, ductility and energy absorption capacity compared to LWSCC beams. All FRLWSCC flexural beams at failure exhibited higher flexural capacity, more cracks with smaller width, higher ductility, higher energy absorption capacity and lower stiffness compared to their LWSCC counterparts. FRLWSCC beams especially made of HDPE fibers showed better shear and flexural capacities besides satisfactory ductility performance. Experimental shear and flexural capacities of FRLWSCC beams were compared with those predicted from Code based and other existing equations.


We introduce and investigate the band gap structure of the frequency spectrum for classical electromagnetic and acoustic waves in a high-contrast, two-component periodic medium. The asymptotics with respect to the high-contrast is considered. The limit medium is described in terms of appropriate self-adjoint operators and the convergence to the limit is proven. These limit operators give an idea of the spectral structure and suggest new numerical approaches as well. The results are obtained in arbitrary dimension and for rather general geometry of the medium. In particular, two-dimensional (2D) photonic band gap structures and their acoustic analogues are covered.


ABSTRACT Aim: A number of studies have shown an association between obesity and asthma. Controversy remains on the mechanisms supporting this association. In this study we aimed to assess neurogenic inflammation in a model of diet-induced obesity and allergen-challenged mice. Methods: High fat diet-induced (HFD) obese Balb/c mice were sensitized and challenged with ovalbumin (OVA). Glucose, insulin, OVA-specific IgE and substance P (SP), and the main tachykinin involved in neurogenic inflammation, were quantified in sera. Cell counts were performed in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). The extent of peribronchial infiltrates was estimated on lung tissue sections and inflammation was score based on inflammatory cell counts surrounding the bronchi. Results: Obesity per se and allergen-sensitization per se increased serum SP (P = .027, P = .004, respectively). Further increased was observed in obese-sensitized mice (P = .007). Obese-sensitized mice also showed higher insulin (P = .0016), OVA-specific IgE (P = .016), peribronchial inflammatory score (P = .045), and tendency for higher glycemia. The interaction of obesity and asthma on SP levels was confirmed (P = .005, R2 = 0.710). SP was positively correlated with metabolic (glycemia, r = 0.539, P = .007) and allergic inflammation parameters (BALF eosinophils, r = 0.445, P = 0.033; BALF mast cells, r = 0.574, P = .004; peribronchial inflammation score, r = 0.661, P < .001; and OVA-specific IgE, r = 0.714, P < .001). Conclusions: Our findings provide support to the neurogenic inflammation link between obesity and asthma in mice. These two conditions independently increased SP and the presence of both pathologies further increased this level. Neurogenic inflammation may be a previously unrecognized mechanism beyond the obese-asthma phenotype. Further studies are need to confirm this role of SP in human obesity-asthma association.


Abstract Background Noninvasive blood pressures (NIBP) and pulse pressures (PP) have not been published in horses with aortic and mitral regurgitation (AR or MR). Objectives To investigate NIBP and PP in healthy Warmblood horses and horses with AR and MR and propose PP cutoffs to identify and stage AR severity. Animals Seventy‐three Warmblood horses (healthy, 10; AR, 31; MR, 32). Methods Retrospective study. All horses had NIBP and an echocardiogram recorded. Cases were categorized based on severity of regurgitation. Pulse pressures were compared among healthy, MR, and AR groups and among AR severity groups. Cutoffs were determined by receiver operating characteristic curve analyses. Results Horses with AR had higher PP than horses with MR (mean difference [95% confidence interval (CI)], +17 [9‐26] mm Hg, P < .001) and controls (+17 [5‐30] mm Hg; P =.004). Horses with severe AR had higher PP compared those with mild (+38 [20‐54] mm Hg; P < 0.001) and moderate AR (+33 [18‐47] mm Hg; P < .001). The PP cutoffs to distinguish AR from MR and controls were 38 mm Hg (sensitivity [Sn], 100%; specificity [Sp], 19%) for maximal Sn and 61 mm Hg (Sn, 43%; Sp, 100%) for maximal Sp. The PP cutoffs to distinguish severe AR from mild and moderate AR were 57 mm Hg (Sn, 100%; Sp, 70%) for maximal Sn and 77 mm Hg (Sn, 75%; Sp, 100%) for maximal Sp. Conclusions and Clinical Importance Horses with AR have increased PP. Noninvasive PP measurements interpreted with provided cutoffs may aid clinicians in diagnosing and staging severity of AR in horses.