CTLA-4 blockade has been shown by other investigators [D. R. Leach, et al., Science (Washington DC), 271: 1734-1736, 1996; and Y-F. Yang, et al., Cancer Res., 57: 4036-4041, 1997] to retard tumor growth in selected tumor systems. Here, we show that CTLA-4 blockade alone was ineffective in retarding tumor growth in the murine MOPC-315 tumor system. Yet, CTLA-4 blockade offered significant therapeutic benefits to MOPC-315 tumor bearers when combined with a subtherapeutic dose of the chemotherapeutic agent melphalan, which was previously shown (L. Gorelik, et al., Cancer Immunol. Immunother., 39: 117-126, 1994) to shift the cytokine profile in the tumor bearers toward type-1 cytokines. In addition, we show here that anti-CTLA-4 monoclonal antibody enhanced antitumor cytotoxicity when the anti-CTLA-4 monoclonal antibody was added to stimulation cultures of spleen cells from low-dose melphalan-treated MOPC-315 tumor-bearing mice but not from untreated tumor-bearing mice. These results suggest that the therapeutic benefits of CTLA-4 blockade depend on the ability of drugs such as melphalan to promote an immunogenic environment by altering the cytokine profile of tumor-specific T cells.


To reduce the space-heating needs, balanced mechanical ventilation equipped with a heat recovery is frequently implemented in highly-insulated residential buildings. This standard ventilation strategy tends to homogenize temperature inside the building, in other words, to reduce temperature zoning. In some countries, such as Norway, many users would like colder bedrooms. It has been proved that a significant part of the occupants in Norwegian passive houses opens bedroom windows during several hours every night during winter. Dynamic simulations have shown that it strongly increases the space-heating needs and that control only is unable to create temperature zoning in an energy-efficient way. The building concept should be changed. In the present contribution, the physical processes during temperature zoning are further explained. Detailed dynamic simulations of a detached single-family house are performed using the simulation software IDA ICE for different insulation levels, construction modes (which also influence the thermal insulation in partition walls) and control strategies. Alternative mechanical ventilation strategies are compared. They manage to reduce the influence of mechanical ventilation on the increased space-heating needs due to window opening but they cannot improve the large contribution of heat conduction through partition walls between heated areas and unheated bedrooms. Among the investigated ventilation strategies, decentralized ventilation has intrinsically the best performance.


Adeno-associated virus-2 (AAV) can integrate in a site-specific manner to human chromosome 19 and is currently in phase I clinical trials for cystic fibrosis (CF) at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The goal of this study was to determine the fate of recombinant AAV containing the CFTR cDNA (AAV-CFTR) in an immortalized pseudotetraploid CF bronchial epithelial cell line (IB3-1) established from a patient with CF. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and Southern blotting of DNA from IB3-1 cells infected with wild-type (wt) or recombinant AAV-CFTR were performed. CFRH2, an IB3-1 cell line with an estimated 15-20 integrated copies of CFTR cDNA, was used to test FISH sensitivity. All metaphase spreads had integrated copies: a single site in 36 of 56 (64.3%) and two sites within the same metaphase spread in 20 of 56 (35.7%). 3-CF-8, an IB3-1 cell line with integration of a partial CFTR cDNA (3.9 kb) was also analyzed by FISH. Integration was observed in 56 of 157 (35.7%) metaphase spreads examined. IB3-1 cells infected with wild-type AAV showed integration in 51 of 86 (59%) metaphase spreads examined. Of 51 integrations, 48 (94%) were to chromosome 19. Examination of 67 metaphase chromosome spreads of IB3-1 cells infected with AAV-CFTR vector (Azero) identified four integrations (6%) to different chromosomes. No integration was to chromosome 19 which differs significantly (P < 0.0001) from wild-type AAV. We then analyzed the A35 cell line, a clone of Azero selected for stable CFTR expression. Genomic DNA from A35 cells did not show a single site of integration; however episomal AAV-CFTR sequences were abundant in the low molecular weight DNA fraction. Examination of 68 metaphase chromosome preparations identified eight distinct integrations, none to chromosome 19. These studies show that FISH is sensitive for the detection of a partial CFTR cDNA integration. Wild-type AAV integrates in a predominantly site-specific fashion. Recombinant AAV-CFTR integrates at low frequency in a nonspecific manner and persists in episomal form in this epithelial cell line.


In this article, the author discusses findings from an interpretative phenomenological study which explores challenging issues in relation to professionalism for counselling, and illuminates features in need of consideration in relation to organisational contexts. These features include the rapid reconfiguration of professionalism in response to contemporary organisational structures such as policy and managerial driven incentives. Using two individual semi-structured interviews, the meaning of professionalism for counsellors is explored. The author proposes that the rapidly growing disparity between old or occupational professionalism, as opposed to new or organizational professionalism, causes uncertainty for counsellors who may struggle to maintain their professional identity. The counsellor's sense of professionalism is further disempowered if they feel themselves unheard, causing the counsellor to either resist or disengage from organizational obligations. Findings suggest that a counsellor's sense of professionalism is more ably communicated if their place in an organisation is enacted rather than imposed. The author discusses the experiences of two counsellors in relation to the literature on professionalism, with focus upon the emotional reactions which were expressed as to organisational changes.


Abstract This article asks: What makes for good cases when teaching public policy in a developing country? How important is geographic proximity relative to other factors in determining relevance? Building on literature about the unique public policy needs in developing countries and the case method as a pedagogical tool, and using a survey from a program that serves midcareer professionals in Nairobi, Kenya, the authors find the following to be key criteria for case selection: being set in a comparable developing country context; representing a similar array of public problems as the local context; demonstrating alternative public policy approaches to achieve progress; and inspiring optimism and hope by virtue of overcoming barriers. The authors share information on two cases that students identified as best meeting these criteria, one set in Asia (Singapore) and the other in Latin America (Colombia).


Purpose: ROS1 tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) provide significant benefit in lung adenocarcinoma patients with ROS1 fusions. However, as observed with all targeted therapies, resistance arises. Detecting mechanisms of acquired resistance (AR) is crucial to finding novel therapies and improve patient outcomes. Experimental Design: ROS1 fusions were expressed in HBEC and NIH-3T3 cells either by cDNA overexpression (CD74/ROS1, SLC34A2/ROS1) or CRISPR-Cas9–mediated genomic engineering (EZR/ROS1). We reviewed targeted large-panel sequencing data (using the MSK-IMPACT assay) patients treated with ROS1 TKIs, and genetic alterations hypothesized to confer AR were modeled in these cell lines. Results: Eight of the 75 patients with a ROS1 fusion had a concurrent MAPK pathway alteration and this correlated with shorter overall survival. In addition, the induction of ROS1 fusions stimulated activation of MEK/ERK signaling with minimal effects on AKT signaling, suggesting the importance of the MAPK pathway in driving ROS1 fusion-positive cancers. Of 8 patients, 2 patients harbored novel in-frame deletions in MEK1 (MEK1delE41_L54) and MEKK1 (MEKK1delH907_C916) that were acquired after ROS1 TKIs, and 2 patients harbored NF1 loss-of-function mutations. Expression of MEK1del or MEKK1del, and knockdown of NF1 in ROS1 fusion-positive cells activated MEK/ERK signaling and conferred resistance to ROS1 TKIs. Combined targeting of ROS1 and MEK inhibited growth of cells expressing both ROS1 fusion and MEK1del. Conclusions: We demonstrate that downstream activation of the MAPK pathway can mediate of innate acquired resistance to ROS1 TKIs and that patients harboring ROS1 fusion and concurrent downstream MAPK pathway alterations have worse survival. Our findings suggest a treatment strategy to target both aberrations.


Rice (Oryza sativa) is a major crop in Macedonia. The most important rice disease is rice blast caused by Pyricularia grisea. One of the most effective means of controlling rice blast disease is the development and use of resistant rice cultivars.
R. Macedonia is planning to examine vertical and horizontal resistance to Pyricularia grisea in several rice varieties from Europe and People's Republic of China.
During the first year of the project we expect to identify the pathotypes of Pyricularia grisea. Because we still do not have complete instruments for molecular examinations we expect this part of the project to be done in People's Republic of China.
During the second year we plan to study vertical (rice - specific) and horizontal (rice non-specific, field, durable) resistance of rice cultivars from Europe and People's Republic of China in order to explore more rice resistance varieties to the pathogen Pyricularia grisea that make great damages in rice fields worldwide. The results will be very helpful for future scientific examinations and for rice growers.
During the third year of the project, examinations of vertical (rice - specific) and horizontal (rice non-specific, field, durable) resistance of rice cultivars are going to be finished. We expect one researcher from our side to stay in People's Republic of China in order to take part in genetic researches of Pyricularia grisea and to learn some new methods there.


Magnesium Oxychloride Cement (MOC) is an air-hardened material with chemical reaction between magnesium oxide and magnesium chloride solution. It has many properties superior to Portland cement. It does not need wet curing, has very good fire resistance, low thermal conductivity. In this study, wood composites were developed by using MOC as binder and wood powders as filler. It was demonstrated that MOC was suitable for binding wood particles in large quantities. In order to ensure smooth extrusion process, additives and rheological modifiers were used to modify the rheology behaviors and properties of the mixture and the rheology behaviors of fresh materials were also investigated with upsetting and relaxation tests simultaneously. Then MOC-based panels with different cross-sections were produced by using extrusion technology and mechanical properties of them were investigated.


This paper uses the $526.9 million in Research and Development (R&D) support allocated by the federal government to the state of Arizona in 2010 to demonstrate how multi-regional input-output (MRIO) analysis can highlight the spatial and social heterogeneity of its economic returns. While the statewide output multiplier of this event is 2.18, the multiplier effects are between 0.23 and 0.88 point greater in Phoenix than in Tucson, the two largest metro areas in Arizona. The 'rest of Arizona' reports an even greater gap w.r.t. Phoenix because of a lack of skilled workers and infrastructure. When it comes to the heterogeneous effect across groups of inhabitants, we find that the main beneficiaries are the workers with the highest levels of education. However, more than 2,000 jobs have also been created for the labour force with a high school degree or less thus indicating the presence of social returns of investments in R&D.


Emotional advertisement has recently caught attention as an effective tool of marketing communication. However, this research has been scarce in the online context. This research investigates the impact of online emotional advertisement on customer behavior with the moderator of brand attachment. Since brand attachment reflects certain conditions of the emotional state of consumers, it is assumed to be related to the effect of emotional appeal in advertising. We showed three types (emotional, informational, and mixed) of online movie advertisements of two items to Japanese undergraduate students, and conducted two questionnaires: one on the brand attachment and the other on purchase intention and engagement behavior. Results demonstrated that online emotional advertisement impacted both engagement behavior and purchase intention, while online informational one did so only on the purchase intention. The moderating effect of brand attachment was confirmed only in online emotional advertisements of one item on engagement behavior.


This paper reports on an ongoing doctoral research project which aims to identify the main barriers to access within the built environment for persons with a visual impairment. The research seeks to investigate whether these barriers are common for all types of visual impairment and degree of vision loss and if so, what inclusive design solutions can accommodate the needs of the majority of visually impaired users. An access audit has been conducted within Glasgow city centre which sought to quantify the number and type of hazards present within a typical built environment. This was followed up by a questionnaire which asked participants to rate factors which may prevent them from making independent visits to their nearest city centre including psychological factors, physical features and obstructions resulting from the presence of street furniture. Participants also indicated the colours and contrasts which they find easiest to detect within the built environment. These findings will be used to inform the creation of a new set of design guidelines to assist designers, architects and urban planners as to how they can provide more accessible and inclusive environments for the visually impaired population.


As the participants in this collaborative exercise who are mathematics education researchers espouse a cognitive perspective, it is not surprising that there were few genuine disagreements between them and the psychologists and cognitive neuroscientists during the process of generating a consensual research agenda. In contrast, the prototypical mathematics education researcher will mostly likely find the resulting list of priority open questions to be overly restrictive in its scope of topics to be studied, highly biased toward quantitative methods, and extremely narrow in its disciplinary perspectives. It is argued here that the fundamental disconnects between the epistemological foundations, theoretical perspectives, and methodological predilections of cognitive psychologists and mainstream mathematics education researchers preclude the prospect of future productive collaborative efforts between these fields. [Commentary on: Alcock, L., Ansari, D., Batchelor, S., Bisson, M.-J., De Smedt, B., Gilmore, C., . . . Weber, K. (2016). Challenges in mathematical cognition: A collaboratively-derived research agenda. Journal of Numerical Cognition, 2, 20-41. doi:10.5964/jnc.v2i1.10]


In order to study the evolution of Ti-Si-N film growth, the total energies and absorption energies of the Ti-Si-N islands on TiN(001) surface and the activation energy of the configuration evolution have been calculated with the first principle method. Four configurations of Si-2Ti-2N island have been studied, which are a silicon atom in a 2Ti2N island (Si-in-2Ti2N), a silicon atom by a 2Ti2N island (Si-by-2Ti2N), a titanium atom by a 2N1Ti1Si island (Ti-by-2N1Ti1Si), and a nitrogen atom by a 2Ti1N1Si island (N-by-2Ti1N1Si), respectively. The investigation presents some results. In the growth process of Ti-Si-N film, (1) the Ti and N atoms bonding together to form islands and Si atoms staying outside of TiN islands will lead to the most stable configuration; (2) the Si atom tends to separate from TiN phase, but the configuration evolution is not very easy, the activation energy of the transition from Ti-by-2N1Ti1Si to Si-2Ti2N is about 1.94eV; (3) it shows a tendency for Si atoms to bond with N atoms, rather than with Ti atoms.


The constant drive towards further miniaturization and heterogeneous system integration leads to a need for new packaging technologies which also allow large area processing and 3D integration with potential for low cost applications. Large area mold embedding technologies and embedding of active components into printed circuit boards (Chip-in-Polymer) are two major packaging trends in this area. This paper describes the use of a novel S2iP (Stacked System in Package) interconnect technique using advanced molding process for multi chip embedding in combination with large area and low cost redistribution technology derived from printed circuit board manufacturing with a focus on integration of through mold vias for package stacking. The use of compression molding equipment with liquid or granular epoxy molding compounds for the targeted integration process flow is a new technology that has been especially developed to allow large area embedding of single chips but also of multiple chips or heterogeneous systems on wafer scale, typically 8" to 12". Future developments will deal with panel sizes up to 470 × 370 mm². The wiring of the embedded components in this novel type of SiP is done using PCB manufacturing technologies, i.e. a resin coated copper (RCC) film is laminated over the embedded components — whichever no matter which shape they are: a compression molded wafer or a larger rectangular area of a Molded Array Package (MAP). Interconnects are formed by laser drilling to die pads and electroplating — all of them making use of standard PCB processes. Thus, through vias which are standard features in PCB manufacturing and can be also integrated in the proposed process flow for mold embedding in combination with RCC based redistribution. Vias were drilled by laser or mechanically after RCC lamination and were metalized together with the vias for chip interconnection. Within this study different liquid and granular molding compounds have been intensively evaluated on their processability. Via drilling process by laser and mechanical drilling is systematically developed and analyzed with focus on via diameter, pitch, mold thickness and molding compound composition and here especially on filler particle sizes and distribution. The feasibility of the entire process chain is demonstrated by fabrication of a Ball Grid Array (BGA) type of system package with two embedded dies and through mold vias allowing the stacking of these BGA packages. Finally, a technology demonstrator is described consisting of two BGAs stacked on each other and mounted on a base substrate enabling the electrical test of a daisy chain structure through the stacked module, allowing the evaluation of the technology and the applied processes.


Light-emitting diode (LED) display panels have received more attention recently. These panels usually are placed in public places such as streets, squares, highways, and stadiums for live broadcasting of sporting events, TV programs, advertisements, and movie clips. An important characteristic of these panels is the minimum distance to see contiguous images on the panel with desirable quality which is referred to as the minimal viewing distance and is represented by dV . The minimal viewing distance depends on the pixel shape and pitch of the panel. In this paper, we study the relationship between the minimal viewing distance and the pixel shape and position and then provide a method to reduce this distance. This method can be used to manufacture panels with particular diagonal and distance of pixels for a required dV for a specific location.


A Bradyrhizobium japonicum Tn5 mutant (strain 3160) induced numerous, tiny, white nodules which were dispersed over the whole root system of its natural host plant, soybean (Glycine max). These ineffective, nitrogen non‐fixing pseudonodules were disturbed at a very early step of bacteroid and nodule development. Subsequent cloning and sequencing of the DNA region mutated in strain 3160 revealed that the Tn5 insertion mapped in a gene that had 60% homology to the Escherichia coli glyA gene coding for serine hydroxymethyitransferase (SHMT; E.C. 18.104.22.168.). SHMT catalyses the biosynthesis of glycine from serine and the transfer of a one‐carbon unit to tetrahydrofolate. The B. japonicum glyA region was able to fully complement the glycine auxotrophy of an E. coli glyA deletion strain. Although the Tn5 insertion in B. japonicum mutant 3160 disrupted the glyA coding sequence, this strain was only a bradytroph (i.e. a leaky auxotroph). Thus, B. japonicum may have an additional pathway for glycine biosynthesis. Nevertheless, the glyA mutation was responsible for the drastic symbiotic phenotype visible on plants. It may be possible, therefore, that a sufficient supply with glycine and/or a functioning C1 ‐metabolism are indispensable for the establishment of a fully effective, nitrogen‐fixing root nodule symbiosis.


BACKGROUND
Breast milk vitamin B-12 concentration may be inadequate in regions in which animal-source food consumption is low or infrequent. Vitamin B-12 deficiency causes megaloblastic anemia and impairs growth and development in children.

OBJECTIVE
We measured vitamin B-12 in breast milk and examined its associations with household hunger, recent animal-source food consumption, and vitamin B-12 intake.

METHODS
In a cross-sectional substudy nested within a cluster-randomized trial assessing water, sanitation, hygiene, and nutrition interventions in Kenya, we sampled 286 women 1-6 mo postpartum. Mothers hand-expressed breast milk 1 min into a feeding after 90 min observed nonbreastfeeding. The Household Hunger Scale was used to measure hunger, food intake in the previous week was measured with the use of a food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ), and vitamin B-12 intake was estimated by using 24-h dietary recall. An animal-source food score was based on 10 items from the FFQ (range: 0-70). Breast milk vitamin B-12 concentration was measured with the use of a solid-phase competitive chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay and was modeled with linear regression. Generalized estimating equations were used to account for correlated observations at the cluster level.

RESULTS
Median (IQR) vitamin B-12 intake was 1.5 μg/d (0.3, 9.7 μg/d), and 60% of women consumed <2.4 μg/d, the estimated average requirement during lactation. Median (IQR) breast milk vitamin B-12 concentration was 113 pmol/L (61, 199 pmol/L); 89% had concentrations <310 pmol/L, the estimated adequate concentration. Moderate or severe hunger prevalence was 27%; the animal-source food score ranged from 0 to 30 item-d/wk. Hunger and recent animal-source food and vitamin B-12 intake were not associated with breast milk vitamin B-12 concentrations. Maternal age was negatively associated with breast milk vitamin B-12 concentrations.

CONCLUSION
Most lactating Kenyan women consumed less than the estimated average requirement of vitamin B-12 and had low breast milk vitamin B-12 concentrations. We recommend interventions that improve vitamin B-12 intake in lactating Kenyan women to foster maternal health and child development. The main trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01704105.


The angiopoietin/Tie receptor system may contribute to angiogenesis and vascular remodeling by mediating interactions of endothelial cells with smooth muscle cells and pericytes. The temporal expression of angiopoietin-1 (Angpo-1), angiopoietin-2 (Angpo-2), Tie-1, and Tie-2 mRNA was studied in a focal cerebral ischemia model in rats. The cDNA fragments obtained from reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction amplification were cloned and used as a probe to detect individual genes. Northern blot analysis showed a delayed increase of a 4.4-kb Angpo-1 transcript for up to 2 weeks after ischemia, eightfold higher than the values of the shamoperated controls. A biphasic expression of a 2.4-kb Angpo-2 transcript was noted, peaking at 24 hours (6.4-fold) and 2 weeks (4.6- fold) after ischemia. The expression of Tie-2 mRNA (4.3 kb), a receptor for Angpo-1, and Tie-1 mRNA (4.3 kb) also increased starting 24 hours after reperfusion and remained elevated for up to 2 weeks after ischemia. The temporal profiles of the expression of these genes were different from those of other angiogenic genes such as basic fibrobast growth factor/fibroblast growth factor receptor and vascular endothelial growth factor/vascular endothelial growth factor receptor and proteolytic enzymes (tissue-type plasminogen activator and urokinase plasminogen activator) and their inhibitors (plasminogen activator inhibitor-1). The expression patterns of these genes could be related to progressive tissue liquefaction and neovascularization after ischemia in this stroke model. Differential expression of these angiogenesis genes suggests the involvement of complex regulatory mechanisms that remain to be characterized.


The AU technique is employed in this paper to test the specimen which is made up of composite shell and adiabatic layer; the noise in the tested signal is reduced by adaptive filtering; Multi-resolution analysis of the signal is achieved by wavelet transform. By comparing the ratio of the energy of signal in different frequency zones to the total energy, the characteristic frequency zone of the signal is gained. The characteristic frequency zone of the signal from specimen is evaluated by energy integral Stress Wave Factor (SWF). Flaws are found effectively, and the size of flaw can be evaluated qualitatively. The validity of AU test for bond quality of the structure is approved in the experiments.


Cellular precipitation is reduced greatly by deformation at all ageing temperatures. Precipitates within twins are often nodular and sluggish to grow, whereas dislocations created by basal slip in matrices promote fast growth of plate-like precipitates. Recrystallization was observed concurrent with precipitation above 310°C. Effective nucleation sites for recrystallization are positions connecting twins and grain boundaries or the intersections of twin variants.


Birds are principally exposed to selenium (Se) through their diet. In long-lived and top predator seabirds, such as the giant petrel, extremely high concentrations of Se are found. Selenium speciation in biota has aroused great interest in recent years; however, there is a lack of information about the chemical form of Se in (sea)birds. The majority of publications focus on the growth performance and antioxidant status in broilers in relation to Se dietary supplementation. The present work combines elemental and molecular mass spectrometry for the characterization of Se species in wild (sea)birds. A set of eight giant petrels (Macronectes sp.) with a broad age range from the Southern Ocean were studied. Selenoneine, a Se-analogue of ergothioneine, was identified for the first time in wild avian species. This novel Se-compound, previously reported in fish, constitutes the major Se species in the water-soluble fraction of all of the internal tissues and blood samples analyzed. The levels of selenoneine found in giant petrels are the highest reported in animal tissues until now, supporting the trophic transfer in the marine food web. The characterization of selenoneine in the brain, representing between 78 and 88% of the total Se, suggests a crucial role in the nervous system. The dramatic decrease of selenoneine (from 68 to 3%) with an increase of Hg concentrations in the liver strongly supports the hypothesis of its key role in Hg detoxification.


The digital revolution affects all economic aspects and the financial sector is not an exception. Despite the wide evidence on the influence of Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT) on the financial sector advancement, this topic has yet to be researched in Syria. We explore the effect of five proxies of ICT on financial development using multiple regression model for the period 2005 to 2017. We also conduct marginal effect analysis to identify the impact of penetration of mobile phones on the financial development with war and without it. We find that there is a significant positive influence of the number of mobile subscribers on the financial development index in Syria. Our result is consistent with Alshubiri et al. (2019) who find that a positive and significant impact exists of fixed broadband on financial development in GCC countries. However, the number of telephone subscribers has insignificant effect of the Syrian financial development. The war seems to have a significant adverse effect on the financial development in Syria. In addition, we find that the marginal influence of mobile subscription on the index of financial development without war is larger compared to the case with war. We conclude that digital transformation has great potentials for advancing the Syrian financial sector especially if accompanied with more investment in ICT infrastructure.


Share (1995) hypothesized that readers can use phonological recoding as a mechanism to self-teach the acquisition of orthographic word knowledge. Support for his theory has come from studies conducted in young children, but it has yet to be tested in adults. Experiment 1 tested the ability of adults to acquire orthographic representations of novel word forms via self-teaching. English-speaking adults (N = 18) read 16 pseudowords embedded within a lexical decision task. Posttests revealed that adults could acquire item-specific orthographic knowledge of novel word forms through the use of self-teaching. Experiment 2 tested the degree to which limiting phonological recoding affects orthographic learning in adults. English-speaking adults (N = 19) performed a lexical decision task while concurrently articulating. Participants in Experiment 2 exhibited evidence of orthographic learning. However, participants in Experiment 1, who had full overt access to phonological recoding, exhibited stronger evidence of orthographic learning. Collectively, adult patterns of orthographic learning are comparable to patterns observed in children, as predicted by Share's item-based account of reading skill.


BackgroundSexually transmitted diseases (STD) are important co-factors in HIV transmission. We studied the impact of health worker training and STD syndrome packets (containing recommended drugs, condoms, partner notification cards and information leaflets) on the quality of STD case management in primary care clinics in rural South Africa. MethodsA randomized controlled trial of five matched pairs of clinics compared the intervention with routine syndromic management. Outcomes were measured by simulated patients using standardized scripts, and included the proportion given recommended drugs; correctly case managed (given recommended drugs plus condoms and partner cards); adequately counselled; reporting good staff attitude; and consulted in privacy. ResultsAt baseline, the quality of STD case management was similarly poor in both groups. Only 36 and 46% of simulated patients visiting intervention and control clinics, respectively, were given recommended drugs. After the intervention, intervention clinics provided better case management than controls: 88 versus 50% (P < 0.01) received recommended drugs; 83 versus 12% (P < 0.005) were correctly case managed; 68 versus 46% (P = 0.06) were adequately counselled; 84 versus 58% experienced good staff attitude (P = 0.07); and 92 versus 86% (P = 0.4) were consulted privately. A syndrome packet cost US$1.50; the incremental cost was US$6.80. The total intervention cost equalled 0.3% of annual district health expenditure. Interpretation A simple and affordable health service intervention achieved substantial improvements in STD case management. Although this is a critical component of STD control and can reduce HIV transmission, community-level interventions to influence health-seeking behaviour are also needed.


The clinical significance of myonecrosis, measured by cardiac troponin, in the context of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is a matter of ongoing debate. The lack of substantial scientific evidence in this domain is apparent from the ever-changing definitions of periprocedural myocardial infarction and the uncertainty regarding its prognostic relevance.Myonecrosis due to PCI is common and occurs in up to 40% of cases, depending on the definition and biomarker used5. In the Third Universal Definition of Myocardial Infarction (MI), the cutoff cardiac troponin level to diagnose myonecrosis increased from 3 to 5 times the upper reference limit (URL). In contrast to previous definitions, troponin elevation needs to be associated with clinical, electrocardiographic, angiographic or cardiac imagingrelated evidence of ischaemia to be classified as a periprocedural MI, or type 4a MI. However, the occurrence of post-PCI chest pain without troponin elevation and troponin elevation without chest pain, angiographic complications or other signs of ischaemia is well documented. The Society of Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) has proposed an alternative definition of "clinically significant myocardial infarction" requiring troponin levels of ≥70x upper limit of normal (ULN) or ≥35x ULN with electrocardiographic evidence of infarction.


We analyze gendered communities defined in three different ways: text, users, and sentiment. Differences across these representations reveal facets of communities' distinctive identities, such as social group, topic, and attitudes. Two communities may have high text similarity but not user similarity or vice versa, and word usage also does not vary according to a clearcut, binary perspective of gender. Community-specific sentiment lexicons demonstrate that sentiment can be a useful indicator of words' social meaning and community values, especially in the context of discussion content and user demographics. Our results show that social platforms such as Reddit are active settings for different constructions of gender.


Considerable effort has gone into developing non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques for assessing the performance properties of wood. This research has established a relationship between certain NDT parameters and the strength characteristics of individual wood members. To date, NDT techniques have shown the most promise for this type of in-place assessment of wood structures. This report assesses the validity of non-destructive testing using the Metriguard Model 239A Stress Wave Timer recently purchased by the School of Forestry. Three pieces of Douglas fir and four pieces of radiata (each 2.0 m x 100 mm x 50 mm) have been used in various experiments to determine the accuracy of the stress wave timer. The modulus of elasticity of the pieces of timber was calculated and the results were compared to a separate 3-point mechanical bending test carried out on the same timber. These results showed that on average the stress wave timer (compared to the mechanical test) over-estimated the modulus of elasticity by 17.5%. This difference is considered to be systematic and therefore the stress wave timer appears to be accurate. Although the stress wave timer accurately indicates the strength properties of wood it remains to be seen if, in its present stage of development, it is of use on a practical basis in the industry.


The versatility and day-in day-out performance of the atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS) has made it a standard instrument for elemental analysis in nearly all analytical chemistry laboratories. A plethora of review articles exist on this subject (please see Refs. 1-5 and references therein). The application of atomic absorption to analysis of minor and trace constituents in nuclear applications where radiological contamination is a concern is also noted, although less so than more standard applications.


This paper investigates the foreign funding mix of globally active banks. Using BIS international banking statistics for a panel of 12 advanced economies, we detect a structural break in international bank funding at the onset of the global financial crisis. In their post-break business model, banks rely less on cross-border liabilities and, instead, tap funds from outside their jurisdictions by making more active use of their subsidiaries and branches, as well as inter-office accounts within the same banking group.


Findings from recent efficacy studies comparing literacy program types suggest that struggling adult readers often make limited to moderate gains across varied types of literacy interventions, with no specific approach consistently surpassing others to date. An alternative to comparing program types is to investigate whether there are specific characteristics or skills that vary by individual that can predict higher gains and skill retention across program type. Using an experimental, prospective, longitudinal design, the present study examined the role of automatization (over-learning) of component skills involved in reading during participation in general literacy programs. On average, participants in the study gained the equivalent of one full reading grade-level after participation in programs for six months. The degree of automatization of reading skills was found to be the strongest predictor of gains made during programs; a measure of automatization was also the strongest predictor of subsequent retention of skills, months later at follow-up testing. Implications for adult literacy practitioners and directions for future research related to skill retention are discussed.


This study evaluated the chemical composition, buffer N solubility and in vitro ruminal N degradability of three agro-industrial by-products; coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) seed meal (CSM), poultry by-product meal (PBPM), and moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam) seed meal (MSM). Soybean meal (SBM) was included for comparative purposes. Poultry by-product meal had the highest N (85.0g/kg DM) content while CSM had the least (39.9 g/kg DM). Calcium (0.87 g/kg DM) was highest in PBPM while P content did not differ among by-product feedstuffs. Soybean meal was the richest by-product in terms of both K and Mg. The highest concentration of lipids was observed in PBPM. Moringa seed meal had the highest N solubility index (49.7%) while SBM had the least solubility index (14.8%). In vitro ruminal N degradability revealed that MSM had the most degradable N (983.9 g/kg DM) after 36 hours of incubation followed by CSM (812.0 g/kg DM). Soybean meal had the highest soluble N fraction (a) and the lowest insoluble N fraction (b) whereas CSM had the lowest (496.1 g/kg DM) soluble N fraction (a) and the highest insoluble N fraction (b). The rate of degradation of the insoluble N fraction (b) was highest in MSM (16.5%/hour) followed by SBM (13.3%/hour), PBPM (7.3%/hour), and CSM with the lowest rate (4.9%/hour). It was concluded that CSM can be used as a source of rumen by-pass protein while MSM has the potential to support rumen microbial activity due to its rapidly degradable N in the rumen.


Rationale: Penetrating astigmatic keratotomy (penetrating AK) is a well-known method to correct corneal astigmatism but rarely be performed nowadays. This article reevaluated the clinical effectiveness and confounding factors of penetrating AK. Patient concerns: Penetrating AK has been introduced to serve as one alternative operation for astigmatism correction, and is thought to have the potential advantage of being more affordable and easy to perform. The purpose of our study is to evaluate the effectiveness and confounding factors of penetrating AK. Diagnoses: The chart of 95 patients with corneal astigmatism (range: 0.75–3.25 diopters [D]) who received penetrating AK from January 2014 to December 2016 was collected. The corneal astigmatism were measured by an autokeratometer (Topcon KR8100PA topographer-autorefractor), and repeated with manual keratometer in low reproducibility cases. Interventions: All patients received penetrating AK by an experienced ophthalmologist (Dr. Gow-Lieng Tseng, MD, PHD) in the operation room. Among which, 66 patients received penetrating AK with phacoemulsification simultaneously (group A), whereas 29 patients received penetrating AK at least 3 months after phacoemulsification (group B). After excluding the patients combined with other procedures or lost followed up, 79 patients are remaining for analysis. The outcome was evaluated by net correction, the difference between preoperative corneal astigmatism (PCA) and residual corneal astigmatism (RCA). Two sample t tests and Pearson test were used for effectiveness evaluation. For confounding factors, multivariate linear regression was used for statistical analysis. Outcomes: The mean preoperative and postoperative refractive cylinders were 1.97 ± 0.77 and 1.08 ± 0.64 D, respectively, in group A and 2.62 ± 1.05 and 1.51 ± 0.89 D in group B. There were no statistically significant differences in net correction between these two groups (0.9 ± 0.66 vs. 1.1 ± 0.69, P = .214). Higher PCA were associated with higher net correction in both group A (P = .002) and group B (P = .019). Compound myopic astigmatism caused less net correction than others only in group A (P = 0.031). Lessons: Penetrating AK is an accessible, affordable, and effective way to correct corneal astigmatism. The results of this procedure are comparable to modern methods in patients with low to moderate corneal astigmatism.


BACKGROUND
Rib cartilage is an abundant source for cartilage grafts when significant dorsal nasal augmentation or structural support is indicated. Diced cartilage wrapped in fascia was developed to counteract warping, visibility, and displacement of rib cartilage as a dorsal solid graft. The technique for wrapping diced cartilage has evolved during the past several years.

OBJECTIVES
The authors compared 2 distinct fascial sleeves for wrapping rib diced cartilage in the treatment of patients who required major dorsal nasal augmentation.

METHODS
Thirty-six patients who planned to undergo major dorsal nasal reconstruction with diced costal rib cartilage were assigned randomly to 1 of 2 groups: the intervention group, which received grafts wrapped with rectus muscle fascia from the rib cartilage harvesting site, or the control group, which received deep temporal fascia harvested separately. Outcomes were compared between the groups.

RESULTS
Patients in the intervention group had significantly shorter operating times, significantly higher average satisfaction scores, and significantly shorter postoperative hospital stays than did patients in the control group.

CONCLUSIONS
Harvesting rectus muscle fascia for wrapping diced rib cartilage is a feasible and reliable technique in dorsal nasal reconstruction surgery. It is associated with favorable outcomes and a high level of patient satisfaction.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
4.


The reaction between ovarian-cyst glycoproteins and H2O2 was investigated in the presence of a number of inhibitors and catalysts. Azide and 2H2O were separately found to have little effect, implying that singlet oxygen was not involved. Superoxide dismutase was destroyed by H2O2, but mannitol had no effect: thus generalized attack by OH., whether originating from HO2.- or more directly, is not indicated. The glycoproteins contained trace quantities of Cu and Fe, amounting to about 2 atoms of metal per glycoprotein molecule. Treatment of the glycoproteins with the strong chelator DETAPAC (diethylenetriaminepenta-acetic acid) or Chelex resin eliminated the reaction with H2O2; activity could be restored by addition of Cu2+ or Fe2+ in millimolar quantities. It was concluded that metal-ion catalysis is an essential step in the attack of H2O2 on glycoproteins. Spectroscopic and other evidence showed that Cu2+ (and probably Fe2+) complexes strongly with poly-L-histidine, and implies that the Cu2+ or Fe2+ in the glycoproteins is complexed with some of the histidine residues in the glycosylated backbone. Neither polyhistidine nor polyproline reacted with H2O2 in the absence of metal ions, but small quantities of Cu2+ or Fe3+ caused degradation. This was rapid with polyhistidine, which was converted largely into aspartic acid, but slower with polyproline, where limited conversion into glutamic acid occurs. These findings confirm the original hypothesis that peroxide attack on glycoproteins occurs largely at the histidine residues, with simultaneous peptidolysis. The mechanism most probably involves the liberation of OH. by an oxidation-reduction cycle involving, e.g. Cu+/Cu2+: specificity of attack at histidine is due to the location of the metal at these residues only.


Abstract:  Extensive 2D and 3D seismic-reflection data calibrated by wells provide new insights into the lateral extent, morphology, internal architecture, and age of carbonate platforms in the subsurface of the Browse Basin, Australian Northwest Shelf (NWS). The oldest carbonate build-ups are interpreted as a giant bryozoan build-up complex of Oligocene age (34.03–27.8 Ma). In the late Burdigalian, tropical reef growth began, and numerous reef-rimmed carbonate platforms progressively coalesced into an extensive barrier reef. From the mid-Langhian to the early Tortonian, the Browse Basin contained an elongate (along-margin) barrier-reef system over 500 km long. This barrier reef possibly extended in the southwest into the Northern Carnarvon Basin. After the early Tortonian, reefs on top or landward of this major barrier-reef system were smaller and less connected. This significant reduction in area covered by reef-rimmed platforms likely resulted from cooling following the Mid-Miocene Climate Optimum and relatively high subsidence rates. The reef-rimmed carbonate platforms that formed between the late Burdigalian and the early Tortonian are very similar throughout the Browse Basin. Platform development after the early Tortonian was regionally diverse. High subsidence rates in the northern Browse Basin are interpreted to have promoted the development of thick, aggrading platforms. Lower subsidence in the south led to thinner, more widespread platforms, recurrently shifting location in response to eustatic change. The final phase of reef decline around 6 Ma coincides with an increase in current-driven drift sedimentation. Current-related winnowing of sediments from the lagoons and slopes of the remaining carbonate platforms likely contributed to their final drowning.


Background: To determine the suitability of different superimposed high-frequency jet ventilation (SHFJV) application methods during tracheal bleeding. Objective: To determine the effect of SHFJV on the aspiration of blood during tracheal bleeding. Methods: A test lung was ventilated using SHFJV via a rigid endoscope, a jet laryngoscope and a 4-lumen jet catheter. Packed red blood cells (PRBCs) were injected into the artificial trachea caudally to the rigid endoscope and jet laryngoscope ventilation, and both caudally and cranially during ventilation via the 4-lumen jet catheter, and the migration of PRBCs during ventilation was studied using continuous video recording. Results: Migration of blood into the lower respiratory tract did not occur during SHFJV via the rigid endoscope and jet laryngoscope and via the 4-lumen jet catheter with the bleeding caudal to ventilation source. If the bleeding was cranial to the 4-lumen jet catheter ventilation, migration of blood into the lower respiratory tract was seen when reflux of blood reached the entrainment area. From this area, blood is transported within the jet stream into the lower respiratory tract. Conclusions: SHFJV protects the lower respiratory tract from blood aspiration in case of tracheal bleeding. During SHFJV via the 4-lumen jet catheter, aspiration of blood only occurs if bleeding is localized cranial to the 4-lumen jet catheter ventilation. In case of heavy tracheal bleeding, the jet sources should be positioned cranial to the site of bleeding.


The global minimum structures of pure and boron doped silver clusters up to 16 atoms are determined through ab initio calculations and unbiased structure searching methods. The structural and electronic properties of neutral, anionic, and cationic Ag(n)B (n ≤ 15) and Ag(n)B2 (n ≤ 14) clusters are much distinct from those of the corresponding pure silver. Considering that Ag and B possess one and three valence electrons, respectively, both the single and the double boron-atom doped silver clusters with even number of valence electrons are more stable than those with odd number of electrons, a feature also observed in the pure silver clusters. We demonstrate that the species with a valence count of 8 and 14 appear to be magic numbers with enhanced stability irrespective of component or the charged state. A new putative global minimum structure of Ag13(-) cluster, with high symmetry of C(2v), is unexpectedly observed as the ground state, which is lower in energy than the previous suggested bilayer structure.


Mice were immunized with blood cells of a patient with chronic granulocytic leukemia, and their cells were subsequently used for the preparation of hybridoma ICO-02. This hybridoma is continuously producing monoclonal antibodies which reacted with cells in 4 out of 13 patients with blastic crisis of chronic granulocytic leukemia and in 6 out of 38 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Antibodies reacted with blast cells in 2 out of 3 patients with undifferentiated blastic crisis of chronic myelocytic leukemia and in 2 out of 5 patients with lymphoid variant of blastic crisis of chronic granulocytic leukemia. Cells of 6 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia which reacted with the monoclonal antibodies had immunological markers of T lymphocytes bone-marrow precursors. Monoclonal antibodies did not react with cells of blood and bone marrow from healthy people and from patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, acute myeloblastic leukemia, acute myelomonocytic leukemia, acute monoblastic leukemia and lymphosarcoma.


Infrastructure plays a key role in promoting economic growth and opportunities. In particular, the efficient provision of basic infrastructure services, like water and sanitation, is a key ingredient in fostering a country's social and economic development. Previous studies have found that infrastructure has a positive impact on output, and can improve economic opportunity, including health and education for the poor, particularly in developing countries. In Argentina, a 2005 study, found that child mortality fell by 8 percent in areas that had experienced improved coverage and quality of basic water and sanitation through utility reform, with most of the reduction occurring in low-income areas where the water network expanded the most. More generally, Fay and Morrison found that allowing the poorest quintile in developing countries the same access to basic services as the richest quintile would reduce child mortality by 8 percent and child under development by 14 percent. Calderon and Serven also found a significant positive impact of infrastructure access and quality on overall inequality. Furthermore, the book sheds some light on how to address the main challenge for the future which may be to attract specialized operators to the smaller municipalities which do not currently have them. For that purpose in Colombia, for example, over the last two years, the policy framework has been focused on promoting the sector's development, by using the departments as the intermediate institutional level between the National Government and the municipalities, to formulate programs with regional impact and promote comprehensive investment plans.


SUMMARY Image analysis quantification was used to assess the results of immunocytochemistry for a neuronal marker and neuropeptides in digital skin biopsies from Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) and systemic sclerosis (SS) patients, to verify the possibility of a selective quantitative abnormality of immunoreactive nerves. The field area of specific immunostaining and nerve counts were evaluated on coded specimens, and the data compared by statistical analysis. Nerves immunoreactive for protein gene product 9.5 (PGP), a marker for neuronal elements, were decreased significantly in epidermal and subepidermal layers of digital skin in RPpatients (P<O.OOOI). This change was paralleled by a decrease of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) immunoreactive nerves in the epidermis and around capillaries in the dermal papillae (P= 0.005). In the skin of RP patients, these changes were readily demonstrated by image analysis, although they were not always apparent on visual screening. In digital skin of SS patients, there was a generalized and very significant decrease of PGP, CGRP, and VIP immunoreactivities in all areas (P< 0.OOOl). These results demonstrate that neuropeptide-containing nerves are involved in the digital pathology of RP and SS, and that image analysis quantification is an accurate and sensitive method for assessing morphological changes in pathological samples.


The 1990s have seen many health care organizations attempting to merge, acquire, or affiliate with physician groups. Many have failed to provide physicians a stake in the success of the newly formed enterprise, frequently resulting in declining physician productivity, poor morale, and large operating losses. These problems warrant a reexamination of the traditional acquisition model of growth in favor of structures that retain a physician ownership component. This article examines three models of health care organization in which physicians share in the success of the enterprise and compares them in terms of ownership structure, governance, and funds flow.


Data collection has always been a major challenge in sensor networks and various techniques have been proposed to enable efficient data collection. One such methodology is the use of mobile elements within the existing infrastructure to enable data collection. The paper proposes the use of existing mobile elements like mobile phones which have enough spare capacity to act as data carriers within a sensor network to carry sensor data. With advent of technology, mobile devices have become so powerful that they can work in a pervasive environment and make decisions based on context information like presence, location etc. Our proposal is an intelligent heterogeneous network in which the sensor nodes act as the data accumulators and the context-aware mobile phones act as data carriers of the sensed data. A framework that enables the mobile node and sensor node communication over Bluetooth is proposed and a p implementation is presented.


The authors describe a behavioral theory of the dynamics of insider-threat risks. Drawing on data related to information technology security violations and on a case study created to explain the dynamics observed in that data, the authors constructed a system dynamics model of a theory of the development of insider-threat risks and conducted numerical simulations to explore the parameter and response spaces of the model. By examining several scenarios in which attention to events, increased judging capabilities, better information, and training activities are simulated, the authors theorize about why information technology security effectiveness changes over time. The simulation results argue against the common presumption that increased security comes at the cost of reduced production.


The last decade has been marked by unprecedented growth in both the production of biomedical data and the amount of published literature discussing it. Almost every known or postulated piece of information pertaining to genes, proteins, and their role in biological processes is reported somewhere in the vast amount of published biomedical literature. We believe the ability to rapidly survey and analyze this literature and extract pertinent information constitutes a necessary step toward both the design and the interpretation of any large-scale experiment. Moreover, automated literature mining offers a yet untapped opportunity to integrate many fragments of information gathered by researchers from multiple fields of expertise into a complete picture exposing the interrelated roles of various genes, proteins, and chemical reactions in cells and organisms. In this thesis, we show that functional keywords in biomedical literature, particularly Medline, represent very valuable information and can be used to discover "new" genomic knowledge. To validate our claim we present an investigation into text mining biomedical literature to assist microarray data analysis, yeast gene function classification, and biomedical literature categorization. We conduct following studies: (1) We test sets of genes to discover common functional keywords among them and use these keywords to cluster them into groups; (2) We show that it is possible to link genes to diseases by an expert human interpretation of the functional keywords for the genes—none of these diseases are as yet mentioned in public databases; (3) By clustering genes based on commonality of functional keywords it is possible to group genes into meaningful clusters that reveal more information about their functions, link to diseases and roles in metabolism pathways; (4) Using extracted functional keywords, we are able to demonstrate that for yeast genes, we can make a better functional grouping of genes in comparison to available public microarray and phylogenetic databases; (5) We show an application of our approach to literature classification. Using functional keywords as features, we are able to extract epidemiological abstracts automatically from Medline with higher sensitivity and accuracy than a human expert.


This paper shows that in the almost four decades from January 1965 through to December 2003, US stock prices closely followed the four-year Presidential Election Cycle: in general, stock prices fell during the first half of a Presidency, reached a trough in the second year, rose during the second half of a Presidency, and reached a peak in the third or fourth year. This cyclical trend is found to hold for the greater part of the last ten administrations, starting from President Lyndon Johnson to the present administration under President George W. Bush, particularly when the incumbent is a Republican. The empirical results suggest that the Republican Party may have greater cause to engage in active policy manipulation to win re-election than their Democratic counterparts. There is irony in that bullish runs in the stock market have tended to coincide with sub-periods under Democratic administrations. The existence of the Presidential Election Cycle shown in the paper may constitute an anomaly in the US stock market, which could be useful for investors.


The burstiness of a video source can be characterized by its burstiness curve. The burstiness curve is useful in the optimal allocation of resources to satisfy a desired quality of service for the video stream in a packet network. In this paper, we present deterministic algorithms for exact computation of the burstiness curve of a video source, for both elementary video streams and MPEG-2 Transport Streams. The algorithms exploit the piecewise linearity of the burstiness curve and compute only the points at which the slope of the burstiness curve changes. We also present approximate versions of these algorithms, which save computational effort by considering only a small number of candidate points at which the slope of the burstiness curve may change. The approximate algorithm was able to compute the burstiness curve of a 2-h long elementary video stream in approximately 10 s, as compared to over 6 h for the exact algorithm, with virtually no loss of accuracy in the computation. The efficiency of the proposed algorithms makes them suitable for quality-of-service (QoS) provisioning not only in off-line environments such as in video-on-demand (VoD) servers, but also in real-time applications such as in live TV distribution systems.


Language professionals across the United Kingdom have long been apprehensive about low levels of participation in language learning, as well as disparities in gender and social class of language learners. However, the distinct policy contexts in England and in Scotland have led to divergent [re]actions with regard to this common concern. This article traces the policy paths taken by the respective governments since the start of the 21st century. The development and impact of a major funding programme in England, the 'Routes into Languages' initiative, are outlined, assessed and contrasted with the situation in Scotland. Using Putnam's notion of social capital (durable networks between people from different social groupings) as a powerful means to implement change the authors demonstrate that in England considerable and beneficial links across previous educational divides have developed as part of the 'Routes' initiative, despite the continuing threat of transient policy contexts. In Scotland, the implementation phase of the new 1+2 languages policy might provide the impetus to develop a comparable initiative to 'Routes'. Arguably, a sea change in attitudes to language learning is unlikely to happen without durable and sustainable social capital between staff in school and university.


AIMS--To evaluate the accuracy and reproducibility of multipoint identification schemes in a multicentre trial. METHODS--Forty two strains of Enterobacteriaceae were distributed to 22 laboratories for identification by routine multipoint methods. Analysis of results enabled inter- and intralaboratory reproducibility of a variety of tests, and the ability of laboratories to identify individual organisms to be determined. RESULTS--Interlaboratory reproducibility of most of the biochemical tests was acceptable. The least reproducible tests, both within and between laboratories, were citrate utilisation, production of urease and beta galactosidase, detection of motility, and decarboxylation of lysine and ornithine. Inconsistent results for these tests were often associated with misidentified strains. Most laboratories performed identifications satisfactorily. Most isolates (72.1%) were identified correctly to species level; 9.6% were incorrectly identified, and 6.4% could not be identified at all. The most difficult organisms to identify were Citrobacter freundii, Enterobacter cloacae, Hafnia alvei and Aeromonas hydrophila. Strains of Enterobacter, Serratia sp, and Providencia sp were difficult to speciate. Several laboratories could not identify organisms exhibiting at least one atypical biochemical reaction. CONCLUSION--This study emphasises the need for quality control of media and reagents for multipoint identification of Gram negative enteric bacilli.


Genome annotation is critical to understand the function of disease variants, especially for clinical applications. To meet this need there are segmentations available from public consortia reflecting varying unsupervised approaches to functional annotation based on epigenetics data, but there remains a need for transparent, reproducible, and easily interpreted genomic maps of the functional biology of chromatin. We introduce a new methodological framework for defining a combinatorial epigenomic model of chromatin state on a web database, . In StateHub addition, we created an annotation tool for bioconductor, , StatePaintR which accesses these models and uses them to rapidly (on the order of seconds) produce chromatin state segmentations in standard genome browser formats. Annotations are fully documented with change history and versioning, authorship information, and original source files. StatePaintR calculates ranks for each state from next-gen sequencing peak statistics, facilitating variant prioritization, enrichment testing, and other types of quantitative analysis. hosts annotation tracks for major public StateHub consortia as a resource, and allows users to submit their own alternative models.


Hydrogen storage in reversible metal hydrides is attractive because it can be stored at relatively low pressures with a high volumetric density. In the present research work have been investigated compounds with nominal compositions Zr0.8Ti0.2Cr1.2V0.4Ni0.4 and Zr0.8Ti0.2Cr0.8V0.8Ni0.4 that have been prepared by arc-melting under argon atmosphere. Structural characteristics have been studied by using X-ray powder diffraction while the patterns have been analyzed by using the Rietveld analysis. A main hexagonal Laves phase MgZn2 (C14) and a secondary MgCu2 (C15)-type of, have been found in the powdered compounds. The bulk samples have composite microstructures but the V-rich is characterized by a dendritic microstructure. The high resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) have been used for the morphology and quantitative analysis, respectively. Hydrogenations and dehydrogenations have been obtained after crucial activation procedure. The alloys were found to be more active under hydrogen after activation while the desorbed amount of hydrogen has been measured by using a Sievert-type apparatus.


In recent years, the use of automated sample handling instrumentation has come to the forefront of bioanalytical analysis in order to ensure greater assay consistency and throughput. Since robotic systems are becoming part of everyday analytical procedures, the need for consistent guidance across the pharmaceutical industry has become increasingly important. Pre-existing regulations do not go into sufficient detail in regard to how to handle the use of robotic systems for use with analytical methods, especially large molecule bioanalysis. As a result, Global Bioanalytical Consortium (GBC) Group L5 has put forth specific recommendations for the validation, qualification, and use of robotic systems as part of large molecule bioanalytical analyses in the present white paper. The guidelines presented can be followed to ensure that there is a consistent, transparent methodology that will ensure that robotic systems can be effectively used and documented in a regulated bioanalytical laboratory setting. This will allow for consistent use of robotic sample handling instrumentation as part of large molecule bioanalysis across the globe.


Splanchnic vein thrombosis (SVT) is a heterogeneous disease which involves thrombosis in different abdominal veins, such as portal, mesenteric, splenic and supra-hepatic veins. It also includes different subgroups of patients with peculiar characteristics, such as patients with Budd-Chiari syndrome (BCS), who have a poor prognosis and frequently need interventional procedures or liver transplants (1), and cirrhotic patients, who have a delicate haemostatic balance and a higher incidence of both thromboembolic and bleeding events (2). Given the peculiarities of the cirrhotic population and in order to create a more homogeneous cohort, most studies have focused only on non-malignant non-cirrhotic SVT (3-5).


Purpose There are no standardized approaches for communicating with patients discharged from the emergency department with diagnostic uncertainty. This trial tested efficacy of the Uncertainty Communication Education Module, a simulation-based mastery learning curriculum designed to establish competency in communicating diagnostic uncertainty. Method Resident physicians at 2 sites participated in a 2-arm waitlist randomized controlled trial from September 2019 to June 2020. After baseline (T1) assessment of all participants via a standardized patient encounter using the Uncertainty Communication Checklist (UCC), immediate access physicians received training in the Uncertainty Communication Education Module, which included immediate feedback, online educational modules, a smartphone-based application, and telehealth deliberate practice with standardized patients. All physicians were retested 16–19 weeks later (T2) via in-person standardized patient encounters; delayed access physicians then received the intervention. A final test of all physicians occurred 11–15 weeks after T2 (T3). The primary outcome measured the percentage of physicians in the immediate versus delayed access groups meeting or exceeding the UCC minimum passing standard at T2. Results Overall, 109 physicians were randomized, with mean age 29 years (range 25–46). The majority were male (n = 69, 63%), non-Hispanic/Latino (n = 99, 91%), and White (n = 78, 72%). At T2, when only immediate access participants had received the curriculum, immediate access physicians demonstrated increased mastery (n = 29, 52.7%) compared with delayed access physicians (n = 2, 3.7%, P < .001; estimated adjusted odds ratio of mastery for the immediate access participants, 31.1 [95% CI, 6.8–143.1]). There were no significant differences when adjusting for training site or stage of training. Conclusions The Uncertainty Communication Education Module significantly increased mastery in communicating diagnostic uncertainty at the first postintervention test among emergency physicians in standardized patient encounters. Further work should assess the impact of clinical implementation of these communication skills.


Psychoanalysis is a science evidently fore-ordained to growth and expansion, and among those who have extended the scope of both theory and practice Melanie Klein holds a unique place.This book is a survey of the developments in psychoanalytical knowledge resulting from her work. Her main discoveries relate to the very early phases of mental life. She recognized that the world of unconscious feeling and impulse (which we call 'phantasy') is the effective source of all human actions and reactions, modified though they are when translated into actual external behaviour or conscious thought. Although Freud first enunciated this truth, which originates in his fundamental discovery of the unconscious mind of man, he left many problems still unsolved. These have been brought nearer to a solution through Melanie Klein's consistent awareness of the significance of unconscious phantasy. Not only students of psychoanalysis and workers in related medical fields but also practising child-psychologists and the informed lay public will find this book of absorbing interest.


This paper investigates the effect of sisal fiber addition on fresh ,mechanical  properties of self compacting concrete(SCC) and  flexural performance of fiber reinforced RC beams made with mineral admixtures like Meta Kaolin (MK) and Fly Ash (FA)which is an industrial waste.  The mixes were prepared by varying MK content from 5% to 15% with 5% increment with constant fly ash content of 30%. The results reveal that increasing the content of MK beyond 10% leads to reduction in strength. And also the negative influence of MK and fiber addition on workability performance was overcome by the addition of FA, super plasticizer and viscosity modifying agent (VMA). Based on the test results it is evidenced that FA and MK make use of mineral admixture in the production of SCC. It also clarifies that the addition of sisal fiber improves mechanical properties of concrete. The research work shows that the ultimate load of fiber reinforced RC beams was raised when compared to normal RC beams. The flexural toughness and ductility of concrete was found to increase appreciably when sisal fiber was added.


We build an overlapping generations model in which reproductive households face a child quantity/child quality trade-off and bureaucrats are delegated with the task of delivering public services that support the accumulation of human capital. By integrating the theoretical analyses of endogenous growth, corruption and fertility choices, we offer a novel mechanism on the driving forces behind demographic transition. In particular, we attribute it to the endogenous change in the incidence of bureaucratic corruption that occurs at different stages of an economy"s transition towards higher economic development.


BACKGROUND
This study was designed to investigate the role of bile in a large animal model of acute esophageal reflux disease.

METHODS
An agar electrode was used to measure the transmucosal potential difference of the esophagus in anaesthetized dogs. The vascular permeability index and the epithelial permeability index of the mucosa were evaluated by means of the Evans blue and the sodium-fluorescein clearance method, respectively. The tissue adenosine triphosphate (ATP) level and the myeloperoxidase activity were determined from tissue biopsies, while the degree of mucosal damage was evaluated histologically on a grade 0-100 scale. Group 1 (n = 8) served as saline-treated control; groups 2 (n = 8), 3 (n = 5) and 4 (n = 5) were exposed for 4 h to canine bile alone, to hydrochloric acid + bile, or to hydrochloric acid alone, respectively.

RESULTS
In Groups 2, 3 and 4 the degree of mucosal damage was significantly increased, and a 4-fold elevation in myeloperoxidase activity was observed. The transmucosal potential difference was decreased significantly below the control level, while the vascular and epithelial permeability indices were significantly increased compared with the control values. Bile, but not hydrochloric acid, evoked a significant (40%) decrease in the ATP level of the esophageal tissue.

CONCLUSIONS
We propose that mucosal dysfunction, structural damage and leukocyte invasion during hydrochloric acid-induced esophageal injury are exacerbated by bile-induced changes in tissue ATP concentrations during experimental esophageal reflux disease.


Batch experiments were carried out to determine the capacity of Bacillus cereus biomass to adsorb Sr(II) ions from aqueous solution with respect to pH, initial Sr(II) concentration, contact time and biomass dose. The experimental data were modeled by Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. Langmuir model resulted in the best fit of the adsorption data. The maximum adsorption capacity for Sr(II) was 78.34 mg/g. The best correlation was provided by the second-order kinetic model, implying that chemical sorption was the rate-limiting step. The practical implication of this study is the development of an effective and economic technology for Sr(II) removal from contaminated waters.


When people are asked to recall words they have studied earlier from a list, those given a subset of these words as cues recall fewer words than people who do not receive any cues. This phenomenon is the so called part-list cuing effect. This phenomenon seems to be alien from the general thought that cues can help to prompt memories. The current research examined the part-list cuing effect of participants of different ages in learning pictures, and also explored their memory monitoring and control. Adopting 3 experiments, we explored the development of part-list cuing effect of pictures, and the allocation of study time of different ages. Experiments 1 explored whether retrieval cues would have detrimental effects on participants' recall of the remaining items after learning pictures, and Experiments 2 explored the performance of students in Grade 2 and Grade 5 of a primary school, Grade 2 of a junior high school, Grade 2 of a senior high school and Grade 2 of a university. Experiments 3 studied the development of memory control ofdifferent ages. The results showed that:(1) After participants learned a list of pictures, the presentation of a subset of learned pictures' names as retrieval cues didn't have detrimental effects on their recall of the remaining items significantly;(2) After participants learned a list of pictures, the presentation of a subset of learned pictures as retrieval cues had detrimental effects on their recall of the remaining items, that is to say, part-list cuing effect occurred;(3) The part-list cuing effect occurred in all age selected. And with the increase of age, its amount changed as an inverted U shape;(4) Participants' allocation of study time was affected by the times they had practiced with part-list cueing, which was different among participants of different ages. Grade 2 of primary school students couldn't predict the detrimental effect of part-list cues no matter how many times they had practiced. After practicing twice, Grade 5 of primary school students could realize part-list cues' detrimental effect and effectively allocate their cognitive resources. And only after one practice, Grade 2 of junior high school and senior high school students could realize that the part-list cuing recall was more difficult compared to free recall and allocate their study time appropriately. Moreover, students in Grade 2 of senior high school did even better than those in junior high school. The present findings revealed that in the picture studying, cues presented by way of cross-domain is a boundary condition of part-list cueing effect, while age is not a boundary condition of part-list cueing effect. The development of children's strategy on allocation of study time had a great change from Grade 2 of primary school to Grade 5 of primary school students, while the learning efficiency had a great change from Grade 2 of junior high school to Grade 2 of senior high school students.


This work focuses on power optimization of realtime applications with conditional execution running on a dynamic voltage scaling (DVS) enabled multiprocessor system. A novel algorithm is proposed that performs simultaneous task mapping and ordering followed by task stretching of a conditional task graph (CTG). The algorithm minimizes the mathematical expectation of energy dissipation of non-deterministic applications with random branch selection by utilizing the task execution profile. Compared with existing scheduling algorithm, the experimental results show that our algorithm has 32% energy reduction in average.


We consider chemical reaction systems that operate in a resource limited situation such as in a closed test tube. These systems can operate only for a finite interval of time before the system variables deviate from the normal operating region. Thus, in order to characterize the performance of the systems, it is important to analyze the duration of the normal operation, which is closely related to the notion of finite-time stability. In this letter, we propose an algebraic optimization approach to analyze finite-time stability of resource limited chemical reactions. Specifically, we present semidefinite programs that compute guaranteed lower and upper bounds of the duration of the normal operation, which we call survival time, for a given set of uncertain initial concentrations. The proposed semidefinite programs provide progressively tighter bounds of survival time by increasing the variables and constraints, allowing for the tuning of the balance between the computational time and the conservativeness of the bounds. We demonstrate the proposed method using the regenerator circuit of DNA strand displacement reactions.


Grb10 is a Src-homology 2 (SH2) and Pleckstrin-homology (PH) domain-containing protein that binds to several autophosphorylated receptor tyrosine kinases including the insulin receptor (IR). Our previous studies showed that Grb10 underwent insulin-stimulated serine phosphorylation, yet the kinase(s) responsible for phosphorylation and the sites of the phosphorylation remain unknown. In this report, we show that Grb10 is a direct substrate of the p42/44 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK). In addition, we found that inhibition of the MAPK signaling pathway reduced Grb10 phosphorylation in cells. Using site-directed mutagenesis, phosphopeptide mapping, and capillary HPLC-electrospray-tandem mass spectrometry analysis, we identified Ser(150), Ser(418), and Ser(476) of human Grb10zeta as MAPK-mediated in vitro phosphorylation sites. In vivo labeling and two-dimensional phosphopeptide mapping studies revealed that Ser(150) and Ser(476) of human Grb10zeta are phosphorylated in intact cells. Replacing Ser(150) and Ser(476) with alanines reduced the inhibitory effect of human Grb10zeta on insulin-stimulated IRS1 tyrosine phosphorylation. Taken together, our findings suggest that phosphorylation of the adaptor protein may provide a feedback inhibitory mechanism by which Grb10 regulates insulin signaling.


Based on the perspective of the linear expansion coefficient, an anti-oxidation coating on billet heating for silicon steel was prepared. The anti-oxidation coating can be used at 1400oC and it has good property of automatic pelling off, and the oxidation burning loss was decreased by 80.65%. The microstructure of the coating was observed by scanning electron microscope. The results indicate that the high-temperature anti-oxidation mechanism of the coating on the surface of steel billet is cavity clogged by molten slag, and the service life of anti-oxidation coating is relied on the resistance to permeation and erosion of molten slag.


On U.S. Election Day 2016, thousands of people gathered at Susan B. Anthony's grave in Rochester, NY. They were there to commemorate Anthony's women's suffrage activism over a century prior and to celebrate the presidential candidacy of Hilary Clinton, the first woman nominated by a major U.S. American political party. A thirteen-hour livestream of the gravesite by a local journalist captured the unprecedented crowd at the cemetery and drew a much larger crowd online. In the hours before election results were announced, the livestream gained millions of viewers and thousands of comments. While existing research has begun to examine the complex relationship between personal and collective memory, memorialization, and social media, less attention has been devoted to the ways that history and politics become tools for users and professionals to represent themselves. I examine the gravesite livestream as an illustrative case study of the ways that actors with different levels of access and control over a media event use commemoration as a vehicle for political self-representation. I conducted a textual analysis of the entire livestream, including the video and comment feeds. Through the analysis, I traced how four actors built upon a shared collective vision of U.S. American women's history and future to contribute to the livestream and find themselves within it, including the city mayor's office, gravesite visitors, the journalist who captured the stream, and commenters. Ultimately, I suggest that in commemorating women's historical political action, these self-representational narratives present livestream creators, viewers, and subjects as political actors.


The area burned by Southern California wildfires has increased in recent decades, with implications for human health, infrastructure, and ecosystem management. Meteorology and fuel structure are universally recognized controllers of wildfire, but their relative importance, and hence the efficacy of abatement and suppression efforts, remains controversial. Southern California's wildfires can be partitioned by meteorology: fires typically occur either during Santa Ana winds (SA fires) in October through April, or warm and dry periods in June through September (non-SA fires). Previous work has not quantitatively distinguished between these fire regimes when assessing economic impacts or climate change influence. Here we separate five decades of fire perimeters into those coinciding with and without SA winds. The two fire types contributed almost equally to burned area, yet SA fires were responsible for 80% of cumulative 1990–2009 economic losses ($3.1 Billion). The damage disparity was driven by fire characteristics: SA fires spread three times faster, occurred closer to urban areas, and burned into areas with greater housing values. Non-SA fires were comparatively more sensitive to age-dependent fuels, often occurred in higher elevation forests, lasted for extended periods, and accounted for 70% of total suppression costs. An improved distinction of fire type has implications for future projections and management. The area burned in non-SA fires is projected to increase 77% (±43%) by the mid-21st century with warmer and drier summers, and the SA area burned is projected to increase 64% (±76%), underscoring the need to evaluate the allocation and effectiveness of suppression investments.


OBJECTIVE. To evaluate results from surgical release of trigger thumbs in children in a regional hospital cluster in Hong Kong. DESIGN. Descriptive case series. SETTING. A regional hospital cluster, Hong Kong. PATIENTS. Data from 1993 to 2009 on 180 children with 209 trigger thumbs were collected. Analyses into gender, predominance of thumb, age of onset, associated abnormalities and family history, symptoms and signs, surgical outcomes, and postoperative complications were carried out retrospectively. RESULTS. There were 92 girls and 88 boys having trigger thumbs (1.05:1). In all, 29 (16%) of the children presented with bilateral trigger thumbs, while the right thumb was singly involved in 81 (45%) and the left thumb in 70 (39%) of the children. The mean age of onset was 19 months; only 20% were diagnosed before the age of 1 year. Only nine (5%) of the children were associated with congenital diseases and none had a positive family history of trigger thumb. Flexion deformity was the major presenting feature, other than triggering or pain. A nodule and flexion deformity were very commonly observed during physical examination. More than 95% of the operated thumbs with transverse incision acquired a good range of movement with a scarcely apparent scar. A residual flexion deformity was evident in only 4%, mostly in children who underwent surgical release under the age of 1 year. CONCLUSION. Surgical release is recommended for children with trigger thumbs aged more than 1 year, which attains satisfactory results with minimal complications.


We estimate actuarially fair premium rates for yield insurance for Georgia and South Carolina peaches for comparison to the premium rates established by the Risk Management Agency (RMA) for the 1999 crop. The RMA premium rates varied from county to county, but were identical for all growers in a given county. The estimated premium rates decrease with the grower's expected yield. The RMA rate structure encouraged adverse selection, as premium rates were too low for growers with low expected yields (especially at low coverage levels) and were too high for growers with high expected yields (especially at high coverage levels).


Background: Cholera is a severe disease which is caused by Vibrio cholerae and it is typically transmitted by either contaminated food or water particularly in developing countries. The most important virulence factor of this bacterium is an enterotoxin called cholera toxin which is a protein complex secreted by the Vibrio cholerae. Objectives: In this project, we determined the production of cholera toxin at different pH values. Materials and Methods: Two standard strain of Vibrio cholerae O1 biovar EL Tor N16961 and Vibrio cholerae O1 biovar Classic ATCC 14035 were used. After overnight cultivation of both the strains the total mRNA extracted and converted to total cDNA. Results: By Relative Real-Time PCR analysis the most cholera toxin production in classical and El Tor strains was at pH 8.5 and 8, respectively. Conclusions: Therefore, We may conclude that use of acidic diet will help in reduction of cholera toxin production.


ABSTRACT Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) infection induces myocardial inflammation and myocyte necrosis in some, but not all, strains of mice. C57BL/6 mice, which inherently lack major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II IE antigen, develop minimal cardiac lesions despite high levels of virus in the heart. The present experiments evaluate the relative roles of class II IA and IE expression on myocarditis susceptibility in four transgenic C57BL/6 mouse strains differing in MHC class II antigen expression. Animals lacking MHC class II IE antigen (C57BL/6 [IA+ IE−] and ABo [IA− IE−]) developed minimal cardiac lesions subsequent to infection despite high concentrations of virus in the heart. In contrast, strains expressing IE (ABo Eα [IA− IE+] and Bl.Tg.Eα [IA+ IE+]) had substantial cardiac injury. Myocarditis susceptibility correlated to a Th1 (gamma interferon-positive) cell response in the spleen, while disease resistance correlated to a preferential Th2 (interleukin-4-positive) phenotype. Vγ/Vδ analysis indicates that distinct subpopulations of γδ+ T cells are activated after CVB3 infection of C57BL/6 and Bl.Tg.Eα mice. Depletion of γδ+ T cells abrogated myocarditis susceptibility in IE+ animals and resulted in a Th1→Th2 phenotype shift. These studies indicate that the MHC class II antigen haplotype controls myocarditis susceptibility, that this control is most likely mediated through the type of γδ T cells activated during CVB3 infection, and finally that different subpopulations of γδ+ T cells may either promote or inhibit Th1 cell responses.


Abstract Flow-by-flow palaeomagnetic measurements of 37 lava flows in the 900 m-thick, isolated lava pile around Mandla in the eastern Deccan Volcanic Province (DVP) reveals multiple magnetic polarity events: implying C29n–C28r–C28n magnetostratigraphy. Magnetic polarity results when traced out from section to section, maintaining the order of superposition, show juxtaposition of lava packages with distinct characters near Deori (e.g. flows 1–4 abated against flows 5–14) and the Dindori areas. At Dindori and towards its south, the distinct lava packages (e.g. flows 15–27 and flows 28–37) are juxtaposed along the course of Narmada river. It is explained by the presence of four normal post-Deccan faults in the Nagapahar, Kundam–Deori, Dindori and Badargarh–Amarkantak sectors: thus, signifying structural complexity with vertical shifts or offset of 150–300 m. Magnetic chron reversals in conjunction with field and chemical data support these findings. Further, these lavas are compositionally akin to Bushe, Poladpur, Ambenali and Mahableshwar Formational lavas, and follow the same stratigraphic order as in the Western Ghats. Alternating field (AFD) and thermal demagnetizations (THD) isolate the normal mean direction of the Mandla lobe: D=344.5° and I=−30°, where D and I are the mean declination and inclination of the each lava flow (α95=8.2; K=72.6; N=17, where α95 is the half-angle of the cone of 95% confidence about the mean direction, K is the precision parameter and N is the number of flows). The Virtual Geomagnetic Pole (VGP) position determined for these lavas, when compared with the Deccan Super Pole, indicates concordance with the main Deccan volcanic province, thus assigning a shorter period of eruption close to the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary (K/PB) for the eastern and western Deccan Traps.


ABSTRACT The reproductive consequences of cystic fibrosis (CF) have increased in relevance as individuals with CF now live well into their reproductive years. This article describes the first Internet-based study of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) knowledge, experiences, and preferences of adolescents and adults with CF participating in an online discussion board. Although broad SRH knowledge was demonstrated, CF-specific SRH knowledge was incomplete. Respondents reported wanting providers to initiate reproductive health discussions and offer more CF-specific SRH information. Respondents also reported experiencing a variety of disease-specific reproductive health issues (e.g., shortness of breath with sexual activity, vaginal dryness due to viscous mucous, etc.). Future research should explore how to enhance access to disease-specific SRH information.


Safety management systems (SMSs) were introduced to the rail industry as a proactive way to manage safety and prevent accidents. However, accidents still occur where the SMS has been implemented but ineffective. It is, therefore, of great importance to have a reality check of what the role and functions of an SMS are in order to understand why the SMS does not prevent organisational accidents and to identify the weakness of SMS as underlying causes in accidents.This paper is a summary of the report based on previous research (Pan, 2014). It presents a systemic review of SMS elements based on analysis of accident reports and proposes an innovative SMS model in order to discover potential improvements for SMS implementation. The review based on selected accident reports focused on analysing the individual SMS elements involved in the accidents and identified the most critical elements in accidents are safety-related information management, risk assessment and competence management. The main findings from the research lie in the failure patterns of SMS elements in accidents, organisational features of the rail accidents, inadequate standards for SMS design, and industrial emphasis in implementation. We gave our recommendations on SMS implementations based on this review. And future research can be processed in the areas of improvement of the SMS model, detailed analysis of SMS involvement in the accidents, and the actual value of the SMS.


At its core, this research project is a revision of how we conceptualise the role of international organisations. The concept of role is often invoked International Relations when discussing the function of institutions like the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), but its full meaning in this context has never been problematised, leading to varying perceptions of its meaning and a lack of common understanding in the discourse. In the case of the APSA, this lack of common understanding has led to a wide variance in how the role of the APSA is categorised, and a corresponding discrepancy in assessments of the institution's success and utility, which has had a knock-on effect on policy recommendations, which also differ wildly from author to author. This thesis devises technical definitions for the various ways in which the word role is utilised in International Relations and related fields, and in so doing, aims to standardise our understanding of the role of institutions, using the APSA as a case study. After developing a new technical definition of role based on Role Theory, the thesis develops a research programme which sets out to investigate the true role of the APSA, based on an examination of how the APSA's role has been shaped by key limiting and enabling factors, and how this role is shaped and influenced, and directed; all the while highlighting how it differs from the organisation's stated role, and scholarly perceptions of that role.


In this paper, we propose a multi-objective traffic engineering scheme using different distribution trees to multicast several flows. The aim is to combine into a single aggregated metric, the following weighting objectives: the maximum link utilization, the hop count, the total bandwidth consumption, and the total end-to-end delay. Moreover, our proposal solves the traffic split ratio for multiple trees. We formulate this multi-objective function as one with Non Linear programming with discontinuous derivatives (DNLP). Results obtained using SNOPT solver show that several weighting objectives are decreased and the maximum link utilization is minimized. The problem is NP-hard, therefore, a novel SPT algorithm is proposed for optimizing the different objectives. The behavior we get using this algorithm is similar to what we get with SNOPT solver. The proposed approach can be applied in MPLS networks by allowing the establishment of explicit routes in multicast events. The main contributions of this paper are the optimization model and the formulation of the multi-objective function; and that the algorithm proposed shows polynomial complexity.


PURPOSE
During the generation of transgenic mice (TGs) introduced with mouse T-cell receptor delta (TCR delta) gene, the authors found a TG line with corneal opacity that coincided with the presence of the transgene. The authors investigated the pathogenesis and molecular mechanisms of this corneal opacity in this line.

METHODS
The pathologic features and pathogenesis of the corneal opacity in TGs were examined histologically using transmission and scanning electron microscopy, as well as light microscopy. DNA and RNA blot analyses were performed to examine the copy number and the expression of the transgenes, respectively.

RESULTS
Histologically, edema of the corneal epithelium and adhesion of the iris to the cornea were observed in adult TGs. In the developmental analysis, the authors first observed relative hypoplasia of the ciliary body on day 18 of gestation and dysgenesis of the anterior chamber angle from postnatal day 2. Corneal opacity was observed from postnatal day 8, coinciding with the histologic vesicular change of the epithelium. No inflammation was observed through its life. In the sublines that have different copy numbers of the transgene, the occurrence of the opacity depended on the copy number of the transgene. Expression of the transgene in the thymus was consistent with the number of the introduced transgene.

CONCLUSION
In a TCR delta TG line, the overexpression of transgenes coincided with abnormal development of the ocular anterior segment and the corneal opacity. Pathogenesis is described, and possible molecular mechanisms are discussed.


Early proponents of contraception among American religious groups were staunch eugenicists who promoted birth control in the hopes of curtailing the " runaway fertility " of poor Catholic and Jewish immigrants. By the early 1930s, their campaign to legalize contraception was largely successful, but eugenics would soon go from being a sign of progressive politics and enlightened scientific understanding to a dirty word associated with Hitler. By examining the statements of all of the early liberalizers on contraception from 1920 to 1965, this paper demonstrates that although these groups purged their statements on contraception of the word eugenics by the end of WWII, the fertility of " poor others " remained their focus for the next few decades. Talk of " race suicide " changed to talk of " responsible parenthood " as their focus moved away from the whitening Irish, Italian, and Jewish immigrants to the poor in the Third World and Americans in the inner cities.