This paper analyzes the potential collaboration between agricultural research and NGOs in the dissemination of agricultural technologies at the Kenyan coast. An inventory of NGOs working in the region was established, and 11 out of 25 were found to be active in agricultural development. These 11 NGOs were visited and interviewed. They employ 39 trained extension officers, are able to reach 196 farmer groups or 5320 farmers. They typically work with farmer groups and use participatory methods, but also work in
other fields, in particular health, water, and micro-enterprise development. The NGO staff is well motivated and enjoys good working conditions and operational budgets. However, they have little technical training, their number is small compared to the 572 extension officers of the MoARD, and they reach only a fraction of the estimated 370,000 rural households. Therefore, NGOs cannot be expected to take over any of the
major tasks of the conventional agricultural extension services, but should be included in a larger collaboration between agricultural research, the extension services of the MoARD, and non-traditional partners. To this collaboration NGOs would bring their enthusiasm, proficiency in participatory methods, and close contact with the population; agricultural extension services would bring their technical knowledge and experience; and agricultural research would bring the new technologies to be adapted and tested. Keywords : Agricultural extension, Kenya, non-governmental organization Eastern Africa Journal of Rural Development Vol. 21 (1) 2005: pp. 55-64


Abstract Soil fumigation remains the standard practice to manage soilborne pathogens such as plant-parasitic nematodes, bacteria, and fungi, especially in high-value crops. However, increasing regulatory pressure due to the inherent and broad-spectrum toxicity and negative environmental impact of chemical soil fumigants, its negative effect on overall soil health, and increasing demand for organic produce, has created a growing interest in biological fumigants. Many plants and microorganisms emit volatile compounds, which can potentially be used as bio-fumigants. In this mini-review, we summarize the current status of nematology studies focused on the development of volatile compounds emitted from plants and microorganisms as fumigants to control plant-parasitic nematodes. The gap of knowledge and challenges of studying volatile compounds are also addressed.


The characterization of crude oils in terms of source rock facies and depositional environment, as well as their maturity and alteration stage, is a crucial element in exploration studies. The present contribution has implications for oil‐oil and oil‐source rock correlations. In the past, numerous parameters have been used for this purpose most of which are based on the analysis of saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons (including sulphur aromatics) and also on stable isotope signatures and elemental compositions. Recently, molecular indicators based on dibenzothiophene (DBT), phenanthrene (PHE) and their methyl derivatives methyldibenzothiophene (MDBT) and methylphenanthrene, as well as pristane (PRI) and phytane (PHY), have also been proposed (Hughes et al., 1995). These studies have attempted to infer a crude oil's source rock facies and lithology, and to classify the source rock's depositional environment. In the present study, the above compounds have been quantified by solvent extraction, liquid chromatography and capillary gas chromatography in 98 core samples of the Lower Toarcian Posidonia Shale Formation, a source rock in NW Germany. Most samples, cored between depths of 7m and 70 m, came from the Hils Half‐Graben in the Lower Saxony Basin. With a few exceptions from one borehole, the samples were unweathered marls or calcareous shales. The rocks contained mainly marine organic matter (Type II kerogen), the thermal maturity of which ranged from early mature to postmature (corresponding to 0.48‐1.44% mean vitrinite reflectance), therefore encompassing the range over which effective petroleum generation had occurred. We found that the influences of organic matter type and maturity on the molecular distributions of the above compounds were not obvious when interpreted in terms of a DBT/PHE vs PRI/PHY diagram. However, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of our data‐set showed that alkylphenanthrene concentrations are strongly controlled by maturity, while the concentrations of PRI, PHY, and 1‐MDBT display a distinct source effect.


High capacity requirements in wireless systems can be met, at the network level, by using dense small cell deployments and, at the link level, by improving spectral efficiency via spectrum reuse. In this context, we consider a small-area radio system, e.g. a pico-or femtocell, where a full-duplex access point serves simultaneously two half-duplex devices, one in downlink and one in uplink direction. All transceivers are equipped with multiple antennas exploited for spatial multiplexing. Instead of limiting the study to the total sum rate, we analyze the complete achievable rate regions of the two directions. We also take into account the effects of mismatched decoding at the receivers due to imperfect knowledge of the transceiver impairments. The analysis is conducted in the large-system limit using the replica method from statistical physics, which allows to encompass arbitrary channel input distributions. The analytical results characterize the effect of self-interference at the access point and inter-device interference on the achievable rate regions. Numerical examples for particular signaling schemes are also given.


Medical diagnostics is in constant search of new tools and devices able to provide in short
time, accurate and versatile tests performed on patients. Nanotechnology has contributed
largely in developing biosensors of smaller size at a lower cost by using a minimal amount of
sample. Biosensors aim to monitor and diagnosticate "in situ" the patient status and the
diseases caused by alteration of the body metabolism by, for example, the detection of gene
mutations, alteration of gene expression or alteration of proteins.
The aim of this work is the development of biosensors that satisfy the requirements which are
critical for applications. A biosensor must be i) easy to use, ii) economically convenient, and
therefore preferentially label free, iii) highly sensitive, iv) reversible, v) and suitable for Point
of Care Testing, that is to be used "in situ" on the patient.
We have focused on biosensors based on the optical properties of nanostructured metals as Au
or Ag, in particular by using on Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) spectroscopy.
Nanostructured metals under irradiation of electromagnetic wave (as light) exhibit intense
absorption bands as results of the localized electronic charges of the metal surface coming into
resonance with the incident energy. According to the Mie's theory, the LSPR absorption band
feature changes when the refractive index of the media surrounding the metal nanostructures is
varied.
Of particular interest for our purpose are the possible changes of the LSPR band features taking
place under molecular interactions occurring at the nanostructures surfaces: the shift of LSPR
bands is the "transducer" of molecular interactions. These changes can be easily detected by
conventional UV-Vis spectroscopy, in transmittance mode.
While a large number of studies have been carried out on monodisperse nanoparticles
suspended in solution, gold nanoparticles (NPs) deposited on a transparent surface open the
possibility to fabricate biosensor based on multiplex array platforms. Nonetheless, one of the
major problems in using these plasmonic materials for biosensing purpose is related to the
stability of the metal NPs in different solvents and in particular in aqueous solutions.
In this study we demonstrate i) the possibility to achieve highly stable NPs by simple thermal
evaporation of Au on a substrate commercially available, the Fluorine Tin Oxide (FTO) (Chapter 2); ii) a reproducible variation of the LSPR bands under formation of organic selfassembled
monolayers (SAMs), iii) reversible changes in the features of the LSPR bands,
(Chapter 3), iv) a specific and reproducible LSPR band changes under molecular interactions
occurring at NPs surfaces, as DNA hybridization (Chapter 4).
This work demonstrates that the plasmonic material based on Au NPs deposited on FTO
surfaces represents a convenient platform for biosensors because of i) inexpensive fabrication,
ii) stability of this material in various solvent, including water, of, iii) the easy way to detect
the molecular interaction, and iv) the good sensitivity to molecular interactions.


Abstract The hierarchical structure of natural systems can be useful in designing ecological studies that are informative at multiple spatial scales. Although stream systems have long been recognized as having a hierarchical spatial structure, there is a need for more empirical research that exploits this structure to generate an understanding of population biology, community ecology, and species–ecosystem linkages across spatial scales. We review studies that link pattern and process across multiple scales of stream-habitat organization, highlighting the insight derived from this multiscale approach and the role that mechanistic hypotheses play in its successful application. We also describe a frontier in stream research that relies on this multiscale approach: assessing the consequences and mechanisms of ecological processes occurring at the network scale. Broader use of this approach will advance many goals in applied stream ecology, including the design of reserves to protect stream biodiversity and the conservation of freshwater resources and services.


The Aha! experience is not a unitary construct, and several different dimensions have been proposed as its constituents. However, a systematic analysis of how much each purported dimension predicts the overall Aha! experience is needed. Presented with a large set of difficult problems (magic tricks), participants were asked to rate their solving experience with regard to suddenness in the emergence of the solution, certainty about the solution, surprise, pleasantness, relief, and drive. The strongest correlations with an overall Aha! rating on correct solutions were found for the dimensions of pleasantness, relief and certainty. Suddenness and drive were correlated to a lesser extent. No significant correlation was found for surprise. These results question the wisdom of the established approach of using a multi-component operational definition for the Aha! experience that encompasses suddenness, certainty and surprise. The positive affect that comes with discovery seems better expressed as pleasantness or relief than surprise.


Abstract Organophosphate (OP) pesticides, including chlorpyrifos (CPF), can alter metabolic hemostasis. The current systematic study investigated blood glucose, lipid profiles, and body weight alterations in rodents and fish exposed to CPF. The systematic review was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) Guidelines, querying online databases, including Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus and also search engine including Google Scholar, through January 2021. Studies on rodent and fish exposed to CPF assessing metabolic functions were selected. All studies were in the English language, with other languages being excluded from the review. Two investigators independently assessed each of the articles. The first author's name, publication date, animal model, age, sample size, gender, dose, duration, and route of exposure and outcomes were extracted from each publication. The present review summarizes findings from 61 publications on glycemic, lipid profile, insulin, and body weight changes in rodents and fish exposed to CPF exposure. Most of the studies reported hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, and decreased insulin levels and body weight following exposure to CPF. Additionally, we confirmed that the CPF-induced metabolic alterations were both dose- and time-dependent. Our findings support an association between CPF exposure and metabolic diseases. However, more studies are needed to identify the metabolic-disrupting effects of CPF and their underlying mechanisms.


In this paper, computer-based techniques for stylistic analysis of paintings are applied to the five panels of the 14th century Peruzzi Altarpiece by Giotto di Bondone. Features are extracted by combining a dual-tree complex wavelet transform with a hidden Markov tree (HMT) model. Hierarchical clustering is used to identify stylistic keywords in image patches, and keyword frequencies are calculated for sub-images that each contains many patches. A generative hierarchical Bayesian model learns stylistic patterns of keywords; these patterns are then used to characterize the styles of the sub-images; this in turn, permits to discriminate between paintings. Results suggest that such unsupervised probabilistic topic models can be useful to distill characteristic elements of style.


Activity-based costing (ABC) is as a strategic tool that ensures accurate product costs as compared to traditional costing system. The implementation of ABC implementation offers useful information for performance measurement, cost control and strategic decision-making. Meanwhile, certain factors such as information technology (IT) determine the success of ABC implementation and its impact on organizational performance. However, past studies in this realm have neither been so emphatic in explaining the role of IT usage in implementing ABC in organizations nor examined the perception of employees and organizations' decision makers towards the adoption of ABC. In addition, the government of Iraq and the Central Bank of Iraq has also issued strong recommendations to Iraqi banks to consider initiating ABC due to its influence of reduction cost. Thus, this study is motivated to examine the direct and the indirect relationships between IT, ABC implementation and organizational performance of banks in Iraq. This study surveyed 150 chief accountants of banks in the North region of Iraq. The data collected was analyzed using SPSS Version 21. The study revealed that there is a significant relationship between IT, ABC implementation and organizational performance. Also, the findings of this study demonstrated that, ABC implementation partially mediates the relationship between IT, ABC implementation and organization performance. Future researchers are recommended to consider other contingency factors and examine their effect on ABC implementation and organizational performance.


We all know people who have a fear of flying (aviophobia) or heights (altophobia) or darkness (achluophobia) or thunder (tonitrophobia) or pain (agliophobia). Besides these common phobias, there are many more, some of which are quite bizarre, such as coulrophobia (fear of clowns), venustraphobia (fear of beautiful women), consecotaleophobia (fear of chopsticks), or pentheraphobia (fear of mother-in-laws). And the list grows larger each year. This engagingly written and fascinating book examines the whole world of phobias. To many people who don't suffer from them, phobias are a complete mystery. For many who suffer from a phobia, they continue living their lives without quite understanding this extreme and irrational part of their character. Tim Weinberg looks at the range of phobias from common to bizarre. He examines the scientific and psychological research that have been undertaken in order to make sense of this strange world. And he takes the reader on his own personal journey in overcoming his fear of heights.


We present a demonstration of the simultaneous measurement of spatially resolved three-component velocity and temperature in gaseous flow fields using a variant of the vibrationally excited nitric oxide monitoring (VENOM) technique, based on planar laser induced fluorescence and molecular tagging velocimetry methods. Three-component velocity determinations were derived from two-dimensional molecular tagging velocity measurements employing sequential fluorescence image pairs obtained simultaneously by two cameras in stereoscopic configuration. Probing two different rotational states of nitric oxide (X2∏, υ''=1), produced via fluorescence and collisional quenching from initial excitation to the A Σ+2 state, for the sequential velocimetry images allows simultaneous determination of the temperature field. Experimental measurements of velocity and temperature across an oblique shock result in mean values within 21 m/s for the three components of velocity and 20 K for planar temperature when compared to oblique shock calculations.


Evolving Optimization is a generic term used to make reference to the solution of planned and implemented computational problems with base in models of an evolutionary process. Most of the bioinspired algorithms, propose biological paradigms, and the concepts of natural selection, mutation, migration and reproduction or using other techniques are with a novel paradigm as Bacterial Foraging [8], which is based on only a small part in biology, and focus more on a branch of which this is biotechnology. Nevertheless, other paradigms exist that can be adopted in the creation of evolutionary algorithms. Many environment problems involve not structured knowledge, which can be considered from the perspective of cultural paradigms; the cultural paradigms offer an ample range of categorized models that do not know the possible solutions to the problem - a situation common in the real world. The intention of the present research is to apply the computational properties of the cultural technology; in this case of corroborating of them by means of Social Data Mining to propose the solution to a specific problem, adapted from the Literature about Social Modelling. Combined with this, we analyzed the location of a society represented with its starship with respect to the social and cultural similarity of its neighbors, in a form of popular representation denominated Diorama. The set of study conformed by 95 societies (each society with a starship documented in [3]) allowed to analyze the social characteristics without affecting the extreme total of the sense of the Mosaic Image which represents the Diorama (what this it represents of all of them), and gave the opportunity us to emulate the distances that separate to each one of them and as these are grouped with respect to cluster that they belong. Demonstrating that ideological, social and cultural characteristic exist whose approximate them and as well they move away them. By means of this information it is possible to predict the best visualization of a Mosaic Image which represent a diorama, redistributing to the starships that conform it, this paper tries to explain this representation of social behavior.


Abstract This phase I study was conducted to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and dose limiting toxicities (DLTs) of the heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) inhibitor 17-allyamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17-AAG) in combination with bortezomib, and to provide pharmacokinetic data in relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Eleven patients were enrolled. The MTD was 17-AAG 150 mg/m2 and bortezomib 0.7 mg/m2. Hepatic toxicity and cardiac toxicity were dose limiting. Co-administration on day 4 led to a decrease in clearance (p = 0.005) and increase in AUC (p = 0.032) of 17-amino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17-AG), not observed when 17-AAG was administered alone. Pharmacokinetic parameters of patients who developed toxicities and those who did not were not different. The combination of 17-AAG and bortezomib led to toxicity without measurable response in patients with relapsed or refractory AML. Pharmacokinetic data provide insight for studies of related agents in AML. Next-generation HSP90 inhibitors are appealing for further development in this area.


This study aimed to get empirical evidence on the relationship of the intellectual capital of the company with its corporate social responsibility. The data used in this study were the banking industry companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The sample in this study was banking company in Indonesia which has been qualified sampling. The analysis tool to test the hypothesis was multiple regression analysis using SPSS. The results of this study showed that the disclosure of intellectual capital significantly influenced social responsibility. In addition to the control variables of this study, the performance of the company had an influence on social responsibility. This is because of the human resources owned by a company would be able to work optimally with the support of enterprise systems is good, the good quality system and strong customer capital. The implication of research is company's performance especially on social responsibility, which is the most investors in Indonesia are still oriented on profit, the greater the profit that has the company cares about the environment.


Lensing flux-ratio anomalies are most likely caused by gravitational lensing by smallscale dark matter structures. These anomalies offer the prospect of testing a fundamental prediction of the cold dark matter (CDM) cosmological model: the existence of numerous substructures that are too small to host visible galaxies. In two previous studies we found that the number of subhalos in the six high-resolution simulations of CDM galactic halos of the Aquarius project is not sufficient to account for the observed frequency of flux ratio anomalies seen in selected quasars from the CLASS survey. These studies were limited by the small number of halos used, their narrow range of masses (∼ (1− 2)× 1012M⊙) and the small range of lens ellipticities considered. We address these shortcomings by investigating the lensing properties of a large sample of halos with a wide range of masses in two sets of high resolution simulations of cosmological volumes and comparing them to a currently best available sample of radio quasars. We find that, as expected, substructures do not change the flux-ratio probability distribution of image pairs and triples with large separations, but they have a significant effect on the distribution at small separations. For such systems, CDM substructures can account for a substantial fraction of the observed flux-ratio anomalies. For large close-pair separation systems, the discrepancies existing between the observed flux ratios and predictions from smooth halo models are attributed to simplifications inherent in these models which do not take account of fine details in the lens mass distributions.


SUMMARY Four sets of experiments were performed in which developing Xenopus laevis were treated with o # i% phenylthiourea. The animals used in experiments 1 and 2 were taken from a single batch of eggs, those in experiment 3 from another batch of eggs, and those in experiment 4 from a third batch. A suitable control group of untreated tadpoles was arranged for each experiment. In experiment 1 gastrulae were reared in a solution of phenylthiourea, which inhibited melanogenesis. In experiment z tadpoles, which possessed melanophores containing melanin, were kept in a solution of phenylthiourea for 6 weeks. No turnover of melanin was detected in these animals. Experiment 3 was carried out on tail regenerates. It showed that melanogenesis is inhibited by phenylthiourea and that no turnover of melanin occurs during treatment with this drug. In experiment 4 animals which had almost completed metamorphosis showed no evidence of turnover of melanin when treated with phenylthiourea. The arrest of development of the tadpoles and the histological changes in the thyroid glands which occurred during treatment were used as evidence that phenylthiourea reached the tissues of the experimental animals.


BACKGROUND
Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO) develops or worsens in up to one-third of patients treated with radioactive iodine (RAI) for Graves' hyperthyroidism. We sought to identify the prevalence of development or worsening of GO in patients treated with RAI for Graves' hyperthyroidism and to identify the risk factors associated with that outcome.

METHODS
We identified a retrospective cohort of consecutive patients treated with RAI at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN) between 2005 and 2006. We assessed their medical records for evidence of hypothyroidism and development or worsening of GO in the year after therapy. Hypothyroidism was defined as thyrotropin >3.0 mIU/L or free thyroxine <0.8 ng/dL.

RESULTS
We identified 291 consecutive patients who received RAI therapy during the study period, with 195 out of 291 having complete follow-up data for a one-year period. GO was present in 46 out of 195 patients (23.6%) at baseline. After RAI treatment, GO developed or worsened in 25 out of 195 patients (12.8%) and it was associated with hypothyroidism at first follow-up (p=0.011) with an odds ratio (OR) of 3.3 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.3-8.7]. More smokers than nonsmokers developed new or worse GO (17.7% vs. 11.8%), but that difference did not reach statistical significance (p=0.35). Preexisting GO (24% of patients) was associated with a higher risk for negative GO outcome compared with patients who had no GO at baseline (11%; p=0.021). Both development of hypothyroidism by the first visit after RAI therapy (OR 3.6) and preexistent GO (OR 2.8) remained significant in a multivariate analysis. Development of hypothyroidism was more likely in patients with longer duration to first follow-up (p<0.001). By 6-8 weeks after RAI treatment, the prevalence of hypothyroidism was ∼40%, while that of hyperthyroidism was only 20%.

CONCLUSIONS
The presence of hypothyroidism at the first assessment of thyroid function after RAI administration is a strong predictor for adverse GO outcome. This risk is highest in patients with preexisting GO. We suggest that in order to prevent clinical hypothyroidism and the associated risk for GO, the optimal time for first measurement of fT4 is before 6 weeks after RAI therapy.


Amorphous nickel hydroxide powders codoped with Ce and Fe were synthesized by the combined chemical precipitation and rapid freezing method. The microstructure and chemical composition of the samples was characterized by XRD,SAED and EDS. The electrochemical performance of the prepared samples was analyzed by cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and charge-discharge tests. The results showed that this amorphous nickel hydroxide codoped with Ce and Fe had more structural defects than those of Fe singly doped amorphous nickel hydroxide. These abundant structural defects with Ce and Fe codoped amorphous nickel hydroxide increased the thermal stability, decreased the charge transfer resistance, inhibited oxygen evolution reaction effectively and improved the electrochemical reversibility of the amorphous nickel hydroxide electrode.


Maintaining the shape and position of female breast has been a permanent human desire. Since 5000 years to nowadays we have noticed this evidence. Sir Astley Cooper seemed to offer us a way to follow when he described his remarkable fascia in the middle of the XIX century. Anatomist and surgeons followed what they thought it was responsible for the shape and suspension of the gland. But it was the unjustifiably forgotten, Col. Christine Haycock who demonstrates during her 40 years' experience that neither Copper's fascia nor breast weight have anything to do with shape and ptosis. This is an important detail that made us think about two important points in breast augmentation: form and permanence. We review the topic, from the first attempts of breast implants until today. We talk briefly about incisions, access, placement and implants. In order to reach conclusions that provoke a technique of simple breast augmentation for every plastic surgeon, always clinically safe and aesthetically pleasing. We consider here our proposed solutions describing a new shape of mammary prosthesis for preventing that aesthetic issue: naturally anatomical and therefore with shape and in pairs, not in units for both breasts, as they have all been developed in the last 60 years.
Introduction:
A characteristic appearance of the bosom is a fundamental objective of enlargement mammaplasty, and it is abstractly surveyed dependent on the size, shape, and extent of the bosom. Be that as it may, absence of goal, quantifiable determinants of bosom style presents testing issues for plastic surgeons.2 This causes a disparity in assessment of stylish results between a plastic specialist and a patient; there is an extensive distinction in comprehension of self-perception related with engaging quality and characteristic appearance of the bosom between the 2 gatherings. Specialists ought not subsequently disregard the relationship between bosom feel and mental self-perception, the two of which are firmly identified with patients' personal satisfaction.
Following results and entanglements of elective restorative medical procedure is basic for guaranteeing excellent consideration and wellbeing and educated choice regarding patients. Along these lines, specialists ought to be educated about solid information with respect to results and potential intricacies that might be transferrable to their own patients. It stays risky, in any case, that such information have been gotten from a solitary specialist or single-focus considers; their appropriateness might be constrained in light of the fact that the adequacy of a surgery performed by a solitary specialist can't be deciphered as that by various specialists. To defeat this, the utilization of national libraries or medical coverage claims information has been endeavored. Along these lines, American Society of Plastic Surgeons and the American Board of Plastic Surgery made the Tracking Operations and Outcomes for Plastic Surgeons database for the reasons for advancing a checking of the nature of plastic careful care.6 But the utility of the Tracking Operations and Outcomes for Plastic Surgeons may likewise be restricted on the grounds that it catches entanglements happening inside just 30 days postoperatively. It is accordingly likely that the genuine occurrence of long haul inconveniences, for example, embed related contaminations, loss of bosom inserts, and capsular contracture (CC), may be thought little of.
Methods:
Study Setting
A sum of 672 patients (n = 672) experienced stylish enlargement mammaplasty utilizing the BellaGel inserts at our emergency clinics during a 2-year time span from April 1, 2017, to March 30, 2019. We incorporated the patients who were followed up for as long as a year, those without fundamental illnesses (eg, hypertension and diabetes mellitus), those without discouragement or uneasiness, and those with accessibility of follow-up information.
 Treatment Protocol
A proof based embed based growth mammaplasty was performed, as recently portrayed. Periareolar, inframammary overlay, and axillary entry points were made under general sedation and intravenous sedation for the reasons for forestalling obvious scarring.
Tolerant Evaluation and Criteria
We played out a review audit of benchmark qualities of the patients; these incorporate age, sex, round of medical procedure (essential and modification bosom growth), smoking status (never, current, and previous smokers), weight record, the sort and volume of bosom embed, and the kind of careful methodology.
Investigation of Implant Survival
In the current examination, we broke down intricacy free endurance; it is characterized as survivorship of the patients with no difficulties. It was determined as level of practical inserts that stay without experiencing modification or expulsion of them without correction.
Factual Analysis of the Patient Data
All information of our clinical arrangement of the patients were communicated as the quantity of patients with rate, mean ± SD, or mean ± standard mistake, where proper. The aggregate by and large confusion free endurance was evaluated, for which 95% certainty stretches (CIs) were given. Additionally, contrasts in intricacy free endurance between the 4 kinds of the BellaGel inserts were tried for factual hugeness utilizing the rehashed measures investigation of change and Duncan's post hoc examination. Besides, the comparing combined intricacy free Kaplan–Meier endurance bend was plotted. Measurable investigation was finished utilizing the SPSS ver. 18.0 for windows (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Ill.). A P estimation of <0.05 was considered measurably huge.
Discussion:
As indicated by the 2015 International Society of Esthetic Plastic Surgery report, stylish bosom growth medical procedure is performed all the more pervasively when contrasted and liposuction and blepharoplasty. Also, the quantity of patients experiencing insert based bosom growth is assessed at >220,000 dependent on the 2014 International Society of Esthetic Plastic Surgery data.33 But concerns have been raised with respect to the security of tasteful bosom expansion utilizing insert prostheses.
 To sum up, our outcomes are as per the following: First, aggregate in general inconvenience free endurance arrived at the most elevated level at 120 weeks postoperatively (0.981 [95% CI, 0.971–0.992]). Second, there was no huge contrast in the combined inconvenience free endurance between the 4 kinds of the BellaGel inserts (χ2 = 2.289, P = 0.513).
 Conclusions:
All in all, we portray the momentary wellbeing of expansion mammaplasty utilizing the BellaGel embeds in Korean ladies. In any case, further imminent, huge scope, multicenter concentrates with a significant stretch of follow-up are justified to set up our outcomes.


The purpose of the present work was to study the effect of guava pomace and pulse powder incorporation in to rice based extrudates on physical characteristics. Guava pomace collected after juice extraction was dried and milled. It was then added with pulse powder-rice flour blend at different combinations based on Central Composite Rotatable Design (CCRD). The independent variables were moisture content (17 – 21%), temperature (115 – 135°C), screw speed (230 – 270rpm), and varying proportion of rice, pulse and guava pomace. Higher feed moisture content resulted in extrudates with a higher density, lower expansion, higher water absorption index, lower water soluble index, and higher hardness. Higher barrel temperature resulted in reduced density, increased expansion, and water solubility index. Addition of guava pomace resulted in increase in water absorption index, hardness and decreased bulk density, expansion and water solubility index. The study suggested the guava pomace may be utilized up to the level of 10% to in Ready to Eat Snacks.


Facial transplantation is becoming increasingly accepted as a method of reconstructing otherwise unreconstructable adult faces. As this modality is made more available, we must turn our attention to pediatric patients who may benefit from facial transplantation. In the current article, the authors present and briefly examine the most pressing ethical challenges posed by the possibility of performing facial transplantation on pediatric patients. Furthermore, they issue a call for a policy statement on pediatric facial transplantation. The present article may serve as a first step in that direction, highlighting ethical issues that would need to be considered in the creation of such a statement.


Calcofluor White (a fluorochrome dye) affected the growth of Geotrichum lactis by causing lysis of cells at the hyphal tips. This effect was prevented by the presence of an osmotic stabilizer. The growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae was also affected, and multicellular aggregates were formed because of incomplete separation of mother and daughter cells; fluorescence microscopy indicated the presence of abnormally thick septa. The formation of rudimentary wall material by G. lactis protoplasts was promoted by Calcofluor or Congo red (another dye). The rate of chitin synthesis in protoplasts and growing cells was enhanced by both dyes. In contrast, both dyes inhibited chitin and beta (1,3)-glucan synthases in isolated cell-free systems. Degradation rates for beta (1,3)-glucan or chitin were not affected significantly by the dyes. Wheat germ agglutinin also affected chitin synthesis in protoplasts.


The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of drought stress and mycorrhizal inoculation on physiological adaptation and biomass production of Macroptilium bracteatum. This experiment was arranged in completely randomized design with four treatments: M0 (no AM + watered), M1 (AM + watered), M2 (no AM + drought), and M3 (AM + drought) with three replicates. The observed variables were soil water content, leaf water potential, leaf relative water content, leaf proline, leaf water soluble carbohydrate (WSC), root and shoot dry weight. Data were analyzed by ANOVA and differences between treatments were tested by DMRT. Drought treatments (M2 and M3) significantly (P < 0.05) decrease soil water content, leaf water potential, leaf relative water content and increased the leaf proline content. The result in root and shoot dry weight appear that M1 treatment was significantly different (P < 0.05) with treatment M0, M2, and M3. For leaf WSC, M0 and M2 treatments were significantly different (P < 0.05) with treatment M1 and M3. It is concluded that mycorrhiza inoculation was more effective on M. bracteatum, in drought stress. One mechanism of drought resistance of M. bracteatum is the accumulation of osmotic compounds proline. Therefore, proline can be used as an indicator of drought resistance in leguminous plants.


TaxonomyBrowser is a biodiversity information system developed to manage data collected by biologists during field work as well as data resulting from further analyses. It was developed as a web application and stores data on a database organized according to the taxonomic tree of leaving species, i.e., specimens collected or observed during field work are recorded in the database classified as pertaining to some level in the taxonomic tree. In its first version, TaxonomyBrowser had a common, form-based user interface for managing the database. This work presents the new visualization-based interface of the system, describing the features that are available for entering data from collected specimens as well as accessing data through different visualization techniques. The interface was assessed by means of a survey with remote users in order to evaluate the provided features and validate the concept of a visualization-based interface for such kind of system. Participants considered the application to be intuitive, and most of them provided positive feedback.


Institutional Stock Ownership and Corporate Dividend Policy: Evidence from China by SHEN Jianghua Master of Philosophy Agency theory suggests that institutional stockholders are able to influence the dividend policies of listed firms with the underlying objective of reducing a firm's agency costs. This study explores the causal effects of institutional ownership on dividend policies for the firms listed in China. Using various measures of institutional ownership and dividend policy, I find that mutual fund ownership in a firm causes it to pay out more cash dividends or to initiate cash dividends. These effects are mainly evident in the firms controlled by the state and regional governments and those with relatively high free cash flows. The effects are also shown to be stronger when the mutual fund investment horizon is longer. However, firms with existing high levels of cash dividends do not attract mutual fund investors. The results still hold when I use different methods to mitigate the endogeneity problem. Mutual fund ownership is also shown to reduce agency costs and improve the operating performances of the firms that they invest in. Other institutional investors, such as banks, insurance companies, and securities companies appear to have different influences from those of mutual funds on firms' cash dividend payments, agency costs and operating performances. My results support the agency costs explanation of institutional ownership and dividend policy.


Abstract Objectives: To determine whether employment status after job loss due to privatisation influences health and use of health services and whether financial strain, psychosocial measures, or health related behaviours can explain any findings. Design: Data collected before and 18 months after privatisation. Setting: One department of the civil service that was sold to the private sector. Participants: 666 employees during baseline screening in the department to be privatised. Main outcome measures: Health and health service outcomes associated with insecure re-employment, permanent exit from paid employment, and unemployment after privatisation compared with outcomes associated with secure re-employment. Results: Insecure re-employment and unemployment were associated with relative increases in minor psychiatric morbidity (mean difference 1.56 (95% confidence intervals interval 1.0 to 2.2) and 1.25 (0.6 to 2.0) respectively) and having four or more consultations with a general practitioner in the past year (odds ratio 2.04 (1.1 to 3.8) and 2.39 (1.2 to 4.7) respectively). Health outcomes for respondents permanently out of paid employment closely resembled those in secure re-employment, except for a substantial relative increase in longstanding illness (2.25; 1.1 to 4.4). Financial strain and change in psychosocial measures and health related behaviours accounted for little of the observed associations. Adjustment for change in minor psychiatric morbidity attenuated the association between insecure re-employment or unemployment and general practitioner consultations by 26% and 27%, respectively. Conclusions: Insecure re-employment and unemployment after privatisation result in increases in minor psychiatric morbidity and consultations with a general practitioner, which are possibly due to the increased minor psychiatric morbidity.


Geographers have long debated on the topic of landscape, confronting the ideas of other disciplines and policymakers, always contributing to a positive discussion even for juridical purposes, but never forgetting the necessity to behold critically. The term landscape possesses a double meaning (the thing and its representation), indeed suggesting the considerable complexity of the topic. The real intrinsic risk of the 2000 European Landscape Convention is the demand of transforming what has an unavoidable perceptive-aesthetic nature (landscape), in an object that has a political status (territory). But the difference between the political and the aesthetic is crucial and threatens to undermine the very possibility of the existence of landscape policies. Policies do operate by stating rules and norms, all contained in written laws. On the contrary, the aesthetic field is not reducible, by nature, to any rule or norm, except in the case of dictatorial regimes. In Italy, the actual risk appears to be the latest occasion to produce as many landscape policies as the number of Regions, namely twenty.


Objective To investigate if adults who are hospitalised for a burn injury have increased long-term hospital use for musculoskeletal diseases. Design A population-based retrospective cohort study using linked administrative health data from the Western Australian Data Linkage System. Subjects Records of 17 753 persons aged at least 20 years when hospitalised for a first burn injury in Western Australia during the period 1980–2012, and 70 758 persons who were age and gender-frequency matched with no injury admissions randomly selected from Western Australia's electoral roll. Main outcome measures Admission rates and cumulative length of stay for musculoskeletal diseases. Negative binomial and Cox proportional hazards regression modelling were used to generate incidence rate ratios (IRR) and HRs with 95% CIs, respectively. Results After adjustment for pre-existing health status and demographic characteristics, the burn cohort had almost twice the hospitalisation rate for a musculoskeletal condition (IRR, 95% CI 1.98, 1.86 to 2.10), and spent 3.70 times as long in hospital with a musculoskeletal diagnosis (95% CI 3.10 to 4.42) over the 33-year period, than the uninjured comparison cohort. Adjusted survival analyses of incident post-burn musculoskeletal disease admissions found significant increases for the 15-year post burn discharge period (0–6 months: HR, 95% CI 2.51, 2.04 to 3.11; 6 months–2 years: HR, 95% CI 1.77, 1.53 to 2.05; 2–15 years: HR, 95% CI 1.32, 1.23 to 1.42). Incident admission rates were significantly elevated for 20 years post-burn for minor and severe burn injury for a range of musculoskeletal diseases that included arthropathies, dorsopathies, osteopathies and soft tissue disorders. Conclusions Minor and severe burn injuries were associated with significantly increased post-burn incident admission rates, long-term hospital use and prolonged length of stay for a range of musculoskeletal diseases. Further research is required that facilitates identification of at-risk patients and appropriate treatment pathways, to reduce the long-term morbidity associated with burns.


An elementary introduction into algebraic approach to unified quantum information theory and operational approach to quantum entanglement as generalized encoding is given. After introducing compound quantum state and two types of informational divergences, namely, Araki-Umegaki (a-type) and of Belavkin-Staszewski (b-type) quantum relative entropic information, this paper treats two types of quantum mutual information via entanglement and defines two types of corresponding quantum channel capacities as the supremum via the generalized encodings. It proves the additivity property of quantum channel capacities via entanglement, which extends the earlier results of V. P. Belavkin to products of arbitrary quantum channels for quantum relative entropy of any type.


Abstract Aim/background: Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a common neurological movement disorder which is commonly seen in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Insomnia, depression, and anxiety disorders frequently show concurrence. In this study, we aimed to investigate RLS and insomnia prevalence and related factors in HD patients. Subjects and methods: Patients who were under HD treatment and healthy controls with similar mean age, sex ratio, and hypertension and diabetes mellitus frequency were included in this study. Depression, insomnia, and daytime sleepiness assessments were performed by using Beck Depression Inventory, Insomnia Severity Index, and Epworth Sleepiness Scale. The diagnosis of RLS was made using the International RLS Study Group consensus criteria. Results: About 156 HD patients and 35 controls were enrolled. The mean age was 50.6 in the HD group and 49.7 in the control group. Female sex was 43.9% in the HD group and 57.1% in the control group. RLS was significantly more frequent in HD patients compared with controls. The rate of sub-threshold insomnia and insomnia with moderate severity was higher in HD patients. While insomnia severity score and diabetes mellitus were significantly associated with the presence of RLS, depression, RLS, older age, and being under HD treatment were independently associated with insomnia severity. Conclusions: HD patients commonly have RLS and insomnia. Insomnia and diabetes mellitus seem to be major factors underlying RLS in HD patients. Furthermore, depression and RLS seem to be closely related to insomnia in these patients. Treatment of depression, insomnia, and RLS may be beneficial to improve quality of life in HD patients.


We introduce a new data mining problem--redescription mining--that unifies considerations of conceptual clustering, constructive induction, and logical formula discovery. Redescription mining begins with a collection of sets, views it as a propositional vocabulary, and identifies clusters of data that can be defined in at least two ways using this vocabulary. The primary contributions of this paper are conceptual and theoretical: (i) we formally study the space of redescriptions underlying a dataset and characterize their intrinsic structure, (ii) we identify impossibility as well as strong possibility results about when mining redescriptions is feasible, (iii) we present several scenarios of how we can custom-build redescription mining solutions for various biases, and (iv) we outline how many problems studied in the larger machine learning community are really special cases of redescription mining. By highlighting its broad scope and relevance. we aim to establish the importance of redescription mining and make the case for a thrust in this new line of research.


Crossing high bridges offers the opportunity to ponder views from a distance: to see connections between places at the ground level or ideas that are familiar, and to capture an overview of places or ideas that are yet to be explored. The purpose of this essay is to explore the figural bridges that connect the arts with cognitive development and the neurosciences. More precisely, the essay considers the role that visual images and sounds play in early life and in the arts, then turns to neurological understandings of cognitive development, and finally focuses on these bridging relationships to teaching about the arts. More broadly, this essay is part of the author's effort to create a framework for understanding the social construction and neurological organization of cognitive development. The first view explores our human attraction to visual images in response to the environment and to the arts. This view considers prehistoric, early historic, and recent examples of humankind's contructed visual images. A second view explores our response to sounds in the environment and sounds associated with the arts. The connections that link our auditory perception with our visual memory are also given consideration. Music and literature serve to illustrate the significance of these auditory-visual connections. A third view explores neuroscientists' discoveries of how our brain processes and integrates the information we take in, and considers the contribution of the neurosciences to our understanding of cognitive development. A final view from the bridge explores the potential contribution of the arts toward enhanced cognitive development. This view is framed in terms of future research and an analysis of the implications for those who teach the arts.


Self-reported data from the GEDA 2014/2015-EHIS study was used to calculate the level of compliance among adults in Germany with the World Health Organization's (WHO) recommendations on physical activity. The WHO's recommendations distinguish between 'aerobic activity' and 'muscle-strengthening activity'. In Germany, 42.6% of women and 48.0% of men reported that they conduct at least 2.5 hours of aerobic physical activity per week, and therefore meet the WHO's recommendation on this form of activity. A higher level of education among women and men of all ages is associated with a higher frequency of meeting the WHO's recommendations on aerobic activity. In addition, 27.6% of women and 31.2% of men conduct muscle-strengthening activity at least twice a week, thereby meeting the WHO's recommendations on this form of activity. About one fifth of women (20.5%) and one quarter of men in Germany (24.7%) meet both of these recommendations. In summary, the results point to the value of encouraging people to conduct more physical activity during their leisure time. In fact, inactive people who begin to follow the WHO's recommendations can significantly reduce their long-term risk of premature mortality.


Why would a country strongly influenced by Buddhism's reverence for life allow legalized, widely used abortion? Equally puzzling to many Westerners is the Japanese practice of mizuko rites, in which the parents of aborted fetuses pray for the well-being of these rejected "lives." In this provocative investigation, William LaFleur examines abortion as a window on the culture and ethics of Japan. At the same time he contributes to the Western debate on abortion, exploring how the Japanese resolve their conflicting emotions privately and avoid the pro-life/pro-choice politics that sharply divide Americans on the issue.


PubMed was searched using key words "COVID-19", "coronavirus", and "SARS CoV‑2" in conjunction with "ophthalmology" and "eye" on 17th May 2020. Total 483 articles were identified. After screening eleven articles were included in the analysis. The frequencies of ocular manifestations and the presence of virus in conjunctiva were analyzed and final results were compiled.Ten out of eleven articleswere analyzed for ocular manifestations. In our analysis a total of 2115 cases had Covid 19, out of which 77 patients developed ocular manifestations (3.64%, 95% CI 2.88 – 4.53). The most common being conjunctival congestion. Twelve patients had SARS – CoV-2 in their ocular secretions confirmed by RT PCR test (2.61%, 95% CI 1.36 – 4.52). This meta-analysis concludes that conjunctiva is neither a preferred site of infection nor a preferred gateway for entry of SARS CoV-2 in the body. As a low risk of infection does exist, eye protective equipment should be used when treating COVID – 19 patients.
Key Words:  SARS CoV 2, COVID 19, Conjunctiva, Ophthalmology.


During the Second World War, the central Mediterranean island of Malta was famously besieged by the Italian navy and intensively bombed by Italian and later German air forces, from June 1940 until Allied victory in North Africa in May 1943 brought an end to the siege. It was then scheduled as a staging post to support the Allied invasion of Sicily from North Africa in July 1943 and of mainland Italy from Sicily in September. From 1941 until 1945, two Tunnelling Companies Royal Engineers, overlapping in succession, excavated underground facilities safe from aerial or naval bombardment. In 1943 and then 1944–1945, two Boring Sections Royal Engineers in succession drilled wells to enhance water supplies, initially for increased troop concentrations. Borehole site selection was guided in 1943 by the Director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain (Edward Battersby Bailey: 1881–1965) and by geologists Captain Frederick William Shotton (1906–1990) and Major Gordon Lyall Paver (1913–1988). In 1944, it was guided by geologist Captain Howard Digby Roberts (1913–1971), leading a detachment from 42nd Geological Section of the South African Engineer Corps that pioneered earth resistivity surveys on the island. Overall, these military studies generated a new but unpublished geological map of the island at 1:31,680-scale and refined knowledge of its geological structure: a much faulted but otherwise near-horizontal Oligo-Miocene sedimentary sequence. Further refinement was achieved as a consequence of the 1944–1945 drilling programme, led principally by geologist Captain Thomas Owen Morris (1904–1989) of the Royal Engineers. By 1945, this had helped to develop an improved water supply system for the island, and plans to develop groundwater abstracted from a perched upper aquifer (in the Upper Coralline Limestone and underlying Greensand formations, above a 'Blue Clay') as well as from the main lower aquifer, near sea level (in the Globigerina Limestone and/or underlying Lower Coralline Limestone formations).


A dedicated processor for Monte Carlo computations in radiotherapy treatment planning on FPGA based hardware is being developed at INFN, Cagliari. When performing Monte Carlo simulations of the radiation dose delivered to the human body, the Compton interaction of a photon with an electron is simulated. A fast, pipelined, cost effective design for real time simulation of the Compton interaction had been implemented. The inputs to the system are the energy and the normalized direction vectors of the incoming photon. The energy and the direction vectors of the scattered photon and the scattered electron are calculated. The energy distribution by the scattered electron along its path in a voxel space is then calculated which can be used to construct maps of dose distribution in real time.


Abstract Conclusion: It is suggested that aquaporins (AQPs) 1, 2, and 3, and vasopressin type 2 receptors (V2Rs) in the fluid transporting cells, such as stria vascularis, vestibular dark and transitional cells, and endolymphatic sac epithelial cells, have an important role in fluid transport in the inner ear, while those in the sensory and ganglion cells may play a functional role in the sensory cell transduction system. Objective: To analyze expression of AQP1, AQP2, and AQP3 as well as V2Rs in the normal mouse inner ear. Methods: CBA/J mice were used in this study. Localization of AQP1, AQP2, AQP3, and V2Rs in the inner ear, i.e. cochlea, vestibular end organs, and endolymphatic sac, was investigated by immunohistochemistry. Results: The results show that AQP1, AQP2, AQP3, and V2Rs are abundantly distributed in many inner ear structures, i.e. stria vascularis, inner and outer hair cells, spiral ganglion cells, vestibular sensory and ganglion cells, vestibular dark and transitional cells, and the endolymphatic sac.


Local severe storms are extreme weather events that last only for a few hours and evolve rapidly. Very often the mesoscale features associated these local severe storms are not well-captured synoptically. Forecasters have to predict the changing weather situation in the next 0-6 hrs based on latest observations. The operational process to predict the weather in the next 0-6 hrs is known as "nowcast". Observational data that are typically suited for nowcasting includes Doppler Weather Radar (DWR), wind profiler, microwave sounder and satellite radiance. To assist forecasters, in predicting the weather information and making warning decisions, various nowcasting systems have been developed by various countries in recent years. Notable examples are Auto-Nowcaster (U.S.), BJ-ANC (China-U.S.), CARDS (Canada), GRAPES-SWIFT (China), MAPLE (Canada), NIMROD (U.K.), NIWOT (U.S.), STEPS (Australia), SWIRLS (Hong Kong, China), TIFS (Australia), TITAN (U.S.) (Dixon and Wiener, 1993) and WDSS (U.S.). Some of these systems were used in the two forecast demonstration projects organized by WMO for the Sydney 2000 and Beijing 2008 Olympic. A common feature of these systems is that they all use rapidly updated radar data, typically once every 6 minutes.The nowcasting system SWIRLS ("Short-range Warning of Intense Rainstorms in Localized Systems") has been developed by the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) and was put into operation in Hong Kong in 1999. Since then system has undergone several upgrades, the latest known as "SWIRLS-2" to support the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. SWIRLS-2 is being adapted by India Meteorological Department (IMD) for use and test for the Commonwealth Games 2010 at New Delhi with assistance from HKO. SWIRLS-2 ingests a range of observation data including SIGMET/IRIS DWR radar product, raingauge data, radiosonde data, lightning data to analyze and predict reflectivity, radar-echo motion, QPE, QPF, as well as track of thunderstorm and its associated severe weather, including cloud-to-ground lightning, severe squalls and hail, and probability of precipitation. SWIRLS-2 uses a number of algorithms to derive the storm motion vectors. These include TREC ("Tracking of Radar Echoes by Correlation"), GTrack (Group tracking of radar echoes, an object-oriented technique for tracking the movement of a storm as a whole entity) and lately MOVA ("Multi-scale Optical flow by Variational Analysis"). This latest algorithm uses optical flow, a technique commonly used in motion detection in image processing, and variational analysis to derive the motion vector field. By cascading through a range of scales, MOVA can better depict the actual storm motion vector field as compared with TREC and GTrack which does well in tracking small scales features and storm entity respectively. In this paper the application of TREC and MOVA to derive the storm motion vector, reflectivity and QPF using Indian DWR data has been demonstrated for the thunderstorm events over Kolkata and New Delhi. The system has been successfully operationalized for Delhi and neighborhood area for commonwealth games 2010. Real time products are available on IMD website


ABSTRACT Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, the etiological agent of porcine pleuropneumonia, is able to survive on respiratory epithelia, in tonsils, and in the anaerobic environment of encapsulated sequesters. It was previously demonstrated that a deletion of the anaerobic dimethyl sulfoxide reductase gene (dmsA) results in attenuation in acute disease (N. Baltes, S. Kyaw, I. Hennig-Pauka, and G. F. Gerlach, Infect. Immun. 71:6784-6792, 2003). In the present study, using two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry, we identified an aspartate ammonia-lyase (AspA) which is upregulated upon induction with bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). This enzyme is involved in the production of fumarate, an alternative electron acceptor under anaerobic conditions. The coding gene (aspA) was cloned and shown to be present in all A. pleuropneumoniae serotype reference strains. The transcriptional start point was identified downstream of a putative FNR binding motif, and BALF-dependent activation of aspA was confirmed by construction of an isogenic A. pleuropneumoniae mutant carrying a chromosomal aspA::luxAB transcriptional fusion. Two aspA deletion mutants, A. pleuropneumoniae ΔaspA and A. pleuropneumoniae ΔaspAΔdmsA, were constructed, both showing reduced growth under anaerobic conditions in vitro. Pigs challenged with either of the two mutants in an aerosol infection model showed a lower lung lesion score than that of the A. pleuropneumoniae wild-type (wt) controls. Pigs challenged with A. pleuropneumoniae ΔaspAΔdmsA had a significantly lower clinical score, and this mutant was rarely reisolated from unaltered lung tissue; in contrast, A. pleuropneumoniae ΔaspA and the A. pleuropneumoniae wt were consistently reisolated in high numbers. These results suggest that enzymes involved in anaerobic respiration are necessary for the pathogen's ability to persist on respiratory tract epithelium and play an important role in A. pleuropneumoniae pathogenesis.


Abstract. In the double-muscled Belgian Blue beef breed, withers height and hearth girth are routinely measured. This is mainly done to prevent a decrease in growth potential when selecting for increased muscular conformation. The muscular conformation itself is subjectively scored. It was questioned if additional body measurements may improve the accuracy of estimating live weight and whether some of these body measurements may yield information for evaluating the muscular conformation hence the slaughter value of a live animal. It was found that hearth girth and shoulder width have a high correlation with the live weight of slaughter bulls. The width of the hind quarters and withers height are good estimators as well. Models combining these different traits to estimate live weight have reliability up to 83%. Shoulder width and width of the hind quarters are a good reflection of the value of the slaughter bull, which is expressed as Euro per kg cold carcass weight. The withers height is negatively correlated (r = −0.40) with the muscular conformation of the slaughter bulls. Hearth girth has no clear relation with the muscular conformation. The four body traits, withers height, hearth girth, shoulder width and width of hind quarters are interesting traits related to economical traits in the double-muscled Belgian Blue beef breed. Using these body measurements in selection might be worthwhile to consider.


This study attempts to
simulate the spatial heterogeneity of infiltration in a drainage basin using
digital elevation models. Infiltration capacity is one of the controlling
factors in the formation of stream channels. Channel formation is also a
function of the slope and the contributing area. Natural stream channels, if
properly graded and adjusted to the present climate, reflect the interactions
of local slope, contributing area, and permeability of surface materials.
Channel networks can be delineated from a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) using a
variety of algorithms using different thresholds for channel initiation. These
algorithms delineate a channel network on the basis of local slope, curvature,
and contributing area, without considering the permeability of surface cover.
Hence, the difference in the structure of the two drainage networks, i.e. the surveyed drainage network obtained
from field observation and the simulated network generated from the DEM, is
indicative of the spatial heterogeneities in the permeability of the surface
cover as shown in this paper. Spatially variable drainage density maps
corresponding to the two networks have been used here to obtain normalized
difference maps that characterize the potential infiltration anomalies within the
catchment. The simulated spatial pattern is compared with the actual
infiltration measurements in the field using infiltration tests. Strong
positive correlation between the observed and modeled infiltration confirms the
effectiveness of this technique in the rapid assessment of potential
infiltration variability.


The natural bamboo fiber is a new kind of textile material. It is made from bamboo plant in physical ways. We studied the basic microstructure of natural bamboo fiber with the scanning electron microscope. The features of fiber length, the linear density and mechanical property were also analyzed. The degrees of crystallization and orientation were tested by diffractometer as well. The results showed that there were a lot of recesses and strips in the longitudinal direction, while the cross-section of the fiber was the shape of polygon with lumen in it. The length distribution arranged from 1.5mm to 215mm, the linear density was about 5.8dtex. The crystallization degree of the natural bamboo fiber was similar to the ramie fiber. In standard state, the breaking strength of the bamboo fiber was 6.71 cN/dtex, and the breaking elongation was about 3.48%, so the natural bamboo fiber was a kind of fiber with high strength and low extension. In hygrometric state, the tenacity and the elongation were both become larger.


A study was carried out during the year of 2012 and 2014 at Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, C.S. Azad university of Agriculture and technology, Kanpur -208002. The chemical evaluation of Misti Dahi prepared from various composition of different milk was the objective of present study. The treatments i.e., 100% buffalo milk (A1), 50% buffalo milk + 25% soy milk (A2), 50% buffalo milk + 50% soy milk (A3) and 25% buffalo milk + 25% soy milk (A4) were tested. In each batch, four levels of sugar was added i.e., B1 (10%), B2 (12%), B3 (14%) and B4 (16%). After adding of sugar, the each batch was inoculated with starter culture Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis with 2% inoculum (C1), Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris with 2% inoculums (C2) and Bifidobacterium bafidum 2% inoculums (C3). These were further divided in two batches and each batch was allowed to incubate at 300C (D1) and 370C (D2) temperature. After that the storage studied were carried out on fresh product (E1- 0 days storage), after 7 days storage (E2) and after 14 days storage (E3). Pure buffalo milk was found most suitable, while 75% buffalo milk + 25% soy milk also at par in respect of chemical qualities of Misti Dahi. The overall maximum fat, lactose, ash and total solids content were noted in samples prepared from 100% buffalo milk with 10% sugar by the use of Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactus culture at 370C incubation temperature at freshly prepared (0 day storage period).


Osteoporosis is greatly increasing in prevalence as the population ages. Postmenopausal women are at particularly high risk. I have reviewed the risk factors for osteoporosis, the office evaluation, laboratory and radiologic testing, and available treatment of osteoporosis. Adequate calcium and vitamin D intake is important in prevention and treatment. Estrogen replacement is the treatment of choice for the menopausal women who has or is at risk for osteoporosis, but several alternatives are available. These drugs prevent bone loss but cannot restore lost bone to any significant degree. Until effective means of restoring normal bone are discovered, increasing peak bone mass in adolescents and young women with the hope of preventing osteoporosis may be the most important intervention.


This paper presents a universal active filter for harmonic and reactive power compensation for single-phase systems applications. The proposed system is a combination of parallel and series active filters without transformer. It is suitable for applications where size and weight are critical factors. The model of the system is derived and it is shown that the circulating current observed in the proposed active filter is an important quantity that must be controlled. A complete control system, including pulse-width modulation (PWM) techniques, is developed. Comparisons between the structures are made from weighted total harmonic distortion (WTHD). The steady-state analysis is also presented in order to demonstrate the possibility to obtain an optimum voltage angle reducing the current amplitude of both series and parallel converters and, consequently, the total losses of the system. Simulated and experimental results validate the theoretical considerations.


ABSTRACT The glassy-winged sharpshooter, Homalodisca vitripennis (Germar), is an invasive pest that has spread across the southern and western United States. H. vitripennis is highly polyphagous and voracious, feeding on at least 100 plant species and consuming up to 100 times its weight in xylem fluid daily. The insect is a vector of the phytopathogen Xylella fastidiosa (Wells), which is the causative agent of Pierce's disease in grapevines. To evaluate the microbial flora associated with H. vitripennis, total DNA extracts from hemolymph, alimentary canal excretions, and whole insect bodies were subjected to 16S rDNA pyrosequencing using the bTEFAP methodology and the resulting sequences (370–520 bp in length) were compared with a curated high quality 16S database derived from GenBank (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). Species from the genera Wolbachia, Delftia (formerly Pseudomonas), Pectobacterium, Moraxella, Serratia, Bacillus, and many others were detected and a comprehensive picture of the microbiome associated with H. vitripennis was established. Some of the bacteria identified in this report are initial discoveries; providing a breadth of knowledge to the microbial flora of this insect pest can serve as a reservoir of information for developing biological control strategies.


The concentration of starch, soluble carbohydrates, free abscisic acid (ABA) and activities of α-amylases and invertases (the acid and the alkaline form) were investigated in buds and internodes of Vitis vinifera L. cv. Merlot during annual cycle. The levels of starch increased in the two organs from middle august to middle of November and the decreased until middle February. These variations seem to be controlled by α-amylase which activity was low during periods of starch accumulation and high when starch contents decreased. As the bud burst draws near (since the middle of February), starch accumulated in internodes and buds. However at the same time of the activity of α-amylase which activity also increased. Starch contents could be controlled by ABA which is known to reduce α-amylase activity. Indeed in internodes ABA content was high when α-amylase activity was low. This was also the case in the buds but after break dormancy phase. This difference of comportment of α-amylase towards ABA in the buds during the annual cycle could be in relation with the change of the physiological state of buds induced by the winter chilling. The invertases activities in buds and internodes changed inversely to the sucrose and raffinose contents during all the annual cycle suggesting that the levels of these sugars were controlled by invertases, highly by the acid form and slightly by the alkaline form. Nevertheless, in the buds, when alkaline activity of invertase was high, sucrose content was maximal. These invertases seem also implicated, with α-amylase, in the development of starch content particularly when starch was accumulated by glucose providing. In the case of buds, invertases activities appeared to change in the same sense of ABA content but not during all the cycle. This suggested that this growth regulator may not be crucial for the control of invertases activities.


This article proposes a new appoach to the problems of late capitalism, focused on circuits of production and consumption. It presents empirics on the growth of services in four advanced economies and examines the distributive implications in the UK. The argument is that, for the UK case, the changing composition of employment and the composition of demand feed into a vicious circle whereby the pattern of demand reinforces employment-generated inequalities. The political conclusion is that centre-left politics should be about breaking this vicious circle.


In December 2014, the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) released a paper that provides new estimates of the US unauthorized resident population (Warren 2014). The paper describes the development of a new dataset which has detailed information about unauthorized residents, derived from data collected in the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS). The dataset will be useful to scholars, researchers, service-providers, and government officials in crafting, implementing, and evaluating programs that serve noncitizens, including the unauthorized. In addition, the new estimates provide an opportunity to examine the dramatic changes in unauthorized immigration in the past two decades and the assumptions that have shaped US policies and public opinion. The new dataset, recent estimates of the unauthorized (Warren and Warren 2013) and statistics on the noncitizen population from IPUMS-USA (Ruggles et al. 2010) highlight several trends related to the decline in the unauthorized population, particularly from Mexico, and the increasing salience of visa overstays in constituting this population. Some trends defy conventional wisdom and all of them have public policy consequences. In particular, we find that: • The unauthorized resident population was about a million lower in 2013 than in 2007. • The "Great Recession" was not the principal cause of population decline. • Annual arrivals into the unauthorized population increased to more than one million in 2000, then began to drop steadily, and have now reached their lowest levels since the early 1980s. • From 2000 to 2012, arrivals from Mexico fell by about 80 percent. • Between 2010 and 2013, the total unauthorized population from Mexico declined by eight percent. • In 2006, the number of arrivals from Mexico fell below the total number of arrivals from all other countries (combined) for the first time. • The number who stayed beyond the period authorized by their temporary visas (overstays) exceeded the number who entered across the southern land border without inspection (EWIs) in each year from 2008 to 2012. While the CMS estimates are based on sample data and assumptions that are subject to error, these trends are consistent with the best empirical information available. In November 2014 the Obama Administration announced an unprecedented set of executive action initiatives. At this writing, the Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) program and the expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which would provide work authorization and temporary reprieve from removal to eligible persons, have been preliminarily enjoined. The temporary injunction, which the US Department of Justice plans to appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, comes in response to a legal challenge to the two programs by 26 states under Article II, section 3 of the US Constitution which requires the president to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed," and under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). In addition, the Republican majorities of the 114th Congress have vowed to prevent the implementation of these programs. However, the administration has expressed confidence that it will ultimately prevail in court and in its battle with Congress over these programs. Meanwhile, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), community-based organizations (CBOs), and others continue to plan intensively for the DAPA and DACA programs, as well as for other executive action initiatives. This paper provides estimates of those who are potentially eligible for DAPA and DACA. However, it also looks beyond DAPA and DACA to make the case for broad legislative reform in light of long-term trends in unauthorized migration to the United States and the unauthorized resident population. In particular, it argues that substantial declines in the unauthorized population—a goal shared by partisans on both sides of the immigration debate—will require reform of the legal immigration system, legalization of a substantial percentage of the unauthorized, and a more effective response to nonimmigrant visa overstays.


The strains of yeast-like fungi isolated from HIV-infected people in 1994-2005 were examined. It was found that a share of non-albicans strains increased up to 46.2%, in monoculture they were present in 40% of examined patients, Candida glabrata (21.3%) being the dominant species. The definition of proteolytic activity as one of the factors of pathogenicity showed that it was typical of 90% of museum strains and 58% of fresh isolates.


In combinatorial statistics, we are interested in a statistical test of combinatorial correlation, i.e., existence a subset from an underlying combinatorial structure such that the observation is large on the subset.
The combinatorial scan statistics has been proposed for such a statistical test; however, it is not commonly used in practice because of its high computational cost.
In this study, we restrict our attention to the case that the number of data points is moderately small (e.g., 50), the outcome is binary, and the underlying combinatorial structure is represented by a zero-suppressed binary decision diagram (ZDD), and consider the problem of computing the p-value of the combinatorial scan statistics exactly. First, we prove that this problem is a #P-hard problem. Then, we propose a practical algorithm that solves the problem. Here, the algorithm constructs a binary decision diagram (BDD) for a set of realizations of the random variables by a dynamic programming on the ZDD, and computes the p-value by a dynamic programming on the BDD. We conducted experiments to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm using real-world datasets.


The local oscillator phase noise can severely affect the performance of OFDM systems. In this paper a new method is presented for compensation of this phase noise. The method is based on the fact that the scattered pilots, which are used for channel estimation, are subject to the same phase error as the OFDM symbols. Least square approach is used to exploit the phase noise information that exists in the scattered pilots and compensate the phase noise on the OFDM symbols. Simulation results show that the method is very effective, especially in high SNR.


Paper pulp bleaching plants using elemental chlorine produced large quantities of dioxins . Dioxins are the organic pollutants that are mostly toxic human-released pollutants in the atmosphere. Dioxins are highly toxic pollutants, which cause a lot of health effects on human's reproductive, developmental, immune and hormonal problems. Dioxins easily reach the human beings through food, as dioxins accumulate in the food chain in the fatty tissue of animals. Elemental chlorine bleaching has been largely replaced by chlorine dioxide and the formation of dioxin is reduced. ECF (Elemental Chlorine Free) bleaching reduces the amount of chlorinated compounds but not fully eliminating from the effluent. The cost of replacement of new technology for the pollution control in pulp and paper industry is generally high. For this reason the pulp and paper industries follow the old bleaching techniques which cause a lot of environmental problems.   To overcome this problem in a cost-effective way it is necessary to identify the nature of the problem and compounds that cause human health and environmental problems. At present bio-bleaching of kraft pulp gives better result than ECF bleaching. In the present study three different bleaching sequences are studied ODoPD 1, P 1 P 2 H, and XP 1 P 2 D and the results are compared, based on physical and chemical properties. In ECF bleaching sequence ODoPD 1 , the amount of residual chlorine present in waste water is 110ppm which contains significant amount of dioxins. To reduce this amount, replace chlorine dioxide stage (Do) with enzymatic bleaching (X). In this sequence XP 1 P 2 D, the addition chlorine dioxide is reduced to 1.2% and the amount of residual chlorine is 10ppm.


Executive Summary The 2009 NAPLAN results for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students again show high rates of failure to meet the national minimum standards. Failure rates of 40 to 50% are common in Indigenous schools and rise to more than 70% in the Northern Territory. If schools are ranked by NAPLAN results, almost all the bottom 150 schools in such a notional list are Indigenous schools. There are few non-Indigenous schools in this bottom grouping and only a few Indigenous schools above this grouping. About 20,000 of Australia's 150,000 Indigenous students are enrolled in these Indigenous schools. About 40,000 Indigenous students from welfare dependent communities attend mainstream schools. They have failure rates of more than 20% compared to non-Indigenous failure rates of less than 10%. Some 90,000 Indigenous students attain national minimum standards. They are presumably the children of the more than 60% of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders who are working, owning, buying, or commercially renting their houses and paying their taxes like other Australians. They show that Indigenous education failure is not ethnic in origin. The causes of high Indigenous education failure rates are well understood. On the supply side, lower expectations of Indigenous students have resulted in inadequate school facilities (exemplified by 45 Northern Territory Homeland Learning Centres) separate Indigenous curriculums, short school hours, and a lack of school discipline. On the demand side, cargo cult welfare dependent cultures lead to low expectations and result in low attendance. There are positive initiatives to report. Julia Gillard, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, has made a lasting contribution by introducing NAPLAN testing and making NAPLAN results for each school available to parents and voters, thus establishing an evidence base for policies. Ms Gillard is introducing a National Curriculum with improved literacy and numeracy teaching to all Australian schools in 2011. This could be a major win for Indigenous children if the phonics approach to literacy and rigorous mathematics teaching replace current teaching practices that have led to years of failure. The Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin, has begun to tackle cargo cult welfare cultures by refining and extending income management policies that initially only applied to selected communities in the Northern Territory. Cape York Partnerships are introducing new model academies on Cape York in Queensland. Several independent schools are delivering real education to Indigenous students, and more are planned.


The high-cycle fatigue mechanisms of a NiTi shape memory alloy (SMA) under three different mean strains were investigated. Cold-rolled NiTi SMA specimens were heat treated at 600°C for 30min was selected to perform the fatigue test. Three samples were conducted cyclic deformation up to 2×105 cycles with three mean strains that subjected at full austenite, total stress-induced martensite (SIM) and austenite-martensite coexist status with the same strain amplitude of 0.25%. The cyclic stress-strain (CSS) curves show different cyclic softening and hardening at different mean strains. The S-S curves also reveal that cyclic deformation strain mainly occurred in martensite phase although austenite and martensite (A-M) coexisted. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) investigation shows that slip dislocations with habit plane and basal plane dislocations were induced during the cycling, and these microstructure evolutions contribute to the cyclic softening and hardening.


Abstract Fossil pollen exhibiting viscin threads are reported from Upper Cretaceous and Paleocene deposits in western Venezuela. The sediments were deposited in a marginal marine environment in an area presently occupied by the northern flank of the Venezuelan Andes. The palynofloras are well preserved and diverse and provide insight into the ancient vegetation of Venezuela. Pollen-bearing viscin threads from the Upper Cretaceous Mito Juan Formation are assigned to the genus Colombipollis Sarmiento Pérez 1994. The pollen grains are tri(col)porate, normally quite smooth, and most often viewed in an oblate (flattened) state. The viscin threads are on the proximal and distal sides of the pollen and vary in length; they appear to have a simple morphology unlike the complex, ropelike threads seen on pollen of the Onagraceae and some other angiosperm families. All observations to date are made using a standard light microscope but more morphological detail could be revealed using scanning electron microscopy. The pollen exhibiting viscin threads from the Paleocene Los Cuervos Formation are clearly related to onagraceous types and are assigned to the genus Corsinipollenites Nakomen 1995. The pollen is triporate and the viscin threads originate from the polar regions of the pollen. They resemble pollen reported from Eocene to Miocene deposits in the southern hemisphere (Australia, New Zealand) although are smaller in overall dimensions. The Venezuelan pollen reported in this paper post date the earliest record of viscin threads in the Turonian of the eastern United States. They represent the first reported forms from the South American region. In modern plants the presence of viscin threads has been related to the development of highly specific plant-pollinator relationships; their presence in the Late Cretaceous and Paleocene in Venezuela may help constrain the timing of the origin of certain insect groups in this area.


Managers appear to manipulate firm earnings when they characterize pension assets to capital markets and alter investment decisions to justify, and capitalize on, these manipulations. We construct a measure of the sensitivity of reported earnings to the assumed long-term rate of return on pension assets. Managers are more aggressive with assumed long-term rates of return when their assumptions have a greater impact on reported earnings. Managers also increase assumed rates of return as they prepare to acquire other firms and as they exercise stock options, further confirming the opportunistic nature of these increases. Decisions about assumed rates of return, in turn, influence asset allocation within pension plans. Instrumental variables results suggest that a 25 basis point increase in the assumed rate of return is associated with a 5% increase in equity allocation. Taken together, these results suggest that earnings manipulation arising from managerial motivations influences significant managerial investment decisions.


OBJECTIVES
Retention of mandibular complete dentures on two or four interforaminal implants is considered the most reliable procedure in implant therapy. There are different retention elements available for all implant systems. The aim of the present study was to clinically evaluate patients with a mandibular overdenture supported by the Ankylos SynCone system (Dentsply).

METHOD AND MATERIALS
Thirty-nine patients were treated with 156 implants. The treatment method was based on immediate loading of four interforaminal implants without the use of a bar retainer. The denture was placed on and retained by prefabricated conical crowns that were inserted into the existing denture base by direct intraoral polymerization immediately after surgery and supported by the corresponding conical primary implant abutments.

RESULTS
The cumulative implant survival rate was 98.7% (two failures), while the prosthesis survival rate was 100%. After a total observation of 30.3 months (range 12 to 60 months), all other implants presented healthy peri-implant soft tissue conditions showing low value of clinical parameters.

CONCLUSION
This method facilitates secondary splinting of the inserted complete denture. The conical crowns concept presented here resulted in stable complete denture retention, reduced the denture base, and improved oral hygiene.


Maternal high fat (HF) during pregnancy is known to have numerous adverse effects on offspring, including increased adiposity and impaired glucose tolerance later in life. The aim of this study was to determine if prebiotic early intervention could mitigate some of the negative effects of maternal HF. C57BL mice were fed a HF diet, normal diet or a HF diet with prebiotic supplementation during pregnancy and lactation. At 3 weeks of age, glucose tolerance were measured in the offspring. And offspring livers were obtained. Hepatic DNA methylation and gene expression was assayed. Maternal HF diet led offspring glucose intolerance and insulin resistance. Prebiotic early intervention moderated glucose metabolism and insulin resistance in male pup mice. Maternal HF diet reduced phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate 3-kinase catalytic subunit type 2 alph (Pik3c2a), phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate 3-kinase catalytic subunit type 2 beta (Pik3c2b), and phosphoinositide-3-kinase regulatory subunit 2 (Pik3r2) gene expression in male pup mice (P Disclosure Q. Zhang: None. X. Xiao: None. M. Li: None. Funding National Natural Science Foundation of China (81870545, 81870579); Beijing Natural Science Foundation (7202163, 7172169)


Depression in young adults is a growing concern to public health. This study aims to investigate if depression status in young adults is related to clinical and behavioral cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. Crosssectional data from a population-based sample of young Danish adults participating in the European Youth Heart Study 2009–2010 were used to examine this (n= 644, mean age 24.3 years 47% male). Measures of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), body composition, blood pressure, fasting levels of high and low density lipids (HDL, LDL), insulin, and glucose were obtained. Symptoms of depression were obtained using the Major Depression Inventory scale. Information on sleep disorders; drinking and smoking habits were obtained by questionnaires. Associations of depression with CVD risk factors were examined using logistic and linear regression adjusted for age and sex. Prevalence of mild-moderate-severe depression was 8.7% (5.6% males, 11.5% females). Significant sex differences were found in the association between several CVD risk factors and depression status. Women with depression had higher odds of overweight (OR=2.2, 95%CI: 1.01–4.0), abdominal adiposity (OR=2.5, 95%CI: 1.2–4.8), low CRF (OR=2.5, 95%CI: 1.2–5.5), insulin resistance (OR=2.3, 95%CI: 1.1–4.6), low HDL (OR=2.0, 95%CI: 1.01–4.1) and high LDL (OR=2.2, 95%CI: 1.04–4.5) compared to women without depression. Men with depression had significantly increased odds of having high blood pressure and being smokers compared to men without depression (OR: 3.1, 95%CI: 1.1–8.8 and OR: 3.0, 95%CI: 1.1–8.4, respectively). Depression symptoms in young adulthood were related to unfavorable clinicaland behavioral CVD risk factors, particularly in women.


The launch of the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite of the European Space Agency opens the way to using a new type of satellite data that are very sensitive to soil moisture for numerical weather prediction. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) has developed an operational chain which makes it possible to process SMOS data in near real time (NRT) and compare it with a model equivalent. This process has been very challenging. The main reasons are the particular characteristics of the SMOS observation system and the large volume of data. Despite these obstacles, SMOS data are being processed successfully in NRT within the ECMWF Integrated Forecasting System (IFS). The ultimate objective is to assimilate these data in the IFS. It is expected to have an impact on the weather forecast at short and medium ranges. Prior to assimilation experiments, the quality of the data has to be assessed. This can be done through monitoring activities. Monitoring is a routine task performed with all satellite data, and among other things, it makes it possible to localize temporal (or spatial) bias or drifts in the data, thus providing NRT reports to the calibration and validation teams, which can act accordingly. In this letter, the implementation of SMOS data in the ECMWF IFS for monitoring purposes is discussed. The system was developed using a simulated file for the NRT processor, and it was tested using real data from the first year since the launch date.


Terrorism has been widely used as a tool by extremists to achieve their goals. Terrorists consider themselves as freedom fighters to liberate the socalled "oppressed" people. The destructions caused by terrorists are enormous
where many lives perished in this "holy war". How the media cover the acts of terrorism actually differ and varied according to their media policy on how they want to present the terrorist stories in their news reporting especially for the headlines. Like what has been stated earlier, there are two types of media coverage of terrorism namely as pro-terrorist and anti-terrorist. Nowadays,
international media especially the Western cable is pro-terrorist press as they believed terrorism news will increase their readership and profit. Without realizing it, they actually trigger and developed the fear of Islam within the
world society, as most of them labeled Muslim or Islam as terrorists. This study is based on secondary data to look at the phenomenon of terrorism throughout the world. Descriptive statistics are used to describe and to summarize the acts of terrorism. The statistics on terrorism include the incident information, incident location, attack information, weapon information, target/victim information, perpetrator information, casualties, and consequences. The statistics are summarized using an existing database managed by the University of Maryland, USA, which is named as the Global Terrorism Database (GTD). Information on terrorist attacks captured were
incidences in the period of 1970 to 2015. The GTD includes systematic data on domestic as well as transnational and international terrorist incidents that have occurred during this period and contain more than 140,000 cases. The
study uses descriptive information about the incidences of terrorism, to show dominant features on certain variables such as attack information or group information, as well as how these dominant features connect with the rest of the variables in the database.


Detecting transient light curves (e.g., transiting planets) requires high-precision data, and thus it is important to effectively filter systematic trends affecting ground-based wide-field surveys. We apply an implementation of the Trend Filtering Algorithm (TFA) to the 2MASS calibration catalog and select Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) photometric time series data. TFA is successful at reducing the overall dispersion of light curves, however, it may over-filter intrinsic variables and increase "instantaneous" dispersion when a template set is not judiciously chosen. In an attempt to rectify these issues we modify the original TFA from the literature by including measurement uncertainties in its computation, including ancillary data correlated with noise, and algorithmically selecting a template set using clustering algorithms as suggested by various authors. This approach may be particularly useful for appropriately accounting for variable photometric precision surveys and/or combined data sets. In summary, our contributions are to provide a MATLAB software implementation of TFA and a number of modifications tested on synthetics and real data, summarize the performance of TFA and various modifications on real ground-based data sets (2MASS and PTF), and assess the efficacy of TFA and modifications using synthetic light curve tests consisting of transiting and sinusoidal variables. While the transiting variables test indicates that these modifications confer no advantage to transit detection, the sinusoidal variables test indicates potential improvements in detection accuracy.


Patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are predisposed to instability in central ventilatory control during sleep. Increased instability, as reflected in an enhanced expired volume in per unit time loop gain, has been associated with a greater predisposition to upper airway collapse. Here, in an otherwise healthy patient with untreated mild OSA, we describe the further exacerbation of OSA after oral indomethacin administration. The subject was a control subject in part of a study to investigate the effects of altering cerebral blood flow (CBF) on ventilatory responses and sleep. He was administered either placebo or 100 mg of indomethacin orally with 20 mL of antacid 2.5 h before sleep on different days. He was studied overnight by polysomnography, arterial blood gases, and transcranial Doppler ultrasound. Administration of 100 mg of oral indomethacin prior to sleep resulted in an almost doubling of the apnea-hypopnea index (14 to 24/h), compared with placebo. This was due to an increase in apneas, rather than hypopneas. Following the indomethacin, changes in arterial blood gases were unremarkable, but both CBF as indexed using transcranial Doppler ultrasound and CBF reactivity to a steady-state change in CO(2) (CBF-CO(2)) reactivity were reduced, and the ventilatory response to CO(2) was elevated. CBF was also further reduced during nonrapid eye movement sleep following the indomethacin when compared with the control night. Indomethacin-induced reductions in CBF and CBF-CO(2) reactivity and related increases in ventilatory instability may lead to a greater predisposition to upper airway collapse and related apnea; these factors may partly explain the exacerbation of OSA.