NF-beta A is a monocyte, neutrophil, and B cell-specific nuclear protein that is involved in regulation of the IL-1 beta gene. These studies further define the functional role of NF-beta A in RAW264.7 monocytic cells by using transient transfection analysis. We showed that NF-beta A was able to activate transcription from a heterologous promoter in a distance-independent and dose-dependent manner. NF-beta A also appeared to function in a positionally independent manner within the IL-1 beta cap-site proximal (CSP) promoter. NF-beta A was required for maximal IL-1 beta gene expression directed by the upstream LPS-inducible enhancer element. Deletion of the NF-beta A-binding sequence resulted in an 80% reduction in basal reporter gene activity and an 86% reduction in LPS-inducible reporter gene activity in constructs containing only the enhancer and CSP promoter. Other regulatory elements located between the enhancer and the cap site were not able to substitute functionally for the absence of NF-beta A. Recently, other investigators have reported that IL-1 beta CSP promoter function was decreased by introducing multiple mutations within both the NF-beta A-binding sequence, and a putative overlapping NF-IL-6-binding sequence. We have found that these mutations predominantly affect NF-beta A binding. Furthermore NF-beta A, and not NF-IL-6, was required for supporting basal and LPS-inducible transcription from a minimal IL-1 beta CSP promoter (positions -58 to +11). This promoter region did not appear to direct monocyte-specific IL-1 beta gene expression because reporter constructs containing the IL-1 beta CSP promoter were also active in transiently transfected HeLa cells.


X-ray computed tomography was used to detail the internal structure of sea-floor hydrothermal vent samples. A third-generation industrial computed tomography (CT) scanner with a microfocus tube was used to scan a black smoker chimney and cores taken from a white smoker chimney and a block of Fe-rich sulfide. Images of the black smoker chimney clearly show sulfide- versus anhydrite-dominated areas. Display of pore space in three dimensions shows the complex geometry of the main flow conduit, and also much smaller (2–3 mm diameter) conduits within the chimney wall that parallel the main flow conduit. Images of the white smoker sample document the continuity of an anastomosing ∼1-mm-diameter flow conduit, and the pronounced anisotropy of porosity. Tube structures presumed to be casts of worm tubes are clearly evident in images of the Fe-rich sulfide sample. X-ray CT is an excellent technique for rapidly identifying the internal structure of porosity and mineralogy of fragile hydrothermal precipitates on scales of tens of microns to hundreds of millimeters, and data can be used to deduce styles of fluid flow and other processes involved in vent deposit formation.


For the sunfish Enneacanthus the mean value of the critical illumination for response to visual flicker at constant flash frequency (with light time = dark time) is related to temperature by the Arrhenius equation. The temperature characteristic for 1/Im is different above and below 20°C. In each range (12° to 20°; 20° to 30°) the temperature characteristic is the same for rod and cone segments of the duplex flicker response contour: 8,200 and 14,400. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, to consider that the two groups of elements are organized in a significantly different way chemically. For the presumptively rod-connected elements implicated in response to flicker, the curve is markedly discontinuous, so that the high and low temperature parts are dislocated; whereas for the cones they are not. This is entirely consistent with other (e.g., genetic) evidence pointing to their separate physical substrata. The uncommon exhibition of a higher µ over a higher range of temperature, previously found, however, in a few cases, together with the different relations of rod and cone effects to the critical temperature, explain aspects of these data which in earlier incomplete measurements were found to be puzzling.


This paper introduces a new experimental protocol to study mental representations of urban soundscapes through a simulation process. Subjects are asked to create a full soundscape by means of a dedicated software tool, coupled with a structured sound data set. This paradigm is used to characterize urban sound environment representations by analyzing the sound classes that were used to simulate the auditory scenes. A rating experiment of the soundscape pleasantness using a 7-point bipolar semantic scale is conducted to further refine the analysis of the simulated urban acoustic scenes. Results show that 1) a semantic characterization in terms of presence / absence of sound sources is an effective way to characterize urban soundscapes pleasantness, and 2) acoustic pressure levels computed for specific sound sourcesbetter characterize the appraisal than the acoustic pressure level computed over the overall soundscape.


Collective Artificial Intelligence (CAI) simulates human intelligence from data contributed by many humans, mined for inter-related patterns. This thesis applies CAI to social role-playing, introducing an end-to-end process for composltlng recorded performances from thousands of humans, and simulating open-ended interaction from this data. The CAI process combines crowdsourcing, pattern discovery, and case-based planning. Content creation is crowdsourced by recording role-players online. Browser-based tools allow non-experts to annotate data, organizing content into a hierarchical narrative structure. Patterns discovered from data power a novel system combining plan recognition with case-based planning. The combination of this process and structure produces a new medium, which exploits a massive corpus to realize characters who Interact and converse with humans. This medium enables new experiences in videogames, and new classes of training simulations, therapeutic applications, and social robots.
While advances in graphics support incredible freedom to interact physically in simulations, current approaches to development restrict simulated social Interaction to hand-crafted branches that do not scale to the thousands of possible patterns of actions and utterances observed in actual human interaction. There is a tension between freedom and system comprehension due to two bottlenecks, making open-ended social interaction a challenge. First is the authorial effort entailed to cover all possible inputs. Second, like other cognitive processes, imagination is a bounded resource. Any individual author only has so much imagination.
The convergence of advances in connectivity, storage, and processing power is bringing people together in ways never before possible, amplifying the Imagination of individuals by harnessing the creativity and productivity of the crowd, revolutionizing how we create media, and what media we can create. By embracing data-driven approaches, and capitalizing on the creativity of the crowd, authoring bottlenecks can be overcome, taking a step toward realizing a medium that robustly supports player choice. Doing so requires rethinking both technology and division of labor in media production.
As a proof of concept, a CAI system has been evaluated by recording over 10,000 performances in The Restaurant Game, automating an AI-controlled waitress who interacts in the world, and converses with a human via text or speech. Quantitative results demonstrate CAI supports significantly open-ended interaction with humans, while focus groups reveal factors for improving engagement. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, libraries.mit.edu/docs - firstname.lastname@example.com)


Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by progressive dysfunction of memory and higher cognitive functions with abnormal accumulation of extracellular amyloid plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles throughout cortical and limbic brain regions. Withania somnifera (WS) also known as 'ashwagandha' (ASH) is used widely in Ayurvedic medicine as a nerve tonic and memory enhancer. However, there is paucity of data on potential neuroprotective effects of ASH against β-Amyloid (1–42) (Aβ) induced neuropathogenesis. In the present study, we have tested the neuroprotective effects of Methanol: Chloroform (3:1) extract of ASH and its constituent Withanolide A (WA) against Aβ induced toxicity, HIV-1Ba-L (clade B) infection and the effects of drugs of abuse using a human neuronal SK-N-MC cell line. Aβ when tested individually, induced cytotoxic effects in SK-N-MC cells as shown by increased trypan blue stained cells. However, when ASH was added to Aβ treated cells the toxic effects were neutralized. This observation was supported by cellular localization of Aβ, MTT formazan exocytosis, and the levels of acetylcholinesterase activity, confirming the chemopreventive or protective effects of ASH against Aβ induced toxicity. Further, the levels of MAP2 were significantly increased in cells infected with HIV-1Ba-L (clade B) as well as in cells treated with Cocaine (COC) and Methamphetamine (METH) compared with control cells. In ASH treated cells the MAP2 levels were significantly less compared to controls. Similar results were observed in combination experiments. Also, WA, a purified constituent of ASH, showed same pattern using MTT assay as a parameter. These results suggests that neuroprotective properties of ASH observed in the present study may provide some explanation for the ethnopharmacological uses of ASH in traditional medicine for cognitive and other HIV associated neurodegenerative disorders and further ASH could be a potential novel drug to reduce the brain amyloid burden and/or improve the HIV-1 associated neurocognitive impairments


Background —Previous in vivo studies have shown that (cid:1) -adrenoceptor agonists cause a redistribution of coronary flow away from the subendocardium; however, the underlying mechanism remains uncertain. We tested the hypothesis that a heterogeneous distribution of (cid:1) -adrenoceptors and their vasomotor responses exists in the coronary microcirculation across the left ventricular wall. Methods and Results —Porcine subepicardial and subendocardial arterioles ( (cid:1) 100 (cid:2) m) were isolated from the left ventricle and pressurized for in vitro study of vasodilation to the nonselective (cid:1) -adrenoceptor agonist isoproterenol and the selective (cid:1) 2 -adrenoceptor agonist procaterol. Both vessel types developed a similar level of basal tone and dilated to isoproterenol and procaterol. However, subepicardial arterioles exhibited a much higher sensitivity and greater dilation capacity to both agonists. The isoproterenol-induced vasodilations were inhibited by glibenclamide, an ATP-sensitive potassium (K ATP ) channel blocker. In contrast to isoproterenol, dilations of subepicardial and subendocardial arterioles to pinacidil, a K ATP channel opener, were similar. In both vessel types, isoproterenol-induced dilation was inhibited by the (cid:1) 2 -adrenoceptor blocker ICI-118,551 but was insensitive to the (cid:1) 1 -adrenoceptor blocker atenolol. Reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemical data revealed that (cid:1) 2 -adrenoceptor mRNA and protein expression, respectively, were markedly greater in subepicardial arterioles. Conclusions —This study demonstrates that selective activation of (cid:1) 2 -adrenoceptors elicits dilation of both subepicardial and subendocardial arterioles through opening of K ATP channels. The higher (cid:1) 2 -adrenoceptor expression in subepicardial arterioles may contribute to the greater dilation of these vessels to (cid:1) 2 -adrenoceptor activation. ( Circulation . 2004;110: (cid:1)(cid:1)(cid:1) .)


In the present study, we for the first time explored the protective effect of LOB (Chrysoeriol 7-O-[β-D-glucuronopyranosyl-(1→2)-O-β-D-glucuronopyranoside]) on myocardial ischemia–reperfusion (I/R) injury in a rat model and on hypoxia–reoxygenation (H/R) injury in a rat myocardium cell line. An I/R rat model and an H/R rat myocardium cell model were established. The animal and H9C2 (2-1) rat myocardium cells were pretreated with increasing doses of LOB before the I/R or H/R injury. Malondialdehyde (MDA), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), interleukin 6 (IL-6), and the caspase 3 activity were measured. Pretreatment with LOB dose dependently reduced the elevated plasma levels of LDH and IL-6 and myocardium MDA level induced by the I/R injury in the rat model, and the elevated culture medium LDH, cell MDA levels, and caspase 3 activity induced by the H/R injury in the cell model were also reduced. Both in vivo and in vitro data showed that high-dose LOB (20 mg/kg or 10 μmol/L) had stronger protective effects than the positive control drug verapamil. In conclusion, our study for the first time provided both in vivo and in vitro evidence that LOB exerted significant cardioprotective effects on myocardial I/R injury in rats, suggesting that LOB could be a potential therapeutic agent for myocardial I/R injury.


Although functional objectives have concerned designers for many years, and psychologists have published research on issues related to graphic design, fruitful cooperation between the two specialisms has only rarely been achieved. In this paper it is suggested that the traditional objectives and methods of neither group are sufficiently oriented towards the communication o f information in a complex society, and that it would be unrealistic to expect the design and evaluation of information to lead to opportunities for either personal expression or the discovery of permanent truths. A user-centred approach is urged, drawing from both the intuitive problem-solving skills of designers and the methodologies of psychologists.


The magnetic parameters of steel depend on the mutual orientation of the applied magnetic field, the (applied) stress and the crystalline structure. The magnetic anisotropy can be modeled in terms of the magneto-elastic and magneto-crystalline energy distributions. By investigation of the magnetic anisotropic behaviour of steels with respect to stress, a rapid, nondestructive and possibly non-contact measurement of the residual stress can be devised that can find application in manufacturing, machining, forming and life-time assessment of steel and steel components. Reliability, robustness and versatility will constitute the main challenges to further develop these techniques for common industrial applications.


Research in the field of EU transposition studies has often been divided about the nature and number of independent variables that would be needed to understand actual patterns of "differential" transposition across Europe. In turn, extant approaches can only partially explain the observed transposition and implementation gap in the European Union. One of the most common, yet most contentious independent variables used in the discipline is the so-called "misfit hypothesis". The misfit looks at how much EU requirements match the domestic status quo and, in turn, how this match impacts upon transposition processes and outcomes. Empirically, however, the argument has proven inconclusive. A vibrant debate has recently been launched among proponents and detractors of the argument. This paper seeks to contribute to this debate by proposing a comprehensive theoretical re-evaluation of the hypothesis, both from a conceptual and operational perspective. Only by "cutting through the jungle" of existing misfit definitions and operationalisations can a path be cleared for a future, more successful use of the hypothesis. The paper presents a novel conceptualisation of the hypothesis, relevant for the study of transposition processes and outcomes. The conceptualisation is illustrated through the Austrian transposition experience of two EU Antidiscrimination directives.


A Persuasive Teachable Agent (PTA) is a special type of Teachable Agent which incorporates a persuasion theory in order to provide persuasive and more personalized feedback to the student. By employing the persuasion techniques, the PTA seeks to maintain the student in a high motivation and high ability state in which he or she has higher cognitive ability and his or her changes in attitudes are more persistent. However, the existing model of the PTA still has a few limitations. Firstly, the existing PTA model focuses on modelling the PTA's ability to persuade, while does not model its ability to be taught by the student and to practice the knowledge it has learnt. Secondly, the quantitative model for computational processes in the PTA has low reusability. Thirdly, there is still a gap between theoretical models and practical implementation of the PTA.
To address these three limitations, this book proposes an improved agent model which follows a goal-oriented approach and models the PTA in its totality by integrating the Persuasion Reasoning of the PTA with the Teachability Reasoning and the Practicability Reasoning. The project also proposes a more abstract and generalized quantitative model for the computations in the PTA. With higher level of abstraction, the reusability of the quantitative model is also improved. New system architecture is introduced to bridge the gap between theoretical models and implementation of the PTA.


This guide offers tips and resources for a few real life scenarios where simple research maneuvers can make your life better.


In the human, chemokines represent a structurally related family of more than forty cytokines which act on distinct subsets of leukocytes via specific G protein-coupled receptors expressed on the cell surface. The induction of select repertoires of chemokines following exposure to allergen provides a biological basis for the selective leukocyte recruitment, observed both clinically and experimentally. The chemokine receptor CCR3 is expressed on the cell surface of eosinophils, Th2 lymphocytes, basophils and mast cells and binds the Eotaxin family of chemokines (CCL11, CCL24 and CCL26), whose production is upregulated following allergen challenge. Once recruited, eosinophils are a source of growth factors associated with tissue repair and remodelling and also have the ability to induce tissue damage, a capacity that extends from their traditional role in protecting the host against parasitic worms. Thus, impairment of their recruitment by selective blockade of the CCR3:eotaxin axis represents an attractive target for the therapeutic treatment of asthma. In this review, we will examine recent developments in the field and highlight the roles of other chemokine:chemokine receptor axes implicated in leukocyte recruitment during allergic inflammation.


A particle accelerator is a complex machine, made of different parts constantly evolving in step with the technology advancements. One part of the accelerator, the LINAC, has nearly reached its maximum potential. This structure provides the acceleration through resonating cavities that under RF excitation transduce power into accelerating gradient. Superconductive structures are necessary to reduce the energy drain that these LINACs require. Niobium is the material of choice thanks to its high Tc and high field of first penetration Hc, but the research now has pushed the material to its limits. In addition, the infrastructure required to cool and operate a superconducting LINAC is very energy intensive and costly. New research avenues are opening aimed at reducing the costs of operating a superconducting LINAC. One of them is to create thin layers of niobium and niobium alloys on a high thermal conductive material, copper. If successful, the cost reduction in creating a functional Nb on Cu cavity versus a full Nb cavity will be substantial: a lower quantity of Nb will be required and better cooling will be achieved thanks to the higher thermal conductivity of Cu. This work aims at depositing Nb and Nb alloys on Cu substrates by using Chemical vapour deposition methods (CVD, PECVD, ALD) to verify if the obtained films are superconductive and can be employed in SRF applications. A series of different CVD chambers have been designed, built and evaluated to deposit the niobium-based superconducting films. Gas flow simulations were made by using Ansys Fluent to aid the understanding of the deposition results. The importance of a properly designed system has been highlighted, influencing factors like growth rate, uniformity and quality of the films. The deposition results were studied by electron microscopy (SEM, TEM, FIB), X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to investigate their structural properties while the superconductivity was assessed by residual resistivity ratio (RRR) measurements, SQUID and localized magnetometry. The use of the chlorine-based precursors was anticipated to be detrimental to the stainless steel reactors used, due to the repeated cycles of hot HCl gas exposure followed by air / moisture. However, the heightened corrosion speed of the chamber resulted in the inclusion of iron precipitates in the niobium films. This issue was addressed by redesigning the deposition chamber. One of the thesis objectives was to evaluate the feasibility of using chemical vapour deposition to coat copper for SRF cavities. CVD processes based on the chlorinated precursors (NbCl5 and TiCl4) have been evaluated and successful depositions of Nb, NbN, and NbTiN on copper substrates has been demonstrated. Further, it has been demonstrated that Nb-based films can be deposited by CVD on copper with superconductive properties for the first time. It has been shown that CVD can be used to produce niobium coatings, with Tc matching the bulk material although with lower field of first penetration. The temperature influenced greatly the films: above 500 C no chlorine residue was present in the films, and no oxygen contamination thanks to the UHV deposition chambers. The best results were obtained by depositing at 700 C, with an RRR of 30 and large crystallites (500 nm across). The results suggest that the films would have more bulk Nb like properties if deposited at higher temperatures, but going above 700 C would compromise the Cu substrate by softening it or melting it. The NbN and NbTiN films possess structural properties matching the literature reference materials, however it was not possible to separate these films from the copper structures by dissolution. Consequently, their superconductive properties could not be measured, however the availability of new local magnetometry techniques will make this feasible in the future.


The electrical power system is the backbone of our nations critical infrastructure. It has been designed to withstand single component failures based on a set of reliability metrics which have proven acceptable during normal operating conditions. However, in recent years there has been an increasing frequency of extreme weather events. Many have resulted in widespread long-term power outages, proving reliability metrics do not provide adequate energy security. As a result, researchers have focused their efforts resilience metrics to ensure efficient operation of power systems during extreme events. A resilient system has the ability to resist, adapt, and recover from disruptions. Therefore, resilience has demonstrated itself as a promising concept for currently faced challenges in power distribution systems. In this work, we propose an operational resilience metric for modern power distribution systems. The metric is based on the aggregation of system assets adaptive capacity in real and reactive power. This metric gives information to the magnitude and duration of a disturbance the system can withstand. We demonstrate resilience metric in a case study under normal operation and during a power contingency on a microgrid. In the future, this information can be used by operators to make more informed decisions based on system resilience in an effort to prevent power outages.


We theoretically show spin and charge transport on the disordered surface of a three‐ dimensional topological insulator with a magnetic insulator when localized spin of the magnetic insulator depends on time and space. To ascertain the transports, we use a low‐energy effective Hamiltonian on the surface of a topological insulator using the exchange interaction and calculate analytically using Green's function techniques within the linear response to the exchange interaction. As a result, the time‐depend‐ ent localized spin induces the charge and spin current. These currents are detected from change in the half‐width value of the ferromagnetic resonance of the localized spin when the magnetic resonance of the localized spin is realized in the attached magnetic insulator. We also show spin and charge current generation in a three‐dimensional Weyl–Dirac semimetal, which has massless Dirac fermions with helicity degrees of freedoms. The time‐dependent localized spin drives the charge and spin current in the system. The charge current as well as the spin current in the Weyl–Dirac system are slightly different from those on the surface of the topological insulator.


The most frequently studied ideal system for reactive distillation columns is the quaternary system with two reactants and two products. The vast majority of reactive distillation literature on control uses two-point inferential control structures with conventional tray selection techniques such as singular value decomposition (SVD) and relative gain array (RGA) analysis. Another common practice for the ideal systems is the assumption of constant relative volatilities. This paper compares two control structures with different number of temperature loops and two alternative sets of tray locations, in terms of the controllability of systems with temperature-dependent relative volatilities. It is observed that a three-point inferential control structure with a new set of tray locations based on a semisystematic method improves the control performance for all three systems studied. This improvement is particularly significant in the purity of the distillate stream as the temperature dependency increases.


Severe gastroesophageal reflux disorder (GERD) is poorly understood, precluding prevention therapy (Rx). Our pilot study (PS) shows that increases in adrenergic neurovascular (ANVT) and vagal tone (VT) cause severe GERD and reduction in ANVT decreases symptom levels (SL). Prospective studies (ProS) were done with a random sample of the general population with severe GERD as in PS. Severe GERD (reflux to pharynx) correlated with the following PS criteria: rise in pulse pressure (RPP) > 15 mm Hg (during handgrip at 5 psi/3min), systolic time intervals (STI) < 31% (24-30%), and resting heart rate (HR) at 60 ± 5 (predicts high VT). Serial measurements were made at time 1 and 2 (T1/2 = before/during 1 year Rx). Serial measurements were made of STI, HR10AM (HRA, peak ANVT), HR 12 noon (HRN, peak VT), % change in HR 10 am-12 noon (%CHR), systolic blood pressure (SBP), cardiac output (CO), systemic vascular resistance (SVR), and symptom levels (SL 1-100). Patients were 3/1 females/males, 18-70 years of age, all Caucasian. Exclusions were other gastric problems, fibromyalgia, diabetes, hypertension, and on other drugs. Controls (C) were normal, sex/age/race matched. Rx: diltiazem CD 240-360 mg/day, methyldopa 125-500 mg/day, and amitriptyline 10-100 mg/day, with double-blind crossover design. All data were placed into a blind matrix for analysis later. Severe GERD was predicted by STI of 24-30% by PS findings. Results: G means shown: ProS results confirm PS results showing that severe GERD was found in people with high ANVT, during a shift to high vagal tone, with Sig reduction in HR from peak ANVT at 10 am to peak VT at 12 noon. Basilar artery migraine was also found in 95% of ProS patients with high ANVT and high vagal tone. SL of ProsS patients were significantly reduced by Rx. Thus, GERD is due to high ANVT with increased vagal tone and can be prevented with therapy.


Pain-related disability is a multi-faceted construct that refers to the impact of pain on an individual's capacity to fulfill their self-defined and social roles. This research examined the relationship between clinical, psychological and pain sensitivity factors and pain-related disability among adults with chronic temporomandibular disorder (TMD). We analyzed data from a cross-sectional community-based sample of 1088 men and women with chronic TMD. We first constructed and tested a measure of pain-related disability (i.e., pain impact) including a variable assessing presenteeism, created measurement models of jaw limitation, psychological unease (negative affect, somatic symptoms, catastrophizing), and experimental pain sensitivity (e.g., pressure pain threshold, thermal tolerance and mechanical pressure pain threshold). Subsequently, latent variables were combined in a structural equation model. Participants (n=1088) were 18-44 years old (mean 29.2, SD+7.8) whose chronic TMD had persisted, on average, for 6.9 years (SD+6.4). A model of pain related disability, jaw limitation, and psychological unease was created and refined with exploratory model revisions to account for correlation among variables. Estimation of the final model indicated excellent fit with the data (RMSEA=0.048, RMSEA 90% confidence interval (CI) 0.043, 0.053, CFI=0.956, SRMR=0.040). Jaw functional limitation and psychological unease was strongly related to pain-related disability. Experimental pain sensitivity was removed from our model due to weak direct effect and the burden of performing experimental pain sensitivity testing in a clinical setting. The final model explained 78% of the variance in pain-related disability.


In this paper, a Bayesian approach is proposed for shift point detection in an inverse Gaussian distribution. In this study, the mean parameter of inverse Gaussian distribution is assumed to be constant and shift points in shape parameter is considered. First the posterior distribution of shape parameter is obtained. Then the Bayes estimators are derived under a class of priors and using various loss functions. We assumed uniform, Jeffreys, exponential, gamma and chi square distributions as prior distributions. The squared error loss function (SELF), entropy loss function (ELF), linex loss function (LLF) and precautionary loss function (PLF), are used as loss functions. We attempt to find out the best estimator for shift point under various priors and loss functions. The proposed Bayesian approach can be adapted to any similar problem for shift point detection. Simulation studies were done to investigate the performance of different loss functions. The results of simulation study denote that the Jeffrey prior distribution under PLF has the most accurate estimation of shift point for sample size of 20, and the gamma prior distribution under SELF has the most accurate estimation of shift point for sample size of 50.


Our aims were (1) by computed tomography (CT) to establish a population database for pancreas volume (parenchyma and fat) from birth to age 100 years, (2) in adults, to establish the impact of gender, obesity, and the presence or absence of type‐2 diabetes on pancreatic volume (parenchyma and fat), and (3) to confirm the latter histologically from pancreatic tissue obtained at autopsy with a particular emphasis on whether pancreatic fat is increased in type‐2 diabetes. We measured pancreas volume in 135 children and 1,886 adults (1,721 nondiabetic and 165 with type‐2 diabetes) with no history of pancreas disease who had undergone abdominal CT scan between 2003 and 2006. Pancreas volume was computed from the contour of the pancreas on each CT image. In addition to total pancreas volume, parenchymal volume, fat volume, and fat/parenchyma ratio (F/P ratio) were determined by CT density. We also quantified pancreatic fat in autopsy tissue of 47 adults (24 nondiabetic and 23 with type‐2 diabetes). During childhood and adolescence, the volumes of total pancreas, pancreatic parenchyma, and fat increase linearly with age. From age 20–60 years, pancreas volume reaches a plateau (72.4 ± 25.8 cm3 total; 44.5 ± 16.5 cm3 parenchyma) and then declines thereafter. In adults, total (∼32%), parenchymal (∼13%), and fat (∼68%) volumes increase with obesity. Pancreatic fat content also increases with aging but is not further increased in type‐2 diabetes. We provide lifelong population data for total pancreatic, parenchymal, and fat volumes in humans. Although pancreatic fat increases with aging and obesity, it is not increased in type‐2 diabetes. Clin. Anat. 20:933–942, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


In this study, plain concrete simply supported beams subjected to two points loading were analyzed for the flexure. The numerical model of the beam was constructed in the meso-scale representation of concrete as a two phasic material (aggregate, and mortar). The fracture process of the concrete beams under loading was investigated in the laboratory as well as by the numerical models. The Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM) was employed for the treatment of the discontinuities that appeared during the fracture process in concrete. Finite element method with the feature standard/explicitlywas utilized for the numerical analysis. Aggregate particles were assumedof elliptic shape. Other properties such as grading and sizes of the aggregate particles were taken from standard laboratory tests that conducted on aggregate samples.Two different concrete beamswere experimentally and numerically investigated. The difference between beams was concentrated in the maximum size of aggregate particles. The comparison between experimental and numerical results showed that themeso-scale model gives a good interface for the representing the concrete models in numerical approach. It was concluded that the XFEM is a powerful technique to use for the analysis of the fracture process and crack propagation in concrete.


Advances in non-linear dimensionality reduction provide a way to understand and visualise the underlying structure of complex datasets. The performance of large-scale non-linear dimensionality reduction is of key importance in data mining, machine learning, and data analysis. In this paper, we concentrate on improving the performance of non-linear dimensionality reduction using large-scale datasets on the GPU. In particular, we focus on solving problems including k -nearest neighbour (KNN) search and sparse spectral decomposition for large-scale data, and propose an efficient framework for local linear embedding (LLE). We implement a k-d tree-based KNN algorithm and Krylov subspace method on the GPU to accelerate non-linear dimensionality reduction for large-scale data. Our results enable GPU-based k-d tree LLE processes of up to about 30–60´ faster compared to the brute force KNN (Hernandez et al., 2007) LLE model on the CPU. Overall, our methods save O ( n 2 – 6 n – 2 k – 3) memory space.


Cigarette smoke is known to be associated with the incidence of a variety of pulmonary diseases, and alveolar macrophages are a key player in the defense mechanism against inhalable toxicants. Herein, we have found that a hydrophilic fraction in smoke extracts from 3R4F reference cigarettes (CSE) contains high concentrations of volatile substances compared to cigarette smoke condensate (amphoteric fraction). We also identified the toxic mechanism of CSE using MH‐S, a mouse alveolar macrophage cell line. CSE decreased cell viability accompanying increased lactate dehydrogenase release. Additionally, mitochondrial volume and the potential increased along with enhanced expression of mitochondrial fusion proteins and decreased adenosine triphosphate production. Similarly, CSE clearly induced increase of catalase activity and intracellular calcium concentration and decrease of endoplasmic reticulum and lysosome volume at the highest dose. More interestingly, damaged organelles accumulated in the cytosol, and CSE‐containing particles specifically penetrated to mitochondria. Meanwhile, any significant change in autophagy related protein expression was not found in CSE‐treated cells. Subsequently, we evaluated the effects of CSE on secretion of inflammatory related cytokines and chemokines, considering the relationship between organelle damage and the disturbed immune response. Very importantly, we found that expression of innate and adaptive immunity related mediators is disrupted following CSE exposure. Taken together, we suggest that CSE may cause the accumulation of damaged organelles in the cytoplasm by impairing selective autophagic function. In addition, this accumulation is responsible for the inadequate ability of immune cells to repair the damage of lung tissue following exposure to CSE.


This book takes a solid step toward a systematic analysis of the implications of microfinance for the role and regulation of capital markets. The authors address integration of capital markets with microfinance, technological innovations such as the use of mobile phone technology, the consequences of women's access to micro-loan borrowings, and the regulatory challenges and opportunities emerging as the landscape of microfinance dramatically evolves.


We have analysed the cellular contribution and cellular displacement which occur during regeneration from chimaeric (half triploid, half diploid) lower arms in the axolotl. In general both anterior and posterior halves contribute approximately 50% of the regenerated limb cells. Deviations from equal contribution were observed only when anterior tissue was grafted, suggesting that anterior tissue is more sensitive to grafting operations. Approximately 25% of all cells in the regenerated limb were found to be displaced to the opposite side of the limb. Cellular displacement was not random; 63% of all displaced cells were found in regions adjacent to the tissue of origin.


Due to challenges in early-stage detection, aggressive behavior, and poor response to systemic therapy, pancreatic cancer is one of the most fatal cancer types globally. The role of RNA-binding protein (RBP) transcription and translation of cancer cells has been well demonstrated, although their roles in pancreatic cancer is less well understood. In this study, we found that heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein C (hnRNPC), a RBP, is highly expressed in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) tissues and cells. In addition, we discovered that overexpression of hnRNPC in PDAC cells in vitro increased cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and metastasis. The presence of hnRNPC promoted tumorigenesis of pancreatic cells in metastatic in vivo models, which was also validated. In silico analyses revealed that hnRNPC is a strong positive regulator of IQ Motif Containing GTPase Activating Protein 3 (IQGAP3) activity. The experimental confirmation of this association revealed a direct interaction of IQGAP3 and hnRNPC to induce cell growth and invasion in PDAC cells by activating the epithelial-mesenchymal transition. In light of the findings that hnRNPC accelerates PDAC progression by interfering with IQGAP3, it appears that this technique for diagnosis and treatment of PDAC may have promise.


Diabetic osteoporosis (DOP) is a diabetic complication associated with a significant disability rate. Liraglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist, is a promising and innovative drug for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), with potential therapeutic implications for bone disorders. This investigation examined the impact of liraglutide on osteoporosis in rats with T2DM and studied the influence of vitamin D receptor Bsm1 polymorphism on liraglutide-induced outcomes. Thirty rats were divided into control, T2DM induced by a combination of a high-fat diet and 25 mg/kg streptozotocin, and T2DM-liraglutide (T2DM treated with 0.4 mg/kg/day liraglutide) groups. After 8 weeks of liraglutide treatment, femurs and blood samples were obtained from all rats for subsequent investigations. Diabetes induced a remarkable rise in the serum levels of receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa B ligand (RANKL) and C-telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX-1) associated with a remarkable decline in osteocalcin and osteoprotegerin (OPG). Impaired bone architecture was also demonstrated by light and scanning electron microscopic study. The immune expression of OPG was down-regulated, while RANKL was up-regulated. Interestingly, the administration of liraglutide ameliorated the previous changes induced by diabetes mellitus. In conclusion, liraglutide can prevent DOP, mostly due to liraglutide's ability to increase bone growth, while inhibiting bone resorption.


The study was conducted to examine the organisational commitment of employees/ subcontracted labourers,who were employed by using outsourcing method at 15 hospitals affiliated with the Public Hospitals Administration of Turkey in the province of Şanlıurfa and Harran University Research and Application Hospital to determine the correlation between demographic variables and organisational commitment. Organisational Commitment Scale with 18 items, developed by Allen and Meyer (1990), was used in the study. It was determined that the reliability rate of the Organisational Commitment Scale was 0.89 and this rate for its subscales was 0.90 for affective commitment, 0.77 forcontinuance commitment, and 0.75 for normative commitment. A statistically significant difference was found between the organisational commitment levels of employees participating in the study in terms of age, gender, marital status, educational background, and occupation. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups only in terms of working duration. A positive correlation was determined between demographic characteristics and organisational commitment.


In this paper, we evaluate the tradeoff between the amount of uplink channel feedback information and the orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) downlink performance with opportunistic frequency-domain packet scheduling. Three candidate channel feedback schemes are investigated, including practical aspects, such as the effects of terminal measurement errors, bandwidth measurement granularity, quantization, and uplink signaling delays. The performance is evaluated by means of system-level simulations with detailed modeling of various radio resource-management algorithms, etc. Our results show that the optimal tradeoff between the channel feedback and the downlink OFDMA system performance depends on the radio channel frequency coherence bandwidth. We conclude that the so-called average best-M scheme is the most attractive channel feedback solution, where only the average channel quality for the best M subbands is reported, together with a bit mask identifying those subbands. The latter scheme only has a channel feedback word size in the range of 10-20 bits for the considered OFDMA system with 10-MHz bandwidth.


Depolarization of rat hippocampal neurons with a high concentration of external potassium induces a thickening of postsynaptic densities (PSDs) within 1.5–3 min. After high-potassium treatment, PSDs thicken 2.1-fold in cultured neurons and 1.4-fold in hippocampal slices compared with their respective controls. Thin-section immunoelectron microscopy of hippocampal cultures indicates that at least part of the observed thickening of PSDs can be accounted for by an accumulation of Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) on their cytoplasmic faces. Indeed, PSD-associated gold label for CaMKII increases 5-fold after depolarization with potassium. The effects of high-potassium treatment on the composition and structure of the PSDs are mimicked by direct application of glutamate. In cultures, glutamate-induced thickening of PSDs and the accumulation of CaMKII on PSDs are reversed within 5 min of removal of glutamate and Ca2+ from the extracellular medium. These results suggest that PSDs are dynamic structures whose thickness and composition are subject to rapid and transient changes during synaptic activity.


To elucidate the mechanism of DNA strand breaks by low-energy electrons (LEE), theoretical investigations of the LEE attachment-induced C(5')-O(5') sigma bond breaking of pyrimidine nucleotides (5'-dCMPH and 5'-dTMPH) were performed by using the B3LYP/DZP++ approach. The results indicate that the pyrimidine nucleotides are able to capture electrons characterized by near-0-eV energy to form electronically stable radical anions in both the gas phase and aqueous solution. The mechanism of the LEE-induced single-strand bond breaking in DNA might involve the attachment of an electron to the bases of DNA and the formation of base-centered radical anions in the first step. Subsequently, these radical anions undergo either C-O or glycosidic bond breaking, yielding neutral ribose radical fragments and the corresponding phosphoric anions or base anions. The C-O bond cleavage is expected to dominate because of its low activation energy. In aqueous solutions, the significant increases in the electron affinities of pyrimidine nucleotides ensure the formation of electronically more stable radical anions of the nucleotides. The low activation energy barriers for the C(5')-O(5') bond breaking predicted in this work are relevant when the counterions are close enough to the phosphate moiety of DNA.


Semantic innovations in lexicon: cognitive pragmatic interface Vera Zabotkina Russian State University for the Humanities Abstract: The paper focuses on the interrelation of language use with linguistic structure and underlying conceptual structure. We proceed from the assumption that new meaning development involves both cognitive and pragmatic issues. We explore the cognitive basis of semantic innovations and the way the individual sense alterations that arise from deviations in the words use are developing into a new meaning of a lexeme. We concentrate on the analysis of the conceptual structure of a word as the major factor imposing constraints on deviation and meaning variation in a wide pragmatic context. The conceptual structure of a polysemantic word is represented as a macroframe consisting of several frames which form a radial structure. We develop the hypothesis about the pragmatics as the chief driving force in the processes of new meaning development and define the cognitive basis of two types of inference: pragmatic and semantic ones.


Objective: To clarify the extent to which working hours affect the risk of acute myocardial infarction, independent of established risk factors and occupational conditions. Design: Case-control study. Setting: University and general hospitals and routine medical examinations at workplaces in Japan. Subjects: Cases were 195 men aged 30-69 years admitted to hospital with acute myocardial infarction during 1990-3. Controls were 331 men matched at group level for age and occupation who were judged to be free of coronary heart diseases at routine medical examinations in the workplace. Main outcome measures: Odds ratios for myocardial infarction in relation to previous mean daily working hours in a month and changes in mean working hours during previous year. Results: Compared with men with mean working hours of > 7-9 hours, the odds ratio of acute myocardial infarction (adjusted for age and occupation) for men with working hours of > 11 hours was 2.44 (95% confidence interval 1.26 to 4.73) and for men with working hours of <7 hours was 3.07 (1.77 to 5.32). Compared with men who experienced an increase of <1 hour in mean working hours, the adjusted odds ratio of myocardial infarction for men who experienced an increase of > 3 hours was 2.53 (1.34 to 4.77). No appreciable change was observed when odds ratios were adjusted for established and psychosocial risk factors for myocardial infarction. Conclusion: There was a U shaped relation between the mean working hours and the risk of acute myocardial infarction. There also seemed to be a trend for the risk of infarction to increase with greater increases in mean working hours.


©FSRH J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 2008: 34(4) women tended to be more educated and 70% had a high school diploma). The women were recruited from four different geographical regions and included large Hispanic and black populations. Some selection bias is also likely because of the 3:1 ratio of medical to surgical treatment (women with a strong preference for surgical treatment would not have agreed to be randomised). Urban populations in the UK are far more diverse and the educational level varies significantly depending upon the area a particular hospital serves. This could have a greater impact on the women's understanding of treatment choices and subsequent side effects likely to occur, thus affecting QOL.


Previous research shows that individuals can accurately determine the average characteristics of crowds (e.g., average emotion, gender, or identity) even when viewing crowds for a split second (Haberman et al., 2007, 2009;, DeFockert et al., 2009). While prior research has investigated whether participants can perceive average emotional characteristics from static displays of crowds, it remains uncertain how participants track emotional fluctuations of crowds in real-time. In this experiment, we display a crowd of continuously morphing emotional faces, and ask participants to track the average emotion of the crowd using an online method of adjustment approach. By tracking participants' perception in real-time, we can determine whether participants are able to precisely report rapidlydynamically-changing crowd emotion. In our experiment, participants viewed crowds comprised of 1, 4 or 6 faces. While each individual face in the crowd changed its emotion every 50 ms, the overall average emotion of the crowd smoothly morphed between happy, angry, and sad following a semi-biased random walk trajectory (with 147 possible variations in between). Participants were able to precisely track the average emotion of the crowd as a whole, despite individual face percepts being disjointed. Additionally, our paradigm allows us to determine whether participants' perception lags behind the average crowd emotion, and if so, by how much. A cross correlation analysis suggests that participants' responses are tuned to the emotion of the crowd presented a few seconds earlier, potentially suggesting a perceptual lag or smoothing. Our results show that participants' overall perception of a unified crowd emotion remains intact, despite high individual face variation. Our results extend previous experiments by showing that participants are able to precisely perceive the overall emotional tenor of the crowd-even in dynamic, rapidly fluctuating scenes. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


Abstract The Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous Monteith Formation (Minnes Group) records incipient foredeep deposition in the Deep Basin of northwestern Alberta and British Columbia. The uppermost lithostratigraphic unit of the Monteith Formation, informally referred to as the Monteith A, is investigated with data from 550 wells, which includes wireline log suites from each well and approximately 540 m of core from 29 wells, across a 17,500 km2 area (T58–72, R6-20W6M). These data provide the basis for characterization of fine-grained, organic-rich interchannel deposits and channel-belt sandstone bodies. Channel-belt sandstone body dimensions are estimated to range from 4.1–12.6 m thick and 514–2851 m wide. Channel-belt sandstone body stacking patterns are variable laterally and vertically with the most amalgamated architecture present in the plains, in the southern portion of the area studied (T58–70) and within the lower section of the Monteith A interval. Stratigraphic architecture imparts a significant control on natural gas production from the Monteith A as almost all of the current production is coincident with amalgamated channel-belt units. The most prolific production from the Monteith A is in the Foothills where natural fractures enhance permeability within highly amalgamated channel-belts. In the Plains where channel-belts are highly amalgamated, gas distribution and producibility are controlled by inter-and intra-channel-belt architecture and associated zones of enhanced permeability. These zones of enhanced permeability are likely controlled by primary reservoir properties, diagenetic alteration and natural fractures. Heterogeneous reservoir quality and a relatively thin reservoir interval (typically 20–60 m thick) make horizontal wells and hydraulic fracturing a more efficient development strategy than vertical wells. An area >3000 km2 characterized by amalgamated channel-belt architecture is present in the lower portion of the Monteith A and may provide a widespread, ideal target suitable for horizontal drilling.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the cost-effectiveness of naturopathic care (acupuncture, relaxation exercises, exercise and dietary advice, and a back care booklet) compared to standardized physiotherapy education and a back care booklet (control treatment) for low back pain in a sample (N = 70) of warehouse workers.

DESIGN
Economic evaluation based upon the results of a pragmatic randomized controlled trial to determine the cost-effectiveness of naturopathic care to society as a whole, to the employer, and to participants.

RESULTS
Naturopathic care (as compared to the control treatment) significantly improved quality-adjusted life-years over the 6-month study period (3-month intervention period and 3-month follow-up period) by 0.0256 (95% CI: 0.0075, 0.0437)--roughly equivalent to 9.4 "perfect health" days. Naturopathic care also significantly reduced societal costs by $1212 per participant. From the perspective of the employer, the intervention cost $154 per absentee day avoided (compared to employer costs of lost productivity of $172 per day) and had a return on investment of 7.9% under the healthcare coverage limits set by this employer and assuming the employer paid the full cost of naturopathic care. Participants experienced savings in adjunctive care of $1096 per participant.

CONCLUSIONS
This economic evaluation alongside a pragmatic randomized control trial shows naturopathic care to be more cost-effective than a standardized physiotherapy education regimen in the treatment of chronic low back pain. Further studies of the economic impact of naturopathic medicine are warranted.


Through interviews and a survey, this thesis examines blog reading along several dimensions, including motivations for reading weblogs, audience interaction with the weblog format, and the use of tools to find and keep track of blogs. It proposes a typology of 'audience activity' based on the structural features of the weblog format, which includes the navigation of, contribution to, and promotion of blog content. It identifies reading behaviours, impediments to audience activities, and the ways that readers judge the credibility of blogs. This research serves to inform the design of tools that interface with the blogosphere, and it provides a foundation to help software developers to harness different types of audience activity.


Rules complement and extend ontologies on the Semantic Web. We refer to these rules as onto-relational since they combine DL-based ontology languages and Knowledge Representation formalisms supporting the relational data model within the tradition of Logic Programming and Deductive Databases. Rule authoring is a very demanding Knowledge Engineering task which can be automated though partially by applying Machine Learning algorithms. In this chapter we show how Inductive Logic Programming (ILP), born at the intersection of Machine Learning and Logic Programming and considered as a major approach to Relational Learning, can be adapted to Onto-Relational Learning. For the sake of illustration, we provide details of a specific Onto-Relational Learning solution to the problem of learning rule-based definitions of DL concepts and roles with ILP.


Foster Parents' Plan (FPP) was established in 1937 to support child victims of the Spanish Civil War. The initial idea came from an English war correspondent who wanted to create "personal ties" between refugee and orphaned children and their benefactors, thus creating one of the very first "child sponsorship" experiments. The "adoptive parents" financially supported the children and maintained contact with them throughout the letter exchange. With the outbreak of the Second World War, FPP extended its aid to children from other countries as well; by the end of the conflict, it was looking after thousands of young Europeans in situations of poverty and hardship. The organisation did not arrive in Italy until 1947, and its first activities were aimed at children who had been admitted to institutions or who had suffered serious physical impairments due to the war. To successfully deal with the most urgent cases and have a direct connection to Italian society, FPP initially sought the support of institutions already active in the peninsula. However, starting from the early 1950s, it began to operate with greater autonomy thanks also to its proven organisational skills.


ABSTRACT In this study, the effects of the ammonium loading rate (ALR) and inorganic carbon loading rate (ILR) on the nitrification performance and composition of a nitrifying bacterial community were investigated in a moving bed biofilm reactor, using poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) sponge cubes as a supporting carrier. Between the two ALRs of 0.36 and 2.16 kg-N m−1 d−1, stable partial nitritation was achieved at the higher ALR. Inorganic carbon was dosed at high levels: 33.1, 22.0, 16.4, 11.0, and 5.4 times the theoretical amount. Nonetheless, nitrification efficiency was not affected by the ILR at the two ALRs. Quantitative PCR analysis of ammonia- and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria revealed that ALR is an important determinant of partial nitritation by accumulating ammonia-oxidizing bacteria in the nitrification system. In comparison, two nitrite-oxidizing bacterial genera (Nitrobacter and Nitrospira) showed almost the same relative abundance at various ALRs and ILRs. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism targeting the gene of ammonia monooxygenase subunit A revealed that Nitrosomonas europaea dominated under all conditions.


We report the case of a 32-year-old patient who presented to our Department in May 2016 for respiratory symptoms (cough, dyspnea) and fever. The tomographic evaluation revealed a large mass in the mediastinum and numerous pulmonary nodules. A pulmonary biopsy established the diagnosis of classic Hodgkin's lymphoma – nodular sclerosis, stage IVB. After six courses of BEACOPP, the complete response was obtained. Two months later, he was admitted for cough and fever; the X-ray evaluation revealed new pulmonary mass in right lung lobe, and a new biopsy confirmed the disease relapse. Chemotherapy was reinitiated with one course of DHAP followed by five courses of brentuximab. Immediately after the second complete response was obtained (PET-CT negative), the autologous transplantation of haemopoietic stem cells (ASCT) was performed. Few months after ASCT, PET-CT evaluation follwed by pulmonary biopsy confirmed the early relapse of disease despite chemotherapy with brentuximab. We initiated another chemotherapy protocol with six courses of GVD, but with no response at the tomographic reevaluation. Allogeneic transplantation was considered, but there was no suitable donor available. We decided to introduce immunotherapy with nivolumab, an anti-PD-1 antibody, which induced a significant improvement in interim PET-CT after seven courses. In this case report, nivolumab was an effective treatment in refractory relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma.


The Arctic Mediterranean Seas constitute an oceanic region in which the thermohaline circulation has a strong advective component and deep ventilation processes are very active relative to other oceanic areas. Details of the nature of these circulation and ventilation processes have been revealed through use of Cs and Sr isotopes from bomb-fallout and nuclear-waste sources as ocean tracers. In both cases, their regional input is dominated by advective supply in the Norwegian Atlantic Current and Norwegian Coastal Current, respectively. The different temporal, spatial, and compositional input patterns of these tracers have been used to study different facets of the regional circulation. These input differences and some representative applications of the use of these tracers are reviewed. The data discussed derive from samples collected both from research vessels and from Arctic ice camps. The topics addressed include: (a) the role of Arctic Intermediate Water as source, supplying recent surface water to North Atlantic Deep Water via the Denmark Strait overflow; (b) deep convective mixing in the Greenland Sea; (c) circulation or recirculation of Atlantic water in the Arctic basins; and (d) the role of Arctic shelfwaters in the ventilation of intermediate and deep water in the Eurasian and Canadian basins.


PURPOSE
The authors examined the influence of demographic variables on nonmainstream American English (NMAE) use; the differences between NMAE speakers and mainstream American English (MAE) speakers on measures of metalinguistics, single-word reading, and a new measure of morphophonology; and the differences between the 2 groups in the relationships among the measures.

METHOD
Participants were typically developing 3rd graders from Memphis, TN, including 21 MAE and 21 NMAE speakers. Children received a battery of tests measuring phonological and morphological awareness (PA and MA), morphophonology (i.e., accurately produced lexical stress in derived words), decoding, and word identification (WID).

RESULTS
Controlling for socioeconomic status, measures of PA, decoding, and WID were higher for MAE than for NMAE speakers. There was no difference in stress accuracy between the dialect groups. Only for the NMAE group were PA and MA significantly related to decoding and WID. Stress accuracy was correlated with word reading for the NMAE speakers and with all measures for the MAE speakers.

CONCLUSION
Stress accuracy was consistently related to reading measures, even when PA and MA were not. Morphophonology involving suprasegmental factors may be an area of convergence between language varieties because of its consistent relationship to word reading.


As the lightest metal, the reversible insertion/extraction properties of lithium have been key findings in lithium metal oxide chemistry. Lithium has been widely used in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and the reaction mechanism of lithium‐mediated metal oxides has both similarities and uniqueness compared to typical dual metal oxides. Notably, the insertion/extraction of lithium during the OER is also crucial for the construction of novel surface reconstruction models. This review aims to provide the concepts of general OER pathways and key features of dual metal oxides for the OER. As a comparison then the development of lithium metal oxides for the OER is introduced and the chemistry underlying lithium metal oxide catalysts is unveiled. This review also examines the challenges remaining for the relevant catalysts, with prospects for further improving their OER activities.


We developed a technique to separate nuclei of rooster testis by centrifugation through a discontinuous sucrose density gradient and by sedimentation at unit gravity. Four different major fractions obtained from testicular nuclei and one from the vas deferens were characterized according to their velocity of sedimentation, morphology and DNA content. The ratios (w/w) of basic proteins, non-histone proteins and RNA to DNA decreased during spermiogenesis both in nuclei and chromatin. Changes in the electrophoretic patterns of histones and non-histone proteins were detected especially in the elongated spermatids. The lack of uptake of [3H]uridine in elongating and elongated spermatids and in spermatozoa was demonstrated by radioautography and by the detection of labelled RNA extracted from different fractions of nuclei. Template activity for RNA synthesis and the binding of actinomycin D by testicular nuclei reached a peak in the elongated spermatid stage, when the histones are replaced by the protamine.


IncP plasmids are important contributors to bacterial adaptation. Their phenotypic diversity is due largely to accessory regions located in one or two specific parts of the plasmid. The accessory regions are themselves diverse, as judged from sequenced plasmids mostly isolated from non-clinical sources. To further understand the diversity, evolutionary history and functional attributes of the accessory regions, we compared R906 and R772, focusing on the oriV-trfA accessory region. These IncPβ plasmids were from porcine and clinical sources, respectively. We found that the accessory regions formed potentially mobile elements, Tn510 (from R906) and Tn511 (from R772), that differed internally but had identical borders. Both elements appeared to have evolved from a TnAO22-like mer transposon that had inserted into an ancestral IncPβ plasmid and then accrued additional transposable elements and genes from various proteobacteria. Structural comparisons suggested that Tn510 (and a descendent in pB10), Tn511 and the mer element in pJP4 represent three lineages that evolved from the same widely dispersed IncPβ carrier. Functional studies on Tn511 revealed that its mer module is inactive due to a merT mutation, and that its aphAI region is prone to deletion. More significantly, we showed that by providing a suitable transposase gene in trans, the defective Tn510 and Tn511 could transpose intact or in part, and could also generate new elements (stable cointegrates and novel transposons). The ingredients for assisted transposition events similar to those observed here occur in natural microcosms, providing non-self-mobile elements with avenues for dispersal to new replicons and for structural diversification. This work provides an experimental demonstration of how the complex embedded elements uncovered in IncP plasmids and in other plasmid families may have been generated.


Changes in friction due to angular motions at rough planar contacts are investigated using a compliant contact model that isolates an angular degree-of-freedom. Expressions are developed that relate the real area of contact, the contact forces and the line-of-action of the resultant normal contact force to the angular displacement for both periodic and random rough surfaces. We assume that the friction force is proportional to the real area of (elastic) contact. For a periodic rough surface, consisting of an array of hemispherical asperities of equal height and radius, the friction force is shown to be independent of angular displacement. The normal force increases and its line-of-action shifts away from the center of the contact as angular displacements increase. Therefore, the coefficient of friction decreases with angular displacement. In contrast, for a randomly rough surface, the contact area and normal contact force are shown to be non-linearly dependent on angular displacement, but remain proportional to each other in the presence of relative angular motion. Therefore, for the randomly rough surfaces the coefficient of friction is independent of angular motion.


Silicon strip detectors represent a new class of one-dimensional position-sensitive single photon counting devices. They allow a reduction of measurement time at the powder diffractometers by a factor up to 100 compared to instruments with a single counter, while maintaining comparable count statistics. Present work describes a 128-channel detector working with a standard diffractometer. The detector is 12.8 mm long and covers the angular range of 3.2 deg. We discuss the diffraction geometry in real and reciprocal space, the FWHM of diffraction peaks, and the background level. Measurements were made on standard samples and on complex samples of industrial importance (e. g., portland clinker). Applications of the detector to diffraction measurements of single crystals and thin films are discussed briefly.


Protein splicing is an autocatalytic process involving self-excision of an internal protein domain, the intein, and concomitant ligation of the two flanking sequences, the exteins, with a peptide bond. Protein splicing can also take place in trans by naturally split inteins or artificially split inteins, ligating the exteins on two different polypeptide chains into one polypeptide chain. Protein trans-splicing could work in foreign contexts by replacing the native extein sequences with other protein sequences. Protein ligation using protein trans-splicing increasingly becomes a useful tool for biotechnological applications such as semi-synthesis of proteins, segmental isotopic labeling, and in vivo protein engineering. However, only a few split inteins have been successfully applied for protein ligation. Naturally split inteins have been widely used, but they are cross-reactive to each other, limiting their applications to multiple-fragment ligation. Based on the three-dimensional structures including two newly determined intein structures, we derived 21 new split inteins from four highly efficient cis-splicing inteins, in order to develop novel split inteins suitable for protein ligation. We systematically compared trans-splicing of 24 split inteins and tested the cross-activities among them to identify orthogonal split intein fragments that could be used in chemical biology and biotechnological applications.


A significant association was described between lifetime frequency of several human diseases, including cardiovascular disorders, and birth season. We performed a retrospective study to establish whether an association exists between birth season and frequency of venous thromboembolism diagnosed in the emergency department. The study population consisted of all consecutive patients diagnosed with venous thromboembolism at the emergency department of the University Hospital of Parma (Italy) during the year 2014. A total number of 400 patients (217 women and 183 men; mean age 70 ± 18 years) received a final diagnosis of venous thromboembolism throughout the study period. The lowest frequency of diagnoses was observed in patients born in autumn, whereas a higher frequency was observed in those born in spring or summer. When compared with the frequency of births in the same geographical area, patients born in spring and summer exhibited a 30 and 25% higher risk of venous thromboembolism compared with those having autumn birth. A similar trend was observed in patients with unprovoked thrombosis, but not in those with provoked thrombosis. A subanalysis of patients with unprovoked deep vein thrombosis revealed that both spring birth (relative risk 1.49, 95% confidence interval 1.04–2.14) and summer birth (relative risk 1.46, 95% confidence interval 1.01–2.09) were significant risk factors for this condition compared with autumn birth. Although further studies are needed to confirm these original findings, it seems reasonable to hypothesize that birth season may influence the lifetime risk of venous thromboembolism, especially of unprovoked deep vein thrombosis.


. In the framework of censored regression models, the distribution of the error term can depart significantly from normality, for instance, due to the presence of multi-modality, skewness and/or atypical observations. In this paper we propose a novel censored linear regression model where the random errors follow a finite mixture of scale mixtures of normal (SMN) distribution. The SMN is an attractive class of symmetrical heavy-tailed densities that includes the normal, Student-t, slash and the contaminated normal distribution as special cases. This approach allows us to model data with great flexibility, ac-commodating simultaneously multimodality, heavy tails and skewness depending on the structure of the mixture components. We develop an analytically tractable and efficient EM-type algorithm for iteratively computing the maximum likelihood estimates of the parameters, with standard errors and prediction of the censored values as a by-products. The proposed algorithm has closed-form expressions at the E-step, that rely on formulas for the mean and variance of the truncated SMN distributions. The efficacy of the method is verified through the analysis of simulated and real datasets. The methodology addressed in this paper is implemented in the R package C ensMixReg.


Anaheim, CA-Surgeons and patients often consider refractive surgery to be a one-time intervention. A patient may have had RK or LASIK and possibly an enhancement, but then the doctor-patient relationship ended. This is no longer the case, nor should it be, explained George O. Waring III, MD, who delivered the keynote speech on refractive re-treatments during the International Society of Refractive Surgery/American Academy of Ophthalmology subspecialty day meeting.


The proposed impact of slowly digestible sources of dietary carbohydrate in reducing the risk of developing obesity and related metabolic disorders remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to compare the postprandial metabolic response to the ingestion of glucose v. trehalose. We hypothesised that the reduced digestion and absorption rate of trehalose is accompanied by an attenuated glycaemic and insulinaemic response, leading to a less inhibited postprandial fat oxidation rate. In a randomised, single-blind, cross-over study, ten overweight subjects ingested two carbohydrate drinks (75 g carbohydrate equivalents of trehalose or glucose) following an overnight fast (08.40 hours) and together with a standardised mixed meal (12.30 hours; 25 % total energy content was provided as either glucose or trehalose). Blood samples were collected before ingestion and every 30 min thereafter for a period of 3 h; substrate use was assessed by indirect calorimetry and expired breath samples were collected. Ingestion of carbohydrates with a mixed meal resulted in a lower peak glucose response and a lower change in area under the curve (ΔAUC) following trehalose when compared with glucose. Differences in peak insulin response and ΔAUC were observed with trehalose when compared with glucose during the morning and afternoon. These differences were accompanied with a reduced carbohydrate oxidation after trehalose when ingested as a drink, whilst no significant differences in fat oxidation between drink were observed.


The aeroelastic responses and the flutter condition of 3-D flexible cantilever plate were estimated by developed fully coupled fluid-structure interaction(FSI) approach. The plate model (structure model) based on assumed mode method was then combined with unsteady panel-discrete vortex method (aerodynamic model) to build relatively simple aeroelastic model. The validity of the present method had tested through comparisons with the related published work of plates flutter prediction and with wind tunnel measurements. Time domain simulation is used to examine the dynamic aeroelastic instabilities of the system. The flutter occurrence is verified when the responses diverge. To estimate the flutter frequency, Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) technique is used to convert the generalized coordinates responses from time domain to frequency domain. The flutter speed and flutter frequency is found for many Aluminum cantilever plates which are different in aspect ratio. The speed and frequency of the flutter are within average absolute error of about 13% and 16 % for theoretical analysis and practically respectively.


Introduction: The aim of this study was to compare posterior subtenon triamcinolone (PSTA) application and intravitreal dexamethasone phosphate (DEX) implant in the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME) in vitrectomized eyes. Methods: This retrospective study included 64 (48.12%) patients who received PSTA and 69 (51.88%) patients who received DEX implants in DME treatment after vitrectomy. Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), central macular thickness (CMT), and intraocular pressure (IOP) were analyzed before injection; at 1, 3, and 6 months after injection. The postinjection values were statistically compared with the preinjection value. Results: All postinjection CMT values in both groups were lower than the preinjection value (p < 0.05 for all). There were statistically significant increases in all postinjection BCVAs of the DEX group and postinjection 1-month BCVA of the PSTA group (p < 0.05 for all). However, there was no significant difference in BCVA values of the PSTA group at 3 and 6 months after injection (p > 0.05 for both). There was no statistically significant difference in all postinjection IOP values of the PSTA group (p > 0.05 for all). However, significant increases in IOP were observed in the DEX group at 1 and 3 months after injection (p < 0.05 and p = 0.02, respectively). The number of additional injections between the 3rd and 6th months after the initial injection was statistically higher in the PSTA group (p = 0.006). Conclusion: Both intravitreal DEX and PSTA administration are effective in the treatment of DME after vitrectomy. However, visual improvement persisted longer, and the need for additional injections was less in patients who received DEX.


In the last two decades, the Basque Patriotic Left has been a monolithic movement with relatively few fissures that has followed the line marked by ETA in an orthodox way. But it has not always been that way. During Franco's regime and in the first years of democracy, the Basque Patriotic Left was formed by a plurality of organizations that had a common project but differed in strategies, terms and nuances, and in the importance given to the contents of the common project. In this work, we will examine the various political and armed organizations that have formed the Basque Patriotic Left from its foundation to the present day.


According to a recent survey, 16% of all Swiss companies use an e-commerce solution to sell their products [15]. On the other hand, most companies in Switzerland are unfamiliar with the use of the Internet for purchasing and procurement processes and especially for online buying. This paper discusses the new requirements for procurement and shows the new concepts and strategies that have recently been developed. The main focus is on the opportunities and benefits of new information and communication technologies, especially the Internet. Included in this study are the results of an empirical survey conducted in Switzerland in October 1999. The aim of the survey was to analyze to what extent the Internet is being used in procurement of Swiss companies with more than 100 employees. The results show that the take-up of the opportunities and benefits of the Internet is currently rather low and that most Swiss companies seem to be satisfied with the efficiency of their procurement processes.


Red root rot disease caused by Ganoderma philippii is one of the most economically important diseases of tropical Acacia species. Research on field control of the disease has to date focused on inoculum reduction, silviculture practices and application of biological control agents. Incorporation of tolerant genotypes, a key component of integrated disease management, has not been adequately explored because of a lack of reliable and quick screening protocols. Recently, we developed a more rapid method of screening for red root rot tolerance in Acacia mangium, A. crassicarpa and A. mangium A. auriculiformis hybrid planting stock, in which groups of five, 6-week-old plants were subjected to inoculum consisting of a rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) wood block culture of the pathogen held within a polythene bag. As symptoms start to appear 10 weeks after inoculation, experiments can be completed in a six-month period instead of the years needed by the traditional pot system. Using this technique we were able to identify variations in tolerance and/or susceptibility to G. philippii in A. mangium, A. crassicarpa and A. mangium × A. auriculiformis hybrid planting stock in a more consistent manner. Tolerant and susceptible genotypes subsequently have been selected for further experiments or crosses. While the ultimate goal of this study was to develop and deploy high-yielding Acacia genotypes that are also tolerant to red root rot disease, results of the current screening studies may also be used to investigate the basis for tolerance to G. philippii in Acacia species.


Non-local means (NLM) is a popular image denoising scheme for reducing additive Gaussian noise. It uses a patch-based approach to find similar regions within a search neighborhood and estimates the denoised pixel based on the weighted average of all pixels in the neighborhood. All weights are considered for averaging, irrespective of the value of the weights. This paper proposes an improved variant of the original NLM scheme by thresholding the weights of the pixels within the search neighborhood, where the thresholded weights are used in the averaging step. The threshold value is adapted based on the noise level of a given image. The proposed method is used as a two-step approach for image denoising. In the first step the proposed method is applied to generate a basic estimate of the denoised image. The second step applies the proposed method once more but with different smoothing strength. Experiments show that the denoising performance of the proposed method is better than that of the original NLM scheme, and its variants. It also outperforms the state-of-the-art image denoising scheme, BM3D, but only at low noise levels ( σ ≤ 80).


This contribution presents a study on the applicability and usefulness of dynamic data placement methods for data-intensive systems, such as ATLAS distributed data management (DDM). In this system the jobs are sent to the data, therefore having a good distribution of data is significant. Ways of forecasting workload patterns are examined which then are used to redistribute data to achieve a better overall utilisation of computing resources and to reduce waiting time for jobs before they can run on the grid. This method is based on a tracer infrastructure that is able to monitor and store historical data accesses and which is used to create popularity reports. These reports provide detailed summaries about data accesses in the past, including information about the accessed files, the involved users and the sites. From this past data it is possible to then make near-term forecasts for data popularity in the future. This study evaluates simple prediction methods as well as more complex methods like neural networks. Based on the outcome of the predictions a redistribution algorithm deletes unused replicas and adds new replicas for potentially popular datasets. Finally, a grid simulator is used to examine the effects of the redistribution. The simulator replays workload on different data distributions while measuring the job waiting time and site usage. The study examines how the average waiting time is affected by the amount of data that is moved, how it differs for the various forecasting methods and how that compares to the optimal data distribution.


Crowe's Requiem tells the story of John Crowe, a young man born into a village without any apparent history or contact with the outside world. Coming under the tutelage of his mad, beloved grandfather, Crowe is introduced to an existence he feels compelled to understand but is doomed forever to find elusive and mystifying. Breaking free of the old man's spell - drifting through the city hoping to complete his education - he embarks on a sudden, erotic affair with Marian, a young woman with a broken claim to divinity. Unable to see himself except through a prison of fictions, Crowe's life begins to escape him. Love story and gothic fairy tale, teeming with ghosts, sorcerors and vagrants, Crowe's Requiem is an eerie and treacherous meditation on the nature of storytelling by one of Ireland's finest new writers.


The last two years a discussion on reforming the public sector has emerged. At its very heart we find important concepts like 'quality reform', 'democracy', and 'development'. Recently I have presented an example of the 'quality reform' in SocMag, and this leads me to prolong that discussion on central themes on welfare state and democracy. Much energy is invested in arguing about management of the public sector: Do we need more competition from private companies? Do we need more control? Are more contracts concerning outcome needed? Can we be sure about the accountability needed from politicians? How much documentation, effectiveness measurement, bureaucracy, and evidence-based policy and practice are we looking for? A number of interesting questions – but strange enough we do not discuss the purpose of 'keeping a welfare state'. What sort of understanding is lying behind the welfare state, and what kind of democracy are we drawing upon?


The aim of this study is to investigate the phytochemical constituents of the microalga Chlorella vulgaris using two different cultivation conditions and validate their antioxidant, antiviral, antihyperlipidemic as well as cytotoxic effects against different cell lines; prostate cancer cell line (PC3), hepatocellular carcinoma (HePG2), caucasian breast adenocarcinoma (MCF7) and normal skin fibroblast (BJ1). Alga was heterotrophically grown with a full nitrogen content of the growth medium in both normal and stress growth conditions. Stress was performed by potassium starvation, salting out and ferric chloride in the presence of sodium acetate. Crude protein content for vegetative and stressed C. vulgaris resulted 46% and 30%, respectively. The total carbohydrates of vegetative and stressed types were 25% and 18%, respectively, while the amount of the isolated polysaccharides was 22.6 and 16.5%. Rhamnose (21.27 and 14.89%) and galactose (17.63 and 15.59%) were found to be the main sugars of vegetative and stress alga, respectively; while ribose was the minor identified sugar (3.23 and 1.80%). The total identified fatty acids (7 fatty acids) were 11.25 and 10.29%. Omega 3 (α-linolenic, eicosapentaenoic, and docosahexaenoic acids) and omega 6 fatty acids (arachidonic and linoleic acids) were present in vegetative and stressed alga. Fat- and water-soluble vitamins showed that vitamin E is the major one (181.24 and 49.17 mg.100g-1) following by vitamin B complex (48.34 and 35.05 mg.100g-1). In addition, 6 main pigments and 11 phytosterols were also detected. Total chlorophyll decreased in the stressed C. vulgaris, while content of total carotenoids showed an inverse trend comparing to the vegetative one. Also, the stressed pigment fraction of C. vulgaris exhibited the strongest antioxidant activity against both DPPH and ABTS (32.30 ± 0.51 and 44.44 ± 0.84mg/g), respectively. Contradictory, the vegetative polysaccharides fraction exhibited anti-proliferative effect against prostate cancer cell line and hypolipidemic effect on β-hydroxy-β-methylglutaryl Coenzyme A reductase enzyme; the key enzyme of cholesterol biosynthesis. The vegetative pigment fraction showed the highest inhibition effect on the propagation of influenza virus by 96.10%. In conclusion, the stressed pigments fraction of C. vulgaris recorded in vitro antioxidant effects, while vegetative polysaccharides fraction showed hypolipidemic, anti-proliferative and anti-prostate cancer. Additionally, the vegetative pigments fraction recorded anti-influenza virus effect.


To identify the incidence and evaluate the causes of high mortality among Bahraini children with cystic fibrosis, we studied, retrospectively, 25 patients diagnosed as proven cases of cystic fibrosis at Sulmaniya Medical Center, the main referral center on the island, from January 1978 to December 1995. With extrapolation of the study data to the general population, the incidence of cystic fibrosis in Bahrain is at least one in 5800 and the prevalence is at least 3 in 100,000 population. Consanguineous marriage is documented in 80 per cent of the cases. Cystic fibrosis in Bahraini children is phenotypically severe, this is inferred from early age of presentation (mean of 2 months +/- 1 month) and early age of diagnosis (mean 4 +/- 1 month), development of pancreatic insufficiency by 1 year of age in all of the study patients, failure to thrive in 96 per cent of the patients, hypoalbuminemia in 48 per cent, meconium ileus in 20 per cent, progressive lung disease in 84 per cent at an early age, and early colonization with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Age-specific mortality in the first year of life showed dramatic decline from 80 per cent between 1981 and 1985 to 50 per cent from 1986 to 1990, and to 9 per cent from 1991 to 1995. This improvement in survival is believed to be due to increased awareness among medical professionals and improved treatment.


The World Health Organization (WHO) has emphasized that aging of the population is inextricably linked to many other global public health issues, such as universal health coverage, non-communicable diseases, and disability. However, Alzheimer's Disease International (ADI) estimates that 46.8 million elderly people worldwide were living with dementia in 2015. Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common form of dementia, is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases and is the main cause of cognitive impairment. AD will affect 5-7 out of every 100 older adults who are age 60 years or over. In response to the serious challenge posed by AD, governments are expected to play an important role in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of AD. As specific examples, i) the Japanese Government has instituted and supported regulations to encourage the development of AD drugs in order to accelerate research and development of innovative drugs; ii) the United States Government has cooperated with multiple partners such as non-governmental organizations in the response to AD; iii) Chinese governmental measures have standardized clinical diagnosis and treatment as part of the response to AD, including eligible patients, diagnostic criteria, therapeutic schedules, drug selection, and required inspections; iv) with political support from member governments, the European Union has issued guidelines and conducted clinical studies on medicines for the treatment of AD in order to ascertain the various stages of the disease and the relevance of biomarkers. AD is an intractable disease, so different countries need to share clinic trial information and cooperate in the conduct of those trials. International cooperation will play a key role in the response to other intractable and rare diseases.


A simulated vortex within a large-eddy simulation is subjected to various surface terrain, implemented through the immersed boundary method, to analyze the effects of complex topography on vortex behavior. Thirty simulations, including a control with zero-height terrain, are grouped into four categories—2D sinusoidal hills, 3D hills, valleys, and ridges—with slight modifications within each category. A medium-swirl-ratio vortex is translated over shallow terrain, which is modest in size relative to the vortex core diameter and with no explicitly defined surface roughness. While domain size restricts results to the very near-field effects of terrain, vortex–terrain interaction yields notable results. Terrain influences act to increase the variability of the near-surface vortex, including a notable leftward (rightward) deflection, acceleration (deceleration), and an expansion (a contraction) of the vortex as it ascends (descends) the terrain owing to changes in the corner flow swirl ratio. Additionally, 10-m track analyses show stronger horizontal wind speeds are found 1) on upslope terrain, resulting from transient subvortices that are more intense compared to the control simulation, and 2) in between adjacent hills simultaneous with strong pressure perturbations that descend from aloft. Composite statistics confirm that the region in between adjacent hills has the strongest horizontal wind speeds, while upward motions are more intense during ascent. Overall, valley (ridge) simulations have the largest horizontal (vertically upward) wind speeds. Last, horizontal and vertical wind speeds are shown to be affected by other terrain properties such as slope steepness and two-dimensionality of the terrain.


Review of different documents on human resource for health was undertaken. Particular attention was given to documents from Ethiopia. Generally there is shortage in number of different groups of professionals, mal distribution of professionals between regions, urban and rural setting, and governmental and non governmental/private
organizations. There is no policy specific to human resource development (HRD) for health and no proper mechanism to manage the existing health workforce. A number of measures are being taken to alleviate these problems. The enrollment of students has been increased in different categories and new trainings started in professions like dentistry. The process to develop policy and strategy for managing human resource for health has been started. The implications of these for HRD by 2015 are explored briefly. Ethiopian Journal of Health Development Vol. 21 (3) 2007: pp. 216-231


The article is devoted to the generalization of methodical approaches to the estimation of the lost profit. In the process of assessing lost profits, two main issues can be identified. The first one is what can actually be qualified as a lost profit, what its features and how to prove that such a profit could indeed be obtained. The second is how to actually measure the profit that has never been received.

The purpose of the article is to determine the approaches to estimating lost profits taking into account the peculiarities of the Ukrainian economy. The theoretical approaches to the definition of the essence of lost profits are systematized. It is substantiated that the missed profit is the estimated value of losses in the increment of the income of the aggrieved party, which is based on the evidence, confirming the real possibility of obtaining economic benefits by the aggrieved party, if it was not harmed by acts or omissions of the guilty party.

The judicial practice concerning estimation of the lost profit is analyzed. The algorithm of establishing the fact of the lost profit and its estimation is developed. The algorithm consists of four stages: the detection of the violation of the law, the establishment of the consequences of the violation of the law, the establishment of the fact of the purpose of damages and their form, assessment of the magnitude of losses.

The approaches to estimating lost profits are systematized. It has been determined that direct approaches can be applied in the presence of relevant information and provided that there is a direct link between the committed violation and the loss of profit. It is substantiated that valuation approaches are based on the use of valuation procedures for the accumulation of income that was not received by the aggrieved party as a result of the commission of unlawful actions against it. Methods based on the valuation approach include the comparison of revenues (cost or level of capitalization) before and after an event related to unlawful actions. The complexity of applying valuation approaches is the need to eliminate the influence of concomitant factors, which could also cause harm, but they were not related to unlawful actions. It is determined that in assessing lost profits it is important to prove the fact of the lost profit and its connection with the committed violation of law. One of three approaches can be used to estimate the amount of lost profit: direct, estimated or mixed. The choice of a particular method depends on the specifics of the research object.

Key words: missed profit, valuation methodology, unearned profits, moral harm.


ABSTRACT Family-Centered Care (FCC) represents the ideal service delivery approach in pediatric rehabilitation. Nonetheless, implementing FCC as intended in clinical settings continues to be hindered by knowledge gaps. One overlooked gap is our understanding of clients' therapy expectations. This perspective article synthesizes knowledge from the mental health services literature on strategies recommended to service providers for generating transparent and congruent therapy expectations with clients, and applies this knowledge to the pediatric rehabilitation literature, where this topic has been researched significantly less, for the purpose of improving FCC implementation. Dimensions of the Measure of Processes of Care, an assessment tool that measures clients' perceptions of the extent a service is family-centered, inform the organization of therapy expectation-generating strategies: (1) Providing Respectful and Supportive Care (assessing and validating clients' expectations); (2) General and Specific Information (foreshadowing therapy journeys, explaining treatment rationale, and conveying service provider qualifications); (3) Coordinated and Comprehensive Care (socializing clients to roles and reflecting on past socialization); and (4) Enabling and Partnership (applying a negotiation framework and fostering spaces safe to critique). Strategies can help pediatric rehabilitation service providers work with families to reframe unrealistic expectations, establish congruent beliefs supporting effective partnerships, and prevent possible disillusionment with therapy over time.


Accelerated degradation tests for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells are frequently conducted under open-circuit voltage (OCV) conditions at low relative humidity and high temperature. Comparative experimental studies were carried out to identify the localization of membrane degradation through the thickness direction of the membrane under the OCV hold condition and the effect of platinum band location on the membrane degradation behavior. A bilayer configuration of the membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) was used for this study. In one test, the fuel cell with the bilayer MEA was exposed to hydrogen and air (regular test); in another test, the bilayer MEA was exposed to 4% hydrogen (balance nitrogen) and pure oxygen to induce the platinum band formation close to the anode side. Hydrogen crossover current, electrochemical areas (ECAs), and polarization curves were evaluated pre- and post-test. After the OCV hold test, the bilayer MEA was separated into two pieces of one-side coated membranes; each piece was characterized by uniaxial mechanical testing, IR spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis. The findings suggest highly localized degradation or a defect band formed through the thickness direction of the MEA, and the defect band shifts with the shift of the Pt band.