A large number of the current guidelines and models are used to estimate the right-turn lane (RTL) length in left-hand traffic at signalised intersections under split phase, in which the movement of traffic in the right-turn lane and through lane happen concurrently. There is a need to examine other phase types and timings as a part of the RTL design. This is particularly significant in the case of established intersections that cannot be modified due to physical constraints.

 A MATLAB based simulation programme was developed to provide an estimate of the right-turn lane storage length for different traffic volumes in order to avoid the problems associated with blockage and overflow of the right turn vehicles in 95% of the traffic signal cycles. The model enhances flexibility when dealing with the complexity of the design of the storage length taking into account different signal phases and timings to overcome the aforementioned problems. The simulation model also takes into consideration the left-over queue from the previous cycle which was ignored by most of the previous studies.

 The model input includes as a configuration matrix containing the sequence of operational states of the intersection. This ensures the flexibility and the simplicity of manipulating the data to reflect all phase types and timings. The model results have been compared against a recently developed analytical model in which similar signal phases and timings were investigated. The outcomes agree to the results that are obtained from the analytical model in most of the signal phases. The developed simulation model is flexible enough to be used further to simulate the situation when there is a large difference between the approaching and opposing traffic volumes and optimise the green time in case of split phase. In this study, the simplified simulation model for estimating the RTL storage length has been developed for the left-hand traffic countries; however, the study is equally applicable to the left-turn lane (LTL) in right-hand traffic countries.


Neural network-based generative language models like ELMo and BERT can work effectively as general purpose sentence encoders in text classification without further fine-tuning. Is it possible to adapt them in a similar way for use as general-purpose decoders? For this to be possible, it would need to be the case that for any target sentence of interest, there is some continuous representation that can be passed to the language model to cause it to reproduce that sentence. We set aside the difficult problem of designing an encoder that can produce such representations and instead ask directly whether such representations exist at all. To do this, we introduce a pair of effective complementary methods for feeding representations into pretrained unconditional language models and a corresponding set of methods to map sentences into and out of this representation space, the \textit{reparametrized sentence space}. We then investigate the conditions under which a language model can be made to generate a sentence through the identification of a point in such a space and find that it is possible to recover arbitrary sentences nearly perfectly with language models and representations of moderate size.


Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) in its current form might not be applicable in non Western cultures. Differences between Western and non Western cultures have been reported widely. Psychotherapy was developed in the West and is underpinned by many beliefs which might be specific only to the Western culture. However, in order to modify CBT, we need to understand whether the concepts associated with the CBT might cause conflicts among people who receive therapy. This study explored the beliefs of the university students in Pakistan to find out if the concepts underpinning CBT are consistent with the personal, family, socio-cultural and religious values of the university students. Discussions were held with University students in Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan. Students were given information on various aspects of the CBT and were asked to rate their agreement with these concepts on a visual analogue scale. There was little disagreement for the principles of CBT for personal values, while some disagreement existed for religious values. This study highlights the value of assessing peoples' beliefs about acceptability of CBT in non Western cultures. Students in Pakistan felt that the principles of CBT are consistent with their belief system in most areas. However, the value system of students might not be representative of the rest of the population.


Abstract. Strong low-level winds associated with extratropical cyclones can cause substantial impacts on society. The wind intensity and the spatial distribution of wind maxima may change in a warming climate; however, the involved changes in cyclone structure and dynamics are unclear. Here, such structural changes of strong North Atlantic cyclones in a warmer climate close to the end of the current century are investigated with storm-relative composites based on Community Earth System Model Large Ensemble (CESM-LENS) simulations. Furthermore, a piecewise potential vorticity inversion is applied to associate such changes in low-level winds to changes in potential vorticity (PV) anomalies at different levels. Projected changes in cyclone intensity are generally rather small. However, using cyclone-relative composites, we identify an extended wind footprint southeast of the center of strong cyclones, where the wind speed tends to intensify in a warmer climate. Both an amplified low-level PV anomaly driven by enhanced diabatic heating and a dipole change in upper-level PV anomalies contribute to this wind intensification. On the contrary, wind changes associated with lower- and upper-level PV anomalies mostly compensate each other upstream of the cyclone center. Wind changes at upper levels are dominated by changes in upper-level PV anomalies and the background flow. All together, our results indicate that a complex interaction of enhanced diabatic heating and altered non-linear upper-tropospheric wave dynamics shape future changes in near-surface winds in North Atlantic cyclones.


The aim of this study was to test the multilevel multidimensional finite mixture item response model of the Forms of Self-Criticising/Attacking and Self-Reassuring Scale (FSCRS) to cluster respondents and countries from 13 samples (N = 7,714) and from 12 countries. The practical goal was to learn how many discrete classes there are on the level of individuals (i.e., how many cut-offs are to be used) and countries (i.e., the magnitude of similarities and dissimilarities among them). We employed the multilevel multidimensional finite mixture approach which is based on an extended class of multidimensional latent class Item Response Theory (IRT) models. Individuals and countries are partitioned into discrete latent classes with different levels of self-criticism and self-reassurance, taking into account at the same time the multidimensional structure of the construct. This approach was applied to the analysis of the relationships between observed characteristics and latent trait at different levels (individuals and countries), and across different dimensions using the three-dimensional measure of the FSCRS. Results showed that respondents' scores were dependent on unobserved (latent class) individual and country membership, the multidimensional structure of the instrument, and justified the use of a multilevel multidimensional finite mixture item response model in the comparative psychological assessment of individuals and countries. Latent class analysis of the FSCRS showed that individual participants and countries could be divided into discrete classes. Along with the previous findings that the FSCRS is psychometrically robust we can recommend using the FSCRS for measuring self-criticism.


The piezoelectric response of [001] poled domain engineered (1-x)Pb(Mg(13)Nb(23))O(3)-xPbTiO(3) (PMN-PT) crystals was investigated as a function of composition and phase using Rayleigh analysis. The results revealed that the intrinsic (reversible) contribution plays a dominant role in the high piezoelectric activity for PMN-PT crystals. The intrinsic piezoelectric response of the monoclinic (M(C)) PMN-xPT crystals, 0.31</=x</=0.35, exhibited peak values for compositions close to R-M(C) and M(C)-T phase boundaries, however, being less than 2000 pCN. In the rhombohedral phase region, x</=0.30, the intrinsic piezoelectric response was found to increase as the composition approached the rhombohedral-monoclinic (R-M(C)) phase boundary. The maximum piezoelectric response was observed in rhombohedral PMN-0.30PT crystals, being on the order of 2500 pCN. This ultrahigh piezoelectric response was determined to be related to the high shear piezoelectric activity of single domain state, corresponding to an ease in polarization rotation, for compositions close to a morphotropic phase boundary (MPB). The role of monoclinic phase is only to form a MPB with R phase, but not directly contribute to the ultrahigh piezoelectric activity in rhombohedral PMN-0.30PT crystals. The extrinsic contribution to piezoelectric activity was found to be less than 5% for the compositions away from R-M(C) and M(C)-T phase boundaries, due to a stable domain engineered structure. As the composition approached MPBs, the extrinsic contribution increased slightly (<10%), due to the enhanced motion of phase boundaries.


Ethics and values are important dimensions of water governance. We show how a "values approach" contributes to an understanding of global water governance, and how it complements other perspectives on governance, namely management, institutional capacity, and social-ecological systems. We connect these other approaches to their own value systems and the ethical attitudes they engender. We then offer a way to explicitly incorporate, and where necessary adjudicate, competing value systems through a values-based approach to governance. A case of the Santa Fe River in New Mexico, USA illustrates how value systems are reflected in water policies and how these values affect governance priorities, such as in environmental flows. The values-based approach clarifies tacit values and creates space to align local values with those needed for effective water governance at the global level.


Android systems are widely used in mobile & wireless distributed systems. In the near future, Android is believed to dominate the mobile distributed environment. However, with the popularity of Android-based smartphones/tablets comes the rampancy of Android-based malware. In this paper, we propose a novel topological signature of Android apps based on the function call graphs (FCGs) extracted from their Android App PacKages (APKs). Specifically, by leveraging recent advances in graphlet sampling, the proposed method fully captures the invocator-invocatee relationship at local neighborhoods in an FCG without exponentially inflating the state space. Using real benign app and malware samples, we demonstrate that our method, ACTS (App topologiCal signature through graphleT Sampling), can detect malware and identify malware families robustly and efficiently. More importantly, we demonstrate that, without augmenting the FCG with any semantic features such as bytecode-based vertex typing, local topological information captured by ACTS alone can achieve a high malware detection accuracy. Since ACTS only uses structural features, which are orthogonal to semantic features, it is expected that combining them would give a greater improvement in malware detection accuracy than combining non-orthogonal semantic features.


Red-fleshed apple (Malus sieversii f. neidzwetzkyana (Dieck) Langenf) has attracted more and more attention due to its enriched anthocyanins and high antioxidant activity. In this study we extracted total anthocyanins and phenols from two types of red-fleshed apples—Xinjing No.4 (XJ4) and Red Laiyang (RL)—to study the stability and antioxidant activity of anthocyanins after encapsulation onto Corn Starch Nanoparticles (CSNPs). The results indicated the anthocyanins and total phenol levels of XJ4 were 2.96 and 2.25 times higher than those of RL respectively. The anthocyanin concentration and loading time had a significant effect on CSNPs encapsulation, and XJ4 anthocyanins always showed significantly higher loading capacity than RL. After encapsulation, the morphology of RL-CSNPs and XJ4-CSNPs was still spherical with a smooth surface as CSNPs, but the particle size increased compared to CSNPs especially for RL-CSNPs. Different stress treatments including UV light, pH, temperature, and salinity suggested that XJ4-CSNPs exhibited consistently higher stability than RL-CSNPs. A significantly enhanced free radical scavenging rate under stress conditions was observed, and XJ4-CSNPs had stronger antioxidant activity than RL-CSNPs. Furthermore, XJ4-CSNPs exhibited a slower released rate than RL-CSNPs in simulated gastric (pH 2.0) and intestinal (pH 7.0) environments. Our research suggests that nanocrystallization of anthocyanins is an effective method to keep the anthocyanin ingredients intact and active while maintaining a slow release rate. Compared to RL, encapsulation of XJ4 anthocyanins has more advantages, which might be caused by the significant differences in the metabolites of XJ4. These findings give an insight into understanding the role of nanocrystallization using CSNPs in enhancing the antioxidant ability of anthocyanins from different types of red-fleshed apples, and provide theoretical foundations for red-fleshed apple anthocyanin application.


A method for nearly orthogonal grid generation is presented in this study. The generating system is based on solution of a system of partial differential equations with finite difference discretization. The influence of the number of grid points, type of boundary, and intensity of the grid quality control function and grid properties are investigated. Specification of both boundary point distribution on all sides and moving boundaries is used. The proposed method is applied to various test problems£¬which shows this method provides a good balance between controlling grid orthogonality and cell aspect ratio.


Nowadays, sustainable development is an explicit objective of all policies; it aims to reconcile economic, environmental and social issues, as part of a concern for intergenerational equity. The "viability" approach takes into account a set of sustainability stakes in a multicriteria dynamic framework. This approach is complementary to the classical ones based on the optimization of one sole criterion (for example, economic). It defines the configurations of sustainable exploitation of an ecological and economic system and explores the decisions to avoid or exit an over-exploitation crisis. We illustrate this approach with the results obtained in the case of fisheries management.


Background The recognition of serious pathologies affecting the musculoskeletal (MSK) system, especially in the early stage of a disease, is an important but challenging task. The prevalence of such serious pathologies is currently low. However, in our progressing aging population, it is anticipated that serious pathologies affecting the MSK system will be on the rise. Physiotherapists, as part of a wider health care team, can play a valuable role in the recognition of serious pathologies. It is at present unknown how accurately Austrian qualified physiotherapists can detect the presence of serious pathologies affecting the MSK system and therefore determine whether physiotherapy management is indicated (keep patients) or not (refer patients to a medical doctor). Objective We will explore the current ability of Austrian qualified physiotherapists to recognize serious pathologies by using validated clinical vignettes. Methods As part of an electronic web-based survey, these vignettes will be distributed among a convenience sample of qualified Austrian physiotherapists working in a hospital or private setting. The survey will consist of four sections: (1) demographics and general information, (2) the clinical vignettes, (3) questions concerning the clinical vignettes, and (4) self-perceived knowledge gaps and learning preferences from the perspective of study participants. Results will further be used for (1) international comparison with similar studies from the existing literature and (2) gaining insight into the participants' self-perceived knowledge gaps and learning preferences for increasing their knowledge level about keep-refer decision-making and detecting serious pathologies. Results Data collection took place between May 2022 and June 2022. As of June 2022, a total of 479 Austrian physiotherapists completed the survey. Data analysis has started, and we aim to publish the results in 2023. Conclusions The results of this survey will provide insights into the ability of Austrian physiotherapists to make accurate keep-refer decisions and to recognize the presence of serious pathologies using clinical vignettes. The results of this survey are expected to serve as a basis for future training in this area. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) DERR1-10.2196/43028


Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related mortality and is responsible for more deaths than breast, prostate, and colon cancer combined. Most patients are diagnosed with advanced disease at the time of presentation, and treatment options have traditionally included surgery, chemotherapy, and/or radiation. However, significant advances in the molecular characterization of lung cancer have led to the creation of effective immunotherapies that assist in the recognition of cancer as foreign by the host immune system, stimulate the immune system, and relieve the inhibition that allows tumor growth and spread. Extensive experience with the immunomodulatory monoclonal antibody ipilimumab has demonstrated that unique responses may be seen with immunotherapies that are not adequately captured by traditional response criteria such as the World Health Organization criteria and Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST). Consequently, several modified criteria have been developed to evaluate patients treated with immunotherapy, including immune-related response criteria, immune-related RECIST, and immune RECIST. Finally, patients undergoing immunotherapy may develop a wide variety of immune-related adverse events with which the radiologist must be familiar. In this article, we present the fundamental concepts behind immunotherapy, specific agents currently approved for the treatment of lung cancer, and immune-related adverse events. The role of imaging in the evaluation of these patients will also be discussed, including the general principles of treatment response evaluation, specific response criteria adopted with these agents, including immune-related response criteria, immune-related RECIST, and immune RECIST, and the imaging of immune-related adverse events.


Understanding the key determinants of health of Palestinian children in occupied East Jerusalem is enhanced by analyzing Jerusalem as a settler colonial frontier. Structural racism, prolonged occupation, and settler colonialism shape the social and political determinants of health in Jerusalem, generating ill health and insecurity for Palestinian children who are rendered stateless in their own city. They are "unchilded" and, in fact, treated like enemies of the settler state. Colonial violence penetrates their family stability, homes, classrooms, and targets their bodies and health. In providing a thorough analysis of the lived experience of indigenous Palestinian children in Jerusalem, a broadened understanding of the effects of statelessness on their health can begin to take shape.


Abstract. The application of operational systems for remote sensing requires new approaches for data processing. It has to be the goal to derive user relevant information close the sensor itself and to downlink this information to a ground station or to provide them as input to an actuator of the space-borne platform. A complete automation of data processing is an essential first step for a thematic onboard data processing. In a second step, an appropriate onboard computer system has to be de-signed being able to fulfill the requirements. In this paper, standard data processing steps will be introduced correcting systematic errors during image capturing. A new hardware operating system, which is the interface between FPGA hardware and data processing algorithms, gives the opportunity to implement complex data processing modules in an effective way. As an example the derivation the camera's orientation based on data of an optical payload is described in detail. The thereby derived absolute or relative orientation is essential for high level data products. This will be illustrated by means of an onboard image matcher


The energy crisis that is now going on, causing such a serious impact on people's lives. These impacts include increasingly high price of fuel, kerosene, diesel and gas, the queue for the public to panic and eventually the public poorer because purchasing power is getting low. World energy crisis also occurred in Indonesia. Energy reserves in Indonesia, especially fossil fuels (petroleum, coal, and natural gas) are increasingly shrinking. The availability of fossil energy will also be on the wane because of an increase in energy consumption per capita. To predict the energy crisis in Indonesia, this thesis proposes the development of sukamoto fuzzy inference systems for classification energy crisis based on parameters the amount of production, energy consumption and energy demand driven factors, namely GDP and population. Outcomes of this system is the classification based on these parameters, i.e., a safe condition, alert and crisis. The experimental results show the system produce levels of accuracy at 90% petroleum, natural gas 100% and CoA, 100%. This system are expected to provide an early warning and decision support for the government or the relevant agencies in giving the handlers or the solution to the problem of energy crisis Keywords - Energy Status, Fuzzy Inference System, Tsukamoto, Classification.


An electrophoretically slowly moving hemoglobin variant, Hb Yusa, was found in a 48-year-old man, his younger sister and mother. No clinical or hematological abnormalities were seen in the individuals heterozygous for this mutant gene. Structural studies of this abnormal hemoglobin showed a new type substitution of beta 21 (B3) Asp leads to Tyr. The percentage of the abnormal hemoglobin in the hemolysate was 40.8. The hemoglobin had neither instability nor functional abnormality.


Due to recent advancements in information technology and communication, Electronic Customer Relationship Management has drawn the attention of many firms to achieve competitive advantages. Despite the increasing importance given to understanding their customers better, organizations find inconsistencies between information technology and the existing marketing strategies, when they come to decide upon implementing e-CRM, as well as lack of theoretical backgrounds for developing success measures in this domain. Therefore, this study deals with describing a model for successful e-CRM, using variables such as customer information quality, technology system, efficiency, customer satisfaction, and profitability. These constructs cover most of variables and concepts presented yet in theories of successful information systems and views about customer satisfaction. Ample empirical evidence is gained through this research from analyzing the outcomes of 309 questionnaires distributed to employees and customers of some automobile manufacturers having established e-CRM. The results of this study may open up new ways of applying concepts and relationship-oriented marketing models and e-CRM in automobile industry.


Probabilistic graphical models are powerful tools for analyzing constrained, continuous domains. However, finding most-probable explanations (MPEs) in these models can be computationally expensive. In this paper, we improve the scalability of MPE inference in a class of graphical models with piecewise-linear and piecewise-quadratic dependencies and linear constraints over continuous domains. We derive algorithms based on a consensus-optimization framework and demonstrate their superior performance over state of the art. We show empirically that in a large-scale voter-preference modeling problem our algorithms scale linearly in the number of dependencies and constraints.


An analytical method for concurrent analysis of inorganic anions and cations has been developed using a capillary electrophoresis (CE)-capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detector (C4D) system. Although hydrodynamic and electrokinetic injection techniques have been widely used in CE, we employed a capillary filling method (CFM) for the analysis of inorganic ions. The procedure is relatively simple and has the advantage that CMF does not require pressure control and vial exchange. Three anions (chloride, sulfate, nitrate) and five cations (ammonium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium) were successfully separated and detected at ppm levels within 80 s using a 9 mM histidine/15 mM malic acid (pH 3.6) containing 50 mM N -dodecyl- N , N -dimethyl-3-ammonio-1-propanesulfonate as background electrolyte. Applying this analytical condition, the electroosmotic flow is negligible and anions and cations were migrated concurrently to different polarities according to their electrophoretic mobility. Obtained raw data showed stepwise increases in detected conductivity due to the migration of sample components, which expresses as peak profiles by differentiation of electropherograms. The RSD values of the peak area and migration times for the anions and cations were satisfactory and were less than 5.15 and 2.04%, respectively. The developed method was applied for the analysis of inorganic anions and cations in commercial mineral waters, tap water, urine, and exhaled breath condensate. These results indicate that the CE-C4D system with CFM is suitable for the rapid analysis of inorganic anions and cations in various samples.


Both chemical-specific (e.g. physical-chemical properties) and environmental (e.g. climate) properties are required for model-based chemical exposure assessment. The physical-chemical property data for large numbers of "emerging chemicals" of concern are scarce and uncertain and their unusual structures and behaviour hinder the creation of hazard profiles. Climate change (CC) is expected to alter the transport and fate of chemicals in the environment, so from a long-term perspective it must be accounted for in chemical risk assessment. This thesis tackles the challenges (i) in developing hazard profiles for halogen-free flame retardants (HFFRs), which are emerging chemicals that are often ionogenic and can contain metallic and organic components in the same chemical structure, and (ii) in quantifying the effects of CC on the transport and fate of organic chemicals with a wide range of physical-chemical properties. The findings in Paper I suggest that the hazard profiles of HFFRs can be constructed, though they may be incomplete and associated with uncertainty as a result of data gaps and difficulties in developing models to describe their unique environmental chemistry. Paper II shows that the large uncertainties in physical-chemical properties dominate the variance in future forecasts of chemical concentrations and are far more important than variations in climate parameters due to CC. Paper III derives the CC/baseline scenario ratios of chemical concentrations, which vary widely with physical-chemical properties. Concentrations in the Baltic region are projected to change by factors of up to 3.0. Paper IV identifies significantly decreasing trends in measured atmospheric concentrations of many persistent organic pollutants, implying effectiveness of control actions. There is no evidence that CC has altered the temporal trends in long-term time series of chemicals based on the statistical analyses of the monitoring data.


OBJECTIVE: Outcome studies in rodent tumor models rely on both histological and noninvasive study end points. Intracranial models require special tools to observe tumor growth over time noninvasively, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomographic scanning, or cranial window techniques. These techniques share disadvantages in terms of cost, technical expertise required, and overall animal throughput for analysis. In this report, we sought to validate the use of the relatively newer technique of bioluminescence imaging (BLI) of intracranial glioblastoma xenograft growth by comparing it with gadolinium-enhanced MRI. METHODS: U87MG glioma cell lines genetically engineered to express the firefly luciferase gene were stereotactically injected into nude mice in the left frontal lobe. Weekly BLI and MRI were performed after the inoculation of tumor cells. For BLI, tumor growth was assessed as the peak BLI after systemic injection of luciferin substrate. MRI-based growth curves were created by three-dimensional volumetric reconstruction of axial gadolinium-enhanced MRI data covering the whole brain. In a separate experiment, mice were treated with adenoviruses encoding antiangiogenic soluble vascular endothelial growth factor receptors, and treatment effect was monitored by BLI. RESULTS: Untreated tumor growth was readily detected and observed over time by serial BLI measurements. Furthermore, tumor-derived light emission was highly correlated with volume of tumor as assessed by MRI. Furthermore, the tested antiangiogenic treatment effect was readily detected using this technique, suggesting the power of the technique for sensitive monitoring of novel therapeutics. CONCLUSION: BLI offers a simple and rapid technique for assessing intracranial glioblastoma growth in rodent models noninvasively, which correlates well with MRI. The speed of the BLI technique can increase experimental throughput, allows for targeted histological analysis in animals showing the greatest treatment effects, and provides new insights into the kinetics of intracranial tumor growth in the setting of different treatments.


PURPOSE: To investigate the correlation between the average thickness of the retinal nerve fiber layer (aRNFL) and the axial length (AL) of the eyeball in normal individuals with optical coherence tomography (OCT) Optovue. METHOD: In the current study, 124 eyes (with or without refractive error) of 62 normal individuals (10 years or more) were recruited. The thickness of the RNFL was measured using the three-dimensional OCT Fourier domain, Optovue. The axial length was measured by A-scan (Quantel Medical). RESULT: Bivariate correlation between aRNFL and AL was -0.64 with p < 0.001. So aRNFL has significant negative correlation with AL. aRNFL can be predicted with the linear formula aRNFL  = 1.62E2 - 2.34 * AL ( r 2 Linear = 0.404). For every 1 mm increase in axial length the aRNFL decreases by 2.34 µm. CONCLUSION: The thickness of the RNFL shows a negative correlation with the axial length of the eyeball. Physicians need to consider anatomical variations in the RNFL for better patient management. KEYWORDS: Optical coherence tomography, Retinal nerve fiber layer


The metastable phase equilibrium in the ternary system containing potassium, lithium and chloride ions was studied at 298.15 K using an isothermal evaporation method. The solubility, density and refractive index of the equilibrated solution were measured. The crystalloid forms of the solid phase were determined using a schreinermarks wet residue method. On the basis of the experimental data, the metastable equilibrium phase diagram and the physicochemical properties vs composition in the ternary system at 298.15 K were plotted. The experimental results show that this system is of a simple eutectic type system, no double salt or solid solution formed at 298.15 K. The phase diagram consists of one invariant point, two uninvariant curves, and two crystallization regions. The crystallization regions correspond to potassium chloride (KCl) and lithium chloride monohydrate (LiCl·H2O), respectively. Salt KCl has the largest crystallization field, whereas salt LiCl·H2O has the smallest crystallization field. Salt LiCl has strong salting-out effect on salt KCl.


Peritonsillar inflammation is a common characteristic of both peritonsillar abscess (PTA) and peritonsillitis (PC). The aim of the present study was to apply the PTA score as an objective criterion to identify patients with peritonsillar inflammation (PI) who might profit from medical treatment. Hence, the recently developed PTA score was applied retrospectively on patients suffering from acute tonsillitis, peritonsillitis, and peritonsillar abscess. Analysis of the clinical data, the follow-up, and the initial PTA score was performed. Patients with peritonsillar inflammation show significant higher PTA score values compared to patients with acute tonsillitis without peritonsillar inflammation and healthy controls. Patients with a PTA score ≤ 2 profited from medical treatment consisting of antibiotics in 92.3% of the cases. In 89.2% of the patients with a PTA score > 2, pus was detected during abscess relief. Patients with peritonsillar inflammation who profited from medical treatment had significantly reduced PTA score values and a reduced duration of hospitalization compared to the patients with abscess relief. Thus, the PTA score has the potential as an objective criterion to identify patients with peritonsillar inflammation profiting from medical treatment. Hence, application of the PTA score helps to determine an optimal, individualized treatment approach and might reduce utilization of medical resources.


Power Allocation (PA) strategies are evaluated for distributed detection in a single-hop, multiple-ring cluster. The Detection Error Probability (DEP) is affected by the observation Signal-to-Noise Ratios (SNRs), the channel SNRs, and node distances. We seek the PA maximizing the total expected deflection coefficient of the received signals at the fusion center under different constraints: a total power constraint and a per-ring power constraint. Both optimization problems are convex, so the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker conditions lead to analytical expressions for the optimal PA. The DEPs from a uniform PA and the proposed PA are compared for various observation SNRs, channel SNRs, number of nodes, and number of rings.


Clowder is an open source data management system to support data curation of long tail data and metadata across multiple research domains and diverse data types. Institutions and labs can install and customize their own instance of the framework on local hardware or on remote cloud computing resources to provide a shared service to distributed communities of researchers. Data can be ingested directly from instruments or manually uploaded by users and then shared with remote collaborators using a web front end. We discuss some of the challenges encountered in designing and developing a system that can be easily adapted to different scientific areas including digital preservation, geoscience, material science, medicine, social science, cultural heritage and the arts. Some of these challenges include support for large amounts of data, horizontal scaling of domain specific preprocessing algorithms, ability to provide new data visualizations in the web browser, a comprehensive Web service API for automatic data ingestion and curation, a suite of social annotation and metadata management features to support data annotation by communities of users and algorithms, and a web based front-end to interact with code running on heterogeneous clusters, including HPC resources.


The human papillomavirus (HPV) is certainly one of the few viruses associated with cancer and is present in a significant number of cancers of the anus, penis, vagina, vulva and in almost all cervical cancers.The aim of our work is to evaluate the impact of genotypes high-risk oncogenic (HR) in low-grade (LSIL) and high grade (HSIL) intraepithelial lesions. In it are also evaluated the impact of genotypes low oncogenic risk (LR) and the percentage of non-detection (NR) Papillomavirus DNA Between January 2008 and June 2009 we submitted for HPV DNA genotyping test 392 patients, seronegative for HIV1/2, of which 278 with LSIL and 114 with HSIL. In 250 patients tested positive for HPV DNA HR the type 16 is present in 102 patients (41%), the 18 in 62 (25%), the 31 in 37 patients (15%), the 33 in 13 patients (5%); also was limited the simultaneous presence of 16 and 18 (13 patients 5%) The search for HPV DNA is a modern method of study of cervical pathology. Optimizes the follow-up of intraepithelial lesions and the therapeutic intervention, avoiding the dangers of over/ undertreatment and allows to monitor women treated for cervical pathology.


Hybrid organic-inorganic materials were fabricated using sol-gel technique using poly(methyl methacrylate) and methacrylic acid 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl ester (MAMSE) with 90/10, 80/20 and 70/30 (%w/w) ratios with tetrahydrofuran (THF) solvent. The thin films were then characterized using FTIR spectra, SEM, DSC and TGA thermograms. From the preliminary characterization, the hybrid material was found to have nano and ultra scale tight pore ranges. FT-IR spectroscopy uncovered all the signature peaks characteristic of silicate structures in the near-surface regions. Fingerprints of Si-O-Si groups in cyclic and linear molecular substructures are present. The SEM image clearly shows that hybrid materials have homogenous and smooth surface. DSC analysis of the material shows interesting phenomenon regarding glass transition temperature (Tg). The hybrid material was found to have higher Tg than pure PMMA. From TGA analysis, the hybrid materials were observed to have higher thermal stability than pure PMMA.


The baculovirus expression vector system (BEVS) is becoming the method of choice for expression of many eukaryotic proteins and protein complexes for biochemical, structural and pharmaceutical studies. Significant technological advancement has made generation of recombinant baculoviruses easy, efficient and user-friendly. However, there is a tremendous variability in the amount of proteins made using the BEVS, including different batches of virus made to express the same proteins. Yet, what influences the overall production of proteins or protein complexes remains largely unclear. Many downstream applications, particularly protein structure determination, require purification of large quantities of proteins in a repetitive manner, calling for a reliable experimental set-up to obtain the protein or protein complexes of interest consistently. During our investigation of optimizing the expression of the Mediator Head module, we discovered that the 'initial infectivity' was an excellent indicator of overall production of protein complexes. Further, we show that this initial infectivity can be mathematically described as a function of multiplicity of infection (MOI), correlating recombinant protein yield and virus titer. All these findings led us to develop the Titer Estimation for Quality Control (TEQC) method, which enables researchers to estimate initial infectivity, titer/MOI values in a simple and affordable way, and to use these values to quantitatively optimize protein expressions utilizing BEVS in a highly reproducible fashion.


Background and Purpose —Animal studies of cerebral arteries 2 to 3 days after experimental subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) provide evidence of arterial change such as hyperresponsiveness to contractile agonists. There is evidence that small arteries, as well as those large enough to be seen on angiography, may be involved. To directly test these possibilities, the contractile and dilator responses of pial artery segments taken from patients up to 48 hours after SAH were compared with those from patients having elective surgery for an aneurysm (Clip) and with those from normal brain vessels overlying tumors (controls).

Methods —Segments were mounted on a resistance artery myograph for measurements of wall force changes.

Results —There were no differences in maximum contractility (Emax) of the 3 groups of segments. The responses of the SAH segments to K+ (30 mmol/L) were 60.7±4.6% of Emax (n [number of vessels]=18), which was significantly greater than those of controls (29.9±5% Emax) (n=20). Clip responses were the same as control. Contractions of SAH segments to norepinephrine (1 μmol/L) were 54.3±7.9% Emax (n=12), and these were significantly greater than those of controls (15.1±6.2% Emax) (n=25). All SAH segments showed spontaneous contractile activity of varying patterns. Spontaneous activity did not occur in the Clip group and occurred in only 50% of control segments. Dilation to acetylcholine was numerically less in SAH and Clip segments than in controls, but differences were not statistically significant. The change in agonist responsiveness could result from exposure to agents that damage the blood vessel wall, resulting in partial depolarization of endothelial and smooth muscle cells.

Conclusions —Small human pial arteries are hyperresponsive to contractile agents and show spontaneous contractile activity within 48 hours of SAH. Such effects could result in narrowed resistance arteries and reduction in cerebral blood flow. These effects emphasize the wisdom of early therapeutic intervention.


Present day distributed inference systems consist of sensors with different modalities working as a system to perform specific tasks. With multiple sensors sensing heterogeneous data over multiple time instants, diversity is an inherent aspect of such systems. In this work, we take the first step to characterize the diversity of a general heterogeneous sensing system performing inference tasks. We provide a unified definition for diversity which can be customized for the system in use. The use of the definition is illustrated by applying it to a specific detection system where the sensors collect data over heterogeneous sensing channels. We assume the data to be both temporally and spatially correlated and analyze the effect of dependence on the diversity of the detection system.


Immune molecules and redox pathways are receiving increasing attention for a possible role in pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders. A cell population that may present enhanced vulnerability to the deleterious effects of these mechanisms is the parvalbumin-positive fast spiking interneurons in cortical circuits. This cell population is thought to be affected in schizophrenia, as post-mortem data consistently reveals changes that can be explained by loss of function in these neurons. Remarkably, several different animal models that produce schizophreniarelevant behavioural deficits such as altered prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response converge in showing alterations in this interneuron population. We explored whether oxidative stress was present and whether antioxidant treatment could reverse deficits in one such model, rats with a neonatal ventral hippocampal lesion (NVHL). This model produces animals


First, my thanks to Richard Swinburne for his probing and thoughtful review of my book Warranted Christian Belief (WCB). His account of the book's mainline of argument is accurate as far as it goes; it does contain an important lacuna, however. The focus of the book is twofold; it is aimed in two directions. First, just as Swinburne says, I argue that there are no plausible de iure objections to Christian belief that are independent of de facto objections; any plausible objection to the rationality of Christian belief, or to its warrant (the property that distinguishes knowledge from mere true belief), or its justification, will either be obviously mistaken or will (as with Freud, and Marx and a thousand others) presuppose one or more de facto objections. This is intended as a contribution to apologetics; it is important, because many or most objections to Christian belief are of just the sort I attempt to discredit. ('I don't know whether Christian belief is true or not – who could know a thing like that? – but I do know that it is irrational, or unwarranted, or not rationally justified, or…'.) Second (and this is the focus Swinburne fails to mention), I proposed the extended A/C (Aquinas/Calvin) model as, from the perspective of Christian belief, a plausible account of the way in which Christian belief is, in fact, justified, rational and warranted. So the book is aimed in two directions: first towards readers generally, whether Christian believers or not, and second towards Christian believers.


Respiratory effects of work in retail food stores: 11 Respiratory symptoms. Scand J Work Environ Health 13 (1987) 209-212. This study ex amined the relationships between the prevalence of respiratory tract symptoms and estimates of environ mental exposures in retail food stores, in particular exposures to emissions from the cutting of polyvinyl chloride wrap. When respiratory symptoms were compared with a measure of cumulative exposure, there was evidence that the prevalence of symptoms of episodic airway narrowing was higher for workers who had been exposed directly or indirectly to meat wrapping operations independent of a significant associa tion of these symptoms with allergic or asthmatic history. Whether this finding reflects a nonspecific irri tant effect or allergic sensitization cannot be determined from these data. No single substance present in the work environment studied has, as yet, been identified as associated with these effects .


This study was conducted in order to determine the apatite crystal size differences in the enamel of teeth affected by various degrees of dental fluorosis. Material and method. The study group included 40 molars divided in 4 categories depending on the severity of fluorosis. Further to enamel and dentine sample processing, the apatite particle size was determined using the X-ray diffractometry method. The data were subjected to a statistical analysis using the Mann-Whitney test. Results. Enamel and dentine crystals experienced a statistically significant decrease in the case of 4th degree fluorosis, as compared to the lower fluorosis severity degrees. Conclusions: Dental fluorosis determines a decrease in crystal sizes(length and width) with increase of fluorosis severity in both dental and enamel.


Semantic concept detection from multimedia features enables high-level access to multimedia content. While constructing robust detectors is feasible for concepts with sufficient training samples, concepts with fewer training samples are hard to train efficiently. Comparable performance may be possible if the dependence of these concepts on the ones that can be robustly modeled is exploited. In this paper we show this phenomenon using the TREC Video 2002 Corpus as a test bed. Using a basic set of 12 semantic concepts modeled with support vector machines, we predict presence of 4 other concepts. We then compare the performance of these predictors with direct SVM models for these 4 concepts and observe improvements of up to 150% in average precision.


The solidus for a fertile peridotite composition ("Hawaiian pyrolite") in the presence of a CO2-H2O fluid phase has been determined from 10 to 35 kbar. The intersection of the decarbonation reaction (olivine + diopside +
 CO2 ←→ orthopyroxene + dolomite) with the pyrolite solidus defines the point Q′, located at 22 kbar and 940 °C. At pressures
 less than Q′, the solidus passes through a temperature maximum at 14 kbar, 1060 °C. The solidus is coincident with amphibole
 breakdown at pressures less than 16 kbar. At pressures above Q′, the solidus is defined by the dissolution of crystalline
 carbonate into a sodic, dolomitic carbonatite melt. The solidus is at a temperature of 925 °C at ∼28 kbar. The solidus temperature
 above the point Q′ is similar to the solidus determined for Hawaiian pyrolite-H2O-CO2 for small contents of H2O (<0.3 wt%) and CO2 (<5 wt%), thus indicating that the primary sodic dolomitic carbonatite melt at both solidi has a very low and limited H2O solubility. The new data clarify the roles of carbonatite melt, carbonated silicate melt, and H2O-rich fluid in mantle conditions that are relatively oxidized (fO2 ∼ MW to FMQ). In particular, a carbonatite melt + garnet lherzolite region is intersected by continental shield geothermal
 gradients, but such geotherms only intersect regions with carbonated silicate melt if perturbed to higher temperatures ("kinked
 geotherm").


Introduction: The common carotid arteries with their terminal branches provide the major source of arterial blood to the head, neck and brain. Among the arterial branches in the human body, carotid bifurcation is particularly important to avoid fatal mix up with internal carotid artery which supplies brain. A profound knowledge of variations in branching pattern is essential during carotid artery catheterization, carotid endartectomy and in thyroid surgeries to avoid fatal complications.
Aims and Objectives: Present study was carried out to observe the origin of additional branches from common carotid arteries, excluding the terminal branches. i.e. internal and external carotid arteries
Material and Methods: The present study was carried out in a total of 54 common carotid artery specimens, dissected in 27 embalmed cadavers (23 males, 4 females). Out of these, 27 left CCAs and 27 right CCAs were studied in the department of Anatomy, J.J.M Medical college, Davangere, India. The specimens were studied by detailed dissection method.
Results: In the present study, 51.9 0/0 specimens showed additional branches; superior thyroid artery being the commonest (40.70/0).Trifurcation, with the origin of ascending pharyngeal artery at the termination was observed in 1.9% of the common carotid arteries.
Conclusions: In the present study, frequent origin of superior thyroid artery from common carotid artery at different levels was found. The incidence of STA origin was higher compared to other studies. Origin of inferior thyroid artery from common carotid artery is the rarest possibility. In the present study, two specimens (3.7%) showed the origin of ITA from CCA.

Keywords: Common carotid artery, Superior thyroid artery, Inferior thyroid artery, Trifurcation.


Congenital heart valve defects in humans occur in approximately 2% of live births and are a major source of compromised cardiac function. In this study we demonstrate that normal heart valve development and cardiac function are dependent upon Galnt1, the gene that encodes a member of the family of glycosyltransferases (GalNAc-Ts) responsible for the initiation of mucin-type O-glycosylation. In the adult mouse, compromised cardiac function that mimics human congenital heart disease, including aortic and pulmonary valve stenosis and regurgitation; altered ejection fraction; and cardiac dilation, was observed in Galnt1 null animals. The underlying phenotype is aberrant valve formation caused by increased cell proliferation within the outflow tract cushion of developing hearts, which is first detected at developmental stage E11.5. Developing valves from Galnt1 deficient animals displayed reduced levels of the proteases ADAMTS1 and ADAMTS5, decreased cleavage of the proteoglycan versican and increased levels of other extracellular matrix proteins. We also observed increased BMP and MAPK signaling. Taken together, the ablation of Galnt1 appears to disrupt the formation/remodeling of the extracellular matrix and alters conserved signaling pathways that regulate cell proliferation. Our study provides insight into the role of this conserved protein modification in cardiac valve development and may represent a new model for idiopathic valve disease.


AIEgens have evoked an immense amount of interest and progressed significantly since the first report of the aggregation-induced emission (AIE) concept in 2001. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are porous crystalline solids that allow molecular building units to be aligned based on strong interactions and bonding in a well-defined manner, offering possibilities to introduce functionalities and complexities within their backbones. Introducing AIEgens to construct such crystalline solids, in which the AIEgens are stitched together by covalent or coordinate bonds and placed in specific geometric and spatial arrangements, provides a powerful platform for the investigation of the underlying AIE mechanisms and the design of highly emissive porous materials. This mini review will give a brief introduction to AIEgen-based MOFs and COFs and focus on their photoluminescence properties and potential applications. We will discuss how the AIEgens are rigidified in these crystalline solids and review how such a concept can be utilized to remarkably improve the performance of the corresponding optoelectronics and sensors.


This paper concerned with SPS (spark plasma sintering), hot pressing of sinter nanometer WC-Co powder and discussed the density, hardness, microstructures and grain sizes of the alloys sintered by different styles. The results showed that SPS could lower the sintering temperature, increased the density and circumscribed the growth of grain size of WC. Hot pressing sintering could produce high density alloys and play well on the grain growth, but its sintering temperature and sintering time were larger than SPS. Besides, the hardness of the sintered cemented alloys that was dependent on the grain size and densification could also be improved by SPS and hot pressing.


The Commission of Public Trust and Private Enterprise of the Conference Board and other organizations are recommending separation of the CEO and chairman roles while new New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, in their listing standards, as well as other organizations are calling for a majority of independent directors. These recommendations are at odds with the prevailing governance structures of most mid-size public companies, which include former family businesses with significant continued involvement by family members and companies still run by their entrepreneurial founders. As the business/financial community continues its dialog about corporate governance, it should consider that different standards and practices are best suited to companies of difference sizes and stages of development.


Using estimated strain rates across the actively deforming region of Asia to infer variations in viscous stress, it is shown that gradients of stress point uphill toward the center of Tibet, where gravitational potential energy per unit surface area reaches a maximum. Thus, the dynamics of the deformation seem to obey the equation of creeping flow, which expresses a balance between gradients in stress and the gravitational body force. This balance, in the region of the Tibetan plateau, yields an estimate of 10 22 pascal second for the average viscosity of the Tibetan lithosphere, which is only about 10 to 100 times greater than the viscosity of the convecting upper mantle.


Pro-inflammatory and pro-fibrotic G protein-coupled receptor 84 (GPR84), a member of the rhodopsin-like Class A GPCR family, recently has attracted interest as a potential drug target for chronic inflammation-associated diseases including ulcerative colitis, neuropathic pain, atherosclerosis and fibrosis-associated diseases including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. However, GPR84 still remains poorly characterized in terms of its signal transduction pathways and pathophysiological roles and is officially considered as 'orphan' receptor as the putative endogenous agonists MCFAs are weak activators of the receptor with a poorly defined mode of interaction with the receptor. The modes of ligand binding and mechanism(s) of action of the currently available pharmacological tool compounds are also very limited which have hindered the target validation process. Herein, the G protein coupling selectivity of GPR84, ligand-GPR84 interactions and modes of action of orthosteric and allosteric GPR84 ligands along with their orthologue selectivity were investigated in an attempt to characterize this enigmatic receptor. Employing a series of BRET-based GPR84 SPASM biosensors, GPR84 activation was found to couple to the Gαi/o G protein family with preferential recruitment of Gαi1/2 and Gαi3 over Gαo and Gαz G proteins. Based on homology modelling and site-directed mutagenesis studies, integral roles of arginine 172 of extracellular loop 2 in orthosteric ligand recognition and functions were identified wherein this residue acted as the putative charge partner for the carboxylate of MCFAs or the hydrophilic head groups of embelin or embelin-like ligands. Homology modelling, mutational analysis and subsequent docking studies also suggested that phenylalanine 170EL2, phenylalanine 335F6.51 and tryptophan 3607.43 might be associated with orthosteric ligand detection. 3,3´-diindolylmethane (DIM) and DIM analogue di(5,7-difluoro-1H-indole-3-yl)methane (PSB-16671) were found to bind to a site which is topographically distinct from the orthosteric site as both ligands retained their agonist functions upon mutation of all these residues to alanine where the activity of orthosteric agonists was either lost completely or reduced significantly. Functional studies with GPR84 antagonist compound-107 and radioligand binding studies with a chemically related radiolabelled antagonist, [3H]-G9543 suggested that this class of antagonists bind to a site which is different from the orthosteric and allosteric binding sites, indicating three spatiotemporally distinct ligand binding sites within GPR84.
Antagonists but not agonists of GPR84 displays significant variation in pharmacology between human and mouse orthologues as evidenced from either loss of activity (compound-837) or markedly reduced potencies at mouse GPR84. GPR84 ligands display similar pharmacology in mouse monocyte-macrophage cell line RAW264.7 as those observed in transfected cells expressing mouse GPR84. DIM, analogue 3a (5,5´-dimethoxy-3,3´-diindolylmethane) and particularly PSB-16671 acted as highly effective positive allosteric modulators (PAM) of the function of orthosteric agonists through a mechanism that includes both affinity and efficacy modulation for embelin and C-10 or predominantly governed by affinity modulation with marginal effect on efficacy for full agonists including compound-1. These ligands display PAM activity in a 'probe-dependent' manner wherein the degree of affinity cooperativity tracks with the orthosteric agonist efficacy although little 'probe-dependence' was observed when net affinity/efficacy cooperativity was considered. DIM but not PSB-16671 showed significant variation in allosteric interactions with orthosteric agonists between human and mouse GPR84. Mathematical analysis of allosteric interactions showed that PSB-16671 binds human GPR84 with 360 and 5-fold higher affinity than decanoic acid and DIM, respectively while compound-1 displays 14-fold higher avidity than PSB-16671. The analysis also showed that the estimated binding affinities of these ligands for mouse GPR84 were equivalent to those observed for the human orthologue. In summary, the research studies presented herein provides new insights into ligand-GPR84 interactions and mode(s) of pharmacological actions of the GPR84 tool compounds which might be useful to accelerate structure-based drug design identifying further improved ligands or for translational studies assessing the therapeutic potential of this receptor.


Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator-1alpha (PGC-1alpha) is a key regulator of cellular energy metabolism and regulates processes such as adaptive thermogenesis, hepatic gluconeogenesis, fatty acid oxidation, and mitochondrial biogenesis by coactivating numerous nuclear receptors and transcription factors. Here, we demonstrate the presence of the ERRalpha binding site in the regulatory sequence of the glucokinase gene and that PGC-1alpha coactivates ERRalpha to stimulate the transcription of glucokinase. Simultaneous overexpression of PGC-1alpha and ERRalpha potently induced the glucokinase gene expression and its enzymatic activity in primary hepatocytes; however, expression of either PGC-1alpha or ERRalpha alone had no significant effect. Electrophoretic mobility shift and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays revealed the interaction of ERRalpha with the glucokinase promoter. Finally, the knockdown of endogenous ERRalpha with specific siRNA (siERRalpha) or pharmacological inhibition of ERRalpha with XCT790 attenuated insulin-induced glucokinase expression. Taken together, this research identifies glucokinase as a novel target of PGC-1alpha/ERRalpha and underscores the regulatory function of ERRalpha in insulin-dependent enzyme regulation.


Abstract The Pozanti-Karsanti ophiolite situated in the eastern Tauride belt, southern Turkey, is a well-preserved oceanic lithosphere remnant comprising, in ascending order, mantle peridotite, ultramafic and mafic cumulates, isotropic gabbros, sheeted dikes, and basaltic pillow lavas. Two types of chromitites are observed in the Pozanti-Karsanti ophiolite. One type of chromitites occurs in the cumulate dunites around the Moho, and the other type of chromitites is hosted by the mantle harzburgites below the Moho. The second type of chromitites has massive, nodular, and disseminated textures. We have conducted the mineral separation work on the podiform chromitites hosted by harzburgites. So far, more than 100 grains of microdiamond and moissanite (SiC) have been recovered from the podiform chromitite. The diamonds and moissanite are accompanied by large amounts of rutile. Besides zircon, monazite and sulfide are also very common phases within the separated minerals. The discovery of diamond, moissanite, and the other unusual minerals from podiform chromitite of the Pozanti-Karsanti ophiolite provides new evidences for the common occurrences of these unusual minerals in ophiolitic peridotites and chromitites. This discovery also suggests that deep mantle processes and materials have been involved in the formation of podiform chromitite.


Within the sphere of multilateral development banks' (MDB) dispute settlement, the accountability system is one stellar important development. It is essentially MDBs' legal efforts to address complaints made by people adversely affected by an MDB-funded project. Such complaints arise from concerns with environmental and social implications, including involuntary resettlement and human rights violations. Under this system, Bank investigators assess Bank staff's compliance (or noncompliance) with Bank operational policies and procedures relating to project design, appraisal and/or implementation. The World Bank's Inspection Panel is a leading example for establishing a credible accountability culture and mechanism. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is the first MDB initiated by a group of Asian developing countries with China at the centre. The AIIB's committed high standards can only be possible with a fair and effective accountability mechanism.


Chili pepper is one highest economic value vegetable crops in Indonesia.  The wet season may adversely influence chili pepper yield in the field due to a high incidence of flower and fruit drop, and it may be more severe when it is combined with high temperature.  The objective of this study might be to evaluate growth and yield of six newly developed chili pepper hybrids at three different agro climates during the wet season.  The study was conducted in three locations differed mainly by elevation and soil type.  They were low elevation (15 m above sea level - asl) with Ultisol, medium elevation (600 m asl) with Inceptisol, and high elevation (1000 m asl) with andosol, during the peak of rainy season, November 2014 to March 2015.  In all location, the experiment was arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replications.  The hybrid genotypes evaluated were H14, H17, H20, H23, H39 and H5, and one commercial hybrid as a check, Dimas.  The result showed that at low elevation, the hybrid genotype of H39 showed higher stem diameter, plant fresh and dry weight, the number of fruit and total fruit weight per plant.  At medium altitude, H39 showed relatively higher plant height, stem diameter, plant dry-weight and total fruit number per plant than other hybrids did.  However, total fruit weight per plant of Dimas and H20 were higher than that of other hybrids.  At high elevation, plant height of H23, Dimas, or H39 was relatively superior to that of other hybrids.  In term of plant fresh and dry weight, H20, H23, or H17 was superior to other hybrids.  However, H20, H17, or H5 showed higher yield than other hybrids did.  It seems that H39, Dimas, and H20 were more suitable at low, medium and high elevation, respectively, compared to other hybrids.  Growth and yield of chili pepper grown at low elevation were lower than at medium or high altitude.  The plant at high elevation produced yield higher than they did at medium altitude.


We propose an approach for constructing a new type of design, called a sliced orthogonal array-based Latin hypercube design. This approach exploits a slicing structure of orthogonal arrays with strength two and makes use of sliced random permutations. Such a design achieves one- and two-dimensional uniformity and can be divided into smaller Latin hypercube designs with one-dimensional uniformity. Sampling properties of the proposed designs are derived. Examples are given for illustrating the construction method and corroborating the derived theoretical results. Potential applications of the constructed designs include uncertainty quantification of computer models, computer models with qualitative and quantitative factors, cross-validation and efficient allocation of computing resources. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.


: The case of a 57-year-old male with a large and rapidly growing mass in the retropharyngeal space is presented. Whilst this lesion had many of the features of malignancy, histopathological examination has shown it to be due to Hashimoto's thyroiditis, which appears to have developed in ectopic thyroid remnants. A rapid and sustained resolution of the mass has followed conventional therapy.


This is a multi-disciplinary research. It focuses on socio-political philosophy, with an aim of giving a philosophical analysis of gender based affirmative action policy in Kenya. It attempts to examine the nature of probabilistic moral dilemma and the inherent problems of gender based affirmative action policy that it occasions in the quest for justice. There are two kinds of affirmative action, weak and strong. This research has concentrated on the strong affirmative action (SAAP) based on uplifting the welfare of women and the girl child in the Kenyan society. SAAP is fully entrenched in the Constitution, for example, Articles 81 (b) and 27 (6). The concept of SAAP as relates to women in Kenya defeats the provision of justice as fairness, it seems to be prejudiced and unrealistic, since it is oblivious of the consequences of the policies; as they only favor women and injurious to men. Thus the concentration of SAAPs on the well being of women lapses into regressive vicious cycle by perpetuating the problem it is meant to arrest, that of discrimination. This does sacrifice meritocracy by severing reward from people of excellence, talents, and abilities to strong affirmative action, hence promoting reverse discrimination. The idea of SAAP has been therefore interrogated within fundamental philosophical issues of discrimination, justice, human rights, and stresses the principle of equal opportunity and placement. It has been informed by John Rawls' theory of justice as fairness. This research found that strong affirmative action is not the best way possible to solve gender discriminations which are prevalent in Kenya. Because preference creates burden, and it makes a stigma on the preferred women, showing that they need special favour and the mark is borne prominently by every one of its members. It also found that SAAPs programs often fail to achieve their objectives and the compensation given of jobs and schooling is often unrelated to any suffered offenses and therefore inappropriate as a remedy for the specifiable injuries of identifiable plaintiffs. This research therefore recommends that compensation should only be done to those individuals who are the main victims of discrimination. It proposes a need to use weak forms of affirmative action policy, and replace it with a principle which will create an institution of perfect equality, admitting no power or privilege on one gender. I humbly submit that this research has offered an alternative paradigm and a philosophical discussion of SAAPs in Kenya, which is a shift from a legal platform to a moral foundation, and hence discussion of strong affirmative action in a logical way.


Background: Mucopolysaccharidosis type I-Hurler (MPS1-H) is a severe genetic lysosomal storage disorder due to loss-of-function mutations in the IDUA gene. The subsequent complete deficiency of alpha l-iduronidase enzyme is directly responsible of a progressive accumulation of glycosaminoglycans (GAG) in lysosomes which affects the functions of many tissues. Consequently, MPS1 is characterized by systemic symptoms (multiorgan dysfunction) including respiratory and cardiac dysfunctions, skeletal abnormalities and early fatal neurodegeneration. Methods: To understand mechanisms underlying MPS1 neuropathology, we generated induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) from a MPS1-H patient with loss-of-function mutations in both IDUA alleles. To avoid variability due to different genetic background of iPSC, we established an isogenic control iPSC line by rescuing IDUA expression by a lentivectoral approach. Results: Marked differences between MPS1-H and IDUA-corrected isogenic controls were observed upon neural differentiation. A scratch assay revealed a strong migration defect of MPS1-H cells. Also, there was a massive impact of IDUA deficiency on gene expression (340 genes with an FDR < 0.05). Conclusions: Our results demonstrate a hitherto unknown connection between lysosomal degradation, gene expression and neural motility, which might account at least in part for the phenotype of MPS1-H patients.


Semi-Supervised Support Vector Machines (S3VMs) are an appealing method for using unlabeled data in classification: their objective function favors decision boundaries which do not cut clusters. However their main problem is that the optimization problem is non-convex and has many local minima, which often results in suboptimal performances. In this paper we propose to use a global optimization technique known as continuation to alleviate this problem. Compared to other algorithms minimizing the same objective function, our continuation method often leads to lower test errors.


A 6-year-old boy presented with the recent development of a right sided limp. He had no known medical conditions. On examination, the patient had limited internal/external rotation and abduction of the right hip. He walked with a non-antalgic gait and was noted to have a positive Trendelenberg sign. Lower extremity radiographs (A) revealed flattening of the right proximal femoral epiphysis with greater than 50% collapse. Mild acetabular changes of the right hip were present; however, there was still concentric reduction of the right femoral head within the acetabulum. After a thorough discussion of management options, the patient received botulinum toxin injections along the adductor longus and gracilis muscles to resolve an adduction contracture. An arthrogram (B) demonstrated mild-moderate flattening of the femoral head with lateral femoral head extrusion, and moderate femoral-acetabular congruency. The patient was subsequently given a hip abduction orthosis for intermittent daytime and full nighttime bracing, and was instructed to continue stretching exercises daily. The parents were educated regarding the cyclical nature of the pathology, and that the prognosis is relatively improved in younger children with the potential to still remodel. Legg-Calve-Perthes disease describesan idiopathic avascular necrosis of the proximal femoral epiphysis. Initial therapy includes maintenance of the femoral head within the acetabulum by an abduction splint. Additionally, daily abduction stretching exercises and physical therapy are recommended. Surgical containment can be achieved by a femoral osteotomy to redirect the involved portion within the acetabulum.


This paper describes a system for the preparation of lappaconitine from Aconitum leucostmum Worosch., using
 HSCCC, and examines the effect of the two-immiscible solvent system (TISS) composed of chloroform- methanol-0.2
 mol/L hydrochloric acid (4:1.5:2). Under the optimized condition, about 75 mg of lappaconitine, at a purity of 98% that
 was done by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), are obtained from 250 mg of the crude alkaloid extract.
 The compound was checked by HPLC-UV, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), 1H NMR and 13C
 NMR.


The receptor-mediated binding of C1q to human phagocytic cells was investigated in this study. By using a C1q binding assay, we determined that purified, elutriated monocytes expressed an average of 4.6 X 10(5) C1q receptors (C1qR) per cell, with an equilibrium binding constant (Keq) of 0.91 X 10(7) (M-1). When analyzed in an identical manner, the polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) expressed an average of 4.2 X 10(5) C1qR per cell, with a Keq for C1q of 1 X 10(7) (M-1). Fluorescent flow cytometric analysis showed that C1q was bound by 98% of the monocytes studied. Further, the pattern formed by these cells was consistent with a normal log distribution, indicating that this was a homogeneous population of cells. When PMN were assayed with flow cytometry, however, we found that C1q was bound by an average of only 45% of the PMN analyzed. Further, these PMN were not dispersed in a normal log distribution, indicating some heterogeneity among the cells that bind C1q. We examined the abilities of the chemoattractant N-formylmethionylleucylphenylalanine (fMLP) and the phorbol ester phorbol dibutyrate (PDBu) to modulate expression of C1qR as compared to the receptor for C3b (CR1). Pretreatment of the monocytes and the PMN with either 10(-6)M fMLP or 10 ng/ml of PDBu significantly increased cell surface CR1 expression, as reported previously by other investigators. In contrast, no significant increase in the number of C1qR on the monocytes or the PMN was observed with any of the concentrations of fMLP or PDBu used during pretreatment. However, with certain pretreatment doses of these agents, some reduction was noted in the amount of 125I-C1q bound to the monocytes and the PMN. This study characterizes the binding of C1q to purified monocytes and confirms previously published values for PMN. The distribution of cells expressing C1qR is shown to be significantly different between identically treated populations of monocytes and PMN. Finally, the abilities of fMLP and PDBu to modulate the binding of C1qR are examined. Our results indicate that the control of C1qR expression differs markedly from that of CR1.


Understanding ultra-wide-band (UWB) propaga- tion channels is a prerequisite for UWB system design as well as communication-theoretic and information-theoretic investiga- tions. This paper surveys the fundamental properties of UWB channels, pointing out the differences to conventional chan- nels. If the relative bandwidth is large, the propagation processes, and therefore path loss and shadowing, become frequency-dependent, and the well-known wide-sense station- ary uncorrelated scattering model is not applicable anymore. If the absolute bandwidth is large, the shape of the impulse responses as well as the fading statistics change. This paper also describes methods for measuring UWB channels and extracing channel parameters. Throughout this paper, the relationship between channel properties and other areas of UWB research are pointed out.


This presentation describes the benefits of moving from recording simple Euclidian distances and angles between landmarks on the face to a full 3-dimensional visualisation and mapping using modern optical scanning techniques. The objective of this study was to investigate the feasibility of creating archetypal 3D faces through computerised 3D facial averaging. An optical 3D surface scanner"Fiore" and its "Argus"software were used to acquire the 3D scans of the faces while 3D Rugle3 and locally-developed software generated the holistic facial averages. Pilot experiments are described that strive to create facial archetypes which are accurately descriptive of various cohorts of people. Issues considered include variation amongst people of the same sex, age and population-of-origin. 3D facial averages were created from 2 ethnic groups; European and Japanese and from children with 3 genetic disorders known to affect facial appearance.


We investigated the potential use of airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data to predict key wood fiber properties from extrinsic indicators in lodgepole pine leading forest stands located in the foothills of central Alberta, Canada. Six wood fiber attributes (wood density, cell perimeter, cell coarseness, mature fiber length, microfibril angle, and modulus of elasticity) were measured at 21 plots, and with use of data reduction techniques, two components of wood properties were derived: wood strength, stiffness, and fiber yield and fiber strength and smoothness. These wood fiber components were then compared with extrinsic indicators of wood characteristic-derived LiDAR-estimated topographic morphology, tree height, and canopy light metrics. The first principal component indicating wood strength and stiffness was significantly correlated to the depth of different canopy zones (or light regimes; r 2 0.55, P 0.05). The second component, related to fiber strength and smoothness, was significantly correlated to the height of the canopy and canopy thickness (r 2 0.65, P 0.05). The results indicate that airborne LiDAR attributes can explain about half of the observed variance in intrinsic wood fiber attributes, which is approximately 5-10% less than that explained by growth-related field-measured variables such as diameter increment and height. This reduction in explained variance can be balanced by the opportunities for much broader spatial characterizations of wood quantity and quality at the stand and landscape levels. FOR .S CI. 59(2):231-242.


The facile synthesis and engineering of highly active catalysts is an urgent requirement for the practical application of environmental remediation. In this report, we demonstrate the convenient synthesis of Co3O4-incorporated carbon composite (Co3O4/CC) by pyrolysis of a cobalt complex modified cotton cloth, which can be extended to other cellulose products (cotton, filter paper). Benefitting from the ultrafine Co3O4 particles with a mean particle size of ∼7.4 nm, the Co3O4/CC catalyst exhibits excellent performance for biphenol A (BPA) removal based on the sulfate radical (SO4˙−) process. Notably, as a proof-of-concept application, the Co3O4/CC packed column as a microreactor was designed and used in the continuous-flow reaction. Leveraging on the long half-life time period and high oxidability of SO4˙−, the degradation rate of BPA could increase above 95% at a flow rate of 2 mL min−1 when the total BPA solution reached to 1400 mL. The convenient synthesis of a high-performance catalyst and its efficient application to a continuous-flow reaction represent a further step towards practical application of SO4˙− based advanced oxidation processes.


Transition metal and metalloid oxyanions such as Cr-compound (CrO4) and As-compound (H3AsO3) are common pollutants routinely detected in effluent waste streams from the mining industry around the world. Biological treatment strategies commonly applied for a specific metallic pollutant may not be successful due to a dual toxic effect imposed by the metallic component. In the current study, Cr(VI) reduction linked to As(III) oxidation was observed in a mixed culture of anaerobic bacteria isolated from cow dip in Tzaneen (Limpopo Province), and activated sludge from Brits Wastewater Treatment Works (NW Province), both in South Africa. The cultures were acclimatized for 264 h, and utilized bicarbonate as a carbon source. In an experiment containing 30 to100 mg/L of Cr(VI) at a constant 120 mg/L As(III) concentrations, near complete Cr (VI) reduction at initial concentrations from 30 to70 mg/L was observed Lower removal efficiency was seen when Cr(VI) concentration was increased to 100 mg/L. In a different experiment, As(III) concentrations ranging from 50 to 400 mg/L at a constant 70 mg/L Cr(VI) concentrations was also investigated. Results show that Cr(VI) removal efficiency increases as As(III) concentration was increased from 150 to 400 mg/L. Low Cr(VI) removal rate was seen as As(III) concentration decreased from100 to 50 mg/L. These experiments suggest that Cr(VI) reduction in the presence of As(III) was not inhibited at higher As(III) concentration, rather As(III) enhanced the redox process by acting as inorganic electron donor for Cr(VI) reduction. Abiotic control shows no insignificant reduction in Cr(VI) or oxidation of As(III) in the absence of these isolates. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org) PRES17 conference


The activities in which it is considered the nurse should be ready to involve herself include the following: those within the ward such as domestic work (with care not to use the patient as cheap labour), hobbies, radio and television programmes; those taking place in co-operation with hospital maintenance staff, such as laundry work and gardening; craft-work of a specific nature requiring tuition, such as cooking, wood-work, floral art and weaving; artistic and educational activities such as musical appreciation, language study, formal education, poetry groups, play-reading and the production of a hospital magazine; social activities such as dances and film shows; physical exercise, recreational activity of all kinds and patients' clubs.


Assumptions about space, argues the feminist geographer Doreen Massey, are such an integral part of
intellectual and everyday discourse that we are often not conscious of their existence and significance,
and yet, they have profound consequences for how society is organised. However, these assumptions
are not inherent to our thinking; they are socially constructed, produced and inherited through a
number of hegemonic and Eurocentric discourses on space, leading to what Edward Soja and Henri
Lefebvre refer to as the "mystification" of space and spatiality. The main aim of this research is to
investigate how the literary treatment of space and place shapes the representations of space, place and
spatial loss in the writing of ten postcolonial Francophone authors from the Maghreb and Canada from
a cross-cultural and cross-generational perspective. It asks whether these authors participate in the
"demystification" (in the sense this concept is used by Edward Soja) or the unveiling of the hidden
relationship between space and power contained in the Eurocentric discourse on space by creating
counter-discourses and strategies that challenge dominant constructions about space, or whether they
in fact reinforce this (these) discourse(s) on space despite their presumed postcoloniality.
The research presented critically evaluates the concepts and theories of space and place in human
geography and applies these to the study of space, place and spatial loss in the postcolonial
Francophone texts selected from the viewpoint of three main literary themes (imagination, memory
and the border) and the potential that these three themes offer for a "demystification of space". It
combines a range of theoretical perspectives and, simultaneously, tests a method of close reading
(semiotic analysis) in the analysis of the texts selected and the literary spaces they are seen to belong
to in a more systematic way than previously attempted. It sets out to examine how a semiotic reading
of the (Western and non-Western) postcolonial Francophone text engages with Massey's and Soja's
socio-political understandings and theories on space and spatiality, and what limitations and
advantages can be observed through the use of these theories in combination.
The research concludes that the postcolonial discourse on space and place in the texts selected is
expressed through the values and strategies of ambiguity and ambivalence, not subversion as has been
previously suggested. It shows that the themes of imagination, memory and the border play a
significant role for the ways in which space and place are conceptualised in those texts, with the theme
of the border offering the highest potential for challenging hegemonic assumptions about space. It
shows that semiotics can become an effective tool in the unveiling of the values and value systems
embedded in the Eurocentric discourse on space, when used in combination with other theoretical
approaches. By debating the issue of the "demystification of spatiality" in the literary context, it
ultimately raises the larger question of the status and relationship of literariness (or poetics) and
political engagement (or politics) of the texts produced within the postcolonial Francophone context.


The authors present a comparative analysis of the efficacy of their method of administration of vasoactive drugs into the peridural venous system and traditional conservative therapy in radiculomyeloischemia of different etiology. The dynamics of the disease was evaluated both by clinical manifestations and by evoked spinal cord potentials, complex examination of the acid-base balance of the blood from the involved vascular territory and blood from extremities. Results of a detailed examination of 24 patients with myeloradiculopathy carried out by means of precise electrophysiological and laboratory methods permit to recommend this treatment in clinical conditions.


Soil water retention is important for the study of water availability to germinating weed seeds. Six soil water retention models (Campbell, Brooks-Corey, four- and five-parameter van Genuchten, Tani, and Russo) with residual soil water parameter derivations were evaluated to describe water retention for weed seed germination at minimum threshold soil water potential for three hillslope positions. The Campbell, Brooks-Corey, and four-parameter van Genuchten model with modified or estimated forms of the residual parameter had superior but similar data fit. The Campbell model underestimated water retention at a potential less than −0.5 MPa for the upper hillslope that could result in underestimating seed germination. The Tani and Russo models overestimated water retention at a potential less than −0.1 MPa for all hillslope positions. Model selection and residual parameter specification are important for weed seed germination by representing water retention at the level of minimum threshold water potential for germination. Weed seed germination models driven by the hydrothermal soil environment rely on the best-fitting soil water retention model to produce dynamic predictions of seed germination.


Recently many drugs are formulated as floating drug delivery systems with an objective to sustain release and restrict the region of drug release to stomach. The intensive research of recent past has resulted in the development of five commercial floating drug delivery systems. Ciprofloxacin, which is better absorbed in stomach and upper small intestine was formulated as floating matrix tablet using gas generating agent (sodium bicarbonate) and hydrophilic polymer (hydroxypropylmethycellulose). Formulation was optimized on the basis of floating time and in vitro drug release. Two batches of fabricated tablets containing ciprofloxacin (580 mg), sodium bicarbonate (200 mg), hydroxypropylmethylcellulose-K100M (100 mg), lactose between 9.7-12% and polyvinyl pyrrolidone 4.8% with hardness between 14-14.6 kg/cm2 showed desired duration of floating (8 h or more). In vitro drug release study of these tablets indicated controlled sustained release for ciprofloxacin and 80-89% release at the end of 8 h. Hence, it is evident from this investigation that gas powered floating matrix tablet could be promising delivery system for ciprofloxacin with sustained release action and improved drug availability.


We previously reported excessive apoptosis and high levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in the bone marrows of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), using histochemical techniques. The present studies provide further circumstantial evidence for the involvement of TNF-alpha in apoptotic death of the marrow cells in MDS. Using our newly developed in situ double-labeling technique that sequentially employs DNA polymerase (DNA Pol) followed by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) to label cells undergoing apoptosis, we have characterized DNA fragmentation patterns during spontaneous apoptosis in MDS bone marrow and in HL60 cells treated with TNF-alpha or etoposide (VP16). Clear DNA laddering detected by gel electrophoresis in MDS samples confirmed the unique length of apoptotic DNA fragments (180-200 bp). Surprisingly, however, phenotypically heterogeneous population of MDS cells as well as the homogenous population of HL60 cells showed three distinct labeling patterns after double labeling--only DNA-Pol reaction, only TdT reaction, and a combined DNA Pol + TdT reaction, albeit in different cohorts of cells. Each labeling pattern was found at all morphological stages of apoptosis. MDS mononuclear cells, during spontaneous apoptosis in 4 hr cultures, showed highest increase in double-labeled cells (DNA Pol + TdT reaction). Interestingly, this was paralleled by TNF-alpha-induced apoptosis in HL60 cells. In contrast, VP16 treatment of HL60 cells led to increased apoptosis in cells showing only TdT reaction. The double-labeling technique was applied to normal bone marrow and peripheral blood mononuclear cells after treatment with known endonucleases that specifically cause 3' recessed (BamHI), 5' recessed (PstI), or blunt ended (DraI) double-stranded DNA breaks. It was found that the DNA-Pol reaction in MDS and HL60 cells corresponds to 3' recessed DNA fragments, the TdT reaction to 5' recessed and/or blunt ended fragments, and a combined "DNA Pol + TdT reaction" corresponds to a copresence of 3' recessed with 5' recessed and/or blunt ended fragments. Clearly, therefore, apoptotic DNA fragments, in spite of a unique length, may have differently staggered ends that could be cell (or tissue) specific and be selectively triggered by different inducers of apoptosis. The presence of TNF-alpha-inducible apoptotic DNA fragmentation pattern in MDS supports its involvement in these disorders and suggests that anti-TNF-alpha (or anticytokine) therapy may be of special benefit to MDS patients, where no definitive treatment is yet available.


The tongue of domestic animals varies in size and shape and according to these animals feeding habits, there are different degrees of tongue surface specialization. At the dorsal surface of the tongue lingual papillae can be observed, such as the vallate papillae, related to taste perception. With the help of a magnifying glass, differences in the number, size and distribution of vallate papillae were studied. Fifty five tongues of adult domestic cats from both sexes (38 females and 17 males) were analyzed. The samples were fixed in 10% buffered formalin. The vallate papillae were found to be symmetrically distributed on 21 tongues (38.18%). However, it was observed that in some of the tongues the number of vallate papillae varied when one side of the tongue was compared to its contralateral side. The vallate papillae showed different shapes: elongated (42.58%), oval (31.61%), round (25.48%) and pear shaped (0.33%). The vallate papillae were classified into 10 different categories: symmetrical I (2 right and 2 left), II (3:3), III (4:4) and asymmetrical IV (3:2), V (4:2), VI (2:3), VII (4:3), VIII (5:3), IX (3:4) and X (4:5). Measurements of length and width were made with averages of 0.84 ± 0.23 mm and 0.55 ± 0.18 mm, respectively, besides the calculation of the total area of these papillae per tongue, that showed average of 2,74 ± 0,31 mm 2 in males and 1,94 ± 0,14 mm 2 in females However, upon examining the lingual papillae of the cat tongues, specimens demonstrating 7, 8 or 9 vallate papillae, arranged in pairs (4:3, 5:3, 3:4 and 4:5) by category, were observed in this study but not cited in the literature.


Underlying all the contributions to this volume is the understanding that both political and economic considerations affect environmental outcomes. Political decisions largely determine the feasible uses of natural resources by defining and enforcing fundamental property rights and entitlements over matters with environmental consequences. By determining the rules of the game, political decisions determine the extent to which humanity is empowered to transform the world, the processes used, and the waste products remaining. Environmental policies and thereby environmental outcomes emerge from a complex political process that accommodates a variety of conflicting interests. The essays in this volume examine the links between politics and economic interdependencies, using the modern tools of economics and public choice. Each essay develops a balanced and generally positive analysis of a particular environmental policy area ranging from international treaties on global warming to EPA regulations regarding pesticide usage. Contributors use a variety of mathematical and statistical methods to examine policy formation in such policy areas as global warming, wildlife management, undersea oil rights, and the location of NIMBYs. The volume will be of interest to those who study environmental policy from the perspectives of economics, political science, public policy, and environmental studies. Roger D. Congleton is Associate Professor of Economics and Senior Research Associate, Center for Study of Public Choice, George Mason University.


Background: Lactose is an important energy source in young mammals, and in fully breast-fed human infants, it constitutes around 40% of the total daily energy intake. The role of lactose in feeding of undernourished infants and young children is not well described. Objective: A narrative review of the potential positive and negative effects of lactose in the treatment of undernourished children. Methods: Searches were conducted using PUBMED and Web of Science up to July 2015. Relevant references in the retrieved articles were included. Results: Lactose may exhibit several health benefits in young children, including a prebiotic effect on the gut microbiota and a positive effect on mineral absorption. Studies in piglets suggest there might also be a stimulating effect on growth, relative to other carbohydrates. Lactose intolerance is a potential concern for undernourished children. Most undernourished children seem to tolerate the currently recommended (low lactose level) therapeutic foods well. However, a subgroup of severely undernourished children with secondary lactase deficiency due to severe diarrhea or severe enteropathy may benefit from products with even more restricted lactose content. At limited extra costs, lactose or lactose-containing milk ingredients may have beneficial effects if added to food products for undernourished children. Conclusions: Lactose may be an overlooked beneficial nutrient for young and undernourished children. Research is needed to define the balance between beneficial and detrimental effects of lactose in undernourished children at different ages and with different degrees of diarrhea and intestinal integrity.


The paper explores the motivations of volunteers in a large crowd sourcing project and contributes to our understanding of the motivational factors that lead to deeper engagement beyond initial participation. Drawing on the theory of legitimate peripheral participation (LPP) and the literature on motivation in crowd sourcing, we analyze interview and trace data from a large citizen science project. The analyses identify ways in which the technical features of the projects may serve as motivational factors leading participants towards sustained participation. The results suggest volunteers first engage in activities to support knowledge acquisition and later share knowledge with other volunteers and finally increase participation in Talk through a punctuated process of role discovery.


The cellular ultrastructure of the renal distal nephron of the salamander, Amphiuma means, was examined by electron-microscopic and stereological techniques before and after exposure to potassium in the ambient environment. The distal nephron of Amphiuma is composed of three ultrastructurally distinct segments: early distal (or diluting segment), late distal, and collecting tubule. The early distal tubule structurally resembles the mammalian thick ascending limb of Henle's loop. Large renin-like granules are present in the smooth muscle cells of the afferent arteriole in the vicinity of the early distal tubule, suggesting the presence of a rudimentary juxtaglomerular apparatus. Late distal tubules are composed of one large cell type characterized by extensive basal membrane invaginations, often extending to the luminal membrane. Collecting tubules contain principal and intercalated cells that are ultrastructurally similar to cells of the mammalian cortical collecting tubule. Exposure to potassium had no effect on the ultrastructure of early distal cells but led to a sharp increase in the basolateral membrane surface density of principal cells in the collecting tubule (1.17 +/- 0.08-1.63 +/- 0.13 micron2/micron3). Potassium adaptation leads to a similar structural response in the mammalian collecting tubule. Since Amphiuma collecting tubules can be isolated and perfused in vitro and impaled with ion- and voltage-sensitive microelectrodes, the observed structural adaptation suggests that the collecting tubule may be a useful preparation to study the cellular mechanisms of potassium adaptation.