Physiologic imaging has recently allowed major new insights into the pathophysiology of acute ischemic stroke in man. The main observation concerns the major heterogeneity in pathophysiological patterns, with three situations being encountered: 1) cortical ischemic penumbra persisting up till 16 hrs post onset, which would represent an ideal therapeutic target; 2) early spontaneous reperfusion, predictive of favourable clinical and tissular outcome, and a priori requiring no specific therapy; and 3) early extensive necrosis, predictive of malignant hemispheric infarction. Physiologic imaging should soon become a fundamental tool in the evaluation of the individual pathophysiologic situation before a therapeutic decision about entry into trials is made.


. Questions whether numerical simulation is reproducible or not have been reported in several sensitive applications. Numerical reproducibility failure mainly comes from the finite precision of computer arithmetic. Results of floating-point computation depends on the computer arithmetic precision and on the order of arithmetic operations. Massive parallel HPC which merges, for instance, many-core CPU and GPU, clearly modifies these two parameters even from run to run on a given computing platform. How to trust such computed results? This paper presents how three classic approaches in computer arithmetic may provide some first steps towards more numerical reproducibility.


The organism causing leptospirosis is a spirochaete belonging to the genus Leptospira. It comprises two distinct species, the pathogenic L interrogans and the saprophyte L biflexa. Within each species are numerous serologically different serovars arranged into major related groups known as serogroups. L interrogans consists of 25 major serogroups including 188 serovars (table 1). L interrogans is a parasite of animals and man (who is always an accidental host). Leptospires are harboured in the kidneys of maintenance hosts and excreted into the surrounding environment through their urine. Animals and man become infected either directly with infected urine or indirectly by contact with contaminated fresh water, muddy soil, and, occasionally, animal feedstuffs on farms. L biflexa is a non-parasite and is commonly found in fresh water (sea water contains salt which kills all leptospires). The presence of bilexa in water is a good indicator that the environmental conditions support the survival of pathogenic leptospires. Virulent leptospires gain entry to the body through cuts or abrasions of the skin or through mucosal surfaces of the mouth, nose, and conjunctiva. The organism becomes blood borne and leptospiraemia is detected five to 10 days after exposure, during which period the leptospires may be recovered from routine laboratory blood cultures. Success depends on the quality of culture systems.' Direct microscopy of blood and cerebrospinal fluid may give false positive results because of the proteinaceous filaments of red blood corpuscles mimicking "true-leptospires."2 During the first 14 days the central nervous system may be cultured for the presence of leptospires: after this period the organisms become established in the tubules of the kidneys and may be detected and grown from the urine. The point to remember is that human urine tends to be acidic and therefore in vivo alkalinisation with potassium citrate is essential if cultures are to be successful. The presence of leptospiral antibodies is a useful serodiagnostic measurement, particularly in early detection of IgM by the leptospiral ELISA. Using this method leptospirosis can usually be diagnosed within three to five days after onset of illness, an improvement on previous laboratory tests.


Detailed understanding of mechanisms and instabilities underlying the onset, perpetuation, and control of cardiac arrhythmias is required for the development, further optimization, and translation of clinically applicable defibrillation methods. Recently, the potential use of optogenetic tools using structured illumination to control cardiac arrhythmia has been successfully demonstrated and photostimulation turned out to be a promising experimental tool to investigate the dynamics and mechanisms of multi-site pacing strategies for low-energy defibrillation. In order to study the relation between trigger and control mechanisms of arrhythmic cardiac conditions without external affecting factors like eventually damaging fiber poking, it is important to establish a non-invasive photostimulation method. Hence, we applied a custom-configured digital light processing micromirror array operated by a high-speed FPGA, which guarantees a high frequency control of stimulation patterns. The integration into a highly sophisticated optical experiment setup allows us to record photostimulation effects and to proof the light pulse as origin of cardiac excitation. Experiments with transgenic murine hearts demonstrate the successful induction and termination of cardiac dysrhythmia using light crafting tools. However, the complex spatiotemporal dynamics underlying arrhythmia critically depends on the ratio of the characteristic wavelength of arrhythmia and substrate size. Based on the experimental evidence regarding the feasibility of optical defibrillation in small mammals, the transfer in clinically relevant large animal models would be the next milestone to therapeutic translation. Thus, the presented experimental results of optogenetically modified murine hearts function as originator for ongoing studies involving principle design studies for therapeutic applicable optical defibrillation.


Objective Firefighters are exposed to numerous occupational hazards including chemicals, particles, shift work and physical strain potentially affecting their health. Recently, firefighting has been classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as possibly carcinogenic due to a reported increase in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, testicular and prostate cancer, based, however, on relatively small studies focusing mainly on mortality rather than incidence. The aim of this study is to examine whether Danish firefighters have increased incidence of specific cancers. Method We have established a historical cohort of Danish firefighters by collecting individual employment and membership records from employers and trade unions. Reference groups, i.e. the general working male population, police and military, are established using information from the Supplementary Pension Fund Register, which has kept detailed information on all employments in Denmark since 1964. Information on specific cancers is assigned to all members of the cohort and reference groups by register linkage using the unique Central Person Number assigned to all residents in Denmark and information from the Danish Cancer Registry and the Danish Civil Register. Further, we have established job-exposure matrices based on records from historical archives, including analyses of fire smoke since 1930. In addition, duration of employment as firefighter, first year in service and job function are used as proxies for exposure levels. Standardised incidence ratios for the selected cancers will be estimated. Results We have identified a total of 16.860 Danish firefighters, born in the period 1878-1997 and in service from 1901 to the end of follow-up in 2014. Conclusion We have identified a large group of Danish firefighters covering exposure scenarios for more than 100 years of firefighting. We will present results on incidence of selected cancers for this occupation.


Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by pulmonary inflammation, which is relatively insensitive to inhaled corticosteroids. The extent of the pulmonary inflammation in COPD correlates with disease severity, and it is thought to play a significant role in disease progression. We have evaluated a selective p38α-selective mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) inhibitor, indole-5-carboxamide (ATP-competitive inhibitor of p38 kinase) (SD-282), in an 11-day model of tobacco smoke (TS)-induced pulmonary inflammation in A/J mice, by using dexamethasone as a reference steroid. Two oral treatment paradigms were evaluated in this TS model: prophylactic with daily pretreatment before each daily exposure, and therapeutic with daily treatment for 6 days commencing after 5 days of smoke exposure. Bronchoalveolar lavage and histological evaluation of lung sections taken after exposure to TS revealed an inflammatory response composed of increased numbers of macrophages and neutrophils and enhanced mucin staining. Phospho-p38 staining in macrophages and type II epithelial cells after TS exposure was also observed. Given prophylactically or therapeutically, dexamethasone failed to inhibit any of the TS-induced inflammatory changes. By contrast, SD-282 inhibited TS-induced increases in macrophages and neutrophils. Furthermore, SD 282 reduced TS-induced increases in cyclooxygenase-2 and interleukin-6 levels, and phospho-p38 expression in the lungs. In conclusion, SD-282 markedly reduced TS-induced inflammatory responses when given prophylactically or therapeutically whereas dexamethasone was ineffective. This is the first evidence that a p38α-selective MAPK inhibitor can exert pulmonary anti-inflammatory activity in a TS exposure model when given in a therapeutic mode, establishing the potential of p38 MAPK inhibitors as a therapy for COPD.


On ECRS-6 [1], we have presented first results of the researches of fatigue degradation and martensitic transformation of austenitic stainless steel AISI 321 by neutron diffraction stress analysis. A series of samples preliminary ex-situ cyclically fatigued at the frequency of 5 and 0.5 Hz was in-situ tested on the stress rig of the ENGIN instrument. In the high cycle fatigued (HCF) samples, the applied stress-elastic strain responses of austenite and martensite phases were find out to be strongly different as compared to the low cycle fatigued (LCF) samples, in which they are close. Moreover, the martensite Poisson ratio in the HCF-samples is almost twice to that of observed 0.28-0.30 in austenite and in both phases of the LCF-samples. With the purpose to search the reason of such unusual behavior of the martensite phase, one of the HCF-samples has been anew in-situ tested on the stress rig of the ENGIN-X in: 1) a LCF-mode at the frequency of 0.1 Hz to increase the fatigue level, and 2) a quasistatic mode to measure the applied stress-elastic strain responses of both phases. Also, two of the LCF-samples have been subjected to the ex-situ secondary HCF-testing at the frequency of 5 Hz and again in-situ measured on the ENGIN-X stress rig. Results of the mechanical characterization of phases in the twice fatigued austenitic stainless steel are presented and discussed.


Background Up to 28% of patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy (CEA) are estimated to experience neurocognitive dysfunction following surgery. The complement cascade plays a central role in ischaemia-reperfusion injury. The authors investigated the effect of common polymorphisms in the complement component 3 (C3F) and complement factor H (CFH Y402H) genes on incidence of neurocognitive dysfunction post-CEA. Methods This study examined a nested cohort of prospectively recruited patients receiving elective CEA, who were genotyped for the C3F or Y402H polymorphisms. Each patient underwent a standard battery of eight neuropsychometric tests before, and 1 day and 30 days after, surgery. Results 57 of 142 (40%) CEA patients had at least one copy of the C3F allele (C3F+), and 17 of 137 (12%) patients had two copies of the CFH Y402H allele (Y402H++). At postoperative day 1, patients were three times (OR 3.05, p=0.045) or six times (OR 6.41, p=0.006) more likely to experience moderate-to-severe neurocognitive dysfunction if they carried the C3F+ or Y402H++ genotype, respectively. Patients with both risk genotypes had an almost eightfold risk of dysfunction (OR 7.67, p=0.046). Right-hand-dominant C3F+ subjects undergoing right-side CEA performed significantly worse on tests of visuospatial function than C3F– subjects. At day 30, C3F+ and Y402H++ genotypes trended towards significance as predictors of dysfunction (p=0.07 and p=0.22, respectively). Conclusion The C3F and Y402H polymorphisms are strong independent predictors of moderate-to-severe neurocognitive dysfunction at 1 day following CEA. Furthermore, patients undergoing right-sided CEA are predisposed to deficits associated with cortex ipsilateral to the operative carotid artery.


AIMS
World-wide, more than 30 million people move through prisons annually. Record linkage studies have identified an increased risk of death in ex-prisoners. In order to inform preventive interventions it is necessary to understand who is most at risk, when and why. Limitations of existing studies have rendered synthesis and interpretation of this literature difficult. The aim of this study was to describe methodological characteristics of existing studies and make recommendations for the design, analysis and reporting of future studies.

METHODS
Systematic review of studies using record linkage to explore mortality in ex-prisoners. Based on analysis of these studies we illustrate how methodological limitations and heterogeneity of design, analysis and reporting both hamper data synthesis and create potential for misinterpretation of findings. Using data from a recent Australian study involving 42,015 ex-prisoners and 2329 observed deaths, we quantify the variation in findings associated with various approaches.

RESULTS
We identified 29 publications based on 25 separate studies published 1998-2011, mainly from the United Kingdom, United States and Australia. Mortality estimates varied systematically according to features of study design and data analysis. A number of common, avoidable and significant methodological limitations were identified. Substantial heterogeneity in study design, methods of data analysis and reporting of findings was observed.

CONCLUSIONS
Record linkage studies examining mortality in ex-prisoners show widely varying estimates that are influenced substantially by avoidable methodological limitations and reducible heterogeneity. Future studies should adopt best practice methods and more consistent methods of analysis and reporting, to maximize policy relevance and impact.


Building Information Modelling (BIM) has proved to be a useful methodology for the AEC industry, bringing into it a large number of benefits. Despite all these advantages, BIM faces barriers that hinder its broad implementation within AEC companies. The largest barrier pointed out by the literature is the high initial investment (hardware, software and training). As a result, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have not been involved in the process and the integration that BIM should incorporate into a project is undermined because of the impossibility of each party to work with this technology. This research proposes to use free tools during the coordination process to support those SMEs unable to invest in software or training. To achieve this goal, it will be necessary to review the software available in the market, then the most suitable tools will be chosen for the coordination process, and finally a workflow to provide support will be proposed. The proposed workflow had proved to be good enough to be used by SMEs, however it is necessary to follow the sequence indicated in order to avoid interoperability issues.


Databases and tabular data are among the most common and rapidly growing resources. But many of these are poorly annotated (lack sufficient metadata), and are filled with domain specific jargon and alpha-numeric codes. Because of the domain specific jargon, no pretrained language model could be applied readily to encode the cell content. We propose a deep learning based framework, TableCNN, that encodes the semantics of the surrounding cells to predict the meaning of the columns. We propose application of Byte Pair Encoding (BPE)[5] to create tokens for each cell and treat each cell as a phrase of existing tokens. Once tokenized, we process it with a CNN network to develop a classifier.


Women prefer male faces with feminine shape and masculine reflectance. Here, we investigate the conceptual correlates of this preference, showing that it might reflect women's preferences for feminine (vs. masculine) personality in a partner. Young heterosexual women reported their preferences for personality traits in a partner, and rated male faces – manipulated on masculinity/femininity – on stereotypically masculine (e.g., dominance) and feminine traits (e.g., warmth). Masculine shape and reflectance increased perceptions of masculine traits, but had different effects on perceptions of feminine traits and attractiveness. While masculine shape decreased perceptions of both attractiveness and feminine traits, masculine reflectance increased perceptions of attractiveness and to a weaker extent of feminine traits. These findings are consistent with the idea that sex-dimorphic characteristics elicit personality trait judgments, which might in turn affect attractiveness. Importantly, participants found faces attractive to the extent that these faces elicited their preferred personality traits, regardless of gender-typicality of the traits. In sum, women's preferences for male faces are associated with their preferences for personality traits. © 2020, American Psychological Association. This paper is not the copy of record and may not exactly replicate the final, authoritative version of the article. Please do not copy or cite without authors' permission. The final article will be available, upon publication, via its DOI: 10.1037/xhp0000858


Erythropoiesis is a complex and carefully controlled process which is mainly regulated by erythropoietin. Using flow cytometry cells in a blood sample can be analyzed one by one. ADVIA 2120 using flow cytometry for analysis of red blood cells (RBC) and reticulocytes. Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is a component of the RBC method. RDW indicates size variation on erythrocytes and is measured as a percentage of the mean cell volume (MCV). By measuring the RDW anemia can be divided into makrocytic, microcytic or normocytic. Reticulocytes refract light more strongly than red blood cells because they contain some cellular debris. The number of reticulocytes in the peripheral blood reflects erythropoiesis in the bone marrow. The purpose of this project was that by approved methods to establish reference ranges for the parameters, RDW and reticulocyte counts.The individuals who participated in the study, n=124, were considered healthy and had varying ethnicity. Reference subjects had not donated blood the last six months and participation in the study was voluntary.The statistic evaluation includes examination of distribution, and reference ranges for both men and women were established using the 2.5:t and 97.5:t percentiles. The calculated reference interval for RDW was between 12.0 – 14.3% and the calculated reference interval for reticulocytes was between 38.0 – 112.8 x109 cells/L. The results showed a significant difference between males and females for the parameter reticulocytes was seen. The difference indicates that different reference ranges should be established for men and women (p<0,0001). No significant difference between males and females were seen for RDW (p=0,74) indicating that the same reference ranges can be used for both men and women.


Discovering a correlation from one variable to another variable is of fundamental scientific and practical interest. While existing correlation measures are suitable for discovering average correlation, they fail to discover hidden or potential correlations. To bridge this gap, (i) we postulate a set of natural axioms that we expect a measure of potential correlation to satisfy; (ii) we show that the rate of information bottleneck, i.e., the hypercontractivity coefficient, satisfies all the proposed axioms; (iii) we provide a novel estimator to estimate the hypercontractivity coefficient from samples; and (iv) we provide numerical experiments demonstrating that this proposed estimator discovers potential correlations among various indicators of WHO datasets, is robust in discovering gene interactions from gene expression time series data, and is statistically more powerful than the estimators for other correlation measures in binary hypothesis testing of canonical examples of potential correlations.


The study aims to explore the heterogeneity of online interactions in the online community. Drawing on the social exchange and social support theory, we identify three types of social exchanges in the online community, which are reciprocity-based exchange, informational exchange, and emotional exchange. With data collected from the online forum of Taobao sellers, we apply text-mining techniques to differentiate individuals' interactions in the online forum, and we examine the influence of each type of interactions. We propose that different types of social exchanges in online forums differ in their economic and social impact. Specifically, our findings reveal that sellers' reciprocity-based exchange is positively associated with the sellers' sales performance on the ecommerce platform (economic outcome), while sellers' informational exchange is positively associated with their influence in the online forum (social outcome).


In the last two decades there has been a significant change in the technical and economic
conditions prevailing in the construction industry. The traditional methods of procuring
projects are now inadequate to cope with these changes. To overcome the shortcomings
of the traditional procurement methods, the construction industry has developed a large
number of different procurement systems to secure the relationships between contract
parties. The proliferation of different procurement systems has created the problem of how
to determine the optimum procurement system for any particular project. A systematic
approach for selection of the most appropriate system is now needed.
Throughout this thesis an investigation has been made of many of the issues related to the
successful formulation of a Project Procurement System Selection Model (PPSSM). The
knowledge of client needs in the construction industry is essential to the project success.
This research has considered the fundamental role played by client needs in the process of
procurement selection. The various categories of procurement system that exist in the
construction industry are presented in order to address the benefits and drawbacks of each
system. A careful investigation of the rules and regulations governing the Saudi
construction industry has contributed very significantly to the success of the model
building. An examination of the existing models revealed a number of drawbacks which
are discussed in detail in this research. A survey was conducted in Saudi Arabia with the aim of testing the PPSSM for
effectiveness and efficiency and assisting the governmental agencies to select the most
appropriate procurement system to implement their projects. For this purpose, a
questionnaire was developed and divided into three major parts: Background information;
Data needed to operate PPSSM; and Evaluation of the criteria used for the selection of the
procurement system. The results of the first and third parts are generated from 100
responses to the questionnaire mailed to the 110 governmental agencies that represent the
population of the study, giving an overall response of (91%). For the second part only
thirty senior government agency officers were involved in order to maintain consistency of
data needed to operate the PPSSM. The data were analyzed using computer statistical
packages: Excel and Statistical Analysis System (SAS).
On the basis of the synthesis process of the PPSSM, Saudi public clients have selected
"design and build" as the most appropriate procurement system to procure their projects
with an overall priority of 0.49. Design and manage, construction management, and
management contracting ranked second, third and fourth with priorities of 0.258, 0.140 and 0.106 respectively. The outcome of the study demonstrates the effectiveness of
PPSSM in helping the client in the construction industry to choose the right procurement
system that best answers his needs and fulfills the project requirements.


The author suggests a modification of the invagination method of appendectomy without ligation of the stump. This method is the most physiologic one; it minimizes the inflammatory process and prevents an undue formation of adhesions. Experimental grounds for the method are described. 204 patients were operated upon. This method has shown better long-term results as compared to typical appendectomy.


Using a compilation of monthly and annual wheat price data, this article examines the trend of market development in Europe from the late medieval period to the industrial revolution. In contrast to much of the earlier scholarship, which suggests that markets improved, the findings propose that markets were on average as well integrated in Europe in the early sixteenth century as in the late eighteenth century. In the intervening period, markets are found to have suffered a severe contraction. These findings enable us to build a more complete picture of markets in history, and to carry out a better examination of the relationship between markets and economic growth.


Intercellular junctions promote homotypic cell to cell adhesion and transfer intracellular signals which control cell growth and apoptosis. Junctional adhesion molecule-A (JAM-A) is a transmembrane immunoglobulin located at tight junctions of normal epithelial cells of mammary ducts and glands. In the present paper we show that JAM-A acts as a survival factor for mammary carcinoma cells. JAM-A null mice expressing Polyoma Middle T under MMTV promoter develop significantly smaller mammary tumors than JAM-A positive mice. Angiogenesis and inflammatory or immune infiltrate were not statistically modified in absence of JAM-A but tumor cell apoptosis was significantly increased. Tumor cells isolated from JAM-A null mice or 4T1 cells incubated with JAM-A blocking antibodies showed reduced growth and increased apoptosis which paralleled altered junctional architecture and adhesive function. In a breast cancer clinical data set, tissue microarray data show that JAM-A expression correlates with poor prognosis. Gene expression analysis of mouse tumor samples showed a correlation between genes enriched in human G3 tumors and genes over expressed in JAM-A +/+ mammary tumors. Conversely, genes enriched in G1 human tumors correlate with genes overexpressed in JAM-A−/− tumors. We conclude that down regulation of JAM-A reduces tumor aggressive behavior by increasing cell susceptibility to apoptosis. JAM-A may be considered a negative prognostic factor and a potential therapeutic target.


Abstract The present study examined the relation between parent involvement in preschool and children's preliteracy skills. It also examined socioeconomic status (SES), parent depression, and single-parent status as predictors of parent involvement. Participants were 163 preschool-aged children from mostly low-income families, their parents, and their teachers. Teachers rated parent involvement, and preliteracy skills were assessed with standardized tests. Greater parent involvement was associated with stronger preliteracy skills. SES was positively associated with involvement, although involvement still predicted preliteracy development controlling for SES. No significant relation was found between depression and parent involvement. Single-parent status was associated with less involvement, and data were consistent with single-parent status partially mediating the relation between SES and involvement. These findings extend work with older children, and provide a step toward understanding possible mechanisms in the relation between SES and parent involvement.


This guide provides an overview of the many services provided by the Career Development Office at Mount Aloysius College. Choose a tab to view material on a particular topic.


ABSTRACT In this article, the generalized mass formulation is developed in an explicit analysis of transient transport problems. It has been well known that the time step is typically smaller in explicit analysis than in implicit analysis when the same size mesh is used. Further, the over-stiffness of conventional finite-element model may result in poor accuracy with linear triangular or tetrahedral elements. In order to improve the computational efficiency and numerical accuracy, this article proposes a generalized mass formulation by matching the mass matrix to the smoothed stiffness matrix using linear triangular elements in 2-D problems. The proposed mass matrix can be obtained by simply shifting the integration points from the conventional locations. Without loss of generality, several 2-D examples, including conduction, convection, and radiation heat transfer problems, are presented to demonstrate that the generalized mass formulation allows a larger time step in explicit analysis compared with the lumped and consistent mass matrices. In addition, it is found that the maximum allowable time step is proportional to the softened effect of the discretized model in an explicit analysis.


Summary Sheep that were wounded in the thigh muscle by a high-velocity bullet and simultaneously infected there with spores of Clostridium novyi type A were used to evaluate the prophylactic effectiveness of gas-gangrene antitoxin. Control sheep that had not received antitoxin almost all died of gas gangrene within 48 hr after wounding (survival rate 4·6–13 per cent. within 90 per cent. confidence limits). The survival rate increased when antitoxin was given prophylactically. The effectiveness of antitoxin in preventing gas gangrene was found to depend to a large extent on the interval of time between the challenge and administration of antitoxin. If this was 9 hr or less, antitoxin was almost completely effective (survival rate 94–98·5 per cent.). The survival rate decreased as the interval lengthened; when it was 18–21 hr or more, the rate was similar to that observed with challenged controls. It is concluded that gas-gangrene antitoxin is likely to be of value in the prevention of post-traumatic gas gangrene caused by CI. novyi, provided that it is given as soon as possible and preferably within 9 hr after wounding.


Ab s t r Ac t Background: Attention to detail with an analytically trained and developed mind is undoubtedly a dental practitioner's most important asset to identify rare and only heard of conditions in patients. Being a field of explosive development due to new technologies, endodontics aids to provide an accurate diagnosis of the complex anatomical variations and conditions of the teeth. Radix entomolaris (RE) is the presence of an additional distolingual (DL) root in the mandibular first molars and its prevalence in the South Indian population is 13.3%. The presence of RE with middle mesial canal (MMC) in the mandibular first molar is a rare experience of the combined occurrence of two uncommon conditions requiring appropriate diagnosis and cautious management. Its management relies on the proper diagnosis and exploration of all the canals, thorough chemomechanical preparation, followed by three-dimensional (3D) obturation without hampering the original root canal anatomy. The appropriate utilization of the advanced aids of magnification and technology, such as the microscopes, loupes, and conebeam computed tomography (CBCT), coupled with the use of thermomechanically treated flexible NiTi files enhances the success in the endodontics while dealing with such rare entities. This article presents a case report of an RE with MMC which is definitely rare in occurrence and requires cautious management. Case description: A 20-year-old female patient was diagnosed with symptomatic irreversible pulpitis with apical periodontitis on the mandibular first molar. It was identified as an RE with MMC on radiographic examination using the Clark's Tubeshift technique. After anesthetizing the tooth using inferior alveolar nerve block, rubber dam isolation was done. The access cavity was prepared and modified distolingually and the canal orifices were located. The MMC orifice was troughed along the groove joining mesiobuccal (MB) and mesiolingual (ML) canals using long shank burs and a sharp DG-16 explorer. The cleaning and shaping procedures were performed carefully to all six canals using NiTi files followed by the 3D obturation. Conclusion: This case report is a precise description of the effective management of RE with MMC which is a rare entity in our ethnic group. This case was diagnosed using the Clark's Tubeshift technique and managed using magnifying loupe and thermomechanically treated flexible NiTi files. The advanced aids in 3D imaging such as the CBCT, spiral computed tomography (CT), and the magnifying aids such as microscopes coupled with thermoplasticized obturation can accentuate the success rate of such complex morphologies.


This study aimed to identify the difficulties nurses experience at the start of their professional life in prenatal care activities. Data were collected through interviews with 25 nurses who accompanied prenatal care in the basic health network of Rio Branco-AC, Brazil and were grouped according to the frequency and level of difficulty they mentioned. We observed that nurses did not demonstrate difficulties in a series of important prenatal care activities at the start of their professional life. However, they reported different levels of difficulties in other activities. Furthermore, the participants pointed out difficulties in activities that require knowledge (knowing) as well as abilities (know-how). This study also indicated flaws in undergraduate formation with respect to prenatal care, involving theoretical aspects as well as exclusively practical activities.


How does the legal system mediate conflicts between legal norms demanding mutually exclusive outcomes? Consider a variation on H.L.A. Hart's "no vehicles in the park" hypothetical. Imagine that the legislative body passes a statute prohibiting wheeled vehicles from entering the park. Later, the legislature passes a second statute authorizing bicycle races in the park every Sunday. What governs adjudication of such conflicts? As this Article comprehensively explains, a pair of remarkably rigid axioms, coupled with an equally rigid hierarchic ordering of legal categories and subcategories, provide clear and incontestable answers in almost all such cases. Moreover, the practice of adjudicating these cases involves a perplexing close juxtaposition of extreme formalism with extreme anti-formalism. Courts adjudicate these cases in two distinct components or phases. First, as a threshold matter, by interpreting the meaning of legal norms either broadly or narrowly, a court determines whether the norms are in irreconcilable conflict. Second, once a court finds a norm pair in irreconcilable conflict, it must resolve the conflict. Flexible anti-formalism characterizes the first phase, while a surprisingly extreme and rigid formalism characterizes the second phase. In the first phase, because norm interpretation rules fail to constrain, and legal language is often open-textured, courts may adopt expansive or narrow norm interpretations. Broad norm interpretation results in finding that norms stand in a posture of conflict, while narrow norm interpretation can avoid conflict. Moving to the second phase, if a court has found a norm pair to be in a posture of conflict, the rigidly formalistic ordering and axioms come to bear. Here, a court can do little more that mechanistically apply the ordering and axioms to arrive at unavoidable and indisputable results. So rigidly formalistic are the axioms and ordering that the second phase resembles a perfunctory, ministerial act, with ultimate substantive outcomes all but prepackaged in the finding that a norm pair either does or does not stand in a posture of mutually exclusive conflict. A main function of rigidly formalistic rules, such as the axioms and ordering identified herein, is to tightly constrain courts. Yet the broad and flexible discretion afforded courts in the norm interpretation phase undermines any constraining effect that the rigid axioms and ordering could exercise on judges. Thus, for example, when interpreting norms broadly would bring a norm pair into mutually exclusive conflict, and the rigid formalism of the twin axioms and ordering would resolve that conflict in a substantively undesirable way, a court can use its interpretive discretion to narrowly interpret the norms, avoid the conflict, and thereby reach the opposite substantive outcome. Why bother with a constraining formalistic set of axioms and ordering in the norm conflict resolution phase, when courts can so easily evade those constraints through flexible interpretive discretion in the norm interpretation phase? This is the central puzzle underlying a practice so closely juxtaposing extreme formalism and anti-formalism.


OBJECTIVE In the face of financial constraints, diabetic patients may forgo prescribed medications, causing negative health effects. This study examined how cost and noncost factors are associated with patterns of cost-related nonadherence to medications (CRN). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS This was a cross-sectional survey of patients using medications for both diabetes and chronic pain (n = 245). Patients reported their income, out-of-pocket medication costs, education level, depressive symptoms, and medication-related beliefs and whether they cut back because of cost on 1) both diabetes and pain medications, 2) diabetes medications only, 3) pain medications only, or 4) neither. Multinomial logistic regression was used to model patients' adjusted odds ratios (AORs) of falling into these four possible categories. RESULTS Of the patients, 9% cut back on medications for both conditions, 13% cut back on diabetes medications alone, and 9% cut back on pain medications alone. Income <20,000 USD (AOR = 5.7, P = 0.008) and monthly medication costs >50 USD (AOR = 3.9, P = 0.02) increased patients' odds of CRN for both conditions versus neither. Low-income patients also were more likely to selectively forgo pain medications (AOR = 9.1, P = 0.001) but not diabetes medications (AOR = 2.1, P = 0.12). More depressive symptoms (AOR = 1.6, P = 0.006) and negative medication-related beliefs (AOR = 1.7, P = 0.02) increased patients' odds of cutting back selectively on medications for diabetes but not pain. CONCLUSIONS Patients who forgo medications for both diabetes and chronic pain appear to be influenced primarily by economic pressures, whereas patients who cut back selectively on their diabetes treatments are influenced by their mood and medication beliefs. Our findings point toward more targeted strategies to assist diabetic patients who experience CRN.


This book presents the development of solar powered portable charger to charge mobile phone during disaster recovery. It emphasizes on efficient solar energy harvesting circuit for charging mobile phone battery with the utilization of intermediate battery. In this book, Sealed Lead-Acid (SLA) battery was chosen as intermediate battery to protect the Lithium Ion battery which seems very sensitive to overcharging and discharging. Concerning on delivering the most efficient portable charger, polycrystalline silicon solar panel was selected which may supply up to 400mW of average power. In addition, Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) charging method was employed using Arduino microcontroller. During disaster, main power supply will be interrupted. If only the victims can communicate through their mobile phone, there will be high chance that they can be rescued by the rescue team. Note that, the portable cell tower can be set up by the relevant authorities during disaster. This book can benefit government, NGO, or volunteers during disaster, as well as many people in disaster prone area.


Written at a time when the nature of place was reimagined, John Lyly's Endymion draws upon Neoplatonic theories of desire to present space as a domain continually reshaped by contemplative thought. In his commentary on Plato's Symposium, Marsilio Ficino argues that desire can traverse the cosmos in an ecstatic flight toward the Beautiful and the Good, bringing the contemplative soul closer to its object of devotion. Lyly's play represents this negotiation of earthly and heavenly beauty in Endymion's simultaneous attraction to Tellus and Cynthia, an attraction that locates Endymion somewhere between the earth and the moon. Lyly, in turn, maps the structure of contemplative desire—namely, its uneven distribution across lover and beloved—onto the early modern court, transforming political space into a sphere shaped by devotion. Together, Ficino and Lyly reveal the way that contemplative thought extends itself across bodies and spaces in early modern culture.


Objective Micro-dissection testicular sperm extraction (mTESE) nowadays has been the major sperm retrieval method for patients with non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) in assisted reproduction technology (ART). However, there are still 40 to 50% chances that no sperm can be found after the procedure, and the ICSI cycles are then aborted. Therefore the couples need to take the significant physical, psychological and financial risks, including ovulation induction, eggs retrieval and costs for procedures. Design: we introduce the concept of diagnostic mTESE for men with NOA to determine the decision to initiate ovulation cycles. Methods From 2012 to 2014, 152 men received diagnostic mTESE procedures. This study had excluded patients with obstructive azoospermia and needle biopsy-confirmed hypospermatogenesis cases. Patients with undescended testis, Klinefelter's syndrome, or Y microdeletion were included. The procedure was performed by Schlegel's method, the testicular tissues were examined under operative microscope up to 24 X. The procedures were started from right testicle, if no sperm found from right side, then left side was opened consequently. The tubules larger than 300 m were sampled for immediate table side touch print smear examination and the tissues were transferred to Bouin's fixatives for further pathological examination. The whole procedure was video-taped for future review. The location of sperm-positive areas was recorded in operation note. The testis wound at tunica albuginea was closed using intra-tunical zipper suture with 6-0 Prolene. Results Among the 152 patients, the mean sperm retrieval rate was 45.3%. If we included the patients with biopsy-confirmed hypospermatogenesis receiving only therapeutic mTESE, the overall sperm retrieval rate was about 61%. For the patients with positive results at diagnostic mTESE, the sperm retrieval rate at later therapeutic mTESE for ICSI cycle was 100%. For patients who had no sperm found at diagnostic mTESE, they were advised for other options including using donor sperm or adoption. Conclusions Through this management protocol, up to 55% of infertile couple might avoid the unnecessary ovulation cycle, egg retrieval and the related risks and expenses. The only disadvantage was the necessity for repeat mTESE procedure for infertile men although the subsequent mTESE was significantly time saving, focus-oriented and straightforward.


In the early 1900s, teachers of medical physiology faced a problem familiar to those teaching the subject in a contemporary setting: too much information, too little time, too many students in crowded rooms, and exams that discouraged real learning. They wanted students to question authority and demand evidence and thus be better prepared for medicine. Their solution was to bring students into laboratories and minimize didactic learning as they felt strongly that useful information could not be obtained merely from books. Thus, they were strong proponents of what we now call active learning.


Robert D. Liska passed away on January 24, 2021. He died peacefully at home in the presence of his much-loved wife of 64 years. Born in 1931, Bob earned his MSc in Geology at San Diego State University. In 1963 Bob joined Texaco in Long Beach, California as a geologist. Two years later he joined Texaco International in Colombia, and in 1973 moved to Trinidad. Bob had a long association with Micropaleontology Press, and published several papers in Micropaleontology and in the Journal of Foraminiferal Research in the 1980's and 1990's. Bob leaves behind the legacy of his lifelong passion for micropaleontology and stratigraphy: his extensive and unique microfossil collection which will be housed at University College London, and his equipment which was donated to Texas A&M.


The peritoneum is one of the common extrapulmonary sites of tuberculosis infection. Patients with underlying end-stage renal or liver disease are frequently complicated by tuberculous peritonitis; however, the diagnosis of the tuberculous peritonitis is difficult due to its insidious nature, well as its variability in presentation and limitation of available diagnostic tests. Once diagnosed, the preferred treatment is usually antituberculous therapy in uncomplicated cases. However, surgical treatment may also be required for complicated cases, such as small bowel obstruction or perforation. An 85-year-old woman was referred our hospital for abdominal pain with ileus. Despite medical therapy, prolonged ileus and progression to sepsis were shown, she underwent surgery to confirm the diagnosis and relief of mechanical ileus. Intraoperative peritoneal biopsy and macroscopic findings confirmed tuberculous peritonitis. Therefore, physicians should consider the possibility of tuberculous peritonitis in patients with unexplained small bowel obstruction.


A scheme is presented for generating steady four-atom decoherence-free states via four atoms with the Raman level configuration interacting with a single-mode vacuum cavity field by using quantum-jump-based feedback. The scheme meets the condition of a strongly dissipative cavity easily and has a simplified feedback control. Although the spontaneous emission still plays a negative role in the proposed system, we can improve the feedback control to reduce its effect.


The multifaceted nature of cryptography does not permit many individuals to really comprehend the inspirations and in this manner accessible for rehearsing security cryptography. Cryptography prepare looks to appropriate an estimation of fundamental cryptographic primitives over various conjunctions keeping in mind the end goal to lessen security suspicions on individual hubs, which build up a level of adaptation to non-critical failure restricting to the hub adjustment. In a dynamically arranged and disseminated correspondences environment, there are increasingly helpful circumstances where the capacity to appropriate a calculation between various dissimilar to network convergences is required. The reason back to the effectiveness (isolate hubs perform unmistakable errands), adaptation to non-critical failure (if a few hubs are inaccessible then others can play out the assignment) and security (the trust required to play out the undertaking is shared between hubs) that request in an unexpected way. Subsequently, this paper means to portray and audit the diverse research that has done toward encryption and depiction in the block cipher. Additionally, this paper proposes a cryptography display in the square figure.


Course guide to support GER 340: German Literature and the Modern Era taught by Dr. Caroline Kita and Mikael Olsson Berggren (Fall 2018)


Technological advancements and high speed connectivity has made the internet an integral part of our life. Life without internet is unimaginable and so is shopping. Online shopping is popular because of the wide range of products and services it provides to the customers. Online shoppers depend more on product information, specifically in terms of the look-and-feel of products, to make a purchase decision. The reason is lack of tangibility on online purchases. Perceived usefulness is the perception of consumers about how an online portal could add value and efficiency to them while shopping online. This study concentrates on the effect of product information and perceived usefulness on the purchase intention of online customers. Survey methodology was adopted and structural equation modelling technique was used. Analysis was done using Smart PLS version 3. The study shows a positive correlation between product information and perceived usefulness which in turn significantly influences the purchase intention. The study reveals the importance of detailed online product information and efficiency of the website as key factors that make customer buy online.


Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the human type A gamma‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor β2 subunit gene (GABRB2) have been associated with schizophrenia and quantitatively correlated with mRNA expression in the postmortem brain tissue of patients with schizophrenia. l‐Methionine (MET) administration has been reported to cause a recrudescence of psychotic symptoms in patients with schizophrenia, and similar symptoms have been generated in MET‐induced mice. In this study, a zebrafish animal model was used to evaluate the relationship between the gabrb2 mRNA expression and its promoter DNA methylation in developmental and MET‐induced schizophrenia‐like zebrafish. The results indicated developmental increases in global DNA methylation and decreases in gabrb2 promoter methylation in zebrafish. A significant increase in gabrb2 mRNA levels was observed after GABA was synthesized. Additionally, the MET‐triggered schizophrenia‐like symptoms in adult zebrafish, involving social withdrawal and cognitive dysfunction analyzed with social interaction and T‐maze behavioral tests, were accompanied by significantly increased DNA methylation levels in the global genome and the gabrb2 promoter. Furthermore, the significant correlation between gabrb2 mRNA expression and gabrb2 promoter methylation observed in the developmental stages became non‐significant in MET‐triggered adult zebrafish. These findings demonstrate that gabrb2 mRNA expression is associated with DNA methylation varies by developmental stage and show that these epigenetic association mechanisms are disrupted in MET‐triggered adult zebrafish with schizophrenia‐like symptoms. In conclusion, these results provide plausible epigenetic evidence of the GABAA receptor β2 subunit involvement in the schizophrenia‐like behaviors and demonstrate the potential use of zebrafish models in neuropsychiatric research.


Has rising income inequality become a scandalous social problem as the English ethical socialist R. H. Tawney anticipated in an earlier era? We examine the salience and framing of income inequality within major UK and US newspapers over the period 1990–2015. Specifically, this includes the global banking crisis of 2008, which was the most significant financial crisis in capitalist economies since the Great Depression of 1929. Did this event trigger a public outcry? We divide the overall search into a full corpus for quantitative analysis of media salience and a smaller corpus for in-depth qualitative analysis of media frames. We find that media coverage of income inequality increased across the period in both countries and especially after 2008. With this increase, there is a shift in frame prevalence, with pre-2008 frames focusing on conceptualising rising income inequality while post-2008 frames focus on managing rising inequality (through interventions, policies and identifying scale of solutions needed). This shift is accompanied by a more polarised sentiment on income inequality, an increase in moralising language and a more balanced political slant. The proposed 'solutions' become absorbed within established repertoires offered by the political right and left, limiting the emergence of a Tawney Moment. Consequently, the rise in income inequality has not generated the kind of scandalising public outcry that Tawney would expect. We conclude by examining the possible reasons for the lack of outrage in the mass media.


In this paper, a novel photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with high birefringence and nonlinearity is designed. The characteristics of birefringence, dispersion and nonlinearity are studied by using the full-vector finite element method (FVFEM). The numerical results show that the phase birefringence and nonlinear coefficient of PCF can be up to 4.51×10−3 and 32.8972 W−1km−1 at 1.55 μm, respectively. The proposed PCF could be found to have important applications in the polarization-dependent nonlinear optics such as the pulse compress and reshaping in the C waveband.


Among all levels of education, Early Childhood Education and Development (ECEd) is considered to be the most critical level for social (relationship to others), emotional (self-image and security), cognitive (thinking and reasoning) and physical development of children. Therefore, the teachers of early years need to play a significant role in the teaching and learning process through providing a friendly environment in their schools. The study employed a case study approach. Information was gathered through a combination of methods, which included classroom observations, field notes, document analysis, focus group and semi structured interviews. The focus group participants and the interviewees were selected from a variety of stakeholders, which included parents, students, teachers and head teachers from public sector to get a comprehensive and representative analysis. Informal conversations with different stakeholders and self reflections contributed to clarify different aspects of the issues and findings. In this study I explored teachers' role in developing child friendly environment in ECE classrooms. Thus, two female ECE classroom teachers from a public secondary school in Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan were the primary participants of the study and they taught in early setup. The study revealed that institutional support and monitoring teachers' personal propensity to learning for improving pupils' learning, the prior ECED learning experiences and pedagogical content knowledge play an important role in engaging teachers in developing their thinking and teaching practice. The contribution of this thesis is that institutional and socio cultural influences are local, and derive from the Pakistani context, so have a particular significance for designing teacher development programs.


In recent years, the number of CubeSats (U-class spacecrafts) launched into space has increased exponentially marking the dawn of the nanosatellite technology. In general, these satellites have a much smaller mass budget compared to conventional scientific satellites, which limits shielding of scientific instruments against direct and indirect radiation in space. We present a simulation framework to quantify the signal in large field-of-view gamma-ray scintillation detectors of satellites induced by x-ray/gamma-ray transients, by taking into account the response of the detector. Furthermore, we quantify the signal induced by x-ray and particle background sources at a Low-Earth Orbit outside South Atlantic Anomaly and polar regions. Finally, we calculate the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) taking into account different energy threshold levels. Our simulation can be used to optimize material composition and predict detectability of various astrophysical sources by CubeSats. We apply the developed simulation to a satellite belonging to a planned CAMELOT CubeSat constellation. This project mainly aims to detect short and long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and as a secondary science objective, to detect soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) and terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs). The simulation includes a detailed computer-aided design model of the satellite to take into account the interaction of particles with the material of the satellite as accurately as possible. Results of our simulations predict that CubeSats can complement the large space observatories in high-energy astrophysics for observations of GRBs, SGRs, and TGFs. For the detectors planned to be on board the CAMELOT CubeSats, the simulations show that detections with SNR of at least 9 for median GRB and SGR fluxes are achievable.


Electron impact ionization of argon clusters embedded in helium droplets is investigated. Superior mass resolution makes it possible to distinguish between nominally isobaric cluster ions. An abundance maximum for ArHe(12)(+) is unambiguously confirmed; the spectra also prove the formation of Ar(2)He(n)(+) complexes that had been claimed to fragment into pure Ar(2)(+). Distributions of larger argon cluster ions containing up to 60 atoms closely resemble distributions observed upon electron impact or photoionization of bare argon clusters; caging and evaporative cooling provided by the helium matrix do not suffice to quench fragmentation of the nascent argon cluster ions. Intriguing abundance anomalies are observed in distributions of argon cluster ions that contain water, nitrogen or oxygen impurities. The strong abundance of Ar(55)H(2)O(+), Ar(54)O(2)(+) and Ar(54)N(2)(+) contrasts with the virtual absence of slightly larger cluster ions containing the corresponding impurities. The features are probably related to enhanced cluster ion stability upon closure of the second icosahedral shell but the difference in magic numbers (54 versus 55) and the well-known reactivity of charged argon-nitrogen complexes suggest structural differences.


This study aims to describe the motivation and learning outcomes and  analyze the relationship between motivation with learning outcomes in subjects Pastry and Art Student of PKK UNP. The study was correlational, with a population of 79 people and a sample of 45 people who were taken by random sampling technique. Data Sources students who have taken courses Pastry and Art. Data collection techniques by using a questionnaire were designed based on Likert scale. The results of this study portrait (1) student motivation Pastry and Art student of PKK UNP overall 45 (100%) included in the category enough (2) learning outcomes Pastry and Art students of PKK UNP included in both categories, with the percentage of 21 persons ( 47%). (3) There is a positive and significant relationship between motivation and learning outcomes of students in the subject of Pastry and Art with the value of the correlation coefficient of 0.221 which is in the range 0.25 to 0.5, with significant value 0,045 because of significant value <0.05. Keywords: Motivation, Students, Pastry and Art


Meso-hydroxyuroporphyrin I, B-hydroxypropionic acid uroporphyrin I, hydroxyacetic acid uroporphyrin I and peroxyacetic acid uroporphyrin I have been isolated from the urine and plasma of patients with congenital erythropoietic porphyria (CEP) by high-performance liquid chromatography and characterized by liquid secondary ion mass spectrometry and chemical properties. The physico-chemical properties of these compounds have been studied.

The hydroxy- and peroxyacetic acid- uroporphyrin I derivatives are the true metabolites of uroporphyrinogen I in vivo and their presence in urine and plasma is a common feature of CEP. The absence of these derivatives in duodenal aspirate and faeces suggests that they are of erythropoietic origin.

The mechanism of formation of the hydroxy- and peroxyacetic acid- uroporphyrin I has been investigated. Peroxyacetic acid uroporphyrin I is formed from uroporphyrinogen I in the presence of H202 and iron while the hydroxylated uroporphyrin I derivatives are most probably produced by hydroxyl radicals generated during the formation of peroxyacetic acid uroporphyrin I. Destruction of porphyrins is found in the same reaction and can be prevented bydesferrioxamine, indicating that it is due to hydroxyl radicals.

The formation of peroxyacetic acid- and hydroxyuroporphyrin I derivatives are uroporphyrinogen I concentration dependent. These derivatives can only be formed when uroporphyrinogen I is accumulated to a certain concentration (approx. 1-2 ~M) and the formation is then proportional to the uroporphyrinogen I concentration. The peroxylation reaction has been shown to take place only at the acetic acid side-chains of porphyrinogen and not at the propionic acid side-chains. The peroxylation reaction can therefore take place whenever a porphyrinogen with an acetic acid substituent is accumulated.

Oral charcoal therapy failed to reduce the porphyrins accumulated in vivo in a patient with CEP. Uroporphyrin I, the major porphyrin accumulating in CEP, was not excreted into bile and interruption of the enterohepatic circulation by binding porphyrins onto charcoal therefore does not benefit CEP. It may, however, be effective in the treatment of hepatic porphyrias in which the accumulated porphyrins are mainly excreted via the gut lumen.


This research focuses on the role of leadership styles during Lean Management (LM) initiatives in healthcare environments. Specifically, this study examined the role of leadership styles in the development of Continuous Improvement (CI) capability of teams. The empirical evidence was collected by applying a multiple-case design, and consisted of interviews, observations, and documentation. These data sources were used to develop case studies, and to identify leadership behaviours supportive of LM. Through qualitative case analysis, the influence of leadership styles on CI capability was determined. The results show that a hybrid leadership style is associated with higher levels of CI capability, and that the duration of a LM program in itself does not dictate maturity. A mix of both transactional and transformational leadership styles seems a necessary condition for teams to reach higher levels of CI capability. Based on these findings, this paper provides a framework to structure thinking on LM and leadership styles, and concludes with supporting propositions. The current outcomes imply that leaders should be sensitive towards their adopted leadership style, and should adopt a leadership style that combines both transformational as well as transactional elements, when leading LM teams. This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.


It has been assumed that the new members of the p53 protein family, p63 and p73, would have the same job as p53, namely, forcing cells to die if they or their DNA is damaged. Now, as Morrison and Kinoshita explain in their Perspective, one particular form of p73 has been found to be a survival factor rather than a death factor for sympathetic neurons during development (Pozniak et al.).


With the advent of inexpensive depth sensors and more viable methods for human tracking, traditional 2D tele-conference systems are evolving into one that is AR and 3D teleportation based. Compared to the traditional tele-conference systems which offer only flat 2D upper body imageries and mostly a fixed view point (and inconsistent gaze directions), an AR tele-conference with 3D teleported avatars would be more natural and realistic, and can give an enhanced and immersive communication experience. This paper presents an AR based 3D tele-conference prototype with a method to adapt the motion of the teleported avatar to the physical configuration of the other site. The adaptation is needed due to the differences in the physical environments between two sites where the human controller is interacting at one (e.g. sitting on a low chair) and the avatar is being displayed at the other (e.g. augmented on a high chair). The adaptation technique is based on preserving a particular spatial property among the avatar and its interaction objects between the two sites. The spatial relationship is pre-established between the important joint positions of the user/avatar and carefully selected points on the environment interaction objects. The motions of the user transmitted to the other site are then modified in real time considering the "changed" environment object and by preserving the spatial relationship as much as possible. We have developed a test prototype to demonstrate our approach using the Kinect-based human tracking and a video see-through head-mounted display.


This study was designed to test the path-goal theory of leadership in an educational setting. It investigated the relationship among leadership of degree college principals, selected organizational and personal characteristics, and faculty job satisfaction, acceptance of leader and job expectancies. The moderators tested in three-way interactions included task structure, role ambiguity, stress, need for autonomy, need for achievement, perception about ability and locus of control. Leadership style was defined in four dimensions, (directive, supportive, participative, and achievement-oriented ) and was measured by the leader behavior items. Subordinates' satisfaction was measured by the job Descriptive Index. Job expectancy I (effort leads to performance) and expectancy II (performance lead to rewards) were also examined by Job expectancy scale. The measuring instrument comprising 149 items was administered to teachers. An instrument consisting of 29 items about role ambiguity and stress was administered to the principals. Response were received from 854 lectures and 138 principals who wee randomly selected. Measure of all four path-goal leader behaviors, seven moderators, and all nine subordinates' outcomes were obtained. An additional moderating variable, 'stress' was also tested in this study. A total of forty-eight hypotheses were tested in this study. Correlation analysis indicated that leadership styles were positively related to job expectancies and negatively related to acceptance of leader and job satisfaction. There were no differences between male and female respondents on any dependent measure. The new variables stress, had negative significant correlation with acceptance of leader and job satisfaction. Majority was satisfied with their work on the job, supervision, coworkers and job in general ; but was dissatisfied with their pay and the promotion policy. Regression analysis indicated that only experiences and length of service under current principal had significant effect on acceptance and satisfaction. MANCOVA was used to know the moderating effect of situational variables on the relationship of leadership style and subordinates' outcomes controlling the effect of role ambiguity and stress of the principals. Findings indicated that the environmental factor and subordinates' characteristics differentially affected subordinates' outcomes relationship with the four leader behaviors. The support for the theory was limited. Only 19 of the 36 three way interactions were according to the predictions of theory. All the result of the study were discussed in relation to the path-goal theory and possible reason for the limited support were also discussed


The effects of Abstract – Visitors in a zoo environment have the potential to impact the animals that they are viewing in a variety of ways. Recently, there have been suggestions that free-range enclosures, where visitors can walk directly through an animal's exhibit, may reduce the potential for negative visitor impacts. The aim of this study was to examine associations between visitor numbers and noise levels and enclosure use and the stress and critical behavior of 24 bird species housed in a free-flight, mixed species aviary. Using GIS (Geographic Information Systems), the locations of the birds were marked on a digital map of the aviary, with their behavior and vertical distance above the ground also marked. In addition, visitor numbers and noise levels were simultaneously monitored using scan sampling. Thirty-minute intervals were used to collect bird data, while 10-minute intervals were used to collect the visitor data. Under periods of high visitor numbers, several changes in how the birds used their enclosure space were observed, including; movement away from the visitor pathway, decreased range sizes and increased use of vegetation cover. However, the lack of association between visitor numbers and the performance of stress related (pacing, aggression), and critical behavior (feeding, resting, nesting), suggest that the birds were not experiencing substantial negative welfare consequences. Instead, the ways in which the birds used the space in their free-range enclosure appears to have minimized any potential negative effects during high visitor periods.


The Indian subcontinent with a total Iand area of 3.3
million km2 and a coast line of 8041 km is blessed with marine wealth. The west coast of the country is bordered by the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala. The east coast is constituted by the marine boundaries of Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal. Besides these, we have sovereign rights over the waters around the Lakshadweep group of islands situated in the Arabian sea and Andaman & Nicobar group of islands situated in the Bay of Bengal. As per the laws of the seas convention, every country has sovereign rights over the waters lying within 200 nautical miles perpendicular to its respective coast line. This sea area is called the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The nations have absolute rights to explore, exploit, regulate and
conserve the living and non-living resources within their EEZ.


The detection of all open defects within 6T SRAM cells is always a challenge due to the significant test time requirements. This paper proposes a new design-for-test (DFT) technique that we refer to as No Write Recovery Test Mode (NWRTM) to detect all open defects, some of which produce Data Retention Faults (DRFs) but are undetectable by typical March tests. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed technique by only applying it to fault-free memory cells and faulty cells with those undetectable defects but all the open defects are covered since our DFT technique is implemented by simply adding extra test cycles into typical March tests. Two 6T SRAM cell models, one a high-speed version and the other a low-power one, representing extreme cases according to traditional design methodologies, were designed to validate our proposed NWRTM at the circuit level. Simulation results show that our NWRTM amounts to a shorter total test time and improved open defect detection capability. In addition, in comparison to other DFT techniques, NWRTM requires the least additional design effort, and imply less area and no performance penalties.


Background Fruits and vegetables indigenous to Philippines, described as underutilized species from specific regions native to the area, are less popular than their imported counterparts due to the lack of familiarity and promotion to the general public. Although several campaigns and food-based initiatives have been made by industries in promoting common fruits and vegetables as a healthful diet to the Filipino people, the lack of promotion of the nutritional and health value of less-known indigenous plants through print media fails to encourage availability, access, and consumption of such. An extensive literature research and compilation of updated information of indigenous, less-known high value fruits and vegetables is necessary to help mainstream and promote the latter. Most recent data on the nutritional composition, functionality and active biological components, recipes and recommended method of preparation to maximize nutrients for consumption were identified. The scientific information is made into reader-friendly handbooks and flyers and is distributed to health professionals, nutrition educators, farmers, agricultural industry, and policy makers as means to increase knowledge and awareness of Filipinos about locally grown, less-known fruits and vegetables. Objectives To compile available information on indigenous, high value fruits and vegetables in the Philippines to be published in the form of handbook and flyers that will be used as references of health professionals, nutrition educators, farmers, agricultural industry, and policy makers as promotion tools to help improve health and nutritional status of the general public. Methods Initial review of related literature, field work and interviews of experts Shortlisting and finalization of plant species list Comprehensive collection of available information Coordination with various experts, institutions, farms and markets Collection and photoshoot of plant species and process products Drafting of narrative content, handbook and flyer layout Result This project identified indigenous vegetables and fruits species, to include common names, scientific names, other local names, availability and distribution, nutritive value, bioactive components, dietary uses, non-dietary uses and latest researches. Actual photos of plants in their fresh (raw form), cooked (how it is prepared as dish), and with their commercial products, if any. The contents were published in the form of handbooks and flyers. Conclusion The consumption of indigenous fruits and vegetables contribute significantly to the nutritional health of people by providing the essential nutrients and bioactive components required for body and for prevention of diseases associated with nutritional deficiencies. Furthermore, these plants contribute to household food and nutritional security by providing a diversity of nutritionally-rich foods that can be used on a daily basis. There is a need to develop a comprehensive package for the sustainable utilization of edible wild plants through information dissemination so that households from urban and rural areas can make conscious efforts to preserve these plants around their homesteads, in crop fields and communal lands.


Bacterial wilt caused by Xanthomonas vasicola pv. musacearum (Xvm) is an important disease of enset and banana in south and south-western Ethiopia where, the diversity of the insect fauna on banana inflorescences was unknown and the role of insects as vectors of the disease had not been studied. The objectives of this study were to assess the occurrence of bacterial wilt and male bud infection, the diversity of insect families in banana plantations and the presence of the bacteria on insects collected from diseased inflorescences in south and southwestern Ethiopia. Surveys were carried out and insects were collected from three different zones in 2005. The diversity and richness of the insect families was assessed across sites and genotypes and comparisons were made using the Shannon Diversity Index and the Jack knife estimator, respectively. Correlations were made between the abundance and incidence of insects with the incidence of male bud infection on 'Pisang Awak' plants. A wide range of insect families were recorded and they varied according to banana genotype and altitude. The Drosophilidae and Apinae families were most frequently recorded across sites and genotypes. The 'Wendo' variety (AAA Cavendish group) had the highest diversity and richness of insect families within and across sites. In contrast to the Kembata Tembaro and Bench Maji zones, severe and widespread male bud infection of banana was found in Kaffa, where there was a high diversity of insects on the 'Pisang Awak' and 'Abesha muz' plants. The incidence of male bud infection on 'Pisang Awak' plants was highly correlated with the incidence of insects (R2 = 0.964). The incidence of male bud infection however depends on the floral morphology and altitude. Artificial inoculation with Xvm ooze on fresh male bract and flower scars resulted in infections on 'Pisang Awak' and 'Abesha muz' plants, but the 'Dwarf Cavendish' plants with persistent bracts and flowers remained healthy. Few male bud infections were observed at altitudes above 1,700 masl. Xvm was isolated from Apinae, Lonchaeidae, Muscidae, Tephritidae and Vespidae insect families. Lonchaeidae (Silba spp.) were frequently observed on banana bract and flower scars and could thus be an important insect vector of Xvm in Ethiopia.


Abstract A novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by infection with SARS-CoV-2, has swept across 31 provinces in China and over 40 countries worldwide. The transition from first symptoms to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is highly likely to be due to uncontrolled cytokine release. There is an urgent need to identify safe and effective drugs for treatment. Chloroquine (CQ) exhibits a promising inhibitory effect. However, the clinical use of CQ can cause severe side effects. We propose that hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), which exhibits an antiviral effect highly similar to that of CQ, could serve as a better therapeutic approach. HCQ is likely to attenuate the severe progression of COVID-19, inhibiting the cytokine storm by suppressing T cell activation. It has a safer clinical profile and is suitable for those who are pregnant. It is cheaper and more readily available in China. We herein strongly urge that clinical trials are performed to assess the preventive effects of HCQ in both disease infection and progression.


A method for mining association rules that reflect the behaviors of past users is proposed for an adaptive search engine. The logs of the users' retrieving behaviors are described with the resource description framework model, from which association rules that reflect successful retrieving behaviors are extracted. The extracted rules are used to improve the performance of a metadata-based search engine. The document repository with adaptive hybrid search engine is also developed based on the proposed method. The repository consists of a document registration module, hybrid search engine, and reasoning base. The document registration module is designed to reduce the cost of adding metadata to documents, and the hybrid search engine combines full-text search with metadata-based search engine to improve the recall of retrieval result. The reasoning base is implemented based on the association rule mining method, which contributes to improve both precision and recall of the hybrid search engine. Experiments are performed with a virtual user model, of which results show that appropriate rules can be extracted with the proposed method. The proposed technologies will contribute to realize the concept of humatronics in terms of establishing symmetric relation between humans and systems, as well as sharing information, knowledge, and experiences via computer networks


Qatar's per capita energy consumption is one of the highest in the world, consuming 30.184 TWh as of 2012. Buildings contribute significantly (80%) to this, with air-conditioning taking a lion's share. Qatar does not have custom-made adaptive thermal comfort standards (ACS). In their absence, designers tend to follow Western standards that are meant for colder climates verbatim. This leads to the disregard of the effect of local climate, clothing and cultural needs. Availability of cheap energy encourages such practice. Following the ACS is vital for energy savings in buildings. In this paper, we aim to develop the ACS for Qatar. It necessitates long-term field studies in real buildings. This paper presents the results of long-term thermal comfort field surveys in eight Qatari offices. The occupant's thermal perceptions along with the environmental measurements were recorded in these surveys. This was done during the winter in Doha. A total of 40 subjects expressed comfort over a wide range of temperatures in offices. They returned 1362 sets of data, of which 27% were from women. Fanger's PMV overestimated the actual sensation. These findings have far-reaching energy implications towards environmental sustainability as specified in Qatar Vision 2030.


This paper compares anti-hookworm campaigns conducted in the early twentieth century in France, Germany, Brazil and West India. The populations that suffer from hookworm are not identical in the North and in the South. In tropical and semi-tropical regions hookworm is mainly found among poor peasants and is related to lack of hygiene, while in temperate climates hookworm was a professional disease of miners, a highly organized professional segment. Nevertheless, major disparities in the pattern of hookworm control did not reflect the North-South divide, but a difference between campaigns. These aimed at the eradication of hookworm infection (Germany and West-India) and at alleviating the effects of this infection on populations (France and Brazil). Maps that represented the prevalence of hookworm mirrored the aims of the sanitary campaign in which they were used: eradication of parasitic worms versus the reduction of the handicap induced by these worms. In public health as well, representing is intervening. And vice versa: patterns of intervention shape representations.


The GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope is intended to measure the fluxes of gamma-rays and cosmic-ray electrons and positrons in the energy range from 100 MeV to several TeV. Such measurements concern the following scientific tasks: investigation of point sources of gamma-rays, studies of the energy spectra of Galactic and extragalactic diffuse emission, studies of gamma-ray bursts and gamma-ray emission from the Sun, as well as high precision measurements of spectra of high-energy electrons and positrons. Also the GAMMA- 400 instrument provides the possibility for protons and nuclei measurements up to knee. But the main goal for the GAMMA-400 mission is to perform a sensitive search for signatures of dark matter particles in high-energy gamma-ray emission. To fulfill these measurements the GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope possesses unique physical characteristics in comparison with previous and present experiments. The major advantage of the GAMMA-400 instrument is excellent angular and energy resolution for gamma-rays above 10 GeV. The GAMMA-400 experiment will be installed onboard of the Navigator space platform, manufactured by the NPO Lavochkin Association. The expected orbit will be a highly elliptical orbit (with apogee 300.000 km and perigee 500 km) with 7 days orbital period. An important profit of such an orbit is the fact that the full sky coverage will always be available for gamma ray astronomy.


Uterine carcinosarcoma (UCS) is a rare and aggressive form of uterine cancer. It is bi-phasic, exhibiting histological features of both malignant epithelial (carcinomatous) and mesenchymal (sarcomatous) elements. Studies have indicated that UCS arises from sarcomatous differentiation of high-grade carcinoma while others have suggested a bi-clonal nature. Given these differences, we sought to separate the carcinoma and sarcoma elements of UCS to try to understand their molecular differences and gain further insights into how these tumors develop. We macrodissected carcinomatous, sarcomatous, and normal cells from formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) uterine samples of 10 UCS patients. DNA and RNA were isolated and extracted using the Qiagen AllPrep DNA/RNA FFPE kit. Whole-genome SNP microarrays and deep sequencing of 26 cancer genes was performed, using the Illumina Infinium OmniExpressExome array and the TruSight Tumor panel respectively. Illumina HiSeq mRNA sequencing was also performed to quantify gene expression. The genomic allelic imbalance (AI) profiling, called from the SNP data by hapLOH, showed that sarcoma samples were more aberrant than their carcinoma counterparts (abstract 131, AACR 2016). From the targeted sequencing, the Illumina Amplicon-DS Somatic Variant Caller was employed to call somatic mutations. Mutations were identified in TP53 in both the sarcoma and carcinoma samples of all 10 patients. Frequently mutated genes included APC, EGFR, MET and MSH6 which were found in 60-80% of the patients. Genes mutated in less than 50% of the patients included PTEN, KRAS, KIT, FBXW7, PIK3CA, FGFR2, and CTNNB1. Current results showed no association of a mutated gene to either the sarcoma or carcinoma component of UCS. RSEM, STAR and EBSeq were applied to the RNA-seq data for gene expression quantification. Approximately 2500 genes were identified as being differentially expressed (DE) between normal and carcinoma samples. Just over 4000 genes were identified as being DE between normal and sarcoma samples. 75% of the DE genes in the carcinoma were also identified in the sarcoma. Using DAVID functional annotation tool, we characterized these gene sets with KEGG pathways. Deregulated pathways identified in both carcinoma and sarcoma include: cell cycle, transcriptional regulation, Ras and p53 signaling. Some additional pathways are putatively associated with sarcoma only, including MAPK and PI3K-Akt signaling. We report here the differences between sarcoma and carcinoma components of UCS from multiple molecular perspectives. From the genomic AI and DE analysis, the carcinoma aberrations appear to be mostly a subset of the sarcoma tumor profiles, where sarcoma samples appear to be more highly aberrant compared to the carcinoma samples. One possible inference from this is that the sarcoma originated and evolved from the carcinoma cells. Citation Format: Yihua Liu, Zachary Weber, F. Anthony San Lucas, Aditya Deshpande, Raed Sulaiman, Mary Fagerness, Natasha Flier, Joseph Sulaiman, Christel M. Davis, Jerry Fowler, Gareth E. Davies, David Starks, Luis Rojas-Espaillat, Paul Scheet, Erik A. Ehli. Tumor profiling of separated carcinomatous and sarcomatous components from uterine carcinosarcoma biopsies provides insights into their development [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2463. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-2463


Background The endothelin B receptor (ETBR) is upregulated in many types of cancer and is associated with poor overall survival and a paucity of TILs (tumor infiltrating lymphocytes).1 The ETBR prevents T-cell extravasation and tumor infiltration by a mechanism involving adhesion molecule downregulation in the tumor vasculature. Thus ETBR expression may mediate resistance to immunomodulatory therapy. ENB-003 is a small molecule ETBRi (ETBR inhibitor) which overcomes resistance to anti-PD1 across multiple cancer types in preclinical studies. Part 1 of this study seeks to evaluate the safety and tolerability of ENB-003 in combination with pembrolizumab in refractory advanced ETBR+ solid tumors. Part 2 of the study is an expansion cohort basket trial assessing the efficacy of ENB-003 in combination with pembrolizumab in anti-PD1 refractory melanoma, platinum resistant ovarian cancer and refractory pancreatic cancer. Methods Study ENB-003-101 (MK-3475-951) is a multicenter, Phase 1/2, open-label study of ENB-003 in combination with pembrolizumab in adult subjects with advanced solid tumors. The part 1 dose escalation is enrolling subjects with ETBR+ tumors and includes 5 doses of ENB-003 in combination with a fixed dose of pembrolizumab. The primary objective of part 1 is to assess safety and tolerability, the secondary objective is to evaluate anti-tumor effect (RECIST 1.1 and iRECIST). Exploratory objectives are to examine biomarkers/pharmacodynamics. Results ENB-003, as a single agent and in combination with anti-PD1, was investigated in a variety of syngeneic preclinical models. ENB-003 enhanced the anti-tumor activity of anti-PD1 in anti-PD1 resistant models of melanoma, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, bladder cancer and SCC. For example, the combination of ENB-003 plus anti-PD1 in an anti-PD1-resistant melanoma model resulted in complete tumor eradication in 21 days as well as the formation of TLOs (tertiary lymphoid organs). The combination of ENB-003 plus pembrolizumab was well tolerated in the first 2 cohorts of the ongoing Phase 1 trial in patients with advanced refractory solid tumors that are ETBR+. Best overall responses from the first 2 cohorts (n=6) demonstrates disease stabilization (SD) in 2 patients as well as a partial response (PR) in an ovarian cancer patient with ~60% reduction in target lesions. Conclusions ETBRi is a novel approach to overcoming immunotherapy resistance. The combination of ENB-003 and pembrolizumab is well tolerated thus far and is demonstrating promising early signals of anti-tumor efficacy. Trial updates will be reported. Trial Registration NCT04205227 Ethics Approval This study was approved by an institutional Review Board at each investigational site. Reference Kandalaft L, Facciabene A, Buckanovich R, Coukos G. Endothelin B Receptor, a New Target in Cancer Immune Therapy. Clin Cancer Res 2009;15(14):4521-4528.


NKT cells of the immune system are crucial for suppressing autoimmunity and graft rejection, boosting resistance to infection, and promoting tumor immunity. However, little is known about the endogenous antigens that are recognized by these cells. In their Perspective,
 Godfrey
 et al .
 discuss new research that identifies the glycosphingolipid iGb3 as an antigen recognized by NKT cells that is necessary for their development and activation (
 Zhou
 et al .).


Several recent publications have studied the use of Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) for finding an optimal decision tree, that is, the best decision tree under formal requirements on accuracy, fairness or interpretability of the predictive model. These publications used MIP to deal with the hard computational challenge of finding such trees. In this paper, we introduce a new efficient algorithm, DL8.5, for finding optimal decision trees, based on the use of itemset mining techniques. We show that this new approach outperforms earlier approaches with several orders of magnitude, for both numerical and discrete data, and is generic as well. The key idea underlying this new approach is the use of a cache of itemsets in combination with branch-and-bound search; this new type of cache also stores results for parts of the search space that have been traversed partially.


A novel double-armed calix[4]arene derivative, 5,11,17,23-tetra-tert-butyl-25,27-bis{2-[N-(2-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzylidene)amino]ethoxy}-26,28-dihydroxycalix[4]arene (3), has been synthesized by the reaction of 1,3-alternately lower-rim-modified bis(2-aminoethoxy)-substituted calix[4]arene (2) with o-vanillin in 90% yield. Calorimetric titrations have been performed in anhydrous acetonitrile at 25 °C to give the complex stability constant (KS) and thermodynamic quantities for the complexation of light lanthanoid(III) nitrates (La–Gd) with 3. Using the present and reported data, the complexation behavior of the structurally related cyanomethyl analogue (1), aminoethyl analogue 2,
and 3 is discussed comparatively from a thermodynamic point of view. Possessing donating vanillin side-arms and structural flexibility, 3 gave the highest KS for Eu3+ among the light lanthanoid series. Having the same calix[4]arene skeleton in common, these hosts afforded distinctly different cation selectivity profiles. Thus, fairly low and invariant KS values over the entire light lanthanoid series were obtained with the cyano analogue 1, while the incorporation of amino side-arms in 2 greatly enhanced the KS for La3+ and less extensively for Ce3+ but no change was observed thereafter, giving a sharply declining pattern from La3+ to Pr3+ followed by a sudden leveling-off. In contrast,
the vanillino analogue 3 showed a global enhancement of KS for all light lanthanoids, displaying a unique selectivity profile with a broad peak at Nd3+ and a sharp spike at Eu3+. These results are accounted for in terms of the three-dimensional induced fit to lanthanoid ions by the lower-rim and side-arm donor atoms, which play a decisive role upon recognition of trivalent lanthanoid ions by the calix[4]arenes with flexible donating side-arms. Thermodynamically, the complexation is absolutely driven by the favorable enthalpy changes, but the cation selectivity is mainly determined by the less negative entropy changes.


A series of asymmetric formamidine ligands bearing different substituents with various steric and electronic properties on the nitrogen of the N–C–N motif were synthesized. Group 4 bis(formamidinate) dimethylamido, chloride, and benzyl complexes were studied using these asymmetric ligands and their solid-state structures and their behavior in solution were determined. These complexes were activated with MAO (methylalumoxane) or a combination of cocatalysts and tested in the polymerization of ethylene and propylene. A noticeable influence of the formamidine nitrogen substituents on the activity of the catalyst and properties of the obtained polymers was observed. Further, a plausible mechanism for the polymerization of propylene is presented derived from a combination of ESR-C60 and MALDI-TOF trapping experiments which shed light on the nature of the active catalytic species.


Identification of intra-specific diversity is an essential condition for the analysis of genetic diversity. Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni belonging to the family Compositae, has a long and successful history of use as a commercial sweetening agent. Stevia is a self-incompatible plant. Originated from a temperate country Paraguay, stevia is considered as an introduced species thus the number of stevia accessions available in Malaysia is still small and limited. Hybridization through Trigona-assisted pollination has successfully produced seven putative stevia F1 hybrids. In this study, 17 stevia accessions and introductions, mostly from Paraguay and different parts of
Malaysia including seven putative stevia hybrids were assayed by inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers to differentiate and explore their genetic relationships. A total of 332 clear bands were generated, out of which 275 (82.8 %) were polymorphic. The total number of markers varied from 6 to 18 with a mean of 10 markers per primer. The number of polymorphic markers for each primer varied from 3 (IS34/2) to 17 (IS55) with a mean of 8 polymorphic markers per primer. The amplified product size ranged from 50125 to 5000 bp. The PIC values ranged from 0.16 (IS34/2) to 0.5 (IS19, IS55, IS50, IS70 and IS78), with a mean PIC value of 0.43. The Jaccard's similarity coefficient values ranged from 0.375 to 812 with an average of 0.54. A dendrogram constructed based on the UPGMA clustering method, revealed two major Groups (A and B). Group-A showed segregated Bertam while Group B was further segregated into seven subgroups consisted of the remaining accessions studied. The present findings unarguably suggest extending the scope of detecting and quantifying the prevalent genetic diversity existing at the molecular level in the stevia accessions and the putative hybrids. To our knowledge this is the first report on the characterization stevia accessions and developed putative stevia hybrids in Malaysia based on thirty two primers. ISSRs have the potential to distinguish closely related accessions based on the patterns of their amplicons. High polymorphism obtained indicates ISSR is an efficient technique or evaluating genetic diversity in stevia. The present study also elucidates the utility of ISSR markers as an efficient tool to screen putative hybrids obtained from Trigona- assisted pollination.


Dr. G has a very busy dermatology practice in a large city. When he sought to hire a young physician to join his practice, he wanted to be certain that this physician would never compete with him. The young physician, coming right out of his residency-training program, had no problem with the concept.


In this volume on Conservation of Biodiversity, Berkes and Turner focus on how community-based conservation and management systems contribute to the preservation and development of useful Indigenous knowledge, how this important source of knowledge is undergoing both productive and unproductive transformations, and how institutions and knowledge co-evolve over time when local communities have considerable autonomy. Alcorn and coauthors address how local communities working with local governments have been empowered to conserve biodiversity in Pando, Bolivia. They use the single case to illustrate a broader set of design issues. In the third article, Ross and Innes provide a framework for examining some of the cooperative management techniques related to the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area in Australia. This is an innovative effort to integrate Indigenous rights and the management of an incredible environmental resource. To conclude the volume, Molnar provides a useful synthesis of what is new and what is old in the current debates about the role of communities and conservation.