Through an examination of two festivals – Qing Ming and Cap Go Meh – in the town of Singkawang in Indonesian Borneo (Kalimantan), we show how Singkawang-bound Chinese Indonesian tourists and their Singkawang-based relatives produce a diasporic heritage network through 'moorings' generated by both transnational and internal migration. Instead of returning to a singular 'homeland' in distant China, these tourists return to Chinese-majority Singkawang as a result of their personal genealogical roots and of their broader cultural allegiance with a kind of Chinese-ness that Singkawang has come to represent within a post-Suharto Indonesia. Through these two festivals, we demonstrate how personal heritage practices like 'roots tourism' and visiting friends and relatives are intimately bound up with identity and developmental politics at local, national and international scales. In so doing, we identify a range of ways in which migratory and tourism flows by Chinese Indonesian internal migrants shape relations to their ancestral hometowns and cultural 'homelands' in Indonesia within the context of membership to and participation in a broader transnational diaspora.


In this study we investigated the translational capacities of bicistronic and spliced mRNAs originating from the E6 and E7 regions of the high-risk genital human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) and the low-risk HPV-11. For HPV-16 it was found, unexpectedly, that E7 protein could be translated from full-length bicistronic E6-E7 mRNAs. E6*I and E6*II splicing events were not required for E7 synthesis, nor did splicing increase the efficiency of E7 translation significantly. In cells, E7 synthesis from all known naturally occurring mRNA structures was very inefficient compared with that from synthetic monocistronic controls, suggesting that HPV-16 employs translational mechanisms to restrict E7 protein levels. For HPV-11, only RNAs initiated at the P264 promoter, located within the E6 open reading frame, were capable of providing an efficient template for E7 synthesis. P264-initiated mRNAs were as efficient in vivo as monocistronic controls, suggesting that the low-risk HPV-11 does not limit E7 synthesis by translational mechanisms. A detailed analysis of HPV-16 templates by using site-directed mutagenesis showed that the majority of ribosomes which ultimately translate E7 have not reinitiated after translating some or all of the upstream open reading frames. The data support a model in which the failure of 40S ribosomal initiation complexes to recognize the E6 AUG renders them capable of proceeding efficiently to translate E7.


Traditional models of export bonus programs focus only on the effects of disposing public stocks on the world market. We show that the economic effects of export bonus programs are significantly different when one includes the costs of acquiring these stocks. Including stock acquisition costs has the domestic price always rising, rather than an ambiguous effect of the traditional model of an export bonus program. We also show that including stock acquisition costs results in an export bonus scheme to be equivalent to cash export subsidies. When an export bonus program is combined with an existing target price scheme, government cost may either rise or fall in either model, but for different reasons. In an empirical simulation of the U.S. Export Enhancement Program for wheat, we show that the model that includes acquisition costs induces a lower level of tax cost than the traditional model even though taxpayers bear the additional burden of acquisition expenditures.


The main goal of root canal treatment is thorough debridement of the root canal and filling it three-dimensionally. Failure to negotiate all the canals may lead to an unsuccessful treatment outcome. So it becomes necessary for the clinician to have a meticulous knowledge of aberrations in the root canal system. The majority of mandibular first molars are two rooted with one distal and two mesial canals. Variations such as three mesial and three distal root canals individually or in combination have been reported. Such variations can be quite challenging for the clinician, but with the aid of magnification, proper visualization and detection of extra root canals is possible. This case report depicts a rare occurrence of three canals in the distal root of mandibular first molar and its endodontic management with surgical loupes. An extensive understanding of the most common root canal configuration and its variations is a prerequisite to achieve long-term success of the endodontic treatment. Use of magnification such as surgical loupes aids in the visualization and detection of extra canals and increases the percentage of success of endodontic treatment.


In recent years, as newer technologies have evolved around the healthcare ecosystem, more and more data have been generated. Advanced analytics could power the data collected from numerous sources, both from healthcare institutions, or generated by individuals themselves via apps and devices, and lead to innovations in treatment and diagnosis of diseases; improve the care given to the patient; and empower citizens to participate in the decision-making process regarding their own health and well-being. However, the sensitive nature of the health data prohibits healthcare organizations from sharing the data. The Personal Health Train (PHT) is a novel approach, aiming to establish a distributed data analytics infrastructure enabling the (re)use of distributed healthcare data, while data owners stay in control of their own data. The main principle of the PHT is that data remain in their original location, and analytical tasks visit data sources and execute the tasks. The PHT provides a distributed, flexible approach to use data in a network of participants, incorporating the FAIR principles. It facilitates the responsible use of sensitive and/or personal data by adopting international principles and regulations. This paper presents the concepts and main components of the PHT and demonstrates how it complies with FAIR principles.


Objectives: Mining social media artifacts requires substantial processing before content analyses. In this report, we describe our procedures for preprocessing 14,576 e-mail messages sent to a mailing list of several hundred dental professionals. Our goal was to transform the messages into a format useful for natural language processing (NLP) to enable subsequent discovery of clinical topics expressed in the corpus.

Methods: Preprocessing involved message capture, database creation and import, extraction of multipurpose Internet mail extensions, decoding of encoded text, de-identification, and cleaning. We also developed a Web-based tool to identify signals for noisy strings and sections, and to verify the effectiveness of customized noise filters. We tailored our cleaning strategies to delete text and images that would impede NLP and in-depth content analyses. Before applying the full set of filters to each message, we determined an effective filter order.

Results: Preprocessing messages improved effectiveness of NLP by 38%. Sources of noise included personal information in the salutation, the farewell, and the signature block; names and places mentioned in the body of the text; threads with quoted text; advertisements; embedded or attached images; spam- and virus-scanning notifications; auto text parts; e-mail addresses; and Web links. We identified 53 patterns of noise and delivered a set of de-identified and cleaned messages to the NLP analyst.

Conclusion: Preprocessing electronic messages can markedly improve subsequent NLP to enable discovery of clinical topics.

Keywords: Electronic mail; data processing; natural language processing; dental informatics


Background Prospective and longitudinal studies have examined liver donors' medical outcomes beyond the first 1 to 2 years postdonation. There is no analogous longitudinal evidence on long-term psychosocial outcomes, including patient-reported clinically significant mental health problems and perceptions of physical well-being. We examined prevalence, descriptive characteristics, and predictors of diagnosable mental health conditions and self-reported physical health problems, including fatigue and pain, in the long-term years after liver donation. Methods Donors from 9 centers who initially completed telephone interviews at 3 to 10 years postdonation (mean, 5.8 years; SD, 1.9) were reinterviewed annually for 2 years using validated measures. Outcomes were examined descriptively. Repeated-measures regression analyses evaluated potential predictors and correlates of outcomes. Results Of 517 donors initially interviewed (66% of those eligible), 424 (82%) were reassessed at least once. Prevalence rates of major depression and clinically significant pain were similar to general population norms; average fatigue levels were better than norms. All prevalence rates showed little temporal change. Anxiety and alcohol use disorder rates exceeded normative rates at 1 or more assessments. Longer postdonation hospitalization, female sex, higher body mass index, concerns about donation-related health effects, and burdensome donation-related financial costs were associated with increased risk for most outcomes (P's < 0.05). Men were at higher risk for alcohol use disorder (P < 0.001). Conclusions Anxiety and alcohol use disorders were more common than would be expected; they may warrant increased research attention and clinical surveillance. Surveillance for long-term problems in the areas assessed may be optimized by targeting donors at higher risk based on identified predictors and correlates.


In The Politics of Islamic Law, Iza Hussin demonstrates that the colonial encounter in British Malaya, India, and Egypt not only marginalized Islamic law but also centralized it in several significant ways. Charting a course beyond conventional approaches to law, religious doctrine, jurisprudence, and politics, Hussin produces a detailed analysis of the cultural and political complexity of the centralization of Islamic law in the colonial state. Drawing upon extensive archival research, she describes how Malay, South Asian, and Egyptian elites navigated structural and political opportunities within the colonial system. She also points out that the curtailed space of Islamic law is a realm in which local elites and other colonial subjects resist constraints even while being paradoxically hampered by the terms they contest. Indeed, Hussin makes a major contribution through the manner in which she elucidates the dynamic flux of concepts such as state, law, ethnicity, religion, and politics in the changing and varied colonial and postcolonial contexts. For instance, in chapter 5, following an instructive discussion of representations and the making of Muslim states, she informs us that "[i]n Malaya, Islam became more and more identified with the Malay elites and the rural Malay peasants that they claimed to protect" (p. 205). In the two final chapters, Hussin proceeds to explore the entanglements of Islamic governance and the modern Muslim state as well as the contemporary politics of two high-profile apostasy dramas, the Lina Joy and Nyonya Tahir cases. She astutely follows the growing significance of the politics of law in colonial Malaya, India, and Egypt as subjects paradoxically embrace and attempt to enhance the jurisdiction of sharia within projects of modernity and secularity. Taking a cue from Talal Asad's theoretical approach to secularism, Hussin elucidates the interconnected politics of paradox of the shifting dynamics of religion and secularity across these colonized regions. Moreover, she illustrates that the two controversial apostasy cases involving Malay women reflect the simultaneous ascendancy of the arcs of law and ethnicity in the context of contemporary Malaysia. Here, given the "symbolic centrality" of law and ethnicity, the Malay Muslim majority appears to have less religious freedom than non-Muslim citizens. Noting that the politics of Islamic law have changed over time, Hussin suggests the significance of detailed ethnographic and archival research of the linking of sharia, society, and the modern nation-state in contemporary societies. This fine text is likely to be of interest to scholars of Asian studies, state formation, secularism, modernity, and postcoloniality.


regional integration appears to have displaced the multilateral process as a means of liberalising trade in the world economy. Does the pursuit of regional agreements undermine the multilateral process of trade liberalisation embodied in the GATT? In this paper we develop a theoretical framework exploring the optimal size of trade blocs.


ABSTRACT Research suggests that efficacy and empowerment are necessary for social engagement and that a sense of efficacy and empowerment exerts positive influences on older adults. However, little is known about how individual efficacy and empowerment are affected by group efficacy and empowerment in later life. To assess the impact of group involvement on the individual, the authors conducted a follow-up study with members of an art guild for older adults. Qualitative data were collected in 1997 and 2001 to ascertain the members' perceptions of group goals and accomplishments, membership benefits, the effect on the community, societal views about older adults, and the impact of group activities on the individual. The results clearly indicated that collective efficacy and empowerment through social engagement were beneficial to members as individuals and as a group, and contributed to well-being through a general sense of accomplishment and pride.


Shannon's source and channel-coding separation theorem has been the basic philosophy followed by most state-of-the-art wireless transceivers, where all source signals are assumed to have the same importance and are protected equally by the channel encoder. However, due to its assumption of using idealized Gaussian channels, potentially infinite encoding/decoding delay as well as complexity, Shannon's source and channel-coding theorem is not strictly applicable in practical wireless scenarios. This is because it is almost impossible to remove all the redundancy of the video source, therefore there exits a certain amount of residual correlation. Moreover, reallife applications are often required to transmit source signals associated with unequal importance, such as the base-layer and enhancement-layer of layered video codecs. Hence joint source-channel coding (JSCC) was proposed for wireless scenarios by jointly exploiting the residual redundancy of the video source and the intentionally imposed redundancy of unequal error protection (UEP) techniques. A video codec suitable for lossless video compression and iterative source-channel decoding (ISCD) is proposed by further developing the Markov random field (MRF) soft source decoder for the transmission of video sequences, rather than still video pictures. More explicitly, we used low complexity frame-differencing (FD) for removing the temporal-domain inter-frame redundancy. The low-complexity FD technique does not rely on power-thirsty motion-vector-based motion-compensation and as its other benefit, it does not require the transmission of motion vectors. However, this results in more residual redundancy than the more complex motion-vector based motion-compensation. Furthermore, variable-length code (VrLC) is used for removing the residual spatial redundancy of the FD signal, while exploiting the correlations amongst the FD pixels within the current frame with the aid of our MRF model based soft-in-soft-out (SISO) module. By adopting the MRF for modelling of the video pixels, we can infer maximum a posteriori (MAP) image estimates from the 2-D spatial redundancy between the video pixels, while simpler models like the Markov chain can only explore the 1-D spatial redundancy. Although the estimation of the MRF parameters is a challenge compared to the 1-D Markov models, we conceived novel extrinsic information transfer (EXIT)-chart-based estimation methods, which are shown to be effective. Moreover, a novel three-stage ISCD structure is proposed, which outperforms the two-stage architecture. Furthermore, we examined the convergence of the three-stage iterative decoding process using 3D EXIT charts. The performance of our system operating both with and without FD is compared to our benchmarker schemes. In support of inter-layer forward error correction (IL-FEC) coded layered video transmission, we conceived an adaptive truncated HARQ (ATHARQ) scheme for minimizing the video distortion under the constraint of a given total number of transmission time slots. More specifically, we investigated the merits of IL-FEC schemes in the context of truncated HARQ (THARQ) transmission schemes, where the packet scheduling arrangements were carefully designed for exploiting the specific characteristics of each IL-FEC coded packet. Furthermore, we developed a method of on-line optimization for our IL-ATHARQ transmission scheme, in order to find the most appropriate FEC code rate distribution among the video layers that reduced the video distortion. Type-I HARQ relying on Convolutional Codes (CC) was used for simplicity, because our focus was on the design of the scheduling schemes. The performance of our IL-ATHARQ scheme as well as of the rate-optimized IL-ATHARQ scheme using a RSC codec were compared to the benchmarkers using different video sequences, followed by characterizing both the effects of the delay as well as of the channel quality prediction errors on the attainable system performance. Finally, we conceived an UEP scheme for layered video transmission in the downlink of a visible light communication system, explicitly, we proposed a hierarchical colour-shift keying (HCSK) modulation scheme based on the standardized colourshift keying (CSK), which is capable of conveying inter-dependent layers of video signals. More specifically, we proposed the Type I and Type II HCSK arrangements, which can be flexibly configured by according to the channel quality, video quality, etc., where the Type II constellation allows us to use a wider range of FERs for the higher layers upon varying the constellation-shaping parameter dl. Our simulation results show that Type II HCSK provides a high grade of flexibility in terms of both its system configuration and optimization. Furthermore, we provided a detailed design example for the employment of HCSK transmitting scalable video sources with the aid of a RSC code. An optimisation method was conceived in order to enhance the UEP and to improve the quality of the received video. The performance of our optimised M-HCSK-RSC video transmission system using different HCSK constellation sizes was compared to the relevant benchmarker schemes using different video sequences.


A greenhouse experiment was established with loquat plants to investigate the role of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in the control of the white root rot fungus Armillaria mellea and to determine the changes produced in the plant metabolome. Plants inoculated with two AMF, Rhizoglomus irregulare and a native AMF isolate from loquat soils, were infected with Armillaria. Although mycorrhization failed to control the Armillaria root infection, the increased growth of infected plants following inoculation with the native mycorrhizal isolate suggests an initial tolerance towards Armillaria. Overall, metabolomics allowed highlighting the molecular basis of the improved plant growth in the presence of Armillaria following AMF colonization. In this regard, a wide and diverse metabolic response was involved in the initial tolerance to the pathogen. The AMF-mediated elicitation altered the hormone balance and modulated the production of reactive oxygen species (mainly via the reduction of chlorophyll intermediates), possibly interfering with the reactive oxygen species (ROS) signaling cascade. A complex modulation of fucose, ADP-glucose and UDP-glucose, as well as the down-accumulation of lipids and fatty acids, were observed in Armillaria-infected plants following AMF colonization. Nonetheless, secondary metabolites directly involved in plant defense, such as DIMBOA and conjugated isoflavone phytoalexins, were also involved in the AMF-mediated plant response to infection.


This Article proposes that civil rights plaintiffs pursuing cases against governmental defendants should be entitled to receive court-ordered apologies as an equitable remedy. Part I discusses the importance of apology in American society and concludes that apology is culturally embedded as an essential component of everyday dispute resolution. Part II provides a brief overview of current legal scholarship in the area of apology, including the lack of such scholarship related to court-ordered apologies as a civil remedy. Part III argues that traditional forms of compensation fail to provide adequate relief to civil rights victims because they neglect psychological, emotional, and symbolic injuries. It proposes court-ordered apologies as an effective means of healing psychological wounds, reinforcing norms, restoring social equilibrium, promoting social change, and compelling governmental reform. Part IV anticipates and responds to likely objections to court-ordered apologies, including the misguided notion that public apologies must be sincere to be effective. Finally, Part V provides some guidance in the art of compelled apology.


A fixed oscillating water column is a hollow structure open to the sea at its submerged part. The water column motion alternately compresses and decompresses the enclosed air above the inner free surface, which drives a self-rectifying air turbine. In 2003, Boccotti proposed the so-called U-OWC having in view the integration into breakwaters. In this configuration, the inner water is connected to the sea by a U-shaped duct whose opening faces upwards rather than sideways or downwards. This allows the OWC length to be extended (and the resonance frequency reduced) without placing the opening too deeply submerged where wave energy is attenuated by distance to the free-surface. An advantage of OWC converters is the capability to control or dissipate the excess energy available to the power take-off system in excessively energetic sea states.  This is in general done by limiting the air turbine torque by controlling a by-pass air valve or a valve in series with the turbine. What is proposed here is to take advantage of the water column configuration to limit the energy absorbed from the waves in the more energetic sea states. This requires the tidal amplitude to be small as occurs in coastal areas like the Mediterranean Sea. The distance of the OWC opening to the mid-sea-level should be chosen such that, in the more energetic sea states, that opening is left uncovered by the troughs of the higher waves. This introduces a limitation to the energy absorbed in the more energetic sea states. This paper reports experiments with a 1:40th-scale U-OWC in a wave flume. The results show that limitations to the capture width ratio occurs in the more energetic wave systems.


Recently, an association between multiple sclerosis and Chlamydia pneumoniae infection has been suggested. Because standardized PCR protocols are lacking, a series of studies could not clarify whether C. pneumoniae is present in brain tissue and CSF of MS patients. Therefore, other studies focused on the humoral immune response against C. pneumoniae: 24% of MS patients, but only 5% of the control patients showed intrathecally produced antibodies against C. pneumoniae. If an infection with C. pneumoniae was involved in the pathogenesis of MS, one would expect that, in analogy to other infections of the CNS, the oligoclonal bands in the CSF of MS patients would recognize the responsible agent. However, the results we obtained by affinity-mediated immunoblots showed that the oligoclonal bands in the CSF of MS patients are not directed against Chlamydia antigen. In contrast to this, we found that the immunoglobulins in the CSF of neuroborreliosis patients reacted strongly against Borrelia antigen in the affinity-mediated immunoblots. In light of these results we assume that the intrathecal immunoglobulin production against C. pneumoniae is part of a polyspecific immune response. Thus, it is not likely that C. pneumoniae is causally linked to the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis.


Quantum metamaterials - controllably quantum coherent artificial media - present a new direction of research at the interface of quantum information processing and physics of artificial electromagnetic materials. They can be thought of as built of qubits, which maintain coherence long enough for the electromagnetic pulse to travel across. The direct access to the quantum state of each constituent "atom" of a quantum metamaterial, together with the global quantum coherence of the system, provide novel opportunities to investigate the foundational questions of quantum-classical transition, a different view of adiabatic quantum computers, and a way to other interesting technological applications. I will review the current state and prospective directions of research in this field, including the possible realizations of quantum metamaterials in the microwave and optical ranges.


Reappraisal and suppression are among the most commonly studied emotion regulation strategies and refer to the cognitive reframing of emotional events (reappraisal), and the behavioral inhibition of emotional reactions (suppression). This selective review examines relationships between trait-expressions of these two emotion regulation styles and psychopathology as well as links with mental health. Findings generally suggest a beneficial role of reappraisal and a maladaptive role of suppression. However, exaggerations of emotion regulation-mental health links are possible as both are subject to reporting biases. Ideally, self-reported emotion regulation styles should be assessed together with behavioral and physiological measures of emotional responding and actual emotion regulation success, to delineate their link to mental health.


A marine Streptomyces sp. SNG9 was characterized by its ability to utilize poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and its copolymer poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate P (3HB-co-HV). The bacterium grew efficiently in a simple mineral liquid medium enriched with 0.1 % poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) powder as the sole carbon source. Cells excreted PHB depolymerase and degraded the polymer particles to complete clarity in 4 days. The degradation activity was detectable by the formation of a clear zone around the colony (petri plates) or a clear depth under the colony (test tubes). The expression of PHB depolymerase was repressed by the presence of simple soluble carbon sources. Bacterial degradation of the naturally occurring sheets of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) and its copolymer poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Morphological alterations of the polymers sheets were evidence for bacterial hydrolysis.


Recently, there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of, and depth of coverage of celebrity lives. Celebrities are now appearing in hard news stories, pictured performing mundane daily activities, and seen supporting various causes. This research explores the increased emergence of entertainment news in the print media by examining the dominance of celebrity coverage in articles involving activist causes. Does print media coverage of celebrity activism focus more on the cause or the celebrity involved? Using the data collected from September 2008 to September 2009 issues of Time magazine, Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report, this research has shown that print media reports of celebrity activism is largely celebrity focused.


In the field of agriculture two things are important, first the fertility of the soil and second, moisture content present in the soil. These two factor decide that how well will be the growth of seeds or content present in the soil are sufficient for the showing of seeds. Moisture of the soil depends on how much content of water is present in soil. Moister present in soil is dependent on type land and climates conditions present wither rainy region, dry region, and hot tropical. In recent time there is advancement in technology used in agriculture changing the phase of agriculture. Irrigation of farming is completely different from ancient method of irrigation as new method like drip irrigation is used by farmers. Farmer use using traditional method of irrigation waste lot of water, up to 60% and Drip irrigation helps to reduce this percentage of waste water. Drip Method using present day are automatic, wireless sensors, all based on microcontroller monitored by remote from the base station. These wireless sensors collect all the data related to soil moisture, fertility, and chemical ingredient, requirement of pesticides and after analyzing this gathered information alert for a better plan for irrigation for particular crop.


Understanding how an invasive plant can colonize a large range of environments is still a great challenge in freshwater ecology. For the first time, we assessed the relative importance of four factors on the phosphorus uptake and growth of an invasive macrophyte Elodea nuttallii (Planch.) St. John. This study provided data on its phenotypic plasticity, which is frequently suggested as an important mechanism but remains poorly investigated. The phosphorus uptake of two Elodea nuttallii subpopulations was experimentally studied under contrasting environmental conditions. Plants were sampled in the Rhine floodplain and in the Northern Vosges mountains, and then maintained in aquaria in hard (Rhine) or soft (Vosges) water. Under these conditions, we tested the influence of two trophic states (eutrophic state, 100 μg.l−1 P-PO4 3− and hypertrophic state, 300 μg.l−1 P-PO4 3−) on the P metabolism of plant subpopulations collected at three seasons (winter, spring and summer). Elodea nuttallii was able to absorb high levels of phosphorus through its shoots and enhance its phosphorus uptake, continually, after an increase of the resource availability (hypertrophic > eutrophic). The lowest efficiency in nutrient use was observed in winter, whereas the highest was recorded in spring, what revealed thus a storage strategy which can be beneficial to new shoots. This experiment provided evidence that generally, the water trophic state is the main factor governing P uptake, and the mineral status (softwater > hardwater) of the stream water is the second main factor. The phenological stage appeared to be a confounding factor to P level in water. Nonetheless, phenology played a role in P turnover in the plant. Finally, phenotypic plasticity allows both subpopulations to adapt to a changing environment.


BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of obesity and overweight on diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension (HTN) control in a healthy lifestyle intervention program in Iran. METHODS: Within the framework of the Isfahan Healthy Heart Program (IHHP), a community trial that was conducted to prevent and control cardiovascular disease and its risk factors, two intervention counties (Isfahan and Najafabad) and one reference county (Arak) were selected. Demographic information, medical history, anti-diabetic and anti-hypertensive medications use were asked by trained interviewers in addition to physical examination and laboratory tests for 12514 adults aged more than 19 years in 2001 and were repeated for 9572 adults in 2007. RESULTS: In women, the frequency of HTN control change significantly neither in normal weight nor in those with high body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) or waist to hip ratio (WHR). In men, the frequency of HTN control was only significant among those with high WHR, whereas the interaction between changes in intervention compared to reference area from 2001 to 2007 was significant in men with normal or high WC or WHR. In intervention area, the number of women with high BMI who controlled their DM increased significantly from 2001 to 2007 (p = 0.008), however, this figure decreased in men. In reference area, obesity indices had no significant association with DM control. The percentage of diabetic subjects with high WC who controlled their DM decreased non-significantly in intervention area compared to reference area in 2007. A non-significant increase in controlled DM among men and women with high WHR was observed between intervention and reference areas. CONCLUSIONS: Our lifestyle interventions did not show any improving effect on HTN or DM control among obese subjects based on different obesity indices. Other lifestyle intervention strategies are suggested.


This paper describes an ongoing initiative to enhance learner digital literacies by fostering historical thinking using digitized primary sources. Engaging with primary sources is central to the development of authentic critical historical thinking. In the past thirty years, millions of primary sources have been digitized by libraries and archives and has created a wealth of rich content for historians and history students. However the sheer scale of sources material, websites and questions about source quality make it a challenging research environment for learners. Based on current tutor and student feedback, additional support material that could increase access to these valuable open educational resources would be well received. The initiative is creating a set of learning materials which will support the use of online primary sources and enhance the learner experience. These learning materials will support flexible/off-campus learners and their development of research skills in the six BA in Humanities (Open Education) history modules. The learning materials are comprised of:
  An interactive guide to online primary sources
  An accompanying social bookmarking web page- Diigo
  An online tutorial to practise finding, evaluating and using online primary sources


Objective To determine the frequency and clinical significance of abnormalities on postoperative computerized tomography (CT) scans performed within 24 hours after lateral skull base surgery. Study Design Case series with chart review. Setting Inpatient tertiary care hospital. Methods Adult patients undergoing lateral skull base surgery were identified using CPT code search from January 2010 to January 2013. Patient demographics, type of skull base lesion, surgical approach, length of operation, time between end of the surgery and CT scan, CT scan findings, and patients' postsurgical neurologic status were collected. Results One hundred and seventy-two patients were identified who had a postoperative CT scan after lateral skull base surgery. Diagnoses included schwannoma (95), cerebrospinal fluid fistula (29), middle fossa encephaloceles (9), meningioma (13), superior semicircular canal dehiscence (12), and other disease processes (14). The approaches were middle fossa (64), translabyrinthine (70), suboccipital (17), infratemporal (8), and combined/other (13). Mild pneumocephalus was almost always found, along with mild extra-axial blood. Twenty-four patients had significant mass effect found on CT scan, but this was present preoperatively. Three patients had a mild subdural without neurological decline. No patient suffered any clinically significant neurological decline, although 5 patients reported finger numbness that resolved spontaneously and 2 patients had confusion in the immediate postoperative period. Conclusion Clinically significant abnormalities on immediate postoperative CT scans were rare, as were cases of neurological decline. Further prospective studies could determine a more cost-effective algorithm for routine use of postoperative imaging.


The emergence of various service technologies has reshaped how today's customers interact with the service provider. The current research proposes a service matrix delineating various types of service encounters along two dimensions: touch (the extent to which customers directly interact with frontline employees) and tech (the intensity of technology use). Furthermore, we investigate the moderating role of relationship type (i.e., communal vs. exchange) in influencing customer evaluations of touch and tech type encounters and further identify the underlying mechanism. The results from the two empirical studies demonstrate the moderating effect of the communal relationship norms and the consequent mediation effect of warmth. This research lays the foundation for the future investigation of different service encounter management practices based on various levels of human factors and technology infusion. For service companies, our findings about the interplay of service encounter types and customer–company relationships will help them to better understand their customers and consequently provide an optimal level of service.


Large lakes have always represented a problem for regional gravity databases; the difficulty of access means gaps or coarse spacing in the sampling. Satellite, airborne, and shipborne gravity techniques are options, but the resolution and/or cost of these systems make them impractical or inaccurate for exploration or environmental studies, where the required resolution is 0.1 mGal/km. In this study, the feasibility of a ground gravity survey over a frozen lake where ice moves because of windy conditions is assessed. Lake Wanapitei, widely accepted as resulting from the impact of a meteorite 37 million years ago, is one of these cases in which the necessity of expanding coverage over poorly sampled regions arose from a significant gap between surface and airborne geophysical maps. Two gravity surveys were completed on the ice of Lake Wanapitei in the winters of 2003 and 2004. To study the structure, longtime series of gravity field measurements were recorded for 98 stations, allowing for improved control over the noise sources in the data. Final processing and integration with an existing regional data set in the area and the application of terrain corrections reduced the amplitude of the circular anomaly from 15 to 9 mGal and its diameter from 11 to 6 km. The feasibility of gravity surveys on ice was assessed, and we determined that for large-scale studies such as this one, the quality of the data, even under noisy conditions, was acceptable. However, for more detailed mapping, calm wind conditions and long time series are required.


Abstract. The accurate knowledge of variations of melt ponds is important for understanding Arctic energy budget due to its albedo-transmittance-melt feedback. In this study, we develop and validate a new method for retrieving melt pond fraction (MPF) from the MODIS surface reflectance. We construct an ensemble-based deep neural network and use in-situ observations of MPF from multi-sources to train the network. The results show that our derived MPF is in good agreement with the observations, and relatively outperforms the MPF retrieved by University of Hamburg. Built on this, we create a new MPF data from 2000 to 2017 (the longest data in our knowledge), and analyze the spatial and temporal variability of MPF. It is found that the MPF has significant increasing trends from late July to early September, which is largely contributed by the MPF over the first-year sea ice. The analysis based on our MPF during 2000–2017 confirms that the integrated MPF to late June does promise to improve the prediction skill of seasonal Arctic sea ice minimum. However, our MPF data shows concentrated significant correlations first appear in a band, extending from the eastern Beaufort Sea, through the central Arctic, to the northern East Siberian and Laptev Seas in early-mid June, and then shifts towards large areas of the Beaufort Sea, Canadian Arctic, the northern Greenland Sea and the central Arctic basin.


Understanding the spatial pattern of visitor use in parks is essential for protecting park resources and visitor experiences. Information on the specific locations and intensity of use can provide an important "early warning" of locations of potential visitor resource impact and of times and places where visitor density is suggestive of crowding and other experience issues. Past studies have traditionally used techniques such as automated visitor counters, observational methodologies, and survey techniques to gain an understanding of the spatial component of visitor use behavior and of visitor use intensity. However, these methods have various limitations including logistical considerations and the reliability and accuracy of the techniques. This research reports on recent methodological advances in three studies where global positioning system (GPS) tracking methodologies was used to determine the locations and densities of visitor use along trail corridors. GPS-based methods were used in the Tuolumne Meadows trail system of Yosemite National Park to understand visitor use at this popular hiking destination, within the Bear Lake Corridor of Rocky Mountain National Park to examine the spatial patterns of visitor use, and in the Teton Range to measure the frequency, timing, and intensity of winter backcountry recreation. Findings from these studies suggest that GPS tracking methodology holds significant promise. GPS-based methods can be used to gather both spatial and temporal information about visitors in a variety of protected area management situations. The data resulting from GPS strategies are ample, detailed, and more accurate spatially than data collected using traditional methodologies. GPS tracking methodology has the potential to be combined with other data sources, such as visitor surveys and recreation ecology assessments, to provide an important use-related context to these approaches. Overall, GPS tracking can be used to gain information vital to the understanding of several contemporary issues in protected area management such as visitor experience and natural resource impacts, visitor-wildlife concerns, and visitor soundscape experiences.


A new time contour is used to derive real-time thermal field theory. Unlike previous path integral approaches, no contributions to the generating functional are dropped


The definition of Turkish nationhood after the founding of the Republic has been evaluated and labelled very differently by various scholars. The classical view paralleled the official representation of Republican policies in describing Turkish nationhood as being based on a civic and territorial understanding of nationality. More recent and much more critical scholarship, which enjoys a near-hegemonic position in the study of Turkish nationalism today, claims that the official definition of Turkish nationhood has a clearly identifiable mono-ethnic orientation, manifest in a series of policies and institutions. This article argues that the definition of Turkish nationhood as manifest in state policies is neither territorial nor mono-ethnic, but rather ironically for the adamantly secular Turkish republic, the definition of Turkish nationhood is mono-religious and anti-ethnic, in striking continuity with the Islamic millet under the Ottoman Empire. The reason critical scholars perceive Turkish nationhood as mono-ethnic might stem from the dichotomous view of nationalisms as civic versus ethnic, a dichotomy that has recently been repudiated by some of its erstwhile proponents. Supremacy of the religious over ethnic categories in Turkey, as a historical legacy of the Ottoman millet system, might be applicable to most post-Ottoman states in the Islamic Middle East and North Africa, in contrast to the interplay of ethnicity and religion in Western Europe. This view of Turkish nationhood is confirmed by a dozen interviews that the author conducted with members of the political and intellectual elite of different ideological orientations in Turkey. It is then demonstrated how the new efforts at reformulating modern Turkish identity with reference to Ottoman and Islamic conceptions lead to new inclusion–exclusion dynamics with the Kurds and the Alevis, suggesting that a truly inclusive reformulation has to follow secular and territorial principles.


Bioenergy produced from biomass is increasingly used to substitute fossil energy sources. Trade of biomass is expected to increase in the following years due to disparities in production costs and potentials in countries and regions. In this paper the possibility of a certification scheme for minimizing negative socio-ecological impacts and for increasing a sustainable production of biomass is discussed, taking Brazilian bioethanol as an example. This case-study comes up with a first set of feasible sustainability standards for Brazilian bioethanol and discusses issues to be considered when developing sustainability standards. At the same time problematic aspects are identified. When incorporating opinions of different stakeholders, the setting of sustainability standards holds the inherent danger of being used as non-tariff trade barriers. This leads to the need for a regionalisation of sustainability standards and raises questions on structure and level of a certification scheme.


Abstract Background and aims : Leakage of toxic and hazardous substances in the chemical and process industries always had been one of the factors threatening the workers and residents of the industries. The purpose of this study is modeling of hexane emissions planning emergency response program. Methods : In this study we describe the factors affecting discharging release of material and ALOHA software used as one of the best software for modeling emissions from storage tank 579 thousand gallons of hexane, in a petrochemical. And based on modeling results emergency response plan in sudden devastation of hexane tank prepared and presented. Results : The results of modeling toxic vapor cloud formation caused by the release of hexane and form liquid pools around tank (scenario 1) showed that the diameter of pool formed was 200 m and about 140 meters around tank concentration of hexane is 8600 PPm (range AGEL-3) that there is risk of death and life-threatening in people that are in the area. Distances up to 160 meters of tank, concentration of hexane is 7200 ppm that is about 60% of the Lower explosive limit (LEL) in gas-hexane. To 526 meters of hexane tank, concentration of hexane is 1200 ppm that is about 10% of the Lower explosive limit (LEL) of hexane gas. In explosion of toxic vapor cloud up to 133 meters away from the tank area is 8 psi, and to a distance of about 196 meters of tank, the blast wave pressure is 3 Psi. In the event of scenario 2 (hexane emissions from tank associated with the burning) thermal radiation from a distance of 353 meters of the tank is 10KW/sqm and to 491 meters of away from tank thermal radiation is 5 KW/sqm. BELEVI and tank explosive occurring (scenario 3) leads to the formation of a fireball with 640 meters diameter in 31 seconds time, and the amount of thermal radiation to 1.3 km from tank is 10KW / sqm. Conclusion : Hexane toxicity is the most serious consequences of danger that threatening the personnel. Therefore preparation of emergency response plan will have an important role in limiting the harmful effects in release of toxic and hazardous substances.


Resource theory constitutes important explanations of spousal violence in culturally diverse societies. This article extends the theory by adding several subjective indicators: husband's financial strain and the couple's appraisal of each other's financial and nonfinancial contributions to family. We examined the role of these subjective dimensions of resource in spousal violence against the backdrop of other predictors, including the husband's absolute socioeconomic resources, the wife's economic dependence, and relative resource differences between the husband and wife. The findings not only partly support absolute and relative resource theories but also suggest the salient role of subjective indicators of resources on husband-to-wife physical assault.


The rising growth of fake news and misleading information through online media outlets demands an automatic method for detecting such news articles. Of the few limited works which differentiate between trusted vs other types of news article (satire, propaganda, hoax), none of them model sentence interactions within a document. We observe an interesting pattern in the way sentences interact with each other across different kind of news articles. To capture this kind of information for long news articles, we propose a graph neural network-based model which does away with the need of feature engineering for fine grained fake news classification. Through experiments, we show that our proposed method beats strong neural baselines and achieves state-of-the-art accuracy on existing datasets. Moreover, we establish the generalizability of our model by evaluating its performance in out-of-domain scenarios. Code is available at https://github.com/MysteryVaibhav/fake_news_semantics.


Due to continued growth of the Internet and the introduction of new broadband services, such as video-on-demand and mobile telephony, there is a constant requirement for higher speed communications. It is expected that next generation optical communications systems will evolve towards higher capacities by increasing individual line rates rather than the number of wavelength channels. To implement these high-speed optical networks operating at individual channel rates above 100 Gb/s, all-optical processing techniques are necessary. A novel approach based on two photon absorption nonlinearity within a resonance cavity enhanced structure is explored within this thesis.
High-speed transmission is severely limited by optical impairments requiring frequent and expensive signal regeneration. Chromatic dispersion, considered as one of the main limiting factors, has to be mitigated in order to achieve satisfactory system performance. Continuous monitoring and adaptive compensation of accumulated dispersion fluctuations within a transmission line is likely to be necessary in future systems. Asynchronous all-optical nonlinear techniques can be utilized for high-speed signal temporal characterization and monitoring without the necessity of timing extraction, or optical to electrical conversion. Two-photon absorption within a resonant microcavity is an ideal candidate for high-speed transmission line performance monitoring, and can be
easily integrated with a dispersion compensation module. The major advantage of using a microcavity structure is that the signal is only enhanced over a narrow wavelength range, which is defined by the structure and design of the micro-cavity. In addition, by varying the angle of the
incident signal, the resonance response peak of the device can be tuned, thereby isolating individual wavelength channels without the need for external optical filtering.
The novelty of this work lies in the ability of using a single photodetector for sequential monitoring of different wavelength channels, operating at line rates exceeding conventional electrical processing-speeds limits. Experimental work included characterization and testing of the fabricated TPA micro-cavities for 160 Gb/s OTDM chromatic dispersion monitoring. A theoretical model
explaining the cavity influence on the nonlinear detection is introduced. The main attribute of this work is the experimental investigation of the performance TPA based micro-cavities laboratory prototype, in a multi-wavelength high-speed optical system. The results have demonstrated the
applicability of the TPA micro-cavity to monitor accumulated dispersion fluctuations in future high speed optical networks.


Mesoporous 3D MnxCo3−xO4 nanospheres with an open structure were fabricated through a template-free and facile approach. The MnxCo3−xO4 achieved a specific surface area as high as 143.7 m2 g−1. The process was systematically studied via TEM, HRTEM, EDS, ICP, XRD, TG, pH and FTIR. A two-step formation mechanism, namely the formation of CoOOH and MnO2 by a redox reaction between KMnO4 and Co(NO3)2·6H2O, followed by a calcination process in air, was proposed. The synthesis conditions including the reaction duration, reaction temperature, reactant concentration, feeding ratio, calcination temperature and the types of cobalt precursor used were also carefully investigated. This indicates that the approach is universal, green, facile, controllable and effective. The MnxCo3−xO4 catalysts exhibited outstanding performance in the application of low-temperature selective catalytic reduction of NOx with NH3. A wide working temperature window of 75 to 325 °C (NOx conversion above 80%) was achieved. The good performance benefited from the high BET surface area, a strong adsorption capacity, abundant acid sites, robust redox properties, abundant oxygen vacancies and metal–metal interactions in MnxCo3−xO4.


Foreign language educators dedicated to facilitating a communicative classroom often express their satisfaction when their learners actively engage the target language with minimal teacher interference. However, with the nearly ubiquitous implementation of pairand groupwork activities in the language classroom, it is virtually impossible for even the most perceptive teachers to be cognizant of the dynamics of every conversation. Even in what may appear to be cooperative, equal participation in the completion of the task, conflicts, domination and marginalization of participants can emerge. In this study, a semi-autonomous learning environment in which students were placed in pairs to complete a learning task without the teacher present to mediate the student interaction was examined using Conversation Analysis (CA). It was found that the participants each attempted to be in control of the task and their partner by competing for the position of "the dominant knower," resulting in a prolonged power struggle. The fact that the teacher was called in to settle their disagreements even inadvertently reinforced one student's claim to the dominant position.


Australia has many isolated communities that require human services provided by qualified professionals. Maintaining a viable and equitable spread of such educational capital across space as a public good is a challenge. Reports investigating this problem repeatedly point to 'family issues' such as limited options for children's education, and limited access to ongoing professional development, as deterrents for rural/remote employment despite lucrative incentive schemes. This paper draws on semi-structured interviews with 30 parents of school-aged children, who work as doctors, nurses, teachers and police in six rural/remote towns in Queensland. We asked them how their family units reconcile career opportunities with educational strategy for family members over time and space.

This paper considers these issues as a sociology of education problem in a context of educational marketisation and spiralling credentialism. This paper offers the concept of 'mobius markets' to capture the cyclical and intergenerational process underway in middle class professional families of investing in educational capitals, maintaining or maximising their value and profiting from them. A mobius strip is the topological anomaly of a single loop with one twist in it, whereby the loop becomes one continuous surface, not the double-sided shape it appears to be. This project is interested in how the middle class professional family is similarly on a constant circuit, investing in educational capitals, upgrading their currency/value, and profiting from them. This elaborated sense of educational markets extends the more usual sociological focus on school choice.


Most existing recommender systems focus primarily on matching users (content consumers) to content which maximizes user satisfaction on the platform. It is increasingly obvious, however, that content providers have a critical influence on user satisfaction through content creation, largely determining the content pool available for recommendation. A natural question thus arises: can we design recommenders taking into account the long-term utility of both users and content providers? By doing so, we hope to sustain more content providers and a more diverse content pool for long-term user satisfaction. Understanding the full impact of recommendations on both user and content provider groups is challenging. This paper aims to serve as a research investigation of one approach toward building a content provider aware recommender, and evaluating its impact in a simulated setup. To characterize the user-recommender-provider interdependence, we complement user modeling by formalizing provider dynamics as well. The resulting joint dynamical system gives rise to a weakly-coupled partially observable Markov decision process driven by recommender actions and user feedback to providers. We then build a REINFORCE recommender agent, coined EcoAgent, to optimize a joint objective of user utility and the counterfactual utility lift of the content provider associated with the recommended content, which we show to be equivalent to maximizing overall user utility and the utilities of all content providers on the platform under some mild assumptions. To evaluate our approach, we introduce a simulation environment capturing the key interactions among users, providers, and the recommender. We offer a number of simulated experiments that shed light on both the benefits and the limitations of our approach. These results help understand how and when a content provider aware recommender agent is of benefit in building multi-stakeholder recommender systems.


ABSTRACT The Gold Coast has a crime problem, which will not come as a surprise to the viewers of the films and television programmes that feature Australia's sixth largest city. The vast majority of material set on the Gold Coast has criminal themes. The Gold Coast is an imagined city created, to a large degree, by a multiplicity of moving image artefacts produced by visitors. From the miles of amateur footage shot by tourists to pseudo-Hollywood blockbusters, the Gold Coast exists as a surf and sun paradise, at least in the minds of audiences around the world. However, analysis of a variety of moving image products suggests that not far behind the glitz and glamour of the beach-based boosterism is the grimy flip side of crime, corruption and desperation. This imagined paradise is encircled by sharks, both from the sea and the land. But the crime themes explored so far by the Gold Coast film industry do not address the real transgressions on which the city is founded, neither the deals that saw a city built on sand and swamp nor the dispossession of the original inhabitants.


Working with young people in alternative schools poses particular challenges for the professional identity of educators. This research explored educator identity and development in practice in a network of alternative schools re-enfranchising young people. There was a focus on educator induction in the study. Different ways of being an educator were required in order to re-engage young people facing multiple complexities in their lives. A three-stage design experiment methodology was employed to investigate how ways of working, valuing and professional learning influenced educator identity and development. Iterative cycles of reflection embedded in the methodology allowed practitioners' perspectives to influence the design of enhanced induction processes, leading to the prototyping of reflective practice groups as an induction strategy. Findings provide insights into the influence of reflective practice on educator identity and development in relation to two overarching themes synthesised in thematic analysis of interview data: relationships, and changing perspectives through reflection.


ABSTRACT Porosity in deeply buried (>14000 ft, 4200 m) sandstones of the lower Tertiary Mirador Formation in the Cusiana Field, Llanos foothills, Colombia, is less than 10 porosity units (p.u). However, permeability is as much as 1000 mD; which is believed to be due to the simple quartzose detrital grain composition and large grain size. The low porosity has resulted from pervasive quartz cement (10-15%). Fluid inclusion microthermometry and intergranular grain volumes indicate that the quartz cement precipitated at a temperature of around 100°C during deep burial. Surprisingly, thick (>400 ft, 120 m) sandstones of the underlying Upper Cretaceous Guadalupe Group in the Cusiana Field have porosity as high as 20 p.u. These sandstones are lithic sandstones composed of quartz and a variety of phosphate grain types and are poorly cemented. Quartz cement is not abundant and occurs as rims of microcrystalline quartz on quartz and phosphate grains. In contrast, interbedded quartz arenites within the Guadalupe Group are heavily cemented by quartz cement and have porosity similar to the overlying Mirador Formation. The major control on porosity in these sandstones appears to be the presence of quartz cement; the quartz cement is controlled by grain composition. The reasons for the lack of quartz cement in the lithic sandstones of the Guadalupe Group are uncertain but phosphate poisoning inhibiting quartz cement growth is a possibility. The presence of high porosity "sweet spots" in deeply buried sandstones may be linked to the occurrence of phosphate beds--a primary depositional control.


UNLABELLED The Alzheimer disease (AD) it constitutes one of the socio-sanitary and economic problems and more important in the systems of health of the developed countries. Also, this problem will be increased in next years with the population's progressive aging and the biggest incidence of this illness. The family will support the biggest load in the care of these patients. The devices like the units by day will give a bigger independence to these families. OBJECTIVES It is sought to study the direct sanitary and social costs of a group of patients with AD that live in the area of health of Guadalajara. They will be evaluated the global cost and I average according to the degree of deterioration, sex, and age. The aspects will be determined that more they influence in these costs, as the epidemic variables and the associate comorbility. MATERIAL AND METHODS An observational and descriptive study was designed on 337 patients of EA, selected according to the registries of the section of neurology of the university and General Hospital of Guadalajara, the registrations EAP of the centres of health of the area, and the existent ones in two nursing homes of our environment. For the obtaining of the data the clinical histories were used. The used computer systems were: the EPINFO V.6 & SPSS V, DBASE IV, EXCEL, and the system of hospital costs of the University and General Hospital of Guadalajara. For the analysis of the data an error typo I p < 0.05 was used, this analysis began with the test of Kolmorov-Smirnov to contrast the normality of the curves of distribution of data of each variable. RESULTS 76% was women and the rest males. The global stocking of age was of 73 0.63 years, with more age in the women. The associate comorbility was bigger in the men. The stocking of the consumption of pharmacotherapy was of 3.1. The costs of the consultations carried out for these patients were of a stocking of 2.064,75 euros patient/year, and that of the complementary explorations of 639 euros for patient/year. The pharmacy cost was of 4.560 euros patient/year, with more expense in women and in the degree sick persons II of the EA. The hospital half stay was of 10.8 days with a cost for each entrance and patient of 2.778 euros. In Primary Attention the cost for patient and year was of 8.615 euros. The cost of these patients in the residences was of 11.900 euros for patient and year, in those of private administration, and of 12.982 euros in those of mixed administration, according to the degree of deterioration, the pharmacy expense was of 2.470 euros for those of degree I, of 141.359 euros for those of degree II and of 31.059,10 euros for those of the degree III. CONCLUSIONS The half cost of the attendance is three times adult that the pensions received by these sick persons, for that that the patients and/or the families support more than 60% of the direct cost. The families don't have this way more remedy than to increase their expenses because neither the society neither the sanitary system have still given an appropriate answer to the problem of this illness.


We present a computationally efficient scheme to calculate the optical absorption of insulators from first principles, including the electron-hole interaction. Excited states of the solid are chosen to consist of single electron-hole pairs. The electron-hole interaction is statically screened using a model dielectric function. Only two pieces of input are required, the crystal structure of the material and the macroscopic dielectric constant. We apply this scheme to two wide-gap insulators, LiF and MgO, and obtain excellent agreement with experimental measurements of their UV reflectance spectra. [S0031-9007(98)06129-8]


Substance and drug use, misuse and abuse among adolescents and youth has been observed to be on the increasing trend. In Malaysia, there has not much investigation done to study this trend, therefore one has to rely on other sources to formulate prevention program for the youth population. The objective of this study is to identify patterns related to the use of licit and illicit substances among youth such as demographic (gender, ethnic, age), schooling (form or level, type of school, educational aspiration, prefect status, and disciplinary problems at school), dwellings, (location, type and the presence of recreational facilities) and familial/ factors (parental status, income, living arrangement, presence of relatives who smoke, consume alcohol or/and drugs). A cross-sectional survey was conducted in the northern states of peninsular Malaysia, specifically Kedah, Perlis and Pulau Pinang which sampled respondents from secondary two, four and six students from all types of school going youth (Government schools, Private schools, Sekolah Agama Rakyat (SAR) and Pondok schools) and those not in schools (drop outs). The study also includes the rest of 11 states from all other parts of the country consisting only of government schools youth. A questionnaire comprising the Substance and Drug Misuse Index (SDMI) and demographics is used to collect data from the respondents, and this is complimented with site interviews with headmasters, teachers, student leaders and the community surrounding the schools. There were a total of 7,152 respondents in the study, 54.3% females and 45.7% males. The ethnic distribution was 72% Malays, 5.8% Indians, and 17.8% Chinese. The Substance and Drug Misuse Index (SDMI) is the main information that compares the level substance and drug use with a range of scores between zero (i.e. never tried any substances to a maximum of 54, who tried all substances listed on the index and often used these substances all the time). More than three quarters of respondents scored zero (77.3%), reported never use any of the listed substances. The highest score is 29. The mean score for Malaysia is 0.85. The scores are calculated for each state, and the highest score is 1.74 for Sarawak followed by Perlis at 1.14. Other states such as Kedah, Johor and Kelantan have scores higher then the Malaysian average. When comparing with demographic data, male respondents showed a higher tendency for substance and drug misuse compared to female respondents. There is no significant difference in the level of substance and drug misuse between Malay and non Malay respondents. Also, a significant relationship and difference are observed between age of respondent, type of school, disciplinary problems at school type of living arrangements, smoking, alcohol use and substance misuse by relatives and the level of substance and drug misuse. Implications for prevention programs for youth are discussed.


This paper shows how soccer clubs from Germany's first division have started to use Twitter. Analysis is based on tweets from and to club accounts as well as on follower numbers, and specific clubs are selected for case studies. This approach reveals that Twitter mirrors the conflicts between professional sports and traditional fandom.


Shallow water dredging projects are often periodic and highly dynamic operations. The dredger must move quickly from one place to another and swiftly change operation from dredging to rock dumping. Contemporary advanced dredging projects are driven by tight specifications and multilayered structure where the dredging is followed by deposition of several layers of different size rocks, each of which has its own elevation and thickness requirements.In dynamic projects as this the hydrographic surveys conducted for dredge and rock dumping monitoring become a logistics issue and impacts the dredging time and efficiency. The dredger must often move out to let the survey vessel pass through. The survey data must be swiftly processed and passed back to the dredger operator to show the compliance with the design. This iterative process results in inefficient use of time and materials and often requires expensive reworks.In such situations there is a need for a different approach for bathymetric data acquisition and processing. The process shall provide instantaneous feedback to the dredge operator with simple displays allowing them to take a corrective action on spot without waiting for the survey and data processing to complete. At the same time the solution must provide full transparency for the survey manager and hydrographers. The survey manager requires instant access to the data remotely, perform GIS operations, prepare progress reports, approve and manage the data. That must be satisfied without any degradation of the bathymetry data quality and adhere to the required standards for hydrographic surveys.The paper presents a real-time dredging monitoring turn- key solution facilitating the above outlined needs used during the Parallel Thimble Shoal Tunnel Project for Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. The technology is being used by Chesapeake Tunnel JV during the construction of a second two-lane parallel tunnel under the Thimble Shoal navigation channel next to the existing tunnel. The project is required to fulfil very tight specification in the multilayer design. It requires fast-paced real-time dredging monitoring that provides instantaneous information to the operators in the cabin about the mission progress and allows for corrective actions on the spot without additional INS surveys. Concurrently, the survey manager can seamlessly access fully refraction corrected and RTK aided bathymetry data with the GIS software of their choice and prepare reports, templates and perform other data manipulation.


Background knowledge and visual imagery can be combined to improve comprehension through discussions, semantic webbing, retelling and summarizing. Both parts of the brain store experiences. Language ignites the left side of the brain which is sequential, while senses and feelings are stored on the right side which is abstract and wholistic. Both sides need to be activated when reading to develop comprehension to the fullest. By picturing a story in your mind, you activate schema that activates feelings, and sensory impressions of experiences you have had. Knowing how to activate, monitor and question or change schema is what makes a good reader. This case study is with a fourth grade boy who is reading independently at a mid-grade two level. The study consisted of 26, one-hour sessions conducted twice a week after school. Strategies using background knowledge and visual imagery were taught to improve his reading level to a fifth grade level as measured by Alberta Diagnostic Reading, 1986. Discussion brought forth the student's background know ledge. A semantic web of the plot, characters, and setting was drawn before reading of the text. Throughout the story, the student was asked to keep a movie of the story going in his head. Oral retelling, predicting and inferencing took place throughout the story with a full retelling of the story at the end. Character comparisons were made between the books and experiences the student had. A fully developed movie of the story was created by using experiences the student had and combining the sensory


The objective of this paper is an attempt to explain the determinants of the lowest governance quality level in one of the communes of the Opolskie Province, Poland. The first stage of the research consisted in developing a commune-level governance quality index in order to measure the quality of governance in the 60 communes of the Opolskie Province. Subsequently, the commune with the lowest score in the index was qualified for the second stage of the research which was based on the extreme case method. The major conclusion from the research is that the commune leader's governance style which allowed him to hold on to power for many terms of office was responsible for generating low governance quality. Furthermore, the low quality of governance was not only the effect of the governance style but also the strategy aimed at remaining in the commune leader office for many terms.


In this study, an epoxy based on eugenol and an anhydride curing agent based on rosin were prepared. Curing of the eugenol epoxy with a commercial anhydride curing agent and with the rosin-derived anhydride curing agent was studied. For comparison, a commercial bisphenol A type epoxy, DER353, was also selected in the curing study. The syntheses of the eugenol epoxy and rosin anhydride were investigated and the chemical structures of the products and intermediates were characterized using 1H NMR and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies. Non-isothermal curing of the eugenol epoxy with hexahydrophthalic anhydride and the rosin-derived maleopimaric acid was studied using differential scanning calorimetry. Thermomechanical properties and thermal stability of the cured epoxy resins were evaluated using dynamic mechanical analysis and thermogravimetric analysis, respectively. Addition of 2-ethyl-4-methylimidazole as catalyst greatly decreased the curing temperature and promoted the completion of cure reactions. The results suggest that the eugenol epoxy and the bisphenol A type epoxy have similar reactivity, dynamic mechanical properties and thermal stability. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry


In recent years, the number of patients undergoing laparoscopic gastrectomy has risen globally. This is due to the low invasiveness of laparoscopic surgery and the quick recovery of patients after surgery. However, the effectiveness of laparoscopic gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer has not been verified. In fact, it is often difficult to perform lymphadenectomy for advanced gastric cancer because this procedure requires dissection of lymph nodes only, with avoidance of damage to structures such as the pancreas and blood vessels, which are intertwined in the same area. This is clearly difficult from a technical standpoint. For these reasons, it is unlikely that the indication for laparoscopic gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer will expand. In this report, we describe lymphadenectomy and reconstruction in routine laparoscopic gastrectomy. It is possible to apply techniques such as the lateral ap-proach for station 6, the crossover method for dissection of lymph nodes on the superior margin of the pancreas, and Delta anastomosis, which is a reconstruction using the intra-corporeal Billroth I method, for advanced cancer. All of these methods are simple, reliable, and safe, and we hope that their description in this report will be useful to both junior surgeons and those with long experience in this field.


Objective: To compare cerebral autoregulation indices as predictors of patient outcome and their dependence on duration of monitoring. Data Sources: Systematic literature search and meta-analysis using PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library from January 1990 to October 2015. Study Selection: We chose articles that assessed the association between cerebral autoregulation indices and dichotomized or continuous outcomes reported as standardized mean differences or correlation coefficients (R), respectively. Animal and validation studies were excluded. Data Extraction: Two authors collected and assessed the data independently. The studies were grouped into two sets according to the type of analysis used to assess the relationship between cerebral autoregulation indices and predictors of outcome (standardized mean differences or R). Data Synthesis: Thirty-three studies compared cerebral autoregulation indices and patient outcomes using standardized mean differences, and 20 used Rs. The only data available for meta-analysis were from patients with traumatic brain injury or subarachnoid hemorrhage. Based on z score analysis, the best three cerebral autoregulation index predictors of mortality or Glasgow Outcome Scale for patients with traumatic brain injury were the pressure reactivity index, transcranial Doppler-derived mean velocity index based on cerebral perfusion pressure, and autoregulation reactivity index (z scores: 8.97, 6.01, 3.94, respectively). Mean velocity index based on arterial blood pressure did not reach statistical significance for predicting outcome measured as a continuous variable (p = 0.07) for patients with traumatic brain injury. For patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage, autoregulation reactivity index was the only cerebral autoregulation index that predicted patient outcome measured with the Glasgow Outcome Scale as a continuous outcome (R = 0.82; p = 0.001; z score, 3.39). We found a significant correlation between the duration of monitoring and predictive value for mortality (R = 0.78; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Three cerebral autoregulation indices, pressure reactivity index, mean velocity index based on cerebral perfusion pressure, and autoregulation reactivity index were the best outcome predictors for patients with traumatic brain injury. For patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage, autoregulation reactivity index was the only cerebral autoregulation index predictor of Glasgow Outcome Scale. Continuous assessment of cerebral autoregulation predicted outcome better than intermittent monitoring.


Lung cancer is the leading cancer diagnosis worldwide and the number one cause of cancer deaths. Exposure to cigarette smoke, the primary risk factor in lung cancer, reduces epithelial barrier function and increases susceptibility to infections. Herein, we hypothesized that somatic mutations together with cigarette smoke create a dysbiotic microbiota that is associated with lung carcinogenesis. Using lung tissue from controls (n=33) or cancer cases (n=143), we conducted 16S rRNA gene sequencing (MiSeq), with RNA-seq data from lung cancer cases in The Cancer Genome Atlas (n=1112) serving as the validation cohort. We demonstrate a lower alpha diversity in normal lung as compared to non-tumor adjacent or tumor tissue, indicating a shift in the overall microbial community in lung cancer patients as compared to those without cancer. Lung cancer cases were classified by the relative abundance of two taxa, Variovorax and Streptococcus, with an increase in Variovorax abundance in tumors as compared to non-tumor adjacent paired lung tissue (FDR corrected P=0.013). The species of Variovorax was identified histologically, and also by two additional 16S rRNA strategies (Resphera Insight analysis and PacBio sequencing). A group of taxa were associated with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), of which Acidovorax were enriched in smokers (P =0.0013). Further, these taxa, including Acidovorax, exhibited higher abundance among the subset of SCC cases with TP53 mutations, an association not seen in adenocarcinomas (AD). Therefore, we observed a microbiome-gene and a microbiome-exposure interaction in SCC lung cancer tissue. Together, these results open the door for future biomarker research that could be used to improve screening and direct mechanistic studies of lung cancer therapy. Citation Format: Leigh Greathouse, James White, Valery Bliskovsky, Ashley Vargas, Eric Polley, Elise Bowman, Mohammed Khan, Ana Robles, Brid Ryan, Amiran Dzutsev, Giorgio Trinchieri, Marbin Pineda, Sven Bilke, Paul Meltzer, Marina Walther-Antonio, Garth Ehrlich, Joshua Mell, Joshua Earl, Sergey Balashov, Archana Bhat, Alex Valm, Clayton Deming, Sean Conlan, Julia Oh, Julie Segre, Curtis Harris. Microbiome-TP53 gene interaction in human lung cancer [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 4925. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-4925


As the tech sector continues to grow and emerging technologies from around the world become more common, it is now more important than ever to ensure Canada maintains its position as a growing, prominent tech economy.

However, past efforts to define the tech sector, while useful, have almost exclusively focused on the information and communications technology sector. Today, technology has become so ubiquitous across all Canadian industries that this approach understates the true impact that the tech sector has on Canada's economy.

For this report, we developed the first pan-Canadian definition of Canada's tech sector using a proven methodology that has defined other sectors internationally. It is our goal to identify the composition and accurately measure the impact that Canada's tech sector has on the economy.

Using our more encompassing definition, we found that Canada's tech sector is exceptionally diverse, ranging from digital technologies to aerospace and pharmaceuticals. The sector is also much broader in size, scope and geography than ever before. It is truly a pan-Canadian sector with pan-Canadian impacts.


The detection of moving objects in videos is very important in many video processing applications and background modeling is often an indispensable process to achieve this goal. Most of the traditional background modeling methods utilize color or texture information. However, color information is sensitive to illumination variations and texture information cannot be utilized to separate smooth foreground from smooth background in most cases. A new integration framework of texture and color information for background modeling, in which the foreground decision equation includes three parts (one part for color information, one part for texture information and the left part for the integration of color and texture information). This framework is able to combine the advantages of texture and color features while inhibiting their disadvantages as well. A block based method to accelerate the background modeling. Specifically, in the texture information modeling process, a single histogram model is established for each block whose bins indicate the occurrence probabilities of different patterns, which is different from the traditional multi-histogram model for block-based background modeling, and then dominant background patterns are selected to calculate the background likelihood of new coming blocks. Dynamic background and multimodal problems can be handled through this technique.


The arrangement of lipids and some proteins in the erythrocyte membrane has been discussed. The conclusions from this are listed here as a set of general guidelines for the structure of membranes of higher organisms: some of these rules may be wrong. But at this stage it seems useful to sharpen our thoughts in this way and thereby focus attention on various specific points. 1) The basis of a membrane is a lipid bilayer with (i) choline phospholipids and glycolipids in the external half and (ii) amino (and possibly some choline) phospholipids in the cytoplasmic half. There is effectively no lipid exchange across the bilayer (unless enzymatically catalyzed) (68). 2) Some proteins extend across the bilayer. Where this is so, they will in general have carbohydrate on their surface remote from the cytoplasm. This carbohydrate may prevent the protein diffusing out of the membrane into the cytoplasm; it acts as a lock on the protein. 3) Just as lipids do not flip-flop, proteins do not rotate across the membrane. Lateral motion or rotation of lipids and proteins in the plane of the bilayer may be expected. 4) Most membrane protein is associated with the inner, cytoplasmic, urface of the membrane. Proteins are not usually associated exclusively with the outer half of the lipid bilayer. 5) Membrane proteins are a special class of cytoplasmic proteins, not of secreted proteins.


PURPOSE
Fertility preservation for children and young adults with cancer is an important part of comprehensive patient care. In 2013, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) released updated clinical practice guidelines addressing fertility preservation. This study aimed to evaluate if pediatric oncologists were performing fertility preservation counseling, if the new guidelines were being adopted, and how reproductive endocrinologists can educate this patient population and their providers.

METHODS
A cross-sectional study was performed from May 26, 2014, to August 26, 2014. An online survey addressing fertility preservation practice patterns was created and provided to the members of the Children's Oncology Group (COG).

RESULTS
Thirty-five percent of the 234 respondents reported reading the new 2013 ASCO guidelines. Ninety-five percent of providers reported mentioning fertility preservation options prior to treatment, most commonly including referral to a reproductive endocrinologist (28%), and sperm banking (57%). The most commonly reported barrier to fertility preservation counseling was the cost of treatment.

CONCLUSION
Fertility preservation counseling is being performed by pediatric oncology providers. Familiarity of the ASCO guidelines is limited, revealing that the established methods for fertility preservation in women--embryo and oocyte cryopreservation--may be offered less than experimental methods in this younger patient population. Such differences in apparent practice patterns highlight the need for more education for providers.


Ahmad Moini, research fellow at BASF, is the recipient of the 2016 F. G. Ciapetta Lectureship in Catalysis, presented by the North American Catalysis Society. An expert in zeolites and catalysis, Moini is being recognized for his contributions to the development of the copper chabazite (Cu-CHA) catalyst for selective catalytic reduction of NOx emission from diesel vehicles. Today, the Cu-CHA catalyst is used in millions of diesel vehicles.The $5,000 prize is presented every other year to honor substantial contributions in the field of catalysis and the discovery of new catalytic reactions and systems of potential industrial importance.


The study was carried out in Mwanga District, Kilimanjaro region, with the aim of assessing the contribution of small credit to poverty reduction in the rural society of Tanzania. The study was based on the fact that Microfinance has proved to be an effective and powerful tool for poverty reduction. The researcher interviewed 93 Mwanga Community Bank Limited Clients and the management to see the Impact assessment of small credit finance to poverty alleviation in Mwanga District. The main objective of the study was to examine and assess the impact of micro-finance in poverty alleviation. A case study design was adopted to get the required in-depth data for a small unit. Probability and non probability sampling techniques were applied. Interviews, questionnaires and documentary reviews methods were adopted for the purpose of collecting the required data. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency tables, graphs, charts and percentages. Community Banks provided access to credit facilities. Loans secured from Rural Community Bank contributed towards poverty reduction. Poverty reduction was manifested through a number of ways, such as opening up new investments, expanding existing investments, ability to pay school fees and higher learning institutions' fees , and paying for health services. It is recommended that, interest rate, application period, insurance fund, and minimum cash deposit seem to be clients' constraining factors, some changes should be made. The Interest rate should be reduced to at most 15% compared to the current interest rate of 19% and repayment period should reflect individual client's business MCBL should insist much on group guarantee system rather than cash deposits to the micro-credits clients.


In this study, pulsed electric fields (PEF) treatments and their effects on the structure of vitamin C (VIT-C) were estimated by fluorescence and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, the relative content of VIT-C was measured by HPLC and the antioxidant properties of treated VIT-C by DPPH radical scavenging as well as reducing power tests. The fluorescence intensity of treated VIT-C increased slightly compared to the untreated VIT-C. Moreover, the effect of PEF on the structure of VIT-C was observed using the FT-IR spectra. These phenomena indicated that the PEF affected the conformation of VIT-C, which promoted the VIT-C isomer transformed enol-form into keto-form. In addition, the PEF treatments did not suffer the damage to VIT-C and could slow down the oxidation process in involving of experimental conditions by HPLC. The antioxidant properties of the treated VIT-C were enhanced, which was proved by radical scavenging and also the reducing power tests.


Companies are exposed to various risks. Failure to identify and eliminate them may aggravate the development of companies, some of which may be forced to cease operation. Audit can help in revealing the majority of risks. The auditor has an unlimited access to the information, operational strategy, and in some cases even to commercial secrets, of the auditee. Auditor collects a large amount of different information about the company, but it is used only as much as necessary for formulating a conclusion about financial statements. Upon a closer cooperation of the auditor with the persons in charge of the governance of the audited entity, the client needs can be identified and, once the audit plan is slightly revised, the areas that are within the interest of the client can be analysed in more detail. This article aims to investigate the determination of performance materiality in audit to separate classes of transactions based on the principal areas of importance identified by the business undergoing audit. Based on the data collected during the study, a modified model for determining performance materiality in audit was created which can help to identify better the current and potential risks of the distinguished areas. The application of this model enables carrying out an audit in the areas which are of the highest importance to the users of the audit results more effectively and providing them with more detailed information in the management letter. This would help to identify the substantial risks of the auditee in more detail and on time.


Although aquatic plants are discussed as a unified biological group, they are phylogenetically well dispersed across the angiosperms. In this study, we annotated the aquatic taxa on the tree of vascular plants, and extracted the topology of these aquatic lineages to construct the tree of aquatic angiosperms. We also reconstructed the ancestral areas of aquatic families. We found that aquatic angiosperms could be divided into two different categories: the four aquatic orders and the aquatic taxa in terrestrial orders. Aquatic lineages evolved early in the radiation of angiosperms, both in the orders Nymphaeales and Ceratophyllales and among basal monocots (Acorales and Alismatales). These aquatic orders do not have any extant terrestrial relatives. They originated from aquatic habitats during the Early Cretaceous. Asia would have been one of the centers for early diversification of aquatic angiosperms. The aquatic families within terrestrial orders may originate from other areas besides Asia, such as America or Australia. The lineages leading to extant angiosperms diversified early in underexploited freshwater habitats. The four extant aquatic orders were relicts of an early radiation of angiosperm in aquatic environments. Their extinct ancestors might be aquatic early angiosperms.


The paper focuses on the patterns of evolution of the structure of global scientific collaboration over the most recent historical period. Among the multiple approaches to measuring such collaboration we choose to investigate the evolution of the international co-authorship network over a 25-year-long period (from 1991 to 2016). We build a series of networks of main international co-authorship partners using the data obtained from Scopus Elsevier database. Our analysis reveals two markedly different patterns of the network evolution. At the general level, it has been increasingly turning into a 'hub-and-spoke' network where one central hub, the USA, clearly dominates nearly the whole of the network. However, if the impact of the USA is not taken into account, we discover a second level of the network structure with remarkably different patterns – instead of one single hub, there exist a number of centers with their respective clusters, and this structure has not been gravitating towards becoming more concentrated. If anything, its evolution has taken quite the opposite path, with a number of new centers emerging recently with their respective clusters of countries. Shulgin et al. / Historical Evolution of Global Scientific Collaboration 157


Objectives: The present study was carried out to compare the shear bond strength of metallic brackets bonded with single Bond and Assure bonding agents under dry and saliva contamination conditions. Materials and Methods: A total 60 sound premolar teeth were selected for the purpose of this in vitro study and stainless steel brackets were bonded on enamel surfaces with single bond and assure bonding agents under a dry condition or with salivary con- tamination. The shear bond strength values of the brackets were measured in a universal testing machine. The adhesive remnant index (ARI) scores were determined after debonding of the brackets under a stereomicroscope. One-way ANOVA was used to ana- lyze bond strength. Two-by-two comparisons were made with post hoc Tukey tests (P < 0.001). The frequencies of ARI scores were analyzed with Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: The bond strength values of brackets to tooth structure were 9.29 8.56 and 21.25 8.93 MPa with the use of Assure resin bonding agent under saliva contamination and dry conditions, respectively. These values were 10.13 6.69 and 14.09 6.6 MPa, respectively, under the same conditions with the use of single bond adhesive. Contamination with saliva resulted in a significant decrease in the bond strength of brackets to tooth structure with the application of Assure adhesive resin (P < 0.001). There were no significant dierences in the ARI scores between the dierent study groups. Conclusions: Application of single bond and assure bonding agents resulted in adequate bond strength of brackets to tooth struc- tures. Contamination with saliva significantly decreased the bond strength of Assure bonding agent compared to dry conditions.


Polymer micelles with two different core-forming blocks, poly(d,l -lactide) (PLA) and poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL), but the same coronal material, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), were investigated in this study as nanoscopic drug carriers. The release of two different drugs, doxorubicin (DOX) and beta-lapachone (beta-lap), from PEG(5k)-b-PCL(5k) and PEG(5k)-b-PLA(5k) micelles was studied at pH 5.0 and 7.4. Mathematical solutions of both Higuchi's model and Fickian diffusion equations were utilized to elucidate the differences between the micelle core materials for the two drugs. The neutral and smaller of the two drugs tested, beta-lap, demonstrated faster, pH-independent release, suggesting that no substantial changes occurred in either micelle core at lower pH. In contrast, the release rate of DOX was found to noticeably increase at lower pH with a larger cumulative amount of drug released. Different core materials were shown to have considerable influence on the release kinetics of both drugs: in both cases, the more hydrophobic PCL core showed slower drug release rates compared with the less hydrophobic PLA core.


Currently there are three targeted therapies approved for the treatment of colorectal cancers. These include the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors, cetuximab and panitumumab, and the multikinase inhibitor regorafenib. It is important to understand and recognize the common presentations of cutaneous toxicity that result from these agents to effectively manage symptoms and prevent premature discontinuation of anticancer treatment.


Glycomics measurements, like all other high-throughput technologies, are subject to technical variation due to fluctuations in the experimental conditions. The removal of this non-biological signal from the data is referred to as normalization. Contrary to other omics data types, a systematic evaluation of normalization options for glycomics data has not been published so far. In this paper, we assess the quality of different normalization strategies for glycomics data with an innovative approach. It has been shown previously that Gaussian Graphical Models (GGMs) inferred from glycomics data are able to identify enzymatic steps in the glycan synthesis pathways in a data-driven fashion. Based on this finding, we here quantify the quality of a given normalization method according to how well a GGM inferred from the respective normalized data reconstructs known synthesis reactions in the glycosylation pathway. The method therefore exploits a biological measure of goodness. We analyzed 23 different normalization combinations applied to six large-scale glycomics cohorts across three experimental platforms (LC-ESI-MS, UHPLC-FLD and MALDI-FTICR-MS). Based on our results, we recommend normalizing glycan data using the 'Probabilistic Quotient' method followed by log-transformation, irrespective of the measurement platform.