In this paper, the temperature dependency of conventional polymer-based gas sensors is addressed and a novel polymer-based chemicapacitor sensor is presented for application in early detection of deterioration of grain in storage facilities. 3-D heat transfer simulations are used to investigate several heated platforms with the sensing area in millimeter range dimensions to enhance spoilage-induced analyte detection. A resistive heater is employed to heat and maintain the sensor at the desired operating temperature. The platform is optimized to achieve a uniform heat distribution throughout the sensing area with a temperature variation of ΔT ≤ 1°C. Capacitive measurements are performed as a more sophisticated technique for analyte detection, where mechanisms other than swelling are involved. In this method, the need for conductive filler is eliminated, resulting in an improvement in sensor reproducibility and repeatability. 1-octanol and relative humidity measurements are performed, as they are the two key volatiles due to grain deterioration. The results verify functionality of the fabricated sensors at different temperatures, in ppm range for 1-octanol, and up to 75% RH. Responses at the elevated temperature of 40 °C, above the grain bins ambient temperature, are insensitive to ambient temperature fluctuations. Sensitivity measurements demonstrate that an array of detectors, each held at different temperatures and operating at different frequencies, can be utilized to further enhance the sensor sensitivity and selectivity to a desired analyte.


This study evaluates the crop revenue effects of combining federal farm income safety net programs, crop insurance policies, and marketing arrangements. Eight representative farms across Nebraska are used to stochastically simulate the financial impact of nine risk management strategies to determine the optimal outcome during the 2011 production year. Results indicate that, out of the set of predefined strategies, the portfolio combination involving the government program choice of the Direct and Counter Cyclical Program, crop revenue insurance with the fall harvest option, and hedging for the simulated time period provides the optimal outcome across the majority of representative farm scenarios.


Morphology of the human larynx. II. The subglottis

The macroscopic staining method was used to display and measure the epithelium of the human subglottic space. Small islands of squamous metaplasia were found in about 40% of the non-smoking, non-bronchitic urban population. There was no age or sex difference, although a highly significant decrease in size of the subglottic space was found in women throughout life.


In this paper, we study the global asymptotic robust stability of delayed neural networks with norm-bounded uncertainties. By employing the Lyapunov stability theory and homeomorphic mapping theorem, we derive some new types of sufficient conditions ensuring the existence, uniqueness, and global asymptotic stability of the equilibrium point for the class of neural networks with discrete time delays under parameter uncertainties and with respect to continuous and slope-bounded activation functions. An important aspect of our results is their low computational complexity, as the reported results can be verified by checking some properties of symmetric matrices associated with the uncertainty sets of the network parameters. The obtained results are shown to be generalizations of some of the previously published corresponding results. Some comparative numerical examples are also constructed to compare our results with some closely related existing literature results.


Using data for 2008-2009, we determine winning strategies for the game in two different formats: 50-over one-day internationals and 20-over games from the Indian Premier League and Twenty20 Internationals. We find that attacking batting and defensive bowling outperform all other strate- gies in determining the probability of winning in both formats despite the thirty over difference between them. Moreover, in both versions of the game, good fielding turns out to be an important complement to these two strategies. We speculate that this will have implications for the future of cricket, especially for the popularity of formats and the composition of teams.


Neurofibromas are benign tumors of peripheral nerve that occur sporadically or in patients with the autosomal dominant tumor predisposition syndrome neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). Multiple neurofibroma subtypes exist which differ in their site of occurrence, their association with NF1, and their tendency to undergo transformation to become malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs), the most common malignancy associated with NF1. Most NF1 patients carry a constitutional mutation of the NF1 tumor suppressor gene. Neurofibromas develop in these patients when an unknown cell type in the Schwann cell lineage loses its remaining functional NF1 gene and initiates a complex series of interactions with other cell types; these interactions may be influenced by aberrant expression of growth factors and growth factor receptors and the action of modifier genes. Cells within certain neurofibroma subtypes subsequently accumulate additional mutations affecting the p19ARF‐MDM2‐TP53 and p16INK4A‐Rb signaling cascades, mutations of other as yet unidentified genes, and amplification of growth factor receptor genes, resulting in their transformation into MPNSTs. These observations have been validated using a variety of transgenic and knockout mouse models that recapitulate neurofibroma and MPNST pathogenesis. A new generation of mouse models is also providing important new insights into the identity of the cell type in the Schwann cell lineage that gives rise to neurofibromas. Our improving understanding of the mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of neurofibromas and MPNSTs raises intriguing new questions about the origin and pathogenesis of these neoplasms and establishes models for the development of new therapies targeting these neoplasms. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


This study of Vietnamese social mobility in Australia arose out of a concern to establish whether Vietnamese migrants have been significantly disadvantaged in making a new life in Australian society. It is not the first study to take up this theme. Much has already been written both in the academic literature, in Government reports, and in the press on various aspects of Vietnamese migration and settlement. This research conducted for the Office of Multicultural Affairs is however one of the first major studies to examine the settlement process of the Vietnamese-Australian population over the last 10-12 years, with particular reference to the issue of social mobility. Put very simply, the major objective of this study is to determine how well the Vietnamese have fared in securing employment, and the opportunity to re-construct their lives after the turmoils of war, disruption and refugee life. The concern is not primarily with the initial experiences of adjustment in Australia but with the longer term process of settlement. Looking at the situation 12 to 14 years after the first refugee arrival, the aim is to assess how much mobility has been achieved, what resources have been brought to bear in assisting the settlement process and what major obstacles may lie in its way. The specific research objectives of this study are as follows:(1) To provide an account of the social mobility experience of Vietnamese-born immigrants in New South Wales and South Australia in the last 15 years. (2) To identify obstacles to mobility for this target population. (3) To distinguish between shortterm adjustment difficulties and longer-term obstacles to social mobility for the target population. (4) To compare and contrast Vietnamese and ethnic-Chinese mobility chances. (5) To provide a series of casestudies of social mobility and obstacles to mobility. Amongst the groups targetted in this way are factory workers, professionals, small business people, unemployed and ethnic Chinese. As a result of this research, the study addresses a number of policy issues relevant to Vietnamese refugees. These include English as a second language support programs, labour market and employment programs, recognition of overseas qualifications, and access to general educational programs. This working paper is available at Research Online: https://ro.uow.edu.au/cmsworkpapers/11


Abstract Although stylolites in quartz-rich sandstones have been described and modeled, more feldspathic sandstones have not been similarly investigated. The Upper Jurassic Ula sandstone, Norwegian North Sea, a subarkose with 15 to 25% feldspar, displays stylolites with prominent low-porosity haloes up to 10 cm wide. Detailed mineralogical and chemical profiles across several stylolites and haloes are used to investigate the role of feldspar in mineral reactions at stylolites and to constrain the transport of chemical components. Quartz and feldspar are intensely dissolved at the margins of stylolites. The surrounding haloes are characterized by: dissolution of quartz and feldspar, intense compaction, anomalously high feldspar content, high concentrations of clay, and oxide cement volumes that increase away from the stylolite. Chemical mass-balance calculations demonstrate that silica and elements associated with feldspar (Al2O3, Na2O, K2O) were exported from the haloes. Grain-size data and evidence for aluminum loss from the halo indicate that primary concentrations of clay and mica were not higher near the stylolites and that the petrographic and geochemical patterns reflect the diagenetic concentration of clay. The analysis suggests that K-feldspar dissolution at and near the stylolite resulted in precipitation of authigenic illite near the site of K-feldspar dissolution, due to the low solubility of Al3+. This in turn catalyzed chemical dissolution of quartz in the low-porosity halo. Transport of CaO, MgO, and MnO into the haloes suggests that the haloes were zones of higher pH. The increased pH, perhaps due to the presence of clays, would have also increased quartz solubility, consistent with evidence for silica export from the halo. The dissolution of K-feldspar in the absence of kaolinite would also have raised pH around the site of K-feldspar dissolution and illite precipitation, favoring carbonate precipitation. This interpretation of stylolite diagenesis differs from conventional models based on quartz-rich sandstones, in which quartz cement volumes decrease away from stylolites. Models for compaction in arkosic sandstones need to account for the enhanced dissolution of quartz that is driven by K-feldspar dissolution and for catalysis by the resulting illite.


For over a hundred years Dutch secure facilities for child protection have tried to improve the outcomes for children in their care. Treatment programmes based on various pedagogical insights and psychological and psychiatric analyses of behaviour have been created and have developed in line with new discourses on humane and effective treatment. In spite of all these efforts, the treatment of youngsters in these institutions remains very difficult. The hypothesis is that the context of a closed and secured institution hinders the effectiveness of evidence-based treatment programmes. The exploration of this question starts with a review of the literature on the problem of treatment and institutional order in Dutch juvenile institutions over the past century. Time and again the problems of aggression, excessive repression, sexual abuse, poor safety for youth and staff reappear. However these problems are solely defined as dispositional mental health issue of the youngsters. They are not regarded as being a consequence of maintaining institutional order. In contrast, the problem of order in adult prisons has been studied extensively, where less emphasis is placed on education and treatment. Adaptation to life inside has generated the concept of 'pains of imprisonment'. As a consequence, the management of order in prison is a topic in its own right. Part of the secret of maintaining order lies in a complex sociological process of social interaction between staff and prisoners. In a series of essays on human behaviour in public places Goffman has analysed interaction patterns and rituals. Here, his insights are used as a theoretical framework to study social interaction. Following the line of argument of symbolic interactionism his framework offers a perspective on the way order is negotiated in closed institutions. Hence the empirical part of this study examines how order is established and maintained within the physical limitations of a secure juvenile institution and as a result of the interaction between staff and youngsters. This study uses ethnographic inquiry as a research design. The empirical research presents the structure of daily routine on the wards. In practice, strict enforcement of rules and regulations alternates with negotiations and that is where these interactions gain their significance. Negotiations repeat themselves in different social situations. Putting one's argument in a proper way, showing the appropriate deference, guarding against loss of face and strategically putting forward claims and requests is used both by staff and youngsters to achieve their intended goals. In the course of these interactions mistakes are made, reputations are damaged and authority is contested. This study concludes with a reflection on the question raised at the beginning: the limited success of behavioural interventions may be due to the context in which they are given. The problem of order is as real for juvenile secure accommodation as it is for prisons. In spite of the mental health perspective they employ, keeping order dominates daily routine. This pattern starts when the youngster enters the facility and ends only when he or she leaves.


AGEFIS (Applied General Equilibrium model for FIScal Policy Analysis) is a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model designed specifically, but not limited, to analyze various aspects of fiscal policies in Indonesia. It is yet, the first Indonesian fully-SAM-based CGE model solved by Gempack. This paper describes the structure of the model and illustrates its application.


Face image quality assessment (FIQA) estimates the utility of the captured image in achieving reliable and accurate recognition performance. This work proposes a novel FIQA method, CR-FIQA, that estimates the face image quality of a sample by learning to predict its relative classifiability. This classifiability is measured based on the allocation of the training sample feature representation in angular space with respect to its class center and the nearest negative class center. We experimentally illustrate the correlation between the face image quality and the sample relative classifiability. As such property is only observable for the training dataset, we propose to learn this property by probing internal network observations during the training process and utilizing it to predict the quality of unseen samples. Through extensive evaluation experiments on eight benchmarks and four face recognition models, we demonstrate the superiority of our proposed CR-FIQA over state-of-the-art (SOTA) FIQA algorithms.11https://github.com/fdbtrs/CR-FIQA


Models of astronomical environments containing CO require accurate molecular data to reproduce and interpret observations. We are conducting experiments at the SOLEIL synchrotron facility to acquire data for modeling CO photochemistry in the vacuum ultraviolet. The improvement in UV spectroscopic instrumentation, both in sensitivity and resolution, provides more accurate laboratory spectroscopic determinations. We report new measurements yielding photoabsorption oscillator strengths and predissociation rates, for 12 C 16 O at 295 K and 77 K, of four bands from X 1 Σ + (v �� = 0) to the v � = 0–3 vibrational levels of the core-excited W 1 Π Rydberg state and for six overlapping bands between 92.97 and 93.35 nm. Absorption spectra were recorded using the vacuum ultraviolet Fourier transform spectrometer installed on the DESIRS beamline at SOLEIL, providing a resolving power R = 350 000. This resolution allows the analysis of individual line strengths and widths in the electronic transitions and the identification of a previously unobserved perturbation in the W(1) level. Gas column densities in the differentially-pumped system were calibrated using the B 1 Σ + – X 1 Σ + (0, 0) band. Absorption bands are analyzed by synthesizing line and band profiles with independently developed codes. These considerably improved results are compared with earlier determinations.


Background: Acne is a common, irritating chronic skin disease among adolescent age group worldwide. Despite good number of studies discussing and debating his skin condition, still there are serious psychosocial concerns, gap in knowledge and lack of awareness among acne patients.

Methods: This is observational, cross sectional, institutional-based study to find out prevalence, awareness and psychological impact of acne among students in Majmaah University, conducted between January-April 2018.

Results: The study showed that 56% of the university students had some form of acne. More than three quarter of the participants were less aware and had poor level of knowledge of the disease's etiology and aggravating factors. 61% of the students had belief that folk medicine contributes positively in acne management. 84.6% of both male and female students responded that acne had obvious negative effects on the life of the affected and there is a social stigma associated with it.

Conclusion: Acne is a well-known and prevalent irritating skin disease among Majmaah university students, affecting both sexes. Our study found out very poor level of awareness and knowledge about etiology and associated aggravating factors of acne. Furthermore, strong association of acne with severe psychological impact is also evident among (85.6%) of participants. More comprehensive health education about acne needed to be spread among University students and community, addressing the gap in knowledge, required for proper management of acne and to reduce the negative psychosocial impact of the disease among this age group.


Insulin as well as insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) promote early embryo development, and IGF-I binds to the coats of preimplantation rabbit embryos. As the IGF-I receptor is expressed from the morula stage onwards, the embryos are capable of responding to insulin and IGF-I, which is present in the oviductal and uterine secretions that surround them. The embryonic coats were removed to exclude any influence by IGF-I bound to the coats. The in vitro development of such embryos under classical conditions appears to be retarded. Addition of IGF-I (68 pM-6.8 nM) or insulin (68 nM-6.8 mM), however, promotes blastocyst formation. Embryo development under such conditions is not significantly different from that of embryos cultured with intact coats. In contrast, coat-free embryos cultured without IGF-I or insulin supplementation show apoptosis. Because IGF-I stimulates cell proliferation and prevents apoptosis, we investigated whether insulin or IGF-I may act as ''survival factors'' in preimplantation development. Therefore, apoptosis was induced by slight UV irradiation (254 nm wave length; 11.8 W/m2). Compared to the untreated controls, embryos displaying retarded development or degeneration were increased by 22% and 14%, respectively. Addition of IGF-I or insulin to the culture medium of UV-irradiated embryos improved [3H]thymidine incorporation and blastocyst formation significantly. By immunohistochemistry we could show that addition of insulin (0.68–68 nM) decreased apoptosis and increased cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner, supporting blastocyst development significantly.


Drought-Tolerant (DT) rice technology is a potential tool to improve productivity in regions with insufficient or variable water supply. The impacts of DT rice adoption are analysed using the Arkansas Global Rice Model to demonstrate that DT rice would benefit the early investors in developing and adopting DT varieties. Developing countries could take advantage of the technology if widespread adoption occurs. World rice prices would decrease substantially conferring a potential benefit to consumers. Producer welfare gains are small or negative, but overall impacts may result in increased food security in poor regions of the world.


Fatigue behaviour of ultrafine-grained copper of purity 99.9 % produced by ECAP technique was studied in a broad region of stress amplitudes. Fatigue strength is by a factor of about 2 higher than that of conventional-grain-size copper in the broad region of fatigue lives from 6x103 to 2x1010 cycles. The grain structure is stable and undergoes only very marginal changes during cycling. Fatigue slip markings on specimen surface follow the trace of the shear plane of the last ECAP pass. Fatigue notch sensitivity is also higher than that of conventional-grain-size copper, but not dramatically. The cyclic stress-strain curve of studied copper is temperature insensitive, while its S-N curve is temperature dependent.


Energy efficiency of train operations is a critical issue for the electrical railway transportation, considering that one of the main benefits of this transportation mode is the lower environmental impact. A possible technology which decreases energy consumption is the reuse of the recovered energy from the braking system. Although have been made significant efforts to find efficient solutions in terms of driving strategies, timetable optimization etc, the potential of energy recovery from the braking system is still unexplored. In this paper, we consider the problem of joint optimization of multiple train speed profiles, which operate in the same power section, in order to increase the overall energy recovered from the braking system. We propose a Markov Decision Process formulation, which models the continuous space movements of the trains as stochastic transitions on discrete states, determined by train operations and electrical properties of the electrical network.


Emerging scientific application workflows are composed of heterogeneous coupled component applications that simulate different aspects of the physical phenomena being modeled, and that interact and exchange significant volumes of data at runtime. With the increasing performance gap between on-chip data sharing and off-chip data transfers in current systems based on multicore processors, moving large volumes of data using communication network fabric can significantly impact performance. As a result, minimizing the amount of inter-application data exchanges that are across compute nodes and use the network is critical to achieving overall application performance and system efficiency. In this paper, we investigate the in-situ execution of the coupled components of a scientific application workflow so as to maximize on-chip exchange of data. Specifically, we present a distributed data sharing and task execution framework that (1) employs data-centric task placement to map computations from the coupled applications onto processor cores so that a large portion of the data exchanges can be performed using the intra-node shared memory, (2) provides a shared space programming abstraction that supplements existing parallel programming models (e.g., message passing) with specialized one-sided asynchronous data access operators and can be used to express coordination and data exchanges between the coupled components. We also present the implementation of the framework and its experimental evaluation on the Jaguar Cray XT5 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.


The mechanisms regulating the water-salt metabolism have been investigated in the experiment on dogs with a disturbance of the lymph flow system. The function of a regulator of the water-salt metabolism is found to be peculiar to the lymphatic system which is effected by means of the humoral properties of the lymph and discreteness of its static pressure in the thoracic lymphatic duct. The central lymph exerts a stabilizing effect on both the osmo- and volumoregulatory functions of the kidneys, cardio- and hemodynamics. The state of acute lymphohypertension in the system of the thoracic lymphatic duct activates the mechanisms of the water-salt metabolism aimed at decreasing the volume of the extracellular fluid.


Abstract Effectiveness of electron beam irradiation was evaluated against Phytophthora nicotianae var. nicotianae, the causal agent of stem base and root rot of tomato. In laboratory trials, irradiation of 7-day-old Phytophthora cultures growing on potato-dextrose-agar (PDA) medium with 1 kGy resulted in the disintegration of the pathogen's hyphae. Increasing the irradiation dose to 3 kGy caused decay of the hyphae. Irradiation of infested stonewool with 5 kGy caused decrease of the pathogen population about 5 times. Application of 20 kGy completely eliminated the pathogen from stonewool. Irradiation of substratum resulted in significant increase of tomato seedlings healthiness, especially when the dose 20 kGy was applied.


Background Being labelled as "allergic" to an antimicrobial (commonly penicillins) can lead to worse clinical outcomes and increase antimicrobial resistance. Unclear or inappropriate allergy documentation contributes to this issue so clarifying "allergy" status is important to optimise clinical outcomes. Methods The study was conducted at St Thomas' Hospital, a large teaching hospital in London. An antimicrobial allergy assessment process, consisting of a researcher-developed and administered questionnaire, a review of patient medical records and categorisation of the drug allergy 'label', was applied to eligible patients from selected wards. Recommendations for allergy 'de-labelling' and referrals were given based on patient categorisation. Results Sixty assessments were completed during the study. Six patients (10%) were identified as unlikely to have a true allergy and could potentially be 'de-labelled'. A further thirty-seven patients (61.7%) were identified as eligible for allergy referral and testing. The allergy 'labels' of twenty-seven patients (45%) led to them receiving second-line antibiotic therapy. Twenty-two patients (34.7%) had inconsistencies in their allergy documentation across the 3 main electronic clinical systems. Conclusion This study demonstrated that the use of a simple, standardized, pharmacy-led approach to antimicrobial allergy assessment could lead to some patients being 'de-labelled' outside of specialist allergy settings. The implementation of this approach could immediately bring about improvements in antimicrobial usage and patient outcome.


In this project we will use reinforcement learning, the CACLA algorithm, to let an agent learn to control a robotic arm. Inspired by domestic service robots that have to perform multiple complex tasks, manipulation is only a small part of it. Using neural networks an agent should be able to learn to complete a manipulation task without having to calculate paths and grasping points. We will be using a 6 degree of freedom robotica arm, Mico, and make use of a simulator called V-REP to perform the experiments. We compare the results to a traditional simple inverse kinematic solver to see if there is a gain in speed, accuracy or robustness. Whilst most agents use one neural network to perform their task, we will experiment with different architectures, namely the amount of neural networks that each control a sub-set of the joints, to see if this can improve results. Whilst for reinforcement learning exploration is very important we test two different exploration methods; Gaussian exploration and Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process exploration, to see if there is any influence in the training. We experimented first with letting the end effector of the arm move to a certain position without grasping an object. It was shown that when using only 1 joint learning is very easy, but when controlling more joints the problem of simply going to a single location becomes more difficult to solve. While adding more training iterations can improve results, it also takes a lot longer to train the neural networks. By showing a pre training stage consisting of calculating the forward kinematics without relying on any physics simulation to create the input state of the agent, we can create more examples to learn from and improve results and decrease the learning time. However when trying to grasp objects the extra pre training stage does not help at all. By increasing the training iterations we can achieve some good results and the agent is able to learn to grasp an object. However when using multiple networks to control a sub-set of joints we can improve on the results, even reaching a 100\% success rate for both exploration methods, not only showing that multiple networks can outperform a single network, also that exploration does not influence training all that much. The downside is that training takes a very long time. Whilst it does not outperform the inverse kinematic solver we do have to take into account that the setup was relatively easy, therefore making it very easy for the inverse kinematic solver.


Role of glutathione peroxidase in iron-thiol-mediated lipid peroxidation was examined. The enzyme was unable to prevent peroxidation of extracted rat liver microsomal lipids. In contrast, when arachidonic acid was the substrate, glutathione peroxidase did decrease the formation of thiobarbituric acid-reactive material. Superoxide dismutase produced a consistent but partial inhibition of peroxidation and catalase was without effect. Our results suggest that iron-thiol-dependent lipid peroxidation cannot be completely blocked by protective enzymes that are effective in other systems.


A special speckle microinterferometer has been developed to test the mechanical properties of thin films electroplated on the single crystal silicon wafer. A piezo-actuated micro-loading unit is synchronized with the microinterfermeter to measure thin film deflection in bending with an accuracy of sub-micrometers. All of the film specimens were microfabricated to be the type of microbridge samples. They are made of Cu and NiFe, the sizes from 1102.9µm to 213.7µm long, 491.0µm to 9.7µm wide. The corresponding thicknesses are 9.4µm and 7.6µm, respectively. Deflections of the microbradge samples can be measured full-field and real-time by using the microinterferometer and no patterning or marking of the specimen surface is needed. The loading force is directly measured using a miniature load cell. The Young's moduli are calculated for both material and sample size from the load-deflection curves. Test techniques, procedures and factors which affect on the deflection measurements are briefly presented along with detailed analyzes of the results.


Sixteen calves (3 to 8 months old) affected with oak toxicosis were studied. Clinical, laboratory, and pathologic findings during the peracute through chronic stages were documented. Of the calves studied, 1 died, and 9 others were euthanatized because death was imminent. To evaluate chronic effects, the 6 remaining cattle were euthanatized after 2 months. One calf with acute toxicosis was treated successfully with diuretics and fluid volume replacements containing sodium chloride and calcium. Clinical and laboratory data were compared between survivors and nonsurvivors. A statistically significant (P less than 0.02) difference was found only in serum creatinine concentration at the time of initial reexamination. A decrease in BUN and creatinine values during the next 7 days and the lack of anorexia after the acute phase were the best prognostic indicators for survival.


Background
 Race and ethnic differences affect the disease characteristics and clinical outcomes in many tumors, including acute myeloid leukemia (Byrne et al. AJCO, 2011). While earlier population-based studies reported no significant impact of race on survival outcomes in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) (Ma et al. Cancer, 2007), this study had a limited number of patients, short duration of follow-up including patients diagnosed from 2001-2003 prior to the approval and routine use of hypomethylating agents (HMA). We hypothesized that there are racial differences in the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with MDS. We thus analyzed the differences in disease characteristics and survival outcomes based on race and ethnic background in patients with MDS over 13 years.
 Methods
 We used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database to identify adult patients diagnosed with MDS between 2004 and 2016. Disease characteristics and patient outcomes were analyzed among three groups based on race/ethnicity: non-Hispanic white (NHW), non-Hispanic black (NHB) and Hispanics, Fisher exact test and chi-square test were used to compare categorical variables. SEER*Stat version 8.3.6 was used to calculate the incidence rate (IR) and incidence rate ratio (IRR) for NHW, NHB, and Hispanics. Univariate survival analysis was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and groups were compared using a log-rank test. Multivariable survival analyses were performed using the Cox-proportional regression model after adjusting for age, gender, insurance status, histologic risk classification, marital status, and treatment with chemotherapy. Cause-specific survival (CSS) was calculated from the date of diagnosis to the date of MDS-related death and compared amongst the three groups.
 Results
 A total of 52,031 patients with MDS were included in this study; 83.4% were NHW, 8.5% were NHB, and 8.2% Hispanics. The incidence was 7.81, 6.46, and 5.17 per 100,000 among NHW, NHB, and Hispanic patients, respectively. Compared to NHW, NHB and Hispanic patients had a significantly lower incidence rate among the overall population (p<.001) in both genders (p<.001) and in older age groups ≥ 50 years (p<.001). However, NHB patients had a significantly higher IRR in the younger age group (<50 years) with an increased incidence by 49% (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.32-1.67) as compared to NHW patients. [Table 1] Hispanic and NHB patients had a higher percentage of female gender (p<.001) and were more likely to be insured (p<.001) as compared to NHW patients. This was mostly attributed to a high proportion of "unknown" insurance status in the NHW population (28%). Hispanic patients were more likely to present with MDS with excess blasts (p<.001), and thus a higher proportion of patients received chemotherapy for myelodysplastic syndromes as compared to NHW/NHB patients (p<.001). Overall survival was significantly affected by race/ethnicity; NHB patients had a longer median overall survival (mOS) as compared to Hispanic and NHW patients (mOS 33 vs 28 vs 25 months, respectively; p<.001). After adjusting for confounding variables, the hazard ratio (HR) for death was 1.11 (95% CI 1.05-1.18) for Hispanics (p<.001) and 1.12 (95% CI 1.07-1.16) for NHW (p<.001) as compared to NHB. Moreover, a total of 25.6% of patients had MDS-related deaths. NHB patients had longer CSS compared to Hispanic and NHW patients (5-year CSS 72.2% vs 63% vs 62% respectively, p<.001). This difference was further confirmed using a multivariable Cox-proportional regression model with an HR for death of 1.35 (95% CI 1.24-1.48) and HR 1.24 (95% CI 1.15-1.33) for Hispanics and NHW, respectively, p<.001. [Figure 1]
 Conclusions
 Myelodysplastic syndromes have significant differences in age at presentation, disease risk, and survival outcomes based on racial and ethnic backgrounds. To our knowledge, this study represents the largest population-based analysis with the longest follow-up, specifically looking at such differences in patients with MDS. Further studies are warranted that incorporate treatment patterns and genomic data in order to identify factors that may account for these differences.

 Wang: Celgene/BMS: Research Funding. Patel:France Foundation: Honoraria; Agios: Consultancy; DAVA Pharmaceuticals: Honoraria; Celgene: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau. Zeidan:Astellas: Consultancy, Honoraria; Taiho: Consultancy, Honoraria; Cardinal Health: Consultancy, Honoraria; Otsuka: Consultancy, Honoraria; MedImmune/Astrazeneca: Research Funding; Astex: Research Funding; CCITLA: Other; Leukemia and Lymphoma Society: Other; Epizyme: Consultancy, Honoraria; Boehringer-Ingelheim: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Cardiff Oncology: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other; Ionis: Consultancy, Honoraria; Abbvie: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Acceleron: Consultancy, Honoraria; ADC Therapeutics: Research Funding; Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; BeyondSpring: Consultancy, Honoraria; Daiichi Sankyo: Consultancy, Honoraria; Celgene / BMS: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Pfizer: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Trovagene: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Aprea: Research Funding; Agios: Consultancy, Honoraria; Seattle Genetics: Consultancy, Honoraria; Incyte: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Jazz: Consultancy, Honoraria.


This study focuses on the process that individuals who have migrated to Sweden go through when joining the Swedish Democrats (SD), a nationalistic and anti-immigration party. SDs history is filled with Racism and violence, since the parties remodelling in 1988, where the party removed its more extremist and violent grouping, SD have become the third largest political party in Sweden. Through the classic outsider theories of Elias (1999) and Becker (2006) this study is driven to explore a new theoretical view on the process of role and organizational change. By looking at what pushes the individuals away from their former organizational belonging and what pulls them towards SD, this study will try and understand the thought process and decision making of the group, immigrants in SD, around the time before and during their organizational change. As a secondary point to this paper the respondent's sense of identity and belonging to SD will be studied. How has their change to SD affected their identity as a group and how do other groups affect them when they (SD) are trying to establish their identity. The research behind this paper is based on interviews with individuals that have migrated to Sweden and are public members of the Swedish Democrats.


Since the isolation and sequencing of cholecystokinin (CCK), considerable advances have been made in understanding the roles played by this peptide as a hormone and as a neuropeptide. CCK-1(A) and 2(B) receptor (R) cDNAs have been cloned; shortly thereafter, the naturally occurring CCK-1R gene-deficient rat (the Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rat) was discovered. This strain develops adult-onset diabetes with obesity, and has a 6847 base-pair deletion of the CCK-1R gene in which the promoter lesion and the first two exons are missing. At the same time, the genomic structures of CCK-1R in rats, mice, and humans were clarified. The CCK-1R gene consists of five exons interrupted by four introns. It has been determined that there is species- and tissue-specific CCK receptor heterogeneity of expression; in particular, there is evidence that the human pancreas does not express CCK-1R, while the pancreas in rodents primarily expresses CCK-1R. Although CCK-1R polymorphisms with amino acid changes such as 21Gly to Arg, 71 Arg to Gly, and 364 Val to Ile were discovered in subjects with obesity and diabetes mellitus, these changes occur sporadically. We identified two sequence changes, a G to T change in nucleotide – 128, and an A to G change in nucleotide – 81, in the promoter region of the CCK-1R gene. This polymorphism is considered to be a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) related to weight control difficulties in obese subjects as well as to psychiatric disorders. The precise molecular mechanisms of this polymorphism remain to be clarified.


A Gram-positive, non-motile, coccoid- to rod-shaped, non-spore-forming bacterium, designated strain YM18-15(T), was isolated from sea sand and studied using a polyphasic taxonomic approach. Strain YM18-15(T) grew under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The cell-wall peptidoglycan type was A4β and ornithine was the diagnostic diamino acid. The polar lipids were phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol and an unknown phospholipid, MK-8(H(4)) was the major menaquinone and the predominant fatty acids were anteiso-C(15 : 0) and C(16 : 0). The DNA G+C content was 74.2 mol%. High 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities (96.3-97.3 %) were found with the sequences of the type strains of the three genera of the family Beutenbergiaceae. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain YM18-15(T) formed a clade with Serinibacter salmoneus, Salana multivorans and Beutenbergia cavernae. Strain YM18-15(T) differed from these three type strains in chemotaxonomic characteristics and in 16S rRNA gene signature nucleotides. Based on genetic and chemotaxonomic evidence, it is suggested that strain YM18-15(T) represents a novel species of a new genus within the family Beutenbergiaceae, for which the name Miniimonas arenae gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of the type species is YM18-15(T) (=NBRC 106267(T)=KCTC 19750(T)=MBIC 08348(T)).


This study was aimed to investigate the perspectives of headteachers, teachers, caregivers, and parents about the prevailing Early Childhood Education (ECE) program in public schools of Punjab. Participants of the study were selected through a convenient sampling technique. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 6 headteachers, 6 teachers, 3 caregivers, and 3 parents. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the collected data. All data related to eighteen participants were coded. Clustering similar codes helped in identifying sub-categories from data. Several assertions were developed by comparing and contrasting various categories and sub-categories. The findings of this research highlighted the missing facilities of ECE in public schools i.e. separate ECE rooms, trained ECE teachers, absence of caregivers, unavailability of a separate budget for ECE, provision of ECE kit, well-equipped playgrounds, reluctant behavior of teachers as well as parents dissatisfaction with teachers' performance. The results of the study are useful for policymakers, administration of the Quaid-e-Azam Academy for Educational Development (QAED) to develop the program.


Choosing a retirement plan is one of the most important economic decisions people make in their lifetime. Under Israel's pension marketing policy, a pension plan is generally chosen at a meeting with an insurance agent, who may be subject to a conflict of interests. In this study, 263 participants were asked to choose a savings plan after meeting with an insurance agent who provided information about two different plans and then proceeded to recommend one of them. The study examined whether the tendency to choose a particular plan is related to the insurance agent's recommendation, to the fair disclosure statement provided by the agent and the decision maker's degree of financial literacy. It was found that the agent's recommendation had a decisive effect which was not offset by fair disclosure. Furthermore, it was found that the agent's influence was moderated by a high degree of financial literacy when managers' insurance was recommended. Yet, the agent's recommendation remained significant, as expressed in the intention to choose a different plan from the one chosen by a control group that did not meet with the agent. The results of the study indicate that the insurance agent exerts considerable influence, and they confirm that transparency and knowledge do not counterbalance the insurance agent's strong influence over the recipients of the advice. This influence may be abused when the interests of the agent and the consumer are not aligned.


We investigate the tail behaviour of the steady state distribution of a stochastic recursion that generalises Lindley's recursion. This recursion arises in queuing systems with dependent interarrival and service times, and includes alternating service systems and carousel storage systems as special cases. We obtain precise tail asymptotics in three qualitatively different cases, and compare these with existing results for Lindley's recursion and for alternating service systems.


Since stroke in childhood, although rare, has many potential causes, identification of the underlying disease offers a diagnostic challenge. Mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes (MELAS) is a rare disorder often mistaken for other diseases. Here, we describe the case of a previously healthy 11-year-old girl who initially presented with gastroenteritis-like symptoms after strenuous exercise. Her symptoms, however, rapidly evolved to include diplopia, dysarthria, seizures, and probable status epilepticus, followed by cardiac arrest. Resuscitation was successful, but she went into a persistently vegetative state due to hypoxic brain damage. Hyperlactatemia, hearing loss, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy were subsequently detected; therefore, a diagnosis of MELAS was established. The fulminant course in the first stroke-like episode posed a challenge in the diagnosis of MELAS. doi:10.4021/jmc149w


Abstract: For digital power-factor correction (PFC) control methods, the duty cycle is calculated in every switching period. One main implementation barrier is the limited switching frequency, due to the limited processor speed. In this paper a predictive digital PFC control method is proposed to solve this problem. The proposed control method generates all the duty cycles in advance, based on the reference current and sensed inductor current, input voltage and output voltage. It requires only one multiplication and three addition operations for digital implementation, so that the proposed PFC control method can be implemented (by using a low cost DSP or microprocessor to achieve high switching frequency). A power factor correction rectifier, that requires a current control with a rectified sinusoidal reference, is controlled using three methods: i) Average current mode control ii) Hysteresis control iii) Proposed predictive control. All these controllers are implemented on a digital platform. Simulation and experimental results show that predictive control has low THD, high PF, lower cost and better performance than the others control methods (due to its lower calculation requirement). Also, sinusoidal input current can be achieved under a non-sinusoidal input voltage condition for predictive control only.


2015 Accepted: 12 Nov 2015 Abstract Introduction: Heart disease is a psycho-physiological disorder that in addition to physical and biological factors, psychological factors such as stressful events, personality traits and coping strategies play an important role in its occurrence and exacerbation. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate personality dimensions and stress-coping strategies within healthy individuals compared with heart patients. Methods: In this analytical-comparative study, 50 patients with heart disease(26 males and 24 females) and 50 healthy subjects (28 males and 22 females) were selected. The participants were required to respond to the Eysenck personality questionnaire (EPQ-R) and Folkman and Lazarus's stress-coping strategies questionnaire. In order to analyze the studydata, descriptive indicators and independent t-test were applied using SPSS software(ver, 19) and the significance level was set at α= 0/01. Findings: The study results revealed a significant defference between heart patients and healthy individuals in terms of personality dimensions, neuroticism, and psychoticism, though no significant difference was observed in regard with emotion-focused coping strategies between the two groups. In the present study, the effect of gender was also examined on personality dimensions and coping strategies. Moreover, extraversion features as well as emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies were demonstrated to differ significantly between males and females. Conclusion: The study findings indicated that heart patients seem to be more anxious, fearful, violent, aggressive and fast developing for anxiety, depression and aggression compared to healthy individuals who apply emotion-oriented coping


Brown shrimp (Penaeus subtilis) trawling in the northern coastal waters of Brazil is an industrial fishing activity with a share in the international market and an important resource in the fishery market. Due to the scarcity of updated information on this practice and owing to its complexity, it is difficult to have a measurement of all dimensions of the development of this fishery, whether they are ecological, economic, or social-institutional. The present paper uses an assessment tool focused on data-poor fishery systems, the Fishery Performance Indicators (FPIs), to assess the multidimensional conditions of this fishery. The indicators were assessed between 2019 and 2020, and the metrics were based on public official data, scientific publications, in loco consultations with production agents, and databases of research projects. Results showed that the critical points of this activity are primarily related to the ecological indicator (1.75), which obtained a lower score compared to other fisheries assessed using the same methodology. This is due to its low selectivity, which results in high by-catch volumes and discards. The limited participation of productive chain actors also restrains the efficacy of management measures, which hampers successful resource management. This issue maximizes other setbacks throughout the productive chain, such as economic and social factors.


ObjectivesIn line with affordability and equity principles, Medicare—Australia's universal public health insurance system—has measures to limit out-of-pocket costs (OOPC), especially among lower income households. We examined the distribution of OOPC for Medicare-subsidised out-of-hospital services and prescription medicines, for Census households, according to their ability to pay.
MethodsWe used 2016 Australian Census data linked to Medicare claims to obtain OOPC for out-of-hospital services and medicines in each household in 2017-18. We derived household disposable income by combining income information from the Census linked to income tax and social security data. All data were available from the Multi-Agency Data Integration Project, enabled through a partnership of various government agencies. We quantified OOPC as a proportion of equivalised household disposable income and calculated Kakwani indices (K) to measure progressivity. We also used linked National Health Survey data to analyse costs separately by chronic conditions.
ResultsWe analysed 85% (n=6,830,365) of all Census private households. Overall, OOPC as a percentage of equivalised household disposable income decreased from 1.16% (out-of-hospital services) and 1.35% (prescription medicines) in the poorest decile to 0.63% and 0.34% in the richest decile, respectively. The regressive trend was less pronounced for out-of-hospital services (K = -0.06), with percentage OOPC relatively stable between the 2nd and 9th income deciles; while percentage OOPC decreased steeply with increasing income for medicines (K = -0.24).  (Chronic conditions results will be presented—embargoed at time of submission)
ConclusionOOPC for out-of-hospital Medicare services were mildly regressive while those for prescription medicines were distinctly regressive. Actions to reduce inequity in OOPC for medicines, such as reducing the co-payments for low income households should be considered.


PURPOSE
to determine the accuracy of fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) and of core-needle biopsy (CNB) in diagnosing breast lumps and breast cancer.

METHODS
this was a cross-sectional, retrospective and descriptive study based on the review of medical records. FNAB and CNB were carried out sequentially according to the routine of the Mastology Service. Both percutaneous procedures were applied to 233 patients during the period from March 2005 to February 2007. Women aged 18 years or more with changes in the clinical and/or image examination of the breast or a family history of breast and/or ovarian cancer were included. FNAB and CNB were carried out according to the technical recommendations of the National Institute of Cancer. The percentage of agreement, Cohen's Kappa coefficient, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and the accuracy of FNAB and CNB were calculated, considering the surgical biopsy as the gold standard.

RESULTS
the average age of the patients was 49.0 years (±12.7) and the tumors measured 26.9 mm on average (±23.1), being larger than 20 mm in 47.2% of cases. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and accuracy were higher for CNB than for FNAB, regardless of the size of the breast lesion. The diagnostic accuracy was 97.5% for CNB and 77.5% for FNAB.

CONCLUSION
although the CNB showed higher rates of sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy than FNAB for palpable and non-palpable breast lumps, the method remains useful for the minimally invasive diagnosis of mammary lesions, especially when its results are analyzed together with the clinical and imaging examination.


Six species of Mycosphaerella and eight anamorphs with unknown Mycosphaerella states occurring on myrtaceous hosts other than Eucalyptus are treated in the present study. Eight additional species that have recently been described elsewhere are discussed, while a further six species remain unconfirmed, and two are excluded from Mycosphaerella. New species are described in Mycosphaerella, Mycovellosiella, Passalora, Pseudocercospora and Stenella, and new combinations proposed in Eruptio and Microthyrium. Keys are provided to distinguish the accepted species occurring on Myrtaceae other than Eucalyptus, while their morphological similarities with taxa known from this host are discussed.


Geochemical reactions between fluids and carbonate rocks can change porosity and permeability during carbon dioxide (CO2) flooding, which may significantly affect well injectivity, well integrity, and oil recovery. Reactions can cause significant scaling in and around injection and production wells, leading to high operating costs. Dissolution-induced well-integrity issues and seabed subsidence are also reported as a substantial problem at the Ekofisk field. Furthermore, mineral reactions can create fractures and vugs that can cause injection-conformance issues, as observed in experiments and pressure transients in field tests. Although these issues are well-known, there are differing opinions in the literature regarding the overall impacts of geochemical reactions on permeability and injectivity for CO2 flooding. In this research, we develop a new model that fully couples reactive transport and compositional modeling to understand the interplay between multiphase flow, phase behavior, and geochemical reactions under reservoir and injection conditions relevant in the field. Simulations were carried out with a new in-house compositional simulator on the basis of an implicit-pressure/explicitcomposition and finite-volume formulation that is coupled with a reactive transport solver. The compositional and geochemical models were validated separately with CMG-GEM (CMG 2012) and CrunchFlow (Steefel 2009). Phase-and-chemical equilibrium constraints are solved simultaneously to account for the interaction between phase splits and chemical speciation. The Søreide and Whitson (1992) modified Peng-Robinson equation of state is used to model component concentrations present in the aqueous and hydrocarbon phases. The mineral-dissolution reactions are modeled with kinetic-rate laws that depend on the rock/brine contact area and the brine geochemistry, including pH and water composition. Injectivity changes caused by rock dissolution and formation scaling are investigated for a five-spot pattern by use of several common field-injection conditions. The results show that the type of injection scheme and water used (fresh water, formation water, and seawater) has a significant impact on porosity and permeability changes for the same total volume of CO2 and water injected. For continuous CO2 injection, very small porosity changes are observed as a result of evaporation of water near the injection well. For water-alternating-gas (WAG) injection, however, the injectivity increases from near zero to 50%, depending on the CO2 slug size, number of cycles, and the total amount of injected water. Simultaneous water-alternating-gas injection (SWAG) shows significantly greater injectivity increases than WAG, primarily because of greater exposure time of the carbonate surface to CO2-saturated brine coupled with continued displacement of calcite-saturated brine. For SWAG, carbonate dissolution occurs primarily near the injection well, extending to larger distances only when the specific surface area is small. Formation water and seawater lead to similar injectivity increases. Carbonated waterflooding (a special case of SWAG) shows even greater porosity increases than SWAG because more water is injected in this case, which continuously sweeps out calcite-saturated brine. The minerals have a larger solubility in brine than in fresh water because of the formation of aqueous complexes, leading to more dissolution instead of precipitation. Overall, this research points to the importance of considering the complex process coupling among multiphase flow, transport, phase behavior, and geochemical reactions in understanding and designing schemes for CO2 flooding as well as enhanced oil recovery at large.


In the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005), ecologists identified and pointed out a multitude of environmental and other benefits obtained by human-beings from ecosystem services. Frequently, these benefits are not fully recognized and they are not adequately taken into account in decision-making in contemporary economic and political systems for reasons outlined in this contribution. In particular, this adversely affects the optimal conservation of natural, near natural and unmanaged ecosystems. The human benefits from ecosystem services as set out in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment are summarized and this assessment is examined critically. Economic views about the economic value of different types of ecosystems and forms of biosphere use are outlined and assessed. Determining the economic value of alternative forms of land-use (more generally biosphere-use) is extremely difficult because of knowledge constraints. Often the biophysical consequences, that is, variations in the supply of ecosystems services resulting from alterations in ecosystems, are poorly known. The economic valuation of changes in ecosystems (alterations in biosphere-use) is also hampered by poor information about the demand for these services (for example, the willingness of beneficiaries to pay for their supply) and the cost of replacing these services if they are lost (or diminished in availability) as a result of ecosystem change. While this limits the scope for economic valuation, it does not mean the rational valuation of biosphere use is impossible. It has been suggested that the supply of ecosystem services can be managed optimally, in some cases, if private landholders are paid for supplying these services. The benefits and drawbacks of this approach are discussed. China's policies to restore the supply of particular ecosystem services, for example, its Grain-for-Green program, are used to illustrate some of these matters.


Stem cells isolated from the apical papilla of wisdom teeth (SCAPs) are an attractive model for tissue repair due to their availability, high proliferation rate and potential to differentiate in vitro towards mesodermal and neurogenic lineages. Adult stem cells, such as SCAPs, develop in stem cell niches in which the oxygen concentration [O2] is low (3–8% compared with 21% of ambient air). In this work, we evaluate the impact of low [O2] on the physiology of SCAPs isolated and processed in parallel at 21% or 3% O2 without any hyperoxic shock in ambient air during the experiment performed at 3% O2. We demonstrate that SCAPs display a higher proliferation capacity at 3% O2 than in ambient air with elevated expression levels of two cell surface antigens: the alpha-6 integrin subunit (CD49f) and the embryonic stem cell marker (SSEA4). We show that the mesodermal differentiation potential of SCAPs is conserved at early passage in both [O2], but is partly lost at late passage and low [O2], conditions in which SCAPs proliferate efficiently without any sign of apoptosis. Unexpectedly, we show that autophagic flux is active in SCAPs irrespective of [O2] and that this process remains high in cells even after prolonged exposure to 3% O2.


Poor crop nutrition contributes to the low yields of root crops in the South Pacific region where symptoms of nutritional disorders are frequently observed. This study was therefore undertaken to assess the effect of inorganic fertilizers on sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas (L.)] and taro [Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott] yields. It indicates the importance of the correct diagnosis of the nutritional problems at each site for improved nutrition management and describes procedures used to identify and correct nutritional limitations to growth. Nutrient deficiencies were detected using nutrient omission pot trials and the amounts of fertilizer nutrients required to correct deficiencies were determined in a series of pot and field trials. Placement of P fertilizers and number and timing of N applications were found to increase fertilizer efficiencies. Critical leaf concentrations of N and P were determined. Leaf concentrations sampled during early vegetative growth were found to be good indicators of the effect of N or P deficiency on yield. Economic analysis of fertilizer applications demonstrated a high level of profitability.


Simple Summary Fungi are well equipped to cope with oxidative stress and the reactive oxygen species that are, in the case of phytopathogens, produced mainly by the plant host for defence purposes. Peroxidases represent the major line of evolution for rapid decomposition of harmful peroxides in all aerobically metabolising organisms. In all the sequenced fungal genomes, many divergent genes coding for various peroxidases have been discovered, and Hybrid B heme peroxidases represent a distinctive mode of fungal-gene evolution within a large peroxidase–catalase superfamily that ranges from bacteria to plants. Abstract In this study, we focus on a detailed bioinformatics analysis of hyBpox genes, mainly within the genomes of Sclerotiniaceae (Ascomycota, Leotiomycetes), which is a specifically evolved fungal family of necrotrophic host generalists and saprophytic or biotrophic host specialists. Members of the genus Sclerotium produce only sclerotia and no fruiting bodies or spores. Thus, their physiological role for peroxidases remains open. A representative species, S. cepivorum, is a dangerous plant pathogen causing white rot in Allium species, particularly in onions, leeks, and garlic. On a worldwide basis, the white rot caused by this soil-borne fungus is apparently the most serious threat to Allium-crop production. We have also found very similar peroxidase sequences in the related fungus S. sclerotiorum, although with minor yet important modifications in the architecture of its active centre. The presence of ScephyBpox1-specific mRNA was confirmed by transcriptomic analysis. The presence of Hybrid B peroxidase at the protein level as the sole extracellular peroxidase of this fungus was confirmed in the secretome of S. cepivorum through detailed proteomic analyses. This prompted us to systematically search for all available genes coding for Hybrid B heme peroxidases in the whole fungal family of Sclerotiniaceae. We present here a reconstruction of their molecular phylogeny and analyse the unique aspects of their conserved-sequence features and structural folds in corresponding ancestral sequences.


The formation of ultrafine-grained structure in steels by various thermomechanical processings is reviewed from a metallurgical point of view. In the recent new type TMCP, ultrafine ferrite grains with a grain size of about 1μm are obtained when the austenite is heavily deformed at lower temperatures. In this case, dynamic phenomena such as dynamic recrystallization become prominent in the process. In the aging after heavy cold rolling of supersaturated matrix phase in two-phase alloys, the competition between the recovery or recrystallization of matrix phase and the precipitation of second phase occurs, resulting in various types of two-phase structures including microduplex structure. Microduplex structure is also obtained by annealing after heavy cold rolling of coarse two-phase structure in duplex stainless steel and high carbon steel. Recently, various severe plastic deformation processings, in which very large plastic strain over 4 is applied to the materials, have been developed to produce ultrafine grained materials with nanocrystalline and/or submicrocrystalline structures.


2D Monte Carlo operators describing the Coulomb collisions in pitch angle and radius are studied, which are applicable to axisymmetric toroidal plasmas. The coupling between the spatial and velocity coordinates in toroidal plasmas requires the spatial Jacobian to be included in the collision operator, which is essential to solve the Fokker–Planck equation correctly. The sharp variation of diffusion at the trapped–passing boundary for a tokamak gives rise to differences in the de-trapping probability of the particles into co- and counter-passing orbits, which also produces asymmetry in the distribution function. This problem is solved by using standard and non-standard drift terms, and by symmetrizing the transport across the trapped–passing boundary. Collision operators that relax the distribution function to a prescribed density profile have been developed for simplified models. To obtain converged results, different models are developed and tested that are applicable to diffusion problems with discontinuous diffusion coefficients.


Aim. During the last decades, extensive use of molecular methods resulted in significant elucidation of evolution and taxonomy of Poaceae, but determination of boundaries between related tribes still represent an actual problem. Especially, application of variable genes like 5S rDNA is necessary for further improvement of existing knowledge about the phylogeny of Poaceae. In order to clarify the phylogenetic position of the subtribe Dactylidinae within the tribe Poeae, we describe molecular organization of 5S rDNA of Dactylis glomerata. Methods. The 5S rDNA repeated units were amplified by PCR, cloned and sequenced. Results. It was shown that only one 258 bp-long variant of 5S rDNA repeats is present in the genome of D. glomerata and the level of intragenomic similarity of the repeats is high, ranging from 96,8 to 98,8%. The repeats appear to be functionally active since they contain all known elements of external promoter for RNA polymerase III. According to sequence comparison the 5S rDNA of D. glomerata appears to be similar to that one of distantly related Aveninae species. Conclusions. The data indicate a possible hybridization between representatives of subtribes Dactylidinae and Aveninae.


Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the impact of fintech, mobile money and digital financial services in Uganda and factors impacting adoption of the services. The study will also determine their social impact through financial inclusion in the Ugandan market.

Design/methodology/approach
This study covers the adoption and use of fintech, mobile money and digital financial services in Uganda. A case study approach was used through a survey questionnaire for 400 randomly selected participants within the Kampala region. Questionnaire was designed to measure customer perception of digital financial services and adoption including mobile money and agency banking.

Findings
The adoption of mobile money services is driven by mobile devices penetration and the need for access to financial products and services for the unbanked. Results support CGAP (2013) that observed that mobile money adoption was based on two key variables: social network and social interactions of the customer and a segment of customers who can be described as mobile technology leaders (early adopters). There has been positive impact on person to person transfers, grocery payments and mobile money providers have to continue to simplify the access to financial services and bring convenience to the bottom of the pyramid. And mobile money positively impacts sustainable developmental goals covering Gender Equality (SDG5), SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth; expanding financial inclusion through mobile money and SDG 10 – Reduce Inequalities.

Research limitations/implications
This study has limitations commonly prevalent with qualitative research, including the small size limited to Kampala and challenges of making generalisations beyond this context.

Practical implications
The paper might serve as a valuable source of information for government and fintech companies in developing the digital financial services ecosystem as well as for students and academics for further case studies in this area.

Originality/value
This paper serves as one of the first qualitative research papers concerning mobile money and digital financial services adoption, solely focused on Uganda. Its value is in its showcasing of the importance of mobile money among customers in emerging markets.


Ion channels are specialized proteins that enable the movement of charges through otherwise impermeable lipidic membranes. Their action is essential in living organisms facilitating electric signaling, muscle contraction or osmotic stress response among other effects. The protein and the lipid charges configure a polarized interface that yields local ionic concentrations and electric potentials that are very different from those of the bulk electrolyte. The combined effect of gradients of ionic concentration and electric potential causes the transport of ions through channels. Here we analyze charge regulation effects in different protein-lipid conformations, stressing how important is the role of electrostatic interactions in the ion channel function that traditionally has been rationalized paying attention mainly to changes in pore size. Tuning lipid charge combined with conductance and selectivity measurements is shown to be a complementary method to evidence lipid involvement in the structure of a biological ion channel.


NASA's successful exploration of space has uncovered vast amounts of new knowledge about the Earth, the solar system and its other planets, and the stellar spaces beyond. To continue gaining new knowledge has required - and will continue to require - new capabilities in onboard processing hardware, system software, and applications such as autonomy. For example, initial robotic space exploration missions functioned, for the most part, as large flying cameras. These instruments have evolved over time to include more sophisticated imaging radar, multispectral imagers, spectrometers, gravity wave detectors, a host of prepositioned sensors and, most recently, rovers.


Objective: The study aimed to find the best antigen retrieval buffer and heat source for the immunohistochemical staining of various kind of antibodies in our laboratory. Materials and methods : We designed the method to evaluate the efficacy of three different retrieval solutions in cluding 10mM Tris-HCl + 1mM EDTA, pH 9, 0.05% citraconic anhydride solution pH 7.4 and 10 mM citrate buffer pH 6, and 3 heat source pretreatment methods (Microwave, pressure cooker and water bath treatment)to retrieve twenty-one immunoreactivity in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections. Results: We found that, modified retrieval solution, 10mM Tris-HCl + 1mM EDTA buffer, pH 9 is the most efficient for a large variety of antibodies and not depending on heat sources. On the other hand, 0.05% citraconic anhydride solution and 10mM citrate buffer are moderate and poor retrieval solutions, respectively. Morever, these two solutions are heat source-dependent. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that 10mM Tris-HCl + 1mM EDTA, pH 9 and heat-pretreatment is useful for the immunohistochemistry of many antigens in aldehyde-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues. Keywords : antigen retrieval,  immunohistochemistry,  citraconic anhydride,  formaldehyde


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Trochlear calcification is frequently seen on CT scans that include the orbits, but prior studies linking this finding to diabetes mellitus were based on selected populations by using relatively thick sections. We assessed the relationship between trochlear calcification and diabetes mellitus and other chronic medical conditions in an unrestricted population by using thin-section CT. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Noncontrast head CT studies performed consecutively on 1000 patients between January and February 2011 were retrospectively reviewed for the presence of trochlear calcifications. Axial 1.25-mm-thick images acquired by 64-detector row CT were reviewed. Medical records were reviewed for chronic medical conditions, including diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease, alcoholism, autoimmune conditions, endocrine disorders, serum calcium and alkaline phosphatase levels, and HIV status. Motion-limited studies and patients with limited clinical data were excluded. Statistical analyses were performed by using the Fisher exact test. RESULTS: Thirty-two patients were excluded from analysis. Of the remaining 968 patients, 128 had trochlear calcification (13%). No significant association was observed between diabetes mellitus and trochlear calcifications in patients of any age (P = .40). There was no significant correlation between trochlear calcifications and chronic kidney disease, alcoholism, endocrine disorders, or HIV infection. Statistically significant associations among trochlear calcification, autoimmune conditions, and elevated alkaline phosphatase levels were observed (P < .0001 and P < .0001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of a large unrestricted population with thin-section CT imaging of the orbit, no significant association was observed between trochlear calcifications and diabetes mellitus. A statistically significant association was observed between trochlear calcification and autoimmune disease and elevated alkaline phosphatase levels.


The focus of this special issue of Theory & Psychology is on explanatory mechanisms in psychology, especially on problems of particular prominence for psychological science such as theoretical integration and unification. Proponents of the framework of mechanistic explanation claim, in short, that satisfactory explanations in psychology and related fields are causal. They stress the importance of explaining phenomena by describing mechanisms that are responsible for them, in particular by elucidating how the organization of component parts and operations in mechanisms gives rise to phenomena in certain conditions. We hope for cross-pollination between philosophical approaches to explanation and experimental psychology, which could offer methodological guidance, in particular where mechanism discovery and theoretical integration are at issue. Contributions in this issue pertain to theoretical integration and unification of psychology as well as the growing importance of causal mechanistic explanations in psychological science.


A technique for numerical computation of acoustic beam propagation is presented based on a nonasymptotic ray theory. Similar to conventional ray theory, an ansatz of the form φ(x)=A(x)eif(x) is used to transform the Helmholtz equation for time harmonic waves. Imposing A(x) and f(x) are both real leads to two coupled nonlinear PDEs for A(x) and f(x). Conventional ray methods employ an expansion in frequency to decouple one of these equations (eikonal equation) which is solved by ray tracing (method of characteristics). Solution of the remaining transport equation then follows. In the present method, the two coupled nonlinear PDEs are solved self‐consistently without an expansion in frequency, resulting in a ray tracing procedure which automatically diffracts at caustics, etc., producing exact field results. Discussion will focus on procedures to insure numerical stability. Application to beam diffraction problems (focusing, beam spreading) will be demonstrated.


Vincent Brian Wigglesworth (1899–1994) had played a fundamental role in the creation of the modern science of insect physiology. He is best known for making some of the first significant contributions to research in insect endocrinology. Through a series of simple experiments, Wigglesworth was able to demonstrate the existence of the 'status quo' juvenile hormones and the molting hormone ecdysone. Later, he made advances in our understanding of the sources and functions of these hormones. His Principles of Insect Physiology was especially influential, serving as the canonical guide to research in the field for nearly 40 years.

Keywords:

insect physiology;
history of entomology;
juvenile hormone;
ecdysone;
metamorphosis


This paper presents, for the first time, the design of planar resonators and admittance inverters that can operate at two widely separated frequency bands. Design equations of the proposed structure and its application to pass-band filter design are given. These building blocks feature dual-band operation, compact planar design and low-insertion loss. For demonstration, the measured results of a dual-band microstrip filter operating at 900 & 2000 MHz based on the proposed configuration are shown.


By changing ecosystem processes and altering the physical landscape, invasive ecosystem engineers can have substantial impacts on ecosystem functions and human economies and may facilitate other non-native species. Eradication programs in terrestrial and aquatic systems aim to reverse the impacts of invasive species and return the system to its pre-invasion conditions. Despite an extensive focus on the impacts of both native and non-native ecosystem engineers, the consequences of removing invasive ecosystem engineers, particularly in coastal ecosystems, are largely unknown. In this study, we quantified changes in a benthic community following the eradication of the invasive ecosystem engineer, hybrid cordgrass Spartina, in San Francisco Bay, California. We used field experimental manipulations to test for persistent effects of both aboveground and belowground structural modifications of the invasive plant on the benthic community. We found significant effects of the invasive plant more than four years following eradication. Experimental modification of the above- vs. belowground structure of this ecosystem engineer revealed taxonomic specific effects resulting in hysteresis in the recovery of the benthic food webs. We found that these "legacy effects" resulted from two specific mechanisms: (1) delayed breakdown of belowground structures (stems, roots) and (2) persistence of other invasive species whose invasion was facilitated by the ecosystem engineer. Both of these mechanisms are likely to occur in similar systems where belowground structures breakdown more slowly or where other associated long-lived invaders persist. Our work is among the first to quantify the slow rate of change in food web and community processes and the persistent legacy effects of an invasive ecosystem engineer in a coastal ecosystem. We suggest that this delayed transition to pre-invasion conditions could resemble an alternate state that would be misidentified without a sufficient monitoring interval or recovery duration, with consequences for future management and restoration activity planning.


Since 1995, the most intensive mapping of
the seafloor off the Spanish coast has been
carried out in the framework of the Spanish
Exclusive Economic Zone Project (ZEEE).The
main objectives of this project are to obtain
improved multibeam bathymetric cartography
of the areas off Spanish coastlines, and to perform
a geophysical survey,well-suited with a
10-knot navigation velocity (some techniques
requires lower navigation velocity).
The geophysical survey includes gravity, geomagnetism,
and low-penetration seismic techniques
in order to infer the geological structure
of the seafloor. Other oceanographic variables
such as current, surface salinity, and temperature
profiles, can be recorded without compromising
this systematic survey effort.
The ZEEE Project has carried out its survey
activities for one month every year.Data
acquisition is achieved aboard the Spanish
R/V Hesperides. Until 1997, surveying efforts
concentrated on the Balearic Sea and Valencia
Gulf, both in the western Mediterranean Sea.
Between 1998 and 2000, the ZEEE Project
investigations were conducted offshore the
Canary Archipelago. Since 2001, the third
phase of the program has been focused on
the West Galicia Margin in the northeastern
Atlantic Ocean.
Survey results on the West Galicia Margin area
are of interest for two key reasons. First, there
is great scientific interest in the improvement
of the knowledge of this non-volcanic rifting
margin, since this margin offers good conditions
for the study of the processes that take
place in this type of geological context,because
it is sediment-starved.
Second, the obtained results also have major
socioeconomic repercussions because they
can prove significant to defining the expansion
of the Spanish shelf,beyond Spain's Economic
Exclusive Zone distance of 200 nautical miles.
All of the gravity data acquired to date on
this area have been stored as a database, with
the aim of preparing gravity anomaly maps
on a scale 1:200,000.The database and gravity
anomaly charts from the ZEEE Project will
provide the most coherent and complete gravity
perspective available for this area.
This article describes the efforts and accomplishments
of the project to date.


Thirteen brachiopod and 13 trilobite taxa in 15 collections from the Hetonda Limestone and Nyplassen Formation of the Lower Hovin Group confirm the late Arenig-early L1anvirn age of these rocks. New monotypic and apparently endemic brachiopods are: the taffiid Chaloupskia scabrella n.gen., n. sp.; the leptelline Bockelia angusticostata n.gen. n.sp.; and the syntrophopsid Rhabdostrophia striatisculpta n. gen., n, sp. The new leptelline genus, Vehnia (type species, Chonetoidea triangularis Reed) also occurs in northwestern Ireland. The trilobites Blosyropsis cf. B. billingsi Whittington and Ectenonotus sp.indet. are newly recorded from these rocks; specific affinites of two trilobites, lIIaenus sp. cf. auriculatus Ross, and Calyptaulax cf. C. incepta Whittington are established. Similarity with North American assemblages is supported by co-occurrence of 8 brachiopod taxa here and in Nevada and western Newfoundland, and 12 of trilobite taxa from these areas and from Spitsbergen. The superposltion of the Lower Hovin Group above volcanic rocks correlated with the L"kken Group indicates their insular origin. The fossils and the rocks that contain them show that this island or island complex lay offshore from the Laurentian craton, at a low latitude in a tropical to subtropical climatic realm.


Social media and open innovation communities are becoming increasingly important not only for business-to-consumer (B2C) companies, in which context they have resulted in relatively large and fast-growing research body, but increasingly also to the development of business-to-business (B2B) products and innovations. In order to find out how social media and open innovation communities can be used to create value for the development of B2B product, we selected a single case study research method. The selected single case represents a unique case regarding open innovation community and social media use in the development of complex B2B products.


AIM
This study determines the factors associated with mortality in patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis.

METHODS
Patients (n=1,101) with asymptomatic internal carotid artery stenosis greater than 50% in relation to the bulb diameter were followed up for a period of 6 to 84 (median 38) months. Stenosis was graded using duplex scanning and expressed as a percentage of the carotid bulb diameter. Clinical and biochemical risk factors were recorded. The end-points were ipsilateral ischemic stroke, cardiovascular death and all cause mortality.

RESULTS
In a Cox multivariate analysis 6 factors emerged as independent predictors of risk. Age, male gender, cardiac failure, left ventricular hypertrophy on electrocardiogram (ECG) and myocardial ischemia on ECG were associated with increased risk. Antiplatelet therapy was associated with decreased risk. Based on these risk factors a high-risk group consisting of one third of the population with a 40% cumulative cardiovascular death rate and a 66% all cause death rate at 7 years could be identified. The remaining 2/3 consisted of a low-risk group with a 10% cumulative cardiovascular death rate and a 21% all cause death rate at 7 years (P<0.0001 compared to the high risk group). There was not any significant difference in the cumulative ipsilateral stroke rate, which was 12% in the low and 13% in the high cardiovascular risk group (Log Rank P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
The methodology and findings from the ACSRS natural history study need to be applied to randomized controlled trials on the value of carotid endarterectomy or stenting in patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis. They may help refine the indications for intervention in patients with carotid endarterectomy.


During a disconnection period (from October 1999 to December 2000) between lateral lakes and the Paranapanema River, the temporal changes on structure of phytoplankton community were examined in samples collected every three months, at the littoral and pelagic zones. A total of 183 algae species was found, being the community predominantly constituted by Chlorophyceae and Bacillariophyceae in the Paranapanema River and in an unique continuously isolated lake; and by Bacillariophyceae and Chlorophyceae in the other two lakes. During the year, a decrease on species richness was only found in the lentic ecosystem with higher connectivity loss. The algae Cryptophyceae were abundant (density higher than mean abundance of phytoplankton) in the three lakes, at both zones and during all the year, except at the littoral zone of the lake with higher loss connectivity in November 1999. In the Paranapanema River, Cryptophyceae predominated during a rainy month (February), being the diversity indexes lower than in the other sampling periods. The severe drought conducted to a significant reduction of volume and surface area of the lakes and, one of them, the isolated lake, was completely extinct in the last study period. Only in this lentic ecosystem, a concentration effect on the abundance of phytoplankton was recorded. The predominance of Cryptomonas brasiliensis Castro, C. Bic. & D. Bic., Chroomonas spp. and Chlamydomonas spp., in the three lakes was attributed to the adverse conditions for the development of other algae. Low depth, great amount of sediments in water ressuspended after windy episodes and, in a consequence, high light extinction were the limiting factors for the algae unadapted to these conditions, despite the adequate nutrient contents. In the Paranapanema River, the temporal alterations on the structure of phytoplankton community appear to be linked to water velocity and flux together with hydrological level.


Nowadays, many businesses such as banks, insurance companies, and other service providers have realized the importance of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and its potential to help them acquire new customers, retain existing ones and maximize their lifetime value. At this point, close relationship with customers requires strong coordination between IT and marketing departments to provide a long-term retention of their customers. The purpose of this study was to establish the use of CRM systems and further determine the challenges facing the use of CRM systems among the commercial banks in Kenya. The study used descriptive design. The study targeted forty five (45) commercial banks in Kenya. Primary data was obtained using self administered questionnaires. The successfully filled up questionnaires containing responses were first edited for accuracy, consistency and completeness. The data from questionnaires was analyzed using procedures within statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). The responses were analyzed using measures of dispersion (mean and standard deviation), distribution tables, quartiles (percentiles) and graphical analysis so as to explain the response rates from various respondents. The study found out that IT ensured personalized attention to the customers and also facilitated variety of products offered by the bank. It enabled the bank to understand and serve customers better than their competitors, developed and improved new products for the customers. It also improved processes and relationships with its customers and business European Scientific Journal May 2013 edition vol.9, No.13 ISSN: 1857 – 7881 (Print) e ISSN 18577431 328 partners and further built a long lasting relationship with the customers, increased revenues and profits. The study concludes that CRM is a useful business strategy and most essential to banks which have a day to day dealing with the customers. It is beneficial for all stakeholders: customers, employees, and investors. Good maintenance of CRM system can enhance increased performance through revenues and profits since adoption of CRM builds a long lasting relationship. The study recommends that banks should recognize the strategic role played by CRM as well as the increased importance ascribed to CRM in the future. They should recognize the diversity of experience and needs of different customers. Moreover, banks should hire professional people to deal with the system efficiently especially when the system is complex.


Falls is a major health issue among the elderly. It instils fear of falling (FoF) and affects quality of life (QoL). However few studies have examined this issue in a multicultural population like that in Malaysia. Our aim is to evaluate the association between FoF and QoL among Malaysian older adults. Respondents aged 58 and above, able to give consent, were recruited from University Malaya Medical Centre and community centers (n=486). QoL and FoF were measured using CASP-19 and short Falls Efficacy Scale-International respectively. Questionnaires were administered face-to-face by trained interviewers. Participants were mostly female (66%). The ethnic distribution of participants was: Chinese (60%), Malay (24%), Indian (12%) and others (4%).Mean score for QoL is 43.8 ranging from 10-57 while FoF mean is 13.2 ranging from 7-28. QoL declined as FoF increased(r=-.47, p?.01) Malays have the highest QoL in Malaysia. QoL scores decrease with increased FoF. Further study is necessary to establish the role of economy or livelihoods as well as investigating are cultural practices of a particular ethnic influencing QoL in anyway


Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the quantity and quality of platelets in platelet-rich plasma (PRP) samples prepared using three different reagents, namely, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), sodium citrate, and acid citrate dextrose-A (ACD-A) solution. Materials and Methods: A prospective study was carried out in which all the 50 patients who attended the outpatient department for hair rejuvenation were enrolled for the study. All the patients had a history of hair fall with diffuse thinning of hair, Norwood Grades 2 and 3. Patients with complete hair loss were not included in the study. No specific randomization was carried out. All the patients were explained about the procedure and the use of vials containing the aforementioned three reagents. Then, 40mL blood was taken from each patient. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses of platelets were carried out on PRP samples. Quantitative analysis was done by using an automatic cell counter and cross-checking manually. Qualitative analysis was carried out by preparing smears from each of the three samples from each vial. All the patients were followed up at 4 weekly intervals for a duration of 6 months and then at the end of 1 year. All the patients received six sessions of PRP. Results: All the data were subjected to statistical analysis using Student's t-test, and P value of <0.001 was obtained in samples from ACD-A vials, which was statistically significant. In all the 50 patients, the samples collected in vials containing ACD-A yielded the maximum quantitative count and the best morphology of platelets under smear examination. Conclusion: Within the limits of this study, we would like to conclude that ACD-A vials should be used for collecting and processing blood for PRP preparation to obtain best results in hair rejuvenation.


In clinical research, patient care decisions are often easier to make if patients are classified into a manageable number of groups based on homogeneous risk patterns. Investigators can use latent group-based trajectory models to estimate the posterior probabilities that an individual will be classified into a particular group of risk patterns. Although this method is increasingly used in clinical research, there is currently no measure that can be used to determine whether an individual's group assignment has a high level of discrimination. We propose a discrimination index and provide confidence intervals of the probability of the assigned group for each individual. We also propose a modified form of entropy to measure discrimination. Additionally, when analyzing research involving disease processes, many researchers are interested in estimating the effect of longitudinally measured biomarkers on the event time outcomes in the presence of competing risks. We propose a method to estimate this effect under the joint modeling framework. The proposed joint model involves three submodels: the first one models the latent risk trajectory groups; the second one models the longitudinal pattern of biomarkers conditional on a specific risk group; and the third one models the subdistribution function conditional on a specific risk group.

These methods are significant to public health research since they enable researchers to more confidently assign individual patients to risk groups based on their clinical measurements. The joint model also enables researchers to discover these distinct risk patterns more accurately by using patients' longitudinal data together with event time outcomes, while also adjusting for competing events.


Back ground: Diarrhoea is the second most common cause of death in young children, after pneumonia.Gum Arabic (GA) is a soluble fibre with moderate emulsifying properties that may result in greater accessibility of electrolytes and associated water to the microvillus membrane. Additional work indicated that GA enhanced absorption of the solutes transported by diffusion and does not act via sodium dependent mechanisms. Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of Sweetfibre (gum Arabic preparation) as an additive to WHO-ORS in the management of acute diarrhoea in children. Methods: An interventional randomized controlled hospital based clinical trial was performed in OPEH (March to August 2011). One hundred and eighty children presenting with acute none bloody diarrhoea in the absence of severe systemic illnesses were enrolled in the study. These children were divided randomly into two equal groups (study group1 and control group2), their ages ranged between sixand 60 months. The control group received the conventional treatment of diarrhoea according to WHO recommendations and the other group received in addition gum Arabic solution (sweetfibre), 5-10 mg until recovery and continued with 5 mg thereafter. Data were analysed using the SPSS. Results: In the group of children who received gum Arabic; diarrhoea stopped within 24 hours in 90% and 80% were discharged after one day. All of them were improved and discharged within first five days of admission. None of them went into severe dehydration or shock. Only three children developed electrolyte imbalance. The weight at the end of the study increased in 47.8% and decreased in only 5.5%. Sixty one children were followed after 6 weeks only two of them (3.3%) had recurrence of diarrhoea. In the control group diarrhoea stopped within 24 hours in 38.9% and 30% were discharged after one day.10% did not recover during the first five days of admission. Electrolytes imbalance developed in 23.3%, two children developed severe dehydration and one became shocked. The weight decreased in 35.6% and increased in 15.6%. Sixty seven children were followed, 13 (19.4%) of them developed diarrhoea again. Conclusion: Sweetfibre as an additive to WHO-ORS reduces the duration of diarrhoea and hospital stay. It decreases diarrhoea complications and facilitates regaining weight. It has a prebiotic effect in prevention of diarrhoea. All these indicate its potential as a new antidiarrheal therapy for acute diarrhoea in children.


Analytical approach to voltage collapse proximity determination is proposed for radial networks. Under corresponding assumptions, a radial network with arbitrary bus loads is transformed into a two bus equivalent. The voltage phasors at the generator bus and at the last load bus of the radial network are transformed to form the voltage phasors of the two bus equivalent. The latter are further used for assessment of voltage collapse proximity. Exact stability limit relations for a two bus system derived from Jacobian matrix can be exploited. Moreover, an analytical expression is derived for calculation of active and reactive power reserve margins for a radial network equivalent. The proposed procedure has been tested for practical examples of radial networks with inductive and capacitive loads.