This work discusses photonic integration efforts toward developing an InP-based monolithically integrated photonic chip for optical code-division multiple-access (O-CDMA) system applications. The chip design includes the colliding pulsed mode (CPM) locked laser, the Mach-Zehnder interferometer-based threshold detector (MZI), and the monolithic O-CDMA encoder/decoder chip based on array-waveguide-gratings and phase modulator arrays. The compact 4 /spl times/ 1 cm monolithic chip can replace a complex and large O-CDMA setup based on bulk optics. The integration technique involves active-passive integration using dry etching, metal organic chemical vapor deposition growth, and lateral hydride vapor phase epitaxy regrowth technologies. The fabricated CPM showed stable 1.54 ps modelocked laser output, the MZI showed excellent O-CDMA threshold detection, and the O-CDMA encoder showed Walsh-code O-CDMA encoding. Further, the fabricated devices showed excellent planarity, which accelerate our progress toward monolithic integration of O-CDMA systems.


Drug discovery is a lengthy and highly expensive process that uses a variety of tools from diverse fields. To facilitate the process, several biotechnologies, including genomics, proteomics, cellular and organismic methodologies have been developed. The present review aims to provide a basic understanding of proteomics research by discussing the methods used to study large numbers of proteins and by reviewing the application of proteomics methods to identify biomarkers, to identify drug target and to conduct drug's mode of action and toxicology studies. It is expected that this will lead to important new insights into disease mechanisms and improved drug discovery strategies to produce novel therapeutics.


Sewage is the highest contributor to the world's water pollution which contributes 60% of the pollution which is kindly straightly comes from the municipal and
domestic/residential. Sewage water treatment is a must, when environmental issues are an increasing concern. Submerged membrane bioreactor (MBR) is a technology which is able to fulfill those specific purposes. The Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) process is an emerging advanced wastewater treatment technology that has been successfully applied. The combination of membrane separation with a suspended growth bioreactor is now widely used for waste treatment. The raw sample has shown that it fulfilled the characteristic of sewage where the value of Chemical Oxygen Demand, Suspended Solids and Biochemical Oxygen Demand are higher than what have being comply in Environmental Quality Act 1979 Maximum Effluent Parameter Limits Standard A and B. Pink and blue colours developed since nitrate and phosphorus are present in the sewage. In this project, Chemical Oxygen Demand and Suspended Solids have been chose to be the monitor parameter where HRT and microfiltration affects the performance of the sewage quality. Even the result do not comply the standard, somehow the sewage quality improved all along the experimental run. At 4 hours HRT, COD resulted 135mg/1 at I bar while SS resulted lOmg/l at also I bar pressure. It shows that at lowest HRT and pressure, the treatment is getting better. The treatment is through microfiltration which is typically required low pressures (0.2 to 0.5 bar) to obtain the selective separation and HRT for MBR's are typically 4 to 20 hours since on most domestic wastes, this is enough time to allow for the oxidation of organic material which explain why 1-flU' 24 hours resulted COD and SS values at 279mg/l and 31mg/I at 3 bar pressures. This shows that membrane bioreactor process is capable in treating
sewage wastewater at low HRT and pressure.


BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to explore the associations between the 10 key indicators of the Global Matrix 4.0 project and human development index (HDI) at a national level according to sex, age, area of residence, and ability levels.

METHODS
Information from the 57 countries/localities included in the Global Matrix 4.0 project was compiled and presented according to the HDI of each country/locality for each of the 10 key indicators. Grades were assigned based on the benchmarks of the Global Matrix 4.0 project ranged between "A+" (best performance) and "F" (worst performance).

RESULTS
The population subgroups of females, children, rural residents, with/without disabilities from countries/localities with higher HDI performed better in the organized sport and physical activity indicator than their peers from countries/localities with lower HDI. Children and adolescents living in rural areas of countries/localities with higher HDI showed better performance for active play, and children and adolescents living in urban areas of countries/localities with lower HDI showed better performance for the active transportation. Countries/localities with higher HDI showed better grades for sources of influence than the countries/localities with lower HDI.

CONCLUSIONS
Physical activity patterns in some population subgroups of children and adolescents differed according to the development level of countries/localities.


Fuel cell system manufacturing process is not a defect-free process, therefore, the impact of typical defects in the electrodes (i.e. Gas Diffusion Layer (GDL)) surface has to be taken into consideration when the fuel cell system is being designed. To assess the impact of the defect on the performance, two approaches were taken into consideration. Initially, the fuel cell system was simulated using a unidimensional (1D) dynamic model which took into consideration mass transfer, heat transfer, and electrochemical phenomena. The second approach was experimental, using a 5 sq.cm PEM fuel cell, the impact of the GDL porosity on the fuel cell system was studied. Also, the system response under different load changes was investigated. After that, experimental results are presented to give a better insight into the phenomena analyzed, mainly on the dynamic system response.
 Cracks and catalyst clusters were the main defects analyzed, both of them were observed in new membranes assemblies. To control the defects, new membranes assemblies were tested, and after that, defects were induced using Nafion solution and catalyst powder to emulate the presence of catalyst clusters. For the cracks, some fibers in the GDL cloth were cut to emulate the defect. Membranes now with defects were tested again to compare its performance and detect any performance loss due to the physical changes in the electrodes.
 Results indicate a strong correlation between the porosity and the supply air pressure and the system time constants. Also, the impact of the defects was evidenced in the dynamic system response, after step changes in the operating conditions.


For the past five decades, ITOPF has reported comprehensively on the temporal trends of oil tanker spills and other industry publications have provided insights based on temporal analysis. Spatial distribution and trends of accidental oil spills from tankers have also been analysed and reported to some extent, mainly focussing on large spills and the major oil spills in history. There, however, remains a paucity of information on the spatial distribution of oil tanker spills globally, particularly for past decades. This is unsurprising considering the uncertainty of location information in some historical reports. The analyses of both spatial and temporal dimensions of historical oil spill data are significant in the assessment of risk for the improvement of safety in marine waters. Today, Automatic Identification Systems (AIS), remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are all being explored to detect spill locations and expand knowledge on oil spills. This paper provides a global overview of the spatial distribution of accidental marine oil tanker spills of size 7 tonnes and over, based on ITOPF's spills database, and explores spatio-temporal patterns over 50 years using GIS. The main purpose of this study is to produce maps that represent actual spill occurrence and highlight areas of high and low densities as accurately as possible rather than to emphasise on spatial statistics. The results emphasise the dramatic decline in oil tanker spills globally over half a century and show spatial variations in oil spills over the period. They also show a strong relationship between oil movement and oil tanker spills when frequency of oil spills in the various regions is compared with world seaborne trade data over ten years.


We explore whether robots can positively influence conflict dynamics by repairing interpersonal violations that occur during a team-based problem-solving task. In a 2 (negative trigger: taskdirected vs. personal attack) x 2 (repair: yes vs. no) between subjects experiment (N=57 teams, 114 participants), we studied the effect of a robot intervention on affect, perceptions of conflict, perceptions of team members' contributions, and team performance during a problem-solving task. Specifically, the robot either intervened by repairing a task-directed or personal attack by a confederate or did not intervene. Contrary to our expectations, we found that the robot's repair interventions increased the groups' awareness of conflict after the occurrence of a personal attack thereby acting against the groups' tendency to suppress the conflict. These findings suggest that repair heightened awareness of a normative violation. Overall, our results provide support for the idea that robots can aid team functioning by regulating core team processes such as conflict. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.1.2; H.5.3; I.2.9; J.4; K.4.3


This study contributes to the understanding of the effects of confining surface properties on the interactions within thin liquid films of colloidal nanoparticles. Colloidal probe atomic force microscopy was used for studying the interaction of colloidal nanoparticles between the solid–liquid and air–liquid interfaces. The influence of the surfactant on the surface deformability and on the structuring of the nanoparticles was determined. Therefore, surfactants of different charges, i.e.sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (C16TAB) and β-dodecylmaltoside (β-C12G2) were chosen. The oscillatory force caused by the layering formation of the nanoparticles was detected between the AFM microsphere probe and the bubble, and the oscillatory wavelength that reflected the interlayer distance of the nanoparticles was found to scale with colloidal nanoparticle concentration as c−1/3. Under constant experimental conditions (AFM probe radius, bubble size, Debye length and contact angle), the bubble stiffness was found to increase linearly with surface tension, while the oscillatory wavelength was not affected by the bubble's deformability. In addition, the cationic surfactant C16TAB displayed different behavior on the retraction part of the force curve, in which a pronounced adhesion force was observed. This phenomenon might be attributed to the hydrophobization caused by the monolayer formation of cationic surfactant on the silica sphere surface. Thus a stable thin film of colloidal nanoparticles was assumed to be formed between the silica microsphere and the bubble when electrostatic repulsion existed.


The change in commuting time in the process of spatially decentralized development has generated debates on the commuting impacts of spatial decentralization. Using Atlanta and Boston as two sizable but contrasting regions, this research compares commuting and urban spatial structure across space and over time, and examines commuting length increase in relation to the simultaneous decentralization of employment and residence. The empirical results indicate that, while decentralized development is unavoidable in growing regions, alternative decentralization pathways can result in very different transportation outcomes. The relatively spatially constrained decentralization in Boston results in a shorter commuting time and distance compared to the much more sprawling Atlanta.


This study discusses the use of twitter as a medium of communication that do celebrities in Jakarta, Indra Aziz, Pongki Barata and kerispatih. The support of the fans means a lot to all three top celebrities in order to continue working in the entertainment industry. Communication is the key to self-publish to the public in order to gain support for their new works. Twitter is one of the medium used to communicate with fans. Therefore the aim of this study was to determine the reason and purpose of twitter as a communication media celebrities. This research uses descriptive qualitative research method, using mass communication theory, uses and gratification models, new media, social media celebrities and theories of Public Relations on the Internet. The results of the analysis showed that the reason Indra Aziz, Pongki Barata and Kerispatih chose twitter as penggunaannnya easier when compared to other social media. The use of twitter is considered very effective because the celebrities can convey all the information they want to convey to the people, especially their fans, in a wide range of deployment messages with easy and fast.


Enzymatic hydrolysis process to transform lignocellulosic cellulose into sugar in a bioreactor tank involves different controlling factors such as advection, diffusion and fragmentation of cellulose chains. Although it has been observed experimentally that enzymatic hydrolysis is strongly influenced by the environmental effects in a tank, these effects have not been adequately quantified. In this work, a current kinetic model for enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose was extended by coupling the population balance equations (PBE) with advection and diffusion terms to model the spatial evolution of the system. The mathematical model was solved using the DAE-QMOM technique. The aim of this study was to simulate the effect of diffusion and advection on the fragmentation of cellulose chains during enzymatic hydrolysis in two-dimensional domain. This study demonstrated the applicability and usefulness of a commercial software (COMSOL Multiphysics) for finding the solution of PBE-advection-diffusion in cellulosic hydrolysis problem. The key implication of this work is that advection is a significant phenomenon which could increase the number of cellulose particles. Also, diffusion alone cannot increase hydrolysis rate, but the combination of advection and diffusion increases hydrolysis rate.


Platinum-based drugs are largely used in cancer treatment. Using genome-wide approaches we aimed at identifying cisplatin primary and secondary targets and at characterizing cisplatin responsive genes. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is widely used to study a variety of eukaryotic cellular processes including those that are relevant for human health. Yeast can be used for genetic, genomic and mechanistic studies as well as for pharmacogenomic approaches. Using yeast-based pharmacogenomic screens we identified novel genes relevant for the cisplatin response. In particular, we have identified genes involved in DNA repair pathways such as Nucleotide Excision Repair, Homologous Recombination and Post Replicative Repair, as well other genes. We also used mechanistic approaches to further characterize those factors that have obvious human ortologues and whose functions are still elusive. Altogether our approaches allowed us to unmask novel factors that contribute to cell viability and genome integrity in response to cisplatin treatment. Complementary studies on the human ortologues are ongoing. Note: This abstract was not presented at the AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010 because the presenter was unable to attend. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2190.


We model voters' gender bias as a prejudice on women's competence coming from a distorted prior. We analyse the effect of this bias in a two-period two-party election in which voters care about both ideology and competence. We find that female politicians are less likely to win office but, when elected have higher competence on average. As a consequence, they choose to seek re-election more often. We also show that if parties endogenously select candidates, the effect of gender bias is stronger, in that we observe fewer female candidates and elected politicians, and of higher competence. This holds even when parties are not biased.


Accelerating the reestablishment of a mature, biotic community following a disturbance is a common goal of restoration ecology. In this study, we describe the relative successional status of a recently disturbed riparian seed bank when compared with less recently disturbed and undisturbed systems, and the short-term effects of restoration on seed bank development within the recently disturbed system. The study location, the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site in South Carolina, provides a unique opportunity to investigate the development of wetland seed banks following a severe disturbance, in this case the release of elevated temperature and flow effluent from nuclear reactor operations. To assess the recovery of wetland seed banks over time, we compared seed banks of naturally recovering riparian corridor and swamp delta sites of two different ages since disturbance (nine years and 30 years) with undisturbed forested corridor and swamp sites. To assess the potential effects of restoration efforts (site preparation and planting of seedlings) on seed bank development, we compared seed banks of naturally recovering (unplanted) and planted riparian corridor and swamp delta sites in the more recently disturbed system. We expected total germinants and species richness to be highest in the recently disturbed sites and decline as wetland systems matured. Within recently disturbed sites, we expected planted sites to have higher abundance and richness than unplanted sites. We also expected a greater abundance of woody species in the undisturbed forested sites. The number of germinants differed among the sites, ranging from 748 individuals per m2 in the undisturbed swamp area to 10,322 individuals per m2 in the recently disturbed planted swamp delta. When corridor and delta sites within a stream system were combined, the mean number of germinants was greater in the recently disturbed system, intermediate in the 30-year (mid-successional) system, and lowest in the undisturbed system. Seed banks from the recently disturbed and mid-successional sites were more similar in composition than they were to the undisturbed systems. Across all stream systems, riparian corridors had greater mean species richness than swamp deltas, though differences in seed bank abundances were not significant. Sedges and rushes were the predominant life forms in the recently disturbed and mid-successional sites, while undisturbed sites had a greater proportion of herbs and woody seedlings. In addition, there were more germinants from planted sites than from unplanted sites. The dominance by early successional species at recently disturbed planted sites may be an unintended consequence of site preparation treatments, and such potential effects should be recognized and weighed during the development of restoration plans.


Ground-based measurements of the solar transmission and sky radiance in a horizontal plane through the Sun are taken in several geographical regions and aerosol types: dust in a desert transition zone in Israel, sulfate particles in Eastern and Western Europe, tropical aerosol in Brazil, and mixed continental/maritime aerosol in California. Stratospheric aerosol was introduced after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in June 1991. Therefore measurements taken before the eruption are used to analyze the properties of tropospheric aerosol; measurements from 1992 are also used to detect the particle size and concentration of stratospheric aerosol. The measurements are used to retrieve the size distribution and the scattering phase function at large scattering angles of the undisturbed aerosol particles. The retrieved properties represent an average on the entire atmospheric column. A comparison between the retrieved phase function for a scattering angle of 120°, with phase function predicted from the retrieved size distribution, is used to test the assumption of particle homogeneity and sphericity in radiative transfer models (Mie theory). The effect was found to be small (20%±15%). For the stratospheric aerosol (sulfates), as expected, the phase function was very well predicted using the Mie theory. A model with a power law size distribution, based on the spectral dependence of the optical thickness, a, cannot estimate accurately the phase function (up to 50% error for λ = 0.87 μm). Before the Pinatubo eruption the ratio between the volumes of sulfate and coarse particles was very well correlated with α. The Pinatubo stratospheric aerosol destroyed this correlation. The aerosol optical properties are compared with analysis of the size, shape, and composition of the individual particles by electron microscopy of in situ samples. The measured volume size distributions before the injection of stratospheric aerosol consistently show two modes, sulfate particles with rm 0.7 μm. The "window" in the tropospheric aerosol in this radius range was used to observe a stable stratospheric aerosol in 1992, with rm ∼ 0.5 μm. A combination of such optical thickness and sky measurements can be used to assess the direct forcing and the climatic impact of aerosol. Systematic inversion for the key aerosol types (sulfates, smoke, dust, and maritime aerosol) of the size distribution and phase function can give the relationship between the aerosol physical and optical properties that can be used to compute the radiative forcing. This forcing can be validated in dedicated field experiments.


In two patients with a diffuse abnormality of capillary permeability possibly related to circulating endotoxin, loss of plasma into the tissues (capillary leak syndrome) produced hypovolemic shock, generalized edema, hemoconcentration, and florid pulmonary edema. Pulmonary edema fluid (PEF) was collected and its chemical composition compared to plasma. A number of solutes including the various plasma proteins were in near chemical equilibrium between plasma and PEF. Intravenous administration of dextran 70 (molecular weight 70,000) and dextran (molecular weight 500,000) (in one patient), led to accumulation of these compounds in PEF at a rate consistent with abnormally high pulmonary capillary permeability. These cases document the development of pulmonary edema secondary to increased pulmonary capillary permeability. Possibly, a number of pulmonary diseases (collectively called adult respiratory distress syndrome) result from increased pulmonary capillary permeability, increased alveolar epithelial permeability, or abnormalities of pulmonary interstitial solute removal.


Sparse inpainting techniques are gaining in popularity as a tool for cosmological data analysis, in particular for handling data which present masked regions and missing observations. We investigate here the relationship between sparse inpainting techniques using the spherical harmonic basis as a dictionary and the isotropy properties of cosmological maps, as for instance those arising from cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments. In particular, we investigate the possibility that inpainted maps may exhibit anisotropies in the behaviour of higher-order angular polyspectra. We provide analytic computations and simulations of inpainted maps for a Gaussian isotropic model of CMB data, suggesting that the resulting angular trispectrum may exhibit small but non-negligible deviations from isotropy.


Optical properties of the LaNi5-xCux (x = 0, 0.6, 1, 1.2) compounds were studied. It was shown that substitution of copper for nickel led to noticeable changes in the optical conductivity spectra. Calculations of the electronic structure of compounds with x = 0, 1, 2 were performed using a generalized gradient approximation. The interband optical conductivity of these intermetallics was calculated. The optical ellipsometrical measurements and theoretical calculations testify to the appearance of a broad absorption structure associated with the Cu 3d  Ni 3d electron transitions and increasing with the growth of copper content.


Synthesis and structure of ethylene bridged polysilsesquioxanes functionalized with different groups Amino-, thiol-, urea-, and acethoxy- functionalized polysilsesquioxane xerogels have been obtained by co-condensation of 1,2-bis(triethoxysilyl)ethane with trifunctional silanes. The structural and chemical characterization of the xerogels was done by means of IR, 13C NMR, 29Si NMR spectroscopy, AFM, elemental analysis and nitrogen adsorption measurements. The resulting xerogels have a porous structure (SBET in the range 500-800 m2/g) and a high content of functional groups (2.3-2.7 mmol/g). Majority of these groups are accessible on the surface generating specific adsorption sites. The nature of the functional group introduced by co-condensation substantially influences the porous structure - the resulting samples can be microporous or mesoporous depending on the type of the group used.


Regionalization is a contradictory process meaning both subnational "fragmentation" of territorial states and their supranational "integration" at a larger scale. In this paper federalism, as a division of sovereignty between several orders of government within the same political system, is conceived as an institution designed to regulate regionalization. But federal pacts are subject to two symmetrical risks: either, a risk of a centralizing drift towards a unitary state; or a risk of disintegrating into as many sovereign states as previous federated units. Thus, in the first section of the paper, we define a 'true'federal system as a political order where an institutional device permanently tackles the problem of self-conservation of the federal principle. Then, in the second section, we show that self-conservation of a federal system or its evolution towards centralization or dissolution, are not first order dependent on economic issues, but on specific institutional forms that rule the game of political and social actors. To demonstrate this we take a comparative view of equalization programmes for tax revenues which distinguish Canadian federalism from its US counterpart. For these programmes channel competition between governments on political grounds and participate in the self-reproduction of the federal covenant. On the contrary, a lack of equalization liberates economic competition between federal states - tax war, social dumping - and leaves the ground free for centralization or dissolution of the federation. Copyright Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishers Ltd 1999.


Adventure tourism is currently regarded as one of the fastest growing forms of nature-based tourism within the alternative tourism industry. Historically, adventure was only considered a byproduct on journeys of discovery and exploration as travellers sought new land, wealth and knowledge. As the uncertainty surrounding travel diminished and more people began to travel further in search of new and exciting pursuits, the term adventure tourism began to take shape. Those who travelled further to remote and exotic nature-based settings to participate in unique and adventurous activities become known as adventure tourists. These travellers may be thought of as being the first adventure tourists, although modern-day adventure tourism has its origins in numerous historic themes in travel and ways of thinking, including those of explorers and adventurers, pilgrims, travel writer adventurers, merchants and traders, trekking, Outward Bound and World War periods. Although being a much debated topic amongst scholars, adventure tourism is described as travel to a remote, exotic or nature-based destination with the purpose of participating in adventure activities. Adventure activities are usually associated with risk, challenge and danger and are pursued for their ability to provide the participant with unknown outcomes, constricting emotions, educational opportunities, and novel, thrilling, stimulating, exciting and adrenaline rush experiences. Adventure activities also differ in respect of their requirements to competently overcome different levels of challenge. Challenges posed by adventure activities can range from the routine to the extreme and are therefore divided into two categories, namely soft and hard adventure activities. Soft adventure activities require little to no previous experience or skills as they only contain perceived levels of risk, whereas hard adventure activities are regarded as highly challenging activities that require great mental and physical effort to perform. The bulk of the adventure tourism market consists of soft adventure tourists. This is also true of the visitors who participate in adventure activities in national parks, as most adventure offerings in the parks consist of soft adventure activities, such as safaris, game drives, camping, and trail walking, to name but a few. A great number of these adventure activities are centred on family groups and more mature audiences, as they make up the majority of the market of visitors visiting South African National Parks. In other words, from the over 80% of funding that is selfgenerated by South African National Parks, these markets are considered primary contributors to park income. Unfortunately, it was estimated that by 2022 operational cost would have exceeded tourism profits due to the constant increase in conservation costs and land management costs. A feasible solution to this problem was identified; connecting a broader South African society with national parks to help support and protect the natural heritage of the parks. This included the development of new adventure activities for current and potentially new markets that will respond to both the adventure and wilderness lore of national parks. Therefore, the primary objective of this study was to determine tourist needs for adventure activities in South African National Parks. A literature analysis of adventure tourism and adventure tourism product development, which provided the background for the empirical study, was conducted. A quantitative research approach was followed by means of an electronic questionnaire that was posted on the SANParks web site under the sub-link 'Media & News', allowing for convenience sampling. Respondents had access to the questionnaire during the months of April and May 2014, from which 387 usable questionnaires were obtained. Data was analysed using descriptive and exploratory statistics for arriving at the empirical results. The socio-demographic profile of the majority of respondents who completed the questionnaire was found to be as follows: almost an equal number of females (51%) and males (49%) spoke English as a home language, married, obtained some kind of diploma or degree, averaged an age of 49 years, and resided in Gauteng or the Western Cape. Thirty-four percent (34%) of respondents included children in their travel party of which the majority were between the ages of nineteen to twenty-five years. It was also identified that respondents visited national parks an average of 8.54 times over a five-year period and stayed an average of two to seven nights, while most respondents were owners of a Wild Card. Most respondents indicated that they participated in adventure activities but felt that current adventure activities in national parks were sufficient. Respondents were also willing to pay for adventure activities in national parks, ranging from R101-R300 for an activity per person. Respondents were offered the opportunity to identify the level of importance between a list of soft and hard adventure activities for national parks, as well as motives for participating in adventure activities. Three factor analyses were conducted on these lists from which eight factors were identified for the soft adventure activities (water-based, interpretive, wildlife interaction, heritage, consumptive, trail/trekking, self-executing and team-based), three factors for the hard adventure activities (adrenaline rush, wilderness training and survival courses, and adventure sports) and two factors for adventure participation motives (internal and external motives). The most important soft adventure factor with the highest mean value was interpretive (safari/game viewing, night drives, bird watching, stargazing, guided walks and hot air ballooning), with self-executing (guided and unguided 4x4 trails and campsite camping) in second place, heritage (archaeological tours, historical tours, geographical tours and botanical tours) in third place and trail/trekking (backpacking, cycling routes, hiking and horseback safaris) in fourth place. Self-executing was also considered the only factor that had a positive small effect correlation with visits over the past five years, meaning that if visitor visits increase so does the importance of self-executing activities. Wilderness training and survival courses (field-guide training, wilderness camping, survival and wilderness training, and survival games) were considered as the most important hard adventure factor. Regarding adventure participation motives, respondents considered external motives, such as getting in touch with nature, spending time with family and friends, educational reasons, escaping routine and exploring a new destination, to be the most important reasons for participating in adventure activities. The profile of visitors who were most likely to participate in adventure activities was below the age of forty years and not a Wild Card member. It was also identified that males generally had a higher preference rate for adventure activities, including respondents that were either single or living together. In conclusion, this study found that there is a need for a variety of adventure activities in national parks and visitors are motivated by the social and environmental aspects of adventure activities, rather than by the performance thereof. The results in this study can assist South African National Parks in the development of appropriate adventure activities as a strategy to combat future increases in operational costs.


Collective Coherent Spin Dynamics Ultracold gases have shown considerable promise for the quantum simulation of more complicated systems, such as correlated electrons in solids. Usually, researchers use two hyperfine states of the atoms to correspond to the spin up and down states of the electrons; however, these gases typically have a much richer internal state structure. Krauser et al. (p. 157) observed the coherent behavior of a gas of potassium-40 atoms that had 10 accessible internal spin states and that evolved through collisions. The spin state of the system oscillated as a whole, a surprising finding given that the atoms are fermions. Collective behavior in many-body systems is the origin of many fascinating phenomena in nature, ranging from the formation of clouds to magnetic properties of solids. We report on the observation of collective spin dynamics in an ultracold Fermi sea with large spin. As a key result, we observed long-lived and large-amplitude coherent spin oscillations driven by local spin interactions. At ultralow temperatures, Pauli blocking stabilizes the collective behavior, and the Fermi sea behaves as a single entity in spin space. With increasing temperature, we observed a stronger damping associated with particle-hole excitations. Unexpectedly, we found a high-density regime where excited spin configurations are collisionally stabilized. Our results reveal the intriguing interplay between microscopic processes either stimulating or suppressing collective effects in a fermionic many-body system. Long-lived oscillations of the internal state of a trapped fermionic potassium-40 gas occur within a single spatial mode.


This paper compares the performance of wireless communication technologies to replace the wired networks by wireless networks on avionic sensor-actuator networks communication. Due to the drawbacks of the wired network, such as complexity, weight, maintenance cost and scalability, it leads to the high data rate and network traffic demands of avionics systems. Therefore, in WAIC(Wireless Avionics IntraCommunication) system suggested by ITU(International Telecommunication Union), based on environment of avionics system and requirements of a wired network, wireless network structures are defined to solve the problems of wired networks. In this paper, we consider features, advantages and disadvantages of wireless communication technologies which can be used for wireless avionics network, and we propose suitable wireless communication technology candidates for wireless avionics sensor-actuator networks in WAIC


: Adult rats fed proteins as a meal given during the daytime exhibit alterations of liver protein metabolism characterized by simultaneous stimulations of protein synthesis and degradation, particularly during the hours following protein ingestion. The purpose of the present work was to determine if the stimulation of liver protein breakdown could be related to biophysical alterations of the lysosomal system. There is a growing amount of evidence to suggest that the lysosomal vacuolar system is involved in the physiological regulation of overall proteolytic rate. Rats, trained to eat a protein meal 2 hrs after the onset of light, were killed 6, 9, 18, 21 and 24 hrs after protein intake. Three fractions were isolated from 0.25 M sucrose liver homogenates after differential centrifugation. The mitochondrial-lysosomal fraction was further analyzed by isopycnic centrifugation in sucrose gradients. Three specific lysosomal enzyme activities were assessed: N-acetyl-beta-D glucosaminidase (marker), cathepsin D and cathepsin C (proteolytic enzymes). Total activities remained unchanged at all time-points, but the distributions between the different fractions recovered after differential centrifugation were altered 6 and 9 hrs after protein intake. A significantly higher percentage of N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase, cathepsin D and cathepsin C activities were recovered in the M + L fraction, suggesting a shift towards lysosomal forms of lighter density. This was confirmed by density gradient analysis. Thus, even in adapted rats, acute administration of protein during the daytime quickly induced biophysical alterations in the lysosomal system. The lysosomal distribution pattern observed at 6 and 9 hrs after protein intake might be due to lysosome enlargement by active autophagy and/or by the sequestration of lighter cellular material.


This paper emphasizes the creation and application of a KIT for the communication of occupational accidents with puncture-cutting objects to the Municipal Health Bureau from the city of Ribeirão Preto. It is an essential instrument for the health care services directed to all the employees of the Health Units. It also evidences the notification and the beginning of the prevention of occupational diseases, being a highly useful instrument whenever any accident occurs. The creation of this KIT enabled the use of prevention measures regarding occupational diseases, culminating with the mobilization of the chiefs and the staff in order to intensify preventive procedures.


Cannabinoids are increasingly being considered for the management of various painful conditions, and could be considered as an option for treating acute pain in sickle cell disease (SCD). The objective of this study was to determine the extent of use of cannabis in the community for pain and other symptom relief, and its side effects during self‐administration in patients with SCD. Patients attending Central Middlesex Hospital in London were invited to complete a structured self‐administered anonymous questionnaire. Eighty‐six young adults with HbSS, HbSC and HbSβthalassaemia disease (median age 30 years) participated in the study. Results showed that 31 (36%) had used cannabis in the previous 12 months to relieve symptoms associated with SCD. The main route in all but two patients was by smoking. The main reasons for use were to reduce pain in 52%, and to induce relaxation or relieve anxiety and depression in 39%. Symptoms related to sedation and mood effects were reported in 77% of patients. The majority of patients (58%) expressed their willingness to participate in studies of cannabis as a medicine. We conclude that research in the use of cannabinoids for pain relief in SCD would be both important and acceptable to adult patients.


This study presents the development and lab performance of a high volume (Q = 950 LPM), multiple slit nozzle-based PM2.5 (particle aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 μm) inertial impactor and the performance of the same was compared with an existing single stage low flow rate (Q = 15 LPM) PM2.5 impactor. Lab experiments were performed on various slit-based nozzle impactors using polydisperse dolomite powder as test aerosol. After carrying out rigorous parametric evaluation, the optimum slit nozzle-based impactor configuration selected had cutoff size of 2.51 μm (aerodynamic diameter) at an operating flow rate of 215 LPM (medium flow) with a pressure drop of 0.35 kPa across the impactor stage. The length of the slit of this optimum medium flow impactor was extrapolated to a flow rate of 950 LPM to obtain the high volume multiple slit nozzle-based PM2.5 inertial impactor assembly. This novel impactor assembly was fabricated from brass and chrome-plated and then retrofitted in a high volume dust sampler (Model AAS 217NL, Ecotech Instruments, India) downstream of the PM10 cyclone separator. High vacuum silicone grease was used as the impaction substrate. A field study was performed with co-located novel high volume impactor assembly (HVIA) and single stage low flow rate PM2.5 impactor, to not only compare the PM2.5 mass concentrations but elemental, anion and water soluble organic carbon (WSOC)/water soluble inorganic carbon (WSIC) concentrations as well in order to validate the HVIA developed in the present study.


Generating stylized responses is essential to build intelligent and engaging dialogue systems. However, this task is far from well-explored due to the difficulties of rendering a particular style in coherent responses, especially when the target style is embedded only in unpaired texts that cannot be directly used to train the dialogue model. This paper proposes a stylized dialogue generation method that can capture stylistic features embedded in unpaired texts. Specifically, our method can produce dialogue responses that are both coherent to the given context and conform to the target style. In this study, an inverse dialogue model is first introduced to predict possible posts for the input responses. Then this inverse model is used to generate stylized pseudo dialogue pairs based on these stylized unpaired texts. Further, these pseudo pairs are employed to train the stylized dialogue model with a joint training process. A style routing approach is proposed to intensify stylistic features in the decoder. Automatic and manual evaluations on two datasets demonstrate that our method outperforms competitive baselines in producing coherent and style-intensive dialogue responses.


Different fusion oncogenes in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have distinct clinical and laboratory features suggesting different modes of malignant transformation. Here we compare the in vitro effects of representatives of 4 major groups of AML fusion oncogenes on primary human CD34+ cells. As expected from their clinical similarities, MLL-AF9 and NUP98-HOXA9 had very similar effects in vitro. They both caused erythroid hyperplasia and a clear block in erythroid and myeloid maturation. On the other hand, AML1-ETO and PML-RARA had only modest effects on myeloid and erythroid differentiation. All oncogenes except PML-RARA caused a dramatic increase in long-term proliferation and self-renewal. Gene expression profiling revealed two distinct temporal patterns of gene deregulation. Gene deregulation by MLL-AF9 and NUP98-HOXA9 peaked 3 days after transduction. In contrast, the vast majority of gene deregulation by AML1-ETO and PML-RARA occurred within 6 hours, followed by a dramatic drop in the numbers of deregulated genes. Interestingly, the p53 inhibitor MDM2 was upregulated by AML1-ETO at 6 hours. Nutlin-3, an inhibitor of the interaction between MDM2 and p53, specifically inhibited the proliferation and self-renewal of primary human CD34+ cells transduced with AML1-ETO, suggesting that MDM2 upregulation plays a role in cell transformation by AML1-ETO. These data show that differences among AML fusion oncogenes can be recapitulated in vitro using primary human CD34+ cells and that early gene expression profiling in these cells can reveal potential drug targets in AML.


Romana Didulo is a conspiracy theorist who claims to be the ruler of Canada, despite all evidence to the contrary. She has a fairly large following in social media. Her movement, though not easily categorized, can best be described as a combination of QAnon, sovereign citizen/pseudo-legal, conspirituality, and anti-vaccination motifs. This overview explores her belief system, her origins, the evolution of her movement, and the behavior of her followers. This review finds that Didulo poses two main kinds of threats. She: 1) encourages followers to engage in vigilantism, and 2) has created a pool of desperate people who have had their utilities shut off, and lost their vehicles and homes. People are suffering as a result of her edicts.


Warped products provide a rich class of physically significant geometric objects. Warped product construction is an important method to produce a new metric with a base manifold and a fibre. We construct compact base manifolds with a positive scalar curvature which do not admit any non-trivial quasi-Einstein warped product, and noncompact complete base manifolds which do not admit any non-trivial Ricci-flat quasi-Einstein warped product.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to compare pedicle screw fixation (PSF) with hybrid instrumentation (HI) in cases of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS).

METHODS
Thirty-eight patients with AIS who underwent PSF (n=19) or HI (n=19) between 2001 and 2011 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients had similar age at surgery and similar number of fused vertebrae. Operative time, intraoperative blood loss, and postoperative complications were compared between the 2 groups. Spinal radiographs for apical vertebral translation, global coronal balance, major curve Cobb angle, global sagittal balance, thoracic kyphosis, and lumbar lordosis were measured in all patients preoperatively and at 2-year follow-up; the results were then compared between the 2 groups. Postoperative correction was calculated for all patients and compared between the 2 groups.

RESULTS
The average time of surgery ofthe PSF group was significantly longer than that of the HI group (p<0.05). The amount of bleeding of the PSF group was significantly higher than the HI group (p<0.01). No statistically significant difference was found between the groups in respect to the development of complications (p>0.05). Both the major curve Cobb angle and the global sagittal balance showed greater improvement in the PSF group compared to the HI group (p<0.01). Postoperative correction was better in the PSF group than the HI group.

CONCLUSION
The PSF system provided better improvement than the HI system in major curve Cobb angle and global sagittal balance, and postoperative correction was better in the PSF group than the HI group.


In this paper we study the art gallery problem, which is one of the fundamental problems in computational geometry. The objective is to place a minimum number of guards inside a simple polygon such that the guards together can see the whole polygon. We say that a guard at position $x$ sees a point $y$ if the line segment $xy$ is fully contained in the polygon.
Despite an extensive study of the art gallery problem, it remained an open question whether there are polygons given by integer coordinates that require guard positions with irrational coordinates in any optimal solution. We give a positive answer to this question by constructing a monotone polygon with integer coordinates that can be guarded by three guards only when we allow to place the guards at points with irrational coordinates. Otherwise, four guards are needed. By extending this example, we show that for every $n$, there is polygon which can be guarded by $3n$ guards with irrational coordinates but need $4n$ guards if the coordinates have to be rational. Subsequently, we show that there are rectilinear polygons given by integer coordinates that require guards with irrational coordinates in any optimal solution.


Dose response activity curve of testicular hyaluronidase (HDase) following proton irradiation in dry state follows complicated mechanisms which may involve multiple hits and multiple targets of variable sizes giving a constant G value of 1.66. Target analysis appears to be modified by slow recovery of activity when irradiated enzyme is brought to aqueous phase. However, pattern of irradiation at a dose of 1 x 10(5) to 8 x 10(5) Gy reveals that though binding affinity of enzyme to the substrate (hyaluronic acid) increases as shown by declining Km from 500 mg/l to 300-70 mg/l, the reaction rate of catalysis by irradiated HDase is decreased due to decrease in reaction velocity (Vmax: 266 versus 76 units at 8 x 10(5) Gy). Activation analysis of heat denaturation of nonirradiated HDase suggested the involvement of 78 kcal/mole of energy of activation (E*a) which declined to 63-52 k cal/mole after irradiation at 1 x 10(5) to 8 x 10(5) Gy for residual enzyme. The corresponding change in entropy of activation (delta S*) increased from a control value of -291 eu to -236 eu at 8 x 10(5) Gy. From thermodynamic analysis in association with recovery in aqueous phase, it is concluded that HDase is inactivated due to dissipation of proton energy among weak forces including H bonds associated with secondary/tertiary structure of molecules.


The work presented in this thesis stems from the recurrent clinical problem of dyspepsia and peptic ulceration In patiants with rheumatoid arthritis. Little light on the aetiology of this problem has been thrown by previous investigators using clinical techniques such as radiology.gastric function studies and gastro-intestinal endoscopy. A new approach using the modern technology of radioimmunoassay of small peptide hormones has been applied and the resultant findings are the major aspect of this work. The first chapter deals extensively with the background to this work and includes detailed historical reviews of the incidence and possible aetiology of rheumatoid arthritis. In addition a detailed history of gastric function and of tests of gastric function are presented. Special emphasis is placed on those aspects known to influance gastrin secretion and action including the parietal cell functions of acid and intrinsic factor secretion. A shorter review of the background of pancreatic secretion and pancreatic endocrinology is also presented in view of its relevance to the work reported on immunoreactive secretin. The technique of radioimmunoassy of gastrin which is the central investigative tool used in this work is presented in considerable detail in Chapter 2. The background to the development of radioimmunoaassay and the limitations and advantages of the method are considered. Chapter 3 describes the results of the clinical significance of immunoreactive gastrin in rheumatoid arthritis. My original observation that immunoreactive gastrin is elevated in somo patients with rheumatoid arthritis is reported in detail. consideration is given to the extensive clinical and laboratory studices which this observation occasioned in an effort to uncover the aetiology of the phenomenon. It Is reported that the distribution of values of immunoreactive gastrin in normal subjects is log/norinal and the patients with rheumatoid arthritis seem to belon; to two distinct populations in respect to immunoreactive gastrin status. No Correlation could be found between this hypergastrinaemia and gastric acid output. Nor oould it be attributed to anti-inflammatory drug therapy. No othor clinical aspect of rheumatoid disease could be incriminated in this effect and it is of note that other chronic inflanmmtory arthritides failed to show a similar elevation of immunoreactive gastrin concentrations. In Chapter 5 further evidence ia presented that gastrin. may be implicated in the pathogenesis of ohronic inflammation. In rats the induction of adjuvant arthritis is shown to cause an elavation of immunoreactive gastrin. Some evidence is also prsented that the changes in hormone recorded by the immunoassay are biologically meaningful since a significant fall in gastric acid output in fistula rats was noted at the time of peak elevation of immunoroactive gastrin in intact animals. The unusual combination of ulcer healing and anti-inflarmatory actions of carbenoxolone sodiam induced me to use this drug therapeutically in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. chaptar 4 records the failure of this drug to benefit the inflammatory joint disease but also reports the original observation that this drug may act on peptic ulcer via its action on immunoreactive secretin. How this accords with the observations of other investisti; ators is considered in some detail. The close association in terms of gastric physiolosgy between gastrin and histamine is reviewed in Chapter 6, Histamine has long been associated with inflammation so that my implication of gastrin in inflammatory disease encouraged me to look at a possible role for aastrin in micro-circulatory responses. The results obtained using a dog model are oonaidered. There was no apparent effect of gastrin on this model which reflects well, the profound actions of histamine on blood vessels. The major changes in symptomatology of both inflammatory joint disease and peptic ulceration which occurs in pregnancy induced me to consider the role of gastrin in pregnancy. Chapter 7 reports important new information which indicates that a significant rise occurs in immunoreactive, gastrin towards the end of pregnancy and in the early puerperium.


This book is derived from studies into 'Managing Agricultural Development in Africa'. The studies were launched in 1984 by the World Bank in collaboration with the governments of Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Cameroon, Nigeria and Senegal. Seven other governments participated but non-governmental organisations were not involved. The text offers a wealth of statistics on agricultural and rural development, which illustrate the changing pattern of donor assistance but also the uneven progress of development between countries during the two decades. There is a variety of agricultural and rural development projects but the former emphasize annual and perennial rainfed crops. The analysis of the successes and failures of donor-assisted projects, including those of the World Bank, are approached by the various authors with a refreshing frankness and objectivity which lends credibility to the discussions and to the lessons that should be learnt. The lack of country-led long-term development strategies, the problems of institutional development, the difficult policy issues and the technical problems facing agricultural development in Africa are highlighted by the discussions. Readers of Experimental Agricultural will find that the book provides an excellent review of several important lessons that must be integrated into future programmes for agricultural development in Africa.


Summary The alfalfa leafcutting bee, Megachile rotundata F. (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae), is an important pollinator for the commercial production of alfalfa seed. Poor nest establishment is, however, an ongoing problem for bee managers. Megachile rotundata are solitary yet gregarious bees that nest in pre-existing cavities and are attracted to previously used nests. Nest cells contain several components that may serve as cues for nesting females. In the current study, we sought to: 1. determine if there is a preference for cells that previously held male or female conspecific bees; 2. verify attraction to conspecific whole nest cells; and 3. determine which individual nest components of a cell are attractive to nesting females. In a series of cage and open field experiments, M. rotundata females were allowed to initiate nests in blocks containing whole cells or individual cell components from old nests. Statistical analyses of results verified the attraction to conspecific nest cells, with no preference for male or female cells. Females were equally attracted to whole cells from conspecifics and from another megachilid bee, Osmia lignaria. In field cages, females were equally attracted to all cell components, but preferred some cell components over others in open field experiments. These results provide a foundation for future studies to identify potential chemical lures to aid in the retention of bee populations at commercial nest sites.


The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of undergraduates' metacognitive beliefs about writing and knowledge, ways that those beliefs may change during the semester, and the relationship of beliefs to their persuasive writing. Scales assessing epistemological and writing beliefs were given to students in lower-division rhetoric and writing courses (N=241). Generally, students experienced significant changes in their beliefs about knowledge, learning, and writing across the semester, as assessed by the Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire (Schommer, 1993) and writing beliefs scales (White & Bruning, 2002). Thus, students at the end of the semester reported beliefs that learning was a slow process and that knowledge was contingent. Although regressions predicting quality of students' persuasive writing from the belief scales were not significant, qualitative analyses revealed interesting trends in papers from students with different epistemological stances and beliefs about writing, particularly with regard to their use of sources.


Both hcp-Ti and CaF2-type TiHx (x ∼ 1.5) with preferred orientations have been grown in as-deposited Ti flims on NaCl (001) substrates held at room temperature (RT). In order to clarify atomistic growth processes of TiNy films due to the implantation of nitrogen ions (N2+) with 62 keV into Ti films, changes of the crystallographic and electronic structures of Ti thin films by heating and by nitriding during N-implantation were investigated by in-situ transmission electron microscope (TEM) observations combined with electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), with the aid of molecular orbital calculations. H atoms which constituted TiHx in the as-deposited Ti films were released with heating up, and were completely released at 350°C. The H-released unstable fcc-Ti sublattice was then epitaxially transformed into hcp-Ti. The loss peak observed by EELS for TiHx shifted to the lower energy side with the decrease in the electron density in the hybridised valence band due to the release of H atoms from TiHx during heating. On the other hand, the TiNy was epitaxially formed by the N-implantation into the hcp-Ti, through the transformation of the hcp-Ti to fcc-Ti sublattice, partially inheriting the atomic arrangement of the hcp-Ti and accompanying the occupation of O-sites of the fcc-Ti by N atoms. The loss peak during N-implantation into the hcp-Ti films gradually shifted to the higher energy side with the increase in dose, due to the increase in the electron density in the hybridised valence band. Taking into account the bonding interaction of Ti sublattices with ligand H or N atoms, the transformation mechanisms between fcc-Ti sublattices and hcp-Ti sublattices due to the release of H atoms or due to the implantation of N atoms will be clarified. [DOI: 10.1380/ejssnt.2009.625]


A "social" model of the Trinity, warmly debated in the last century, seems to have lost influence (witness the recent Oxford Handbook of the Trinity). It is argued here, however, that far from being a modern innovation, as suggested, a "friendship" model was integral to Pauline and Johannine and then Cappadocian reflections on Father, Son, Spirit. Some of the key terms in ancient discussions of friendship are collated here in supportive illustration. A critically appraised model of friendship, it is then proposed, is fitting for those who trust we are being creatively sustained, redeemed, hallowed, and transformed to share in the divine life.


The dental literature abounds with articles demonstrating drastic reductions in dental caries activity as a result of fluoride therapy. Recently, there has been concern over the number of fluorosis cases being seen. The prudent dental practitioner will utilize only approved products for systemic fluoride therapy, be aware of other possible sources of fluoride, and known the patient's fluoride intake before prescribing supplementation in order to avoid fluorosis and possible litigation.


AurnoRS' REPLY Sic We welcome the letter by Maouris and Gupta which brings to attention the confusion between prediction on the one hand, and awarenesslanticipation on the other. Prediction requires a strong relationship between variables and a high level of statistical probability of an event, whereas awareness and anticipation rest simply on the recognition that there is increased risk, usually of a lesser order. For example, a combination of risk factors associated with a 10% risk will not allow reliable prediction of shoulder dystocia, but it would be foolish not to anticipate the possibility and to prepare accordingly. Most deliveries will prove uneventful, but much of the safe practice of obstetrics rests upon such precautionary measures, which are designed to ensure that if skilled help is needed, staff are alerted, and there is a plan of action. We do not "assume that it is possible to predict shoulder dystocia prospectively by employing a combination of risk factors, and accurately assess the risks involved . . ." On the contrary, we point out that "where shoulder dystocia may be seen as a potential, though small, risk, its possibility should be anticipated . . . There needs to be a graded response proportional to the perceived degree of risk . . . Thinking in a preventive, anticipatory way does not mean subjecting women to unnecessary elective caesarian sections." The measures we have advocated in the great majority of cases are simple conservative precautions. Only when macrosomia is demonstrable and there is maternal diabetes, previous shoulder dystocia, or adverse clinical features have we advised elective section. We are again misquoted as claiming "widespread support" for cephalic replacement. We disclaimed any experience of this manoeuvre and were cautious in describing the experience of others. We have equally no experience of fracturing fetal clavicles with our fingers. We do, however, agree that symphysiotomy deserves a mention.


These two volumes of readings attempt to bring some degree of structure to a relatively diffuse field. Because of the sheer volume of high-quality work in development economics research, they are intended as a sampling of work at the frontier of the field, rather than as a comprehensive overview. Volume I: Micro-Theory focuses on theoretical work. Topics covered include sharecropping as a principle-agent problem, fragmented duopolies, credit market imperfections, poverty traps, peer monitoring in credit cooperatives, coordination failures, human capital accumulation as an engine of growth, and environmental issues in development.


The present study among 65 civil engineers investigates the impact of organizational support for strengths use on weekly work engagement and proactive behaviour. Positive psychology postulates that strengths use makes people feel authentic and efficacious. We argue that employees use these positive psychological states as resources that fuel work engagement and proactive work behaviour. Participants completed a general questionnaire regarding strengths use support, and a weekly quantitative diary questionnaire regarding their strengths use, self-efficacy, work engagement, and proactive behaviour over a period of five consecutive workweeks. In line with the hypotheses, the results of multilevel structural equation analyses showed that organizational strengths use support was positively related to weekly strengths use. Furthermore, the results indicated that weekly strengths use was positively related to weekly work engagement and proactive behaviour, through weekly self-efficacy (sequential mediation). Although strengths use support contributed indirectly to work engagement (mediated by strengths use and self-efficacy), there was no significant indirect relationship with proactive behaviour. Our study indicates that strengths use is associated with employees' levels of self-efficacy, work engagement, and proactive behaviour and that organizations can help employees to use their strengths more often by giving them the opportunity to do what they are good at.


Background. This study determines whether composite thymokidney (TK) grafts, created by implantation of autologous thymic tissue beneath the donor's renal capsule before transplantation, could induce allogeneic transplantation tolerance across two-haplotype fully major histocompatibility complex (MHC)- mismatched barriers in juvenile MGH-miniature swine. Methods. TK grafts were prepared by implanting autologous thymic tissue under the renal capsule of donor animals 2 to 3 months before transplantation. Four recipients were treated with a T-cell–depleting immunotoxin and received fully MHC-mismatched TK grafts plus a 12-day course of cyclosporine A (CsA). Control animals were treated with CsA alone or both CsA and immunotoxin, but with a normal kidney or a kidney implanted with autologous lymph node rather than thymus. Renal graft function was assessed by plasma creatinine levels and histologic analyses. Immunologic status was monitored by cell-mediated lympholysis assays. Results. All four recipients of fully MHC-mismatched TK transplants treated with immunotoxin and a 12-day course of CsA accepted their composite renal allografts long-term. All control recipients receiving a TK and CsA alone, a normal kidney or a composite kidney containing lymph node tissue acutely rejected their grafts. Conclusions. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that functional vascularized thymic grafts can induce transplantation tolerance across fully MHC-mismatched barriers in a large animal model.


Minor structural changes in transition metal dichalcogenides can have dramatic effects on their electronic properties. This makes the quest for key parameters that can enable a selective choice between the competing metallic and semiconducting phases in the 2D MoTe 2 system compelling. Herein, we report the optimal condition at which the choice of the initial seed layer dictates the type of crystal structure of atomically-thin MoTe 2 films grown by chemical vapour deposition (CVD). When Mo metal is used as a seed layer, phase-pure semiconducting 2H-MoTe 2 is the only product. Conversely, MoO 3 leads to the preferential growth of phase-pure metallic 1Tꞌ-MoTe 2 . The control over phase growth allows for simultaneous deposition of both 2H-MoTe 2 and 1Tꞌ-MoTe 2 phases on a single substrate during one CVD reaction. Furthermore, Rhodamine 6G dye can be detected using few-layered 1Tꞌ-MoTe 2 films down to 5 nM concentration which is several orders of magnitude higher than the value observed for bulk 1Tꞌ-MoTe 2 .


No succeed in the New World, Jewish songwriters adopted a southern strategy. Immigrants or the sons of immigrants, these men found their vocation in the era of the First World War, flourished for a couple of decades, and did not fully surrender their sovereignty over popular taste until shortly before the Vietnam War. To produce America's varied carols did not require rootedness or pedigree, since such artists operated in a latitudinarian and unstable society, marked by kaleidoscopic permutations of ancestry as well as by geographical restlessness. These songwriters attached themselves to the musical culture of the nation by celebrating one region above all. The idea of the South inspired a pool of melody into which just about anyone--black or white, Jew or Gentile--could dip. Why did the South so strongly appeal to the Jewish songsmiths who dominated Tin Pan Alley, and then after a few decades fail to inspire such song writers? The song writers themselves offered no direct answer. But it is certain that Jewish songwriters did not invent an image of the South. Instead, they inherited it, adopted it, and perpetuated it. They were buoyed by an awareness that no other region had managed to exert so powerful a hold upon the popular imagination. No other region elicited what literary critic Leslie A. Fiedler labeled "inadvertent epics": his examples are Uncle Tom's Cabin (both as novel and as "Tom shows"), The Birth of a Nation, Gone with the [Find (both as novel and as film) and Roots (both as novel and as TV miniseries). All were "rooted in demonic dreams of race, sex and violence." All are situated in the South. Nor is it accidental that all these representations of the region are haunted by what George Washington Cable called "the shadow of the Ethiopian." (1) Tin Pan Alley, the name that journalist Monroe Rosenfeld conferred in 1909 upon the song-writing district centered on West 28th Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue, tapped into this enduring national fascination with the South. The populace of Tin Pan Alley--the owners of the music publishing houses, the creators of the record companies, the song pluggers and writers--were overwhelmingly Jewish immigrants. At the beginning of the twentieth century, four in ten American Jews had lived in the United States for less than a decade. From these new Americans came such now-obscure songs as "The Girl I Loved in Old Virginia" (1899), music by Max Dreyfus; "Where the Sweet Magnolias Grow" (1899), music by Harry von Tilzer, also responsible for "Down Where the Cotton Blossoms Grow" (1901); "Oh, Tennessee, I Hear You Calling Me" (1914), music by Harry Ruby, who tried again with "My Sunny Tennessee" in 1921; "Sailin' Away on the Henry Clay" (1917), lyrics by Gus Kahn; "Everything is Peaches Down in Georgia" (1918), co-written by the Chicagoan Milton Ager, who repeated the trick the next year with "Anything Is Nice If It Comes from Dixieland"; "Georgia Rose" (1921), music by Harry Rosenthal; "Tuck Me to Sleep in My Old 'Tucky Home" (1921), co-written by Sam Lewis and Joe Young, and made into a huge hit by Eddie Cantor, who had been born on the Lower East Side; "Sunny South" (1922), music by Lou Hirsch; "My Heart's in the Sunny South" (1924), music by Harold Levy; "Song of the Bayou" (1928), by Rube Bloom; and "Savannah Stomp" (1928), music by W. G. Samuels, lyrics by Morrie Ryskind. The tides speak for themselves, and there were scores of others. (2) Tin Pan Alley followed a tradition in which individuals from outside the region created and sustained the image of the South, whether as in Cotton Is King (1855) by the Ohioan David Christy, or the plantation fiction of the New Yorker James K. Paulding, who "never owned a slave nor planted an acre of cotton." Paulding's "concrete knowledge of southern life," historian William R. Taylor remarked, "was gained from two brief summer trips." The most important antecedent of Tin Pan Alley, however, was the oeuvre of a Pennsylvanian, Stephen Foster. …


Lambda carrageenan is a widely used food additive. It has been shown that its oral intake induces suppression of T cell proliferation and antibody-mediated and cell-mediated immune response in experimental animals. In this study, we estimated the effect of oral ingestion of 0.001% λ-carrageenan on trinitrochlorobenzen-induced atopic dermatitis model mouse. Oral carrageenan ingestion alleviated ear swelling of hapten challenged mice and significantly suppressed mast cell hyperplasia in the topical skin. Serological analysis revealed that the treatment suppressed total IgE and antigen-specific IgG, and also suppressed both allergy driving cytokine interleukin-4 and counter-acting cytokine interferon-γ levels. It is suggested that the oral ingestion of λ-carrageenan may suppress the immunological response to the allergen and might be useful to treat atopic dermatitis.


A resonant type of cryoelectronic microwave circuit for the generation of frequency-scaled Josephson voltages is presented. The circuits consist of superconducting microstripline resonators with series arrays of Josephson tunnel junctions located on the microwave current antinodes. This microwave design was chosen to obtain highly accurate Josephson voltages at low microwave power levels and low drive frequencies. The resonator circuits have been fabricated in both niobium-lead and all-niobium technology. At present, we have observed long-term stable Josephson voltages up to 0.75 V for niobium-lead circuits with 1320 junctions and 0.66 V for all-niobium circuits with 1456 junctions, respectively.


In this paper, we investigate the hyperbolic mean curvature (cid:13)ow. By means of support function, a hyperbolic Monge-Amp(cid:18)ere equation is derived, and this equation could be reduced to a system in Riemann invariants. Using the theory of the local solution of Cauchy problem for quasilinear hyperbolic system, we discuss the lifespan (the maximal existence time of unique local classical solutions) of classical solution to the Cauchy problem for the hyperbolic mean curvature flow.


BACKGROUND
Dietary fat has a lower thermogenic effect than does carbohydrate. A moderate-fat diet, high in monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA diet), may decrease energy expenditure (EE) and thereby induce weight gain.

OBJECTIVE
We aimed to compare changes in 24-h EE and substrate oxidation after a 6-mo controlled dietary intervention with either a MUFA or a low-fat (LF) diet.

DESIGN
Twenty-seven overweight [body mass index (in kg/m(2)): 28.1 +/- 0.4] nondiabetic subjects aged 18-36 y followed an 8-wk low-calorie diet and a 2-wk weight-stabilizing diet and then were randomly assigned to a MUFA (n = 12) or LF (n = 15) diet for 6 mo. Substrate oxidation and 24-h EE were measured by whole-body indirect calorimetry. The first measurement (0 mo) was taken during the weight-stabilizing diet, and the second measurement was taken after the 6-mo intervention.

RESULTS
A tendency was seen toward a lower 24-h EE with the MUFA than with the LF diet (P = 0.0675), but this trend did not remain after adjustment for the initial loses of fat mass and fat-free mass (P = 0.2963). Meal-induced thermogenesis was significantly (P < 0.05) lower with the MUFA than with the LF diet, but no time x treatment interaction was found. A significant (P = 0.0456) treatment x time interaction was found for spontaneous physical activity.

CONCLUSION
Despite a slightly lower meal-induced thermogenesis, the MUFA diet had an effect on 24-h EE that was not significantly different from that of the LF diet after a 6-mo controlled dietary intervention.


Abstract Gastrointestinal tract breast cancer (BC) metastases represent a rare event and generally originate from the lobular subtype. Duodenal involvement was rarely described in previous case series. Abdominal symptoms are extremely unspecific and misleading. Diagnosis is challenging, and it consists of a few mandatory steps from radiological examinations to histological and immunohistochemical analyses. Here, we presented the clinical case of a 54-year-old postmenopausal woman who was hospitalized for vomiting and jaundice, presenting increased level of liver enzymes and minimal main bile duct and choledocus dilatation at abdominal ultrasonography. She underwent breast-conserving surgery and axillary lymph node dissection for stage IIIB lobular BC, 5 years before. Metastatic infiltration of the duodenal bulb originating from lobular BC was proven histologically, through fine-needle aspiration during endoscopic ultrasonography. Treatment was established after multidisciplinary team evaluation, based on the clinical status and prognosis of the patient. Pancreaticoduodenectomy was performed, and final histological examination confirmed the secondary localization of lobular BC, infiltrating the duodenal and gastric wall, pancreas parenchyma, and surrounding tissues. No metastatic lymph nodes were found. After surgery, the patient underwent first line of adjuvant systemic treatment with fulvestrant and ribociclib. After a follow-up of 21 months, the patient was in good clinical condition, without signs of locoregional or distant recurrence. This report stressed on the importance of a tailored therapeutic approach. Although systemic therapy generally represents the preferred option, surgery should not be excluded if an oncological radical resection can be performed achieving acceptable locoregional disease control.


There is a growing body of literature describing the development, clinical course, and treatment of avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), a diagnostic category introduced in the DSM-5. However, information surrounding complex cases of ARFID involving coexisting medical and/or psychiatric disorders remains scarce. Here we report on two cases of young patients diagnosed concurrently with ARFID and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who both experienced significant growth restriction following initiation of stimulant medication. The appetite suppressant effect of stimulants exacerbated longstanding avoidant and restrictive eating behaviors resulting in growth restriction and admission to an inpatient eating disorders unit. The implications of ARFID exacerbated by stimulant-treated ADHD are explored, as well as the treatment delivered. These cases suggest that further research is needed to explore management options to counteract the appetite suppression effects of stimulants, while simultaneously addressing attention deficit symptoms and oppositional behavior. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2016; 49:1036-1039).


Abstract In this op-ed, we discuss the advantages of leveraging natural language processing (NLP) in the assessment of clinical reasoning. Clinical reasoning is a complex competency that cannot be easily assessed using multiple-choice questions. Constructed-response assessments can more directly measure important aspects of a learner's clinical reasoning ability, but substantial resources are necessary for their use. We provide an overview of INCITE, the Intelligent Clinical Text Evaluator, a scalable NLP-based computer-assisted scoring system that was developed to measure clinical reasoning ability as assessed in the written documentation portion of the now-discontinued USMLE Step 2 Clinical Skills examination. We provide the rationale for building a computer-assisted scoring system that is aligned with the intended use of an assessment. We show how INCITE's NLP pipeline was designed with transparency and interpretability in mind, so that every score produced by the computer-assisted system could be traced back to the text segment it evaluated. We next suggest that, as a consequence of INCITE's transparency and interpretability features, the system may easily be repurposed for formative assessment of clinical reasoning. Finally, we provide the reader with the resources to consider in building their own NLP-based assessment tools.


An outcladding sensitized label-free DNA biosensor is developed based on tilted fiber Bragg gratings. The biosensor, functionalized with peptide nucleic acid (PNA) probes, is based on a double tilted fiber Bragg grating that forms a modified Fabry-Perot core-cladding closed-loop cavity. Interference is set up between an injected guided mode and the reflected core mode and cladding modes created by the light scattered by the tilted gratings, leading to the generation of interference fringes within both these spectral notches. When the DNA binds to the PNA probes attached onto the fiber cladding, a refractive index change occurs at the cladding-PNA interface and the fringe visibility changes accordingly. Real-time spectral measurement results are reported, showing that a 10-nM DNA solution induces a 10% modulation of the corresponding fringes visibility. Cycling tests are performed for measuring and checking the repeatability of the sensor.


The objective of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is identification and acquisition of valuable customers, and the maintenance of a mutually beneficial and expanding relationship with them. Building and continually leveraging a relationship and coordinating all facets of the contact with a customer are the essential aspects of CRM. Identification of relationships not worth maintaining is an aspect as well. Skillful CRM is vital in the setting of e-commerce, where much of a relationship is pursued by inherently impersonal means. The opportunities for expanding relationships and increasing profitability are, of course, enhanced by the multifaceted information technology. Yet, these opportunities will be converted into realities only when the technology is put in the service of appropriate management and operations techniques. The Special Section on advances in e-commerce CRM (appropriately equipped with the acronym ECCRM), guest-edited and introduced by Jerry Fjermestad and Nicholas C. Romano, Jr., does indeed advance our knowledge in the area. The papers in the special section notably and appropriately focus on the customer's point of view. They present studies on how to aim for the ecustomer's satisfaction, how to understand that satisfaction, and how to assess it scientifically. The last paper in the section is a very important assessment of the accessibility of Web sites to a large group of customers and stakeholders—the handicapped. In the study, the majority of the sites of the largest U.S. corporations are found wanting in this respect. The paper is more than a scholarly analysis—it is a wake-up call. In the first paper of the general section, Khawaja A. Saeed, Yujong Hwang, and Varun Grover analyze how the capabilities and advertising of a company's B2C Web site influence the financial performance of the owner firm. By determining the comparative economic value added, the authors find that there is a synergistic relationship between these two antecedents of business performance. In the environment of e-commerce and e-government, anonymity, privacy, and security (or a subset of these attributes) can be furnished with blind signatures, which divorce the identity of the signer from the validity of the signature. Schemes for electronic cash and electronic voting rely on such signatures. Group signatures are desirable in organizational applications, where several signers are required to certify an electronic document. In their article, Wen-Shenq Juang, Chin-Laung Lei, and Horng-Twu Liaw present an efficient method for group blind signatures that does not require a central authority. The scheme, however, is capable of being used to advantage in an environment where central authority is otherwise desirable, such as in voting or payment systems.


This study was conducted to examine the role of institutions on tax buoyancy in a set of developing nations. The analysis of 50 nations from the time period 1996-2013 indicates that mostly institutional factors such as bureaucratic efficiency, rule of law, corruption are affecting negatively to the tax collection in these regions. Revenue from indirect taxes is more sensitive to these non-economic factors in a society. Moreover, the study suggests that nature of relationship between tax buoyancy and institutional characteristics of the system is sensitive to different categories of political regimes i.e. Democracy and Autocracy. Results showed that democracy is affecting positively to the tax collection while autocracy is having negative impact in each case i.e. direct, indirect or total tax revenues. But in autocratic regimes, proportion of indirect and direct taxes in total revenue is more than in case of democracy. Findings help to suggest that efforts should be made to democratize the political system mostly in developing world so that more and more tax revenue generation could be made possible.


CONTEXT
Free fatty acids (FFAs) and triglycerides (TGs) are altered postburn, but whether these alterations are associated with postburn outcomes is not clear.

OBJECTIVE
The aim of the present study was to analyze lipid metabolic profiles in pediatric burn patients and to correlate these profiles with patient outcomes and hospital courses.

DESIGN AND SETTING
We conducted a prospective cohort study at an academic pediatric hospital burn center.

PATIENTS
Our study included 219 pediatric burn patients.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Patients were stratified according to their plasma TG and FFA levels. Main patient outcomes, such as postburn morbidity and mortality, and clinical metabolic markers were analyzed.

RESULTS
All groups were similar in demographics and injury characteristics. Patients with elevated TGs had significantly worse clinical outcomes associated with increased acute-phase protein synthesis indicating augmented inflammation and hypermetabolism, whereas increased FFAs did not seem to profoundly alter postburn outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS
Elevated TGs, but not FFAs, postburn are associated with worsened organ function and clinical outcomes.


ABSTRACT Published marine sediment core records and new information from terrestrial aeolian deposits from the surroundings of Igaliku Fjord, south Greenland, have been used for a tentative reconstruction of multi-decadal to centennial scale changes in the intensity of regional atmospheric circulation since the Medieval Warm Period. The marine data show that aeolian activity over southern Greenland was generally enhanced in the Medieval Warm Period between c. AD 900 and c. AD 1300. The preliminary data from the onshore aeolian deposits suggest that wind activity was strongest after AD 1000, reaching a peak close to AD 1300, after which atmospheric circulation intensity decreased. A comparison with the marine data shows that this decrease coincides with increased advection of Polar Water by the East Greenland Current at the beginning of the Little Ice Age. The aeolian sediment record suggests foehn wind activity displaying multi-decadal oscillations in the range of known north Atlantic climate oscillations. The intensity of erosional processes in south Greenland has previously often been attributed to farming activities initiated after AD 1000 by the Norse who disappeared a few hundred years later. Our findings suggest, however, that erosion in this area is mainly related to marked variations in wind strength.


For adopting to the difficult terrain and restricted conditions, a probability of using the concept of inverted function into interchange linear to optimized design is built, which use the inverted function y=a/x as the interchange right-turn ramp linear. This function can be corresponded to the vehicle trajectory, decrease the area and cut the cost of interchange compared with the ordinary way"spiral-circle-spiral".By the analysis of how to use this function linear to be ramp, this paper get the way to set the ends of the ramp by circular curve or spiral curve. And this paper also take application example to illustrate the specific solution of how to use the inverted function to set the interchange right-turn ramp.


Given the limited effectiveness of strategies based solely on vector control to reduce dengue virus transmission, it is expected that an effective vaccine could play a pivotal role in reducing the global disease burden of dengue. Dengvaxia® from Sanofi Pasteur recently became the first dengue vaccine to become licensed in select countries and to achieve WHO recommendation for use in certain settings, despite the fact that a number of uncertainties about the vaccine's efficacy and mode of action complicate projections of its potential impact on public health. We used a new stochastic individual-based model for dengue transmission to perform simulations of the impact of Dengvaxia® in light of two key uncertainties: statistical uncertainty about the numerical value of the vaccine's efficacy against disease, and biological uncertainty about the extent to which its efficacy against disease derives from the amelioration of symptoms, blocking of dengue infection, or some combination thereof. Our results suggest that projections of the vaccine's public health impact may be far more sensitive to biological details of how the vaccine protects against disease than to statistical details of the extent to which it protects against disease. Under the full range of biological uncertainty that we considered, there was nearly three-fold variation in the population-wide number of disease episodes averted. These differences owe to variation in indirect effects of vaccination arising from uncertainty about the extent of onward transmission of dengue from vaccine recipients. These results demonstrate important limitations associated with the use of symptomatic disease as the primary endpoint of dengue vaccine trials and highlight the importance of considering multiple forms of uncertainty in projections of a vaccine's impact on public health.


Aim: To compare breast fine needle aspiration (FNA) specimens prepared by conventional smearing (CS) versus monolayer preparation (MP), with respect to the conclusiveness of the cytopathological diagnosis. Methods: From 1992 to 1996, aspirators prepared aspirates themselves by direct smearing onto 2–4 slides. From 1999 to 2003, aspirate preparation was performed in the laboratory, creating a MP, using a Hettich cytocentrifuge. FNA diagnoses were categorised into inadequate (C1), benign (C2), atypical (C3), suspicious for malignancy (C4) and malignant (C5). The reference standard constituted histological follow-up. A conclusive FNA diagnosis was defined as C2 in lesions benign on follow-up and C5 in lesions malignant on histology. Results: From 1992 to 1996, 692 aspirates were processed by CS, whereas from 1999 to 2003, 1301 aspirates were processed by MP. More FNA were ultrasound-guided in the MP group (85.6% versus 21.5%, p<0.001). When compared with CS, MP-prepared FNA had conclusive diagnoses significantly more often (72.8% versus 58.5%, p<0.001). This effect remained significant when corrected for the difference in ultrasound guidance (adjusted odds ratio 1.7, 95% confidence interval 1.3 to 2.2, p<0.001), and was larger for malignant lesions than for benign lesions (51.7% versus 79.9%, p<0.001). Conclusion: Patients presenting with breast lesions can more often be offered a same-day, conclusive cytopathological diagnosis when FNA are prepared by a manual MP processing technique.


Biodiversity and the Great Green Wall explores the dependence of humanity on nature and the importance of biodiversity for wellbeing and sustainable development in the Sahel. The report is written to raise awareness of the critical role for biodiversity in achieving the goals of the Great Green Wall. It presents new evidence of the links between biodiversity, ecosystem services and human welfare, and demonstrates the importance of biodiversity for sustainable agriculture, providing arguments for the connection between the agricultural and environmental sectors.


SUMMARY:  We examine the relation between audit partner rotation and audit fees for a sample of Australian firms from 2007 to 2010. We find a significant positive association between audit fees and partner rotation in the year of rotation. The association persists in the first year post rotation and to a lesser extent in the second year post rotation. Our analysis suggests that higher audit fees are associated with both mandatory and voluntary partner rotation. However, when we divide the sample into large global clients, mid-level clients, and small local clients, we find that mandatory and voluntary rotation are associated with higher audit fees for large global clients, while only voluntary rotation is associated with higher audit fees for small local clients. We do not find an association between partner rotation and audit fees for mid-level clients. Our study suggests that the extent to which firms are able to pass on the costs of partner rotation varies across different segments of the audit market.


The purpose of this study is to identify the principal factors controlling the formability of TMCP steel for curved hull plate. In order to do it, the initial residual stress in TMCP steel was evaluated using flatness measured in the flat bar cut by flame and analytical approach. Changes of the curved profiles in conventional steel and EH 36 TMCP steel of 50mm thick during cold bending and local heating were investigated using 3 dimensional measuring instruments. It was found that the formability in TMCP steel was mainly determined by the excessive distortion by the relaxation of residual stress during cold bending.


The axonal chemoattractant netrin-1 guides spinal commissural axons by activating its receptor DCC (Deleted in Colorectal Cancer). We have found that chemical inhibitors of metalloproteases potentiate netrin-mediated axon outgrowth in vitro. We have also found that DCC is a substrate for metalloprotease-dependent ectodomain shedding, and that the inhibitors block proteolytic processing of DCC and cause an increase in DCC protein levels on axons within spinal cord explants. Thus, potentiation of netrin activity by inhibitors may result from stabilization of DCC on the axons, and proteolytic activity may regulate axon migration by controlling the number of functional extracellular axon guidance receptors.