Previously, a series of three poly(amidoamine)s was designed and synthesized by polymerizing oxylate, succinate, or adipate groups with pentaethylenehexamine. These resulting polymers (named O4, S4, and A4, respectively) were created as models to poly(glycoamidoamine) nucleic acid delivery agents to understand how the absence of hydroxyl groups and changes in the amide bond spacing affect polymer degradation, plasmid DNA (pDNA) encapsulation, toxicity, and transfection efficiency in vitro. To understand differences in the biological properties quantitatively, we investigated the mechanism of interaction between these macromolecules and pDNA to reveal differences in pDNA binding affinity and complexation as a function of structure. Herein, several analytical techniques such as dynamic light scattering, circular dichroism, thermal gravimetric analysis, isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), and ethidium bromide exclusion assays were used to examine the pDNA binding strength of O4, S4, and A4, and the results are compared with the previous series of poly(glycoamidoamine)s. It was found that the length of the amide bond spacer in these nonhydroxylated analogs did affect the pDNA binding affinity to a small degree (binding affinity order A4 > S4 > O4). The increase in binding affinity with longer methylene spacer was not due to hydrophobic interactions but likely from optimization in electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bond formation. Even though O4 was revealed to have the lowest pDNA binding affinity of the nonhydroxylated series, this polymer yields the highest cellular transfection efficiency, which is likely an effect of the faster hydrolysis rate.


Purpose: Multi-slice ungated double inversion recovery has been proposed as an alternative time-efficient and effective sequence for black-blood carotid imaging. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the comparative repeatability of this multi-contrast sequence with respect to a single slice double inversion recovery prepared gated sequence. Materials and Methods: Ten healthy volunteers and three patients with Doppler ultrasound defined carotid artery stenosis >30% were recruited. T1-weighted (T1W) and T2W fast spin-echo (FSE) images were acquired centered at the carotid bifurcation with and without cardiac gating. Repeat imaging was performed without patient repositioning to determine the variations in vessel wall measurement and signal intensity due to gating, while negating variations as a result of slice misalignment and anatomical displacement relative to the receiver coil. The distributions and the repeatability of lumen area, vessel wall area, signal and contrast-to-noise ratio (SNR/CNR) of the vessel wall and adjacent muscle were reported. Results: The T1W ungated sequence generally had comparable wall SNR/CNR with respect to the gated sequence, however the muscle SNR was lower (P = 0.013). The T2W ungated multi-slice sequence had lower SNR/CNR than the gated single slice sequence (P < 0.001), but with equivalent effective wall CNR (P = 0.735). Vessel area measurements using the gated/ungated sequences were equivalent. Ungated sequences had better repeatability in SNR/CNR than the gated sequences with borderline and statistically significant differences. The repeatability of T2W wall area measurement was better using the ungated sequences (P = 0.02), and the repeatability of the remaining vessel area measurements were equivalent. Conclusions: Ungated sequences can achieve comparable SNR/CNR and equivalent carotid vessel area measurements than gated sequences with improved repeatability of SNR/CNR. Ungated sequences are good alternatives of gated sequences for vessel area measurement and plaque composition quantification.


Written in accessible language, this book provides a comprehensive analysis of a topical subject that is being widely debated across Europe. The work presents an overview of emerging case law from the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union, as well as from national courts and equality bodies in European countries, on the wearing of religious symbols in public spaces. The author persuasively argues that bans on the wearing of religious symbols constitutes a breach of an individual's human rights and contravene existing anti-discrimination legislation. Fully updated to take account of recent case law, this second edition has been expanded to consider bans in public spaces more generally, including employment, an area where some of the recent developments have taken place.


This paper is concerned with the existence and the salient characteristics of an extensional shear zone (the Puente Genave-Castelo de Vide shear zone) along 400 km in the southern Central Iberian Zone. This shear zone is almost parallel to the previous Variscan structures, but it is slightly cross-cut by the discontinuous late Carboniferous Alburquerque-Pedroches batholithic alignment (which has been considered by some authors to be a fundamental feature for the sub-zonation of the Iberian Massif). The shear zone dips towards the S or SW, showing a top-to-the-S sense of movement. Early ductile deformation was concentrated along a band of andalusite-rich carbonaceous shales in the shear zone, but this can also be recognized in the footwall, particularly in the eastern sector, where the southern border of the (pre- to syn-kinematic) Santa Elena stock was intensely sheared; later intrusion of dyke-swarms agrees with the extensional stress field. Finally the shear zone appears brecchiated and bounded by two brittle faults. From a regional point of view, the shear zone described separates rocks with some differences regarding their stratigraphic, igneous and structural characteristics. These differences, and their precise limits, have been the basis for numerous subdivisions of this part of the Iberian Massif during the last decades. It is our contention that if any subzonation of the southern Central Iberian Zone is to be made (namely eg : Obejo-Valsequillo Domain, Lusitan-Marianic Domain), its northern boundary should be the Puente Genave-Castelo de Vide shear zone. As for the southern boundary, it is located in the Badajoz-Cordoba suture that separates the Central Iberian Zone from the Ossa-Morena Zone.


How to share the data in databases of autonomous organizations quickly and flexibly is an important problem. Traditional data integration systems are supposed to be a solution to the problem. Unfortunately, they require a global schema before they can be used to share data and they are centralized system. They can not support data sharing without a common schema and on-demand data sharing in applications. In addition, security is also the important requirements. This paper presents a community-based system for distributed data integration and sharing, Honeycomb. Honeycomb supports many virtual data integration and sharing systems on a single machine, and the system utilizes Web services to access data on other nodes to avoid changing security configuration of autonomous organizations. In addition, the system adopts new cache techniques to improve performance greatly.


The transitional justice literature has made important advances in understanding the determinants of transitional justice and citizens' views of this form of justice. However, the attitudes of former combatants toward policies aimed at addressing human rights violations have received less attention. This article draws on original survey data of Colombian ex-paramilitaries. Ex-paramilitaries vary significantly in their attitudes toward their victims' status and rights and their participation in the armed conflict. To explain variation in their support for transitional justice, I analyze individual, group and context-level variables relating to the ex-combatants' conflict and reintegration experiences. The data suggest that the post-war relationships between the ex-combatants and the communities in which they reside prove highly influential in accounting for individual attitudes toward transitional justice. The extent of collective culpability and of socialization into armed groups' norms of violence also has leverage in explaining variation in victimizers' attitudes. The study has implications for the current peace process with the FARC and prospects for transitional justice and an end to violence in Colombia.


The complete IBM DB2 UDB for z/OS Version 8 tutorial The only book that covers the DB2 Fundamentals exam from a z/OS perspective From basic relational database concepts to advanced topics such as distributed data, Web applications, and data sharing For both database administrators and developers Written and reviewed by IBM experts at the laboratory where DB2 UDB for z/OS is developedThe definitive tutorial for new DB2 UDB for z/OS administrators and developersThis is your complete introduction to Version 8 of DB2 UDB for z/OS, the most powerful, scalable, and robust version of DB2 ever created. Here's all you need to get started with DB2 Version 8 database administration and development ... and to prepare for the new IBM DB2 Family Fundamentals exam, your first step toward DB2 certification. From basic relational database concepts to advanced topics such as data sharing, you'll find crystal-clear explanations and real-world insights, straight from the IBM lab where DB2 UDB for z/OS is developed. Coverage includes: DB2 UDB for z/OS and the DB2 family: overview and usage scenarios Data and system structures, business rules, transactions, packages, and more DB2 UDB for z/OS: architecture, facilities, and the z/OS Security Server Introduction to logical and physical database design Defining tables, table spaces, indexes, views, large objects, business rules, and more Working with SQL, the language of DB2 Writing DB2 application programs Performance: caching, compression, locking/concurrency, and query optimization Day-to-day administration, including backup and recovery Web-based applications with DB2, WebSphere(R), and z/OS Distributing and sharing data for maximum flexibility, scalability, and availability Includes practice exam questions throughout the book


OBJECTIVES
To understand the likely mechanisms responsible for heel horn softening when cattle stand in their own effluent. To examine the effectiveness of some footbath chemicals in preventing heel horn softening.

PROCEDURE
Shavings from the heels of cattle were used in a laboratory test to examine the swelling effects of cow urine, urea, sulphide and ammonia. Formalin, glutaraldehyde, glyoxal, zinc sulphate, copper sulphate, alum, tannic acid and a compound containing nitrocellulose plus nylon, were compared for their ability to prevent swelling in heel shavings induced by urea plus 2-mercaptoethanol.

RESULTS
Cow urine caused heel horn to swell. Urea caused swelling at concentrations normally found in cow urine. Sulphide caused swelling at concentrations normally found in cow slurry. Low concentrations of ammonia solution also resulted in swelling. Formalin and glutaraldehyde prevented swelling induced by high concentrations of urea plus 2-mercaptoethanol. Copper sulphate had a moderate anti-swelling effect. Zinc sulphate, alum, tannic acid, and nitrocellulose plus nylon were relatively ineffective in preventing swelling.

CONCLUSIONS
Cow urine can cause degradation of heel horn in cattle feet. The chemical agents that cause this could be urea, sulphide anions and ammonia. Degradation by urine can be prevented by pretreating heel horn with formalin. Glutaraldehyde may be an effective noncarcinogenic alternative to formalin.


PURPOSE
To delineate cis-acting DNA elements involved in the expression of the human red and green visual pigment genes and to correlate these with transcription factor binding sites.

METHODS
Assays of promoter activity were accomplished by transient transfection into WERI cells. Nested deletion and block mutagenesis were undertaken to delineate critical elements. Transcription factor binding sites were determined by DNase I footprinting and electrophoretic mobility shift (EMSA) analyses.

RESULTS
The human retinoblastoma cell line WERI, but not Y-79, was found to express the red and green pigment genes. Transfection assays in WERI cells revealed that the proximal region of the red pigment gene promoter had positive (-130 to -113 and -96 to -23) and negative (-190 to -130 and - 113 to -96) regulatory elements. The green pigment gene promoter was found to be 2 to 4 times more active than was that of the red pigment. This difference in activity was attributable mainly to a T to C substitution at position -3. DNase I protection and EMSA studies demonstrated the binding of several ubiquitous and WERI-enriched proteins to DNA sequences between - 130 and the TATA box. The locus control region (LCR) did not have any enhancer activity in transient transfection.

CONCLUSIONS
The WERI cell line is a good model system for the analysis of gene expression of the human cone visual pigment genes. The expression of these genes in a cell-specific fashion seems to be controlled mainly by positive-acting elements in the region between - 130 and the TATA box. The higher activity of the green pigment gene promoter could have evolved to compensate for its longer distance from the activating LCR than that of the red pigment gene promoter (approximately 34 versus 3.5 kb). Although the LCR does not enhance transcription in transient transfection, it binds factors that also recognize the proximal promoter region. These interactions may be important for the establishment of a transcriptionally active domain in a chromatin context.


: Digital platforms are significantly affecting how firms and individuals undertake economic exchange. With their global expansion, exploring the implications of platforms for those who sell goods or provide services in the global south is an important agenda for determining their value. Yet, we argue that existing frameworks only provide a partial understanding of activities and relations. In this paper, we examine platforms through an analysis of two theoretical perspectives. Established ecosystems perspectives focus on platform governance, centralizing the activities of the 'platform owner'. Such perspectives allow an analysis of platform strategy but can underplay the ways platform sellers and service providers engage with platforms. Infrastructure perspectives, in contrast, approach platforms as large and complex systems, which we argue allows for better analysis of the practices and agency of such actors. An analysis of small tourism service providers in Indonesian and Rwandan tourism supports the discussion of these two perspectives. Findings highlight the growth of global platforms, but service providers face challenges to using them effectively. Infrastructure perspectives highlight risks that service providers face in being pulled into adverse relationships as platforms become ubiquitous. As platforms expand, their complexity leads to challenges in engagement but with potential for learning and collaboration.


Iterative Learning control (ILC) is a powerful control concept that iteratively improves the behaviors of processes that are repetitive in nature. A new and systematic design of the PD iterative learning control has been presented based upon frequency domain of plant. For design specifications, including the convergence margin and cut-off frequency which is determined by useful input signal, a proper PD learning operator can be tuned practically and the obtained rate of convergence is quit good. It is also noted that, for a given plant, frequency band can not been increased much more with PD learning operator for guaranteeing convergence. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithms are practical and effective.


In this paper we present proof-of-concept for a novel solution consisting of a short-term 3D memory for artificial attention systems, loosely inspired in perceptual processes believed to be implemented in the human brain. Our solution supports the implementation of multisensory perception and stimulus-driven processes of attention. For this purpose, it provides (1) knowledge persistence with temporal coherence tackling potential salient regions outside the field of view, via a panoramic, log-spherical inference grid; (2) prediction, by using estimates of local 3D velocity to anticipate the effect of scene dynamics; (3) spatial correspondence between volumetric cells potentially occupied by proto-objects and their corresponding multisensory saliency scores. Visual and auditory signals are processed to extract features that are then filtered by a proto-object segmentation module that employs colour and depth as discriminatory traits. We consider as features, apart from the commonly used colour and intensity contrast, colour bias, the presence of faces, scene dynamics and also loud auditory sources. Combining conspicuity maps derived from these features we obtain a 2D saliency map, which is then processed using the probability of occupancy in the scene to construct the final 3D saliency map as an additional layer of the Bayesian Volumetric Map (BVM) inference grid.


We present an interactive content-based MIR environment specifically designed to aid in the exploration of databases of experimental electronic music, particularly in cases where little or no metadata exist. In recent years, several rare archives of early experimental electronic music have become available. The Daphne Oram Collection contains one such archive, consisting of approximately 120 hours of 1/4 inch tape recordings and representing a period dating from circa 1957. This collection is recognized as an important musicological resource, representing aspects of the evolution of electronic music practices, including early tape editing methods, experimental synthesis techniques and composition. However, it is extremely challenging to derive meaningful information from this dataset, primarily for three reasons. First, the dataset is very large. Second, there is limited metadata some titles, track lists, and occasional handwritten notes exist, but where this is true, the reliability of the annotations are unknown. Finally, and most significantly, as this is a collection of early experimental electronic music, the sonic characteristics of the material are often not consistent with traditional musical information. In other words, there is no score, no known instrumentation, and often no recognizable acoustic source. We present a method for the construction of a frequency component dictionary derived from the collection via Probabilistic Latent Component Analysis (PLCA), and demonstrate how an interactive 3D visualization of the relationships between the PLCA-derived dictionary and the archive is facilitating researcher's understanding of the data.


Patellofemoral pain (PFP) is a prevalent lower limb musculo‐skeletal injury in adolescent females. Female athletes with PFP display increased frontal plane knee joint motion in comparison to control subjects. The current investigation aimed to determine prospectively whether two‐dimensional knee valgus displacement during landing could predict the risk of developing PFP. Seventy‐six injury‐free adolescent female athletes (age = 12.9 ±0.35 years) participated. At baseline participants performed three drop vertical jump trials from a 31‐cm box. A standard video camera was used to record frontal plane knee joint kinematics. Over the 24‐month follow‐up, eight participants developed PFP, as diagnosed by a Chartered Physiotherapist. Knee valgus displacement was significantly increased in those who developed PFP compared to those who did not (mean difference = 7.79°; P = 0.002; partial eta squared = 0.07). Knee valgus displacement ≥10.6° predicted PFP with a sensitivity of 0.75 and specificity of 0.85. The associated positive likelihood ratio was 5. These results have clinical utility suggesting that two‐dimensional analysis could be implemented to screen for increased risk of PFP in adolescent female athletes.


Background: There is compelling evidence that inflammation is an important risk factor in cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes mellitus. High-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) is a predictive marker of inflammation as well as metabolic syndrome.

Aims and Objectives: The purpose of this study was to correlate the significance of hs-CRP with cholesterol, triglyceride (TG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and low density lipoprotein (LDL) in patients with long-term hyperglycemia and healthy control group.

Materials and Methods: This study involved 311 subjects (150 patients, 161 control group; between 40 and 65 years of age, mean age of patients and control group were 51.4 ± 9.6, 45.96 ± 3, respectively). Serum concentration of aforementioned analytes was measured among the patients and controls.

Results: The concentration of parameters among case and control group were total cholesterol (227.84 ± 28.3, 167.45 ± 21.63 mg/dl), LDL cholesterol (158.43 ± 25.65, 117.30 ± 31.27 mg/dl), HDL-C (27.67 ± 11.11, 51.74 ± 12.61 mg/dl), TG (211.34 ± 36.42, 98.13 ± 67.40 mg/dl), and hs-CRP (29.49 ± 5.90, 2.18 ± 1.10 mg/L) were measured by Cobas 6000 autoanalyzer. A statistically significant (P < 0.001) difference was found in both groups.

Conclusion: Diabetes mellitus has a profound effect on lipid metabolism and patient's lipid profile need to be monitored and managed frequently to prevent further complication such as CVD that may arise as a result of dyslipidemia.


In this paper, we predict the outcome of dispersal evolution in metapopulations based on the following assumptions: (i) population dynamics within patches are density‐regulated by realistic growth functions; (ii) demographic stochasticity resulting from finite population sizes within patches is accounted for; and (iii) the transition of individuals between patches is explicitly modelled by a disperser pool. We show, first, that evolutionarily stable dispersal rates do not necessarily increase with rates for the local extinction of populations due to external disturbances in habitable patches. Second, we describe how demographic stochasticity affects the evolution of dispersal rates: evolutionarily stable dispersal rates remain high even when disturbance‐related rates of local extinction are low, and a variety of qualitatively different responses of adapted dispersal rates to varied levels of disturbance become possible. This paper shows, for the first time, that evolution of dispersal rates may give rise to monotonically increasing or decreasing responses, as well as to intermediate maxima or minima.


Introduction. The article is devoted to an epidemiological study of the prevalence of cystitis and risk factors for recurrence this disease. Materials and methods. The study is based on the data obtained during the screening survey of 1014 women in the age group of 18-80 years old, permanently residing in the Bobrovsky district of the Voronezh region. Based on the age of the subjects, 3 groups were formed: Group 1 (general group) - 1014 women, Group 2 (fertile age) - 551 women, Group 3 (postmenopausal age) - 463 women. To study the influence of risk factors on the development of cystitis, the following criteria were used: antibiotic therapy, sex life, urinary disorders, gastrointestinal tract (GIT) dysfunction, etc. The obtained material was processed using the computer program Statistics 10.0. 𝛘2 was used as a statistical tool. Results. Of the total number of women surveyed, 15.3% had risk factors according to the ORENUC classification system based on the clinical picture of UTI, anatomical level of UTI, the severity of infection, classification of risk factors and the availability of appropriate antimicrobial therapy. The largest number of risk factors was found in postmenopausal patients (p <0.05). It was found that despite the fact that most of the subjects were sexually active, the absence of sexual activity and the presence of one sexual partner did not affect the presence of a history of cystitis episode (p> 0.05), however, it was revealed that the history of cystitis was significantly associated with functions of the gastrointestinal tract (p<0.05). The use of tactics aimed at active detection of cystitis, by means of questionnaires, can increase the detection rate of cystitis by 10 times. Discussions. In our study, we did not find a large number of cases of recurrent cystitis, in contrast to previously published works, which cited figures from 10 to 30% of the number of women, however, by means of questionnaires, we managed to deduce the prevalence of cystitis in the studied region in women over 18 years old. which amounted to 17.4%. The figure obtained is consistent with data published in previously papers. Conclusions. TThis study has confirmed the previously published works indicating the relationship of cystitis with gastrointestinal diseases. In addition, we found that the prevalence of cystitis (having one or more episodes during a lifetime) in the study group was 17.4%. The annual incidence of cystitis in the study group was 3.2%, while according to official statistics in the region it does not exceed 0.4%. The latter fact indicates the need for further research and strengthening of sanitary and edu- cational work among the population (Internet, TV, radio, newspapers, etc.).


This thesis examines the state of reporting Lessons Learned in a Swedish company that operates globally and explores the areas of potential improvements through better classification and reporting of Lessons Learned from previous projects. Particularly, it explores which the most effective ways to capture and document Lessons Learned are as well as how a System that supports efficient storage, sharing and retrieval of Lessons Learned can be specified.The research is a case study in a Swedish company and is a mixed-model research as it uses both quantitative and qualitative data from primary sources. Indeed, the data collection was done via interviews, questionnaires, a focus group and the study of the company's documents.The findings revealed some issues in the Lessons Learned methods used in the company, especially in documentation. Additionally, the need for a Lessons Learned System to manage the knowledge and experience from projects was also identified.The thesis concludes with explicit answers to the research questions and more specific with the suggestion of certain guidelines for the employees, a new template for reporting Lessons Learned and the specifications of a Lessons Learned System that can support efficient storage, sharing and retrieval of Lessons Learned.


We can combine Perturbation Theory (PT) and Machine Learning (ML) model to seek PTML models useful to explore the effect over drug activity of changes or (perturbations) in multiple parameters or experimental conditions cj. This include changes in drug chemical structure or assay conditions like c0 = the biological parameter used (Ki, IC50, etc.), c1 = drug target, c2 = organism of assay, c3 = cell line, etc.
In this work used PTML techniques to explore the Big Data set of >800000 preclinical assays of drugs. These assays reported in CheMBL involved drugs targeting proteins related to G-protein signaling pathways. The data set included 343,738 drugs, 185 experimental parameters, 56 organisms of assay, 52 cellular lines, 592 target proteins. The model predicted correctly 85.4% of control cases (Specificity) and 95.8% of active compounds in training series (Sensitivity). The model also predicted correctly 95.8% and 85.4% cases in external validation series.


The objective of this thesis is a study of the
management processes in university and college archives in
the United Kingdom and Canada. Assumptions raised in the
literature, which have not been systematically examined,
were investigated. The archivists' responses to five
external pressures were determined, namely, the electronic
revolution, information management, new legislation, the
increase in the volume of records and in the number of
users. Three internal issues were also examined, namely,
the image of archivists, the relationship between archives
and libraries and the education and training of archivists.
Research methods were used to conduct the study. Two
populations, university and college archives in the United
Kingdom and Canada, were defined and stratified random
samples were selected. Two instruments were used (a) an
interview format containing questions about management
processes and (b) a three-part questionnaire: (i) a climate
survey of perceptions of the work environment and the amount
of change required (ii) the most favoured aspects of work
and the most serious problems and (iii) classification
information. Copies of written policies and procedures were
requested. A pilot project to pre-test the instruments
resulted in some modification.Arrangements were made to visit the head archivists of
the selected archives and the two instruments were
administered. The results were analysed by tabulation,
content-analysis and the use of statistical tests. The
quantitative and qualitative findings demonstrated the
archivists' responses to external and internal pressures.
Numerous similarities in the two groups were confirmed and
some significant differences were identified. Many of the
assumptions raised in the literature were verified; others,
however, were not validated. The results of the various
sections re-enforced one another. Conclusions and
recommendations were presented. The study confirmed that
systematic research provided explicit information regarding
the management processes of the two populations.


In this paper a mathematical model describing the growth of a solid tumour in the presence of an immune system response is presented. In particular, attention is focused upon the attack of tumour cells by so-called tumour-infiltrating cytotoxic lymphocytes (TICLs), in a small, multicellular tumour, without necrosis and at some stage prior to (tumour-induced) angiogenesis. At this stage the immune cells and the tumour cells are considered to be in a state of dynamic equilibrium--cancer dormancy--a phenomenon which has been observed in primary tumours, micrometastases and residual disease after ablation of the primary tumour. Nonetheless, the precise biochemical and cellular mechanisms by which TICLs control cancer dormancy are still poorly understood from a biological and immunological point of view. Therefore we focus on the analysis of the spatio-temporal dynamics of tumour cells, immune cells and chemokines in an immunogenic tumour. The lymphocytes are assumed to migrate into the growing solid tumour and interact with the tumour cells in such a way that lymphocyte-tumour cell complexes are formed. These complexes result in either the death of the tumour cells (the normal situation) or the inactivation (sometimes even the death) of the lymphocytes. The migration of the TICLs is determined by a combination of random motility and chemotaxis in response to the presence of chemokines. The resulting system of four nonlinear partial differential equations (TICLs, tumour cells, complexes and chemokines) is analysed and numerical simulations are presented. We consider two different tumour geometries--multi-layered cell growth and multi-cellular spheroid growth. The numerical simulations demonstrate the existence of cell distributions that are quasi-stationary in time and heterogeneous in space. A linear stability analysis of the underlying (spatially homogeneous) ordinary differential equation (ODE) kinetics coupled with a numerical investigation of the ODE system reveals the existence of a stable limit cycle. This is verified further when a subsequent bifurcation analysis is undertaken using a numerical continuation package. These results then explain the complex heterogeneous spatio-temporal dynamics observed in the partial differential equation (PDE) system. Our approach may lead to a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of cancer dormancy and may be helpful in the future development of more effective anti-cancer vaccines.


Numerous studies on interactions between insoluble polymers and cell membrane receptors indicated modulation of cellular proliferation and cell phenotype by these polymers considered as biospecific. We synthesized several biospecific polymers in order to investigate the interactions between polymers and intracellular receptors as estrogen receptors considered as tumoral indicator of breast cancer. Biospecific polymers were obtained by random substitutions of crosslinked polystyrene beads with suitable chemical groups (sulfonate and amino acid sulfamides). These polymers were used as microcarriers for culture of MCF7 cells, a cellular model of human breast cancer. Quantification of MCF7 cell estrogen receptors was determined by radioligand binding assay for different days of cellular proliferation. The data obtained with MCF7 cells cultured on biospecific polymers show an inverse relationship between polymer induced inhibition of cell proliferation and polymer induced increase of estrogen receptors. Similar inverse relationship was obtained with MCF7 cell cultured on standard polystyrene tissue culture plates. The various interaction between insoluble polymers and MCF7 cells could be related to the proportion and the nature of the substitutive chemical groups. These biospecific polymers could presents sites of interaction with cell membrane receptors leading to modulation of cell biological activity. The different insoluble polymers were used as preliminary models: a practical application could be a methodology of cellular selection using soluble biospecific polymers (for example chemically modified dextrans).


In the presence of parallel electric and magnetic fields, the violation of a separate number conservation laws for the three-dimensional left- and right-handed Weyl fermions is known as the chiral anomaly. The recent discovery of Weyl and Dirac semimetals has paved the way for experimentally testing the effects of chiral anomaly via magnetotransport measurements, since chiral anomaly can lead to negative longitudinal magnetoresistance (LMR) while the transverse magnetoresistance remains positive. More recently, a type-II Weyl semimetal (WSM) phase has been proposed, where the nodal points possess a finite density of states due to the touching between electron and hole pockets. It has been suggested that the main difference between the two types of WSMs (type I and type II) is that in the latter, chiral-anomaly-induced negative LMR (positive longitudinal magnetoconductance) is strongly anisotropic, vanishing when the applied magnetic field is perpendicular to the direction of tilt of Weyl fermion cones in a type-II WSM. We analyze chiral anomaly in a type-II WSM in a quasiclassical Boltzmann framework, and find that the chiral-anomaly-induced positive longitudinal magnetoconductivity is present along any arbitrary direction. Thus, our results are pertinent for uncovering transport signatures of type-II WSMs in different candidate materials.


Background A large pool of patients with chronic diseases remains undiagnosed globally and in Singapore. We explored factors associated with participation in a health screening exercise, using revealed preference, that is, actual attendance, to understand why people remain undiagnosed with chronic diseases. Methods A cross-sectional, community-based sample of Singapore residents was invited to participate in home interviews, and subsequently to attend centre-based health screening, between 2004 and 2007. Determinants of health screening participation were identified using logistic regression models based on Andersen's Behavioral Model. Results Of the 6366 participants who completed health interview, 4092 attended the health screening, while 2274 did not. Older age, Chinese or Indian ethnicity, higher education levels, greater intake of monounsaturated fat, greater transport and leisure-time physical activity were the key predisposing factors associated with greater health screening participation. Greater family cohesion was the key associated enabling factor, while previous diagnosis of dyslipidaemia or musculoskeletal conditions, absence of previously diagnosed diabetes or hypertension and lower perceived physical health were the associated need factors. Conclusions Our study suggests that ethnicity, education, family cohesion, healthy behaviour patterns and perceived physical health status were key determinants of health screening participation. Enhancing the cultural competence of preventive health services may help increase participation of these groups in screening efforts and reduce the proportions of undiagnosed chronic disease in the community.


Conventional converters for radio frequency induction heating usually follow an AC-DC-AC structure, which can exhibit non-unity power factor and introduce large harmonic currents into the utility supply. The need for a direct converter for radio frequency induction heating, featuring unity power factor, and sinusoidal input current, has motivated the development of a single phase matrix converter as an induction heater. A novel commutation strategy is therefore required to ensure smooth operation of the converter whilst creating a high frequency output under soft switching conditions. The operating principle and features of the proposed converter are described here, and experimentally verified


In this paper we present a new initialization method for genetic programming based on randomized exhaustive enumeration. It naturally enables complete sharing of sub trees among individuals which in turn allows an efficient reuse of computations. Moreover, it can be implemented as a random one pass initialization. We present experimental results on different instances of simple symbolic regression exploring the landscape of possible initializations based on our approach and confirming the usability of these initializations.


A novel bandpass filter (BPF), which is fabricated with a commercial CMOS process, demonstrating a low insertion loss in the passband and multiple transmission zeros in stopbands, is presented for 24-GHz automotive ultrawideband (UWB) radar systems. The filter combines a second-order asymmetrically compact resonator filter with a source-load coupling mechanism to realize three transmission zeros; two zeros are arranged in the lower stopband, and one zero is located in the upper stopband. To achieve a compact layout size and a low insertion loss, a semilumped approach, which is accomplished with mixed utilization of high-impedance coplanar waveguide lines and lumped capacitors, is used to construct the chip filter. A K-band experimental prototype that has a very compact size of 0.35 × 0.8 mm2 was realized. The average insertion loss in the filter's passband is about 2.7 dB, the return loss is greater than 15 dB within the frequencies of 24-27.5 GHz, and the attenuation levels at the three transmission zeros all greater than 35 dB.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the pattern of thyroidal nodules diagnosed by (FNA) cytology.

DESIGN
A cross-sectional study.

SETTING
Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH)--a University of Nairobi affiliated hospital.

SUBJECTS
Forty two patients seen at FNA clinic at KNH between June and August 2001.

RESULTS
The female to male ratio was 7:1, with the majority in the age group 31-50 years. Overall 88.1% patients had benign FNA cytologic diagnostic results, 2.4% had a malignant, and a suspicious result respectively and 7.1% were non-diagnostic. Cytological results were as follows, nodular goiter comprised 83.3%, non-diagnostic samples 7.1%, papillary carcinoma 2.4%, atypia 2.4%, thyroglossal cyst 2.4%, and thyroiditis 2.4%.

CONCLUSION
The findings are comparable in terms of sex, age and FNA cytologic diagnostic results to other studies. FNA cytology offered clinicians the possibility of early diagnosis of benign (>70%) and malignant (<5%) lesions. The test was an out-patient procedure, safe, time saving, cost effective and helped determine the course of therapy in the management of patients with thyroid nodules.


[Abstract]: Web page access prediction gained its importance from the ever increasing number of e-commerce Web information systems and e-businesses. Web page prediction, that involves personalising the Web users' browsing experiences, assists Web masters in the improvement of the Web site structure and helps Web users in navigating the site and accessing the information they need. The most widely used approach for this purpose is the pattern discovery process of Web usage mining that entails many techniques like Markov model, association rules and clustering. Implementing pattern discovery techniques as such helps predict the next page to
be accessed by theWeb user based on the user's previous browsing patterns. However, each of the aforementioned techniques has its own limitations, especially
when it comes to accuracy and space complexity. This dissertation achieves better accuracy as well as less state space complexity and rules generated by performing
the following combinations. First, we combine low-order Markov model and association rules. Markov model analysis are performed on the data sets. If the Markov model prediction results in a tie or no state, association rules are used for prediction. The outcome of this integration is better accuracy, less Markov model state space complexity and less number of generated rules than using each of the methods individually. Second, we integrate low-order Markov model and clustering. The data sets are clustered and Markov model analysis are performed on
each cluster instead of the whole data sets. The outcome of the integration is better accuracy than the first combination with less state space complexity than higher
order Markov model. The last integration model involves combining all three techniques together: clustering, association rules and low-order Markov model. The data sets are clustered and Markov model analysis are performed on each cluster. If the Markov model prediction results in close accuracies for the same item, association rules are used for prediction. This integration model achieves
better Web page access prediction accuracy, less Markov model state space complexity and less number of rules generated than the previous two models.


BACKGROUND
The randomized controlled trial (RCT) is the most definitive tool for evaluating an intervention. However, methodological deficiencies may limit the internal or external validity of the RCT.

OBJECTIVE
Our aim was to describe the tactics used and the resources required randomly to select and recruit family physicians (FPs) and their patients aged 65 and older (seniors) for a community-based cluster RCT in primary care.

METHODS
We randomly selected 48 FPs in 24 urban and rural sites in Southern Ontario, and 889 of their community-dwelling seniors (approximately 20 per FP) taking five or more medications daily. To accomplish this, the principal investigator (an FP) contacted the eligible FPs. The participating FPs' office staff then generated and contacted the roster of eligible seniors, with support provided by the research staff.

RESULTS
Of the 163 randomly selected FPs telephoned, 94 were ineligible and 48 (69.6%) of the remaining 69 participated. The rosters were generated with the assistance of the research staff (taking 1.5-8.0 hours) in each of the 48 practices, using electronic appointment records (n = 26), electronic billing records (n = 17), electronic medical records (n = 2) or written charts or file cards (n = 3). Of the 2078 seniors approached, 799 were ineligible and 889 (69.5%) of the remaining 1279 participated. Seniors' refusal rates among practices ranged from 4.8 to 62.3%.

CONCLUSIONS
Recruitment of a representative sample and generalizability of results are possible in RCTs in primary care. Involvement of an FP in physician recruitment and clinical research nurses who provided assistance to office staff were keys to success.


This research compared the relative impact of different preschool activities on the development of bilingual students' English-language skills. The study investigated whether bilingual preschool children would engage more, and use more of their second language (English), during free-play (non-academic) versus teacher-structured (academic) activities. The researcher utilized both quantitative and qualitative research approaches; data sources included 285 preschool observations made in three classrooms in Northern California. Data analysis consisted of descriptive statistics (e.g. frequencies/percentages, mean values, and standard deviations). In addition, children's observed scores were also analyzed by normative scales using standardized z-scores. The findings of this study indicated that bilingual children engaged and interacted significantly more during free-play (non-academic) preschool classroom activities than during teacher-structured (academic) activities. Specific free-play activities enabling optimal engagement and second language acquisition were pretend play, free play, and monkey bars. The study's major implication is that free-play (non-academic) activities may be much more helpful in developing bilingual preschoolers' English-language skills than teacher-structured (academic) activities. Free-play activities are an affordance for making language available, which helps with building academic skills and cultural capital. This study proves that free-play activities are an affordance for language learning because bilingual children have shown dramatically greater engagement in non-academic activities (vs academic activities). The importance of free-play activities may extend beyond preschool classrooms (e.g. greater English-language development in early preschool may subsequently positively impact student performance in kindergarten). Thus, unstructured, social-based activities should be implemented for bilingual students in K-12 classrooms. Free-play (i.e. non-academic) activities should be implemented in preschool.


Short-head and long-tail distributed data are widely observed in the real world. The same is true of recommender systems (RSs), where a small number of popular items dominate the choices and feedback data while the rest only account for a small amount of feedback. As a result, most RS methods tend to learn user preferences from popular items since they account for most data. However, recent research in e-commerce and marketing has shown that future businesses will obtain greater profit from long-tail selling. Yet, although the number of long-tail items and users is much larger than that of short-head items and users, in reality, the amount of data associated with long-tail items and users is much less. As a result, user preferences tend to be popularity-biased. Furthermore, insufficient data makes long-tail items and users more vulnerable to shilling attack. To improve the quality of recommendations for items and users in the tail of distribution, we propose a coupled regularization approach that consists of two latent factor models: C-HMF, for enhancing credibility, and S-HMF, for emphasizing specialty on user choices. Specifically, the estimates learned from C-HMF and S-HMF recurrently serve as the empirical priors to regularize one another. Such coupled regularization leads to the comprehensive effects of final estimates, which produce more qualitative predictions for both tail users and tail items. To assess the effectiveness of our model, we conduct empirical evaluations on large real-world datasets with various metrics. The results prove that our approach significantly outperforms the compared methods.


PURPOSE
To evaluate the healing effect of the topic administration of the hydroalcoholic extract of aroeira in open wounds in the dorsocostal region of rats.

METHODS
Sixty Wistar rats, males, were used. In all animals one skin fragment was removed, with two centimeters in diameter. Inhalatory anesthesia with ethyl ether was done, The rats were divided in two groups of 30 animals: aroeira group, submitted to an topic application of the hydroalcoholic extract of the plant, and control group, with the same process but with 0.9% saline solution. Each group was divided in three sub-groups of 10 animals according to the period of observation: 7, 14 and 21 days. The areas of the injuries were analyzed by the macroscopic aspect and digital planimetry, and the resected segments of the wounds were studied by optic microscopy stained with hematoxilin-eosine and trichromium of Masson.

RESULTS
The macroscopic findings showed early complete reepitelization in the control group by the 14th day. According to the digital planimetry the average wound areas of the rats from the control group (0.5278 cm(2)) had been smaller than those from the wounds of the rats of the aroeira group (0.6897 cm(2)), with statistical significance to the 14th day (p=0.036). The histologic study showed statistical difference (p=0.023) regarding the mononuclear cells in 14th day of evaluation, with larger number in the aroeira group, without significant differences regarding other parameters in all the remaining days.

CONCLUSION
The topic use of the hydroalcoholic extract of aroeira delayed the reepitelization of the skin wounds in rats.


The projections of vegetation zones suggest increasing growth potential of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) in Northern Europe. Such changes usually are most apparent in the marginal populations. In this study, survival of young beech growing in an experimental plantation under canopy of a mixed coniferous stand in the central part of Latvia was assessed after 33 years since the establishment. The planting material originated from an older experimental stand in the western part of Latvia. Although, at present, the studied plantation could be considered as the northeasternmost beech stand in Europe, a good survival was observed – ca. 80% of the seedlings have survived, despite several cold spells of ca. –30 °C that occurred during the recent three decades. Additionally, some self-regeneration i.e. branch sprouting was observed. The saplings were rather low, as their mean height was ca. 4 m. Still, some individuals, which were growing under canopy openings, reached considerable dimensions; their height and stem diameter exceeded 10 m and 9 cm, respectively. The distribution of sapling dimensions had the reverse-J shape that is typical for shade tolerant species, indicating normal development of the beech regrowth. The crowns of saplings were narrow and the stems were spindly, suggesting that trees with a good stem quality might be bred. Hence, our results suggest that environmental conditions in the central part of Latvia have been satisfactory for beech, thus encouraging establishment of more extensive trials within the region.


Pre-copulatory sexual cannibalism by females affects male and female reproductive success in profoundly different ways, with the females benefiting from a meal and the male facing the risk of not reproducing at all. This sexual conflict predicts evolution of traits to avoid cannibalism and ensure male reproductive success. We show that males of the nuptial gift-giving spider Pisaura mirabilis display a remarkable death feigning behaviour—thanatosis—as part of the courtship prior to mating with potentially cannibalistic females. Thanatosis is a widespread anti-predator strategy; however, it is exceptional in the context of sexual selection. When the female approached a gift-displaying male, she usually showed interest in the gift but would sometimes attack the male, and at this potentially dangerous moment the male could 'drop dead'. When entering thanatosis, the male would collapse and remain completely motionless while retaining hold of the gift so it was held simultaneously by both mates. When the female initiated consumption of the gift, the male cautiously 'came to life' and initiated copulation. Death feigning males were more successful in gaining copulations, but did not have prolonged copulations. We propose that death feigning evolved as an adaptive male mating strategy in conjunction with nuptial gift giving under the risk of being victimized by females.


Optimal distribution capacitor planning is an important task for economic operation of power systems. The optimal distribution capacitor planning is a combinatorial optimization problem which considers both power losses and cost of capacitor installation subject to bus voltage constraints. Discrete nature of capacitors, different load are considered in the problem formulation. This paper presents a novel reliable and efficient algorithm based on biogeography-based optimization technique for the solution of capacitor placement problem. Biogeography-based optimization technique is inspired by geographical distribution of biological organisms. The performance of the proposed method is demonstrated on a sample test system. The results obtained by the proposed methods are compared with other methods. The results show that the proposed technique is capable of producing comparable results.


We introduce and study q-randomized Robinson-Schensted-Knuth (RSK) correspondences which interpolate between the classical (q=0) and geometric (q->1) RSK correspondences (the latter ones are sometimes also called tropical).
For 0<q<1 our correspondences are randomized, i.e., the result of an insertion is a certain probability distribution on semistandard Young tableaux. Because of this randomness, we use the language of discrete time Markov dynamics on two-dimensional interlacing particle arrays (these arrays are in a natural bijection with semistandard tableaux). Our dynamics act nicely on a certain class of probability measures on arrays, namely, on q-Whittaker processes (which are t=0 versions of Macdonald processes). We present four Markov dynamics which for q=0 reduce to the classical row or column RSK correspondences applied to a random input matrix with independent geometric or Bernoulli entries.
Our new two-dimensional discrete time dynamics generalize and extend several known constructions: (1) The discrete time q-TASEPs arise as one-dimensional marginals of our "column" dynamics. In a similar way, our "row" dynamics lead to discrete time q-PushTASEPs - new integrable particle systems in the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality class. We employ these new one-dimensional discrete time systems to establish a Fredholm determinantal formula for the two-sided continuous time q-PushASEP conjectured by Corwin-Petrov (2013). (2) In a certain Poisson-type limit (from discrete to continuous time), our two-dimensional dynamics reduce to the q-randomized column and row Robinson-Schensted correspondences introduced by O'Connell-Pei (2012) and Borodin-Petrov (2013), respectively. (3) In a scaling limit as q->1, two of our four dynamics on interlacing arrays turn into the geometric RSK correspondences associated with log-Gamma or strict-weak directed random polymers.


Abstract. Vast parts of Africa rely on the rainy season for livestock and agriculture. Droughts can have a severe impact in these areas, which often have a very low resilience and limited capabilities to mitigate drought impacts. This paper assesses the predictive capabilities of an integrated drought monitoring and seasonal forecasting system (up to 5 months lead time) based on the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI). The system is constructed by extending near-real-time monthly precipitation fields (ECMWF ERA-Interim reanalysis and the Climate Anomaly Monitoring System–Outgoing Longwave Radiation Precipitation Index, CAMS-OPI) with monthly forecasted fields as provided by the ECMWF seasonal forecasting system. The forecasts were then evaluated over four basins in Africa: the Blue Nile, Limpopo, Upper Niger, and Upper Zambezi. There are significant differences in the quality of the precipitation between the datasets depending on the catchments, and a general statement regarding the best product is difficult to make. The generally low number of rain gauges and their decrease in the recent years limits the verification and monitoring of droughts in the different basins, reinforcing the need for a strong investment on climate monitoring. All the datasets show similar spatial and temporal patterns in southern and north-western Africa, while there is a low correlation in the equatorial area, which makes it difficult to define ground truth and choose an adequate product for monitoring. The seasonal forecasts have a higher reliability and skill in the Blue Nile, Limpopo and Upper Niger in comparison with the Zambezi. This skill and reliability depend strongly on the SPI timescale, and longer timescales have more skill. The ECMWF seasonal forecasts have predictive skill which is higher than using climatology for most regions. In regions where no reliable near-real-time data is available, the seasonal forecast can be used for monitoring (first month of forecast). Furthermore, poor-quality precipitation monitoring products can reduce the potential skill of SPI seasonal forecasts in 2 to 4 months lead time.


Polyploid giant cancer cells (PGCCs) are abundant in cancers after chemotherapy. PGCCs have generally been considered nonviable because of their inability to execute mitosis. However, our recently reported studies challenged this paradigm by showing that PGCCs were capable of tumor initiation. To understand the role of PGCCs in chemoresistance, we monitored paclitaxel-induced PGCCs by conventional and live-cell fluorescence time-lapse recording. We found that paclitaxel induced massive cell death but also initiated endoreplication to form PGCCs. These PGCCs continued to grow via endoreplication, endomitosis, or cytofission before generating new mononuclear or multinucleated daughter cells via nuclear fragmentation or budding. These daughter cells resumed mitosis with a new stable karyotype and exhibited drug resistance. Budding from PGCCs was also observed in chemotherapy-treated ovarian cancer specimens from patients. On the basis of our findings, we propose the existence of an amitotic giant cell cycle composed of four phases: initiation, maintenance, termination, and speciation. We believe this is the first report of fluorescent live-cell imaging of the birth of resistant cancer cells at the single-cell level in response to paclitaxel treatment. Our findings provide strong evidence that a stress-induced amitotic giant cell cycle may be a programmed event underlying chemotherapy resistance and cancer relapse. Citation Format: Na Niu, Jie Zhang, Ning Zhang, Imelda Mercado-Uribe, Fangfang Tao, Zhenbo Han, Sen Pathak, Asha Multani, Jian Kuang, Jun Yao, Robert Bast, Anil Sood, Mien-Chie Hung, Jinsong Liu. Single-cell live imaging of paclitaxel-resistant cancer cell generation. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-119.


Background. Aspects of genetics/genomics are increasingly being incorporated into medicine. Nurses are crucial in helping transform healthcare through genomic nursing (Loud, 2010). However the integration of genetics/genomics into nursing education has been sporadic (Dodson and Lewallen, 2011). Influencing its uptake into practice may be via nurses who are already utilising genetics/genomics in their practice (adopters) and nurses who may lead the way and encourage others (opinion leaders) to do likewise. Identifying the characteristics of such adopters and opinion leaders within nursing may provide useful information for more wide-scale detection of these individuals to support a strategy for the inclusion of genetics/genomics into nursing practice. Methods. Five change behaviour theories were used to inform the study including the Theory of Planned Behaviour and the Diffusion of Innovations. A mixed methods approach was taken over two phases. In Phase 1 experts in the field of genetics/genomics and nursing were contacted to gain a consensus on four potential genetic indicators of adoption (GIAs), which would identify a nurse who had adopted genetics/genomics. In Phase 2, oncology nurses and practice nurses completed a questionnaire to identify the characteristics and demographic indicators of nurse genetic adopters and opinion leaders. Results. A consensus (>75%) was achieved for all four GIAs to be included as indicators of adoption of genetics/genomics within nursing practice (Phase 1). Individuals identified (in Phase 2) were subcategorised into six different groups, including genetic adopters and opinion leaders. There were 18 identifying features that defined an adopter, with some of the main features being Openness to Experience (p<0.001), seeing the relevance of genetics/genomics to their patient group (p<0.001) and talking to colleagues about genetics/genomics (p<0.001). There were six features that identified an opinion leader, including academic achievement (p=0.007), level of perceived influence over others (p<0.001) and being high on the opinion leadership scale (p<0.001). Two of the biggest barriers to incorporation by nurses were lack of time for adopters and a lack of local study sessions for opinion leaders. Conclusion. It has been identified that nurses can be categorised in terms of their relationship to genetics/genomics, through a number of distinguishing characteristics. It will be important to further identify and clarify these and other characteristics through the development of additional tools. These data can inform approaches to promote a greater integration of genetics/genomics into nursing practice, ultimately improving patient healthcare.


Soil biota plays an essential role in ecosystem services such as carbon fixation, nitrogen and phosphorous cycling, and disease suppressiveness. Conventional soil management with large inputs of mineral fertilizers and pesticides have a significant impact on primary decomposer communities (bacteria and fungi), as well as on protists and metazoa, representatives of the next trophic level. Organic soil management is thought to contribute to a more diverse and stable soil food web. However, information to pinpoint this supposed beneficial effect is sparse and fragmented. Keeping in mind that a substantial fraction of the soil biota is dormant, we set out to map both the resident and the active the bacterial, fungal, protozoan and metazoan communities under various soil management regimes in two distinct soil types with barley as main crop. For all four organismal groups, the contrast between resident (rDNA-based) and active (rRNA-based) was the most important explanatory variable explaining 22%, 14%, 21% and 25% of the variance among bacterial, fungal, protozoan, and metazoan communities. Less prominent were the effects of soil management and soil type, however significant as well for all four organismal groups. LEfSe was used to identify indicator taxa for both the contrasts between resident and active communities, and the effects of soil management. Our results suggest that - next to DNA-based community characterisation - mapping of the active microbial community could provide essential insights in the effects of variables such as crop and soil management on the soil living community.


Semilocal density functional approximations occupy the second rung of the Jacob's ladder model and are thus expected to have certain limits to their applicability. A recent study [Y. Zhang, G. Kresse, and C. Wolverton, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 075502 (2014)] hypothesizes that the formation energy, being one of the key quantities in alloy theory, would be beyond the grasp of semilocal density functional theory (DFT). Here, we explore the physics of semilocal DFT formation energies and shed light on the connection between the accuracy of the formation energy and the ability of a semilocal approximation to produce accurate lattice constants. We demonstrate that semilocal functionals designed to perform well for alloy constituents can concomitantly solve the problem of alloy formation energies.


In the case of inner pressurized pipe, the hoop stress mainly causes the failure of pipe. For evaluating the hoop tensile properties of pipes, a ring test is used although it has an inevitable shortcoming of disturbance by the bending. Arsene suggested a central piece-inserted ring test for reducing the bending. At high temperatures, the friction between the specimen and the central piece exerts a serious influence on the results, so an effect on friction should be considered in the analysis. In this study, for the evaluation of the hoop properties using the central piece-inserted ring model of Arsene, we performed the ring tensile tests at several temperatures. From the ring tensile tests and numerical analysis the load-displacement conversion relationship of ring specimen (LCRR) was determined. We could obtain the hoop tensile properties by means of applying the LCRR to the results of the ring tensile test. From the result, it was observed that the strength decreased as the temperature increased, and the elongation dropped a little around 400°C.


South Africa is currently occupying a precarious position within a framework of globalization and internationalization where cultural and linguistic pluralism prevail. There is divergence between South Africa's multilingual language policy on the one hand, and its language practices on the other. Although South Africa is in its 16th year of democracy, people are still grappling with issues such as the financial costs of using more than one official language in commerce and industry. It is argued that it is extremely costly to change letterheads and logos of companies in an attempt to align them with the languages of the country, a notion that does not take into cognisance the reality of South Africa as a multilingual country. The idea expressed is that using some of the 11 official languages and sign language in parallel will be contingent to practicality and expense. The purpose of this article is twofold. First, it seeks to determine whether a balance can be maintained between the global need to communicate and the need to preserve local and regional identities and cultures. Secondly, it endeavours to establish whether it is feasible in South Africa, to maintain the prospects of multilingualism on the one hand and to simultaneously promote the use of the local indigenous languages on the other, in an increasingly globalized world. A previous study, which established the feasibility of using a language of limited diffusion (e.g. Northern Sotho) as a language of commerce and industry, will be a case in point. The article will further determine the apposite environment as an enabler for employing Northern Sotho as a language of marketing, advertising and business. Language practices in the sectors of organic financial growth in South Africa are also explored.


Ocean Cities are where landscapes and seascapes meet, where human behaviour and urban development have a profound impact on marine health and climate change. Marine and coastal ecosystems are the largest carbon sink in the world and a vital source of livelihood, employment, nutrition and economic growth in cities and islands. Yet, the capacity of these ecosystems to balance our climate, protect our coastlines, and sustain human development is acutely threatened. Marine pollution and urban run-off, unsustainable coastal development and poor marine governance, rising sea levels, ocean warming and acidification endanger the health of our ocean and erode the very foundation Ocean Cities are built on.

For Pacific island settlements, the nexus between urban development, climate change and the ocean is of critical importance since most island communities are coastal, with some smaller island and atoll nations under five meters of elevation. Together with their regional partners, Ocean Cities of the Pacific islands can pioneer ocean-focused, climate resilient solutions for sustainable development.

Recognizing and understanding the interconnections and interdependent futures between cities and the ocean will catalyse integrated responses to increase resilience, protect ecosystems, and meet the challenges of rapidly urbanizing island societies.

This policy brief outlines the challenges of unplanned rapid urban expansion and deteriorating ocean health, urban resilience and climate impacts on Ocean Cities. Associated opportunities for ocean friendly climate responsive urban development in Pacific islands are discussed in policy briefs two and three of this series.

Even if global warming is limited to 2°C, sea levels could continue to rise by over 5 meters over the following centuries, posing a serious threat to low-lying Ocean Cities of the Pacific islands as most urban areas are located ≤5 meters above sea level.


The examination covered 55 patients with chronic bronchitis (mean age 58 +/- 4.2 years, mean duration of the disease 11.2 +/- 5.2 years). All the patients were in remission and received broncholytics. In 32 of them, basic treatment was combined with a course of immunorehabilitation with neoselenium. The effect of the latter was assessed at immunological examination of the patients before and after the treatment with indirect immunofluorescence with monoclonal antibodies. Neoselenium appeared to have an immunomodulating action on all immunity links, it enhanced functional activity and bactericidity of antigen-presenting cells and cytotoxic activity of natural killers, diminished the tension in the function of endogenic antioxidant systems.


The work presented in this thesis was conducted in the field of analytical chemistry and was intended to improve the process of methodology development in the related fields of analytical toxicology and therapeutic drug monitoring. Most pharmaceutical and toxicological analyses reguire a sample clean-up step before quantitative detection of a drug by chromatography or spectroscopy. Solid phase extraction (SPE) techniques have recently assumed considerable importance for this purpose and many of these procedures utilise chemically modified silica as adsorbents, in which organic substituents have been introduced on to the silica surface. A diverse range of polar and non-polar substituents has been used to provide adsorbents for straight-phase, reversed-phase and ion exchange systems. Bonded silica is used as a stationary phase in high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and although much research has been directed towards understanding the solute retention process in HPLC, as yet no attempt has been made to apply this theory to SPE. In this study, the physical and chemical parameters determining the retention of analytes on SPE sorbents were examined to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of the SPE process on different sorbents. A mathematical model of the process could then be constructed to predict the retention of novel analytes based solely on their physical and chemical characteristics. These predictive rules are known as Quantitative Structure-Retention Relationships (QSRR). The substances of interest were B-adrenoreceptor antagonist drugs related to propranolol. In the first three chapters of the thesis, background material is given concerning silica stationary phases in liquid chromatography (LC), their synthesis and properties, the role of the mobile phase in (LC) systems and the interactions which take place between analytes and the mobile and stationary phases. Thereafter, QSRR are reviewed and parameters used to characterise analytes are introduced: these fall into two categories - dispersive parameters (e.g. molecular volume) and inductive parameters (e.g. dipole moment). Finally, particular problems arising in the SPE of basic substances are reviewed. From the physicochemical parameters selected by multiple linear regression analysis, the following conclusions were drawn: (i) The partition coefficient, log P, and the ionisation-corrected partition coefficient, log D, were dominant in the regression equations derived for the substituted benzene solutes. An inductive parameter, the number of hydrogen-bond donor groups, was also significant. With the n-alkyl bonded silica sorbents, solute retention increased with log P or log D. This was a reflection of the hydrophobic contribution to retention by the non-polar sorbent ligands. The hydrogen-bond donor term reflected the ability of the mobile phase components, methanol and water, to decrease retention by hydrogen-bonding to solutes i.e. log k' decreased as the hydrogen-bonding term increases. (ii) Increased hydrophobic retention by octadecylsilica enhanced the hydrogen-bond donor contribution to retention of substituted benzene solutes, and the coefficient of this term was greater than for ethyl- and octyl-silica. (iii) The volume of an acidic benzene solute was another retention-determining parameter on octadecylsilica. Such solutes resided in the most mobile part of the stationary phase where they could be enveloped by the flexible bonded chains if their size was appropriate. No volume parameter was observed in the regression equations for the shorter n-alkyl chains. (iv) Phenylsilica was shape-selective towards substituted benzene solutes as indicated by two additional terms, volume and connectivity. (v) Phenylsilica appeared to undergo a phase transition at 40% methanol in water which increased the hydrophobic surface area of the bonded ligands. (vi) Cyclohexylsilica could not be modelled successfully with substituted benzene solutes. (vii) The B-blocker test compounds were retained indefinitely on octyl-, phenyl- and cyclohexyl-silica through silanol interactions, unless tri-n-butylamine was added to suppress retention. Pretreating the sorbent with either plasma protein solution or fresh plasma also masked silanol behaviour. Use of tri-n-butylamine as well as pretreatment with the biological matrix aided fast elution of the solutes. (viii) The three selected bonded phases for B-blocker probes were all shape-selective, although octylsilica was not a suitable sorbent for modelling the retention behaviour of these solutes as the correlation between log k' and the selected physicochemical parameters was poor. Excellent correlations were achieved with the cyclic sorbents. The retention prediction equations derived for phenyl- and cyclohexyl-silica with the 3-blocker compounds could be used to either predict log k' for a particular chromographic system, or more useful for SPE, a suitable eluent or sorbent could be selected by setting log k' at 1.8 for retention of a solute, and at 1.6 for elution, thereby allowing prediction of suitable systems for method development. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).


Both Mesthene ("How technology will shape the future," 12 July, p. 135) and Theberge ("Inventions beg application," 11 Oct., p. 219) have valid points on the likelihood of "new possibilities" or inventions reaching the public. If a "new possibility" has been "deliberately created by technological development," as Mesthene suggests, it would seem to have a good chance of realization since the same forces that created it will probably promote it through the developmental stages and into use. On the other hand, a discovery or invention that is not deliberately created by technology, but is a scientific serendipitywhich is usually the case when such results derive from more basic research -may go for years without commercial application or may never reach the public. This foundation's experience over the past 30 years in helping colleges and universities bring their inventions into public use suggests that possibly 1 of 10 inventions submitted for evaluation will be deemed worth patenting, 1 of 100 will be patentable and licensable, and I of 1000 will ultimately be successful in terms of the public acceptance that --produces appreciable royalty income. Here, it must be emphasized, we are dealing with inventions which almost invariably occur as side-effects of research that was undertaken purely for academic or scientific purposes or both. In the process of evaluating such inventions and trying to bring them to the marketplace, the elements of costs and profits to businessmen, cited by Theberge, are, of course, major problems. If the invention does not give the businessman an advantage commensurate with its cost, there is little incentive for its use. However, another problem, one which cuts down the number of inventions to reach the first of the long series of steps between the laboratory and the market, is the tendency of many academic investigators to overlook or ignore the invention and patentable results of their research. If the objective


Paul Crutzen's 2006 call for geoengineering research triggered public debate in the mass media of several countries. Since then, a common belief among numerous involved scientists has been that more geoengineering experimentation or research is needed and that geoengineering should be carefully considered in a precautionary way as an emergency option or 'Plan B'. Despite the controversial potential of geoengineering in terms of mega-risks, ethical dilemmas and governance challenges, public geoengineering debate in the daily press from 2006 to 2013 was heavily dominated by accounts of scientists' arguments for more geoengineering research or even deployment, only about 8% of mass media articles expressing criticism of geoengineering. However, based on a reading of 700 articles published worldwide in 2014 and 2015, we demonstrate a gradual shift in the coverage, and the daily press now primarily reports critical views of geoengineering technologies. The patterns outlined here point in the same direction: It seems as though the grand idea of geoengineering as Plan B is fading.


Introduction
Migraine is a common type of headache, but its pathogenesis is still not fully understood. Triggering factors may vary in migraine patients with a particular importance of certain food intake. In this study, the efficacy of limiting certain migraine- triggering foods in the prevention of migraine attacks was investigated.

Methods
Patients diagnosed with migraine without aura according to the International Classification of Headaches were enrolled. Fifty migraine patients stating that migraine attack started after the intake of certain foods were evaluated. The patients were randomly divided into 2 groups. The migraine-triggering foods identified by the patients were excluded from the diet in both groups 1 (n=25) and 2 (n=25). Monthly attack frequency, attack duration, and attack severity (using the visual analogue scale) were recorded before starting the diet restriction and 2 months after the diet restriction. Diet restriction was relaxed in group 1 after the second month and continued in group 2. In the fourth month, the monthly attack frequency, attack duration, and attack severity (using the visual analogue scale) were determined in both groups.

Results
A total of 50 patients comprising 9 males and 41 females were evaluated in this study. In both the groups, in the second month after diet implementation, monthly attack frequency, attack duration, and attack severity were found to have decreased to a statistically significant extent compared to those in the period before diet implementation [group 1 (p=0.011, p=0.041, and p=0.003, respectively) and group 2 (p=0.015, p=0.037, and p=0.003, respectively)]. In the evaluation in the fourth month, it was observed that this significant decrease was maintained only in group 2.

Conclusion
The results of the study reveal that if migraine-triggering foods are identified by migraine patients, restricting their intake can be an effective and reliable method to reduce migraine attacks.


We developed 13 new polymorphic microsatellite loci in the house sparrow (Passer domesticus), which exhibited from 2 to 15 alleles. Observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.17 to 0.77 and from 0.35 to 0.85, respectively. We detected no linkage disequilibrium between loci. Allele frequencies supported Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium for 8 loci out of 13 after Bonferroni correction. Combined with loci previously isolated in the house sparrow, these new microsatellite markers provide valuable tools to study population genetics of this species.


A series of bandgap references (BGRs) using a self-biased symmetrically matched current-voltage mirror (SM CVM) in reducing systematic offset, thus achieving an excellent line regulation, is presented. By replacing the operational amplifier with a CVM in the feedback loop, current consumption is much reduced. An SM buffer stage that is capable of driving a resistive load with minor degradation in temperature coefficient (TC) and line regulation is also presented. The technique is extended to design a sub-1-V BGR with a TC-cancellation output buffer. All circuits are designed using a 0.35- CMOS process, and experimental results are presented, confirming the analysis.


Paxillin is a 68-kD focal adhesion phosphoprotein that interacts with several proteins including members of the src family of tyrosine kinases, the transforming protein v-crk, and the cytoskeletal proteins vinculin and the tyrosine kinase, focal adhesion kinase (FAK). This suggests a function for paxillin as a molecular adaptor, responsible for the recruitment of structural and signaling molecules to focal adhesions. The current study defines the vinculin- and FAK-interaction domains on paxillin and identifies the principal paxillin focal adhesion targeting motif. Using truncation and deletion mutagenesis, we have localized the vinculin-binding site on paxillin to a contiguous stretch of 21 amino acids spanning residues 143-164. In contrast, maximal binding of FAK to paxillin requires, in addition to the region of paxillin spanning amino acids 143-164, a carboxyl-terminal domain encompassing residues 265-313. These data demonstrate the presence of a single binding site for vinculin, and at least two binding sites for FAK that are separated by an intervening stretch of 100 amino acids. Vinculin- and FAK-binding activities within amino acids 143-164 were separable since mutation of amino acid 151 from a negatively charged glutamic acid to the uncharged polar residue glutamine (E151Q) reduced binding of vinculin to paxillin by >90%, with no reduction in the binding capacity for FAK. The requirement for focal adhesion targeting of the vinculin- and FAK-binding regions within paxillin was determined by transfection into CHO.K1 fibroblasts. Significantly and surprisingly, paxillin constructs containing both deletion and point mutations that abrogate binding of FAK and/or vinculin were found to target effectively to focal adhesions. Additionally, expression of the amino-terminal 313 amino acids of paxillin containing intact vinculin- and FAK-binding domains failed to target to focal adhesions. This indicated other regions of paxillin were functioning as focal adhesion localization motifs. The carboxyl-terminal half of paxillin (amino acids 313-559) contains four contiguous double zinc finger LIM domains. Transfection analyses of sequential carboxyl-terminal truncations of the four individual LIM motifs and site-directed mutagenesis of LIM domains 1, 2, and 3, as well as deletion mutagenesis, revealed that the principal mechanism of targeting paxillin to focal adhesions is through LIM3. These data demonstrate that paxillin localizes to focal adhesions independent of interactions with vinculin and/or FAK, and represents the first definitive demonstration of LIM domains functioning as a primary determinant of protein subcellular localization to focal adhesions.


There are thousands of actively spoken languages on Earth, but a single visual world. Grounding in this visual world has the potential to bridge the gap between all these languages. Our goal is to use visual grounding to improve unsupervised word mapping between languages. The key idea is to establish a common visual representation between two languages by learning embeddings from unpaired instructional videos narrated in the native language. Given this shared embedding we demonstrate that (i) we can map words between the languages, particularly the 'visual' words; (ii) that the shared embedding provides a good initialization for existing unsupervised text-based word translation techniques, forming the basis for our proposed hybrid visual-text mapping algorithm, MUVE; and (iii) our approach achieves superior performance by addressing the shortcomings of text-based methods -- it is more robust, handles datasets with less commonality, and is applicable to low-resource languages. We apply these methods to translate words from English to French, Korean, and Japanese -- all without any parallel corpora and simply by watching many videos of people speaking while doing things.


Background and objectives: Anti-human immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody is produced against human IgG in various laboratory animals. The present study tried not only to produce anti-human IgG, but also to assess different antigen injection techniques leading to optimal production of anti-human globulin. Methods: The antibody was separated from human serum using precipitation method with sodium sul-fate. It was then purified through diethylaminoethyl Sepharose CL-6B ion exchange chromatography. The purified IgG was mixed with Freund's complete adjuvant and injected to two trios of rabbits either intramuscularly or subcutaneously. After the first injection, the animals received weekly injections of antigen with Freund's incomplete adjuvant. The dose of antigen in each injection was 1.2 ml of purified IgG with a concentration of 115 µg/ml. Venous blood samples were taken from all rabbits and the produced anti-human globulin was evaluated by single radial immunodiffusion (SRID). Results: According to the results of SRID, the diameter of the halo created by the antigen-antibody complex was significantly higher in the plate containing anti-human IgG produced after the intramuscular injections than after subcutaneous injections. The concentrations of anti IgG antibody were 83.40 and 72.28 µg/ml in intramuscular and subcutaneous methods, respectively. Conclusion: Our findings suggested that compared to subcutaneous injections, intramuscular injections of human IgG are significantly more effective in inducing the production of anti-human IgG antibody.


About three years ago I became a diabetic, and since then I have been very interested in learning all I can about the disease. I am interested in the medical profession and am considering going into diabetes research.
 As with other diseases, there are disadvantages to having diabetes. I have found that I must maintain a delicate balance between insulin injections, diet, and exercise in order to keep my blood sugar at a normal level. The maintenance of this balance requires a great deal of my attention, so occasionally I am unable to concentrate completely on some activity. I must always be conscious of my sugar level and be ready to make adjustments if my level is too high or too low. Another problem I have experienced is that other people do not understand diabetes. I have encountered people who think diabetics are sick and cannot lead normal lives. Other disadvantages of diabetes are the daily insulin injections I must take and the complications that can occur if proper control is not maintained. Although I have not experienced complications, some diabetics experience slow healing of wounds and impairments of eyesight and circulation.
 Despite the disadvantages of diabetes, I have found that having it is advantageous in some aspects. My healthy diet and regular exercise have allowed me to stay in good shape. Some doctors consider diabetes "the healthiest disease." Another advantage of diabetes actually stems from the disadvantages of the disease. In some ways the problems involved with diabetes have made me more determined to excel at whatever I do.


Current methods for automatically evaluating grammatical error correction (GEC) systems rely on gold-standard references. However, these methods suffer from penalizing grammatical edits that are correct but not in the gold standard. We show that reference-less grammaticality metrics correlate very strongly with human judgments and are competitive with the leading reference-based evaluation metrics. By interpolating both methods, we achieve state-of-the-art correlation with human judgments. Finally, we show that GEC metrics are much more reliable when they are calculated at the sentence level instead of the corpus level. We have set up a CodaLab site for benchmarking GEC output using a common dataset and different evaluation metrics.


Using molecular dynamics simulations and a Density Functional based Tight Binding method, the metastable germanium allotropes hR8 and cI16 are shown to interconvert by means of two sets of quasi-1D chains. The first set hosts sequences of SN2 inversions of Ge tetrahedral centers, and represents the activated step. The second set does not imply any reconstruction, but assists the first one in propagating the reconstruction. The overall process is commenced by bond nucleation, followed by chain formation and reconstruction into either structure. A novel intermediate metastable phase is visited in the process. Elementary steps of chemical reactivity are accessible due to the appropriate time and spatial resolution of the methods used. This paves the way for a chemical understanding of structure reconstruction and metastable phase formation in solid materials.


The objective of the study to assess different housing practices for small scale pig production in rural areas of Kamrup and Darrang districts of Assam. A total of 300 households rearing pigs were visited and interviewed during the study. Free range system of pig rearing was almost absent. In these areas, the floors of pig sties/houses were normally made of either concrete (36.5%) or katcha (63.5%). The walls of pig sties/ houses were made of bamboo (42.2%), wood (29.5%) or concrete (28.3%). During the study, it was revealed that the roof of pig sties was made up of thatch (49.3%), plastic cover (28.6%) or CGI sheet (22.1%). Most of the people who rear pigs were not aware about scientific methods of pig rearing. But in survey it was focused that they were interested to get training about pig rearing and management. Considering high demand of pork in the region, immense opportunities prevail in improvement of pig husbandry through adopting scientific interventions in routine management and health care services.


Weber's claim that Calvinism eliminated magic from the world, inserted into The Protestant Ethic in 1920 and arising out of research reported in The Sociology of Religion, entails a sociological but also a theological proposition identified in this article. Weber's conceptualization of magic permits his examination of the economic ethics of the world religions. Non-European cases, including China, are examined by Weber to confirm his Protestant Ethic argument regarding modern capitalism. He holds that Confucian rationality, associated with bureaucratic order, is compromised by its tolerance of magic. Weber contrasts this with the Calvinist rejection of magic. Weber's claims regarding Calvinist demagicalization are made without regard to the Reformation Calvinist obsession with satanic witchcraft, in which the efficacy of magic is accepted as real. The distance between Calvinism and Confucianism, essential to Weber's argument, is thus narrowed.


Major challenges faced by organisations are employee motivation and performance. Motivated employees drive high productivity, customer satisfaction, and profits (Harter, Schmidt,
 & Hayes, 2002). As a result, organisations need to find empirically supported ways to motivate employees (Ambrose & Kulik, 1999; Luthans & Stajkovic, 1999; Stajkovic & Luthans,
 2003). One approach to enhancing motivation at work is recognizing employees for good performance, Employee recognition is a form of non-monetary, informal reward in which a manager acknowledges
 and praises employees who have performed according to the company's values and principles. The literature describing the benefits of employee recognition has argued that recognition as an incentive
 is often more effective than monetary rewards (Graham & Unruh, 1990: Jeffries, 1997: Stajkovic & Luthans, 1997). Leadership scholars have called for research examining group processes by
 which managers influence employee outcomes (Goomdman, Ravlin, & Schminke, 1987: Buzzo & Salas, 1995: Hackman, 1992). As current studies have simply investigated the direct effects of
 recognition on work-related outcomes, a central aim of this research was to explore the role of team-efficacy and goal commitment as mediators in the recognition-outcome relationship. Which the
 present research, two primary contribution to the existing literature linking recognition and employees outcomes are made. First, drawing upon goal setting theory, social cognitive theory, and
 attribution theory conceptual hypotheses were developed and empirically tested, proposing mediating effects of team efficacy and goal commitment in the relationship between recognition and employee
 outcomes. The second main contribution to research on employee recognition lays in investigating performance monitoring by the manager (as perceived by employees), as a moderator that influences
 the power of employee recognition. The moderating role of performance monitoring was based on importance of applying recognition immediately and contingently on good performance to be most
 effective (Locke, 1968: Locke & Latham, 1990; Luthans & Staijkovic, 1999). By monitoring employees' performance, managers are provided with information that can form the basis for
 delivering recognition in a timely manner. The proposed relationships were examined in three independent occupational samples. The model was explored in two homogeneous samples and then validated
 in a larger heterogeneous sample. This provides the opportunity to generalise results from specific groups of employees to a broader population of employed workers. In total, three cross-sectionals
 studies were conducted across a variety of different professional back grounds; looking at a range of outcome variables which are, job satisfaction, role clarity, and employee well-being. In Study
 1 (N=69), the sample consisted of employees from a large private hospital pharmacy. Results from Study 1 provided evidence for the predictive validity of employee recognition and the mediating role
 of team-efficacy and goal commitment in the relationship between employee recognition and the outcome variables. In Study 2 (N=103), data was collected from a global company producing and dealing
 with harvest machinery. Path model analyses were conducted to evaluate whether the findings of Study 1 could be replicated in a sample of employees from a different organisation. Another aim was to
 examine the moderating role of performance monitoring in the relationship between recognition and job satisfaction. The meditational results from this study replicated those from Study 1, pointing
 to the generalisability of the relationships between the variables. The relationship between employee recognition and sob satisfaction was mediated by team efficacy and goal commitment. Moreover,
 evidence was found that performance monitoring moderated between employee recognition and job satisfaction. As predicted, the relationship between employee recognition and job satisfaction was
 stronger under high levels of monitoring. To enhance external validity, Study 3 involved 243 employees from a variety of professions and industries. Another aim was to explore the research model
 with employee well-being as an outcome variable. As predicted, results from SEM analyses confirmed initial findings of team-efficacy as a mediator in the relationship between employee recognition
 and well-being. Furthermore, evidence was provided for the mediating role of team-efficacy between employee recognition and goals commitment and the mediating effect of goal commitment in the
 relationship between team-efficacy and well-being. As in Study 2, results showed that the relationship between recognition and well-being is stronger under high condition of monitoring. Overall,
 the findings of this research provide a unique insight into the important role of employee recognition in predicting work-related consequences, As such, these results expand our understanding of
 the processes by which employee recognition exerts its influence. Extending the notion of goal setting theory, social cognitive theory, and attribution theory it was found that team-efficacy and
 goal commitment mediated the relationship between recognition and outcome variable. In terms of practical implications, these results show that by providing recognition managers can raise
 employees' motivation and well-being.o


alpha-Decarboxylation of excitatory amino acids can produce derivatives with depressant actions on the central nervous system. Examples are aspartate-B-alanine and glutamate-GABA. Quisqualate derivatives by alpha-decarboxylation, Quisqualamine (QUAM) and Homoquisqualamine (HOMOQUAM) (with an extra methylene group in the molecular chain), were studied in isolated spinal cord in vitro preparation. Dose-dependent depolarizations and inhibition of spontaneous ventral root potentials (sVRP) were induced by QUAM and HOMOQUAM in unblocked, Mg2+ free, hemisected cord. Ventral root evoked potentials by electrical stimulation of dorsal root (2ms, 30V, pulse/30 sec) (DR-VRP) remained unchanged. In Tetrodotoxin (TTX) medium, HOMOQUAM showed a twofold increment of relative potency respect to QUAM depolarizations. Actions evoked by QUAM and HOMOQUAM were not affected by the addition of N-Methyl-D-Aspartate (NMDA) receptor blockers Mg2+ and DL-AP5; non-NMDA antagonist CNQX and GABA B receptor antagonist 2-hydroxysaclofen. In presence of GABA A receptor blockers Bicuculline MeCl or Picrotoxin, the actions evoked by QUAM and HOMOQUAM were blocked. The results obtained show that GABA A receptor seemed to mediate QUAM and HOMOQUAM activity in spinal cord in vitro preparation. The addition of a methylene group in the molecular chain increased the potency twice although the kinetic of the drug did not appeared to have changed. The development of new compounds with depressant activity in the central nervous system may be useful in assessing the physiological and therapeutic significance of central GABA receptors, especially if the blockade of spontaneous activity is not followed by an alteration of the neuronal integration and synaptic transmission reflected in the DR-VRP.