This contribution aims at the mechanism of electrochemical mechanical finishing (ECMF). The change in surface micro-profile of workpiece and its influence on anodic electrochemical dissolution (ECD) as well as the action of the mechanical role were investigated. The results show that the peak-like micro-profile of surface is in favor of improving the ability of ECD. The mechanical role not only scratches the passive film resulted from ECD, but also changes the surface micro-profile of the workpiece. The action of the mechanical role influences the final finished surface quality of the workpiece.


Transcription factors (TFs), microRNAs (miRNAs), small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and other functional non-coding small RNAs (sRNAs) are important gene regulators. Comparison of sRNA expression profiles between transgenic barley over-expressing a drought tolerant TF (TaDREB3) and non-transgenic control barley revealed many group-specific sRNAs. In addition, 42% of the shared sRNAs were differentially expressed between the two groups (|log2| >1). Furthermore, TaDREB3-derived sRNAs were only detected in transgenic barley despite the existence of homologous genes in non-transgenic barley. These results demonstrate that the TF strongly affects the expression of sRNAs and siRNAs could in turn affect the TF stability. The TF also affects size distribution and abundance of sRNAs including miRNAs. About half of the sRNAs in each group were derived from chloroplast. A sRNA derived from tRNA-His(GUG) encoded by the chloroplast genome is the most abundant sRNA, accounting for 42.2% of the total sRNAs in transgenic barley and 28.9% in non-transgenic barley. This sRNA, which targets a gene (TC245676) involved in biological processes, was only present in barley leaves but not roots. 124 and 136 miRNAs were detected in transgenic and non-transgenic barley, respectively. miR156 was the most abundant miRNA and up-regulated in transgenic barley, while miR168 was the most abundant miRNA and up-regulated in non-transgenic barley. Eight out of 20 predicted novel miRNAs were differentially expressed between the two groups. All the predicted novel miRNA targets were validated using a degradome library. Our data provide an insight into the effect of TF on the expression of sRNAs in barley.


This article critically examines the creation of the dominant academic discourse of global citizenship education, highlights gaps of thinking in the current discourse based on empirical research, and suggests some of the areas of translation/mediation/engagement that exist or need to exist in order to further research in the area. It uses a literature-mapping exercise to analyse the politics of knowledge production in the field of global citizenship education, and introduces results of an international questionnaire study to explore university students' concepts of global citizenship.


CONTEXT
High diabetes prevalence among low-income and urban African American populations. OBJECTIVES & MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: This study aimed to determine associations between neighborhood-level food sources and socioeconomic status (SES), and dietary patterns and body-mass index (BMI). The hypotheses were that the presence of food stores in neighborhoods would be associated with better dietary habits and BMI, and that the presence of convenience stores, and lower neighborhood SES, would be associated with poorer dietary habits and BMI. DESIGN, SETTING, & PATIENTS: Black adults (n = 132) with type 2 diabetes in Project Sugar 2 (Baltimore, Maryland) underwent the Ammerman dietary assessment: total dietary risk score and subscores for meat, dairy, starches, and added fat. Food source availability (food stores, convenience stores, other food stores, restaurants, and other food service places) and SES data from the 2000 US census at the tract-level were linked to individual-level data. Linear mixed-effects regression models with random intercepts were used to account for neighborhood clustering and for individual-level SES and potential confounders.

RESULTS
The presence of restaurants and other food service places in census tracts were associated with better dietary patterns (adjusted added fat subscore beta = -1.1, 95% confidence interval [CI] = -1.8, -0.4, and beta = -1.0, 95% CI = -1.7, -0.3, respectively). The presence of convenience stores and lower neighborhood SES was not significantly associated with worse dietary patterns or body-mass index, although trends were in the hypothesized direction.

CONCLUSIONS
These findings provide some evidence for structural improvements to food environments in urban and low-income black neighborhoods.


Objective We aimed to summarize key articles published between 2011 and 2015 on the treatment of (recurrent) acute otitis media, otitis media with effusion, tympanostomy tube otorrhea, chronic suppurative otitis media and complications of otitis media, and their implications for clinical practice. Data Sources PubMed, Ovid Medline, the Cochrane Library, and Clinical Evidence (BMJ Publishing). Review Methods All types of articles related to otitis media treatment and complications between June 2011 and March 2015 were identified. A total of 1122 potential related articles were reviewed by the panel members; 118 relevant articles were ultimately included in this summary. Conclusions Recent literature and guidelines emphasize accurate diagnosis of acute otitis media and optimal management of ear pain. Watchful waiting is optional in mild to moderate acute otitis media; antibiotics do shorten symptoms and duration of middle ear effusion. The additive benefit of adenoidectomy to tympanostomy tubes in recurrent acute otitis media and otitis media with effusion is controversial and age dependent. Topical antibiotic is the treatment of choice in acute tube otorrhea. Symptomatic hearing loss due to persistent otitis media with effusion is best treated with tympanostomy tubes. Novel molecular and biomaterial treatments as adjuvants to surgical closure of eardrum perforations seem promising. There is insufficient evidence to support the use of complementary and alternative treatments. Implications for Practice Emphasis on accurate diagnosis of otitis media, in its various forms, is important to reduce overdiagnosis, overtreatment, and antibiotic resistance. Children at risk for otitis media and its complications deserve special attention.


Siglec-E is a murine CD33-related siglec that functions as an inhibitory receptor and is expressed mainly on neutrophils and macrophage populations. Recent studies have suggested that siglec-E is an important negative regulator of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) signaling and one report (1) claimed that siglec-E is required for TLR4 endocytosis following uptake of Escherichia coli by macrophages and dendritic cells (DCs). Our attempts to reproduce these observations using cells from wild-type (WT) and siglec-E-deficient mice were unsuccessful. We used a variety of assays to determine if siglec-E expressed by different macrophage populations can regulate TLR4 signaling in response to LPS, but found no consistent differences in cytokine secretion in vitro and in vivo, comparing three different strains of siglec-E-deficient mice with matched WT controls. No evidence was found that the siglec-E deficiency was compensated by expression of siglecs-F and -G, the other murine inhibitory CD33-related siglecs. Quantitative proteomics was used as an unbiased approach and provided additional evidence that siglec-E does not suppress inflammatory TLR4 signaling. Interestingly, proteomics revealed a siglec-E-dependent alteration in macrophage protein composition that could be relevant to functional responses in host defense. In support of this, siglec-E-deficient mice exhibited enhanced growth of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium in the liver following intravenous infection, but macrophages lacking siglec-E did not show altered uptake or killing of bacteria in vitro. Using various cell types including bone marrow-derived DCs (BMDCs), splenic DCs, and macrophages from WT and siglec-E-deficient mice, we showed that siglec-E is not required for TLR4 endocytosis following E. coli uptake or LPS challenge. We failed to see expression of siglec-E by BMDC even after LPS-induced maturation, but confirmed previous studies that splenic DCs express low levels of siglec-E. Taken together, our findings do not support a major role of siglec-E in regulation of TLR4 signaling functions or TLR4 endocytosis in macrophages or DCs. Instead, they reveal that induction of siglec-E by LPS can modulate the phenotype of macrophages, the functional significance of which is currently unclear.


The innovation of AJAX resulted in more responsive, interactive and faster web applications due to the clever amalgamation of JavaScript, HTML, and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). However, from the user's perspective, this achievement places many challenges before web search engines. One major challenge is due to the complexities in crawling such web applications because multiple states are associated with one uniform resource locator (URL) that cause a mismatch with search model of web search engines, where a web document is uniquely identified by a single unique URL with a single state. Crawling AJAX-based web applications means giving strength and capability to web search engines so that information produced in these highly-interactive web applications is downloaded and indexed. The need here is to investigate the technicalities of AJAX that shatter the metaphor of a web page which the current web search engine utilize during crawling in order to improve the capabilities of web search engines. Although some academic tools have been developed, they produce some false positives which greatly affect the performance of web search engine. We aim to investigate AJAX and AJAX-based web applications as well as the state-of-the-art in crawling these applications along with some prominent issues, challenges and recommendations.


Galactic outflows have density, temperature, and velocity variations at least as large as those of the multiphase, turbulent interstellar medium (ISM) from which they originate. We have conducted a suite of parsec-resolution numerical simulations using the TIGRESS framework, in which outflows emerge as a consequence of interaction between supernovae (SNe) and the star-forming ISM. The outflowing gas is characterized by two distinct thermal phases, cool (T ≲ 104 K) and hot (T ≳ 106 K), with most mass carried by the cool phase and most energy and newly injected metals carried by the hot phase. Both components have a broad distribution of outflow velocity, and especially for cool gas this implies a varying fraction of escaping material depending on the halo potential. Informed by the TIGRESS results, we develop straightforward analytic formulae for the joint probability density functions (PDFs) of mass, momentum, energy, and metal loading as distributions in outflow velocity and sound speed. The model PDFs have only two parameters, star formation rate surface density and the metallicity of the ISM, and fully capture the behavior of the original TIGRESS simulation PDFs over . Employing PDFs from resolved simulations will enable implementations of subgrid models for galaxy formation with wind velocity and temperature (as well as total loading factors) that are based on theoretical predictions rather than empirical tuning. This is a critical step to incorporate advances from TIGRESS and other high-resolution simulations in future cosmological hydrodynamics and semi-analytic galaxy formation models. We release a Python package to prototype our model and to ease its implementation.


This article analyses the main factors that determine the organisational structure of a sample of firms located in Catalonia, an autonomous region in the northeast of Spain. The variables studied were identified from among the factors considered in contingency theory and by incorporating elements of the strategic choice approach. After grouping the variables into two factors (related to internationalisation and customer-oriented aspects, respectively) the results revealed three groups of companies according to how they regarded the impact of these factors on organisational structures. In those groups that consider the variables of internationalisation to be modifiers of structure the organisational structures are of the 'complex classical' type, whereas simple forms predominate in the group that believes these variables do not modify their structure.


Today's business processes are often controlled and supported by information systems. These systems record real-time information about business processes during their executions. This enables the analysis at runtime of the process behavior. However, many modern systems produce "big data", i.e., collections of data sets so large and complex that it becomes impossible to store and process all of them. Moreover, few processes are in steady-state but, due to changing circumstances, they evolve and systems need to adapt continuously. In this paper, we present a novel framework for the discovery of LTL-based declarative process models from streaming event data in settings where it is impossible to store all events over an extended period of time or where processes evolve while being analyzed. The framework continuously updates a set of valid business constraints based on the events occurred in the event stream. In addition, our approach is able to provide meaningful information about the most significant concept drifts, i.e., changes occurring in a process during its execution. We report about experimental results obtained using synthetic logs and a real-life event log pertaining to the treatment of patients diagnosed with cancer in a large Dutch academic hospital.


Eighteen patients who, years earlier, had undergone operations for congenital cataracts were discovered to have high intraocular pressures. Several had profound glaucomatous loss of vision. All had deep anterior chambers with flat iris planes and wide open angles. The uveal meshwork was unusually coarse and pigmented in some cases. Nystagmus, aftercataracts, and small pupils made visual field testing and observation of optic discs difficult. Most cases were bilateral, which suggested a hereditary origin; some had a family history of glaucoma. In none did we observe signs of congenital glaucoma or rubella syndrome. The incidence of this disease is not yet known, but it is common enough in our clinic to indicate lifetime surveillance for glaucoma in all patients who undergo congenital cataract surgery.


Chronic heart failure (CHF) increases the resistance to gas transfer across the alveolar-capillary interface. Recent reports highlight the pathophysiologic relevance of changes in the lung leading to impaired fluid and gas exchange in the distal airway spaces. Under experimental conditions, an acute pressure or volume overload can injure the alveolar blood-gas barrier. This may disrupt its anatomic configuration, cause the loss of regulation of fluid-flux, and thereby affect alveolar gas conductance properties. These ultrastructural changes have been identified under the term of stress failure of the alveolar-capillary membrane. In the short term, these alterations are reversible due to the reparative properties of the alveolar surface. However, when the alveolar-capillary membrane is chronically challenged, for instance in patients with CHF, by noxious stimuli, such as humoral, cytotoxic, and genetic factors other than by mechanical trauma, remodeling of pathophysiologic and clinical importance may take place. These changes in some respects resemble the remodeling process in the heart. Emerging findings support the view that, in patients with CHF, alveolar-capillary membrane dysfunction may contribute to symptom exacerbation and exercise intolerance, and may be an independent prognosticator of clinical course. Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors ameliorate the alveolar membrane gas conductance abnormality, reflecting improvement in the remodeling process. This article reviews the putative mechanisms involved in the impairment in gas diffusion in CHF patients and provides a link between physiologic changes and clinical findings.


This paper proposes an alternative approach to address the problem of coordinating behaviors in mobile robot navigation: fusion of control signals. Such approach is based on a set of two decentralized information filters, which accomplish the data fusion involved. Besides these two fusion engines, control architectures designed according to this approach also embed a set of different controllers that generate reference signals for the robot linear and angular speeds. Such signals are delivered to the two decentralized information filters, which estimate suitable overall reference signals for the robot linear and angular speeds, respectively. Thus, the background for designing such control architectures is provided by the nonlinear systems theory, which makes this approach different from any other yet proposed. This background also allows checking control architectures designed according to the proposed approach for stability. Such analysis is carried out in the paper, and shows that the robot always reaches its final destination, in spite of either obstacles along its path or the environment layout. As an example, a control architecture is designed to guide a mobile robot in an experiment, whose results allows checking the good performance of the control architecture and validating the design approach proposed as well.


To comprehend the hierarchical organization of large integrated systems, we introduce the hierarchical map equation, which reveals multilevel structures in networks. In this information-theoretic approach, we exploit the duality between compression and pattern detection; by compressing a description of a random walker as a proxy for real flow on a network, we find regularities in the network that induce this system-wide flow. Finding the shortest multilevel description of the random walker therefore gives us the best hierarchical clustering of the network — the optimal number of levels and modular partition at each level — with respect to the dynamics on the network. With a novel search algorithm, we extract and illustrate the rich multilevel organization of several large social and biological networks. For example, from the global air traffic network we uncover countries and continents, and from the pattern of scientific communication we reveal more than 100 scientific fields organized in four major disciplines: life sciences, physical sciences, ecology and earth sciences, and social sciences. In general, we find shallow hierarchical structures in globally interconnected systems, such as neural networks, and rich multilevel organizations in systems with highly separated regions, such as road networks.


The quinoxaline nonnucleoside RT inhibitor (NNRTI) (S)-4-isopropoxycarbonyl-6-methoxy-3-(methylthiomethyl)-3,4- dihydroquinoxaline-2(1H)-thione (HBY 097) was used to select for drug-resistant HIV-1 variants in vitro. The viruses first developed mutations affecting the NNRTI-binding pocket, and five of six strains displayed the RT G190-->E substitution, which is characteristic for HIV-1 resistance against quinoxalines. In one variant, a new mutant (G190-->Q) most likely evolved from preexisting G190-->E mutants. The negative charge introduced by the G190-->E substitution was maintained at that site of the pocket by simultaneous selection for V179-->D together with G190-->Q. After continued exposure to the drug, mutations at positions so far known to be specific for resistance against nucleoside RT inhibitors (NRTIs) (L74-->V/I and V75-->L/I) were consistently detected in all cultures. The inhibitory activities of the cellular conversion product of 2',3'-dideoxyinosine (ddI, didanosine), 2',3'-dideoxyadenosine (ddA) and of 2',3'-didehydro-3'-deoxythymidine (d4T, stavudine) against these late-passage viruses were shown to be enhanced with the L74-->V/I RT mutant virus as compared with the wild-type (wt) HIV-1MN isolate. Clonal analysis proved linkage of the codon 74 and codon 75 mutations to the NNRTI-specific mutations in all RT gene fragments. The nonnucleoside- and nucleoside-resistance mutation sites are separated by approximately 35 A. We propose that the two sites "communicate" through the template-primer which is situated in the DNA-binding cleft between these two sites. Quinoxalines cause high selective pressure on HIV-1 replication in vitro; however, the implication of these findings for the treatment of HIV-1 infection has yet to be determined.


Members of the Gadd45 family play central roles in the cellular response to genotoxic stress and have been implicated in several human cancers, including hepatocellular carcinomas. Chronic infection by hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major risk factor for the onset and development of primary hepatocellular tumors, although the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Here, we show a novel link between diminished Gadd45 β expression and HCV infection. Inhibited Gadd45 β expression was observed in both nontumoral and tumoral tissues from infected individuals, and in cell lines harboring a HCV replicon and the infectious HCV strain JFH1. Decreased Gadd45 β expression was confirmed in vivo in a transgenic murine model expressing the entire HCV open reading frame. Mechanistically, hypermethylation of the Gadd45 β promoter in the presence of HCV is responsible for this defect. Diminished Gadd45 β expression leads to aberrant cell cycle arrest and diminished DNA excision repair. Together, these results provide a novel insight into the mechanisms involved in HCV-associated hepatocellular carcinomas, showing that reduced Gadd45 β expression may play a contributory role to this process, and providing evidence that HCV may interfere with epigenetic gene expression by altering promoter methylation. Cancer Res; 70(12); 4901 – 11. ©2010 AACR.


Disciplinary perspectives, as a core element of interdisciplinary work, represent the ways individuals may see and approach a situation based on their unique disciplinary background and training. Interdisciplinary collaboration requires individuals to leverage disciplinary perspectives and knowledge from diverse fields to build a shared understanding of the problem situation. However, based on the diversity of background and experiences within a team, interdisciplinary collaboration can be a challenge because collaborators must negotiate disciplinary differences, while also fundamentally experiencing the collaborative situation in different ways. Therefore, it is important to understand how individuals engage and experience disciplinary perspectives in their practice of collaboration. In this study, I investigated the nature of disciplinary perspectives in the context of educational development. The profession of educational development broadly aims to support the teaching and learning mission of higher education institutions, where educational developers work with faculty, graduate students, and administration on teaching, instruction, curriculum, and organizational development across disciplines. As such, educational developers play a significant role in engineering education transformation and offer a unique context to investigate interdisciplinary practice. In this work, educational developers bring their diverse disciplinary perspectives to their collaborative interactions. In this dissertation, a phenomenographic study was conducted to investigate the following research question: how do educational developers experience disciplinary perspectives in the work of educational development? Phenomenography is a qualitative research approach that focuses on the variation in how a phenomenon is experienced and conceptualized. I adopted a situative theoretical perspective to see disciplinary perspectives in relation to the contexts, social interactions, and activities through which interdisciplinary work is performed. I conducted semi-structured interviews with eighteen educational developers from Centers for Teaching and Learning across the United States and Canada. Participants were recruited from various disciplinary backgrounds and levels of experience. In the interview, participants shared general descriptions about their work, and specific descriptions of an experience where they worked with others who contributed different disciplinary perspectives. Additionally, a scenario-based elicitation exercise was used to frame participants' description of how diverse disciplinary perspectives appear in their work. The analysis followed an iterative and generative process to discern features and qualities of disciplinary perspectives. The findings of this study are presented as a phenomenographic outcome space consisting of five categories of description as distinct ways that disciplinary perspectives are experienced by educational developers. Additionally, the findings illustrate how disciplinary perspectives become externalized as an object that is brought forward and shaped in collaborative interactions. This research contributes to further understanding interdisciplinary collaboration in two ways. First, for interdisciplinary practice, the findings provide an integrated view of the variation in ways of experiencing disciplinary perspectives such that educational developers may attune and attend to different collaborative interactions. Second, with the situative perspective, I provide insight into the situated knowledge that constitutes how disciplinary perspectives become meaningful based on educational developers' position in relation to different disciplinary spaces. My findings highlight the situative relationships between the individual educational developer, their practice with disciplinary perspectives, and their work tasks in educational development. As educational developers continue to develop their practice to advance teaching and learning in higher education, this research contributes to the professional knowledge of educational developers in support of interdisciplinary collaboration.


A significant shift has occurred in the nature of policing over the past 30 to 40 years across jurisdictions and contexts. The paradigm of policing as a purely government function is under challenge. Policing is becoming more "pluralised" with a range of actors, both public and private. This shift has significant social implications for the general public, together with the public and private organisations that provide policing services. These implications are discussed and highlighted through the use of information technology by private police in two areas-CCTV surveillance and intelligence gathering. This case discusses this shift between public and private sectors in policing. The situation is more complex than a simple public/private divide and plays host to a range of interactions that bring many actors into contact, competition, and alliance in networks and assemblages. Most research and regulation remains focused on public policing even though, numerically, private policing is now a major provider of policing services in an increasingly fragmented, pluralized, and commodified market. This case considers the regulation of private policing as it exists in the Australian context and how it applies to the use of information technology, together with issues for human rights, especially privacy.


Two original Chain Transfer Agents (CTAs) integrating either a nitrocatechol or a boronic acid moiety were synthesized allowing the conception of a wide library of end-functionalized well-defined homopolymers via the Reversible Addition–Fragmentation chain Transfer (RAFT) process. Kinetic studies using NMR spectroscopy and Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC) were carried out, revealing good control of polymerizations of various monomers. Then, a coupling reaction between the complementary nitrocatechol and boronic acid end-chain polymers was optimized to create a dynamic boronate ester junction between the polymer blocks. The effectiveness of the reaction was demonstrated by means of NMR (1H, DOSY), SEC and cyclic voltammetry. The ability of the covalent bond, and thus the block copolymers, to be disrupted on demand was assessed using a competitive molecule (2-naphthylboronic acid) and UV irradiation as stimuli.


The aim of the present study was to determine the influence of lysine vasopressin on the electroencephalogram in man. Our results suggest a dose-dependent activity of lysine vasopressin on the EEG, which might be similar to that observed in animal and man after administration of nicotine. This effect seems to be independent of the action of the corticotropic hormone simultaneously released.


The many paths a message can take through the Internet make that network robust and efficient - and the envy of those whose job it is to design communications schemes for the far-flung spacecraft leaving Earth each year. After more than a decade of development, NASA is in a rush to have a communications network ready by 2011 that can efficiently carry data between Earth and the multiple probes, rovers, orbiters, and spacecraft exploring the solar system - effectively binding them together to form an interplanetary Internet. Tests performed on the International Space Station last May were the second of three try outs of the network's key technologies, called delay tolerant networking, or DTN protocols.


In this paper, ℓ1/2-norm method is used to replace the traditional l1-norm to improve the compressed sensing technique. Numerical experiments and fan/compressor tests were performed to validate the applicability and robustness of the CS method based on ℓ1/2-norm. Numerical experiments show that ℓ1/2-norm method can effectually eliminate the spurious mode peaks generated by failed recovery of l1-norm method. Further study with random sensor failure shows the stronger robustness and applicability of ℓ1/2-norm method. In the low-order acoustic mode detection experiment on cooling fan, 24 sensors were used to conduct mode decomposition at blade passing frequency (BPF). The recovered signal using ℓ1/2-norm method was sparser than that using l1-norm method. In the case two sensors were randomly removed as failed sensors, the deviation between results of ℓ1/2-norm method and original signal was also found smaller. In the condition that more sensors failed and l1-norm method did not work properly, ℓ1/2-norm method could still detect the main mode. For further validation, the data from a high-order aerodynamic pressure mode detection experiment on axial compressor with two sensors damaged was processed through ℓ1/2-norm method. The mode decomposition results at both BPF and the rotating instability frequency (RIF) agreed with the conclusion of the first experiment. Numerical experiments and fan/compressor tests show that using ℓ1/2-norm can significantly improve the application and robustness of compressed sensing in mode detection.


Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are 99.9% of total businesses in Indonesia. Mapping/clustering potential of SMEs that built in accordance with the conditions of the region/administrative, potential resources (commodities) and business units (production centers and groups) can be used as an indicator and the benchmark for guidance, development and supervision in order to strengthen the spine and the national economic structure. Objectives of the study are (1) identify potential SMEs that built in accordance with business information and problems encountered; (2) compile a database of selected target SMEs in the form of statistical profiles that are relevant to the purposes of guidance, development and supervision (success indicators and critical); (3) develop a standard model or alternative development, SMEs development and built a successful surveillance with the potential clustering patterns (base development) in accordance with local circumstances, and economic sectors. In this study used techniques: (1) desk research of secondary data sourced from SMEs that built by PT. Sucofindo and literature on SMEs-related studies conducted; (2) a brief survey to the selected SMEs locations from the point (1) purposively to obtain primary data as a verification activity that is supported by effective semi-structured questionnaire. Data analysis carried out descriptively, both qualitative and quantitative. From the study guidance, development and supervision of SMEs that built by PT Sucofindo available facts and data (information business, determinants, the feasibility of the business sector, loan repayment status and conceptual models) that SMEs that built can be categorized pre-enterprise SMEs and businesses running. Business grouping determines the smoothness of debt servicing. Therefore, in order to establish indicators of the model guidance, development and supervision in accordance with the type of SME, then the PT. Sucofindo requires an assessment system that is easy, fast, accurate, reliable and trustworthy, that can later be used as an effective guide for guidance, development and supervision of SMEs in general and in particular SMEs that built by PT. Sucofindo  used a generic approach in business performance indicators that are supported by indicators of business drivers. Model guidance, development and supervision SMEs that  has done so far by PT. Sucofindo still be reliable, but for the speed and feasibility of the establishment of SMEs which will be built into the front according to selected economic sectors, would be equipped with an approach that resulted in the studies of guidance, development and supervision, namely the general model of guidance, development and supervision of SMEs that built based on SMEs that built issues, systems of SMEs that built, assumptions, conceptual models and variables that can be measured. Guidance, development and supervision of SMEs that built, with potential cluster approach can be performed on: (1) category of solid natural resources, when positioned on the outskirts of the city and labor intensive, when positioned in the center of town; (2) technical assistance and competency-based according to the phase business. Both of the thing are helping improve the performance and structural improvement of SMEs, increase their competitiveness and resilience of SMEs supported by the core business, supporting business and related businesses intensively interconnected


Deep learning has revolutionized the arti fi cial intelligence (AI) landscape by enhancing machine capabilities to understand data-dependant relationships. On the other hand, knowledge may not directly correlate or depend on the data but represents facts that are true. Combining knowledge with the data-driven deep learning techniques improves upon what can be learned from data alone, resulting in improved performance with reduced training, user-level explainability, modeling uncertainty in deep learning, achieving context-sensitivity, and better control over the behavior of AI systems such as to assure the safety or avoid toxic behavior. We refer to the approach of combining various types of explicit knowledge as knowledge-infused learning (KiL). Knowledge infusion brings symbolic AI into data-driven AI, giving us a class of neuro-symbolic AI methods. The work on KiL has already developed a suite of context-adaptive algorithms that infuses various knowledge into deep learning methods in various ways, broadly categorized as a shallow infusion, semi-deep infusion, and deep infusion. This special issue allows interdisciplinary researchers and practitioners from diverse fi elds such as natural language processing, recommender systems, and computer vision to contribute their research on the infusion of external and expert-curated knowledge in data-driven learning methodologies for consistency and robustness in outcomes.


Crime has affected every society throughout time. Overall, crime in the United States has decreased in the past few years, but it is important to recognize that there is an increase in the number of female offenders in Montana and across the nation based on official data. There are many different types of female offenders. They include violent offenders, sexual offender, and white-collar criminals. In Montana, over 3,000 women or 14.8 percent of the total offenders are currently under the supervision of the Montana Department of Corrections. In 2000 and 2001, the female offenders who were sentenced for a sexual or violent offense reached all time highs. The question this paper attempts to address is "are women committing more crimes, or are they merely being reported more often to law enforcement?" The major theory examined in this research was conflict theory. The reality of the criminal justice system is that a large number of people in prison are those of a lower socio-economic status and minorities. Thus, I attempted in this research to avoid a dualistic fallacy by examining both those in the justice system and those in the general population. I used historical, quantitative, and qualitative research. Data on the females convicted of violent and sexual offenders were gathered from the Department of Justice. The age, race, county of conviction, crime, type of sentence, and year of conviction of each subject was examined. I interviewed a female violent offender that I call Emma in my paper. Emma describes her life and the journey that took her to becoming registered as a violent offender. Separately, a self-report on crime and delinquency was administered to fourteen Carroll College students and 60 females from the general public in Helena, Montana. These self-reports indicated that many of those in the general population admit to acts that could be considered sexual or violent offenses. However, many of them were not caught or sentenced for an offense in the criminal justice system. Although it is hoped that although we realize crime will never be eradicated from society, it is hoped that we work towards ending the problems of violent and sexual offenses committed by females by discovering underlying factors that are affecting women.


A strangle is the simultaneous purchase of an out-of-the-money call and an out-of-the-money put with the same expiration dates. If the options are both European, only one can be in the money at expiration, and the strangle is valued simply as the sum of the call and the put. An American call on a non-dividend-paying stock should not be exercised before maturity, so as maturity extends to infinity, the call value asymptotically approaches the value of the underlying stock. An infinitely lived European put should have zero value, but a perpetual American put can and should be exercised early. In practice, however, a perpetual strangle contract is not just the sum of a perpetual American call and put, because it entails the restriction that exercise of one of the options cancels the other. This obviously reduces the strangle value and makes the early exercise decision of some interest. In this article, Chuang develops a quasi-analytical approach for pricing a perpetual strangle based on the properties of the perpetual case's early exercise frontier.


Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) recipients have been reported to have decreased perioperative opioid and intraoperative inhalational anesthetic requirements when compared to patients without liver disease undergoing other types of major abdominal surgeries. The severity of the liver disease and the process of the transplantation itself may alter the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic effects of different pain medications. Chemical injury of the liver and the high degree of surgical stress may also increase the levels of neuropeptides involved in pain modulation. Per the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, more than 5,000 OLT cases are being done per year since 2000. With better understanding of the pathophysiology of liver disease and the development of perioperative anesthesia management, the recent concept of improving patient outcome following OLT includes a fast-track approach in selected patients, which may shorten or completely bypass intensive care unit stay and reduce costs. With this development, the understanding of the analgesic pharmacology in the care of the OLT patients is even more important. Proper dosage of medications can achieve adequate intraoperative anesthetic depth and postoperative pain control, while avoiding over-sedation which increases risk of prolonged postoperative mechanical ventilation. The purpose of this review is to summarize the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of the analgesic medications commonly administered to this patient population.


The transcaruncular-transnasal suture is a simple technique for reliably facilitating medial canthopexy. Especially in malformation surgery 4 and in primary or secondary reconstruction 5 after trauma, medial canthopexy by means of the transcaruncular suture provided a safe anchorage in the soft tissue and in the bone of the orbital rim. It does not interfere with delicate structures of the lacrimal duct system but instead allows for the ideal direction of pulling, ensuring anatomically correct reshaping of the medial canthus. for Necrotizing Fasciitis (LRINEC) score was designed specifically to distinguish necrotizing fasciitis from other soft-tissue infections. This score was developed from a laboratory test commonly performed for the assessment of severe soft-tissue infection and widely available across different institutions. Six independent variables were identified and each gives a specific point toward the final score. The LRINEC score is calculated by summing the points assigned to each of the six variables that make up the score. A score of less than 6, 6 to 7, or 8 or higher is designated as low, intermediate, or high risk, respectively, for the presence of necrotizing fasciitis. We recommend early imaging or operative ex- ploration for suspicious cases with a score of 6 or higher. (Adapted of a local recurrence of breast cancer or a radiation-induced lesion. There is no major morbidity or complications. The good clinical outcome is encouraging. in infection staphylococcal skin was significantly at the end of chlorhexidine 0.5% was a better choice for skin antisepsis elective clean plastic procedures.


Abstract: We present a synthesis of anuran diversity and distribution in the Mantiqueira Mountain Range, one of the largest mountain ranges occurring within the Atlantic Forest biome of Brazil. We assembled a species list based on the examination of 16,893 specimens housed in 10 herpetological collections and data compiled from the literature. We developed minimum convex polygons for each species to determine their degree of association with the mountain range, and assessed distribution patterns considering species presence–absence in nearby geomorphological units. The northern and southern sectors of the mountain range were examined for differences in species composition, accounting for possible effects of the main vegetation types of the range. We recorded 234 anuran species (∼23% of total anuran richness for Brazil), including 143 core species, 89 species of marginal occurrence, and 2 species with an undetermined degree of association because of taxonomic uncertainties. Of these species, 91 were widespread and occur throughout the Atlantic Forest and in other regions, 53 were not widespread but range into neighboring geomorphological units, and 88 were endemic species. The northern and southern sectors of the mountain range differed in species composition, which was influenced by the different vegetation types. Thirty-nine endemic species were restricted to the southern sector, whereas 45 occurred only in the northern sector, indicating that these sectors potentially represent distinct biogeographic units with regard to the anurans. We found 14 species that are listed among the categories of both global and national lists of threatened species and 10 species whose most recent records date from at least 30 yr ago. Our study confirms that the Mantiqueira Range is a critical region for anuran endemism and conservation in the Atlantic Forest, and provides a baseline for future biogeographic, taxonomic, and macroecological studies.


Two comparable groups of young children, aged one to ten years, underwent minor ear, nose and throat surgery. One group was treated as day-stay patients at a private clinic and the other group spent two nights in a teaching hospital. Anaesthesia and surgery were similar in both groups. The incidence of post-hospitalisation behavioural changes was reported as 56.6% for the day-stay cases and 62.5% for the in-patients. The relative frequencies of the reported changes were not different between the groups except for apathy in the in-patient group and sleeping in parents bed in the day-stay group (p < 0.001). Parental satisfaction with the experience was high, 77% of the comments being positive.


Molecular techniques have enhanced our ability to unravel the evolutionary history and hidden diversity of species, and to explain how historical events have helped to shape the demography and dispersal of populations. Cryptic species are typically defined as two or more genetically distinct species that are morphologically indistinguishable. The discovery of cryptic diversity has become a challenge for biologists in understanding the species concepts and biodiversity patterns. Many current studies have revealed the existence of cryptic species, but few studies have focused on their ecological and biological aspects.  Bostrychia, a filamentous red alga, has long been used as a model system for studies of evolutionary process and biogeographic history. In the Southern Hemisphere, there are four endemic species: B. arbuscula, B. gracilis, B. intricata and B. vaga. Bostrychia intricata is widely distributed in the Southern Hemisphere, whereas the other three species have more restricted distributions. The aim of this study was to reveal the evolutionary history, phylogeographic pattern and eco-physiological trait within B. intricata.  Phylogenetic analysis based on combined data (mitochondrial COI, chloroplast rbcL and nuclear 28S) strongly supported the monophyly of the four Southern Hemisphere Bostrychia species, with B. vaga as a sister species to the other three. Multigene phylogeny and COI-based species delimitation revealed cryptic species diversity within B. intricata and B. vaga. Additionally, a COI-based phylogeographic study indicated the existence of three cryptic B. intricata species (N2, N4 and N5) in New Zealand. Population analyses demonstrated that cryptic species N2 populations recently expanded, possibly after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), while N4 was more diverse, showing a stable population, which possibly persisted during the LGM. The results suggested that the contrasting pattern in population structure and demographic histories between cryptic species was probably due to the difference in the evolutionary history and survival ability.  Growth experiments clearly showed that cryptic species N4 had a significantly higher specific growth rate than other two species, N2 and N5, in different salinities and temperature, suggesting physiologically differentiation between these cryptic species. Additionally, the small-scale distribution of B. intricata at Moa Point, Wellington of three cryptic species showed that N4 was found at the higher tidal position than species N2 and N5. Cryptic species N2 occurred in more wave-exposed areas than other two species. These results suggest spatial niche differences between cryptic species, possibly allowing them to sympatrically co-exist. This study highlights the fact that cryptic species are distinctly different in many biological characteristics, while maintaining \identical morphologies.


Petri net (PN) transformation is a method for converting a net from one structure to another. The existing approaches are net content dependent, i.e., all elements of the right- and left-hand-side nets or the operand nets participate in matching and related operations during transformation. They incur high computational complexity and difficulty to predict the transformation results. Reduction and refinement as two kinds of elementary net transformation have not been brought into a unified framework of net transformation approaches. In addition, the criteria for steering net transformation have not been separated from the transformation manipulations in the existing reduction and refinement methods. To solve these problems, this work proposes a net algebraic system for the general transformation of nets. It possesses node operation, block operation, and basic place- and transition-interfaced net operation algebras. Net-content-independent transformation, in which only the location and operation of the operand nets' interfaces are involved, can be achieved in a net algebraic way. Furthermore, by composing several operations, new operations for reduction and refinement are defined within a unified net transformation framework in which they are independent of the specific transformation criteria. Subsequently, the equivalence between the original and transformed nets with respect to PN properties as the criterion is investigated and proved when several newly proposed subnet structures are used as operands. Finally, the algebraic reduction operation is applied to analyze a complicated PN model of a mail sorting system.


Medical journalism, a world of aggressively competitive periodicals, may not always be based of valid, reliable or accurate information. A large productivity and wide array of medical research literature makes even the most virtuous scientists unable to gauge and assess through all of them hence a critical and systematic analysis is required to endorse its reliability for best evidence-based practices, which no doubt is the major backbone of medicine. By introducing critical appraisal, we can help the clinicians to avoid reading flawed literature and prevent the incorporation of biased or untrustworthy information into their practice. The world is more than ever competitive now (more than 12,000 new articles added every week to the MEDLINE database) and to stay updated with new ideas, most recent developments, latest results, functional and valuable technical progress with robust scientific evidence is becoming vital.


Face orientation estimation problems arise in applications of camera networks such as human-computer interface (HCI), and person recognition and tracking. In this paper, we propose and compare two collaborative face orientation estimation techniques in smart camera networks based on fusion of coarse local estimates in a joint estimation model at network level. The techniques employ low-complexity methods for in-node face orientation and angular motion estimation to accommodate computational limitations of smart camera nodes. The local estimates are hence assumed coarse and prone to errors. In the joint refined estimation phase, the problem is modeled as a discrete-time linear dynamical system, and linear quadratic regulation (LQR) and Kalman filtering (KF) methods are applied. In the LQR-based analysis, the spa-tiotemporal consistency between cameras is measured by a cost function, which is composed as a weighted quadratic sum of spatial inconsistency, input energy, and in-node estimation error. Minimizing the cost function through LQR provides a robust closed-loop feedback system that successfully estimates the face orientation, angular motion, and relative angular differences to the face between cameras. In the KF-based analysis, the confidence level of each local estimate is used as a weight in the measurement update. This model can be further extended to missing data cases where not all local estimates are collected in the network, hence offering flexibility in communication scheduling between the nodes. The proposed technique does not require camera locations to be known a priori, and hence is applicable to vision networks deployed casually without localization.


Abstract The genus Borrelia includes species responsible for severe human diseases such as Lyme disease. Birds are involved in their epidemiology as dispersers of infected ticks (Ixodida: Ixodidae) and as reservoirs or amplifiers of the bacterium. Herein, the presence of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) Johnson, Schmid, Hyde, Steigerwalt & Brenner in 336 ticks collected from birds in the north of Spain from 2009 to 2011 was investigated. Nucleic acid extracts from 174 Ixodes frontalis (Panzer), 108 Haemaphysalis punctata Canestrini & Fanzango, 34 Hyalomma marginatum Koch, 17 Ixodes ricinus (L.), and 3 Ixodes spp. were screened for the presence of B. burgdorferi s.l. by PCR. Borrelia turdi was detected in 22 I. frontalis, 2 H. punctata, and 2 I. ricinus. Additionally, 1 I. frontalis and 1 H. punctata were found to be infected with the human pathogen Borrelia valaisiana. Moreover, 3 I. frontalis showed coinfection with both Borrelia species. This study corroborates the presence of B. turdi and B. valaisiana in ticks from birds in the north of Spain. The presence of these bacteria in larval specimens could suggest the role of birds as their reservoirs, or the occurrence of the cofeeding phenomenon. In addition, the detection of B. turdi and B. valaisiana in H. punctata and I. frontalis ticks, respectively, is reported for the first time.


The traditional trading procedure as currently adopted in centralized financial exchanges sets, at a point in time, the most competitive price as the single transaction price of all units of an asset consummated in trading. The trading procedure for the discovery of asset price risks introduced in this essay, in opposite, sets a plurality of shared value appraisals between buyers and sellers to form a spectrum of concurrent transaction prices. In the received view of a probabilistic asset price, the contrast shows that the traditional trading procedure works like a filter suppressing investors' all other value appraisals, whereas the introduced trading procedure works like a prism to reflect a spectrum of shared idiosyncratic value appraisals. Transparency in price risk enabled by the prism-like trading procedure is shown to facilitate undistorted coordination and adjustment of investors' idiosyncratic value appraisals. The institutional source of recurring excess volatility in financial markets is thus traced to the unrecognized filter-like institutional frame the traditional trading procedure imposes on investment behaviors. This essay also elucidates the role of price discovery in coordinating idiosyncratic risk perceptions and its related issues.


The economic crisis that occurred in Indonesia since some time ago, whereas many large-scale businesses get stagnated and even its activity stopped. The Small and Medium Industry (SME) sector proved to be more resilient in facing the crisis. Given the experience that Indonesia has faced during the crisis, it is not excessive if private sector development is focused on SME. SME is placed in a factual position because SME is considered to accomplish the necessity to diversify national economy in order to protect it against economic fluctuation and crescents. Management capability is very significant in small, medium and large industries, where each requires management activities to coordinate the skills or the workers' skills and the resources coordination owned by the company. The purpose of this study is to examine and explain the effect of management capability on the performance of Sasirangan Small and Medium Industry (SME) in South Kalimantan Province. The method used is a quantitative approach (positivism), because the obtained data from the survey results are in the form of numbers or digits which then analyzed using statistics to answer questions and test the research hypothesis. The result of the research shows that management capability has a significant direct positive effect on SME performance. GeSCA results obtained by path coefficient of 0.029* and CR = 4.28* (significant) are positive. This result indicates that management capability owned by SME Sasirangan owner can improve SME performance. Keyword : Management, Small and Medium Industry (SME)


Background and Purpose The best approach to select patients for reperfusion therapy in acute ischemic stroke remains to be established. Different methodologies have been proposed using different clinical, vascular, and parenchymal imaging parameters. Our aim is to compare Perfusion-imaging Mismatch (PIM) and Clinical-Core Mismatch (CCM) patient selection and assess their ability to predict outcomes. Methods We reviewed our prospectively collected endovascular database at a tertiary care academic institution for patients with acute anterior circulation strokes, adequate CT perfusion imaging maps and a National Institute of health Stroke Scale (NIHSS)≥10 from September 2010 to March 2015. Patients were categorized according to the PIM and CCM definitions. The ability of PIM and CCM to predict good outcomes (modified Rankin scale 0–2) was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC), Akaike information criterion (AIC) and Bayesian information criterion (BIC). Results A total of 368 patients qualified for the study. PIM had a lower number of qualifying patients compared to CCM (n=231, 62.8% vs n=303, 82.3%). The two groups were statistically different (p<0.001) with the following disagreement: 12 PIM+/CCM– and 84 PIM–/CCM+. There were no differences in good outcomes between PIM+ and PIM- patients (52% vs 48%, p=0.5). CCM+ patients had higher rates of good outcomes than CCM- (53% vs. 35%, p=0.015). There were no differences between PIM and CCM in predicting good outcomes as assessed by the AUC, AIC and BIC (0.82, 323.64 and 330.61 vs 0.82, 323.56 and 330.53 respectively) Conclusion We were unable to demonstrate a difference between the PIM and CCM selection modalities in the prediction of clinical outcomes. However, PIM seems to unjustifiably disqualify a significant proportion of patients that still benefit from reperfusion. In contrast with CCM, the existence of PIM does not seem to be a good discriminator of good outcomes. Future prospective studies are warranted. Disclosures J. Grossberg: None. M. Bouslama: None. D. Haussen: None. L. Rebello: None. M. Frankel: None. R. Nogueira: None.


Author attribution studies have demonstrated remarkable success in applying orthographic and lexicographic features of text in a variety of discrimination problems. What might poetic features, such as syllabic stress and mood, contribute? We address this question in the context of two different attribution problems: (a) kindred: differentiate Langston Hughes' early poems from those of kindred poets and (b) diachronic: differentiate Hughes' early from his later poems. Using a diverse set of 535 generic text features, each categorized as poetic or nonpoetic, correlation-based greedy forward search ranked the features and a support vector machine classified the poems. A small subset of features (∼10) achieved cross-validated precision and recall as high as 87%. Poetic features (rhyme patterns particularly) were nearly as effective as nonpoetic in kindred discrimination, but less effective diachronically. In other words, Hughes used both poetic and nonpoetic features in distinctive ways and his use of nonpoetic features evolved systematically while he continued to experiment with poetic features. These findings affirm qualitative studies attesting to structural elements from Black oral tradition and Black folk music (blues) and to the internal consistency of Hughes' early poetry. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


This article introduces a series of articles prepared in connection with an April 2015 conference jointly sponsored by the Law & Development Institute and the Payson Center for International Development at Tulane University Law School. The introduction first surveys the uncertain and chaotic terrain of current and competing definitions of development and then introduces the articles in this special volume, identifying common themes and differences. In the process, the introduction suggests, law and development studies present great promise to provide greater coherence to development studies and practice going ahead, providing the approach is pluralist and inclusive.


Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH) is a common problem in general neurological practice. It is characterised by raised intracranial pressure (ICP) in the absence of causative structural brain pathology. The usual presentation is of headache which is worse when supine and visual complications of raised ICP. We describe a patient that presented with symptoms and signs of raised intracranial pressure but also seizures and persistent CSF rhinorrhea when supine. Investigations revealed raised ICP with no structural cause and a cribriform plate defect with a large encephalocele. The defect appeared to auto-regulate intracranial pressure allowing the patient to maintain long symptom free periods but also led to the atypical presenting features. Patients rarely present with spontaneous CSF leaks but there is increasing recognition that CSF leakage from skull base defects may be a relatively common consequence of IIH. This can help to regulate ICP in these patients but can lead to atypical presenting features and further complications if untreated.


This research studied the impact of integrating virtual laboratories in chemistry lessons among 22 pre-service teachers who were enrolled in a Bachelor of Education program, focusing on middle and high school science. These participants were systematically divided into an experimental group (EG) and a control group. Both groups engaged in the same organic chemistry lesson and subsequent lab session, the only difference being that EG received additional training via a virtual laboratory prior to the hands-on lab session. A survey, conducted both before and after the experiment, was utilized to measure participants' attitudes towards the use of virtual laboratories. The quantitative data analysis revealed a significant positive shift in EG's attitudes post-intervention, suggesting that virtual laboratory experiences enhance their learning and engagement. Specifically, participants exhibited improved understanding of the educational methodologies and heightened engagement during the physical lab work. However, no significant differences were observed between the two groups concerning the technical aspects of the experiments, implying that the virtual labs' impact on perspectives about the technical components of a chemistry lab was consistent across both groups. These findings support the view of virtual laboratories as a viable supporting tool for science education, promoting technology integration into teaching practices to meet the demands of 21st century learning outcomes. This research concludes with recommendations for future studies to explore further the implications of virtual labs on various aspects of science education.


Background and Objectives To assess whether plasma neurofilament light chain (NfL) levels are elevated before amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) diagnosis and to evaluate whether prediagnostic NfL levels are associated with metabolic alterations. Methods We conducted a matched case–control study nested in 3 large prospective US cohorts (the Nurses' Health Study, the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, and the Multiethnic Cohort Study) and identified 84 individuals who developed ALS during follow-up and had available plasma samples prior to disease diagnosis. For each ALS case, we randomly selected controls from those who were alive at the time of the case diagnosis and matched on birth year, sex, race/ethnicity, fasting status, cohort, and time of blood draw. We measured NfL in the plasma samples and used conditional logistic regression to estimate rate ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for ALS, adjusting for body mass index, smoking, physical activity, and urate levels. Results Higher NfL levels were associated with a higher ALS risk in plasma samples collected within 5 years of the ALS diagnosis (RR per 1 SD increase 2.68, 95% CI 1.18–6.08), but not in samples collected further away from the diagnosis (RR per 1 SD increase 1.16, 95% CI 0.78–1.73). A total of 21 metabolites were correlated with prediagnostic NfL levels in ALS cases (p < 0.05), but none of these remained significant after multiple comparison adjustments. Discussion Plasma NfL levels were elevated in prediagnostic ALS cases, indicating that NfL may be a useful biomarker already in the earliest stages of the disease. Classification of Evidence This study provides Class II evidence that plasma NfL levels are elevated in prediagnostic ALS.


In this paper, we address the problem of object tracking in intensity images and depth data. We propose a generic framework that can be used either for tracking 2D templates in intensity images or for tracking 3D objects in depth images. To overcome problems like partial occlusions, strong illumination changes and motion blur, that notoriously make energy minimization-based tracking methods get trapped in a local minimum, we propose a learning-based method that is robust to all these problems. We use random forests to learn the relation between the parameters that defines the object's motion, and the changes they induce on the image intensities or the point cloud of the template. It follows that, to track the template when it moves, we use the changes on the image intensities or point cloud to predict the parameters of this motion. Our algorithm has an extremely fast tracking performance running at less than 2 ms per frame, and is robust to partial occlusions. Moreover, it demonstrates robustness to strong illumination changes when tracking templates using intensity images, and robustness in tracking 3D objects from arbitrary viewpoints even in the presence of motion blur that causes missing or erroneous data in depth images. Extensive experimental evaluation and comparison to the related approaches strongly demonstrates the benefits of our method.


We present multiwavelength investigation of morphology, physical-environment, stellar contents, and star formation activity in the vicinity of star-forming region Sh 2-100. It is found that the Sh 2-100 region contains seven H ii regions of ultracompact and compact nature. The present estimation of distance for three H ii regions, along with the kinematic distance for others, suggests that all of them belong to the same molecular cloud complex. Using near-infrared photometry, we identified the most probable ionizing sources of six H ii regions. Their approximate photometric spectral type estimates suggest that they are massive early-B to mid-O zero-age-main-sequence stars and agree well with radio continuum observations at 1280 MHz, for sources whose emissions are optically thin at this frequency. The morphology of the complex shows a non-uniform distribution of warm and hot dust, well mixed with the ionized gas, which correlates well with the variation of average visual extinction (∼4.2–97 mag) across the region. We estimated the physical parameters of ionized gas with the help of radio continuum observations. We detected an optically visible compact nebula located to the south of the 850 μm emission associated with one of the H ii regions and the diagnostic of the optical emission line ratios gives electron density and electron temperature of ∼0.67 × 103 cm−3 and ∼104 K, respectively. The physical parameters suggest that all the H ii regions are in different stages of evolution, which correlate well with the probable ages in the range ∼0.01–2 Myr of the ionizing sources. The spatial distribution of infrared excess stars, selected from near-infrared and Infrared Array Camera color–color diagrams, correlates well with the association of gas and dust. The positions of infrared excess stars, ultracompact and compact H ii regions at the periphery of an H i shell, possibly created by a WR star, indicate that star formation in Sh 2-100 region might have been induced by an expanding H i shell.


Experimentation is important for learning and research in the field of power electronics and drives. However, a great deal of equipment is required to study the various topologies, controllers, and functionalities. Thus, the cost of establishing good laboratories and research centers is high. To address this problem, the authors have developed a "Power Electronics and Drives Experimental Bench" (PEDEB), whose details are given in this paper. This unique kit includes reconfigurable hardware modules, which can be interconnected to achieve more than 14 different circuit topologies. Moreover, the software (controller) is accessible to users, thereby facilitating quick verification and testing of new ideas. A 2-kVA prototype of the PEDEB was developed and tested for various possible modes of operation. The kit is being used for a first-semester post-graduate laboratory course on "Power Electronics and Drives." This paper includes observations and learning from experiments on dc-dc buck converter, an induction motor drive, and a grid feeding inverter conducted using the PEDEB.


Three-way catalytic converters are utilized to minimize exhaust emissions. The efficient working of catalytic converter depends upon the flow field developed inside the converter. Due to the prevailing stringent norms, such as Bharat stage-VI, it is essential to create and design a high performing converter having uniform flow distribution within the converter to meet these norms. An easy way to gain an almost sufficiently homogeneous stream circulation is to compose the diffuser inclination minimally and correspondingly to manufacture the cone angle length long enough. The objective of the study is to examine an automobile catalytic convertor to present a detail and comprehensive report on the key parameters affecting the flow uniformity inside the converter and thus attempting to achieve minimum pressure drop across the converter to reduce the backpressure. They are modifying the existing geometry of the catalytic converter to have more uniform flow within the convertor. The analysis had been carried out with varying diffuser angles- 57.3, 52.3, and 45 degrees separately. Simulation program using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software package STAR CCM + 11.02 was used. The monolith design with a 52.3o cone angle evaluated with computations provides an actual parabolic curve, which gives a laminar flow within the catalytic converter, which in turn will increase the conversion efficiency of the converter by 1.060 %. The pressure drop within the monolith is also reduced by 3.7 Pa. This accounts to be a reduction in backpressure up to 5%, thus reduces brake specific fuel consumption of automobiles. The results are validated with the literature. The result shows the overall pressure drop augments with velocity. The temperature effect on light-off performance also studied.


This study examined how social anxiety, gender, and mode of presentation influenced miscommunication and perception of negativity in children's interpretation of computermediated messages. The initial phase of the research involved developing and validating the stimuli for emotion recognition via presentation of various emotionally toned messages. Following preparation of the stimuli, the 98 participants (aged 8-12 years) in the main study were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: audio-visual, audioonly, and text message. The same emotionally toned messages were presented in each of these three conditions. Participants were instructed to select from a list of six emotions (happy, sad, disgusted, angry, surprised, scared) which emotion each message conveyed. Participants then rated how positively or negatively they perceived each sentence, using a 5-point Likert scale that ranged from very negative to very positive. Following the emotion recognition and Likert rating task, participants completed questionnaires that gathered information about social anxiety and attribution bias. Findings revealed that additional nonverbal and paralinguistic, as in the audio-visual or audio-only condition, allowed participants to more accurately identify the emotion being conveyed in the message, compared to the text message condition. This advantage was found for all emotions with the exception of happiness. For happy messages, participants were able to identify the intended emotion at above-chance levels regardless of mode of presentation. When making interpretations about angry messages, a significant three-way interaction was observed between sex, condition and social anxiety. Likert rating analyses revealed that condition, sex, and social anxiety played important roles in the interpretation of both ambiguous and unambiguous emotions, such as surprise and happiness.


This paper introduces a novel multi-copy routing protocol, called Self Adaptive Utility-based Routing Protocol (SAURP), for Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs) that are possibly composed of a vast number of miniature devices such as smart phones, hand-held devices, and sensors mounted in fixed or mobile objects. SAURP aims to explore the possibility of taking mobile nodes as message carriers in order for end-to-end delivery of the messages. The best carrier for a message is determined by the prediction result using a novel contact model, where the network status, including wireless link condition and nodal buffer availability, are jointly considered. The paper argues and proves that the nodal movement and the predicted collocation with the message recipient can serve as meaningful information to achieve an intelligent message forwarding decision at each node. The proposed protocol has been implemented and compared with a number of existing encounter-based routing approaches in terms of delivery ratio, delivery delay, and the number of transmissions required for each message delivery. The simulation results show that the proposed SAURP outperforms all the counterpart multicopy encounter-based routing protocols considered in the study. Keywords-Encounter based Routing, DTN.


Background Previous studies of infant fecal samples have failed to clarify the role of gut bacteria in the pathogenesis of NEC. We sought to characterize bacterial communities within intestinal tissue resected from infants with and without NEC. Methods 26 intestinal samples were resected from 19 infants, including 16 NEC samples and 10 non-NEC samples. Bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequences were amplified and sequenced. Analysis allowed for taxonomic identification, and quantitative PCR was used to quantify the bacterial load within samples. Results NEC samples generally contained an increased total burden of bacteria. NEC and non-NEC sample sets were both marked by high inter-individual variability and an abundance of opportunistic pathogens. There was no statistically significant distinction between the composition of NEC and non-NEC microbial communities. K-means clustering enabled us to identify several stable clusters, including clusters of NEC and midgut volvulus samples enriched with Clostridium and Bacteroides. Another cluster containing both NEC and non-NEC samples was marked by an abundance of Enterobacteriaceae and decreased diversity among NEC samples. Conclusions The results indicate that NEC is a disease without a uniform pattern of microbial colonization, but that NEC is associated with an abundance of strict anaerobes and a decrease in community diversity.


The Northeast Brazil is physically and socioeconomically vulnerable to accelerated sea level rise, due to its low topography and its high ecological and touristic value. The main threats in ApodiMossoro estuary that could be connected with sealevel rise and climate change are the flooding of coastal areas, erosion of sandy beaches and the destruction of harbor constructions and natural coastal hazards. Assessment of the potential land loss by inundation has been based on empirical approaches using a minimum inundation level of 1m  and  a  maximum  inundation  level  of  10m.  The  socioeconomic  impacts  have  been based  on  two  possible  alternative  futures:  first  a  worst  situation  measured  by  the economic  condition  in  the  maximum  inundation  level;  and  second  a  best  situation measured by combining the sustainability on first scenario with the minimum inundation level.  Inundation  analysis,  based  on  GIS  and  a  modelling  approach  to  erosion,  has identified  on  22  locations  and  the  socioeconomic  sectors  that  are  most  at  risk  to accelerated  sealevel  rise,  climate  change  and  hazards.  Results  indicate  that  15.74% (216.10km )  and  26.43%  (362.81km ) of  the  area will  be  lost  by flooding  at minimum and  maximum  inundation  levels,  respectively.  The  most  severely  impacted  sectors  are expected  to  be  the  residential  and  recreational  areas,  agricultural  land  and  the  natural ecosystem. Shoreline erosion is 5.38m/yr since 2003 to 2010 and it`s affect 21.48% the total area in the ApodiMossoro estuary which is very high vulnerable area, other than it 73.60% moderate  and  4.92%  low  vulnerable  area  in  ApodiMossoro  estuary.  Potential strategies  to  ameliorate  the  impact  of  global  climate  change  through  sea  level  rise  and natural  coastal  hazards  include:  wetland  preservation;  beach  nourishment  at  tourist resorts; and the afforestation of dunes. As this coast is planned to become one of the most developed  tourist  resorts  in  RN  state  by  2012,  measures  such  as  building  regulation, urban growth planning and development of an Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan, are recommended for the region.


Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are an effective adsorbent for removing various organic and inorganic contaminants because of their high surface area. In this study, MWCNTs were used to investigate the removal of sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS) in industrial wastewater. The effect of pH, adsorbent dosage, dispersion time and temperature on kinetics and equilibrium of SDBS sorption on MWCNTs were examined. Consistent with an endothermic reaction, an increase in the temperature resulted in decreasing SDBS adsorption rate. The adsorption kinetic was well fitted by pseudo second-order kinetic model. The adsorption isotherm data could be well described by the Freundlich equations. The results suggest that MWCNT could be employed as an efficient adsorbent for the removal of SDBS from aqueous media.


In Delhi, the capital city of India, air pollution has been a perpetual menace to urban sustainability and public health. The present study uses a mixed-method approach to enumerate to the urban authorities: (a) the state of air pollution in the city; (b) systemic flaws in the current monitoring network; (c) potential means to bolster it; and (d) need of a participatory framework for monitoring. Information about Air Quality Index (AQI), obtained from 36 monitoring stations across Delhi is compared between 2021 (20 April–25 May; 2nd year/phase of SARS-CoV-2 lockdown), and the corresponding time periods in 2020 (1st year/phase of lockdown), and 2019 (business-as-usual) using the Mann–Whitney U Test. AQI during the 2021 lockdown (a) appeared statistically more similar (p < .01) to that of 2019 and (b) exceeded the environmental health safety benchmark for 85% days during the study period (20 April–25 May). However, this only presented a partial glimpse into the air pollution status. It owes to numerous 'holes' in the AQI data record (no data and/or insufficient data). Moreover, certain areas in Delhi yet have no monitoring station, or only too few, to yield a 'representative' estimate (inadequate spatial coverage). Such shortcomings in the existing monitoring network may deter future research and targeted/informed decision-making for pollution control. To that end, the present research offers a summary view of Low-Cost Air Quality Sensors (LCAQS), to offer the urban sustainability authorities, 'complementary' technique to bolster and diversify the existing network. The main advantages and disadvantages of various LCAQS sensor technologies are highlighted while emphasizing on the challenges around various calibration techniques (linear and non-linear). The final section reflects on the integration of science and technology with social dimensions of air quality monitoring and highlights key requirements for (a) community mobilization and (b) stakeholder engagement to forge a participatory systems' design for LCAQS deployment.


PURPOSE: The global COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted multiple sectors across industries and regions, including medical services, financial institutions, and others. The escalating global pandemic in both emerging and developed nations has resulted in the implementation of stringent lockdown measures and unparalleled disruptions to economic activities. Consequently, individuals have become accustomed to relying on banking operations as a routine aspect of their lives, regardless of the circumstances. Learning how bankers engage with customers in response to the given circumstances would be intriguing. Hence, the study aimed to unearth the relationship between bankers' job stress, job performance, and job commitment, as well as the stress-based job performance and its impact on job commitment during the second to third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in an emerging market. METHODOLOGY: A number of 287 data (response rate 71.75 percent) were collected by online platforms due to the COVID-19 pandemic through the simple random sampling technique. The exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling were run to test the proposed research framework with the help of MS Excel 2007, SPSS 22.0, and AMOS 23.0. FINDINGS: The findings showed that bankers' work-related stress has a positive impact on job performance but no relationship with job commitment; acute stress has a negative impact on job commitment but no significant relationship with job performance; and stress-based job performance has a significant positive impact on job commitment during the COVID-19 pandemic. IMPLICATIONS: The outcomes of this study provide value to the field of behavioral science by introducing the phenomena of COVID-19 in the context of bankers and emerging economies. The demographic variables and the revealed relationships of bankers' job stress, job performance, and job commitment trajectories would help policymakers rethink stress management practices and policy building in the bank job and the long-term relationship building with their existing employees. ORIGINALITY AND VALUE: The novelty of the research is the COVID-19 phenomenon and an emerging economy's bankers' context.


Background: The previous two decades have witnessed an increasing number of policymakers and practitioners using sport programmes to achieve broader social development aims, particularly in countries in the Global South. A core element of these programmes has been the use of sport as a context to provide young people with social, personal and health education. However, despite the educative focus of the 'sport for development and peace' (SDP) movement, there has been limited analysis within the existing literature of the pedagogies used and whether these are appropriate for achieving the aims of SDP programmes. This article seeks to review and critique the core pedagogical strategies used in SDP initiatives. Theoretical framework: This article draws on Paulo Freire's critical pedagogy as a theoretical framework to examine education through sport in the Global South. The authors consider Freire's work to provide a number of aspects that are relevant to SDP education. Freire has long been established as the standard-bearer of critical pedagogy globally including contexts relevant to where SDP education takes place. His work offers a conceptual framework that challenges the status quo and offers marginalized groups the opportunity to enhance their agency, outcomes that are at the heart of the SDP movement. This article outlines key themes associated with Freirean pedagogy including the politicization of education, the possibility of transformation through education and the importance of dialogical education for creating 'critically transitive consciousness'. Discussion: We use these core foundational concepts to critique existing pedagogical strategies in SDP and outline how they currently do not go far enough in providing a truly transformative educational experience for participants. The discussion considers the use of traditional didactic, peer education and relationship-building pedagogies in SDP and analyses the limitations of each of these using the critical lens of Freire's pedagogy. Conclusion: We conclude by outlining how Freirean pedagogy could be better utilized within SDP education and outline some of the practical implications of doing so. The need for flexibility in SDP curriculum development is highlighted and the importance of ensuring that this is grounded within a local context, dealing with specific local issues, is also noted. This is at odds with the current movement within SDP to standardize the education that takes place within this context. We also consider the implications for recruiting and training educators to deliver a more critical pedagogy, outlining some of the qualities such individuals should be seeking to develop in order to engage in a more transformative education process through sport.


In the article the basic factors, which characterize a special role of innovation activity for the effective functioning of railway industry, are considered. The necessity of innovation development of the railway transport in Ukraine is proven.


NASA-funded researchers produced an ethylene reduction device for a plant growth unit. KES Science & Technology Inc., a Kennesaw, Georgia-based company specializing in sustaining perishable foods, licensed the ethylene scrubbing technology. KES partnered with Akida Holdings, of Jacksonville, Florida, which now markets the NASA-developed technology as AiroCide. According to the company, it is the only air purifier that completely destroys airborne bacteria, mold, fungi, mycotoxins, viruses, volatile organic compounds (like ethylene), and odors. What?s more, the devices have no filters that need changing and produce no harmful byproducts, such as the ozone created by some filtration systems.


The interest in specifi c infl uence of the blue light (further described as BL, a part of a visible spectrum with the wavelength from 460 nm to 490 nm) grew about 15 years ago, with a discovery of retinal ganglion cells that contain melanopsin. It was proven that this part of visible spectrum is the most important non-image-forming signal, which regulates the circadian rhythm. Exposure to BL in the daytime enhances the circadian rhythm, reduces daytime sleepiness and has an anti-depressive effect. Whereas exposure to artifi cial light during the evening results in the suppression of nocturnal melatonin secretion, delay of the circadian rhythm and consequently can lead to insomnia and mood deterioration. In this study the BL input was reduced by using "amber" contact lenses (light transmittance in a range of approximately 480 nm reduced to 10%) for consecutive four weeks. Experimental group consisted of 12 female and male participants in the age between 18 and 35 years, control group numbered 15 participants in the same age range. The level of daytime sleepiness in fourth week of blockade of short-wavelength light input was visibly higher than in the beginning of the study. Such tendency did not occur in the control group. Similar effect was observed in level of anhedonia (signifi cant difference, p<.02) and in negative affect (slight difference). Positive affect scales and dimensions of core affect showed no differences between control and experimental groups.


Co-Fe-B/MgO/Co-Fe-B magnetic tunnel junctions were fabricated using UHV magnetron sputtering. Magnetoresistance and spin-transfer switching properties were investigated as a function of Co-Fe-B free layer thickness, between 1.5 nm and 3 nm. The intrinsic switching current and the thermal stability were derived from the pulse duration dependence of the switching current, analyzed based on the thermally activated switching model. Both switching currents, corresponding to parallel (P) to antiparallel (AP) (Ic0 +) and AP to P (Ic0 –) magnetization reversal, were found to be roughly proportional to the free layer thickness. The averaged intrinsic switching current density Jc0 av = (Ic0 +–Ic0 –)/(2A) (where A is the cell area) was in the range of 1–2×107 A/cm2. The experimental values of Jc0 ± agreed with theoretical values, determined taking into account the spintransfer efficiency for the case of magnetic tunnel junction. The thermal stability of the P and AP states was different, but roughly proportional to the free layer thickness in both cases. We attribute this difference to a disparity in the net magnetic field acting on the free layer magnetization in the P and AP states. The average of the thermal stability in the two states varied from 30 to 60 when the free layer thickness was increased. According to our findings, to guarantee the non-volatility of an MRAM device for about 10 years, the Co-Fe-B free layer should be thicker than 2 nm.


Abstract Young women and girls in Kenya face challenges in access to abortion care services. Using in‐depth and focus group interviews, we explored providers' constructions of these challenges. In general, providers considered abortion to be commonplace in Kenya; reported being regularly approached to offer abortion‐related care and services; and articulated the structural, contextual, and personal challenges they faced in serving young post‐abortion care (PAC) patients. They also considered induced abortion among young unmarried girls to be especially objectionable; stressed premarital fertility and out‐of‐union sexual activity among unmarried young girls as transgressive of respectable femininity and proper adolescence; blamed young women and girls for the challenges they reported in obtaining PAC services; and linked these challenges to young women's efforts to conceal their failures related to gender and adolescence, exemplified by pre‐marital pregnancy and abortion. This study shows how providers' distinctive emphasis that young abortion care‐seekers are to blame for their own difficulties in accessing PAC may add to the ongoing crisis of post‐abortion care for young women and adolescent girls in Kenya.


Host susceptibility according to human histo-blood group antigens (HBGAs) is widely known for norovirus infection, but is less described for rotavirus. Due to the variable HBGA polymorphism among populations, we aimed to evaluate the association between HBGA phenotypes (ABH, Lewis and secretor status) and susceptibility to rotavirus and norovirus symptomatic infection, and the polymorphisms of FUT2 and FUT3, of children from southeastern Brazil. Paired fecal-buccal specimens from 272 children with acute diarrhea were used to determine rotavirus/norovirus genotypes and HBGAs phenotypes/genotypes, respectively. Altogether, 100 (36.8%) children were infected with rotavirus and norovirus. The rotavirus P[8] genotype predominates (85.7%). Most of the noroviruses (93.8%) belonged to genogroup II (GII). GII.4 Sydney represented 76% (35/46) amongst five other genotypes. Rotavirus and noroviruses infected predominantly children with secretor status (97% and 98.5%, respectively). However, fewer rotavirus-infected children were Lewis-negative (8.6%) than the norovirus-infected ones (18.5%). FUT3 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) occurred mostly at the T59G > G508A > T202C > C314T positions. Our results reinforce the current knowledge that secretors are more susceptible to infection by both rotavirus and norovirus than non-secretors. The high rate for Lewis negative (17.1%) and the combination of SNPs, beyond the secretor status, may reflect the highly mixed population in Brazil.


Abstract:At the intersection of two fields of inquiry that are highly imaginative and seek real change—the study of human-plant relations and the even less charted study of queer procreation—this article explores queer ways of procreating that humans may learn from plants. In particular, stolon (runner) formation and grafting are considered here because they are vegetal forms of procreation that are not rooted in sexual difference and create collective life forms that are based on dividuality rather than individuality. Both characteristics are mobilized for a queer imagination. Analyzing two plays by Heinrich von Kleist—the comedy Amphitryon (1807) and the tragedy Penthesilea (1808)—the article argues that Amphitryon's servant, Sosias, multiplies by way of stolons and that the Amazons in Penthesilea are grafted creatures with an ongoing desire to form new grafts. The analysis draws on Gilles Deleuze's theory of masochism to shift attention away from genital intercourse while sexualizing what in biology is called asexual.


ObjectiveTo describe the implementation of a model of integrated care for chronic disease in Western Sydney. This model was established on the basis of a partnership between the Local Health District and the Primary Health Network.MethodsThe Western Sydney Integrated Care Program (WSICP) focuses on people with type 2 diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and coronary artery disease or congestive cardiac failure. We describe the design of the program, the processes involved and some of the challenges and barriers to integration.ResultsEarly data indicate a high uptake of services, with some evidence of a reduction in hospital admissions and presentations to the emergency department.ConclusionA model of integrated care has been successfully implemented and embedded into local practices. Preliminary data suggest that this is having an impact on the utilisation of hospital services.What is known about the topic?There is evidence that integrated models can improve cost-effectiveness and the quality of clinical care for people with chronic disease. However, most integrated models are small scale, focus on very specific populations and generally do not engage both primary care and acute hospitals.What does this paper add?This paper describes an effective partnership between state-funded hospital services in the WSLHD and the federally funded local Primary Health Network (PHN) of general practitioners. The paper outlines the design of the program and the structural, governance and clinical steps taken to embed integrated care into everyday clinical practice. In addition, preliminary results indicate a reduction in the use of hospital services by people who have received integrated care services.What are the implications for practitioners?Involvement of both primary care and the public hospital system is important for a successful and sustainable integrated care program. This is a long and challenging process, but it can lead to positive effects not just for individuals, but also for the health system as a whole.


This study explores the empirical influence of domestic and foreign factors on equity pricing in Malaysia
for the period 1990-2013. This research seeks to determine if the dynamics have changed over time with the period of
study spanning across major episodes of crisis such as the Asian Financial Crisis, the Global Financial Crisis and the
European Debt crisis. Advanced econometric techniques namely unit root test with structural breaks, multivariate
cointegration analysis, error correction model and innovation accounting technique are employed in the analysis. The
findings show that share prices and macroeconomic variables (inflation rate, industrial production, money supply and
US share price) are cointegrated in Malaysia for the period 1990-2013. In the long-run, consumer price index and US
share prices contribute positively to share price movement while industrial production and money supply have a
negative relations with KLCI. As for short-run dynamic interaction, Malaysia share prices are not significantly affected
by lagged information from macroeconomic variables. Macroeconomic activities have weak explanatory power on
stock market movements in short-run. Structural change has occurred after the Asian Financial Crisis.


Total Mg content in plasma and erythrocytes did not significantly differ between WKY and SHR. Mg efflux via Na/Mg antiport was 10% lower in non Mg-loaded erythrocytes of SHR than in WKY, and 16% lower in Mg-loaded erythrocytes of SHR. The activation of Na/Mg antiport in erythrocytes by Cl, as tested by substitution of Cl with SCN, and the regulation of Na/Mg antiport by protein kinases, as tested by PMA and staurosporine, showed no differences between WKY and SHR. The reduction of Na/Mg antiport was explained by a reduction in the number of Na/Mg antiporter molecules in SHR erythrocytes. Mg efflux in KCl medium by K/Mg antiport via the unspecific choline exchanger was not significantly reduced in SHR and was equally affected by PMA and staurosporine in WKY and SHR. An explanation for some controversial results, unchanged or reduced concentration of Mg in serum, total Mg and free Mg in erythrocytes of SHR and patients with essential hypertension was proposed. The role of Na/Mg antiport and [Mg]i in the pathogenesis of experimental and clinical hypertension was discussed.


This investigation is a new approach to the assessment of the richly-ornamented book-covers of the early Christian Church. Pictorial data on approximately seventy five covers of actual books together with a similar number of pictures of books portrayed by artists in contemporary carvings, mosaics and paintings have been analysed as a group. This enabled attention to be directed to the geometrical structures and arrangements of the ornamental features of the cover decoration and avoided the problems intrain when considering them purely as works of art.

The results of this research have enabled several distinct trends and watersheds in the design structure to be distinguished which have potential for improving the dating of such book bindings. These include, the significance of border decoration as an indicator of date and the techniques with which jewels and gemstones were arranged and mounted. It is believed that with these techniques considerable new possibilities exist for more substantial analysis of the covers of these unusual books.