In this paper, both biochemical and immunochemical evidence for the presence of lipoxygenase (LOX) in plant mitochondria is presented. Highly purified pea (Pisum sativum L., cv. Alaska) mitochondria show LOX activity, evaluated as conjugated diene formation, ox ygen consumption, and hydroperoxide formation. Both 9- and 13-hydroperoxy-octadecadienoic acids are pro duced by the oxidation of linoleic acid. LOX activity is particularly evident in swollen mitochondria; it is in hibited by nordihydroguaiaretic acid, a pea anti-LOX B antibody, and has two pH optima (6.0 and 7.5). A mitochondrial protein of ~97 kDa cross-reacts with a pea seed anti-LOX B antibody. This reaction is detectable in both soluble (matrix fraction) and mem brane-bound (submitochondrial particles) proteins. Considering that pea mitochondria were extracted from actively growing stems that were differentiating tube elements, it is suggested that the presence of LOX in these organelles may be related to their degradation linked to xylem differentiation.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to test the relationship between the belief in redeemability – Version 2 (BIR-2) Scale and desistance from crime. It also seeks to explore how patterns of responding on the BIR-2 with offenders compare to previous patterns of responding in the general public.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors report the results of a study of offenders using the belief in redeemability – Version 2 (BiR-2) scale. In total, 180 offenders under the supervision of the Community Corrections Service (formerly the Probation and Parole Service) of New South Wales completed the ten-item questionnaire and when these data were combined with demographic and reoffending data collected by Corrective Services New South Wales, 168 sets of useable data were collected. Scores on the BIR-2 scale were compared to Level of Service Inventory – Revised (LSI-R) score, Most Serious Offence category, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status, number of custodial sentences in previous five years, age, gender and reoffending.

Findings

Results showed that the sample overall was closely representative of the caseload from which the study sample was drawn (a metropolitan community corrections office) and that BIR-2 scores showed a small, significant, negative correlation with LSI-R scores. Analysis of re-offending data indicated a small, positive, but non-significant correlation with BIR-2. Implications of this are discussed and future research outlined.

Practical implications

The paper suggests that it is worth attempting to measure belief in redeemability in the broader context of a narrative approach to desistance.

Originality/value

This is the first time that a scale has been used to test the importance of a belief in redeemability quantitatively and to permit the use of multivariate analysis.


In a passive infrared remote sensing measurement, the spectral radiance difference caused by the presence of a pollutant cloud is proportional to the difference between the temperature of the cloud and the brightness temperature of the background (first-order approximation). In many cases, this difference is of the order of a few kelvins. Thus the measured signals are small, and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is one of the most important quantities to be optimized in passive remote sensing. A model for the SNR resulting from passive remote sensing measurements with a Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer is presented. Analytical expressions for the SNR of a single Lorentzian line for the limiting cases of high and low spectral resolutions are derived. For constant measurement time the SNR increases with decreasing spectral resolution, i.e., low spectral resolutions yield the highest SNRs. For a single scan of the interferometer, a spectral resolution that maximizes the SNR exists. The calculated SNRs are in good agreement with the measured SNRs.


Literary work, manifested in its various forms such as a short story, novels, drama, and poetry, represents the condition and employing historical moments existing in the region, country, and world. Literary work plays a role to reveal the truth through their language and symbols behind the works. Song, a lyrical poetry is a representation of music, which can transmit ideas and emotions to its listeners. U2, an Ireland music band, with their concerns, attempted to imply their ideas through the songs they sung and brought the listeners to the events inspiring them in writing the songs. The three major purposes considered being the main problems in analyzing U2's songs were to: (1) find out the themes of U2's songs, (2) figure out the meaning and message expressed by the song's writer, and (3) describe the historical events inspiring the song writing. The study uses descriptive qualitative design to analyze the data. The approaches that were suitable with this analysis were objective and historical approach. The objective approach was used because she stressed on the song's physical and explained the meanings in an entirely objective way. Historical approach was used to find basic clues related to the events behind the lyrics writing in the current times. The population of this study was 21 songs and 2 songs were selected. The songs were: (1) Sunday Bloody Sunday, and (2) Staring At The Sun. The results of this study were: (1) The theme of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" was the battle. The message conveyed in the song was: A conflict later would cause sufferings for people. The historical event that lied behind the song was the tragedy Bloody Sunday that occurred at Northern Ireland in 1972. (2) The theme of "Staring At The Sun was fear and restlessness. The message carried in the song was: An old long dispute was the latent threat that could appear unexpectedly. The historical event inspiring the song was the riots that appeared at Northern Ireland on 1990s during the peace process in the country.


This paper investigates microstructures and mechanical properties of the TI-6AL-4V ELI alloy processed by ECAP and extrusion with various morphology of α and β-phase. Preliminary thermal treatment consisted of quenching and further high-temperature ageing. The present work reveals that the decrease of volume fraction of α-phase globular component in the initial billet results in a more homogeneous structure refinement during SPD, lower internal stress, enhancement of microstructure stability and mechanical properties. An ultimate strength of UTS ≥1350 MPa was obtained in the Ti-6Al-4V ELI alloy while maintaining a ductility of δ≥11%.


AIMS: This study aims to estimate the efficacy of Ostene as bone hemostatic agent clinically and experimentally and their effect on the ease of operation in clinical dental practice. MATRIALS AND METHODS: For experimental part: Fifteen males rabbits were divided into three groups according to the time interval for hemostasis measurement, five rabbits in each group. Each group subdivides into other three groups according to study material "ostene, gelfoam, control". On femoral bone, three holes were made. After bleeding started, study material was placed inside holes, then a uniform piece of cotton was applied with gentle pressure, then hemostasis measured using the gravimetric method. For the clinical part: after complete extraction, a piece of study material was implanted inside the tooth socket and covered with uniform cotton for hemostasis, then hemostasis measured using the gravimetric method. RESULTS: For experimental part: study result revealed that the comparison between two local hemostatic agents (ostene and gelfoam) groups for hemostatic effect show Ostene has superiority effect over gelfoam in control bleeding at all interval times. Friedman test revealed a significant difference between study materials P =0.00 (P ≤ 0.05). For the clinical part: clinical measurement, ostene showed significant over gelfoam at 1min, 30 min While there were no significances between ostene and gelfoam at 5min,10min. Regarding visual analog scales for assessing bleeding and ease of operation, ostene, when comparing it with gelfoam, appeared better than gelfoam. CONCLUSIONS: Hemostatic effect of ostene is superior to gelfoam experimentally and after tooth extraction.


1. Lysolecithin, prepared by the action of snake-venom phospholipase A on ovolecithin, when incubated with Savoy-cabbage phospholipase D, in the presence of Ca(2+) ions, gave two degradation products (designated A and B) in the form of their calcium salts. 2. These calcium salts were separated quantitatively by solvent fractionation and converted into the corresponding sodium salts. 3. Substance B proved to be a lysophosphatidic acid of conventional structure (1-monoacyl-l-3-glycerophosphoric acid). When the phosphate group was removed by means of prostatic acid phosphomonoesterase, a 1-monoglyceride was formed quantitatively. Alkaline hydrolysis gave the theoretical yield of l-3-glycerophosphate. 4. Substance A, on the other hand, had all the properties expected for a cyclic phosphate of a 1-monoglyceride. It was unaffected by phosphomonoesterase. On alkaline hydrolysis, the acyl group was removed and ring opening of the presumed cyclic phosphate group gave an approximately equimolar mixture of 2- and l-3-glycerophosphates. 5. The structures of substances A and B confirm lysolecithin as 1-monoacyl-l-3-glycerylphosphorylcholine.


Population and economic growth lead to increased demand for resources; these resources rely on land or water, which are both finite resources on Earth. Globally humanity is currently operating at an unsustainable level, demanding more land than available. One method used to measure this is ecological footprinting. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) regularly estimates the ecological footprints of most countries, from this information it is estimated that New Zealand is using less productive land than is available and therefore is in ecological deficit. Research has been conducted by the Ministry for the Environment, to calculate the ecological footprints for New Zealand and its regions. However, no research has been conducted for Wellington city. The research of this thesis therefore uses current methodologies to estimate the ecological footprint of Wellingtonians in 1956 and 2006. In conjunction with this, research was also conducted to understand the lifestyles and quality of life during the 1950s and today. This is used to form comparisons between the ecological footprints that are 50 years apart. The ecological footprints and the relevant quality of life and lifestyles are also compared to indicate any relationships that may exist between these factors. Finally the research looked at the possible effects on the current lifestyle and quality of life of Wellingtonians from reducing the relevant parts of the ecological footprint. To achieve this three methods were used, firstly calculations based on the ecological footprint methodology developed by Wackernagel and Rees, and two surveys which consisted of a questionnaire and then focus group discussions, completed by residents of Wellington who lived in the city during the 1950s.


Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has been widely used in chemical analysis and medical diagnosis. In recent years, thanks to the development of the NMR instrumentation and the software for data analysis, it is becoming a useful tool for quality control in the food industry. In this field, several applications have been developed related to the compositional and structural analysis, authentication, packaging, and on-line monitoring. This paper highlights the capability of NMR to discern between the oil extracted from healthy and unhealthy hazelnuts, as a preliminary step toward the automatic detection of the hidden defects in full hazelnuts. Different processing techniques are analyzed on the CPMG response in order to set up the final measurement system.


The purpose of this study was to better understand the entering characteristics, patterns of performance, attrition rates and reasons for leaving, and experiences of undergraduate and graduate students in the College of Engineering and other engineering disciplines, with particular emphasis on those from traditionally underrepresented groups and other subgroups of interest. All students in the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign were asked to participate in this study. The study was initiated under the assumption that aggregate data related to issues faced by engineering students would be used to inform discussions and decisions related to a variety of policies and practices employed by the College of Engineering. The topics covered during this study ranged broadly, but generally related to one of the following: 1) general student satisfaction; 2) recruitment and retention; 3) departmental climate; 4) students' experiences; and 5) discrimination and harassment. Engineering administrators, department heads, faculty and student representatives had a voice in the design and oversight of this study, which was conducted by a team of local evaluators.


Although their names suggest Southern folksiness, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are recognized in Washington for their political clout, not their down-home cooking. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, known formally as the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, respectively, are government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs)--stockholder-owned, profit-seeking corporations created by Congress to help address America's housing needs. GSEs are one type of hybrid organization that combines characteristics of public- and private-sector entities. Although they are increasingly popular at the local, state, and national levels of government, hybrids receive relatively little attention. This article considers the political influence of GSEs through an examination of congressional crafting of legislation in 1992 to reshape the regulatory oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Specifically, this article has two objectives: * Provide better understanding of GSEs. "While called `private,'" observes Harold Seidman, who coined the term government-sponsored enterprise, "these enterprises really function in a terra incognita, somewhere between the public and private sectors" (1988,23). While some have suggested frameworks for considering the gamut of hybrid organizations (see Perry and Rainey 1988), this article takes the opposite tack: It is field reconnaissance, an effort to understand the dynamics surrounding a particular type of hybrid. * Specify the interaction of organizational structure and political influence. David Truman observes that "Although the effect of structural arrangements is not always what its designers intended, these formalities are rarely neutral" (1993,322). It should not be surprising that the characteristics distinguishing government-sponsored enterprises from private corporations and government agencies should distinguish the nature of their political influence as well. Federal regulators recently unveiled proposed regulations intended to ensure the financial safety and soundness of the two GSEs and to set levels of performance for low-income borrowers. Thus it is a timely moment to revisit legislation calling for the regulatory overhaul. The legislative history presented in this article was constructed from official records, trade magazines and newspapers, and extensive background interviews with participants from all sides including multiple executive agencies, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, interest groups, congressional staff, and other interested parties.(1) What Are Government-Sponsored Enterprises? Government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) are hybrids--part public, part private--that affect the lives of most Americans. Anyone who has borrowed money to purchase a home, farm, or pay for college, or invested in a mutual fund has likely been touched by government-sponsored enterprises.(2) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are public in several respects. Created by Congress to serve public purposes, they are exempt from state and local taxes, exempt from registration requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and have a $2.25 billion line of credit with the United States Treasury.(3) They are not, however, subject to regulations that govern the activities of federal agencies. Their staffs are not considered government employees. On the private side, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are profitable businesses owned by private shareholders. Their combined net income in 1998 was over $5 billion (OFHEO 1997). In terms of assets, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rank third and sixth, respectively, among American corporations (Fortune 1999). Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stock, traded on the New York Stock Exchange, consistently outperforms the S&P 500 average. Their executives earn multimillion-dollar salaries comparable to their Fortune 500 peers. Although there is no direct cost to the federal government, GSEs do present financial risk. …


Author(s): Reece, Tyler Michael-Anthony | Advisor(s): Brecher, Benjamin | Abstract: The paper examines Robert Schumann's Frauenliebe und Leben (A Woman's Love and Life), which has long been staple in the standard nineteenth-century lieder repertory for singers, but almost exclusively for female performers. Despite early performances by baritone Julius Stockhausen, male performers have shied away from this cycle, as well as other lieder that are typically considered feminine. This study reaches back to the contextual issues that coincide with the history and practice of this repertory. In particular, I use the historical evidence of the Moral Purity Movement (1890-1945) and such discourses to reveal a critical primary source of homophobic rhetoric that may have dissuaded male singers from performing the cycle. Led by the Church and disgruntled male workers, whose jobs were vulnerable to the growing numbers of women entering the workplace, this conservative social movement campaigned using biblical rhetoric that supported traditional gender roles and relations. Unfortunately for Berlin's blossoming queer community in the 1890s, any individuals who did not conform to "Christian" ideals fell victim to these smears. I argue that male performers during that time may have been influenced by societal homophobia in their seemingly unanimous decision to avoid the feminine repertoire, such as Frauenliebe und Leben. The paper begins with an historical analysis of gender roles during the early nineteenth century. More detailed accounts of the gay rights movement and the Moral Purity Movement shed light on the gendered performance practices of the lieder repertoire. Ultimately, I use this history to consider alternative perspectives for performers who wish to engage with music that has traditionally been off-limits to them because of gender or sexuality. To demonstrate this concept, I introduce the Frauenliebe protagonist to a variety of alternative perspectives, including a historical performance by a female and, inversely, a twenty-first century gay male. The last section of the paper is an in-depth dramatic integration of the gay male perspective into the Frauenliebe protagonist. I pose potential scenarios to consider for the gay male performer when interpreting Schumann's cycle, as well as changes to the text and music to fit his alternative perspective. Ultimately, the goal of this paper is to remove unnecessary restrictions from modern performance practice in order to broaden the lieder repertoire for young singers, particularly those of the LGBTQ+ community.


Ferroelectric lead zirconate titanate Pb(Zr0.53Ti0.47)O3 (PZT) nanotubes were prepared using porous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template by means of a simple sol-gel method. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) showed that closely packed PZT nanotubes were synthesized with a high pore-filling rate and aspect ratio after annealing at 700 °C. The X-ray diffraction investigations revealed that the annealed PZT nanotubes exhibit a polycrystalline microstructure and were composed of perovskite crystal structure. The results of polarization hysteresis and piezoresponse force microscope (PFM) measurements showed typical piezoelectricity in PZT nanotubes as well as stable electrical properties revealed by leakage current measurement, indicating potential applications using ferroelectric one-dimension nanostructures.


This paper deals with the steady and dynamic states analysis of induction motor using finite element analysis (FEA) approach. The motor has aluminum rotor bars and is designed for direct-on-line operation at 50 Hz. A study of the losses occurring in the motor performed at operating frequency of 50Hz showed that stator copper loss and rotor copper loss were higher than the other types of losses like the stray, iron core, frictional and windage losses. The motor efficiency based on material design was also studied at operating temperature. The materials considered in this paper are iron, nickel and cobalt. It was observed that iron at 75°C provided the best efficiency than other materials. The steady and dynamic states characteristics of the motor at rated load and on no-load conditions were observed. The flux levels at these loading conditions were also monitored. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v36i4.29


In this paper, the interface crack of two non-homogenous functionally graded materials is studied. Subsequently, with employing the displacement method for fracture of mixed-mode stress intensity factors, the continuous variation of material properties are calculated. In this investigation, the displacements are derived with employing of the functional graded material programming and analysis of isoparametric finite element; then, with using of displacement fields near crack tip, the mixed-mode stress intensity factors are defined. In this present study, the problems are divided into homogenous and non-homogenous materials categories; and in order to verify the accuracy of results, the analytical and numerical methods are employed. Moreover, the effect of Poisson's ratio variation on mixed-mode stress intensity factors for interface crack be examined and is shown in this study. Unlike the homogenous material, the effect of Poisson's ratio variations on mixed-mode stress intensity factors at interface crack between two nonhomogenous is considerable.


With larger dose§ of curare there is considerable limitation of respiratory excursion, and it is not sufficient to stand some yards away from the patient and observe that he is breathing. There comes a time when this breathing is insufficient for the patient's metabolic needs, and so it is imperative, long before respiratory arrest is likely to set in, that the anaesthetist intermittently compresses the rebreathing bag, thereby favouring respiratory exchange and avoiding pulmonary stasis. A high concentration of oxygen in the inspired gases seems to be beneficial, and should there still be shallow breathing at the end of the operation one should not hesitate to give prostigmin. When breathing has returned to normal, hyperventilation with carbon dioxide and air will introduce the inert diluent nitrogen into the alveoli and thus help to guard against atelectasis. If these precautions are taken in every case then there should be no need to worry about respiratory depression during the immediate post-operative period and little fear of pulmonary complications at a later date. Since curare is non-toxic, then in an anaesthetic sequence in which it is used one need only consider the slightly toxic effects of the small amount of anaesthetic agent required to keep the patient asleep. Dr. Gray quite rightly states that Crile's theory has been invalidated. R. T. Knight (1944) goes further by saying " . . . that deep general anaesthesia is more damaging and more shock-producing than even the trauma of surgery." Surely, then, the maintenance of light anaesthesia is a prophylactic against shock. Light anaesthesia is easily maintained with non-toxic nitrous oxide, but I do not think that this is entirely satisfactory with curare, since the shallow breathing associated with the latter tends to increase the anoxaemia usually present with the former. The majority of the cases in which I have used curare have been upper abdominal operations and/or ill patients, and in these cases an intravenous drip is often required before, during, and after the operation. "Pentothtal" is always used, the initial dose being supplemented when rise in pulse rate-a sign of lightening anaesthesia-occurs. Usually an endotracheal tube is passed under direct vision and pure oxygen is administered throughout the operation. Under these conditions perfectly satisfactory anaesthesia and convalescence are ensured.-I am, etc., Truro, Cornwall. G. V. S. WRIGHT.


Institutional investors may have an unclear understanding of the role of social media in asset price determination. Although some of the top quant hedge funds use crowd-based information gleaned from tweets, this relationship may be opaque to the rest of our community. In this article, the authors attempt to clarify the confusion regarding social media sentiment and security return behavior. They show that, surprisingly, Tweet sentiments have significant power in explaining the time-series contemporaneous variation in daily stock returns, even in the presence of well-known equity factors. By examining direct tweet sentiments as provided by StockTwits, the authors claim to have identified a Social Media Factor, the "sixth" factor, and they highlight the distinctions vis-à-vis Fama–French's factors.


Following the finite-time collapse of an unsteady interacting boundary layer (step 1), shortened length and time scales are examined here in the near-wall dynamics of transitional-turbulent boundary layers or during dynamic stall. The next two steps are described, in which (step 2) normal pressure gradients come into operation along with a continuing nonlinear critical-layer jump and then (step 3) vortex formation is induced typically. Normal pressure gradients enter in at least two ways, depending on the internal or external flow configuration. This yields for certain internal flows an extended KdV equation with an extra nonlinear integral contribution multiplied by a coefficient which is proportional to the normal rate of change of curvature of the velocity profile locally and whose sign turns out to be crucial. Positive values of the coefficient lead to a further finite-time singularity, while negative values produce a rapid secondary instability phenomenon. Zero values in contrast allow an interplay between solitary waves and wave packets to emerge at large scaled times, this interplay eventually returning the flow to its original, longer, interactive, boundary-layer scales but now coupled with multiple shorter-scale Euler regions. In external or quasi-external flows more generally an extended Benjamin–Ono equation holds instead, leading to a reversal in the roles of positive and negative values of the coefficient. The next step, 3, typically involves the strong wind-up of a local vortex, leading on to explosion or implosion of the vortex. Further discussion is also presented, including the three-dimensional setting, the computational implications, and experimental links.


The presence of esophageal varices (EV) is a phenotype of portal hypertension, and the indications of liver resection for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with concomitant EV are conflicting. This retrospective study aimed to elucidate if there is justification for liver resection in patients with EV. The surgical outcomes were compared between the patients who underwent resection for HCC with EV (EV group) and those without EV (non-EV group) after propensity-score matching. More bleeding was prevalent (P < 0.001) and refractory ascites was more frequently observed (P = 0.031) in the EV group (n = 277) compared with the non-EV group (n = 277); however, the numbers of patients with morbidities (P = 0.740) and re-operation (P = 0.235) were not significantly different between the two groups. After a median follow-up period of 3.0 years, the median overall and recurrencefree survival periods of patients with EV were 4.8 years (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.1-5.9) and 1.7 years (1.5-2.0), respectively, and were significantly shorter than those of patients without EV (7.6 years [95% CI, 22.214.171.124], P < 0.001, and 2.2 years [1.9-2.5], P = 0.016). On multivariate analysis, the independent factors for overall survival in the EV group were indocyanine green clearance rate at 15 minutes, des-gamma carboxyprothrombin, and the presence of multiple tumors. Considering that liver resection for patients with EV can be safely performed, it should not be contraindicated. However, surgical outcomes of these patients were unsatisfactory, suggesting that candidates for resection for HCC should be carefully selected.


A new SOI power device with multi-region high-concentration fixed charge (MHFC) is reported. The MHFC is formed through implanting Cs or I ion into the buried oxide layer (BOX), by which the high-concentration dynamic electrons and holes are induced at the top and bottom interfaces of BOX. The inversion holes can enhance the vertical electric field and raise the breakdown voltage since the drain bias is mainly generated from the BOX. A model of breakdown voltage is developed, from which the optimal spacing has also been obtained. The numerical results indicate that the breakdown voltage of device proposed is increased by 287% in comparison to that of conventional LDMOS.


Spinocerebellar ataxia type-12 (SCA12) is a neurological disorder that exhibits a unique progressive tremor/ataxia syndrome induced by triplet (CAG) repeat expansion in 5' UTR of PPP2R2B. SCA12 is one of the most prominent SCA-subtype in India and till date no appropriate disease models have been described. Our aim was to establish human iPSC derived neuronal cell lines of SCA12 and study transcriptomic level alterations induced by CAG expansion. For translational application, peripheral blood transcriptomics of SCA12 patients was also performed. Lymphoblastoid cell lines of three SCA12 patients were reprogrammed to iPSCs and then re-differentiated into pan-neuronal lineage. RNA-sequencing based comparative transcriptomics was performed for disease and control cell lineages. Microarray based transcriptomic profiling of peripheral blood of SCA12 patients was performed in a case/control (n=15/9) design. We have successfully created human neuronal cell lines of SCA12 patient as exhibited by their molecular profiling. Differential expression analysis of RNA-Seq data has shown enrichment for type-I interferon signaling and other relevant cellular processes in SCA12-neurons. At the splice-isoform level, we observed an upregulation of expanded CAG containing non-coding transcript of PPP2R2B. Peripheral blood transcriptomics analysis and targeted validation of RNA-Seq data has allowed us to identify inflammatory signatures as potential markers of molecular pathology in SCA12. Our study has allowed us to establish first iPSC based neuronal cell lines of SCA12. We have identified pro-inflammatory signatures in SCA12-neurons suggestive of a dsRNA mediated activation of interferon signaling and that corroborates with the emerging evidence of neuronal atrophy due to neuro-inflammation in common neurodegenerative diseases. This study involved development of an iPSCs derived neuronal cells of SCA12 and look through signatures of neurodegeneration by whole RNA sequencing. This model sheds light upon key role of RNA mediated induced response in Interferon signaling for neurodegeneration.


Introduction The base of the Paleozoic and of the Cambrian has been placed at the lowest known limit of the Olenellus fauna, all clastic rocks beneath being referred to the Algonkian,* a name given to the period embracing the time of the deposition of those clastic rocks which are older than the Cambrian.† The base of the Algonkian is the lowest of the recognizable clastic rocks. This base is easily recognized beneath the Belt series of rocks in Montana, in the Grand Canyon region of Arizona, in portions of the Lake Superior region, and in eastern Newfoundland, as there are great unconformities between the Algonkian and the Archean, above which the clastic rocks are clearly defined. In other regions, however, the delimitation of the Algonkian and the Archean is very difficult. The basal plain of the Algonkian is obscured by volcanic rocks which, with the clastics, have been so altered . . .


Isolated tubal torsion other than combination with ovarian torsion
is reported in few articles in the literature. Especially in cases with
normal appearing ovaries and having acute abdomen clinic as like
usual torsion, this disease should be kept in mind. In this report
a case of isolated tubal torsion is presented which is diagnosed
preoperatively with ultrasonography and computed tomography and
possible results of the delay in the treatment is discussed.


This paper reviews the phylogeny and ontogeny of "lymphatic stomata" through which fluids and cells in the pleural and peritoneal cavities enter the lymphatic system. In amphibians, the pleuroperitoneal cavity is connected through numerous pores with the wide subvertebral lymphatic sinus corresponding to the thoracic duct in mammals. In reptiles, direct connections of the pleural and peritoneal cavities with the lymphatic system have been reported. In mammals, the pleural and peritoneal cavities are directly connected with lymphatics through lymphatic stomata. How do lymphatic stomata develop in mammals? In the rat, distinct lymphatics are noted in the subpleural space of the diaphragm periphery in 16 days old embryo. With age, the supleural lymphatics increase and form a polygonal network. They show a tubular appearance and possess many valves. Some of them become endowed with smooth muscle cells. In 19 days old embryos, some lymphatics appear in the subperitoneal space of the diaphragm. They extend centripetally and form many lateral projections that later elongate and connect with those from adjacent lymphatics, thus forming a lattice-like network or "lymphatic lacunae". During early postnatal days, the lymphatic lacunae project many bulges that subsequently come into contact with the pores among mesothelial cells lining the diaphragmatic peritoneum, thus forming lymphatic stomata. They increase until postnatal week 10. The lymphatic stomata in the costal pleura also develop during early postnatal days.


This study explored the possible association of handedness and substance use disorders. A quantitative study was conducted by administrating a Handedness and Substance Use survey to participants assigned to dialectal behavior therapy (DBT) skills groups in a Midwestern city in the United States. From the 96 survey responses aging from 18-62 years old, 6.3% (n=6) identified as male, 90.6% (n=87) identified as female, and 3.1% (n=3) identified as transgender. 9.4% (n=9) identified as left handed, and 90.6% (n=87) identified as right handed. Significant association was found between handedness and participation in an alcohol and drug treatment program. The results show that over 27% of all respondents have attended a form of alcohol or drug treatment, 55.5% who report being left handed and 24.1% who are right handed. Significant association was also found between handedness and someone else recommending an alcohol and drug treatment program. The results show that over 36.5% of all respondents have had someone else recommend an alcohol or drug treatment, 66.7% who report being left handed and 33.3% who are right handed. The findings also found heightened responses from self-identified left-handed participants in having felt the need to cut down on their substance use and familial substance abuse concerns compared to right-handed respondents. This study concludes by addressing the possible implementations and recommendations stemming from discovering a possible new risk factor for substance


Retailers use sales – price promotions – for a number of potential reasons. There is relatively little research, however, on their strategic role among frequently consumed perishable products. Using a two-stage, nested logit model of retail equilibrium, we show that promotion will be most effective (ie. increase store-level sales) if products are highly differentiated, but stores are relatively similar. To test this hypothesis, we an oligopolistic model of promotion rivalry with category-level scanner data from the four largest supermarket retailers in a major U.S. metropolitan market. The results show that promotion has a greater impact on store share than product share, because the elasticity of substitution among stores is larger than the elasticity of substitution among products. Consequently, promotion has its greatest value in driving demand for differentiated products among stores that are similar. This finding supports the observed trend toward premium private label products being offered by supermarket retailers.


The objective of this book is to present a comprehensive evaluation of the smart revolution, including its social and economic impacts. It proposes a modern framework to help assess how recent information and communication technologies (ICTs) can contribute to societies as a whole. The authors offer a guide to how advanced network technologies have led to a greater variety of applications and social networking services. These allow people to connect with each other both at a more personal and global level, and will ultimately herald a new era of ICTs that will shape the "digital society".


We describe the spontaneous photoinduced patterning of azo-dye polymer films. We have observed that the illumination of an azo-dye polymer film by a uniform single laser beam with normal incidence leads to a self-structurization process that results in the formation of well-ordered submicrometer-sized structures whose organization depends on the light polarization direction. A modulation depth as high as 100 nm can be achieved. The influence of several experimental parameters on the structure formation is studied. Results are discussed and confronted to different models and phenomena already investigated in the literature. A physical origin to this peculiar photopatterning process is proposed.


The General Video Game Artificial Intelligence (GVGAI) competition has been running for several years with various tracks. This paper focuses on the challenge of the GVGAI learning track in which 3 games are selected and 2 levels are given for training, while 3 hidden levels are left for evaluation. This setup poses a difficult challenge for current Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithms, as they typically require much more data. This work investigates 3 versions of the Advantage Actor-Critic (A2C) algorithm trained on a maximum of 2 levels from the available 5 from the GVGAI framework and compares their performance on all levels. The selected sub-set of games have different characteristics, like stochasticity, reward distribution and objectives. We found that stochasticity improves the generalisation, but too much can cause the algorithms to fail to learn the training levels. The quality of the training levels also matters, different sets of training levels can boost generalisation over all levels. In the GVGAI competition agents are scored based on their win rates and then their scores achieved in the games. We found that solely using the rewards provided by the game might not encourage winning.


Feral domestic cats (Felis catus) are recognized as one of the most devastating alien predator species in the world and are a major threat to nesting colonies of the Red-billed Tropicbird (Phaethon aethereus), on Saba island, Dutch Caribbean. Cats and rats are both known to impact nesting seabirds and hence are both potential threats to the tropicbird on Saba. However, whereas the tropicbird has coexisted with rats for centuries, cats have only recently become a problem (since about 2000). Several studies from the region suggest that the tropicbird may be less-vulnerable to rats but cats have been unequivocally implicated in the depredation of tropicbird nests on Saba (unpublished data, Michiel Boeken). In this study we collected baseline data on cat and rat distribution, and cat diet and health. We also conducted 83 questionnaire interviews with Saba residents to assess their views on cats, rats, tropicbirds and the acceptability of different management options.


BACKGROUND
This study aimed to explore the feasibility of guiding the application of metoprolol succinate in patients with moderate to severe heart failure (HF) through monitoring plasma brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels.

METHODS
A total of 195 patients with moderate to severe HF (NYHA Functional Class III to IV) were selected and randomized into two groups: an observation group and a BNP group. The groups were established to observe the clinical conditions and establish plasma BNP levels to guide the application of metoprolol succinate. The average start-up of metoprolol succinate and average dose of metoprolol succinate after one month, as well as the recurrence rate and mortality of HF during hospital stay were compared between the two groups.

RESULTS
Start-up of metoprolol succinate was shorter in the BNP group than in the observation group [(5.89 ± 1.76) d vs. (7.03 ± 2.08) d, p < 0.01], but no significant differences in recurrence rate (26.60% vs. 23.91%, p > 0.05) and mortality (6.38% vs. 5.43%, p > 0.05) of HF were observed between the two groups. The average dose of metoprolol succinate after one month was higher in the BNP group compared with that of the observation group [(47.65 ± 13.09) mg/d vs. (35.08 ± 11.08) mg/d, p < 0.01].

CONCLUSIONS
Although monitoring plasma BNP might have limited the clinical impact on the change of left ventricular ejection fraction, recurrence of HF or mortality within 1 month, it could safely facilitate early use and up-titration of the metoprolol succinate in patients with moderate to severe HF.

KEY WORDS
BNP; Heart failure; β receptor blocker.


Abstract. Retrieving aerosol optical thickness and aerosol layer height over a bright
surface from measured top-of-atmosphere reflectance spectrum in the oxygen A
band is known to be challenging, often resulting in large
errors. In certain atmospheric conditions and viewing geometries, a loss of
sensitivity to aerosol optical thickness has been reported in the literature.
This loss of sensitivity has been attributed to a phenomenon known as
critical surface albedo regime, which is a range of surface albedos for which
the top-of-atmosphere reflectance has minimal sensitivity to aerosol optical
thickness. This paper extends the concept of critical surface albedo for
aerosol layer height retrievals in the oxygen A band, and discusses its
implications. The underlying physics are introduced by analysing the
top-of-atmosphere reflectance spectrum as a sum of atmospheric path
contribution and surface contribution, obtained using a radiative transfer
model. Furthermore, error analysis of an aerosol layer height retrieval
algorithm is conducted over dark and bright surfaces to show the dependence
on surface reflectance. The analysis shows that the derivative with respect
to aerosol layer height of the atmospheric path contribution to the
top-of-atmosphere reflectance is opposite in sign to that of the surface
contribution – an increase in surface brightness results in a decrease in
information content. In the case of aerosol optical thickness, these
derivatives are anti-correlated, leading to large retrieval errors in high
surface albedo regimes. The consequence of this anti-correlation is
demonstrated with measured spectra in the oxygen A band from the GOME-2
instrument on board the Metop-A satellite over the 2010 Russian wildfires
incident.


This paper investigates the relation between Unfaithful Disclosure Corporations ("UDC") and corporate governance using listed firm (KOSPI and KOSDAQ) data in Korea. Prior literature reports that corporate governance has an impact on the level of disclosure and the quality of disclosure provided by companies. However, it is hard to find the studies about corporate governance and UDC at the term of disclosure quality. Compare to some financially advanced countries, Korea established corporate governance in a relatively short period of time; hence concerns have been raised the corporate governance have not played effective role to monitor management. We question how corporate governance affects companies' unfaithful disclosure by using several corporate governance proxy variables and UDC data which is unique system in Korea. From the empirical tests, we find a negative association between the proportion of outside directors, an indicator of the board's independence, and UDC designation, among companies listed on both KOSPI and KOSDAQ. On the other hand, there is a significant positive association between the proportion of outside directors and UDCs' imposed and accumulated penalty points among KOSDAQ-listed companies. This implies that outside director system effectively play a monitoring role however due to different natures of members included in outside directors, the system often fails to control regarding based reasons for penalty points imposition. In addition, we find the percentage of foreign equity ownership showed statistically significant positive association with UDC designation and a significant positive association with the imposed and accumulated penalty points among KOSPI-listed companies. We interpret this results that foreign investors with a short-term investment propensity may not enough to play a proper monitoring role in Korea and thereby they cannot effectively control the disclosure quality provided by the management. We also find that there is a significant positive association between the percentage of managerial ownership and UDC designation in the KOSDAQ market. This study will contribute to academics and disclosure-related practitioners by documenting about corporate governance and its impact on unfaithful disclosure corporations. corporate governance influence companies' unfaithful disclosure and UDC designation/imposition of penalty points. Using percentage of outside directors, the percentage of foreign ownership and that of managerial ownership as a proxy for corporate governance and more detailed data of UDC, we conducted an empirical analysis examining the link between corporate governance and UDC designation/imposition of penalty points.


The film documents the teaching, reconstruction and transmission of ancient classical Bagpipe music called Ceol Mor, Gaelic for "Big Music", commonly known as Piobaireachd. The author engaged several leading members of the performer community in Scotland and Canada to produce this aural and visual record of the learning and performance of The Lament For Patrick Og MacCrimmon, composed by Iain Dall MacKay around the year 1730. The author finds that Piobaireachd"s oral tradition was once a continuum of variation and communal composition which drove the diffusion of new interpretations as it passed between performers. But whereas artistic creativity, variation and communal composition were hallmarks of pre-staff notation Piobaireachd performance, these have been replaced by ritual, stasis and conformity with stylized practices. Mainstream Piobaireachd performance now has as a fundamental object, congruence with past performances derived from strict texts.


Diphtheria is still a health problem because it still often causes outbreaks and causes death. All ages can be exposed to diphtheria but most attack children who are not immunized. The case of diphtheria in Central Sulawesi is a rare case. Even in 2015 and 2016 there was no reported diphtheria event but in 2017 there was reported suspect diphtheria. The purpose of this study was to conduct an epidemiology investigation and find additional diphtheria cases in Parigi Moutong District. This was a descriptive study with observation and interview method. Primary and secondary data were collected. Secondary data were obtained from surveillance data and investigation results while the primary data were obtained from interviews on reported probable diphtheria case.No additional cases of diphtheria were found in Parigi Moutong District. The reported case in May 2017 was an 11-year-old primary school student. The presence of diphtheria typical symptoms (bullneck and pseudomembrane) were found on clinical examination. The patient have heart problems before given anti-diphtheria serum by health officer. However, the culture examination showed negative results. The result was allegedly due to errors in the culture examination procedure performed by health officer. Index case or chains of diphtheria transmission cannot be certainly determined, but we suspected the patient's mother to be the carrier based on history of travelling to diphtheria endemic area. There was 1 probable diphtheria case in Ampibabo Subdistrict of Parigi Moutong District. Training to increase the capacity of health workers in diphtheria management was needed.
Keywords: Diphteria, Epidemiology, Investigation, Probable


SUMMARY Four permanent strains of human malignant melanoma, derived from a single melanoma nodule in one patient, exhibited different survival responses to the S-phase-specific drug, arabinosylcytosine. In one strain, survival was reduced by a fraction equivalent to the proportion of cells in S phase. The other three stains were much more resistant to drug doses as high as 100 Mg/ml treated for 1 hr; however, treatments of longer duration (up to 8 hr) did cause a reduction in the surviving fraction of one resistant strain tested. Different mechanisms of cell killing by arabinosylcytosine may be responsible for the differential responses observed in these four melanoma strains.


ABSTRACT The recent development of a cell culture model of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection based on the JFH-1 molecular clone has enabled discovery of new antiviral agents. Using a cell-based colorimetric screening assay to interrogate a 1,200-compound chemical library for anti-HCV activity, we identified a family of 1,2-diamines derived from trans-stilbene oxide that prevent HCV infection at nontoxic, low micromolar concentrations in cell culture. Structure-activity relationship analysis of ∼300 derivatives synthesized using click chemistry yielded compounds with greatly enhanced low nanomolar potency and a >1,000:1 therapeutic ratio. Using surrogate models of HCV infection, we showed that the compounds selectively block the initiation of replication of incoming HCV RNA but have no impact on viral entry, primary translation, or ongoing HCV RNA replication, nor do they suppress persistent HCV infection. Selection of an escape variant revealed that NS5A is directly or indirectly targeted by this compound. In summary, we have identified a family of HCV inhibitors that target a critical step in the establishment of HCV infection in which NS5A translated de novo from an incoming genomic HCV RNA template is required to initiate the replication of this important human pathogen.


Abstract Academic performance at universities in South Africa is a cause of concern. It is widely acknowledged that there are a variety of factors that contribute to poor academic performance, but language is regarded as one of the most important issues in this discussion. In this article, the relationship between language and academic performance at a South African university for the first-year group in 2010 (n = 900) is investigated, taking their performance in their second (2011) and third (2012) year into account. The authors review: (a) the relationships between measures of language ability (matric scores, and scores on university placement tests like the NBT and TALL/TAG); and (b) the relationship between these language measures, performance in courses offered by universities to support students and general academic success indicators to investigate the language issue and academic performance at university. The main findings of the study are: (a) matric average results above 65% are useful to predict academic success at university; matric average results below 65% cannot be used with confidence to predict success at university; (b) language measures (e.g. matric language marks, and scores on academic literacy tests used by some universities) are not good predictors of academic success at university; (c) there are strong positive relationships between the academic literacy components in the NBT and TALL/TAG; and (d) scores achieved in academic literacy modules are good predictors of academic success. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of strategic decisions that academic managers should consider when they reflect on the language issue and its impact on academic performance at South African universities.


OBJECTIVE
To study the impact and mechanism of Shengmai Injection (SMI) on the immunological function changes after cardiopulmonary bypass.

METHODS
Forty patients with rheumatic heart valve disease were selected and assigned randomly to two groups: 20 in the control group and 20 in the SMI group. Peripheral blood samples were taken at various time points, i.e. 3 days before operation (T1), 10 min after terminal of CPB (T2), the first (T3), third (T4), and seventh (T5) day after operation, for counting white blood cell (WBC), neutrophils and lymphocytes; percentage of T lymphocytes (CD3+ mononuclear cells) and its subsets (CD4+ and CD8+) to calculate CD4+/CD8+ ratio; and the serum content of immunoglobulins (IgG, IgA, IgM) as well as serum concentration of interleukin-8 (IL-8) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) were assayed.

RESULTS
Compared with the control group, in the SMI group, WBC and neutrophil count were lower at T2 (P < 0.01); percentages of CD3+ and CD4+ lower at T4 and T5 (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01); percentage of CD8+ higher at T2 to T5 (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01); CD4+/CD8+ ratio lower at T3 to T5 (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01); IgG lower at T2 (P < 0.05); IgA higher at T3 (P < 0.05); IgM higher at T3 to T5 (P < 0.05); IL-8 lower at T2 to T4 (P < 0.05); and IL-10 higher at T2 (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION
Application of SMI in the perioperative period can enhance the humoral immunity and inhibit the cellular immunity after CPB, it could also reduce the systemic inflammatory reaction and improve the prognosis of patients.


Background: Psychological variables contribute to pain- and injury-related outcomes. We examined the hypothesis that anatomical spread and intensity of persistent pain relate to anxiety-related variables: generalised anxiety, fear of pain and pain catastrophising. Methods: An online survey was used to gather data from 413 women with persistent pain (low back pain, n = 139; fibromyalgia syndrome, n = 95; neck pain, n = 55; whiplash, n = 41; rheumatoid arthritis, n = 37; migraine, n = 46). The spread and intensity of pain were assessed using the McGill pain chart and a Numerical Rating Scale. A Bayesian Structural Equation Model assessed if the intensity and spread of pain increased with anxiety-related variables. Men were also surveyed (n = 80), but the sample size was only sufficient for analysing if their data were consistent with the model for women. Results: Across subgroups of women, one standard deviation increase in catastrophising, generalised anxiety and fear corresponded to 27%, 7% and −1% additional pain areas and a 1.1, 0 and –0.1 change in pain intensity (on 0–10 scale), respectively. Overall, our clinical significance criterion – a 30% shift in pain variable in relation to one standard deviation increase in psychological variable – was not met. However, in subgroups it was met for pain spread (low back pain, neck pain and migraine) and pain intensity (migraine and neck pain) in relation to pain catastrophising. The model generally had low goodness-of-fit to men. Conclusion: These data support a meaningful relationship between some anxiety-related variables and pain in women for some conditions. Since the model did not consistently fit the men, we may conclude that the relationships are moderated by sex. Clinician attention to psychological variables as potential contributing factors can be justified; however, research is needed to understand the relationship and whether psychological treatment can reduce pain.


Mendeley is a free reference manager and academic social network that can help organize your research, collaborate with others online, and discover the latest research. The original content of this guide comes from Washington State University Libraries.


Vesicle specific SNAP receptors (v-SNAREs) Bos1p and Bet1p are involved in targeting of anterograde vesicles between the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and early Golgi of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. To analyze factors that influence the targeting of these proteins, alpha-factor tagged versions of Bos1p and Bet1p were employed. The alpha-factor can be cleaved off by the Kex2p protease as soon as the hybrid proteins reach the late Golgi compartment. The data obtained by monitoring of Kex2p cleavage, by immunofluorescence microscopy and cell fractionation showed that Bos1-alpha and Bet1-alpha have different cellular localization and dynamics. Bos1-alpha is an ER protein, which recycles between the Golgi and the ER in COPI-dependent manner. Bet1-alpha is an early Golgi protein and it does not change its localization under conditions when other recycling Golgi proteins can be trapped in the ER.


The ILC Draft on State Responsibility is incomplete. It does not provide the states with any indication as to the acts and measures that so called "non injured states" are allowed to take in reaction to the violation by a state of its obligations towards the International Community as a whole. This article comes back on the previous state practice in Kosovo (as compared to the Syrian crisis in 2012) and takes advantage of the comments made at that time by Antonio Cassese for reviewing Cassese's proposals and formulating tentative conclusions as to the content and legal regime of these potential measures.


It has been argued by some neozoologists (those who study living animals) that the palaeozoological record is biased and incomplete (relative to an existing biological community) and therefore should not be consulted for purposes of conservation biology. An article published in a biology journal in 2011 lists numerous reasons why natural history collections (NHCs) of skins and skulls of animals collected over the past century or two are exceptionally valuable to conservation biologists because those collections provide significant time depth to numerous variables that document global biological change. Many of those same variables can be, and have been, identified in the palaeozoological record. Those variables are of major value to conservation biology, whether their values are taken from 100‐year‐old NHCs or from palaeozoological remains. Empirical examples in which the identified variables are measured in palaeozoological contexts indicate that the palaeozoological record should indeed be consulted by conservation biologists and can no longer be considered unsatisfactory for modern resource management.


The angular correlation function is a powerful tool for deriving the clustering properties of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and hence the mass of the corresponding dark matter halos in which they reside. However, recent studies based on the application of the angular correlation function on X-ray samples, yield results that are apparently inconsistent with those based on the direct estimation of the spatial correlation function. The goal of the present paper is to attempt to investigate this issue by analysing a well-defined sample. To this end we use the hard-band (2–10 keV) X-ray selected sources of the Chandra AEGIS fields, chosen because of the availability of accurately derived flux sensitivity maps. In particular we use the 186 hard-band sources with spectroscopic redshifts in the range z = 0.3–1.3, a range selected in order to contain the bulk of the AGN while minimizing the contribution of unknown clustering and luminosity evolution from very high redshifts. Using the projected spatial auto-correlation function, we derive a comoving clustering length of x 0 = 5.4 ± 1.0 h -1  Mpc (for γ = 1.8), which is consistent with results in the literature. We further derive the angular correlation function and corresponding spatial clustering length using the Limber's inversion equation and a novel parametrization of the clustering evolution model that also takes the bias evolution of the host dark matter halo into account. The Limber's inverted spatial comoving clustering length of x 0 = 5.5 ± 1.2 h -1  Mpc at a median redshift of z ≃ 0.75 matches the clustering length that is directly measured from the spatial correlation function analysis, but after introducing a significant non-linear contribution to the growing mode of perturbations; this contribution is estimated independently from literature results of x 0 at different redshifts. Therefore, using this sample of hard X-ray AGN and our clustering evolution parametrization, we find an excellent consistency between the angular and spatial clustering analysis.


A number of post-wildfire debris flow and debris flood events occurred in the two years following the extreme fire season of 2003 in the southern interior of British Columbia. Such events had not been previously documented in Canada. Rainstorms following five fires caused significant events in the Okanagan and Kootenay regions of the province, including the Okanagan Mountain Park, Cedar Hills, Kuskonook, Lamb Creek, and Ingersoll fires. Damage to residential property and infrastructure downstream of the fires occurred in three cases. Most of the damaging events were debris flows, although several large debris floods occurred on lower gradient streams. At four of the fires, the events were triggered by short-duration, high-intensity rainstorms. At the fifth fire, a long-duration, low-intensity rainfall triggered the events. In all cases, severe burns with water repellent soils were identified or suspected as contributing to the events. The debris flow and debris flood events described here illustrate three initiation mechanisms: runoff-triggered debris flows caused by erosion of channel bed and banks by critically high discharge; debris flows and floods caused by progressive sediment bulking of runoff with material eroded from headwater slopes; and landslide-triggered debris flows caused by a landslide that enters a steep channel. In the burned areas studied, the first mechanism is the most common, whereas in unburned forested landscapes in the region, the third mechanism is the most common.


Objective: To analyze the spatial and temporal dynamics of dengue in Coronel Fabriciano, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, and to associate cases to the growth of urban areas and loss of natural areas in recent years. Methods: This is a descriptive, exploratory study, with a quantitative approach. Dengue cases of 2009 were obtained from the Health Municipal Secretariat, including the suspected and confirmed cases. Shape files were obtained, containing information about the municipal boundary, boundary of the urban area, census tracts, areas with buildings and natural areas. Based on the distribution of dengue cases, the Kernel estimator was used to measure data dispersion. Results: Dengue cases reported were georeferenced in GIS (Geographic Information System) environment. The landscape showed changes in the units of urban area and pasture, as an urban growth over the pasture matrix. No changes were observed in the areas of remaining forest and eucalyptus. There are cases spatially spread with a tendency to form clusters. Conclusion: Cases of dengue were observed spatially clustered in the northern region of the city, where new neighborhoods have emerged in recent years, following the population growth without proper structure of urbanization and urban planning. In addition, urban growth have reduced the margin of watercourses providing a bare soil, suitable for accumulation of trash and formation of breeding sites for mosquitoes. Efficient public policies and appropriate urban planning might reduce the impact of dengue in endemic regions.

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5020/18061230.2013.p539


Many commercially available embedded processors are capable of extending their base instruction set for a specific domain of applications. While steady progress has been made in the tools and methodologies of automatic instruction set extension for configurable processors, the limited data bandwidth available in the core processor (e.g., the number of simultaneous accesses to the register file) becomes a potential performance bottleneck. In this paper, we first present a quantitative analysis of the data bandwidth limitation in configurable processors, and then propose a novel low-cost architectural extension and associated compilation techniques to address the problem. Specifically, we embed a single control bit in the instruction op-codes to selectively copy the execution results to a set of hash-mapped shadow registers in the write-back stage. This can efficiently reduce the communication overhead due to data transfers between the core processor and the custom logic. We also present a novel simultaneous global shadow register binding with a hash function generation algorithm to take full advantage of the extension. The application of our approach leads to a nearly optimal performance speedup


Due to the semantic complexity of the Relation extraction (RE) task, obtaining high-quality human labelled data is an expensive and noisy process. To improve the sample efficiency of the models, semi-supervised learning (SSL) methods aim to leverage unlabelled data in addition to learning from limited labelled data points. Recently, strong data augmentation combined with consistency-based semi-supervised learning methods have advanced the state of the art in several SSL tasks. However, adapting these methods to the RE task has been challenging due to the difficulty of data augmentation for RE. In this work, we leverage the recent advances in controlled text generation to perform high-quality data augmentation for the RE task. We further introduce small but significant changes to model architecture that allows for generation of more training data by interpolating different data points in their latent space. These data augmentations along with consistency training result in very competitive results for semi-supervised relation extraction on four benchmark datasets.


Gastric cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer related death worldwide. Based on Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), the 5-year survival rates of patients with stage IIIA, IIIB, and IV gastric cancers are 30.8–54.0%, 16.1–36.5% and 9.2–23.9%, respectively. Up to now, there are no effective therapeutic methods for gastric cancer. Recurrence and metastasis remain the major problems in the treatment of this disease. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) constitute rare cells that are shed from primary or secondary tumor deposits into the blood stream. Studies have demonstrated that CTCs provide the opportunity for noninvasive sampling which indicates valuable insights into tumor biology. CTCs isolation might be an easily formidable alternative to tissue biopsy and thus it can serve as a 'liquid biopsy'. Accumulating evidence implies that the presence of CTCs in the peripheral blood is not sufficient to initiate metastasis. Only a minority of CTCs with stem celllike properties can survive and migrate to distant sites to create secondary tumors. These cells are called circulating tumor stem cells (CTSCs) that are responsible for tumor initiation, invasion and metastasis, similar to cancer stem cells (CSCs). They are also resistant to chemotherapy and thus their existence correlates with poor prognosis in cancer patients. Recent studies suggest that identification and measurement of CTSCs in peripheral blood of these patients could be a remarkable tool for evaluating metastasis, tumor stage, survival rate, and monitoring their response to cancer therapy. Isolating CTSCs may provide more clinically useful prognostic information than only detecting CTCs. Stem cell markers which are often overexpressed in CTSCs, are able to separate CTSCs in the circulation of gastric cancer patients. CD44 and CD133 have been recognized as gastric cancer stem cell biomarkers. In this review we propose that CD44 and CD133 could be considered as reliable prognostic markers for gastric cancer patients. The presence of CD44 and CD133 positive CTCs in the circulation may associate with metastasis, recurrence and shorter survival. Corresponding Author: Maryam M. Matin (Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran 2. Cell and Molecular Biotechnology Research Group, Institute of Biotechnology, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran 3. Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Research Group, Iranian Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research (ACECR), Khorasan Razavi Branch, Mashhad, Iran) Second international Nastaran Cancer Symposium (2016)


: After resection of the stomach the alkaline reflux of the duodenal contents into the residual stomach is a major factor to be taken into consideration when assessing the causes leading to irregularities of the mucosal barrier. Illnesses that may arise subsequent to gastric surgery are gastritis of the resected stomach, inflammation of the anastomosis, anastomotic ulcers and--with reservations--anastomotic carcinoma. In view of these clinical pictures, a protective function for the biliary system is ascribed to Braun's entero-anastomosis. With the aid of hepatobiliary sequence scintigraphy (HBSS) a functional analysis was obtained from 30 patients, subsequent to gastric surgery--after Billroth II with entero-anastomosis--which showed a surprisingly high rate of reflux into the residual stomach, in 16 out of these 30 patients. The high-grade HBSS data with regard to the biliary reflux proportions after gastric surgery and the low-grade effectiveness of Braun's entero-anastomosis are clearly evidenced.


A new rehabilitation training system was developed to improve postural balance control by combining virtual reality technology with an unfixed bicycle. Twenty healthy subjects participated in the present study by riding the virtual cycling system under two different conditions: with or without visual feedback. Data were collected on the following parameters: path deviation, cycling velocity, etc. As a result of conducting the repeated training, results showed improvement not only in the ability to control balance and weight shift but also in the overall cycling ability including the degree of path deviation and the cycling speed. It was concluded that the system was effective as a training device and, in addition, the technology might have a wider applicability to the rehabilitation field.


Supplementation with n-3 fatty acids may improve long-term outcomes of renal transplant recipients (RTR). Recent evidence suggests that EPA and DHA have different outcomes compared with α-linolenic acid (ALA). We examined the prospective associations of EPA–DHA and ALA intakes with graft failure and all-cause mortality in 637 RTR. During 3·1 years (interquartile range 2·7, 3·8) of follow-up, forty-one developed graft failure and sixty-seven died. In ageand sex-adjusted analyses, EPA–DHA and ALA intakes were not associated with graft failure. EPA–DHA intake was not significantly associated with mortality (hazard ratio (HR) 0·79; 95% CI 0·54, 1·15 per 0·1 energy% difference). ALA intake was significantly associated with mortality (HR 1·17; 95% CI 1·04, 1·31 per 0·1 energy% difference). This association remained following adjustments for BMI, proteinuria and intakes of fat, carbohydrate and protein. RTR in the highest tertile of ALA intake exhibited about 2-fold higher mortality risk (HR 2·21; 95% CI 1·23, 3·97) compared with the lowest tertile. In conclusion, ALA intake may be associated with increased mortality in RTR. Future RCT are needed to confirm these results.


Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in females all over the word. It represents about 34% of total malignancies among IRAQI females with high mortality rate representing 1-2% of female mortality &16% of cancer deaths in females in IRAQ. Many prognostic factors which can affect the treatment outcome have been studied to identify patients at high risk of disease relapse who might benefit from post-operative adjuvant therapy. The Aim of this study was evaluation of different prognostic factors to drive a reliable (Prognostic Index) that best fits our breast cancer patients, hoping to give the adjuvant treatment accordingly. This is a study analysis of 566 female patient treated for primary breast cancer between 1992 and 2001 at Oncology Unit, Marjan teaching Hospital. Modified prognostic index (PI.). Was used to identify different prognostic group. We could divide patients into 4 groups : Group 1 with PI <2.5, group 2 with PI > with PI >2.5-3,group 3 with PI>3-3.5 and group 4 with PI>3.5. The 5 year overall survival (OS) and relapse free survival (RFS) were calculated for the whole group and for the different 4 prognostic groups as well as for influence of systemic adjuvant treatment. The 5 year O.S and RES were 75% and 55% respectively for patient with PI< 2.5 and decreased with the increase of the value of PI to reach 50% and 10% respectively in patients with PI> 3.5. The difference in both 5 year O.S, RFS for different prognostic groups was found statistically significant only between patients with PI<3. (Groups 1&2) and those with PI>3. (Groups 3 &4) with P < 0.001. It was shown those patients with PI<3 could benefit from the addition of adjuvant system treatment with better 5 year RFS of 60% in comparison to 40% for patients who did not receive adjuvant systemic treatment (P=0.01). Minimal benefit was obtained in – patients with PI > 3. It was concluded that more intensive adjuvant treatment my be warranted for group 3 and 4 of patients.


Starting in November 2016, pricing policy for private hospital in Indonesia was specifically set in a fixed tariff called INA-CBGs (Indonesian Case Base Groups). PMI Hospital which was affected by INA-CBGs regulation built Clinical Pathway for Typhoid fever in order to cope with the challenge. It admitted 705 cases in less than a year in 2016 yet it was claimed that the reimbursement for each case was still lower than the hospital cost. Study aimed to explore variation of medical practices based on Clinical Pathway considering INA-CBGs 2016 pricing policy. Cases included in the study were 156 cases with homogenous severity level chosen from October 2016 to March 2017. Historical data was taken from hospital information system including medical record and billing details. Data was processed using ClinPath V.2.0 tools developed by Faculty of Public Health Universitas Indonesia resulting in distribution of variation. Variation resulted in Length of Stay was (4.27 days) and it was expected to be 4–5 days in clinical pathway while not all patients utilized the same procedure within one period of care. There were also non-value added diagnosis such as Complete Urine (0.01) and Electrolyte test (0.01) included. Consumption of antibiotic (0.28) which consisted of 25 different trade names from different structures resulted in various tariff of services. Variation drives medical cost resulted in tariff increment. Typhidot test can be taken into consideration and the use of later generation of antibiotics are recommended considering affordability and availability.


1. Annual grass invasion is transforming the western United States and driving a need for restoration techniques that can both reduce exotic annual grass abundance and allow revegetation of native species. Pre-emergent herbicides can provide control of annual grasses, but when applied concurrently with direct seeding efforts, the herbicide can also impact seeded species. Indaziflam is a relatively new herbicide that may provide extended control of exotic annual grasses, but little is known about its effects when applied at the time of seeding. 2. In this study, we compared indaziflam to imazapic, a popular herbicide used in restoration efforts, to understand how indaziflam affects plant establishment of a native species, bluebunch wheatgrass Pseudoroegneria spicata (Pursh) Á. Löve. We created furrows on half our treatments to limit herbicide concentrations and potentially create a safe-site for seeding bluebunch wheatgrass. 3. During the 2-year study, indaziflam provided consistent control of the annual weed, downy brome Bromus tectorum L., whereas imazapic control decreased sharply with time. Indaziflam and imazapic decreased bluebunch wheatgrass seedling emergence by 96% and 46%, and 2 -year plant density by 91% and 65%, respectively, compared to non-herbicide treatments. Both herbicides reduced aboveground biomass of bluebunch wheatgrass by over 85% 2 years after seeding/herbicide application. 4. Furrow treatments mitigatedimazapic's effectonbluebunch wheatgrass, butdidnot limit the impacts by indaziflam. 5. Herbicide can be used in conjunction with direct seeding efforts, but mitigation of the effects to native seeds will depend on herbicide specifics such as mode of action and soil mobility.


Introduction: Late-stage ovarian cancer remains difficult to treat with 1-year disease free survival rates of roughly 55% and 40% in patients (pts) with stage III and IV disease, respectively1. To date, the majority of ovarian cancer vaccines have targeted specific tumor-associated antigens with little benefit. Our vaccine approach harnesses the most potent antigen presenting cell in the body, the dendritic cell (DC), and exposes these cells to the full repertoire of tumor antigens from an individual's cancer. Autologous tumor lysate (TL) is loaded into yeast cell wall particles (YCWP) that are naturally and efficiently taken up into the pt's DC ex vivo. This process uses a small amount of blood and tumor and can be completed in 48 hours. The autologous TL, particle-loaded, DC (TLPLDC) vaccine is then injected intradermally (ID). This vaccine is being tested in multiple tumor types, and here we present the results in ovarian cancer. Methods: Pts with stage III or IV ovarian cancer were identified prior to surgical intervention for enrollment and tumor acquisition. Pts were treated with standard of care therapy, then enrolled in the per protocol (PP) phase I/IIa trial if disease-free or in an open label treatment registry (OTR) if they had measureable residual disease. A tumor sample (>1mg) was collected at the time of surgery, and 120mL of blood (or 50mL after a single dose of Neupogen) was drawn to isolate the pt's DC. TL was produced through freeze/thaw cycling and loaded into YCWP, which were introduced to DC for phagocytosis; thus creating an individualized TLPLDC vaccine for each pt. Each vaccine dose contained 1x106 TLPLDC, which was injected ID in the thigh. In the PP group, the primary vaccine series (PVS) consisted of monthly vaccination x3 followed by boosters at 6 and 12 months. In the OTR, the PVS consisted of monthly vaccination x4 followed by boosters every 3 months. Pts were monitored for toxicity and recurrence or progression of disease, respectively. Results: A total of 15 pts have been treated to date, (PP: 8, OTR: 7 with 1 pt vaccinated on compassionate use). 100% of pts had successful creation of vaccine. Minimal toxicities (all ≤ grade 2) were reported. To date, in the OTR, 1 pt has shown a complete response, 1 has stable disease, and 4 have had progressive disease (PD; only 1 pt with PD completed the PVS). In the PP group, after a median follow up of 10.8 months, 3 pts (37%) have recurred (only 1 of these pts completed PVS), while 5 pts (63%) remain disease free. Conclusions: We have shown that the TLPLDC vaccine can be made efficiently (requiring only a small amount of blood, tumor and time) and is safe and well-tolerated. Our results suggest that the vaccine is better suited for the adjuvant setting rather than pts with residual disease. This data provides justification for a larger clinical trial in stage III/IV ovarian cancer pts in the adjuvant setting. 1 Kurta M, et al. Prognosis and conditional disease-free survival among pts with ovarian cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2014;32(36):4102-12. Citation Format: Kaitlin M. Peace, Timothy J. Vreeland, Guy T. Clifton, Diane F. Hale, Doreen O. Jackson, John S. Berry, Alfred F. Trappey, Garth S. Herbert, Mark O. Hardin, Pauline T. Nichol, Sook L. Yin, Xianzhong Yu, Thomas E. Wagner, George E. Peoples. Early trial results of an autologous tumor lysate, particle-loaded, dendritic cell (TLPLDC) vaccine in ovarian cancer patients [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr CT036. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-CT036


We present an ex-post analysis of the effects of GDF's acquisition of Suez in 2006 created one of the world's largest energy companies. We perform an econometric analysis, based on Difference-in-Difference techniques on the market for trading on the Zeebrugge gas hub in Belgium. Removing barriers to entry and facilitating access to the hub through ownership unbundling were an important part of the objectives of the remedies imposed by the European Commission. Our analysis shows a price decline after the merger. This decline suggests the remedies were effective in limiting the potential anti-competitive effects of the merger. Moreover, it suggests that ownership unbundling has generated improved access to the hub. Therefore, the remedies may have done more than simply mitigate the potential anticompetitive effects of the merger; they may have effectively created competition.


Abstract A computer algorithm was developed to perform replenishment and reuse of the drain nutrient solution in close hydroponic systems on the basis of dispensing as many nutrients and water in it as were needed to maintain a target electrical conductivity in the irrigation solution. To achieve this in each watering application, dilution ratios of the concentrated fertilizer solutions are automatically adjusted through a computer program based on this algorithm, in relation to the volume and the electrical conductivity of the drain solution. It was proved that the returning nutrient solution could be corrected and reused efficiently through this method. However, the concentration of P, Mn and Zn in the irrigation nutrient solution was extremely low in samples taken after continual reuse of the drain solution for a fortnight. Since the analysed irrigation solution was prepared using a large quantity of drain solution, it seems likely that reduced P, Zn and Mn concentrations in the former were due to the high pH of the latter, and this may have caused immobilization of these elements.


Penile microarterial bypass surgery (MABS) may be the only treatment capable of restoring normal erectile function without the necessity for the chronic use of vasoactive medications or placement of a penile prosthesis. Lack of standardization in patient selection, hemodynamic evaluation, surgical technique, and limited long-term outcome data using validated instruments has resulted in this surgery being considered experimental. The members of the Erectile Dysfunction Guideline Update Panel reviewed the available MABS publications and only four of 31 manuscripts met the criteria for the Arterial Occlusive Disease Index patient. The total studied population of these four publications was 50, which was considered too small to determine if MABS is effective or not. Reported successful outcomes were 36-80 and 91% for inferior epigastric artery (IEA) to dorsal vein and IEA to dorsal artery MABS, respectively. We recently published the largest long-term outcome MABS study using validated questionnaires (71 men aged 30.5 ± 9.2 years; mean follow-up 34.5 ± 18 months). The mean pre- and postoperative total International Index of Erectile Function, erectile function domain, questions 3 and 4 scores were 35.5 ± 14.8, 13.7 ± 6.7, 2.2 ± 1.4, 2.1 ± 1.3, and 56.2 ± 16.6, 23.8 ± 6.6, 4.1 ± 1.4, and 3.9 ± 1.5, respectively. In addition, 55 and 73% of patients reported erectile function domain scores ≥26 and 21, respectively, and almost 90% of patients would recommend or undergo MABS again. In addition, changes in pre- and postoperative sexual distress scale scores and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale were statistically significant. More importantly, treatment satisfaction (EDITS) was very high, and 87% of patients would recommend the surgery to someone else and 88.7% reported a significant improvement in their erectile function. In patients with no vascular risk factors and pure cavernosal arterial insufficiency, MABS provides long-term improvements in erectile function, depression, and overall satisfaction.


Many powerful pansharpening approaches exploit the functional relation between the fusion of PANchromatic (PAN) and MultiSpectral (MS) images. To this purpose, the modulation transfer function of the MS sensor is typically used, being easily approximated as a Gaussian filter whose analytic expression is fully specified by the sensor gain at the Nyquist frequency. However, this characterization is often inadequate in practice. In this paper, we develop an algorithm for estimating the relation between PAN and MS images directly from the available data through an efficient optimization procedure. The effectiveness of the approach is validated both on a reduced scale data set generated by degrading images acquired by the IKONOS sensor and on full-scale data consisting of images collected by the QuickBird sensor. In the first case, the proposed method achieves performances very similar to that of the algorithm that relies upon the full knowledge of the degrading filter. In the second, it is shown to outperform several very credited state-of-the-art approaches for the extraction of the details used in the current literature.


In the municipal area of Campos dos Goytacazes–RJ several ceramic industries are involved with a significant production of bricks and tiles. These ceramic products can serve as matrices for the incorporation of industrial residues such as the ash of sugarcane bagasse used as fuel in the boilers of the sugar and alcohol plants. The incorporation of ashes in ceramics is a solution that eventually can cause an improvement on the properties of the material. The objective of this work is to characterize granulometric fractions of sugarcane bagasse ash with particle sizes less than 149, 75 and 44 μm aiming at the ash incorporation into red ceramics. Chemical, mineralogical and microstructural characterization were carried out in the granulometric fractions. The results showed that the granulometric fractions present as main crystalline phase the cristobalite and that the ashes with smaller particle sizes can improve the densification of the ceramic body by the formation of more liquid phase during firing, due to the presence of less silica and more alkaline- and alkaline-earth oxides than the original ash.


We survey recent developments introducing quantum algebraic methods into the study of cohomology operations in complex oriented cohomology theory. In particular, we discuss geometrical and homotopy theoretical aspects of the quantum double of the LandweberNovikov algebra, as represented by a subalgebra of operations in double complex cobordism. We work in the context of Boardman's eightfold way, which offers an important framework for clarifying the relationship between quantum doubles and the standard machinery of Hopf algebroids of homology cooperations. These considerations give rise to novel structures in double cohomology theory, and we explore the twist operation and extensions of the quantum antipode by way of example.


DNA barcoding, a species identification system based on sequences from a short, standardized DNA region, has emerged recently as a new tool for taxonomists. We investigated the discriminatory power of a subset of highly variable proposed plant barcoding loci (matK, trnH-psbA, ITS2) in Quercus, a taxonomically complex tree genus of global importance. The research included all currently recognized species and some major variants of the Mediterranean region and Europe (32 taxa) and 17 East Asian and North American species used for comparison. Based on sequence character state, we assigned unique plastid haplotypes to 40.8% of the investigated species; ITS2 increased the resolution up to 87.8% of total taxa. Nevertheless, unsuccessful genetic distance-based discrimination questioned the potential efficiency of correct species identification for future studies. Most species appeared to be nonmonophyletic in parallel phylogenetic tests. Three subgeneric groups were outlined, with different rates of within-group variability and geographical differentiation. Members of one of these groups (corresponding to the Eurasian Group Ilex) were paraphyletic to Group Quercus from the New and Old World and the Eurasian Group Cerris. The data gathered indicate that barcoding markers may help to identify closely related species clusters and contribute to the inference of major diversification and evolutionary patterns in oaks, but the methodology per se appears to be of limited efficacy in defining species limits, unless we make a profound revision of traditional Quercus taxonomic categories. © 2013 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2013, 172, 478–499.


The study attempts to investigate factors underlying the development of spellers' sensitivity to phonological context in English. Native English speakers and Russian speakers of English as a second language (ESL) were tested on their ability to use information about the coda to predict the spelling of vowels in English monosyllabic nonwords. In addition, the study assessed the participants' spelling proficiency as their ability to correctly spell commonly misspelled words (Russian participants were assessed in both Russian and English). Both native and non-native English speakers were found to rely on the information about the coda when spelling vowels in nonwords. In both native and non-native speakers, context sensitivity was predicted by English word spelling; in Russian ESL speakers this relationship was mediated by English proficiency. L1 spelling proficiency did not facilitate L2 context sensitivity in Russian speakers. The results speak against a common factor underlying different aspects of spelling proficiency in L1 and L2 and in favor of the idea that spelling competence comprises different skills in different languages.


The paper elaborates on certain Dutch themes regarding the limitation on administrative penalties by the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). For the Netherlands, a country without a constitutional court and constitutional review by the courts, the ECHR is very important. This is illustrated by examples from the past, such as the introduction of a second factual court in tax cases and the terminology switch from surcharges to penalties. One could wonder whether the major gap between the market interest and the Dutch interest for late tax payments should not be regarded as a penalty for which the ECHR safeguards should apply. This might become the subject of a future case. The ne bis idem principle has been implemented in Dutch legislation, but has been restricted to prevent abuse. In the Netherlands, the nemo tenetur principle was very hot over the past years. This regarded especially the question on whether documents in the possession of the tax payer exist independent of the will of the tax payer. According to very recent case law of the Dutch Supreme Court, this is the case. However, it is unclear how this judgment relates to the JB case of the ECtHR. It is clear from these examples that the ECHR will remain very important for the Netherlands, also in the future.


We present a procedure for subwavelength optical microscopy. The identical atoms are distributed on a plane and shined with a standing wave. We rotate the plane to different angles and record the resonant fluorescence spectra in the far field, from which we can obtain their distance and location information. This procedure also works for atomic separation above one wavelength and therefore provides a seamless microscopy.


The primary goal of this research concerns the synthesis of organic ligands in an effort
to create metal-organic porous materials for the storage of gas molecules for alternative
energy applications as well as other applications such as catalysis, molecular sensing,
selective gas adsorption and separation. Initially, the focus of this work was on the
synthesis of metal-organic polyhedra, yet the research has to date not progressed past the
synthesis of ligands and the theoretical polyhedron that may form. Further efforts to
obtain polyhedra from these ligands need to be explored.
Concurrently, the search for a metal-organic framework that hopefully breaks the
record for methane adsorption at low pressure and standard temperature was undertaken.
A framework, PCN-80, was synthesized based off a newly synthesized extended
bianthracene derivative, yet was unstable to the atmosphere. Hydrogen and methane
adsorption capacities have been evaluated by molecular simulations; these adsorption
isotherms indicated a gravimetric hydrogen uptake of 9.59 weight percent and a
volumetric uptake of methane of 78.47 g/L.
Following the synthesis of PCN-80, a comparison study involving the effect of the
stepwise growth of the number of aromatic rings in the ligand of a MOF was pursued;
the number of aromatic rings in the ligand was varied from one to eight while still
maintaining a linear, ditopic moiety. The synthesis of another bianthracene-based ligand
was used to complete the series of ligands and PCN-81, a two-dimensional framework
with no noticeable porosity as evident by the simulated hydrogen uptake of 0.68 weight
percent, was synthesized. All of these MOFs were synthesized from zinc salts to reduce
the number of variables. No clear relationship was established in terms of the number of
aromatic rings present in the ligand and the hydrogen adsorption capacity. However, it
was confirmed that the density and hydrogen uptake in weight percent are inversely
proportional. Further work needs to be done to determine what advantages are offered by
these novel frameworks containing extended bianthracene derivatives. For example, with
the highly fluorescent nature of the ligands from which they are composed, both PCN-80
and PCN-81 should be studied for the potential use in the application of fluorescent
materials.


Aim: The objective of this research is to report parameters for breeding soundness evaluation, semen extension, and cryopreservation in Rusa timorensis. Materials and Methods: Seven healthy stags were chosen for semen collection using an electroejaculator. The collections were performed twice in a breeding season between February and June 2016. Samples were collected between 2 and 3 weeks interval, collected twice for each animal. Semen was evaluated, extended, and cryopreserved using four different extenders; Andromed®, BioXcell®, Triladyl®, and a modified Tris-egg yolk combined with Eurycoma longifolia Jack. Results: R. timorensis semen characteristics according to volume (ml), color, sperm concentration (106/ml), general motility (%), progressive motility (%), and % morphology of normal spermatozoa are 0.86±0.18 ml, thin milky to milky, 1194.2±346.1 106/ml, 82.9±2.8%, 76.1±4.8%, and 83.9±4.8%, respectively. Conclusion: Semen characteristics of R. timorensis collected by electroejaculation is good allowing for cryopreservation and future artificial insemination work. The most suitable extender for Rusa deer semen is Andromed®.


The presented article is a report on progress in photovoltaic devices and material processing. A cadmium telluride solar cell as one of the most attractive option for thin-film polycrystalline cell constructions is presented. All typical manufacturing steps of this device, including recrystalisation and junction activation are explained. A new potential field of application for this kind of device n the BIPV (Building Integrated Photovoltaic) is named and discussed. All possible configuration options for this application, according to material properties and exploitation demands are considered. The experimental part of the presented paper is focused on practical implementation of the high- temperature polymer foil as the substrate of the newly designed device by the help of ICSVT (Isothermal Close Space Vapour Transport) technique. The evaluation of the polyester and polyamide foils according to the ICSVT/CSS manufactu- ring process parameters is described and discussed. A final conclusion on practical verification of these materials is also given.


Our enthusiasm for developing computer assisted educational methods and techniques must be tempered by the realization that large numbers of students lack even the most basic computing skills and abilities at college entry. Minority students and women of low socioeconomic status are particularly susceptible to academic failure when they are ill-equipped to deal with faculty demands for technically assisted coursework. Underlying cultural and economic reasons for these "deficiencies" are explored here, along with descriptions of courses developed to assist technically underprepared students who may be "technophobic" or otherwise resistant to the use of computers in the classroom.