INTRODUCTION This Article describes a simple way to limit the high cost of police misconduct, which is informed by background principles from U.S. civil procedure.1 It does so by calling for the Chicago Police Department (CPD) to better protect the complainant autonomy of injured citizens under the scaled-down process that is used to resolve certain legal claims against officers.2 Complainant autonomy is an injured citizen's right to control how its claims are drafted and framed, even over the objection of a nominal plaintiff, regardless of whether such a right to do so is clearly established or not.3


Utilizing antibarbiturate serum in an indirect immunofluorescence system, phenobarbital has been detected in the central nervous system of mice given an overdose of drugs. Localization was primarily within neurons of the limbic system, caudate nucleus, cerebellum, cervical spinal cord and trigeminal ganglion. the technic may be of value in acquiring additional information about the barbiturates as well as being of value to the forensic pathologist.


Background and purpose
 Research in nature of science (NOS) among Asia-Pacific countries such as Singapore is arguably scarce. This study aimed to survey Singaporean secondary school students' views of NOS with a newly developed instrument named Students' Views of Nature of Science (SVNOS), which included various key aspects of NOS that are generally agreed upon by the science education community. Moreover, the relations between some demographic factors, including gender and grade, and students' views of NOS were explored. Sample, design and method In total, 359 Singaporean seventh and eighth graders were invited to participate in this survey. The reliability, validity and structure of the SVNOS instrument were ensured by confirmatory factor analysis. A two-way multivariate analysis of variance was then conducted to determine the interaction effects between the gender variable and the grade-level variable. Results and conclusion The results indicated that the SVNOS instrument is reliable and valid to assess students' views of NOS regarding seven distinct NOS dimensions. The male students were more prone to have constructivist-oriented views of NOS in the most of the SVNOS dimensions, while the female students conveyed more non-objective views of NOS. In addition, the eighth graders revealed more empiricist-oriented views of NOS than the seventh graders in several SVNOS dimensions. This result seems to contradict the results of previous studies that students' views of NOS may reflect a developmental trend with their increasing educational experiences.


The mechanisms underlying the PF4/heparin immune response are poorly understood. In recent studies, we showed that PF4/heparin complexes, but not PF4 alone or heparin alone, activate complement (C9) in a heparin-dependent manner and lead to selective binding of C9-coated antigen (PF4/heparin complexes) to B cells via CD21. In additional studies, we showed that heparinized patients have circulating B cells with C9-coated PF4/heparin complexes (Khandelwal, Blood 2016). To investigate the mechanism by which PF4/heparin complexes activate complement, we performed studies in whole blood using previously described methods assessing binding of C9-fixed PF4/heparin complexes to B cells in whole blood. We incubated blood with inhibitors or conditions known to selectively block specific complement activation pathways, followed by incubation with PF4 and heparin for 1 hour (hr) at 370 C. Binding of PF4/heparin complexes and C9 fragments to B-cells was determined by flow cytometry using the murine monoclonal antibody to PF4/heparin complexes (KKO) and antibodies to specific C9 activation products (Khandelwal, Blood 2016). To distinguish activation by classical and lectin pathways from alternative pathway of activation, we incubated blood with C1 esterase inhibitor, a protein that inhibits C9 activation by the classical and lectin pathways. As shown in Figure 1, whole blood incubated with PF4/heparin is associated with C9 activation as measured by C3c binding to B cells (Figure 1, column 3), but not if blood is incubated with buffer or PF4 alone (Figure 1, columns 1 & 2). With the addition of C1 esterase inhibitor (10 or 20 U/ml) prior to incubation with PF4/heparin complexes, we noted a dose-dependent reduction in C9 activation (>85% reduction with 10 and 20 U/ml) suggesting that C9 activation by PF4/heparin complexes occurs via the classical or lectin pathways. To further confirm that the alternate pathway is not involved in PF4/heparin mediated C9 activation, we used sensitivity of the alternative pathway to Mg2+ using differential chelation with EDTA and EGTA. EDTA, a chelator of both Ca2+ and Mg2+, inhibits complement activation by all three pathways, whereas EGTA, which preferentially sequesters Ca2+ over Mg2+, permits alternative pathway activation. As shown in Figure 2, incubation of PF4/heparin complexes without chelators allowed for maximal antigen binding to B cells (~100%), while incubation with EDTA (Figure 2, column 3) abolished antigen binding, as did EGTA with and without additional Mg2+ supplementation. We next investigated the role of the classical pathway, a pathway triggered by immune complex mediated-binding and activation of C1. By flow cytometry, we were unable to show C1q deposition although we were able to demonstrate C3c/C4c deposition on antigen-coated B cells from healthy donors (data not shown). We also showed that C9 activation by PF4/heparin complexes was preserved in human serum low in immunoglobulins (IgG and IgM) as well as plasma from mMT mice lacking circulating immunoglobulins (data not shown). To investigate the role of the lectin pathway, we performed competitive inhibition assays by incubating whole blood with PF4/heparin complexes in the presence of mannan. As shown in Figure 3, we show that mannan (500 mg/mL) inhibited binding of antigen to B cells. In other studies, we show that an anti-MBL antibody partially reduced binding of KKO/C9 to B cells. Together, these preliminary studies demonstrate a lack of involvement of the classical and alternative pathways in C9 activation and indicate a contribution by the lectin pathway in C9 activation by PF4/heparin complexes. Further studies are underway to elucidate the role of the lectin pathway in complement activation by PF4/heparin complexes. Insights from these studies will lead to novel interventions that can block the initial steps of immune activation by heparin. Disclosures Arepally:Biokit: Patents & Royalties.


The paper proposes a new interconnect test generation approach based on particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO) and genetic algorithm (GA) for multi-chip module (MCM) applications. By combing the characteristics of interconnect test and constructing particle expression of test generation, the velocity updating equation and position updating equation of discrete PSO is presented in tins paper. GA is employed to evolve the candidates generated by PSO. in order to improve the fault coverage of the test vector. The experimental results for MCM benchmark circuits show that the proposed algorithm can improve the performance of interconnect test generation in test set. fault coverage and CPU time when compared to other interconnect test generation algorithms.


Recent advances in the understanding of immune tolerance has led to the targeting of various checkpoints for the treatment of cancer. Several independent clinical studies have pointed out a strong correlation between the clinical activity of checkpoint inhibitors and tumor checkpoint expression. These findings highlight an opportunity to improve cancer immunotherapy by combining checkpoint inhibitors with an immunostimulatory agent that modulates the tumor microenvironment. Our objective was to modulate the tumor microenvironment by activating Toll-like receptor (TLR) 9, a pathogen-associated molecular pattern recognition receptor. In preclinical studies, administration of IMO-2125, a novel TLR9 agonist, led to maturation of dendritic cells and induction of IFN-alpha. We hypothesized that immune activation by a TLR9 agonist administered intratumorally (i.t.) will lead to modulation of immune checkpoints in the tumor microenvironment, allowing these tumors to be targeted with a checkpoint inhibitor. To evaluate the potential of i.t. IMO-2125 therapy and its effect on checkpoint gene expression, we employed three different tumor models: CT26 colon carcinoma, A20 lymphoma, and B16 melanoma mouse models. IMO-2125 was administered at a dose of 50 mcg per treatment, either as a single dose or as multiple doses into a targeted tumor nodule. Blood samples were collected post-dosing for analysis of the cytokine profile. Anti-tumor activity was evaluated by measuring the growth of the injected tumor as well as the distant tumor. Tumor nodules were homogenized to analyze gene expression of selected checkpoints by qPCR. Results showed that a single i.t. injection of IMO-2125 in a CT26 colon carcinoma model induced systemic Th1 type cytokines, and resulted in tumor growth inhibition. Two days post IMO-2125 administration, analysis of gene expression of the treated tumor showed upregulation of IDO1 (13 fold) and PDL1 (2.7 fold), and no changes in expression of PD1 and OX40. Increased IDO1 gene expression correlated with increased IDO protein levels in the treated tumor nodules. In contrast, subcutaneous administration of IMO-2125 showed no substantial anti-tumor effect and no significant changes in checkpoint gene expression despite an induction of similar levels of systemic cytokines as the i.t. treatment. Multiple i.t. injections of IMO-2125 led to inhibition of tumor growth of the injected tumor and the distant tumor in all three tumor models. Tumor growth was correlated with increased CD3+ cells in treated as well as distant tumors. Analysis of the checkpoint gene expression at treated and distant tumor sites was conducted at 1-2 weeks post treatment. There was a significant upregulation of IDO1 and PDL1 gene expression in the treated tumors as well as in distant tumors. In addition to IDO1 and PDL1, depending on the tumor model, other immune checkpoints, including PD1, TIM3, BTLA, LAG3, OX40, and CTLA4, were also modulated. In conclusion, IMO-2125 i.t. treatment led to modulation of the tumor microenvironment by inducing local and systemic Th1 type immune responses, which impacted the levels of checkpoint gene expression. Increased expression of some of these checkpoints may allow tumors to be targeted broadly by checkpoint inhibitor therapy. Citation Format: Wayne Jiang, Daqing Wang, Fugang Zhu, Lakshmi Bhagat, Jillian DiMuzio, Sudhir Agrawal. Modulation of checkpoint expression in tumor microenvironment by intratumoral administration of a novel TLR9 agonist: Rationale for combination therapy. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR Inaugural International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference: Translating Science into Survival; September 16-19, 2015; New York, NY. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2016;4(1 Suppl):Abstract nr B159.


We study two aspects of M5-branes in N = 6 U(N) × U(N) Chern-Simons gauge theory. We first examine multiple M2-branes ending on a M5-brane. We study Basu-Harvey type cubic equations, fuzzy funnel configurations, and derive the M5-brane tension from the N = 6 theory. We also find a limit in which the above M2-M5 system reduces to a D2-D4 system and we recover the Nahm equation from the N = 6 theory. We then examine domain wall configurations in mass-deformed N = 6 theory with a manifest SU(2) × SU(2) × U(1) global symmetry. We derive tensions of domain walls connecting between arbitrary M5-brane vacua of the deformed theory and observe their consistency with gravity dual expectations.


An article by W.L. Everitt in the 1962 50th anniversary issue of Proceedings of the IEEE, "Engineering Education"-Circa 2012 A.D.," was one of many predictive articles that appeared in that issue [1]. One of Everitt's observations was the distinction between training and education. He then predicted that, in the future, training will be done primarily with computers, remarking, "Relieved of the necessity of spending most of their time on the training function, devoted teachers will be able to concentrate their efforts on 'education'."


: In a growing number of domains, such as health-care and transportation, several independent systems, forming a heterogeneous and distributed system of systems, are involved in the provisioning of end-to-end services to users. Testing such systems, running over interconnected mobile and cloud-based platforms, is particularly important and challenging, with little support being provided by current tools. In order to assess the current state of the practice regarding the testing of distributed and heterogeneous systems (DHS) and identify opportunities and priorities for research and innovation initiatives, we conducted an exploratory survey that was responded by 147 software testing professionals that attended industry-oriented software testing conferences, and present the main results in this paper. The survey allowed us to assess the relevance of DHS in software testing practice, the most important features to be tested in DHS, the current status of test automation and tool sourcing for testing DHS, and the most desired features in test automation solutions for DHS. We expect that the results presented in the paper are of interest to researchers, tool vendors and service providers in this field.


In a tripartite experiment with five rats each the suitability of 51Cr2O3 and TiO2 as markers was tested for estimating the transit time and passage rate as well as the total protein digestibility and the proportion of endogenous nitrogen in the small intestine with very small samples. Both markers are suited for these tests because of their simple analysis, their high recovery rate (94...105% for 51Cr2O3; 98...105% for TiO2) and their quantitative excretion in faeces within 3 days. Depending on the level of crude fibre (5.1 resp. 9.4% of DM) the transit time was found to be 7...8 h for a commercial breeding feed and 5...6 h for this commercial feed +15% straw meal. After the application of a single doses, the marker excretion of 50% appeared within 10 +/- 1 h resp. 8 +/- 1 h, and after the 12th hour there were no significant differences at all. The apparent N-digestibilities estimated by the conventional or the 51Cr2O3 resp. TiO2 indicator method did not show any differences. The proportion of endogenous nitrogen at the end of the small intestine calculated on the basis of the indicator dilution method was 83 +/- 11% for 51Cr2O3 and 83 +/- 12% for TiO2.


In a previous study we observed favorable effects of egg white on serum lipids in rats and mice. The present study was designed to elucidate these effects in 24 female university students with moderate hypercholesterolemia. About 30% of total protein was supplied with egg white, tofu or cheese. The experiment was conducted for a complete menstruation cycle of each subject. Lipid intake was about 30% of total energy intake. The energy intake of each subject was constant throughout the experiment. Body weight was measured every morning. Daily activity was measured by a pedometer. Blood was withdrawn after an overnight fast on the first, 15th and last days and serum lipids were measured. Body weight was measured every morning. Daily activity was measured by a pedometer. Blood was withdrawn after an overnight fast on the first, 15th and last days and serum lipids were measured. Body weight and daily activity were maintained in all the groups throughout the experiment. The egg white group showed a similar decrease in the total cholesterol (Total-C) concentration but a greater increase of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) concentration as compared to the tofu group and a greater decrease in Total-C and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) concentrations and a greater increase in the HDL-C concentration as compared to the cheese group (p < 0.05). The results indicate the favorable effects of egg white in the control of hypercholesterolemia.


Three of the basic issues raised by the multi-competence perspective for SLA research are: (1) who are the L2 users? Both as the possession of the individual and of the community, L1 and L2 are diverse and flexible, ranging from developing to relatively static to reducing. SLA research has to recognise the shifting flux of L1 and L2 systems.(2) what is the language that the L2 user knows? Five meanings of 'language' are discussed: human representation system, institutional object, set of sentences, community and individual possession, concluding that the language systems of the individual and of the community need to be treated as a whole. (3) What is the community the L2 user belongs to? L2 users belong to diverse communities of their own, both local and global. SLA research needs to explore the nature of these communities rather than assuming L2 users wish to be part of native monolingual communities.


Some librarians became open access (OA) supporters because they were outraged—and budgetarily hamstrung—by certain commercial publishers' artificially inflated prices. (We know they are artificially inflated, unjustified production costs because these publishers have jaw-dropping profit margins, higher than those of Disney, Starbucks, Google, and even Apple.1) Other librarians were won over to OA by its more altruistic aspects, by the promise of a world rich in knowledge. However, in their outreach to patrons, librarians cannot rely on the arguments that swayed them. What convinced a librarian to embrace OA may not convert a student, a faculty member, or an administrator. Therefore, librarians must consider what rhetoric works on whom and craft different arguments for different audiences.


This study examined the effectiveness of Write Start, a handwriting and writing program cotaught by teachers and occupational therapists for first-grade children. Four classrooms (n = 80) received the Write Start program, and four (n = 58) received standard handwriting and writing instruction. Two teachers and an occupational therapist implemented the 24-session manualized program, which included station teaching and individualized supports. The program emphasized practice in small groups in which the coteaching team provided students with frequent feedback, encouraged self-evaluation, and facilitated peer modeling and peer evaluation. Students who completed the Write Start program improved more in handwriting legibility and speed than the group receiving standard instruction. Writing fluency and written composition were no different between groups at posttest; however, writing fluency was significantly higher for Write Start students at 6-mo follow-up. Write Start students with low legibility at baseline made significant improvements, suggesting that the program may benefit students at risk for handwriting and writing problems.


We investigate the performance of a deterministic GREEDY algorithm for the problem of maximizing functions under a partition matroid constraint. We consider non-monotone submodular functions and monotone subadditive functions. Even though constrained maximization problems of monotone submodular functions have been extensively studied, little is known about greedy maximization of non-monotone submodular functions or monotone subadditive functions.
We give approximation guarantees for GREEDY on these problems, in terms of the curvature. We find that this simple heuristic yields a strong approximation guarantee on a broad class of functions.
We discuss the applicability of our results to three real-world problems: Maximizing the determinant function of a positive semidefinite matrix, and related problems such as the maximum entropy sampling problem, the constrained maximum cut problem on directed graphs, and combinatorial auction games.
We conclude that GREEDY is well-suited to approach these problems. Overall, we present evidence to support the idea that, when dealing with constrained maximization problems with bounded curvature, one needs not search for (approximate) monotonicity to get good approximate solutions.


Estrual cows are more likely to be recognized if penned with other open cows. Cycling cows fresh less than 100 days, without signs of heat or a follicle but with good uterine tone and signs of ovarian activity, are closely observed for heat 15-20 days after examination. Those fresh at least 150 days are given prostaglandin. Lugol's iodine solution is infused into the uterus of cows without signs of ovarian activity but with normal uterine tone. Cows with retained fetal membranes are given an intrauterine infusion of oxytetracycline with the membranes being removed only if it will not damage the uterus. Oxytetracycline or chlorhexidine solution is infused into the uterus of cows with a purulent vulvar discharge 2 or more weeks postpartum. Prostaglandins may benefit cows not showing signs of heat by 21 days postpartum. Procaine penicillin G solution is infused if the uterus is abnormal at 60 days postpartum. Heifers are vaccinated against brucellosis, blackleg, leptospirosis, IBR-PI3 and BVD at 4-11 months of age, with an optional Vibrio vaccination if a bull is used in the herd. Cows are given IBR-PI3, BVD and Leptospira vaccines a few days post-partum, with a Leptospira booster at pregnancy examination. Cows with Streptococcus mastitis in late lactation may best be treated by drying off. Control of coliform mastitis necessitates a clean barn and milking parlor environment. Staphylococcus mastitis may require segregation of affected cows and installation of a low-line milker to prevent spread.


Introduction: Research indicates that women victims of domestic violence show significant cognitive changes, emotional numbing, and avoidance of interpersonal relationships. Aim: The aim of this research was to analyze emotional profile of women victims of domestic violence, and to determine the relationship between dimensions of emotions and frequency of women exposure to domestic violence. Methods: The research was conducted on the sample of 169 women, 111 were victims of domestic violence and 58 were women who did not experience domestic violence. Plutchik's Emotions Profile Index (EPI) was used for measuring of the emotion profile, and the Modified Inventory of Domestic Violence for measuring experiences of different types of violence. Basic socio-demographic data were also collected. Results: Significant differences between women victims of domestic violence and women who did not experience domestic violence were found in a few dimensions of emotional profile. Women victims of domestic violence had higher results in the dimensions of deprivation/depression and aggression/destruction, while women who did not experience domestic violence had higher results in dimensions of reproduction and incorporation. Aggression was in significant negative correlation with reproduction, incorporation and self protection, whereas it was significant positive correlation with deprivation and opposition. There were significant and positive correlation between the dimensions of aggression and deprivation and frequency of all three forms of domestic violence and age of women. Conclusion: According to results obtained in this research, it can be concluded that women victims of domestic violence have significantly more intensive negative emotional dimensions in comparison to women who were not abused. Women victims of domestic violence with higher frequency of abuse describe themselves as more sad, apathetic, lonely, angry, quarrelsome and less sociable. Prominence of negative emotions, deprivation and aggression, can be factor of risk for mental health disorders and for re-victimisation of women victims of domestic violence.


A Novel Design Optimization For Reliable Networking Is Investigated In Ethernet Ring Mesh Networks With The Itu-T G.8032 Ethernet Ring Protection Recommendation. Designing An Ethernet Ring Mesh Consisting Of Multiple Rings To Achieve The Maximum Network Availability Is An Np-Complete Problem. We Show That A Graph With Vertex Connectivity Equal To Or Greater Than Two Is A Sufficient Condition For Designing An Ethernet Ring Mesh. A Novel Design Rule With An Efficient Heuristic Algorithm Is Proposed To Find A Design Close To An Optimal Ethernet Ring Mesh In Terms Of Maximum Network Availability. Compared With An Optimal Network Design Algorithm With An Exponential Enumeration Search Cost, The Heuristic Algorithm Achieves Network Availability Nearly As High As That Of An Optimal Design At A Polynomial Cost.


The limit drawing ratios of the steel sheets are studied by the numerical simulation using the finite element software PAM-STAMP 2G. The limit drawing ratios of the steel sheets are also measured by the practical Swift cup test. The results of the experiments and the simulations are compared and analyzed. The results show that the overall shapes of the deep drawing parts of the experiment and the simulation are roughly the same. The maximum deviation of limit drawing ratio values between the experimental results and the simulations for two steel sheets with various thicknesses is only 2.2%. The deviation of limit drawing ratio of steel sheet obtained through PAM-STAMP FEM software is small. The PAM-STAMP software is highly reliable for the steel sheet deep drawing simulation.


We investigate strategies for user cooperation in the uplink of a synchronous direct-sequence code-division multiple-access (DS/CDMA) network employing nonorthogonal spreading codes and analyze their performance. We consider two repetition-based relay schemes: decode-and-forward (DAF) and amplify-and-forward (AAF). Focusing on the use of linear multiuser detectors, we first present cooperation strategies, i.e., signal processing at both the relay nodes and the base station (BS), under the assumption of perfectly known channel conditions of all links; then, we consider the more practical scenario where relays and BS have only partial information about the system parameters, which requires blind multiuser detection methods. We provide performance analysis of the proposed detection strategies in terms of the (asymptotic) signal-to-(interference plus noise) ratio and the bit error rate, and we show that AAF achieves a full second-order diversity when a minimum mean-square-error detector is employed at both the relay side and the BS. A simple, yet effective, partner selection algorithm is also presented. Finally, a thorough performance assessment is undertaken to study the impact of the multiple-access interference on the proposed cooperative strategies under different scenarios and system assumptions


Objective. Ciguatera fish poisoning is a potentially life-threatening disease caused by eating coral reef fish contaminated with ciguatoxins and is the most common marine poisoning. However, existing surveillance systems capture few cases. To improve regional ciguatera surveillance in South Florida, this study compared ciguatera illnesses in the Florida Poison Information Center–Miami (FPICM) call database to ciguatera cases in the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) disease surveillance systems. Methods. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to identify predictors of when FPICM reported ciguatera illnesses to FDOH and whether FDOH confirmed reported ciguatera cases. Results. FPICM staff preferentially reported ciguatera illnesses that were of shorter duration (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]=0.84 per additional illness day; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.74, 0.97); outbreak-associated (AOR=7.0; 95% CI 2.5, 19.5); and clinically more severe (AOR=21.6; 95% CI 2.3, 198.5). Among ciguatera illnesses reported to FDOH, outbreak-associated illnesses were more likely than single, sporadic illnesses to become confirmed surveillance cases (crude OR=11.1; 95% CI 2.0, 62.5). Conclusions. The over-representation of outbreak-associated ciguatera cases underestimates the true contribution of sporadic illnesses to ciguatera disease burden. This bias should be considered when evaluating surveillance systems that include both outbreak-associated and sporadic illness reports.


Efficiently solving the personalized broadcast problem in an interconnection network typically relies on finding an appropriate spanning tree in the network. In this paper, we show how to construct in a complete star graph an asymptotically balanced spanning tree, and in an incomplete star graph a near-balanced spanning tree. In both cases, the tree is shown to have the minimum height. In the literature, this problem has only been considered for the complete star graph, and the constructed tree is about 4/3 times taller than the one proposed in this paper.


In this paper, we investigate the use of limited infrastructure, in the form of wires, for improving the energy efficiency of a wireless sensor network. We call such a sensor network - a wireless sensor network with a limited infrastructural support - a hybrid sensor network. The wires act as short cuts to bring down the average hop count of the network, resulting in a reduced energy dissipation per node. Our results indicate that adding a few wires to a wireless sensor network can not only reduce the average energy expenditure per sensor node, but also the non-uniformity in the energy expenditure across the sensor nodes.


The Ophthalmology department at the University of Szeged in Hungary is one of few tertiary centers in the country that takes on complicated cases of juvenile uveitis. Delayed initial presentation combined with confirmed systemic diseases makes cases more complicated to manage and treat. A thorough medical history is vital to help focus investigations. This therefore, involves a multidisciplinary team approach to the management of these complicated cases. Furthermore, good communication with families (parents) is key in establishing a strong bond and helps increase rates of compliance with medications especially in socio- economically challenged communities. This case provides an in-depth analysis of the management of juvenile uveitis.


The co-occurrence of contaminants in drinking water may pose enhanced risks to health beyond the effects of single contaminants. Here we investigated the co-occurrence of four health-relevant redox-sensitive elements (U, As, V, and Cr) in 1494 groundwater wells across North Carolina. The highest concentrations of these elements were measured mostly in groundwater from fractured igneous and metamorphic formations throughout the Piedmont region. Arsenic occurred most frequently in suboxic to mixed redox character groundwater, whereas U, V, and Cr occurred mostly in oxic groundwater. Occurrences of As, and to a lesser extent U, increased with pH, likely reflecting desorption, while higher Cr and V levels were measured in near neutral pH and oxic groundwater, reflecting greater sensitivity to redox conditions. Due to similar geochemistry, V and Cr co-occurred most frequently. Concentrations of V and Cr(VI) co-exceeded health recommendations from the NC Department of Health and Human Services in up to 84% of wells from the King's Mountain Belt and the Charlotte and Milton Belts of the Piedmont region. This study highlights the large gap between health recommendations and enforceable regulations, and demonstrates a degree of co-occurrence between redox sensitive elements, which may pose additional risks to groundwater reliant individuals.


In most churches, Bible and other religious instruction is based on an evangelical model structured on a teacher-centered, lecture-oriented approach that involves treating adults as children and that is thus more consistent with unregenerate human nature than with the born-again nature of Christians. An emancipatory model of Christian adult education is needed that includes consideration for the principles of andragogy. Andragogy, the science of adult learning, is based on the belief that the ways in which adults and children learn differ from five standpoints: self-concept, life experience, readiness to learn, time perspective, and orientation to learning. Each component of andragogical philosophy holds important insights for adult Christian education. The works of Walter Ong, Malcolm Knowles, and Paulo Freire present an alternative, more participative modality through which educators and clergy can transmit theological processes and principles. A model process calleH a praxis cycle has been developed based on principles proposed by Ong, Knowles, and Freire and has been suggested as a model for delivering emancipatory education for Christian adults. According to the model, teachers/facilitators use dialogue to help students/disciples develop the competencies required to become biblically literate, critically conscious, and actively involved Christian citizens. (Contains 28 references.) (MN) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. * ANDRAGOGY OF THE OPPRESSED: Emancipatory Education for Christian Adults by John C. Lai, Fielding Institute, HOD Program January, 1995


Species distribution models (SDMs) are becoming an important tool for marine conservation and management. Yet while there is an increasing diversity and volume of marine biodiversity data for training SDMs, little practical guidance is available on how to leverage distinct data types to build robust models. We explored the effect of different data types on the fit, performance and predictive ability of SDMs by comparing models trained with four data types for a heavily exploited pelagic fish, the blue shark (Prionace glauca), in the Northwest Atlantic: two fishery-dependent (conventional mark-recapture tags, fisheries observer records) and two fishery-independent (satellite-linked electronic tags, pop-up archival tags). We found that all four data types can result in robust models, but differences among spatial predictions highlighted the need to consider ecological realism in model selection and interpretation regardless of data type. Differences among models were primarily attributed to biases in how each data type, and the associated representation of absences, sampled the environment and summarized the resulting species distributions. Outputs from model ensembles and a model trained on all pooled data both proved effective for combining inferences across data types and provided more ecologically realistic predictions than individual models. Our results provide valuable guidance for practitioners developing SDMs. With increasing access to diverse data sources, future work should further develop truly integrative modeling approaches that can explicitly leverage strengths of individual data types while statistically accounting for limitations, such as sampling biases.


Pharmacology is a challenging subject in a science degree that requires students to engage with complicated chemical reactions. Typical assessment tasks involve exams, lab reports and presentations. The aim of this study was to trial a new form of assessment task by getting students to analyse a journal article on a disease related to Pharmacology and then to explain key aspects of the article in a 4-5 minute digital media product that they create. The students had a choice of narrated media forms to represent their journal article — podcasts, digital story, video, slowmation (slow animation) or blended media. This presentation focuses on examples of blended media, which is a form that encourages students to integrate any combination of media such as video with animation and static images that students create and combine with expert-generated media from YouTube or Google Images to complement a narration to explain the science. There were 24 students enrolled in the subject Chem350 Principles of Pharmacology and each one was allocated a different journal article to summarise by making a media product. A one hour lecture was provided to students to explain how to make the different media forms supported by instructional resources on a website www.digiexplanations.com. The students then used their own technology such as mobile phones, digital still cameras and free movie making software on their own computers to create the blended media. The aim of this pilot study was to ascertain the students' perceptions of making a blended media and how their allocated disease was represented. Data collected included observation of the students' presentations, the blended media artifact and an interview with each student after the subject was completed. Results showed that all 24 students successfully made a 3-5 minute media product in their own time with minimal technological concerns. A wide variety of media to explain the disease in their allocated journal article were submitted including one podcast, five digital stories, 10 videos, three animations and 5 blended media. Three of the students who volunteered to be interviewed about the process of making their blended media product stated that the process was highly engaging and helped them to learn science in a new way and it was the first time they had made a narrated media product in their degree. Whilst this pilot study indicated that the students were engaged in re-representing the science content by creating a digital media product, further studies will need to be conducted to research the quality of science learning claimed by students. Blended media is a new form of student-generated media, which enables students to use their own technology to construct a narrated media product integrating many different media forms and is a multimodal representation to explain a science concept.


This paper presents a novel interprocedural, flow-sensitive, and context-sensitive pointer analysis algorithm for multithreaded programs that may concurrently update shared pointers. The algorithm is designed to handle programs with structured parallel constructs, including fork-join constructs, parallel loops, and conditionally spawned threads. For each pointer and each program point, the algorithm computes a conservative approximation of the memory locations to which that pointer may point. The algorithm correctly handles a wide range of programming language constructs, including recursive functions, recursively generated parallelism, function pointers, structures, arrays, nested structures and arrays, pointer arithmetic, casts between different pointer types, heap and stack allocated memory, shared global variables, and thread-private global variables. We have implemented the algorithm in the SUIF compiler system and used the implementation to analyze a set of multithreaded programs written in the Cilk programming language. Our experimental results show that the analysis has good precision and converges quickly for our set of Cilk programs.


The objectives of the current study were to 1) determine whether a fish-meal-supplemented diet fed to ewes during late gestation and early lactation would increase the proportion of docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3) in colostrum and milk and 2) examine the subsequent effect on the plasma fatty acid profile of nursing lambs. Eight gestating ewes (Rideau-Arcott; 97 +/- 5 kg of initial BW; 100 d of gestation) were used in a completely randomized design. Ewes were individually housed and fed a control diet (supplemented with soybean meal) or a fish-meal-supplemented diet for 6 wk before lambing and throughout 7 wk of lactation. Colostrum at d 0 and milk samples at d 36 and 49 of lactation were collected. Blood samples were collected from lambs throughout the preweaning period (at 0, 36, and 49 d of age). Fatty acids of the samples were analyzed by GLC. The ewes fed the fish-meal-supplemented diet had greater (P <or= 0.013) percentages (g/100 g of total fatty acids) of eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3, 0.16 vs. 0.08), docosahexaenoic acid (0.33 vs. 0.09), total n-3-PUFA (2.72 vs. 1.91), total CLA (0.83 vs. 0.64), and total very long chain n-3-PUFA (>C18, 0.70 vs. 0.38), in colostrum and milk compared with the ewes fed the control diet. However, these fatty acids, excluding total n-3-PUFA, did not change over time, nor was there an interaction between diet and time. The percentage of total SFA was increased (P = 0.012) linearly over time without having any diet effect. The ratio of n-6-PUFA to n-3-PUFA in colostrum and milk from the control group was greater (P = 0.003) than that of the fish-meal-supplemented group. This ratio was decreased over time (P = 0.001). At birth (d 0), lambs born to the fish-meal-supplemented ewes had greater (P = 0.001) plasma concentrations (g/100 g of total fatty acids) of eicosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, and total very long chain n-3-PUFA than the lambs born to the control ewes. The concentrations of these fatty acids were further increased over time (P = 0.001) for the lambs nursing ewes fed the fish-meal-supplemented diet. The present findings suggest that the concentrations of docosahexaenoic acid in ewe colostrum and milk can be enhanced through diet supplementation with fish meal. The docosahexaenoic acid status of their suckling lambs can also be further enhanced, and this may contribute to improve neural tissue development and overall performance of suckling lambs.


The orientation and alignment parameters of the 21P and 31P excited states of helium at an incident electron energy of 81.6 eV have been remeasured for electron scattering angles from 25 degrees to 5 degrees and extended down to 2 degrees . The studies investigate a wide range of experimental conditions and measurement techniques, including beam alignment, electron and photon angular distribution asymmetries in both the singles and coincidence detection modes, in order to establish better precision in the measurements. Nevertheless the present coherence lambda , chi and gamma a, parameters for He(21P) and He(31P) state excitation for scattering angles in the range theta e=2 degrees to 25 degrees are collectively not in good agreement with any single distorted wave, first Born or close coupling model predictions, although there are ranges of scattering angles where the individual measured parameters are in good agreement with a particular theory. Radiation trapping effects on the 31P state lifetime enabled the relative relaxation rates for the population, orientation and alignment, i.e. rank 0, 1 and 2 multipoles, of the excited state to be measured. The effects of these relaxation rates on the measured intensities and the coherence parameters are quantified. The lifetime, which can be measured an order of magnitude more quickly than the state parameters, reflects these relaxation rates and provides a reliable guide to radiation trapping effects. Radiation trapping influences the state parameters down to the lowest background operating pressure of 10-7 Torr at which the measurements have been made.


Objective: The efficacy and pitfalls of endovascular recanalization for totally occluded internal carotid occlusion were evaluated. Materials and methods: Twenty-five cases (twenty six lesions) of symptomatic internal carotid occlusion with hemodynamic compromise or recurrent symptoms were treated at the subacute to chronic stage using an endovascular technique. At the same period, total 1200 carotid artery stenting was performed in our group. Parodi's embolic protection system or modified Parodi's technique was used during the recanalization procedure to prevent embolic stroke by reversing the flow from the distal internal carotid artery to the common carotid artery. Results: Recanalization of the occluded ICA was possible in 23/26 (88.5%) lesions. The occlusion points were cervical internal carotid artery : 19, and petrous - cavernous ICA : 4 in successfully recanalized cases. The patient's ischemic symptom disappeared completely after the treatment and new ischemic symptoms did not appear related to the treated leision. Single photon emission computed tomography findings demonstrated the improvement of hemodynamic compromise in all cases with hemodynamic compromise. One case (4.3%) caused right middle cerebral artery branch occlusion during the procedure but his neurological symptoms were stable because of preexisting hemiparesis. One case (4.3%) demonstrated asymptomatic re-occlusion at the treated site. Discussion: Endovascular recanalization was possible and effective to improve hemodynamic compromise, although the incidence of this treatment is only 2.2% of the total 1200 carotid artery stenting in our series. However, there still several problems existed, such as hyperperfusion syndrome after recanalization, cerebral embolism during the treatment, and durability after treatment, and difficult identification of the occlusion point before the treatment. Conclusion: Endovascular recanalization using an embolic protection device can be considered as an alternative treatment for the symptomatic internal carotid occlusion with hemodynamic compromise or refractory to antiplatelet therapy, even in the subacute to chronic stage of the illness.


Four compounds containing metal-metal quadruple bonds, the [M2(CH3)8]n- ions (M = Cr, Mo, W, Re and n = 4, 4, 4, 2, respectively), have been studied theoretically using multiconfigurational quantum-chemical methods. The molecular structure of the ground state of these compounds has been determined and the energy of the delta --> delta* transition has been calculated and compared with previous experimental measurements. The high negative charges on the Cr, Mo, and W complexes lead to difficulties in the successful modeling of the ground-state structures, a problem that has been addressed by the explicit inclusion of four Li+ ions in these calculations. The ground-state geometries of the complexes and the delta --> delta* transition have been modeled with either excellent agreement with experiment (Re) or satisfactory agreement (Cr, Mo, and W).


Mercury is a very dangerous metal when humans come into contact with it, whether through the air or skin or by ingestion. The aim of this work was to investigate the possible effects of the ethanol extract and fractions of Lygodium venustum Sw. against mercurium chloride toxicity towards Escherichia coli strain ATCC25922. The polyphenols and flavonoids present in the extract and fractions were quantified in mg equivalent of gallic acid/g sample and mg equivalent of quercetin/g sample, respectively. The in vitro FRAP method demonstrated the antioxidant activity of the samples. The antibacterial activity of the natural products was evaluated by microdilution method and by assays to elucidate the possible cytoprotective action when combining the natural products samples and mercurium chloride, utilizing the extract and fractions at a subinhibitory concentration. The results obtained in this work indicate that the ethanol extract and fractions of L. venustum are an alternative source of natural products with cytoprotective action, where this protection is correlated with antioxidant and chelating activity, due to the presence of total phenols and flavonoids.


Aiming to represent user characteristics and personal interests, the task of user profiling is playing an increasingly important role for many real-world applications, e.g., e-commerce and social networks platforms. By exploiting the data like texts and user behaviors, most existing solutions address user profiling as a classification task, where each user is formulated as an individual data instance. Nevertheless, a user's profile is not only reflected from her/his affiliated data, but also can be inferred from other users, e.g., the users that have similar co-purchase behaviors in e-commerce, the friends in social networks, etc. In this paper, we approach user profiling in a semi-supervised manner, developing a generic solution based on heterogeneous graph learning. On the graph, nodes represent the entities of interest (e.g., users, items, attributes of items, etc.), and edges represent the interactions between entities. Our heterogeneous graph attention networks (HGAT) method learns the representation for each entity by accounting for the graph structure, and exploits the attention mechanism to discriminate the importance of each neighbor entity.
Through such a learning scheme, HGAT can leverage both unsupervised information and limited labels of users to build the predictor. Extensive experiments on a real-world e-commerce dataset verify the effectiveness and rationality of our HGAT for user profiling.


Sedentary people have insulin resistance in skeletal muscle but whether this also occurs in fat cells is unknown and was examined. Insulin inhibition of hydrolysis of triglycerides (antilipolysis) and stimulation of triglyceride formation (lipogenesis) was investigated in subcutaneous fat cells from 204 sedentary and 336 physically active subjects. Insulin responsiveness (maximum hormone effect) and sensitivity (half maximum effective concentration) were determined. In 69 women hyperinsulinemia-induced circulating fatty acid levels were measured. In 128 women adipose gene expression was analyzed. Responsiveness of insulin for antilipolysis (60% inhibition) and lipogenesis (2-fold stimulation) were similar between sedentary and active subjects. Sensitivity for both measures was about 10-fold decreased in sedentary subjects (p<0.01). However, only the association between antilipolysis sensitivity and physical activity remained significant when adjusting for body mass index, age, sex, waist-to-hip ratio, fat cell size and cardiometabolic disorders in multiple regression. Fatty acid levels decreased following hyperinsulinemia but remained higher in sedentary compared to active women (p=0.01). mRNA expression of insulin receptor and its substrates 1 and 2 was decreased in sedentary subjects. In conclusion, while the maximum effect is preserved, the sensitivity to insulin's antilipolytic effect in subcutaneous fat cells is selectively lower in sedentary subjects.


Aiming to minimize the interface state density, we fabricated MOS capacitors on n-type 4H-SiC by using wet oxidation of nitrogen implanted layers. We investigated a wide range of implantation dose, including a high dose able to amorphise a surface SiC layer with the intent to reduce the oxidation time. The oxide quality and the SiO2-SiC interface properties were characterized by capacitance-voltage measurements of the MOS capacitors. The proposed process, in which nitrogen is ion-implanted on SiC layer before a wet oxidation, is effective to reduce the density of interface states near the conduction band edge if a high concentration of nitrogen is introduced at the SiO2-SiC interface. We found that only the nitrogen implanted at the oxide-SiC interface reduces the interface states and we did not observe the generation of fixed positive charges in the oxide as a consequence of nitrogen implantation. Furthermore, the concentration of the slow traps evaluated from the Slow Trap Profiling technique was low and did not depend on the nitrogen implantation fluence.


Prospective cohort study is instrumental in assessing cancer risk factors, identifying biomarkers of cancer risk and early detection, and constructing integrative risk prediction model. However, developing a large prospective cohort with longitudinal, repeated questionnaire data and biospecimen collection is often cost-prohibitive. Building upon a large-scale health screening program in Taiwan with existing questionnaire data, medical test results, and biospecimens, we have developed a large prospective health screening cohort – MJ Cohort. MJ Cohort consists of individuals undergoing routine health screening conducted by the MJ Group, the largest health management institution in Asia. Over 600,000 unique participants have been enrolled with detailed baseline questionnaire data collected on demographics, lifestyle factors, occupation, medical history, family history of chronic diseases and cancer, and dietary pattern. Participants undergo a series of medical tests (103 items) for blood, urine, anthropometric measurements, functional tests, and physical examination. Approximately half of all the participants have longitudinal questionnaire data and medical test results. A substantial number of participants also had blood samples collected and stored. We have utilized this unique cohort for a number of research initiatives. For example, we studied the mortality reduction benefits from leisure-time physical activity and found that an average 15 minutes per day of moderate intensity exercise reduced all-cause mortality by 14% and all-cancer mortality by 10%, and gained 3 years in life. Every additional five minutes of daily exercise is predicted to further reduce 2% of all-cause and 1% of all-cancer mortality. We constructed a series of liver cancer risk prediction models, with the highest prediction accuracy, measured as the AUC (area under the ROC curve), reaching 0.933 when combining two simple serum markers of liver function (ALT and AST) with hepatitis infection. However, individuals could substantially reduce their risk by improving their lifestyles, stopping smoking, reducing drinking, becoming physically active, or managing diabetes. We are also using this unique cohort to identify patients at high risk of progression among those with pre-cancerous conditions and to identify biomarkers of aging and dissect the complex relationship of aging-related chronic diseases and cancer. The extensive questionnaire data, medical tests, and existence of strong risk factors and biomarkers will allow us to construct powerful risk prediction models for selected cancers, which will provide evidence-based recommendations for lifestyle and behavioral changes to achieve reduction in cancer burden and identify high-risk individuals and minimally invasive early detection markers for common cancers. The unique and highly efficient infrastructure for participant enrollment, data collection, medical tests, and follow up within the framework of a world-leading health screening center make this cohort extremely cost-efficient. This unique health screening cohort therefore provides an invaluable new avenue for risk prediction, prevention, and early detection research. Citation Format: Xifeng Wu. Health screening cohort: A new avenue for risk prediction, prevention, and early detection research. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2012 Oct 16-19; Anaheim, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Prev Res 2012;5(11 Suppl):Abstract nr CN02-01.


Abstract. Atmospheric pCO2 is a critical component of the global
carbon system and is considered to be the major control of Earth's past,
present, and future climate. Accurate and precise reconstructions of its
concentration through geological time are therefore crucial to our
understanding of the Earth system. Ice core records document pCO2 for
the past 800 kyr, but at no point during this interval were CO2 levels
higher than today. Interpretation of older pCO2 has been hampered by
discrepancies during some time intervals between two of the main ocean-based
proxy methods used to reconstruct pCO2: the carbon isotope fractionation
that occurs during photosynthesis as recorded by haptophyte biomarkers
(alkenones) and the boron isotope composition (δ11B) of
foraminifer shells. Here, we present alkenone and δ11B-based
pCO2 reconstructions generated from the same samples from the Pliocene
and across a Pleistocene glacial–interglacial cycle at Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 999. We find
a muted response to pCO2 in the alkenone record compared to
contemporaneous ice core and δ11B records, suggesting caution
in the interpretation of alkenone-based records at low pCO2 levels. This
is possibly caused by the physiology of CO2 uptake in the haptophytes.
Our new understanding resolves some of the inconsistencies between the
proxies and highlights that caution may be required when interpreting
alkenone-based reconstructions of pCO2.


Recent trends of migration to smaller social media platforms among right wing actors have raised a caution that an excessive focus on large, transnational social media companies might lose sight of the volatile spaces of homegrown and niche platforms, which have begun to offer diverse "alternative" avenues to extreme speech. Such trends, which drew global media attention during Trump supporters' attempted exodus to Parler, are also gaining salience in Europe and the global South. Turning the focus to these developments, this article pries open three pertinent features of extreme speech on small platforms: its propensity to migrate between platforms, its embeddedness in domestic regulatory and technological innovations, and its evolving role in facilitating hateful language and disinformation in and through deep trust-based networks. Rather than assuming that smaller platforms are on an obvious trajectory toward progressive alternatives, their diverse entanglements with exclusionary extreme speech, I suggest, should be an important focal point for policy measures.


The steadily increasing use of ductile cast iron and the necessity for building larger cast components present new challenges to the designers. In despite of large cast components are designed adhered to standards, unexpected failure sometime occurs. One reason is the inevitable manufacturing defects containing within the cast components that behave like cracks under cyclic loading. In addition the probability of a large defect to be situated at a critical region of the component increases with the size. Another reason is the effect of geometric discontinuities such as holes, threads and fillets, which are part unavoidable of the designs. These discontinuities that are usually called notches disturb the stress field and cause high local stress concentration. Thus dealing with these severe stress risers (defects and notches) is not an easy task. Therefore most designers resort to use very high and unnecessary safety factors.


BACKGROUND
Circles of support and accountability, or Circles, use community volunteers to help reintegrate sex offenders at risk of reoffending in the community.

AIMS
The aims of this study are to describe the first 275 male sex offenders ('core members') in England and Wales supported by a Circle and to compare those attending the five largest Circles.

METHODS
As part of their monitoring activity, 10 Circles extracted data from case files, anonymised it and submitted it to Circles UK, the national oversight body.

RESULTS
Circles have expanded rapidly with 165 (60%) of Circles commencing in the three years 2011-2013 compared with 110 in the nine years 2002-2010. Most core members were referred from the Probation Service (82%). Circles were provided to men with a range of predicted risks of reoffending - from low (26%) to very high (12%). There were some positive changes between the beginning and end of Circles, such as fewer men being unemployed and more living in their own chosen accommodation.

CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE
Circles have been used to support the reintegration of a wide range of sex offenders. Given their rapid growth and flexibility, consistent recording standards are required across. These standards should be reviewed periodically to ensure all important fields of change are captured, including frequency of attendance, length per session and quality of engagement in the work. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Alcohol-free beers have gained popularity in the last few decades because they provide a healthier alternative to alcoholic beers and can be more widely consumed. Consumers are becoming more aware of the benefits of reducing their alcohol consumption, and this has increased the sales of nonalcoholic alternatives. However, there are still many challenges for the brewing industry to produce an alcohol-free beer that resembles the pleasant fruity flavor and overall sensory experience of regular beers. The aim of this review is to give a comprehensive overview of alcohol-free beer focusing on aroma chemistry. The formation of the most important aroma compounds, such as Strecker aldehydes, higher alcohols, and esters, is reviewed, aiming to outline the gaps in current knowledge. The role of ethanol as a direct and indirect flavor-active compound is examined separately. In parallel, the influence of the most common methods to reduce alcohol content, such as physical (dealcoholization) or biological, on the organoleptic characteristics and consumer perception of the final product, is discussed.


When cultured Sertoli cells derived from 20-day-old weanling rats were supplied [3H]retinol bound to serum retinol binding protein-transthyretin complex, [3H]retinol was rapidly incorporated and [3H]retinyl esters were synthesized. Within 28 h after administration, 83% of the labeled retinoids were accounted for as retinyl esters (64% as retinyl palmitate). Sertoli cells derived from vitamin A deficient rats and supplied [3H]retinol in culture under identical conditions likewise incorporated [3H]retinol and synthesized retinyl esters. In contrast to normal Sertoli cells, vitamin A deficient Sertoli cells eventually metabolized virtually all of the cellular [3H]retinol to retinyl esters. The primary metabolic fate of retinol administered to Sertoli cell cultures was the synthesis of retinyl esters under all conditions tested. However, administration of [3H]retinol bound to serum retinol binding protein gave metabolic profiles having a higher proportion of retinyl esters and lower proportions of unresolved polar material than administration of [3H]retinol alone. The kinetics of retinol uptake and intracellular retinyl ester synthesis in cultured Sertoli cells was complex. An initial, rapid phase of [3H]retinol incorporation lasting 30 min was followed by a slower rate of incorporation and a concomitant decrease in the intracellular concentration of [3H]retinol. During the time course the specific activity of [3H]retinyl palmitate eventually exceeded that of intracellular [3H]retinol. These observations suggest that two intracellular pools of retinol may exist in Sertoli cells.


Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are generally known as excessive phytoplankton growth or rapidly concentrate to high biomass. This study summarized the situation of HABs in China, and discussed possible dominant factors stimulating algal blooms by analyzing several actual HABs cases. It was manifested nutrients may affect algae concentration principally, but such impact tended to decease with degradation of background water. Meanwhile the hydrological and meteorological factors expressed greater correlation to chlorophyll concentration under multiple coupling effects of complex environmental factors. For the complex mechanisms, the determination of principle factors which stimulate excessive algal blooms effectively still need further researches, which are suggested to conduct under overall considerations on 3 scales: macro dimension, medium dimension and micro dimension.


WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: Laughter yoga is claimed to promote mental health and has become increasingly popular worldwide. There has been no systematic review of laughter yoga intervention studies and thus evidence of its effects on mental health is unclear. WHAT THE PAPER ADDS TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: Laughter Yoga interventions improved depressive symptoms in two studies over the short term. There is a lack of good quality evidence to show that laughter yoga is more effective than other group-based interventions in improving mental health. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE?: Well-conducted and clearly reported trials of laughter yoga are needed before the intervention can be considered as an evidence-based intervention to improve mental health.

ABSTRACT
Introduction Laughter Yoga is claimed to promote mental health and is increasingly popular worldwide. Despite its popularity, there has been no systematic review of Laughter Yoga intervention studies and thus evidence of its effects on mental health is unclear. Aim This review aimed to critically evaluate the effects of group-based Laughter Yoga on improving mental health in adults. Method We conducted a systematic review of experimental studies (published from 1995 to 2017). Study quality was assessed, the effect sizes for individual mental health outcomes were calculated and all reviewed studies were narratively synthesized. Results Six experimental studies with inconsistent results were included in this review. The most promising effect of Laughter Yoga is the improvement of depressive symptoms, indicating significant medium-large effect sizes in two studies over the short term. The overall level of evidence was weak due to poor study quality and risks of bias. Discussion Laughter Yoga shows potential, but currently there is insufficient evidence to support its effectiveness in improving mental health when compared to other group-based interventions. Implications for practice This review highlights the need to conduct rigorous trials of laughter yoga before the intervention can be considered as an evidence-based intervention to improve mental health.


Fluvial longitudinal profiles reconstructed from abandoned floodplains contain significant evidence about the role of relative sea level vs. climatic and tectonic controls on depositional systems. Two Weichselian floodplain surfaces that occur as terraces updip of the hinge zone of the Rhine–Meuse system have recently been mapped beneath the Holocene Rhine–Meuse Delta (The Netherlands). Their vertical offset is several metres in the upstream area and decreases to only 0.4 m in the central part of the delta. The older and higher of the two floodplain surfaces is generally assumed to have been formed around the Last Glacial Maximum, whereas the younger dates to the Younger Dryas, following a phase of climatically induced fluvial incision during the Bølling‐Allerød. The downstream convergence of these two floodplain surfaces may be related to the relative rise of sea level, forcing the Rhine–Meuse system to become graded to a higher base level during the Younger Dryas. The upper Weichselian Rhine–Meuse system then provides an example of a basin‐marginal fluvial system that responds, in terms of its longitudinal profile, to the combined effects of upstream control (primarily climate change affecting water and sediment flux from the hinterland) and downstream control (glacio‐eustatically driven relative sea‐level change). This new evidence may therefore revitalize the presently unfashionable concept of relative sea‐level control penetrating many hundreds of kilometres inland.


This paper proves the China stock market to be a chaotic system and establishes a nonlinear dynamical model for it based on the study on the nonlinear dynamical properties of Shanghai stock composite index sequence by using chaos and fractal theory. The phase space of the stock sequence is reconstructed and the correlation dimension is analyzed, which indicate that the dynamical system has finite degree of freedom. The nonlinear evolution mechanism is observed and the initial value sensitive characteristic of the system is demonstrated through Lyapunov exponent analysis. Finally, the stock sequence is reconstructed by using finite degree of freedom based fractal interpolation algorithm and gaining reasonably accurate replications. The experimental results indicate that the nonlinear dynamical model is more effective to describe the China stock market than the conventional "random walk" theory based stochastic models.


: In the experiments on rats of different ages it was found that the analgesic effect of clopheline was stronger in the adult animals as compared with 1-month-old ones. Against the background of the operative trauma (laparotomy) the inversion of the effect occurs, namely clopheline exerts a more potent analgesic effect of clopheline in young animals. Simultaneously in the young animals there is observed suppression of the memory processes based on the nociceptive reinforcement. The potentiation of the analgesic effect of clopheline in 1-month-old animals is followed by an increase of the activity of Na+, K(+)-ATPase in the brain cortex the degree of which (two times) corresponds to the rise of the analgesic effect.


Knowledge and technology uptake in the context of climate change adaptation is critical in ensuring that communities vulnerable to climate risks, respond effectively with appropriate actions, and particularly to its extreme events that are increasingly bedeviling agricultural natural resources and livelihoods, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Uptake as a subject is either loosely treated or lightly understood by actors in the African climate change research and development continuum. The objective of this article was to appraise the status of uptake of innovations (knowledge and technologies) of climate change adaptations in crop-based systems in Uganda, and propose viable Review Article Tenywa et al.; AIR, 11(2): 1-14, 2017; Article no.AIR.34892 2 interventions for enhancing the uptake process to obviate the escalating effects of climate change and its associated variability. The study was conducted during December 2016. It was dominantly a desk review, primarily based on existing online information sources and other national institutional repositories. The other information source was from a two-days stakeholder workshop involving key actors within the climate change research and development value chain in Uganda. They validated the synthesised information and supplemented with more recent events and hitherto undocumented scenarios. The study revealed that uptake of climate change adaptation actions was measurably low in the country; hence, communities were far from ready to face the recurrently changing and increasingly aggressive climate change events. Among the major contributors to slow uptake were lack of a coherent climate change activity coordination entity in the country, to organise actors into a functional service delivery system with minimum duplication; ensuring quality actions and following a unidirectional long term goal. The other hindrances included scattered knowledge and technologies, sub-optimal communication and extension services, technology products misconception, low adaptation capacity, unfavourable policies and policy environments, ineffectiveness traditional public and civil society extension agencies. Interventions are proposed to obviate these bottlenecks, using largely internal mechanisms.


A 6-year-old, neutered male Rottweiler was presented to the University of Illinois Veterinary Teaching Hospital because of a lytic bone lesion involving the distal portion of the right radius and possible pulmonary metastases on thoracic radiographs. Results of serum biochemical analysis were unremarkable. Aspiration and cytologic examination of the bone lesion indicated likely sarcoma with reactive bone. Cutaneous masses were found on the left thigh, interscapular region, and dorsal lumbar region, 4 weeks after initial presentation. Neoplastic spindle cells were found in aspirates from 2 of the masses. The neoplastic cells stained positive for alkaline phosphatase activity using cytochemistry. Re-evaluation of serum biochemical values at this time revealed a marked increase in alkaline phosphatase activity (413 U/L, reference interval 12-110 U/L) compared with the initial value (26 U/L). Due to progressive disease, the dog was euthanized and a necropsy was performed. Histologic findings included primary osteosarcoma of the distal portion of the right radius, with metastases in the lungs, spleen, left fourth and fifth ribs, soft tissue of the right medial thigh, and T1-T3/interscapular region. Cutaneous metastasis of primary appendicular osteosarcoma has been reported rarely in animals and humans. Increased serum alkaline phosphatase activity may be a potential indicator of poor prognosis for this neoplasm.


Prolonged alcohol (ethanol) consumption leads to the development of alcohol tolerance and cross-tolerance to some benzodiazepines and barbiturates. In contrast, rats undergoing alcohol withdrawal are sensitized to the anticonvulsant effects of the endogenous GABA(A) receptor modulator, 3alpha-hydroxy-5alpha-pregnan-20-one (3alpha,5alpha-THP). Alterations in endogenous, cerebral cortical levels of 3alpha,5alpha-THP during alcohol withdrawal could contribute to the observed sensitization to 3alpha,5alpha-THP. Therefore, this study investigated plasma and brain levels of 3alpha,5alpha-THP, progesterone, and corticosterone during alcohol dependence and withdrawal in the rat. Plasma corticosterone, progesterone (a precursor of 3alpha,5alpha-THP) and 3alpha,5alpha-THP levels were unchanged in alcohol-dependent animals. Cerebral cortical levels of 3alpha,5alpha-THP decreased in dependent male animals, but not in dependent female rats. During alcohol withdrawal, plasma corticosterone and progesterone levels increased in male, but not female rats. However, neither plasma nor cerebral cortical 3alpha,5alpha-THP levels were altered from control levels in male or female rats during alcohol withdrawal. Plasma and brain levels of 3alpha,5alpha-THP were markedly higher in female compared with male rats. Cerebral cortical levels of 3alpha,5alpha-THP during the diestrus phase of the estrus cycle were approximately 4 to 6 ng/g, a concentration that may approach physiological relevance. These findings suggest that sensitization to 3alpha,5alpha-THP during alcohol withdrawal is not mediated by elevations in brain levels of endogenous 3alpha,5alpha-THP in male or female rats. However, elevations in circulating corticosterone and progesterone levels during ethanol withdrawal in male rats may underlie gender differences in allopregnanolone sensitivity during ethanol withdrawal.


Background Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disorder. Patients with SLE have accelerated cardiovascular disease. Recent studies show there are more Th17 while less T regulatory (Treg) cells in the SLE patients. Th17/Treg imbalance may contribute to the pathogenesis of SLE. Objectives To investigate the underlying mechanisms of Th17/Treg imbalance, we test the proportion and susceptibility of Th17 and Treg to apoptosis, and the modulatory effects of statin in the SLE patients. Methods Totally 17 SLE patients and 20 gender- and age-matched control subjects were enrolled for this study. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated, either analyzed ex vivo, or cultured in the conditions to induce Th17 and/or Treg polarization. The proportion of Th17/Treg cells and frequency responding to apoptosis were analyzed by multiple color flow cytometry. Cytokines in cell culture supernatants and plasma were tested by ELISA. T cell polarization-related transcription factors were detected by quantitative real time PCR. Results The proportion of Th17 (CD4+IL17+) cells were higher in SLE patients, both in ex vivo and in the Th17-polarizing cultures. While the frequencies of Treg (CD4+CD25+CD127dim/-) cells were lower in the corresponding populations. Higher levels of IL17 and IL6 were detected in plasma of SLE patients. Responding to CD95-induced apoptosis the frequency of CD4+IL17+ cells from SLE patients was substantially lower, but that of CD4+CD25+CD127dim/- cells from Treg-polarizing cultures was considerably higher. With treatment of atorvastatin, CD4+IL17+ cell population in cultures derived from SLE patients showed an increased susceptibility to CD95-induced apoptosis. However, the CD4+CD25+CD127dim/- cell population had reduced response to apoptosis. Accordingly, the ratio of transcription factor RORC/FoxP3 decreased in T cell cultures of SLE patients. Conclusions Th17 cells were more resistant than Treg cells to CD95-induced apoptosis in SLE as compared to control subjects. Statins counteracted the dysregulated susceptibility of SLE T cells to apoptosis. Our findings reveal a novel mechanism underlying the imbalance of Th17/Treg and show a potential interest to the treatment of the patients with SLE. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Birds both promote and prosper from forest restoration. The ecosystem functions birds perform can increase the pace of forest regeneration and, correspondingly, increase the available habitat for birds and other forest-dependent species. The aim of this study was to learn how tropical forest restoration treatments interact with landscape tree cover to affect the structure and composition of a diverse bird assemblage. We sampled bird communities over two years in 13 restoration sites and two old-growth forests in southern Costa Rica. Restoration sites were established on degraded farmlands in a variety of landscape contexts, and each included a 0.25-ha plantation, island treatment (trees planted in patches), and unplanted control. We analyzed four attributes of bird communities including frugivore abundance, nectarivore abundance, migrant insectivore richness, and compositional similarity of bird communities in restoration plots to bird communities in old-growth forests. All four bird community variables were greater in plantations and/or islands than in control treatments. Frugivore and nectarivore abundance decreased with increasing tree cover in the landscape surrounding restoration plots, whereas compositional similarity to old-growth forests was greatest in plantations embedded in landscapes with high tree cover. Migrant insectivore richness was unaffected by landscape tree cover. Our results agree with previous studies showing that increasing levels of investment in active restoration are positively related to bird richness and abundance, but differences in the effects of landscape tree cover on foraging guilds and community composition suggest that trade-offs between biodiversity conservation and bird-mediated ecosystem functioning may be important for prioritizing restoration sites.


Biodiversity and ecology of fauna in percolating water from Slovenian and Romanian caves was studied. Research focused on unravelling the community structure of epikarst fauna, which is carried away by the trickles of percolating water from the epikarst and vadose zones. The major part of the fauna found in percolating water is represented by copepods. This fauna, originating in the epikarst, was analysed and by means of the systematic sampling and observation the same groups of animals were found in Slovenian and Romanian caves. Differences among caves and sampling points indicate that epikarst is a heterogenous habitat. Relationship between faunal richness and the physical characteristics of the water was found. Correlation between surface geomorphology and fauna in percolating water was statistically significant in the Postojna cave system.


Background The ability of deep learning (DL) algorithms to identify eyes with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) from optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans has been previously established. We herewith evaluate the ability of a DL model, showing excellent performance on a Korean data set, to generalse onto an American data set despite ethnic differences. In addition, expert graders were surveyed to verify if the DL model was appropriately identifying lesions indicative of nAMD on the OCT scans. Methods Model development data set—12 247 OCT scans from South Korea; external validation data set—91 509 OCT scans from Washington, USA. In both data sets, normal eyes or eyes with nAMD were included. After internal testing, the algorithm was sent to the University of Washington, USA, for external validation. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and precision–recall curve (AUPRC) were calculated. For model explanation, saliency maps were generated using Guided GradCAM. Results On external validation, AUC and AUPRC remained high at 0.952 (95% CI 0.942 to 0.962) and 0.891 (95% CI 0.875 to 0.908) at the individual level. Saliency maps showed that in normal OCT scans, the fovea was the main area of interest; in nAMD OCT scans, the appropriate pathological features were areas of model interest. Survey of 10 retina specialists confirmed this. Conclusion Our DL algorithm exhibited high performance for nAMD identification in a Korean population, and generalised well to an ethnically distinct, American population. The model correctly focused on the differences within the macular area to extract features associated with nAMD.


1. The dependence of the net transport of Na(+) and K(+) by rat liver on the respiration has been determined by incubating slices in the presence of varying concentrations of respiratory inhibitors. 2. Neither the rate of net transport nor the total amount of each ion transported was inhibited unless the rate of endogenous respiration was decreased below a critical value of about 330mmol of O(2)/h per kg of protein (i.e. 50% of the total endogenous respiration). 3. The uninhibited rate of respiration could be varied over a twofold range (380-770mmol of O(2)/h per kg of protein) by the use of different substrates, but the critical value for the onset of transport inhibition was quite constant (290-360mmol/h per kg of protein) under these different conditions. 4. Slices incubated at 38 degrees C without inhibitors showed an increase of their ATP content and the concentration ratio ATP/ADP. The final ATP content and concentration ratio, ATP/ADP, of slices treated with different concentrations of inhibitors were closely related to the rate of respiration. 5. The increased ATP content of the control slices during incubation was equal to the increase of total adenine nucleotides. At increasing degrees of respiratory inhibition the relative contributions of ADP and AMP to the total adenine nucleotide content increased. 6. The critical rate of respiration for the onset of inhibition of ion transport and the corresponding contents of adenine nucleotides provide estimates of the maximal values of certain parameters of energy metabolism required for the support of alkali-cation transport in the liver slices.


Urban habitats differ in their disturbance regimes, which act
as an environmental filter determining plant community species
composition. This is why plant communities in different urban
habitats provide a suitable model for studying the effects of
disturbance on phylogenetic diversity. We explore how
phylogenetic diversity varies across urban plant communities
and whether the introduction of alien species changes the
phylogenetic diversity of resident communities of native
species. In 32 cities in central Europe and Benelux countries
we studied seven types of habitats subject to different
disturbance regimes. Plots of 1 ha were sampled in each habitat
by recording all spontaneously occurring species of vascular
plants. A phylogenetic tree was constructed for all recorded
species and phylogenetic diversity based on phylogenetic
distances was calculated for each plot. A null model
corresponding to random distribution of species on the
phylogenetic tree was used to test whether phylogenetic
diversity is non-random. Phylogenetic diversity was compared
between the subsets of native and alien species, further
divided into archaeophytes and neophytes. Phylogenetic
diversity of plant communities in all the urban habitats
studied was lower than in the null model. It varied with the
disturbance regime in all the species subsets (native species,
archaeophytes and neophytes). Introduction of alien species
reduced phylogenetic diversity of the urban plant communities
studied. Archaeophytes (widespread and common species that had
enough time to spread to all suitable habitats) tended to
decrease phylogenetic diversity more strongly than neophytes
(often rare species which are still spreading and depend on
dispersal vectors). Low phylogenetic diversity of disturbed
plant communities in urban habitats probably results from
strong environmental filtering, which selects species from a
limited number of lineages that have traits that enable them to
survive in disturbed habitats.


E-Cadherin is a transmembrane glycoprotein that mediates Ca2+-dependent intercellular adhesion in normal epithelium. In tumors of epithelial origin, E-cadherin expression frequently is reduced, an event that contributes to tumor invasion and metastasis. The role of E-cadherin in hematopoietic tissues is less clear. In normal bone marrow, E-cadherin is expressed on erythroid progenitors, CD34+ stem cells, and stromal cells, where it likely contributes to intercellular interactions during hematopoiesis. In this study, we used a nested-PCR approach to examine the methylation status of the E-cadherin 5' CpG island in blood and bone marrow samples from normal donors and in bone marrow from patients with acute leukemia. In normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells and bone marrow, E-cadherin was completely unmethylated. In peripheral blood mononuclear cells, expression was evident by reverse transcription-PCR. Immunoblotting confirmed E-cadherin protein expression in two lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from normal donors. In contrast, E-cadherin was aberrantly methylated in 4 of 4 (100%) leukemia cell lines, 14 of 44 (32%) acute myelogenous leukemias, and 18 of 33 (53%) acute lymphoblastic leukemias. Genomic bisulfite sequencing of primary leukemias confirmed dense methylation across the CpG island. Methylation was associated with loss of E-cadherin RNA and protein in leukemia cell lines and primary leukemias. Following treatment with 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine, a methylated leukemia cell line expressed both E-cadherin transcript and protein. Our results show that methylation of E-cadherin occurs commonly in acute leukemia and suggests a hypothesis for E-cadherin down-regulation in leukemogenesis.


Social networks are expanding fast with the advance of latest technologies. Social networking has enormous benefit and is an influential and superior tool in communication but if they are not used with caution these sites can be harmful or bring harm to an individual. The intense use and revelation of information on social networking leads to certain privacy issues. The objective of this study is two-fold. Due to no privacy framework in social networking, this study is carried out to investigate the elements that influence privacy in social networking. Next, a privacy framework is designed for students based on Instagram as case study and the results obtained are evaluated. The study is conducted using quantitative methodology. The research instrument used for this study is structured questionnaire. Analysis is carried out based on the data collected from 252 respondents. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and Cronbach Alpha techniques are used for construct validation while Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression analysis are used to design the framework for privacy in social networking. The finding of this study is a framework for privacy in social networking is constructed. From the results, it is found that concern of data, risk, protection of identity, awareness and attitude variables are all positively related to privacy. Modifying factor site experience is positively related to attitude. The limitation of this study is that it is a single case study and thus the results cannot be generalized. To the best of knowledge, no other studies have incorporated all elements of privacy in social networking based on Instagram users.


Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a progressive disease resulting in degeneration of the articular cartilage. Previous studies have shown that people with knee OA walk with altered gait biomechanics, characterised by altered joint moments, increased knee muscle activity and increased muscular co-contraction. Modelling studies suggest that such altered muscle patterns may increase the loading on knee joint, with imaging studies suggesting that co-contraction may accelerate cartilage loss. Interestingly, there is now emerging evidence that people with knee OA walk with an increased flexion of the trunk. It is possible that this alteration in trunk position may underlie some of the previously observed biomechanical differences between people with knee OA and healthy control subjects.
The overall aim of this thesis is to develop new insight into whether alterations in muscle coordination, characteristic of people with knee OA, could result from an increased flexion of the trunk during walking. Five studies were conducted. The first study was designed, similar to previous research, to understand the key biomechanical differences between people with knee OA and healthy controls during walking. This study confirmed that people with knee OA walk with an increased sagittal plane inclination of the trunk and altered muscle patterns, including increased co-contraction. The second study aimed to understand the biomechanical effect of instruction young healthy people to walk with increased trunk flexion and specifically investigated lower limb kinetic patterns and the activation of the quadriceps, hamstrings and gastrocnemius along with muscle co-contraction. This third study also aimed to understand the biomechanical effects of increasing trunk flexion but looked at healthy older people and patients with knee OA. Both the second and third studies utilised a biofeedback approach and demonstrated clear changes in joint moments and increases in hamstring muscle activity and muscle co-contraction as trunk flexion was increased. Building on these two studies, the fourth study was designed to explore whether healthy people who habitually walk with an increased trunk inclination also demonstrate increased muscle activation. Again the data showed a clear association between increased trunk flexion and elevated muscle patterns, supporting the idea that some of the biomechanical characteristics associated with knee OA, may be the result of alterations in trunk inclination during walking and not due to pain and/or knee instability.
The final study was designed to explore a possible biomechanical mechanism which may underlie increased trunk flexion, both in healthy individuals and also in people with knee OA. Specifically, this study investigated the link between hip flexor length and trunk flexion, showing a moderate positive correlation between forward trunk inclination in walking and hip flexor muscle length. Overall, the findings of this Ph.D. demonstrated that patients with knee OA walk with approximately 3o more in sagittal plane inclination of the trunk and exhibit higher hamstrings muscle activations and co-contraction compared to matched healthy controls. The data from studies 2-4 support the idea that idea that these increases in muscle activation may be driven by increases in trunk flexion and the data from study 5 suggests that this increased trunk lean may result from a shortening of the hip flexor muscles. Together these data motivate future study into new interventions for knee OA which could target increased muscle activity by stretching the hip flexor muscles and improving postural control.


Neonates can perceive pain, therefore an adequate analgesic therapy is a major issue not only from an ethical perspective but also to improve short- and long-term outcome. Fever during the neonatal period requires hospitalization and needs a treatment with an antipyretic agent because of the high risk of severe complications. Paracetamol (acetaminophen), the most commonly prescribed drug in paediatric patients for its analgesic and antipyretic effects, is the only agent recommended for use as an antipyretic in the newborn and has been recently proposed as a supplement therapy to opioids for postoperative analgesia. This article aims to give an updated overview on the use of paracetamol in newborns by presenting its pharmacological profile (mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics), recommendations for dosing regimens (oral or rectal administration: 25-30 mg/kg/day in preterm neonates of 30 weeks' gestation, 45 mg/kg/day in preterm neonates of 34 weeks' gestation, 60 mg/kg/day in term neonates; i.v. administration: indicatively 20-40 mg/kg/day depending on gestational age, with some differences among various guidelines) and clinical uses (more commonly as analgesic/antipyretic by oral or rectal route, but also i.v. in anaesthesia for postoperative analgesia and painful procedures in Neonatal Intensive Care Units). Moreover, drug tolerability is discussed in the light of its potential hepatotoxicity and the unique characteristics of the newborn patient. By analyzing the available literature and the dosing guidelines, a mismatch exists between the current clinical use of paracetamol and the recommendations, suggesting a cautious approach particularly in extremely preterm neonates.


While the inspection time (IT) paradigm has proved itself as one of our best candidates for a reductive measure of general ability, some unsolved problems impede interpretation of the correlation between IQ scores and IT. Foremost among these are concerns that stimulus artifacts may reduce the validity of IT as a measure of processing speed. Attempts to use meta-contrast masks to eliminate apparent movement strategy have proven unsuccessful [Am J Psychol 106 (1993) 191.]. This paper reports on the effectiveness of three backward masks to reduce apparent motion strategies in the IT paradigm as well as assessing putative personality effects on masking and IT. The ability of subjects to use apparent motion was investigated using the traditional IT mask, and two new masks: flash and lines. Apparent motion was most frequently reported by subjects under the traditional masking condition. IQ scores based on a test of figural manipulation (Alice Heim 5 figural) were significantly negatively correlated with reported perception and use of apparent motion cues in the standard IT mask condition, but not in the new mask conditions. Significant negative correlations between IT and IQ were obtained in all masking conditions, suggesting that the use of apparent motion cues does not determine the significant and negative correlation between IT and IQ. Results suggested that future research should employ masks of the type tested here. D 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.


This study was conducted at Arba Minch Zuria Woreda. The area lacks in-depth studies to identify the determinant factors that influence the use of irrigation water.  In the study area it is also not well known to what extent the households using irrigation water were better-off than those who depend on rain-fed agriculture. Therefore, the study was focused on assessing the determinants of small-scale irrigation practice and its contribution on household farm income. The total population in the selected three villages stratified in to two strata (irrigation user and non-user). Then systematic sampling method was employed to select the respondents' household from the population frames of two strata. The descriptive statistics and the binary logistic regression analysis were used for analyzing quantitative data. The results show that sex of respondents'; household size engaged in the agricultural labor force and number of contact of respondents with agricultural development agents per month had significant positive effect on the use of irrigation water at 1% significance level. While education level and attendance on irrigation related training had significant positive effect on the use of irrigation water at 10% significance level. On the other hand, farm distance from the river and the main irrigation canal had significant negative effect on the use of irrigation water at 1% significance level. Out of the total Irrigation user respondents' household (98.2) have harvested perennial crops more than two times and grown annual crops two times per year from the same farm. While out of the total irrigation non-user respondents' household depended on only rain fed agriculture (90.7%) have grown annual crops only one time per year from the same farm. Consequently, the independent sample test result showed that the irrigation user respondents' household obtained significantly larger mean annual gross farm income than irrigation non-user respondents' household at 1% significance level.

 Key Words: Irrigation, income, t-test and logistic.


Answer Set Programming (ASP) is a well-established logic programming formalism. Problem solving in ASP requires to write an ASP program whose answers sets correspond to solutions. Despite the non-existence of answer sets for some ASP programs can be a modeling feature, it turns out to be a weakness in many other cases, and especially for query answering. Paracoherent answer set semantics extend the classical semantics of ASP to draw meaningful conclusions also from incoherent logic programs, with the result of increasing the range of applications of ASP. State of the art implementations of paracoherent ASP adopt the semi-stable and the semi-equilibrium models semantics, but cannot compute split semi-equilibrium semantics, also known as modular paracoherent semantics, that discards undesirable semi-equilibrium models. In this paper, we introduce and discuss a first approach for the computation of modular paracoherent answer sets.


Abstract The brown bear (Ursus arctos) is the largest carnivore in Turkey and has been legally protected since 2003. However, increasing levels of conflict between brown bears and humans have been reported for several regions, especially for Artvin in northeastern Turkey. We documented the conflict in an attempt to understand human attitudes and responses and evaluate existing and potential damage prevention techniques. The study was conducted within landscapes at different scales, ranging from a core area defined by a large valley system to the whole of the Artvin Province. Data on close encounters, injuries, and damage caused were collected through government records, published literature, and open-ended interviews with the local people. On more than two-thirds of close encounters recorded, no harm occurred to bear or people. Bear attacks on humans were rare and only occasionally led to non-fatal injuries. Nevertheless, several bears were shot and killed in the study area during the study (2002–2005), apparently as a consequence of damage experienced by farmers. Interviews indicated a widespread belief that bears have become more of a problem. Bear damage was reported mostly in late summer for field crops and orchards and in spring for beehives. Precautions taken by villagers relied mostly on locally available technologies and varied in effectiveness against bears. We propose that introduction and implementation of modern techniques of exclusion such as portable electric fences around valuable resources (e.g. bee yards), improvements in bear awareness, and effective cooperation among various stakeholders would reduce human–bear conflict to acceptable levels in the region.