Simultaneous analysis and removal of various heavy metal ions has received increasing concerns because they are usually co-existent with different toxicological effects. Ion imprinted polymers (IIPs) can effectively identify water-soluble ions especially heavy metal ions, however, multi-ion imprinting is rarely performed owing to possible cross-reactivity and matrix interferences. In this work, a novel and generally applicable IIPs strategy was proposed for simultaneous preconcentration and removal of four heavy metal ions based on dithizone chelation. Multi-ion imprinted polymers (MIIPs) embedded in a sol–gel matrix were prepared by using Hg2+, Cd2+, Ni2+ and Cu2+ as templates and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane as a functional monomer, and the possible synergy mechanism was explored between dithizone coordination chemistry and multi-ion imprinting. The structures, morphologies and thermostability of MIIPs were well characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) and thermogravimetry analysis (TGA). The resultant MIIPs showed high binding capacity and fast dynamics, and the adsorption processes obeyed Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order dynamic models. The MIIPs displayed excellent selectivity toward the four target ions particularly over Pb2+, Zn2+ and Co2+ with selective coefficients of 6.8–16.9, as well as high anti-interference ability when confronted with common co-present various ions. Moreover, a high preparation yield of 41% and good reusability over 90% desorption efficiency were obtained. Consequently, the MIIPs were used as solid-phase extraction sorbents for preconcentration of trace Hg2+, Cd2+, Ni2+ and Cu2+, presenting high detectability up to 6.0–22.5 ng L−1 and satisfactory recoveries ranging from 94.7–110.2% in seawater samples. The developed MIIPs-based method proved to be a practically feasible method in heavy metal removal and water pretreatment.


Many in India feared that the burgeoning US--India relationship would collapse under President Obama, but his policies so far have alleviated these concerns. The US has not tried to mediate in Kashmir, has gone ahead on the civil nuclear energy agreement, and entered into a high-level strategic dialogue with India. The biggest potential thorn in US--India relations could be the US approach to Pakistan: Obama could be tempted to tolerate a military-dominated Pakistan and, in order to enable a speedy exit from Afghanistan, could seek a Chinese guarantee in Afghanistan and (indirectly) Pakistan. This would have serious consequences for India and would bring back bitter memories of US instrumentalism in South Asia.


Soils developed on relict hydrothermally altered soils throughout the Western United States present unique opportunities to study the role of geology on above and belowground biotic activity and composition. Soil and vegetation samples were taken at three unaltered andesite and three hydrothermally altered (acid-sulfate) sites located in and around Lassen Volcanoes National Park in northeastern California. In addition, three different types of disturbed areas (clearcut, thinned, pipeline) were sampled in acid-sulfate altered sites. Soils were sampled (0 to 15 centimeters) in mid-summer 2010 from both under-canopy and between-canopy areas within each of the sites. Soils were analyzed for numerous physical and chemical properties along with soil enzyme assays, carbon and nitrogen mineralization potential, microbial biomass-carbon and carbon-substrate utilization. Field vegetation measurements consisted of canopy cover by life form (tree, shrub, forb, grass), tree and shrub density, and above-ground net primary productivity of the understory. Overall, parameters at the clearcut sites were more similar to the unaltered sites, while parameters at the thinned and pipeline sites were more similar to the altered sites. We employed principal components analysis to develop two soil quality indices to help quantify the differences among the sites: one based on the correlation between soil parameters and canopy cover, and the second based on six sub-indices. Soil quality indices developed in these systems could provide a means for monitoring and identifying key relations between the vegetation, soils and microorganisms.


Background: Visual impairment (VI) in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) worsens as the disease progresses. Therefore, quality of life (QOL) may also be affected. Furthermore, in the absence of macular involvement, some patients may benefit from visual intervention. However, not many Malaysians with known DM had their eyes screened or used correctable spectacles. Consequently, the QOL and VI status of patients with DM in Malaysia remain unclear. This study was aimed at determining the impact of optometric intervention on the QOL and VI status of adults with type II DM.
Methods: This was a quasi-self-controlled, experimental study involving adults with known type II DM. We conducted face-to-face interviews using the low vision quality-of-life questionnaire (LVQOL). The habitual visual acuity (VA) of all participants was recorded. All participants underwent fundus photography to grade diabetic retinopathy (DR) in both eyes. Correctable VA was determined following subjective refraction when the best-corrected distance visual acuity (BCDVA) was 6 /9 and better. After a 3-week adaptation to the prescribed refractive error correction, LVQOL was repeated via a phone interview.
Results: A total of 47 participants with type II DM, including 16 (34%) men and 31 (66%) women, with a mean (standard deviation [SD]) age of 49.0 (7.9) years were recruited. The age range was 32 – 59 years, and the baseline mean (SD) habitual binocular VA was 0.52 (0.31) decimal. Only 15% (n = 7 patients) of the participants had their vision tested and wore glasses; however, some were uncomfortable with the current corrections. All patients had undercorrected or uncorrected refractive errors, namely, hyperopic astigmatism (47%), myopic astigmatism (38%), hyperopia (6%), myopia (4%), and antimetropia (4%). Among the 47 participants, 89% (n = 42) had uncorrected presbyopia. The mean (SD) LVQOL score at baseline was 91.9 (17.3), which improved significantly with visual intervention to 122.8 (3.2) (P < 0.05). Refractive error corrections significantly improved the VI status (P < 0.05), as all participants achieved a BCDVA of 6 / 9 and better.
Conclusions: Our findings indicate that optometric intervention is effective in improving the LVQOL and VI status of adults with type II DM. Further clinical optometric studies on type II DM with DR with a longer follow-up should be carried out to understand the clinical characteristics of this cohort and the impact of meticulous refractions on QOL in providing better services in the future.


We present the first demonstration of a fiber pumped source of coherent gigahertz (GHz) radiation based on parametric processes. The GHz source is compact, and pumped by two Q-switched highly codoped phosphate all-fiber lasers in a fusion-spliced master oscillator power amplifier chain at eye safe C-band wavelengths, with a GaSe crystal used for difference-frequency generation. The final stage used a novel highly codoped phosphate glass fiber that was only 12 cm long, and scaled the peak power of the narrow linewidth fiber laser to more than 4 kW. The generated GHz radiation at 270 GHz has a peak power of 48.1 muW, corresponding to a peak power spectral density of ~1.2 W/THz with an estimated linewidth of 40 MHz.


The Datagram Congestion Control Protocol (DCCP) is a transport-layer
protocol that provides upper layers with the ability to use non-
reliable congestion-controlled flows. DCCP is not widely deployed in
the Internet, and the reason for that can be defined as a typical
example of a chicken-egg problem. Even if an application developer
decided to use DCCP, the middle-boxes like firewalls and NATs would
prevent DCCP end-to-end since they lack support for DCCP. Moreover, as
long as the protocol penetration of DCCP does not increase, the
middle-boxes will not handle DCCP properly. To overcome this
challenge, NAT/NATP traversal and UDP encapsulation for DCCP is
already defined. However, the former requires special middle-box
support and the latter introduces overhead. The recent proposal of a
multipath extension for DCCP further underlines the challenge of
efficient middle-box passing as its main goal is to be applied over
the Internet, traversing numerous uncontrolled middle-boxes. This
document introduces a new solution which disguises DCCP during
transmission as UDP without requiring middle-box modification or
introducing any overhead.


We experimentally demonstrate all-solid 30 and 90 μm core diameter multi-trench fibers. Measurements ensure an effective single-mode operation over a wide range of bend radius in the case of 30 μm core fiber, making it suitable for applications like beam delivery and compact fiber lasers. On the other hand, a 90 μm core fiber ensures an effective single-mode operation and shows good potential for rod-type fiber laser applications. Both fibers were fabricated by the conventional modified chemical vapor deposition process in conjunction with the rod-in-tube technique, hence making them suitable for mass production.


Evaluation of socio-economic impact is an emerging theme for publicly-funded academic research. Within this context, the paper suggests that the concept of institutional research capital be expanded to include the capture and evaluation of socio-economic impact. Furthermore, it argues that understanding the typology of impacts and the tracking from research to impact will assist the formulation of institutional strategies for capturing socio-economic impact. A three-stage approach is proposed for capturing and planning activities to enhance the generation of high-quality impact. Stage one outlines the critical role of user engagement that facilitates the tracking of such impact. Stage two employs an analytical framework based on the criteria of 'depth' and 'spread' to evaluate impacts that have been identified. Stage three utilises the outcomes of the framework to devise strategies, consisting of either further research (to increase depth) or more engagement (to increase spread) that will improve the generation of higher quality impact.


Most ultrafine-grained (UFG) materials produced by severe plastic deformation (SPD) exibit only limited ductility which is correlated with the low strain rate sensitivity (SRS) of these materials. Recently, it was demonstrated that SPD is capable of increasing the room temperature ductility of aluminum-based alloys attaining elongations up to 150%, together with relatively high strain rate sensitivity. In the present work, additional results and discussions are presented on the effect of grain boundary sliding (GBS) and SRS on the ductility of some UFG metals and alloys. The characteristics of constitutive equations describing the steady-state deformation process are quantitatively analyzed for a better understanding of the effects of grain boundaries and strain rate sensitivity.


Importance
Assessment of melolabial flap perfusion using indocyanine green (ICG) angiography for nasal reconstruction has not been previously described.

Objective
To assess melolabial flap relative perfusion using ICG angiography in nasal reconstruction and highlight its clinical relevance.

Design, Setting, and Participants
In this retrospective case series at a tertiary referral center, 10 patients undergoing melolabial flap reconstruction of nasal defects between January 2015 to April 2018 with flap perfusion were assessed by ICG angiography.

Exposures
Indocyanine green angiography was performed to assess melolabial flap perfusion at second stage surgery after temporary clamping of the pedicle and after pedicle division and flap inset.

Main Outcomes and Measures
Flap perfusion in relation to a reference point on the cheek was calculated after both pedicle clamping and division by 2 methods: (1) ingress (arterial inflow) and egress (venous outflow) flap-to-cheek ratio; (2) flap-to-cheek perfusion (fluorescence) ratio at 3 time points (midpoint of ICG flap inflow, maximum [peak] fluorescence, and midpoint of ICG outflow), and their calculated mean. Correlations of perfusion with time between stages, and patient factors were performed; perfusion parameters after temporary pedicle clamping and after division and flap inset were compared.

Results
Ten patients (mean [SD] age, 66 [7.5] years) were enrolled with a mean (SD) interval of 23 (4) days between first and second surgery. No correlation existed between perfusion parameters and time interval between first and second stage, or any other patient factors. Of the different perfusion parameters, a statistically significant difference was observed when comparing temporary clamping and postdivision mean (SD) flap-to-cheek perfusion ratio (0.89 [0.22] and 0.80 [0.19]; 95% CI, 4.1-12.6; P = .001), as well as mean (SD) peak perfusion ratio (0.81 [0.2] and 0.77 [0.2]; 95% CI, 0.005-0.080; P = .02) only. No partial or complete flap necrosis was reported after pedicle division.

Conclusions and Relevance
Indocyanine green angiography is an effective method to determine neovascularization perfusion of melolabial flaps, with a mean perfusion of 89% after pedicle clamping. Future applications of this technology include use in patients at high risk for flap necrosis, or those who may benefit from early flap division to ensure adequate perfusion and minimize the time interval between staged procedures.

Level of Evidence
NA.


Background: Needlestick and sharp injuries have been identified as the most dangerous factor among health-care workers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 385,000 health-care workers experience needlestick each year. Methods: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of needlestick injuries (NSIs) in Iranian health-care workers. In this review and meta-analysis, the local and international databases such as Scopus, Medline, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Scientific Information Database (SID), and Magiran were searched using keywords including "prevalence" OR "needle" OR "needle stick" OR "Sharp injury" OR "Iranian personnel's" OR "Iranian health care workers" OR "Iranian hospitals" OR "Iran." The original researches that determined the prevalence of NSIs among Iranian health-care workers and published from January 2005 to June 2019 were included in the current study. The pooled prevalence of NSIs was determined using a random-effects model with a 95% confidence interval. All analyses were performed using STATA version 11 (Stata Corporation, College Station, TX, USA). P < 0.05 was considered as a significant level. Results: The overall prevalence of NSIs among Iranian health-care personnel was about 50.8 (46.3–55.2). Furthermore, this prevalence in educational, noneducational, both noneducational and educational, and military centers was about 51.1 (46.5–57.7), 40.4.1 (34.2–46.6), 61.0 (32.1–89.9), and 41.5 (23.0–60.0), respectively. The prevalence of NSIs among the nurses was 51.1 (45.4–56.8), which was more than other groups. Conclusions: The prevalence of NSIs in Iranian hospitals was high. Since most of the injuries are caused by nurses, more intervention programs should be designed for nurses in these wards.


'Recently Pope Benedict remarked: "the quality of homilies needs to be improved". The Pope made this comment in the context of his extended reflection on the recent Synod in Rome (2010) on the word of God in the mission and life of the Church. The homily is an integral part of Christian liturgy. It is an honoured way of bringing the word of God to life such that people are helped to see the relevance of the word in their everyday lives. The homily is also an art form which needs to be practised and developed with skill. It seems to me, as a preacher myself, that what people are looking for in the homily is an articulate, faith-filled, knowledgeable commentary on the word of God which speaks to their everyday life and experience. People want to see the fire, desire and conviction in the person who preaches. This is a constant challenge. Mark O'Brien here presents his reflections on Year C of the lectionary, based on the Gospel of Luke. This is the companion volume to the earlier ones for Years A and B. Mark offers homilists a great service here. In two to three pages or several hundred words he gives an erudite and practical reflection on the word of God for the particular Sunday or feast as a good foundation on which any homilist can then build. Pope Benedict continues: "The art of good preaching based on the lectionary is an art that needs to be cultivated." In these short but insightful reflections on the readings of the lectionary Mark makes an excellent contribution to developing the art form of good preaching to the benefit of both those who preach and those who hear them.'


ABSTRACT Anti-aquaporin-4 (Aqp-4) antibody and complement system have emerged as major pathogenic factors in neuromyelitis optica (NMO). To test the significance of interleukin-6 (IL-6), another important humoral immunity factor, in NMO pathogenesis, we measured serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) IL-6 levels of 23 NMO, 11 transverse myelitis, 16 optic neuritis, 27 relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis patients, and 20 neurologically normal controls. NMO and transverse myelitis patients had higher serum and CSF IL-6 levels than other groups. Particularly, anti-Aqp-4 positive NMO patients (n == 12) had higher serum/CSF IL-6 levels than anti-Aqp-4 negative patients (n == 11) and CSF IL-6 levels correlated with anti-Aqp-4 levels and disease severity of the NMO patients. Our results suggest that IL-6 is involved in NMO pathogenesis presumably via anti-Aqp-4 associated mechanisms.


The cholesterol sulfotransferase SULT2B1b converts cholesterol to cholesterol sulfate (CS). We previously reported that SULT2B1b inhibits hepatic gluconeogenesis by antagonizing the gluconeogenic activity of hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 (HNF4α). In this study, we showed that the SULT2B1b gene is a transcriptional target of HNF4α, which led to our hypothesis that the induction of SULT2B1b by HNF4 represents a negative feedback to limit the gluconeogenic activity of HNF4α. Indeed, downregulation of Sult2B1b enhanced the gluconeogenic activity of HNF4α, which may have been accounted for by the increased acetylation of HNF4 as a result of decreased expression of the HNF4 deacetylase sirtuin 1 (Sirt1). The expression of Sult2B1b was also induced by HNF4 upon fasting, and the Sult2B1b null (Sult2B1b-/-) mice showed increased gluconeogenic gene expression and an elevated fasting glucose level, suggesting that SULT2B1b also plays a restrictive role in HNF4 -mediated fasting-responsive gluconeogenesis. We also developed thiocholesterol, a hydrolysis-resistant derivative of CS, which showed superior activity to that of the native CS in inhibiting gluconeogenesis and improving insulin sensitivity in high-fat-diet-induced diabetic mice. We conclude that the HNF4α -SULT2B1b-CS axis represents a key endogenous mechanism to prevent uncontrolled gluconeogenesis. Thiocholesterol may be used as a therapeutic agent to manage hyperglycemia.

Steroid sulfatase (STS), a desulfating enzyme that converts steroid sulfates to hormonally active steroids, plays an important role in the homeostasis of sex hormones. STS is expressed in the adipose tissue of both male and female mice, but the role of STS in the development and function of adipose tissue remains largely unknown. In this report, we first showed that the adipose expression of Sts was induced in the high-fat diet (HFD) and ob/ob models of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Transgenic overexpression of the human STS in the adipose tissue of male mice exacerbated the HFD induced metabolic phenotypes, including increased body weight gain and fat mass, and worsened insulin sensitivity, glucose tolerance and energy expenditure, which were accounted for by adipocyte hypertrophy, increased adipose inflammation, and dysregulation of adipogenesis. The metabolic harm of the STS transgene appeared to have resulted from increased androgen activity in the adipose tissue, and castration abolished most of the phenotypes. Interestingly, the transgenic effects were sex-specific, because the HFD-fed female STS transgenic mice exhibited improved metabolic functions, which were associated with attenuated adipose inflammation. The metabolic benefit of the STS transgene in female mice was accounted for by increased estrogenic activity in the adipose tissue, whereas such benefit was abolished upon ovariectomy. Our results revealed an essential role of the adipose STS in energy homeostasis in sex- and sex hormone-dependent manner. The adipose STS may represent a novel therapeutic target for the management of obesity and type 2 diabetes.

In summary, I have uncovered novel roles and mechanisms of SULT2B1b and STS in HNF4α mediated hepatic gluconeonenesis and in estrogen receptor (ER)/ androgen receptor (AR) mediated energy homeostasis of adipose tissue respectively, which may facilitate the development of novel interventions for metabolic syndromes.


Ultrasonic sound velocity measurements with hand-held equipment remain due to their simplicity among the most used methods for non-destructive grading of sawn woods, yet a dedicated normalization effort with respect to strength classes for Spanish species is still required. As part of an ongoing project with the aim of definition of standard testing methods, the effect of the dimensions of commonly tested Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) timbers and equipment testing frequency on ultrasonic velocity were investigated. A dedicated full-wave finite-difference time-domain software allowed simulation of pulse propagation through timbers of representative length and section combinations. Sound velocity measurements vL were performed along the grain with the indirect method at 22 kHz and 45 kHz for grids of measurement points at specific distances. For sample sections larger than the cross-sectional wavelength ?RT, the simulated sound velocity vL converges to vL = (CL/?)0.5. For smaller square sections the sound velocity drops down to vL = (EL/?)0.5, where CL, EL and ? are the stiffness, E-modul and density, respectively. The experiments confirm a linear regression between time of flight and measurement distance even at less than two wavelength menor que2?L distance, the fitted sound speed values increased by 15% between the two tested frequencies.


brand of mesh were not associated with SBO. Only ELOS was found to be associated with SBO on multivariate analysis. Mean age was 66.1 years and mean BMI 28.2. Robotic console time between 59 and 123 min. All 8 reoperations for SBO had previous abdominal procedures, and 6 were coded as ELOS. There were no reoperations for SBO in patients with no previous abdominal surgery. CONCLUSIONS: RASCP is a safe and durable surgery for repair of POP. Risk of reoperation for SBO is associated with concomitant ELOS. In ELOS patients the risk of SBO is 7.5% and in patients without ELOS the risk is 0.5%. Although many patients pre-senting for RASCP have had previous abdominal operations, not all such patients require ELOS. For patients with histories of numerous prior bowel or abdominal surgeries who are at increased risk for ELOS at time of RASCP, careful patient selection is recommended and appropriate preoperative counseling suggested.


Most telecommunication systems employ modulation techniques that require the transceiver to be capable of accurately estimating the phase of the transmission signal. The frequency synthesizer is a key element and extensively utilized to synthesize frequencies for such radio-frequency communication systems. A common topology for the frequency synthesizer is the charge-pump based phase-locked loop. The development and design of frequency synthesizer is known to be a complex and time-consuming task, aggravated by the vast difference in frequencies between the output and the internal signals. It is often necessary to perform long transient simulations with short time steps to achieve reliable results. This thesis will treat these difficulties and propose solutions to some of the design issues that concerns the frequency synthesizer. In most modern frequency synthesizers the phase detection circuits are capable of detecting both the frequency and phase difference. Such phase detectors are collectively known as phase-frequency detectors and generally employ some kind of memory functionality. The inherited memory in the phase-frequency detectors rouse the need for new models describing the synthesizer. Throughout this thesis the dynamic and noise behavior in the presence of phase-frequency detector are especially investigated. The derived theory and conclusions are validated through earlier presented research as well as simulations of both the phase-frequency detector and the frequency synthesizer. A high reference frequency is often sought after in frequency synthesizers, since it then becomes possible to lower the division ratio in the frequency synthesizer. This will in turn lower the close-in phase noise of the synthesizer as well as decrease the power consumption of the divider chain. Unfortunately, it has also been shown that the size of the phase-frequency detectors blind-zone is directly proportional to the reference input frequency. Consequently, frequency synthesizers, utilizing high reference frequencies, will also have to include the effects of the phase-frequency detector's blind zone to accurately estimate the frequency synthesizer behavior. The blind-zone effect will become even more important as the tendency for high reference frequencies is further pursued. This thesis, therefore, investigates the influence of the phase-frequency detector blind zone. The results from these investigations have shown that a large blind zone is deteriorative for the settling time, but has little influence on the synthesizer noise performance. However, for an exceptional large blind zone there is the possibility that noise, present in the circuit, will force the synthesizer out of the locked condition. Nonlinear models are developed and utilized to fully capture the frequency synthesizer's dynamic behavior both in the locked and out-of-locked condition. The models are presented in the state-space form to facilitate simulations and to describe the internal variables within the synthesizer. Two different closed formulas for the settling time are given for a synthesizer with and without a phase-frequency detector exhibiting blind zone. For the phase noise performance in the frequency synthesizer the nonlinear state-space model has been expanded with time-domain noise sources correlated according to the input noise sources. The linearized phase-domain noise model is compared to the state-space model. The comparison shows that the phase-domain model describes the phase noise property of the synthesizer well below the loops bandwidth. However, for offsets larger than the loop bandwidth the linearized phase-domain is insufficient.


Most of developing countries are now experiencing revolution in e-government to deliver fluent and simple services for their citizens. But, the organization will face three main problems if it decided to modernize its IT infrastructure; firstly, there are many solutions of new technologies, how to choose between them. Secondly, what is the impact of the factors affect on those solutions? Thirdly, what is the degree of readiness each of these factors to comply this new changing? Therefore, a systematic approach to measure organization readiness for adopting this new solution is needed, this paper proposes a practical framework helps in answering these questions and assists decision makers in estimating organization readiness for adopting all IT suggested solutions and to compare between these solutions. Whereas, it will use Multi-Criteria Decision Making method to rank the alternatives, taking into account all the attributes and factors affect the result, finally, it assess the degree of readiness of these factors to accept the preferred solution.


United States patent law's view on the need for a physical embodiment of the invention, and the continued production and use of an embodiment, varies over the last two centuries. In the early days, the requirement for "physicalism" was high, with the inventor being required to actually reduce the invention to practice prior to patenting and enforceability was tied to "working" the claimed invention. By the early 1900s, these requirements of physicalism disappeared. This changing view on physicalism speaks volumes as to which major patent theory the law emphasizes, with physicalism supporting the incentive to invent theory and the shift away from this physicalism bringing the disclosure theory to the forefront. This interplay between physicalism and patent theory, particularly regarding post-issuance physicalism, not only explains the past, it also describes the current discourse regarding, and legal reaction to, non-practicing entities ("NPEs"). Decisions such as eBay v. MercExchange, denying exclusivity to NPEs, once again emphasize physicalism and are interrelated to the incentive to invent and, in turn, downplay the disclosure theory and question its current validity as a patent policy goal.


Ontologies have been widely accepted as the most advanced knowledge representation model. They are among the most important building blocks of semantic web, hence, very crucial for the success of semantic web. This paper discusses a fast and efficient method to facilitate the evaluation and enrichment of domain ontologies using a text-mining approach. We exploit domain specific texts and glossaries or dictionaries in order to automatically generate g-groups and f-groups. These groups are sets of concepts/terms which have either taxonomic or non-taxonomic relationships among them. The domain expert ontology engineer reviews these generated groups and uses them to evaluate and enrich the domain ontology. We have developed an extensive and detailed ontology in the field of environmental science using this approach in interaction with domain expert. Empirical results show that our approach can support domain expert ontology engineers in building domain specific ontologies efficiently.


This study investigated the relationship between computer literacy and teacher's job effectiveness of secondary schools in Kwara State, Nigeria. The study was a correlation survey. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select 1800 respondents. The respondents were comprised of 40 principals, 80 vice principals, 120 heads of departments, 120 teachers, and 200 prefects totaling 600 respondents from each of the three senatorial districts in Kwara State. Five research hypotheses were generated for the study. Computer Literacy Questionnaire (CLQ) and Teacher's Job Effectiveness Questionnaire (TJEQ) were used to collect relevant data. The instruments were validated and the reliability index of .63 and .69 was obtained for the (CLQ) and (TJEQ) respectively. The data obtained were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation statistic and t-test statistics and tested at .05 significance level. The findings revealed that computer literacy encourages appreciation and utilization of computers during teaching learning processes which invariably aid teachers' job effectiveness, such as job performance, record keeping, school discipline, and supports students' academic performance. It also revealed that computer literate teachers perform better in the schools than non-computer literate teachers in the schools by making use of computers during their teaching, the use of computers arouse students' interest in the teachings which supports effective student academic performance. Those schools with non-computer literate teachers were never exposed to computers' usage which detracted from effective teaching and learning in the schools. It was recommended that computer systems be supplied to every school for the teachers and students use by the government, nongovernmental agencies, and philanthropists. Also all teachers should be encouraged by the government through provision of in service computer training opportunities. In doing so, teachers' job effectiveness in Kwara State secondary schools will improve.


The present work is a summary of the status of lattice pentaquark calculations. After a pedagogic introduction to the basics of lattice hadron spectroscopy we give a critical comparison of results presently available in the literature. Special emphasis is put on presenting some of the possible pitfalls of these calculations. In particular we discuss at length the choice of the hadronic operators and the separation of genuine five-quark states from meson-baryon scattering states.


r f *HE Worth Organ Book contains a set of seven short pieces, the majority of which will be found suitable for use at liturgical services. They are not, in the writer's opinion, all of equal value for this purpose. The constant use of the dotted quaver in the last number, for example, gives a some what flippant effect, while the second number, with its smooth, rhythmical swing and harmonies of a modal character, is an acceptable and pleasing one to play. Amateur organists in convents and in the smaller parochial churches would probably find the book more useful had the music been arranged on two, instead of three, staves, with indications for pedals where necessary. The book will nevertheless be a welcome addition to the repertoire of Catholic organists.


BACKGROUND
 Virtual hospital apps are mobile apps that offer functionalities of online consultation, medical guidance, health community forums, referrals, outpatient appointments or virtual hospital-to-home care services. With an increasing number of online medical and health care consulting services, virtual hospital apps have made health care more accessible and fairer for all, especially in China. However, they have occurred without control or regulation. User evaluation can provide directions to help apps optimize identification, lower risks, and guarantee service quality.

 OBJECTIVE
 We aimed to conduct a systematic search for virtual hospital apps in China. To get a global view, virtual hospital apps were assessed and characterized by means of quantitative analysis. To get a local view, we conducted a content feedback analysis to explore user requirements, expectations, and preferences.

 METHODS
 A search was conducted of the most popular Apple and Android app stores in China. We characterized and verified virtual hospital apps and grouped apps according to quantification analysis. We then crawled apps and paid attention to corresponding reviews to incorporate users' involvement, and then performed aspect-based content labeling and analysis using an inductive approach.

 RESULTS
 A total of 239 apps were identified in the virtual hospital app markets in China, and 2686 informative corresponding reviews were analyzed. The evidence showed that usefulness and ease of use were vital facts for engagement. Users were likely to trust a consulting service with a high number of downloads. Furthermore, users expected frequently used apps with more optimization to improve virtual service. We characterized apps according to 4 key features: (1) app functionalities, including online doctor consultation, in-app purchases, tailored education, and community forums; (2) security and privacy, including user data management and user privacy; (3) health management, including health tracking, reminders, and notifications; and (4) technical aspects, including user interface and equipment connection.

 CONCLUSIONS
 Virtual hospitals relying on the mobile internet are growing rapidly. A large number of virtual hospital apps are available and accessible to a growing number of people. Evidence from this systematic search can help various types of virtual hospital models enhance virtual health care experiences, go beyond offline hospitals, and continuously meet the needs of individual end users.


In a world where outsourcing is fast becoming one of the largest revenue-generating business, information technology (IT) organizations in developed countries have come to recognize that in order to survive and to grow, they need to demonstrate to their clients that they are among the best. If not, they run the chance of becoming the next outsourcing statistic. Likewise, IT organizations in developing countries that provide outsourcing services also need to demonstrate to their clients in North America and Europe that they are among the best in the world, in order to benefit from outsourcing opportunities. This paper describes a method used to measure the expected quality of products and services developed by IT organizations. The approach described herein is based on a sample of 40 comprehensive appraisals conducted in South America, Europe and North America, and shows that an IT organization should focus on improving and deploying processes that prevent the potential problems to which it is exposed from occurring, and degenerating into crises. Process maturity is meaningless without having this objective in mind


Abstract Naturally fractured reservoirs (NFR), such as the large carbonate reservoirs in the Middle East, contain a major part of the world's remaining conventional oil reserves, but recovering these is especially challenging as the fractures only constitute fluid conduits while the oil is trapped in a low-permeability rock matrix. Recovery factors are therefore difficult to estimate, permeability anisotropy is high, size and shape of drainage areas are difficult to constrain, early water breakthrough is likely to be associated with a high and irreversible water cut, and secondary recovery behaviour is unusual. Outcrop-analogue model-based discrete fracture and matrix (DFM) simulations have emerged recently, helping us to disentangle and rationalize this erratic production behaviour. They allow us to understand the emergent flow behaviour and resulting saturation patterns in NFRs. Thus, classical simulation approaches, such as dual-continua conceptualizations, can be critically evaluated and improved where they fail to capture the flow behaviour of interest. This paper discusses recent advances in DFM simulation of single- and multi-phase flow processes in geologically realistic outcrop-analogue models, and solved with finite-element (FE) and finite-volume (FV) methods. It also reviews key results from recent DFM simulation studies, in particular how new measures such as the fracture–matrix flux ratio and velocity spectra can provide new means to analyse flow behaviour in heterogeneous domains or how results from outcrop-based simulations can be used to test the suitability of conventional upscaling approaches for NFR and guide the development of new ones. We close by enlisting outstanding challenges in outcrop-based flow simulations such as the need to capture the fracture–matrix transfer processes due to capillary, gravity and viscous forces accurately, which often implies detailed grid refinement at the fracture–matrix interface and small time-steps to resolve the physical processes adequately. Thus, we explore how outcrop-based flow simulation could be applied more routinely in NFR reservoir characterization and simulation workflows.


BackgroundSARS-CoV-2 vaccine ChAdOx1 nCov-19 rarely causes vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) that—like autoimmune heparin-induced thrombocytopenia—is mediated by platelet-activating anti-platelet factor 4 (PF4) antibodies.MethodsWe investigated vaccine, PF4, and VITT patient-derived anti-PF4 antibody interactions using dynamic light scattering, 3D-super-resolution microscopy, and electron microscopy. Mass spectrometry was used to analyze vaccine composition. We investigated the mechanism for early post-vaccine inflammatory reactions as potential co-stimulant for anti-PF4 immune response. Finally, we evaluated VITT antibodies for inducing release of procoagulant DNA-containing neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), and measured DNase activity in VITT patient serum.ResultsBiophysical analyses showed formation of complexes between PF4 and vaccine constituents, including virus proteins that were recognized by VITT antibodies. EDTA, a vaccine constituent, increased microvascular leakage in mice allowing for circulation of virus- and virus-producing cell culture-derived proteins. Antibodies in normal sera cross-reacted with human proteins in the vaccine and likely contribute to commonly observed acute ChAdOx1 nCov-19 post-vaccination inflammatory reactions. Polyphosphates and DNA enhanced PF4-dependent platelet activation by VITT antibodies. In the presence of platelets, PF4 enhanced VITT antibody-driven procoagulant NETs formation, while DNase activity was reduced in VITT sera, with granulocyte-rich cerebral vein thrombosis observed in a VITT patient.ConclusionsChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine constituents (i) form antigenic complexes with PF4, (ii) EDTA increases microvascular permeability, and (iii) vaccine components cause acute inflammatory reactions. Antigen formation in a proinflammatory milieu offers an explanation for anti-PF4 antibody production. High-titer anti-PF4 antibodies activate platelets and induce neutrophil activation and NETs formation, fueling the VITT prothrombotic response.


Astaxanthin is a naturally occurring carotenoid found in salmon and microalgae that has antioxidative properties. Previous research shows dietary supplementation may result in increased endogenous antioxidant status and reduced markers of oxidative stress (OS). Research suggests OS causes increased risk for cardiometabolic and other chronic diseases, making it important to find interventions that can decrease occurrence of OS. While astaxanthin has been shown to be antioxidative, most studies observing the impact of astaxanthin has on OS has involved rodent models, therefore human trials are needed. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess whether four weeks of astaxanthin supplementation (6mg/day) can decrease blood markers of oxidative stress following the consumption of a high fat meal in healthy, young men. METHODS: Participants (n=13) were healthy, young men (mean ±SD; Age: 23.7 ±2.7 yrs; Weight: 79.8 ±12.6 kg; Height: 171.7 ±5.9 cm) that completed a randomized, double blinded crossover counterbalanced study. All participants completed 4 weeks of 6 mg of astaxanthin supplementation in addition to 4 weeks of placebo supplementation with a one-week washout period between treatments. After each supplementation period, participants consumed a high fat milkshake (milkshake; 1g fat/kg body weight, 1g carbohydrate/kg body weight, 0.25g protein/kg body weight) to induce postprandial OS. Blood samples were taken immediately before, as well as two, and four hours post milkshake consumption. The following were analyzed from each blood sample: triglycerides (TAG), glutathione (GSH), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), malondialdehyde (MDA), and advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP). RESULTS: Participant compliance on average was 98%. Regarding AOPP, there was no treatment x timepoint interaction or a significant main effect for treatment, while there was a main effect for time (F = 17.14, p < 0.01) with significantly higher levels of AOPP at two and four hours postprandial compared to pre ingestion (p < 0.01). In regard to MDA, there was no treatment x timepoint interaction or a significant main effect for treatment but a main effect for time was noted (F= 24.66, p < 0.01) with significantly higher (p < 0.01) MDA levels 2 and 4 hours post ingestion when compared to pre ingestion levels. In terms of GSH, while there was no treatment x timepoint interaction or main effect for time, the main effect for treatment did approach significance (F = 3.67, p = 0.06). There was no treatment x timepoint interaction for TAG nor a main effect for treatment, while there was a significant increase in TAG levels over time noted by a main effect (F = 15.80, p < 0.01) with 2 and 4 hours post ingestion being significantly higher than pre ingestion TAG levels (p < 0.01). Furthermore, with H2O2, a treatment x timepoint interaction (F = 5.94, p < 0.01) was noted. H2O2 levels were significantly lower (p < 0.05) 2 and 4 hours post ingestion following astaxanthin supplementation when compared to the placebo treatment. CONCLUSION: The high fat meal induced significant OS, reflected by increased levels of MDA, AOPP, and H2O2. Despite postprandial hyperlipidemia, astaxanthin was able to significantly decrease H2O2, suggesting astaxanthin is a desirable exogenous antioxidant for mitigating OS.


Abstract. The calibration of the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) 6.8 μm water vapor (WV) channel was assessed by comparing Terra/MODIS measurements with the WV channel brightness temperatures equivalent to Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) measurements for June 2007 and December 2007. IASI spectral information was transferred to the Japanese Multifunctional Transport Satellite (MTSAT)-1R WV channel and then to the MODIS WV channel. Results indicate that the MODIS WV channel is biased low by 2–3 K, possibly caused by the shift of the spectral response function by about +11 cm−1. This finding is particularly important because the bias of −3 K can cause about +30% relative errors in the retrieval of upper tropospheric humidity (UTH) over the tropics. In other words, the current MODIS measurements may result in higher UTH values, showing relative errors up to +30%.


BACKGROUND
Endoscopic tattooing of colorectal lesions has been performed employing several markers. The indocyanine green (ICG) that uses near infrared fluorescence technology, has been recently adopted in laparoscopic colorectal cancer surgery. This study aims to systematically review the international literature to validate the ICG in laparoscopic colorectal surgery, in order to include the ICG in the therapeutic protocol.

METHODS
Following AMSTAR 2 criteria, we performed a systematic review to evaluate the use of green indocyanine as a marker for preoperative endoscopic tattooing and for lymph nodes mapping. The study selection was conducted using the PubMed database from January 1989 to July 2022.

RESULTS
We identified 25 eligible studies. 13 based on fluorescent tumor localization in laparoscopic colorectal surgery using ICG while 12 of them reported the lymphatic road mapping and sentinel node identification by ICG using a near-infrared camera system. One study analyzed both topics.

CONCLUSIONS
In laparoscopic colorectal cancer surgery indocyanine green can be used to localize fluorescent tumors and mapping fluorescence lymph node. The use of ICG appears to be a valid and safe technique that helps the surgeon to achieve a better oncological radicality. However, the protocols need to be clarified by further studies.


We study the sources of match-specific value at large American law firms by analyzing how graduates of law schools group into law firms. We measure the degree to which lawyers from certain schools concentrate within firms and then analyze how this agglomeration can be explained by "natural advantage" factors (such as geographic proximity) and by productive spillovers across graduates of a given school. We show that large law firms tend to be concentrated with regard to the law schools they hire from and that individual offices within these firms are substantially more concentrated. The degree of concentration is highly variable, as there is substantial variation in firms' hiring strategies. There are two main drivers of variation in law school concentration within law offices. First, geography drives a large amount of concentration, as most firms hire largely from local schools. Second, we show that school-based networks (and possibly productive spillovers) are important because partners' law schools drive associates' law school composition even controlling for firm, school, and firm/school match characteristics and when we instrument for partners' law schools.


BACKGROUND
Aripiprazole is an effective medication for treating patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder , and as an adjunct in patients with major depressive disorder and an inadequate response to antidepressant treatment, that is generally safe and well tolerated. Despite its potential clinical benefits, the management of aripiprazole-treated patients can be challenging due to the lack of a simple dosing strategy and guidelines for preventing and managing potential adverse effects.

OBJECTIVE
Two initiation/dosing strategies with aripiprazole are presented that are based on the overall symptom profile rather than specific clinical diagnosis: a rapid titration/high-dose strategy and a slow titration/low-dose strategy.

METHODS
The dosing strategy recommendations are based on clinical experience and a PubMed database search conducted with no date restrictions for English-language literature. Keywords included aripiprazole, dose switching or strategy, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder and adverse effects.

CONCLUSIONS
Two strategies have been designed to help clinicians tailor aripiprazole therapy to the specific needs of individual patients and manage common adverse effects that may be encountered during therapy.


Consumer interest toward natural ingredients is creating a growing trend in the food industry and research for the development of natural products such as colorants, antimicrobials and antioxidants. Semi-processed frozen prickly pear (Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill.) juices (PPJs), obtained from three cultivars with white, red and yellow pulp, with different harvest times ("Agostani" and "Bastardoni"), were characterized for betalains, total phenolics, flavonoids, carotenoids, antioxidant capacity (by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate (DPPH)) and antimicrobial potential against foodborne pathogenic bacteria. Through chemical assays, PPJs showed high contents of total polyphenols, flavonoids and betalains and marked antioxidant capacity. PPJs from the first harvest ("Agostani") revealed the significantly highest amount of polyphenols in white cultivar and of betacyanin and betaxanthin in yellow and red cultivars; antioxidant capacity was significantly higher in "Agostani" PPJs than in "Bastardoni" ones. Regarding antimicrobial potential, all PPJs revealed good antibacterial activity, particularly against Salmonella enterica as evidenced by the widest inhibition haloes. These results encourage the suitability of the first flowering prickly pear fruits, with low market value as fresh fruit but with high nutritional features, to be processed as semi-finished product. In particular, its use as ingredient in foods with high risk of Salmonella contamination may act as a natural preservative.


A publication is a permanent, accessible, isolated, and definitive piece of work; it should not be difficult to determine who wrote it, when they wrote it, and where it was published (Cole and Eales 1917). Publications that communicate research findings to others include those works found in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, along with books, reports, and other published materials. A search and synthesis of the published literature is a first step in the development of a research paper or proposal and is important for setting the stage and for defining the gaps in science that need addressing. Given advances in scientific and computing technologies and an increase in both the number of scientists and scientific outlets (e.g., journals) over the last few decades, the volume of published peer-reviewed journal articles in science and engineering has grown by about 4% per year over the last decade to about 2.6 million articles annually in 2018; 38% of these publications were produced or developed by researchers from China and the United States (White 2019). It has been suggested that the number of published works on a particular topic can be used as an indicator of importance or awareness assigned to it by the scientific community (Cohen et al. 2008, Schöffel et al. 2016).


Uganda is recognised as an early success story in the HIV epidemic at least in part due to an open and vigorous national dialogue about HIV prevention. This study examined the national discourse about HIV, AIDS, and young people in New Vision, Uganda's leading national newspaper between 1996 and 2011, building from a previous archival analysis of New Vision reporting by Kirby (1986–1995). We examined the continuing evolution in the public discourse in Uganda, focusing on reporting about young people. An increase in reporting on HIV and AIDS occurred after 2003, as antiretroviral treatment was becoming available. While the emphasis in newspaper reporting about adults and the population at large evolved to reflect the development of new HIV treatment and prevention methods, the majority of the articles focused on young people did not change. Articles about young people continued to emphasise HIV acquisition due to early and premarital sexual activity and the need for social support services for children affected by HIV and AIDS. Articles often did not report on the complex social conditions that shape HIV-related risk among young people, or address young people who are sexually active, married, and/or HIV-infected. With HIV prevalence now increasing among young people and adults in Uganda, greater attention to HIV prevention is needed.


Programmable logic controllers (PLCs) are at the forefront of manufacturing automation. Many factories use programmable logic controllers to cut production costs and/or increase quality. PLCs and their unique language, ladder logic, are the workhorses of factory automation. Higher-level languages, such as sequential function charts and function blocks, ease the programming task for large systems. However, ladder logic remains the dominant language at present.


In a cohort of patients with early rheumatoid arthritis, sulphasalazine (SASP) was mainly given as a first-choice second-line agent. SASP resulted in a significantly better survival rate compared with hydroxychloroquine, which is also given as a first-choice agent. When the survival rate of SASP was compared with that of aurothioglucose, both given as second-choice agents, again, a statistically significant better survival rate was found for SASP. In 9% of the patients, SASP could be withdrawn as a complete remission was obtained. Adverse reactions occurred mainly during the first 3 months of treatment, and in 20% of patients these were severe enough to stop treatment. Gastrointestinal adverse reactions were most frequently observed, and all adverse reactions were completely reversible after treatment withdrawal. Treatment was started with a standard dose of 2000 mg/day. However, in approximately 30% of the patients, this dose was increased up to 3000 mg/day and, in another 30%, the dose was decreased to 1,500 or 1,000 mg/day.


Encoding/decoding is a functionality which takes about half of the protocol processing. ASN.1 is a standard language to define messages of the application/layer. BER is the standard that describes encoding/ decoding of PDUs defined in ASN.1. The authors show that decoding can be divided into two phases: parsing and type-value matching. Algorithms are developed for these transformations. Distributed implementation of these algorithms can be achieved with specialized encoders/decoders. Four different architectures are defined for single-layer encoding/decoding. One of these architectures defined as VLSI-based ASN.1 encoder/decoder (VASN1) achieves better parallelisation as well as pipelining of parsing with type-alue matching subphases. VASN1 is composed of 16 instruction RISC processors. The processors used as execution units perform subphase transformations while the processor used as central controller assigns workload to the execution units. The processor used as interface unit takes care of input/output.<<ETX>>


Post-partum depression (PPD) occurs in approximately 20% of women usually early following child delivery. PPD represents an important unmet medical need as it is frequently underdiagnosed and, as the neurobiology of the disease is limitedly known, no pathogenic-tailored approach is available and only symptomatic medications are used. In the present study, we carried out a DNA microarray analysis to evaluate the fluctuation of cytokines, cytokine receptors and chemokines during the preconception period, the 1st and 3th trimester of pregnancy and the early post-partum period. The data demonstrated that, as compared to always-depressed patients and euthymic controls, women who developed PPD exhibited significant fluctuations in the levels of different cytokines and cytokine receptors, primarily related to tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin (IL)18. These data emphasize the role of the immune system in PPD. However, additional studies aimed at evaluating if and how these functional modifications of the immune system during pregnancy are related to the development of PPD warranted to confirm our findings.


Peer victimization has repeatedly been shown to negatively affect children's physical and mental health. Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is among the most common childhood psychiatric disorders and research shows that there is an association between victimization and symptoms of ODD. However, because of the cross-sectional design of these studies the direction of influence is unknown: Does victimization cause an increase in ODD symptoms and/or does ODD symptoms increase the risk of victimization? Identifying factors that can increase the risk for ODD or constitute consequences of ODD is important in order to inform prevention and treatment. The purpose of this study was therefore to test if there is a bidirectional relation between victimization and children's symptoms of ODD in a large sample of 6 year olds (N=790) who were followed up two years later. Children's ODD symptoms were assessed by the Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment interview (PAPA) when children were 6 and 8 years old respectively. Six items from the teacher reported questionnaire "The Revised Olweus Victimization Scale" measured victimization. The data were analysed using structural equation model in Mplus. The results showed that symptoms of ODD at age 6 predicted neither direct (e.g. "He/she was ignored by other children") nor indirect (e.g. "He/she was ignored by other children") victimization two years later. With regard to the opposite direction of influence, I found that victimization at age 6 predicted ODD symptoms at age 8, over and above children's initial level of ODD symptoms. Subgroup analyses revealed that indirect victimization prospectively predicted ODD symptoms in boys, whereas this path was not significant for girls. Direct victimization did not predict ODD symptoms two years later neither for boys nor girls. In the current study the prospective relation between ODD symptoms and victimization was not gender dependent.


Greater job mobility among engineers and scientists has caused the extended social networks of inventors to become increasingly connected. As a result, invention increasingly occurs within small worlds (or social networks) that straddle firm boundaries. Small worlds provide both strategic opportunity and potential threat; while they can increase creativity within a firm, they also aid in the diffusion of creative knowledge to other firms through personnel and knowledge transfer. Firms that operate within small worlds such as in Silicon Valley long agolearned to manage invention in an environment of rampant knowledge spillovers across firm boundaries. Now, however, all firms need to learn how to manage innovation in a small world environment. This article offers them advice about how to do this. (Publisher's Abstract)


Recent mapping in the Glen Shee Area, Central Scotland, has revealed an array of several large-scale F1 folds within the 'Flat Belt' of the Tay Nappe. Strata within the 'Flat Belt', forming part of the lower limb of the Tay Nappe, are thus not entirely inverted, and the traditional view that the Nappe in this area comprises a single SE-facing, recumbent anticline is rejected. It is demonstrated that the sense of shear of D2 was top-to-the-SE, resulting in NW-verging F2 folds by strong D2 strain partitioning. Strain estimates indicate adisplacement of 10–50 km during D2 shearing. In the proposed model, originally upright F1 folds were modified by a major D2 shearing event that produced a shallow NW dipping S2 foliation in the 'Flat Belt'. The upper limit of D2 deformation forms the boundary between the strongly deformed and inverted 'lower limb' and the right-way-up 'upper limb' which is undeformed by D2, and is now mostly removed by erosion. The D2 shear event was responsible for the gross stratigraphic inversion in the Flat Belt. The Tay Nappe is considered here as formed by a crustal-scale shear zone; in this model there is no necessity to invoke a root zone.


ABSTRACT Analytical usability evaluation methods (UEMs) can complement empirical evaluation of systems: for example, they can often be used earlier in design and can provide accounts of why users might experience difficulties, as well as what those difficulties are. However, their properties and value are only partially understood. One way to improve our understanding is by detailed comparisons using a single interface or system as a target for evaluation, but we need to look deeper than simple problem counts: we need to consider what kinds of accounts each UEM offers, and why. Here, we report on a detailed comparison of eight analytical UEMs. These eight methods were applied to a robotic arm interface, and the findings were systematically compared against video data of the arm in use. The usability issues that were identified could be grouped into five categories: system design, user misconceptions, conceptual fit between user and system, physical issues, and contextual ones. Other possible categories such as user experience did not emerge in this particular study. With the exception of Heuristic Evaluation, which supported a range of insights, each analytical method was found to focus attention on just one or two categories of issues. Two of the three "home-grown" methods (Evaluating Multimodal Usability and Concept-based Analysis of Surface and Structural Misfits) were found to occupy particular niches in the space, whereas the third (Programmable User Modeling) did not. This approach has identified commonalities and contrasts between methods and provided accounts of why a particular method yielded the insights it did. Rather than considering measures such as problem count or thoroughness, this approach has yielded insights into the scope of each method.


Continuum‐based fracture mechanics breaks down at the nanoscale where the discrete nature of atoms cannot be neglected. Intriguingly, this work shows that the concept of stress intensity factor is still valid if the atoms are modeled. Molecular statistics simulations are conducted on single‐edge cracked samples of ideal brittle silicon, varying the size until few nanometers. The local virial stress, derived as the functional derivative of the free energy of a molecular system with respect to the deformation tensor, is used as a measure of the mechanical stress at the atomic level. Then, stress intensity factor at failure is evaluated. The results show that regardless of the size, the atomistic stress field varies according to the classical 1/r0.5 relation, and discrete stress intensity factors can be derived for all the geometries. Continuum values, in contrast, fail to describe the fracture when the length of the singular stress field is smaller than 4–5 times the fracture process zone. Thus, this work shows that the stress intensity factor from atomic stress may be useful to describe the fracture criterion at extremely small dimensions, provided that virial stress is accepted as a representation of mechanical stress at the atomic level.


The national policies, operating within the United Kingdom, of widening participation for students exists within a competitive and uncertain higher education culture. The impact of this on those described as 'second chance' or 'untraditional' students who at the same time want to become designers needs to be examined. The paper analyses two narratives of continuity and discontinuity constructed by and between myself, and two post-Access to HE design students. They are people who have gained places on textile degrees with an Access to HE diploma, rather than the more conventional A 'levels; they tend to be mature students with diverse social backgrounds (Hudson, 2009:25; Penketh and Goddard, 2008:316; Burke, 2002:81). The students were both studying textile design but at different Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Textile designers are concerned with designing for surfaces and embellishments which could include wallpapers, fabrics for fashion or interiors, flooring, and packaging. These narratives were selected from a longitudinal study (2011-14) that sought to investigate the experiences of post-Access to HE students in art and design higher education. The participants were studying on a range of creative degree programmes in various institutional contexts. Narrative inquiry was used to show the ways in which students reflected on and took stock of their learning careers, (Clandinin and Connelly, 2004; Butler-Kisber, 2010).
The analysis of the narratives draws upon some of the notions concerned with phronesis (prudence or practical wisdom). Aristotle claimed that only a person of experience can practice practical wisdom, and a young person is unlikely to have extensive life experience, (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book VI, Chapter 8). This discussion recounts some of the critical incidents within the stories where I have noticed evidence of phronesis or at some points the absence of wise judgement. It is suggested that within the context of higher education mature adults sometimes make poor decisions leading them to act in ways that continue their sufferings. This is because they do not always exercise their potential to act with prudence, (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book VI, Chapter 5). It is argued that friendship and acting well in the interests of others is an important aspect of phronesis, (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book VI, Chapter 11); where all students are supported to make good decisions about their education.
The design studio space (both in its physical and virtual form) is revealed to be a place where horizontal discourse takes place which enables acts of friendship between students (Broadhead, 2015). Through friendship and a sense of belonging students are able to continue with their studies even though they meet unexpected and difficult challenges. At the same time, the studio can also be an alienating space that confuses and frustrates some students, making them consider discontinuing their course.


Successful management of chronic cancer and nonmalignant pain remains a challenge to clinicians, and cost effectiveness is an important consideration for clinical decision making. Although the oral route was previously considered the optimal method of chronic opioid administration, emerging evidence demonstrates a therapeutic advantage to intrathecal opioid delivery compared to alternative modalities. Intrathecal drug delivery uses an implantable drug infusion system to deliver very low doses of opioids and other analgesics directly into the intrathecal space. Although the initial costs of surgical implantation of an intrathecal pump appear to be substantial, maintenance costs of intrathecal drug delivery over time are significantly lower than other routes of administration, including oral and intravenous drug delivery. Cost analyses of alternate routes of opioid administration indicate that intrathecal delivery is the most cost‐effective route of opioid administration for patients who require long‐term management of cancer (≥ 3–6 months) or nonmalignant pain (≥ 11–22 months).


The greatest flood has the soonest ebb; the sorest tempest the most sudden calm; the hottest love the coldest end; and from the deepest desire oftentimes ensues the deadliest hate. — Socrates Th' extremes of glory and of shame, Like east and west, become the same. Extremes meet, and there is no better example than the haughtiness of humility. The maximum flow/minimum cut problem is a special case of a very general class of problems called linear programming. Many other optimization problems fall into this class, including minimum spanning trees and shortest paths, as well as several common problems in scheduling, logistics, and economics. Linear programming was used implicitly by Fourier in the early s, but it was first formalized and applied to problems in economics in the s by Leonid Kantorovich. Kantorivich's work was hidden behind the Iron Curtain (where it was largely ignored) and therefore unknown in the West. Linear programming was rediscovered and applied to shipping problems in the early s by Tjalling Koopmans. The first complete algorithm to solve linear programming problems, called the simplex method, was published by George Dantzig in. Koopmans first proposed the name " linear programming" in a discussion with Dantzig in. Kantorovich and Koopmans shared the Nobel Prize in Economics " for their contributions to the theory of optimum allocation of resources ". Dantzig did not; his work was apparently too pure. Koopmans wrote to Kantorovich suggesting that they refuse the prize in protest of Dantzig's exclusion, but Kantorovich saw the prize as a vindication of his use of mathematics in economics, which his Soviet colleagues had written off as " a means for apologists of capitalism ". A linear programming problem asks for a vector x ∈ d that maximizes (or equivalently, minimizes) a given linear function, among all vectors x that satisfy a given set of linear inequalities. The general form of a linear programming problem is the following: maximize d j=1 c j x j subject to d j=1 a i j x j ≤ b i for each i = 1 .. p d j=1 a i j x j = b i for each i = p + 1 .. p + q d j=1 a i j x j ≥ b i for each i = p + q + 1 .. n


In discipline-specific writing courses, students develop professional skills in reading, writing, and peer review. However, students have limited opportunities to peer review professional writing outside a writing classroom or with faculty, especially if they do not perform research.  Therefore, it is unclear how students apply classroom-acquired peer review skills to a professional setting. This study examined the transfer of peer review skills learned in a science writing course to an authentic setting in which undergraduate students peer reviewed for the instructor after completing the course. In this case study, eight students volunteered to give feedback to the instructor on a draft of a literature review intended for journal submission. Student feedback was qualitatively evaluated for types and themes. Additionally, students provided their perspectives on this process through pre- and post-questionnaires, where they indicated a struggle with confidence and content while reading and reviewing. This study supports student-faculty peer review as an authentic tool for situated learning.  The benefits to students include increased confidence in reading, writing, and peer reviewing literature, an opportunity to practice classroom skills, and a chance to collaborate with professionals during the writing process. I conclude with additional suggestions to increase student-faculty collaboration and cognitive apprenticeship through peer review as a tool in any discipline.


Abstract Rationale: E-cigarettes are popular among youth and young adults and have been shown to be associated with pulmonary conditions such as asthma and COPD. YKL-40 may serve as a biomarker of pulmonary diseases and may predict the loss of pulmonary function among smokers. We hypothesized that similar to cigarette smokers, e-cigarette users will have higher levels of YKL-40 compared to non-tobacco users. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study of adults between 18 and 55 years old. Inclusion criteria were: exclusive e-cigarette use or cigarette smoking for ≥ 1 year or no history of tobacco use. Participants with a history of pulmonary illness, atopy, medications (except birth control pills), marijuana, and illegal substance use were excluded. Custom Multiplex ELISA was used to measure YKL-40 and other biomarker levels in the serum and induced sputum of the participants. Multivariable linear regression was used to compare the levels of YLK-40 in healthy participants, e-cigarette, and cigarette users after adjusting for age, sex, and BMI. Results We recruited 20 healthy controls, 23 cigarette smokers, and 22 exclusive e-cigarette users. Serum YKL-40 (ng/ml) was significantly higher in e-cigarette users (Median 21.2 [IQR 12.1-24.0] ng/ml) when compared to controls (12.2 [IQR 8.7-18.1] ng/ml, p = 0.016) but comparable to cigarette smokers (21.6 [IQR 11.62-51.7] ng/ml, p = 0.31). No significant differences were found in the serum or sputum of the other biomarkers tested. Conclusion The inflammatory biomarker, YKL-40 is elevated in the serum but not the sputum of e-cigarette users with no reported pulmonary disease. Further research is necessary to characterize this association.


The literature presents conflicting findings on whether health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measures have sufficient evaluative properties to assess changes caused by dental interventions. The aim of our study was to compare sensitivity to change in HRQoL and OHRQoL in prosthodontic patients. In this prospective intervention study, a total of 165 consecutively recruited patients completed the Short Form-36 (SF-36) and the 49-item Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP), as self-administered questionnaires, before prosthodontic treatment and 1 month after treatment was finished. Differences in SF-36 and OHIP scores between baseline and follow up were tested for statistical significance using paired t-tests. Effect sizes (Cohen's d) were calculated. Health-related quality of life improved during prosthodontic treatment, indicated by a slight, but statistically significant, increase in the SF-36 physical component (difference: 1.0 points), whereas perceived mental health did not change substantially (difference: −0.5 points). Improvement in OHRQoL (difference in OHIP sum score: −6.7 points) was statistically significant. Although the OHIP effect size (of 0.2) was considered as small, according to guidelines, it was greater than for the SF-36 component scores (physical: 0.1; mental: 0.1). Sensitivity to change in quality of life measures was greater for OHRQoL than for HRQoL, limiting the usefulness of HRQoL as an outcome measure in dentistry.


In cases of syringomyelia MR is superior to CT and myelography in visualisation and delineation of the extent of the process. In diagnosing spinal tumours MR is a more sensitive method than CT and myelography. MR provides additional information on sagittal and frontal planes regarding the extent of the tumour. In diagnosis of disc prolapse MR seems to be as accurate as CT or myelography. We obtained additional information in diagnosis of degenerated disc tissue. Spinal stenosis is easily recognisable. CT was superior in differentiation of bony and disc protrusion. The results show that MR has opened up new possibilities in the diagnosis of spinal diseases and will result in a reorientation of the diagnostic approach.


The Mississippi Valley-Type (MVT) Central and East Tennessee (TN) Districts contain economically significant lead-zinc deposits that occur in the Early Ordovician carbonates of the Knox Group. Although both districts share similar host rock, have similar temperatures of formation, and typically fill open spaces of collapse breccias or replace their host carbonates, previous studies may suggest that these ores did not form from the same mineralizing fluids and may have different Pb sources. Nu Plasma MC-ICP-MS Pb isotopic analyses on sulfides from Central and East TN were conducted and the metal sources evaluated. Results were plotted on covariation diagrams with respect to the average crustal growth curve from Stacy and Kramers (1975) and the orogene curve from Zartman and Doe (1981). Lead isotope data from both Central and East TN plot beyond the present day age (0 m.y. ago) indicative of a crustal source of Pb-Zn. Central TN Pb/Pb, Pb/Pb, and Pb/Pb ratios range from 19.334 – 20.128, 15.548 – 16.034, and 38.837 – 40.034 respectively. Eastern TN Pb/Pb, Pb/Pb, and Pb/Pb ratios range from 19.341 – 19.455, 15.638 – 15.789, and 39.045 – 39.591 respectively. Pb isotope ratios from the Young Mine in the East TN District plot within ranges defined by other East TN District samples from previous studies. Three Pb isotope ratios from the Elmwood Mine in the Central TN District plot near these East TN samples, while the remaining Elmwood samples remain suspect to analytical error as they plot away from any other recorded Central TN deposits. It appears that the thick, black, metal-rich shales of the Appalachian Basin have been the source of the Pb-Zn and ore fluids of MVT deposits that formed the East TN deposits. When East TN Pb data from this study are compared to Central TN Pb data from previous studies, Central TN Pb is commonly more radiogenic, suggestive of a mineralizing fluid with different compositions. Further analysis of Central TN Pb deposits is needed to further constrain this source.


Organic anion-transporting polypeptides (OATPs) are multispecific transporters mediating the uptake of endogenous compounds and xenobiotics in tissues that are important for drug absorption and elimination, including the intestine and liver. Silymarin is a popular herbal supplement often used by patients with chronic liver disease; higher oral doses than those customarily used (140 mg three times/day) are being evaluated clinically. The present study examined the effect of silymarin flavonolignans on OATP1B1-, OATP1B3-, and OATP2B1-mediated transport in cell lines stably expressing these transporters and in human hepatocytes. In overexpressing cell lines, OATP1B1- and OATP1B3-mediated estradiol-17β-glucuronide uptake and OATP2B1-mediated estrone-3-sulfate uptake were inhibited by most of the silymarin flavonolignans investigated. OATP1B1-, OATP1B3-, and OATP2B1-mediated substrate transport was inhibited efficiently by silymarin (IC50 values of 1.3, 2.2 and 0.3 µM, respectively), silybin A (IC50 values of 9.7, 2.7 and 4.5 µM, respectively), silybin B (IC50 values of 8.5, 5.0 and 0.8 µM, respectively), and silychristin (IC50 values of 9.0, 36.4, and 3.6 µM, respectively). Furthermore, silymarin, silybin A, and silybin B (100 µM) significantly inhibited OATP-mediated estradiol-17β-glucuronide and rosuvastatin uptake into human hepatocytes. Calculation of the maximal unbound portal vein concentrations/IC50 values indicated a low risk for silymarin-drug interactions in hepatic uptake with a customary silymarin dose. The extent of silymarin-drug interactions depends on OATP isoform specificity and concentrations of flavonolignans at the site of drug transport. Higher than customary doses of silymarin, or formulations with improved bioavailability, may increase the risk of flavonolignan interactions with OATP substrates in patients.


In diabetic states, altered activity of insulin signaling pathway is likely to play key roles in insulin resistance and in kidney dysfunction. Since the 3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase 1 (PDK1) serves as a major signaling molecule in the regulation of cellular responses in multiple organs by mediating the phosphoinositide 3-kinase signaling pathway, we tested the hypothesis that podocyte-specific deletion of PDK1 leads to podocyte injury and proteinuric kidney disease. PDK1 was selectively silenced in podocytes using Cre-mediated recombination controlled by the podocin promoter. Mice with a podocyte-specific deletion of PDK1 (PDK1 KO) developed proteinuria, and died due to end-stage renal disease by 5 weeks after birth. Histologically, features characteristic of glomerulosclerosis, including podocyte foot process effacement, mesangial sclerosis, and protein casts, were observed in PDK1 KO at 3 weeks of age. We also examined podocyte distribution in glomeruli using the podocyte markers synaptopodin and WT-1, and found that their expressions were lost in some glomeruli of PDK1 KO at 3 weeks of age although their expression patterns at 1 weeks of age PDK1 KO were almost comparable with control mice. We next examined a possible role of forkhead transcription factor, forkhead box O1 (FoxO1) in linking PDK1 of podocytes to kidney function. For this, we generated podocyte-specific PDK1 and FoxO1 double knockout mice (DKO) by introducing Foxo1-flox gene into PDK1 KO mice. DKO exhibited a reduced level of proteinuria compared with age-matched PDK1 KO, and the maximal survival time of DKO had extended to 6.6 weeks after birth. Taken together, PDK1-FoxO1 pathway may be one of the critical signal transduction pathways that links podocyte injury and kidney dysfunction in diabetic states. Disclosure W. Iwata: None. H. Unoki-Kubota: None. H. Kato: None. M. Matsumoto: None. M. Nangaku: Consultant; Self; Akebia Therapeutics, Astellas Pharma Inc., Bayer AG, Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, Daiichi Sankyo, GlaxoSmithKline plc., Japan Tobacco Inc., Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, Novo Nordisk Inc., Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Scohia Pharma Inc. Research Support; Self; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. Speaker's Bureau; Self; AstraZeneca, Torii Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. Y. Kaburagi: None.


Background: The University of Liverpool established a problembased learning medical undergraduate curriculum in 1996. This
study compares the views of Liverpool graduates from the
traditional lecture-based medical curriculum and the problembased learning medical curriculum.
Summary of work: The study population consisted of Mersey
Deanery PRHOs graduating in 2000 (traditional curriculum),
2001 (PBL1) and 2002 (PBL2) (n= 166,161,162 respectively).
A self-completion questionnaire based on The New Doctor
(GMC, 1997) focusing on the PRHOs' teaching and learning
experiences was distributed to the individual cohorts in spring
of each PRHO year.
Summary of results: Results indicated that PRHOs from the
PBL curriculum tended to have a more positive view of their
PRHO post. Significant improvements shown between the
traditional cohort and the PBL1 group were maintained in PBL2
(e.g. 'Feeling valued as part of a team' 71%, 83%, 86% (p<0.02);
'able to ask for help and advice' 71%, 92%, 94% (p<0.01)).
However, there was a tendency for improvement in the stated
number of opportunities to develop a learning plan with their
Educational Supervisor (75%, 77%, 83% (p<0.06)).
Conclusions: Despite PBL graduates appearing to be better
equipped to undertake service-based learning, their educational
development during their final year of basic medical education
plainly relies on their Educational/Clinical Supervisor to support
their educational needs.


This study examines the dynamic relationship among carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, economic growth, energy consumption and foreign trade based on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for Indonesia during the period 1971–2007. The Auto regressive distributed lag (ARDL) methodology is used as an estimation technique. The results do not support the EKC hypothesis, which assumes an inverted U-shaped relationship between income and environmental degradation. The long-run results indicate that foreign trade is the most significant variable in explaining CO2 emissions in Indonesia followed by Energy consumption and economic growth. The stability of the variables in estimated models is also examined. The result suggests that the estimated models are stable over the sample period.


-Oral presentation- Replication of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) relies on multiple interactions with host factors but how these interactions determine infection, pathogenesis and sensitivity to treatment remains largely undefined. To provide a comprehensive view of a HCV mediated cellular infection, we present here a proteome-wide mapping of interactions between HCV and human cellular proteins. A total of 314 protein-protein interactions between HCV and human proteins was identified by yeast two-hybrid, and 170 by literature mining. The dataset was integrated into a reconstructed human interactome and topological analysis of this network showed that cellular proteins interacting with HCV are enriched in highly central and interconnected proteins. The global analysis of these proteins based on functional annotation revealed the enrichment of cellular pathways targeted by HCV. A network comprised of proteins associated with frequent clinical disorders of chronically infected patients was constructed by connecting the insulin, Jak/STAT and TGFb pathways with cellular proteins targeted by HCV. CORE protein appeared as a major perturbator of this network. Focal adhesion was also identified as a new function affected by the virus, mainly by NS3 and NS5A proteins.


The Coronavirus pandemic is a global problem that came with its attendant economic shock that is higher than the one brought by World War 1 and 2 put together The attendant consequences expectedly landed Nigeria economy to recession Nigeria over the years has been grappling with the problem of diversification of her economy to forestall the ugly impact of monolithic economy This paper investigated the effect of using technology in fighting intellectual copyright piracy which will encourage the citizens to harness their creative endowment to eke out a living with its resultant effect on the reduction of unemployment The study developed 400 self-structured questionnaires which were administered to respondents using responsive sampling technique and the data were analysed using simple frequency table The outcome revealed that technology can help in a great deal to fight intellectual copyright piracy which was established by the research to be on the increase in Nigeria


We investigate the effects of mandatory private Country-by-Country Reporting (CbCR) to European tax authorities on multinational firms' capital and labor investments as well as their organizational structures. We exploit the threshold-based application of this 2016 disclosure rule to conduct difference-in-differences and regression discontinuity tests. We document increases in capital and labor expenditures in Europe, but these effects are more pronounced in countries with preferential tax regimes. Cross-sectional tests and analysis using consolidated financial data provide evidence consistent with multinational firms reallocating capital across Europe to mitigate increased tax enforcement risk, as well as with CbCR hindering capital investment efficiency. We also find evidence consistent with firms responding to CbCR by reducing organizational complexity. Collectively, our results support the conclusion that mandatory private CbCR causes firms to change real investment activities to substantiate their tax avoidance activities in Europe while reducing the appearance of aggressive tax practices.


Inhibitory immune receptors are important for the balance of the immune system. They are differentially expressed by various immune cells and regulate the immune system by counter acting activation signals. This thesis focuses on the role of the inhibitory receptor leukocyte associated immunoglobulin-like receptor-1 (LAIR-1) and it soluble family member LAIR-2 in immune regulation. We show that urine from patients suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis contains significantly more sLAIR-1 (a form of LAIR-1 that is shed of the cell surface) and LAIR-2. Levels of LAIR-2 correlated significantly with the erythrocyte sedimentation rate, a known marker for inflammation. These data indicate that sLAIR-1 and LAIR-2 might be suitable biomarkers for inflammatory disease. We found that sLAIR-1 correlates with compliance of the total respiratory system at age one month, when measured in amniotic fluid of term pregnancies. Interestingly, amniotic fluid LAIR-1 levels correlate poorly with, and are distinct from, other cytokines measured which resemble the 'acute inflammation gene expression signature'. This might indicate that LAIR-1 is not 'just another' inflammatory biomarker, but reflects the activation state of the immune system in a distinct manner. For several years we know now that the ligand of LAIR-1 is collagen. In this thesis we show that the collagenous domain containing surfactant protein-D (SP-D) and the collagenous domain containing mannose binding lectin (MBL) can also function as ligands for LAIR-1. The discovery that the (novel) ligands of LAIR-1 are constitutively available leads to the conclusion that LAIR-1 mediated immune regulation is not only important in situations where tissue damage has exposed collagen, but also plays a role in the regulation of the immune system in steady state. We show for the first time that ligation of LAIR-1 by collagen or SP-D on a neutrophillic cell line is able to limit the oxidative burst generated by triggering of the Fcα receptor, thereby identifying a novel regulatory pathway for the immunoregulatory SP-D molecule. We also show high affinity binding of a recombinant form of LAIR-2 to C1q and MBL. Binding of recombinant LAIR-2 to C1q and MBL inhibits the activation of the classical and lectin pathway of the complement system. Recombinant LAIR-2 could potentially be of future use as a therapeutic in situations where it is desirable that the complement system is locally inhibited, such as after organ transplantation or cardiac arrest. In conclusion, in this thesis we investigated immune regulation by cell expressed LAIR-1 and soluble LAIR proteins. We found that LAIR-1 ligation can be mediated by several ligands and show for the first time that ligation of the receptor is able to inhibit the oxidative burst. Furthermore, we investigated the potential use of sLAIR-1 and LAIR-2 as biomarkers in inflammatory disease or amniotic fluid. We show that recombinant LAIR-2 is able to inhibit the two major pathways of the complement cascade and might be a potential therapeutic. All these data combined show that although there are many inhibitory immune receptors, they are involved in many different processes and one can play a major role in immune regulation.


Porous titanium dioxide is an attractive material for solar cell application on account of its stability, electron transport properties, and the possibilities for controlling surface morphology as well as for its ease of fabrication and low cost. Nanostructured TiO2 has been intensively studied for applications to dye sensitised solar cells. The performance of the titanium dioxide based solar cells is influenced, among other factors, by the electron mobility of the porous titanium dioxide. Different fabrication processes for porous titanium films result in different film morphology, which in turn affects the electron transport. We have employed three different techniques namely, electrostatic spray assisted vapour deposition (ESAVD), D.C. reactive sputtering, and doctor blading of sol-gel dispersions to deposit thin TiO2 films onto indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass substrates. All these films exhibited only the anatase phase as confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis. Using the time-of-flight technique, the electron drift mobility in the porous TiO2 films was measured. The results show that in the low field region (< 55,000 V cm −1 ) the mobility, in all the films, were in the range of 10−7 to 10−6 cm2 Vs−1. The drift mobility in the films prepared by reactive sputtering was consistently higher than in the films prepared by the two other techniques. Sputter deposited films had lower porosity (∼ 10% and 36% for normal-, and oblique (60◦)-angle deposited films) compared to ∼ 50% for films deposited by the two other techniques. The relationship between the drift mobility and film morphology is discussed with the aid of scanning electron microscopy studies.


An attempt was made to determine the effect of eggs irradiation by low dose gamma radiation upon body weight (BW), body weight gain (BWG), feed consumption (FC) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of chickens hatched from irradiated eggs. Our aim was also to investigate the activity of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), acid phosphatase (ACP) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in the blood plasma of those chickens. The eggs of heavy breed chickens were irradiated with a dose of 0.15 Gy gamma radiation (60Co) before incubation. Along with the chickens which were hatched from irradiated eggs, there was a control group of chickens hatched from nonirradiated eggs. All other conditions were the same for both groups of chickens. BW of chickens was measured by a single weighting of chickens on the 1st and 42nd day of the fattening period. An average BWG was calculated from the obtained results during the whole fattening period (i.e. from the 1st until the 42nd day). FC was measured each day during the fattening time and total feed consumption was calculated. On the basis of FC and BW, FCR was calculated (FC/BWG). Blood samples were taken from the right jugular vein on the 1st and 3rd day, or from the wing vein on days 5, 7, 10, 20, 30 and 42. The activity of all enzymes was determined spectrophotometrically by using reagents according to recommendations of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine. BW of chickens hatched from irradiated eggs was statistically significant higher than in the controls during the fattening period ; on day 42 of fattening, BW of the experimental chickens was 90 g (i.e. 4.8 %) higher than in the controls (P<0.05). FC during the fattening period did not essentially differ in the experimental and the control group. The AST activity was significantly increased in blood plasma of chickens hatched from irradiated eggs on days 3 and 10 (P<0.05), ALT activity was increased in the same chickens only on the 10th day (P<0.05). The activity of ACP in the blood plasma of the same chickens was increased on day 42 (P<0.001) and the activity of ALP in the blood plasma of chickens hatched from irradiated eggs was decreased on day 42 (P<0.001). The obtained results indicate that low doses of gamma radiation have a stimulative effect upon metabolic processes in chickens hatched from eggs irradiated before incubation, which is proved by increase of BWG and BW, as well as by increase of AST, ALT and ACP activities in blood plasma.


Gastric surface pH (pHo) transiently increases in response to focal epithelial damage. The source(s) of that increase, either from paracellular leakage of interstitial fluid or transcellular acid/base fluxes, have not been determined. Using in vivo microscopy approaches we measured pHo with Cl-NERF, tissue permeability with i.v. fluorescent-dextrans to label interstitial fluid (paracellular leakage), and gastric epithelial intracellular pH (pHi) with SNARF-5F (cellular acid/base fluxes). In response to two-photon photodamage, we found that cell-impermeant dyes entered damaged cells from luminal or tissue compartments, suggesting a possible slow transcellular, but not paracellular, route for increased permeability after damage. Regarding cytosolic acid/base status, we found that damaged cells acidified (6.63 ± 0.03) after photodamage, compared to healthy surface cells both near (7.12 ± 0.06) and far (7.07 ± 0.04) from damage (p < 0.05). This damaged cell acidification was further amplified by 20 μM i.v. EIPA (6.34 ± 0.05, p < 0.05), but unchanged by addition of 0.5 mM luminal H2DIDS (6.64 ± 0.08, p > 0.05), suggesting that damage turns on at least NHE activity. Raising luminal pH did not realkalinize damaged cells, suggesting that the mechanism of acidification is not due to leakiness to luminal protons. Inhibition of apical HCO3 secretion with 0.5 mM luminal H2DIDS or genetic deletion of the SLC26A9 Cl/HCO3 exchanger blocked the pHo increase normally observed in control animals, but did not compromise repair of damaged tissue. Addition of exogenous PGE2 Chapter II Elise S. Demitrack, 2010 47 significantly increased pHo in SLC26A9 WT and KO animals, suggesting that prostaglandinstimulated HCO3 secretion may be mediated by SLC26A9, but is mediated by another HCO3 transporter in the SLC26A9 KO animal. We conclude that cellular HCO3 secretion, likely through SLC26A9, is the dominant mechanism whereby surface pH transiently increases in response to photodamage.


The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) is the pulse of the planet. Being at the top of the world, changes happen here before anywhere else, and its beat vibrates across the globe. But urgent actions are required to ensure the health of this global asset and the wellbeing of its people. The uniqueness of HKH mountain people should be recognized and prioritized, and ecosystem services protected by halting biodiversity loss and land degradation. The implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in the HKH needs to become a global top priority, and keeping global warming below the ambitious 1.58C target is especially urgent here. To achieve all of this, more sharing of information and more robust regional cooperation are required. These 6 urgent actions summarize the HKH Call to Action, formulated through a rigorous consultative process coordinated by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development in the 8 HKH countries, based on the key findings of the Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment report [https:// link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-319-92288-1].