The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the contribution of land capital to the growth of emissions and income per capita in the long run. We collect new satellite data from the Earth Observatory to obtain estimates of the Enhanced Vegetation Index at the country level for the period 2000–2015. We use these data and the World Bank wealth estimates of natural capital to calibrate and empirically test an extension of the Green Solow model with land degradation and land capital investment. We show that the model is consistent with the cross-country variation in growth rates of carbon emissions per capita and find that there is convergence at the global level, with the contribution of land capital investment to the growth of emissions being negative and significant in all specifications.


Objective: Illness perceptions (IP) are important predictors of emotional and behavioral responses in many diseases. The current study aims to investigate the COVID-19-related IP throughout Europe. The specific goals are to understand the temporal development, identify predictors (within demographics and contact with COVID-19) and examine the impacts of IP on perceived stress and preventive behaviors. Methods: This was a time-series-cross-section study of 7,032 participants from 16 European countries using multilevel modeling from April to June 2020. IP were measured with the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire. Temporal patterns were observed considering the date of participation and the date recoded to account the epidemiological evolution of each country. The outcomes considered were perceived stress and COVID-19 preventive behaviors. Results: There were significant trends, over time, for several IP, suggesting a small decrease in negativity in the perception of COVID-19 in the community. Age, gender, and education level related to some, but not all, IP. Considering the self-regulation model, perceptions consistently predicted general stress and were less consistently related to preventive behaviors. Country showed no effect in the predictive model, suggesting that national differences may have little relevance for IP, in this context. Conclusion: The present study provides a comprehensive picture of COVID-19 IP in Europe in an early stage of the pandemic. The results shed light on the process of IP formation with implications for health-related outcomes and their evolution.


Problem definition: Dockless bike-sharing users use a mobile app to rent a bike located throughout a city, lock the bike at their destination, and then make it available to another user. We examine whether dockless bike-sharing systems can offer a technology-enabled solution to traffic congestion problems by providing a cost-effective and sustainable alternative mode of transportation. Academic/practical relevance: Urban planners, policymakers, transportation engineers, and scholars have sought innovative and sustainable solutions to the rush-hour traffic congestion problem. Methodology: We exploit a unique natural experiment setting in which the first dockless bike-sharing service was launched in Chengdu, China, in November 2016. We employ a difference-in-differences framework and utilize detailed ride-sharing order information from DiDi Chuxing (DiDi) to measure the demand for car travel. Results: We find that the entry of dockless bike-sharing decreases the demand for car travel during rush hour. For example, the number of ride-sharing pick-ups decreases by 12 percent during rush hour after the entry of dockless bike-sharing. Moreover, more congested locations witness a greater decline in ride-sharing orders during rush hour. We also find that locations with access to public transit experience a greater decline in car travel demand, which provides empirical evidence that dockless bike-sharing helps solve the first-mile/last mile problem during rush hour. Furthermore, we find a greater reduction in car travel demand during rush hour for locations with a high level of mobility and locations that are closer to the city center. Managerial implications: Overall, the dockless bike-sharing system, which combines information technologies with a sharing economy business model, reduces car travel demand during rush hour and provides a smart solution to the rush-hour traffic congestion problem.


With the rapid growth of number of cores, together with the heterogeneous access latencies, the cost of synchronization and communication between distant components keeps growing. As more general purpose programs exploit the many-core architectures, the speedup achieved will then be limited by the synchronization needed to access shared objects [2]. When building Internet-scale systems, similar concerns lead to the design of scalable systems that limit global synchronization and operate locally when possible. CRDTs [1] succeed in capturing data types with clear concurrency semantics and are now common components in Internet-scale systems. However, they do not migrate trivially to shared-memory architectures due to high computational costs from merge functions, which becomes apparent once network communication is removed. In this talk, we discuss multi-view data types for shared-memory architectures, that leverages a global-local view model that distinguishes between a local fast state and a distant shared state. By executing operations on the local state without synchronization, while only synchronizing with the shared state when needed, applications can achieve better scalability at the expense of linearizability - the default correctness criteria for concurrent objects.


Background It has been shown that selenium-binding protein 1 (SBP1) is significantly downregulated in different human cancers. Its regulation and function have not yet been established. Methodology and Principal Findings We show that the SBP1 promoter is hypermethylated in colon cancer tissues and human colon cancer cells. Treatment with 5′-Aza-2′-deoxycytidine leads to demethylation of the SBP1 promoter and to an increase of SBP1 promoter activity, rescues SBP1 mRNA and protein expression in human colon cancer cells. Additionally, overexpression of SBP1 sensitizes colon cancer cells to H2O2-induced apoptosis, inhibits cancer cell migration in vitro and inhibits tumor growth in nude mice. Conclusion and Significance These data demonstrate that SBP1 has tumor suppressor functions that are inhibited in colorectal cancer through epigenetic silencing.


Abstract Herbivores such as the African elephant receive most of their nutrient uptake through digested vegetation or water. When these nutrient sources do not fulfil dietary requirements, eating and digestion of soil and rock can be a common phenomenon. In the Mount Elgon National Park on the Kenya-Uganda border, elephants have taken this activity one step further. Deposits of calcium-sodium-rich alkaline rocks show evidence of quarrying by elephants on the surface, but most of the activity takes place underground in caves. The Na-Ca-Mg-rich rocks are leached by groundwater which reacts with animal excreta in the humid environment of the cave floor to form a series of secondary carbonate, sulphate, halide, nitrate and phosphate minerals by evaporation. Additionally some salts are precipitated on the cave walls by direct evaporation of the cave waters. Inside the caves, elephants tusk and ingest the salt-enriched rock fragments. In an area like Mount Elgon, where supergene processes leach chemical elements essential for dietary requirements from the surface ecosystem, the secondary salts in the caves are potentially an important mineral supplement for wildlife nutrition. Although elephants are the principal exploiters, other wildlife species and humans (for livestock) also utilize the cave salts and surface diggings.


Kholaasat-ol-Managheb, is the summary of Manaagheb-al-Aarefin written by Ahmad-Ibne- Mahmood known as Mo'een-al-Fogharaa. The value of this text lies in the parts that have been added to it from Mawlana's speeches. It also contains some interesting tales. The writer of this article first introduces the text and its background; he then introduces Ahmad-Ibne- Mahmood and his era. In this paper, the writer, for the first time has corrected the section that Mo'een-al-Fogharaa has added to the text from Mawlana.


The phosphaturic action of parathyroid hormone (PTH) is blunted during metabolic acidosis. Previous studies suggest that the activation of renal cortical adenylate cyclase by PTH is decreased under this condition. However, the mechanisms underlying the defect are not completely defined. The present studies were designed to examine the interaction of PTH with its receptor-adenylate cyclase system in basolateral cortical membranes from dogs with metabolic acidosis. Chronic metabolic acidosis was induced in seven normal dogs. Venous blood pH decreased to 7.21 +/- 0.01 and serum bicarbonate to 12.58 +/- 0.32 meq/liter. In seven control dogs blood pH was 7.38 +/- 0.002 and serum bicarbonate was 20.14 +/- 0.26 meq/liter. The kidneys were surgically removed and basolateral membranes were prepared by differential centrifugation and ultracentrifugation in discontinuous sucrose density gradients for studies of adenylate cyclase activity and hormone-receptor binding. Metabolic acidosis resulted in a significant decrease in PTH-dependent adenylate cyclase activity (Vmax 2,119 +/- 150 pmol cAMP X mg prot-1 .30 min-1 vs. 3,548 +/- 116 in the controls). The PTH concentration giving half-maximal activation of adenylate cyclase was unchanged. However, PTH-receptor binding showed similar affinity and binding capacity in both groups of membranes. Basal enzyme activity was also similar. In the presence of the GTP analogue 5'-guanylylimidodiphosphate, PTH-dependent adenylate cyclase activity remained markedly decreased in the acidotic dog membranes compared with the controls. The ability of NaF to stimulate enzyme activity was also depressed in the membrane of acidotic dogs. Enzyme activity in the presence of Mn2+ was similar in the two groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Episodic care forms a payment methodology of increasing relevance to neurointerventional specialists and other providers. Episodic care payment models are currently recognized in both payment paths described by the Medicare Access and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Reauthorization Act (MACRA): the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System and Advanced Alternative Payment Models. Understanding the cost of care, as well as how such costs are shaped in the context of episodic care, will be critical to success in both of these paths.


Insomnia, the most prevalent sleep disorder worldwide, confers marked risks for both physical and mental health. Furthermore, insomnia is associated with considerable direct and indirect healthcare costs. Recent guidelines in the US and Europe unequivocally conclude that cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT‐I) should be the first‐line treatment for the disorder. Current treatment approaches are in stark contrast to these clear recommendations, not least across Europe, where, if any treatment at all is delivered, hypnotic medication still is the dominant therapeutic modality. To address this situation, a Task Force of the European Sleep Research Society and the European Insomnia Network met in May 2018. The Task Force proposed establishing a European CBT‐I Academy that would enable a Europe‐wide system of standardized CBT‐I training and training centre accreditation. This article summarizes the deliberations of the Task Force concerning definition and ingredients of CBT‐I, preconditions for health professionals to teach CBT‐I, the way in which CBT‐I should be taught, who should be taught CBT‐I and to whom CBT‐I should be administered. Furthermore, diverse aspects of CBT‐I care and delivery were discussed and incorporated into a stepped‐care model for insomnia.


It is not an exaggeration to claim that entrenching the Charter of Rights and Freedoms1 in the Constitution in 1982 revolutionized Canadian law and political debate. Developed and composed both to cement Canadian unity and to give a new beginning to the protection of fundamental rights, this new principal piece of the basic law has made a major contribution toward creating new alliances and refocusing debates on the basis of a dialectic whose terms of reference are no longer based on the distribution of legislative powers. While language guarantees and mobility rights are without a doubt the best illustrations of the political objectives pursued by the drafters, it is more toward the legal guarantees and fundamental freedoms that we must turn to assess accurately the profound changes introduced into Canada's legal structure by the Charter. The Canadian Supreme Court, relying on the new mandate granted them by the drafters, the fact that the Charter is not limited to recognizing and declaring the existence of already existing rights, and the possibility recognized in section 1 of placing limits on the guaranteed rights without being required to give them an unnecessarily restrictive scope, has had no difficulty freeing itself from the excessively conservative judgments that had drained the Canadian Bill of Rights of all its meaning.2 This new judicial


Manufacturing systems exhibit two types of synchronisation phenomena: logistics and physics. Previous research has established synchronisation measures for both types and has shown that they are related to the due date performance. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the factors triggering synchronisation emergence as well as a holistic understanding of synchronisation effects on logistics performance. Thus, this research aims to further explore the relation between synchronisation, its influencing factors and its effect on logistics performance. Based on a profound literature review, we derive first hypotheses on the cause-and-effect-relationships between structural and dynamic properties of a manufacturing system and the emergence of logistics and physics synchronisation as well as logistics performance. By conducting a discrete-event simulation study on diverse manufacturing system types (line, flow shop and job shop production), we are able to test these hypotheses. We conclude that manufacturing network architecture as a structural property as well as processing time variability and system workload as dynamic properties may be exploited for an advanced and synchronisation-oriented manufacturing system design.


Objective: Human Herpes Virus (HHV) type 1 and 2 are cause of hidden pandemics in global scale, as well as sever clinical symptoms associated with active replication in the human host. As until now there are 11 license anti-herpes drugs. Most of them are based on acyclovir and his derivative. Their frequent usage leads to the selection of drug resistance strains and patients offen experience unwanted side effects. Natural products (for ins. plant extracts) are tolerated better by living organisms and their complex composition prevent appearance of resistant virions. The aim of our work is to study the effect of Stachys Thracica Dav extracts against Human Herpes Virus type 1, strain F and Human Herpes Virus type 2, strain BA. Materials and methods: The extracts are obtained from in vivo, in vitro and ex vitro cultivated plants, using methanol extraction. All tests are done in in vitro experimental settings. We use MDBK cell line, and also laboratory strain F of HHV – 1. The following methods were applied: MTT assay to determine cell survival, direct contact assay to test virucidal activity and modified MTT assay to determine effect against virus replication in cell culture. ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡,§ § §,‡ © Angelova P et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Results: Obtained data shows that two of the extracts – those from in vitro and ex vitro cultivated plants are with close MNC (maximal nontoxic concentration) (2mg/ml), and the third one is more toxic (MNC is 1mg/ml). The tested extracts do not influence the replication of HHV – 1 and HHV-2. The results about virucidal activity show that the extracts strongly inhibited extracellular virions of HHV-1, strain F (extracts from in vitro cultivated plants reach ~ 100% at 240 minutes of the contact), but the effect of the extracts on extracellular virons of HHV-2, strain BA is more slight. Conclusions: Tested extracts do not have effect against virus replication in cell culture but show strong virucidal activity against HHV-1 and slight activity against HHV-2.


We have compared the oxidative metabolism of human eosinophils (80%-90% purity) to that of neutrophils. Hexose monophosphate (HMP) shunt activity of eosinophils was higher than that of neutrophils under either resting or phagocytizing conditions. Eosinophil HMP shunt activity also was stimulated by phorbol myristate acetate, a membrane-active agent. Eosinophils showed a marked incorporation of 125I into trichloroacetic acid-insoluble material under resting conditions, which increased markedly during phagocytosis. Eosinophils likewise showed a greater reduction of nitroblue tetrazolium dye during phagocytosis than did neutrophils. Measurement of other parameters of oxidative metabolism indicated that eosinophils generated superoxide anion following phagocytosis and also elicited a burst of chemiluminescence similar to that observed during phagocytosis by neutrophils. Measurement of NADPH oxidase activity demonstrated that this enzyme was 3-6 times more active in fractions isolated from eosinophils than in corresponding fractions isolated from neutrophils; this was observed over a range of substrate concentrations. The eosinophil enzyme sedimented differently than the neutrophil enzyme with differential centrifugation; neither showed sedimentation characteristics of peroxidase. These data indicate that eosinophils possess a similar, although in some ways more potent, oxidative burst than neutrophils and are consistent with a role for NADPH oxidase in the initiation of that burst.


As science races to keep up with science fiction, many scientists are beginning to believe that the next step in human evolution will be a combination of human and machine and look a lot like something out of Star Trek. The constant pursuit of perfection is a part of the human condition, but if we begin to stretch beyond the natural human form can we still consider ourselves human? Transhumanism and posthumanism are only theories for now, but they are theories that threaten to permanently displace the human race, possibly pushing it into extinction. This thesis will look at the theories of transhumanism and posthumanism through the lens of science fiction and ask the question of whether or not technology holds the key to humanities next evolutionary step or its demise.


Visual design tasks often involve tuning many design parameters. For example, color grading of a photograph involves many parameters, some of which non-expert users might be unfamiliar with. We propose a novel user-in-the-loop optimization method that allows users to efficiently find an appropriate parameter set by exploring such a high-dimensional design space through much easier two-dimensional search subtasks. This method, called sequential plane search, is based on Bayesian optimization to keep necessary queries to users as few as possible. To help users respond to plane-search queries, we also propose using a gallery-based interface that provides options in the two-dimensional subspace arranged in an adaptive grid view. We call this interactive framework Sequential Gallery since users sequentially select the best option from the options provided by the interface. Our experiment with synthetic functions shows that our sequential plane search can find satisfactory solutions in fewer iterations than baselines. We also conducted a preliminary user study, results of which suggest that novices can effectively complete search tasks with Sequential Gallery in a photo-enhancement scenario.


The gradual Christianization of the major dynasties of so-called 'Younger Europe' resulted, among other things, in the activization of their matrimonial policy. Throughout Middle Ages, the most active in this regard were the Rurik and the Piast dynasties. The tradition of bilateral marriage relations among the ruling houses of Europe was established in the early 11th century and uninterruptedly continued into the mid-14th century. In the 11th century, there were registered 7 princely marriages; four of them, in Poland – three Ruthenian brides were given in marriage to the representatives of the Piast dynasty; besides, there was one case of concubinage. Two of the marriages were fertile: altogether, six children were born (five boys and a girl). One marriage proved to be infertile. On her way to her husband's land, each Ruthenian bride was accompanied by an escort consisting chiefly of women; but there had to be some men too, a personal confessor and spiritual advisor in particular. Supposedly, their main function was to prepare the princesses for marriage; later, those persons composed their ladies' own courts, varying in quantity and duration, within the greater courts of their husbands. In this article, I focus on the quest for probable Ruthenians within the inner circles of the Rurik dynasty princesses married into the Piast dynasty in the 11th century. The main challenges of the quest are the insufficiency of the 11th – the early 12th-century historical sources and the inaccuracy of the late medieval materials on the subject, whose evidence requires critical view and verification. Thus it appears to be almost impossible to establish the names of all those persons who accompanied the Ruthenian princesses to the Piasts' lands, though their presence can be inferred from historical narratives.


Some things really never change. For example, medication adherence remains a critical factor that influences the effectiveness of our modern health care system. Is there a magic bullet to solve the problem of nonadherence? We don't think there is. We do believe, however, that tools to monitor adherence continue to improve in their utility.


Abstract One of the major challenges for the tourism sector is enacting sustainable behaviours. A key strategy for hoteliers is developing persuasive messages, with the goal of encouraging guests' voluntary participation in green programmes. Through the lens of prospect theory and construal level theory, the present study investigates to what extent a loss or gain-framed message influences recycling of hotel guests via a field and a laboratory experiment. The field experiment tests the moderating effect of message construal level (concrete or abstract) on the message frame that activate pro-environmental behaviour, while the laboratory study delves further into the mechanism by showing that perceived self-efficacy is the mechanism behind the activation of these behaviours. The findings from both studies suggest that hotel guests are more likely to engage in recycling behaviour when a concrete message is paired with a loss-framed message, because of a greater perceived self-efficacy. These results help to understand the theoretical psychological mechanisms and offer managerial implications for operators on how to engage guests to be active partners in sustainable tourism behaviours.


Serum-free, hormonally defined media have been developed for optimal growth of a rat hepatoma cell line. The cells' hormonal requirements for growth are dramatically altered both qualitatively and quantitatively by whether they were plated onto tissue culture plastic or collagenous substrata. On collagenous substrata, the cells required insulin, glucagon, growth hormone, prolactin, and linoleic acid (bound to BSA), and zinc, copper, and selenium. For growth on tissue culture plastic, the cells required the above factors at higher concentrations plus several additional factors: transferrin, hydrocortisone, and triiodothyronine. To ascertain the relative influence of hormones versus substratum on the growth and differentiation of rat hepatoma cells, various parameters of growth and of liver-specific and housekeeping functions were compared in cells grown in serum-free, hormonally supplemented, or serum-supplemented medium and on either tissue culture plastic or type I collagen gels. The substratum was found to be the primary determinant of attachment and survival of the cells. Even in serum-free media, the cells showed attachment and survival efficiencies of 40-50% at low seeding densities and even higher efficiencies at high seeding densities when the cells were plated onto collagenous substrata. However, optimal attachment and survival efficiencies of the cells on collagenous substrata still required either serum or hormonal supplements. On tissue culture plastic, there was no survival of the cells at any seeding density without either serum or hormonal supplements added to the medium. A defined medium designed for cells plated on tissue culture plastic, containing increased levels of hormones plus additional factors over those in the defined medium designed for cells on collagenous substrata, was found to permit attachment and survival of the cells plated into serum-free medium and onto tissue culture plastic. Growth of the cells was influenced by both substrata and hormones. When plated onto collagen gel substrata as compared with tissue culture plastic, the cells required fewer hormones and growth factors in the serum-free, hormone-supplemented media to achieve optimal growth rates. Growth rates of the cells at low and high seeding densities were equivalent in the hormonally and serum-supplemented media as long as comparisons were made on the same substratum and the hormonally supplemented medium used was the one designed for that substratum. For a given medium, either serum or hormonally supplemented, the saturation densities were highest for tissue culture plastic as compared with collagen gels.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


Abstract Over the past two decades, Japan's popular culture has been massively disseminated and consumed throughout Northeast and Southeast Asia. A wide range of products, such as music, animation, comics, television programs, fashion magazines, and movies, have been endorsed by local popular culture markets and now constitute an integral part of the cultural lives of many young people in this region. These products not only introduce a multitude of consumption options, but also have an impact on the way young urban consumers imagine and think about Japan. This paper examines the extent to which popular culture can change the perception of a country abroad. Based on questionnaire surveys conducted with university students from Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Seoul, it focuses on the appreciation shown to Japan's popular culture, and how it shapes young people's image of the country. The central argument presented is that exposure to Japanese popular culture disseminates new, favorable images, which modify the way the country is perceived. These images arouse feelings of affinity and a sense of proximity, but unlike the "soft power" argument, they are generational, implicit, inconsistent, and subject to different interpretations. As such, the practicality of generating state power in terms of authority or control is doubtful.


One of the main challenges in additive manufacturing (AM) of medical implants for the treatment of bone tissue defects is to optimise the mechanical and biological performance. The use of post-processing can be a necessity to improve the physical properties of customised AM processed implants. In this study, Ti-6Al-4V coupons were manufactured using selective laser melting (SLM) in two build orientations (vertical and horizontal) and subsequently post-processed using combinations of hot isostatic pressing (HIP), sandblasting (SB), polishing (PL) and chemical etching (CE). The effect of the different post-manufacturing strategies on the tensile and fatigue performance of the SLMed parts was investigated and rationalised by observing the surface topography. Vertically built samples showed higher yield strength (YS) and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) than the horizontal samples, increasing from 760.9 ± 22.3 MPa and 961.3 ± 50.2 MPa in the horizontal condition to 820.09 ± 16.5 MPa and 1006.7 ± 6.3 MPa in the vertical condition, respectively. After the HIP treatment, the ductility was substantially improved in both orientations; by 2.1 and 2.9 folds in the vertical and horizontal orientations, respectively. The vertically built samples demonstrated a superior ductility of 22% following HIP and polishing. Furthermore, chemical etching was found to be the most effective surface post-processing treatment to improve the fatigue performance after HIP, achieving the highest run-out strength of 450 MPa. Most importantly, chemical etching after HIP enhanced the cellular affinity of the surface, in addition to its good fatigue performance, making it a promising post-processing approach for bone implants where tissue integration is needed.


The first section of the paper presents the morphology, structure and function of the eosinophilic granulocytes, while the second part deals with major neurologic diseases in which eosinophils are present or represent significant findings. These data are compared with the results of the author's own examinations of 1,000 unselected cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples. Eosinophils appeared usually in conjunction with infection, followed by foreign body inflammation. If the proportion of eosinophils exceeds 4%, the condition is termed CSF-eosinophilia, which usually develops in the presence of foreign bodies. However, infection may produce similar findings, especially in parasitic disease, and tumours of the central nervous system occasionally present with CSF eosinophilia.


The modern constitutive equations of the rheology of analeptic media and of the polarization in dielectric media are discussed in the time and frequency domains. It is seen that the most appropriate form of the constitutive equations of these media is based on the convolution of the stress and strain, and of the electric field and induction respectively, with appropriate functions representing the memory of the medium to previous stress or induction. The most successful memory forma]ism in representing the observed phenomena is that of the derivative of fractional order which allows a variety of problems to be solved by means of the Laplace Trans- form. The consequent index of refraction, generally, is a set valued function which implies that a monochromatic wave generated in the medium is split into a set of waves with the same frequency but different wavelength which interfere and have a quasi periodically varying amplitude. The eigenfunctions of these media, associated to the ordinarily used principal values of the index of retraction, are split and so are the tree modes. The fatigue of anelastic media is studied using the new constitutive equations containing fractional derivatives; a phenomenological method is introduced to compute the number of cycles which gives fatigue for a strain or stress with given amplitude and frequency. The number of cycles which may cause fatigue is proportional to the amplitude and frequency of the applied strain or stress, or inversely proportional to the rate of stress or strain. A criterion is also established to see whether an applied cyclic stress or strain may cause fatigue. This criterion is tested with experimental data on steel and rocks verifying that, in general, it is consistent with the data although thc data are not always in the linear range. It is tentatively seen that fatigue docs not seem one of the causes of the release of the elastic energy stored in the Earth.


Several studies (covering many language pairs and translation tasks) have demonstrated that translation quality has improved enormously since the emergence of neural machine translation systems. This raises the question whether such systems are able to produce high-quality translations for more creative text types such as literature and whether they are able to generate coherent translations on document level. Our study aimed to investigate these two questions by carrying out a document-level evaluation of the raw NMT output of an entire novel. We translated Agatha Christie's novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles with Google's NMT system from English into Dutch and annotated it in two steps: first all fluency errors, then all accuracy errors. We report on the overall quality, determine the remaining issues, compare the most frequent error types to those in general-domain MT, and investigate whether any accuracy and fluency errors co-occur regularly. Additionally, we assess the inter-annotator agreement on the first chapter of the novel.


Mosquitoes are responsible for the transmission of important infectious diseases, causing millions of deaths every year and endangering approximately 3 billion people around the world. As such, precise identification of mosquito species is crucial for an understanding of epidemiological patterns of disease transmission. Currently, the most common method of mosquito identification relies on morphological taxonomic keys, which do not always distinguish cryptic species. However, wing geometric morphometrics is a promising tool for the identification of vector mosquitoes, sibling and cryptic species included. This study therefore sought to accurately identify mosquito species from the three most epidemiologically important mosquito genera using wing morphometrics. Twelve mosquito species from three epidemiologically important genera (Aedes, Anopheles and Culex) were collected and identified by taxonomic keys. Next, the right wing of each adult female mosquito was removed and photographed, and the coordinates of eighteen digitized landmarks at the intersections of wing veins were collected. The allometric influence was assessed, and canonical variate analysis and thin-plate splines were used for species identification. Cross-validated reclassification tests were performed for each individual, and a Neighbor Joining tree was constructed to illustrate species segregation patterns. The analyses were carried out and the graphs plotted with TpsUtil 1.29, TpsRelw 1.39, MorphoJ 1.02 and Past 2.17c. Canonical variate analysis for Aedes, Anopheles and Culex genera showed three clear clusters in morphospace, correctly distinguishing the three mosquito genera, and pairwise cross-validated reclassification resulted in at least 99% accuracy; subgenera were also identified correctly with a mean accuracy of 96%, and in 88 of the 132 possible comparisons, species were identified with 100% accuracy after the data was subjected to reclassification. Our results showed that Aedes, Culex and Anopheles were correctly distinguished by wing shape. For the lower hierarchical levels (subgenera and species), wing geometric morphometrics was also efficient, resulting in high reclassification scores.


Up to 86% of pregnant women will have lumbopelvic pain during the 3rd trimester of pregnancy and women with lumbopelvic pain experience lower health-related quality of life during pregnancy than women without lumbopelvic pain. Several risk factors for pregnancy-related lumbopelvic pain have been identified and include history of low back pain, previous trauma to the back or pelvis and previous pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain. During pregnancy, women go through several hormonal and biomechanical changes as well as neuromuscular adaptations which could explain the development of lumbopelvic pain, but this remains unclear. The aim of this article is to review the potential pregnancy-related changes and adaptations (hormonal, biomechanical and neuromuscular) that may play a role in the development of lumbopelvic pain during pregnancy. This narrative review presents different mechanisms that may explain the development of lumbopelvic pain in pregnant women. A hypotheses-driven model on how these various physiological changes potentially interact in the development of lumbopelvic pain in pregnant women is also presented. Pregnancy-related hormonal changes, characterized by an increase in relaxin, estrogen and progesterone levels, are potentially linked to ligament hyperlaxity and joint instability, thus contributing to lumbopelvic pain. In addition, biomechanical changes induced by the growing fetus, can modify posture, load sharing and mechanical stress in the lumbar and pelvic structures. Finally, neuromuscular adaptations during pregnancy include an increase in the activation of lumbopelvic muscles and a decrease in endurance of the pelvic floor muscles. Whether or not a causal link between these changes and lumbopelvic pain exists remains to be determined. This model provides a better understanding of the mechanisms behind the development of lumbopelvic pain during pregnancy to guide future research. It should allow clinicians and researchers to consider the multifactorial nature of lumbopelvic pain while taking into account the various changes and adaptations during pregnancy.


Tractography is a powerful tool to study structural connectivity of the brain. However, its accuracy is known to be limited and tractograms are contaminated with large numbers of false positive streamlines. In this work, we propose a novel tractogram filtering approach. Our method leverages the topographic regularity of connections with which nearby streamline tend to follow similar trajectories. With this observation, we introduce an anisotropic smoothing approach for track orientation density images. These images are back projected onto the streamlines, which provides information about fiber-to-bundle coupling (FICO). Streamlines are then filtered by thresholding their FICO value.


A routing protocol that is appropriate for an ad hoc network is needed. But research into routing protocols for ad hoc networks so far have mainly targeted efficiency and assume a trusted environment. But these protocols are not well operated in the networks that adversaries exist in. We propose a new on-demand secure routing protocol for ad hoc networks using an ID based cryptosystem. Our protocol can authenticate all nodes in the routing path with less network resource consumption than previous secure routing protocols. And our protocol does not need the fixed infrastructure without unrealistic assumptions because of using an ID based cryptosystem.


Ada is the programming language of choice for high integrity software systems and is used extensively in industries such as transportation and aerospace. Special features of the book include: Object-oriented programming, concurrency, and embedded and real-time systems are emphasized. Ada for Software Engineers explains the language concepts and the terminology of the standards document, the Ada Reference Manual (ARM). Extracts from the ARM are used throughtout and there are extensive cross references to the ARM. A comprehensive glossary and technical quizzes assist the reader in developing the ability to use the ARM as a practical reference. Comparisons with familiar languages like C and Java are given to facilitate the transition to Ada. The features of Ada 2005 are used routinely, but they are carefully identified, so that programmers using Ada 95 will also find the textbook useful. The companion website contains the full source code of nearly 100 case studies and 100 technical quizzes.


A preliminary design of a 5500 MWth modular stellarator power reactor, UWTOR-M, is presented. Discrete twisted coils are used in an l = 3 configuration with maintainability as a prime consideration. The natural steliarator divertor is used for impurity control in conjunction with innovative high performance divertor targets. A unique blanket design is proposed which minimizes the overall tritium inventory in the reactor. Finally, a scheme for maintaining the first wall/blanket and other reactor components is discussed.


This research is to characterize the wake effect from a cluster of large-scale offshore wind turbines with the purpose of optimizing spacing between separate farms to avoid wake interference. Placing wind turbines within a field of disturbed flow decreases power output, and in some cases, threatens structural integrity. Unsteady loading and fluxes in wind turbine power generation are born out of turbulence and can further lead to a reduction in the overall energy production of a wind farm. As the offshore wind industry exhibits rapid growth, an immediate need for standards that enable optimization of farm placement for offshore development exists. Wake characterization was accomplished in this research through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling.


A population of Pappogeomys castanops simulans was live-trapped on a 3.5-ha study area in Lubbock, Texas, from September 1971 to September 1973. Seasonal and annual differences in population size were observed, with the population fluctuating between 20 and 25 gophers. Female reproductive activity began in January and continued until October, with an obvious period of recruitment lacking; however, a peak was observed in March and April. Females produced as many as three litters per reproductive season. Females born early in the year were sexually mature within the reproductive season of their birth. Females had an average survival rate of 56 weeks in the trappable population as compared to a 31-week survival rate of males. Neonate through subadult survival of pooled males and females was 72.7%. The gophers had a clumped distribution on the study area, with more mature females forming the centers of the clumps. Subadults of both sexes and adult males were distributed peripheral to adult females. Adult females showed few shifts in their home range configuration whereas adult males and subadults of both sexes had more labile home range configurations. Females arranged their home ranges so as to provide isolation from other gophers. Males, on the other hand, tended to align their home ranges so as to contact more animals, especially mature females. Offspring dispersed from the maternal burrows as juveniles or subadults. Colonization frequently occurred adjacent to the maternal home range, although long distance moves also were observed. Once a home range was established, few shifts were observed.


This document describes analytical and numerical techniques for the generation of Gaussian density fields, which represent cosmological density perturbations. The mathematical techniques involved in the generation of density harmonics in k-space, the filtering of the density fields, and the normalization of the power spectrum to the measured temperature fluctuations of the Cosmic Microwave Background, are presented in details. These techniques are well-known amongst experts, but the current literature lacks a formal description. I hope that this technical report will prove useful to new researchers moving into this field, sparing them the task of reinventing the wheel.


This article argues for expanding the ethical frame of concern in disaster research from the early phases of site access to longer-term issues that may arise in the field. Drawing on ethical theory, these arguments are developed in five sections. First, we identify the philosophical roots of ethical principles used in social science research. Second, we discuss how ethical concerns span the entire lifecycle of disaster-related research projects but are not fully addressed in the initial protocols for gaining Institutional Research Board (IRB) approval. Third, we introduce the idea of the philosophically informed "ethical toolkit," established to help build awareness of moral obligations and to provide ways to navigate ethical confusion to reach sound research decisions. Specifically, we use the work of W. D. Ross to introduce a template of moral considerations that include fidelity, reparation, gratitude, justice, beneficence, self-improvement , and non-maleficence . We suggest that in the absence of a clear framework that researchers can use to think through ethical dilemmas as they arise, Ross' pluralist approach to ethical problem solving offers flexibility and clarity and, at the same time, leaves space to apply our own understanding of the context in question. Fourth, we draw on six examples from our research studies conducted following Hurricane Katrina. Using these examples, we discuss how, in retrospect, we can apply Ross' moral considerations to the ethical issues raised including: (1) shifting vulnerability among disaster survivors, (2) the expectations of participants, and (3) concerns about reciprocity in long-term fieldwork. Fifth, we consider how the ethical toolkit we are proposing may improve the quality of research and research relationships.


Chronic daily headache (CDH) represents a group of any headache disorder that occurs on a daily or near daily basis, for longer than 6 months. Even though it is a common problem, it is not a well defined disorder, resulting in controversies regarding its identification, description and approach. Three hundred patients, 232 women and 68 men, ages 16 to 86 (mean 38 years old for the women and 42 for the men), attending a headache center and fulfilling the proposed criteria for CDH (Silberstein et al.) and presenting headache 28 days per month were retrospectively studied. The clinical features allowed the primary headache diagnosis, before the transformation into daily presentation as: transformed migraine (TM ) in 271 patients (90,3%), chronic tension- type headache (CTTH) in 26 patients (8,7%) and new daily persistent headache (NDPH) in 3 patients (1%). Among the TM patients, the most observed presentation was pressure or tightening, bilateral fronto-temporal, moderate non-continuous headache, with a progressive onset. The association with nausea and phonophobia was demonstrated in 60% and 32% of the patients respectively. The association with photophobia and sleep disturbances, as well as the occurrence of intermittent headache attacks, was different among male and female patients. With regard to the CTTH patients, pressure or tightening, bilateral fronto-temporal, moderate non- continuous headache, with sleep disturbances and no associated symptoms, was the predominant presentation.


A cam design and manufacturing simulation system is developed for education. The system consists of some modules which can be easily extended or updated. In the design module, the profile of disc cam is generated by defining some parameters – rise allowable pressure angle; return allowable pressure angle, the radius of curvature of cam profile etc. And the kinematics analysis of cam is also calculated in this module. Then the profile is transferred into CATIA for generating a three dimensional geometry of the cam, and NC program is generated. Last, the NC program is verified by Yulong NC simulation system.


Agriculture is the major driving force of Malaysian economic. The aim of this research study is to segment the behavior of paddy farmers in Malaysia and understand how they influence adoption, a green fertilizer technology (GFT). The first objective of this chapter is to establish the thinking which enables a society to bridge the gap between embracing GFT among paddy farmer in Malaysia. Furthermore, the study builds the conceptual framework and examine the relationship among the relevant construct of this conceptual framework which was found by critically examining the different agricultural innovation literature. To make this conceptual framework robust it is found in the literature that theory of planned behavior and theory of reasoned action play a major role in segment farmer's behavior towards the adoption of GFT. Policy implications and/or suggestions for future research are deliberated for each issue and factor that affecting the adoption of GFT.


Languages show differences in how they encode motion in discourse: Verb-framed languages lexicalize Path in the verb, leaving Manner peripheral or implicit; Satellite-framed languages lexicalize Manner together with Path adjuncts. The present study investigates: 1) the extent to which such typological constraints affect the verbalizations of second language learners (English learners of French) and of aphasic speakers (English and French speakers with agrammatism) — who typically show dissociations between lexical and syntactic knowledge — in comparison to controls (English and French native speakers); as well as 2) the role of language-independent factors (level of acquisition, syndrome type). Despite some similarities between learners and speakers with aphasia due to language-independent factors, the findings suggest typologically constrained verbalizations in all groups, as well as diverging strategies that may reflect distinct underlying conceptualization processes.


Abstract This study examined the relationship between L2 proficiency and (1) appropriateness of refusals, (2) use of refusal strategies, and (3) multidialectal practices in performing refusals in Arabic. Using a spoken discourse completion task (spoken DCT), data were collected from 45 learners of Arabic at three different proficiency levels and from 15 Arabic native speakers. The situations used in the spoken DCT varied in power and social distance (i.e., refusing a friend's request to lend money, refusing a neighbor's request to lend a car, and refusing a boss's request to stay late to work extra hours). Findings generally revealed a positive relationship between proficiency and L2 Arabic learners' appropriateness, use of refusal strategies, and multidialectal practices in their refusals. However, results showed that native speakers solely employed spoken Arabic (i.e., the dialect), while learners relied heavily on Modern Standard Arabic. Analysis of refusal strategies showed that native speakers tended to provide vague explanations in their refusals except when refusing the neighbor's request, whereas the learners preferred to provide specific reasons for their refusals. Moreover, advanced-level learners were substantially verbose; as a result, their refusals could be perceived as lecturing or criticizing their interlocutor. This paper concludes with implications for researching and teaching L2 Arabic refusals with special attention to multidialectal practices.


Cognitive Radios (CR) are designed to dynamically reconfigure their transmission and/or reception parameters to utilize the bandwidth efficiently. With a rapidly fluctuating radio environment, spectrum management becomes crucial for cognitive radios. In a Cognitive Radio Ad Hoc Network (CRAHN) setting, the sensing and transmission times of the cognitive radio play a more important role because of the decentralized nature of the network. They have a direct impact on the throughput. Due to the trade-off between throughput and the sensing time, finding optimal values for sensing time and transmission time is difficult. In this thesis, a method is proposed to improve the throughput of a CRAHN by dynamically changing the sensing and transmission times. To simulate the CRAHN setting, ns-2, the network simulator with an extension for CRAHN is used. The CRAHN extension module implements the required Primary User (PU) and Secondary User (SU) and other CR functionalities to simulate a realistic CRAHN scenario. First, this work presents a detailed analysis of various CR parameters, their interactions, their individual contributions to the throughput to understand how they affect the transmissions in the network. Based on the results of this analysis, changes to the system model in the CRAHN extension are proposed. Instantaneous throughput of the network is introduced in the new model, which helps to determine how the parameters should adapt based on the current throughput. Along with instantaneous throughput, checks are done for interference with the PUs and their transmission power, before modifying these CR parameters. Simulation results demonstrate that the throughput of the CRAHN with the adaptive sensing and transmission times is significantly higher as compared to that of non-adaptive parameters.


Liquid-phase microextraction (LPME) methods including single-drop microextraction (SDME), hollow-fiber LPME (HF-LPME), and dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) have in the very short time since their invention grabbed the attention of scientists. Up to now, LPME methods have shown important innovations for the extraction and preconcentration of both inorganic and organic trace analytes from different matrices. These LPME methods offer unique advantages such as high preconcentration factor for target analytes in a single step, low cost, simplicity, excellent preconcentration capability, sample cleanup and integration of steps, and combined use with almost every analytical measurement technique. We describe the milestones and the combined use of different types of LPME methods as well as the green aspects and advantages and shortcomings of known LPME protocols. In addition, we discuss the main results and innovations of different types of LPME published in the period 2010-2016 and we compare the performance of these techniques to that of other recent techniques.


A variety of mechanisms have been proposed to account for the extension of life span in seeds (seed longevity). In this work, we used Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) seeds as a model and carried out differential proteomics to investigate this trait, which is of both ecological and agricultural importance. In our system based on a controlled deterioration treatment (CDT), we compared seed samples treated for different periods of time up to 7 d. Germination tests showed a progressive decrease of germination vigor depending on the duration of CDT. Proteomic analyses revealed that this loss in seed vigor can be accounted for by protein changes in the dry seeds and by an inability of the low-vigor seeds to display a normal proteome during germination. Furthermore, CDT strongly increased the extent of protein oxidation (carbonylation), which might induce a loss of functional properties of seed proteins and enzymes and/or enhance their susceptibility toward proteolysis. These results revealed essential mechanisms for seed vigor, such as translational capacity, mobilization of seed storage reserves, and detoxification efficiency. Finally, this work shows that similar molecular events accompany artificial and natural seed aging.


Background/Context A growing interest in how principals address issues of social justice in schools has emerged with an emphasis on critically interrogating school practices, policies, curriculum, and instructional approaches. Yet, many injustices, which prompt calls for social justice, are created outside of the school by larger socioeconomic arrangements and require greater consideration and collaboration between schools and communities. Given the interrelatedness of schools and communities, this study explores the principal's role in addressing social injustices through activism and utilizing the community's resources and emerging political opportunities to promote social justice. Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine how, if at all, do principals with social justice orientations engage in activism, particularly in relation to their school-community context and the networks and political opportunities that are available within and around the school. Setting Data were collected in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico; Baltimore, United States; and Ceará, Brazil. Research Design This qualitative multicase study used in-depth interviews and observations to explore the leadership actions of principals with social justice orientations. Findings Findings revealed the specific actions taken by principals to understand the social and political context in which they work. The principals in the study utilized their understanding of context to inform their avenues for organizing activity and how they lead to strategically position their schools as resources to support communities and families. Challenges to an activist approach to leadership were also identified, including (a) tensions associated with the multifaceted nature of social justice and the demands; (b) ethical obligations of being a principal within a system and needing to adhere to district policies and priorities; and (c) the unpredictability and uncertainty of outcomes in certain school-community contexts. Conclusions/Recommendations Major conclusions and recommendations for this study include the need to instill in principals a recognition that what happens in society impacts schools, and therefore, requires leadership to be attentive to community needs and activist-oriented. Preparing and supporting principals requires additional attention to how principals can lead for social justice with communities and in ways that are responsive to context. The potential constraints associated with being employed by a school district or connected to a social movement with predetermined priorities needs to be further explored and considered.


An anisotropic quantum vacuum (AQV) has been predicted to induce quantum interferences during the spontaneous emission process in an atomic V transition [G. S. Agarwal, Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 5500 (2000)]. Nevertheless, the finite lifetime of the excited states is expected to strongly limit the observability of this phenomenon. In this paper, we predict that an AQV can induce a long-lifetime coherence in an atomic Λ transition from the process of spontaneous emission, which has an additional advantage of removing the need for coherent laser excitation. We also carry out two metasurface designs and compare their respective efficiencies for creating an AQV over remote distances. The detection of this coherence induced by a metasurface, in addition to being yet another vindication of quantum electrodynamics, could pave the way towards the remote distance control of coherent coupling between quantum emitters, which is a key requirement to produce entanglement in quantum technology applications.


The black literature as one of the most dominant literary movements, genres, and features of Modern American literature worth the better and deeper study. Since the black literature, here especially American Black Drama, based on the social and racial concepts which show a kind of protesting and fighting with oppressions and discrimination which are dominant in the modern American society and according to the Marxist view and Blacks' ideal utopia that they wish in their writing, making and building this kind of ideal and utopian society needs facing with different challenges. Baraka's Dutchman tries to portray, symbolically and allegorically, the bitter reality which is in the American society. The writer of this paper tries to present a new analysis according to the African-American writers' prevailing and leading views which has been blended with Marxist literary criticism for any kind of objection and protection against the whites' social norms which are based on sexual(gender), racial and social discrimination.


A combination of gastrointestinal and urogenital congenital abnormalities was diagnosed and surgically treated in a kitten. Physical examination, exploratory laparotomy, castration, histological examination, and cytogenetic karyotyping were utilized to determine the true gender of the kitten. The kitten was confirmed to be a male (38 XY) pseudohermaphrodite with Type II atresia ani and rectovaginal fistula.


Most-Favoured Nation (MFN) clauses and their possible extension to dispute settlement mechanisms are at the heart of a significant debate in international investments law. This debate is very lively but it is currently unsettled, as demonstrated by persisting disagreements between opposite Schools of thoughts and multiple inconsistencies in arbitral decisions. MFN clauses were reconsidered recently following a claim brought by ICS Inspection and Control Services Limited against Argentina before the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA). The PCA arbitrators rendered a decision in February 2011 in which jurisdiction was rejected together with the idea that a MFN can be extended to dispute settlement clauses to allow foreign investors to benefit from more favourable arbitration clauses lacking pre-arbitration requirements. The ICS decision on jurisdiction does not however help identifying a consistent trend. This paper provides a summary of the parties' arguments as well as a brief commentary as to the conclusions of the arbitrators.


Mohawesh, O., Coolong, T., Aliedeh, M., & Qaraleh, S. (2018). Greenhouse evaluation of biochar to enhance soil properties and plant growth performance under arid environment. Bulgarian Journal of Agricultural Science, 24(6), 1012–1019 Agriculture production in arid and semi-arid regions face several problems such as soil degradation, water shortage, and chemical toxicity. Soil amendments to improve soil water and nutrient holding capacity have become an important tool to enhance soil properties. Biochar is being suggested as a soil amendment for improving the quality of the agricultural soils. Therefore, pot experiments were conducted under greenhouse conditions using fi ve levels of biochar (0 control, 0.5, 1.0, 2.5 and 5.0% wt/wt) produced from broccoli residue applied to an alkaline, sandy loam soil to evaluate the effects of biochar on plant growth and performance as well as on soil physical and chemical properties. The results indicated that the growth of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and bell pepper (Capsicum annuum) plants were adversely affected by biochar additions at high levels (2.5 and 5.0%). Bell pepper and tomato biomass were not signifi cantly different compared to the control treatment at 0.5 and 1.0% biochar. Biochar applications signifi cantly affected leaf nutrient concentrations in both plants. Proline concentrations increased signifi cantly in bell pepper and tomato with increasing biochar levels. Soil pH and EC values increased signifi cantly with biochar applications. The biochar application to the soil increased soil EC and pH by 35.8 to 192.4% and by 1.6 to 5.5%, respectively, compared to the control treatment. For most measured parameters, the highest level of biochar application (5% wt/wt) adversely affected plant growth and nutrient uptake. Based on the results, biochar may have benefi t when used as soil amendments at application levels of less than 2.5% (wt/wt); however, additional studies are necessary to determine the impact of biochar feedstock, pyrolysis conditions, soil type, and growing conditions to better understand the effects of biochar under arid and semi-arid soil conditions.


Nanotechnology also called as nanotech is referring to the science, technology and engineering to synthesis, manipulation and investigation of materials and devices at nanoscales. Nanoparticles (NPs) owns a special place in nanotechnology due to their extreme-small size, multifunctionality, and modifiable surface for wide range of applications especially in new drug delivery application as the stability, solubility, biocompatibility and drugs releasing of NPs are highly controllable. The variation of nanomaterials with different physiochemical and morphological properties will affect the materials-living cells interaction and determination of the route of clearance and potential toxic effects. Thus, it requires more cross-disciplinary research on the designing and developing of drugs delivery NPs based on the diagnosis and treatment of devastating diseases. Biopolymers-based NPs have gained great attention for drug delivery system over the past few decades compared to other materials-based NPs such as liposomes, ceramics and lipids as well as magnetic NPs. There are extensive studies and developments of biopolymers-based NPs for drug delivery and tissue engineering as it capable of controlling the release of drugs, stabilizing labile molecules from degradation, and site-specific drug targeting. Alginate is an anionic copolymer that extracted from algae. The NPs composed alginate have become one of the most extensively researched materials for biomedical applications such as tissue engineering, wound dressing, protein/enzyme carrier and drug delivery due to its biodegradability, biocompatibility, non-toxicity and mucoadhesive properties. Furthermore, by physiochemical crosslinking and cooperating with other polymers, the mechanical strength, cell affinity and drug release profile can be modified and improved. In this brief review paper, several aspects about using alginate or crosslinked alginate for drug delivery application will be discussed, mainly focus on the structure and properties of alginate such as biocompatibility, immunogenicity and biodegradability, as well as the effect of mucoadhesion and pH sensitivity of using alginate in drug delivery nanoparticles developments.


Purpose: This research was conducted to empirically analyzed the influence of authenticity on revisit intention mediated by the tourists' satisfaction at Air Soda destination, Indonesia. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research uses 160 respondents taken randomly in the destination. Using the purposive random sampling and some criteria for respondents the sample consists of (1) visiting the destination at least two times, (2) the respondent is at least 20 years old. The research used Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to analyze the data and to test the model. Findings: Authenticity significantly influenced tourists' satisfaction but insignificantly influenced revisit intention. Tourists' satisfaction significantly influenced revisit intention. Authenticity mediated by tourists' satisfaction significantly influenced revisit intention. Practical Implications: The results of this research show the constructed authenticity as the most influential in tourists' revisit intention. Tourism stakeholders should focus their attention on the development of constructed authenticity. Integrating local wisdom and culture into the tourists' experience enhancing the development of constructed authenticity and will contribute to the sustainability of the destination visited by tourists. Originality/Value: The model shows that authenticity mediated by the tourists' satisfaction influences revisit intention in the destination. Constructed authenticity of the destination plays an important role in increasing the number of tourists visiting the destination.


The dynamic programming recursive procedure has provided an efficient method for solving a variety of multi-stage decision problems in which the objective is measured by a real valued utility function. In this paper we propose that the real valued objective function be replaced by preference relations. Sufficient conditions are given on the structure of the preference relations to insure that the recursive dynamic programming procedure yields an optimal sequence of decisions.

The solution method is well adapted to an interactive mode of implementation in which there is a dialogue between the decision maker and a source of information and analysis e.g., a computer. The "computer" collects, analyzes, and presents information on a set of alternatives to the decision maker who then communicates to the "computer" his choice of the best alternatives in the set. The process is repeated, stage by stage, thus generating an optimal sequence of decisions.

The approach should be particularly useful in dealing with multi-stage decision problems involving design and/or operation of facilities and multi-period public projects where a variety of desiderata must be considered i.e., a simple cost or benefit function is inadequate.


Background: Low back pain (LBP) is the leading cause of disability and is often accompanied with a back-related leg pain (around 60%), where those with radiating pain show worse overall clinical outcomes. Previous studies comparing these two groups have involved individuals with chronic LBP. It is not known if subjects who currently have LBP differ in pain sensitivity from those who have currently LBP accompanied with pain radiation to lower limbs. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate whether there are differences in self-reported health and pain sensitivity between individuals currently having LBP with and without pain radiation to lower limbs. Method: Individuals with LBP (n=100) aged 40 to 70 years participated in this study. According the first question of STarT Back Pain Screening Tool about the pain radiation to leg(s), individuals were divided into two groups: radiation group (RG, n=36) and no radiation group (noRG, n=64). To gain the information about self-reported health, following questionnaires were used: Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire, Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Pressure pain thresholds (PPTs) were measured with algometer (6 sites and 4 points of 'lower body': gluteal and knee points). Mann-Whitney U-test was used to calculate differences on group and gender level. A logistic regression analyses was calculated (crude model), where belong to RG or not was the dependent variable and all self-reported data and PPTs were independent variables, all data were controlled for gender and age. Results: The RG reported worse disability (p=0.017), higher fear-avoidance beliefs (FAB) about physical activity (p=0.003), worse score in anxiety (p=0.002) and depression (p=0.001), and increased pain sensitivity (p=0.043) in 6 sites PPTs compared to the noRG. Higher score of disability, FAB (physical activity and work), anxiety and depression were associated with an increased risk of belonging to the RG (OR 1.05-1.50, 95% CI 1.01-1.94), controlled for gender and age. Conclusion: Individuals with LBP and pain radiation to lower limbs showed worse selfreported disability and fear-avoidance beliefs about physical activity than those with LBP only. Further, those with pain radiation were more sensitive to pain in general. Worse scores of all studied self-reported data were associated with an increased risk of belonging to the groups with pain radiation. To study gender differences larger sample sizes are needed. Individuals with LBP and pain radiation to lower limbs showed worse outcomes and therefore should receive a different treatment approach than those who have only LBP. List of Abbreviations FAB – fear-avoidance beliefs FABQ – fear-avoidance beliefs questionnaire FABQpa – subscale Physical Activity of FABQ FABQw – subscale Work of FABQ HADS – Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale HADSa – subscale Anxiety of HADS HADSd – subscale Depression of HADS


Cationized ferritin (CF), introduced systemically in vivo or by perfusion in situ, binds preferentially to certain microdomains of the luminal plasmalemma of fenestrated capillaries (mouse pancreas and jejunum). The density and affinity of binding decrease in the following order: fenestral diaphragms greater than coated pits greater than plasmalemma proper. CF binds neither to the membrane of plasmalemmal vesicles and transendothelial channels nor to the corresponding stomatal diaphragms. The distribution pattern is the same when glutaraldehyde fixation precedes the administration of the tracer by perfusion, provided fixation is followed by quenching of residual free aldehyde groups. A much smaller cationic probe (alcian blue) perfused together with the fixative reveals a similar distribution pattern. The functional implications of the association of these microdomains with structures involved in capillary permeability are discussed.


The plasma magnetic control systems for ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) are presented. The systems comprise original engineering solutions for plasma position, current and shape control for the two versions of ITER: ITER-1 and ITER-2, including those designed in V. A. Trapeznikov Institute of Control Sciences of the RAS. It is noted that in ITER-1 the plasma position and shape were controlled by all PF-coils and robust H∞-controllers, while to decrease peaks of control power for suppressing minor disruptions the additional nonlinear circuit was used without significant changes in displacements of the gaps between the plasma separatrix and the first wall. In ITER-2 the special circuit with a fast voltage rectifier was used for plasma vertical speed stabilization about zero, while for plasma current and shape control the special cascade control systems were designed with and without the control channels decoupling, with robust H∞-controllers and predictive model, and with adaptive stabilization of the plasma vertical position as well. To increase the plasma controllability region in the vertical direction the additional horizontal field coils were introduced into the ITER-2 vacuum vessel and the capabilities of the system with the new circuits to control the plasma vertical position at the noise presence were investigated.


We propose the Limited Multi-Label (LML) projection layer as a new primitive operation for end-to-end learning systems. The LML layer provides a probabilistic way of modeling multi-label predictions limited to having exactly k labels. We derive efficient forward and backward passes for this layer and show how the layer can be used to optimize the top-k recall for multi-label tasks with incomplete label information. We evaluate LML layers on top-k CIFAR-100 classification and scene graph generation. We show that LML layers add a negligible amount of computational overhead, strictly improve the model's representational capacity, and improve accuracy. We also revisit the truncated top-k entropy method as a competitive baseline for top-k classification.


Abstract Interest in the health impacts of renter housing assistance has grown in the wake of heated national discussions on health care and social welfare spending. Assistance may improve renters' health by offering (a) low, fixed housing costs; (b) protection against eviction; and (c) access to better homes and neighborhoods. Using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation and econometric analysis, I estimate the effect of receiving assistance from the public housing or Section 8 voucher programs on low-income renters' reported health status and spending. Assisted renters spent less on health care over the year than unassisted low-income renters did, after controlling for other characteristics. This finding suggests that assisted housing leads to health benefits that may reduce low-income renters' need to purchase health services. Voucher holders' lower expenditures are influenced by their low, fixed housing costs, but public housing residents' lower expenditures are not explained by existing theory.


In recent years, bibliometric analysis of publications has been receiving growing attention in engineering education research as an approach that can bring a number of benefits. In this paper two such forms, taxonomical analysis and citation analysis, are applied to papers from the first 2011 number of IEEE Transactions on Education (21 papers) and from the two 2011 numbers of the ASEE-published Advances in Engineering Education (22 papers). In the former approach, seven taxonomical dimensions are used to characterize the papers and in the second the references cited in the 43 papers were studied so as to analyze how the researchers were informed by previous studies. The results suggest that the silo effect identified by Wankat for disciplinary engineering education journals in 2009 was still apparent in the IEEE Transactions on Education in 2011. The Advances in Engineering Education papers show a wide range of cited references, including reference disciplines outside of engineering education, and this suggests that research published there is likely to be informed by a broad range of previous studies which may be interpreted as a sign of a growing maturity of engineering education as a research discipline.


Heat shock proteins (HSPs) play a critical role in many intracellular processes, including apoptosis and delivery of other proteins to intracellular compartments. Small HSPs have been shown previously to participate in many cellular functions, including IL-8 induction. Human adenovirus infection activates intracellular signaling, involving particularly the c-Src and mitogen-activated protein kinases [Natarajan, K., et al. (2003) J. Immunol. 170, 6234-6243]. HSP27 and MK2 are also phosphorylated, and c-Src, and its downstream targets, p38, ERK1/2, and c-Jun-terminal kinase (JNK), differentially mediate IL-8 and MCP-1 expression. Specifically, activation and translocation of transcription factor NFκB-p65 occurs in a p38-dependent fashion [Rajaiya, J., et al. (2009) Mol. Vision 15, 2879-2889]. Herein, we report a novel role for HSP27 in an association of p38 with NFκB-p65. Immunoprecipitation assays of virus-infected but not mock-infected cells revealed a signaling complex including p38 and NFκB-p65. Transfection with HSP27 short interfering RNA (siRNA) but not scrambled RNA disrupted this association and reduced the level of IL-8 expression. Transfection with HSP27 siRNA also reduced the level of nuclear localization of NFκB-p65 and p38. By use of tagged p38 mutants, we found that amino acids 279-347 of p38 are necessary for the association of p38 with NFκB-p65. These studies strongly suggest that HSP27, p38, and NFκB-p65 form a signalosome in virus-infected cells and influence downstream expression of pro-inflammatory mediators.


Nine patients with atrial myxoma in whom selective coronary arteriography had been performed were studied. The angiographic sign of 'tumour vascularity' was found to be present in three patients with highly vascularized atrial myxoma. The clinical significance of the angiographic sign is unknown although highly vascularized myxomata appear to have a greater propensity to bleeding into the tumour, resulting in an acute worsening of clinical symptoms. The angiographic sign of 'tumour vascularity' is not specific but useful to complement the diagnosis of an atrial myxoma. The indication for selective coronary arteriography in patients with atrial myxoma remains the detection of coronary artery disease, thus concomitant coronary artery bypass surgery could be planned preoperatively.


Pšenka M., Šístková M., Mihina Š., Gálik R. (2016): Frequency analysis of noise exposure of dairy cows in the process of milking. Res. Agr. Eng., 62: 185–189. In the environment of farms and farm buildings, cattle are exposed to various unnatural influences. Such an impact is also noise always arising with a certain energy conversion. In cattle farms, the sources of noise are represented by various mechanical equipment and machines that are used for enabling farm operations. The aim of the paper was to analyse the noise levels in dairy cattle production in the environment, during their day routine. Noise levels were measured at two farms with a different technological layout of milking parlour, with a different way of milking. The noise exposure of dairy cows was measured in three locations, namely in the milking parlour, during standing in the area before milking (in the so-called collection room) and directly in the stabling area. Noise exposure was measured during milking and when the milking parlour was turned off. The values were compared with the hearing sensitivity of cattle at selected frequencies (0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 kHz).


The interaction of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) with various magnetic fields could directly induce cellular effects. Many scattered investigations have got involved in these cellular effects, analyzed their relative mechanisms, and extended their biomedical uses in magnetic hyperthermia and cell regulation. This review reports these cellular effects and their important applications in biomedical area. More importantly, we highlight the underlying mechanisms behind these direct cellular effects in the review from the thermal energy and mechanical force. Recently, some physical analyses showed that the mechanisms of heat and mechanical force in cellular effects are controversial. Although the physical principle plays an important role in these cellular effects, some chemical reactions such as free radical reaction also existed in the interaction of MNPs with magnetic fields, which provides the possible explanation for the current controversy. It is anticipated that the review here could provide readers with a deeper understanding of mechanisms of how MNPs contribute to the direct cellular effects and thus their biomedical applications under various magnetic fields.


Background: Listeria monocytogenes is a foodborne pathogen and a serious threat to the public health in the world. Consumption of traditional foods such as dairy and meat products can be a major reason for relative abundance and isolation of these bacteria. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of L. monocytogenes strains isolated from dairy and meat products. Materials and Methods: A total of 317 dairy products and meat-processed samples were collected. Antibiotic susceptibility test was performed on each sample by the disk diffusion method (Kirby Bauer). Five reference loci were used for typing of L. monocytogenes strains by MLVA (Multiple Locus VNTR Analysis) Technique. Results: A total of 24 L. monocytogenes isolates were collected from the dairy and meat products. Resistance of isolated L. monocytogenes strains to penicillin G were 54.54% (from dairy products) and 46.15% (from processed meat). Genetic relatedness of isolates were assessed by MLVA. Out of 13 different types, type 2 with 6 strains and type 3 with 4 strains, were the most common types. Conclusions: MLVA analysis showed that samples obtained from different sources could have similar genetic profile. As a result, administration of penicillin in patients with listeriosis (especially pregnant women) and antibiotic susceptibility test are recommended. The fast and accurate methods such as MLVA for tracking of pollution sources of L. monocytogenes are recommended during outbreaks.


Andersson, J. 2017. Insurances against job loss and disability. Private and public interventions and their effects on job search and labor supply. Economic studies 171. 175 pp. Uppsala: Department of Economics. ISBN 978-91-85519-78-1. Essay I: Employment Security Agreements, which are elements of Swedish collective agreements, offer a unique opportunity to study very early job search counselling of displaced workers. These agreements provide individual job search assistance to workers who are dismissed due to redundancy, often as early as during the period of notice. Compared to traditional labor market policies, the assistance provided is earlier and more responsive to the needs of the individual worker. In this study, I investigate the effects of the individual counseling and job search assistance provided through the Employment Security Agreement for Swedish blue-collar workers on job finding and subsequent job quality. The empirical strategy is based on the rules of eligibility in a regression discontinuity framework. I estimate the effect for workers with short tenure, who are dismissed through mass-layoffs. My results do not suggest that the program has an effect on the probability of becoming unemployed, the duration of unemployment, or income. However, the results indicate that the program has a positive effect on the duration of the next job. Essay II: The well-known positive relationship between the unemployment benefit level and unemployment duration can be separated into two potential sources; a moral hazard effect, and a liquidity effect pertaining to the increased ability to smooth consumption. The latter is a socially optimal response due to credit and insurance market failures. These two effects are difficult to separate empirically, but the social optimality of an unemployment insurance policy can be evaluated by studying the effect of a non-distortionary lump-sum severance grant on unemployment durations. In this study, I evaluate the effects on unemployment duration and subsequent job quality of a lump-sum severance grant provided to displaced workers, by means of a Swedish collective agreement. I use a regression discontinuity design, based on the strict age requirement to be eligible for the grant. I find that the lump-sum grant has a positive effect on the probability of becoming unemployed and the length of the completed unemployment duration, but no effect on subsequent job quality. My analysis also indicates that spousal income is important for the consumption smoothing abilities of displaced workers, and that the grant may have a greater effect in times of more favorable labor market conditions. Essay III: Evidence from around the world suggest that individuals who are awarded disability benefits in some cases still have residual working capacity, while disability insurance systems typically involve strong disincentives for benefit recipients to work. Some countries have introduced policies to incentivize disability insurance recipients to use their residual working capacities on the labor market. One such policy is the continuous deduction program in Sweden, introduced in 2009. In this study, I investigate whether the financial incentives provided by this program induce disability insurance recipients to increase their labor supply or education level. Retroactively determined eligibility to the program with respect to time of benefit award provides a setting resembling a natural experiment, which could be used to estimate the effects of the program using a regression discontinuity design. However, a simultaneous regime change of disability insurance eligibility causes covariate differences between treated and controls, which I adjust for using a matching strategy. My results suggest that the financial incentives provided by the program have not had any effect on labor supply or educational attainment.


Knowledge of differences in symptom experience between cancer sites may help better understand symptom pathophysiology. A total of 38 symptoms in 796 consecutive patients with advanced cancer were retrospectively analyzed. Symptom prevalence and severity were compared among the 12 primary site groups (PSGs) by the chi-square test. Pairwise comparisons determined which sites differed. Pain, fatigue, weakness, lack of energy, and anorexia had the highest overall prevalence but did not differ among PSGs. The 3 most common neuropsychological symptoms (insomnia, depression, and anxiety) also did not vary among PSGs. Nineteen (50%) symptoms varied significantly between PSGs, in prevalence (17), severity (14), or both (12). Nine of 17, 6 of 14, and 6 of 12 were gastrointestinal symptoms. Symptoms which varied by PSGs can be included in cancer site-specific symptom assessment instruments.


Social bookmarking and other Web sites allow users submitting their resources and labeling them with arbitrary keywords, called tags, to create folksonomies. These sites usually provide their users tag recommendations in order to help them to find relevant information and resources. However, only very basic techniques are applied for generating recommendations. In this paper, we present a recommender system for a social bookmarking site to generate resource recommendations rather than tag recommendations. Our system is based on two ideas: similar users are interested in similar resources and similar resources have similar tags. Our system generates recommendations by automatically taking into account what resources a user tags and the co-occurrence of tags. Our method is tested on large-scale real life datasets. The experimental results show that our method achieves a good recommendation performance.


Acute emphysematous cholecystitis is an unusual pathologic entity which results when gas-producing organisms invade the gallbladder. Gas in the gallbladder was first described at operation by Lobingier in 1908. 1,2 The first x-ray description was made by Von Friedrich in 1929, but it was not until after Hegner's 3 description, in 1931, of the radiological appearance, that it became well known. In the literature there have been about 56 reported cases. 1-8 Since 1952, four cases of emphysematous cholecystitis have been seen by the x-ray department of Presbyterian Hospital in Denver. Report of Cases Case 1. —A white male with a history of diabetes of eight years' duration was admitted to the Mennonite Hospital in La Junta, Colo., on June 14, 1952, with a chief complaint of severe pain in the upper abdomen which had started 24 hours prior to his admission. The pain had persisted since its onset, and


This study examines the potential impact of a diagnosis of HIV on gay men's
ideas about themselves and their experiences of forming new sexual
relationships with other men. Particular focus is given to changes in
participants' thoughts/ feelings about themselves post diagnosis and how
such changes were manifested.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine participants who all self
identified as gay men and who had received a diagnosis of HIV at least twelve
months previously. A social constructionist Grounded Theory approach was
used to develop a model from the interview transcripts.
Analysis revealed that receiving a diagnosis was constructed as being a 'life
changing event'. Commonly discussed were feelings of loss attributed to
living with the diagnosis, and feelings of self blame regarding circumstances
under which transmission of the virus occurred. The emotion of 'feeling
different to others' was commonly discussed and felt most intensely when
participants were engaged in sexual practices with their HIV negative partner.
Feelings of loss were frequently mentioned as participants compared the
opportunities available to them pre and post diagnosis.
The responses of others to the diagnosis were also discussed as pertinent to
the ideas participants had about themselves and their future. Such
responses, particularly from sexual partners influenced sexual behaviour
prompting them to engage in less sex in order to protect themselves
emotionally from further feelings of rejection. The lack of sex post diagnosis
for some participants was constructed as a relief and a desire to feel
'asexual'.
The findings are discussed with regard to the limited literature, with particular
emphasis on understanding the impact of the diagnosis from a social
constructionist perspective. Recommendations for further research and
various implications for practice are highlighted.


The exchange characteristics of thallium-201 (201Tl) were studied using the isolated arterially perfused rabbit interventricular septum to gain insight into the mechanisms that govern its uptake and subsequent washout from myocardial tissue. The results were compared to potassium-42 (42K) exchange. Unlike 42K, the uptake and tissue washout exchange rates for 201Tl were not equal. The 201Tl washout exchange rate was slower than that for the uptake. Hyperkalemia increased the efflux of both 42K and 201Tl, but the increase in 201Tl efflux was not due to an increase in permeability, as was true for 42K, but to a hyperkalemia, induced increase in compartment size of exchangeable 201Tl. Acetylstrophanthidin (ACS) resulted in an increase in 201 Tl efflux similar to the increase in 42K efflux seen with ACS. However, ACS did not inhibit 201Tl influx, in contrast to the known inhibition of 42K influx. This indicated that influx of tracer amounts of 201Tl was not dependent on the sodium-potassium pump. A model of Tl exchange in rabbit ventricles is proposed.


This book is an effort to explore the newly emerging field of urban interaction design that addresses these issues. In the first part of the book, 'Foundations', we look into its origins. Where do its practitioners come from? How are they working together? What methodologies do they bring to the table? What are the key concepts they are addressing in their work? In the second part of the book named 'Trends', we go into current developments in the networked city and how urban interaction design as a field addresses these. Taken together, these sections will not give the definite definition or overview of this field. But hopefully there's enough in here to convincingly claim that the further development of the field matters.


This exercise is designed to help students identify patterns of trust within their network of work and/or personal relationships. The exercise examines three types of trust (coomunication-based, contractual-based, and competence-based), and is intended to help students gain insight into their own propensity to trust others, as wellas their perception of the trustworthiness of the important people with whom they interact most often. The exercise is a self-assessment tool and may be used with MBA and executive audiences.


The marine environment is a rich source of biologically active molecules for the treatment of human diseases, especially cancer. The adaptation to unique environmental conditions led marine organisms to evolve different pathways than their terrestrial counterparts, thus producing unique chemicals with a broad diversity and complexity. So far, more than 36,000 compounds have been isolated from marine micro- and macro-organisms including but not limited to fungi, bacteria, microalgae, macroalgae, sponges, corals, mollusks and tunicates, with hundreds of new marine natural products (MNPs) being discovered every year. Marine-based pharmaceuticals have started to impact modern pharmacology and different anti-cancer drugs derived from marine compounds have been approved for clinical use, such as: cytarabine, vidarabine, nelarabine (prodrug of ara-G), fludarabine phosphate (pro-drug of ara-A), trabectedin, eribulin mesylate, brentuximab vedotin, polatuzumab vedotin, enfortumab vedotin, belantamab mafodotin, plitidepsin, and lurbinectedin. This review focuses on the bioactive molecules derived from the marine environment with anticancer activity, discussing their families, origin, structural features and therapeutic use.


This paper studies the empirical relationship between consumption and saving under two different sources of uncertainty: financial risk and environmental risk. The analysis is carried out using time series data for six advanced economies in the period 1965-2007. The results support the theoretical conclusions that both financial risk alone and the interaction between financial and environmental risks affect consumption. Moreover, we suggest a solution to some shortcomings which concern the empirical analysis performed with one-argument utility functions. Finally, we provide new estimates of indexes of relative risk aversion and relative prudence, and relative preference of environmental quality.


In his cubist poetry, Max Jacob follows the declaration of Mallarme to create poems not with ideas but with words. He was advocating the siginifiant to the detriment of signifie. Thus, for Jacob, a word has become the same thing as the object for painters-an element of the construction. The ordinary and everyday objects enchanted cubist aesthetics. The same process can be observed in Jacob's poetry. The poet considers everyday spoken French as equivalent to the objects in cubist pictures. The discrepancy between spoken and written French has also been shown to be able to bring closer cubist poetry to painting. Among others things, he uses multiple-word games which have the purpose of highlighting the essence of words, just like in cubist pictures where an object suffers all kind of decompositions, syntheses and analyses.


This research is an attempt to understand and measure mythological roles in attributional processes. Drawing upon Carl Jung's work on the archetype we, first, argue how role archetypes from fantasy dramas and worldwide fairy tales populate organizational life, and further, contend that they have extensive influence on how group members sort their judgments of each other. In the second part of the article, our understanding of role archetypes is aided by quantitative measurements: participants in 31 consecutive leadership development classes are asked which fellow classmates they spontaneously associate with each of seven good and seven bad fairy tale roles (deep roles), if any. Our main question is to evaluate the magnitude of agreement on the assignment of roles. Results give strong support to the assumption that group members quite easily categorize fellow members into stereotypes identified by fairy tale roles. Given the evidence in the present analysis, we posit that the role imagoes most frequently assigned (The Big Five of Fairy Tales) are isomorphic with core family roles, and further, that broad personality traits have their roots in archetypal imaginations. To more effectively secure that mythological mechanisms will not triumph over more rational, complex and balanced ways of judgments, we suggest that organizational research should acknowledge the subtle and hidden world of deep role archetypes.


Drug delivery systems traditionally relied on passive diffusion mechanisms for targeting and releasing of therapeutically active molecules. The major problems associated with traditional delivery are poor specificity and dose-limited toxicity. Nanoparticles have found applicability in the development of novel drug delivery systems by easily overcoming toxicity problem. However, specificity of delivery has remained as a challenge. Developments in the methods of reaching to targeted tissue have lead to new and improved drug delivery platforms. Recently, active targeting has been incorporated by cell specific ligands such as antibodies, lectins, growth factor receptors. More recently, aptamers gained popularity in construction of novel actively targeted drug delivery systems (Ozalp et al., 2011). Considerable proportions of aptamer-based delivery systems have been incorporated to a variety of nanomaterials in order to improve their specific targeting properties (Chen et al., 2011; Zhou et al., 2011).


Treatment results of 63 patients with surgical sepsis (aged 17-92 years) were analyzed. The necessity of intravenous immunoglobulin infusion in the complex treatment of sepsis was proved by the comparative morphological study of immunocompetent tissues of 30 patients, died of sepsis and nonseptic reasons. The rational use of intravenous immunoglobulin should be based on the condition of the patient and defined by the APACHE II and SOFA scores.