Alpha-conotoxin GIC is a 16-residue peptide isolated from the venom of the cone snail Conus geographus. Alpha-conotoxin GIC potently blocks the alpha3beta2 subtype of human nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, showing a high selectivity for neuronal versus muscle subtype [McIntosh, Dowell, Watkins, Garrett, Yoshikami, and Olivera (2002) J. Biol. Chem. 277, 33610-33615]. We have now determined the three-dimensional solution structure of alpha-conotoxin GIC by NMR spectroscopy. The structure of alpha-conotoxin GIC is well defined with backbone and heavy atom root mean square deviations (residues 2-16) of 0.53 A and 0.96 A respectively. Structure and surface comparison of alpha-conotoxin GIC with the other alpha4/7 subfamily conotoxins reveals unique structural aspects of alpha-conotoxin GIC. In particular, the structural comparison between alpha-conotoxins GIC and MII indicates molecular features that may confer their similar receptor specificity profile, as well as those that provide the unique binding characteristics of alpha-conotoxin GIC.


An automated synthesis for analog computational circuits in transistor-level configuration is presented. A cell-based structure is introduced to express moderate constraints on the MOSFET circuit topology. Even though each cell has a simple structure that consists of one current path with four transistors, well-known building blocks can be expressed using combinations of the cells. A genetic algorithm is applied to search circuit topologies and transistor sizes that satisfy given specifications. Synthesis capabilities are demonstrated through examples of three types of computational circuits, such as absolute, squaring, and cubing functions.


: X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) [extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES)] is a key technique within the heterogeneous catalysis community to probe the structure and properties of the active site(s) for a diverse range of catalytic materials. However, the interpretation of the raw experimental data to derive an atomistic picture of the catalyst requires modeling and analysis; the EXAFS data are compared to a model, and a goodness of fit parameter is used to judge the best fit. This EXAFS modeling can often be nontrivial and time-consuming; overcoming or improving these limitations remains a central challenge for the community. Considering these limitations, this Perspective highlights how recent developments in analysis software, increased availability of reliable computational models, and application of data science tools can be used to improve the speed, accuracy, and reliability of EXAFS interpretation. In particular, we emphasize the advantages of combining theory and EXAFS as a unified technique that should be treated as a standard (when applicable) to identify catalytic sites and not two separate complementary methods. Building on the recent trends in the computational catalysis community, we also present a community-driven approach to adopt FAIR Guiding Principles for the collection, analysis, dissemination, and storage of XAS data. Written with both the experimental and theory audience in mind, we provide a unified roadmap to foster collaborations between the two communities.


Host location, acceptance and larval success were studied in a mixed cultivar trial consisting of three East African cooking bananas, two East African beer banana and Kayinja (an exotic cultivar used for beer making). Weevil damage to the endemic cultivars was 5 to 25 times higher than that of Kayinja. Capture of weevils in pseudostem traps at the base of banana mats was highest for Kayinja, while egg density on Kayinja was similar to that of four endemic cultivars. Therefore, host location and acceptance do not appear to be factors in host plant resistance. In contrast, larval survivorship indices were 10 to 23 times higher in endemic cultivars than in Kayinja suggesting that larval success may be an important factor in resistance to banana weevils. Timing of attack was similar among cultivars. Oviposition occurred throughout the banana cycle with egg density increasing with plant age. These data provide a possible explanation of differences in weevil attack found among banana cultivars in Uganda.


It is well known that radiation-induced vasculopathy and arteritis are two of the complications of whole brain radiation therapy. Moyamoya syndromes after cranial irradiation among patients with brain tumors were previously reported. However, we could find only three cases of prophylactic cranial irradiation for hematological disorders and no case of cranial irradiation before bone marrow transplantation in patients with acute leukemia. We recently treated a boy who developed moyamoya vessels 1.5 years after cranial irradiation for bone marrow transplantation for acute leukemia. This is the first report of moyamoya syndrome after cranial irradiation for bone marrow transplantation. The mechanism and incidence of vasculopathy after cranial irradiation are unclear. It would be useful to accumulate data and reveal the etiology of moyamoya vessels formation after cranial irradiation.


Endothelium-dependent vasodilation is impaired in clinical states of insulin resistance such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. Individuals who have hyperinsulinemic insulin resistance have relatively elevated circulating levels of endothelin (ET)-1, suggesting that ET-1 may be important in the endothelial dysfunction and alterations of vascular tone in these conditions. In 8 lean subjects, 12 nondiabetic obese subjects, and 8 subjects with type 2 diabetes, we measured basal and methacholine-stimulated rates of leg blood flow (LBF) and total serum nitrates (NOx) before and after the intrafemoral arterial administration of BQ123, a specific blocker of ET(A) receptors. BQ123 produced significant vasodilation in the obese and type 2 diabetic subjects (leg vascular resistance = mean arterial pressure/LBF fell by 34 and 36%; P < 0.005) but not in the lean subjects (13%; P = NS, P = 0.018 comparing all groups). ET(A) blockade did not change basal NOx flux (NOx*LBF). This suggests increased basal ET-1 constrictor tone among obese and type 2 diabetic subjects. BQ123 corrected the baseline defect in endothelium-dependent vasodilation seen in obese and type 2 diabetic subjects, suggesting an important contribution of ET-1 to endothelial dysfunction in these subjects. In contrast to basal conditions, stimulated NOx flux was augmented by BQ123 in obese and type 2 diabetic subjects but not in L subjects (P = 0.04), suggesting a combined effect of ET(A) blockade to reduce constrictor tone and augment dilator tone. Endothelin seems to contribute to endothelial dysfunction and the regulation of vascular tone in human obesity and type 2 diabetes.


Abstract This is a conceptual paper to understand the migration of youth population from Sri Lanka. The study reviews recent migration literature. Many actors have taken many initiatives to create a better future for youth in Sri Lanka. This includes provision of free and/or affordable education, skill development opportunities, and integration to development process, to shape the future. But there is a significant segment of the youth population who are not satisfied about the available opportunities and choices within Sri Lanka. They are not convinced for a better and safer society in future. In this research, the migration drivers and tendencies are examined and researched from a theoretical point of view with a special importance to perspectives and causes for migration of youths of post-war Sri Lanka. Objectives of this study are to understand reasons for youth migration and to understand the expected future relationship with home country. Many international migration theories have been proposed to assess and explain the underlying phenomena of international migration. Conventional findings suggest that migration can be explained with Neo-classical Theory of Migration, Theory of Economics of Migration, Dual Market Theory, Social Capital Theory, Cumulative Causation Theory and Trans-nationalism. However, international migration is a complex issue with multiple facets. One single theory may only explain a particular aspect of international migration. This study indicates that most of youth migrate to different countries due to perceived uncertainty placed upon their future and it cannot be explained with a single theory. This study makes major contributions to the existing theory in International Migration of Youth Population of Sri Lanka. The paper concluded with propositions, and recommendations on future research on understanding migration of youth. Keywords: International Migration, Youth, Decision Making, Development, Globalization


Different applications of robotics require widely different setups of the environments that control the robots. Education and research are closely related in most academic settings yet require different architectures for the structures supporting the operations of agents. Learning how to use a robot needs clear and easy interfaces, while using a robot to discover new knowledge in the field of imitation-based robotics sometimes leaves behind a messy environment. This article introduces a blueprint adaptable enough for students and researchers to survive within the same niche as well as a cheap solution for starting a Robotics laboratory


The purpose of the study is to examine the effect of the information of Corporate Social Responsibility disclosed in the companies' annual reports on the informativeness of earnings (measured by earning response coefficient, ERC). The study hypothesized that there is negative effect of CSR disclosures level on the ERC since the CSR disclosures provide investors more information which is not captured by the accounting earnings. The sample of the study consist of 108 annual reports 2005 of the companies listed at the Jakarta Stock Exchange. The empirical results of the study show that the level of CSR disclosures has negative effect on the ERC as predicted. The results of the study indicate that investors assess the CSR information disclosed by the companies in their annual reports for their investment decision.


We study fluctuations of the matrix coefficients for the quantized cat map. We consider the sum of matrix coefficients corresponding to eigenstates whose eigenphases lie in a randomly chosen window, assuming that the length of the window shrinks with Planck's constant. We show that if the length of the window is smaller than the square root of Planck's constant, but larger than the separation between distinct eigenphases, then the variance of this sum is proportional to the length of the window, with a proportionality constant which coincides with the variance of the individual matrix elements corresponding to Hecke eigenfunctions.


An international educational initiative to facilitate the exposure of geosynthetics to undergraduate civil engineering students has been conducted by the International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) for over a decade. Geosynthetics is a comparatively new topic within geotechnical engineering and, consequently, has only been sporadically introduced into undergraduate Civil Engineering curricula. In particular, geotechnical engineering professors themselves may have not been exposed to the basics of geosynthetics to be able to comfortably transfer such knowledge to their students. As part of this educational program, civil engineering professors are invited to take a course on geosynthetics, for which they receive fellowships covering their expenses. The course also includes complementary components such as a workshop consisting of practical demonstrations, pedagogical material, and technical documents. Implementation of the program involves multiple parties, including the IGS, its national chapters, and geosynthetics industry, who are allotted the responsibilities of supporting the program instructors, offering practical project-oriented input. This paper describes the course structure, the educational tools employed, the impact on the program caused by the pandemic, and results from feedback surveys that assessed how the knowledge on geosynthetics acquired by the participants was transferred to their students in terms of new courses on geosynthetics, inclusion of geosynthetics topics in existing undergraduate disciplines, etc. Emphasis is given on the experience of the Brazilian Chapter of IGS, which has already conducted programs. The educational outcomes of the programs currently offered are being evaluated and they suggest excellent acceptance of the course by participants and undergraduate students at the universities.


The use of energy storage devices, such as lithium-ion batteries, has become popular in many different domains and applications. Hence, it is relatively easy to find literature associated with problems of battery state-of-charge estimation and energy autonomy prognostics. Despite this fact, the characterization of battery degradation processes is still a matter of ongoing research. Indeed, most battery degradation models solely consider operation under nominal (or strictly controlled) conditions, although actual operating profiles (including discharge current) may differ significantly from those. In this context, this article proposes a lithium-ion battery degradation model that incorporates the impact of arbitrary discharge currents. Also, the proposed model, initially calibrated through data reported for a specific lithium-ion battery type, can characterize degradation curves for other lithium-ion batteries. Two case studies have been carried out to validate the proposed model, initially calibrated by using data from a Sony battery. The first case study uses our own experimental data obtained for a Panasonic lithium-ion cell, which was cycled and degraded at high current rates. The second case study considers the analysis of two public data sets available at the Prognostics Center of Excellence of NASA Ames Research Center website, for batteries cycled using nominal and 2-C (twice the nominal) discharge currents. Results show that the proposed model can characterize degradation processes properly, even when cycles are subject to different discharge currents and for batteries not manufactured by Sony (whose data were used for the initial calibration).


Advances in information technologies have increasingly enabled firms to use consumers' past purchasing data to charge different prices to its own customers and to those customers that in some sense belong to the rival firm. At first glance this new form of price discrimination seems to be lucrative as it allows a firm to generate profitable incremental sales without damaging profits it can extract from its own customer base. However, as behaviour-based price discrimination gains popularity many interesting questions arise. Is it, really, in the best interest of firms to recognise customers with different past behaviour and to price discriminate accordingly? Or is it rather in their interest to avoid any possible learning and thereby price discrimination practices? Should consumers hide their true types, i.e., should they behave anonymously? Further, should government regulation restrict information collection and price discrimination practices? The study of these questions is the study of the profit and welfare effects of behaviourbased price discrimination. This is the central issue of this thesis. With that in mind, this thesis addresses three theoretical models. The first one is based on the hypothesis that the ability of firms to predict the preferences of individual customers for the purpose of price discrimination is less than perfect but is constantly improving due to advances in information technologies. Here the main goal will be to investigate how profits, consumer surplus and welfare evolve as price discrimination is based on more accurate information. The second model is a natural sequel of the former as it tries to model how firms might obtain a signal of a consumer's preferences. Whether or not a given consumer bought from the firm previously might be used as an accurate signal of a consumer's preferences. A key issue here will be to examine whether or not it is in the interest of firms to avoid learning and price discrimination and how can they attain that goal. Finally, the third model studies the interaction between purely informative advertising and price discrimination based on customers' past behaviour. As without advertising consumers are left out of the market, the welfare effects of price discrimination are guided by how will price discrimination affect each firm's advertising decisions in relation to the social optimal level of advertising.


Tubal hydatidiform mole is an uncommon condition with about 40 confirmed cases in the accessible literature. The patient usually presents with symptoms and signs of a classical ectopic pregnancy and it is only after histological examination and DNA ploidy analysis of the conceptus that a hydatidiform mole is diagnosed. Management requires complete removal of the conceptus and follow-up needs to be arranged with an appropriate supraregional centre. The authors present a case of complete molar tubal pregnancy and a review of the literature.


We investigate the optimization of the quality of service (QoS) offered by real-time multimedia adaptive applications through machine learning algorithms. These applications are able to adapt in real time their internal settings (i.e., video sizes, audio and video codecs, among others) to the unpredictably changing capacity of the network. Traditional adaptive applications just select a set of settings to consume less than the available bandwidth. We propose a novel approach in which the selected set of settings is the one which offers a better user-perceived QoS among all those combinations which satisfy the bandwidth restrictions. We use a genetic algorithm to decide when to trigger the adaptation process depending on the network conditions (i.e., loss-rate, jitter, etc.). Additionally, the selection of the new set of settings is done according to a set of rules which model the user-perceived QoS. These rules are learned using the SLIPPER rule induction algorithm over a set of examples extracted from scores provided by real users. We will demonstrate that the proposed approach guarantees a good user-perceived QoS even when the network conditions are constantly changing.


We have developed a program-disturb model to characterize the channel potential of the program-inhibited string during NAND flash cell programming. This model includes cell-to-cell capacitances from 3-D technology computer-aided design simulation and leakage currents associated with the boosted channel. We studied the program-disturb characteristics of sub-30-nm NAND cells using a delayed programming pulse method. The simulation results agree with the experimental data very well and show quantitative impacts of junction leakage current, band-to-band tunneling (BTBT) current, Fowler-Nordheim tunneling current, and channel capacitance on the program disturb. We further discuss the cell-scaling trend and identify that the BTBT current can be a dominant mechanism for the program disturb of sub-20-nm NAND cells.


Uncontrolled variable-bit-rate (VBR) coded video yields consistent picture quality, but the traffic stream is very bursty. When sent over ATM networks, cell losses may be incurred due to limited buffer capacity at the switches; this could cause severe picture quality degradation. Source rate control can be implemented to generate a controlled VBR bit stream which conforms to specified bit rate bounds and buffer constraints. However, source rate control could result in picture quality degradation too. Hence, for real-time video services, an important issue to address is whether the picture quality degradation incurred by source rate control is within acceptable levels or how to choose the appropriate coding parameters to make it so. We establish quantitatively the relationship between picture quality and source rate control for the case of guaranteed service with different combinations of allocated bandwidth, buffer size, and other key video-coding parameters of MPEG-2. In addition, quality control in the context of two-layered scalable video service (basic and enhanced quality) is also considered. Our study reveals that, in order to maximize both the basic and the enhanced quality, source rate control should be implemented on both layers. The relationships between the two types of quality and different combinations of allocated bandwidths, buffer sizes, and some key coding parameters are also established quantitatively for MPEG-2 SNR scalability.


Background& Purpose:McKenzie exercises for the lumbar spine, which are done repeatedly, such as flexion in standing (FIS), extension in standing flexion in lying (FIL) & extension in lying (EIL) have been used in the management of low back pain for over three decades. The cardiovascular effects of exercises that involve postural stabilization, arm exercises and of exercises performed in lying are well known, but there are seldom studies performed to assess the cardiovascular effects of these commonly used McKenzie exercises. Therefore the study focused on evaluating the effects of 4 commonly used McKenzie exercises on the cardiovascular system.Methods: 80 subjects in the age group of 20-59 years were randomly assigned into 4 groups according to their age, such that such that each group comprised of an equal number of subjects & equal number of males & females. Each subject performed all the 4 exercises (FIS, EIS, FIL & EIL) for 10, 15 & 20 repetitions respectively. Heart rate, blood pressure & rate pressure product were recorded before & after each set of repetitions & after each type of exercise. Results: Repetitive McKenzie lumbar spine exercises had cardiovascular effects in apparently healthy subjects (both male & female). Exercises performed in lying were hemodynamically more demanding than that performed in standing, also exercises involving flexion of the lumbar spine elicited greater cardiovascular demand as compared to extension exercises i.e. FIL>EIL>FIS>EIS irrespective of the number of repetitions, 10, 15 or 20. The cardiovascular demand for a given subject increased as the number of repetitions increased, for all the 4 exercises. Conclusion: McKenzie exercises when done repetitively have cardiovascular effects in healthy subjects.


To determine the efficiency, load-bearing capacity and fatigue life of beveloid gears with intersecting axes, we design a mechanical gear test bed with closed power flow. To test the quality of its structure and predict its overall performance, we establish a three-dimensional solid model for various components based on the design parameters and adopt the technology of virtual prototyping simulation to conduct kinematics simulation on it. Then observe and verify the interactive kinematic situation of each component. Moreover, the finite element method is also utilized to carry out structural mechanics and dynamics analysis on some key components. The results indicate that the test bed can achieve the desired functionality, and the static and dynamic performance of some key components can also satisfy us.


In this work an ensemble of simulated Local Group analogues is used to constrain the properties of the mass assembly history of the Milky Way (MW) and Andromeda (M31) galaxies. These objects have been obtained using the constrained simulation technique, which ensures that simulated LGs live within a large scale environment akin to the observed one. Our results are compared against a standard Λ Cold Dark Matter (ΛCDM) series of simulations which use the same cosmological parameters. This allows us to single out the effects of the constraints on the results. We find that (a) the median constrained merging histories for M31 and MW live above the standard ones at the 1-σ level, (b) the median formation time takes place ≈0.5 Gyr earlier than unconstrained values, while the latest major merger happens on average 1.5 Gyr earlier and (c) the probability for both LG haloes to have experienced their last major merger in the first half of the history of the Universe is $\approx 50\%$ higher for the constrained pairs. These results have been estimated to be significant at the $99\%$ confidence level by means of a Kolmogorov-Simirnov test. These results suggest that the particular environment in which the Milky Way and Andromeda form plays a role in shaping their properties, and favours earlier formation and last major merger time values in agreement with other observational and theoretical considerations.


The Editors of Circulation wish to remind readers of a special category of manuscripts we initiated nearly two years ago. RapidTrack for Publication is a category of manuscript submission designed for expedited review, and if accepted, expeditedpublication of manuscripts reporting the results of important clinical trials and major basic science discoveries. We are committedto providing an initial decision one week after the manuscript enters the review process. If the manuscript is accepted forpublication, it will be published Online one week after galley proofs are returned to our publisher, and in the print journal withinfour to five weeks. We are pleased to offer this special opportunity for very rapid review and publication of the most importantclinical and basic research work submitted to Circulation.James T. Willerson, MD,for the Editors of Circulation


The Malaysia government"s vision towards a "Garden Nation" in year 2005,
followed by "The Most Beautiful Garden Nation" by the year 2020 has boosted
rapidly the landscape development throughout the country. However, as reported by
the Malaysia Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB, 2000), these
massive and hasty developments have led to a devastating compromise in quality.
This issue is critical in landscape development, as currently, there is no specific
quality standard to monitor and control the quality of soft-scape materials and
works. Landscape projects are it is a quite unique form of construction that blend the
inert materials with the living plants, or commonly known as the hard-scape and the
soft-scape, within the environment. Based on the building industry practice, the
quality of the hard-scape is specific and codified. For soft-scape, however, there is a wide range of subjectivity with regard to the quality of the soft-scape materials and
works. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate the quality standard of soft-scape as it
is an important document in specifying the quality aspect of the landscape
development in Malaysia.
This research used a mixed-method approach. It adopted a constant comparative
method to explore the similarities and differences between the quality standard of
soft-scape practices in Malaysia and those in the USA and UK. Tender documents
and the soft-scape specifications together with data from the interviews with local
professional landscape personnel were the two main important data sources to
identified the issues and problems related to the quality standard of soft-scape in this
country. It also verifies the strength and weaknesses of the present soft-scape
practices in Malaysia. Site observations at the nurseries and at the landscape
construction site on the other hand helped to validate the written documents. These
findings identified the insufficient standard to monitor and control the quality of
soft-scape materials and works in this country. At the end of the research,
recommendations were provided for improving the quality standard of soft-scape
materials and works that represent the overall landscape development towards
sustainability in Malaysia.


The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to review Webster v. Reproductive Health Services, a Missouri case that challenges the validity of legislative direction of public policy as outlined in Roe v. Wade, has fueled speculation that the Court will use the case to reconsider, and perhaps reverse, Roe. When the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade opened the door to legalized abortion, it guaranteed only a woman's right to choose to terminate or continue a pregnancy without undue interference by the state--citing legitimate grounds for "due" interference by the state. In 1986 the Missouri legislature passed a statute that regulated medical practices related to abortion, including broad restrictions on the expenditure of state funds. Further, the state attempted to protect viable fetuses and directed physicians to perform certain tests to ascertain the baby's gestational age. It also contained a legislative finding that "life begins at conception." A challenge was filed almost immediately. In its application for Supreme Court review, Missouri questioned whether the Roe "trimester approach for selecting the test for which state regulation of abortion services is reviewed should be reconsidered and discarded in favor of a rational basis test." It further argued that if Missouri's statutory provisions are unconstitutional under Roe, then "Roe v. Wade should itself be reconsidered." Under current jurisprudence, it is debatable whether this formulation of the case will invite direct review of Roe. For the foreseeable future, the law will likely protect the notion that an abortion decision implicates a fundamental liberty interest.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Shared edge computing platforms, which enable Application Service Providers (ASPs) to deploy applications in close proximity to mobile users are providing ultra-low latency and location-awareness to a rich portfolio of services. Though ubiquitous edge service provisioning, i.e., deploying the application at all possible edge sites, is always preferable, it is impractical due to often limited operational budget of ASPs. In this case, an ASP has to cautiously decide where to deploy the edge service and how much budget it is willing to use. A central issue here is that the service demand received by each edge site, which is the key factor of deploying benefit, is unknown to ASPs a priori. What's more complicated is that this demand pattern varies temporally and spatially across geographically distributed edge sites. In this paper, we investigate an edge resource rental problem where the ASP learns service demand patterns for individual edge sites while renting computation resource at these sites to host its applications for edge service provisioning. An online algorithm, called Context-aware Online Edge Resource Rental (COERR), is proposed based on the framework of Contextual Combinatorial Multi-armed Bandit (CC-MAB). COERR observes side-information (context) to learn the demand patterns of edge sites and decides rental decisions (including where to rent the computation resource and how much to rent) to maximize ASP's utility given a limited budget. COERR provides a provable performance achieving sublinear regret compared to an Oracle algorithm that knows exactly the expected service demand of edge sites. Experiments are carried out on a real-world dataset and the results show that COERR significantly outperforms other benchmarks.


In this paper we propose and explore a method of analysis of the scattering experimental data for uniform liquidlike systems. In our pragmatic approach we are not trying to introduce by hands an artificial small parameter to work out a perturbation theory with respect to the known results, e.g., for hard spheres or sticky hard spheres (all the more that in the agreement with the notorious Landau statement, there is no physical small parameter for liquids). Instead of it being guided by the experimental data we are solving the Ornstein-Zernike equation with a trial (variational) form of the interparticle interaction potential. To find all needed correlation functions this variational input is iterated numerically to satisfy the Ornstein-Zernike equation supplemented by a closure relation. Our method is developed for spherically symmetric scattering objects, and our numeric code is written for such a case. However, it can be extended (at the expense of more involved computations and a larger amount of required experimental input information) for nonspherical particles. What is important for our approach is that it is sufficient to know experimental data in a relatively narrow range of the scattering wave vectors (q) to compute the static structure factor in a much broader range of q. We illustrate by a few model and real experimental examples of the x-ray and neutron scattering data how the approach works.


We compared perceptual learning in 16 psychophysical studies, ranging from low-level spatial frequency and orientation discrimination tasks to high-level object and face-recognition tasks. All studies examined learning over at least four sessions and were carried out foveally or using free fixation. Comparison of learning effects across this wide range of tasks demonstrates that the amount of learning varies widely between different tasks. A variety of factors seems to affect learning, including the number of perceptual dimensions relevant to the task, external noise, familiarity, and task complexity.


15-Deoxy-Delta(12,14)-prostaglandin-J(2) (15d-PGJ(2)), a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) agonist, induces cell death in tumor cells in vitro; however, no study showed its in vivo effect on tumors. Here, we report that 15d-PGJ(2) shows antitumor effects in vivo in mice. However, its effects correlate with tumor uptake of albumin, to which it reversibly binds. 15d-PGJ(2) induces cell death in B16F10 melanoma and C26 colon carcinoma cells in vitro. These effects were not elicited through PPARgamma-dependent pathways because an irreversible PPARgamma antagonist GW9662 did not inhibit these effects. Caspase- and nuclear factor kappaB- (NF-kappaB) dependent pathways were found to be involved as determined with caspase-3/7 fluorescent assay and NF-kappaB containing plasmid transfection assay, respectively. Noticeably, 15d-PGJ(2) had significantly stronger effects in C26 cells compared with B16 cells in all assays. However, in vivo, there was no effect on C26 tumors, yet it significantly inhibited the B16 tumor growth in mice by 75%. We found that 15d-PGJ(2) rapidly bound to albumin and in vivo albumin greatly distributed to B16 tumors compared with C26 tumors, shown with gamma-camera imaging and immunohistochemical staining. Albumin accumulation can be attributed to the large blood vessel diameter in B16 tumors and an enhanced permeability and retention effect. These findings suggest that 15d-PGJ(2) can be an effective therapeutic agent for cancer, although its effects seem to be limited to the tumors allowing albumin penetration.


BACKGROUND
 Web-based self-management programs have the potential to support patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) in their self-management (eg, by focusing on behavior change and improving physical activity). The intervention mapping framework was used to develop a web-based program called Vascular View. The Vascular View program contained 6 modules (coping with CVD, setting boundaries, lifestyle, healthy nutrition, being physically active, interaction with health professionals) aiming to increase self-management behavior by tailoring to the perceived problems and (support) needs of patients after CVD.

 OBJECTIVE
 The aim was to test the effectiveness of Vascular View before embarking on a full-scale randomized clinical trial (RCT) by evaluating the potential effectiveness and effect sizes of the Vascular View program and identifying outcome measures most likely to capture the potential benefits.

 METHODS
 An explorative RCT was performed. Both control and intervention groups received care as usual and, in addition, the intervention group received 12 months of access to a web-based self-management program. Assessment occurred at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months. Outcome measures included general patient-reported outcome measurements: Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ), Rand-36, Patient Activation Measure, and patient self-efficacy. Module-specific patient-reported outcome measurements were Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire, International Physical Activity Questionnaire, Dutch Healthy Diet Index, Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND), Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, and Perceived Efficacy in Patient-Physician Interaction. Linear mixed models for repeated measures using intention-to-treat and per-protocol analysis were applied to study differences between the patients in the intervention and control groups. Floor and ceiling effects were explored to give insight into the outcome measures most likely to capture the potential benefits.

 RESULTS
 A total of 105 patients in the control group and 103 patients in the intervention group participated in the study. A positive direction of change between baseline and 12 months was shown for most outcome measurements in favor of the intervention group, of which 2 out of 10 outcomes showed a significant effect: attribution of cause of the disease to risk factors and immunity factors (IPQ) and dependency of nicotine (FTND). Floor and ceiling effects were seen in the IPQ, Rand-36, and the self-efficacy questionnaire.

 CONCLUSIONS
 No conclusion for the efficacy of the Vascular View program or selection of outcome measurements can be taken yet. A process evaluation will be conducted to gain thorough insight into the working elements of the program, patient needs in eHealth, and the use of the program by patients. This can determine for whom web-based self-management programs will work and help to adapt the program.

 CLINICALTRIAL
 Dutch Trial Register NTR5412; https://www.trialregister.nl/trial/5303

 INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT
 RR2-10.2196/resprot.6352


Is it always beneficial to create a new relationship (have a new follower/friend) in a social network? This question can be formally stated as a property of the centrality measure that defines the importance of the actors of the network. Score monotonicity means that adding an arc increases the centrality score of the target of the arc; rank monotonicity means that adding an arc improves the importance of the target of the arc relatively to the remaining nodes. It is known that most centralities are both score and rank monotone on directed, strongly connected graphs. In this paper, we study the problem of score and rank monotonicity for classical centrality measures in the case of undirected networks: in this case, we require that score, or relative importance, improves at both endpoints of the new edge. We show that, surprisingly, the situation in the undirected case is very different, and in particular that closeness, harmonic centrality, betweenness, eigenvector centrality, Seeley's index, Katz's index, and PageRank are not rank monotone; betweenness and PageRank are not even score monotone. In other words, while it is always a good thing to get a new follower, it is not always beneficial to get a new friend.


1 Sheila W. Green, Medical Sciences Library Dr. Bruce Herbert, Office of Scholarly Communications About This chart is a companion to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Annotated bibliography of journals for educational scholarship (Blanco & Love, 2016). The chart gives a quick reference to help guide selection of a journal in which to publish medical education research. Brief notes are given in this section regarding tools to validate current information and links are given in the References (some may only be available through your institution). Journal indexing and publisher policies change regularly, so authors should always verify copyright, archiving, indexing and journal rankings with the publisher. Contact your librarian for assistance with any of the tools listed.


Ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI) contributes to mortality in ARDS. Particularly preinjured lungs are susceptible to VILI despite protective ventilation. We previously observed protection against VILI by Adrenomedullin (AM). Here we analyzed impact VILI on lung injury, pulmonary and systemic inflammation, bacterial burden and end-organ injury in established pneumonia. Further AM therapy was investigated. 24h after infection with S. pneumoniae mice were subjected to MV (12ml/kg, 6h) and AM treatment. Lung permeability, oxygenation, lung mechanics, lung and plasma cytokines and leukocytes, bacterial burden in lung, blood spleen, ALT, AST, creatinine and urine output were assessed. Expression of AM and its receptor complex (CRLR; RAMP1-3) were studied In pneumonia MV aggravated lung injury indicated by increased pulmonary permeability, oxygenation failure and worsening of lung mechanics. MV dramatically increased lung and blood cytokine levels in pneumonia, while lung leukocyte counts in pneumonia were not affected by MV. In pneumonia MV induced leukocytopenia and liver injury. Lung and blood bacterial burden was not affected by MV. MV and pneumonia increased lung AM expression. RAMP1-3 were upregulated in pneumonia but MV reduced its expression. AM protected against MV induced pulmonary hyperpermeability and deterioration of lung mechanics in pneumonia. AM did not alter inflammation but protected against VILI induced liver injury in pneumonia. MV aggravated lung injury and induced liver injury in pneumonia. MV may pave the way for progression of pneumonia towards sepsis. AM may be a promising adjuvant therapy to limit VILI in pneumonia induced ALI and may protect against end organ damage.


Recent approaches to action classification in videos have used sparse spatio-temporal words encoding local appearance around interesting movements. Most of these approaches use a histogram representation, discarding the temporal order among features. But this ordering information can contain important information about the action itself e.g. consider the sport disciplines of hurdle race and long jump, where the global temporal order of motions (running, jumping) is important to discriminate between the two. In this work we propose to use a sequential representation which retains this temporal order. Further, we introduce Discriminative Subsequence Mining to find optimal discriminative subsequence patterns. In combination with the LPBoost classifier, this amounts to simultaneously learning a classification function and performing feature selection in the space of all possible feature sequences. The resulting classifier linearly combines a small number of interpretable decision functions, each checking for the presence of a single discriminative pattern. The classifier is benchmarked on the KTH action classification data set and outperforms the best known results in the literature.


The current standard query language SQL requires users to know how data is normalized and stored in a database schema to compose queries. One of the major challenges in generating these queries is the identification of joins to connect attributes located in different relations. Constructing these joins in SQL or through a graphical query interface is tedious, error-prone, and not intuitive to casual users. Any new query language should maintain the expressiveness of SQL without requiring schema knowledge or an additional model. A new Schema-Free query system is developed to support the automatic completion of an SQL query without the full specification of joins and tables. A new algorithm efficiently constructs all maximal sets of lossless joins in a schema an order of magnitude faster than previous methods. The query system uses a new query language allowing under-specification of SQL queries to remove the burden of schema knowledge from the user while continuing to support the full range of SQL queries. Queries with multiple interpretations are disambiguated through three different approaches.


The permafrost region has recently experienced an increased attention, due to projected climatechange and resource development. In permafrost landscapes, thermokarst lakes are commonfeatures. These water-filled collapse features form when ice-rich ground thaws. Thermokarstlakes are dynamic and change naturally in size due to erosion and/or infilling of fen vegetationalong lake shorelines. When they are formed, thermokarst lakes emit large amounts of carbon inform of the greenhouse gases methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2). Quantifying rates ofthermokarst lake expansion and infilling of fen vegetation by cardinal direction can help ourunderstanding of thermokarst lake dynamics. This study quantifies rates and extent ofthermokarst lake expansion and infilling of fen vegetation by cardinal direction for the timeperiods 1963-1975 and 1975-2003, in Tavvavuoma peat plateau complex, northern Sweden.This is done using the ArcGIS extension Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS). The rateswere less than 0.1 m/yr, and lake expansion was greater than infilling between 1963 and 1975.For the 1975-2003 period, infilling of fen vegetation was greater than lake expansion. Thedirectional patterns for expansion and infilling of fen vegetation could potentially explained beby wind direction for different seasons, but the patterns are far from uniform in all lakes,indicating that local properties like lake depth, lake size and shape and the surrounding peatdepth and permafrost depth and temperature also might affect the activity in the lakes.


'One day I shall repay you for your kindness.' With these words a rat makes a solemn promise to a lion who has allowed the tiny creature to escape from between his fearsome paws. But what can a little rat do to help a mighty lion, the King of the Jungle? The simple messages of this La Fontaine fable - that acts of kindness will always be returned and that even the strongest and mightiest sometimes need the help of the smallest and weakest - are gloriously told in this lovely picture book from Brian Wildsmith, an internationally acclaimed writer and artist for children. His simple words and sumptuous illustrations bring a freshness to this timeless fable and the stunning new cover design and imaginative interior typography will delight a whole new generation of young Wildsmith fans.


During the Mid- to Late Jurassic, long-term eustatic sea-level rise and half-graben subsidence in the Danish Central Trough resulted in a major transgression. Deposition of widespread alluvial plain sediments in the Sogne Basin and Tail End Graben was terminated in the Late Bathonian due to bypass and erosion following a short-term relative sea-level fall. The sea-level fall was followed by a relative sea-level rise during the Callovian which caused the development of a transgressive succession of coastal plain and shallow marine deposits. The transgressive succession consists of several prograding sediment wedges commonly terminated by a coal bed and a flooding surface. As transgression continued during the Late Jurassic, the shoreline shifted westwards. Transgressive Oxfordian shoreface to back-barrier sandstones were deposited. Another short-term relative sea-level fall occurred during the Kimmeridgian during which regressive shoreface to beach sandstones were deposited. During the Late Kimmeridgian and Volgian, the long-term relative sea-level rise resulted in deposition of thick Volgian offshore claystones in the central part of the Central Trough (Heno Plateau, Gertrud Graben and Feda Graben). During the Volgian and Early Cretaceous, the transgression continued towards the west and shallow marine sandstones may have been deposited along the western margin of the Central Trough fringing the Mid North Sea High (Grensen Nose Basin and Outer Rough Basin). Along the Ringkobing Fyn High in the easternmost part of the Central Trough, Volgian and Early Cretaceous fan-delta sandstones and basin floor turbidite sandstones are interstratified with offshore claystones.


A new type of low-pass filter (LPF) with ultra-wide band rejection and compact size by using a proposed transformed radial stubs (TRSs) is introduced and investigated. The operating mechanism of the filter is investigated based on proposed equivalent-circuit model. The implemented LPF with 1-dB cutoff frequency fc of 3 GHz demonstrates stopband rejection up to 8 fc i.e., 24 GHz. The skirt selectivity is achieved up to -144 dB per octave through multiple-zero generation using TRSs. The measured passband insertion loss is less than 1.5 dB. I/O loading cells are used to further extend the deep stopband to more than 13 fc i.e., above 40 GHz. The size of the four-cell LPF is only 0.31 λg × 0.24 λg, (λg is the guide wavelength at center cutoff frequency) without using any lumped elements.


Fixed points of scalar field theories with quartic interactions in
d=4-\veps
dimensions are considered in full generality. For such theories it is
known that there exists a scalar function A
of the couplings through which the leading-order beta-function can be
expressed as a gradient. It is here proved that the fixed-point value of
A is bounded from below by a simple expression linear in the dimension of
the vector order parameter, N.
Saturation of the bound requires a marginal deformation, and is shown to
arise when fixed points with the same global symmetry coincide in
coupling space. Several general results about scalar CFTs are discussed,
and a review of known fixed points is given.


This study examined the level of gender participation in forestry practices in Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study examined the gender distribution of operators among various economic activities in forestry practices and gender differences in income. Data were collected on the marital status, age, educational qualification, number of years of experience in forestry/agroforestry practices, income and challenges encountered from 91 respondents drawn by simple random sampling technique. The data were collected by using copies of a structured questionnaire and were analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings, among others, were that: though there was significant difference in gender distribution by occupation within the subsector, there was no significant gender disparity in gender involvement in terms of number; there was no significant gender difference in the educational qualifications of the operators. Furthermore, that a sizeable proportion of single again women depend on forest resources for their livelihood; that a good proportion of the female in the subsector had no alternative opportunity, finally that there was no significant gender difference in income. We conclude that the forestry economy has high potential for the pursuit of gender equality and for poverty alleviation and recommend that policies and programmes directed towards poverty alleviation in the subsector should, however, be gender sensitive.


Dealing with animal death and euthanasia is a major part of veterinary practice, with social and emotional consequences that can sometimes be considerable for clients and veterinarians (Shaw and Lagoni 2007, Morris 2012, Witte and others 2013). Compared with end-of-life (EOL) studies in human medicine, relatively little research has been directed towards investigating either vets' or clients' experiences; that which has been done has been predominantly US-based, and has highlighted a number of potential concerns. For example, a North American survey of clients who had experienced the death of a pet found 30 per cent reporting severe grief reactions, and approximately 50 per cent indicating worries about whether the timing of euthanasia had been appropriate (Adams and others 2000). This same study found that those clients who had positive perceptions of their vet as caring and professional reported significantly fewer negative emotional reactions to their pet's death (Adams and others 2000; see also Fernandez-Mehler and others 2013). Many veterinarians themselves place great importance on their role as care-givers in the context of pet death (eg Morris 2012). However, studies of veterinary students and recent graduates in the USA have found that they often do not feel competent or comfortable delivering bad news or talking about euthanasia (Tinga and others 2001), and many believe that veterinary schools should place more emphasis on communication skills for dealing with owners of terminally ill patients (Dickinson and others 2011).

The present survey sought to establish a current overview of British vets' experiences of euthanasia and EOL care, and their opinions regarding whether veterinary training left them well equipped to communicate with clients when their animals are dying or being euthanased. The questionnaire used a structured …


ABSTRACT This study investigated the egg maturation rates and the effect of feeding and starvation on the egg load dynamics of Diachasmimorpha kraussii (Fullaway), a parasitoid of the Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt). Three day old unfed parasitoids had significantly more mature eggs than 3-d old fed wasps. No egg resorption was observed in these parasitoids. When exposed to a physiologically suitable host, parasitoids had a higher egg load than those exposed to a physiologically unsuitable host. Manipulation of the wasp's feeding status, or exposure to suitable hosts, might help improve the reproductive potential of this parasitoid if bred for inundative release.


Designers play an important and critical role in developing innovative product design, which is the key for a company to survive in the highly competitive market with ever-increasing demands from customers. However, how designers think, reason, judge, and make decisions has not yet been studied well. This thesis aims to develop experimental approaches to qualitatively and quantitatively understand designers' cognitive activities in order to explore product innovation in the early design stages. To study designers' cognitive activities, a new protocol analysis method is developed. In the protocol analysis experiment, designers' activities were recorded when solving a design problem. Designers were interviewed to recall their design process immediately after finishing the design. Then, the recorded verbal data were analyzed by transcribing, segmentation and encoding for further analysis. In general, protocol analysis is used to transform the unstructured data collected from designers into structured data. Existing protocol analysis methods used to study designers' cognitive activities heavily depend on specific design problems, specific domains and the persons who analyze the protocol data. The new protocol analysis method presented in this thesis is based on the concept of the state of design and recursive object model. It can be easily applied to any design problem and any domain. Using this method, the changes of designers' cognitive activities during the design process can be quantified. Some guidelines and recommendations for assisting designers to deliver an innovative design are summarized at the end of the present thesis based on the experimental results. The protocol analysis results have also been used to evaluate Environment-Based Design (EBD) as a descriptive design model; hence, EBD can be used as the theoretical foundation to illustrate, describe, and explain how designers conduct a design task. Another part of my thesis is to simulate the design process by developing a virtual experiment. In the virtual experiment, the selected design problem: finite element mesh design, can be automatically solved using a program developed in the computer environment of Visual C++. Net 2003. Then, different settings of the parameters, different strategies, different formulations of design requirements, and different sequences for solving the design problem are simulated to compare the differences of meshes. Three routes leading designers to innovative designs are proposed and examined through this virtual experiment. Based on the three routes, an ANN-based element extraction method for finite element mesh design is developed to illustrate the feasibility of the three routes for changing design solutions. Therefore, the two experimental approaches proposed in this thesis can be used for understanding design activities in a more systematic manner


In Islamic economy, the market has important values, because it must have morality or ethics which is one of the responsibilities of every economic agents. Ethics in business must be realized personally which aims for every business person who trades to seek the maximum profit, in Islamic trade it is not just looking for a profit but looking for a blessing. This research explains how the application of Islamic business ethics in marketing Muslim clothing at Almeera Moslem Store Bogor and how the concept of Islamic marketing in Muslim business at Almeera Moslem Store Bogor. This research uses a descriptive qualitative approach, which means to describe some information in the field with data collection techniques used in this study in the form of interviews, and documentation.  The results of this study indicate that the application of Islamic business ethics in the marketing practice of Muslim clothing at Almeera Muslim Store Bogor has fully implemented the principles of justice, the principle of justice, the principle of free will, the principle of responsibility, and the principle of truth.  In the implementation of the marketing concept at the Almeera Moslem Store Bogor in the form of product marketing, prices, and transactions, but there is one thing, namely product satisfaction which is a problem for which there is no solution.  The general solution is to negotiate. Almeera Moslem Store Bogor is always friendly and courteous to consumers in service and marketing as has been implemented in Islamic law.


Dopamine D1 receptors can be covalently labeled with the photo-affinity ligand (+-)-7-[125I]iodo-8-hydroxy-3-methyl-1-(4-azidophenyl)-2,3,4,5-tetrah yd ro-1H-3-benzazepine ([125I]IMAB) and visualized following sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and autoradiography. In brain membranes, [125I]IMAB labels a polypeptide of apparent Mr approximately equal to 74,000 as the major ligand binding subunit of D1 receptors and two minor polypeptides of Mr approximately equal to 64,000 and 52,000. In contrast, [125I]IMAB labels a single polypeptide of apparent Mr approximately equal to 64,000 in bovine parathyroid glands. In this study, the carbohydrate nature of dopamine D1 receptors from the brain and parathyroid gland were examined using specific exo- and endoglycosidases and lectin affinity chromatography. [125I]IMAB-labeled brain and parathyroid D1 receptors were sensitive to treatment with the exoglycosidases neuraminidase or alpha-mannosidase, suggestive of the existence of terminal sialic acid and oligomannose residues. Photolabeled D1 receptor polypeptides are not however, associated with distinct populations of complex-type or high mannose-containing carbohydrate chains because 1) wheat germ agglutinin and concanavalin A lectin chromatography of solubilized and photolabeled neuronal D1 receptors followed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and autoradiography revealed no differences in the electrophoretic mobility of column pass-through and specifically eluted [125I]IMAB-labeled polypeptides, and 2) [125I]IMAB-labeled D1 receptors specifically bound to and eluted from concanavalin A-Sepharose were neuraminidase sensitive, indicative of the colocalization of oligomannose- and complex-type glycans. Removal of these terminal glycan residues did not affect the binding of [3H]SCH 23390 to dopamine D1 receptors. Complete N-linked deglycosylation of photolabeled D1 receptors from both the brain and parathyroid with peptide N-glycosidase F resulted in the migration of a single major labeled polypeptide of apparent Mr approximately equal to 46,000. These data suggest that, despite differences observed in the electrophoretic mobility and glycosylation patterns of brain and parathyroid D1 receptor polypeptides, the protein backbones of central and peripheral dopamine D1 receptors display similar if not identical molecular weights.


This study designed to compare responses from an internet-based survey to those from a paper-and-pencil survey in terms of measurement reliability, validity, and equivalence using homogeneous demographic profiles of the undergraduates studying in Taiwan. Several similarities and differences were found between two types of survey in this study. For examples, contents of the survey items (i.e., internet-related vs. behavior-related) and survey environments significantly influence the distribution of responses. The normal distribution, internal consistency, in addition to construct, and convergent validity for individual construct are quite similar. However, the homological validity evidence was demonstrated through structural equation modeling across two survey modes. Implications and future research are also discussed.


The present study entitled "Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Mental health of people" was undertaken during 2021-2022 to see the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health of people in eight diff erent localities of Kanpur Nagar. From the selected localities 15 respondents each were randomly selected and interviewed, whose total number was 120. Most of the of respondents were up to 25 years of age, most of the respondent's educational qualifi cation was graduation and above, most of the respondents belonged to general category having annual income of Rs. 3,00,000 and above. The study reveals the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health of people which includes, stress, nervousness, worry, agitation, frustration, fear of unknown, anxiety, insomnia, etc.


Six experiments were conducted using a single-photon double-slit apparatus to test von Neumann's notion that the quantum wavefunction is "collapsed" by what he called a psychophysical interaction. Individuals were asked to direct their attention toward or away from the optical system while receiving information about the number of photons arriving per second at an interference fringe minimum. Overall the experiments found evidence supportive of an interaction that appears to "steer" the wavefunction to either reduce or to sharpen interference fringes. This outcome informs efforts to unify subjective and objective modes of apprehending the world because it suggests that these two apparently different ways of knowing may be complementary aspects of a unitary phenomenon, analogous to how a Möbius strip appears to have two sides, but when examined is found to have only one. The correlations observed in our experiments can be interpreted in two main ways: as a form of mind-matter interaction, which implies a dualistic model, or as arising from a common source, which implies a monist model. We propose that a monist model is a more satisfying explanation.


The aim of this research is to examine the Statute of Todi, written in 1337 and preserved in the Local Historical Archive of the same city. It is inserted into a
composite code, that basically includes different manuscripts, characterized by the same signature and binding as well.The parchments, that concerns the Statute, occupy 216 c., which are also arranged in five distinctiones . In addition to these parchments,
there is a group of numbered documents until c. 341; these are copies of resolutions and reforms about various subjects, such as the renovatio statutorum , which were promoted by different city councils. The complectio statuti is the last document of the Statute, it dates back to December, the 6 th ,1337, tempore Legerii capitaney civitatis Tuderti . The main step of this scientific operation is the analysis of the Statute, by
considering the peculiarities of the language and following a critical-interpretative approach, applied with absolute rigour in order to arrive at a precise transcription of
the manuscript. In addition to analyzing the prescriptive text, this research aims to elaborate a strict reconstruction of the historical context of the civitas tudertina. In fact, it shows a detailed analysis of the origin and the evolution of institutions of the
medieval communes, trying to illustrate the deep renewal, that they have introduced in society by the end of the 12 th to the second half of the 14 th century.


Abstract : Wetland-nonwetland transition zones in the Missouri River Basin of the north-central United States were studied in seven wetlands ranging in size, permanence, and salinity to develop an efficient sampling methodology that utilized vegetation data to delineate wetland boundaries. One hundred and sixty species of vascular plants occurred in twenty sample transects. Sampling methodology suggested for use in the study area (200-km radius of Sioux Falls, South Dakota) is a combination of the belt transect method (contiquous quadrats) to estimate cover by species and a cover board to measure vertical structure. The methods require a combined sampling time of about 9 min/m of transect, corresponding to a sampling time of 3.2 hr for a transect of average length. A streamlined methodology was also devised whereby sampling time could be cut in half. General upper and lower borders of the transition zone were determined from direct gradient analysis graphs. Specific borders were determined from the occurrence of compositional dichotomies displayed in ordination models.


Studied here were the links between sibling differences in trajectories of change in the qualities of parent-child relationships and the qualities of sibling relationships across a 2-year period in adolescence. Participants were first- and second-born siblings (M age = 14.94 years for firstborns and M age = 12.46 years for secondborns) from 185 predominantly White, working and middle-class families. In home interviews, siblings reported on their dyadic family relationships. For reports of parent-child warmth but not parent-child conflict, results were consistent with sibling differentiation theory: Increasing differences between siblings over time in parent-child warmth were linked to trajectories of increasing warmth and decreasing conflict in the sibling relationship as reported by firstborns, and increasing warmth in the sibling relationship as reported by secondborns. The findings support the view that sibling differentiation may be a strategy for managing sibling conflict and rivalry.


1. Riparian zones are vital areas of interaction between land and rivers and are often degraded by several pressures such as urbanisation, intensive agriculture and river engineering works. 2. This policy brief provides five key policy messages and recommendations to be considered by policy-makers, scientists, managers, and stakeholders to enhance riparian zone management. 3. Adopting an integrated socio-economic and environmentally dynamic view will ensure the sustainable management of riparian zones. 4. In light of climate change, it is critically important to conserve and/or restore the ecological integrity of riparian zones. 5. European Union Directives and national-scale legislation and regulations need updating to ensure coordinated implementation of riparian zone-related policies. 6. Stakeholder knowledge exchange, policy co-creation and adaptive management are key to enhancing riparian zone functions.


This thesis is subdivided into two main research areas. The first two studies were conducted in a mature mixed temperate broad leaved forest with regard to species identity effects on fine root traits, while the third study of the thesis addresses the influence of soil temperature on fine roots of Pinus cembra at the alpine treeline.

In the species-rich broad leaved forest within the Hainich National Park, we assessed the role of taxonomic position and mycorrhiza type (EM and AM) on fine root biomass, fine root morphology (on root order level) and fine root dynamics of six coexisting tree species (Fagus sylvatica L., Tilia cordata Mill., Carpinus betulus L., Fraxinus excelsior L., Acer pseudoplatanus L. Acer platanoides L.). We detected similar trends of a decrease of specific root area and specific root length from the first (the root tips) to the fourth root order in all six species. Nevertheless, the root order traits differed strongly between the species, especially for the variables root tissue density and root nitrogen concentration. The highest root nitrogen contents were found in the root tips and decreased with root order. Comparing the species, F. excelsior contained the highest nitrogen content in all root orders. Fine root productivity differed strongly between the six species with the highest production in C. betulus, F. sylvatica, and F. excelsior (~ 150-170 g m-2 yr-1). Most differences in fine root production and turnover between the species were found in the deeper soil layers compared to the upper soil layer at 0-10 cm. Root turnover varied up to fivefold among the species, with lowest values in Acer pseudoplatanus and highest values in its congener A. platanoides. Even these two congeneric species differed strongly in their branching traits in the same stand, suggesting that they use differing belowground foraging strategies (e.g. more root tips per biomass in A. pseudoplatanus vs. a higher root turnover in A. platanoides).
In general, species identity was found to be the most important determining factor for fine root morphology and biomass as well as for fine root productivity and turnover rates, whereas the influence of mycorrhiza type was only of secondary importance. Species differences in fine root traits were more pronounced for the respective root orders than in comparison for the whole root branches.

At the alpine treeline, soil temperature is assumed to be the key factor influencing root biomass, production and morphology of fine roots. So far, most studies have been conducted on temperature influences on fine roots of tree saplings and juvenile trees in ex-situ experiments, and there is very little data on temperature dependent fine root traits of mature trees at the treeline. In this study we investigated fine root mass distribution, fine root morphology and fine root production and turnover around solitary Pinus cembra trees at the alpine treeline in the Central Eastern Alps in Austria. Those fine root data were linked to soil temperatures around the trees, measured at the time with maximal temperature deviations between shade and sun. The main objective was to determine whether soil temperature, lowered by the shade of the crown, impairs fine root growth around mature Pine trees.
In contrast to previous findings regarding fine root reactions to low temperatures, we found higher fine root masses (living and dead) in cooler areas around the tree stems during a sunny summer day. Additionally in cooler, shaded soil there was a higher fine root production and turnover, which leads us to the assumption that trees invest more carbon into fine roots of cooler soil areas to compensate fine root loss and maintain optimal resource acquisition, as nutrient accessibility is lower in cold soil areas. In general, our findings suggest that fine root traits and their dependency of soil temperatures might not be comparable between tree saplings and mature trees.


During the past decade a new syndrome has been recognized: cerebral hypoxia secondary to cardiopulmonary bypass, resulting in impairment of cognitive memory. The incidence of the syndrome appears to be no less that 30% in patients over 65 years of age undergoing cardiac surgery. There are several factors contributing to hypoxia produced by cardiopulmonary bypass. One of these factors is crystalloid pump prime and replacement solutions devoid of (1) oxygen carrying capacity and (2) devoid of protein and its colloid osmotic pressure. This shortcoming of cardiopulmonary crystalloid solutions is partially responsible for two of the three major pathologic effects of cardiopulmonary bypass: (1) hypoxia (2) interstitial fluid accumulation (anasarca, water-logging, edema). This report describes an oxygen carrying hyperosmolar solution which enhances brain p0(2) and diminishes interstitial fluid accumulation. This blood substitute consists of perfluorcarbons and saccharides, but could consist of a hemoglobin variant plus hyperosmolar ingredients other than saccharides. The advantage of a perfluorochemical is its ability to access small channels and to be centrifuged off the patient post-operatively with a cell saver. The advantage of saccharides is that they can be metabolized by the patient for energy, and they produce a moderate diuresis coming off bypass.


laundering, tax evasion and secrecy jurisdictions are now perceived as important obstacles to development. Dealing with illicit financial flows is an important aspect of the policy coherence agenda in international development, and developed country governments have made international commitments to tackle the problem.1 Reforms and actions are necessary both in developed and developing countries, and this Brief looks at the experiences of some bilateral agencies that have begun to implement the illicit financial flows-agenda. Promising areas to engage in include support for improving tax systems and strengthening anti-money laundering programmes. Implementing the illicit financial flows agenda: Perspectives from developing countries


The abundance and occurrence of a special group of bacteria, capable of solubilizing or mobilizing insoluble phosphates were studied in estuarine environment, especially in sediments. The possible role of various factors of the sediments in maintaining the phosphate availability in the overlying water was described. The phosphatase activity was recorded in all samples irrespective of salinity variations. Total number of bacteria showed higher value in lower salinity. The total phosphate content in soil showed positive correlation with the phosphatase activity ( r = 0.890; P-Value = 0.000; n-=15). Clayey sediment contents more phosphate solubilizing bacteria and phosphatase than sandy sediment in a tropical estuarine region of River Hooghly.


Multiple factors affect the sleep quality of individuals with surgically created stomas. Using Rogers' Diffusion of Innovation as the theoretical framework, a study was conducted to: 1) assess subjective sleep quality perceptions and objective sleep measurement in adults with stomas, 2) determine if there is a correlation between subjective and objective measurement of sleep in this group, and 3) implement a stoma-specific sleep hygiene intervention to improve these sleep quality perceptions. Subjective assessment focused on sleep subset questions from the Stoma Quality of Life Index (SQOLI) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Respondents' (n = 26) subjective sleep scores were 7.23 mean global score on seven questions (PSQI, range: 0 [no difficulty sleeping] to 3 [severe difficulty sleeping], total 0 to 21) with a mean score of 7.32 on three questions (SQOLI, range 1 [severe difficulty sleeping] to 4 [no difficulty sleeping], total 0 to 12) on sleep subset questions; composite scores of 5 or greater (PSQI) and 3 or less (SQOLI) indicating sleep problems. Scores showed that adults with stomas have increased sleep disruption and poor sleep quality. Five respondents who met intervention enrollment criteria participated in an objective sleep assessment using actigraphy, overnight oxygenation studies, and a 4-week sleep hygiene intervention. Mean PSQI score improved by 1.20 but the difference was not statistically significant. Because the results of this study confirm that sleep problems are common in older adults with a stoma, larger sample size studies of >4 weeks' duration are warranted. Until additional research results are available, the existence of sleep quality and overnight pouching concerns should be recognized and use of the low-cost, easy-to-use, stoma-specific sleep hygiene intervention considered.


Legume green manures are used in crop rotations to add organic matter, enhance N availability and to provide ground cover for soil conservation. In drought-prone regions like the Palliser Triangle, annual rather than perennial legumes could be used for fallow replacement green manuring in short rotations to avoid excessive depletion of soil water reserves. Results from a 6-year study of green manuring with 4 annual legumes in combination with snow trapping on a Brown loam at Swift Current were used to assess water use during legume growth, water use efficiency (WOE) of green manure production and amounts of soil water remaining for subsequent spring wheat. Each spring Black lentil, Tangier flatpea, Chickling vetch and Feedpea were seeded into wheat stubble with tall stubble trap strips along with continuous wheat and wheat-fallow plots. Legumes were incorporated in some and chemically desiccated in other plots as soon as they reached full bloom. Water use by the 4 legumes was generally related to DM production and did not differ from the amount used by wheat during the same vegetative growth period. Most of the water used was extracted from the 0to 60-cm soil depth. On average, inoculated legumes used only 12% more water but produced much more DM than uninoculated legumes. Thus rhizobial seed inoculation and the enhanced N2 fixation eiii;;;:cted a doubling of the WUE by these green manures. Chickling vetch and feedpea were able to use water at a 20% greater efficiency than well fertilized spring wheat. Contrary to expectations, levels of soil water recharge between legume bloom and the following spring were always as high for incorporated as for desiccated green manures. At seeding time there was generally 20% less watE?'r under continuous wheat than in the fallow soil. In green manured soils, water reserves in spring did not differ between legume species and were usually 15% lower than in fallow plots with wheat trap strips. Wheat yields after green manures were affected primarily by weather and legume management but not by legume species. After incorporated green manures grain production was, on average, 12% and 17% greater than after conventional fallow or desiccated green manure, respectively. The presence of wheat strips in the fallow phase increased subsequent grain yields by an average 20%. We concluded that green manuring with annual legumes, when combined with snow trapping, offers a more bio-resource efficient and soil conserving alternative to conventional summerfallowing for wheat production within the Palliser Triangle.


Sorghum is increasingly being used for animal feed replacing corn, due to their similar nutritional characteristics, but with a lower cost. However one factor that negatively influences the nutritional value of sorghum is the presence of tannin that is an anti-nutritional factor that affects the nutrients absorption by the animal. We evaluated the effect of the sorghum with high and low tannins concentrations and / or the addition of tannic acid in diets based on corn and soybean on the single jejunal (duodenum, jejunum and ileum) histomorphometric parameters in broilers. There were used 150 male chicks with 1 day old of Cobb lineage, they were created up to 42 days in cages, in a controlled environment and receiving isoproteic and isoenergetic diets. After the period, were collected fragments of the 3 single jejunal segments, where they were measured and analyzed through a microscope with a coupled camera, according with the established parameters (villus height, crypt depth, thickness of muscle layer and relationship between villus numbers and villus bifurcations numbers). The addition of tannin in diets caused histomorphometric modifications in all parameters, but they did not cause significant changes for affecting their productive performance, such as weight and carcass yield.


Objective: To investigate the association of (variable number tandem repeat) interleukin (IL) 1RN and (-511) IL-1B gene polymorphisms with brain hemorrhagic events after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods: Data from brain CT, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) at admission, and 6-month Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) and modified Rankin Scale (mRS) were collected for 151 prospectively recruited patients with TBI. IL-1RN and IL-1B genotypes were determined using standard methods. Presence vs absence of any type of brain hemorrhage was the main outcome. Type of brain hemorrhage, GCS at admission, and 6-month GOS and mRS were secondary outcomes. Odd ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% CI were calculated using logistic regression analyses. In adjusted models, the associations were controlled for age, gender, diffuse brain edema, volume of intracranial hematoma, neurosurgical intervention, and GCS at admission. p values less than 0.01 were considered significant. Results: Compared with noncarriers, IL-1RN allele 2 carriers had higher odds of having cerebral hemorrhages after TBI (adjusted OR = 4.57; 95% CI = 1.67 to 12.96; p = 0.004). The associations for (-511) IL-1B polymorphism were not significant. Conclusion: There is an association between the presence of interleukin-1RN allele 2 and posttraumatic brain hemorrhage.


Transition from a vegetative growth phase to flowering in plants occurs in response to both environmental conditions and endogenous signals. Identification of genes that are involved in regulating the time of flowering is of great importance in agri- and horticulture. Flowering-time genes can be used for crop improvement by, for instance, engineering plants to flower earlier. This shortening of the time to flowering could result in an extended growing season that could enable farmers to grow more than one crop each year. In this work, a gene knockout approach using T-DNA tagging and in vivo gene fusion has been employed to identify and characterise genes that are involved in regulating flowering time in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. This approach resulted in the identification of two genes, At4g20010 and its homologue At1g31010. Expression studies and GUS histochemical analysis of a reporter gene revealed that At4g20010 is mainly expressed in rapid growing tissues such as root tips, shoot apex, flowers and stem nodes. T-DNA insertional mutants of At4g20010 and At1g31010 exhibit a late-flowering phenotype that can largely be repressed by application of gibberellin. Plants with an insertional mutation in At4g20010 contain a reduced amount of the bioactive gibberellin GA4 compared to wild-type plants. The decreased level of GA4 is not due to a transcriptional repression of the GA-biosynthetic genes AtGA3ox1 or AtGA20ox1, since their expressions were increased in the mutant plants. In silico analyses revealed that the C-terminal protein sequences encoded by At4g20010 and At1g31010 contain RNA-binding motifs, whereas the N-terminal sequences have three-dimensional structures similar to single stranded nucleic acid-binding proteins. To conclude, At4g20010 and At1g31010 may encode two RNA-binding proteins that are involved in regulating flowering time in A. thaliana by affecting the metabolism of GA. This can be possible either by a positive regulation of GA3ox at the post-transcriptional level or by a negative regulation of GA2ox.


It was to study the influence of Wilms tumor suppressor gene (WT1) on ovarian granular cells (GCs) in mice, and the molecular mechanism involved. LV-WT1 short hairpin ribonucleic acid (shRNA) vector was used to downregulate WT1 expression in granular cells (GCs). The effects of WTI on proliferation and apoptosis of GCs were investigated. Western blot and qRT-PCR were used to assay the mRNA and protein expressions of Bax/bcl-2 in GCs transfected with LV-WT1-RNAi. The expression levels of SUZ12, Wnt5a, Wnt11, Wnt4, Wnt3a, Wnt2 mRNA in GCs were also determined. LV-WT1-RNAi significantly reduced WT1 expression, increased apoptosis and inhibited proliferation of GCs. The inhibition of WT1 had no significant effect on the expression of bcl-2 in GCs. The expressions of Wnt2, Wnt4 and Wnt5a were augmented in WT1-knockdown GCs, relative to non-transfected cells. WT1 activation is necessary for maintaining early survival of GCs in follicles via activation of the Wnt/β-catenin signal pathway.


Hazardous Materials Air Monitoring/Detection Devices provides HazMat teams with a thorough guide to effective air monitoring in emergency response situations. The key component to safely responding to hazardous materials is the use of a variety of detection devices for effective air monitoring. In this book, each type of air monitoring device available for emergency services is described in detail, including operating guidelines and sampling strategies. The most up-to-date information is provided along with discussion of the future trends and technology shaping this business, keeping the user at the forefront of this rapidly changing field. Also, a special section discusses the latest trend in HazMat-the detection and monitoring of hazardous agents used for terrorism.


In this article, the authors estimate the cost of practicing socially responsible investing. Using these results, investors may determine whether imposing restrictions on the available investment universe is the most cost-efficient method for promoting the particular social ideal. The authors design and execute a Monte Carlo simulation to compare the performance of a skillful investor in an unrestricted investment universe with the performance of the same investor in a restricted investment universe. They repeat this for a variety of skill levels and investment universes and find that the cost of socially responsible investing is substantial for even moderately skilled investors.


A re-analysis is presented of velocity profiles from which Coleman [3] concluded that κ is independent of suspended sediment concentration. It is found that the data from the three cited experiments actually show similar logarithmic layers beyond 10% water depth, reveal wall-interference on velocity readings in the region ≤ 10% water depth which is erroneously interpreted as the "true" logarithmic layer by Coleman, and are in agreement with other reported observations on the presence or absence of a wake flow region depending on bottom roughness. When corrected for wall interference for the lowermost data point per profile, Coleman's data confirm the conclusion of Vanoni [22], Einstein and Chien [6] and other workers that von Karman's constant decreases with increasing suspension load in turbulent flows.


A case of bilateral adrenal pheochromocytomas with unusual morphologic features is reported in a 27-year-old man with a family history of von Hippel-Lindau disease. In both glands, the medulla was replaced by neoplasms with two distinct gross and microscopic appearances. There was typical pheochromocytoma in areas of dusky red tissue. The yellow nodules noted on gross examination were microscopically composed of large cells with vacuolated cytoplasm. Fat stains confirmed the presence of lipid in these areas. Immunohistochemistry revealed positivity for neuron-specific enolase and chromogranin in the cytoplasm of pheochromocytes, as well as in the perinuclear cytoplasm and processes of cells scattered in the yellow nodules. Ultrastructural examination of the yellow lesions showed characteristics of pheochromocytoma and an extensive accumulation of lipid. Although gross and light-microscopic examination of the yellow tissue suggested adrenal cortical nodules, immunohistochemistry and electon microscopy elucidated lipid degeneration within pheochromocytoma, a finding not previously described.


The microvascular endothelial cell monolayer localized at the critical interface between the blood and vessel wall has the vital functions of regulating tissue fluid balance and supplying the essential nutrients needed for the survival of the organism. The endothelial cell is an exquisite "sensor" that responds to diverse signals generated in the blood, subendothelium, and interacting cells. The endothelial cell is able to dynamically regulate its paracellular and transcellular pathways for transport of plasma proteins, solutes, and liquid. The semipermeable characteristic of the endothelium (which distinguishes it from the epithelium) is crucial for establishing the transendothelial protein gradient (the colloid osmotic gradient) required for tissue fluid homeostasis. Interendothelial junctions comprise a complex array of proteins in series with the extracellular matrix constituents and serve to limit the transport of albumin and other plasma proteins by the paracellular pathway. This pathway is highly regulated by the activation of specific extrinsic and intrinsic signaling pathways. Recent evidence has also highlighted the importance of the heretofore enigmatic transcellular pathway in mediating albumin transport via transcytosis. Caveolae, the vesicular carriers filled with receptor-bound and unbound free solutes, have been shown to shuttle between the vascular and extravascular spaces depositing their contents outside the cell. This review summarizes and analyzes the recent data from genetic, physiological, cellular, and morphological studies that have addressed the signaling mechanisms involved in the regulation of both the paracellular and transcellular transport pathways.


Three instances of paresthesia in the oral cavity were resolved by nonsurgical endodontic therapy. Resolution of the condition supports the theory that pressure caused by an expanding infection and the associated inflammatory response result in paresthesia.


INTRODUCTION In just a few decades the adult film industry has grown from underground and largely illegal to virtual ubiquity. And, as might be expected in an industry whose principals have endured ongoing threats of criminal prosecution, many producers of adult films take a somewhat cavalier approach to the law. (1) Widespread employment practices within the industry violate a number of California laws and regulations, exposing performers to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and the risk of privacy breaches, while exposing the industry itself to significant potential liability. (2) Despite this, lawsuits brought by performers in connection with industry health practices are extremely rare. A combination of factors, including workers' strong desire for anonymity, fear of being blacklisted, lack of access to counsel and unawareness of legal fights appear to have largely shielded the industry from lawsuits to date. Whether or not this status quo will endure depends upon whether performers choose to exercise their substantial legal leverage over the industry. I. FROM CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE TO BIG BUSINESS The adult film industry has long been the subject of negative attention from authorities. Despite the popularity of adult films, criminal obscenity laws remain on the books and continue to haunt the industry. (3) Obscenity prosecutions have become less common in recent years. (4) But prosecutions do occur. (5) Furthermore, the practice of paying performers to engage in sexual activities on camera could trigger prosecutions under various state anti-prostitution laws. Only two state supreme courts, California and New Hampshire, have held that paying performers to have sex on film is not a crime. (6) Despite the legal barriers to the production of adult films, however, the industry has grown. Although the exact size of the adult film industry is impossible to determine, the direct production of adult films appears to generate several billion dollars per year. (7) One of the largest adult video producers, Vivid Video, claims to have generated a billion dollars in revenue in 2006 alone. (8) Although the Internet has reduced the demand for adult-content DVDs, new entrepreneurs, such as Montreal-based online provider "Manwin," have emerged and are profiting in the current market. (9) Whatever the exact size of the industry, it is clear that there are multiple adult film producers who are anything but judgment-proof. Despite the industry's wealth, lawsuits brought by adult film performers against production companies or other industry participants are exceedingly rare. There are virtually no published decisions involving such suits. Of two reported cases involving lawsuits brought by adult film performers against producers, only one stems from workplace practices regarding STIs. (10) In that lawsuit, a performer who contracted HIV while performing in an adult film was found to be entitled to workers' compensation. (11) The dearth of other litigation stemming from the STIs within the adult film industry is surprising as such infections are widespread among adult film performers. (12) Surprisingly considering the industry's size, it has, to date, avoided significant liability to performers stemming from any questionable workplace practices within the industry. But the industry's good fortune in avoiding liability does not stem from scrupulous adherence to the letter of the law. Film producers who are willing to assume the risk of an obscenity conviction may simply be unfazed by the prospect of civil litigation. II. STI PROTOCOLS WITHIN THE INDUSTRY Performers within the heterosexual adult film industry receive monthly tests for Chlamydia, gonorrhea and HIV. (13) Such testing is not mandated by any law or regulation. Even assuming widespread voluntary compliance with this standard, monthly testing for Chlamydia, gonorrhea and HIV does nothing to prevent or reduce incidents of other STIs, such as genital herpes, human papillomavirus, hepatitis, and syphilis. …


The School Health Service (SHS) began 90 years ago when the Education Act of 1907 introduced periodic medical inspections to address government concern over the poor health of school children and of recruits for the Boer war. Responsibility for the SHS passed from local authorities to the NHS in 1974.1 Although the only statutory duties2 are to provide inspections of pupils at "appropriate intervals", the SHS offers a range of other services whose relevance and effectiveness have increasingly come under scrutiny.

The Polnay report3 preferred the term "health services for school age children". Although this was a sound recommendation, SHS staff are still easily identifiable and to many purchasers the SHS is now virtually synonymous with school nursing. Community paediatricians and senior nurses with management responsibilities are often consulted about this service, which fulfils many functions (see ). School nurses work in a complex community, where both teachers and children have physical and mental health problems and needs. They have inherited many of the traditional duties of school doctors, notably universal screening and inspection of children. School health staff participate in various tasks prescribed by government statute or guidance and also respond to perceived local needs. It is perhaps not surprising that they have difficulty in assessing their optimum staffing (L Cotton et al , unpublished data, 1998),4 defining their role5 or measuring their own effectiveness.

This article will argue that community paediatricians and nursing managers must not be paralysed by the lack of trial based data, which may be impossible to obtain. Advice based on a logical appraisal of need will be better than an approach driven solely by political fashion or short term financial considerations. The paper does not attempt to consider all the tasks listed in the , but focuses on those …


Objectives : Nicotine in cigarettes is metabolized primarily by CYP2A6-catalyzed oxidation. The CYP2A6*4 allele, in which CYP2A6 is a homozygous whole-deletion variant, completely lacks enzyme activity. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of CYP2A6*4 genetic polymorphism on smoking behavior and nicotine dependence in a general population of Japanese men. Methods : The subjects were 124 healthy Japanese men who gave informed consent to give saliva samples. The survey items included general information, smoking behaviors and nicotine dependence. The polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism method was used to analyze the genetic polymorphisms of CYP2A6. The subjects were classified into two groups : Group W (CYP2A6*4 absence : *1A/*1A, *1A/*1B and *1B/*1B) and Group D (CYP2A6*4 presence : *1B/*4A, *4A/*4A, *1A/*4A or *1B/*4D, and *1A/*4D). We analyzed the differences in the survey items between the two groups. Results : There were no significant differences in smoking behaviors between the two groups. However, Group D tended to have less difficulty in refraining from smoking after waking in the morning compared to Group W (p=0.051). Conclusions : CYP2A6*4 genetic polymorphisms may not strongly affect smoking behavior but may possibly have an effect on nicotine dependence.


The aim of this paper is to extend the theory of standard subalgebras of finite dimensional simple Lie algebras to infinite dimensional Lie algebras. We construct and characterize a class of standard subalgebras of affine Kac-Moody algebra.


Arity raising, also known as variable splitting or flattening, is the program optimization which transforms a function of one argument into a function of several arguments by decomposing the structure of the original one argument into individual components in that structure. This optimization eliminates the need for the structuring of the components and also allows more arguments to be passed in registers during a function call. We present a formal specification of arity raising for a higher-order functional language. This specification supports the general arity raising of functions, even for functions which are passed as arguments or returned as values. We define a practical algorithm, based on algorithm W, which implements arity raising, and we prove this algorithm sound with respect to the deductive system. These results provide a declarative framework for reasoning about arity raising and support a richer form of the transformation than is currently found in compilers for functional languages.


Spectral matching, the process of modifying a seed acceleration time history in intensity and frequency content until its acceleration response spectrum matches a target spectrum, is used extensively in practice. Predictive equations that quantify the impact of spectral matching on the peak ground velocity, peak ground displacement, Arias intensity, and cumulative absolute velocity of a scaled seed time history have been developed and validated on the basis of thousands of matched motions, three different earthquake scenarios, and numerous target spectra. It is found that spectral mismatch is the most critical factor affecting the changes in ground motion characteristics. The technique used for modification (e.g., time domain or frequency domain) is in many cases not critical. Based on the results, recommendations in order to minimize the impact of matching on the ground motion characteristics are provided.