On Saturday, 29 August 1657 John Lilburne, being 'very sicke and weake in bed', passed away while on parole at Eltham, Kent. His heavily pregnant wife Elizabeth, perhaps with their three surviving children, was with him during his final moments in a house he had recently rented so that she might be near her friends when she gave birth. A Quaker source lamenting that he had died a prisoner, 'Beareing a Testimony for Truth', identified Lilburne's place of death as the 'Kings house'. If so, then this was the royal palace at Eltham then in the possession of Colonel Nathaniel Rich, a Parliamentarian army officer who had also purchased the royal parks and keeper's lodge at Eltham. Lilburne had once railed against Rich, calling him a 'juggling paltry, base fellow', although by this time Rich – who had attended a Quaker meeting in Cheapside – had likewise been imprisoned by Cromwell for associating with Fifth Monarchist opponents of the Protectorate.

 As in life, so in death, the burial of this 'busie man' and 'factious spirit' was the cause of controversy. On the morning of Monday, 31 August his body was transported to the Bull and Mouth near Aldersgate. This inn was to be described after the Great Fire as 'large, and well built' and since March 1655 it had been used as the Quakers' principal London meeting place, also serving as the premises for their main publisher Thomas Simmons. According to a contemporary journalist as the day of Lilburne's funeral progressed so a 'medley of people' gathered at the Bull and Mouth, the majority of them Quakers. There was disagreement, however, as to whether the coffin should be covered with a black hearse-cloth that had been brought either by Lilburne's widow or some of his old Leveller acquaintances. The Quakers refused, insisting that the less pomp attended the proceedings the more opportunity there would be for piety. So about five o'clock in the afternoon Lilburne's bare coffin was brought out into the street, at which point an unidentified man attempted to cast a velvet pall over it. But to no avail. The crowd of Quakers would not permit it and hoisted the coffin on their shoulders, carrying it away without further ceremony to Moorfields, and from thence to the new churchyard adjoining Bedlam where Lilburne's body was interred. An unsympathetic contemporary biographer considered the funeral route of this 'illiterate' latter-day 'Proteus' well-chosen since Lilburne had been partially blinded in one eye by a pike in Moorfields; and as 'his turbulent life came near to madness, so the place of his burial was near to the distracted crew'. While Quakers eschewed funeral sermons it seems words were spoken as part of the solemn obsequies. The historian John Rushworth later added that there had been 4000 mourners, although there is no way of knowing if this was an accurate estimate. Even so, the event was reported in several contemporary newsbooks and pamphlets, and such was its significance that the Florentine agent in London included a brief account of this 'factious person who had a taste of all religions' but 'in the end died as a Quaker' in his weekly report.

 While one epitaph lamented the demise, 'after much wrangling', of 'this stout champion', another advised that John and Lilburne be buried separately lest they argue among themselves in the grave. Similar quips that if the world were emptied of all but the Leveller leader then 'John would be against Lilburne, and Lilburne against John' were variously attributed to the regicide Henry Marten and the royalist judge David Jenkins. His 'impetuous' contentious nature aside, even hostile seventeenth and early eighteenth century commentators were agreed that Lilburne had been a victim of Cromwellian tyranny, illegally tossed from one prison to another. Thus the diarist and numismatist John Evelyn reproduced a medal commemorating the acquittal of that 'Stout and Couragious Assertor', who had withstood a famous trial 'under the late Arbitrary Usurper'. Similarly, the author of The History of King-Killers (1720) conceded that:

He may well be reck'ned at least half a Martyr for his long Imprisonment, Trials, and other Sufferings for the Fanatick Cause in General; and every Party under that Determination may claim a Share in him, he having been first a Puritan, then an Independent, next a Leveller, and lastly a Quaker.

So what are we to make of the last phase of a religious and political struggle that had begun during the personal rule of Charles I with membership of a separatist congregation and imprisonment for importing seditious books, and which ended during the Protectorate of Oliver with conversion to Quakerism and rejection of temporal weapons?


ABSTRACT Doliodus problematicus (NBMG 10127), from the Lower Devonian of New Brunswick, Canada (approx. 397–400 Mya) is the earliest sharklike jawed vertebrate (gnathostome) in which the pectoral girdle and fins are well preserved. Its pectoral endoskeleton included sharklike expanded paired coracoids, but Doliodus also possessed an "acanthodian-like" array of dermal spines, described here for the first time. Doliodus provides the strongest anatomical evidence to date that chondrichthyans arose from "acanthodian" fishes by exhibiting an anatomical mosaic of "acanthodian" and sharklike features.


We provide preliminary details and formulation of an optimization strategy under current development that is able to automatically tune the parameters of a Support Vector Machine over new datasets. The optimization strategy is a heuristic based on Iterated Local Search, a modification of classic hill climbing which iterates calls to a local search routine.


The effects of Li2CO3-V2O5 (LV) co-doped on the sinterability, phase compositions and microwave dielectric properties of Mg4Nb2O9-CaTiO3 composite ceramics have been investigated. The phase compositions and microstructure were analyzed using X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray analysis and scanning electron microscopy techniques. The densification sintering temperature is lowed from 1275oC to 1200oC with an amount LV addition. For the specimen with 1.5 wt% LV addition sintered at 1200oC for 5 h exhibited dielectric properties: εr=23, Q·f=24 000 GHz (at 7.7GHz ), τf =1.0 ppm/oC. These properties were correlated with the formation of non-stoichiometric compound Mg4(Nb1-xTix)2O9-δ.


This paper deals with an evolutionary graph network, which represents cooperative and competitive form in the multi-agent systems. We focus on the functional relationship or connectivity of the graph structure, rather than the physical configuration of itself. Each node corresponding to the agent has a variable number of links to the neighborhood nodes, dependent on the internal state and local interactions characterized as activation and inhibition. A simple collective game is considered to exemplify that evolutionary mechanisms of reconfiguration of the graph structure enhances cooperation form.


Conjugated polymers that support mixed (electronic and ionic) conduction are in demand for applications spanning from bioelectronics to energy harvesting and storage. To design polymer mixed conductors for high‐performance electrochemical devices, relationships between the chemical structure, charge transport, and morphology must be established. A polymer series bearing the same p‐type conjugated backbone with increasing percentage of hydrophilic, ethylene glycol side chains is synthesized, and their performance in aqueous electrolyte gated organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) is studied. By using device physics principles and electrochemical analyses, a direct relationship is found between the OECT performance and the balanced mixed conduction. While hydrophilic side chains are required to facilitate ion transport—thus enabling OECT operation—swelling of the polymer is not de facto beneficial for balancing mixed conduction. It is shown that heterogeneous water uptake disrupts the electronic conductivity of the film, leading to OECTs with lower transconductance and slower response times. The combination of in situ electrochemical and structural techniques shown here contributes to the establishment of the structure–property relations necessary to improve the performance of polymer mixed conductors and subsequently of OECTs.


This study shows the similarity and differentiation features between Prosopis cineraria and Prosopis juliflora based on morphological and anatomical characters. Prosopis cineraria is a native species while Prosopis juliflora is an introduced one. The data includes qualitative and quantitative characters. It assures on the importance of plant morphology and anatomy in determining the identification, classification and phylogeny between species.


COVID-19-associated pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA) was recently reported as a potential infective complication affecting critically ill patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome following severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, with incidence rates varying from 8 to 33% depending on the study. However, definitive diagnosis of CAPA is challenging. Standardized diagnostic algorithms and definitions are lacking, clinicians are reticent to perform aerosol-generating bronchoalveolar lavages for galactomannan testing and microscopic and cultural examination, and questions surround the diagnostic sensitivity of different serum biomarkers. ABSTRACT COVID-19-associated pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA) was recently reported as a potential infective complication affecting critically ill patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome following severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, with incidence rates varying from 8 to 33% depending on the study. However, definitive diagnosis of CAPA is challenging. Standardized diagnostic algorithms and definitions are lacking, clinicians are reticent to perform aerosol-generating bronchoalveolar lavages for galactomannan testing and microscopic and cultural examination, and questions surround the diagnostic sensitivity of different serum biomarkers. Between 11 March and 14 July 2020, the UK National Mycology Reference Laboratory received 1,267 serum and respiratory samples from 719 critically ill UK patients with COVID-19 and suspected pulmonary aspergillosis. The laboratory also received 46 isolates of Aspergillus fumigatus from COVID-19 patients (including three that exhibited environmental triazole resistance). Diagnostic tests performed included 1,000 (1-3)-β-d-glucan and 516 galactomannan tests on serum samples. The results of this extensive testing are presented here. For a subset of 61 patients, respiratory specimens (bronchoalveolar lavage specimens, tracheal aspirates, and sputum samples) in addition to serum samples were submitted and subjected to galactomannan testing, Aspergillus-specific PCR, and microscopy and culture. The incidence of probable/proven and possible CAPA in this subset of patients was approximately 5% and 15%, respectively. Overall, our results highlight the challenges in biomarker-driven diagnosis of CAPA, especially when only limited clinical samples are available for testing, and the importance of a multimodal diagnostic approach involving regular and repeat testing of both serum and respiratory samples.


The placement of a continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) catheter by conventional open surgical or trocar technique may cause a number of complications such as infection, hemorrhage, leakage, incisional hernia, and visceral organ perforation. Most complications are related to open surgery or insertion of the catheter with the guidewire without direct visualization. Insertion of the catheter laparoscopically under direct visualization has been previously described. The authors who described this technique used two or three ports for the camera and instruments. In this study we describe a laparoscopic technique for insertion of the peritoneal dialysis catheter under direct visualization with use of one-camera port and an accessory 2-mm umbilical incision. This prospective study was performed with the approval of the ethics committee of the Gazi University Hospital, in Ankara, Turkey. There were a total of eight patients: five males and three females, with an average age of 34.3 years (range, 11–54), who underwent laparoscopic CAPD insertion between 1997 and 2000. The catheter was inserted into the abdominal cavity 2 cm below the umbilicus. The subcutaneous tunnel was made with the assistance of a specially designed L-shaped trocar. All patients did well after the operation and had excellent cosmetic results. There was one leak in the early postoperative period, which was treated conservatively. The average operating time was 34.7 minutes (range, 25–45 minutes). The laparoscopic approach for peritoneal dialysis catheter insertion, for management of transmigrated CAPD catheters, and to resolve omental occlusions should be considered as an alternative to open surgery, especially for patients who have peritoneal adhesions secondary to a history of abdominal surgeries or recurrent peritonitis.


Moodle is an Open Source e-learning platform used by a large and stable community of users and developers for web based education. This paper analyzes the perceived quality of end users of such a platform. The analysis is done by using Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression, a second generation causal modeling statistical technique, and is aimed to provide a model that describes end users' perception on the platform described in terms of Usability, Functionality, Reliability, Efficiency, Quality in Use, Users Experience, and Usage Intensity. The investigation has been made on a sample of students that have used the Moodle for 6 months. The paper adopts an explorative perspective and aims to study the main factors that affect users' perception of quality. The analysis shows that the final users feel themselves satisfied with the platform, but only functionality and quality in use seems to positively affect the perceived quality.


This paper presents a framework for the definition and implementation of essential health care. It is based upon current experiences in developing countries. Its aim is to facilitate the description, in operational terms, of a range of activities for clearly defined targets--individuals, families and communities. It seeks to bring to the attention of responsible citizens and professionals the major areas which they should address in the search for "Health for All by the year 2000". It is hoped that this will facilitate integration of health care into socio-economic development activities; and promote a partnership between people and governments in community health development.


This paper describes how to design low-cost reliable computing software for various application systems, by incorporating a single-version fault tolerant scheme along with run-time signature-based control-flow checking. Most of the ordinary systems lack fault tolerant software fix. The conventional fault tolerant approaches viz., Recovery Block (RB), N Version Programming (NVP) etc., are too costly to fix in an ordinary low-cost application system because, both the RB and NVP rely on multiple (at least three) versions of both software and computing machines. However, the proposed approach needs a single version (SV) of an enhanced application program that gets executed on one computing machine only. It is common that we often face interrupted service (caused either by an intermittent fault in an application program or in hardware), during the service delivery period of an ordinary cheaper application system. Execution of an application program often show malfunctions or it gets interrupted due to memory bit errors. Error Correction Codes (ECC) (viz., parity, Hamming codes, CRC etc.,) that are used in memory, are not as effective for online correction of multiple bit errors, as they are, for the detection of few bit errors. Again, software implemented ECC has a significant overhead over both time and code redundancy. In other words, built in ECC in memory, cannot recover all bit errors but can detect only. As a result, if an error is detected by ECC, the application program needs to be restarted for its re-execution afresh in various microprocessor based application systems. So, the ECC alone is useful for designing a fail-stop kind of system but it suffers from high time redundancy. Other software implemented fault- tolerance schemes are also towards fail-stop kind. But, the proposed (SV) based approach is capable of tolerating such errors without stopping the execution of an application. This SV Scheme (SVS) aims to provide an uninterrupted service at no extra money, but at an acceptable more execution time and memory space. This SV is a non- fail-stop kind fault tolerance scheme that can be implemented in various computing systems without spending an additional money, and as a result, major part of common people in our society, can gain reliable service from the low-cost, SV-based computing system.


Digenean trematodes are widespread parasites of marine fauna. The first intermediate host of Himasthla elongata (Echinostomatidae) is the periwinkle Littorina littorea. The second host is less specific, as it includes various bivalve species. The definitive host is a waterbird. The free-living cercaria acts to ensure transmission from the first and second intermediate hosts. We examined the impact of water flow (still and running water) and host size (6-8, 8-10, 10-12 mm shell length classes) on the settling success of H. elongata cercariae in the second intermediate host by utilizing the common cockle Cerastoderma edule. Under 2 scenarios (free-stream velocity of 0 and 6 cm s-1) more than 90% of the experimental population of cockles (90 individuals per replicate) acquired infections and 60% of the added cercariae were recovered as metacercariae in cockle tissue (mainly foot and siphons). Infection intensity increased significantly with cockle size. Considering the filtering capacity of cockles, the dimension of the flume, and the flow velocity, a passive infection mechanism is proposed based on the suspension feeding activity of the host organism. The scale of potential dispersal of H. elongata is at least a few hundred metres.


STUDY DESIGN
Randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND
Conventional guidelines recommend hamstring strain injury (HSI) rehabilitation should only be performed and progressed in complete absence of pain, despite lack of comparison to alternative approaches.

OBJECTIVES
The primary aim of this study was to compare the number of days from acute HSI to return to play (RTP) clearance following a standardised rehabilitation protocol performed within either pain-free or pain-threshold limits. The secondary aims were to compare isometric knee flexor strength, biceps femoris long head (BFlh) fascicle length, fear of movement and re-injury during a six-month follow-up between pain-free and pain-threshold groups.

METHODS
Forty-three men with acute HSIs were randomly allocated to either a pain-free (n=22) or pain-threshold (n=21) rehabilitation group. Days from HSI to RTP clearance, isometric knee flexor strength, BFlh fascicle length, fear of movement and re-injuries within six-month follow-up were reported.

RESULTS
The median time from HSI to RTP clearance was 15 days (95% CI = 13 to 17) in the pain-free group and 17 days (95% CI = 11 to 24) in the pain-threshold group, which was not significantly different (p = 0.37). Recovery of isometric knee flexor strength at 90/90 degrees of hip/knee flexion was greater in the pain-threshold group at RTP clearance by 15% (95% CI = 1 to 28) and by 15% (95% CI = 1 to 29) at two-month follow-up. BFlh fascicles were 0.91cm (95% CI = 0.34 to 1.48) longer at two-month follow-up in the pain-threshold group. Two re-injuries occurred in both the pain-free and pain-threshold group during six-month follow-up.

CONCLUSION
Pain-threshold rehabilitation did not accelerate RTP clearance but did result in greater recovery of isometric knee flexor strength and better maintenance of BFlh fascicle length improvements compared to pain-free rehabilitation. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther, Epub 28 Jun 2019. doi:10.2519/jospt.2019.8895.


Extended Visual Memory for Computer-Aided Vision Joo-Hwee LIM Institute for Infocomm Research Siying LIU Institute for Infocomm Research Abstract: We propose a computational cognitive Extended Visual Memory (EVM) model for a Computer-Aided Vision (CAV) framework to assist human in vision-related tasks. The CAV framework exploits wearable sensors such as cameras, GPS and ambient computing facilities to empower a user's vision and memory functions by answering four types of queries central to visual activities. Learning of EVM relies on both frequency-based and attention- driven mechanisms to store view-based visual fragments (VF), which are abstracted into high-level visual schemas (VS), both in the visual long-term memory. During inference, the visual short-term memory plays a key role in the schematic representations of, and the similarity computation between, a visual input and a VF, exemplified from VS when necessary. In this paper, we describe the CAV framework and the new EVM model followed by an implementation scenario on assisted living.


Pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) is a gestational hypertensive disorder. It is
the commonest unavoidable medical condition encountered in pregnancy, complicating
approximately 10% of all pregnancies. The purpose of this study was to examine the
relationship between PIH self-care knowledge and PIH self-care practices in women aged 15 to 49 years with PIH. Orem's Self-care Model was used to provide a theoretical
framework to guide this study. A descriptive correlational study research design was
adopted to guide the study. A sample of 78 participants was selected using the convenience sampling technique. The investigator wished to examine the relationship between the PIH self-care knowledge levels the women possessed and their PIH self-care practices. Data was collected through a face to face interview interaction using a structured interview schedule. Descriptive statistics, frequencies, percentage, mean and range were used to analyze the data on the level of PIH self-care knowledge they possessed and the PIH self- care practices done by the women. Inferential statistics, the Pearson's product-moment correlation co-efficient was used to analyze the relationship between PIH self-care knowledge levels and PIH self-care practices. The major findings of the study showed that the extent of PIH self-care practices was above average for all (78) (100%) participants. Fifty-seven (73.08%) participants demonstrated an above average level of PIH self-care knowledge, whilst only 11 (14.1%) had a level below average. Scores varied, and ranged from 4 to 14.Pearson correlation coefficient showed a non-significant, positive weak association (r= .203, p >0.01) of PIH self-care knowledge and PIH self-care practices. Midwifery practice should therefore reinforce on areas with weak scores of PIH self-care knowledge such as recognition of oliguria and severe headache as danger signs, and the importance of taking correct action when they manifest.


This major research project uses photography to explore questions of mobility, place-learning and belonging with newcomers participating in the Bike Host program in Toronto. Created by CultureLink Settlement Services in 2011, Bike Host loans bicycles out to immigrants and refugees and matches them with a cycling mentor. Through small group rides and large events, the participants have the opportunity to explore Toronto, gain confidence riding, make social connections, practice English and engage in volunteerism. For this project, a dozen participants also took pictures of how they were using their bicycles and shared their photos in small group, semi-structured discussions, which were recorded and analyzed. Four themes emerged: freedom, comfort and knowledge, discovery and belonging. The photographers found that compared to walking, they could travel further more quickly and with less effort, which prompted them to make more trips within their communities. The photographers also appreciated that, unlike with transit, they could leave whenever they wanted and take whichever route they wanted. This new mobility led to discovery, in both guided group rides to iconic Toronto destinations and in neighbourhood meanderings, undertaken independently along local streets and trails. Through this process, they filled in the gaps in their local cognitive maps. Increased familiarity led to an increased sense of belonging, as places that were once unfamiliar began to feel more like home.


Abstract We propose a language-independent word normalisation method and exemplify it on modernising historical Slovene words. Our method relies on character-level statistical machine translation (CSMT) and uses only shallow knowledge. We present relevant data on historical Slovene, consisting of two (partially) manually annotated corpora and the lexicons derived from these corpora, containing historical word–modern word pairs. The two lexicons are disjoint, with one serving as the training set containing 40,000 entries, and the other as a test set with 20,000 entries. The data spans the years 1750–1900, and the lexicons are split into fifty-year slices, with all the experiments carried out separately on the three time periods. We perform two sets of experiments. In the first one – a supervised setting – we build a CSMT system using the lexicon of word pairs as training data. In the second one – an unsupervised setting – we simulate a scenario in which word pairs are not available. We propose a two-step method where we first extract a noisy list of word pairs by matching historical words with cognate modern words, and then train a CSMT system on these pairs. In both sets of experiments, we also optionally make use of a lexicon of modern words to filter the modernisation hypotheses. While we show that both methods produce significantly better results than the baselines, their accuracy and which method works best strongly correlates with the age of the texts, meaning that the choice of the best method will depend on the properties of the historical language which is to be modernised. As an extrinsic evaluation, we also compare the quality of part-of-speech tagging and lemmatisation directly on historical text and on its modernised words. We show that, depending on the age of the text, annotation on modernised words also produces significantly better results than annotation on the original text.


In excessive manner, mangan (Mn) as an essential nutrient can be toxic to the plant. This phenomenon often occurs in acid soil. Hence, it is needed gene resources to develop plant in acid soil. The soybean germplasm tolerance to Mn toxicity was tested in seed laboratory, using two factors experimental design. The first factor was Mn toxicity containing two treatments (1) 0 ppm Mn in pH 7 as control, and (2) solution concentration of 75 ppm Mn in pH 4. The second factor was 14 accessions of soybean germplasm. Results showed that generally root characters decreases while shoot characters increased in Mn toxicity condition. However, some genotypes showed different performance. There was one genotype having the highest root dry weight in Mn toxicity condition, i.e. MLGG 0091. The highest root dry weight in this genotype was also supported by the root length and number of roots. MLGG 0091 was also capable to increase the length epicotyle that contribute to the increase in seedling dry weight. Therefore MLGG 0091 can be used as a gene source for tolerance to Mn toxicity.


Norwid's stay in Florence – the capital of the former Etruria – in the 1840s coincided with the height of European interest in Etruscan culture. In Italy, there were numerous Etruscan museums, mainly private ones, with magnificent collections from excavations. In Europe (Italy, France, Germany and Great Britain) a lot of interesting and usually richly illustrated publications on the Etruscans were published. Norwid could have become familiar with a good selection of these works at the University Library in Berlin, and also in Italy itself. It seems, however, that his Etruscan passion was born in Poland, in the paint shop of Aleksander Kokular. In the Warsaw years, the poet must have visited the magnificent Gallery of Antiquity in Wilanow (where his teacher – Kokular, produced various paintings) and as a "student" of fine arts he had to know the pioneer work (and collections) of S.K. Potocki O sztuce u dawnych, czyli Winckelmann polski , three chapters of the book were devoted to Etruscan art. Not without significance were Norwid's contacts (domestic and Parisian) with the "Etruscan" collectors: the Potocki, Czartoryski and Dzialynski families. The Etruscans left their mark both in the notebooks and in the works of the author of Quidam , from his Italian period (which is obvious) to the novel Tajemnica lorda Singelworth written shortly before his death; thus Norwid's fascination with Etruscan culture and art lasted until the end of his life. Interestingly, the notes also confirm his presence at one of the most recent archaeological sites of that time: in the presumed tomb of the Etruscan ruler Porsenna. All these facts make Norwid one of the few Polish Romantics (alongside J.I. Kraszewski) who were deeply and substantively interested in this archaeological and cultural theme. Norwid's literary and plastic "Etruscan" works also constitutes an important – equal to the vision of British, Italian and French artists – contribution of the Polish "magician" to saving and preserving the Etruscan heritage in the culture (and awareness) of modern Europe.


A methodology based on process-control approaches used in industrial production is introduced to control the height of poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima L.). Graphical control charts of actual vs. target process data are intuitive and easy to use, rapidly identify trends, and provide a guideline to growers. Target reference values in the poinsettia height control chart accommodate the biological and industrial constraints of a stemelongation model and market specifications, respectively. A control algorithm (proportional-derivative control) provides a link between the control chart and a knowledge-based or expert computer system. A knowledge-based system can be used to encapsulate research information and production expertise and provide management recommendations to growers.


The cosmic microwave background (CMB) contains perturbations that are close to Gaussian and isotropic. This means that its information content, in the sense of the ability to constrain cosmological models, is closely related to the number of modes probed in CMB power spectra. Rather than making forecasts for specific experimental setups, here we take a more pedagogical approach and ask how much information we can extract from the CMB if we are only limited by sample variance. We show that, compared with temperature measurements, the addition of E-mode polarization doubles the number of modes available out to a fixed maximum multipole, provided that all of the TT, TE, and EE power spectra are measured. However, the situation in terms of constraints on particular parameters is more complicated, as we explain and illustrate graphically. We also discuss the enhancements in information that can come from adding B-mode polarization and gravitational lensing. We show how well one could ever determine the basic cosmological parameters from CMB data compared with what has been achieved with Planck, which has already probed a substantial fraction of the TT information. Lastly, we look at constraints on neutrino mass as a specific example of how lensing information improves future prospects beyond the current 6-parameter model.


A 44-year-old man presented with central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) in his right eye after prolonged vomiting and repeated Valsalva maneuvers associated with gastroenteritis and dehydration. He had no other pertinent medical history, and a subsequent systemic and hematologic evaluation was within normal limits. At initial diagnosis, his visual acuity was 20/70 due to diffuse cystoid macular edema (CME) and nonischemic CRVO. After six monthly intravitreal bevacizumab injections, his vision improved to 20/20 and the CME greatly improved. An episode of prolonged vomiting and repeated Valsalva maneuvers may be a potential risk factor for CRVO in younger patients.


The paper discusses the logic of the development of the structure of mesoeconomics as a new direction of heterodox economic theory. It develops and complements previously published works of the authors (Kirdina-Chandler, Mayevsky, 2017; Kirdina-Chandler, 2018; Mayevsky, 2018; Mesoeconomics: status and prospects, 2018; Mesoeconomics: elements of a new paradigm, 2020), devoted to discussion of the methodology and specifics of mesoeconomic research. This paper proposes the grouping of heterodox mesoeconomic studies by their directions, which is based on a historical-chronological approach and takes into account the specifics of the mesostructures studied in Russia and abroad. The grouping comprises four directions, namely "mesoeconomics of localised structures", "mesoeconomics of network structures", "institutional mesoeconomics", and "mesoeconomics of reproduction". A summary table, which describes the main objects of consideration, subjects of research, theoretical bases and instruments in these different directions of heterodox mesoeconomics, is presented. In parallel, the specifics of the methodological foundations of research in modern heterodox mesoeconomics are also discussed.


A tunable aberration compensation device for rectangular micro-optical systems is proposed and demonstrated. This device, which is based in nematic liquid crystal and a micro-electrode structure, forms gradients in the index of refraction as a function of voltage. We have developed a fringe skeletonizing application in order to extract the 3D wavefront from an interference pattern. This software tool obtains the optical aberrations using Chebyshev polynomials. By using phase shifted electrical signals the aberrations can be controlled independently. A complete independent control over the spherical and coma aberration has been demonstrated. Also, an independent control over the astigmatism aberration has been demonstrated in a broad range. This device has promising applications where aberration compensation is required. The independent compensation achieved for some coefficients, such as astigmatism for example, is more than 2.4 waves.


Objectives Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a socially relevant condition that often involves disability. Few large analytical studies have been published considering occupational/non-occupational risk factors. This population-based case-control study aims at investigating both occupational and non-occupational risk factors for surgically treated CTS. Methods Sixteen centres participated in the study. Each centre identified 200 subjects (aged 25–59 yr): 100 cases (50 women and 50 men) and 100 controls (50 women and 50 men). Cases were randomly drawn from administrative databases of all citizens submitted during 2001 to carpal tunnel release in any public/private hospital with a principal diagnosis of CTS. Controls were randomly sampled from official national health service registry records and were frequency matched by age and gender with cases. Participants were invited by mail (and phone when necessary) to respond to a structured questionnaire regarding occupational (including previous and current job titles along with biomechanical risk factors) and non-occupational risk factors. Results The sixteen centres overall identified 3,052 subjects (1,458 cases and 1,594 controls) on the base of the study protocol criteria. A total number of 2,294 subjects responded to the questionnaire (1,182 cases and 1,112 controls) corresponding to a response rate of 81% and 70% respectively. After exclusion of non-eligible subjects, 1,018 cases and 959 controls entered the main analysis. After adjusting for non-occupational risk factors, manual workers of both sexes appeared to have at least 4-fold risk of surgical treatment of CTS, as compared with non-manual counterparts (women: OR 4.57, 95% CI 3.07–6.81; men: OR 4.44; 95% CI 2.96–6.67). Conclusions This multicentre population-based case-control study strongly underscores the relevance of manual work as an important risk factor for surgically treated CTS, irrespectively of gender. Further analyses will contribute to provide conclusive evidence on the relationship between biomechanical overload and CTS, considering non-occupational risk factors as well.


This article presents our most recent advances in synchronous fluorescence (SF) methodology for biomedical diagnostics. The SF method is characterized by simultaneously scanning both the excitation and emission wavelengths while keeping a constant wavelength interval between them. Compared to conventional fluorescence spectroscopy, the SF method simplifies the emission spectrum while enabling greater selectivity, and has been successfully used to detect subtle differences in the fluorescence emission signatures of biochemical species in cells and tissues. The SF method can be used in imaging to analyze dysplastic cells in vitro and tissue in vivo. Based on the SF method, here we demonstrate the feasibility of a time-resolved synchronous fluorescence (TRSF) method, which incorporates the intrinsic fluorescent decay characteristics of the fluorophores. Our prototype TRSF system has clearly shown its advantage in spectro-temporal separation of the fluorophores that were otherwise difficult to spectrally separate in SF spectroscopy. We envision that our previously-tested SF imaging and the newly-developed TRSF methods will combine their proven diagnostic potentials in cancer diagnosis to further improve the efficacy of SF-based biomedical diagnostics.


Deep Convolutional Neural Networks have shown drastic improvements in the performance of various Computer Vision tasks. However, shape classification is a problem that has not seen state-of-the-art results using CNNs. The problem is due to lack of large amounts of data to learn to handle multiple variations such as noise, pose variations, part articulations and affine deformations present in the shapes. In this paper, we introduce a new technique for augmenting 2D shape data that uses part articulations. This utilizes a novel articulation cut detection method to determine putative shape parts. Standard off-the-shelf CNN models trained with our novel data augmentation technique on standard 2D shape datasets yielded significant improvements over the state-of-the-art in most experiments and our data augmentation approach has the potential to be extended to other problems such as Image Classification and Object Detection.


With the advancement of relational databases, the number of configuration parameters that control memory allocation, concurrency, cost of query plans, I/O optimization, logging, recovery or transaction consistency, increases. Users and even expert database administrators struggle to tune these parameters in order to ensure high availability and performance, and in many cases rely on their experience and some rules of thumb. Research on improving database manageability has shown that this is a critical, but hard problem. In this paper, we propose a highly accurate multivariate statistical model that identifies databases which are bound to raise high volumes of incidents over time. Moreover, we show that by adding detailed configuration parameters to the model, we can better link the problems reported in incident tickets to specific poor database configurations. Finally, we analyze trends of top-ranked parameters and compare their values between problematic and non-problematic databases, in order to suggest better configurations.


Background and purpose: Air pollution is one of the most important environmental factors threatening human health that cause short and long term health effects and various diseases. The present study aimed at investigating and quantifying the health consequences associated with exposure to O3, NO2, and SO2 in ambient air in Tehran, 2014, using the air quality (Air Q) model. Materials and methods: A descriptive�analytic study was performed in which hourly data of pollutants were taken from Tehran environmental protection agency and Air Quality Control Company. Data was validated according to the WHO guidelines. Statistical parameters were calculated for quantifying health effects. Then, processed data was converted for Air Q model. Results: The highest cumulative cases of mortality was due to NO2 (n= 1274, attributable proportion= 2.51). Also, cumulative cases of hospital admission due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were attributed to O3 (n= 240 cases, attributable proportion= 2.54). The number of heart attack cases due to SO2 was 225. Conclusion: According to the growing trend of air pollution, resultant mortality rate, and adverse effects more efficient solutions are required to control and reduce air pollution in Tehran. © 2016, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. Engineering. All rights reserved.


This research aims to understand which competences are most effective to lead international teams in higher education institutions. The literature on global leadership forms the basis of this study. Global leadership refers to the process of influencing the thinking, attitudes and behaviors of an international community to work together towards a common vision and common goals. Those universal qualities that enable individuals to perform this job, are called global leadership competences. There are five dimensions of global leadership competences identified in this study. The first dimension, Global academic expertise, refers to the leaders' ability to understand and deal with the complexity of the international academic environment. The second dimension, Global team building, refers to the ability to build teams effectively in global contexts. The third dimension, Visioning, refers to the ability to vision where the institution and the team should go and the capability to motivate others to strive to achieve that vision. The fourth dimension, Cross-cultural relationship skills, refers to the ability to develop and maintain interpersonal relationships in cross-cultural contexts. The last dimension, Cognitive orientation, refers to the ability to change the own thinking and behavior depending on the circumstance.
An explorative single case study performed in a University in the east of the Netherlands explored several competences and practices that leaders possess and use to effectively lead international teams. In-depth interviews were held with 20 managers of the most internationally diverse teams of the university and document analysis added further data. The research shows that team leaders possess several competences that can be categorized to one of the above mentioned dimensions of global competence. Also related practices were identified that support a specific competence. An interesting insight of this study is the fact that the global competence development in leaders of international teams in higher education institutions follows a bottom-up approach. Working in the scientific field requires an academic to be globally oriented. Therefore, team leaders of international teams in higher education institutions consider working in an international scientific environment as something natural. To deal with the international and intercultural environment effectively, team leaders have developed their own competences without a leading (institutional) vision behind it. This insight suggests that in higher education institutions, there is less priority for profiling necessary human resources and required competences of global leaders needed to fulfill the specific job.
This study contributes to science by expanding the literature, since global leadership has so far never been studied in the setting of a higher education institutions. The results of this study reveal the competences and practices leaders owe and use to effectively lead international teams in higher education institutions. The practical implications mainly focus on the role of HRM in the process of competence development in global leaders in higher education institutions.


BACKGROUND
Few studies have examined the acceptability and usefulness of enhanced cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT-E) for adolescents with eating disorders (EDs).

AIM
To investigate whether CBT-E was an acceptable and efficacious treatment for an adolescent presenting to a routine clinical service with an ED.

METHOD
Daily self-monitoring records were completed during a baseline (A) and intervention (B) phase in addition to routine outcome measures.

RESULTS
There were reductions in both ED behaviours and "feeling fat", and increases in weight after 11 CBT-E sessions. Progress was only partially maintained at 8-month follow-up.

CONCLUSION
CBT-E may be an acceptable and useful intervention for adolescents with EDs.


Response research during the last couple of decades tends to support agronomic knowledge pointing to decreasing marginal yield response up to a point where additional nitrogen does not result in further yield increase but rather a yield plateau. In contrast to a non-linear response with plateau model (NLRP) a cubic polynomial specification is generally used by those responsible for recommending/setting nitrogen norms in compliance with Danish environmental policy. The flexibility of the cubic polynomial ensures a relatively good fit to observed nitrogen/yield data and, surprisingly, often renders a close emulation of the NLRP model. Unfortunately, the cubic also often produces unrealistic optimal nitrogen application estimates. In those cases, Danish authorities use a simple quadratic specification as a fallback. We argue that an NLRP specification would be a better first choice model than the cubic – among other things, avoiding the need for a fallback model. Further progress in response research and choice of proper model specification could possibly be achieved by accounting for total nitrogen supply by including nitrogen provided in the form of mineralized nitrogen from soil sources. *Jorgen R. Mortensen is Bartley P. Cardon Research Specialist and Bruce R. Beattie is a Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at The University of Arizona, Tucson.


Endoscopic examination of the bronchial tree and investigation of pulmonary mucociliary transport by aerosol scintigraphy of the lungs were carried out in 40 patients and 10 controls. All the patients had exacerbation of chronic obstructive bronchitis. 20 of these were smokers and 20 nonsmokers. Healthy controls without lung pathology have never smoked. The findings indicate that in chronic sufferers with bronchitis and long history of smoking the rate of mucociliary clearance is reduced to 44% of the normal value and to 65% of the value for nonsmoking patients. This evidence is confirmed by the data obtained on the involvement of bronchial mucosa epithelium and at histologic examination of biopsy specimens.


The flooding of large areas of the UK in 2007 caused damage to circa 48,000 homes and 7,000 businesses, and will give rise to a total expenditure of circa £3bn. Much of the burden will fall on UK insurers. This paper reviews the changes that have taken place within the UK flood repair industry over the past 5 years and draws clear links between the ideas provided by Egan in his report 'Rethinking Construction' and how these have now successfully found their way into the flood arena. It considers the movement away from a piecemeal approach to repair into what has become a highly 'industrialised' process, including the role of supply chain management and procurement in the development of these processes. The non-financial impact of damage on the homeowner is now commonly described as the 'emotional rollercoaster'. Processes have been, and will be specifically modified as far as practically possible not only to reduce the adverse impact of the damage on the homeowners' emotional wellbeing, but also to mitigate cost. The effects of 'process-driving' the current flood repair solution are also considered, taking into account the impact of the 2012 Olympics. Comparisons are drawn with international situations where there are problems of widespread damage involving many properties.


In structural design for safety and durability, the primary concern is to reduce structural fatigue damages due to random dynamic loadings during the service life of locomotive vehicle system. Rolling stocks is facing new sever safety problems, such as bogie frame structure components fracture and safety-based design optimization to durability of locomotive. The objective of the current research is to find the most efficient approach to predict structure safety with Multi-Body Simulation (MBS) and Finite Element Method (FEM). The method is implemented to evaluate bogie frame fatigue damages under dynamic stochastic loadings. The time varying boundary conditions and dynamic load history acting on the large structure can be evaluated by applying the Multi-body Simulation technique in software SIMPACK. Stress/strain analysis technology with software ANSYS yields the danger stresses in the critical locations of the structure depending on the unite loads. And modal analysis is used to determine frequencies and mode shapes of structure. Based on these danger stresses distribution and dynamic load time history, fatigue life can be estimated with Palmgren-Miner theory. The standard time history method involves stress or strain cycle counting, damage prediction, and finally life estimation in Software FE-Fatigue with factor of safety technology.


This report estimates the revenue and distributional effects of increasing the state's cigarette excise tax by $0.50 per pack from $1.98 to $2.48. After taking into account the behavioral responses of smokers, Reif estimates that the tax increase would raise up to $175 million per year and reduce Medicaid expenditures by almost $1 million per year. The amount of revenue generated depends on the extent to which a tax rate increase would boost tax avoidance in large border cities like Chicago. Although cigarettes are predominantly consumed by the poor, many would significantly decrease their consumption in response to the tax, thereby mitigating some of their tax burden. Moreover, if smokers are not making rational, well-informed decisions, then economic theory predicts that an increase in the cigarette tax may benefit them by encouraging healthier behavior.


This study was aimed at developing a WebQuest Health Education (WQPKes) learning module for trainee teachers of pupils with learning difficulties in primary schools. The Design and Development research methodology introduced by Richey dan Klein (2014) was used in this study involving three phases. Data from the first phase of needs analysis were collected through a questionnaire distributed to 63 trainee teachers in the Learning Difficulties Special Education Program(PKMP) using purposive sampling. Findings from the closed questions were analyzed by percentage while the open-ended responses were subjected to thematic analysis. The data from the second phase were obtained through the Fuzzy Delphi technique by 20 experts in Health Education, Special Education and also Information and Communications Technology. Analysis relied on the experts' responses to the questionnaire based on a five-point Likert linguistic scale. The threshold(d) value was calculated to determine the expert consensus on all questionnaire items. The phase two of development involved reviewing the lesson plan; "Healthy Lifestyle" according to the WebQuest procedure using elements like eating habits of learning disabled students, medicine, drugs and nicotine, exercise and recreation, rest,recuperation and leisure as subtopic. The guided projects and problem solving, task-analysis, and graphic organizer were used as learning techniques. Internet information search, face to face discussion, and simulations as learning activities while role playing and creating powerpoint as an exercise. The phase three or module usability evaluation was done through retrospective on 10 PKMP trainee teachers who had used the WQPKes learning module with two lecturers as facilitators. Semi structured interview responses were analyzed thematically. The findings show that there was a need to develop a WQPKes learning module for trainee teachers in the PKMP program. The majority of trainee teachers agree that Health Education was important to be learned by learning difficulties pupils in primary schools and be taught during teacher training. The majority of trainee teachers also agree that the WQPKes module be developed with cleanliness, food and diet as health education issues and module contents. Findings in the need analysis phase support the development of a WQPKes learning module for trainee teachers. The findings in phase two of design study show that the experts achieved unanimous consensus that the threshold value (d ) ≤ 0.2 exceeded 75% for the suitability of items in the learning module. The findings of the development phase suggested the need of improvement. The results of module usability evaluation show that the WQPKes learning module is appropriate for trainee teachers of pupils with learning difficulties. They were satisfied with the learning technique, learning activities and exercises prepared in the WQPKes learning module. This learning module strength lies in its ability to enhance knowledge and skills, assist the education of trainee teachers, suitable, easy to follow and interesting, therefore it is potential for the Ministry of Education Malaysia, Teacher Education Institutes in Malaysia (IPGM), lecturers in IPG and student teachers in the PKMP program to use.


A compact ferrite-based directional antenna has been designed to serve in a directional borehole radar system with a center frequency at 100 MHz and a bandwidth from 70 to 180 MHz. The parameters of the antenna are with a 6:1 power front-to-back ratio and a ±60° directional diagram at half peak amplitude, and the tailing duration of the receiving pulse was about a half pulsewidth while the antenna was placed in the granite borehole and fed by a monocycle pulse with 10-ns duration. The dimensions of the antenna are 48 mm × 54 mm × 440 mm . Experimental results are in good agreement with the simulation results offered by the commercial software (CST MWS) and suggest that the proposed antenna is suitable for the directional borehole radar application.


The Bees Algorithm, a heuristic optimisation procedure that mimics bees foraging behaviour, is becoming more popular among swarm intelligence researchers. The algorithm involves neighbourhood and global search and is able to find promising solutions to complex multimodal optimisation problems. The purpose of neighbourhood search is to intensify the search effort around promising solutions, while global search is to enable avoidance of local optima. Despite numerous studies aimed at enhancing the Bees Algorithm, there have not been many attempts at studying neighbourhood search. In this work, the combination of adaptive enlargement and reduction of the search neighbourhood is presented. Two engineering design problems with constraints which were the pressure vessel and speed reducer were selected to demonstrate the performance of the modified algorithm. The experimental results obtained showed that this combination is beneficial to the proposed algorithm.


The driving-point biodynamic responses distributed at the fingers and palm of the hand in three orthogonal directions were examined. Seven healthy male subjects participated in the study and the experiment was carried out on a novel 3-D vibration test system. In the study, each subject was instructed to maintain grip and push forces at 30∓5 N and 50∓8 N, respectively, with his dominant right hand with elbow angle between 90° and 120° and shoulder abduction between 0° and 30°. Despite the considerable inter-subject variability, the responses measured along each axis consistently exhibit two magnitude peaks in the frequency range considered, which can be approximately considered as dominant resonance frequencies of the hand-arm system. The percent power absorbed in the fingers increases with the increase in frequency as the vibration becomes more concentrated in the hand and finger response becomes more independent to the remaining parts of the system.


In 1955 the Hubbard Association of Scientologists International claimed it had obtained a secret Soviet brainwashing manual, and then published it. Based on that text, and other information he claimed to have received on Communist mind-control techniques, Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard mentioned brainwashing in several lectures. In this article, I discuss the contested authorship of this manual and conclude that it probably was written by Hubbard, although other hypotheses cannot be entirely dismissed. I also distinguish between the Communist brainwashing Hubbard described within a Cold War context, and anticultists' claims that brainwashing is practiced by "cults," including Scientology.


Nature-based solutions (NBS) are increasingly being promoted because they can solve different pursued aims together with providing an additional array of multiple ecosystem services or co-benefits. Nevertheless, their implementation is still being curbed by several barriers, for example, a lack of examples, a lack of finance, and a lack of business cases. Therefore, there is an urgent need to facilitate the construction of business models and business cases that identify the elements required to capture value. These are necessary to catalyze investments for the implementation of NBS. This article presents a tool called a Natural Assurance Schemes (NAS) canvas and explains how it can be applied to identify business models for NBS strategies providing climate adaptation services, showing an eye-shot summary of critical information to attract funding. The framework is applied in three case studies covering different contexts, scales, and climate-related risks (floods and droughts). Finally, a reflective analysis is done, comparing the tool with other similar approaches while highlighting the differential characteristics that define the usefulness, replicability, and flexibility of the tool for the target users, namely policymakers, developers, scientists, or entrepreneurs aiming to promote and implement NAS and NBS projects.


This paper proposes an advanced substation communication system based on reflective memory (RM) network in order to implement real time data exchange for the integrated protection. In the system, a central control unit (CCU) and merging unit (MU) with the dual redundant star topologies are the controllable nodes in the network. The field programmable gate array (FPGA) chips are employed in the MU. The coordination between them is specially designed in order to achieve the functions of simultaneous data acquisition and distributed shared memory. Through dividing shared memory into many blocks by data communication protocol, the reliability of data transmission is further improved.


In recent years, audits of the State Audit Office of Hungary have detected numerous compliance and operational deficiencies in relation to the risk management practices of public sector institutions. This article presents a number of approaches and audit methods which, besides helping to meet compliance requirements, provide assistance in implementing and operating effective risk management. Under the international projects launched by the Budapest Business School with a view to facilitating the application of the ISO 31000 risk management standard, a number of methods have been developed to enhance the governance capability of organisations and ensure its objective assessment. They offer guidance for determining the risk criteria indispensable for the implementation of effective risk management, including adequate risk acceptance levels. The proposed performance indicators for the governance process of enterprise risk management are equally applicable to public and private sector organisations and enterprises. Receiving the title "Budapest University of Business Administration" on 1 January 2016, Budapest Business School provides an adequate training framework for acquiring risk management methods.


The observations described in this paper indicate that the sperm nucleus is carried to the centre of the egg by the progressive enlargement of a gelated body, the sperm aster, and that the egg nucleus is carried to the sperm nucleus by a centripetal cytoplasmic flow directed toward the astral lake, within which the sperm nucleus lies. The curved path which the egg nucleus describes results from the continued change in direction of a cytoplasmic flow streaming toward the moving astral lake. The egg nucleus, when within the aster, is not only carried towards the lake by cytoplasmic streaming, but it is also moved centrally by the migration of the sperm aster toward the approximate centre of the egg.


Glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) (L-glutamate:NADP+ oxidoreductase, deaminating, EC 184.108.40.206) from the cellulolytic ruminal bacterium Ruminococcus flavefaciens has been purified and characterized. The native enzyme and subunit are 280 and 48 kDa, respectively, suggesting that the native enzyme is a hexamer. The enzyme requires 0.5 M KCl for optimal activity and has a pH optimum of 6.9 to 7.0. The Kms for ammonia, alpha-ketoglutarate, and glutamate are 19, 0.41, and 62 mM, respectively. The sigmoidal NADPH saturation curve revealed positive cooperativity for the binding of this coenzyme. The first residue in the N-terminal amino acid sequence from R. flavefaciens GDH was alanine, suggesting that the protein may be modified posttranslationally. Comparison of the N-terminal sequence with those of Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, and Clostridium symbiosum revealed only 39% amino acid homologies. The GDH from R. flavefaciens was unique in that its specific activity was highest during ammonia-limited growth but was not affected by ammonia shock treatment (20 mM).


An arson case recently investigated in our laboratory started the work reported in this paper. A fire broke out in one of the detention ceils at the Stockholm police headquarters. The fire was restricted to a plastic board mounted on the wall of a high security cell. During the investigation of the cause of the fire several small fragments of some burnt material were found in one of the small holes in the board. These were sent to the National Laboratory of Forensic Science (NLFS). The fragments were examined in a light microscope. The dimensions, the cross sections, and the fiber structures resembled those of burnt matches. The investigation was continued in the scanning electron microscope (SEM). Morphological observation showed very good agreement between burnt matches and the examined fragments. A small amount of nonfibrous substance was observed at the edge of one of the fragments. With energy dispersive X-ray analysis (Fig. 1a) the following elements were detected: chlorine, potassium, silicon, aluminum, sulfur, phosphorus, iron, manganese, chromium, zinc, and magnesium. The same elemental composition was found for the burnt heads of the most common match in Sweden (brown head, Svenska Tandsticks AB). A typical analysis is shown in Fig. 1b. Furthermore, the elemental composition of the suspect fragments agreed with that of the wood from burnt matches (Fig. 2). The strong phosphorus signal originates from additives to the matchsticks. The phosphorns signal in Fig. 1a stems presumably from the same source.


The dynamic study of rotors is usually performed under a number of assumptions, namely small displacements and rotations, small unbalance and constant angular velocity. The latter assumption can be substituted by a known time history of the spin speed. The present paper develops a general non-linear model which can be used to study the rotordynamic behaviour of both fixed and free rotors without resorting to the mentioned assumptions and compares the results obtained from a number of non-linear numerical simulations with those computed through the usual linearized approach. It is so possible to verify that the validity of the rotordynamic models extends to situations in which fairly large unbalances and whirling motions are present and, above all, it is shown that the doubts forwarded about the application of a model which is based on constant spin speed to the case of free rotors in which the angular momentum is constant have no ground. Rotordynamic models can thus be used to study the stability in the small of spinning spacecrafts and the insight obtained from the study of rotors is useful to understand their attitude dynamics and its interactions with the vibration dynamics.


Bacterial phytopathogens utilize a myriad of virulence factors to modulate their plant hosts in order to promote successful pathogenesis. One potent virulence strategy is to inject these virulence proteins into plant cells via the type III secretion system. Characterizing the host targets and the molecular mechanisms of type III secreted proteins, known as effectors, has illuminated our understanding of eukaryotic cell biology. As a result, these effectors can serve as molecular probes to aid in our understanding of plant cellular processes, such as immune signalling, vesicle trafficking, cytoskeleton stability and transcriptional regulation. Furthermore, given that effectors directly and specifically interact with their targets within plant cells, these virulence proteins have enormous biotechnological potential for manipulating eukaryotic systems.


Background: Integrating continuing medical education (CME) and faculty development (FD) into a single course can save time for physicians with teaching responsibilities. However, little is known about the effectiveness of integrated courses. Aim: To determine if there are differences in effectiveness between the CME and FD items as they were integrated in one course. Methods: Using the commitment-to-change model to assess plans for change from all participants and reported implementation of plans three month after courses. This model is suitable for stimulating and assessing effectiveness of CME. Unplanned changes were also recorded. Results: One hundred and twenty-seven respondents (of 182 participants) referred to 266 planned changes (out of 384), of which 168 (63%) were reported as implemented. Furthermore, 83 non-planned changes were indicated. In total 251 changes were reported and demonstrated that CME as well as FD items were effective. Conclusions: This study reveals that integrating CME and FD into a single course is highly effective in changing physicians' medical practice as well as teaching practice. Although all course items were effective, participants choose more FD items than CME, so future research has to focus on which variables determine those choices.


The last decade has witnessed one of the fastest growth in Web 2.0 technology with the diversity of channels, structure and content of user generated content. Such data can be textual, visual or multimedia. This created valuable source of data for users, professionals and research community. This paper explores potential correlation that may exist between images and the associated textual content. Especially, we explore the influence of the image quality on the nature of the users' content. For this purpose, Brisque image quality index has been performed. The quantification between the image quality and the users' textual generated content is evaluated using both the number of comments generated by users and overall sentiment score associated to the given image. The results of such analysis confirms the hypothesis of positive correlation between the quality of posted image and the associated user's content in the above sense. A new tourism dataset Tourism48 1 constructed from IMGUR web service was also introduced and made public.


We report observations of HD 80606 using the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias and the Optical System for Imaging and low Resolution Integrated Spectroscopy (OSIRIS) tunable filter imager. We acquired very high precision, narrow-band photometry in four bandpasses around the K I absorption feature during the 2010 January transit of HD 80606b and during out-of-transit observations conducted in 2010 January and April. We obtained differential photometric precisions of ∼2.08 × 10 −4 for the in-transit flux ratio measured at 769.91 nm, which probes the K I line core. We find no significant difference in the in-transit flux ratio between observations at 768.76 and 769.91 nm. Yet, we find a difference of ∼8.09 ± 2.88 × 10 −4 between these observations and observations at a longer wavelength that probes the K I wing (777.36 nm). While the presence of red noise in the transit data has a non-negligible effect on the uncertainties in the flux ratio, the 777.36–769.91 nm colour during transit shows no effects from red noise and also indicates a significant colour change, with a mean value of ∼8.99 ± 0.62 × 10 −4 . This large change in the colour is equivalent to a ∼4.2 per cent change in the apparent planetary radius with wavelength, which is much larger than the atmospheric scaleheight. This implies the observations probed the atmosphere at very low pressures as well as a dramatic change in the pressure at which the slant optical depth reaches unity between ∼770 and 777 nm. We hypothesize that the excess absorption may be due to K I in a highspeed wind being driven from the exoplanet's exosphere. We discuss the viability of this and alternative interpretations, including stellar limb darkening, star-spots and effects from Earth's atmosphere. We strongly encourage follow-up observations of HD 80606b to confirm the signal measured here. Finally, we discuss the future prospects for exoplanet characterization using tunable filter spectrophotometry.


Point-of-care (POC) manufacture can be defined as the production of therapies in clinical settings or units close to hospitals and patients. This approach is becoming increasingly viable due to the emergence of flexible manufacturing technologies. Expecting an increase in this kind of production, the UK's regulatory agency, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is proposing a regulatory framework specifically designed for POC manufacture. To discuss the challenges of POC manufacture and the MHRA's proposal, the EPSRC Future Targeted Healthcare Manufacturing Hub (FTHMH) organized a workshop drawing insights from specialists in cell and gene therapy manufacture. Through presentations and discussion roundtables, the workshop highlighted the challenges for the UK and other countries implementing POC manufacture. The workshop attendees stressed four main issues: quality control; standardization and equipment use; availability of qualified personnel; and the challenges to be met by hospitals participating in POC manufacture systems. This commentary provides a summary of the points discussed in this workshop.


Context The incidence of breast cancer disease is on the rise in Nigeria. There is an urgent need for adequate knowledge regarding the disease among the risky populations for necessary self-care practices as an intervention measure. Aim The main purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of women concerning breast cancer in Kaduna Metropolis of Kaduna State. Settings and design It was a cross-sectional study conducted in Kaduna Metropolis. Materials and methods Semistructured questionnaires were administered to 300 respondents who consisted of women within the ages of 18 years and older and residing in Kaduna Metropolis. Statistical analysis The collected data were analyzed using the IBM statistical package for social sciences, version 20.0 software programmer. Results Although the results showed that most of the respondents (93%) were aware of breast cancer through different sources of information, their average knowledge scores on risk factors (30.36), signs, and symptoms (48.7%) were below average; however, their knowledge on the different screening methods was slightly above average (53.8%). Conclusion The result showed respondents' high levels of awareness on breast cancer but poor knowledge on the risk factors, signs and symptoms, and screening practices despite their positive attitudes toward the disease.


From the Publisher:
Comprehensive coverage of recent developments in phase-locked loop technology
The rapid growth of high-speed semiconductor and communication technologies has helped make phase-locked loops (PLLs) an essential part of memories, microprocessors, radio-frequency (RF) transceivers, broadband data communication systems, and other burgeoning fields. Complementing his 1996 Monolithic Phase-Locked Loops and Clock Recovery Circuits (Wiley-IEEE Press), Behzad Razavi now has collected the most important recent writing on PLL into a comprehensive, self-contained look at PLL devices, circuits, and architectures.
Phase-Locking in High-Performance Systems: From Devices to Architectures' five original tutorials and eighty-three key papers provide an eminently readable foundation in phase-locked systems. Analog and digital circuit designers will glean a wide range of practical information from the book's . . .
Tutorials dealing with devices, delay-locked loops (DLLs), fractional-N synthesizers, bang-bang PLLs, and simulation of phase noise and jitter
In-depth discussions of passive devices such as inductors, transformers, and varactors
Papers on the analysis of phase noise and jitter in various types of oscillators
Concentrated examinations of building blocks, including the design of oscillators, frequency dividers, and phase/frequency detectors
Articles addressing the problem of clock generation by phase-locking for timing and digital applications, RF synthesis, and the application of phase-locking to clock and data recovery circuits

In tandem with its companion volume, Phase-Locking in High-Performance Systems: From Devices to Architectures is a superb reference for anyone working on, or seeking to better understand, this rapidly-developing and increasingly central technology.


From trafficking to maintenance Neurons are remarkably polarized in that proteins made in the cytosol often need to travel many tens or hundreds of cell body lengths along axons to their sites of action in the synapse. Axonal transport of these components is driven by molecular motors along axonal microtubules. Guedes-Dias and Holzbaur review the cell biology of axonal transport and highlight the roles this fundamental process plays in organismal health. Science, this issue p. eaaw9997 BACKGROUND Neurons are polarized cells with extreme geometries. Multiple dendrites and one axon generally emerge from a single cell body and establish synaptic contacts with their partners. Synaptic maintenance and plasticity rely on the active delivery of newly synthesized components to these sites, which may be localized up to a meter from the cell body. Cargos that are actively trafficked along the axon include synaptic vesicle precursors, mitochondria, signaling endosomes, autophagosomes, lysosomes, and mRNA granules. In axons, these cargos use cytoplasmic dynein and kinesin motors to navigate a uniformly polarized microtubule network to reach their destinations. In dendrites, microtubules are organized in a more complex, bipolar pattern that is effectively navigated by a distinct subset of neuronal motor proteins and is less understood overall. ADVANCES Traditionally, the meter-long axon of human lower motor neurons has been considered as an example of the long distances cargo must be conveyed from soma to synaptic terminal. Advances in connectomics and axonal tracing techniques are providing us with an increasingly accurate depiction of the morphology and size of axonal arbors in the central nervous system (CNS) and the many synaptic connections that mediate neuronal function. In humans, it is estimated that the axonal arbor of some neuronal populations in the CNS can range up to hundreds of meters in total length and may contain thousands of "en passant" synapses along its extent. Improved and complementary in vitro and in vivo imaging approaches are now allowing the elucidation of increasingly intricate mechanisms by which the activities of dynein and kinesin motors regulate organelle transport along axons. Recently, efforts have focused on identifying the adaptor proteins that specify motor-cargo selectivity and the regulatory mechanisms that govern the directed transport of cargo-carrying opposing motor proteins. In parallel, important advances are being made in our understanding of how the axonal microtubule network is organized and how changes at the microtubule level can affect motor activity to finely regulate axonal transport. A picture is now emerging whereby the exquisite interplay of several regulatory mechanisms functioning at multiple levels directs how and when motors initiate and terminate transport, and how molecular motors respond to local cues to deliver cargo with high precision along the axon. This type of targeted delivery is required to maintain essential neuronal functions such as synaptic activity. OUTLOOK The intracellular transport system in neurons is specialized to an extraordinary degree, enabling the delivery of critical cargo to sites in axons or dendrites that are far removed from the cell center. Distance is not the only challenge. Localized delivery of presynaptic components provides another layer of complexity that must be successfully navigated to maintain synaptic transmission. Innovative approaches to determine the mechanisms regulating axonal transport and cargo delivery, the number and lifetime of presynaptic components, and the metabolic requirements to maintain synaptic activity are required. These advances will be key to assembling a more comprehensive and quantitative framework of axonal transport and its central role in presynaptic operation. A growing number of mutations across the molecular machinery involved in axonal transport are being identified that cause a range of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases. Both nerve injury and chemotherapy can also disrupt trafficking pathways in neurons. Hopefully, the mechanistic insights being developed now will provide a framework for the design of successful therapeutic interventions for both genetic and trauma-induced disruptions in axonal transport and synaptic function. Axonal transport drives cargo through extreme geometries. Neurons in the human central nervous system display highly complex axonal arbors that can branch thousands of times, reach hundreds of meters in total length, and contain hundreds of thousands of presynaptic sites distributed "en passant." The axonal transport machinery supports synaptic function by delivering new synaptic vesicles to and removing aged organelles from presynaptic sites. The intracellular transport system in neurons is specialized to an extraordinary degree, enabling the delivery of critical cargo to sites in axons or dendrites that are far removed from the cell center. Vesicles formed in the cell body are actively transported by kinesin motors along axonal microtubules to presynaptic sites that can be located more than a meter away. Both growth factors and degradative vesicles carrying aged organelles or aggregated proteins take the opposite route, driven by dynein motors. Distance is not the only challenge; precise delivery of cargos to sites of need must also be accomplished. For example, localized delivery of presynaptic components to hundreds of thousands of "en passant" synapses distributed along the length of a single axon in some neuronal subtypes provides a layer of complexity that must be successfully navigated to maintain synaptic transmission. We review recent advances in the field of axonal transport, with a focus on conceptual developments, and highlight our growing quantitative understanding of neuronal trafficking and its role in maintaining the synaptic function that underlies higher cognitive processes such as learning and memory.


Background: Foot surgery is associated with severe pain that can extend significantly up to 48 hours and often requires large amounts of parenteral opioids. . The benefit of adding clonidine to LAs for peripheral nerve blocks is less clear, although it is widely believed that clonidine improves quality and duration of a LA block. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of adding 1 mg/kg clonidine to 0.75% ropivacaine during combined sciatic-femoral nerve block for hallux valgus repair. Subjects and Methods: Thirty six ASA physical status I and II patients, scheduled for elective hallux  valgus repair under combined sciatic-femoral nerve block, were enrolled in the study. By using a sealed envelope technique, patients were randomly allocated to receive sciatic-femoral nerve block with 30 mL of either 0.75% ropivacaine alone (group Ropivacaine, n 5 15) or 0.75% ropivacaine plus 1 mg/kg clonidine (group Ropivacaine- Clonidine, n 5 15). Standard monitoring was used throughout the study, including noninvasive arterial blood pressure, heart rate, and pulse oximetry. The time from the end of anesthetic injection to resolution of motor block at the ankle of the operated foot and first request for postoperative analgesic was recorded. At discharge from the orthopedic ward and 3 wk after hospital discharge, patients were also evaluated regarding the occurrence of neurological complications. Results: No differences in the time required to achieve surgical anesthesia were observed between patients receiving only 0.75% ropivacaine (10 [5–20] min) and those receiving the ropivacaine-clonidine mixture (10 [5–30] min).  The mean time from block placement to first request for pain medication was shorter in group Ropivacaine than in group Ropivacaine- Clonidine (P = 0.03,. No differences in postoperative consumption of ketoprofen were observed between patients. Conclusion: Adding 1mg/kg clonidine to 0.75% ropivacaine provided a 3-h delay in first request for pain medication after hallux valgus repair, with no clinically relevant side effects.


Macrocilia of the ctenophore Beroë undergo Ca/Ba/Sr-dependent activation of ciliary beating and microtubule sliding disintegration [Tamm, J. Comp. Physiol. A163:23-31, 1988a; Tamm, Cell Motil. Cytoskeleton 11:126-138, 1988b; Tamm, Cell Motil. Cytoskeleton 12:104-112, 1989; Tamm and Tamm, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 86:6987-6991, 1989]. Here we report that detergent-extracted macrocilia show an ATP-independent conformational change in response to high concentrations of Ca, Ba, or Sr ions. When applied locally by iontophoresis, these ions induce a rapid planar curvature of the distal end of the macrociliary shaft, followed by a slower relaxation to the rest position. Tip curling occurs in a direction opposite to the physiological Ca/Ba/Sr response. When applied uniformly in the bath, a threshold concentration of 10(-1) M Sr is required to induce curling of the tip, and the distal ends remain curved. Calmodulin antagonists do not inhibit the tip curling response. Previous workers found that Ca induces changes in the helical shape of isolated doublet microtubules [Miki-Noumura and Kamiya, Exp. Cell Res. 97:451-453, 1976; Miki-Noumura and Kamiya, J. Cell Biol. 81:355-360, 1979; Takasaki and Miki-Noumura, J. Mol. Biol. 158:317-324, 1982] and sperm axonemes [Okuno and Brokaw, Cell Motil. 1:349-362, 1981] and suggested that conformational changes in microtubules may play a role in Ca regulation of ciliary motility. We propose that the Ca/Ba/Sr-induced curling of the macrociliary tip is due to similar helical changes of doublet microtubules, some of which in macrocilia are prevented from sliding by permanent connections (compartmenting lamellae) between adjacent axonemes within the shaft. Although the tip curling response does not appear to be directly relevant to the physiological Ca response of macrocilia, it provides a novel system for investigating Ca-induced conformational changes of microtubules independent of dynein-powered active sliding.


The characteristics of electric pitch servo system are multivariable, nonlinear. In this paper, adaptive control method is used to satisfy the performance of rapid response, anti-interference and the location fast response non-overshoot. Neural networks model reference adaptive control is used in the speed loop to enhance the anti-interference performance and robustness. Fuzzy adaptive control is used in the position loop to satisfy the performance requirements of fast response and non-overshoot. The simulation results show that the adaptive control not only ensures strong anti-interference performance and robustness, but also achieve rapid response and non-overshoot exact location.


Retrospective and prospective epidemiologic studies revealed features of pathomorphosis and response, defined various pathogenetic mechanisms induced by complex, combined exposure to poisons at work. The article determined main neurologic and hematologic syndromes considered as early and sensitive diagnostic criteria of poisons influence on workers exposed to them. The authors described some variants of course and long-term complications of prolonged exposure to poisons.


This paper provides a review of the agricultural extension system in Jordan, with a focus on strengths and constraints, as well as options for how to improve efficiency in service delivery and efficacy in outcomes. While public extension in Jordan has gone through many reforms and phases over the past three decades, contemporary concerns related to regional conflict and blockages in access to traditional trade routes require a repositioning of extension and advisory services within the Kingdom. This need is further strengthened by persistent pressure on the use of water resources that is well above natural recharge rates. Both international donors supporting the Kingdom in dealing with the mass influx of Syrian refugees, as well as the government itself, will require significant contemplation over how to shift some of these funds towards research and extension activities that seek new markets for a range of products that are competitive internationally given the need for costly air freight. Equally important, and connected to international community demands for employment of Syrian refugees within Jordan is attention to skills training, matching of skills with demands of employers, as well as access to profitable agricultural value chains for both refugees as well as host communities within which refugees are placed. This will require a meaningful change in the manner that agricultural extension and advisory services are delivered, with more attention to aspects of social work and care – an area that receives little attention within agricultural education curriculums – and reform of agricultural education more generally.


After much debate and synthesis, social learning scholarship is entering an era of empirical research. Given the range across individual-, network-, and systems-level perspectives and scales, clear documentation of social learning processes is critical for making claims about social learning outcomes and their impacts. Past studies have relied on participant recall and concept maps to document perceptions of social learning process and outcome. Using an individual-centric perspective and importing ideas from communication and psychology on question-answer learning through conversational agents, we contribute an expanded conceptual framework and qualitative analytical strategy for assessing stakeholder dialogue for evidence of social learning. We observed stakeholder dialogue across five workshops coordinated for the Bruneau-Owyhee Sage-Grouse Habitat Project (BOSH) in Owyhee County, Idaho, USA. Participants' dialogue was audio recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for cross-case patterns. Deductive and inductive coding techniques were applied to illuminate cognitive, relational, and epistemic dimensions of learning and topics of learning. A key finding supports our inclusion of the epistemic dimension and highlights a need for future research: although some participants articulated epistemic positions, they did not challenge each other to share sources or justify factual claims. These findings align with previous research suggesting that, in addition to considering diversity and representation (who is at the table), we should pay more attention to how participants talk, perhaps prompting specific patterns of speech as we endeavor to draw causal connections between social learning processes and outcomes.


Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have gained universal attention now a day's owing to the advancements made in the fields of information and communication technologies and the electronics field. This innovative sensing technology incorporate an immense number of sensor nodes or motes set up in an area to perceive any continuously fluctuating physical phenomena. These tiny sensor nodes sense and
process the sensed data and transfer this information to a base station or sink via radio frequency (RF) channel.
The small size of these sensors is an advantage as it can be easily embedded within any device or in any environment. This feature has attracted the use of WSNs in immense applications especially in monitoring and tracking; the most prominent being the surveillance applications. But this tiny size of sensor nodes restricts the resource capabilities. Usually the WSNs are installed in application areas where the human intervention is quite risky or difficult. The sensed information might be needed to take critical decisions in emergency applications. So maintaining the connectivity of the network is of utmost importance. The efficient use of the available resources to the maximum extend is a necessity to prolong the network lifetime. If any node runs out of power, the entire network connectivity collapses and intend of the deployment might become futile. Because of this reason most of the research in the area of WSNs has concentrated on energy efficiency where the design of energy efficient routing protocols plays a major role. This research work titled "Energy Efficient Routing Protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks" proposes to develop energy efficient routing protocol strategies so as to enhance the lifetime of the WSNs. A thorough study of the existing literature serves as the back bone for attaining acquaintance concerning the pertinent scenario, the problems faced and the application of the WSNs. The use of clustering and sink mobility to enhance the energy utilisation is explored in this research. A modification of the most traditional energy efficient routing protocol for WSNs, LEACH (Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy) is implemented initially by modifying the clustering mechanism. An enhancement of it by incorporating sink mobility, to further augment the energy efficiency is executed next. A modification of HEED (Hybrid Energy Efficient Distributed Clustering Hierarchy) protocol using the unequal clustering technique is also proposed. The modified protocols are simulated using MATLAB under different circumstances by varying the number of sensor nodes and the area of deployment. These modified protocols are intended for delay tolerant applications that require periodic sensing. The performance of the modified protocols is evaluated using metrics like residual energy of the network, packet delivery ratio, energy consumed by the network, delay, and the number of live nodes. The simulation outcomes showcased the effectiveness of the modified protocols compared to the relevant existing protocols in literature.


National health policies that take into cognizance the interventions against the menace of students' ill health in Nigeria are limited. This study investigated the health status of students in tertiary institutions in Bayelsa State. A descriptive study design was adopted to randomly select four tertiary institutions out of six. Two hundred students were randomly selected from the four schools; fifty from each school. Structured questionnaires containing symptoms-specific ill health were distributed to the selected students. One hundred and fifty-five questionnaires used for the analyses were retrieved. Thirty six specific health symptoms perceived by the students were classified following WHO standard. Out of 561 students-symptoms, 35.6% were mental health while 34.6% were infectious. More female (66.53%) than male (60.14%) showed mental health symptoms. The differences were not significant (P>0.05). Students who had lived in urban location had more mental than those that resided in rural location. The differences were significant (P<0.05). The symptoms decreases as age increased. 60.1% of the students developed these health challenges as they got admitted into schools while 39.9% of the students had the problem at home before admitted to the school. The symptoms of the student's mental health increased as parents' income improved. The implication of these results is a cause for prompt public health intervention.

 Key words: Mental health, infectious health, students, tertiary institutions, Bayelsa State.


Aescin or β-escin is the main and active constituent of horse chestnut seed (Aesculus hippocastanum) used for treatment of inflammatory edema, venous insufficiency and ischemic ulcerations. Aescin has many actions due to induction of endothelial nitric oxide and prostaglandin F2-α production moreover; aescin antagonizes the effect of histamine and 5HT at receptor levels the aim of the present study was to evaluate the neurobehavioral effects of aescin on normal healthy volunteers. A total number of 65 healthy participants with mean age of 21+1.1 years were recruited to study the effects of aescin on the neurobehavioral effects of normal healthy volunteers compared to placebo. The neurobehavioral effects were assessed by psychomotor performances and sensorimotor reaction, cortical arousal and central integrity processes and assessment of memory capacity. Placebo produced insignificant amelioration of TRT and RRT p>0.05, with mild significant effect on MRT p=0.03. Aescin produced a significant effect in the amelioration of psychomotor performances and sensorimotor reaction p=0.0001. Regarding the differential effect of placebo and aescin on the cortical arousal and central integrity processes, placebo illustrated insignificant effect p>0.05 whereas; aescin showed mild significant effect on critical fusion frequency (CFFA) p<0.05 and highly significant effect on the other parameters p<0.01 except for critical-fusion frequency threshold when aescin illustrated insignificant effect p>0.05. aescin illustrated significant acceleration of ІІ-back WMA, ІІІ-back WMA and Second trial short term memory (STM) p<0.01 compared to the placebo effect. Conclusion: short term therapy with aescin improves the neurobehavioral effects of healthy volunteers.


The Syrian cardiomyopathic hamster (SCH) is an established animal model for genetic cardiomyopathy. The disease in the hamster develops through similar stages to those observed in humans with this condition. The pathophysiological basis for this condition in the hamster resides in an inherited mutation in the gene encoding for delta-sarcoglycan, a component of the dystrophin complex. Two basic mechanisms contribute to cardiomyopathy in this model: ischemic heart disease by vasospasms of the coronary circulation and cardiomyocyte loss due to intrinsic cell defects. This review focuses on the etiology of vascular dysfunction and its role in the development of heart failure (HF) in this animal model. The data presented suggest that the vascular renin-angiotensin-system (RAS) plays a critical role in the generation of increased coronary reactivity and resistance in young SCH that have not yet developed the clinical manifestations of HF. The increased reactivity of the coronary vasculature results from endothelial dysfunction secondary to Ang II-dependent, oxidative stress. These alterations favor the development of ischemic heart disease and cardiomyopathy in adult animals. Indeed, RAS blockade during early stages of the disease significantly improves the clinical signs of dilated cardiomyopathy in this experimental model. These findings have significant implications for the prevention and treatment of cardiomyopathy in patients with ischemic heart disease, in particular, to those with familial sarcoglycanopathies.


This study was aimed at finding a correlation between the experienced off-flavor in packed foods and the presence of specific degradation products in LDPE packaging films. The possibility to trap degradation products by chemical reactions with scavengers, i.e., a zeolite additive or antioxidants, was investigated This would prevent degradation products from migrating to the polymer film surface and further into food in contact with the film. It was found that off-flavor noted in water packed in LDPE films depended on extrusion temperature and exposure time for the melt to oxygen, that is, the parameters that influence the contents of oxidation products that are able to migrate from the polymer film. It was also found that adsorption of oxidative degradation products in a zeolite additive or protection of LDPE by using antioxidants could prevent off-flavor in the packed product (water). However, the antioxidant should be selected with regard to extrusion temperature because thermal instability in the additive might jeopardize the intended effect. Multifunctional antioxidants seem to provide improved protection, the most effective one evaluated in this work being Irganox E201, i.e., vitamin E. Concentrations of oxidized degradation products are well correlated to the perceived off-flavor in the packed water. The highest correlation between off-flavor and oxidized components was found for ketones in the range of C, to C, and aldehydes in the range of C-6 to C-9. (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, lnc. (Less)