Introduction - Depression, by virtue of its conceptual and/or etiological frameworks, is an emblematic disease of new approaches that have been developed in social epidemiology: life-course epidemiology and contextual epidemiology. The objective of this study is to propose hypotheses for understanding this disease using these two approaches in a complementary way. Its goal is to look for an association between potentially traumatic life events during childhood and the occurrence of a depressive state during adulthood, and if, after adjustment for individual characteristics associated with depression, differences persist according to the type of neighborhood of residence. Methods - The SIRS study has been following a random sample of 3,000 individuals representative of the adult French-speaking population of Paris and its inner suburbs since 2005. The present analysis uses individual baseline data gathered through face-to-face interviews concerning, among other things, the subjects' depressive state, as evaluated by the MINI-Diag, life events and social conditions during childhood. The respondents' type of socioeconomic census block of residence was taken into account as well. The analyses use logistic and multilevel regression models. Results - After adjustment for the subjects' demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, several life-course events during childhood and certain characteristics of family functioning appeared to be strongly and independently associated with depression on the day of the survey, in particular, having been a victim of sexual abuse or having witnessed interparental violence, but also the parents having experienced long periods of unemployment or serious financial difficulties. In addition, after adjustment for these individual characteristics, depression was still more frequent in the neighborhoods considered to be in vulnerable urban areas. Conclusion - Several different life events and conditions during childhood appear to be detrimental to mental health during adulthood, and territorial inequalities persisted after adjustment for these factors.


Invasive intracranial electroencephalography (EEG) studies help identify the epileptogenic focus and assess if the identified zone overlies eloquent cortex by means of cortical stimulation. Proper interpretation and use of the intracranial recording/stimulation studies requires an effective display of multimodal information. We developed a software system which can combine the patient's segmented brain, post-implanting MRI/CT images, intracranial EEG findings and results from cortical stimulations into one integrated environment of three-dimensional visualization. This platform can efficiently facilitate the epilepsy pre-surgical evaluation and epilepsy surgery planning


This article presents results of molecular dynamics simulations that show the emergence of collective behaviors in a two-dimensional system of particles (hard disks) interacting through a properly chosen collision rule. The particles, which are of finite size and are in free flight between collisions, are not self-propelled. They tumble randomly like bacteria and interact only when they collide, not through continuous potential forces. This work therefore indicates that interactions at the microscopic level, which occur only locally and discretely both in time and space, are sufficient to lead to large-scale macroscopic behaviors. Order parameters that capture and quantify the formation of collective behaviors are introduced and used to describe how the choice of collision rule affects the steady state dynamics of the system, by comparing the outcome to the standard case of elastic collisions. This work was motivated by recent results on the dynamics of bacterial colonies. Possible applications of the pre...


Numerous programs and policies have been developed at federal, state, and local levels to mitigate damages associated with natural disasters. However, agriculture has not been a priority area for natural disaster preparation, response, and recovery planning. Understandably, reducing deaths and injuries and aiding homeowners take precedence in an emergency. Nonetheless, agricultural losses account for a substantial share of total damages resulting from natural disasters. This article summarizes the findings of a study designed to identify key areas for improving agricultural disaster response and to recommend policies to reduce damages and expedite recovery from weather-related natural disasters affecting North Carolina agriculture.


We conducted a prospective, observational study over a 3-year period to compare the clinical, functional, and surgical findings in children with chronic bilateral otitis media with effusion who underwent one of three different types of treatment. Our study population was made up of 150 patients-79 boys and 71 girls aged 24 to 84 months-who were randomly assigned to one of the three treatment groups of 50 patients each. One group was treated with myringotomy, tympanostomy tube insertion, and adenoidectomy (T+A group); another with a combination of physical conservative treatment and adenoidectomy (P+A group); and the third with physical conservative treatment alone (P-only group). Hearing levels and tympanogram trends were evaluated during a follow-up of 12 months. In the T+A group, we noted a stable normalization of hearing in 95 of the 100 ears. Treatment with the P+A combination resulted in an improvement of hearing in 79 ears, but the improvement was maintained in only 27 ears during 12 months of follow-up. In the group with the P-only regimen, an amelioration of hearing was registered in 76 ears, but it was unstable in all cases. A type A tympanogram was maintained during the follow-up period for 2 ears in the P+A group and for 4 ears in the P-only group. Myringotomy with a detailed examination of the tympanic cavity in all ears with prolonged abnormal audiologic results revealed that types C and B tympanograms, which were found in most ears in the P+A and P-only groups, corresponded to middle ear chronic inflammatory changes (retraction pockets, granulations, adhesions, etc.) Based on our findings, we conclude that the use of a physical conservative treatment with or without an adenoidectomy does not prevent the development of chronic adhesive and purulent otitis media.


The apparel CAD intelligence is one development direction for apparel CAD technology. Automatic generation of apparel pattern technology is the embodiment of apparel CAD intelligence. This study applied pattern recognition system into the automatic generation pattern technology for the purpose that the according apparel structure chart will be generated directly under the premise of being given the apparel pattern pictures. That is to say, to achieve automatic generation of sample plates. Sophisticated application of this technology will improve the design efficiency which can adapt to the needs of modern apparel industry development.


Previous research suggests that students' prior knowledge can interfere with how they observe and remember lecture demonstrations. We measured students' prior knowledge in introductory mechanics and electricity and magnetism at two large universities. Students were then asked to predict the outcome of lecture demonstrations. We compare students' predictions before having seen the demonstration to what they report having seen both right after the demonstration and several weeks later. We report four main findings. First, roughly one out of every five observations of a demonstration is inconsistent with the actual outcome. Second, students who understand the underlying concepts before observing the demonstration are more likely to observe it and remember it correctly. Third, students are roughly 20% (23%) more likely to observe a demonstration correctly if they predict the outcome first, regardless of whether the prediction is correct or not. Last, conceptual learning is contingent on the student making a correct observation. This study represents an initial step towards understanding the disconnect reported between demonstrations and student learning.


ABSTRACT Researchers and industry commentators alike have been both fascinated and perplexed by variations in take-up and usage of m-commerce services in different countries around the world. Our research compares m-commerce usage in the United Kingdom and in Hong Kong, areas with apparently similar mobile telecommunications infrastructures but with markedly different cultural profiles. We find significant differences between the UK and Hong Kong in usage of and attitudes to m-commerce services. We attribute these differences to the levels of collectivism and power distance in the cultures and to structural differences between the two markets. Attitudes to m-commerce services are formed by cultural and structural factors, consequently the search for a single, global killer application may be misguided. An understanding of the cultural dimensions of a market can aid marketers immensely in developing appropriate m-commerce services, marketing these appropriately and in setting realistic adoption targets. Keywords: Adoption; Cross-cultural study; Hong Kong; Mobile Internet; United Kingdom 1. Introduction The explosive growth of penetration and usage of mobile devices is frequently noted in research studies [Barnes and Scornavacca 2004; Dholakia et al 2004; Massoud and Gupta 2003]. By 2009 the number of mobile telephone subscribers is estimated to outstrip that of fixed-line subscribers [ITU 2000, cited in Dholakia et al. 2004]. The widespread availability of mobile phones that can handle digital data and that are connected to digital communications infrastructure means that the scene is set for the widespread adoption of m-commerce (defined as the use of mobile, wireless (handheld) devices to communicate and conduct transactions through public and private networks [Balasubramanian et al. 2002]). However, the development of m-commerce has been comparatively slow [Mylonakis 2004] and research suggests that it is seen as expensive, with poor service and usability [Jarvpenaa et al. 2003]. There are, nonetheless, indications of growth in consumer interest in m-commerce services. Research conducted in western Europe finds that consumer interest in m-commerce services and mobile payments increased from 23% in 2001 to 39% in 2003 [Strategy Analytics 2004]. In the UK added value mobile services grew by 29% to £1.4 billion, which is equivalent to 4.3% of total mobile revenues [Ofcom 2004]. Research by ATKearney [2004] finds that worldwide use of the mobile phone to pay for services grew from 3% of respondents in 2003 to 10% in 2004. Possibly the largest single use of m-commerce to date occurred on January 17 2005 when mobile phone users in the UK donated over £1 million via SMS to the relief fund following the Asian tsunami of 26 December 2004 [Telecom Paper 2005]. Adoption and usage of m-commerce services have been highly variable between countries; according to Dholakia et al [2004 p7], "the adoption of mobile technology does not follow any single universal logic or pattern". Differences in adoption and usage between countries may be attributable to differences in the mobile telecommunications infrastructure, to the range of m-commerce services on offer, to the marketing strategies utilised by service providers and to the underlying culture of the consumers of m-commerce services. We seek to investigate the role that culture plays in explaining differences in adoption, usage and attitudes to m-commerce by comparing countries which have broadly similar m-commerce infrastructures [same operators, same technology platform) and service portfolios, but markedly different cultural profiles. Our objective is to inform decision making in the mcommerce industry. 2. M-Commerce Infrastructure In Hong Kong And The United Kingdom Hong Kong and the United Kingdom have among the highest mobile telephony penetration rates in the world at 91% and 82.5% respectively [OFTA 2003]. The telecommunication industry in Hong Kong has been shaped by intensive competition, with 6 operators licensed to serve a population of 6. …


A series of geometrical isomers of the new cobalt(III) complexes containing P(OMe)3 − nPhn
(n
= 0, 1 or 2), trans- and cis-[Co(dtc)2{P(OMe)3 − nPhn}2]+
(dtc−
=
N,N-dimethyldithiocarbamate), have been synthesized and the crystal structures and spectrometric properties were obtained. By comparison with reported structures of related [Co(dtc)2(P-ligand)2]+ complexes, it was shown that the Co–P bond lengths in [Co(dtc)2(P-ligand)2]+ were linearly dependent on the Tolman's cone angle, θT, of the P-ligands. On the other hand, the Co–P bond lengths as well as the transition energies of the splitting component (1A1g
→ a1Eg: D4h) of the first d–d band of trans-[Co(dtc)2(P-ligand)2]+ were not linearly dependent on the Tolman's electronic parameter (χ) of the P-ligands. In the trans-isomers, it was found that the mutual electronic trans influence was not significant in the [Co(dtc)2{P(OMe)3 − nPhn}2]+ species while it was far more evident in the complexes with strong σ-donating phosphines such as PMe3 and PMe2Ph. A reversible cis–trans inter-conversion was observed for the [Co(dtc)2{P(OMe)3 − nPhn}2]+ complexes: cis to trans isomerization was induced by irradiation of light while slow thermal trans to cis isomerization was observed as a dark reaction. Kinetic measurements of thermal trans to cis isomerization reactions revealed that the absorption change with time followed multi-exponential kinetics when no free P-ligand was added to the reaction mixture: by addition of excess amounts of free P-ligand, first-order kinetic traces were observed for all reactions. The apparent first-order rate constants were independent of the concentration of added free ligands for the isomerization reactions of [Co(dtc)2{P(OMe)2Ph}2]+ and [Co(dtc)2{P(OMe)Ph2}2]+, while saturation kinetics were observed for the reaction of [Co(dtc)2{P(OMe)3}2]+: all isomerizations involved pre-dissociation of one of the coordinated P-ligands. It was indicated that a significant amount of square pyramidal [Co(dtc)2{P(OMe)3}]+ exists in equilibrium with [Co(dtc)2{P(OMe)3}2]+, while merely a trace amount of such a 5-coordinate species was involved in the reactions of [Co(dtc)2{P(OMe)2Ph}2]+ and [Co(dtc)2{P(OMe)Ph2}2]+. A contradictory phenomenon observed in these complexes, a small static trans influence with a significant kinetic trans effect, was explained by the combination of (1) a lack of strong σ-donicity of P(OMe)3 − nPhn and (2) stabilization of the 5-coordinate square-pyramidal geometry through the electron sponge effect by the dtc− ligand.


The author explains both the public facts and the private deals behind famous cases resulting from deregulation in the communication industry. Includes examinations of the AT&T divestiture, the IBM antitrust case, the rapid growth of cable and satellite television, the video-cassette industry, the role of the press, and the nature of the &dquo;new&dquo; Hollywood. He also looks at the roles played by the White House, the Congress, the FCC, the courts, and ever-present political lobbyists.


The recently developed Neurobehavioural Risk Assessment Evaluation System 1.0 (NeuRAES 1.0) tool aims to assess the neurobehavioural performance in Malaysia. Prior to utilize the advantage of the developed NeuRAES 1.0 tool effectively, it is vital to evaluate its reliability. The study aimed to conduct test and retest of NeuRAES 1.0 and assess the reliability of the NeuRAES 1.0 tool among university students in Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM). With that regard, the reliability of the tool was examined among 40 healthy university students using a test–retest of four computerized tests that are, Benton Visual Retention, Symbol Memory, Trail Making, and Pursuit Aiming, with the test and retest held two weeks apart. The reliability was analyzed for all test measures using the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient ( r ) and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). A two-way mixed effect model was applied in this study to determine the ICCs and their 95% confidence intervals. The finding of all parameter measures in all four tests for standard scores were significantly similar, and the improvements of scores were also detected at retest for raw scores. The test–retest scores were found to have the ICC values ranging from low to adequate (0.269 to 0.655). The low ICCs were detected on Memory Symbol Test ( r = 0.264, ICC = 0.269), Trail Making Test (Section A: r = 0.377, ICC = 0.383; Section B: r = 0.445, ICC = 0.452), Benton Visual Retention Test ( r = 0.511, ICC = 0.517), and Pursuit Aiming Test (Test B: r = 0.567, ICC = 0.574). An adequate ICC was found on Pursuit Aiming Test (Test A: r = 0.649, ICC = 0.655). This demonstrating that the instrument still have not achieved a condition where, a measurement process is capable to produce stable and consistent scores when repeated over time except for Pursuit Aiming Test (Test A). In conclusion, the findings extend our understanding of score changes due to repeat testing. A further review on the test measures with low ICC needs to be considered. Therefore, further studies with larger samples and varied group of populations would be valuable.


The Brassica Carinata cultivation has recently gained, also in Italy, an increasing interest due to the reduced seed losses in respect to the Brassica Napus. As the Brassica Carinata plantation presents a good natural resistance to the dehiscence process, it allows for considering unnecessary the use of specified heads that are the same employed for the rapeseed harvesting, giving a losses reduction but an increase in costs. From the tests conducted in the plain of Ravenna in 2008, the reduced seed losses were only reported in the areas where the Brassica Carinata plants were not so high, not particularly tangled and without allotment. In this case, in fact, the rubbing action of the head separator can cause losses due to the opening of the detached siliquae. Furthermore the working capacity of the combine harvester can suffer negative consequences from the entanglement of the plants. Thus, it is necessary to careful evaluate the characteristics of the plantation as the growth and the entangled level before choosing the most suitable unit to harvest. The same harvesting machine on different plants can cause an improvement of harvesting costs as well as less profits due to a more seed losses.


Data-driven disciplines like data mining and knowledge management already provide process-based frameworks for data analysis projects, such as the well-known cross-industry standard process for data mining (CRISP-DM) or knowledge discovery in databases (KDD). Although the domain of data science addresses a much broader problem space, i.e., also considers economic, social, and ecological impacts of data-driven projects, a corresponding domain-specific process model is still missing. Consequently, based on a total of four identified meta requirements and 17 corresponding requirements that were collected from experts of theory and practice, this contribution proposes the empirically grounded data science process model (DASC-PM)—a framework that maps a data science project as a four-step process model and contextualizes it among scientific procedures, various areas of application, IT infrastructures, and impacts. To illustrate the phase-oriented specification capabilities of the DASC-PM, we exemplarily present competence and role profiles for the analysis phase of a data science project.


Research Imperative: This project describes an observation-based protocol to rapidly assess skeletonised human remains. Up to 60% of British museums are unaware of the quality and quantity of their holdings; almost all lack databases. Thousands of remains are disturbed annually during commercial and private development, but funding, time and skills rarely align to provide basic assessments, a true impediment to research. Several well-known collections are examined repeatedly, with others under-studied or inspected randomly; data accumulates haphazardly as scholars research specific questions. A rapid assessment system is needed.
Aims: This 'Rapid Assessment System' (RAS) aims to capture information using affordable and available resources: curators, students and volunteers. RAS answer sheets offer multiple options using non-specialist language. In this way, basic data about a skeleton can be collected.
Methods: Volunteers without osteological training were provided with RAS answer sheets and specimen skeletons to examine. Observations were 'correct' when in agreement with the author. The RAS was divided into an Inventory segment, assessing presence, absence and condition of skeletal elements, and assessing traits associated with age and sex; and a Paleopathology segment assessing normal and abnormal appearance of teeth and bones. In Winchester, 37 volunteers (undergraduates, semi-retired amateur archaeologists) trialed the RAS over three weekly two-hour sessions, with 22 volunteers assessing at least three skeletons: 91 RAS answer sheets were analysed.
Results: Pooling results for all three weeks, volunteers were correct 70.4% of the time for Inventory, and 75.3% of the time in the third week. Paleopathology results were mixed: some participants attained 85.2% correct, others less than 10%. Overall condition of remains, a primary assessment recommended by English Heritage enjoyed 90% success (score of 81 from 91 forms). Assessing skull condition was correct 96.2% (87.5/91). Differentiating between 'robust', 'gracile' and 'moderate' long bones was 79.7% effective (72.5/91); recognising tooth wear (none, mild, moderate) accomplished 78.6% (71.5/91). Robusticity and dental wear inform on estimations of sex and age at death.
Implications: Basic data can be accurately amassed by novices. Two separate forms are proposed: Inventory for general use; complex Paleopathology assessments for workers with some training or considerable patience. The Paleopathology segment can act as an aid for early-stage researchers and students and help them avoid missing out observations when examining large collections. The RAS can be tailored to assess specific diseases such as leprosy or tuberculosis. Future versions should utilise electronic formats to simplify processing. If adopted by commercial firms, universities and museums, data can be captured, permitting information to be shared, and reducing handling of these delicate, poignant and unique 'artefacts'.


A multilevel inverter topology for a four-pole induction-motor drive is presented in this paper, which is constructed using the induction-motor stator winding arrangement. A single dc source with a less magnitude when compared with conventional five-level inverter topologies is used in this topology. Therefore, power balancing issues (which are major challenges in conventional multilevel inverters) are minimized. As this configuration uses a single dc source, it provides a path for zero-sequence currents because of the zero-sequence voltages present in the output, which will flow through the motor phase winding and power electronic switches. To minimize these zero-sequence currents, sine-triangle pulsewidth modulation (SPWM) is used, which will shift the lower order harmonics near to switching frequency in the linear modulation region. However, in the case of overmodulation, harmonic voltages will be introduced close to the fundamental frequency. In this regard, a modified SPWM technique is proposed in this paper to operate the drive in the overmodulation region up to the modulation index of 2/√3. The proposed quad two-level inverter topology is experimentally verified with a laboratory prototype on a four-pole 5-hp induction motor. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed topology in the complete linear modulation region and the overmodulation region.


This essay draws on historical sociology, in particular on historical institutionalism, to critique the micro-, macro-, and meso-level explanations of contemporary international relations theory. Focusing on institutional development, change, and disintegration, it proposes a conjectural, mid-range approach to capturing the processes of large-scale change that are occurring in the international realm. This essay seeks to broaden the field's scope by outlining the possibilities that historical sociology offers to international relations theory and practice.


Verloove Vanhorick-Brubakk syndrome is a multiple congenital anomalies/dysmorphic syndrome characterized by multiple skeletal malformations (short femora and humeri, bilateral absence of metatarsal and metacarpal bone in hands and feet, bilateral partial syndactyly of fingers and toes or oligopolysyndactyly, deformed lumbosacral spine), congenital heart disease (truncus arteriosus), lung and urogenital malformations (bilateral bilobar lungs, horseshoe kidney, cryptorchidism), and facial malformations (bilateral cleft lip and palate, micrognathia, small, low-set ears without external meatus). It is lethal in the neonatal period. T here have been no further descriptions in the literature since 1981. Qeios · Definition, February 10, 2020


This paper examines the use of social justice terminology by a number of beginning and experienced social workers. Transcripts of interviews about social workers' practice from another of the authors' studies (qualitative study of social work knowledge and skill development) are analysed for use of terminology consistent with social justice ideals, and for other predominant themes. Findings indicate that social justice terms are little used, even when discussing practice scenarios which might clearly suggest issues of social justice. A significant proportion of workers' language demonstrates an awareness of social environmental factors, but a predominant language usage implies approaches which could be seen as inconsistent with social justice individualistic focus on the analysis of practice scenarios, and what we have termed a 'professional', that is, ambivalent orientation towards social action. Implications of the study include the need to question and/or reaffirm the social justice basis of social work, particularly through the construction and use of relevant language to frame our practice.


In Dublin Institute of Technology, there has been a recent move to semesterisation, with an increased emphasis on continuous assessment. In mathematics, this would traditionally mean that students would sit a number of short, written assessments during the course of each semester, in conjunction with an end-of-module exam. However, it was decided to combine these usual assessments with presentations on mathematics for certain cohorts this semester.
As part of their continuous assessment mark, students were required to work in groups of three, to prepare and deliver a short presentation to their classmates. Two techniques were employed: in one instance, third-year Engineering students gave presentations revising one of a selection of fundamental mathematical topics studied in previous years; in the second instance, second-year Product Design students explored possible applications of the mathematics they had studied to their other modules or future careers.
The aim of the first technique was to ensure that students were familiar with core mathematical concepts, which would be necessary for the new topics they would meet in the coming year. It also allowed them to experience the challenge of presenting this material in a clear and interesting fashion, giving them a new appreciation for the position of the lecturer.
The second technique was employed to encourage students to consider the relevance of mathematical topics to their area of study, providing them with an opportunity to discover the importance of fundamental mathematical concepts in the design process. In both cases, the students developed an important skill for the workplace in which they may often be required to give presentations on technical matters.
Every group in the class was required to anonymously award a mark out of ten to each presentation, and these marks were combined to produce the final mark. The lecturer also awarded a mark to each group, and this was compared to the mean mark awarded by the
students, to examine the difference between this and the peer-marking system. Arising from this, some possible issues associated with peer marking are discussed.
In addition to the presentation itself, students were required to complete a reflective survey on WebCT. The purpose of this was two-fold: to encourage the students to reflect on their own learning experience and how the presentations had contributed to this; and also to provide valuable feedback to staff as to students' perceptions of this learning methodology. The results of this survey are provided in the paper.


Many of the proteins produced by SARS-CoV-2 have related counterparts across the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV) family. One such protein is non-structural protein 9 (Nsp9), which is thought to mediate both viral replication and virulence. Current understanding suggests that Nsp9 is involved in viral genomic RNA reproduction. Nsp9 is thought to bind RNA via a fold that is unique to this class of betacoronoaviruses although the molecular basis for this remains ill-defined. We sought to better characterise the SARS-CoV-2 Nsp9 protein and subsequently solved its X-ray crystal structure, in an apo-form and, unexpectedly, in a peptide-bound form with a sequence originating from a rhinoviral 3C protease sequence (LEVL). The structure of the SARS-CoV-2 Nsp9 revealed the high level of structural conservation within the Nsp9 family. The exogenous peptide binding site is close to the dimer interface and impacted on the relative juxtaposition of the monomers within the homodimer. Together we have established a protocol for the production of SARS-CoV-2 Nsp9, determined its structure and identified a peptide-binding site that may warrant further study from the perspective of understanding Nsp9 function.


Magnesium-lithium !Mg-Li" alloys are among the lightest structural materials. Although considerable work has been done on the Mg-Li system, little is known regarding potential ordered phases. A first and rapid analysis of the system with the high-throughput method reveals an unexpected wealth of potentially stable low-temperature phases. Subsequent cluster expansions constructed for bcc and hcp superstructures extend the analysis and verify our high-throughput results. Of particular interest are those structures with greater than 13 at. % lithium, as they exhibit either partial or complete formation as a cubic structure. Order-disorder transition temperatures are predicted by Monte Carlo simulations to be in the range 200–500 K.


Cerebellar control of voluntary movements is achieved by the integration of external and internal feedback information to adjust and correct properly ongoing actions. In the forelimb of primates, rostral-spinocerebellar tract (RSCT) neurons are thought to integrate segmental, descending, and afferent sources and relay upstream a compound signal that contains both an efference copy of the spinal-level motor command and the state of the periphery. We tested this hypothesis by implanting stimulating electrodes in the superior cerebellar peduncle and recording the activity of cervical spinal neurons in primates. To dissociate motor commands and proprioceptive signals, we used a voluntary wrist task and applied external perturbations to the movement. We identified a large group of antidromically activated RSCT neurons located in deep dorsal sites and a smaller fraction of postsynaptically activated (PSA) cells located in intermediate and ventral laminae. RSCT cells received sensory input from broad, proximally biased receptive fields (RFs) and were not affected by applied wrist perturbations. PSA cells received sensory information from distal RFs and were more strongly related to active and passive movements. The anatomical and functional properties of RSCT and PSA cells suggest that descending signals converging on PSA cells contribute to both motor preparation and motor control. In parallel, RSCT neurons relay upstream an integrated signal that encodes the state of working muscles and can contribute to distal-to-proximal coordination of action. Thus the rostral spinocerebellar system sends upstream an efference copy of the motor command but does not signal abrupt errors in the performed movement.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Cerebellar coordination of voluntary movements relies on integrating feedback information to update motor output. With the use of a novel protocol, we identified spinal neurons constituting the ascending and descending components of the forelimb spinocerebellar system in behaving primates. The data suggest that descending information contributes to both motor preparation and execution, whereas ascending information conveys the spinal level motor command, such that internal and external feedback is relayed through parallel pathways.


Objectives
Dopamine (DA) is a prominent biochemically complex neurotransmitter and immunomodulator. The quantification of DA could contribute to a better understanding of how endocrine system, cardiovascular and renal functions are regulated. The study aims to develop a rapid, precise, and extremely sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method for routine clinical quantification of DA in urine.

Materials and Methods
Urine samples were extracted via one simple and rapid liquid-liquid extraction technique; then analyzed using a sensitive LC-MS/MS method developed by multiple reaction monitoring mode.

Results
DA and internal standard (IS) retention durations were found to be 2.28 min and 2.24 min, respectively. The mean extraction recovery of DA and DA-IS in urine was above 95.62%. DA calibration curve in urine was linear (r2≥0.998) ranging from 20 ng/mL to 1000 ng/mL. The maximum intra-day and inter-day precisions were 5.87 and 2.81, respectively and coefficients of variation were 10.55% and 7.57%, respectively.

Conclusion
A rapid, precise, sensitive and quantitative LC-MS/MS detection of DA without the use of derivatization, evaporation, reconstitution and ion-pairing reagents has been developed with a simple and non-invasive sample technique for clinical laboratory applications, basic neuroscience research and drug development studies.


The study assessed genetic diversity of four Nigerian sheep populations namely; Balami, Yankasa, Ouda and West African Dwarf (WAD) making use of blood sample. Extracted DNAs were used to study polymorphism at the β-lactoglobulin gene locus using RLFP-PCR process. Results revealed the percentage polymorphic locus was 100% while Shannon's information index, observed homozygosity, expected heterozygosity, unbiased expected heterozygosity and fixation index were 0.656, 0.516, 0.464, 0.477 and -0.075, respectively. The gene flow (Nm) for all the population was estimated to be 7.65. The pairwise Fst was low and within the range of 0.0004(between Balami and WAD) to 0.0520 (between Balami and Yankasa). Variation within and between the populations of sheep shows that a large proportion of the observed variance (98% at p < 0.01) occurred within the breeds while only 2 % of the variance (p < 0.01) was contributed due to differences among the breeds. The nearest genetic distance was between the Balami and WAD (0.001) and between Ouda and the WAD (0.001). Phylogenetic analysis revealed three clusters. The present study showed that effort should be made to prevent the wearing away of the genetic make-up of the sheep populations considering the negative fixation index.


This paper proposes a three-step method of evaluating high performance coaches involving feedback from the athletes. First, data are collected using an instrument such as the Coaching Behavior Scale for Sport (CBS-S: Cote, Yardley, Hay, Sedgwick, & Baker, 1999). Second, a summary report is prepared with descriptive information regarding the frequency of behaviors demonstrated by the coach that can be compared to previous results or to a criterion measure. The third step involves appropriate personnel reviewing the report and subsequently providing guidance for individual coach development. This three-step appraisal method provides useful evaluative feedback to coaches and has been used in several sport programs in Canada, the United States, and Australia.


This paper compares three soft-switched fixed-frequency high-frequency transformer isolated DC-DC converters designed for the given specifications. Three configurations compared are (a) phase-shifted PWM full bridge converter, (b) hybrid phase-modulated converter (HPMC) with inductive output filter, and (c) HPMC with capacitive output filter. It is shown that HPMC with capacitive output filter is useful for high output voltage applications and has superior characteristics compared to other two configurations.


Home care agencies have been under the Medicare microscope lately for issues of fraud; the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) is retooling its audit process in light of this focus. HCFA is also reconsidering its policies on deductible costs of lobbying. What do agencies need to know about this and other issues to stay financially healthy?


Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a perplexing phenomenon that may have differing motives. The present study used experience sampling methods (ESM) which inquired explicitly about the motives for NSSI, but also enabled a temporal examination of the antecedents/consequences of NSSI; these allow us to infer other motives which were not explicitly endorsed. Adults (n = 152, aged 18-65) with borderline personality disorder (BPD), avoidant personality disorder (APD), or no psychopathology participated in a 3-week computerized diary study. We examined 5 classes of explicit motives for engaging in NSSI, finding support primarily for internally directed rather than interpersonally directed ones. We then used multilevel regression to examine changes in affect, cognition, and behavior surrounding moments of NSSI acts/urges compared with control moments (i.e., without NSSI). We examined changes in 5 scales of inferred motives, designed to correspond to the 5 classes of explicit motives. The results highlight differing motives for NSSI among individuals with BPD and APD, with some similarities (mostly in the explicit motives) and some differences (mostly in the inferred motives) between the disorders. Despite their infrequent explicit endorsement, fluctuations in interpersonally oriented scales were found surrounding NSSI acts/urges. This highlights the need to continue attending to interpersonal aspects of NSSI in research and in clinical practice. Additionally, NSSI urges, like acts, were followed by decline in affective/interpersonal distress (although in a delayed manner). Thus, interventions that build distress tolerance and enhance awareness for affective changes, and for antecedent/consequence patterns in NSSI, could help individuals resist the urge to self-injure.


Midwifery Study Program of Magelang is one of the educational institutions following the National Curriculum year 2002 has an orientation to development of Sciences, Technology, and Professionalism. Learning prcess is conducted theoretically and practically at laboratory and field. Practice at laboratory is provided to develop ability of affective knowledge and psychomotor. The institution has already done efforts to improve quality of laboratory learning, but there is still any complaint from students. Quality of Field Learning Experience (FLE) is measured by perception about reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangible.
Aim of this research was to know influence of perception about quality of midwifery laboratory practice learning towards studentssatisfaction at Midwifery Study Program of Magelang, Health Polytechnic of Semarang.
This was observational research using Cross-Sectional approach. Sample was carried out by proportional sampling for 168 students. Independent variables were reliability, resposiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangible.
Result of multivariate analysis using Logistic Regression shows that variable of tangible influences students satisfaction (p = 0.000) and it means that improving students satisfaction has to be done by improving physical facilities. The institution should add number of lecturer, develop FLE method, share a task schedule for laboratory technician, and conduct meeting among students, management, and lecturers at Midwifery Study Program of Magelang.

Sumber Utama : www.mikm.undip.ac.id


The Optional Protocol to the lnternational Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESC) entered into force on 5 May 2013, generally and for Spain, thereby establishing, as an essential procedure, the filing of communications by individuals or groups of individuals claiming to be victims of a violation by a State Party of any one of the rights set forth in the Covenant. The principie of indivisibility and interdependence between all human rights acts as its supporting pillar for the correction of the discriminatory protective regime brought about in
1966 by the twin covenants (lnternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights).
The process through which the Protocol to the ICESC came into being, however, did not ignore the insistent debate arising from the justiciability of economic, social and cultural rights, which has an effect on the limits set for the monitoring procedures provided forth therein in order to ensure compliance with the rights protected by the Covenant; that is, the filing of individual communications, its main leitmotiv, of communications between States and inquiry into grave or systematic violations of this range of rights, as well as the complementary mechanisms of international assistance and cooperation of the trust fund in particular.


Background: Obesity, a chronic disease affecting both life quality and expectancy, is one of the most important health issues of the developing world. The aim of this study was to examine the incidence of difficult airway, risk factors, and related perioperative complications in patients undergoing bariatric surgery. Methods: The medical records of 96 patients, aged 18–65 years, undergoing bariatric surgery were evaluated retrospectively. Results: Difficult airway incidence was 12.5%. The presence of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and high Mallampati scores were the predictors of difficult airway. Body mass index was not found to be an independent risk factor of difficult airway. Insulin resistance was significantly high in patients with difficult mask ventilation. Conclusion: Bariatric anesthesiologists should consider the existence of insulin resistance in morbidly obese patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome for perioperative respiratory complications. Further studies are needed to find out i...


The paper examine the economic impact of pricing and access to basic research IP. The analysis uses a Sallop circle model of a monopolistically competitive industry to examine the applied research output and firm entry. Under plausible conditions basic research IP spillovers will create rents for the applied research sector, which are dissipated through socially excess firm entry. Charging a price or restricting access to basic research IP could enhance social welfare.


The World Conference on Education for All, held in Jomtiem, Thailand 1990 stated that education is so diverse, complex and demanding to expect governments alone to meet the vast arrays of learner needs. The call for a multi-sectoral approach and building new alliances between governments, private, and NGOs forces was central to the thematic round tables on "NGOs and Literacy" and Mobilizing for "Education for All" (Hadaad 1990). This study examined the role of NGOs in financing public primary education in Budalangi, Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were: to determine NGOs participation areas in public primary education provision focusing on disbursement procedures and equity considerations for different socio-economic groups; to find out the various sources of NGOs' funds; to reveal the challenges facing NGOs in their effort to support public primary education and finally, to find out the adequacy and relevance of NGOs support as perceived byschool heads, parents and pupils in the region. The study adopted a descriptive survey paradigm. The target population comprised of 16 NGOs supporting publicprimary education, 33 primary schools and 16518 pupils and their parents benefiting from NGOs support. The sample included nine NGOs, seven public primary schools and 111 pupils and their parents. This gave a total of 238 respondents. The data was collected using questionnaires for NGO administrators and head teachers and interview schedules for parents and pupils. The study found out that NGOs play a central role in promoting quality, access, equity and relevance of primary education by providing physical facilities, direct support to pupils and parents. It was noted that the number of supported pupils was significant (31%) in relation to the total school enrolment. However, NGOs faced the challenge of insufficient funds, lack of exit strategy and mistrust by the government. The study recommends that the NGOs should use capacity building for sustained support and to work hand in hand with the government and all other stakeholders in education to help Kenya meet her international commitment in achieving the MDG goal in Education and EFA goals adopted in Dakar in 2000.


This paper presents the application of the weight function method for the calculation of stress intensity factors for surface semi-elliptical cracks in finite thickness plates subjected to arbitrary two-dimensional stress fields. A new general mathematical form of point load weight function has been formulated by taking advantage of the knowledge of a few specific weight functions for two-dimensional planar cracks available in the literature and certain properties of the weight function in general. The existence of the generalized form of the weight function simplifies the determination of a specific weight function for specific crack configurations. The determination of a specific weight function is reduced to the determination of the parameters of the generalized weight function expression. These unknown parameters can be determined from reference stress intensity factor solutions. This method is used to derive the weight functions for semi-elliptical surface cracks in finite thickness plates. The derived weight functions are then validated against stress intensity factor solutions for several linear and non-linear two-dimensional stress distributions. The derived weight functions are particularly useful for the fatigue crack growth analysis of planar surface cracks subjected to fluctuating nonlinear stress fields resulting from surface treatment (shot peening), stress concentration, or welding (residual stress)


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Detailed arterial anatomy of the sphenoid ridge and olfactory groove meningiomas is complicated due to the fine angioarchitecture and anastomoses between each feeder. Herein, we present details of the arterial anatomy and the relationships of feeders in these lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included 20 patients admitted to our department between April 2015 and March 2020. Conditions of subjects consisted of 16 sphenoid ridge meningiomas and 4 olfactory groove meningiomas. We mainly analyzed arterial anatomy using 3D rotational angiography and slab MIP images of these lesions. We also analyzed the anastomoses of each feeder. RESULTS: We found that 19 (95%), 15 (75%), and 15 (75%) lesions had feeders from the ophthalmic, internal carotid, and external carotid arteries, respectively. As feeders from the ophthalmic artery, recurrent meningeal arteries were involved in 18 lesions (90%). Fifteen lesions (75%) had anastomoses between each feeder. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the meningiomas in the sphenoid ridge and olfactory groove had feeders from the ophthalmic and internal carotid arteries. There were various anastomoses between each feeder. This is the first report to demonstrate the detailed arterial anatomy and frequency of recurrent branches from the ophthalmic artery and their anastomoses using detailed imaging techniques.


Cannabis use has been implicated as a risk factor for mental health problems, (subclinical) psychotic symptoms in particular. If cannabis use was a cause of these problems, cessation would lead to improved public mental health. If cannabis use was a mere consequence of a predisposition for mental health problems, cessation would not result in less problems. Prevention and intervention strategies aimed at a better public mental health would then do better to incorporate cannabis use in screening instrument, where it could serve as a 'red flag', calling for raised awareness. This thesis investigated the association of cannabis use with mental health problems in general, and psychotic symptoms in specific. This association was studied in young adolescents (12-16 years) and young adults (18-30 years). Cannabis use and mental health problems in general The result of studies investigating the association between cannabis use and mental health problems indicate that cannabis use should be viewed as an indicator of risk for mental health problems. For young adolescents, the relationship was explained by common risk factors for both cannabis use and poor psychosocial functioning, including use of other substances, frequent truancy, an unfavourable school evaluation and frequent absence. For young adults, the association was independent of age at onset of cannabis use. Also, young women who used cannabis had a higher risk of mental health problems than men who did. Cannabis use and psychotic-like experiences The results of this thesis imply that age at onset and frequency of use are crucial in elucidating the nature of the relationship between cannabis use and psychotic-like experiences (PLE). Moderate cannabis use (monthly or less) and use that started no earlier than 15 years of age were associated with PLEs, but results indicate that this is most likely the result of pre-existing vulnerability. This is illustrated by the finding that cigarette smoking and cannabis use are equally strong predictors of PLEs in young adults. Early and heavy use however, do seem to causally increase the risk of PLEs. Young adolescents who had started cannabis use at an early age but who had ceased it completely for at least a year, reported as many PLEs as adolescents who used cannabis heavily at the time of the survey. Also, young adults who started to use cannabis before the age of 12 years had a threefold risk of PLE compared to those who first used cannabis after the age of 15. Furthermore, a dose-response relationship between cannabis use and PLEs was found for young adults: participants who used cannabis daily had a threefold increased risk of PLEs and those who used every other day a twofold risk. Taken together, the results suggest that mentally vulnerable individuals are more inclined towards cannabis use. This implicates that cannabis use per se is best viewed as an indicator of risk for mental health. However, the results also point towards additionally increased psychosis proneness when cannabis use is initiated before the age of 15 years or the frequency of use exceeds once per week.


This study examined the influence of different resistant starch (RS) varieties and conventional fibres on the efficiency of nutrient utilisation and intestinal fermentation in pigs. Thirty-six pigs (30 kg) were fed poultry meal-based diets supplemented with 10 % granular resistant corn starch (GCS), granular resistant potato starch (GPS), retrograded resistant corn starch (RCS), guar gum (GG) or cellulose for 36 d according to a completely randomised block design. Distal ileal and total tract recoveries were similar (P>0·05) among the RS varieties. Distal ileal starch recovery was higher (P < 0·05) in pigs consuming the RS diets (27–42 %) as compared with the control group (0·64 %). Consumption of GCS reduced (P < 0·05) apparent total tract digestibility and whole-body retention of crude protein in comparison with the control group. Consumption of GPS reduced (P < 0·05) total tract Ca digestibility and whole-body retention of Ca and P compared with the control group. However, consumption of RCS increased (P < 0·05) total tract Ca digestibility compared with the control group. Caecal butyrate concentration was increased (P < 0·05) following consumption of RCS and GG in comparison with the control group. Consumption of all the RS varieties reduced (P < 0·05) caecal indole concentrations compared with the control. Caecal butyrate concentrations were positively correlated (P < 0·05; r 0·63–0·83) with thermal properties among the RS varieties. We conclude that nutrient utilisation and intestinal fermentation are differentially affected by the consumption of different RS varieties and types of fibres. Thermal properties associated with different RS varieties may be useful markers for developing RS varieties with specific functionality.


Context. Icy dust grains play an important role in the formation of complex molecules in the interstellar medium (ISH). Laboratory studies have mainly focused on the physical interactions and chemical pathways in ices containing rather simple molecules, such as H2O, CO, CO2 ,C H 4 ,a nd CH 3OH. Observational studies show that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are also abundantly present in the ISM in the gas phase. It is likely that these non-volatile species also freeze-out onto dust grains and participate in the astrochemical solid-state network, but additional experimental PAH ice studies are largely lacking. Aims. The study presented here focuses on a rather small PAH, pyrene (C16H10), and aims to understand and quantify photochemical reactions of PAHs in interstellar ices upon vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) irradiation as a function of astronomically relevant parameters. Methods. Near UV/VIS spectroscopy is used to track the in situ VUV driven photochemistry of pyrene containing ices at temperatures ranging from 10 to 125 K. Results. The main photoproducts of VUV photolyzed pyrene ices are spectroscopically identified and their band positions are listed for two host ices, H2O and CO. Pyrene ionization is found to be most efficient in H2O ices at low temperatures. The reaction products, triplet pyrene and the 1-hydro-1-pyrenyl radical are most efficiently formed in higher temperature water ices and in low temperature CO ice. Formation routes and band strength information of the identified species are discussed. Additionally, the oscillator strengths of Py, Py ·+ ,a nd PyH · are derived and a quantitative kinetic analysis is performed by fitting a chemical reaction network to the experimental data. Conclusions. Pyrene is efficiently ionized in water ice at temperatures below 50 K. Hydrogenation reactions dominate the chemistry in low temperature CO ice with trace amounts of water. The results are placed in an astrophysical context by determining the importance of PAH ionization in a molecular cloud. We conclude that the rate of pyrene ionization in water ice mantles is comparable to the rate of photodesorption of H2O ice. The photoprocessing of a sample PAH in ice described in this manuscript indicates that PAH photoprocessing in the solid state should also be taken into account in astrochemical models.


Partial diallel design can be used to investigate the general and specific combining ability, and heterosis. Combining ability and heterosis were studied in a 6×6 partial diallel cross to see the nature of gene action for fruit quality indices in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) during 2007 to 2009. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences among all the F1 hybrid means and their respective six parental values for all the traits examined. The mean squares of general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) were also highly significant. SCA genetic variances were greater than GCA and more important for the seedcell size, showing the additive and non-additive gene action. Fruit color was controlled by additive type of gene action due to high GCA variances. Fruit shape and overall performance were controlled additively and non-additively due to high general combining ability. Line 605 and 118 were found to be the best general combiner and its utilization produced valuable hybrids with desirable SCA F1 hybrids.


The study was carried out during the period of July 2010 to April 2012 to find out the effect of weather prevalence of seedling diseases ofmango in different areas of Bangladesh. The locations were Mymensingh Dinajpur, Rajshahi and Khagrachari. Altogether 12 nurseries in fourdistricts of Bangladesh were surveyed and mango seedling diseases were recorded. Incidence and severity of important seedling diseases ofhas been studied under different geographical locations (viz. Mymensingh, Dinajpur, Rajshahi and Khagrachari) of Bangladesh. The effects oftemperature, rainfall, and relative humidity on the incidence and severity of noted diseases were observed the aforesaid locations of Bangladesh.The studied diseases were anthracnose, leaf spot, red rust, powdery mildew, scab, bacterial leaf blight and malformation of mango seedlings.The graphs of weather parameters and incidence and severity of diseases were performed to determine the relationship between differentcomponents of climatic factor and seedling diseases of mango. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ijasbt.v3i1.11846 Int J Appl Sci Biotechnol, Vol. 3(1): 42-49


Abstract During long-term incubation of human peripheral blood lymphocytes with phytohemagglutinin (PHA), adenosine cyclic 3′:5′-monophosphate (cycllc AMP) phosphodiesterase increases about 5-fold and guanosine cyclic 3′:5′-monophosphate (cyclic GMP) phosphodiesterase increases about 10-fold in specific activity. Under similar conditions, there is little change in either basal or fluoride-stimulated adenylyl cyclase activity. The increase in cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase activity also occurs with other mitogenic activators of blastogenesis including concanavalin A, pokeweed mitogen, and Streptolysin O. Cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase activity in PHA-stimulated lymphocytes displays an increase in maximum velocity but no change in other kinetic properties when compared to that of unstimulated lymphocytes. Linear density gradient analyses of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases in mitogen-stimulated lymphocytes show an increased activity in lower (3.6S) and higher (5.9S) molecular weight forms of cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP phosphodiesterase. Hydroxyurea inhibits PHA-induced mitogenesis but has no effect on the observed increase in phosphodiesterase activity. 1-Methyl-3-isobutylxanthine inhibits PHA-induced mitogenesis and prevents the increase in cyclic GMP phosphodiesterase activity, but the increase in cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase activity is greater than that seen with PHA alone. The PHA-induced increase in cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP phosphodiesterase activity is inhibited by cycloheximide; however, Actinomycin D does not completely inhibit PHA stimulation of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase activity when it is used at a concentration that inhibits the PHA-induced increase in [ 3 H]-thymidine and [ 3 H]uridine incorporation by greater than 90%. These results indicate that de novo protein synthesis but not mitogenesis per se is required for the increased enzyme activity induced by mitogenic agents. The results are discussed with respect to the regulation of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase and to the role of these enzymes in lymphocyte proliferation.


Abrogation of pathogenic CD4+ T cells to the joints with fingolimod (FTY720) treatment prevents chikungunya virus–induced joint pathology. Taming T cells to ameliorate chikungunya arthritis Mosquito-borne chikungunya virus causes fever and joint pain; some patients suffer from arthritis for years with no treatment options. In this issue, two studies investigated targeting pathogenic CD4+ T cells to prevent arthritis symptoms in a mouse model of chikungunya virus infection. Teo et al. demonstrated that fingolimod, a drug that sequesters immune cells to lymphoid organs, was able to relieve arthritis symptoms without affecting viral replication. Miner et al. used a combination of abatacept, which blocks T cell costimulation, and a human chikungunya neutralizing antibody to reduce both viral replication and disease severity. Repurposing these clinically available therapies could provide treatment options for chikungunya patients. Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is one of the many rheumatic arthropod-borne alphaviruses responsible for debilitating joint inflammation in humans. Despite the severity in many endemic regions, clinically approved intervention targeting the virus remains unavailable. CD4+ T cells have been shown to mediate CHIKV-induced joint inflammation in mice. We demonstrate here that transfer of splenic CD4+ T cells from virus-infected C57BL/6 mice into virus-infected T cell receptor–deficient (TCR−/−) mice recapitulated severe joint pathology including inflammation, vascular leakages, subcutaneous edema, and skeletal muscle necrosis. Proteome-wide screening identified dominant CD4+ T cell epitopes in nsP1 and E2 viral antigens. Transfer of nsP1- or E2-specific primary CD4+ T cell lines into CHIKV-infected TCR−/− recipients led to severe joint inflammation and vascular leakage. This pathogenic role of virus-specific CD4+ T cells in CHIKV infections led to the assessment of clinically approved T cell–suppressive drugs for disease intervention. Although drugs targeting interleukin-2 pathway were ineffective, treatment with fingolimod, an agonist of sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor, successfully abrogated joint pathology in CHIKV-infected animals by blocking the migration of CD4+ T cells into the joints without any effect on viral replication. These results set the stage for further clinical evaluation of fingolimod in the treatment of CHIKV-induced joint pathologies.


Vapor phase ethyl-tert-butyl ether (ETBE) production was conducted in the presence of Cesium salts of silicotungstic acid (Cs-STA), activated carbon supported silicotungstic acid (AC-STA), and activated carbon supported Cesium salts of silicotungstic acid (AC-Cs-STA) catalysts. Isobutene (IB) conversion to ETBE at 373 K were determined as 0.16 and 0.2 for STA and AC-STA catalysts on constant space time basis. This increase of activity is one of the highlights of this study considering that STA loading in AC-STA catalysts had been adjusted to 40%. IB conversion to ETBE obtained at 373 K in the presence of AC-STA catalyst was found to be close to equilibrium. Stability of the synthesized catalysts were tested by applying a washing procedure with ethanol. Repeated ETBE synthesis with thoroughly washed samples indicated quite stable and active catalyts. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2011


The aim of this paper is to highlight the fundamental determinants of health in OECD countries between 2007 and 2017. The average level of life expectancy at birth was 80.6 years in 2017 in OECD countries. The tobacco and alcohol consumption decreased between 2007 and 2017 in several OECD countries. In the second part of our paper we are dealing with the health risk assessment among young people in Slovakia. The evaluation of socioeconomic impacts on the state of health is carried out in the form of open questions and based on the evaluation of the questionnaire. To test the statistical significance, we use the Pearson´s chi-square test of independency and the column proportions test. The results indicate that in the case of drinking alcohol, students who have part time job spend more money on an average on alcohol than students who do not work and the costs of alcohol per month are higher for men than women. We believe that the results can serve as a methodological platform for academics and policymakers for further setting of similar mapping of major health risks among the population.


Objective : Even resin composites and glass-ionomer cements are widely used for dental cervical region restorations, under erosive condition they can wear out quickly. This study aimed to compare, by means of bond strength by microshear, the performance of a resin composite (RC) and a resin-modified glass-ionomer cement (RMGIC) to eroded dentin and its association with 2% chlorhexidine up to 6 months. Material and Methods :. Eighty  sound third molars teeth were cutt to obtain flat coronal dentin, which were subsequently embedded in self-curing acrylic resin circular molds exposing only this surface available. Teeth were divided into two groups, according to the treatment with the Adper Single Bond 2 + RC Filtek Z250 (Z) or the RMGIC Vitremer (V). Half of the specimens were immersed in artificial saliva-AS for 24 hours (control groups) and half subjected to 3x/1 minute daily immersion in Regular Coca Cola ®-RC for 5 days. Half of the specimens for each described condition were treated with water and half with 2% chlorhexidine for 1 minute prior the restoration. For all groups, the specimens were stored in artificial saliva weekly renewed up to tests. The bonding strength was evaluated by  microshear test after 1 month and 6 months . Data, in normal distribution, were analyzed with 3-way ANOVA and Tukey (p <0.05). Results : Challenge factors, materials and time were statistically significant.. Restorations with Z showed significantly higher bond strength compared to V in all situations. There was a reduction in bond strength values over time for all tested conditions. The prior application of 2% chlorhexidine was able to preserve the Z bond strength between 1 and 6 months, but this factor was not statistically significant. Conclusion : For eroded dentin, the use of resin composite seems presents greater bond strength compared to resin-modified glass-material, disregarding their association to chlorhexidine or not.


To the Editor.— Although azaribine has been shown to be an effective drug in the treatment of psoriasis, the Food and Drug Administration has recently prohibited the use of this antimetabolite because of the possibility of an associated increased incidence of thromboembolism. We present a hypothesis and some preliminary supporting data that may explain this adverse effect. In 1969, high dosages of azaribine (400 mg/kg/day) were shown to result in the urinary excretion of various amino acids, including homocystine. 1, 2 Until recently, this appeared to be a mere biochemical curiosity. However, with the report of vascular complications in patients who were on a regimen of azaribine, similar to those complications found in patients with hereditary homocystinuria, we screened our patients who were receiving azaribine for the presence of homocystine in the blood and the urine. As homocystine is normally not present in either the blood or the urine, detectable


The article discusses various meanings which were ascribed to religion in the parliamentary debates of the perestroika period, which included Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, and other religious and lay deputies. Understood in a general sense, religion was supposed to become the foundation or an element of a new ideology and stimulate Soviet or post-Soviet transformations, either creating a new Soviet universalism or connecting the Soviet Union to the global universalism of human rights. The particularistic interpretations of religion viewed it as a marker of difference, dependent on or independent of ethnicity, and connected to collective rights. Despite the extensive contacts between the religious figures of different denominations, Orthodox Christianity enjoyed the most prominent presence in perestroika politics, which evoked criticisms of new power asymmetries in the transformation of the Soviet Union and contributed to the emergence of the Russian Federation as a new imperial, hierarchical polity rather than a decolonized one.


Nature harnesses the unique properties of cysteinyl radical intermediates for a diverse range of essential biological transformations including DNA biosynthesis and repair, metabolism, and biological photochemistry. In parallel, the synthetic accessibility and redox chemistry of cysteinyl radicals renders them versatile reactive intermediates for use in a vast array of synthetic applications such as lipidation, glycosylation and fluorescent labelling of proteins, peptide macrocyclization and stapling, desulfurisation of peptides and proteins, and development of novel therapeutics. This review provides the reader with an overview of the role of cysteinyl radical intermediates in both chemical synthesis and biological systems, with a critical focus on mechanistic details. Direct insights from biological systems, where applied to chemical synthesis, are highlighted and potential avenues from nature which are yet to be explored synthetically are presented.


800x600 Radioactive effluent that released to environment may influence the population externally and internally. In order to protect population from the impact of radiation hazard, environmental radionuclide concentration must be monitored periodically. Analysis of radionuclide in surface soil sample is one of the environmental radionuclide monitoring programs task. Analyze of radionuclide that contain in surface soil sample from Higashi Ishikawa sampling point have been done. The analysis results show insignificant difference compared with theoretical estimations and the average of JAEA's previous data. Radioactive effluent may be discharge to either the atmospheric or the aquatic environment. Radionuclide discharged to the atmosphere is dispersed due to normal atmospheric mixing processes. As they travel downwind, they irradiate the population externally and internally, the latter due to the inhalation of radionuclide from atmosphere. During their transport downwind radionuclide may be deposited from the atmosphere by impaction with the underlying surface or due to rain fall. This transfer onto land surface may lead to further irradiation of people by three important routes: external irradiation from deposited activity, internal irradiation from inhalation of re-suspended activity and ingestion of contaminated food. Liquid radioactive effluent may be discharged to fresh water (principally rivers), estuaries or marine environment. Radionuclide discharged to river is dispersed due to general water movement and sedimentation processes. The principal routes leading to the irradiation of people are external irradiation from sediment and internal irradiation due to ingestion of drinking water and food derived from the river, water used for irrigation of crops and pasture [1] . Man-made radionuclide was released into the environment trough nuclear weapons testing during the 1950's and 1960's mainly. The maximum annual deposition of 90 Sr and 137 Cs were recorded in 1963. After that the deposition of radionuclide from atmosphere decreased, however, most radionuclide that were deposit on land has been retained in surface soil layers. Obtaining the migration rates of radionuclide in the surface soils layer and the transfer factor of the radionuclide from soils to the crops are very important for radiation dose estimation [2] . Environment and peoples must be protected from the impact of radiation hazard. For this reason, environmental radionuclide concentration must be monitored periodically. Radionuclide that contained in atmosphere, surface soil, river water, food stuff, seawater, etc. can be known by some analytical methods and procedures. Sampling for surface soils and food stuffs (leafy vegetables, polished rice and milk) were done at observation area and reference area. Observation area is monitoring area under five kilometers radius from JAEA nuclear facilities. Reference area is area outside of observation area that monitored in order to take comparing data. Sampling for near shore seawater was done at four sampling points. Two sampling points are located at north from JAEA, i.e. Kujihama (6.5 km) and Toyoura (23 km). Two others sampling points are located at south from JAEA, i.e. Ajigaura (6.5 km) and Otake (27.5 km). Sampling for offshore seawater and seabed sediment were done using Seikai monitoring ship. Seafood stuff is bought from fisherman. On this paper, discussion is limited on analysis of radionuclide in surface soil sample from Higashi Ishikawa sampling point. Surface soil sample from Higashi Ishikawa sampling point have been analyzed. There are three analytical methods for analysis of radionuclide in surface soil sample, i.e. gamma spectrometry analysis for 137 Cs, oxalate precipitation for 90 Sr analysis and ion exchange for 239,240 Pu analysis. The analysis results are compared with JAEA's previous data and also compared with theoretical estimation using data from UNSCEAR 2000 REPORT [3] . Normal 0 false false false IN X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */
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Research investigating attributional style and job performance among sales staff has been limited by its focus on specific sales roles: notably selling insurance by telephone. Important questions therefore remain regarding the mechanism by which attributions influence job performance in sales roles more generally. This paper describes a field study comparing two attributional models of job performance: (1) a learned helplessness (LH) model, and (2) an achievement motivation (AM) model. Managers' performance ratings were collected for 452 retail sales assistants who completed a job-specific attribution questionnaire and a work-satisfaction questionnaire. Results indicate that sales assistants who made more internalcontrollable attributions for positive outcomes received higher performance ratings (r =.20, p<.01) and were more satisfied in their work (r =.12, p< .05). The findings provide support for an AM model of job performance among retail sales assistants. They suggest that more successful sales assistants proactively manage their environment in order to create opportunities for successful interactions with customers.


The purpose of the present paper is to discuss different error estimates for the numerical solution of a Dirichlet problem for the Poisson equation, calculated via the five point (discrete) Laplacian. Whereas the first error bound, a sum of ordinary L°°-moduli, is deduced from the usual stability inequality, use is made of some properties of the discrete Green function to verify another stability inequality in terms of l'-norms, which then implies the second estimate via r-moduli multiplied by a logarithm factor. In the following we will show that it depends on the solution of the boundary value problem which measure of smoothness or rather which error estimate delivers the correct rate of convergence. The paper concludes with some remarks illustrating relations to the well-known logarithm factor in connection with finite element approximation.


In today's changing healthcare marketplace, hospitals across the US are rapidly moving toward developing integrated healthcare delivery networks. In addition, the emergence of managed care and the growing trend toward capitation have compelled hospitals to reduce costs in response to these changes. Moreover, this impetus to provide quality care at reduced cost has affected the purchasing behavior of many hospitals, forcing material managers to pursue innovative procurement methods. This article describes how the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Medical Center, (Charleston, SC) obtained significant savings in purchasing as a result of pioneering legislative reforms in the procurement process.


Physical authentication brings extra security to software authentication by adding real-world input to conventional authentication protocols. Existing solutions such as textual and graphical passwords are subject to brute force and shoulder sur fing attacks, while users are reluctant to use biometrics for identifi cation, due to its intrusiveness. This paper uses Hamiltonian tokens as authentication means. The proposed token structure offers many possible configurations ( i.e., passwords) and is small enough to be carried on a physical keychain. After presenting our general idea, we describe an e fficient algorithm to produce these tokens. Our procedure was validated by running a recognition campaign on a wide batch of synthetic samples, and experimented on prototypes manufactured using a commercial 3D-printer.


Given that foods and nutrients have been shown to influence the pharmacokinetics of drugs, drugs may cause changes in the nutritional status of patients and their response to a given drug. Food‑drug interactions are particularly relevant for drugs used to treat neurological and psychological diseases. This review provides an overview of food‑drug interaction in the treatment of neurological and psychological diseases. A literature search was carried out by collecting data from different reviews, reports, and original articles on general or specific drug interactions with food, in patients with a variety of neurological and psychological diseases. Based on our review, we found that food‑drug interactions may alter the expected impact of drug, or cause the development of a drug toxicity. Nutritional status of the patients may also be affected, particularly a change in body weight caused by a change appetite. Metabolism, absorption, and excretion of foods may also be altered, and nutritional insufficiencies may occur. Recent studies show that diet can have a strong influence on gut microbiota and thus, alter drug pharmacokinetics. Therefore, microbiota alterations should also be considered while assessing food‑drug interactions. Knowledge of food‑drug interactions is critical for improving health of patients with neurological and psychological diseases, and also for improving effectiveness of treatments.


There is no known network with instantaneous channel state information at the transmitters (CSIT) for which (output) feedback enhances the degrees of freedom (or the signaling dimensions) of the network. In this paper, we show that the DoF of wireless networks with delayed CSIT however, can increase with output feedback. This result is shown by obtaining the degrees of freedom (DoF) region for the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) fast fading interference channel (IC) with an arbitrary number of antennas at each node, under the Shannon feedback setting wherein the channel matrices (i.e., the channel state) and the channel outputs are available at the transmitters with a finite delay. While for most numbers of antennas at the four terminals, it is shown that the DoF region with Shannon feedback is the same as the DoF region with just delayed CSIT, it is shown that this is not always the case. For a specific class of MIMO ICs characterized by a certain relationship between the numbers of antennas at the four nodes, the DoF region with Shannon feedback is strictly bigger than the DoF region with just delayed CSIT. To realize these DoF gains attainable with Shannon feedback, a new retrospective interference alignment scheme is developed wherein transmitter cooperation made possible by output feedback in addition to delayed CSIT is employed to effect a more efficient form of interference alignment than feasible with previously known schemes that require just delayed CSIT.


Abstract We describe how properties of metric groups and of unitary representations of metric groups can be presented in continuous logic. In particular we find Lω1ω-axiomatization of amenability. We also show that in the case of locally compact groups some uniform version of the negation of Kazhdan's property (T) can be viewed as a union of first-order axiomatizable classes. We will see when these properties are preserved under taking elementary substructures.


Transatlantic Relations: Race, Labor, and Sexuality in the Afro-Asian Diaspora is a comparative and interdisciplinary study that examines literary and cultural representations of the East Indian worker within twentieth century literature produced by black intellectuals struggling to articulate anti-imperialist and transracial narratives of freedom, liberty, and justice. I contend that Pauline E. Hopkins, Claude McKay, C.L.R. James, and Peter Abrahams rearticulated the political dynamics of colonial and imperial power in order to critique dominant narratives of progress, development, and self-governance found in western modernity. In doing so, they mobilized the highly redemptive figure of the racially liminal and sexually deviant East Indian worker to illustrate the weaknesses of black and creole nationalist projects, imagine alternative reorganizations of society produced from multiple histories of East Indian migration and African slavery, and defy parochial but potent pervasions of British liberalism that pitted and defined Africans and Asians against each other. Their figurings of East Indian workers or subjects, I argue, are both ambivalent and affective, nurturing the desire for producing developmental narratives of national inclusion while battling the fermentation of nationalist fervor. While the East Indian worker, who occupies a pivotal and incendiary role in their narratives, helps to consolidate black intellectuals' claims to national inclusion, national integration, and self-government by reconfiguring black female sexuality or black masculinity as productive and generative, this subject also functions to undermine those very categories of identification, of subject formation, and personhood. The contradictions in their narratives particularly illuminate the tension between striving for citizenship, for freedom, for community, and rearticulating and reimagining those very same ideologies in alternative modes that require unification and integration.


Electrocoagulation is electrochemical water treatment and the simplest technology for wastewater treatment using an electrochemical cell in which the supply of DC power is applied to the electrodes made of aluminum, and the electrolyte is wastewater. The experiments were conducted using oily bilge water in an electrocoagulation batch reactor. The electrodes were aluminum with dimensions (20 cm × 8 cm × 0.2 cm) mounted at a distance of 4 cm vertically. Aluminum plate was then connected to a direct current power supply having a 220 V input and output of 10 V with electric current of 10-15 A. The total area of the effective working of the plate was 160 cm 2 when was immersed at a depth of 10 cm to the solution. The deposition process was maintained constant around 30-60 minutes. The results showed that the process could reduce the turbidity from 114.1 to14.3 NTU and the highest solids concentration obtained was 12.54 g/l with initial oil concentration of 50 g/l within 60 minutes. The largest oil removal of 98.75% was obtained using the initial concentration of oil 75 g/l and the lowest of 96.25% was obtained with the initial oil concentration of 150 g / l.


As a result of recent preventable corporate failures (e.g., Enron, WorldCom, Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae), there is a growing desire to understand what might motivate employees to courageously detect and deflect organizational problems before they harm the entire organization. Based on 94 interviews we conducted with a wide variety of employees who witnessed or undertook courageous actions, we inductively developed a model using employees' accounts of the unfolding sequence of events. We learned that employees report engaging in courageous workplace actions when they feel responsible for dealing with a challenging situation such as a workplace error, an abuse of power, an ambiguous situation, or someone in need. We interpreted the stories of courage as suggesting that workplace courage may be a two-stage process, where actors first determine their level of personal responsibility to respond to the challenging situation and then determine the potential social costs of acting. Our model of the courageous workplace action appears to challenge the conventional wisdom of courage as being attributed to a person's disposition, may enrich theories of intrinsic motivation, and may help clarify the role of cognition in courageous action. Our findings may also help to resolve some of the contradictory evidence regarding the antecedents of the many organizational constructs related to courage including whistle-blowing, voice, speaking up, taking charge, positive deviance, and organizational dissent.


Dirichlet Process mixture models (DPMM) in combination with Gaussian kernels have been an important modeling tool for numerous data domains arising from biological, physical, and social sciences. However, this versatility in applications does not extend to strong theoretical guarantees for the underlying parameter estimates, for which only a logarithmic rate is achieved. In this work, we (re)introduce and investigate a metric, named Orlicz-Wasserstein distance, in the study of the Bayesian contraction behavior for the parameters. We show that despite the overall slow convergence guarantees for all the parameters, posterior contraction for parameters happens at almost polynomial rates in outlier regions of the parameter space. Our theoretical results provide new insight in understanding the convergence behavior of parameters arising from various settings of hierarchical Bayesian nonparametric models. In addition, we provide an algorithm to compute the metric by leveraging Sinkhorn divergences and validate our findings through a simulation study.


This paper emphasizes the role played by the sculptural tradition in the elaboration of religious narratives that today are mostly studied through texts. It aims to demonstrate that according to the documents we know, the legend of Kṛṣṇa has been built through one continuous dialogue between different media, namely texts and carvings, and different linguistic areas, Indo-Aryan and Dravidian. Taking the motif of the butter theft as a basis, we stress the role played by the sculptural tradition and Tamil poetry, two elements less studied than others, at the foundation of a pan-Indian Kṛṣṇa-oriented heritage. We posit that the iconographic formula of the cowherds' station as the significant background of the infancy of Kṛṣṇa led to the motif of the young god stealing butter in the texts, through the isolation of one significant element of the early sculpted images. The survey of the available documents leads to the conclusion that, in the southern part of the peninsula, patterns according to which stone carvings were done have been a source of inspiration in Tamil literature. Poets writing in Tamil authors knew texts transmitted in Sanskrit, Prākrit, and Pāli, and they certainly had listened to some others to which we have no access today. But we give reasons to assume that the authors of the said texts were also aware of the traditional ways of representing a child Kṛṣṇa in the visual domain. With these various traditions, poets of the Tamil country in the later stage of Tamil Caṅkam literature featured a character they may not have consciously created, as he was already existent in the visual tradition and nurtured by the importance of one landscape animated by cowherds in the legend of Kṛṣṇa.


The paper tries to estimate the natural rate of unemployment in the case of Romania, concentrating on implementing an econometric schedule in order to estimate the value of the NAIRU. One of the major problems in literature is that of identification, and the solution could be in finding certain instrumental variable to be correlated with unemployment, but non-correlated with supply shocks. Practically, to identify such valid instruments is very difficult and, consequently, only few studies are reporting concluding results. However, there are many economists that questioned the assumption of a constant NAIRU. A growing literature seeks to estimate the path of a time-varying NAIRU. This literature is based on the idea that movements in U* are long-term shifts in the unemployment-inflation relationship, while the shock v includes short-run fluctuations. Some authors estimate U* by positing a stochastic process for U* (such as a random walk) and a stochastic process for v (such as white noise) and then using a statistical procedure that separates Phillips-curve shifts into these two kinds of shocks. We use an approach that is simpler but yields similar results. Firstly, we are supposing that it is given the value of parameter a, which expresses the slope of the unemployment-inflation trade-off. Then, we rearrange terms to obtain the following equation U*+(v/a)=U+(Dp/a). Its right-hand side can be computed from the statistical data, generating in this way an estimate of U*+(v/a), which in fact measures the shifts in the Phillips curve. Within this sum, U* represents the longer-term trends and v/a is proportional to the short-term shocks. Therefore, it is natural to try to extract U* from U*+(v/a) using a standard approach to estimate the trend in a series. As a rule, in literature it is used the Hodrick-Prescott filter. The HP filter is a generalization of a linear time trend that allows the slope of the trend to change gradually over time. Formally, the HP filter minimizes the sum of squared deviations between the trend and the actual series, with a penalty for curvature l that keeps the trend smooth. In the case in which there is no penalty, the filter will yield the original series; but when the penalty is very high, it will yield a linear time trend. To implement this procedure, we must choose two parameters: the Phillips curve slope, a, and the smoothing parameter, l, respectively (this makes that the trend, U*, be smoothed and not with large oscillations, by replacing the ordinary procedure of fitting every movement in U*+(v/a)). The choice of this parameter is largely arbitrarily. In fact, the HP filter is equivalent to an interpolation method. Therefore, given a time series, it is natural to consider as candidate every other method permitting to estimate a smooth trend. In our exercise on the Romanian economy during the transition period, we used three different function-filters: regress, loess, and ksmooth. On the basis of simulations, one may see the unfavorable impact of a positive difference between the effective unemployment rate and NAIRU on inflation dynamics (Dp). It is demonstrated the points in area (2D space) DU-Dp are distributed in the sectors II and IV (denoted in trigonometric sense) over the right line transcending the origin of the coordination axes. Eventual differences (the evading from the two mentioned sectors) can be attributed to the short run supply shocks.


Latino children living in the context of domestic violence (DV) often lack access to culturalspecific services. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among Latino children's level of cognitive development (age), country of origin and psychological adjustment as well as styles of coping with domestic violence . Analysis of data collected from an interview conducted with Latino children at a local DV intervention program suggests that Latino children utilize a range of coping responses when confronted with violence in their homes. In a regression analysis using psychological adjustment as the dependent variable, developmental age was not related to adjustment in children. However, country of origin was a significant predictor of psychological adjustment. That is, immigrant children reported lower levels of psychological adjustment compared to children born in the U.S. This remained true while controlling for age, coping strategy, and family cohesion. The growing number of immigrant Latino children in the United States increases the need for culturally relevant research with racial and ethnic minority groups in regard to DV. These findings suggest immigrant Latino children have unique needs in the context of DV. INDEX WORDS: domestic violence, family cohesion, psychological adjustment, Latino youth


Human Cdc34 is an ubiquitin conjugating enzyme or E2 that ubiquitinates substrates including p27Kip1, I?B?, Wee1, and MyoD. Cdc34 possesses a core catalytic domain encoding the active site cysteine and an acidic tail domain within the carboxyl terminal 36 amino acids. Studies suggest that Cdc34 is phosphorylated in mammalian cells at 5 potential residues within the tail domain. In order to study the biological significance of the Cdc34 acidic tail domain and the possible significance of phosphorylation within this region, we tested the ability of human Cdc34 mutants to complement the cdc34-2 temperature sensitive (ts) strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Our studies indicated that complementation of the cdc34-2 ts strain was critically dependent upon the carboxyl-terminal 36 amino acids of human Cdc34, but did not require phosphorylation of human Cdc34 residues S203, S222, S231, T233, and S236. Further studies demonstrated that although a Cdc34 mutant bearing a deletion of the C-terminal 36 amino acids (Cdc34 1-200) was efficiently charged with ubiquitin by E1, it was severely reduced for the ability to ubiquitinate p27Kip1 in vitro compared to wildtype Cdc34. Both in vivo and in vitro binding studies indicated that Cdc34 1-200 bound to the E3-SCF components, Cul1 and Roc1, at levels comparable to the wildtype Cdc34. These studies suggest that the 36 amino acid acidic tail domain of human Cdc34 is critical for its ability to transfer ubiquitin to a substrate and is dispensable for the association of Cdc34 with Cul1 and Roc1. We postulate that the tail domain of Cdc34 may be important for its efficient dissociation from Cul1 and Roc1, an essential requirement for ubiquitination by the budding yeast Cdc34p, or it may be required more directly for ubiquitin transfer to the substrate.


This research and study guide aggregates resources useful for the study of Arabic literature of all periods. The guide serves as an introduction to resources available through Cornell University Library system.


By its nature, the power system exists in a distributed environment. Therefore the electric power information system has to provide sophisticated methodologies to fulfil the requirements for distribution and replication of data. In this paper we present our experience with the replicated and distributed database environment, particularly aiming at the needs of power a distribution system. In our research, Oracle database and Oracle Enterprise Manager were used. During this phase, we have focused our research on concepts and basis of distributed database system and replication of data. We created a test environment in which distribution and replication of simple data, GIS data and multimedia data is made.


Author(s): Knight, Abigail | Advisor(s): Francis, Matthew B | Abstract: Ligands with the ability to selectively chelate individual metals can be applied in heavy metal remediation, recycling, and metal separations, yet such ligands are currently rare and those processes are avoided or expensive due to the use of nonspecific methods. In order to identify compounds that will selectively chelate metal ions, we designed and synthesized a peptoid library and several screening methods to identify motifs capable of chelating low concentrations of various metal ions in complex sample media. Peptoids, or N-substituted glycine oligomers, are a recently developed class of peptidomimetics that have a variety of new structures and applications. The first target application was the remediation of water contaminated with toxic Cr(VI). Identified structures outperformed commercially available resins and demonstrated the ability to reduce the amount of Cr(VI) to levels within the range of the EPA guidelines. A new library generation was developed for the selective coordination of individual ions in a biological context. One target of this library was lethal Cd(II), and peptoid-based ligands were capable of reducing the concentrations of Cd(II) in human serum to 0.5 μM, comparable to the reported threshold for acute toxicity. After demonstrating the success of this screening platform, the platform has been adapted for many applications with a variety of metal ions described within. Towards the development of inexpensive functional materials, a biorthogonal bioconjugation reaction has been applied to immobilize peptoid sequences after synthesis. This work begins to illuminate the diverse array of applications of selective ligands for individual metal ions and demonstrates the potential for peptoids in highly functional materials.


This work provides the first theoretical study on the ability of graph Message Passing Neural Networks (gMPNNs) -- such as Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) -- to perform inductive out-of-distribution (OOD) link prediction tasks, where deployment (test) graph sizes are larger than training graphs. We first prove non-asymptotic bounds showing that link predictors based on permutation-equivariant (structural) node embeddings obtained by gMPNNs can converge to a random guess as test graphs get larger. We then propose a theoretically-sound gMPNN that outputs structural pairwise (2-node) embeddings and prove non-asymptotic bounds showing that, as test graphs grow, these embeddings converge to embeddings of a continuous function that retains its ability to predict links OOD. Empirical results on random graphs show agreement with our theoretical results.


Analytical techniques are generally inadequate for dealing with causal interrelationships among a set of individual and social concepts. Usually, causal maps are used to cope with this type of interrelationships. However, the classical view of causal maps is based on an intuitive view with ad hoc rules and no precise semantics of the primitive concepts, nor a sound formal treatment of relations between concepts. We solve this problem by proposing a formal model for causal maps with a precise semantics based on relational algebra and the software tool, CM-RELVIEW, in which it has been implemented. Then, we investigate the issue of using this tool in multiagent environments by explaining through different examples how and why this tool is useful for the following aspects: 1) the reasoning on agents' subjective views, 2) the qualitative distributed decision making, and 3) the organization of agents considered as a holistic approach. For each of these aspects, we focus on the computational mechanisms developed within CM-RELVIEW to support it.