Post-Natal Depression challenges the expectation that it is normal to be a 'happy mother'. It provides a radical critique of the traditional medical and social science explanations of 'post natal depression' by supplying a systematic feminist psychological analysis of women's experiences following childbirth. Paula Nicolson argues that, far from it being an abnormal, undesirable, pathological condition, it is a normal, healthy response to a series of losses. Post Natal Depression makes an important contribution to the psychology of women and feminist research and will be of interst to psychologists, social scientists, nurses and doctors.


Only a small number of truly exceptional international leaders have emanated from Africa. One of these is the South African Nobel Prize winner, Nelson Mandela. In reality, Africa is poorly led and most African countries still carry the burden of neo-patrimonial leaders who cling to their own knowledge, ideas, judgments and leadership positions, while rarely accepting advice from followers. 1 Africa is known to have well-intended reforms, but without the necessary galvanising action. While improved leadership in Africa might not be the only answer to addressing nutritional problems, it would definitely be a first step in the right direction. 2


The tumor suppressor protein p53 mediates critical cellular functions including regulation of cell cycle, apoptosis, DNA repair, and senescence. This protein has been found to be inactivated or functionally down-regulated in several malignancies such as Li-Fraumeni syndrom, hepatocellular carcinoma, breast cancer, cervical cancer, and acute myeloid leukemia. Thus, p53 represents an attractive target for therapeutic design and development of new anticancer agents. The most clinically used cytotoxic agents target stabilization of wt-p53 through DNA damage and are associated with several unwanted and life threatening side effects. There are a number of recently developed approaches that hold promise for non-genotoxic reactivation of p53. Earlier, we have reported various inhibitors of p53 and their importance to prevent unwanted death of normal cells in a variety of diseases [1]. To extend p53 protein as new target for anticancer agents, in this review we discussed the mechanisms of p53 inactivation. Subsequently, we described some of recently developed non-genotoxic activators of p53 and their significance in various neoplastic disorders. Additionally, we summarized advantages of nongenotoxic p53-activating agents over conventional anticancer therapy and challenges in future of p53 based therapy.


Intrabody signal propagation uses human body tissue as the communication medium. Human body tissue consists of various components in aqueous medium which are electrolytic in nature. Changes in the amount of water in the body changes the volume of the body fluid which in turn alters the overall impedance of the tissues. These changes affect the signal attenuation of an electrical signal passing through those tissues. We investigate the effect of body fluid changes on intrabody signal propagating between 900 kHz and 1.5 MHz. Our empirical measurements on 6 subjects show that within the first 20 minutes after intake of 600 ml of water, a propagating galvanic coupled signal would have maximum rate of signal gain occurring between 900 kHZ and 1.1 MHz. Understanding that rate at which the signal changes dues to changes in body fluid level can be used for investigating human body hydration patterns with potential application in diagnosing or monitoring body fluid disorder and diseases associated with loss or rapid gain of body fluid.


Although the conflicting relationship between heritage and tourism has been debated at length in the Western academic literature, interest in the relationship is now becoming increasingly pronounced across the developing world with particular interest noted in China. To examine this phenomenon further, this study explores the cause and temporal variation of conflicts between heritage and tourism over the past decade in China. Content analysis was adopted as the most appropriate methodology for the study with data from online media reports serving as the primary data for the analysis of the occurrence of heritage and tourism conflicts in China. The findings highlight antiquated management structures, inappropriate tourism operations, and the ineffective use or deficiency of legislation as the primary causes of heritage and tourism conflicts in China with the categories of conflicts varying from clashes relating to resource use to clashes over values. The findings also shed light on the significant role played by the media in the resolution of conflicts. Finally, implications and limitations of the study's findings are discussed.


Mosquito-borne arboviruses are prevalent throughout subarctic regions of Canada and Alaska, principally in the boreal forest extending between latitudes 53 and 66 degrees N, but they have been identified in tundra regions as far north as 70 degrees N. All mosquito-borne agents have been bunyaviruses, comprising principally the snowshoe hare subtype of California encephalitis (CE) virus, but also Northway virus. Mosquito vectors comprise several Aedes species and Culiseta inornata, all of which have supported replication of CE virus following incubation at 13 degrees C or lower temperatures. Isolation of virus from wild-caught larvae points towards transovarial transfer. Principal vertebrate reservoirs of infection are mammals, especially snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) and ground squirrels (Citellus undulatus). Where the boreal forest merges into prairie grassland around 53 degrees N, Culex tarsalis mosquitoes become prevalent, and an alphavirus, western equine encephalomyelitis, is detected more frequently than CE virus.


Background Scapholunate interosseous ligament (SLIL) injuries can often be difficult to detect using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), especially with older 1.0 and 1.5 Tesla magnets. Wrist arthroscopy is the gold standard for diagnosis of SLIL injuries, but is an invasive procedure with associated risks. Purpose To assess whether SLIL injuries can be more accurately detected using axial MRI sequences instead of coronal sequences. Material and Methods An institutional review board approved retrospective analysis of arthroscopic wrist surgeries performed at our institution. Patients that had a preoperative MRI performed at our university center using a 1.5 Tesla scanner with a dedicated wrist coil were included in the study. Three fellowship-trained musculoskeletal radiologists reviewed the axial sequences and coronal sequences independently. The accuracy of the coronal and axial sequences was compared with the arthroscopic/surgical findings. Result Twenty-six patients met the inclusion criteria. The sensitivity for SLIL tears was 79% and 65% for the axial and coronal sequences, respectively. The specificity was 82% for the axial and 69% for the coronal sequences, respectively. The positive and negative predictive values for the axial sequences were 76% and 84% respectively, compared to 68% and 71% for the coronal sequences, a statistically significant difference. Conclusion SLIL tears are more readily detectable on axial MRI sequences than coronal. Clinically, patients with radial-sided wrist pain and suspicion for SLIL tears should have the axial sequences scrutinized carefully. An otherwise normal study with the axial sequence being degraded by motion or other MRI artifacts might need repeat imaging.


Distributed Gaussian process (DGP) is a popular approach to scale GP to big data which divides the training data into some subsets, performs local inference for each partition, and aggregates the results to acquire global prediction. To combine the local predictions, the conditional independence assumption is used which basically means there is a perfect diversity between the subsets. Although it keeps the aggregation tractable, it is often violated in practice and generally yields poor results. In this paper, we propose a novel approach for aggregating the Gaussian experts' predictions by Gaussian graphical model (GGM) where the target aggregation is defined as an unobserved latent variable and the local predictions are the observed variables. We first estimate the joint distribution of latent and observed variables using the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm. The interaction between experts can be encoded by the precision matrix of the joint distribution and the aggregated predictions are obtained based on the property of conditional Gaussian distribution. Using both synthetic and real datasets, our experimental evaluations illustrate that our new method outperforms other state-of-the-art DGP approaches.


Russia's agrifood industry, including processing, wholesale, and retail underwent tremendous changes since the collapse of the Soviet Union. In this transition from the planned to a market economy, supermarkets emerged as important players in Russia, affecting agrifood system via organizational and institutional changes including centralization of procurement from farmers and demanding private standards on product quality and safety.This study examines the penetration of supermarket chains and factors contributing to development of modern retailing in Russia. The panel data at regional level is used in order to investigate the factors influencing on modernization of retail sector in Russia.


Areas of priority for intensive discovery would be the agbiotechnology and biomedical sectors using gene technology as a platform. The use of genetic manipulation in farming and the use of plants as 'pharma' factories to manufacture therapeutics would be on the rise. The human genome will continue to have a powerful impact on research and development of human diseases and healthcare. Discovery of genetics and pharmacogenomics will have great impact on drug development and will allow the prediction of the patient' s response to various drugs as well as the onset of individualised or 'designer drugs'. Human stem cells could have their cellular clocks reset by the cloning process, enhancing opportunities to grow young cells, tissues and organs for an aging population. The cellular clock could also be reset by therapeutic cloning. Bioinformatics would be a technology which would be synonymous with biotechnology. The analyses of biotechnology research would be conducted in silico and would involve the exchange of information among sophisticated computer databases. Applications of biotechnology would be even more evident in environmental technology, food development and food processing. In electronics, the use of the specificity of proteins in biochips is underway. In tandem with the explosions in research, regulatory issues, legislation and intellectual property rights will evolve to enhance the climate of discovery and innovation. Public education will have to be continually enhanced as awareness could negate any fear resulting from novel and innovative improvements from biotechnology.


The high cost involved in the retrieval and repair of robotic manipulators used for remediating nuclear waste, processing hazardous chemicals, or for exploring space or the deep sea, places a premium on the reliability of the system as a whole. For such applications, kinematically redundant manipulators are inherently more reliable since the additional degrees of freedom (DOF) may compensate for a failed joint. In this work, a redundant manipulator is considered to be fault tolerant with respect to a given task if it is guaranteed to be capable of performing the task after any one of its joints has failed and is locked in place. A method is developed for insuring the failure tolerance of kinematically redundant manipulators with respect to a given critical task. Techniques are developed for analyzing the manipulator's workspace to find regions which are inherently suitable for critical tasks due to their relatively high level of failure tolerance. Then, constraints are imposed on the range of motion of the manipulator to guarantee that a given task is completable regardless of which joint fails. These concepts are illustrated for a PUMA 560 that is used for a three-dimensional positioning task.<<ETX>>


In 2007, Malawi became an early adopter of integrated community case management for childhood illnesses (iCCM), a policy aimed at community-level treatment for malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia for children below 5 years. Through a retrospective case study, this article explores critical issues in implementation that arose during policy formulation through the lens of the innovation (i.e. iCCM) and of the institutions involved in the policy process. Data analysis is founded on a documentary review and 21 in-depth stakeholder interviews across institutions in Malawi. Findings indicate that the characteristics of iCCM made it a suitable policy to address persistent challenges in child mortality, namely that ill children were not interacting with health workers on a timely basis and consequently were dying in their communities. Further, iCCM was compatible with the Malawian health system due to the ability to build on an existing community health worker cadre of health surveillance assistants (HSAs) and previous experiences with treatment provision at the community level. In terms of institutions, the Ministry of Health (MoH) demonstrated leadership in the overall policy process despite early challenges of co-ordination within the MoH. WHO, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and implementing organizations played a supportive role in their position as knowledge brokers. Greater challenges were faced in the organizational capacity of the MoH. Regulatory issues around HSA training as well as concerns around supervision and overburdening of HSAs were discussed, though not fully addressed during policy development. Similarly, the financial sustainability of iCCM, including the mechanisms for channelling funding flows, also remains an unresolved issue. This analysis highlights the role of implementation questions during policy development. Despite several outstanding concerns, the compatibility between iCCM as a policy alternative and the local context laid the foundation for Malawi's road to early adoption of iCCM.


Bicycles are environmentally friendly and easy to operate. However, the bicycling environment in Japan is inadequate compared with many developed countries. Bicycle accidents have been increasing in recent years, and safety measures are needed to improve the bicycling environment. Although road surface conditions have improved, as reflected in the recent barrier-free policy for elderly and disabled pedestrians, an uneven surface between the road and the crosswalk can help to reduce accidents by reducing running speed. Because the most frequent type of bicycle accident is a collision with a car at an intersection, the accident-prevention potential of an uneven surface at an intersection crosswalk was examined. Students were asked to run along specific routes, and speed and vibration changes when they passed through intersections were measured. On the basis of the results, an analysis was made of what road environments would benefit from an uneven crossing surface. An uneven surface was found to reduce speeds at intersections with limited sight distance. However, other appropriate safety measures must be applied to reduce bicycle speed when an uneven crossing surface cannot be used because of the barrier-free policy.


Gastro-peritoneal fistula is a rare but serious complication of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy with significant morbidity and mortality. We present the case of a 42-year-old man who underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy for morbid obesity and presented later with a history of chronic epigastric pain and severe reflux. Upper gastrointestinal series showed the presence of a communicating fistula between the stomach and the left hemi-diaphragm and peri-splenic area.


Metastatic osteosarcoma with direct cardiac involvement is an exceptionally rare finding, with only 63 total reported cases in the English literature over the past 123 years. Although the precise incidence is unknown, we estimate that direct cardiac involvement currently occurs in <2% of metastatic osteosarcoma cases. We also find that before the adoption of adjuvant chemotherapy as a standard of care therapy for osteosarcoma, metastatic osteosarcoma to the heart was much more common than it is today, as cardiac involvement occurred in ∼20% of cases of metastatic osteosarcoma before the 1980s. This suggests that adjuvant chemotherapy has not only improved the overall prognosis of osteosarcoma, but also altered the metastatic pattern of disease. In this paper we present the case of an 11-year-old boy with metastatic osteosarcoma to the cardiac interventricular septum, as well as review 20 other previously reported pediatric cases of metastatic osteosarcoma to the heart. We also analyzed the cardiac surgical outcomes for 11 pediatric patients with metastatic osteosarcoma to the heart. The median disease-free survival time was 12 months, demonstrating that metastatic osteosarcoma to the heart is currently a rare occurrence with a poor prognosis.


Blockchain technology offers firms a novel method of raising capital, via so-called Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). In the most novel form of an ICO, a firm creates digital assets called "utility tokens" that are tracked on a blockchain-based ledger; requires that its product be purchased only with those tokens; and then raises capital by selling these tokens to investors prior to creating any saleable product. We point out a fundamental paradox with the use of ICOs involving utility tokens. Requiring the use of utility tokens to purchase the firm's product increases the cost of that product by an amount proportional to the cost of running the blockchain that tracks the utility token. In order to increase product revenue—and thus capital raised via an ICO—the firm will want to reduce these blockchain-operating costs. Doing so, however, increases the number of utility-token transactions that take place in any time interval, i.e., increases token velocity and thus the effective supply of tokens. By Fisher's equation, this lowers the dollar value of tokens and thus the amount investors are willing to pay for them. This paradox limits the value of utility-token ICOs. We discuss alternatives to and variations of utility tokens that can mitigate the conundrum.


Recent Kaldorian growth models emphasize the need to reconcile the demand-led actual rate of growth and the potential rate of growth. This issue is revisited in light of criticism suggesting it is a "red herring". An explicit model of the supply side is used to show that, in a mature economy, it is unlikely that steady-state, demand-led growth will always be automatically accommodated by the supply side. The conclusion reached is that attention must, therefore, be paid to the possible emergence of supply constraints on growth, and the implications thereof for steady-state, demand-led growth models.


We estimate the correction of relativistic center-of-mass vector on electric polarizability of an equal-mass quark-antiquark system numerically. Effect on the system confined by different interactive potentials is analysed. A great improvement for the electric polarizability of pion meson is obtained.


With decreasing costs of high quality surveillance systems, human activity detection and tracking has become increasingly practical. Accordingly, automated systems have been designed for numerous detection tasks, but the task of detecting illegally parked vehicles has been left largely to the human operators of surveillance systems. We propose a methodology for detecting this event in realtime by applying a novel image projection that reduces the dimensionality of the image data and thus reduces the computational complexity of the segmentation and tracking processes. After event detection, we invert the transformation to recover the original appearance of the vehicle and to allow for further processing that may require the two dimensional data. The proposed algorithm is able to successfully recognize illegally parked vehicles in real-time in the i-LIDS bag and vehicle detection challenge datasets.


The vicissitudes of Ferdinand Magellan's famous exploration and navigation enterprise enabled the circumnavigation of the globe between 1519 and 1522, were the reason why information about what occurred was initially insufficient though later it proved more satisfactory, although never as much as could be desired at the time and by posterity. The primary sources recount what happened at the time, both in documents originating during the voyage and immediately upon the return of the sole survivor of the five ships comprising the expedition's fleet, along with the circumstances in which such information was obtained or was available. Similarly, the news collected and transmitted later by third parties was always based on reports or news provided by former crew members in a process of accumulation that has taken centuries. Both documentary, written and graphic sources including maps, as well as oral memory are considered as pertaining to the understanding of the formation of the archive collected around this transcendent historical activity.


Abstract – The diet of top predators can provide useful information on phenology and abundance of their prey. The cosmopolitan and specialist Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus is an ideal model to assess whether food changes have occurred in the long-term. In this contribution, we reviewed all available literature on Peregrine Falcon diet in Italy which contained 11 detailed datasets useful for our review, and also included analysis of pellets, collected at three breeding sites of Sicily during 2014 and 2015. These data allowed us to shed light on the Peregrine Falcon's diet over the last forty years (1978-2015). We calculated the numerical and biomass percentage of the resident and not-resident prey proportions, as well as the trophic diversity of diet in each site using the Simpson diversity index. To describe the Peregrine Falcon food niche and investigate whether year, habitat and latitude effects existed in its diet, we used a 2nd-degree factorial ANOVA. Over 1,550 prey, 110 bird species accounted for 98.58% of frequency and 99.79% of biomass. Modelling showed a year effect, with the quota and biomass of resident prey species increasing across the forty years of the study period, in a way complementary to the decrease of the quota and biomass of not-resident prey species. Conversely, habitat and latitude predicted significantly trophic diversity that was larger in rural than urban habitats, and at northern than southern latitudes. The strong numerical and biomass decrease of not-resident prey in the trophic niche of Peregrine Falcon in Italy could be related to the negative population trends of both migratory and summer-breeder farmland species. Actually the bulk of prey of the Peregrine Falcon in Italy is formed by a restricted group of resident Corvidae and Columbidae, which have remarkably increased in the last years. This could trigger more dependence on resident prey in the long term, making the Peregrine Falcons more vulnerable to control programs or eradication of specific prey populations or exposing them locally to high risk of infections (chlamydiosis, avian trichomiasis) transferred by feral species.


Note From the Writing Group: Throughout this article, the reader will notice combinations of superscripted letters and numbers (eg, "Chest Pain Observation Units"). These callouts are hyperlinked to evidence-based worksheets, which were used in the development of this article. An appendix of worksheets, applicable to this article, is located at the end of the text. The worksheets are available in PDF format and are open access.


The GUESS (Greenhouse Use of Energy Seedling Simulator) model is a lumped-parameter coupled dynamic simulation combining a carbon-based process model of seedling growth with a heat/mass transfer model of the greenhouse envelope. GUESS was created to provide nursery managers and engineers a tool to assess the impact of climate control decisions upon energy use and seedling growth rate. The source code for GUESS was written using Simulink and MATLAB. A test case was set up to validate the model. And experimented with different lighting targets to see which one offered the most growth per unit energy cost. The model was parameterized for Douglas fir production in Corvallis, OR Seedlings were started at 0.57g d.w and were harvested at 1.7g d.w Temperature regulated to 68.5±6.3°F Growth rate could be highly sensitive to carbon content conversion as well.Models can be very useful as simulation tools, but their utility depends highly upon the data used to parameterize them.


Pediatric obesity is associated with a decrease in cardiac autonomic modulation and baroreflex sensitivity. Physical activity increases heart rate variability in adults, yet no study has elucidated the mode and intensity of exercise for beneficial effects on cardiac autonomic modulation in children. Objective: The purpose of our study was to examine the effectiveness of 4 and 8 weeks of supervised, play-based activity on blood pressure, heart rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity in preadolescents. Methods: Twenty-two recreationally active overweight, 8 to 12 year-old children were randomly divided into a 4- and 8-week activity group and an unsupervised control group (4w, n = 6, 8w, n = 6, and C, n = 10). 4w and 8w groups performed play-based activities 5 days per week, 4 hours a day while C group were instructed to maintain a regular summer break with no supervised intervention. Heart rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity were tested before and after exercise with a heads-up tilt test. Results: Systolic blood pressure was significantly lower in all three groups in post conditions (P = 0.02, eta2 = 6.86). Normalized low and high frequencies reported a significant group-by-time difference in both supine resting conditions and after heads-up tilt (P = 0.04, eta2 = 0.28 and P = 0.05, eta2 = 0.28, respectively) and total power in supine position (P = 0.04, eta2 = 0.29) between the 8w, and the 4w and C groups, while baroreflex sensitivity increased by only 3 ms/mmHg in the 8w group (P = 0.09). Conclusion: 8 weeks of supervised, play-based physical activity improved autonomic nervous system activation with favorable changes in sympathovagal balance in recreationally active overweight preadolescents during summer break.


The Welsh Borderland Fault System forms one of the most prominent tectonic lines in Southern Britain and, along with the Menai Straits and Malverns Fault Systems, is a candidate for a terrane boundry. A review of stratigraphic linkage across the system reveals significant contrasts in pre-Ashgill sequences. These contrasts occur particularly across its north-west edge, the Pontesford and Tywi Lineaments, rather than across the Church Stretton Lineament. The Ashgill event produced strike-slip dominated structure and an unconformity that expands from the Welsh Basin towards the platform. An important linkage sequence was produced by the subsequent late Ashgill to Llandovery marine transgression across the fault system. Silurian facies changes are marked but gradational, and no more than expected across a basin margin from stable to thinned crust. Devonian (Acadian) sinistral transpression, and later Phanerozoic movements, reactivated the fault system but did not engineer major terrane amalgamation across it. This reactivation has obscured the early history of the fault system. The remaining evidence admits, though does not prove, major Ashgill or earlier transcurrent movements. Broader considerations suggest that the Welsh Borderland Fault System originated either as a Cambro-Ordovician extensional system on the south-eastern margin of the Welsh Basin or during Late Precambrian-Early Cambrian transcurrent movements occurring within Avalonia, inboard from the Menai Strait line.


The choice of decoration and the personalization of the house has been associated with self-expression and personal identity but also with the enhancement of interpersonal relationships (e.g., Tognoli, 1987; Smith, 1994). A complementary set of studies has shown that consensual ideas about the residents emerge from photos of domestic spaces (Aragones et al, 2005). The existence of a shared code about the meaning of the personalized spaces presumes that social norms sustain these evaluations. However, the concept of social norms assumes that it is created and shared by a social group (and not by others). In this study we used this theoretical background to show that the bedroom, as an expression of self, allows the inference of the occupant's attributes. However, as we assume that social norms give consistency to this shared underlying code, we expect these norms to be specially shared by group members. 62 persons participated in this study, 27 being young university students (M=19.04) and 35 elderly from senior universities (M=74.11). Photos of 16 single bedrooms of young and old persons (8 of old persosn and 8 of young persons) were sellected as stimulus for this study, and exhibited to the participants in a PowerPoint presentation. After watching each bedroom, the participants answered some questions on the occupant of the room, namely their sex and age group.. Data analysis was based on the number of accurate responses concerning the age and sex of the occupants of the bedrooms. Young participants were more accurate in the identification of their group's bedrooms, either in terms of age or in terms of gender. Conversely, older participants were more accurate in the identification of the sex and age of the occupants of rooms of their own age group. This study shows that the meaning of the personalization of the bedrooms are mainly understood inside the same age group. This result confirms previous research on the impression formation about the residents from photos of domestic spaces, but it also calls the attention to the existence and importance of shared social norms inside the same social group.


In everyday life, women who have breast cancer or have had breast cancer are often described as unspoilt, feminine and energetic 'survivors'. This study found that these descriptors are inconsistent with how women actually experience their disease. Many women also face the debilitating and disfiguring effects of breast cancer. Breast prostheses and mammography devices, for example, can hinder daily functioning and sharing their experience of the disease can cause conflict and distance in a relationship. Furthermore, the term 'reconstruction' can create false expectations about reconstructive breast surgery: women will never get their 'old' breasts back. While personal blogs allow women to present themselves in a different way, there are very few public platforms that help women relate to the stories of other breast cancer patients and ascribe meaning to their disease and their changing bodies. This dissertation therefore stresses the importance of making disease experience, disability, disfigurement and damage more publicly accessible. After all, sharing these experiences is extremely important for people living with a changed body.


Abstract This study focuses on manifestations of racism and colonialism in teacher education. I build on the theoretical framing of Critical Race Theory and decolonization in order to expose racist and colonial assumptions at the core of teacher education. I highlight in particular the work of covert racism under the cloak of teachers' professionalism. I focus on what I call 'professional microaggressions': subtle forms of racism and colonialism hidden beneath professional definitions. By interviewing graduates of a well-established Indigenous teacher education program in British Columbia, Canada, I examine the mechanisms that still hinder the success of Indigenous teacher candidates in teacher education and in the school system. The study highlights the resilience, resistance, and strategic planning that Indigenous teachers use to challenge the system while advancing their position within it. Lastly, I suggest ways to support Indigenous teacher candidates in teacher education.


OBJECTIVE
To identify and clone the differentially expressed genes in brief ischemia and reperfusion myocardium.

METHODS
Ischemia and reperfusion were induced by repeated brief ligation of the porcine left anterior descending coronary artery. Total RNA which was isolated from myocardium subjected ischemia and reperfusion was used for mRNA differential display. After cloning and sequencing the cDNA fragments which showed change in expression, their expression were further confirmed by Northern-Blot analysis.

RESULTS
Two differentially expressed cDNAs (W12 and W28) were identified and cloned. Their expression were subsequently confirmed to be truly differentially expressed. The expression of both genes in ischemia and reperfusion myocardium was obvious higher than that in nonischemia and reperfusion: W12 expression level was 2-fold (P < 0.05), and W28 expression level 1.9-fold (P < 0.05). In addition, mRNAs of W12 and W28 were existed in all tested organs including heart, liver, lung, kidney, spleen, intestine, brain and skeletal muscle. DNA sequencing analysis showed that there was no homology between W12, W28 and known genes, implying that they would represent novel gene respectively.

CONCLUSION
Two novel genes induced by ischemia and reperfusion are identified, cloned and confirmed.


Vision system designers often face the daunting challenge of implementing powerful image processing capabilities in severely size, weight and power constrained systems. Multi-sensor fusion, image stabilization, image enhancement, target detection and object tracking are fundamental processing techniques required by UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), smart cameras, weapon sights, and vehicle situational awareness systems. All of these systems also process non-vision data while communicating large amounts of information elsewhere. To meet their demanding requirements, Sarnoff developed the Acadia® II System-on-a-Chip, combining dedicated image processing cores, four ARM®11 processors and an abundance of peripherals in a single Integrated Circuit. This paper will describe how to best use the power of the Acadia® II as both an all-in-one image processor and as a general purpose computer for performing other critical non-vision tasks, such as flight control and system-to-system communication.


From global monitoring to regional forest management there is an increasing demand for information about forest ecosystems. For border regions that are closely connected ecologically and economically, a key factor is the cross-border availability and consistency of up-to-date information such as the forest type. The combination of existing forest information with Earth observation data is a rational method and can provide valuable contribution to serve the increased information demand on a transnational level. We present an approach for the remote sensing-based generation of a transnational and temporally consistent forest type information layer for the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Existing forest information data from different countries were merged and combined with suitable vegetation indices derived from Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 imagery acquired in early spring. An automated bootstrap-based approximation of the optimum threshold for the distinction of "broadleaved" and "coniferous" forest was applied. The spatially explicit forest type information layer is updated annually depending on image availability. Overall accuracies between 79 and 96 percent were obtained. Every spot in the region will be updated successively within a period of expectably three years. The presented approach can be integrated in fully automated processing chains to generate basic forest type information layers on a regular basis.


The method was proposed by use of the finite element analysis software ABAQUS and the BP neural network technology to build a synthesis error prediction model of a machining-center. Firstly the finite element model of a vertical machining center CINCINNATI ARROW750 was created by use of ABAQUS ,and the cutting force induced error was analyzed which resulted from the deformation of the machining-center's components that was caused by the cutting force ;Secondly the geometric error of the machining-center was measured by use of the laser interometer,and the sample of synthesis error was obtained. Finally the synthesis error prediction model was obtained by use BP neural network,and through the comparison of predicted value and actual value of 25 groups of samples, the feasibility of error prediction model was verified.


The conducting polymer polyaniline (PANI) has a wide range of optoelectronic applications due to its unique electronic and optical characteristics. Although extensive works have been performed to understand the equilibrium properties, the nature of the charge type that governs its non-equilibrium optical response has been barely understood; a number of studies have debated the nature of photo-generated charge type in PANI, specifically whether it is polaron or exciton based. Here, we report experimental evidence that the charge relaxation dynamics of PANI are dominated by excitons. Utilizing ultrafast spin-resolved pump-probe spectroscopy, we observed that PANI charge dynamics are strongly spin-polarized, exhibiting a spin Pauli-blocking effect. Investigations including both spin-independent and spindependent dynamics reveal that there is no spin-flip process involved in charge relaxation. This provides compelling evidence of an exciton-dominated photo-response in PANI.


Data-driven plays an important role in determining the quality of services in institutions of higher learning (HEIs). Increasingly data in education is encouraging institutions to find ways to improve student academic performance. By using machine learning with visual analytics, data can be predicted based on valuable information and presented with interactive visualizations for institutions to improve decision making. Therefore, predicting students' academic performance is critical to identifying students at risk of failing a course. In this paper, we propose two approaches, such as (i) a prediction model for predicting students' final grade based on machine learning that interacts with computational models; (ii) visual analytics to visualize predictive models and insightful data for educators. The data were tested using student achievement records collected from one of the Malaysian Polytechnic databases. The data set used in this study involved 489 first semester students in Computer System Architecture (CSA) course from 2016 to 2019. The decision tree algorithms (J48), Random Tree (RT), Random Forest (RF), and REPTree) was used on the student data set to produce the best predictions of the model. Experimental results show that J48 returns the highest accuracy with 99.8 %, among other algorithms. The findings of this study can help educators predict student success or failure for a particular course at the end of the semester and help educators make informed decisions to improve student academic performance at Polytechnic Malaysia.


In the fall of 2016, the Ontario Ministry of Education (Ministry of Education [MOE], Indigenous Education, 2016) announced that each school board was required to have a dedicated position under the umbrella title "First Nation, Metis, and Inuit Education Lead" (henceforth referred to as the "Lead"). The MOE also provided the funding for this position. This new funding and mandate ensured that all school boards had the capability to create a new position and/or continue supporting their current Lead position(s). However, the MOE provided few guidelines for what this work should entail, and they offered no mandatory training to the Leads. Therefore, in the absence of substantial directions from the MOE, it is critical that these Leads, academics, and other people that work in the field of Indigenous education communicate about the possibilities of this work. This paper is a small contribution to this subject area, in hopes that it will create a much-needed conversation about the future of Indigenous education in elementary and secondary schools. This paper will begin by theorizing about some of the difficulties and barriers that some Leads may experience. Then it will offer one strategy that one school board is using to implement Indigenous education in Ontario.


Often in the analysis of first-order methods, assuming the existence of a quadratic growth bound (a generalization of strong convexity) facilitates much stronger convergence analysis. Hence the analysis is done twice, once for the general case and once for the growth bounded case. We give a meta-theorem for deriving general convergence rates from those assuming a growth lower bound. Applying this simple but conceptually powerful tool to the proximal point method, the subgradient method, and the bundle method immediately recovers their known convergence rates for general convex optimization problems from their specialized rates. Future works studying first-order methods can assume growth bounds for the sake of analysis without hampering the generality of the results. Our results can be applied to lift any rate based on a Holder growth bound. As a consequence, guarantees for minimizing sharp functions imply guarantees for both general functions and those satisfying quadratic growth.


A protocol is presented for the calculation of monitor units (MU) for photon and electron beams, delivered with and without beam modifiers, for constant source-surface distance (SSD) and source-axis distance (SAD) setups. This protocol was written by Task Group 71 of the Therapy Physics Committee of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) and has been formally approved by the AAPM for clinical use. The protocol defines the nomenclature for the dosimetric quantities used in these calculations, along with instructions for their determination and measurement. Calculations are made using the dose per MU under normalization conditions, D'0, that is determined for each user's photon and electron beams. For electron beams, the depth of normalization is taken to be the depth of maximum dose along the central axis for the same field incident on a water phantom at the same SSD, where D'0 = 1 cGy/MU. For photon beams, this task group recommends that a normalization depth of 10 cm be selected, where an energy-dependent D'0 ≤ 1 cGy/MU is required. This recommendation differs from the more common approach of a normalization depth of dm, with D'0 = 1 cGy/MU, although both systems are acceptable within the current protocol. For photon beams, the formalism includes the use of blocked fields, physical or dynamic wedges, and (static) multileaf collimation. No formalism is provided for intensity modulated radiation therapy calculations, although some general considerations and a review of current calculation techniques are included. For electron beams, the formalism provides for calculations at the standard and extended SSDs using either an effective SSD or an air-gap correction factor. Example tables and problems are included to illustrate the basic concepts within the presented formalism.


This report starts by giving an overview of recent research on diversity and organizational management to demonstrate why organizations value diversity and what the findings on diversity mean in a military context. The next sections outline DOD's military personnel policies, processes and organizational structure for managing diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunity. Following that, the report examines how the concept of diversity and inclusion has evolved over the history of the Armed Forces and provides a snapshot of the current demographic composition of the military relative to the U.S. civilian population. Finally, the report addresses some of the current legislative and policy issues related to diversity in the Armed Forces.


To rapidly and accurately screen compounds present in traditional Chinese herbal medicines for α-glycosidase inhibitors, we synthesized a novel nano-affinity material to enable the targeted screening and enrichment of α-glycosidase inhibitors. This nano-affinity material was synthesized by self-assembly involving α-glycosidase and Cu2+. A systematic analysis revealed the flower-like structure of this nano-material, with a diameter of 7.564 μm. The highest enzyme activity was 214.03% compared to free enzymes. This novel material was used to screen and enrich α-glycosidase inhibitors from Chinese rhubarb. Ten compounds were detected. Of these, L-epicatechin and anthraquinone displayed inhibitory activity. This novel nano-hybrid affinity material allows the rapid screening and separation of active components in complex systems.


The effects of a supplemental feeding strategy during mid-gestation on lean gilts body reserves, productive and reproductive performance were assessed. A total of 90 gilts were allocated into two treatments (Control, C, and Supplemented, S). Control sows (n = 43) were fed according to the level routinely used on farm (2.5-3.0 kg d -1 , 2.9 Mcal metabolizable energy kg -1 feed and 0.6% of lysine) throughout gestation, and S sows (n = 47) received 50% more feed from day 45 to day 85 of gestation. Body weight (BW) and sows body condition [backfat (BF), loin depth and body condition score] were recorded on days 40 and 80 of gestation, at farrowing and at weaning. Litter performance at birth and on day 18 ± 1 of lactation was registered at first and second parities. Although no differences in backfat levels were found at weaning, a higher proportion of S sows stayed within the target backfat interval both at farrowing (17-21 mm) and at weaning (> 14 mm). No differences were found in BW and body reserves losses during lactation between treatment groups. Litter weight at birth tended to be higher in the S group of sows, consistently, in the first and second parities (P < 0.10), compared to the C group. Thus, providing an extra feed allowance during mid-gestation has beneficial effects on gilts' body fat reserves at weaning (higher proportion of sows in the optimum BF interval) and slight advantages on productive output, although probably not high enough to justify the extra feed wastage. Additional key words: backfat, gilt performance, loin depth, maternal nutrition. Resumen


Heralded for ushering in a new era of personalized manufacturing, there is a growing fear that consumer 3D printing is the next frontier of massive intellectual property infringements. Described as the Napster of patents, illegal 3D printing is foretold to disrupt manufacturing in the same manner as digital piracy unsettled the music industry. This Article shows that the negative forecast of rampant 3D printing piracy is unfounded. We explain how the purported analogies between P2P file sharing and consumer 3D printing overlook essential differences between piracy of media content and physical property. We caution against aggressive enforcement against unauthorized consumer 3D printing that would impede innovation and the development of 3D printing technologies.


that had invasive fetal testing, 9 had abnormal karyotype. Data on outcome was available for 115 pregnancies and 71% (82/115) underwent termination of pregnancy. Only 20% (24/115) resulted in livebirths and 16 children were reported to have normal neurological developmental (13 with isolated ventriculomegaly and 3 with callosal agenesis). Of the 4 survivors that developed severe developmental delay, 2 had microcephaly, 1 had porencephalic cyst and 1 with severe ventriculomegaly requiring ventriculoperitoneal shunt. Conclusions: Prenatally diagnosed CNS anomalies are associated with significantly high rates of termination of pregnancy (71%), which may partly explain the low rate of invasive fetal testing (22/118, 19%). Further, the predominance of neural tube defects in our study supports the case for better implementation of primary prevention by pre-conceptional folic acid therapy.


Objectives: Patient practice toward medication including the extent of self-medication has an important impact on therapeutic outcome. Therefore, this study aimed to assess general public practice toward the usage of medicines in Taif city. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional research design using nonprobability convenience sampling technique was used in this study. Data were collected face-to-face from literate adults in public areas such as malls, shopping centers, and health centers. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16 and significant values of difference were determined using the Chi-square and Fisher Exact tests. Results: Nine hundred questionnaires were successfully collected from literate adults in Taif city over 8 weeks. Eighty percent of respondents tend to stop taking their medications once they feel good. In addition, only 62% of respondents refer to pharmacists or doctors once they feel unwell. On the other hand, one-fifth of respondents store their medications as directed by the pharmacist or as written in the drug leaflet. Furthermore, as little as 12% of respondents consult a doctor or a pharmacist once they miss their medication dose. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that public in Taif city has, to a certain extent, improper practice toward medicine. Thus, it is of urge for healthcare and policymakers to develop healthcare programs aiming to enhance practice of public toward medicines.


Family is often identified as a determinant or correlate of older adults' physical activity. However, we know little about how family life can influence physical activity beliefs, understandings and practices as we age. Changes in life expectancy have resulted in changes in family life, with an increasing amount of families now living with multiple generations. As a result, families experience an increased number of years of shared lives. This shift in family structure may affect the way we do family, that is, what roles and responsibilities are undertaken as part of family life. Thus, in the last decade there has been an increasing interest in intergenerational relationships within families in the literature. However, in relation to physical activity, research in intergenerational families has focussed on two generational families. In addition, little is known about how intergenerational relationships may influence physical activity beliefs, understandings and practices, particularly from the perspective of older adults. Based on data from five three-generational families from the West of Scotland, results show how the physical activity practices of older people contribute to a family culture of physical activity, thus reinforcing intergenerational links.


Mitochondrial mutations are responsible for at least 1% of the cases of hereditary deafness, but the contribution of each mutation has not yet been defined in African-derived or native American genetic backgrounds. A total of 203 unselected hearing-impaired patients were screened for the presence of the mitochondrial mutation A1555G in the 12S rRNA gene and mutations in the tRNA Ser(UCN) gene in order to assess their frequency in the ethnically admixed Brazilian population. We found four individuals with A1555G mutation (2%), which is a frequency similar to those reported for European-derived populations in unselected samples. On the other hand, complete sequencing of the tRNA Ser(UCN) did not reveal reported pathogenic substitutions, namely A7445G, 7472insC, T7510C, or T7511C. Instead, other rare substitutions were found such as T1291C, A7569G, and G7444A. To evaluate the significance of these findings, 110 "European-Brazilians" and 190 "African-Brazilians" unrelated hearing controls were screened. The T1291C, A7569G and G7444A substitutions were each found in about 1% (2/190) of individuals of African ancestry, suggesting that they are probably polymorphic. Our results indicate that screening for the A1555G mutation is recommended among all Brazilian deaf patients, while testing for mutations in the tRNA Ser(UCN) gene should be considered only when other frequent deafness-causing mutations have been excluded or in the presence of a maternal transmission pattern.


Hydropeaking is a major issue for storage hydropower plants. Hydropeaking can affect negatively the aquatic environment along river streams. For several hydropower plants studies which analyse measures to reduce the surge effect are currently under preparation. A common technical measure is to construct a compensation basin downstream of the powerhouse. The selection of an adequate compensation basin volume is a compromise taking several aspects, such as construction costs, environmental impacts of the compensation basin during construction and operation as well as reduction of hydro peaking, into account. The determination of the required storage volume is based on different environmental factors. The main factors are surge ratio, discharge gradient, released maximum discharge and released minimum discharge. However, the selection of these factors is complex and normally not a straightforward process. As for each river these factors can have a different environmental affect several cases have to be analysed. In addition the operational parameters of a hydropower plant, such as peaking hours and peaking discharge, can be varied. This can lead to numerous simulation runs. The simulation – including checking and quality control – of hundreds of cases and a sensitive analysis is time consuming. Design of experiments (DOE) provides a set of methods, which allows an identification of the factors with a significant influence on the storage volume. In addition by deriving a simple model, such as linear model, first estimations can be prepared. DOE is a promising set of methods which could reduce the significantly the required work regarding simulation runs.


As recent technologies enable water samples to be collected at increasingly shorter time intervals, water quality data can more fully capture the range of conditions a stream experiences over time. Various metrics can be employed with the large, high-temporal resolution (i.e., subdaily) data sets to gain insights into the hydroclimatic and biogeochemical processes affecting chemical fate and transport. These insights can be helpful in understanding the extent to which anthropogenic activities have impacted the natural response of some constituents, such as nutrients and salts, in managed landscapes. Here, nearly four years (12,544 samples from 2015 to 2019) of water quality data for 12 constituents of interest were collected using three sampling strategies: (1) low-frequency sampling three times per week, (2) high-temporal resolution flow-paced sampling to capture stormflow, and (3) high-frequency time-paced sampling with a time interval of four hours. Seasonal trends were investigated to understand concentration variability over time, and concentration-discharge (C-Q) relationships were developed to categorize the transport dynamics of each constituent. Lorenz curves and Gini coefficients were employed to quantify the temporal inequality of the constituent loads discharged at the watershed outlet and understand the extents to which the transport behaviors of geogenic constituents and those affected by anthropogenic activities differed. Overall, the results suggested that nearly all of the geogenic constituents, plus nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) and sulfate (SO4-S), exhibited chemostatic dynamics with loads overwhelmingly controlled by flow variability, whereas aluminum (Al), iron (Fe), nitrite-N (NO2-N), and orthophosphate (PO4-P) exhibited episodic transport dynamics that were likely controlled by limited source availability. Since the transport of NO3-N was found to be similar to the transport of common geogenic constituents for the region, this suggests that decades of agricultural activities in the watershed have led to the emergence of legacy N sources, while the episodic dynamics observed for PO4-P suggest that best management practices appear to have prevented the emergence of P legacy sources.


Diagnostic criteria for subtypes of delusional beliefs based upon content have rarely been the subject of comment. In this article, several influential accounts of persecutory delusions are reviewed; differences and difficulties are noted, and their potential effect on cognitive psychological investigations discussed. One method of ensuring that researchers study similar phenomena is to use a more detailed definition than currently available, and therefore a new set of criteria is offered. Finally, related methodological problems in this emerging research area are highlighted. The issues discussed may stimulate further research on the content of delusional beliefs.


CASE DESCRIPTION
We evaluated the effects of integrating order subsets for the most common medical diagnoses into a general medical admission order set of our electronic medical records (EMR) in order to improve order set integration by clinicians.

METHODS OF IMPLEMENTATION
We identified the most common primary and secondary diagnoses for patients admitted to our medical service and developed order subsets comprising only of the orders necessary for the management of these individual diagnoses. Using the capabilities of our computerized physician order entry (CPOE), we nested these order subsets into the general order set and evaluated the resulting change in order set utilization by our clinicians.

EXAMPLE AND OBSERVATIONS
The total number of order sets used by clinicians in all departments increased fivefold during the 16-month period following the implementation of the integrated order sets in July 2008. A before and after time series was used to analyze the trend in increased order set usage and showed an effect of the intervention (p=0.023).

DISCUSSION
Integration of disease specific order subsets into a single general admission order set significantly improved the overall adoption of order sets by clinicians. This provides health care systems with the opportunity to improve patient safety and implement evidence based care in clinical practice.


Background/Aim: As the knowledgebase of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has grown, classification systems have moved to incorporate these new findings. Methods: We assessed 32,941 patients with AML whose records are contained in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Results: Half of all patients diagnosed between 2001 and 2013 did not have a World Health Organization (WHO) classification. Acute promyelocytic leukemia and acute panmyelosis with myelofibrosis were associated with the longest leukemia-specific survival (110 and 115 months, respectively), and AML with minimal differentiation and acute megakaryoblastic leukemia with the shortest (30 and 28 months, respectively). For patients in the WHO groups AML not otherwise specified (AML-NOS) and AML with recurrent genetic abnormalities (AML-RGA), the risk of death was greater for older patients and less for married patients. Black patients with any type of AML-NOS also had a higher risk of death. Patients whose case of AML did not receive a WHO classification were older and this group had a higher risk of death when compared to patients with a WHO type of AML-NOS. Conclusion: Our findings highlight the divergent outcomes of patients with AML and the importance of using the WHO classification system and demographic factors to gauge their prognosis.


This article aims to prove that biblical texts in South African Sign Language (SASL) are more accessible than written or printed biblical texts for deaf-born South African people who use sign language as their first language. The study made use of the functionalist approach in translation to translate six parts from the Bible into SASL. Native signers were used as translators with the assistance of hearing specialists in the fields of religion and translation studies. The translations were done from the original Hebrew and Greek texts into SASL. The content of the video with the biblical texts in SASL, as well as the level of understanding of the texts, was evaluated by members of the Deaf Community of South Africa by means of an empirical study done in the Western Cape, Kwazulu-Natal, Gauteng, the Northern Cape and the Free State. The results of the empirical study proved that the signed parts from the Bible were more accessible for culturally deaf people than the written counterparts. Results from the study also indicated how a signed Bible should look. From the study the conclusion can also be made that there is a need within the Deaf Community of South Africa for a Bible in SASL.


With antimicrobial resistance creating a major public health crisis, the designing of novel antimicrobial compounds that effectively combat bacterial infection is becoming increasingly critical. Interdisciplinary approaches integrate the best features of whole-cell phenotypic evaluation to validate novel therapeutic targets and discover new leads to combat antimicrobial resistance. In this project, whole-cell phenotypic evaluation such as testing inhibitors on bacterial growth, viability, efflux pump, biofilm formation and their interaction with other drugs were performed on a panel of Gram-positive, Gram-negative and acid-fast group of bacterial species. This enabled additional antimicrobial activities of compounds belonging to the flavonoid family including ketones, chalcones and stilbenes, to be identified. Flavonoids have received renewed attention in literature over the past decade, and a variety of beneficial effects of these compounds have been illuminated, including anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumour as well as anti-fungal and anti-bacterial. However, their mechanisms of action are yet to be identified. In this paper, we found that the compounds belonging to the flavonoid family exerted a range of anti-infective properties being identified as novel efflux pump inhibitors, whilst offering the opportunity to be used in combination therapy. The compound 2-phenylacetophenone displayed broad-spectrum efflux pump inhibition activity, whilst trans-chalcone, displayed potent activity against Gram-negative and mycobacterial efflux pumps causing inhibition higher than known potent efflux pump inhibitors, verapamil and chlorpromazine. Drug-drug interaction studies also highlighted that 2-phenylacetophenone not only has the potential to work additively with known antibacterial agents that affect the cell-wall and DNA replication but also trans-chalcone has the potential to work synergistically with anti-tubercular agents. Overall, this paper shows how whole-cell phenotypic analysis allows for the discovery of new antimicrobial agents and their consequent mode of action whilst offering the opportunity for compounds to be repurposed, in order to contribute in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.


In situ measurements in the Earth's magnetosphere have led to a substantial and ongoing revision of our understanding of cosmic plasmas. The real cosmic plasmas behave in ways different than predicted by traditional idealized models in respects as fundamental as plasma dynamics, conduction of electric current and energization of charged particles. As almost all (known) matter in the Universe is in a state of magnetized plasma, this is an important basis for interpretation of astrophysical phenomena that are accessible only to remote observation. The magnetosphere contains plasma populations covering more than eight powers of ten in density and in equivalent temperature and is the venue of a number of fundamentally important plasma physical processes, which are studied in detail with space instrumentation. Ubiquitous features of cosmic plasmas are their ability to generate high energy particles and to rapidly release large amounts of magnetically stored energy. In these processes, as well as in plasma dynamics in general, a key role is played by the electric field, which is difficult or impossible to measure remotely. In the Earth's magnetosphere it is accessible to in situ measurements and even active experimentation. Of particular importance is the existence of magnetic-field aligned electric fields, which were considered non-existent on the basis of idealized models but have proved to play a key role both in acceleration processes and in plasma dynamics.


In this report both the present situation and estimates of emissions from large non-road mobile machinery were studied. The estimates over future emission amount from the non-road mobile machinery sector in Sweden were conducted for the year 2010 and 2020. Special focus has been taken to the development of technology for diesel engines and alternative fuels. Moreover, possible measures and means of control to reduce emissions in the future were discussed. The study comprises fuel consumption and emissions from non-road mobile machinery equipped with diesel engines with a rated engine power of 37 to 560 kW. Nonroad mobile machinery for example includes tractors, wheel loaders, excavators, articulate haulers, mobile cranes, combined harvester, forestry machines and trucks. The estimate of annual fuel consumption and emissions amounts were based on input data concerning occurring types of machinery, number of machines, average engine power, annual work hour, load factors, fuel consumption and emission factors. Furthermore, concern was taken to the age distribution of the entire assembly of machinery. Inventory data regarding types of machinery, number, age, engine power, and annual work hour has been obtained from the Swedish machinery testing institute's machinery inspection operation, statistics of sale returns from trade organisations and the Swedish motor-vehicle register. The fuel consumption and emission factors used were based on the CORINAIR Emission Inventory Guidebook and European emissions regulations for non-road mobile machinery and adjusted for: • differences in quality and specification between the fuel stipulated for use during type approval and Swedish diesel of environmental class 1, • differences between the maximum value stipulated in the emission regulations and the recorded emission amounts during type approval, • differences in engine load between the test cycle employed during type approval and during real use of the machinery, and • deterioration in fuel consumption and emission formation with increasing age. In total, 290 000 non-road mobile machinery with a rated engine power of 37 to 560 kW were estimated to operate in Sweden year 2006, which was about 25% more machinery compared with the last published study concerning number of non-road mobile machinery in Sweden (Flodstrom et al., 2004). The annual estimated fuel consumption and emission mounts from the non-road mobile machinery sector in Sweden for year 2006 is shown in table S1. The estimated annual fuel consumption was about 5% lower compared with previous studies despite the higher number of machinery included. For emissions the differences were even larger compared with the above-mentioned study. Emissions of NOx were halved while both emissions of CO and HC only amounted to approximately one-third of previously estimated amounts. The largest difference was obtained for emissions of particulate matter, a reduction with 75%. The differences obtained could be attributed to improved input data with higher resolution, especially concerning annual work hour as function of machinery age and the adjustment of fuel consumption and emission factors. Possible changes in the assembly of machinery between the present and previous studies were assumed to only have minor importance. Several different estimates of future emission amounts were conducted. The first estimate was based on the introduction of the European emission regulation, which resulted in a reduction of emissions of NOx and PM with about 70% compared with the present amounts. Corresponding reduction of NOx and PM to year 2010 were about 21%. The development of technology for diesel engines is focused on the reduction of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. According to the study, current technologies for reduction of NOx were EGR, NOx-traps, SCR and engine-out modifications. For particulate matter, engine-out and different types of particulate filters will be utilised in order to fulfil future emission regulations. Alternative fuels can be used in order to reduce the emissions from current diesel engines, the most promising and suitable fuels in the future would probably be GTL-fuels, synthetic diesel and different types of biodiesel. For dedicated engines, dimethylester (DME) could be an interesting alternative. Several different means of control for reduction of emissions from non-road mobile machinery exists. Within the agricultural and forestry sector different types of economical means of control were assumed to be the most cost-effective methods. For the industrial and construction sector regulations and economical and informative means of control were assumed to have similar effects.


Several image authentication schemes are either vulnerable to attacks or sacrifice localization accuracy to improve security. In this paper, we proposed a scheme that not only thwarts all kinds of attacks such as vector quantization (VQ) and oracle attack in order to satisfy the security but also ensures superior accuracy of tamper localization. It is effective because the detection is based on a hierarchical structure so that the accuracy of tamper localization can be ensured. That is, if a tampered pixel is not detected in level-4, it will be detected in level 3, level 2 or level 1 with a probability of nearly 1. The method can detect any tampered pixel and the size of 2times2 pixel block with a missing rate less than 0.78% and 0.19% respectively, and the missing rate of more than or equal the size of 4times4 pixel block is approximately close to 0. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed scheme is highly sensitive to intentional tampering and the embedding watermarking is imperceptive


Policy documents for schools and education are being increasingly standardised all over the world and some research claims that a global curriculum is developing in which aspects such as entrepreneurship, lifelong learning and sustainable development are common denominators. This is regarded as a sign that economic rationality is gaining more and more ground in education alongside, or at the expense of, a democratic educational ideal. The aim of this study is to discuss one of these aspects, entrepreneurship, as a concern for schools and education and to put entrepreneurship in relation to the democracy-fostering mission of education. What do the policy documents have to say about entrepreneurship? Is there an inherent opposition between the entrepreneurial and the democratic justification of education? The paper is organised in two steps. The first step illustrates the global spread of entrepreneurship in policy documents for education through examples from the north and the south, respectively, in this case Sweden and South Africa. The second step deals with the concept of "democracy", which is of crucial relevance to education. Both connections and conflicts between fostering entrepreneurship and fostering democracy are discussed, and an integrative perspective is tested as an alternative to dualistic attitudes. Keywords: entrepreneurship, democracy, global, Sweden, South Africa, comparative study (Published: 1 December 2010) Citation: Education Inquiry Vol. 1, No. 4, December 2010, pp.309–328


The surface skin of a banded blue-sprat had the mesocrystal structures of biogenic guanine crystals and cytoplasm. The platy guanine crystals were organized in the parallel direction to the surface skin with incorporation of cytoplasm. The size of the platy guanine crystal as a unit was larger than that of the other fish. Inspired by the biogenic structures, we studied the morphology and orientation control of molecular crystals consisting of organic molecules. When guanine was recrystallized on a glass substrate in the absence of any organic molecules, an aggregate of the platy crystals arranged perpendicular to the substrate was formed. The morphology and orientation of recrystallized guanine were different from those of the biogenic one. We have applied biomimetic approaches to control the morphology and orientation of the molecular crystals. The thin platy guanine crystals were formed parallel to the chitosan substrate through the recrystallization in the presence of additive organic molecules. The additive organic molecules and the modified substrates facilitated the morphology and orientation control. The present results suggest that biomimetic approaches for the morphological control of inorganic and ionic crystals can be applied for controlled deposition of a variety of organic and molecular crystals.


Increasing demands on the utility properties of materials used for castings have led to the production of cast iron with a modified shape of graphite, where the required properties are achieved by a change in graphite shape, its size and layout, and a change in the basic structure of the metal. This paper is focused on the continuous method of producing spheroidal graphite FLOTRET. In the introductory section is summarized the theoretical foundations of the secondary treatment of cast irons, especially the FLOTRET flow method, describes the advantages and disadvantages of the method. The practical part is divided into laboratory and operational tests. Laboratory experiments were conducted on a laboratory-type modifier FLOTRET chamber, which was designed and hydraulically optimized. Experiments were focused on the effects of pressure altitude and amount of modifier on the residual values of magnesium, as conditions for a successful modification. The method was tested in two foundries under operating conditions and in one of them was observed a long-term modification process.


Many modern systems interact with both cyber and physical environments. They are complex systems in which multiple constituent systems work together to achieve higher-level goals. These systems are called cyber-physical systems of systems (CPSoS). As the interest in CPSoS, such as platooning vehicles and robot-based smart factories, increases, engineering for adaptive goal achievement of CPSoS is needed. Common exemplars of a research community can facilitate research; however, existing exemplars of CPSoS are mostly based on virtual simulations. Although this allows researchers to share experimental scenarios and environments, it has the limitation that it is difficult to conduct experiments that reflect actual physical environments. To overcome this limitation, we propose a physical exemplar of an industrial CPSoS, called Platooning LEGOs, which employs platooning technology that is actively being developed by the autonomous driving industry. A platoon, in which independent vehicles drive together, achieves SoS-level goals through adaptive behavioral decisions of the vehicles. This exemplar provides a physical experimental environment that can be implemented with LEGOs. A simple LEGO assembly allows the use of real data from sensors and actuators, facilitating a focus on software engineering without considerable mechanical knowledge. Moreover, as this is an open exemplar, researchers can implement the same physical experimental environment with a limited budget and expand its physical or software elements. We provide system descriptions, physical and software implementation manuals, and sample experimental results of Platooning LEGOs.


In this paper we show that the recently developed nanostructured gradient index (nGRIN) rod microlens can be utilised for the collimation of the beam generated by a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL). The modelling of the nanostructured lens structure is performed using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method with realistic nGRIN parameters and a Gaussian model of the light source. The large refractive index gradient of the nanostructured microlens allows the final microlens thickness to be only 70 μm with a diameter of 10 μm. Successful collimation of a single-mode VCSEL beam with a waist half-width of 1.53 μm is presented with a reduction in divergence half-angle from 10.1° to 3.3°. We show that the linear polarisation of the incident beam is preserved as well as presenting the tolerance of this type of lens to variations in overall thickness.


The spatial arrangement of visual elements of an image, i.e. the visual composition, is a research subject in the domain of visual arts which include painting, film, etc. Film experts face the problem of retrieval of visual compositions in film on a daily basis. Although, visual composition is a crucial element to consider in content-based video retrieval, little scientific effort has been invested into this problem so far. Actually, it is unclear if content-based retrieval of visual compositions is feasible. We present a user study conducted to investigate the feasibility of content-based retrieval of visual compositions as they are understood by film experts. For that reason, we create a data set derived from real world material and let the film experts evaluate the retrieval performance. The user study investigates the applicability of state-of-the-art visual features and shows differences in evaluations by film experts (test group) and computer scientists (reference group).


The analysis of breath and body odors can provide valuable information relevant to disease detection, diagnosis and treatment. A variety of technical developments are being pursued to develop electronic devices intended to analyze volatile components of breath and body odors with the sensitivity, selectivity, and learning ability of high-end mammalian olfactory systems. Here, we describe a new sensor technology that has the potential to supply a large set of diverse and sensitive odorant sensors with electronic readout to provide information-rich odorant-elicited signals for analysis by pattern recognition algorithms. In addition, we demonstrate that these sensors can provide discrimination of odorant homologues consisting of aldehydes and organic acids commonly found in human breath and other body emanations over a range of concentrations.


nebulised bronchodilator treatment is probably the best emergency treatment. There is now a cheap portable nebuliser available for primary care physicians which can be carried into the home. It does not require electricity, it is maintenance free, and it is driven by a pump which can be hand or foot operated. Two millilitres of nebulised solution can be delivered within six minutes of easy pumping. This time can be used to assess the clinical problem in the home and instil calm in an often dramatic and anxious situation. The nebuliser costs £22 43, including postage, and can be obtained from Cameron-Price Medical Division, Birmingham Factory Centre, Birmingham B30 3HL.


The ionospheric total electron content (TEC) derived from dense ground‐based Global Navigation Satellite System receivers over the continental United States and those from global ionosphere maps are utilized to find the ionosphere response to the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse. Maximum obscurations and their associated TEC major depressions appear simultaneously at midlatitudes, while major depressions elongate toward the magnetic equator with some delays in the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) region. The former is due to the photochemical loss process, while the latter is caused by the plasma transport of E×B drifts and lunar gravitation forces. TECs of predawn reductions, morning enhancements, afternoon reductions, and nighttime enhancements reveal that the semidiurnal lunar tide are essential. Since a solar eclipse always occurs on a new moon day, the lunar tide results in the early EIA appearance and major depressions being underestimated/diminished before and overestimated/enhanced after about 14:00 local time.


This paper utilizes recent simulation techniques in a two-stage estimation method which is applicable for a wide range of statistical models in the presence of missing data. The first stage of the method provides a way to estimate (and simulate from) the joint distribution of missing variables when the missing variables are continuous, binary, or ordered discrete. The second stage uses the first-stage estimates to integrate out the effects of the missing variables and obtain model estimates. The implementation of the method in this paper allows theoretically important, partially missing wage and school characteristic variables-which are not necessarily independently determined-to be included in a proportional hazard model of teacher attrition.


Ideas for research can come from numerous sources, and should be explored in depth to identify key areas for research. Question stems can be used to generate the research question. The research question must be carefully worded to avoid misinterpretation and ambiguities.


Summary: The synergistic effect of certain pairs of antibiotics might be due to action on 'persisters'; i.e. members of a bacterial population which survive exposure to single drugs, perhaps while in a state of reduced metabolic activity, although their offspring do not show enhanced resistance. Hence, antibiotics were tested in vitro under conditions minimizing bacterial multiplication and metabolism. At 37°, neomycin, polymyxin, and streptomycin were more effective in the absence of nutrients than in nutrient broth; oxytetracycline and bacitracin were equally effective in either environment; but penicillin had little effect in the absence of nutrients. At 4°, bactericidal action varied with the test organism so that differences could not be attributed solely to the 'resting' state of the bacteria. Conditions not permitting bacterial multiplication prevented synergism and those antagonisms demonstrable in broth. Probably synergism depends upon rapid bactericidal action preventing the emergence of persisters rather than upon destruction of these relatively inactive forms.


Thermal stress leads to increased production of reactive oxygen species. If an organism is not able to simultaneously mount an efficient antioxidant defense system, this may lead to increased oxidative damage, which is potentially deleterious in terms of health and fitness. Exposure to cold or heat is therefore expected to be associated with a high demand for antioxidants. In agreement, several studies have shown that supplementing the diet of thermally stressed organisms with antioxidants leads to a reduction of oxidative damage. However, whether organisms can actively supplement their diet with antioxidants to alleviate temperature-induced oxidative damage is unknown. Here, we show that captive Gouldian finches (Erythrura gouldiae) supplement their diet more with seeds rich in antioxidants below than within their thermoneutral zone. Moreover, having access to seeds rich in antioxidants at temperatures below thermoneutrality decreases their oxidative damage. These results indicate that, when facing a thermal challenge, animals are able to take advantage of the antioxidant properties of their food to improve their oxidative balance. Having access to food resources rich in antioxidants may therefore be of primary importance for organisms in their natural habitat, as it may help them to cope with oxidative constraints due to challenging temperature regimes.


Background: FGFs (fibroblast growth factors) and their receptors (FGFRs) play crucial roles in regulation of cell proliferation, survival, migration and differentiation. Deregulation of FGFR expression has been reported in multiple cancers, including breast, bladder, lung, gastric, endometrial and multiple myeloma. FGFRs are overactivated by several mechanisms such as gene amplification, translocation and mutations. FGFR gene alterations are reported in a variety of cancers. We have identified a highly potent, irreversible and selective FGFR inhibitor, TAS-120 (1). In this report, we investigated FGFR turnover in human cancer cell lines. Moreover, we present the antitumor efficacy and pharmacodynamic (PD) activity of TAS-120 in xenograft tumor models to determine the optimal dosing schedule.

Materials and Methods: For in vitro turnover experiments, cell lines were treated with Brefeldin A which suppresses de novo protein synthesis. The cellular level of FGFR was determined by ELISA. For in animal efficacy studies, FGFR2 gene amplified human tumor cell lines were subcutaneously transplanted into the side flank of nude mice or rats. Dosing of compound was started when transplanted tumor size reached > ∼ 200 mm3. For antitumor efficacy, tumor size was measured with digital calipers. To determine the optimal dosing schedule of TAS-120 in a human tumor xenograft model, we orally administered TAS-120 by daily, every other day and other intermittent dosing schedule. The time course of phospho-FGFR inhibition in tumor after single dosing of TAS-120 was also examined as a pharmacodynamic marker.

Results: FGFR turnover was investigated in 2 human cancer cell lines, OCUM-2M (gastric cancer cell line with FGFR2 amplification) and OPM-2 (multiple myeloma cell line with FGFR3 gene translocation). When cells were treated with Brefeldin A, cellular FGFR levels were reduced to < 20% at 4 and 6 hr respectively. FGFR turnover in these cells is rapid as most FGFR protein was replaced within 4 or 6 hr. In animal studies, we determined the PD/efficacy correlation. The time course of phosphor-FGFR inhibition in tumor at efficacious doses suggests that continuous inhibition of the target is not necessary to maintain efficacy. Additional studies in OCUM-2MD3 and SNU-16 models demonstrated that TAS-120 is efficacious even with intermittent dosing schedules of every other day or twice/week schedule.

Conclusion: TAS-120 is a highly potent, selective, irreversible FGFR inhibitor, which demonstrated strong tumor growth inhibition across continuous and intermittent dosing schedules in mice and rat xenograft models.

1) 24th EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium (2012) abstract #380 & #383

Citation Information: Mol Cancer Ther 2013;12(11 Suppl):A272.

Citation Format: Yoko Nakatsuru, Hiroaki Ochiiwa, Hiroshi Sootome, Hidenori Fujita, Akihiro Hashimoto, Yoshihiro Shibata, Masato Chiba, Yayoi Fujioka, Kazuhiro Yonekura, Hiroshi Hirai, Teruhiro Utsugi. Intermittent treatment with TAS-120, an irreversible FGFR inhibitor, is effective in tumors harboring a FGFR gene abnormality. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2013 Oct 19-23; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2013;12(11 Suppl):Abstract nr A272.


Whole exome sequencing provides unprecedented opportunities to identify causative DNA variants in rare Mendelian disorders. Finding the responsible mutation via traditional methods in families with hearing loss is difficult due to a high degree of genetic heterogeneity. In this study we combined autozygosity mapping and whole exome sequencing in a family with 3 affected children having nonsyndromic hearing loss born to consanguineous parents. Two novel missense homozygous variants, c.508C>A (p.H170N) in GIPC3 and c.1328C>T (p.T443M) in ZNF57, were identified in the same ∼6 Mb autozygous region on chromosome 19 in affected members of the family. Both variants co-segregated with the phenotype and were absent in 335 ethnicity-matched controls. Biallelic GIPC3 mutations have recently been reported to cause autosomal recessive nonsyndromic sensorineural hearing loss. Thus we conclude that the hearing loss in the family described in this report is caused by a novel missense mutation in GIPC3. Identified variant in GIPC3 had a low read depth, which was initially filtered out during the analysis leaving ZNF57 as the only potential causative gene. This study highlights some of the challenges in the analyses of whole exome data in the bid to establish the true causative variant in Mendelian disease.


Abstract This article addresses the problem of divine foreknowledge and human freedom by developing a modified version of Boethius' solution to the problem – one that is meant to cohere with a dynamic theory of time and a conception of God as temporal. I begin the article by discussing the traditional Boethian solution, and a defence of it due to Kretzmann and Stump. After canvassing a few of the objections to this view, I then go on to offer my own modified Boethian solution, according to which temporal reality is fundamentally dynamic, but truth is not. My claim is that there are eternally existing, tenseless propositions, with determinate truth values, but that these are made true by events that come into existence, and are not themselves eternal.


The handover process is one of the most critical functions in a cellular network and is in charge of maintaining seamless connectivity of user equipments across multiple cells. The handover process is driven by signal measurements from the neighboring base stations (BSs), and it is adversely affected by the time and frequency selectivity of the radio propagation channel. In this paper, we introduce a new model for analyzing handover performance in heterogeneous networks (HetNets) as a function of vehicular user velocity, cell size, and mobility management parameters. In order to investigate the impact of shadowing and fading on handover performance, we extract relevant statistics obtained from a Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)-compliant HetNet simulator, and subsequently, we integrate these statistics into our analytical model to analyze both handover failure and ping-pong probabilities under fluctuating channel conditions. Computer simulations validate the analytical findings, which show that fading can significantly degrade the handover performance in HetNets with vehicular users.


ABSTRACT The IPCC 1.5°C Report lists identifying local capacity needs as key for enabling multi-level governance to effectively respond to climate change. Mauritius, as a Small Island State, is disproportionately affected by climate change, primarily due to its exposure to impacts, as well as various constraints in size and resources. Identifying and integrating local capacity needs into recommendations for policy measures is therefore urgently required to support the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its National Adaptation Plan process. This study carries out a local governance assessment based on evaluative criteria to identify local capacity needs for implementing climate change adaptation in Mauritius. Results from the assessment indicate that local governance suffers from issues inherent to Small Island States, such as lack of technical know-how, financial and human resources, stringent legislation and effective monitoring mechanisms, preventing effective climate change adaptation. Through participatory, bottom-up stakeholder engagement with local and national government representatives, eight recommendations for policy formulation were then co-developed to address the identified capacity needs, and to improve cooperation between local and national institutions for more effective implementation of climate change adaptation. Key policy insights Local climate change adaptation needs have to be integrated into policy formulation for an effective response to climate change impacts. Roles and responsibilities of government levels for climate change adaptation in Mauritius are currently in need of clarification. Capacity building measures at the local level for implementing climate change actions from national government are urgently required. Stringent legislation and effective monitoring mechanisms need to be implemented to ensure planning regulations are adhered to. Increased collaboration between local and national levels of government in Mauritius is necessary for synthesizing a common approach to climate change adaptation.


A novel approach is described in this paper, combining sensorless rotor position estimation with temperature monitoring. In particular, the rotor position is estimated by suitably manipulating the voltages induced in the cabling of the thermistors tasked to monitor the stator temperature. Since no additional cables and wirings are required, the only difference compared to a standard machine design consists in a different shaping of the thermistor connections in order to turn them in a set of search coils. Moreover, some typical drawbacks of sensorless position estimation techniques based on the manipulation of fundamental components of stator voltages and currents, such as those related to inverter non-linearities, stator resistance voltage drops, magnetic saturation and cross-coupling can be mitigated. A position tracking technique for synchronous motor drives has been also developed taking advantage from obtained search coils, fully independent from motor parameters. Simulations and experimental tests confirm the effectiveness of the proposed approach for two different types of synchronous motors.


Decreased kidney function is associated with higher levels of oxidative stress, inflammation and malnutrition. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients have a higher risk to develop cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis and cancer compared to the general population. Cardiovascular disease is the major cause of death in CKD patients. Many CKD patients also report oral health problems including dry mouth symptoms, inflammation in the oral cavity and changes in the salivary constitution. These alterations can increase the systemic inflammation. CKD patients are often also deficient in several vitamins, due both an impaired kidney function, depletion during dialysis and decreased nutritional intake. In this thesis, including two clinical studies on CKD patients, levels of oxidative stress, inflammation, saliva production and blood markers were investigated. Oxidative stress was measured by analysis of oxidative DNA damage in salivary glands using the comet assay. Paper I: The objective was to assess the levels of DNA damage in salivary gland biopsies, saliva production and inflammation in 79 CKD patients and compare the levels to controls. The relationships between the study parameters were investigated and the results for predialysis and dialysis patients were compared. The results showed that the dialysis patients had lower levels of DNA breaks and that predialysis patients had higher levels of DNA breaks compared to their controls. The saliva production was found to be lower in the dialysis patients compared to the control group as well as the predialysis group. The inflammation levels were found to be higher in CKD patients compared to the controls. Previous studies have shown raised levels of DNA damage in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from CKD patients. The results from this study suggest that the DNA in peripheral tissue in dialysis patients is affected differently. Paper II: The objective was to investigate the effects of oral supplementation with sea buckthorn oil (SBO) on oxidative stress, saliva production and inflammation in hemodialysis patients. Sea buckthorn is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamins and other phytochemicals. Positive health effects by SBO on dry eye symptoms, platelet aggregation and skin diseases have been reported. The 45 hemodialysis patients completed the 2 x 8 weeks placebo-controlled crossover study and the results did not show any effects on DNA damage, inflammation or saliva production. However, the levels of phosphate and sodium increased and iron levels decreased after SBO supplementation. The results from this study did not show any positive health effects of SBO supplementation on DNA damage, saliva production or inflammation. In conclusion; oxidative stress and inflammation are important risk factors that contribute to disease progression and mortality in CKD patients. The interrelations between these events are complex and factors including dialysis treatment, medication, diet and oral health are of importance. In our study we found that despite elevated systemic inflammation, the levels of DNA damage in salivary glands in dialysis patients were lower compared to controls. The results suggest the involvement of DNA repair and antioxidative mechanisms in this tissue. Supplementation with SBO did not show any reduction on DNA damage or inflammation in dialysis patients, concluding that SBO supplementation did not have any beneficial health effects in our study group. LIST OF PUBLICATIONS I. DNA damage in salivary gland tissue in patients with chronic kidney disease, measured by the comet assay. Ersson C., Thorman R., Rodhe Y., Möller L. and Hylander B. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod 2011; 112:209-215 II. The effect of sea buckthorn supplement on oral health, inflammation and DNA damage in hemodialysis patients: a double-blinded, randomised crossover study. Rodhe Y., Bergström T., Thorman R., Möller L. and Hylander B. Submitted