Our study aimed to assess the accumulation of bacteriophages in sandy and clayey fresh water sediments. All of the 24 natural fresh water sediments were positive for somatic and F-specific phages, though their concentrations in the overlying water were undetectable in 1 and 11 samples, respectively, out of 24, corresponding to 4 and 46% for somatic and F-specific phages, respectively. Based on the sediment-to-water ratios, F-specific phages accumulate over 100 times more than the somatic coliphages in clayey sediments. Inactivation of bacteriophages in clayey and sandy sediments over a 1-month period at 15 degrees C was negligible. Our data suggest that persistence of deposited viruses in fresh water sediments leads to accumulation and the findings call for additional investigations on the fate of entrapped pathogenic viruses.


When does the public support domestic counterinsurgency? Do military casualties decrease support for fighting, as during overseas wars? I theorize conditions under which government losses move public opinion against continued counterinsurgency. These are features common to many civil wars: asymmetric combat, an isolated military theater, and socially marginalized insurgents. Evidence comes from a 2010 survey regarding war in southern Thailand. Combining information on the Royal Thai Army's draft system and deployments, I show that army fatalities from a respondent's area predict support for implementing southern autonomy as a means of ending insurgency. As a placebo comparison, I show that army fatalities in the southern campaign do not explain support for compromise in an unrelated conflict in Bangkok. Respondents' assessments of the toll of southern insurgency also predict support for autonomy. This is the first study to show military losses depress support for counterinsurgency in a contemporary civil war.


Given the importance of modeling in teaching young students to perform, particularly in the Suzuki approach, as well as the importance of playing in-tune, we studied intonation performances on four recordings of Suzuki Violin School Volume I. These are performances that many string teachers recommend as models for beginning string students. We also asked whether performances conform to a theoretical tuning system such as equal temperament (ET) or Pythagorean tuning. We analyzed the first eight measures and the repeat of Minuet I (Bach) in G-major. Individual note deviations of performers ranged from -17 cents to +26 cents relative to the accompaniment, although most deviations were smaller. Overall, three performers tended to be closer to Pythagorean (which is slightly sharper than ET for most major intervals) while one was closer to ET. However, inspection of individual intervals showed that two of the performers were often sharp relative to both tuning systems, particularly for minor seconds and thirds, and major thirds. No performer consistently conformed to either tuning system across the span of notes in the excerpt.


Antigenic variation among influenza C virus strains was investigated with monoclonal antibodies against gp88 glycoprotein. Seven monoclonal antibodies obtained were tentatively classified into two groups, A and B. The group A antibodies had hemagglutination inhibition (HI), hemolysis inhibition and neutralization activities whereas the group B antibodies possessed none of them. A comparison of antigenicity among 15 human strains with these antibodies in radioimmunoprecipitation and HI tests showed that the regions recognized by the group A antibodies undergo considerable changes, whereas those by group B are conserved among the strains.


This thesis investigates the evaluation of automatic and manual text segmentation. Text segmentation is the process of placing boundaries within text to create segments according to some task-dependent criterion. An example of text segmentation is topical segmentation, which aims to segment a text according to the subjective definition of what constitutes a topic. A number of automatic segmenters have been created to perform this task, and the question that this thesis answers is how to select the best automatic segmenter for such a task. This requires choosing an appropriate segmentation evaluation metric, confirming the reliability of a manual solution, and then finally employing an evaluation methodology that can select the automatic segmenter that best approximates human performance. A variety of comparison methods and metrics exist for comparing segmentations (e.g., WindowDiff, Pk), and all save a few are able to award partial credit for nearly missing a boundary. Those comparison methods that can award partial credit unfortunately lack consistency, symmetricity, intuition, and a host of other desirable qualities. This work proposes a new comparison method named boundary similarity (B) which is based upon a new minimal boundary edit distance to compare two segmentations. Near misses are frequent, even among manual segmenters (as is exemplified by the low inter-coder agreement reported by many segmentation studies). This work adapts some inter-coder agreement coefficients to award partial credit for near misses using the new metric proposed herein, B. The methodologies employed by many works introducing automatic segmenters evaluate them simply in terms of a comparison of their output to one manual segmentation of a text, and often only by presenting nothing other than a series of mean performance values (along with no standard deviation, standard error, or little if any statistical hypothesis testing). This work asserts that one segmentation of a text cannot constitute a "true" segmentation; specifically, one manual segmentation is simply one sample of the population of all possible segmentations of a text and of that subset of desirable segmentations. This work further asserts that an adapted inter-coder agreement statistics proposed herein should be used to determine the reproducibility and reliability of a coding scheme and set of manual codings, and then statistical hypothesis testing using the specific comparison methods and methodologies demonstrated herein should be used to select the best automatic segmenter. This work proposes new segmentation evaluation metrics, adapted inter-coder agreement coefficients, and methodologies. Most important, this work experimentally compares


In the case of Latvia, formal requirements of involvement of citizens in decision-making processes at national, regional and local are defined in different legal acts. During the preparation of planning documents, some municipalities and public institutions develop individual approaches to insure productive dialogue with stakeholders. Taking into account ongoing administrative-territorial reform in Latvia, there is a need for more inclusive models of citizens' participation in the decision-making process at the regional level. The paper aims to analyse the approaches of involvement of stakeholders in decision-making processes in the context of regional development. In order to achieve the aim, the following research methods have been used: scientific literature studies, statistical data analysis, expert survey. Main results and conclusions of the paper: the research showed that in the case of Latvia, existing approaches of public institutions could be defined rather as formal or engagement partnership towards fulfilment of requirements of legal acts. In order to proceed towards to co-responsible cooperation model, public organisations should use ICT opportunities, develop a permanent cooperation model, cultivate targeted strategic communication and include the principles of participatory budgeting in the budget planning process.


INTRODUCTION
Transfemoral approach (TFA) may be preferred access site in order to facilitate complex percutaneous procedures such as rotational atherectomy (RA). Notwithstanding, there is a growing evidence that transradial approach (TRA) is associated with lower access site complication rates and even lower mortality. The aim was to assess in-hospital and 1-year outcomes in patients undergoing RA using TRA, in comparison to TFA.

METHODS
A single center observational study included all consecutive patients, who underwent RA from 2010 to 2015. Primary endpoints were procedural success, in-hospital mortality and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). Secondary endpoints were 1-year all-cause mortality and MACE.

RESULTS
The study included 177 patients, 69% in TRA group and 31% in TFA group. Except for male sex and logistic Euroscore II there were no differences in common risk factors. There was no difference in procedural success (95% vs 87%, P = 0.07) with even a trend in favor of TRA. Performing RA via TRA lower amount of contrast volume (P = 0.009) was used and hospital stay after the procedure was shorter (P = 0.004). Periprocedural complication rates were similar, however patients with TFA had significantly higher rate of major access site bleedings (13% vs 1%, P = 0.001), with no differences in mortality and other adverse events both in-hospital and during 1-year observation.

CONCLUSIONS
Even though RA is a demanding technique, when performed via TRA allows to maintain the same procedural success and long-term results in comparison to TFA, reduces in-hospital major access site bleedings, lowers the amount of contrast media and shortens hospital stay.


Purpose - The paper intends to serve as a contribution to the requirements for organizations to account for and disclose the social and environmental (SE) consequences of their activities, aspects of the concept of sustainability accounting (SA). In particular, this research study investigates the current practices of environmental accounting (EA), whether it is influenced by the same values as that of society and is used as a marketing tool of the oil and gas sector in Uganda, a less developed country. Design/methodology/approach - The study involved 57 oil and petroleum supply chains. Major data collection methods included a review of 13 annual reports/statements by oil companies and both a structured and a semi- structured questionnaire involving 272 respondents, with a response rate of 57.0%. A mixed- methodological approach was employed to analyze the qualitative and quantitative data together. Findings - (1) There are no detailed archival records related to EA; (2) respondents' (106) responses to the possible consequences of not accounting for the environment were almost indifferent on issues that influence marketing, indicated by the small differences in the mean (1.83 to 2.50) and standard deviations (0.504 to 0.925); (3) responses on the influence of legitimacy and marketing on accounting for the environment ranged from 8.3% to 90.0%, while the mean ranged from 1.92 to 3.90 and the standard deviations from 0.303 to 1.482; (4) we suggest that EA is currently not being done, which is an indicator of poor management of the environment; (5) the results support that a marketing tool is not a significant determining factor of accounting for the environment, despite having a social role to fulfill; and (6) the results do support the theory of legitimacy, because oil and petroleum products suppliers in the country respond to environmental laws, regulations and guidelines. Originality/value - The highlighted perspective on how organizations account for and disclose the environmental trends of their activities - an aspect of the concept of SA in Uganda, a country with a youthful population, open markets, abundant resources and significant unexploited oil and gas reserves - distinguishes this study from others on similar topics.


This study examines time-series momentum in the Chinese commodity futures market. The findings show that a time-series momentum strategy performs best with a one-month look-back period and a one-month holding period. Furthermore, this strategy outperforms passive long and cross-sectional momentum strategies in the Chinese futures market based on Sharpe ratios, risk-adjusted excess returns, and cumulative returns. But highly volatile market characteristic with many speculative investors limits the period in which time-series momentum is maintained. Our findings suggest that the anomaly is observed in international asset markets, including Chinese commodity futures, and support the implication that speculators profit from time-series momentum strategy is the expense of hedgers.


This article develops a theoretical framework for shared and inclusive Jewish and Palestinian deliberation on the memories of the Holocaust and the Nakba. It argues that a joint Arab-Jewish public deliberation on the traumatic memories of these two events is not only possible, however challenging and disruptive it may be, but also fundamental for producing an egalitarian and inclusive ethics of binationalism in Israel/Palestine. In order to develop this conceptual framework, we first present some examples, most notably Elias Khoury's epic novel Gate of the sun (Bab al-Shams), which bring the memories of the Holocaust and the Nakba together in a fashion that disrupts the dominant, antagonistic and exclusionary Israeli and Palestinian national narratives. We then interpret Dominick LaCapra's notion of 'empathic unsettlement', which transforms 'otherness' from a problem to be disposed of into a moral and emotional challenge, as a political concept that best captures and explains the disruptive potential of a joint deliberation on these traumatic events. The figure of the refugee, constitutive of Palestinian and Jewish histories and identities, we suggest, serves as a herald of this binational and disruptive ethics. We conclude that 'empathic unsettlement' also has a productive and transformative potential which gives further (however partial and initial) meaning, shape and content to the ethics and democratic politics of binationalism heralded by the refugee.


Abstract Biochar is a pyrolyzed biomass produced under limited oxygen or oxygen absent conditions. Few investigations have been conducted to determine the combined effect of biochar with chemical fertilizer on growth, yield and nutrient distribution pattern in root, shoot and grain in wheat as well as changes in soil physiochemical properties. This research was designed to study the combined effect of chemical fertilizer and rice straw-derived biochar on soil physio-chemical properties, growth, yield and nutrient distribution pattern within wheat plant tissue and grain. Results showed that rice straw biochar caused a significant decrease in soil pH and increase in soil organic matter as well as nutrients like total nitrogen (TN), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg) and boron (B) due to incubation. Result also showed that root biomass and straw did not differ between Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) and ½ BARC + rice straw biochar treatment. Similarly, thousand grain weight and grain yield did not differ between the same treatments. The phosphorus concentration in wheat grain was highest in ½ BARC + rice straw biochar as compared to other treatments. The use of rice straw biochar in addition to the chemical fertilizers in wheat production systems is an economically feasible and practical nutrient management practice. Our findings urged that reduction of chemical fertilizer application is possible with supplementation of rice straw biochar.


The method and results of lidar studies of spatiotemporal variability of wind turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer are reported. The measurements were conducted by a Stream Line pulsed coherent Doppler lidar with the use of conical scanning by a probing beam around the vertical axis. Lidar data are used to estimate the kinetic energy of turbulence, turbulent energy dissipation rate, integral scale of turbulence, and momentum fluxes. The dissipation rate was determined from the azimuth structure function of radial velocity within the inertial subrange of turbulence. When estimating the kinetic energy of turbulence from lidar data, we took into account the averaging of radial velocity over the sensing volume. The integral scale of turbulence was determined on the assumption that the structure of random irregularities of the wind field is described by the von Karman model. The domain of applicability of the used method and the accuracy of estimation of turbulence parameters were determined. Turbulence parameters estimated from Stream Line lidar measurement data and from data of a sonic anemometer were compared.


Though convolutional neural networks (CNNs) with residual and dense aggregations have obtained much attention in image denoising, they are incapable of exploiting different levels of contextual information at every convolutional unit in order to infer different levels of noise components with a single model. In this paper, to overcome this shortcoming we present a novel attention-based pyramid dilated lattice (APDL) architecture and investigate its capability for blind image denoising. The proposed framework can effectively harness the advantages of residual and dense aggregations to achieve a great trade-off between performance, parameter efficiency, and test time. It also employs a novel pyramid dilated convolution strategy to effectively capture contextual information corresponding to different noise levels through the training of a single model. Our extensive experimental investigation verifies the effectiveness and efficiency of the APDL architecture for image denoising as well as JPEG artifacts suppression tasks.


Pancreatic cancer remains one of the most lethal cancers with few treatment options. Immunebased strategies to treat pancreatic cancer, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors, therapeutic vaccines, and combination immunotherapies, are showing promise where other approaches have failed. Immune checkpoint inhibitors, including anti-CTLA4, anti-PD-1, and anti-PD-L1 antibodies, are effective as single agents in immune sensitive cancers like melanoma, but lack efficacy in immune insensitive cancers including pancreatic cancer. However, these inhibitors are showing clinical activity, even in traditionally non-immunogenic cancers, when combined with other interventions, including chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and therapeutic vaccines. Therapeutic vaccines given together with immune modulating agents are of particular interest because vaccines are the most efficient way to induce effective anti-tumor T cell responses, which is required for immunotherapies to be effective. In pancreatic cancer, early studies suggest that vaccines can induce T cells that have the potential to recognize and kill pancreatic cancer cells, but the tumor microenvironment inhibits effective T cell trafficking and function. While progress has been made in the development of immunotherapies for pancreatic cancer over the last several years, additional trials are needed to better understand the signals within the tumor microenvironment that are formidable barriers to T cell infiltration and function. Additionally, as more pancreatic specific antigens are identified, immunotherapies will continue to be refined to provide the most significant clinical benefit.


We present a fully asynchronous implementation of a DCC Error Detector. The circuit uses 4-phase handshake signaling and single-rail data encoding, and has been realized using standard cells from a generic cell library. The circuit is obtained by fully automatic translation from a high-level (Tangram) description, using handshake circuits as intermediate architecture. In comparison with a previous double-rail implementation the fabricated IC is 40% smaller (core area), three times faster, and consumes only a quarter of the power. Switching between two power supplies is described as a technique to reduce power dissipation even further. A comparative evaluation also includes an improved double-rail implementation and two synchronous circuits.


In the recent era of computer electronic communication we are currently facing the critical impact of Deception which plays its vital role in the mode of affecting efficient information sharing system. Identifying Deception in any mode of communication is a tedious process without using the proper tool for detecting those vulnerabilities. This paper deals with the efficient tools of Deception detection in which combined application implementation is our main focus rather than with its individuality. We propose a research model which comprises Fuzzy logic, Uncertainty and Randomization. This paper deals with an experiment which implements the scenario of mixture application with its revealed results. We also discuss the combined approach rather than with its individual performance..


Radiation protection of agrarian ecosystems should be considered as an integral part of a system for radiation protection of environment, with a special concern to agroecosystems' features. A methodology is proposed for an assessment of maximum permissible doses of radiation impact for agrocenoses based on an unified analysis of available data about effects of radiation in cultivated plants. It is considered as a component of radiation protection system for agricultural ecosystems. Critical doses and dose rates are estimated for crops under different exposure situations. It is shown that doses that could result in decreasing indexes of productivity and survival for main crops below 50% are unlikely up to 170-200 Gy and 15-17 Gy at an acute exposure of dormant seeds and vegetative plants, correspondingly. At chronic exposure, above 10% loss of productivity in crops is not expected at dose rates below 3-10 mGy/h.


As a baseline for the elaboration of useful instruments to increase the utilization of Renewable Energy in the cities, we present a Renewable Energy Joint Strategy (REJS), as proposed by the Partners of the European Project "Cities on Power". It constitutes a general guideline for public authorities on how to act to fulfil the provisions on Renewable Energy of the "Europe 2020 Strategy for growth and jobs" and on how to promote and make the best use of renewable energy. A REJS should face all needs of the different stake-holders and be able to offer a balanced approach to their satisfaction. Some preliminary activities made it possible to obtain a clear vision regarding to infrastructural, environmental and technological constrains and assess the potential of Renewable Energy Sources (RESs) in the specific local areas. The REJS covers the three fundamentals of EU energy policy (sustainability, security of supply and competitiveness) and is consistent with the long-term EU decarbonisation scenarios. The REJS is detailed through the following issues: General policy approach, Financial support, Administrative procedures, RESs in distributed power production and Smart Grids, RESs in Heating and Cooling and electricity, Sustainability, Regional and international dimensions, Technology development, Participation.


Prostate cancer is the second leading malignancy in men associated with an enormous research interest in all aspects of the disease. It is well recognized that the regulation of prostatic growth is a complicated biological process. Further more the androgenic dependence of the advanced prostate cancer is well know and in the last 50 years significant progresses regarding the principle of deprivation of androgens for the treatment of the disease occured. Prostate cancer is now diagnosed in earlier stages and treatment results in increased potential for cure or extension of overall survival. Unfortunately, every treatment for prostate cancer has adverse effects with negative impact in health-related quality of life. Surgical or pharmacological castration has a significant negative impact on quality of life in patients with prostate cancer (loss of sexuality, osteoporosis, and loss of muscle mass, e.g.). Antiandrogen monotherapy is considered to be a treatment in well-informed patients who wish to remain sexually active, can be administered orally, and is well tolerated by patients with prostate cancer. This review is focused on antiandrogen monotherapy in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer.


Private behavioral events are those events in which the stimulation with respect to which an individual responds is not accessible from the vantage point of another person. In such cases, the stimulation may be verbal or nonverbal. Further, the responses with respect to this stimulation may be verbal or nonverbal, and accessible or not to others. One type of private event involves verbal reports occasioned by conditions of the body, such as aches and pains. A second type involves covert operant behavior, such as thinking, problem solving, and daydreaming. For each type, a naturalistic account may be developed based on concepts derived from the analysis of overt behavior. Key words: B. F. Skinner, private behavioral events, problem of privacy, problem solving, thinking, verbal reports.


Over the last decade or so, a substantial effort has gone into the design of a series of methodological investigations aimed at enhancing the quality of survey data on income and wealth. These investigations have largely been conducted at the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan, and have mainly involved two longitudinal surveys: the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), with a first wave beginning in 1992 and continued thereafter every other year through 2004; and the Assets and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) Study, begun in 1993 and continued in 1995 and 1998, then in every other year through 2004. This provides and overview of the main studies and summarizes what has been learned about correcting longitudinal inconsistencies that arise.


Most neurological disorders and neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, remain difficult to treat because of the impermeability of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). The activation of bubbles by an acoustic field has been shown to temporarily open the (BBB) but the physical effects responsible for BBB opening remain unknown. In this study, two sets of experiments were performed in order to understand the bubble-dependent mechanism of FUS-induced BBB opening in mice and in monkeys. First, sixty-seven mice were injected intravenously with bubbles of either 1-2, 4-5 or 6-8 μm in diameter. The right hippocampus was then sonicated using focused ultrasound (1.5-MHz frequency; 100-cycles (67 μs) pulse length (PL); 10-Hz pulse repetition frequency (PRF); 1 minute duration). Peak-rarefactional pressures of 0.15-0.60 MPa were applied to identify the threshold of BBB opening and inertial cavitation (IC). Second, three monkeys (7 sonications) were performed using 4-5 μm/Definity microbubbles and focused ultrasound (0.5-MHz, 5000-cycles (10 ms) PL; 2-Hz PRF, 2 minute duration). It was found that the BBB opens with nonlinear bubble oscillation when the bubble diameter is similar to the capillary diameter and with inertial cavitation when it is not. The bubble may thus have to be in contact with the capillary wall to induce BBB opening without IC. In monkey experiments, the BBB was opened in all cases with 4-5 μm diameter bubbles, but was only opened at 0.60 MPa using Definity. The BBB opening was induced safely with nonlinear bubble oscillation at the pressure threshold for opening while its volume was highly dependent on both the acoustic pressure and bubble diameter.


Lacustrine carbonate tufa deposits are common in present-day lakes and dry pans of the western United States, and large-scale deposits (> 100 m high) are found throughout the subbasins of Pleistocene Lake Lahontan. This study presents a depositional model for very well exposed tufa in Winnemucca Dry Lake, a subbasin of Lake Lahontan, that incorporates new observations of tufa growth over length scales of 10–4–102 m. Tufa depositional facies are defined on the basis of outcrop morphology and texture. Deposits were mapped using satellite imagery and field observations. Tufa facies and volumes were quantified for seven tufa exposures across the basin using digital outcrop and elevation models from aerial images acquired from a small uncrewed aerial system (sUAS). Tufa thin sections were examined using transmitted-light petrography and scanning electron microscopy and combined with measurements of porosity and permeability to define small-scale facies characteristics. Both porosity and permeability are highly variable across textures; average values for both (ϕ = 29%, k = 5.5 D) indicate that all tufa types may exhibit excellent reservoir properties. The age and distribution of these facies across the basin are directly linked to hydroclimate and variations in lake level. The most important controls on tufa distribution at the basin scale are basin hydrology and pathways of groundwater inflow. Groundwater flow into the basin is largely concentrated along the western flexural margin along the contact between volcanic and volcaniclastic bedrock and alluvial sediments, rather than concentrated along the border fault margin, in contrast to other models which predict strong fault control of tufa occurrence. Microbially influenced tufa textures and morphologies are the most volumetrically significant tufas in the basin, composing between 77% and 100% of tufa volume at individual exposures; these are inferred to form during times when lake waters were warmer and levels higher, while physico-chemical processes dominate during early tufa formation, and generally in colder waters and under conditions of lower lake level. Deposition of tufas is a result of combined physical, chemical, and biological factors that are directly related to the basin geology and hydroclimate; however, the importance of each controlling factor is highly variable both spatially and temporally, complicating the development of effective and predictive depositional models. This case study describes tufa deposition intrinsically linked to basinal hydroclimatic histories, and understanding these relationships may assist in predicting volumes, physical properties, and stacking patterns of petroleum reservoir facies in lacustrine basins.


We report the phenomenon of anomalous phase synchronization in interacting oscillator systems with randomly distributed parameters. We show that coupling is first able to enlarge the frequency disorder leading to maximal decoherence for intermediate levels of coupling strength before reaching synchronization. Anomalous synchronization arises when the natural frequency covaries with nonisochronicity and allows for synchronization control by adjustment of system parameters.


Solving environmental and social challenges such as climate change requires a shift from our current non-renewable manufacturing model to a sustainable bioeconomy. To lower carbon emissions in the production of fuels and chemicals, plant biomass feedstocks can replace petroleum using microorganisms as biocatalysts. The anaerobic thermophile Clostridium thermocellum is a promising bacterium for bioconversion due to its capability to efficiently degrade lignocellulosic biomass. However, the complex metabolism of C. thermocellum is not fully understood, hindering metabolic engineering to achieve high titers, rates, and yields of targeted molecules. In this study, we developed an updated genome-scale metabolic model of C. thermocellum that accounts for recent metabolic findings, has improved prediction accuracy, and is standard-conformant to ensure easy reproducibility. We illustrated two applications of the developed model. We first formulated a multi-omics integration protocol and used it to understand redox metabolism and potential bottlenecks in biofuel (e.g., ethanol) production in C. thermocellum. Second, we used the metabolic model to design modular cells for efficient production of alcohols and esters with broad applications as flavors, fragrances, solvents, and fuels. The proposed designs not only feature intuitive push-and-pull metabolic engineering strategies, but also present novel manipulations around important central metabolic branch-points. We anticipate the developed genome-scale metabolic model will provide a useful tool for system analysis of C. thermocellum metabolism to fundamentally understand its physiology and guide metabolic engineering strategies to rapidly generate modular production strains for effective biosynthesis of biofuels and biochemicals from lignocellulosic biomass.


Abstract Rationale: Tetanus is usually caused by wound infection with Clostridium tetani after acute injuries. Skin cancer wound is a rarely reported cause of tetani infection. It is difficult to be diagnosed and mistaken for other brain lesions. Patient concerns: A 49-year-old man presenting with the only symptom of repeated convulsions was admitted to our department. He had an ulcerated skin cancer on the right buttock that had been excised in another hospital 1 month before admission, leaving the wound unhealed. He was suspected of having a metastatic brain tumor early, but exhibited a negative cranial CT-scan. Diagnosis: Tetanus was diagnosed when he was observed to have sudden convulsions after sensory stimulation such as noise, light, or touch. Interventions: Despite administration of a high dose of diazepam and phenobarbitone, continuous generalized rigidity with laryngospasm still occurred. Instead, when propofol was intravenously infused, the spastic convulsion completely stopped. Tracheotomy and mechanical ventilation were performed. Outcomes: The patient gradually recovered in 2 weeks. Lessons: Tetanus is rarely infected through the wound of an ulcerated skin cancer. Early diagnosis can only be based on accurate assessment of clinical manifestations, and propofol infusion appears to be more effective in anti-convulsion management for patients with tetanus. Routine vaccination to prevent tetanus in patients with ulcerated skin cancer should be considered in the future clinical work.


This paper has the aim to analyze the implications of the transition of ecosystem services based on urban agro ecology. It advances on the debate over the negative effects of the traditional and industrial oriented agricultural production on the ecosystem services, food systems, climate change, etc. and analyses the principles, methods, and some practices that support the transition to urban agro ecology. The method employed is the analytical of the theoretical and empirical literature review. It concludes that a transition from traditional and industrial-oriented agriculture towards more urban agro ecology is inevitable to improve the ecological and environmental services, the economic efficiency, the social equity and justice, and the environmental sustainability of cities.


This paper investigates the nature of nonlinearities in the monetary policy rule of the US Federal Reserve (Fed) using the flexible approach to nonlinear inference. We find that while there is significant evidence of nonlinearity for the period to 1979, there is little such evidence for the subsequent period. Possible asymmetries in the Fed's reactions to inflation deviations from target and the output gap in the 1960s and 1970s may tell part of the story, but do not capture the entire nature of the nonlinearity. The inclusion of the interaction between inflation deviations and the output gap, as recently proposed, appears to characterize the nonlinear policy rule more adequately. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Mass spectrometry (MS) is best known for measuring molecular weight and probing the chemical structure. Radical directed dissociation (RDD) is a tandem MS fragmentation method for hydrogen deficient radical precursors, which provides complementary structure information compared to other tandem MS methods. Fragmentation pathways of peptide radical isomers in collision induced dissociation are radical site dependent. The purpose of my first project is to use RDD fragmentation patterns from peptide radical isomers as probes of peptides gas phase structure and conformation flexibility. Radicals are site-specifically generated by photodissociation of carbon-iodine bonds at ortho-, meta-, or para- position of a benzoyl ring labeled at peptide amine group. Radicals at these sites have almost identical bond dissociation energies and thus the only difference comes from the steric effect. We utilized the steric effect and isotope deuterium labeling to study peptide gas phase structure and its influence on intramolecular radical migration. Evaluating protein structure in the gas phase is useful for understanding the intrinsic forces which influence protein folding and for determining the feasibility of probing condensed phase structure with gas phase interrogation. KIX is a three-helix bundle protein that has been reported previously to preserve the condensed phase structure in the gas phase. In another project, structure dependent RDD is used to examine the gas phase structure of KIX by establishing residue specific distance constraints which can be used to assess candidate structures obtained from molecular dynamics simulations. The data obtained by RDD is consistent with KIX structures that largely retain condensed phase structure as determined previously by NMR. A new method is developed to probe peptide structure in vacuo utilizing di-radical recombination reaction. Commonly, the pairing of electrons which occurs when two radicals interact is a radical exothermic process without an activation barrier. In the case of a separated peptide ion containing two radicals in the gas phase, such radical coupling reaction is an intramolecular cyclization process and generates a cyclic peptide. Therefore, examining the sites where the di-radical recombination occurs can provide local contact information. Herein, two radical precursors are site specifically introduced to polyproline at the N and C terminal residue, respectively. Internal fragments from cyclized polyproline peptides and ion-molecule reaction data indicate that polyprolines no longer adopts a helical structure as in the solution which would prevent diradical interaction. Intermolecular homolytic aromatic substitution (HAS) reaction between benzoate phenyl radical and aromatic side chains in large peptide is observed and investigated. Compared to those radical precursors we previously used, 2-iodo benzoic acid has a much higher propensity to add to the aromatic rings in peptides. HAS is in competitive with radical migration reaction and the product branching ratio depends on specific complex structure. The reaction mechanisms are verified by labeling at various key positions for tryptophan and tyrosine. Novel side chain losses from aromatic residues (-116W, -93Y, -77F) are rationalized by HAS. Phenylalanine is a chemically inert residue. Such unique side chain loss (i.e., -77F) allows identification of phenylalanine residue in peptides. Study of phenyl radical damage to oligopeptides in the gas phase by radical substitution reaction is achieved for the first time. New methods are developed to dissociate oligosaccharides based on RDD. Radical saccharides can be generated by either intermolecular radical migrations or covalent labeling with radical precursors. Compared to CID of even electron saccharides, RDD provides rich fragmentations including cross-ring cleavages. Positional isomers of oligosaccharides (e.g., lacto-N-fucopentaose isomers and lacto-N-difucohexaose isomers) are able to be distinguished by RDD owing to observed signature fragments.


The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money by John Maynard Keynes led up to three cross-shaped graphical interpretations: the IS-LM model, the 45o model and the Z-D model. The first one was originated from Hicks (1937) well-known paper, despite the differences between his original version and the textbook versions. The second one has become familiar through Alvin Hansen's 1953 book, to which Paul Samuelson also contributed. These two models are considered to be neoclassical - the meaning of which in this particular context will be discussed in our paper. The third model has became popular through Dudley Dillard's 1948 book and is embraced - with few qualifications - by Post Keynesians, who consider it to be more faithful to Keynes's original 1936 book. The three models are graphical (and algebraical) formalizations of Keynes's theory, but the last two are more specific in that they are focused on the explanation of the Principle of Effective Demand (PED). This paper compares the two graphical representations of the PED in the light of the definitions of aggregate demand, aggregate supply and effective demand, as they were presented by Keynes in the General Theory. The purpose of the paper is to identify which original arguments by Keynes support each of both models.


The global supply chain is embarking upon a new era of challenges and opportunities. Environmental protection, energy availability, and dramatic population increases are placing unprecedented pressure on the abilities of worldwide supply chains to efficiently and effectively provide goods and services. However, modern supply chains and the supply chain of the future also have unprecedented access to technology, particularly communication technology, enabling real-time connectivity to virtually anyone on earth. This paper describes the challenges and opportunities facing the supply chain of the future and describes the various effects these issues have on supply chain design, management, and integration.


A basic idea in fisheries management is that a fishery should be managed so that there is sufficient spawning stock biomass left to reproduce after the following year's fishing. An essential task for the scientists has thus been to predict spawning stock one to two years ahead. The focus on precautionary approach in fisheries management is an expression of a will to be careful with the marine resources by taking into account the uncertainty in science. The fisheries science community has responded by designing precautionary reference points to reflect the state of the stock and the uncertainty in the predicted spawning stock biomass and fishing mortality rate. However, experience has shown that this has not become the intended success. In this paper I argue that the precautionary reference points do not communicate uncertainty adequately. The system of reference points is static regarding the communication of uncertainty, it is an inefficient way of communicating uncertainty, it only reflects part of the total uncertainty in advice and it is value-laden as it is not transparent regarding underlying assumptions. In addition, the ACFM advice on catch options communicates an incorrect precision level and contradicts the precision level reflected by the reference points. ICES should therefore rethink the concept on how to communicate fisheries related advice that is more robust and more in accordance with the precautionary approach. The solution to the mismatch between quantified uncertainty and the total uncertainty could be to partly move the focus from quantified uncertainty to qualitative perspectives of the uncertainty. I include some suggestions that can be further explored.


IntroductionGaps in care have been identified along the disease pathway for specific cancers. However, no real-world data exists to identify wait times along these cancer pathways. Secondary use of family physician (FP) electronic medical record data (EMR) can augment existing health administrative data in measuring steps in the care pathways.
Objectives and ApproachWe used FP EMR data to identify care pathways for lung cancer and breast cancer patients from the description of symptoms, to the initiation of investigations, referrals to specialty care and the receipt of specific treatments (surgery, chemotherapy, radiation treatment). Data from the Electronic Medical Record Administrative data Linked Database (EMRALD) held at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) was used to identify a cohort of lung cancer and breast cancer patients. Data abstractors examined the FP EMR notes to identify pre-diagnostic symptoms, pre-diagnostic radiological test, biopsy results, oncology and surgical specialist referrals and post-diagnostic surgical and oncological consultations.
ResultsTo date, abstractors have reviewed the FP EMR notes for 300 lung cancer patient and 1200 breast cancer patients. Abstractors identified an index date where there was documentation of the first abnormal test result and/or a FP progress note documenting a "suspicious" or "concerning" sign or symptom. For both lung cancer and breast cancer patients, a pre-diagnostic index date was identified in 88.5% of FP EMR notes. For lung cancer patients 66.7% based were based on abnormal chest x-rays and for breast cancer patients 81.1% were based on abnormal mammograms. Pre-diagnostic symptoms were identified in 62.1% of FP EMR notes and 81.6% had post-diagnostic consultation notes. Wait times from the index date to seeing an oncological specialist were less than four weeks for all patients.
Conclusion/ImplicationsWe are able to use information from FP EMRs linked to health administrative data to identify pre-diagnostic care received by patients prior to their cancer diagnosis. This information can be used to identify care gaps and measure wait times in receiving cancer care from a patient's perspective.


JUST AS the names "Star Wars" and Strategic Defense Initiative piqued interest and emotions in the 1980s, the terms salt war 1 and salt saga 2 and a recent editorial entitled "A Salty Issue" 3 discussing a series of articles published in the British Medical Journal have elicited debate in the 1990s. The medical community and the lay public rarely have been as confused and polarized about a health issue as they are concerning the role of sodium chloride in human health and disease. Thus, it seems appropriate to examine the evidence, devoid of emotionalism and innuendo. Epidemiological evidence has established a direct relationship between the level of sodium intake and the prevalence of hypertension and its cardiovascular consequences in various societies throughout the world. 4 Despite the limitations of many of these observational studies, they have demonstrated that in societies in which habitual sodium chloride intake exceeds 50 to


This article presents a research study of bullying in Swedish private Boarding schools with focus on a child perspective. It analyses even the Education of the Swedish Power Elites starting point from Bourdieu s' sociological research and from the Convention on the Rights of the Child.This study is based on the analysis of cases of bullying in three private boarding schools in Sweden during 2011-2012. This contribution analyses in which way the child perspective is presented in description of bullying and practices against bullying produced by different actorsMethodThis contribution is based on analysis of texts produced by Swedish Education authorities, Polices authorities, Boarding schools staff, parents, pupils and media.Expected OutcomesThis contribution shows how bullying practices in Swedish boarding elite's schools are legitimized in terms on traditions and socialization patters for leadership in the Swedish Society. It argues on policies and practices against bullying that pay attention to a child perspective. Even though this analysis focuses on the Swedish experience, it can lead to a better understanding of the need to pay attention on a child perspective in the analysis on policies and practices against bullying in other European educational contexts.


Objectives: To identify the susceptibility of Ceftazidime-avibactam against Escherichia coli and their frequency in different clinical specimens. To correlate the susceptibility pattern of ceftazidime-avibactam against Escherichia coli in different age groups and gender. To evaluate susceptibility of drugs among Escherichia coli as compared to traditional antibiotics. Study Design: Cross-sectional Study. Setting: PNS Shifa Hospital Karachi. Period: September 2019 to May 2020. Material & Methods: The sample size was 150. The age group 10-50 years. Ethical permission was taken. Informed consent was taken. The specimens were inoculated on Blood and MacConkey's agar culture plates. The culture plate was inoculated at 37℃ in incubator for 24 to 48 hours. Identification of Enterobacteriaceae was done by colony morphology, gram staining, biochemical tests, and API 20E. After identification, the susceptibility profile of conventional antibiotics was identified. Mueller Hinton agar was used to check the antibiotic susceptibility of Ceftazidime-avibactam by disk diffusion method. Results: Ceftazidime-avibactam shows sensitivity against 82.7% of the isolates while 17.3 % isolates were resistant. The minimum inhibitory concentration of microorganisms is measured by E-test method that revealed most of the isolate show sensitivity less than 1 µg/mL concentration whereas few of them showed susceptibility on 2-8 µg/mL concentration. We compared our results with other classes of antibiotics used commonly This gives an insight for improved treatment methodologies for future prospects particularly diseases caused by members of Enterobacteriaceae. Conclusion: It was concluded that Ceftazidime-avibactam is a novel drug combination that shows high sensitivity against Escherichia coli.


Thank you for reading language and experience. Maybe you have knowledge that, people have look hundreds times for their favorite readings like this language and experience, but end up in infectious downloads. Rather than enjoying a good book with a cup of tea in the afternoon, instead they are facing with some harmful virus inside their laptop. language and experience is available in our book collection an online access to it is set as public so you can download it instantly. Our digital library hosts in multiple countries, allowing you to get the most less latency time to download any of our books like this one. Kindly say, the language and experience is universally compatible with any devices to read.


Economic damage from natural hazards can sometimes be prevented and always mitigated. However, private individuals tend to underinvest in such measures due to problems of collective action, information asymmetry and myopic behavior. Governments, which can in principle correct these market failures, themselves face incentives to underinvest in costly disaster prevention policies and damage mitigation regulations. Yet, disaster damage varies greatly across countries. We argue that rational actors will invest more in trying to prevent and mitigate damage the larger a country's propensity to experience frequent and strong natural hazards. Accordingly, economic loss from an actually occurring disaster will be smaller the larger a country's disaster propensity - holding everything else equal, such as hazard magnitude, the country's total wealth and per capita income. At the same time, damage is not entirely preventable and smaller losses tend to be random. Disaster propensity will therefore have a larger marginal effect on larger predicted damages than on smaller ones. We employ quantile regression analysis in a global sample to test these predictions, focusing on the three disaster types causing the vast majority of damage worldwide: earthquakes, floods and tropical cyclones.


This paper presents the results of a combined spectroscopic and photometric study of 20 contact binary systems: HV Aqr, OO Aql, FI Boo, TX Cnc, OT Cnc, EE Cet, RWCom, KR Com, V401 Cyg, V345 Gem, AK Her, V502 Oph, V566 Oph, V2612 Oph, V1363 Ori, V351 Peg, V357 Peg, Y Sex, V1123 Tau and W UMa, which was conducted in the frame of the W UMa Project. Together with 51 already covered by the project and an additional 67 in the existing literature, these systems bring the total number of contact binaries with known combined spectroscopic and photometric solutions to 138. It was found that mass, radius and luminosity of the components follow certain relations along the MS and new empirical power relations are extracted. We found that 30 per cent of the systems in the current sample show extreme values in their parameters, expressed in their mass ratio or fill-out factor. This study shows that, among the contact binary systems studied, some have an extremely low mass ratio (q < 0.1) or an ultra-short orbital period (Porb < 0.25 d), which are expected to show evidence of mass transfer progress. The evolutionary status of these components is discussed with the aid of correlation diagrams and their physical and orbital parameters compared to those in the entire sample of known contact binaries. The existence of very short orbital periods confirms the very slow nature of the merging process, which seems to explain why their components still exist as MS stars in contact configurations even after several Gyr of evolution.


The paper analyses individual inflation expectations in the Netherlands over the period 2008-2014. The empirical evidence is based on the DNB Household Survey, a longitudinal online panel survey representative of Dutch-speaking population. The focus is on inflation measures based on information about the general price level, the aggregate real estate price and the price of the own house. Both individual background microeconomic characteristics and macroeconomic variables are taken into account in our empirical models devoted to explain the main determinants of inflation expectations. We find that inflation expectations decrease over the years, suggesting that individuals can pick up the direction of the price change, but respondents do not report high risk of deflation. The target inflation of 2 percent seems to be well anchored in individual expectations.


the rapid growth in the use of recommendation systems in the tourism sector is mainly related to the possibility to access updated data deriving from social networks, thus providing more appropriate and personalized suggestions. the paper presents a tourist trip recommendation system that suggests personalized itineraries defined as sequence of point of interest (poi) to visit. the system core integrates two software modules: a neural network and an optimization engine. for every pair user-poi typology, the neural network provides, on the basis of the analysis of the social media data, a score between 0 and 1. these latter values are then used as input parameters for a routing optimization problem that suggests the itinerary by considering additional restriction, as, for example, time windows, budget and time limitations, specified by the end user. Being a computational demanding problem, the model solution is carried out by applying a heuristic approach that is proven to provide high-quality solution in a limited amount of time.


Philippine Medical Association President Dr. Jojo Santiago, Missy and my Central Tagalog Region One Day Family; Singapore Association of Medical Journal Editors President Professor Wilfred Peh and my Singapore family- Mom, Bernie, Miranda, Angie and Lilli; Philippine Association of Medical Journal Editors (PAMJE) President Elect Professor Cecile Maramba – Lazarte and Asawa Ramel, Anak Miggy, Pamangkin Zoe, Tatay Dr. Tomas Maramba and Nanay Professor Emeritus Dr. Nelia Cortez Maramba; my dear PAMJE Colleagues Professors Caster Palaganas and Joseph Quebral and Doctors Phel Esmaquel and Mads Tandoc, PAMJE members and our hardworking Secretariat, Philippine Council for Health Research and Development -Department of Science and Technology (PCHRD-DOST) Director Mel Opeña and Belle Intia, World Health Organization - Western Pacific Region Office (WHO-WPRO) Ms. Alma Prosperoso, guests, friends, ladies and gentlemen:
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair."
— Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities1
Who would have thought that our vision of 2020 had been so blurred, so obscured by rose-colored lenses and peripheral blinders of what we once considered normal, that we were oblivious to the insidious turn of events that continues even today to change our lives and our world? This evening is an example (however small) of that change - originally set for March 16 at Ibarra's Garden, we are celebrating virtually and remotely from separate venues five months hence. What will today be seen as from the perspective of another five months?
Indeed, the past months have seen the worst of times. We remember our fears and frustrations as we battled an unseen enemy that mercilessly claimed our plans and programs as it killed our friends and colleagues. It was an age of foolishness as we witnessed the unrelenting spread of COVIDIOTS in disbelief and bewilderment. An epoch of incredulity as our scientific expertise and social interventions proved inutile while our so-called leaders failed to lead, engaging in petty pathetic distractions as they selfishly pillaged and plundered our nation and people instead. A depressing season of darkness heralding a cold, cruel winter of despair.
But we did not surrender. As medical professionals and researchers, reviewers and editors, we took up stethoscope and scalpel, pen and paper and patiently plodded on. Informing ourselves with the latest and best evidence (or engaging in research to add to that evidence), we sifted through the "infodemic" to cope with the pandemic as we navigated seemingly-endless zoom meetings and webinars, researched, reviewed or edited and published our findings, and attended to patients. The boundaries between night and day, weekday and weekend, office and home disappeared as we worked from home, or tried to make a home of our workplaces (fearful of contaminating our families with the dread disease).

Thus, these are the best of times, because we continue to hold the fort, the last line of defense. Against all odds (including personal burnout and the very real possibility of becoming COVID positive ourselves), we persist in upholding our sacred pledge to consecrate our lives to the service of humanity, in whatever manner possible. It is an age of wisdom. Those of us who continue to pursue research, to review and edit, to write and publish, and who facilitate the means for others to do so in these trying times add to that wisdom. Indeed, as the novelist-playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton has Cardinal Richelieu (on discovering a plot to kill him) proclaim: "The pen is mightier than the sword!"2 None are more cognizant of this than we who have taken up the daunting but thankless role of editor. If in the words of the great Doctor José Protacio Rizal (through the jeweler Simoun's discourse with Basilio)3 "It is a useless life that is not consecrated to a great ideal ... like a stone wasted on a field without becoming a part of any edifice," then our lives consecrated to publishing vital health information and dispelling disinformation for the benefit of our patients and the public, and informing clinical practice and health policy are far from useless. Let us continue to serve as Sentinels of Science and bring about the epoch of belief.
It is time to move forward, and we do that by looking back. As Doctor Rizal also said, drawing on the popular Tagalog proverb4
"Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan hindi makakarating sa paroroonan" (they who do not know how to look back at whence they came from will not reach their destination). The past decade would not have been possible without the many people who made PAMJE happen. In particular, I thank the PCHRD-DOST for the unwavering support of our plans, programs and projects. Director Merl Opeña and "Merl's girls" headed by Ms. Belle Intia, our Secretary Tine Alayon, and Executive Director Dr. Jimmy Montoya. The WHO WPRO Ms. Alma Mila Prosperoso (and the Medical and Health Librarian's Association of the Philippines, MAHLAP), Chandani Thapa, Marie Villemin-Partow, and Charlie Raby. We have come a long way from the first set of office bearers- - Vice Presidents Drs. Ric Guanzon (The Filipino Family Physician) and Nenet Santiago - San Juan (Philipp J Obstetrics and Gynecology), Secretary Dr. Madeline Sosa (Philipp J Neurology) and Treasurer Dr. Gerard Goco (Philipp J Nuclear Medicine), Dr. Pat Khu (Philipp J Opthalmol), the other Joey Avila (Acta Medica Philippina) and Linda Varona (PJIM), and so many others. Forgive a senior citizen's memory if I inadvertently failed to mention you. To my steadfast colleagues, Cecile Maramba-Lazarte, Caster Palaganas, Joseph Quebral and Phel Esmaquel, none of this would have been possible without you. Maraming Salamat po. It is but fitting that together with Mads Tandoc, you take up the torch and usher in a season of light and awaken a spring of hope.

Ikaw ba'y makikibaka at hindi maduduwag,Na gisingin ang mga panatikong bingi't bulagKasinungalingan labanan hanggang mabuwag
Di niyo ba naririnig? Tinig ng bayan na galitHimig ito ng Pilipinong di muli palulupigDudurugin ang dilim, ang araw ay mag-aalabAt mga pusong nagtimpi ay magliliyab!
— Di Niyo Ba Naririnig5
Mabuhay kayo; Mabuhay tayo. Mabuhay ang PAMJE!


Abstract In this paper, we present a hybrid formulation/algorithm to solve the linear Boltzmann equation, specifically for application to problems containing regions of low scattering. The hybrid approach uses the characteristics method in low scattering regions, while the remaining regions are treated with the discrete ordinates method (SN). A shared scattering kernel allows an arbitrary order of anisotropic scattering in both block-oriented solvers. A new three-dimensional transport code (TITAN) has been developed based on the hybrid approach. TITAN divides a problem model into coarse meshes (blocks) in the Cartesian geometry. The block-oriented structure allows different fine-meshing schemes (or characteristic ray densities) and angular quadrature sets for different coarse meshes. Angular and spatial projection techniques are developed to transfer angular fluxes on the interfaces of the coarse meshes. We have tested the performance and accuracy of the new hybrid algorithm within the TITAN code for a number of benchmark problems. The results of a computed tomography model and the Kobayashi benchmark problems are presented in this paper. It is demonstrated that while preserving high-level accuracy as compared to reference Monte Carlo simulations, the hybrid algorithm achieves significant computation efficiency as compared to the SN method only.


The rumen is one of the most powerful fibrolytic fermentation systems known. Gene expression analyses, such as reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR), microarrays, and metatranscriptomics, are techniques that could significantly expand our understanding of this ecosystem. The ability to isolate and stabilize representative RNA samples is critical to obtaining reliable results with these procedures. In this study, we successfully isolated high-quality total RNA from the solid phase of ruminal contents by using an improved RNA extraction method. This method is based on liquid nitrogen grinding of whole ruminal solids without microbial detachment and acid guanidinium - phenol - chloroform extraction combined with column purification. Yields of total RNA were as high as 150 µg per g of fresh ruminal content. The typical large subunit/small subunit rRNA ratio ranged from 1.8 to 2.0 with an RNA integrity number (Agilent Technologies) greater than 8.5. By eliminating the detachment step, the resulting RNA was more representative of the complete ecosystem. Our improved method removed a major barrier limiting analysis of rumen microbial function from a gene expression perspective. The polyA-tailed eukaryotic mRNAs obtained have successfully been applied to next-generation sequencing, and metatranscriptomic analysis of the solid fraction of rumen contents revealed abundant sequences related to rumen fungi.


Worldwide interest in the delivery of computing and storage capacity as a service continues to grow at a rapid pace. The complexities of such cloud computing centers require advanced resource management solutions that are capable of dynamically adapting the cloud platform while providing continuous service and performance guarantees. The goal of this paper is to devise resource allocation policies for virtualized cloud environments that satisfy performance and availability guarantees and minimize energy costs in very large cloud service centers. We present a scalable distributed hierarchical framework based on a mixed-integer non-linear optimization of resource management acting at multiple time-scales. Extensive experiments across a wide variety of configurations demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of our approach.


We investigated socially inclusive participation in mainstream community groups and religious services by U.S. adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities using weighted secondary analyses of 2018-2019 National Core Indicators data. Overall, 34.4% participated in community groups and 42.4% in religious services. Some 45.0% had an unmet desire for community-group participation, whereas most (75.0%) attended a religious service as often as preferred. The type of companion varied by living arrangements and age group. Attending community groups and religious services were each strongly associated with better friendship outcomes but were not related to loneliness. The large unmet demand for community-group participation reveals a major gap. The friendship outcomes underline the benefits of socially inclusive community participation.


Systemic inflammatory responses to microbial molecules contribute to disease
pathogenesis and the development of life-threatening complications such as sepsis. Toll-like
receptors function as sentinels for the innate immune system, detecting microbial ligands
during infection and inflammation. In naturally occurring infections, multiple pathogenassociated
receptors are likely to be activated during the initiation of the host response to
infection. Therefore, it is important to understand the regulation of TLR signaling and
interactions between the TLRs and their ligands. In the first study in this dissertation, we
investigated the effects of ligands recognized by TLR 2, TLR 3 or TLR 4 upon expression of
the genes encoding these receptor proteins by equine monocytes. We determined that
incubation of monocytes with TLR 2 and 4 ligands, which signal through the intracellular
adaptor protein MyD88, induces expression of the TLR 2 and 4 genes, but not the TLR 3
gene. Conversely, incubation with a TLR 3 ligand, which recruits the TRIF adaptor protein,
selectively induces expression of the TLR 3 gene, but not TLR 2 or 4 genes. Furthermore,
incubation of these cells with TNF-α, the pro-inflammatory cytokine that is a hallmark of
TLR activation, does not affect expression of any of the three TLR genes. In the second
study, we investigated the responses of equine leukocytes to bacterial flagellin, the ligand
recognized by TLR 5. Although equine neutrophils responded to both LPS and flagellin by
producing reactive oxygen species and expressing mRNA for pro-inflammatory cytokines,
flagellin had no stimulatory effect on monocytes or macrophages. While both neutrophils and
monocytes expressed mRNA for TLR 5, the message appeared to be translated into protein
only by the neutrophils. Incubation with neither LPS nor IFN-γ altered TLR 5 expression by
the monocytes. These findings indicate that flagellin has disparate effects on neutrophils and
mononuclear phagocytes isolated from horses, a species that is exquisitely sensitive to the
TLR 4 ligand, LPS. Furthermore, equine mononuclear phagocytes, unlike corresponding
cells of other mammalian species, lack surface expression of TLR 5 and do not respond to
flagellin. Finally, we validated in-house ELISA assays to detect flagellin and antibodies
directed against flagellin in serum samples obtained from hospitalized horses and foals. We
determined that flagellin enters the circulation of horses with gastrointestinal diseases and
septic foals, most likely due to intestinal barrier dysfunction. Furthermore, adaptive immune
responses to flagellin were detected in horses with gastrointestinal disease that were reflected
by increased levels of antibody directed against flagellin during hospitalization.


The effects of thyroid hormones on the urinary excretion of kallikrein and on renal kallikrein were studied in rats. Total and active urinary kallikrein was decreased after thyroidectomy, but renal kallikrein content remained unchanged. Diuresis increased, and kidney weight and plasma aldosterone concentration decreased. Treatment with 3,5,3'-triiodo-L-thyronine restored the urinary kallikrein in thyroidectomized rats to normal and increased it in intact rats. It also produced increases in kidney weight and plasma aldosterone and a decrease in diuresis. The effect of thyroid hormones on the urinary kallikrein response to mineralocorticoids was also tested. Deoxycorticosterone acetate increased urinary kallikrein more in normal than in thyroidectomized rats. These results suggest that thyroidectomy decreases renal kallikrein synthesis and lowers the turnover rate of the enzyme, changes not detectable by a single measurement of the renal kallikrein content but reflected by an alteration in the urinary excretion of the enzyme. Thyroid hormones participate in the control of urinary kallikrein. This effect, however, is probably indirect and may be mediated by mineralocorticoids since thyroid function affects both the plasma level of aldosterone, which is known to influence renal kallikrein, and the kallikrein response to exogenous mineralocorticoids.


Internal carbon dioxide, ethylene production, and ripening of mature durians (Durio zibethinus Murray) cv. Chanee were monitored at 24, 27, 30, and 33°C. Typical climacteric patterns were recorded at all test temperatures, but at 33°C very low amounts of ethylene were produced. A rapid reduction in firmness and starch content was associated with an increase in soluble solids, total sugars, and β-carotene, at all temperatures. Changes in soluble solids, total sugars, and starch content were slower at 27°C ; however, ripening occurred at all temperatures.


The increasing use of wireless devices has led to more need for energy-efficient
communication schemes. Recently, more effort have been put in researching lowpower
spread spectrum as an energy-efficient method of communication. transmitted
reference (TR) is a low-power spread-spectrum technique which was introduced as
a promising communication scheme used in short-range transmissions, such as
wireless sensor networks. In TR modulation the transmitter sends the information
signal along with the spreading signal shifted by a time or frequency offset, which
can be demodulated by the receiver by applying the same offset. This simplifies
the receiver architecture significantly. The receiver does thus not need to know the
spreading signal used, allowing for any kind of spreading signal; including noise,
giving birth to noise-based frequency-offset modulation (N-FOM).
N-FOM uses pure noise as information bearer. This is advantageous as it is
easy to generate and eliminates the need for complex schemes for flattening the
spectrum of the transmitted signal. Therefore, N-FOM allows for multiple-access
communication by varying the frequency offset used in the receiver. However, due to
the self-correlation module in the receiver, mixing terms of possible other concurrent
active nodes increase the noise roughly quadratically; limiting the number of possible
concurrent active links as bit error rates worsen.
Introducing a medium access control (MAC) protocol to regulate the number
of concurrent transmissions could assist in overcoming this barier. Transmitted-
Reference MAC (TR-MAC) is a protocol specifically designed to work with N-FOM.
The protocol regulates the frequency offsets allocated to transmitting nodes and
synchronized with them providing each transmitter a non-overlapping transmission
opportunity to send packets. This in order to prevent collisions due to frequency
offsets selected twice and to reduce too many concurrent active links. The protocol
allows both transmitter-driven and receiver-driven communication. Although proven
functional, TR-MAC has only been tested with abstractions of the physical layer and
hard limits set on the number of concurrent active links. The creation of a new model
is required that is not based on hard limits, but rather implements real physical-layer
phenomena of the N-FOM physical layer. This in order to test how the physical layer affects the medium access layer in ways that have previously not been accounted
for.
Based on theTR-MAC simulation model as a starting point, the N-FOM physical
layer has been implemented. Physical layer abstractions and hard limits have
been removed. A mathematical expression of the N-FOM layer has been used to
model the physical layer for simulation. In order to model a more realistic channel,
a Bernoulli random process has been implemented for packet error generation to
determine packet error probabilities. Simulations have been performed to verify the
physical layer to test its limitations and to see the effects on MAC level in a multipleaccess
environment.
Results show that physical layer simulation in a single-link environment is according
to theory. Simulation results follow the theoretical curve on a 99.9% confidence
interval. It can thus be assumed the physical layer is implemented according to theory.
Furthermore, the limitation of the physical layer was tested. For this test, nodes
were put at an equal distance and made increasingly concurrently active. It became
evident the physical limit, based on the parameters set, allowed for a maximum of
three concurrent active links as a maximum; thus requiring the need for a MAC protocol.
Multiple access simulation of the physical layer in conjunction with the MAC
protocol has shown the physical layer has significant impact on the throughput of the
system. The self-correlating receiver introduces mixing terms that result in a nearly
quadratic increase in noise, resulting in saturation of the throughput when the number
of active links increases and eventually a decay due to channel contention. The
resulting throughput is less than previously resulted from the TR-MAC measurement
results due to these mixing terms.
Based on the simulation results it can thus be concluded the physical layer has
impact on the MAC layer that has previously been unaccounted for. Additional
noise terms introduced by the self-correlation receiver have significant impact on the
throughput on the system. However, it is shown that the simulator is functional and
can be used further to more extensively test the system as a whole. Currently measurements
performed were primarily for functionality analysis purposes, and not for
practical implementation as only line-of-sight measurements have been performed.
Multipath effects still have to be simulated as they did not fall within the scope of
this thesis. Additionally the inclusion of a more extensive clear channel assessment
state and/or channel coding could improve the system significantly.


Dairy operations have a variety of resources and objectives, such that the most economical method of obtaining replacement heifers is only determined by individual analysis of costs. The objective of this study was the development of a cost analysis spreadsheet and validation of that spreadsheet on milking and custom heifer operations throughout Pennsylvania. A cost analysis spreadsheet was developed with an Excel '97 Microsoft file. The spreadsheet estimated the costs to raise a replacement heifer by specific age classes for feed, labor, health, reproduction, bedding, facilities, equipment, mortality, and interest costs. The simplistic and broad-based nature of the spreadsheet was a key component in the spreadsheet's flexibility to estimate costs for a variety of operational objectives, feeding management, housing systems, and labor management. A convenience sample of 16 milking operations and 14 custom heifer operations was evaluated to validate the cost analysis spreadsheet. Results from the validation are discussed to highlight the success and performance of the cost analysis spreadsheet. The average total cost to raise a replacement heifer for this data set was $1124.06 and $1019.20 for milking and custom heifer operations, respectively. Feed costs contributed 60.3 and 64.0% of the average total cost for milking and custom heifer operations, respectively. While no two operations are alike, individual operations possessing the ability to address costs to raise a replacement heifer can utilize critical information that can be used to improve operation profitability.


This study aims to find the level of energy consumption, CVR% and Boddy mass index through the pulse before and after sports. In calculation of CVR% there are 4 people needed improvement, 1 person must reduce the activity time so as not to injury while doing sports. In determining the heartbeat pulse (pulse) by testing the wilxocon turns out the higher heart rate before exercising, the higher the heart rate after exercise or vice versa. In addition, by doing chi square test between energy consumption with obesity has nothing to do.


Human interest stories or case studies aim to highlight a specific development issue from one person's (or group of people's) perspective. They are useful as qualitative background to monitoring and evaluation, for organisational learning and programme learning, for campaigns and media communications, and for funding and marketing departments looking for story leads. Their power lies in their ability to bring issues to life, showing the link between 'macro' policy questions and the 'micro' impacts these have on people's lives.Their personal quality helps the reader or viewer to connect with, and de-mystifys, complicated issues, such as global trade or HIV/AIDS. They create a bond of empathy and understanding based on a shared humanity. As a result, they have the potential to reveal a complex picture of a certain socio-economic or political reality by depicting one experience of it.


Real-time database systems can have security constraints in addition to timing constraints. Such real-time systems are typically contained in environments that exhibit hierarchical propagation of information, where mandatory access control for security is required. Conventional multi-level secure database models that implement mandatory access control are inadequate for time-critical applications and conventional real-time database models do not address security constraints. The objective of this work is to incorporate security constraints in real-time database systems in such a way that not only is security achieved, but achieving security does not degrade real-time performance significantly in terms of deadlines missed. We present concurrency control algorithm for secure real-time databases that the Secure OPT algorithm uses the properties of an optimistic concurrency protocol. We implement the algorithm and study their performance using a real-time database system simulation model. Our study covers both soft and firm real-time databases. Results show that the algorithm performs fairly well in terms of security and timeliness compared to a non-secure algorithm. We argue and show that achieving more security does not necessarily mean more sacrifice in real-time performance.


The inclusion of people with disabilities in organizations has been a difficult process, in terms of hiring those professionals, enhancing their performance or even retaining them. Despite the imposing statutory, which hasbeen demanding, for over 20 years, that private companies must hire people with disabilities, not all organizations have fulfilled it. This research was carried out in a large organization, which has an inclusion program with the purpose of knowing the perception of people with disabilities and managers about the program. 291 disabled people, 198 managers and one human resource (HR) professional participated in the sample. Quantitative and qualitative research methods (cross-sectional survey) were used. The case study was conducted in an organization which is a movement to transform itself in an inclusive company. Currently experiencing the integration phase, in which the people, through their competence and adaptation, have shown that they are capable of producing. Changes have been noticed in the practices and values of the organization: its evolution will exclusion towards inclusion. It appears that, regardless the organization's size and sector, it is possible to make the inclusion of persons with disabilities; this organization has experienced a transitional period, changing to a truly inclusive model (society and organizations go through this transition); and there is a need for constant investment in reflection and information on disabilities, in order to reduce prejudice and social exclusion.


The presence of a robust public domain is an essential precondition for cultural, social and economic development and for a healthy democratic process. But the public domain is under pressure as a result of the ongoing march towards an information economy. Items of information, which in the old-economy had little or no economic value, such as factual data, personal data, genetic information and pure ideas, have acquired independent economic value in the current information age, and consequently become the object of property rights making the information a tradable commodity. How and to what extent does the commodification of information affect the free flow of information and the integrity of the public domain? Does the freedom of expression and information, guaranteed inter alia in the European Convention on Human Rights, call for active state intervention to 'save' the public domain? What means - both legal and practical - are available or might be conceived to guarantee and foster a robust public domain? These were the main questions that were addressed in a major collaborative research project led by the Institute for Information Law of the University of Amsterdam (IViR) in co-operation with the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology and Society (TILT) of Tilburg University, and funded by ITeR, the Dutch National Program for Information Technology and Law. Thirteen contributions from academia worldwide make up the present book, addressing the future of the public domain from a different angle. In addition, all authors were invited to reflect upon the notion and role of the public domain in the context of information law and policy. Should this concept be limited to that of a 'negative' image of (intellectual) property protection, i.e. all publicly available information not subject to a property right, and therefore freely (i.e. gratis) available, or should a broader approach be taken, e.g. all information available from public sources at affordable cost? Should information policies be aimed at maximizing the public domain or optimizing information flows? To what extent are these aims congruent? This book takes a broader, 'information law' oriented approach towards the question of preserving the public domain, in which a wide range of interrelated legal questions converge. Issues treated in this book include: economic analysis of the public domain; fundamental rights analysis of the public domain; impact of the application of technological protection measures and contractual restrictions on the public domain; the impact of the expansion of copyright, database right and patent rights on the public domain; the impact of the commodification of private data, government information, indigenous knowledge on the public domain; and the capacity of the Open Source and Creative Commons Movements to preserve the integrity of the public domain. "The Future of the Public Domain" is an important work for all those interested or involved in the regulation of the knowledge economy. Legal scholars, academic and research institutions, corporate counsel, lawyers, government policymakers and regulators - all these and more will benefit enormously from the thoughtful and incisive discussions presented here.


Library LibGuides. ED 501: Foundations of Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century - Compton - Fall 2015. Simply Map.


With high performance interconnects and parallel file systems, running MapReduce over modern High Performance Computing (HPC) clusters has attracted much attention due to its uniqueness of solving data analytics problems with a combination of Big Data and HPC technologies. Since the MapReduce architecture relies heavily on the availability of local storage media, the Lustre-based global storage in HPC clusters poses many new opportunities and challenges. In this paper, we perform a comprehensive study on different MapReduce over Lustre deployments and propose a novel high-performance design of YARN MapReduce on HPC clusters by utilizing Lustre as the additional storage provider for intermediate data. With a deployment architecture where both local disks and Lustre are utilized for intermediate data storage, we propose a novel priority directory selection scheme through which RDMA-enhanced MapReduce can choose the best intermediate storage during runtime by on-line profiling. Our results indicate that, we can achieve 44 percent performance benefit for shuffle-intensive workloads in leadership-class HPC systems. Our priority directory selection scheme can improve the job execution time by 63 percent over default MapReduce while executing multiple concurrent jobs. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first such comprehensive study for YARN MapReduce with Lustre and RDMA.


Video traffic comprises a large majority of the total traffic on the internet today. Uncompressed visual data requires a very large data rate; lossy compression techniques are employed in order to keep the data-rate manageable. Increasingly, a significant amount of visual data being generated is consumed by analytics (such as classification, detection, etc.) residing in the cloud. Image and video compression can produce visual artifacts, especially at lower data-rates, which can result in a significant drop in performance on such analytic tasks. Moreover, standard image and video compression techniques aim to optimize perceptual quality for human consumption by allocating more bits to perceptually significant features of the scene. However, these features may not necessarily be the most suitable ones for semantic tasks. We present here an approach to compress visual data in order to maximize performance on a given analytic task. We train a deep auto-encoder using a multi-task loss to learn the relevant embeddings. An approximate differentiable model of the quantizer is used during training which helps boost the accuracy during inference. We apply our approach on an image classification problem and show that for a given level of compression, it achieves higher classification accuracy than that obtained by performing classification on images compressed using JPEG. Our approach also outperforms the relevant state-of-the-art approach by a significant margin.


Abstract Teaching the discipline of surgery to medical students depends on the practicing clinical surgeon assuming the role of educator. The amount of surgical knowledge to impart and technical skill to train are ever increasing as the duration of time students spend on surgical rotations is decreasing. The intent of this article is to assist those surgeons with minimal formal training in educational methods to enhance their teaching skills. Traditional large-group lecture, small-group sessions, and mentoring are reviewed with special emphasis on medical simulation.


Using visible and near-infrared transient absorption spectroscopy to track distinct excited state, cation, and anion signals, we report a detailed kinetic analysis of photoinitiated multi-step charge separation and ultrafast charge transfer induced dissociation in a self-assembled donor–bridge–acceptor–cobaloxime triad. The donor–bridge–acceptor ligand consists of a perylene chromophore linked via a xylene bridge to a pyridyl-substituted 1,8-naphthalimide electron acceptor. Coordination of the ligand to the catalyst [Co(dmgBF2)2(L)2], where dmgBF2 = (difluoroboryl)dimethylglyoximato and L = water or a solvent molecule, yields a donor–bridge–acceptor–catalyst triad assembly. Photoexcitation with 416 nm laser pulses generates the perylene S1 excited state. Subsequent electron transfer from perylene to the acceptor occurs in τ = 9.0 ± 0.1 ps followed by electron transfer to the catalyst in τ = 6 ± 1 ps. Of the charge-separated state population formed, 79 ± 1% undergoes charge recombination to either the singlet ground state (τ = 0.8 ± 0.1 ns) or the perylene triplet state (τ = 4.3 ± 0.1 ns). Co(I)-pyridyl bond dissociation with τ = 2.4 ± 0.2 ns competes with intramolecular charge recombination resulting in a 21 ± 1% yield of dissociated oxidized photosensitizer and reduced catalyst. Subsequent diffusional charge recombination occurs with k = (1.8 ± 0.2) × 1010 M−1 s−1. This detailed analysis of the electron transfer and dissociation dynamics of an integrated photosensitizer–catalyst system will inform the rational design of novel molecular assemblies that efficiently absorb photons, transfer electrons, and catalyze fuel-forming reactions.


Reform efforts in mathematics education challenge teachers to assess traditional forms of assessment and to explore and implement alternative forms of assessment. Empowering all students with mathematical literacy demands methods of assessment that reflect and enhance the present state of knowledge about learning, about teaching, about mathematics, and about assessment. This discussion highlights insightful perspectives on assessment strategies and techniques currently being addressed and implemented. A cohort of middle school mathematics teachers reveal their experiences and reflections in addressing current assessment practices and ventures in innovative and alternative approaches to assessment.


At the turn of twelfth and thirteenth centuries, a Mongol chief, Temujin. best-known by his title Chinggis Qan, began his expansion and created a vast empire in north and central Asia. The conquest was completed in three stages: first the unification of Mongolia, second the submission of neighbouring nations, third an expedition to Central Asia. The history of his military conquests has been extensively studied by modem researchers, while the non-military factors which also contribute to his success have been given less attention. The background of Temujin's success lacks clarity too, because of confusion in the available accounts. This thesis focus on two topics in the career of Temujin. The first three chapters in part one analyze the relationship between Temujin's family and Toyoril, the ruler of the Turkic Kereit tribe, who was a cmcial figure in Temtujin's rise to power. The essential reconstruction of the early history of the Kereit ruling family in this part presents also the background of Temujin's triumph. Part Two studies Temujin's strategy of expansion via his relationship with the other Turkic tribes, his Mongol kinsmen and the powerful Jurchen regime in the south. This examination consists of three chapters and it reveals that Temujin did not accomplish his career solely by the sword. Since these aspects have not been sufficiently investigated because of the confusion of the primary sources, a serious attempt has been made to clarify the situation. Three major sources have been carefully studied in their original languages, respectively Monggol-un niyucha tobchiyan in Mongolian, Jami' al-tawarikh in Persian and Sheng-wu ch'ing-cheng-lu in Chinese. Through a careful comparison of all the relevant details, the career of Temujin can be re-interpreted from a new perspective.


Sjögren's syndrome is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disorder characterised by lymphocytic infiltration and destruction of the salivary and lacrimal glands by auto-antibodies. Although considered a benign disease, it is associated with a range of complications manifested in multiple organ systems and even higher risk for developing lymphoma, one of which is mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma. It is a rare complication and predominantly occurs in adults, with limited reports in the paediatric population. We report a case of MALT lymphoma presenting with a left parotid mass and subglottic stenosis in a 13-year-old girl with known history of Sjögren's syndrome. Although cases of children with Sjögren's syndrome have been reported, the development of MALT lymphoma in children presenting with subglottic stenosis is rarely reported. Clinicians should be alerted for the possibility of malignant infiltration.


Cigarette smoke (CS) is associated with many maladies, one of which is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). As the disease progresses, patients are more prone to develop COPD exacerbation episodes by bacterial infection, particularly to nontypeable Haemophilus influenza (NTHi) infection. The present study aimed to develop a CS-exposed mouse model that increases inflammation induced by NTHi challenge and investigate the protective effects of andrographolide, a bioactive molecule with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties isolated from the plant Andrographis paniculata. Female BALB/c mice exposed to 2 weeks of CS followed by a single intratracheal instillation of NTHi developed increased macrophage and neutrophil pulmonary infiltration, augmented cytokine levels, and heightened oxidative damage. Andrographolide effectively reduced lung cellular infiltrates and decreased lung levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, CXCL1/KC, 8-OHdG, matrix metalloproteinase-8 (MMP-8), and MMP-9. The protective actions of andrographolide on CS-predisposed NTHi inflammation might be attributable to increased nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) activation and decreased Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (Keap1) repressor function, resulting in enhanced gene expression of antioxidant enzymes including heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione peroxidase-2 (GPx-2), glutamate-cysteine ligase modifier (GCLM), and NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1). Taken together, these findings strongly support a therapeutic potential for andrographolide in preventing lung inflammation caused by NTHi in cigarette smokers.


Objective: To assess whether the Movement ABC can be used to monitor individual change in motor performance. Design: Motor-impaired children were tested three times in succession with the Movement ABC without any intervention. Setting: Two schools for special education and one school for children who are chronically ill. Subjects: Three girls and 20 boys aged 6–8 years. Main outcome measures: Scores were measured per item (0→5), added to cluster scores (0→10 or 15), added to form the total scores (0→40). Mean scores, standard errors of measurement (SEMs) and least detectable differences (LDDs) were calculated per item, per cluster and for the total scores. A repeated measures analysis of variance was performed to test for the effects of time. Results: The total scores improved significantly from the first session (mean: 15.4 points) to the second (mean: 13.3), but not from the second to the third (mean: 13.2). Average item scores ranged from 0.6 to 2.7 points with SEMs of 0.79→1.54 and LDDs of 2.20→4.27. Average cluster scores ranged from 3.4 to 5.3 with SEMs of 1.51→1.84 and LDDs of 4.18→5.11. The SEM of the total scores equalled 3.13 with an LDD of 8.68. Conclusions: The total score of the Movement ABC is sufficiently sensitive to monitor individual change; the cluster scores have moderate sensitivity and individual items are inappropriate to monitor individual change. The significant effect of time is interpreted as an effect of learning.


In Tunisia, the training for family physicians must reflect the new health needs of our population (increasing volume of medical knowledge, needs of an aging population). The objective of this study was to evaluate self-perceived competence before and after four months family medicine internship in Monastir. We performed a before-after study design with prospective consecutive data collection. All Family Medicine internships were included during a period of 32 months (from the 01/03/2008 to the 31/10/2010). The evaluation tool consists of five dimensions on primary care activities; global care approach; activities of care coordination; continuity of care and achieving public health goals with a total of 51 items. Internship self evaluation was conducted at the beginning and the end of the training period. A total of 300 medical interns were included in this study. Significant increases were found in self-perceived competence for the majority of the skills examined. The items with no significant improvement were those in which experience and confidence remained poor at the end of training. The university faculties of medicine and the ministry of health should incorporate family medicine training in medical curses and increase the supply of educational resources to meet training requirements.


BACKGROUND
Alcohol dependence is known to impact upon sleep, and poor sleep has been shown to affect relapse rates following treatment for alcohol dependence.

AIMS
The aim of this study was to investigate the association between sleep problems and relapse in dependent drinkers in an inpatient setting. This was done by studying sleep related cognitions in individuals undergoing medically assisted alcohol withdrawal.

METHOD
Sleep and sleep-related cognitions data were collected for 71 individuals undergoing detoxification treatment. Sleep was measured using sleep diaries and actigraph motion monitors. Participants completed sleep-related cognition questionnaires and were subject to telephone follow-up interviews. The results were then used to predict relapse rates 4 weeks after discharge.

RESULTS
Longer sleep onset latency recorded on the unit predicted relapse at 4 weeks. Higher dysfunctional beliefs about sleep were found to be associated with lower relapse rates.

CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests that some dysfunctional beliefs about sleep may support recovery following discharge from treatment. The study further supports the need for tailored cognitive-behavioural treatments for sleep difficulties in this population to reduce relapse rates.