Observations of Mars at wavelengths of 2 and 6cm were made using the VLA in its A configuration. Two seasons were observed; late spring in the northern hemisphere (LS ~ 60°) and early summer in the southern summer (LS ~ 300°). The sub-earth latitudes were 25°N and 25°S, for each of these seasons respectively. So the geometry for viewing the polar region was optimal in each case. Whole-disk brightness temperatures were estimated to be 193.2 K ± 1.0 at 2 cm and 191.2 K ± 0.6 at 6 cm for the northern data set and 202.2 K ± l.0 at 2 cm and 195.4 K ± 0.6 at 6 cm for the southern data set (formal errors only). Since measurements of the polarized flux were taken at the same time, whole-disk effective dielectric constants could be estimated and from these, estimates of sub-surface densities could be made. The results of these calculations at 2cm yielded whole-disk effective dielectric constants of 2.34 ± 0.05 and 2.02 ± 0.03 which imply sub-surface densities of 1.24 g cm-3 ± 0.06 and 1.02 g cm-3 ± 0.05 for the north and south, respectively. The same calculations at 6 cm yielded effective densities of 1.45 g cm-3 ± 0.10 and 1.31 g cm-3 ± 0.07 from effective dielectric constants of 2.70 ± 0.09 and 2.48 ± 0.06 for the north and south data sets, respectively. From the mapped data these parameters were also estimated as a function of latitude between latitudes of 15°S and 60°N for the north data set; and between latitudes of 30°N and 60°S for the south data set. A region in which the brightness temperature behaves in an anomalous manner was discovered in both data sets. This region lies between about 10°S and 40°S. Here the brightness temperatures at both wavelengths in both data sets appears lower, by 4 K to 8 K, than a nominal model would predict. In addition to the effective dielectric constant and sub-surface density the radio absorption length of the sub-surface was estimated. The radio absorption length for most of these latitudes was about 15 wavelengths with formal errors on the order of 5 or 10 wavelengths. This is true for both data sets. The estimation of the effective dielectric constant at most latitudes was between 2 and 3.5 with only slight differences between the two different wavelengths. The two data sets show the same relative trends, but are off by a scaling factor. These estimates of the dielectric constant lead to estimation of the sub-surface densities as a function of latitude. Most calculations of the sub-surface density yielded results between 1 and 2 g cm-3 with errors on the order of 0.5 g cm-3. These results seem to imply that the sub-surface is not much different than the surface as observed by the Viking and Mariner missions. In line with this, an examination of the correlation of the dielectric constant at each wavelength with the thermal inertia, determined by the Viking infrared measurements, shows a relatively strong correlation, at both wavelengths, for the North data set. The South data set, however, shows little to nocorrelation between the radio parameters and the thermal inertia. Since the South data set is primarily composed of latitudes which contain the anomalous region, it is not suprising that the South data set shows no correlation. In addition, the thermal-radiative model used to estimate the above parameters was used to estimate the variability of the whole-disk brightness temperature of Mars. This was done in an effort to establish a background for those astronomers wishing to use Mars as a calibration source. The parameters investigated for their effect on the whole-disk brightness temperature of Mars were: the sub-earth longitude, the sub-earth latitude, the sub-earth time of day, the dielectric constant, and the radio absorption length. A nominal model was first created which established the variation of the brightness temperature as a function of season and radio absorption length. A nominal value of 2.2 was used for the dielectric constant, and the sub-earth latitude was set at 0°N and the sub-earth longitude was set at 75°W. The sub-earth time of day was held at noon for this nominal model. This is equivalent to a 0° phase angle. The most important geometric factor was the sub-earth latitude. The error in estimating the whole-disk brightness temperature of Mars by using the wrong sub-earth latitude can be as large as 5 to 10%. The charts presented will be useful to estimate the whole-disk brightness temperature which the thermal model would predict. It is believed that the error in this estimate is less than or equal to 5 K.


In this paper, we study the joint power control and scheduling in uplink massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems with random data arrivals. The data is generated at each user according to an individual stochastic process. Using Lyapunov optimization techniques, we develop a dynamic scheduling algorithm (DSA), which decides at each time slot the amount of data to admit to the transmission queues and the transmission rates over the wireless channel. The proposed algorithm achieves nearly optimal performance on the long-term user throughput under various fairness policies. Simulation results show that the DSA can improve the time-average delay performance compared to the state-of-the-art power control schemes developed for Massive MIMO with infinite backlogs.


Non-close-packed arrays of micro- and submicron-pores with separation distances many multiples of pore size were fabricated using a dynamic self-assembly method known as breath figure patterning. We report a novel method by which these arrays can be formed via the in situ control of growth and shrinkage of the water droplet arrays during polymer film drying. Transfer of the polymer solution onto a thermally conductive stage midway during the drying process afforded breath figure arrays with feature separation-to-size ratios of up to 12.44. This novel approach introduces the possibility of forming non-close-packed morphologies not typically accessible via traditional self-assembly methods.


We have explored light harvesting of the complex of ZnO nanoparticles with the biological probe Oxazine 1 in the near-infrared region using picosecond-time-resolved fluorescence decay studies. We have used ZnO nanoparticles and Oxazine 1 as a model donor and acceptor, respectively, to explore the efficacy of the Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) in the nanoparticle–dye system. It has been shown that FRET from the states localized near the surface and those in the bulk of the ZnO nanoparticles can be resolved by measuring the resonance efficiency for various wavelengths of the emission spectrum. It has been observed that the states located near the surface for the nanoparticles (contributing to visible emission at λ≈550 nm) can contribute to very high efficiency (>90%) FRET. The efficiency of light harvesting dynamics of the ZnO nanorods has also been explored in this study and they were found to have much less efficiency (∼40%) for energy transfer compared to the nanoparticles. The possibility of an electron transfer reaction has been ruled out from the picosecond-resolved fluorescence decay of the acceptor dye at the ZnO surface.


Background: Cleidocranial dysplasia (CCD) is a rare inherited skeletal dysplasia, with an incidence of 1 case per 1000,000 individuals. It is a form of predominantly autosomal dominant inheritance and is associated with a mutation in runt related transcription factor-2 gene mapped on chromosome 6p21. This disease primarily affects the bones formed by intramembranous ossification and is characterized by the aplasia or hypoplasia of the clavicles, delayed closure of fontanelles, open skull sutures, supernumerary teeth, wide pubic symphysis, and short stature. The phenotypic spectrum can range from individuals with minor dental anomalies to severe manifestations, like syringomyelia. The early diagnosis of CCD may be difficult because the craniofacial abnormalities become obvious usually during adolescence.Case report: Herein, we reported a rare case of a neonate with features of classical CCD coupled with a positive family history extending over three generations. This report aimed to create awareness among the paediatricians regarding CCD and highlight the importance of the early diagnosis of this rare disorder to prevent the associated complications.Conclusion: Though the diagnosis of CCD in neonatal period is a challenge, the clinical features along with the characteristic family history and radiographic findings, help to establish the diagnosis with confidence.


There is accumulating evidence in man and experimental animals that even mild exercise, if regularly repeated, may alter the metabolism of lipids. Exercise has been reported as decreasing peripheral tissue cholesterol in red blood cells, working muscle, lungs and the liver. During physical activity, the output of cholesterol and bile acids into the bile increases. This probably leads to higher faecal losses of sterols which may lead to lower cholesterol levels in the peripheral tissues and in the bile, when exercise is repeated regularly. Preferential release of unsaturated fatty acids from the adipose tissue during exercise and the linoleic acid-dependent LCAT enzyme (transporting plasma cholesterol) may be partly responsible for this effect of exercise. The experimental data reviewed provide supportive basis for epidemiological studies reporting on the beneficial effect of regular exercise. Physical activity is an important factor in the phylogeny of all animal species, secondary only to food intake and reproduction. Exercise is readily available to all population groups. There is good evidence that the amount of exercise required for a protective effect is easily accessible for time-pressured and older individuals. Short bursts of activity repeated several times a day may be equally or more beneficial than prolonged exhaustive exercise. Modified exercise is also beneficial for patients with coronary heart disease and for elderly patients, provided this is done under strict medical supervision. To be effective, physical exercise should be regular and continuous throughout life.


Background: Hypernatraemia is a common electrolyte problem in hospitalized patients and is associated with a high mortality rate. We aimed to determine the incidence, causes, management, and outcomes of hypernatraemia in adult hospitalized patients at a large South African tertiary hospital. Methods : A retrospective study was conducted at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. Adult patients with hypernatraemia (at least one serum sodium concentration ≥150 mmol/L) during a 3-month period in 2014 were identified from our laboratory database for inclusion. Results : There were 204 patients with hypernatraemia, an incidence of 1.5%. Of these patients, 101 (49.5%) were male, and the mean age was 53 years. There were 66 patients (32.4%) who had hypernatraemia on admission, and 138 who developed it during the course of their hospital stay. The overall in-hospital mortality was 38.7%, with higher rates for older patients and those with more severe degrees of hypernatraemia. Contributory causes which were most commonly present included dehydration/hypovolaemia (45%), followed by sepsis (39%). Net sodium gain, rather than water deficit, was identified as the main mechanism in most of the patients who developed hypernatraemia in the intensive care units. We found little evidence of any diagnostic work-up and also found that the details of fluid therapy and intake-output charting were poorly documented. Conclusions : There is a very high mortality rate in our hospitalized patients with hypernatraemia.  The diagnostic work-up and therapy was often inadequate or poorly documented. The management of this important condition needs to be improved with the aid of standardized protocols.


The work's aim is to renovate the international juridical framework, with
reference to the protection of the fishing resources and moreover in analyzing
the set of laws introduced by the communitarian legislator (reg. CE
1967/2006), related to the management measures for sustainable exploitation of
fishing resources in the Mediterranean Sea.
Nowadays, considering that the preservation obligations and the
sustainable utilization of the sea's resources, including fishing activities, make
up the general principles' rights which no state can break away from
consideration.
As of the certificate worked out by the environmental conferences and
the standardized procedures just mentioned, a fundamental role, aimed in
perusing the protection of the fishing resources and consequently an
appropriate and responsible employment of the same, is credited to the
cooperation among nations and regional/sub regional organizations interested.
As a consequence, cooperation must be intended, as the giving up of
selfish positions, directed in putting off domestic interests for those, common
to all, even in events when sacrifices are necessary to take. These same
reasons, frequently have driven these states to a non-acceptance of the
conventions, nonetheless unbecoming part of regional/sub regional
organizations whose main objective is the protection of the mentioned
resources.
The new management policies regarding fishing industry, should tend to
pursuit an equilibrium among environmental needs, and thus a sustainable use
of resources available, in order to consent access to the mentioned, to future
generations nonetheless to socio-economic matters.


In the paper, the tendencies in the development of wheat and corn production in the time period from 1976 to 2010 are researched, with a focus on the cluster analysis of the market production of these products per districts in Serbia in 2009. On the basis of more important available land capacities, the volume of production and scope of economic development, the I-distance method is used to rank the districts. The ranking of the districts according to the analysed characteristics is conducted on the basis of the median value of data per municipalities. For each of the mentioned groups of characteristics, the I-distance is used to rank the districts from 1 to 25, Rank 1 being the best and Rank 25 the worst. The similarities of the districts according to the analysed characteristics are accounted for by a complete link method of a hierarchical cluster analysis and the results are represented by a dendrogram and a cartogram. Apart from favourable conditions (land, climate, and so on), producers' traditional habits have to the greatest extent had an impact on the unjustifiably high presence of wheat and corn in the structure of crop production. That, to a great extent, has had an influence on the high marketability of the production of wheat and corn in Serbia as well.


The aim of this study is to estimate the planning principles of the urban open-green area system in Kýrýkkale for the future according to the potentials and dynamics of sustainable urban development. These estimations are based on the quantitative data obtained from Kýrýkkale city's 1/1.000 scale development plans along with reports and field surveys. The result of this study stated that the existing open-green areas in Kýrýkkale are far from satisfactory according to the quantity, and the spatial dispersion of urban open-green usages on the urban form is unbalanced and urban open-green areas have not been evaluated effectively according to the potentials and dynamics of sustainable urban development. By using findings, some suggestions relating with urban open-green system to the future are defined in terms of the sustainable urban development.


It is sometimes argued that economics and sociology should complement one another rather than be used separately, as is typically the case today. One reason for this would be that economics understands the interplay of material interests much better than what sociology does, while sociology is better at analyzing social relations and social structures. In this article I will try supply an example of cooperation between the two disciplines, letting agency theory represent economic theory. The article tries to show this by way of a concrete example, namely the role of accounting in the corporate scandals that took place in the United States in 2001-2002. Special attention will be payed to the fate of Arthur Andersen - one of the world's largest accounting firms that was closed down in 2002 because of various wrongdoings. The paper will first illustrate the general background to the corporate scandals, especially the boom in the stock exchange during the 1990s and the development of the accounting industry during this period. Then it will focus on the case of Arthur Andersen as well as attempts to solve the conflicts of interest that emerged in the accounting industry


Abstract : This thesis explores the links that exist between human beings and how the presence, or absence, of connectivity within a persons social network impacts ones health and well-being. Through the analysis of both the social and clinical sciences, this research explores the question: What role do social relationships, and their associated networks, play in the lives of high healthcare utilizers? This thesis studies the origins of human connection and presents the science of social network analysis to demonstrate how interconnected relationships influence the well-being of networked individuals. The findings indicate that the quality of an individuals social network can have a positive or negative effect on the individuals health. Those who are socially isolated in their community often have difficulty managing complex health conditions and navigating the fractured national healthcare system. Deficits in community healthcare and social support networks cause these individuals to frequently utilize expensive and finite public safety and hospital emergency department resources for primary healthcare services. This research presents four recommendations to promote improved healthcare system navigation for high healthcare utilizers by not only understanding the patients social networks, but also the healthcare provider network.


Background: The use of radiation in imaging has increased and resulted in major improvements in the diagnosis of diseases and injuries in medicine. Although the associated risks to patients exposed to radiation are low, the increase in demand is becoming a global concern due to unjustified imaging medical exposures.
 Objective: To review the literature on the causes of unnecessary medical exposures and strategies used to support referring medical practitioners in the justification of imaging examinations in order to guide evidence-based practice in Zambia.
 Methodology: Literature search was conducted in PubMed/MEDLINE database to find research, guidelines, expert opinions and reviews. This was supplemented by searching of radiology professional bodies and radiation protection websites. Nine publications were selected based on their relevance and included in this review.
 Results: Ten main causes of unjustified imaging medical exposures were identified: a lack of awareness about radiation doses and risks, a lack of referral guidelines, over-reliance on imaging, self-referral, defensive medicine, a lack of consultation, non-availability of non-ionising radiation modalities, requesting wrong investigations, repeating examinations which have already been performed, and failing to provide clinical information. Furthermore, three strategies to support medical practitioners were identified: education and training, referral guidelines, and clinical audits.
Conclusion: This review has highlighted the main causes of unjustified medical exposures and has brought about awareness of this subject. Even with the resource constraints, it is possible to adopt these strategies identified in this review to support medical practitioners in the justification of imaging medical exposures in Zambia.


The concepts and techniques designed and used for pricing financial options have been applied to assist in scheduling manufacturing activities. Releasing a manufacturing order is viewed as an investment opportunity whose properties are similar to a call option. Its value can be considered as the derivative of the market demand mirrored in the selling price of the manufactured products and changes over time following an Ito process. Dynamic programming has been used to derive the optimal timing for releasing manufacturing orders. It appears advisable to release a manufacturing when the unit selling price come to a threshold P* given by the relation P* = β / (β − 1) C with C = unit cost price. β is a parameter whose value depends on the trend parameter α and the volatility σ of the selling price, the discount rate ρ applicable to the capital appreciation relevant to the business context under consideration. The results have been successfully applied to the evolution of the quarterly construction cost index in France over ten years.


The effects of lexical context on phonological processing are pervasive and there have been indications that such effects may be modulated by attention. However, attentional modulation in speech processing is neither well-documented nor well-understood. Experiment 1 demonstrated attentional modulation of lexical facilitation of speech sound recognition when task and critical stimuli were identical across attention conditions. We propose modulation of lexical activation as a neurophysiologically-plausible computational mechanism that can account for this type of modulation. Contrary to the claims of critics, this mechanism can account for attentional modulation without violating the principle of interactive processing. Simulations of the interactive TRACE model extended to include two different ways of modulating lexical activation showed that each can account for attentional modulation of lexical feedback effects. Experiment 2 tested conflicting predictions from the two implementations and provided evidence that is consistent with bias input as the mechanism of attentional control of lexical activation.


This article presents state-of-art strategies for engineering particle structure using colloidal chemistry in such a way that environmentally stable silica-coated cobalt nanoparticles and cobalt-coated silica spheres were prepared combining sodium borohydride reduction in aqueous solution, the Stober method, and/or the layer-by-layer self-assembly technique. We highlight the synthesis and manipulation of cobalt clusters in aqueous solution producing monodisperse building blocks. Silica-coated cobalt nanoparticles, whose core and shell can be tuned depending on the experimental conditions, were also found to organize into chains when driven by a weak external magnetic field and strong dipole–dipole magnetic interactions are believed to be the driving force for the self-organization. The same cobalt clusters were used for the preparation of cobalt-coated silica spheres taking advantage of the layer-by-layer self-assembly technique. The nanoscale engineering of this type of colloids is expected to extend the spectrum of magnetic effects and functionalities.


Lateral Flow Immunoassays (LFIAs) allow for rapid, low-cost, screening of many biomolecules such as food allergens. Despite being classified as rapid tests, many LFIAs take 10–20 min to complete. For a really high-speed LFIA, it is necessary to assess antibody association kinetics. By using a label-free optical technique such as Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR), it is possible to screen crude monoclonal antibody (mAb) preparations for their association rates against a target. Herein, we describe an SPR-based method for screening and selecting crude anti-hazelnut antibodies based on their relative association rates, cross reactivity and sandwich pairing capabilities, for subsequent application in a rapid ligand binding assay. Thanks to the SPR selection process, only the fast mAb (F-50-6B12) and the slow (S-50-5H9) mAb needed purification for labelling with carbon nanoparticles to exploit high-speed LFIA prototypes. The kinetics observed in SPR were reflected in LFIA, with the test line appearing within 30 s, almost two times faster when F-50-6B12 was used, compared with S-50-5H9. Additionally, the LFIAs have demonstrated their future applicability to real life samples by detecting hazelnut in the sub-ppm range in a cookie matrix. Finally, these LFIAs not only provide a qualitative result when read visually, but also generate semi-quantitative data when exploiting freely downloadable smartphone apps.


Free speeds are defined as the speeds pedestri ans like to walk with when they are not influenced by other nearby pedestrians. Free speeds differ among pedestrians being influenced by personal characteristics, characteristics of the infrastructure and external conditions. Free speeds and their distrib ution play an important role in many traffic flow models, but are also relevant in other applications, such as the design of pedestrian facilities and public transport timetables. The fact that lots of observations on pedestrian speeds are described in lit erature stresses its importance. However, pedestrian free speeds cannot directly be observed, since the observer does not know whether the pedestrian is actually walking with his free speed. Free speeds based on observations therefore are usually underesti mated. Available free speed estimation methods developed for car traffic appear to be not suited for pedestrian traffic. This paper presents a new method to estimate free speed distributions for pedestrian flows. It is a dedicated adaptation of a method us ed for car traffic. This paper does not only describe this estimation method, but also shows an application on pedestrian data from large -scale laboratory walking experiments, simulating different traffic conditions, such as unidirectional flows, opposite flows, and crossing flows. The approach appeared successful and may be applied for all types of pedestrian flows. Word count Abstract 211


Extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) is common in HIV-infected patients, especially at lower CD4 cell counts, yet is often difficult to diagnose with certainty. A 35-year-old man presented with dyspnoea and constitutional symptoms of tuberculosis (TB). Laboratory investigations included a positive HIV test and a CD4 cell count of 138 cells/μL. Chest radiography revealed a globular-shaped heart and bilateral pleural effusions, while echocardiography confirmed a massive pericardial effusion. The new Xpert MTB/RIF (Xpert) assay detected rifampicin-sensitive Mycobacterium tuberculosis in pericardial as well as sputum samples. Smear of the pericardial sample was negative. The patient was started on anti-TB treatment and is presently well. He will initiate antiretroviral therapy after 4–6 weeks. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report of EPTB diagnosed on pericardial fluid using the Xpert assay in Africa. This report also summarises the use of this assay in the diagnosis of EPTB in HIV-associated TB.


One of the challenges for multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) is designing efficient learning algorithms for a large system in which each agent has only limited or partial information of the entire system. In this system, it is desirable to learn policies of a decentralized type. A recent and promising paradigm to analyze such decentralized MARL is to take network structures into consideration. While exciting progress has been made to analyze decentralized MARL with the network of agents, often found in social networks and team video games, little is known theoretically for decentralized MARL with the network of states, frequently used for modeling self-driving vehicles, ride-sharing, and data and traffic routing.
This paper proposes a framework called localized training and decentralized execution to study MARL with network of states, with homogeneous (a.k.a. mean-field type) agents. Localized training means that agents only need to collect local information in their neighboring states during the training phase; decentralized execution implies that, after the training stage, agents can execute the learned decentralized policies, which only requires knowledge of the agents' current states. The key idea is to utilize the homogeneity of agents and regroup them according to their states, thus the formulation of a networked Markov decision process with teams of agents, enabling the update of the Q-function in a localized fashion. In order to design an efficient and scalable reinforcement learning algorithm under such a framework, we adopt the actor-critic approach with over-parameterized neural networks, and establish the convergence and sample complexity for our algorithm, shown to be scalable with respect to the size of both agents and states.


For the case of a single resolved target, monopulse-based radar sub-beam angle and sub-bin range measurements carry errors that are approximately Gaussian with known covariances, and hence, a tracker that uses them can be Kalman based. However, the errors accruing from extracting measurements for multiple unresolved targets are not Gaussian. We therefore submit that to track such targets, it is worth the effort to apply a nonlinear (non-Kalman) filter. Specifically, in this letter, we propose a particle filter that operates directly on the monopulse sum/difference data for two unresolved targets. Significant performance improvements are seen versus a scheme in which signal processing (measurement extraction from the monopulse data) and tracking (target state estimation from the extracted measurements) are separated.


Romanticism is the name of a freedom war against Westernism and the strict rule of the Academy. The artist, with the broad rights and freedoms promised by the French Revolution, remained in the rhetoric, reacted with great boldness and loud voice. This reaction was against all the solid and ingrained traditions that embraced the bourgeois and the past. The artist has taken on a mission that frees his art from this understanding against prejudices. Romanticism was the understanding of the artist's personal self, the discovery of his inner world, as well as a new tradition of art. Romantic art is considered to be critical, questioning and dreamer. It emerges as a natural product of the artist's view of nature and society. While some of the romantic artists take their reaction as retiring into themselves, others console themselves by exploring the supernatural serenity of nature, which is melancholic, diseased, sometimes capricious. The greatest contribution of romance is that it has broken down the rules of art, which have settled for centuries, bringing a new feeling, reaction, individuality. The most important characteristic is that the first step of the Modern Art movements is formed and the origin of the most crazy art concepts.


Nurses are a critical part of the healthcare workforce and provide a significant proportion of care. There is a recognised gap in the evidence base regarding how to measure the impact of care and its contributions to the quality of the patient and family experience. This paper focuses on a set of eight key performance indicators (KPIs), developed from primary research led by a team at Ulster University to reflect core aspects of person-centred practice. The KPIs, having already been tested across a range of practice settings, are currently being implemented and further tested through an international study in the area of paediatrics. This study set out to explore their utility in supporting the development of person-centred practice across a range of services provided to sick children. The study involves children's wards/hospitals in Australia (six sites across three states) and Europe (seven sites across four countries). Its purpose is twofold:1.To describe the person-centred KPIs and how they link to the person-centred nursing framework2.To describe how these KPIs are being further tested internationally across children's services,and the benefits and challenges of this international approach


CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE
Predicting pituitary tumor behavior remains a challenge. This multiparameter investigation aimed to identify markers for recurrence and progression in prolactin tumors.

DESIGN
From a cohort of patients treated for prolactin tumors by surgery, we retrospectively studied clinical data, tumor characteristics, clinical outcome, and the expression of nine genes by quantitative RT-PCR.

RESULTS
This study included 94 patients (62 females and 32 men), with long postoperative follow-up periods (mean, 138 +/- 46 months); 54.3% of patients had a macro or giant adenoma. Tumors were classified into three pathological groups based on their radiological and histological characteristics (noninvasive, 61; invasive, 22; and aggressive-invasive, 11). Immediately after surgery, 60 patients (63.8%) went into remission (prolactin level normalization). Persistently elevated prolactin levels (36.2%) were associated with increasing age, male sex, high preoperative prolactin levels, large tumor size on univariate analysis, and invasion and pathological classification on univariate and multivariate (P = 8 x 10(-10) and 3 x 10(-8)) analysis. During follow-up, 19 patients (20%) had tumors that recurred or progressed under dopamine agonist treatment. Invasion and pathological classification were associated with recurrence or progression on univariate analysis. Seven genes (ADAMTS6, CRMP1, PTTG, ASK, CCNB1, AURKB, and CENPE) were associated with tumor recurrence or progression and five of these (ADAMTS6, CRMP1, ASK, CCNB1, and CENPE) were associated with the pathological classification.

CONCLUSION
This study identifies both the clinical and histological factors that relate to prolactin tumor recurrence or progression. Molecular markers give additional information for prognosis of such tumors. Altogether, our results could influence the management of patients with pituitary tumors.


Abstract After the 2008-2009 crisis, the challenge of understanding the mechanisms and structure of the world economy has begun to generate different approaches of economic globalization. This article uses Global Value Chain framework to examine the impact of the crisis on sectorial employment for six selected industries from Romania (Basic Metals and Fabricated Metal, Electrical and Optical Equipment, Transport Equipment, Machinery, Textiles and Textile Products, Chemicals and Chemical Products). With more than 70% of Romanian exports, and almost 14% of the employees these were the main real transmission channels for the crisis, other than financial markets. The study found that dynamic of the employment in these sectors has a different pattern than the national one. Employment in the sectors which are parts of Global Value Chains was very sensitive to global crisis: the average number of employees dropped by 15% in 2009 (comparing to 10% - the percentage for the whole economy) but they didn't follow the national recovery trend (in 2013 the total number of employees increased by more than 11% in Romania but the numbers stayed almost the same in the six selected industries). These findings suggest that Romania need to understand the specificity of these trends and to use the right policy tools in order to achieve economic growth and development through participation in Global Value Chains.


Walking and art have long been intertwined, much like collecting and art. As best put by artist Patrick Pound, it's the notion of a 'gathering of thoughts, through things' (Pound, 2017) – a way of combatting the dispersive and entropic nature of the artefact-centric world we live in. Walking is it the 'modality of lived experience' (Forgione, 2005); an everyday, routine activity and yet one that as conscious beings, we know to be much more than just walking. What walking and collecting share is a preoccupation with time, scope, and a need to find a sense of completion to – or perhaps dominion over – the overwhelming expanse of our existence. It can then be theorised that walking and collecting when done in unison, are the process and method that provide the artist with the contextual and conceptual mechanisms for the acquisition and subsequent display of


Background Two types of mentalisation-based treatment (MBT) have been developed and empirically evaluated for borderline personality disorder (BPD): day hospital MBT (MBT-DH) and intensive out-patient MBT (MBT-IOP). No trial has yet compared their efficacy. Aims To compare the efficacy of MBT-DH and MBT-IOP 18 months after start of treatment. MBT-DH was hypothesised to be superior to MBT-IOP because of its higher treatment intensity. Method In a multicentre randomised controlled trial (Nederlands Trial Register: NTR2292) conducted at three sites in the Netherlands, patients with BPD were randomly assigned to MBT-DH (n = 70) or MBT-IOP (n = 44). The primary outcome was symptom severity (Brief Symptom Inventory). Secondary outcome measures included borderline symptomatology, personality functioning, interpersonal functioning, quality of life and self-harm. Patients were assessed every 6 months from baseline to 18 months after start of treatment. Data were analysed using multilevel modelling based on intention-to-treat principles. Results Significant improvements were found on all outcome measures, with moderate to very large effect sizes for both groups. MBT-DH was not superior to MBT-IOP on the primary outcome measure, but MBT-DH showed a clear tendency towards superiority on secondary outcomes. Conclusions Although MBT-DH was not superior to MBT-IOP on the primary outcome measure despite its greater treatment intensity, MBT-DH showed a tendency to be more effective on secondary outcomes, particularly in terms of relational functioning. Patients receiving MBT-DH and MBT-IOP, thus, seem to follow different trajectories of change, which may have important implications for clinical decision-making. Longer-term follow-up and cost-effectiveness considerations may ultimately determine the optimal intensity of specialised treatments such as MBT for patients with BPD.


The aim of this thesis was to build an atomistic model based on experimental information and to use simulation methodologies and theories to determine the mechanical and physical properties of a linear epoxy polymer. The atomistic behaviour of the polymer was studied during the property determining simulations, in an attempt to gain fundamental atomistic information. The introductory chapter 1 is made up of four parts. The first section is a very general introduction to polymer science giving a newcomer to the field an appreciation of the concepts used, while the second section introduces the chemistry of epoxy resins and their commercial uses. The third section is a very brief introduction to how molecular modelling can be used to bridge the gap between experimental and theoretical studies, while the final section reiterates the aims, and outlines how the research was conducted. The characterisation of a linear epoxy polymer by spectroscopic and chromatographic methods is described in chapter 2. The physical and mechanical property tests were also conducted and the results were coupled to structural information. The main object of this section was to quantify the relationship of the physical properties with the degree of cure. The concept, methodologies and techniques of molecular modelling are introduced and discussed in greater detail in chapter 3. To demonstrate the modelling techniques used, the mechanical properties of simple polyethylene-like models were studied and compared with experimental data. Chapter 4 characterises the structure of the linear epoxy polymer using representative atomistic models which were based on structural information from chapter 2. Additional crystallographic data was used to validate the force field parameters used in the modelling studies, to justify the motions of the molecular chain, and to qualitatively quantify the response of linear chains to stress and temperature. The simulation and empirical calculations for the determination of both physical and mechanical properties were calculated and are discussed in chapter 5. Comparisons were made between all three techniques; experimental, computer experiment and theory, and showed good agreement. Finally, in chapter 6, a brief summary is given of the results in previous chapters, with further discussion on the implications of these results and suggestions on possible areas of future work.


Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether differences in media exposure regarding corporate corruption appear to influence companies' anti-corruption disclosures. The authors also examine whether the level of press freedom in firms' home countries affects disclosure and the impact of media exposure in different ways. Design/methodology/approach - The authors use Transparency International's 2012 ratings of anti-corruption disclosure by the 105 largest multinational firms in the world, press freedom assessments from the non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders, and media exposure measures based on a search using the Dow Jones Factiva database. The authors assess relations using regression analysis controlling for other firm-specific factors potentially impacting disclosure choices. Finally, the authors consider the potential effect of other country-level factors. Findings - The results indicate that media exposure, using either an existence or an extensiveness measure, is positively related to differences in sample companies' anti-corruption disclosures. The authors also find that disclosure is more (less) extensive where home country press freedom is less (more) restricted and that reduced press freedom appears to reduce the impact of media exposure on the disclosure. The authors further document that press freedom levels explain more difference in anti-corruption disclosures than other country-level factors potentially influencing the practice. Research limitations/implications - Because the investigation is limited to very large international firms for a single year, the degree to which the findings apply to other companies and time periods cannot be assessed. Further, the authors cannot determine how the findings would hold using an alternative disclosure rating scheme. Finally, the authors do not assess whether differences in the source of media exposure impact the findings. Social implications - The findings suggest that, to the extent that improved anti-corruption disclosure reflects greater corporate attention to corruption issues, the media may be a powerful player in addressing this social ill. Unfortunately, the results also indicate that media efforts may not be sufficient to bring about change in locations where the freedom of the press is limited. Further, the results suggest that disclosure appears to be a function of exposure to social and political exposures, and the authors therefore question whether it will actually lead to improved corruption performance. Originality/value - The study is the first to consider the impacts of media exposure and press freedom on corporate social disclosures.


ABSTRACT Paris Basin Tertiary formations contain large deposits of lacustrine limestones. The limestones have a low clastic content and many secondary dewatering and pedogenic-paludine fabrics indicating deposition in shallow environments. These lacustrine limestones commonly contain cherts that crosscut sedimentary structures. The silicified zones may be pervasive and retain the structure and dull aspect of the limestone or form irregularly shaped translucent nodules. Quartz is almost the only silica phase present in the cherts. Two main types of silicification occur together: (1) voids partly or entirely filled with quartz, and (2) limestone matrix that has been replaced by microcrystalline quartz with preservation of most of the primary limestone fabric. There is a systematic relationship between silicification and high-porosity zones. The replacement of the limestone matrix by quartz is directly connected to voids infilled with quartz. Because the limestones are pure, without clayey layers, the silica must have come from other formations (overlying sands and soils) and been introduced by groundwater flow. In view of the weak solubility of silica in surficial waters, substantial groundwater flow is needed to supply the silica precipitated from the solution. This explains the observed relationships between voids and silicification. A coupled mathematical model (reaction-transport) of this type of silicification was used to characterize the physicochemical conditions and to attempt a quantitative treatment of the phenomenon. Kinetics seem to be the limiting factor of quartz precipitation in the voids. However, the modeling shows that the kinetics of quartz precipitation limit the development of the silica replacement, whereas the diffusion of the dissolved species, from the replacement front towards the voids, seems to limit calcite dissolution. Limestone is replaced by silica, without any increase in the porosity, if the groundwater is close to equilibrium with calcite. The precipitation rate of the quartz depends on the number of quartz nuclei. The model predicts that silica deposition and calcite replacement can be completed in about 10,000 to 100,000 years.


In hepatitis B virus (HBV)-replicating hepatocytes, miR-130a expression was significantly reduced. In a reciprocal manner, miR-130a reduced HBV replication by targeting at two major metabolic regulators PGC1α and PPARγ, both of which can potently stimulate HBV replication. We proposed a positive feed-forward loop between HBV, miR-130a, PPARγ, and PGC1α. Accordingly, HBV can significantly enhance viral replication by reducing miR-130a and increasing PGC1α and PPARγ. NF-κB/p65 can strongly stimulate miR-130a promoter, while miR-130a can promote NF-κB/p65 protein level by reducing PPARγ and thus NF-κB/p65 protein degradation. We postulated another positive feed-forward loop between miR-130a and NF-κB/p65 via PPARγ. During liver inflammation, NF-κB signaling could contribute to viral clearance via its positive effect on miR-130a transcription. Conversely, in asymptomatic HBV carriers, persistent viral infection could reduce miR-130a and NF-κB expression, leading to dampened inflammation and immune tolerance. Finally, miR-130a could contribute to metabolic homeostasis by dual targeting PGC1α and PPARγ simultaneously.


Petroleum based fuels play a vital role in rapid depletion of conventional energy sources along with increasing demand and also major contributors of air pollutants. Major portion of today's energy demand in India is being met with fossil fuels. Hence it is high time that alternate fuels for engines should be derived from indigenous sources. As India is an agricultural country, there is a wide scope for the production of vegetable oils (both edible and non-edible) from different oil seeds. The present work focused only on non-edible oils as fuel for engines, as the edible oils are in great demand and far too expensive. The past work revealed that uses of vegetable oils for engines in place of diesel were investigated. The present investigations are planned after a thorough review of literature in this area. Experiments are carried out in a more popular single cylinder, water cooled engine. Major problems associated with vegetable oils are higher viscosities, lower heating values, rise in stoichiometric fuel air ratio and thermal cracking. I am focused on Utilization of Castor oils, their blends with diesel. In this process, the performance parameters of engine such as Brake thermal efficiency and volumetric efficiency are slightly decreased, Brake specific fuel consumption and Exhaust gas temperature are increased compared to diesel for all bio-diesels.


The food environment influences consumer diets in significant yet underexplored ways. In this study, we assess the way in which the Nairobi urban food environment—availability, accessibility, affordability, desirability, convenience and marketing—influences the dietary choices and quality of poor urban consumers, by combining market-level diversity scores (MLDS) with household and individual data collected from resource-poor (slum) neighbourhoods in Nairobi, Kenya. We find that urban-poor settings are characterized by a variety of food retail venues, including informal markets such as kiosks, mom-and-pop shops and tabletop vendors, as well as modern retail outlets such as supermarkets. Most of these food outlets predominantly sell unhealthy, highly-processed and energy-dense foods rather than nutritious foods such as vegetables, fruits and animal products. Our analyses show that supermarkets have the highest MLDS, yet they do not significantly influence the diets of resource-poor households. However, a high MLDS among informal retail outlets has a positive association with diet quality; conversely, open-air markets have a negative association. The nutritional status of urban-poor consumers can be improved by promoting the diversification of healthy, nutritious foods across traditional retail outlets and improving accessibility of the outlets to consumers.


Background: Differential distributions of oncogenic HPV genotypes among racial/ethnic groups may explain observed disparities in ICC incidence and mortality rates. We describe HPV genotypes associated with CIN1-3 in a multiethnic cohort of women visiting colposcopy clinic following a cervical abnormality. Methods: We enrolled 516 women attending colposcopic evaluation following an abnormal liquid-based cytology screen. HPV infection was measured using HPV linear array that measures 37 HPV types, and chi-squared tests were used to compare HPV genotypes in African American and Whites overall, and by CIN stage. Results: Of 516 participants, 373 (72%) were HPV-positive; 137 (37%) had no CIN lesion, 174 (47%) had CIN1, 38 (10%) had CIN2, and 24 (6%) had CIN-3. Twenty-seven percent of women were infected with one HPV genotype, and 73% were infected with multiple HPV genotypes. In women with CIN1, 75% of HPV single infections were of high risk (HR) genotypes, and 70% of women had multiple HR-HPV genotype infections. The most frequent HR-HPV genotypes detected among CIN1 cases were 16, 18, 31, 45, 52, 56, 59 and 66 in White women, while HPV subtypes 33, 35, 58 and 68 were the most common in African American women. Restricting analyses to women with CIN2-3 revealed a change in HR-HPV genotype distribution; HR-HPV 16, 18, 33, 35, 39, and 59 were most common in White women with CIN2-3, whereas HR-HPV 31, 45, 51 and 66 were the most prevalent in African American women. Conclusion: Our data suggest that while HPV 16 and 18 are the most common genotypes among women with CIN in Whites; African Americans may harbor different genotypes. The preponderance of non-16/18 HR-HPV genotypes in African Americans with increasing CIN grade has implications for both reflex testing following cytological abnormalities and vaccine development. This abstract is also presented as Poster B11. Citation Format: Adriana C Vidal, Jennifer S Smith, Edwin Iversen, Fidel Valea, Rex Bentley, Margaret Gradison, Kimberly Yarnall, Anne Ford, Francine Overcash, Katherine Grant, Susan Murphy, Cathrine Hoyo. HPV genotype distribution and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia in African American and white women living in the Southeastern United States. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2013 Oct 27-30; National Harbor, MD. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Can Prev Res 2013;6(11 Suppl): Abstract nr PR01.


The present work employs a facile hydroxylation technique to efficiently functionalize the surface of a waste-derived aluminosilicate for ultra-high heavy metal uptake via ion exchange. The functionalization process leads to the transformation of a nonporous hydrophobic waste material to a mesoporous hydrophilic material with a high concentration of ion exchange sites. The modification of the surface and textural characteristics of the mesoporous aluminosilicate has been thoroughly elucidated. The functionalization brings about the partial depolymerization of the aluminosilicate network and the transformation of unreactive bridging oxygens (BO) into non-bridging oxygens (NBO) as active sites as evidenced by 29Si NMR and FTIR. The positively-charged alkali metals bound to the NBO act as facile ion exchange sites. Ultra-high heavy metal uptake capacity of the functionalized material through a combination of ion exchange and physisorption mechanisms has revealed the great potential of this aluminosilicate material for treatment of heavy metal-laden wastewater in a sustainable manner for practical applications.


Little is known about the physico-chem-ical processes that lead to the formation of dolomite in nature. Issues requiring further investigation in-clude: (1) the role played by amorphous carbonate precursors, (2) the mechanisms of transformation of such precursors into proto-dolomite and dolo-mite, and (3) the controlling factors of the kinetics of the reactions that eventually result in the crystal-lization of highly ordered dolomite. In the article by Rodriguez-Blanco et al. in this issue entitled "A route for the direct crystallization of dolomite," the authors present experimental evidence of a three-stage process that, starting from the precipitation of an amorphous magnesium calcium carbonate, pro-duces proto-dolomite via spherulitic growth, and subsequently ordered dolomite. This article provides new insights into reaction pathways toward the formation of dolomite.


Two, three and four bladed ϕ-shape Vertical Axis Wind Turbines are simulated using a free-wake vortex model. Two versions of the three and four bladed turbines are considered, one having the same chord length as the two-bladed turbine and the other having the same solidity as the two-bladed turbine. Results of the two-bladed turbine are validated against published experimental data of power coefficient and instantaneous torque. The effect of solidity on the power coefficient is presented and the instantaneous torque, thrust and lateral force of the two-, three- and four-bladed turbines are compared for the same solidity. It is found that increasing the number of blades from two to three significantly reduces the torque, thrust and lateral force ripples. Adding a fourth blade further reduces the ripples except for the torque at low tip speed ratio. This work aims to help choosing the number of blades during the design phase of a vertical axis wind turbine.


This paper aims to discuss important concepts related to online education which bring a new educational paradigm: open learning through free learning materials and technologies. In this context, we present the OpenLearn Project – virtual environment based on the platform Moodle with educational resources developed by the Open University. The purpose of the OpenLean project is widening participation through digital inclusion and free access to higher education learning. The OpenLearn offers not only course contents, but also new technologies integrated for collective construction of knowledge such as: the software tool Compendium and the web application for video conference Flashmeeting. In the end, we highlight some important actions to facilitate interactivity and co-authorship for learning communities.


Maintaining the identity of Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) is critical for controlling immune responses in the gut, where an imbalance between Tregs and T effector cells has been linked to inflammatory bowel disease. Accumulating evidence suggests that Tregs can convert into Th17 cells and acquire an inflammatory phenotype. In this study, we used an adoptive transfer model of Ag-specific T cells to study the contribution of different factors to the reprogramming of in vitro-generated Treg cells (iTreg) into IL-17-producing cells in a mouse model of gut inflammation in vivo. Our results show that intestinal inflammation induces the reprogramming of iTreg cells into IL-17-producing cells and that vitamin A restrains reprogramming in the gut. We also demonstrate that the presence of IL-2 during the in vitro generation of iTreg cells confers resistance to Th17 conversion but that IL-2 and retinoic acid (RA) cooperate to maintain Foxp3 expression following stimulation under Th17-polarizing conditions. Additionally, although IL-2 and RA differentially regulate the expression of different Treg cell suppressive markers, Treg cells generated under different polarizing conditions present similar suppressive capacity.


Professor August Rauber (1841–1917) created the most important school of anatomy in the Baltic region. His students continued his educational and research work in their native countries. One of them was Professor Jurgis Žilinskas (1885–1957) who laid the foundation to Lithuanian anatomy and anthropology. From 1906–1912, he studied medicine at the University of Yuryev (Tartu) where Prof. A. Rauber worked for 25 years as Head of the Institute of Anatomy. In 1890, A. Rauber opened the Anatomy Museum there. In the university, J. Žilinskas maintained close contacts with Professors A. Rauber (1841–1917), N. N. Burdenko (1876–1946), W. Zoege-Manteuffel (1857–1926) and E. Landau (1878–1959). After graduation from the university, J. Žilinskas as a talented student was invited to work as an assistant at the Department of Hospital Surgery at Yuryev University. After Lithuania restored its independence on 16 February 1918, Prof. J. Žilinskas participated actively in the organization of medical studies in Lithuania (1922–1940) and was one of the creators and the principal patron of the Museum of Anatomy. Returning to Lithuania, J. Žilinskas brought along the most advanced ideas of his professors, especially of his honoured Prof. A. Rauber. During this period, the collection of the museum increased to 3,890 specimens. Osteological specimens comprised 1,925 (around 50%) of the specimens, wet specimens – 753 (19.3%), corrosion specimens – 467 (12%), transparent specimens – 201 (5.2%), dry specimens – 107 (2.8%) and models – 437. Professor J. Žilinskas' collection constitutes 50% of the present exhibits at the Anatomy Museum of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences.


An experimental demonstration of a photonic time delay unit (PTDU) based on ferroelectric liquid crystal devices and Thompson polarization beamsplitters (TBSs) is presented. High signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) (>96 dB) and optical polarization extinction ratios (ER,/spl sim/40 dB) are demonstrated for the PTDU using an active noise filter technique. Using a 5 V peak square wave switch drive signal, a 70 /spl mu/s switching speed is demonstrated for this PTDU that can be used in fast (e.g., 5000 beam/s) beam scanning phased array systems. A shorter switching speed of 35 /spl mu/s is also observed using a high 15 V peak transitional voltage driving signal.


BACKGROUND
O6-Methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) is an enzyme that repairs O6-methylguanine, a promutagenic DNA base damaged by endogenous and environmental alkylating agents. There are few reports that describe whether or not abnormal MGMT expression correlates with the prognosis in human solid cancers.

METHODS
The expression of MGMT was immunohistochemically evaluated in 60, 62, 105, and 46 paraffin-embedded samples from patients with curatively resected hepatocellular, gastric, colorectal, and breast cancers, respectively.

RESULTS
The expression of MGMT was a positive predictive factor for overall survival in hepatocellular (P = .005) and gastric cancers (P < .001) and for relapse-free survival in breast cancers (P < .001). MGMT-positive gastric tumors (n = 42) were correlated with the absence of serosal invasion (P = .045), lymph node metastasis (P = .006), intestinal type (P = .018), and low pathological tumor, node, metastasis stage (P < .001). All breast tumors that recurred locally after operation were MGMT negative (P = .004). The clinicopathologic characteristics of colorectal cancers with respect to MGMT expression did not significantly differ.

CONCLUSIONS
The expression of MGMT is a predictive prognostic marker in patients with hepatocellular, gastric, and breast cancers. These findings may help to establish therapeutic strategies for patients with these types of solid cancer.


The objective of the current study was to determine the effects of partial replacement of soybean meal with corn gluten meal on lactation performance and nitrogen (N) efficiency in lactating Holstein dairy cows. Nine multiparous lactating cows in mid lactation (109 ± 19 days in milk) received three treatments in a 3 × 3 Latin square design for 21 days. The three treatments consisted of i) Ctrl: low protein diet with 15.2% crude protein (CP); ii) SBM: soybean meal-based diet with 18.4% CP; and iii) CGM: soybean meal partially replaced with corn gluten meal with 18.3% CP. Two pre-planned orthogonal contrasts were used to compare the treatments: i) Prot compared Ctrl and average of SBM and CGM to see the effect of increasing protein supplies; and ii) Rep compared SBM and CGM treatments. Increasing CP supplies did not affect dry matter intake, whereas it significantly increased milk protein and lactose yield by 3.6% and 3.3%, respectively. Increasing CP supplies decreased milk nitrogen efficiency (MNE) by 10.9%. The milk yield, milk component yield, milk composition and feed efficiency were similar in the SBM and CGM treatments. Similarly, no difference was observed on dry matter, N and net energy for lactation (NEL) intakes between SBM and CGM treatments. However, MNE significantly decreased by 4.8% in the CGM treatment compared with SBM. The results indicated that soybean meal could be partially replaced with corn gluten meal without negatively affecting productive performance. Keywords : Dairy cows, feed efficiency, nitrogen utilization, production performance, protein sources


The Middle Way was first taught explicitly by the Buddha. It is the first teaching offered by the Buddha in his first address, and the basis of his practical method in meditation, ethics, and wisdom. It is often mentioned in connection with Buddhist teachings, yet the full case for its importance has not yet been made. This book aims to make that case. The Middle Way can be understood from the Buddha's life as well as his teachings. His early life follows a symbolic quest through the extremes of the Palace and the Forest, followed by the discovery of the Middle Way. His similes, such as the raft, the lute-strings, the arrow, and the blind people with the elephant are not just allegories of Buddhist teachings, but relate closely to the universal human experience of balanced judgement. This book also has a critical case. Although it has transmitted the Middle Way, the Buddhist tradition has also often ignored or distorted it. The Middle Way is experiential, authentic and creative, and thus threatening to the power of a tradition that has instead emphasised the Buddha's authority as a source of abstract, absolute revelation. The Buddha's Middle Way aims to differentiate the universal Middle Way from Buddhist tradition.


In recent years, there has been increased activity on the part of legislators and policy-makers as they attempt to reconcile paid work and unpaid care. This article explores the different approaches adopted by two common law jurisdictions: New Zealand and the United Kingdom. These case studies attempt to take a more expansive approach to the concept of care by purportedly disentangling the act of caring from traditional conceptions of motherhood. In the UK, this has been done by permitting mothers to transfer entitlement to caring leave to fathers but is underpinned by implicit assumptions that the primary responsibility for care will remain with the mother. In New Zealand, there has been a departure from historic reliance on gender identities to take a more gender-neutral approach by providing caring leave to whoever is a primary carer for a child regardless of biological connection. One unintended consequence of this has been that biological mothers have been left with the barest post-natal health and safety protection. These case studies reveal how difficult it is for legislators and policy-makers to devise care-giving protections that are not in some way tainted by the legacy of traditional care/home/women and work/market/men dichotomies and demonstrate the need for new models based on ungendered assumptions of universal care.
Care, Parental Leave, Maternity Leave, Family.


This paper presents an efficient planning algorithm for microgrids in remote isolated communities. Different from the existing research that assumes a specific microgrid topology, we propose a planning algorithm that jointly specifies the optimal grid topology, namely AC, DC, or hybrid AC/DC, along with the optimal locations and sizes of distributed energy resources, energy storage systems, and AC–DC converters. The planning objective is to ensure reliable power flow with minimum deployment and operational costs. The planning problem is formulated as a mixed integer nonlinear program, and given the complexity of the problem, the proposed algorithm implements a two-stage framework that results in an efficient planning solution. The first stage deals with the specification of the microgrid topology, and allocation and sizing of all the equipment following a heuristic optimization approach. Upon deciding the microgrid topology and equipment installation in the first stage, the second stage of the planning algorithm ensures smooth and reliable operation for the proposed topology over all possible operation scenarios. This is achieved with minimal operational costs by considering the optimal nonlinear scheduling problem for the installed equipment. Test cases are presented to investigate the performance of the proposed planning algorithm at different fuel transportation cost scenarios.


Vehicle re-identification and anomaly detection are useful tools in traffic analytics applications. Vehicle reidentification is particularly challenging due to variations in viewpoint, illumination and occlusion. Moreover, the reality of multiple vehicles having the same make and model hinders the design of traditional deep network-based solutions. In this work, we leverage an attention-based model which learns to focus on different parts of a vehicle by conditioning the feature maps on visible key-points. We use triplet embedding to reduce the dimensionality of the features obtained from the ensemble of networks trained using different datasets. To address the problem of anomaly detection, we design an unsupervised algorithm to detect and localize anomalies in traffic scenes. To handle moving cameras, we use the results obtained from tracking to generate anomaly proposals which are then filtered in successive steps. We show the effectiveness of our method on the Nvidia AI City vehicle re-identification dataset, where we obtain mean Average Precision (mAP) score of 60.78% placing us at the 8th position out of 84 participating teams. In addition, we achieved the S3 score of 22.07% for vehicle anomaly detection.


In the article is examined the actual problem of assessment of the insurers' financial stability on the basis of tests early warning tools spreadsheet. Is justified the advantages of this technique for the evaluation process as easy and efficient analytical tool. There is shown the early test groups of prevention indicators and formulas for calculating them, the range of values for the analysis of financial performance and corrective factors to determine the insurer's financial stability. The indicators of early test groups, which were established the National Commission for State Regulation of Financial Services Markets in Ukraine include a set of indicators that characterize the composition and structure of the insurer's assets and the relationship between assets and liabilities (indicator of accounts receivable, assets liquidity index, reverse indicator of solvency), group of indicators that characterize the effectiveness of insurance activities (insurance risk index, rate of insurance coverage, measure changes in the amount of net premiums on all policies, index of independence from reinsurance, indicator of the ratio of net insurance reserves to capital) group of indicators that characterize the profitability and profitability (total return index, index of changes in capital ratio, return on investment index). There are proposed the algorithm for calculating test early warning tools and spreadsheet scale qualitative evaluation of the insurer's financial stability, which differentiate as absolute, normal, poor and crisis. The absolute level of financial stability of the insurer shows a high level of its adaptation to external and internal factors in the unstable economic environment. The normal level of financial stability indicates that the process of managing the activities of the insurer is carried out effectively. It allows to maintain the ability to restore the financial equilibrium and achieve tactical and strategic goals under the influence of dynamic factors of the economic environment. The unsatisfactory level of financial stability indicates that there is a violation of the financial status of the insurer, which is accompanied by a decrease in its reliability and solvency. The crisis level of financial stability indicates that there are significant financial difficulties in the insurer's activities. DOI:  https://doi.org/10.28925/2414-0325.2017.3.8u897


Purpose:  To evaluate the efficacy and safety of cataract extraction through small pupil with the help of a specially designed instrument called lollipop.
Study Design:  Interventional case series.
Place and Duration of Study:  Euro eye clinic from January 2019 to December 2019.
Methods:  Seventeen consecutive patients with pupil diameter of <4mm after maximal pharmacological dilatation were recruited for study. Inclusion criteria was patients with less than 4mm pupil size after maximum pharmacological dilation. Patient with previous anterior segment surgery and small pupil with posterior synechea were excluded. The instrument (lollipop) was originally designed for breaking posterior synechae. Sutureless Manual Extracapsular Cataract Extraction (SMECE), more commonly known as MSICS, was performed in all cases. After tunnel formation and capsulotomy, lollipop was used to bring lens edge out in pupillary margin. Lens was then maneuvered into anterior chamber and expressed out.
Results:  All 17 patients had successful SMECE. In one patient pupil was stretched before applying instrument. None of the patients had posterior capsular rupture or hyphaema.
Conclusion:  This instrument designed in Center of Ophthalmic Instrument and Equipment Designing (COIED) is very useful, safe and cost effective. In Extra Capsular Cataract Extraction (ECCE) or SMECE, surgeons usually do keyhole iridotomy, mechanical stretching or multiple sphincterotomies for managing small pupil. With this new instrument, cataract extraction can be done without surgical trauma to the pupil, thus preserving pupil shape.
Key Words:  Sutureless Manual Extra capsular Cataract Extraction (SMECE), Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery (MSICS), Miosis.


The Share area occurs within the northern Bida Sedimentary Basin in Nigeria. The focus is on the geological settings, mineralogical and chemical compositions of Share geophagic clays with the aim of inferring their depositional environments, provenance and possible human health implications. The field method include collection of representative samples at appropriate clay stratum and the samples of the geophagic clays were subjected to petrographic, X-Ray fluorescence and X-Ray diffraction analyses. XRD revealed that Geophagic clays are polymineralic and the main reflections of the clay minerals identified were kaolinite, nacrite, gibbsite and dickite. The peaks of other traces are hematite, quartz and pyrite. Geochemical data indicated that geophagic clays composed of SiO2 content ranging from 64.40% to 46.30%, Al2O3 values varies from 36.54% to 20.54%, Fe2O3 values varies from 4.71% to 1.42%, MgO content varies from 0.08% to 0.06%, CaO ranges between 1.30% and 0.03%, TiO2 values varies from 9.17% to 0.20%, and MnO content ranges from 0.631%. to 0.09%. These values indicate that the geophagic clays are essentially siliceous aluminosilicates. The presence of sedimentary structures typical of tidal sedimentation, low abundance of MgO and K2O indicate lack of expandable clays, and the presence of ironstones further attests to abundant oxygen due to sub aerial exposure resulting to the oxidation of Fe2+ to Fe3+. The presence of basal conglomerate, rootlets structures, iron capping, fining upward sequence and abundances of kaolinite indicate a fluvial (continental) sedimentation. Geophagic clays may introduce metals like Fe, Zn, Cu, Ni, Ti, and Zr to the gastro-intestinal system of consumers, causing adverse effects like increase in the gastro-intestinal pH, and the binding of plant toxins and pathogens which create a surfacial coating on the stomach with inferred pharmaceutical implications. Negative impact of ingesting geophagic clays may lead to electrolyte disturbance, intestinal obstruction, constipation, hypertension, peritonitis, eclampsia, iron deficiency, anemia, microbiological infections, helminthiasis and heavy metal poisoning while coarse sandy quartz particles in the clays could affect dental enamel and also lead to the possible rupturing of the Sigmoid colon due to the abrasive nature of the particles.


Vaporization of carbon particles injected in a plasma flow is an alternative to existing processes for mass production of fullerenes. In order to obtain a large fullerene-soot production the residence time of particle at temperature larger than the vaporization temperature must be large enough. This critical point was checked in the pilot reactor by OES. The helium plasma was generated inside a carbon nozzle by a 3-phase AC plasma source using graphite electrodes. The plasma flow was then cooled in a graphite cylinder. Plasma temperature was measured using Hβ line and C2 Swan band in the upper part of the nozzle and at the entrance of the cylinder respectively. The results show that inside this volume, the plasma temperature is larger than or equal to 4500K and is very sensitive to the arc current.


SUMMARY: Purified isoenzymes of α-L-arabinofuranosidase (AFI, pI value 3.0) and polygalacturonase (PGIII, pI 5–5; PGIV, pI 9.7) separated from culture filtrates of Sclerotinia fructigena by isoelectric focusing and gel chromatography were used to produce antisera in sheep. The serum produced to AFI was specific as judged by immunodiffusion, immunoadsorbent column chromatography and binding of fluorescein-conjugated serum to the antigen separated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Fluorescein-labelled anti-AFI serum was bound to mycelium producing this isoenzyme in liquid culture, and binding was decreased when AF production was repressed with glucose; no labelling occurred on mycelium infecting apple fruit tissue.
Data for the anti-PG sera were less conclusive. The antigens gave precipitin lines only with homologous sera, but an anti-PG III immunoadsorbent column bound PG in as well as a smaller proportion of PG IV, while an anti-PG IV column bound neither antigen. Fluorescein isothiocyanate-labelled anti-PG III serum was bound to mycelium of S. fructigena grown in liquid culture and to mycelium-infected apple fruit tissue, but labelled anti-PG IV serum was not bound.


Point cloud sampling is a less explored research topic for this data representation. The most commonly used sampling methods are still classical random sampling and farthest point sampling. With the development of neural networks, various methods have been proposed to sample point clouds in a task-based learning manner. However, these methods are mostly generative-based, rather than selecting points directly using mathematical statistics. Inspired by the Canny edge detection algorithm for images and with the help of the attention mechanism, this paper proposes a non-generative Attention-based Point cloud Edge Sampling method (APES), which captures salient points in the point cloud outline. Both qualitative and quantitative experimental results show the superior performance of our sampling method on common benchmark tasks.


This paper presents the mathematical framework of discrete orthogonal moment functions based on Tchebichef polynomials, and provides the conceptual ideas on applying such moments to the problem of stereopsis. Stereo vision algorithms generally use a set of feature descriptors characterizing the image intensity distribution within a small window centered at the pixel being analyzed, to determine the disparity value, and thereby to estimate the depth of the image point at that pixel. Discrete orthogonal moments have several favorable properties making them good candidates for such applications. Some preliminary results obtained using a window based matching algorithm are presented. Apart from being able to represent independent image features, the capability of discrete orthogonal moments to reconstruct the intensity distribution from a moment set could perhaps be utilized in developing a coarse-to-fine disparity estimation algorithm.


In the present work, dialysis was used to recover vanillin while being produced by partial photocatalytic oxidation of ferulic acid in an aqueous solution at ambient temperature. The relatively high value of the permeate flux through a dense polyether-block amide membrane allowed continuously extracting vanillin from the reacting solution, thus avoiding its successive oxidation. The rate of vanillin formation was improved, compared to other reactor configurations, because intermediate compounds permeated from the reacting solution and did not hinder the reaction, while ferulic acid permeated in the opposite direction to partially replenish the reactor with the substrate. The photocatalytic membrane reactor obtained by the effective coupling of dialysis with the photocatalytic reaction improved the production yield. For instance, with the utilized experimental set up, the total amount of vanillin produced after 5 h in the membrane reactor was more than one-third higher than in the photocatalytic reactor without dialysis. The results obtained with a mathematical model agree with the experimentally observed behavior. The model allowed estimating vanillin diffusivity in the membrane and showed that concentration polarization might limit the process.


Due to the constant development of measurement systems and the aim for computerization, unavoidable improvements are made for the main disadvantages of air gauges. With the appearance of the air-electronic measuring devices, some of their disadvantages are solved. The output electrical signal allows them to be included in the modern systems for measuring information processing and process management. Producer efforts are aimed at reducing the influence of supply pressure and measurement system setup errors. Increased accuracy requirements and preventive error measures are due to the main uses of air electronic systems measurement of geometric dimensions in the automotive industry where they are applied as modules in measuring systems to measure geometric parameters, form, orientation and location of the elements. Keywords—Air-electronic, geometrical parameters, improvement, measurement systems.


Over the past 10 years, Learning Development has become an established practice in many UK universities. Whilst this practice is generally understood and valued by students, its associated epistemology and community of practice is generally not perceived as an academic discipline in its own right by other academics, managers or policy makers. Recently, there has been a move within the Learning Development community to address the challenge of enabling it to discover its A¢â'¬Eœvoice' as a discipline within the conversation of disciplines. In addition, the current economic climate makes it desirable for the Learning Development community to organise and promote itself as a research-informed discipline so that its professional practice will not be over-embedded or absorbed within faculties to the detriment of students. Firstly, we consider the current level of maturity of the practice of Learning Development in the UK. Secondly, we explore ways in which the Learning Development community might move forward by considering three case studies of disciplinarity: two external to Learning Development, namely Communications Theory and Educational Development; and one internal to it, namely Mathematics Support. Thirdly, with reference to data provided at a workshop on this subject, we apply relevant approaches identified in these case studies to Learning Development. Finally, Learning Development's progress towards the status of a discipline is discussed in comparison with the other case studies.


Large whales, including the endangered sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis), sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus), and North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis), are known to occur in the New York Bight. However, relatively little data exist on social behavior typical of these species in the area. The U.S. Mid-Atlantic has traditionally been considered a large whale migratory corridor with few surveys documenting social dynamics of whale presence in these waters. To better understand the occurrence, distribution, abundance, and behavior of these species for management and conservation planning, monthly line-transect aerial surveys were conducted over a 3-year period from March 2017 to February 2020. During these surveys, three noteworthy socio-sexual behavior events were observed and photographed within groups of sei whales (April 2019), sperm whales (September 2019), and right whales (December 2019). Events included what could be either non-reproductive sexual behavior (socio-sexual behavior) or sexual behavior (copulation) among conspecifics, including mirror pair swimming, lateral and vertical presenting, and belly to belly contact. During all three events, groups were highly active at the surface, frequently and quickly changing speed and direction, and animals were predominantly less than one body length apart from other conspecifics in the group. All species were recorded rolling onto their sides and/or back while at or near the surface. Open mouth display occurred in the North Atlantic right whale event. Though copulation is unlikely to have transpired during the sperm whale event and could not have occurred during the right whale event due to the identification of same-sex individuals, it cannot be ruled out as the impetus for the sei whale event. These observations begin to describe the relative importance of the New York Bight as more than a migratory corridor and suggest that additional behaviorally focused data collection be incorporated into future surveys.


Abstract A new oblique impact test for motorcycle helmets is described, simulating a fall from a motorcycle on to the road surface or the windshield of a car. An instrumented headform falls vertically to impact a horizontally moving rigid rough or deformable surface. Both the impact site on the helmet, and the vertical and horizontal velocities, can be varied, while the headform linear and rotational accelerations are measured. The rig was used to compare a new helmet design with current helmets, which are designed to pass impact tests in which the impact force is perpendicular to the helmet surface. The new design, which has a low friction layer between the shell and the liner, reduced, by up to 50%, the rotational acceleration of the head compared with conventional designs.


The effects of tricyclazole treatments on benthic macroinvertebrates in the field and in laboratory were studied. In field conditions, low density of benthic populations was observed, both in treated and untreated plots, which was attributed to the short period of submersion of the rice field and high water temperature, fungicide treatments had no significant effect. Both laboratory acute toxicity test and a test using a mesocosm suggested a low toxicity of tricyclazole on invertebrates. A reduction of the macroinvertebrate density was observed only when tricyclazole concentration was applied at concentrations 100 times the ones tested in the field, acute toxicity test gave an LC 50 after 48 h of 26 mg*L –1 , in agreement with data obtained for other species.


An innovative pre-competitive virtual screening collaboration was engaged to validate and subsequently explore an imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine screening hit for visceral leishmaniasis. In silico probing of five proprietary pharmaceutical company libraries enabled rapid expansion of the hit chemotype, alleviating initial concerns about the core chemical structure while simultaneously improving antiparasitic activity and selectivity index relative to the background cell line. Subsequent hit optimization informed by the structure–activity relationship enabled by this virtual screening allowed thorough investigation of the pharmacophore, opening avenues for further improvement and optimization of the chemical series.


Condition monitoring of rotating machinery using vibration measurements has been improved due to advances in both data acquisition and digital signal processing techniques. For example, one method that has become popular is known as envelope detection, or demodulated resonance analysis. This method requires bandpass filtering of the vibration signal in the vicinity of a structural resonance that occurs in the transmission path between a potential defect and the transducer. This implies that a basic understanding of the structural dynamics associated with the system being monitored is required. It is the purpose of this paper to suggest a basic mathematical model that may aid the analyst in choosing the proper filter to use in the envelope detection technique. Additionally, the paper presents some simple experimental and analytical techniques that provide relevant system identification information for the model. In the course of the paper, the general method of envelope detection is reviewed as it applies to the condition assessment of turbopumps using gearbox vibration measurements. The effectiveness of the method is assessed using data acquired during a ground test of an actual rocket engine that experienced a gear failure. Potential use of the demodulated resonance technique as an effective method in aerospace telemetry applications is suggested.


Circadian clocks exist in the heart tissue and modulate multiple physiological events, from cardiac metabolism to contractile function and expression of circadian oscillator and metabolic-related genes. Ample evidence has demonstrated that there are endogenous circadian oscillators in adult mammalian cardiomyocytes. However, mammalian embryos cannot be entrained independently to light-dark (LD) cycles in vivo without any maternal influence, but circadian genes are well expressed and able to oscillate in embryonic stages. The authors took advantage of using chick embryos that are independent of maternal influences to investigate whether embryonic hearts could be entrained under LD cycles in ovo. The authors found circadian regulation of L-type voltage-gated calcium channels (L-VGCCs), the ion channels responsible for the production of cardiac muscle contraction in embryonic chick hearts. The mRNA levels and protein expression of VGCCα1C and VGCCα1D are under circadian control, and the average L-VGCC current density is significantly larger when cardiomyocytes are recorded during the night than day. The phosphorylation states of several kinases involved in insulin signaling and cardiac metabolism, including extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk), stress-activated protein kinase (p38), protein kinase B (Akt), and glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β), are also under circadian control. Both Erk and p38 have been implicated in regulating cardiac contractility and in the development of various pathological states, such as cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. Even though both Erk and phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-Akt signaling pathways participate in complex cellular processes regarding physiological or pathological states of cardiomyocytes, the circadian oscillators in the heart regulate these pathways independently, and both pathways contribute to the circadian regulation of L-VGCCs. (Author correspondence: firstname.lastname@example.com)


In this paper, we propose a new framework for segmenting feature-based moving objects under affine subspace model. Since the feature trajectories in practice are high-dimensional and contain a lot of noise, we firstly apply the sparse PCA to represent the original trajectories with a low-dimensional global subspace, which consists of the orthogonal sparse principal vectors. Subsequently, the local subspace separation will be achieved via automatically searching the sparse representation of the nearest neighbors for each projected data. In order to refine the local subspace estimation result, we propose an error estimation to encourage the projected data that span a same local subspace to be clustered together. In the end, the segmentation of different motions is achieved through the spectral clustering on an affinity matrix, which is constructed with both the error estimation and sparse neighbors optimization. We test our method extensively and compare it with state-of-the-art methods on the Hopkins 155 dataset. The results show that our method is comparable with the other motion segmentation methods, and in many cases exceed them in terms of precision and computation time.


To the Editor: A serosurvey was conducted in Durba, a mining village near Watsa, northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the epicenter of Marburg hemorrhagic fever (MHF) outbreaks in 1994 and 1998–2000 (1–3). In this survey, Bausch et al. found a prevalence of anti-Marburg immunoglobulin (Ig) G of 0.35% (2 of 565) in the nonmining population, but a prevalence of 3.75% (13 of 347) in miners. Mine work was an independent risk factor for seropositivity for anti-Marburg IgG (1). Given that widespread secondary transmission could not be documented in the seropositive miners, primary transmission from the unknown reservoir likely occurred in the mines where rodent, shrew, bat, and other fauna were abundant. No evidence of Marburg virus (MBGV) infection was found in samples from small mammals, amphibians, and arthropods collected in and around Gorumbwa mine (R. Swanepoel, pers. comm.); the origin of the MHF outbreak remained unknown.

We hypothesized that the MBGV reservoir's habitat might not be limited to gold mines around Durba, but may exist in caves or forests in the wider Watsa area. As hunter-gatherers, pygmies enter caves for shelter and are in frequent contact with wild animals and body fluids of butchered game. Earlier studies found that pygmies were seropositive for filoviruses significantly more often than subsistence farmers (for filoviruses [4,5], for Ebola but not Marburg [6]). We conducted a seroprevalence study to verify whether pygmies living in the Watsa area constitute another population at risk for primary transmission of MBGV.

The Watsa area's population (≈180,000) includes 4,000 pygmies living predominantly in its southern parts (1). The pygmies live seminomadically in the forest, occasionally leaving to exchange goods with the sedentary Bantu population.

We invited the pygmy population to meet with our study representatives at sites 50–90 km from Durba. Three hundred persons volunteered during a 5-day period. After informed verbal consent was obtained, the study participants were interviewed, and a blood sample was taken from each volunteer. For operational reasons, we excluded children <10 years old. According to local customs, men received small quantities of salt and soap and women received an item of second-hand clothing as an appreciation for their efforts. Ethical clearance was obtained by the ethics committee of the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp and the representative of the Ministry of Health in Watsa.

The study questionnaire was similar to one used in the Durba 1999 survey; we did not maintain a recall period of 1 year for exposures related to medical treatment, as this did not appear to be a meaningful time span for the pygmies. Procedures for collecting and handling blood samples were similar to the Durba survey, and the same laboratory tests were applied. Serum samples were considered positive only if they were positive for Marburg IgG in both enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) (1).

The study participants originated from 39 different settlements. Their median age was 30 years (range 10–75; q1 20, q3 40); half of them were males. Most study participants reported activities (hunting 60%, entering caves 98%) and contacts with wild animals (rodents 79%, bats 78%, monkeys or apes 99%) thought to be risk factors for the primary transmission of filoviruses. Whenever noticeable differences existed between the sexes, men tended to be exposed more frequently than women, often significantly so. Pygmies were significantly more exposed to wild animals than the nonmining general population; the difference was particularly large concerning contact with bats (Table). From one fourth to one third of study participants reported a direct or potential contact with someone with a febrile hemorrhagic syndrome. Women were more frequently exposed to these risk factors for secondary transmission in the household or community than men, sometimes significantly so; pygmies were less exposed to these risk factors than the nonmining general population (Table). Almost all study participants had been exposed at least once in their life to invasive modern or traditional medical treatment, including injections and scarification, by which an iatrogenic secondary transmission could have occurred.

Table

Frequency of risk factors for Marburg hemorrhagic fever in pygmies and nonmining general population residing in the Watsa Health Zone, Democratic Republic of Congo

Thirty-seven percent of the study participants reported having experienced a febrile hemorrhagic syndrome at least once in their life, men more often than women (n = 236; 45% versus 28%, chi-square test: p = 0.006). All serum samples, however, were negative for anti-Marburg IgG; the prevalence of anti-Marburg IgG in the pygmy population (0.0%; exact binomial one-sided 97.5% confidence intervals [CI] 0.00%–1.2%) was similar to that in Durba's nonmining population (0.35%; 95% CI 0.04%–1.3%), significantly lower than in Durba's mining population (3.7%; 95% CI 2.0%–6.3%), and as low as, or even lower than, that in other populations in sub-Saharan Africa, where a seroprevalence was found in 0% to 1.7% in 15 studies. Only 2 studies from the Central African Republic and Uganda found a higher seroprevalence (3.2% and 4.5%, respectively; all studies are referenced [1]). In studies conducted before the 1999 Durba survey, the presence of anti-Marburg IgG has been determined by only the less specific IFA; this may explain why we have found a lower prevalence in our study population than reported from certain other locations in sub-Saharan Africa.

We reject our study hypothesis that pygmies residing in the Watsa area are a second population at risk for MHF compared with the nonmining sedentary population. We conclude that the absence of anti-Marburg IgG in the pygmy population reflects the virtual absence of MBGV circulation in the reservoir, the absence of the reservoir in the pygmies' environment, the absence of exposure to the reservoir, or any combination of these. The MHF outbreaks in Durba and Watsa in 1994 and 1998–2000 apparently did not impact the study population. The frequent occurrence of febrile hemorrhagic syndrome was almost certainly due to a different origin than MBGV and may not have been of viral origin at all.

An alternative explanation for the absence of antibodies would be that the case-fatality proportion was higher than observed during the outbreaks in Durba and Watsa (71%) (3). However, there is no reason to assume that pygmies who contract MHF would die more frequently than diseased gold diggers and their family members. Access to basic clinical care is similar in both groups, and this care has a limited effect on the case-fatality proportion.

Another alternative explanation would be that anti-Marburg IgG wanes and becomes undetectable soon after infection. However, all 17 survivors of confirmed MHF in the 1994 and 1998–2000 Durba and Watsa outbreaks with whom we could follow up are still seropositive 22–102 months after onset of disease (M. Borchert, unpub. data).

Our study participants were volunteers who could reach the meeting points along the main road with relative ease. Primary transmission of MBGV may occur more frequently in pygmies living deeper in the forest, but even in those who reached the meeting point and participated in our study, the prevalence of risk factors was very high. Reported exposure patterns correspond to the traditional distribution of tasks such as men hunting and women caring for sick relatives, which lends credibility to our interview data. Gonzalez et al. did not find a significant difference for the risk of filovirus infection between pygmies living in savannah and forest areas (6). That the study used volunteers might also have caused seroprevalence to be underestimated if those who rightfully believed they had had MHF in the past, chose not to take part in the study. However, the proportion of study participants reporting to ever have had a febrile hemorrhagic syndrome was high, and MHF was not stigmatized in the study setting. We therefore believe a selection bias is unlikely.

Despite the MHF epidemics in Durba and Watsa in 1994 and 1998–2000, the prevalence of anti-Marburg IgG in the pygmy population of Watsa was as low as, or lower than, that in Durba's nonmining sedentary population, and that in most other populations in sub-Saharan Africa where serosurveys have been conducted. Infection with MBGV appears to be rare in the pygmy population of the Watsa area. During the 1998–2000 outbreak, primary transmission of MBGV was apparently limited to gold mines around Durba. While the location where primary transmission occurred now appears to be well ascertained, the reservoir species at the origin remains unknown.