The wound care market is rapidly expanding due to the development of innumerable dressings that exhibit specific healing requirements for different wound types. The use of biomaterials as suitable wound dressing material is highly advantageous due to their biocompatibility, biodegradability, and non-toxicity. Cyanobacteria have been widely explored for their potential applications in wound healing, as they are the rich source of bioactive compounds with antibacterial, antitumor, antiviral, antioxidant, and antifungal activities. In recent years this group of organisms has been widely studied due to their immense potential in biomedical applications. Although their different bioactivities can support wound healing in different ways, very few forms have proven utility as a wound-healing agent. This chapter gives an insight into the potential of cyanobacteria in wound healing. Different bioactive compounds present in variable forms of cyanobacteria and their associated activities were reported to support tissue regeneration and wound healing acceleration. As the demand for cost-effective, bioactive wound care products is ever increasing, these organisms have immense potential to be utilized for the development of bioactive wound dressings. Hence, various bioactive compounds of cyanobacteria, their associated activities, and roles in wound healing have been briefly reviewed in this chapter.


Best known for his ethical works, Immanuel Kant was part of the liberal Enlightenment and addressed most of the principal political issues of his day. Several of his major works were written in the wake of the storming of the Bastille in Paris, while Europe was engaged in the French Revolutionary Wars. His rejection of revolution but endorsement of the principles for which the French revolutionaries were fighting, as well as his plea for a federation of European states that would settle disputes peacefully, reflected his engagement with the controversies raised by the Revolution. But, although he could not countenance revolution, he declared that, once a revolutionary government has succeeded in establishing itself, citizens should obey the new government, rather than try to restore the ousted authorities.


This thesis investigates the reason(s) for an anomalous distribution of mussels on Wellington's South Coast. Wellington Harbour supports large populations the mussels (Perna canaliculus, Aulacomya maoriana and Mytilus galloprovincialis) however; all these species are absent from the nearby South Coast. The physical difference between Harbour and Coastal sites was confirmed from water samples taken at eight sites inside and outside Wellington Harbour between September 1998 and February 2000. These data showed significant differences between Harbour and Coastal sites in seven of eleven parameters tested. Larval densities were investigated at Harbour and Coastal sites; data showed larval density to be approximately an order of magnitude greater in Harbour waters compared to the Coast. Larval density in Coastal waters reached a maximum of 380 mˉ³ and is therefore not expected to be a major limiting factor. Similar results were found for studies of settlement density on artificial substrates. Settlement at Harbour sites was approximately 10 times that at Coastal sites, however, mussel densities of up to ≈3700 mˉ² at Coastal sites indicate that settlement is also unlikely to be a factor contributing to mussel absence. Comparisons were made of body condition index between Harbour mussels and those from the Harbour relocated to the Island Bay Marine Laboratory (IBML) on Wellington's South Coast. All mussel species experienced a significant decrease in condition at IBML when compared with those from the parent population in Wellington Harbour. Levels of mortality were high in P. canaliculus (60%) and M. galloprovincialis (70%) and moderate in A. maoriana (30%). This indicated the possibility of nutrient limitation as a cause of mussel absence. This was corroborated by a similar study using RNA:DNA ratio as a biochemical index of condition. Mussels held at IBML experienced a significant decrease in RNA:DNA compared to those from the parent population within the Harbour. Further investigation of nutrient limitation was conducted by way of feeding experiments to estimate the scope for growth (SFG) of each mussel species. In P. canaliculus, SFG had a mean (±SD) of 45.6 J gˉ¹ hˉ¹ (±78.9) and only 27% of observations were negative. A. maoriana had lower SFG estimates, mean SFG was 19.1 J gˉ¹ hˉ¹ (±66.7) and negative SFG was recorded 43% of the time. M.galloprovincialis had mean SFG of 1.26 J gˉ¹ hˉ¹ (±39.1), 52% of SFG estimates were negative. While these data do not overwhelming support the hypothesis of nutrient limitation, they do go some way toward corroborating the findings of the condition index experiments. Models to predict SFG were derived from data in the feeding experiments, these models were derived from a small range of low seston concentrations. A second group of models was derived from studies conducted by Gardner (2001) to give a broader range of seston concentrations. Seston data from the water sampling described above were used to estimate SFG at eight sites inside and outside the Harbour over the period from September 1998 to February 2000. Both models estimated lower SFG at Coastal sites compared to Harbour sites. However, estimates were not consistently negative at Coastal sites. These models had mixed results and would benefit from the combination of data from recent SFG experiments conducted at IBML and Wellington Harbour to derive new, more robust models. While the findings in this study are not conclusive, the absence of mussels from Wellington's South Coast is most likely to be the result of nutrient limitation for at least part of the year. The reduced ability of mussels to store nutrients when feeding on Cook Strait water is likely to exacerbate the effects of low seston quality.


High reflective paints (cool paints) are used on flat roofs to reduce heat gains from the incidence of solar radiation and thus improve the thermal comfort and energy efficiency of buildings, especially in summer periods. Given the application potential of these paints on vertical surfaces, a research study has been developed to evaluate the thermal performance of reflective paints on walls under real exposure conditions. Accordingly, different reflective paints have been applied as the final coating of an ETICS type solution, on the facades of a full scale experimental cell built at LNEC campus. For being applied in an ETICS system a paint has to fulfill several requirements, whether aesthetic or functional (such as the adhesion between the coating layers or the durability of the insulation), essential for its efficient performance. Since this construction coating system is subject to a prolonged sun exposure, various problems may arise, such as paint degradation or deterioration of the thermal insulation properties, particularly when dark colors are applied. To evaluate the thermal performance of the chosen paints, the method of non-destructive analysis by Infrared Thermography was used. Thermography allows knowing the temperature distribution of facades by measuring the radiation emitted by their surfaces. To complement the thermographic diagnosis, thermocouples were placed between the insulation and the paint system of the experimental cell. Additional laboratory tests allowed the characterization of the optical properties (reflectance and emittance) of the different reflective paints used in this study. The comparative analysis of the thermal performance of reflective and conventional paints revealed that the reflective paint allows a reduction of the facade surface temperature, reducing the risk of loss of insulating properties of the ETICS system and thus ensuring its longevity and functionality. The color of the paint used affects, naturally, the reflective ability of the surface and may have an important role in energy balance of the building. This paper also showed the potential of infrared thermography in the evaluation of the thermal performance of reflective paints. Luis Goncalves, Luis Matias and Paulina Faria


In this experiment, seven software teams developed versions of the same small-size (2000-4000 source instruction) application software product. Four teams used the Specifying approach. Three teams used the Prototyping approach. The main results of the experiment were the following. 1) Prototyping yielded products with roughly equivalent performance, but with about 40 percent less code and 45 percent less effort. 2) The prototyped products rated somewhat lower on functionality and robustness, but higher on ease of use and ease of learning. 3) Specifying produced more coherent designs and software that was easier to integrate. The paper presents the experimental data supporting these and a number of additional conclusions.


ABSTRACT One of the most substantive developments in the delivery of marketing activities in recent years has undoubtedly been the emergence and growth of Internet shopping. This relatively new form of communication has revolutionised the buying and selling of products and services, enabling customers to select and import items – many of which are not available through local shop fronts – directly from vendors around the world with the click of a button, and often at a reduced price. Although online shopping has provided a new international landscape to conduct business, the use of this medium and the absence of face-to-face interactions has presented the law with numerous challenges in terms of the scope of consumer protection. This article examines the nature and extent of misleading and deceptive online advertising and looks at the degree to which common law and legislation have evolved to deal with false, deceptive or misleading advertising on the Internet.


Although several studies have analyzed the fatty acid profile of phospholipids (PL) and, to a lesser degree, triacylglycerols (TG) in one or more tissues concurrently, a systematic comparison of the fatty acid composition of different tissues and/or lipid classes is lacking. The purpose of the present study was to compare the fatty acid composition of major lipid classes (PL and TG) in the rat serum, soleus muscle, extensor digitorum longus muscle and the heart. Lipids were extracted from these tissues and analyzed by a combination of thin-layer chromatography and gas chromatography. We found many significant differences in various tissues and lipid classes. Serum had the most distinct fatty acid profile in PL but this "uniqueness" was less apparent in TG, where differences among tissues were in general less frequent than in PL. These two skeletal muscles exhibited similar fatty acid composition in both lipid classes despite their different muscle fiber type composition, denoting that fiber type is not a major determinant of the fatty acid composition of rat skeletal muscle. The fatty acid profile of heart PL was the most different from that of the other tissues examined. PL were rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, whereas TG were rich in monounsaturated fatty acids. Although the reasons for the differences in fatty acid profile among the tissues examined are largely unknown, it is likely that these differences have an impact upon numerous biological functions.


ABSTRACT The genus Arctostaphylos consists mostly of chaparral shrubs known by the common name manzanita, and one of the widest ranging of these is A. glandulosa Eastw., distributed from Baja California to Oregon. Particularly in the southern half of its range it exhibits complex patterns of morphological variation that have long presented taxonomic challenges. Phenetic analysis of morphological traits from over 1400 individuals from throughout the range were used to examine intra- and inter-population patterns of variation. Multivariate ordination and hierarchical cluster analysis were used to determine phenetic patterns linked with ecological and geographical distributions. These analyses suggest the hypothesis that this species comprises two lineages with a common origin but divergent in the presence or absence of glandularity: A. glandulosa Eastw. subsp. glandulosa, characterized by branchlets with long glandular hairs, scabrous or pubescent leaves, and nascent inflorescences with mostly foliaceous bracts; and A. glandulosa Eastw. subsp. cushingiana (Eastw.) Keeley, Vasey and Parker comb. nov., with non-glandular tomentose branchlets, glabrate or pubescent leaves and either foliaceous or short deltoid bracts. Populations dominated by one or the other of these morphotypes occur throughout the range and tend to be separated by elevation or distance from the coast, although mixed populations occur where these taxa come together. Two other glandular subspecies are named here. One is A. glandulosa Eastw. subsp. leucophylla Keeley, Vasey and Parker, subsp. nov., with intensely glaucous leaves and commonly with foliaceous bracts. A second glandular subspecies is A. glandulosa Eastw. subsp. atumescens Keeley, Vasey & Parker, subsp. nov., a narrowly distributed Baja California endemic similar to the nominate subspecies except that it lacks a basal burl and does not resprout after fire. Of the non-glandular tomentose taxa, in addition to A. glandulosa subsp cushingiana, several others are also recognized. One is A. glandulosa Eastw. subsp. crassifolia (Jepson) Wells, a well established coastal San Diego endemic recognized by darker and thicker leaves and smaller and flatter fruits. Another is a newly described taxon A. glandulosa Eastw. subsp. erecta Keeley, Vasey & Parker, subsp. nov., an endemic to northern Baja California recognized by the erect nascent inflorescenses. Two others have glabrate leaves and highly reduced deltoid often marcescent bracts; A. glandulosa subsp. adamsii (Munz) Wells, which has intensely glaucous leaves and is distributed from interior Riverside Co. south, and A. glandulosa Eastw. subsp. gabrielensis (Wells) Keeley, Vasey and Parker comb. nov., which has bright lustrous green leaves and greater fusion of nutlets, and is distributed from the interior San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles Co. north to the Sierra Madre Mountains of Santa Barbara Co. All non-glandular plants with long setose or villous hairs are A. glandulosa Eastw. subsp. mollis (Adams) Wells. This taxon includes plants with foliaceous as well as reduced bracts and is distributed throughout the Transverse Ranges from Santa Barbara to San Bernardino counties, with some outlying populations further south. This taxon shows a marked tendency for reduced stomatal densities on the upper leaf surface in the westernmost populations. Although all of the A. glandulosa taxa described here are known from allopatric populations, intergradations of these closely related taxa occur and thus some populations reflect a mixture of traits and can not be assigned a unique name of practical value.


The present research was made in the producer's organization named Fishing and Aquaculture production of goods and aquaculture services of the High Rivera S.C. of R.L. in Palizada, Campeche, Mexico; This research aimed to determine the profitability of the investment project of mojarra castarrica to prove whether the invested resources have been able to increase earnings to the Cooperative Society members. Based on the above, the profitability indicators were calculated as established in the methodology for the formulation and evaluation of investment projects in order to measure the profitability of the producers' organization; such indicators were: Net Present Value (NPV), Benefit-Cost Relationship (B/C), Benefit-Net Investment Relationship (N/K) and, the Internal Rate of Return (IRR). The results obtained in a ten year analysis period are: NPV = 563,743; B/C = 1.34 and the IRR = 141.6%. When the sensibility analysis was done to the income structure and total costs, it was observed that the project can suffer a revenue decrease of 20 percent, but the project will still be profitable. On the other side, the total costs may experience an increase of 20 percent and the project will continue giving utilities to the members of the economic organization.


In this work, PZT (Zr/Ti=52/48) thin films have been prepared using aqueous organic gel method. The desired metal cations are chelated in a solution using citric acid and ethylenediaminetertraacetic acid (EDTA) as the chelating agents. The thermal decompostion of the metal carboxylate precursors gels have been studied by TG/DTA and the products derived from calcinations of the gels at different temperatures have been characterized by XRD and SEM. By heat-treatment at 650°C for 2h, PZT thin films with smooth and crack-free surface could be achieved. The thickness of each layer was 50nm. Electric properties measurement indicated that the PZT films demonstrated a ferroelectric hysteresis loop. The remanent polarization(Pr) and coercive field (Ec) were 20.7μC/cm2 and 75.5kV/cm, respectively. The dielectric constant and the dielectric loss at 100 kHz of the films were 930 and 0.045, respectively.


The chemical similarities and contrasting biochemical properties of piericidin A and ubiquinone are presented and discussed. The former, a penta-substituted pyridine and a metabolite of Streptomyces mobaraensis, is an inhibitor of mitochondrial electron transport, whilst the latter is an electron carrier. A scheme to account for this difference is proposed involving an olefinic linkage of the long hydrocarbon side-chain. This was shown not to be responsible for the inhibitory action of piericidin A, since hydrogenation of the olefinic function did not noticeably reduce inhibitory potency.

Piericidin A was labelled with tritium in order to investigate its binding to mitochondria. It was found to be bound unspecifically in a linear manner up to 10 mu moles/mgm. protein, but washing with bovine serum albumen removed most of this piericidin A. However a quantity corresponding to that required for the inhibition of NADH oxidation (0.02 mu moles/mgm. protein) could not be removed in this way. It is concluded that this piericidin A was bound in a site specific manner. This specifically bound inhibitor was recovered unchanged on extraction of the mitochondrial lipids with acetone. Hence it is concluded that the inhibitor is not covalently bound to the mitochondria.

A number of analogues of piericidin A were synthesised. None of these compounds approached the potency of piericidin A as inhibitors, although those with lipophilic and phenolic properties were more effective in this respect than those without, suggesting the possible involvement of hydrophobic interactions and of a phenolic function during inhibition.

The possible tautomers of the proposed structure of piericidin A are considered in relation to its spectroscopic and chemical properties. Contrary to the behaviour expected from this structure, the molecule appears to exist as a pyridinol, rather than the 1-(H)-4-pyridone tautomer.

The evidence for the proposed structure of piericidin A is critically discussed. That for the arrangement of substituents on the pyridine nucleus depends partly on ultraviolet spectroscopic data, and more significantly, on two fragments arising from ozonolysis. The identity of one of these fragments (the 2,4-DlrP of methyl pyruvate) is in doubt, since its properties differ from those of either of two fully characterised isomers of authentic material synthesised specially. It is concluded that piericidin A may be a β-hydroxypyridine, rather than the proposed Ɣ-hydroxypyridine, since the remaining evidence is no longer conclusive. The spectroscopic properties of piericidin A mentioned above also favour this proposal.

Two fully substituted β-hydroxypyridines, isomeric with the proposed pyridine nucleus of piericidin A, were synthesised. Neither had properties corresponding to piericidin A. With these and other hydroxypyridines, the comparative studies pertaining to piericidin A were extended, using the techniques of UV, IR H1NMR.and mass spectroscopy. A particularly simple diagnosis of hydroxypyridines by 1H NMR spectroscopy was developed, involving the use of trichloroacetylisocyanate. In addition base catalysed deuterium exchange of protons in the methyl groups of substituted pyridines was studied.
As a result of these studies, distinctions can be made between β, and α or Ɣsubstituted methyl- and hydroxy-pyridines. Piericidin A appears to be a β-hydroxypyridine, its most likely structure being 2-alkyl-3,6-dimethoxy-5-hydroxy-4-methylpyridine.

It is also concluded from the mass spectrum of piericidin A that there is an olefinic bond between carbon atoms 5 and 6 of the side-chain, rather than between carbon atoms 4 and 5 as published.


Wurtzite ZnO can be substituted with up to ∼30% MgO to form a metastable Zn1−xMgxO alloy while still retaining the wurtzite structure. Because this alloy has a larger band gap than pure ZnO, Zn1−xMgxO/ZnO quantum wells and superlattices are of interest as candidates for applications in optoelectronic and electronic devices. Here, we report the results of an ab-initio study of the spontaneous polarization of Zn1−xMgxO alloys as a function of their composition. We perform calculations of the crystal structure based on density-functional theory in the local-density approximation, and the polarization is calculated using the Berry-phase approach. We decompose the changes in polarization into purely electronic, lattice-displacement mediated, and strain mediated components, and quantify the relative importance of these contributions. We consider both free-stress and epitaxialstrain elastic boundary conditions, and show that our results can be fairly well reproduced by a simple model in which the piezoelectric response of pure ZnO is used to estimate the polarization change of the Zn1−xMgxO alloy induced by epitaxial strain.


We show that inefficient job assignments arise in organizations even if there is full information about employees' types and complete contracts are possible. Our model also provides a new perspective on the Peter Principle: the output of an employee who is promoted into a job for which he is not well suited need not decline postpromotion, because he is pushed to exert more effort. Although promotions are desirable for most employees, they make the least able in a hierarchy level worse off: for them earnings increase only because they work harder to compensate for their "incompetence."


ABSTRACT Bovine papillomavirus type 1 (BPV-1) late gene expression is regulated at both transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels. Maturation of the capsid protein (L1) pre-mRNA requires a switch in 3′ splice site utilization. This switch involves activation of the nucleotide (nt) 3605 3′ splice site, which is utilized only in fully differentiated keratinocytes during late stages of the virus life cycle. Our previous studies of the mechanisms that regulate BPV-1 alternative splicing identified three cis-acting elements between these two splice sites. Two purine-rich exonic splicing enhancers, SE1 and SE2, are essential for preferential utilization of the nt 3225 3′ splice site at early stages of the virus life cycle. Another cis-acting element, exonic splicing suppressor 1 (ESS1), represses use of the nt 3225 3′ splice site. In the present study, we investigated the late-stage-specific nt 3605 3′ splice site and showed that it has suboptimal features characterized by a nonconsensus branch point sequence and a weak polypyrimidine track with interspersed purines. In vitro and in vivo experiments showed that utilization of the nt 3605 3′ splice site was not affected by SE2, which is intronically located with respect to the nt 3605 3′ splice site. The intronic location and sequence composition of SE2 are similar to those of the adenovirus IIIa repressor element, which has been shown to inhibit use of a downstream 3′ splice site. Further studies demonstrated that the nt 3605 3′ splice site is controlled by a novel exonic bipartite element consisting of an AC-rich exonic splicing enhancer (SE4) and an exonic splicing suppressor (ESS2) with a UGGU motif. Functionally, this newly identified bipartite element resembles the bipartite element composed of SE1 and ESS1. SE4 also functions on a heterologous 3′ splice site. In contrast, ESS2 functions as an exonic splicing suppressor only in a 3′-splice-site-specific and enhancer-specific manner. Our data indicate that BPV-1 splicing regulation is very complex and is likely to be controlled by multiple splicing factors during keratinocyte differentiation.


Shark cartilage has been a popular complementary or alternative medicine intervention. The basis for this popularity is the claim that sharks rarely get cancer because of the high proportion of cartilage in the shark's body. However, early studies were equivocal. Therefore, a clinical trial was conducted to look at the impact of shark cartilage in patients with advanced cancer. The primary goal of this trial was to determine whether a shark cartilage product improved overall survival for patients with advanced cancer who were getting standard care. Secondary research goals were to evaluate toxicities, tolerability, and quality of life associated with this shark cartilage product.


Because of severe fading caused by the movement of the portable terminal, it is insufficient to only test a handset under an environment of multiple waves, as in mobile communication, especially in a city or to only evaluate the static characteristics in an anechoic chamber. The random field method which actually measures the handsets in the open site is time consuming, has a poor measurement repeatability, and also the problem of obtaining a radio license. The field simulator, i.e. a portable handset evaluation system reproducing the artificial fading environment inside the building solves these problems. This paper presents a prototype field simulator applied to the connection rate test in a weak electric field environment, and to diversity characteristic evaluation in development of an antenna.


This report examines Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) as they apply to carsharing and transit, two modes that provide mobility to those who do not own a car. In the first study, researchers developed and administered a survey to members of HOURCAR, a local not-for-profit carsharing organization (CSO), and a randomly selected control group. The data reveals that (1) each HOURCAR removes 2.5 other vehicles; (2) HOURCAR members demonstrate an interest in deciding whether a car is their most efficient option for their trip, (3) HOURCAR respondents were not significantly different from the control group in terms of household size, income, age or housing type; and (4) most members indicated convenience and financial considerations were key to joining. The second study seeks to understand how citizen perceptions of trust and confidence in an agency, and its services, are impacted by the use of advanced traveler information systems (ATIS), specifically, an online trip planner developed and maintained by MetroTransit. A survey and focus group indicate connections between online use and perceptions about the agency. Notably, a strong positive view of the trip planner was associated with trust in the agency to perform the service.


A Liquid-Liquid Cylindrical Cyclone separator (LLCC) is a device used in the petroleum industry to separate the oil-water mixture obtained from the well. The use of this device has not been widespread due to the lack of tools for predicting its separation capability. This paper presents a numerical and experimental study of the fluid dynamic performance of this type of cylindrical cyclone separators. The use of numerical simulations would reduce the time and cost necessary to obtain information for predicting the behavior of the equipment. The objective of this study is to determine if CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) techniques are able to reproduce the behavior of a LLCC separator. The CFD software examined was ANSYS-CFX 5.6™ and numerical simulations were carried out using the dispersed model with oil as the dispersed phase. The oil and water mixture entering the separator is divided due to centrifugal and buoyancy forces in an upper (oil rich) exit and a bottom (water rich) exit. The separation capability is determined as the maximum amount of water removed from the mixture with the minimum amount of oil content in the water rich exit. The experiments were conducted in a transparent LLCC separator that allows the visualization of the mixture and the measurement of the oil content. Experiments were conducted for three variables: mixture velocity and water content at the entrance, and the split ratio. The split ratio is defined as the bottom exit flow rate divided by the water flow rate at the entrance. The results showed that CFD tools are able to reproduce the oil content obtained from the experiments for all analyzed conditions. Additionally, the mixture distribution images from numerical and experimental data showed good agreement. This study confirms the capacity of CFD tools for the multiphase flow analysis of LLCC separators.Copyright © 2006 by ASME


The characteristics of ultrathin-body (UTB) SOI MOSFETs, whose SOI-channel thickness T/sub SOI/ is thinner than the inversion-layer thickness of bulk MOSFETs, are investigated. It is found for the first time that at low temperatures (<50 K) the mobility of the UTB MOSFETs coincides with that of thicker body SOI MOSFETs in spite of the fact that at room temperature the mobility of UTB MOSFETs decreases as T/sub SOI/ decreases. It is experimentally demonstrated for the first time that the gate-channel capacitance of the UTB MOSFETs increases as T/sub SOI/ decreases. In addition, it is demonstrated that the physical origins of the threshold voltage increase in UTB MOSFETs can be categorized as mobility degradation and a subband energy level increase. All these results are consistently explained in terms of quanturn-mechanical effects.


Plantar capsule-ligament sprain of the great toe metatarsophalangeal joint, herein referred to as "turf-toe," is discussed with emphasis on two apparantly predisposing factors, playing surface hardness and shoe stiffness. Surface hardness studies have previously been performed by the authors on natural grass and AstroTurf. A study of football shoe flexibility is presented and the results correlated with the occurrence of turftoe. We have not encountered this entity in players wearing relatively stiff conventional seven posted football shoes or the more flexible soccer style shoe on natural grass fields. We have found it to be a not uncommon injury among players wearning the soccer style shoe on AstroTurf.


The present investigation deals with two broad aspects of fibre research both directed towards the elucidation of the role of the polar groups in polyamides and polypeptides. (1) The study of the Interaction of certain disaggregating polar reagents like lithium bromide, lithium perchlorate and magnesium perchlorate with nylon 66. (2) The study of changes in sorption of water, when polyamide (nylon 66) and polypeptide (silk) fibres are subjected to a tensile deformation. The effect of polar reagents on the dimensions and tensile characteristics suggests a possibility of interaction at the polar group. The changes in X-ray diffraction patterns revoal a significant decrease in the ? form, and an annealing effect. The interaction is confined to the polycrystalline regions, and the reagents do not produce setting of nylon. It is suggested that ? form appears towards the edges of the crystallites. The N.M.R. and the infrared study of N-ethyl acetamide (model compound) suggests a possibility of an interaction between polar reagent and the CONH groups. Nylon filme treated with polar reagents show a new absorption peak at 3390 cm-1. which changes on deuteration to 2518 cm-1. It has been shown that this is a new NH peak and that it may have slight parallel dichroism. An ion-dipole interaction mechanism has been suggested which favours the possibility of co-ordination of ions with the lone pair electron of the nitrogen atom. The change in regain of nylon with strain, at different humidities (13, 35, 52, 66 and 93% r.h.) have been measured. Regain increases with increased strain, but, except at 13% r.h., the changes have been found to be independent of humidity. It is interesting to note that the changes in regain are quite appreciable (about 1.0% moisture regain for 8% strain), and are in agreement with those calculated from stress relaxation of nylon at different humidities. The calculated changes in volume from the known value of poisson's ratio for nylon. agrees fairly well with the observed change in regain. The changes in regain of silk under strain vary with the changes in surrounding humidity. At 65% r.h. the changes are comparable to those for nylon 66. The results have been interpreted in terms of stress relaxation mechanism. The longitudinal swelling of nylon has been measured under a constant load of 2.4g/denier. On substituting suitable values from the above experiments in the thermodynamic equation a reasonable agreement between the calculated and the experimental values of the reversible modulus for nylon 66 has been found. It has been postulated that the interaction of water with nylon is confined to the rotational energy levels of the systems. This postulate has been extended to various observed phenomena as follows. (a) The change in ?'-loss modulus peak for nylon as a result of increase in temperature or humidity, involves two different molecular mechanisms. (b) The similarity between stress relaxation behaviour of different fibres in water has been attributed to a possibility of interaction of water with the rotational energy levels of various fibrous systems; regardless of the presence of specific interchain interactions in some hydrophilic fibres. (c) An alternative explanation for the sigmoid shape of the curves of rigidity modulus against humidity for nylon has been proposed: this is in conformity with the spectral evidence that there are no free NH groups in nylon 66. (d) A possible mechanism for setting of nylon 66 has been suggested, and it has been shown that the weakening of inter-chain interaction alone is not sufficient to impart desirable dimensional stability. A hypothetical system has been proposed which explains that the relative movemont of segments is not the sole contributor to stress relaxation, and that the main chains may play an important role.


Several research projects promise improved distributed storage technologies as a way to cope with rapidly growing data volumes and increasingly scattered organizations. The OceanStore Project at the University of California, Berkeley, stores data on servers throughout a network. Other computers will be able to join the network dynamically. OceanStore will function as platform-neutral software that can be integrated with other applications, he explained. It will differ from private, closed storage area networks, because data will be globally accessible. University of Tennessee researchers have developed the Internet backplane protocol which functions as middleware for managing and using remote storage. Basically, the IBP lets storage nodes communicate easily via the Internet, thereby letting users access external storage resources.


Whanaungatanga (attaining and maintaining relationships) as a concept is a customary Māori practice enabling kin to strengthen relationships and ties between one another and entrench responsibilities as whānau (family). Increased use of Internet and social networking sites (SNSs) by Māori is providing alternative methods for forging and maintaining relationships making this process more accessible for kin and those who do not have genealogical connections but are linked through a common purpose to share, engage and interact with each other. Whanaungatanga is thereby shifting in its sphere of application from physical to virtual spaces, in ways that influence the dynamics, relevance and impacts of its practice. This paper discusses the concept of whanaungatanga from both customary and contemporary perspectives providing analyses into how relationships are attained and maintained through SNSs. Data findings showed that the virtual form of whanaungatanga (that which remained rooted in the underlying principles of face-to-face whanaungatanga) enabled Māori to (re)connect to existing and new family members, friends, marae (main gathering places), hapū (sub-tribes) and iwi (tribes) in less formal ways.


Electrical characteristics have been measd for a parallel plate RF discharges in argon that were symmetrically driven at frequencies of 6.78, 13.56, 27.12, 54.24 and 81.36 MHz. Over a wide range of gas pressure (3mTorr - 3 Torr) and discharge power (10-2 - 102 W), the discharge current, voltage and phase shift between them were mapped to display scaling laws for the frequency dependent parameters. It was observed that in an RF sheath controlled discharge at a fixed current, the discharge voltage is inversely proportional to the square of frequency while the discharge power is independent of frequency at small currents and is proportional to the inverse of frequency at large currents. At low discharge power and high frequency we were able to maintain the RF discharge in the resonance mode where the discharge voltage reaches a minimum (just a few volts) and the phase shift crosses zero. Scaling laws found in these experiments for the discharge elecmcal characteristics in the RF sheath controlled mode and the resonance mode are in good agreement with predictions of the plasma-sheath sandwich model developed by Godyak'.


Where once the person was autonomous, now persons are relational. A fundamental shift in how personhood is seen is taking place as the contemporary world and contemporary society become more aware oi the implications of pluralism and diversity in "the global village." Westerners are no longer able to see themselves as individuals largely responsible for their own fates. Instead, we are increasingly aware that our lives are constantly interconnected with others, both near and far, and are much less of our own making than we have liked to believe. A major characteristic of the modem period (beginning with the Enlightenment) is the claim that the human person is autonomous and independent. Critique of this claim is perhaps as old as the claim itself. Certainly Freud, Marx, and Nietzsche-those "masters of suspicion"-countered the notions that any person might be an unconHicted rational self separable from social structures and ideological interests. And a central element of what postmodemisms postdate is precisely the illusion of the autonomous self. Moving beyond the problems posed by the notion of the autonomous self, contemporary Western theologians are giving renewed attention to the interrelatedness of things, along with pastors, church leaders, and the many others who are concerned with the health of the church, its role in society, and its mission in the world. The relationships of humans with each other, of humans with the environing world, of those "inner" and "outer" worlds that make up a human lire, of human and divine, oi the divine life ad intra Mira: all these have been focal points as theologians seek to articulate the Christian faith in the world in which we currently live. Concepts of relationality are very much in development, in response both to a wide variety of contexts and to some of the pitfalls that have become apparent in the formulation of relationality itself. With Martin Buber, contemporary theologians may affirm, "In the beginning is relation."1 But they also recognize that not all forms of relationship are as healthy and generative as others. And to the extent that relationality itself is a major theme in contemporary theology, making distinctions of value between forms of relationship is necessary. It is the purpose of this essay to sketch one possibility for such development as it affects theological understandings of persons, both divine and human. First, I will highlight the classical Christian notion of participation in order to show a contrast with modern notions of the person as autonomous. I will then outline the implications of the claim that persons are autonomous, and indicate some oi the problems with such a claim. Next I will briefly discuss the idea of mutuality as one way to construe relationality, and then turn to what I think is a needed and helpful modification of that idea. I will argue that greater attention to difference, to "the other" as other, is needed in contemporary theology both as a corrective and as a constructive possibility in understanding what it means to say that the very being of persons is inherently and unavoidably constituted in and through relationship. Without explicit focus on both reciprocity and asymmetry, I believe, theology runs the risk of perpetuating some of the very problems a focus on relationality wishes to address, most particularly those of responsible relationship with the other, whether divine or human. Construing relationship as always asymmetrical keeps in view the tendency in Western thought, culture, and practice to deny, suppress, or subsume difference. At the same time, emphasizing reciprocity keeps in view various disparities of power and the need to attend to them carefully. This approach also addresses a fundamental problem for modem and postmodern theology: how to draw on human experience in a way that affirms connectedness (relationality) between the divine and human and preserves the Otherness of God. How theologians speak of persons is crucial to Christian ethics and the Christian life. …


Asynchronously operating event cameras find many applications due to their high dynamic range, vanishingly low motion blur, low latency and low data bandwidth. The field saw remarkable progress during the last few years, and existing event-based 3D reconstruction approaches recover sparse point clouds of the scene. However, such sparsity is a limiting factor in many cases, especially in computer vision and graphics, that has not been addressed satisfactorily so far. Accordingly, this paper proposes the first approach for 3D-consistent, dense and photorealistic novel view synthesis using just a single colour event stream as input. At its core is a neural radiance field trained entirely in a self-supervised manner from events while preserving the original resolution of the colour event channels. Next, our ray sampling strategy is tailored to events and allows for data-efficient training. At test, our method produces results in the RGB space at unprecedented quality. We evaluate our method qualitatively and numerically on several challenging synthetic and real scenes and show that it produces significantly denser and more visually appealing renderings than the existing methods. We also demonstrate robustness in challenging scenarios with fast motion and under low lighting conditions. We release the newly recorded dataset and our source code to facilitate the research field, see https://4dqv.mpi-inf.mpg.de/EventNeRF.


UNLABELLED: AIMS OF THE INVESTIGATION: The 6-minute-walk-test (6-MWT) is an effective tool for measuring physical fitness in elderly patients. The increased walking distance is taken as a parameter for improved physical conditions. Frequently an unaltered walking distance is found after participation in a rehabilitation measure, but heart rate is significantly lower in the second challenge, indicating an improved physical fitness. This positive effect is not recognized when only the walking distance is considered. METHODS: We therefore carried out a retrospective analysis of the 6-MWT tests performed by 303 male patients (69.2 ± 8.7 years) before and after 3-4 weeks of clinical rehabilitation. Instrumented by a mobile pulse oximeter for recording oxygen saturation and heart rate, patients were instructed at the outset and at the end of their rehabilitation stay to walk as fast as they could during 6 min. Measurements were performed every 30 s and printed. A new parameter, efficiency (E = S/6/f (C)) was introduced: the ratio of the walking distance, S, divided by 6 min and divided by the mean heart frequency, f (C) (beats/minute). RESULTS: The patients group walked 351 ± 79 m at 106.2 ± 12.7 beats/min in the initial 6-MWT and 362 ± 76.0 m at a heart rate of 104.0 ± 12.2 beats/min in the final test. Along with the increase in walking distance, efficiency E increased from 0.56 ± 0.13 m/beat to 0.59 ± 0.12 m/beat. Efficiency significantly correlates with the walking distance (p < 0.01). 54 patients (18%) had an increased efficiency in the final test at the end of rehabilitation although they walked a shorter distance compared to the initial test value: they walked with a lower heart frequency. CONCLUSIONS: The patient's performance of the second walk test with an unchanged distance at a lower heart frequency reveals an improved physical fitness. This is solely described by an increase of the parameter of efficiency, E. Calculation of this parameter delivers a quantification of the effect of exercise training irrespective of the patient's cooperation. Efficiency, hence, is a meaningful complement to the sole consideration of the distance walked in the assessment of physical fitness as a benefit of rehabilitation.


Abstract Objective To systematically review the literature and map published studies on 4–8-year-olds' intake of discretionary choices against an ecological framework (ANalysis Grid for Environments Linked to Obesity; ANGELO). Design Articles were identified through database searches (PubMed, PyscINFO®, Web of Science) in February and March 2014 and hand-searching reference lists. Studies were assessed for methodological quality and mapped against the ANGELO framework by environment size (macro and micro setting) and type (physical, economic, policy and socio-cultural influences). Setting Studies were conducted in the USA (n 18), Australia (n 6), the UK (n 3), the Netherlands (n 3), Belgium (n 1), Germany (n 1) and Turkey (n 1). Subjects Children aged 4–8 years, or parents/other caregivers. Results Thirty-three studies met the review criteria (observational n 23, interventions n 10). Home was the most frequently studied setting (67 % of exposures/strategies), with the majority of these studies targeting family policy-type influences (e.g. child feeding practices, television regulation). Few studies were undertaken in government (5·5 %) or community (11 %) settings, or examined economic-type influences (0 %). Of the intervention studies only four were categorised as effective. Conclusions The present review is novel in its focus on mapping observational and intervention studies across a range of settings. It highlights the urgent need for high-quality research to inform interventions that directly tackle the factors influencing children's excess intake of discretionary choices. Interventions that assist in optimising a range of environmental influences will enhance the impact of future public health interventions to improve child diet quality.


Known to be the reason for moles in people, the human papillomaviruses (HPV) are an irresistible gathering of DNA infections that are communicated between people by means of skin-to-skin contact. Because of the way that moles are found in 7 to 12% of the populace, HPV contamination is a generally normal illness that effects around 1 of every 10 individuals through their lifetime. Upon broad audit of overall writing, it was discovered that no papers explored the quality articulation profiles of HPV-prompted moles. The principle point of this investigation is to decide if there is a distinction in the quality articulation profiles of moles and sound skin in HPV+ people. RNA-sequencing innovation was used without precedent for Jordan to decide if there is a distinction in quality articulation between HPV-initiated moles and sound skin. Correlations between HPV-incited moles and solid skin from Jordanian Arab patients were completed utilizing the Illumina HiSeq 2500 sequencing framework. Different bioinformatics programming were used for measurement of differential articulation, quality set enhancement investigation, pathway examination, and heatmap bunching. HPV-actuated moles were found to have a profoundly huge and exceptional hereditary mark. A significant number of the up-directed qualities were identified with malignancy and infection (WIF1, HMGCS2, CLU, and PTGIS), while a few down-controlled qualities were related with quality hindrance (SPINK6, PI3, SERPINB4, SERPINB3). Also, the best 500 differentially communicated qualities were discovered to be related with insusceptible and immune system pathways, for example, the neutrophil degranulation, cost like receptor 7/8 (TLR 7/8) course, cost like receptor 9 (TLR9) course, and cost like receptor 10 (TLR10) pathways, among others. HPV-prompted moles have an unmistakable quality articulation design that separates them from sound skin yet shares a lot of practically speaking with different sicknesses of the skin. Future lines of examination must explore the qualities of interest revealed in this investigation in an individual way to find out the degree of their pathogenicity.

The human papillomavirus (HPV) is a DNA infection that has been related with numerous sicknesses and is the complete reason for basically all cervical malignancy cases. Almost 200 sorts of HPV have been described, and these sorts are named high-danger or generally safe relying upon their capability to cause destructive or generous injuries, individually. 4.5% of new disease cases overall are brought about by high-hazard HPV contamination, however generally safe sorts regularly show as moles. Basic moles (Verruca vulgaris) are by a wide margin the most common sort of mole, making up 70% of all non-genital cutaneous moles, and are believed to be amiable in nature.

Human skin is made out of two layers, the epidermis and the dermis, and HPV only focuses on the lowermost epidermal layer, the layer basale, to set up a tenacious disease, after which it captures the keratinocyte separation measure with the end goal of the beneficial viral life cycle. Correspondingly, HPV science varies in basal and suprabasal keratinocytes, the last of which are associated with various phases of epithelial separation . Keratinocytes make up 90% of every single epidermal cell, and bothers to their separation make the skin more helpless to contamination and illness. Presently, there is no remedy for HPV itself, and its treatment centers around the lightening of clinical indications until the disease is normally cleared by the insusceptible framework . Nonetheless, there is no convincing proof concerning whether the infection is totally dispensed with from the body or essentially brought down to imperceptible levels.

While much examination has been committed to the hereditary qualities of HPV-related malignancies, there is a deficiency of data concerning the hereditary foundation of non-genital cutaneous moles, which shows a squeezing need to more readily comprehend their etiology. Consequently, the point of the current examination is to give a genome-wide correlation of the transcriptomes of basic moles and ordinary skin utilizing cutting edge sequencing.

The current investigation served to explain the hereditary foundation of HPV contamination with regards to non-genital cutaneous moles. The discoveries of the current examination featured dysregulation of various qualities which may assume a basic part in mole development, including KRT16, EPGN, C15orf59, CYB561A3, and FCGRT. Moreover, a few insusceptible framework related pathways were discovered to be related with distinguished DE qualities including neutrophil degranulation, myeloid separation factor 88, and cost like receptors.

Our information likewise proposes that few qualities engaged with the invulnerable reaction may assume a basic function in encouraging the HPV contamination measure. In fact, invulnerable cell signature investigation demonstrated distinctive movement levels of numerous cells associated with the resistant framework including NKT, DC, and Treg cells. A considerable lot of the qualities discovered to be involved in like manner moles were not the subject of past friend evaluated examination, recommending future headings and lines of exploration focusing on those individual qualities just as the articulation examples of individual HPV types.


ABSTRACT Background: Elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy has very low risk for infectious complications, ranging the infection rate from 0.4% to 1.1%. Many surgeons still use routine antibiotic prophylaxis Aim: Evaluate the real impact of antibiotic prophylaxis in elective laparoscopic cholecystectomies in low risk patients. Method: Prospective, randomized and double-blind study. Were evaluated 100 patients that underwent elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy divided in two groups: group A (n=50), patients that received prophylaxis using intravenous Cephazolin (2 g) during anesthetic induction and group B (n=50), patients that didn't receive any antibiotic prophylaxis. The outcome evaluated were infeccious complications at surgical site. The patients were reviewed seven and 30 days after surgery. Results: There was incidence of 2% in infection complications in group A and 2% in group B. There was no statistical significant difference of infectious complications (p=0,05) between the groups. The groups were homogeneous and comparable. Conclusion: The use of the antibiotic prophylaxis in laparoscopic cholecystectomy in low risk patients doesn't provide any significant benefit in the decrease of surgical wound infection.


Oral poetry is a popular genre in Africa, largely due to the poetic nature of the African environment.  Almost every activity in African communities calls for one form of poetic expression or the other.  Oral poems are usually brought into service in various ways because they are concerned with different human experiences.  Elegiac poetry is one of the several poetic forms that exist in Tiv land.  It is basically concerned with mourning the dead and consists of funeral songs, eulogies, chants and recitations that are integral to the funeral and memorial rites in the communities. This paper examines the Tiv perception of death, cosmology and the concept of ancestral potency as reflected in their funeral songs. It shows how oral literature acts as an instrument of self–control through the morals it teaches, thereby helping to bring order in the society. In addition to the theme of death, Tiv elegiac poetry is a repository of Tiv culture and tradition. In analysing the thematic concerns of the songs, the paper also highlights the literary and poetic devices employed by the performers in order to achieve the desired effect.

 Key words: Elegiac poetry, oral, death, mourn, literature, songs.


faculties through the universities. The UGC provides the basic housekeeping money, but if the housewife earns more by taking in washing or attracting the attentions of the research bodies then so much the better. It would be possible to construct yet another table using this time as cost the total expenditure of the medical schools (UGC grant plus outside funded expenditure). We want to spare readers such a table, but an example is that for 1979-80 the cost per paper would be for Cambridge £9459 and for Liverpool £9592, which seems little different. For Leicester (bottom of the league for number of publications and "value for money") the figure is £15 315.


Competition is the main driving force leading managers to search for areas of competitive advantage that leads to greater financial success. For companies to survive in the market from challenges like, volatile customer demands, technological changes and globalization they need to continuously assess the environment, trace the root of competition and adopt strategies that earned them a competitive advantage over the rivals. This study sought to determine the competitive strategies adopted to drive performance by firms in the telecommunication industry in Kenya. The data was collected from the nine firms in Kenya namely Safaricom Ltd, Airtel Kenya, Telkom Kenya, Jamii Telkom, Access Kenya, Liquid Telkom, Internet Solution, MTN Business and Wananchi Group. The respondents were one top manager from each of the firms using non-probability sampling technique. Data was collected using questionnaires and analyzed through descriptive statistics on quantitative data and content analysis on qualitative data. This study established the root of competition and how strategies like cost leadership; differentiation strategy and focus strategy are used to gain competitive advantage. The study concludes that the firms in the telecommunication sector adopt various strategies including: differentiation, cost leadership and focus so as to acquire and maintain sustainable competitive advantage. The study further concludes that the cost strategy was visible in the organizations and they kept on changing this strategy when it was no longer successful. The organizations need to continue innovating products which would compete with other companies' products and at the same time they should do aggressive marketing in order to change the perception of customers regarding the pricing of their products. The study recommends that although the organizations are market leaders they should consider other competitors prices as the customers are conscious about the lowest rates they are offered and not necessarily the value. These would ensure that the organization maintains their market share which is under threat from other competitors.


After premature closures in 2004 of biomedical human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention trials involving sex workers in Africa and Asia, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention (AVAC) undertook consultations to establish better participatory guidelines for such trials in order to address ethical concerns. This study investigated sex workers' knowledge and beliefs about research ethics and good participatory practices (GPP) and the perspectives of sex workers on research participation. A 33-question survey based on criteria identified by UNAIDS and AVAC was translated into three other languages. Participants were recruited through mailing lists and contacts with existing sex work networks. In total, 74 responses from Europe, the Americas and Asia were received. Thirty percent of respondents reported first-hand involvement in biomedical HIV prevention trials. Seventy percent indicated a lack of familiarity with codes of ethics for research. This paper focuses exclusively on communication issues described in survey responses. Communication was an important theme: the absence of clear communication between trial participants and investigators contributed to premature trial closures in at least two sites. Sex workers had recommendations for how researchers might implement GPP through improved communication, including consultation at the outset of planning, explaining procedures in non-technical terms and establishing clear channels for feedback from participants.


We propose a method of video stabilization for a video time lapse of stars by utilizing a contextual shape descriptor to match corresponding stars on different frames. The descriptor is based from Belongie, Malik, and Puzicha [4] using log-polar bins to mask onto an image. Contextual landmark tracking is not well used in video stabilization because of it's inefficiency and computational expense. By incorporating rotational invariance, contextual landmark tracking can possibly be proved to be worth the expense for some examples and extend applicability. While landmark tracking is not commonly used, it can be proved useful if purely local information is insufficient. Our challenges with the data were due to points disappearing and reappearing in different frames, rotating off the frame, and also that each point looked alike. In terms of our rotationally invariant descriptor, we looked into Bhonsle and Klinsman [2] for their uses of the Fast Fourier Transform. Our rotationally invariant descriptor takes an initial frame and identifies the same point in another frame whose points are completely rotated from the original. When we make that match, it will prove that our solution is effective.


This paper explores Object Theatre as an approach to address power in design. We understand power as a relational activity that emerges and is upheld through particular ways of relating (Elias 1991; Stacey 2007). The spontaneity in participant actions through Object Theatre exercises renders processes of relating tangible and negotiable. In this study Object Theatre was applied in exploration of a new walking aid for elderly people. We argue that the shift in perspective that Object Theatre allows designers to achieve can be effectively harnessed to explore issues arising from power relating amongst people – and between people and objects.


This paper argues that the Southeast Asian Development Model (SEADM), as practised in parts of Southeast Asia, reflected an overwhelming emphasis on growth as a goal while neglecting issues of equity and justice. This was clearly seen in the Thai and Indonesian experiences where rising growth rates and income levels under open/free market policies was accompanied by widening income and wealth disparities as well as growing feelings of marginalisation, deprivation and of injustice among large segments of the local population. In both countries, these developments led to growing challenges to the open market system well before the regional financial crisis. Yet, rethinking the SEADM does not mean doing away with open market policies. Instead, approaches to development must take seriously the goals of equity and social justice to overcome the danger of open conflict and societal resistance that will likely emerge to challenge the very policies that have the best chance of delivering economic well being over the long run.


Knee osteoarthritis (OA) results in structural and functional abnormalities and reduced functional performance abilities. In developing countries majority of population lives in rural areas having limited resources and socio-cultural biodiversity. Their personal, socio-cultural and occupational habits vary and need to be addressed. So a culturally relevant and contextually appropriate, Composite Indian Functional Knee Assessment Scale (CIFKAS) for measuring the functional status in knee osteoarthritis was formulated. 128 participants from various geographical regions of India of age range 40 to 60 years using convenient sampling were included and informed consent signed by the participants. Each participant was assigned to one of the two groups. 39 participants in group A reported no episode of knee pain while 89 participants in group B reported at least one episode of knee pain in the last two months. Each participant was assessed on Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) and CIFKAS and statistical analysis was done. The Pearson correlation coefficient calculated for all 128 subjects for pain, physical functional abilities and total functional disability score were 0.878, 0.925 and 0.945 respectively. Between group analysis was done using Independent t test and p value was found to be not significant for pain (≤178), highly significant for physical functional abilities (p≤0001) and very significant for total functional disability status score (p≤004). The results indicate that both WOMAC and CIFKAS are highly correlated and there is no difference between the two for measuring pain, but for functional ability and overall functional disability status within their functional context, CIFKAS is a better tool than WOMAC. KEYWORDS : Knee osteoarthritis; Functional disability; Socio-cultural biodiversities; Functional context Internet Journal of Medical Update 2012 January;7(1):47-51


Fetal malnutrition, a worldwide problem, is accompanied by varying degrees of lifelong morbidity for the child. Only 25% of fetal malnutrition is accomplished by maternal risk factors known to cause intrauterine growth retardation (ie, chronic hypertension, advanced diabetes mellitus, or severe preeclampsia). If the malnourished fetus could be detected early in pregnancy, nutritional intervention might be successful in improving fetal growth rate and in avoiding the morbidity due to malnutrition. This communication reviews the almost 40 years of studies by Jack Metcoff, MD, and coworkers to unravel the causes of fetal malnutrition and their efforts to prevent it.


This work concerns the development of rapid and reliable method for the isolation and characterization of bacteria producing biogenic amines for two types of fishes, the sardine (Sardina pilchardus) and the wolf fish (Dicentrarchus labrax). We proposed new an experimental protocol with two steps: The first step searching the genes responsible for the production of biogenic amines the genetic methods, including the ERIC-PCR (Enterobacterial Repetitive Intergenic Consensus Polymerase Chain Reaction) and the Rep-PCR (Repetitive Extragenic Palindromic Polymerase Chain Reaction). The second step searching confirmation of the capacity of the genes identified to produce biogenic amines by chromatograph methods including the thin layer chromatography (TLC) for semiquantitative test and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for quantitative test. The results found showed that the sequencing of these steps allows the isolation and the rapid and accurate characterization of detecting the biogenic amine producing bacteria in fish. The comparison of the two kinds of fish used confirms that sardine (red fleshed fish) disseminates the histamine producing bacteria more than the wolf (white fleshed fish), explaining the high involvement of sardine in histamine intoxication.


In this paper, we consider the design of a reliable multicast facility over an unreliable multicast network. Our multicast facility has several interesting properties: it has different numbers of clients interested in each data packet, allowing us to tune our strategy for each data transmission; has recurring data items, so that missed data items can be rescheduled for later transmission; and allows the server to adjust the scheduler according to loss information. We exploit the properties of our system to extend traditional reliability techniques for our case, and use performance evaluation to highlight the resulting differences. We find that our reliability techniques can reduce the average client wait time by over thirty percent.


In the twenty-first Century the concern to increase the quality of educational systems has grown considerably, urging us to professionalize teacher capabilities and to work continued education all along their professional careers. This, in turn, is based on the self-management of learning and also on activities directed to the professional development of true models of pedagogical practice. Departing from the assumption that calls for a change in the way professional development is understood, which emphasizes the need to move towards a model that would deal with the issue on an agreed-upon way-rather than a directive one, as it has traditionally happened- a new vision as to the way that professional development should be conducted is herein presented, namely that of Psycho-pedagogical Counseling, which goes from the mere transmission of knowledge onto the development of competencies according to the needs that have been identified by those taking part in the process.


Abstract Yves Klein's Sculptures-Éponge are natural sea sponges soaked in International Klein Blue (IKB), assembled on metal pedestals. This work examines the constituent materials, the execution technique and the deterioration problems of the sculptures which are covered by a friable matt paint, in order to define the guidelines for treatment and collections care. For the experimental work, samples were prepared in the laboratory with the same materials and techniques used by the artist. In order to solve problems relating to removal of dust deposits, many aspects were considered in the evaluation process, such as the presence of an organic and porous support, not discussion in the existing literature, the poor cohesion of the surface and Klein's specific recommendations for handling his Monochromes only with gloves, and removing dust while avoiding any contact with the painted layers. Photo-ablation using laser radiation was identified as a possible solution. Three Nd:YAG lasers with different pulse durations (short free-running (SFR), long Q-switched (LQS), and Q-switched (QS)) operating at 1064 nm were tested on two kinds of support (samples of sponges saturated of IKB and glass slides painted with the same color) and on two different types of dirt (one only deposited and another adhered to the support). The interaction of laser radiation with the support and with the paint layers, and the effectiveness of cleaning operations, was monitored with a stereo microscope and a scanning electron microscope (SEM). It was possible to define a method which was then applied for the removal of particulate dirt from a blue sponge stored in the Museum of Modern Art, Turin, Italy.


In plants, cystathionine γ-synthase (CGS) and threonine synthase (TS) compete for the branch-point metabolite O-phospho-L-homoserine. These enzymes are potential targets for metabolic engineering studies, aiming to alter the flux through the competing methionine and threonine biosynthetic pathways, with the goal of increasing methionine production. Although CGS and TS have been characterized in the model organisms Escherichia coli and Arabidopsis thaliana, little information is available on these enzymes in other, particularly plant, species. The functional CGS and TS coding sequences from the grain legumes Cicer arietinum (chickpea) and Lens culinaris (lentil) identified in this study share approximately 80% amino acid sequence identity with the corresponding sequences from Glycine max. At least 7 active-site residues of grain legume CGS and TS are conserved in the model bacterial enzymes, including the catalytic base. Putative processing sites that remove the targeting sequence and result in functional TS were identified in the target species.


We report a simple and practical sensor for monitoring both the absolute position and advancing speed of liquid front in a microfluidic channel. The sensor consists of a longitudinal hot wire element—a two-terminal electrical device, with its length spanning the entire channel. The design, materials, fabrication method, and use of this sensor are extremely simple. Characterization results are presented.


Cerium oxide nanoparticles (nanoceria) have gained considerable attention in biological research due to their anti-oxidant like behaviour and regenerative nature. The current literature on nanoceria reports many successful attempts on harnessing the beneficial therapeutic properties in biology. However studies have also shown toxicity with some types of nanoceria. This article discusses issues associated with the behaviours of nanoceria in biological systems and identifies key knowledge gaps. We explore how salient physico-chemical properties (size, surface chemistry, surface stabilizers) of nanoceria corresponds to its behaviour in biological relevant buffers and cell culture media, and this can provide guidelines for potential positive and negative aspects of nanoceria in biological systems. Based on variations of results reported in the literature, important issues need to be addressed. Are we really studying the same particles with slight variations in size and physico-chemical properties or do the particles being examined have fundamentally different behaviours? Are the variations observed the result of differences in the initial properties of the particles or the results of downstream effects that emerge as the particles are prepared for specific studies and they interact with biological or other environmental moieties? How should particles be appropriately prepared for relevant environmental/toxicology/safety studies? It is useful to recognize that nanoparticles encompass some of the same complexities and variability associated with biological components.


Purpose: Mavorixafor is an oral, selective inhibitor of the CXCR4 chemokine receptor that modulates immune cell trafficking. A biomarker-driven phase Ib study (NCT02823405) was conducted in 16 patients with melanoma to investigate the hypothesis that mavorixafor favorably modulates immune cell profiles in the tumor microenvironment (TME) and to evaluate the safety of mavorixafor alone and in combination with pembrolizumab. Experimental Design: Serial biopsies of melanoma lesions were assessed after 3 weeks of mavorixafor monotherapy and after 6 weeks of combination treatment for immune cell markers by NanoString analysis for gene expression and by multiplexed immunofluorescent staining for in situ protein expression. Serum samples taken at biopsy timepoints were evaluated for key chemokine and cytokine alterations using the Myriad Rules Based Medicine multiplex immunoassays. Results: Within the TME, mavorixafor alone increased CD8+ T-cell infiltration, granzyme B signal, antigen presentation machinery, and both tumor inflammatory signature (TIS) and IFNγ gene expression signature scores. Increases in the key serum cytokines CXCL9 and CXCL10 were further enhanced when mavorixafor was combined with pembrolizumab. Adverse events (AE), as assessed by the investigator according to NCI Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (v4.03), related to either mavorixafor or pembrolizumab (≥15%) were diarrhea, fatigue, maculopapular rash, and dry eye. Reported AEs were all ≤ grade 3. Conclusion/Discussion: Treatment with single-agent mavorixafor resulted in enhanced immune cell infiltration and activation in the TME, leading to increases in TIS and IFNγ gene signatures. Mavorixafor as a single agent, and in combination with pembrolizumab, has an acceptable safety profile. These data support further investigation of the use of mavorixafor for patients unresponsive to checkpoint inhibitors. Significance: Despite survival improvements in patients with melanoma treated with checkpoint inhibitor therapy, a significant unmet medical need exists for therapies that enhance effectiveness. We propose that mavorixafor sensitizes the melanoma tumor microenvironment and enhances the activity of checkpoint inhibitors, and thereby may translate to a promising treatment for broader patient populations.


ABSTRACT The MinC division inhibitor is required for accurate placement of the septal ring at the middle of the Escherichia coli cell. The N-terminal domain of MinC (ZMinC) interferes with FtsZ assembly, while the C-terminal domain (DMinC) mediates both dimerization and complex formation with either MinD or DicB. Binding to either of these activators greatly enhances the division-inhibitory activity of MinC in the cell. The MinD ATPase plays a crucial role in the rapid pole-to-pole oscillation of MinC that is proposed to force FtsZ ring formation to midcell. DicB is encoded by one of the cryptic prophages on the E. coli chromosome (Qin) and is normally not synthesized. Binding of MinD or DicB to DMinC produces complexes that have high affinities for one or more septal ring-associated targets. Here we show that the FtsZ-binding protein ZipA is required for both recruitment of the DMinC/DicB complex to FtsZ rings and the DicB-inducible division block normally seen in MinC+ cells. In contrast, none of the known FtsZ-associated factors, including ZipA, FtsA, and ZapA, appear to be specifically required for targeting of the DMinC/MinD complex to rings, implying that the two MinC/activator complexes must recognize distinct features of FtsZ assemblies. MinD-dependent targeting of MinC may occur in two steps of increasing topological specificity: (i) recruitment of MinC from the cytoplasm to the membrane, and (ii) specific targeting of the MinC/MinD complex to nascent septal ring assemblies on the membrane. Using membrane-tethered derivatives of MinC, we obtained evidence that both of these steps contribute to the efficiency of MinC/MinD-mediated division inhibition.


We discuss the operation of novel coupled-resonator filters with single-layer acoustic couplers. Our analysis employs the physical Mason model for acoustic resonators. Their simpler fabrication process is counterbalanced by the high acoustic attenuation of suitable coupler materials. At high levels of attenuation, both the phase and the acoustic impedance must be treated as complex quantities to accurately predict the filter insertion loss. We demonstrate that the typically poor near-band rejection of coupled resonator filters can be improved at the die level by connecting a small capacitance between the input and output of the filter to produce a pair of tunable transmission minima. We make use of these theoretical findings to fabricate coupled resonators filters operating at 2.45 GHz.


In this paper, we study the problem of optimal trajectory generation for a team of heterogeneous robots moving in a plane and tracking a moving target by processing relative observations, i.e., distance and/or bearing. Contrary to previous approaches, we explicitly consider limits on the robots' speed and impose constraints on the minimum distance at which the robots are allowed to approach the target. We first address the case of a single tracking sensor and seek the next sensing location in order to minimize the uncertainty about the target's position. We show that although the corresponding optimization problem involves a nonconvex objective function and a nonconvex constraint, its global optimal solution can be determined analytically. We then extend the approach to the case of multiple sensors and propose an iterative algorithm, i.e., the Gauss-Seidel relaxation (GSR), to determine the next best sensing location for each sensor. Extensive simulation results demonstrate that the GSR algorithm, whose computational complexity is linear in the number of sensors, achieves higher tracking accuracy than gradient descent methods and has performance that is indistinguishable from that of a grid-based exhaustive search, whose cost is exponential in the number of sensors. Finally, through experiments, we demonstrate that the proposed GSR algorithm is robust and applicable to real systems.


Sinusoidal modifications to the leading edge of a foil, or tubercles, have been shown to improve aerodynamic performance under certain flow conditions. One of the mechanisms of performance enhancement is believed to be the generation of streamwise vortices, which improve the momentum exchange in the boundary layer. This experimental and numerical study investigates the formation and evolution of these streamwise vortices at a low Reynolds number of $Re=2230$ , providing insight into both the averaged and time-dependent flow patterns. Furthermore, the strength of the vortices is quantified through calculation of the vorticity and circulation, and it is found that the circulation increases in the downstream direction. There is strong agreement between the experimental and numerical observations, and this allows close examination of the flow structure. The results demonstrate that the presence of strong pressure gradients near the leading edge gives rise to a significant surface flux of vorticity in this region. As soon as this vorticity is created, it is stretched, tilted and diffused in a highly three-dimensional manner. These processes lead to the generation of a pair of streamwise vortices between the tubercle peaks. A horseshoe-shaped separation zone is shown to initiate behind a tubercle trough, and this region of separation is bounded by a canopy of boundary-layer vorticity. Along the sides of this shear layer canopy, a continued influx of boundary-layer vorticity occurs, resulting in an increase in circulation of the primary streamwise vortices in the downstream direction. Flow visualisation and particle image velocimetry studies support these observations and demonstrate that the flow characteristics vary with time, particularly near the trailing edge and at a higher angle of attack. Numerical evaluation of the lift and drag coefficients reveals that, for this particular flow regime, the performance of a foil with tubercles is slightly better than that of an unmodified foil.


Atmospheric low-frequency variability and circulation regime behavior are investigated in the context of a quasi-geostrophic (QG) three-level T63 model of the wintertime atmospheric circulation over the Northern Hemisphere (NH). The model generates strong interannual and decadal variability, with the domination of the annular mode of variability. It successfully reproduces a satisfactory model climatology and the most important atmospheric circulation regimes. The positive phase of the Arctic Oscillation is a robust feature of the quasi-geostrophic T63 model. The model results based on QG dynamics underlie atmospheric regime behavior in the extratropical NH and suggest that nonlinear internal processes deliver significant contribution to the atmospheric climate variability on interannual and decadal timescales.


This research aimed to estimate the repeatability and MPPA values of Sapudi ewes based on the lamb's daily gain from birth to pre-weaning and weaning. Using recorded data in a pedigree of lamb, 53 data with half-sib relationship came from 14 ewes which included the record of body weight gain of Sapudi lambs from birth to pre-weaning and weaning. The data were analyzed by descriptive method with a quantitative approach. The study showed that the average daily gain of pre-weaning and weaning was 007 kg/day. The repeatability value of pre-weaning and weaning daily gain was 0.636 in the high category and 0.377 in the medium category. The MPPA daily gain values for pre-weaning and weaning ranged from -0.032 to 0.018 and -0.016 to 0.009. The research concluded that the Sapudi sheep ewes based on the MPPA daily gain pre-weaning were six heads with four rankings, while the daily weight gain weaning was ten heads with ranking of five. The highest rank of Sapudi ewes in pre-weaning and weaning daily gain was ear tag 094 with MPPA values of 0.018 and 0.009. It is recommended that further research can be conducted to estimate the repeatability value of quantitative periodically as the basis for the selection and culling of livestock.


This book is a must for the parents of unusually bright and active children. Indigo children are those who display a new and unusual set of psychological attributes and show a pattern of behaviour generally undocumented before. In this groundbreaking book on the Indigo Child, international authors Lee Carroll and Jan Tober report the information of this increasingly documented and world-wide phenomenon and tell you how to identify this behavioural pattern and guide you on how you, as a parent or teacher of these children, can help them realise their amazing potential not forgetting their spiritual needs or specific health issues.


Time pressure has been found to impact decision making in various ways, but studies on the effects time pressure in risky financial gambles have been largely limited to description-based decision tasks and to the gain domain. We present two experiments that investigated the effect of time pressure on decisions from description and decisions from experience, across both gain and loss domains. In description-based choice, time pressure decreased risk seeking for losses, whereas for gains there was a trend in the opposite direction. In experience-based choice, no impact of time pressure was observed on risk-taking, suggesting that time constraints may not alter attitudes towards risk when outcomes are learned through experience.


Vascular access ports (Hemasites) were recovered from patients in whom they had become foci of infection and were examined according to microbiologic and morphologic techniques. All were covered on their extraluminal surfaces by well-developed biofilms consisting of host material and bacteria and their extracellular products. One Hemasite from which Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus faecalis were cultured was covered by a biofilm that consisted of coccoid bacterial cells and occasional fungal cells. Another Hemasite from which Proteus mirabilis was cultured was covered by a polymicrobial biofilm consisting of at least six morphologically distinct bacterial types and their extracellular products. This direct observation of the biofilm mode of bacterial growth on these devices suggests that the colonizing organisms will not be completely recovered by routine microbiologic techniques and that bacteria in the biofilm will tend to resist both host clearance mechanisms and antibiotic therapy. Removal of the device, with its accretion of bacterial biofilm, should allow the resolution of the associated infection.


Abstract The paper presents the data characterizing the epidemiological situation associated with tick-borne virus encephalitis (TBVE) in the Russian Federation in 2006. There is a 22.7% reduction in morbidity as compared with 2005; however, the situation is considered to be of strain; a rise in the incidence of TBVE is recorded in a number of subjects of the Russian Federation. There is a high activity of natural and anthropurgic foci of TBVE; there are as many as 250 recourses to a doctor for tick bites. In some regions, tick virus carriage has been established at 13-29%. TBVE vaccination coverage is quite insufficient; in many cases emergency prophylaxis is not made due to the fact that specific immunoglobulin is in short supply whereas some areas continue to unwarrantedly inject a serum for lack of rapidly tick virus-determining laboratories. There are essential faults in the organization of acaricidal measures and in the propaganda of knowledge of personal TBVE prophylaxis in the population. Tasks for increasing the level of comprehensive prophylaxis are defined to substantially reduce TBVE morbidity in the Russian Federation.


Walīmah is a wedding reception to inform the community around an important event that there has been a marriage contract between a man and a woman, so that it needs to be celebrated as it should, to avoid misunderstanding in the community about the marriage contract that had taken place. But in society it has become a tradition to celebrate it with musical accompaniment and so on. This celebration was intended to make the party festive, because it was a means of joy. Because Aceh is an area of implementation of Islamic Sharia which is supported by its local wisdom, the community uses religious music. So that this is a question mark, why do the people in Aceh do the ritual with religious music accompaniment? and What is the perspective of Syafi'iyyah fiqh towards walīmat al-'urs with religious music accompaniment? After further investigation, it was found that the reason the community performed religious music at the Walīmat al-'urs program was to enliven the wedding reception and adjust it to the socio-cultural conditions of the people who felt uncomfortable with the musical accompaniment that was exotic or vulgar, because it was a culture. west. The Syafi'iyyah fiqh justifies religious music that is used by the community as long as it is not excessive and does not make it a means of spree, but if it is excessive and causes an immorality to arise because of it, then it is forbidden and sinners of the culprit and the organizer of walimah itself.


This paper proposes a composite nonlinear controller combining backstepping and double-integral sliding mode controllers for DC–DC boost converter (DDBC) feeding by constant power loads (CPLs) to improve the DC-bus voltage stability under large disturbances in DC distribution systems. In this regard, an exact feedback linearization approach is first used to transform the nonlinear dynamical model into a simplified linear system with canonical form so that it becomes suitable for designing the proposed controller. Another important feature of applying the exact feedback linearization approach in this work is to utilize its capability to cancel nonlinearities appearing due to the incremental negative-impedance of CPLs and the non-minimum phase problem related to the DDBC. Second, the proposed backstepping double integral-sliding mode controller (BDI-SMC) is employed on the feedback linearized system to determine the control law. Afterwards, the Lyapunov stability theory is used to analyze the closed-loop stability of the overall system. Finally, a simulation study is conducted under various operating conditions of the system to validate the theoretical analysis of the proposed controller. The simulation results are also compared with existing sliding mode controller (ESMC) and proportional-integral (PI) control schemes to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed BDI-SMC.


: 52 cases of endodermal sinus tumors (EST) are reported and 1224 cases from the Chinese and foreign literature are reviewed. This tumor, occurring usually in the gonads and rarely at extragonadal sites, comprised 10-17.1% of the former. It is located on or along the mid-line of the body including the orbit and other organs. In this paper, there are two cases with the tumor located at the orifice of urethra and one case between the pubic bone and the urinary bladder which has never been reported. EST often occurs in people under the age of 35. EST in the gonadal sites is divided into infant-childhood and adult groups. In the former group the prognosis is better than that of the adult group when the tumor is located in the testis as well as those in the vagina. There is sex and age difference for some EST in extragonadal sites. Those in the mediastinum almost always occur in young males. Diagnosis is easily made by pathology and by serum alpha-fetal protein (SAFP). Pathologically it is divided into two types: simple EST and EST element mixed with other germ cell tumors which give the same prognosis. The authors suggest that SAFP be done for any patients with teratomata in order to avoid misdiagnosis. SAFP is not only diagnostic but also prognostic by monitering postoperative course. EST is a highly malignant tumor, rapidly growing and poor in prognosis. Recent reports show that operated patients supplemented by chemotherapy give much better results than by radiotherapy.


We characterize the equilibrium and optimal resource allocations in a general equilibrium model of monopolistic competition with multiple asymmetric sectors and heterogeneous firms. We first derive general results for additively separable preferences and general productivity distributions, and then analyze specific examples that allow for closed-form solutions and a simple quantification procedure. Using data for France and the United Kingdom, we find that the aggregate welfare distortion -due to inefficient labour allocation and firm entry between sectors and inefficient selection and output within sectors -is equivalent to the contribution of 68% of the total labour input.


This study uses VSP and well log data to analyze the AVO response of a subsurface gas-saturated carbonate zone. Analysis of the well log data show that the gas-saturated zone is dolomitized with a porosity as high as 18 %. The VSP data consist of three surveys; a zero-offset VSP; an offset VSP, and a multioffset VSP. The P-SV converted-wave reflections from the offset VSP and multioffset VSP were found to correlate well with the pure P-wave reflections from each VSP. Forward modeling was used to analyze the AVO response of the gas-saturated zone. It was found that there is extreme tuning in the reservoir zone, causing the combined AVO response of the layers within 1/2 of the seismic wavelength to be very complicated. It was also found that a better match of the forward model data with the field multioffset VSP data could be made by lowering the P-wave velocity in the reservoir zone.


This paper describes a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling approach for the estimation of not only the radio refractivity profiles from radar clutter but also the uncertainties in these estimates. This is done by treating the refractivity from clutter (RFC) problem in a Bayesian framework. It uses unbiased MCMC sampling techniques, such as Metropolis and Gibbs sampling algorithms, to gather more accurate information about the uncertainties. Application of these sampling techniques using an electromagnetic split-step fast Fourier transform parabolic equation propagation model within a Bayesian inversion framework can provide accurate posterior probability distributions of the estimated refractivity parameters. Then these distributions can be used to estimate the uncertainties in the parameters of interest. Two different MCMC samplers (Metropolis and Gibbs) are analyzed and the results compared not only with the exhaustive search results but also with the genetic algorithm results and helicopter refractivity profile measurements. Although it is slower than global optimizers, the probability densities obtained by this method are closer to the true distributions.


This article presents an investigation on the durability of different glass-fibre-reinforced polymer composites when subjected to harsh outdoor conditions, including freeze/thaw cycles, ultraviolet radiation and moisture, as well as when used with seawater sea-sand concrete for construction applications. To achieve this, the effects of a number of parameters, including the environment of exposure, exposure time, profile cross-sectional configuration and orientation of fibres, on the mechanical properties of different glass-fibre-reinforced polymer composites were studied. To investigate the degradation of the mechanical properties, three-point bending, compression and tension tests were conducted on both reference and conditioned samples. Moreover, scanning electron microscopy analyses were performed to examine the contribution of microstructural deterioration to the damage mechanisms of the conditioned composites. Finally, the test results were used to develop empirical regression models to predict the level of retention of mechanical properties of different composites under different environmental conditions. The findings showed the maximum flexural, compressive and tensile strength reductions to be 35%, 48% and 37%, respectively, with regards to the pultruded profiles exposed for 3000 h to freeze/thaw cycles followed by 90 days of seawater sea-sand concrete immersion, while the flexural strength reductions recorded for the vacuum-infused samples subjected to 2000 h of freeze/thaw cycles followed by 90 days of seawater sea-sand concrete immersion were 28%, 72% and 56% for the unidirectional, woven and chopped strand mat laminates, respectively.


Polymer light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) are inherently dependent on a suitable electrolyte for proper function. Here, we design and synthesize a series of alkyl carbonate-capped star-branched oligoether-based electrolytes with large electrochemical stability windows, facile ion release, and high compatibility with common light-emitting materials. LECs based on such designed electrolytes feature fast turn-on, a long operational lifetime of 1400 h at >100 cd m–2 and a record-high power conversion efficiency of 18.1 lm W–1, when equipped with an external outcoupling film.


In this investigation the attachment representations of adolescents in residential care were examined for the first time. 72 adolescents were interviewed by using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). At the same time the degree of adolescent psychopathology was recorded. For this purpose the caregivers completed Achenbach's Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), the adolescents themselves answered Achenbach's Youth Self Report (YSR). The adolescents in this sample proved to be severely burdened in psychopathological terms. They had access to only an insecure and, in many cases, an extremely insecure attachment representation. For a sub-group of adolescent mothers the early infant-mother attachment was examined using Ainsworth's Strange Situation. The findings show an intergenerational transmission of insecure attachment relationships. The implications of these results for the practice of residential care inspired by attachment theory are discussed.


Promotion is a process of informing the target market, on matters pertaining ¸ product prices, and the products sold by persuasive for the target would make a purchase. The problem that happens is a lack of understanding and knowledge about tourism tourists in the city of Semarang, effective promotion will help educate tourists about the existing tourism potential, giving rise to interest in visiting.
 This study used propensity theory elaboration (Elaboration likelihood model), which aims to determine the relationship between exposure to the tourism promotion interests of tourists visiting the archipelago into a tourist destination city of Semarang. This research is explanatory and using simple random sampling technique in the domestic tourists who visit the exhibition event at the Hyderabad development.
 The results showed that there was a tendency positive relationship between exposure to the tourism promotion interests of tourists visiting the archipelago into a tourist destination city of Hyderabad, it is known that there is a tendency of positive relationship between the independent variable, namely the promotion of tourism with a variable exposure affected, ie, interest in visiting tourists to the region tourist destination city of Semarang.
 It is recommended that there is the addition of other media as promotion media which can reach the whole tourism destination target. In addition, there should be an exhibition officer who has good communication skills and extensive knowledge.

Key Words: promotion, interest in visiting, Elaboration likelihood model