Abstract Policymakers, practitioners, and researchers need a balanced, thoughtful, and analytical resource to meet the challenge of global aging at a rate that's historically unprecedented. The Journal of Aging & Social Policy (JASP), which was founded in 1989, serves this role by drawing contributions from an international panel of policy analysts and scholars who assume an interdisciplinary perspective in examining and analyzing critical phenomena that affect aging and the development and implementation of programs for elders from a global perspective. Study settings extend beyond the United States to include Europe, the Middle East, Australia, Latin America, Asia, and the Asia-Pacific rim. This presentation will document the scope, content, and focus of JASP, including the rise of international submissions, which now account for approximately half of articles published. Opportunities for publishing in JASP will be discussed; so too will strategies for navigating the peer-review process successfully.


The recently launched Sentinel-1 satellite with a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensor onboard offers a powerful tool for irrigation monitoring under various weather conditions, with high spatial and temporal resolution. This research discusses the potential of different metrics calculated from the Sentinel-1 time series for mapping irrigated fields. A methodology for irrigation mapping using SAR data is proposed. The study is performed using VV (vertical–vertical) and VH (vertical–horizontal) polarizations over an agricultural site in Urgell, Catalunya (Spain). With field segmentation information from SIGPAC (the Geographic Information System for Agricultural Parcels), the backscatter intensities are averaged within each field. From the Sentinel-1 time series for each field, the statistics and metrics, including the mean value, the variance of the signal, the correlation length, and the fractal dimension, are analyzed. With the Support Vector Machine (SVM), the classification of irrigated crops, irrigated trees, and non-irrigated fields is performed with the metrics vector. The results derived from the SVM are validated with ground truthing from SIGPAC over the whole study area, with a good overall accuracy of 81.08%. Random Forest (RF) machine classification is also tested in this study, which gives an accuracy of around 82.2% when setting the tree depth at three. The methodology is based only on SAR data, which makes it applicable to all areas, even with frequent cloud cover, but this method may be less robust when irrigation is less dominated to soil moisture change.


ABSTRACT The stability and activity of tumor suppressor p53 are tightly regulated and partially depend on the p53 proline-rich domain (PRD). We recently analyzed mice expressing p53 with a deletion of the PRD (p53ΔP). p53ΔP, a weak transactivator hypersensitive to Mdm2-mediated degradation, is unable to suppress oncogene-induced tumors. This phenotype could result from the loss of two motifs: Pin1 sites proposed to influence p53 stabilization and PXXP motifs proposed to mediate protein interactions. We investigated the importance of these motifs by generating mice encoding point mutations in the PRD. p53TTAA contains mutations suppressing all putative Pin1 sites in the PRD, while p53AXXA lacks PXXP motifs but retains one intact Pin1 site. Both mutant proteins accumulated in response to DNA damage, although the accumulation of p53TTAA was partially impaired. Importantly, p53TTAA and p53AXXA are efficient transactivators and potent suppressors of oncogene-induced tumors. Thus, Pin1 sites in the PRD may modulate p53 stability but do not significantly affect function. In addition, PXXP motifs are not essential, but structure dictated by the presence of prolines, PXXXXP motifs that may mediate protein interactions, and/or the length of this region appears to be functionally significant. These results may explain why the sequence of the p53 PRD is so variable in evolution.


We consider the problem of constructing diffusion operators high dimensional data $X$ to address counterfactual functions $F$, such as individualized treatment effectiveness. We propose and construct a new diffusion metric $K_F$ that captures both the local geometry of $X$ and the directions of variance of $F$. The resulting diffusion metric is then used to define a localized filtration of $F$ and answer counterfactual questions pointwise, particularly in situations such as drug trials where an individual patient's outcomes cannot be studied long term both taking and not taking a medication. We validate the model on synthetic and real world clinical trials, and create individualized notions of benefit from treatment.


Climate change has the potential to enhance or disrupt biological systems, but currently, little is known about how organism plasticity may facilitate adaptation to localised climate variation. The bee-flower relationship is an exemplar signal-receiver system that may provide important insights into the complexity of ecological interactions in situations like this. For example, several studies on bee temperature preferences show that bees prefer to collect warm nectar from flowers at low ambient temperatures, but switch their preferences to cooler flowers at ambient temperatures above about 30° C. We used temperature sensor thermal probes to measure the temperature of outdoor flowers of 30 plant species in the Southern regions of the Australian mainland, to understand how different species could modulate petal temperature in response to changes in ambient temperature and, potentially, influence the decision-making of bees in the flowering plant's favour. We found that flower petal temperatures respond in different ways to changing ambient temperature: linearly increasing or decreasing relative to the ambient temperature, dynamically changing in a non-linear manner, or varying their temperature along with the ambient conditions. For example, our investigation of the difference between ambient temperature and petal temperature (ΔT), and ambient temperature, revealed a non-linear relationship for Erysimum linifolium and Polygala grandiflora that seems suited to bee temperature preferences. The temperature profiles of species like Hibertia vestita and H. obtusifolia appear to indicate that they do not have a cooling mechanism. These species may therefore be less attractive to bee pollinators in changing climatic conditions with ambient temperatures increasingly above 30° C. This may be to the species' detriment when insect-pollinator mediated selection is considered. However, we found no evidence that flower visual characteristics used by bees to identify flowers at close range, such as colour or shape, were straightforward modulators of floral temperature. We could not identify any clear link to phylogenetic history and temperature modulation either. Mapping our test flower distribution on the Australian continent however, indicates a potential clustering that suggests different flower responses may constitute adaptations to local conditions. Our study proposes a framework for modelling the potential effects of climate change and floral temperature on flower pollination dynamics at local and global scales.


In this paper, we focus on the need for reforming the role of plans, execution (or action) and control in project management. We argue that the present style of project management, as described in the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) of PMI, is based on two underlying theories in this regard: management-as-planning (for planning and execution) and the thermostat model (for control). Unfortunately, both theories can be shown to be heroically simplistic and insufficient from the point of view of project management reality. In consequence, the practice of project management suffers from three shortcomings. The vague interface between planning and execution is the cause for two of them. First, the role of planning is not realistically defined, and short term planning (that is critical from the point of view of execution) is customarily poorly carried out or simply neglected. Secondly, there is no systematic way of managing execution, i.e. taking into account the actual conditions of the real world as higher level plans are translated into short term plans and then into action. Thirdly, control is too narrowly seen as measuring and taking corrective action, rather than as a process of learning. These arguments are justified by empirical data and theoretical discussion.


Anthrax, a zoonotic disease caused by  Bacillus anthracis, occurs in domesticated and wild animals-primarily herbivores. Humans usually become infected by contact with infected animals or their products. Anthrax is so easy to obtain that it could be weaponized for biological warfare if a laboratory area of 5 m2  is owned with 10.000$. Key words: Anthrax, weapon, spore, Bacillus anthracis


The political chaos that has recently dominated the scene in the Middle East is expressed, among other ways, by the violent resurgence of the Kurdish question. How can we analyze, in these new conditions, the scope of the claims of the Kurds—autonomy, independence, unity? And can we deduce from analysis that this claim must be supported by all democratic and progressive forces, in the region and in the world?… Debates on the subject produce great confusion. This is because most contemporary actors and observers rally around a non-historical vision of this and related issues.… I will offer a counterpoint to this transhistorical vision of social issues and "rights," through which the social movements of the past and present express their demands. In particular, I will attribute paramount importance to the divide that separates the thriving of the modern capitalist world from past worlds.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.


This research was conducted to investigate the influence of question format in the form of animation to the validity and reliability tests of understanding the concept of light refraction. For the sake of it has constructed a test of understanding the concept of the refraction of light in an animation format by replacing static pictures and descriptions of the phenomenon of refraction of light propagation in a static format (paper and pencil test) with computer animation. Second test version, the version animated and static versions then tested to 100 students from three high schools in Bandung, which has received the learning material of light refraction. The second test version of the test results are then analyzed to determine the validity and reliability respectively. To see the influence of a test version of the level of validity and reliability, then compare the level of validity and reliability of both versions of this test. The results showed that both the level of validity and reliability tests in levels higher than the animated version of the test in the static version. Level of validity for the second consecutive test version 0.89 (very high) for an animated version and 0.71 (high) for the static version, whereas the level of reliability, 0.92 (very high) for an animated version and 0.78 (high ) for the static version. These results show obvious evidence of the influence of question format in the form of animation on the level of validity and reliability tests of understanding the concept of habituation of light. Keywords: Animation Test Version, Test Version Static, validity, reliability, refraction of light


This paper discusses methods and procedures for recovering valuable vehicle crash parameter data from EEPROM/flash memory in damaged devices in the subject crash vehicle. The objective of these methods and procedures is the revival of seemingly dead or inoperative post-crash on-vehicle electronics control units (ECUs) to recover potentially valuable at-crash vehicle parameters from data that may be retrieved from EEPROM within these ECUs. In many instances, such data can strongly assist an accident investigator in his/her analysis of a crash scenario. The first section consists of methods whereby an investigator can properly clean and restore a previously nonresponsive ECU/PCB/component to functional diagnostic operation by applying successive methodical and tested procedures. If such cleaning procedures fail, the process of component substitution is illustrated. The second section shows an example of a complex interpretation process for a hypothetical EEPROM data example in an ABS ECU. While hypothetical, this example is very real-world in concept and content, and shows that information important to a crash investigation can be derived from EEPROM data in many types of on-vehicle ECUs. Lastly, a discussion of Forensic Neutrality with Respect to Electronic Data Interrogations is presented with an example of the special methods required to achieve this with current interrogation tools.


Aims & Objectives: Blended learning has been operational for nearly two decades. Normally this would be long enough for optimal models to have evolved and regimes to be established to measure the effectiveness of the techniques employed. However, blended learning involves the use of technology – at least in part – and almost twenty years is a long, long time in technology terms. Real estate has the reputation of being a slow adopter of technology. The objectives of this research were to establish how blended learning had advanced in the context of real estate education.Approach: A preceding presentation at the ERES 2015 annual conference explored first of all different blended learning models and examined the components of a typical blended learning system including tools for content management such as course/module management, delivery and moderation. On the occasion of the ERES Education Seminar in Delft a subsequent survey with accompanying structured interviews was presented. This inquiry was conducted with representatives stemming from either schools of built environment or business schools and was based on a questionnaire about the incidence and nature of blended learning in real estate education specifically.This research: The methodologies used with the online survey are triangulated with some in depth interviews and case studies of particular implementations - picking up points raised on the previous two presentations. Implications: In some quarters, the use of technology in teaching is itself contentious but this research has shown its adoption to be inexorable in real estate education. It has identified very real concerns about the nature and structure of courses and the skillsets of lecturing and course management in a blended learning environment but also identified some real positives about student engagement and outcomes.Significance: This research records the status quo and finds that real estate education is lagging in the adoption of blended learning. It should act as a call to arms for faculty and students to demand better.


Nine new derivatives of the trapezoidal tribenzopentaphene (TBP) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) were synthesized via the Suzuki–Miyaura palladium catalyzed cross-coupling reaction. The novel TBP derivatives, which bear various rigid and flexible aromatic groups either at their more accessible (R1) or congested (R2) bases, were fully characterized using high resolution mass spectrometry (HR-MS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), UV-Vis absorption and emission spectroscopy. Our investigation reveals that extended conjugation between TBP and the aromatic side groups is possible when the latter are carefully selected and attached at the TBP wide base (R1), which causes an emission red-shift of the resulting target compounds. On the other hand, emission properties and density functional calculations suggest that attaching side groups at the sterically demanding base position (R2) induces a pronounced distortion from the planarity of the TBP central core structure.


A simple and inexpensive method was developed using solid-phase extraction, together with high performance liquid chromatographic method with UV detection for determination of tolfenpyrad residues. The evaluated parameters include the extracts by fluorosil packed column using ethyl acetate: cyclohexane (9:1) and acetonitrile: HPLC grade water (9:1) mixture of solvents. The method was validated using mango fruit samples spiked with tolfenpyrad at different fortification levels (0.03 and 0.3 μg/g). Average recoveries (using each concentration six replicates) ranged 84-93%, with relative standard deviations less than 2%, calibration solutions concentration in the range 0.01-10.0 μg/mL and limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were 0.01μg/g and 0.03μg/g respectively. Finally the mango fruit residue samples were re analyzed by HPLC.


They have not dealt with my most important criticism, that in considering the significance of such differences they did not take into account the very different duration of observation in the two groups. I would kindly suggest that they should recalculate their data (after excluding those with cancer at entry) and present the risk in two groups based on patient-years of observation. That would get us nearer to reality. If there is then an important difference I sihall hasten to agree that they may have a point.


This work is a critical policy analysis of the Crossroads Review, especially those aspects of it that are most likely to have a significant impact on higher education in regional Western Australia. It aims to understand the place of higher education in regional Western Australia historically with a view to critiquing current policy directions and the potential consequences of Crossroads. The thesis argues that the ideologies of marketisation and corporatisation are driving current higher education policy and this may significantly damage the long-term viability of regional campuses and learning centres as well as public and private funding allocations. The implications for the dismantling of the social contract (or social democratic settlement) in the knowledge economy is an important issue for regional populations for their continued growth, health, education and welfare.

The issues examined here are relevant to regional higher education in this State. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the potential policy effects with regard to accessibility of higher education in regional Western Australia. The thesis analyses the advantages and disadvantages of studying in regional WA in the current policy environment where there has been a dramatic shift in ideology from the welfare state to economic rationalism. Factors that impact on higher education in regional Western Australia include the provision of telecommunications services for access to and participation in the knowledge economy.

The thesis considers the evolution of higher education in Australia in general and more particularly in Western Australia, as it has evolved since its foundations in the mid-nineteenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first century. In this time there have been radical changes in higher education in Australia in line with changes to our society and its place in an increasingly globalised environment.

The thesis concludes by considering some possible options for the future such as the development of learning communities and branch campuses. In discussing such possible alternative forms of delivery of higher education to regional Western Australia, this thesis seeks to raise awareness in relevant government bodies and in rural and remote communities of their particular higher education needs. It is hoped also to encourage regional communities to become more confident and pro-active in their own endeavours to gain greater access and equity in higher education.


ABSTRACT This paper examines the social-theoretical assumptions and assesses the potential effectiveness of holding carbon-intensive corporations legally accountable for climate change harms. We argue that the structure of private corporations operating in a growth-dependent capitalist social formation is the problem, not concrete companies. Ignoring social structure has practical consequences. Assuming favourable court outcomes in the future – a questionable assumption considering remaining procedural obstacles and the status quo-preserving tendencies of law –, bringing claims against corporations for civil wrongs will remain ineffective as a mitigation strategy because many carbon-intensive corporations can absorb substantial lawsuit-related costs and, even if legal costs push fossil fuel companies out of business, their competitors will step in to extract open reserves. Changing the law, rather than pursuing individual offenders, will necessarily need to provide more systemic recourse to environmental degradation. We recommend a potentially more effective mitigation strategy for which lawyers concerned about climate change could lend knowledge, resources, and time: fossil fuel nationalisation.


Indentation tests and single-point scratch tests are probably the simplest methods of measuring the elastic, plastic and fracture behavior of brittle materials. In this paper, the nearsurface mechanical properties of KDP single crystal have been investigated including the elasticity like Young's modulus E, and the plasticity like the hardness H. These material properties can be used to predict the material responses in optical manufacturing operations. Hardness and elastic modulus on different crystal plane of KDP single crystal have been examined under different loads by nanoindentation test, and the influence of the indentation load on hardness and elastic modulus have been also analyzed systematically. The results show the nanoindentation size effect, that is, the hardness and elastic modulus increase as the indentation load decreases. The hardness and elastic modulus have strong anisotropy in the different crystallographic orientation of the same crystal plane.


The concept of the school-to-prison pipeline (STPP) has been extensively
studied over the last few decades, yet few have included the perspective of
those whom it has affected—incarcerated adolescent and adult males. Educators and policy makers are limited in determining solutions because they are missing this key perspective. Using a critical race theory framework, we focus on the voices of incarcerated youth and adults who have personally experienced the STPP. Young men within the juvenile and adult justice systems were asked their thoughts on and experiences with the STPP. Responses from 16 participants are shared, along with what they believe would have worked to help them stay out of the system, and their recommendations for how to improve the factors contributing to the STPP


Background: The impact of comorbidities on changes in relevant outcomes following PR in COPD is unclear. We aimed to study the impact of comorbidity clusters on changes in exercise capacity and health status in patients with COPD undergoing PR.

Methods: 213 patients (59% men; age 64±7 yrs; FEV1 51±17% pred) were previously classified into 5 clusters of objectively identified comorbidities: cluster 1 (n=67, less comorbidity), 2 (n=49, cardiovascular), 3 (n=44, cachectic), 4 (n=33, metabolic), or 5 (n=20, psychologic) (Vanfleteren et al. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2013). Patients underwent state-of-the-art PR. 6-min walk test (6MWT), constant work rate test (CWRT) and St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) were assessed before and after PR.

Results: Table 1 presents the responses to PR.

![Figure][1]

The proportion of patients above the minimum clinically important difference (MCID) for the 6MWT (≥25m) was higher in cluster 5 (84%) than in clusters 1 (44%), 2 (49%) and 4 (39%) ( P <0.05 for all), but no differences were found for the CWRT (≥100s) or SGRQ (≥4 units). Significant results from logistic regression models are presented in Table 2.

Conclusions: Comorbidity clusters can impact relevant outcomes in patients with COPD undergoing PR. Exercise capacity and health status are differently influenced by these clusters. Subjects with anxiety or depression may benefit more from PR.

 [1]: pending:yes


Force plays a key role in regulating dynamics of biomolecular structure and interactions, yet techniques are lacking to manipulate and continuously read out this response with high throughput. We present an enzymatic assay for force-dependent accessibility of structure that makes use of a wireless mini-radio centrifuge force microscope (MR.CFM) to provide a real-time readout of kinetics. The microscope is designed for ease of use, fits in a standard centrifuge bucket, and offers high-throughput, video-rate readout of individual proteolytic cleavage events. Proteolysis measurements on thousands of tethered collagen molecules show a load-enhanced trypsin sensitivity, indicating destabilization of the triple helix.


Discrimination against women in public sector organisations has been the focus of considerable research in recent years. While much of this literature acknowledges the structural basis of gender inequality, strategies for change are often focused on anti-discrimination policies, equal employment opportunities and diversity management.Discriminatory behaviour is often individualised in these interventions and the larger systems of dominance and subordination are ignored. The flipside of gender discrimination, we argue, is the privileging of men. The lack of critical interrogation of men's privilege allows men to reinforce their dominance. In this paper we offer an account of gender inequalities and injustices in public sector institutions in terms of privilege. The paper draws on critical scholarship on men and masculinities and an emergent scholarship on men's involvement in the gender relations of workplaces and organisations, to offer both a general account of privilege and an application of this framework to the arena of public sector institutions and workplaces in general.


In this article, a novel metamaterial is designed aimed at generating a single electromagnetic hot spot, in order to realize the localization of the incident electromagnetic field at terahertz band, and this kind of metastructure is an ideal candidate for many research fields such as spintronics, nonlinear magnetic response, near-field optics, and optical antenna, etc. The specially tailored metamaterial takes the shape of diabolo with a metal triangle pair connected by a cubic gallium arsenide (GaAs) gap. We demonstrated by simulation that both electric- and magnetic-field of incident THz pulse can be confined in the small GaAs gap when a synchronized femtosecond laser pulse is illuminated. The numerical simulation results show that 2 orders of magnitude of field enhancement can be obtained for a 1-by-1 μm GaAs gap, and the field enhancement factor can also be further improved by tailoring the GaAs gap down to nanometer scale.


The primitive woody Angiosperm family Winteraceae is centred in the southwest Pacific, has an outpost in Madagascar (1 species), and a section of Drimys (4 species) in the New World. Pseudowintera is restricted to New Zealand, the Old World section Tasmannia of Drimys extends from the Philippines to Tasmania. Since A. C. Smith's review of the family in 1943 about ten times as much material has become available and it appears that the taxonomy of the section Tasmannia is far more complicated than it seemed to be in 1943. This induced me to make a field study in New Guinea and to pay special attention to its morphology in the hope of finding additional criteria. On this basis the Australian species of Drimys could be better defined but the characters of the New Guinean taxa (Smith: 29 species) proved to be highly unstable. It was found that in the section Tasmannia the stomata are occluded by waxy plugs. The structure of the inflorescence is described and compared with that in section Drimys. In the flower two zones are distinguished. In the lower zone the floral appendages are arranged in (sub)opposite pairs, in the higher zone they are arranged according to the space available at the greatest possible distance from a focus of the floral apex which I termed 'activity centre'; this centre often does not coincide with the 'topographical apex'. The tilt of the floral apex appears to influence the arrangements as well. Shifting of determination factors in relation to the available locations on the floral apex is assumed to play an important role. As for the specific delimitation, the New Guinean material appeared to be the crux. The very heterogeneous material did not show correlated discontinuities in characters, which made it impossible to reach a division into species. The variability of the resulting very complex species Drimys piperita is described with the aid of a non-taxonomic subdivision, the units of wich are called 'entities'. Field studies revealed that local populations are often very stable, but the morphological discontinuities between such local populations are obscured by material from other localities. It is supposed that vegetative propagation as observed in the field, combined with incidental cross-breeding, may be of importance in establishing such a situation. In Australia besides D. piperita four other species can be distinguished. The sections of Drimys are maintained, although Ehrendorfer c.s. and Smith proposed raising them to generic rank. In Pseudowintera the arrangement within the inflorescence is spiral, not decussate as described earlier, and a terminal flower is present. Minute hairs on bracts and young leaves, the mode of opening of the calyx cupule, and details of the lower leaf surface are used as a new set of specific characters. The fact that about twenty per cent of the specimens show varying combinations of specific characters is thought to be caused by hybridisation.


Abstract The importance of close relationships has been confirmed for a wide range of health-related outcomes, yet the mechanisms by which social support influences physical health remains understudied. The aim of the study was to investigate the roles of emotional self-efficacy and depressive symptoms as mediators of the effect of social support on physical health, based on a regionally representative sample in Finland (N = 3 242, mean age = 15.0, sd = .41). A conditional process analysis found that (a) perceived social support was associated with less somatic symptoms, (b) the relationship between perceived social support was partially and significantly mediated by both emotional self-efficacy and depressive symptoms, and (c) there was sign of a moderated mediation: the association between perceived social support and somatic symptoms was stronger for girls than for boys, and this association was primarily accounted for by the mediating role of depressive symptoms. The present findings contribute to the existing literature on how regulated and dysregulated emotions influence pathways between social interaction and physical health.


Background: Fenoldopam mesylate is a selective agonist of DA-1 receptors. It is currently used for the in-hospital treatment of severe hypertension. DA-1 receptors have high density in renal pa-renchyma and for this reason, a possible reno-protective role of Fenoldopam mesylate was investigated. Methods: We examined all studies regarding the role of Fenoldopam mesylate in Acute Kidney Injury (AKI); particularly, those involving post-surgical patients, intensive care unit patients and contrast-induced nephropathy. Results: Fenoldopam mesylate was found to be effective in reducing the onset of postoperative AKI, when used before the development of the kidney damage. Positive results were also obtained in the management of intensive care unit patients with AKI, although the clinical studies investigated were few and conducted on small samples. Conclusion: Conflicting results were achieved in contrast-induced nephropathy.


This paper focuses on realtime speech extraction using blind adaptive beamforming. The speech extraction is carried out using an approximation of the kurtosis measure in a subband domain. The introduced kurtosis approximation is an improvement of a recently proposed approximation technique where a locally quadratic criterion was solved at each iteration. The improvement introduced in this paper regards an approach to normalize this same criterion using a pre-processing automatic gain control unit, and thereby making the algorithm invariant to input signal scales. The proposed method outperforms the recent technique in terms of signal to interference ratio improvement. In addition, the increased memory consumption and processing load due to the proposed improvement is comparably low and this is often desirable in a realtime digital signal processor (DSP) implementation. Further, a real-time implementation of the method is conducted and results with real data is presented.


The aim of the paper is to investigate the scale of changes in the labour market in Poland, assuming that the number of persons employed in agriculture would amount to 5% of the total number of people employed in the national economy, i.e. when we eliminate the potential surplus of employment in individual farms. The study was conducted on the basis of the BAEL data from the years 1995–2015. It was shown that there was a steady improvement in the labour market and a reduction of the level of potential hidden unemployment in agriculture, mainly due to economic growth and the absorption of labour force by the non-agricultural sectors. Research results let us assume that achieving the level of employment in the agriculture similar to that specifi ed in the study is possible within a period of several years.


Exploration tasks are essential to many emerging robotics applications, ranging from search and rescue to space exploration. The planning problem for exploration requires determining the best locations for future measurements that will enhance the fidelity of the map, for example, by reducing its total entropy. A widely-studied technique involves computing the Mutual Information (MI) between the current map and future measurements, and utilizing this MI metric to decide the locations for future measurements. However, computing MI for reasonably-sized maps is slow and power hungry, which has been a bottleneck towards fast and efficient robotic exploration. In this paper, we introduce a new hardware accelerator architecture for MI computation that features a low-latency, energy-efficient MI compute core and an optimized memory subsystem that provides sufficient bandwidth to keep the cores fully utilized. The core employs interleaving to counter the recursive algorithm, and workload balancing and numerical approximations to reduce latency and energy consumption. We demonstrate this optimized architecture with a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) implementation, which can compute MI for all cells in an entire 201-by-201 occupancy grid (e.g., representing a 20.1m-by-20.1m map at 0.1m resolution) in 1.55 ms while consuming 1.7 mJ of energy, thus finally rendering MI computation for the whole map real time and at a fraction of the energy cost of traditional compute platforms. For comparison, this particular FPGA implementation running on the Xilinx Zynq-7000 platform is two orders of magnitude faster and consumes three orders of magnitude less energy per MI map compute, when compared to a baseline GPU implementation running on an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 platform. The improvements are more pronounced when compared to CPU implementations of equivalent algorithms.


Soft tissue defects of the lower limb are a challenge to the plastic surgeon but a soleus muscle flap often provides the solution. Early reconstruction by soft tissue to cover exposed bone significantly reduces the risk of infection, nonunion and subsequent amputation. A Prospective, observational study was carried out in the Department of Plastic Surgery & Burn Unit, Dhaka Medical College Hospital and Department of Plastic Surgery, National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation, Dhaka, from September 2011 to March 2013. 30 cases were selected by purposive continuous sampling who had soft tissue defect in front of the middle third of the legs only. Proximally based soleus muscle transposition flap was done by standard operative procedure under spinal anaesthesia or general anaesthesia and under tourniquet control. After 2 months of operation, final follow-up was done. Regarding the outcome of flap surgery, 18 (60%) cases were found excellent. 7 (23.33%) cases were good, 3 (10%) were fair and 2 (6.66%) were poor. In the final follow up, according to the preset criteria for evaluation of wound coverage by soleus muscle flap, the satisfactory result (excellent and good) was 83.33%. Unsatisfactory (fair and poor) result was in 16.67% cases. Effective coverage of pretibial defect of middle third of leg by soleus muscle flap with satisfactory outcome was seen in this study. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bdjps.v4i1.18685 Bangladesh Journal of Plastic Surgery January 2013, 4(1): 10-15


The concept for GSI's planned future facility is based on two superconducting synchrotrons, SIS 100 and SIS 200. The two accelerators are in the same tunnel and have the same radius R, for operation at BR=100 Tm and 200 Tm respectively. Superconducting magnets are necessary to reach the appropriate magnetic field and may considerably reduce the investment and operating costs, in comparison with conventional magnets. An R&D program was initiated to develop dipole magnets with maximum fields of 2 and 4 Tesla and dipole ramp rates of 4 T/s and 1 T/s, respectively. These requirements were chosen to achieve high average beam intensities. The SIS 100 dipole is a window-frame Nuclotron-type dipole and is being developed in collaboration with JINR (Dubna, Russia). This magnet has been operated at 4 T/s up to a field of 2 Tesla. Reduced losses and improved magnetic field quality are required for the SIS 100 accelerator. In a separate collaboration with BNL (Upton, USA), the one coil layer cos/spl theta/-type RHIC arc dipole, originally designed for operation at 3.5 Tesla with a rather slow ramp rate of 0.042 T/s, will be upgraded for the SIS 200 accelerator to operate at a ramp rate of 1T/s, up to a field of 4 T. R&D for a 6 Tesla dipole was started in collaboration with IHEP (Protvino, Russia), to further increase the rigidity of the SIS 200 ring to 300 Tm. Alternative schemes have been investigated. Besides the synchrotrons, the planned facility will consist of several storage rings and the Super Fragment Separator (SFRS), which have mainly DC magnets with large apertures. NSCL (East Lansing, USA) prepared a feasibility study for these superconducting magnets. The main results of the R&D are presented.


The use of ICT in learning has been implemented by all schools in Malaysia regardless secondary or primary level. One of the main issues is the lack use of ICT in learning for any subjects in schools after the abolishment of ETeMS (English in the Teaching of Mathematics and Science) by 2012. The purpose of this study is to reveal primary students attitudes towards ICT in learning, to examine teachers influence on students interest in using ICT, to explore the relationship between male and female students' attitudes towards ICT and to examine whether there are any difference in attitudes towards ICT in learning among students from three different schools. In this correlational descriptive study, 60 students from three primary schools in Kuala Selangor,
Selangor responded to the given questionnaires. A quantitative approach was used to analyze the data. The results showed that the students are still interested towards ICT in learning. Besides, teacher's influence in using ICT in learning is contributing towards
their attitudes. Correlational analysis showed positive correlation between students' attitudes and teacher's influence. There is a significant difference (p .05) in students' interest in using ICT in learning among the three schools. Several implications of the study are teachers need to
implement any ICT programmes set by the government, to make use of ICT facilities in schools into maximum as well as to keep on using the ICT in their teaching for there are many advantages that they could get from practicing technology in teaching.


In the autumn of 1944, during fierce fighting in the Vosges Mountains of eastern France, one of the most amazing incidents in military history occurred: the rescue of two infantry battalions, one American, one German, cut off, far behind the enemy lines of each. The 1st Battalion, 141st Infantry ("Alamo Regiment"), had been cut off for six days with food, water, and ammunition running out, when the Japanese-American Nisei of the famed "Go For Broke" 442d Regimental Combat Team were called upon to give their all to break through and save the Texans. At virtually the same time and place, the Wehrmacht's 202d Mountain Battalion, thrown into combat without adequate preparation, had also been cut off, and its sister unit - the 201st Mountain Battalion - had to perform an equally desperate rescue. The weather was abysmal, the terrain almost impassable. For the Germans, it was a last stand, and they would fight to the death. The Americans, caught in their bloodiest fight since Anzio, came to call the battlefield "the crossroads of hell." Nisei casualties were devastating. Some generals lost their sons there, and other generals lost only their honor.


The implementation of nondeterministic pairwise synchronous communication among a set of asynchronous processes is modeled as the binary interaction problem. The paper describes an algorithm for this problem that satisfies a strong fairness property that guarantees freedom from process starvation. This is the first algorithm for binary interactions with strong fairness whose message cost and response time are independent of the total number of processes in the system. The paper also describes how the fair algorithm may be extended to tolerate detectable fail-stop failures. Finally, we show how any solution to the dining philosophers problem can be embedded to design a fair algorithm for binary interactions. In particular, this embedding is used to derive a fair algorithm that can cope with undetectable fail-stop failures. >


: A comprehensive antibiotic surveillance program conducted in cooperation with the Microbiology and Pharmacy departments in a teaching hospital is described. The program consists of a number of interrelated processes including the personal advice of specialists including a Clinical Microbiologist, Infection Control Nurse and Ward Pharmacists, re-educative strategies and non restrictive administrative policies. The program does not involve the use of formularies or published guidelines, and retains complete clinical freedom of choice for antibiotics. Studies, including antibiotic prevalence and prescribing surveys, indicate that the program has been an effective means of improving antibiotic use, reducing costs and promoting infection control. This has been achieved by educative means through the provision of relevant information on antibiotic principles, and opportunities for prescribers to improve their problem solving skills, resulting in long term attitudinal change.


Bridging Tibetan, Chinese, and South Asian studies, this article examines the 1960 Tibetan Muslim Incident, when nearly one thousand Tibetan Muslims declared themselves to be Indian citizens by virtue of their Kashmiri ancestry and petitioned the Chinese government to be allowed to emigrate to India. The paradox of the 1960 Tibetan Muslim Incident is that it occurred after a decade of careful Sino-Indian diplomacy, a diplomacy emerging out of each nation's shared struggle for independence and liberation from an anti-imperialist past. By locating the event in the broader ideological movements of postcolonial Asia, the article focuses on a set of aspirations, motivations, and spaces by which China, India, and the Tibetan Muslims sought to define their actions outside of standard nationalistic, ideological, and military narratives of the period.


In this paper we define a probabilistic computational model which generalizes many noisy neural network models, including the recent work of Maass and Sontag [5]. We identify weak ergodicjty as the mechanism responsible for restriction of the computational power of probabilistic models to definite languages, independent of the characteristics of the noise: whether it is discrete or analog, or if it depends on the input or not, and independent of whether the variables are discrete or continuous. We give examples of weakly ergodic models including noisy computational systems with noise depending on the current state and inputs, aggregate models, and computational systems which update in continuous time.


Introduction: Miliary tuberculosis (MT) is a form of tuberculosis which is characterized by wide hematogenous dissemination of Mycobacterium tuberculosis into the human body. The clinical presentation.of MT is highly variable. Objective: The aim of this study is to describe diagnosis difficulties and prognosis factors of MT in Tunisian patients. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in the female adult pulmonary department of the Tunis Chest Disease and Surgery Training Hospital between 2000 and 2010. Results: Seventeen patients were found to have MT. The average age was 50 years [12-89]. Past history of Tb was noted in 1 case. Five patients had Tb contact history. Factors of immunodepression noted in 9 patients were: elderly (n=7), pregnancy (n=1) and corticosteroid therapy (n=1). Immunology of HIV was negative in all patients. Main symptoms were cough and wasting syndrome (n=15). On admission, 7 patients had an acute respiratory failure. Cachexy was noted in 8 cases. Chest X ray showed diffuse miliary shadow in all cases. Diagnosis was confirmed in 7 patients, by microscopic sputum tests (n=5), pleural biopsy (n=1) and lymph node biopsy (n=1). In the other cases (n=10), diagnosis was retained by a high index of clinical suspicion. Multifocal Tb was noted in 5 cases. The extrapulmonary sites were: central nervous system (n= 3), pleura (n=2), vertebral bodies (n=1), lymphatic nodes (n=1). Antituberculous treatment was started in all cases. The outcome was favourable in 15 patients. Two elderly were dead. Tb relapse occurred in 2 cases. Conclusion: MT is a severe disease in witch treatment must be early even without diagnosis confirmation. Advanced age seems to be one important prognosis factors.


Digital library construction needs knowledge organization technologies support. In this paper, we probe into the technologies from three dimensions. The grammatical technologies include metadata, XML, RDF and etc. This type mainly focuses on how to describe data efficiently in terms of the outer characteristics of data. The semantic technologies include Topic map, Ontology, semantic web and etc. They mainly describe the content of data, finding the relations between each other.The pragmatic technologies include grid, database and etc. They want to control the information, and make it used efficiently.


Successful river flow forecasting is a major goal and an essential procedure that is necessary in water resource planning and management. There are many forecasting techniques used for river flow forecasting. This study proposed a hybrid model based on a combination of two methods: Self Organizing Map (SOM) and Least Squares Support Vector Machine (LSSVM) model, referred to as the SOM-LSSVM model for river flow forecasting. The hybrid model uses the SOM algorithm to cluster the entire dataset into several disjointed clusters, where the monthly river flows data with similar input pattern are grouped together from a high dimensional input space onto a low dimensional output layer. By doing this, the data with similar input patterns will be mapped to neighbouring neurons in the SOM's output layer. After the dataset has been decomposed into several disjointed clusters, an individual LSSVM is applied to forecast the river flow. The feasibility of this proposed model is evaluated with respect to the actual river flow data from the Bernam River located in Selangor, Malaysia. The performance of the SOM-LSSVM was compared with other single models such as ARIMA, ANN and LSSVM. The performance of these models was then evaluated using various performance indicators. The experimental results show that the SOM-LSSVM model outperforms the other models and performs better than ANN, LSSVM as well as ARIMA for river flow forecasting. It also indicates that the proposed model can forecast more precisely, and provides a promising alternative technique for river flow forecasting.


ABSTRACT Clostridium difficile is the most common cause of antibiotic-associated intestinal infections and a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Infection with C. difficile requires disruption of the intestinal microbiota, most commonly by antibiotic usage. Therapeutic intervention largely relies on a small number of broad-spectrum antibiotics, which further exacerbate intestinal dysbiosis and leave the patient acutely sensitive to reinfection. Development of novel targeted therapeutic interventions will require a detailed knowledge of essential cellular processes, which represent attractive targets, and species-specific processes, such as bacterial sporulation. Our knowledge of the genetic basis of C. difficile infection has been hampered by a lack of genetic tools, although recent developments have made some headway in addressing this limitation. Here we describe the development of a method for rapidly generating large numbers of transposon mutants in clinically important strains of C. difficile. We validated our transposon mutagenesis approach in a model strain of C. difficile and then generated a comprehensive transposon library in the highly virulent epidemic strain R20291 (027/BI/NAP1) containing more than 70,000 unique mutants. Using transposon-directed insertion site sequencing (TraDIS), we have identified a core set of 404 essential genes, required for growth in vitro. We then applied this technique to the process of sporulation, an absolute requirement for C. difficile transmission and pathogenesis, identifying 798 genes that are likely to impact spore production. The data generated in this study will form a valuable resource for the community and inform future research on this important human pathogen. IMPORTANCE Clostridium difficile is a common cause of potentially fatal intestinal infections in hospital patients, particularly those who have been treated with antibiotics. Our knowledge of this bacterium has been hampered by a lack of tools for dissecting the organism. We have developed a method to study the function of every gene in the bacterium simultaneously. Using this tool, we have identified a set of 404 genes that are required for growth of the bacteria in the laboratory. C. difficile also produces a highly resistant spore that can survive in the environment for a long time and is a requirement for transmission of the bacteria between patients. We have applied our genetic tool to identify all of the genes required for production of a spore. All of these genes represent attractive targets for new drugs to treat infection. Clostridium difficile is a common cause of potentially fatal intestinal infections in hospital patients, particularly those who have been treated with antibiotics. Our knowledge of this bacterium has been hampered by a lack of tools for dissecting the organism. We have developed a method to study the function of every gene in the bacterium simultaneously. Using this tool, we have identified a set of 404 genes that are required for growth of the bacteria in the laboratory. C. difficile also produces a highly resistant spore that can survive in the environment for a long time and is a requirement for transmission of the bacteria between patients. We have applied our genetic tool to identify all of the genes required for production of a spore. All of these genes represent attractive targets for new drugs to treat infection.


With an incidence of less than 1% of all head and neck neoplasia, basal cell carcinoma located in the nasal vestibule is a rare pathology in daily ENT practice, characterized by a nonspecific symptomatology. Surgery and radiotherapy are currently the most commonly used means to address it, however there is no generally agreed gold standard. The challenge that is posed then lies in performing a full surgical resection of the tumor mass while, at the same time, obtaining an aesthetically and functionally suitable outcome. The authors of this paper give an account of the clinical and therapeutic management particularities involved in the case of a 52-year-old patient with basal-cell carcinoma in the right nasal vestibule.


Three kinetically different reactions (R×1, R×2, and R×3) have been distinguished in the photoinactivation of phage T3 in the presence of the dye proflavine. The response of these reactions to the presence of the radical trap l-cysteine has been examined. At dye concentrations equal to or less than 2.2 μg/ml, R×1 was composed of at least two parallel first-order reactions, one cysteine-insensitive (R×1A) and one cysteine-inhibited (R×1B). R×2 was completely cysteine-insensitive (R×2A). The cysteine sensitivity of these reactions changed abruptly at dye concentrations above 2.2 μg/ml. R×1A and R×1B now operated in tandem, rather than simultaneously, with R×1B being confined to the first 1 min at most. R×2, on the other hand, was completely cysteine-inhibited (R×2B). R×3 was inhibited roughly 75 to 80% by saturating concentrations of cysteine regardless of the time of addition of cysteine. The dark inactivation associated with R×3 was inhibited roughly 85% whether the radical trap was added during the light or dark regimes. Changes of initial phage titer did not alter the cysteine sensitivity of a reaction.


Given the falling returns in share markets and the comparative safety of savings accounts protected by the deposit insurance provided by the Australian Government, there was a significant surge in deposits made in savings ac counts. According to an article published in The Australian , Australian households deposited an estimated $38 billion into savings accounts over a period of six months ending on the 31 st of March, 2009. Among the various deposit-taking institutions, Westpac received the largest part of this growth. (Jimenez, 2009). Interestingly, there have been no major changes in the interest rates offered on savings accounts by the major banks recently. If the savings account market is examined , the first thing that one notices is the large number of options available to a prospective customer. There are more than fifty savings accounts on offer by various banks, building societies and credit unions. These include regular savings accounts, high interest savings accounts with more stringent conditions on deposits, withdrawals and usage and exclusively online savings accounts. Any given savings account product can have different combinations of attributes apart from the interest rate offered such as the minimum balance requirements, the minimum lock-in period, etc. For an average consumer who wants to open a savings account, there is a plethora of choices available. This paper considers how a typical consumer might make a choice among so many options and whether this choice is "right".


Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) is a widely disseminated pedagogical reform that employs previously successful undergraduate students, peer leaders, to lead sessions of structured group work in the target class. Numerous studies have evaluated the impact of this reform in various post-secondary chemistry classes. Results from these studies suggest that PLTL may be effective at improving student success in these classes, either through improved performance on common exams or reduced student attrition in the classes. This study seeks to take a broader picture at measuring the impact, by examining the role PLTL plays across a two semester General Chemistry sequence. This includes an analysis of PLTL on students' decision to progress through the two semester sequence, and on PLTL impact on the algorithm-heavy second-semester General Chemistry. The findings suggest that the PLTL implementation is robust in improving student success directly in terms of the target class. However, PLTL had little to no effect on students' decision to continue in the General Chemistry sequence. Additionally, PLTL had little effect on student performance in subsequent courses where the pedagogy returned to lecture-only instruction. The results suggest that PLTL implementation on one course within a sequence would have limited impact, and in order to improve student progress toward graduation, PLTL implementation may have to be curricular wide.


A stiffened version of the Midwest Guardrail System (MGS) with steel posts has been developed for use adjacent to 2H:1V roadside slopes. However, many members of the Midwest States Pooled Fund Program utilize wood posts. Therefore, it was requested to determine a wood post alternative to the steel posts utilized in the MGS adjacent to a 2H:1V slope. Dynamic impact testing was conducted on 6-in. x 8-in. (152-mm x 203-mm) wood posts and W6x9 (W152x13.4) steel posts with varying lengths and embedment depths when installed at the slope breakpoint of a 2H:1V slope. A total of seven bogie tests were performed - five tests on wood posts and two tests on steel posts. The posts were embedded in strong soil conforming to AASHTO Grade B for all tests. For each bogie test, acceleration data was used to determine the force vs. deflection and energy vs. deflection characteristics of the various post installations. Post-soil interaction forces and energy dissipation characteristics of the wood posts were compared to those for the steel posts used in the original design of the MGS adjacent to a 2H:1V slope. From these comparisons, a recommended post length was selected for the wood post alternative to the steel post in the MGS adjacent to a steep slope. A 7.5-ft (2.3- m) long, 6-in. x 8-in. (152-mm x 203-mm) wood post with a 58-in. (1,473-mm) embedment depth was found to provide the best possible performance and the closest correlation with the 9-ft (2.7-m) long, steel post. As such, this wood post was recommended as an alternative for the 9-ft (2.7-m) long, W6x9 (W152x13.4) steel post utilized in the MGS placed adjacent to a 2H:1V slope.


Background: An unacceptably high percentage of our nation's low-income, minority youth (age<18 years) are not regularly physically active. One reason for this could be their lack of access to quality youth physical activity opportunities (YPAOs). Our previous research found that small businesses (<500 employees), which represent over 99.64% (27.9/28.0 million businesses in United States) of all employers, are powerful resources for creating and improving YPAOs. In accordance with the socioecological model and established philanthropic principles, we developed an alpha version of an intervention (alpha-i) for increasing small businesses' involvement with YPAOs. ClinicalTrial: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03936582; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03936582. Conclusions: The proposed study is significant because it will provide evidence that an easily replicated approach can be used to increase small business support for YPAOs and that this support results in greater use of the YPAOs by youth. A logical next step will be to determine if YPAO changes resulting from increased small business support positively influence youth physical activity levels. Methods: The alpha-i will be refined using information from focus groups and surveys conducted with small business owners and managers, YPAO providers, and parents and guardians of the youths from low-income, predominantly minority neighborhoods. A cluster randomized controlled trial will then be conducted for 1 year to examine the effects of the refined intervention (beta-i) on small business support for YPAOs in 10 low-income, minority neighborhoods. The control group of neighborhoods (n=10) will be provided with a standard practice intervention. The primary outcome for aim 2 will be the percentage of small businesses not supporting YPAOs at baseline that subsequently provide support for YPAOs at follow-up. We also will consider the US dollar equivalent of all types of support (monetary, goods/services, and time) donated for YPAOs by small businesses. In addition, we will examine the impact of the increased small business support for YPAOs on YPAO utilization by the youth. Objective: The aims of this proposed study are to (1) create a beta version (beta-i) of the intervention and (2) conduct a pilot study of its impact on small business support for YPAOs and YPAO utilization by the youth in low-income, minority neighborhoods. Results: As of May 1, 2019, all YPAOs and small businesses in the study neighborhoods have been identified, and surveys have begun with these groups. In addition, 9 focus groups were completed, and the data have been transcribed. We anticipate that manuscripts regarding these aspects of the study will be submitted in fall 2019. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/13141 (JMIR Res Protoc 2019;8(7):e13141) doi:10.2196/13141 JMIR Res Protoc 2019 | vol. 8 | iss. 7 | e13141 | p.1 http://www.researchprotocols.org/2019/7/e13141/ (page number not for citation purposes) Suminski et al JMIR RESEARCH PROTOCOLS


I. INTRODUCTION Ambition-and perhaps some naivete-ran high when, in 1998, the United Nations General Assembly (General Assembly) adopted a resolution scheduling the third World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (Conference) for September 2001.' Following two world conferences tackling the same topics in 19782 and 1983,3 there was a sense that the international community needed a galvanizing event to strengthen its resolve and coordinate its efforts in the global fight against racism. Of even greater symbolic significance to the General Assembly was the decision to convene the Conference in Durban, South Africa, a land only recently freed from the chains of apartheid. Recent events highlighted the need for States to work together to combat racism and racial discrimination on both the domestic and international fronts. Whether in post-colonial Africa, the Amazonian jungle, the Middle East, or South Central Los Angeles, conflict, mass migration, poverty, disease, and under-development are all inextricably linked to issues of race. While citizens must inevitaIMAGE FORMULA11 bly fight the battle against racism in the schools and the courts, in the end, the issue is essentially a political one, reflecting the true value of this Conference. Before States can adopt and implement effective measures to rid societies of racism, the political will must exist to look inward and identify its many sources, causes, and manifestations. The United States has a long history of struggling to overcome racism and continues to suffer the consequences of over two centuries of de jure and de facto racial discrimination.4 High-profile racial discrimination cases as well as an apparent increase in hate crimes and violence reflect the persistent and insidious nature of racism. Although many of the U.S. efforts to fight racism have been successful, after years of concerted efforts to purge laws and policies of discriminatory intent and effect, racism still permeates American society. From a global viewpoint, however, the United States, as one of the largest multi-racial societies, can teach other countries about mechanisms to fight racism. For the United States, the Conference had as much domestic significance as foreign policy importance. Unfortunately, Conference documents with language harshly critical of Israel prevented the United States from continuing its participation in the Conference. The President of the United States conditioned U.S. participation in the Conference on the removal of language unfairly singling-out and criticizing Israel from the documents. Intense diplomatic efforts in the weeks proceeding, as well as over the first few days of the Conference, failed to accomplish excision of the language. Although it caused great disappointment to the international community, many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and Americans, the United States and Israel walked out of the Conference on its fourth day.5 The U.S. delegation ultimately disassociIMAGE FORMULA14 ated itself entirely from the Conference and the documents it would eventually adopt. As noted by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell upon calling the delegation back to Washington, "you do not combat racism by conferences that produce declarations containing hateful language."6 The world has yet to feel the full effects of the abrupt U.S. departure from Durban. Less than a week after the end of the Conference, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon suffered a devastating terrorist attack that quickly eclipsed any international or domestic fallout from the Conference.7 With the nation and the world intently focused on building a coalition to fight terrorism, Durban seems a distant memory. Yet, racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance remain as poignant today as they were before September 11, 2001. …


PURPOSE
The underlying difference between intermittent claudication (IC) and critical limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI) still remains unclear. This prospective multicenter observational study aimed to clarify differences in clinical features and prognostic outcomes between IC and CLTI, and prognostic factors in patients undergoing endovascular therapy (EVT).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 692 patients with 808 limbs were enrolled from 20 institutions in Japan. The primary measurements were the 3-year rates of major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE) and reintervention.

RESULTS
Among patients, 79.0% had IC and 21.0% had CLTI. Patients with CLTI were more frequently women and more likely to have impaired functional status, undernutrition, comorbidities, hypercoagulation, hyperinflammation, distal artery disease, short single antiplatelet and long anticoagulation therapies, and late cilostazol than patients with IC. Aortoiliac and femoropopliteal diseases were dominant in patients with IC and infrapopliteal disease was dominant in patients with CLTI. Patients with CLTI underwent less frequently aortoiliac intervention and more frequently infrapopliteal intervention than patients with IC. Longitudinal change of ankle-brachial index (ABI) exhibited different patterns between IC and CLTI (pinteraction=0.002), but ABI improved after EVT both in IC and in CLTI (p<0.001), which was sustained over time. Dorsal and plantar skin perfusion pressure in CLTI showed a similar improvement pattern (pinteraction=0.181). Distribution of Rutherford category improved both in IC and in CLTI (each p<0.001). Three-year MACE rates were 20.4% and 42.3% and 3-year reintervention rates were 22.1% and 46.8% for patients with IC and CLTI, respectively (log-rank p<0.001). Elevated D-dimer (p=0.001), age (p=0.043), impaired functional status (p=0.018), and end-stage renal disease (p=0.019) were independently associated with MACE. After considering competing risks of death and major amputation for reintervention, elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (p=0.003) and infrainguinal intervention (p=0.002) were independently associated with reintervention. Patients with CLTI merely showed borderline significance for MACE (adjusted hazard ratio 1.700, 95% confidence interval 0.950-3.042, p=0.074) and reintervention (adjusted hazard ratio 1.976, 95% confidence interval 0.999-3.909, p=0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
The CLTI is characterized not only by more systemic comorbidities and distal disease but also by more inflammatory coagulation disorder compared with IC. Also, CLTI has approximately twice MACE and reintervention rates than IC, and the underlying inflammatory coagulation disorder per se is associated with these outcomes.

CLINICAL IMPACT
The underlying difference between intermittent claudication (IC) and critical limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI) still remains unclear. This prospective multicenter observational study, JPASSION study found that CLTI was characterized not only by more systemic comorbidities and distal disease but also by more inflammatory coagulation disorder compared to IC. Also, CLTI had approximately twice major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE) and reintervention rates than IC. Intriguingly, the underlying inflammatory coagulation disorder per se was independently associated with MACE and reintervention. Further studies to clarify the role of anticoagulation and anti-inflammatory therapies will contribute to the development of post-interventional therapeutics in the context of peripheral artery disease.


BACKGROUND
Platelets are cellular fragments derived from bone-marrow megacaryocytes and they are mostly involved in haemostasis and coagulation. However, according to recent data, platelets are able to perform novel immune functions. In fact, they possess a receptorial armamentarium on their membrane for interacting with innate and adaptive immune cells. In addition, platelets also secrete granules which contain cytokines and chemokines for activating and recruiting even distant immune cells.

OBJECTIVES
The participation of platelets in inflammatory processes will be discussed also in view of their dual role in terms of triggering or resolving inflammation. Involvement of platelets in disease will be illustrated, pointing to their versatile function to either up- or down-regulate pathological mechanisms. Finally, despite the availability of some anti-platelet agents, such as aspirin, dietary manipulation of platelet function is currently investigated. In this regard, special emphasis will be placed on dietary omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and polyphenol effects on platelets.

CONCLUSION
Platelets play a dual role in inflammatory-immune-mediated diseases either activating or deactivating immune cells. Diet based on substances, such as omega-3 PUFAs and polyphenols, may act as a modulator of platelet function, even if more clinical trials are needed to corroborate such a contention.


The inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), inclusive of Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), are chronic, progressive immune-mediated diseases associated with high morbidity and substantial economic impact. The pathogenesis implicates a complex interaction between environmental determinants and genetic susceptibility. Of concern, the incidence and prevalence of IBD are increasing globally, with the highest relative increase observed in developing and recently developed countries. One high-risk yet underappreciated population is immigrants from countries of low- to high-IBD incidence, as evidenced by epidemiologic studies demonstrating higher risk of IBD among second- versus first-generation and younger versus older immigrants from low- to high-incidence countries (LTHIC). The reasons underlying these emerging patterns among immigrants are incompletely understood and provide enormous opportunities to better define the pathophysiology of IBD and move toward disease prevention or at least earlier diagnosis. The rapidity of this epidemiologic shift in the demographic profile of IBD, which was traditionally a disease of Caucasians in industrialized countries, strongly implicates nongenetic factors and gene-environment interactions in the pathophysiology of IBD among immigrants from LTHIC. The primary objectives of this Viewpoint are to 1) provide a focused overview of IBD epidemiology among immigrants from countries at differential IBD risk; 2) emphasize the potential to advance our understanding of IBD pathogenesis via targeted research efforts to delineate risk and protective determinants in this cohort; and 3) highlight disparities and barriers in IBD care, as well as the economic implications of the rising, yet underappreciated, disease burden among immigrants from LTHIC.


In this paper, iridium coating was produced by double glow plasma on various substrates. Microstructure, mechanical property, thermal stability and ablation resistance of the iridium coating were investigated. The coating was the columnar grains with a preferred (220) orientation. The adhesive force of the coating on carbon substrate was smaller than that of the coating on the refractory metals and carbide. After heat treatment above 1400oC, many micropores appeared on the surface of the coating. The surface of the coating also presented micropores after ultrahigh temperature ablation. The iridium coating could endure the high temperature up to 2000oC and could protect the substrate from oxidation.


It is usually posited that the most important factors contributing to sex chromosome evolution in diploids are the suppression of meiotic recombination and the asymmetry that results from one chromosome (the Y) being permanently heterozygous and the other (the X) being homozygous in half of the individuals involved in mating. To distinguish between the roles of these two factors, it would be valuable to compare sex chromosomes in diploid-mating organisms and organisms where mating compatibility is determined in the haploid stage. In this latter group, no such asymmetry occurs because the sex chromosomes are equally heterozygous. Here we show in the fungus Microbotryum violaceum that the chromosomes carrying the mating-type locus, and thus determining haploid-mating compatibility, are rich in transposable elements, dimorphic in size, and carry unequal densities of functional genes. Through analysis of available complete genomes, we also show that M. violaceum is, remarkably, more similar to humans and mice than to yeast, nematodes, or fruit flies with regard to the differential accumulation of transposable elements in the chromosomes determining mating compatibility vs. the autosomes. We conclude that restricted recombination, rather than asymmetrical sheltering, hemizygosity, or dosage compensation, is sufficient to account for the common sex chromosome characteristics.


: The article provides analysis of common methods for DNA methylation detection. Advantages and limitations of methods used for different purposes are compared. Clue step for most common methods is bisulfite treatment of DNA samples and its protocol is described in details. Recommendations are formulated for each method best in solving specific problems.


The project ' Mediaoorlog ' (media war) pioneers a digital humanities approach to analyse propaganda discourses in Dutch-language media during the Second World War. The core database at our disposal is the CLARIAH Media Suite, which brings together relevant collections of digitised sources, including the audio archive of the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision. This contribution reflects on our first efforts to study Radio Oranje, the daily broadcast of the Dutch government-in-exile from London to the occupied Netherlands. It is argued that the current online radio archive from the Second World War has its limits and that it therefore is necessary to employ a hybrid methodology, drawing on material from various collections, both digital audio fragments and paper transcripts. The following pages will provide an analysis of how these two source materials relate to each other by showing how they came into being and how they were transferred from Great Britain to the Netherlands. The first part of this contribution contains a historic overview of Radio Oranje and the trajectory of its archival records. The second part of this paper explores how these sources have been used in the late twentieth century to shape Dutch public memory of wartime radio broadcasting from London.


A set of isogenic mutants of Bacillus subtilis 168, insertionally inactivated in the genes encoding a number of lytic enzymes and a sigma factor (sigma D, which controls the expression of a number of autolysins) was constructed. Phenotypic analysis of the mutants determined the individual and combined roles of the autolysins in vegetative growth. The major vegetative autolysins of B. subtilis, LytC (50 kDa amidase) and LytD (90 kDa glucosaminidase), were shown to have roles in cell separation, cell wall turnover, antibiotic-induced lysis and motility. LytC was also shown to have a role in general cell lysis induced by sodium azide. Renaturing SDS-PAGE of cell-wall-binding protein extracts of the mutant strains revealed the presence of a novel autolysin that was previously masked by LytC. This 49 kDa enzyme was shown to be sigma D-controlled and was identified as a candidate cell separation and cell wall turnover enzyme. A multiple mutant strain, lacking LytC, LytD and the 49 kDa enzyme, retained at least ten bands of autolytic activity. These may correspond to individual or proteolytically processed novel autolysins, the functions of which are unknown. The multiple mutant strains facilitate the study of these, and other lytic enzymes, to determine their cellular functions.


In the past decades, the inappropriate subsidy policies in many nations have caused problems such as serious oversupply, fierce competition and subpar social welfare in the photovoltaic (PV) industry in many nations. There is a clear shortage in the PV industry literature regarding how dual supply chains compete and the key decision issues regarding the competition between dual PV supply chains. It is critical to develop effective subsidy policies for the competing PV supply chains to achieve social welfare maximization. This study has explored the dual PV supply chain competition under the Bertrand competition assumption by three game-theoretical modeling scenarios (or supply chain strategies) considering either the public subsidy or no subsidy from a social welfare maximization perspective. A numerical analysis complemented by two sensitivity analyses provides a better understanding of the pricing and quantity decision dynamics in the dual supply chains under three different supply chain strategies and the corresponding outcomes regarding the total supply chain profits, the social welfare and the required total subsidies. The key findings disclose that if there are public subsidies, the dual PV supply chains have the strongest intention to pursue the decentralized strategy to achieve their maximal returns rather than the centralized strategy that would achieve the maximal social welfare; however, the government would need to pay for the maximal subsidy budget. Thus, the best option for the government would be to encourage the dual PV supply chains to adopt a centralized strategy since this will not only maximize the social welfare but also, at the same time, minimize the public subsidy. With a smart subsidy policy, the PV industry can make the best use of the subsidy budget and grow in a sustainable way to support the highly demanded solar power generation in many countries trying very hard to increase the proportion of their clean energy to combat the global warming effect. Several subsidy policies such as shared solar energy arrangements and performance-based incentive (PBI) are proposed to integrate the market users and the PV supply chains. This study serves as a pioneering study into the dual PV supply chain research which is very limited in the PV management and policy study literature. The findings and several untended issues provide a foundation for the future PV supply chain studies.


This paper describes a composite method that can be used to investigates the relationship between spatial preference (in relation to commercial real estate occupation) and spatial configuration. The key finding in this paper (based on research in the city of Leeds in the UK) is that there is a potential link between urban configuration and spatial preference that could be exploited. Traditionally, the pursuit of urban land economics has been supply driven, reliant on the rational assumptions of neo classical economic analysis. Consumer behaviour is typically an implicit assumption rather than explicit variable in traditional economic analysis. This is because it has been difficult to reveal the characteristics of economic demand (the subjective behaviour of real life participants in the urban land transaction process) and its interaction with the urban environment. In conclusion, the method demonstrated in this paper reveals how the human interaction with space (its behavioural characteristics and transactional dialogue), can be explicitly analysed, visualised and combined in order to improve the urban development process.


There was absence of an authentically documented history of Bengal cum Bengalees even during the 80s of the nineteenth century. Bengalees did not have a history—this misconstruction had turned into a maxim.1 The lack of interest among the Bengalees regarding historical practices had augmented  the frustration of the Bengali intellectuals like Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and Rabindranath Tagore. For these reasons we can find that Bankim Chandra chattopadhyay had not only pleaded for historical studies but also emphasized upon the importance of writing of history through his various essays like 'Bangaleer Bahubal' (Muscle power of the  Bengalees), 'Bharatkalanka'(The Disgrace of India), 'Banglar Itihash Sammondhe koekti Katha' (A Few Words Regarding the History of Bengal  and many others). Out of his frustration from the unavailability of any written history of Bengal, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay had lamented that  the history of Greenland has been written; even that of Mawri people is on page; however, the land that was constituted of the places like  Gour –Tamralipta -Saptagram etc, that land has no documented history in writing.


This article examines the possibilities of visual culture to open new perspectives on interspecies relations by analyzing self-portraits from visual artist Elina Brotherus's photography series Carpe Fucking Diem (2011–2015). Brotherus has suggested that this series talks "about a failure to have a family with kids and give normality the finger". The self-portraits can be seen to address this "failure" to have a normative nuclear family, while simultaneously questioning the desirability of the norm itself through Brotherus's relationship with her pet dog, dachshund Marcello. The article explores the more-than-human notions of kinship and family in Carpe Fucking Diem, drawing on Donna Haraway's concept of companion species, as well as discussions on new materialism and posthumanism. The concept of companion species deconstructs human exceptionalism and the boundaries between human and animal, and indicates that the physical and affective co-becomings between humans and the non-human significant others co-evolve with each other in complex and asymmetrical ways. In affective and embodied readings of three self-portraits and one video work from the Carpe Fucking Diem series, I examine how Elina Brotherus's self-portraits call into question the normative notions of family as human-centered and heteronormative.


Introduction: Complications, such as thromboembolism, infection, periprosthetic fracture, and soft-tissue necrosis are commonly encountered in cases of total knee arthroplasty. The risk of developing complications is higher in patients with comorbidities, including diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension. Soft tissue necrosis can be managed through local wound care, frequent dressing change, surgical debridement, and tissue flap accordingly. Case report: In this report, we describe the case of an obese, 65-year-old bed-ridden female, a known case of hypertension, DM and hypothyroidism with stable vital signs. She underwent bilateral total knee replacement for severe osteoarthritis of her knees. During the 8th week post-operatively of her left knee, the patient developed sloughing of the wound and was admitted through the emergency under orthopedic care. She was diagnosed with soft tissue necrosis and treated with irrigation and debridement. She also administered a course of intravenous antibiotics. During her hospitalization, the orthopedic and plastic surgery teams were involved and the patient underwent multiple irrigation and debridement and implant removal followed by coverage of the wound with a partial thickness skin graft. Conclusion: Extensive antibiotics course, multiple irrigation and debridement, and arthrodesis over a period of less than 3 months has successfully salvaged the patient's limb.


The objects of System Modelling and control change due to dynamical characteristics, fault development or simply ageing. There is a need to up-date models inheriting useful structure and parameter information. The book gives an original solution to this problem with a number of examples. It treats an original approach to on-line adaptation of rule-based models and systems described by such models. It combines the benefits of fuzzy rule-based models suitable for the description of highly complex systems with the original recursive, non iterative technique of model evolution without necessarily using genetic algorithms, thus avoiding computational burden making possible real-time industrial applications. Potential applications range from autonomous systems, on-line fault detection and diagnosis, performance analysis to evolving (self-learning) intelligent decision support systems.


This article constitutes a brief reply to Timothy Pawl's clear and insightful article on Conciliar Trinitarianism (defined as the Trinitarian theology of the Ecumenical Councils from Nicaea I to Nicaea II). The two basic arguments of that article (regarding the relationship between divine persons and divine nature and the debate over possible subordinationism) are celebrated rather than challenged. I instead offer three short comments. The first concerns the limited nature of the conciliar texts for the articulation of highly developed Trinitarian theology, and thus the question of methodology as it applies to Conciliar Trinitarianism. The second comment argues that the question of strict identity in the Godhead can be extended beyond the relationship of divine person and divine nature to the question of divine nature and divine power, will, and energy. The third comment argues that Pawl gives undue weight to a line from Cyril of Alexandria for a discussion of the Holy Spirt's mode of origination, and not enough weight to the clause related to the Holy Spirit articulated at the First Council of Constantinople, which recurs in one way or another at each of the subsequent Ecumenical Councils, up to and including Nicaea II. These three comments serve more as a supplement than a challenge to Pawl's original article, providing three further avenues for scholarly deliberation on the matter of Conciliar Trinitarianism.


We report numerical and analytical studies of the reversal of the magnetic moment of a single-domain magnetic particle by a circularly polarized ac field of time-dependent frequency. For the time-linear frequency sweep, the phase diagrams are computed that illustrate the dependence of the reversal on the frequency sweep rate v, the amplitude of the ac field h, the magnetic anisotropy field d, and the damping parameter alpha. It is shown that the most efficient magnetization reversal requires a non-linear time dependence of the frequency, omega(t), for which an exact analytical formula is derived with account of damping. The necessary condition of the reversal is h > alpha d. Implementation of a small-scale magnetization reversal is proposed in which a nanomagnet is electromagnetically coupled to two weak superconducting links controlled by the voltage. Dynamics of such a system is analyzed with account of the back effect of the magnet on the superconducting links.


Austenitic stainless steels are used for hydrogen containment of high-pressure hydrogen gas due to their ability to retain high fracture properties despite the degradation due to hydrogen. Forging and other strain-hardening processes are desirable for austenitic stainless steels to increase the material strength, and thus accommodate higher stresses and reduce material costs. Welding is often necessary for assembling components, but it represents an area of concern in pressure containment structures due to the potential for defects, more environmentally susceptible microstructure, and reduced strength. Electron beam (EB) welding represent an advanced joining process which has advantages over traditional arc welding techniques, through reduced input heat and reduced heat-affected zone (HAZ) microstructure, and thus present a means to maintain high strength and improve weld performance in hydrogen gas containment. In this study, fracture coupons were extracted from EB welds in forged 304L and subjected to thermal gaseous hydrogen precharging at select pressures to introduce different levels of internal hydrogen content. Fracture tests were then performed on hydrogen precharged coupons at temperatures of both 293 K and 223 K. It was observed that fracture resistance (J H ) was dependent on internal hydrogen concentration; higher hydrogen concentrations resulted in lower fracture resistance in both the forged 304L base material and the 304L EB welds. This trend was also apparent at both temperatures: 293 K and 223 K. EB weld samples, however, maintain high fracture resistance, comparable to the forged 304L base material. The role of weld microstructure solidification on fracture is discussed.


This study evaluated the long-term results of endoscopic dacrocystorhinostomy (DCR) performed as a day-case procedure under local anaesthesia. It assessed the patient satisfaction with the procedure by retrospective review and a questionnaire survey. Seventy patients were referred for endoscopic DCR to the senior author between 1997 and 2000. A success rate of 92 per cent was achieved at three months and it was possible to perform 85 per cent of cases under local anaesthetic; 91 per cent were discharged on the same day. Long-term follow up by postal survey revealed that the watering eye had improved following surgery in 83 per cent (follow up range = eight to 66 months; mean = 28.6 months). Eighty-eight per cent were satisfied with the tolerability of the procedure under local anaesthesia. The authors describe changes in technique, which evolved with their experience of the procedure. Endoscopic dacrocystorhinostomy can be performed safely and successfully as a day-case procedure under local anaesthesia with excellent results and with great satisfaction to the patients.


Class Activation Mapping (CAM) methods have recently gained much attention for weakly-supervised object localization (WSOL) tasks. They allow for CNN visualization and interpretation without training on fully annotated image datasets. CAM methods are typically integrated within off-the-shelf CNN backbones, such as ResNet50. Due to convolution and pooling operations, these backbones yield low resolution CAMs with a down-scaling factor of up to 32, contributing to inaccurate localizations. Interpolation is required to restore full size CAMs, yet it does not consider the statistical properties of objects, such as color and texture, leading to activations with inconsistent boundaries, and inaccurate localizations. As an alternative, we introduce a generic method for parametric upscaling of CAMs that allows constructing accurate full resolution CAMs (FCAMs). In particular, we propose a trainable decoding architecture that can be connected to any CNN classifier to produce highly accurate CAM localizations. Given an original low resolution CAM, foreground and background pixels are randomly sampled to fine-tune the decoder. Additional priors such as image statistics and size constraints are also considered to expand and refine object boundaries. Extensive experiments1, over three CNN backbones and six WSOL baselines on the CUB-200-2011 and OpenImages datasets, indicate that our F-CAM method yields a significant improvement in CAM localization accuracy. F-CAM performance is competitive with state-of-art WSOL methods, yet it requires fewer computations during inference.


The study describes the topography, morphology and growth of osteophytes in forty femoral heads removed from patients presenting with advanced osteoarthritis of the hip. In addition to standard histological techniques, radiography of serial bone slices and in vivo bone labeffing with tetracycline and 32P were used. The pattern of major osteophyte formation appeared to be influenced by the direction, degree and rate of displacement of the femoral head in relation to the acetabulum ; four principal patterns of growth were noted. Osteophytes form part of extensive osteogenic processes that involve bone structure in the osteoarthritic joint.


Background: Although plasma estrogen and androgen levels are significantly positively associated with risk of postmenopausal breast cancer, it is unknown how long a single blood hormone measure can predict subsequent breast cancer risk as most prior studies have included less than 10 years of follow-up. If including hormone levels into current breast cancer risk prediction models improves discriminative ability, evaluating how the hormone/breast cancer association varies by years since blood collection can help determine the most relevant time period for hormone measures. In addition, whether the associations vary by tumor hormone receptor status is unclear. Methods: We conducted a prospective nested case-control analysis within the Nurses' Health Study cohort. Blood samples were collected in 1989-1990 and then in 2000-2002. Among eligible postmenopausal women not using postmenopausal hormones (PMH) at blood collection, 796 cases were diagnosed through June, 2010. Two control subjects (n=1,583) were matched to cases on age and time of blood collection. We used unconditional logistic regression analyses to estimate the relative risks (RRs, 95%CIs) by controlling for breast cancer risk factors. Results: The intra-class correlation coefficients for the two blood measures collected 10 years apart were 0.69 for estradiol, 0.71 for testosterone, 0.54 for dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), and 0.74 for sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG). Overall, women in the top 25% of levels of estradiol, free estradiol, testosterone, free testosterone, and DHEAS (compared to the lowest 25% of levels) were at a 50-107% higher risk of breast cancer (all p-trends<0.004). Relative risks were similar when comparing cases diagnosed 1-10 vs. 11-20 years (and 16-20 years) after blood collection (all p-values for interaction by follow-up period>0.15). For example, comparing the highest with lowest (reference) quartile of hormones measured 10 year or less before breast cancer diagnosis, the multivariable RRs (95%CIs) for overall breast cancer were 2.0 (1.4-2.7; p-trend<0.001) for estradiol, 1.4 (1.1-1.9; p-trend=0.001) for testosterone, and 0.63 (0.47-0.85; p-trend=0.006) for SHBG. The comparable RRs (95%CIs) for blood samples collected 11-20 years before diagnosis were 2.0 (1.3-3.1; p-trend=0.002) for estradiol, 1.6 (1.0-2.4; p-trend=0.11) for testosterone, and 0.68 (0.44-1.04; p-trend=0.04) for SHBG. Importantly, with the exception of DHEAS, the associations varied significantly by hormone receptor status of the tumor. For example, the multivariable RRs (95%CIs) comparing the highest vs. lowest quartile were 2.8 (2.0-4.0; p-trend<0.001) for ER+/PR+ tumors (n=347) vs. 1.1 (0.6-2.1; p-trend=0.98) for ER-/PR- tumors (n=80) for estradiol (p-heterogeneity<0.01), 1.8 (1.3-2.5; p-trend<0.001) vs. 0.6 (0.3-1.2; p-trend=0.35) for testosterone (p-heterogeneity<0.01), and 0.46 (0.31-0.67; p-trend=0.01) vs. 1.07 (0.56-2.06; p-trend=0.67) for SHBG (p-heterogeneity=0.01). Conclusions: A single blood sex hormone measurement in postmenopausal women can predict risk of hormone receptor positive breast cancer for up to 20 years. Citation Format: Xuehong Zhang, Shelley S. Tworoger, A. Heather Eliassen, Susan E. Hankinson. Postmenopausal plasma sex hormone levels and subsequent risk of breast cancer over 20 years of follow up. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2012 Oct 16-19; Anaheim, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Prev Res 2012;5(11 Suppl):Abstract nr B105.


This study examines the complementarity or substitutability of regional capital mobility to global capital mobility within the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) economies. With a re-specified inter-temporal consumption framework, the savings-investment correlation of the Feldstein-Horioka (hereinafter FH) hypothesis was revisited for a panel of eighteen (18) countries. The period of investigation spanned the period 1995 – 2016 and a battery of conventional and extended cum robust estimations tests and techniques were employed. The long-run correlation of savings and investments were investigated with the use of robust Pedroni and Westlund Cointegration tests while the short-run dynamics was examined with the Panel ARDL-ECM technique. With a confirmation of the long-run co-movement among the variables, the results obtained suggest that domestic investments in SSA economies are significantly and substantially financed by global savings. This implies that global integration has increased in the sub-region and that the FH hypothesis is validated. More so, the complementarity of regional capital mobility in the sub-region was evident. In fact, these results were found robust to a barrage of panel estimations techniques employed. However, both the level of financial development and the legal/political guidelines on capital mobility were found negligible to the level of domestic investment in the sub-region.

JEL Classification: E21, E22, F15, F21


FcγRlla dimorphism has been related to the ability of the host to eliminate malaria parasite so it is necessary to investigate the allele polymorphism FcγRlla of population in malaria-endemic areas in Indonesia in order to know the role of immunity in eliminating malaria parasite. A total of 120 samples of Dried Blood Spot (DBS) falciparum malaria acquired from DHP drug efficacy studies in 5 regions in Indonesia were analyzed by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and sequencing, to look at variants of FcγRIIa-131 allele and its Association with Parasite DensityandEfficacy ofDihydroartemisinin- Piperaquine. The FcγRIIa gene analysis indicated that genotype RH has the highest frequency (50.8%) compared to RR (17.5%) and HH (31.7%). Allele R131 showed a protective effect against High Density Parasitemia (HDP) (>5000 parasites/μL; odds ratio [OR]= 0.133, 95% confidence interval [CI]= 0.053–0.334, P 72 hours; Relative Risk [RR]= 1,571, 95% confidence interval [CI]= 1,005–2,456, P= 0.090). Normal 0 false false false IN X-NONE X-NONE