In any experiment, there is a need to verify the reliability of the collected data. One of the solutions is to measure the data repetitively. It will lead to measurement of inconsistency that exists in the data. Similar things also happen in variable amplitude (VA) loading strain data collection where the data also need to be measured repetitively in order the collected data is reliable. The main objective of this study is to validate the reliability of collected VA loading strain data. Two techniques will be used for identifying the similarity in the pattern for strain signal which was measured repetitively. The probability distribution function (PDF) and power spectral density (PSD) diagrams of the strain data were used as the main tool to construct profile plots for the case study data. Then, each profile plot will be compared to each other in order to identify any similarities that exist in the case study data. For the purpose of the study, a set of nonstationary VA loadings strain data that exhibits random behaviour was used. This random data was measured in the unit of microstrain on the lower suspension arm of a car. The data was repetitively measured for 60 seconds at the sampling rate of 500Hz, giving 30,000 discrete data points. The distribution of the collected data was analysed using the PDF and PSD. Based on the analysis, it was found that PSD can produce better results at identifying the similar features that exist in the profile plot compared to PDF.


This annotated bibliography identifies literature published from 2007 to 2013 that examines the use of cloud computing (specifically software-as-a-service [SaaS] in support of an electronic document and records management system (EDRMS). The goal is to examine two factors: (a) cost effectiveness and (b) information security. Findings show that cost is affected by the type of cloud deployment model and particular use. A key security issue is regulation, which can be mitigated through audit and monitoring.


Purpose: We describe the first-in-human dose-escalation trial for ALRN-6924, a stabilized, cell-permeating peptide that disrupts p53 inhibition by mouse double minute 2 (MDM2) and MDMX to induce cell-cycle arrest or apoptosis in TP53-wild-type (WT) tumors. Patients and Methods: Two schedules were evaluated for safety, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and antitumor effects in patients with solid tumors or lymphomas. In arm A, patients received ALRN-6924 by intravenous infusion once-weekly for 3 weeks every 28 days; arm B was twice-weekly for 2 weeks every 21 days. Results: Seventy-one patients were enrolled: 41 in arm A (0.16–4.4 mg/kg) and 30 in arm B (0.32–2.7 mg/kg). ALRN-6924 showed dose-dependent pharmacokinetics and increased serum levels of MIC-1, a biomarker of p53 activation. The most frequent treatment-related adverse events were gastrointestinal side effects, fatigue, anemia, and headache. In arm A, at 4.4 mg/kg, dose-limiting toxicities (DLT) were grade 3 (G3) hypotension, G3 alkaline phosphatase elevation, G3 anemia, and G4 neutropenia in one patient each. At the MTD in arm A of 3.1 mg/kg, G3 fatigue was observed in one patient. No DLTs were observed in arm B. No G3/G4 thrombocytopenia was observed in any patient. Seven patients had infusion-related reactions; 3 discontinued treatment. In 41 efficacy-evaluable patients with TP53-WT disease across both schedules the disease control rate was 59%. Two patients had confirmed complete responses, 2 had confirmed partial responses, and 20 had stable disease. Six patients were treated for >1 year. The recommended phase 2 dose was schedule A, 3.1 mg/kg. Conclusions: ALRN-6924 was well tolerated and demonstrated antitumor activity.


Social Systems and Social Regulations, Elaine Cumming describes attitudes of patients and clients toward health and welfare organizations. The focus is on the complex relationships between regulative agents, as revealed by the movement of clients through health and welfare systems. The author observes how doctors, clergy members, police officers, welfare officers, psychiatrists, social workers, and other social agents relate to one another and to their clients and charges. Cumming selected Syracuse, New York, typical of many middle-sized American cities of the 1960s, for her field studies. These involved several agencies and thousands of individuals. The result is a thoughtful analysis that can readily be applied to many aspects of the entire social system. Who are the clients? What are their problems? How do agents respond to them? These are some of the topics dealt with at length. From the view point of the agents, the author discusses how they see their own roles in the overall regulative system; how areas of operation interact and overlap; how the network of agencies changed over a five year period; what major problems remained to be overcome at the time; and what changes could and should have been made. When initially published, this was a new examination of the regulative system in America. Students and scholars will still find this work invaluable in the study of social control. Professionals will find many points for contrast and comparison and an analytical framework for evaluating and solving problems faced in health and welfare operations throughout the country.


Book description: This book provides a comparative analysis of the emerging corporate control structures in the transition economies. It details characteristics of corporate governance in the two largest transition economies: Russia and Poland. It explores what kind of ownership structures are emerging in these two countries and to what degree they are they path-dependent and conditional on the initial choice of privatisation methods - fast ownership transfer through the mass privatisation programme and loans-for-equity scheme in Russia, and a more 'organic' growth of the new private sector in Poland. It examines the directions of the subsequent, post-privatisation, secondary ownership flows in both countries and the impact of the government on corporations, implied both by the residual shareholding of the state and by its regulatory and administrative actions.


A dual-weighted residual approach for goal-oriented adaptive finite elements for a class of optimal control problems for elliptic variational inequalities is studied. The development is based on the concept of C-stationarity. The overall error representation depends on primal residuals weighted by approximate dual quantities and vice versa as well as various complementarity mismatch errors. Also, a priori bounds for C-stationary points and associated multipliers are derived. Details on the numerical realization of the adaptive concept are provided and a report on numerical tests including the critical cases of biactivity are presented.


In process-centric enterprise system implementation, a system process model is used by IT team to conduct system development and configuration plans. On the other hand, Business process model is used by business team for business process analyzing and redesigning. The fundamental target of enterprise system is to meet business requirements, therefore it's critical to make the system process model and business process model consistent. This paper presents a solution, WISE-BPM, to synchronize business process model and system process model bi-directionally in enterprise system implementation initiatives based on process model transformation. Through closing the gap between enterprise business design to IT system development and implementation plans, WISE-BPM decreases the risk that the IT system can't reflect business operations, and enables full life-cycle of process-centric enterprise system implementation.


Volatile composition of Chenopodium murale from Değirmenlik and Salamis locations of Cyprus were trapped with headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) technique and analyzed by GC-MS. Twenty-one compounds were identified comprising of 80.5% of the volatile sample from the Değirmenlik and twenty-six compounds were identified comprising of 82.2% of the volatile from the Salamis sample. Volatiles of C. murale from Değirmenlik contained 18.7% benzaldehyde, 8.6% yomogi alcohol 6.8% 1-hexanol and 6.5% dihydromyrcenol as the main components whereas volatiles of the sample from Salamis contained 20.5% yomogi alcohol, 14.5% camphor, 8.1% 1-hexanol and 6.6% 2-ethyl-hexanol. The volatiles of C. murale from both locations contained unexpected irregular monoterpene yomogi alcohol which is previously known to be restricted to Asteraceae genus. Both locations showed variations in their compositions which suggests the chemotype variation could be observed from this species.


Background Adolescent fertility in Kenya is vital in the development and execution of reproductive health policies and programs. One of the specific objectives of the Kenyan Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health (ASRH) policy developed in 2015 is to decrease early and unintended pregnancies in an attempt to reduce adolescent fertility. We aimed to establish determinants of adolescent fertility in Kenya. Methods The Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) 2014 data set was utilized. Adolescent's number of children ever born was the dependent variable. The Chi-square test was utilized to determine the relationship between dependent and independent variables. A Proportional-odds model was performed to establish determinants of adolescent fertility at a 5% significance level. Results Over 40% of the adolescent girls who had sex below 17 years had given birth i.e, current age 15–17 years (40.9%) and <15 years (44.9%) had given birth. In addition, 70.7% of the married adolescents had given birth compared to 8.1% of the unmarried adolescents. Moreover, 65.1% of the adolescents who were using contraceptives had given birth compared to only 9% of the adolescents who were not using a contraceptive. Approximately 29.4% of the adolescents who had no education had given birth compared to 9.1% who had attained secondary education. Age at first sex (18–19 years: OR: 0.221, 95% CI: 0.124–0.392; 15–17 years: OR: 0.530, 95% CI: 0.379–0.742), current age (18–19 years: OR: 4.727, 95% CI: 3.318–6.733), current marital status (Not married: OR:0.212, 95% CI: 0.150–4.780), and current contraceptive use (Using: OR 3.138, 95% CI: 2.257–4.362) were associated with adolescent fertility. Conclusion The study established that age at first sex, current age, marital status, and contraceptive use are the main determinants of adolescent childbearing. The stated determinants should be targeted by the government to control the adolescent birth rate in Kenya. Consequently, delaying the age at first sex, discouraging adolescent marriage, and increasing secondary school enrollment among adolescent girls are recommended strategies to control adolescent fertility in Kenya.


This study investigates two-stage plans based on nonparametric procedures for estimating an inverse regression function at a given point. Specifically, isotonic regression is used at stage one to obtain an initial estimate followed by another round of isotonic regression in the vicinity of this estimate at stage two. It is shown that such two-stage plans accelerate the convergence rate of one-stage procedures and are superior to existing two-stage procedures that use local parametric approximations at stage two when the available budget is moderate and/or the regression function is "ill-behaved." Both Wald- and likelihood ratio-type confidence intervals for the threshold value of interest are investigated and the latter are recommended in applications due to their simplicity and robustness. The developed plans are illustrated through a comprehensive simulation study and an application to car fuel efficiency data.


The ordinary fellowship of the Royal Society has been steadily ageing over the period investigated, 1899-1943 inclusive. This has been due in part to the natural growth of the Society towards actuarial stability, and in part to the increasing age of Fellows at election. The latter trend has been in progress since 1848, and has not been reversed by the increases, in 1931 and 1938, of the total number of annual elections. The mortality rates experienced during 1899-1943 have been abstracted and differences noted between them and those of various standard tables. The crude results were graduated by fitting a Makeham curve of the form qx = A + Bcx where qx is the probability that a Fellow of exact age x will die within one year. A, B, c are constants. There is some evidence that the mortality rates of older Fellows (age 75 and greater) were heavier in the latter part of the period investigated than in the former part. The graduated mortality rates were used to forecast the future size and age constitution of the Royal Society. The results are given for several different assumptions regarding the number and ages of future successful candidates for the Fellowship.


The 30 cationic {Mo(V)2O4(acetate)}(+) units linking 12 negatively charged pentagonal "ligands," {(Mo(VI))Mo(VI)5O21(H2O)6}(6-) of the porous metal-oxide capsule, [{Mo(VI)6O21(H2O)6}12{Mo(V)2O4(acetate)}30](42-) provide active sites for catalytic transformations of organic "guests". This is demonstrated using a well-behaved model reaction, the fully reversible cleavage and formation of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) under mild conditions in water. Five independent lines of evidence demonstrate that reactions of the MTBE guests occur in the ca. 6 × 10(3) Å(3) interior of the spherical capsule. The Mo atoms of the {Mo(V)2O4(acetate)}(+) linkers--spanning an ca. 3-nm truncated icosahedron--are sterically accessible to substrate, and controlled removal of their internally bound acetate ligands generates catalytically active {Mo(V)2O4(H2O)2}(2+) units with labile water ligands, and Lewis- and Brønsted-acid properties. The activity of these units is demonstrating by kinetic data that reveal a first-order dependence of MTBE cleavage rates on the number of acetate-free {Mo(V)2O4(H2O)2}(2+) linkers. DFT calculations point to a pathway involving both Mo(V) centers, and the intermediacy of isobutene in both forward and reverse reactions. A plausible catalytic cycle--satisfying microscopic reversibility--is supported by activation parameters for MTBE cleavage, deuterium and oxygen-18 labeling studies, and by reactions of deliberately added isobutene and of a water-soluble isobutene analog. More generally, pore-restricted encapsulation, ligand-regulated access to multiple structurally integral metal-centers, and options for modifying the microenvironment within this new type of nanoreactor, suggest numerous additional transformations of organic substrates by this and related molybdenum-oxide based capsules.


How to meet food demands with limited cropland has become a serious problem worldwide, especially in China. Global and national food trade can alleviate regional food unbalance among different countries or regions to some extent. The embedded virtual land also flows with food trade, and reasonable food trade can save global croplands and protect local ecosystems. Therefore, it is of great importance to study how trade influences land use as well as its associated environmental consequences. Recent studies have mainly focused on global food trade and its associated virtual land flow; however, only a few have focused on national food trade and its associated virtual land flow. Thus, this study aims to explore the domestic wheat trade and its associated virtual land flows in China during the period 2010–2015, based on the CHINAGRO model and previous studies. The Huang-Huai-Hai Plain and its surrounding regions were the main producers and consumers of wheat and virtual wheat. Without wheat stocks and international wheat trade, the annual domestic wheat trade accounted for 16.43% of the total national wheat production in China. Anhui was the largest net exporter of wheat, followed by Henan, while the developed areas such as Beijing, Guangdong, and Shanghai were the main net importers. Additionally, as an important transfer region, Jiangsu was the largest exporter and importer of wheat virtual cropland, but it finally presented as a net exporter of wheat cropland. During this period, domestic wheat trade led to a total land savings of 2.62 Mha/a, accounting for 10.80% of Chinese wheat cropland. However, compared with the year 2010, Shandong, Hebei, and Sichuan turned into wheat net importers in 2015, which was due to different reasons such as national agriculture polices and economic development. In addition, the net virtual cropland per capita has been greatly influenced by local economic development.


This research presents a preliminary study conducted on a cat fitted with biotelemetry devices. The aim was to explore the feline's wearability experience of bearing off-the-shelf products. The cat's reactions to the device presence were recorded and findings suggest the need for a design approach centred on the wearer. A wearercentred framework to inform the design of biotelemetry interventions for animals is then proposed. Author


Sardo and Asinara donkey are classified as endangered and critical rispectively (Risk status classification–FAO). Preservation of these genetic resources is of fundamental importance to protect animal biodiversity. To evaluate the genetic variability of Sardinian donkeys and to estimate their relationships with other breeds, we genotyped 130 individuals from 7 italian breeds using 3 FISSR(Fluorescent Inter Simple Sequence Repeat) markers. We also sequenced 120 individuals for 383bp of the mitochondrial HVSI region.
Although FISSR have been never used in donkey, they appear to be effective tools for genotyping analysis.In this study, Bayesian cluster analysis underline that the two sardinian breeds are well-separate from other breeds, and high genetic similarity between them.Very different patterns were found between Asinara and Barockesel donkey, despite their phenotypic similarity.
In mitochondrial (HVSI region) analysis, AMOVA and Haplotype analysis reveal that Sardo and Asinara donkey are poorly differentiated within Asinara Island, whereas haplotype differences are evident between Sardinia vs Asinara populations. The median joining network shows both typical donkey CLADE1 (Somalicus) and CLADE2 (Nubian) in Sardinian population, with high prevalence of CLADE1, whereas Asinara population has haplotypes assigned exclusively to CLADE2 in Asinara breed. These results suggest the potential use these genetic for conservation plans.


Salient features of a family of short-tailed symmetric distributions, introduced recently by Tiku and Vaughan [1], are enunciated. Assuming the error distribution to be one of this family, the methodology of modified likelihood is used to derive MML estimators of parameters in a linear regression model. The estimators are shown to be efficient, and robust to inliers. This paper is essentially the first to achieve robustness to inliers. The methodology is extended to long-tailed symmetric distributions and the resulting estimators are shown to be efficient, and robust to outliers. This paper should be read in conjunction with Islam et al. [2]who develop modified likelihood methodology for skew distributions in the context of linear regression.


Since the late 1990s, many countries have been debating what prostitution policies to apply, and, particularly in Europe, several have changed the overall approach to the phenomenon and the people involved. Prostitution is more than ever before firmly placed on policy agendas as a topic related to gender equality and globalization. Furthermore, it is seen in context with issues relating to organized crime, health, and gentrification. In both policy debates and the academic discourse, particular ways of regulating prostitution are treated as models and a central discussion is which model among these works best. In this article, I argue that this search for a best practice of prostitution policy that can be transferred to and work similarly in a new jurisdiction builds on a lack of understanding of the importance of context and implementation. How policies work depends on, among other factors, aims, implementation structures, and characteristics of local prostitution markets. But I present a broad spectrum of research to clarify what should be taken into consideration when assessing policies' abilities to achieve diverse goals. I argue that a fundamental problem in both prostitution policy debates and scholarship is that the arguments over prostitution policies have become too detached from the many and differing contexts in which these policies operate and I propose a way forward for research.


Summary
1.Parenting is costly and because the relationship between the mother and embryos is not mutualistic, mother-offspring conflicts may exist whenever resource are scarce. However, intergenerational trade-offs and conflicts resulting from limited access to water, a vital and depreciable resource, remain largely overlooked.

2.In this study, we examined the physiological, reproductive and life history responses to water restriction in the European Common Lizard (Zootoca vivipara). We hypothesised that, under water-limited conditions, pregnant females experience both short-term and long-term physiological impacts (dehydration and stress) underlying an allocation trade-off for water between mothers and offspring.

3.Water restriction led to a decrease in body mass, and an increase in plasma osmolality (dehydration) and corticosterone concentration in both males and females. The extent of the dehydration was positively correlated with fecundity in females. This suggests a trade-off between maternal water balance and allocation of water to developing embryos during reproduction.

4.Water restriction had no immediate effect on reproductive output or offspring morphology at birth. Yet, water restriction in pregnant females enhanced their reproductive effort the following year but reduced the early life growth and annual survival of their second-year offspring.

5.These delayed fitness responses to water restriction in offspring and mothers suggest that water can trigger intergenerational conflicts as demonstrated for energy. Although the mediation of this conflict remains to be clarified, we hypothesized that it represents a selective force that influences reproductive strategies.

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Dielectric energy storage capacitors are critical components widely used in electronic equipment and power systems due to their advantages of ultrahigh power density and high voltage. Herein, a novel core–shell BaTiO3@MgO (BT@MO) nanostructure was fabricated, in which highly insulating MgO was directly coated on a continuous ferroelectric nanoparticle BaTiO3 shell through a chemical precipitation method to improve the breakdown strength and electric displacement under high electric field. A large electric displacement (D ≈ 9.8 μC cm−2 under 571.4 MV m−1) was observed along with a high discharge energy density (Ud ≈ 19.0 J cm−3) for BT@MO/P(VDF-HFP) composites, which was 187% higher than that for a P(VDF-HFP) film when the filler content was 3 wt%. The enhancement rate of Ud in this study achieved the highest level among the reported results. It was revealed that the highly insulating MgO shell can enhance the breakdown strength by preventing charge injection from electrodes and impeding the development of electrical stress during the breakdown process, as confirmed by the leakage current measurements and the finite element simulations. The core–shell BT@MO structured filler provided an effective way to improve the energy storage properties of the polymer-based dielectrics.


The objective of this study was to investigate the changes in in-vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) of plantain peel (PPL) after its biodegradation with Aspergillus niger and also to determine the effect of degraded PPL on the performance, nutrient digestibility, weights of internal organs , haematological and serum biochemical parameters of broiler finishers. A total of 165 unsexed broiler finishers that were 4 weeks old were used. Aspergillus niger was used for the biodegradation of PPL. There were five dietary treatments of 33 birds each. There were 0 % inclusion level of PPL (control), 7% inclusion level of undegraded PPL (UPPL) then 3, 5 and 7% inclusion levels of degraded PPL (DPPL). Completely Randomized Design (CRD) was adopted. Weight gain was significantly (P<0.05) higher with the birds fed degraded PPL. The highest value (46.39 gramme /bird) was found in treatment 5 (7% DPPL) and the lowest value (38.05 gramme /bird) was found in treatment 2 (7% UPPL). Feed conversion ratio (P<0.05) was best (2.22) in birds placed on 7% DPPL and this is comparable to those on 0%PPL, 3%DPPL and 5%DPPL.There were significant (P<0.05) differences in the digestibility of dry matter, crude protein and crude fibre. Crop, gizzard and abdominal fat were significantly (P<0.05) affected. The values of packed cell volume (PCV), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) total protein, cholesterol and glucose were significantly (P<0.05) affected by the treatments. Fungal biodegradation of PPL using A.niger has the potential of enhancing feed intake, nutrient digestibility and the body weight gain of broiler finisher. Keywords: Aspergillus niger, biodegradation, nutrient enhancement and broilers.


By building on the first part of our analysis, this second part attempts to provide a further understanding of the UK society's metabolism, its impact and offer policy suggestions that could promote a shift towards sustainability. The methodologies employed in this second part include Exergy Analysis (EA) and Extended Exergy Analysis (EEA). Exergy inputs and outputs amounted to 17423.9 and 11888.7 PJ, respectively, with energy carries, mainly fossil fuels, being both the predominant inputs (15597.1 PJ) and outputs (5147.1 PJ). Exergy consumption and efficiency for various economic sectors and subsectors have been calculated with the residential and service sector showing the lowest exergy conversion efficiencies (11.2% and 12.3%, respectively) while certain industrial subsectors, such as the aluminium and iron/steel industries showed the highest exergy conversion factors (67.0 and 62.1%). Extended exergy efficiencies were somewhat different owing to the different calculation procedure. Extended exergy efficiencies were 91.4% for the extraction sector, 38.9% for the conversion sector, 49.1% for the agriculture sector, 31.5% for the transportation sector, 38.6% for the industrial sector and 80.0% for the tertiary sector. 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most aggressive malignancies and is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. Unfortunately, 80–85% of patients are diagnosed with unresectable, advanced stage tumors. These tumors are incurable and result in a median survival less than approximately six months and an overall 5-year survival rate of less than 7%. Whilst chemotherapy is a critical treatment, cure is not possible without surgical resection. The poor clinical outcomes in PDAC can be partially attributed to its dense desmoplastic stroma, taking up roughly 80% of the tumor mass. The stroma surrounding the tumor disrupts the normal architecture of pancreatic tissue leading to poor vascularization, high intratumoral pressure along with hypoxia and an acidic tumor microenvironment. This complicated microenvironment presents a significant challenge for drug delivery. The current manuscript discusses a novel approach to overcome many of these various obstacles. A complex of gemcitabine (GEM) and hemoglobin S (HbS) was formulated, which self-polymerizes under hypoxic and acidic conditions. When polymerized, HbS has the potential to break the tumor stroma, decrease intratumoral pressure, and therefore improve the treatment efficacy of standard therapy. Intratumoral injection of HbS with a fluorescent small molecule surrogate for GEM into a pancreatic tumor xenograft resulted in improved dissemination of the small molecule throughout the pancreatic tumor. The self-polymerization of HbS + GEM was significantly more effective than either agent individually at decreasing tumor size in an in vivo PDAC mouse model. These findings would suggest a clinical benefit from delivering the complex of GEM and HbS via direct injection by endoscopic ultrasound (EUS). With such a treatment option, patients with locally advanced disease would have the potential to become surgical candidates, offering them a chance for cure.


As injection drug use increases, needle exchange programs are one method of reducing infectious disease transmission and improve health outcomes for this population. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of needle exchange programs. A comprehensive review of the literature was conducted to investigate the study aim. Specific inclusion criteria included 1) studies published in English, 2) studies examining needle exchange, 3) studies conducted in the United States, 4) studies conducted between 2007 and 2017, and 5) studies focuses on heroin and injection drug users. Exclusion criteria are also included. A total of 12 studies examining needle exchange programs were found. The research team evaluated all 12 studies and emergent themes included: (1) Reduction in risk behaviors, (2) Sex differences in use and behaviors, (3) Overall perceptions of needle/syringe exchange programs, and (4) Methodological flaws and implementation. This review indicates that NEPs are effective in reducing infectious disease and improving health outcomes. Lack of consistent methods in NEP research may be an issue. In addition, community and health professional attitudes may need to be addressed to enhance effectiveness. Programs and initiatives aimed at educating community members and others may be warranted.


While commercial images of "backpacking" emphasise adventure, youth and sightseeing, recent ethnographies of backpackers identify other motivations and rationales that accentuate travel experiences as formative of the self and identity. This raises the question of the basis of this apparently common orientation. This paper investigates, through analysis of postings on an electronic backpacker notice board, "backpacker" as a collaboratively constructed category. We propose that the shared understandings of "backpacker" enabled by these notice boards are consistent with cultural orientations captured in notions of cosmopolitanism (Beck 2000) involving a shift to new forms of sociality across borders: a solidarity with strangers.


Bambara groundnut is an indigenous African legume grown mainly in sub-Saharan Africa; it is an important source of protein to the rural majority. There are no established varieties and subsistence farmers grow locally adapted landraces which are generally low yielding. Bambara groundnut is a predominantly self-pollinating crop and is expected to exist as non-identical inbred lines, although the previous lack of co-dominant markers has prevented a formal assessment of heterozygosity within bambara groundnut genotypes.
A total set of 75 microsatellites that were characterised in this study were used to investigate the genetic diversity of a set of 24 bambara groundnut landraces, to provide an evaluation of the markers for polymorphism and provide a link with DArT marker data that were previously analysed.
Sixty eight microsatellites were identified that were found to be consistent and reproducible, from which a set of markers were selected and used for genetic variability studies of bambara groundnut, to compare the use of molecular markers with morphological markers, and to investigate using SSR markers in pure line selection.
The genetic diversity of bambara groundnut was assessed based on morphological characters for two seasons; in a glasshouse experiment at the University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, UK and in a field experiment that was conducted at the Botswana College of Agriculture (Notwane farm), Gaborone in a randomised block design with three replicates. The landraces were characterised for 24 quantitative and 13 qualitative characters. The results indicated considerable variation for quantitative characters, while significant morphological differences were also recorded for most characters. Multivariate data analysis was conducted using principal component analysis, cluster analysis and heritability estimates were developed. The low cost, simplicity and agricultural relevance of morphological characterisation makes it an important tool in germplasm genetic variation studies.
Thirty four lines from field experiments were investigated for genetic diversity based on 20 microsatellites. The expected heterozygosity (He) had an average of 1 in agreement with the fact that bambara groundnut is predominantly self-pollinating. Both cluster analysis and principle component analysis (PCoA) grouped landraces based mainly on their areas of origin.
A thorough molecular analysis of genetic and morphological variation in bambara groundnut was conducted to investigate the relationship between the two assessment techniques. This comparison will assist in breeders making informed decisions as to which approach is best to use in germplasm characterisation and plant breeding and how best to apply such knowledge in practical situations. DNA markers could then aid with the selection of germplasm for breeding, quality control within breeding programmes and, potentially, direct selection via Marker Assisted Selection (MAS). Euclidean distance estimates for morphological data and (Nei's 1972) genetic distance estimates for SSR data were strongly correlated (r = 0.7; P < 0.001) in the agronomy bay and (r = 0.6; P< 0.001) in the controlled growth room. These results suggest the two approaches are generating the same pattern of genetic diversity, and as such can be used as a surrogate for each other.


Grapevine stilbene synthase gene (STS) family is unusually large with more than 32 members of full-length genes. Resveratrol and piceid are synthesized in VaSTS7-, VvSTS22-, VaSTS22-transgenic Arabidopsis. To study the function of these STS genes in the resistance against Botrytis cinerea in vivo, lesion sizes on these STS transgenic Arabidopsis were compared to that on non-transgenic control Col-0, at 96 hours post inoculation with B. cinerea spores at 0, 200, or 1,000 spores/μl. In each experiment there were three biological replicates. Three lesion sizes from each replicate were averaged. The experiment was repeated three times. The results showed that the STSoverexpressing Arabidopsis did not show resistance to B. cinerea, indicating that single STS gene might not be fully functional in defending against B. cinerea. In a second project, two new Grapevine vein clearing virus (GVCV) isolates were sequenced and analyzed. The two GVCV isolates have 99.8% identical nucleotide sequence, thus were considered as same strain although they were isolated from two plants in different genera of the Vitaceae family. The conserved domains, secondary structure of leader RNA, and phylogenetic relationship were predicted among seven isolates. The results provide new evidence that GVCV spreads across plants in different genera. Thus, it is urgent to take measures for preventing virus spread.


Remember World War II: Kids Who Survived Tell Their Stories allows readers to understand the war not as seen through the eyes of soldiers but through the eyes of children who survived the bombings, the blackouts, the hunger, the fear, and the loss of loved ones caused by the war. The author shares her own recollections of being able to see the faces of Japanese pilots as they headed for the naval base at Pearl Harbor to drop their deadly bombs on unsuspecting American ships and soldiers, then shares her feelings at having to leave her father behind as the rest of the family is evacuated to the U.S. mainland.


Radiation damage to space-based Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) detectors creates defects which result in an increasing Charge Transfer Inefficiency (CTI) that causes spurious image trailing. Most of the trailing can be corrected during post-processing, by modelling the charge trapping and moving electrons back to where they belong. However, such correction is not perfect – and damage is continuing to accumulate in orbit. To aid future development, we quantify the limitations of current approaches, and determine where imperfect knowledge of model parameters most degrade measurements of photometry and morphology. As a concrete application, we simulate 1.5×109 "worst case" galaxy and 1.5×108 star images to test the performance of the Euclid visual instrument detectors. There are two separable challenges: If the model used to correct CTI is perfectly the same as that used to add CTI, 99.68 % of spurious ellipticity is corrected in our setup. This is because readout noise is not subject to CTI, but gets over-corrected during correction. Second, if we assume the first issue to be solved, knowledge of the charge trap density within ∆ρ/ρ= (0.0272±0.0005)%, and the characteristic release time of the dominant species to be known within ∆τ /τ = (0.0400 ± 0.0004)% will be required. This work presents the next level of definition of in-orbit CTI calibration procedures for Euclid.


The current study investigated the effects of oral code-mixing and glossing on L2 vocabulary learning. To this end, 60 EFL learners studying at pre-university school were given a pre-test to make sure that they did not have any prior knowledge of the target words. Based on their scores in the pre-test, 36 pre-university students were selected and divided into three groups, including two experimental groups and one control group. All three groups were provided with the same text, under three different conditions. The participants of the first experimental group received L1 translations of target words orally by the researcher to investigate any possible effects of code-mixing. The participants of the second experimental group received the L1 translation of the new words in a written form to check the possible effects of glossing technique, and the participants of the control group were provided with the same text without any oral or written definition. After three days, a cued production test and a multiple choice test were administered as the immediate post-tests. One week later, a delayed post-test was administered. The results showed that there were significant differences among the three groups. Indeed, the findings revealed that both code-mixing and glossing techniques are effective for vocabulary learning. Meanwhile, the participants of the glossing group outperformed the participants of code-mixing condition.


This paper tests for the extent of moral hazard problem within a Crop Damage Compensation (CDC) program that is similar to traditional multi peril crop insurances but is publicly funded and openly accessible for all farmers in Finland. We further estimate the potential of using the observed farmer and farm characteristics in ranking and classifying farms according to their incidence towards losses when they are protected. The data are the claimed and granted indemnity payments for each farm over the fifteen year period of 1995-2009. These data are complemented by data on total farm population in 2005. The data suggest that most of the farmers (60%) have not made any claims in the CDC program over the 15 year period. Those farms that claimed compensation did so typically either once or twice within the 15 year period. Nevertheless, a substantial number of farmers have claimed and also granted indemnity payments more regularly than can be justified by the exogenous (aggregate level) yield distributions. Based on the logit models, farmers and farms with certain observed characteristics are more inclined to the losses than the others. In general presence of animals declines the probability of crop damage. However, the existence of different animals on the farm classifies the farms by their inclination to collect crop damage compensations. In addition, the fixed municipality effects are significant indicating that the persons in charge for appraising the losses implement different standards


The use of cattle manure and other organic compounds can be a profitable and efficient alternative in sustainable agriculture. The aim of this work was to evaluate the development and production of sesame 'BRS Seda' for organic fertilization at different doses, under the conditions of soil and climate found in Catole do Rocha, in the State of Paraiba, Brazil. The following characteristics were evaluated: number of leaves and pods; plant height; stem diameter; number of flowers; dry weight of the leaves, stems, roots, pods and seeds; number and length of secondary branches; height of the first fruit; seeds per pod; pod length; and emergence percentage and speed of the produced seedlings. The different doses of cattle manure influenced pod length, number of seeds per pod, and emergence percentage and speed of the produced seedlings, with better results for the dose of 40 t ha-1.

 Key words: Sesamum indicum L., fertilization, morpho-agronomic characterization, organic production.


Algal cell walls are composed of a diverse array of fibrillar, matrix and crystalline polymers interacting with various ions and water. The diverse array of cell walls exhibited in the various algal groups is a manifestation of ancient evolutionary origins and ecological pressures of modern earth habitats. Cell walls often represent the dominant component of the extracellular matrix and represent the largest or a significant percentage of the photosynthetically fixed carbon of the algae. Walls are typically fibrous composites of microfibrillar polysaccharides embedded in matrix polysaccharides and proteoglycans. Scales and extracellular polymeric substances may also constitute the algal extracellular matrix. The production of the cell walls requires the highly coordinated interaction of several subcellular systems and is controlled by complex gene expression programmes. Modern technologies employed from immunology, molecular genetics, biochemistry and microscopy-based imaging are transforming our understanding of the cell structure, functions and development.

Key Concepts:

Algae represent a diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotes with a wide range of cell wall types.

New technologies derived from immunology, microscopy-based imaging, molecular genetics and biochemistry are greatly enhancing our understanding of algal cell walls.

Primitive green algae of the Prasinophyceae produce layers of multishaped scales.

The Charophycean green algae produce cell walls containing polymers similar to land plants.

The red algae possess complex composite cell walls made of cellulose, xylan or mannan fibrils and extensive matrix polysaccharides including the economically important carrageenan and agar.

Diatoms produce highly sculpted frustules made of silica-based composites and often produce extensive stalks and other extracellular polymeric substances.

Brown algae produce cell walls containing cellulose, matrix polysaccharides and in some cases, phenolics.

Keywords:

cellulose;
pectins;
scales;
frustule;
carageenan;
align;
morphogenesis;
algae


One of the most common physical damage in silver gelatin prints is losses which occurs due to many deterioration factors (i.e. rodent attack, improper handling, fire, etc.). Conventionally, conservators compensated for the losses by making paper infills. While this method improves the physical structure of the treated print, it creates an unacceptable appearance due to the large contrast between the tone of the original photograph and the blank paper. Manual retouching of the missing part does not provide a better solution either, since it is achieved using a different medium (i.e. watercolors, ink washes, conté crayons, pastels, and graphite). Many conservators are now aware of the advantages of digital restoration in treating old photographs. Hence, the importance of this study, which focuses mainly on modifying conventional methods used to treat losses by combining it with a digital restoration technique. The concept of this idea is solely based on the authors' vision. Accordingly, the main aim of this paper is to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed novel technique. Experiments were carried out on two old photographs of no significant value. Both photographs suffered from losses, particularly around the edges. Missing parts were digitally restored using Adobe Photoshop Software. Restored image data was then printed on Japanese paper using two types of printers: inkjet and laser. Samples or each printing process was exposed to artificial aging at a temperature of 80° and 65% relative humidity for a period of 120 hours to study the long-term efficacy of the proposed technique; as well as the effects it has on silver gelatin prints. Several examination and analysis methods were carried out for technique evaluation including: visual inspection, scanning electron microscope equipped with an EDX unit, attenuated total Reflectance Fourier transform Infrared (ATRFTIR), colorimetric measurements, pH value measurement, and the Oddy test. Based on obtained results, laser printing is much more stable compared to inkjet printing; and therefore, it is considered the best option for this technique. All in all, one can conclude that the proposed technique is a very promising technique which can be efficiently used to restore losses in damaged photographic prints with slight effects on the original photograph.


A monolithic integrated low noise amplifier (LNA) based on a SiGe HBT process for a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) is presented. An optimizing strategy of taking parasitic capacities at the input node into consideration is adopted and a method and design equations of monolithically designing the LC load and the output impedance matching circuit are introduced. The LNA simultaneously reaches excellent noise and input/output impedance matching. The measurement results show that the LNA gives an ultra-low noise figure of 0.97 dB, a power gain of 18.6 dB and a three-order input intermodulation point of −6 dBm at the frequency of 1.575 GHz. The chip consumes 5.4 mW from a 1.8 V source and occupies 600 × 650 μm2 die area.


Gadolinium, Gd 3+ (4f 7 ), containing glasses are particularly interesting owing to their magnetic and optical properties. Gd 3+ has an electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) centre, which is often used as the EPR probe in different matrices. Another important feature of Gd 3+ is that emits ultraviolet radiation (UVR) at around 310 - 313 nm from the 6 P7/2  8 S7/2 transition and is suitable for the treatment of skin disease. Here, we report on Gd 3+ doped calcium phosphate host glasses with four different concentrations; 0.5 - 4 mol % and labelled as 0.5Gd, 1Gd, 2Gd and 4Gd. A strong emission peak at 310 nm was observed in the reported glasses with excitation at 274 nm. The emission spectra can also be obtained at specific times during the decay. The time resolved emission data was analyzed with three different approaches namely, simple exponential, NED distribution and stretched exponential. The other approaches confirm the single exponential behaviour for all samples with deviation for the 0.5 Gd. The decay associated spectra (DAS) for the 0.5 Gd indicate that both decays have the same origin. The EPR spectrum exhibits several resonance signals characteristic of Gd 3+ ions. The stimulated emission cross sections (σ P E×10 −21 cm 2 ) of the UV emission transition 6 P7/2  8 S7/2 were also reported in the above three approaches. Copyright © 2016 VBRI Press.


We solve and test experimentally a global-games model of speculative attacks where agents can choose whether to read, at a cost, a payoff irrelevant (sunspot) announcement. Assuming that subjects exogenously believe some others to follow sunspots, we provide conditions for a unique equilibrium where agents follow a sunspot announcement depending on the realization of an informative private signal. Although most groups converge to classical global-game strategies that neglect sunspots, we find that about one-third of groups are eventually coordinating on sunspots, which is inconsistent with the standard theory. In line with the assumption of subjects expecting others to follow sunspots, subjects overestimate the number of subjects who follow sunspots by about 100% on average. We conclude that in environments with high strategic uncertainty, payoff irrelevant signals can affect behavior even if they are costly to obtain and not expected to be publicly observed.


The ability to express "derived predicates" in the formalization of a planning domain is both practically and theoretically important. In this paper, we propose an approach to planning with derived predicates where the search space consists of "Rule-Action Graphs", particular graphs of actions and rules representing derived predicates. We present some techniques for representing rules and reasoning with them, which are integrated into a method for planning through local search and rule-action graphs. We also propose some new heuristics for guiding the search, and some experimental results illustrating the performance of our approach. Our proposed techniques are implemented in a planner that took part in the fourth International Planning Competition showing good performance in many benchmark problems.


Traditionally, the critique of literary representation hinges on 'symptomatic' forms of reading in which textual elements are regarded as expressive of deeper ideological issues. In the Digital Humanities, textual approaches are operationalised that target measurable elements on the textual surface. For a digitally oriented critique of representation, this creates a tension between the text's surface and its 'hidden' depths that reside between the lines. In this contribution, the merits and pitfalls of a Digital Humanities critique of representation are considered by focusing on character representation in literature. It is argued that symptomatic and surface reading are not mutually exclusive, but can potentially enhance one another, provided that one stays clear from problem solving rhetoric and neopositivist assumptions.


This paper proposes a quantitative optimization model to investigate the oil supply risk from the perspective of the diversification of oil import sources. Japan and South Korea are highly dependent on oil imports from foreign countries. Both countries are seeking sustainable strategies to ensure a continuous and stable oil supply. Effective diversification of crude oil imports plays an important role in energy security. The optimization results imply that Japan faces the highest oil import risk. Japan should reduce oil imports from Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Instead, Japan should import more oil from Russia and Iraq. South Korea should reduce its oil dependence on the Persian Gulf countries. Based on forecasts of oil demand and production, Japan and South Korea will have lower oil supply risks until 2035. It can be attributed to the decreased oil imports and improved energy efficiency for both countries under individual energy efficiency programs. The Middle East countries maintain the dominant positions in oil imports for both Japan and South Korea. Saudi Arabia will remain the largest supplier to both countries.


We have come a long way since programming had to be done by tediously listing machine-level instructions that prescribed how a specific computer was to modify and move bits and words in its memory. The author describes his dream about freeing ourselves from the straightjackets of programming, making the process of getting computers to do what we want intuitive, natural, and also fun. He recommends harnessing the great power of computing and transforming a natural and almost playful means of programming so that it becomes fully operational and machine-doable. Once liberated, programmers will probably have new kinds of work to do, possibly including the need to set up specialized features of the new sophisticated computational tools that would be running in the background.


The cytology and morphology of three strains of Aspergillus terricola were studied in the course of synthesis of proteolytic enzymes. The level of the enzymes in the cultural broth was highest during the growth of the diffused mycelium, and was accompanied with specific cytodifferentiation of the fungal hyphae. The contact between the hyphae of the producing culture and the growth medium is presumed to be important for biosynthesis of the enzymes.


Confronting with the dual task of developing the economy and protecting the environment, China has made environmental protection one of its basic national policies. In the absence of well-defined property rights, disputes over water use have become more frequent, options for the procurement of environmental water rights in China is a pending issue in the process of sustainable development. Due to the public characteristics of environmental goods, the operation of a simple market or the control by government may not allocate water resources efficiently, the government should play a role via public and private programs enhance the environment through the direct acquisition of environment amenities. The estimation of values for preserving environmental assets is more challenging.


INTRODUCTION
There is no information in the literature about surgical outcome of the distal splenorenal shunt (Warren shunt) in those patients with anomalous flow in the left renal vein to the inferior vena cava.

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this manuscript was to evaluate the incidence of thrombosis in the Warren shunt in those patients with anomalous flow in the left renal vein to the inferior vena cava.

METHODS
We performed a prospective, descriptive and longitudinal study in those patients who performed a surgical procedure to the treatment of hemorrhagic portal hypertension in a tertiary referral center in Mexico City during a one year period (2002-2003). Before the surgical procedure an arterial and venous angiographic study was done including celiac axis, superior mesenteric artery and splenic artery. The patients were scheduled in the outpatient office the first, third, sixth month and the year after the surgical procedure. We looked in them for gastrointestinal bleeding secondary to portal hypertension. In those patients with Warren shunt an angiographic study was done during the first month after the surgical procedure.

RESULTS
Twenty eight patients were included, 17 of them women (60.7%). Median patient age was 48 years old. In 20 patients a Warren shunt were done and in eigth patients a devascularization operation were done. The anomalous flow of the left renal vein was identified in nine patients (28.7%). In seven of them a Warren shunt were done and in two of them a devascularization operation were done. We didn't find gastrointestinal bleeding or thrombosis of the Warren shunt in any of these patients.

CONCLUSION
In those cases of patients with anomalous flow in the left renal vein a Warren shunt can be performed. In this study we didn't find thrombosis of the shunt or gastrointestinal bleeding. In this way a surgical decompression of the portal system can be done preventing bleeding episodes.


Compartment syndrome is defined by high pressures in a closed myofascial compartment, which affects initially the muscles and later the nerves and vessels. The hand is rarely affected, but if treated suboptimally, it results to a permanent loss of function. Eleven compartments are included in the hand and wrist. Diagnosis of compartment syndrome of the hand remains challenging. Pain out of proportion of injury and excessive swelling should raise suspicion towards a compartment syndrome. Intracompartmental pressure measurement contributes to the diagnosis, but it is not always reliable. Once the diagnosis of acute compartment syndrome has been made, decompression of all compartments is mandatory, in order to achieve a good outcome. Failing to manage this emergent condition properly leads to a significant hand disability. Our chapter includes the following sections: 1. Introduction. A brief description of the hand compartment syndrome is presented. 2. Anatomy. Special considerations regarding hand compartments are presented, 3. Etiology. 4. Diagnosis. Signs and symptoms are reported, as well as guidelines of the technique of intracompartmental pressure measurement. 5. Treatment. Faciotomies' indications and operative technique are described in details. 6. Conclusion. Appropriate figures of the clinical image and surgical decompression are presented as well.


In this research, failure mechanism, soil deformation and effect of reinforcement below a strip foundation were studied using physical modeling and PIV method. For this purpose, a comprehensive set of tests were undertaken on dense and loose sands and different geosynthetic materials such as geotextile and geogrid for soil reinforcing. In each step of loading, digital image of deformed soil was captured and image processing was applied with GeoPIV software. The experimental results showed that using of geogrid and geotextile leading to increase bearing capacity considerably, reduce settlement and change the failure mechanism of sand. The test results showed also that geogrid has an effective performance in comparison with geotextile in sand at the range of small strains.


This research article presents the method of identifying the issuing ruler through special inscriptions engraved on coins issued by the Kushan period rulers in India during the Kushan rule. Each ruler in the Kushan period used to issue his coins and those coins had a special sign of that particular ruler, which has been presented with figures of coins in this article. After referring the coins figure in this article and by integrating the inscriptions on it, the concerned ruler can be easily identified and the Kushan ruler who issued the coin can also be easily identified. Study of the identity of the issuer ruler based on the particular sign of the coins doesn't come under the cognizance of the researcher.


We read with great interest the paper by Jess et al reporting an increased risk of incident inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) following Campylobacter and Salmonella infections.1 Their results were consistent with prior epidemiological studies of large electronic databases yielding data supportive of an association between the onset of IBD and antecedent acute infectious diarrhoea.2 3 However, Jess et al discounted the potential causal association between infectious gastroenteritis and IBD onset in a susceptible population and concluded that the observed association was a function of detection bias due to increased microbial surveillance among those with IBD-like symptoms. In support of their argument, similarities in temporal IBD risk patterns following Campylobacter - or Salmonella -confirmed infection and for pathogen-negative stool …


The typical style and features of mountains and waters in Caoshi Ancient Town, have hitherto been well preserved. Caoshi Ancient Town boasts superior base of the natural eco-environment and deep-rooted background of regional culture, where mountains, waters, shoals, towns and other landscape elements are merged harmoniously, the transportation and geographical conditions have been fundamentally changed. Ancient towns, old temples, ancient forests, ancient wells and ancient piers are unique in different ways, with characteristics of tourism resources such as long history and ancient folklore. It should seize the historical opportunity of China vigorously developing rural tourism based on the construction of the new socialist countryside, to make characteristic agricultural economy gain ground; assume the leading role to drive the development of tourism economy in surrounding areas; correctly handle the relationship between development and protection to walk the path of sustainable development of tourism.


This study evaluates the effects of free visits to museums on charged visits. We take the Italian State museums and monuments as the case study, and we consider monthly data, aggregate at the national level, from January 1996 to December 2015. Within a multivariate analysis, which takes into account the seasonal structure of data, we document a positive influence of the number of free visits to museums and monuments on the subsequent charged visits. We also analyse the effect of a recent policy change (July 2014), consisting of an extension of free admittance. We show that the new rule has entailed an increase in both free and charged visits, as well as a stronger link between the patterns of free and charged visits. Our results can be informative in the ever-green debate on the museum attendance and its relations with individual choices and public policies regarding cultural consumption.


Principals who exercise favouritism towards certain agents may harm those who are not so favoured. Other papers have produced evidence consistent with the presence of such favouritism but have been unable to consider methods for controlling it. We address this issue in the context of a natural experiment from English soccer, where one particular league introduced professional referees in 2001-02, thereby changing the financial incentives and monitoring regime faced by these referees. Because the change was not effected in all leagues, the 'experiment' has both cross-sectional and intertemporal dimensions. We study the effects of professional referees on an established measure of referee bias: length of injury time in close matches. We find that referees exercised favouritism prior to professionalism but not afterwards, having controlled for selection and soccer-wide effects. The results are consistent with a financial incentive effect as a result of professional referees and indicate that subtle aspects of principal-agent relationships (such as favouritism) are amenable to contractual influence.


Leukocytes play a major role in combating infections either by phagocytosis, release of antimicrobial granules, or extracellular trap (ET) formation. ET formation is preceded by a certain leukocyte cell death form, known as ETosis, an evolutionarily conserved mechanism of the innate immune system also observed in marine mammals. Besides several biomolecules and microbial stimuli, marine mammal ETosis is also trigged by various terrestrial protozoa and metazoa, considered nowadays as neozoan parasites, which are circulating in oceans worldwide and causing critical emerging marine diseases. Recent studies demonstrated that pinniped- and cetacean-derived polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) and monocytes are able to form different phenotypes of ET structures composed of nuclear DNA, histones, and cytoplasmic peptides/proteases against terrestrial apicomplexan parasites, e.g., Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum. Detailed molecular analyses and functional studies proved that marine mammal PMNs and monocytes cast ETs in a similar way as terrestrial mammals, entrapping and immobilizing T. gondii and N. caninum tachyzoites. Pinniped- and cetacean leukocytes induce vital and suicidal ETosis, with highly reliant actions of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase (NOX), generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and combined mechanisms of myeloperoxidase (MPO), neutrophil elastase (NE), and DNA citrullination via peptidylarginine deiminase IV (PAD4).This scoping review intends to summarize the knowledge on emerging protozoans in the marine environment and secondly to review limited data about ETosis mechanisms in marine mammalian species.


: The original mode of screening evaluation of colonizational resistance of oral cavity made it possible to detect its decreasing under caries of teeth solid tissue and development of catarrhal gingivitis. In springtime, the degree of failure of primarily barrier mechanism of oral mucous membrane increases.


tee, I have extensive experience in assembling criteria that are used to accord recognition to scientists at or near the Nobel Prize level. We use the number of citations listed for both pertinent people and papers as provided by the Science Citation Index as one of a large number ofcriteria on which to base our decisions. I must believe that responsible, intelligent people in comparable positions who are assessing research performance by university departments would act in a similar fashion, and I only hope that the out-of-hand rejections described in the aforementioned article are not really the position of the people involved but repre-


In this second volume of Professor White's studies, the emphasis shifts to Italian art in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the major figures who were responsible for the decisive changes in painting and sculpture that were to lead on to the Renaissance. Here again, however, there is the same concern with the actual monuments. The author devotes two major studies to the reconstruction of the "original appearance of Duccio's Maesta and of Nicola Pisano's Perugia Fountain. An important new study of the physical evidence for Cimabue's work at Assisi shows the value of an understanding of the working processes involved there. This conviction that the starting point in a thorough investigation into the original appearance or development of any work of art lies in the observation of the physical evidence is central to Professor White's approach, whether this may be the arrangement of panels on a polyptych, or the scrutiny of giornate on a painted ceiling.


In the context of X-ray crystallography, the molecular replacement (MR) method is frequently used to obtain phase information for a crystallographic unit cell packed with a macromolecule of unknown conformation. This is important because an X-ray diffraction experiment on its own does not provide full structural information. The shape and symmetry of the unit cell is determined by the space group symmetry. The most common space group for biological macromolecules is P212121. The goal of MR searches is to place a homologous/similar molecule in the unit cell so as to maximize the correlation with X-ray diffraction data, and then to use the model to add the unknown phase information to the experimental data. MR software packages typically perform rotation and translation searches separately. This works quite well for single-domain proteins that can be treated as rigid bodies. However, for multi-domain structures and complexes, computational requirements can become prohibitive and the desired peaks can become hidden in a noisy landscape. The main contribution of our approach is that computationally expensive MR searches in continuous configuration space are replaced by a search on a relatively small discrete set of candidate packing arrangements of a multi-rigid-body model. First, candidate arrangements are generated by collision detections on a coarse grid in the configuration space. This list of feasible arrangements is short because collision-free packing requirement together with unit cell symmetry and geometry impose strong constraints. After computing Patterson correlations of the collision-free arrangements, an even shorter list can be obtained using the 10 candidates with highest correlations. In numerical trials, we found that a candidate from the feasible set is usually similar to the arrangement of the target structure within the unit cell. To further improve the accuracy, a rapidly-exploring random tree (RRT) can be applied in the neighborhood of this packing arrangement. Our approach is demonstrated with multi-domain models in silico for 3D, with ellipsoids representing both the domains of the model and target structures. Our results show that an approximate phase can be found with mean absolute error less than 5 degrees and search speed is effectively improved.


While ambitious art museums, biennials, galleries, curators, and critics promoted early Colombian conceptual art and its antecedents as being part of the latest international art trends, the intrepid iconoclasts who created it were not at all interested in being au courant or international. Far from it, their primary focus was on addressing local issues and audiences. They had an ambivalent relationship to institutions, taking advantage of internationalization, which was part of a strategy for cultural and economic development. But these artists did so in order to insert their own tactics emerging from, and dealing with, the realities of underdevelopment. Artists such as Antonio Caro, Jorge Posada, and Efrain Arrieta – developing approaches first introduced by antecedents like Bernardo Salcedo, Feliza Bursztyn, and Beatriz Gonzalez – sought to open the viewers' eyes to the concrete experience of the here-and-now through the use of usually banal and often ephemeral materials and techniques. They focused critically on social issues – nationalism, education, imperialism, agrarian inequity, governmental policy, and political organization. In taking on specific, timely, and usually local matters dealing with culture, politics, the economy, and social organization, they sought to upset the prevailing conditions outside as well as inside the realm of art. Even the introduction of new forms and ways of producing art should be seen as an ideological rather than a formal exercise since it constituted a cultural assault against the Colombian ruling class. This art, then, was political: it was motivated by beliefs regarding the public affairs of a country. I argue that early Colombian conceptual art was a visual means of exposing institutional strategies of control. I show how this art partook of the spirit of participation which marked the late 1960s and early 1970s in Colombia and in the world. In the process, I add to the understanding of this tumultuous period in world history, since my study is an example of the complex processes of cultural production in an age of globalization.


Modelling of moisture transport in wood is of great importance as most mechanical and physical properties of wood depend on moisture content. Moisture transport in porous materials is often described by Ficks second law, but several observations indicate that this does not apply very well to wood. Recently at the Technical University of Denmark, Department of Civil Engineering, a new model for moisture transport in wood has been developed. The model divides the transport into two phases, namely water vapour in the cell lumens and bound water in the cell walls.


Mobile telephony's technical and market success in Europe attracted researchers' interest in mobile systems. Some researchers began investigating appropriate architectures for providing information services to cellular mobile telephony users, and the quest for the "killer" third-generation (3G) mobile telephony application dominated the EU Information Society Technology research program. Dozens of projects launched to pursue this aim, and we were intimately involved in several of them. We report here on lessons learned during our involvement in this research and suggest how pervasive computing might benefit from this experience. Although some business and practical challenges exist, mobile phones could serve as information service end points, control devices for ubiquitous systems, network hubs for personal and body area networks, and ID tokens.


Natural products have been an important historical source of therapeutic agents. Microorganisms are major source of bioactive natural products, and several microbial products including antibiotics, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumour, immunosuppressants and others are currently used as therapeutic agents for human and  domestic animals. Most of these products were obtained from cultured environmental microorganisms. However, it is widely accepted that a very large majority of the microorganisms present in natural  environments are not readily cultured under laboratory conditions, and therefore are not accessible for drug  discovery. Metagenomics is a recent culture-independent approach that has been developed to access the  collective genomes of natural bacterial populations. It enables discovery of the diverse biosynthetic pathways encoded by diverse microbial assemblages that are known to be present in the environment but not-yet  cultured. Recently, several new bioactive molecules and proteins have been discovered using a metagenomic approach. This review highlights the recent methodologies, limitations, and applications of metagenomics for the discovery of new drugs. Moreover, it shows how a multidisciplinary approach combining metagenomics with other technologies can expedite and revolutionize drug discovery from diverse environmental microorganisms. Key words : Microbial diversity, metagenomics, natural products, drug discovery, microbial ecology.


It is an enduring request to reform and advance the quality of governmental systems according to the needs of society and economy. Some of the most critical tools for this purpose are the information and communication technologies (ICT). Electronic government, among other things, has been documented to increase efficiency of government operations and to provide better and more customized services to citizens and businesses. However, a review of the recent literature has uncovered both an inability to quantify the value creation of ICT implementation in public domains and a lack of an analytical cost-effectiveness framework to evaluate the monetary impacts of digitization on governance structures. This study offers an analytical method to quantify the gains from public services' digitization and focuses on electronic justice (e-justice), a sector with huge challenges ahead for public governance. We provide specific cashable financial gains for administrations that might originate from the digitization of judi-cial systems. The proposed method can make up a framework for setting digital priorities and helping governments seize the opportunities that digitization offers.


There is an increasing interest in the concept of social exclusion and the related concept of social isolation and their potential role in understanding inequality. We examine the degree to which voluntary separation from social activities during adolescence affects adult wages. It is well-known that participation in high school athletic programs leads to higher adult wages. We present empirical evidence that this premium is not primarily due to selection on predetermined characteristics valued in the labor market.


Renewable energy is one of the vital sources to meet partially the global energy demand of developed as well as developing countries. Biogas plant can be one of the major sources of renewable energy in Malaysia as huge amount of palm oil waste is available. Biogas plant can be of different types of which fixed dome and floating cover are in use in many countries for many years. The bag design is becoming popular in many countries. The fixed dome design is used in various palm oil mills. The generated gas can be used for cooking, lighting, power generation and the sludge can be used as fertilizer for land. Palm oil waste is easily available and inexpensive, the major share of costs are incurred at the initial stage. The operating and the maintenance costs are quite low. In the present work an attempt has been taken to study the technological parameters for commonly used fixed dome biogas plant for two different sizes. The costs related to the fabrication of plant are collected from various sources and the other items were estimated on the basis of available information. Net present worth, internal rate of return, benefit cost ratio and payback period were calculated. On the basis of calculated values it was found that the biogas plant is economically viable and viability increased with the increase of plant size. The technological suitability in the context of prevailing situation, economic viability and future scope of biogas plants has been evaluated. The findings of this study would give some directions and guidelines for future planning and implementation of biogas plants in Malaysia.


Geometry of fish tanks tends to affect the growth and yield of fish. The impact of tank geometry on the production of Clarias gariepinus was evaluated. Circular, rectangular and ellipsoid tanks were used to test the variation of water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen and total suspended solids on African catfish growth performance. Results on water temperature, pH, DO, were within the acceptable ranges of 24.9-25.9°C, 6.39-7.52 and 5.81-8.32 mg/l, for circular tank; 25.1-26.1˚C, 6.49-7.53 and 3.96-8.53 mg/l, for rectangular tank; and 24.5-26.2°C, 6.49-7.50 and 5.08-8.43 mg/l, for ellipsoid tank; respectively. Weight gain ranged from 14 to 576 g, 13 to 330 g and 14 to 557 g; feed conversion ratio (FCR) ranged from 1.11-1.33, 1.23-1.54 and 1.22-1.34; specific growth rate (SGR) ranged from 0.40 g/day to 3.64 g/day, 0.11 to 2.27 g/day and 0.79 to 3.12 g/day; survival rate were >88, >84 and >92% for circular, rectangular and ellipsoid tanks, respectively. Except for weight gain and FCR, all other parameters (length increment, SGR and survival rate) showed no significant difference (P = .05) among the 3 tank geometries. Benefit cost ratio (BCR) for the circular, ellipsoid and rectangular tank was 1.12, 1.13 and 0.79, respectively.

 Key words: Aquatic system, benefit-cost, ellipsoid tank, growth performance, mudfish.


The 2016 Budapest explosion occurred on 24 September 2016 when a young man detonated a nail bomb to kill two patrolling police officers. This case-study analyses the official communication of the Hungarian Police Forces focusing on the elapsed time until their first official reaction. I argue that the first 24 hours after the detonation are the most crucial, so working with speed and efficiency is important. I claim that the successful crisis management process takes not only the bias of mass media into consideration, but the influence of user generated contents and conspiracy theories as well. The application of a holding statement, designed to help controlling the message the public will hear immediately following an incident, is also essential.


As a crucial transcription factor family, heat-shock factors were mainly analyzed and characterized in tomato and Arabidopsis. In this study, we isolated two putative heatshock factors OsHSF6 and OsHSF12 that interact specifically with heat-shock element (HSE) from Oryza sativa L by yeast one-hybrid method. The full-length cDNA of OsHSF6 and OsHSF12 have 1074bp and 920bp open reading frame (ORF), respectively. Analysis of the deduced amino acid sequences revealed that OsHSF6 was a class A heat shock factor (HSF) with all the conserved sequence elements characteristic of heat stress transcription factor, while OsHSF12 was a class B HSF with C-terminal domain (CTD) lacking of AHA motif. Bioinformatic analysis showed that the sequences and structures of two HSFs' DNA binding domain (DBD) had a high similarity with LpHSF24. The results of RT-PCR indicated OsHSF6 gene was expressed immediately after rice plants exposure to heat stress, and the transcription of OsHSF6 gene accumulated primarily in immature seeds, roots and leaves. However, we did not find the transcription of OsHSF12 gene in different organs and growth periods. Our results implied that OsHSF6 might be function as a HSF regulating early expression of stress genes in response to heat shock, and OsHSF12 might be act as a synergistic factor to regulate the expression of down-stream genes.


Does digitalization reduce corruption? What are the benefits of data-driven digital government innovations to strengthen public integrity and advance the Sustainable Development Goals? While the correlation between digitalization and corruption is well established, there is less actionable evidence on the effects of specific digitalization reforms on different types of corruption and the policy channels through which they operate. This paper unbundles the integrity dividends of digital reforms that the pandemic has accelerated. It analyses the rise of integrity-tech and integrity analytics in the anticorruption space, deployed by data-savvy integrity institutions. It also assesses the broader integrity dividends of government digitalization for cutting redtape, reducing discretion and increasing transparency in government services and social transfers. It argues that digital government can be an effective anticorruption strategy, with subtler yet deeper effects. There nevertheless needs to be greater synergies between digital reforms and anticorruption strategies.


Recognizing 3-D objects has a wide range of application areas from autonomous robots to self-driving vehicles. The popularity of low-cost RGB-D sensors has enabled a rapid progress in 3-D object recognition in the recent years. Most of the existing studies use depth data as an additional channel to the RGB channels. Instead of this approach, we propose two volumetric representations to reveal rich 3-D structural information hidden in depth images. We present a 3-D convolutional neural network (CNN)-based object recognition approach, which utilizes these volumetric representations and single and multi-rotational depth images. The 3-D CNN architecture trained to recognize single depth images produces competitive results with the state-of-the-art methods on two publicly available datasets. However, recognition accuracy increases further when the multiple rotations of objects are brought together. Our multirotational 3-D CNN combines information from multiple views of objects to provide rotational invariance and improves the accuracy significantly comparing with the single-rotational approach. The results show that utilizing multiple views of objects can be highly informative for the 3-D CNN-based object recognition.


The "Green Building" is an interdisciplinary theme, where the green building concept includes a multitude of elements, components and procedures which diverge to several subtopics that intertwined to form the green building concept. Generally, the green building is considered to be an environmental component, as the green building materials are manufactured from local eco-sources, i.e. environmentally friendly materials, which are then used to make an eco-construction subject to an eco-design that provides a healthy habitat built on the cultural and architectural heritage in construction while ensuring conservation of natural resources. This ensures disassembling the building components and materials, after a determined building lifetime, to environmentally friendly materials that can be either re-used or recycled. During their lifecycle, the green buildings minimize the use of resources (energy and water); reduce the harmful impact on the ecology, and provide better indoor environment. Green buildings afford a high level of environmental, economic, and engineering performance. These include energy efficiency and conservation, improved indoor air quality, resource and material efficiency, and occupant's health and productivity. This study focuses on defining green buildings and elaborating their interaction with the environment, energy, and indoor air quality and ventilation. Furthermore, the present study investigates the green building materials (e.g. biocement, eco-cement and green concrete), green designs, green roofs, and green technologies. Additionally, the present study highlights the green buildings rating systems, the economics of green buildings, and the challenges that face the implementation. Eventually, the interdependency between the green buildings and agriculture has been discussed. Keywords: green building , agricultural buildings , biocement, eco-cement, green concrete, green roofs, low-energy building, zero-carbon building , eco-construction


In recent years many common law jurisdictions in the United States, Australia and Canada have passed legislation protecting apologies from civil liability (mostly negligence). ? 2 of the Compensation Act 2006 (UK) is one of the more recent provisions. It applies in England and Wales but not to Scotland. It also differs significantly from other such provisions. This article explores what lessons can be learned about the likely impact of ? 2 from the experience in other countries and the literature on apology, whether the legislation is likely to have an effect on the propensity to sue and whether the fact that it does not apply in Scotland will create a significant difference between that jurisdiction and England and Wales in respect of approaches to civil liability.


Background Injury prevention programs (IPP) have demonstrated positive results in reducing the incidence of traumatic lower extremity (LE) injuries. However, it is not well documented how biomechanical alterations caused by IPP's contribute to improved physical performance. Objective To evaluate the effects of an IPP on bilateral LE biomechanics during a single-leg hop task (SLH). Design Quasi-experimental. Setting Collegiate Soccer Players. Participants 16 athletes (19.3±1.0 years; 1.67±0.05 m; 62.7±5.9 kg) free of any LE injuries. Interventions A 3-D motion-capture system assessed LE biomechanics at pre- and post-IPP, while participants performed 3 SLH (cm) bilaterally from a force-plate. A 10-week IPP, which included agility and plyometric drills, was integrated into the normal team practice during the off-season period. Main outcome measurements Mean peak knee flexion (KF) and abduction (KA) were appraised during propulsion phase (PP), takeoff, touchdown, and landing phase (LP). Peak ground reaction forces (GRF), normalized to body weight, were also measured during PP. Repeated measures ANOVAs assessed the effects of training and leg dominance. Results Pre-IPP, SLH displacement significantly differed between legs (P=.013), and post-IPP, training significantly improved for both legs (P=.026), resulting in a significant interaction effect (P=.035). KF significantly decreased pre-to-post-IPP at PP for training (P=.017) and dominance (P=.015). KA significantly differed pre-to-post-IPP during PP for training (P=.025) and dominance (P=.026), takeoff for training (p=0.016), touchdown for training (P=.001), and LP for training (P=.002). Pre-to-post-IPP, training significantly increased GRF anteriorly (P=.001). Conclusions Previous researchers have suggested increased LE injury risk due to inter-limb differences. Our results demonstrated inter-limb equivalence in SLH force-production and displacement post-IPP, with KA shifting toward a more neutral frontal-plane alignment. Thus, the increased ability and frontal-plane neutrality exhibited between legs may be an influencing factor in how the IPP can reduce LE injury risk.


This paper numerically studies the effect of ventilation rates and bathroom equipment locations on the odor removal efficiency in a modeled bathroom. Simulation results agree well with previously published experiments such that moving exhaust air vent from ceiling to wall and addition of one supply fan would significantly improve odor removal efficiency. In addition, by doubling the area of exhaust vent under a fixed air change rate, odor removal efficiency (ORE) can be greatly enhanced to 16-30% while previous experiment showed only a moderate 4% increase in ORE when doubled the flow rate of supply air.


Introduction Perforation is one of the most serious adverse events associated with colonoscopy and may be managed conservatively or surgically. We have previously reported outcomes following colonoscopic perforations in the English National Health Service Bowel Cancer Screening Programme, showing that those perforations managed conservatively with bowel rest, intravenous fluids and antibiotics did not develop post perforation morbidity.1 We therefore aimed to examine which factors could be used as indicators for conservative management. Methods We re-evaluated our national database of 115 colonoscopic perforations admitted to hospital, including 62 patients who had surgery and 51 who didn't (two patients in whom it was unclear if surgery had occurred were excluded from the analysis). Explanatory variables examined were admission immediately following colonoscopy, the presence of abdominal pain at initial review, initial temperature, pulse rate and respiratory rate (RR). Statistical Analysis was performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20. Fisher's exact test and pearson chi-square were used to test association between explanatory and outcome variables with a p value <0.05 considered to be significant. ResultsAbstract PTU-015 Table 1 Surgery (n = 62) Conservative (n = 51) Admission following colonoscopy 30.6% 33.3% (p = 0.840)(RR:0.95, 95% CI 0.66–1.36) Abdominal Pain 83.9% 64.7% (p = 0.012) (OR:0.52, 95% CI 0.29–0.95) Pulse Rate > 100 beats per minute 22.6% 5.9% (p = 0.049) (RR:0.65 95% CI 0.47–0.89) Respiratory Rate > 20 breaths per minute 14.5% 0% (p = 0.009) (RR:0.53, 95% CI 0.42–0.68) Temperature ≥38.0°C 14.5% 13.7% (p = 1.000)(RR: 1.04, 95% CI 0.65–1.69) 15.0% of the patients had none of: abdominal pain at initial review, a pulse rate > 100 beats per minute or a RR > 20 breaths per minute. 23.5% of these patients had surgery. Conclusion The presence of abdominal pain, a pulse rate > 100 beats per minute and RR > 20 breaths per minute were significantly associated with the patient having surgery. Small numbers of patients with no abdominal pain, a pulse rate ≤ 100 beats per minute and a RR ≤ 20 breaths per minute underwent surgery. It is unclear from this retrospective data whether this surgery was actually necessary. It is possible that the absence of abdominal pain, a pulse rate ≤ 100 beats per minute and a RR ≤ 20 breaths per minute may be useful objective measures to determine whether surgery is required. Further prospective work using these indicators to guide conservative management is required. Reference 1 Derbyshire, et al. UEG Journal October 2015;3:1–145. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


Reflection is promoted in health-care professions as a developmental process leading to competent practice. A worksheet called "A Learning Experience" (ALE) has demonstrated a reliable means to assess dentistry students' reflection on their clinical experiences (Pee et al., 2002). Assessment of Physiotherapy students' reflections has proven problematic; no study has yet employed ALE with this population.The objectives are: To determine if students employing ALE on clinical-placement are reflecting and at what depth. Also, to improve understanding of students reflections through insight gained into their reflective process.A qualitative design using interpretative analysis was employed. Two methods of assessment derived from reflective literature, Johns Questions and Hatton & Smiths criteria, were used to assess worksheets completed by twenty 4th Year Physiotherapy undergraduates. Further in-depth interpretative analysis was undertaken to identify key concepts in students writing.Hatton & Smiths criteria illustrated most students were reflecting at deep and descriptive levels, with two-thirds of students demonstrating the deepest level of reflection. Students addressing higher numbers of Johns Questions typically exhibited higher levels of reflection than those addressing fewer questions. Johns Questions least frequently addressed involved the perspective of patients and processing new experiences. Additional examination revealed four principal concepts: feelings, evaluation of skills/knowledge, personal insight into practice and learning & personal change, which verified observations from earlier analysis.Physiotherapy students completing ALE reflected deeply on clinical experiences. Attempts to make sense of their experiences and consider the patient were key factors in the reflective process of students reflecting most deeply.ReferencePee, B., Woodman, T., Fry, H. & Davenport, E.S. (2002) Appraising and assessing reflection in students' writing on a structured worksheet, Medical Education, 36, pp. 575–585.


Forty-one commercial airline pilots executed flight scenarios that varied the time available for deciding whether and when to divert to an alternate airport. Pilots with the most flight experience were the most responsive to variance in available decision time: they diverted relatively early when time was short, and later or not at all when time was plentiful. Greater experience was also associated with efforts to fill gaps in the available information and test assumptions. A framework is proposed that predicts these effects as a function of (1) skill at situation recognition and rapid response, (2) metacognitive skill at detecting and handling uncertainty, and (3) sensitivity to the opportunities to switch between these two skill sets.


: Fifty patients were examined by ascending phlebography of both legs in a prospective, double blind, within-patient series. Each leg was randomly allocated to the examination using either iohexol 300 mg I/ml or meglumine iothalamate 280 mg I/ml as the contrast medium. Immediate side effects were recorded in all patients, and delayed effects in 45 patients. Statistical analysis using the chi-square test showed that iohexol produced significantly less immediate pain in the leg than meglumine iothalamate. Iohexol produced significantly less nausea, and vomiting during the injection than meglumine iothalamate. No significant difference was found in the incidence of delayed pain and swelling with either medium. The quality of the films produced by iohexol was significantly better than that obtained with meglumine iothalamate.


In this article the disadvantages of using piles in urban areas and determined the optimal solution to this problem. The influence of driven, vibration indentation, drilling and screw driving to nearby buildings. The article also calculated acceleration provided by the nearby buildings, in particular on their foundations by using different mechanisms piles dive into the ground, such as vibration indentation, diesel hammer, and hydraulic hammer and sickle single action. Moreover, to determine the necessary safety distances from the location of the construction sites of the existing buildings and structures. The schedule of dependence of vibration accelerations caused by different types of pile driving mechanisms, the distance to the building. The advantages of the technology of foundation - use screw piles in urban areas.


Moscow Neuroblastoma (NB) can manifest through neurological symptoms caused by tumor extension into the spinal canal and the resulting epidural compression (EC). Clinical symptoms and management in patients with epidural compression depend on its level and duration, the severity of spinal cord compression, the patient's age and other factors. One of the biggest challenges is the diagnosis and treatment of EC in infants in the first months of life. Our retrospective analysis included 13 patients with NB complicated by spinal cord EC who had been diagnosed at the age of 0–6 months and treated at the D. Rogachev NMRCPHOI over the period from 01.01.2012 to 01.12.2018 (82 months). The study was approved by the Independent Ethics Committee and the Scientific Council of the D. Rogachev NMRCPHOI of the Ministry of Healthcare of the Russian Federation. The diagnosis of NB was based on the international diagnostic criteria. The tumors were staged in accordance with the INSS classification. The patients were stratified into risk groups and treated according to the modified NB-2004 protocol of the German Oncology Group. All the patients underwent diagnostic testing for neurogenic tumors as well as contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of the spinal cord with the assessment of the level of tumor invasion and the degree of spinal cord compression. The children were evaluated by a neurologist at admission and at follow-up visits. The median age at diagnosis of NB was 3.9 (0.5–6) months. At disease onset, 53.8% of patients had neurological symptoms, with motor deficiencies being the most common ones. In this group of patients, the median time from first neurological symptoms to diagnosis of NB was 1.56 months. Neurological symptoms at disease onset were not present or diagnosed at local healthcare facilities in 46.2% of infants. Extra-organic retroperitoneal primary tumors were found in 61.6% of patients; 30.7% of primary tumors were located in the posterior mediastinum, and 7.7% of primary tumors – in the lesser pelvis. No patients had MYCN -amplified tumors; in 1 case the MYCN gene status was evaluated as Gain; neither 1p nor 11q deletions were detected. The distribution of patients by INSS stages was as follows: stage 2 – 15.3%, stage 3 – 46.1%, stage 4 – 23.3% and stage 4S – 15.3%. The majority of patients (77.7%) were stratified into an observation group, the remaining patients (23.3%) were allocated to a medium risk group in accordance with the NB-2004 protocol. The level of tumor invasion into the spinal cord canal varied. Tumor invasion at the level of the cervicothoracic spine was observed in 15.4% of patients, at the level of the thoracic spine – in 15.4%, at the level of the thoracolumbar spine – in 46.2%, at the level of the lumbar spine – in 15.4%, and at the level of the sacral spine – in 7.7%. Neurosurgical intervention (laminotomy) was performed in 4 cases (30.7%). In one patient, laminotomy was the only treatment option (chemotherapy was not given). In two patients, neurosurgery was performed because of the deterioration of neurological symptoms caused by the start of the first polychemotherapy (PCHT) cycle. Chemotherapy was carried out in 92.3% patients. The patients from the observation group received 1–3 PCHT cycles (the median number of cycles was 2). Only one patient from the observation group did not receive PCHT. This patient underwent 2 surgeries. Currently, 10/13 (77%) patients are alive, 3/13 (33%) patients are dead (2/3 patients died of therapy-related infectious complications, and 1/3 – of acute heart failure in the early postoperative period). The median follow-up was 37.3 months. According to the assessment of late effects, neurological disorders were found in all the analyzed patients ( n = 9), and orthopedic disorders were found in 66.6% (6/9) patients. The results of our analysis illustrate both the difficulty of diagnosis and management of EC in patients with NB and the need¬ for uniform testing and treatment standards with established follow-up and rehabilitation strategies for this group of