Autonomous Language Learning in Tandem offers an account of the largest-ever European initiative in the development of autonomous learning. At the conclusion of the project, students from more than 20 countries were working as partners, either face-to-face or on the Internet, to develop their own and each other's language skills. Other benefits for learners included heightened intercultural awareness and an enhanced ability to manage their own learning.

This book brings together the reflections of project participants from Europe and North America whose experience has enabled them to acquire the strategies needed to support independent learning either by practical advice, or by affective counselling. These skills are essential for fostering learner autonomy, a major preoccupation in today's educational climate. The book should therefore appeal to all those who are interested in promoting opportunities for lifelong learning.

Some contributions have already been published in six or more European languages. Here they appear for the first time in English. They are complemented by a number of specially commissioned chapters, addressing the theory of autonomous and collaborative learning and offering a way forward both for practitioners of tandem learning and for other would-be innovators in second language learning.


Migration from Mexico to the United States has become an increasingly volatile topic. The news is filled with stories of deaths, protests, and amnesty debates. With the constant buzz about migration in the political, economic, and legal spheres, the migrants themselves easily become a de-humanized multitude. I Know It's Dangerous?: Why Mexicans Risk Their Lives to Cross the Border strives to put a human face on the issue of migration and effectively turns the statistics we hear so often into individuals with real lives, needs, and desires. As an Australian national, Lynnaire Sheridan brings a refreshingly neutral voice to this hot-button topic. With data gathered over two years of living in Baja California, Mexico, Sheridan draws out individual stories, motivations, and conceptions of risk that ultimately allow us a deeper understanding of migration. Sheridan enriches the migrants stories with examinations of popular songs, graffiti art on the border, analyses of newspaper articles, and in-depth interviews with migrants. Together these narratives show us that risk has become a strong motivating factor for migrants and that stricter border policies have not necessarily stemmed the rates of migration; they have merely changed how people migrate. Sheridan's findings have broad implications for both those interested in migration from Mexico to the United States and international migration scholars. This book will appeal to a range of disciplines in the humanities, from anthropology and criminology to art and ethnic studies. It will also resonate among legal professionals, policy makers, and social workers. While numerous books have focused on the act of migration and its ripples across both the United States and Mexico, this book is unique in its attention to migrants in Mexico and its ability to draw out their individual stories.


CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2008 Abstracts

Abstract #5080

Background: Breast cancer risk increases with increasing body weight, higher blood levels of fasting insulin and triglycerides, and lower HDL-c. Weight loss and diet can affect these variables. Lower fat diets are routinely recommended for weight loss and cancer prevention, yet no firm evidence indicates an advantage compared to moderate fat diets. Further, lower fat diets can adversely affect fasting blood levels of insulin, triglycerides and HDL-c. Methods: Overweight women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer after the age of 50 consumed a National Cancer Institute diet (NCI; total fat: >15% to 35%, primarily from extra virgin olive oil) for 8 weeks each in a crossover trial with random assignment to order. Fasting blood samples at the end of each diet were analyzed for insulin, triglycerides and HDL-c. Results: Results for 20 subjects. Percent weight loss (NCI: 4.2+1.9; PBOO: 5.6+2.2) in this preliminary group exhibited a significant diet-order effect. ![][1] Conclusion: These initial results suggest that weight loss can be achieved with a plant- based, higher- fat diet emphasizing extra virgin olive oil, and such a diet may have a metabolic advantage compared to the standard, lower-fat diet. This study was funded by Susan G. Komen for the Cure Grants Program.

Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(2 Suppl):Abstract nr 5080.

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This paper presents a method for identifying the free-free modes of a structure by utilizing the vibration data of the same structure with boundary conditions. In modal formulations for flexible body dynamics, modal data are primary known quantities that are obtained either experimentally or analytically. The vibration measurements may be obtained for a flexible body that is constrained differently than its boundary conditions in a multibody system. For a flexible body model in a multibody system, depending upon the formulation used, we may need a set of free-free modal data or a set of constrained modal data. If a finite element model of the flexible body is available, its vibration data can be obtained analytically under any desired boundary conditions. However, if a finite element model is not available, the vibration data may be determined experimentally. Since experimentally measured vibration data are obtained for a flexible body supported by some form of boundary conditions, we may need to determine its free-free vibration data. The aim of this study is to extract, based on experimentally obtained vibration data, the necessary free-free frequencies and the associated modes for flexible bodies to be used in multibody formulations. The available vibration data may be obtained for a structure supported either by springs or by fixed boundary conditions. Furthermore, the available modes may be either a complete set, having as many modes as the number of degrees of freedom of the associated FE model, or an incomplete set.


Does goal attainment relate to the development of meaning in life and psychological well-being? If so, do these relationships depend on the nature of the goal and why one pursues it? This study sought to generalize the relationship between goal attainment and subjective well-being to meaning in life and psychological well-being, and test whether goal contents and motives moderate this relationship. At two times about seven weeks apart, 360 undergraduates rated their meaning in life and subjective and psychological well-being. All well-being variables loaded on a single general factor of well-being. Further results replicated evidence of the relationship between subjective well-being change and goal attainment, and generalized it to meaning in life and psychological well-being, but not to autonomy or purpose. This evidence offers new support for theories describing goals as sources of meaning, though the causal direction of this connection remains unestablished. In addition, the results of moderation analyses concord with prior research that demonstrates not all goals relate equally to well-being change or meaning in life. However, these results also pose challenges to the finer points of these theories that describe the inequalities among goals in terms of their supposed service to well-being. Many direct relationships and goal attainment moderators from the literature on self-determination theory failed to replicate, extrinsic motivation being the primary exception to this surprising trend of null results. Mixed results also emerged for theories regarding other goal characteristics. Retrospective ratings of environmental support and inter-goal facilitation (versus conflict) moderated the relationship of goal attainment with overall well-being change, and environmental support related to well-being change directly. Time frame, willingness to invest, extrinsic motivation, and overall self-determination predicted changes in well-being directly, but no other motives or characteristics did so prospectively. Only extrinsic motivation and expectations of success prospectively moderated the relationship between goal attainment and well-being change. This relationship with attainment held across most varieties of goal content, most notably vanishing with goals participants identified as financial in nature, though independent judges' categorizations of goal content did not support this distinction. Furthermore, important limitations to the evidentiary value of the research paradigm have gone unacknowledged in prior literature, as discussed last.


Background The prostate tumor microenvironment (TME) is immunosuppressive, with few effector T cells and enrichment of inhibitory immune populations, leading to limited responses to treatments such as immune checkpoint therapies (ICTs). The immune composition of the prostate TME differs across soft tissue and bone, the most common site of treatment-refractory metastasis. Understanding immunosuppressive mechanisms specific to prostate TMEs will enable rational immunotherapy strategies to generate effective antitumor immune responses. Daratumumab (anti-CD38 antibody) and edicotinib (colony-stimulating factor-1 receptor (CSF-1R) inhibitor) may alter the balance within the prostate TME to promote antitumor immune responses. Hypothesis Daratumumab or edicotinib will be safe and will alter the immune TME, leading to antitumor responses in localized prostate cancer. Patients and methods In this presurgical study, patients with localized prostate cancer received 4 weekly doses of daratumumab or 4 weeks of daily edicotinib prior to radical prostatectomy (RP). Treated and untreated control (Gleason score ≥8 in prostate biopsy) prostatectomy specimens and patient-matched pre- and post-treatment peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and bone marrow samples were evaluated. The primary endpoint was incidence of adverse events (AEs). The secondary endpoint was pathologic complete remission (pCR) rate. Results Twenty-five patients were treated (daratumumab, n=15; edicotinib, n=10). All patients underwent RP without delays. Grade 3 treatment-related AEs with daratumumab occurred in 3 patients (12%), and no ≥grade 3 treatment-related AEs occurred with edicotinib. No changes in serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels or pCRs were observed. Daratumumab led to a decreased frequency of CD38+ T cells, natural killer cells, and myeloid cells in prostate tumors, bone marrow, and PBMCs. There were no consistent changes in CSF-1R+ immune cells in prostate, bone marrow, or PBMCs with edicotinib. Neither treatment induced T cell infiltration into the prostate TME. Conclusions Daratumumab and edicotinib treatment was safe and well-tolerated in patients with localized prostate cancer but did not induce pCRs. Decreases in CD38+ immune cells were observed in prostate tumors, bone marrow, and PBMCs with daratumumab, but changes in CSF-1R+ immune cells were not consistently observed with edicotinib. Neither myeloid-targeted agent alone was sufficient to generate antitumor responses in prostate cancer; thus, combinations with agents to induce T cell infiltration (eg, ICTs) will be needed to overcome the immunosuppressive prostate TME.


The synthesis and the sintering of SiC from coal gangue by carbothermal synthesized in N2 atmosphere are studied. The material, 5 percent carbon black added and sintered at 1400°C for 2 hours, had good properties and a bending strength of 137.8MPa. Too high temperature or too long holding time made the properties of the material to decrease. β-SiC found by observing the microstructure is a major crystal phase in the synthesized ceramics, which would lead to fine mechanical properties.


The titers, isotypes and idiotypes of antiphospholipid and anti-dsDNA antibodies were determined in seven pairs of mothers with antiphospholipid syndrome (APLS) and their offspring, in 11 pairs of SLE mothers and their matched infants and in seven respective pairs of healthy subjects. In addition, maternal as well as fetal sera were evaluated for the presence of anti-SSA (Ro), anti-SSB (La) and anti-70 kd RNP autoantibodies. In the sera from APLS patients, as well as in the sera from their offspring, the mean antibody titer of IgG aCL was found to be significantly higher then the corresponding value in the control group (P < 0.01). Highly significant increased titers of IgG anti-DNA antibodies were found in the sera of SLE mothers and their matched offspring (P < 0.0008). The prevalance of anti-SSA, anti-SSA, and anti-7OKd RNP antibodies was lower then that of antiphospholipid and anti-dsDNA antibodies. Only one of the respective offspring had increased levels of these antibodies. The quantity of maternal antibodies transferd to the fetus was depended on their concentration in the maternal circulation, as well as on their type and specificity. Follow-up of newborn sera showed a progressive decrease in the antiphospholipid antibody titers during 3 months. After 6 months it was undetected. Our results point to a transplacental transfer of aCL and anti-DNA antibodies, a phenomenon which is not necessarily associated with respective clinical manifestations, in contrast to the classical humoral mediated autoimmune diseases (e.g. myasthenia gravis).


Membrane fouling by bacterial biofilms remains a key challenge for membrane-based water purification systems. Here, the optimal biofilm dispersal potential of three nitric oxide (NO) donor compounds, viz. sodium nitroprusside, 6-(2-hydroxy-1-methyl-2-nitrosohydrazino)-N-methyl-1-hexanamine (MAHMA NONOate) and 1-(hydroxy-NNO-azoxy)-L-proline, disodium salt, was investigated using Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 as a model organism. Dispersal was quantitatively assessed by confocal microscopy [bacterial cells and the components of the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) (polysaccharides and extracellular DNA)] and colony-forming unit counts. The three NO donor compounds had different optimal exposure times and concentrations, with MAHMA NONOate being the optimal NO donor compound. Biofilm dispersal correlated with a reduction in both bacterial cells and EPS. MAHMA NONOate also reduced single species biofilms formed by bacteria isolated from industrial membrane bioreactor and reverse osmosis membranes, as well as in isolates combined to generate mixed species biofilms. The data present strong evidence for the application of these NO donor compounds for prevention of biofouling in an industrial setting.


This lavishly illustrated volume opens a window into the world of one of the most extravagant and wide-ranging stylemakers of the last century, a pioneer of the cosmetics industry who was also celebrated for the daring and prescience of her art collecting, her decorating, and her personal couture. Four hundred vintage images and a meticulously researched text, including 16 essays by renowned experts in the fields of art and interior design, illuminate and trace the public and private lives of Helena Rubinstein. Rubinstein's bold and influential flair for decor - sleekly modern at times, and at other times a wildly eclectic sampling from different eras - was showcased globally in her beauty salons and in her glamorous residences in New York, Paris, and the South of France. An astute patron, she invested in artworks by the luminaries of Parisian bohemia just as they began their ascent. Her vast collection included tapestries by Picasso and Rouault, paintings by Degas, Dufy, Matisse, Miro, Modigliani, and Monet, as well as murals by Dali. Her striking instinct for fashion (she wore Worth and Poiret at first, and Balenciaga and St. Laurent 60 years later) and her famous overscaled jewellery kept her in the public eye, decade after decade. Rubinstein's vibrant character, reflected in her personal style and in the interiors of her homes and salons, is captured here in works by photographers such as Cecil Beaton, Brassai, Andre Kertesz, Dora Maar, and Man Ray - many of which have never before been published. When the flamboyant and decisive Helena Rubinstein died in 1965, at the age of 94, her huge collections were dispersed. But in these pages her world comes alive again: Helena Rubinstein: Over the Top is a unique record of the passionate life and style of this self-made mogul and the century she helped to define.


The DNA microarray technology has contributed widely in biological studies. Recently, a method to detect the effects of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins on cells using microarray was developed. In this dissertation, the microarray technology was applied to study the effects of ECM proteins on human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) differentiation, and to identify the best growth- supporting ECM conditions for glioblastoma, and to create a method for efficient small molecule drug screening. The importance of ECM on hMSCs is well known. Numerous studies have shown that the ECM deposed by specific types of cells could induce differentiation in hMSCs. However, clinical application of cell-deposited ECM could carry risks such as contamination, immune rejection and batch-to-batch variation. An artificial ECM could avoid these problems. In this dissertation, the effects of ECM proteins were screened on the hMSCs differentiation using the microarray technology. The myogenic and neurogenic differentiation profiles are reported. This information can contribute to the selection of optimal differentiation-inducing coating on the muscle or nerve tissue engineering scaffolds. Cell culture has always been a fundamental tool in cancer research. However, most primary cancer cells are very difficult to maintain. In this dissertation, ECM protein combinations were tested for their efficacy in supporting the growth of glioblastoma cells. Twelve best combinations were identified. The result may lead to successful maintenance of the primary cells of glioblastoma and other types of cancerous tumors. The results may yield larger quantities of the primary cancer cells, which are heretofore limited in supply, and thus facilitate the advancement of cancer research. Genetic marker-based personalized medicine has attracted much attention. However, our understanding of the genes is still limited. A direct drug efficacy screening on the diseased cells of an individual patient may complement the gene-based personalized medicine. In this study, a small-molecule drug microarray method is reported. This method is able to screen a large number of drugs and their combinations by using a very small mount of patients' diseased cells, making it possible to design personalized drug cocktails


We simulate a lossless one-dimensional photonic crystals (1DPC) structure and show that negative refraction could be present near the low frequency edge of at least the second, fourth and sixth bandgaps. We experimentally demonstrate for the first time negative refraction in strongly modulated porous silicon 1D-PC in the visible and near infrared regions. This 1D-PC structure may allow the realization of short-focus Veselago lenses in different optical bands. An advantage of our structure is its simplicity allowing for cheap and rapid fabrication of samples.


The use of domain-specific languages (DSLs) has been proposed as an approach to cost-effectively develop families of software systems in a restricted application domain. Domain-specific languages in combination with the accumulated knowledge and experience of previous implementations, can in turn be used to generate new applications with unique sets of requirements. For this reason, DSLs are considered to be an important approach for software reuse. However, the toolset supporting a particular domain-specific language is also domain-specific and is per definition not reusable. Therefore, creating and maintaining a DSL requires additional resources that could be even larger than the savings associated with using them. As a solution, different tool frameworks have been proposed to simplify and reduce the cost of developments of DSLs. Developers of tool support for DSLs need to instantiate, customize or configure the framework for a particular DSL. There are different approaches for this. An approach is to use an application programming interface (API) and to extend the basic framework using an imperative programming language. An example of a tools which is based on this approach is Eclipse GEF. Another approach is to configure the framework using declarative languages that are independent of the underlying framework implementation. We believe this second approach can bring important benefits as this brings focus to specifying what should the tool be like instead of writing a program specifying how the tool achieves this functionality. In this thesis we explore this second approach. We use graph transformation as the basic approach to customize a domain-specific modeling (DSM) tool framework. The contributions of this thesis includes a comparison of different approaches for defining, representing and interchanging software modeling languages and models and a tool architecture for an open domain-specific modeling framework that efficiently integrates several model transformation components and visual editors. We also present several specific algorithms and tool components for DSM framework. These include an approach for graph query based on region operators and the star operator and an approach for reconciling models and diagrams after executing model transformation programs. We exemplify our approach with two case studies MICAS and EFCO. In these studies we show how our experimental modeling tool framework has been used to define tool environments for domain-specific languages.


This research investigated the morphological characteristic variation among West African provenances of Moringa oleifera in order to select the most suitable provenance for planting in Burkina Faso. A provenance experiment involving seven provenances from Burkina Faso, one from Mali, one Ivory Coast and one from Ghana was established in June 2014 in a randomized complete block design with three replications at Ouagadougou in the North Sudanese area of Burkina Faso. Plant growth traits (height, number of branches and pinnae, leaf length and width) and biomass production (above and underground biomass dry weight, under: aboveground ratio and total dry weight) were measured on two-week old and two-month old seedlings. The result indicates no significant correlation between morphological characteristics and agroclimatic data (longitude, altitude and annual rainfall) of the seed origin. Significant variations between provenances for morphological characteristics and biomass production (P ≤ 0.05) were observed. Two-month old M. oleifera exhibited significant differences between provenances (P ≤ 0.05). The average height ranged from 107-40 cm, number of branches from 15-8, number of pinnae per leaf from 12-5, leaf length from 44-16 cm and leaves width from 105-34 cm. The aboveground biomass productions ranged from 1-14 g, underground biomass production from 1-7 g, ratio of under: aboveground from 0.4-0.9 and total dry weight from 2-21 g. Five provenances from Burkina Faso (Gaoua and Dano in the South Sudanese area, Ouagadougou, Fada N'Gourma and CNSF in the North Sudanese area) and one from Ivory Coast (Niangon-Lokoua/Abidjan) in the sub equatorial area) showed superior performances. They can be recommended for planting in Ouagadougou and other areas with similar ecological conditions.

 Key words: Leaves, pinnae, agroclimatic, correlation, aboveground and underground biomass.


In an earlier paper we treated the preionization problem in shocks over the velocity range 20 km s−1 km s−1 in a fully self-consistent manner. Here we investigate in detail the effect of the upstream UV photon field generated in the radiative zone of shocks in the range in which hydrogen is only partly ionized 20 km s−1 ( km s−1). We show that, as a result of superheating in the nonequilibrium preshock plasma, both the magnetic parameter and the Mach number of the shock are strongly affected by the preionization state of the gas, which controls to a large extent the radiative spectrum of the shock. We use these models to provide specific line diagnostics for Herbig–Haro objects, which allow us to solve for both the preshock density and shock velocity, and we present detailed models of the HH 34 jet, which allows us to derive the shock conditions, mass-loss rate, momentum flux, and chemical abundances in the jet. We show that the refractory elements Mg, Ca, Fe, and Ni are enhanced by 0.22 dex over the solar values, which provides interesting clues about the jet-launching mechanism in pre-main-sequence evolution.


Abstract This study assessed the effect of different smear layers and surface conditioning on microtensile bond strength to dentin of two different glass-ionomer cements (GICs). Third molar teeth without caries were collected for this study. The crowns of teeth were cut to reveal the mid-coronal dentin surface, and then the specimens were randomly assigned to three groups for surface preparation (#180-grit, 600-grit, and #3000-grit SiC paper). After surface grinding, the specimens were restored by Equia Forte or Fuji II LC (GC, Tokyo, Japan). A buildup of each material was made by free-hand on the dentin surfaces with or without a polyacrylic acid conditioner. GIC/dentin sticks were obtained after 1 week storage and then stressed using a universal testing device. The fractured surfaces were examined by a stereomicroscope. Statistical analyses were performed with three-way ANOVA and Tukey's post-hoc test (p < 0.05). GIC type and conditioner application had a significant effect on µTBS (p < 0.001). The smear layer conditions did not affect µTBS of the GICs (p = 0.113). Only Equia Forte without conditioner showed significantly higher µTBS on the #3000-grit surface than on #180-grit and #600-grit surfaces. Equia Forte presented significantly lower µTBS than Fuji II LC, with or without conditioner. With conditioner application, both GICs showed significantly higher µTBS on the #180-grit surface. The effect of different smear layers on µTBS was dependent on GIC type and conditioner application. The effectiveness of the conditioner application to the bond strength depended on the smear layer composition.


Folliculogenesis and luteinization are characterized by irreversible and profound physiological and morphological transformation processes, which eventually culminate in the provision of fertilizable eggs and the conversion of the estrogen producing follicle into a progesterone producing corpus luteum. All these processes are preceded by complex alterations of the gene expression profiles in the somatic cell layers granulosa and theca. It has been well established that epigenetic mechanisms, such as DNA methylation, histone modification and local changes of the chromatin structure, are essentially involved in cell type-specific gene activation and silencing. This short review will mainly focus on epigenetic processes that are induced by the gonadotropins FSH and LH during late folliculogenesis and luteinization. Data will be presented demonstrating that histone modification and chromatin modulation, but also DNA methylation are involved in the changing gene expression profiles during folliculogenesis and luteinization. Hence, these epigenetic mechanisms have to be considered to understand the control of the female reproductive cycle and pregnancy as well as pathological aberrations.


In this paper, the extent of the shadow economy in OECD countries is investigated. The estimates of the size of the shadow economy are obtained using the panel-data techniques applied to the data on 38 OECD member states over the period 1991-2007. Our estimates tend to be somewhat lower than the alternative estimates. However, our and alternative estimates of shadow economy are quite well correlated - the corresponding correlation coefficients lie between 0.63 and 0.65. The only exception is our estimates for 2002 and those of Schneider et al. (2010) for 2002, for which a low correlation is observed. We find that the estimates of the size of the shadow economy are very sensitive to the assumption on the velocity of money circulation. It is shown that the micro- and macro-evidence are consistent at a relatively low velocity of money circulation.


We seek to contribute to the scholarship on operationalizing resilience concepts via a working resilience indicator framework. Although it requires further refinement, this practical framework provides a useful baseline for generating awareness and understanding of the complexity and diversity of variables that impinge on resilience. It has potential value for the evaluation, benchmarking, monitoring, and reporting of marine system resilience. The necessity for such a framework is a consequence of the levels of complexity and uncertainty associated with climate change and other global change stressors in marine social- ecological systems, and the problems involved in assessing their resilience. There is a need for: (1) methodologies that bring together knowledge from diverse sources and disciplines to investigate the complexity and uncertainty of interactions between climate, ocean, and human systems and (2) frameworks to facilitate the evaluation and monitoring of the social-ecological resilience of marine-dependent sectors. Accordingly, our main objective is to demonstrate the virtues of combining a case study methodology with complex adaptive systems approaches as a means to improve understanding of the multifaceted dynamics of marine sectors experiencing climate change. The resilience indicator framework, the main product of the methodology, is developed using four case studies across key Australian marine biodiversity and resource sectors already experiencing impacts from climate and other global changes. It comprises a set of resilience dimensions with a candidate set of abstract and concrete resilience indicators. Its design ensures an integrated approach to resilience evaluation.


Long- and short-term variation of water level is critical in the Arctic as this region significantly affects the global climate and ecosystems. The water level changes are conventionally monitored by a tidal gauge. However, installing and maintaining tide gauges for continuous and seamless water level data in the Arctic is challenging due to the extreme environment. In this study, we investigate GNSS-Reflectometry (GNSS-R) as an alternative water level monitoring method in the Arctic, which measures the water levels based on remote sensing technique. Since GNSS performance at high latitudes is degraded due to satellite geometry and ionospheric effects on GNSS signals, an enhanced GNSS-R algorithm is applied, which accurately determines sea levels through enhanced spectrum analysis based on GNSS - including GPS and Galileo - multiple frequencies and statistical reliability verification. In addition, by including Galileo, the number of visible satellites is also increased that tackles another challenge of lack of available observations at high latitudes.
The suggested algorithms are validated by analyzing water level changes in St. Michael, Alaska in June 2018. The water levels derived by GNSS-R based tide gauge are compared to independent data from the two neighboring NOAA's St. Michael and Unalakleet tide gauges (ID: 9468132 and 9468333) about 1.5 km and 74 km of GNSS-R based tide gauge, respectively. As a result, a good agreement is confirmed with a high correlation coefficient of up to 0.87. In addition, from a spectral analysis, meaningful harmonic constituents, M2, K1, and O1 are founded from the sea level changes measured by GNSS-R based tide gauge. In addition, the temporal resolution of the output was significantly increased by adding the Galileo satellites. By implementing the advanced algorithms of GNSS-R, the proposed study successfully measured the highly accurate and precise water level variation in an environmentally challenging region. The experimental results show many promising applications for the Arctic GNSS-R based tide gauge.


The lipid-associated sialic acid (LASA) level in serum was increased in 663 out of 794 patients (83.5%) of which 55.1% were CEA negative. There were 16.5% LASA (possibly false) negative, CEA positive patients. There were 24.1% false positives in 116 patients without malignant tumors. In manifest prostatic carcinoma 94.2% of the LASA values but only 36.5% of the prostatic acid phosphatase values were increased. Similarly, in breast and pulmonary carcinoma, LASA was more sensitive than CEA. In 499 patients with minimal residual disease, 203 (41.5%) were LASA-negative, of which 180 were CEA-negative. Out of 180 LASA positive patients, 70 have relapsed, as have 70 out of 219 patients with increases in both LASA and CEA. The sensitivity of LASA (87%) in lymphoma was higher than that of the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (53.3%), of C-reactive protein (51.2%), serum copper (64.7%) and of six other markers.


The authors show how scheduling of complex multiprocess manufacturing or construction operations can be examined in an interindustry framework for its impact dynamics on a national or regional economy. The technical coefficients of the static Leontief input-output model are replaced by time-phased input coefficients containing additional information on the timing of industry inputs with respect to product completion. Coupling engineering project scheduling methods, such as the critical path method (CPM), to SIM (sequential interindustry model) allows the investigation of two distinct engineering-economic issues. The first involves the development of the time-phased input coefficients themselves. The second involves computation, by SIM, of the dynamic economic impact of large, complex, and lengthy production, construction, and related macroengineering undertakings. The resulting total economic impact chronology is determined by the interaction of payment schedules with the regional and national economies, consisting of industries that are themselves described through time-phased input coefficients. >


Abstract To explain post-earnings announcement drift, we construct a risk factor related to unexpected earnings surprise, and propose a four-factor model by adding this risk factor to Fama and French's (1993), (1995) three-factor model. This earnings surprise risk factor provides a remarkable improvement in explaining post-earnings announcement drift when included in addition to the three factors of Fama and French. After adjusting raw returns for the four risk factors, the cumulative abnormal returns over the 60 trading days subsequent to quarterly earnings announcements are economically and statistically insignificant. Furthermore, except for the first two days after the earnings announcement, the cumulative abnormal returns and the arbitrage returns from our four-factor model are relatively stable over the testing period and never significant on any day of the testing period. On the other hand, the arbitrage returns from the other models increase over the 60-day testing period. We argue that most of the post-earnings announcement drift observed in prior studies may be a result of using misspecified models and failing to appropriately adjust raw returns for risk.


SUMMARY Post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome (PI-IBS) has been established as a sequel of infectious intestinal disease (IID). The aim of this study was to estimate the burden of PI-IBS caused by the pathogens Campylobacter, Salmonella and Shigella, and to compare this with other outcomes associated with these pathogens. The attributable risk of PI-IBS due to bacterial pathogens was calculated and linked to national data on gastroenteritis incidence and measures for severity and duration of illness in order to estimate the burden of PI-IBS. One year post-infection, IBS developed in 9% of patients with bacterial IID. The burden of PI-IBS adds over 2300 disability adjusted life years to the total annual disease burden for the selected pathogens. PI-IBS is a frequent sequel of IID, resulting in a considerable disease burden compared to other outcomes. If this relationship is not considered, this will result in an underestimation of the disease burden of IID.


Data from digital data storage media employing a multitrack storage format can be efficiently detected with reduced complexity by using a breadth-first search algorithm on a one-dimensional time-varying trellis representation of the multitrack channel response. In this letter, we analyze the resulting performance. We propose a two-dimensional minimum phase detector target response and verify its performance through bit-error-rate simulations.


Structured, group-based, psycho-educational self-management interventions, such as the Chronic Disease Self-Management Programme (CDSMP), are designed to help people living with a long-term condition to better manage their daily lives. However, in the UK, the uptake of these interventions among South Asian people is low. Internationally, cultural and structural adaptations of CDSMPs for members of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities show encouraging outcomes. However, scant attention has been paid to the experiences of tutors delivering CDSMPs to these populations and the insight that they could contribute is largely unrecognised. By examining the experiences and understandings of these tutors, more refined cultural and structural modifications may be identified. The aim of this study was, from the perspectives of South Asian tutors, to describe their experiences of delivering CDSMPs that had included South Asian attendees. Richly informative interview data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Findings revealed substantial barriers to South Asian people attending, engaging and understanding elements of the intervention. We provide experiential examples to support tutors' arguments for highly tailored courses, targeted at specific sub-groups of particular communities, and offer insight into practical steps to achieve this. Attendance barriers included lack of awareness about the intervention, and the social influence of the highly refined Sikh caste system, whilst comprehension barriers related to the language of the course manual, medical terminology and concepts. Tutors' identified pragmatic facilitators to South Asian people's participation in, and understanding of, the intervention. These included having single-language and single-religion courses, pictorial content in the course manual, and culturally competent recruitment strategies. Further research with South Asian SMP attendees may reveal additional insights into South Asian people's attendance and performance of self-management behaviours. Policy-makers, providers and commissioners should work with BME communities to adapt SMPs, in order to improve access and understanding, and reduce health inequalities.


There is increasing demand for using wireless networks for applications that generate packets with strict per-packet delay constraints. In addition to delay constraints, such applications also have various traffic patterns and require guarantees on throughputs of packets that are delivered within their delay constraints. Furthermore, a mechanism for serving delay-constrained traffic needs to specifically consider the unreliable nature of wireless links, which may differ from link to link. Also, as it is usually infeasible to gather feedback information from all clients after each transmission, broadcasting delay-constrained traffic requires addressing the challenge of the lack of feedback information.
 We study a model that jointly considers the application requirements on traffic patterns, delay constraints, and throughput requirements, as well as wireless limitations, including the unreliable wireless links and the lack of feedback information. Based on this model, we develop a general framework for designing feasibility-optimal broadcasting policies that applies to systems with various network coding mechanisms. We demonstrate the usage of this framework by designing policies for three different kinds of systems: one that does not use network coding, one that employs XOR coding, and the last that allows the usage of linear coding.


Recent studies suggest that solitary (but not social) drinking may confer risk for negative alcohol consequences via beliefs about alcohol's ability to reduce tension, and explicit motivations to drink to cope with negative mood states. However, because prior studies are largely cross-sectional, it is unclear if tension reduction expectancies and drinking to cope are antecedents or consequences of solitary drinking. The current study aimed to address this gap in the literature using prospective data (3 waves across 12 months) from a sample of moderate to heavy drinking young adults. Data were drawn from a larger investigation of contextual influences on subjective alcohol response. Participants (N = 448) reported on alcohol use in multiple drinking contexts and tension reduction expectancies at baseline (T1), drinking motives at a 6-month follow-up (T2), and past-month negative alcohol consequences at a 12-month follow-up (T3). We examined potential indirect effects of drinking contexts on negative consequences operating through alcohol expectancies and drinking motives. Solitary drinking was indirectly associated with later negative consequences through stronger coping motives, although tension reduction expectancies did not serve as a significant mediator. Social drinking was not directly or indirectly related to later alcohol consequences. Results suggest that solitary drinking contexts confer risk for negative consequences through coping motives, and that these effects are invariant across sex, race, and ethnicity. These findings have important clinical implications as they suggest that targeting solitary drinkers for skills-based coping interventions may reduce risk for a developmental trajectory toward negative alcohol consequences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).


This paper investigates the right (or the absence of it) of women in Malaysia to breastfeed in the workplace. We find that there has been a lack of clear legal guidance as to their rights and a lack of facilities in the workplace. The implication has been that in the absence of workplace support, it is difficult to combine breastfeeding and work. We find that the support of women's right to breastfeed in the workplace in Malaysia has been sporadic. The policy supporting breastfeeding has been piecemeal, issued by various ministries and hospitals. Using a qualitative approach that is anchored in legislation and government policy, this paper examines issues on the "right" of working mothers to breastfeed their babies in the workplace. Legal statutes and case law are analysed to gain an understanding of current legislation governing maternity protection and breastfeeding employees. We find that in Malaysia, employees' breastfeeding rights are not provided under the Employment Act 1955; hence this Act creates legal lacunae or gaps with regard to women's rights. Other legislation, such as industrial safety laws, protects breastfeeding employees by temporarily removing them from working in hazardous and dangerous working conditions but there is no legislation to offer equivalent protection in other workplaces. This issue is also analysed with reference to International Labour Standards, which provide a legal framework for breastfeeding breaks.


In 2007, the National Labor Relations Board decided that an employer could maintain an email communications policy that prohibits nonwork-related messages, even if those messages involved communications otherwise protected under the National Labor Relations Act. In December 2014, the National Labor Relations Board reversed this holding, but in doing so, limited its decision to just workplace email. This article argues that such a prescription is outdated and archaic in light of today's modern workplace filled with communications devices and systems that blur the distinction between work and personal life. This article explains that such a prescription can cause employees to turn to personal communications options to discuss concerns that don't necessarily involve work itself, but do involve the workplace; an environment that, ironically, can sometimes provide more legal protection for employees and greater potential legal liabilities for employers compared to if those same "nonwork-related" messages were communicated through the employer's communications system.


Hexanucleotide G4C2 repeat expansions in the C9ORF72 gene are the most common genetic cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Dipeptide repeat proteins (DPRs) generated by translation of repeat-containing RNAs show toxic effects in vivo as well as in vitro and are key targets for therapeutic intervention. We generated human antibodies that bind DPRs with high affinity and specificity. Anti-GA antibodies engaged extra- and intracellular poly-GA and reduced aggregate formation in a poly-GA over-expressing human cell line. However, antibody treatment in human neuronal cultures synthesizing exogenous poly-GA resulted in the formation of large extracellular immune complexes and did not affect accumulation of intracellular poly-GA aggregates. Treatment with antibodies was also shown to directly alter the morphological and biochemical properties of poly-GA and to shift poly-GA/antibody complexes to more rapidly sedimenting ones. These alterations were not observed with poly-GP and have important implications for accurate measurement of poly-GA levels including the need to evaluate all centrifugation fractions and disrupt the interaction between treatment antibodies and poly-GA by denaturation. Targeting poly-GA and poly-GP in two mouse models expressing G4C2 repeats by systemic antibody delivery for up to 16 months was well-tolerated and led to measurable brain penetration of antibodies. Long term treatment with anti-GA antibodies produced improvement in an open field movement test in aged C9ORF72450 mice. However, chronic administration of anti-GA antibodies in AAV-(G4C2)149 mice was associated with increased levels of poly-GA detected by immunoassay and did not significantly reduce poly-GA aggregates or alleviate disease progression in this model. Significance Immunotherapy has been proposed for neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's or Parkinson's diseases. Recent reports using antibodies against poly-GA or active immunization suggested similar immunotherapy in ALS/FTD caused by repeat expansion in the C9ORF72 gene (1, 2). Here, we systematically characterized human antibodies against multiple DPR species and tested the biological effects of antibodies targeting poly-GA in different cellular and mouse models. Target engagement was shown in three independent cellular models. Anti-GA antibodies reduced the number of intracellular poly-GA aggregates in human T98G cells but not in cultured human neurons. Whereas chronic anti-GA treatment in BAC C9ORF72450 mice did not impact poly-GA levels and modestly improved one behavioral phenotype, poly-GA levels detected by immunoassays were increased and disease progression was unaltered in AAV-(G4C2)149 mice.


Subaperture polishing techniques usually produce rolled edges due to edge effect. The rolled edges, especially those in millimeter scale on small components, are difficult to eliminate using conventional polishing methods. Magnetorheological jet polishing (MJP) offers the possibility of the removal of these structures, owing to its small tool influence function (TIF) size. Hence, we investigate the removal characters of inclined MJP jetting models by means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and polishing experiments. A discrete phase model (DPM) is introduced in the simulation to get the influence of abrasive particle concentration on the removal mechanism. Therefore, a more accurate model for MJP removal mechanisms is built. With several critical problems solved, a small bevel-cut-like TIF (B-TIF), which has fine acentric and unimodal characteristics, is obtained through inclined jetting. The B-TIF proves to have little edge effect and is applied in surface polishing of thin rolled edges. Finally, the RMS of the experimental section profile converges from 10.5 nm to 1.4 nm, and the rolled edges are successfully suppressed. Consequently, it is validated that the B-TIF has remarkable ability in the removal of millimeter-scale rolled edges.


Human-to-animal spillover of SARS-CoV-2 virus has occurred in a wide range of animals, but thus far, the establishment of a new natural animal reservoir has not been detected. Here, we detected SARS-CoV-2 virus using rRT-PCR in 129 out of 360 (35.8%) free-ranging white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) from northeast Ohio (USA) sampled between January-March 2021. Deer in 6 locations were infected with at least 3 lineages of SARS-CoV-2 (B.1.2, B.1.596, B.1.582). The B.1.2 viruses, dominant in Ohio at the time, spilled over multiple times into deer populations in different locations. Deer-to-deer transmission may have occurred in three locations. The establishment of a natural reservoir of SARS-CoV-2 in white-tailed deer could facilitate divergent evolutionary trajectories and future spillback to humans, further complicating long-term COVID-19 control strategies. One-Sentence Summary A significant proportion of SARS-CoV-2 infection in free-ranging US white-tailed deer reveals a potential new reservoir.


Three thiazole-bridged DPP polymers with deep lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) levels were designed for field-effect transistors (FETs) and polymer–polymer solar cells. By introducing thiazole–thiazole coupled segments, perfluoroalkyl side chains or strong electron-deficient naphthalenediimide units into the conjugated backbone the three thiazole-bridged DPP polymers have LUMO levels of −4.0 to −4.4 eV. The three DPP polymers exhibit optical absorption in the near-infrared region, crystallinity and an electron mobility of around 0.01 cm2 V−1 s−1 in bottom contact FETs. The polymers were applied as electron acceptors in polymer–polymer solar cells to provide PCEs of around 0.4%. The low PCEs are mainly due to low short-circuit currents (Jsc) and attributed to large phase separation. Our results demonstrate several efficient strategies to lower the energy levels of conjugated polymers in order to be used as universal acceptors for photovoltaic cells.


In order to increase entry gas temperature and improve the efficiency of gas turbine, steam is used as a coolant instead of air. Much research has been carried out on the closed circuit steam cooling of vanes substituted with film-cooling using compressor air in recent years. Furthermore, by studying the steam flow and heat transfer characteristics in rib ducts, this investigation focuses on establishing the basis of steam cooling technology application in complex flow field of internally-cooled turbine vane. In this paper, a report and assessment of RSM method based on SSG turbulence model is performed with commercial computational fluid dynamics software ANSYS CFX. The numerical results of heat transfer coefficient and friction factors in square channels with 90 degree rib turbulators for Reynolds numbers of 10 000, 30 000 and 60 000 are compared with the experimental data from Han's. It is found that the obtained heat transfer coefficient distributions and friction factors match well with SSG turbulence model. In addition, the heat transfer distribution and pressure drop of steam-cooled ducts are predicted under the same work conditions by using dry real gas model. The Reynolds number could be correlated with the Nusselt number. The impact of steam physical properties on heat transfer performance are researched detailedly by respectively changing the steam superheat and entry pressure. The results indicate that the RSM method with a suitable turbulence model is valuable for the air-cooled and steam-cooled duct with the acceptable engineering accuracy (less than 20%). Comparing the cooling efficiency between steam and air under the same operation condition, the advantage of using cooling steam is evident than using cooling air. Furthermore, the efficiency of the whole gas turbine system will be greatly improved through using the closed loop steam cooling system. Changing the steam superheat and entry pressure, it has little effect on the steam flow and heat transfer characteristics. Increasing the steam overheat would raise the friction factor. Contrarily, enhancing the entry pressure would decrease the friction factor.Copyright © 2010 by ASME


Background. The SF-36 and the Quality of Well-being index (QWB) both quantify health status, yet have very different methodologic etiologies. The authors sought to develop an empirical equation allowing prediction of the QWB from the SF-36. Data. They used empirical observations of SF-36 profiles and QWB scores collected in in terviews of 1,430 persons during the Beaver Dam Health Outcomes Study, a com munity-based population study of health status, and 57 persons from a renal dialysis clinic. Method. The eight scales of the SF-36, their squares, and all pairwise cross- products, were used as candidate variables in stepwise and best-subsets regressions to predict QWB scores using 1,356 interviews reported in a previous paper. The re sulting equation was cross-validated on the remaining 74 cases and using the renal dialysis patients. Results. A six-variable regression equation drawing on five of the SF- 36 components predicted 56.9% of the observed QWB variance. The equation achieved an R2 of 49.5% on cross-validation using Beaver Dam participants and an R2 of 58.7% with the renal dialysis patients. An approximation for computing confidence intervals for predicted QWB mean scores is given. Conclusion. SF-36 data may be used to predict mean QWB scores for groups of patients, and thus may be useful to modelers who are secondary users of health status profile data. The equation may also be used to provide an overall health utility summary score to represent SF-36 profile data so long as the profiles are not severely limited by floor or ceiling effects of the SF-36 scales. The results of this study provide a quantitative link between two important measures of health status. Key words: health status; SF-36; Quality of Well- being index; quality of life; health-state utility; population study. (Med Decis Making 1997;17:1-9


This is a descriptive case study employing a photographic survey of the numerous objects that patients and their social networks bring to a hospice setting. Photographs were taken of all objects kept by the bedside by 31 inpatients in a hospice in the UK county of Durham. These objects ranged from assorted food and drink, greetings cards and magazines, to more specific personal items such as family photos, children's drawings, and religious icons. A total of 176 objects were analysed. There were two principle findings. First, patients appeared to bring objects to a hospice setting that reflected their desire to partially recreate their home settings or functions, however modestly. Second, despite a major diversity of objects, and the fact that most objects underlined desires for distraction, entertainment and social contact, almost every individual patient harboured at least one personally unique object. These two observations--creating some semblance of 'home' and the existence of uniqueness amid a plethora of expected patient paraphernalia--suggest important reconsideration of both hospice settings and the possibility of new ways to engage patients about meaning, illness and loss.


tmfast is an R package for fitting topic models using a fast algorithm based on partial PCA and the varimax rotation. After providing mathematical background to the method, we present two examples, using a simulated corpus and aggregated works of a selection of authors from the long nineteenth century, and compare the quality of the fitted models to a standard topic modeling package.


White-lipped pythons (WLP) (Genus Leiopython) have been collected from the wild in Indonesian New Guinea and exported for the pet trade since at least 1977. Despite the long duration of trade and recent taxonomic work recognising six different species, virtually nothing is known of the trade dynamics or ecology of these species. Surveys of wildlife traders in Indonesian New Guinea and measurement of 122 WLP provides the first information on trade and ecological attributes of the two most commonly traded species, L. albertisii and L. hoserae. Both species exhibit broadly similar ecological attributes; however, L. hoserae has a longer and wider head than L. albertisii. WLP prey mainly on mammals, although smaller snakes were found to feed on lizards. Reproduction appears to be seasonal with oviposition and hatching occurring in the summer months between December and March. Most trade was in L. albertisii and although traders differentiated between the two species on the basis of colour, both were traded under the name L. albertisii. Examination of CITES export data revealed that in 2004 Indonesia exceeded the government-allocated harvest quota of wild individuals. Although this quota was apparently not exceeded in other years, the results of this study suggest that the unmonitored domestic pet trade and the potential for misdeclaration of wild-caught individuals for export may account for many more snakes than are recorded.


The recently-proposed mixture invariant training (MixIT) is an unsupervised method for training single-channel sound separation models because it does not require ground-truth isolated reference sources. In this paper, we investigate using MixIT to adapt a separation model on real far-field overlapping reverberant and noisy speech data from the AMI Corpus. The models are tested on real AMI recordings containing overlapping speech, and are evaluated subjectively by human listeners. To objectively evaluate our models, we also devise a synthetic AMI test set. For human evaluations on real recordings, we also propose a modification of the standard MUSHRA protocol to handle imperfect reference signals, which we call MUSHIRA. Holding network architectures constant, we find that a fine-tuned semi-supervised model yields the largest SI-SNR improvement, PESQ scores, and human listening ratings across synthetic and real datasets, outperforming unadapted generalist models trained on orders of magnitude more data. Our results show that unsupervised learning through MixIT enables model adaptation on real-world unlabeled spontaneous speech recordings.


Objective: The study aimed to investigate the effects of iron chelator deferasirox on markers of oxidative-stress and inflammation in Iron Overloaded blood transfused Beta-Thalassemic Patients by measuring malondialdehyde (MDA), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), antioxidant marker glutathione(GSH) and highlysensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) in these patients in comparison with control subjects. Methods: A total of 105 patients with transfusion dependent β-thalassemia major were participated in this study. They were diagnosed by specialized pediatric physicians at Thalassemic Center in Ibn Al-Atheer Teaching Hospital in Mosul city, Iraq, during the period between October 2019 and March 2020. They were divided into two treatment groups. The first group was βthalassemic patients treated with monthly regular blood transfusion alone and the second group was βthalassemic patients treated with daily iron chelation therapy with oral deferasirox (DFX) (30-40mg/kg/day) in addition to regular blood transfusion. Sixtyfive healthy, not thalassemic subjects, were also participated in this study as a control group. High sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), marker of inflammation, serum malondialdehyde (MDA) , marker of oxidative stress , serum glutathione (GSH)and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) , markers of antioxidant capacity were measured for both patients and controls. Results: It has been found that βthalassemic patients on DFX therapy had a significant decrease (P < 0.01) in means hs-CRP and MDA levels, and a significant increase (P < 0.01) in TAC and GSH levels as compared with βthalassemic patients on regular blood transfusion alone and without DFX therapy . In addition , there is highly significant positive correlation between S.ferritin and hs-CRP (r=0.723, P < 0.01), and between S.ferritin and MDA (r= 0.675, P < 0.01), while there is a highly significant negative correlation between ferritin and TAC (r=0.422, P < 0.01), and between ferritin and GSH (r=-0.354, P < 0.01). Conclusion: Iron chelation therapy with DFX was effective in decreasing MDA and hs-CRP and increasing the antioxidant markers (GSH) and TAC in iron overloaded blood transfused beta thalassemic patients. Thus, DFX therapy can play important role in controlling oxidative stress and inflammation in these patients.


Seismic waves have been observed to increase the permeability in fractured aquifers. A detailed, predictive understanding of the process has been hampered by a lack of constraint on the primary physical controls. What aspect of the oscillatory forcing is most important in determining the magnitude of the permeability enhancement? Here we present laboratory results showing that flow rate is the primary control on permeability increases in the laboratory. We fractured Berea sandstone samples under triaxial stresses of tens of megapascals and applied dynamic fluid stresses via pore pressure oscillations. In each experiment, we varied either the amplitude or the frequency of the pressure changes. Amplitude and frequency each separately correlated with the resultant permeability increase. More importantly, the permeability changes correlate with the flow rate in each configuration, regardless of whether flow rate variations were driven by varying amplitude or frequency. We also track the permeability evolution during a single set of oscillations by measuring the phase lags (time delays) of successive oscillations. Interpreting the responses with a poroelastic model shows that 80% of the permeability enhancement is reached during the first oscillation and the final permeability enhancement scales exponentially with the imposed change in flow rate integrated over the rock volume. The establishment of flow rate as the primary control on permeability enhancement from seismic waves opens the door to quantitative studies of earthquake‐hydrogeological coupling. The result also suggests that reservoir permeability could be engineered by imposing dynamic stresses and changes in flow rate.


Heat transfer through the exterior building envelope in real operating conditions is always unsteady. However, in practice, in most cases, steady-state heat transfer is discussed, characterized by the time-constant magnitude of the heat flow rate and temperatures. The steady-state heat transfer equations are greatly simplified. This makes it practical for developing engineering calculation methods. Modes of non-stationary heat transfer also find practical application. However, these methods have a number of problems. The authors proposed a method for solving the modes of unsteady heat transfer, based on probabilistic methods of the general theory of transference. The paper considers the heat flow rate through a flat building envelope consisting of several successive layers. We showed how the order of the layers in the composition of the multi-layer building envelope affects its thermal stability. We obtained an equation for determining the difference between the average times of passage of heat flow through the building envelope at various layers of disposition.


An anionic phospholipid copolymer PMBSSi was synthesized to construct a permanent coating with protein resistant units (2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine, MPC) as well as surface charges onto the silica based (quartz and glass) microchannel through a one-step modification. The coating showed a high property of minimizing the non-specific adsorption of both anionic and cationic proteins to a very low extent of less than 0.05 μg /cm2 on glass substrates. In addition, a significant cathodic EOF ((1.0±0.1) ×10-4 cm2/V·s) with approximately one-half of the EOF of the uncoated microchannel was achieved in coated microchannel at neutral pH. As a conclusion, PMBSSi coating is a simple but highly effective modification for reducing nonspecific protein adsorption, and promising to be applied in electrokinetic microfluidic systems.


Actinobacteria are a gram-positive, filamentous subgroup of bacteria most known for antibiotic production. The exploration of new habitats with unusual environment and poorly explored areas of the world has become important and useful to the discovery of novel compounds and actinobacteria. In this study, we have isolated actinobacteria species from 5 different soil samples from different locations (Sabya, Baish Samtah, Alddarb and Abu Arish) in Jazan, Saudi Arabia. The soils were characterized for physicochemical analysis. The comparisons of the actinobacteria abundance with the physicochemical characteristics of these soils were also performed. There were no differences in the soil textures (sandy loam) and organic matter values from all the regions. In general, the physical and chemical characteristics for all the soils analyzed were similar. A total of 270 actinobacteria strains were isolated. All purified isolates grew on yeast starch agar media showing morphology of typical Streptomyces. Total bacterial counts were compared between the five collection sites of soil samples. Alddarb exhibited higher microbial counts (10.48 log CFU/g) compared to Baish and Samtah with a minimum of (10.31 log CFU/g). 6 isolates designated: JS3, JS4, JS6, JD7, JA8 and JA10, were selected with effective in terms of colony color and morphology and were subject to cultural, morphological, physiological and biochemical analysis. The present data suggest that the number and diversity of actinobacteria in desertic soils represent a vast unexplored resource for the biotechnology of bioactives production.


We review the scientific information on whales that could be indicative of historical and current changes in the ecosystem in the Indo-Pacific sector of the Antarctic. The increased krill availability in the middle of the past century as a result of the heavy harvesting of the larger baleen whale species could have been translated into better nutritional conditions for the Antarctic minke whale, resulting in a decreasing trend in the age at sexual maturity and an increasing trend in recruitment rate and hence total population size between approximately 1940 and 1970. This nutritional condition has deteriorated more recently, as revealed by a decrease in energy storage and stomach content weight since the 1980's; these changes coincide with appreciable increases in the abundances of humpback and fin whales, which were heavily harvested in the first half of the past century. The historical demographic changes observed in the Antarctic minke whale are consistent with the pattern to be expected under the krill surplus hypothesis, with minke whales now again competing with other (recovering) baleen whale species for krill. However, these minke whales could also be using alternative feeding areas (e.g. polynias within the pack-ice) in response to the increase in abundance and geographical expansion of these other large whale species. This could provide an alternative explanation for indications from sighting surveys and population models of a decrease and then re-stabilisation of minke whale abundance in open water areas since the 1970s.


Specialized plasma membrane domains known as lipid rafts participate in signal transduction and other cellular processes, and their liquid-ordered properties appear to be important for their function. We investigated the possibility of using amphiphiles to disrupt lipid rafts and thereby inhibit IgE-FcϵRI signaling. We find that short-chain ceramides – C2-ceramide and C6-ceramide – decrease plasma membrane lipid order and reduce the extent of fluorescence resonance energy transfer between lipid-raft-associated molecules on intact cells; by contrast, biologically inactive C2-dihydroceramide does neither. Structural perturbations by these ceramides parallel their inhibitory effects on antigen-stimulated Ca2+ mobilization in RBL mast cells in the presence and absence of extracellular Ca2+. Similar inhibition of Ca2+ mobilization is caused by n-butanol, which prevents phosphatidic acid production by phospholipase D, but not by t-butanol, which does not prevent phosphatidic acid production. These results and previously reported effects of short-chain ceramides on phospholipase D activity prompted us to compare the effects of C2-ceramide, C2-dihydroceramide and C16-ceramide on phospholipase D1 and phospholipase D2 activities in vitro. We find that the effects of these ceramides on phospholipase D1 activity strongly correlate with their effects on antigen-stimulated Ca2+ mobilization and with their disruption of lipid order. Our results indicate that phospholipase D activity is upstream of antigen-stimulated Ca2+ mobilization in these cells, and they demonstrate that ceramides can serve as useful probes for investigating roles of plasma membrane structure and phospholipase D activity in cellular signaling.


Voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSC) are responsible for the selective influx of sodium ions in excitable cells. A number of physiological phenomena such as muscle contraction, pain sensation, processing of neuronal information in the brain as well as neuronal regulation of peripheral tissues rely on the activity of these channels. On the other hand, abnormal activity of VGSC are implicated in several pathological processes (e.g., cardiac arrhythmias, epilepsy, and chronic pain) which in some cases (e.g., channelopathies such as myotonias) are linked to specific gene mutations. As a result, VGSC have never stopped attracting the attention of medicinal chemists and the quest for novel drugs to treat these ion channels-associated diseases continues. In this review, VGSC blocking agents reported in the last lustrum are scrutinised with the aim to give a medicinal chemistry perspective on the most interesting compounds classified on the basis of (i) potential therapeutic application, (ii) targeted VGSC isoforms, and (iii) chemical scaffolds. Finally, the clinical potential of selected drug candidates from each chemotype is evaluated by comparing their ligand efficiency metrics. Possible routes for improvement of these preclinical candidates are also discussed.


According to the time series data of Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) in Four-Lake Area of Jianghan Plain during the period 2001-2007, we use Harmonic Analysis of Time Series (HANTS) to conduct cloud removing processing, and calculate the sum of square N of time series value of each pixel. The pixels with N>0.25 are classified as vegetation coverage area; the pixels with N<0.25 are classified as non-vegetation coverage area. As to vegetation coverage area, we use the second-order difference method to judge the frequency of peak value of EVI time series data. Within one year, the vegetation coverage area with peak value happening 1 time is woodland and grassland; the vegetation coverage area with peak value happening 2 times is arable land; the vegetation coverage area with peak value happening 3 times or more is vegetable land. Supervised classification method is used to identify cities, towns, water area in non-vegetation coverage area and woodland, grassland in vegetation coverage area. We draw the land cover classification diagram of Four-Lake Area in the period 2001-2007. In comparison with the land cover classification based on multitemporal ETM data in 2001, the difference of area of arable land is within 10%. Using MODIS-EVI data, we can rapidly and efficiently conduct land cover classification with low cost. The dynamic analysis results indicate that the area of arable land is in the process of declining, while the area of other cover types shows an increasing trend.


Epidemiologic data indicate that individuals with low plasma concentrations of carotenoids and antioxidant vitamins and those who smoke cigarettes are at increased risk for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Laboratory data show that carotenoids and antioxidant vitamins help to protect the retina from oxidative damage initiated in part by absorption of light. Primate retinas accumulate two carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin, as the macular pigment, which is most dense at the center of the fovea and declines rapidly in more peripheral regions. The retina also distributes alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) in a nonuniform spatial pattern. The region of monkey retinas where carotenoids and vitamin E are both low corresponds with a locus where early signs of AMD often appear in humans. The combination of evidence suggests that carotenoids and antioxidant vitamins may help to retard some of the destructive processes in the retina and the retinal pigment epithelium that lead to age-related degeneration of the macula.


Sketches are a ubiquitous form of communication in engineering design due to their simplicity and efficiency. However, because of a lack of suitable machine-interpretation techniques, they are virtually unusable with current computer-aided design and engineering tools. The informal nature of sketches and their inherent ambiguity present a number of challenges to the development of such techniques. Here we address one particular challenge, the task of reliably locating and recognizing the intended visual objects from a continuous stream of pen strokes. We present an integrated sketch parsing and recognition approach, based on a novel mark-group-recognize paradigm, which is tailored to the domain of mechanical systems. In the first step of processing, the sketch is examined to identify certain delimiting symbols called "markers." The remaining pen strokes are then partitioned into distinct clusters, each representing a single symbol. Finally, a trainable symbol recognizer is used to find the best interpretation of each cluster. We have used these techniques to build a sketch-based tool for designing and analyzing vibratory mechanical systems. This tool enables designers to analyze and animate vibratory systems by simply sketching them on a tablet computer. User studies indicate that even first-time users find our tool to be effective.


OBJECTIVE
To develop a patient-specific 3-dimensional (3D) printed drill guide for placement of cervical transpedicular screws and to assess its accuracy.

STUDY DESIGN
Prospective case-series.

SAMPLE POPULATION
Thirty-two cervical pedicle screws (CPS) placed in 3 large breed dogs.

METHODS
Computed tomographic (CT) data of the cervical vertebrae were exported to a medical image processing software and 3D virtual vertebral models were created for each vertebra. These models were processed in a computer aided design (CAD) software to determine the optimal trajectory and size of the CPS. Virtual drill guides were created for each patient, 3D-printed, and used intraoperatively. Locking titanium screw heads were bonded with polymethylmethacrylate cement to stabilize affected vertebral segments. Postoperative CT was used to assess the radiological accuracy of CPS placement in each dog. For each screw, CAD files were analyzed to determine a screw-diameter-to-pedicle-width-ratio (SDPWR) at the narrowest point of the pedicle.

RESULTS
A total of 32 CPS were placed, measuring 3.5 mm (n = 20), 2.7 mm (n = 11), and 2.4 mm (n = 1) in diameter. The majority (29/32) of these screws were placed without evidence of vertebral canal breach (grade 0), whereas a vertebral canal breach <2 mm (grade 1) was detected in 3/32 screws. This outcome was achieved despite a mean SDPWR of 0.75 (range 0.58-0.93).

CONCLUSION
The use of a 3D-printed patient-specific drill guide permitted accurate placement of 32 bicortical pedicle screws in the caudal cervical vertebrae of 3 dogs. This technique may improve clinical outcome through superior biomechanical properties of screws, reduced surgical time, and reduced morbidity. These results warrant evaluation of patient outcome in a larger population.


One of the main problems that occur in the fluid flow in the pipeline industry is a high consumption on pump power due to high frictional pressure drop in turbulent flow. So many applications that related to fluids transportation in oil and gas industry such as crude oil, oil and gas refinery product, moreover in drilling fluid that contains mud slurry. Therefore it is required to use DRA (Drag Reducing Agent) as method to improve pumping efficiency. Another problem in fluid flow such as crude oil and drilling fluid is the weight concentration of suspension particles, when the speed of flow is not sufficient enough can end with sedimentation in bottom side of pipe so that increased drag. Drag Reducing Agent (DRA) is used as a solution towards reduce the power losses in the piping system. One of the most popular DRA is biopolymer due to its environment friendly and inexpensive. The aims of this study is to investigate the reduction of pressure drop using consentration of additive CMC 250 ppm, 500 ppm and 750 ppm  into crude oil flow in the straight spiral pipe with diameter ratio P/Di=3,5;5,4; and 7,6, and circular pipe with diameter Di=17 mm. The effectiveness of DRA is analyzed by measuring the profile of velocity distributionsusing pitot tube. The results showed that the maximum DR percentage of 750 ppm for circular pipe is 35,8%, for spiral pipes with ratio P/Di 3,5=20,3%, P/Di 5,4=25,6%, P/Di 7,6=32,5%. Increasing of DR is presented by the data of velocity distribution profiles that increased by increasing CMC concentration.The important of this research is the application of spiral pipe offers the best solution for the flow of crude oil containing a heavy concentration of particles in suspension. Certain ratios of spiral pipe and additives CMC can be obtained without sedimentation of crude oil flow and flow with lower drag.


BackgroundThe overall purpose of this study is to investigate the rehabilitation process facilitating return to working life after ABI. Two main themes are in focus: (I) experiences of the rehabilitation process – possibilities and challenges, and (II) long-term perspective – factors that facilitate a sustainable working life. The study was undertaken within a disability research paradigm, which is an interdisciplinary approach that includes medical, technical, behavioural and socio-cultural perspectives. Specifically, this study was derived from a social perspective in studying outcomes in working life after ABI. MethodologyPersons who acquired a brain injury as adults were interviewed using an interview guide focusing the experiences of the rehabilitation process. The informants (6 females and 6 males) had participated in a work rehabilitation program and successfully returned to work. Importantly, at least 50 % maintained employment for a minimum period of one year. In some cases, a person (e.g. family member, service provider, and employer) who had been of great importance for the rehabilitation process was also interviewed. The interviews were qualitative, in-depth, and are being conducted longitudinally at the autumn 2010. Data will be structured and analysed by latent content analysis with a hermeneutic approach, and analysed within a social science theory.ResultsThe findings are preliminary and can only be presented as hypotheses. Many of those who as adults acquired a brain injury are already established in the labour market. Accordingly return to work could be seen as easier for the ABI group than for other unemployed groups of disabled. Despite this, many of the cases with ABI have difficulties in returning to work after injury concerning different circumstances. Relating to that it is important to identify such circumstances, especially possibilities. An important aim for the rehabilitation process is a long-term perspective in maintaining a job after injury. Some factors of importance for the rehabilitation outcomes can be summarised as: assistive devices, support at the working place, social insurance and individual motivation.ConclusionsSuch knowledge is of great importance for the rehabilitation practitioner when meeting clients' in the stage of work rehabilitation. The implications of this study can be useful in both rehabilitation medicine as well as for social workers in supporting people with ABI who have vocational goals. The common aim is to develop a program for work rehabilitation for people with ABI.


This volume illustrates how language revival movements in Russia and elsewhere have often followed a specific pattern of literacy bias in the promotion of a minority's heritage language, partly neglecting the social and relational aspects of orality. Using the Vepsian Renaissance as an example, this volume brings to the surface a literacyorality dualism new to the discussion around revival movements. In addition to the moretheoretically oriented scopes, this book addresses all the actors involved in revival movements including activists, scholars, and policy makers, and opens a discussion on literacy and orality, and power and agency in the multiple relational aspects of written and oral practices. This study addresses issues common to language revival movements worldwide and will appeal to researchers of linguistic anthropology, sociolinguistics, education and language policy, and culture studies.


Dengue is an epidemic which is spread by Aedes egyptai and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes.According to the records of World Health Organization one third of the world population are exposed to dengue.As a tropical country, Sri Lanka is also seriously affected by this disease.The year 2017 is the year claimed for highest number of Dengue patients in the Sri Lankan history. During the past seven months about 120,000 Dengue patients have been recorded and among them the highest had been identified in Colombo district. Kolonnawa Divisional Secretariat (DS) division is one of the highly affected areas in the district. Therefore, Kolonnawa DS division has been selected for this study.All the recorded Dengue patients in the Kolonnawa Medical Office of Health (MOH)area in Colombo district during the period of May to September in 2016 were used for data analysis.Field observation has also been carried out for verification purposes during the study period. The absolute location of the residences of dengue patients were recorded by a hand held GPS.Total of 615 locations of 615 dengue patients have been recorded. The spatial distribution of the recorded dengue patients was identified using nearest neighbourhood analysis in ArcGIS 10.1.Trend analysis was also carried out to recognize the future trend of Dengue cases in the area. The agglomerations of those patients were identified using Kernel Density Estimation. The results revealed that hot spots of dengue epidemic are located in western half of the Kolonnawa MOH area which is close to the Colombo municipal boundary. This analysis further disclosed that there was a significant relationship with high population density and unplanned urban land use practices. Results of the field observation confirmed that the drainage systems in this area were poorly functioning and careless waste disposal methods of the people have further encouraged mosquito breeding sites. This situation is evolved harmfully from a public health issue to a social problem that ultimately impacts on the economy of the country. According to the results 20 hot spots were found out within the Kolonnawa DS division. North East and South West areas were identified as the potential areas for spreading of future Dengue cases in Kolonnawa DS division. South West area is highly vulnerable for Dengueepidemic than other areas. The results of the study will be important for Dengue prediction and prevention. These findings will be useful forconducting Dengue awareness programmes and Dengue prevention campaigns. Keywords:Dengue epidemic, Nearest neighbourhood analysis, Kernel density estimation


Spatial modulation (SM) is a unique single-stream Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) transmission technique. Unlike conventional MIMO schemes, SM activates a single transmit antenna at any time instance, and therefore completely avoids inter-channel interference in single user scenarios. When considering multiple users, precoding techniques can be applied to realise multi-user SM (MU-SM) and coordinate multi-user interference. The transmit antennas in MU-SM are divided into groups, and each group is dedicated to one user. This means that the management and selection of antennas are crucial with respect to capacity in MU-SM. Therefore, we propose a novel multiple access method in this paper, named spatial modulation multiple access (SMMA). Unlike in MU-SM where a fixed antenna arrangement is used, the concept of SMMA is to adaptively allocate the transmit antennas to multiple users. Results show that SMMA obtains a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) gain of up to 6 dB over MU-SM. More importantly, the performance of SMMA degrades insignificantly as the number of users increases.


Acute kidney injury (AKI) is defined as an abrupt decrease in glomerular filtration rate (GFR). Incidence varies from 20% to as high as 70% in critically ill patients. Classically, AKI has been divided into three broad pathophysiologic categories: prerenal AKI, intrin - sic AKI, and postrenal (obstructive) AKI. The clinical manifestations of AKI vary among a wide range of symptoms and metabolic abnormalities. A sudden decrease in GFR will result in rising concentrations of solutes in the blood, which are normally excreted by the kidneys. Recently, new urinary and serum biomarkers have gained a place in the diagnosis, classification, and prognosis prediction of AKI. The best treatment for AKI is prevention. Patients with prerenal azotemia should have intravascular volume defi - cits corrected and cardiac function optimized. Obstructive (postrenal) kidney disease is treated by mechanical relief of the block. The primary management of acute interstitial nephritis is discontinuation of the inciting agent. Renal replacement therapy (RRT) has emerged as a supportive mechanism rather than just as a lifesaving measure. Continuous techniques are preferable in treating critically ill patients, although every modality has its benefits, indications, and contraindications.


Four species of beaked whales of the genus Mesoplodon regularly occur in the North Atlantic. These are Sowerby's Beaked Whale Mesoplodon bidens, Blainville's Beaked Whale Mesoplodon densirostris, Gervais Beaked Whale Mesoplodon europaeus and True's Beaked Whale Mesoplodon mirus. These four species differ in their distribution within this area. M. bidens is the most northerly recorded species followed by M. mirus. M. densirostris and M. europaeus both generally occur further south and their distributions cross the equator. The distribution of Mesoplodon species may relate to variations in water temperature.


We investigate the statistics of the cosmic microwave background using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. We show that, when we correctly de-correlate the data, the partition function of the Kolmogorov stochasticity parameter is compatible with the Kolmogorov distribution and, contrary to previous claims, the CMB data are compatible with Gaussian fluctuations with the correlation function given by standard ΛCDM. We then use the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to derive upper bounds on residual point source power in the CMB, and indicate the promise of this statistics for further datasets, especially Planck, to search for deviations from Gaussianity and for detecting point sources and Galactic foregrounds.


Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) and bacillary angiomatosis (BA) may be histologically similar. A precise diagnosis is required because of the different management of these diseases. KS or BA involving bone marrow is rare in patients with and without acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). We report the case of a 40-year-old human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive homosexual male who presented with small KS lesions in the skin and BA in the bone marrow that histologically were similar. Laboratory evaluation revealed anemia and thrombocytopenia; CD4 count was 103/mm3, and the viral load was 750,000 HIV-1 mRNA copies per milliliter in plasma. Bartonella henselae, the etiologic agent of BA, was isolated from a blood culture. DNA sequences of human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8), the putative etiologic agent of KS, were identified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in skin and bone marrow specimens, but antibody anti-HHV-8-encoded protein ORF73, localized signals only in the skin-KS lesion. The patient received clarithromycin and cefotetan for the BA, and antiretroviral therapy for the HIV infection. The skin lesions gradually regressed, the HIV-1 mRNA copy number decreased to less than 400 per milliliter and the CD4 lymphocyte count increased to 665/mm3. In conclusion, vascular lesions of BA and KS may be clinically and histologically similar, both may be associated with advanced AIDS, and an accurate diagnosis is required because of their different management.


Task and session identification is a key element of system evaluation and user behavior modeling in Intelligent Assistant (IA) systems. However, identifying task and sessions for IAs is challenging due to the multi-task nature of IAs and the differences in the ways they are used on different platforms, such as smart-phones, cars, and smart speakers. Furthermore, usage behavior may differ among users depending on their expertise with the system and the tasks they are interested in performing. In this study, we investigate how to identify tasks and sessions in IAs given these differences. To do this, we analyze data based on the interaction logs of two IAs integrated with smart-speakers. We fit Gaussian Mixture Models to estimate task and session boundaries and show how a model with 3 components models user interactivity time better than a model with 2 components. We then show how session boundaries differ for users depending on whether they are in a learning-phase or not. Finally, we study how user inter-activity times differs depending on the task that the user is trying to perform. Our findings show that there is no single task or session boundary that can be used for IA evaluation. Instead, these boundaries are influenced by the experience of the user and the task they are trying to perform. Our findings have implications for the study and evaluation of Intelligent Agent Systems.


This study examined the mediating role of psychological contract fulfillment, trust, and perceived need for change in the relationship between change information and employee attitude toward organizational change. As one of the first studies in organizational change research, attitude toward change was operationalized here as a tridimensional construct, comprising an affective, a behavioral, and a cognitive dimension. In a sample of 399 employees, data were gathered using questionnaires. The results confirmed that psychological contract fulfillment, trust, and perceived need for change mediated the relationship between change information and attitude toward change. Change information was positively related to all three mediating variables, which in turn were positively related to at least one of the attitude toward change dimensions. Furthermore, the relationship between trust and all three attitude toward change dimensions was mediated by psychological contract fulfillment and perceived need for change. Recommendations for future research and implications for practitioners are discussed.


Eulerian numbers (and ''Alternate Eulerian numbers'') are often interpreted as distributions of statistics defined over the Symmetric group. The main purpose of this paper is to define a way to represent permutations that provides some other combinatorial interpretations of these numbers. This representation uses a one-to-one correspondence between permutations and the so-called \emphsubexceedant functions.


Electrical Discharge Machine (EDM) is especially used for the manufacturing of 3-D complex geometry and hard material parts that are extremely difficult-to-machine by conventional machining processes. In this paper authors have reviewed the research work carried out in the development of die-sinking EDM within the past decades for the improvement of machining characteristics such as Material Removal Rate (MRR), Surface Roughness (SR) and Tool Wear Ratio (TWR). In this review various techniques reported by EDM researchers for improving the machining characteristics have been categorized as process parameters optimization, multi spark technique, powder mixed EDM, servo control system and pulse discriminating. At the end, flexible machine controller is suggested for Die Sinking EDM to enhance the machining characteristics and to achieve high-level automation. Thus, die sinking EDM can be integrated with Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) environment as a need of agile manufacturing systems.


Jenjo is an Adamawa-Ubangi language group spoken in parts of Taraba State, Adamawa State and Gombe State in North East Nigeria. Jenjo is the name of the language and the tribe. The study was motivated by the need to document the language since it is one of the minority endangered African languages. The objectives of the study were: to describe the noun phrase structure of Jenjo; to analyze the Jenjo noun phrase using X-bar theory and to identify the syntactic functions of the NP in Jenjo sentences within X-bar. The New Testament Jenjo Bible and introspection were used. The study describes the structures and functions of Jenjo NP and analyses it in X-bar convention. A descriptive research design was used for data collection. Qualitative data was collected from five systematically sampled books of the Jenjo New Testament Bible. Random sampling was used to select one chapter per book while purposive sampling was used to select noun phrases and sentences for the study. The study determined Jenjo as a head-initial language since almost all the elements within the Jenjo NP are post-head. We established that there are simple, complex and conjoined NP structures in Jenjo. Secondly, a single noun can be a full NP and can be projected maximally in Jenjo. All the structures were accounted adequately by the X-bar convention. Lastly, Jenjo NPs function as specifiers, complements, and adjuncts in sentences. In regard to the contribution the study makes, it is hoped that it will benefit linguists, teachers, preachers and editors.


The DIAGNOSIS of dwarfism due to failure of the pituitary gland to produce growth hormone can now be firmly established on the basis of low plasma growth hormone (PGH) levels and a failure to increase PGH concentration following a variety of stimulants. Systematic study of large numbers of children with growth retardation suggests that failure of growth hormone production and release is the cause of the observed growth failure in less than 10%. Careful examination of the PGH response to stimulation has failed to indicate any abnormality of the pattern of response that is consistently associated with any of the other types of growth failure. This report presents the PGH responses of 112 short children to insulin-induced hypoglycemia and compares the responses produced by hypoglycemia to the responses observed following arginine hydrochloride and lypressin. The measurement of plasma insulin in addition to PGH during these standardized tests provides an integrated


The CKD as a serious public health hazard in Sri Lanka, which is the cause of poverty and underdevelopment among affected families in various parts of the country. CKD has become a new challenge for the health sector and driven people to the loss of livelihood, productivity, and increase the cost of treatment. This paper emphasized the prevalence of CKD and unequal frequencies of the disease in different health regions (MOHs) in Polonnaruwa district, Sri Lanka. Based on primary and secondary data analysis, the results of the findings were produced in a descriptive way in which tables, maps, and charts were also administered. The study mainly used ArcGIS (ArcMap 10.3) software to identify the different distribution of CKD unequally in different health regions (seven MOH divisions) in the district. The study found that the endemic of CKD and affected patients, HD patients, and death rate also occurred unequally in each MOH division in different means. The distribution of CKD occurred due to the geographical setting, social, economic patterns of the people in the study area. Nevertheless, this study only focused on understanding the different prevalence of CKD in each MOH division in a particular district. However, the study needs to be extended further to identify the factors and impacts due to this chronic health issue in the district and country as a whole. The study suggested that CKD has become a major obstacle to the ongoing development activities in the district; thus, the government needs to identify disseminate methods to prevent CKD from this study area, as well as from Sri Lanka.