Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are major constituents of the extracellular leaflet in the bacterial outer membrane and form an effective physical barrier for environmental threats and for antibiotics in Gram-negative bacteria 1. The last step of LPS insertion via the Lpt pathway is mediated by the LptD/E protein complex 2. Despite detailed insights from X-ray crystallography into the architecture of LptDE transporter complexes 3–5, no structure of a laterally open LptD transporter has been described, a transient state that occurs during LPS release 6. To facilitate the acquisition of hitherto unknown conformations we subjected LptDE of N. gonorrhoeae to cryo-EM analyses. In complex with newly designed rigid chaperones derived from nanobodies (Pro-Macrobodies, PMbs) we obtained a map of a partially opened LptDE transporter at 3.4 Å resolution and in addition we captured a laterally fully opened LptDE complex from a subset of particles. Our work offers new insights into the mechanism of LPS insertion, provides a structural framework for the development of antibiotics targeting LptD and describes a novel, highly rigid and widely applicable chaperone scaffold to enable structural biology of challenging protein targets.


BACKGROUND
Tacrolimus has been shown to be a powerful suppressor of the immune system. It was introduced into clinical use to prevent allograft rejection and is now routinely used in kidney, liver, and heart transplantation. Recently, 2 double-blind multicenter studies demonstrated the therapeutic efficacy of topical and systemic tacrolimus in the inflammatory skin diseases atopic dermatitis and psoriasis.

DATA SOURCE
MEDLINE was searched for relevant publications and combined with our own clinical, in vitro, and in vivo studies.

STUDY SELECTION
All studies dealing with tacrolimus and dermatology were reviewed.

DATA EXTRACTION
Publications with clinically relevant data were included in this review.

CONCLUSIONS
Topical tacrolimus is a safe and effective therapeutic agent that may open a new era in the treatment of inflammatory skin diseases, particularly for patients with atopic dermatitis. Before its full potential in dermatology can be assessed, more clinical experience in treating children and comparison with the criterion standard of anti-inflammatory therapy, glucocorticosteroids, are needed.


During the last decade the digital economy has expanded at a faster rate than traditional sectors. There is a strong consensus that e-commerce has a positive impact on labour productivity, GDP growth and consumer purchasing power. However, factors determining successful adoption of online commerce remain insufficiently studied. The consequences are clearly visible in the European Union whose countries failed to achieve the targets of the Digital Agenda 2015, with insufficient cross-border trade and inadequate participation of small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the digital market. The aim of this paper is to fill the research gap with an EU28 panel study describing the impact of policy factors on online sales from 2010 to 2015. The authors have found that internet network coverage and adequate protection of consumer rights are significant and equally important factors influencing online turnover. This implies the need to harmonise national policies between EU laggard countries and digital market leaders. Furthermore, our research rejects the hypothesis that geographical and demographic factors could create a permanent negative bias on online sales volume. The study also provides evidence that the impact of structural macroeconomic variables (i.e. country income measured by GDP per capita, education, and ICT skills) on final e-commerce turnover is limited. Finally, the authors have established that the national policies of Ireland and the Czech Republic are more effective than those of other EU countries, which is most likely due to increased support of SME engagement in online activities.


The study was carried out with the aim to isolate Staphylococcus aureus from camel and goat raw milk and determine their antimicrobial susceptibility pattern. 204 raw milk samples were collected from randomly selected lactating camels (n=62) and lactating goats (n=142) in live-stock producing pastoralists' areas of Somali region for isolation and identification of S. aureus. Antibiotic susceptibility tests were performed on all S. aureus isolates to 16 antibiotics by Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. Twenty three (11.27% of the total) S. aureus strains were isolated. Four (6.45%) strains were isolated from camel raw milk samples and 19 (13.34%) from  goat raw milk samples. S. aureus isolates showed resistance to Nalidixic acid, Polymixin B, and Penicillin G. S. aureus isolates were sensitive to vancomycin, ciprofloxacin, cefoxitin, cephalotin, gentamycin, Doxycycline, kanamycin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, chloramphenicol, norfloxacin, and erythromycin. Multi drug resistance was detected in 69.2% of the isolates. The present study has demonstrated the existence of alarmingly high level of multiple antimicrobial resistances of S. aureus among camel and goat milks.

 Key words: Staphylococcus aureus, camel and goat milk, antimicrobial susceptibility test, Ethiopia.


This study suggests the BMS(Background Model Set) algorithm used in the speaker verification to supplement the shortcoming in the process of calculation of RLJ-CM(RLJConfidence Measure) and normalized CM. The confidence measure shows the relative similarity between the recognized model and the unrecognized one. In calculation of the CM, the composition of anti-phone model does not have the high confidence measure because a probability and a standard deviation are calculated by using all the phonemes. Also, there is shortcoming that the recognition time increases at the calculation using all phonemes. To solve such a problem, the method is researched which re-organizes a probability and a standard deviation by using the BMS algorithm. As a result, when the BMS algorithm was applied near 17% of the MDR(Missed Detection Rate), a performance was increased to 0.104FA/KW/HR(false alarm/keyword/hour), by 50% improvement compared to the model not applied with the BMS. While the existing work recognition took on average 15 minutes to deal with the evaluation database of one person, the recognition execution through the BMS base reduced the recognition time to 10 minutes by 33%.


The olfactory system is important for social behaviors, feeding and avoiding predators. Detection of odorous molecules is made by odorant receptors on specialized sensory neurons in the olfactory epithelial sheet. The olfactory sensory neurons are organized into a few regions or "zones" based on the spatially limited expression of odorant receptors. In this thesis the zonal division and functional specificity of olfactory sensory neurons have been studied in the mouse. We find that zones 2-4 show overlapping expression of odorant receptors while the border between the regions that express a zone 1 and a zone 2 odorant receptor, respectively, is sharp. This result indicates that zone 1 and zones 2-4 are inherently different from each other. In cDNA screens, aimed at finding genes whose expression correlate to the zonal expression pattern of odorant receptors, we have identified a number of signaling proteins implicated in neural-tissue organogenesis in other systems. The differential expression pattern of identified genes suggests that regional organization is maintained during the continuous neurogenesis in the olfactory epithelium as a result of counter gradients of positional information. We show that the gene c-fos is induced in olfactory sensory neurons as a result of cell activation by odorant exposure. A zonal and scattered distribution of c-Fos-positive neurons resembled the pattern of odorant receptor expression and a change of odorant results in a switch in which zone that is activated. Whereas earlier studies suggest that the odorant receptors are relatively broadly tuned with regard to ligand specificity, the restricted patterns of c-Fos induction suggests that low concentrations of odorous molecules activate only one or a few ORs. Studies on olfactory detection abilities of mice with zonal-restricted lesions in the olfactory epithelium show that loss of a zone has severe effects on the detection of some odorants but not others. These findings lend support to a hypothesis that odorant receptors are tuned to more limited numbers of odorants. Regional differences in gene expression and differences in response to toxic compounds between the zones indicate that there may be differences in tissue homeostasis within the epithelium. We have found that there are differences in proliferation and survival of olfactory sensory neurons in regions correlating to receptor expression zones. Identified differences with regard to gene expression, tissue homeostasis and odorant detection show that the olfactory epithelium is divided into regions that transduce different stimulus features.


Soybean (Glycine max) is an important legume that is used to fulfill the need of protein and oil of large number of population across the world. There are large numbers of soybean germplasm present in the USDA germplasm resources. Finding and understanding genetically diverse germplasm is a top priority for crop improvement programs. The current study used 20 functional EST-SSR and 80 SSR markers to characterize 96 soybean accessions from diverse geographic backgrounds. Ninety-six of the 100 markers were polymorphic, with 262 alleles (average 2.79 per locus). The molecular markers had an average polymorphic information content (PIC) value of 0.44, with 28 markers ≥ 0.50. The average major allele frequency was 0.57. The observed heterozygosity of the population ranged from 0–0.184 (average 0.02), while the expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.20–0.73 (average 0.51). The lower value for observed heterozygosity than expected heterozygosity suggests the likelihood of a population structure among the germplasm. The phylogenetic analysis and principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) divided the total population into two major groups (G1 and G2), with G1 comprising most of the USA lines and the Australian and Brazilian lines. Furthermore, the phylogenetic analysis and PCoA divided the USA lines into three major clusters without any specific differentiation, supported by the model-based STRUCTURE analysis. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed 94% variation among individuals in the total population, with 2% among the populations. For the USA lines, 93% of the variation occurred among individuals, with only 2% among lines from different US states. Pairwise population distance indicated more similarity between the lines from continental America and Australia (189.371) than Asia (199.518). Overall, the 96 soybean lines had a high degree of genetic diversity.


Cerenkov radiation is usually incoherent radiation emitted by charged particles when they pass through a medium with sufficiently high, usually relativistic velocity. It has recently been shown that in photonic crystals Cerenkov emission is possible without a velocity threshold, however emission from electrons streaming through the crystal typically remains incoherent.
Here we show that sufficiently strong feedback between the electrons and the Cherenkov radiation results in coherent emission. The coherent amplification results in a growth of the power by many orders of magnitude, from incoherent emission to saturation in the kW-range. This concept to directly generate coherent radiation with free-electrons in a photonic crystal forms a novel type of coherent radiation source, which can be termed a photonic free-electron laser. The required increase in feedback is obtained via properly designing the photonic crystal. Specifically, the structure is chosen to strongly reduce the phase velocity of a low order spatial harmonic of the radiation field to match it to the electron velocity. Additionally, the structure is chosen to maximize the electric field component in the propagation direction, to provide maximum bunching of the electrons and thereby generate strong stimulated emission.
This laser has several unique properties. First, the laser output frequency can be continuously tuned by varying the electron velocity. Second, as the photonic crystal has many natural channels for the electron beam in parallel, adding more electron beams increases the output power while still maintaining full transverse coherence. Finally, due to the scale invariance of Maxwell's equations, downsizing the photonic crystal structure by a certain factor scales up the frequency of the laser by the same factor, without requiring a change in velocity of the electrons.
Here we demonstrate, the principle physics behind this device and illustrate this with numeric results obtained with a so-called particle-in-cell simulation code for a device working in the microwave spectral region.


The status, economics and prospects of commercialization of goat production in the country have been analyzed using primary data from 18 commercial goat farms in different states. It has been revealed that several large and progressive farmers, businessman and industrialists have adopted commercial goat farming. The entry of large farmers, who have better access to technical knowledge, resources and market, into this activity would help in realizing the potential of goat enterprise. A majority of commercial goat farms have been found operating with positive net returns. Goat rearing has been found equally rewarding under both intensive and semi-intensive systems of management. Intensification and commercialisation of goat enterprise has been recorded important because of shrinking of resources for extensive grazing. Commercialisation would help in increasing the goat productivity and bridging the demand-supply gap. However, use of improved technologies, particularly prophylaxis, superior germ plasm, low cost feeds and fodders, and innovative marketing of the produce would be the pre-conditions for successful commercial goat production.


BACKGROUND
Residual renal function (RRF) contributes to better patient survival in peritoneal dialysis (PD). It is known that glucose degradation products (GDP) and advanced glycation end-products (AGE) resorbed from the peritoneal cavity do not only cause local peritoneal toxicity but also systemic damage resulting in a loss of RRF. We hypothesize that GDP and AGE affect the structure and function of podocytes and investigate whether these effects can be rescued by human RAGE antibody (hRAGEab) to prevent AGE/RAGE interaction and podocyte damage.

METHODS
Differentiated human podocytes were pre-incubated with ±hRAGEab to block the AGE/RAGE interaction and incubated afterwards either with control solution (control), PD fluid (PDF) or a GDP mixture (GDP) for 48 h. We analysed podocyte damage and rescue by hRAGEab using immunofluorescence, western blot, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and a functional migration assay. For quantitation, a semiquantitative score was used.

RESULTS
When pre-incubating podocytes with hRAGEab, damage mediated by PDF and GDP was reduced. We observed lower expression of AGE in PDF and GDP as well as decreased levels of inflammation as shown by activation of nuclear factor kappa B and interleukin-6 release. The reorganization of the podocyte actin cytoskeleton was reduced in the presence of hRAGEab as well as ameliorated synaptopodin expression could be observed, both functionally associated with normal podocyte motility. Finally, podocytes underwent less apoptosis.

CONCLUSIONS
It has been investigated that GDP-containing PDF causes a loss of RRF in PD. Our findings suggest that hRAGEab confers protection against PDF- and GDP-induced podocyte dysfunction. Blocking the AGE/RAGE interaction provides specific protective effects against PDF- and GDP-induced cytoskeletal reorganization, dynamics and stabilizes podocyte survival; this might be an implication for the preservation of RRF in PD.


OBJECTIVES
To determine whether oral administration of 3% hypertonic saline (HTS) is as efficacious as intravenous (IV) 3% saline in reversing symptoms of mild-to-moderate symptomatic exercise-associated hyponatremia (EAH) in athletes during and after a long-distance triathlon.

DESIGN
Noninferiority, open-label, parallel-group, randomized control trial to IV or oral HTS. We used permuted block randomization with sealed envelopes, containing the word either "oral" or "IV."

SETTING
Annual long-distance triathlon (3.8-km swim, 180-km bike, and 42-km run) at Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Canada.

PARTICIPANTS
Twenty race finishers with mild to moderately symptomatic EAH.

INDEPENDENT VARIABLES
Age, sex, race finish time, and 9 clinical symptoms.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Time from treatment to discharge.

METHODS
We successfully randomized 20 participants to receive either an oral (n = 11) or IV (n = 9) bolus of HTS. We performed venipuncture to measure serum sodium (Na) at presentation to the medical clinic and at time of symptom resolution after the intervention.

RESULTS
The average time from treatment to discharge was 75.8 minutes (SD 29.7) for the IV treatment group and 50.3 minutes (SD 26.8) for the oral treatment group (t test, P = 0.02). Serum Na before and after treatment was not significantly different in both groups. There was no difference on presentation between groups in age, sex, or race finish time, both groups presented with an average of 6 symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS
Oral HTS is effective in reversing symptoms of mild-to-moderate hyponatremia in EAH.


This work presents a rigorous analysis of optical forces between planar waveguides immersed in an arbitrary background medium. This approach exploits the Minkowski stress tensor formulation, which is compared with a normalized version of the dispersion relation method, showing excellent results agreement for different dielectric fluid media. Due to slot‐waveguide effect, optical forces from TM modes are more sensitive to changes in the fluid refractive index than the TE counterparts. Furthermore, the repulsive optical force from the antisymmetric TM1 mode becomes stronger for higher refractive indexes, whereas the attractive force of the symmetric TM0 mode becomes weaker. The methodology and results presented in this work provide a rigorous analysis of nano‐optomechanical devices actuated by optical forces in a broad range of materials and applications. Therefore, this study may impact areas of light‐induced interactions presenting novel optofluidic and optomechanical functionalities, thus finding applications in nanoscale transport, sensing and manipulation.


System-in-Package (SiP) and 3D integration are promising technologies to bring more memory onto a microprocessor package to mitigate the "memory wall" problem. In this paper, instead of using them to build caches, we study a heterogenous main memory using both on- and off-package memories providing both fast and high-bandwidth on-package accesses and expandable and low-cost commodity off-package memory capacity. We introduce another layer of address translation coupled with an on-chip memory controller that can dynamically migrate data between off-package and off-package memory either in hardware or with operating system assistance depending on the migration granularity. Our experimental results demonstrate that such design can achieve the average effectiveness of 83% of the ideal case where all memory can be placed in high-speed on-package memory for our simulated benchmarks.


The concept of a processor working set (PWS) as a single value parameter for characterizing the parallel program behavior is introduced. Through detailed experimental studies of different algorithms on a transputer-based multiprocessor machine, it is shown that the PWS is a robust measure for characterizing the workload of a multiprocessor system. It is shown that processor allocation strategies based on the PWS provide significantly better throughput-delay characteristics. The robustness of PWS is further demonstrated by showing that allocation policies that allocate processors more than the PWS are inferior in performance to those that never allocate more than the PWS-even at a moderately low load. Based on the results, a simple static allocation policy that allocates the PWS at low load and adaptively fragments at high load to one processor per job is proposed. >


Purpose of reviewKidney development depends on outgrowth of the ureteric bud into the metanephric mesenchyme. The number of ureteric bud branching events determines the final number of nephrons, which correlates inversely with the risk for development of chronic kidney disease and arterial hypertension during lifetime. The purpose of this review is to highlight the influence of oxygen on nephrogenesis and to describe cellular mechanisms by which hypoxia can impair nephron formation. Recent findingsAlthough kidney development normally takes place under hypoxic conditions, nephrogenesis is impaired when oxygen availability falls below the usual range. Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIF) play an important role in linking low oxygen concentrations to the biology of nephron formation, but their effect appears to be cell type dependent. In ureteric bud cells, HIF stimulates tubulogenesis, whereas HIF stabilization in cells of the metanephric mesenchyme results in secretion of growth factors, including vascular endothelial growth factor A, which in aggregate inhibit ureteric bud branching. The balance between pro and antibranching effects may be altered in various ways, but the inhibitory effect usually seems to predominate under reduced oxygen concentrations, explaining how intrauterine hypoxia can lead to low nephron numbers. SummaryOxygen availability has a complex influence on nephrogenesis. Oxygen concentrations outside an optimal low range may affect nephron endowment. Associations between placental insufficiency and increased risk for chronic kidney disease and arterial hypertension during later life may to a large extent be due to direct effects of reduced oxygen supply to the metanephric mesenchyme and mediated through the HIF pathway.


The article analyzes the causes of relapses of varicose veins of lower extremities in 60 patients: in 38 patients after preceding surgery and in 22 patients after phlebo-sclerosing treatment. Of 60 patients 52 were operated upon. The operation in case of recurrence of the disease after surgery must include careful revision of the sapheno-femoral anastomosis, removal of the remaining trunks and segments of veins, detection and ligation of communicating veins with deficient valves.


The opportunity for First Nations students to learn about their traditional history and culture within Canadian schools is limited. In spite of the relevance and need to have this type of inquiry, it seems that the Canadian educational system is reluctant to incorporate authentic curricula into the students' academic repertoire. However, there are those who are committed to the belief that all Canadian students would benefit from having the opportunity to learn about First Nations from both a precontact and postcontact context. Despite this educational thrust, authentic curricula, curricula which is developed in consultation with Elders and other knowledgeable community members, remains missing from Canadian institutions of education. The reader will be presented with a brief overview of the historical legacy of Aboriginal education which, in itself, substantiates the need to provide today's students with a more sensitive and responsible view of Aboriginal history and culture. The research questions for this study were: does authentic Aboriginal curricula have a positive impact on the self-esteem of Aboriginal students and does the Aboriginal community support teaching authentic Aboriginal curricula in public schools. For this research a class of grade 8 students were taught their social studies using authentic Aboriginal curriculum. Pretests and posttests, student interviews and student and community surveys were all used in this research. In addition, my teaching journal and personal reflections have been incorporated into the inquiry of whether or not Aboriginal students benefit from being taught authentic curricula. This study had four major findings: that the self-esteem of Aboriginal students was positively affected through the use of authentic Aboriginal curricula, that the students successfully met the British Columbia Ministry of Education's learning outcomes through the use of authentic curricula, that this Aboriginal community does support the use of authentic curricula within this school and that the Aboriginal students felt that courses using authentic curricula should be supported within public education.


A wide variety of nonmalignant diseases of the lung require pneumonectomy. Pneumonectomy for inflammatory lung disease is frequently associated with high morbidity rates, and the frequencies of postpneumonectomy space empyema and bronchopleural fistula are high. It is essential to treat underlying infections prior to surgery in an effort to minimize the sputum production, maximize the patient's nutritional status, minimize the chance for intraoperative spillage, and decrease the risk of postoperative bronchopleural fistulas and postpneumonectomy space empyemas. Despite the challenges of performing a pneumonectomy for inflammatory diseases, cure rates for MDR-TB, MOTT infections, and fungal disease, including invasive fungal disease, are excellent. Pneumonectomy for trauma is associated with very high mortality, and efforts should be made to avoid pneumonectomy if possible. Pneumonectomy for other benign conditions is unusual.


Abstract : Computational theories of structure-from-motion and stereo vision only specify the computation of three-dimensional surface information at points in the image at which the irradiance changes. Yet, the visual perception is clearly of complete surfaces, and this perception is consistent for different observers. Since mathematically the class of surfaces which could pass through the known boundary points provided by the stereo system is infinite and contains widely varying surfaces, the visual system must incorporate some additional constraints besides the known points in order to compute the complete surface. Using the image irradiance equation, we derive the surface consistency constraint, informally referred to as no news is good news. The constraint implies that the surface must agree with the information from stereo or motion correspondence. and not vary radically between these points. An explicit form of this surface consistency constraint is derived, by relating the probability of a zero-crossing in a region of the image to the variation in the local surface orientation of the surface, provided that the surface albedo and the illumination are roughly constant.


The aim of this work is to find a dedicated concept for efficient compression of HerschelPACS control data. These data represent the setting parameters of the different instruments within PACS, which have to be transmitted with the scientific data for diagnosis purpose. As these control data have a deterministic variability and because of the limited telemetry bandwidth, it was decided to lossless compress the control data for efficient exploitation of the downlink. In this report, an analysis of the control data has been made and a dedicated compression concept with different entropy coders has been developed and tested on simulated and real data. The obtained results have been evaluated and compared to a state-of-the-art codec.


Objective: A better understanding of functional genomics can be obtained by extracting patterns hidden in gene expression data. This could have paramount implications for cancer diagnosis, gene treatments and other domains. Clustering may reveal natural structures and identify interesting patterns in underlying data. The main objective of this research was to derive a heuristic approach to detection of highly co-expressed genes related to cancer from gene expression data with minimum Mean Squared Error (MSE). Methods: A modified CSO algorithm using Harmony Search (MCSO-HS) for clustering cancer gene expression data was applied. Experiment results are analyzed using two cancer gene expression benchmark datasets, namely for leukaemia and for breast cancer. Result: The results indicated MCSO-HS to be better than HS and CSO, 13% and 9% with the leukaemia dataset. For breast cancer dataset improvement was by 22% and 17%, respectively, in terms of MSE. Conclusion: The results showed MCSO-HS to outperform HS and CSO with both benchmark datasets. To validate the clustering results, this work was tested with internal and external cluster validation indices. Also this work points to biological validation of clusters with gene ontology in terms of function, process and component.


I keep thinking, without too much supporting evidence, that images have something to do with crowds. An image is a crowd in a way, a smear of impressions. Images tend to draw people together, create mass identity. --Don DeLillo, "The Image and the Crowd" (72-73) In his 1991 novel Mao II, Don DeLillo stages a battle between the notion of an individual Western identity and that of a "mass-produced" foreign consciousness, a contest producing equal amounts of xenophobia and paranoia. For most of the novel's characters, an alienating mass identity is emblematized by images of non-Western languages and religious and political leaders such as Mao. But for the novel's author, the seemingly foreign "cult of Mao" turns out to represent a product of American consumer culture--that is, an American appropriation of mass terrorism and the commerce of mechanical reproduction (or a Warhol aesthetic and what it signifies). For DeLillo's characters, xenophobia accompanies such an appropriation as an expression of anxiety over "mass identity" and mass production (displaced onto and emblematized by mass weddings); group identities of consumer culture; photographs that displace the "original" object; and hybridized or multicultural texts and languages. The American notion of terrorism, at least at the point DeLillo was writing, is then born from an acute fear of collective identity based in a long Western literary tradition of fetishizing the individual. DeLillo sets up an opposition between the Western writer/individual and the Eastern/mass terrorist only to collapse it, for example in recontextualizing the alleged "invasion" of global/third-world English into the United States, and in tracing the myriad ways in which an ideology of American individualism is itself surreptitiously predicated on the practices of "foreign" mass production. The anachronistic white writer's individual words are cast against foreign, hybridized "mass" languages of advertising, politics, and terrorism. Throughout Mao II, DeLillo dramatizes the speciousness of the dichotomy between the domestic and the foreign, both of which turn out to be products of the same Western imagination. More dramatically, the foreign terrorist emerges as the alter ego of the American writer. In this process, the figure of Mao comes to designate not a foreign or alternative social or economic system, but the very mechanics of capitalist production in DeLillo's America. In this sense, one never sees Mao, but only Mao II, a Mao effect. The appearance of a second Mao or Mao II in the text, Warhol's mass-produced dissemination of the Mao image, is paralleled by the appearance of the product Coke II--to some extent a parodic version of the ill-fated New Coke--staging an ironic contest between which two equally Western symbols will colonize the world. In this series of transpositions, DeLillo dramatizes what Anthony Giddens describes as the surprise of postmodernism, that "scarcely anyone today seems to identify post-modernity with what it was once widely accepted to mean--the replacement of capitalism by socialism"(46). Instead, postmodernity perversely heralds the apparent 'replacement' (but actual supplementation) of capitalism by the capitalist symbols of socialism. With archly postmodern irony, DeLillo uses the appropriated, primary symbol of Marxism to critique capitalist xenophobia and its appropriation of other sign systems to its own uses. The children of Marx and Coca Cola grow up to inherit one another, and discover their actual fraternity. In this essay I explore the frustrating complexity of xenophobia in DeLillo's texts: where it is generated, whom DeLillo's critique is aimed at, and how we determine what is genuinely foreign. To what extent does the author identify with the views of his white protagonist Bill Gray--is that figure for DeLillo a victim of foreign ideologies or his own xenophobia? An unresolved tension between the implied author's and characters' world-view makes the answer to these questions difficult to determine. …


The antibacterial brushite-forming calcium phospahte cements (CPC) were prepared using an equimolar mixture of β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) and monocalcium phosphate monohydrate (MCPM) with chlorine dioxide (ClO2) generating powders (sodium chlorite and mixed acid activator). The effect of ClO2 on cement setting time, compressive strength, and antibacterial property of novel antibacterial CPC was investigated. The use of 0.3M citric acid solutions as liquid phase enabled final setting times of 5~10 min. The setting time of antibacterial cement systems was prolonged with increasing the amount of antibiotic used. Dry compressive strength was found to be in the range between 9~15 MPa and increased with addition of ClO2 generating powders. Wet compressive strength was slightly decreased compared to dry compressive strength after immersion of cement samples in water for 24 h. The antimicrobial potency of the different cement formulations was investigated using the agar diffusion method. The acidic brushite cement itself showed the inhibitory effect for Streptococcus mutans. The inhibition zone was increased with the amount of ClO2 generating powders. These results indicate that our novel antibacterial CPC have the great potential to avoid the development of infections for preventive antibiotic therapy.


Pl incorporate the following compartmentalization within abstract Abstract Objectives : In <30 words. Methods/Statistical analysis : It should be <70 words. Include the method adapted to study the objectives/sampling details or simulation or statistical analysis of data; technique employed; mention unique/ important points of modification of methodology in the current study. Mention about test samples the control employed or approach used for comparing the test sample. Findings: It should be <170 words. Mention your findings in the form of statements along with the conclusive data of statistical importance; Mention how your findings are unique and novel; how your findings are in consensus with the existing values/ reports or how different are they from the already reported findings. Highlight how your results are helpful in adding more value to the existing reports. Application/Improvements: In <30 words.


Computers and computer assisted instruction have proven their value for effective learning in every day educational settings around the world. Often perceived only for the intellectually and physically able, the use of computer assisted instruction for children with various disabilities is recorded in recent computer-assisted instruction literature. However, some countries have been reticent in utilizing computers for their special needs learners due to many factors, not the least of which is the unavailability of funds. In this paper, the authors relate how a small amount of funds, minsisterial will, and initiative, educators of the handicapped were taught how to use micro-computers to teach children language arts and mathematics. Objectives of a one-week workshop are outlined and carried out. The evaluation, both in qualitative and quantitative terms are presented. COmments provided by the trainees were used as a basis for planning a further one-week follow-up and evaluation. The major significance of this paper is the excitement, enthusiasm, and motivation generated among educators and children with a variety of handicapping conditions as a result of the introduction of computer assisted instruction. This article will prove to be most valuable to educators of children with handicapping conditions in developing and least-developed countries.


OBJECTIVE
To describe the dynamics of copeptin in open cardiac surgery during the perioperative course.

DESIGN
Prospective cohort study.

SETTING
Single tertiary hospital.

PARTICIPANTS
Twenty patients scheduled for open cardiac surgery procedures with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB).

INTERVENTIONS
No intervention.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
Copeptin concentrations were measured pre-, peri-, and postoperatively until day 6 after surgery. Patients were analyzed as a whole cohort (n = 20) and in a restricted "normal cohort" consisting of patients with normal preoperative copeptin concentration (<10 pmol/L) and perioperative uneventful course (n = 11). In the whole cohort, preoperative copeptin concentration was 7.0 pmol/L (interquartile range: 3.1-11 pmol/L). All patients had an early rise of copeptin, with 80% having peak copeptin concentration at weaning from CPB or upon arrival in the intensive care unit. Patients in the "normal cohort" had copeptin concentration at weaning from CPB of 194 pmol/L (98-275), postoperative day 1, 27 pmol/L (18-31); and day 3, 8.9 pmol/L (6.3-12).

CONCLUSIONS
Regardless of cardiac surgical procedure and perioperative course, all patients had an early significant rise of copeptin concentrations, generally peaking at weaning from CBP or upon arrival in the intensive care unit. Among patients with normal copeptin concentration preoperatively and uneventful course, the postoperative copeptin concentrations decreased to normal values within 3-to-4 days after cardiac surgery. Furthermore, the restricted "normal cohort" generally tended to display lower levels of copeptin concentration postoperatively. Further studies may evaluate whether copeptin can be a tool in identifying risk patients in cardiac surgery.


This thesis is a contribution to a deeper understanding of selected Bengali grammatical structures as far as their syntactic and semantic properties are concerned. It questions traditional interpretations and takes a practical approach in the detailed investigation of actual language use. My methodology is based on the belief that clarity and inquisitiveness should take precedence over alliance to particular grammar theories and that there is still much to discover about the way the Bengali language works. Chapter 1 This chapter on non-finite verb forms discusses the occurrences and functions of Bengali non-finite verb forms and concentrates particularly on the overlap of infinitives and verbal nouns, the distinguishing features between infinitives and present participles, the semantic properties of verbal adjectives and the syntactic restrictions of perfective participles. Chapter 2 In the attempt to define Bengali compound verbs I question the appropriateness of purely semantic criteria, which have prevailed in previous analyses. If syntactic criteria are taken into account we arrive at a more diverse and more accurate picture of the relationship between the two combined verb forms. Chapter 3 The majority of Bengali so-called postpositions are locative noun forms (spatial postpositions) or non-finite verb forms, which can function as postpositions. I have tried to develop some syntactic and semantic criteria in order to define the 'wordclass' of postpositions. Chapter 4 Bengali tenses are remarkably flexible in their uses. In order to gain a clearer picture of their parameters I have examined the co-occurrence of tenses and of tense restrictions in sentences with particular time adverbials. Chapter 5 Verbs of being and having are analysed according to their syntactic uses, restrictions, semantic features and overlap with one another, taking into account negative and non-present tense sentences. The chapter also establishes the importance of the zero verb as the main copula in Bengali. Chapter 6 This chapter looks at word order and selected sentence structures. The discussion focusses on the features and parameters of Bengali passive and impersonal structures. Findings from previous chapters have been taken into account. All chapters suggest areas of further research.


Abstract The fear avoidance model (FAM) has been proposed to explain the development of chronic disability in a variety of conditions including whiplash-associated disorders (WADs). The FAM does not account for symptoms of posttraumatic stress and sensory hypersensitivity, which are associated with poor recovery from whiplash injury. The aim of this study was to explore a model for the maintenance of pain and related disability in people with WAD including symptoms of PTSD, sensory hypersensitivity, and FAM components. The relationship between individual components in the model and disability and how these relationships changed over the first 12 weeks after injury were investigated. We performed a longitudinal study of 103 (74 female) patients with WAD. Measures of pain intensity, cold and mechanical pain thresholds, symptoms of posttraumatic stress, pain catastrophising, kinesiophobia, and fear of cervical spine movement were collected within 6 weeks of injury and at 12 weeks after injury. Mixed-model analysis using Neck Disability Index (NDI) scores and average 24-hour pain intensity as the dependent variables revealed that overall model fit was greatest when measures of fear of movement, posttraumatic stress, and sensory hypersensitivity were included. The interactive effects of time with catastrophising and time with fear of activity of the cervical spine were also included in the best model for disability. These results provide preliminary support for the addition of neurobiological and stress system components to the FAM to explain poor outcome in patients with WAD.


Systolic or diastolic hypertension, cigarette smoking, diabetes mellitus, left ventricular hypertrophy, age, prior stroke, transient cerebral ischemic attack, extracranial arterial disease, and coronary heart disease are risk factors for the most common type of geriatric stroke, atherothrombotic brain infarction (ABI). Also, by contributing to hypertension and diabetes mellitus, obesity predisposes to ABI. The relationship of abnormal serum lipids and of physical inactivity to ABI is unclear. Antihypertensive treatment decreases the incidence of fatal and nonfatal stroke in patients with systolic and diastolic hypertension. Cessation of smoking also decreases risk.


BACKGROUND:
The Essex Lopresti lesion represents the worse pattern of the Unstable Fractures of the Forearm, because of the three constraints disruption, so it can be defined as the most challenging forearm lesion for the surgeon. All the Authors agree to consider acute treatment as absolutely necessary, pointing out the need for an early diagnosis.
METHODS:
I analyzed the Faenza Hospital Orthopedic Unit cases of Unstable Fractures of the Forearm: in the period 2010-2016, ten patients have been treated, all male, with a mean age of 37 years; all the injuries had been caused by high energy trauma. Eight cases were chronic Essex-Lopresti injuries, two cases were acute. All these patients undervent an Interosseous Membrane Reconstruction (IOM), with different devices (frozen allograft, LARS, Ethibond braid and Ultratape).
RESULTS:
At a mean follow up of 22 months, the mean ROM for the acute cases was 5-140° in flexion-extension, 68-0-66° in pronation and supionation, with no wrist functional limitations; the mean ROM in the chronic cases was 24-127 degrees in extension and flexion, 54-0-47 degrees in pronation and supination, 58-63° in wrist extension and flexion. At the same mean follow up, the mean MEPS was 89/100 points for the chronic cases and 97,5/100 for the two acute cases, confirming the improvement of the functional results in the acutly treated patients.
CONCLUSIONS:
The IOM plasty is a well planned technique and many Authors agree on its use both in acute and chronic conditions, but the results, in the Literature, are still exiguous and not homogeneous. Our encouraging data induce us to continue on the undertaken road, with the aim of validating the current surgical technique and, if possible, of improving it increasingly.


Segmentation of carotid vessel wall is required in vessel wall volume (VWV) and local vessel-wall-plus-plaque thickness (VWT) quantification of the carotid artery. Manual segmentation of the vessel wall is time-consuming and prone to interobserver variability. In this paper, we proposed a convolutional neural network (CNN) to segment the common carotid artery (CCA) from 3D carotid ultrasound images. The proposed CNN involves three U-Nets that segmented the 3D ultrasound (3DUS) images in the axial, lateral and frontal orientations. The segmentation maps generated by three U-Nets were consolidated by a novel segmentation average network (SAN) we proposed in this paper. The experimental results show that the proposed CNN improved the segmentation accuracies. Compared to only using U-Net alone, the proposed CNN improved the Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) for vessel wall segmentation from 64.8% to 67.5%, the sensitivity from 63.8% to 70.5%, and the area under receiver operator characteristic curve (AUC) from 0.89 to 0.94.


Recent shifts in lung cancer mortality in the United States are believed to be related to changing patterns of cigarette smoking among adults. From 1960-1977 the age-adjusted mortality rate for lung cancer increased by 85%. Increases in lung cancer mortality rates were much greater among females than males. The recent rapid increase in female lung cancer mortality appears to be the result of higher rates of cigarette smoking among women born between 1920 and 1940 compared to earlier generations. These women, who are now in their 40's, 50's, and 60's are now beginning to reach an age where lung cancer rates will be adversely affected. In contrast, peak smoking prevalence rates occurred among men who are now in their 60's and 70's. The proportion of men who smoke cigarettes has been declining steadily with successive generations born after 1930. Findings from this analysis suggest that recent shifts in lung cancer mortality in the United States can be largely explained by examining changes in the smoking habits of adults.


Additive coefficient model (Xue and Yang, 2006a, 2006b) is a flexible regression and autoregression tool that circumvents the "curse of dimensionality." We propose spline-backfitted kernel (SBK) and spline-backfitted local linear (SBLL) estimators for the component functions in the additive coefficient model that are both (i) computationally expedient so they are usable for analyzing high dimensional data, and (ii) theoretically reliable so inference can be made on the component functions with confidence. In addition, they are (iii) intuitively appealing and easy to use for practitioners. The SBLL procedure is applied to a varying coefficient extension of the Cobb-Douglas model for the U.S. GDP that allows nonneutral effects of the R&D on capital and labor as well as in total factor productivity (TFP).


This paper provides new insight into the firm-level employment impacts of trade cost changes at the industry level in the Austrian services sector. We apply a two-part model of firm survival (exit) and firm growth. Separate regressions for firm entry rates at the industry-region level complete the picture of total trade-induced net job creation. We implement the trade cost measure introduced by Chen and Novy (2011) and base it on own estimates of industry specific substitution elasticities. Falling trade costs in the Austrian services sector over the period 2000 to 2014 resulted in net job creation of about 19,000 jobs accounting for 9.5 percent of overall job flows in the sector. The smallest and least productive firms contract while large and productive firms expand as predicted by theory. Most adjustments occur at the extensive margin due to changes in the probability of firm survival.


Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) songs were first described and characterized by Payne and McVay in 1971. The elaborate vocal display of song is still not fully understood, but it likely represents an important behaviour in mating and sexual selection. Humpback whales are a migratory species known to produce long, stereotyped, complex songs in breeding grounds during the winter time. However, more studies are detecting songs outside of the usual tropical warm breeding areas, in migration routes as well as in higher-latitude feeding grounds. The study area, Skjálfandi Bay in northeast Iceland (66°07′N, 17°32′W), is an established high latitude feeding ground for humpback whales during the summer. Former cetacean acoustic monitoring studies from 2008 to 2009 in this location, indicated that humpback whale song vocalizations were present in multiple 1 minute recording sound files. The present study supports and markedly expands on the previous acoustic findings from this location. It demonstrates and describes extensive song occurrence in winter months that were not previously recorded. Long-term acoustic recordings were made in Skjálfandi Bay from 26 January – 12 March, 2011, using a bottom-moored Ecological Acoustic Recorder (EAR). The EAR was programmed to record in 10 minute cycles, every 5 minutes at a sampling rate of 16 kHz. The prevalence of songs by multiple individuals confirmed that at least part of the population remained in the productive waters throughout winter, and possibly year-round. The songs from this high latitude feeding ground also demonstrated a level of structure and pattern characteristic of songs described from mating grounds. The results had 19 phrase type classifications and displayed a predictable sequence from the cyclic patterns in the song recordings. Furthermore, peak song occurrence timing coincided with the peak timing of seasonal hormonal activity in sexually active humpback whales during breeding season in the Northern hemisphere. The findings demonstrate that this complex mating ground behaviour is in sync with breeding and conception time. Therefore, these data support that mating behaviour is not restricted to tropical breeding grounds. It further suggests that humpback whales may have the ability to mate and participate in breeding activity while remaining in Iceland's subarctic waters. The behavioural flexibility shown from this study recognizes the northeast coast of Iceland as an important year-round habitat for humpback whales.


China has gradually recognized that the conventional path of encouraging economic growth at the expense of the environment cannot be sustained. It has to be changed. This article focuses on China's efforts towards energy conservation and environmental quality. The article discusses a variety of programs, prices, market-based instruments, and other economic and industrial policies and measures targeted for energy saving and pollution cutting, and the associated implementation and reliability issues. The article ends with some concluding remarks and recommendations.


With rising smartphone ownership, mobile health applications (mHealth apps) have the potential to support high-need, high-cost populations in managing their health. While the number of available mHealth apps has grown substantially, no clear strategy has emerged on how providers should evaluate and recommend such apps to patients. Key stakeholders, including medical professional societies, insurers, and policy makers, have largely avoided formally recommending apps, which forces patients to obtain recommendations from other sources. To help stakeholders overcome barriers to reviewing and recommending apps, we evaluated 137 patient-facing mHealth apps-those intended for use by patients to manage their health-that were highly rated by consumers and recommended by experts and that targeted high-need, high-cost populations. We found that there is a wide variety of apps in the marketplace but that few apps address the needs of the patients who could benefit the most. We also found that consumers' ratings were poor indications of apps' clinical utility or usability and that most apps did not respond appropriately when a user entered potentially dangerous health information. Going forward, data privacy and security will continue to be major concerns in the dissemination of mHealth apps.


BoW is an on-line bibliographical repository based on a hierarchical c oncept index to which entries are linked. Searching in the repository should therefore return matching topics from the hierarchy, rather than just a list of entries. Likewise, when new entries are inserted, a search for relevant topics to which they should be linked is required. We develop a vector-based algorithm that creates keyword vectors for the set of competing topics at each node in the hierarchy, and show how its performance improves when domain-specific features are added (such as special handling of topic titles and author names). The results of a 7-fold cross validation on a corpus of some 3,500 entries with a 5-level index are hit ratios in the range of 89-95%, and most of the misclassifications are indeed ambiguous to begin with.


Technology Demonstrators (TechDems) is an initiative at UniSQ for collective oversight of educational technology use in learning and teaching. It is an evolving Community of Practice (CoP) inspired by the work of Treyner-Wenger (2015) on groups of people who engage in a process of collective learning. Generating excitement around new ideas including technologies is not hard but sustaining interest and supporting skill development and appropriate edtech purchases that lead to shifting current practice is a challenge. TechDems addresses the challenge of changemaking by providing the means for interaction, sharing and collaboration.
TechDems aligns with the theory and practice of Connectivism and Collaborativism. As such it is disruptive by not providing a 'sit and get' approach to academic development but encouraging ongoing participation and contribution. With regards to Connectivism Siemens (2005) states, "The pipe is more important than the content in the pipe" implying that learning and knowledge are contextual and new information is constantly being acquired through technology-infused networked participation and connected practices. Other influences include Collaborativism (Harasim, 2017) ??that builds on constructivist learning theory and the use of the internet for collaborative knowledge creation, and Learning Collaboratives (Lindsay, 2016) that foster confidence and autonomy, extended local and global communities and collaboration that leads to co-creation. Aligned with CoP ideals, Learning Collaboratives disrupt expectations around how we learn and how we affect change within learning and teaching which is not in isolation.
Underlying the purpose and activity of TechDems is the recognition that it is imperative to explore and discover innovative ways to facilitate leading edge, digitally-infused teaching through what we call the four pillars: technology, pedagogy, research and evaluation. TechDems is unique in that it provides a hub for all participants and encourages distributed and socially constructed, individual and group driven, learning systems prioritising transparency, sharing, and collaboration when learning virtually and with technology.
By flipping traditional models and focusing on needs that are user driven, TechDem Learning and Teaching Quality Partners work relationally with academics on a range of activities. Piloting and evaluating new educational technologies, such as Engageli, allows participants to work collaboratively whilst learning the new platform and creating socially embedded decisions with regards to how and if the tool will be adopted. Hosting internationally blended events, such as a hybrid learning workshop with German university JLU-Giessen, demonstrates how learning technologies can be used to create global learning, networks, and understandings. SIGS, such as the Student Engagement SIG, or the Student Portfolio SIG are participant led allowing members to share their passions, projects, and frustrations. In addition, TechDems promotes 'Champions' as leaders within the academic environment; hosts academic 'ThinkPiece' video vignettes of shared practice; collaborates with diverse stakeholder such as ICT, Schools, and other stakeholders; and provides a regular newsletter and dynamic website for enhanced communication and access to learning artefacts. In each of these examples from TechDem practice, the traditional linear model of professional learning is disrupted to enhance collectivism and collaborativism.
As evidence of best practice TechDems are driving change through a focus on the needs of stakeholders in conjunction with institutional strategies for student success. The approach provides three key opportunities for change: connection to 'experts'; opportunities to share practice and learning; and, increases in the use of pedagogically appropriate technologies for learning. Others can learn from and emulate the range and scope of ongoing projects and CoP activities. Feedback from participants in the program continue to indicate positive impacts on their teaching and learning, as a result the TechDems are initiating ongoing research into the effectiveness of edtech tools and associated pedagogies in learning.


Altered disturbance regimes in the context of global change are likely to have profound consequences for ecosystems. Interactions between fire and vegetation are of particular interest, as fire is a major driver of vegetation change, and vegetation properties (e.g., amount, flammability) alter fire regimes. Mediterranean-type ecosystems (MTEs) constitute a paradigmatic example of temperate fire-prone vegetation. Although these ecosystems may be heavily impacted by global change, disturbance regime shifts and the implications of fire-vegetation feedbacks in the dynamics of such biomes are still poorly characterized. We developed a minimal modeling framework incorporating key aspects of fire ecology and successional processes to evaluate the relative influence of extrinsic and intrinsic factors on disturbance and vegetation dynamics in systems composed of grassland, shrubland, and woodland mosaics, which characterize many MTEs. In this theoretical investigation, we performed extensive simulations representing different background rates of vegetation succession and disturbance regime (fire frequency and severity) processes that reflect a broad range of MTE environmental conditions. Varying fire-vegetation feedbacks can lead to different critical points in underlying processes of disturbance and sudden shifts in the vegetation state of grassland–shrubland–woodland systems, despite gradual changes in ecosystem drivers as defined by the environment. Vegetation flammability and disturbance stochasticity effectively modify system behavior, determining its heterogeneity and the existence of alternative stable states in MTEs. Small variations in system flammability and fire recurrence induced by climate or vegetation changes may trigger sudden shifts in the state of such ecosystems. The existence of threshold dynamics, alternative stable states, and contrasting system responses to environmental change has broad implications for MTE management.


Technological convergence, on the one hand, tends to point out new roles - and sometimes also markets - for the players in the communications industry, producing the segmentation of different functions and phases in the value chain. On the other hand, technological convergence could bring forth numerous specific antitrust issues, such as an increase in the market power of the suppliers of more appealing services or contents, or a premature foreclosure of the new market due to leveraging of the power maintained by a company in another market. A topic of particular interest, till now quite neglected by legal doctrine, is that of the regulation of "emerging markets" for innovation processes, especially technological convergence, i.e. those markets which are just emerging are not likely to satisfy (at least for the moment) the three criteria provided by the 2003 EU Recommendation on relevant markets. This paper, analysing both "hard law" and "soft law" provisions, tries to isolate some (initial) criteria for the decision of whether or not to intervene in a new emerging market with a regulation (be it a regulatory action ad hoc, or eventually the application of the antitrust law in force).


In this paper, the authors propose a model for an International Common Project that is designed to have students from more than one country working on the same project at the same time. They define a project as a substantial piece of (individual) work undertaken by a student under the guidance of a supervisor. The benefits to the student arising from such an international project are significant but the difficulties cannot be ignored. A model is described which is designed to maximise the international element whilst minimising the consequences of the difficulties. The model requires the participating institutions to work closely to define suitable projects and identify students to work on them. Initially students work alone or with only minimal contact. As each project evolves, the students will increasingly co-operate to manage tasks associated with the project amongst themselves. At all times the student's individual contribution will be measured for assessment purposes. This paper describes the background to the project and the ways the difficulties which have been identified might be minimised. The problems in managing such a project are discussed and a method proposed to unify, the approach taken to the project management and assessment process by the participating institutions. The model proposed will be piloted this fall with involvement by universities from France, Germany, the UK and the US. Various management tools will be developed to assist with the running of this pilot. Further testing and refining of the model will be carried out in the spring when a second set of projects will be run.


Changes in cumin and chili powder from India resulting from electron-beam irradiation were investigated using 3 analytical methods: electronic nose (E-nose), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. The spices had been exposed to 6 to 14 kGy doses recommended for microbial decontamination. E-nose measured a clear difference in flavor patterns of the irradiated spices in comparison with the nonirradiated samples. Principal component analysis further showed a dose-dependent variation. FTIR spectra of the samples showed strong absorption bands at 3425, 3007 to 2854, and 1746 cm −1 . However, both nonirradiated and irradiated spice samples had comparable patterns without any noteworthy changes in functional groups. EPR spectroscopy of the irradiated samples showed a radiation-specific triplet signal at g = 2.006 with a hyper-fine coupling constant of 3 mT confirming the results obtained with the E-nose technique. Thus, E-nose was found to be a potential tool to identify irradiated spices.


Queue management system is designed in organizing queues at service sectors like banks and post offices, which expected to have a large number of customers daily. Conventional ways of managing queues like issuing paper tickets printed with queue number, leads to several problems such as paper tickets littering and also long queueing or waiting time. Therefore, this paper presents the development of a system to manage queues more efficiently and eco-friendly. The proposed system consists of a Graphical User Interface (GUI), which is used to obtain customers' mobile phone numbers and the processing unit, which generates the queue number and initiate the ticket to be sent to customers' mobile phones via SMS, thus replacing the utilization of papers. Moreover, this system additional features allow customers to remotely obtain their queue number just by sending request to the system through SMS, and also reminding the upcoming customers that their turns are nearly arriving, a feature which is very useful especially for those who are waiting outside the premise. Simulations and experimental tests were conducted to ensure the reliability and the efficiency of the proposed system. The proposed system is supporting the development of sustainable green technology, and the expected increase of system efficiency may contribute in improving customers' satisfaction.


Transmission used in automobiles is indispensable from the viewpoint of improvement of maximum speed, quietness and fuel consumption even if the power source of automobile is changed from internal combustion engine to electric motor in the future. We are studying a heat treatment process for imparting machinability to the forged material after hot forging used for a transmission of automobiles. In the past, the heat stored in the material after hot forging was merely released into the atmosphere. We succeeded in imparting machinability to the material by cooling while well controlling the heat stored in the forged material after hot forging. In the previous paper [1], we reported the progress of tool wear of this forged material in the high-speed cutting region with the cutting speed of 200 m/min or more in intermittent cutting. In this report, we conducted cutting experiments on the machinability of this developed forged material in the normal cutting speed region with the cutting speed less than 200 m/min. As a result, at the cutting speed V of V=157 m/min or less, it reached the conclusion that the built-up edges frequently occurred and the tool was chipped due to it. From the previous report and the results of this experiment, it was found that the cutting speed V of about V=213 m/min is optimum for cutting these forged materials with cemented carbide.


Japan was the first major non-western nation to take on board the Western technological and organizational advances of the century after the fist industrial revolution. It subsequently proved fully able to exploit and contribute to the broad, sustained technological advances that began in the twentieth century, as science became harnessed to technology. Japan's economic development remains a model for many technologically less advanced countries which have not yet mastered modern technology to organizational forms; and a knowledge of Japanese technological and economic history can contribute importantly to our understanding of economic growth in the modern era. This book studies the industrial development of Japan since the mid-nineteenth century, with particular emphasis on how the various industries built technological capabilities. The Japanese were extraordinarily creative in seraching out and learning to use modern technologies, and the authors investigate the emergence of entrepreneurs who began new and risky businesses, how the business organizations evolved to cope with changing technological conditions, and how the managers, engineers and workers acquired organizational and technological skills through technology importation, learning-by-doing, and their own R&D activities. The book investigates the interaction between private entrepreneural activities and public policy, through a general examination of economic and industrial development, a study of the evolution of management systems, and six industrial case studies: textiles, iron and steel, electrical and communications equipment, automobiles, shipbuilding and aircraft, and pharmaceuticals. the authors show how the Japanese government has played an important supportive role in the continuing innovation, without being a substitute for aggressive business enterprise constantly venturing into unfamiliar terrains.


Weng`an fauna in Guizhou, China provides a unique window for the evolution of the early life especially since the animal embryos and sponge is found there. Phosphatization makes the fossils preserve in details including cells and subcellular structure. Here we use atomic force microscope observing the surface of some three dimensional preserved embryo fossils and the ultra membrane-like structure is found under atomic force microscope (AFM) while such structure can`t be found under scanning electron microscope (SEM). The membrane-like structure is approximately 10nm in thickness which maybe one part of the fossil embryos or belong to another nano scale microfossils. Therefore, AFM provides a new method for the study of the ultra structure of the microfossils from Weng`an fauna.


AIMS
To systematically identify, appraise and synthesise qualitative studies investigating Registered Nurse students' (RNS) experiences of workplace violence (WPV) while on clinical placement. It is expected that the literature review findings will guide the development of targeted programs and policies to address WPV against RNS.

BACKGROUND
WPV affects RNS during clinical placements as they are vulnerable to violence due to their limited experience and skills to challenge abusive behaviour. In this review, RNS are students enrolled in a Bachelor of Nursing program to become registered nurses and exclude students who are enrolled in nursing program that does not lead to registration as a registered nurse. For example, enrolled in nursing programs and postgraduate nursing programs. RNS are chosen for their scope of practice and the training requirements. RNS reported experiencing WPV mainly from colleagues, staff, teachers, doctors and supervisors, which resulted in leaving nursing practice, impacting students' progression and healthcare systems. This review examines all types of violence RNS face irrespective of the abuser.

METHODS
A qualitative systematic review of existing literature was conducted through a comprehensive database search of eight databases MEDLINE, CINAHL, Web of Science, Scopus, Embase, Cochrane Central and ProQuest. Furthermore, reference lists of included studies were searched to identify further research. English language qualitative primary studies of any study design were searched from inception to 6th June 2022 and included if they met the inclusion criteria. Double review process utilised from screening until data synthesis reported according to PRISMA. JBI critical appraisal tools were used to assess the studies, and data extraction utilised JBI QARI tool and screened for credibility and confidence in findings.

RESULTS
A total of 18 studies met the inclusion criteria, and the studies were conducted in nine countries. Five main themes relating to RNS experiences of WPV while on clinical placement were identified, including: 'Types of workplace violence', 'Perpetrators', 'Causes', 'Consequences' and 'Management of workplace violence'.

CONCLUSIONS
This qualitative systematic review provides new and significant knowledge in understanding the phenomenon of WPV experienced by RNS while on clinical placement.

RELATIVE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE
This review highlights the unwillingness of RNS to reach out to instructors or clinical placement leaders in many situations and identifies avenues of support and awareness that are crucial to empower and enabling students to seek support.


A recent experiment [Nadj-Perge et al., Science 346, 602 (2014)] provides evidence for Majorana zero modes in iron (Fe) chains on the superconducting Pb(110) surface. Here, we study this system by scanning tunneling microscopy using superconducting tips. This high-resolution technique resolves a rich subgap structure, including zero-energy excitations in some chains. We compare the symmetry properties of the data under voltage reversal against theoretical expectations and provide evidence that the putative Majorana signature overlaps with a previously unresolved low-energy resonance. Interpreting the data within a Majorana framework suggests that the topological gap is smaller than previously extracted from experiment. Aided by model calculations, we also analyze higher-energy features of the subgap spectrum and their relation to high-bias peaks which we associate with the Fe d bands.


Fire and illegal logging are main causes of peat swamp forest (PSF) degradation. Degradation causes biotic and abiotic changes of PSF. This reasearch was designed to collect data on description of species composition, carbon stock, soil physical factors, and soil macrofauna as indicators of changes in land condition due to PSF degradation. This research was conducted on degraded PSF area caused by fire and illegal logging. Sample plots were located based on the distance from the river i.e., <1.5; <4; and <10 km. Parameters measured included species composition of the stands and their ecological indices, carbon stock potention, soil physical condition (density), and soil macrofauna diversity. Research results showed that all of the parameters in those three locations were not significantly different. Based on those conditions, the main causes of degradation gave the same effects (biotic and abiotic changes) in the very ranged area with 10 km distances. These results were caused by the condition that all parameters measured were very sensitive to changes occurred in all experimental location.


Obesity and metabolic syndrome are becoming the number one health problem in modern society. Unhealthy diet with sedentary life style are considered to be the main causes of obesity. Food with excessive fat and fructose play an important role here. The aim of this work was to study the effects of feeding with lard, as a source of fat, or fructose, as a source of carbohydrates, on physiological and biochemical parameters of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster Canton S. The addition of 10% lard to the basic medium containing 5% fructose inhibited pupation of Canton S larvae. Medium with 15% fructose did not affect larval pupation rate. One-week feeding with medium containing 10% lard reduced climbing activity in 9-day-old Canton S males. In addition, food with 15% lard reduced climbing activity in female flies. One-week feeding with high fructose medium (15% fructose) did not affect climbing activity of flies of both sexes. Both high calorie diets, with lard and fructose, significantly increased the resistance of males to cold stress (measured by reducing time required for recovery from chill coma), but reduced heat stress resistance (determined by faster onset in heat coma at 40°C) in both sexes. The resistance of insects to starvation was reduced on high lard medium but not on fructose one. Foods enriched with fructose or lard did not affect food consumption, body masses and triacylglyceride content and levels of low- and high-molecular thiols in 9-day-old of flies of both sexes. In addition, feeding with high lard resulted in a downward trend in lower glucose and glycogen levels, whereas high fructose had the opposite effects. Thus, foods with high fructose and lard modulated stress resistance in adult flies and may affect energy metabolism. Detailed mechanisms underlying physiological effects of high fructose and lard in Drosophila needs further research.


ABSTRACT Ruminococcus bromii is a dominant member of the human gut microbiota that plays a key role in releasing energy from dietary starches that escape digestion by host enzymes via its exceptional activity against particulate "resistant" starches. Genomic analysis of R. bromii shows that it is highly specialized, with 15 of its 21 glycoside hydrolases belonging to one family (GH13). We found that amylase activity in R. bromii is expressed constitutively, with the activity seen during growth with fructose as an energy source being similar to that seen with starch as an energy source. Six GH13 amylases that carry signal peptides were detected by proteomic analysis in R. bromii cultures. Four of these enzymes are among 26 R. bromii proteins predicted to carry dockerin modules, with one, Amy4, also carrying a cohesin module. Since cohesin-dockerin interactions are known to mediate the formation of protein complexes in cellulolytic ruminococci, the binding interactions of four cohesins and 11 dockerins from R. bromii were investigated after overexpressing them as recombinant fusion proteins. Dockerins possessed by the enzymes Amy4 and Amy9 are predicted to bind a cohesin present in protein scaffoldin 2 (Sca2), which resembles the ScaE cell wall-anchoring protein of a cellulolytic relative, R. flavefaciens. Further complexes are predicted between the dockerin-carrying amylases Amy4, Amy9, Amy10, and Amy12 and two other cohesin-carrying proteins, while Amy4 has the ability to autoaggregate, as its dockerin can recognize its own cohesin. This organization of starch-degrading enzymes is unprecedented and provides the first example of cohesin-dockerin interactions being involved in an amylolytic system, which we refer to as an "amylosome." IMPORTANCE Fermentation of dietary nondigestible carbohydrates by the human colonic microbiota supplies much of the energy that supports microbial growth in the intestine. This activity has important consequences for health via modulation of microbiota composition and the physiological and nutritional effects of microbial metabolites, including the supply of energy to the host from short-chain fatty acids. Recent evidence indicates that certain human colonic bacteria play keystone roles in degrading nondigestible substrates, with the dominant but little-studied species Ruminococcus bromii displaying an exceptional ability to degrade dietary resistant starches (i.e., dietary starches that escape digestion by host enzymes in the upper gastrointestinal tract because of protection provided by other polymers, particle structure, retrogradation, or chemical cross-linking). In this report, we reveal the unique organization of the amylolytic enzyme system of R. bromii that involves cohesin-dockerin interactions between component proteins. While dockerins and cohesins are fundamental to the organization of cellulosomal enzyme systems of cellulolytic ruminococci, their contribution to organization of amylases has not previously been recognized and may help to explain the starch-degrading abilities of R. bromii. Fermentation of dietary nondigestible carbohydrates by the human colonic microbiota supplies much of the energy that supports microbial growth in the intestine. This activity has important consequences for health via modulation of microbiota composition and the physiological and nutritional effects of microbial metabolites, including the supply of energy to the host from short-chain fatty acids. Recent evidence indicates that certain human colonic bacteria play keystone roles in degrading nondigestible substrates, with the dominant but little-studied species Ruminococcus bromii displaying an exceptional ability to degrade dietary resistant starches (i.e., dietary starches that escape digestion by host enzymes in the upper gastrointestinal tract because of protection provided by other polymers, particle structure, retrogradation, or chemical cross-linking). In this report, we reveal the unique organization of the amylolytic enzyme system of R. bromii that involves cohesin-dockerin interactions between component proteins. While dockerins and cohesins are fundamental to the organization of cellulosomal enzyme systems of cellulolytic ruminococci, their contribution to organization of amylases has not previously been recognized and may help to explain the starch-degrading abilities of R. bromii.


The revised guidelines on urinary tract infections from the Dutch Institute for Healthcare Improvement (CBO) and those from the Dutch College of General Practitioners (NHG), both published in 1999, differ concerning how these infections can best be diagnosed. In the case of a negative nitrite test result, the Institute advises to count the number of leucocytes or bacteria using a microscope, whilst the College advocates just counting the number of bacteria using a microscope or assessing bacterial growth by using a dip-slide. The difference may be explained by the diagnostic criterion for the numbers of colony forming units per millilitre of cultured urine. Leucocyturia with a typical history of acute dysuria and frequent voiding might indeed be sufficient as a diagnostic tool. However, it is questionable whether this is true in daily practice, where many patients with less typical complaints are encountered.


Background: The occumulation of heavy metals which are as the results of industrial, urban and agricultural sewages are usually resistant to chemical dissociation. They can easily contaminate aquatic animals especially shrimps which are one of the food chains of humans. The aim of this study was to evaluate the concentration of heavy metals in the tissues of different types of shrimps (wild and farmed) in the sea waters of province of Bushehr (Persian Gulf). Material and Methods : Wild shrimps from different areas of the province and also three types of farmed shrimps including Ferropenaeus, penaeus semisulcatus and Litopenaeusvannamei were caught and collected. Then cleaned, washed, dried and made into powder and then made into ash in a furnace at 550 °C. Heavy metals including Pb, Cd, Hg, Cu, and Zn were measured by atomic absorption flame photometry. Results : The mean values of the concentration of the heavy metals including Pb, Cd, Zn, and Cu present in the wild shrimps were, 2.86, 9.53, 0.45, 1.36 ppm respectively. The amount of Hg found to be 2.8 ppb. Also the mean values of the concentration of the heavy metals in the farmed shrimps were measured as 3, 9.8, 0.42 and 1.37 ppm respectively and the amount of Hg was 2.7 ppb. There was no difference between the amount of heavy metals estimated in the tissues from wild shrimps and the farmed one. Conclusion: The results of this investigation showed that the concentration of heavy metals including Zn,Cu and Hg in both types of the shrimps were less than the amounts reported by WHO and so not risky for health. However the concentration of Pb and Cd in both types were more than the recommended consumption limit for the humans, and they can be considered as risk factors for many diseases. This suggests that attempts should be taken by the responsible authorities to prevent the contamination of sea waters.


This paper reports on a study in two NHS Mental Health Trusts in England in 2008-2009. Data were collected from staff, service users and carers to inform service and workforce developments. The findings reported relate to service users and carers and concur with staff views. They relate to modernisation of services, the challenges of a multiplicity of stakeholders and orgnaisations, as well as the need to involve users and carers in developments. The findings resonate with national and local policy with a move away from traditional psychiatric care to integrated person-centred community care with a focus on recovery, rehabilitation and self care.


The purpose of this study was to examine and determine effect of confidentiality magnitude on access to VCT services at Lugalo VCT Center. Three objectives guided the study. to determine trend of attendance of the clients to HIV Voluntary Counseling service for the past six months, to explore on the intrinsic factors that influence acceptability of VCT services, to determine how confidentiality affects uptakes of VCT services. The study used both qualitative and quantitative approaches to a population of Peoples who use Lugalo hospital from various area with s sample size of 107. Questionnaires and Interviews, have been used as data collection tools, data analysis was done through a special programme known as SPSS. Findings revealed that the effectiveness of confidentiality magnitude on access to VCT services at Lugalo Hospital encourages clients to revisit the site since there was no any information that Lugalo service provider can display to the one who are not concern, Most the community members surrounding Lugalo hospital are aware on the importance and relevance of the VCT services among themselves. It is recommended that there is need to increase the coverage of HIV/AIDS information giving, there is a need to have special programs, In areas with access to newspapers, TV, radio the health information can be channeled through such means of communication. VCT services can be improved in various ways, by making the VCT services friendlier services to all age group Therefore, the training of the available counsel the skills of how they can deal with people is important if we want them to work with effectively. Responsible people in HIV intervention to people need to think of consulting policy makers on an established legalize for HIV test.


This thesis explores the experience of Cystic Fibrosis (CF) in young people and healthcare professionals across three papers. Firstly, a systematic literature review explores the experiences of peer support for young people with CF, including peer support with CF peers, non-CF peers, impact of segregation, diagnosis disclosure, need for and purpose of peer support and parental and peer relationships. The need for social support in the lives of young people with CF was highlighted. The findings emphasised the need to continue addressing social needs of youth with CF, particularly finding ways to reduce the risk of cross-infection if youth choose to pursue friendships with CF peers. Limitations to the evidence base prevented reciprocal associations, bi-directional relationships and changes over time to be examined. Future research needs to consider the paucity of literature on peer support for young people with CF and potential avenues for future research are discussed.
The second paper presents findings from an empirical study, qualitatively exploring the lived experiences of healthcare professionals (HCPs) working with children and adolescents with CF and the transition to adult services. This study was undertaken according to the principles of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), with semi-structured interviews conducted with seven participants. Three superordinate themes emerged from the data, all dynamically intertwined and represent the interplay between both professional and (inter)-personal dynamics within CF care. Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed. The third paper discusses implications for theory and clinical practice emerging from the first two papers. Discussion emphasises how this study examined an under-represented area and expands the opportunity to bring HCPs' experiences and social needs of young people with CF to the foreground. This paper concludes with personal reflections on the research process and outcomes.


In this work, properties and behavior of DNA oligonucleotides in a non-aqueous eutectic comprised of glycerol and choline chloride mixed at varying ratios, as well as aqueous mixtures of the eutectic are explored. Physical parameters of buffer-containing eutectics such as density and viscosity at 293 K are determined. The effects the eutectic have upon the stability of the duplex formation of an oligonucleotide through melting and reannealing relative to that in a buffer are determined, and thermodynamic parameters also derived. It is found that the oligonucleotides explored form stable duplex structures in all investigated conditions. Structural studies by circular dichroism spectroscopy of the oligonucleotides have also been done, and show the subtle effects on DNA secondary structure alterations of the eutectic composition can have, with all conditions maintaining a B-form structure. Finally, the rate constants of the annealing reaction of the two complementary strands are determined through monitoring recovery of duplex structure after heating and rapid cooling.


Etretinate, a highly lipophilic retinoid, is known to accumulate in the human body with a slow systemic elimination (half-life approximately 100 days) after long-term treatment. Retinoids with high lipophilicity and slow body elimination have the propensity of eliciting teratogenic effects. Therefore, synthetic retinoids with reduced systemic retention are desired. In this study, we evaluated the systemic pharmacokinetics of acitretin, etretinate, isotretinoin, synthetic acetylenic retinoic acids (AGN 190121, AGN 190186, and AGN 190299), and acetylenic retinoates (AGN 190073, AGN 190089, and AGN 190168) in guinea pigs following iv doses. Their pharmacokinetics were also measured in obese rats to probe the effect of body fat on the drug disposition of retinoids. The acetylenic retinoates were hydrolyzed to their corresponding free acids at a much faster rate than etretinate in both animal species. All retinoates showed faster body clearance and larger volume of distribution than their free acids. In the obese rats, longer elimination half-lives and slower body clearance of the retinoids, except isotretinoin, were observed as compared to those in the normal rats. These results suggest that body fat has a significant effect on drug disposition and slows down the systemic clearance of retinoids. Since the synthetic acetylenic retinoates rapidly converted to their less lipophilic free acids after systemic absorption, the potential accumulation of these retinoids, as reported for lipophilic etretinate, were unlikely to occur in humans and animals.


We study the dielectric response function of an electron-gas cylinder bundle. The electron-electron interactions among different cylinders are taken into account. The electronic excitations are associated with those of an isolated cylinder. However, a cylinder bundle exhibits the threedimensional characteristics, but a single cylinder the one-dimensional characteristics. The excitation properties are highly anisotropic. The plasma oscillations perpendicular and parallel to the axial direction quite differs from each other. Th ratio between their oscillation frequencies is generally smaller than l/ / 2, which depends on the cylinder radius and the effective mass.


Reliable and regional differentiated power forecasts are required to guarantee an efficient and economic energy transition towards renewable energies. Amongst other renewable energy technologies, e.g. wind mills, photovoltaic (PV) systems are an essential component of this transition being cost-efficient and simply to install. Reliable power forecasts are however required for a grid integration of photovoltaic systems, which among other data requires high-resolution spatio-temporal global irradiance data.


The concept of Industry 4.0, or the Fourth Industrial Revolution, has the potential for radically increased system reconfigurability and flexibility. At its core, the notion of cyber-physical system, as the new generation of embedded systems with advanced artificial intelligence and improved communication capabilities, is seen as the key enabling concept that will render production activities more sustainable. The cyber-physical conceptualization dramatically reduces the integration effort by virtually eliminating the need, time, and cost for reprogramming. However, there are still important challenges that need to be addressed before one can start to design cyber-physical production systems consistently. These intertwine and are not as easily solvable as the popular science descriptions may suggest. This paper brings them forward and develops a critical comparative analysis between today's automation solutions and their potential cyber-physical counterparts. The analysis considers the technical and conceptual challenges that are included in the process of migrating today's, mostly bespoke, automation solutions to highly modularized, dynamic, and interactive cyber-physical production systems (CPPSs). In this context, this paper considers the interplay between form and function of industrial components, at the light of their cyber-physical formulation. At the same time, it addresses the system-level (de)composability and interaction design challenges that arise from the integration of modular CPPSs.


Up until the early 2000s the content from television had found space in the internet, especially on the social networking sites where content such as news, soap operas, dramas, and movies, traditionally viewed and consumed on television was now also being consumed online by the consumers. However, recently a reverse phenomenon has been observed, where an internet trend, more specifically a social networking phenomenon namely, selfie, has found a space in the television advertisements, promotional activities and soap operas on televisions. This phenomenon in the last few years has been used extensively for the purpose of advertising and promotions. For instance, in 2015 a soap opera show named, Master Chef India, had announced a contest where, the interested audience were asked to prepare a special dish cooked by them, take a selfie with the dish and send it through Whatsapp. This provides marketer a direct interaction platform with the consumers. One of the factors that determine consumption is the affirmation of identity. Consumers seek to build some sort of congruity between themselves and brand so that the brand they use becomes meaningful to them. Therefore, it is essential for a consumer to select those brands that are in tune with their self-identity. An individual's profile page on various social networking sites is like a reflection of them self and their self image. The digital self is created in the online communication with no intervention of feedback or external environmental factors. The digital self is more of the reflection of one's inner world, which focuses on the thoughts, feelings, emotions and personalities of an individual. The digital self is often represented in a manner in which the negatively perceived physical attribute of a person could be changed into a positively perceived digital representation. This paper aims to conceptualise how the marketer uses the concept of digital self through the selfie phenomenon in the offline context, and how this has become a part of the popular culture where the digital self is extended from the online sphere to the offline sphere.


The Province of Overijssel is about to take a decision on 16 June 2010 about the future development of Twente Airport. Based on its own assumptions, the Province foresees in 2020 a range of 190.000 to 5.200.000 passengers. This estimation has not yet taken into account a further growth until 2030. For the analysis in the Cost Benefit Analysis, carried out for the year 2030, the Province has assumed a passenger number of 1,2 millions, together with 30.000 tons of air cargo. The Vereniging Omwonenden Luchthaven Twente (VOLT-Twente) has asked SEO Economic Research in Amsterdam to bring out a second opinion on the plausibility of these projections. Given the very short time available for this analysis, no new model computations have been made, nor have new data been collected and used. Nevertheless, this second opinion entails a short analysis of realistic order of magnitude of the passenger potential to be expected.


Zato n , M., Villier, L. & Salamon, M.A. 2007: Signs of predation in the Middle Jurassic of south-central Poland: evidence from echinoderm taphonomy. Lethaia , Vol. 40, pp. 139–151. Distinct faunal aggregates are described from the Middle Jurassic (uppermost Bajocian/ lowermost Bathonian and Middle Bathonian) clay deposits of Cz e stochowa area, southcentral Poland. These aggregates are composed of molluscs (scaphopods, gastropods, bivalves, ammonites and belemnites), articulate brachiopods and echinoderms (asteroids, crinoids and echinoids). A large percentage of the fossils, especially bivalves, are fragmented, but some fossils are complete. Although most of the fossils are crushed and fragmented, they are still identifiable to at least the genus level. Thorough statistical analysis of taphonomic features indicates that the preservation of asteroid marginal plates is distinct from the ossicles derived from the host clays. The high frequency of bite marks and the good state of preservation suggest that the accumulations are the products of predation activities and most probably are the effect of regurgitation. Taking into account the rich and diverse fauna, the predator was a bottom-feeding generalist. Possible predators include palaeospinacid sharks, a tooth of which was collected from the same bedding surface, but not associated with regurgitated remains. Although the bite marks on the asteroid ossicles point to sharks as potential producers of regurgitates, other vertebrates, like durophagous pycnodontiform fish, cannot be excluded. � Jurassic , Poland , predation , regurgitates , starfish , taphonomy , vertebrates .


Background: The present study investigates onlay bone grafts and implants in a large-animal (sheep) model to determine whether there are composite biomaterials that can maximize long-term facial augmentation when compared with conventional bone grafts. Methods: Facial augmentation was performed in 10 adult sheep. First, 16.8 × 5-mm disks were prepared from autogenous calvarial bone, hydroxyapatite ceramic, ceramic composite of 60 percent hydroxyapatite and 40 percent β-tricalcium phosphate (60 percent hydroxyapatite ceramic), and hydroxyapatite cement paste. Facial recipient sites were the body of the mandible (depository), the maxillary region (resorptive), and the frontal bone (depository). The volume of all bone grafts and implants was determined using computed tomographic scans, and the amount of bone formation was measured by means of backscatter electron microscopy 1 year postimplantation. Results: Cranial bone graft demonstrated a highly significant reduction in volume in all sites studied. Other than a slight decrease in volume of hydroxyapatite cement paste disks applied to the maxillary region, there was no significant change in volume of the biomaterials implanted in any of the remaining recipient sites. Bone replacement was greatest in hydroxyapatite ceramic (23.9 percent) followed by 60 percent hydroxyapatite ceramic (16.4 percent) and least with hydroxyapatite cement paste (4.2 percent). Minimal differences in bone replacement were noted between recipient sites. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that the volume maintenance of onlay hydroxyapatite composites is highly predictable, whereas that of cranial bone graft is unpredictable. Minimal differences were seen in bone replacement within biomaterials between "depository" and "resorptive" facial recipient sites. Ceramic forms of onlay hydroxyapatite implants demonstrated significantly greater bone replacement than did the cement paste forms of hydroxyapatite.