Background/aims To assess the reproducibility and repeatability of foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area measurements using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A) in healthy subjects. Methods Sixty healthy volunteers (60 eyes) were subjected to FAZ area measurements by means of high speed and high resolution spectral-domain OCT (SD-OCT) XR Avanti with the split-spectrum amplitude decorrelation angiography algorithm by two experienced examiners in two different sessions. Results The mean±SD age of the subjects was 28.9±7.6 years. Overall FAZ areas measured by the first and second observer were 0.251±0.096 mm2 and 0.252±0.096 mm2, respectively. Within subjects, the coefficients of variations were 1.83% (95% CI 1.51% to 2.20%) and 1.86% (95% CI 1.33% to 2.43%) for the first and second observers, respectively. The coefficient of repeatability average measurements of FAZ area were 0.015 mm2 and 0.013 mm2 for the first and second observers, respectively. The intraclass correlation coefficient values were 0.997 (95% CI 0.995 to 0.998) and 0.998 (95% CI 0.996 to 0.999) for the first and second observers, respectively. Inter- and intraobserver concordance correlation coefficients ranged from 0.994 (95% CI 0.990 to 0.977) to 0.999 (95% CI 0.997 to 0.999) and from 0.997 (95% CI 0.995 to 0.998) to 0.996 (95% CI 0.994 to 0.998), respectively. Conclusions FAZ area measurements by means of OCT-A showed excellent reproducibility and repeatability in healthy eyes. OCT-A is a non-invasive diagnostic method, and its reliability makes it an interesting potential diagnostic tool for disease detection and follow-up in retinal pathologies involving foveal microcirculation.


Background: Fungi may play a key part in periradicular diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the antifungal properties of two root-end filling materials, ProRoot Mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) and MTA-Angelus, against Candida albicans using tube-dilution test. Materials and Methods: The antifungal properties of ProRoot MTA and MTA-Angelus against C. albicans was assessed at 1, 24, and 48 hours following administration of two concentrations of the antifungal agents (50 and 100 mg/ml). A total of 50 culture wells were divided into four experimental groups (Freshly mixed MTA, Freshly mixed MTA-Angelus, 24-h set MTA, and 24-h set MTA-Angelus) and two control groups. Each well was prepared for one specific agent with a specific concentration. For the set groups, the mixture was prepared and left for 24 hours. One milliliter of suspension of fungal colonies with concentration of 104 CFU/ml was then added to the mixtures in each well. All wells were incubated at 37°C and assessed at 1, 24, and 48 hours. This observation was based on the turbidity of the suspension in the tubes. At each time point, 0.02 ml of each suspension was cultured on a Sabouraud dextrose agar plate to confirm C. albicans growth. The results were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: Although all fresh and set samples were incapable of killing C. albicans at 1 hour, they demonstrated fungicidal ability on agar plates at 24 and 48-hour time points. Conclusion: MTA-angelus proved to be an effective antifungal agent compared to ProRoot MTA at concentrations of 50 mg/ml and 100 mg/ml.


ABSTRACT Microorganisms comprise the bulk of biodiversity, but only a small fraction of this diversity grows on artificial media. This phenomenon was noticed almost a century ago, repeatedly confirmed, and termed the "great plate count anomaly." Advances in microbial cultivation improved microbial recovery but failed to explain why most microbial species do not grow in vitro. Here we show that at least some of such species can form domesticated variants capable of growth on artificial media. We also present evidence that small signaling molecules, such as short peptides, may be essential factors in initiating growth of nongrowing cells. We identified one 5-amino-acid peptide, LQPEV, that at 3.5 nM induces the otherwise "uncultivable" strain Psychrobacter sp. strain MSC33 to grow on standard media. This demonstrates that the restriction preventing microbial in vitro growth may be different from those offered to date to explain the "great plate count anomaly," such as deficiencies in nutrient composition and concentrations in standard media, medium toxicity, and inappropriate incubation time. Growth induction of MSC33 illustrates that some microorganisms do not grow in vitro because they are removed from their native communities and the signals produced therein. "Uncultivable" species represent the largest source of unexplored biodiversity, and provide remarkable opportunities for both basic and applied research. Access to cultures of some of these species should be possible through identification of the signaling compounds necessary for growth, their addition to standard medium formulations, and eventual domestication.


A very dynamic development of finance in the last 50 years is inter alia probably due to experiments and innovations in this field. Previously, theoretical base could not explain and predict movements especially in volatile times. The new finance appeared 50 years ago (portfolio theory, CAPM, the efficient market theory, M&M theorem) and made substantial progress in understanding movements in globalised and internationalised financial markets. However, many questions remain open. The author tries to put emphasis on some of these questions, perfectly aware that these are not the only ones. Unresolved questions are related to company's aims, project's risks, degree of port-folio optimisation, importance of liquidity, dividend policy, as well as factors that deter-mine M&A. As the new finance is not able to predict and explain volatile movements, a question that should be posed is whether it is appropriate to add some non-economic factors as the behaviourist theory suggests. Although the behaviourist theory is an important part of new finance, it is unfortunately the only theory able to explain movements in volatile times. In conclusion, many questions still remain unanswered and wait for appropriate theoretical explanations.


Methylphenidate is often the drug of choice for pharmacologic treatment of attention deficit disorder. Cases of parental abuse of the drug have been reported. The likelihood of antisocial personality disorder appears to be greater in families of children with attention deficit disorder, which emphasizes the need for strategies to reduce the abuse of prescription methylphenidate.


Bacterial type IV secretion systems (T4SS) perform two fundamental functions related to pathogenesis: the delivery of effector molecules to eukaryotic target cells, and genetic exchange. Two T4SSs have been identified in Burkholderia cenocepacia K56-2, a representative of the ET12 lineage of the B. cepacia complex (Bcc). The plant tissue watersoaking (Ptw) T4SS encoded on a resident 92 kb plasmid is a chimera composed of VirB/D4 and F-specific subunits, and is responsible for the translocation of effector(s) that have been linked to the Ptw phenotype. The bc-VirB/D4 system located on chromosome II displays homology to the VirB/D4 T4SS of Agrobacterium tumefaciens. In contrast to the Ptw T4SS, the bc-VirB/D4 T4SS was found to be dispensable for Ptw effector(s) secretion, but was found to be involved in plasmid mobilization. The fertility inhibitor Osa did not affect the secretion of Ptw effector(s) via the Ptw system, but did disrupt the mobilization of a RSF1010 derivative plasmid.


In previous papers we proposed a didactic method for the active learning of greedy algorithms, that comprises an experimental method supported by the GreedEx interactive system. The didactic method has been used and evaluated in a course in several years. As a part of this evaluation, we have analyzed the reports delivered by students in three consecutive academic years. In this paper we present our findings, including several unexpected misunderstandings of students. We also describe the interventions addressed, resulting in the removal of the most severe misunderstanding. The main contributions of the paper are two-fold. On the one hand, we identify a set of misunderstandings about greedy algorithms. On the other hand, we present a case of action research, successful thanks to an adequate combination of: didactic method, educational software, scheduling of classes and lab sessions, and development of teaching materials.


So far French medical doctors are free in selecting the city where they set up their private office. However, opinion surveys during the period 1974-1999 evidence certain determinants in the matter. Proximity of the family and occupation of spouse are two increasing determinants during the period. The same upward trend is observed as concerns the proximity of a hospital or the contacts which the doctor has had previously with the local population during his post-graduate probation. On the other side, the pleasant character of the city and the opportunity to obtain (or to rent) an office are two decreasing factors. Surprisingly analysis of the potential market of patients remains stable as factor determining the geographic choice of the young doctors. During the last 25 years, more and more young doctors made payment to retiring colleagues to be introduced to the patients of the latter. The practice is legal. Due to manpower surplus, it became increasingly a factor of geographic distribution of young doctors. It will however decrease its weight in the coming years, with the downing turn in the number of new graduates.


Cosmic ray electrons and positrons are tracers of particle propagation in the interstellar medium (ISM). A recent measurement performed using H.E.S.S. extends the all-electron (electron+positron) spectrum up to 20 TeV, probing very local sources and transport due to the 10 kyr cooling time of these particles. An additional key local measurement was the recent estimation of the ISM diffusion coefficient around Geminga performed using HAWC. The inferred diffusion coefficient is much lower than typically assumed values. It has been argued that if this diffusion coefficient is representative of the local ISM, pulsars would not be able to account for the all-electron spectrum measured at the Earth. Here we show that a low diffusion coefficient in the local ISM is compatible with a pulsar wind nebula origin of the highest energy electrons, if a so far undiscovered pulsar with spin-down power ~10^34 erg/s exists within 30 to 80 pc of the Earth. The existence of such a pulsar is broadly consistent with the known population and may be detected in near future survey observations.


The 2003 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy largely replaced the European Union's production orientated system of price support with a decoupled, single farm payment (SFP) system that freed farmers to choose what to do with their land, be it crops, livestock or withdrawal from farming. The outcome is reductions in the levels of farm–gate prices and greater exposure to the vicissitudes of market forces. In justifying the reform, the authorities argued inter alia that a positive outcome would be the encouragement of a more market orientated and competitive farming industry. In this paper we examine the likelihood of this outcome for UK agriculture and how it might be achieved. We find the arguments that the reform will encourage extensive farming techniques and this will serve as the basis of a more market orientated industry unconvincing. We argue that the reform is more likely to achieve its objective of a more market orientated industry if the reform encourages farmers to collaborate in horizontal networks as user members of Farmer Controlled Businesses. Such businesses operate as vertical integrators and are particularly suited to developing a market orientation. We conclude by listing areas of research that can aid an understanding of the marketing functions of Farmer Controlled Businesses and their influence on the economic returns to their user members.


Background: Heme oxygenase (HO)-1 is a stress-inducible rate-limiting enzyme in heme catabolism into carbon monoxide, biliverdin and free iron. Whereas HO-1 exerts cardioprotective effect, such as anti-hypertrophic and anti-apoptotic effect in cardiomyocytes, the influence of HO-1 on cardiac fibroblasts has not been clarified. We examined the effect of HO-1 induced by cobalt protoporphyrin IX (CoPPIX) on matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 secretion, a biomarker of cardiac remodeling, in cardiac fibroblasts. Methods and Results: Cardiac fibroblasts were isolated from male Wistar rats. Secreted MMP-9 protein into culture medium and HO-1 expression in cell lysates were measured by Western blotting. CoPPIX (0.1-1 μ M) increased HO-1 expression and enhanced interleukin (IL)-1β (4 ng/ml, 24 h)-induced MMP-9 secretion (n=4). Mn 2 (CO) 10 (0.3-10 μ M), a carbon monoxide donor, increased IL-1β-induced MMP-9 secretion (n=4), although bilirubin (0.3-10 μ M), a metabolite of biliverdin, and FeSO 4 (0.3-10 μ M), a free iron donor, had no effect. Mn 2 (CO) 10 increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and the enhanced effect of Mn 2 (CO) 10 on IL-1β-induced MMP-9 secretion was abolished by an antioxidant EUK-134 (10 μ M, n=4). We also examined the effect of CoPPIX on isoproterenol (5 mg/kg/day, subcutaneous injection, for 1 or 7 days)-induced cardiac remodeling in male Wistar rats. CoPPIX (1 mg/kg) was administered intraperitoneally every 2 days and this treatment increased HO-1 expression. Hearts were excised at the day 2 or day 8. Myocardial fibrosis was evaluated by Azan staining. At the day 8, CoPPIX worsened isoproterenol-induced myocardial fibrosis significantly (n=6), but had no effect on the increase of heart weight. CoPPIX also enhanced isoproterenol-induced MMP-9 expression at the day 2 (n=10). Conclusion: Induction of HO-1 by CoPPIX enhances IL-1β-induced MMP-9 secretion via ROS generation through heme-derived carbon monoxide in cardiac fibroblasts and isoproterenol-induced myocardial fibrosis and MMP-9 expression. These findings suggest that HO-1 induction does not necessarily exert cardioprotective effects.


OBJECTIVES
The COVID-19 pandemic, which emerged in late 2019, adversely affected all solid-organ transplant processes. Here we share the donor presentations evaluated in a lung transplant center during the COVID-19 pandemic, the measures taken at every stage of transplant management, and the outcomes of our transplants.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Data from 15 lung donors selected by the national coordination center pre - sented to our lung transplant center as of March 11, 2020, when the first COVID-19 case was reported in Turkey, and data of 5 lung transplant cases in this period were retrospectively analyzed. All donors were examined in detail for COVID-19 disease. Procurement processes for accepted donors, transplant surgeries of recipients, and postoperative follow-up and care processes of recipients were carried out with the least number of personnel, but all with appropriate personal protective equipment.

RESULTS
There were 15 donor organs procured by our center during a 9-month period coincident with the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of donor pre - sentations to our center between the same dates in the previous year was 78. Five of the 15 donors were accepted, and of those accepted, 4 were male and 1 was female. There was no statistically significant difference between the accepted and rejected donors in terms of the ratio of Pao2 to fraction of inspired oxygen, age, duration of endotracheal intubation (days), and smoking (pack-years). All SARS-CoV-2 reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction tests performed on bronchoalveolar lavage samples and nasopharyngeal, conjunctival, and rectal samples collected from the recipients during the follow-up period were negative. No pathological finding suggestive of COVID-19 infection was noted in the radiological evaluations.

CONCLUSIONS
Lung transplant can be successfully managed during the COVID-19 pandemic period, despite the high risk of infection. The major obstacle to the continuity of lung transplant in this period was the limited number of donors.


A rack is a set equipped with a bijective, self-right-distributive binary operation, and a quandle is a rack which satisfies an idempotency condition. In this paper, we introduce a new definition of modules over a rack or quandle, and show that this definition includes the one studied by Etingof and Graña [8] and the more general one given by Andruskiewitsch and Graña [1]. We further show that this definition coincides with the appropriate specialisation of the definition developed by Beck [3], and hence that these objects form a suitable category of coefficient objects in which to develop homology and cohomology theories for racks and quandles. We then develop an Abelian extension theory for racks and quandles which contains the variants developed by Carter, Elhamdadi, Kamada and Saito [5, 6] as special cases. AMS Classification numbers Primary: 18G15 Secondary: 18E10, 18G60


Core density profile peaking and electron particle transport have been extensively studied by performing several dimensionless collisionality (υ*) scans with other matched dimensionless profiles in various plasma operation scenarios on the Joint European Torus (JET). This is the first time when electron particle transport coefficients in the H-mode have been measured on JET with high resolution diagnostics, and therefore we are in a position to distinguish between the neutral beam injection (NBI) source and inward electron particle pinch in contributing to core density peaking. The NBI particle source is found to contribute typically 50%–60% to the electron density peaking in JET H-mode plasmas where Te/Ti ~ 1 or smaller and at υ*  =  0.1–0.5 (averaged between r/a  =  0.3–0.8), and being independent of υ* within that range. In these H-mode plasmas, the electron particle transport coefficients, De and ve, are small, thus giving rise to the large influence of NBI fueling with respect to transport effect on peaking. In L-mode plasma conditions, the role of the NBI source is small, typically 10%–20%, and the electron particle transport coefficients are large. These dimensionless υ* scans give the best possible data for model validation. TGLF simulations are in good agreement with the experimental results with respect to the role of NBI particle source versus inward pinch in affecting density peaking, both for the H-mode and L-mode υ* scans. It predicts, similarly to experimental results, that typically about half of the peaking originates from the NBI fuelling in the H-mode and 10%–20% in the L-mode. GENE simulation results also support the key role of NBI fuelling in causing a peaked density profile in JET H-mode plasma (Te/Ti ~ 1 and υ*  =  0.1–0.5) and, in fact, give an even higher weight on NBI fuelling than that experimentally observed or predicted by TGLF. For the non-fuelled H-mode plasma at higher Te/Ti  =  1.5 and lower βN and υ*, both TGLF and GENE predict peaked density profiles, therefore agreeing well with experimental steady-state density peaking. Overall, the various modelling results give a fairly good confidence in using TGLF and GENE in predicting density peaking in quite a wide range of plasma conditions in JET.


This study is intended to clarify the functional role of different ERP components as indicators of the processing of emotions. The effect of emotional connotation of words on hemispheric lateralization is also explored. Visual ERPs were recorded to unilaterally presented positive, negative, and neutral words that should be categorized according to their emotional connotation. The P2 amplitude was larger to positive than to negative words whereas P3 amplitude was larger to positive words compared with neutral ones. The slow positive wave (SPW) was influenced by words emotionality at anterior and posterior sites differently. The amplitude of the N1 component was larger in the left hemisphere to contralaterally presented words. The P2 and P3 components were larger over the left hemisphere whereas the N3 and N4 components were larger over the right hemisphere to ipsilateral stimulation. The results support our hypotheses on the functional role of positive ERP components in the processing of an affective words connotation: the P2 wave reflects a general evaluation of emotional significance, the P3 a task-related decision, and the SPW an additional decision control in the context of the emotional experience of an individual. Neither the "right hemisphere hypothesis" nor "valence hypothesis" on lateralization of the processing of emotions were confirmed. Each hemisphere seems to exert its effect on emotion through specific hemispheric resources that are unequally allocated along the different stages of task processing and may cause alternation of hemispheric dominance.


The primary objective of this research was to determine the effect of supplemental dietary silicon (Si) on plasma and milk Si concentrations of lactating mares and the subsequent effect on plasma Si concentrations in nursing foals. Additionally, the role of Si on altering biochemical markers of bone turnover was investigated, because supplemental Si may be advantageous in enhancing bone health. Twelve Arabian mare/foal units were pair-matched by foaling date and randomly assigned to two groups, Si-supplemented (Supplemented) or control (Control). Blood and milk samples were taken on d 0, 15, 30, and 45, d 0 being the 1st d after parturition. Plasma and milk (or colostrum) Si concentrations were determined and serum was analyzed for osteocalcin, carboxy-terminal pyridinoline cross-linked telopeptide region of type I collagen, and pyridinoline and deoxypyridinoline crosslinks. All Supplemented mares had higher (P < 0.01) plasma Si concentrations than Control by d 30, and Supplemented mares' milk had higher (P < 0.01) Si concentrations on d 45 than Control mares' milk. By d 45, foals of Supplemented mares had higher (P < 0.01) plasma Si concentrations than foals of Control mares. Supplemental Si did not influence (P > 0.36) bone metabolism in foals; however, trends (P < 0.10) for altered bone metabolism were observed in postpartum mares. Results indicate that supplemental Si increases plasma and milk Si concentrations. Further research is required to determine whether Si has a role in altering serum biochemical markers of bone and collagen activity.


Amid mounting fears of violent Islamic extremism, many Europeans ask whether Muslim immigrants can integrate into historically Christian countries. In a groundbreaking ethnographic investigation of France's Muslim migrant population, Why Muslim Integration Fails in Christian-Heritage Societies explores this complex question. The authors conclude that both Muslim and non-Muslim French must share responsibility for the slow progress of Muslim integration. Claire Adida, David Laitin, and Marie-Anne Valfort found that in France, Muslims are widely perceived as threatening, based in large part on cultural differences between Muslim and rooted French that feed both rational and irrational Islamophobia. Relying on a unique methodology to isolate the religious component of discrimination, the authors identify a discriminatory equilibrium in which both Muslim immigrants and native French act negatively toward one another in a self-perpetuating, vicious circle. Disentangling the rational and irrational threads of Islamophobia is essential if Europe hopes to repair a social fabric that has frayed around the issue of Muslim immigration. Muslim immigrants must address their own responsibility for the failures of integration, and Europeans must acknowledge the anti-Islam sentiments at the root of their antagonism. The authors outline public policy solutions aimed at promoting religious diversity in fair-minded host societies.


"Why are we so reckless as to attempt to do theology at all?" That was Catherine LaCugna's pointed and poignant query to her colleagues during her last public address to the Catholic Theological Society of America, a response to the 1996 keynote address by Randy Sachs at a conference focused on pneumatology. She went on to note that "[t]he confidence to be a theologian comes not from the theologian, but from the Spirit because the Spirit is both the source and the criterion for speaking of God." Although I never heard her express it in these terms, clearly LaCugna agreed with Aquinas' description of theology as speech about God and all of reality in relation to God, as well as with his convictions that genuine wisdom is a gift of the Spirit and that the vocation of the theologian is a share in sacra doctrina, the "holy teaching" by which God gives us a share in God's own life of love. Although the claim that theology is talk about God may seem selfevident to those outside the field, theologians with the academic stature of John Cobb and Gordon Kaufman noted a little over a decade ago that theological discourse at many major universities no longer even engages the most basic task of speaking credibly of God in our day. Addressing the faculty and students at his alma mater, the University of Chicago, Cobb charged that


Stephen North's 1984 article, "The Idea of a Writing Center," highlighted the struggle writing centers face with regard to misperceptions about their function and purpose. North proclaimed that writing centers should not be viewed as centers of remediation but rather as locations for productive and meaningful learning. He vehemently voiced his frustration with faculty and administrators, who he suggested were perpetuating the misconception of a writing center's purpose. Despite that North's call for change and awareness is now decades old, misperceptions of writing-center work remain common.


Safe reinforcement learning (RL) trains a constraint satisfaction policy by interacting with the environment. We aim to tackle a more challenging problem: learning a safe policy from an offline dataset. We study the offline safe RL problem from a novel multi-objective optimization perspective and propose the $\epsilon$-reducible concept to characterize problem difficulties. The inherent trade-offs between safety and task performance inspire us to propose the constrained decision transformer (CDT) approach, which can dynamically adjust the trade-offs during deployment. Extensive experiments show the advantages of the proposed method in learning an adaptive, safe, robust, and high-reward policy. CDT outperforms its variants and strong offline safe RL baselines by a large margin with the same hyperparameters across all tasks, while keeping the zero-shot adaptation capability to different constraint thresholds, making our approach more suitable for real-world RL under constraints. The code is available at https://github.com/liuzuxin/OSRL.


The growing concern about our environment and sustainable development focuses attention on renewable energy sources. One of these sources is the direct conversion of sunlight into electricity by means of photovoltaic cells. Solar energy has the potential to fulfil an important part of the sustainable energy demand for future power generations. Thereby, low-cost organic photovoltaic systems have come into the international research focus during the past couple of years. This report demonstrates external power conversion efficiencies of above 2.3% under AMI. 5 illumination (100 mW/cm 2 ) and external quantum efficiency over 50% for organic thin-film photovoltaic cells using a phthalocyanine-fullerene (ZnPc/C 60 ) bulk heterojunction as an active layer, embedded into a p-i-n type architecture with doped wide-gap charge transport layers. The p-i-n architecture allows for the design of solar cells with high internal quantum efficiency where the photoactive region absorbs visible light and recombination losses at contacts are avoided. The current-voltage characteristics, power conversion efficiencies, the dependence of short circuit current on incident white light intensity, IPCE and the surface network  morphology of these films by atomic force microscope (AFM) are discussed. Keywords: Organic semiconductors; Photovoltaics; Solar energy conversion.


ABSTRACT Activists do not just 'name' problems faced by migrants; they 'frame' them, constructing a particular meaning of the social world. Activists in the United States are especially likely to use rights language. Some appeal to human rights; others call on the history and resonance of civil rights. Those who contest immigrant inclusion often instead evoke 'American values'. Are these competing frames persuasive? Drawing on a survey experiment of California voters, we examine whether these frames affect support for undocumented immigrants and U.S. citizens in need. We find that although respondents agree that food insecurity, sexual harassment, and inadequate health care violate the human rights of citizens and noncitizens equally, a human rights frame does not equalise support for government action to address the situation. Indeed, overall, respondents are much less supportive of government action for undocumented immigrants than citizens; neither rights nor value frames mitigate this inequality. The civil rights frame, relative to the American values frame, actually decreases respondents' support for government action, for citizens and noncitizens alike. The type of hardship also matters: in scenarios concerning sexual harassment, legal status is not a barrier to claims-making. These findings reveal some limits of rights language for mobilisation around immigration.


As mandated in Fisheries Act No. 31/2004 about Fisheries, it is stated that fisheries resources management aimed to improve community welfare especially fishermen and to conserve the fisheries resources and its environment. To keep the capture fisheries bussiness system sustainably efficient and profitable. Beside marketing guarantee, optimalization between fisheries resources stock and fishing effort in each of fishing area. The improvement of capture fisheries must be held based on the existing condition, ie: marketing in determining the priority comodity, maximum sustainable yield and fisheries resources utilization level to determine limit of fisheries resources utilization chance, fishing technology and socio-economic condition to identify the fishermen's earns and absorbtion of labours related to capture fisheries sector. Based on the marketing aspect analysiS, it is determined that the kinds of priority comodity in Southern of West Java Province are lobster, shrimp, tuna, skip jack tuna, and layar. Hence, the potency (MSy) and fisheries resources utilization level of the priority comodity still has very large chance to improve, except lobster has large enough chance. Based on the scoring approach, combined from many technical aspects, financial aspects and social aspect can be concluded that the proper fishing technology in southern waters of West J/lVa Province are: (1) Purse seine, (2) Denish saine, (3) Lines, (4) Gillnet, (5) Trammel net, (6) Boat lift net. To improve the management and utilization of  fisheries resources in southe-rn waters of West Java Province or in Hindia Ocean, it is recommended to implement the improvement of proper fishing technology based an technical aspects, financial aspects, environmental and social aspects. Keywords: the proper fishing technology, Southern waters of West Java Province, fisheries resources


Epidemiologic studies have consistently found that self-reported allergies are associated with reduced risk of pancreatic cancer. Our aim was to prospectively assess the relationship between serum immunoglobulin E (IgE), a marker of allergy, and risk. This nested case–control study within the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO) included subjects enrolled in 1994 to 2001 and followed through 2010. There were 283 cases of pancreatic cancer and 544 controls matched on age, gender, race, and calendar date of blood draw. Using the ImmunoCAP system, we measured total IgE (normal, borderline, elevated), IgE to respiratory allergens, and IgE to food allergens (negative or positive) in serum collected at baseline. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using conditional logistic regression. We assessed interactions with age, gender, smoking, body mass index, and time between randomization and case diagnosis. Overall, there was no association between the IgE measures and risk. We found a statistically significant interaction by baseline age: in those aged ≥65 years, elevated risks were observed for borderline total IgE (OR, 1.43; 95% CI, 0.88–2.32) and elevated total IgE (OR, 1.98; 95% CI, 1.16–3.37) and positive IgE to food allergens (OR, 2.83; 95% CI, 1.29–6.20); among participants <65 years, ORs were <1. Other interactions were not statistically significant. The reduced risk of pancreatic cancer associated with self-reported allergies is not reflected in serum IgE. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 23(7); 1414–20. ©2014 AACR.


Epidermal inclusion cyst is a benign cyst filled with keratin fibers, and its wall has nearly the same characteristics as the epidermis. It is commonly seen in the skin and has the tendency to slowly grow toward deeper epidermis parts and to cause cystic expansion. We report a 23-year-old woman who presented with right external otitis lasting for 2 months. The patient's complaints did not respond to treatment even after parenteral antibiotic therapy. Surgical exploration revealed epidermal inclusion cyst of the ear canal. This pathologic entity is discussed in the light of current


Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are now firmly established as a powerful research model for many areas of biology and medicine. Here, we review some achievements of zebrafish-based assays for modeling human diseases and for drug discovery and development. For drug discovery, zebrafish are especially valuable in the earlier stages of research as they provide a model organism to demonstrate a new treatment's efficacy and toxicity before more costly mammalian models are used. This review provides examples of compounds known to be toxic to humans that have been demonstrated to functional similarly in zebrafish. Major advantages of zebrafish embryons are that they are readily permeable to small molecules added to their incubation medium and the transparent chorion enables the easy observation of development. Assay of acute toxicity (LC50 estimation) in embryos can also include the screening for developmental disorders as an indicator of teratogenic effects. We used zebrafish for toxicity testing of new drugs on the base of phospholipid nanoparticles. The organization of the genome and the pathways controlling signal transduction appear to be highly conserved between zebrafish and humans that allow using zebrafish for modeling of human diseases some examples of which are illustrated in this paper.


Leukocyte-platelet-rich fibrin (L-PRF) has been suggested for gap management for immediate implant placement when the distance is greater than 2 mm. However, there remains a paucity in hierarchically designed research to support this application. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of L-PRF on the osseointegration parameters of dental implants placed after conventional osteotomy of surgically created bone defects that simulate post extraction sockets in a canine model after 3, 6, and 12 weeks in vivo. Eighty dental implants (Intra-Lock, Boca Raton, FL) were placed in the radius of 13 beagle dogs. The experiment consisted of 4 groups (n = 20 implants/group): 1) Regular osteotomy (Reg n/L-PRF); 2) Regular osteotomy and implant placement with L-PRF membrane (Reg L-PRF); 3) Wide osteotomy with no gap management performed, where an osteotomy/bony defect (6 mm of diameter and ~5 mm deep) was created to simulate immediate implant placement in post-extraction sockets, and the gap was left for spontaneous healing (Wide nL-PRF); and 4) Wide osteotomy with L-PRF gap management (Wide L-PRF). L-PRF membranes were obtained by blood drawn from each subject and centrifuged at 2700 rpm (408 RCF-clot) for 12 min. In the experimental groups where L-PRF was utilized, the membrane was inserted into the osteotomy site prior to implant placement. Six dogs had implants placed in the radius for 3 weeks; and 7 dogs had implants placed in the left radius for 6 weeks and in the right radius for 12 weeks. At the corresponding experimental time points, samples were harvested, and subjected to histological processing for qualitative and quantitative analyses, via bone-to-implant contact (BIC) and bone-area-fraction occupancy (BAFO). Qualitative analysis demonstrated increased amounts of bone formation around the implant and within the healing chambers over time for all groups. While comparable histological features were observed for both Reg groups (L-PRF and nL-PRF), the gap management performed in Wide L-PRF group resulted in effective gap filling with improved bone growth in close proximity to the implant surface. Quantitative analyses of BIC and BAFO yielded higher values for both variables at 3 weeks for Wide L-PRF (~38% and ~56% respectively) compared to Wide nL-PRF (~20% for BIC and BAFO) (p < .03). No statistical differences were detected between Wide groups at 6 and 12 weeks, neither between Reg groups, independent of the association with or without the L-PRF membrane at all healing times. L-PRF placed within wide osteotomies, prior to implant placement, resulted in increased early bone formation compared to unfilled wide osteotomies at the early healing time (3 weeks in vivo).


Trying to meet the Sustainable Development Goals is challenging. Food supply chains may have to become more efficient to meet the increasing food requirement of 10 Billion people by 2050. At the same time, food and nutrition security are at risk from increasingly likely shocks like extreme climate events, market shocks, pandemics, changing consumer preferences, and price volatility. Here we consider some possibilities and limitations regarding the improvement of resilience (the capacity to deal with shocks) and efficiency (here interpreted as the share of produced food delivered to consumers) of food supply chains. We employ an Agent Based Model of a generic food chain network consisting of stylized individuals representing producers, traders, and consumers. We do this: 1/ to describe the dynamically changing disaggregated flows of crop items between these agents, and 2/ to be able to explicitly consider agent behaviour. The agents have implicit personal objectives for trading. We quantify resilience and efficiency by linking these to the fraction of fulfilment of the overall explicit objective to have all consumers meet their food requirement. We consider different types of network structures in combination with different agent interaction types under different types of stylized shocks. We find that generally the network structures with higher efficiency are also more sensitive to shocks, while less efficient network types display more resilience. At first glance these results seem to confirm the existence of a system-level trade-off between resilience and efficiency similar to what is reported in business management and ecology literature. However, the results are modified by the trading interactions and the type of shock. In our simulations resilience and efficiency are affected by 'soft' boundaries caused by the preference and trust of agents (i.e., social aspects) in trading. The ability of agents to switch between trading partners represents an important aspect of resilience, namely a capacity to reorganize. These insights may be relevant when considering the reorganization of real-life food chains to increase their resilience to meet future food and nutrition security goals.


For determining the variations of haematological parameters and of serum CK and LDH activities induced by digoxin intoxication in dogs, 24 healthy dogs were used in this study and were randomly divided into 2 equal group: in the group 1 (acute intoxication) dogs received an unique i.v. injection of 0.15 mg/kg digoxin, haematological parameters were determined one day before the treatment and during the 4 consecutive days after the injection while serum enzyme activities were measured at 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours after. In the group 2 (sub acute intoxication), animals received 3 intravenous digoxin injections on day 1 (50 µg/kg 2 times then 25 µg/kg), then they were treated by 25 µg/kg digoxin i.v. once a day for 6 consecutive days. Haematological and biochemical parameters were assessed one day before and on Days 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 15 after the first injection. Whereas haematological parameters remained relatively constant according to time and to the digoxin administration schedule, both digoxin treatments have induced significant increases of serum CK and LDH activities. During acute intoxication, CK variations were particularly intense whereas LDH activities were transiently altered (between 12 and 24 hours). By contrast, LDH activities gradually and significantly increased from the Day 5 to the Day 11 in the group 2 and CK activities were only significantly elevated on Day 11: LDH may be a more sensitive marker than CK in the situation of sub acute poisoning.


The CMS Silicon Strip Tracker (SST), consisting of more than 10 million channels, is organized in about 15,000 detector modules and it is the largest silicon strip tracker ever built for high energy physics experiments. The Data Quality Monitoring system for the Tracker has been developed within the CMS Software framework. More than 100,000 monitorable quantities need to be managed by the DQM system that organizes them in a hierarchical structure reflecting the detector arrangement in subcomponents and the various levels of data processing. Monitorable quantities computed at the level of individual detectors are processed to extract automatic quality checks and summary results that can be visualized with specialized graphical user interfaces. In view of the great complexity of the CMS Tracker detector the standard visualization tools based on histograms have been complemented with 2 and 3 dimensional graphical images of the subdetector that can show the whole detector down to single channel resolution. The functionalities of the CMS Silicon Strip Tracker DQM system and the experience acquired during the SST commissioning will be described.


The development of the brain and its interaction with the mind could be understood by studying the effect of music on humans. The findings of such studies on musicians can have implications on the treatment of neurological disorders and even in teaching children. Music played an important role in the evolution of the human mind, and was instrumental in selection of mates, social cohesions (in group efforts such as pulling heavy objects), conflict reduction and trans-generational communication to convey useful information to future generations. Almost all parts of the brain were involved in the appreciation of music, and studies on the effect of music on humans helped understand how the brain integrated complex perception and behaviour tasks, exploring the links connecting music, neurology and psychiatry. Neuroscientists are starting to address questions regarding the brain and its plasticity by studying changes in the brain structures of musicians. For instance, it was found that merely playing melodies in the mind could activate sections of the brain. Certain parts of the brain were more developed in musicians who had started learning music at an early age. Explaining the emotive aspect of music, studies had revealed that music activated the same pathways in the brain that were triggered by pleasurable activities, such as eating and sex. Even people with dementia or Alzheimer's Disease—conditions that disconnected them from reality—were moved to tears if they heard voices of close relatives or tunes that reminded them of their past. This presentation will review some of the new concepts regarding the ageing process and the adaptation of the brain to perform the same cognitive tasks but using a reorganisation of hemispheric functions and neural networks. Epidemiological, clinical and neuroimaging data will be presented to explain the process of adaptation to old age. The centuries study as well as the nun's follow-up study will be discussed. The concept of creativity will be discussed. We will portray Pablo Casals to illustrate the process of creativity in old age.


Transcapillary exchange of diffusible solutes depends on capillary blood flow, Q; capillary permeability, P; and capillary surface area, S. In a single capillary, the extent of equilibration of a given solute depends on the ratio of Q, to the product of P and S. In a microvascular bed consisting of many capillaries, equilibration depends on the fraction of them which are open to blood flow at any time and on the distribution of Q/PS ratios in the open capillaries. Both these characteristics are subject to control by vascular smooth muscle, particularly by the precapillary sphincters. Vasomotor mechanisms have been shown experimentally to exert a wide range of effective control over blood-tissue transport. In skeletal muscle, effective PS measured with 42K or 86Rb may be increased 8-fold from maximum nervous vasoconstriction to optimum metabolic vasodilatation. Most probably, these changes are due to differences in functional capillary surface area and of blood flow distribution relative to permeability and surface area. The extent to which variations in permeability itself can contribute to control of transcapillary exchange is not known.


Aims: During recent years, consumption of nutritional supplements has become popular in the athletes to enhance muscle power, function, and hypertrophy. Since the chemical supplements cause side-effects, many experts focus on the traditional medications. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of short-term circular resistance exercises with Crocus sativus Supplementation on the insulin and estradiol levels. Materials & Methods: In the semi-experimental study, 44 untrained healthy men were selected from the students of Mazandaran University using census method in 2013. The samples were divided into four groups including "waterexercise", "petal sweat-exercise", "style-exercise", and "stigma-exercise". 2week resistance exercises consisted of 12 stations (30 seconds with 40% of a maximum repetition per station; 5 sessions a week). 500mg Crocus sativus were daily consumed two times in the morning immediately after the exercises. Blood sampling was done before and 48 hours after the last session. Data was analyzed by SPSS 20 software using one-way ANOVA, Bonferroni post-hoc, and dependent T tests. Findings: There was a significant increase in the estradiol level in stigmaexercise group than water-exercise group (p=0.007). There were significant increases in the plasma estradiol concentration in each stigma-exercise and style-exercise groups after the exercises (p 0.05). Conclusion: Circular resistance exercises with Crocus sativus supplementation lead to no change in insulin concentration. Nevertheless, consumption of the stigma of Crocus sativus flower can empower the effects of the resistance exercises and enhance estradiol.


In this work we investigate intra-day patterns of activity on a population of 7,261 users of mobile health wearable devices and apps. We show that: (1) using intra-day step and sleep data recorded from passive trackers significantly improves classification performance on self-reported chronic conditions related to mental health and nervous system disorders, (2) Convolutional Neural Networks achieve top classification performance vs. baseline models when trained directly on multivariate time series of activity data, and (3) jointly predicting all condition classes via multi-task learning can be leveraged to extract features that generalize across data sets and achieve the highest classification performance.


We hypothesised that advanced mare age is associated with follicle and oocyte gene alterations. The aims of the study were to examine quantitative and temporal differences in mRNA for LH receptor (LHR), amphiregulin (AREG) and epiregulin (EREG) in granulosa cells, phosphodiesterase (PDE) 4D in cumulus cells and PDE3A, G-protein-coupled receptor 3 (GPR3), growth differentiation factor 9 (GDF9), bone morphogenetic protein 15 (BMP15) and mitochondrial (mt) DNA in oocytes. Samples were collected from dominant follicles of Young (3-12 years) and Old (≥20 years) mares at 0, 6, 9 and 12h after administration of equine recombinant LH. LHR mRNA declined after 0h in Young mares, with no time effect in Old mares. For both ages, gene expression of AREG was elevated at 6 and 9h and EREG was expression was elevated at 9h, with higher expression in Old than Young mares. Cumulus cell PDE4D expression increased by 6h (Old) and 12h (Young). Oocyte GPR3 expression peaked at 9 and 12h in Young and Old mares, respectively. Expression of PDE3A increased at 6h, with the increase greater in oocytes from Old than Young mares at 6 and 9h. Mean GDF9 and BMP15 transcripts were higher in Young than Old, with a peak at 6h. Copy numbers of mtDNA did not vary over time in oocytes from Young mares, but a temporal decrease was observed in oocytes from Old mares. The results support an age-associated asynchrony in the expression of genes that are essential for follicular and oocyte maturation before ovulation.


Hibernating animals develop fatty liver when active in summertime and undergo a switch to a fat oxidation state in the winter. We hypothesized that this switch might be determined by AMP and the dominance of opposing effects: metabolism through AMP deaminase (AMPD2) (summer) and activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) (winter). Liver samples were obtained from 13-lined ground squirrels at different times during the year, including summer and multiples stages of winter hibernation, and fat synthesis and β-fatty acid oxidation were evaluated. Changes in fat metabolism were correlated with changes in AMPD2 activity and intrahepatic uric acid (downstream product of AMPD2), as well as changes in AMPK and intrahepatic β-hydroxybutyrate (a marker of fat oxidation). Hepatic fat accumulation occurred during the summer with relatively increased enzymes associated with fat synthesis (FAS, ACL and ACC) and decreased enoyl CoA hydratase (ECH1) and carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1A (CPT1A), rate limiting enzymes of fat oxidation. In summer, AMPD2 activity and intrahepatic uric acid levels were high and hepatic AMPK activity was low. In contrast, the active phosphorylated form of AMPK and β-hydroxybutyrate both increased during winter hibernation. Therefore, changes in AMPD2 and AMPK activity were paralleled with changes in fat synthesis and fat oxidation rates during the summer-winter cycle. These data illuminate the opposing forces of metabolism of AMP by AMPD2 and its availability to activate AMPK as a switch that governs fat metabolism in the liver of hibernating ground squirrel.


A study of the serum lipids in normal and alloxan-diabetic rabbits during the course of cholesterol feeding is presented, particular attention being paid to the factors considered to be responsible for the stability of the serum lipids; namely, (1) their interrelations and (2) their association with the serum proteins. As far as the interrelations of the lipids were concerned a definite correlation was found between the development of atherosclerosis and an increase of serum cholesterol that was out of all proportion to the increase of serum lipid phosphorus and neutral fat. When these last two lipid constituents rose almost parallel with the serum cholesterol (as they did in some alloxan-diabetic rabbits), then the development of atherosclerosis was inhibited. This correlation was independent of the diabetic state, per se. It appeared likely that the marked elevation of serum neutral fat and lipid phosphorus in the diabetic animals was due to mobilization of body fat because of the disturbed carbohydrate metabolism. Because of their hydrophilic and emulsifying properties, it was thought probable that the elevation of the phospholipids was the important factor responsible for the stability of serum cholesterol. That neutral fat played a role, however, could not be denied. In normal rabbit sera, as we have previously shown, only small proportions of the lipid phosphorus and cholesterol are "readily extractable" (i.e., unattached or only loosely attached to protein). On the other hand, in every case in which the serum lipids were elevated, the greater proportion of the lipid phosphorus and cholesterol was "readily extractable," irrespective of whether atherosclerosis developed or was inhibited. Analysis of the lipid content of the aorta of rabbits not fed cholesterol, whether diabetic or non-diabetic, and from alloxan-diabetic rabbits fed cholesterol but protected from the development of atherosclerosis, showed that there was no significant difference in lipid content or composition among the animals of these groups. When atherosclerosis developed following cholesterol feeding, the lipid composition of the aortas was essentially the same in both control and diabetic animals. The deposited lipid consisted predominantly of cholesterol with small and fairly constant proportions of other lipids that did not vary significantly regardless of the quantities of these other lipids present in the circulating blood. In the less severe lesions the proportion of ester cholesterol was greater than that of free cholesterol, but in advanced lesions the reverse was true. The following conclusions are drawn concerning the pathogenesis of experimental cholesterol atherosclerosis in the rabbit: 1. Instability of cholesterol in the blood rather than hypercholesterolemia, per se, is the general condition responsible for the deposition of this substance in the arterial walls. 2. Of the two factors considered to be responsible for the stability of the lipids in the blood, the interrelations of the lipids appear to be more important than their relation to the serum proteins, at least in so far as the development of experimental cholesterol atherosclerosis is concerned. The importance of these conclusions in relation to the pathogenesis of human atherosclerosis is discussed.


This paper describes part of a project to examine geochemical methods in exploration for Pd deposits in northwestern Ontario. Palladium is one of the platinum group elements (PGE) that is mobile in dilute surface waters as hydroxy complexes, a feature that can facilitate its use in exploration. Earlier studies around the Lac des Iles Pd mine have shown that Pd is widely dispersed in solution even from sulphide-poor mineralization (Hattori & Cameron 2004). The region that includes Lac des Iles has been covered by a lake sediment survey by the Ontario Geological Survey (Dyer & Russell 2002). These lake sediment data provide a further means of better understanding the geochemistry of Pd in the surface environment and its application to exploration for PGE deposits. Factor analysis of the lake sediment data reveals three associations: Factor 1, an association of Cr, Co, Ni, Pt and Pd; Factor 2, an association of Pd, S and As; and Factor 3, an association of Cu, Ag and Au. High scores for Factor 1 extend for 10 km down-ice from the mineralized mafic rocks of Archean age at Lac des Iles and reflect the dispersion of clastic material by ice sheets, supplemented by hydromorphic dispersion. High scores for Factor 2 are much more widespread and are spatially associated with Quaternary glaciofluvial deposits, notably eskers. A plot of Pd alone in lake sediments throughout the area largely reflects this association with eskers. The elemental assemblage of Factor 2 originates from the leaching of fragments of Nipigon diabase (Pd) and Sibley sedimentary rocks (S, As), both of Proterozoic age, contained within the eskers. The high permeability of the eskers permits soluble elements to be leached. All three elements, Pd, S and As, form neutral and anionic complexes and are not adsorbed by negatively-charged iron oxyhydroxide colloids and coatings, which restrict the dispersion of elements that dissolve as cations, such as Cu, Ni and Co. Factor 3, Cu, Ag and Au, occurs in areas of Proterozoic bedrock.


Abstract Xenbase (www.xenbase.org) is a knowledge base for researchers and biomedical scientists that employ the amphibian Xenopus as a model organism in biomedical research to gain a deeper understanding of developmental and disease processes. Through expert curation and automated data provisioning from various sources Xenbase strives to integrate the body of knowledge on Xenopus genomics and biology together with the visualization of biologically significant interactions. Most current studies utilize next generation sequencing (NGS) but until now the results of different experiments were difficult to compare and not integrated with other Xenbase content. Xenbase has developed a suite of tools, interfaces and data processing pipelines that transforms NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) NGS content into deeply integrated gene expression and chromatin data, mapping all aligned reads to the most recent genome builds. This content can be queried and visualized via multiple tools and also provides the basis for future automated 'gene expression as a phenotype' and gene regulatory network analyses.


This is a picosecond and nanosecond time-resolved infrared absorption spectroscopic study of p-hydroxphenacyl diethylphosphate (HPDP) in aqueous solution examining the deprotection reaction and subsequent evolution to produce the p-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (HPAA) rearrangement product. The data reported here support previous ultrafast fluorescence, Raman and transient UV/visible absorption studies and provide new insight into the role of water in the deprotection reaction. It also provides insight into the nature of the intermediate steps that take place following initial formation of the triplet state and its reaction with water to eventually produce the solvent-separated ions and solvolytic reaction product HPAA. In addition, density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed to investigate the reactions of the triplet state of HPDP with water molecules to induce deprotection, the formation of a contact ion pair and the subsequent intermediates that lead to the HPAA rearrangement product. A more detailed reaction mechanism is proposed based on the time-resolved spectroscopy experiments and DFT computational results.


We investigate the influence of the strong Coulomb field of a heavy nucleus on massive neutrinos, produced in the K-shell electron capture (EC) decays of the H-like 140Pr58+ and 142Pm60+ ions. The corrections to the neutrino masses due to virtually produced charged lepton W-boson pairs in the strong Coulomb field of a nucleus with charge Ze are calculated and discussed with respect to their influence on the period of the time-modulation of the number of daughter ions, observed recently in the EC-decays of the H-like 140Pr58+ and 142Pm60+ ions at GSI in Darmstadt. These corrections explain the 2.75 times higher difference of the squared neutrino masses obtained from the time-modulation of the EC-decays with respect to the value deduced from the neutrino-oscillation experiments of KamLAND.


INTRARENAL ANGIOTENSINOGEN IN RADIATION NEPHROPATHY. E.P. Cohen, H. Kobori, J.E. Moulder, B.L. Fish, L.G. Navar, Departments of Medicine and Radiation Oncology, Medical College of Wisconsin and Hypertension and Renal Center of Excellence, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA. Radiation nephropathy leads to renal failure, but that evolution may be interrupted by antagonists of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS). Furthermore, angiotensin II (AII) infusion worsens experimental radiation nephropathy. Assays for renin and AII, systemic and intrarenal, have not shown activation of the RAS in radiation nephropathy. Intrarenal angiotensinogen (AGT) may provide additional insight to the status of the RAS in kidney diseases. We therefore tested intrarenal AGT in this model. 24 barrier-maintained WAG/Rij/MCW rats underwent 17 Gy total body irradiation then syngeneic marrow transplant. 24 control rats were un-irradiated. Intrarenal cortical AGT was measured by Western blot analysis and normalized to b-actin. The ratio of irradiated-to-control AGT to -actin optical density increased with time after irradiation, being 1.0 0.3 at day one, 1.3 0.5 at day 22, 1.3 1.4 at day 41, and 1.6 0.4 at day 63 (data as means, 95% CI). The individual irradiated to control values were not statistically different for days 1, 22, and 41, but did achieve significance at day 63 (p = .04 for trend). The interval of week 3 to week 10 after irradiation is the time when proteinuria, azotemia, and hypertension develop in this model. The trend toward an early increase in tissue AGT suggests that radiation may stimulate intrarenal AGT production and may play an initiating role in radiation nephropathy. The significant trend with time supports a sustaining role for the intrarenal RAS-mediated injury in radiation nephropathy.


The motivation to share has lately been investigated in the sharing economy literature. This study extends this literature by exploring the role of economic and social drivers from the accommodation providers' perspective on the sharing economy platform Airbnb. In doing so, we contribute to the sharing economy literature by compartmentalizing the two-sided consumer market. Furthermore, we respond to the emerging call for understanding the motivational factors under which trust operates in the sharing economy context. Specifically, this article introduces two key moderators, financial motives and social motives, to the relationship between trust and the intention to share an accommodation. Drawing on the theory of trust and based on a dataset of 203 participants, we find that financial motives positively moderate the relationship between trust in renters and the intention to share an accommodation, whereas social motives show no significant influence on the same relationship.


In this paper, a novel approach for writer identification from handwritten Telugu script is introduced. A new dataset of Telugu handwritten documents of 150 writers called the IIITS-THDB is created under this work for doing the experimental analysis and this dataset is made available publicly. Descriptive convolution based features are extracted from given handwritten text using directional filters. Feature reduction is performed to find the optimal linear subspace for the extracted features and identification is done using these reduced features. Smaller blocks of text with uniform textures are created using the available data that show an improved identification accuracy during experimentation. We also study the effects of noise and compare the results of our features with various other features over our dataset.


Investigations have been made into the effect of the Miniature Circuit Breaker configuration on the behaviour of short circuit arcs. A Flexible Test Apparatus was developed to recreate the operation of a MCB, igniting the arc between opening contacts. The short circuit fault was simulated using a capacitor discharge system, with a prospective peak current of 3.5 kA. A high-speed digital Arc Imaging System was used to record the arc behaviour. Analysis techniques have been developed that plot the individual trajectories of the anode and cathode root from the digital data. The time that each arc root remains in the contact region can be deduced and is defined as the arc root contact time. It is shown that the traditional arc voltage to measure arc contact times is not accurate. In the Arc Contact Time Investigation the contact material, contact geometry, arc runner configuration were varied. At 3m/s contact velocity silver graphite contacts and step geometry led to longer cathode root contact times. Cathode root motion was prevented by a corner on the arc runner. The polarity of connection affected the arc movement away from the contact region. Increasing the contact velocity reduced cathode root contact times, but did not guarantee arc movement away from the contact region. The Taguchi Method was applied to the Arc Behaviour Investigation. The contact material, contact geometry, arc chamber geometry, arc chamber material and arc chamber venting were varied. Tests were carried out at lOm/s contact velocity. The cathode root contact time, anode root contact times and let through energy were calculated. The arc voltage and current, arc root trajectory plots and selected arc images are presented. The cathode and anode root contact times were independent. Generally, the cathode root moved away from the contact region before the anode root. Lower let-though energies were recorded for open arc chamber vents. The arc failed to move from the contact region, when silver graphite contacts were used in combination with acrylic arc chamber, copper arc runners and choked arc chamber vents. The mobility of the arc is dominated by the cathode root, and can only run at high velocity if the electrode surface conditions promote oxide layer type emission. The arc is drawn between the contacts with metal vapour type emission dominating and is initially limited to low velocity. During the arc contact time the arc root interaction effects damage the oxide layer on the surrounding conductor surface. As the arc column length increases, deflection of the arc column by the self-blast magnetic field may cause a discontinuous jump, after which the arc may run at high velocity. Increasing the contact velocity and steel arc runner backing strips encourage a discontinuous jump away from the contact region. Deposition on the arc runner of silver and carbon discourages both discontinuous jumps and high velocity motion. Changes in geometry, restricting the arc chamber venting and the anode root commutation can reduce the cathode root velocity. When this occurs, the arc root interaction effects damage the oxide layer, and cause the arc to revert to metal vapour type emission. Additionally, the surface of the acrylic arc chamber is carbonised during prolonged arc contact times. The partial conducting path through the carbonised material further encourages the arc to remain in the contact region.


Understanding how ecological traits have changed over evolutionary time is a fundamental question in biology. When closely-related organisms share similar environmental preferences, "habitat filtering" is expected to determine how communities are assembled. Yet in practice, it is challenging to assess the impact of habitat filtering, due to our inability to measure all relevant abiotic variables and distinguish the impact of biotic versus abiotic factors. Here we explored the co-occurrence patterns of freshwater cyanobacteria at the sub-genus level to investigate whether closely-related taxa share similar niches, and to what extent these niches were defined by abiotic or biotic variables. We used deep 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and measured several environmental parameters in water samples collected over time and space in Furnas Reservoir, Brazil. We found that closely-related Synechococcus did not have similar preferences for abiotic niche dimensions. However, closely-related Synechococcus did tend to co-occur with one another, and also with similar surrounding microbial communities. These results suggest that biotic factors may be stronger niche determinants than abiotic factors. Alternatively, cryptic abiotic drivers may determine niche and community structure, but biotic factors provide the most informative measure of niche similarity. Originality-Significance Statement We address a fundamental question in ecology and evolution: how do niche preferences change over evolutionary time? Using time-series analysis of 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing data, we develop a new approach to highlight the importance of biotic factors in defining realized niches, and show how niche preferences change "clock-like" within the genus Synechococcus. Ours is also one of few studies on the ecology of freshwater Synechococcus, adding significantly to our knowledge about this abundant and widespread lineage of Cyanobacteria.


The effects of organic and inorganic mercury ions on gene expression were studied by in vitro cell-free assays for transcription and translation. While organic mercury (methylmercury chloride, MeHgCl) showed no effects, treatment of template DNA with inorganic mercury (HgCl2) inhibited mRNA synthesis in a bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase transcription system. The inhibited transcription resulted in reduced protein synthesis after the subsequent application of the transcripts to a translation system consisting of Sf21 insect cell lysate. Treatment of mRNA with inorganic mercury also reduced translation, although this inhibitory effect was weaker than the effect produced by DNA exposure. Treatment of DNA and RNA with mercury did not increase oxidative damage such as strand cleavage and base oxidation. Instead, circular dichroism spectrometry demonstrated that mercury ions, not methyl mercury, drastically changed strand conformation of DNA and RNA. Therefore, the gene expression inhibition observed in this study was thought to be caused by crossbridging of DNA bases with mercury ions, which blocked the transcriptional machinery. Taken together with reports on biological conversion of organic mercury to inorganic forms in animals, our results show that transcriptional inhibition via conformational changes in DNA could be a toxic mechanism involved in mercury poisoning.


In this paper, the problem of energy-efficient data gathering in an Internet of Things (IoT) based remote area surveillance application is addressed by designing a suitable MAC layer uplink solution. We follow the 3GPP specified scheduled access scheme for narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) and consider presence of both delay sensitive and delay tolerant traffic in the network. First, we present a mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP) based optimization framework to minimize the IoT devices' cumulative transmission energy per uplink frame under the constraints of finite resource blocks, mean queue stability and residual energy levels of IoT nodes. A cross layer approach has been adopted. Precisely, using Lyapunov optimization, we propose a dynamic, distributed transmit power allocation for IoT nodes and a centralized node scheduling scheme. Further, assuming Poisson model for traffic generation at delay tolerant traffic generating nodes, we suggest a distributed probabilistic sleep scheduling scheme to improve the average delay experience of delay sensitive traffic while improving the overall energy conservation. Simulation results suggest impressive performance of our proposed solution over the existing uplink solution for NB-IoT, in terms of delay experience of delay sensitive traffic, buffer length requirement and nodes' total energy consumption at high traffic load.


Deep neural networks have brought remarkable breakthroughs in medical image analysis. However, due to their data-hungry nature, the modest dataset sizes in medical imaging projects might be hindering their full potential. Generating synthetic data provides a promising alternative, allowing to complement training datasets and conducting medical image research at a larger scale. Diffusion models recently have caught the attention of the computer vision community by producing photorealistic synthetic images. In this study, we explore using Latent Diffusion Models to generate synthetic images from high-resolution 3D brain images. We used T1w MRI images from the UK Biobank dataset (N=31,740) to train our models to learn about the probabilistic distribution of brain images, conditioned on covariables, such as age, sex, and brain structure volumes. We found that our models created realistic data, and we could use the conditioning variables to control the data generation effectively. Besides that, we created a synthetic dataset with 100,000 brain images and made it openly available to the scientific community.


BACKGROUND/AIMS
We aimed to present the experience of the first 100 liver transplantations carried out at Akdeniz University.

METHODS
The data of 100 patients in pediatric and adult age groups who underwent liver transplantation at Akdeniz University Organ Transplantation Center between January 2000 and January 2007 were examined retrospectively. The cases between January 2000 and December 2003 were evaluated as the first term and those between January 2004 and January 2007 as the second term.

RESULTS
The mean age of the 100 patients (52M, 48F) was 38.6+/-17.3 (1-68) years. One-year and three-year survival rates of the patients were determined as 67.3% and 54.3% in the first term and 88.7% and 79.3% in the second term, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
With better comprehension of recipient and donor surgery technique, in addition to accumulation of knowledge and experience, the results in liver transplantation might be improved.


Books on plastic surgery frequently begin with reflections on the origin of the technique, usually in the form of references to Suśruta's forehead flap reconstruction of noses (circa 400 bc) amputated for adultery. The books then progress to modern techniques to improve the appearance of the nose and other bodily parts in persons who hopefully will not become guilty of adultery because of their newfound beauty. The techniques are usually explained with lucid line drawings showing incisions laid out with a geometric precision that would make a mathematician proud. The books are then filled with reams of before (ugly) and after (beautiful) photographs of attractive women between the ages of 20 and 40 years who have benefited from the technique espoused (implied but not always stated) and performed by the author. The only complications shown are those perpetrated elsewhere and referred to the author for rescue just before these patients


Labisia pumila var. alata (Myrinaceae) locally known as Kacip Fatimah is widely used as traditional medicine in Malaysia. Standardization of herbal preparations is vital to maintain quality, efficacy and safety. This study aims to obtain the phytochemical profile of L. pumila and to study the anti-angiogenic effect of the ethanolic, 50% ethanolic and water extracts of the whole plant. The standardization was done according to the WHO guidelines. Three testing parameters tested including identity (microscopic and TLC profiling), purity (foreign matter, total ash, insoluble acid ash, moisture content and content of extractable matter) and chromatographic and spectroscopic analysis (HPLC, UV-Vis and FT-IR profiling). The rat aortic ring assay was performed to investigate the anti-angiogenic effect of the extracts. Identity of the plant was confirmed by comparing the results with the Malaysian Herbal Monograph Vol.1 (MHM). The purity test results showed studied parameters fall within the normal range of the MHM. HPLC chromatography showed the presence of gallic acid at the retention time of 6.9 min. The maxima absorbance of UV-Vis was at 270nm and the main FT-IR bands vibration were obtained at 3335, 1604 and 1042 cm. The anti-angiogenic test showed 100% inhibition of microvessels outgrowth in the ethanolic and 50% ethanolic extracts at 100 μg/ml whereas the water extract showed 32% inhibition. The rat aortic rings test showed a possible anti-angiogenic effect which may have interesting applications in the treatment of angiogenesis related disorders.


. Present article tries to give insight into the ways in which Estonian haiku models its author and communicates with the reader. The author thinks that while Japanese haiku is a predominantly autocommunicative piece of literature, where even a fixed point of view is not recommended, Estonian literary conventions are oriented towards openly communicational texts, which convey a fixed axiology and rely on abundant use of pronouns and rhetorical questions, addresses and apostrophes. While there is a considerable amount of Estonian haiku that depend on Estonian literary conventions , most of the Estonian haiku texts, however, are oriented to the Japanese model. These texts have been labelled "the catalogues of landscape", as they are constituted by naming different landscape objects without developing a line of narration. Thereby every landscape element in poetry is granted its own voice, and through this multitude of voices inside the text, the reader is forced to enter an autocommunicative process of remodelling him/herself.


Arctic soils represent a major store of organic carbon which is now under threat from regional warming. While much of the carbon is mineralized and released directly to the atmosphere as CO2, some is moved laterally as dissolved and particulate organic C into streams and lakes where it fuels microbial processes and is degassed, some however is buried in lake sediments, where it is effectively removed from the terrestrial C cycle. It is possible to consider how catchment-lake C interactions have varied under natural climate variability and soil/vegetation development by using lake sediment records. Here we present Holocene organic C concentration and isotope data (TOC, C/N, δ13C) from a series of small lakes along Kangerlussuaq (coast to ice cap margin), southwest Greenland, a transect that covers a natural climate gradient and range of limnological conditions. Most Arctic lakes, including those in coastal west Greenland are considered to be net heterotrophic (ecosystem respiration is greater than primary production), i.e. they are net CO2 sources. However, there is evidence that some of the inland Kangerlussuaq lakes are autotrophic. The coastal lakes formed c. 11 cal. ka BP following initial retreat of the ice sheet margin while the inland lakes formed between 8-7 ka BP after its rapid retreat eastwards. The sediment C isotope data suggest a complex Holocene history of interactions between the lakes and their catchments, reflecting glacial retreat, soil and vegetation development and climate-driven hydrological change that had a strong influence on transfer of terrestrially-derived carbon from land to water. At the coast, after 8.5 cal. ka BP, soil development and associated vegetation processes began to exert a strong control on terrestrial-aquatic C-cycling. This is not seen in the inland lakes until ca. 5 ka BP with the maximum extent of dwarf shrub tundra. Some of the lakes respond to Neoglacial cooling from around 5-4 cal. ka BP, when there was a change in catchment-lake interactions which resulted in changing carbon dynamics. Overall, in the coastal lakes, changes in bulk organic geochemistry are most likely the result of increasing contribution (and burial of) terrestrial organic matter as a result of enhanced soil instability while in the inland lakes changes in aquatic productivity are more important. By the mid- to late-Holocene the effect of climate variation on the lakes' C-cycling is quite complex, some coastal lakes, for example, are buffered by the strong maritime influence while others show significant environmental variability (MWP, LIA) especially those close to the present-day ice sheet margin. Overall, there is considerable variability in the C profiles in the Greenland lakes, presumably related to the contrasting way in-lake and catchment processes filter climate forcing. We illustrate this complexity of individual lake response by reference to Holocene profiles from a number of lakes. We consider the implications of these geochemical and isotopic profiles for the long-term development and metabolic balance (i.e. net heterotrophy vs autotrophy) of these lakes.


BACKGROUND: Pediatric nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with insulin resistance, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular problems, and increased risk of chronic liver disease and Type II diabetes mellitus. The aim of the study was to assess the metabolic profiles and associated risk factors of NAFLD in obese children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Children with a body mass index (BMI) of >27 kg/m2 an adult equivalent cutoff (Indian Academy of Paediatrics, 2015 guidelines) aged 5–18 years presenting to the pediatric outpatient unit of PGIMER Satellite Centre, Sangrur, India, were retrospectively recruited over a 1-year period. Anthropometry, lipid profile, thyroid levels, liver function test, fasting blood sugar, and blood pressure were measured. Ultrasonography was used to diagnose NAFLD. Logistic regression was used to assess the risk factors. RESULTS: A total of 100 children participated in the study. The mean age was 10.6 ± 2.6 years and the mean BMI-Z score was 2.6 ± 0.5. The prevalence of NAFLD was 62%. Alanine transaminase (ALT) was significantly elevated in all the children with NAFLD. Lipid levels and BMI Z-score were similar in both groups. Unadjusted odds ratio shows statistically significant association of ALT (2.058 [1.11–1.01]) and waist circumference (1.089 [1.19–0.99]) with NAFLD. With adjusted odds ratio only, ALT (1.12 [1.24–1.01]) was found to be significantly associated with NAFLD. CONCLUSION: There is quite a high prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver in obese Indian children. All children with raised liver enzymes should undergo sonography to rule out NAFLD.


In this paper the geometrical relationship of the folds which exist in the Folded Zagros Mountains, including Asef Mountain (northern Iran), were studied. The southern and western zones of the Zagros Mountains are called the Folded Zagros. These zones extend approximately 1,375 km in length with a width ranging from 120 to 250 km. Asef Mountain is located in northern Shiraz (from northern Sarda to the vicinity of Zarghan) and is part of the southwestern zone of the Folded Zagros. In this area, Cenozoic formations are folded due to the effects of the tectonic process. This study was done in order to identify these folding features. The results of this research indicate that the axial surface of the folding has a dominant northwest-southeast trend which does not conform to the general trend of the Zagros. The folds are placed into the classes: upright gently plunging, steeply inclined gently plunging, steeply inclined moderately plunging, upright moderately plunging, upright sub horizontal, moderately inclined sub horizontal and moderately inclined gently plunging with respect to their geometry and floating divisions (Fluety,1964), on the basis of axial surface and hinge line trends of the Cenozoic formations. Additionally, these folds are categorized in close and open fold classes on the basis of limb inclination (Fluety, 1964).


Accurate wave height prediction along the shore plays an important role in coastal protection and management. To account for the effect of submerged vegetation in wave-attenuation models, it is important to understand how the interaction between vegetation characteristics and hydrodynamic forcing affects wave attenuation. To determine the effect of vegetation characteristics, we used seagrass mimics that varied in (1) blade stiffness, (2) shoot density and (3) leaf length; to investigate the effect of hydrodynamic forcing, we studied wave attenuation in the absence and presence of a tidal current. Results show that wave attenuation is positively correlated with blade stiffness and for a given wave in shallow water, attenuation is dependent on a combination of shoot density and leaf length, which can be described by the leaf area index. The presence of a tidal current strongly reduced the wave-attenuating capacity of seagrass mimics, and this reduction was most pronounced at high shoot densities. Thus, most studies that have been carried out under waves only will structurally overestimate wave attenuation for tidal environments, emphasising that tidal currents need to be taken into account in future studies on wave attenuation by vegetation.


UNDerwater EXplosions (UNDEXs) are widely used in many areas of applied engineering including oil production and warship protection. However, the three-dimensional computations of UNDEXs, especially for explosives with complex initial shapes are still lacking, which is mainly due to the difficulty in capturing the multi-medium interface with high pressure ratio. In this study, we conducted a series of three-dimensional numerical simulations of UNDEXs with different initial shapes of a high-pressure gas bubble surrounded with water, to investigate the dynamics of the explosion caused by the shape change of the gas bubble. The movement of the interface was traced with the level-set method, and the conditions at the gas–water interface were treated using the Real Ghost Fluid Method (RGFM). As a result, the temporal evolution of the pressure field during the explosion and the pressure exerted at the boundaries of the computational domain in each simulation scenario were obtained. It was found that an initial shock wave is generated by the explosion and transmitted in the water, leading to an increase of the pressure and density. Meanwhile, inside the gas bubble, a rarefaction wave is formed, causing a pressure drop of the explosive gas. The results also show that if the initial shape of the bubble filled with the explosive gas is simple (e.g., spherical, cylindrical, cuboidal), the peak pressure of the shock wave is dominated by the cross-sectional area of the initial bubble along each direction. In addition, the duration of the high pressure phase of the shock wave is dictated by the thickness of the bubble. Moreover, the simulation of a bubble with an initially bullet-like shape revealed that this specific shape enables a concentration of the energy in a well-defined direction. The peak of the pressure generated by the gas bubble of this more complex shape is approximately twice than that of the other scenarios. However, the high pressure was found to drop more rapidly than that of the other cases, which might be attributed to the comparably small thickness of the initial bubble.


Studies over recent decades of the return effects for the stocks added to and deleted from the S and P 500 have documented the so-called 'S&P game', where traders could profit from stock price reactions to changes in the index's composition. Studies on the All Ordinaries Index covering the 1990s also found profitable trading opportunities over the pre-announcement period. Our study of the effects of changes in the composition of the S&P/ASX 200 from its introduction (in April 2000) to June 2009 found these pre-announcement opportunities were eliminated but that potential exists for the 'S&P/ASX 200 game' between announcement and implementation dates.


Whilst sealing damaged tissues by adhesives has potential advantages over suturing or stapling, existing tissue adhesives cannot form rapid or robust adhesion on tissues covered with body fluids such as blood. In contrast, the glues of barnacles, consisting of a lipid-rich matrix and adhesive proteins, and can strongly adhere to wet and contaminated surfaces. Here we report a barnacle-inspired paste capable of forming instant robust hemostatic sealing of diverse tissues. The paste is composed of a hydrophobic oil matrix and bioadhesive microparticles to implement the barnacle-inspired mechanism to repel blood through the hydrophobic matrix. Subsequently, the bioadhesive microparticles crosslink with underlying tissues under gentle pressure. The barnacle-inspired paste can provide tough (interfacial toughness over 300 J m-2) and strong (shear and tensile strength over 70 kPa, burst pressure over 350 mmHg) hemostatic sealing of a broad range of tissues within five seconds. We validate in vitro and in vivo biocompatibility and biodegradability of the barnacle-inspired paste in rodent models. We further demonstrate potential applications of the barnacle-inspired paste for instant hemostatic sealing in ex vivo porcine aorta, in vivo rat liver and heart models.


Much progress has been made toward understanding marine metapopulation dynamics, largely because of multilocus microsatellite surveys able to connect related individuals within the metapopulation. However, most studies are focused on small spatial scales, tens of kilometers, while demographic exchange at larger spatial scales remains poorly documented. Additionally, many small-scale demographic studies conflict with broad-scale phylogeographic patterns concerning levels of marine population connectivity, highlighting a need for data on more intermediate scales. Here, we investigated demographic recruitment processes of a commercially important coral reef fish, the bluespine unicornfish (Naso unicornis) using a suite of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and microsatellite markers. Sampling for this study ranged across the southern Marianas Islands, a linear distance of 250 km and included 386 newly settled postlarval recruits. In contrast with other studies, we report that cohorts of recruits were genetically homogeneous in space and time, with no evidence of temporally stochastic sweepstakes reproduction. The genetic diversity of recruits was high and commensurate with that of the adult population. In addition, there is substantial evidence that 2 recruits, separated by 250 km, were full siblings. This is the largest direct observation of dispersal to date for a coral reef fish. All indications suggest that subpopulations of N. unicornis experience high levels of demographic migrant exchange and metapopulation mixing on a spatial scale of hundreds of kilometers, consistent with high levels of broad-scale genetic connectivity previously reported in this species.


Introduction: "Goniometry" is derived from two Greek words: Gonia, which means "angle," and Metron, which means "measure." The focus of the research is to see if a smartphone-based goniometer application for knee flexion range of motion was reliable. The technology of smartphones is one of the most often used alternatives. A literature evaluation of 12 studies showed that smartphone applications are sufficiently trustworthy to be employed in research and clinical practice. As ROM angulation is widely employed in treatment policy decisions, new measures have to be thoroughly tested before use in clinical practice. The study design used will be an observational study. The participants will be recruited using a simple random sampling method. The total number of participants will be 100 in the age group between 20-60. With Universal Goniometer and Goniometer records, three certified physiotherapists measured maximum active knee flexion in a supine position. Data will be collected and analyzed using SPSS (version: 20) and the Bland Altman Test.Discussion: The goal of this observational study is to examine the reliability of smartphone applications for computing knee joint range of motion.Conclusion: To conclude, this research seeks to examine the reliability of smartphone applications for computing knee joint range of motion in a healthy population. The study findings would help in developing a novel approach for computing and documenting the knee range of motion.


We study 't Hooft anomalies for a global discrete internal symmetry G. We construct examples of bosonic field theories in three dimensions with a nonvanishing 't Hooft anomaly for a discrete global symmetry. We also construct field theories in three dimensions with a global discrete internal symmetry G(1) × G(2) such that gauging G(1) necessarily breaks G(2) and vice versa. This is analogous to the Adler-Bell-Jackiw axial anomaly in four dimensions and parity anomaly in three dimensions.


Abstract. This paper studies the influence of changing spatial resolution on the implementation of distributed hydrological modelling for water resource planning in Mediterranean areas. Different cell sizes were used to investigate variations in the basin hydrologic response given by the model WiMMed, developed in Andalusia (Spain), in a selected watershed. The model was calibrated on a monthly basis from the available daily flow data at the reservoir that closes the watershed, for three different cell sizes, 30, 100, and 500 m, and the effects of this change on the hydrological response of the basin were analysed by means of the comparison of the hydrological variables at different time scales for a 3-yr-period, and the effective values for the calibration parameters obtained for each spatial resolution. The variation in the distribution of the input parameters due to using different spatial resolutions resulted in a change in the obtained hydrological networks and significant differences in other hydrological variables, both in mean basin-scale and values distributed in the cell level. Differences in the magnitude of annual and global runoff, together with other hydrological components of the water balance, became apparent. This study demonstrated the importance of choosing the appropriate spatial scale in the implementation of a distributed hydrological model to reach a balance between the quality of results and the computational cost; thus, 30 and 100-m could be chosen for water resource management, without significant decrease in the accuracy of the simulation, but the 500-m cell size resulted in significant overestimation of runoff and consequently, could involve uncertain decisions based on the expected availability of rainfall excess for storage in the reservoirs. Particular values of the effective calibration parameters are also provided for this hydrological model and the study area.


Traditionally, fractured reservoir simulations use Dual-Porosity, Dual-Permeability (DPDK) models that can idealize fractures and misrepresent connectivity. The Embedded Discrete Fracture Modeling (EDFM) approach improves flow predictions by integrating a realistic fracture network grid within a structured matrix grid. However, small fracture cells with high conductivity that pose a challenge for simulators can arise and ad hoc strategies to remove them can alter connectivity or fail for field-scale cases. We present a new gridding algorithm that controls the geometry and topology of the fracture network while enforcing a lower bound on the fracture cell sizes. It honors connectivity and systematically removes cells below a chosen fidelity factor. Furthermore, we implemented a flexible grid coarsening framework based on aggregation and flow-based transmissibility upscaling to convert EDFMs to various coarse representations for simulation speedup. Here, we consider pseudo-DPDK (pDPDK) models to evaluate potential DPDK inaccuracies and the impact of strictly honoring EDFM connectivity via Connected Component within Matrix (CCM) models. We combine these components into a practical workflow that can efficiently generate upscaled EDFMs from stochastic realizations of thousands of geologically realistic natural fractures for ensemble applications.
 We first consider a simple waterflood example to illustrate our fracture upscaling to obtain coarse (pDPDK and CCM) models. The coarse simulation results show biases consistent with the underlying assumptions (e.g., pDPDK can over-connect fractures). The preservation of fracture connectivity via the CCM aggregation strategy provides better accuracy relative to the fine EDFM forecast while maintaining computational speedup. We then demonstrate the robustness of the proposed EDFM workflow for practical studies through application to an improved oil recovery (IOR) study for a fractured carbonate reservoir. Our automatable workflow enables quick screening of many possibilities since the generation of full-field grids (comprising almost a million cells) and their preprocessing for simulation completes in a few minutes per model. The EDFM simulations, which account for complicated multiphase physics, can be generally performed within hours while coarse simulations are about a few times faster. The comparison of ensemble fine and coarse simulation results shows that on average, a DPDK representation can lead to high upscaling errors in well oil and water production as well as breakthrough time while the use of a more advanced strategy like CCM provides greater accuracy. Finally, we illustrate the use of the Ensemble Smoother with Multiple Data Assimilation (ESMDA) approach to account for field measured data and provide an ensemble of history-matched models with calibrated properties.


. Literature reviews are crucial in the choice of the best personalized material type and restauration type in restorative dentistry. We developed an IBM-Watson based system to support literature search for restorative dentistry, and compared its results to a literature search performed by a trained professional. We found that our system could assist the researcher in performing a literature review, but the grounding semantic model needs to be refined in order to provide more extensive results.


The paper focuses on the conception of adulthood in post-communist Estonia, a society that has undergone vast structural, institutional and cultural changes. To this end, 179 essays written by high school graduates in five Estonian schools are analyzed.1 It is argued that the conceptualisation of adulthood is contextual and young people position and conceptualise themselves in the framework of these changes. Youth in Estonia, like their peers in Western Countries, stress intangible features (such as responsibility, mental maturity, social maturity, freedom) along with measurable transitions (employment, marriage, parenthood) when conceptualising adulthood. However, the meanings behind the concepts differ and are valued differently among respondents. This paper aims to provide a glance into what meanings are given to these perceptions. The most prevalent themes picked up by respondents were institutional transitions, responsibility and social maturity. Such prevalence is plausible, since these features in the transition to adulthood have changed the most in recent decades: the institutional context has changed and measurable transitions have prolonged; the level of individual responsibility in transitions has grown and the society has transformed.