Background and Aim Portal vein thrombosis (PVT) is particularly detected in advanced liver cirrhosis patients. We aimed to analyze the risk factors for PVT in liver transplant candidates. Materials and Methods Dataset for consecutive 165 cirrhotic patients who were evaluated for liver transplantation (LT) were retrospectively analyzed. We sorted patients into two groups: patients with PVT and patients without PVT. Included variables were age, sex, etiology of liver disease, body mass index, MELD-Na score, Child-Pugh score, clinical variables reflecting portal hypertension, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify risk factors of PVT. Results Of 165 LT candidates, 46 had PVT (27.9%). Ascites, thrombocytopenia, history of variceal bleeding, and band ligation were risk factors for PVT in univariate analysis. In multivariate analysis, only a history of variceal bleeding (OR 3.45, 95% CI 1.02–11.6, p=0.046) significantly increased the risk of PVT. Conclusion The previous history of variceal bleeding predicts PVT development in cirrhosis, suggesting that the severity of portal hypertension is a major predictive factor for PVT in patients with cirrhosis. Future prospective studies are needed to risk stratifying cirrhosis patients prior to LT for future PVT development and to define the prophylactic role of anticoagulation in these patients.


We report the discovery of six active galactic nuclei (AGNs) caught "turning on" during the first nine months of the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) survey. The host galaxies were classified as low-ionization nuclear emission-line region galaxies (LINERs) by weak narrow forbidden line emission in their archival SDSS spectra, and detected by ZTF as nuclear transients. In five of the cases, we found via follow-up spectroscopy that they had transformed into broad-line AGNs, reminiscent of the changing-look LINER iPTF16bco. In one case, ZTF18aajupnt/AT2018dyk, follow-up Hubble Space Telescope ultraviolet and ground-based optical spectra revealed the transformation into a narrow-line Seyfert 1 with strong [Fe vii, x, xiv] and He ii λ 4686 coronal lines. Swift monitoring observations of this source reveal bright UV emission that tracks the optical flare, accompanied by a luminous soft X-ray flare that peaks ∼60 days later. Spitzer follow-up observations also detect a luminous mid-infrared flare, implying a large covering fraction of dust. Archival light curves of the entire sample from CRTS, ATLAS, and ASAS-SN constrain the onset of the optical nuclear flaring from a prolonged quiescent state. Here we present the systematic selection and follow-up of this new class of changing-look LINERs, compare their properties to previously reported changing-look Seyfert galaxies, and conclude that they are a unique class of transients well-suited to test the uncertain physical processes associated with the LINER accretion state.


In this study, a series of platinum(II) complexes with the general formula of [Pt(O-bpy)(Me)(L)], 1, O-bpy = cyclometalated rollover 2,2′-bipyridine N-oxide and L = PPh3 (1a), PPh2Me (1b) and PPhMe2 (1c) was prepared. The oxidative addition reaction of MeI reagent to the Pt(II) center was performed and kinetically investigated. In the Pt(II) → trans-Pt(IV) reaction (kinetic product), the electronic effects of the phosphanes determine the rates of the reactions and the following trend was obtained: PPhMe2 > PPh2Me > PPh3. However, in the trans-Pt(IV) → cis-Pt(IV) isomerization (thermodynamic product), the steric effects induced by phosphane ligands controlled the conversion rates (PPh3 > PPh2Me > PPhMe2). Also, a secondary α-deuterium kinetic isotope effect (KIE) study was performed for some of the reactions using the CD3I reagent. The obtained small KIE values are indicative of a classic SN2 mechanism with a tight transition state. Moreover, the reactions of 1a with MeI and CD3I were monitored by (1H and 31P{1H}) NMR spectroscopy in order to gain an appropriate proposed mechanism. The NMR monitoring data for CD3I exhibited the presence of scrambling twins in which the incoming CD3 ligand occupies the CH3 ligand position in the parent Pt(II) complex and vice versa. 1a, containing PPh3 ligand, indicated the mentioned scrambling for both trans and cis products. However, the trans to cis isomerization for 1b (PPh2Me) and 1c (PPhMe2) was very slow, so NMR data showed the scrambling only for trans geometry.


The decline of waterfowl populations and the loss of wetlands are high-ranking environmental concerns in North America. The importance of these issues is reflected in an ambitious wetland recovery plan, the North American Waterfowl Management Plan. Signed in 1986 by the U.S. and Canadian federal governments, the plan features specific strategies to reverse the declines in waterfowl numbers and wetland acreage. The goal is to restore waterfowl populations to a level common to the 1970's by improving and securing long-term protection of 6 million acres (2.4 million ha) of habitat in 34 areas of major concern. The key to achieving this goal is partnerships: federal, state, provincial, territorial, and tribal governments joining forces with private conservation organizations and individuals. Early on, it was clear to authors of the plan that securing habitat for waterfowl would also yield benefits for a wealth of other wildlife and plants. Partners in the plan looked beyond the protection of individual wetlands and single-species management to integrated management of ecosystems on public and private land. More recently, national programs such as the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, major agricultural legislation, and agreements with Mexico stimulated new ways of approaching the challenge. Recognizing that objectives have increased since 1986 and that benefits to species other than waterfowl could be more explicitly addressed, the North American Waterfowl Management Plan Committee in 1992 initiated a process to update the plan. The update will reflect a thorough evaluation of the implemented plan. In this paper, we describe the current status of the plan, including accomplishments, benefited species, and plans for future projects.


Partial differentiation is presented today in mathematical analysis as part of a theory of functional mappings defined on domains of real numbers. One considers a function Z = f(x,y), defined on some region of the real plane and interpreted geometrically as the equation of a surface in three space, and considers the partial derivatives of z that result when x and y are successively held constant. These derivatives are real-valued mappings obtained in the usual way as the limits of Newton quotients. Steven B. Engelsman shows that, historically, partial differentiation developed out of a different class of problems, namely the problem of constructing orthogonal trajectories to a family of curves. In the early eighteenth century, partial differentiation was known as 'differentiation from curve to curve'. The goal of each investigation was the derivation of a differential relation to describe the given orthogonal trajectory. Only later, with the work of d'Alembert in the 1740s, did the focus of research shift to the problem of integrating partial differential equations.


In a pandemic situation such as that we are living at the time of writing of this paper due to the Covid-19 virus, the need of tele-healthcare service becomes dramatically fundamental to reduce the movement of patients, thence reducing the risk of infection. Leveraging the recent Cloud computing and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, this paper aims at proposing a tele-medical laboratory service where clinical exams are performed on patients directly in a hospital by technicians through IoT medical devices and results are automatically sent via the hospital Cloud to doctors of federated hospitals for validation and/or consultation. In particular, we discuss a distributed scenario where nurses, technicians and medical doctors belonging to different hospitals cooperate through their federated hospital Clouds to form a virtual health team able to carry out a healthcare workflow in secure fashion leveraging the intrinsic security features of the Blockchain technology. In particular, both public and hybrid Blockchain scenarios are discussed and assessed using the Ethereum platform.


The development of corporate buildings and the structure of workplaces changed dramatically during the last number of decades. Studies show that the utilization of e.g. office space lies at 5% over its lifecycle – so we need to rethink the design & the management of corporate facilities. In fact buildings which are heated, cooled and maintained but remain largely unused over time are economically & ecologically inefficient! Our built environment is identified as a crucial area for the realisation of the EU climate goals but the potential to reduce energy-demand and CO2-Emissions remain widely unused. Beside the opportunity to save a lot of (real estate and company/organisational) money through an optimized FM - the mentioned arguments above illustrate, that the improvement of space-utilization is also part of Corporate Social Responsibility. More-Space analyses saving potentials of e.g. flexible workplace management. Know-How from real estate development, facility management and mathematical modelling and simulation are brought together to improve and optimize space-utilisation. On going studies show impressive saving potentials up to 50% of the current workplaces and an optimised utilisation up to 80% within companies. Other studies within school buildings showed that up to 40% of the classrooms could be used for other purposes through improved space-management. These evaluations add up to massive saving potentials of user costs of buildings and tons of CO2-Emissions per year. The More-Space Tool is able to demonstrate each company its maximum benefit, as the model is customizable and supports rapid prototyping – a relevant characteristic for decision makers as managing directors, facility managers and others. The More-Space approach underlines that a successful achievement of the FM-potentials needs interaction between at least four competences: 1.Organisational development – necessary changes of processes and organizational structures; 2.Space Management - potentials e.g. within intelligent distribution of fixed-term rights of utilization but also within spontaneous occupancy; 3.Real Estate Planning/Development – Developers and designers must be able to create built infrastructures, which support dynamic usage of buildings and 4.Simulation – the high potentials for more efficient utilization often remain undetected until dynamic event-based computer-simulations facilitate, as the complexity of dynamic viewing of utilisation is extremely high.


DHA is an abundant nutrient from marine lipids: its speci fi c biological effects have been investigated in human volunteers, taking into consideration the dose effects. We report herein that, at dosages below 1g/d, DHA proved to be effective in lowering blood platelet function and exhibited an ' antioxidant ' effect. However, this was no longer the case following 1 · 6g/d, showing then a U-shape response. The antioxidant effect has been observed in platelets as well as LDL, of which the redox status is assumed to be crucial in their re-lationship with atherosclerosis. Second, the oxygenated products of DHA, especially protectins produced by lipoxygenases, have been considered for their potential to affect blood platelets and leucocytes. It is concluded that DHA is an interesting nutrient to reduce atherothrombogenesis, possibly through complementary mechanisms involving lipoxygenase products of DHA.


Abstract Flextime is a Travel Demand Management policy that allows workers to arrive/leave within a certain threshold of time but staying on duty during a period of the day (core hours). Such flexibility in arrival time can have an impact on relieving traffic congestion as it can shift demand to non-peak periods. However, in several countries, companies are usually reluctant to provide flexibility arguing possible loss in their productivity and efficiency. This paper discusses a preliminary study on perceptions of challenges, and the potential of flextime in congested urban areas. In doing so, we present the information gathered through in-depth-interviews and subsequent questionnaires applied to managers of cars dealers in Santiago, Chile, obtaining both qualitative and quantitative information. The quantitative information obtained was used to develop (1) a data envelopment analysis to investigate whether firms' productivity is affected by flextime or not, and (2) a binary logit model to evaluate financial and non-financial incentives that can allow firms to adopt flextime or change work arrival times. The results obtained from the sample show that, for this particular industry, flextime might not have a significant impact on firms' productivity. Additionally, we found that financial incentives and competitors' work starting times have a significant impact on accepting flextime or relaxing arrival constraints. We also found that if arrangements with the whole industry to change work starting times are made, the effect of this change can be as effective as the provision of financial incentives.


Amalia, Khusnu, 2008. The Use of Small Group Discussion in Teaching Written Procedure Text (The Experimental Research at Tenth Graders of SMA Islam Sultan Agung 3 Semarang in the Academic Year of 2008/2009). A Final Project. English Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, Semarang State University. Advisor I: Dr. Dwi Anggani LB, M.Pd and advisor II: Sri Wuli Fitriati, S.Pd, M.Pd.
Key Words: writing, senior high school students, procedure text, experimental research.
This final project is an experimental research. In this study, I limit the discussion by stating the two problems: How well does small group discussion give contribution to teach procedure texts? And, is there any significant difference in the achievement between the students who were taught procedure text by using small group discussion and students who were taught procedure text without using small group discussion? The aims of this experimental research are to find out how well small group discussion gives contribution to teach procedure text and to determine whether there is significant difference in the achievement between the students who were taught procedure text by using small group discussion and without using small group discussion.
There were three steps in conducting this experimental research: choosing the tenth graders of SMA Islam Sultan agung 3 Semarang as the population, taking two groups of the students as the samples, one as the experimental group and the other as the control group, and after that, conducting real experiment. To obtain the data, the writer carried out three steps in implementing the research. They were pretest, activities in experiment and post test.
Based on the data analysis, the writer used the students' results that were completed by the mean score of the experimental group and the control group to know the difference between the two groups. The pretest score was 69.46 for the experimental group and 69.20 for the control group. The post-test score of the experimental group was 76.31 and the control group was 72.54. The results showed the mean score difference between the two groups that was 1.90. The t-test showed that this difference was significant because the critical value that was obtained was 4.919. It was higher than the critical value on the table (4.919 >1.966).
Referring to the experience in conducting this experimental research, the writer offers several suggestions. First, teachers should use small group discussion as their teaching technique in teaching written procedure text. Second, teachers should be able to convince their students to improve their performance in the academic achievement especially in written procedure text. Then, the writer also suggests that there should be further studies on teaching English by using small group discussion.


Inter-vehicle communications disclose rich information about vehicle whereabouts. Pseudonymous authentication secures communication while enhancing user privacy thanks to a set of anonymized certificates, termed pseudonyms. Vehicles switch the pseudonyms (and the corresponding private key) frequently; we term this pseudonym transition process. However, exactly because vehicles can in principle change their pseudonyms asynchronously, an adversary that eavesdrops (pseudonymously) signed messages, could link pseudonyms based on the times of pseudonym transition processes. In this poster, we show how one can link pseudonyms of a given vehicle by simply looking at the timing information of pseudonym transition processes. We also propose ''mix-zone everywhere'': time-aligned pseudonyms are issued for all vehicles to facilitate synchronous pseudonym update; as a result, all vehicles update their pseudonyms simultaneously, thus achieving higher user privacy protection.


In this paper we focus on the convergence analysis of the proximal forward-backward splitting method for solving nonsmooth optimization problems in Hilbert spaces when the objective function is the sum of two convex functions. Assuming that one of the functions is Fr\'echet differentiable and using two new linesearches, the weak convergence is established without any Lipschitz continuity assumption on the gradient. Furthermore, we obtain many complexity results of cost values at the iterates when the stepsizes are bounded below by a positive constant.


Recent experiments on flapping flight in animals have shown that a variety of unrelated species shed a wake behind left and right wings consisting of both tip and root vortices. Here we present an investigation using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) of the behaviour and interaction of trailing vortices shed by paired, fixed wings that simplify and mimic the wake of a flying animal with a non-lifting body. We measured flow velocities at five positions downstream of two adjacent NACA 0012 aerofoils and systematically varied aspect ratio, the gap between the wings (corresponding to the width of a non-lifting body), angle of attack, and the Reynolds number. The range of aspect ratios and Reynolds number where chosen to be relevant to natural fliers and swimmers, and insect flight in particular. We show that the wake behind the paired wings deformed as a consequence of the induced flow distribution such that the wingtip vortices convected downwards while the root vortices twist around each other. Vortex interaction and wake deformation became more pronounced further downstream of the wing, so the positioning of PIV measurement planes in experiments on flying animals has an important effect on subsequent force estimates due to rotating induced flow vectors. Wake deformation was most severe behind wings with lower aspect ratios and when the distance between the wings was small, suggesting that animals that match this description constitute high-risk groups in terms of measurement error. Our results, therefore, have significant implications for experimental design where wake measurements are used to estimate forces generated in animal flight. In particular, the downstream distance of the measurement plane should be minimised, notwithstanding the animal welfare constraints when measuring the wake behind flying animals.


The production and maintenance of Portland cement concrete pavements creates a considerable amount of waste water, usually with a high pH and high levels of dissolved and suspended solids and the safe disposal of this material can be costly. The ability to reuse this waste water as mixing water into new concrete production would be a more cost efficient option, which would greatly reduce waste. Due to the presence of existing cement particles and elevated pH, waste water with both hydrated and unhydrated cement particles used as mixing water affects the performance of the concrete. These effects can potentially be beneficial, even if the water has a percent solids higher than recommended in current mix water specifications. Therefore, a method of quantifying the characteristics of the waste water is necessary to predict the performance of the concrete based on measurable properties of the waste water. This study quantifies the characteristics of the waste water, including pH, conductivity, and index of refraction. Models are then developed using a regression analysis. This is accomplished by characterizing waste water produced using multiple different sources of both grinding and wash out fines. Then, mortar properties are tested from mortar batches made with the characterized waste water, including compressive strength and set time. The laboratory data is then used for the development of regression equations for predicting the performance (set time and compressive strength) of the concrete, as a function of the waste water characteristics that are easily measured using in-line sensors. These relationships makes it possible to use waste water from a variety of sources in the production of new concrete while, being able to predict the effects of the inclusion of the waste water on the concrete performance a priori. Finally, a mock set up of a plant water circulation system was constructed using in-line sensors for measuring the waste water properties. Concrete is then cast using water pulled from the lab-scale water circulation system to provide insight into the adequacy of the final models.


The draft article attempts to reconstruct the essential meaning of executive power by recounting the way political theorists and others used the phrase prior to the Constitution's ratification. Using evidence drawn from primary and secondary sources, the piece documents the simple claim that the executive power is the power to execute the law. The piece also underscores that the founding generation universally understood that the President would superintend federal law execution. Finally, the piece attempts to make sense of the other constitutional provisions that are often deemed relevant to law execution and suggests how to harmonize these provisions with the essential meaning of executive power.


Objective: To find out whether an isolated compound (IC) from the ethanolic extract of roots of ashwagandha prevents stress-induced hyperglycemia by direct interference with the action of increased concentration of corticosterone on hepatocytes or by preventing hyper-secretion of corticosterone or both.Methods: A group of rats served as controls, and those in another group were subjected to restraint (1 h) and forced swimming exercise (15 min), after a gap of 4 h daily for 4 w. The third group of rats received orally IC (5 mg/kg bw/rat) 1 h prior to exposure to stressors. After the last treatment period, a blood sample was collected and serum was separated for the estimation of corticosterone and glucose. In in vitro experiment, hepatocytes were treated with different concentrations of corticosterone (100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 ng/ml). In another set of experiment, hepatocytes were treated with different doses of IC (1, 10, 100, 1000 and 10 000 μg/ml of medium) along with corticosterone (400ng/ml). The concentration of glucose and activities of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) and glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase) were determined after the treatment.Results: Stress exposure caused a significant increase in serum concentration of corticosterone and glucose whereas, administration of IC did not result in similar changes. Further, treatment of corticosterone in in vitro significantly increased the activities of PEPCK and G6Pase and concentration of glucose in a dose-dependent manner in hepatocytes. However, treatment with IC did not interfere with the corticosterone-induced an increase in the activities of PEPCK and G6Pase as well as the concentration of glucose in hepatocytes.Conclusion: The in vivo and in vitro results put together reveal that IC does not directly interfere with the action of corticosterone on hepatocytes. However, it prevents stress-induced hyperglycemia by suppressing hyper-secretion of corticosterone.


The TSFC (thermosonic flip chip) bonding was realized in a self-structured TSFC bonder. The atom inter-diffusion on Au-Ag bonding interface was characterized by TEM, and high-resolution TEM pictures reveales that the dislocation density in the bump increases after the acting of ultrasonic. And the interlaced dislocation slip lines were observed in the SEM pictures of bumps surface, which indicates the dislocations motion in the interior of bumps. A FEM model was used to simulate the stress on the bonding interface. It is noticed that the ultrasonic vibration causes high stress in the contact interface of bump and pad, which increases the dislocation density and provides short-circuit diffusion channel for Au and Ag atom inter-diffusion. Finally, a preliminary discussion about the atom diffusion, based on the atom diffusion theory, is also presented. Studies show that the stress is a significant component of atom diffusion driving force. The Gibbs free energy, chemical potential and acting force of Au and Ag atom on bonding interface are increased by the stress gradient. With the driving force caused by stress, the probability for atom to overcome the energy barrier increased, and the diffusion speed increased. And the atom diffusion depth on bonding interface is about 200-500 nm in several hundred milliseconds, which forms good bonding strength.


Objective: To develop a rapid method of synthesis of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) using the fresh aqueous leaf extract of Morinda Citrifolia from 0.1 M AgNO 3 solution, to characterize the resulting Ag NPs and also compare their antimicrobial activity with those of standard drugs against human pathogenic bacteria. Methods: 25 ml of the aqueous extract was added to 25 ml of 0.1 M aqueous AgNO 3 at room temperature. The mixture was stirred continuously for 5-10 minutes. The reduction was completed with the appearance of brownish-black colored dispersion. The resulting nanoparticles were characterized using UV-Vis absorption spectra and Particle size analysis (DLS method). Further the Antimicrobial activity was compared with the drugs against S. aureus and P. aureginosa strains using the disk diffusion method. Results: The formation of Silver nanoparticles was confirmed with the help of UV-Vis absorption spectra at ≈ 425 nm and particle size as approximately 100 nm using Particle size analysis (DLS method). The anti-microbial activity of the Ag NPs so synthesized was studied against human pathogens in wound infections such as S. aureus and P. aureginosa strains. The inhibitory activity for Ag NPs was compared with those of known drugs such as tetracycline, Ceftazidime and Amikacin at 30 mcg. The inhibitory activity of the Synthesized Ag NPs was found pronounced against P. aureginosa strains. Conclusion: A rapid method of synthesizing Ag NPs has been developed by using the fresh leaf extract of Morinda Citrifolia and it was found that the extract is a potential reducing agent to produce stable Ag NPs. The research provides a new input to the development of anti-microbial agent.


We celebrate the first quantitative evidence for the stress concentration effect of flaws analyzed by Inglis. Stress concentration factor (SCF) studies have evolved ever since Inglis' 1913 result related to the problem of the elliptical hole in a plate, which also approximately applies to the half-elliptical notch case. We summarize a hundred years of development of the SCF with the exclusive focus on analytical solutions, with a very specific route: the series of works reviewed and presented herein include a parade of solutions beginning with (and those that followed) Inglis famous result, continue with periodic discrete discontinuities, sinusoidal periodic surfaces, and end with more complex continuous configurations such as random surfaces. Furthermore, we show that the form of Inglis' result is powerful enough to serve as first-order approximation for some cases of multiple discontinuities and even continuous rough topologies. Thus, we proposed the Modified Inglis formula (MIF), to estimate the SCF for a variety of configurations, in honor to Inglis' historical result. The impetus of this review stems from the fact that for many engineering problems involving multiphysical solid–fluid interactions, there is a broad interest to couple stress concentration relationships with thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, or even diffusion equations in order to expand understanding on stress-driven interactions at the solid–fluid interface. Additionally, a handy first-order estimate of the SCF can serve in the initial stage of designs of structures and parts containing discontinuities.


Teaching international students is now mainstream and international students are an important cohort in university classes on-campus and online. This chapter aims to help university teachers to respond to the needs of international students from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds, and to feel confident that their teaching approaches are grounded in accepted principles of effective and inclusive teaching (Hunt, Chalmers & Macdonald 2012; Broughan & Hunt, 2012). The chapter examines the nature and extent of international student cohorts and the internationalisation of the curriculum. In so doing, it explores issues associated with social integration, cultural adjustment, written and oral communication, managing intercultural conflict, and developing academic integrity and critical analytic skills. Throughout the chapter, the focus remains sharply on curriculum and teaching approaches that promote the learning of international students and on international students as a resource that can enrich learning. Readers are encouraged to reflect on their own values and approaches to teaching through the 'Your thoughts' questions and cases in order to critically apply the content of the chapter to local university settings.


This study proceeds historically, from the origins of the Eucharist up to our own day. Unlike most studies of this kind, it includes an introduction to and developmental summary of the diverse Eucharistic liturgies of the Christian East. It also explores the various Western rites (Ambrosian, Gallican, and Mozarabic) in addition to the Roman. With regard to theological themes, the authors give special attention to the topics of real presence (including the "consecration" of the bread and wine) and eucharistic sacrifice, the most central and most ecumenically challenging issues since the sixteenth-century Reformations. Making the book especially teacher- and student-friendly are the summary points at the end of each chapter. Each chapter also contains an abundance of liturgical texts for ease of reference.


In his ingenious bid to restore grand narratives, Frans van Lunteren misleadingly implies that there is a single story to tell about the past. In its favor, his nontriumphalist and metaphorical scheme encourages contextualization and emphasizes objects rather than theories or individuals. Unfortunately, he has selected an arbitrary starting point, and his four emblematic machines—the clock, the balance, the steam engine, the computer—do not bear equivalent relationships to the particular period they are held to represent. This is important because metaphors readily solidify into reality, so that this model risks being interpreted as a progressive sequence of increasing precision and complexity that leaves little room for the biological sciences. Van Lunteren's initiative might be extended by changing the time structure or by focusing on concepts rather than specific artifacts.


Staphylococcus lugdunensis is a member of the coagulase-negative staphylococci with the potential to cause clinically significant infections. The spectrum of infections was investigated in 39 isolates of S. lugdunensis from 38 patients. Most (73%) infections were located below the waist, while those above the waist were mainly (5/7) breast abscesses. Most isolates were susceptible to the antibiotics tested, although 15.4% were beta-lactamase-positive and could be identified by the disk-diffusion method for penicillin G. There was very good concordance between the disk-diffusion method and the Etest method for oxacillin resistance. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) showed that 56% of the isolates belonged to one SmaI pulsotype, while phenotypic analysis by the Phene Plate system identified three main phenotypic groups. Although the S. lugdunensis isolates analysed were obtained from different patients, treated in different wards and hospitals during a 4-year period, there was a low degree of diversity, both genotypically and phenotypically. For this reason, PFGE is not suitable for the analysis of an outbreak situation, and the homogeneity observed may indicate that S. lugdunensis is a genetically conserved species of coagulase-negative Staphylococcus.


In acute deficiency of oxygen inhibition of purine bases turnover as well as degradation of their high molecular precursors occurred in the system mother-placenta-fetus. Acute hypoxia was accompanied by distinct increase in content of adenine, xanthine + + guanine and uric acid in blood of pregnant rats, in placenta and blood of newborn animals. Long-term effect of hypoxia resulted in adaptation of purine metabolism. In this case production of adenosine and adenosine monophosphate was activated.


People frame their communications to suit their personal agendas, even when they are collaborating. However, most information systems (IS) literature assumes people working together have completely aligned agendas. The assumption of agenda alignment in prior research motivates our examination of how agendas and media capabilities influence communication performance. By relaxing the assumption of complete agenda alignment, we reconceptualize how media capabilities interact with communication processes to influence communication performance. We empirically test our model using a lab study with 712 participants interacting face-to-face or via virtual worlds on tasks with differing degrees of agenda alignment. We used a hierarchical linear modeling approach to test our hypotheses. Our results support the role of media synchronicity for explaining communication performance when agendas are aligned. However, our study shows that relaxing the assumption of agenda alignment changes communication in profound ways. We find that media synchronicity is insufficient for describing how media capabilities influence performance in partially cooperative communication contexts. Our findings reveal the importance of anonymity and communication framing when communicants' agendas differ.


Adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs) are major risk factors for women's health during pregnancy and even in the years after pregnancy. Due to the heterogeneity of APOs, only few genetic associations have been identified. In this report, we conducted genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of 479 traits that are possibly related to APOs using a large and racially diverse study, Nulliparous Pregnancy Outcomes Study: Monitoring Mothers-to-Be (nuMoM2b). To display the extensive results, we developed a web-based tool GnuMoM2b (https://gnumom2b.cumcobgyn.org/) for searching, visualizing, and sharing results from GWAS of 479 pregnancy traits as well as phenome-wide association studies (PheWAS) of more than 17 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The genetic results from three ancestries (Europeans, Africans, and Admixed Americans) and meta-analyses are populated in GnuMoM2b. In conclusion, GnuMoM2b is a valuable resource for extraction of pregnancy-related genetic results and shows the potential to facilitate meaningful discoveries.


The paper presents results of the research conducted in 2009 with the participation of 466 Internet users via an online survey. The research showed that consumers before the purchase utilize formal sources of information about the product more often than informal ones. Nevertheless, the more they refer to the formal sources, the more they refer to the informal ones. It was also proved that in the tested group the place of residence, the time spent using the Internet and the value of a product had an influence on the prevalence of formal sources.


Business ethics research has developed along three main lines: the ethics of the business institution and the economic laws from which it derives; the ethics of the business organisation, and the issue of ascribing moral responsibility to a nonphysical entity; and the ethics of the business actor (Wood, 1991a). Focusing on the latter level of enquiry, we argue that understanding the ethics of business actors requires to articulate why and how ethical people sometimes do unethical things, and why and how sometimes they abstain from doing so. In order to investigate this "grey zone" (Levi, 1989), we focused on the moral perception and moral experiences of managers. Managers often occupy a key position in organisations, acting as an interface with various organisational and external stakeholders. Furthermore, managers face issues of a moral dimension almost everyday (Carroll, 2002). Moral philosophers and business ethicists have both endeavoured to define the moral character of management. In particular. Virtue Ethics in the tradition of Aristotle (1992), or interpreted by MacIntyre (1985) or Solomon (1992; 2002), has challenged the traditional approach to the issue of personal morality and emphasizes individual reflection on, and practice of, the virtues and of phronesis (practical wisdom). This important moral element remains ill-defined however. Psychology-based studies have attempted to decipher the process of ethical decision-making, but they have failed to consider the individual as a whole, rather than as an essentially cognitive or emotional being. Carl Jung's view of the psyche (1977; 2001b) is characteristically opposed to such approach. The archetypal self, representing the essence of the individual, is construed as the centre of the psyche, itself constituted by the conscious, the personal unconscious and a collective unconscious. In a Jungian perspective, achieving one's individuality, that is becoming "individuated", enables the person to relate to an ethical conscience, which is connected to the self and transcends the moral rules set up by customs and social habits (Jung, 1978b; 2002). Adopting an interpretivist perspective, a study was designed to explore the relevance of this conceptual framework and provide new elements to better understand the moral experiences of managers. Twenty-five managers were interviewed, and seven cases were analysed in depth. The findings suggest that the self occupies a central role in managers' morality, and that being connected to one's self and acting as an individual, freed from the collective persona we often play, fosters moral strength and moral courage, and enhances phronesis.


Background: Burn infections are the major causes of morbidity and mortality in burn patients. The infectious agent could be both Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria. The aim of this research was to study the bacteriological profile of burn patients and anti-microbial susceptibility pattern of their wound isolates.
 Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Kirtipur Hospital, Nepal from January 1st to March 31st 2019. A total of 109 burn patients were included and their wound swabs were collected at the time of admission. All isolates were identified by standardized microbiological procedures. Anti-microbial susceptibility tests were performed by Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method.
Results: Of 109 burn wound samples, 56 (59%) yielded culture growth and the Gram negative isolates were more common than Gram positives (77% vs. 23%). The most common organism isolated was Klebsiella spp. (25%) followed by Acinetobacter spp. (21%) and Staphylococcus aureus (18%). Most burn wound isolates were of resistant strain. Particularly, highly resistant strain of Acinetobacter spp. were isolated, most of which were sensitive to Tigecycline, Polymyxin B and Colistin only.
Conclusion : Gram negative isolates were common in burn wound isolates and the antibiotic susceptibility pattern was different for different organisms. The use of antimicrobials should be judicious to further not escalate the problem of antimicrobial resistance in the healthcare settings.


During the last decades in the modern society becomes more popular the idea of lifelong education which means the possibility of adults to join the educational environments for further professional development. In the current article we disclose the essence of the lifelong education in common and in the field of artistic education. In addition, we specify the adulthood age-peculiarities according to the educational expectations and define the role of educator (teacher, tutor) in the context of musical studies for adults. The contemporary educational system is characterized by the openness and availability. It is represented through the threefold structure which includes formal, non-formal and informal education. These types of lifelong education provide the opportunity to practice music for all who want to achieve their skills and get new knowledge. Among the adult audience the most popular forms of musical lifelong education are both formal and non-formal. Some adults begin to practice music for their work and some people choose music as a hobby. But all of these students have the same goals – to realize their self-development ambitions and improve themselves. According to these goals students could choose the place where to get the music education: at musical colleges, universities, academies, musical schools, studious or courses, at the private lessons with a teacher or with online coacher etc. In consequence of musical studies, the student can develop his/her music and performing competence. It provides formation of students' skills, knowledge and experience of musical activities. They learn how to do the everyday routines and prepare the interpretation of music pieces, how to organize and follow the self-guided work. In addition, during the musical classes students develop their aesthetic tastes and artistic tolerance, learning how to think about the artistic ideas in music pieces and how to build the interpretation plan according to composer's view. Following the basic frameworks of andragogy (the science about adults' education) the author highlights that music studies cannot be limited by the age of students. Contrary, the educational process obtains the new characteristics and qualities depend on who is a student – an adult or a child. But the author notices that teacher (tutor, educator) is a very important figure in the educational chain both with children and adults.


This study directly compares the auditory and visual analysis capabilities of participants in a structured data analysis task. This task involved the identification of transient fixed-frequency sinusoid events that were embedded within white noise and noise derived from solar wind time series. It was hypothesized that participants would be able to identify the number of embedded events more quickly and accurately through auditory data analysis than through visual analysis. While visual analysis outperformed auditory analysis overall, additional investigation revealed that auditory analysis outperformed vision in instances where these events were embedded in solar wind data. This task involving the detection of transient periodic activity occurring within background turbulence closely mirrors a type of spectral analysis conducted by heliospheric scientists. Additionally, several data examples contained embedded events that were correctly identified through audition while being consistently overlooked through visual inspection. The largest disparity between visual and auditory performance was found in the analysis of white noise spectra that contained no embedded events. In these instances, auditory analysis regularly resulted in the identification of events when none were present; a potential reasoning for these false positives is discussed. The results of this study suggest that the analysis capabilities of each modality may vary based largely on the complexity of the masking stimuli that are present.


Dear authors, in my role as Executive editor of GMD, I would like to bring to your attention our Editorial version 1.2: https://www.geosci-model-dev.net/12/2215/2019/ This highlights some requirements of papers published in GMD, which is also available on the GMD website in the 'Manuscript Types' section: http://www.geoscientific-modeldevelopment.net/submission/manuscript_types.html In particular, please note that for your paper, the following requirements have not been met in the Discussions paper:


Importance
Scar outcomes following cleft lip repair are an important component of pediatric patient and family satisfaction and indicate the need for future surgical interventions.

Objective
To assess the association of pediatric patient demographic factors and scar anatomic features with scar outcomes following cleft lip surgical repair.

Design, Setting, and Participants
A case-control study was conducted involving 58 pediatric patients who underwent surgical repair of a cleft lip from October 31, 2008, to August 4, 2016, at a tertiary care pediatric specialty hospital. Data on patient demographic factors, cleft type, and the surgical technique used were collected and analyzed from June 11, 2009, to November 21, 2017. Scar outcomes were subjectively rated by 3 physicians at 6-month and 12-month postoperative intervals.

Main Outcomes and Measures
Overall scar outcomes at 6-month and 12-month postoperative intervals were based on rating of scar appearance, color, width, height, and alignment by using a subjective, 5-point scar-assessment scale in which 1 indicated the poorest aesthetic appearance and 5, the ideal aesthetic appearance.

Results
A total of 58 pediatric patients who underwent cleft lip repair were evaluated; mean (SD) age at time of repair, 4.8 (3.0) months. Of these, 44 (76%) were male and 14 (24%) were female, 37 (64%) were white, 11 (19%) were black, 7 (12%) were Hispanic, 2 (3%) were Asian, and 1 (2%) was of another race/ethnicity. Scores on the Cohen κ interrater test indicated either a substantial or almost perfect strength of agreement among the physicians grading the scar outcomes. At 12 months, patients with black skin type had worse overall scar outcomes than patients with white skin type (odds ratio [OR], -0.31; 95% CI, -1.15 to -0.14; P = .03). A depressed scar height (OR, -0.54; 95% CI, -1.32 to -0.49; P < .001), and hypopigmented scar color (OR, -0.45; 95% CI, -1.34 to -0.32; P = .002) were associated with worse scar outcomes at 12 months following surgery. The overall median lip scar outcome significantly improved between the 6-month and 12-month follow-up assessments (scar-assessment scale score, 3.3; interquartile range [IQR], 2.7-4.0 vs 4.0; IQR, 3.3-4.3; P < .001). No association was observed between the anatomic type and severity of the cleft lip and scar outcomes (unilateral vs bilateral cleft, complete vs incomplete or microform cleft, and lip height ratio of the unilateral noncleft to cleft lip).

Conclusions and Relevance
This study's findings suggest that, compared with white pediatric patients, black pediatric patients exhibited worse overall scar outcomes. A depressed scar and a hypopigmented scar also were associated with overall worse scar appearance after surgical repair. Cleft lip scar outcomes were not significantly associated with the type and severity of the cleft lip.


ABSTRACT.
 Responses of organisms to environments or to conspecifics may abruptly change once the organism has changed its state. For example, the expression of sexually selected signals often depends on the pairing status of the sender. A likely change in signaling routines at the point of pair formation should thus be taken into account when investigating a sexually selected trait like birdsong. However, female breeding behavior is elusive in many species, and the date of pair formation may be unknown. We developed a change-point model in a Bayesian context to analyze the seasonally changing singing activity in male Nightingales (Luscinia megarhynchos) for which the pairing status was assumed to be unknown. We used our change-point singing activity model to estimate the pairing status of the males as well as the dates of pair formation (i.e., the unobserved switches of states). We obtained results on pairing success and date of pair formation that were consistent with our data from mist netting and with the results of earlier studies. We also found that the peak in nocturnal and dawn singing activity was after the period of female arrival and was later in the season in unpaired males than in paired males. On the basis of our analyses, we argue that change-point models are powerful analytical tools for many fields of research and can be used whenever animals abruptly switch behavioral routines.


Introduction Genetic factors have been implicated with risk of Achilles tendinopathy. Angiogenesis plays an important role in extracellular matrix (ECM) remodelling following mechanical loading. It is proposed that dysregulation of this process may alter the mechanical properties of the tissue thereby increasing the risk of injury. Furthermore, increased levels of angiogenic cytokines and growth factors have been reported in injured Achilles tendons [Pufe, 2001] and after cyclic stretching of tendon fibroblasts [Petersen, 2004]. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent pro-angiogenic factor and the biological effects of VEGF are mediated through its receptor kinase insert-domain receptor (KDR). Recently, polymorphisms within the VEGFA and KDR genes were found to be associated with risk of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptures [Rahim, 2014]. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate if genes encoding proteins involved in angiogenesis-associated signalling are associated with risk of Achilles tendon injuries. Methods A genetic-association study was conducted on 120 control participants (CON), 91 participants with Achilles tendinopathy (TEN) and 44 participants with partial or complete ruptures of the Achilles tendon (RUP). All participants were genotyped for the functional VEGFA rs699947, VEGFA rs1570360, VEGFA rs2010963, KDR rs2071559 and KDR rs1870377 polymorphisms. Haplotypes were also inferred for VEGFA and KDR. Statistical analyses were conducted to determine any significant differences (p < 0.05) between the groups (CON vs. TEN and CON vs. RUP). Results No independent significant differences were observed in the genotype frequency distributions of any of the polymorphisms between the CON vs. TEN groups. However, there was a trend towards significance (p = 0.053) in the genotype frequencies for the VEGFA rs699947 polymorphism when comparing the CON group vs. the RUP group. The CC genotype was significantly over-represented (p = 0.019) in the CON group (24%) compared to the RUP group (3%). Inferred haplotype analyses showed no significant difference in the frequency distributions of the VEGFA or KDR haplotype combinations between the CON vs. TEN groups or the CON vs. RUP groups. Discussion This pilot study did not find a statistical association with any of the five tested polymorphisms within the VEGFA and KDR genes using the Achilles tendinopathy risk model. However, the preliminary results are suggesting that the VEGFA rs699947 polymorphism may be implicated in acute injuries as noted in the Achilles tendon rupture cases. This hypothesis would be in alignment with the previous ACL risk model observations [Rahim, 2014]. These loci therefore need further interrogation in larger sample sizes. Studies are underway to explore the five polymorphisms within two independent case-control samples sets, in order to elucidate the potential biological significance of the angiogenesis-associated cell signalling pathway in the aetiology of Achilles tendon injuries (overuse and acute). References Petersen et al. J Orthop Res. 2004;22:847–853 Pufe et al. Virchows Arch. 2001;439(4):579–585 Rahim et al. J Orthop Res. 2014 (in press)


""American Indian Stories" is an important collection because it represents one of the first attempts by a Native American woman to write her own story without the aid of an editor, an interpreter, or an ethnographer. Zitkala-ea presents...the pain and difficulty of growing up Indian in a white man's world." - Dexter Fisher. Zitkala-ea (Gertrude Bonnin) was one of the early Indian writers to record tribal legends and tales from oral tradition. "Impressions of an Indian Childhood" describes her first eight yeas on the Yankton Reservation, where she was born in 1876. Her schooling in Indiana revealed a gift for writing that led in 1901 to the publication of "Old Indian Legends", also a Bison Book. For the rest of her rife, this Sioux was in the poignant but creative position of trying to bridge the gap between her own culture and the dominant white one, unable to return fully to the former or to enter fully into the latter. These pieces, largely autobiographical, were first collected and published in 1921. With their reissue, Zitkala-ea takes her rightful place among such native interpreters of Sioux culture as Charles A. Eastman and Luther Standing Bear.


This article examines the temporal politics of the 2017 California Gender Recognition Act (CGRA). The author first offers a brief history of the dominant temporal requirements for "gender recognition" in prior legislation around sex/gender markers on identity documents in the United States and United Kingdom, focusing on how this legislation places temporal boundaries around legitimate gender identity. Then, turning directly to the CGRA, the author asks to what extent the act's emphasis on self-identification revises or intervenes in these prior conceptualizations of time and identity by the state administration of sex/gender systems. The article closes with an exploration of the temporality of identity documentation itself, speculating about how this legislation might be placed more directly into conversation with the role of time in colonial and racial state building.


The petrogenesis and time/space distribution of the magmatism associated with the formation of the Northern and Southern Tyrrhenian basins, together with the directions and ages of lithospheric extension and/or spreading north and south of the 410N discontinuity, show that the two arc/back-arc systems have undergone a different structural evolution at least since the middle Miocene (Langhian). The geochemical components involved in the genesis of the heterogeneities of the mantle sources of this magmatism require two separate, compositionally different slabs: 1) an old oceanic (Ionian) lithosphere still seismically active below the Calabrian arc and the Southern Tyrrhenian region; 2) an almost seismically inactive continental (Adriatic) lithosphere which carried large amounts of upper crustal materials within the upper mantle under the NW Roman Province/Tuscan/Northern Tyrrhenian region. The proposed geodynamic models require: 1) for the Northern Tyrrhenian/Northern Apenninic arc/back-arc system, the delamination and foundering of the Adriatic continental lithosphere as a consequence of the continental collision between the Corsica block and the Adriatic continental margin. This delamination process, which is still ongoing, probably started in the early-middle Miocene, but earlier than 15-14 Ma, as indicated by the age and petrogenesis of the first documented magmatic episode (the Sisco lamproite) of the Northern Apennine orogenesis; 2) for the Southern Tyrrhenian/Southern Apenninic-Calabrian arc/back-arc system, the roll-back subduction and back-arc extension driven by gravitational sinking of the Ionian oceanic subducted lithosphere. This process started after the end of the arc volcanism of Sardinia (about 13 Ma) but earlier than the first recorded episode of major rifting (about 9 Ma) in the Southern Tyrrhenian back-arc basin.


A dynamic network is a network whose components may interact on channels established dynamically by the communication of their associated ports This paper generalises a speci cation technique based on input output relations on streams to capture the special kind of privacy preservation found in such networks A privacy preserving component never accesses depends on or sends a port whose name it does not know Composite speci cations de scribing networks of such components are built from elementary speci cations with three specially designed operators one operator for static hiding one for dynamic hiding and one for parallel composition modulo many to many communication The need for the three operators is motivated by a small example


In budget–limited multi–armed bandit (MAB) problems, thelearner's actions are costly and constrained by a fixed budget.Consequently, an optimal exploitation policy may not be topull the optimal arm repeatedly, as is the case in other variantsof MAB, but rather to pull the sequence of different arms thatmaximises the agent's total reward within the budget. Thisdifference from existing MABs means that new approachesto maximising the total reward are required. Given this, wedevelop two pulling policies, namely: (i) KUBE; and (ii)fractional KUBE. Whereas the former provides better performanceup to 40% in our experimental settings, the latteris computationally less expensive. We also prove logarithmicupper bounds for the regret of both policies, and show thatthese bounds are asymptotically optimal (i.e. they only differfrom the best possible regret by a constant factor).


ABSTRACT Introduction: The advent of affordable and rapid next-generation sequencing has been transformative for prenatal diagnosis. Sequencing of cell-free DNA in maternal plasma has enabled the development of not only a highly sensitive screening test for fetal aneuploidies, but now definitive noninvasive prenatal diagnosis for monogenic disorders at an early gestation. Sequencing of fetal exomes offers broad diagnostic capability for pregnancies with unexpected fetal anomalies, improving the yield and accuracy of diagnoses and allowing better counseling for parents. The challenge now is to translate these approaches into mainstream use in the clinic. Areas covered: Here, the authors review the current literature to describe the technologies available and how these have evolved. The opportunities and challenges at hand, including considerations for service delivery, counseling, and development of ethical guidelines, are discussed. Expert commentary: As technology continues to advance, future developments may be toward noninvasive fetal whole exome or whole genome sequencing and a universal method for noninvasive prenatal diagnosis without the need to sequence both parents or an affected proband. Expansion of cell-free fetal DNA analysis to include the transcriptome and the methylome is likely to yield clinical benefits for monitoring other pregnancy-related pathologies such as preeclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction.


A novel direct probabilistic inversion using seismic pre-stack data as input to characterize a wedged chalk reservoir prospect was demonstrated from the Upper Cretaceous unit, Danish North Sea. The objective was to better resolve the lateral extent and pinch-out of the chalk prospect in a frontier exploration setting and compare the results with a more traditional deterministic inversion and geostatistical reservoir modeling. The direct probabilistic inversion results provided additional reservoir insights that were challenging to obtain from the more traditional workflows and are also more flexible for associated uncertainty assessments. Hence, this study demonstrates the usefulness of such direct probabilistic inversions even with suboptimal data availability.


The ClassSync Modeling Language (CML) addresses the problem of creating a controlling overlay to classroom learning activities, or e-learning workflows. Our aim is to allow authors and teachers to generate a mapping from activity design to its implementation in a wirelessly networked classroom with ubiquitous use of handheld computers for information exchange. CML models e-learning workflows with three major components: actors, data objects, and interaction networks. Actors are the diverse performers of actions, data objects are the semantically typed information units that are made available for exchange. Interaction networks are virtual networks constructed on top of whatever network ClassSync is running on, and dictate how information may flow through the ClassSync system (from actor to actor). Activities are the processes performed via these three components, in which actors create and consume data objects and exchange them over an interaction network. The benefits of this approach for students, curriculum designers, teachers, publishers and learning sciences researchers are highlighted.


South Africa has adequate food supplies to feed the entire population at national level. However, reports have shown evidence of under-nutrition among certain parts of the population due to lack of access. The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between socioeconomic status of the household and the nutritional status of children one to twelve years (1-12 years) in Sekhukhune district of Limpopo Province. The study used exploratory designs. A structured interviewer-led questionnaire was used to determine socio-economic parameters and standard anthropometric procedures. All analyses were done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20. A total number of 180 mother-child pairs participated in the study. The sample distribution for children was 46.1% male and 53.9% females. Most mothers were unemployed and spent less than 500.00 ZAR (≈50 USD) per month to purchase food for the household. There was a high (39.6%) prevalence of stunting among children under the age of 60 months, a medium prevalence of underweight, and a low prevalence of wasting in all children. Most caregivers were overweight or obese. Maternal level of education and household income was significantly associated with anthropometric status indicators (p<0.05). This study revealed a high rate of unemployment, poor household income and purchasing power, and high level of food insecurity. This might have contributed to the high prevalence of stunting and a medium prevalence of underweight recorded in the study. There is urgent need to address basic needs to improve access to nutrient rich foods and health care.


This paper deals with the ambivalent character of the neighborhood «Squares Montchoisy» built in Geneva between 1929 and 1957. According to visual representations (photographs and drawings) disseminated by the architect Maurice Braillard, the project embodies two opposing images of the city: the metropolis and the city-in-a-park. Is this simply an unresolved tension arising from the formal and architectural choices that define the project? Or are there elements to suggest that this duality was a deliberate strategy on the part of Braillard, in response to the long-term nature of the project and the impossibility of knowing whether the city would evolve into a stone-lined metropolis (where the square would be a device to protect the dwellings) or its opposite, a city-in-a-park (where the green square represents the interlacing of buildings and nature).


Abstract Tien Tran, V., H. Nghia Nguyen & N.-H. Xia (2013). Annamocalamus H. N. Nguyen, N. H. Xia & V. T. Tran, a new genus of bamboo (Poaceae) from Vietnam. Candollea 68: 159–165. In English, English and French abstracts. Annamocalamus H. N. Nguyen, N.-H. Xia & V. T. Tran (Poaceae-Bambusoideae), a new genus from Vietnam, is described and illustrated. It is based on the species Annamocalamus kontumensis H. N. Nguyen, N.-H. Xia & V. T. Tran. The new genus shares some morphological characters with Melocanna Trin. and Stapletonia Dash & al. but can be recognized by its shorter rhizome and the occurrence of pseudospikelets.


The E3 19,000-dalton protein termed "E3/19K" of adenovirus type 2 binds to human class I histocompatibility antigens (HLA antigens). Human 293.12 cultured cells that express a cloned gene for the E3/19K protein show reduced levels of HLA antigens on the cell surface compared to parental 293 cells. We have transfected these cell lines with plasmid DNA containing the murine histocompatibility H-2Kd allele to demonstrate that this antigen binds also to the E3/19K protein. The resulting association prevents the H-2Kd antigen from being terminally glycosylated and inhibits its cell-surface expression. Two murine cytolytic T-lymphocyte clones specific for HLA antigens and restricted by the H-2Kd antigen lyse the human 293Kd cells. In the presence of the E3/19K protein, a dramatically reduced cell surface density of both HLA and H-2Kd antigens was shown. This decreased amount of cell-surface HLA/H-2Kd antigens correlated with a reduction in susceptibility to lysis of the target cells. In particular, the cell-surface level of the H-2Kd antigen, which is the restricting element, was crucial for efficient lysis. Thus, the E3/19K protein of adenovirus type 2 indirectly reduces the cellular immune recognition in the in vitro system. This might be the mechanism involved in latent and persistent infections caused by adenoviruses in vivo.


NHK led the world in developing a high-sensitivity Super-HARP pickup tube using the avalanche multiplication effect. The authors have now developed an improved version (2/3- inch, with electromagnetic focusing and electromagnetic deflection) which is eight times more sensitive and has much better lag characteristics. The handy New Super-HARP color camera which uses this newly-developed pickup tube has higher sensitivity than human vision (2000 lux, F/110 equivalent), negligible low lag, and a limiting resolution of over 700 TV lines. It will be a powerful tool in emergency news gathering at night, the production of scientific programs, and other applications.


Purpose The purpose of this study was to compare the outcome of carbapenem versus non-carbapenem antimicrobial therapy for paediatric urinary tract infections (UTIs) caused by extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) producing Enterobacteriaceae. Methods From 2006 to 2011, 42 episodes of UTI caused by ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae were diagnosed at Seoul National University Children's Hospital. Patients were grouped according to the antimicrobials they received into a carbapenem group and a non-carbapenem group. Medical records were retrospectively reviewed to assess treatment outcome, time todefervescence after initiation of treatment, and relapse rate. Results There were 36 children with 42 episodes of UTI caused by ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae. Twenty-seven cases (64%) had an underlying urologic disease, 28 (67%) cases were caused by Escherichia coli, and 14 (33%) cases were caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae. Four (10%) cases were treated with carbapenem, 23 cases (55%) were treated with non-carbapenem, and 15 (36%) cases were treated by switching from a carbapenem to a non-carbapenem and vice versa. There was no treatment failure at the time of antimicrobial discontinuation. Between the carbapenem and the non-carbapenem treatment groups, there were no significant differences in bacterial aetiology (p = 0.59), time todefervescence after the initiation of antimicrobials (p = 0.28), and relapse rate (p = 0.50). In vitro susceptibility to non-carbapenem antimicrobials did not affect the time todefervescence after the initiation of antimicrobial treatment, and the relapse rate in the non-carbapenem group. Conclusion This study found no significant difference in the treatment outcome between paediatric patients treated with carbapenem and those treated with non-carbapenem antimicrobials for UTI caused by ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae. Therefore, the initially administered non-carbapenem therapy can be maintained in UTI patients showing clinical improvement.


Describing dispersion forces Dispersion or van der Waals interactions are attractive forces that arise from induced dipoles. They are not seen just in atoms and molecules but also in larger nanostructures and even macroscopic objects. Ambrosetti et al. created a qualitatively correct description of van der Waals interactions between polarizable nanostructures over a wide range of finite distances. This required delocalized electrons that have wavelike electron density fluctuations, unlike the more common approaches with dipoles fixed on atoms. Furthermore, the authors observed an enhancement in the nonlocality of the charge density response on the scale of 10 to 20 nm. Science, this issue p. 1171 The description of van der Waals interactions in nanostructures must include delocalized electron density fluctuations. Recent experiments on noncovalent interactions at the nanoscale have challenged the basic assumptions of commonly used particle- or fragment-based models for describing van der Waals (vdW) or dispersion forces. We demonstrate that a qualitatively correct description of the vdW interactions between polarizable nanostructures over a wide range of finite distances can only be attained by accounting for the wavelike nature of charge density fluctuations. By considering a diverse set of materials and biological systems with markedly different dimensionalities, topologies, and polarizabilities, we find a visible enhancement in the nonlocality of the charge density response in the range of 10 to 20 nanometers. These collective wavelike fluctuations are responsible for the emergence of nontrivial modifications of the power laws that govern noncovalent interactions at the nanoscale.


We present a response to Butterworth and Ross-Gillespie's (2022) comment on our perspectives on how forage fish fisheries are impacting the endangered African penguin (Sphenicus demersus), and corresponding management options. Butterworth and Ross-Gillespie overstate model uncertainties and downplay the clear ecological and conservation significance of the fisheries closure experiment. We demonstrate that their criticism of "pseudo-replication" is weak, and not in line with their own analyses nor with the interpretations of many international scientific review panels commissioned by the government of South Africa to evaluate experimental results. Their comment does not alter our fundamental conclusions that forage fisheries operating near penguin breeding colonies compete with the birds for food resources, are detrimental to the penguin's population health, and are impeding recovery. Given that sardines are depleted (DFFE, 2021) and the African penguin is approaching a conservation crisis, we reiterate our position that continuing the precautionary approach of closures at the local scale of central-place foraging penguins is warranted to facilitate their population growth under fisheries management goals to conserve and maintain ecosystem functions.


ABSTRACT Digital systems are significantly associated with inequality in the global South. That association has traditionally been understood in terms of the digital divide or related terminologies whose core conceptualization is the exclusion of some groups from the benefits of digital systems. However, with the growing breadth and depth of digital engagement in the global South, an exclusion worldview is no longer sufficient. What is also needed is an understanding of how inequalities are created for some groups that are included in digital systems. This paper creates such an understanding, drawing from ideas in the development studies literature on chronic poverty to inductively build a model of a new concept: 'adverse digital incorporation', meaning inclusion in a digital system that enables a more-advantaged group to extract disproportionate value from the work or resources of another, less-advantaged group. This new model will enable those involved with digital development to understand why, how and for whom inequality can emerge from the growing use of digital systems in the global South. It creates a systematic framework incorporating the processes, the drivers, and the causes of adverse digital incorporation that will provide detailed new insights. The paper concludes with implications for both digital development researchers and practitioners that derive from the model and its exposure to the broader components of power that shape the inclusionary connection between digital and inequality.


The easternmost Mediterranean is a distinct transition zone from the ocean to the continent located at the junction between the largest Earth's lithospheric segments: Eurasian and African. The methodology of paleomagnetic mapping of such transition zones is based on integrating the mapping techniques for both continental and oceanic platforms: paleomagnetic reconstructions, results of radiometric dating of magnetized rocks, tectonic-structural reconstructions, biogeography, and utilization of the results of various geophysical surveys. The geodynamic-paleomagnetic mapping makes it possible to reveal the multilevel structural heterogeneity and display complex elements of the geodynamics of different ages inherent in this transition zone. The region of northern Israel is the most complex area in the easternmost Mediterranean. For the combined paleomagnetic mapping, well-studied paleomagnetically and radiometrically areas were selected: (1) the Carmel area, (2) the Atlit area (internal part of the Carmel area), (3) the Sea of Galilee with the adjoining zones (primarily, the Kinnarot Valley), and (4) the area of the Hula Basin with adjacent areas of the Golan Plateau, Hermon Mt., and Galilea uplift. The constructed paleomagnetic profiles for the Carmel area (on the top of the accumulative surface of the Lower Cretaceous traps) and the Kinnarot Valley—Sea of Galilee—Hula Basin, evidently indicate the complex history of the paleogeodynamic evolution of the region. These studies demonstrate the effectiveness of paleomagnetic mapping integrated with paleomagnetic profiles crossing these geologically complex areas.


Objectives: This study investigated the association between smoking, alcohol drinking, and atopic dermatitis in Korean adolescents. Methods: The study subjects were 72,299 adolescents who participated in the Eighth Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (2012). Data were collected anonymously using a self-administered, web-based survey. Atopic dermatitis was defined as presence of a lifetime diagnosis. Smoking (lifetime smoking experience, age when first smoked, number of cigarettes per day, number of days, and secondhand smoke) and drinking (lifetime drinking experience, age when first drank, alcohol consumption amount, and number of days of drinking) behaviors were analyzed with atopic dermatitis. Results: Of the 72,229 adolescents, the lifetime prevalence of atopic dermatitis was 21.2% and 27.9% in boys and girls, respectively. Lifetime prevalence of a diagnosis of atopic dermatitis was higher in boys who smoked all of the previous 30 days compared to those who never smoked(aOR=1.21, 95% CI=1.02~1.43) after adjusting for grade level, school record, family structure, perceived stress, perceived sadness/hopelessness, being overweight and drinking. Girls who drank more than one bottle of alcohol (aOR=1.44, 95% CI=1.13~1.84) and drank for 1~9 days (aOR=1.17, 95% CI=1.03~1.33) during the previous 30 days showed higher prevalence of atopic dermatitis compared with non-drinkers. Conclusions: Smoking and alcohol drinking were associated with atopic dermatitis in different ways. A prospective study is needed to investigate the temporal relationships between smoking, alcohol drinking, and atopic dermatitis.


We consider the problem of selecting a fixed-size committee based on approval ballots. It is desirable to have a committee in which all voters are fairly represented. Aziz et al. (2015a; 2017) proposed an axiom called extended justified representation (EJR), which aims to capture this intuition; subsequently, Sanchez-Fernandez et al. (2017) proposed a weaker variant of this axiom called proportional justified representation (PJR). It was shown that it is coNP-complete to check whether a given committee provides EJR, and it was conjectured that it is hard to find a committee that provides EJR. In contrast, there are polynomial-time computable voting rules that output committees providing PJR, but the complexity of checking whether a given committee provides PJR was an open problem. In this paper, we answer open questions from prior work by showing that EJR and PJR have the same worst-case complexity: we provide two polynomial-time algorithms that output committees providing EJR, yet we show that it is coNP-complete to decide whether a given committee provides PJR. We complement the latter result by fixed-parameter tractability results.


The removal of ice accumulation on aerodynamic surfaces is a common challenge not only in aviation but also for stationary installations on the ground such as wind turbines. The aim of this paper is to investigate a novel concept for a thermo-mechanical de-icing system based on shape memory alloys. To understand the functional principle in detail, a functional sample is designed, fabricated and experimentally investigated. With a systematic design approach using a morphological box, an optimal configuration is sought and evaluated that harmonizes all relevant functions in the sense of maximum functional conformity. One selected concept forms the basis for the simulation model, which is used to investigate the influence of different parameters on the thermo-mechanical behavior of the functional sample. The results of the parameter study are used to produce a functional sample for investigating the de-icing ability. The experiments on the functional sample serve to validate and improve the simulation model. The comparison of the measurement data with the model prediction shows a good correlation between measurement and prediction with reasonable deviations. The findings on the test methodology, the manufacturing technology and the system behavior allow the further development of the de-icing concept in subsequent steps.


Parish histories are a vital resource for those working in the field of U.S. Catholic history.  Though often perceived as narrow institutional accounts, they provide important insights into Catholic community life, faith, and practice.  As part of an initiative of the Catholic Research Resource Alliance, this essay provides a brief background on parish histories as a genre and offers some reflections on the ways that collections of parish histories can be employed by scholars.


In this paper, effect of pre-deformation and ageing on compressive behavior of Ti-58.25wt%Ni was investigated at room temperature. Through range analysis of three factors and three levels on transformation temperature measured by DSC, ageing at 673K enhanced phase transformation temperature obviously, the As temperature could reach 308.02K. Transformations of B2-B19' and B2-R-B19' appeared after the treatments. Saw tooth shape phenomenon on the loading curves indicating the typical martensitic transformation was also observed. Dynamic balance due to compatible action among various phase under increased load kept the slope of the loading curves constantly. Pre-deformation by 0.2% resulted in higher compressibility (4.9%), and ageing at 523K caused better recovery (95.4%).


This essay considers the role of market economies in global queering, the transnational proliferation of new male homosexual and male-to-female transgender identities and cultures. Early accounts of global queering highlighted the culturally homogenizing effects of transnational capitalism, representing new queer sexualities beyond the West as cultural imports from the United States. But international similarities among queer cultures also emerge from parallel processes of sex-cultural change produced by national-level forms of capitalism. Case studies from Thai queer history trace market-induced cultural parallels to earlier decades of the twentieth century, before the post–Cold War intensification of globalizing processes. These studies confirm the importance of the market in global queering. They also reveal that international commonalities reflect emergent parallels among multiple queer modernities and result as much from local responses to similar economic conditions as from foreign cultural influences. The alternative narrative of queer histories beyond the West presented here decouples the spread of capitalism from cultural Westernization. It highlights moments where queer subjects have enhanced their autonomy vis-à-vis local heteronormative traditions by creative engagements that take advantage of opportunities provided by the growth of the market economy.


Acoustic population monitoring is a noninvasive method that can be deployed continuously over long periods of time and at large spatial scales. One of the newly discovered threats acting on biological diversity is anthropogenic noise. High levels of anthropogenic noise occur in aquatic environments, yet their effects on animals living in freshwater habitats have very rarely been investigated. Here, we used acoustic monitoring and automatic detection to assess the acoustic activity of a population of a soniferous freshwater insect. The sounds emitted by the corixid Micronecta scholtzi were recorded in a Mediterranean pond with an array of 12 hydrophones. An automatic analysis based on a measure of the amplitude found in the frequency band of M. scholtzi was developed to assess the level of acoustic activity. We used functional linear models, accounting for the periodicity of the calling behaviour, to estimate the possible effect of temperature, vegetation and a noise due to an immersed engine. The automatic analysis was validated as an efficient method to measure the acoustic activity. The monitoring revealed a clear 24‐hr pattern in the acoustic activity of M. scholtzi and three peaks of activity during the morning. Functional linear models revealed negative effects of both temperature and vegetation and showed that an engine noise, played back for 2 hr during the night, elicited an increase in the level of acoustic activity of the population. Moreover, a cross‐correlation procedure showed that noise delayed the acoustic activity of the population. Our results suggest that acoustic survey and automatic detection are efficient methods to monitor the acoustic activity of an insect population especially in response to an anthropogenic disturbance.


BACKGROUND
'Reducing the Strength' (RtS) is a public health initiative encouraging retailers to voluntarily stop selling cheap, strong beers/ciders (≥6.5% alcohol by volume). This study evaluates the impact of RtS initiatives on alcohol availability and purchasing in three English counties with a combined population of 3.62 million people.

METHODS
We used a multiple baseline time-series design to examine retail data over 29 months from a supermarket chain that experienced a two-wave, area-based role out of RtS: initially 54 stores (W1), then another 77 stores (W2). We measured impacts on units of alcohol sold (primary outcome: beers/ciders; secondary outcome: all alcoholic products), economic impacts on alcohol sales and substitution effects.

RESULTS
We observed a non-significant W1 increase (+3.7%, 95% CI: -11.2, 21.0) and W2 decrease (-6.8%, 95% CI: -20.5, 9.4) in the primary outcome. We observed a significant W2 decrease in units sold across all alcohol products (-10.5%, 95% CI: -19.2, -0.9). The direction of effect between waves was inconsistent for all outcomes, including alcohol sales, with no evidence of substitution effects.

CONCLUSIONS
In the UK, voluntary RtS initiatives appear to have little or no impact on reducing alcohol availability and purchase from the broader population of supermarket customers.


Since World War II, Italy's economic growth has been one of the highest in the world. The objective of this study is to examine the structure of the Italian economy and causes of this growth. It was found that small and medium-sized firms, most of them family-owned, have been the dynamic force behind the country?s extraordinary economic performance. The vital role of the family and that of the entrepreneur – as the supreme spirit of enterprise and initiative - has been paramount in this process. Production by small and medium-sized firms have concentrated in a specific geographical area called "industrial districts†and are capable of great cooperation with other firms, leading to increased production, efficiency and employment. In addition, it was found that small Italian firms have been very successful in the age of globalization, better able to take advantage of their small size by means of flexible strategies to innovate, invest and increase their export. Contrary to conventional wisdom, modernization theories (so widespread in the 1950s and 1960s) indicate that large firms have been models for growth in other industrialized countries and have exerted a passive role in the structure and development of the Italian economy.


We used structured decision-making to develop a 2-part framework to assist managers in the proactive management of disease outbreaks in Montana, USA. The first part of the framework is a model to estimate the probability of disease outbreak given field observations available to managers. The second part of the framework is decision analysis that evaluates likely outcomes of management alternatives based on the estimated probability of disease outbreak, and applies managers' values for different objectives to indicate a preferred management strategy. We used pneumonia in bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) as a case study for our approach, applying it to 2 populations in Montana that differed in their likelihood of a pneumonia outbreak. The framework provided credible predictions of both probability of disease outbreaks, as well as biological and monetary consequences of management actions. The structured decision-making approach to this problem was valuable for defining the challenges of disease management in a decentralized agency where decisions are generally made at the local level in cooperation with stakeholders. Our approach provides local managers with the ability to tailor management planning for disease outbreaks to local conditions. Further work is needed to refine our disease risk models and decision analysis, including robust prediction of disease outbreaks and improved assessment of management alternatives. © The Wildlife Society, 2012


Objective To explore the relationship between quality items of chest compression for resuscitation of cardiac arrest and to identify the key points in chest compression training and practice.Method The training project was offered to 219 healthcare workers by using Laerdal ACLS advanced life support resuscitation model, and the quality issues of chest compression were monitored including compression hands placement,compression rate,compression depth,and chest wall recoil,as well as selfreported fatigue time by Laerdal Computer Skills and Reporting System.Results The quality of chest compression was related to the geuder of the practitioner.The items in males including self-reported fatigue time,the accuracy of compression depth and the compression rate,the accuracy of compression rate were higher than those in females.However,the chest recoil rate was higher in females than that in males.The quality items of chest compression were correlated with one another. The self-reported fatigue time was related to all the items except the compression rate.Conclusions It is necessary to offer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training courses regularly. In clinical practice,it might be better to change the practitioner before fatigue,especially for female or weak practitioners.In training projects,more attention should be paid to the control of compression rate, in order to delay the fatigue, guarantee enough compression depth and improve the quality of chest compression.

Key words:
Chest compression ;  Quality items ;  Compression hands placement ;  Compression rate ; Compression depth;  Chest wall recoil;  Fatigue time;  Correlation


Background: The immune system needs stringent regulation in order to effectively eliminate infecting agents and, at the same time, protect the body from immunemediated tissue destruction. T cells have a major role in this regulation by secreting cytokines. Interferon-y (IFN-y) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) exert antagonistic regulatory functions and are mutually inhibitory. Thus, immune responses are generally functionally dominated by IFN-y or IL-4, a balance which is believed to be decisive for the outcome. Besides providing protection against pathogens, the immune system also has impact on several other conditions, e. g. reproduction and inflammatory diseases. Much is known about the role of IFN-y and IL-4 in animal models of these conditions, but less data are available from studies in humans. Data on IL-4 secretion are particularly rare, since this cytokine is extremely hard to detect.Material and methods: Antigen-specific secretion of IFN-y and IL-4 was detected with ELISPOT -technique in different human conditions, including Borrelia-infection, inflammatory diseases in the peripheral nerves (the Guillain-Barre syndrome [GBS] and polyneuropathy associated with monoclonal gammopathy [PNMGUS]) and normal pregnancy. A novel assay was developed for the detection of fetus-specific cytokine secretion during pregnancy. Finally, a therapeutical approach for selective redirection of inappropriate IFN-y secretion to IL-4 secretion was developed in an experimental model of GBS.Results: Predominant Borrelia-specific secretion of IFN-y and low or absent IL-4- secretion was found, both in patients with clinical Borrelia-infection and resistant individuals. A compartmentalization of this secretion to the central nervous system was evident in patients with neuro-borreliosis. There were indications that the specific IL-4 secretion increased over the disease course, and of lower numbers of Borrelia-specific IL-4 secreting cells in patients that did not fully recover compared with those who did. This suggests that Borrelia-specific IL-4 secretion might be necessary to down-regulate the inflammatory responses generated by IFN-y. Patients with a chronic disease course appeared to have a larger proportion of spontaneously IL-4 secreting cells compared with resistant individuals. Thus, individuals who develop chronic borreliosis may have limited ability to mount strong IFN-y secretion, which may be needed initially in the infection for eradication of the Borrelia bacteria.An increase in the secretion of IL-4 in response to paternal but not to unrelated anaantigen was found in the blood of pregnant women. This is an extraordinary finding, since allo-reactivity usually is predominated by IFN-y secretion. The secretion of IL-4 exclusively to paternal allo-antigen, suggests that this is primarily selective for the fehls. Thus, responses to antigens that are not present at the maternal-fetal interfaCe may well be IFN-y predominated, which is needed to combat common infections. Auto-reactive secretion of IFN-ywas found in PNMGUS, which is a chronic disease. Conversely, autoreactive secretion of IL-4, associated with recovery, was detected in the self-limiting disease GBS. This supports the hypothesis that auto-reactive IFN- )' secretion is involved in the pathogenesis of organ-specific inflammatory diseases, whereas IL-4 secretion is beneficial.Transfer of syngenic disease-specific cells, which had been ex vivo deviated to predominant secretion of IL-4, significantly ameliorated the disease in the experimental model of GBS. This may become a feasible approach for therapeutic intervention of organ-specific inflammatory diseases.Conclusions: The ELISPOT-technique successfully detected alterations in the spontaneous as well as the antigen-induced secretion of IFN-y and IL-4, which a1so in humans appears to have implications for health and disease.


The crafts movement has a long history of engagement with both environmental and ethical issues. In recent years, several movements have emerged-in response to environmental issues and in opposition to the dominance of the monoculture produced by globalising capitalism- that have powerful resonances with some of the crafts movement's early political and ethical heritage. As environmental issues move into the mainstream, a rising tide of concern presents an opportunity for the crafts movement to renew its engagement with social, political and philosophical issues and to contribute both to the debate and to the formation of a sustainable material and creative culture of the future.


The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of calcium supplementation on prevention of pregnancy induced hypertension. A randomized clinical trial of calcium supplementation in pregnancy versus no Ca supplementation was performed on 400 primigravida with 20 completed weeks of pregnancy. 200 patients(Ca supplementation) and 200 patients(without Ca supplementation) were similar in age, weight, economic and occupational situation. In Ca supplementation group calcium gluconate was prescribed 2gr daily from 20th completed week of pregnancy. All the patients were followed monthly until 28th week of pregnancy and after that every 2 weeks until 36th week of pregnancy, then weekly until delivery and 24 hours after delivery. The rates of pregnancy induced hypertension(PIH), preterm delivery and cesarean section were evaluated. Two patients from control group and 6 patients from calcium supplementation group who did not have delivery in our hospital were excluded from the study. Of 198 patients in control group 10 cases(5.05%) and of 194 patients in calcium group, 4 patients(2.06%) had PIH which was a statistically significant difference(P<0.01). Preterm delivery and cesarean section did not have statistically significant difference in two groups. To conclude, Ca supplementation can reduce pregnancy induced hypertension and may prevent this dangerous complication of pregnancy.


Measurements on 319 macerated scapulae showed a size of the surface of the glenoid cavity between 3.5 and 9.7 cm2. We tried also to evaluate the size of this surface in living humans. This is principally possible, but in 10% of all scapulae there is an error range of more than +/- 1 cm2. The error range in small scapulae (greater than 5 cm2) can be reduced to +/- 0.58 cm2. The shoulder joint is not a ligament but a muscle dependent joint. Therefore the adhesion in this joint, relying on the smaller surface is very important. The small surface of cavitas glenoidalis in the context of habitual shoulder dislocation could be an important role.


The current paper presents a structural assessment and proposals for retrofit of the National Youth Foundation Building, an existing reinforced concrete (RC) building in the city of Igoumenitsa, Greece. The building is scheduled to be renovated in order to create a Municipal Cultural Center. The bearing capacity and structural integrity have been investigated in relation to the provisions and requirements of the Greek Retrofitting Code (KAN.EPE.) and European Standards (Eurocodes). The capacity of the existing concrete structure that makes up the two central buildings in the complex (buildings II and IV) has been evaluated both in its present form and after including several proposed architectural interventions. The structural system consists of spatial frames of columns and beams that have been simulated using beam elements. Some RC elements of the buildings have been strengthened in the past by means of concrete jacketing and have had cracks sealed with epoxy injections. Static-nonlinear analysis (Pushover) has been used to assess the seismic performance of the two structures with regard to performance level B1 from KAN.EPE. Retrofitting scenarios are proposed for the two buildings, including type Λ steel bracings and placement of concrete shear walls in the transverse direction in order to achieve the design-specification deformation in each applicable situation, improve the seismic performance, and reduce the number of interventions required. Keywords—Earthquake resistance, pushover analysis, reinforced concrete, retrofit, strengthening.


For decades, Myanmar's economic system has been characterized by central planning and international isolation. Today, as the country undergoes a far-reaching political and economic transition, it is leaving this past behind. For Myanmar's enterprises, and SMEs in particular, the opening of the country's economy and the intensification of regional economic integration through the ASEAN Economic Community brings both opportunities and challenges. It is in this context that the present study investigates the extent of Myanmar SME participation in ASEAN and East Asian regional economic relations as well as the challenges they face and the policy support they need for deeper integration. More specifically, this paper addresses the following four questions: What is the state of Myanmar SMEs' participation in regional trade, production networks, and investment activities? What are the enabling factors and obstacles to SME participation in regional economic activities? How are regional and preferential trade agreements affecting SMEs' activities and performance? And what are the policy imperatives to promote active participation of Myanmar SMEs in regional economic integration? To find answers to these questions, this study not only analyses existing secondary data but also draws on a new dataset collected by the Centre for Economic and Social Development (CESD) through a survey among Myanmar enterprises which focuses on the food-processing and garment sectors. It is found that, at present, Myanmar SMEs hardly participate in regional economic activities. They face numerous challenges such as: constrained access to capital and skills; limited investment in technology, innovation and human capital; minimal usage of ICT; and low awareness of regional integration dynamics. To overcome these challenges and reap the benefits of regional economic integration, enhanced firm-level efforts are needed while the government can provide support on various fronts.