Cervical cancer incidence and survival widely varies between and within countries. Low socioeconomic status is associated with higher risk of cervical cancer as well as with poor survival. A single visit approach of visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) combined with cryotherapy is established as an effective screening method in reducing cervical cancer incidence and mortality in low-resource settings. This study evaluated the long-term risk of cervical cancer among visually screened women with different triage methods, histological findings and treatment options; and explored limitations of colposcopy triage in screen and treat programmes in low-resource settings. This study also evaluated the role of sociodemographic and reproductive factors in the risk of and survival from cervical cancer, and the bias in using screening data to study the sociodemographic and reproductive risk factors and prognostic factors of cervical cancer. This research was based on a large cervical cancer screening trial by visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) conducted during 2000-2003 in a rural population of Dindigul district, Tamil Nadu state, India. All screen positive (n=3021) and negative (n=28255) women except 67 screen-detected cervical cancer patients were followed until December 2012 to assess long-term risk of cervical cancer among VIA screened women. Sociodemographic and reproductive risk factors were determined using data from control arm, and the survival and its socioeconomic determinants were studied among women diagnosed with cervical cancer during 2000 to 2006 in control arm. Bias in the use of screening data to study sociodemographic and reproductive risk factors was explained using data from both control (n=30958) and intervention arm (n=49311) followed until December 2006. Bias in the use of screening data to study sociodemographic prognostic factors was explained using 67 screen-detected women and 165 women diagnosed with cervical cancer from control arm during 2000-2006 and followed until December 2012. For the analysis, incidence rates per 100,000 person years were calculated and hazard ratios were estimated using Cox proportional hazard regression analysis. Life-table method was used to estimate five-year survival, and Kaplan Meier survival curves were demonstrated to explain variation in survival by socioeconomic factors. The study showed a high negative predictive value for VIA even after 12 years of screening. Compared to VIA negative women, women who were VIA positive but colposcopy negative and who had no histological confirmation showed a hazard ratio for mortality of 6.5 (95%CI: 1.6 to 27.1). VIA positive women with no colposcopic evaluation or who had an inconclusive colposcopy and had no histological confirmation showed the highest risk for mortality (HR= 20.7, 95%CI: 5 to 85.3). Women with older age (50-59 years), no education and higher number of pregnancies (4+) showed a significant higher risk for cervical cancer compared to women with younger age, some education, and less than four pregnancies respectively in the control population. Hazard ratios of sociodemographic and reproductive risk factors varied accordingly with study group and screening status. The benefit in terms of achieving substantial incidence reduction as a result of screening was acquired by younger, uneducated, currently married and women living in tiled or concrete houses. The observed five-year survival was 32.5% among women diagnosed with cervical cancer from control arm. Stage of disease was the most important determinant of survival (adjusted HR for mortality for stage 2 or worse cancers: 3.9; 95% CI: 1.7 to 9.1 when stage1 cancers were the reference). Observed five year survival was 47.6% among screen detected women. Variation in survival by age at diagnosis was substantial in screen-detected women. In addition, the variation in survival between uneducated and educated women was reduced in screen-detected women. The results from this study indicate that self-selection in attendance and screening itself will bias the effect estimates of risk factors, whereas selection bias and over diagnosis will bias effect estimates of prognostic factors while using screening data to study the sociodemographic and reproductive risk and prognostic factors. In a controlled screening trial, the data from control population would be ideal for studying the sociodemographic and reproductive risk and prognostic factors, and the results should be interpreted with caution if estimates are derived using screening data. The study demonstrated that a screen and treat policy without colposcopy triage will be a more effective strategy in low-resource settings. Level of education and age of women are both important factors to be considered while implementing screening, further diagnosis, treatment and follow-up in order to achieve better health outcome in low-resource settings. Creating awareness about cervical cancer through educational programmes, improvements in living standards and assuring accessibility to an efficient health care system can altogether play an important role in reducing the burden of cervical cancer in rural


Experiments in mice using syngeneic transfer of spleen cells and intraperitoneal inoculation of cyclophosphamide, levamisole, hydrocortisone, and anti-0 serum demonstrated that influenza virus may inhibit T-suppressors from the first days of infection. Then the T-helper system of lymphocytes is inhibited and the capacity of the animals to show delayed type hypersensitivity is reduced. In this period, higher activity of T-helpers is observed. It is assumed that inhibition of the T-helper system is associated with the affection by influenza virus of the cells which activate T-helpers.


Identifying promoters is the key to understanding gene expression in bacteria. Promoters lie in tightly constrained positions relative to the transcription start site (TSS). In this paper, we address the problem of predicting transcription start sites in Escherichia coli. Knowing the TSS position, one can then predict the promoter position to within a few base pairs, and vice versa. The accepted method for promoter prediction is to use a pair of position weight matrices (PWMs), which define conserved motifs at the sigma-factor binding site. However this method is known to result in a large number of false positive predictions, thereby limiting its usefulness to the experimental biologist. We adopt an alternative approach based on the Support Vector Machine (SVM) using a modified mismatch spectrum kernel. Our modifications involve tagging the motifs with their location, and selectively pruning the feature set. We quantify the performance of several SVM models and a PWM model using a performance metric of area under the detection-error tradeoff (DET) curve. SVM models are shown to outperform the PWM on a biologically realistic TSS prediction task. We also describe a more broadly applicable peak scoring technique which reduces the number of false positive predictions, greatly enhancing the utility of our results.


A variety of devices that help to prevent drops of spayed pesticides from getting into places that are difficult to reach (e. g. under the leaves of cultural plants of on the stem), is offered. Special devices Lechler Dropleg UL are designed in a way that nozzles that are embedded in the end of the spraying pipe which is bended backwards, spray diagonally upwards. Data of the quality of spraying fluid by using various sprinklers in special devices Lechler Dropleg UL is provided in the article. Two hydraulic flood nozzles Lechler 684.356.30X , mounted in a special holder TwinSprayCap were examined: pneumohydraulic twin flat spray air-injector nozzle Lechler DF 120-03 and hydraulic twin flat spray nozzle Lechler DF 120-02 . A transverse repartition and a process of the formation of fluid drops, sprayed using different nozzles were examined. The results revealed that while spraying with a lower working pressure (e.g. 1.5 bar) with two hydraulic flood nozzles Lechler 684.356.30X that are placed in a special holder TwinSprayCap and embedded on a device Lechler Dropleg UL , a majority of drops (evenly around 40 ml) get into stand trays that are in a setting place situated 70–110 cm behind the device Lechler Dropleg UL , whereas at the approximate 40 cm area away from the setting place there are no drops of sprayed fluid at all. Having the working pressure increased to 3–4 bar, majority of drops (around 60 ml) get into the stend trays that are in a setting place situated 70–110 cm  behind the device Lechler Dropleg UL . Having the working pressure increased, an unsprayed area, which is situated around the setting place of the device Lechler Dropleg UL , gets narrowed: a width of unsprayed area when spraying at the pressure of 2 bar was around 60 cm, whereas when the pressure was 3 bar and 4 bar, the area appeared to be only 20 cm. Circularly sprayed drops, depending on the working pressure, spread around in two strips of width from 1.4 to 1.8 m. An oblong flat flow of the sprayed fluid forms nearby the deflector and the maximum height of the rise of sprayed drops reaches 1.3–1.4 m. Keywords: Special devices Lechler Dropleg UL , cross distribution of flood, nozzles Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2017.187


The European ideas associated with witchcraft came to the Americas as a multipronged weapon of imperialism, a conception of non-Christian beliefs not as separate worldviews but as manifestations of evil and the reigning power of the devil over Indigenous peoples and, slightly later, African slaves and free people of African origins or heritage. To create this imperialist concept, colonizers drew from a late medieval demonological literature that defined witchcraft as ways of influencing one's fate through a pact with the devil and the ritual of witches' sabbaths. Through the court structure of the Holy Offices of the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions, Iberian imperialists set up judicial processes that they designed to elicit confessions from their colonial subjects regarding their involvement in what was labeled witchcraft and witches' sabbaths, but which was most likely either non-European beliefs and practices, or even popular European ideas of healing. Archival documents from the Holy Office fueled Europeans' vision of themselves as on the side of cosmic good as well as providing some details regarding popular practices such as divination and love magic. Whatever ethnographic details emerge from this documentation, the use of the terminology of witchcraft always signals an imperialistic lens.


The article highlights aspects that should be considered during an open Research, Development, and Innovation (RDI) process cycle to improve the utilization of research data and foster open cooperation between higher education and businesses. The viewpoint here is in publicly funded joint research projects of the universities of applied sciences (UAS), the concept is, however, applicable in other higher education and research organizations as well. There are various challenges related to research data management in general as well as to the openness and reuse of data and results. The findings of this article are based on the results of a two-day expert workshop, and these results are interlinked with five phases of an open RDI process cycle: planning, implementation, documentation, sharing, and commercialization. Various drivers and barriers can be identified in different stages of the process. On a general level, special attention must be paid to critical factors such as ownership and sharing of data and results, confidential information and business secrets as well as following the requirements of the Open Science (OS) policies of the participating organizations and funders. This article also highlights several best practices that should be considered in each phase of an open RDI process cycle with businesses.


There is a recurring patristic tradition that Matthew composed a gospel in the Hebrew language and that Jewish sects such as the Ebionites or the Nazoreans had access to it. A Papian fragment preserved by Eusebius (h.e. 3.39.17) credits a story about Jesus's encounter with a sinful woman to the Gospel according to the Hebrews. Nevertheless, this paper will argue that Eusebius was responsible for this ascription and that Papias of Hierapolis was active before the Jewish Christian gospels that bore this title were composed. Instead, this anecdote was available to Papias and the evangelist Luke from a pool of oral traditions in circulation in Asia Minor.


PURPOSE
Peri-implant dehiscence defects occur frequently after dental implant placement. Various graft materials and techniques are proposed for treatment. In this study, an injectable calcium phosphate cement (Augmentech, Wetzlar, Germany) applied to a peri-implant defect was investigated.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Standardized buccal dehiscence defects (5.8 x 3.8 mm) were surgically created after implant site preparation in the right proximal tibiae of 5 beagle dogs. Fifteen stepped cylindrical implants (13 x 3.8 mm diameter) were inserted (3 per dog), and Augmentech injectable calcium phosphate cement was injected into the dehiscences. The bone at the distal side of the implant was left intact to serve as a control. Postsurgically, each dog received double staining of 2 fluorescent labels for estimation of bone cell activity at baseline and after 11 weeks of healing. The animals were sacrificed after 12 weeks. Dissected blocks were processed for histologic, histomorphometric, and fluorescence microscopic analysis, ie, percentage of bone-to-implant contact (BIC) and percentage linear bone height (LBH) were measured. Student t and Mann Whitney U tests were used for statistical analysis (P < .05).

RESULTS
Healing was uneventful in all dogs. Augmentech injectable calcium phosphate cement showed good space maintenance and osteoconductive properties with no foreign body reaction. BIC was 34.42 (- 19.88) and 37.00 (- 21.33) (P = .375), while LBH was 84.23 (- 19.73) and 96.10 (- 6.66) (P = .125) for test and control sites, respectively.

CONCLUSION
Within the limits of the present study, it was concluded that Augmentech injectable calcium phosphate cement may be a suitable material for the treatment of buccal dehiscence defects around dental implants.


Because of the physiologically significant electrical changes of heart following the short- or long-term physical activities, and diagnostic value of these changes, after or during the exercise training, researchers suggest that type, duration and intensity of physical activity play key roles in studying the ECG responses to exercise. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of selected submaximal tests for estimating of VO2max (because of frequently use of them), as submaximal short duration activities, on ST segment changes in active young men. For this purpose, 13 healthy men were randomly selected from the physical education students at Urmia University. They had at least 3 years' experience in regular physical activity and sport participation. Measurements were made during four consecutive days (every day, 08:00). At 1st day, age (24.7±2.3 years), height (176.5±2.6 cm), weight (69.4±3.7 kg), and pretest ECGs were recorded. Subjects performed PWC195 test, Katch-McArdle step test and Astrand ergometer test at 2nd, 3rd and 4th days, randomly. Immediately after the tests, post-test ECGs were recorded. Data were analysed using paired-sample t test (for comparison between pretest and each of post-tests) and one-way analysis of variance (for comparison among post-tests). Statistical significance was accepted at p<0.001 and p<0.05. Analysis of data indicated that all of three tests had significant effects on ST segment voltage (p<0.001). Also, there were no significant differences between mean ST segment voltages of post-tests (p<0.05) (rest: 0.053±0.017, PWC195 test 0.023±0.011, Katch-McArdle step test 0.021±0.010, Astrand ergometer test 0.021±0.004 mv(. Our findings suggest that submaximal short duration activities (and tests) statistically reduce the voltage of ST segment, but, these depressions are not pathologically significant, because they were less than 0.1 mv.


Composite materials, having advantages of high specific strength, high specific stiffness, are used in many applications, such as musical instrument, acoustical tile, fire wall, sports equipment, aerospace and vehicle industries. Composite products in the form of sandwich structures are specifically useful in recent years. In this paper, the bending strength of sandwich structure made by graphite/epoxy face laminates and core material made by multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) reinforced polymer was investigated experimentally. In experiment, the three-point bending test was performed to measure the bending properties of sandwich beams. The influences of fiber orientation in the face laminates and MWNTs content in polymer reinforced nanocomposite core material on the bending strength of sandwich beams were discussed in this paper. The failure mechanism of sandwich beams with various fiber orientations in the face laminates was also discussed.


ABS TRACT Cellular injury is defined as an alteration in cell structure or function resulting in stress that exceeds the compensatory ability of the cell. If the injury is severe enough, the cell suffers irreversible injury and dies. Cells death has historically been subdivided into necrosis and apoptosis. Actually, the simple apoptosis-necrosis classification does not adequately represent the complexity of cell death regulation. 'Autophagic cell death', 'mitoptosis', 'mitotic catastrophe', 'anoikosis' and 'oncosis' are the other expressions rarely used in order to define different types of cell death. Some mechanisms of apoptosis and necrosis are related to the process mediated by reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS and RNS, respectively). Mitochondria are strong producers of ROS and at the same time, particularly susceptible to the oxidative damage produced by their action on lipids, proteins, and DNA. To protect cells from the damage caused by free radicals and related reactants, organisms have evolved several defense mechanisms to remove ROS from the intracellular environment. When free radical generation exceeds the defense capabilities of the organism, molecular damage is sustained. As this damage accumulates, cellular function gradually declines, eventually leading to death of cells, organs and the organism itself. Oxidative damage has been implicated in the pathogenesis of a range of diseases and ageing. Antioxidant and free radical scavenging agents against the destructive actions of free radicals are of obvious interest. In this paper, cell death concepts, their molecular mechanisms, histopathological aspects of oxidative stress related cell injury and death, and cellular anti-oxidative defense systems were reviewed.


Power generation through solar photovoltaics has shown significant growth in recent years. However, high penetration of solar PV creates power system operational issues as a result of solar PV variability and uncertainty. Short-term PV variability mainly occurs due to the intermittency of cloud cover. Therefore, to mitigate the effects of PV variability, a sky-image-based, localized, global horizontal irradiance forecasting model was introduced considering the individual cloud motion, cloud thicknesses, and the elevations of clouds above the ground level. The proposed forecasting model works independently of any historical irradiance measurements. Two inexpensive sky camera systems were developed and placed in two different locations to obtain sky images for cloud tracking and cloud-based heights. Then, irradiance values for onsite and for a PV site located with a distance of 2 km from the main camera were forecasted for 1 minute, 5 minutes, and 15 minutes ahead of real-time. Results show that the three-level cloud categorization and the individual cloud movement tracking method introduced in this paper increase the forecasting accuracy. For partially cloudy and sunny days, the forecasting model for 15 min forecasting time interval achieved a positive skill factor concerning the persistent model. The accuracy of determining the correct irradiance state for a 1 min forecasting time interval using the proposed model is 81%. The average measures of RMSE, MAE, and SF obtained using the proposed method for 15 min forecasting time horizon are 101 Wm-2, 64 Wm-2, and 0.26, respectively. These forecasting accuracy levels are much higher than the other benchmarks considered in this paper.


Monitoring the Quality of Experience (QoE) undergone by cellular network customers has become paramount for cellular ISPs, who need to ensure high quality levels to limit customer churn due to quality dissatisfaction. This paper tackles the problem of QoE monitoring, assessment and prediction in cellular networks, relying on end-user device (i.e., smart-phone) QoS passive traffic measurements and QoE crowdsourced feedback. We conceive different QoE assessment models based on supervised machine learning techniques, which are capable to predict the QoE experienced by the end user of popular smartphone apps (e.g., YouTube and Facebook), using as input the passive in-device measurements. Using a rich QoE dataset derived from field trials in operational cellular networks, we benchmark the performance of multiple machine learning based predictors, and construct a decision-tree based model which is capable to predict the per-user overall experience and service acceptability with a success rate of 91% and 98% respectively To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper using end-user, in-device passive measurements and machine learning models to predict the QoE of smartphone users in operational cellular networks.


Research indicates that low-energy dwellings are more sensitive to overheating than regular dwellings. In this research the ventilative cooling potential of low-energy dwellings is considered. A low-energy dwelling based on the Active House concept, "House of Tomorrow Today" (HoTT), has been investigated as representative for low-energy dwellings in general. A computational model of the house was created with the software TRNSYS (in combination with CONTAM) and this model has been calibrated with actual (intervention) measurements in the HoTT. The potential of creating or maintaining thermal comfort in the house by applying ventilative cooling has been considered. The simulation results show that ventilative cooling in combination with other design requirements (sun shading and thermal mass) is able to significantly reduce the overheating potential for current typical Dutch summer climate conditions and provide with that a more robust solution for future climate developments with less need for active cooling. Lack of inclusion of these design principles will affect the indoor conditions significantly. As HoTT applies a relative lightweight construction the advantage of thermal mass is less well exploited. However, in an overheating situation, the potential of ventilative cooling in the current HoTT-design can be increased, i.e. higher air change rates can be obtained, by enlarging the currently fixed limited atrium window opening areas. The results confirm that overheating mitigation is an integral design problem.


Educators have emphasized the importance of parent involvement in the educational process for decades. The definitions of parent involvement, however, have changed over time with a current emphasis on genuine parent-school collaboration where parents are seen as partners in their child's education. Such collaboration is especially crucial when the children have special needs, such as those on the autism spectrum. Autism spectrum disorders pose unique challenges to the home-school relationship in part due to the child's communication and social impairments. This study is part of a larger, ongoing study examining home-school relationships between parents and teachers of children with autism spectrum disorders. Participants were recruited from a local school district, and 21 parents and teachers ofchildren with an autism spectrum disorder completed a packet ofquestionnaires. Two global questions were: (a) Is collaboration valued and valuable? and (b) What are the key aspects of collaboration? The first question was examined by analyzing feedback data from participants in a workshop designed to enhance home-school collaboration through use of a semi-structured parent-teacher discussion. To answer the second question, correlational analyses were conducted to explore associations between reports of relationship quality, home-school contact, and perceptions of the child's educational environments.


To prolong the life cycle of wireless sensor network, the basic theory of wavelet transform and its application in image compression are described, and several classic image compression algorithms based on wavelet transform are studied in depth. A compression algorithm combining the improved wavelet transform and Set Partitioning in Hierarchical Trees (SPIHT) algorithm of hierarchical wavelet tree set segmentation is proposed to effectively balance the energy consumption of each node in the sensor network and prolong the life of the whole wireless sensor network and an improved distributed image compression and transmission algorithm is proposed based on the distributed multi-node cooperative processing algorithm based on wavelet transformation, and detailed analytical test and energy consumption simulation experiment are carried out to verify the feasibility of the algorithm. The results show that the platform effectively implements and verifies the proposed algorithm, which can effectively realize the compression and transmission of distributed images, equalize the energy consumption of each sensor node in the network, and has strong practicability.


Current views of masturbation in latency girls are drawn from direct observation, clinical experience with children, and from recollections of adult women. Reports in the literature and from the author invite re-examination of Freud's original theory that latency girls turn away from clitoral masturbation and develop persistent penis envy as a necessary step in development toward mature femininity.


2,5-Furan dicarboxylic acid (FDCA) is one of the top-12 value-added chemicals derived from biomass that may serve as a 'green' substitute for terephthalic acid (TPA) in polyesters. FDCA can be synthesized chemically from 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural (HMF), which is produced from fructose or glucose. To investigate the impact of the production chain of FDCA on the terrestrial ecosystem and unravel molecular pathways affected in animals, an ecotoxicogenomic study was performed to measure the transcriptome-wide response in soil invertebrates, namely Folsomia candida. First, we show that FDCA, HMF and TPA are biodegradable in natural soil. However, these chemicals can exert severe impact on the reproduction of F. candida in sterilized soil. Transcriptional changes were examined at EC50 concentrations of FDCA, HMF and TPA spiked in sterilized LUFA 2.2 soils. The results indicate that FDCA and TPA cause no significant changes in gene expression, which may be due to the low chemical water solubility and therefore slow uptake from the pore water. In contrast, a substantial number of genes were significantly regulated in F. candida after exposure to HMF. Gene ontology analysis showed many biological processes to be significantly affected, such as nucleic acid metabolism, the transcriptional metabolic process, cell developmental process and oxidation–reduction process. Moreover, the transcriptional profiles suggest that HMF might be biotransformed by F. candida into 5-sulfoxymethylfurfural (SMF) which is genotoxic and mutagenic. Current research shows that the environmental risk of the FDCA production chain from biomass is relatively low, but may only be affected by the release of the intermediate HMF compound.


The central grasslands of North America are a current focus for biological research because of the loss of native prairie across the continent. The loss of habitat due to farming, ranching, and urban development has adversely impacted a number of native grassland species including ground-nesting birds. Therefore, managers and landowners are interested in range management practices that might increase habitat for ground-nesting birds. Cattle (Bos taurus) grazing commonly is used by ranchers to manage, secondarily, for wildlife. However, previous research on two types of grazing systems, continuous grazing (CG) and rotational grazing (RG), has shown mixed results on the effects on ground-nesting birds. Some studies indicate positive grazing effects by reducing ground titter for brooding and foraging habitat. Other studies indicate negative grazing effects by increasing nest disturbance during the peak of the bird breeding season. The objective of my research was to compare the effects of CG and RG on ground-nesting birds in the Red Hills of south-central Kansas. Data were collected on 235 nests during the summers of 2004 and 2005. Nesting species included: wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus), mourning dove (Zenaida macroura), common nighthawk (Chordeiles minor), lark sparrow (Chondestes grammacus), grasshopper sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum), dickcissel (Spiza americana), eastern meadowlark (Sturnella magna), and western meadowlark (S. neglecta). My results indicated no significant difference between CG and RG treatments for avian abundance, avian richness, nest density, reproductive success, and vegetation characteristics at nest sites. However, brood parasitism by the brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) was significantly higher on CG sites in both years. I found vegetation characteristics at paired random sites were significantly different between grazing treatments. I also found vegetation characteristics were significantly different between nest sites and paired random sites; birds selected specific vegetation characteristics at nest sites significantly more when compared to paired random sites. Overall, RG did not appear to have a more negative effect on ground-nesting birds in my study. However, my unequal number of sample sites (CG = 4, RG = 8), similar grazing densities, and variable environmental factors (e.g., soil type and precipitation) might have reduced my ability to detect significant differences between the two grazing treatments. A longer term study conducted at a larger extent of scale (more study sites across the counties of interest) on the effects of CG and RG on ground-nesting birds might produce different results.


This thesis focuses on the problem of designing appointment schedules in a surgery center with multiple operating rooms. The conditions under which overlapping surgeries in the surgeons' schedule (i.e. parallel surgery processing) at the lowest cost are investigated with respect to three components of the total cost: waiting time, idle time, and overtime. A simulation optimization method is developed to find the near-optimal appointment schedules for elective surgical procedures in the presence of uncertain surgery durations. The analysis is performed in three steps. First, three near-optimal operating room schedules are found for different cost configurations based on the secondary data of surgery durations obtained from the Canadian Institute for Health Information. Second, these near-optimal appointment schedules are used to test a parallel scheduling policy where each surgeon has overlapping surgeries scheduled in two operating rooms for the entire session (480 minutes) and only attends the critical portions of surgeries in the two operating rooms. Lastly, another parallel scheduling policy is tested where each surgeon has overlapping surgeries scheduled for half of the session duration (240 minutes) and only has surgeries scheduled in one operating room for the remaining time. These two policies are tested using simulation with scenarios for parallelizable portions of surgeries varying from 0.1 to 0.9 at 0.1 increments and three cost configurations. In the simulated scenarios, the total cost is calculated as the weighted sum of patient waiting time, surgeon idle time, surgeon overtime, operating room idle time, and operating room overtime. Out of the nine scenarios for each policy and each cost configuration, the parallelizable portion of surgeries that result in the lowest total cost is identified. The results from both policies indicate that implementing parallel scheduling policies for surgery types with higher parallelizable portions results in surgeons remaining idle for longer periods during the session. This idle time cost is justified by a decrease in other cost components for surgeries with parallelizable portions 50% or less; however, the total cost is higher for surgeries with parallelizable portions over 50%. In addition, it has been observed that overlapping surgeries with lower parallelizable portions is more expensive than overlapping those over with 50%. Therefore, it is concluded that the surgery types that allow parallel surgery scheduling policies to be implemented at the lowest cost have 50% of their duration parallelizable.


Value-based payment programs adjust payments to providers based on spending, quality, or health outcomes. Concern that these programs penalize providers disproportionately serving vulnerable patients prompted calls to adjust performance measures for social risk factors. We reviewed fourteen studies of social risk adjustment in Medicare's Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP), a value-based payment model that initially did not adjust for social risk factors but subsequently began to do so. Seven studies found that adding social risk factors to the program's base risk-adjustment model (which adjusts only for age, sex, and comorbidities) reduced differences in risk-adjusted readmissions and penalties between safety-net hospitals and other hospitals. Three studies found that peer grouping, the HRRP's current approach to social risk adjustment, reduced penalties among safety-net hospitals. Two studies found that differences in risk-adjusted readmissions and penalties were further narrowed when augmentation of the base model was combined with peer grouping. Two studies showed that it is possible to adjust for social risk factors without obscuring quality differences between hospitals. These findings support the use of social risk adjustment to improve provider payment equity and highlight opportunities to enhance social risk adjustment in value-based payment programs.


The big-eye (Brachydeuterus auritus), which is present in a large biomass in the Gulf of Guinea, is generally considered an underutilized fish species. In an attempt to add value, it was used to complement cassava starch (Manihot esculenta Crantz) to produce fish crackers. Three levels of fish (40%, 50%, and 60%) and three levels of starch (60%, 50%, and 40%) were used in the formulations. Proximate analyses and sensory evaluations were carried out. The protein, fat, and ash contents increased with an increase in the proportion of fish. The sensory evaluation tests showed that the most acceptable formulations for the crackers were obtained using 50% fish/50% starch and 40% fish/60% starch combinations. The linear expansion of the fried crackers increased with the increased proportion of fish. Production of fish crackers, apart from its appeal for increasing protein intake, has the potential to support a small regional snack factory in a developing economy.


Background : Australia, like many other countries is facing a shortage of qualified nurse educators and this has potential to impact enormously on the quality of nurses working in health services. Methods : This paper discusses the findings of action research recently completed within a Queensland University, involving a range of nurse educators. Results: It explores some of the challenges to role satisfaction and suggests two strategies to build capacity, connection, satisfaction and productivity in Australian nurse educators, that may be relevant for international colleagues. Conclusions: The first solution is to establish a self-sustaining, solution-focused Community of Practice for nurse educators. The second solution is to disseminate an effective, easy to remember teaching framework that draws upon principles of Transformative learning, a pedagogy that is relevant for nurses, because they will need to work with vulnerable populations and graduates need to be equipped with skills, compassion and be committed to social action.


Intracerebral epidermoid cysts are extremely rare. We report the case of a 16-year-old girl with an intracerebral epidermoid cyst in the left temporal lobe. The lesion was totally removed through a minimally invasive minicraniotomy by which we could obtain satisfactory intraoperative disclosure and manipulation. The incidence, clinical course, radiological features, surgical treatment, and complications of such a rare lesion are discussed.


Multi-agent learning is a challenging open task in artificial intelligence. It is known an interesting connection between multi-agent learning algorithms and evolutionary game theory, showing that the learning dynamics of some algorithms can be modeled as replicator dynamics with a mutation term. Inspired by the recent sequence-form replicator dynamics, we develop a new version of the Q-learning algorithm working on the sequence form of an extensive-form game allowing thus an exponential reduction of the dynamics length w.r.t. those of the normal form. The dynamics of the proposed algorithm can be modeled by using the sequence-form replicator dynamics with a mutation term. We show that, although sequence-form and normal-form replicator dynamics are realization equivalent, the Q-learning algorithm applied to the two forms have non-realization equivalent dynamics. Originally from the previous works on evolutionary game theory models form multi-agent learning, we produce an experimental evaluation to show the accuracy of the model.


In 1981, the National Botanic Garden of Latvia began the ex situ conservation of rare and endangered native plants. About 70 species of endangered plants of Latvia are now successfully grown in vitro. The aim of this study was to determine suitable conditions for ex situ cultivation in the territory of the National Botanic Garden, where four artificial habitats (dune and meadow, deciduous tree forest, humid bank and ditch with spring water) were created or used for growth and survival experiments with individuals of 23 endangered wild plant species. Twenty of the species successfully adapted to the implemented growth conditions. Alyssum gmelini, Dianthus arenarius, Helianthemum nummularium showed good adaptation in dry and sunny conditions of artificial dune. Galium schultesii, Pulmonaria angustifolia, Scrophularia umbrosa showed good adaptation to fertile soil and shady conditions of deciduous forest. The short-lived species as Spergularia salina and Tripolium vulgare were identified as difficult species for cultivation.


HIV/AIDS (Human immunodeficiency virus/ Acquired immuno deficiency syndrome) is a growing global problem, in terms of its incidence and mortality. Patients with HIV/AIDS are living much longer with HAART (Highly active antiretroviral therapy) therapy so much so that HIV/AIDS has now become a part of the chronic disease burden, like hypertension and diabetes. Patients with HIV/AIDS and symptoms suggestive of cardiac disease represent a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge in clinical practice; Cardiologists are more frequently encountering this problem. An algorithmic, anatomic approach to diagnosis, localizing disease to the endocardium, myocardium and pericardium can be useful. An intimate knowledge of opportunistic infections affecting the heart, effects of HAART therapy and therapy for opportunistic infections on the heart is needed to be able to formulate a differential diagnosis. Effects of HAART therapy, especially protease inhibitors on lipid and glucose metabolism, and their influence on progression to premature vascular disease require consideration. Treatment of cardiac disease, in HIV/AIDS patients can vary from non-HIV patients, based on drug interactions, differences in responsiveness, and other factors; and this area requires further research.


PURPOSE
To investigate the use of biomathematical models such as tumor control probability (TCP) and normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) as new quality assurance (QA) metrics.

METHODS
Five different types of error (MLC transmission, MLC penumbra, MLC tongue and groove, machine output, and MLC position) were intentionally induced to 40 clinical intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) patient plans (20 H&N cases and 20 prostate cases) to simulate both treatment planning system errors and machine delivery errors in the IMRT QA process. The changes in TCP and NTCP for eight different anatomic structures (H&N: CTV, GTV, both parotids, spinal cord, larynx; prostate: CTV, rectal wall) were calculated as the new QA metrics to quantify the clinical impact on patients. The correlation between the change in TCP∕NTCP and the change in selected DVH values was also evaluated. The relation between TCP∕NTCP change and the characteristics of the TCP∕NTCP curves is discussed.

RESULTS
ΔTCP and ΔNTCP were summarized for each type of induced error and each structure. The changes/degradations in TCP and NTCP caused by the errors vary widely depending on dose patterns unique to each plan, and are good indicators of each plan's "robustness" to that type of error.

CONCLUSIONS
In this in silico QA study the authors have demonstrated the possibility of using biomathematical models not only as patient-specific QA metrics but also as objective indicators that quantify, pretreatment, a plan's robustness with respect to possible error types.


This dissertation unfolds subnational political phenomena by engaging questions about redistributive politics and territorial power-building. How do state governors in federal systems strategically harness public expenditures to influence vote choice? What causes these leaders to emphasize the allocation of private versus semi-public goods? Are governors rewarded for their redistributive efforts at the ballot box? And if this is the case, why are some governors able to retain power during long periods of time while others are not? These issues are investigated both within and between Argentina and Brazil, two federations regarded as textbook examples of robust federalism, during the post-authoritarian period.The argument has two causal chains. The first chain espouses that variation in subnational redistributive politics is attributable to the structure of fiscal federalism and political careerism. Gubernatorial incentives for private allocations (patronage or public employment) are stronger where, such as in Argentina, fiscal institutions concentrate access to federal transfers at the state level and grant governors high discretion over these funds, and electoral and partisan rules foster party-centered political careers. By contrast, gubernatorial incentives for semi-public allocations (pork-barrel or infrastructure projects) are stronger where, such as in Brazil, fiscal institutions disperse access to federal transfers among political actors and limit governors' discretion in spending, and electoral and partisan rules maximize candidate-centered political careers.The second causal chain links subnational redistributive politics with incumbents' electoral returns. Statistical analyses indicate that patronage tend to benefit Argentine (but not Brazilian) governors, while pork-barrel benefits Brazilian (but not Argentine) ones. These different returns are explained by stressing the role of political competition and delivering networks of support. It is finally argued that extensive patronage-based networks as found in Argentina contribute to subnational incumbent stability by shaping expectations about the future distribution of public jobs over a stable web of party operatives, who are able to dissuade voters from migrating to the opposition. In contrast, pork-barrel networks as found in Brazil are less conducive to incumbent stability because they are weakly enmeshed in society so as to monitor voter behavior.


Structure of the microcirculatory bed in the white rat musculus spinotrapezius and m. quadriceps femoris has been studied by means of biomicroscopic methods, as well as by means of injection and non-injection methods for revealing microvessels. Spatial arrangement of the microvessels has been followed and certain zonal functional complexes of microvessels in the muscle--myoangions--have been revealed. Polymeric-homonomous form of the microcirculatory bed organization in the muscle is substantiated. Capillary bed capacity is calculated and its reserve possibilities are estimated in the resting muscle. It has been demonstrated that geometry on distribution of functioning capillaries in the muscle is arranged in such a way that to ensure the most optimal conditions for metabolism in the muscle tissue, while keeping maximal reliability of the transorganic circulation pathways.


The distribution of the histological lesions in the central nervous system (CNS) of cattle naturally infected by bovine herpes virus type-5 (BHV-5) was determined in 12 affected calves from 10 outbreaks of the disease diagnosed by the Regional Diagnostic Laboratory (LRD) at Pelotas University, from 1986 to 2003. The epidemiological data, clinical signs and duration of clinical course were obtained from the files of LRD. Transversal sections were performed at different levels in 10% formalin-fixed CNS. The sections were made in the frontal, parietal, temporal e occipital lobes of the telencephalic hemispheres, basal ganglia and internal capsule, thalamus, anterior colliculus, pons, cerebellar peduncles, cerebellum, medulla oblongata and cervical spinal cord. Paraffin embedded tissues were sectioned and stained with hematoxylin and eosin. The severity and distribution of the inflammatory and malacic lesions were evaluated in all sections. These lesions were related with the epidemiological and clinical aspects of the disease. The outbreaks of the disease were observed in different seasons of the year. Affected animals were 2 to 24-month-old, of different breeds and both sexes. Gross lesions characterized by yellow and depressed areas in the cerebral cortex were observed in five calves. In two of them, similar lesions were additionally observed in thalamus, basal nuclei, and internal capsule. Congestion and multifocal hemorrhages were observed in most cases. The histological lesions were characterized by non-suppurative meningoencephalitis in all sections of CNS, but more severe in the frontal cortex. Focal or widespread malacia with infiltration of Gitter cells were observed in all sections of cerebral cortex, basal ganglia, internal capsule, and thalamus. In some cases mild malacia was also observed in the rostral colliculi, pons, medulla, cerebellum and cervical spinal cord. Intranuclear inclusion bodies were seen in all cases studied; they were frequent in regions of the cerebral cortex near mild to moderate inflammatory or malacic lesions. In two cases the inclusion bodies were also seen in the basal ganglia and thalamus. The severity of the histological lesions was not proportional with the clinical course of the disease. The presence of lesions of malacia in different regions of the CNS, an aspect not mentioned in most reports of BHV-5 infections, could be due to variable pathogenicity of different virus isolates. Alternatively, it is possible that BHV-5 encephalitis occurs due to the reactivation of the virus in cattle previously affected by polioencefalomacia; this last sequence of events was already demonstrated experimentally by our research group.


The two volume Oxford Handbook of Public Choice provides a comprehensive overview of the Public Choice literature. Volume 1 covers rational choice models of elections, interest groups, rent seeking, and public choice contributions to normative political economy. It begins with introductory chapters on rational choice politics, the founding of public choice, and the evaluation and selection of constitutions. The chapters were all written for this handbook by scholars who are well known for their contributions to research in the areas discussed.


Agricultural production in greenhouses is an important user of energy and can lead to greenhouse gas emissions. This study uses Data Envelopment Analysis to compute input-based technical efficiency measures and energy efficiency of Michigan greenhouse growers. A two-limit Tobit model is used to investigate the determinants of farmers' performance. The empirical results indicate that Michigan greenhouse farmers do not use energy and other inputs efficiently. Farmers' input-specific efficiency can be improved by adopting greenhouse film types other than double layer poly.


IMPORTANCE
Self-management is a critical component of stroke rehabilitation. A better understanding of the use of theory and behavior change techniques (BCTs) informs the development of more effective stroke self-management interventions.

OBJECTIVE
To examine what theories and BCTs have been applied in stroke self-management interventions; investigate the extent to which these interventions encourage implementation of behavior changes; and appraise their effectiveness to enhance self-efficacy, quality of life, and functional independence.

DATA SOURCES
Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrials.gov were searched from inception to May 26, 2020.

STUDY SELECTION AND DATA COLLECTION
Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in six databases were reviewed for inclusion and analysis. We included trials that involved community-dwelling adult stroke survivors, assessed the effectiveness of self-management interventions, and explicitly mentioned the use of theory in the development of the intervention. We assessed use of theory and BCTs using the Theory Coding Scheme and BCT taxonomy v1, respectively.

FINDINGS
A total of 3,049 studies were screened, and 13 RCTs were included. The predominant theory and BCT categories were Social Cognitive Theory (7 studies) and goals and planning (12 studies), respectively. Significant and small effect sizes were found for self-efficacy (0.27) and functional independence (0.19).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
Theory-based self-management interventions have the potential to enhance stroke outcomes. Systematic reporting on the use of theory and BCTs is recommended to enhance clarity and facilitate evaluations of future interventions. What This Article Adds: This review supports and guides occupational therapy practitioners to use theory-based self-management intervention as a routine part of stroke rehabilitation to improve stroke survivors' experience in the community.


Skeletal development and cartilage formation require stringent regulation of gene expression for mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to progress through stages of differentiation. Since microRNAs (miRNAs) regulate biological processes, the objective of the present study was to identify novel miRNAs involved in the modulation of chondrogenesis. We performed miRNA profiling and identify miR-29a as being one of the most down-regulated miRNAs during the chondrogenesis. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation, we showed that SOX9 down-regulates its transcription. Moreover, the over-expression of miR-29a strongly inhibited the expression of chondrocyte-specific markers during in vitro chondrogenic differentiation of MSCs. We identified FOXO3A as a direct target of miR-29a and showed a down- and up-regulation of FOXO3a protein levels after transfection of, respectively, premiR- and antagomiR-29a oligonucleotides. Finally, we showed that using the siRNA or premiR approach, chondrogenic differentiation was inhibited to a similar extent. Together, we demonstrate that the down-regulation of miR-29a, concomitantly with FOXO3A up-regulation, is essential for the differentiation of MSCs into chondrocytes and in vivo cartilage/bone formation. The delivery of miRNAs that modulate MSC chondrogenesis may be applicable for cartilage regeneration and deserves further investigation.


The major integral plasma membrane protein (IP39) of Euglena gracilis was radiolabeled, peptide mapped, and dissected with proteases to identify cytoplasmic domains that bind and anchor proteins of the cell surface. When plasma membranes were radioiodinated and extracted with octyl glucoside, 98% of the extracted label was found in IP39 or the 68- and 110-kD oligomers of IP39. The octyl glucoside extracts were incubated with unlabeled cell surface proteins immobilized on nitrocellulose (overlays). Radiolabel from the membrane extract bound one (80 kD) of the two (80 and 86 kD) major membrane skeletal protein bands. Resolubilization of the bound label yielded a radiolabeled polypeptide identical in Mr to IP39. Intact plasma membranes were also digested with papain before or after radioiodination, thereby producing a cytoplasmically truncated IP39. The octyl glucoside extract of truncated IP39 no longer bound to the 80-kD membrane skeletal protein in the nitrocellulose overlays. EM of intact or trypsin digested plasma membranes incubated with membrane skeletal proteins under stringent conditions similar to those used in the nitrocellulose overlays revealed a partially reformed membrane skeletal layer. Little evidence of a membrane skeletal layer was found, however, when plasma membranes were predigested with papain before reassociation. A candidate 80-kD binding domain of IP39 has been tentatively identified as a peptide fragment that was present after trypsin digestion of plasma membranes, but was absent after papain digestion in two-dimensional peptide maps of IP39. Together, these data suggest that the unique peripheral membrane skeleton of Euglena binds to the plasma membrane through noncovalent interactions between the major 80-kD membrane skeletal protein and a small, papain sensitive cytoplasmic domain of IP39. Other (62, 51, and 25 kD) quantitatively minor peripheral proteins also interact with IP39 on the nitrocellulose overlays, and the possible significance of this binding is discussed.


This article aims to analyze the inequality of geostationary orbits (GSO) utilization in world-system environment using World-systems Theory through qualitative-descriptive analysis. The high level of difficulty in mastering GSO technologies makes countries that do not have financial capacities and space capabilities inevitably use developed countries' GSO satellite products. Based on historical and conceptual approach of the World-systems Theory, the results of the analysis show that inequality of the utilization of GSO is caused by and impacts on the persistence as well as revision of relations among countries in a world-system environment. Class struggle is an action taken naturally by semi-peripheral and periphery countries, including Indonesia, to revise the world-system environment through enhancing autonomy and promote more equitable regulations in GSO utilization.


We present a polymer optical add/drop filter with a channel cross-talk of -18.5 dB, a free spectral range of 12.8 nm and a channel spacing of 400 GHz (4 channels) as well as a tunable optical filter with a free spectral range of 50 nm. Both filter designs are based on a synthesis which provides the minimum number of filter stages for a given channel crosstalk and number of channels. Wavelength tunability over the entire free-spectral range (FSR) is demonstrated with applied heating powers of 500 mW. For the narrow bandwidth filter we used a fluorinated high temperature stable polymer as the waveguiding material, which has proven to exhibit losses as low as 0.25 dB/cm at a wavelength of 1.55 /spl mu/m.


Floating Offshore Wind turbine installations will require HV dynamic power cables to be connected to the of longer length static export power cables. Experience from offshore wind installations has highlighted the criticality of power cables, underlining the need for high integrity, yet cost effective cable solutions. This paper will assess the mechanical performance and load parameters for an Aluminum power conductor cable. Whilst copper is the conventional choice due to its lower resistive losses, Aluminum cores are increasingly used for static power cables, due to their benefits regarding overall cable weight and material cost. The work presented adopts a coupled aero-elastic and hydrodynamic modelling approach to simulate the behavior of the well-documented OC4 semi-sub platform, together with the 5MW NREL wind turbine. The model allows a direct comparison between the two cable types, maintaining the overall system and environmental conditions.
 The results inform the design envelope regarding the ultimate load conditions a for the two principle cable designs, providing global load estimates, such as effective tension and bending stresses, to inform the local stress analysis. Furthermore, the results will form the basis for future physical demonstration and validation tests.
 This paper will be of interest to technology developers and practitioners concerned with submarine dynamic power cables, offer a methodology to directly compare and evaluate different cable design options, and providing some design guidance for and aluminum conductor cables.


Because of the lack of data on past hurricanes, empirical evaluations of the statistics needed for risk management are very uncertain. To overcome this problem, a hurricane model is used to produce large sets of synthetic hurricane tracks. After a validation of the model, these synthetic tracks are used to assess statistics, which are impossible to derive with enough confidence from historical series. This method provides, for 11 regions of the U.S. Atlantic coast, the annual landfall probabilities of hurricanes belonging to each category of the Saffir-Simpson scale. This model can be used to investigate the future of hurricane risks. As a first step, the model is run with a 10-percent increase in potential intensity. In such an environment, according to the model, annual landfall probabilities increase in all regions, especially for the strongest hurricanes. The vulnerability of each U.S. coastal county is then calibrated using data on past hurricanes and their normalized economic losses. The increase in annual hurricane damages due to a 10 percent increase in potential intensity can be evaluated at +54 percent, meaning that the average normalized losses caused by hurricanes would increase from approximately $8 billion to about $12 billion a year. These results suggest that hurricane losses are very sensitive to changes in potential intensity and may rise significantly in response to climate change. This paper calls, therefore, for taking into account hurricane damages in the analysis of climate policies, even though other factors like population evolution, economic growth and preparedness may be prevailing over climate change in the driving of hurricane damages.


Even though route choice behavior and drivers' acceptance of advanced traveler information systems have been studied in the past, little or no attention has been given to the route choice behavior and acceptance response to social navigation systems. What separates social navigation systems from traditional traffic navigation is that the route advice aims to minimize the individual travel time and the marginal total travel time in the network. In this study, drivers' behavioral responses to social navigation route guidance were empirically evaluated under different information and incentive strategies. A traffic navigation application based on social navigation was developed and used in a pilot multiuser laboratory experiment. Participants were asked to make route choices in a virtual travel environment under various information and incentive strategies. Drivers were more willing to comply with the social advice when they were well informed and well rewarded. The results also show that female and novice drivers are more willing to comply with the social advice than are male drivers and experienced drivers. Aside from the level of altruism, a driver's indifference to switching routes also affects a driver's compliance with social advice.


Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is one of the most common types of partial epilepsy. Because about 30% of the TLE patients poorly respond to medication, identification of new drug targets to treat TLE is imperative. This requires detailed knowledge of the pathophysiology of TLE . The aim of this thesis was to provide such new information through profiling of surgically removed brain tissue and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of TLE patients. The complex changes in the TLE brain indicate simultaneous dis-regulation of multiple pathways, possibly by microRNAs (miRNAs). These are newly discovered molecular switches which can control expression of multiple proteins by regulating translation of transcribed mRNA into protein. Expression profiling all human miRNAs in the human TLE brain (Chapter 2) revealed distinct miRNA expression profiles TLE patients with and without hippocampal sclerosis. In TLE patients we found an over representation of miRNAs regulation proteins in the immune system. Two of these miRNAs (221 and 222) regulated glial expression of ICAM1, a protein important in the blood-brain barrier, which is impaired in TLE tissue. Thus, microRNAs may act as molecular switches in TLE, particularly in regulation of the inflammatory response (activated immune system). In Chapter 3 we therefore profiled the activated immune system in TLE. Using a high-throughput ELISA system we simultaneously measured 40 inflammatory proteins in brain tissue of TLE patients. This study replicated the up-regulation of a number of inflammatory mediators previously implicated in TLE studies, and also identified new inflammatory proteins up-regulated in the TLE brain. Principle component analysis showed that individual patients segregate into groups based on their unique expression profile. Moreover, up-regulation of the immune system in TLE occurs in clusters or networks. Interestingly, these up-regulated networks of immunological mediators contained both potentially pro- and anti-epileptogenic proteins. These results provide an explanation for the limited success of general anti-inflammatory treatment in TLE and suggest that treatment strategies should be directed to immune therapy interfering with specific pro-epileptogenic pathways. In chapter 4 we showed that part of the immune profiles identified in brain tissue of TLE patients could also be detected in CSF of these patients. These data indicate that immune profiling of CSF may have diagnostic potential for TLE. In chapter 5 we studied whether expression changes of a subset of up-regulated inflammatory mediators (chemokines), maybe causally involved in TLE. We analysed expression of chemokines at different times after the induction of epileptogenesis in an animal model for TLE. Our results showed that some chemokines are up-regulated early in epileptogenesis, way before the clinical symptoms of TLE occur (spontaneous recurrent seizures). Thus our data suggest a causal role of these chemokines in epileptogenesis. In all, this thesis constructs a detailed picture of the posttranscriptional TLE brain and indicate that profiles of miRNA and inflammatory mediators may contribute to the diagnosis of TLE and provide leads to devise new treatment strategies


More than a literary study, this book is an analysis of sexual attitudes and practices in the Romantic period, and a contribution to the history and theory of feminism. Shelley is shown to have anticipated in many ways the work of modern students of human sexual behavior. He was strikingly ahead of his time in his attitude toward women: his ideal of love postulated the equality of the sexes, and his theory of psychosexual identification, like mated to like, extended the feminist ideology of his mother-in-law, Mary Wollstonecraft. Moreover, in his own person and practice he came close to the androgynous ideal of the modern woman's movement. In exploring the many aspects of his subject, Brown compares Shelley with his contemporaries, particularly Byron, and draws upon extensive research into the laws, ideas, and practices of the period.


Current means for simulation of impossible sonic realities are yet unmatched in the delivery of sound. This research is a preparation for fully immersive and interactive audition of composed music. The compositions submitted in this portfolio are experiments towards understanding newer technological 'affordances and constraints' and the possibilities these will engender. Having developed a proof of concept for my invention 3DBARE, which will allow fully immersive interaction with multi-channel digital audio, I have explored ways in which this creates new possibilities for the composer. This commentary reports the methods and rationale for virtual performance experiments in acousmatic compositions seeking either to simulate human agency or which are palpably unreal ("impossible music") and in geo-located soundscapes. The works submitted are explorations of uses of both physical and virtual space for controlled indeterminacy of audition, with listener-action as the controller of the heard totality of the music. The control resides in the compositional methods and outcomes; the indeterminacy arises in the free variability of individual listener action to create differentiated consecutive auditions to the same music. Geo-location of composed sound is concerned both with augmentation of reality and the intersections of reality with virtuality. The experiments in geo-location revealed profound differences between current and proposed means of composing and of encountering composed sound. The discoveries made in the course of this research are outlined from acousmatic simulation to geo-located soundscapes in the search for 'adequate means of listening' to virtual performance. I have sought to identify the boundaries of auditory credulity in simulating 'liveness' in preparation for a system of immersive binaural sound reproduction: the means to 'walk inside a piece of music' and inspect it as though a physical object.


Organic single crystals offering numerous advantages due to their long‐range molecular order are considered a promising gain medium for realization of electrically‐pumped organic lasers provided their amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) threshold is sufficiently low. Unfortunately, ASE thresholds of such crystals are typically more than one order of magnitude higher (in the range of tens of kW cm−2) as compared to those of amorphous neat/doped films. Here, this issue is addressed by rationally designing bifluorene‐based compounds to express weak intermolecular coupling in the crystalline phase. The twisted molecular backbone as well as out‐of‐plane twisted dimethyl moieties attached at the fluorene end‐groups additionally benefit with enhanced electron–vibronic coupling resulting in a large Stokes shift (0.5 eV) and reduced reabsorption of emission. Endowed with such features the bifluorenes exhibit similarly high radiative decay rates (≈1.5 × 109 s−1) when doped in polystyrene matrix at low concentrations and in sublimation‐grown single crystals. The high radiative rates accompanied by excellent waveguiding properties, favorable orientation of transition dipole moments as well as non‐overlapping excited‐state absorption and gain regions enable achieving extremely low ASE thresholds (≈700 W cm−2) in the bifluorene single crystals. The achieved low threshold encourages employment of rationally designed molecules in organic crystals for lasing applications.


As a new field of research, Hmong studies requires additional investigation in almost every topic imaginable—diaspora politics, refugee mental health, women's empowerment and more—but little scholarship undertakes the task of examining Hmong masculinity. Patriarchy, especially, requires additional attention as the governing system that influences how men perform their masculinity. This study examines Hmong masculinity performance through the popular grassroots film Nuj Nphlaib thiab Ntxawm (Nu Plaib and Yer). In this paper I will argue that Hmong masculinity is in a moment of crisis; one of the ways Hmong American men of the 1.5 generation validate their masculinity against a White heterosexual hegemonic masculinity is by dominating the bodies of women from the homeland. In order to establish Hmong masculinity in crisis, I will discuss the displacement of traditional Hmong patriarchy within the Western masculinity schema. I will also analyze how the film constructs Hmong hegemonic masculinity and how the character Nu Plaib reclaims his masculinity. Lastly, I will demonstrate how Nu Plaib's possession of the female body is essential to Hmong American men's re-establishment of their own sense of masculinity.


ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to examine the problematic frontier that separates the phenomenology of the body and the phenomenology of animality. The main difficulty is to differentiate phenomenologically not only between embodiment and animality, but also between specifically human embodied experience and what is accessible to us through empathy in relation to the corporeality of the animal. I will tackle these questions by considering relevant textual material from the writings of Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. On the one hand, I will show that although embodiment and animality are convergent on the level of the naturalistic attitude in Husserl's Ideas II, they are divergent as soon as we place ourselves in the personalistic attitude, where the body enters into a different conjunction—namely, with the idea of person and of the spiritual world. On the other hand, Heidegger claims that, in spite of the abysmal bodily kinship with the animal, there is an essential difference between the human body and the animal organism, thus opposing the tendencies to humanize the animal and to animalize the human.


The effect on blood pressure and heart rate of central administration of dynorphin A(1-13) and of beta-, gamma-, and alpha-endorphin related peptides was studied in urethane-anesthetized rats. Intracerebroventricular (i.c.v., 0.1-10 micrograms) administration of beta-endorphin resulted in a dose-dependent, naltrexone-reversible hypotension and bradycardia. N-terminally modified fragments of beta-endorphin did not reduce blood pressure and heart rate. On the other hand, a dose of 10 micrograms of beta-endorphin(1-27), which lacks the four C-terminal amino acid residues of beta-endorphin, induced a fall in blood pressure and had a biphasic effect on heart rate. These responses, however, were resistant to pretreatment with naltrexone. None of the fragments of beta-endorphin smaller than beta-endorphin(1-27) affected blood pressure when administered i.c.v. in a dose of 10 micrograms. A small transient bradycardia was observed after i.c.v. administration of 10 micrograms of beta-endorphin(1-26), alpha, and gamma-endorphin. The naltrexone-reversible bradycardic response of alpha- and gamma-endorphin was not present in des-tyrosine- and des-enkephalin-alpha- and gamma-endorphin and also not in alpha-endorphin(10-16) and gamma-endorphin(10-17). Upon i.c.v. administration (0.1-50 micrograms) a dose-dependent, naltrexone-reversible decrease in blood pressure and heart rate was induced by dynorphin A(1-13). The present data indicate a hypotensive influence of beta-endorphin, beta-endorphin(1-27), and dynorphin A(1-13), whereas other fragments of beta-endorphin had little or no effect on the cardiovascular parameters investigated.


Platform-based services are online services provided by e-marketplace operators to online sellers for them to compete and enhance performance. This paper aims at examining two important questions in the context of e-marketplace: (1) what kind of platform-based services can be used by online retail sellers as competitive moves? and (2) to what extent does the usage of these platform-based services impact online seller's performance? Drawing on competitive dynamics theory, we argue that sellers that undertake a larger number of, more complex and heterogeneous platform-based services achieve better performance in e-marketplace. Using data of 1046 sellers, who open online retail stores and sell cosmetics on Taobao, a Chinese e-marketplace, we found that while undertaking more complex platform-based services is important by itself, it is more important to be strategic by undertaking a large number of platform-based services and these services had better be different from its competitors and the industry. Implications for practice and research and suggestions for future research on improving sellers' competitiveness are discussed. This research was supported in part by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (No. CityU 141809).


As eukaryotic cells, protozoa present a classical structural organization where most of the structures and organelles typical of mammalian cells are found. However, even for usual organelles these organisms present structural diversity. In addition, some of the protozoa structures, such as the mitochondria, peroxisomes and even the Golgi complex, are not observed. On the other hand, new organelles such as the hydrogenosomes, mitosomes, Apicoplast, kinetoplast, glycosomes (specialized peroxisomes), rhoptries, micronemes and dense granules, are characteristic features of some protozoa. Also, several unusual cytoskeletal structures, some of them made of yet uncharacterized proteins, are seen in these eukaryotic microorganisms. Further characterization of these structures indicates that they contain special enzymes involved in distinct metabolic pathways making them potential targets for the development of new anti parasite drugs.


As the international financial crisis spreads, some governments are using "unconventional tools" of monetary and financial policy to protect themselves. Should policies to control international capital flows be part of the government "toolkit" in these difficult times? This essay answers: YES. It describes the economic arguments for and against using capital controls, prudential regulations and other "capital management techniques" to manage international financial flows, presents empirical evidence on their impacts, and describes the variety of policies that many countries have successfully applied to enhance macroeconomic and financial stability, create policy space, and achieve other national development goals.


In this paper we propose an efficient single-round, two-party identity based authenticated key agreement protocol in the setting of multiple Private Key Generators (PKGs). One of the major advantages of our construction is that it does not involve any pairing operations. To date, existing protocols in the Identity Based Key Agreement domain revolves around a single PKG environment. Efforts to exploit the multiple PKGs paradigm have placed excessive reliance on Elliptic Curve Cryptography and bilinear pairings. These are computationally intensive and cannot be used when computation is premium, specially in applications such as in a Vehicular Ad-Hoc Network (VANET) where the vehicles in a VANET may need to perform a large number of key agreement sessions. Previous attempts to model identity based key agreement in multiple PKG scenario by Chen and Kundla, McCullagh have very limited scope and provide weak security guarantees. We propose a new security model for identity based key agreement protocols involving multiple PKGs based on the eCK security model which is much more stronger than the existing models and captures additional properties like Key Compromise Impersonation and forward secrecy that were not captured by the previous models. Our protocol is proven secure in this new security model under the Gap Diffie Hellman (GDH) assumption in the Random Oracle (RO) model.


With the rise in diagnoses of social deficit disorders comes an increased demand in elucidating the neural mechanisms that underlie social behavior. In the central nervous system arginine-vasopressin (AVP) has been shown to effect social communication, such as aggression, pair bonding, and maternal behavior, and many AVP cell bodies and fibers are distributed in a sexually dimorphic fashion. One such area is the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), with males having more AVP cells than females, thus making it a likely candidate in the control of male specific social behavior. We found that activation of this specific cell population using optogenetics in socially-naïve males does not induce a place preference, affect male territorial aggression, or investigation towards females.


This work considers the estimation of transition probabilities associated with populations moving among multiple spatial locations based on numbers of individuals at each location at two points in time. The problem is generally underdetermined as there exists an extremely large number of ways in which individuals can move from one set of locations to another. A unique solution therefore requires a constraint. The theory of optimal transport provides such a constraint in the form of a cost function, to be minimized in expectation over the space of possible transition matrices. We demonstrate the optimal transport approach on marked bird data and compare to the probabilities obtained via maximum likelihood estimation based on marked individuals. It is shown that by choosing the squared Euclidean distance as the cost, the estimated transition probabilities compare favorably to those obtained via maximum likelihood with marked individuals. Other implications of this cost are discussed, including the ability to accurately interpolate the population's spatial distribution at unobserved points in time and the more general relationship between the cost and minimum transport energy. © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


Systolic time intervals (STIs) were determined in 19 diabetic patients under age 50 (mean age 35.2 years) and 24 normal control subjects (mean age 30.6 years). Preëjection period (PEP), left ventricular ejection time (LVET), and PEP-LVET ratio were obtained by the conventional manner. Preëjection period index (PEPI) and left ventricular ejection time index (LVETI) were derived by Weissler's formula.14 The isovolumic relaxation time (IVRT) was measured: (1) from the aortic component of the second heart sound of the phonocardiogram to the rapid opening anterior motion of the anterior leaflet of the mitral valve on echocardiogram (A2D1), (2) and to the "0" point of the apexcardiogram (A2O). PEP, LEVT, PEPI, LVETI, and PEP/LVET ratio were statistically similar in diabetics and controls. However, the A2D1 was longer in diabetics (71.2 ± 3.4 msec.) than in control subjects (59.5 ±3.1 msec.) (p < 0.02). Effects of oral ethanol (0.7 gm./kg.) administered over 20 minutes to 12 diabetics (group 1) and seven control subjects (group 2) were studied before and at 15, 30, 60, and 90 minutes after ingestion. No change in STIs occurred in group 2 (controls) but the heart rate, PEPI, and PEP/LVET ratio rose in group 1 (diabetics). There were significant differences in PEPI and PEP/LVET ratio between groups 1 and 2, 30 and 60 minutes after alcohol. IVRT remained unchanged. Maximum blood alcohol levels for both groups were comparable at 60 minutes, (67.8 ± 5.2 mg./100 ml. in group 1 and 66.7 ± 7.5 mg./100 ml. in group 2). Glucose levels, although higher in group 1, remained stable throughout for both groups. Lactate levels, after alcohol ingestion, were comparable in both groups. Although the only evidence of myocardial dysfunction noted in diabetic patients in the resting state was the increase in IVRT, their response to alcohol revealed further changes in cardiac function not seen with such low doses of ethanol in normal individuals.


In this paper, the wave propagation method is combined with nonlocal elasticity theory to analyze the buckling and free vibration of rectangular Reddy nanoplate. Wave propagation is one of the powerful methods for analyzing the vibration and buckling of structures. It is assumed that the plate has two opposite edges simply supported while the other two edges may be simply supported or clamped. It is the first time that the wave propagation method is used for thick nanoplates. In this study, firstly the matrices of propagation and reflection are derived. Then, these matrices are combined to provide an exact method for obtaining the natural frequencies and critical buckling loads which can be useful for future studies. It is observed that obtained results of the wave propagation method are in good agreement with the obtained values by literature. At the end the obtained results are presented to evaluate the influence of different parameters such as nonlocal parameter, aspect ratio and thickness to length ratio of nanoplate.


To the Editor: Rickettsia felis is an emerging pathogen responsible for fleaborne spotted fever. This new species was first isolated in 2002 from the cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis, which was then identified as the main vector of this rickettsia (1). R. felis has also been described in other flea, tick, chigger, and mite species (2) and more recently, in mosquitoes, which are strongly suspected to play a role in transmission of the bacterium (3,4).

The first evidence of human pathogenicity of R. felis was suspected in a patient from Texas, USA, in 1991 and was confirmed by 3 additional case-patients from Mexico in 2000 (5). Evidence suggests that this bacterium has a worldwide distribution; ≈100 reports of human cases have been published (2,6). Moreover, R. felis was identified as a common (3%–15%) cause of fever among febrile patients in tropical Africa (7). The bacterium has also been described in Asia, but little is known about cases of infection in humans; only 1 human case was described in Thailand in 2003 (8).

We enrolled febrile patients (≥7 years of age) who came to 4 community hospitals, 2 in Chiang Rai (northern Thailand) and 2 in Khon Kaen (northeastern Thailand) during 2002–2005. Acute-phase and convalescent-phase (3–5 weeks later) serum samples were obtained from 2,225 patients and tested for R. felis by using an indirect immunofluorescence assay (9). Seventeen (0.8%) of 2,225 patients showed evidence of seroconversion (IgG titer ≥1:128 or IgM titer ≥1:64 or a ≥4-fold increase in titer).

Specific real-time PCR (qPCR) for R. felis was performed with acute-phase serum samples of these patients with primers and probes specific for orfB and vapB1 genes as described (7). DNA was extracted by using the Biorobot EZ1 Workstation (QIAGEN, Courtaboeuf, France), and qPCR was performed by using a CFX96 instrument (Bio-Rad, Marne-la-Coquette, France). DNA from R. felis strain URRWFXCalT (1) was used as a positive control, and sterile water was used a negative control. The qPCR results were positive (cycle threshold ≤35) for the 2 genes for 2 of the 17 patients; the four 150-bp amplicons were sequenced. Sequences of orfB (150/150) and VapB1 (155/155) showed 100% similarity with the sequence from the complete genome of R. felis URRWXCALT (GenBank accession no. {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"CP000053","term_id":"67003925","term_text":"CP000053"}}CP000053).

Patient 1, a 20-year-old woman, and patient 2, a 45-year-old man, were from Chiang Rai Province. They both had fever, myalgia, arthralgia, headache, abdominal pain, cough, and chest pain. No rashes, eschars, or lymphadenopathies were noted. In addition, patient 2 had photophobia, had vomited, and reported contact with cats. Both patients reported having contact with others animals and being bitten by insects, including mosquitoes (Table).

Table

Characteristics of 2 febrile patients with confirmed Rickettsia felis infection, Chiang Rai Province, Thailand*

R. felis DNA was detected in serum samples from these 2 patients with acute febrile illness in Thailand. The immunofluorescent assay, the reference serologic method for diagnosis of infection with Rickettsia spp., is known to show cross-reactivity with other Rickettsia spp. Therefore, diagnosis of rickettsial infection should be confirmed by Western blotting or molecular testing. Real-time PCRs are increasingly being used for diagnosis of rickettsioses, including those with R. felis, and for vector and reservoir identification (2).

The predominant rickettsioses reported in Asia are murine typhus and scrub typhus, which are caused by R. typhi and Orientia tsutsugamushi, respectively (8). To the best of our knowledge, only 12 human cases of R. felis infection have been reported in Asia: 3 in Thailand (including these cases), 3 in Sri Lanka, 1 in Laos, 1 in Israel, 1 in Taiwan, and 3 in South Korea (2,8–10). The prevalence of R. felis in fleas has been well studied in >20 countries, including Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Laos, Taiwan, Israel, Afghanistan, and Lebanon (2). This bacterium has also been described in mites in Taiwan and South Korea, in chiggers in South Korea, and in ticks in Japan (2,9,10).

The clinical signs and symptoms of R. felis infection are now better understood. The more frequent clinical findings reported are nonspecific and include fever, asthenia, headache, maculopapular rash, and inoculation eschar. Neurologic, digestive, and respiratory symptoms are not commonly reported (2). These infections could be confused with other rickettsioses or other febrile illnesses, such as malaria. In most regions, laboratory tests are unavailable; consequently, R. felis infections are largely underdiagnosed.

The findings of this study indicate that R. felis infections may be among the causes of febrile illness in Thailand and highlight the need for physicians to consider this pathogen in the differential diagnosis of diseases in tropical countries and in travelers. Further studies are needed to ascertain risk factors and confirm the causal association and pathology of fleaborne spotted fever in Asia.


High resolution Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) patterning is currently limited by EUV resist thickness and pattern collapse, thus impacting the faithful image transfer into the underlying stack. Such limitation requires the investigation of improved hardmasks (HMs) as etch transfer layers for EUV patterning. Ultrathin (<5nm) inorganic HMs can provide higher etch selectivity, lower post-etch LWR, decreased defectivity and wet strippability compared to spin-on hybrid HMs (e.g., SiARC), however such novel layers can induce resist adhesion failure and resist residue. Therefore, a fundamental understanding of EUV resist-inorganic HM interactions is needed in order to optimize the EUV resist interfacial behavior. In this paper, novel materials and processing techniques are introduced to characterize and improve the EUV resist-inorganic HM interface. HM surface interactions with specific EUV resist components are evaluated for open-source experimental resist formulations dissected into its individual additives using EUV contrast curves as an effective characterization method to determine post-development residue formation. Separately, an alternative adhesion promoter platform specifically tailored for a selected ultrathin inorganic HM based on amorphous silicon (aSi) is presented and the mitigation of resist delamination is exemplified for the cases of positive-tone and negative-tone development (PTD, NTD). Additionally, original wafer priming hardware for the deposition of such novel adhesion promoters is unveiled. The lessons learned in this work can be directly applied to the engineering of EUV resist materials and processes specifically designed to work on such novel HMs.


The purpose of this research is to assess the current state of citizen science projects and reveal the role of volunteers in the research process. This is achieved by performing a literature review and content analysis of three international and one state-owned citizen science platforms (Wikipedia, SciStarter, CitSci and Precipita) that contain more than 800 research projects. Projects have been analyzed according to four categories: the academic disciplines, the way the project is designed, the phases of the research in which volunteers participate, and the tasks they perform. The results show that projects in the arts, humanities, and social sciences disciplines are almost non-existent. In addition, in the field of natural and physical sciences, projects are fostered with a top-down approach and volunteers participate primarily in the data collection phase in order to obtain a large volume of data, thereby receiving more financing from the European Union.


Between 2015 and 2017, we implemented the clinic diaries project as part of the qualitative component of an evaluation of a supply chain intervention for family planning in Senegal. This project combined different tools including the diaries and participatory workshops with nurses. At the intersection between writings and silences, this paper explores the role played by the clinic diaries to mediate ethnographic encounters, and the iterative nature of 'doing fieldwork' to produce knowledge in hierarchical health systems. This paper also reflects on the processes through which the diaries created a space where accounts of lived experiences routinely unfolding in health facilities could be shared, in the context of a health system increasingly dominated by metrics, performances and vertical reporting mechanisms. The clinic diaries research process therefore sheds light on the limits of approaching bureaucratic norms and practices as coming from the top, an approach reinforced by data reporting and coordination mechanisms in the Senegalese pyramidal health system. In contrast, the diaries suggest a role for participative ethnography to identify collegial spaces to reflect on shared experiences in and of bureaucratic spaces.


We describe algorithms for optimal single facility location problems with forbidden regions and barriers to travel. The former are those where location is not permitted, but one can travel through them, e.g., a lake. The latter are the regions where neither location nor travel is permitted, e.g., large parks in a city. Using the convexity properties of the objective function, in the first case, we develop an algorithm for finding the optimal solution. The objective function in the barrier case is shown to be non-convex. We use the concept of visibility to create a network with the location point as the source and use Dijkstra's algorithm to compute the shortest distance to all the other demand points. Using simulated annealing we find an approximate optimal solution. Numerical examples illustrate the implementation of the algorithms.


A crude-oil-degrading, Gram-stain-positive actinobacterial strain, RIPIT, was isolated from a soil sample collected from an oil-contaminated mud pit in Khangiran oil and gas field, in the north-east of Iran. RIPIT was strictly aerobic, catalase- and oxidase-positive. The strain grew with 0-12.5 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum 3-5 %), at 25-55 °C (optimum 45 °C) and at pH 6.0-9.5 (optimum pH 7.0). The results of 16S rRNA gene sequence comparative analysis indicated that RIPIT represents a member of the genus Prauserella, with high phylogenetic similarity to Prauserella coralliicola SCSIO 11529T (97.5 %), Prauserella endophytica SP28S-3T (97.5 %) and Prauserella marina MS498T (97.2 %). DNA-DNA relatedness values between the novel strain and P. coralliicola DSM 45821T, P. endophytica DSM 46655T and P. marina DSM 45268T were 28 , 19 and 23 %, respectively. The cell wall peptidoglycan of RIPIT contained meso-diaminopimelic acid as the diamino acid and the whole-cell sugars are galactose and arabinose. The polar lipids pattern contained phosphatidylethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol and two unknown phospholipids. Its cellular fatty acids pattern consisted of C17 : 1ω6c, iso-C16 : 0 and summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c and/or iso-C15 : 0 2-OH), and the major respiratory quinone was MK-9(H4). The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 69 mol%. On the basis of polyphasic taxonomic data we propose that RIPIT represents a novel species of the genus Prauserella, for which the name Prauserella oleivorans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Prauserellaoleivorans is RIPIT (=IBRC-M 10906T=LMG 28389T).


Voltaire wrote that 'Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd'. Our Courts have long had the good sense to realize this and require the jury to find fact only beyond reasonable doubt. As science is an engine designed to eliminate uncertainty, the Courts turn in their deliberations to scientists. This presentation will examine the contemporary paradox of forensic science, which is that exciting developments—particularly in the field of DNA profiling—have been accompanied by a realization that many of the assumptions upon which many forensic sciences are founded are uncertain. Few forensic science sub-disciplines can approach the 'gold standard' of DNA. Some sub-disciplines may not even be science at all. The respective roles of the Universities and the profession in promoting academic research and education in forensic science will be considered. Despite their media image, forensic science and forensic medicine are academia's 'forgotten sciences' upon which anyone's fate may suddenly depend. A free society is founded upon the liberty of the individual. The presentation will contend, in conclusion, that the perpetual crises in policy and in administration in forensic science are signs of complacency unfitting of democratic societies.


While the importance of changes in host biodiversity for disease risk continues to gain empirical support, the influence of natural variation in parasite diversity on epidemiological outcomes remains largely overlooked. Here, we combined field infection data from 2,191 amphibian hosts representing 158 parasite assemblages with mechanistic experiments to evaluate the influence of parasite richness on both parasite transmission and host fitness. Using a guild of larval trematode parasites (six species) and an amphibian host, our experiments contrasted the effects of parasite richness vs. composition, observed vs. randomized assemblages, and additive vs. replacement designs. Consistent with the dilution effect hypothesis extended to intrahost diversity, increases in parasite richness reduced overall infection success, including infections by the most virulent parasite. However, the effects of parasite richness on host growth and survival were context dependent; pathology increased when parasites were administered additively, even when the presence of the most pathogenic species was held constant, but decreased when added species replaced or reduced virulent species, emphasizing the importance of community composition and assembly. These results were similar or stronger when community structures were weighted by their observed frequencies in nature. The field data also revealed the highly nested structure of parasite assemblages, with virulent species generally occupying basal positions, suggesting that increases in parasite richness and antagonism in nature will decrease virulent infections. Our findings emphasize the importance of parasite biodiversity and coinfection in affecting epidemiological responses and highlight the value of integrating research on biodiversity and community ecology for understanding infectious diseases.


ABSTRACT During a coal resources study in the Clinton area, covering 260 square miles, the author found that six unnamed and little understood coal beds that lie within an average vertical interval of 62 ft in the Staunton Formation (middle Pennsylvanian) were difficult to identify and correlate. A study of these beds was made, using data from numerous outcrops and coal test holes. These six coals resemble one another in physical appearance and spore content, but each occurs in a separate cyclothem. The cyclothems are designated informally A through F in ascending order. The key beds, nearly identical lithologically in each cyclothem, vary in thickness and are discontinuous in geographic distribution. A table and six histograms summarize the results of the stratigraphic analysis of continuity and thickness of key beds (underclay-limestone, underclay, coal, carbonaceous black shale, and marine limestone) and of the intervals between the Seelyville Coal Member (III), which marks the top of the Staunton, and each of the six unnamed coals. Limestone is absent in cyclothems A and F; the two types of limestones gradually increase in distribution from cyclothem E through cyclothem B; the five key beds coexist with most frequency in cyclothem B; cyclothem D contains the most widespread underclay, coal, and black shale; coal is the most common key-bed lithology. Coal D is the most common key-bed unit and yet is found in only 70 percent of the stragitraphic sections. More than half of the key beds occur in 50 percent or fewer of the stratigraphic sections. These facts indicate the high degree of discontinuity of lithologic units that caused the difficulty in identification and correlation. Tentative correlation of the six unnamed coal beds in the Clinton area is made from generalized geologic columns in other areas, which are published, in large part. All six coals are correlated from Dubois County, and from Fountain, Warren, and northern Vermillion Counties; five are correlated from the Brazil Quadrangles, Clay County: four from Spencer County; and three from near Oakland City, Gibson County.