Fetal movement (FM) counts by mothers with premature rupture of membranes (PROM) may be helpful in estimating fetal well being, provided FM assessment is not altered by the reduced amniotic fluid. It is possible that the decreased uterine volume restricts fetal movements, though the closer contact of the fetus to the uterine wall may enhance maternal perception of even weak FM. The present study compared maternally perceived FM in 41 cases of PROM to 120 uncomplicated pregnancies. No significant differences in FM counts were detected between the two groups at any of the gestational ages. Fetal movement counts by mothers with PROM, therefore, can assist fetal surveillance as is the case in pregnancies with intact membranes. It is well established that fetal activity expresses its


Before I learned to read, my grandfather, Abraham Sackman, read to me from Bad Bishop Brown's Science and History for Girls and Boys. The linking of science and history in the same book did not seem at all strange to us. For me, it was all part of an exciting finding-out about the way the world worked. My grandfather, more self-consciously, believed that a minimum education for a socialist worker must include cosmology, evolution, and history. And the Bad Bishop, enough of a Marxist to have been excommunicated from his Protestant church for heresy, combined science and history in one book because he saw them as one. For him human history was a continuation of natural history.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.


OBJECTIVE--To assess the influence of giving patients a handout about tetanus immunisation on the rate of immunisation against tetanus among adults in a general practice. DESIGN--Monthly tetanus immunisation rates were audited before and after the handout was introduced. SETTING--A practice with six doctors and a list of 11,000 patients in an urban area of Hertfordshire. INTERVENTIONS--In the first month reception staff were instructed to give a handout about tetanus immunisation to all adults presenting at the reception desk. In the next seven months the doctors used the handouts opportunistically during consultations. RESULTS--No significant change in immunisation rate was detected in the first month in which the handouts were used. During the next seven months the median monthly rate rose threefold. CONCLUSION--Handouts given to patients can increase the uptake of preventive services in general practice.


: Our current quantitative knowledge of the kinetics of antibody-mediated immunity is partly based on idealized experiments throughout the last decades. However, new experimental techniques often render contradictory quantitative outcomes that shake previously uncontroversial assumptions. This has been the case in the field of T-cell receptors, where recent techniques for measuring the 2-dimensional rate constants of T-cell receptor–ligand interactions exposed results contradictory to those obtained with techniques measuring 3-dimensional interactions. Recently, we have developed a mathematical framework to rationalize those discrepancies, focusing on the proper fine-grained description of the underlying kinetic steps involved in the immune synapse. In this perspective article, we apply this approach to unveil potential blind spots in the case of B-cell receptors (BCR) and to rethink the interactions between B cells and follicular dendritic cells (FDC) during the germinal center (GC) reaction. Also, we elaborate on the concept of "catch bonds" and on the recent observations that B-cell synapses retract and pull antigen generating a "retracting force", and propose some testable predictions that can lead to future research.


The invention of the commercial sports bra in 1977 was a significant advancement for physically active women. Despite its humble origins as an enabling technology, the sports bra has since been invested with new and varied cultural meanings and currencies. In this article I critically read popular representations of sports bras, specifically advertisements and "iconic sports-bra moments" that circulate around Brandi Chastain's celebration of the U.S. women's soccer team's victory in the 1999 World Cup. I argue that such representations sexualize sports bras and the women who wear them. In addition, these representations homogenize and normalize ideals of femininity, which are considered achievable through technologies of disciplined body management, and reproduce the traditional gender order.


Dielectric material properties of printed circuit boards (PCBs) are needed by designers working in various areas such as signal integrity, antennas, and embedded RF components. Among many methods to extract the material properties, the full sheet resonance technique is commonly used on PCBs due to its simplicity. The disadvantage of this method is that an analytical equation is used to extract the dielectric constant, which is accurate only for lossless dielectrics. In this paper, a new method is presented to solve the inaccuracy issue of the extraction of the dielectric constant by applying customized electromagnetic simulation based on a new rapid plane solver instead of analytical equations. For PCB dielectrics, the loss tangent tends to be flat over several decades. The dielectric constant then varies as a function of frequency based on the Kronig-Kramers relations. This paper introduces a new Debye type of a model for the complex permittivity of such dielectrics. The parameters of the Debye model can be obtained analytically without requiring any curve fitting. The resulting Debye model can then be easily integrated in SPICE or a finite-difference time-domain simulator.


General n-point formulae for difference operators and their errors are derived in terms of
elementary symmetric functions. These are used to derive high-order, compact and parallelisable
finite difference schemes for the decay-advection-diffusion and linear damped
Korteweg-de Vnes equations. Stability calculations are presented and the speed and accuracy
of the schemes is compared to that of other finite difference methods in common
use. Appendices contain useful tables of difference operators and errors and present a stability
proof for quadratic inequalities. For completeness, the appendices conclude with the
standard Thomas method for solving tri-diagonal systems.


In recent years, drug discovery and therapeutics trends have shifted from a focus on small-molecule compounds to biopharmaceuticals, genes, cell therapy, and regenerative medicine. Therefore, new approaches and technologies must be developed to respond to these changes in medical care. To achieve this, we applied a temperature-responsive separation system to purify a variety of proteins and cells. We developed a temperature-responsive chromatography technique based on a poly( N -isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm)-grafted stationary phase. This method may be applied to various types of protein and cell separation applications by optimizing the properties of the modified polymers used in this system. Therefore, the developed temperature-responsive HPLC columns and temperature-responsive solid-phase extraction (TR-SPE) columns can be an effective separation tool for new therapeutic modalities such as monoclonal antibodies, nucleic acid drugs, and cells.


Mental health comorbidities are increasingly being recognized in children and adolescents with type 1 or type 2 diabetes (1–3). Several studies have found increased rates of depressive symptoms (1), clinical depression (2), and anxiety disorders (3) in pediatric patients with type 1 diabetes when compared to healthy peers. Some studies have also identified an association between poor glycemic control and more severe depression scores (4,5). Additional mental health and behavioral issues have been described in this population, including disordered eating behaviors and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (3,6).

A wide variety of screening tools have been used in the diabetes population in attempts to identify patients with mental health comorbidities. These include the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (4,7), the Children's Depression Inventory (1), Beck's Depression Inventory (5), and the Screen for Childhood Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (5). However, a combination of several different screening tools is required to adequately identify the wide range of mental health and behavioral comorbidities that exist within the pediatric diabetes population.

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) has emerged as a more comprehensive tool for assessing mental health comorbidities in children with a variety of chronic diseases, including asthma, chronic kidney disease, primary antibody deficiency, and neurological disorders (8–10). The advantage of the SDQ is that it is a relatively short instrument that screens for a wider range of psychosocial and behavioral issues than other commonly used assessment tools, identifying symptoms of anxiety, depression, hyperactivity-inattention, conduct disorder, and peer relationship problems (11).

The aim of this study was to examine the results of routine mental health and behavioral screening in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes using the SDQ Self-Reported Version when compared to screening results from children without chronic disease. Clinically, the purpose …


Simultaneous transmission was achieved of 40 Gbps at baseband and 2.5 Gbps modulation on a 50 GHz subcarrier utilizing a single 40 Gbps light-intensity modulator. A novel reception method based on optically separated baseband and single sideband channel permits direct detection of both signals with use of bandwidth limited photodiodes and dispersion tolerant transmission. This method can be used to increase the total capacity of an original 40 Gbps optical link to also carry a secondary signal.


This study tested a sequential process model linking youth sport coaching climates (perceived coach behaviors and perceived need satisfaction) to youth self-perceptions (perceived competence and global self-esteem) and youth development outcomes (initiative, identity reflection, identity exploration). A sample of 119 youth between the ages of 10 and 18 who participated in a community-directed summer swim league completed questionnaires over the course of the 7-week season. Results indicated that coaches' autonomy support, particularly via process-focused praise, predicted youth competence need satisfaction and relatedness need satisfaction in the coaching relationship. Youth competence need satisfaction predicted self-esteem indirectly via perceived competence. Finally, self-esteem predicted identity reflection, and perceived competence predicted both identity reflection and initiative. Effects of age, sex, and perceptions of direct contact with the coach were not significant. Findings suggest that the quality of the coaching climate is an important predictor of the developmental benefits of sport participation and that one pathway by which the coaching climate has its effect on initiative and identity reflection is through developing youth self-perceptions.


This paper presents the results of a study on the open archives in developing countries. It provides the elements of type, size and contents of open archives. The methodology is based on information collected from open repository websites. The survey is based on an almost exhaustive sample list of developing countries websites retrieved from directories and a list of open repositories. The purpose of this study, carried out from 2011 up to now, is to measure, at a second level, the impact of open access on the Algerian researchers by analyzing their practices related to open access, through the identification of their scientific publications at a second level in the open archives, in which they can deposit.


Background: Moral hazard is referred to behavior change of service-provider (physician) and service-consumer (patient) as the result of insurance. It is a serious concern for health insurance and insurance policies market in the health system reforms. Moral hazard usually leads to such unpleasant consequences as welfare loss, increasing health expenditures, decrease of insurance coverage, unnecessary use of resources, decrease of risk pooling benefits, as well as decrease in allocation and technical efficiency. There fore, in this review article, we want to describe the appropriate policy interventions to prevent moral hazard of consumers and healthcare providers. Method: This is a review article. The related articles were taken from sound sites and reliable published texts. The databases such as Medline,Web of Science, Science Direct, Google Scholar, and Springer were explored based on appropriate key words used in current methods for moral hazard control in supply side and demand side. Result: Demand policies only affect service demand on the part of patient, and do not impede extra service delivering on the part of service provider. So, more effort is needed from supply policies to monitor the use of extra services. In terms of demand aspect, such methods such as franchise, copayment, waiting list, and encouragement for non-utilization are being used, while in terms of supply aspct, strategies like financial incentive and payment methods (fee-for-service, global payment), reform of source-providing system structures and behavior interventions (exclusive referring and gate-keeping, use of clinical-guidelines), and prospective supervision on use rate are being basically employed. Conclusion: Different methods used to control moral hazards may prevent source waste, unnecessary services delivering, and misallocation of resources through preventing low-value consumptions. As a result, efficiency can be promoted and health expenditures can also be controlled.


Benthic foraminiferal faunas in Long Island Sound (LIS) in the 1940s and 1960s were of low diversity, and dominated by species of the genus Elphidium , mainly Elphidium excavatum clavatum, with common Buccella frigida and Eggerella advena . The distribution of these species was dominantly correlated with depth, but it was not clear which depth related environmental variable was most important. Differences between faunas collected in 1996 and 1997, and in the 1940s and 1960s include a strong decrease in relative abundance of Eggerella advena over all LIS, an increase in relative abundance of Ammonia beccarii in western LIS, and a decrease in species diversity. The decreased diversity suggests that environmental stress caused the faunal changes. Oxygen isotope data for E . excavatum clavatum indicate that a change in salinity is not a probable cause. Carbon isotope data suggest that the supply of organic matter to the benthos increased since the early 1960s, with a stronger increase in western LIS where algal blooms have occurred since the early 1970s, possibly as a result of nutrient input by waste water treatment plants. These blooms or the resulting episodes of anoxia/hypoxia may have played a role in the increased relative abundance of A. beccarii. There is no clear explanation for the decreased abundance of E. advena , but changes in the phytoplankton composition (thus food supply) are a possible cause. Benthic foraminiferal faunal and stable isotope data have excellent potential as indicators of physicochemical environmental changes and their effects on the biota in LIS.


Background: This study evaluated an outreach mobile dental service called Teeth on Wheels (TOW). The dental program targeted Australian children from low household income, who are eligible for the Child Dental Benefits Scheme (CDBS) in Victoria, Australia. The program is complemented with a school-based oral health promotion element. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed with a convenience sample. Children must have had at least three dental examinations during the 2016–2019 calendar years to be included in the study. Comparisons were made between the 2016–17 and 2018–19 calendar years. It was hypothesised that the program would result in reduced costs and the number of restorations and extractions in the latter period. Results: A total of 414 children were included in the analysis. The total mean costs of the program per child reduced from AU$605.3 in 2016–17 to AU$531.1 in 2018–19. The results showed an overall mean reduction in all restorations and extractions performed, but only statistical significance was noted for reductions of restored deciduous teeth. Conclusions: This outreach program, which is focused on prevention and minimally invasive dentistry, can be a promising alternative model of delivery for dental services in young children.


The primary focus of this thesis is the semantic gap between a fine-grained structural operational semantics and a set of rely/guarantee-style development rules. The semantic gap is bridged by considering the development rules to be a part of the same logical framework as the operational semantics, and a set of soundness proofs show that the development rules, though making development easier for a developer, do not add any extra power to the logical framework as a whole. The soundness proofs given are constructed to take advantage of the structural nature of the language and its semantics; this allows for the addition of new development rules in a modular fashion. The particular language semantics allows for very fine-grained concurrency. The language itself includes a construct for nested parallel execution of statements, and the semantics is written so that statements can interfere with each other between individual variable reads. The language also includes an atomic block construct for which the semantics is an embodiment of a form of software transactional memory. The inclusion of the atomic construct helps illustrate the inherent expressive weakness present in the rely/guarantee rules with respect to termination properties. As such, two development rules are proposed for the atomic construct, one of which has serious restrictions in its application, and another for which the termination property does not hold. © 2008 University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Printed and published by the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Computing Science, Claremont Tower, Claremont Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, England. Bibliographical details


This article describes a course, Environmental Justice Movement, initiated at the College of Urban and Public Affairs at the University of New Orleans in the spring of 1995. A companion to a course in environmental planning, the course was designed to prepare planning students to engage in the environmental policy debate by exposing them to its historical, moral, and technical dimensions. By examining strategies and tactics of planning practice, they learn to apply their analytic and research skills to appropriate advocacy, mediation, and community planning roles. The course seeks to connect the environmental justice movement with social movement theory, concepts of procedural justice, and advocacy and equity planning. It integrates propositions and concepts about the politics of planning, land use policies, and practices with political philosophy, populist beliefs and what Perry (1994) calls "the street-level Rawlsian approach."


In this paper we present an approach to automatically segmenting non-rigid pedestrians in still images. Inspired by global shape matching as well as interactive figure-ground separation methods, this approach fulfills the task combining shape and appearance cues in a unified framework. The main idea is to initially extract pedestrian silhouette and skeleton via hierarchical shape matching, and then generate an appearance trimap to refine segmentation. The major contributions of this paper include: 1) a novel shape matching scheme, which is proposed to replace the commonly used Chamfer matching in the shape matching stage, 2) a head-torso parsing method, which is developed for localizing pedestrian to reduce the search space, 3) an automatic trimap generation method used to refine segmentation. Experiments on public datasets demonstrate that the approach improves pedestrian segmentation efficiently and effectively.


This article examines nazi propaganda on non-German 'concentration camps' in the years 1933—9. It shows how the regime publicized internment facilities in Austria, the Soviet Union and South Africa during the Boer War for rhetorical effect. This examination is placed within the context of extensive nazi propaganda concerning Germany's own camps, demonstrating that the two propaganda strands worked not contrary to each other, but rather in a mutually reinforcing manner. In addition, the article will explore the legacy of this propaganda material in shaping popular attitudes with the onset of war and genocide.


This study aimed at testing the relevant dimensions of service quality perception of customers in mobile telecommunication sector, and examining the effect of overall service quality on two key manifestations of attitudinal loyalty, including repurchase intention and positive word-of-mouth. A total of 557 valid questionnaires, collected from current mobile phone users in Vietnam, were tested in this study. Prior to employing Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) for testing hypotheses, confirmatory factor analysis verified five distinct factors contributing to overall service quality. These five service quality dimensions consist of call quality, price policy, convenience, customer support, and added services. The results from hypotheses testing indicated that overall service quality has a positive impact on repurchase intention of customers as well as their intention of disseminating positive word-of-mouth. The findings of this study not only added more knowledge to deepen the understanding of service quality and consumer psychology in the field of mobile telecommunication service, but also yielded a number of practical implications for mobile carriers in Vietnam. Based on the study's findings, some suggestions were made so that mobile network operators in Vietnam could retain their customers more effectively.


Challenges facing agricultural development, particularly in developing countries dominated by smallholder farming are increasingly framed in the context of weak innovation systems and capacities in the growing literature on agricultural innovation systems. Innovation systems (IS) approaches emphasize the collective dimension of innovation pointing to the need to effect necessary linkages and interaction among multiple actors. IS thinking also pays attention to the co-evolution of innovation processes, arguing that successful innovation results from alignment of technical, social, institutional and organizational dimensions. These insights are increasingly informing interventions that focus on supporting multi-stakeholder arrangements such as innovation platforms as mechanisms for enhancing agriculture innovation. While much emphasis in analyzing agricultural innovation systems has focused on how these multi-stakeholder platforms are organized and mechanisms through which actors interact, there has been limited analysis that has unraveled how and why such platforms contribute to innovation processes and thus they remain a black-box. This paper therefore aims to address this gap by analyzing innovation platforms as intermediaries in efforts to better understand their contribution in shaping dynamic innovation processes. The paper presents an empirical case study of the East African Dairy (EADD) program in Kenya. The program is led by a consortium of five organizations and provides a platform for building partnerships between farmers, various government and private sector actors to enhance innovation for improving productivity and market access for smallholder dairy farmers. The results show the diverse role of the platform as the innovation process unfolds and draws conclusion relevant to how the concept of platforms is usually approached and calls for a more dynamic view in analyzing them as part of understanding innovation processes.


Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is a prototypic systemic autoimmune disease characterised by multi-system involvement, female preference, activation of T-cells, B-cell hyper-activity, autoantibody production and immune complex deposition. The origin of the defects leading to pathogenicity in systemic lupus erythematosus, is still controversial. The therapeutic strategies today for treatment of lupus disease are mainly based on a general suppression of the immune system with uncertainty about their long-term effects. The underlying mechanism for the development of the disease is yet to be clarified. Cytokines play a critical role in regulating the quantitative and qualitative responses of T cells, B cells, macrophages, and other cell types. Many cytokine disorders have been reported in both SLE patients and the animal models but findings are often difficult to reconcile especially differences between data from the in vitro and in vivo studies. In the murine model, it was suggested that the balance of Th1/Th2 cytokines related to the pathogenesis of SLE. Recent evidence clearly demonstrates that Th1 cytokines are involved in the immuno-pathogenesis of SLE. Several factors are required for optimal induction of Th1 activity, chief among them are IL-12 and IL-18. IL-12 promoted IFN-gamma dependent renal injury in MRL/lpr mice, which develop spontaneous lupus-like autoimmune disease. In order to understand the mechanism of immune regulation in SLE, I carried out detailed analysis of the nature and pathological relevance of Th1 and Th2 cytokines, IL-12 and IL-18 in particular, in the pathogenesis of SLE. I found that serum fi-om patients with SLE contained significantly higher concentrations of IL-18 than normal individuals. To investigate the potential role of IL-18 in SLE, I studied the effect of recombinant-IL-18 on MRL/lpr mice, which develop spontaneous lupus-like autoimmune disease. MRL/lpr mice produced significantly more IL-18 as disease progressed compared with the wild-type MRL/++ mice. MRL/lpr mice injected daily with IL-18 or IL-18 + IL-12 resulted in accelerated proteinuria, glomerulonephritis, and vasculitis. In contrast, the treatment had no effect on the control MRL/++ mice. IL-18 and IL-18 + IL-12-treated MRL/lpr mice produced more inflammatory cytokines (LFN-gamma, TNF-alpha and IL-6) compared with untreated MRL/lpr mice. IL-18-treated MRL/r mice also exhibited the butterfly facial rashes characteristic of clinical SLE. In contrast, MRL/lpr mice treated with a combination of IL-18 and IL-12, while showing more severe vasculitis than those treated with IL-18 alone, did not present any facial rash. Histological analysis of the facial lesion revealed extensive epidermal thickening with intense inflammatory cell infiltrate and immunoglobulin deposition accompanied by extensive apoptosis in the IL-18-treated mice compared with control or IL-12 + IL-18 treated mice. IL-18 may thus be a novel target for therapeutic intervention of spontaneous autoimmune diseases. Elevated levels of IL-12 (p40/p70) have been reported in MRL/lpr serum and have been linked to increased nitric oxide production and disease activity. Therefore, studies were also performed to determine whether IL-12 and nitric oxide (NO) play a significant role (similar to MRL/lpr mice) in induction of the disease in NZB/W mice a lupus-like model with different genetic backgrounds from MRL/lpr mice and with intact Fas. The results demonstrate that serum of NZB/W FI mice contains higher level of total IL-12 (p40/p70) than control mice and IL-12 is increased in correlation with disease of this lupus-like strain. In himians, the serum level of total IL-12 is significantly higher in SLE patients than control individuals. Whole blood culture from SLE patients also showed higher IL-12 production, when cultured with LPS and IFN-gamma, compared with control individuals. Results presented in this thesis demonstrate that IL-18 and IL-12 play important roles in the induction of SLE through the activation of Th1 cells.


Game based learning is a proven methodology of convening complex ideas and concepts to students. Game based learning creates an environment that is safe, enjoyable, stress free, and competitive. Construction management is no exception. In the classroom, there is only one way to provide real life experiences in creating and operating a business. That is through simulation software. Simulation software allows a user to experience many of the complexities that occur in real life while playing in an educational environment. This senior project will focus on one software package called The Building Industry Game. This simulation package provides its user a way to experience real life bidding on projects, management of those projects, as well as management of their company. When using the simulation software during one of my classes, I saw the large amount of potential information waiting to be extracted from the game. Core information taught in classes Construction Management majors take, such as accounting and construction lab classes, is embedded in the simulation package. Much of this information, however, was never presented this way to students and thus was confusing for players when using the simulation software. This is the difference between learning a subject and applying the knowledge. Applying knowledge and recognizing "cause and effect" is one of the major advantages of this method of education and is what separates the classroom from the simulation environment. I believe there are many areas of improvement for the game to better communicate important information to students and thus enhance and improve the overall learning experience.


The effect of microbiological treatment of low-rank coal with an anaerobic microbial consortium on theirs characteristics and composition has been inwestigated. A large amount of pyrite sulfur is removed and coal ash is decreased with anaerobic conditions in closed flask. After biological treatment of these low-rank coals in a continuously operationg flow reactor without air blowiong and with everyday aeration, coal ash reduction is found to be more significant under conditions of reactor aeration due to activation of facultative microorganisems. In some time, some metals are removed from two kinds of low-rank coals, includiing iron, manganese, potassium, lithium, toxic and trace metals. The exchange of elements between coal and mineral culture medium depends on coal rank. Metal leaching is higher for higher rank coal.


Iron ore reduction and carbon deposition under H2-CO mixtures were investigated by using the non-isothermal method. Iron ore in three different configurations were used in this work: pellet, coarse granularity particles and fine granularity particles. The reduced samples were characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and accelerated surface area and porosimetry System(ASAP 2020M+C). In pure CO, the carbon deposition increases with decreasing of the sample size. In H2-CO mixtures, the rate of carbon deposition is accelerated dramatically. Morphologies of samples treated in different reducing ambinent were investigated. Specific surface area of the treated sample increases with higher level of carbon deposition.


Ca(+) sparklets are subcellular Ca(2+) signals produced by the opening of sarcolemmal L-type Ca(2+) channels. Ca(2+) sparklet activity varies within the sarcolemma of arterial myocytes. In this study, we examined the relationship between Ca(2+) sparklet activity and sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca(2+) accumulation and release in cerebral arterial myocytes. Our data indicate that the SR is a vast organelle with multiple regions near the sarcolemma of these cells. Ca(2+) sparklet sites were located at or <0.2 μm from SR-sarcolemmal junctions. We found that while Ca(2+) sparklets increase the rate of SR Ca(2+) refilling in arterial myocytes, their activity did not induce regional variations in SR Ca(2+) content or Ca(2+) spark activity. In arterial myocytes, L-type Ca(2+) channel activity was independent of SR Ca(2+) load. This ruled out a potential feedback mechanism whereby SR Ca(2+) load regulates the activity of these channels. Together, our data suggest a model in which Ca(2+) sparklets contribute Ca(2+) influx into a cytosolic Ca(2+) pool from which sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-ATPase pumps Ca(2+) into the SR, indirectly regulating SR function.


Atherosclerosis is a disease in which plaque builds up in the arterial wall, narrowing and hardening the vessel and restricting the supply of blood and oxygen to the heart muscle. Plaques characterized by a thin fibrous cap and a soft, lipid-rich necrotic core are vulnerable to rupture, which can result in a heart attack or stroke. Our long-term goal is the development of an intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) probe capable of high- resolution acoustic radiation force imaging in the coronary arteries, to identify and characterize vulnerable plaque. We investigate the feasibility of this approach through construction of a prototype transducer and finite-element simulation of soft plaque response to an acoustic radiation force excitation.


We compared the median values of temperature, platelet count, white blood cell count and differential leukocyte count (neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils, lymphocytes and monocytes) just before and after coronary artery bypass grafting of patients transfused with packed red cell units (n = 119), and not transfused with packed red cell units (n = 98). Just before surgery and at 7 h, 13 h, 22 h, 46 h and 142 h after surgery, blood samples were taken. In the patient group undergoing transfusion lower median values at a significance level of alpha = 0.025 were found of their temperature postoperatively at 7 h, platelets at 22 h, 46 h and 142 h, white blood cell count at 13 h and 22 h, neutrophils at 7 h, 13 h and 22 h, lymphocytes at 46 h and 142 h, compared to the patients not transfused.


The poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) family of enzymes are functionally implicated in DNA repair, transcriptional regulation, glucose metabolism, mitosis, and other cellular mechanisms. To date, the focus has been on defining the role of PARPs 1-3 in DNA damage repair. Currently, PARP1-3 inhibitors are in clinical trials for BRCA1/2 mutant ovarian and breast cancers. The roles of other PARP family members are starting to emerge. Using a cell-based assay measuring multi-polar spindle induction, PARP6 was identified as novel target with therapeutic potential. AZ482 and AZ108 were developed as potent PARP6 inhibitors. These compounds exhibited a unique and selective growth inhibition profile when screened in large panels of tumor cells and suitable pharmacokinetics in vivo. In sensitive hematological and solid tumor models, these compounds had low nanomolar potency in vitro and anti-tumor efficacy in vivo. Mechanistic studies suggest PARP6 inhibitors disrupt spindle pole clustering resulting in mitotic catastrophe and may show selectivity toward tumor cell lines with supernumary centrosomes.

Citation Information: Mol Cancer Ther 2013;12(11 Suppl):A221.

Citation Format: Michele F. Mayo, Shaun Grosskurth, Xin Wang, Philip Petteruti, Prasad Nadella, Corinne Reimer, Keith Mikule. Novel PARP6 inhibitors demonstrate in vivo efficacy in xenograft models. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2013 Oct 19-23; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2013;12(11 Suppl):Abstract nr A221.


Hundreds of thousands of vascular bypass grafts are implanted in the United States every year, but there has yet to be an ideal graft material to substitute for one's own autologous vessel. Many synthetic materials have been shown to be successful vessel replacements; however, none have been proven to exhibit the same mechanical properties as native vessels, one of the most important criteria in selecting a vascular graft material. Part of this issue is due to the fact that, currently, there is no " gold standard " for testing the longitudinal and transverse tensile properties of small diameter tubular materials. While there are ASTM and ISO standards that suggest ways to test tubes in their original form, many researchers have published tensile strength data based on cutting the tube and testing it as a flat sample. Thus, it was the aim of this thesis to understand, establish, and implement accurate tensile testing methods of small diameter polymers in their original, tubular state on Cal Poly's campus. Two test fixtures were created based on specified design criteria in order to test materials in their tubular form in both the longitudinal and transverse directions. Both fixtures were successful in testing PLGA and ePTFE samples, and statistical data was gathered for the transverse test fixture. The new transverse test fixture was tested against the current method of testing, and a significant (α = 0.05) difference between methods v was established for ultimate tensile strength. This analysis, however, cannot determine which test method is more accurate, thus more extensive testing is required to verify the design of both fixtures. By developing a method for testing small diameter polymers in tubular form on Cal Poly's campus, it allows for more testing of various small diameter tubes and more comparative data to validate each design. It also demonstrates a need for a more detailed and widespread standardization of testing for small diameter tubes, especially in vascular substitute applications where the ideal vessel replacement has yet to be found.


Caribbean communities in Britain are known for the high religiosity of their people, and yet as 'popular' as the Church appears to be, there is at the same time an over-representation of many in the criminal justice, mental health and social care systems. This thesis takes a new approach to examining the effectiveness of the Church in their lives; rather than examine its belief systems and rituals, it looks at the worship and personal experience of Baptists, the oldest inherited Christian denomination, through the lens of culture. It reveals through practices and experiences, that British Caribbean Christians continue to maintain an allegiance to inherited missionary prejudices against Caribbean culture, enforced by leaders, through a system of social stratification, resulting in self-loathing, alienation and dislocation. They are a people who respect biblical stories and particularly the story of the Exodus, which gives meaning to not just their religious, but social and political lives. This thesis theologically reflects on that story, reframing it to demonstrate that Moses is indeed to be celebrated, but not simply as one who leads God's people out of Egypt, but to the Promised Land; being a successful prototype of a leadership founded on cultural inclusion.


Background/Hypothesis:
Cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIED) include permanent pacemakers (PPM), implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD), and cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). Both ICDs and dual chamber PPMs are two-lead systems; whereas, CRT is a three-lead system. Indications for CIEDs include arrythmia, risk of sudden cardiac death and AV block. From 1993 to 2003, over 4 million CIEDs were implanted. With the upward trend in the rate of CIED implantations, the post-operative infection burden has increased concurrently. Device related infections are a serious complication of CIED implants. They are associated with a significant increase in the rate of mortality as well as a significant increase in financial burden. We hypothesize two-lead systems will have significantly lower rate of infection than three-lead devices
 Methods:
This study will be a retrospective review of patient charts who are hospitalized in the Parkview Health medical system in Fort Wayne, Indiana over a three-year period. All patients who have received a CIED during that time frame will be included in the study. Patients will be categorized by specific implant type and recorded as developing post-operation infection or not. Demographic and health status data will also be collected and analyzed for correlation with the development of device related infection.
 Results:
Our results will compare the device related infection rate for two-lead versus three lead systems, as well as the infection rate for each type of CIED. We also expect to find results which support a correlation between specific patient demographics and patient health factors.

Conclusion and Impact:
The results of this study will serve as a guide for identifying high risk procedures and patients. The objective is to provide providers with guidelines for the use of post-operative prophylaxis in order to reduce the incidence of CIED-related infection.


Objective To assess the clinical effectiveness of weekly delivery of low dose, high frequency therapeutic ultrasound in conjunction with standard care for hard to heal venous leg ulcers. Design Multicentre, pragmatic, two arm randomised controlled trial. Setting Community and district nurse led services, community leg ulcer clinics, and hospital outpatient leg ulcer clinics in 12 urban and rural settings (11 in the United Kingdom and one in the Republic of Ireland). Participants 337 patients with at least one venous leg ulcer of >6 months' duration or >5 cm2 area and an ankle brachial pressure index of ≥0.8. Interventions Weekly administration of low dose, high frequency ultrasound therapy (0.5 W/cm2, 1 MHz, pulsed pattern of 1:4) for up to 12 weeks plus standard care compared with standard care alone. Main outcome measures Primary outcome was time to healing of the largest eligible leg ulcer. Secondary outcomes were proportion of patients healed by 12 months, percentage and absolute change in ulcer size, proportion of time participants were ulcer-free, health related quality of life, and adverse events. Results The two groups showed no significant difference in the time to healing of the reference leg ulcer (log rank test, P=0.61). After adjustment for baseline ulcer area, baseline ulcer duration, use of compression bandaging, and study centre, there was still no evidence of a difference in time to healing (hazard ratio 0.99 (95% confidence interval 0.70 to 1.40), P=0.97). The median time to healing of the reference leg ulcer was inestimable. There was no significant difference between groups in the proportion of participants with all ulcers healed by 12 months (72/168 in ultrasound group v 78/169 in standard care group, P=0.39 for Fisher's exact test) nor in the change in ulcer size at four weeks by treatment group (model estimate 0.05 (95% CI –0.09 to 0.19)). There was no difference in time to complete healing of all ulcers (log rank test, P=0.61), with median time to healing of 328 days (95% CI 235 to inestimable) with standard care and 365 days (224 days to inestimable) with ultrasound. There was no evidence of a difference in rates of recurrence of healed ulcers (17/31 with ultrasound v 14/31 with standard care, P=0.68 for Fisher's exact test). There was no difference between the two groups in health related quality of life, both for the physical component score (model estimate 0.69 (–1.79 to 3.08)) and the mental component score (model estimate –0.93 (–3.30 to 1.44)), but there were significantly more adverse events in the ultrasound group (model estimate 0.30 (0.01 to 0.60)). There was a significant relation between time to ulcer healing and baseline ulcer area (hazard ratio 0.64 (0.55 to 0.75)) and baseline ulcer duration (hazard ratio 0.59 (0.50 to 0.71)), with larger and older ulcers taking longer to heal. In addition, those centres with high recruitment rates had the highest healing rates. Conclusions Low dose, high frequency ultrasound administered weekly for 12 weeks during dressing changes in addition to standard care did not increase ulcer healing rates, affect quality of life, or reduce ulcer recurrence. Trial registration ISRCTN21175670 and National Research Register N0484162339


Pipping black-crowned night-heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) embryos were collected from a relatively uncontaminated site (next to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, VA) and three polluted sites (Cat Island, Green Bay, Lake Michigan, WI; Bair Island, San Francisco Bay, CA; West Marin Island, San Francisco Bay, CA). Hepatic cytochrome P450-associated mono-oxygenates and cytochrome P450 proteins, induced up to 85-fold relative to the reference site, were associated with concentrations of total polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and 11 PCB congeners that are presumed to express toxicity through the arylhydrocarbon (Ah) receptor. Multiple regression revealed that up to 86% of the variation of cytochrome P450 measurements was accounted for by variation in the concentration of these PCB congeners. Toxic equivalents (TEQs) of sample extracts, predicted mathematically (summed product of PCB congener concentrations and toxic equivalency factors), and dioxin equivalents (TCDD-EQs), derived by bioassay (ethoxyresorufin-O-dealkylase activity of treated H4IIE rat hepatoma cells), were greatest in Cat Island samples. Cytochrome P450-associated monooxygenases and cytochrome P450 proteins were related to TEQs and TCDD-EQs; adjusted r[sup 2] often exceeded 0.5 for the relation among mathematically predicted TEQs and cytochrome P450 measurements. These data extend previous observations in heron embryos of an association between P450 and total PCB burdens to include Ah-activemore » PCB congeners, and presumably other compounds, which interact similarly with the AH receptor. Benzyloxyresorufin O-dealkylase, ethoxyresorufin O-dealkylase, and cytochrome P450 1A appear to be the most reliable measures of exposure to Ah-active PCB congeners in black-crowned night-heron embryos. These findings provide further evidence that cytochrome P450-associated parameters have considerable value as a biomarker for assessing environmental contamination of wetlands.« less


In this work we present and analyze a new class of coordinate representations of de Sitter and anti-de Sitter spacetimes for which the metrics are diagonal and (typically) static and axially symmetric. Contrary to the well-known forms of these fundamental geometries, that usually correspond to a 1+3 foliation with the 3-space of a constant spatial curvature, the new metrics are adapted to a 2+2 foliation, and are warped products of two 2-spaces of constant curvature. This new class of (anti-)de Sitter metrics depends on the value of cosmological constant Lambda and two discrete parameters +1,0,-1 related to the curvature of the 2-spaces. The class admits 3 distinct subcases for Lambda>0 and 8 subcases for Lambda<0. We systematically study all these possibilities. In particular, we explicitly present the corresponding parametrizations of the (anti-)de Sitter hyperboloid, visualize the coordinate lines and surfaces within the global conformal cylinder, investigate their mutual relations, present some closely related forms of the metrics, and give transformations to standard de Sitter and anti-de Sitter metrics. Using these results, we also provide a physical interpretation of B-metrics as exact gravitational fields of a tachyon.


Evaluation of nursing instructors' clinical teaching performance is a prerequisite to the quality assurance of nursing education. One of the most common procedures for this purpose is using student evaluations. This study was to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of Nursing Instructors' Clinical Teaching Performance Inventory (NICTPI). The primary items of the inventory were generated by reviewing the published literature and the existing questionnaires as well as consulting with the members of the Faculties Evaluation Committee of the study setting. Psychometric properties were assessed by calculating its content validity ratio and index, and test-retest correlation coefficient as well as conducting an exploratory factor analysis and an internal consistency assessment. The content validity ratios and indices of the items were respectively higher than 0.85 and 0.79. The final version of the inventory consisted of 25 items, and in the exploratory factor analysis, items were loaded on three factors which jointly accounting for 72.85% of the total variance. The test-retest correlation coefficient and the Cronbach's alpha of the inventory were 0.93 and 0.973, respectively. The results revealed that the developed inventory is an appropriate, valid, and reliable instrument for evaluating nursing instructors' clinical teaching performance.


Lake Washington, which forms the eastern boundary of Seattle, is located in a tectonically active area containing several strands of the Seattle fault. High-resolution seismic reflection profiling, sidescan swath imagery, and sediment coring were used to define deformation of Holocene lake sediments and the distribution, geometry, age, and causes of submarine landslides. Numerous large block slides, sediment slumps, and debris flows are present throughout the lake, and large landslides obscure the surficial structure of Seattle fault strands as they pass through the lake. In addition, most bays along the lake margin are the headwalls of large submarine slides. Submerged forests show evidence of deep- seated block failures that have exposed glacial sediments and Tertiary rocks. The massive submarine block slides, and retrogressive submarine slope failures were triggered most likely by large (m b >7) earthquakes on the Seattle fault and/or large to great (m b >8) temblors occurring elsewhere in Cascadia. Buried landslides suggest that submarine slope failures and mass wasting occurred more than once in the last 11,000 yr. Sediments in Lake Washington preserve a record of episodic deposition of turbidites possibly caused by seismically induced submarine landslides. Magnetic susceptibility profiles on 36 gravity cores show a characteristic series of magnetic peaks that can be traced throughout the lake. X- radiography and grain size analyses suggest that the magnetic peaks represent anomalous detrital layers that in some cases are turbidites. The areal extent and magnetic signatures of many of the deposits suggest multiple sources, which is consistent with numerous local landslides caused by large earthquakes. Radiocarbon dating and correlation of the downcore magnetic profiles establish a sediment record in which episodic sedimentary disturbances occurred seven times in the last 3500 yr. If these deposits are seismically induced turbidites (seismites), then large earthquakes have occurred about every 300–500 yr in the Puget Sound region.


The objective of this study was to estimate the indirect and direct non-health costs associated with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a disease that burdens the daily life of adults, children and their families in Italy. In order to develop the economic model, a multidisciplinary group of researchers was created to prepare and computerize a questionnaire, which was promoted by SMA families in collaboration with the Economic Evaluation and Heath Technology Assessment center at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. The analysis envisaged a first phase for implementing and validating the questionnaire by the multidisciplinary group. Subsequently, the questionnaire was computerized and sent out to be completed through all the association's distribution channels. The social channels and specific mailing lists were limited exclusively to SMA families. To achieve the sample number required by the research protocol, data collection began on January 8, 2018, and closed on April 15, 2018. Finally, all the data were analyzed using the economic model in order to estimate the average costs per patient.The questionnaire was able to identify a sample of 118 families (22.88% SMA I, 48.31% SMA II, 28.81% SMA III). The average age of the patients was 18.49 years (average age at diagnosis 2.88 years) with more females (55,08%) in the total respondents, taking into account a 4.24% rate of non-respondents. The economic model estimated an average annual cost per patient with SMA of €15.371,41 (€17.683,85 for SMA I, €15.974,78 for SMA II and €12.523,52 for SMA III). Of these costs, about 52% were attributable to indirect costs associated with caregivers, 15% for indirect costs associated with the patient and 4% for social security costs. A total of 17% was attributable to the direct costs incurred by the patient and 12% was attributable to the direct costs incurred by the Italian National Health Service (SSN).To our knowledge, this survey represents the first nationwide analysis estimating the costs incurred by families for the management of SMA. This study highlights the need for specific policies to support families who must live with the disease, not only from the standpoint of their compromised quality of life but also due to the significant economic burden imposed by the disease.


Optical Coherence Tomography is a powerful tool for diagnostic imaging of the ocular posterior chamber. Recent advances in OCT technology have facilitated acquisition of high resolution volumetric images of the retina and optic nerve head. In this report, we investigate optic nerve head imaging in humans using a home-built laboratory grade OCT system in the 800nm wavelength region. We also introduce the development of a computational model of the optic nerve head morphology in order to study physiological changes which may be associated with elevated intra-ocular pressure.


Industrial product, unlike consumer goods, are not sold every so often for the same customers. Due to this fact, searching for demand in a new location is the motive that has forced companies to grow further in the international market. Companies who want to operate internationally should have a comprehensive understanding of the candidate country including the mode of operation, business conduct, regional policy, environment or global effect prior to implementing such strategies. Understanding the local business culture leads to better decision-making and an understanding of how local and/or international governmental policy impacts on operations. Market selection tools that have been developed by Root F.R (1994) for selecting a target country for market entry, as well as further works by Cavusgil, Knight, Riesenberger (2007) to fit the recent market research tool have been readjusted to adapt to this specific segment of marketing strategy. This will further be enhanced by research conducted for a high-tech company's pursuit to engage in an international market in the Middle East and North Africa.


Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains a major global health burden. Currently, two types of treatment, interferons (IFNs) and nucleos(t)ide analogues (NAs), have been approved. These treatments are effective in suppressing HBV replication and in decreasing the risk of developing cirrhosis, liver failure, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and death. However, these treatments do not eliminate the virus, and the risk of HCC remains. This review article summarizes current knowledge about the safety, efficacy, and clinical indications of hepatitis B treatment. It also discusses limitations of existing treatment, gaps in knowledge, and feasibility of a hepatitis B cure.


A mixture of cerium oxide and magnesium oxide supports with certain mole ratios of Mg2+/Ce3+ were prepared via the co-precipitation of Mg and Ce nitrates, and followed by impregnation with 1 wt% each of Ni, Pd, and Pt metals to form Pt, Pd, Ni/Mg1−xCexO catalysts. Evaluation of the prepared catalysts was carried out by a DRM reaction for 200 h and they were characterised by means of in situ XRD, XRF, XPS, BET, H2-TPR, TEM and TGA. It was found that the interaction of a suitable amount of MgO with Ce2O3 stabilised a cubic phase in the catalysts, which has a high basicity to adsorb CO2 forming a monoclinic Ce2O2CO3 species in the DRM reaction. The introduction of MgO also created surface oxygen ions. The oxidisation and the removal of the deposited carbon maybe achieved by both monoclinic Ce2O2CO3 and surface oxygen, keeping the metal Ni, Pd, and Pt catalyst at high activity and stability. The Ce2O3 as a promoter in the catalyst had several effects such as: stabilisation of the magnesia cubic phase; increase in its thermal stability, increase in the basicity of the support, decrease in the carbon deposition, and decrease in the reducibility of the Ni2+, Pd2+, and Pt2+ ions.


Background - The serum albumin concentration has frequently been regarded as an indicator of nutritional status, although the hypoalbuminemia may reflect an acute phase protein response during inflammation mediated by cytokines. Both hypoalbuminemia and malnutrition are observed in Crohn's disease. Objectives — To correlate the serum albumin values to disease activity and also to nutritional status in patients with Crohn's disease. Patients/Methods — Thirty six patients were studied. Nutritional status was assessed by anthropometry measures and inflammatory activity determined by Harvey's simple clinical index and erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Results - No correlation was found between malnutrition and hypoalbuminemia. The serum albumin levels correlated inversely with the disease activity. Hypoalbuminemia was 100% sensitive for detection of disease activity. Conclusion - This study suggests that serum albumin concentration is a very sensitive marker of inflammatory activity and not good indicator of the nutritional status in Crohn's disease. It is necessary a suitable laboratorial parameter for routine nutrition assessment in patients with this inflammatory bowel disease.


"This article considers the link between productivity, fairness, and industrial relations (IR) policy at workplace, national, and international levels using data from micro- and macro-level empirical studies as well as data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the OECD, and other sources. There is some evidence that policies that enhance fairness enhance economic performance. But the effects are conditional, they are neither consistent nor universal. Government policies to encourage or discourage unions, to restrict the extent or scope of collective bargaining or related action, or to encourage or discourage non-unionism or individual contracting, will not do a great deal in net terms to improve economic performance. However, in any specific workplace, industrial relations and the decisions management makes can have a notable effect on productivity. While welfare and industrial relations systems do not make a large inherent difference to economic efficiency, they make a very large difference to social outcomes."


Bioactive food components have gained growing attention in recent years. Multiple studies demonstrated that genistein had beneficial effects on metabolism. However, the exact mechanism by which genistein improves metabolism remains unclear, especially the central regulation. This study was designed to evaluate whether addition of genistein to the high-fat diet could counter metabolic disorders and whether these alterations were associated with gene expression in hypothalamus. C57BL/6 mice were fed either a high-fat diet (HF), high-fat diet with genistein (0.25 g/kg diet) (HFG) or a normal control diet (CON) for 8 weeks. Body weight was assessed during the study. After 8-week intervention, content of inguinal subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT), perirenal visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT) were weighed. Glucose tolerance test, the serum levels of insulin and lipid were assessed. The mRNA of browning marker was detected in the white fat. The hypothalamus was collected for whole transcriptome sequencing and reverse transcription quantitative PCR validation. The results demonstrated that mice fed HFG diet had lower body weight and SAT mass, decrease levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and free fatty acids, higher browning marker of Ucp1 and Cidea in WAT and an improvement in glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity compared with those in HF group. Transcriptome sequencing showed that there were three differentially expressed genes in hypothalamus among the three groups, including Ucn3, Depp, and Stc1, which were significantly correlated with the browning markers in WAT and insulin sensitivity. Thus, regulating gene expressions in hypothalamus is a potential mechanism for genistein improving metabolism and inducing WAT browning, which may provide a novel target for the precaution and treatment of T2DM.


Various research projects were undertaken last years to study the mechanical properties and behaviour of laminated glass elements for use in structural applications, with as principal aim the development of design rules adapted to this particular kind of material. However, up till now design rules of commonly used standards or other reference documents do not sufficiently take into account the specific properties of the interlayer material for the calculation of the stiffness of laminated glass. The Belgian Building Research Institute (BBRI) carried out a research project between 2004 and 2006 in collaboration with the Laboratory for Research on Structural Models of Ghent University, with as main objective the development of standardization to support the use of laminated glass products and associated design rules for specific, essentially "structural", applications. This paper presents the main outcomes of this research project, focusing on the following aspects : characterization of mechanical properties of different interlayer materials, effect of weathering on the design values of those properties (durability of the mechanical properties), bending behaviour of laminated glass plates, buckling of laminated glass beams, and discussion on the influence of tolerances of laminated glass layers thickness.


Sera of 14 bacteriological confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis and 16 non-tuberculotic or healthy controls were sampled in Ignace Deen University Hospital in Conakry, Quinea. Samples were examined for IgG and IgM antibodies by means of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using sonicated M. bovis BCG and M. avium antigens and were tested for antibodies to HIV-1/HIV-2 as well. Median of IgG antibody titres to M. bovis BCG antigen was 1:445 and differed significantly from that of the control group (1:149). The median of IgM antibody titres was 1:79.1 and did not differ statistically from that of control group (1:69.3) as well as the antibody titres against M. avium antigen in the IgG and IgM classes for both analyzed serum groups. Seven of tested TB patients sera were positive for antibodies against HIV-1. The median of IgG antibody titres against M. bovis BCG antigen was 1:442 not differing significantly from values of remaining TB patients as well as the IgM antibody titre (1:109).


Neutron detection is of crucial importance for the neutral pion photo-production study on a neutron target that now is in progress at MAMI. Two electro-magnetic calorimeters, based on NaI and BaF 2 crystals, are used in the A2 experiment. While these calorimeters are optimized for pion decay photon detection, they have a reason able efficiency for neutron detection also. The paper describes the method, which has been used to measure this efficiency using the same data taken for pion photo-production study on deuterium target with tagged photon been of 800 MeV maximal energy. The detection efficiency is a rising function of neutron momentum that reaches 40% near 1 GeV/c.


Recently, Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells have achieved 21% world-record efficiency, partly due to the introduction of a postdeposition potassium treatment to improve the front interface of CIGS absorber layers. However, as high-efficiency CIGS solar cells essentially require long diffusion lengths, the highly recombinative rear of these devices also deserves attention. In this paper, an Al2O3 rear surface passivation layer with nanosized local point contacts is studied to reduce recombination at the standard Mo/CIGS rear interface. First, passivation layers with well-controlled grids of nanosized point openings are established by use of electron beam lithography. Next, rear-passivated CIGS solar cells with 240-nm-thick absorber layers are fabricated as study devices. These cells show an increase in open-circuit voltage (+57 mV), short-circuit current (+3.8 mA/cm2), and fill factor [9.5% (abs.)], compared with corresponding unpassivated reference cells, mainly due to improvements in rear surface passivation and rear internal reflection. Finally, solar cell capacitance simulator (SCAPS) modeling is used to calculate the effect of reduced back contact recombination on high-efficiency solar cells with standard absorber layer thickness. The modeling shows that up to 50-mV increase in open-circuit voltage is anticipated.


ABSTRACT The culture of poverty thesis did not emerge from the conservative shadows of American intellectual life, but from its most liberal hopes for the future. Most of its earliest champions were committed to the cause of Black uplift, but never escaped the shame and judgment of the culture of poverty thesis. We look to the life and writings of W.E.B. Du Bois for examples of alternative possibilities. We could see Du Bois as an elitist who subscribed to a culture of poverty framework. Though there is some evidence for this view in his writings, the image falters when we examine the evolution of Du Bois' thinking—the core focus of this paper. We examine key intellectual struggles present across Du Bois' writings to explicate: 1) his changing thoughts on leadership (the "Talented Tenth"); and 2) his move toward an ever-broader advocacy of political engagement as the primary motor for Black liberation.


Abstract The Global Heritage Stone Resource (GHSR) and Global Heritage Stone Province (GHSP) designations provide a means by which geoscientists, planners and industry can explain the importance of some types of stone in the repair and maintenance of historic structures, new building and objects such as sculptures. Defining criteria are envisaged as including: wide ranging geographical use for a significant period; utilization in significant industrial projects; recognition as a cultural icon; continuing availability; and potential benefits of designation. Consideration is needed of the future composition and administration of the overseeing Board, refinement of the mechanism for making and approving nominations and how to consult the cultural heritage sector on nominations. It is likely that a larger panel of reviewers will be needed to support the work. It is important that criteria are clear and widely known and that discussions and decisions are well documented and publicly available. A mechanism for appeals against decisions is also needed. It is considered that the cultural heritage qualification should be the primary criterion supported by timescale and scale of use, both geographically and quantitatively.


The potential energy curves (PECs) of four electronic states (X1Σg+, e3Δu, a3Σu−, and d3Πg) of an As2 molecule are investigated employing the complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) method followed by the valence internally contracted multireference configuration interaction (MRCI) approach in conjunction with the correlation-consistent aug-cc-pV5Z basis set. The effect on PECs by the relativistic correction is taken into account. The way to consider the relativistic correction is to employ the second-order Douglas-Kroll Hamiltonian approximation. The correction is made at the level of a cc-pV5Z basis set. The PECs of the electronic states involved are extrapolated to the complete basis set limit. With the PECs, the spectroscopic parameters (Te, Re, ωe, ωexe, ωeye, αe, βe, γe, and Be) of these electronic states are determined and compared in detail with those reported in the literature. Excellent agreement is found between the present results and the experimental data. The first 40 vibrational states are studied for each electronic state when the rotational quantum number J equals zero. In addition, the vibrational levels, inertial rotation and centrifugal distortion constants of d3Πg electronic state are reported which are in excellent agreement with the available measurements. Comparison with the experimental data shows that the present results are both reliable and accurate.


This paper describes the interrogative system of Liangshan Yi, a Loloish language spoken in Southwest China, by investigating its two major dialects: Nuosu and Niesu. Ten interrogative categories are addressed, including 'who', 'which', 'what', 'how many/much', 'what kind', 'how', 'where', 'when', 'for what' and 'why'. The following syntactic categories are revealed for the basic functions of the interrogatives: person 'who', thing 'what', place 'where' and time 'when' are all nouns, selection 'which' is an adjective, quantity 'how many/much' is a numeral, manner 'how' is a verb, kind 'what kind' is a verb phrase, purpose 'for what' is a verb phrase, and cause 'why' is a verb. Both purpose and cause interrogatives are based on the meaning 'to do what'. All interrogatives have the same syntactic categories in Niesu and Nuosu. Both Niesu and Nuosu distinguish purpose from cause by using word/phrase distinction and positional differences in sentences. The grammaticalization of the verb phrase 'to do what' into the cause interrogative is facilitated by three structural conditions of Liangshan Yi. Moreover, the (proto-)which-word and the what-word are the basis for most of the interrogatives in Liangshan Yi. However, the derivation between which and how is no longer visible in Nuosu, while this connection is still clear in Niesu. Three crossover functions are described: asking for 'why' with 'how', asking for 'why' with 'what', and asking for 'how' with 'where'; the word classes of the interrogatives may also change due to the functional changes. Finally, the non-interrogative functions of the interrogatives are discussed, including indefinites, intensification of a state, and exclamation.


BRIS soils are inherently variable with various depths and types of spodic horizons. However, limited research has been conducted in characterizing and managing the BRIS soil for kenaf production in Malaysia. The objectives of the study were, to quantify the spatial variability of BRIS soil and to identify the yield limiting factors of kenaf for delineating the management zone strategy. The effect of different depths and types of spodic horizons was also determined on growth, yield and root morphology of kenaf. The study consists of two field experiments and one glass house experiment. For the first field study, geo-referenced soil samples at two depths (0-15 and 15-30 cm) and plant samples of kenaf were collected. Geostatistical techniques were applied to characterize the spatial variability of the studied area to delineate the management zones. In the second field study effect of different depths of spodic horizon was investigated on growth, root morphology and yield of kenaf. Four locations with different depths of spodic horizons L1=20, L2=48, L3=77 and L4=118 cm were selected and morphological characteristics of soil were determined. Locations one and two are classified as Rhu Tapai series whereas; locations 3 and 4 belong to Rudua and Jambu series. A glass house study was conducted to observe the response of kenaf (growth, root morphology and yield of kenaf) to different types of spodic horizons. For this purpose, four types of undisturbed spodic horizons with the strengths S1=3.88, S2=5.03, S3=5.82, S4=8.05 and a control 0.14 kg cm-2 (without spodic) were collected in PVC columns. Water filled pore space, air filled pore space and total pore space were determined in different types of spodic horizons. Roots of kenaf were sampled at 10, 20 and 30 cm depths from each type of spodic horizons with a metal box sized 0.01-0.01m2 for morphological studies. The results of geostatistical analysis showed moderate spatial dependence for TC, TN, P, Ca, Mg, CEC and yield of kenaf indicating that the extrinsic factor such as levelling of ridges and management practices for more than three decades restructured the variability of BRIS soil properties. At surface soil pH, TN and Mg were quantified into two management zones, while at sub-surface they were quantified into one management zone. TC and CEC were quantified into one management zone while P and Ca were quantified into two management zones at both the depths. The yield of kenaf was also quantified into two management zones. The negative correlation of TC, TN and Ca with sand content indicating the low fertility level of BRIS soil. It was also observed that the soil properties like bulk density, sand, silt, porosity, pH, P, K, Ca and Mg did not show the significant correlation with the yield of kenaf. Morphological features of four soils studied showed differences in the depth and thickness of horizons. The thickness of albic horizon at Rhu Tapai series was 10 and 38 cm while 67 and 102 cm were observed in Rudua and Jambu soil series. Texture of all the BRIS soil horizons was sandy in nature. Porosity percentage, P, K, Ca and Mg were observed higher in spodic horizons than top infertile horizons. Average soil surface temperature was in the order of Rhu Tapai < Rudua < Jambu series. The depth of spodic horizon had a significant effect on plant height, number of nodes, leaf area, diameter and dry matter yield of kenaf as the negative linear relationship. Stalk yield of kenaf declined by 13.60, 20.52 and 37 % at 48, 77 and 118 cm depth of spodic horizon in the soil profile. Visually, the growth in the roots of kenaf was stunted with the increase in depth of spodic horizon. Different types of spodic horizons had a significant effect on growth, yield and root morphology of kenaf. Spodic type four was significantly higher in water filled pore space and lower in air filled pore space as compared to S1, S2, S3 and control. At 60 days of kenaf growth plant height, leaf area, dry weight of stem and bark were significantly higher in S4 than S1, S2, S3 and control. The spodic types were significantly affected the root morphology of kenaf and the deformation of main root occurred at the strength of 8.05 kg cm-2 in spodic type S4. It is concluded that the mixing of spodic horizon with top infertile horizons create moderate spatial variability in the properties of BRIS soil, which affects the yield of kenaf where application of site specific management zone strategy is required. The depth and types of spodic horizons had significant effect on growth, root morphology and yield of kenaf and need to be considered in the planting of kenaf on BRIS soil.


The goal of this study is to elucidate the characteristic features of Judo head injuries and to propose safety measures and a reaction manual on how to prevent and to deal with such accidents in Japan. Thirty cases of severe head injuries suffered during Judo practice were enrolled in this study. They have made insurance claims for damage compensation and inquiries about Judo accidents attributed to the All Japan Judo Federation, from 2003 to 2010. The average age of the patients was 16.5 year old. The incidence of injury showed 2 peaks in different academic grade levels; one is in the first year of junior high-school (30.0%, n=9) and the other is in senior high school (26.7%, n=8). Around half of them were beginners. Four cases (13.3%) had past history of head trauma or headache and dizziness before a catastrophic accident, suggesting the presence of a second impact. Lucid interval was observed in 25 cases (83.3%). Most patients (93.3%) suffered acute subdural hematoma associated with avulsion of a cerebral bridging vein. Of patients who underwent emergency removal of the hematoma, 15 patients (50%) died and 7 patients (23.3%) entered a persistent vegetative state. Based on these findings, we propose an emergency manual with safety measures for effectively preventing and treating Judo head injuries in an appropriate manner. To reduce the disastrous head injuries in Judo, the safety measures and an optimal action manual should be reconsidered and widely spread and accepted by society.


Background: Oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) is a chronic oral mucosal disease characterized by progressive deposition of collagen in subepithelial connective tissue and epithelial atrophy. The present study was conducted to evaluate the changes in epithelial thickness and cellular and nuclear morphometric characteristics of parabasal and spinous compartments of the epithelium in various stages of OSMF in comparison to normal epithelium. Materials and Methods: Sample included 30 cases of OSMF of various stages and five cases of normal buccal mucosa. Measurements for epithelial thickness and cellular morphology using morphometric analysis were performed on captured digital images using image analysis software. Statistical Analysis: The ANOVA analysis of epithelial thickness and correlation of epithelial thickness with cell contour and cell roundness was done using Karl Pearson's coefficient of correlation. Results: There was a statistically significant decrease in epithelial thickness with increase in severity/stage of OSMF. It was also observed that there is a highly statistically significant correlation (P = 0.000) between the thickness of epithelium and cell morphology in varying stages of OSMF. Conclusion: The morphometric parameters and the use of quantitative histological methods in determining the squamous epithelial structures thus made it possible to evaluate that there is reduction in thickness of epithelium or "atrophy" with increasing stages of OSMF which may be due to actual change in cell morphology of the individual cells of specific compartment or all compartments in the epithelium.


In the field of underwater monitoring for applications such as pollution detection and video mapping in limited space, underwater microrobots are urgently demanded. Compact structure, multi-functionality, and flexibility are normally considered as incompatible characteristics for underwater microrobots. To implement these purposes, we have developed several types of microrobots with both compact structure and flexible locomotion. However, they just implemented one or two motions, such as walking, rotating, swimming, grasping, or floating motions. So, in this paper, we designed a novel type of biomimetic locomotion employing ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) actuator as one-DOF leg. Then we proposed a new type of underwater microrobot using ten ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) actuators as legs, fins, or fingers, which could implement walking, rotating, floating, swimming, and grasping motions at the same time. Also, we developed a prototype of this underwater microrobot and carried out some experiments to evaluate its walking, rotating, and floating speeds. In addition, we used two IPMC actuators as fingers to grasp some small objects, and used other two actuators as fins to implement the swimming motion like a frog. To implement the closed-loop control for the microrobot, we used three proximity sensors to detect the object or avoid the obstacle while walking.


Following mucosal human immunodeficiency virus type 1 transmission, systemic infection is established by one or only a few viral variants. Modeling single-variant, mucosal transmission in nonhuman primates using limiting-dose inoculations with a diverse simian immunodeficiency virus isolate stock may increase variability between animals since individual variants within the stock may have substantial functional differences. To decrease variability between animals while retaining the ability to enumerate transmitted/founder variants by sequence analysis, we modified the SIVmac239 clone to generate 10 unique clones that differ by two or three synonymous mutations (molecular tags). Transfectionand infection-derived virus stocks containing all 10 variants showed limited phenotypic differences in 9 of the 10 clones. Twenty-nine rhesus macaques were challenged intrarectally or intravenously with either a single dose or repeated, limiting doses of either stock. The proportion of each variant within each inoculum and in plasma from infected animals was determined by using a novel real-time single-genome amplification assay. Each animal was infected with one to five variants, the number correlating with the dose. Longitudinal sequence analysis revealed that the molecular tags are highly stable with no reversion to the parental sequence detected in >2 years of follow-up. Overall, the viral stocks are functional and mucosally transmissible and the number of variants is conveniently discernible by sequence analysis of a small amplicon. This approach should be useful for tracking individual infection events in preclinical vaccine evaluations, long-term viral reservoir establishment/clearance research, and transmission/early-event studies.


the article deals with the problem of learning a foreign language, the necessity of rethinking a familiar picture of the world, adoption of a different way of thinking and building your speech in accordance with other rules. The key to understanding a foreign language culture is the analysis of new learning models. Pedagogical overcoming of factors hindering the adoption and understanding of another culture allows developing the country's ethnocultural potential and achieving strengthening of the social and political as well as social and economic stability of the society and contributing to a productive intercultural dialogue.


Abstract. The great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake of 26 December 2004 caused seismic waves propagating through the solid Earth, tsunami waves propagating through the ocean and infrasound or acoustic-gravity waves propagating through the atmosphere. Since the infrasound wave travels faster than its associated tsunami, it is for warning purposes very intriguing to study the possibility of infrasound generation directly at the earthquake source. Garces et al. (2005) and Le Pichon et al. (2005) emphasized that infrasound was generated by mountainous islands near the epicenter and by tsunami propagation along the continental shelf to the Bay of Bengal. Mikumo et al. (2008) concluded from the analysis of travel times and amplitudes of first arriving acoustic-gravity waves with periods of about 400–700 s that these waves are caused by coseismic motion of the sea surface mainly to the west of the Nicobar islands in the open seas. We reanalyzed the acoustic-gravity waves and corrected the first arrival times of Mikumo et al. (2008) by up to 20 min. We found the source of the first arriving acoustic-gravity wave about 300 km to the north of the US Geological Survey earthquake epicenter. This confirms the result of Mikumo et al. (2008) that sea level changes at the earthquake source cause long period acoustic-gravity waves, which indicate that a tsunami was generated. Therefore, a denser local network of infrasound stations may be helpful for tsunami warnings, not only for very large earthquakes.


During mammalian preimplantation development, two successive differentiation events lead to the establishment of three committed lineages with separate fates: the trophectoderm, the primitive endoderm and the pluripotent epiblast. In the mouse embryo, the molecular mechanisms underlying these two cell fate decisions have been studied extensively, leading to the identification of lineage-specific transcription factors. Species-specific differences in expression patterns of key regulatory genes have been reported, raising questions regarding their role in different species. The aim of the present study was to characterise the gene expression patterns of pluripotency (OCT4, SOX2, NANOG) and differentiation (CDX2, GATA6)-related markers during feline early development using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. In addition, we assessed the impact of in vitro development on gene expression by comparing transcript levels of the genes investigated between in vitro and in vivo blastocysts. To normalise quantitative data within different preimplantation embryo stages, we first validated a set of stable reference genes. Transcript levels of all genes investigated were present and changed over the course of preimplantation development; a highly significant embryo-stage effect on gene expression was observed. Transcript levels of OCT4 were significantly reduced in in vitro blastocysts compared with their in vivo counterparts. None of the other genes investigated showed altered expression under in vitro conditions. The different gene expression patterns of OCT4, SOX2, CDX2 and GATA6 in cat embryos resembled those described in mouse embryos, indicative of a preserved role for these genes during early segregation. However, because of the absence of any upregulation of NANOG transcription levels after embryonic genome activation, it is unlikely that NANOG is a key regular of lineage segregation. Such results support the hypothesis that the behaviour of early lineage markers can be species specific. The present study also revealed a pool of maternal NANOG mRNA transcripts, the role of which remains to be elucidated. Comparing transcription levels of these genes between in vivo and in vitro blastocysts revealed low levels of OCT4 mRNA in the latter, which may contribute to the reduced developmental competence of embryos under suboptimal conditions.


The squeeze-film flow of a thin layer of Newtonian fluid filling the gap between a flat impermeable surface moving under a prescribed constant load and a flat thin porous bed coating a stationary flat impermeable surface is considered. Unlike in the classical case of an impermeable bed, in which an infinite time is required for the two surfaces to touch, for a porous bed contact occurs in a finite contact time. Using a lubrication approximation an implicit expression for the fluid layer thickness and an explicit expression for the contact time are obtained and analysed. In addition, the fluid particle paths are calculated, and the penetration depths of fluid particles into the porous bed are determined. In particular, the behaviour in the asymptotic limit of small permeability, in which the contact time is large but finite, is investigated. Finally, the results are interpreted in the context of lubrication in the human knee joint, and some conclusions are drawn about the contact time of the cartilage-coated femoral condyles and tibial plateau and the penetration of nutrients into the cartilage.


Interview with Dean M. McCall, Army Air Corps veteran and survivor of the siege of Corregidor. The interview includes McCall's personal experiences as a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese during World War II. McCall talks about the Japanese bombing of Nichols Field, the fall of Bataan, the fall of Corregidor and his capture, Bilibid Prison, hell ship to Japan, copper mining at Motiyama, Honshu, American air raids and naval bombardment, and liberation.


Nursing education puts emphasize on the student's achievement to the ultimate goals of education, that is, the competency and efficiency indifferent field sand ultimately fulfillment of a patient's care needs. The present research was conducted with aim of determining the effectiveness of these of film and video to teach selected nursing procedures to nursing students at Islamic Azad University, Isfahan (Khorasgan). The study sample consisted of all first semester nursing students of Islamic Azad University Isfahan (Khorasgan). in the academic year 2013-2014. 52 nursing students were selected as the sample through census. The sample was randomly divided into control and experimental group. the experimental group used film and video In addition to usual tutorials. instruments used in this study included evaluating check lists of techniques to assess pulse, breathing control, blood pressure control with stethoscope, placement of the nasogastric tube, feeding through inserting a nasogastric tube and removing the nasogastric tube. Data were analyzed trough and relative distribution of the mean, standard deviation, and T-test. The data showed that the mean score of the experimental group in doing the required nursingtechniqueswas85. 86 ± 15.38andthe mean score of the control group was 65.41± 12.67 and this difference was statistically significant byTtest, P <0.001. The results showed that the using film and video in learning nursing techniques has been useful and has increased the mean scores in the control group.


A thesis submitted to the Department of Latin and the Faculty of the Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master's Degree.


Changes in S. pyogenes cells in the process of batch cultivation have been studied. The composition of S. pyogenes cell walls has been studied by amino acid analysis; besides, their resistance to enzymatic hydrolysis and the electric conductivity of cell-wall lysates have been determined at different phases of the growth of S. pyogenes. The molar amino acid composition, expressed in percent, is unrelated to the growth phase, while the content of amino acids in preparations changes in the process of growth and reaches its maximum in the middle and in the end of the logarithmic phase. At the same time the electric conductivity of cell-wall lysates reaches the minimum level at these growth stages. The authors suggest that additional electrically charged compositions are formed in the cell walls at the beginning of the logarithmic and stationary phases. A considerable increase in the initial rate of cell-wall lysis with muramidase has been found to occur at the end of the logarithmic phase. This difference in the initial rate in the initial rates of lysis of S. pyogenes cell walls at different growth phases decreases after previous treatment of the cell walls with streptolytin possessing proteolytic activity. Analysis of these data leads to a conclusion on the "loose" structure of the outer protein layer of the cell wall at the end of the logarithmic phase of the growth curve.


Unusual cone-in-cone structures are preserved in fibrous celestite veins hosted by carbonatic rocks. The veins are early diagenetic features formed near the water-sediment interface in a deep-marine environment of latest Cretaceous (early Maastrichtian) age. New field and microscopic evidence on the veins and their host rocks indicates that they predate sediment compaction and were related to synsedimentary, soft-sediment deformation structures. The mechanism of cone-in-cone formation has been related to fluid-pressure drops following sediment overpressurization, but instantaneous loading during emplacement of submarine slides or other mechanisms might be viable alternatives. We argue that this cone-in-cone structure is an overprinting feature (penetrative conical fractures) that resulted from seismic wave propagation through a mechanically anisotropic medium. Submarine amplification of seismic surface waves (Rayleigh waves) induced shock wave formation in the contacts between veins and the bounding lithified calcarenite and unlithified marl sediment layers. Fracture front wave propagation (normal to the seafloor and the Rayleigh source) across the veins and along the celestite crystal fibers induced crack nucleation in heterogeneities and penetrative conical fracturation. The cone-in-cone structure might thus be regarded as a new paleoseismological indicator in deep-sea sediments.


This paper asks how ICT will, i.e. might, change Public Administration as a scholarly discipline (PA) in the near future. Assuming mild techno-determinism, the Techno-Economic Paradigms approach, and that science is not primarily moved by science, but rather by economic dynamics, it first sketches out how PA looks today in the context of organized scholarship generally, and what tendencies (such as quantification, measurability, etc.) there are. Then, we look at what Information and Communication Technology can already do today and how it has changed the Lebenswelt by 2014. Two critical, interlinked phenomena are then analyzed: MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and their effects, and the current ability of algorithms to write a certain type of texts. These may have the effect to strongly enforce, even lock in, the current tendencies of PA, but they may also give rise to an altogether different kind of development of scholarly inquiry in the discipline and beyond.


Controlling the peak-to-mean envelope power ratio (PMEPR) of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexed (OFDM) transmissions is a notoriously difficult problem, though one which is of vital importance for the practical application of OFDM in low-cost applications. The utility of Golay complementary sequences in solving this problem has been recognized for some time. In this paper, a powerful theory linking Golay complementary sets of polyphase sequences and Reed-Muller codes is developed. Our main result shows that any second-order coset of a q-ary generalization of the first order Reed-Muller code can be partitioned into Golay complementary sets whose size depends only on a single parameter that is easily computed from a graph associated with the coset. As a first consequence, recent results of Davis and Jedwab (see Electron. Lett., vol.33, p.267-8, 1997) on Golay pairs, as well as earlier constructions of Golay (1949, 1951, 1961), Budisin (1990) and Sivaswamy (1978) are shown to arise as special cases of a unified theory for Golay complementary sets. As a second consequence, the main result directly yields bounds on the PMEPRs of codes formed from selected cosets of the generalized first order Reed-Muller code. These codes enjoy efficient encoding, good error-correcting capability, and tightly controlled PMEPR, and significantly extend the range of coding options for applications of OFDM using small numbers of carriers.


In 2015, the world recorded its highest numbers of international migrants and forced displacement since World War II. With this historic rise in migrants, refugees, and displaced persons around the world, there is a huge risk of chronic illness burden on healthcare systems. Thus, healthcare systems may need to incorporate innovative digital healthcare solutions into their processes and procedures. The purpose of this article is to present the argument that for effective prevention and management of chronic illnesses in ever-increasing migrant societies to be achieved, mobile digital healthcare technologies must be realistically smart and strategically adopted. Beginning with an overview of the current global migration trend, this article considers the implications of this trend for chronic illnesses and the potential for mobile health technologies to support achievement of healthcare outcomes. It highlights three core reasons why digital innovations may be limited as tools for helping to address the global chronic illness challenge and identifies important directions for mobile health technology developers, healthcare professionals, researchers, government and funding agencies, and public health ministries, with a focus on the strategic development and adoption of 'realistically smart' phones. The article concludes with recommendations for research and public health education.


: The luminescent characteristics of lipofuscin granules in the human brain, heart, adrenal glands, and liver have been investigated. Lipofuscin luminescent spectra in all the tissues studied were shown to be of the same type and to contain two emission bands with maxima in the yellow (550--560 nm) and red (680--690 nm) regions of the spectrum. The relative variability in the intensity of these bands determines the changes in colour from yellow to red-brown in lipofuscin luminescence observed visually. The two main emission bands in luminescent spectra indicate the presence of two main luminescent chemical compounds in lipofuscin.


Population ageing is setting in earlier in Germany than in most other OECD economies and will be marked. It could lead to a substantial decline in employment, weighing on GDP per capita, and will raise demand for health-related public services. Germany has already implemented far-reaching reforms to mitigate the implications of ageing for per capita income, well-being and the sustainability of public finances. Nonetheless, continued efforts are needed to help older workers to improve their work-life balance and adjust their working hours to their ability and desire to work. Moreover, stressful working conditions and unhealthy lifestyles contribute to poor self-reported health and reduce the ability and willingness to work at higher age. There is scope to promote life-long learning. As the generosity of the public pension system will diminish, the contribution of private pensions to ensure pension adequacy needs to be strengthened.


Abstract Assessment and research into this phenomenon of social marginalization and social exclusion of young people at both national and European levels has as a target to find methods of prevention and reduction of this phenomenon and understand the fact that it is only through communication, debates and dialog that will we be able to establish benchmarks for joint action. Young people are one of the age segments which are most affected by the economic recession. It is also accepted that in each of the Member States of the EU, despite different circumstances and levels of economic development, major issues faced by young people are the same: from access to essential services (such as education and health) and up to their integration into the labour market with a view to achieving a higher standard of living. The decision makers are constantly interested in solving these stringent problems, which can be found in the policies and strategies for economic recovery and fighting the austerity measures adopted by the Member States of the EU, through a series of programs that have as main objectives combating unemployment and poverty among young people and providing opportunities for more active involvement in their community life: political, social, economic, cultural. In Romania, the problem of young people constitutes an issue of major importance for the Government, which has drawn up for the first time an Integrated Strategy of Romania with regard to young people called "National Strategy for Youth 2014-2020", with particular emphasis on the first role that education must play in this context. Examples of solutions identified by the governors are: an increase in public funding for mentoring programs, for the prevention of school dropout rates, establishment of differentiated educational offers, training schemes designed to eliminate lack of qualification in young people, in such a way as to maintain a competitive and well-prepared generation in the country