ABSTRACT Interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), a pro-inflammatory cytokine, has been ascribed a role in the expansion of myeloid progenitors in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and in promoting myeloid cell-induced suppression of lymphocyte-mediated immunity against malignant cells. This study aimed at defining the potential impact of IL-1β in the post-remission phase of AML patients receiving immunotherapy for relapse prevention in an international phase IV trial of 84 patients (ClinicalTrials.gov; NCT01347996). Consecutive serum samples were collected from AML patients in first complete remission (CR) who received cycles of relapse-preventive immunotherapy with histamine dihydrochloride (HDC) and low-dose interleukin-2 (IL-2). Low IL-1β serum levels before and after the first HDC/IL-2 treatment cycle favorably prognosticated leukemia-free survival and overall survival. Serum levels of IL-1β were significantly reduced in patients receiving HDC/IL-2. HDC also reduced the formation of IL-1β from activated human PBMCs in vitro. Additionally, high serum levels of the IL-1 receptor antagonist IL-1RA were associated with favorable outcome, and AML patients with low IL-1β along with high IL-1RA levels were strikingly protected against leukemic relapse. Our results suggest that strategies to target IL-1β might impact on relapse risk and survival in AML.


A new topology optimization model with holes' geometric constraints for continuum structure is presented. It is solved by an evolutionary optimization method based on interval relaxation, in which the problem is divided into two subproblems of topology optimization process and size/shape optimization process. The optimal topology of structure can be found gradually by introducing interval relaxation factor to adjust holes' size constraints, delete noneffective holes and by generating new holes based on the sensitivity analysis of objective function. Interior penalty-function method is employed as an optimization technique for the size/shape optimization of the structure corresponding to the topology. When the holes' size bounds are the actual values, the optimal solution is the smallest objective function structure in the various topologies. Thus realizes the holes' geometric size and location design, topology design and layout design together. The optimization results of example shows the method proposed is of good effectiveness and engineering applicability.


Objective: To review regional training initiatives in travel and tropical medicine.

Methods: Standard searches on PubMed, CINAHIL and Google were conducted looking at key words training, education, academic, professional, travel medicine and tropical medicine, primarily focusing on Australia and New Zealand and our regional neighbours.

Results: Australia has a long tradition of academic training in tropical medicine dating back to 1925. Since then, major programs in tropical medicine have arisen elsewhere in the region, including the University of the Medical Sciences (now Mahidol University) in 1961, which is also part of the SEAMEO TROPMED Network. A professional college of tropical medicine was established in Australia in 1991. Both Australia and New Zealand offer academic programs in travel medicine. Following the establishment of the Asia Pacific Travel Health Society, a professional faculty of travel medicine was established in Australia in 2000. Various organizations now offer continuing professional development programs in tropical and travel medicine throughout the region. Linkages are just starting to form with licensing and statutory requirements for training, for example with Yellow Fever Vaccination Centres in New Zealand, which may assist in the uptake of academic and professional training in tropical and travel medicine.

Conclusions: Extensive opportunities exist for academic and professional training in tropical medicine in the region. Professional and commercial groups should advocate for appropriate training requirements for those entering the field of travel medicine and for continuing professional development.


This paper investigates the computational complexity of approximating NP-optimization problems using the number of queries to an NP oracle as a complexity measure. The results show a trade-off between the closeness of the approximation and the number of queries required. For an approximation factor k(n), loglog/sub k(n/) n queries to an NP oracle can be used to approximate the maximum clique size of a graph within a factor of k(n). However, this approximation cannot be achieved using fewer than loglog/sub k(n/) n-c queries to any oracle unless P=NP, where c is a constant that does not depend on k. These results hold when k(n) belongs to a class of functions which include any integer constant function, log n, log/sup a/ n and n/sup 1/a/. Similar results are obtained for graph coloring, set cover and other NP-optimization problems.<<ETX>>


Much debate in recent years has focused on whether postverbal elements (PVEs) in SOV Hindi are derived via leftward movement compatible with the Linear Correspondence Axiom (Mahajan 1997a,b, 2003) or whether they must be assumed to result from some kind of rightward non-antisymmetric movement (Bhatt and Dayal 2007, Manetta 2012). A second phenomenon, scope restrictions on wh-in- situ elements in postverbal CPs, is often linked to the syntactic analysis of PVEs. Comparing Hindi with Bangla, this article shows that PVEs in Indic languages are not derived in a uniform way and that the wh-scope restriction needs to be considered independently of the syntax of nonclausal PVEs.


ABSTRACT
 Species of Cardinium are intracellular endosymbionts of arthropods. They are known to interfere with the mode of reproduction in some parasitoid wasp and mite hosts, and they are associated with parthenogenesis in the oleander scale, Aspidiotus nerii Bouché (Hemiptera: Diaspididae). Here, we survey A. nerii more broadly for presence of Cardinium species. In total, we tested 593 individuals in 301 populations, representing 132 identified species of armored scale insects, by using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing of 16S rDNA. We obtained positive PCR results in 67 individuals of 34 populations, representing 20 species and one unidentified individual. Sequencing of these PCR products yields 20 new Cardinium haplotypes, raising the number of known insect-associated Cardinium haplotypes from 15 to 35. The new host-list elucidates the ecology of Cardinium, which in insects seems to be specialized on plant-feeding Hemiptera and associated parasitoid Hymenoptera. A phylogenetic analysis of all known insect-associated Cardinium 16S sequences reveals deep diversity in armored scale insects and implies horizontal transfer of Cardinium among armored scale insects and their parasitoids.


We have studied DRAM-level prefetching for the fully buffered DIMM (FB-DIMM) designed for multi-core processors. FB-DIMM has a unique two-level interconnect structure, with FB-DIMM channels at the first-level connecting the memory controller and advanced memory buffers (AMBs); and DDR2 buses at the second-level connecting the AMBs with DRAM chips. We propose an AMB prefetching method that prefetches memory blocks from DRAM chips to AMBs. It utilizes the redundant bandwidth between the DRAM chips and AMBs but does not consume the crucial channel bandwidth. The proposed method fetches K memory blocks of L2 cache block sizes around the demanded block, where K is a small value ranging from two to eight. The method may also reduce the DRAM power consumption by merging some DRAM precharges and activations. Our cycle-accurate simulation shows that the average performance improvement is 16% for single-core and multi-core workloads constructed from memory-intensive SPEC2000 programs with software cache prefetching enabled; and no workload has negative speedup. We have found that the performance gain comes from the reduction of idle memory latency and the improvement of channel bandwidth utilization. We have also found that there is only a small overlap between the performance gains from the AMB prefetching and the software cache prefetching. The average of estimated power saving is 15%


The performance of model-based controller design relies heavily on the quality and suitability of the utilized process model. This contribution proposes a fuzzy network based nonlinear controller design methodology. Fuzzy networks are a model approach combining high approximation quality with high interpretability. The input/output (I/O) models commonly used for identification are transformed to fuzzy state-space models. Transferring and adjusting methods from linear state-space theory a control concept consisting of a fuzzy state controller and an adaptive set-point filter for nonlinear dynamic processes is deduced. The capability of the method is demonstrated for a hydraulic drive.


Abstract. Traditional economic theory regards the social costs of monopoly as the reduction in both consumer and producer surplus as a result of monopolization of certain sectors of the economy. Recent research has shown that a proper accounting of the social costs of monopoly must include the costs of obtaining and maintaining monopoly positions. Anne O. Krueger used the term "rent seeking" to refer to the expending of scarce resources by entrepreneurs to fight for rents created through government activity in the economy. Excessive interference in the economy by government can result in an increase in the social costs of monopoly. In a developing country such as Cameroon, where government activity in the economy has been quite pervasive since the latter part of the 1800s, opportunities have been created for rent seeking. This type of activity has helped to impede the economic growth of the country.


Three-dimensional (3D) kinematic analysis plays an important role in improving diagnosis and in the evaluation of treatments and surgical procedures. For example, measuring the 3D kinematics of knee joints is essential for understanding their normal function and diagnosing any pathology, such as ligament injury and osteoarthritis. Image registration is a method which can be used to compute kinematic measurements without involving the introduction of instruments into the body. However, in these techniques, the trade-off between accuracy and computation time is still a challenging problem which needs to be addressed. In this paper, a fast and robust registration method is proposed for the measurement of post-operative knee joint kinematics. Using this method, after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) surgery, a 3D knee implant model can be registered with a number of single-plane fluoroscopy frames of the patients' knee. Generally, when the number of fluoroscopy frames is quite high, the computation cost for the registration between the frames and a 3D model is expensive. Therefore, in order to speed up the registration process, we apply an interpolation-based prediction method, to initialize and estimate the 3D positions of the 3D model in each fluoroscopy frame. The estimated 3D positions are then fine-tuned. The experimental results, which were performed on the knee joints of 18 patients post-surgery, show that the computational time required to register each frame for each bone using our proposed method is only 67 seconds, which is much faster (almost 6.5 times faster) than the best existing registration method (a registration method based on sum of conditional variance (SCV) similarity measure) while maintaining almost the same accuracy. The average of the mean difference ± standard deviation of the proposed method for femoral and tibial bones for translation and rotation parameters are 0.0603 ± 0.2966 (mm) and −0.0069 ± 0.2922 (degree) respectively.


ABSTRACT:This article examines the transformation of communal identities and social hierarchies on Soqotra Island. This is done through a "structural anatomy" of Soqotra's changing social organization and a "lexical genealogy" of the collective identities ascribed to, or assumed by, Soqotrans in response to the polity formation strategies of a succession of British and Yemeni political regimes from the late nineteenth century until the present. Following a brief historical and theoretical introduction, Part I outlines the status stratification system that prevailed only a generation ago in the form of an ascriptive hierarchy based on ethno-occupational specializations and territorial segmentation linked to distinct ecological habitats, which continues to mediate the integration of Soqotrans into the emergent modern social formation. Part II describes how communal identities over the past generation have been leveraged by various national and transregional political and cultural forces, leading to an emerging hierarchy of ethnicity-based identities. The concluding section updates the current status of Soqotra's traditional social groups and highlights the dynamic relationality between communal identity transformation and political and historical contingencies.


— Semantic Event Tracker (SET) is an interactive visualization tool for analyzing events (activities) in a three-dimensional environment. We model an event as an object that describes an action, its location, time, and relations to other objects. Real world event information is extracted from Internet sources, then stored and processed using Semantic Web technologies that enable us to discover semantic associations between events. We use RDF graphs to represent semantic metadata and ontologies. SET is capable of visualizing as well as navigating through the event data in all three aspects of space, time and theme. Temporal data is illustrated as a 3D multi-line in the 3D environment that connects consecutive events. The line is marked with user-selectable objects that represent the events being visualized. Upon an event's selection, SET " speaks " to the user semantically associated information via a speech synthesizer. Then, upon the user's verbal command SET can display semantically associated media such as digital images, audio and/or video clips. SET provides access to multi-source, heterogeneous, multimedia data, and is capable of visualizing events that contain geographic and time information.


: Age-related degeneration of the macula retinae occurs in two forms: the serious form with invasion of blood vessels and leakage, and the atrophic form. Both forms ultimately lead to a central scotoma. The prevalence of the terminal stage of age-related macular degeneration varies from 1% in the age group 65-74 years to 11% in those 85 years or over. A total of 58,500 persons in the Netherlands have age-related macular degeneration and an estimated 22,000 persons depend on visual or optic aids. Aids for close vision are good illumination, magnification (reading glasses, magnifying glasses, telescopic lenses, television reading lenses (with possibility of changing contrast), large-letter books, playing cards with large symbols) and auditory aids. Aids for distant vision reduce troublesome light (sunglasses, filter) or enlarge the image (telescopic aids). Future new aids derive from modern computer technology (personal computer, integrated braille reader and speech synthesizer) or are based on opto-electronic image processing and presentation (mini-cameras with mini-VDUs in a sort of helmet). Effective use of aids depends on attention for the patient's desires and possibilities and on counselling in handling aids. Ophthalmological checkups remain useful for the prevention and (or) treatment of accessory disorders.


"We agree on these rights," Jacques Maritain once stated, "provid[ed] we are not asked why." (1) He was referring to his work on the 1946 UNESCO Committee on the Theoretical Bases of Human Rights, but he might just as well have been referring to the American intellectual community today: We all agree that there is such a thing as human dignity (who would oppose it?), just so long as we do not have to say why. The "why" of human rights, however, is vitally important. For example, if human rights are widely said to follow from human dignity, then the contours of those rights must depend on the contours of that dignity. Change the basis or the scope of human dignity and the rights, so to speak, go all wrong. This article compares two human rights declarations, one that was unable to state an explicit basis for either rights or dignity, the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights ("Universal Declaration"), (2) and one that was prepared to argue for both, Vatican II's Declaration on Religious Freedom. (3) I. UNIVERSAL DECLARATION In 1946, leading thinkers from around the world gathered under the auspices of the United Nations to determine whether a consensus on, (4) human rights could be achieved. They reached a limited one, agreeing that such rights existed but not on how, in theory, to ground them. (5) As a result, when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was promulgated two years later, its Preamble reflected this inability to achieve a consensus, by declaring that a "common understanding of these rights and freedoms, is of the greatest importance for the full realization of [the] pledge" (6) to respect human rights, then failing to explicitly define this "common understanding." (7) Despite the inability of the Committee to establish a basis for human rights, the rise of totalitarianism made the United Nations' human rights project something of an emergency. After totalitarianism, it became necessary to defend, not merely some rights, some truths, or some moral principles, but the very existence of human rights, of truth, and of morality. Maritain and other thinkers knew it was critical to insist, at the moment of the founding of the United Nations, that there are rights--whatever their source--that must be recognized and respected in order to formulate "common principles of action." (8) The drafters of the Universal Declaration were thus less concerned with attempting to create a theory underlying human rights than they were with the urgent task of agreeing together to protect those rights in practice, (9) leaving for another day a task they still thought vital, that of forging "a common understanding of these rights." (10) While the Universal Declaration does not lay out a systematic grounding for human rights, it does hint at one. The Preamble implies that the fundamental error behind totalitarianism lies not in political theory, but rather in the human person. Because of a "disregard and contempt for human rights" at the heart of those "barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind," it was necessary to recognize "the inherent dignity and ... the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family [as] the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world." (11) This notion grounds the basis for justice in the idea of rights, which is somehow connected with "the inherent dignity" of the person. Consequently, it is not the nature of the state we are considering, but the nature of the human person. The Preamble repeats this point, observing that in the United Nations Charter the member states "reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, [and] in the dignity and worth of the human person," (12) intertwining again the ideas of human rights and human dignity. This connection between rights and dignity is no coincidence. As Professor Mary Ann Glendon observes, Maritain himself had insisted that if the future Declaration "were not to be a mere hodgepodge of ideas, it would need a tuning fork or 'key' according to which the rights could be harmonized. …


A pair of isolated parallel wires in a frame were used as a capacitance sensor for soil water content determination. Due to the high dielectric constant of water, rising water content of the soil between the wires increases the capacitance. As the frame and the wires have a horizontal position in the soil, no preferential vertical water flow is induced by the sensor. The total wire diameter of 1.1 mm and the separation of 2.5 mm leave enough space for undisturbed natural water flow. The sensitive volume has a thickness given by the wire separation of 2.5 mm and the open frame area of 5 by 5 cm. Measurements in two soil types (loamy sand and loamy silt) showed a rise of the capacitance from 15 to 65 pF when the water content increases from 0 to 0.45. A theoretical consideration exhibits the relationship between the measured dielectric constant e M and the volumetric water content θ given by e M = A (θ + Z)/(θ + N) with three parameters A, Z, and N depending only on the sensor geometry and dielectric constants. The corresponding fit function determined the parameters and approximated the calibration curve with a root mean square (RMS) deviation of 0.024, indicating the accuracy of the method. No significant difference in the e M -θ relationship could be obtained between the two soils. Measurements with eight sensors at depths between 1 and 15 cm yield the time-dependent water content profile with a resolution of 1 cm during the watering and drying of the soil.


Documentation in early childhood education is typically seen as a means to enhance the quality of care and education, and as a way to take account of the child's view.Assessment and Documentation in Early Childhood Education considers the increasing trend towards systematic child documentation especially in early childhood institutions. The authors present ways in which assessment and evaluation is done sometimes explicitly but more often implicitly in these practices, and explore its means, aims, forms, and functions. They also examine the rationalities of child documentation from the perspective of professional practice and professionalism and suggest that documentation and assessment practices can weaken and constrain but also empower and strengthen teachers, children and parents. Topics explored include:Different forms of documentation and assessmentDocumentation and listening to the childrenDilemmas of assessment and documentationParticipation by childrenInvolvement of parentsThis timely bookwill be appealing for those studying in the field of early childhood education, teacher education, special education, general education, social work, counselling, psychology, sociology, childhood studies, and family studies.


Ginger soft rot disease caused by fungal pathogens have become one of the most serious problems causing reduced production around the world. It has also caused a major problem among farmers of Mizoram state in India resulting in a huge decline in rhizome yield. However, the exact causative agents of this disease have not been identified in the state. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to isolate and characterized the causative agents of ginger soft rot disease from the diseased plants collected from five different villages of Aizawl district, Mizoram. Isolated fungi were cultured and morphological and molecular identification were done using internal transcribed spacer of rDNA. Fusarium oxysporum, F. solani and Plectosphaerella cucumerina were identified in ginger samples from five villages. Fusarium spp. were the most common and seem to be the major causative agents. It is suggested that further investigation is required to explore the diversity of ginger soft rot pathogenic fungi in the whole state which could be helpful in introducing effective and eco-friendly disease management programme.


Typical upper limb-mediated activities of daily living involve coordination of both arms, often requiring distributed contributions to mechanically coupled tasks, such as stabilizing a loaf of bread with one hand while slicing with the other. We sought to examine whether mild paresis in one arm results in deficits in performance on a bilateral mechanically coupled task. We designed a virtual reality-based task requiring one hand to stabilize against a spring load that varies with displacement of the other arm. We recruited 15 chronic stroke survivors with mild hemiparesis and 7 age-matched neurologically intact adults. We found that stroke survivors produced less linear reaching movements and larger initial direction errors compared to controls (p < 0.05), and that contralesional hand performance was less linear than that of ipsilesional hand. We found a hand × group interaction (p < 0.05) for peak acceleration of the stabilizing hand, such that the dominant right hand of controls stabilized less effectively than the nondominant left hand while stroke survivors showed no differences between the hands. Our results indicate that chronic stroke survivors with mild hemiparesis show significant deficits in reaching aspects of bilateral coordination, but no deficits in stabilizing against a movement-dependent spring load in this task.


The evolutionary diversification of many terrestrial vertebrate groups is strongly linked to climatic events in the Cenozoic, the period from 65 Million years ago to today when modern animals first appeared. I investigated the effects of Cenozoic climate change on the taxonomic and morphological diversification of the Old World lizard family Lacertidae, with particular emphasis on the African radiation. African lacertids exhibit an unusual pattern of diversification, in which their highest species richness occurs in deserts north and south of the equator, despite being spread throughout the continent. This disparity is particularly surprising given that desert lacertids are thought to be evolutionarily younger than their mesic-dwelling relatives, suggesting increased diversification rates in arid habitats. To identify the evolutionary factors underlying this pattern, I use a combination of phylogenetic, morphological and ecological techniques. In Chapter 1, I apply Bayesian methods and fossil-based calibrations to molecular sequence data to construct a time-calibrated phylogeny for Lacertidae. I estimate that the family arose in the early Cenozoic, with the majority of their African radiation occurring in the Eocene and Oligocene. In Chapter 2, I describe changes in lacertid body shape across biomes and substrates, and find widespread morphological convergence in similar habitat types. I suggest that in addition to foraging demands, fluctuating and extreme climatic conditions, largely driven by precipitation and temperature, contribute to morphological convergence across independent arid-dwelling clades. Finally, I test if ancestral transitions in ecology, morphology, and rates of diversification temporally coincide with paleoclimatic events in the Cenozoic. I use High Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography to characterize changes in the skull related to life in arid habitats, and apply maximum likelihood methods to test if the origins of those traits temporally coincide with significant shifts in habitat, diversification rates and climatic changes. My results show that African lacertids experienced three major peaks in diversification, accompanied by the evolution of suites of arid-adapted morphological traits. These changes coincide with climatic shifts in Africa, including the transition from closed forests to open grasslands and savanna in the late Oligocene, prior to the peak temperatures of the mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum, and following the formation of the Benguela current leading to hyper-aridity in southern Africa. I conclude that deserts are important centers for reptile evolution, but that expected changes in climate due to global warming may outpace the ability of arid-dwelling species to adapt and persist in the future.


The Orhaneli ophiolite, situated in the western part of the Izmir-Ankara-Erzincan Suture Zone (IAESZ) and south of Bursa, exposes cumulates belonging to the mantle-crust transition zone. The Orhaneli ophiolite consists mainly of ultramafic cumulates and subordinate mafic cumulates. The basal cumulate sequence comprises dunites locally interlayered with chromitite levels. Above, dunitic cumulates, commonly interbanded with cumulate wehrlites, grade up into two pyroxene peridotites (cumulate lherzolites showing some transition to cumulate harzburgites in places). The observation of cumulate gabbroic thin layers intercalated with ultramafic cumulates at least three times suggests that the magma chamber was periodically replenished by basaltic liquids. Petrographic studies show that the crystallization orders in the mafic-ultramafic cumulates follow two lines: (1) sp-ol-cpx-plag (chromitite, dunite, wehrlite, pyroxenite, gabbro), (2) sp-ol-cpx-opx-plag (chromitite, dunite, wehrlite, lherzolite, harzburgite, pyroxenite, gabbro). Geochemical analysis has shown that Th enrichment within the LILE (K, Sr, Rb, Ba) group and the depletion of HFSE (Ti, Nb, Zr, Y) relative to MORB indicate a suprasubduction zone tectonic setting for the formation of the Orhaneli ophiolite. The cumulate gabbroic rocks show low Ti (


The article focuses on the issue of evaluation of economic
sustainability of transportation and shipping companies. The
economic crisis, which is currently abating in many world's
countries, has affected all industries, including
transportation and shipping. This important sector of national
economy with a multifunctional character has been influenced by
the economic recession very significantly and its consequences
are visible even now. For this reason there is a growing demand
for methods allowing comprehensive evaluation of businesses.
This article contributes to the topic by describing a procedure
for development of a model for comprehensive evaluation of
transportation and shipping companies. The model makes it
possible to monitor, to evaluate and to signal financial health
and performance of such companies. Finally, the model is
validated and its predictive power is assessed. The proposed
model is an output from research conducted by the Institute of
Technology and Business in Ceske Budějovice, Czech Republic.


State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Campbell articulated serious and specific constitutional constraints upon the imposition of punitive damages. Justice Kennedy's majority opinion announced that, apart from exceptional cases, punitive damages should not exceed nine times the amount of the actual losses sustained by the plaintiff and should usually be far lower. Indeed, the opinion observed, they typically should be much lower, citing double, treble, and quadruple multipliers as instructive examples. Some commentators have worried that the decision could adversely affect consumer interests by offering insulation for tortuous behavior that is difficult to detect or litigate. This Article will explore, however, the decision's unheralded ramifications for contract law, ones that may serve consumer interests. The constitutional standards articulated in State Farm call into question the constitutionality of those statutes and regulations that authorize credit card issuers to charge legally enforceable late penalties but place no significant limitations on their size. Analyzed through the lens of traditional contract law, these penalties are punitive damages for breach that, as such, would typically be invalidated but for positive legislative efforts to override this traditional treatment. Through federal and state statutes and regulations, credit card companies have gained government authorization to levy enforceable penalties that far exceed what the guidelines identified in State Farm permit. To be precise, disproportionately high credit card late fees themselves are not unconstitutional, but State Farm calls into constitutional question their legal enforcement. It also calls into constitutional question the federal and state statutes that authorize and facilitate the imposition of these high late fees, which override both consumer protection statutes to the contrary and traditional contract doctrines that entirely disallow punitive damages.


Background: Dopamine agonists (DA) are the first line therapy for prolactinoma and symptomatic hyperprolactinemia; use as an adjuvant treatment for acromegaly and Cushing's disease is rare. Some patients develop de novo psychiatric symptoms or have exacerbation of pre-existing conditions during DA therapy. A practical, clinically sensitive depression and impulse control disorders (ICD; particularly hypersexuality and gambling disorders) detection tool is important for identifying at risk patients. The Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS-11) and the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) are sensitive in identifying impulsivity and depression. Objective: Detail use of the BIS-11 and PHQ-9 as screening tools for depression and ICD in patients with pituitary disease at a high-volume academic pituitary center. Methods: DA-treated and naïve patients with pituitary disease were included. Patients with a known history of depression or psychiatric disorder were excluded. PHQ-9 standardized interpretation criteria were utilized to classify depression severity. For BIS-11, threshold was established based on previous studies. Statistical analysis was with SPSS version 25. Results: Seventy-six DA-treated and 27 naïve patients were included. Moderate and moderately severe depression were more prevalent in DA-treated patients; severe depression only found in DA-treated patients. A normal BIS-11 score was noted in 76.69%; higher scores (not significant) were noted in DA-treated patients. There was a positive correlation between higher BIS-11 and PHQ-9 scores; higher in DA-treated patients (r = 0.52, p < 0.001) than DA-naïve patients. Patients with BIS-11 scores ≥60 were younger and received lower cumulative DA doses compared to patients with BIS scores <60. There was no association between male sex and BIS-11 ≥60 and male sex did not increase the odds of increased scores (OR = 0.66, CI95% 0.25–1.76, p = 0.41). No significant difference was found for macroadenoma, prolactin levels, testosterone levels, hypogonadism, testosterone replacement in men, and increased impulsivity or depression scores. Conclusion: Use of PHQ-9 and BIS-11 is practical for routine screening of depression and ICD during outpatient pituitary clinic visits for patients with pituitary disease both naïve to treatment and during DA therapy. We recommend close follow-up after initiation of DA therapy for younger patients, regardless of dose.


Parameter quantization is very important for the synthetic speech quality of the vocoder. A new distortion measure for pitch as well as lsf quantization in ultra low bit rate Vocoder, whose parameters for several consecutive frames are grouped into a vector and jointly quantized to obtain high coding efficiency, is proposed based on mixed excitation linear prediction(MELP) vocoder. The product of sum of band pass voicing coefficients and gain parameter is used to denote the weighting factor of pitch as well as lsf parameters of current speech frame in the consecutive frames using weighted squared Euclidean distance measure to search the vector codebook. Comparing with the traditional method for a constant weighting factor by distinguishing Voiced/Unvoiced(UV) pattern of each speech frame, objective test results show that the quantization distortion of pitch is reduced by 3.3% and the mean opinion score (MOS) is increased by almost 0.1(3.5%).


The development of a risk assessment methodology reflects the different stages of the disaster management cycle (warning chain and response phase). Consequently the risk components hazard, exposure (e.g. how many people are exposed?), susceptibility (e.g. are the people able to receive a warning?), coping capacity (are the people able to evacuate?) and recovery (are the people able to restore their livelihoods?) are addressed and quantified. Thereby, the risk assessment encompasses three steps: (i) identifying the nature, location, intensity and probability of a threat (hazard assessment); (ii) determining the existence and degree of vulnerabilities and exposure to those threats (e.g. the physical and socio-economic spheres) and (iii) identifying the coping capacities and resources available to address or manage threats.
The assessment methodology presented follows a people-centered assessment approach to deliver relevant risk and vulnerability information for the purposes of early warning and disaster management considering the entire coastal areas of Sumatra, Java and Bali facing the Sunda trench. Thereby it is demonstrated how to characterise and quantify risk and vulnerability components as hazard intensity, people and critical infrastructure exposed, their susceptibility and coping capacity. Additionally, dedicated products like maps, guidelines and other information products are developed according to end user needs.
The currently established risk assessment results cover the entire coast of Sumatra, Java and Bali facing the Sunda trench. This information on the location of high, moderate and low tsunami risk areas is available on different scales (down to 1 : 100 000 map scale) and aggregation levels (e.g. desa / warning segments). Furthermore the assessed risk information and products are integrated in the database of the Early Warning Center to be used for decision support. To link national scale decision making whether to warn or not in case of a tsunami occurence, the risk products can also be provided to local level decision makers to react adequately concerning their local risks.


Introduction: COVID-19 patients can experience long-term effects including neurological symptoms as part of the long COVID syndrome. The most common neurological symptoms associated with this syndrome are cognitive impairments, such as brain fog, memory issues or loss of concentration, and mood changes, such as depression and anxiety. Non-invasive brain stimulation, for instance, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), is a treatment currently being tested to improve cognitive deficits and mood disorders in long COVID. Methods: We performed a systematic literature search for articles on long COVID and non-invasive brain stimulation. Electronic searches were performed in MEDLINE (via PubMed) and Cochrane databases. The Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal tool was used for quality assessment. Data regarding population, intervention, outcomes, study design, and sources of funding were collected. Results: The search returned 21 articles, of which two case reports were included in the discussion. Three patients with long COVID and cognitive symptoms were treated with tDCS. Although these studies reported promising results, they had methodological differences, no control groups were used and the sample size is insufficient to draw definitive conclusions. Discussion: Neuromodulation treatments like tDCS are currently being considered to treat long COVID, since they have been found to improve cognition, but so far only in observational studies with few patients. In the future, randomized clinical trials using tDCS for long COVID patients with cognitive impairment might demonstrate the effectiveness of this intervention.


Twelve cases of verrucous carcinoma of the orofacial region were reviewed for their clinical and pathological characteristics. Verrucous carcinoma made 3.5% of all primary epidermoid carcinoma observed during the period of investigation. The tumour occurred chiefly in older patients (from 25 to 81 years, mean age 57.5) and more often in males than in females (9 males: 3 females). The most common site of occurrence was the vermilion surface of the lower lip (seven cases). Macroscopic appearance of lesions was reported as exophytic, warty, and white. Microscopically, the thickened epithelium was well differentiated and stratification was preserved. Rete pegs of carcinoma were broad and blunt; they also appeared to "puch" into underlying tissues. Basement membrane appeared to be intact. Cells of tumours were displayed, and histologic features of the spectrum were generally associated with viral modification. The prognosis in verrucous carcinoma is very good, because of the absence of metastases. Radiotherapy should not be used, since not only local recurrence is common, but also anaplastic changes may occur with corresponding aggressive behaviour and metastasis.


The eddy-diffusion parameterization of turbulent transport is based on the assumption, often questionable for geophysical flows, of infinitesimal scales of turbulence. In this paper we quantitatively compute what are the consequences of this assumption on the estimates of dispersion for some simple flows with oceanographical scales. We compare the analytical results of two different models, one with infinitesimal turbulent time scale (corresponding to a model with eddy-diffusion) and the other with finite scale T. The difference between the two model results normalized with respect to the estimate of the eddy-diffusion model, called A, is computed and it is used as a measure of the accuracy of the eddy-diffusion parameterization. In the case of homogeneous turbulence, the eddy-diffusion model is accurate for asymptotic times t > T, as is known, whereas for small times it is characterized by an overestimate of the dispersion. A decreases asymptotically as T/t, with the overestimate less than 10% fort > lOT, so that the eddy-diffusion model is appropriate for the meso or global scales but it could be inadequate for short-term studies or for the interpretation of Lagrangian data. When a linear shear is superimposed on the turbulence, A still decreases as = T/t, which indicates that the range of applicability of the eddy-diffusion model is approximately the same for homogeneous and for linearly inhomogeneous flows. We then consider an oscillating linear shear with frequency o, and the results change drastically. A does not vanish asymptotically, but rather converges to an oscillating function with constant average and constant extrema. The values of A depend on the ratio between the turbulent time scale T and the period of oscillation l/w. When T and l/o are comparable, the eddy-diffusion model leads to an overestimate of order one even at asymptotic times. This result is a specific and analytically solvable example of a potentially much wider class of results valid for time-dependent flows with more complex spatial structure. A discussion of the possible generalizations and examples of applications to oceanographical flows are presented.


Ischemia-reperfusion (IR) is a deleterious condition associated with liver transplantation or resection that involves pro-oxidant and pro-inflammatory mechanisms. Considering that Rosa Mosqueta (RM) oil composition is rich in protective components such as α-linolenic acid (ALA) and tocopherols, we studied the effects of RM oil supplementation given prior to an IR protocol. Male Sprague-Dawley rats receiving RM oil (0.4 mL d-1) for 21 days were subjected to 1 h of ischemia followed by 20 h reperfusion. Parameters of liver injury (serum transaminases, histology), oxidative stress [liver contents of protein carbonyls, thiobarbituric acid reactants, Nrf2 activity and its target mRNA expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and NADPH-quinone oxidoreductase-1 (NQO-1)] and inflammation [nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and its target mRNA expression of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukine-1β (IL-1β)] were studied. RM oil increased liver ALA and its derived EPA and DHA fatty acids' contents, with enhancement in those of α- and γ-tocopherols. IR induced inflammatory liver injury, with enhancement in serum transaminases, oxidative stress-related parameters with reduced Nrf2 signaling, and higher pro-inflammatory cytokines, indexes that were attenuated or abrogated by RM oil pretreatment. It is concluded that RM oil supplementation represents a novel non-invasive preconditioning strategy against liver injury induced by IR that has potential clinical applications in metabolic stress conditions.


We introduce a high resolution spatially adaptive light source, or a projector, into a neural reflectance field that allows to both calibrate the projector and photo realistic light editing. The projected texture is fully differentiable with respect to all scene parameters, and can be optimized to yield a desired appearance suitable for applications in augmented reality and projection mapping. Our neural field consists of three neural networks, estimating geometry, material, and transmittance. Using an analytical BRDF model and carefully selected projection patterns, our acquisition process is simple and intuitive, featuring a fixed uncalibrated projected and a handheld camera with a co-located light source. As we demonstrate, the virtual projector incorporated into the pipeline improves scene understanding and enables various projection mapping applications, alleviating the need for time consuming calibration steps performed in a traditional setting per view or projector location. In addition to enabling novel viewpoint synthesis, we demonstrate state-of-the-art performance projector compensation for novel viewpoints, improvement over the baselines in material and scene reconstruction, and three simply implemented scenarios where projection image optimization is performed, including the use of a 2D generative model to consistently dictate scene appearance from multiple viewpoints. We believe that neural projection mapping opens up the door to novel and exciting downstream tasks, through the joint optimization of the scene and projection images.


The H.E.S.S. imaging air Cherenkov telescope array has performed a blind survey at energies above 100 GeV of parts of the Galactic plane as well as dedicated (deeper) observations of gamma-ray source candidates. New sources including shell type super-nova remnants, pulsar-wind nebulae, binary systems, cosmic ray illuminated molecular clouds, as well as unidentified sources have been found. In this contribution, a selected overview of the recent results focussing on shell type supernova remnants and pulsar wind nebulae is given.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of cervical vertebral anomalies in individuals with cleft palate only (CPO) and bilateral (BCLP) and unilateral (UCLP) complete cleft lip and palate and make a comparison with a group without cleft.

SETTING
This retrospective comparison was performed at the Dental Unit, Department of Plastic Surgery, National Hospital and at the Department of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Six hundred eleven subjects (334 boys, 277 girls) with three different cleft subtypes at age 6 years or older and 264 children (121 boys, 143 girls) without clefts were included in this study. Their lateral cephalometric radiographs were studied for cervical vertebral anomalies and categorized into posterior arch deficiencies or fusions.

RESULTS
In the total cleft sample, 111 subjects (18.2%) had cervical vertebral anomalies; of these, 10 subjects had more than one anomaly. Posterior arch deficiency was found in 7.7% and fusions in 12.1%. In the sample without cleft, 9.1% had cervical vertebral anomalies, 5% posterior arch deficiency, and 4.1% fusions. When the cleft sample was divided into the three cleft subtypes, the prevalence of cervical vertebral anomalies was 25.6% in the CPO group, 16.3% in the BCLP group, and 11.1% in the UCLP group. Differences were statistically significant between the CPO and the group without cleft for both posterior arch deficiency and fusion anomalies (p <.01).

CONCLUSION
Cervical vertebral anomalies occur more frequently in individuals with clefts as compared with those without clefts. This was statistically significant for the CPO group.


Software Performance is a critical aspect for all software products. In terms of Software Operation Knowledge, it concerns knowledge about the software product's performance when it is used by the end-users. In this paper the authors suggest data mining techniques that can be used to analyze software operation data in order to extract knowledge about the performance of a software product when it operates in the field. Focusing on Software-as-a-Service applications, the authors present the Performance Mining Method to guide the process of performance monitoring (in terms of device demands and responsiveness) and analysis (finding the causes of the identified performance anomalies). The method has been evaluated through a prototype which was implemented for an online financial management application in the Netherlands.


The absorptive properties of Baralyme and Sodasorb for CO2 in a container were studied by measuring the lifetime T0.5 of the unit, i.e., the time until the exit concentration of CO2 reaches 0.5%. The container size, the inlet gas flow rate, and the inlet CO2 concentration were varied. The experiments were repeated with either He, N2, or SF6 as the inert gas to evaluate the effect of increased gas density due to hyperbaric conditions on scrubber performance. It was found that T0.5 is best described by an exponential function of the type b (ttr)a, where ttr is the transit time of the gas through the container. The exponent a equals about 1.5 and varies relatively little. The constant b, however, is strongly dependent on inert gas density and on CO2 concentration in the inlet gas; it is independent of container size and gas flow rate. In addition, the amount of absorber reaching up to time T0.5 was measured in all conditions. It is strongly dependent on CO2 concentration; however, surprisingly it is nearly independent of inert gas properties. These results are compared with a mathematical model of scrubber behavior that is based on the chemical reaction rate of an imaginary absorber. The model neglects possible effects of CO2 diffusion in the gas phase, of ash formation, and of heat produced by the reaction. Differences between our experimental data and the model are analyzed as a function of these effects. The results give some simple predictive equations for the lifetime and the amount of absorber reacting.


This paper describes the changes in numbers of Scaup wintering on the Solway Firth, Scotland and offers an explanation for variation in their numbers and, in recent years, their distribution. Scaup occurred on the Solway in 'thousands' in the 1950s, but from 1961 to 1986, numbers rarely exceeded 1,000. The initial decline coincided exactly with the sudden large increase in numbers on the Firth of Forth. Commercial cockling began on the Solway in 1987 and with it came a large increase in the numbers of Scaup. There was a significant correlation between the size of the Cockle harvest and Scaup numbers from 1986 to 1993. Changes in the distribution of Scaup within the Solway between 1991 and 1994 were related to the distribution of cockling effort. It is suggested that Scaup have taken advantage of the increased feeding opportunities provided by the large amounts of Cockles rejected (due to their small size or damage) by the cockling industry. When commercial cockling was banned on the Solway in June 1992, Scaup declined and many of those remaining moved to an area of Mussel beds which was considered, historically, to be their main feeding area on the Solway.


PURPOSE
We evaluated the use of periureteral injection of botulinum toxin type A (Botox(®), BTX-A) to facilitate passage of ureteral stones in a porcine model. We believe that reducing detrusor muscle tone around the intramural ureter may facilitate passage of ureteral stones through the ureterovesical junction.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
With complete Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee approval, artificial stones (BegoStone plus) were placed by retrograde ureteroscopy into the proximal ureter using fluoroscopic guidance using an in-vivo porcine model. Six animals underwent periureteral BTX-A injection 30 U/mL to three locations around the ureteral orifice, and six animals were in the control group undergoing periureteral injection of physiologic saline.

RESULTS
There was a significant decrease in time to stone passage in the BTX-A group compared with the control group, 2.6 ± 1.3 vs 6.8 ± 2.9 days, respectively (p = 0.018). None of the animals had evidence of vesicoureteral reflux postprocedure (N = 0/12).

CONCLUSIONS
Preliminary results suggest that periureteral injection of BTX-A facilitates ureteral stone passage in this model. BTX-A may provide a simple, office-based endoscopic treatment option for ureteral stones. Further studies would be necessary to evaluate its efficacy in humans compared with traditional medical expulsive therapy.


This thesis considers the social implications of urban regeneration from an anthropological perspective centred on concepts of waste and value. It is concerned with the symbolic devaluation of people, their homes and communities on inner-city estates in south-east London. This process is of course nothing new, as the extensive literature on gentrification both in the UK and around the world, by anthropologists and social scientists in general, testifies. The originality of the thesis lies in connecting large scale urban regeneration programmes to small scale, everyday processes of dealing with waste in people's homes, and communally on their estates.

The ethnography connects these two levels by showing how those who live on estates often lack the most basic tools – such as lifts that work, or doors that open, or space in their kitchens – to engage in recycling themselves, meaning they are excluded and 'othered' from a morally loaded value-creating circuit which feeds into their symbolic representation as intrinsically worthless and 'other'. Meanwhile, the very same residents engage in community building in their everyday lives, producing and reproducing their estates as sociable spaces they care deeply about, even though within the confines of a framework that only recognises value in what is privately, individually owned, epitomised in the 'Right to Buy' policy that has deeply affected housing estates in England for the past thirty years, residents' efforts are either misread or ignored by those in charge of the estates.

The thesis thus challenges the misrepresentation of its main set of respondents – working class, poor, ethnically diverse inner-city dwellers - as valueless and as waste themselves, labels that are attached to them not just by media and popular culture, but also by officers, policies and politicians, who are interviewed and interrogated at length in the course of the thesis. Furthermore, it questions the alleged parallels between processes of urban regeneration and recycling. It is easy to understand why local authorities and developers would wish to adopt the morally loaded terminology of recycling and apply it to their programmes, presenting regeneration as related to recycling in its positive connotations of both improvement and recovery of the old, be it people or homes. The ethnography shows instead that regeneration in practice is more akin to wasting and buying new, in that established residents are moved out of their homes, which are then demolished, or wasted, and new middle class incomers are welcomed in – bought anew?


The paper describes direct vector control with stator flux orientation for controlling the speed a PWM inverter induction motor drive system without speed sensor. Modeling and simulation results of the drive system are presented with some practical results. The proposed control method assures good dynamic response of the system.


The classical force-velocity relationship is a standard measure of the contractile function of isolated linear cardiac muscle, but no such simple index of contractile function exists for the isolated mammalian cardiocyte. Therefore, this study established an analogous viscosity-velocity relationship for the characterization of cardiocyte contractile function. For this purpose, force was imposed on unfettered adult feline cardiocytes as a series of defined viscous loads, which provided resistance to cardiocyte shape changes during contraction. This was done by increasing the viscosity of the Krebs superfusate (37 degrees C, pH 7.4) in graded, reproducible steps from 1 to 500 centipoise by the addition of methylcellulose. Sarcomere motion within each contracting cardiocyte was measured as movement of the diffraction pattern cast onto a photodiode array by a laser beam passing through the cell. Both the rate and extent of sarcomere shortening varied inversely with increasing viscosity, whereas neither resting sarcomere length nor osmolarity was altered. Further, increased inotropism effected by paired-pulse stimulation of cardiocytes caused an upward shift of the entire viscosity-velocity relationship. Thus the cardiocyte viscosity-velocity relationship is analogous in form to the force-velocity relationship of isolated linear cardiac muscle and provides a simple reproducible method for characterizing the contractile performance of relatively large numbers of cardiocytes isolated from a single specimen of myocardium.


SUMMARY: When water-washed organisms of a strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were exposed to solutions of NaCl or sucrose, they shrank in size and became more dense. The optical density of suspensions increased rapidly. Pre-treatment of the organisms with various cations, surface-active agents and heat and cold, affected the reaction, and the organisms then behaved differently toward NaCl and sucrose. Some but not all of the effects observed with P. aeruginosa were also observed with a strain of Escherichia coli.


Corporate governance best practice now includes the requirement for a board to ensure that the system of internal control is effective in managing risks in the manner which it has approved. The Turnbull Guidance on this matter is 'based on the adoption by a company's board of a risk-based approach to establishing a sound system of internal control and reviewing its effectiveness'. This involves the identification and prioritising of risks and embedding the risk management approach in the culture and processes of the business. This article explores the use of risk assessment in the law, particularly as it applies to the activities of companies. It is suggested that a concentration on, and perhaps a spurious quantification of, risk could mask the difficulty of making board-level decisions under conditions of true or Knightian uncertainty. Knight maintained that true uncertainty was something distinctly not of the character of risk. It occurs when '. . . there is no possibility of forming in any way groups of instances of sufficient homogeneity to make possible a quantitative determination of true probability. Business decisions, for example, deal with situations which are far too unique, generally speaking, for any sort of statistical tabulation to have any value for guidance. The concept of objectively measurable probability or chance is simply inapplicable'.


As part of the larger trend towards "securitization" of citizenship, citizenship deprivation in Canada is becoming increasingly normalized, resulting in some cases in statelessness. In this article, I pursue a sociology of statelessness by examining its localized production and connections to a broader network of social and material relations. I do this through a case study of Canadian-born Deepan Budlakoti, who at age 22 was informed that he was in fact not Canadian, and lacking any other citizenship, was rendered stateless. Actor-Network Theory is employed to trace how it is that legal documental and heterogeneous networks of humans and things (e.g., a "legal technicality") have been enrolled to produce a legal decision declaring that Budlakoti, despite his Canadian birth certificate and passports, was never a Canadian citizen. Yet because he has not exhausted all avenues to acquisition of some citizenship (e.g., in India or Canada), he also has failed to secure recognition of his statelessness. A particular innovation in this analysis is the exploration of the exemption in the Canadian Citizenship Act from jus soli citizenship for children born to foreign diplomatic staff. Networks of immigration tribunal and court judgements, and documents treated as evidence have connected and translated into establishing Budlakoti's fit with this exemption, despite countervailing evidence and a lifetime of documented and state-assisted reproduction of his Canadianness. While robbed of his legal and social identity, and suffering the egregious consequences of statelessness, Budlakoti continues to campaign for restoration of his right to have rights within his country of birth.


The passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") in 1990 has been praised as the major accomplishment of the disability rights movement. This statute, however, is not without its flaws. Perhaps the most problematic one is the way in which "disability" is defined. Lisa Eichhorn argues that the definition undercuts the effectiveness of the ADA. She begins with a historical look at society's concepts of disability and discusses how these concepts were incorporated into the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the ADA. She then examines cases that have been dismissed because plaintiffs cannot prove disabled status, which illustrate the problems with the disability definition. The Supreme Court has not provided lower courts with much guidance in this area, as demonstrated by the recent case of Bragdon v. Abbott. Ms. Eichhorn, however, offers relief for courts struggling with the definition: amend the disability definition so it represents more accurately the goals not only of the Act's drafters but also of disability rights activists.


The present work was carried out to evaluate the influence of temperature and wet-versus-dry storage on longevity, respiration and ethylene production during storage of E. ibaguense flowers. The inflorescences were harvested and stored at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40°C, in water or dry, until complete senescence. Respiration increased when inflorescences were treated with wet or dry storage. The Q 10 factor for this flower, at temperatures ranging from 5 to 40°C, was similar to most fresh horticultural products, varying between 1.2 and 3.31 depending on storage temperature. Production of ethylene by the inflorescence was maximal at 20°C for flowers maintained in water, and at 35°C for those flowers kept dry, followed by a sharp drop in both treatments. A maximal shelf life for cut flowers was obtained when the inflorescences were stored wet at 10°C. Symptoms of chilling were observed in flowers stored in water after six to seven days at 5°C, showing petal wilting and necrosis of the labellum. At 40°C, flowers stored dry showed severe petal wilting and darkening of bud petals less than one day after harvest.


Natural zeolites combined with the magnetic iron oxides are prepared by a chemical coprecipitation process. A detailed characterization of our magnetically modified zeolite (MMZ) is given, including powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The results reveal that in comparison with Na-zeolite, the structure of MMZ has no obvious change but its surface area increases from 25.13 m2 g-1 to 100.90 m2 g-1. The adsorption properties of MMZ to Pb2+ and Cu2+ were studied. The results show that the maximum loading capacities for Pb2+ and Cu2+ in the initial concentration range are 123.74 and 14.633 mg g-1, respectively. The MMZ can be used as an adsorbent for removal of heavy metal ions from industrial effluents or municipal waters, and the saturated adsorbent is separated from the medium by a simple magnetic process.


Understanding and predicting molecular cause of disease is one of the major challenges for biology and medicine. One particular area of interest continues to be computational analyses of disease-associated amino acid substitutions. To this end, various studies have been performed to identify molecular functions disrupted by disease-causing mutations. Here, we investigate the influence of disease-associated mutations on post-translational modifications. In particular, we study the loss of modification target sites as a consequence of disease mutation. We find that about 5% of disease-associated mutations may affect known modification sites, either partially (4%) of fully (1%), compared to about 2% of putatively neutral polymorphisms. Most of the fifteen post-translational modification types analyzed were found to be disrupted at levels higher than expected by chance. Molecular functions and physiochemical properties at sites of disease mutation were also compared to those of neutral polymorphisms involved in the process of post-translational modification site disruption. Disease-associated mutations in the neighborhood of post-translationally modified sites were found to be enriched in mutations that change polarity, charge, and hydrophobicity of the wild-type amino acids. Overall, these results further suggest that disruption of modification sites is an important but not the major cause of human genetic disease.


A model is developed that allows for interaction between the labor market and the housing market. A job location has an associated commuting time that may affect the job acceptance decision. Obstacles to mobility, such as regulations in the housing market will affect the reservation strategy of workers. Thus, aggregate unemployment will depend, at least partly, on the functioning of the housing market. Data from the U.S. and E.U. reveals that individuals in the U.S. are about three times more likely to experience a change in residence within a given year. At the same time, unemployment in the E.U. is roughly twice that in the U.S. This paper seeks to understand, both qualitatively and quantitatively, how housing market frictions might affect the functioning of the labor market.


Neural network joint modeling (NNJM) has produced huge improvement in machine translation performance. As in standard neural network language modeling, a context-independent linear projection is applied to project a sparse input vector into a continuous representation at each word position. Because neighboring words are dependent on each other, context-independent projection may not be optimal. We propose a context-dependent linear projection approach which considers neighboring words. Experimental results showed that the proposed approach further improves NNJM by 0.5 BLEU for English-Iraqi Arabic translation in N-best rescoring. Compared to a baseline using hierarchical phrases and sparse features, NNJM with our proposed approach has achieved a 2 BLEU improvement.


In the course TDT4520 - Specialization Project, the preparatory course to this thesis, we looked at several safety analysis methods and how they could be exploited to identify software hazards in the early stages of development. After our evaluation, and with the results from a survey conducted on experts in the field, we proposed a procedure to improve software hazard identification in the concept phase of projects. The procedure consisted of a Misuse Case analysis with a sub-sequential HAZOP analysis. Our case study showed that this procedure will indeed aid in the identification process. However, testing the procedure on others is needed to see if this is correct. That is the main theme for this thesis. We performed an experiment with undergraduate students and an interview with an expert in the field. We use the results from the experiment to validate our assumptions and identify modifications that might be needed. The experiment gave us a good illustration of how the procedure would work in a real hazard analysis project, and the data collected showed us the differences between it and the more commonly used Preliminary Hazard Analysis. Our hypothesis was that the Misuse Case and HAZOP approach would improve the hazard identification with focus on software. The experiment resulted in no clear difference in non-software parts of the system, but a clear improvement on the software parts. Afterwards we conducted an interview with an expert in the field, in which we clarified many of our questions and assumptions, and aided us in modifying the procedure to the better. Although the procedure still needs to be tested thoroughly with real projects in the industry to make a final decision on whether it has merit or not, our conclusion is that the procedure deserves further attention. Software hazard identification in the concept phase is difficult but based on our findings, the Misuse Case and HAZOP combination can improve this problem.


Would people choose what they think would maximize their subjective well-being (SWB)? We present survey respondents with hypothetical scenarios and elicit both choice and predicted SWB rankings of two alternatives. While choice and predicted SWB rankings usually coincide in our data, we find systematic reversals. We identify factors-such as predicted sense of purpose, control over one's life, family happiness, and social status-that help explain hypothetical choice controlling for predicted SWB. We explore how our findings vary by SWB measure and by scenario. Our results have implications regarding the use of SWB survey questions as a proxy for utility.


We describe a scheme to combine the results of audio and face identification for multimedia indexing and retrieval. Audio analysis consists of speech and speaker recognition derived from a broadcast news video clip. The video component is analyzed to identify the persons in the same video clip using face recognition. When applied individually both speaker and face recognition schemes have limitations on conditions under which they perform reasonably well. By integrating the match-score results of both audio and video analysis, we find that the two techniques can complement each other. We discuss the system architecture for such a combined system, and discuss how decision fusion is applied to disparate match-scoring systems to yield the final speaker identity.


Cervical cancer screening has been one of the most impactful human interventions in medical history, saving the lives of countless thousands of women since the introduction of organized cytology screening programs. Today, we stand at a crossroads in the fight against cervical cancer, with several countries actively engaged in introducing primary human papillomavirus (HPV) testing and vaccination as more effective means of prevention. This chapter discusses the history of organized screening and how this led to HPV test methods to detect cervical cancer. We go on to examine the technologies used to screen for high-risk HPV types and how they affect clinical performance. We examine the evidence for primary HPV screening and review recent self-collection initiatives to reach underserved women, including the use of urine as novel sample type. In addition, we critically examine the evolution of HPV test methods and make the case for the use of extended genotyping as an improved risk stratification tool for guiding clinical management. Finally, we look to the future of cervical cancer screening and consider options for future management programs.


Abstract This article uses knowledge management theory and the gravity model to analyse the determinants of 'inpatriation' for knowledge-transfer within multinational corporations (MNCs) and the differences in their effects based on the region of the subsidiary's host country. The empirical analysis uses data collected through a survey of the overseas subsidiaries of Japanese MNCs and finds that factors related to both the countries and the individual MNCs affect inpatriation, with the former factors having a stronger influence than the latter. With regard to the country factors, a smaller geographic distance and a larger cultural distance between the home and host countries and a lower GDP per capita in the subsidiary's host country increase inpatriation. Regarding the individual MNC factors, a larger subsidiary R&D budget, a larger parent firm and the execution of collaborative R&D projects between a subsidiary and its parent firm increase inpatriation. Additionally, this study finds that in Asia, geographic closeness and low GDP per capita facilitate inpatriation, whereas a relatively small R&D budget and rare collaborative R&D projects with Japan decrease inpatriation. More subsidiaries in Asia send inpatriates to Japan than do subsidiaries in other regions because these positive factors are much stronger than these negative factors.


Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is a small peptide hormone with potent insulinotropic activity and represents a promising new therapeutic tool for the treatment of diabetes. Like many other therapeutic peptides, GLP-1 is commonly produced using chemical synthesis methods, but is limited by product quantity and cost. The advent of recombinant DNA technology offers the possibility of producing GLP-1 inexpensively and in vast quantities. In this study, transgenic plants were used as a recombinant expression platform for the production of GLP-1 as a large multimeric protein. A synthetic gene encoding ten sequential tandem repeats of GLP-1 sequence (GLP-1x10) was produced and introduced into tobacco plants. Transcriptional expression of the GLP1x10 gene in transgenic plants was confirmed by RT-PCR. Western blot analysis showed that the GLP-1x10 protein efficiently accumulated in transgenic plants, with an accumulation level as high as 0.15% of total soluble protein in leaves. Importantly, insulin secretion assays using a mouse pancreaticcell line (MIN6), showed that plant-derived GLP-1 in its synthetic decamer form, retained its ability to stimulate cellular insulin secretion, although with reduced efficacy. These results demonstrate that transgenic plants are an efficient system for the production of a multimerized recombinant GLP-1. Moreover, transgenic plants synthesizing high levels of GLP-1x10 may prove to be an attractive delivery system for direct oral administration of a novel stable GLP-1 analog in the treatment of patients with Type 2 diabetes.


The problem of determination of maxima dis- tribution laws of full differentials and linear bias of block symmetric ciphers as substitution transformations is con- sidered. Well-known theoretical results, published in lit- erature, are given, as well as experiment results on mak- ing the laws of maxima distribution of full differential transitions and maximum biasess of linear hulls for re- duced cipher model from Belorussian standard and cipher Kalina, which practically confirm theoretical calculations, are presented. The results testify that maximum values of differential and linear probabilities are concentrated close to their average values and for evaluation of indexes of cipher provable security it's enough to make a test of proximity of differential and linear cipher indexes, re- ceived for one arbitrarily taken cipher key corresponding to indexes of random substitutions.


How and when is income taxable? To whom is it taxable? This Nutshell summarizes U.S. federal income tax law, defines income, and identifies the different types of deductions. Explains statutory inclusion and exclusion from gross income, profit-related deductions, mixed deductions, personal deductions, and other allowances. Also inquires into the policy and purposes of, and alternatives to, existing legal rules.


Single- and double-null divertor configurations in HL-2A are simulated by SWEQU equilibrium code. Lower divertor discharges in the first physics campaign have been achieved by two kinds of power supply method of multipole-field coils. Single-null divertor configuration has been identified by visible photography, target probe arrays and the reconstructed magnetic surface. Magnetic separatrix and minor radius of plasma column are obtained by a reconstructed code of multiple current filaments using 18 Mirnov signals.


During the second half of the twentieth century, the concepts of racial exclusion and inequality were impugned when the Civil Rights Movement undertook the challenge to bring about social and racial egalitarianism. The success of the Movement depended on contributions from many sources. This study focuses on the cultural entity of theatre to examine the contributions of selected plays to the Movement. It investigates key theatre-related issues that framed the ethnopolitical debate between white supremacists, Black Nationalists, and racial integrationists to show how the Movement gained from those groups. The thematic premise supports the clause that theatre, as a didactic instrument for change, championed prime Civil Rights Movement goals (public education, housing, and voting) while ascertaining how these goals were integrated in plays to help audiences internalize the political and social ideologies of the Movement. When the Movement brought about an increase in black voting, progress in school desegregation, and enhanced housing opportunities for African Americans, the profound changes ushered in a significant shift in sensibilities, attitudes, and outlooks, which had political ramifications around the world. Thus theatre played a progressive role in the amelioration of race problems through its dramatists. This study argues that this was the era when artists, particularly black theatre artists, fought for equality in American theatre, which resulted in the increased visibility of African-American performers, a proliferation of black theatre productions, a major rise in African-American dramatists, and most important, an explosion in black plays. African-American playwrights, using their dramatic voices to become cultural arbiters and myth-makers while simultaneously voicing their advocacy of the Civil Rights Movement's principles, set forth to elucidate and sanction the politics that characterized black grievances. As the Movement was a catalyst for cultural authenticity and literary legitimacy, this study evaluates how a blending of social, political, economic, and cultural factors was dramatized to educate audiences and motivate demonstrators. Methodological approaches consist of critical textual analyses of the plays, evaluations of critical writings on theatre-related civil rights issues, historical analyses of important events of the Movement, and interviews. Primary source materials from the archives of civil rights organizations will reveal how they assisted in promoting, supporting, and marketing these plays. Five notable plays, each endowed with a progressive politics, comprise the primary plays in this study. The introduction provides a historical overview of the Movement and its major goals, focusing on public education, housing, and voting. Chapter One examines Loften Mitchell's A Land Beyond the River (1957) and its connection to education. Chapter Two examines Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun (1959) to investigate the drama's advocacy for decent housing. Chapter Three relies on Ossie Davis's Purlie Victorious (1961) to reveal the role of humor and its connection to civil rights. Chapter Four examines Amiri Baraka's Dutchman (1964) to investigate black militancy. Chapter Five, which takes on the issue of voting, offers critical analyses of George Sklar's And People All Around (1966), which was inspired by real-life events. This study demonstrates how the achievements of theatre, through its texts, played a role in the cultural politics of the Civil Rights Movement.


This study aimed to examine the differences in the perception of humor styles and classroom management skills of PE teachers according to age, gender and seniority. Data related to PE teachers' humor styles were collected through Humor Styles Questionnaire developed by Martin et al. (2003), and adapted to Turkish by Yerlikaya in 2003, while data regarding classroom management skills were obtained via "Classroom Management Skills Scale" initially developed by Denkdemir in 2007. The study sample was composed of 162 physical education teachers employed in secondary and high schools in Bartın province. In the analyzes of the data One Way ANOVA, Tukey's HSD and independent samples t-test were used. According to analyze results, there were significant differences in the self-enhancing humor sub-dimension and classroom management skills according to age. Besides, there were significant differences in the classroom management skills according to gender and seniority, and humor styles of the teachers significantly differed in the affiliative humor sub-dimension, according to seniority. In conclusion, this paper demonstrated original and interesting results on associations in PE teachers humor styles and classroom management skills. However, further research is still recommended.


This study was motivated by the lack of student learning outcomes in teaching civics, and the lack of media are used to help the learning process. The purpose of this study was to describe the learning outcomes of students in class V SD Shabbihisma 1 Padang by using the method of Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition on civics lesson. This type of research is classroom action research conducted in two cycles, the subject of this research is class V SD Shabbihisma 1 Padang, amounting to 27 people. The research instrument used in this study is, teacher observation sheet activities, observation sheet the students' attitudes (affective), student behavior observation sheets (psychomotor) and test student learning outcomes. The results showed that the cognitive learning in silkus I is 60.52% increased to 86.29% in the second cycle, namely affective assessment, the assessment of students in response to a joint decision on the determination of the duty cycle I is 63.37% increased to 83, 92% in the second cycle and psychomotor assessment that behavioral assessment of students in carrying out the responsibility in the first cycle is 67.53% increased to 82.65% in the second cycle. Based onthis study concludedthat byusing themethod ofCooperative IntegratedReadingandCompositioncanimprove student learning outcomes. Researcherssuggest thatteachers canusemethodsCooperative IntegratedReadingandCompositionas an alternativeincivicslearningfor learningfunandnotmake studentsbored.


In 1971 the Compact Oxford English Dictionary made publishing and printing history by ingeniously reducing the 13 volumes of the OED to two, without losing one word of the original. Newsweek hailed the achievement "a brilliant success," while the New York Times declared that the Compact was "something of a miracle... easier to work with than the original... an extraordinary bargain." Since then it has sold over 330,000 copies in the United States alone. But the Compact did not contain the Supplements to the OED which have been appearing at regular intervals since 1972. Now, with their completion in 1986, all four volumes are being produced in a single micrographically reproduced volume to be called Volume III of the Compact OED. So the vital addendum, which transforms the OED into an indispensable tool for the eighties, will be made available for the first time in this convenient and affordable format. The Supplement, called the "book of the century" by Phillip Howard in the London Times, contains all the new words that have come into use during the twentieth century and includes as well the countless new meanings that have been applied to older words--over 69,000 entries altogether. It includes business terms, "computerese," space-age terminology, colloquialisms and coinages by modern authors ranging from William Faulkner and Virginia Woolf to Gore Vidal and Erica Jong. Words like G-man, yuppie, user-friendly, test-tube baby, and Zen Buddhism rub shoulders with the most recent additions to subjects like law, medicine and engineering. The wealth of Americanisms in the Supplement also reflects a new direction for the dictionary. As editor Robert Burchfield explains it, "The center of gravity for the English language is no longer Britain. American English is the greatest influence on English everywhere." Volume III of the Compact is available in its own jndividual slipcase or combined with Volumes I and II in one slipcase. By a process of photoreduction four pages from the original work appear on each page of the Compact edition and both versions include a magnifying glass that makes the reduced type easily readable. The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, Volume III (A Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary, Volumes I-IV) $75.00, 861211-7, 1424 pp., 9 1/2 x 12 1/2 1 volume in slipcase (adhesive strips on the slipcase allow it to be attached to the 2-volume Compact OED boxed set) with reading glass The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, Volumes I-III $250.00, 861212-5, 5568 pp., 9 1/2 x 12 1/2 Volumes I, II and III in a single slipcase with reading glass


This research investigated the main facilitators and barriers for the implementation of a social project in Curitiba, the Community School Program, and for the participation of children in the program. The research was qualitative and the data was collected through observations and open interviews with 65 Program agents (coordinators, teachers, student teachers, volunteers and children). The main facilitators are: the support of the City Education Department; workers efforts; offer of free activities in a relatively safe environment; and opportunities for socialization. The main barriers are: workers low pay; volunteers and student teachers high turnover rates, and lack of support for their work. Some factors are characterized as facilitators or barriers, depending on the reality of each school: community participation culture; partnerships; conditions of school spaces, materials and equipment; type of activities which are offered. The research offers some subsides for the improvement of similar programs and for the idealization and management of other projects.


Until now, the most common way to obtain the stress-strain curves for a material is through axial tensile testing. However, in recent years there have been developments on alternative methods for material characterization. In this sense, the bending procedure has proved to be a powerful technique, which allows simultaneous determination of tension and compression stress behavior by the use of bending moment and strain data. The characterization of materials by means of bending data was presented for the first time in 1910 by the German engineer Herbert. Some years later Nadai and Marin developed some research on this procedure. More recently, several researchers (Mayville and Finnie, Laws and Urriolagoitia-Sosa, et.al.) have developed diverse bending methods for the simultaneous determination of tension and compression stress-strain curves. In this paper, three bending methods are analyzed and compared against axial tensile and compressive results. It was decided to apply each one of the bending procedures to bent rectangular cross sections beams made from 6063-T5 Aluminum alloy. The specimens were annealed to eliminate previous loading history and axially pulled to induce a controlled anisotropic behavior (strain hardening and Bauschinger effect). The results obtained by two of the three methods provided great confidence and have certified the application of this new technique to characterize material.


Multiphoton (MP) microscopy is a well-established method for the non-invasive imaging of biological tissues. However, its optical sectioning capabilities are reduced due to specimen-induced aberrations. Both the manipulation of spherical aberration (SA) and the use of axicons have been reported to be useful techniques to bypass this limitation. We propose the combination of SA patterns and variable axicons to further improve the quality of MP microscopy images. This approach provides enhanced images at different depth locations whose quality is better than those corresponding to the use of SA or axicons separately. Thus, the procedure proposed herein facilitates the visualization of details and increases the depth observable at high resolution.


Medical applications challenge today's text categorization techniques by demanding both high accuracy and ease-of-interpretation. Although deep learning has provided a leap forward in regard to accuracy, this leap comes at the sacrifice of interpretability. In this paper, we introduce a text categorization approach that leverages the recently introduced Tsetlin Machine to address this accuracy-interpretability challenge. Briefly, we represent the terms of a text as propositional variables. From these variables, we capture categories using simple propositional formulae, such as: IF "rash" AND "reaction" AND "penicillin" THEN Allergy. The Tsetlin Machine learns these formulae from labeled text, utilizing conjunctive clauses to represent the particular facets of each category. Therefore, also the absence of terms (negated features) can be used for categorization purposes. Our empirical comparisons with Naïve Bayes classifiers, decision trees, linear support vector machines (SVMs), random forest, long short-term memory (LSTM) neural networks, and other techniques, are quite conclusive. Using relatively simple propositional formulae, the accuracy of the Tsetlin Machine either outperforms or performs approximately on par with the best evaluated methods on both the 20 Newsgroups and IMDb datasets, as well as on a clinical dataset containing authentic electronic health records (EHRs). On average, the Tsetlin Machine delivers the best recall and precision scores across the datasets. The main merit of the proposed approach is thus its capacity for producing human-interpretable rules, while at the same time achieving acceptable accuracy. We believe that our novel approach can have a significant impact on a wide range of text analysis applications, providing a promising starting point for deeper natural language understanding with the Tsetlin Machine.


Using the 2003 National Survey of Children's Health, this paper examines the physical and mental health of children by family structure. Children in step, single-mother, or grandparent-only families had poorer health than children living with two biological parents. Adjusting for demographic differences reduced observed disparities, although children living in single-mother or grandparent-only families still had poorer health than children living with two biological parents. Adjusted estimates showed that children in single-father families generally did as well as (for mental health) or better than (for physical health) children living with two biological parents.


In response to cardiac ischemia/reperfusion, proteolysis mediated by extracellular matrix metalloproteinase inducer (EMMPRIN) and its secreted ligand cyclophilin-A (CyPA) significantly contributes to cardiac injury and necrosis. Here, we aimed to investigate if, in addition to the effect on the funny current (I(f)), Ivabradine may also play a role against cardiac necrosis by reducing EMMPRIN/CyPA-mediated cardiac inflammation. In a porcine model of cardiac ischemia/reperfusion (IR), we found that administration of 0.3 mg/kg Ivabradine significantly improved cardiac function and reduced cardiac necrosis by day 7 after IR, detecting a significant increase in cardiac CyPA in the necrotic compared to the risk areas, which was inversely correlated with the levels of circulating CyPA detected in plasma samples from the same subjects. In testing whether Ivabradine may regulate the levels of CyPA, no changes in tissue CyPA were found in healthy pigs treated with 0.3 mg/kg Ivabradine, but interestingly, when analyzing the complex EMMPRIN/CyPA, rather high glycosylated EMMPRIN, which is required for EMMPRIN-mediated matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activation and increased CyPA bonding to low-glycosylated forms of EMMPRIN were detected by day 7 after IR in pigs treated with Ivabradine. To study the mechanism by which Ivabradine may prevent secretion of CyPA, we first found that Ivabradine was time-dependent in inhibiting co-localization of CyPA with the granule exocytosis marker vesicle-associated membrane protein 1 (VAMP1). However, Ivabradine had no effect on mRNA expression nor in the proteasome and lysosome degradation of CyPA. In conclusion, our results point toward CyPA, its ligand EMMPRIN, and the complex CyPA/EMMPRIN as important targets of Ivabradine in cardiac protection against IR.


Two-step method is used to research stress and its distribution in 64×64 InSb infrared focal plane array (IRFPA) employing finite element method. First, a small 8×8 InSb IRFPA is systemically studied by varying indium bump diameters, standoff heights and InSb chip thicknesses in suitable range, with indium diameter 30μm, thickness 9μm and InSb thickness 12μm, von Mises stress in InSb chip is the smallest and its distribution is uniform at contacting areas. Then, the sizes of InSb IRFPA is doubled once again from 8×8 to 64×64 to learn the effect from chip sizes, thus, the stress and its distribution of 64×64 InSb IRFPA is obtained in a short time. Simulation results show that von Mises stress maximum in InSb chip almost increases linearly with array scale, yet von Mises stress maximum in Si ROIC decreases slightly with increased array sizes, and the largest von Mises stress is located in InSb chips. Besides, stress distribution on the bottom surface of InSb chip is radiating, and decreases from core to four corners, and stress value at contacting area is smaller than those on its surrounding areas, contrary to stress distribution on top surface of InSb chip.


"A few decades ago, cancer was a topic shrouded in social silence. Today…stories of cancer illness have found a place in our culture. The emergence of this discourse means that those who become ill with cancer can expect some degree of acceptance and understanding. The same cannot be said, however, about all those who survive cancer. Despite the interest that is often generated by stories of survival…there still remain unresolved tensions for those who have lived beyond the acute phase of extreme experience." This study, which originates from my practice as a social worker in the field of palliative care and formed part of my doctoral studies, sought to uncover and explore some of these 'unresolved tensions' in the lives of those who are experiencing cancer as a long-term condition. I aimed in this study to give individuals who were living 'with and beyond cancer' the opportunity to talk about their experiences, both during the treatment phase and beyond, in order to explore the meaning of this experience, and therefore to increase the body of public and professional knowledge in this field. I conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 people who were living with cancer as a long-term condition, simultaneously analysing these narratives using a grounded theory approach. My findings from this study were that, overwhelmingly, individuals experienced cancer as life-changing, not only in terms of their own personal development and attitudes to life, but also in how they related to the people around them, including health and social care professionals. While recognising the individual nature of each person's experience, the findings of my study have provided an invaluable insight into the psychosocial needs of people living with cancer, which I aim to disseminate to professionals and policymakers, to increase understanding and enhance aftercare in cancer 'survivorship'.


This study examined the effect of alfalfa hay (AH) particle size and the replacement of soya bean hull (SH) for AH within the diet of restricted fed Holstein steers on dry matter intake (DMI), total tract digestion, ruminal digestion, ruminal pH and ammonia nitrogen content, and faecal pH. Four rumen-cannulated Holstein steers averaging 353 ± 9.6 kg of BW were assigned to a 4 × 4 Latin square experiment with four periods and a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments. Factor A was AH particle size (fine vs. coarse) and factor B was diet SH content (0% vs. 10%; substituted for AH). Steers were fed at 1% of body weight of TMR containing 400 g/kg forage and 600 g/kg concentrate. Chopping of AH to fine particles decreased (p = 0.01) amount of dietary materials retained on the medium sieve (8 mm). The inclusion of SH significantly increased (p = 0.01) materials retained on the 1.18-mm sieve and tended to decrease (p = 0.07) materials on 19-mm sieves. The inclusion of SH increased (p = 0.01) ether extract (EE) intake and increased (p = 0.07) DMI. Inclusion of SH increased (p = 0.01) EE digestion and decreased (p < 0.01) faecal pH. Neither AH particle size nor SH inclusion in diets affected (p > 0.10) the in situ ruminal degradability coefficients of DM ('a', 'b', 'c' or 'a+b'). No interaction of AH×SH was seen on nutrient intake, digestibility and in situ ruminal degradability of Holstein steers.


When studying WMSDs, several risk factors of different nature (mechanical, organizational, psychosocial, individual) are considered to be significant in general models of risk assessment and management and for epidemiologic purposes. As a consequence an "holistic" approach to their prevention was confirmed specially at international and national level when planning guidelines and interventions. On the other side there is a strong request, from OSH agencies and operators, for developing "simple" tools for risk assessment and management. ISO technical standard on "Ergonomics and Biomechanics" adopt a general approach to risk assessment and management according to four basic steps: hazard identification; risk estimation; detailed risk evaluation; risk reduction. ISO has defined a number of technical standards in the field of "physical ergonomics" regarding working postures, load manual handling, repetitive manual work (ISO 11226 and 11228 series) that in some manner take into account the contemporary presence of several risk factors. As a reaction to request from many practitioners, ISO has now completed a special application document (ISO TR 12295) to better clarify application procedures of the methods reported in such standards.


Roots play a critical, but largely unappreciated, role in aboveground anti-herbivore plant defense (e.g. resistance and tolerance) and root-leaf connections may therefore result in unexpected coupling between above- and belowground consumers. Using the tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) system we highlight two examples of this phenomenon. First, the secondary metabolite nicotine is produced in roots, yet translocated aboveground for use as a foliar resistance trait. We demonstrate that nematode root herbivory interferes with foliar nicotine dynamics, resulting in positive effects on aboveground phytophagous insects. Notably, nematode-induced facilitation only occurred on nicotine-producing plants, and not on nicotine-deficient mutants. In the second case, we use stable isotope and invertase enzyme analyses to demonstrate that foliar herbivory elicits a putative tolerance response whereby aboveground nutritional reserves are allocated to roots, resulting in facilitation of phytoparasitic nematodes. Thus, plants integrate roots in resistance and tolerance mechanisms for leaf defense, and such root-leaf connections inherently link the dynamics of above- and belowground consumers.