In the current study, poly 4-mercaptophenyl methacrylate-carbon nano-onions (PMPMA-CNOs = f-CNOs) reinforced natural protein (zein) composites (zein/f-CNOs) are fabricated using the acoustic cavitation technique. The influence of f-CNOs inclusion on the microstructural properties, morphology, mechanical, cytocompatibility, in-vitro degradation, and swelling behavior of the hydrogels are studied. The tensile results showed that zein/f-CNOs hydrogels fabricated by the acoustic cavitation system exhibited good tensile strength (90.18 MPa), compared with the hydrogels fabricated by the traditional method and only microwave radiation method. It reveals the magnitude of physisorption and degree of colloidal stability of f-CNOs within the zein matrix under acoustic cavitation conditions. The swelling behaviors of hydrogels were also tested and improved results were noticed. The cytotoxicity of hydrogels was tested with osteoblast cells. The results showed good cell viability and cell growth. To explore the efficacy of hydrogels as drug transporters, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) release was measured under gastric and intestinal pH environment. The results showed pH-responsive sustained drug release over 15 days of study, and pH 7.4 showed a more rapid drug release than pH 2.0 and 4.5. Nonetheless, all the results suggest that zein/f-CNOs hydrogel could be a potential pH-responsive drug transporter for a colon-selective delivery system.


Interactive summarization is a task that facilitates user-guided exploration of information within a document set. While one would like to employ state of the art neural models to improve the quality of interactive summarization, many such technologies cannot ingest the full document set or cannot operate at sufficient speed for interactivity. To that end, we propose two novel deep reinforcement learning models for the task that address, respectively, the subtask of summarizing salient information that adheres to user queries, and the subtask of listing suggested queries to assist users throughout their exploration. 1 In particular, our models allow encoding the interactive session state and history to refrain from redundancy. Together, these models compose a state of the art solution that addresses all of the task requirements. We compare our solution to a recent interactive summarization system, and show through an experimental study involving real users that our models are able to improve informativeness while preserving positive user experience.


Noise and vibration suppression is an important aspect in the design process of structures and machines. Undesirable vibrations can cause fatigue in a structure and are, therefore, a risk to the safety of a structure. One of the most effective and widely used methods of mitigating these unwanted vibrations from a system is passive damping, by using a viscoelastic material. This dissertation will primarily focus on constrained layer passive damping treatments in structures and the investigation of associated complex modes. The key idea behind constrained damping treatment is to increase damping as affected by the presence of a highly damped core layer vibrating mainly in shear. Our main goal was to incorporate viscoelastic material in a thick stiffened panel with plate-strip stiffeners, to enhance the damping characteristics of the structure. First, we investigated complex damped modes in beams in the presence of a viscoelastic layer sandwiched between two elastic layers. The problem was solved using two approaches, (1) Rayleigh beam theory and analyzed using the principle of virtual work, and (2) by using 2D plane stress elasticity based finite-element method. The damping in the viscoelastic material was modeled using the complex modulus approach. We used FEM without any kinematic assumptions for the transverse shear in both the core and elastic layers. Moreover, numerical examples were studied, by including complex modulus in the base and constraining layers. The loss factor was calculated by modal strain energy method, and by solving a complex eigenvalue problem. The efficiency of the modal strain energy method was tested for different loss factors in the core layer. Complex mode shapes of the beam were also examined in the study, and a comparison was made between viscoelastically damped and non-proportionally damped structures. Secondly, we studied the free vibration response of an integrally stiffened and/or stepped plate. The stiffeners used here were plate-strip stiffeners, unlike the rib stiffeners often investigated by researchers. Both plate and stiffeners were analyzed using the first-order shear deformation theory. The deflections and rotations were assumed as a product of Timoshenko beam functions, chosen appropriately according to the given boundary conditions. Unlike Navier and Levy solution techniques, the approach used here can also be applied to fully clamped, free and cantilever supported stiffened plates. The governing differential equations were solved using the Rayleigh-Ritz method. The development of the stiffness and the mass matrices in the Ritz analysis was found to consume a huge amount of CPU time due to the recursive integration of Timoshenko beam functions. An approach is suggested to greatly decrease this amount of CPU time, by replacing the recursive integration in a loop structure in the computer program, with the analytical integration of the integrand in the loop. The numerical results were compared with the exact solutions available in the literature and the commercially available finite-element software ABAQUS R ©. Some parametric studies were carried out to show the influence of certain important parameters on the overall natural frequencies of the stiffened plate. Finally, we investigated the damped response of an adhesively bonded plate employing plate-strip stiffeners, using FSDT for both the plate and stiffeners. The problem was analyzed using the principle of virtual work. At first, we did not consider damping in the adhesive in order to validate our code, by comparing our results with those available in the literature as well as with the results obtained using ABAQUS R © 3D model. The results were found to be highly satisfactory. We also considered the effect of changing the stiffness of the adhesive layer on the vibration of the bonded system. As a second step, we included damping in the stiffened structure using complex modulus approach, a widely used technique to represent the rheology of the viscoelastic material. We observed an overall increase in the natural frequencies of the system, due to the damping provided by the viscoelastic material. Moreover, it was noticed that when the thickness of the adhesive layer is increased, the natural frequencies and loss factor of the stiffened structure decrease. A viscoelastic material with high loss factor and small thickness will be a perfect design variable to obtain overall high damping in the structure. Passive Damping in Stiffened Structures Using Viscoelastic Polymers


In 1970-1979 there were 620 patients with trochanterial fractures of the femur. The average age of the patients was 75. Skletal extension was used in 193 patients. 168 patients were treated by the derotation boot. Operations were performed on 234 patients. The operative treatment reduced the lethality from 27,4% of 18,4% as compared with conservative methods. Complications were reduced from 63,2% to 30,8% unsatisfactory results from 31,9 to 8,0%.


During development from the fertilized egg to a multicellular organism, cell fate decisions have to be taken and cell lineage or tissue-specific gene expression patterns are created and maintained. These alterations in gene expression occur in the context of chromatin structure and are controlled by chromatin modifying enzymes. Gene disruption studies in different genetic systems have shown an essential role of various histone deacetylases (HDACs) during early development and cellular differentiation. In this review, we focus on the functions of the class I enzymes HDAC1 and HDAC2 during development in different organisms and summarise the current knowledge about their involvement in neurogenesis, myogenesis, haematopoiesis and epithelial cell differentiation.


We utilize recent results of Andre and Gabber on the existence of weakly functorial integral perfectoid big Cohen-Macaulay (BCM) algebras to study singularities of local rings in mixed characteristic. In particular, we introduce a mixed characteristic BCM-variant of rational/$F$-rational singularities, of log terminal/$F$-regular singularities and of multiplier/test ideals of divisor pairs. We prove a number of results about these objects including a restriction theorem for perfectoid BCM multiplier/test ideals and deformation statements for perfectoid BCM-regular and BCM-rational singularities. As an application, we obtain results on the behavior of $F$-regular and $F$-rational singularities in arithmetic families.


The role of so called balanced translocations in human morphogenesis remains puzzling. An eleven month old hispanic female was referred for neurological evaluation. The major dysmorphic features include: epicanthal folds, flat nasal bridge, small mouth, micrognathia, low set ears and cleft-palate. The cytogenetic findings by multiple banding techniques revealed an apparent balanced translocation involving chromosomes 9p and 11p i.e. 46,XX,t(9;11)(p21.2;p14.2) which, according to the authors, has not been previously reported.


In this work, "green" composites made from High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and natural fiber based date palm fiber have been prepared and studied. The effects of different loadings of date palm fibers (DPF) on the morphological, thermal and melt rheological properties of the composites have been investigated. Morphological investigation showed that the fibers were evenly dispersed in HDPE matrix at all DPF loadings. Additionally, the results of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis revealed that the addition of the DPF in the HDPE matrix has slightly increased the crystallization temperature (ΔT = ± 1.33 oC). However, the crystallinity index, Xc of the composites at all DPF loadings were lower than the neat HDPE. The decrease of Xc was approximately 10.5 – 14 %. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis results revealed that the addition of the DPF into the HDPE matrix has increased the crystallization temperature. However, the crystallinity index of the composites at all DPF loadings were lower than the neat HDPE. In term of melt rheological analysis, the complex viscosity of the composites were all higher than the HDPE matrix and increased with the increase of DPF loadings, which was due to the restriction of the HDPE chain segment movements as the amount of DPF increased.


Terrain analysis is essential to flood disaster risk evaluation. It is a complicated evaluation process, involving both quantitative and qualitative data analysis. However, quantitative and qualitative data cannot be put into operation directly. Based on stochastic and fuzzy mathematics, cloud models allow interchange between qualitative and quantitative data, dealing with randomness and ambiguity. Two- or multi-dimensional cloud models can solve the problem of multivariable analysis. This study used absolute elevation and neighborhood elevation standard deviation as main factors. Using the model, it demonstrated the construction of qualitative conditions and risk evaluation clouds and established a set of two-dimensional cloud reasoning rules to calculate the joint certainties with all the grids in reasoning rules. By selecting the highest certainty of cloud reasoning, preliminary evaluation results were obtained. For more accurate results, the model algorithm was improved, and further iterations were performed. The results of two-dimensional cloud reasoning showed better dispersion and precision than traditional methods did. The terrain risk distribution of Chaohu Basin, China, agreed with reality with great detail. A new method regarding the risk assessment of flood disaster was also proposed.


Cotton gin energy costs have risen more than other operating costs. Energy audits were conducted in 20 U.S. cotton gins representing a range of capacities in six states. The average participating saw gin used 39.5 kWh to process a bale. The average roller gin used 62.6 kWh. Gins have become larger, from a connected power of 570 kW (764 hp) in 1962 to over 2237 kW (3000 hp) today. Energy costs are a larger proportion, 20% of the total cost of ginning, compared to 6% to 10% of the total in the 1970s, even though energy consumed per bale processed is less, approximately 73% of the electricity consumed in 1982. Connected power and energy consumption were allocated to five categories: seed cotton cleaning, ginning, lint cleaning, bale packaging, and materials handling. Materials handling accounted for the largest portion, over half of the electricity consumed by a gin, as it has since the 1960s. Since the 1980s, the power and energy allocated to ginning has decreased slightly, and that allocated to lint cleaning has decreased significantly. Best practices still include: operating at full capacity, avoiding down time, minimizing materials handling, and improving electric motor efficiency.


This compilation of all known palaeontological data from Lower Ordovician to Upper Devonian rocks exposed in the Boorowa–Crookwell–Taralga–Yass–Goulburn–Braidwood region of southeastern New South Wales, draws on a voluminous scientific literature of more than 270 papers and reports. Within this region are some of the most famous and intensively studied fossiliferous localities in the state, particularly in the Yass–Taemas area. Revised faunal lists provide the basis for new or refined age determinations, resulting in improved biostratigraphic correlation amongst the 64 formations and their members that yield fossils in the region. Early Silurian (early Wenlock) conodonts found in allochthonous limestones of the Hawkins Volcanics, the lowermost unit of the Yass Basin succession, are documented, as are representative conodonts from allochthonous limestone of late Silurian (Ludlow) age previously erroneously assigned to the early Silurian (late Llandovery) Jerrawa Formation. A new species of the coniform conodont Panderodus is described under open nomenclature. It is recommended that the name Hanaminno Limestone be suppressed.


Superplastic flow in polycrystals is achieved through atom by atom transport of matter from interfaces stressed in compression to those in tension. The rate of superplastic flow is therefore controlled by the rate of emission and absorption of atoms at interfaces and by the rate of grain boundary diffusion. The structure of the interface can influence both these processes. In recent years the understanding of the relationship between structure and superplastic behavior has evolved through a multifaceted approach that includes phenomenology, micromechanical modelling, critical experiments, and studies of interface structure in a variety of materials. On this basis, three types of structure dependent superplastic flow are explored in this paper. In Type I, boundary structure is such that the exchange of atoms at the interface is much faster than grain boundary diffusion. In this type boundaries generally have a high T: structure. In Type 11, boundaries contain a small amount of fluid which leads to enhanced diffusion at the interface provided that the crystal phase is at least somewhat soluble in the liquid. In Type 111 the interfaces are predominantly low angle boundaries. Interestingly, the last type produces the fastest rates of superplastic deformation and, therefore, is technologically most significant. but also is the least understood. We speculate that grain boundary dislocations shuttle between interfaces to produce Type 111 superplasticity.


The post-crisis weakness of global trade, which starkly contrasts with the marked acceleration in the previous two decades, has received considerable attention in the context of the global policy debate. Given the key role of trade in spreading innovation, boosting productivity and ultimately fostering economic growth, a better understanding of trade developments and outlook is crucial for policymakers. This paper takes stock of existing empirical studies on the determinants of global trade flows with particular attention given the recent slowdown. In line with our estimates, these studies suggest that a large part of the trade weakness can be explained by geographical shifts in GDP and trade shares towards less intensely-trading emerging markets, changes in the composition of demand away from import-intensive investment, and the slowdown of global value chains. Other important factors include structural changes in China, the unwinding of the commodity price boom and a slower pace of multilateral trade liberalisation. Our findings, in line with recent literature, suggest that the "new normal" is for trade expansion to remain largely in line with output growth, and unlikely to regain its pre-crisis vigour. At the same time, policymakers should ensure that the ongoing recovery is sustained, by resisting protectionism and reinvigorating the trade liberalisation agenda.


Drawing from social categorization theory, we found that greater demographic heterogeneity led to group norms emphasizing lower cooperation among student teams and officers from ten business units of a financial services firm. This effect faded over time. Perceptions of team norms among those more demographically different from their work group changed more, becoming more cooperative, as a function of contact with other members. Finally, cooperative norms mediated the relationship between group composition and work outcomes.


Cattle manure available to farmers is of low value as a fertilizer N and generally contains less than 1% N, which cannot sustain N requirements for high yielding crops like maize. The purpose of the study was to develop methodologies and practical interventions for improving quality and efficient utilisation of cattle manure. The study evaluated the effect of pit storage of manure (anaerobic decomposition), conventional heaping storage method (aerobic composting), crop residue incorporation and duration of storage on NH3 volatilisation and quality of the manure. Mineralisation-immobilisation studies were carried out to determine nutrient release patterns from the resultant manures. Maize crop responses to N availability from the manures were investigated.

Maize straw mixed at a rate of 4.8kg straw to one tonne manure was the most effective in reducing N losses up to 88% in cattle kraals. Higher losses of up to 40 ugN g-1 manure were measured under aerobic manure composts compared to only 8 ugN g-1 under anaerobic storage. Low pH values below 7 and high moisture content explained for negligible N losses under anaerobic storage conditions. Most of the N in anaerobic manures was in the form of NH4-N while there was N03-N accumulation in aerobic manures.

The dynamics of N mineralisation were described by first order kinetics with high rate constants of up to 0.068 day-1 for anaerobic manures. The course of N turnover for anaerobic manures suggested two phases, an initial exponential immobilisation phase lasting between 4 and 6 weeks followed by a mineralisation phase. The decomposition of aerobic manures in soil followed a slow linear immobilisation pattern with rate constants of up to 0.038 day-1. Less than 28 kg ha-1 of N were taken up by the crop from aerobic manures compared with 35 kg in the control, resulting in depressed grain yields in the year of application. Increased N availability from aerobic manures leading to high N recoveries and grain yields were observed in subsequent seasons. Synchrony between N release and plant uptake was best achieved in treatments receiving anaerobic manures composted without straw for 3 months. Subsequently, higher grain yields were measured in treatments with anaerobic manures in the year of application. Overall, the cumulative yields were greatest with anaerobic manures. Losses from broadcast applications were 25kg N t-1 and 19.3kg N t-1 manure for anaerobic and aerobic manures respectively. Banding placement method reduced volatile N losses by 80% and grain yields were subsequently increased by 32% over conventional broadcasting.

It was concluded that the addition of straw with manure during handling and anaerobic storage for 3 months, enhances quality. By improving N concentration of manure by 0.1% N, anaerobic storage may provide an equivalent of 30kg of AN (ammonium nitrate), which reduces fertiliser costs required to offset the N deficit in aerobic manures. Placement of manure in bands improves efficient utilisation of the manure. Whilst aerobic manures may not improve crop yields in the year of application, regular application of the manure could improve soil quality in the long term, through soil organic matter build up which enhances soil physical properties, buffering capacity and microbial activities.


Background: Transplantation of fresh osteochondral allografts (OCAs) is an attractive treatment option for symptomatic articular cartilage lesions in young, healthy patients. Because the lack of OCA bone integration can be a cause of treatment failure, methods for speeding and enhancing OCA bone integration to mitigate this potential complication are highly desirable. Purpose: To determine if autogenous bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMC) treatment of large femoral condylar OCAs would be associated with superior radiographic OCA bone integration compared with nontreated allografts during the critical first 6 months after surgery. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: A review of patients enrolled in a prospective registry who were treated with transplantation of large OCAs to one or both femoral condyles at our institution from March 12, 2013 to March 14, 2016 was performed. Patients were stratified into 2 groups based on BMC treatment versus no BMC treatment; the treatment was nonrandomized and was rooted in a shift in practice and a continuing effort to optimize OCA transplantation at our institution. Patients were excluded if they did not have orthogonal view radiographs performed at 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months postoperatively. Each condyle undergoing OCA transplantation was assessed individually by an independent musculoskeletal radiologist, who was blinded to the treatment group and time point. OCAs were assessed with respect to graft integration (0%-100%; 0 = no integration, 100 = complete integration) and degree of sclerosis (0-3; 0 = normal, 1 = mild sclerosis, 2 = moderate sclerosis, and 3 = severe sclerosis) of the graft at each time point. Results: This study identified 17 condyles in 15 patients who underwent OCA transplantation without BMC and 29 condyles in 22 patients who underwent OCA transplantation with BMC. The BMC group had significantly (P = .033) higher graft integration scores at 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months after surgery. Graft sclerosis was significantly (P = .017) less in the BMC group at 6 weeks and 3 months, with no significant difference at 6 months after surgery. When combining the groups to examine the influence of smoking on graft integration, nonsmokers had significantly (P = .007) higher graft integration scores at 6 months. Conclusion: Large femoral condylar OCAs treated with autogenous BMC before implantation showed superior radiographic integration to bone and less sclerosis during the initial 6-month postoperative period. BMC treatment of OCAs may mitigate the failure of OCA bone healing.


We have already established the strategy of synchronous activation by hybridization, in which the highly reactive cross-linking agent, 2-amino-6-vinylpurine nucleoside analog, can be generated from its stable precursors, the phenylsulfide derivatives, by a hybridization-promoted activation process with selectivity to cytosine. In this study, this in situ activation system was applied to the method for the drug releasing system triggered by hybridization with the target sequence.


As renewable generation has become less expensive during recent decades, and it becomes more accepted by the global population, the focus on renewable generation has expanded to include new types with promising future applications, such as river and tidal generation. Although the utilization of power electronics and electric machines in industry is phenomenal, the emphasis on system design is different for various sectors of industry. In precision control, robotics, and weaponry, the design emphasis is on accuracy and reliability with less concern for the cost of the final product. In energy generation, the cost of energy is the prime concern; thus, capital expenditures (CAPEX) and operations and maintenance expenditures (OPEX) are the major design objectives. This paper describes the electrical power conversion aspects of river and tidal generation. Although modern power converter control is available to control the generation side, the design was chosen on the bases of minimizing the CAPEX and OPEX; thus, the architecture is simple and modular for ease of replacement and maintenance. The power conversion is simplified by considering a simple diode bridge and a DC-DC power converter to take advantage of abundant and low-cost photovoltaic inverters that have well-proven grid integration characteristics (i.e., the capability to produce energy with good power quality and control real power and voltage on the grid side).


Purpose. Although forensic services are often regarded as highly stressful environments, there has been a surprising lack of research into the phenomena of occupational stress among forensic health care professionals (FHCP) in the United Kingdom. This study investigated stress, coping, and psychological well-being among FHCP employed within inpatient settings.

Methods. One hundred and thirty-five FHCP were recruited from four Medium Secure Units in the United Kingdom. A postal research pack was used to collect background information and measures of psychological well-being, burnout, occupational stress, work satisfaction, and coping.

Results. The study found that a substantial proportion of FHCP experienced elevated levels of occupational stress and psychological distress, while moderate levels of burnout were demonstrated in terms of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. The findings confirmed that FHCP utilized a range of problem-focused (e.g., positive), emotion-focused (e.g., religious, negative, and supported), and palliative coping strategies (e.g., excessive smoking and drinking).

Conclusions. The results appeared to support the commonly held assertion that forensic services are an inherently stressful and dangerous working environment, which can cause FHCP to experience marked levels of psychological distress, burnout, and occupational stress.


The problem of individuality, physical and mental, is one which obviously has great interest for philosophy. The unity and continuity of the ordinary human consciousness—the " ego," the "personality—give us the concrete standard by which we ordinarily judge other systems which have tended towards individuation. A comparative and evolutionary study of biological data, however, will provide us with many facts which throw a new light on the problem. They are often puzzling, but must be taken into account.


We read with great interest the article by Jung and coworkers on the validity of the seventh TNM classification of gastric cancer (GC). The Authors concluded that it may be considered valid, but proposed a new hybrid TNM classification. In our opinion, several potential bias due to selection and classification criteria could have affected the results: 1) In the seventh TNM, carcinomas with the epicenter located within 5 cm of the esophagogastric junction (EGJ) and also extending to the esophagus are considered and staged as esophageal cancer; then, they should be excluded from GC series. According to the reported methods, this selection was not performed. The different staging system and prognosis of EGJ carcinomas could have affected the results of the study. 2) Although the new TNM recommends a minimum number of 15 lymph nodes to be analyzed, this is not an exclusion criteria for TNM classification. Indeed, the new staging system need to be applied even when fewer lymph nodes are removed, as it occurs in a large proportion of GC patients in the world. Being the interaction between the number of analyzed nodes and pN status 1 of the main problems of staging systems, the new TNM requires validation in this setting. 3) Residual tumor (R) classification, although being an important prognostic factor for GC, is not part of the TNM stage. It is unclear why the authors decided to exclude R1/R2 cases from their analysis. Survival probabilities may have been overestimated, particularly in advanced stages. 4) In the new TNM, cases with positive peritoneal cytology (cyþ) are now considered as M1, and included in stage IV. As such, it is not correct that ''stage IV disease is only defined for patients with a definitive distant metastasis''. Furthermore, no information about peritoneal cytology is provided by the Authors. In our opinion, potential stage migration and prognostic uniformity between cyþM0 and M1 cases in stage IV of the seventh TNM need to be clinically validated. In conclusion, proper selection and classification criteria should be used in the evaluation of the new TNM staging system for GC.We believe that, until these criteria are applied, any estimation of its validity or proposals of new staging systems remain aleatory.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Brain imaging is central to the diagnosis of infantile encephalitic beriberi. Because cranial sonography findings have not been described in infantile encephalitic beriberi, our aim was to investigate its role in the diagnosis of this condition. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of head sonography of infants (admitted between November 1, 2014, and March 31, 2015) who presented with encephalopathy. Cranial ultrasonography scans were studied for the alteration of echogenicity of the basal ganglia. RESULTS: Of the 145 consecutive infants who presented with encephalopathy, 58 had thiamine-responsive encephalopathy (infantile encephalitic beriberi) and 87 had encephalopathy due to other causes. Forty-eight of 145 infants with encephalopathy showed hyperechoic basal ganglia. A hyperechoic appearance of the basal ganglia on cranial ultrasonography was found to have a sensitivity of 71% (41/58) and a specificity of 92% (80/87) in diagnosing infantile encephalitic beriberi. The sensitivity of cranial sonography increased with age. It was a maximum of 93% (14/15) in the 5 months and older age group. Specificity was a maximum of 100% (18/18) in infants older than 5 months of age. Sensitivity was maximum in Wernicke encephalopathy at 90% (18/20) and least in the acidotic form at 43% (10/23). Follow-up showed gradual normalization of the hyperechoic appearance of the basal ganglia during 8 weeks in 26/41 (63%), with mild atrophy of the basal ganglia in 6/41 (15%) CONCLUSIONS: Hyperechogenicity of the basal ganglia on cranial ultrasonography is a sensitive finding for the diagnosis of infantile encephalitic beriberi in infants who present with Wernicke encephalopathy.


In this paper a two period life cycle model of the farm household is constructed allowing for production and restrictions on debt in which the consumption and production decisions of the farm household are simultaneous. It is shown that the farm household's production responses to exogenous changes may be qualitatively different to that predicted by the profit‐maximising model when all markets are perfect. In particular, when the household is debt constrained, 'perverse' output effects are possible with output increasing in response to output price decreases. Further, for such households, compensation payments will have production effects. Finally, the financial situation of the farm has an impact on production for debt constrained farms.


Cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21(Waf1/Cip1/Sdi1) has been suggested to be involved in the antiproliferative effect of nitric oxide (NO) in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). To elucidate the mechanism underlying NO-induced p21 expression, we investigated the roles of tumor suppressor p53 and the guanylate cyclase-cGMP pathway. The induction of p21 by the NO donor S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine (SNAP) seemed to be due to transactivation because SNAP elevated the activity of p21 promoter but did not stabilize p21 mRNA and protein. Because SNAP did not stimulate the deletion mutant of p21 promoter that lacked p53 binding sites, we tested the involvement of p53. The expression level of p53 was down-regulated after mitogenic stimulation, whereas it was sustained in the presence of SNAP. SNAP markedly stimulated DNA binding activity of p53. Furthermore, SNAP failed to induce p21 in VSMCs obtained from p53-knock out mice and in A431 cells that contained mutated p53. The antiproliferative effect of SNAP also was attenuated in these cells. NO stimulates guanylate cyclase and its product cGMP has been shown to inhibit VSMC proliferation. However, 1H-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one, a guanylate cyclase inhibitor, did not prevent SNAP-induced p21 expression. 8-Bromo-cGMP, 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine, and their combination did not induce p21. Although 8-bromo-cGMP had a small antiproliferative effect, the elevation of cGMP concentration induced by SNAP was little throughout the G(1) phase. The antiproliferative effect of SNAP was not attenuated by Rp-8-bromoguanosine-3',5'-monophosphorothioate, an inhibitor of cGMP-dependent protein kinase. These results suggested that NO induces p21 through a p53-dependent but cGMP-independent pathway.


Tuberculosis (TB) is a common infection especially in developing countries and can involve almost all bodily systems. Iraq has been identified as middle TB burden country in the world. The aims of the study are to determine the main factors that lead to prevalence of TB in people living in Nineveh governorate, to study the histopathological effect of M. tuberculosis on the tissues. The objective of epidemiological study is  to find the relationship between M. tuberculosis and age, sex, education level, occupation, type of TB and sectors of people living in Nineveh governorate. This study included 100 patients infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis ( 51 males and 49 females ) the age of the patients ranged from 1–75 years through the period from september 2010 to september 2011. In order to determine the main factors that lead to TB infection, data collected from all 100 patients infected with TB. Tissue sections were taken from patients with active TB from (lung, lymph node and breast mass) and fixed in (10%) formaldehyde and (4µm) paraffin blocks sections stained with hematoxylin and eosin or Ziehl Neelsen stain for histopathological examination. Data for epidemiological study of patients diagnosed with TB were  collected from consultant clinic for chest and respiratory diseases in Nineveh governorate over a 16-year period (1994-2010). The results showed that The main factors that lead to TB infection were diabetes with a percentage of (25%) of the patients, followed by smoking with a percentage of (20%) . Changes in the tissues infected with tuberculosis is the formation of tuberculous granulomas .The result of epidemiological study showed that the number of Tuberculosis cases in Nineveh governorate increased between 1994-2002 and decreased between 2002-2010. The number of TB cases in males is more than in females . The main age groups infected with TB was the productive ages (15-34 years). Pulmonary TB is more than Extrapulmonary TB .The highest percentage of TB in sectors of Nineveh governorate (25%) for each of left sector and right sector, followed by (13.7%) in Sinjar.


Abstract The study was conducted during the period 2017 – 2018 at the Agricultural Experimental Station – Khan Krum, Shumen region. The experimental orchard was established in the spring of 2011. The following nectarine cultivars were studied: Fantasia, Golden Grand, Morsiani 51, Cassiopeia and Fairlane grafted on a seedling rootstock (Elberta) and clonal GF 677, as well as the frost – resistant dessert-type cultivar Redhaven. In the period 2017 – 2018, negative temperatures were reported, at the end of March and at the beginning of April (-3.6°C and -5.0 °C respectively)which coincided with the full blooming phenological phase; as a result of which the blossoms froze (76 – 100%). A relatively low percentage of frozen blossoms was observed in cultivars grafted on rootstock GF 677. In 2017, the blossom damage was relatively low and yields were obtained, unlike in 2018. Negative spring temperatures had a negative impact on productivity if blossom damage percentage exceeded 80%.


Board of St John's Bnd St Andrew's Hospital in Rockhampton. Dr Orr retired from practice in August, 1973, to undertake postgraduate studies in Sydney, only to bd that he was sulfering from a terminal 1llneu. He returned to Queensland, setUing at Taringa, Brisbane. Professionally, Bob's opinion was widely sought by hiB colleagues in Rockhampton. His patients admired him as a fine and selfiess physician. My own association with Bob Orr began at Weelq College in 1938. He became Senior Student 1D 1941, • tribute to the esteem in which he was held by his fellow students. In aport, he obtained College Blues in rowing, football and rUle shooting. Many of his contemporaries will remember him from old SUR days, as a cheerful and dedicated soldier. Doctor Orr is survived by his wife, Roma, four BODS and a daughter. To these we extend our condolences.


Twenty laborers assumed specific lumbar spine postures and lifted a 157 N crate to three different hand heights to determine if lumbar spine flexion moments or trunk muscle activity were affected by the lifting postures. Lumbar flexion moments were lowest when the workers used the lordotic and straight back postures, while the average erector spinae muscle activity tended to be highest in the lordotic and straight back postures. The kypohotic posture regularly reduced the activity of the erector spinae to bursts of activity while lifting and caused more discomfort during the lifting tasks than any other posture. Therefore, the lumbar lordotic posture is recommended as the posture of choice while lifting, particularly when lifting from the floor level.


and Nyquist methods in linear feedback system analysis and a further chapter considers the Laplace transform solution of partial differential equations. There follow two chapters on Fourier analysis, two on the statistical description of random signals, one on the Z-transform solution of difference equations, and one on Mallin transforms. A short but useful list of Laplace transforms is given in an appendix and a second appendix deals with complex variable theory in order to prove Laplace inversion, complex convolution and Z-transform inversion formulae. The book is written in textbook fashion with problems set at the end of each chapter. This is definitely a book for engineering students and the author is careful not to frighten away the reader with too much pure mathematics. He uses Laplace transforms to solve a few simple differential equations in chapter one and leaves until chapter two the consideration of the convergence of the integral. This does not mean that the necessary conditions for the use of transforms are omitted; in fact he often illustrates their necessity by well chosen examples. The reader is frequently referred to other publications for formal proofs and here, instead, he is given intuitively convincing, though perhaps not mathematically rigorous, forms of proof. Criticisms are few and of a minor nature. For instance, it is a pity that the author did not find space to give one or two simple methods of polynomial factorisation when discussing partial fractions with regard to inverse Laplace transformation. On the other hand, he does include references to publications which give such methods. This is a book which can be recommended to engineering students of graduate level.—A. P. ROBERTS.


Mobile crowdsourcing (MC) is an effective way of engaging large groups of smart devices to perform tasks remotely while exploiting their built-in features. It has drawn great attention in the areas of smart cities and urban computing communities to provide decentralized, fast, and flexible ubiquitous technological services. The vast majority of previous studies focused on non-cooperative MC schemes in Internet of Things (IoT) systems. Advanced collaboration strategies are expected to leverage the capability of MC services and enable the execution of more complicated crowdsourcing tasks. In this context, Collaborative Mobile Crowdsourcing (CMC) enables task requesters to hire groups of IoT devices' users that must communicate with each other and coordinate their operational activities in order to accomplish complex tasks. In this paper, we present and discuss the novel CMC paradigm in IoT. Then, we provide a detailed taxonomy to classify the different components forming CMC systems. Afterwards, we investigate the challenges in designing CMC tasks and discuss different team formation strategies involving the crowdsourcing platform and selected team leaders. We also analyze and compare the performances of certain proposed CMC recruitment algorithms. Finally, we shed light on open research directions to leverage CMC service design.


1 Ca2+‐calmodulin‐dependent protein kinase II (CaMK) and a calmodulin (CaM)‐binding 'IQ' domain (IQ) are both implicated in Ca2+‐dependent regulation of L‐type Ca2+ current (ICa). We used an IQ‐mimetic peptide (IQmp), under conditions in which CaMK activity was controlled, to test the relationship between these CaM‐activated signalling elements in the regulation of L‐type Ca2+ channels (LTCCs) and ICa in rabbit ventricular myocytes. 2 A specific CaMK inhibitory peptide nearly abolished ICa facilitation, but the facilitation was 'rescued' by cell dialysis with IQmp. 3 IQmp significantly enhanced ICa facilitation and slowed the fast component of ICa inactivation, compared with an inactive control peptide. Neither effect could be elicited by a more avid CaM‐binding peptide, suggesting that generalized CaM buffering did not account for the effects of IQmp. 4 I Ca facilitation was abolished and the fast component of inactivation eliminated by ryanodine, caffeine or thapsigargin, suggesting that the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) is an important source of Ca2+ for ICa facilitation and inactivation. IQmp did not restore ICa facilitation under these conditions. 5 Engineered Ca2+‐independent CaMK and IQmp each markedly increased LTCC open probability (Po) in excised cell membrane patches. The LTCC Po increases with CaMK and IQmp were non‐additive, suggesting that CaMK and IQmp are components of a shared signalling pathway. 6 Both CaMK and IQmp induced a modal gating shift in LTCCs that favoured prolonged openings, indicating that CaMK and IQmp affect LTCCs through a common biophysical mechanism. 7 These findings support the hypothesis that CaMK is required for physiological ICa facilitation in cardiac myocytes. Both CaMK and IQmp were able to induce a modal gating shift in LTCCs, suggesting that each of these signalling elements is important for Ca2+‐CaM‐dependent LTCC facilitation in cardiac myocytes.


Northern Ireland has struggled to achieve momentum for "toleration, respect and recognition" that would help the society move towards meaningful embedding of the "appropriate normative expectations associated with equal citizenship" (McBride, 2015, p. 249). The society remains divided even two decades after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, as exemplified by the culture and practices that surround support for and endorsement of Ireland's two 'national' football teams.

Before the 1980s there appeared to be a greater separation of politics and Association Football in Northern Ireland, with the cross community support for the 1982 World Cup team serving as an example of that. In the late 1980s and early 90s football became increasingly politicised, with loyalist identity becoming synonymous with support Northern Ireland, and an increasingly confident Catholic population finding greater affiliation with the Republic of Ireland (Hassan, 2002). The Good Friday Agreement of 1998, though aspiring to harmonise identities (O'Neill, 2003), has potentially served to reinforce the concept of two distinct communities defined by their political and religious affiliations.

On the surface level this appears to have created greater cultural and sporting divisions if analysing the situation through the pronouncements of public representatives on the Unionist side, and in so many young players of a Catholic background declaring adult allegiance to the Republic. However, at a deeper level, there appears to be a greater tolerance on the part of supporters with differing identities to recognise the achievements of the other side. Ultimately though, real harmony may only be attained when the symbols around football become less political and more neutral, in such areas as flags and anthems for example. There seems very little appetite for this though on any side, with each preferring to keep its own distinct identity rather than diluting them down to something more acceptable to those at the other end of the political spectrum.


Part I.

The theory of time-independent accretion disks around compact objects is developed, generalizing the stationary models of various authors to allow time dependence on the radial-flow time scale. Equations are derived for the time evolution of matter surface density [Sigma] and for implicit expressions of relevant disk variables in terms of [Sigma]. Analytic and numerical studies of these equations yield numerical models of mass accretion from a disk onto a compact object and a discovery of the unstable nature of the "inner region" of the disk, causing a breakdown of current accretion disk models.

Part II.

Theoretical frameworks for analyzing and testing gravitation theories are developed for both nonmetric and metric theories. Highly precise experimental confirmation of the Weak Equivalence Principle is shown to be deadly if not fatal evidence for ruling out all nonmetric theories of gravity. For the class of metric theories we demonstrate the necessity for going beyond current frameworks of analysis (e.g.,the PPN framework) by constructing a new theory of gravity identical to GRT in the Post-Newtonian limit. As a first step in transcending current frameworks, we develop a formalism for delineating and testing all metric theories of gravity on the basis of their gravitational-wave properties and thereby emphasize gravitational-wave observations as a future tool for testing gravitation theories. We also investigate conservation laws and some common properties of Lagrangian-based metric theories of gravity.


This paper describes a new device concept [a variable-body-factor fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (SOI) MOSFET], where the body factor is modulated by the substrate bias. The buried oxide in the SOI substrate is extremely thin. The operation principle, simulation result, measurement data of dc characteristics, and measurement data of ring oscillators are described, and the low-power/high-speed characteristics of this new device concept is discussed. It is also shown that the device concept is applicable to multiple-gate structures such as a FinFET.


Abstract Background: This pilot study examined the utility of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) as a standardised screening tool for behavioural and psychosocial problems by fire service-based programmes to identify at-risk young firesetters who are in need of further comprehensive multiagency intervention. Method: SDQ scores were obtained from 57 children and adolescents, aged 6–17 years, who were referred to the Fire Awareness and Intervention Programme in New Zealand for firesetting behaviour. Scores from firesetters aged 13–17 years were compared to those of typically developing New Zealand secondary school students. Results: Overall, young firesetters were at a high risk of clinically significant conduct and hyperactivity/inattention difficulties, and at low risk of clinically significant emotional problems. Cronbach's alphas for most SDQ subscales were acceptable. Conclusions: We recommend that the SDQ be considered by fire service-operated interventions for use as an additional assessment tool for the young firesetting population. Key Practitioner Messages• Due to its financial and emotional cost, deliberate firesetting by children and adolescents is a significant concern for communities.• There appears to be significant comorbidity between firesetting and serious antisocial behaviour, and many young firesetters engage in ongoing general offending behaviour.• Intervention for child and adolescent firesetters is predominantly provided by fire services and typically involves fire safety education.• Given the co-morbid behavioural and psychosocial problems present among young firesetters, there is a need for fire service education programmes to use a standardised assessment tool that screens for wider behavioural and psychosocial difficulties to assist in the identification and referral of high-risk young people to appropriate services for further intervention.• The SDQ, a free, short and well-validated measure, could be adopted by fire service-operated education programmes to help detect and inform the referral of young firesetters who need more comprehensive multiagency intervention.


The phenomenon of feminization of poverty is not a new issue in the context of poverty. Indonesia in history and process has never been free from these problems. Feminization of poverty is the loss of opportunities and freedom of women in determining life choices, thus rendering them unable to obtain educational facilities, basic economics, employment, security protection, and political involvement. Many economic observers at first saw this problem as something always related to economic factors alone. In fact, this happens as a result of cultural poverty and structural poverty which ultimately limits women from accessing existing facilities and resources. Even though various legal foundations have been born to improve gender equality in order to overcome the feminization of poverty, the problem has not yet been solved, due to the community's values and mentality that are still gender biased. Therefore, the effort that must be taken to free the snares of feminization of poverty is to change the values in society and change the structure to be more open to women by providing non-discriminatory education and employment.


This paper is devoted to the control design and implementation of the dual-stage actuation system with a newly developed microthermal actuator (MTA) as the secondary actuator. The characterization and modeling of this new MTA is presented for controller design. Its performances such as stroke, time constant, and a good linearity are exhibited. The controller design of the MTA-based dual-stage actuation system is then proposed, and aims to push the bandwidth with the MTA. The simulation and the experimental testing have demonstrated the achievable 6-kHz bandwidth with 60-kHz sampling rate, the MTA displacement of 15 nm at 4 kHz, and 0.1-ms seeking time for 40-nm seeking length.


The conservation and management of highly migratory sharks relies on understanding age-related movements and nursery habitat utilization. We reconstructed the habitat use and migratory history of young White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias), a highly protected species, by utilizing natural chemical tracers (element:Ca ratios and stable isotope analysis, SIA) in vertebral cartilage growth bands. Two nursery areas in the northeastern Pacific are known, but migration patterns of immature White Sharks within the Gulf of California (GC) and natal philopatry are poorly understood. Vertebrae from coastal Mexican artisanal fisheries off central Baja California in the Pacific (12 neonates and juveniles; 139-280 cm total length) and the GC (3 subadults; 289-355 cm TL) were analyzed to characterize (1) trophic histories from collagen δ13C and δ15N values, and (2) in utero patterns and post-birth environmental histories from element:Ca time-series. Mean δ15N values from vertebral edges of GC sharks, representing the most recent feeding, was +5‰ higher than in the Pacific, reflecting the intense denitrification that permeates the regional food web and supporting SIA as tracers of migration between regions. A subadult from the GC likely resided within the system throughout its life, and two subadults migrated into the GC. Most neonate and juvenile sharks caught in the Pacific had SIA that did not overlap with those of the GC, but a single subadult likely migrated to the GC. Element:Ca ratios displayed ontogenetic trends, with Li:Ca, Zn:Ca, and Ba:Ca significantly higher before the birth mark in sharks captured in the GC. Edge values were significantly higher in Zn:Ca and Ba:Ca in the GC compared to the Pacific, suggesting elemental ratios may serve as tracers of migration between regions. Subadult sharks collected from GC displayed elevated maternal Zn:Ca and Ba:Ca, suggesting mothers may have resided in the GC for an extensive period pre-birth. Some White Sharks may reside within the GC from birth until at least the subadult stage (ca. 3 m TL), and there may be an unidentified nursery. Chemical tracers, coupled with genomic and tagging studies, should improve understanding of the importance of the GC to White Shark populations in the northeast Pacific.


The diagnosis of catamenial pneumothorax should be suspected whenever a women in the third or fourth decade of life has recurrent right-sided chest pain temporally associated with menstruation. This entity was first described in 1958 and since then, 59 cases have been reported in the English literature. There is no universally accepted explanation for the pathogenesis of the pneumothorax. Four additional cases are presented which support the significant role that diaphragmatic defects and endometriosis play in the pathogenesis of catamenial pneumothorax. At thoracotomy, numerous small perforations of the right diaphragm were found in three patients, two of whom had associated endometriosis of that diaphragm. The fourth patient had indirect evidence of diaphragmatic defects proven by a diagnostic pneumoperitoneum. On the basis of the hypothesis of transfallopian passage of air, this patient was treated by tubal ligation only and has not had a recurrence of pneumothorax since. This form of therapy has not been reported previously for this disorder.


We present an excited CLG model in order to better represent a granular setup on a 1D lattice. The proposed model takes into account multiple particle to particle interactions in each time step by use of a block cellular automaton with a Margolus neighborhood, as compared to the original model which only acted on one particle every iteration. This allows for a more realistic simulation of granular systems. We found that the time it takes before the system reaches a steady state, Ta, follows an exponential trend. We also found that our model no longer approaches a steady state at a critical density of ρc ≈ 0.37. Any values of ρ > ρc exhibit a constant state of movement. We further evolve the system by adding shaking using a probabilistic cellular automata (PCA), which employs the probabilities m and c that we defined to be the probability of migration and cohesiveness, respectively. Here we found that both play an equal role in the dynamics of the system. Such a setup can be used for further studies in measuring temperature in granular systems.


Although the actual occasions for doing so may be infrequent, it is important that the dentist be aware of how to make referrals for psychological reasons.


Frank Waters, whose work has spanned half a century, has continually attempted to depict the reconciliation of opposites, to heal the national wounds of polarization. "Flight From Fiesta," Waters first novel in nearly two decades, is testimony to that aspiration, emerging as a moving and masterfully told story of two characters who must discover the potential for common ground between their personalities. Set in Santa Fe in the mid fifties, the story itself is deceptively simple. Elsie, a spoiled, self centered ten year old Anglo tourist girl, has come to the annual Fiesta with her divorced mother and her mother s lover. When Elsie runs away from her hotel, she encounters Inocencio, an old alcoholic Pueblo Indian now reduced to selling pottery beneath the portal of the Palace of the Governors. With childish cunning she maneuvers Inocencio into taking her away with him. In the wake of the child's disappearance, as the local posse mentality intensifies and Inocencio is suspected of kidnapping and perhaps molesting her, the frightened Indian flees to the hills, taking Elsie with him on a week long odyssey through the mountains, towns, and pueblos of New Mexico. Waters eye is precise, providing sharp visual detail on very page. His ear is flawless, especially in his rendering of the laconic and stolid Indian speech patterns. All through his book there is an immediacy and a feel for place and culture that cannot be fabricated but must be gained, as Waters himself has gained it, through a lifetime among these people, these towns, and these mountains. The reconciliation of the two fugitives of "Flight From Fiesta" serves to point, not didactically or allegorically, but emotionally and spiritually, but emotionally and spiritually, to the possibility of the grander reconciliation that Waters envisions."


The parametric gain range of a degenerate four-wave mixing process is determined in the undepleted pump regime. The gain range is considered with and without taking the mode field distributions of the four-wave mixing components into account. It is found that the mode field distributions have to be included to evaluate the parametric gain correctly in dispersion-tailored speciality fibers and that mode profile engineering can provide a way to increase the parametric gain range.


SUMMARY In this study, we demonstrate the application of 3-D isotropic elastic full waveform inversion (FWI) to a field data set from the Sleipner area in the North sea. The field data set consists of a narrow azimuth marine towed streamer survey. The limited maximum offset of less than 2000 m poses strong challenges for the FWI technique, due to the lack of wide-angle wave phenomena, particularly for the deeper sediments. In addition, the lack of information about shear waves implies that only the P-wave velocities can be estimated with some confidence. In this work, the P-wave velocities are inverted using FWI, whereas the S-wave velocities and densities are coupled to the P-wave velocities using empirical relationships. To check the validity of this work flow, a synthetic sensitivity analysis inspired by a well log from the area is performed. In this analysis the difference between acoustic and elastic FWI is also compared. The conclusion from the sensitivity analysis is that, as long as the empirical relationships are not too far away from the true relationships, the elastic FWI is able to resolve the subsurface parameters within an acceptable error margin. Furthermore, the acoustic approximation fails due to the large differences between the elastic and acoustic reflection and transmission coefficients, meaning that elastic FWI is necessary for resolving the parameters satisfactorily. Acoustic and elastic FWI are performed for the field data. The results of the field data example show that elastic FWI produces an elastic model which accurately simulates the observed data, whereas the acoustic FWI produces an acoustic model that includes artefacts, particularly in the upper part close to the sea bottom. Elastic FWI is therefore favourable for short offset seismic streamer data. The estimated elastic P-wave velocity models were used to depth migrate the data. The depth migrated images show improved resolution and continuity compared to those migrated using a model derived from conventional seismic processing methods. At the same time, the P-wave velocities show strong correlations with the corresponding migrated seismic image, which increases the confidence on the inverted model.


Coexisting hypertension and diabetes mellitus is common particularly in the obese, minorities, and the socioeconomically disadvantaged. Hypertension contributes substantially to the vascular complications of diabetes mellitus and to the increased mortality of diabetes mellitus. Nondrug treatment of both conditions consists of cardiovascular risk factor reduction, emphasizing weight management, salt restriction, smoking cessation, and alcohol moderation. With observing a few precautions the drug treatment of hypertension in diabetes mellitus is similar to that of the nondiabetic.


Slip is the major cause of falls in human locomotion. We present a new bipedal modeling approach to capture and predict human walking locomotion with slips. Compared with the existing bipedal models, the proposed slip walking model includes the human foot rolling effects, the existence of the double-stance gait and active ankle joints. One of the major developments is the relaxation of the nonslip assumption that is used in the existing bipedal models. We conduct extensive experiments to optimize the gait profile parameters and to validate the proposed walking model with slips. The experimental results demonstrate that the model successfully predicts the human recovery gaits with slips.


It is common practice in Hong Kong for teachers of English as a second language to provide their students with written commentary as the sole source of feedback on their writing. However, there are teachers who question the effica cy of their own writing feedback and express concerns about providing commentary in ways that help their students to effectively revise their texts and to acquire skills that can b e applied in future writing tasks. This study set out to test whether teacher-student conferencin g ould lead to greater improvement in both content and grammatical accuracy in writing ta sks. After a pilot study, the main study was carried out on 34 students, who were in their s ixth year in secondary school. They were randomly allocated to either the control or experim ntal group, with the 17 students in the control group receiving written commentary, and the 17 students in the experimental group receiving teacher-student conferencing as their wri ting feedback. Findings of the main study revealed a statistically significant differen c in students' performance between the experimental and control groups (p < 0.05). The ef f ct size was very large (eta squared > 0.14) in both the paired-samples t-test and the mix ed between-within ANOVA. These suggest that teacher-student feedback sessions faci litate improvement more than written feedback. Semi-structured interviews were used wit h six of the participants to determine student perceptions of the different feedback modes . Analysis of findings revealed that all six interviewees expressed a preference for teacher -student conferencing. These findings were validated through conferences and post confere c interviews with another small group of students. The study makes a case for more inter active modes of feedback which focus on the process as well as the product of writing, and for more open teacher-student exchange about the nature of feedback offered in second lang u ge classrooms in Hong Kong.


The shortage of electricity in Nigeria creates a huge gap between demand and supply, making individuals and organizations look for alternatives to obtain regular supply of power. The objective of this study was divided into two parts. First identify the barriers and drivers of the adoption of solar PV systems among home owners and organisations in Rivers State Nigeria. Second, identify the challenges faced by the suppliers of this product for small and large scale suppliers. In order to achieve the objectives of this study, a qualitative research approach was used to carry out the study. A loosely-structured interview and a well-structured interview were used as the method.Findings from this study suggest that the need for a regular power supply was enough to motivate residential adopters to purchase and install solar PVC's and sustainability was a sufficient driver to encourage adoption among organizations interviewed in this study. On the other hand, inadequate policies to encourage subsidies, high cost, difficulty to access finances, high interest rates 20%-22% and short period of payback (3years) for loans involving renewable technology were identified as barriers among residential adopters. Lack of implementation of policies for example, double standard shown by custom officials at ports against the zero tax on importation of renewable energy products set by the government, low level of awareness among the public and lack of organized co-oprative group which provides advisory information to potential adopters were among the barriers identified within this study from interviews conducted with suppliers of solar PV systems.


Historically, telemedicine research is predominantly published in discipline-specific telemedicine journals. However, in recent times the number of publications on telemedicine in clinical journals has increased. Acceptance of telemedicine research by clinical journals indicates a maturing of the telemedicine field. This bibliometric study reviewed telemedicine-related literature published in clinical journals from 2008 to 2018. A search was conducted in PubMed using two types of clinical outlets. (1) Top 20 journals with highest Impact Factor in the field of Medicine. (2) Top five journals with highest Impact Factor in most common Medical Specialty Areas. Analysis showed that there is a steady growth of literature relating to research and non-research publications appearing in clinical journals. Top five journals in the field of Medicine - BMJ, JAMA, Cochrane database, Medical Journal of Australia and Lancet have published 64% (n = 270) of telemedicine-related articles for the study period. Disease areas associated with telemedicine publications are consistent with global disease priorities. The review demonstrated that the most significant increase in telemedicine research published in clinical journals was focused on patient care.


Upper Carboniferous Coal Measures strata have been interpreted traditionally in terms of cyclothems bounded by marine flooding surfaces (marine bands) and coal seams. Correlation of such cyclothems in an extensive grid of closely spaced coal exploration boreholes provides a robust stratigraphic framework in which to study the Lower Coal Measures (Namurian C–Westphalian A) of the Ruhr district, north‐west Germany. Three distinct types of cyclothem are recognized, based on their bounding surfaces and internal facies architecture. (1) Type 1 cyclothems are bounded by marine bands. Each cyclothem comprises a thick (30–80 m), regionally extensive, coarsening‐upward delta front succession of interbedded shales, siltstones and sandstones, which may be deeply incised by a major fluvial sandstone complex. The delta front succession is capped by a thin (<1 m), regionally extensive coal seam and an overlying marine band defining the top of the cyclothem. (2) Type 2 cyclothems are bounded by thick (≈1 m), regionally extensive coal seams with few splits. The basal part of a typical cyclothem comprises a thick (15–50 m), widespread, coarsening‐upward delta front or lake infill succession consisting of interbedded shales, siltstones and sandstones. Networks of major (>5 km wide, 20–40 m thick), steep‐sided, multistorey fluvial sandstone complexes erode deeply into and, in some cases, through these successions and are overlain by the coal seam defining the cyclothem top. (3) Type 3 cyclothems are bounded by regionally extensive coal seam groups, characterized by numerous seam splits on a local (0·1–10 km) scale. Intervening strata vary in thickness (15–60 m) and are characterized by strong local facies variability. Root‐penetrated, aggradational floodplain heteroliths pass laterally into single‐storey fluvial channel‐fill sandstones and coarsening‐upward, shallow lake infill successions of interbedded shales, siltstones and sandstones over distances of several hundred metres to a few kilometres. Narrow (<2 km) but thick (20–50 m) multistorey fluvial sandstone complexes are rare, but occur in a few type 3 cyclothems. Several cyclothems are observed to change character from type 1 to type 2 and from type 2 to type 3 up the regional palaeoslope. Consequently, we envisage a model in which each cyclothem type represents a different palaeogeographic belt within the same, idealized delta system, subject to the same allogenic and autogenic controls on facies architecture. Type 1 cyclothems are dominated by deltaic shorelines deposited during a falling stage and lowstand of sea level. Type 2 cyclothems represent the coeval lower delta plain, which was deeply eroded by incised valleys that fed the falling stage and lowstand deltas. Type 3 cyclothems comprise mainly upper delta plain deposits in which the allogenic sea‐level control was secondary to autogenic controls on facies architecture. The marine bands, widespread coals and coal seam groups that bound these three cyclothem types record abandonment of the delta system during periods of rapid sea‐level rise. The model suggests that the extant cyclothem paradigm does not adequately describe the detailed facies architecture of Lower Coal Measures strata. Instead, these architectures may be better understood within a high‐resolution stratigraphic framework incorporating sequence stratigraphic key surfaces, integrated with depositional models derived from analogous Pleistocene–Holocene fluvio‐deltaic strata.


The 11 articles presented in three thematic sections focus on qualitative research at work, qualitative health research, and teaching and learning qualitative research. The substantive topics are eclectic ranging from young people adjusting to a chronic kidney diagnosis, rural health inequality, intimate partner violence among adolescents, emotional labor of French sales staff to inventive ways to teach students unfamiliar with qualitative research.  Methodologically these articles adopt a diverse range of techniques as if current qualitative research practice does not use a unified methodology. It does not. Techniques included the traditional narrative research, unstructured interviews, community based participatory research to the more innovative critical incident and basic content analysis to those that used computer analysis to facilitate qualitative research.


Recent advances of ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (AP-XPS) have enabled the chemical composition and the electrical potential profile at a liquid/ electrode interface under electrochemical reaction conditions to be directly probed. In this work, we apply this operando technique to study the surface chemical composition evolution on a Co metal electrode in 0.1 M KOH aqueous solution under various electrical biases. It is found that an ∼12.2 nm-thick layer of Co(OH)2 forms at a potential of about −0.4 VAg/AgCl, and upon increasing the anodic potential to about +0.4 VAg/AgCl, this layer is partially oxidized into cobalt oxyhydroxide (CoOOH). A CoOOH/ Co(OH)2 mixture layer is formed on the top of the electrode surface. Finally, the oxidized surface layer can be reduced to Co at a cathodic potential of −1.35 VAg/Cl. These observations indicate that the ultrathin layer containing cobalt oxyhydroxide is the active phase for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) on a Co electrode in an alkaline electrolyte, consistent with previous studies.


Virtual mirror, an increasingly popular application of augmented reality, allows consumers to view their visages overlaid with product images on digital displays. The authors of this study examine how augmented reality technology affects consumers' brand perceptions and purchase intentions. Study 1, using a real brand, demonstrates that consumers tend to form higher self-brand connections and purchase intention when viewing themselves trying a product via a virtual mirror, rather than when viewing professional models wearing the product. Study 2, using a fictitious brand, reveals that narcissistic participants show pronounced positive self-viewing effects, but non-narcissistic participants show attenuated effects. Implications for digital marketers are discussed.


Although urban agglomerations have introduced substantial contributions to the economies around the globe, it has also led to the serious environmental challenges. However, this situation may vary across the development levels. The existing knowledge offers a gap in terms of both theoretical and empirical grounds. The Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology (STIRPAT) is previously not known to incorporate land agglomeration and the intensity of energy use. Besides, the investigation of linkages among the variables of interest across the development levels within a country is not known to be considered by the existing knowledge. This study systematically investigates the heterogeneous dynamic causality among the intensity of energy use, land agglomeration, carbon dioxide emissions (CO2), and economic progress across the development levels in the Chinese economy, considering 29 provinces for the period 2000 to 2018. To this end, a long-term co-integration association is tested and found existent among the variables of interest. A dynamic common correlated effects mean group approach is applied for impact analysis. The key findings include: The impacts of economic progress and land agglomeration on CO2 are found positive and significant in the country panel and western zone of China (WZC). It turned to be neutral in the case of the central zone of China (CZC) and significantly negative in the eastern zone of China (EZC). To this end, economic progress presented a 'development ladder-based CO2 mitigation effect,' while the land agglomeration exposed the 'land agglomeration ladder-based CO2 mitigation effect'. Further, the causalities extracted are: first, economic progress is found in positive bilateral linkages with the intensity of energy use and land agglomeration for all the panels. Second, a positive and unilateral causal bridge is found operating from land agglomeration to the intensity of energy use and from the intensity of energy use to CO2. Third, a unilateral linkage of mixed nature is exposed to exist from land agglomeration to CO2, with positive causal links for country panel and WZC, negative causal links for EZC, while a neutral linkage is found for CZC. Fourth, a bidirectional link with mixed causalities appeared in the country panel and WZC. Economic progress increased CO2 in WZC. Next, a negative bilateral link is observed between the two variables in EZC. Additionally, this link remained neutral in CZC. Based on empirics, it is revealed that the development level matters in determining the links among the variables of interest.


Intima-media thickness of the common carotid arteries is a marker of atherosclerosis and has been shown to be associated with prevalent and incident coronary heart disease and with coronary heart disease risk factors. The authors examined the association of baseline risk factors or change in risk factors with change in intima-media thickness over follow-up (1987-1998) in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) population-based cohort (baseline: age 45-64 years, n = 15,792). Subjects were members of households sampled in four areas of the United States. Either not adjusting for baseline intima-media thickness or doing so with correction for its measurement error resulted in statistically significant associations of change in intima-media thickness with baseline diabetes, current smoking, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, pulse pressure, white blood cell count, and fibrinogen. The associations were of a similar order of magnitude as anticipated from the authors' cross-sectional findings. Statistically significant associations were found between change in intima-media thickness and change in low density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides and with onset of diabetes and hypertension. In summary, established risk factors for coronary heart disease are associated with the rate of change of subclinical atherosclerosis.


Vanin-1 (VNN1) may be a potential biomarker for the early screening of pancreatic cancer (PC)-associated diabetes (PCAD). A previous study by the authors reported that cysteamine secreted by VNN1-overexpressing PC cells induced the dysfunction of paraneoplastic insulinoma cell lines by increasing oxidative stress. In the present study, it was observed that both cysteamine and exosomes (Exos) secreted by VNN1-overexpressing PC cells aggravated the dysfunction of mouse primary islets. PC-derived VNN1 could be transported into islets through PC cell-derived Exos (PC-Exos). However, β-cell dedifferentiation, and not cysteamine-mediated oxidative stress, was responsible for the islet dysfunction induced by VNN1-containing Exos. VNN1 inhibited the phosphorylation of AMPK and GAPDH, and prevented Sirt1 activation and FoxO1 deacetylation in islets, which may be responsible for the induction of β-cell dedifferentiation induced by VNN1-overexpressing PC-Exos. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that VNN1-overexpressing PC cells further impaired the functions of paraneoplastic islets in vivo using diabetic mice with islets transplanted under the kidney capsule. On the whole, the present study demonstrates that PC cells overexpressing VNN1 exacerbate the dysfunction of paraneoplastic islets by inducing oxidative stress and β-cell dedifferentiation.


The conserved ribosome-associated Asc1 protein of Saccharomyces cerevisiae forms a seven bladed β-propeller and binds to the head region of the 40S ribosomal subunit in close proximity to the mRNA exit tunnel. Asc1p is considered a scaffold protein organizing the local microenvironment near the area of translation initiation at the ribosome to link mRNA translation with cellular signaling. In this study, proteins in the direct proximity of Asc1p were discovered with the in vivo protein labeling technique proximity-dependent Biotin IDentification (BioID) in combination with high-resolution mass spectrometry. The RNA polymerase II degradation factor Def1p and the ribosomal clamping factor Stm1p as well as mRNA-binding proteins and translational/transcriptional regulators appeared as Asc1p-proximal proteins during exponential cell growth. In addition to mRNA-binding proteins close to Asc1p at exponential growth such as Scp160p, Sro9p and Gis2p, mild heat stress increasingly attracts further mRNA-binding proteins, namely Hek2p, New1p, and Psp2p into the Asc1p proximity. Phenotypes caused by the synthetic deletion of the SCP160 or STM1 gene in asc1- cells also revealed genetic interactions. Additionally, proteins required for mRNP granule formation and activity reflect Asc1p's impact on P-body homeostasis. Starvation for glucose caused severe changes in the Asc1p-neighborhood: Ribosomal proteins of the small and the large ribosomal subunit, and the ubiquinone biosynthetic enzyme Coq5p accumulated in the Asc1p proximity and replaced most of the proteins present during exponential growth. These changes might reflect a general aggregation of ribosomes at glucose starvation, and might indicate a channeling of translation capacities towards mitochondria. The Asc1R38D K40E protein variant was described to be ribosome-binding compromised, however, was revealed here as capable to bind the ribosome in vivo. Additional proximal proteins suggest either a subpopulation of Asc1R38D K40Ep apart from the ribosome or spatial flexibility of the protein at the ribosome. To study physical Asc1p-protein interactions in further detail, ASC1 alleles were constructed for the site-specific incorporation of the photo-reactive amino acid Bpa as cross-linker into the Asc1 protein at different sites. Future in vitro cross-linking experiments of these Asc1Bpap variants with some of the identified proximal proteins will lead to detailed knowledge about the nature of the interactions. Overall, the Asc1p microenvironment suggests that the
β-propeller not only coordinates protein biosynthesis with cellular signaling, but beyond that synchronizes these processes with nuclear mRNA synthesis.


The Morse/Long Range (MLR) potential has become one of the most reliable and highly used potential energy functions for diatomic molecules. It includes the theoretical long range behaviour that diatomic molecules are known to exhibit as they approach the dissociation limit. Heavy alkali metals with adjacent electronic states often exhibit strong coupling between the spin and orbital angular momentum. The ground state X Σg and the lowest lying triplet state a Σu of Cs2 exhibit such coupling effects and as a result, modeling the highest vibrational states of these states is a non-trivial problem. Utilizing scattering length values obtained from published analysis of 60 Feshbach resonances, the correct form of the potential energy function was determined. Moreover, the scattering length values were used to determine the correct leading dispersion coefficient that describes the true form of the long-range potential energy functions. All previous attempts to determine global potential energy functions for these states have considered only the optical spectroscopic data. This is the first ever effort attempting to use scattering lengths determined from cold atom collision experiments in a combined analysis with conventional spectroscopic data.


Intelligence is an important ability that we use in our everyday lives to understand people, such as choosing the best partner to work with on a project. Personal intelligence is the ability to "reason about personality and its processes, as applied to one's self and others" (Mayer, Panter & Caruso, 2012). The Test of Personal Intelligence (TOPI) was developed to test this important ability. If the TOPI measures people's ability to understand their own and other's personality, as personal intelligence increases so should a person's level of self-potential. This idea was tested in two studies by conducting correlations between the TOPI and measures of self-potential, defined as the creative process of making sense of our experience, finding direction and purpose in life, and making goals and plans based on life purpose. The model of self-potential employed here includes such concepts as identifying your true self (Schlegel & Hicks, 2011) and being creative (Maslow, 2011). Although no stable model was found, there was some evidence for two factors of "meaning" and "renewal." Progress also was made in the development of unifactorial scales for the self-actualization and preconscious activity scales. Some of the measures of self-potential, such as self-actualization, were correlated with the TOPI, but not all were. The TOPI was not related to words used in an essay that predict self-potential from everyday trauma.


The agricultural landscape is the crucial resource for food production. In Norway, this resource is limited as less than 3% of the total land cover is arable, and only 1% is suitable for grain production. Norway thus exercises relatively strict legislation and planning regulations concerning protection of agricultural land. Close to cities and villages agricultural land is under pressure from competing usages; such as infrastructure, housing and industry.In this dissertation I examine the driving forces behind changes in the agricultural landscape in a municipality in growth, more spesific Vestby in Akershus county. The furniture and interior giant IKEA has designated Vestby as the only alternative place to establish a new outlet in the region. The aim of the study is to get closer to an understanding of value assessments related to changes in the agricultural landscape.The study is qualitative and actors, respectively farmers and local politicians who carry out the assessment of values, are in focus. The study of the land use controversy is theoretically approached with a landscape perspective which provide the basis for a discussion on why different actors ascribe different values to the agricultural landscape. Values are synonymous with needs and the values manifested in the landscape are a reflection of the values that are prioritized. The study analyses what types of values that are emphasized by different groups and how they are employed when furniture (IKEA) challenges food production. I also explore how former changes in the landscape affect present and future use of the agricultural landscape.


VoiceThread holds potential to provide students who rarely speak in class a means to create visually-based digital conversations. In light of t his, pedagogical affordances of the tool are considered, along with efficacy behind VoiceThread development within English as a Foreign Language contexts. Instructional strategies, suppor ted by examples, are presented. A means for in-service teachers to evaluate language production and learning outcomes emerge, along with techniques essential for monitoring, producing, and guiding effective VoiceThread development through inclusion of specifically developed resourc es.


Chronic wounds, including pressure and diabetic ulcers, constitute a serious and expensive health care problem as they have a considerable socio-economic impact worldwide. As it may take several months for the healing of chronic wounds, in order to improve wound healing, 3D bioprinting has emerged as an important tool in regenerative medicine to address the challenges of current treatment methods such as the risk and expense of surgery, donor site morbidity, infection and host rejection. Bioprinting fabricates customized biological constructs by depositing living cells, biomaterials and growth factors layer-by-layer based on a computer-aided-design (CAD). However, the data obtained by various imaging methods such as computed axial tomography (CAT), ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides a series of two-dimensional cross-sections. The main problem is to reconstruct the 3D surfaces from two-dimensional contours. In this study, a new algorithm is proposed to regenerate the wound surface from planar cross-sections and resulting CAD model can be used in wound measurement and patientspecific porous scaffold generation for 3D bioprinting. The proposed method generates smooth and non-twisted NURBS surfaces from a set of planar cross-sections satisfying the assumption of higher cross-sections involves the area bounded by lower cross-sections which is the case of wound geometries. Also, homogeneous porous scaffolds and threedimensional bioprinting path planning are developed based on the resulting wound surface by using the developed algorithm. The proposed algorithm provides more accurate surfaces for complex wound geometries, compared to two commonly used methods: curve lofting and swept surface generation. The developed algorithm approximates smooth and non-twisted surfaces on the cross-sections with sudden changes in shape, sharp edges and multiple branches.


Background: Prior retrospective studies have reported magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of common adductor–abdominal rectus enthesopathy and acetabular labral tear in athletes treated for athletic pubalgia and hip pain. The true prevalence of these findings and association with symptoms in this population is unknown. Purpose: This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of pelvic and hip MRI findings and association with clinical symptoms in professional and collegiate hockey players. Study Design: Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: The study included 21 professional and 18 collegiate hockey players. Self-reported symptoms were measured using a modified Oswestry Disability Questionnaire. Participants underwent 3-T MRI evaluation of the pelvis and hips. The MRI scans were interpreted independently by 3 musculoskeletal radiologists in 2 sessions separated by 3 months using a 5-point Likert scale to assess for features associated with common adductor–abdominal rectus dysfunction and hip pathology. To estimate prevalence, MRI findings rated 4 or higher on 4 of the 6 interpretations were considered positive. A variance component analysis was applied to determine intrareader and interreader reliability and the lower 95% confidence limits (CLs). Results: No participants reported symptoms related to pelvic or hip disorders. The MRI findings of common adductor–abdominal rectus dysfunction were observed in 14 of 39 participants (36%) and hip pathologic changes in 25 of 39 (64%). There was moderate agreement between readings, with intrareader and interreader reliabilities ranging from 0.37 to 1.00. The interreader reliability was less for evaluation of hip pathologic abnormalities than for groin pathologic abnormalities, with the lowest reliability observed in reporting of hip osteochondral lesions (0.37 with lower 95% CL of 0.22) and fluid in the primary cleft (0.45 with lower 95% CL of 0.29) and perfect reliability in the absence of effusion and abdominal rectus tendon tears. Overall, 30 of 39 (77%) asymptomatic hockey players demonstrated MRI findings of hip or groin pathologic abnormalities. Conclusion: Given the high prevalence of MRI findings in asymptomatic hockey players, it is necessary to cautiously interpret the significance of these findings in association with clinical presentation. Future investigations will determine whether these asymptomatic findings predict future disabilities.


Nanostructured Co3O4 in a novel hairy ball-like morphology is successfully synthesized from self-assembled hierarchical Co(CO3)0.35Cl0.2(OH)1.10·1.74H2O precursors via a facile hydrothermal method and subsequent annealing in air. The morphological evolution of the Co(CO3)0.35Cl0.2(OH)1.10·1.74H2O precursors is investigated by examining the different reaction times during the synthesis. First, fan-shaped microplates are formed, followed by nanowires grown on the surface of the plates. Subsequently, with an extended growth reaction time, the nanowires grow longer to form the hairy ball-like structures. The Co3O4, obtained from thermal decomposition of the Co(CO3)0.35Cl0.2(OH)1.10·1.74H2O precursor in air at 400 °C, exhibits highly reversible capacities as an anode material in lithium ion batteries, which retains 860 mA h g−1 at 100 mA g−1 after 50 cycles, with good cycling stabilities and rate capabilities.


Subsequently to the publication of the above article, an interested reader drew to the authors' attention that the miR‑200c and Si‑RhoE data panels in Fig. 5B on p. 1739 appeared to contain an overlap of the data, such that the data would have been derived from the same original source where the different panels were intended to show the results from differently performed experiments. The authors have re‑examined their data, and realize that these data panels were inadvertently selected incorrectly; specifically, the data panel showing the results of the migration activities of A549 following transfection with Si‑RhoE in Fig. 5B was incorporated incorrectly during the process of assembling this figure, and this panel contained the overlap with the miR‑200c group. The revised version of Fig. 5, showing all the correct data for Fig. 5B, is presented on the next page. The authors confirm that the errors made in the presentation of Fig. 5 did not adversely affect the conclusions reported in this paper, and they are grateful to the Editor of International Journal of Oncology for granting them this opportunity to publish a Corrigendum. All the authors agree to the publication of this Corrigendum, and they also apologize to the readership for any inconvenience caused. [International Journal of Oncology 53: 1732‑1742, 2018; DOI: 10.3892/ijo.2018.4493].


In this paper, X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and sintering process were used to characterize Cu-Fe compound powders milled for different times. The increment of defects and the change of granularity, grain size and crystal structure were discussed. Mechanical Alloying (MA) influence on the sintering of Cu-Fe compound powders was analyzed. The results showed that, the refinement of the powders and the increment of defects such as interface and dislocation induced the energy storage. The stored energy released in the sintering process, which reduced the activation energy of vacancy and the activation energy of diffusion. So the sintering temperature was reduced and the structure, strength and hardness of specimens were improved.


BACKGROUND: Infertility is a major cause of marital disharmony in Nigeria because of the high premium placed on child bearing. Unfortunately, the blame is on the woman most times. OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence, clinical pattern and major causes of infertility based on the clinical and laboratory findings of both partners. METHODOLOGY: This is a descriptive retrospective study of 268 infertility cases that presented at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi over a five-year period, between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2009. RESULTS: Of the 1449 patients that presented at the gynaecology clinic, 268 came because of infertility giving a prevalence of 18.5%. The mean age was 39.1±6.0 years .The majority ( 68% )stopped formal education at the secondary level. Seventy-two percent were employed as unskilled workers. 13% admitted the history of alcohol intake while none took tobacco. The mean duration of infertility was 5 years. The more frequent type of infertility was secondary infertility (59%). The leading cause of male infertility was oligospermia. Male factor infertility alone accounted for 52 (25%)of the cases. CONCLUSION: Contribution of male factor to infertility is high. There is a need for public education on the contribution of male factor to infertility.

 Keywords: Prevalence, clinical pattern, male infertility,
Nigeria


Introduction: Breastfeeding is essential for children's growth and development. Fathers play a central role for the success of breastfeeding. Objective: The aim of the study is to evaluate the profile of fathers of children under one year old, from Health Centres in Ribeirao Preto, SP, Brazil. Methodology or experience description: A questionnaire about fathers' social conditions and habits was applied to 58 mothers of children under one year old, who are attended in Health Centres in the northern district of Ribeirao Preto, SP, Brazil. Results: Among the respondents, 16 (27.6%) women did not breastfeed their children, 7 (43.75%) of which were under 6 months. As for the fathers, 57 (98.27%) were older than 20. Nine (56.25%) children of fathers between 20 to 25 years old (27.58%) are breastfed. Out of 23 (39.95%) fathers from 26 to 30 years old, 17 (73.91%) have children who are still breastfed, and considering those between 36 and 40 years old (12.06%), 6 (85.71%) of their children are breastfed. Seventeen (26.31%) men concluded high school, and among these, 6 (35.29%) have their children breastfed. As for those who did not complete elementary school (37.93%), 6 (27.27%) have breastfed children. Conclusions or Hypothesis: The older the fathers, the higher the chances of children under one year old being breastfed. The schooling of the fathers does not seem to influence breastfeeding.


Plant Science
Local stresses, such as the damage caused by an insect on a leaf, can produce signals that are transmitted systemically to parts of the plant that are not directly injured or stressed. These signals help the plant acclimate to environmental stress or defend against pathogens. Miller et al. show that the gene RbohD , which encodes a plant NADPH oxidase that generates reactive oxygen species (ROS), is critical for rapid systemic signaling in response to wounding by a scalpel, heating to 42°C, cooling in ice water, high-intensity light, or increased salinity.

Sci. Signal. 2 , ra45 (2009).


Cloud computing has completely changed the economics of IT industry. Recently, the new form of "shared global economy" requires cloud services to be collaboratively provisioned by different cloud providers in a Geo-distributed manner, which brings severe challenges in service performance and cost. To address this problem, in this paper we propose JointCloud, a cross-cloud cooperation architecture for integrated Internet service customization. JointCloud borrows the idea from airline alliances and aims at empowering the cooperation among multiple clouds to provide efficient cross-cloud services. JointCloud focuses not only on the vertical integration of cloud resources but also on the horizontal cooperation among different cloud vendors. This paper describes the concept and architecture of JointCloud, as well as the initial design of the key components, namely, communication, storage, and computation.


Preschool accountability systems, including Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS), seek to assess, monitor, and improve children's outcomes across the early care and education (ECE) landscape. QRIS have a number of strengths, especially by focusing on classroom-level quality inputs for all children collectively across multiple domains that are well aligned with developmental science. This article considers how to build on the QRIS framework by highlighting children's individual experiences within classrooms as a key indicator of quality in addition to the more traditional classroom-level measures. The article first provides the theoretical rationale and empirical evidence for focusing on children's individual experiences based on new insights from developmental science. The article then illustrates key factors that relate to variation in children's experiences, including child temperament, gender, age, and race/ethnicity. The article concludes by considering opportunities for innovation to better measure individual children's experiences in QRIS.