The purpose of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of the Susceptibility to Peer Pressure Scale as well as the prevalence of sexual initiation and its risk factors among late adolescents attending tertiary level institutions. The temporal gap which exists between the maturation of the adolescents' prefrontal cortex and their socio-emotional system predisposes them to engage in sexual initiation. The newly discovered independence that is associated with college environment further increases the propensity among late adolescents to initiate sexual intercourse. As this behaviour may result in negative consequences, such as unintended pregnancy, unsafe abortion or sexually transmitted infections, it is important to identify the crux of the matter in enabling the design and the implementation of risk reduction strategies. This study was conducted in two phases. Phase I comprised the establishment of the psychometric properties and the factorial invariance across gender of the Susceptibility to Peer Pressure Scale, one of the instruments used in Phase II. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were utilized. A cross-sectional study, employing a multistage stratified sampling method was conducted to establish the prevalence of sexual initiation and other related sexual behaviours as well as the correlates of engagement in sexual initiation in Phase II. A self-administered questionnaire based on adaptation of the Urie Bronfenbrenner's social-ecological model which comprised several instruments to assess the characteristics of individual's, familial and peer characteristics as well as school engagement was utilized. The correlates of sexual initiation were determined via multivariate logistic regression analyses adjusting for complex samples. A total of 1652 unmarried adolescents aged 18 and 19 years from six public and private institutions of higher learning in the Central region of Malaysia participated in this study. Overall, the Malaysian version of the Susceptibility to Peer Pressure Scale displayed good psychometric properties in terms of its construct validity, internal consistency and test-retest reliability in measuring
iv
susceptibility to peer pressure. Multi-group confirmatory factor analyses established the invariance of this scale across gender. The prevalence of sexual initiation among late adolescents was 9.8% (95% CI [8.3, 11.6]) with males reporting a higher rate of sexual engagement. Higher likelihood of sexual initiation was associated with perception of close friends have had sex, higher susceptibility to peer pressure and living in non-intact families among males and females. However, some gender differences were identified. As for males, Malays, current smokers, lifetime alcohol consumers, lifetime illicit drug use, early puberty, involvement in a relationship, and higher peer attachment were associated with sexual initiation. Sexual engagement among females, on the other hand, was linked to lifetime cigarette use and higher self-esteem. Females who reported higher religiosity and higher peer attachment were less likely to engage in sexual intercourse. The established risk factors originated from the elements of the adolescents' immediate environment and their interactions. Thus, risk reduction strategies should conflate these elements in securing better outcomes. It is imperative to tailor these strategies based on gender differences. Future studies should contemplate qualitative research in exploring these risk factors.


This contribution draws on empirical evidence from the 2016 wave of the survey "Environmental Consciousness in Germany" to identify the potential social bases of both support for and resistance to attempts to overcome the current socio-ecological crisis by way of a broad social-ecological transformation. Firstly, the results of factor and cluster analyses of the survey's items on attitudes are presented in the form of a typology of ten "syndromes" of discernibly different basic attitudes toward questions of sustainability and change. Basic sociodemographic information on each cluster is given, and each type is scrutinised more closely concerning its attitudes and reported practices in matters related to energy and the German energy transition (Energiewende), as a proxy for their respective stances concerning a broader, more fundamental transformation. By locating the clusters within Bourdieu's two-dimensional model of social space (on a vertical "power axis" and a horizontal "modernisation axis"), it is then possible to reconstruct the current constellation of struggles between pro- and anti-transformation forces in the German population. Results indicate that resistance to transformation is not simply a matter of attitudes, but indeed deeply rooted in the infrastructures of the "imperial mode of living" and the specific ways social groups are integrated into them. Instead of "raising consciousness", transformational strategies should therefore focus on leading the struggles that will be necessary to change those infrastructures themselves, and their proponents ought to acknowledge that significant segments of the populace will not be won over to support such change, but have to be politically defeated.


New Zealand, an island nation, has an extensive coastline peppered with small communities of iconic buildings known as Bachs. Post WWII, these modest buildings were constructed by their owners as retreats and generally were small, low cost, often using recycled material and often they fell below current acceptable building standards. In the latter part of the 20th century, real estate prices in many of these communities remained low and these areas became permanent residences for people attracted to this affordable lifestyle choice. The Blueskin Resilient Communities Trust (BRCT) is an organisation that recognises the vulnerability of communities in low lying settlements as now being prone to increased flood threat brought about by climate change and sea level rise. Some of the inhabitants of Blueskin Bay, Otago, NZ have already found their properties to be un-insurable because of increased frequency of flood events and property values have slumped accordingly. Territorial authorities also acknowledge this increased risk and have created additional compliance measures for new buildings that are less than 2 m above tidal peaks. Community resilience becomes an additional concern where inhabitants are attracted to a lifestyle associated with a specific location and its people when this lifestyle is unable to be met in a suburban or city context. Traditional models of social housing fail to provide the sense of community connectedness and identity enjoyed by the current residents of Blueskin Bay. BRCT have partnered with the Otago Polytechnic Design School to design a new form of community housing that can react to this environmental change. It is a longitudinal project incorporating participatory approaches as a means of getting people 'on board', to understand complex systems and co-develop solutions. In the first period, they are seeking industry support and funding to develop a transportable and fully selfcontained housing model that exploits current technologies. BRCT also hope that the building will become an educational tool to highlight climate change issues facing us today. This paper uses the Climate Safe House (CSH) as a case study for education in architectural sustainability through experiential learning offered as part of the Otago Polytechnics Bachelor of Design. Students engage with the project with research methodologies, including site surveys, resident interviews, data sourced from government agencies and physical modelling. The process involves collaboration across design disciplines including product and interior design but also includes connections with industry, both within the education institution and stakeholder industries introduced through BRCT. This project offers a rich learning environment where students become engaged through project based learning within a community of practice, including architecture, construction, energy and other related fields. The design outcomes are expressed in a series of public exhibitions and forums where community input is sought in a truly participatory process. Keywords—Community resilience, problem based learning, Chris Fersterer is with the Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand (e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com). project based learning, case study.


Nowadays computing platforms consist of a very large number of components that require to be supplied with diferent voltage levels and power requirements. Even a very small platform, like a handheld computer, may contain more than twenty diferent loads and voltage regulators. The power delivery designers of these systems are required to provide, in a very short time, the right power architecture that optimizes the performance, meets electrical specifications plus cost and size targets. The appropriate selection of the architecture and converters directly defines the performance of a given solution. Therefore, the designer needs to be able to evaluate a significant number of options in order to know with good certainty whether the selected solutions meet the size, energy eficiency and cost targets. The design dificulties of selecting the right solution arise due to the wide range of power conversion products provided by diferent manufacturers. These products range from discrete components (to build converters) to complete power conversion modules that employ diferent manufacturing technologies. Consequently, in most cases it is not possible to analyze all the alternatives (combinations of power architectures and converters) that can be built. The designer has to select a limited number of converters in order to simplify the analysis. In this thesis, in order to overcome the mentioned dificulties, a new design methodology for power supply systems is proposed. This methodology integrates evolutionary computation techniques in order to make possible analyzing a large number of possibilities. This exhaustive analysis helps the designer to quickly define a set of feasible solutions and select the best trade-off in performance according to each application. The proposed approach consists of two key steps, one for the automatic generation of architectures and other for the optimized selection of components. In this thesis are detailed the implementation of these two steps. The usefulness of the methodology is corroborated by contrasting the results using real problems and experiments designed to test the limits of the algorithms.


The spatial distributions of Eledone cirrhosa (Lamarck, 1798) and Eledone moschata (Lamarck, 1798) were examined based on four seasonal trawl surverys carried out between 1991-1992 covering 20-500 meters of the Turkish and international waters in the Aegean Sea. It was found that E. cirrhosa inhabits all depth ranges examined in the northern part, but it was seldom observed in the south. E. moschata, on the other hand, has a basin-wide distribution and solely inhabits the upper 200-meter depth range.


The value of the tangential velocity on the Boundary Value Problem (BVP) is inaccurate when comparing the results with analytical solutions by Indirect Boundary Element Method (IBEM), especially at the intersection region where the normal vector is changing rapidly (named nonsmooth boundary). In this study, the singularity of the BVP, which is directly arranged in the center of the surface of the fluid computing domain, is moved outside the computational domain by using the Desingularized Boundary Integral Equation Method (DBIEM). In order to analyze the accuracy of the IBEM/DBIEM and validate the above-mentioned problem, three-dimensional uniform flow over a sphere has been presented. The convergent study of the presented model has been investigated, including desingularized distance in the DBIEM. Then, the numerical results were compared with the analytical solution. It was found that the accuracy of velocity distribution in the flow field has been greatly improved at the intersection region, which has suddenly changed the boundary surface shape of the fluid domain. The conclusions can guide the study on the flow over nonsmooth boundaries by using boundary value method.


The emotional cycle of deployment theorized by Logan and adapted by Pincus, House, Christenson, and Alder is often applied by academics and military support agencies to define, explain, and provide advice on the experiences and possible emotional reactions of military families during phases of deployment. Interviews with army partners showed that spatiotemporal experiences and perspectives are more complex than those afforded by the emotional cycle of deployment. This article argues that applying the concept of liminality uncovers some of this complexity, illuminating the in-between times experienced during deployments that are otherwise hidden. Army partners move through and between deployments and deployment phases haunted by specters of past and future deployments. By disrupting seemingly chronological and discrete spatiotemporal narratives, which often frame research on military families and deployment, this article demonstrates how army partners move through and between deployments and deployment stages negotiating past and future deployments. It shows how they continuously adapt and evolve practices while negotiating interpreted pasts and imagined futures in pursuit of becoming "ideal."


Soda lakes are unique poly-extreme environments with high alkalinity and salinity that support diverse microbial communities despite their extreme nature. In this study, prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbial diversity in samples of the three soda lakes, Lake Abijata, Lake Chitu and Lake Shala in the East African Rift Valley, were determined using amplicon sequencing. Culture-independent analysis showed higher diversity of prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbial communities in all three soda lakes than previously reported. A total of 3,603 prokaryotic and 898 eukaryotic operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were found through culture-independent amplicon sequencing, whereas only 134 bacterial OTUs, which correspond to 3%, were obtained by enrichment cultures. This shows that only a fraction of the microorganisms from these habitats can be cultured under laboratory conditions. Of the three soda lakes, samples from Lake Chitu showed the highest prokaryotic diversity, while samples from Lake Shala showed the lowest diversity. Pseudomonadota (Halomonas), Bacillota (Bacillus, Clostridia), Bacteroidota (Bacteroides), Euryarchaeota (Thermoplasmata, Thermococci, Methanomicrobia, Halobacter), and Nanoarchaeota (Woesearchaeia) were the most common prokaryotic microbes in the three soda lakes. A high diversity of eukaryotic organisms were identified, primarily represented by Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. Compared to the other two lakes, a higher number of eukaryotic OTUs were found in Lake Abijata. The present study showed that these unique habitats harbour diverse microbial genetic resources with possible use in biotechnological applications, which should be further investigated by functional metagenomics.


This project was motivated by the need to overcome a business problem encountered by Wellard Technologies. In order to overcome this business problem, a software application was desired that has the capacity to visually represent and present information pertaining to the main components of an underground rail haulage system. The project simulation was developed using an Iterative Approach to software development; and was implemented using the Wonderware Development Studio package, which is built upon the ArchestrA framework. A total of 7 HMI windows were developed within the Wonderware SCADA environment, which contains a number of components specific to sections of an underground rail haulage system. These components are able to read information from an external PLC and display appropriately the transferred information. The result of the efforts by the intern is a conclusion to phase one of the project; a number of successive phases will see a final product developed that shall be utilised by Wellard Technologies to solve its business problem.


Background and objective: Due to the necessity of oral health in the preschool children and incorrect beliefs of mothers and more perceived barriers to per- form it, this research was performed to study the effect of education interven - tion in changing mothers' attitudes, perceived self-efficacy and perceived barri - ers regarding oral health of preschool children. Methods: In this quasi-experimental study 120 female preschool children from district 7 of Tehran city were selected by one stage cluster sampling from each school and then their mothers were included in the study. A researcher-made questionnaire was designed and validated by researchers for assessing moth - ers' self-efficacy, perceived barriers and attitudes regarding oral health among preschool children. Two test (intervention) and control groups completed the questionnaire before educational intervention. Based on the pre-test results the educational intervention was designed and implemented in 4 sessions (each 45 minutes) for mothers in test group. Both groups were followed up one month after the intervention and then completed questionnaires. Data was analyzed by independent sample t-tests and student's t test for paired sample through SPSS16. Results: Significant differences were observed in the mean score of attitude (p=0.001), perceived self-efficacy (p=0.011) and perceived barriers (p<0.0001) in the intervention group as compared to the control group. Conclusion: Educational intervention may reduce perceived barriers to oral health among mothers having pre-school children regarding oral health and increase their perceived self-efficacy and positive attitude. Paper Type: Research Article.


The educational inequity that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have experienced in higher education in Australia is replicated in virtual learning spaces, with generic models of online learning design taking little account of cultural factors that impact on learning. To counter this, new approaches to online learning design are needed that consider the experiences of Indigenous people. This article explores culture as a critical element of online learning design that enhances the learning experiences and outcomes of Indigenous people. The study reported in this article was conducted at a regional Australian university and was methodologically situated within an educational design research framework. Data were collected through the narrative method of yarning with 19 Indigenous students enrolled in a range of disciplines. From the data, 10 themes were developed, which guided the design of a learning design model and six preliminary design principles. The study contributes to the gap in the literature on learning design for Indigenous online higher education students. As the model and preliminary design principles are culturally situated at the site of the study, they need testing by educational designers and academics to ascertain their usefulness in other contexts.


This paper focuses on the discursive strategies used by the Singapore government to construct national identity and solidarity on the basis of a 'clean and green' environment. By analysing the slogans used in the Clean and Green Week campaign in terms of the use of pronouns and the pragmatic notion of 'politeness', the paper shows that the people of Singapore are not only persuaded to 'buy' the idea of environmentalism, but also to buy into the ideology of national identity and unity being derived (in part) from the proper management and conservation of Singapore's scarce resources and limited physical space. The paper concludes with a discussion on how national campaigns such as the Clean and Green Week constitutes a form of political discourse, where public educational discourse becomes a veiled medium through which socio-political ideologies are produced and propagated. With the government treading the fine line between information and manipulation where 'greening' a country becomes a scaffolding for building a nation, a study like this offers interesting insights into the interplay between the language of politics and the politics of language.


Background: Individuals with severe mental disorder (SMD) have a higher risk of somatic comorbidity and mortality than the rest of the population. We set up a population-based study to assess whether individuals with SMD had a higher risk of death associated with a COVID-19 infection (COVID-19 associated death) than individuals without SMD. Methods: Exploratory analysis with a cross-sectional design in the framework of a population-based register study covering the entire Swedish population. The Swedish Board for Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) provided anonymized tabulated summary data for further analysis. We compared numbers of COVID-19 associated death in individuals with SMD (cases) and without SMD (controls). We calculated the odds ratio (OR) for the whole sample and by age group and four comorbidities, namely diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, chronic lung disease. Results: The sample comprised of 7,923,859 individuals, 103,999 with SMD and 7,819,860 controls. There were 130 (0.1%) COVID-19 associated deaths in the SMD group and 4,945 (0.06%) in the control group, corresponding to an OR of 1.98 (CI 1.66-2.35; p < 0.001). The odds were 4-fold for the age groups between 60 and 79 years and 1.5-fold for cardiovascular diseases. Individuals with SMD without any of the risk factors under study had 3-fold odds of COVID-19 associated death. Conclusion: Our preliminary results identify individuals with SMD as a further group at increased risk of COVID-19 associated death. In regard to comorbidities, future studies should explore the potential confounding or mediation role in the relationship between SMD and COVID-19 associated deaths.


The effects of Zn/Se molar ratio on the morphology and photocatalytic performance of ZnSe nanostructures, which were synthesized by a co-precipitation method, were investigated. To intensively investigate the effects of the Zn/Se ratio, we performed a series of controlled experiments with different concentrations of selenium anions (the concentration ratios of Zn2+ : Se2− = 1 : 0.6–1.4 in the solutions). X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of the samples indicated that the phases of the samples were not changed by the different Zn/Se ratios. However, the XRD patterns of the samples with a ratio of Zn/Se < 1 indicated Se peaks as an external phase. Field emission electron microscopy (FESEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images showed different morphologies such as nanoparticles (NPs), nanorods (NRs), nanobelts (NBs), and polyhedra by varying the Zn/Se ratio. In addition, a high resolution TEM (HRTEM) image of the NBs showed that the NBs grew towards the [111] direction. Photoluminescence (PL) and UV-visible spectroscopy indicated that different Zn/Se ratios caused the creation of different defects and band gap shifting. The valance band edge (VBE) position of the samples was calculated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and it was observed that, the VBE position was affected by different Zn/Se ratio and it was seen a small and big valance band offsets in comparison to the Zn/Se = 1 for the samples with highest and lowest Zn/Se ratio, respectively. Finally, the photocatalytic performance of the samples was examined under irradiation with a visible-light source. The photocatalytic activity tests demonstrated that the different morphologies and optical properties of the ZnSe nanostructures could affect the photocatalytic performance of the samples. Furthermore, N2 adsorption–desorption isotherm curves of the samples indicated two types of hysteresis loop for the samples with the highest and lowest Zn/Se ratios. It was observed that the sample with the lowest Zn/Se ratio (1 : 1.4) showed the highest photocatalytic activity and stability in comparison with the other samples.


The purpose of this study was to produce module based on PBL to improve creative thinking skills which are valid, practical and effective to use in learning science. The design of this study is research and development by using 4-D model which consists of Four phase. The results of development phase, showed that module based on PBL model to improve the creative thinking skills of learners is valid by mean of (0,88), For the practicality, the mean of questionnaire responses learners towards the product was 87.20, categorized as very practical; the mean of questionnaire responses of teachers was 92.75, also categorized as very practical. The result of the develop phase showed that the product met the criteria of effectiveness as the data obtained showed that there was improvement of learners competences: cognitive, affective, psychomotor, as well as creative thinking skills. The mean value of cognitive competence was 84.00; affective competence was 84.65; and psychomotor competence was 82.73. Mean while, the mean value of creative thinking skills improvement was average and low in every meeting.


Redirected walking techniques enable natural locomotion through immersive virtual environments (VEs) that are larger than the real world workspace. Most existing techniques rely upon manipulating the mapping between physical and virtual motions while the layout of the environment remains constant. However, if the primary focus of the experience is on the virtual world's content, rather than on its spatial layout, then the goal of redirected walking can be achieved through an entirely different strategy. In this paper, we introduce flexible spaces - a novel redirection technique that enables infinite real walking in virtual environments that do not require replication of real world layouts. Flexible spaces overcome the limitations and generalize the use of overlapping (impossible) spaces and change blindness by employing procedural layout generation. Our approach allows VE designers to focus on the content of the virtual world independent of the implementation details imposed by real walking, thereby making spatial manipulation techniques more practical for use in a variety of application domains.


Background Immunization to biological drugs can reduce the treatment efficacy and increase the risk of adverse events. Objectives To determine the drug trough concentrations and anti-drug antibody (ADAb) levels of self-injected TNF-inhibitors, in non-selected patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) attending the rheumatological outpatient clinic, and to study the patient related factors affecting the immunization to antiTNF drugs. Methods A total of 313 patients with AS were recruited. A blood sample, taken 1–2 days prior to next drug injection, was obtained from 273 patients. Trough concentration of the anti-TNF drugs were measured with capture-ELISA (Promonitor EIA, Progenica), the levels of ADAb with radioimmunoassay (Sanquin Laboratories, The Netherlands), and the serum TNF-blocking capacity by using an in-house reporter gene assay. The clinical activity of AS was assessed using the Bath AS Disease Activity Index (BASDAI), the Bath AS Functional Index (BASFI), and the Maastricht AS Entheses Score (MASES). Results ADAbs were observed in 21% of patients on adalimumab (n=99), in 0% of those on etanercept (n=83), in 3% of those on golimumab (n=79) and in 50% of those on certolizumab pegol (n=12). The BASDAI in ADAb positive patients was 1.4 (sd 1.4) and in the ADAb negative patients 2.0 (sd 1.8 p=0.060). Factors affecting the immunization to biological drug could be further analyzed in patients using adalimumab. Trough drug concentrations of adalimumab correlated with the presence of ADAb (r=-0.54, rp<0.0001). In adalimumab users higher BMI was associated with the presence ADAb (p=0.019, adjusted for gender, age, and the time of biological use). Of patients who used methotrexate (MTX) 12% were ADAb positive and of those who did not use MTX 28% were ADAb positive (p=0.048 adjusted for gender, age, weight, and the time of biological use). The use of sulphasalazine was not associated with lower number of ADAb positive patients. Of adalimumab users with ADAb+ the mean BASDAI was 1.2 (sd 1.4) and of those without ADAb 1.9 (sd 1.9) (p=0.091). Of adalimumab users the drug concentration was in the target range (5–10 mg/l) in only 33% of patients. Conclusions The disease activity of AS patients using self injected antiTNF drugs was low. The immunization to adalimumab was relatively common in nonselected AS patient population. However, no clear association was observed between the presense of ADAb and the disease activity. Acknowledgements The study was financially supported by Pfizer Disclosure of Interest J. Hiltunen: None declared, P. Parmanne: None declared, T. Sokka-Isler: None declared, T. Lamberg: None declared, O. Kaipiainen-Seppänen: None declared, P. Isomäki: None declared, M. Kauppi: None declared, L. Pirilä: None declared, T. Uutela: None declared, R. Tuompo: None declared, H. Relas: None declared, T. Yli-Kerttula: None declared, H. Valleala: None declared, M. Romu: None declared, T. Rannio: None declared, K. Paalanen: None declared, A. Juha: None declared, P. Ekman: None declared, K. Tadesse: None declared, J. Borodina: None declared, P. Elfving: None declared, R. Peltomaa: None declared, M. Leirisalo-repo: None declared, H. Kautiainen: None declared, S. Jokiranta: None declared, K. Eklund Grant/research support from: Pfizer has supported the study financially, Consultant for: Advisory board meetings BMS, MSD, Pfizer, Abbvie, Speakers bureau: Lectures: BMS, Roche, Pfizer, Novartis


OBJECTIVES
We assessed the relative roles of education and genetic ancestry in predicting blood pressure (BP) within African Americans and explored the association between education and BP across racial groups.

METHODS
We used t tests and linear regressions to examine the associations of genetic ancestry, estimated from a genomewide set of autosomal markers, and education with BP variation among African Americans in the Family Blood Pressure Program. We also performed linear regressions in self-identified African Americans and Whites to explore the association of education with BP across racial groups.

RESULTS
Education, but not genetic ancestry, significantly predicted BP variation in the African American subsample (b=-0.51 mm Hg per year additional education; P=.001). Although education was inversely associated with BP in the total population, within-group analyses showed that education remained a significant predictor of BP only among the African Americans. We found a significant interaction (b=3.20; P=.006) between education and self-identified race in predicting BP.

CONCLUSIONS
Racial disparities in BP may be better explained by differences in education than by genetic ancestry. Future studies of ancestry and disease should include measures of the social environment.


This article chronicles how three land-grant universities and one non-land-grant university medical center have transformed to meet the needs of people where they live, work, learn, and play. In this article, we first get a glimpse of how an institutional commitment to community engagement and supportive administrative structures are advancing community-based public health practice at Oregon State University. Next, we learn how Texas A&M's AgriLife Extension Service is using community data to focus on the most pressing needs of the state's 254 counties. We then examine how Mississippi State University is working to address the shortage of health care professionals in its state by introducing young people to health careers and encouraging medical students to practice in the state. Finally, we learn how the University of New Mexico Medical Center and New Mexico State University are using the tried-and-true principles of cooperative extension to address the state population's health needs through Health Extension Rural Offices.


Shipping fairways in estuaries are continuously dredged to maintain access to major ports for large ships. However, various estuaries worldwide show adverse side effects to dredging activities, including shifts from a multi-channel system to a single channel, loss of ecologically-valuable intertidal areas, and increased muddiness. The Western Scheldt (Netherlands) is an example of a system where several million m3 sediments are dredged annually and disposed of within the estuary. Here, the effects of dredging and disposal strategies on the channel-shoal morphodynamics, including the evolution of the multi-channel system and its ecological impact are studied using field observations, numerical and physical models. Time series of bathymetry, morphodynamic model runs and physical experiments in the Metronome tilting flume show for the first time that the deliberate dredging and disposal strategy increases the surface area of inter-tidal habitats, which decreases the connectivity between channels and destabilizes the multi-channel system. We quantify these changes in scale and topology using a novel and mathematically-rigorous network extraction, which identifies the partial switching of the main channel with the side channel in the past and that continuous disposal of sediment in the side channel results in siltation. The physical experiments indicate that the estuarine network is dramatically changed by dredging even for a long period following the halting of any dredging and dumping works. The morphodynamic model similarly shows that dredging of the sills is essential to maintain the current shipping fairway. A new disposal strategy targeting the deepest scours of the main channel appears to be the optimal solution for ecological value and sustains dynamic channel-shoal interactions and the multi-channel pattern. Sea level rise scenarios demonstrate the importance of keeping the sediment in the system for sustainable management, but present dredging and disposal techniques put current ecosystems under pressure.


This paper studies the ergodic capacity of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems with a single co-channel interferer in the low signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) regime. Two MIMO models namely Rician and Rayleigh-product channels are investigated. Exact analytical expressions for the minimum energy per information bit, Eb/N0min, and wideband slope, S0, are derived for both channels. Our results show that the minimum energy per information bit is the same for both channels while their wideband slopes differ significantly. Further, the impact of the numbers of transmit and receive antennas, the Rician K factor, the channel mean matrix and the interference-to-noise-ratio (INR) on the capacity, is addressed. Results indicate that interference degrades the capacity by increasing the required minimum energy per information bit and reducing the wideband slope. Simulation results validate our analytical results.


A major challenge in comparative genomics is to understand how phenotypic differences between species are encoded in their genomes. Phenotypic divergence may result from differential transcription of orthologous genes, yet less is known about the involvement of differential translation regulation in species phenotypic divergence. In order to assess translation effects on divergence, we analyzed B2,800 orthologous genes in nine yeast genomes. For each gene in each species, we predicted translation efficiency, using a measure of the adaptation of its codons to the organism's tRNA pool. Mining this data set, we found hundreds of genes and gene modules with correlated patterns of translational efficiency across the species. One signal encompassed entire modules that are either needed for oxidative respiration or fermentation and are efficiently translated in aerobic or anaerobic species, respectively. In addition, the efficiency of translation of the mRNA splicing machinery strongly correlates with the number of introns in the various genomes. Altogether, we found extensive selection on synonymous codon usage that modulates translation according to gene function and organism phenotype. We conclude that, like factors such as transcription regulation, translation efficiency affects and is affected by the process of species divergence.


For most high water-cut pipelines, even if the transportation temperature drops below the gel point of crude oil, the pipeline can still operate safely. Especially when the crude oil has dissolved a certain amount of gas, its flow characteristics are significantly improved, and which can achieve non-heating transportation easily. However, the oil particles will adhere to the pipe wall (which called wall sticking), and become difficult to be swept down with the drop of temperature, which undoubtedly increases the risk of pipe blockage. In order to prevent the occurrence of pipe blockage, it is necessary to find the minimum temperature that allows non-heating transportation.
 In the study of non-heating transportation, minimum transportation temperature (MTT) and wall sticking congealed oil amount (WSOA) are the most important research objectives. When the temperature is between the gel point of crude oil and MTT, the crude oil gel only forms a thin oil layer on the pipe wall, which does not affect the safe operation of the pipeline. Once the temperature drops below MTT, a large amount of congealed oil will stick to the pipe wall, reducing the inner diameter of the pipe and increasing the risk of plugging. This paper has studied the effect of carbon dioxide on non-heating transportation and found that the presence of carbon dioxide can make WSOA significantly reduced and the congealed oil becomes softer, but MTT does not change. According to the measurement of the rheological characteristics of crude oil before and after dissolving carbon dioxide, it is believed that the above experimental results may be due to the decrease in viscosity and wax appearance temperature of crude oil after dissolving gas, which hinders the precipitation and aggregation of wax crystals and inhibits the formation of crude oil gel. In addition, it is speculated that the surface of the dissolved gas crude oil is covered with a large number of bubbles. These bubbles will reduce the contact area of the crude oil and the wall surface, resulting in a decrease of WSOA. In a word, the research methods mentioned in this paper are suitable for the study of non-heating transportation of carbon dioxide flooding pipeline.


Learning vocabulary as the building blocks for communication plays an important role in foreign and second language learning as it is an essential component of becoming a fluent foreign language user. Very often vocabulary learning occurs as a product of reading. While reading, a sentence could be incomprehensible to the readers by the occurrence of a single unknown word and the learner can consult the dictionary to understand the text. Through regular reading the learner may remember and recognize some new words he/she came across in his/her reading. Of course, we all should be aware that no dictionary contains every word in the language. The sciences, medicine and technology generate a lot of words that never make it into a dictionary; numerous foreign words that appear in English-language contexts are left out. A great many words are invented all the time and then they simply vanish from the record. This material has been prepared as a guide for using various types of dictionaries with the aim of increasing foreign/second learners' vocabulary in English as a foreign/second language. It is convenient for the learners of different levels of English language and appropriate to be used in different teaching/learning environments, both in face-to-face and elearning. A guide for using a dictionary is designed to be used by high school teachers in the field of agriculture and related fields, and agricultural advisors in Serbia. Also, it can be useful for the current and future students of both agriculture and other fields of science, and for professionals in other domains. Printing of the guide is funded by TEMPUS project CaSA Building Capacity of  Serbian Agricultural Education to Link with Society, coordinated by University of Belgrade,  Faculty of Agriculture. URI http://arhiva.nara.ac.rs/handle/123456789/2077 Collections WP 9. Dissemination of project results DSpace software copyright © 2002-2015 DuraSpace Contact Us | Send Feedback Developing reading skills in English for agricultural purposes  


During hematopoiesis, viability factors that suppress apoptosis are required throughout the differentiation process. Some of these factors may also function as growth factors. Interleukin-5 (IL-5) is recognized as a growth factor in hematopoiesis. We examined the involvement of IL-5 as a viability factor of B-CLL in vitro. In 13 B-CLL cases studied, IL-5 at 20 U/mL increased spontaneous apoptosis by a mean percentage of 53% (range, 20% to 129%) (P < .05) after 2 days in culture. On the third day, the mean percentage increase was 37% (range, 18% to 50%). In all cases, IL-4 protected B-CLL cells against IL-5-induced apoptosis by a mean percentage of 47% (range, 18% to 81%) (P < .001). This protection was specific to IL-4 and it was reduced with anti-IL-4 antibody. In addition, expression of bcl-2 protein in untreated cultures was not significantly different from that of the IL-5-treated cells; mean equivalent of soluble fluorochrome (MESF) was 5.2 (range, 3.0 to 6.8) and 4.9 (range, 3.0 to 6.3), respectively (P > .2). In freshly isolated B-CLL cells, the MESF was 4.5 (range, 2.4 to 6.6). These results show that IL-5 induced apoptosis in B-CLL cells by a pathway that is independent of bcl-2 expression. IL-4 partially protects against this effect.


Possibilities for employment in agricultural cooperatives exists, specialli for skilled labour. There are at least one cooperatives in every village, whereby most of them need to employ skilled and young labour. Regrettably, most of cooperatives have insufficient finansial resourses for increasing employment, and need patronage and every support from state autority for this intention. Increase of employment in agricultural cooperatives would help cooperatives achieve better results, become more competitive, and improve the living standard in rural areas because of decrease of unemployment.


Driver safety has since the birth of automobiles been paramount. In a time when technologies
are changing the way people interact with the outside world, the vehicle industries
need to keep up with these changes in terms of both safety and user experience.
When trying to assess this complication, some of these technologies have been integrated
into the cars, thus leading to more distractions while driving. This thesis describes this
dilemma as the gap between automobile safety and in-vehicle infotainment. By the use
of a touchpad installed on the right hand side of the steering wheel, the thesis has developed
and evaluated a prototype interface that is located in the vehicles dashboard
display with goals to lower driver distraction. This touchpad is developed with three
main sources of interaction; swipes, tactile interaction and character recognition. By
merging and combining these sources the thesis has successfully developed a test prototype
to be used for evaluation. The prototype was tested against an already existing
in-vehicle information system where a number of use cases and scenarios were used to
test the systems in terms of usability and user experience. Guidelines on safety regulations
set by NHTSA have been studied and applied to the projects development and user
studies. Test results indicate that this technology has the potential to lower the driver
distraction while still maintaining a high level of usability and user experience. Finally
the thesis presents a number of suggestions and ideas in reference to further development
and studies.


Research shows that multiple factors influence college drinking, from an individual's genetic susceptibility to the positive and negative effects of alcohol, alcohol use during high school, campus norms related to drinking, expectations regarding the benefits and detrimental effects of drinking, penalties for underage drinking, parental attitudes about drinking while at college, whether one is member of a Greek organization or involved in athletics, and conditions within the larger community that determine how accessible and affordable alcohol is. Consequences of college drinking include missed classes and lower grades, injuries, sexual assaults, overdoses, memory blackouts, changes in brain function, lingering cognitive deficits, and death. This article examines recent findings about the causes and consequences of excessive drinking among college students relative to their non-college peers and many of the strategies used to collect and analyze relevant data, as well as the inherent hurdles and limitations of such strategies.


Objective: To use the gene chip of pseudomonas aeruginosa as a research sample and to explore it at an omics level, aiming at elucidating the co-expression network characteristics of the virulence genes exoS and exoU of pseudomonas aeruginosa in the lower respiratory tract from the perspective of molecular biology and identifying its key regulatory genes. Methods: From March 2016 to May 2018, 312 patients infected with pseudomonas aeruginosa in the lower respiratory tract who were admitted to Department of Respiratory Medicine of Baogang Hospital and given follow-up treatments in the hospital were selected as subjects by use of cluster sampling. Alveolar lavage fluid and sputum collected from those patients were used as biological specimens. The genes of pseudomonas aeruginosa were detected with the help of oligonucleotide probes to make a pre-processing of chip data. A total of 8 common antibiotics (ceftazidime, gentamicin, piperacillin, amikacin, ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, doripenem and ticarcillin) against Gram-negative bacteria were selected to determine the drug resistance of biological specimens. MCODE algorithm was used to construct a co-expression network model of the drug-resistance genes focused on exoS/exoU. Results: The expression level of exoS/exoU in the drug-resistance group was significantly higher than that in the non-resistance group (p < .05). The top 5 differentially expressed genes in the alveolar lavage fluid specimens from the drug-resistance group were RAC1, ITGB1, ITGB5, CRK and IGF1R in the order from high to low. In the sputum specimens, the top 5 differentially expressed genes were RAC1, CRK, IGF1R, ITGB1 and ITGB5. In the alveolar lavage fluid specimens, only RAC1 had a positive correlation with the expression of exoS and exoU (p < .05). In the sputum specimens, RAC1, ITGB1, ITGB5, CRK and IGF1R were positively correlated with the expression of exoS and exoU (p < .05). The genes included in the co-expression network contained exoS, exoU, RAC1, ITGB1, ITGB5, CRK, CAMK2D, RHOA, FLNA, IGF1R, TGFBR2 and FOS. Among them, RAC1 had a highest score in the aspect of regulatory ability (72.00) and the largest number of regulatory genes (6); followed by ITGB1, ITGB5 and CRK genes. Conclusions: The high expression of exoS and exoU in the sputum specimens suggests that pseudomonas aeruginosa has a higher probability to get resistant to antibiotics; RAC1, ITGB1, ITGB5 and CRK genes may be the key genes that can regulate the expression of exoS and exoU.


Abstract The Khurgu earthquake of magnitude M s = 7.0 occurred on March 21, 1977, in the mountains about 40 km north of Bandar Abbas, South Iran. It killed 152 people, injured 556, and caused destruction over an area of 550 km 2 . The shock damaged 1,500 houses beyond repair and killed 1.3 per cent of livestock in the area. The maximum intensity of the main shock just exceeded VIII (MM). The earthquake was not associated with any fresh surface faulting, nor with reactivation of existing faults or movements of salt domes at the surface. Small and large landslides and rockfalls occurred on steep slopes. A huge rockfall destroyed a village in the eastern part of the epicentral region. Water changed in springs and in one well, water became more salty. Very intense vibration was noticed at the top of narrow and elongated high Quaternary alluvial terraces where stones were found displaced and upturned. A foreshock, which occurred approximately 10 sec before the main destructive shock, gave an early warning and enough time for many people to run out of doors thus saving their lives. This seems the reason for the relatively low number of casualties. The earthquake hit the epicentral areas of two recent events: the 1975 ( m b = 5.8 − 6.1) and the 1977 ( M s = 5.2) earthquakes. However, past damage did not affect the new macroseismic pattern. The only pronounced distortion on the main shock macroseismic pattern was produced by an aftershock, 12 hr later. The Khurgu earthquake is another "Subsedimentary Zagros-type earthquake" case in the Zagros Active Folded Belt, indicating that the adjustment of the metamorphosed Precambrian Basement at depth, caused no tectonic deformation (surface faulting) at the top of the sedimentary cover. The earthquake is of major engineering significance since it provided evidence of the ground motion characteristics of a rare large event in the Zagros.


Despite the great advances in modeling and simulation techniques, modelers and researchers acknowledge that models are simplified representations of reality and, hence, are subject to uncertainty and errors. Although models are inevitably uncertain, they can still be a valuable decision-support tool if the users are informed about the uncertainty in the results. The importance of model uncertainty identification and quantification becomes clear in this context, but there are numerous challenges that remain. In this work, an uncertainty analysis framework is proposed for simulation models. This framework comprises of the steps that must be performed to analyze the uncertainty in simulation models. Next, an application of the framework is discussed where entropy is used as a possible measure of input-uncertainty. By using this framework, stakeholders can be better advised regarding the applicability and uncertainty of the simulation model, which will lead to an appropriate adjustment of expectations on the model results.


Diarrhea, mostly due to bacterial infection of the gut, is the most frequent health complaint in the international traveler, affecting 20-70% of the traveling population depending on the destination and other factors. It is usually benign and self-limiting in nature, but symptoms may occasionally be distressing causing modifications of normal activities and sometimes confinement to bed or hospitalization. Prevention of traveler's diarrhea should ideally be based on dietary restrictions, but experience shows that this target is extremely difficult to achieve. Antibiotic chemoprophylaxis should be restricted to selected groups of travelers at risk of severe complications of diarrhea or when diarrhea-driven alterations of planned activities are highly undesirable (critical trips). The effectiveness of alternative prophylactic approaches, such as vaccination or the use of probiotics, still awaits confirmation. Treatment of mild diarrheal cases without intestinal symptoms may be limited to rehydration with or without antimotility agents. When antibiotic therapy is considered, non-absorbable antibiotics, such as rifaximin, may be considered a valid alternative to systemic antibiotics to treat uncomplicated cases, leaving fluoroquinolones and/or azithromycin for use in more severe cases or when invasive pathogens are suspected. Indeed, therapeutic use of doxycycline and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) is limited by widespread resistance of many enteropathogens. The addition of loperamide or other antimotility agents usually provides symptom relief and further shortens the duration of illness and may be therefore safely adopted in the healthy adult unless dysentery is present.


Introduction Data reporting on patients with Cerebral Autosomal Dominant Arteriopathy with Subcortical Infarcts and Leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) within the United States population is limited. We sought to evaluate the overt cerebrovascular disease burden among patients with CADASIL. Methods Harmonized electronic medical records were extracted from the TriNetX global health research network. CADASIL patients were identified using diagnostic codes and those with/without history of documented stroke sub-types (ischemic stroke [IS], intracerebral hemorrhage [ICH], subarachnoid hemorrhage [SAH] and transient ischemic attack [TIA]) were compared. Adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of stroke incidence and mortality associated with sex were computed. Results Between September 2018 and April 2020, 914 CADASIL patients were identified (median [IQR] age: 60 [50–69], 61.3% females); of whom 596 (65.2%) had documented cerebrovascular events (i.e., CADASIL-Stroke patients). Among CADASIL-Stroke patients, 89.4% experienced an IS, co-existing with TIAs in 27.7% and hemorrhagic strokes in 6.2%; initial stroke events occurred ≤65 years of age in 71% of patients. CADASIL-Stroke patients (vs. CADASIL-non-Stroke) had higher cardiovascular and neurological (migraines, cognitive impairment, epilepsy/seizures, mood disorders) burden. In age- and comorbidity-adjusted models, males had higher associated risk of stroke onset (OR: 1.37, CI: 1.01–1.86). Mortality risk was higher for males (OR: 2.72, CI: 1.53–4.84). Discussion Early screening and targeted treatment strategies are warranted to help CADASIL patients with symptom management and risk mitigation.


Increased competition due to globalization and internationalization of firms has made world economies increasingly borderless and interlinked allowing companies to expand their business beyond their domestic boundaries. Therefore the need to carry out this research to study the operational challenges in the establishment of a subsidiary in a foreign country. The objectives of the study were to determine the operational challenges encountered by Multinational Companies in the establishment of South Sudan Subsidiary and to determine the effects of the challenges on the performance of the parent company. The study adopted a case study descriptive research design; data was collected using questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study established that the company encountered human resource challenges such as lack of local expertise to support the establishment of the subsidiary and limited skills among expatriates on the local market dynamics, cultural differences such as enmity against expatriates among residents and limited understanding of purchase bahaviour of local residents was also a challenge to the company. High political instability and high political influence on the residents was also a major challenge to the company


Nucleoside derivatives are an important class of molecules in the search for bioactive compounds. In our continuing efforts to develop novel nucleoside analogs, we used the Sonogashira cross-coupling reaction to synthesize 1,2,4-triazole acyclonucleosides bearing various arylethynyl groups on the triazole nucleobase. By employing 3-iodotriazole nucleoside as the coupling substrate, the Sonogashira reaction proceeded efficiently even with alkynes, which are notoriously unreactive and challenging. Further crystal structural analysis unveiled the coplanar feature of the 3-arylethynyltriazole motifs, suggesting their potential as surrogates for large planar aromatic systems or nucleobases. Most importantly, several synthesized compounds displayed interesting antiproliferative activity against various cancer cells and induced apoptosis, highlighting that this family of triazole nucleosides might show promise as anticancer candidates.


: The effect of four local anaesthetics, amethocaine and procaine (esters) and cinchocaine and lignocaine (amides), on the respiration and dehydrogenase activity of E. coli has been studied. Cells were suspended in either a chemically defined medium or in 0.2 M phosphate buffer (pH 6.4). Substrates included: glucose, succinate, malate and lactate. Further studies on the release of cellular constituents (pentoses and inorganic phosphate) are included and indicated that some local anaesthetics, at high concentrations, inhibit autolysis. Results are discussed in terms of the action of local anaesthetics on membrane integrity and its significance in enzyme action. A novel method for the detection of inorganic phosphate by differential pulse voltammetry and its application to studies of drug induced leakage of intracellular materials is described.


Edward Said suggested that Islamophobia was a "secret sharer" of anti-Semitism. (1) This was more than a passing nod to a subject outside of what he was writing about; on the contrary, long, detailed passages in Orientalism make it clear that the construction of the Semite was at the core of what Said was writing about. (2) That should hardly have surprised anyone who knows the history of how Jews and Muslims were imagined from the Middle Ages to the mid twentieth century: together, as two of an oriental kind. The real question is how it came about that Said could refer, correctly, to such an overwhelmingly obvious fact as having become a "secret." It was no such thing to the people who started using the term "anti-Semite" in the late nineteenth century. That was roughly a hundred years after the term "Semite" was first used by German biblical scholars as a label for a language family, whose best-known members were Hebrew and Arabic. (3) What I would like to do in this article is to ask what happens if we take anti-Semitism at its word, literally that is, as targeting all Semites and not only the Jews. I would like to explore anti-Semitism as one aspect of the long history of the joint construction of Jew and Muslim, and then ask how it is that in more recent times the commonality between Jew and Arab, which the term "anti-Semitism" displays unambiguously, could ever have become a "secret." I intend to stay with the very superficial, etymological issue of the "Semite" in "anti-Semitism." But I do so, of course, in the belief that this is an entry point that can take us much deeper. "Semitism" was a term that was invented to refer to a language type and a type of human being: a race and what we would now call a culture. It referred above all to the Jews and their biblical Hebrew-speaking ancestors, and to the Arabs. It was a development of an old tradition in the Christian West of regarding Jews and Muslims as distinguishable but yet closely related species of the same religious genre, a tradition going back to the very beginnings of Islam itself. (4) The major changes were two. First, the substitution of "Arab" for "Muslim" added a clear linguistic and "racial" dimension to the construction of Islam in the West. It was accompanied by a similar identification of the Jews, both biblical and contemporary, as carriers of a distinctive oriental, Hebrew culture and members of an equally distinctive, oriental Jewish race. Second, if the medieval habit was to imagine the Muslims as Judaizers and to compare them to the Jews, from the Renaissance on the tendency was on the increase to imagine the Jews on the pattern of what was becoming known of the Muslims. There was a common message coming from scholars like the orientalist explorer Carsten Niehbuhr, who in 1772 compared Arab Bedouin to the biblical patriarchs, from Ludwig Schlozer, who in 1781 first used the term "Semitic," from the philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, who in about 1821 declared that Judaism was part of "overall Arab religion," from the writer-politician Benjamin Disraeli, who in 1847 wrote that "God never spoke except to an Arab," including under that label the Jew, and, unforeseen by all of them, from the pamphleteer politician Wilhelm Marr who, according to tradition, invented the term "anti-Semite" in 1879, when he founded an organization called the "Anti-Semites League." (5) That message was, "look, the Jews are like the Arabs." To philo-Semites, including many Jews, this just made the Jews even more interesting in a period of romantic orientalism. (6) But to the enemies of the Jews it gave intellectual support for claiming that the Jews were, as they liked to say, an "Asiatic" element unassimilable to Christian Europe and western civilization ("Palestinian" in fact was used to describe in a derogatory way the Jews of Germany by the proto-Nazi orientalist and pamphleteer, Paul de Lagarde). (7) Orientalism was ambivalent: in some ways it feared or condemned the Orient and in others it loved and romanticized it. …


Mayan farmers in rural northwest Guatemala perceive the U.S. Department of Agriculture fruit-fly eradication program, MOSCAMED, as a government and agribusiness scheme designed to addict them to agrochemicals by despoiling subsistence agriculture. This bitterly accusative view depicts the state, capital, and U.S. government as interlinked sovereigns willing to kill and harm hapless Mayas. Considering political processes in the town of San Pedro Necta in light of local mistrust of and engagement with MOSCAMED, I argue that neoliberal democracy extends an affective imaginary of defeat produced by decades of counterinsurgency warfare through targeted violence and by exchanging meager resources for complicity with racial dispossession. My research findings illuminate how Mayas live the violence of neoliberal democracy and navigate a thicket of sovereignties, including ones widely viewed as predicated on their collective misery. They also reframe Mayan participation in authoritarian politics since the 1996 peace accords.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Although alpha blockers have been shown to be effective in treating various types of neuropathic voiding dysfunction in children, the effectiveness of alpha(1) blockers in treating neurologically intact children with voiding dysfunction remains unclear. We investigated the effectiveness of treatment with alpha(1)-adrenergic blockade in boys with low uroflow rate and urinary incontinence.

METHODS
The alpha(1) blocker doxazosin (0.5 to 1.0 mg daily) was administered to 16 boys (mean age, 8.9 +/- 3.4 years) with maximum uroflow rate (Qmax) < 15 mL/s and urinary incontinence. Uroflowmetry and postvoid residual volumes were checked before and 4 weeks after doxazosin treatment. After discontinuation of doxazosin for 2 weeks, videourodynamics and cystoscopy were done in 12 of the 16 boys. Improvement of uroflow was arbitrarily defined as an increase of Qmax >/= 2.5 mL/s. Complete improvement of incontinence was defined as > 90% and partial improvement as 50 to 90% reduction of incontinence episodes. Successful treatment was defined as improvement in uroflow and partial or complete improvement of urinary incontinence. Blood pressure, first-dose phenomenon, and adverse effects were monitored at each visit.

RESULTS
Mean medication and follow-up periods were 24.5 weeks and 33.1 weeks, respectively. Improvement of uroflow was noted in 10 patients (63%). Qmax increased from 12.3 +/- 1.3 mL/s to 16.3 +/- 4.1 mL/s (p = 0.001). Complete and partial improvement of incontinence was noted in 7 and 3 patients, respectively. The mean number of wet nights per week decreased from 4.9 +/- 2.3 to 2.2 +/- 2.5 (p < 0.001). Successful treatment was noted in 8 boys (50%), including 3 of 5 boys with primary bladder neck obstruction, 3 of 4 boys with dysfunctional voiding, and 2 of 4 boys with neuropathic voiding dysfunction of unclassified etiology. There were no significant adverse effects. Decreases of systolic and diastolic blood pressure were negligible.

CONCLUSION
alpha(1) Blockade is effective in the treatment of boys with low uroflow rate and incontinence.


Background and Aims: Hyperammonemia usually develops because of hepatic disease, but it may occur in patients with non-hepatic hyperammonemia (NHH). But, studies on the prognosis and possible risk factors of this disorder are lacking. The aim of this study was to find possible prognostic and risk factors for NHH in critically ill patients. Methods: Data were extracted from MIMIC III Database. Survival was analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify prognostic factors. Results: Valproic acid, carbamazepine, corticosteroids, recent orthopedic surgery, epilepsy, disorders of urea cycle metabolism, and obesity were found to be risk factors for NHH. Patients in the hyperammonemia group had a higher 30 day mortality than those in the non-hyperammonemia group. After final regression analysis, ammonia was found to be independent predictors of mortality. Conclusion: Ammonia was an independent prognostic predictor of 30 day mortality for critical care patients without liver disease.


Success in T-cell therapy of cancer is currently relying on long-term gene expression owing to retrovirus/lentivirus (RV/LV) integration. However, uncontrolled RV/LV integration in host cell genomes has the potential risk of causing insertional mutagenesis. Herein, we describe a novel episomal and long-term cell engineering method using non-integrating lentiviral (NILV) vector containing a scaffold matrix attachment region (S/MAR) element for either over-expression or down-regulation of genes. T-cells engineered with a NILV-S/MAR(CD19CAR) vector have similar levels of CAR expression as T-cells engineered with an integrating LV vector, even after numerous rounds of cell division. NILV-S/MAR-engineered CD19CAR-T-cells exhibited similar cytotoxic capacity upon CD19+ target cells recognition as LV-engineered T-cells. We propose that NILV-S/MAR vectors are superior to current options for enabling long-term gene expression without the risk of insertional mutagenesis. Citation Format: Chuan Jin, Mohanraj Ramachandran, Grammatiki Fotaki, Berith Nilsson, Magnus Essand, Di Yu. Long-term episomal gene transfer for safe engineering of T cells for adoptive cell therapy of cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR Inaugural International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference: Translating Science into Survival; September 16-19, 2015; New York, NY. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2016;4(1 Suppl):Abstract nr A171.


In a climate of profound uncertainty over Britain's postwar status, some industrialists and policymakers sought solace in a 'defiant modernist' aesthetic, proposing radical technological transformations to circumvent economic constraints. The British computer industry, which briefly challenged that of the USA for technological sophistication, presents a revealing instance of this approach and its limitations. Early promoters, notably Vivian Bowden of Ferranti, shrewdly laid the rhetorical groundwork to position the new machines as the natural outcome of a uniquely British technological trajectory. Into the 1960s, however, their agenda was disrupted not only by economic realities, but also by the increasing importance of software and compatible systems as opposed to individual machines, and by growing public and industrial familiarity with computing in general. Promoters sought new points of differentiation, but had made little headway when a combination of national policy changes, growing market dominance by US-based corporations, and Anglo-French rapprochement rendered the British national exception largely unworkable. Its powerful rhetorical appeal, however, ensured that it never entirely disappeared.


Based on the surgical treatment of 606 patients with complicated pyloroduodenal ulcers the authors give recommendations on prophylactics of incompetent sutures of the duodenum. These measures allowed to reduce the lethality 6 times as compared with the previous 10 years. Drainage of the abdominal cavity with the "difficult-for-suturing" stump helps to avoid relaparotomy if there appeared incompetence of sutures of the duodenum stump. Stomach resection after Billroth I is one of the methods to prevent incompetent sutures of the "difficult-for-suturing" stump.


Because many large, state-owned Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities (ICF/IIDs) have closed or downsized, their average size has fallen markedly, as has the number that are publicly owned. We probe the relationship between ownership type and four measures of care quality in ICF/IIDs. Data on deficiency citations suggest that for-profits underperform other ownership types, although data on complaints show no clear pattern. Meanwhile, data on staffing ratios and restrictive behavior management practices, based mostly on facility self-reports, generally tell the opposite story. Our results lend some credence to concerns regarding inadequate care in for-profit ICF/IIDs, while underscoring the importance of requiring ICF/IID operators to report more comprehensive, longitudinal data that are less prone to error and reporting bias.


Core-shell nanoparticles and other nanostructured particles have high potential in applications such as heteroge-neous catalysis and energy conversion and storage. However, a hurdle in their utilization is that typically, large amounts of such nanostructured materials are required. Gas-phase coating using atomic layer deposition (ALD, a variant of chemical vapour deposition) can be used to provide the surface of a particle with either an ultrathin continuous coating or a decoration of nanoclusters. When carried out in a fluidized bed, ALD is an attractive way of producing nanostructured particles with excellent scale-up potential. We demonstrate the fabrication of catalysts by deposition of the active phase (Pt) on fluidized nanoparticles (TiO 2 P25) at atmospheric pressure. We show that ALD is a technique that 1) guarantees efficient use of the precursor; 2) allows precise control of the size and loading; 3) can be used for low and medium loading of catalysts by adjusting the number of repeated cycles; 4) leads to high-quality (low impurities level) end-products.


In Raschid-Sally, Liqa; Jayakody, Priyantha (Eds.). Proceedings of Workshop on Wastewater Reuse in Agriculture in Vietnam: Water Management, Environment and Human Health Aspects, Hanoi, Vietnam, 4 May 2006. In English and Vietnamese. Hanoi, Vietnam: Agriculture Publishing House; Hanoi, Vietnam: Center for Participatory Irrigation Management (CPIM) of Vietnam Institute for Water Resources Research; Hanoi, Vietnam: International Water Management Institute (IWMI).


Personalized recommendation technology in E-commerce is widespread to solve the problem of product information overload. However, with the further growth of the number of E-commerce users and products, the original recommendation algorithms and systems will face several new challenges: (1) to model user's interests more accurately, (2) to provide more diverse recommendation modes, and (3) to support large-scale expansion. To address these challenges, from the actual demands of E-commerce applications (as Made-in-China website), a personalized hybrid recommendation system, which can support massive data set, is designed and implemented in this paper by using Cloud technology. Hereinto, the recommendation algorithms are designed based on a novel user interesting model for different scenarios, and the massive data parallel processing techniques in Cloud computing is utilized to realize the effective execution of recommendation algorithms. Finally, several experiments are presented to highlight the system performance.


In 2012, the genome of a novel rhabdovirus, Bas-Congo virus, was discovered in the acute-phase serum of a Congolese patient with presumed viral hemorrhagic fever. In the absence of a replicating virus isolate, fulfilling Koch's postulates to determine whether Bas-Congo virus is indeed a human virus and/or pathogen has been impossible. However, experiments with vesiculoviral particles pseudotyped with Bas-Congo glycoprotein suggested that Bas-Congo virus particles can enter cells from multiple animals, including humans. In 2015, genomes of two related viruses, Ekpoma virus 1 and Ekpoma virus 2, were detected in human sera in Nigeria. Isolates could not be obtained. Phylogenetic analyses led to the classification of Bas-Congo virus, Ekpoma virus 1, and Ekpoma virus 2 in the same genus, Tibrovirus, together with five biting midge-borne rhabdoviruses (i.e., Beatrice Hill virus, Bivens Arm virus, Coastal Plains virus, Sweetwater Branch virus, and Tibrogargan virus) not known to infect humans. Using individual recombinant vesiculoviruses expressing the glycoproteins of all eight known tibroviruses and more than 75 cell lines representing different animal species, we demonstrate that the glycoproteins of all tibroviruses can mediate vesiculovirus particle entry into human, bat, nonhuman primate, cotton rat, boa constrictor, and Asian tiger mosquito cells. Using four of five isolated authentic tibroviruses (i.e., Bivens Arm virus, Coastal Plains virus, Sweetwater Branch virus, and Tibrogargan virus), our experiments indicate that many cell types may be partially resistant to tibrovirus replication after virion cell entry. Consequently, experimental data solely obtained from experiments using tibrovirus surrogate systems (e.g., vesiculoviral pseudotypes, recombinant vesiculoviruses) cannot be used to predict whether Bas-Congo virus, or any other tibrovirus, infects humans.


Abstract The sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy of the Upper Jurassic (Upper Oxfordian — Middle Kimmeridgian) Fulmar Formation of the Kittiwake Field, Western Platform of the north Central Graben are investigated through an integrated study of core material and wireline logs. The Fulmar Formation, in this area, comprises largely finegrained sandstones which are intensely bioturbated such that the use of primary sedimentary structures for the identification of depositional environments is impractical. By using the approach of ichnofabric analysis presented here, the information provided by trace fossils can be fully utilized in the formulation of a depositional model for the Fulmar Formation. A depth and substrate-related succession of ichnofabrics was determined for the Fulmar Formation from more complete and progradational successions. This attached shoreface succession extends from a Chondrites ichnofabric (offshore), through Anconichnus (upper offshore), Anconichnus and spreiten burrows and 'Teichichnus zigzag' (upper offshore-offshore transition zone), bivalve tube ichnofabric (offshore transition zone to lower shoreface), Ophiomorpha irregulaire (lower shoreface), Ophiomorpha nodosa (middle shoreface) to a burrow mottling ichnofabric and associated high-energy laminated sandstones (upper shoreface). Anomalies in this succession form the basis for the identification of bounding surfaces, particularly omission surfaces (Thalassinoides and Diplocraterion habichi ichnofabrics) and sequence boundaries. The distribution and evolution of the essentially retrogradational succession of the Fulmar sandstones is illustrated by analysis of a detailed core log of well 21/18-3, a general cross section through the Kittiwake Field and an Early-Mid-Kimmeridgian time slice facies distribution map.


Microstrip patch antennas have been widely used in a various useful applications, due to their low weight and low profile, conformability, easy and cheap realization. A low profile patch antenna for WLAN application is proposed in this paper. This proposed antenna is made by using the probe feeding and aperture coupled feeding methods. This antenna is designed in order to improve the impedance bandwidth and obtain the circular polarization without using truncated corners in patch. The impedance bandwidth will be increased by making slots onto the patch. This unequal parallel slots patch antenna is the modified structure of E patch antenna and U slot Patch antenna. This patch antenna provides a bandwidth of around 16.4% with 1.5 VSWR. The simulation process has been done through high frequency structure simulator (HFSS). The properties of antenna such as bandwidth, S parameter, VSWR have been investigated. This paper also aims at comparing between different feeding methods.


The comparative in-vitro activity of HMR 3647, a new ketolide antibiotic, was investigated against 492 clinical isolates of gram-positive bacteria, including multiply resistant strains, by an agar-dilution technique. All streptococci tested were inhibited by the new ketolide at concentrations < or = 0.5 mg/L. HMR 3647 was more potent than erythromycin against staphylococci. For enterococci the new compound yielded an MIC90 of 8 mg/L. Erysipelothrix spp., Pediococcus spp., Leuconostoc spp., Lactobacillus spp., JK diphtheroids and Listeria monocytogenes were also susceptible to the new ketolide.


Reminiscent of Goldblatt's monumental studies of 30 years ago, there is today a growing awareness of the clinical importance of renal artery narrowing as a cause of renal ischemia leading to hypertension and at times renal failure. It is fortunate that hypertension resulting from renal artery stenosis is often surgically correctable, the majority of cases responding to renal revascularization or nephrectomy. Renal artery stenosis is usually unilateral, but in a significant number of patients bilateral stenosis is found. The present series of six individuals with bilateral lesions was derived from a total of 24 patients undergoing renal artery reconstruction for renovascular hypertension. This incidence of 25% correlates well with published reports of other investigators performing renal revascularization. 3 These six patients underwent bilateral renal revascularization as a single-stage operation. All had bilateral renal endarterectomy as the reconstructive procedure of choice. Material and Methods Six patients with hypertension secondary to bilateral


'Ordonomics' is a research program that has been developed at the Chair of Economic Ethics at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. It holds that business actors (persons and organizations) can employ morality as a 'factor of production', and that business ethics can be based on a specific rational-choice analysis that is fully in line with the established tradition of economic thinking. With regard to practice, the main point is that ordonomics offers a guiding concept for creating win-win solutions that help business firms to do well by doing good. With regard to theory, ordonomics offers a conceptual framework for business ethics that makes ethics and economics coherent and mutually compatible with each other.


Five clpP genes have been identified in Streptomyces coelicolor. The clpP1 and clpP2 genes form one operon, the clpP3 and clpP4 genes form another, and clpP5 is monocistronic. Previous studies in Streptomyces lividans have shown that the first operon (clpP1 clpP2) is required for a normal cell cycle. Expression of the second operon (clpP3 clpP4) is activated by PopR if the first operon is nonfunctional. We show here that PopR degradation is primarily dependent on ClpP1 and ClpP2, but can also be achieved by ClpP3 and ClpP4. The carboxy‐terminus of PopR plays an essential part in the degradation process. Indeed, replacement of the last two alanine residues by aspartate residues greatly increased PopR stability. These substitutions did not impair PopR activity and, as expected, accumulation of the mutant form of PopR led to very strong expression of the clpP3 clpP4 operon. Increased PopR levels led to delayed sporulation. The results obtained in this study support the notion of cross‐processing between ClpP1 and ClpP2.


Abstract From fresh and fermented vegetables (cucumber, sauercraut, eggplant), cereals (wheat, rice), legumes (soy) 37 cultures of lactic acid bacteria were isolated. Based on biochemical characteristics, MALDI-TOF MS protein profiling and 16S rRNA gene sequencing they were identified as representatives of Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, Leuconostoc, Pediococcus and Enterococcus genera. Six members of Lactobacillus genera and two members of Leuconostoc genera actively producing EPS were selected for further investigation as components of starters for production of special dietetic foodstuffs.


In a brief literature review, we discuss how our insight into the grounds of existence of futures markets has changed from the initial insurance perspective, to the arbitrage perspective, to the portfolio perspective, and to the current institutional perspective. We discuss futures market research within agricultural marketing, on the one hand, and within finance, on the other hand. The research within these two disciplines may be considered complementary. Subsequently, a new research model is presented which integrates both strains of research. The new research model is illustrated for the Dutch hog industry. This model is a powerful instrument in the development of new commodity futures contracts. Finally, a future research agenda for agricultural economists is presented.


. In this paper, the most used design aids for beams of rectangular section with parabolic haunches are presented. The beam is found subjected to concentrated load localized anywhere on the beam, and takes into account the bending and shear deformations to obtain the fixed-end moments factors, which is the main contribution of this research work. The first part of this work presents the design aids for the same type of beams to obtain the carry-over factors, the stiffness factors, and the fixed-end moments factors are obtained for a uniformly distributed load. The variables and the simplifications are the same as in the part 1. Also, a numerical example is shown using the design aids, and it is compared with the equations previously presented by the authors in a paper prior to this document, and the results are equal to a three-digit approximation. Therefore, design aids provide a great tool of help for structural engineers by the greatly time-savings.


Forest fragmentation and defaunation are considered the main drivers of biodiversity loss, yet the synergistic effects of landscape changes and biotic interactions on assemblage structure have been poorly investigated. Here, we use an extensive dataset of 283 assemblages and 105 species of small mammals to understand how defaunation of medium and large mammals and forest fragmentation change the community composition and diversity of rodents and marsupials in tropical forests of South America. We used structured equation models to investigate the relationship between small mammal species, functional and phylogenetic diversity with forest size, forest cover and the occurrence of medium and large mammals. The best-fit model showed that defaunation reduced functional diversity, and that species diversity of small mammals increased with forest patch size. Forest cover did not affect functional and phylogenetic diversity. Our results indicate that occurrence of medium and large sized mammals (probably acting as predators, or competitors of small mammals) and forest patch size help to retain species and functional diversity in small mammal communities. Further, the number of species in a small mammal community was critical to the maintenance of phylogenetic diversity, and may have a pronounced influence on the ecological functions played by small mammals. Identifying how phylogenetic and functional diversity change in function of human pressures allows us to better understand the contribution of extant lineages to ecosystem functioning in tropical forests.


SHS-gravitational process was developed to synthesize the ceramic lined steel pipe, especially for elbow, conical pipe, three-way and four-way pipe and pipe with a small diameter. In SHS-gravitational process, the molten ceramic, which separated out from the reaction products due to their density difference, solidified to form the ceramic lined layer in the steel pipe when contacted with the steel pipe wall. With an X-ray diffractometer and a scanning electron microscope, it can be found that the ceramic layer is composed of α-Al2O3 and FeAl2O4. A small amount of iron also remains in the ceramic layer. There is a thin equiaxed grain area of alumina near the steel pipe wall, and then alumina was grown in form of dentrite to the surface of ceramic layer. FeAl2O4 distributes among alumina dentrite. Although the ceramic layer was solidified from one end to another end of a pipe, the microstructure of ceramic layer was almost uniform throughout the whole length of the pipe.


This study examines "South-South" economic relations in the context of regionalism. It covers three Latin American countries and eight high-performing Asian developing economies. Although the level of trade and investment between these two groups is currently very low, trade is growing fast and there are indications that the potential for continued growth exists. Although regionalism is advancing in both these parts of the world, it has so far not affected the ties between the two groups of countries, and in fact inter-regional trade growth has recently been exceeding intra-regional growth in the case of most of the countries covered by this study. In the short term, it would appear that economic relations between these Latin American and Asian countries will depend largely on whether a "second generation" of reforms in Latin America will sustain the gains from prior reforms. These changes will require a rehabilitated State at a time when much of the latter's political capital has already been expended, yet the need to maintain fiscal integrity remains. Part of the solution for the Latin American economies seems likely to lie in the widening and deepening of formal integration arrangements, especially in the case of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA);, which could contribute to greater economic integration with the high-performing Asian countries. Finally, while the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (APEC); is an obvious institutional bridge between the two regions, it may be premature to speculate too much on its potential significance. There would appear to be some formidable obstacles in the path towards a trans-Pacific Free Trade Area.


Background Trainees in Palliative Medicine in the Mersey Deanery require experience of a variety of work settings during training which leads to them being scattered within the region. Some services have only one trainee and there are few opportunities for the trainees to meet. Regular contact between trainee colleagues provides the benefit of peer support in an emotionally challenging specialty. Informal discussions and exchange of clinical and educational information can be maintained and there are opportunities to discuss new developments within the specialty with colleagues at a similar level to oneself. In the current economic climate UK health chiefs are striving to reduce cost in all areas of healthcare including study budgets and trainees must be creative in their efforts to fulfil their curriculum requirements. Addressing the problems: To enhance the educational and supportive contact between trainees, an online electronic learning platform has been developed specifically for Mersey Deanery Palliative Medicine trainees. The platform used is Moodle, a free and open-source virtual learning environment. Trainees have a personal login and password and are then able to access: • Links to resources and websites covering the Palliative Medicine curriculum and e-portfolio • A monthly journal club • Fora for discussion of challenging anonymised clinical cases and provision of peer support. • A revision area for trainees sitting the specialty examination • Calendar marking important dates for trainees Progress Report: The website is used regularly. Trainees have more contact with each other than previously and trainees in different locations are participating in online clinical discussions. There are over 200 trainee activity logs per month across the site and there have been over 2800 activity logs since the site was set up in March 2011. Formal evaluation will take place at the end of the first year of the site's use.


Background: We previously reported that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) induced small intestinal damage through nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor family pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome-dependent interleukin-1β secretion in mice. Our further study demonstrated that colchicine, a therapeutic agent for gout, significantly suppressed NSAID-induced small intestinal damage by inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome activation in mice. However, clinical efficacy of colchicine for NSAID-induced small intestinal damage has not been established. Objectives: We examined the clinical efficacy of colchicine in patients with NSAID-induced severe small intestinal damage as an animal-to-human translational research. Methods: This is a single-center, single-arm, prospective pilot study. From February 2017 to March 2019, we performed video capsule endoscopy (VCE) to screen 10 patients who took NSAIDs continuously for more than 3 months, and 7 of those with severe small intestinal damage were enrolled. Participants were treated with oral colchicine 0.5 mg twice daily for 8 weeks and thereafter followed up with blood tests and VCE. Results: After 8 weeks of colchicine treatment, complete healing was achieved in 4 patients (57.1%), and the median number of small erosions decreased significantly from 7.0 (range, 5.0–10.5) to 0.0 (range, 0.0–2.3) (p = 0.031). One patient withdrew due to diarrhea, and 5 patients revealed slightly elevated liver enzymes during the study. No other adverse events including changes in blood tests and clinical symptoms were observed. Conclusions: Colchicine treatment achieved a high rate of complete healing in patients with NSAID-induced severe small intestinal damage.


Plants die and decompose through a complex process involving microorganisms such as fungi, bacteria and actinomycetes. In this process many nutrients are released to soil and plants can uptake them for their growth. It is vital to investigate the mineralisation of organic matter and the pattern of release of carbon and nitrogen to the soil. Therefore, this research study was conducted by an incubation study incorporating different soil amendments with surface Ultisols. The objective of the present study is to study the Carbon and Nitrogen mineralisation and the release pattern of nutrients with the time. The study was conducted at the soil science laboratory of Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna, Mapalana, Kamburupitiya. Two hundred and fifty glass bottles with 100 g of soil were prepared and pre incubated for 2 weeks prior to the application of treatment. Then a calculated amount of each treatment according to their application rate was incorporated and thoroughly mixed with soil. The seven treatments were arranged in a Completely Randomized Design with four replicates; 10 T/ha level of leaf litter compost+soil (CS), soil+10 T/ha level of Gliricidia sepium (GS)+soil , 100 kg/ha Urea (US)+soil, 10 T/ha level of Siam weed (Chromolaena odorata)+soil (SWS), 10 T/ha cattle manure+soil (CMS) and 10 T/ha spent poultry litter+soil (PLS) and the control soil (S). The moisture content was adjusted to 60% of the field capacity by adding distilled water. The samples were analysed for NH4+-N, NO3--N, pH, microbial activity in each mixtures in 1, 3, 5, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, and 42 days after adding the soil amendments. The microbial activity was measured using carbon dioxide evolution. Alkali traps of 1M NaOH and distilled water tube were kept inside the bottle and after the incubation period it was titrated with 0.1M HCl. The statistical analysis was done using SPSS software. The results revealed that nitrogen mineralisation pattern was varied among the treatments. Poultry litter and the G. sepium amended soil reported the highest and rapid release of nitrogen. Cattle manure and compost amended soil had the highest value of microbial activity which showed the peak CO2 evolution. pH value of the different treatments were increased gradually over time with highest pH value in the compost amended soil. The highest phosphorus mineralisation was observed in day 3 and thereafter it decreased significantly. The cattle manure and poultry litter amended soils observed the highest available phosphorus after day 7 of the incubation. Further, it revealed that the variation of mineralisation was effected by the C:N ratio of the different soil amendments. Key words: Carbon, Incubation, Mineralisation, Nitrogen, Siam weed


During and after rainfall events, the interaction of precipitation with hot urban pavements leads to hot runoff, and its merger with urban streams can result in an abrupt change in water temperature that can harm aquatic ecosystems. To understand this phenomenon and its relation to land cover and hydrometeorological parameters, we analyzed data spanning two years from 100 sites in the eastern United States. To identify surges, we first isolated temperature jumps of at least 0.5°C over 15 min occurring simultaneously with water flow increase. Surge magnitude was defined as the difference between peak stream temperature and baseflow temperature right before the jump. At least 10 surges were observed in 53 of the studied streams, with some surges exceeding 10°C. Our results demonstrate that the watershed developed area and vegetation fraction are the best descriptors of surge frequency (Spearman correlation of 0.76 and 0.77, respectively). On the other hand, for surge magnitude and peak temperature, the primary drivers are stream discharge and stream temperature immediately before the surge. In general, the more urbanized streams were found to be already warmer than their more "vegetated" counterparts during baseflow conditions, and were also the most affected by temperature surges. Together, these findings suggest the existence of a hydrological urban heat island, here defined as the increase in stream temperature (chronic and/or acute), caused by increased urbanization.


Researches of existing environmental state represent the basis of the researches for the needs of planning new activities or increasing existing activities in space, but also the basis for population's health research and protection and maintains of areas with important natural and cultural-historic values. Investigations of air pollution and air quality fall into group of basic activities during describing and evaluating the total environmental state in certain area. This paper identifies the main sources of air pollution in the municipality of Loznica and, according to results of measured values of air pollutants (emission and imission values), concludes about air quality. It also proposes in the end mitigation measures for improvement of the air quality, and therefore of entire environment.


We report results of electron-microprobe analyses for detrital grains of chromian spinel ( n ≈ 800) and associated minerals recovered from modern fluvial and buried paleochannel (Pt–)Au placer deposits ( n = 30) of mostly Holocene age distributed throughout British Columbia. The majority of analyzed spinel-group minerals are members of the chromite–magnesiochromite solid-solution series, and extend to Fe 3+ -rich compositions of chromian spinel. The values of mg# [100Mg/(Mg + Fe 2+ )] and cr# [100Cr/(Cr + Al)] in grains from all 30 placer samples occupy a relatively narrow range, 58–82 and 68–92, respectively, consistent with a mafic to ultramafic source. Four types of core-to-rim patterns of zoning have been identified: 1) a weak decrease in Cr coupled with a strong decrease in mg# at typically constant cr# and fe 3+ #, as a result of limited chromian spinel – liquid fractionation and subsolidus Fe 2+ –Mg exchange with ferromagnesian silicates; 2) a sharp decrease in Cr and cr# and increase in fe 3+ # [100Fe 3+ /(Al + Cr + Fe 3+ )] with limited decrease in mg#, reflecting magmatic fractionation; 3) a significant increase in Cr and cr# with weak to strong decrease in mg#, reflecting late-stage interaction with a Cr-rich magma followed by variable enrichment in Fe 2+ during cooling; and 4) a strong decrease in Cr and cr# with a small increase in mg# and fe 3+ #, likely due to interaction with a more oxidized melt and subsolidus re-equilibration with an aluminous phase (Al-rich residual liquid or amphibole). Values of mg# in placer silicate grains (olivine, clinopyroxene, either Na–Al-poor or Na–Al–Ti-rich, rare aluminous orthopyroxene, edenitic amphibole, among others) and in micro-inclusions in chromian spinel attain 90–95. We evaluated the provenance of chromian spinel grains in the placers using the global spinel database and a new one focusing on Alaskan-type intrusions. Chromian spinel in the Atlin area and a majority of Dease Lake placers exhibits a pronounced Cr–Al trend indicative of an ophiolitic affinity (Slide Mountain and Cache Creek oceanic terranes). In certain placers in the Tulameen area, the chromian spinel defines a Cr–Fe 3+ trend indicating derivation from the Tulameen Alaskan-type intrusion in the Quesnellia island-arc terrane. Placer deposits in central British Columbia (Manson Creek – Cariboo region) display a mixed heritage involving both ophiolitic and Alaskan-type sources. The recognition of an Alaskan-type mafic to ultramafic source for some of the Cr–PGE-bearing placers in central British Columbia underscores the potential for bedrock mineralization in an area where such intrusions are presently poorly represented.