Direct solar irradiance spectra under clear skies have been measured in a rural station in the region of Castilla y Leon in north central Spain from March to November 1995 to determine the physical and radiative characteristics of atmospheric aerosols. About 300 spectra were measured with a LI-COR Model LI-1800 spectroradiometer, with a spectral resolution (full width at half maximum) of 6 nm from 300 nm to 1100 nm. This moderately high spectral resolution permitted the retrieval of the spectral aerosol optical depth (AOD) using a method based on spectral windows in nonabsorbing regions and modelling by the Angstrom formula in the spectral range 370-1000 nm. These modelled Angstrom AOD spectra were used to determine the columnar particle size distribution of atmospheric aerosols using Mie theory and a pseudoinversion method. We assumed a monomodal lognormal function with a fixed standard deviation, σ = 2.5, and two particle refractive indices (absorbing and nonabsorbing aerosols) based on climatological characteristics of the continental area of study. Physical parameters, such as the effective radius, the total vertical volume, and mass loading, have been derived. The effective radius ranged from 0.015 to 1 μm, and the values of the vertical aerosol volume, from 0.01 to 0.3 μm. Aerosol mass loading varied from 0.03 to 0.53 g m -2 . Radiative properties represented by the asymmetry parameter g, the single-scattering albedo ω o , and the phase function P were also evaluated for each of the retrieved particle size distributions as a function of wavelength. Because the radiative parameters show low wavelength dependence from 300 to 1000nm, we present their behavior at 500 nm. The parameter g varies from 0.45 to 0.75 (the average value is 0.6), and ω o varies from 0.75 to 0.94. Relationships of the effective radius and the asymmetry parameter with the Angstrom turbidity parameter α have been found, which is of interest for the parametrization of aerosol properties. Finally, the phase function at 500nm, 120° (where it has a minimum) has also been evaluated and correlated with the α parameter, thus providing information about the size of aerosol particles. The uncertainties of all of these parameters are also estimated and discussed.


Purpose: To investigate the levels of store-switching for main food shopping consequent on a change in operator for a major superstore. To account for differences amongst switchers and non-switchers and to confirm/reject previous research findings. Design/methodology/approach: A two-phase random household postal survey on main food shopping behaviour was conducted in a central Scottish city. The two phases, separated by one year, bracketed the change of a main food store from Safeway to Morrisons. A proportion of respondent households in the two phases (45%) was common and represents matched subjects, allowing investigation of switching behaviour. Findings: The aggregate switching rate is higher (27.4%) than found in previous UK research, despite the locational/accessibility component being held constant. No aggregate differences between switchers/non-switchers on socio-economic or demographic grounds were found, confirming previous US research. The high level of switching is ascribed to a re-evaluation of store choices/attributes consequent on the store changeover, confirming the notion of a 'trigger' mechanism. Practical implications: The research has implications for competition authorities, other policy makers and retailers. It reveals the transient nature of a component of store loyalty and the store specific nature of store switching behaviour. Policy makers need to understand the baseline or natural switching rate amongst retailers generally and specifically in their area. Retailers can exploit further the store specific element of switching. Originality/value: Research on store-switching behaviour over time is rare both generally and specifically in the UK. This research provides evidence of switching rates which can be subject to confirmation/disconfirmation in other circumstances.


In this work, we provide a fundamental unified convergence theorem used for deriving expected and almost sure convergence results for a series of stochastic optimization methods. Our unified theorem only requires to verify several representative conditions and is not tailored to any specific algorithm. As a direct application, we recover expected and almost sure convergence results of the stochastic gradient method (SGD) and random reshuffling (RR) under more general settings. Moreover, we establish new expected and almost sure convergence results for the stochastic proximal gradient method (prox-SGD) and stochastic model-based methods (SMM) for nonsmooth nonconvex optimization problems. These applications reveal that our unified theorem provides a plugin-type convergence analysis and strong convergence guarantees for a wide class of stochastic optimization methods.


In the United States and around the world, effective, efficient, and reliable strategies to provide emergency care to aging adults is challenging crowded emergency departments (EDs) and a strained health care system. In response, geriatric emergency medicine (EM) clinicians, educators, and researchers collaborated with the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), American Geriatrics Society (AGS), Emergency Nurses Association (ENA), and the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) to develop guidelines intended to improve ED geriatric care by enhancing expertise, educational, and quality improvement expectations; equipment; policies; and protocols. These "Geriatric Emergency Department Guidelines" represent the first formal society-led attempt to characterize the essential attribute of the geriatric ED and received formal approval from the boards of directors for each of the four societies in 2013 and 2014. This article is intended to introduce EM and geriatric health care providers to the guidelines, while providing proposals for educational dissemination, refinement via formal effectiveness evaluations and cost-effectiveness studies, and institutional credentialing.


This paper examines whether we ought to prosecute historic offences committed by people who have subsequently developed dementia. Currently, a person with dementia might avoid conviction on the basis of their currently diminished capacity. They may be unfit to plead, for example. The problem is that advanced dementia may undermine persistence of personal identity. Once someone develops dementia, they may no longer be the person who committed the crime. If so, they would not need to be excused for their offending. They would simply not be liable. If we think persistence of personal identity is based on psychological factors – as most of us do – a person with advanced dementia will not be the same person as the one who committed the crime. They will not deserve prosecution, never mind punishment. This issue has been overlooked by legal theorists. Although much has been written on the legal significance of dementia, it has been primarily in the context of advance directives or decision-making capacity. I will argue that advanced dementia is a challenge to criminal responsibility.


The dual-path ΔΣ fractional-N PLL provides linear charge pump gain and small VCO gain variation good for digital modulation but suffers from long settling time due to the narrowband coarse-tuning control path. By employing a dynamic gain-bandwidth control scheme for both paths, a high-gain coarse-tuning loop can be utilized for fast settling time. While maintaining a small control voltage range in the loop filter during frequency acquisition, the proposed method makes both coarse-tuning and fine-tuning paths active with compensated open-loop gain design, which results in a smooth transition from transient to normal mode. A 4 GHz dual-path ΔΣ fractional-N synthesizer with the nominal fine-tuning bandwidth of 60 kHz exhibits less than 68 μs transient settling time for 91 MHz frequency step.


Some strict anaerobic bacteria catalyze with glycine as substrate an internal Stickland reaction by which glycine serves as electron donor being oxidized by glycine-cleavage system or as electron acceptor being reduced by glycine reductase. In both cases, energy is conserved by substrate level phosphorylation. Except for the different substrate-activating proteins PB, reduction of sarcosine or betaine to acetyl phosphate involves in Eubacterium acidaminophilum the same set of proteins as observed for glycine, e.g. a unique thioredoxin system as electron donor and an acetyl phosphate-forming protein Pc interacting with the intermediarily formed Secarboxymethylselenoether bound to protein PA.


Most software applications rely on the use of user-name and passwords to authenticate end users. This form of authentication, although used ubiquitously, is widely considered unreliable due to the users inability to keep them secret; passwords being prone to dictionary or rainbow-table attacks; as well as the ease with which social engineering techniques can obtain passwords. This can be mitigated by combining a variety of different authentication mechanisms, for example biometric authentication such as fingerprint recognition or physical tokens such as smart cards. The resulting multifactor authentication is typically stronger than any of the techniques used individually. However, it may still be expensive or prohibited to implement and more difficult to deploy due to additional accessories cost, e.g, finger print reader. Multi-modal biometric systems are those which utilise or are capable of utilising, more than one physiological or behavioural characteristic for enrolment, verification, or identification. So, in this research we present a multi-factor authentication scheme that is based on the user's own hardware environment, e.g. laptop with fingerprint reader, thus avoiding the need of deploying tokens and readily available biometrics, e.g., user keystrokes. The aim is to improve the reliability of the authentication using a multi-factor approach without incurring additional cost or making the deployment of the solution overly complex. The presented approach in this research uses unique sequential hardware information available from the user's environment to profile user behaviour. This approach improves upon password mechanisms by introducing a novel Hardware Authentication and User Profiling (HAUP) in form of Multi-Factor Authentication MFA that can be easily integrated into the traditional authentication methods. In addition, this approach observes the advantage of the correlation between user behaviour and hardware environment as an implicit verification identity procedure to discriminate username and password usage, in particular hardware environment by specific pattern. So, the proposed approach uses hardware information to profile the user's environment when user-name and password are typed as part of the log-in process. These Hardware Manufacture Serial Part Numbers (HMSPNs) profiles are then correlated with the users behaviour, e.g., key-stroke behaviour that allows the system to profile user's behaviour dependent on their environment. As a result of this approach, the access control system can determine a particular level of trust for each user and base access control decisions on it in order to reduce potential identity fraud.


The aquaporins are a family of transmembrane proteins that function as molecular water channels. Recently, a mercurial-insensitive water channel [MIWC or aquaporin-4 (AQP4)] has been cloned, and its mRNA was found to be expressed strongly in kidney inner medulla and several nonrenal tissues. We prepared affinity-purified polyclonal antipeptide antibodies to AQP4 to define the regional distribution and cellular location of this water channel within the kidney. Immunoblotting of membrane fractions from different regions of the kidney revealed strongest expression in the base of the renal inner medulla, with detectable levels also in the inner medullary tip, but little or no expression in the outer medulla or cortex. Immunocytochemistry (light microscopy) revealed renal AQP4 labeling exclusively in the collecting duct principal cells, chiefly in the proximal two-thirds of the inner medullary collecting duct (IMCD). Little or no expression was seen in the outer medullary and cortical collecting ducts. Immunoelectron microscopy demonstrated AQP4 labeling of the basolateral membrane of IMCD cells, with relatively little labeling of intracellular vesicles. Differential centrifugation of inner medullary homogenates also revealed a lack of distribution to the vesicle-enriched fraction, which contains the vasopressin-regulated water channel, aquaporin-2. In contrast to aquaporin-2 and aquaporin-3, water restriction of rats did not increase the level of AQP4 expression. These results suggest a possible role for AQP4 in the basolateral exit of water from the IMCD.


This chapter reviews conceptual and empirical arguments for expecting the structure and nature of capital markets to impact on the financing of innovation. Market failure and innovation systems approaches to problems in the financing of innovation are reviewed, including approaches based on the varieties of capitalism, insider and outsider financial systems, and legal rights literatures. The complementarity between financial markets and other markets coordinating the allocation of resources is emphasized so that the impact of financing problems on innovation behaviour cannot readily be separated from wider system effects. The chapter concludes that there are generic issues involved in the financing of innovation related centrally to the long-term and uncertain nature of the pay-offs to innovation investment. The evidence suggests that different financial systems embedded in different financial market and legal structures address different elements of this problem in different ways. Relatively coordinated and bank-financed insider systems appear to offer greater commitments of long-term patient capital alongside investment in firm-specific human capital. There are big pay-offs in these systems in terms of incremental innovation in particular. The death of bank-based coordinated systems has been, as Mark Twain remarked on reading his obituary, greatly exaggerated.


The consumption of natural, agricultural and forest soils that follows urban growth and infrastructural development is responsible for the fragmentation of the open spaces and the ecological connections, and for the functional disorganisation of the territory, bringing relevant environmental, economic and social impacts. The quality and quantity of this consumption relates to the ability to manage, at the different scales, a global phenomenon. Hence, it is necessary to conform the definitions, measures, and representations of the soil consumption, to have reliable information to build policies and intervention programmes. At the same time it is important to identify some shared principles to contrast this phenomenon: the awareness of the public relevance of the soil functions; the inefficiency due to the externalities connected with its use; the need for differentiated solutions; the necessity to adopt an incremental long-term perspective; the opportunities provided by a set of normative, fiscal, and planning instruments; the urgency to act in the places most subject to land transformation pressures, such as the peri-urban areas, in which experience a new alliance between the city and the countryside.


The Mfa1 fimbriae of the periodontal pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis are involved in adhesion, including binding to synergistic species in oral biofilms. Mfa1 fimbriae are comprised of 5 proteins: the structural component Mfa1, the anchor Mfa2, and Mfa3-5 which constitute the fimbrial tip complex. Interactions among the Mfa proteins and the polymerization mechanism for Mfa1 are poorly understood. Here we show that Mfa3 can bind to Mfa1, 2, 4, and 5 in vitro, and may function as an adaptor protein interlinking other fimbrial subunits. Polymerization of Mfa1 is independent of Mfa3-5 and requires proteolytic processing mediated by the RgpA/B arginine gingipains of P. gingivalis. Both the N- and C- terminal regions of Mfa1 are necessary for polymerization; however, potential β-strand disrupting amino acid substitutions in these regions do not impair Mfa1 polymerization. In contrast, substitution of hydrophobic amino acids with charged residues in either the N- or C- terminal domains yielded Mfa1 proteins that failed to polymerize. Collectively, these results indicate that Mfa3 serves as an adaptor protein between Mfa1 and other accessory fimbrial proteins. Mfa1 fimbrial polymerization is dependent on hydrophobicity in both the N- and C-terminal regions, indicative of an assembly mechanism involving the terminal regions forming a hydrophobic binding interface between Mfa1 subunits.


The literature on optimal capital controls for macro-prudential policy has focused on capital controls in a small open economy. This ignores the spillover effects to the rest of the world. This paper re-examines the case for capital controls in a large open economy, where domestic financial constraints may bind following a large negative shock. There is a tension between the desire to tax inflows to manipulate the terms of trade and tax outflows for macro-prudential purposes. Non-cooperative capital controls are ineffective as macro-prudential policy. Cooperative policy will ignore terms-of-trade manipulation and thus cooperative capital controls yield more effective macro-prudential policy.


Using an artificial neural network (ANN), a fixed universe of ~1500 equities from the Value Line index are rank-ordered by their predicted price changes over the next quarter. Inputs to the network consist only of the ten prior quarterly percentage changes in price and in earnings for each equity (by quarter, not accumulated), converted to a relative rank scaled around zero. Thirty simulated portfolios are constructed respectively of the 10, 20, ..., and 100 top ranking equities (long portfolios), the 10, 20, ..., 100 bottom ranking equities (short portfolios) and their hedged sets (long-short portfolios). In a 29-quarter simulation from the end of the third quarter of 1994 through the fourth quarter of 2001 that duplicates real-world trading of the same method employed during 2002, all portfolios are held fixed for one quarter. Results are compared to the S&P 500, the Value Line universe itself, trading the universe of equities using the proprietary Value Line Ranking System (to which this method is in some ways similar), and to a Martingale method of ranking the same equities. The cumulative returns generated by the network predictor significantly exceed those generated by the S&P 500, the overall universe, the Martingale and Value Line prediction methods and are not eroded by trading costs. The ANN shows significantly positive Jensen's alpha. All three active trading methods result in very high levels of volatility. But the network method exhibits a distinct kind of volatility: Though overall it does the best job of segregating equities in advance into those that will rise and those that will fall relative to one another, there are many quarters when it does not merely fail, but rather inverts: It disproportionately predicts an inverse rank ordering and therefore generates unusually large losses in those quarters. The same phenomenon occurs, but to a greater degree, with the VL system itself and with a one-step Martingale predictor. An examination of the quarter to quarter performance of the actual and predicted rankings of the change in equity prices suggests while the network is capturing, after a delay, changes in the market sampled by the equities in the Value Line index (enough to generate substantial gains), it also fails in large measure to keep up with the fluctuating data, leading the predictor to be often out of phase with the market. A time series of its global performance thus shows antipersistence. However, its performance is significantly better than a simple one-step Martingale predictor, than the Value Line system itself and than a simple buy and hold strategy, even when transaction costs are accounted for.


THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN EMOTIONAL COMPETENCIES AND E-CIGARETTE SUSCEPTIBILITY Laurel Brockenberry Old Dominion University, 2018 Co-Directors: Dr. Paul Harrell Dr. Robin Lewis The prevalence of e-cigarette use in young adults rose dramatically in the United States over the past decade. Nonetheless, our understanding of the motives that make young adults more susceptible to e-cigarette use remains limited. Risk factors associated with susceptibility to combustible cigarettes suggest that negative affect reduction outcome expectancies are positively associated with cigarette susceptibility in this age group. Further, emotion competencies, such as emotion regulation difficulties, distress tolerance, and positive and negative urgency have been positively associated with both susceptibility and negative affect reduction expectancies. Determining the role of negative affect reduction outcome expectancies on e-cigarette use requires further research and investigation to clarify the relationship between these emotional competencies and e-cigarette susceptibility. Participants were undergraduate students who completed measures on e-cigarette use and susceptibility, e-cigarette outcome expectancies, emotion dysregulation, anxiety sensitivity, distress tolerance, and urgency. In contrast to our hypotheses, a multivariate analysis of variance failed to find differences between individuals who engaged in e-cigarettes and those that did not in regards to emotion regulation, distress tolerance or positive or negative urgency. Results of two separate analyses of covariance indicated that individuals who engaged in e-cigarette use ecigarettes did not have higher smoking negative affect reduction outcome expectancies or cigarette susceptibility. Negative affect reduction outcome expectancies did not mediate the relationship between these emotional difficulties and e-cigarette susceptibility. Further, negative affect reduction outcome expectancies did not mediate the relationship between these emotional difficulties and e-cigarette susceptibility. However, path analysis indicated two significant direct pathways from negative urgency and emotion dysregulation to e-cigarette susceptibility. The results indicate that emotional competencies, particularly negative urgency and emotion dysregulation, may be important factors to examine for interventions to reduce substance use susceptibility in the young adult population. Interventions should focus on building emotion regulation skills and emotion coping skills to decrease negative urgency. Future research should aim to expand the research by replicating longitudinally and in more diverse samples.


Previous studies with peritoneal macrophages obtained from macrophage scavenger receptor class A (MSR-A) knock-out mice showed that the endocytic uptake of advanced glycation end products (AGE) by macrophages was mediated mainly by MSR-A. However, it is controversial whether the endocytic uptake of intravenously injected AGE proteins by liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LECs) is similarly explained by receptor-mediated endocytosis via MSR-A. The present study was conducted to compare the capacity to endocytose AGE proteins in LECs and peritoneal macrophages obtained from MSR-A knock-out and littermate wild-type mice. The endocytic degradation capacity of MSR-A knock-out LECs for AGE-BSA was indistinguishable from that of wild-type LECs, whereas that of MSR-A knock-out peritoneal macrophages for AGE-BSA was decreased to 30% of that in wild-type cells. Similarly, the endocytic degradation of MSR-A knock-out LECs for acetylated low-density lipoprotein (acetyl-LDL) did not differ from that of wild-type LECs, whereas the endocytic degradation of acetyl-LDL by MSR-A knock-out peritoneal macrophages was less than 20% of that in wild-type cells. Furthermore, formaldehyde-treated serum albumin (f-Alb), a ligand known to undergo scavenger-receptor-mediated endocytosis by LECs, was effectively taken up by MSR-A knock-out LECs at a capacity that did not differ from that of wild-type LECs. Moreover, the endocytic uptake of AGE-BSA by LECs was effectively competed for by unlabelled f-Alb or acetyl-LDL. These results indicate that the scavenger-receptor ligands AGE proteins, acetyl-LDL and f-Alb are endocytosed by LECs through a non-MSR-A pathway.


Watercress (Nasturtium officinale) is a spring-stream macrophyte that pos- sesses glucosinolates, which are hydrolyzed to feeding deterrent isothiocyanates when the enzyme myrosinase is released by tissue damage. Previous studies indicated that frequently associated aquatic shredders strongly prefer yellowed-senescent leaves over fresh-green foliage, because the latter releases much more isothiocyanate than senescent watercress. When the action of myrosinase was blocked by heating the tissue, the shredders' preference shifted to heated-green tissue, which contains much more nitrogen than that found in senescent tissue. Here we report a series of no-choice experiments on various tissue types designed to determine intermediate and long-term consumption rates and associated impacts on growth and survival of shredders associated with watercress. The amphipod Gammarus pseudo- limnaeus, the caddisflies Pycnopsyche sp., Hesperophylax designatus, and Limnephilus sp., and the snail Physella gyrina, all consumed much more senescent than fresh-green tissue. In long-term tests with G. pseudolimnaeus, H. designatus, and Limnephilus sp., growth was negative or zero on the defended fresh-green tissue and often highest on heated-green tissue. Reaction to glucosinolates differed among shredders. For the caddisflies, growth and survival were positively correlated with bulk tissue and nitrogen consumption, which were highest for heated-green tissue. However, amphipod survival was significantly lowered on heated- green watercress, although it was readily consumed. Therefore, consumption of high-glu- cosinolate tissue was detrimental to the amphipods but not to caddisflies. Our results indicate that the glucosinolate-myrosinase system defends live green wa- tercress against herbivory by an array of aquatic invertebrates. These generalist herbivores forgo eating high-quality fresh-green leaves because of plant defenses and instead settle for lower quality senescent leaves. When the defense system was experimentally shut down, these herbivores readily consumed young green tissue and frequently showed higher growth rates than those achieved on the senescent, but undefended, leaves they typically consume. Evidently, these shredders face a trade-off of high nitrogen and high defense vs. low nitrogen and low defense.


The use of phonics approach as one of the teaching strategies in teaching reading is not new in the world of literacy. Malaysia has introduced the phonics approach in teaching reading based on the 'Back to Basics' principle outlined in the new Standard Curriculum for Primary School (KSSR) whereby it stresses on the importance of having a strong foundation in the English Language. It is believed that the phonics approach introduced can be one of the effective teaching strategies in order to help young students begin to read. This study looks at the use of phonics approach in Year 1 English language classrooms particularly in reading lessons. Specifically, this study focused on a) the teachers' knowledge and understanding of phonics, b) teachers' teaching practices when using phonics approach and c) the challenges encountered by teachers when using phonics approach to teach reading. This study employed a qualitative approach whereby it used the classroom observations, interviews and document analysis as the main instruments. This study involved only three English language teachers who are currently teaching Year 1 in the district of Kuala Selangor, Selangor. The classroom observations were conducted twice for each participant followed by an interview. Then, the analysis of participants' lesson plans of two reading lessons, the Curriculum Standard Document for English Language Year 1 and Teachers' Guidebook for English Language Year 1 was made to further strengthen the data collected. The findings illustrated that the teachers possessed little knowledge and understanding on phonics and their knowledge was limited to knowledge of sounds and letters. Furthermore, the results indicated that teachers are most familiar with direct phonics instructions when teaching reading using phonics approach as they always introduced the phonemes followed by the associated words. Interestingly, findings also found that a teacher used embedded phonics instructions by using authentic texts without realising that those texts are beneficial to be used together with phonics approach. The findings also revealed two major concern when using the phonics approach which are teachers' conventional views on phonics as well as lack of support in terms of teaching materials and trainings. Thus, the findings propose that teachers must be provided with sufficient training and support of teaching materials and authentic texts. It is also recommended that teachers are provided with continuous development programme on current teaching strategies using phonics approach. Finally, this study suggests that teachers take the initiative to vary their teaching practices by using different phonics instructions and constantly improving themselves by taking part in a learning community.


&NA; Date Presented 3/31/2017 Educational institutions offer transformative opportunities for veterans transitioning from the military. This presentation covers the findings of a three‐part dissertation investigating veteran experiences transitioning to postsecondary education. Primary Author and Speaker: Brian Gregg Contributing Authors: Anne Shordike, Dana Howell, Patrick H. Kitzman, Michael K. Iwama


Background: Workplace violence is much prevalent across the globe in almost all institutions dealing directly with the general public and hospitals are no exception to it. Therefore, the objective of this study is to determine the prevalence of workplace violence among doctors and nurses in a tertiary health-care institute in Manipur and to discuss the contributing factors and preventive measures against workplace violence. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from March to April 2019 among a sample of 438 among doctors and nurses of clinical departments of a tertiary health-care institute, Manipur. A predesigned self-administered questionnaire which was modified and adopted from the "Workplace Violence in the Health Sector Country Case Study-Questionnaire" was used for data collection. Data were analyzed using SPSS IBM Statistics version 21. Statistical analyses such as mean, standard deviation (SD), proportion, and Chi-squared (χ2) test were performed taking P < 0.05 as statistically significant. Results: The mean (±SD) age was 31.02 (±7.1) years. About 32.8% had experienced at least one form of violence. Verbal abuses were the most common form (72.8%). Staff nurses (45.7%) faced the maximum number of incidents. Significantly male staff faced more workplace violence than females. Conclusion: The prevalence of workplace violence was a little more than 1 out of 4. Verbal abuse was the most common workplace violence. The communication gap (123, 49.8%) was cited as the main cause of workplace violence. Increasing security measures and limiting numbers of patient's attendants are required to deal with workplace violence.


This paper investigates the key decision parameters of farmers related to the allocation of land between wheat production and pasture for sheep (wool) production. Wheat area supply response, is estimated across the Australian wheat-sheep zone using data for the period 1991 to 2004. Statistical results reveal that wheat growers in Western Australia are more price responsive than growers in the eastern states. Area adjustment is not significantly different between the regions. Rainfall has a positive influence on wheat production while time-related exogenous factors such as technical progress seemed to have little influence on the wheat yield over this period.


In this work, we propose a novel self-seeded WDM-PON topology. Unlike previous works, in our case, the self-seeding occurs in RSOAs located at the OLT, allowing upstream transmission based on carrier remodulation at the ONT. Thus, a single wavelength per user can be employed for both traffic directions while eliminating the need for an external broadband light source at the CO. A maximum bidirectional 2.5 dB power penalty for a BER of 10-10 was obtained for an injection power level of -22 dBm into the ONT RSOAs. We also investigate the tolerance of downstream BER to downstream extinction ratio (ERD) and self-seeding power (Pss), as well as analyze the impact of upstream extinction level (ERUP), injection power (Pinj) and ERD levels on upstream BER performance, on symmetric 1.25 Gbps OOK transmission over 20 km without DTLA and FFCI mechanisms. We have successfully demonstrated downstream error free transmission (BER of 10-12) for an as low as 3.5 dB.


OBJECTIVE
Over recent decades, supportive care and patient quality of life, advocated by dedicated guidelines, have become a core focus of the concept of integrative medicine. The Calista 2 survey was conducted in France between September 2016 and October 2017 among oncologists and their patients being treated for early breast cancer, adjuvant colorectal cancer or advanced lung cancer. The present analysis sought to ascertain, understand and rank the expectations of cancer patients with regard to supportive care.

METHODS
Data were collected from 467 questionnaires from patients recruited by 82 oncologists. Inclusion criteria were patients already on treatment for breast cancer, colorectal cancer or lung cancer. Most supportive care facilities were available at the point of care.

RESULTS
Physicians were mainly seen to offer management of adverse events (81%), and pain (72%), psychological support (56%), and advice on diet/nutrition (49%). Patient uptake of supportive care related essentially to management of adverse events (72%) and pain (61%), diet/nutrition (34%), and self-image improvement techniques (31%). The main unmet needs voiced by patients were information on complementary medicines (28%), management of fatigue (27%), and relaxation techniques (24%).

CONCLUSION
Supportive care was essentially seen to satisfy patient requirements with regard to the management of adverse events and pain. However, patients highlighted the need for a wider access to fatigue management and information on complementary medicine and relaxation techniques.


An important practical problem is the recovery of a turbulent velocity field from Lagrangian tracers that move with the fluid flow. Here, the filtering skill of L moving Lagrangian tracers in recovering random incompressible flow fields defined through a finite number of random Fourier modes is studied with full mathematical rigour. Despite the inherent nonlinearity in measuring noisy Lagrangian tracers, it is shown below that there are exact closed analytic formulas for the optimal filter for the velocity field involving Riccati equations with random coefficients for the covariance matrix. This mathematical structure allows a detailed asymptotic analysis of filter performance, both as time goes to infinity and as the number of noisy Lagrangian tracers, L, increases. In particular, the asymptotic gain of information from L-tracers grows only like ln L in a precise fashion; i.e., an exponential increase in the number of tracers is needed to reduce the uncertainty by a fixed amount; in other words, there is a practical information barrier. The proofs proceed through a rigourous mean field approximation of the random Ricatti equation. Also, as an intermediate step, geometric ergodicity with respect to the uniform measure on the period domain is proved for any fixed number L of noisy Lagrangian tracers. All of the above claims are confirmed by detailed numerical experiments presented here.


ABSTRACT Cyclic AMP-responsive element-binding protein 3-like 3, hepatocyte specific (CREBH), is a hepatic transcription factor that functions as a key regulator of energy homeostasis. Here, we defined a regulatory CREBH posttranslational modification process, namely, lysine-specific acetylation, and its functional involvement in fasting-induced hepatic lipid metabolism. Fasting induces CREBH acetylation in mouse livers in a time-dependent manner, and this event is critical for CREBH transcriptional activity in regulating hepatic lipid homeostasis. The histone acetyltransferase PCAF-mediated acetylation and the deacetylase sirtuin-1-mediated deacetylation coexist to maintain CREBH acetylation states under fasting conditions. Site-directed mutagenesis and functional analyses revealed that the lysine (K) residue at position 294 (K294) within the bZIP domain of the CREBH protein is the site where fasting-induced acetylation/deacetylation occurs. Introduction of the acetylation-deficient (K294R) or acetylation-mimicking (K294Q) mutation inhibited or enhanced CREBH transcriptional activity, respectively. Importantly, CREBH acetylation at lysine 294 was required for the interaction and synergy between CREBH and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα) in activating their target genes upon fasting or glucagon stimulation. Introduction of the CREBH lysine 294 mutation in the liver leads to hepatic steatosis and hyperlipidemia in animals under prolonged fasting. In summary, our study reveals a molecular mechanism by which fasting or glucagon stimulation modulates lipid homeostasis through acetylation of CREBH.


This article considers change in academe in Sweden and England, focusing on gender equity and the new public management reforms. In drawing on social movement theory, it is argued that public sector agendas in these countries have been affected by the influences of their respective women's movements as well as by the new public management. The article explores these developments through the experiences of a group of employees whose voices are heard infrequently in the literature, those in middle-level academic positions in universities who are responsible for delivering change. It is argued that the rational, hierarchical, masculine discourses of the new public management offer challenges to women's movement supporters, whose influences and responses are examined. It is contended that the use of social movement theory, as a vehicle through which to conceptualize change, offers a number of insights. These are: the contribution made to gender equity by women who are not self-defined feminists or strongly committed to equal opportunities, known as femocrats; the contribution made by some supportive men to gender equity; and the potential for future collective opposition to the new public management from women's movements.


A field experiment on "Intercropping of groundnut and cowpea with mustard (Brassica juncea L.)" was conducted during rabi, 2018-19 at Agronomy Farm, College of Agriculture, Dapoli (M.S.) with objectives to quantify the effect of intercropping on main as well as intercrops in terms of their growth, yield, quality, N, P, K uptake and economics of intercropping systems. Conclusionary finding are abstracted below. The intercrops like groundnut and cowpea being leguminous crops, improved the growth performance of mustard. However, growth performance of both the intercrops was better under their sole stands. The yield attributes and yield of mustard was improved due to intercropping system. In general, within the intercropping systems, when mustard was grown with groundnut, yield performance of mustard was better, followed by mustard + cowpea. Maximum values of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium content in grain and straw of mustard and quality parameters were recorded in case of mustard + groundnut in 3:1 proportion. However, total uptake of these nutrients was higher at sole cropping. For the production of higher total biomass, mustard equivalent yield (MEY) and to earn more net profit, mustard + groundnut intercropping system should followed in 1:1 row proportion.


An intuitive way to search for images is to use queries composed of an example image and a complementary text. While the first provides rich and implicit context for the search, the latter explicitly calls for new traits, or specifies how some elements of the example image should be changed to retrieve the desired target image. Current approaches typically combine the features of each of the two elements of the query into a single representation, which can then be compared to the ones of the potential target images. Our work aims at shedding new light on the task by looking at it through the prism of two familiar and related frameworks: text-to-image and image-to-image retrieval. Taking inspiration from them, we exploit the specific relation of each query element with the targeted image and derive light-weight attention mechanisms which enable to mediate between the two complementary modalities. We validate our approach on several retrieval benchmarks, querying with images and their associated free-form text modifiers. Our method obtains state-of-the-art results without resorting to side information, multi-level features, heavy pre-training nor large architectures as in previous works.


The intentional formation of defects in transition-metal dichalcogenides, such as MoS2, is an attractive way to modify the electronic and chemical properties of this class of 2D materials. However, the mechanisms and methods available for selective doping or modification of the basal plane must be improved. Here we investigate the process of O defect formation in epitaxial single-layer MoS2 on Au(1 1 1) using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and ambient pressure x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (AP-XPS) during oxidation with O2 and H2O gas from low vacuum to the mbar range. Both oxidants result in exchange of S in the upper part of the basal plane with O, in line with air exposure experiments. Temperature-dependent measurements show that this is an activated process with an experimentally estimated reaction barrier of ~0.79  ±  0.20 eV. We surprisingly find that the morphology of the MoS2 flakes and their edges remain intact in O2, even for relatively high degrees of basal plane O exchange, in contrast to the oxidation behavior of exfoliated single-layer MoS2. From analysis of atom-resolved STM images of the MoS2 edges, we can attribute this unusual stability to a passivating effect of excess edge sulfur species adsorbed under the sulfiding conditions of the MoS2 synthesis in H2S gas. We thus demonstrate that control over pre-sulfidation of the edges, temperature and pressure during oxidation can be used in a fast process to form strongly O doped single-layer MoS2 with no degradation of the initial shape and edge structure of the epitaxial MoS2 sheet.


Survey data can be used to measure the extent of employment disadvantage experienced by disabled people at any point in time. Administrative statistics showed a sharp increase in the number of people claiming incapacity benefits during the 1970s, -80s and early -90s, though the numbers have levelled off since then. This paper aims to bridge the gap between these two approaches, using survey data to plot trends over time in the prevalence of disability, and in the employment rates of disabled people, in a way which is independent of, but comparable with, benefit statistics. The research is mainly based on General Household Survey data across the period 1974 to 2005. Much of the analysis is based on a loose definition of disability (limiting long-standing illness) but this is effectively complemented by more detailed data on health conditions available in some GHS years. The research confirms that both the prevalence of reported disability, and the extent of economic disadvantage faced by disabled people, increased over the period analysed, but it is difficult to link the timing of the trends to changes in either national unemployment rates or in social security policy.


Neutron sources for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) have been based, until few years ago, on fission nuclear reactors; indeed only nuclear reactors were able to produce neutron flux with the right intensity in the range of thermal and/or epithermal energy. At present many centers are substituting reactor sources with accelerator-based neutron sources that can be easily installed in a hospital environment helping the BNCT diffusion as a standard cancer treatment. Although only few reactor-based BNCT sources are still active (Argentine, China, Japan, Taiwan), nonetheless the role played by nuclear reactors was essential for BNCT birth, and the current available reactors will continue to give a fundamental contribution to its further development. In this article we report a brief review of the fission reactor-based neutron sources for BNCT; we focus on the main requirements which this source had to fulfil to be suitable for BNCT applications, not pretending to be exhaustive due to the very broad topic. General requirements for reactor BNCT neutron sources, techniques to produce epithermal neutron beams starting from fission neutrons, and parameters for their performance evaluation will be briefly discussed.


Much of development literature observe that there is growing recognition of the role of religion in development thought and practice. The recognition of the importance of religion in the lives of beneficiaries of development is increasingly shaping policies and strategies deployed by development institutions in recipient countries. However, while there is little disagreement on the need to engage with religious actors to achieve the right development objectives, there is little evidence that attempt is being made to understand faith-based organsations in terms of their underlying motives and political agendas, in order to design appropriate models of engagement required to produce the right development outcomes. Rather, a great deal of the discussion on engagement with religious institutions has focused on the need for development actors to be sensitive to local customs and traditions in order to produce positive social change. Not enough attention has been paid to political organizations within religious communities. This paper argues that the existence of such groups presents one of the greatest challenges to contemporary development policy and practice. The paper argues that while the objectives/agenda of these groups are often more political than religious, they have nonetheless found religion a very effective tool for promoting their particular worldviews. Using the polio immunization programme in northern Nigeria as a study case, the paper demonstrates how alternative modes of engagement with such religious actors can produce the right or wrong development outcomes for entire populations. In order to find the right strategy of engagement between development institutions and religious actors, it is necessary to recognized that different groups exist within each religious community. The paper found that political groups within faith communities are more likely to contest than aide development. They also present the greatest challenge for engagement, with potentially adverse consequences. I recommend that political movements within faith communities should be given serious consideration in negotiating development agenda and in managing development processes. In negotiating with such groups, the challenge is to seek means of engagement which carry a higher probability of positive outcomes: not just for the negotiators but, more importantly, for the beneficiaries. Keywords: faith-based organisatons; religious actors; positive social change; identity politics; polio immunization; faith communities; development diplomacy;


This study aims to contribute to the knowledge of leadership styles and entrepreneurial orientation at small and medium enterprises as well as their effects on business performance. This study examines how leadership style can affect the development and implementation of entrepreneurial orientation in small and medium enterprises in Taiwan. It is also designed to examine the effects of leadership styles and entrepreneurial orientation on business performance. Significant conclusions from this study are that different leadership styles may affect business performance; that transformational leadership is significantly more correlated to the business performance than is transactional leadership and passive-avoidant leadership; that entrepreneurial orientation is positively related to performance; and that transformational leadership with higher entrepreneurial orientation can contribute to higher business performance.


This paper proposes a new method to measure ethnolinguistic diversity and offers new results linking such diversity with a range of political economy outcomes -civil conflict, redistribution, economic growth and the provision of public goods. We use linguistic trees, describing the genealogical relationship between the entire set of 6,912 world languages, to compute measures of fractionalization and polarization at different levels of linguistic aggregation. By doing so, we let the data inform us on which linguistic cleavages are most relevant, rather than making ad hoc choices of linguistic classifications. We find drastically different effects of linguistic diversity at different levels of aggregation: deep cleavages, originating thousands of years ago, lead to measures of diversity that are better predictors of civil conflict and redistribution than those that account for more recent and superficial divisions. The opposite pattern holds when it comes to the impact of linguistic diversity on growth and public goods provision, where finer distinctions between languages matter. Klaus Desmet Department of Economics Universidad Carlos III 28903 Getafe (Madrid) SPAIN email@example.com Ignacio Ortuño-Ortín Department of Economics Universidad Carlos III 28903 Getafe (Madrid) SPAIN email@example.com Romain Wacziarg Anderson School of Management at UCLA C-510 Entrepreneurs Hall 110 Westwood Plaza Los Angeles, CA 90095-1481 and NBER email@example.com


The DNA polymorphism among 22 isolates of Sclerospora graminicola, the causal agent of downy mildew disease of pearl millet was assessed using 20 inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR) primers. The objective of the study was to examine the effectiveness of using ISSR markers for unravelling the extent and pattern of genetic diversity in 22 S. graminicola isolates collected from different host cultivars in different states of India. The 19 functional ISSR primers generated 410 polymorphic bands and revealed 89% polymorphism and were able to distinguish all the 22 isolates. Polymorphic bands used to construct an unweighted pair group method of averages (UPGMA) dendrogram based on Jaccard's co-efficient of similarity and principal coordinate analysis resulted in the formation of four major clusters of 22 isolates. The standardized Nei genetic distance among the 22 isolates ranged from 0.0050 to 0.0206. The UPGMA clustering using the standardized genetic distance matrix resulted in the identification of four clusters of the 22 isolates with bootstrap values ranging from 15 to 100. The 3D-scale data supported the UPGMA results, which resulted into four clusters amounting to 70% variation among each other. However, comparing the two methods show that sub clustering by dendrogram and multi dimensional scaling plot is slightly different. All the S. graminicola isolates had distinct ISSR genotypes and cluster analysis origin. The results of ISSR fingerprints revealed significant level of genetic diversity among the isolates and that ISSR markers could be a powerful tool for fingerprinting and diversity analysis in fungal pathogens.


A first-principles study of the optical properties of silicon quantum dots (Si QDs) with different diameters is presented in this paper. Si QDs consisting of 10-220 Si atoms, the corresponding diameter ranges from 6-20 Å, with full termination of the Si interface with H are investigated in detail. The results show that both the band gap and the absorption spectrum of Si QDs are size-dependent. For Si QDs with diameter ranges from 6-20 Å, as the diameter decreases, the band gap increases, and a considerable blue-shift in the absorption spectrum is occurred. This unique property can be used to extend the absorption spectrum of the solar cell by mixing in QDs with different sizes. Therefore, the full spectrum of the sunlight may be utilized more efficiently.


Application of linear and nonlinear control methodologies for studying the nonlinear dynamics of a spacecraft with an attached rigid link is demonstrated. Three control laws; based on linear PD control, linear quadratic control, and feedback linearization technique, are incorporated to the system dynamics. The performances of the proposed control methodologies undergoing initial inplane disturbances are compared via numerical simulations. Results indicate that control based on PD and feedback linearization demonstrated similar performances when applied to restore the attitude of the spacecraft. The control techniques were able to stabilize the spacecraft pitch response in less than 0.003 orbits. The attached link although refrains to an oscillating motion due to the presence of gravitational force, its period of oscillation being approximately equal to the period of one orbit. The performance of LQR control indicates that it is possible to stabilize the motion of spacecraft pitch and the rigid link.


Background: Benign prostatic hyperplasia is a common condition affecting men worldwide that often requires the use of multiple medications. Older men may already be on several other medications for a variety of chronic conditions leading to a high prevalence of polypharmacy. Deprescribing is one approach to reduce polypharmacy, particularly if a medication is found to be high risk or no longer of benefit. Case report: A 68 year-old male, with a past medical history of benign prostatic hyperplasia, acid reflux, hyperlipidemia, major depressive disorder, blindness, low body-mass index, and frailty was prescribed several medications including tamsulosin and finasteride. The clinical pharmacist noted that the patient had been prescribed this dual therapy for benign prostatic hyperplasia since 2015. Amongst other recommendations, the clinical pharmacist suggested deprescribing the alpha-blocker due to several factors including duration of use; potential risk of adverse events secondary to multi-drug interactions; and presence of polypharmacy. Once the recommendation was implemented, the patient reported no instances of increased lower urinary tract symptoms and was well maintained on monotherapy. Conclusion: In patients with polypharmacy, the reduction of one medication may provide significant benefits. In the case of benign prostatic hyperplasia, patients who received six to twelve months of dual therapy may be able to control this condition with a 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor monotherapy. This class of medications has reportedly slowed clinical disease progression, reduced the risk of acute urinary retention and the need for invasive therapy, and improved voiding and storage symptoms. Healthcare providers should continue the practice of assessing medication regimens for appropriateness of therapy and deprescribing inappropriate therapy.


• Surgery for breast cancer continues to evolve. Less radical procedures and increasing concern about appearance and rehabilitation are now the trend. Such considerations prompted a detailed anatomic study and review of the location and course of the medial and lateral pectoral nerves, the development of a technique for immediate reconstruction of the breast during modified radical mastectomy that protects the innervation of the pectoral muscles and incorporates them in the construction of a submuscular pocket to receive a silicone breast prosthesis, and the administration of low doses of heparin sodium to prevent necrosis of ischemic breast flaps. Fifty immediate reconstructions of the breast after modified radical mastectomy were performed in 48 women with carcinoma of the breast. We believe this procedure greatly enhances rehabilitation and quality of life without diminishing the ability to diagnose or treat recurrent disease. ( Arch Surg 1982;117:579-582)


Introduction American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) adolescents suffer disparities in sexually transmitted infection, HIV/AIDS and unintended pregnancy. Deficits in culturally relevant risk-reduction interventions exacerbate sexual health inequalities. Our tribal-academic partnership evaluated a culturally congruent HIV risk-reduction intervention called: Respecting the Circle of Life (RCL) through a randomised controlled trial. This analysis assesses individual level predictive factors for unresponsiveness to the RCL program. Methods 267 AIs ages 13–19 participated; data was collected at baseline, immediately post, 6- and 12 months post-intervention. Regression analyses examined how baseline levels of 5 factors, established as pre-requisites for behaviour change, predicted responsiveness to the RCL program including: HIV prevention/treatment knowledge, belief condoms prevent pregnancy/infection, condom use intention, condom use self-efficacy, and partner negotiation on condom use. Results The strongest intervention impact was observed immediately post-intervention. RCL had greater impact on all 5 factors among low and medium initial scorers. Overall, high initial scorers in HIV prevention/treatment knowledge and belief that condoms prevent pregnancy/infection were predictive of unresponsiveness to RCL. Specifically, never skipping school was predictive of unresponsiveness to RCL for HIV/AIDS knowledge; female gender was predictive of unresponsiveness for condom belief; and high baseline HIV/AIDS knowledge was predictive of unresponsiveness for condom use intention. Conclusion Results suggest AI youth with higher risk factors (lower levels of knowledge, beliefs, intentions and skills) are more likely to respond to RCL. By identifying characteristics of unresponsive youth, we can modify RCL to improve its effectiveness among these subgroups. RCL is one of the first HIV risk-reduction programs developed for and rigorously evaluated with AI communities, thus replication implications are relevant for other AI/AN and indigenous populations.


The imperative of continuous improvement has now become normative in education policy discourse, typically framed as setting 'aspirational' targets for pupil performance as a prerequisite for gaining competitive advantage in the global economy. In this context, teachers, leaders, teacher assistants and other practitioners working in schools across England have been under increasing pressure to raise standards. This article focuses on how values are deployed in reculturing and regulating practitioners to develop identities and work orientations which are congruent with the policymakers' agendas. G.H. Mead's concept of 'cult' values illuminates the process of fostering homogeneity with the dominant policy discourse through an inclusion/exclusion dynamic. Interview data collected in two primary schools revealed a significant convergence of practitioner discourse with policy objectives. Delivering improvement affects how practitioners talk about their work and see themselves as educators. The 'cult' of continuous improvement appears to inhibit a critical approach to the implementation of education policies by school practitioners in their everyday work.


The service and cloud computing oriented architecture is a very promising architecture for practical implementation of the next generation geographical information systems. This paper investigated the service and cloud computing oriented architecture for constructing a distributed and web service enabled geographical information platform for labor and social security applications. The spatial cloud computing applies geographical information systems to the cloud computing paradigm. It provides dynamically scalable geographic information technology, spatial data, and spatial applications as a web service. GIS web services were designed to provide the hosted spatial data and GIS functionality to integrate the customized GIS applications to perform basic geo-processing tasks, such as address matching, map image display, and routing, without maintaining GIS tools or the associated geographical data. The system architecture, functions, system integrations, and some key technical problems are investigated. It has an important application prospect in for labor and social security application systems.


Abstract The objective of this research was to evaluate the accuracy of remote sensing for detecting weed infestation levels during early-season Glycine max production. Weed population estimates were collected from two G. max fields approximately 8 wk after planting during summer 1998. Seedling weed populations were sampled using a regular grid coordinate system on a 10- by 10-m grid. Two days later, multispectral digital images of the fields were recorded. Generally, infestations of Senna obtusifolia, Ipomoea lacunosa, and Solanum carolinense could be detected with remote sensing with at least 75% accuracy. Threshold populations of 10 or more S. obtusifolia or I. lacunosa plants m−2 were generally classified with at least 85% accuracy. Discriminant analysis functions formed for detecting weed populations in one field were at least 73% accurate in identifying S. obtusifolia and I. lacunosa infestations in independently collected data from another field. Due to highly variable soil conditions and their effects on the reflectance properties of the surrounding soil and vegetation, accurate classification of weed-free areas was generally much lower. Current remote sensing technology has potential for in-season weed detection; however, further advancements of the technology are needed to insure its use in future prescription weed management systems. Nomenclature: Ipomoea lacunosa L. IPOLA, pitted morningglory; Senna obtusifolia (L.) Irwin et Barnaby CASOB, sicklepod; Solanum carolinense L. SOLCA, horsenettle; Glycine max (L.) Merr., soybean.


Businesses routinely rely on econometric models to analyze and predict consumer behavior. Estimation of such models may require combining a firm's internal data with external datasets to take into account sample selection, missing observations, omitted variables and errors in measurement within the existing data source. In this paper we point out that these data problems can be addressed when estimating econometric models from combined data using the data mining techniques under mild assumptions regarding the data distribution. However, data combination leads to serious threats to security of consumer data: we demonstrate that point identification of an econometric model from combined data is incompatible with restrictions on the risk of individual disclosure. Consequently, if a consumer model is point identified, the firm would (implicitly or explicitly) reveal the identity of at least some of consumers in its internal data. More importantly, we provide an argument that unless the firm places a restriction on the individual disclosure risk when combining data, even if the raw combined dataset is not shared with a third party, an adversary or a competitor can gather confidential information regarding some individuals from the estimated model.


On the basis of geophysical imaging surveys, including geomagnetic and geoelectrical resistivity, possible archaeological remains and their spatial parameters (i.e., location, extension, depth and thickness) were explored to provide useful data for future excavations on the Upper City of the ancient Amorium site, which comprises a large prehistoric man-made mound. The surveys were performed very close to the main axis of the Basilica, and the derived geophysical traces indicated some subsurface structures that appear to confirm that more-substantial brick and masonry buildings lie near the present-day surface of the mound. Analyzing the local gradients by total horizontal derivatives of pseudogravity data enhanced the edges of the magnetic sources. Additionally, a profile curvature technique, which has rarely been applied to potential field data sets, dramatically improved the magnetic-source body edges and the lineaments that may be associated with buried archaeological remains. The depths of these possible anthropogenic remains were estimated by applying the Euler deconvolution technique to the geomagnetic data set. The Euler solutions on tentative indices indicated that the depths of the source bodies are not more than about 3 m. Moreover, geoelectrical resistivity depth slices produced from the results of two- and three-dimensional linearized least-squares inversion techniques revealed high-resistivity anomalies within a depth of about 3 m from the ground surface, which is in close agreement with those obtained by applying the Euler deconvolution technique to the magnetic data. Based on the existence of some archaeological remains in the vicinity of the surveyed area, these geophysical anomalies were thought to be the possible traces of the buried remains and were suggested as targets for excavations. This study also emphasized that the data-processing techniques applied in this investigation should be suitable for providing an insight into the layout of the unexcavated parts of the Amorium site.


Abstract Trees are an obvious component of most landscapes. Artists' views of Mesozoic landscapes regularly feature modern trees such as firs (Abies and Picea) and monkey-puzzle trees (Araucaria araucana). However, these reconstructions are highly hypothetical and, in reality, very little is known about the silhouettes of Mesozoic trees. In Mesozoic (Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous) strata of Thailand, large conifer logs with different types of architecture are evident, a rare opportunity for architectural studies. Various methods to estimate the original diameter and height of the trees are assessed. Among our material some trees have the classical Christmas-tree shape, whereas others are more oak-like in silhouette. All these trees lived in forest environments. Tree shape is strongly related to environment, and is still under-used as a palaeoecological tool. Reconstructing trees and vegetation has wide implications, from evaluating dinosaur herbivory to calculating elements of the carbon cycle.


Purpose: To determine if adult survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) are less active (and more inactive) than the general population and to identify modifying factors. Patients and Methods: Physical activity was assessed by self-report in 2,648 adult survivors of the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study. Participants in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey administered through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were used as a comparison group. Results: Survivors had a mean age of 28.7 years (range, 18.0-44.0 years) and were a mean of 23.1 years from their cancer diagnosis (range, 16.0-33.8 years). In multivariate models, ALL survivors were more likely to not meet CDC recommendations for physical activity [odds ratio (OR), 1.44; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 1.32-1.57] and more likely to be inactive (OR, 1.74; 95% CI, 1.56-1.94) in comparison with the BRFSS general population. Survivors treated with >20-Gy cranial radiotherapy were at particular risk. Compared with BRFSS participants and adjusted for age, race, and ethnicity, survivors were more likely to not meet CDC recommendations (females: OR, 2.07, 95% CI, 1.67-2.56; males: OR, 1.43, 95% CI, 1.16-1.76) and more likely to be inactive (females: OR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.50-2.31; males: OR, 1.84; 95% CI, 1.45-2.32). Conclusions: Long-term survivors of childhood ALL are less likely to meet physical activity recommendations and more likely to report no leisure-time physical activity in the past month. This level of inactivity likely further increases their risk of cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and all-cause mortality. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2007;16(7):1356–63)


This paper presents a primary study for a method of measurement using PZT sensors which is widely used for SHM. PZT sensor has many advantages when using smart material. It is easy to be shaped to various forms and can be embedded on the materials more conveniently. The development for a practical and quantitative technique for assessment of the structural health condition by PZT sensor associated with wave propagation is investigated. Two aluminum specimens bonded with PZT sensors tested for estimating characteristics of the wave propagate on specimens change by various damage condition cf. line crack, bolt loosening. To estimate condition of the specimens numerically, we suggest impedance and guided wave method in this paper.


The dielectric behavior of three polar liquids such as Methyl acetate ,Methylene dichloride and 2-Methoxy Ethanol in non-polar solvent benzene have been studied at microwave frequency of 21.4 GHz at 300K. Different dielectric parameters like Dielectric constant ( e') and dielectric loss(e'') at microwave frequency, static dielectric constant (e0) and optical dielectric constant (eα) are determined. Using these parameters the various relaxation time Viz., Average relaxation time(τ0), Molecular relaxation time(τ1) and Group relaxation time(τ2) of individual component have been calculated. It has been observed that the relaxation time is very closely related with molecular parameters, such as size, shape and nature of the solute molecule.


This paper focuses on an efficient user-level method for the deployment of application-specific extensions, using commodity operating systems and hardware. A sandboxing technique is described that supports multiple extensions within a shared virtual address space. Applications can register sandboxed code with the system, so that it may be executed in the context of any process. Such code may be used to implement generic routines and handlers for a class of applications, or system service extensions that complement the functionality of the core kernel. Using our approach, application-specific extensions can be written like conventional user-level code, utilizing libraries and system calls, with the advantage that they may be executed without the traditional costs of scheduling and context-switching between process-level protection domains. No special hardware support such as segmentation or tagged translation look-aside buffers (TLBs) is required. Instead, our "user-level sandboxing" mechanism requires only paged-based virtual memory support, given that sandboxed extensions are either written by a trusted source or are guaranteed to be memorysafe (e.g., using type-safe languages). Using a fast method of upcalls, we show how our mechanism provides significant performance improvements over traditional methods of invoking user-level services. As an application of our approach, we have implemented a user-level network subsystem that avoids data copying via the kernel and, in many cases, yields far greater network throughput than kernel-level approaches.


Purpose: To investigate the effect of internal anatomical changes on dose delivered by IMRT and RapidArc (RA) for the patients with carcinoma of uterine cervix using kV‐CBCT. Method and Materials: Five patients were taken for this study. In CTimages, target (CTV minus nodes), PTV, bladder, rectum and femoral head were contoured. IMRT with seven fields of equal gantry spacing and dual arc RapidArc with gantry angles: 181–179 and 179–181 degree were done to deliver 50.4Gy to PTV in 28 fractions. Pre‐fraction CBCT were acquired weekly and target and OAR's were delineated. The use of CBCT for dose calculation was validated prior to the study. From the CT plan, verification plans were created on CBCTimages. The dose variation in target and OAR's between the CT and periodical CBCT (pCBCT) based IMRT and RA plans were analyzed. Results: The mean (±SD) of pCBCT based IMRT plan's target D98% and D2% doses were 98.33%±0.92% and 99.92%±1.28% relative to CT based IMRT plan. Similarly for RA, it was 98.53%±0.78% and 100.27%±1.03% respectively. For rectum, the percentage difference between CT and pCBCT based IMRT plan's mean dose, D2% and D30% were 2.17%, 0.64% and 1.02% respectively. For RA, it was 2.30%, 0.72% and 0.70% respectively. For bladder, the percentage difference between CT and pCBCT based IMRT plan's mean and D35% doses were 1.07% and 0.26%. For RA, it was 1.22%, and −0.04% respectively. For femoral head, the percentage difference between CT and pCBCT IMRT plan's D2% dose is −0.46% and for RA, it was −0.35%. Conclusion: Both IMRT and RA plans shows similar dose variation due to the anatomical changes over weeks. The dose variation in target was minimal. However the OAR doses show a substantial variability over weeks.


Boundedly rational people may engage in strategic behavior under the Deferred Acceptance mechanism, resulting in unstable outcome and reducing overall welfare. How to reduce strategic behavior is thus of importance for field implementation. I address this issue in a laboratory experiment by looking at whether experienced people can transmit what they have learned and promote truth-telling behavior. In this experiment, subjects repeatedly play the matching game induced by the Deferred Acceptance mechanism for a finite number of periods, and then offer advice about best strategies to their successors. Participants in succeeding sessions are either given advice from their predecessors or observe histories of previous sessions. I find that advice given by predecessors can help subjects coordinate on truth-telling behavior and the Pareto efficient stable outcome (but this effect is not statistically significant in correlated preference environment). On the contrary, observing histories has ambiguous effect on truth-telling adoption. This implies that policy makers can encourage real people to adopt truth-telling in the field by providing them with collections of good advice from people who have already participated in matching market.


Genetic algorithm (GA) is one of the standard solutions to solve many optimization problems. One of a GA type used for solving a case is island model GA (IMGA). Localization strategy is a brand-new feature for IMGA to better preserves its diversity. In the previous research, localization strategy could carry out 3SAT problem almost perfectly. In this study, the proposed feature is aimed to solve real parameter single objective computationally expensive optimization problems. Differ with an issue in previous research which has a prior knowledge and binary, the computationally expensive optimization has not any prior knowledge and floating type problem. Therefore, the localization strategy and its GA cores must adapt. The primary goal of this research is to analyze further the localization strategy for IMGA's performance. The experiments show that the new feature is successfully modified to meet the new requirement. Localization strategy for IMGA can solve all computationally expensive functions consistently. Moreover, this new feature could make IMGA reaches leading ratio 0.47 among other current solvers.


SUMMARY Background: the endoscopic evaluation of the colonic mucosa complemented with biopsy sampling may be very useful in the study of patients with chronic diarrhea. However, its value in daily practice has not been extensively explored. Objective: to know the utility of colonoscopy with systematic biopsy sampling in the study of the patients with chronic diarrhea. Material and methods: patients with chronic diarrhea (loose stools and frequent bowel movements for at least four weeks) were examined with colonoscopy and biopsy sampling for systematic histologic examination; even in patients with a normal-appearing mucosa. Patients with the following were excluded: a diagnosis of HIV infection/ AIDS, previous colon surgery, known inflammatory bowel disease, gastrointestinal bleeding, anemia or involuntary weight loss. Results: a total of 109 patients were included (63 females, mean age 52 years). Colonoscopy was normal in 53 cases (49%) and abnormal in 56 (51%). The biopsies showed a specific disease in 31 cases (28%), non-specific changes in 58 (53%) and normal mucosa in 20 (18%). Microscopic colitis (lymphocytic or collagenous colitis) was detected in 12 cases (11%) all of them with a normal colonoscopy. Colonoscopy with systematic biopsy sampling allowed making a specific diagnosis in 31 of patients (28%). Conclusions: colonoscopy with systematic biopsy sampling is very useful in the study of patients with chronic diarrhea, since it established a specific diagnosis in 28 % of the patients and 11% with microscopic colitis, all of them with normal mucosa.


The growth of domestic tourism has led to the realization of the important role of tourism in the economy. As a result, many countries have taken steps towards the implementation of a variety of tourist attractions that appeal to the local market. The concept of domestic tourism still sounds strange to many tourism stakeholders in Kenya yet available information indicates that a number of Kenyans are engaged in it. Kenya has over the years paid high attention to its International tourism industry, but the increasing popularity of domestic tourism in other parts of the world calls for an urgent attention in terms of its marketability within the county. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the influence of the strategies used in marketing tourism on domestic tourists flow patterns to classified hotels and wildlife parks in Nairobi County. The study will be guided by the following specific objectives: to establish the extent of the utilization of available tourism products in classified hotels and wildlife parks by domestic tourists in Nairobi County, to determine the effect of branding products on domestic tourism flow patterns to Classified hotels and wildlife parks, to assess the effect of market segmentation on domestic tourists flow patterns to classified hotels and wildlife parks and to establish the effect of tourism products awareness campaigns on domestic tourists flow to classified hotels and wildlife parks in Nairobi County. Descriptive cross-sectional survey design will be adopted for the study. The target population for the study will be front office managers of all classified hotels in Nairobi County, local tourists in selected classified hotels within Nairobi County, public relations officers of Kenya Wildlife Services and representatives from Kenya Tourism Board (Domestic Tourism Council). Purposive sampling, simple random sampling and census techniques will be used to select the respondents. A total of 224 respondents will be selected from different organizations (constituting 195 local tourists from classified hotels, 2 officers from KWS, 26 front office managers from classified hotels and I representative from the marketing department of Kenya Tourism Board). Questionnaires and interview schedules will be used as instruments for data collection. Questionnaires will be used to collect data from the managers of the hotels and local tourists in the hotels while interview schedules will be used to collect data from key informants who will be: public relations officers of Kenya Wildlife Services, and representatives from the Kenya Tourism Board (Domestic Tourism Council). Primary data from the field will first be edited; Coding will then be done to translate question responses into specific categories. Coding will be expected to organize and reduce research data into manageable summaries. Quantitative data will be analyzed using descriptive statistics that will include mean, standard deviation, frequencies and percentages while thematic analysis will be used to analyze qualitative data collected using interview schedules. Inferential statistics to be used in this case will be correlation and regression analysis which will be used to test on the relationship between the variables of the study. The analyzed data will be presented in form of tables, pie-charts and bar-graphs as applicable.


A rapid and simple antibody purification method is reported for the isolation of monoclonal antibody IgG1 from SARS-CoV N protein rabbit serum by using surface-modified magnetic beads. First magnetic poly (methacrylate-divinylbenzene) (PMA-DVB) beads were prepared and modified with aldehyde end group through surface chemical reactions. Then protein A were covalently bound to aldehyde-activated magnetic beads and further used to purify monoclonal antibody IgG1 from rabbit serum directly. This rapid magnetic carrier technology proves to be efficient and rapid for antibody purification and has potential to massive production of monoclonal antibody.


In this paper, image analysis and processing has been discussed. Image analysis involves the manipulation of the patient's 3D model to extract relevant information from the data. Computer assisted surgery (CAS) represents a surgical concept and set of methods, that use computer technology, for pre-surgical planning and for guiding or performing surgical interventions.


At present, audio decoder in multimedia processing chip must support multi-standard, such as AC-3, MP3, WMA. Many methods, from software to hardware can be used to implement the architecture. In this paper, an architecture based on Embedded Processor core is proposed to support multi-standard audio decoding. Embedded Processor core is used for real-time audio decoding and rendering. Featured with preload method, multi-standard audio decoder could be extended easily. Further more, data and instruction memory could be updated during Embedded Processor core works, so on-chip data and instruction memory could be reduced largely, which means very low cost. As we can see from the experiment result, audio decoder based on this architecture could support current popular audio standards real-time at very low cost.


INTRODUCTION
Hookups refer to a range of sexual or physically intimate behaviors characterized by a lack of any expectation of a relationship or emotional intimacy. This study was designed to assess college students' experiences and perceptions about hookups as related to mental/emotional and physical health issues.

METHODS
Students at a 2-year liberal arts college in the southeastern United States participated. A survey was created using current evidence on hookups and health issues. Random sampling invited 300 students to take the anonymous online survey. Responses to open-ended questions were analyzed quantitatively; content analysis was used to assess responses to 2 open-ended questions.

RESULTS
Participants (N = 210) reported their own or their friends' experiences as a result of a hookup. Feelings included sexual regret (reported by 62%), relationship/interpersonal conflict (48%), negative emotional reactions (47%), negative social repercussions (41%), learning to "shut down" emotionally (33%), psychological distress (31%), loss of friend(s) or peer group (28%), anxiety (28%), depression (21%), and sexually transmitted infections (19%). Most students (60%) had at least one hookup experience; more than half (55%) had mixed feelings/ambivalence about these experiences. Qualitative analysis identified 6 themes regarding reasons for sexual regret: regret over choice of partner, negative social repercussions, hopes for relationship did not materialize, moral issues, too much/too fast/too drunk, and suboptimal sexual performance/experience.

DISCUSSION
The findings indicate that a significant level of negative health issues is experienced in conjunction with hookups, and health care providers should be aware and educate patients appropriately.


This article critically examines the Danish 'ghetto initiatives' of 2004, 2010, 2013 and 2018, with a particular focus on their implications for 'social citizenship'. Its approach is twofold: firstly, it explores how each of the four major ghetto initiatives constructed ghettos and their residents as a problem for the welfare state, and what policy measures were proposed to address the problems identified. Secondly, it examines the legislative changes that resulted from each of the ghetto initiatives and assesses their implications for social citizenship. In doing so, it relates its findings to the different developmental stages of social citizenship in Danish welfare state history. The article argues that the ghetto initiatives have led to an unprecedented spatialization and ethnicization of social citizenship which mark a radical departure from the guiding principles of post-1945 Danish welfare thought and practice.


The fast movement and development of Malaysian home-grown franchising will cause saturation in the local market. Many franchisors have begun to penetrate the international market, as one of the internationalization strategies. However, little is known about the barriers faced by the franchisors during the process of expansion into the international market. Therefore, this study aims to address this gap by exploring this phenomenon. For methodology approach, a series of three multiple case studies through protocol discussion with Malaysian franchisors were done across education and learning center business. This was done to explore the topic, refine the research questions, and develop the propositions. The findings show several barriers emerging from the qualitative study, which led to the following themes, namely: (i) complexity of other country laws and regulations; (ii) language barrier; (iii) culture differences; and (iv) financial barriers, to help explain the barriers of Malaysian franchisor international expansion. The adopted qualitative methodology provided rich information that will lead the future research. In brief, this study has contributed new knowledge to the existing literature in international franchising knowledge and will benefit the future studies


Ideally, the edges of lumber are parallel to each other and its ends are rectangular and in line with each other. However, sub-optimal occurrences in the sawing processes cause deviations from this ideal shape. In the sawmill, these deviations are often detected as off-size variations in thickness, and one particular defect shape is not necessarily distinguished from another in the downgrading process. These defects, different from machine defects like torn grain or skip, are referred to as machine shape defects in this thesis. The first part of this thesis implements a survey to analyse machine shape defects in British Columbia sawmills, while the second part employs neural networks as an experimental approach in the classification of these defects. A survey was designed and implemented to determine the industrial significance of machine shape defects in British Columbia sawmills. Completed in 2000, the survey focussed on six machine shape defects commonly caused by the sawing process: snipe, flare, wedge, taper, thin snake and fat snake. Responses came from mills located across BC and from both large and small forest companies responsible for 33% of BC softwood lumber production in 2000. Characterising BC sawmills according to machine shape defects and annual production shows that for each category of mill, with one exception, there is over a 20% probability of producing at least five types of machine shape defects. The most common grade cited for all machine shape defects was No. 2 Structural. By ranking the machine shape defects in terms of occurrence and by determining which ones are most serious in terms of final quality, it was established that thin snake, snipe and taper have the most serious impact on the industry. Neural networks were trained to detect and classify snipe in rough green lumber, using more than one hundred trim ends sampled randomly from a mill experiencing difficulty processing frozen wood. A self-contained measuring apparatus was constructed to support measuring equipment and to convey the sample boards through the measuring range of six lasers at a steady rate, using the automatic feedrollers of a shaper table. A statistical model was developed to interpret the physical characteristics of the board's surface, focussing on its shape. This model was used to preprocess the laser data into a set of variables, simplifying the data set for input into the neural networks. It was demonstrated that neural networks can be applied with limited success to detect machine shape defects, in particular snipe, in random samples of rough green lumber. However, it was established that more training data is required to train the neural networks to classify the sample cases with combination snipe.


OBJECTIVE: Although oral mucosal epithelial stem cells are thought to reside in the basal layer, such cells have not yet been isolated. We isolated a population of rabbit oral epithelial progenitor cells containing putative stem cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Epithelial cells harvested from rabbit buccal mucosa were allowed to adhere to dishes coated with collagen IV for periods ranging from 10 min to 16 h. The properties of individual cell populations were evaluated using BrdU, Ki-67, integrin β 1, integrin α 6 and keratin 13 using colony forming efficiency. RESULTS: Cells that adhered to collagen IV coated dishes within 10 min were enriched about 6-fold in terms of BrdU incorporation, Ki-67, Integrin α 6, and Integrin β 1 were strongly expressed. Interestingly, Keratin 13 was faintly expressed. The CFE of rapidly adherent cells among oral epithelial cells was significant compared with other cell populations at 20, 60, 120 min and 16 h. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggested that rabbit oral epithelial cells could be isolated by depending on adhesiveness to collagen IV, especially when segregated according to progenitor cell properties. Putative progenitor cells with stem cell properties were most effec-tively harvested within 10 min. Our separation procedure should be a useful tool with which to isolate epithelial stem cells for regenerative medicine.


Ceramic-matrix composites (CMCs) possess high specific strength and modulus at elevated temperature and have already been applied in hot-section components in commercial or military gas turbine engines. Due to low fracture strain in the brittle SiC ceramic, matrix microcracking occurs below the proportional limit stress (PLS). At elevated temperature, the opening of matrix microcracking affects the mechanical properties of CMCs when the oxygen or oxidative gas ingresses the composite through these cracks. To ensure the reliability, safety, and airworthiness level of CMCs components, it is necessary to understand the crack opening behavior of CMCs at elevated temperature. In this paper, a micromechanical approach is developed to predict the time-dependent crack opening behavior in SiC/SiC composite. Micro stress field in the different damage regions are obtained and the cracking opening displacement (COD) are calculated. Experimental CODs in SiC/SiC composite for different matrix crack lengths are predicted. Effects of composite material properties, stress level, and testing temperature on the time-dependent crack opening behavior in SiC/SiC composite are analyzed. Relationships between the cracking opening, composite's constituent properties, stress level, and testing temperature are established. The analysis results can help the engineering designer better understanding the crack opening behavior in CMCs.


There are currently limited data describing the natural history and outcome for fetal trisomy 13 diagnosed prenatally. The aim of this study was to evaluate the fetal and neonatal outcome for pregnancies with an established prenatal diagnosis of fetal trisomy 13, and a parental decision for continuation of the pregnancy. To this end, the obstetric and neonatal outcome data for such pregnancies, diagnosed at two referral Fetal Medicine Centers, were retrospectively obtained and examined. During the study period, there were 45 cases of trisomy 13 diagnosed at both units, of which 26 (56%) continued with the pregnancy to its natural outcome. There were 12 intrauterine deaths in the cohort resulting in a rate of 46.2% of intrauterine lethality. Conversely, the live birth rate was 53.8%. For infants born alive, neonatal death on day 1 of life occurred in 78.6% of cases. The overall early neonatal mortality rate was 93%. There was one infant death at 6 weeks of age and no survival noted beyond this period. These data provide reliable information for parental counseling pertaining to risk of intrauterine death when trisomy 13 is diagnosed prenatally. These data also indicate that the survival outcome is worse than that previously accepted from studies of postnatal follow up of live born infants with this diagnosis. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Abstract The antiglobulin consumption test (AGCT) has been adapted to the demonstration of autoantibodies in the serum of patients with chronic thyroiditis. Human thyroid tissue was homogenized and washed 15 times with buffered saline so that the supernatant was free of detectable thyroglobulin and serum. The lyophilized tissue sediment was then used in the AGCT. Positive reactions were obtained with 23 of 64 human thyroiditis sera. No reaction occurred with normal human sera. The results of the consumption tests were compared with hemagglutination tests employing tanned red blood cells coated with soluble human thyroid extracts. A direct correlation between the 2 titers was seen in most but not all cases. The reactions observed in the AGCT appeared to be species and organ specific and were not due to isoantibodies. Absorption of thyroiditis serum with purified human thyroglobulin removed part of the consumption titer. This finding suggested that some of the thyroglobulin was either tightly bound to the insoluble tissue components or was present in an insoluble form. It also points to the possible presence of antibodies to other insoluble antigens of the thyroid tissue sediment. When compared with lyophilized human thyroid tissue sediment or lyophilized thyroid tissue microsomes, frozen microsomal fractions gave additional consumption in tests with thyroiditis serum absorbed with thyroglobulin. Boiling of the microsomal fraction reduced consumption with absorbed serum which indicated the thermolability of the insoluble tissue antigen(s).


Smart sensors are small wireless computing devices that sense information such as light and humidity at extremely high resolutions. A smart sensor query-processing architecture using database technology can facilitate deployment of sensor networks. Smart-sensor technology enables a broad range of ubiquitous computing applications. Their low cost, small size, and untethered nature lets them sense information at previously unobtainable resolutions. We discuss about query processing in sensor networks.


Background: Burn patients are at high risk for infection, and it has been estimated that 75% of all deaths following burns are related to infection. It is, therefore, essential for a burn institution to determine its specific pattern of burn wound microbial colonization, time-related changes in predominant flora and antimicrobial profiles. Aim: To find out the bacterial and fungal profile of burn wound and evaluate the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of the organism isolated. Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted in the Department of Microbiology, Dr. V. M. Government Medical College, Solapur, Maharashtra from December 2012 to December 2014. The wound swabs were collected from 50 patients, having total body surface area of burn in between 20% and 40% on the 4 th , 10 th , and 16 th day. Total 202 wound swabs were collected aseptically and cultured for the growth of bacteria and the fungi. Bacterial growths were then subjected to various biochemical tests for identification and antibiotic sensitivity testing. Results: Single isolates were present in 71.28%, and multiple isolates were noted in 18.31% of wound swabs. The isolation rate of Gram-negative organisms was high. The most common isolate was Klebsiella pneumoniae (34.40%) followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (23.94%), Staphylococcus aureus (22.94%), Escherichia coli (7.34%), Acinetobacter spp. (2.75%), Proteus mirabilis (2.75%), and Citrobacter species (1.38%). Candida species (4.59%) was the only fungus isolated, of which Candida albicans (50%) was the most common. Gram-negative bacteria were the most sensitive to imipenem (93.67%) and amikacin (75.94%) while Gram-positive bacteria were the most sensitive to linezolid (100%) and vancomycin (100%). Conclusion: K. pneumoniae was found to be the most common bacterial agent involved. The results of the present study will be helpful in understanding the pattern of burn wound microbial infection, the dominant bacterial and fungal flora, and the antimicrobial resistance.


TMEM106B variants are genetically associated with frontotemporal lobar degeneration with TDP‐43 pathology (FTLD‐TDP), and are considered a major risk factor for this disease. As TMEM106B may be involved in other pathologies such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), uncovering its cellular functions has become a priority. In this issue of The EMBO Journal, Schwenk et al ( ) combine loss‐of‐function experiments, live imaging and proteomics to unveil the physiological roles played by TMEM106B and its binding partner MAP6 in lysosomal function and transport.