Background: A large percentage of diabetic patients also have other components of metabolic syndrome, which is a group of cardiovascular (CV) hazard factors related to both diabetes mellitus (DM) and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). We do not know about the prevalence of CV risk factors in diabetic patients in Upper Egypt. We aimed to assess the CV risk factors in type 2 diabetic patients in Upper Egypt villages. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study that included 800 patients with type 2 DM. We classified the participants into three groups according to the hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels. We assessed the prevalence of other cardiovascular risk factors and their association with HbA1c levels through a detailed history, full clinical examination, and laboratory tests. Results: We found that 75% of the participants were males, 25.5% elderly, 60.25% had hypertension, 60.75% had dyslipidemia, 33.25% were overweight or obese, 19.75% had a family history of coronary artery disease (CAD), 55.75% had established CVD, 42.5% were smokers, and only 12.25% were physically inactive. We found that 84% of the participants had ≥ two cardiovascular risk factors other than DM. HbA1c level was ≥ 7% in 77% of patients. After multivariate regression analysis, we found a significant association of higher systolic blood pressure (BP), more elevated diastolic BP, higher body mass index (BMI), increased waist circumference, old age, long duration of DM, and an increase in the number of clustered CV risk factors with a higher HbA1c level. At the same time, insulin therapy was significantly associated with a lower HbA1c level. Conclusion: All type 2 diabetic patients in Upper Egypt villages have other associated CV risk factors. The clustering of cardiovascular risk factors showed a significant association with higher HbA1c levels. These findings require the thought of associated CV risk factors in choosing medical treatments to optimize glycemic control and multifactorial intervention to improve CV risk.


The hot deformation behavior of the Zn-8Cu-0.3Ti alloy was researched by compression test on Gleeble-3500 thermo-simulation machine. The results indicated that the flow stress increased rapidly with the increase of the strain at the initial stage, however, the flow stress decreased and become steady when the strain exceed a certain value. The steady stress and peak stress increased with the decrease of the deformation temperature and the increase of the strain rate. The variation regulation of the deformation activation energy and stress exponent with the strain was established through the regression method. The hot deformation constitutive relationship was also established. Comparing with the experimental results, it was proved that the model reflected the real deformation feature of Zn-8Cu-0.3Ti zinc alloy.


Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is an increasingly powerful tool for improving the delivery of government services, enhancing ICT development
opportunities and participating in global markets. Proper planning must be done in order to get a technology plan that can be used to help identify and priorities the applications that are needed for the state. Using the methodology that was published by MAMPU as a guidance for the state government to develop their own Information and Communication (ISP) Strategic Planning, this thesis is to develop an ISP for the Perlis State Government. With the help of this methodology the study focus on identifying the current ICT environment and to propose the new ICT environment to enhancing the usage of ICT technology in order to perform their task in the Perlis State Government Administration. Hopefully this ISP can give a valuable information and as a guidance in ICT development and implementation for the Perlis State Government.


From my professional point of view as the CEO of an urban-planning company, living in a city that is unrivaled in the world regarding the amount of data it gathers is both a blessing and a curse. Actually, it's like an addiction. While my company harvests its own garden of data, the City of Copenhagen feeds us with an inexhaustible variety. When we have to use the City's data in comparison with other cities' data, it is always a letdown. "That's all you have?!" Followed by a sigh. Copenhagen has developed a strong municipal culture of collecting data over many years—collecting it and also learning how to interpret it and how to use it going forward in planning. Not to mention using it to convince skeptics. The City has a website onto which they make all the data freely available. It is currently only in Danish, but the list is long. You can see pretty much everything: where things like fountains, kindergartens, or garbage cans are located, which zones street vendors can operate in, where chargers for electric vehicles can be found, or where the city has current urban-planning projects underway.


ABSTRACT Viruses encode RNA silencing suppressors to counteract host antiviral silencing. In this study, we analyzed the suppressors encoded by potato virus M (PVM), a member of the genus Carlavirus. In the conventional green fluorescent protein transient coexpression assay, the cysteine-rich protein (CRP) of PVM inhibited both local and systemic silencing, whereas the triple gene block protein 1 (TGBp1) showed suppressor activity only on systemic silencing. Furthermore, to elucidate the roles of these two suppressors during an active viral infection, we performed PVX vector-based assays and viral movement complementation assays. CRP increased the accumulation of viral RNA at the single-cell level and also enhanced viral cell-to-cell movement by inhibiting RNA silencing. However, TGBp1 facilitated viral movement but did not affect viral accumulation in protoplasts. These data suggest that CRP inhibits RNA silencing primarily at the viral replication step, whereas TGBp1 is a suppressor that acts at the viral movement step. Thus, our findings demonstrate a sophisticated viral infection strategy that suppresses host antiviral silencing at two different steps via two mechanistically distinct suppressors. This study is also the first report of the RNA silencing suppressor in the genus Carlavirus.


A thorough collection of complaints and history data, physical examination, and lung function tests are necessary to confirm the diagnosis of asthma. The latter must be differentiated from different diseases in the majority of patients according to age. Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis is caused by human papillomavirus and involves mainly the upper respiratory tract. The paper describes a case of tracheal papillomatosis concurrent with atopic asthma.


arise when one does not know when and how many transitions a process makes to a given state. Chapter 9 deals with a number of applications of flowgraphs in queueing theory. The level of the book is at an introductory graduate level. Although the authors do not assume knowledge of survival analysis or stochastic processes, courses in these areas would be helpful to the reader. A familiarity with R and MAPLE would also be helpful. The book's strength lies in the examples the author presents. In fact, much of the text contains techniques applied to examples, many taken from the biomedical literature. These examples aid readers to judge the utility of this approach and to appreciate the calculations needed to implement these techniques. The book has a few minor annoyances. First, most results are given as definitions, when clearly they are theorems or basic results. For example, Bayes's theorem is given as a definition. Second, the book seems to be a compendium of the author's published work in many places, and other alternative approaches are ignored. For example, censored data model recognition is exclusively performed by censored data histograms when a number of, perhaps better approaches, such as hazard plots, are available (Nelson 1982). The book's focus is on parametric models for multistate systems. Although parametric models may be the norm in engineering applications, most of the recent work in biometry on multistate models has used nonparametric or semiparametric methods. These models are often based on the techniques discussed by Andersen, Borgan, Gill, and Keiding (1993). Overall, this is an interesting book. As one who has worked on problems in the area of multistate models for a number of years, the book forced me to think about these models in a new way. This book is one that researchers interested in techniques for multistate models, either in reliability or biometry should look at. I am not sure how much someone without a background in multistate models or survival analysis would benefit from this book.


Several new series of dendrimers containing a single redox-active 4,4'-bipyridinium (viologen) residue were synthesized and characterized. In these dendrimers, the viologen group is covalently attached to the apical position of a Newkome- or Frechet-type dendron, ranging in size from first to third generation of growth. The half-wave potentials corresponding to the two consecutive one-electron reductions of the viologen residue are affected by the size of the dendritic component. The size effects are more pronounced in the Newkome-type dendrimers and seem to result from the polarity contrast between the microenvironments provided by the solution and the internal phase of the dendrimer. Unlike in many other dendrimers having a redox-active core, the voltammetric behavior remains fast (reversible) even in third generation dendrimers. Pulse gradient stimulated echo NMR diffusion coefficient measurements on the Newkome-type dendrimers reveal that their hydrodynamic radii are relatively invariant in solvents of widely different polarities (dichloromethane to dimethyl sulfoxide). The host-guest binding interactions between the viologen residue in these dendrimers and the crown ether host bis-p-phenylene-34-crown-8 were also investigated. While in Newkome-type dendrimers the growth of the dendron caused a substantial attenuation of the binding constant values, this size effect was not observed in the Frechet-type dendrimers. These electrochemical and binding measurements underscore some of the structural differences between these two common types of dendritic architectures.


In 1980, the writer proposed an instantaneous nonlinearity model with variable knee sharpness. In 1996, Litva and Lo found that it gave incorrect results for a two-tone intermodulation test, and in 2000, Loyka diagnosed the reason: nonanalyticity. Further study showed that no problem exists with typical real-world signals; nevertheless, this paper presents a new model that eliminates the problem entirely. For context, it also discusses envelope models and their application to radio-frequency power amplifiers.


Abstract Leaf beetles were studied in the Kovada Lake National Park (KL) and Kızıldağ National Park (KD) in Isparta province (Turkey) during April–October in 2009 and 2010. A total of 131 leaf beetle species were collected. In total, 88 species were detected from KL and 95 species from KD. Adult activity periods of the collected leaf beetle species were determined and their frequency and dominancy values were provided. The results showed slight differences in terms of the seasonal activity of the species in the two national parks. According to Shannon-Wiener index, the highest leaf beetle diversity among the studied months was found in early June (H': 4.23) and late May (H': 4.17). Sørensen similarity index of the species according to different seasonal periods showed three distinct seasonal periods: a) early April, b) late April to early July, c) late July to late October. Almost all leaf beetles showed a seasonal distribution, with the highest dominance during spring and early summer. The main reason for these different seasonal activities is that leaf beetle species are related to the quality and availability of host-plants.


Investigations were undertaken on loose shell syndrome (LSS) of cultured Penaeus monodon during the period 2009 - 2010. The infected shrimps were collected from culture ponds of east and west Godavari districts in Andhra Pradesh, India and were subjected to microbiological and histopathological studies. Four species of Vibrio were isolated from the diseased shrimps and were identified as V. harveyi, V. alginolyticus, V. metschnikovii and V. fluvialis based on morphological characteristics and biochemical tests. Histopathological studies revealed the presence of occlusion and inclusion bodies of monodon baculovirus (MBV), hepatopancreatic parvo-like virus (HPV), and white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) in hepatopancreatic and gill tissues. All the LSS affected shrimps collected during the present study were found infected with V. harveyi and concurrent infections of other Vibrio species were observed in 40% of the samples. Prevalence of infection with WSSV, MBV and HPV was less compared to Vibrio infections. Granuloma formation was observed in the affected tissues due to bacterial invasions. Multiple viral infections in association with Vibrio sp. were also observed in 2% of LSS affected shrimp.


Context: The accessibility of pharmacies in neighboring countries has facilitated the trend of acquiring medications outside of local borders. However, scientific data assessing the drug content and quality of these medications has not increased in a corresponding fashion. Objective: This study seeks to augment existing scientific data. Materials and methods: Seventeen products that were obtained from pharmacies in Mexico were evaluated for active ingredient content. The active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) assessed included amoxicillin, ampicillin, ciprofloxacin, levothyroxine, sildenafil citrate, sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim, and warfarin. API content was analysed with high performance liquid chromatography assays and the resultant data interpreted by applying United States Pharmacopeia (USP) acceptability limits. Results: All of the samples analyzed for the two ciprofloxacin products and the two ampicillin products were found to be within the USP limits. Of the four different sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim products tested, all were within USP limits for sulfamethoxazole, but contained 2–3 individual units which were outside of USP limits for trimethoprim. Several of the remaining products (amoxicillin, levothyroxine, sildenafil citrate, and warfarin) had individual units that fell outside of the USP limits, although only one of the levothyroxine products (1 out of 20 tablets tested) and both sildenafil citrate products (all of the units tested) contained units outside of ±25% label claim.


This research was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of using a LITEE multimedia case study to teaching concepts in engineering courses. The LITEE Superstar case study was implemented in an engineering Project Management course. Numerous surveys regarding student expectations, outcomes, and attitudes were collected and results are presented herein. Overall, the study provided evidence that the students felt that the LITEE case study added value to the course via the different methods of teaching material, aided in the understanding of the project selection process, and ultimately helped them be successful in their course project which was conducted for a real rural Missouri city. The data was unable to be tracked on a per student basis; this yields areas for future research to track individual student improvement and attitudes. This research provides evidence that using multimedia case studies, such as the case studies published by LITEE, are effective and well received by engineering students in their coursework.


Ventral tegmental area (VTA) and substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) are midbrain structures known to be involved in mediating reward in rodents. Lateral habenula (LHb) is considered as a negative reward source and it is reported that stimulation of the LHb rapidly induces inhibition of firing in midbrain dopamine neurons. Interestingly, the phasic fall in LHb neuronal activity may follow the excitation of dopamine neurons in response to reward-predicting stimuli. The VTA and SNpc give rise to dopaminergic projections that innervate the LHb, which is also known to be involved in processing painful stimuli. But it's unclear what physiological effects these inputs have on habenular function. In this study we distinguished the LHb pain-activated neurons of the Wistar rats and assessed their electrophysiological responsiveness to the stimulation of the VTA and SNpc with either single-pulse stimulation (300 µA, 0.5 Hz) or tetanic stimulation (80 µA, 25 Hz). Single-pulse stimulation that was delivered to either midbrain structure triggered transient inhibition of firing of ∼90% of the LHb pain-activated neurons. However, tetanic stimulation of the VTA tended to evoke an elevation in neuronal firing rate. We conclude that LHb pain-activated neurons can receive diverse reward-related signals originating from midbrain dopaminergic structures, and thus participate in the regulation of the brain reward system via both positive and negative feedback mechanisms.


: A system of two coupled integro-differential equations for the propagation of sipkes is presented. A qualitative consideration of the system shows possibility of concentrational phase transition in the neuron ensemble from the state of spontaneous firing to the strong periodic oscilltation activity. Naer the point of the phase transition the neuron ensemble becomes labile, which maintains appropriate conditons for the existence of mosaic structures in the neuron network.


Numerous studies have shown that radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation (RF‐EMR) may negatively affect human health. We detected the effect of 3500 MHz RF‐EMR on anxiety‐like behavior and the auditory cortex (ACx) in guinea pigs. Forty male guinea pigs were randomly divided into four groups and exposed to a continuous wave of 3500 MHz RF‐EMF at an average specific absorption rate (SAR) of 0, 2, 4, or 10 W/kg for 72 h. After exposure, malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, antioxidant enzyme activity, anxiety‐like behavior, hearing thresholds, cell ultrastructure, and apoptosis were detected. Our results revealed that hearing thresholds and basic indexes of animal behavior did not change significantly after exposure (P > 0.05). However, the MDA levels of ACx were increased (P < 0.05), and catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH‐px) activities were decreased (P < 0.05) in the exposure groups compared to the sham group. Ultrastructural changes of ACx, including swollen mitochondria and layered myelin sheaths, were observed. Cytochrome‐c relocalization, caspase‐9, and cleaved caspase‐3 activation were detected in the exposure groups. In conclusion, these results suggest that oxidative stress is an important mechanism underlying the biological effects of RF‐EMR, which can induce ultrastructural damage to the ACx and cell apoptosis through a mitochondria‐dependent mechanism. Moreover, oxidative stress, apoptosis induction and ultrastructural damage increase in a SAR‐dependent manner. However, RF‐EMR does not increase hearing thresholds or induce anxiety. Bioelectromagnetics. 43:106–118, 2022. © 2021 Bioelectromagnetics Society.


This paper examines the impact of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems from the perspective of IT architecture choices. The underlying IT architecture has implications for executive sponsorship, capital investment, ongoing support, user training, and process reengineering. This paper proposes a framework to guide the assessment of architecture choices, gaps, and implications in relation to an enterprise's current IT infrastructure in three scenarios – the mainframe-centric environment, the network-centric environment, and the Internet-centric environment.


Purpose

This study examines the use of high-expertise sources such as doctors to sell dietary supplements and the use of skeptical statements toward approved drugs in the act of selling dietary supplements.

Design/methodology/approach

The research questions are addressed by means of a scenario experiment that manipulated two independent variables: expertise (high- vs low-expertise) and skepticism toward prescription drugs (present vs absent).

Findings

Surprisingly, skeptical statements from a low-expertise source toward a prescription drug made while selling dietary supplements was found to have an insignificant effect on selling effectiveness (willingness to recommend and perceived product effectiveness). However, when a high-expertise source (doctor) did the same, selling effectiveness was reduced.

Research limitations/implications

The paper identifies a boundary condition for competitive selling claims of dietary supplements. Doctors are likely to get away with claims regarding the efficacy of dietary supplements until they criticize a more credible prescription drug in favor of supplements.

Practical implications

Claims made by a low-expertise sources and high-expertise sources in the act of selling dietary supplements must be carefully considered. Conventional wisdom tactics may be ineffective.

Originality/value

This paper uniquely demonstrates the role of competitive skepticism at different levels of expertise. The findings of this study suggest that managers, in especially the multi-level marketing industry, should reconsider some of their selling tactics.


The cost-effectiveness of each of the six hydroxymethylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors currently available was studied. For a cohort of patients between the ages of 60 and 85 years with coronary heart disease (CHD) who were taking atorvastatin, cerivastatin, fluvastatin, lovastatin, pravastatin, or simvastatin, the number of survivors, the annual direct cost per survivor, and the annual indirect cost saving per survivor associated with the predicted reduction in the rate of nonfatal myocardial infarction recurrences were projected. Percent reductions in excess mortality due to CHD were derived from the relative risks of cardiac mortality in treatment versus control groups in the Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study (4S). Doses necessary to provide a long-term 35.57% reduction in low-density- lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, as seen in 4S, were estimated. One-way sensitivity analyses were performed to assess the importance of the baseline assumptions. The cost per year of life saved ranged from $5,421 with atorvastatin to $15,073 with lovastatin. The patient's age at time of diagnosis of CHD had a major impact on the cost-effectiveness of the drugs; cost-effectiveness per year of life saved was higher for older patients than younger patients. The six currently marketed HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors varied widely in cost and effectiveness in producing reductions in the LDL-cholesterol concentrations that have been shown to prevent recurrent MI; there was an approximately threefold difference in the cost per year of life saved between the most cost-effective and least cost-effective agents.


ABSTRACT Yoon, B.I.; Choi, N.Y.; Gu, B.H.; Kim, J.W.; Song, J.I.; Lim, C.W.; Kim, M.S., and Woo, S.B., 2016. Study of the residual flow and salinity during the spring and neap tides at the Seokmo channels, South Korea. In: Vila-Concejo, A.; Bruce, E.; Kennedy, D.M., and McCarroll, R.J. (eds.), Proceedings of the 14th International Coastal Symposium (Sydney, Australia). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue, No. 75, pp. 1422 - 1426. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The Seokmo (SM) channel of Gyeonggi Bay, located in the South Korea, exhibits unique and complex estuarine circulation characteristics. This study analyzed the salinity observations, and the cross-sectional variations in the residual current and strengths of stratification by tidal current, along two cross-channels transects, during the 13-hour periods of the spring and neap tides, respectively. The cross-sectional averaged residual velocity, at the northern entrance of the SM channel, showed a seaward directional flow of 0.05 m/s during the neap tide, and 0.21 m/s during spring tide. At the southern entrance, the residual current showed two-layer circulation with a landward flow in the bottom layer, and a seaward flow in the surface layer. The spatial characteristics of the landward residual current, at the southern entrance are different for the eastern and western sides of the channel, depending on the spring and neap tidal cycles. The variation in the location of the observed landward residual current, caused by the changes in spring and neap tidal cycles, and the correlation between this variation and the stratification, were analyzed using the Richardson number. At the northern and southern end of the SM channel, a landward residual current appeared in the location that Richardson number was large. These results suggested that the cross-sectional residual current pattern, at the SM channel, changes depending on freshwater and topographical influences, and is sensitive to tidal changes, such as changes in the spring and neap tidal cycles.


Abstract : Fatigue crack propagation was studied in Ti-6Al-4V, Ti-7Al-2Cb-1Ta, Ti-6Al-6V-2Sn-1Cu-0.5Fe, Ti-6Al-3V-1Mo, and Ti-7Al-2.5Mo alloys. These materials possess yield strengths in excess of 100 ksi, combined with favorable levels of fracture toughness, and they are currently under evaluation for application in large welded structures. Where an application involves repetitive loading, a knowledge of fatigue crack propagation characteristics is required for failure-safe design against fracture. Fabrication and non-destructive testing procedures cannot guarantee that cracklike defects, which can grow to a critical size, will not be present in plate-thickness sections containing welded joints. In addition, the role of an aggressive environment, such as salt water, in this failure mechanism is of the utmost importance. Fatigue crack propagation data were taken in both ambient room air and 3.5% salt-water environments. Surface-notched plate bend specimens were cycled in full-reverse (tension-to-compression) sinusoidal loading. The fatigue crack was observed optically, and the crack growth rate was described as an empirical power-law function of the total (elastic-plus-plastic) strain range. Fatigue crack growth rate relationships were first developed in an air environment and then employed as baselines for establishing the effect of the salt-water environment. Comparisons were made among the fatigue crack propagation characteristics of the several titanium alloys and among a broad spectrum of high-strength structural alloys, both ferrous and nonferrous, previously studied. (Author)


Studies of the construct of service quality have traditionally been undertaken from the perspective of the service receiver. More recently, research has focused on both the service provider's perspective and the service receiver's perspective. In addition, there have also been some triadic network approaches to the study of service quality. However, there has been very little research into sequential service quality in service-encounter chains (that is, consecutive service performances in a series of service encounters). The incorporation of connected service encounters in services management can improve understanding of sequential service quality in service-encounter chains. This paper provides a customized construct of sequential service quality and  highlights the importance of time, context, and performance threshold in service-encounter chains. Furthermore, the paper presents a customized six-dimensional construct of sequential service quality.


Today, New Orleans education stands at a crossroads in deciding how to achieve equity for its vulnerable student populations. One route relies on centralizing services, planning, and oversight to ensure that every school provides an appropriate education to any type of student that walks through the schoolhouse door. This path embraces the version of inclusion equality set forth in Brown v. Board of Education: "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." The other route relies on the market driven reform underlying the charter movement to create specialized schools to fill the unmet demands of vulnerable populations. This route embraces an emerging view of equality- where separate can be equal, possibly even superior, if parents are empowered to maximize their child's academic outcomes in specialized settings. This Article argues that New Orleans is headed down this latter route and identifies the lessons that can be learned from its evolution to a system of schools.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The vascular supply of extra-axial brain tumors provided by the external carotid artery has not been studied with RPI. The purpose of this work was to determine whether RPI assessment is feasible and provides information on the vascular supply of hypervascular extra-axial brain tumors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Conventional ASL and RPI studies were performed at 3T in 8 consecutive patients with meningioma. On the basis of MRA results, we performed RPI by placing a selective labeling slab over the external carotid artery. Five patients underwent DSA before surgery. Two neuroradiologists independently evaluated the overall image quality, the degree of tumor perfusion, and the extent of the tumor vascular territory on conventional ASL and RPI. RESULTS: In overall quality of conventional ASL and RPI, no images interfered with interpretation. In comparisons of the vascular tumor territory identified by the conventional ASL and RPI techniques, the territories coincided in 3 cases, were partially different in 4, and completely different in 1. The interobserver agreement was very good (κ = 0.82). In 5 patients who underwent DSA, the 4 patients in whom the dominant supply was the external carotid artery were scored as coincided or partially different. The 1 patient in whom the vascular supply was from the internal carotid artery was scored as completely different. CONCLUSIONS: RPI with selective labeling of the external carotid artery is feasible and may provide information about the vascular supply of hypervascular extra-axial brain tumors.


Two heterogeneous Drosophila melanogaster populations were subjected to selection for an increased rate of embryonic development by picking out the first 10% of hatching larvae. After repeating this procedure in 15 generations, "fast" populations were obtained, in which the duration of embryonic development at high temperature (31-32 degrees C) was 30-40 min less than in nonselected control populations. The results of preliminary experiments on substituting the second and third chromosomes in the selected and control populations provide evidence that selected genes responsible for accelerated development are located on the second chromosome. Inbreeding in 12 generations of selected populations was used to obtain about 40 lines homozygous, in particular, at the alcohol dehydrogenase gene. In four lines, the developmental rate was higher than in a homozygous control line, but others did not differ from control or developed more slowly. The duration of embryonic development at 32 degrees C in fast lines was 50-70 min shorter than in control, but this difference was significantly less at lower temperatures (25 and 17 degrees C). Hence, high temperature is primarily a factor in providing conditions for the expression of genes determining the developmental rate, rather than a factor of selection for these genes. It is suggested that selected genes modify developmental rate dependence on temperature.


Background: While mental health is a core part of primary care, there are few validated quality measures and little relevant internationally published research. Consensus panel methods are a useful means of developing quality measures where evidence is sparse and/or opinions are diverse. However, little is known about the dynamics of consensus techniques and the factors that influence the judgements and ratings of panels and individual panellists. Objectives: (1) To describe differences in panel ratings on the quality of primary mental health care services by patient, carer, professional and managerial panels within a Delphi procedure; and (2) to explore why different panels and panellists rate quality indicators of primary mental health care differently. Design: Two round postal Delphi technique and exploratory semi-structured interviews. Participants: 115 panellists across 11 panels. Eleven panellists were subsequently interviewed. Results: 87 of 334 indicators (26%) were rated face valid by all 11 panels. There was little disagreement within panel ratings but significant differences between panels. The GP panel rated the least number of indicators valid (n = 138, 41%) and carers the most (n = 304, 91%). The way in which panellists interpreted and conceptualised the indicators and their definition of quality of mental health care affected the way in which participants made their ratings. Conclusions: Stakeholders in primary mental health care have diverse views of quality of care and these differences translate into how they rate quality indicators. Exploratory interviews suggest that ratings are influenced by past experience, expectations, definitions of quality of care, and perceived power relationships between stakeholders.


T Historical Manuscripts Commission (HMC), in its annual Accessions to Repositories exercise, collects information from over two hundred record repositories throughout the British Isles relating to their manuscript accessions during the previous twelve months. The information is then edited and used to produce a number of thematic digests which are distributed for publication in a number of learned journals and newsletters, as well as being made available in full on the Commission's Web site (www.hmc.gov.uk). The information is also added to the indexes of the National Register of Archives (NRA), which the Commission maintains as the central point for collecting and disseminating information about the location of manuscript sources relating to British history outside the public records. The NRA, which currently contains over 43,000 lists and catalogues of archives, can be consulted in HMC's public search room at Quality House, Quality Court, Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1HP, whilst the indexes to the NRA are also available on the Commission's Web site. In addition, HMC staff will answer limited and specific enquiries by post, fax (020 7831 3550) and e-mail (email@example.com). Readers should note that dates for records in this digest are given when known, but that these are covering dates which do not necessarily indicate the presence of records for all intervening years. Records have been included in the digest regardless of whether the deposit has yet been fully catalogued, and readers are advised to check with the relevant repository as to whether this, or any other factors, may prohibit access to the documents.


Purpose: To investigate the regional differences in low vision (LV) provision across Canada and to identify predictive factors for the provision of more extensive low vision services (LVS). Methods: Practising optometrists across Canada were invited to participate in a questionnaire that investigated personal and practice demographics, levels of LVS offered, patterns of referrals and barriers to provision of LVS. Results: 459 optometrists responded. Predictive factors for providing more extensive LVS included: optometrists with >15 years of practice, having a local LV optometrist/ophthalmologist within one day's travel, not having a multi-disciplinary LV clinic within one-day's travel, working in a practice in a population of <50,000, and having 2+ optometrists in the same practice. Regional differences were found in the following variables: the presence of an optometrist offering LVS within the respondent's primary practice, referral criteria, the type of LV provider receiving the referral, and the perceived quality of LVS. Conclusions: LVS are provided differently across Canada and the availability of government-funded LVS appeared to enhance optometric referrals to multidisciplinary low vision clinics. Optometrists who were in a group practice setting, who had practiced for >15 years and who worked in a less populated area were more likely to provide more extensive LVS.


Laser cladding technique was used to form Ni3Si intermetallic composite coating reinforced by in-situ formation NbC particles on Ni-based superalloy substrate. The process parameters were optimized to obtain cladding. The effect of Nb-C addition to the microstructure of the coating was investigated. The morphology of reinforcement particles was discussed. The experimental results showed that an excellent bonding between the coating and the substrate was ensured by a strong metallurgical interface. The clad coating was very good and free from cracks and pores. The microstructure of the coating was mainly composed of Ni(Si), Ni3(Si, Nb) and NbC. The NbC particles were formed by in-situ reaction between Nb and C during laser cladding process. NbC particles were homogeneously distributed in the composite material. Moreover, the maximum size of NbC particles was more than 4 μm.


Previous research by Kathryn Hardin (2017) suggests that chronic rumination of a recent, sad event by college students is associated with better performance on memory tests. Extending this research, the present study uses data collected from a previous study where participants told a recent, sad event in their lives, and were then randomly assigned to either ruminate on the story or not while they performed other memory tests. Participants were asked to retell the stories after performing the memory tests. The present study analyzes the changes between the first tellings of the stories to the second, and the difference in an individual's recall of semantic and episodic information after rumination. Understanding how the stories change before versus after rumination, and how consistent individuals were with details in their recollection is an important psychological question, as episodic and semantic recall have been shown to differently influence affect. We hypothesize that those with experimentally-induced rumination will provide more consistent recollections of stories and will be less likely to leave out episodic or semantic information from the first to the second telling. Questionnaire data on chronic rumination tendencies and depression symptoms provides further insight into the behaviors already exhibited by the participants.


Common Access to Biological Resources and Information (CABRI) service is a 'one-stop-shop' for materials that are collected by a number of European culture collections that engage themselves in a quality service for the scientific community by adhering to Quality Guidelines for the management of resources and related information. It includes collections' catalogues that can be searched in an SRS implementation. A simple search facility, including a synonym search and a shopping cart, is also available. Within the European Biological Resource Centres Network (EBRCN) project, an extension and improvement of the catalogues' information is under way. This includes adding links to bibliographic databanks and sequence databases. Revision of 'in-house' controlled vocabularies used by data annotators is under way, in order to improve the setting up of external links, and new links to biochemical pathways databases are being set up for some of the catalogues. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The acoustic black hole (ABH) phenomenon in thin-walled structures with a tailored power-law-profiled thickness allows for a gradual change of the phase velocity of flexural waves and energy focalization. However, ideal ABH structures are difficult to realize and suffer from potential structural problems for practical applications. It is therefore important to explore alternative configurations that can eventually alleviate the structural deficiency of the ideal ABH structures, while maintaining similar ability for wave manipulation. In this study, the so-called imperfect two-dimensional ABH indentation with different tailored power-law-profiled is proposed and investigated. It is shown that the new indentation profile also enables a drastic increase in the energy density around the tapered area. However, the energy focalization phenomena and the process are shown to be different from those of conventional ABH structure. With the new indentation profile, the stringent power-law thickness variation in ideal ABH structures can be relaxed, resulting in energy focalization similar to a lens. Different from an ideal ABH structure, the energy focalization point is offset from, and downstream of indentation center, depending on the structural geometry. Additional insight on energy focalization in the indentation is quantitatively analyzed by numerical simulations using structural power flow. Finally, the phenomenon of flexural wave focalization is verified by experiments using laser ultrasonic scanning technique. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4034080]


Anatomical features of the intercondylar roof with respect to the native anterior cruciate ligament and proposed substitute ligament attachment sites in anterior cruciate ligament reconstructive surgery were investigated. Using cadaveric knees and K wires, radiographs were obtained with markers placed on the roof and the tibial and femoral attachment sites. In the knees studied, the intercondylar roof was V shaped with distinct anterior and posterior limbs. The posterior limb corresponded to the radiographic line commonly called Blumensaat's line. The anterior limb was oriented 25 degrees more vertical than the posterior limb and impinged on the anterior cruciate ligament in extension. In this pilot study, estimates of the degree of impingement in full extension were made by drawing lines representative of 10-mm grafts at selected sites on lateral radiographs. A graft placed at the central portion of the native femoral site to the normal tibial site did not impinge, while a graft placed at the traditional femoral site to an anteromedial tibial site impinged as much as 8 mm throughout its entire extent. This pilot study presents preliminary, provocative information suggesting that the intercondylar roof is actually V shaped and that substitute ligaments placed at attachment sites commonly used today may impinge over most of their length.


For most of the twentieth century, West Virginia was a college basketball hotbed. Its major programs were a success, but perhaps even more successful was the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, composed of fifteen schools that rarely earned headlines but set many records and became an identifiable part of small town culture and a source of state pride. This ethos exists today in small town Kentucky and Indiana but struggles to survive in West Virginia. Part of the reason is the state's population decline since the 1950s. That, author Bob Kuska argues, along with the rise of cable and satellite TV and the major college basketball empire, stole the thunder--and the crowds--from these small town communities. And yet, these teams play on in obscurity and still find success. Against the backdrop of West Virginia's great small college history, Kuska chronicles the day-to-day struggles and triumphs of one modern school, Alderson-Broaddus College in Philippi, West Virginia. What happened to that team during a rags-to-riches yearlong stretch would've been remarkable at any level, let alone at a school with very low athletic department budgets and low visibility that makes recruiting talented players almost impossible. As he alternates between coaches and players, past and present, Kuska contrasts the fan enthusiasm of the conference's early years with the apathy that plagues the teams of the twenty-first century. If sports fans can get past the media and the madness that has made college basketball increasingly similar to professional basketball in its self-indulgence and sensationalism, they are left with leagues like the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference--scrappy, intelligent, and spirited--and still finding ways to succeed and thrive.


Surface roughness and burr formation are among the most important surface quality metrics which determine the quality of the fabricated parts. High precision machined microparts with complex features require micromachining process to achieve the desired yet stringent surface finish and dimensional accuracy. In this research, the effect of cutting speed (m/min), feed rate (μm/tooth), depth of cut (μm) and three types of tool coating (AlTiN, nACo and TiSiN) were analyzed to study their effect on surface roughness and burr formation during the micromachining of Inconel 718. The analysis was carried out using an optical profilometer, scanning electron microscope and statistical technique. Machining tests were performed at low speed with a feed rate (μm/tooth) below the cutting-edge radius for 10 mm cutting length using a carbide tool of 0.5 mm diameter on a CNC milling machine. From this research, it was determined that the depth of cut was the main factor affecting burr formation, while cutting velocity was the main factor affecting the surface roughness. In addition, cutting tool coating did not significantly affect either surface roughness or burr formation due to the difference in coefficient of friction. The types of burr formed during micromilling of Inconel 718 were mainly influenced by the depth of cut and feed rate (μm/tooth) and were not affected by the cutting velocity. It was also concluded that the results for the surface finish at low-speed machining are comparable to that of transition and high-speed machining, while the burr width found during confirmation experiments at low-speed machining was also within an


ABSTRACT Antimicrobial peptides are a source of novel agents that could be useful for treatment of the chronic lung infections that afflict cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. Efficacy depends on antimicrobial activity against the major pathogens of CF patients, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Haemophilus influenzae, in the environment of the CF patient's airway. We describe the in vitro efficacies of derivatives of histatins, which are histidine-rich peptides produced by the salivary glands of humans and higher primates. P-113, a peptide containing 12 of the 24 amino acid residues of the parent molecule, histatin 5, retained full antibacterial activity and had a good spectrum of activity in vitro against the prominent pathogens of CF patients. However, P-113 was not active in the presence of purulent sputum from CF patients. In contrast, P-113d, the mirror-image peptide with the amino acid residues in the d configuration, was stable in sputum, was as active as P-113 against pathogens of CF patients in the absence of sputum and retained significant activity in the presence of sputum from CF patients. Recombinant human DNase, which effectively liquefies sputum, enhanced the activity of P-113d in undiluted sputum against both exogenous (added) bacteria and endogenous bacteria. Because of its properties, P-113d shows potential as an inhalant in chronic suppressive therapy for CF patients.


In many emerging biotechnologies, functional proteins must maintain their native structures on or near interfaces (e.g., tethered peptide arrays, protein coated nanoparticles, and amphiphilic peptide micelles). Because the presence of a surface is known to dramatically alter the thermostability of tethered proteins, strategies to stabilize surface-bound proteins are highly sought. Here, we show that polymer conjugation allows for significant control over the secondary structure and thermostability of a model surface-tethered peptide. We use molecular dynamics simulations to examine the folding behavior of a coarse-grained helical peptide that is conjugated to polymers of various lengths and at various conjugation sites. These polymer variations reveal surprisingly diverse behavior, with some stabilizing and some destabilizing the native helical fold. We show that ideal-chain polymer entropies explain these varied effects and can quantitatively predict shifts in folding temperature. We then develop a generic theoretical model, based on ideal-chain entropies, that predicts critical lengths for conjugated polymers to effect changes in the folding of a surface-bound protein. These results may inform new design strategies for the stabilization of surface-associated proteins important for a range technological applications.


Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a group of metabolic diseases with hyperglycemia characteristic that happens because anomaly of insulin secretion or insulin activity. Insulin deficiency in type 2 DM caused di s lipidemia. Red rice are contain fiber , essential fatty acid and Gamma Amino Butiric Acid (GABA). This research intended to know the effect iveness of red rice to decrease total cholesterol levels of patient with type 2 DM. Clinical test with quasi experimental and research design non randomized control-group pretest-postest design was used for the research method. Total samples of this research are 36 samples . The treated group was given the red rice during 6 days on breakfast and dinner, while the control group did not have any intervention. The research showed that average cholesterol levels in the beginning and finale of treated group was 235,69 mg/dL and 198,56 mg/dL, while average cholesterol levels in the beginning and finale of control group was 235,72 mg/dL and 256,50 mg/dL. From this research, red rice has effective to decrease  total cholesterol levels of patients with type 2 DM . Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, Red Rice, Cholesterol total levels


Machine Learning is an artificial intelligence subprocess applied to automatically and quickly perform mathematical calculations to data in order to build models used to make predictions. Technical papers related to machine learning algorithms applications have being increasingly published in many oil and gas disciplines over the last five years, revolutionizing the way engineers approach to their works, and sharing innovating solutions that contributes to an increase in efficiency.
 In this paper, Machine Learning models are built to predict inverse rate of penetration (ROPI) and surface torque for a well located at Gulf of Mexico shallow waters. Three type of analysis were performed. Pre-drill analysis, predicting the parameters without any data of the target well in the database. Drilling analysis, running the model every sixty meters, updating the database with information of the target well and predicting the parameters ahead the bit. Sensitivity parameter optimization analysis was performed iterating weight on bit and rotary speed values as model inputs in order identify the optimum combination to deliver the best drilling performance under the given conditions.
 The Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) library in Python programming language environment, was used to build the models. Model performance was satisfactory, overcoming the challenge of using drilling parameters input manually by drilling bit engineers. The database was built with data from different fields and wells. Two databases were created to build the models, one of the models did not consider logging while drilling (LWD) data in order to determine its importance on the predictions.
 Pre-drill surface torque prediction showed better performance than ROPI. Predictions ahead the bit performance was good both for torque and ROPI. Sensitivity parameter optimization showed better resolution with the database that includes LWD data.


To help improve the performance of database-centric cloud-based web applications, developers usually use caching frameworks to speed up database accesses. Such caching frameworks require extensive knowledge of the application to operate effectively. However, all too often developers have limited knowledge about the intricate details of their own application. Hence, most developers find configuring caching frameworks a challenging and time-consuming task that requires extensive and scattered code changes. Furthermore, developers may also need to frequently change such configurations to accommodate the ever changing workload. In this paper, we propose CacheOptimizer, a lightweight approach that helps developers optimize the configuration of caching frameworks for web applications that are implemented using Hibernate. CacheOptimizer leverages readily-available web logs to create mappings between a workload and database accesses. Given the mappings, CacheOptimizer discovers the optimal cache configuration using coloured Petri nets, and automatically adds the appropriate cache configurations to the application. We evaluate CacheOptimizer on three open-source web applications. We find that i) CacheOptimizer improves the throughput by 27--138%; and ii) after considering both the memory cost and throughput improvement, CacheOptimizer still brings statistically significant gains (with mostly large effect sizes) in comparison to the application's default cache configuration and to blindly enabling all possible caches.


The central concern of this article is the relationship between ethnography and social theory. With the help of 'consequent processualism', a social ontology that centers on the co-constitution of people, cultural forms, social relations, and the built environment, this essay makes an argument for what should be at the core of social theorizing: the principles underpinning the dynamics of processes in the nexus between actions and reactions, igniting social formation in webbed flows of effects across time and space. The article shows how consequent processualism is able to implode time-honored, reifying conceptual dichotomies, such as micro-macro, event-structure, agency-social structure, to open new vistas on the social. Building on consequent processualism, the essay argues on the one hand for the significance of theory for the practice of ethnography in identifying and delimiting fruitful field sites. Conversely, it advocates ethnography as the method of choice for developing social theory.


Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer related deaths in men. The primary obstacle in effective treatment of prostate cancer is the progression of the disease from a hormone-dependent to a hormone-independent state. Previous studies indicate that activation of the mammalian Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway may be involved in progression of prostate cancer to androgen independence. Recent data indicate that the combination of androgen deprivation with mTOR inhibition provides an additive anti-tumor effect in vivo. mTOR activity is regulated by both growth factors and nutrients, suggesting that certain dietary interventions may have anti-cancer effects through regulation of mTOR. Epidemiological studies indicate an inverse relation between dietary intake of omega-3 fatty acids and prostate cancer risk. Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to inhibit prostate cell growth both in vitro and in vivo. Preliminary data from our laboratory demonstrated that treatment of LNCaP prostate cancer cells with omega-3 fatty acids, specifically docosahexaonoic acid (DHA), delayed development of androgen independence in vitro. This delay correlated with a decrease in protein expression of downstream targets of mTOR regulation, including phosphorylated S6, Bcl-2, and cyclin D. We hypothesize that omega-3 fatty acids may prevent prostate cancer progression to a hormone independent phenotype in part through modulation of mTOR. To test this hypothesis, we established stable transfectant LNCaP cell lines that express a constitutively active mTOR. These clones displayed less sensitivity to hormone deprivation, resembling the response observed in our previously generated hormone refractory LNCaP cell line. Importantly, these clones with constitutively active mTOR also showed resistance to the inhibitory effects of DHA. Ongoing studies are using these clones to determine if omega-3 fatty acids mediate their effect on mTOR in an Akt-independent manner to delay progression of prostate cancer to a hormone refractory phenotype. We will investigate alternative pathways through which mTOR activity is modulated in prostate cancer signaling, These studies indicate that mTOR is critical for cellular response to hormone ablation, and that mTOR may be a viable target for delaying progression to a hormone refractory disease.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5574. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-5574


The following case study aims to explore the knowledge transfer and its implications in the context of a soft service firm. The complexity of knowledge itself and the knowledge transfer process in service firms brings new challenges. The phenomenon was investigated by the application of grounded theory. Interviews were conducted with employees at a company present in the Quick Service Restaurant segment. It resulted in several findings that were not reported by previous literature. Firstly, within the case company there was multiple formal networks that circulate separately, except for interconnections through the restaurant managers. Within the organization personal relationships proved to be the most important factor for knowledge sharing. Secondly, within a large franchise network, an actor might take the role of knowledge creator due to its size and influence the other franchises in the network. Thirdly, knowledge transfer, implementation and innovation are hindered when work environment is characterized by stress and high pressure to perform. Fourthly, communication improves operation efficiency and employee motivation. This study provides navigations to future research and can be used as guidance in regard to knowledge transfer for practitioners, managers or other interested.


Background Snakebite is a major public health problem in many developing countries. Farmers are particularly exposed to snakes, and due to their rural location often experience delays in accessing formal healthcare. The reasons to use traditional healers may include difficulties in accessing formal healthcare, certain beliefs about snakes and snake venom, tradition, and trust in the capacity of traditional healers. Traditional healing, however, may have serious consequences in terms of delays or added complications. There is little in-depth current information about the reasons for its continued use for snakebite. As part of a health services development project to improve health outcomes for snakebite patients, community attitudes to the use of traditional healers were explored in the Mandalay region of Myanmar. Methodology & findings With the objective of learning from local communities, information was generated in three communities using participatory appraisal methods with the communities, and focus group discussions with the local healthcare staff. Many snakebite victims in these communities use traditional healing. Reasons include transport difficulties, low cost for traditional healing, inadequacy of anti-snake venom in the formal healthcare sector, and traditional beliefs, as traditional healing practices are rooted in many cultural and traditional factors. The communities reported that even if access to medical care were improved, traditional healing would continue to be used. Conclusion These findings point to the need for working with traditional healers for prevention, appropriate first aid and timely access to effective treatment for snakebite.


Outlier mining is an important data analysis task to distinguish exceptional outliers from regular objects. For outlier mining in the full data space, there are well established methods which are successful in measuring the degree of deviation for outlier ranking. However, in recent applications traditional outlier mining approaches miss outliers as they are hidden in subspace projections. Especially, outlier ranking approaches measuring deviation on all available attributes miss outliers deviating from their local neighborhood only in subsets of the attributes. In this work, we propose a novel outlier ranking based on the objects deviation in a statistically selected set of relevant subspace projections. This ensures to find objects deviating in multiple relevant subspaces, while it excludes irrelevant projections showing no clear contrast between outliers and the residual objects. Thus, we tackle the general challenges of detecting outliers hidden in subspaces of the data. We provide a selection of subspaces with high contrast and propose a novel ranking based on an adaptive degree of deviation in arbitrary subspaces. In thorough experiments on real and synthetic data we show that our approach outperforms competing outlier ranking approaches by detecting outliers in arbitrary subspace projections.


[1] Poorly understood processes controlling retention of meltwater in snow and firn have important implications for Greenland Ice Sheet's mass balance and flow dynamics. Here we present results from a 3 year (2007–2009) field campaign studying firn thermal profiles and density structure along an 85 km transect of the percolation zone of west Greenland. We installed one or two thermistor strings at 14 study sites, each string having 32 sensors spaced between 0 and 10 m depth. Data from our network of over 500 sensors were collected at 15–60 min intervals for 1–2 years, thereby recording the thermal signature of meltwater infiltration and refreezing during annual melt cycles. We document three types of heating of firn related to different mechanisms of meltwater motion and freezing, including heterogeneous breakthrough events, wetting front advance, and year-round heating from freezing of residual deep pore water. Vertically infiltrating meltwater commonly penetrates through cold firn accumulated over decades, even where ice layers are present at the previous summer surface and where ice layer thickness exceeds several decimeters. The offset between the mean annual air temperature and the 10 m firn temperature reveals the elevation dependency of meltwater retention along our transect. The firn is > 10°C warmer than the mean annual air temperature at the region where meltwater runoff initiates. During 2007–2009, runoff was limited to elevations lower than ∼1500 m with no sharp "runoff limit"; rather, the ratio of retention to runoff transitioned from all retention to all runoff across a ∼20 km wide zone.


Holographic currents and their associated Ward identities are derived in the framework of gravity/gauge duality. Holographic improvements of the energy-momentum tensor and R-symmetry current which are consistent with the Ward identities are displayed. The effects of specific string loop corrections to the bulk action are included as four derivative effective Lagrangian terms and their contributions to the trace and R-symmetry anomalies of the boundary theory are determined. As an example, the construction is applied to the N = 2 conformal supergravity which is taken to be dual to a boundary SU(N) X SU(N), N = 1 superconformal field theory.


Everybody knows the importance of an efficient financial market with efficient risk management and resource allocation and also with a great confidence level for the economy of any country (Rocca, 2001) The Brazilian stabilization plan, called Piano Real, which started in the middle of 1994, made it possible to control inflation in the Brazilian economy by mechanisms that allowed for a greater opening to foreign trade and increased the integration between the Brazilian financial system and international financial markets. Hence, the Piano Real provoked intense changes in our financial system. This article aims to offer a view on the Brazilian economic environment and show the most important events in the Brazilian financial and capital market after the advent of the monetary stabilization program, during the period between 1995 and2002. W observe the evolution of the main macroeconomic variables, the new structure of the financial system, the entrance of new international agents, the evolution of the capital market business and the behavior of public finances. Finally, we will demonstrate the qualitative improvements that occurred during the period and the need for important adjustments in public account management as well as in the increase of internal savings and, consequently, the level of investments in the Brazilian economy.


We derive theoretically and demonstrate experimentally an approach to range-from-focus with an important improvement over all previous methods. Previous methods rely on subjective measures of sharpness to focus a selected locale of the image. Our method uses measured physical features of the optical signal to generate an objective focus-error distance map. To compute range-from-focus-error distance it is not necessary to focus any part of the image: range is calculated directly from the lens formula by substituting the difference between the lens-to-sensor distance and the focus-error distance for the usual lens-to-image distance. Our method senses focus-error distance in parallel for all locales of the image, thus providing a complete range image. The method is based on our recognition that when an image sensor is driven in longitudinal oscillation ("dithered") the Fourier amplitude of the first harmonic component of the signal is proportional to the first power of the ratio of dither amplitude to focus-error distance, whereas the Fourier amplitude of the second harmonic component is proportional to the square of this ratio. The ratio of the first harmonic sin ot amplitude A1, to the second harmonic cos 2cot amplitude B2 is thus a constant (-4) multiple of the ratio of the focus-error distance to the dither amplitude. The focus-error distance measurement via the ratio of the first-to-second harmonic amplitudes is extremely robust in the sense that the scene's gray level structure, the spatial and temporal structure of the illumination, and technical noise sources (most of which affect the Fourier amplitudes multiplicatively) all appear identically in both amplitudes, thus cancelling in the ratio. Extracting the two Fourier amplitudes and taking their ratio could be accomplished, pixel-by-pixel, by some ambitious but not outrageous analog computing circuitry that we describe. We derive the method for a point scene model, and we demonstrate the method with apparatus that instantiates this modeL


In this paper, drafted as an input to the discussions at the EPC Strategic Council and the EPC's 20th Anniversary Conference on 13 October, Janis A. Emmanouilidis and Fabian Zuleeg discuss the future of the European project, and what's actually at stake; not only the fate of an international institution, but something more significant – it is about our way of life; it is about being an open, free, cooperative, internationalist and inclusive Europe. After a detailed analysis of the current state of the Union, the many complex and interlinked crises it is facing, and what (not) to expect next, they examine the underlying causes of the forces threatening today´s societies. The biggest threat of all, they argue, is the danger of a regressive and illiberal Europe – a Europe in which key values, orientations, norms, and principles are being undermined, and nationalistic, protectionist, discriminatory, xenophobic, intolerant and authoritarian elements get the upper hand. Although this publication does not offer a single answer or solution – or even suggest there is such a 'silver bullet' –, the authors do provide some guiding thoughts on how pro-European democratic forces can push back against the polarisation and rising insecurities that seem to have taken a hold of European societies.


We demonstrate the feasibility of long-period gratings (LPGs) written in microstructured polymer optical fibers (mPOFs) for detecting and measuring the strain rate and magnitude of engineering structures. We validate and compare the results of our experimental tests to a commercial fiber Bragg grating sensor. The encouraging results open the way to the use of LPG mPOF sensors in structural health monitoring applications.


We report three patients with cervical neuromuscular syndrome (CNMS) who followed similar courses. Autonomic imbalance may occur following neck muscle pain, and a wide variety of somatic symptoms including headache and vertigo appear and a generalized poor condition may continue for long periods. If many such somatic symptoms persist for months to years, symptoms of depression are exacerbated. The patients end up in psychiatric clinics, where they are diagnosed with depression, but they do not respond to antidepressants. Thus, they continue to suffer for many years. These patients eventually were completely cured with the resolution of neck pain by neck muscle treatment, using two types of special low-frequency therapy equipment, far-infrared radiation and acupuncture. When treatment for the neck muscles is initiated, symptoms of depression are quickly relieved, and diverse somatic symptoms disappear one after another as neck muscle tension is gradually alleviated (the number of abnormal neck muscle checkpoints decreases). Such a course suggests that neck muscle tension and chronic pain are closely related to depression. Neck muscle-related depression due to CNMS clearly differs from psychiatric conditions such as major and bipolar depression. In patients with neck muscle-related depression, symptoms of depression are not accompanied by ungrounded anxiety, a sense of emptiness, apathy, or self-rejection. Neck muscle abnormalities leading to CNMS are caused by head injury, whiplash injury, and a prolonged forward-bent-posture due to using a personal computer, playing computer games, texting, and engaging in machine-paced work such as assembly-line operation.


This research provides an effective approach to synthesize a hyperbranched star polymeric ionic liquid (HBPS-(PVIMBr)x) with a hyperbranched polystyrene core and poly(1-butyl-3-vinylimidazolium bromide) arms via a combination of atom transfer radical self-condensing vinyl polymerization (ATR-SCVP) and RAFT polymerization. The synthesis process ensures good structural controllability and consistency that all of the arms of the star polymers are ionized. The obtained star polymeric ionic liquid shows good thermal stability with initial thermal decomposition temperatures above 290 °C. Moreover, after anion exchange, the TFSI− anion based hyperbranched star polymeric ionic liquid (HBPS-(PVIMTFSI)x) is used as the all-solid polymer electrolyte for lithium-ion batteries. The electrolytes (HBPS-(PVIMTFSI)x/LiTFSI) fabricated by the solution casting method exhibit a high room temperature ionic conductivity (4.76 × 10−5 S cm−1, the quantitative ratio of LiTFSI to the polymer matrix is 40%), a wide electrochemical window (4.9 V) and great interfacial compatibility.


An investigation into integrating a database Natural Language Processing (NLP) component into the SQL-Tutor Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) is presented. Tailor-made NLP sy~tems created by a programmer, and NLP systems created automatically by a general database NLP system, are considered with respect to the requirements of SQL-Tutor. A tailor-made system is created for the MOVIES database using a semantic grammar, and its strengths and weaknesses are demonstrated. Three 'levels' of information are identified in the tailor-made system; database independent information, database structure and database semantics. These levels are used to assess a commercial system for automatic database NLP generation. Some weaknesses are identified in this system and a proposal of an 'authoring tool' to remedy these weaknesses is presented.


Research and development of three-dimensional vibration simulation technologies for nuclear facilities is one mission of the Center for Computational Science and e-Systems of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA). A seismic intensity of upper 5 was observed in the area of High-Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) at the Oarai Research and Development Center of JAEA during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. In this paper, we report a seismic response analysis of this earthquake using three-dimensional models of the HTTR building. We performed a parametric study by using uncertainty parameters. Furthermore, we examined the variation in the response result for the uncertainty parameters to create a valid 3D finite element model.Copyright © 2016 by ASME


Background Research suggests that the prevalence of loneliness varies between countries and that feeling lonely may be associated with poorer health behaviours and outcomes. The aim of the current study was to examine the factors associated with loneliness, and the relationship between feeling lonely and health behaviours and outcomes in the countries of the former Soviet Union (FSU) – a region where loneliness has been little studied to date. Methods Using data from 18,000 respondents collected during a cross-sectional survey undertaken in nine FSU countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine – in 2010/11, country-wise logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine: the factors associated with feeling lonely; the association between feeling lonely and alcohol consumption, hazardous drinking and smoking; and whether feeling lonely was linked to poorer health (i.e. poor self-rated health and psychological distress). Results The prevalence of loneliness varied widely among the countries. Being divorced/widowed and low social support were associated with loneliness in all of the countries, while other factors (e.g. living alone, low locus of control) were linked to loneliness in some of the countries. Feeling lonely was connected with hazardous drinking in Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Russia but with smoking only in Kyrgyzstan. Loneliness was associated with psychological distress in all of the countries and poor self-rated health in every country except Kazakhstan and Moldova. Conclusions Loneliness is associated with worse health behaviours and poorer health in the countries of the FSU. More individual country-level research is now needed to formulate effective interventions to mitigate the negative effects of loneliness on population well-being in the FSU.


Actigraphy can assist in the detection of periodic limb movements (PLMs) and other neuromuscular disorders in sleep. Although several actigraphs have been previously reported to accurately detect PLMs, most of them sample too infrequently to accurately detect PLMs. The Philips Respironics ® Actical™ is a readily available actigraph that has the capability of sampling at relatively high frequencies. Through simultaneous recordings of EEG, EMG and actigraph signals, clinicians have been attempting to understand and diagnose neurological diseases. Although a clinician's expertise in diagnosing diseases is unquestionable, analyzing large amount of bio-signals for hidden information would require extensive informed aid from computer-based intelligent signal processing algorithms. These algorithms not only extract hidden information from the signal but also help in classifying between normal and abnormal test subjects based on their respective signal analysis. The objective of this research study is to develop novel tools for analyzing sleep actigraphy signals, captured using the Actical™, for estimating and classifying PLMs occurring during sleep. We simultaneously recorded polysomnography and bilateral ankle actigraphy in 108 consecutive patients presenting to our sleep laboratory. After pre-processing and conditioning, the bilateral ankle actigraphy signals were then analysed for 14 simple time, frequency and morphology-based features. Using a Naive-Bayes classifier we got a correct classification rate of 78.94%, with a sensitivity of 80.26% and a specificity of 73.68%. The algorithm developed in this study has the potential of facilitating identification of PLMs across a wide spectrum of patient populations via the use of bilateral ankle actigraphy.


What mental models do individuals use to approximate their tax schedule? Using incentivized forecasts of the U.S. Federal income tax schedule, we estimate the prevalence of the "schmeduling" heuristics for constructing mental representations of nonlinear incentive schemes. We find evidence of widespread reliance on the "ironing" heuristic, which linearizes the tax schedule using one's average tax rate. In our preferred specification, 43% of the population irons. We find no evidence of reliance on the "spotlighting" heuristic, which linearizes the tax schedule using one's marginal tax rate. We show that the presence of ironing rationalizes a number of empirical patterns in individuals' perceptions of tax liability across the income distribution. Furthermore, while our empirical framework accommodates a rich class of other misperceptions, we find that a simple model including only ironers and correct forecasters accurately predicts average underestimation of marginal tax rates. We replicate our finding of prevalent ironing, and a lack of other systematic misperceptions, in a controlled experiment that studies real-stakes decisions across exogenously varied tax schedules. To illustrate the policy relevance of the ironing heuristic, we show that it augments the benefits of progressive taxation in a standard model of earnings choice. We quantify these benefits in a calibrated model of the U.S. tax system.


This is a recuperative essay addressing the work of Eithne Wilkins (1914–75), a poet with a strong presence in journals of the 1940s and 1950s, but now mainly remembered as the first translator (with her husband Ernst Kaiser) of Musil's The Man Without Qualities. I argue for her importance as a largely forgotten late modernist, and examine her major poetic sequence 'Oranges and Lemons', possibly the only long poem published by an English woman writer between 1945 and 1960, and almost certainly the most ambitious. It is comprised of a series of allusive poems incorporating memories of her New Zealand childhood, of her father Edgar, portrayed as a fire-watching doctor, and of the experience of her brother Maurice Wilkins, who worked on the Manhattan Project and later won a Nobel Prize. I argue that the poem, with its complex and personal mythopoesis, represents a response to global conflict in which the scattering of the 'nuclear family' figures a hemispheric war.


China Southern Power Grid Company (CSG) recently developed and implemented an online PMU-based transmission line (TL) parameter identification system (TPIS). Traditionally, TL parameters are calculated based on transmission tower geometries, conductor dimension, estimates of line length, conductor sags, etc. These parameters only approximate the effect of conductor sag and ignore the dependence of impedance parameters on temperature variation. Recent development in PMU technology has made it possible to calculate TL parameters accurately. The challenges are that such an application requires highly accurate PMU data while the accuracy of PMU measurements under different working/system conditions can be uncertain. With a large number of PMUs widely installed in its system, CSG plans to improve and update the EMS database using the newly developed TPIS. TPIS provides an innovative yet practical problem formulation and solution for TL parameter identification. In addition, it proposes a new metric that can be used to determine the credibility of the calculated parameters, which is missing in the literature. This paper discusses the methodologies, challenges, as well as implementation issues noticed during the development of TPIS.


Media coverage of research on phones and social media over the last decade has prompted widespread concern and one-size-fits-all guidance to limit screen time. Recognizing the limitations of screen time as a metric, researchers are now studying technology use in terms of affordances, individual differences, and longitudinal patterns. The current review examines technology use by parents, caregivers, couples, and clinicians. Individuals in these roles navigate risks, such as privacy violations, with benefits such as improved communication, empathy, and progress toward shared goals. Successful approaches vary by relationship type but have commonalities such as engaging with the technologies used by the other person to open up sensitive conversations, negotiate conflict, and illuminate patterns that would otherwise be hard to detect. To enhance relationships, some individuals depart from the intended use of technologies, for example, adapting connected devices for emotional communication or drawing on games to cope with social anxiety. One promising way in which individuals adapt technology to improve communication involves sharing technologies that were designed for personal use. This review highlights the importance of context, motivation, and the nuances of use to understand how technologies can be optimally used in personal and clinical relationships.


Osmorhiza longistylis (Torr.) DC., commonly known as sweet cicely, is a dominant plant species in the wastelands of the Bhaderwah Valley of District Doda in the states of Jammu and Kashmir (India). The plant is a perennial herb found abundantly near water streams and irrigation channels. The herb has medicinal value and is being used to treat digestive disorders and used as an antiseptic wash. During a disease survey in July 2010, leaf samples collected from Bhaderwah (Gwari Research Farm of Regional Horticulture Research Substation-Bhaderwah (Doda), SKUAST-Jammu) had symptoms of a rust disease. Rust symptoms appeared as small, cream colored flecks on the lower surfaces of leaves. Numerous hypophyllous, narrow, linear lesions were observed. These lesions slowly enlarged and formed light brown, erumpent, and seriately arranged sori surrounded by yellow haloes. Sori originated beneath the epidermis but ruptured through the host epidermis on sporulation. In later stages, infection extended to the stem, flowering buds, inflorescence, and fruit seeds (1,3). Teliospores were uniformly two celled, reticulate with a yellowish brown wall, obovoid-ellipsoid or oblong-ellipsoid, and 30 to 40 × 20 to 27 μm. Aeciospores were subglobose and verrucose. Urediniospores were subglobose with a yellowish brown color and 23 to 30 × 21 to 27 μm. Uredia, telia, and aecia were observed on infected leaves (2). Infected plant material has been deposited and identified at the Herbarium Crytogamae Indiae Orientalis (HCIO 50095), New Delhi. To our knowledge, this is the first report of rust on O. longistylis caused by Puccinia pimpinellae from India. References: (1) K. M. Ghoneem et al. Plant Pathol. J. (Faisalabad) 8:165, 2009. (2) W. E. I. A. Saber et al. Afr. J. Microbiol. Res. 3:153, 2009. (3) W. I. A. Saber et al. Plant Pathol. J. (Faisalabad) 8:32, 2009.


Considering topology among all polymer architectures polymer rings are unique, as they are the simplest closed structures without ends. In this review we present recent experimental advances addressing the structure and dynamics of rings. We focus mainly on neutron scattering results that reveal experimental insight on a molecular scale. We first briefly reflect on the progress in ring chemistry that made the experimental access possible. Structural investigations characterizing rings as compact objects in the melts are put into theoretical context. In contrast to the plateau regime common for all other high molecular weight polymer systems, the dynamic modulus of pure ring systems is characterized by a power law decay, while the viscosity displays a much weaker molecular weight dependence as a corresponding linear melt. The dynamics of ring melts is uniquely addressed by neutron spin-echo spectroscopy. The sub-diffusive center of mass motion at short times agrees well with simulation as well as theoretical concepts. In the internal dynamics the basic length scale of the ring molecule, the loop size, manifests itself clearly. The experiments reveal strong evidence for loop motions and call for further theoretical work describing them. Finally, small fractions of ring molecules in linear melts turn out to be very sensitive probes in order to scrutinize the dynamics of the host with the potential to reveal fundamental aspects of the dynamics of branched polymer systems.


by selecting either the " topic list " link or the " chronological list " link (No. KB-0112). To purchase additional reprints, call 843-216-2533 or e-mailor distribution of this document are not permitted without the express permission of the American Heart Association. Instructions for obtaining permission are located at http://www.americanheart.org/presenter. jhtml?identifierϭ4431. A link to the " Permission Request Form " appears on the right side of the page. Preamble It is essential that the medical profession play a central role in critically evaluating the evidence related to drugs, devices, and procedures for the detection, management, or prevention of disease. Properly applied, rigorous, expert analysis of the available data documenting absolute and relative benefits and risks of these therapies and procedures can improve the effectiveness of care, optimize patient outcomes, and favorably affect the cost of care by focusing resources on the most effective strategies. One important use of such data is the production of clinical practice guidelines that, in turn, can provide a foundation for a variety of other applications, such as performance measures, appropriate use criteria, clinical decision support tools, and quality improvement tools. The American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF) and the American Heart Association (AHA) have jointly engaged in the production of guidelines in the area of cardiovascular disease since 1980. The ACCF/AHA Task Force on Practice Guidelines (Task Force) is charged with developing, updating, and revising practice guidelines for cardiovascular diseases and procedures, and the Task Force directs and oversees this effort. Writing committees are charged with assessing the evidence as an independent group of authors to develop, update, or revise recommendations for clinical practice. Experts in the subject under consideration have been selected from both organizations to examine subject-specific data and write guidelines in partnership with representatives from other medical practitioner and specialty groups. Writing committees are specifically charged to perform a formal literature review; weigh the strength of evidence for or against particular tests, treatments, or procedures; and include estimates of expected health outcomes where data exist. Patient-specific modifiers, comorbidities, and issues of patient preference that may influence the choice of tests or therapies are considered. When available, information from studies on cost is considered, but data on efficacy and clinical outcomes constitute the primary basis for recommendations in these guidelines. In analyzing the data and developing recommendations and supporting text, the writing committee used evidence-based methodologies developed by the Task Force that are …


Ca(2+) has been postulated as a cytosolic second messenger in the regulation of cardiac oxidative phosphorylation. This hypothesis draws support from the well-known effects of Ca(2+) on muscle activity, which is stimulated in parallel with the Ca(2+)-sensitive dehydrogenases (CaDH). The effects of Ca(2+) on oxidative phosphorylation were further investigated in isolated porcine heart mitochondria at the level of metabolic driving force (NADH or Deltapsi) and ATP production rates (flow). The resulting force-flow (F-F) relationships permitted the analysis of Ca(2+) effects on several putative control points within oxidative phosphorylation, simultaneously. The F-F relationships resulting from additions of carbon substrates alone provided a model of pure CaDH activation. Comparing this curve with variable Ca(2+) concentration ([Ca(2+)]) effects revealed an approximate twofold higher ATP production rate than could be explained by a simple increase in NADH or Deltapsi via CaDH activation. The half-maximal effect of Ca(2+ )at state 3 was 157 nM and was completely inhibited by ruthenium red (1 microM), indicating matrix dependence of the Ca(2+) effect. Arsenate was used as a probe to differentiate between F(0)/F(1)-ATPase and adenylate translocase activity by a futile recycling of ADP-arsenate within the matrix, catalyzed by the F(0)/F(1)-ATPase. Ca(2+) increased the ADP arsenylation rate more than twofold, suggesting a direct effect on the F(0)/F(1)-ATPase. These results suggest that Ca(2+) activates cardiac aerobic respiration at the level of both the CaDH and F(0)/F(1)-ATPase. This type of parallel control of both intermediary metabolism and ATP synthesis may provide a mechanism of altering ATP production rates with minimal changes in the high-energy intermediates as observed in vivo.


Fe73.9Cu1Nb3Si13.2B8.9 (Finemet) thin films were deposited on the glass substrates by means of radio frequency sputtering. The films thickness was varied from 10 to 200 nm. Heat treatment at temperatures of 350, 400 and 450 °C were performed for 30 minutes in order to control thin film structural state. The X-ray powder diffractometry revealed that the crystallization of α-FeSi nanograins took place only at 450 °C whilst the other samples stayed in the amorphous state. Relation between the structure and magnetic properties of the films was discussed in the framework of random magnetic anisotropy model and the concept of stochastic magnetic domains. The latter was investigated using magnetic force microscopy (MFM). MFM data showed formation of such magnetic domains only in samples thermally treated at 450 °C. There was a tendency of the magnetic domain size reduction with the thickness decrease.


The impact of Pestarella (= Callianasa) tyrrhena (Decapoda: Thalassinidea), a common burrowing shrimp in the Mediterranean Sea on sediment-water fluxes (O2, TCO2, NH4 + and NO3 - + NO2 - ), sediment characteristics (organic matter, chlorophyll a) and porewater solutes (TCO2, NH4 + and NO3 - + NO2 - ) was investigated in laboratory microcosms over a period of 42 d. Microcosms con- taining homogenised fine sandy sediment were amended with either dead Posidonia oceanica leaves or fresh Ulva lactuca thalli. Reworking activity by the animal resulted in a rapid burial of surface deposited organic matter into the sediment. Porewater profiles of both TCO2 and NH4 + indicated that P. tyrrhena activities result in a significant flushing of porewater solutes. Total sediment metabolism and carbon mineralisation were enhanced in the presence of P. tyrrhena. Metabolism of P. tyrrhena individuals was approximately 3 times higher in Ulva-amended sediment, probably due to a high activity level when nutritious food sources are in excess. Accordingly, animal respiration explained approximately half of the total enhancement in Ulva-amended sediment, while microbial decompo- sition of refractory seagrass detritus contributed about 4 times more to the stimulated carbon miner- alisation than animal respiration. Despite the higher initial addition of carbon in Posidonia-amended sediment compared to Ulva-amended sediment, the amount of excess carbon mineralised was 4.7 times higher in the latter, indicating that mineralisation processes depend on the degradability rather than the quantity of the organic pool. Although P. tyrrhena excretion constituted only a minor part of the total nitrogen mineralised, macrofaunal activities were the major factor affecting total nitrogen mineralisation, and not the enrichment with organic matter.


This paper presents the potential depositional framework of sandstones and unconsolidated sand reservoirs, seals, and traps in the western part of the coastal swamp depobelt of the Niger Delta Basin, Nigeria, through integration of sequence stratigraphy and seismic imaging. The integration of well logs and biostratigraphic (foraminifera and palynological) data with three-dimensional seismic volume established the sequence stratigraphic framework, which has improved our understanding of the impact of sea-level changes in the distribution of sand facies. Four third-order seismic depositional sequences (sequences 1–4) of Serravallian deposits were identified based on the Vail stratigraphic concept. Depositional processes, structures, thickness, and seismic signatures vary in each sequence. Sequence 1, dominated by mud and very fine-grained sand facies, represents the outer shelf–shelf margin setting and has experienced shale tectonics (ductile deformation). Sequences 2 and 3 consist of alternating sand–shale facies and have experienced gravitational tectonics. Although sequence 2 represents middle shelf–inner shelf setting, sequence 3 represents inner shelf–transitional setting. Sequence 4 consists of thick fluvial–coastal plain sand facies and represents deltaic plain or continental sediments. These deposits reflect postgravitational tectonics. Within the third-order sequences are fourth-order sequences that recorded the interaction between small-scale transgressive–regressive cycles and depositional tectonics. The potential reservoirs within these sequences are stacked channel sandstones, shoreface sandstones, and heteroliths. The juxtaposition of the potential reservoirs against transgressive shales provides potential seals and traps. Structural interpretation shows synthetic and antithetic faults. In addition, event maps at various ages document structural closures that indicate the existence of possible hydrocarbon leads and prospects.


Delisting the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) as a terrorist organization would be a bold, imaginative move by Turkey, the European Union (EU), and the United States (US), among others, that might contribute to the peace process and benefit all concerned parties. However, Turkey presently does not want to acknowledge collective rights for its ethnic Kurds, and is willing to grant merely limited and begrudgingly individual rights such as mother-tongue language in the schools and a Kurdish TV channel, among a few others. Thus, there remains a very long way still to go, but delisting the PKK is surely one important start along this necessary journey.


Temporal logic techniques have been proposed as a way of achieving a very natural transition from informal requirements to a formal specification of the requirements. The paper presents a case study of a real-life system developed using such techniques. Both a top-level specification and implementation semantics are given in temporal logic. In particular, the progression from statements in English to temporal logic is highlighted. A correctness proof that the implemented system satisfies the specification has been produced.


Fifty-five types of commercial cigarettes on the West German market were analyzed for tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNA) in mainstream smoke. The cigarettes included filter and nonfilter cigarettes with very high, high, medium, low and ultra-low tar and nicotine yields. The observed range for N'-nitrosonornicotine was from 5 to 625 ng/cigarette and for 4-(methylnitrosoamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone from not detected (less than 4 ng/cigarette) to 432 ng/cigarette. The highest TSNA values were obtained for nonfilter cigarettes made of dark tobaccos and the lowest values for nonfilter Oriental-type cigarettes. Relatively high TSNA yields were also observed in filter cigarettes with moderate and lower tar deliveries. The results demonstrated that there is no correlation between TSNA and tar deliveries in mainstrain smoke. The TSNA deliveries in mainstream smoke depended on the actual tobacco composition. According to these results the tar delivery, although crucial, is not a sufficient index for the biological activity and the carcinogenic potential of cigarette smoke.


One of the main challenges in the search for new antibiotics from natural product extracts is the re-discovery of common compounds. To address this challenge, dereplication, which is the process of identifying known compounds, is performed on samples of interest. Methods for dereplication such as analytical separation followed by mass spectrometry are time-consuming and resource-intensive. To improve the dereplication process, we have developed the antibiotic resistance platform (ARP). The ARP is a library of approximately 100 antibiotic resistance genes that have been individually cloned into Escherichia coli. This strain collection has many applications, including a cost-effective and facile method for antibiotic dereplication. The process involves the fermentation of antibiotic-producing microbes on the surface of rectangular Petri dishes containing solid medium, thereby allowing for the secretion and diffusion of secondary metabolites through the medium. After a 6 day fermentation period, the microbial biomass is removed, and a thin agar-overlay is added to the Petri dish to create a smooth surface and enable the growth of the E. coli indicator strains. Our collection of ARP strains is then pinned onto the surface of the antibiotic-containing Petri dish. The plate is next incubated overnight to allow for E. coli growth on the surface of the overlay. Only strains containing resistance to a specific antibiotic (or class) grow on this surface enabling rapid identification of the produced compound. This method has been successfully used for the identification of producers of known antibiotics and as a means to identify those producing novel compounds.