An expanded family planning program implemented in November 1969 at the Temple University Health Sciences Center and staffed by 6 specially trained family planning counselors along with medical personnel included contraceptive services to immediate postpartum and postabortal inpatients. Data were tabulated from the National Center for Health Statistics Provisional Report Form for Family Planning Services. From November 1969-August 1971 of a target obstetric population of 3792 93.9% were offered contraception in the immediate postpartum or postabortal period of whom 90.5% were acceptors. From January-August 1971 the most popular contraceptive methods accepted immediately were the pill (53.5%) sterilization (17.1%) and the IUD (14.9%). 7-90 day postpartum and postabortal return rates given for various age groups were similar for contraceptive acceptors (61%) and nonacceptors (59.9%) were high for all young patients and decreased among in-hospital acceptors with increasing age. Contraindications to immediate postpartum or postabortal contraception include increased risk of thromboembolic phenomena masking of symptoms of posterior pituitary necrosis or Chaiar-Frommel syndrome and possibility of uterine perforation or infection. Minor occurrence of such potential complications is not considered sufficient reason to deny women early protection against unplanned or unwanted pregnancies.


To see whether real ecosystems (as opposed to model ones) are stable, i.e., whether they exhibit resistance to short-term perturbations or adjustment following them, stable equilibria must be identified. To do this and still avoid trivial results, certain criteria of scale must be satisfied. To judge resistance, the strength of the perturbation capable of overcoming it must be estimated, and this usually requires experimentation. On a temporal scale, the fate of all adults of the population or community must either be followed for a minimal period of at least one complete turnover, or their replacement probabilities estimated. In regard to space, if one finds instability, this may apply only to the area studied, not to larger areas. However it is useful to define the spatial scale for which instability versus stability applies. An analysis of census data from many long-term studies revealed a continuum of temporal variability in the dynamics of natural populations and communities. There is no clear demarcation between assemblages that may exist in an equilibrium state and those that do not. Only a few examples of what might be stable limit cycles were found. There was no evidence of multiple stable states in unexploited natural populations or communities. Previously published claims for their existence either have used inappropriate scales in time or space, or have compared populations or communities living in very different physical environments, or have simply misconstrued the evidence. Rather than the physicist's classical ideas of stability, the concept of persistence within stochastically defined bounds is, in our opinion, more applicable to real ecological systems.


Over the years, the pursuit for new antioxidant compounds from natural products has mounted, due to health concerns regarding the potential toxic and side effects spawn from synthetic antioxidants. In this study the antioxidant potential and the cytotoxic activity was studied using hydroxyl radical scavenging assay and MTT assay using MCF 7 breast cancer cell lines. The hydroxyl radical scavenging potential of various solvent extracts of A. spicifera showed that hydroxyl radical scavenging capacity was increased with decreasing concentration of sample extracts. In the present investigation, out of the four extracts (hexane, ethyl acetate, chloroform, methanol) of A. spicifera methanol showed potential hydroxyl radical scavenging activity than vitamin E in the range of 94.84-99.81% at the concentration range of 50μg/ml-1000μg/ml where the percentage inhibition increased with decrease in concentration. While scavenging hydroxyl radical, the ability of methanol extract (99.81%) to scavenge the hydroxyl radical was the highest among other extracts and Vitamin E. The methanolic extract of A.spicifera was evaluated for in-vitro anti-proliferative assay against MCF-7 cell line, where the cells were exposed to different concentrations of the extract. It is inferred from the results that the appearance of cytotoxic changes to the extract was in a concentration dependant manner. The results also indicate that the IC50 value of the extract was found to be 47.58μg/ml.


The dense false target jamming is an effective jamming mode to modern radars.This paper analyzes the existing problem of normalization in generating the dense false target jamming signals,and finds the reason that the peak-to-average power ratio(PAPR) of the jamming signal is too large,brings forward the methods of random phase,polyphase sequences and signal reconstruction to reduce PAPR,validates the validity of the methods through simulation,and analyzes its limitation.


The microporous polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes were prepared by the solvent evaporation method using 50 wt.% of different pore-forming additives: poly(1-ethyl-3-vinylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate) (PIL-BF4), polyethylene glycol 3000 (PEG-3K) and 40000 (PEG-40K), dibutyl phthalate (DBP). The influence of used additive on morphology, porosity, degree of crystallinity, tensile properties, electrolyte uptake and ionic conductivity of the membranes were investigated. The maximum electrolyte uptake of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (EMImBF4) was 184 wt.% for the membrane prepared with PEG-40K, however, the membrane was fragile and unsuitable for practical use. The remaining membranes showed approximately the same porosity (45‒48%) and electrolyte uptakes (169‒175%). At the same time, the membranes significantly differed in mechanical properties and ionic conductivity. The membrane prepared with PIL-BF4, unlike others, has a sponge-like structure and demonstrated high mechanical properties, namely tensile strength is 17.7 MPa and fracture strain is 132.5%. Bucky gel actuators were fabricated using membranes prepared with different additives. The blocking force of the actuators based on membranes with different additives decreased in the sequence of PIL-BF4, DBP and PEG. The actuator based on the membrane prepared with PIL-BF4 demonstrates a blocking force of 5.7 mN and a deformation of 1.35 % at 3 V DC.


Background Chondrosarcomas are primary cancers of cartilaginous tissue and capable of alteration to highly aggressive, metastatic, and treatment-refractory states, leading to a poor prognosis with a five-year survival rate at 11 months for the dedifferentiated subtype. At present, the surgical resection of chondrosarcoma is the only effective treatment, and no other treatment options including targeted therapies, conventional chemotherapies, or immunotherapies are available for these patients. Methods A non-biased ChIP sequence, cDNA microarray analysis, and validation of chondrosarcoma cell lines identified sulfatase 1(SULF1) as the top EZH2-targeted gene to regulate chondrosarcoma progression. Receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) array of chondrosarcoma cells with vector control or ectopically expressed SULF1 revealed that cMET was the downstream signal. The regulation of the EZH2/SULF1/cMET axis was further validated in mice and patient samples with mice models and chondrosarcoma tissue array, respectively. Results The EZH2/SULF1/cMET axis is identified, which contributes to the malignancy of chondrosarcoma and provides a potential therapeutic option for the disease. Ectopically expressed SULF1 or pharmaceutical inhibition of the cMET pathway significantly retards the chondrosarcoma growth and extends mice survival. Conclusions The results not only established a signal pathway promoting the malignancy of chondrosarcoma but also provided a therapeutic potential for further development of effective target therapy to treat chondrosarcoma.


Ambient intelligence (AmI) and ubiquitous computing allow us to consider a future where computation is embedded into our daily social lives. This vision raises its own important questions and augments the need to understand how people will trust such systems and at the same time achieve and maintain privacy. As a result, we have recently conducted a wide reaching study of people's attitudes to potential AmI scenarios with a view to eliciting their privacy concerns. This chapter describes recent research related to privacy and trust with regard to ambient technology. The method used in the study is described and findings discussed.


We study institutional herding in Japan. Japanese firms are primarily owned by financial institutions and other corporations, they may belong to a business group (the keiretsu), and they have experienced several distinct economic regimes in its recent past. Overall, we find herding in Japan occurs on a lower level than in the United States but with a large impact on price movements. The price impact is even greater for keiretsu-affiliated firms. We also find the effects and behavior of institutional herding depends on the economic condition and the regulatory environment.


A two-dimensional image to an observer to observe and presents treated suitably depending on the individual difference of the image display apparatus. The image display device 10 stores a correction information in ROM201A, transmits the read correction information to the image providing apparatus 20. In contrast, the information communication terminal 20, after performing the color unevenness correction calculation according to the received correction information, and transmits the image information to the image display device 10. As a result, in the image display apparatus 10 side, and displays the received image information to the display panel 209, thereby observe an enlarged virtual image color unevenness is canceled observer by the virtual image optical unit 210.


An improvement of the efficiency of organic chemical synthesis was attempted by the imitation of natural reactions. Phosphorylated amino acid derivatives and the rupture of thus obtained »high energy phosphates« was used for aminoacylations of 6-11minopenicillanic acid (6-APA). Namely, the energy-rich mixed anhydrides, formed from adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and amino acids were shown to be the most efficient biosynthetic aminoacylating agents for the formation of the terminal 3'-0-aminoacyl-adenosine of the transfer ribonucleic acids. To our knowledge only a French patent1 superficially described mixed anhydrides as acylating agents in the semisynthetic approach to penicillins. In our quest for a new method for the preparation of semisynthetic p-lactam antibiotics the aminoacylation of methyl 6-aminopenicillanate by mixed high-energy phosphates was shown to be an efficient one. A mixed anhydride such as N-phthaloylglycyldibenzylphosphate anhydride was prepared from phthaloylglycyl chloride and the silver salt ·Of dribenzylphosphate2 according to the Sheehan and Frank method3• It exhibited signals at -i: 2.02---:2.36 (4H, m, Pht protons), 2.63 (10 H, s, Ph protons), 4.77 and 4.91 (2 X 2H, 2 X s, 2 X OCH2) and 5.57 (2H, s, N-CH2) in the 1H NMR spectrum and absorptions at Vmax 1792, 1773, 1720, 735, 713, and 697 cm-1 in the IR spectrum.


The invention discloses a novel light-weight porous heat-insulating material and a preparation method thereof. The novel light-weight porous heat-insulating material is characterized by being prepared by mixing composites, namely coal ash, alkali-activators, foam stabilizers, and the like, then adding a foaming agent, uniformly stirring, introducing into a mould, standing, maintaining and then cutting for forming; the components, namely the coal ash, the alkali-activators, the foam stabilizers, and the like and the mass ratio are as follows in parts by mass: 90.0-120.0 parts of coal ash, 45.0-85.0 parts of water glass, 2.0-8.0 parts of calcium oxide, 5.0-10.0 parts of methyl cellulose, 1.0-2.0 parts of calcium stearate, 0.5-2.0 parts of polypropylene fibers, 1.0-3.0 parts of water-reducing agents, 0.9-2.4 parts of silicone oil and 15.0-25.0 parts of the foaming agents. The novel light-weight porous heat-insulating material disclosed by the invention takes the industrial waste coal ash as a main raw material and is low in carbon, economic, conserved in energy, reduced in emission, fireproof, preserved in heat, light in weight and high in strength. Compared with the traditional material, the novel light-weight porous heat-insulating material disclosed by the invention has the advantages of low cost, high compressive strength, good hole structure, low water absorption and the like, prevents the high cost and high energy consumption of the alkali-activated kaoline porous material and prevents the cracking and high water absorption of an ordinary silicon cement foam material; the novel light-weight porous heat-insulating material can be widely applied to the heat preservation of a wall body, the decoration of a suspended ceiling and a fire-barrier belt.


The dispersion of the Verdet constant of several inorganic and organic liquids was measured at room temperature with a pulsed magnetic field in the spectral range from 0.3471 μm up to 0.6943 μm. We also measured the Verdet constant, at the wavelength of 0.4579 μm and at room temperature, of the three binary systems methanol–water, ethanol–water, and acetic acid–water. We found that the Verdet constant of mixtures is not additive. The deviation from additivity is positive for the three systems.


The recent debate about euthanasia in the House of Lords appeared to stir up medical opinion against the move towards legalizing it. The Bill, proposed by human rights lawyer Lord Joffe, would have enabled adults who are suffering 'unbearably' as a result of a terminal illness, and who are of sound mind, to die at their own request. In practice, this would have meant that nurses would witness doctors either prescribing lethal drugs or being asked to administer such drugs to patients. Now what do you think of that scenario?


Pregnancy reduces maternal risk of breast cancer in the long term, but the biological determinants of the protection are unknown. Animal experiments suggest that estrogens and progesterone could be involved, but direct human evidence is scant. A case‐control study (536 cases and 1,049 controls) was nested within the Finnish Maternity Cohort. Eligible were primiparous women who delivered at term a singleton offspring before age 40. For each case, two individually matched controls by age (±6 months) and date of sampling (±3 months) were selected. Estradiol, estrone and progesterone in first‐trimester serum were measured by high‐performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry and sex‐hormone binding globulin (SHBG) by immunoassay. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated through conditional logistic regression. In the whole study population there was no association of breast cancer with any of the studied hormones. In analyses stratified by age at diagnosis, however, estradiol concentrations were positively associated with risk of breast cancer before age 40 (upper quartile OR, 1.81; CI, 1.08–3.06), but inversely associated with risk in women who were diagnosed ≥age 40 (upper quartile OR, 0.64; CI, 0.40–1.04), pinteraction 0.004. Risk estimates for estrone mirrored those for estradiol but were less pronounced. Progesterone was not associated with risk of subsequent breast cancer. Our results provide initial evidence that concentrations of estrogens during the early parts of a primiparous pregnancy are associated with maternal risk of breast cancer and suggest that the effect may differ for tumors diagnosed before and after age 40.


Erratum:  The earlier version of this paper had some errors. It included references of later than 2014, the year of its publication. These references have been removed in the whole document and replaced with others of 2014 or earlier. Further, in paragraph 1 of the Discussion, after the sentence starting with Male…, the following statement "In contrast, studies in China showed that 59.8% of acupuncturists were females (Robinson et al., 2012)" has been inserted to replace the previous one. In paragraph 6 of Discussion, the words "capita income of $2,748 in 2010. Currently, the poverty level in Nigeria is 83.9% (Akinboade, 2010)." have been added to replace previous text. In paragraph 7 of the Discussion, the words "plants, provide employment" have been added after the word "medicinal" to replace previous text. This is therefore the correct version. The study evaluated the willingness of Herbal Medicine Practitioners (HMPs) and Herb Vendors (HVs) in Ibadan, Nigeria to contribute financially to medicinal plants conservation projects. Data was collected using structured questionnaires administered on 124 HMPs and 83 HVs randomly selected from fourteen herbal associations and marketers respectively. Results showed that 79.03%of all HMPs were males and 20.97% females while 83.13% of HVs were females and 16.87% males. All the HMPs and 97.59% of HVs were willing to contribute financially and provide useful information to conservation projects. Majority (54.84%) of the interviewed HMPs were willing to contribute between N500 - N1500 annually while most of the HVs (51.8%) were willing to contribute between N201 - N500 annually. Lack of financial power and land were identified as major constraints to holding private gardens. A total of 38 commonly used medicinal plant species was identified in the existing small scale private gardens of HMPs. There is need to organise the HMPs and HVs into formidable cooperative societies for easy access to fund and institute awareness campaign on the need for conservation of important local medicinal plants if the health for all dream is to be achieved.


E ver since Luke compiled his "orderly account" of Jesus' ministry and of the progress of the early Christian church from Jerusalem to Rome, missionary history has been an important subdepartment of Christian literature. Dealing as it does with the transmission of the gospel, with the planting of churches, and with longer or shorter periods of initial growth, eventually missionary history passes into church history. Mis sionary history, however, has a very special interest and, for some, fascination, not least because of the great demands it makes: the ideal missionary historian will be to some extent a social, political, and economic historian; a geographer, ethnolo gist, and historian of religions; as well as a Christian historian in the more usual sense. Attention must be paid not only to the Christian message as delivered, but to the message as received (or not received, as the case may be). Missionary intentions must be weighed against consequences, successes against failures. There are ironies, ambiguities, and tragedies to be taken .into


In this letter, a reconfigurable absorptive frequency selective surface (FSS) based on graphene sandwich structure (GSS) and varactor-tunable FSS is proposed. The frequency and amplitude of transmission window can be tuned continuously and independently by applying bias voltages to GSS and FSS, with absorption bands below and above the passband maintained. The feeding network is integrated with the GSS-FSS hybrid structure creatively, maintaining desirable responses and symmetry of the structure for dual-polarized functionality. Moreover, the transmission window can be turned off by controlling the polarity of the biasing voltages, rendering the rasorber with the switchable properties. In the absorber mode, absorptivity can be manipulated by varying the bias voltage of GSS. The measured results agree with the simulation results well, validating the desired dual-reconfigurability of our design.


Chinese hamster V79 lung fibroblasts express low levels (specific activity 2-4 fmol/mg protein) of O6-alkylguanine (O6-AG) alkyltransferase (ATase). In cells surviving selection with low doses (10 micrograms/ml) of the chloroethylating agent, mitozolomide (Mz), ATase activity was increased 5- to 8-fold. Repeated selection of such cells produced a maximal specific activity of 36-40 fmol/mg protein, whilst selection at 20 or 40 micrograms/ml result in specific activities of approximately 50 and 70 fmol/mg respectively. Only slight decreases in ATase activity were seen by 51 days after an initial selection with 10 micrograms/ml Mz. A similar effect was observed using chlorozotocin. Selected cells had a higher D37 for Mz (2.5-6.0 micrograms/ml) in comparison with control cell (D37, 0.8 micrograms/ml) but the D37s for nitrogen mustard and vincristine were closely similar in selected and control cells. Possible explanations for the increase in ATase activity are discussed.


The mean rates of change in annual abundance for 16 farmland specialist breeding bird species based on point counts from three regions of Denmark (West, Central and East) during 1987-2015 inclusive were analysed to see if grassland and arable specialists were showing regional changes that could be related to their respective specializations. Generally, few species showed differences in regional population trends, despite the increasing concentration of mixed (mainly pastoral) agriculture in the West and predominantly arable cultivation in the East. Most grassland and arable specialists were declining in all regions. Only Mew Gull Larus canus showed consistent increases in all regions, Western Marsh Harrier Circus aeruginosus and Common Whitethroat Sylvia communis showed increases in the East and West while Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica showed little change in abundance anywhere during the period. Corn Bunting Emberiza calandra showed significant declines in the East of Denmark in contrast to stable trends in the Central and Western regions, but was declining everywhere since 2003. The results underline the need to understand how individual farmland species exploit specific crops and micro-biotopes as well as the combination of different crops.


Protoplanetary disks are challenging objects for astrochemical models due to strong density and temperature gradients and due to the UV photons 2D propagation. In this paper, we have studied the importance of several model parameters on the predicted column densities of observed species. We considered: 1) 2-phase (gas and homogeneous grains) or 3-phase (gas, surface, and bulk of grains) models, 2) several initial compositions, 3) grain growth and dust settling, and 4) several cosmic-ray ionization rates. Our main result is that dust settling is the most crucial parameter. Including this effect renders the computed column densities sensitive to all the other model parameters, except cosmic-ray ionization rate. In fact, we found almost no effect of this parameter for radii larger than 10 au (the minimum radius studied here) except for N2H+. We also compared all our models with all the column densities observed in the protoplanetary disk around DM Tau and were not able to reproduce all the observations despite the studied parameters. N2H+ seems to be the most sensitive species. Its observation in protoplanetary disks at large radius could indicate enough N2 in the gas-phase (inhibited by the 3-phase model, but boosted by the settling) and a low electron abundance (favored by low C and S elemental abundances).


SUBTITLE: THE IMPETUS TO EXAMINE AND TWEAK BUSINESS PROCESSES MAY STEM FROM PRESSURES FROM GOVERNMENT REGULATION, WALL STREET OR ANY OF A NUMBER OF MARKET FORCES. REGARDLESS, THOSE WHO HAVE NO BPM INITIATIVE ARE AT A COMPETITIVE DISADVANTAGE.


A very detailed investigation of high-speed silicon–germanium (SiGe) heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) showed an underestimation of the measured peak cutoff frequency by simulations with a hydrodynamic (HD) model. It was speculated that this might be due to a breakdown of the HD approximation or unknown additional mechanical stress. We repeated those simulations with the more fundamental Boltzmann transport equation (BTE) based on the same device model (doping profiles, 2-D geometry, parasitics, and so on) and obtained almost similar results showing that this failure was not due to a breakdown of the HD approximation. Since additional uniaxial stress along the direction of the lateral base has been shown to increase the cutoff frequency, we investigated this effect. We found by 2-D device simulations that the increase in the peak cutoff frequency is rather small, and at high stress levels, it even decreases, if the uniaxial stress is applied homogenously. This is due to the reduction of the conductivity of the highly doped collector layer by the stress. If the stress is limited to the intrinsic transistor, the increase in the cutoff frequency is monotonic with growing stress. On the other hand, the collector current for a given base–emitter voltage also increases with stress leading to an overestimation of the collector current compared with the measurements. If this increase is corrected by a slight decrease in the germanium profile, the gain in the peak cutoff frequency is lost. Thus, the underestimation of the peak cutoff frequency cannot be explained by an additional homogeneous uniaxial stress in the intrinsic transistor.


cases in 1998 to 508 in 2004. A total of 2646 cases were referred. Drugs of abuse were detected in 806 (30% of total). Morphine was detected in 399, other opiates 342, methadone 110, benzodiazepines 333, cocaine 128, amphetamines 37 and cannabinoids 42. Combinations of drugs were commonly found. Codeine was most frequently detected alongside morphine (codeine and acetyl-codeine are common contaminants of heroin). Ethanol was present in 40% of cases where drugs of abuse were detected. Over the seven-year period the relative frequency of drugs detected was consistent, with some important exceptions. The number of cases involving morphine peaked in 1999-2000. In those years, the free morphine levels reported were significantly higher and more commonly within the toxic range, indicating an increase in heroin-related deaths. Cases involving cocaine were highest in 2004, although blood levels of cocaine were rarely in the range indicating serious toxicity. Sudden deaths involving cocaine can, however, occur with low post mortem blood levels of the drug.


This paper presents a handheld mobile game, Grocery Hunter that encourages children to take on healthy eating habits. Children can use a pocket PC to play the Grocery Hunter game to learn about food nutrition and healthy food choices. Childhood obesity in the United States has already reached epidemic proportions. The best way to help children attain and maintain healthy weight is through physical activity and nutritious eating. Our design addresses nutrition directly by teaching children healthy eating habits using an interactive game in the grocery store.


Relatively simple sol-gel synthesis of finely dispersed powders of ZrO 2 -based solid solutions produced by the reaction of aqueous solutions of zirconium and yttrium nitrates with organic acids and diols was developed. Conditions of low-temperature sintering of such powders were studied.


Job satisfaction is regarded as a generally favorable or unfavorable attitude resulting from specific work areas, such as job factors, individual characteristics, and group relationships outside of work. The objective of this study is to determine the relationship between leadership style to job satisfaction among Malaysian Army College Officer. This research is based on quantitative research methodology and a cross-sectional survey research design. The 52 sample was selected by using a random sampling method to represent the whole 60 population of officer working at Army Collage in Port Dickson. Based on the findings of the study, there is no significant relationship between authoritarian leadership style and laissez-faire leadership style and there was significant relationship between democratic leadership style with job satisfaction. This means that employees were democratic leadership style with their current job, it does affected to the level of their job satisfaction and their performance. This research will give benefit to the General of Command in Training and Doctrin (GOCTRADOC) and Commandant of Center of Excellence's Malaysian Army to get competent and quality also may solve shortage qualified instructor and lecturer.


Context: Urinary tract is subjected to various pathologic conditions, such as congenital anomalies, trauma, cancer, stenosis, and inflammatory injuries. Evidence Acquisition: Reconstruction of the urinary tract is limited due to lack of sufficient donor tissue and problems of tissue incompatibility. Results: This limitation has convinced urologists to develop another technique for tissue replacement. Conclusions: Tissue engineering and biomaterials science are attractive approaches to substituting the urinary tract wall. Three main components of tissue engineering include cells, appropriate scaffold materials, and bioactive molecules, such as growth factors. This review summarized the cell sources, scaffolds, and recent methods used for urinary tract reconstruction.


It is remarkable to observe that this is the first edited book to appear on the state of the informal sector in South Africa for almost a quarter century. The volume edited by Frederick Fourie comp...


In this article, we present a two stage neural network structure which combines the self-organizing map (SOM) and the multilayer perceptron (MLP) for the problem of texture classification. The texture features are extracted using a multichannel approach. These channels comprise of a set of Gabor filters having different sizes, orientations and frequencies to constitute N-dimensional feature vectors. The SOM acts as a clustering mechanism to map these N-dimensional feature vectors onto a 2D space. This in turn forms the feature space to feed into MLP for training and subsequent classification. It is shown that this mechanism increases the inter-class separation and decreases the intra-class distance in the feature space, hence reduces the classification complexity. Also, the reduction in the dimensionality of the feature space results in reduction of the learning time of the MLP.


T which can be defined as allograft acceptance without the need for chronic immunosuppression, is the "holy grail" of transplantation. Various methods are used to induce tolerance-inducing mixed chimerism with allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). The issue of cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation is an important barrier to engraftment of donor stem cells when considering HSCT as part of a tolerance protocol after solid organ transplantation even with nonmyeloablative conditioning. Furthermore, strategies for optimal CMV prevention and treatment in such approaches are yet to be studied. In the study by Alonso-Guallart et al published in this issue of Transplantation, the authors performed allogeneic HSCT in a cohort of cynomolgus macaques treated subsequently with either cyclosporin A or rapamycin posttransplant. Although the majority of animals developed cynomolgus CMV (CyCMV) DNAemia, there was an approximately 10-day delay in DNAemia onset for those receiving rapamycin compared with cyclosporin A. Although modest, the authors believe that the delay in introduction of CMV treatment allowed for better engraftment of stem cells. A previous report by the same research group showed that failure to induce engraftment was due to CyCMV reactivation, as recipients who did not develop CyCMV had long-term mixed chimerism and graft acceptance. A similar protective effect of mTOR inhibitors on human CMV (HCMV) has already been demonstrated in several clinical studies of organ transplantation. In addition, 2 recent clinical studies in allogeneic HSCT showed that rapamycin was able to reduce HCMV DNAemia. Furthermore, increasing rapamycin concentrations reduced HCMV DNAemia requiring antiviral therapy. At least 2 mechanisms are responsible for this finding. First, it has been demonstrated that mTOR is activated in HCMVinfected cells during the late phase of the viral cycle. In addition, Bak et al have demonstrated that rapamycin improves CMV-specific effector memory T-cell function. Unfortunately, rapamycin is generally difficult to use postHSCT due to its myelosuppressive effects and uncertainty about the development of graft versus host disease. In addition, the rapamycin levels of 20–30 as attained in this study would be toxic to humans. Opportunistic infections are well-known complications when HSCT is performed to induce tolerance. Cytomegalovirus is one of the most common opportunistic viral infections after both solid organ and allogeneic HSCT. Reactivation of HCMV in the CMV seropositive HSCT population is associated with graft loss and increased mortality. For decades, prevention of HCMV in the HSCT population has been through preemptive therapy with weekly monitoring of HCMV viral load and treatment of HCMV once the viral load reaches a predefined threshold or symptoms occur. Unlike the solid organ transplant group, a longstanding issue in the HSCT population has been the reluctance to use universal prophylaxis with (val)ganciclovir to prevent HCMV reactivation due to myelotoxicity. More recently, letermovir, a nonmyelosuppressive CMV antiviral, has been Food and Drug Administration approved for prevention of CMV in HSCT. However, in a randomized trial of letermovir versus preemptive therapy for CMV, 37.5% of patients receiving letermovir still developed CMV DNAemia that required therapy. Treatment of CMV post-HSCT is difficult, and recurrent-relapsing DNAemia occurs frequently. The mainstay of antiviral treatment is (val)ganciclovir, and persistent DNAemia or resistant virus is treated with foscarnet, a drug with significant nephrotoxicity. Newer treatment options are being evaluated, including maribavir, a viral kinase inhibitor, and preliminary data show its efficacy in the HSCT population. Whether (val)ganciclovir or the newer antivirals have the same pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and efficacy in a nonhuman primate model of CMV is unclear. One of the main findings by Alonso-Guallart et al was the development of a CyCMV PCR targeting a conserved region of DNA polymerase. Detection of CMV has evolved from antigenemia and conventional cell culture to highly sensitive quantitative molecular methods that detect CMV DNA via nucleic acid testing in plasma, whole blood, or other fluids/tissues. Commercially available PCR assays for HCMV generally target the conserved regions of CMV DNA including immediate early or polymerase genes among others. The CMV virus that infects Cynomolgus macaques (CyCMV) was sequenced by Marsh et al, who showed that 137 or 262 open reading frames of CyCMV are homologous to HCMV, including the functional genes that encode ISSN: 0041-1337/20/1042-238


The direct toxicity of two essential oils,Majorana hortensis,Moench and Rosmarinus officinalis L.to adult females of the predacious mites,Amblyseius zaheri Yousef and El-Borolossy,Amblyseius barkeri (Hughes)and Typhlodromus athiasae Porath and Swirski were tested.Rosemary oil was the most toxic to fe- males of A.barkeri and the least to A.zaheri.In contrast,sweet marjoram oil was relatively toxic to T.athiasae and slightly toxic to A.barkeri.Both essential oils,decreased the food consumption rate at the concentration used for A.barkeri and A.zaheri.Females of A.barkeri and A.zaheri suffered a depression in reproduction when treated with 1% of rosemary oil.Both material used seems to be harmless to T.athiasae at 1%.


Driven by increasing environmental concerns about greenhouse gas emissions (particularly carbon dioxide) and global warming, a growing amount of research has been carried out over the last decade on the use of ionic liquids (ILs), among other options, as a potential alternative to conventional processes based on aqueous amine solutions for CO2 capture. The tethering of an amine functional group to the cation was one of the initial possibilities investigated, while more recently, absorption of CO2 in ILs with amine functionality in the anion has also been reported. Still, even without amine functionalization, ILs do generally dissolve CO2 to a certain extent and CO2 is generally much more soluble than other gases such as N2 or O2. [4] In most cases, solubilization of CO2 in the nonfunctionalized IL occurs through physisorption, although chemisorption has been suggested for ILs with anions of remarkable basicity (e.g., carboxylate-derived anions). The mechanisms proposed have typically involved an interaction between the acidic CO2 and the basic anion; the only exception being a grant report by Maginn in 2005 where, to explain the absorption of CO2 in 1-butyl-3methylimidazolium acetate, he used NMR results to propose the abstraction of the proton at the C(2) position of the imidazolium ring by the basic acetate anion, followed by reaction of CO2 with the carbene species thus formed. [5a] Interestingly, we could not find any further reference to this mechanism in the literature and we assume the idea was not pursued due to concerns about the lack of explanation for the presence of an a priori unstable N-heterocyclic carbene in a relatively stable IL. The weak acidity of the proton at the C(2) position of 1,3dialkylimidazolium rings is one of the major pathways for reactivity of imidazolium species, in particular of imidazolium ILs. Wang et al. made use of this to achieve an equimolar CO2 capture in 1,3-dialkylimidazolium ILs by addition of a superbase, 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene, with formation of the corresponding 1,3-dialkylimidazolium-2-carboxylate. We have recently shown that the C(2) proton can be abstracted to some extent in neat 1,3-dialkylimidazolium ILs if they are paired with a basic enough anion such as acetate even in the absence of any external base. For example, the carbene concentration in 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([C2mim][OAc]) and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([C4mim][OAc]) is high enough to enable formation of imidazole-2-chalcogenones by the direct addition of elemental chalcogens to these ILs. However, we also realized that complex anion formation (e.g., acetic acid/ acetate) resulted in stabilization of the volatile acetic acid thus formed, preventing further decomposition reactions and allowing these ILs to act as stable reservoirs of carbenes for direct carbene-based chemistry. Recently reported quantum chemical calculations support this concept. Here, we report direct experimental evidence in the form of single-crystal X-ray structures of solid-state products resulting from the reaction of CO2 with acetate ILs, which confirm both the reaction mechanism and the role of complex anion formation. Since to the best of our knowledge there were no reported crystal structures of 1,3-dialkylimidazolium acetate salts, we first investigated the crystal structure of 1,3diethylimidazolium acetate ([C2C2im][OAc]), an off-white crystalline solid with a melting temperature of 30 8C (Figure 1


Buckminster Fuller has created a myriad of ideas that are highly appropriate for study at various points in the mathematics curriculum. This article describes some practical, hands-on ways in which Fuller's ideas about geodesic domes are being used in the secondary school mathematics class rooms of the St. Paul public schools. One way that teachers have successfully introduced a discussion of geodesic domes into their classrooms is as a follow-up to a unit on polyhedral models. After students have constructed models of various poly hedra, they are asked to build a "dome" using the instructions shown in Display 1. It is important to define certain geodesic dome terms, such as strut, frequency, and chord factor, before having students build models of a twoor three-frequency dome. The article by Blaisdell and Indelicato (February 1977) and the one by Wenninger in this issue are helpful references. To con struct the domes requires that each student have an ample supply of straws and string, scissors, a metric ruler, a set of construction instructions, and a copy of the dome termi nology sheet (Display 2). Copies of Dome book 2 are very useful for student reference. The costs of dome construction materials do not have to place a severe strain on the budget of the mathematics department. Lo cal commercial firms, such as fast-food businesses, often are willing to donate plas tic straws to schools as a goodwill gesture, and the cost of string is nominal. Students can construct an icosahedron during one class period and a twoor three frequency dome during a pair of follow-up sessions. Although this amount of time may seem prohibitive, the student's enthu siasm and pride at being able to "make and take" a project from mathematics class is well worth the effort. In fact, many teachers report that large numbers of students request an opportunity to build more mod els as extra-credit projects. These models serve as fine decorations when suspended from ceilings or when mounted on bulletin boards in offices, classrooms, hallways, and homes. In St. Paul, several groups of students have participated in the construction and sale of geodesic domes. These domes have generally been three-frequency structures with a radius of two to three meters. They have served as greenhouses, storage sheds, jungle gyms, and doghouses. The most popular model features a truncation of a three-frequency geodesic sphere, which is used as a jungle gym. There are a number of desirable side ef fects when a class constructs and sells domes made from such materials as electri cal conduit tubing. Most frequently cited are the consumer skills needed to calculate the amount of material and the cost of the dome, as well as the cohesive impact of the project on the involved members of the class. All the conduit dome construction activities in St. Paul were spawned by a workshop offered by the author on "How to Build Geodesic Domes." The workshop was offered as an in-service training course to interested mathematics instructors in the district. An additional outcome of this workshop was the production of a dome kit. The kit is now available to any teacher in the district from our instructional mate rials center. The dome kit ($65) is pre fabricated and is color-coded (red, white, and blue) for easy classroom assembly. A junior high school mathematics class pre pared the kit, which has been boxed for district-wide distribution, on a two-week checkout system. The dome box contains the color-coded, conduit pieces for a three frequency dome with a two-meter radius. Bolts, nuts, crescent wrenches, mimeo graphed assembly instructions, and a mini ature, completed model to facilitate assem


Colorectal cancer (CRC) accounts for over 600 000 deaths annually worldwide. The current study aims to evaluate the value of proto‐oncogene PIM1 as a therapeutic target in CRC and investigate the anticancer activity of hispidulin, a naturally occurring phenolic flavonoid compound, against CRC. Immunohistochemistry analysis showed that PIM1 was upregulated in CRC tissue. The role of PIM1 as an oncogene was evidenced by the fact that PIM1 knockdown inhibits cell growth, induces apoptosis, and suppresses invasion. Our results showed that hispidulin exerts antitumor activity in CRC through inhibiting the expression of PIM1. Moreover, our findings revealed that hispidulin downregulated the expression of PIM1 by inhibiting JAK2/STAT3 signaling by generating reactive oxygen species. Furthermore, our in vivo studies showed that hispidulin can significantly inhibit tumor growth and metastasis in CRC. Collectively, our results provide an experimental basis for trialing hispidulin in CRC treatment. PIM1 can be considered a potential therapeutic target in CRC.


Strain development for antibiotic production has been an essential prerequistie for efficient production process. Studies were carried out to produce high antibiotic yield strain by using UV and N-methyl-N1-nitro-nitrosoguanidine (NTG) as mutagens. A superior mutant (PNTG-22) with a productivity of 2.4 time (810-1995 microg/ml higher than, the parent strain was produced.


Summary Action of the loose connective tissue (90% of cells are fibroblasts) on Cortisol was investigated. Data are presented on the isolation and identification of 5 of the 7 metabolites observed when cortisol-4-C14 was incubated with mouse (AK) loose connective tissue. The identified metabolites are: 20-epi substance E of Reichstein; cortisone; dihydro-cortisol; corticosterone; and 4-androstene, 11-beta-ol, 3, 17-dione. The relationship of this metabolic picture to the fibroblastic role on the anti-inflammatory action of Cortisol is discussed.


Diabetes is a chronic disease that increases exponentially. Its consequences are long-term and problematic. To date, there is no cure and patients must rely on appropriate and constant monitoring to maintain a state of health that is as good as possible. This paper proposes a superior method that is grounded in wireless technology and social networks to enable the effective and efficient monitoring of patients suffering from diabetes.


In view of insufficient standardization, availability and rationality of low molecular weight heparins (LMWH) preparations usage as medicines for anticoagulant prevention and therapy in general surgery practice, the first in the domestic literature algorithm of physicians' thinking for determining the drug choice within this pharmaco-therapeutic group for prevention and treatment of venous thromboembolism is suggested and grounded. In the basis of the developed approaches, the principle of clinical equivalence of different LMWH for such indications along with the results of the pharmacoecononmic analysis of cost minimization is used. In conclusion, it is postulated that dalteparin preparations (Fragmin®) are pharmacoeconomically preferable in the current realities of the health care system and the pharmaceutical market of the Republic of Belarus.


A detailed analysis of the aquifer overexploitation indicates that the definition is unclear and controversial. There is no valid definition for every situation. In the majority of cases it is similar to inadequate use of the aquifers, in others it is the result of planned them. In Spain, overexploitation of aquifers comes within the Water Act, and is treated within the Regulations that develops the Act. Experience has shown that without the cooperation of the Water Users, good results cannot be obtained. Adequate education is urgently needed for the population in general, and also for those who take the important decisions necessary to obtain the correct use of hydrogeological resources for present and future generations. For adequate exploitation of aquifers it is necessary to establish some restrictions which will preserve the quality as well as the quantity of the aquifer. The zones of protection for aquifers and wells take an important place within these constraints.


Both host and environmental factors are involved in the development of human diseases. Environmental causes of disease include physical, chemical, biological, behavioural, and social factors. Consistent findings in both observational and interventional studies at aggregate and individual levels provide strong evidence of causation between human diseases and environmental agents. They are illustrated by the elucidation of the pleiotropic health effects of arsenic in drinking water and the multifactorial aetiology of hepatocellular carcinoma caused by viral hepatitis. Molecular and genomic biomarkers are used to explore the time-dependent host–environment interaction in the natural history of human diseases. They include dosimetry of exposure to environmental agents; the health outcomes at molecular, cellular, and histological levels; and the genetic and acquired susceptibility. Risk calculators combining multiple biomarkers are developed for the prediction of long-term disease risk. Global partnerships need to be strengthened to achieve interrelated goals of human health, environmental sustainability, and socioeconomic development.


Question Answering over Knowledge Graphs (KGQA) extracts the answer entity directly from the graph, given a natural language question, offering scalability to applications that need to readily provide information to the end users, such as chatbots. Nevertheless, KGQA specifically designed for Knowledge Graphs in Thai has not yet been well investigated. In this paper, we adapt multi-hop KGQA using Graph Embedding to handle Thai dataset while being able to extract answer entities that do not have explicit relation to the head node. We also construct a Thai Knowledge Graph with the ontology based on retail banking products. The model achieves a HITS @ 1 score of 80.8 on our annotated dataset. The results confirm that, aside from reaching multi-hop answers, using Graph Embedding in KGQA helps improve the overall score, especially in sparse Knowledge Graphs. Moreover, augmenting the training questions to include more entities in the graph can further help increase the performance.


Frontiers are eventually settled upon and explorations standardized over time. As more astronauts went into space, agencies created training programs, astronauts themselves built the International Space Station, and tours were set for astronauts to take shifts on these stations. European traders set up outposts on coasts and islands along routes outlined by earlier seafarers. Mount Everest hikers and locals set up base camps and planned routes to reach the summit. The goal of this standardization is to ensure these trips can be taken repeatedly over time with relative safety and set expectations. In the process, what was once uncharted eventually becomes more accessible with lower barriers to entry…


Based on an analysis of the SVD method, the authors advance a filtering method based on singular value decomposition in f-x-y domain. The method is a true three demension. With this technique, it is not necessary to know the dip of the event when the random noise is eliminated. In addition, the amplitude of the event can be preserved. The results of data simulation show that, with its rapid operation time, this method is very effective.


Abstract: The human dopamine D2L (long form) and D2S (short form) receptors were expressed separately in mouse Ltk− fibroblast cells to investigate whether there is a difference in transmembrane signaling of these D2 receptors. Both receptors induced two signals, a phosphatidylinositol‐linked mobilization of intracellular calcium and an inhibition of cyclic adenosine 3′‐5'monophosphate (cAMP) accumulation, each with similar response magnitudes and identical pharmacology. Both calcium and cAMP signals were sensitive to pretreatment with pertussis toxin (PTX), indicating mediation by coupling to Gi/Go proteins. However, the two forms of D2 receptor were distinguished by acute prior activation of protein kinase C (PKC) with 12‐O‐tetradecanoyl 4β‐phorbol 13‐acetate (TPA): TPA blocked the D2S‐mediated increase in cytosolic free calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) in a concentration‐dependent manner (between 10 nM and 1 μM), whereas the D2L receptor‐induced increase in [Ca2+]i was resistant to TPA and was only partially (60%) inhibited by 100 μM TPA. By contrast, TPA did not alter the inhibition of cAMP accumulation induced by activation of either D2S or D2L receptors. We conclude that, in the L cell system, prior activation of PKC differentially modulates the transmembrane signaling of the D2L and D2S receptors, preferentially inhibiting the D2S receptor‐mediated calcium signal but not altering the dopamine‐induced inhibitory cAMP signal of either receptor subtype.


The paper presents the preliminary results from the first study ever carried out on the building of the Chapel of San Romano; the elegant seventeenth-century chapel is located in Settignano, what was already during the Renaissance a pleasant village in the surroundings of Florence, frequented by famous artists such as the Cennini family, owner of an existing tabernacle then restored and embellished to house the remains of St. Roman martyr. The study has realized the first architectural survey of the building ever carried out by identifying the dimensional and geometric characteristics, as well as the rigorous orthogonal representation of the Renaissance frescoes and the interpretation of the metric-proportional matrices adopted in the conception of the chapel.Key words: architectural survey, Settignano, Bartolomeo Cennini, cappella di San Romano


A metallic 3-D printed E-band (60-90 GHz) radio front end is reported. It uses the Selective Laser Melting technology to melt the Cu-15Sn powder layer by layer. The front end is composed of two bandpass filters and a conical horn antenna, which are printed and tested individually as well. Differences between the designed and measured performance are caused by the fabrication tolerance. Methods to compensate the fabrication tolerance are proposed. The design procedures are summarized for reference. The metallic 3-D printing technology proves its great potential for millimeter-wave (mmWave) applications.


A confocal laser displacement sensor using a micro-machined varifocal mirror is reported. The focal length modulation is a key function for the sensor. The measurement speed and range depend on the mechanism. In this study, we propose to use the micro-machined varifocal mirror for the mechanism of the focal length modulation in the confocal displacement sensor. The electrostatically actuated varifocal mirror made by silicon was used. The working distance of the displacement sensor is designed to be 31 mm. The measurement range at 7 kHz is 310 μm. The linearity in the full scale range is from −1.5% to 0.85%.


era and profound changes in the international environment, China still needs to open further to lead and promote mutual and shared openness for all countries in the world, so as to create good international conditions for promoting the construction of a shared future for mankind and building a world of lasting peace, universal security, common prosperity, openness, inclu-siveness, cleanliness and beauty.


In a search for spectral parameters that can be used to distinguish and to model fricatives, spectral moments, dynamic amplitude, and slope above maximum amplitude were computed for a fricative corpus including sustained fricatives at different effort levels, and fricatives in vowel context. Moments varied significantly by frequency range used in computation. M3 appeared to vary the least across fricative, contrasting with Forrest et al.'s 1988 study. Dynamic amplitude separated sibilants and non-sibilants, as predicted; slope above the maximum amplitude varied significantly with effort level.


To the Editors:

In the paper by Dailloux et al. 1, the authors reminded us that in order to establish the diagnosis of nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infection, it is necessary to combine data obtained from the mycobacterial laboratory with the clinician's assessments. Furthermore, it was also stated that the adherence to published guidelines should improve the diagnosis of these diseases. We completely agree with the authors and would like to emphasise the importance of using these guidelines even when all the results seem to point to a straightforward diagnosis.

In our clinic, a patient presented with dyspnoea, nonproductive cough and infiltrate on radiography. Computed tomography of the thorax revealed a diffuse pulmonary infiltrate in the right upper lobe. The patient underwent a …


Integrated quantum optics provides great promise for enabling photonic experiments to reach new regimes of complexity. Chip-based fabrication enables sophisticated networks involving multiple interfering pathways in a compact and stable physical architecture. In a recent work we demonstrated an advance in the complexity of these integrated devices by showing the first quantum interference of three separate input photons. Such complexity allows the demonstration of three qubit protocols never before realised on-chip. Here, we report the first results showing quantum teleportation on an integrated photonic circuit. Quantum teleportation provides the mechanism for quantum relay schemes and is an important constituent in linear optical quantum computing. Whilst demonstrations to date have relied upon complex and fragile bulk optical systems, being able to teleport quantum states on a compact and stable integrated architecture will be a critical step towards scalable realisations of these schemes.


This study aims to determine the effect of the application of Trichoderma sp. Fungi. and Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteria as biofertilizer agents and P fertilizer doses as well as interactions between microbial biofertilizer agents and P fertilizer doses on vegetative growth and early appearance of red chilli flower flowers to the initial flowering period. This greenhouse experiment was arranged factorially in a completely randomized design. The first factor was the application of microbial biofertilizer agents consisting of no microbes, Trichoderma sp., And P. fluorescens, while the second factor was the dosage of P fertilizer per 5,000 g of soil planting medium consisting of 0, 0.5, and 1.0 g SP-36. Nine combinations of treatments repeated three times to obtain 27 experimental units. The variables observed were plant height, stem diameter, leaf area, wet weight and stover dry weight at 42 days after planting (DAP) and the beginning of flower emergence. The data were analyzed by 5% ANOVA followed by a 5% HSD Test to determine the difference in influence between treatments. The results showed a very significant interaction effect between the application of microbial agents and the dose of phosphate fertilizer to height, stem diameter, leaf area, wet weight and dry weight of stover and the initial flowering time at 42 DAP. The application of P. fluorescens bacteria as a biofertilizer agent combined with 0.5 g SP-36 fertilizer dose per 5,000 g of planting media showed the highest growth effect of red chili plants at age 42 DAP in terms of plant height, stem diameter, leaf area, stover wet weight, stover dry weight, and earlier flower appearance.


Tumor pretargeting with biotinylated antibodies and avidin, followed by a delayed delivery of radioactive-labeled biotin, is currently used for in vivodiagnosisand therapyin cancer patients.Herein,we describethe use of a three-step antibody/avidintargeting approach to increase the local concentration and the persistence of biotinylated human tumor necrosis factor a (bio-TNF)on a mouse tumor. MouseRMAlymphomacells were transfected with the Thy 1.1 allele (RMA.Thy1.1) to generate a unique tumor-associated antigen. In vitro pretargeting of RMA-Thy 1.1 cells with the biotinylated anti-Thy 1.1 monoclonal antibody 19E12 (blo-19E12) and NeutrAvidin Increased the amount of bio-TNF that bound to the cell (10-20 times in comparison with non-pretargeted cells), as well as its half.life on the surface (>30 times). Furthermore, cell pretargeting re duced by more than 2 orders of magnitude the LD@,of bio-TNF in a cytolytic assay with actinomycin D. Finally, RMA.Thy 1.1cells, pretreated in vilro with blo-TNF according to the three-step procedure and injected into syngeneicC57/BL6mice,wereless tumorigenicthan controls. These results indicate that the three-step targeting approach markedly increases the amount and the persistence of bio-TNF on the cell surface and that cell-bound blo.TNF can trigger cytolytic effects in vitro and antitumor effects in vivo.Tumor pretargeting with biotinylated antibodies and avidin could be a novel strategy for increasing the therapeutic index


Exposure to stress during early life (infancy/childhood) has long-term effects on the structure and function of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and increases the risk for depression and anxiety disorders. However, little is known about the molecular and cellular mechanisms of these effects. Here we focused on changes in a mouse model of early stress induced by chronic maternal separation (MS). Unbiased mRNA expression profiles in the medial PFC (mPFC) of MS pups (P15) identified an increased expression of myelin-related genes and a decreased expression of immediate early genes. We further analyzed oligodendrocyte lineage markers and performed birthdating experiments to show a precocious oligodendrocyte differentiation in the mPFC of MS pups that led to a depletion of the oligodendrocyte progenitor pool in adults. Pharmacogenetic inhibition of neuronal activity in the developing mPFC of control animals induced a similar premature differentiation of the oligodendrocyte lineage, while the transient increase of mPFC activity in MS pups prevented this change. Moreover, the developmental diminution of mPFC activity mimicked the emotional and cognitive phenotypes observed in MS, while activating the mPFC during MS prevented the emergence of depression and cognitive disorders in adulthood. Altogether, our results identify an activity-dependent maturation process in the developing mPFC that is influenced by early life stress and has critical functions on postnatal oligodendrogenesis as well as adult emotional and cognitive behaviors.


T. Gneiting (1998, J. Multivariate Analysis64, 131?147) proved a relation between the primitives of the classes ?d(2) and ?d(1) of 2- and 1-symmetric characteristic functions on Rd, respectively. We will give a straightforward proof of his relation, answering a question of his. To do this we use the calculus of generalized hypergeometric functions.


Engineering characterization of Louisiana's asphaltic concrete mixtures using the indirect tensile test was the focus of a recent comprehensive research program sponsored by the Louisiana Transportation Research Center (LTRC). Large variations in test results were observed between similar specimens. These variations were attributed to variable aggregate orientation, compaction procedure and the test device. A new indirect tension device, developed by Michigan State University and further modified by LTRC, was fabricated locally and used in order to reduce the test variability. The objective was to evaluate the repeatability and performance of the new modified indirect tension device. Two test factorials were designed to assess the devices' performance and repeatability. The first was statistically designed to examine the variation of several test parameters for a specific asphaltic concrete mixture between the modified and the current LTRC test devices. The second was designed to investigate the variation in results between the modified and current test devices due to materials properties. Mechanical tests conducted were the indirect tensile strength test, the diametral resilient modulus test, and the indirect tensile creep test. Phase I of this research presents the effect of the test devices, deformation measurement system, and operator error on the mechanical properties of a specific asphalt concrete mixture. Phase II shows the influence of mixture type, asphalt cement source, and compaction effort on the same mechanical properties. The results indicated the following: use of two LVDTs to measure vertical deformations has reduced variation in test results; both test devices provided repeatable results; mechanical properties were not significantly different due to operator error; mechanical properties measured with the modified test device were significantly different than those measured with the existing test device; the modified test device can better capture the temperature effect on the resilient modulus than the existing test device; and resilient modulus and Poisson's ratio were significantly different between mixture types.


OSU's inflection system is a transformer whose input is augmented with an analogical exemplar showing how to inflect a different word into the target cell. In addition, alignment-based heuristic features indicate how well the exemplar is likely to match the output. OSU's scores substantially improve over the baseline transformer for instances where an exemplar is available, though not quite matching the challenge winner. In Part 2, the system shows a tendency to over-apply the majority pattern in English, but not Arabic.


Of Yanjiaozhai bedrock landslip along strata, the landslip body is second member of the limestone of Guanlin Formation and the landslip bed is first member of the mottled mudstone and the back face is under control of the tension joint. Shearing in a comparatively short period at southeastern end, the landslip broke up and its front margin glided forming the drawing landslip of the incoherent bed, which endangered the life and property of local people; the fissure developed when creeping slowly at northwestern end, and evolved into the landslip back wall of the incoherent towards southwest.


Some people think people who read academic journals are sad. I find reading articles less fun than seeing patients or teaching students, but infinitely preferable to marking exam papers or answering emails. And it's much more fun when they are good articles in your own discipline, with that edge of competition added by having to decide which is 'best'. And then you get to go to the RCGP for half a day and have fiery debates about their pros and cons with clever colleagues. And THEN people are pleased to win! Ah the joys of being on the awards panel for the …


We present high‐resolution X‐ray diffraction pattern of periodic GaAs nanorods (NRs) ensembles and individual GaAs NRs grown catalyst‐free throughout a pre‐patterned amorphous SiNx mask onto Ge[111]B surfaces by selective‐area MOVPE method. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report about nano‐structure X‐ray characterization growth on non‐polar substrate. The experiment has been performed at home laboratory and using synchrotron radiation using a micro‐sized beam prepared by compound refractive lenses. Due to the non‐polar character of the substrate the shapes of NRs appear not uniform and vary between deformed hexagonal and trigonal in symmetry. Because the average diameter of NRs equals the experimental resolution certain cuts through slightly inclined edges or corners of individual NRs with lateral size of about 225 nm could be selected using spatially resolved reciprocal space mapping.


A total of 897 specimens of the genus Deltochilum from nine entomological collections was reviewed. The taxonomy of the species of the subgenera Calhyboma, Hybomidium, and Telhyboma was studied. Ten species and one subspecies of the subgenera were identified and redescribed as follows: Calhyboma (D. (C.) hypponum, D. (C.) luederwaldti, D. (C.) mexicanum, D. (C.) tessellatum, D. (C.) cristinae, D. (C.) carinatum), Hybomidium (D. (H.) amazonicum, D. (H.) sp., D. (H.) lobipes, D. (H.) gibbosum panamensis) and Telhyboma (D. (T.) orbiculare). Two new species of the genus and the female of D. (Calhyboma) luederwaldti are described. D. (Calhyboma) luederwaldti and D. (Calhyboma) cristinae are new records for Colombia. The regional distribution of seven species of these three subgenera is extended. The description of the male genital organ of all the species is presented and a comparative analysis of their morphological variation is included. The elytral sculpturation of all species is presented and illustrated in detail. Only 10% of the specimens studied had been correctly identified to species. This study improved the taxonomic understanding of the genus Deltochilum in Colombia.


Breeding for resistance to diseases is a major challenge in pepper and many resistance used in breeding programs have a partial effect and are under polygenic control. Thanks to molecular markers, genomic regions involved in complex resistance could be determined. The goal of this work is to transfer QTLs of resistance to Phytophthora capsici into a large-fruited pepper line.


Electron-molecule scattering calculations have been carried out using the UK Molecular R-Matrix codes on 3 neutral radicals observed in space, CN, C3N & C2H. These calculations investigate the rates of formation of the relevant molecular anions in space. It was found that all scattering resonances are of too high energy for temporary resonance states to lead to anion formation. However weakly bound anionic states may provide a possible route to formation.


Introduction There are high incidence of pulmonary complications and acute respiratory failure (3,2—28,6%)¹ after cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of various tactics of respiratory support during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) for the prevention of postoperative pulmonary complications. Methods This is a prospective, randomized, controlled clinical study in parallel groups. The study was approved by a local ethics committee. Informed consent was obligatory for all participants. Sixty patients were divided into two groups. In group 1 we provided a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) of +5 cm H2O during CPB. In group 2 patients underwent mechanical ventilation with reduced volume (volume control (VC) mode, tidal volume 3 ml / kg of ideal body weight) and respiratory rate of 6 breathes per minute with positive end-expiratory pressure + 5 cm H2O. The primary end-point of the study was the value of the partial pressure of oxygen in arterial blood to oxygen fraction in inhaled gas mixture ratio (paO2/FiO2) at different stages of perioperative management: T1 (after the beginning of mechanical ventilation, T2 (before the CPB), T3 (after CPB), T4 (at the end of the surgery), T5 (upon admission to the ICU), T6 and T7 (6 and 12 hours after surgery, respectively). Secondary end-points were the common lung complications rate (pneumonia, pleural effusion, atelectasis, pneumothorax), the frequency of recruitment maneuvers during the mechanical ventilation, the need for non-invasive ventilation after extubation, the frequency of re-intubation of the trachea. Statistical analysis was carried out in SPSS for Mac v19 (IBM, Inc, USA). Data were presented as mean (±standard deviation) or number (percent). A comparison of the quantitative characteristics was performed using the Mann Whitney U-test. Fisher's exact test was used for the incidence of complications between groups. A p value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results The results are presented in Tables 1 and 2. The paO2/FiO2 in the VC group was higher than in the CPAP group at stages T3 and T5. The frequency of recruiting maneuvers in the VC group was lower than in the CPAP group. There was a lower incidence of atelectasis in the VC group than in the CPAP group (Table 2). The low-volume lung ventilation during the CPB is beneficial for oxygenating function of the lungs in comparison with CPAP respiratory support. Discussion The low-volume lung ventilation during the CPB is beneficial for oxygenating function of the lungs in comparison with CPAP respiratory support.


Whether you just started looking or are an old pro, you can always improve your job-hunting skills! This guide will show you what sort of tools the library has to offer, and how you can use online tools to maximum advantage.


Variational methods and evolution equations are now widely used to tackle image processing and computer vision problems, such as image restoration, image segmentation, stereo based 3D reconstruction, and optical flow estimation. Solutions to these problems whether they are curves, surfaces, images, or vector fields are obtained by continuously deforming an initial estimate through a flow defined by a partial differential equation. This equation generally derives from the minimization of an energy functional, an axiomatic framework, or local heuristics. In the presence of constraints and a priori knowledge, the geometry and properties of the space of solutions change. Designing the corresponding flows in a systematic and natural fashion requires suitable tools. In this work, we point out that one can often model the underlying configuration space as a manifold, and describe its properties in terms of metrics and algebraic structures (a group for instance). Following recent works on this topic, we propose to apply this formulation to the derivation of evolution equations in image restoration and image registration. Highlighting the geometry of these problems allows us to handle intrinsically various constraints and to choose suitable metrics when designing gradient flows. This methodology extends to the numerical implementation. We propose integration schemes that preserve the geometric characteristics of the continuous flows.


Solution-processed core/shell quantum dot films are of great significance for light-emitting diodes. It is well known that the operation of core/shell quantum dot-based light-emitting diodes largely relies on charge transport. However, the charge transport mechanism in quantum dot films is still under debate and inconclusive. Herein, the temperature-dependent charge transport properties of light-emitting core/shell colloidal quantum dot thin films are characterized and analyzed across a wide temperature range, and the charge transport mechanism is studied. The results reveal that Poole–Frenkel emission conduction is applicable in the high-temperature range. With the decrease in the temperature, the measured current can be described by the Efros–Shklovskii variable-range hopping model. It is worth noting that, in both cases, trap states and disorders in the quantum dot film play a very important role in charge transport. These findings are of great importance for optimizing quantum dot light-emitting diodes and understanding the effects of charge transport on the device performance.


Mouse spleen cells which are synthesizing IgE can sensitize rat skin for HACA. When such cells are treated with mouse interferon, their ability to sensitize rat skin is reduced or completely inhibited. Two hundred PRD50 units of interferon reduced HACA reactions by more than 50%; 600 units gave complete inhibition. Interferon may act by inhibiting IgE synthesis and/or release.


The description of syllable structure in the individual languages is important in realizing syllabic markedness which motivates re-syllabification in the recipient language. The paper threrefore is an analysis of re-syllabification of Kipsigis and Tugen loan words borrowed from Kiswahili langauge.  The paper also gives an overview of the syllable structure in Kipsigis and Tugen as the recepient languages and Kiswahili as the source language. Data analysis was guided by consonant vowel (C.V) phonological framework. The study found out that resyllabification is a morphophonological process during word formation in any given language. Key w ords: Re-syllabification, Syllables, Loan words, Tugen, Kipsigis


Abstract A convex decomposition called the alternating sum of volumes with partitioning (ASVP) is a hierarchical volumetric representation of solid objects obtained from the boundary information. Form features intrinsic to the shape of solid objects can be recognized using ASVP decomposition. As the form-feature decomposition is compact and faithful to the shape of the object, it includes both positive and negative form-feature components. In the paper, conversion procedures from the form-feature decomposition into features useful for machining applications are described. The decomposition is accomplished by taking the complement of the halfspace abstraction of the positive components using the original faces, and combining this with the parent negative components. The resulting negative-feature decomposition represents the removal volume. Alternative decompositions of the removal volume are also obtained by exploiting the geometric information maintained in the decomposition.


The article discusses issues of improving the accuracy of operational quality control of iron ore in mountain ranges. There was proposed the use of the absorbed gamma radiation indicator as an improvement of the nuclear physics method for determining the iron content in ore mass are proposed. There were obtained the relationships of the sensitivity of the absorbed gamma radiation intensity on the distance between the detector and the irradiated surface, as well as on the distance between the source and the detector of gamma radiation.


. In this study, organic-inorganic composite electrolyte membranes are developed for a novel water-absorbing porous electrolyte water electrolysis cell. As the materials of the composite electrolyte membrane, 80 wt% of a proton-con-ducting nano zeolite (H-MFI) as an electrolyte and 20 wt% of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) as a cross-linkable matrix are used. The nano zeolite is prepared by a milling process. The nano zeolite-PVA composite membrane precursors are prepared by spraying onto a substrate, followed by cross-linking. The resulting nano zeolite-cross-linked PVA composite films are then evaluated for their properties such as proton conductivity as electrolyte membranes for the water-absorbing porous electrolyte water electrolysis cell. It is confirmed that conventional materials such as zeolites and PVA can be used for the water electrolysis as an electrolyte.


—Marine renewable energy (MRE) devices (e.g. float- ing point absorbers) are designed to maximise energy absorption, however the non-linear dynamics of the mooring lines can have a significant impact on the resulting response of the device. A comprehensive design approach is required because the mooring system not only represents a considerable part of the overall capital cost of the device but can also influence the response of the device in both operational and survival modes [1]. This paper reports numerical modelling of mooring lines with the focus on three important aspects: (i) the non-linear and temporal behaviour of synthetic ropes, (ii) geometric mooring line non- linearities, and (iii) non-linear viscous fluid damping.


Session identification is an important step in data preprocessing of web log mining,an access intervals-based improvement was carried out of transaction session identification in web usage mining.After identifying users,effective web pages in experiment are reduced greatly by filtering frame pages,and the access time threshold was adjusted by the web contents and site's structure on this condition.Compared to the traditional method that defines a uniform a threshold for all web pages experimentally,the approach presented can decide the access time threshold more accurately.Algorithm enhancing the quality of transaction session is proved by experiments.


The rapid spread of the mobile Internet is fundamentally changing the lives of the younger generation, which is studying and working while remaining "in touch". Immediate response to incoming messages without interruption from other activities is not just considered a "good tone", but shows the highest value of continuous dialogue, a greater value than, for example, the need to follow the lecture material or to respond to customer complaints. In this paper an attempt is made to evaluate the changes that are in the life of a student information and communication technologies.


For archeomagnetic dating, high‐quality directional and intensity paleosecular variation curves are needed. The Azores Archipelago in the mid‐Atlantic Ocean provides a wealth of volcanic products erupted during the Holocene, making it an ideal location to (1) gather paleomagnetic data from well dated lava flows and (2) construct a paleosecular variation (PSV) curve that enables paleomagnetic dating of volcanic products with unknown age. Here, we present new full‐vector paleomagnetic data from Pico Island, and combine the new data with existing data from neighboring islands to construct a new full‐vector PSV curve for the Azores Archipelago. An extensive rock‐magnetic study underpins the quality of our paleomagnetic carriers. From Pico Island, we obtained 21 new mean site directions; and 15 paleointensity estimates with the multimethod paleointensity approach from 12 sites, the age was known for 14 and 10 sites, respectively. By bootstrapping the non‐Gaussian uncertainty estimates of the radiocarbon age calibrations and the confidence intervals associated with the direction and paleointensity estimates, we produce the first full‐vector PSV curve with confidence intervals for the Azores covering the past 2 kyr. The PSV curve reveals a period of low inclination between ∼900 and 1560 AD, with minimum values of 32°. The potential of our new full‐vector PSV curve is demonstrated by successfully dating five lava flows from Pico Island.


Modelling farmers' managerial ability shows that farmers' lessons from various forms of experience are by far the most significant factor in achieving high management skill. This begs the question of obtaining an understanding of the components making up successful experiential outcomes. To help unravel this question the results from analysing 740 farmer survey questionnaires is presented. It turns out high 'experience' is related to many factors.


This thesis presents the miniaturization of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) on a Siliconon-Insulator based photonic integrated circuit. We designed a Mach-Zehnder interferometer based FourierDomain OCT on a photonic chip. The key components of the circuit are the spectrometer, the probing element, and the reflection collection component. A planar Concave Grating (PCG) was used as the spectrometer component of the circuit. The designed PCG demultiplexer has a channel spacing of 1nm, and 50 output channels. The wavelength resolution gives an OCT measurement range of 300μm. The 50nm bandwidth enables an axial resolution of 15μm. The free spectral range of the PCG is 115nm well above its bandwidth. The linear dispersion is 5.5μm/nm. We studied the potential of a Focusing Grating Coupler (FGC) to constitute the probing element of the OCT system. The FGC couples the light out of the chip and focuses it to the sample to be imaged. The outcoupling efficiency, the focusing performance, and the aberration properties of the FGC are simulated. The designed PCG has a size of 40μm × 40μm. Its focal length is 350μm . The outcoupled beam has a width of 12.5μm , which is equivalent to the lateral resolution of the OCT. The designed photonic circuit is fabricated using CMOS fabrication tools that are adapted to SOI photonic platform. The circuit has a total foot print of 6mm × 2.1mm , out of which the PCG spectrometer resides on an 5.0mm × 2.1mm area. We characterized the fabricated chip. The PCG demultiplexer gives relatively good results for longer wavelength channels, but the shorter wavelength channel responses show discrepancy from the simulated result. The measurement of the OCT system didn't enable to give OCT signal that can be distinguished from the measured background signal without mounting the sample.


Abstract Background Adipose tissue is known to play an active role in androgen turnover, as illustrated by the presence of enzymes of the aldo-keto reductase 1C family such as AKR1C2 and AKR1C3, respectively coding for 3α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 3 and 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 5. Our group demonstrated that these enzymes are mainly expressed in mature adipocytes and that in women, trunk fat percentage is positively associated with adipose tissue mRNA abundance of both AKR1C2 and AKR1C3. In this context, our aim was to assess whether abdominal adipose tissue activity of AKR1C2 relates to excess visceral adiposity index (VAI) in women. Methods AKR1C2 activity was measured in visceral (VAT) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) of 31 women (age: 39 ± 7; BMI: 51 ± 6) undergoing bariatric surgery. Adipose tissue homogenate activity was measured by fluorimetry in a 12-hour kinetic experiment using the chemical compound cumberone, a competitive substrate in the inactivation of 5a-dihydrotestosterone to 3α-androstanediol by AKR1C2. Visceral adipose tissue excess was quantified using the previously published VAI equation and using the age-specific cut-offs for women, who were categorized into either high VAI or low VAI. Other markers of adipose tissue dysfunction included diacylglycerol acyltransferase 2 (DGAT2) and glutathione peroxidase 3 (GPX3) mRNA abundance, adipocyte size and pericellular fibrosis. Results Our technique allowed us to detect significant AKR1C2 activity in SAT (13.5±5.7 fluorescence units (FU)/min) and VAT (8.3±4.8 FU/min). Using the VAI equation, we identified 18 women with high VAI and 13 with low VAI. Women with high VAI were characterized by significantly higher VAT AKR1C2 activity when compared to women with low VAI (9.5 ± 4.4 vs. 6.4± 3.6 FU/min, p<0. 05). AKR1C2 mRNA abundance in either VAT or SAT was not significantly different as a function of VAI. Women with high VAI also had larger VAT adipocyte diameter and lower mRNA abundance of GPX3 in both adipose tissue depots compared to women with low VAI (p<0. 05 for all). No differences were seen in DGAT2 mRNA abundance, pericellular fibrosis or SAT adipocyte diameter as a function of VAI. Conclusion In women with severe obesity, excess visceral adiposity as indicated by a high VAI, is associated with higher AKR1C2 activity in VAT only. Similarly, adipose tissues of women with high VAI displayed features of adipose tissue dysfunction such as increased VAT adipocyte diameter and decreased GPX3expression in comparison to women with low VAI. Taken together our results confirm the link between adipose AKR1C2 and excess visceral adiposity. Presentation: No date and time listed


The incidence of the femoral neck fracture is increasing, and the mechanism of the injuries is quite different in the young and elderly groups (high energy injury and osteoporosis, respectively). In the young group, early anatomical reduction and rigid fixation by such measures as multiple cannulated screws are mandatory to decrease the complications. In the elderly group, hip arthroplasty is recommended to decrease the complications due to early mobilization.


A total of 1477 game fish, comprising 11 species, were examined for Spinitectus carolini and Spinitectus gracilis. Increased prevalence of S. gracilis and a decreased prevalence of S. carolini may indicate changes in the degree of host parasitization since 1927–1929, in the western basin of Lake Erie. New host records and the first signs of dual parasitism were reported from Lake Erie fishes for the first time.


It is important to recognize that noise is a global environmental issue and is a constraining factor to the sustainable growth of humankind in the 21st century. The World Health Organization considers 'urban noise to be the third most hazardous pollution (air, water, noise).' The European Commission has stated that 'noise is one of the environmental pressures that is closest to the citizens. In public surveys, problems with noise are rated at the highest level together with global warming.' The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration considers 'noise to be the most serious problem facing the necessary expansion of the nation's air transportation system in the future.'
Solutions of noise problems are technological tasks. However, it is easier to design a car that is faster than one that is quieter! Therefore, the noise issue will mean very demanding tasks for skilled engineers.


In this paper necessary KKT condition is given to a class of nonsmooth B-(p,r) programming problems with equality and inequality constraints as follows:Let ∈D be optimal solution for (P),∑mi=1μigi+∑pj=1vjhj is strictly B-(p,r) invex function at  with respect to η and b,gi(i∈I),hj(j∈J1),-hj(j∈J2) are regular at . Then there exist λ0,μ∈Rm+,v∈Rp,such that  is KKT point for (P). At the same time,the sufficient KKT condition is given to this programming problem as follows:Let KKT conditions (2)~(4) are satisfied at ∈D,f+∑mi=1μigi+∑pj=1vjhj is B-(p,r) invex function at  with respect to η and b,gi(i∈I),hj(j∈J1),-hj(j∈J2) are regular at .Then  is an optimal solution for (P).


This case report covers cranio-cervical dislocation in a child and the role of imaging to arrive at a diagnosis [1-3]


Young, pot-grown black currant bushes, var. Wellington XXX, were artificially infested with the currant-lettuce aphid (Hyperomyzus lactucae L.) and their growth until mid-July was compared with unsprayed, aphid-free, controls.


The present invention relates to a polypropylene composition (C), the article comprising the polypropylene composition (C), and the polypropylene composition (C) to improve the ability of the paint application molded articles.


Red alder (Alnus rubra), tanoak(Pasania densiflora), madrone (Arbutus rnenziesii), and bigleai maple (Acer rn.acrophyllum) were pulped by the continuous cold soda semichemical method under various conditions of temperature and chemical concentration. A batch of cold soda pulp was also prepared from red alder for comparison. Pulps made by both the batch and continuous methods were used in the production of corrugating board. The results of these experiments revealed the following: Though increasing the concentration of the caustic soda in a range of 10. 2 to 58.5 grams per liter increased the strength of the continuously made red alder pulps and lowered the fiberizing energy, it also increased the chemical consumption and decreased the brightness. Raising the temperature from 49° to 57° C., increased the strength of the continuously made red alder pulp, but also decreased the brightness. The treating temperature had no appreciable effect on the amount of chemical or fiberizing energy consumed. Increasing the caustic soda concentration from 25.1 to 58. 8 grams per liter, increased the strength and brightness of the continuously made tanoak pulps, but also increased the chemical consumption. The same effects were also noted when the temperature was raised from 30° to 43 0 C. !Maintained at Madison, Wis., in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin. Report No. 2162 -1Bigleaf maple was easier to pulp and produced a much stronger pulp than madrone. The maple wood, however, used twice as much chemical when both woods were treated with a caustic soda solution having a concentration of 28. 4 grams per liter and a temperature of 40 0 C. When the woods were treated at 55 0 C. with a caustic soda solution having a concentration of 52 grams per liter, the amount of chemical consumed was the same for both, but the bigleaf maple pulp was still much stronger than the madrone pulp. Corrugating boards made from red alder, tanoak, and bigleaf maple cold soda pulps exhibited very good ring compression and Concora values. Bigleaf maple pulp produced the best board, which had an average ring compression value of 56. 9 pounds and a Concora value of 92. 9 pounds. The madrone cold soda pulp proved unsatisfactory for producing cor.rugating board.


Th e relationship of live body weight with heart girth measurement in sheep was investigated. The live body weight of a total of 212 Dorper ewes was recorded using a weighing scale and the heart girth measurement for each animal was taken using a measuring tape. The average live weight of the animals was 34.37 kg and the average heart girth measurement was 71.93 cm. The correlation coefficient between the live body weight and heart girth measurement was 0.959 and there was a strong correlation between the live body weight and heart girth measurement. The live body weight can be estimated using the regression equation of Y = -45.098 + 1.105X (r 2 = 0.959). The finding suggests that heart girth measurement can be used to predict the live body weight of sheep that have a short coat of wool or hair. This method of measuring live body weight is quick, cheap and practical under field conditions.


Abstract This paper examines the traditional assumptions of an instructional-centered education and considers the modifications introduced by learner-centered and the more radical student-centered approaches in relation to the applications of instructional technology. Finding limitations in each, a partnership design is proposed, which, seeks the mutual success of instruction and learning as well as accounting for the circumstances of instructors and students. Introduction The last decade has resulted in an intensive focus on technology in relation to the pedagogics and didactics of instructional theory and teaching methods, but has largely ignored learning and student life. Currently, efforts are being made to create a more balanced discourse on technology that emphasizes the subtle nuances and complexities of learning within any discussion of teaching (Barr & Tagg, 1995; Love & Love, 1995; Travis, 1995). In a learning paradigm (sometimes called philologics; recapturing the term from linguistics); scholars no longer presume that every student learns the same way or that widely accepted teaching practices necessarily result in optimal levels of learning for students (Barr & Tagg; Guskin, 1997; Rendon, 1994; Rhoads & Valadez, 1996; Stage & Manning, 1992; Tierney, 1993). In addition, "adult-learner" and commercial versions of higher education have advanced more radical "student-centered" approaches that support market-driven curricula that accommodate student needs and demands, reconceptualize the "student" as "client," and recognize the now-client's agenda as equal if not primary. A more academy-driven approach has been in the nascent field of student studies, sometimes called "mathesics," that examines the lebensweldt of the individual and the community called student (Anderson, 2003). Traditional Assumptions Learner centered and student centered sensibilities are most often critically viewed from a traditional instruction-centered standpoint. This standpoint rises on a number of assumptions that (a) clearly differentiate it from the other two, (b) justify the traditional performance and marginalize any others, and (c) have substantial implications for the application of technology in higher education. We would argue for eight key assumptions: Traditional instruction is canonical, propositional, unitary, hierarchical, linear, global, curricular, and proselytic. The first three of these assumptions refer to the character of the content, the next three to classroom practices and the last two to instructional goals. It is the argument of this paper that conceptualizations of instructional content, practices, and goals significantly affect the development of technological applications, and, therefore, deserve our attention. Traditional content is both "true" and "has to be known" which establishes its canonical character. It is standardized into secure and decontextualized sentences or propositions that Latour (1987) calls "immutable mobiles." And it is made unitary by suppressing exceptions, gaps, contradictions, and alternatives. The result is a monolith that has a universal modality of meaning independent of teacher, learner, or mode of presentation. Traditional content can be taught and learned--if delivered in well organized presentations that are engaged by properly prepared and motivated students. With this content, the classroom is global, unmarked by time, place, culture, or context. Translation problems aside, the perfect lesson can be constructed and delivered to the world. And it can be delivered by the highest ranking authority in the hierarchy of knowers to ensure its incontrovertibility. This combination has been, of course, the initial promise of every mass distribution educational initiative from film to radio to television and now to the on-line course. Its appeal comes from the conceptualization of the classroom as a linear transmission from teacher to student which is simplified by the rule that only teachers teach and only students learn. …


In this close reading of Li Rvinant , the most recent work by FrancoManitoban playwright Rheal Cenerini, we begin by commenting on the formal dimension of the play where the innovative use of Mitchif French reveals the dynamics at play between language and identity. A mythocritical approach will then allow us to study the manner in which Cenerini is inspired by the « rhetorique du metissage » (Toumson) as he proposes a very symbolic play where the theme of salvation is developed based on a palimpsest, the rewriting of regional but also universal History. We conclude by identifying the potential impact and meaning of these two elements, that is to say the expression of an identity through the phonetic transcription of the essentially oral French Mitchif language and the ideological rhetoric legitimizing «  metissage  » (hybridization) that Cenerini proposes in his tragedy.


unique among the rulers of mediaeval Germany. He was capable of recognizing the problems brought about by the twelfth-century population increase and tried to find new political forms to accommodate the resulting changes. Undaunted by failure, he was quick to change his plan of attack. His political vision remained broad. In his 'great design' he planned for a single state governed by a single ruler, in which the Alps represented neither a geographic nor a political barrier. Munz's portrait of Frederick is written in an engaging style which invites the reader to respond to his arguments. Here and there are untidy fringes which seem to rebel against he carefully controlled study. Frederick's detachment from the setting of his time appears extraordinary, as does also his very pragmatic haracter. Having examined his sojourn in Italy and witnessed his quarrel with Pope Alexander IH, the reader may conclude that Frederick still remained a mediaeval ruler with mediaeval prejudices, ready to repeat the political mistakes of emperors before and after him. In this light his crusade may not have been a 'crowning act of his reign' (p. 37•), but the power of mediaeval ideology sabotaging Frederick's hard-core political thinking. Frederick's tyle of dealing with feudalization was certainly impressive and justifies his fame. But other emperors had other styles of dealing with the same array of problems Frederick faced. The fifty-three year reign of emperor Frederick n• saw active concern with crusades, imperial reform, investiture, as well as sharp opposition from competitive princely houses. Not too long after his death Charles v ruled over a fairly viable empire. Perhaps the genius of Frederick nfs style lay in his lethargy. In a sense the footnotes of the book could be regarded as a special study in which Munz provides us with an excellent critique of German historiography on the question of the mediaeval empire during the reign of Frederick I. Even here the text flows freely and is readily within the grasp of the serious undergraduate student.