Pamela M. Yee investigates Gower's use of illness in "The Tale of Constantine and Sylvester" in Book II of the CA, largely through analogy to recent work in the use of narrative formation in the medical diagnostic process. Yee characterizes a shift from seeing physicians as the protagonists in medical narratives toward Rita Charon's model of physicians attending to patients' own narratives of illness and treatment. She uses the work of Glending Olson to connect this relatively recent paradigm to some medieval medical approaches, though she concedes that Charon's model differs from medieval models. Yee then shifts her focus to Gower, by pointing out that the relationship between Genius and Amans parallels this doctor-patient relationship, with sin and redemption taking the role of medical illness and cure. This sets up her analysis of a tale that maps Amans' analysis of sin through narrative to an actual illness: the emperor Constantine's leprosy. After an overview of previous approaches to this tale, she contrasts the medical approaches of Constantine's court clerks and of Pope Sylvester--the court clerks do not model the use of patient-centered medical narrative theorized by Charon, with the result that their proposed cure, bathing in the blood of the innocent, fails to address the underlying cause for Constantine's illness, and also accentuates the "wider social disruption" (92) of the emperor's illness. Sylvester's approach then does manage to listen carefully enough to Constantine, and thus to model the sort of close attention to story advocated by Charon. This allows Sylvester to identify the underlying moral causes for Constantine's illness, and leads to the solution through moral exempla and conversion to Christianity. Yee's analysis extends Gower's metaphor of medicine for spiritual cure through the "ritualized contact between doctor and patient" (97) of Constantine's baptism. Yee goes on to argue, however, that once Constantine has benefitted from such a healthy affiliation with Sylvester, he ironically reverts to the same poor communication model of his court clerks that nearly led to his blood bath. His forcible conversion of his empire and the problematic Donation of Constantine challenge the very compassion that Sylvester modeled in his cure of the emperor. This reading thus extends the medical paradigm of the contrasting treatments of Constantine's leprosy to the emperor's own authoritarianism, and views Constantine as a failed physician. In contrast, when Yee returns her focus to the frame of Amans and Genius, she is able to explain Genius' roundabout narrative response to Amans' confession as a more successful instantiation of this discursive model of medicine. [RAL. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 35.1.]


This comprehensive review reports on methodological quality of 162 single-case studies on augmentative and alternative communication for communication and challenging behavior in individuals diagnosed with autism or intellectual disabilities and with complex communication needs. Following review for inclusion criteria, documents were excluded if they failed to meet basic methodological standards. Each remaining study was evaluated for 10 detailed quality criteria. No studies met all standards without reservations. Only three of the included studies met all of the standards with reservations and the remainder met some but not all standards, with or without reservations. The included studies reported adequate detail for half of the quality indicators, but insufficient details for participant, setting, maintenance, and generalization, and social validity descriptions. An increased quantity and quality of research were found in over four decades. More recent studies have adequately reported half of the criteria investigated, including describing the materials, defining the outcome variables, describing baseline and intervention procedures, and evaluating procedural integrity. After identifying quality features, the authors report in more detail on low rated quality indicators particularly relevant to studies addressing social-communication interventions. The literature infrequently reported race, ethnicity, or home language. Future research should report characteristics of participants to ensure that research becomes representative of the population.


Mannans/hetromannans are important constituents of plant cell wall hemicelluloses.
Endo-mannanases play a pivotal role in mannan degradation along with other mannan
degrading enzymes. Mannanases have immense potential in various industrial sectors
which include food and feed, coffee, and fruit juice clarification, pulp bleaching, oil
drilling, fabric cleaning and bio-energy. An endo-mannanase producing Bacillus sp.
CFR1601 was isolated from decaying plant litter and identified using standard
microbiological and molecular techniques. In SmF, green gram husk and sunflower oil
meal supported highest endo-mannanase production (25.6 IU/ml). Bacillus sp. CFR1601
cells Immobilized on synthetic supports were found to be marginally superior for endomannanase
production (up to 33.2 IU/ml) as compared to natural supports (up to 28.2
IU/ml). Combination of L-lysine HCl, tween-60, and sunflower oil cake in central
composite design (CCD) of response surface methodology (RSM) ameliorated (1.61-
fold) endo-mannanase titres to 48 IU/ml. In SSF, enhanced endo-mannanase production
from Bacillus sp. CFR1601 was attained when defatted coconut residue was
supplemented with sesame oil meal, tween-80, and inoculated with 12h old (O.D600nm≈
3.6) bacterial cells. CCD of RSM resulted in 4.04-4.39 fold (800-870 IU/g) improvement
in endo-mannanase yield as compared to un-optimized growth conditions. Aqueous two
phase system consisting of a combination of PEG 3350 and Na2SO4 resulted in
partitioning of endo-mannanase towards bottom phase (3.8-fold purification and 95.4%
recovery). Second stage ATPS further improved the purification fold (12.32). The
enzyme was purified to homogeneity (Mw~39 kDa, specific activity 10,461 ± 100 IU/mg)
and identified to be a member of GH-26. Endo-mannanase gene (manb-1601, 1083 bp,
accession No. KM404299) was expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3), and the expressed
enzyme (ManB-1601) (666 IU/ml) was found to be a typical α/β protein. A high degree
of conservation among amino acid residues involved in metal chelation (His-1, 23 and
Glu-336) and internal repeats (122 to 152 and 181 to 212) was observed in ManB-1601
as well as other endo-mannanases reported from various Bacillus sp. Thermal
inactivation kinetics suggested that metal ions are quintessential for stability of ManB-
1601 as holoenzyme (Ea 87.4 kcal/mol, �H 86.7 kcal/mol, �S 186.6 cal/k/mol)
displayed better values of thermodynamic parameters compared to metal-depleted
ManB-1601 (Ea 47 kcal/mol, �H 45.7 kcal/mol, �S 64.7 cal/k/mol). EDTA treatment of
ManB-1601 led to subtle transitions in both secondary and tertiary structure and also
viii
promulgated the population of conformational state that unfolds at relatively lower
temperature. The enzyme followed a three-state process for thermal inactivation wherein
loss of tertiary structure preceded the concurrent loss of secondary structure and activity.
ManB-1601 was optimally active at moderately high temperature (550C) and neutral pH
(pH 7) and showed excellent stability over a broad pH range. The apparent Km, Vmax, and
Vmax/Km values of ManB-1601 were 6.5 mg/ml, 5000 IU/ml/min, and 769.2
μmol/min/mg, respectively. Enzyme was stable in the presence of organic solvents,
certain heavy metals, and displayed tolerance towards proteases. Partially purified endomannanase
generated low molecular weight degraded products from guar gum
(consisting of DP 2 and 4 oligosaccharides) which supported the growth of Lactobacillus
spp. [increased O.D600nm up to 2.3-fold and decrease in pH (<6.3) due to production of
short chain fatty acid (SCFA)] when used as sole carbon source. Hydrolysis of locust
bean gum by ManB-1601 produced mannooligosaccharides (MOS) of degree of
polymerization 2-5 along with mannose as revealed by ESI-MS. In 1H and 13C NMR,
chemical shifts of DP 2 revealed presence of both α-1, 6-galactosyl-mannopyranose and
un-substituted mannobiose while chemical shifts of DP 3 indicated absence of any unsubstituted
moiety. The terminal galactosyl residue in oligosaccharides suggested
presence of hitherto less known ability in ManB-1601 of cleaving mannosidic linkages
near galactose substitution which are otherwise difficult due to steric hindrance.
Lactobacillus casei var rhamnosus, L. casei, L. fermentum, and L. plantarum when
grown on DP 2 and 3 MOS showed up to 51-fold and up to 3.46-fold higher CFU/ml and
A600nm, respectively, when compared to positive control. However, growth parameters
were lower than positive control when DP 5 MOS were used as sole carbon source.
ManB-1601 hydrolysis of guar gum (GG) led to the production of partially hydrolyzed
guar gum (PHGG) with high flow behaviour index and markedly reduced average degree
of polymerization, average molecular weight and apparent viscosity. FTIR spectra of GG
and PHGG indicated similarity in basic chemical structure. The compatibility of endomannanase
with various detergents along with wash performance test corroborated its
potential in laundry industry.


Coffee leaf rust, caused by the fungus Hemileia vastatrix , is considered the main disease of coffee in Brazil. Aiming to find alternatives to control this disease, this study investigated, at the metabolic level, the possible effect of silicon (Si) on coffee resistance to coffee leaf rust. The analytical pyrolysis was used to evaluate possible changes in the chemical composition of lignin on the leaves of coffee plants supplied with Si and inoculated with H. vastatrix . There was no significant increase in the foliar Si concentration for plants supplied with this element, consequently, there was no reduction on coffee leaf rust symptoms. Eight compounds derived from lignin from the p -hidroxifenila precursor (H) were identified, seven from the precursor guaiacyl (G) and one from the precursor syringyl (S) on leaves of plants supplied or non-supplied with Si and non-inoculated or inoculated with H. vastatrix . For the inoculated plants supplied with Si, there was a tendency of occur higher concentrations of the compounds vanillin and caffeine compared to plants non-             -supplied with Si and non-inoculated. Plants supplied with Si, regardless of inoculation with H. vastatrix , showed higher values for S/G ratio when compared to non-supplied plants. Even though there was an increase in the concentrations of vanillin and caffeine and higher S/G ration on the leaves of plants supplied with Si and infected with H. vastatrix , this fact did not result in reduction in the symptoms of coffee leaf rust.


This article seeks to shift the frame of analysis within which discussions of Indian indentured migration take place. It argues that colonial discourses and practices of indenture are best understood not with regard to the common historiographical framework of whether it was 'a new system of slavery', but in the context of colonial innovations in incarceration and confinement. The article shows how Indian experiences of and knowledge about transportation overseas to penal settlements informed in important ways both their own understandings and representations of migration and the colonial practices associated with the recruitment of indentured labour. In detailing the connections between two supposedly different labour regimes, it thus brings a further layer of complexity to debates around their supposed distinctions.


Agriculture has a substantial environmental impact. However, little research has been conducted on the relationship between agriculture's environmental impacts and linkages, particularly for the key agriculture-based Pakistani economy. Additionally, the literature on environmental linkages rarely estimates multiple types of linkages in a single study. This study fills these critical research gaps. The study estimates the land, water, nitrogen, and CO2 impacts and linkages of Pakistan's agriculture sector using an input–output model and the hypothetical extraction method. The results indicated that agriculture directly accounted for approximately 27%, 93%, 92%, and 1% of Pakistan's total sectoral land, water, nitrogen, and CO2 impacts (LWNC), respectively. While the sector indirectly contributed almost 2%, 0.3%, 0.4%, and 0.4% of Pakistan's total LWNC. The bulk of direct LWNC impacts were caused by agricultural purchases from downstream sectoral importers. The majority of the indirect LWNC impacts were induced by agriculture's re-imports. The agricultural purchases from the downstream sector of "Food and Beverages" induced the greatest environmental impact. To ensure sustainable agriculture, particularly in Pakistan, the agriculture sector's direct and indirect environmental impacts should be reduced not only through better management practices and technology, but also by focusing on intermediate sectoral sources of direct and indirect environmental impacts.


Polyandry is a common mating pattern in different insect species and it leads to increased genetic diversity in the offspring and prevents inbreeding in populations. According to the theory of mate choice, mates should choose a partner that will increase heterozygosity in their offspring. In this way females will increase their reproductive success and offspring will have higher fitness and be good competitors. Phenotypic traits such as large body size is preferred by both females and males crickets according to earlier studies. The environment can also have an influence on mating pattern as sexual selection could vary depending on the environment. I used the dark bush-cricket, Pholidop-tera griseoaptera in an experiment to examine the mechanisms behind polyandry and the correlation between phenotypic, genetic and environmental factors. My general aim was to broaden the knowledge about the mating system in this insect species. The study was placed at Slovak Academy of sciences in Slovakia. Bush-crickets from five different altitudes were collected, and mating experiments was performed using the offspring of these animals. Eleven mating groups were used with 5 females and 5 males in each group. The bush-crickets were kept in either warm or cold temperatures in open-air cages. Microsatellites was used to identify genetic diversity of populations to examine if there was a correlation with the frequency of copulations. Measurement of body-size were performed on each cricket and estimation of number of copulations were done for each female.I found that in warm temperature, females of P. grisoptera had the highest frequency of copulations and there males choose high quality females. In cold temperature there were less copulations, indicating that the environmental condition restrict the ability for mate choice. This study is only a snapshot of the pattern of polyandry and the behaviour needs to be studied further, but it has broadened the knowledge about the mating system in this nuptial gift-giving insect species.


Ascorbic acid (Vit. C) is essential for the proper functioning of the human body. Humans are unable to synthesize vitamin C endogenously, so it must be supplied with food. The available literature does not provide any data on the content of vitamin C in the meat of snails. The aim of the study was therefore to determine and compare its content in the edible parts of snails obtained in Poland. The research material consisted of 30 samples of snail meat (the foot with the collar and a fragment of the coat) belonging to three species: Helix pomatia, Cornu aspersum aspersum, and Cornu aspersum maxima. Helix pomatia snails were obtained from the natural environment, while the other two species came from commercial breeding farms. Ascorbic acid was determined by the method of Roe and Kuethner, as modified by Dabrowski and Hinterleitner (1989). Previously, tissues for biochemical analysis were prepared according to the methodology described by Zannoni et al. (1974). The average level of vitamin C in the edible parts of particular snail species ranged from 38.14 mg/kg (Helix pomatia) to 185.38 mg/kg (Cornu apsersum aspersum). Statistically significant differences in the level of ascorbic acid were found between all species of snails examined. The highest vitamin C content was found in the meat of Cornu aspersum aspersum. The lowest level of ascrobic acid occurred in the meat of Helix pomatia, in which it was 20.41% and 37.04% of the levels found in the meat of Cornu aspersum aspersum and Cornu aspersum maxima, respectively. The present research showed a significantly higher content of ascorbic acid in snails of the Cornu genus kept in heliculture as compared to free-living snails (Helix pomatia). Moreover, the content of ascorbic acid in the edible parts of snails is higher than it is in pork and beef meat. The present study showed that snails from the Cornu genus can be an additional valuable source of vitamin C in the human diet.


A novel method was developed for the simultaneous rapid determination of 81 illegally added glucocorticoids (GCs) in cosmetics using dispersive-solid phase extraction (d-SPE) and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The analytes were extracted by acetonitrile after dispersing with water, and then purified using the C18 and primary secondary amine (PSA). The chromatographic separations were performed on a Poroshell 120 PFP column (100 mm×2.1 mm, 2.7 μ m) under multiple chromatographic retention modes. Acetonitrile and 0.2% (v/v) acetic acid aqueous solution were used as mobile phases with gradient elution, and all the 10 groups of isomers were baseline separated. The qualitative identification and quantitative analysis of the 81 GCs were operated in the electrospray ionization positive mode using dynamic multiple reaction monitoring (DMRM). The 81 GCs finally were quantified by internal standard method. The correlation coefficients of linear calibration curves were greater than 0.99 in the corresponding mass concentration ranges. The average recoveries of the 81 GCs at three spiked levels ranged from 68.8% to 105.3% with relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 2.9%-13.1% (n=6). The LODs (S/N ≥ 3) and LOQs (S/N ≥ 10) were 0.002-0.006 μ g/g and 0.005-0.020 μ g/g, respectively. A number of 137 cosmetic samples submitted by customers were screened. Sixteen positive samples were found, and the contents of GCs were from 16.9 μ g/g to 158 μ g/g. The results showed that the new method is simple, rapid, sensitive and reliable, and it is suitable for qualitative and quantitative screening analysis of the 81 GCs in cosmetics simultaneously.


A multivariate analysis on flood variables is needed to design some
hydraulic structures like dams, as the complexity of the routing process in
a reservoir requires a representation of the full hydrograph. In this work,
a bivariate copula model was used to obtain the bivariate joint distribution
of flood peak and volume, in order to know the probability of occurrence of
a given inflow hydrograph. However, the risk of dam overtopping is given by
the maximum water elevation reached during the routing process, which
depends on the hydrograph variables, the reservoir volume and the spillway
crest length. Consequently, an additional bivariate return period, the so-called
routed return period, was defined in terms of risk of dam overtopping
based on this maximum water elevation obtained after routing the inflow
hydrographs. The theoretical return periods, which give the probability of
occurrence of a hydrograph prior to accounting for the reservoir routing,
were compared with the routed return period, as in both cases hydrographs
with the same probability will draw a curve in the peak-volume space. The
procedure was applied to the case study of the Santillana reservoir in
Spain. Different reservoir volumes and spillway lengths were considered to
investigate the influence of the dam and reservoir characteristics on the
results. The methodology improves the estimation of the Design Flood
Hydrograph and can be applied to assess the risk of dam overtopping.


With the continuous rising of real-estate prices and the upsurge demands by residents, the loan default risk has been raised gradually due to the individual housing loan increased with years. The efficient measurement and management systems for the credit risk in individual loan should be urgently established. Such systems need a knowledge-based decision methodology to be implemented. The decision tree algorithm is one of methods. It is applicable to enhance the riskpsilas assessment of Chinese individual real-estate loan. It has several advantages such as understandable principle, low demand, and interpretable results that can be visualized. In this paper, the decision tree and information entropy theories are applied to the credit-risk assessment of individual housing. Based on the theory of decision tree and domain knowledge, the evaluation of attribute to measure important degrees by knowledge-based information gained and a theoretical structure equation was established. It was found that using such approach, a higher accuracy for forecasts can be reached.


Disasters and humanitarian emergencies due to natural or human origins result in severe and often prolonged suffering of the affected population. Midwives have a role to play in providing assistance because women and their infants experiencing such crises have unique vulnerabilities and needs. This article introduces midwives and other women's health care practitioners to international humanitarian emergency response efforts and describes preparation and training activities they can undertake to get ready to volunteer with an international health aid agency. Various clinical realities and challenges are discussed, including recommended priorities for providing reproductive health care in disaster zones. Common ethical dilemmas in crisis health care settings are also reviewed. By arriving in the field well prepared to participate and collaborate, midwives can make substantial contributions to the safety, health, and comfort of women and their families who have experienced a natural disaster, armed conflict, or disease epidemic.


The goal to be achieved in this research is that teachers at SD Negeri Tenggilis Mejoyo I Surabaya have the ability to write stories in the 2021/2022 Academic Year. This action research was carried out at SD Negeri Tenggilis Mejoyo I, Tenggilis Mejoyo sub-district, Surabaya City, involving 18 teachers as research subjects from August to September 2020. This research was an action research because the author who carried out the action was the head of SD Negeri Tenggilis Mejoyo I who was responsible for fully on the development of human resources in the school environment. Story writing activity is one of the most complicated teacher professional development jobs because it requires accuracy based on the formulation of indicators. The form of story writing really depends on the indicators to be measured. Each form of this story has advantages and disadvantages, therefore the form of the story is adjusted to the indicators to be measured. Therefore, efforts are needed to improve teacher competence, especially in writing stories, one of which is through efforts to organize workshops. Workshop is a scientific meeting in a similar field (Education) to produce real work. Based on data analysis, it can be concluded from this research that the intensification of the One School One Book Program through a Workshop in writing stories is very effective. The attitudes and abilities of the teachers at Tenggilis Mejoyo I Elementary School, Tenggilis Mejoyo Subdistrict, Surabaya City have increased after the Workshop. In addition, it can also improve the ability of teachers in writing stories professionally. This can be seen in the second cycle of activities after the intensification of the One School One Book Program through the Workshop the average score obtained was 70.3. The story is said to be feasible if at least 65% of the criteria can be met. Thus, it can be stated that in the first and second cycles 100% of teachers were able to write stories that deserved to be published through the One School One Book program.


Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF, originally called 'nephrogenic fibrosing dermopathy') is a painful and debilitating fibrosing disorder that was first identified in 1997 in several patients with stage 5 chronic kidney disease (glomerular filtration rate (GFR) <15 ml/min/1.73 m2 or permanently requiring dialysis) who had undergone renal transplantation at Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego, California.1 It typically manifests with skin tightening, tethering and hyperpigmentation on the trunk and on the extremities, progressing from distal to proximal, and often results in fixed flexion contractures of the fingers, elbows, knees and ankles. More recently, extensive systemic involvement has been identified including fibrosis of lymph nodes, thyroid, oesophagus, heart, lungs, liver, diaphragm, skeletal muscle, genitourinary tract and dura mater.2 3 The presence of skin changes of NSF has been associated with a nearly threefold increased risk of death within 24 months.4

On skin biopsy, the dermis is hypercellular with increased numbers of dermal fibroblasts.5 6 Thickened collagen bundles aligned with intact elastic fibres extend from the superficial dermis through the subcutis along interlobular septa.6 Interstitial mucin deposition is increased. CD34 fibrocytes, presumably originating from the circulation, and occasional cells of monocyte–macrophage lineage that stain for factor XIIIa and CD68 may be present in the dermis. When deeper tissue is sampled, fibrosis of subcutaneous tissue and fascia can also be observed.7 However, unlike scleroderma or scleromyxoedema, there is little or no inflammatory infiltrate in the skin of patients with NSF. Although the skin changes and joint contractures of NSF may resemble those of chronic graft-versus-host disease, NSF occurs in the absence of recent allogeneic haematopoietic cell transplantation; on skin biopsy, increased interstitial mucin and CD34 fibrocytes in the dermis typically differentiate NSF from chronic graft-versus-host disease.8

In 2006, Grobner reported that five of nine patients receiving …


INTRODUCTION
As early detection of hydronephrosis increases, we require better methods of distinguishing between pediatric patients who require pyeloplasty vs. those with transient obstruction. Gravity-assisted drainage (GAD) as part of a standardized diuretic renography protocol has been suggested as a simple and safe method to differentiate patients.

METHODS
Renal scans of 89 subjects with 121 hydronephrotic renal units between January 2004 and March 2007 were identified and analyzed.

RESULTS
Of all renal units, 65% showed obstruction. GAD maneuver resulted in significant residual tracer drainage in eight renal units, moderate drainage in 12 renal units, and some improvement in 40 units after the GAD maneuver. Of the eight renal units with significant residual tracer drainage, only two proceeded to pyeloplasty. After pyeloplasty, nine children had improved time to half maximum (T(1/2) Max) and 13 were unchanged.

CONCLUSIONS
Our study was limited due to its retrospective design and descriptive analyses, but includes a sufficient number of subjects to conclude that GAD as part of a diuretic renography protocol is an effective and simple technique that can help prevent unnecessary surgical procedures in pediatric patients.


Crystalline formation of high magnetic-moment thin films through low-temperature annealing processes compatible with current semiconductor technologies is crucial for the development of next generation devices, which can utilise the spin degree of freedom. Utilising in-situ aberration corrected electron microscopy, we report a 235 °C crystallisation process for a Co-based ternary Heusler-alloy film whose initial nucleation is initiated by as few as 27 unit cells. The crystallisation occurs preferentially in the ⟨111⟩ crystalline directions via a two-dimensional (2D) layer-by-layer growth mode; resulting in grains with [110] surface normal and [111] plane facets. This growth process was found to reduce the crystallisation energy by more than 50% when compared to bulk samples whilst still leading to the growth of highly ordered grains expected to give a high degree of spin-polarisation. Our findings suggest that the 2D layer-by-layer growth minimises the crystallisation energy allowing for the possible implementation of highly spin-polarised alloy films into current chip and memory technologies.


The Analyzer of Space Plasma and EneRgetic Atoms (ASPERA-3) on board Mars Express is designed to study the interaction between the solar wind and the atmosphere of Mars and to characterize the plasma and neutral gas environment in near-Mars space. Neutral Particle Detectors (NPD-1 and 2), which form part of the ASPERA-3 instrument suite, are Energetic Neutral Atom (ENA) detectors which use the time-of-flight (ToF) technique to resolve the energy of detected particles. In the present study, we perform a statistical analysis of NPD ToF data collected between 14 March 2004 and 17 June 2004 when Mars Express was located at the dayside of Mars looking toward the planet. After pre-processing and removal of UV contamination, the ToF spectra were fitted with simple analytical functions so as to derive a set of parameters. The behavior of these parameters, as a function of spacecraft position and attitude, is compared with a model, which describes ENA generation by charge exchange between shocked solar wind protons and extended Martian exosphere. The observations and the model agree well, indicating that the recorded signals are charge-exchanged shocked solar wind. r 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


Agricultural and prescribed burning activities emit large amounts of trace gases and aerosols on regional to global scales. We present a compilation of emission factors (EFs) and emission ratios from the eastern portion of the Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality (FIREX‐AQ) campaign in 2019 in the United States, which sampled burning of crop residues and other prescribed fire fuels. FIREX‐AQ provided comprehensive chemical characterization of 53 crop residue and 22 prescribed fires. Crop residues burned at different modified combustion efficiencies (MCE), with corn residue burning at higher MCE than other fuel types. Prescribed fires burned at lower MCE (<0.90) which is typical, while grasslands burned at lower MCE (0.90) than normally observed due to moist, green, growing season fuels. Most non‐methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) were significantly anticorrelated with MCE except for ethanol and NMVOCs that were measured with less certainty. We identified 23 species where crop residue fires differed by more than 50% from prescribed fires at the same MCE. Crop residue EFs were greater for species related to agricultural chemical use and fuel composition as well as oxygenated NMVOCs possibly due to the presence of metals such as potassium. Prescribed EFs were greater for monoterpenes (5×). FIREX‐AQ crop residue average EFs generally agreed with the previous agricultural fire study in the US but had large disagreements with global compilations. FIREX‐AQ observations show the importance of regionally‐specific and fuel‐specific EFs as first steps to reduce uncertainty in modeling the air quality impacts of fire emissions.


The bacterial pathogens associated with urinary tract infection were studied. The study examined 185 urine samples taken from patients who were visiting and residing in hospitals and outpatient clinics in Homs, Syria between 1/7/2016 and 1/10/2016 suffering from symptoms of urinary tract infection. It was found that 120 samples showed positive results by 65%. While 65 samples (65%) gave negative results. The results of the study showed that the number of female urinary tract infection was more than males, and the rate of infection in males for females was 3: 1. The results also showed that the number of women with diabetes among the total number of women with urinary tract infection was 26, Males with diabetes were infected with 10 samples. In the case of female infections, 35 of the 89 samples of pregnant women were found to be 39%. Biochemistry and biochemical assays showed E. coli control with the highest rate of 56% followed by Enterobacter by 17%, Klebsiella by 12%, Pseudomonas by 8% and Staphylococcus by 7%. The results showed a clear variation in the responsiveness of studied isolates to the antibodies used. E.coli showed a high resistance of 69% to CTX while 73% high sensitivity to AMK. Enterobacter showed 50% resistance to CTX And a 95% high sensitivity to F (300). Klebsiella showed resistance to CTX, 50%, high sensitivity to 80% F, Staphylococcus showed 50% resistance to AMK, and 75% sensitivity to F, CIP, CTX , CRP and Pseudomonas showed a 100% high resistance to CRP and showed a 50% sensitivity towards. Increased resistance to cephalosporin compounds was observed. Keywords : urinary tract infection,  antibiotics, E.coli


In the quest to unravel its functional significance, neuroglobin (Ngb), a brain-specific neuroprotective protein, has recently been proposed as an actor in neurodevelopment. As neural stem cells (NSCs) are fundamental during brain development, the present study aimed at investigating the role of Ngb in the growth and proliferation of NSCs by comparing an Ngb-floxed (Ngbfl-)NSC line, equivalent to the wild-type cellular situation, with an in-house created Ngb knockout (NgbKO-)NSC line. NgbKO-NSCs were characterized by an increased growth and proliferation capacity in vitro, supported by RNA sequencing and western blot results reporting the downregulation of Cdkn1a and the upregulation of Cdk6, both enhancing the cell cycle. Based on additional gene ontology enrichment and pathway analyses, we hypothesize that the loss of Ngb affects multiple cellular signaling pathways with the most important being the Akt-Tp53 axis.


Pregnant mice (n = 3) were exposed to BPA by intraperitoneal injection, from gestation day 9.5 until end of lactation. Male offspring were evaluated for cytokine production at 20 wk-of-age. One pregnant control mouse produced no males, precluding statistical analysis. However, recurring shifts in cytokines were suggested in the adult BPA offspring. Serum showed a numeric increase in 16 of 21 basal cytokine levels. ConA-stimulated splenocytes showed a numeric increase in 17 of 21 cytokines, and LPS-stimulated splenocytes an increase in 18 of 21 cytokines. The cytokine profile was one of TH1 up-regulation more than TH2, and with skewing toward TH17 responses.


Advances in clinical lipidology during the last 18 months include the establishment of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) as an important risk marker for cardiovascular disease. Determining hsCRP levels should help the clinician single out patients at particularly high risk. However, more research needs to be done in this area. Furthermore, statins do not seem to be of benefit in patients with severe congestive heart failure, on chronic hemodialysis, or with aortic stenosis. Next, plasma triglyceride levels are now considered an important risk marker for cardiovascular disease, but the therapeutic benefits related to lowering triglyceride levels remain difficult to achieve. Also, nicotinic acid has gained more interest partly because recent studies have demonstrated positive effects on atherosclerosis development and partly because the side effect of flushing seems to be partially avoidable with the concomitant administration of laropiprant. Both the raising of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol by nicotinic acid and the additional lowering of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol by ezetimibe and eprotirome will need to demonstrate hard endpoint reductions in large-scale intervention trials. Trials of niacin/laropiprant (the AIM-HIGH and HPS2-THRIVE studies) and ezetimibe (the IMPROVE-IT study) are already under way.


Previous studies of the analysis of molecular matched pairs (MMPs) have often assumed that the effect of a substructural transformation on a molecular property is independent of the context (i.e., the local structural environment in which that transformation occurs). Experiments with large sets of hERG, solubility, and lipophilicity data demonstrate that the inclusion of contextual information can enhance the predictive power of MMP analyses, with significant trends (both positive and negative) being identified that are not apparent when using conventional, context-independent approaches.


Pancreatic cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related death in the Western world and, in most patients, current chemotherapies have only slight survival benefit. Evaluation of targeted therapies however, is a relatively recent development. Therefore, we have attempted to model genetic subsets of the disease in the mouse. These models can be used to test targeted therapies in the most appropriate genetic backgrounds.

For example, we have shown previously that mutant p53 drives metastasis, and that the Src inhibitor Dasatinib inhibits mutant p53-mediated pancreatic cancer metastasis in vivo. We have now assessed the efficacy of further targeted therapies in this model, in particular those that target the tumor microenvironment, and found that tumor growth and metastasis can be suppressed in certain cases.

We also previously showed that loss of Pten leads to acceleration of PDAC in the mouse, and that in the human disease those patients with high levels of active mTOR represent a discrete cluster in which, in contrast with the majority of patients, mTOR inhibitors should be effective. We now show, in a mouse model driven by KrasG12D and Pten deficiency, that mTOR inhibition significantly enhances survival of animals presenting with advanced PDAC and causes regression of tumors in several cases. In tumors driven by KrasG12D and Lkb1 deficiency we also observed some enhancement of survival. In tumors driven by KrasG12D and mutant p53, however, mTOR inhibition had little survival benefit, suggesting that its chemotherapeutic effect is specifically due to the reliance on mTOR signaling.

The genetic signatures of tumors could be used to direct therapy in the future. Clearly, promising treatments may work only in certain patient groups, or only as part of combinatorial approaches. Thus, careful consideration should be taken before selecting models to test new agents.

Citation Format: Jennifer P. Morton, Douglas C. Morran, Saadia A. Karim, Nigel B. Jamieson, TR Jeffry Evans, Owen J. Sansom. The use of mouse models of pancreatic cancer to evaluate sensitivity to targeted therapies. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer: Progress and Challenges; Jun 18-21, 2012; Lake Tahoe, NV. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(12 Suppl):Abstract nr B31.


The UC Denver Health Sciences Library's Searching for Evidence Based Information Tutorial is designed to provide a basic overview of the concepts important to searching for high quality information on which to base clinical decisions. Basic tips and ideas to improve your results when searching for evidence based information.


Four subpopulations of hepatic macrophages, differing in size, were isolated from rat liver. The secretion of nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), prostaglandin E (PGE) and interleukin-1 (IL-1) by freshly isolated as well as cultured cells was studied after in vitro stimulation with the immunomodulator muramyl dipeptide (MDP) in free or liposome-encapsulated form. Freshly isolated liver macrophages could be induced to secrete significant levels of NO, TNF-alpha, PGE and IL-1. The extent of secretion, however, varied substantially between macrophages of different size. The highest levels of secretion of TNF-alpha, PGE and IL-1 were observed in the fraction containing the large-size macrophages, while progressively lower levels of secretion were observed with decreasing size. In contrast, the highest levels of NO secretion were observed by small macrophages and steadily decreased with increasing size. Hepatic macrophages of different size displayed differences in secretory potential during in vitro culture. The ability of small liver macrophages to secrete NO, TNF-alpha, or PGE, following activation with MDP, gradually increased with time in culture. In contrast, large liver macrophages gradually lost their secretory ability after 1-2 days and the intermediate-size cells after 2-3 days in culture. This functional heterogeneity in secretory properties among rat liver macrophages of different size is discussed with reference to their potential role and significance in host defense against metastatic tumor growth in the liver.


Aims

Conventional tillage is a serious threat to the stability of soil ecosystems. Understanding the response mechanisms of soil microbial community assemblies to anthropogenic activities is a major topic of ecological research.
Methods

Here, we investigated the bacterial community structures and assemblies in bulk and rhizosphere soils of soybeans grown with conventional tillage (moldboard plow, MP) and with conservation tillage that involved no-tillage (NT) or ridge tillage (RT) using high-throughput sequencing methods.
Results

We found that soil bacterial community compositions, structures and assembly processes were primarily altered by tillage practices. Briefly, in comparison to MP, NT and RT increased the relative abundances of the nitrogen-fixing bacteria Mesorhizobium sp., Bradyrhizobium sp. and Burkholderia sp., but decreased the abundance of soil carbon-degrading bacteria, especially Blastococcus sp., Streptomyces sp. and Sphingomonas sp. In addition, in comparison to MP, NT and RT resulted in more stable bacterial networks and more lower the relative contribution of homogenizing dispersal. Soil pH was the primary soil factor regulating both the bacterial community structures and assembly processes under the three tillage practices.
Conclusions

The altered functional bacteria under conservation tillage was mostly affiliated with biomarkers and keystone taxa, inferring that conservation tillage might contribute to biological nitrogen fixation and soil carbon sequestration.


The distinct dark-red skin of Huaniu apples renders them attractive to customers. However, the mechanism that leads to the development of the color of the fruit is unclear. In this study, we found that compared with red Fuji (a bright-red apple cultivar), Huaniu apples had higher contents of (−)-epicatechin (EC), (−)-epigallocatechin (EGC), (−)-gallocatechin gallate (GCG), and procyanidins (PCs) B2 and C1 in the peel, which implies that the polymerization of the flavanols and PCs may be correlated with the dark-red skin of the fruit. Using EC as a substrate, we purified an enzyme from Huaniu peel. We performed protein sequencing and discovered that the enzyme was a polyphenol oxidase (PPO). The molecular weight of the enzyme was approximately 140 kDa, which we estimated by native-PAGE and SDS-PAGE, while it was 61 kDa by urea-SDS-PAGE, from which we discovered that the PPO was a dimer. We observed the lowest Km value for catechol (0.60 mM), and the best substrate was 4-methylcatechol, with a Vmax of 526.32 U mg−1 protein. EC is a suitable natural substrate, with a Km value of 1.17 mM, and 55.27% of the Vmax/Km of 4-methylcatechol. When we used EC as a substrate, the optimum temperature and pH of the PPO were 25 °C and 5.0, respectively. In summary, we purified a dimeric PPO from Huaniu apples that showed high activity to EC, which might catalyze the polymerization of flavanols and PCs and lead to the dark-red color development of the fruit.


The purpose of this study was to compare the use of WebQuests with traditional instruction. Specifically, the study examined the end-of-unit exam scores for students who completed a WebQuest on the Texas Revolution and those students completing a poster activity. Both of the instructional activities were implemented as additional enhancement to close the unit. Results indicated that the control group, or those students completing the poster activity, scored higher on the end-of-unit exam than did the experimental group, or those students completing the WebQuest activity. A discussion of the possible reasons for this difference, practical implications of study and using WebQuests in the classroom, and directions for future research are included.


OBJECTIVE
To ascertain and compare knowledge of child and maternal oral healthcare amongst a group of Nurses and Midwives in Ghana and Nigeria.

DESIGN
A cross-sectional survey.

SETTING
Health institutions in Cape Coast, Ghana and Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

SUBJECTS
One hundred and sixty Nurses and Midwives (80 Ghanaians and 80 Nigerians).

RESULTS
They had an age range of 21-65 years and a mean age of 37.8 (SD ± 9.6) years. Majority of the Nurses in both countries indicated that women should brush their teeth with a toothbrush and toothpaste (92.1%), whilst the children should use salt and cotton wool twice daily. Although more of the Ghanaian Nurses (98.8%) considered routine dental visits to be important than the Nigerian population (80%), only 3.8% of the Ghanaian Nurses against 33.8% of the Nigerians indicated there was a connection between oral disease and delivery status. Opinions differed significantly as to the reason for the first dental visit with 65.4% of the Nigerian Nurses indicating this should be when the child has toothache whereas 51.9% of Ghanaian Nurses believed it is when the first tooth erupts. However, four to six years was the common choice for when self brushing should start in both countries.

CONCLUSION
The knowledge of this group of Nurses and Midwives on maternal and child oral healthcare was insufficient. The Ghanaian Nurses had a better knowledge of preventive dental care than their Nigerian counterparts.


Design, analysis, and sizing methods for two novel structural panel concepts have been developed and incorporated into the HyperSizer Structural Sizing Software. Reinforced Core Sandwich (RCS) panels consist of a foam core with reinforcing composite webs connecting composite facesheets. Boeing's Pultruded Rod Stitched Efficient Unitized Structure (PRSEUS) panels use a pultruded unidirectional composite rod to provide axial stiffness along with integrated transverse frames and stitching. Both of these structural concepts are oven-cured and have shown great promise for applications in lightweight structures, but have suffered from the lack of efficient sizing capabilities similar to those that exist for honeycomb sandwich, foam sandwich, hat stiffened, and other, more traditional concepts. Now, with accurate design methods for RCS and PRSEUS panels available in HyperSizer, these concepts can be traded and used in designs as is done with the more traditional structural concepts. The methods developed to enable sizing of RCS and PRSEUS are outlined, as are results showing the validity and utility of the methods. Applications include several large NASA heavy lift launch vehicle structures.


In this paper, the effect of the geometrical configuration of underground conductors and of the relative location of the lightning strike on induced voltages from lightning is studied. The position of the strike point that leads to the highest induced voltage is determined for buried cables for each configuration. The results show that the maximum voltages tend to appear at the extremities of the cables and at the point closest to the strike point. The overvoltages are lower for bare cables when compared to insulated cables. Overvoltage levels for typical negative subsequent return stroke currents used in this paper represent a risk for low voltage underground feeders and electronic, communication and control circuits.


Abstract Assessing risks and vulnerabilities in the multifaceted context of a municipality is challenging. There is a plethora of methods and tools to support this task. However, to achieve successful outcomes from Risk and Vulnerability Assessments (RVAs), merely applying theoretically and technically rigorous methods is far from enough; the question of how a method is implemented in a practical context is crucial for reaching intended outcomes. In this paper, we broaden the scope, from a strict consideration of technical and methodological matters, to a presentation of the more elusive challenges in accomplishing RVAs that are actually useful in a local context. We conduct and contrast two independent studies that were aimed at identifying general challenges in achieving a successful RVA process in Swedish municipalities. Based on the findings, we argue that there is a need for a considerably increased focus on municipal practices and on the implementation of methods in the practical context. Knowledge and understanding of such practical challenges are pivotal for efforts aimed at both developing methods for RVA and improving the entire RVA process.


There are a variety of factors that directly or indirectly influence how the worker performs within the organization, such as remuneration policies, workload, job satisfaction or others. To delve into this topic, the objective of this research is to analyze the relationship between absenteeism, compensation and equity of workers through negative binomial regression. The study was carried out in a higher education institution, compiling 840 data on compensation, absenteeism and staffing, which were analyzed with respect to the corresponding year (2015-2017), month, gender and plant. A model was generated where the dependent variable is Absenteeism (days) and the independent variables are Average Income and Equity, indicating that the average income (expressed as logarithms) is an optimal predictor to determine the level of absenteeism within the organization, while the Gini Index does not generate consistent results to determine an incidence on the level of absenteeism of workers, in addition to not being influenced by either gender or plant. According to the results obtained, women have a higher level of absenteeism than men, which is why it is suggested as a future line of research to compare the levels of absenteeism between women with children and women without children. In summary, for this sample the average income (expressed as logarithms) is an adequate predictor for the level of absenteeism, while Equity is not.


Groups of Romney Marsh ewes (n = 24) were injected with exogenous melatonin or subjected to extended darkness or a combination of both at dusk from the winter to the summer solstice before being re-exposed to the natural photoperiod at 35 degrees S. The animals were at all times exposed to natural dawn. The onset of subsequent oestrus was delayed when compared with controls subjected to the natural photoperiod. Either melatonin or darkness or a combination were equally effective at delaying oestrus. The results are consistent with a hypothesis based on an external coincidence model of seasonal breeding involving the coincidence of a light-sensitive phase set close to dusk that, when exposed to light in spring and summer, prepares the reproductive axis to respond correctly to the direct effects of the inductive photoperoid in autumn. The offset of the time of oestrus was not affected by the experimental treatments nor was the timing of the subsequent reproductive season. Since melatonin was as effective as darkness at influencing the assumed photosensitive signal, even in the presence of natural light, melatonin may act through the light reception system.


The overall performance or expected excess risk of an iterative machine learning algorithm can be decomposed into training error and generalization error. While the former is controlled by its convergence analysis, the latter can be tightly handled by algorithmic stability. The machine learning community has a rich history investigating convergence and stability separately. However, the question about the trade-off between these two quantities remains open. In this paper, we show that for any iterative algorithm at any iteration, the overall performance is lower bounded by the minimax statistical error over an appropriately chosen loss function class. This implies an important trade-off between convergence and stability of the algorithm -- a faster converging algorithm has to be less stable, and vice versa. As a direct consequence of this fundamental tradeoff, new convergence lower bounds can be derived for classes of algorithms constrained with different stability bounds. In particular, when the loss function is convex (or strongly convex) and smooth, we discuss the stability upper bounds of gradient descent (GD) and stochastic gradient descent and their variants with decreasing step sizes. For Nesterov's accelerated gradient descent (NAG) and heavy ball method (HB), we provide stability upper bounds for the quadratic loss function. Applying existing stability upper bounds for the gradient methods in our trade-off framework, we obtain lower bounds matching the well-established convergence upper bounds up to constants for these algorithms and conjecture similar lower bounds for NAG and HB. Finally, we numerically demonstrate the tightness of our stability bounds in terms of exponents in the rate and also illustrate via a simulated logistic regression problem that our stability bounds reflect the generalization errors better than the simple uniform convergence bounds for GD and NAG.


Knowledge graphs capture interlinked information between entities and they represent an attractive source of structured information that can be harnessed for recommender systems. However, existing recommender engines use knowledge graphs by manually designing features, do not allow for end-to-end training, or provide poor scalability. Here we propose Knowledge Graph Convolutional Networks (KGCN), an end-to-end trainable framework that harnesses item relationships captured by the knowledge graph to provide better recommendations. Conceptually, KGCN computes user-specific item embeddings by first applying a trainable function that identifies important knowledge graph relations for a given user and then transforming the knowledge graph into a user-specific weighted graph. Then, KGCN applies a graph convolutional neural network that computes an embedding of an item node by propagating and aggregating knowledge graph neighborhood information. Moreover, to provide better inductive bias KGCN uses label smoothness (LS), which provides regularization over edge weights and we prove that it is equivalent to label propagation scheme on a graph. Finally, We unify KGCN and LS regularization, and present a scalable minibatch implementation for KGCN-LS model. Experiments show that KGCN-LS outperforms strong baselines in four datasets. KGCN-LS also achieves great performance in sparse scenarios and is highly scalable with respect to the knowledge graph size.


Recent decades have seen a surge in corporate sustainability reports (SRs); their proliferation, however, does not ensure effective and consistent reporting on materiality. To improve the completeness, consistency and uniformity of SRs, this study aims at providing a review on the definition and identification of materiality and to propose screening methods for materiality assessments using publicly available resources. We found that most acknowledged standards and initiatives diverge in their definitions and approaches towards materiality. Four screening methods are proposed, including two that are directly usable: (1) Sustainability Accounting Standards Board Materiality Map™ and (2) Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Topics for Sectors; and two involving more desktop research: (3) GRI's Sustainability Disclosure Database and (4) modeling from a life-cycle perspective. The second and third approaches are tested through a comparison study for the apparel and energy industries in selected regions using content analysis. The results indicate that the two approaches, with different levels of complexity, yield inconsistency in obtaining the most (i.e., the top three) material topics. The GRI's Sustainability Disclosure Database is recommended for practitioners due to its balanced disclosure on management, economic, environmental and social sustainability themes.


The publication of a 1971 study from Japan on chronic methylmercury poisoning in adults provides an occasion to reexamine the history of Minamata disease and its social and political repercussions. Research findings were suppressed or held back due to controversies that were tearing the Japanese scientific community apart. Similar controversies occurred outside of Japan as well. Only now are the long-term adverse effects of environmental methylmercury exposure becoming clear. The delayed release of the 1971 results therefore reminds us as epidemiologists of our obligation, even in the presence of scientific uncertainty, to call attention to preventable risks.


Abstract The objective of this study was to identify criteria for healthy change in organizations and to develop practical guidelines for intended change. We aimed to explore how change processes at the shop floor level can be better informed by consultants and labour inspectors. A total of 180 interviews were conducted with managers and employees in 90 units of public and private organizations in Norway. The interviews were analysed through four steps representing an expansion of grounded theory, and converted to qualitative analysis using QSR and N6 software. We found that organizational change processes were better managed by more attention to awareness of the local norms and diversity among employees in the perception and reactions to change efforts. An inspector or consultant should be aware of these phenomena in any change effort and tell the organization how to deal with them. The other three factors identified were early role clarification, manager availability, and using constructive conflicts to deal with change. They are all important coping mechanisms at the organizational level that will bring change processes onto a more optimal track if correctly managed. A healthy process empowers individuals instead of making them insecure and defensive in times of change. This will help them restore perceived control and promote job security, which benefits both them and the organization.


Investigated is the performance of beamforming with feedback delay in a two-hop amplify-and-forward relay network, where the source having a multi-antenna communicates with the multi-antenna destination via a single-antenna relay, over mixed Rayleigh and Rician fading channels. The exact expression of the outage probability and the tight lower bound of the average symbol error rate for the relay network are derived. Computer simulations are given to demonstrate the validity of the analytical results.


Photograph of Jae Bar Fletch competing at the 1983 National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Futurity competition. The horse cuts a calf in an indoor dirt arena. Grandstands with a small audience are visible in the background.


Nowadays a new wave of socio-political disenchantment is emerging in most
European countries due to the economic crisis. Exceptional examples among them are
protest movements in Spain, Portugal, Greece, or even the UK. In the era of the
economic crisis do the populist radical right parties continue to collect the protest vote
or the economic crisis has changed the conditions in the political market and the role
of parties in the electoral arena? In the case of Greece, the emergence of a populist
radical right party, called LAOS (Popular Orthodox Rally), occurs when the rising
middle classes in the late post-authoritarian era took shelter under the two main
governmental parties, the socialist PASOK and the conservative New Democracy.
LAOS, as a party of the radical right scene, collected in its bosom traditional
conservative and ultra right voters, who were disaffected by ND and its shift in the
center of the left-right ideological scale. In our research we employ data from 2007,
when LAOS first elected representatives at the National Parliament, until 2009, the
last national election before the economic crisis to examine the electoral base of the
party. Further into our analysis we examine those variables that explain vote share for
LAOS; sociodemographic characteristics, anti-immigrant perception and political
cynicism variables are employed with appropriate regression models to analyze the
electoral preferences for LAOS We also take into account the current situation of
economic crisis and the rising unemployment rates in the Greek labor market. We
conclude that anti-immigrant perceptions and political cynicism are more important
than sociodemographic characteristics and economic variables for shaping voters'
preferences for LAOS.


The application of multilevel multi-integration to the calculation of the elastic deformation integrals and the use of an alternative relaxation process in the multilevel solution of the governing equations have resulted in an algorithm solving the EHL line contact problem in 0(n In n) operations, also for highly loaded situations. The reduction in computing time thus obtained was used to solve the problem using large numbers of nodal points and to study the pressure spike. The presented algorithm will enable fast and accurate solution of surface roughness and transient problems.


The actin-binding protein Shroom is essential for neural tube morphogenesis in multiple vertebrate organisms, indicating its function is evolutionarily conserved. Shroom facilitates neurulation by regulating the morphology of neurepithelial cells. Shroom localizes to the apical tip of adherens junctions of neural ectoderm cells in vivo and to the apical junctional complex (AJC) in MDCK cells. Induced expression of Shroom in polarized epithelia elicits apical constriction and dramatic reorganization of the apical arrangement and packing of cells without altering apical-basal polarity. These events likely mimic the cell shape changes and cellular movements required for neurulation in vivo. The observed phenotypes depend on the ability of Shroom to alter F-actin distribution and regulate the formation of a previously uncharacterized contractile actomyosin network associated with the AJC. Targeting the C-terminal domain of Shroom to the apical plasma membrane elicits constriction and reorganization of the actomyosin network, indicting that this domain mediates Shroom's activity. In vivo, Shroom-mutant neural epithelia show a marked reduction in apically positioned myosin. Thus, Shroom likely facilitates neural tube closure by regulating cell shape changes via the apical positioning of an actomyosin network in the neurepithelium.


In compatibility with actual recommendations and policy, which leads to improvement and preservation of integral environment and especially its natural values, it is necessary to implementation active and integral approach to all variety of planning documents. For the needs of the preparation of the Preliminary Design of the traffic artery the inner ring road (IRR) in Belgrade the issue of the protection of the environment has been analyzed within the framework of the special study. In order to visualize the impact of "the IRR" to its surroundings, the solutions of the traffic artery were analyzed from the aspect of the protection of the environment in the sense of definition of harmful impacts and proposals of measures for their prevention or removal. The basic starting point was to get an answer whether Belgrade, from ecological aspect, can withstand the new traffic artery. In this paper will show specified in work in the environmental impact study for City ring road.


The chief objective of this paper is to improve our understanding of the Neolithic in Eastern Hungary using absolute chronological data. To accomplish this we calibrated new measurements as well as previously published dates. The up-to-date, standardized evaluation of 261 calibrated measurements showed temporal overlaps between archaeological cultures defined on the basis of ceramic styles. The increasing number of dates suggest that the Neolithic period began at the turn of the 6th and 7th millennia bc and lasted for ca. 1500 yr in the present area of the Great Hungarian Plain (Alföld). Further research should be aimed at complementing the current data set with dates from western Hungary and establishing additional correlations among stratigraphic, typological and radiocarbon dates.


Abstract:Colleges with outdoor orientation programs often encourage student involvement through leadership experiences, including the directing of these programs. The student directors (SDs) assume significant responsibilities, including managing budgets, logistics, and the training of peer leaders. SDs also manage the program's idioculture, creating a desirable group for student peer leaders to join. Sometimes SDs have ideological conflicts with administrators leading to resistance. Administrators depend upon the free labor of SDs for the programs to run and hope to minimize conflict. We report on the experiences of three college outdoor orientation programs with change and resistance. Our findings suggest SDs in this study shared similar narratives about their program that resulted in resistance to change, such as believing their program is unique, misunderstood without direct experience, only understood by peers, and that their experience is the correct experience to replicate. These beliefs are legitimized in the outdoor orientation program's idioculture, a system of beliefs and behaviors.


Comparison of the measured absolute absorption cross section on a per Si atom basis of plasma-synthesized Si nanocrystals (NCs) with the absorption of bulk crystalline Si shows that while near the band edge the NC absorption is weaker than the bulk, yet above ∼ 2.2 eV the NC absorbs up to 5 times more than the bulk. Using atomistic screened pseudopotential calculations we show that this enhancement arises from interface-induced scattering that enhances the quasi-direct, zero-phonon transitions by mixing direct Γ-like wave function character into the indirect X-like conduction band states, as well as from space confinement that broadens the distribution of wave functions in k-space. The absorption enhancement factor increases exponentially with decreasing NC size and is correlated with the exponentially increasing direct Γ-like wave function character mixed into the NC conduction states. This observation and its theoretical understanding could lead to engineering of Si and other indirect band gap NC materials for optical and optoelectronic applications.


Most frequent errors in diagnosis of purulent pyelonephritis have been analysed. It is shown that only a total of data obtained on the disease history, clinical symptoms, results of laboratory tests, ultrasound or x-ray symptoms of purulent pyelonephritis enable making an accurate diagnosis and choice of adequate treatment policy.


The most reliable manuscript of Statius' Achilleid is the Puteaneus (P), and its authority, against the group QKC, is frequently upheld only by the Codex Etonensis (E). The readings of this manuscript (Eton College library), which contains, apart from the Achilleid, Maximian, Ovid's Remedium Atnoris and other poems, were collated by C. Schenkl, Wiener Studien, iv (1882), 96 ff., and were used by H. W. Garrod for the O.C.T. of Statius: Klotz in the Teubner 2nd edition merely notes the readings of Schenkl and of the Oxford text. Unfortunately these are neither complete nor always accurate; and the latter should be corrected as follows: 1. In three passages the Oxford text differs from the reading of PEKQ without noting the fact: Ach. i. 145 Non superant is not, as implied, the MS. reading, but Havet's conjecture: PEKQ have nam superant. 306 PEKQ have impulsam (inpulsam), not impulsum. 680 PEKQ ibi, not ubi.


The critical description of the Department of Women's and Gender Studies at Makerere University presented in this short article aims to illustrate what has been achieved and what remains challenging ten years after a commitment was made to institutionalising gender equality. The department was established in 1991 with the intention of providing intellectual leadership for mainstreaming gender within the university and in relation to Uganda's economic, political and socio-cultural development. In what follows, I suggest that the department's experiences in its first decade demonstrate considerable quantitative growth in terms of student numbers, the development of a national and international profile and the expansion of research. This, however, has occurred alongside less and less of a sense of its internal cohesiveness, its accountability to the women's movement and its engagement with issues of gender transformation in the broader society.


Strengthening Primary Health Care Systems is the most effective policy response in low-and middle-income countries to protect against health emergencies, achieve universal health coverage, and promote health and wellbeing. Despite the Astana declaration on primary health care, respective investment is still insufficient in Sub-Sahara Africa. The SARS-CoV-2019 pandemic is a reminder that non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which are increasingly prevalent in Sub-Sahara Africa, are closely interlinked to the burden of communicable diseases, exacerbating morbidity and mortality. Governments and donors should use the momentum created by the pandemic in a sustainable and effective way by pivoting health spending towards primary health care.


A micro potentiometric immunosensor based on an integrated chip and a micro extended gate electrode array was reported, which can detect hemoglobin and HbA1c simultaneously. It is free labeling, simple and convenient. The integrated chip based on standard CMOS technology was consisted of the ISFET/REFET sensing device and signal-processing circuit. The electrode array was fabricated by MEMS method. A two-layer structured monolayer is formed on the anti-HbA1c/anti-hemoglobin gold electrode by the mixed self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) technique. The immunosensor exhibited the sensitivity of 0.35mV/µg ml−1 and 0.13mV/µg ml−1 for HbA1c and hemoglobin, respectively. Short response time is within 2 min and high accuracy is above 99.4%.


Summary Background DataLarge retrospective studies suggest that ELND may improve the prognosis of patients with intermediate-thickness melanomas; however, that improvement has not been observed in two randomized prospective controlled trials. MethodsThe charts of 4682 patients treated at a single institution for localized or regional disease were reviewed individually. The median follow-up was 4.7 years, with 814 patients followed more than 10 years. The data were tabulated and evaluated with the aid of a computer data base system. ResultsAmong patients with nodal metastases, 10% of nodal metastases were to contralateral nodes, and 6% were to nodal basins that would not be predicted by classic models of lymphatic drainage; in 13% of patients, nodal metastases occurred to greater than one nodal basin (3% of the entire study group). For all thickness ranges, the incidence of nodal metastases was comparable to the incidence of distant metastases; intermediate-thickness lesions had no relative predilection for nodal metastases. At the initial evaluation, regional nodal basins were clinically negative in 3550 patients, of whom 911 (25.7%) underwent ELND. Stratified into five thickness groups (< 0.76 mm, 0.76 to 1.5 mm, 1.5 to 2.5 mm, 2.5 to 4 mm, and > 4 mm), pathologically positive nodes were identified in 0%, 5%, 16%, 24%, and 36%, respectively (16% overall). Among the 911 patients who underwent ELND, 214 (23%) had nodal metastases, 143 at the time of ELND and 71 at a later date. Of these 71 patients, 31 (44%) had nodal metastases in a previously dissected nodal basin, and 40 (56%) had them in basins not previously dissected. The survival of


Normotensive young adults, categorized as having high, medium, or low dietary intakes of salt based on a food habits questionnaire, participated in a series of discrimination, perceived intensity, and preference tests of solutions of NaCl and of salted tomato juice. In ad libitum preference tests, subjects with a low salt intake added less NaCl to salt-free tomato juice, and had higher salivary sodium levels. However, large individual variability precluded discernment of a clear-cut relation among these measures. No significant correlations were obtained between salt intake and detection thresholds of 57 subjects for NaCl in water or in juice. In water solutions, salt recognition was greater for the high intake group than for the other groups, with a reverse trend for tomato juice. The experiments demonstrated that 1) discrimination, sensitivity, perceived intensity, preference, and hedonic responses to salt were independent behavioral measures; 2) few sensory measures were related to estimated salt intake; 3) patterns of response to saltiness could not be extrapolated from water solutions to the more complex juice, 4) NaCl elicited a variety of qualitative responses, depending on concentration and medium of dispersion, and 5) a more accurate test instrument is needed for estimating dietary intake of salt.


The cooling of skin to a temperature of -70 degrees C was carried out by two methods: programmed controlled-rate (PCR) cooling at -1 degree C min-1 to -70 degrees C, and variable-rate cooling to -70 degrees C in an insulated heat sink box (IHSB). The IHSB was constructed of polystyrene and contained two aluminum heat sinks placed one on each side of flat packets of skin. The IHSB containing skin was cooled in a -70 degrees C constant-temperature refrigerator. When using the IHSB, the insulation provides a slow cooling rate while the paired heat sinks provide even heat flow across the top and bottom surfaces of the flat skin packets, minimizing the duration and potential damaging effects of the exothermic temperature plateau which occurs at the freezing point. When followed by 24-hr storage at -70 degrees C and warming at about 316 degrees C min-1, the IHSB cooling method was equivalent to the PCR method in generating a suitably slow cooling rate of -1 to -2 degrees C min-1, and maintaining about 80% of normal skin cell glucose metabolism. The development of the IHSB cooling system provides a method for the simple, cost-efficient cryopreservation of small amounts of autograft skin, such as those remaining from surgical procedures, and can also provide an allograft skin banking capability to any facility possessing a -70 degrees C refrigerator.


A general theory is developed which allows the exact numerical computation of the static equilibrium response of a non-rotating spherically symmetric Earth model covered by thin oceans with geometrically irregular coastlines to the action of an imposed static tidal or centrifugal potential. The theory is self-consistent, and takes into account the gravitational self-attraction of the oceans and the elastic-gravitational response of the Earth model to both the applied potential and the equilibrium oceanic tidal load on the surface. The results are used to determine the influence of an equilibrium pole tide on the free period and the associated rotational eigenfunction of the Chandler wobble. If the pole is globally well represented by this equilibrium approximation, its effect is to increase the Chandler wobble period by 27-6 days. It is shown that a fully self-consistent theory of the rotation of an Earth model with oceans predicts that changes in spin and wobble will be coupled, and that the Chandler wobble should, as a result, be accompanied by an associated periodic change in the length of day. The consequences of spin-wobble coupling are explored quantitatively, and found to be slight.


SUMMARY The cardiovascular effects of glucagon were determined in cats and dogs anaesthetized with halothane. Glucagon increased heart rate and myocardial contractility but did not produce ventricular arrhythmias. Adrenaline and isoprenaline, which also increased heart rate and myocardial contractility, did produce ventricular arrhythmias. The cardiac stimulant effects of glucagon were not prevented by beta-adrenergic blockade while those of adrenaline and isoprenaline were.


The fetal intestinal mucosa is characterized by elevated Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) expression, which can lead to the development of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC)—a devastating inflammatory disease of the premature intestine—upon exposure to microbes. To define endogenous strategies that could reduce TLR4 signaling, we hypothesized that amniotic fluid can inhibit TLR4 signaling within the fetal intestine and attenuate experimental NEC, and we sought to determine the mechanisms involved. We show here that microinjection of amniotic fluid into the fetal (embryonic day 18.5) gastrointestinal tract reduced LPS-mediated signaling within the fetal intestinal mucosa. Amniotic fluid is abundant in EGF, which we show is required for its inhibitory effects on TLR4 signaling via peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor, because inhibition of EGF receptor (EGFR) with cetuximab or EGF-depleted amniotic fluid blocked the inhibitory effects of amniotic fluid on TLR4, whereas amniotic fluid did not prevent TLR4 signaling in EGFR- or peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ–deficient enterocytes or in mice deficient in intestinal epithelial EGFR, and purified EGF attenuated the exaggerated intestinal mucosal TLR4 signaling in wild-type mice. Moreover, amniotic fluid-mediated TLR4 inhibition reduced the severity of NEC in mice through EGFR activation. Strikingly, NEC development in both mice and humans was associated with reduced EGFR expression that was restored upon the administration of amniotic fluid in mice or recovery from NEC in humans, suggesting that a lack of amniotic fluid-mediated EGFR signaling could predispose to NEC. These findings may explain the unique susceptibility of premature infants to the development of NEC and offer therapeutic approaches to this devastating disease.


Summary.  Background: During cardiac catheterization (CC) in children, unfractionated heparin (UFH) is used for primary prophylaxis of thrombotic events (TE). However, the optimal UFH dose to minimize TE and bleeding in children has yet to be established. Objectives: To (i) objectively assess the incidence of TE and bleeding during pediatric CC using clinical assessment and ultrasound; and (ii) compare a high‐dose vs. low‐dose UFH protocol for thromboprophylaxis. Methods: A randomized controlled trial (RCT) comparing high‐dose UFH (100 units kg−1 bolus, followed by 20 units kg h−1 continuous infusion) vs. low‐dose UFH (50 units kg−1 bolus) during CC. Outcome assessment was by clinical examination and vascular ultrasound, performed by blinded examiners before and within 48 h after CC. Children with no consent for randomization were followed in a cohort receiving standard‐of‐care UFH (parallel‐cohort RCT). Results: A total of 227 children were included; 137 were randomized and 90 followed in the cohort study. The overall incidence of TE was 4.6% and bleeding 6.6%. The RCT was stopped early for futility as there were no differences between the high‐dose and the low‐dose UFH in TE (5% vs. 3%; risk ratios [RR] 1.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.3; 9) and bleeding (7% vs. 12%, RR 0.6, 95% CI 0.2; 2). There were also no differences when RCT and cohort study populations were combined. Conclusions: The incidences of TE and bleeding during CC in children were low. There were no differences between the high‐dose and the low‐dose UFH protocols studied. Although Heparin Anticoagulation Randomized Trial in Cardiac Catheterization (HEARTCAT) was not designed as non‐inferiority trial, low‐dose UFH (50 units kg−1 bolus) appears sufficient for thromboprophylaxis during CC.


Abstract Predictive models for binary data are fundamental in various fields, and the growing complexity of modern applications has motivated several flexible specifications for modeling the relationship between the observed predictors and the binary responses. A widely-implemented solution is to express the probability parameter via a probit mapping of a Gaussian process indexed by predictors. However, unlike for continuous settings, there is a lack of closed-form results for predictive distributions in binary models with Gaussian process priors. Markov chain Monte Carlo methods and approximation strategies provide common solutions to this problem, but state-of-the-art algorithms are either computationally intractable or inaccurate in moderate-to-high dimensions. In this article, we aim to cover this gap by deriving closed-form expressions for the predictive probabilities in probit Gaussian processes that rely either on cumulative distribution functions of multivariate Gaussians or on functionals of multivariate truncated normals. To evaluate these quantities we develop novel scalable solutions based on tile-low-rank Monte Carlo methods for computing multivariate Gaussian probabilities, and on mean-field variational approximations of multivariate truncated normals. Closed-form expressions for the marginal likelihood and for the posterior distribution of the Gaussian process are also discussed. As shown in simulated and real-world empirical studies, the proposed methods scale to dimensions where state-of-the-art solutions are impractical.


Abstract Amoebae from different clones of Dictyostelium discoideum aggregate into a common slug, which migrates towards light for dispersal, then forms a fruiting body consisting of a somatic, dead stalk, holding up a head of living spores. Contributions of two clones in a chimera to spore and stalk are often unequal, with one clone taking advantage of the other's stalk contribution. To determine whether there was a hierarchy of exploitation among clones, we competed all possible pairs among seven clones and measured their relative representation in the prespore and prestalk stages and in the final spore stage. We found a clear linear hierarchy at the final spore stage, but not at earlier stages. These results suggest that there is either a single principal mechanism or additive effects for differential contribution to the spore, and that it involves more than spore/stalk competition.


Agrarian policy trends from 1956 to 1983 emerged from a legitimation process amplified by both the revolutionary background and factional politics of the People's Republic of China. However, the process is not clear-cut but is characterized by an interweaving of various factors, specifically, factional politics, legitimacy, and the results and thrusts of agrarian policies. Thus, this paper asks the question, "what are the dimensions of policy legitimation that framed the publicized struggle of competing elites for policy content and consistency?" To shed light on this issue, this paper would make more specific inquiries on the nature of the relationship between publicized factional elite competition at the national level and the struggle for policy consistency via policy legitimation. This study's primary theoretical objective is to develop a bridge between the literatures on elite competition and regime legitimacy through a processual analysis of policy legitimation. Hence, this study's primary objective is not to establish causality but to illustrate that it is in policy legitimation that elite competition collides with public sentiments emanating from the impact of objective conditions.


Experimental studies have clearly demonstrated both the indispensability in stress situations of amino acids, previously considered to be non-essential, and the importance of the specific properties of these same amino acids. Glutamine, arginine and their precursors/metabolites, ornithine and alpha-ketoglutarate, exert anabolic or anticatabolic effects through their involvement in protein metabolism, in the immune response and in cell proliferation. Clinical studies suggest that the supplementation of nutritional therapy with these amino acids can be of significant benefit for injured patients.


The purpose of this paper is to describe a workshop designed to raise teachers' awareness of potential obstacles to student comprehension of test questions. Such an awareness is essential to the process of test writing or the construction of teaching materials. Although this workshop focuses specifically on the EFL reading comprehension test, it has broader implications, as the construction of tests and class assignments necessitates a constant reassessment and clarification of course objectives and the fulfillment of these goals. Because we propose that any test or classroom material constitutes a communicative interchange between the teacher and the student, alerting the teacher to the nature of this interchange and possible impediments to such communication may positively affect the teacher's performance in the classroom.

We first present the practical problems among the staff of the Division of Foreign Languages at Tel Aviv University that created the need for a test-writing workshop. Subsequently we describe the workshop, which includes a presentation of theoretically motivated criteria for writing test items, a description of the stages in the test-writing procedure, and hands-on experience in the construction of a reading comprehension test. Finally, we present limitations and advantages of the workshop as well as broader implications for such issues as teacher observation and curriculum development.


The aim of this study was to determine the relation between physical activity and selected physical health components. A total of 9860 employees of a financial institution in South Africa, between the ages 18 and 64 (x =35.3 ± 18.6 years), voluntary participated in the study. Health risk factors and physical activity was determined by using the Health Risk Assessment (HRA) and Monitored Health Risk (MHM). Assessment included a physical activity, diabetes risk and cardiovascular risk questionnaire, as well as Body Mass Index (BMI) and random peripheral blood glucose measurements. The majority of the study group show low physical activity participation (78.27%). Both men and women show an increased risk for diabetes, while high physical activity levels have a practically and statistically significant effect on the reduction of diabetes risk. The physical activity (PA) categories for both men and women show an increased average BMI (men = 26.46 kg/m 2 ± 6.18; women = 26.42 kg/m 2 ± 6.18. The mean for cholesterol in all groups were categorised as low risk. The men show higher cardiovascular risk than women. With regard to physical activity and cardiovascular disease risk, all three women groups show statistically significant differences compared to all three men's groups. There are also moderate practically significant differences between the women's and men's groups. Physical activity does not seem to have a significant effect on the cardiovascular disease risk of the women groups. However, regarding the men's groups, the low physically active men's groups show significant differences with the high physically active men group. Thus, it appears that the men participating in high levels of physical activity show the lowest risk for cardiovascular disease and therefore appears to be influenced by physical activity. In conclusion, high physical activity participation reduces the risk for diabetes in both men and women, and reduces the risk for cardiovascular disease in men.


We study the C8.4-class solar flare SOL2016-05-14T11:34 UT using high-resolution spectral imaging in the Ca ii 8542 Å line obtained with the CRISP imaging spectropolarimeter on the Swedish 1 m Solar Telescope. Spectroscopic inversions of the Ca ii 8542 Å line using the non-LTE code NICOLE are used to investigate the evolution of the temperature and velocity structure in the flaring chromosphere. A comparison of the temperature stratification in flaring and non-flaring areas reveals strong footpoint heating during the flare peak in the lower atmosphere. The temperature of the flaring footpoints between log τ 500 ≈ − 2.5 and − 3.5 , where τ500 is the continuum optical depth at 500 nm, is ∼ 5 – 6.5 kK close to the flare peak, reducing gradually to ∼ 5 kK . The temperature in the middle and upper chromosphere, between log τ 500 ≈ − 3.5 and −5.5, is estimated to be ∼6.5–20 kK, decreasing to preflare temperatures, ∼5–10 kK, after approximately 15 minutes. However, the temperature stratification of the non-flaring areas is unchanged. The inverted velocity fields show that the flaring chromosphere is dominated by weak downflowing condensations at the formation height of Ca ii 8542 Å.


Customer acquisition and retention are two phases of an e-commerce life cycle. Switching costs and perceived risks affect both, but in different ways. This study examines these two well known, often contradicting variables in an integrated frame work and asks: Can perceived risks complement switching costs to give rises to new customer loyalty strategies for e-commerce enterprises? That is, do these two negative forces positively reinforce each other's effects in some manner? This study investigates 516 online consumers in Taiwan to help answer this question. The findings of this study reveal that perceived risks associate negatively with customer loyalty, whereas switching costs associate positively with customer loyalty. In addition, perceived risks and switching costs complement each other to influence customer loyalty from acquisition to retention. The reduction of perceived risk is the force working at the customer acquisition phase for the provider, whereas the increment of switching cost works at the customer retention phase against the competition.

 Key words: Switching costs, perceived risks, customer loyalty, complement, e-commerce.


This chapter aims to further explore the capabilities of the Higher Order Neural Networks class and especially the Pi-Sigma Neural Networks. The performance of Pi-Sigma Networks is evaluated through several well known neural network training benchmarks. In the experiments reported here, Distributed Evolutionary Algorithms are implemented for Pi-Sigma neural networks training. More specifically, the distributed versions of the Differential Evolution and the Particle Swarm Optimization algorithms have been employed. To this end, each processor of a distributed computing environment is assigned a subpopulation of potential solutions. The subpopulations are independently evolved in parallel and occasional migration is allowed to facilitate the cooperation between them. The novelty of the proposed approach is that it is applied to train Pi-Sigma networks using threshold activation functions, while the weights and biases were confined in a narrow band of integers (constrained in the range [-32, 32]). Thus, the trained Pi-Sigma neural networks can be represented by using only 6 bits. Such networks are better suited for hardware implementation than the real weight ones and this property is very important in real-life applications. Experimental results suggest that the proposed training process is fast, stable and reliable and the distributed trained Pi-Sigma networks exhibit good generalization capabilities. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-61520-711-4.ch003


Transient or episodic subduction processes are frequently observed along convergent plate boundaries. Highly time-dependent processes are common in continental collision zones where the entry of buoyant continental crust changes the (driving) force balance. Many other transient processes in oceanic subduction zones are more ambiguous, because there, the driving negative buoyancy of the oceanic plate remains approximately constant throughout time. Therefore, such processes are regularly explained by inhomogeneities (e.g. inherited weaknesses, rheological contrasts) within the involved plates or external 'far-field' forcing altering the flow or stress field.
This work focuses on three such transient processes, namely, (1) episodic back-arc spreading jumps during ongoing subduction, (2) rapid local rift reversals in the overriding plate during the transition from subduction to collision, and, (3) contrasting styles of crustal relamination and magmatism during large scale continental collision. This work aims to identify governing processes for each case in purely buoyancy driven numerical models with homogeneous rheological flow-laws.
The results offer a new mechanism for back-arc spreading jumps in self-consistent models of a narrow retreating slab. Spreading jumps thus occur purely due to natural interaction of the subducting and overriding plates with neighbouring plates along self-consistent transform faults. The process thereby demonstrates that episodicity can evolve in homogeneous subduction systems. It is further shown that rapid rift reversals in the overriding plate should occur regularly during collision with an irregular continental margin. The stress evolution during diachronous onset of collision is compared to observations of ophiolite or hyperextended margin obduction which are likely to have resulted from such transient stress sequences. In the final chapter, it is shown how contrasting styles of crustal relamination and magmatism in continental collision zones are controlled by slab-steepening which itself is mainly a function of the subducting continental crust's buoyancy.
The three very distinct processes presented in this work demonstrate purely buoyancy driven transient behaviour is feasible in all stages from ongoing subduction to continental collision - in absence of inhomogeneities and far-field forcing.


Zoonotic infectious agents are among the most prevalent on earth and are thought to be responsible for more than 60 per cent of all human infections and also 75 per cent of emerging human infectious diseases. This study investigated the existence of schistosomosis in dogs in Ikwuano communities as possible source of human infection. Samples were collected from dogs within 20 out of a total of 36 communities in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia state. Both faecal and anal swab samples were collected from dogs of various breeds, age bracket and sex. Samples were analyzed using direct microscopy of faecal and anal swab samples, sedimentation and feacal salt flotation techniques. Data obtained was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The incidence of the disease was determined and presented in percentage. Out of a total of 20 communities' sampled only 2 namely Amaoba ime and Afa communities were positive for schistosomosis. Out of 23 dogs sampled in Amaoba ime, 6 were exotic while 17 were Mongrels. All the exotic were negative while 3(13.0%) out of the 17 mongrels were positive. Out of these, 18 were females with 2(8.7%) positive cases and 16 (70.0) negative cases. Out of the 5 males sampled only 1(4.3%) was positive while 4 (17.4%) was negative. A total of 14 adults were sampled with 2(8.7%) positive cases and 14 (61.0%) negative cases. Out of the 9 puppies sampled only 1(4.3%) was positive while 8 (34.8%) were negative. In Afa community, only 2 (14.3%) negative exotic breeds were sampled out of 14 dogs. Out of the 12 mongrels sampled, 11(78.6%) were negative while 1(7.1%) was schistosoma positive. All the 6 females sampled were negative while 1(7.1%) out of the 8 males was positive. Out of a total of 14 adults, only 1(7.1%) was positive while 13(92.9%) were negative. No puppy was sampled within the area. Keywords: Exotic, mongrel, schistosome, dogs, ikwuano, Abia, State


The purpose of this study was to develop a framework containing a set of leadership competencies required for major change types. It also compared the views of managers and employees on the importance of these competencies as well as the degree to which managers display the competencies. Ten leaders participated in the qualitative phase of the study and 60 managers and 74 employees responded to the survey. The major outcomes of the study included the competency framework as well as the competencies where statistically significant differences between the managers' and employees' views on, a) the degree to which the managers display the competencies as well as b) the importance assigned to the competencies, were found.


A Bayesian Network approach has been developed that can compare different building designs by estimating the effects of the thermal indoor environment on the mental performance of office workers. A part of this network is based on the compilation of subjective thermal sensation data and the associated objective thermal measurements from 12,000 office occupants from different parts of the world. A Performance Index (P) is introduced that can be used to compare directly the different building designs and furthermore to assess the total economic consequences of the indoor climate with a specific building design. In this paper, focus will be on the effects of temperature on mental performance and not on other indoor climate factors. A total economic comparison of six different building designs, four located in northern Europe and two in Los Angeles, USA, was performed. The results indicate that investments in improved indoor thermal conditions can be justified economically in most cases. The Bayesian Network provides a reliable platform using probabilities for modelling the complexity while estimating the effect of indoor climate factors on human beings, due to the different ways in which humans are affected by the indoor climate. & 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


High-speed countercurrent chromatography (HSCCC) is a leading method for the fast separation of natural products from plants. It was used for the preparative isolation of two flavone monoglucosides present in the capitula of Eriocaulon ligulatum (Vell.) L.B.Smith (Eriocaulaceae). This species, known locally as ″botaodourado″, is exported to Europe, Japan and North America as an ornamental species, constituting an important source of income for the local population of Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The solvent system, optimized in tests prior to the HSCCC run, consisted of the two phases of the mixture ethyl acetate: n-propanol: water (140:8:80, v/v/v), which led to the successful separation of 6-methoxyluteolin-7-O-β-D-allopyranoside and 6-methoxyapigenin-7-O-β-D-allopyranoside in only 3 hours. The two flavonoids were identified by NMR (1D and 2-D) and ESI-MS, comparing their spectra with published data.