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Headquarters Control and Its Legitimation in a Chinese Multinational Corporation: The Case of Huawei. Based on interviews and documentary analysis, we analyzed the mechanisms being adopted by the HQ of Huawei, a Chinese MNC, for controlling the outputs and processes of its foreign subsidiaries and social behaviours within them and how these controls were supported by corresponding strategies of legitimation. The controls comprise key performance indicators, standard operating procedures, divided subsidiary mandates, HQ-centric rotational expatriation, military-style induction, public oath-taking and self-criticism ceremonies, and training in and role-modelling of core values. The HQ provides comprehensive legitimation for each of these control mechanisms, drawing on five strategies of legitimation, which comprise espousals of organizational benefits, inducement, affirmation, moral exhortation, and narrativization. In many cases, the legitimizing statements have been provided by Mr. Ren, Huawei's founder and CEO, whose authority appears to have been important in conferring legitimacy to the HQ. The historical path of Huawei's development as an MNC has also been salient in conferring legitimacy to the HQ. Our findings suggest that interviewees regard the controls as legitimate, that the subsidiaries broadly comply with the controls, and that micro-political contestation is largely absent.
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The right to health of non-nationals and displaced persons in the sustainable development goals era: challenges for equity in universal health care. Introduction: Under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), United Nations (UN) Member States reported progress on the targets toward their general citizenry. This focus repeatedly excluded marginalized ethnic and linguistic minorities, including people of refugee backgrounds and other vulnerable non-nationals that resided within a States' borders. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to be truly transformative by being made operational in all countries, and applied to all, nationals and non-nationals alike. Global migration and its diffuse impact has intensified due to escalating conflicts and the growing violence in war-torn Syria, as well as in many countries in Africa and in Central America. This massive migration and the thousands of refugees crossing borders in search for safety led to the creation of two-tiered, ad hoc, refugee health care systems that have added to the sidelining of non-nationals in MDG-reporting frameworks.Conclusion: We have identified four ways to promote the protection of vulnerable non-nationals' health and well being in States' application of the post-2015 SDG framework: In setting their own post-2015 indicators the UN Member States should explicitly identify vulnerable migrants, refugees, displaced persons and other marginalized groups in the content of such indicators. Our second recommendation is that statisticians from different agencies, including the World Health Organization's Gender, Equity and Human Rights programme should be actively involved in the formulation of SDG indicators at both the global and country level. In addition, communities, civil society and health justice advocates should also vigorously engage in country's formulation of post-2015 indicators. Finally, we advocate that the inclusion of non-nationals be anchored in the international human right to health, which in turn requires appropriate financing allocations as well as robust monitoring and evaluation processes that can hold technocratic decision-makers accountable for progress.
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Reconceptualizing state formation as collective power: representation in electoral monarchies. This article deals with the importance of collective power and value consensus among elites for medieval polity formation by analyzing electoral monarchies. State formation theory focuses on the monopoly of legitimate armed force and has pushed notions of consensus and collective power into the background. This article questions material and coercive theories of state formation and emphasizes polity formation through theories of power as collaboration and as the ability to act in concert. Royal elections had two major functions: (1) A transfer of authority that created trust and concord among elite groups and (2) constructing ideas of an abstract 'realm' that political actors represented and to which they were accountable in an ideational and symbolic sense. The article focuses on the Holy Roman Empire and Sweden.
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Skewed information transmission: The effect of complementarities in a multi-dimensional cheap talk game. We analyze a cheap talk game in a two-dimensional framework, with complementarities between the dimensions. A receiver chooses a two-dimensional costly effort in a productive activity. The Receiver's effort profile is determined by his individual ability profile, of which he is unaware. He is advised by an informed Sender, who makes one of two recommendations to maximize the Receiver's output. Output is a Constant Elasticity of Substitution function of the Receiver's two one-dimensional contributions. The credibility constraint on the Sender's recommendations requires her to truthfully contrast the Receiver's abilities. As a result, the Receiver associates greater (resp. less) effort with greater (resp. less) perceived ability in one (resp. the other) dimension. However, when there are strong complementarities, the Sender becomes more interested in the mismatch between effort and ability. Thus, strong complementarities preclude the Sender from making credible recommendations. By contrast, weaker complementarities allow the Sender to make credible recommendations, using either: (i) a symmetric comparison of abilities; or (ii) an asymmetric comparison, in which one ability could be perceived as greater, even if it is not. Sufficient complementarities make the asymmetric information revelation more stable and more productive. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Dual-functional core-shell electrospun mats with precisely controlled release of anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial agents. Acute wounds are worldwide problems affecting millions of people and causing heavy economic burden to national healthcare systems. Herein, we describe novel wound dressing materials relying on core/shell electrospun mats incorporated with flurbiprofen and vancomycin for achieving programmable release of anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial agents. The shell matrix of nanofibers consisted of polyethylene oxide while the core matrix was made from a blend of silk and collagen. Several optimal mat architectures were engineered with distinct configurations, of which release profiles displayed an exponential trend, which indicates a first-order process following Fickian diffusion behavior. The flurbiprofen release lasted from 2 to 6 days, which was much faster compared to the one of vancomycin prolonged up to about 20 days. Mechanical data indicated tensile modulus, tensile strength, elongation before break of core/shell electrospun mats became enhanced or comparable to those for human skin after methanol vapor treatment. Desirable release kinetics and mechanical characteristics achieved by novel core/shell electrospun mats were attributable to induced enrichment of/3-sheet phase in silk via methanol vapor treatment as well as water annealing process with time and judicious selections for matrix materials and mat configurations. The design principles considered in this study successfully addressed a range of inflammation and infection requirements in wound healing, potentially guiding construction of other biomedical coatings and devices.
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A NEW COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS STUDY OF A LIQUID-LIQUID HYDROCYCLONE IN THE TWO PHASE CASE FOR SEPARATION OF OIL DROPLETS AND WATER. A liquid-liquid hydrocyclone, so-called de-oiling equipment, was investigated for separation of oil droplets and wastewater in an Iranian petroleum unit. To generate the geometry and the mesh of the hydrocyclone Gambit software was used. Afterwards, by taking advantage of the Euler-Lagrangian principle, the governing equations covering the motion of fluid and that of particles in the hydrocyclone were solved. Initially, it was shown that the outcomes of CFD are in agreement with experimental data, and then 15 hydrocyclones with different overflow diameters, overflow lengths and input velocities were employed for more detailed analyses. The separation process through a hydrocyclone is counted as an economical process when ther is not only a low pressure drop inside the hydrocyclone, but also a high separation efficiency. As a result, regarding the mentioned criteria, the optimum hydrocyclone, whereby the highest performance of the hydrocyclone is exploited, was obtained by applying the 15 sets of CFD data to a Neural Network (NN) and then by optimizing the function generated by the NN by means of a Genetic Algorithm (GA). The innovation of this research work is the three-phase modeling.
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Mare's and cow's milk: promote similar metabolic effects and expression of innate markers in Caco-2 cells?. Mare's milk (MM) is very similar to human breast milk, as it consists of low concentrations of proteins and fat and high concentrations of lactose. Thus, MM can be considered as an alternative to Cow's milk (CM) for human nutrition. In this study, proteolytic resistant peptides to gastrointestinal enzymes were measured by reverse phase-high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC-PDA-UV) to determine their relative uptake by intestinal epithelial (Caco-2) cells. Alterations in mitochondrial enzyme activities (MTT test), inner mitochondrial membrane potential (Delta Psi m), cell cycle progression and the expression (mRNA) of inflammatory (IL-1 beta, TNF-alpha and NF-kappa B) markers were studied. This is the first study comparing the effects of proteolytic resistant peptides from the whey proteins of mare's milk to those originating from cow's milk on intestinal cells, Similar proteolytic resistant peptide patterns, but lower uptake rates, were observed for MM peptides (7-40%) compared to peptides from CM (40-60%), although both types of peptides, probably derived from alpha-lactalbumin, were still capable of impairing Delta Psi m in intestinal cells (CM > MM) Both MM and CM increased the expression of TNF-alpha, whereas IL-1 beta levels were not affected. CM increased NF-kappa B mRNA levels. Overall, our data indicate that proteolytic resistant peptides from both MM and CM exert similar metabolic effects on mitochondrial metabolism (up to 30%) in intestinal Caco-2 cells. However, the low uptake rates of peptides from MM may be beneficial to the human diet, an alternative to CM. Further in vivo studies are needed to better understand the potential clinical relevance of the control and/or regulation of metabolic processes related to perturbations in the gut immune system associated with lymphoid tissue. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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The relationship between Y chromosome DNA haplotypes and Y chromosome deletions leading to male infertility. Microdeletions on the short arm of the Y chromosome have defined three non-overlapping regions (AZFa, b, c) recurrently deleted among infertile males. These regions contain several genes or gene families involved in male germ-cell development and maintenance. Even though a meiotic origin for these microdeletions is assumed, the mechanisms and causes leading to microdeletion formation are largely unknown. In order to assess whether some Y chromosome groups (or haplogroups) are predisposed to, or protected against, deletion formation during male meiosis, we have defined and compared Y chromosome haplogroup distribution in a group of infertile/subfertile males harbouring Yq deletions and in a relevant Northwestern European control population. Our analyses suggest that Y chromosome deletion formation is, at least in the study populations, a stochastic event independent of the Y chromosome background on which they arise and may be caused by other genetic and/or environmental factors.
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DAY LABOURERS IN PRETORIA - ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT IN ACTION OR SURVIVORS IN A CUL DE SAC?. Many of the unemployed in South Africa have to venture into the informal sector to raise income. The aim of this article is to describe the demographic and economic features of day labourers in Pretoria and to determine whether their activity in the informal sector is an exercise in entrepreneurship or a desperate effort to survive. The day labourers were found to be mainly male, young, very low skilled, experiencing no income security and supporting on average four people. The article concludes that day labourers are not guided by a spirit of entrepreneurship and are therefore not involved in this activity by choice in spite of other options.
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Density-Dependent Survival and Fecundity of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (Hemiptera: Adelgidae). The hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae Annand) has decimated eastern hemlocks (Tsuga canadensis Carriere) in forests throughout the eastern United Sates, but its densities in central New England appear to have stabilized. To find out why, we infested 64 eastern hemlocks with varying densities of adelgid ovisacs in a typical eastern hemlock forest in western Massachusetts. We subsequently documented adelgid density, fecundity, and the amount of new growth on experimental trees over two consecutive years. We used a 2 by 2 randomized block design using previously and newly infested hemlocks that were either 1-m tall saplings or branches of mature trees. There was a density-dependent decline in the survival and fecundity of adelgid in both the spring and winter generations. This response was a function of both previous infestation by adelgid and current year's crawler density in the spring generation. Additionally, the production of sexuparae in the spring generation played a key role in the overall density-dependent survival of adelgid, suggesting that sexuparae production is strongly linked to developing crawler density.
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E-Leadership in the New Century. This article argues that E-leadership emerged out of technological development among all other major developments in our society. In the virtual environment, leaders are required to lead followers by using different approaches. This is not to say that traditional leadership has no place in the new virtual environment characterized by the constant use of technology. Rather, traditional leadership and leadership style studied and conceptualized by researchers and scholars enhance E-leadership supported by Rogers' facilitative leadership. Leadership theories are meant to be applied to practice. Further, leadership theories can be applied in part or in whole. They are not ideologies that must be followed to the letter.
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On Keynes's conception of the weight of evidence. Various modern decision theories seek to capture the intuition behind Keynes's conception of evidential weight. Keynes was nevertheless hesitant about the practical relevance of weight in the process of rational decision making because of the 'stopping problem' of finding a rational principle to decide where to stop the process of acquiring information in forming a probability judgment before making a decision. This paper discusses the relevance of the stopping problem by way of an inquiry into the nature, properties and implications for rational decision making of Keynes's conception of evidential weight. It is argued that in practical choice situations the decision maker often decides where to stop the process of acquiring information by following Keynes's advice to consider the degree of completeness of the available information before making a decision. This method implies that the decision maker is able to arrive at an assessment of the dimension of what may be called her 'relevant ignorance'. By considering some examples of how the acquisition of new evidence may affect the decision maker's behaviour, it is argued that it is in fact possible to talk reasonably about relevant ignorance, or what are sometimes called 'unknown unknowns', and that this concept might explain a range of human behaviours. While this concept does not provide a rational principle to solve the stopping problem, it does provide a method of inquiry for dealing with a number of paradoxes not solvable within the Bayesian approach. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Fertilization with coated KCl in corn in the Savannah. The use of coated potassium chloride can provide greater absorption of potassium resulting in the alteration of leaf contents, production components and grain yield. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of potassium doses using potassium chloride conventional or coated by polymer, in the corn crop under conditions of brazilian Savanna with low altitude. The experiment was conducted in Selviria, MS, Brazil, in a clayey Oxisol. The treatments consisted of four doses of K2O (0, 40, 80 and 120 kg ha(-1)), applied at sowing, and two sources: potassium chloride and potassium chloride coated by polymers. A randomized block design with eight treatments and four replications was used. The coated KCl is not efficient under the soil and climatic conditions studied, because it provided results similar to the conventional KCl for the K foliar content, crop components and grain yield of irrigated corn. The increment of K2O doses influenced positively the K and chlorophyll leaf contents, plant and spike insertion height and the number of rows and grains per spike. The maximum mean yield obtained was with 83.5 kg ha(-1) of K2O.
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Elevated neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in non-affective psychotic adolescent inpatients: Evidence for early association between inflammation and psychosis. Accumulating data suggest an association between inflammation and schizophrenia and related psychosis. While several studies have established this immune-psychosis association in adult schizophrenia patients, there is very limited data associating inflammation with acute psychosis in children and adolescents. The ratio between neutrophils and lymphocyte, computed from routine blood counts, has been shown to correlate with traditional markers of inflammation, and is therefore considered a proxy-marker for inflammation. Here we report elevated neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio and total leukocyte count in psychotic adolescent inpatients (n = 81, mean age 14.7 years, 52% males) compared to non-psychotic adolescent inpatient (n = 285, mean age 15.9 years, 58% males), in a population of adolescent inpatients with no affective symptomatology. The elevated neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio remained significant after controlling for confounders such as age, BMI, smoking and anti psychotic medication. In a subset of psychotic adolescent inpatients (n = 20, mean duration between blood test 157 days), we found significant decrease in neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio at clinical remission compared with the acute psychotic state. The results suggest that psychosis is associated with peripheral markers of inflammation early in the course of psychiatric pathology, and that inflammation may represent a state that accompanies psychosis and decreases during clinical remission.
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Sichuanosuchus shuhanensis, a new ?early Cretaceous protosuchian (Archosauria: Crocodyliformes) from Sichuan (China), and the monophyly of Protosuchia. A new protosuchian, Sichuanosuchus shuhanensis, sp. nov. from the ?Lower Cretaceous of Sichuan (China), is distinguished from other known basal crocodyliform archosaurs primarily by the subdivision of the small antorbital fenestra into anterior and posterior openings, the presence of a large, caniniform first maxillary tooth, followed by seven teeth with low, chisel-like crowns, and the posterior palpebral being larger than the anterior one. Phylogenetic analysis using 128 characters for 29 crocodyliform taxa supports the monophyly of Protosuchia. Sichuanosuchus is most closely related to Shantungosuchus from the Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous of China. These two taxa, together with Gobiosuchus from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia, appear to form a clade of late Mesozoic basal crocodyliform reptiles.
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Divergent gyroviruses in the feces of Tunisian children. The Gyrovirus genus consists of the immunosuppressive Chicken Anemia Virus (CAV) prototype and since 2011 three other viral species found in sera/tissues of chickens, human feces, and on human skin. Here the genomes of two other gyrovirus species were characterized in diarrhea samples from Tunisian children whose main ORFs shared amino acid identity of 46-59% with those of the previously characterized gyroviruses and were provisionally named GyV5 and GyV6. All currently known gyroviruses grouped into two clades with distinct genomic features including replacement of the VP2 overlapping Apoptin gene with a distinct ORF of unknown function. Previous reports of gyrovirus DNA in human blood and on human skins warrant studies of possible human tropisms for these newly characterized gyroviruses. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Probing the internal structure of the asteriod Didymoon with a passive seismic investigation. Although the science return of a passive seismic experiment would be enhanced by having multiple seismic stations, one single seismic station can already vastly improve our knowledge about the seismic environment and sub-surface structure of an asteroid. We describe several seismic measurement techniques that could be applied in order to study the asteroid internal structure with one three-component seismic station.Simulations of seismic wave propagation in Didymoon show that the seismic moment of even small meteoroid impacts can generate clearly observable body and surface waves if the asteroid's internal structure is homogeneous. The presence of a regolith layer over a consolidated core can result in the seismic energy becoming trapped in the regolith due to the strong impedance contrast at the regolith-core boundary. The inclusion of macro porosity (voids) further complexifles the wavefield due to increased scattering. The most prominent seismic waves are always found to be those traveling along the surface of the asteroid and those focusing in the antipodal point of the seismic source. We find also that the waveforms and ground acceleration spectra allow discrimination between the different internal structure models.Understanding the internal structure of an asteroid has important implications for interpreting its evolutionary history, for understanding its continuing geological evolution, and also for asteroid deflection and in-situ space resource utilisation. Given the strong evidence that asteroids are seismically active, an in-situ passive seismic experiment could provide information about the asteroid surface and interior properties. Here, we discuss the natural seismic activity that may be present on Didymoon, the secondary component of asteroid (65803) Didy-mos. Our analysis of the tidal stresses in Didymoon shows that tidal quakes are likely to occur if the secondary has an eccentric orbit. Failure occurs most easily at the asteroid poles and close to the surface for both homogeneous and layered internal structures.
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THE PENETRATION OF NEW INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES AS THE ENGINE OF ECONOMIC GROWTH IN PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SECTOR IN CROATIA. Sustained economic growth in a open economy is strongly depending on exogenous technological progress. Economic growth in Croatia in the last decade was relaying rather on the \\'old economy\\', while new technologies penetrated neither in private nor in public sector in order to be credited as an engine of growth. A research on the penetration of Internet in public sector in Croatia has been analyzed in this paper. Author conducted a research on the penetration of new technologies in banking industry and non-financial sectors of Croatian national economy. The results are showing very low level of the new technology implementation. Banking sector is, due to strong investments in banking technology in the past years, catching up the best practice. Analysis of these empirical researches is leading to the conclusion that economic growth in Croatia, which was lower than in other transition countries, hasn't been satisfying because of lower investments in new technologies and low penetration of Internet business models.
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Efficacy and Safety of Lumateperone for Treatment of Schizophrenia A Randomized Clinical Trial. Importance Individuals living with schizophrenia are affected by cardiometabolic, endocrine, and motor adverse effects of current antipsychotic medications. Lumateperone is a serotonin, dopamine, and glutamate modulator with the potential to treat schizophrenia with few adverse effects. Objective To examine the efficacy and safety of lumateperone for the short-term treatment of schizophrenia. Design, Setting, and Participants This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 clinical trial was conducted from November 13, 2014, to July 20, 2015, with data analyses performed from August 13 to September 15, 2015. Patients with schizophrenia who were aged 18 to 60 years and were experiencing an acute exacerbation of psychosis were enrolled from 12 clinical sites in the United States. Interventions Patients were randomized 1:1:1 (150 patients in each arm) to receive lumateperone tosylate, 60 mg; lumateperone tosylate, 40 mg (equivalent to 42 or 28 mg, respectively, of the active moiety lumateperone); or placebo once daily for 4 weeks. Main Outcomes and Measures The prespecified primary efficacy end point was mean change from baseline to day 28 in the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) total score vs placebo. The key secondary efficacy measure was the Clinical Global Impression-Severity of Illness (CGI-S) score. The PANSS subscale scores, social function, safety, and tolerability were also assessed. Results The study comprised 450 patients (mean [SD] age, 42.4 [10.2] years; 346 [77.1%] male; mean [SD] baseline PANSS score, 89.8 [10.3]; mean [SD] baseline CGI-S score, 4.8 [0.6]). In the prespecified modified intent-to-treat efficacy analysis (n = 435), 42 mg of lumateperone met the primary and key secondary efficacy objectives, demonstrating a statistically significant improvement vs placebo from baseline to day 28 on the PANSS total score (least-squares mean difference [LSMD], -4.2; 95% CI, -7.8 to -0.6; P = .02; effect size [ES], -0.3) and the CGI-S (LSMD, -0.3; 95% CI, -0.5 to -0.1; P = .003; ES, -0.4). For 28 mg of lumateperone, the LSMD from baseline to day 28 was -2.6 (95% CI, -6.2 to 1.1; P = .16; ES, -0.2) on the PANSS total score and -0.2 (95% CI, -0.5 to 0.0; P = .02; ES, -0.3) on the CGI-S. Both lumateperone doses were well tolerated without clinically significant treatment-emergent motor adverse effects or changes in cardiometabolic or endocrine factors vs placebo. Conclusions and Relevance Lumateperone demonstrated efficacy for improving the symptoms of schizophrenia and had a favorable safety profile.Question Does 60 mg of lumateperone tosylate (42 mg of lumateperone) significantly reduce symptoms of schizophrenia compared with placebo without relevant motor, cardiometabolic, or endocrine adverse effects? Findings In this randomized clinical trial of 450 patients with acute exacerbation of schizophrenia, 42 mg of lumateperone demonstrated statistically significant differences in reducing symptoms of schizophrenia without treatment-emergent motor, cardiometabolic, or endocrine adverse effects compared with placebo. Meaning Lumateperone is a potential treatment for schizophrenia and has a favorable safety profile.This randomized clinical trial examines the efficacy and safety of lumateperone for the short-term treatment of adults with schizophrenia.
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Business models for sustainable technologies: Exploring business model evolution in the case of electric vehicles. Sustainable technologies challenge prevailing business practices, especially in industries that depend heavily on the use of fossil fuels. Firms are therefore in need of business models that transform the specific characteristics of sustainable technologies into new ways to create economic value and overcome the barriers that stand in the way of their market penetration. A key issue is the respective impact of incumbent and entrepreneurial firms' path-dependent behaviour on the development of such new business models. Embedded in the literature on business models, this paper explores how incumbent and entrepreneurial firms' path dependencies have affected the evolution of business models for electric vehicles. Based on a qualitative analysis of electric vehicle projects of key industry players over a five-year period (2006-2010), the paper identifies four business model archetypes and traces their evolution over time. Findings suggest that incumbent and entrepreneurial firms approach business model innovation in distinctive ways. Business model evolution shows a series of incremental changes that introduce service-based components, which were initially developed by entrepreneurial firms, to the product. Over time there seems to be some convergence in the business models of incumbents and entrepreneurs in the direction of delivering economy multi-purpose vehicles. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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On the traces of myth : Nationalism and trauma in 'One single hero, the people...my father'(2012) of Mustapha Sedjal. According to Ranjana Khanna, there is an inherent trauma in the formation of a nation that is linked to the forging of a collective consciousness through the act of forgetting. In this regard, nationalism is seen as a prolonged oppression by which the forgotten is forcefully assimilated into the collective unconscious. In the case of Algeria, national identity rests on the myth of a unified Algerian people that relies examine the way Algerian artist Mustapha Sedjal's installation \\'Un seul heros, le people.... mon pere\\' (2012), specifically his questioning of the national myth, allows us to understand Algerian nationalism in terms of trauma. Sedjal's installation stages the traumatic experience the moment of the creation of the myth itself and vestiges of the myth appear throughout the work, as the artist reveals a failed process of assimilation and reminds the viewer that what was to be forgotten is now experienced as loss.
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Direct Access to Polyisocyanide Screw Sense Using Vibrational Circular Dichroism. We show that the screw sense of polyisocyanide helices can be determined in a simple manner from the vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) of their CN-stretching mode. The relation between VCD and molecular structure is obtained using the coupled-oscillator approximation. It is shown that since the C=N groups point approximately radially outward from the helical axis, the CN-stretch region of the VCD spectrum of a polyisocyanide helix consists of a single couplet, the sign of which is directly related to the screw sense of the helix. We use this method to determine the screw sense of poly(R)-2-isocyanooctane and poly(S)-2-isocyanooctane from their VCD spectrum.
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Coverage by smoke-free workplace policies by race/ethnicity and health outcomes Can workplace health policies improve worker health?. Practical implications - The findings suggest that there is health value in SFWP, but that coverage is not at 100 percent and a federal-level mandate might be necessary to reach that level. In situations where customers are allowed to smoke, it may be more difficult to justify and enforce a smoke-free workplace policy.Research limitations/implications - The relatively slow progress in coverage by smoke-free workplace policies during the last eight years suggests the possibility that a ceiling has been reached in smoke-free workplace policy coverage. Limitations include factors that might negatively influence SFWP reporting (e.g. lack of knowledge about SFWP; language barriers), availability of data after 2006, and a cross-sectional design for health outcomes.Originality/value - This is the first study to examine SFWP coverage by race over time. This study allows for examination of progress toward published SFWP goals.Purpose - The present research has three goals: to examine the prevalence of smoke-free workplace policies; to examine how coverage by a smoke-free workplace policy differs among racial/ethnic groups; and to examine the impact of smoke-free workplace policy (SFWP) coverage on health outcomes.Design/methodology/approach - The research uses secondary analysis of data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) from 1998-2006.Findings - It was found that SFWP coverage is below government goals - especially for Hispanic workers and that SFWP coverage was associated with health outcomes.
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Study of the reflection spectrum of the accreting neutron star GX 3+1 using XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL. Broad emission features of abundant chemical elements, such as iron, are commonly seen in the X-ray spectra of accreting compact objects and their studies can provide useful information about the geometry of the accretion processes. In this work, we focus our attention on GX 3+1, a bright, persistent accreting low-mass X-ray binary, classified as an atoll source. Its spectrum is well described by an accretion disc plus a stable Comptonizing, optically thick corona which dominates the X-ray emission in the 0.3-20 keV energy band. In addition, four broad emission lines are found and we associate them with reflection of hard photons from the inner regions of the accretion disc, where Doppler and relativistic effects are important. We used self-consistent reflection models to fit the spectra of the 2010 XMM-Newton observation and the stacking of the whole data sets of 2010 INTEGRAL observations. We conclude that the spectra are consistent with reflection produced at similar to 10 gravitational radii by an accretion disc with an ionization parameter of xi similar to 600 erg cm s(-1) and viewed under an inclination angle of the system of similar to 35 degrees. Furthermore, we detected for the first time for GX 3+1, the presence of a power-law component dominant at energies higher than 20 keV, possibly associated with an optically thin component of non-thermal electrons.
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Experimental and theoretical studies of the superposition of intergranular and macroscopic strains in Ni-based industrial alloys. Measurements of the strain response to applied stress in polycrystalline MONEL-400 by neutron diffraction are modeled with the elastoplastic self-consistent (EPSC) theory. The strains in the different crystallographic orientations of grains, which are generated in the tensile test experiments, are shown to be caused by the anisotropy of elastic and plastic deformation with respect to crystallographic orientation. On the basis of the description of the results in the theory, the origin of a number of anomalies of a general nature in measurements by both neutron and X-ray diffraction can be understood. The theory is used to calculate which crystallographic reflections are least sensitive to intergranular effects under uniaxial tension.
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Space use by female agile antechinus: are teat number and home-range size linked?. Aims The aim of the study was to determine whether 10-teat A. agilis females occupied larger and less overlapping home ranges than did six-teat females. To interpret the findings more meaningfully, it was necessary to compare food abundance and habitat characteristics in areas occupied by the two phenotypes.Conclusions Food-resource availability was similar in the six-teat and 10-teat phenotype areas, so the larger, and probably more exclusive, home ranges of 10-teat females could reflect greater nutritional requirements resulting from having larger litters, and account for their lower population density.Methods The investigation was conducted in six-teat and 10-teat A. agilis areas in cool temperate forest over 22 months. Population density was determined by mark-recapture methods and arthropod prey biomass and abundance by pitfall trapping. Vegetation structure and plant-taxa abundance and diversity were determined by standard plant-survey methods. Female home-range estimates determined by radio-tracking were based on 95% minimal convex polygons (MCP) and kernel analysis. Home-range overlap was based on 80% MCP range determinations and core areas were calculated from utilisation plots.Key results Female population density was 2.5xlower in exclusively 10-teat than in exclusively six-teat populations. Radio-tracked 10-teat females' home ranges less commonly overlapped those of identified female neighbours and, on average, were 1.5xlarger than ranges of six-teat females. Food abundance and composition was similar in six-teat and 10-teat areas, but ground cover was denser and more complex in the latter areas.Context The number of teats that a female agile antechinus (Antechinus agilis) possesses effectively determines her initial litter size. In the Otway Ranges, south-eastern Australia, numerous separate populations in which all females have either six or 10 teats occur fairly close together in similar, contiguous forest at comparable altitudes and latitudes. Six-teat and 10-teat females have a similar mean mass, but the latter have a 1.7xgreater reproductive potential and so should have a greater nutritional requirement while raising young than do six-teat females. Theoretically, they could meet this requirement by occupying larger and/or more exclusive home ranges during breeding than do six-teat females do (provided that their food-resource abundance is comparable), albeit at a greater energetic cost.Implications The A. agilis teat-number variation pattern in the Otways may be a rare, visible example of ongoing incipient speciation. This makes it of great scientific and conservation value and it is important to document how the phenomenon operates.
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Synaptic processes and immune-related pathways implicated in Tourette syndrome. Tourette syndrome (TS) is a neuropsychiatric disorder of complex genetic architecture involving multiple interacting genes. Here, we sought to elucidate the pathways that underlie the neurobiology of the disorder through genome-wide analysis. We analyzed genome-wide genotypic data of 3581 individuals with TS and 7682 ancestry-matched controls and investigated associations of TS with sets of genes that are expressed in particular cell types and operate in specific neuronal and glial functions. We employed a self-contained, set-based association method (SBA) as well as a competitive gene set method (MAGMA) using individual-level genotype data to perform a comprehensive investigation of the biological background of TS. Our SBA analysis identified three significant gene sets after Bonferroni correction, implicating ligand-gated ion channel signaling, lymphocytic, and cell adhesion and transsynaptic signaling processes. MAGMA analysis further supported the involvement of the cell adhesion and trans-synaptic signaling gene set. The lymphocytic gene set was driven by variants in FLT3, raising an intriguing hypothesis for the involvement of a neuroinflammatory element in TS pathogenesis. The indications of involvement of ligand-gated ion channel signaling reinforce the role of GABA in TS, while the association of cell adhesion and trans-synaptic signaling gene set provides additional support for the role of adhesion molecules in neuropsychiatric disorders. This study reinforces previous findings but also provides new insights into the neurobiology of TS.
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22
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The dark side of business model innovation. Existing literature has tended to focus on the positive benefits and outcomes of business model innovation (BMI), despite emerging evidence that BMI can also have a dark side, with negative consequences. We systematically review the existing BMI literature, articulating it around three clusters of negative consequences: those affecting the firm as an entity; those affecting the firm's stakeholders; and those that are specific or context-dependent. In a similar fashion, we identify the driving factors and circumstances leading to these negative consequences and group them into four clusters: (1) managerial choices and processes, and three underpinning circumstances that influence such choices or processes; (2) trade-offs between the new and current business models; (3) managers' ability to manage BMI; and (4) context within which BMI is situated. The paper provides the first attempt to gather prior research on the phenomenon and thereby develop a conceptual understanding of the dark side of BMI. Furthermore, by proposing a model that explains how the dark side of BMI may occur, we inform ongoing debates on the theorization of the consequences that may derive from BMI and how these can be managed to support firms' innovative growth, arguing how the disruptive innovation literature can only partially explain the phenomenon. Second, our model provides important foundations to further distil the complex link between BMI and performance. Finally, we suggest a number of future research avenues, accounting for different dimensions of the phenomenon.
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Legionella: virulence factors and host response. Purpose of reviewL. pneumophila is a significant human pathogen that lives in amoebae in the environment but may opportunistically infect the alveolar macrophage. To maintain its intracellular lifestyle, Legionella extracts essential iron from the cell, blocks inflammatory responses and manipulates trafficking to avoid fusion with the lysosome. The mammalian host has counter strategies, which include the release of proinflammatory cytokines, the activation of caspases and antibody-mediated immunity.Legionella pneumophila is a facultative intracellular pathogen and an important cause of community-acquired and nosocomial pneumonia. This review focuses on the latest literature examining Legionella's virulence strategies and the mammalian host response.Recent findingsRecent studies identify novel virulence strategies used by L. pneumophila and new aspects of the host immune response to this pathogen. Legionella prevents acidification of the phagosome by recruiting Rab1, a host protein. Legionella also blocks a conserved endoplasmic reticulum stress response. To access iron from host stores, L. pneumophila upregulates more regions allowing vacuolar colocalization N. In response to Legionella, the host cell may activate caspase-1, caspase-11 (mice) or caspase-4 (humans). Caspase-3 and apoptosis are activated by a secreted, bacterial effector. Infected cells send signals to their uninfected neighbors, allowing the elaboration of inflammatory cytokines in trans. Antibody subclasses provide robust protection against Legionella.Summary
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An outbreak of chikungunya in southern Thailand from 2008 to 2009 caused by African strains with A226V mutation. Conclusions: The novel CHIKV mutation could potentially modify the epidemiological presentation of CHIK fever. Early diagnosis of CHIK fever is essential for preventing further massive outbreaks. (C) 2010 International Society for Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Methods: Three hundred and eighty-one sera from 332 patients with acute febrile illness were tested for anti-CHIKV IgM antibody by ELISA. A molecular analysis of these sera was performed using a semi-nested reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), followed by direct sequencing and phylogenetic analysis.Objectives: To elucidate clinical and molecular characteristics of chikungunya fever (CHIK fever) from the 2008-2009 outbreak caused by chikungunya virus (CHIKV) in southern Thailand.Results: One hundred and seventy-nine patients were diagnosed with CHIK fever by molecular analysis and/or anti-CHIKV IgM antibody detection. Patients diagnosed with CHIK fever were significantly older than controls (mean age 38.8 +/- 19 vs. 28.7 +/- 18 years, p < 0.0001) and presented with arthralgia more often than controls. One hundred percent of the sera were positive by RT-PCR, whereas only 10% were positive in serological tests for anti-CHIKV IgM antibody by ELISA if the serum was obtained during the first 4 days of fever. In contrast, CHIKV-specific IgM antibody by ELISA was found in 100% of patients, whereas 15% of patients were positive by RT-PCR if the serum was obtained more than 9 days after the onset of fever. RT-PCR for CHIKV should be performed if the patients present within the first 4 days of fever. Patients presenting after at least 9 days of fever should be tested for IgM antibody. Based on phylogenetic analysis, the CHIKV strains isolated belong to African genotypes harboring the E1 A226V mutation, indicating a single origin of the 2004-2009 CHIKV outbreaks.
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Density functional study of complete, first-order and critical wedge filling transitions. We present numerical studies of complete, first-order and critical wedge filling transitions, at a right angle corner, using a microscopic fundamental measure density functional theory. We consider systems with short-ranged, cut-off Lennard-Jones, fluid-fluid forces and two types of wall-fluid potential: a purely repulsive hard wall and also a long-ranged potential with three different strengths. For each of these systems we first determine the wetting properties occurring at a planar wall, including any wetting transition and the dependence of the contact angle on temperature. The hard wall corner is completely filled by vapour on approaching bulk coexistence and the numerical results for the growth of the meniscus thickness are in excellent agreement with effective Hamiltonian predictions for the critical exponents and amplitudes, at leading and next-to-leading order. In the presence of the attractive wall-fluid interaction, the corresponding planar wall-fluid interface exhibits a first-order wetting transition for each of the interaction strengths considered. In the right angle wedge geometry the two strongest interactions produce first-order filling transitions while for the weakest interaction strength, for which wetting and filling occur closest to the bulk critical point, the filling transition is second-order. For this continuous transition the critical exponent describing the divergence of the meniscus thickness is found to be in good agreement with effective Hamiltonian predictions.
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Silver Nanoparticles for Antibacterial Use: Extrinsic and Intrinsic Factors to Increase Stability. Recent studies with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), a broad spectrum bactericidal and virucidal agent, place them as a promising ingredient in fighting the spread of multiresistant bacteria, viruses and neglected diseases, as well as other biological uses. In this review, we show the difference between the mechanisms of the AgNPs and silver ions (Ag+) in the chemical, biological and toxicological level, as well as the augmented influence of the bactericidal activity in the facets {111}. To better understand the efficacy of the AgNPs as an antimicrobial agent, the mechanism of action of the AgNPs was analyzed in bacteria and viruses. Furthermore, we described intrinsic and extrinsic factors that directly affect the physical-chemical stability of AgNPs and are essential for their biological use, in future clinical studies and in the development of new products containing AgNPs.
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Sworn on the Dirt of Graves: Sovereignty, Jurisdiction and the Judicial Abrogation of 'Barbarous' Customs in New Zealand in the 1840s. This paper examines the judicial construction of jurisdiction over Maori in the 1840s in New Zealand. Using new data, including case material and extra-judicial commentary, it examines the first decisions by the New Zealand Supreme Court on crime between Maori (crime 'inter se'). In so doing, it briefly places New Zealand in a broader context of settler colonies, and considers how colonial judges (such as Chapman J of the Supreme Court of New Zealand) fashioned the common law to fit the contingency of local circumstance, thereby playing their part in constituting local sovereignty. Finally, the article also considers the reaction of settlers to Maori crime and these decisions.
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Serum neurofilament light in MS: The first true blood-based biomarker?. A simple blood-derived biomarker is desirable in the routine management of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and serum neurofilament light chain (sNfL) is the most promising candidate. Although its utility was first shown in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), technological advancements have enabled reliable detection in serum and less frequently plasma, obviating the need for repeated lumbar punctures. In this review, after defining the knowledge gap in MS management that many hope sNfL could fill, we summarize salient studies demonstrating associations of sNfL levels with outcomes of interest. We group these outcomes into inflammatory activity, progression, treatment response, and prediction/prognosis. Where possible we focus on data from real-world perspective observational cohorts. While acknowledging the limitations of sNfL and highlighting key areas for ongoing work, we conclude with our opinion of the role for sNfL as an objective, convenient, and cost-effective adjunct to clinical assessment. Paving the way for other promising biomarkers both blood-derived and otherwise, sNfL is an incremental step toward precision medicine for MS patients.
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Resisting Folklore Folk Belief and Motherhood in Russian-Language Forums for Women. In an online community for Russian-speaking women, Eva.ru, folk belief is a subject of intense discussion among expectant and young mothers. In this article, I analyze several multi-participant discussions of pregnancy folklore to examine the intersection of folklore and identity struggle in the lives of post-Soviet women who frequent this forum. I discuss how such folklore is transmitted online, and examine how resistance to certain kinds of folk belief reflects generational conflicts and processes of identity construction within an online community of practice.
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A vanishing theorem for the homology of discrete subgroups of Sp(n, 1) and F-4(-20). For any discrete, torsion-free subgroup G of Sp(n, 1) (respectively, F-4(-20)) with no parabolic elements, we prove that H4n-1(Gamma; V) = 0 (respectively, H-i(Gamma; V) = 0 for i = 13, 14, 15) for any Gamma-module V. The main technical advance is a new bound on the p-Jacobian of the barycenter map of Besson-Courtois-Gallot. We also apply this estimate to obtain an inequality between the critical exponent and homological dimension of G, improving on the work of M. Kapovich.
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Graphene oxide-based nanomaterials for efficient photoenergy conversion. The tunable electronic properties of graphene oxide (GO) nanomaterials make them interesting candidates for photoenergy conversion applications, including photoluminescence, photovoltaics, and photocatalysis for water splitting. GO nanomaterials can be categorized as GO sheets or GO quantum dots. Various techniques have been developed for tuning the electronic structures of GO nanomaterials to promote the quantum efficiency of photoenergy conversion. This review highlights the mechanisms governing the photoenergy conversion of GO nanomaterials and provides design strategies for the enhancement of quantum efficiency through the tuning of surface chemistry in accordance with the requirements of specific applications.
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1,
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OSL dating of loess deposits bracketing Sheep Creek tephra beds, northwest Canada: Dim and problematic single-grain OSL characteristics and their effect on multi-grain age estimates. Geochemically-fingerprinted tephra beds provide unique chronostratigraphic markers for comparing Quaternary sedimentary records across eastern Beringia (Alaska and Yukon Territory). Establishing reliable numerical age control on these tephra horizons enables them to be placed within firm temporal frameworks and increases their potential as correlative tools for regional palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. To this end we present new single-grain and multi-grain quartz optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) chronologies for loess deposits bracketing three well-documented and regionally significant variants of the Sheep Creek tephra (SCt) at two sites in west-central Yukon Territory (Ash Bend and Quartz Creek). Single-grain OSL ages bracketing the SCt-A and SCt-K reveal that these tephras were deposited during late Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 or early MIS 4. The SCt-C variant and associated organic-rich bed at Ash Bend were likely deposited during late MIS 5, based on a single-grain OSL age of similar to 81 ka for the overlying sediments. The single-grain OSL ages obtained for these deposits are in stratigraphic order and in broad agreement with a fission track age estimate of similar to 77 ka for the SCt-K. In contrast, comparative chronologies obtained using multi-grain aliquots are stratigraphically inconsistent and unexpectedly young when compared with the independent SCt-K age. Detailed examination of the single-grain OSL datasets reveal a range of unfavourable luminescent properties that could have contributed to the multi-grain aliquot age discrepancies; including, very low yields of luminescent grains, weak OSL signal sensitivities and large populations of aberrant grains (particularly 0 Gy grains and 'dim' grains with a tendency to sensitise during the equivalent dose (D-e) measurement sequence) that have similarly sized OSL signals as grains used for D-e analysis. Synthetic aliquot D-e datasets constructed from single-grain OSL measurements reveal that the large proportional light sum contributions of 0 Gy and dim grains could possibly account for multi-grain age underestimations in some of the Ash Bend samples. In light of these potentially problematic averaging effects, we do not consider the multi-grain OSL ages to be reliable and suggest that single-grain approaches may be preferable for dating sediments with similar quartz luminescence behaviours across this region. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Quorum Sensing Inhibiting Activity of Streptomyces coelicoflavus Isolated from Soil. Quorum sensing (QS) systems communicate bacterial population and stimulate microbial pathogenesis through signaling molecules. Inhibition of QS signals potentially suppresses microbial infections. Antimicrobial properties of Streptomyces have been extensively studied, however, less is known about quorum sensing inhibitory (QSI) activities of Streptomyces. This study explored the 051 potential of Streptomyces isolated from soil. Sixty-five bacterial isolates were purified from soil samples with morphological characteristics of Streptomyces. The three isolates: S6, S12, and S17, exhibited QSI effect by screening with the reporter, Chromobacterium violaceum. Isolate S17 was identified as Streptomyces coelicoflavus by sequencing of the hypervariable regions (V1-V6) of 16S rRNA and was assigned gene bank number KJ855087. The 051 effect of the cell-free supernatant of isolate S17 was not abolished by proteinase K indicating the non-enzymatic activity of 051 components of S17. Three major compounds were isolated and identified, using spectroscopic techniques (1D, 2D NMR, and Mass spectrometry), as behenic acid (docosanoic acid), borrelidin, and 1H-pyrrole-2-carboxylic acid. 1H-pyrrole-2-carboxylic acid inhibited QS and related virulence factors of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 including; elastase, protease, and pyocyanin without affecting Pseudomonas viability. At the molecular level, 1H-pyrrole-2-carboxylic acid suppressed the expression of QS genes (lasi, lasR, lasA, lasB, rhlR, pqsA, and pqsR). Moreover, QSI activity of S17 was assessed under different growth conditions and ISP2 medium supplemented with glucose 0.4% w/v and adjusted at pH 7, showed the highest 051 action. In conclusion, 1H-pyrrole-2-carboxylic acid, one of the major metabolites of Streptomyces isolate S17, inhibited QS and virulence determinants of P. aeruginosa PAO1. The findings of the study open the scope to exploit the in vivo efficacy of this active molecule as anti-pathogenic and anti-virulence of P. aeruginosa.
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In vitro and intracellular activities of LBM415 (NVP PDF-713) against Legionella pneumophila. LBM415 activity against extracellular and intracellular Legionella pneumophila was studied. The LBM415 MIC,, for 20 Legionella sp. strains was 4 μ g/ml, versus 0.06, 0.25, and &LE; 0.03 μ g/ml for azithromycin, erythromycin, and levofloxacin, respectively. LBM415 (0.5 and 16 μ g/ml) reversibly prevented intracellular growth of two L. pneumophila strains and was less active than erythromycin.
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Social Thought in Russia of Its Czarist-Era about the Place of Siberia in the State Structure of the Country. This article is dedicated to the analysis of the views of the Czarist-era scientists and public figures on the role and place of Siberia in the structure of the government system. Theoretical substantiations and practical suggestions of public figures of the XVIII - early XX centuries on the issue of finding the best options for the rule by the imperial center of the eastern margins found response in the country's social and political discourse. The authors concluded that the settlement of the region led to a change in the management system of Siberia, which evolved from a priority source of furs to the integral part of Russia. The social thought of the empire cultivated the idea of the unity of the Siberian and All -Russian destiny justifying this with geopolitical, trade, communication and socio-cultural reasons. M.M. Speransky played a major role in the comprehensive modernization of the management system of Siberia, taking into account both unification and local ethnic and geographical features. In the Czarist-era, Russia developed and discussed alternatives for the structure and management of the state, but none of them reached the pilot stage, since the absolutist paradigm did not assume a real consideration of interests other than imperial ones. The brief multi-party pre-revolutionary period due to revolutionary and pre-revolutionary events also left numerous ideas of administrative and territorial reforms at the project stage. The complex of historical challenges necessitates the study of the experience of the mutual influence and interdependence of Russia and Siberia, and the development of an effective state management policy.
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Numerical Methodology in Comparative Tax Law: the Mathematical Model of Elasticity as a Thinking Model for Legal Comparisons. Although the field of comparative tax law has achieved greater prominence in legal studies, its methodology is not yet adequately developed. In general, work in comparative tax has not focused adequately on specific features of tax law. This paper proposes a comparative methodology specifically designed to make use of this unique relationship between tax law and private law. Based on a historical overview of comparative tax law and its methodology, it proposes the adoption of the numerical concept of elasticity, regularly used in mathematics and economics, for tax comparisons. This numerical tool, which measures how changing one variable affects others, seems to be particularly suitable to analyse the interaction of tax provisions with underlying private law concepts in a systematised manner. Used as a thought pattern and a foundation for future work, such a numerical analysis is able to identify interrelations between tax law and its private law environment that are likely to be overlooked by classical text-based comparisons. This can aid legislative reform, as it reduces its 'trial-and-error' aspect. At the same time, the numerical approach disassociates comparative analyses from the impreciseness of text-based data.
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Herpes simplex virus 1 UL41 protein abrogates the antiviral activity of hZAP by degrading its mRNA. Conclusion: HSV-1 UL41 was shown for the first time to evade the antiviral function of hZAP via its RNase activity.Results: Human ZAP (hZAP) does not suppress the replication of herpes simplex virus 1, and HSV-1 UL41 protein was identified as an antagonist of hZAP by degrading its mRNA. Infection of wild-type (WT), but not UL41-null mutant (R2621) virus, diminished the accumulation of hZAP to abrogate its antiviral activity. Moreover, ectopic expression of hZAP inhibited the replication of R2621 but not WT HSV-1.Background: The zinc finger antiviral protein (ZAP) is a host restriction factor that inhibits the replication of various viruses by degradation of certain viral mRNA. However, previous study demonstrated that ectopic expression of rat ZAP did not suppress the replication of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), an archetypal member of the alphaherpesvirus subfamily, and the molecular mechanism underneath is still illusive.
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Mitochondrial disorders and general anaesthesia: a case series and review. Patients with mitochondrial disease are at risk of metabolic decompensation and often require general anaesthesia (GA) as part of their diagnostic work up and subsequent management. However, the evidence base for the use of GA is limited and inconclusive. We have documented the practice and outcome in the use of GA in paediatric patients with mitochondrial disease using a retrospective case review study of 38 mitochondrial patients who had undergone 58 anaesthetics within the regional metabolic service for the period 1989 - 2005. A variety of anaesthetic agents were used and the pattern of use reflects that seen in standard paediatric practice. There were no episodes of malignant hyperthermia and no documented intraoperative events attributable to the GA. Three postoperative adverse events were noted; one episode of hypovolaemia, one episode of acute on chronic renal failure, and one episode of metabolic decompensation 12 h post-muscle biopsy. Despite theoretical concern about this group of patients, adverse events after GA are rare and in most cases unrelated to the anaesthesia. Further prospective studies of GA in mitochondrial disease are required to create evidence-based clinical guidelines for safe practice.
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Penetrating thoracic injury with associated abdominal visceral involvement in a mare. A mare was presented for evaluation of a penetrating thoracic injury. Surgical exploration of the thoracic wound was performed, revealing diaphragmatic perforation and the presence of a foreign body lodged in the right dorsal colon. The foreign body was removed through the thoracic deficit, the colon repaired and the thoracic wound closed utilising a latissimus dorsi muscle flap. It can be concluded that successful management of thoracic wounds with concurrent abdominal viscera involvement is achievable if minimal contamination is evident. In addition reconstruction of large thoracic defects with primary muscle flaps is a viable option in the horse.
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Overlapping sliced inverse regression for dimension reduction. Sliced inverse regression (SIR) is a pioneer tool for supervised dimension reduction. It identifies the effective dimension reduction space, the subspace of significant factors with intrinsic lower dimensionality. in this paper, we propose to refine the SIR. algorithm through an overlapping slicing scheme. The new algorithm, called overlapping SIR (OSIR), is able to estimate the effective dimension reduction space and determine the number of effective factors more accurately. We show that such overlapping procedure has the potential to identify the information contained in the derivatives of the inverse regression curve, which helps to explain the superiority of OSIR. We also prove that OSIR algorithm root n-consistent and verify its effectiveness by simulations and real applications.
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FLAGS, frequently mutated genes in public exomes. Methods: We used publicly available exome cohorts, together with the dbSNP database, to derive a list of genes (n = 100) that most frequently exhibit rare (< 1%) non-synonymous/splice-site variants in general populations. We termed these genes FLAGS for FrequentLy mutAted GeneS and analyzed their properties.Conclusions: We showed that some genes are frequently affected by rare, likely functional variants in general population, and are frequently observed in WES studies analyzing diverse rare phenotypes. We found that the rate at which genes accumulate rare mutations is beneficial information for prioritizing candidates. We provided a ranking system based on the mutation accumulation rates for prioritizing exome-captured human genes, and propose that clinical reports associating any disease/phenotype to FLAGS be evaluated with extra caution.Results: Analysis of FLAGS revealed that these genes have significantly longer protein coding sequences, a greater number of paralogs and display less evolutionarily selective pressure than expected. FLAGS are more frequently reported in PubMed clinical literature and more frequently associated with diseased phenotypes compared to the set of human protein-coding genes. We demonstrated an overlap between FLAGS and the rare-disease causing genes recently discovered through WES studies (n = 10) and the need for replication studies and rigorous statistical and biological analyses when associating FLAGS to rare disease. Finally, we showed how FLAGS are applied in disease-causing variant prioritization approach on exome data from a family affected by an unknown rare genetic disorder.Background: Dramatic improvements in DNA-sequencing technologies and computational analyses have led to wide use of whole exome sequencing (WES) to identify the genetic basis of Mendelian disorders. More than 180 novel rare-disease-causing genes with Mendelian inheritance patterns have been discovered through sequencing the exomes of just a few unrelated individuals or family members. As rare/novel genetic variants continue to be uncovered, there is a major challenge in distinguishing true pathogenic variants from rare benign mutations.
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On Micro-generalized closed sets and Micro-generalized continuity in Micro Topological spaces. The purpose of this paper is to define and study a new class of sets called micro generalized closed set and define micro-generalized continuous function and micro-generalized irresolute function in micro topological spaces. Basic properties of micro-generalized closed sets and its characterizations are analyzed.
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Conceiving identity: Bisexual, lesbian and gay parents consider their children's sexual orientations. This study demonstrates the inadequacy of the traditional theory gf childhood socialization and identity formation, which holds that children are socialized to internalize the key parameters of their parents' identities. The lesbian, gay and bisexual parents studied were willing actively to jester a sexual identity different from their own in their children. This illustrates that parents may seek to shape the process of internalization so that their children are able to develop identities fundamentally different from their own. The implication for social work is that adoptive or birth parents may successfully instill identities in their children which differ from their own.
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Personal Identity and What Matters. There are two general views about the nature of what matters, i.e. about the metaphysical ground of prudential concern, the ground of the concern we have for our own future welfare. On the one hand, the identity-is-what-matters view tells us that prudential concern is grounded on one's continuing identity over time; I am concerned with my own future welfare because it is my own future welfare. On the other hand, the identity-is-not-what-matters view tells us that prudential concern is not grounded on such continuing identity; rather, it is grounded on some continuity relation, which only coincides with identity. In this paper, I explore a primary motivation for the latter view-viz., Parfit's fission case-and show that there are interesting ways to resist it.
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Bridging the gap between theory and practice - A call to action. Many people in the area of correctional treatment have pressed for evidence-based practices and lamented the gap between correctional research and correctional practice. The authors explore reasons for this disconnect and suggest ways that both academics and practitioners can form a mutually respectful and accountable partnership.
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The boundary-due terms in the Green operator of inclusion patterns from distant to contact and to connected situations using radon transforms: Illustration for spheroid alignments in isotropic media. We examine the boundary-due components in the mean modified Green operator integral (Green operator for short) of an inclusion pattern in distant-contact and contact-connection transitions. The Direct (RT) and inverse (IRT) Radon Transforms, which allow specification of the different contributions to the mean Green operator of the pattern in simple geometrical terms, are used. The already well-documented case of axially symmetric alignments of equidistant identical oblate spheroids, in an infinite matrix of isotropic (elastic-like or dielectric-like) properties is treated up to infinite alignments and for any aspect ratio from unity (spheres) to infinitesimal (platelets). Simple closed forms for this mean Green operator and for its different parts are newly obtained. These closed forms allow an easy parametric study of the operator variations in terms of the alignment characteristics from distant to contact situations. From contact to connection of the inclusions, the changes in the Green operator's contributions are pointed, what provides relevant operator forms for the connected patterns. These results are of interest in problems where phase percolation, connectivity inversions or co-continuity are implied. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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The Inescapability of Theorizing Practices within Epistemology. For many epistemologies, theory and practice remain bifurcated concepts that facilitate the application of theoretical, epistemic structures upon groups of people and their practices without consideration for the actuality of these people and practices. In contrast, an appropriate epistemology should recognize existing practices that produce what we take to be knowledge, and develop theories of knowledge and rationality based upon them, not in spite of them. In short, an appropriate epistemology should be a \\'practicist\\' epistemology. Endorsing an epistemology that gives fundamental attention to the structure and purpose of our actual practices is not new, but oftentimes, convincing arguments for a practicist epistemology are not forthright. In this paper, I argue that when we consider the nature of epistemological theorizing, and the nature of theories themselves, whether they are meant to organize or fit reality and our experiences, we are unable to separate out the role and importance of practices. Therefore, we should likewise give due respect to the primacy of epistemic practices which comprise the impetus for our epistemological theorizing.
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Trapped Between Legal Systems: Value of Precedent for the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. This article seeks to determine whether the rulings of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights constitute primary or subsidiary sources of law. For that purpose the precedent system, characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon tradition, is contrasted with the way in which said tribunal rules. The article analyzes, first, how the precedent system works, focusing in the concept of stare decisis. Then a contrast between the way in which the Inter-American Court and the tribunals in the precedent system rule, is made, in order to determine why the Court in question refers in its decisions to its own jurisprudence. The analysis deals with this issue both from a theoretical and normative perspective, as well as from a case law and practical one. The states part of the Inter-American system should not be indifferent to the answer to the question presented in this paper, since they have surrender part of their sovereignty to a supranational institution, and understanding how it decides is the minimum than can be expected from it.
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Anatomy of outbursts and quiescent activity of Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann. Detailed morphological and photometric characterisation of Comet 29P in the optical region is presented comprising: (a) multi-filter observations of the outburst coma in 2010-2012 with the 2.0-m Foulkes Telescopes (FT); (b) high-cadence, high-precision photometry in May-September 2014; and (c) HST observations in March 1996 (WFPC2/F702W filter). Outbursts appear to be explosive in that: the rise to maximum light is short-lived; the expanding coma fits a model in which ejecta are produced in a singular event and expand into space with uniform velocity; and the motion of condensations within the outburst coma indicate a common onset time and origin. The bright outburst of 2010 February 2 generated a dust coma exhibiting expansion speeds up to 0.257 +/- 0.013 km s(-1) consistent with acceleration of cometary grains close to the nucleus driven by sublimating CO ice and N-2 ice at 24 +/- 6 K. Material ejected similar to 1 d after this outburst exhibited a V-R colour gradient: redder towards the main outflow, bluer in the opposite sense; potentially arising from differences in spectral emission (from gas), light scattering (particle size), and spectral reflectance (composition). B-V, V-R and R-I colour images revealed colour/compositional differences in near-nucleus structures and the evolution of the expanding coma, which brightened by similar to 30% within 5-6 days of the outburst. Broadband photometry indicated a general reddening coma with time (change in B-V from +0.76 to +0.83; V-SDSS-r' from 0.25 to +0.31 in 14 d). SDSS-r'-SDSS-i' photometry indicated gradual spectral attenuation at >700 nm. Asymmetric, fan-shaped comae, characteristic of 29P, potentially form when the expanding cloud from an outburst is shielded by the nucleus. Rotational-gradient filtered HST and FT images show unusual 2-fold and 4-fold symmetry involving oppositely-directed radial outflows moving at up to 0.15 km s(-1): possibly an indication of material escaping from fissures along the perimeter of a crustal 'plate' when dislodged by pressure build-up in the subsurface. Pairs of outbursts separated in time by 52-65 d took place in 2010, 2011, and 2012 exhibiting similar coma outflow patterns indicative of outbursts repeating a second time from the same source, and suggesting a nuclear rotation period of 59 +/- 4 (s.e.) d. The escape velocity of the nucleus is sufficiently high (0.013-0.023 km s(-1)) that a significant fraction of ejecta falls back onto its surface, the action of which, we suggest, re-forms the crust and may trigger outbursts from nearby sites (e.g. triple events of February 2010, and May 2014). A short-lived (<1 d) anomalous brightening of 0.36 +/- 0.12 mag observed on 2014 July 21 during quiescence may have arisen from an especially weak mini-outburst in which most of the ejected material failed to reach escape velocity. During quiescence in 2014, Comet 29P fluctuated in brightness over time-scales of 2-10 d by up to +/- 0.25 mag, probably via local jet activity continuing to feed the faint persistent inner coma. 29P also exhibited weak outbursts of <1 mag amplitude during quiescence and these will generally be missed by observers. Image analysis methodology tracking the locus of the coma photocentre with increasing photometric aperture size is used to quantify the directional motion of cometary haloes within 1-2 d of an outburst. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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MONOS: Multiplicity Of Northern O-type Spectroscopic systems II. Orbit review and analysis for 35 single-lined spectroscopic binary systems and candidates. Aims. The aim of the MONOS project is to collect information to study northern Galactic O-type spectroscopic binaries. In this second paper, we tackle the study of the 35 single-line spectroscopic binary (SB1) systems identified in the previous paper of the series, analyze our data, and review the literature on the orbits of the systems. Methods. We have measured similar to 4500 radial velocities for a selection of diagnostic lines for the similar to 700 spectra of the studied systems in our database, for which we have used two di fferent methods: a Gaussian fit for several lines per object and cross-correlation with synthetic spectra computed with the FASTWIND stellar atmospheric code. We have also explored the photometric data delivered by the TESS mission to analyze the light curve (LC) of the systems, extracting 31 of them. We have explored the possible periods with the Lomb-Scargle method and, whenever possible, calculated the orbital solutions using the SBOP and GBART codes. For those systems in which an improved solution was possible, we merged our radial velocities with those in the literature and calculated a combined solution.Results. As a result of this work, of the 35 SB1 systems identified in our first paper we have confirmed 21 systems as SB1 with good orbits, discarded the binary nature of six stars (9 Sge, HD 192 281, HDE 229 232 AB, 68 Cyg, HD 108, and alpha Cam), and left six stars as inconclusive due to a lack of data. The remaining two stars are 15 Mon Aa, which has been classified as SB2, and Cyg OB2-22 C, for which we find evidence that it is most likely a triple system where the O star is orbiting an eclipsing SB1. We have also recalculated 20 new orbital solutions, including the first spectroscopic orbital solution for V747 Cep. For Cyg OB2-22 C, we have obtained new ephemerides but no new orbit.Context. Massive stars are a key element for understanding the chemical and dynamical evolution of galaxies. Stellar evolution is conditioned by many factors: Rotation, mass loss, and interaction with other objects are the most important ones for massive stars. During the first evolutionary stages of stars with initial masses (i.e., M-ZAMS) in the M-ZAMS similar to 18-70 M circle dot range, they are of spectral type O. Given that stars in this mass range spend roughly 90% of their lifetime as O-type stars, establishing the multiplicity frequency and binary properties of O-type stars is crucial for many fields of modern astrophysics.
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Studying the relationship between the productivity of manpower and strategic management in financial organizations: the case study of Tavon Bank. The present research has been conducted based on a descriptive-correlative method aiming at studying the effects of strategic management parameters on the productivity of the staff of Tavon Bank. The statistical community of the study comprised 130 people of the staff of the bank who were selected through a straight counting method. The main tools applied for data-collection were the questionnaire of Strategic Management by Goldman (2005), and that of productivity by Hersey and Goldsmith. The validity of the questionnaires was found to be 0.87 upon applying the Cronbach alpha. The data thus gathered were analyzed by the SPSS software and it was found out that in all, employment of strategic management parameters can determine the changes in productivity up to 56 percent. It was also found that the smart opportunism variable had the greatest impact because a one-unit change in this variable can change the productivity up to 0.305 unit.
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Paediatric dengue infection in Cirebon, Indonesia: a temporal and spatial analysis of notified dengue incidence to inform surveillance. BackgroundThe recent situation of dengue infection in Cirebon district is concerning due to an upsurge trend since the year 2010. The largest dengue outbreak was reported in 2016 which has affected more than 1600 children. A study was conducted to explore the temporal variability of dengue outbreak in Cirebon's child population in during 2011-2017, and to assess the short-term effects of climatic and environmental factor on dengue incidence. In addition, the spatial pattern of dengue incidence in children and high-risk villages were investigated.MethodsA total of 4597 confirmed dengue cases in children notified from January 2011 to December 2017 were analysed. Seasonal decomposition analysis was carried out to examine the annual seasonality. A generalized linear model (GLM) was applied to assess the short-term effect of climate and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) on dengue incidence. The incidence rate ratio (IRR) of the final model was reported. Spatial analyses were conducted by using Moran's I and local indicator of spatial association (LISA) analyses to explore geographical clustering in incidence and to identify high-risk villages for dengue, respectively.ResultsAn annual dengue epidemic period was observed with peaks occurring every January/February. Based on the GLM, temperature at a lag 4months (IRR=1.27; 95% confidence interval, 95% CI: 1.22-1.31, P<0.001), rainfall at a lag 2months (IRR=0.99, 95% CI: 0.99-0.99, P<0.001), humidity at lag 0month (IRR=1.05, 95% CI: 1.04-1.06, P<0.001) and NDVI at a lag 1month (IRR=3.07, 95% CI: 1.94-4.86, P<0.001) were associated with dengue incidence in children. The dengue incidence in children was spatially varied and clustered at the village level across Cirebon. During 2011-2017, a total of 38 high-risk villages for dengue were identified, which were mainly located in the northern part of Cirebon.ConclusionsSeasonal patterns of dengue incidence in children in Cirebon were strongly associated with rainfall, temperature, humidity and NDVI variability, suggesting that climatic and environmental data could be used to help predict dengue outbreaks. Our spatial analysis revealed a clustered pattern in dengue incidence and high-risk villages for dengue across Cirebon, suggesting that effective interventions such as vector surveillance and school-based campaigns should be prioritized around the identified high-risk villages. Temporal and spatial analytical tools could be utilized to support local health authorities to apply timely and targeted public health interventions and help better planning and decision-making in order to minimize the impact of dengue outbreaks.
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Legal security for transformations of signed documents: Fundamental concepts. Transformations of signed documents raise questions of technical and organisational nature which render the legal security of the transformed document doubtful. In particular, digital signatures of originals break depriving documents of probative force. This report elucidates legal problems, and introduces fundamental concepts of legally secure document transformations in a deliberately generic, application-independent way. A process analysis of transformations of signed documents is carried out to elicit common security requirements. This leads to the solution approach transformation seal, a cryptographically secured container used to ensure legal security for transformed documents by securing the content's integrity, attesting a transformation's correctnes, and attributing it to a responsible party.
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High-precision photometry by telescope defocussing - VIII. WASP-22, WASP-41, WASP-42 and WASP-55. We present 13 high-precision and four additional light curves of four bright southern-hemisphere transiting planetary systems: WASP-22, WASP-41, WASP-42 and WASP-55. In the cases of WASP-42 and WASP-55, these are the first follow-up observations since their discovery papers. We present refined measurements of the physical properties and orbital ephemerides of all four systems. No indications of transit timing variations were seen. All four planets have radii inflated above those expected from theoretical models of gas-giant planets; WASP-55 b is the most discrepant with a mass of 0.63M(Jup) and a radius of 1.34 R-Jup. WASP-41 shows brightness anomalies during transit due to the planet occulting spots on the stellar surface. Two anomalies observed 3.1 d apart are very likely due to the same spot. We measure its change in position and determine a rotation period for the host star of 18.6 +/- 1.5 d, in good agreement with a published measurement from spot-induced brightness modulation, and a sky-projected orbital obliquity of lambda = 6 +/- 11 degrees. We conclude with a compilation of obliquity measurements from spot-tracking analyses and a discussion of this technique in the study of the orbital configurations of hot Jupiters.
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Estimates of primary and secondary syphilis rates in persons with HIV in the United States, 2002. In the United States, there is a high rate of HIV coinfection in persons with syphilis.Study: We approximated the number of new cases of P&S syphilis in HIV-infected persons and divided this by the estimated number of persons living with HIV. Values for the calculations were obtained from national syphilis and HIV/AIDS surveillance reports and other published sources.Goal: The goal of this study was to estimate the rate of primary and secondary (P&S) syphilis in persons living with HIV in the United States in 2002.Conclusions: The estimated rate of P&S syphilis in persons with HIV is considerably higher than that of the general population. These findings highlight the importance of providing sexually transmitted disease prevention and control services to HIV-infected persons.Results: We estimated the rate of new cases of P&S syphilis at 186 per 100,000 persons living with HIV in 2002, 25 per 100,000 HIV-infected women, 60 per 100,000 HIV-infected men who have sex with women only, and 336 per 100,000 HIV-infected men who have sex with men. Of the 6862 reported cases of P&S syphilis in 2002, an estimated 1718 (25%) occurred in persons coinfected with HIV.
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Cuts of Linear Orders. We study the connection between the number of ascending and descending cuts of a linear order, its classical size, and its effective complexity (how much [how little] information can be encoded into it).
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Competitive newsvendor problems with the same Nash and Stackelberg solutions. Consider two newsvendors: (i) they compete satisfying substitutable demands searching Nash equilibrium or (ii) one is the leader deciding first, the other responds optimally playing a Stackelberg game. The leader profits more than she does in (i). We present conditions under which the leader's profit does not improve from (i) to (ii). (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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New sampling formulae for non-bandlimited signals associated with linear canonical transform and nonlinear Fourier atoms. The sampling theory is basic and crucial in engineering sciences. On the other hand, the linear canonical transform (LCT) is also of great power in optics, filter design, radar system analysis and pattern recognition, etc. The Fourier transform (FT), the fractional Fourier transform (FRFT), Fresnel transform (FRT) and scaling operations are considered as special cases of the LCT. In this paper, we structure certain types of non-bandlimited signals based on two ladder-shape filters designed in the LCT domain. Subsequently, these non-bandlimited signals are reconstructed from their samples together with the generalized sinc function, their parameter M-Hilbert transforms or their first derivatives and other information provided by the phase function of the nonlinear Fourier atom which is the boundary value of the Mobius transform, respectively. Simultaneously, mathematical characterizations for these non-bandlimited signals are given. Experimental results presented also offer a foundation for the sampling theorems established. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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The influence of organizational and environmental factors on job satisfaction among security guards in Singapore. This study examines the determinants of security guards' job satisfaction in Singapore. Specifically, data gathered from 251 security guards and security supervisors are analyzed to assess how job and organizational characteristics such as autonomy, supervisory support, innovation, pay and benefits, and support from other employees (non-security) affect the participants' job satisfaction. In addition, given the nature of their work that brings them in close contact with citizens, the authors examine to what extent the environmental factor of perceived citizens' views of security guards helps explain the level of satisfaction. The findings suggest that job autonomy, pay and benefits, and perceived support from other employees in the organization are strong predictors of participants' job satisfaction.
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Second International Diagnostic Accuracy Study for the Serological Detection of West Nile Virus Infection. Background: In recent decades, sporadic cases and outbreaks in humans of West Nile virus (WNV) infection have increased. Serological diagnosis of WNV infection can be performed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), immunofluorescence assay (IFA) neutralization test (NT) and by hemagglutination-inhibition assay. The aim of this study is to collect updated information regarding the performance accuracy of WNV serological diagnostics.Conclusions/Significance: This EQA study demonstrates that there is still need to improve serological tests for WNV diagnosis. The low sensitivity of IgM detection suggests that there is a risk of overlooking WNV acute infections, whereas the low specificity for IgG detection demonstrates a high level of cross-reactivity with heterologous flaviviruses.Methodology/Principal findings: In 2011, the European Network for the Diagnostics of Imported Viral Diseases-Collaborative Laboratory Response Network (ENIVD-CLRN) organized the second external quality assurance (EQA) study for the serological diagnosis of WNV infection. A serum panel of 13 samples (included sera reactive against WNV, plus specificity and negative controls) was sent to 48 laboratories involved in WNV diagnostics. Forty-seven of 48 laboratories from 30 countries participated in the study. Eight laboratories achieved 100% of concurrent and correct results. The main obstacle in other laboratories to achieving similar performances was the cross-reactivity of antibodies amongst heterologous flaviviruses. No differences were observed in performances of in-house and commercial test used by the laboratories. IFA was significantly more specific compared to ELISA in detecting IgG antibodies. The overall analytical sensitivity and specificity of diagnostic tests for IgM detection were 50% and 95%, respectively. In comparison, the overall sensitivity and specificity of diagnostic tests for IgG detection were 86% and 69%, respectively.
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Factors predicting the presence of impaired clinical insight in liaison psychiatric patients assessed in the Emergency Room. Objectives: There are limited studies on the factors that can predict the presence of impaired clinical insight specifically in an Emergency Room (ER) psychiatric patient population. The objective of this study is to examine the factors that can predict the likelihood that a patient presenting to the ER will have impaired clinical insight. Methods: Nineteen independent demographic and clinical factors contained on data assessment tools for 337 patients assessed by the crisis team in the ER over 6 months were compiled and analysed using SPSS Version 20 with univariate analyses and logistic regression. Results: Patients who were unemployed or had a history of self-harm or had psychotic symptoms on mental state examination were about two, three and six times, respectively, more likely to have impaired clinical insight compared with those who were employed, had no history of self-harm or had no psychotic symptoms on mental state examination, controlling for other factors in the logistic regression model. Conclusion: Patients who are unemployed, have a history of self-harm or have psychotic symptoms following as psychiatric assessment in the ER may benefit from an insight-oriented psychotherapy.
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Enrichment activities in the medical school psychiatry programme - could this be a key to engaging medical students in psychiatry? A study from a high secure forensic psychiatric UK hospital. Results: Evaluation of 284 responses revealed a significant increase in positive attitude towards psychiatry from time 1 to time 2 in the sample as a whole. The most influential factor on consideration of psychiatry as a career across all groups was the medical school clinical placement. For those that tended away from choosing psychiatry as a career, patient prognosis was important.Method: Change in attitudes and career intention were measured by administering a questionnaire, which included the 30-item Attitudes Toward Psychiatry (ATP-30) survey, at the start (time 1) and end (time 2) of the one-day visit. Qualitative data on factors influencing career choice was also gathered.Background: The majority of research studies on medical student attitudes toward psychiatry focus on influencing factors and the medical school experience. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a one-day visit to a high secure forensic psychiatric unit on medical students' attitudes towards psychiatry and also assesses career intentions and the factors influencing these.Conclusions: Poor recruitment in psychiatry in the UK is already established which will doubtless be compounded by controversies surrounding the proposed new junior doctors' contract. Now more than ever, the need to inspire and motivate those at medical school encountering psychiatry is crucial. Our findings add to the body of evidence that the medical school clinical attachment is fundamental in shaping attitudes. However, these results also show that a well-planned visit to a specialised psychiatric unit outside of traditional placements can have a significant impact on students' attitudes toward psychiatry and mental illness in general. There is limited literature in the UK on enrichment activities within the psychiatry medical school curriculum. We propose that developing opportunities for enrichment activities within psychiatry could increase the scope of how we engage students in this fascinating field of medicine.
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The Relation Between Valence and Arousal in Subjective Experience Varies With Personality and Culture. Method: In Study 1, participants (Belgian university students) recalled a recent event that was characterized by high or low valence or arousal and reported on their feelings and their personality in terms of the Five-Factor Model. In Study 2, participants from Canada, China/Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, and Spain reported on their feelings in a thin slice of time and on their personality.Objective: While in general arousal increases with positive or negative valence (a so-called V-shaped relation), there are large differences among individuals in how these two fundamental dimensions of affect are related in people's experience. In two studies, we examined two possible sources of this variation: personality and culture.Conclusions: The results showed that the steepness of the V-shaped relation between valence and arousal increases with Extraversion within cultures, and with a West-East distinction between cultures. Implications for the personality-emotion link and research on cultural differences in affect are discussed.Results: In Study 1, we replicated the V-shape as characterizing the relation between valence and arousal, and identified personality correlates of experiencing particular valence-arousal combinations. In Study 2, we documented how the V-shaped relation varied as a function of Western versus Eastern cultural background and personality.
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Some lesser known silent crickets (Orthoptera: Gryllidae: Euscyrtinae) from the hilly tracts of India. The present paper deals with the revised description of some lesser known silent-slender crickets of Euscyrtinae (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) from the tropical hilly tracts of India. Besides. we describe a new species, Euscyrtus tubus sp. nov., and report the occurrence of Euscyrtodes ogatai (Shiraki, 1930) from India.
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Adaptation to climate change in coastal communities: findings from seven sites on four continents. Climate change is causing wide-ranging effects on ecosystem services critical to coastal communities and livelihoods, creating an urgent need to adapt. Most studies of climate change adaptation consist of narrative descriptions of individual cases or global synthesis, making it difficult to formulate and test locally rooted but generalizable hypotheses about adaptation processes. In contrast, researchers in this study analyzed key points in climate change adaptation derived from coordinated fieldwork in seven coastal communities around the world, including Arctic, temperate, and tropical areas on four continents. Study communities faced multiple challenges from sea level rise and warmer ocean temperatures, including coastal erosion, increasing salinity, and ecological changes. We analyzed how the communities adapted to climate effects and other co-occurring forces for change, focusing on most important changes to local livelihoods and societies, and barriers to and enablers of adaptation. Although many factors contributed to adaptation, communities with strong self-organized local institutions appeared better able to adapt without substantial loss of well-being than communities where these institutions were weak or absent. Key features of these institutions included setting and enforcing rules locally and communication across scales. Self-governing local institutions have been associated with sustainable management of natural resources. In our study communities, analogous institutions played a similar role to moderate adverse effects from climate-driven environmental change. The findings suggest that policies to strengthen, recognize, and accommodate local institutions could improve adaptation outcomes.
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Characterization of Vibrio Populations from Cultured European Seabass and the Surrounding Marine Environment with Emphasis on V. anguillarum. Vibrio species are widely distributed and can be potentially pathogenic to aquatic organisms. In this study, we isolated Vibrio spp. from environmental samples (seawater, sediment, and fish swabs) collected over a three-year period from a fish farm in Mali Ston Bay in the Adriatic Sea, Croatia, and assess their distribution. A total of 48 seawater samples and 12 sediment samples, as well as gill and skin swabs from 110 farmed European seabass, were analysed for the presence of Vibrio. Vibrio strains were identified to the species level by MALDI TOF MS. The analysis revealed that V. alginolyticus was the predominant species in European seabass, followed by V. anguillarum. V. alginolyticus was isolated from the sediments, along with V. gigantis and V. pomeroyi, while V. chagasii, V. cyclitrophicus, V. fortis, V. gigantis, V. harveyi, V. pelagius, and V. pomeroyi were isolated from seawater. V. anguillarum was isolated only twice during two different spring seasons, once from a diseased sea bass and the second time from a healthy sea bass. We analysed these two isolates and found that they differ both genetically and in terms of resistance to antibiotics. Our results confirm the seasonality of vibriosis incidence and the presence of the pathogenic V. anguillarum, which increases the risk of vibriosis.
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Molecular Mechanisms Modulating Glutamate Kinase Activity. Identification of the Proline Feedback Inhibitor Binding Site. Proline, the feedback inhibitor of bacterial glutamate kinase (GK) and plant pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthase (P5CS) enzymes, is a key regulator of the osmotic and redox balance of cells Using kinetic assays, site-directed mutagenesis, structure activity analyses, and docking calculations, we have identified the binding site of this metabolite in three-dimensional structures of Escherichia cob and Campylobacter jejuni GKs The proline-binding cavity partially overlaps with the glutamate substrate site, and the interaction of both proline and glutamate with GK is modulated by a flexible, 16-residue loop linking beta-sheet 4 and alpha-helix E in the active-center cavity This loop is also critical for regulation of plant and human P5CSs Furthermore, our results indicate that the functional unit of the E colt enzyme is dimeric and contains an intermolecular hydrogen-bond network that interconnects the active-center cavities of the monomers and is important for substrate binding (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved
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Characterization of the human herpesvirus 6 U69 gene product and identification of its nuclear localization signal. To elucidate the function of the U69 protein kinase of human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) in vivo, we first analyzed its subcellular localization in HHV-6-infected Molt 3 cells by using polyclonal antibodies against the U69 protein. Immunofluorescence studies showed that the U69 signal localized to the nucleus in a mesh-like pattern in both HHV-6-infected and HHV6-transfected cells. A computer program predicted two overlapping classic nuclear localization signals (NLSs) in the N-terminal region of the protein; this NLS motif is highly conserved in the N-terminal region of most of the herpesvirus protein kinases examined to date. An N-terminal deletion mutant form of the protein failed to enter the nucleus, whereas a fusion protein of green fluorescent protein (GFP) and/or glutathione S-transferase (GST) and the U69 N-terminal region was transported into the nucleus, demonstrating that the predicted N-terminal NLSs of the protein actually function as NLSs. The nuclear transport of the GST-GFP fusion protein containing the N-terminal NLS of U69 was inhibited by wheat germ agglutinin and by the Q69L Ran-GTP mutant, indicating that the U69 protein is transported into the nucleus from the cytoplasm via classic nuclear transport machinery. A cell-free import assay showed that the nuclear transport of the U69 protein was mediated by importin alpha/beta in conjunction with the small GTPase Ran. When the import assay was performed with a low concentration of each importin-alpha subtype, NPI2/importin-alpha 7 elicited more efficient transport activity than did Rch1/importin-alpha 1 or Qip1/importin-alpha 3. These results suggest a relationship between the localization of NPI2/importin-alpha 7 and the cell tropism of HHV-6.
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PERCEPTIONS OF VETERINARIANS IN RELATION TO FELINE POSSESSION IN BUENOS AIRES CITY, ARGENTINA. The objective of the present study was to determine the perceptions of veterinarians in relation to motivations, attitudes, and behaviour of people that owns or does not owns felines. Veterinarians (n = 62) from Buenos Aires city, Argentina, working in the clinic and surgery of pets were surveyed. Variables were evaluated by the analysis of content and index position. The main reasons to own felines were preference and family customs. The most frequent way of getting a feline was as a gift, collected from public areas or purchased. Veterinarians indicated that most of these animals have an intimate relationship with the owner, as well as low anxiety and aggressiveness. Feline behaviour cognitive maps were developed pointing out its relationship with owners' attitudes and behaviours.
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TOWARD GREATER GUIDANCE: REFORMING THE DEFINITIONS OF THE FOREIGN CORRUPT PRACTICES ACT. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 is the cornerstone of the United States' efforts to combat the involvement of U.S. companies and individuals in corruption abroad. Enforced by both the Securities and Exchange Commission (\\'SEC\\') and the Department of Justice (\\'DOI\\'), the Act targets companies and individuals that pay bribes to \\'foreign officials,\\' a nebulous category of persons that includes everyone from foreign cabinet members to janitors at companies only partially owned by a foreign state. After only sporadic enforcement in the early years of the Act's existence, the SEC and DOJ now bring many cases annually. This increased enforcement has raised the ire of the business community, and many commentators have criticized the government for haphazard enforcement and unclear guidance. The definition of \\'foreign official,\\' which has always been deliberately broad and vague, has particularly vexed many companies. This Note proposes a creative amendment to the Act to solve this problem, not by changing the definition of \\'foreign official\\' but by requiring in-country State Department employees to provide country-specific guidance on who is and who is not a bona fide \\'foreign official\\' in a given place.
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Parisian literary fields: James Joyce and Pierre Reverdy's theory of the image. This article examines Joyce's Parisian works through the lens of Reverdy's aesthetic of the image, which was symptomatic of the intricate tensions between innovative ideas and the rivalries surrounding avant-garde practices, thus showing possible links between Parisian avant-garde practices and what is commonly called 'high modernism' in modernism studies. This parallel analysis of Joyce and Reverdy should help reassess the role played by images in Joyce's modernist aesthetic in Ulysses, and also in Finnegans Wake, where words become 'word-images'. New relations should emerge between the innovative practices of poetry and of novel writing, beyond a seemingly well-established divide.
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Liquid-crystalline azobenzene-containing ferrocene-based polymers: study on synthesis and properties of main-chain ferrocene-based polyesters with azobenzene in the side chain. Ferrocene-based polymers are characterized by their electrochemical activity, good redox properties, thermal, photochemical stability, and liquid crystallinity, and thus they have various applications in different fields. A comprehensive investigation on the synthesis and properties of three novel main-chain ferrocene-based polyesters with azobenzene in the side chain (MFPAS) was carried out. The main-chain ferrocene-based polyester, poly(N-phenyldiethanolamine 1,1'-ferrocene dicarboxylate (PPFD), was synthesized via the solution polycondensation reaction of 1,1'-ferrocenedicarbonyl chloride with phenyldiethanolamine (PDE). The novel MFPAS were synthesized via the post-polymerization azo-coupling reaction of PPFD with three different 4-substituted anilines including 4-nitroaniline, 4-aminobenzoic acid, and 4-aminobenzonitrile to produce 4-nitrophenylazo-functionalized-PPFD (PPFD-NT), 4-carboxyphenylazo-functionalized-PPFD (PPFD-CA), and 4-cyanophenylazo-functionalized-PPFD (PPFD-CN), respectively. All the synthesized polymers were characterized by 1H NMR spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and UVvisible spectroscopy. In addition, powder X-ray diffraction patterns were measured for the synthesized polymers. The photoisomerization of the MFPAS was studied. The thermal properties of the MFPAS were studied using thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry. PPFD-CA and PPFD-CN were found to be more thermally stable than PPFD-NT. Finally, the liquid-crystalline properties of PPFD and the MFPAS were examined using polarized optical microscope. It was found that all the polymers possessed nematic phases and exhibited textures with schlieren disclinations. Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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The aromatic fragrances of Paradise in the 'Greek Life of Adam and Eve' and the Christian origin of the composition (Regarding the nature and theological significance of biblical incense offering in early Church tradition). According to the \\'Greek Life of Adam and Eve\\', before his expulsion from Paradise, Adam received permission to take four kinds of aromatic fragrances to use as earthly incense offerings. These four spices do not correspond with the ingredients of the biblical incense offering. The kinds of spices and the fact that they were taken from Paradise attests to the Christian nature of this tradition. The aromatic fragrances are the earthly remains of Paradise and a kind of substitute for the tree of life whose oil, which symbolized Christ, bestows eternal life and was promised to Adam only at the end of time - at the resurrection. The Christian nature of the fragrances in \\'GLAE\\' is also expressed in its role as a means for atonement and its theological meaning at Adam's funeral and death.
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Effects of different encapsulation agents and drying process on stability of betalains extract. Red beet plants are rich in betalains that can be used as food natural colorants. Betalains were extracted from red beet and encapsulated with different carrier agents and freeze or spray dried. Effect of different encapsulating agents as maltodextrin, guar gum, gum Arabic, pectin and xanthan gum with different concentration (as encapsulating agents) were studied on the betalain stability. Encapsulated betalains with xanthan gum with maltodextrin showed about 65 % more recovery than the control. Encapsulation showed a higher recovery of betalains during freeze drying by 1.3 times than during spray drying. Spray dried samples has L* (lightness) higher than the freeze dried samples. The variations of maltodextrin with xanthan and guar gum freeze dried have highest chroma value of 21. The stabilization of pure betalain pigments may boost the use of these colouring molecules in the food industry and promote their application.
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Predictive Power of Personal Factors in Studying Students' Perception of Sales Profession in Poland. Since Poland has become a member of the European Union, free market activities have increased dramatically. The purpose of this study is to explore university students' perceptions of personal selling as a career in Poland. Using logistic regression and Z-test methodologies, we analyzed the perceptions of 114 students. The results confirm the findings of previous studies that personal factors play a significant role in predicting students' perception of sales profession as a career. The findings presented in this study show that Polish students have a biased perception about sales as a career; however, interestingly, few dimensions show a significant effect. Understanding students' perceptions of the sales profession will help corporate recruiters achieve their goals by selecting those students most likely to excel in sales careers.
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Living in a Post-Coding World: Analysis as Assemblage. This article explains how the author used Deleuze and Guattari's concept assemblage to analyze data from an interview study about the reading practices of 10 academics. Instead of coding interview transcripts, the researcher used writing and reading as methods of inquiry and analysis to explore how reading can become a force that enables complex relationships with texts.
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Reverse time migration applied to GPR data based on full wave inversion. Reverse time migration (RTM) is used for subsurface imaging to handle complex velocity models including steeply dipping interfaces and dramatic lateral variations, and promises better imaging results compared to traditional migration methods such as Kirchhoff migration algorithm. RTM has been increasingly applied to seismic surveys for hydrocarbon resource explorations. Based on the similarity of kinematics and dynamics between electromagnetic waves and elastic waves, we develop a pre-stack RTM method and apply it to processing ground penetrating radar (GPR) data.The finite-difference time domain (FDTD) numerical method is used to simulate the electromagnetic wave propagation including forward and backward extrapolation. The cross-correlation imaging condition is used to obtain the final image. In order to provide a velocity model with relatively higher accuracy as the initial velocity model for RTM, we apply a full waveform inversion (FWI) in the time domain to estimate the subsurface velocity structure based on reflection radar data. For testing the effectiveness of the algorithm, we have constructed a complex geological model; and synthesized common-offset radar data and common-shot profile (CSP) radar reflection data. All data are migrated with the traditional Kirchhoff migration method and pre-stack RTM method separately. The migration results from pre-stack RTM show better coincidence with the true model. Furthermore, we have performed a physical experiment in a sandbox where a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) box is buried in the sand. The obtained common-offset radar data and common-shot radar data are migrated by using the Kirchhoff migration method and per-stack RTM algorithm separately. The per-stack RTM result shows that the RTM algorithm can obtain better imaging results. In the numerical experiments, velocity variation exists in the geological model due to the irregular interface between soil and sand. The imaging result from pre-stack RTM is better than that of the traditional Kirchhoff migration algorithm because pre-stack RTM can handle the model with horizontal velocity variation. In the RTM imaging, the shape and position of the interface and their anomalies match well with the true model, while the imaging of Kirchhoff migration cannot do so. As for the physical experiment, the Kirchhoff migration algorithm and pre-stack RTM have been applied to process the measured radar data. The imaging result from RTM show its advantage compared with the Kirchhoff migration method.
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Prediction of moisture cellulose insulation of transformers on the basis of the results of statistical analysis of measurement data. Software 'Ocena zawilgocenia transformatorow. The paper describes a software \\'Ocena zawilgocenia transformatorow\\'. The software on the basis of statistical analysis of the database contents is able to assess the current moisture content in transformer's cellulose insulation. The database, created during years of researches, contains information about moisture content of more than hundred transformers of different groups, power and age (Prediction of moisture cellulose insulation of transformers on the basis of the results of statistical analysis of measurement data. Software \\'Ocena zawilgocenia transformatorow\\').
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[
1,
14
] |
Enhanced postoperative surveillance versus standard of care to reduce mortality among adult surgical patients in Africa (ASOS-2): a cluster-randomised controlled trial. Background Risk of mortality following surgery in patients across Africa is twice as high as the global average. Most of these deaths occur on hospital wards after the surgery itself. We aimed to assess whether enhanced postoperative surveillance of adult surgical patients at high risk of postoperative morbidity or mortality in Africa could reduce 30-day in-hospital mortality.Findings Between May 3, 2019, and July 27, 2020, 594 eligible hospitals indicated a desire to participate across 33 African countries; 332 (56%) were able to recruit participants and were included in analyses. We allocated 160 hospitals (13 275 patients) to provide enhanced postoperative surveillance and 172 hospitals (15 617 patients) to provide standard care. The mean age of participants was 37.1 years (SD 15.5) and 20 039 (69.4%) of 28 892 patients were women. 30-day in-hospital mortality occurred in 169 (1.3%) of 12 970 patients with mortality data in the intervention group and in 193 (1.3%) of 15 242 patients with mortality data in the control group (relative risk 0.96, 95% CI 0.69-1.33; p=0.79). 45 (0.2%) of 22 031 patients at low risk and 309 (5.6%) of 5500 patients at high risk died. No harms associated with either intervention were reported.Interpretation This intervention package did not decrease 30-day in-hospital mortality among surgical patients in Africa at high risk of postoperative morbidity or mortality. Further research is needed to develop interventions that prevent death from surgical complications in resource-limited hospitals across Africa. Copyright (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Methods We did a two-arm, open-label, cluster-randomised trial of hospitals (clusters) across Africa. Hospitals were eligible if they provided surgery with an overnight postoperative admission. Hospitals were randomly assigned through minimisation in recruitment blocks (1:1) to provide patients with either a package of enhanced postoperative surveillance interventions (admitting the patient to higher care ward, increasing the frequency of post-operative nursing observations, assigning the patient to a bed in view of the nursing station, allowing family members to stay in the ward, and placing a postoperative surveillance guide at the bedside) for those at high risk (ie, with African Surgical Outcomes Study Surgical Risk Calculator scores >= 10) and usual care for those at low risk (intervention group), or for all patients to receive usual postoperative care (control group). Health-care providers and participants were not masked, but data assessors were. The primary outcome was 30-day in-hospital mortality of patients at low and high risk, measured at the participant level. All analyses were done as allocated (by cluster) in all patients with available data.
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[
2,
23
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Embracing a world of subtlety and nuance on coral reefs. Climate change will homogenise the environment and generate a preponderance of mediocre reefs. Managing seascapes of mediocrity will be challenging because our science is ill prepared to deal with the 'shades of grey' of reef health; we tend to study natural processes in the healthiest reefs available. Yet much can be gained by examining the drivers and implications of even subtle changes in reef state. Where strong ecological interactions are discovered, even small changes in abundance can have profound impacts on coral resilience. Indeed, if we are to develop effective early warnings of critical losses of resilience, then monitoring must place greater emphasis on measuring and interpreting changes in reef recovery rates. In terms of mechanism, a more nuanced approach is needed to explore the generality of what might be considered 'dogma'. A more nuanced approach to science will serve managers needs well and help minimise the rise of mediocrity in coral reef ecosystems.
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[
4,
42
] |
Petrogenesis and geochemical characterisation of ultramafic cumulate rocks from Hawes Head, Fiordland, New Zealand. Early Cretaceous parts of the western Median Batholith (Western Fiordland Orthogneiss) represent the exposed root of a magmatic arc of dioritic to monzodioritic composition (SiO2=51-55 wt%; Na2O/K2O=3.7-8.8 in this study). We characterise for the first time the field relationships, petrography, mineralogy and geochemistry of ultramafic and mafic cumulates at Hawes Head, the largest exposure of ultramafic rocks in western Fiordland. We distinguish three related rock types at Hawes Head: hornblende peridotite (MgO=21-35 wt%); hornblendite (MgO=15-16 wt%); and pyroxenite (MgO=21 wt%). Petrogenetic relationships between the ultramafic rocks and the surrounding Misty Pluton of the Western Fiordland Orthogneiss are demonstrated by: (i) mutually cross-cutting relationships; (ii) similar mafic phases (e. g. pyroxene and amphibole) with elevated Mg-numbers(e. g. olivine Mg/(Mg+Fe)=0.77-0.82); (iii) fractionation trends in mineral geochemistry; and (iv) shared depleted heavy rare earth element patterns. In addition, the application of solid/liquid partition coefficients indicates that olivine in the ultramafic rocks at Hawes Head crystallised from a magma with Mg/(Mg+Fe)=0.54-0.57. The olivine grains therefore represent a plausible early crystallising phase of the adjacent Western Fiordland Orthogneiss (Mg/(Mg+Fe)=0.51-0.55).
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[
4,
35
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Citizen attitudes toward errors in criminal justice: Implications of the declining acceptance of Blackstone's ratio. The \\'Blackstone ratio,\\' positing that \\'it is better that ten guilty individuals escape, than that one innocent suffer,\\' is a well-known principle of criminal justice. The methods of implementing the legal policy of maximum possible certainty of guilt congruent with Blackstone's ratio consists of a constellation of constitutional and statutory rights, as well as rules of procedure and evidence. However, what if the public shifts its view of the Blackstone's ratio and becomes less supportive of this principle? This paper reports the results of a cross-national study of public opinion regarding whether it is worse to wrongfully convict the innocent, or erroneously acquit the guilty. Reanalysis of the results of four different surveys of citizens in different countries conducted from 1985 to 2006 reflects a significant and growing rejection of the Blackstone ratio principle over the time period studied. We discuss one implication of these findings relating to the standard of proof in criminal cases, and suggest directions for future research. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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[
3,
5,
26,
51
] |
On pseudorandom numbers from multivariate polynomial systems. We bound exponential sums along the orbits of essentially arbitrary multivariate polynomial dynamical systems, provided that the orbits are long enough. We use these bounds to derive nontrivial estimates on the discrepancy of pseudorandom vectors generated by such polynomial systems. We generalize several previous results and in particular suggest a new approach that eliminates the need to control the degree growth of the iterations of these polynomial systems, which has been an obstacle in all previous approaches (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved
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[
4,
38
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What Does it Mean to be Polish? Europe and Identity in Two Museums in Poland. Since Poland joined the European Union in 2004 the country has experienced a \\'museum boom.\\' Over the following decade new museums have been popping up in nearly every Polish town. The political climate in Poland is such that there are two dominant sides of the political spectrum: one, a celebration of liberal democracy and an openness to Europe, the other, anti-EU and populist nationalist. This paper examines how two new museums in Poland, the Museum of Emigration in Gdynia, and the Warsaw Rising Museum, produce political messages supporting each of these sides.
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[
3,
27
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Human Cytomegalovirus Infection Induces Adipocyte-Like Lipogenesis through Activation of Sterol Regulatory Element Binding Protein 1. Sterol regulatory element binding proteins (SREBPs) are essential transcriptional factors that control expression of lipogenic genes and adipocyte differentiation. Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection has been shown to require the induction of lipogenesis. Here we show that the induction of lipogenesis and expression of key lipogenic enzymes in human fibroblasts occurs by 24 h post-HCMV infection. This activation correlates with increased cleavage of the SREBP1 precursors to form the mature active transcription factors that enter the nucleus to transcriptionally activate lipogenic genes. SREBP1 cleavage is normally inhibited by increased sterol levels; however, our data show that this level of control is overridden in infected cells to allow constitutive activation of lipogenesis. This process requires viral protein synthesis, since UV-irradiated HCMV cannot activate SREBP cleavage. The cleavage of SREBP1 requires it to be in complex with SREBP cleavage activation protein (SCAP). Depleting SCAP using short hairpin RNA (shRNA) showed that SREBP1 cleavage and the induction of lipogenic genes and lipid synthesis are all inhibited in HCMV-infected cells. As a result, production of infectious virions is reduced in SCAP-depleted cells. Thus, the SCAP-mediated mechanism for SREBP cleavage is utilized by HCMV during infection. Our studies suggest that HCMV induces adipocyte-like lipogenesis and overrides normal sterol feedback controls in order to maintain high levels of constitutive lipid synthesis during infection.
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[
2,
20
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Why the Law Should Intervene to Disrupt Pay-Secrecy Norms: Analyzing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act Through the Lens of Social Norms. This Note addresses the Supreme Court's decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and the subsequent legislative response, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (LLFPA). Through the LLFPA, Congress overrode the Ledbetter decision and enacted a paycheck-accrual rule for Title VII pay-discrimination cases, the purpose of which is to provide victims with a longer - and more realistic - statute of limitations for pay-discrimination claims. This Note explores the congressional justifications for the LLFPA and the workings of pay-discrimination claims, and argues that the legislation does not address all of the obstacles that prevent victims from effectively challenging pay discrimination because the statute's goals are frustrated by social norms of pay secrecy. This Note argues for a transformative legal intervention to enable Title VII to remedy all instances of pay discrimination.
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[
3,
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26,
51
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Interference of weeds in the establishment of white clover as forage crop. Interference of weeds is a major factor influencing the establishment of pastures and rangeland in the white clover is an important Fabaceae used in animal feed. The objective of this study was to determine the periods of weed interference on the white clover, which was subjected to periods living and weed control. Phytosociological surveys were conducted in each period of coexistence of culture with weeds and 119 days for the control periods of conviviality. Data on dry matter production of white clover were adjusted to model nonlinear regression sigmoidal Boltzmann, adopting a tolerance level of yield reduction of 5%. The results revealed that the period before interference was 20 days after emergence (DAE), the total period of interference prevention was 82DAE and the critical period of interference prevention were 62 days. Productivity losses by weed competition can reach 96%, requiring weed control at 20DAE, extending up to 62DAE.
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[
0,
7
] |
FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN CORRESPONDENCE AND POLITICAL REALITY. The letter remains a pledge of authenticity and truth, both subjective and objective, in an era of suspicion won by a war looming ahead and hatred against the Jews after the rise of Hitler as a supreme ruler in Germany, hence Nazi. As long correspondence is set up, the reality imposes itself to the letter-writers so much that it affects their relations. Our contribution will focus on demonstrating that the correspondence takes on the appearance of witnessing a fateful historical moment, which goes beyond the personal frame connecting two long-standing friends, to reach the field of international relations.
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3,
25
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Anisotropy in tensile properties of plain weave fabric - Part I: The meso-scale model. Tensile properties and geometrical behavior of a plain weave fabric under arbitrary direction are addressed in this study. A geometrical-mechanical model is established on the basis of the deflection curve and flattening of tensioned yarn. For this purpose, a differential equation to assess the curvature of tensioned yarn under a certain bending moment is proposed. Different conditions of a fabric, namely relaxed fabric, stretched in principal directions and arbitrary directions are discussed. Ordinary data of a fabric and constituted yarns are input data of this model. The tensile-force curve and geometry of a strip fabric under stress in the arbitrary direction can be estimated by the proposed model simultaneously.
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[
1,
11
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Next Generation Cuprous Phenanthroline MLCT Photosensitizer Featuring Cyclohexyl Substituents. A new long-lived, visible-light-absorbing homoleptic Cu(I) metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) photosensitizer, [Cu(dchtmp)(2)]PF6(dchtmp = 2,9-dicyclohexyl-3,4,7,8-tetramethyl-1,10-phenanthroline), has been synthesized, structurally characterized, and evaluated in terms of its molecular photophysics, electrochemistry, and electronic structure. Static and time-resolved transient absorption (TA) and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy measured on the title compound in CH2Cl2 (tau = 2.6 mu s, Phi(PL) = 5.5%), CH3CN (tau = 1.5 mu s, Phi(PL) = 2.6%), and THF (pi = 2.0 mu s, Phi(PL) = 3.7%) yielded impressive photophysical metrics even when dissolved in Lewis basic solvents. The combined static spectroscopic data along with ultrafast TA experiments revealed that the pseudo-Jahn-Teller distortion and intersystem crossing dynamics in the MLCT excited state displayed characteristics of being sterically arrested throughout its evolution. Electrochemical and static PL data illustrate that [Cu(dchtmp)(2)]PF6 is a potent photoreductant (-1.77 V vs Fc(+/0) in CH3CN) equal to or greater than all previously investigated homoleptic Cu(I) diimine complexes. Although we successfully prepared the cyclopentyl analog dcptmp (2,9-dicyclopentyl-3,4,7,8-tetramethyl-1,10-phenanthroline) using the same C-C radical coupling photochemistry as dchtmp, the corresponding Cu(I) complex could not be isolated due to the steric hindrance presented at the metal center. Ultimately, the successful preparation of [Cu(dchtmp)(2)](+) represents a major step forward for the design and discovery of novel earth-abundant photosensitizers made possible through a newly conceived ligand synthetic strategy.
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[
4,
33
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Diagnosis of nitrogen nutrition in common bean leaves by digital image analysis. The objective of this work was to evaluate the use of digital image analysis for the N nutritional diagnosis in common bean. Four treatments combining two levels of N and P applied to the soil were evaluated. At the pod setting stage, the Falker chlorophyll index was determined, the images of trifoliates were scanned, and leaf-N concentration was measured. In the images, a note with the software AFSoft was assigned based on the area occupied by green standards. Leaf-N content correlated to the Falker chlorophyll index and the AFSoft note, but the correlation between chlorophyll index and AFSoft note was higher.
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[
0,
6
] |
Caremark and ESG, Perfect Together: A Practical Approach to Implementing an Integrated, Efficient, and Effective Caremark and EESG Strategy. With increased calls from investors, legislators, and academics for corporations to consider employee, environmental, social, and governance factors (\\'EESG\\') when making decisions, boards and managers are struggling to situate EESG within their existing reporting and organizational structures. Building on an emerging literature connecting EESG with corporate compliance, this Essay argues that EESG is best understood as an extension of the board's duty to implement and monitor a compliance program under Caremark. If a company decides to do more than the legal minimum, it will simultaneously satisfy legitimate demands for strong EESG programs and promote compliance with the law. Building on that insight, we explain how boards can marry existing corporate compliance programs with budding EESG programs. By integrating compliance and EESG, corporations can meet growing societal demands in an effective and efficient manner that capitalizes on existing structures. Lastly, we address how EESG and corporate compliance responsibilities should be allocated at the board and senior management level. Instead of separating compliance and EESG oversight, this Essay suggests that boards embrace a functional approach, delegating similar compliance and EESG oversight to the same committee and managers. By situating EESG within the board's existing fiduciary duties, this Essay provides academics, legislators, investors, and managers with a novel framework to conceptualize EESG while also offering a path forward for boards struggling to place the current EESG movement within their existing corporate structure.
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[
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26
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New proofs of ownership for efficient data deduplication in the adversarial conspiracy model. The primitive of proofs of ownership (PoWs) enables a prover to efficiently convince a verifier that he/she indeed owns a certain message in a knowledge-proof manner. As a result, it can prevent an adversary who only has a short information of the message from accessing the whole one. We argue that the existing PoWs based on Merkle hash tree and specific encodings are not much efficient if the size of message is sufficiently huge. In this paper, we first propose a new PoW protocol based on the chameleon hash function without key exposure. Interestingly, it is equivalent to having the prover compute a new collision of chameleon hashing as the proof in our construction. Therefore, the proposed protocol is much efficient since the computation and storage overhead of proof is independent of the size of the message. Moreover, we utilize the proposed PoWs to design a deduplication scheme over ciphertext.
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Diversity of ammonia-oxidizing archaea and bacteria in the sediments of a hypernutrified subtropical estuary: Bahia del Tobari, Mexico. Nitrification within estuarine sediments plays an important role in the nitrogen cycle, both at the global scale and in individual estuaries. Although bacteria were once thought to be solely responsible for catalyzing the first and rate-limiting step of this process, several recent studies have suggested that mesophilic Crenarchaeota are capable of performing ammonia oxidation. Here we examine the diversity (richness and community composition) of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and bacteria (AOB) within sediments of Bahia del Tobari, a hypernutrified estuary receiving substantial amounts of ammonium in agricultural runoff. Using PCR primers designed to specifically target the archaeal ammonia monooxygenase a-subunit (amoA) gene, we found AOA to be present at five sampling sites within this estuary and at two sampling time points (January and October 2004). In contrast, the bacterial amoA gene was PCR amplifiable from only 40% of samples. Bacterial amoA libraries were dominated by a few widely distributed Nitrosomonas-like sequence types, whereas AOA diversity showed significant variation in both richness and community composition. AOA communities nevertheless exhibited consistent spatial structuring, with two distinct end member assemblages recovered from the interior and the mouths of the estuary and a mixed assemblage from an intermediate site. These findings represent the first detailed examination of archaeal amoA diversity in estuarine sediments and demonstrate that diverse communities of Crenarchaeota capable of ammonia oxidation are present within estuaries, where they may be actively involved in nitrification.
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[
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18,
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