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Flux-Steel Reaction of CaO-SiO2 and CaO-Al2O3-based Mold Fluxes with High-Al Steel. Advanced properties of high-Al steel such as high mechanical strength and formability make it attractive for the applications in the automobile industry. However, when conventional CaO-SiO2-based mold fluxes are used for the continuous casting of such steel, [Al] in the steel reacts with SiO2 in the fluxes. It changes the chemical composition and in-mold performances of mold fluxes, leading to unstable heat transfer and insufficient lubrication for the steel strands. CaO-Al2O3-based mold fluxes with low SiO2 content are under development, expecting to suppress the interfacial reaction between mold fluxes and high-Al steel. In this article, the effects of different CaO-SiO2 and CaO-Al2O3-based mold fluxes on the reaction kinetics were evaluated through both pilot and laboratory tests. It was found that there were significant changes in SiO2 and Al2O3 concentrations in CaO-SiO2-based mold fluxes, indicating a severe reaction between fluxes and high-Al steel. CaO-Al2O3-based mold fluxes showed a better composition stability than CaO-SiO2-based mold fluxes when reacting with high-Al steel. In the lab tests, CaO-Al2O3-based mold fluxes with different CaO/Al2O3 ratios were also evaluated. It showed that the increase of CaO/Al2O3 ratio accelerated the flux-steel reaction according to the change of [Al] concentration in the steel. CaO-Al2O3-based mold fluxes showed promising results when reacting with high-Al steel, but the fluxing agents, e.g. B2O3 and Li2O, may also react with [Al] in steel and cause an additional increment of Al2O3 in mold fluxes, which needs further research in the future.
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The Female Section of the Falange. Speeches and practices in Madrid. This paper addresses the contradictions between the speeches of Seccion Femenina of Falange and their practices. It is centered on analyzing the speeches aimed at the falangist to connect to the activities carried out for they. To do this, it has been sampled of women that since 1934 to 1958, held the office of Provincial Delegates of Madrid; being the main sources used their personal files.
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(De)Industrialization, Technology and Transportation. The transition from a traditional, constant returns technology to modern, increasing returns methods of production in manufacturing not only widens the scale of production but more crucially, it enhances product quality. Such a quality improvement consists mainly in a much higher level of transportability. The fact that products become \\'lighter\\' and easier to carry opens foreign markets to manufacturers thereby supporting larger scales of production. We model this situation through a one-stage game where firms distributed across two countries select technologies andfob mill prices. Contrasting with theBig Pushapproach, such a game isnevera coordination game. In addition to cases where all firms adopt either modern or traditional technologies, the standard outcome is an asymmetric situation, where the modern firms in a country eliminate traditional units in the other country. Starting from a situation where all productive activity is traditional, deindustrialization can be viewed as a situation where firms in a country switch to more modern technologies while industrial units in the other country are unable to participate in this movement.
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A theoretical model to predict the formation of pores in foods during drying. A theoretical model (ideal condition) to predict porosity in foods during drying is developed based on conservation of mass and volume principle, and assuming that volume of pores formed is equal to the volume of water removed during drying. As expected the ideal model may not be valid in many practical cases. The ideal model is then extended for non-ideal conditions, when there is either shrinkage, collapse or expansion, by defining a shrinkage-expansion coefficient. Experimental porosity data from the literature was used to estimate the shrinkage-expansion coefficient for selected food materials.
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Synthesis and characterization of amine-modified spherical nanocellulose aerogels. In this work, cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) was prepared from microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) by acid hydrolysis method. The N-(2-aminoethyl)(3-aminopropyl) methyldimethoxysilane (AEAPMDS)-CNC aerogel was successfully fabricated either by freeze-drying or supercritical CO2 drying of spherical CNC hydrogels into which the amine group has been successfully introduced via C-O-Si bonds between CNC and AEAPMDS. The impact of various parameters (time, temperature, AEAPMDS amount, solid-to-liquid ratio) on the properties of the as-prepared materials is systematically explored, revealing the optimum reaction conditions (100 A degrees C, 16 h, solid-to-liquid ratio of 1:10). The as-prepared spherical nanocellulose aerogels were characterized with respect to textural, structural, thermal and morphological characteristics by various methods (BET, XRD, SEM, TGA, FTIR, and NMR). They exhibited a nano-porous network structure of mesopores possessing a high surface area (262 m(2)/g) in the case of supercritical CO2 drying, whereas a honeycomb structure comprising squares, polygons and circles with a surface area of 120.4 m(2)/g was obtained by freeze-drying. The as-synthesized AEAPMDS-CNC aerogels could be potentially applied to capture CO2 via covalent bonding.
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Back to the Human in John Logan's 'Red' A semiotic and ecocritical analysis. Laureate play \\'Red,\\' by John Logan, is a dramatic representation of biographical facts about and intellectual positions of the Abstract Expressionist painter Mark Rothko (1903-1970). With the tool of semiotic methodology named \\'Dramatology\\' it is possible to appreciate both text and staging-which go beyond a theatrical experience. \\'Red\\' leads the reader/spectator to question current human pragmatism and environmental insensitivity. Its main character wants to change the usual perspective of seeing and understanding pictures in order to achieve a more emotional and enriching art experience. The staging embraces certain tasks such as the construction of a large-format frame and the application of red paint on a canvas to stimulate the audience's senses, breaking theatrical illusion. Ecocriticism allows us to describe the dramatic strategies of \\'Red\\' that raise audience awareness.
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Rethinking Federalism for More Effective Governance. For common reasons the federal government and most state governments face rising structural deficits even as the economy recovers. An aging population requires retirement income and increasingly expensive health care, while a prosperous economy requires public investment in skills, technology, and infrastructure. However, stressed federal and state tax systems are increasingly inadequate. The author revisits proposals, made twenty years ago, for substantial changes in fiscal federalism designed to help both levels function more effectively. She argues that the case for dividing the governmental job more sharply between the two levels is stronger than ever and explores the pros and cons of devolving elementary and secondary education to the states. She argues for common shared taxes, especially a broad-based federal consumption tax shared with the states.
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Microstructure and Corrosion Properties of Duplex-Structured Extruded Mg-6Li-4Zn-xMn Alloys. The extruded Mg-6Li-4Zn-xMn (x = 0, 0.4, 0.8, 1.2 wt%) alloys were prepared, and the microstructure of the test alloys was investigated by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The corrosion properties were determined by electrochemical measurements and immersion measurements in 3.5% NaCl solution. The results indicate that the extruded Mg-6Li-4Zn-xMn alloys are mainly composed of alpha-Mg phase, beta-Li phase, Mn precipitates and some intermetallic compounds (MgLi2Zn). With the addition of Mn, stable corrosion products were formed on the surface of the test alloy, which can effectively inhibit further corrosion progress and improve the corrosion resistance. Mg-6Li-4Zn-1.2Mn alloy exhibits the best corrosion resistance, attributed to grain refinement, the improvement of the stability of corrosion product film and uniform distribution of fine second phases.
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Working Across Boundaries: Current and Future Perspectives on Global Virtual Teams. Global Virtual Teams (GVTs) are a commonplace in contemporary organizations, and an already established topic of research in international management. While we have a good understanding of advantages and challenges associated with this ubiquitous form of work groups, this special issue aims to contribute to theory development by focusing on key drivers that influence the success of GVTs, along with ways for mitigating their challenges. We briefly review current knowledge on GVTs and propose a structuring framework that can help with both organizing what we know about GVTs, and with guiding the conversation on where the research on this topic might focus next. We then introduce four special issue articles that illustrate avenues for generating new empirical evidence towards uncovering key characteristics and dynamics underlying GVTs complexities, providing useful insights for both theory development and managerial practice.
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Pathways of Federal Reform: Australia, Canada, Germany, and Switzerland. Applying a historical-institutionalist framework, this article systematically explores the patterns of institutional reform in four federations (Australia, Canada, Germany, and Switzerland) since the early 1990s. The article finds that the historical legacy of a federal system has an effect on the overarching reform goal (strengthening self-rule versus shared rule), as well as the scope (focused versus comprehensive) and mode (constitutional versus nonconstitutional) of reforms. Reforms in Australia and Canada were primarily concerned with pathologies such as unilateralism and duplication of competences and had as their main goal to strengthen shared rule. Reforms in Germany and Switzerland were initiated to disentangle both tiers of government by strengthening self-rule.
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Extensive numerical study of the anomalous dynamic scaling of the Wolf-Villain model. In order to study the microscopic physical mechanisms of roughness surfaces exhibiting the anomalous scaling behavior, the Wolf-Villain model in 1+1 and 2+1 dimensions is investigated by the kinetic Monte-Carlo simulation on long time and large length scale (the growth time and the system size are respectively extended to t = 2(29), L = 400 000 for 1+1 dimensions, and t = 2(21), L x L = 512 x 512 for 2 + 1 dimensions). In the 2+1-dimensional simulations, the noise reduction technique is employed so as to eliminate the crossover effects in the growth process. Our calculations show that the Wolf-Villain model in 1+1 dimensions very probably exhibits intrinsic anomalous scaling behavior in the time and length simulation range of this paper, and the 2+1dimensional Wolf-Villain model leads to a pyramidal mounded morphology. Some properties of the mounded pattern in the 2+1-dimensional Wolf-Villain model are discussed in the final part of this presentation. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier B.V.
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Dividing a topological space into mutually disjoint and mutually homeomorphic subspaces. Let X be a topological space represented by a locally finite one-dimensional simplicial complex consisting of at most countably many simplices. Let n be a natural number. Then there are mutually disjoint and mutually homeomorphic subspaces A(1), . . . , A(n) of X such that X = A(1) boolean OR (. . .) boolean OR A(n). (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
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How Presidents Shape Their Party's Reputation and Prospects: New Evidence. Previous work has demonstrated presidents have a powerful influence on their party's popularity, reputation for competence, perceived ideological leanings, and attractiveness as an object of personal identification. This article extends the analysis by examining (1) how presidents shape popular opinions of congressional parties and leaders, (2) how evaluations of the president's handling of specific policy areas affect his party's reputation for effectiveness in handing these domains, (3) how presidents affect perceptions of their party's sympathy for ordinary people, (4) how presidents influence generic preferences for House candidates and party control of Congress as measured in surveys between elections, and (5) how presidents affect the partisan leanings of the generation that comes of political age during their administrations. The evidence confirms that popular reactions to presidents have both immediate and longer-term consequences for how his party and, to a lesser extent, the rival party are regarded by the American people.
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Molecular evidence for a persistent-circulative association between Coconut foliar decay virus and its vector Myndus taffini. Coconut foliar decay virus (CFDV) is transmitted to coconut palms by adults of the cixiid plant hopper Myndus taffini. Larvae of this vector develop on the alternate host, Hibiscus tiliaceus, but the way in which the adults become infective has not been studied. We show by in situ hybridization that viral DNA is associated with gut and ovaries but to distinguish between semipersistent, circulative or propagative modes of transmission we looked for evidence of replication in the vector. Larvae raised from eggs laid on the roots of H. tiliaceus, and adults fed on infected coconut leaf, were tested for the presence of the replicative form of CFDV DNA by a single-primer sense-specific PCR assay which distinguishes between virion-sense and complementary-sense CFDV-DNA. We report that only the virion-sense form of CFDV-DNA could be detected in both larvae and adults whereas both senses, indicating the presence of the double-stranded replicative form of the virus DNA, were detected in infected coconut leaf. About 16 % of the larvae were virus positive by this assay. As the larvae had not had access to coconut palm and there was no evidence of virus replication in the larvae or adults, a persistent-circulative mode of transmission is proposed in which the virus is acquired from H. tiliaceus by nymphs and transmitted transstadially to adults. Confirmation of this hypothesis requires the susceptibility of H. tiliaceus to CFDV to be tested.
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Sub-grid drag models for horizontal cylinder arrays immersed in gas-particle multiphase flows. Immersed cylindrical tube arrays often are used as heat exchangers in gas-particle fluidized beds. In multiphase computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of large fluidized beds, explicit resolution of small cylinders is computationally infeasible. Instead, the cylinder array may be viewed as an effective porous medium in coarse-grid simulations. The cylinders' influence on the suspension as a whole, manifested as an effective drag force, and on the relative motion between gas and particles, manifested as a correction to the gas-particle drag, must be modeled via suitable sub-grid constitutive relationships. In this work, highly-resolved unit-cell simulations of flow around an array of horizontal cylinders, arranged in a staggered configuration, are filtered to construct sub-grid, or 'filtered', drag models, which can be implemented in coarse-grid simulations. The force on the suspension exerted by the cylinders is composed of, as expected, a buoyancy contribution, and a kinetic component analogous to fluid drag on a single cylinder. Furthermore, the introduction of tubes also is found to enhance segregation at the scale of the cylinder size, which, in turn, leads to a reduction in the filtered gas-particle drag. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Triggers for delayed intervention in patients with small renal masses undergoing active surveillance: a systematic review. INTRODUCTION: Patients with small renal masses (SRM) can be exposed to overdiagnosis and overtreatrnent. As such, active surveillance (AS) is recommended by all Guidelines for selected patients. However, it remains underutilized. One key reason is the lack of consensus on the factors prompting delayed intervention (DI). Herein we provide an updated overview of the triggers for DI in patients with SRMs initially undergoing AS.EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Overall, 10 prospective studies including 1870 patients were included. Median patient age ranged between 64 and 75 years, while median tumor size between 1.7 cm to 2.3 cm. The proportion of cystic SRMs ranged from 0% to 30%. Baseline renal tumor biopsy was performed in 7-45.2% of patients. Among these, malignant histology was found in 28.5%-83.3% of cases. Overall. the median growth rate of SRMs ranged between 0.10 and 0.27 cm/year. The proportion of patients undergoing DI ranged between 7% - and 44%, after a median AS period of 12-27 months. The most commonly performed type of DI was surgery. Of resected SRMs, 0% to 30% were benign. The actual triggers for DI were either tumor-related (renal mass growth, stage progression, development of local complications/symptoms) or patient-related (patient preference, improved medical conditions, or qualification for other surgical procedures). At a median follow-up of 21.7 - 57-6 months, the proportion of patients experiencing metastatic disease, cancer-specific and other-cause mortality was 0-3.1%, 0-4% and 0-45.6%, respectively.CONCLUSIONS: The available evidence shows that both tumor-related and patient-related factors are ultimate triggers for DI in patients with SRMs undergoing AS. However, the level of evidence is still low and further research is needed to individualize AS strategies according to both tumor biology and patient-related characteristics and values.EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: A systematic review of the English-language literature was performed according to the PRISMA statement recommendations using the MEDLINE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and Web of Science databases.
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The Importance of Subchondral Bone in the Pathophysiology of Osteoarthritis. Subchondral bone plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of osteochondral disease across veterinary species. The subchondral bone is highly adaptable, with the ability to model and remodel in response to loading stresses experienced by the joint. Repetitive stress injuries within the joint can result in primary or secondary pathologic lesions within the subchondral bone, which have been recognized to contribute to the development and progression of osteoarthritis. Recent advances in diagnostic imaging, particularly volumetric imaging modalities have facilitated earlier identification of subchondral bone disease. Despite these advancements, limitations in our knowledge about subchondral bone makes treatment and prevention of these conditions challenging. The purpose of this report is to review our current understanding of subchondral bone and its relationship to osteoarthritis across veterinary species, with a specific focus in the research that has been performed in horses. It can be concluded that our current understanding of subchondral bone is advancing, and future experimental, clinical and pathologic studies will provide additional insight about subchondral bone and its relationship to joint disease.
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The substantive impact of computers on philosophy - Prolegomena to a computational and information-theoretic metaphysics. I survey in this article the practical uses of computers in philosophy: except for logic, computers have not yet noticeably improved the quality of philosophizing, research, or pedagogy. They have made work easier. My main interest, however, is in the 'substantive' impact that computers may have on philosophical problems, especially in metaphysics, I argue that logic, the notion of decidability, adn the theory of computation all predated and did not require modern digital computers. In the philosophy of mind, there has been a persistent conflation of computationalism and physicalism. The two these can and should be separated. Finally, I suggest that we see glimpses of a new metaphysics based on information and information transformations that goes far beyond the well-trodden mind-brain debates.
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Isolation and characterization of sea urchin egg lipid rafts and their possible function during fertilization. Specialized membrane microdomains called rafts are thought to play a role in many types of cell-cell interactions and signaling. We have investigated the possibility that sea urchin eggs contain these specialized membrane microdomains and if they play a role in signal transduction at fertilization. A low density, TX-100 insoluble membrane fraction, typical of lipid rafts, was isolated by equilibrium gradient centrifugation. This raft fraction contained proteins distinct from cytoskeletal complexes. The fraction was enriched in tyrosine phosphorylated proteins and contained two proteins known to be involved in signaling during egg activation tan egg Src-type kinase and PLC gamma). This fraction was further characterized as a prototypical raft fraction by the release of proteins in response to in vitro treatment of the rafts with the cholesterol binding drug, methyl-beta -cyclodextrin (M beta CD). Furthermore, treatment of eggs with M beta CD inhibited fertilization, suggesting that egg lipid rafts play a physiological role in fertilization. (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
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Proposal of Thorsellia kenyensis sp nov and Thorsellia kandunguensis sp nov., isolated from larvae of Anopheles arabiensis, as members of the family Thorselliaceae fam. nov.. Two Gram-negative, rod-shaped strains, T2.1(T) and W5.1.1(T), isolated from larvae of the mosquito Anopheles arabiensis, were investigated using a polyphasic approach. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity studies, strains T2.1(T) and W5.11(T) were shown to belong to the genus Thorsellia, both showing 97.8 % similarity to the type strain of Thorsellia anophelis, with 98.1% similarity to each other. Chemotaxonomic data supported the allocation of the strains to the genus Thorsellia: their major fatty acids were C-18:1 omega 7c, C-16:0 and C-14:0 and they harboured a ubiquinone Q-8 quinone system and a polyamine pattern with the major compound 1,3-diaminopropane. Qualitative and quantitative differences in their polar lipid profiles distinguished strains T2.1(T) and W5.1.1(T) from each other and from T. anophelis. Average nucleotide identity (ANI), DNA-DNA hybridization, multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) as well as physiological and biochemical tests allowed T2.1(T) and W5.1.1(T) to be distinguished both genotypically and phenotypically from each other and from the type strain of T. anophelis. Thus, we propose that these isolates represent two novel species of the genus Thorsellia, named Thorsellia kenyensis sp. nov. (type strain T2.1(T)=CCM 8545(T)=LMG 28483(T)=CIP 110829(T)) and Thorsellia kandunguensis sp. nov. (type strain W5.1.1(T)=LMG 28213(T)=CIP 110794(T)). Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis based on nearly full-length 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that the genus Thorsellia forms a separate branch, distinct from the families Enterobacteriaceae, Pasteurellaceae and Orbaceae. As a consequence, a new family Thorselliaceae fam. nov. is proposed. An emended description of Thorsellia anophelis is also provided.
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Electrochemical properties of fluorinated fullerene C-60. Electrochemical reductions of fluorinated fullerenes with compositions between C60F15 and C60F47 were investigated by potential sweep and constant current discharge in 1 M LiClO4 propylene carbonate solution. The first reduction peak decreased from 3.28 V to 3.04 V with decreasing fluorine content of fluorinated fullerenes from C60F44 to C60F30. Carbon additives mixed in the electrodes as electrical conductors drastically changed the dissolution rate of reduced species of fluorinated C-60. The dissolution rates of the reduced anions decreased in the order of natural graphite powder, petroleum coke and acetylene black. The discharge capacities increased with decreasing dissolution rate of reduced species and with increasing fluorine content in the fluorinated C-60. Constant current discharge of C60F44 at 0.1 mA cm(-2) gave the discharge capacity, 560 mA hg(-1) and the energy density, 1400 Wh kg(-1).
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Product Testing for the Treatment of Argentine Ants (Linepithema humile) in Southern California. To control the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile Mayr, the effective of three chemical products applied around structures in southern California was evaluated. Three products were tested and included: Demand (R) CS (lambda-cyhalothrin, Syngenta), Termidor (TM) SC (fipronil, BASF), and Transport (R) GHP (bifenthrin and acetamiprid, FMC Corp.). A licensed pest management professional applied each product per label instructions to four buildings. In addition, four Untreated checks were included in the study Post treatment inspections wcrc completed at 3, 14, 28, and 56-days. At 56 days post treatment, the percentage control for each treatment was: Demand (R) CS 94.05%; Termidor (R) 93.55%, and Transport (TM) GHP 98.96%. In all cases, except the Untreated checks, surveyed homeowners reported a reduction in ants found in their homes at 90 days post-treatment.
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Putting Right Holders in the Centre: Bolagsupplysningen and Ilsjan (C-194/16): What Does It Mean for International Jurisdiction over Transborder Intellectual Property Infringement Disputes?. This paper analyses what the decision in Bolagsupplysningen and Ilsjan (C-194/16) means for international jurisdiction under EU Regulation No 1215/2012 with respect to transborder intellectual property infringement disputes. In this case, the Court of Justice of the European Union extended the centre of interests basis of jurisdiction under Art. 7(2) of EU Regulation No 1215/2012 to legal persons claiming infringements of personality rights on the internet. The Court also held that actions for rectification and removal of content infringing personality rights may not be brought before the courts of a Member State where the content is accessible. This article concludes that the centre of interests basis of jurisdiction is generally not applicable to right holders claiming infringements of intellectual property rights and/or complementary tort claims, except arguably for claims for the infringement of moral rights and unfair competition claims where the act exclusively affects the interests of a specific competitor. Many questions remain with respect to the localisation of a victim's centre of interests. In addition, the article concludes that the judgment in Bolagsupplysningen does not affect a right holder's ability to obtain an injunction in the Member State in which content accessible on the internet infringes a forum IP right to put an end to the infringement in that State. Still, the centre of interests basis of jurisdiction has the potential to give right holders an advantage for claims of online infringements of moral rights and acts of unfair competition that exclusively affect them and it can be expected that authors and traders will take advantage of this opportunity when considering their IP litigation strategies.
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Taxonomic notes on some species of Ophiorrhiza (Rubiaceae) from China. Based on examinations of specimens and field observations of Ophiorrhiza from China, O. aureolina Lo f. qiongyaensis Lo and O. humilis Tseng were regarded as new synonyms of O. pumila Champ. ex Benth., O. hainanensis Tseng as a new synonym of O. nutans C. B. Clarke, O. kwangsiensis Merr. ex Li and O. nigricans Lo as new synonyms of O. japonica Bl., and O. longzhouensis Lo and O. paniculiformis Lo as new synonyms of O. cantoniensis Hance.
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Using a single test to determine specific gravity and absorption of aggregate blends. The ability to measure the specific gravity of an aggregate accurately and consistently is paramount to transportation materials engineers. Current standard test methods (AASHTO T-84 and T-85) typically are not used for routine quality control purposes because of long testing times and questions about variability. Among new techniques developed for measuring specific gravity and absorption is a vacuum-sealing method, which eliminates the need for long soaking periods and for determining aggregate mass in a saturated-surface-dry moisture state. The vacuum-sealing method also has the potential to measure the specific gravity of a blend of aggregates in a single test. Specific gravity and absorption of six coarse and four fine aggregates composed of various mineralogy types were measured by both traditional and vacuum-seal methods. Ten blends, whose gradations generally met Superpave(R) hot-mix asphalt specifications, were created by using various combinations of aggregates and tested in a single vacuum-seal test. Five replicate tests were done on all individual aggregates and blends. Aggregate-blend single-test results (specific gravity and absorption) were compared with values obtained with traditional individual test results and mathematical combinations. The comparisons yielded generally strong correlations among methods, indicating the vacuum-seal procedure has promise as a relatively rapid method for determining specific gravity and absorption in a single test of an aggregate blend. However, some real differences in test values suggest that the vacuum-seal method needs refinement before it can be seamlessly substituted for traditional methods.
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Developing strategic innovation in large corporationsThe dynamic capability view of the firm. From detailed reviews of existing dynamic capabilities theories and further theories deeply related to the characteristics of corporate or organizational capabilities, this article presents a theoretical model of a strategic innovation system as a corporate system capability to enable a large company to achieve strategic innovation. Furthermore, through in-depth longitudinal case studies, the article also discusses the importance of strategic innovation capabilities to achieve a dynamic spiral of the 2 completely different ordinary and dynamic capabilities on the capabilities map, skillfully use and combine to achieve swift or slow incremental innovation as exploitation, or radical innovation as exploration.Strategic innovation dynamically brings about strategic positioning through new products, services, and business models and is a dynamic view of strategy that enables a large corporation to maintain its competitiveness and establish sustainable growth. For these reasons, large corporations have to be innovators that can reinforce their existing positions (businesses) through incremental innovation, while at the same time, constantly renew or destroy existing business through radical innovation.
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The making of control: an ethnomethodology of choosing management accounting systems. This paper sets out to contribute to the literature on the design and the implementation of management control systems. To this end, we question what is discussed when a management control system is to be chosen and on what decision-making eventually rests. This study rests upon an ethnomethodology of the Salvation Army's French branch. Operating in the dual capacity of a researcher and a counsellor to management, between 2000 and 2007, we have unrestricted access to internal data revealing the backstage of management control : discussions and interactions surrounding the choosing of control devices. We contribute to understanding the arising of a need for control, the steps and process followed to decide upon a management control system, and controls in nonprofits.
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LAW AND INTERETHNIC RELATIONS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE: THE TATAR RIOTS OF 1878 AND THEIR JUDICIAL AFTERMATH. This article combines a discussion of the administrative-legal system in late nineteenth-century Russia with an investigation of imperial rule over a multiconfessional population. Focusing on the Tatar peasant riots in Kazan Province (1878-1879) and their judicial aftermath, it not only highlights the importance of the new legal principles and procedures introduced in the 1860s but also points to the shifting position and power of non-Russians. It argues that that new legal possibilities also came to be enjoyed and used by ethnoreligious minorities, such as Muslim Tatars, who ultimately took a governor to court for having used excessive violence against them. At the same time, the article maps out the tensions and complexities of the postreform period: a remarkable drive toward modernization in some aspects of governance, paired with a chronically understaffed local bureaucracy, administrative carelessness, and a peculiar international and geopolitical context that framed the perceptions and behavior of local actors. The analysis draws on the Kazan governor's memoirs, reports, and correspondence, archival material from Kazan and St. Petersburg, and extensive coverage of the case in local and national newspapers.
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BVBlue test for diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis. Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a disorder of the vaginal ecosystem characterized by a shift in the vaginal flora from the normally predominant Lactobacillus to one dominated by sialidase enzyme-producing mixed flora. It is the most common cause of abnormal vaginal discharge in adult women. The BVBlue system (Gryphus Diagnostics, L.L.C.) is a chromogenic diagnostic test based on the presence of elevated sialidase enzyme in vaginal fluid samples. BVBlue was compared to the standard method for diagnosing BV (Amsel criteria and Nugent score). Fifty-seven nonmenstruating women of greater than or equal to16 years of age who presented for a pelvic examination were recruited. Demographic features were collected via a self-administered questionnaire. The Amsel criteria were assessed based on three of four of the following characteristics of vaginal discharge: consistency, odor, pH, and presence of clue cells on Gram stain. BVBlue was compared to the Gram stain and Amsel criteria. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value for BVBlue versus the Gram stain and Amsel criteria were 91.7, 97.8, 91.7, and 97.8% and 50.0, 100, 100, and 88.2%, respectively. A significantly greater proportion of patients with a vaginal pH of >4.5, a positive amine test, or with clue cells on vaginal Gram smear were found to have a positive BVBlue test (P < 0.001). Women previously treated for BV were 2.98 times more likely to have another episode of BV. BVBlue is a useful point-of-care diagnostic tool to provide a presumptive diagnosis of BV, especially in situations where microscopic capabilities are unavailable.
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Physogs: a game with consequences. In 1939, an unusual card game, Physogs, debuted in the United Kingdom. Based on physiognomic principles, it instructed players as to how to read and construct facial features and character types. Thirty years later, a new form of composite facial recognition, Photon t, was incorporated into the practice of the British police. Both projects, Physogs and Photofit, were the brainchild of one man. Jacques Penry, representing his twentieth-century iteration of physiognomy. How did a card game become an origin point for a new approach to policing? (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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I just keep quiet about it and act as if everything is alright' - The cascade from trauma to disengagement among adolescents living with HIV in western Kenya. Methods We performed in-depth qualitative interviews with ALHIV who had disengaged from care at two sites, their caregivers and healthcare workers (HCW) at 10 sites, from 2018 to 2020. Disengagement was defined as not attending clinic >= 60 days past a missed scheduled visit. ALHIV and their caregivers were traced through phone calls and home visits. Interviews ascertained barriers and facilitators to adolescent retention in HIV care. Dedicated questions elicited narratives surrounding traumatic experiences, and the ways in which these did or did not impact retention in care. Through thematic analysis, a conceptual model emerged for a cascade from adolescent experience of trauma to disengagement from HIV care.Conclusions Trauma is a major factor underlying disengagement from HIV care among Kenyan adolescents. We describe a cascade of factors representing areas for intervention to support mental health and retention in HIV care. These include not only the provision of mental healthcare, but also preventing or addressing violence, trauma and stigma, and reinforcing social and familial support surrounding vulnerable adolescents. In this conceptualization, supporting retention in HIV care requires a trauma-informed approach, both in the individualized care of ALHIV and in the development of strategies and policies to support adolescent health outcomes.Introduction There are approximately 1.7 million adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV, ages 10 to 19) globally, including 110,000 in Kenya. While ALHIV experience poor retention in care, limited data exist on factors underlying disengagement. We investigated the burden of trauma among disengaged ALHIV in western Kenya, and its potential role in HIV care disengagement.Results Interviews were conducted with 42 disengaged ALHIV, 34 caregivers and 28 HCW. ALHIV experienced a high burden of trauma from a range of stressors, including experiences at HIV disclosure or diagnosis, the loss of parents, enacted stigma and physical or sexual violence. A confluence of factors - trauma, stigma and isolation, and lack of social support - led to hopelessness and depression. These factors compounded each other, and resulted in complex mental health burdens, poor antiretroviral adherence and care disengagement. HCW approaches aligned with the factors in this model, suggesting that these areas represent targets for intervention and provision of trauma-informed care.
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Visions of a cure - Visualization, clinical trials, and controversies in cardiac therapeutics, 1968-1998. In the early 1970s physicians engaged in fierce debates over the most appropriate method of evaluating the efficacy of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). With millions of patients and billions of dollars at stake, CABG sparked fierce controversy. Skeptics demanded that randomized controlled trials (RCTs) be performed, while enthusiasts argued that they already had visual proof of CABG's efficacy. When RCTs appeared, they did not settle the controversy. Participants simply reasserted their preconceptions, defending a trial's strengths or exploiting its flaws. The debate centered on standards of knowledge for the evaluation of therapeutic efficacy. Specifically, cardiologists and cardiac surgeons struggled to assess the relevance of different measures of therapeutic success: physiological or clinical, visual or statistical. Many factors contributed to participants' decisions, including disciplinary affiliation, traditions of research, personal experience with angiography, and assessments of the history of cardiac therapeutics. Physicians had to decide whether angiography provided a meaningful representation of the disease and its treatment or whether demonstrations of therapeutic success could come only from long-term statistical evaluation of mortality data.
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Oscillator with tunable phase capability. A novel four-output oscillator based on cross-coupled differential pairs is introduced and its validity is verified experimentally using discrete transistors as well as by simulations in a 90 nm CMOS technology. This oscillator has the unique capability of phase tunabililty where the phase shift between two of its outputs can be a design parameter while the phase shift between the other two outputs is always 180 degrees.
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U.S. Training of African Forces and Military Assistance, 1997-2017: Security versus Human Rights in Principal-Agent Relations. Despite its reputation for global democracy promotion, the United States has developed substantial long-term military partnerships with several African countries that have less than stellar human rights records. While in some instances the United States has chosen to rebuke countries for human rights abuses, it has also elected to continue security partnerships with others in the face of similarly credible accusations. To explain this seeming inconsistency, this article analyzes U.S. security partnerships with six African countries: Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Ethiopia, and Kenya, finding that a combination of intensity of interest and magnitude of the violation explains when the United States chooses to censure those countries, when it does not, and the intensity of the rebuke. Countries where the United States has significant interest are most often exempted from censure. The comparative weight of interests to values determines the U.S. response to norm violations. Constructivist principal-agent theory explains this finding in terms of a struggle within the U.S. security establishment in which those who believe offending African militaries can be improved through continuous engagement and training wield more influence in security assistance policy than those who assert that the United States should disengage from those militaries and sanction them.
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Darwin Medal presentation: Corals - seeking the big picture. Recipients of Darwin Medals from the International Society of Reef Studies are requested to write an overview of the work that led to their award. This account is a personal perspective of thirty-five years work on corals. The fields of taxonomy, biogeography, palaeontology, molecular biology, and evolution are presented in an historical context. Emphasis is given to the changing relevance of these fields to today's world of information technology and the ever-increasing conservation needs.
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A modelling analysis to identify plant traits for enhanced water-use efficiency of pasture. As pressure on water resources increases, pasture species that express traits for improved water-use efficiency (WUE) while maintaining desirable agronomic and production characteristics are needed. The objective of this study was to use a biophysical modelling analysis to test the sensitivity of key pasture plant functional traits onWUE. Biomass production and water use of monocultures of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) with varying plant traits were determined under a range of soil, climate, and irrigation conditions. Five plant traits (temperature sensitivity, light extinction, root depth, root partitioning, and sensitivity to water stress) were investigated. Parameters related to root systems had the greatest impact across all environments on harvestable dry matter and WUE. In particular, root depth and root partitioning showed potential for improving both harvestable yield and WUE. These traits merit further attention under more realistic soil conditions, simultaneously taking into consideration other desirable traits such as nutrient capture and agronomic suitability for grazed systems.
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Iron status in pregnant women and women of reproductive age in Europe. Understanding the iron status in pregnant women in Europe provides a foundation for considering the role of iron screening and supplementation. However, available reports and studies have used different approaches that challenge the devising of overall summaries. Moreover, data on pregnant women are limited, and thus, data on women of reproductive age provide useful background information including baseline iron stores in pregnant women. This review considered data that are available from > 15 European countries including national surveys and relevant clinical studies. In European women of reproductive age, median or geometric mean serum ferritin (SF) concentrations were estimated at 26-38 mu g/L. Approximately 40-55% of this population had small or depleted iron stores (i.e., SF concentration <= 30 mu g/L), and 45-60% of this population had apparently replete iron stores. The prevalence of iron deficiency (ID) and iron deficiency anemia (IDA) was 10-32% and 2-5%, respectively, depending on the cutoffs used. Approximately 20-35% of European women of reproductive age had sufficient iron stores (SF concentration > 70 mg/L) to complete a pregnancy without supplementary iron. During pregnancy, European women in controlled supplementation trials who were not receiving iron supplements displayed increasing prevalences of ID and IDA during pregnancy, which peaked in the middle to late third trimester. Available evidence has suggested that, in gestational weeks 32-39, the median or geometric mean SF concentrations were 6-21 mu g/L, and prevalences of ID and IDA were 28-85% and 21-35%, respectively. Women who were taking iron supplements had higher iron status and lower prevalences of ID and IDA, which were dependent on the dose of iron and compliance. The data suggest that, in Europe, the iron status of reproductive-aged women varies by region and worsens in pregnancy without iron supplementation.
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Effect of radial clearance and holes as crush initiators on the crashworthiness performance of bi-tubular profiles. The use of bi-tubular structures has gained importance in the design of energy absorption systems for protection of passengers in train collisions. Therefore, it is critical to improve the crashworthiness performance of bi-tubular profiles. For this purpose, the effect of cross-section, bi-tubular clearance and holes as crush initiators is evaluated using finite element simulations. To get reliable outcomes, special emphasis was set on the progressive damage modelling of aluminum 6063-T5 by a Johnson-Cook (J-C) failure model. During the cross-section study, bi-tubular arrangements based on polygonal and circular cross-section were evaluated by quasi-static compression loads. The results indicate that the circular shapes showed better crashworthiness performance or crush force efficiency (CFE) up to 12.28% respect to a square base structure. A 10.72% improvement in CFE was obtained when the non-dimensionalized clearance between profiles is increased from lambda = 20 to lambda = 40. The effect of holes on crashworthiness performance was evaluated by drilling holes at different locations both in the inner and outer profiles. The results show that the use of holes increased the crush force efficiency and energy absorption (E-a) capability even more than the effect of clearance alone. Improvements in the order of 2.50% and 12.96% for E-a and CFE respectively were computed when holes were placed at the top end of a BC-3 profile with a non-dimensional clearance of lambda = 40. Considering all effects simultaneously, an increase of 24.6% and 26.31% for E-a and CFE respectively was calculated. Finally, an application to a crash buffer in a railway transport system is considered. Likewise, its improved crashworthiness behavior is presented.
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Bringing the global home: The commitment of Caryl Churchill's The 'Skriker' (Explores the ravages and intoxications of globalization). Caryl Churchill's play The Skriker explores the ravages and intoxications of globalization. Through the shape-shifting character of the Skriker, who commands space and time in a manner that recalls the fluidity of multinational capital, Churchill examines the relationship between time-space compression and the fragmented subjectivities of two young women, Josie and Lily. In this essay, I argue that, through the play's formal exploration of the decentring forces of postmodern life, Churchill is able to demystify her subjects' relations to the flows of multinational capital and, in doing so, to recover the affect that the pressure of time-space compression threatens to exhaust.
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Is population genetic structure of vascular plants shaped more by ecological or geographic factors? A study case on the Mediterranean endemic Centaurea filiformis (Asteraceae). All known populations of the Sardinian endemic Centaurea filiformis Viv. (Asteraceae) were studied in order to understand the impact of both geographic and ecological factors on the genetic structuring of this species. Fourteen populations and 234 individuals were sampled. The demographic structure of the populations and the reproductive ecology were estimated in 28 plots. Population genetic analyses were based on SSR markers. Genetic structure was investigated by spatial Bayesian methods. Average densities of 0.51 individuals m(-2) were detected, with a prevalence of adults. Ten species of pollinators were identified; C.filiformis ability to self-pollinate and myrmecochory were demonstrated experimentally. The populations displayed an average heterozygosity value of H-e=0.576 and high genetic differentiation (overall F-ST=0.218). Bayesian analysis suggests that five is the most probable number of gene pools of origin. A strong correlation between geographic distances and genetic distances among populations was highlighted. The demographic population structure of C.filiformis is dominated by adults, suggesting that it is a stable-regressive or senile species, investing more in local persistence than colonisation ability. Despite the scattered distribution, the populations studied do not present evidence of genetic erosion. The analysis of genetic differentiation reveals very high differentiation levels among populations, thus indicating that effective barriers exist against gene flow. A general conclusion is that population distribution results in a clear genetic structure for the populations studied, and that geography and not ecology is shaping the present distribution of this species.
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Extension of the Legionella pneumophila sequence-based typing scheme to include strains carrying a variant of the N-acylneuraminate cytidylyltransferase gene. Sequence-based typing (SBT) combined with monoclonal antibody subgrouping of Legionella pneumophila isolates is at present considered to be the reference standard during epidemiological investigation of Legionnaires' disease outbreaks. In some isolates of L. pneumophila, the seventh allele of the standard SBT scheme, neuA, is not amplified, because a homologue that is refractory to amplification with the standard neuA primers is present. Consequently, a complete seven-allele profile, and hence a sequence type, cannot be obtained. Subsequently, primers were designed to amplify both neuA and the homologue, but these yielded suboptimal sequencing results. In this study, novel primers specific for the neuA homologue were designed and internationally validated by members of the ESCMID Study Group for Legionella Infections at national and regional Legionella reference laboratories with a modified version of the online L. pneumophila sequence quality tool. To date, the addition of the neuAh target to the SBT protocol has allowed full typing data to be obtained for 108 isolates of 11 different serogroups, namely 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, and 14, which could not previously be typed with the standard SBT neuA primers. Further studies are necessary to determine why it is still not possible to obtain either a neuA or a neuAh allele from three serogroup 11 isolates.
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A 2.4 GHz Hybrid Polyphase Filter Based BFSK Receiver With High Frequency Offset Tolerance for Wireless Sensor Networks. A low power 2.4 GHz hybrid polyphase filter (PPF) based BFSK receiver with high frequency offset tolerance (FOT) at small modulation indexes (MIs) is presented for medium data rate wireless sensor network applications. A high FOT at low MI is achieved by a frequency-to-energy conversion architecture using PPFs without any frequency correction circuits. Channel selection and interference rejection are performed simultaneously by the PPFs without any extra hardware and power consumption. Furthermore, the proposed hybrid topology of the PPFs provides an improved adjacent channel rejection (ACR) at reduced power. The prototype receiver fabricated in a 0.13-mu m CMOS process, including the RF and analog front-ends, consumes 1.97 mW from a 1 V supply. With a data rate of 1 Mb/s, a sensitivity of -84 dBm, a FOT of +/- 450 kHz (+/- 180 ppm), and an ACR of 40 dB are achieved for a MI of 2.
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Introduction of ORF3a-Q57H SARS-CoV-2 Variant Causing Fourth Epidemic Wave of COVID-19, Hong Kong, China. We describe an introduction of clade GH severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 causing a fourth wave of coronavirus disease in Hong Kong. The virus has an ORF3a-Q57H mutation, causing truncation of ORF3b. This virus evades induction of cytokine, chemokine, and interferon-stimulated gene expression in primary human respiratory cells.
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Effect of hybrid, inoculant and storage time on whole plant nitrogen compounds and grain total zein content in maize silage. The study examined the influence of hybrid, long-term storage and inoculants addition on fermentation profile and grain total zein content in whole plant maize (Zea mays L.) ensiled in laboratory silos. Three yellow maize hybrids were grown under identical conditions in a split-plot field test in five replicates. Replicates were either untreated or mixed with the lactic acid bacterial additive (Sil-All 4x4, Danstar Ferment, Zug, Switzerland) at a concentration of 1 x 10(6) CFU . g(-1), then ensiled in 30-de laboratory silos for one year. Silages were sampled after 3, 8 and 52 weeks, when whole plant crude protein, soluble crude protein, ammonium-N, lactic acid and grain total zein contents were assayed. Although crude protein level did not vary significantly during one-year storage, soluble crude protein and ammonium-N contents increased, while grain total zein content decreased. Addition of inoculant was associated with higher lactic acid concentration and lower grain total zein content at all time points. The greatest grain total zein degradation was found after week 52, and this growth was accompanied by a decline in lactic acid content. Trends were similar across the three tested hybrids, though the magnitude of changes differed significantly. The simultaneous decrease in grain total zein content and lactic acid content strongly suggests proteolytic zein degradation during prolonged storage.
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Compatibilisation of starch/poly(butylene adipate co-terephthalate) blends in blown films. Reactive extrusion was utilised for starch/poly(butylene adipate co-terephthalate) (PBAT) blown film production, using maleic anhydride (MA) and citric acid (CA), alone or combined, as compatibilisers. These compounds (2% w/w) were added to the starch/PBAT (55: 45) mixture after dispersion on glycerol. More rigid films, with greater tensile strength (9.82 perpendicular to 0.45 MPa), were produced when 2.0% CA was used. The opposite, little homogeneity and poor tensile strength (0.77 +/- 0.12 MPa) and elongation (2.67 +/- 0.67%) were found in films produced using 2.0% MA. Barrier properties to water vapour were improved by compatibilisers. FTIR analysis showed that CA and MA were able to promote esterification/transesterification reactions. Blends containing CA also showed better phase compatibilisation in the scanning electron microscopic images. It was found that in mixtures containing MA, the process and the concentration of this reagent need to be adapted to produce films with improved properties.
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Predicting student understanding by modeling interactive exploration of evidence during an online science investigation. This study mined student interactions with visual representations as a means to automate assessment of learning in a complex, inquiry-based learning environment. Log trace data of 143 middle school students' interactions with an interactive map in Research Quest (an inquiry-based, online learning environment) were analyzed. Students used the interactive map to make scientific observations for an evidence-based hypothesis. The examination of classification error using an artificial neural network, compared against the majority class for prediction, suggests that student performance on several metrics of critical thinking can be classified based on different patterns in interactions with visual representations. Two alternative methods are compared in this study for training and evaluating data-mined models of student performance. In accordance with the general consensus in the literature, the error estimates for models' predictions were less variable using a student-level cross-validation. Implications of these findings for open-ended inquiry-based learning environments are discussed.
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Enhancing Well-Being and Social Connectedness for Maori Elders Through a Peer Education (Tuakana-Teina) Programme: A Cross-Sectional Baseline Study. Background: Maori kaumatua (elders) face stark health and social inequities compared to non-Maori New Zealanders. The tuakana-teina (older sibling-younger sibling) peer education programme is a strengths-based approach to enhance well-being and social connectedness. The purpose of this study is to present the baseline data from this programme and identify correlates of well-being outcomes.Method: Participants included 128 kaumatua who completed a self-report survey about health-related quality of life, spirituality, social connection and loneliness, life satisfaction, cultural identity and connection, elder abuse, health service utilisation and demographics.Findings: Multiple regression models illustrated the following correlates of outcomes: (a) self-rated health: needing more help with daily tasks (beta = -0.36) and housing problems (beta = -0.17); (b) health-related quality of life: needing more help with daily tasks (beta = -0.31), housing problems (beta = -0.21), and perceived autonomy (beta = 0.19); (c) spiritual well-being: understanding of tikanga (cultural protocols) (beta = 0.32) and perceived autonomy (beta = 0.23); (d) life satisfaction: social support (beta = 0.23), sense of purpose (beta = 0.23), cultural identity (beta = 0.24), trouble paying bills (beta = -0.16), and housing problems (beta = -0.16); (e) loneliness: elder abuse (beta = 0.27), social support (beta = -0.21), and missing pleasure of being with whanau (extended family) (beta = 0.19).Conclusions: Key correlates for outcomes centred on social support, housing problems, cultural connection and perceived autonomy. These correlates are largely addressed through the programme where tuakana/peer educators provide support and links to social and health services to teina/peer recipients in need. This study illustrates needs and challenges for kaumatua, whilst the larger programme represents a strengths-based and culturally-centred approach to address health issues related to ageing in an Indigenous population.
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Growing together: cultivating inquiry-based learning in social work education. Inquiry-based learning (IBL) is a student-centered teaching and learning approach that is student led and inquiry driven. While research has explored experiences of IBL from student perspectives, very little is known about instructor experiences in higher education, particularly in the field of social work. Drawing on four faculty experiences, this paper discusses similarities and challenges of planning and implementing IBL in an undergraduate social work seminar course at a large research-intensive university in Canada. This paper begins by providing an introduction to the state of knowledge regarding IBL in higher education; it then considers research on student experiences of IBL, highlighting the need for this study exploring faculty experiences. Three themes emerged from the data analysis: to include deepened learning experiences, adjusting to a new approach, and peer support and learnings. Implications for social work education includes the need for intentional instructor support for successful implementation of IBL.
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From the Bob/Kirk effect to the Benoit/Eric effect: Testing the mechanism of name sound symbolism in two languages. Although it is often assumed that language involves an arbitrary relationship between form and meaning, many studies have demonstrated that nonwords like maluma are associated with round shapes, while nonwords like takete are associated with sharp shapes (i.e., the Maluma/Takete effect, Kohler, 1929/1947). The majority of the research on sound symbolism has used nonwords, but Sidhu and Pexman (2015) recently extended this effect to existing labels: real English first names (i.e., the Bob/Kirk effect). In the present research we tested whether the effects of name sound symbolism generalize to French speakers (Experiment 1) and French names (Experiment 2). In addition, we assessed the underlying mechanism of name sound symbolism, investigating the roles of phonology and orthography in the effect. Results showed that name sound symbolism does generalize to French speakers and French names. Further, this robust effect remained the same when names were presented in a curved vs. angular font (Experiment 3), or when the salience of orthographic information was reduced through auditory presentation (Experiment 4). Together these results suggest that the Bob/Kirk effect is pervasive, and that it is based on fundamental features of name phonemes. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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The expansion of self-representation in Jamaica Kincaid's autobiographical discourse. This study examines some works by the Afro-CaribbeanAmerican writer Jamaica Kincaid -At The Bottom of the River, Annie John, Lucy, The Autobiography of My Mother -as threshold examples of the autobiographical genre, in which representation of the \\'I\\' is expanded to include the \\'us\\'. Considering the limits between autobiography and fiction and how self-representation deviates from the conventions of autobiography in autobiographical novels, it analyzes the extremely traumatic and painful mother-daughter relationship throughout the texts, as an analogy to the colonizer-colonized relations. The construction of a new identity free of authoritarian influences symbolizes the ultimate reward in the set of selected works, read as a bildungsroman of mythical proportions.
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The Measurement of Solar Diameter and Limb Darkening Function with the Eclipse Observations. The total solar irradiance varies over a solar cycle of 11 years and maybe over cycles of longer periods. Is the solar diameter variable over time too? A discussion of the solar diameter and its variations must be linked to the limb darkening function (LDF). We introduce a new method to perform high-resolution astrometry of the solar diameter from the ground, through the observations of eclipses, using the luminosity evolution of Baily's bead and the profile of the lunar edge available from satellite data. This approach unifies the definition of the solar limb with the inflection point of LDF for eclipses and drift-scan or heliometric methods. The method proposed is applied for the videos of the eclipse on 15 January 2010 recorded in Uganda and in India. The result suggests reconsidering the evaluations of the historical eclipses observed with the naked eye.
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SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF OIL SPILLS AT THE SEA SURFACE IN THE SOUTHEASTERN BALTIC SEA ACCORDING TO SATELLITE SAR DATA. Statistical analysis of the spatial distribution of oil spills detected using Synthetic Aperture Radars (SAR) in 2004-2015 at the sea surface in the Southeastern Baltic Sea was conducted. Number, area, and shape of oil pollution division between Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of Poland, Russia, and Lithuania were estimated for the first time. The most polluted area of the Southeastern Baltic Sea is Russian EEZ, where 55% of the total amount of detected oil spills, and 52% of the total area of oil pollution were located. The average area of an oil spill detected within Territorial Sea (TS) and EEZ was estimated. Tail-shaped spills associated with oil discharge from the moving vessels are prevailed, and their amount and area within TS and EEZ were estimated.
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Toward a pragmatic conception of practical identity. The author of this paper explores a central strand in the complex relationship between Peirce and Kant. He argues, against Kant (especially as reconstructed by Christine Korsgaard), that the practical identity of the self-critical agent who undertakes a Critic of reason (as Peirce insisted upon translating this expression) needs to be conceived in substantive, not purely formal, terms. Thus, insofar as there is a reflexive turn in Peirce, it is quite far from the transcendental turn taken by Immanuel Kant. The identity of the being devoted to redefining the bounds of reason (for the drawing of bounds is always a historically situated and motivated undertaking) is not that of a disembodied, rational will giving laws to itself Nor is it that of a being whose passions and especially sentiments are heteronomous determinations of the deliberative agency in question. Rather the identity of this being is that of a somatic, social, and historical agent whose very autonomy not only traces its origin to heteronomy but also ineluctably involves an identification with what, time and again, emerges as other than this agent. A strong claim is made regarding human identity being practical identity (practical identity being understood here as the singular shape acquired by a human being in the complex course of its practical involvements, its participation in the array of practices in and through which such a being carries out its life). An equally strong claim is made regarding the upshot of Peirce's decisive movement beyond Kant's transcendental project: this movement unquestionably drives toward a compelling account of human agency.
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Use of mental simulations to change theory of planned behaviour variables. Conclusions. The findings show promise for the use of mental simulations in changing cognitions and further research is required to extend the present findings to other health behaviours.Design. Participants (N = 146) were randomized to one of four conditions: outcome simulation only, process simulation only, process-plus-outcome simulation and a distractor control condition. The dependent variables were state anxiety, and intention attitude, subjective norm and perceived control from the theory of planned behaviour.Objectives. The predictive validity of the theory of planned behaviour is well established, but much less is known about: (a) whether there are causal relationships between key components of the model and (b) how to go about changing the theory of planned behaviour variables. This study tested the ability of outcome and process simulations to change variables specified in the theory of planned behaviour in relation to blood donation.Results. There were no main effects of outcome simulation, but process simulation successfully increased intention, subjective norm and perceived control. There was also a significant outcome simulation X process simulation interaction for attitude. The effect of the process manipulation on intention was mediated by subjective norm and perceived control.Methods. Participants were asked to empty their mind and visualize themselves: (a) after donating blood (outcome manipulation), (b) preparing to donate blood (process manipulation), (c) both preparing to donate blood and after having donated blood (process-plus-outcome manipulation) or (d) both preparing to get a high mark and after having got a high mark on their course (control condition). Following mental rehearsal, participants completed the dependent variables.
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Characterization of a Thermo-Inducible Chlorophyll-Deficient Mutant in Barley. Leaf color is an important trait for not only controlling crop yield but also monitoring plant status under temperature stress. In this study, a thermo-inducible chlorophylldeficient mutant, named V-V-Y, was identified from a gamma-radiated population of the barley variety Vlamingh. The leaves of the mutant were green under normal growing temperature but turned yellowish under high temperature in the glasshouse experiment. The ratio of chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b in the mutant declined much faster in the first 7-9 days under heat treatment. The leaves of V-V-Y turned yellowish but took longer to senesce under heat stress in the field experiment. Genetic analysis indicated that a single nuclear gene controlled the mutant trait. The mutant gene (vvy) was mapped to the long arm of chromosome 4H between SNP markers 1_0269 and 1_1531 with a genetic distance of 2.2 cM and a physical interval of 9.85 Mb. A QTL for grain yield was mapped to the same interval and explained 10.4% of the yield variation with a LOD score of 4. This QTL is coincident with the vvy gene interval that is responsible for the thermo-inducible chlorophyll-deficient trait. Fine mapping, based on the barley reference genome sequence, further narrowed the vvy gene to a physical interval of 0.428 Mb with 11 annotated genes. This is the first report of fine mapping a thermo-inducible chlorophyll-deficient gene in barley.
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MORPHO-STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF THE MANIZALES (ANTIOQUIA) MOUNTAIN AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH POSSIBLE GOLD MANIFESTATION IN THE ANTIOQUIAN BATHOLITH. This suggests the existence of a high sulfidation gold deposit, controlled by the Cristales Shear Zone, manifested by the general tendency N-NE of the veins strike of the Manizales Hill, whose strike can be controlled by the stretching axes, where the veinlets are perpendicular to the axis of maximum extension (sigma(1)).Field observations about the geology of the Manizales Hill, during 2006 located in proximities of the Cristales Town (Antioquia) are presented. A hypothesis is postulated about the occurrence of possible auriferous manifestations, its narrow relationship with the presence of andesitic post-Antioquefio Batolith dikes, and with the Cristales Shear Zone, which in turn exerts a morpho-structural control of the hills in turn Manizales and Cristales, additionally changing the course of the Negra Stream.There are numerous mineralizations grouped around Cristales, the seams have predominantly NE direction, with numerous parallel and subparallel veins; the mineralization consists of pyrite, little chalcopyrite, galena casual, which is related to the presence of booms in some seams. The gangue is mainly quartz milky variety, with free gold; and although gold workings are abandoned in the Cerro Manizales, the operation was based, through veins thin, less than 20 cm, called veinless or needles.
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Energetic trapped electron measurements from the Galileo Jupiter Probe. Energetic trapped electrons were measured with the Energetic Particle Instrument (EPI) on the Galileo Jupiter Probe. Samples were taken from inside Io's orbit to just above Jupiter's atmosphere. Under the assumption of simple power law spectra the energetic electron fluxes and spectra agree well with earlier results from the Pioneer spacecraft, at those locations where comparisons can be made. New features from this Galileo data include measurements of the inner boundary of the trappped particles, inside 1.6 R-J, direct observations of the electron pitch angle distributions, and energy spectral softening, both as the atmosphere is approached, and at smaller pitch angles at each measurement location.
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Chemokines and inflammation in heart disease: adaptive or maladaptive?. Heart disease is not only the leading cause of death, disability, and healthcare expense in the US, but also the leading cause of death worldwide. Therefore, treatments to lessen ischemia-related cardiac damage could affect a broad swath of the population and have significant health and fiscal impacts. Cardiac dysfunction has been associated with elevated circulating chemokine levels, both in animals and humans. Most studies in this area have focused on chemokine expression as a prominent feature of the post-infarction inflammatory response. Such studies have investigated the role of chemokines in inflammatory leukocyte recruitment. Other work on this topic has focused on stem-cell therapy or factors e. g. chemokines mobilizing bone marrow progenitor cells as possible avenues for improving contractile dysfunction. Findings from numerous preclinical studies and several initial clinical trials support the feasibility of promoting the recruitment of bone marrow-derived cells to the infarcted heart and increased homing following injury, supporting the notion that cell therapy might have therapeutic potential. They have not, however, addressed the possibility of an autocrine/paracrine effect wherein the chemokine receptors, present on the cardiac myocyte surface, modulate functional responses to stress in which can be adaptive or maladaptive in nature.
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A Comparative Study on the Static Recrystallization Behavior of Cold-Rolled Mg-3Al-1Zn Alloy Stimulated by Electropulse Treatment and Conventional Heat Treatment. Cold-rolled AZ31 Mg alloy strips, with a reduction of 33 pct, were subjected to electropulse treatment (EPT) and conventional heat treatment (HT) to evaluate the respective influences of electropulses and temperature on the recrystallization behavior of AZ31. The highest measured temperature during the EPT (543 K) was used in HT. The electron backscattered diffraction results demonstrated that the EPT-stimulated recrystallization was completed within 8 seconds, whereas for HT, recrystallization was still far from completion even after 240 seconds. It was found that both the nucleation and grain growth of these two processes were totally different. In the EPT samples, nucleation tended to occur preferentially near extension twin boundaries and grain boundaries by continuous recrystallization, whereas in the HT samples, nucleation occurred mainly by grain boundaries bulging via discontinuous recrystallization. As grain growth proceeded, the texture intensities of the EPT samples decreased gradually and finally evolved into an obvious transverse-direction-split texture. This is likely attributable to the impact of electropulses on the boundary energy and the contribution of nonbasal dislocations; however, the basal-type textures of the HT samples were notably strengthened, which is associated with a 30 degaOE (c) 0001 > orientation with respect to the deformed texture.
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Performing power: The deal, corporate rule, and the constitution of global legal order. This article presents a stylized account of legal work involved in doing a corporate deal transnationally, drawing inspiration from the work of American legal realist, Robert Hale. In so doing, it seeks to show that legal institutions on which transnational corporate power depends are far more plastic, discordant, and irresolute than commonly recorded. By tethering global legal order to the decisive interiority of the transnational corporation, while taking that interior for granted, recent accounts (such as those of Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri or A. Claire Cutler) may do more to fortify than query the contemporary 'rule' of global capital.
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Evaluation of basic parameters in a mold oscillationless electromagnetic casting. The penetration of a mold flux between a mold and a molten metal which is driven by a mechanical mold oscillation is indispensable for a continuous casting of steel. In this paper a new continuous casting process in which the function of mold oscillation is replaced by an electromagnetic force has been proposed. The basic parameters in the new process were evaluated in a model experimental work using a molten gallium and the penetration behavior of a mold flux was visualized by use of a high-speed video camera. The non-contacting distance caused at meniscus by the electromagnetic force and the consumption of the mold flux in a continuous casting of a molten tin were measured. It is found that the non-contacting distance which is formed by imposing an intermittent alternating magnetic field under net mechanical mold oscillation nearly agrees with the minimum stroke length of the mold oscillation which is required for the success of the continuous casting of a molten tin. Surface quality of cast billets was improved by increasing the consumption of the mold flux and by adjusting the intermittent frequency of the magnetic field to the optimum one existing near the intrinsic frequency of a molten pool.
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Tertiary structure checkpoint at anticodon loop modification in tRNA functional maturation. tRNA precursors undergo a maturation process, involving nucleotide modifications and folding into the L-shaped tertiary structure. The N1-methylguanosine at position 37 (m1G37), 3' adjacent to the anticodon, is essential for translational fidelity and efficiency. In archaea and eukaryotes, Trm5 introduces the m(1)G37 modification into all tRNAs bearing G37. Here we report the crystal structures of archaeal Trm5 (aTrm5) in complex with tRNALeu or tRNACys. The D2-D3 domains of aTrm5 discover and modify G37, independently of the tRNA sequences. D1 is connected to D2-D3 through a flexible linker and is designed to recognize the shape of the tRNA outer corner, as a hallmark of the completed L shape formation. This interaction by D1 lowers the Km value for tRNA, enabling the D2-D3 catalysis. Thus, we propose that aTrm5 provides the tertiary structure checkpoint in tRNA maturation.
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Narratives of translation and belonging in multilingual performance: The case study of 20/20. This article investigates ways in which theatre and performance have the potential to revisit and re-interpret ideological narratives. Drawing on the politics of transnational performance-making processes, it examines how multilingual theatre can contribute to the production of subjective and collective identities, and help articulate ideas and perceptions of belonging. With reference to 20/20 - a piece of documentary-style theatre about a major inter-ethnic conflict that took place in 1990 in a bilingual city in Romania - this case study maps out arguments for utilizing multilingualism on stage, and engages with the ethics of representation in the process of multilingual transfer. Billed as 'multi-ethnic and multilingual', the production embraces an agenda that goes beyond the examination of an isolated local conflict and makes the point that both theatre-making and theatre-going are experiences that strongly interact with narratives of cultural identity and hybridization. Thus, the representation of belonging or not belonging is tied in with questions of agency, and the right of individuals to affirm and indeed interrogate their hereditary links to a community.
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WEED INTERFERENCE IN COTTON PLANTS GROWN WITH REDUCED SPACING IN THE SECOND HARVEST SEASON. Changes in row spacing may result in changes in crop and weed behavior and crop-weed competition. A study was performed to determine the periods of weed presence and weed control in cotton sown with 0.76 m spacing between planting rows. Cotton cultivar FM 993 was sown on 01/08/2010 with the aim of reaching a density of 190,000 seeds ha(-1). Treatments with either weed presence or weed control during the first 0, 5, 10, 15, 22, 29, 36, 43, 50, 57, 64, 71, and 190 days of cultivation were established to determine the period prior to weed interference (PPI), total period of interference prevention (TPIP) and critical period of weed control (CPWC). The weed species with high relative importance were Amaranthus retroflexus, Bidens pilosa, Eleusine indica, Digitaria horizontalis, Alternanthera tenella, and Commelina benghalensis. Considering a maximum yield loss of 5%, the PPI was established 11 days after cotton emergence (DAE), the TPWC at 46 DAE, and the CPWC between 11 and 46 DAE, for a total duration of 35 days. Considering a maximum acceptable yield loss equal to the standard deviation for the weed-free treatment, the PPI was established at 6 DAE, the TPWC at 55 DAE, and the CPWC between 6 and 55 DAE for a total duration of 49 days.
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7
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Conceptualising translation revision competence: A pilot study on the 'tools and research' subcompetence. Translation revision is an important step in the translation workflow. However, translation revision competence remains ill-defined. After identifying what is understood by 'revision' in a translation context and discussing the theoretical translation revision competence (TRC) model previously designed by the authors, this article analyses and interprets the results of an empirical pilot study designed to test the presence of the tools and research subcompetence hypothesised in the TRC model. An experiment with 21 master-level translation and/or language students was carried out: the experimental group was given revision training as a form of treatment and the control group was not. The TRC subcompetence under investigation was tested adopting a pretest-posttest experimental design. Both groups performed four controlled revision tasks and their revision process was keylogged. The results, subjected to quantitative statistical analyses, show that revisers and translators use the same tools, as hypothesised, but that they use these tools differently.
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Bioremediation of hydrocarbons from contaminated wood: A proof-of-concept study. A proof-of-concept study to evaluate the biological removal of hydrocarbons (naphthalene, n-hexadecane, and fuel oil #2) from contaminated wood (Southern yellow pine) was conducted using C-14-Iabeled tracers and gas chromatography. Contaminated wood was brought in contact with n-hexadecane-degrading Pseudomonas aeruginosa PG201 or naphthalene degrading environmental isolates by the application either on mineral medium agar or filter paper containing a previously grown biomass (\\'overlay\\' technique). The experiments showed a significant acceleration of naphthalene removal by biomass. Due to biodegradation combined with evaporation, naphthalene was nearly completely removed (up to 90-98 %) in 4-8 days from freshly contaminated 6 mm- and 17 mm-thick wood samples. The removal of a less volatile hydrocarbon, n-hexadecane, was less efficient, at 40-60% in 20-40 days, with the only variable significantly affecting this pollutant's removal rate being the moisture content of the medium. Biodegradation experiments with standard heating fuel oil #2 (a representative real-world contaminant) resulted in significant removal of light hydrocarbons (C-10-C-16), i.e., more mobile/volatile substrates, in 3 weeks (up to 70 %) whereas heavier hydrocarbons (C-17-C-19) were less affected. Pollutant mobility in both wood and aqueous media was shown to be the crucial factor affecting the removal efficiency. These results point toward a promising technique to reclaim wooden structures contaminated with volatile and semi-volatile chemicals.
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An evaluation of the safety and efficacy of cariprazine in patients with acute exacerbation of schizophrenia: A phase II, randomized clinical trial. Introduction: Cariprazine is an orally active and potent D-3 and D-2 partial agonist with preferential binding to D3 receptors in development for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar mania. This study (NCT00694707) evaluated the efficacy and safety of cariprazine in patients with acute exacerbation of schizophrenia.Results: Of 732 randomized patients, 64% completed the study. PANSS total score improvement at Week 6 was statistically significant versus placebo for cariprazine 1.5 mg/d, 3.0 mg/d, and 4.5 mg/d (least squares mean difference [LSMD]: -7.6, -8.8, -10.4, respectively; p < 0.001; LOCF) and risperidone (-15.1, p < 0.001; LOCF); significant improvement on CGI-S was demonstrated for all active treatments (p < 0.05). The most frequent cariprazine AEs (>= 5% and at least twice the rate of the placebo group) were insomnia, extrapyramidal disorder, akathisia, sedation, nausea, dizziness, and constipation. Mean changes in metabolic parameters were small and similar between groups.Methods: This study was a multinational, double-blind, randomized, placebo-and active-controlled, fixed-dose trial. Patients were randomized to receive placebo, cariprazine 1.5 mg/d, cariprazine 3.0 mg/d, cariprazine 4.5 mg/d, or risperidone 4.0 mg/d (for assay sensitivity) for 6 weeks of double-blind treatment and 2 weeks of safety follow-up. Primary and secondary efficacy parameters were change from baseline to Week 6 in Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) total and Global Impressions-Severity of Illness (CGI-S) scores, respectively. Safety parameters included adverse events (AEs), vital signs, laboratory measures, and extrapyramidal symptom (EPS) scales.Conclusion: The results of this study support the efficacy and safety of cariprazine in patients with acute exacerbation of schizophrenia. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Experimental Study on Hydrate Formation with Synthesized CH4/CO2/N-2 Ternary Mixtures. The variations in the equilibrium conditions of the hydrate phase between different gas components can be employed for gas separation. The use of hydrate-based gas separation technologies for CH4 recovery from biogas has gained prominence. In this study, the formation of a ternary mixture gas hydrate with CH4, CO2, and N-2 was studied. The amount of gas consumed and the hydrate formation rate were calculated using pressure and temperature variations during the reaction. Gas composition changes, the CH4 recovery factor, and CO2 split ratio were the key parameters considered to evaluate the technical feasibility of HBGS. Results indicated that the formation of the mixture gas hydrate depends on the driving force between the hydrate equilibrium conditions and operating conditions. The process of hydrate formation can be divided into two stages: Most of the CO2 formed the hydrate in the first stage, and both CH4 and N-2 may have entered the hydrate structure in the second stage. For a given gas, the CO2 separation and CH4 recovery could not be optimized for one specific P-T condition. The powder X-ray diffraction measurements indicated that the ternary mixture gas hydrate was an structure I. The experimental results herein can provide data and theoretical support for CH4 purification and CO2 separation from biogas.
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Chloroplast genomics: Expanding resources for an evolutionary conserved miniature molecule with enigmatic applications. Chloroplast, methylation depreived uniparental organelle genome is the most studied organelle genome from the perspective of evolution and functional omics. Recent advances in organelle genome sequencing both in terms of genome or transcriptome sequencing has opened a wide range of opportunities to understand the transcriptional and translational role of the genes mainly involved in the light harvesting apparatus and the evolution of the inverted repeats across the lineage. However, as compared to the nuclear genome, limited resources are available in case of organelle genome. In this review, we discuss the recent advances in the chloroplast genomics and the resources that have been developed for understanding the evolution, repeat patterns, functional genomics of this miniature molecule with enigmatic applications. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
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9
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NONEXTENDIBLE LATIN CUBOIDS. We show that for all integers m >= 4 there exists a 2m x 2m x m latin cuboid that cannot be completed to a 2mx2mx2m latin cube. We also show that for all even m > 2 there exists a (2m-1) x (2m-1) x (m-1) latin cuboid that cannot be extended to any (2m-1) x (2m-1) x m latin cuboid.
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Diseases of donkeys and mules in the brazilian semiarid. The diseases of donkeys and mules in the semiarid region of northeastern Brazil were evaluated in a retrospective study of 200 donkeys and 58 mules, in the Veterinary Hospital of Federal University of Campina Grande, from January 2002 to December 2012. Data records of these animals as identification, anamnesis, clinical examination, treatment protocol, and outcome of cases were collected. The affected systems in order of frequency of cases were: integument, 88 cases; musculoskeletal, 78; digestive, 36; nervous, 23; reproductive, 15; and respiratory, 6. Eight animals were examined before orquiectomy; three animals had inconclusive diagnosis and one animal suffered a bee attack. The main diseases diagnosed in donkeys were traumatic wounds (32/200), fractures (27/200) and colic (14/200). In mules the main diagnoses were colic (8/58) and traumatic wounds (6/58). Fractures were the main motivation for performing euthanasia (22/200 donkeys and 3/58 mules). It is concluded that most diagnosed diseases are associated with mistreatment or lack of attention to the animals and should be prevented through awareness and education campaigns of owners and handlers.
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TEMPORARY INTRINSICS AND RELATIVIZATION. Some have concluded that the only appropriate response to the problem of temporary intrinsics is the view that familiar, concrete objects persist through time by perduring, that is, by having temporal parts. Many, including myself, believe this view of persistence is false, and so reject this conclusion. However, the most common attempts to resolve the problem and yet defend the view that familiar, concrete objects endure are self-defeating. This has heretofore gone unnoticed. I consider the most familiar such attempts, based on a strategy called tensing the copula, and present a general argument to demonstrate why this strategy - and any strategy based on relativization - fails. I then show how the considerations raised in this general argument undermine other attempts to resolve the problem while denying perdurance. All these attempts are undermined by an assumption essential to the problem of temporary intrinsics, to wit, that there are many moments of time and all have the same ontological status. As long as this assumption is maintained, the only solution to the problem is that familiar, concrete objects perdure. Thus, in order to defend the view that objects persist through time by enduring, one must adopt a different metaphysics of time (viz., presentism). I conclude that it is neither unreasonable nor impracticable to do so.
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Treatment of syphilis in HIV-infected subjects: a systematic review of the literature. Methods Two reviewers independently assessed studies published between 1980 and June 2008 in electronic databases, trial registries and bibliographies (with no language restrictions) for content and quality. Studies that included 10 or more people, with documented HIV status, type and duration of syphilis treatment and at least 6 months of follow-up were included. The primary outcome was syphilis serological or clinical failure stratified by syphilis stage.Results Of 1380 unique citations, 23 studies (22 published papers and 1 conference abstract) were included in the systematic review. Owing to the significant heterogeneity among studies, pooled summary statistics could not be generated. The range of probabilities for serological failure with 2.4 million units (MU) of intramuscular benzathine penicillin G (BPG) was 6.9% (95% CI 2.6% to 14.4%) to 22.4% (11.7% to 36.6%); that of 7.2 MU of BPG in late latent syphilis was 19.4% (11.9% to 28.9%) to 31.1% (22.3% to 40.9%) and failure estimates with 18-24 MU of aqueous penicillin for the treatment of neurosyphilis were 27.3% (6.0% to 61.0%) to 27.8% (14.2% to 45.2%).Conclusions The optimal antimicrobial regimen to treat syphilis in HIV-infected subjects is unknown; guideline recommendations in this population are based on little objective data.Objective To systematically assess the literature for studies evaluating syphilis treatment regimens in this population.Background The optimal antimicrobial regimen to treat syphilis in HIV-infected subjects remains controversial.
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Potential-induced structural transitions of DL-homocysteine monolayers on Au(111) electrode surfaces. The homocysteine monolayer was investigated by in situ STM at different potentials at pH 7.7. The molecules pack into highly ordered domains around the peak potential. High-resolution in situ STM reveals a (root 3 x 5) R30 degrees lattice with three homocysteine molecules in each unit cell. The adlayer changes into disordered structures on either side of the peak potential. This process is reversible.We propose that the voltammetric peaks are capacitive. The ordered domains are formed only around the potential of zero charge (pzc) and dissipate at potentials on either side of the peak, inducing mirror charge flow in the metallic electrode as the charged -COO- and -NH3+ groups approach the surface. No bands for carboxylate coordinated to the surface were observed in SNIFTIRS implying more subtle orientation changes of the charged groups on transcending the voltammetric peak. This scenario is incorporated in a simple phenomenological model. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Monolayers of homocysteine on Au(111)-surfaces have been investigated by voltammetry, in situ scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and subtractively normalised interfacial Fourier transform spectroscopy (SNIFTIRS). A pair of sharp voltammetric peaks build up in the potential range 0 to -0.1 V (vs. SCE) in phosphate buffer pH 7.7. The peak half-widths are about 25 mV at a scan rate of 10 mV s(-1). This is much smaller than for a one-electron Faradaic process (90.6 mV) under similar conditions. The coverage of homocysteine is 6.1 (+/- 0.2) x 10(-10) Mol cm(-2), or 5.9 x 10(-5) C cm(-2), from Au-S reductive desorption at -0.8 V (SCE) in 0.1 M NaOH, while the charge is only about 8 x 10(-6) C cm(-2) (pH 7.7) for the 0 to -0.1 V peak. This suggests a capacitive origin. The peak potential and shape depend on pH. At pH 7.7 both cathodic and anodic peak currents reach a maximum, but drop at both higher and lower pH. The midpoint potential shows biphasic behaviour, decreasing linearly with increasing pH until pH 10.4 towards a constant value at higher pH. The cathodic and anodic peak charges decay at pH both higher and lower than 7.7.
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A cost function analysis of the Mexican nonelectrical machinery industry. This paper investigates the existence of economies of scale in the Mexican nonelectrical machinery industry as well as the direct and cross price elasticities of demand for its inputs (capital, labour, and intermediate goods) by estimating a translog cost function. There is evidence that the industry exhibits economies of scale but that technological change has not significantly affected cost. Direct demand elasticities for the inputs are negative and less than one, but capital displays a higher price elasticity of demand than does labour or intermediate goods. In general, the input cross price elasticities indicate that they are substitutes. The results suggest that in the early years of the North American Free Trade Agreement, expansion of the industry may increase its competitiveness and generate some employment. The best near-term prospects for growth in the industry appear to be through foreign investment or joint ventures oriented toward both exports and the procurement activities of government and government-related entities in Mexico.
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Barriers of organizational inclusion: A study among academics in Egyptian public business schools. CONCLUSION: The authors propose three prompt managerial interventions for Egyptian public business schools. The first is economic, and proposes a link be created between the financial remuneration of professors and the number of academic theses they supervise. The second is functional, and strongly recommends that units be created for managing foreign educational grants and scholarships. The third is cultural, and proposes that cultural tolerance units be required to manage any discriminatory and unequal opportunity claims. This paper contributes by filling a gap in HR management in the higher education sector, in which empirical studies on the practices of organizational inclusion have been limited so far.RESULTS: After carefully analyzing the interviews, the authors of this paper could not identify any adoptable paradigm for the systematic practice of organizational inclusion experienced by academics in the chosen business schools. Moreover, the authors of the present paper have explored some barriers hindering the sense of organizational inclusion among academics and subsequently classified them as cultural, functional and psychological barriers.METHODS: A total of 350 academics were contacted and 245 of them were interviewed in 49 face-to-face focus groups. The interview length for each focus group is about 45 minutes and is conducted in Arabic, the mother tongue of all respondents. Upon conducting the interviews, the authors used thematic analysis to determine the main ideas in the transcripts.OBJECTIVE: Human resources management and organization studies. This paper investigates the main barriers of organizational inclusion practices of academics in Egyptian higher education institutions, and proposes interventions to enhance academics' sense of organizational inclusion.
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SEED COTTON MASS FLOW MEASUREMENT IN THE GIN. Seed cotton mass flow measurement is necessary for the development of improved gin process control systems that can increase gin efficiency and improve fiber quality. Previous studies led to the development of a seed cotton mass flow rate sensor based on the static pressure drop across the blowbox, which primarily results from acceleration of the seed cotton. The initial sensor did not perform satisfactorily in a gin, and modifications were made to account for air leakage through the rotary valve at the blowbox and the temperature drop occurring due to heat exchange between the seed cotton and air. Mass flow rate was predicted based on the static pressure differences across the blowbox and rotary valve, the air velocity and density at the blowbox inlet, the air density in the blowbox, and the ambient air density. The first- and second-stage seed cotton cleaning and drying systems of the commercial-scale gin at the Cotton Ginning Research Unit were instrumented to test the improved model. Air velocity, cultivar, dryer temperature, and seed cotton feed rate were varied to determine their effects on model accuracy. Mean absolute percentage errors in predicting mass flow rate were 3.89% and 2.85% for the first- and second-stage systems, respectively; however, dryer temperature had a significant effect on the regression coefficients. An additional regression parameter was added to the model to better estimate the average blowbox density, reducing the mean absolute percentage error to 2.5% for both systems and eliminating the effect of dryer temperature on the regression coefficients.
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Stability of diagnostic coding of psychiatric outpatient visits across the transition from the second to the third version of the Danish National Patient Registry. Objective In Denmark, data on hospital contacts are reported to the Danish National Patient Registry (DNPR). The ICD-10 main diagnoses from the DNPR are often used as proxies for mental disorders in psychiatric research. With the transition from the second version of the DNPR (DNPR2) to the third (DNPR3) in February-March 2019, the way main diagnoses are coded in relation to outpatient treatment changed substantially. Specifically, in the DNPR2, each outpatient treatment course was labelled with only one main diagnosis. In the DNPR3, however, each visit during an outpatient treatment course is labelled with a main diagnosis. We assessed whether this change led to a break in the diagnostic time-series represented by the DNPR, which would pose a threat to the research relying on this source. Methods All main diagnoses from outpatients attending the Psychiatric Services of the Central Denmark Region from 2013 to 2021 (n = 100,501 unique patients) were included in the analyses. The stability of the DNPR diagnostic time-series at the ICD-10 subchapter level was examined by comparing means across the transition from the DNPR2 to the DNPR3. Results While the proportion of psychiatric outpatients with diagnoses from some ICD-10 subchapters changed statistically significantly from the DNPR2 to the DNPR3, the changes were small in absolute terms (e.g., +0.6% for F2-psychotic disorders and +0.6% for F3-mood disorders). Conclusion The change from the DNPR2 to the DNPR3 is unlikely to pose a substantial threat to the validity of most psychiatric research at the diagnostic subchapter level.
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Glycine-methanesulfonic acid (1 : 1) and glycine-p-toluenesulfonic acid (1 : 1) crystals: Comparison of structures, hydrogen bonds, and vibrations. The crystal structures of glycine-methanesulfonic acid (1:1) and glycine p-toluenesulfonic acid (1: 1) have been investigated by X-ray diffraction at 293 K. They belong to centrosyrnmetric: (i) P2(1)/n space group of monoclinic system and (ii) Pbca space group of orthorhombic system, respectively. Both crystals consist of glycinium-sulfonate dirners (methane- or p-toluenesulfonate, respectively) with medium-strong and very similar O-H center dot center dot center dot O hydrogen bonds. N-H center dot center dot center dot O bonds connect glycinium-sulfonate dimers into infinite chains. Both sulfonic acids reveal very similar acidic properties. In glycine-p-toluenesulfonic acid (1:1) crystal very weak, C-H center dot center dot center dot pi improper hydrogen bonds are formed. Vibrational spectra of the crystals are related to their structures. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Antiviral Strategies for Pandemic and Seasonal Influenza. While vaccines are the primary public health response to seasonal and pandemic flu, short of a universal vaccine there are inherent limitations to this approach. Antiviral drugs provide valuable alternative options for treatment and prophylaxis of influenza. Here, we will review drugs and drug candidates against influenza with an emphasis on the recent progress of a host-targeting entry-blocker drug candidate, DAS181, a sialidase fusion protein.
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De novo and inherited TCF20 pathogenic variants are associated with intellectual disability, dysmorphic features, hypotonia, and neurological impairments with similarities to Smith-Magenis syndrome. BackgroundNeurodevelopmental disorders are genetically and phenotypically heterogeneous encompassing developmental delay (DD), intellectual disability (ID), autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), structural brain abnormalities, and neurological manifestations with variants in a large number of genes (hundreds) associated. To date, a few de novo mutations potentially disrupting TCF20 function in patients with ID, ASD, and hypotonia have been reported. TCF20 encodes a transcriptional co-regulator structurally related to RAI1, the dosage-sensitive gene responsible for Smith-Magenis syndrome (deletion/haploinsufficiency) and Potocki-Lupski syndrome (duplication/triplosensitivity).MethodsGenome-wide analyses by exome sequencing (ES) and chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) identified individuals with heterozygous, likely damaging, loss-of-function alleles in TCF20. We implemented further molecular and clinical analyses to determine the inheritance of the pathogenic variant alleles and studied the spectrum of phenotypes.ResultsWe report 25 unique inactivating single nucleotide variants/indels (1 missense, 1 canonical splice-site variant, 18 frameshift, and 5 nonsense) and 4 deletions of TCF20. The pathogenic variants were detected in 32 patients and 4 affected parents from 31 unrelated families. Among cases with available parental samples, the variants were de novo in 20 instances and inherited from 4 symptomatic parents in 5, including in one set of monozygotic twins. Two pathogenic loss-of-function variants were recurrent in unrelated families. Patients presented with a phenotype characterized by developmental delay, intellectual disability, hypotonia, variable dysmorphic features, movement disorders, and sleep disturbances.ConclusionsTCF20 pathogenic variants are associated with a novel syndrome manifesting clinical characteristics similar to those observed in Smith-Magenis syndrome. Together with previously described cases, the clinical entity of TCF20-associated neurodevelopmental disorders (TAND) emerges from a genotype-driven perspective.
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Synthesis, Structures and Properties of Chiral Liquid Crystalline Monomers Containing Menthyl Group. One new chiral non-mesogenic monomer (M-1) and four new chiral mesogenic monomers (M-2 similar to M-5) containing menthyl groups were prepared. The chemical structures and purities of the target monomers were characterized with H-1 NMR, FT-IR and elemental analysis, and specific optical rotations were evaluated with a polarimeter. Their structure-property relationships were discussed. The mesomorphic properties and phase behavior were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and polarizing optical microscopy. The selective reflection wavelength of light was studied with UV/visible/NIR. The chiral monomers with more aryl segments showed lower specific optical rotation values. The monomers M-2 similar to M-5 formed the mesophases when a flexible spacer was inserted between the rigid mesogenic core and the terminal menthyl groups by reducing the steric effect. M-1 did not show any texture, and M-2 similar to M-5 showed enantiotropic broken fan-shaped chiral smectic C (S-C*) phase, and oily streak texture and focal conic texture of cholesteric phase. Moreover, M-5 also exhibited platelet texture of a cubic blue phase on cooling cycles. With increasing temperature, the selective reflection of light shifted to the long wavelength region in the S-C* phase range, and the short wavelength region in the cholesteric phase range, respectively. The melting and clearing temperatures increased, and the mesophase temperature range widened with increasing rigidity of the mesogenic core. Moreover, the ester linkage bond and aryl arrangement in the mesogenic core also affected the mesophase behavior.
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Why does strategic plans implementation fail? A study in the health service sector of Iran. This research aims to identify effective factors on the failure of strategic decisions implementation in the Iranian health service sector. Reviewing the literature and using experts' opinion, 16 variables were identified. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, variables were categorized in the form of 4 factors. This model, in the order of effect, identifies context dimension (0.94), content dimension (0.87), operational dimension (0.71) and structural dimension (0.67) as effective factors on the failure of strategic decisions implementation in Iranian health service sector.
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Exploring the contribution of rural enterprises to local resilience. This paper discusses the findings of a case study in South Australia which aimed to enhance our understanding of the role of private sector enterprises in local development and resilience. In particular, this article explores What, How and Why questions: What are the economic and social contributions of rural businesses to local resilience?, How are these contributions made? and Why do business owners make these contributions?The findings reveal that rural businesses contribute to local resilience in both direct and indirect ways. Direct contributions include, for example, the creation of local employment and local product and service delivery. Indirect contributions can be understood as the knock-on effect or added value of primary business activities. For example, the provision of employment opportunities helps to reduce the risk of out-migration and depopulation. With reference to the concept of embeddedness, the study demonstrates the importance of the rural context in shaping the behaviour of rural business owners and encouraging them to operate in economically, socially and environmentally responsible ways. However, this is not a passive relationship; rural business owners have the motivation and resources to respond to specific local challenges, opportunities and characteristics, and to proactively and skilfully turn them into entrepreneurial opportunities. As such, they become part of the adaptation process, acting as agents of change in supporting rural resilience. This adaptation process contributes to enhanced community resilience which enables the modification of existing structures and the seeking of solutions to economic, social and environmental challenges. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.The economic importance of the private sector, such as the contribution of businesses to Gross Domestic Product or to employment creation, is well recognised in research and policy. In the context of significant economic, social and environmental changes such as the economic downturn, public spending cuts, an ageing population and climate change, the broader social and environmental contributions of the private sector to local resilience have begun to be recognised by researchers and policy-makers. However, we lack a detailed understanding of the nature of, and motivations for, these different contributions.
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Political journalists' corporate and personal identities on Twitter profile pages: A comparative analysis in four Westminster democracies. The practice for journalists to present an identity and brand the self on social media has become common across many newsrooms, yet its practice is still poorly understood. Focusing on journalists' self-representations on the social network site Twitter, this study aims to address the lack of empirical understanding through an analysis of the identities which political journalists present on their Twitter profile pages. A total of 679 accounts of parliamentary press gallery journalists in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom were analyzed, with a focus on various textual and visual pieces of professional and personal information. The article develops scales of corporate and personal identity, finding that UK and Canadian journalists most strongly differentiate between personal and corporate identities. Differences across countries are linked to political and economic aspects of the respective media systems.
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Club isomorphisms on higher Aronszajn trees. We prove the consistency, assuming an ineffable cardinal, of the statement that CH holds and any two normal countably closed omega(2)-Aronszajn trees are club isomorphic. This work generalizes to higher cardinals the property of Abraham-Shelah [1] that any two normal omega(1)-Aronszajn trees are club isomorphic, which follows from PFA. The statement that any two normal countably closed omega(2)-Aronszajn trees are club isomorphic implies that there are no omega(2)-Suslin trees, so our proof also expands on the method of Laver-Shelah [5] for obtaining the omega(2)-Suslin hypothesis. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Drug Addiction and the Practice of Public Health in Late Imperial and Early Soviet Russia. The relatively short period from 1914 to 1932 witnessed a radical change in the attitudes of both governmental authorities and professional communities towards drugs and addiction. Before the First World War, Russians could easily buy cocaine or heroin at a pharmacy, medical science did not view addiction as a serious social problem. There was practically no government regulation or legislation concerning recreational drugs. By the early 1930s, however, the market of recreational drugs had been heavily regulated, drug sale had been criminalized, and physicians and criminologists had begun to label drug addicts as bourgeois, degenerate, or otherwise socially anomalous people who should be sent to special camps. An important turning point occurred in late 1924, when Soviet authorities issued two decrees that provided a legal definition of criminal drug sales, signaling the start of a more intensive struggle against drug abuse. This paper examines the social practice of late Imperial and early Soviet public health in order to evaluate the evolution of \\'in-the-field\\' medical approaches towards opiate, cocaine and cannabis addiction. It focuses on the period when drug use was first constructed as a delinquency, and thus as a social problem requiring immediate intervention. It examines attempts of physicians and pharmacists to restrict and control drug production, distribution and sale; sanitary propaganda and other prophylactic measures; and the establishment of special institutions for the treatment of addicts. It is concerned only peripherally with the judicial prosecution of drug dealers and drug addicts.
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28
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Unique population dynamics of Japanese field vole: Winter breeding and summer population decline. It is common knowledge that winter temperatures influence the life history of small mammals. Cold temperatures necessitate increased energy requirements for survival, and recent studies indicate that snow cover can have both negative and positive influences. With each new observation, we develop a more comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms that influence small mammal populations. Here we report on our recent study on Japanese field vole Microtus montebelli, which reaches its peak in population during the early spring and its low during the autumn. To understand the population dynamics of these voles, we conducted a capture-mark-recapture survey, then estimated the seasonal abundance, recruit, capture probabilities, and survival probabilities using the Bayesian hierarchical model. We also analyzed the impact of mammalian generalist predator visits on the survival probabilities. Our data indicates that the early spring peak in population is due to intensive winter breeding and the highest survival probabilities during the periods of deep snow cover. When snow cover reaches a certain depth, the circumstances can combine to raise survival probability and favor breeding. During the breeding season in May and June, on the contrary, the survival probability reached its lowest, resulting in a decrease in population despite breeding. The low survival probability between spring and autumn could be attributed to the impact of generalist predators, and low vegetation may have amplified the effect. In summary, the deep snow cover and generalist predators were considered to be the key factors shaping this unique population dynamics in this orchard area.
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The rise of right-wing populist Pim Fortuyn in the Netherlands: A discursive opportunity approach. This article seeks to explain the dramatic rise of Pim Fortuyn's right-wing populist party during the campaign for the parliamentary elections in the Netherlands in 2002. Fortuyn succeeded in attracting by far the most media attention of all political actors and his new party won 17 per cent of the votes. This article analyses how this new populist party managed to mobilise so much attention and support so suddenly and so rapidly. It uses the notion of 'discursive opportunities' and argues that the public reactions to Pim Fortuyn and his party played a decisive role in his ability to further diffuse his claims in the public sphere and achieve support among the Dutch electorate. The predictions of the effects of discursive opportunities are empirically investigated with longitudinal data from newspapers and opinion polls. To study the dynamics of competition over voter support and over space in the public debate during the election campaign, an ARIMA time-series model is used as well as a negative binomial regression with lagged variables to account for the time-series structure of the data. It is found that discursive opportunities have significantly affected the degree to which Fortuyn was successful both in the competition for voter support, and regarding his ability to express his claims in the media. Combining these two results, a dynamic feedback process is identified that can explain why a stable political situation suddenly spiralled out of equilibrium. Visibility and supportive reactions of others positively affected the opinion polls. Consonance significantly increased Fortuyn's claim-making; dissonance undermined it. Furthermore, electoral support and negative claims on the issue of immigration and integration in the media by others enhanced Fortuyn's ability to further diffuse his viewpoints and to become the main political opinion-maker during the turbulent election campaign of 2002.
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Chord length distributions measurements during crystallization and agglomeration of gas hydrate in a water-in-oil emulsion: Simulation and experimentation. The formation of gas hydrates from water-in-oil emulsion was investigated on two different flow loops: a laboratory scale flow loop (Archimede flow loop: 30 m long, and 1 cm diameter, St-Etienne School of Mines) and a pilot scale flow loop (Lyre flow loop: 150 m long, 5 cm diameter, IFP Solaize). Both flow loops are equipped with a focused beam reflectance measurement (FBRM) probe for in situ particle size analysis. These FBRM probes were used to monitor chord length distribution (CLD) during the crystallization process of water-in-oil emulsions into gas hydrate slurries. When water droplets crystallize into hydrate particles, an agglomeration phenomenon is evidenced by pressure drop measurements. This agglomeration phenomenon is also detected by the FBRM probe and is highlighted by a sharp change in the mean chord length and a spread of the CLD to larger chord length. In order to better interpret the chord length distribution measurements, a modelling work has been made. This paper gives a description of the algorithm used for building 3D fractal aggregates and simulating CLD measurements on them. Aggregates are constructed from a monodisperse spherical particle. The influence of different parameters (fractal dimension, number of particles in the aggregate, diameter of primary particles) on the simulated CLD is also discussed. Some comparisons between experimental and simulated CLD are finally used to describe the physical properties of aggregates during an experiments. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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RETHINKING THE EFFECTS OF FISCAL POLICY ON MACROECONOMIC AGGREGATES: A DISAGGREGATED SVAR ANALYSIS. This paper characterizes the dynamic effects of net tax and government spending shocks on several macroeconomic aggregates in four OECD countries using a structural VAR approach. For the first time in the literature, I propose a structural decomposition of total net taxes into four components: corporate income taxes, income taxes, indirect taxes and social insurance taxes. The paper provides estimates of the responses of macroeconomic aggregates to innovations in these net tax components. Decompositions of total net tax innovations show that net tax components have different impacts on economic variables depending upon the strength of wealth, substitution, and income effects reflecting the structure of the economies.
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45
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The Proportionality Puzzle in Contract Law: A Challenge for Private Law Theory?. This article explores the emerging use of the proportionality concept in the contract law of the Anglo-common law world, first to understand its internal logic, and secondly, to situate its invocation within private law theory. What are judges doing when they appeal to \\'proportionality\\'?, and what does this say about the ideology of adjudication? I draw insights from the use of proportionality in other domains, in particular public law, to uncover its internal rationality as a means-ends rationality review coupled with a process of balancing competing considerations, which I illustrate with reference to the illegality, penalty, and cost of cure doctrines. I argue that proportionality reflects a method of pragmatic justification, expressing an aspiration towards a structured and transparent mode of argumentation that is anti-formal and anti-ideological, focusing from the bottom-up on contextual considerations, and occupying a distinct space against existing theories in private law driven, for instance, by \\'top-down\\'? rights-based ideologies or critical and communitarian perspectives.
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Spinal manipulation for low-back pain: a treatment package agreed by the UK chiropractic, osteopathy and physiotherapy professional associations. Trials of manipulative treatment have been compromised by, amongst other things, different definitions of the therapeutic procedures involved. This paper describes a spinal manipulation package agreed by the UK professional bodies that represent chiropractors, osteopaths and physiotherapists. It was devised for use in the UK Back pain Exercise And Manipulation (UK BEAM) trial-a national study of physical treatments in primary care funded by the Medical Research Council and the National Health Service Research and Development Programme. Although systematic reviews have reported some beneficial effects of spinal manipulation for low-back pain, due to the limited methodological quality of primary studies and difficulties in defining manipulation, important questions have remained unanswered. The UK BEAM trial was designed to answer some of those questions. Early in the design of the trial, it was acknowledged that the spinal manipulation treatment regimes provided by practitioners from the three professions shared more similarities than differences. Because the trial design specifically precluded comparison of the effect between the professions, it was necessary to devise a homogenous package representative of, and acceptable to, all three. The resulting package is 'pragmatic', in that it represents what happens to most people undergoing manipulation, and 'explanatory' in that it excludes discipline-specific variations and other ancillary treatments. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Identification of microsatellite markers < 1 Mb from the FMR1 CGG repeat and development of a single-tube tetradecaplex PCR panel of highly polymorphic markers for preimplantation genetic diagnosis of fragile X syndrome. Conclusion: The tetradecaplex marker assay can be performed directly on single cells or after whole-genome amplification, thus supporting its use in FXS PGD either as a standalone linkage-based assay or as a complement to FMR1 mutation detection.Results: Thirteen markers with potentially high polymorphism information content (PIC) and heterozygosity values were selected and optimized into a single-tube PCR panel together with AMELX/Y for gender determination. Analysis of 272 female samples confirmed the high polymorphism (PIC > 0.5) of most markers, with expected and observed heterozygosities ranging from 0.31 to 0.87. More than 99% of individuals were heterozygous for at least three markers, with 95.8% of individuals heterozygous for at least two markers on either side of the FMR1 CGG repeat.Methods: An in silico search was performed to identify all markers within 1Mb flanking the FMR1 gene. Selected markers were optimined into a single-tube PCR panel and their polymorphism indices were determined from 272 female samples from three populations. The single-tube assay was also validated on 30 single cells to evaluate its applicability to FXS PGD.Purpose: To develop a single-tube polymerase chain reaction (PCR) panel of highly polymorphic markers for preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) of fragile X syndrome (FXS).
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Art, Knowledge, and Reflexivity. The essay addresses the manifold relationships between art and research under the perspective of the arts' own way of thinking, separating artistic knowledge-production from science. While in science 'research' means a goal-guided action that has the purpose of developing truth, in the arts research is related to an open 'search' without being bound to gaining results. Obviously, art works neither with concepts nor with propositions, nor does it need any theory or general model or ways of verifying theses and making them valid. There is also no method to follow, nor does art depend on public justifications through critique. Rather, art is based in practices that let something appear and make it perceivable, and by doing so producing new insights. Hence, artistic cognition and recognition it not based in logic, but in certain non-discursive media-'languages' which allow for non-propositional reflections on their own structure and limitations, using actions, performances, images, material objects, compositions and montage or multimedia installations that go against the grain in order to push perceptibility to its limits where contradictions become apparent.
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Ultra-fast quantification of polycrystalline texture via single shot synchrotron X-ray or neutron diffraction. Tracking texture evolution during in situ loading is critical to understand and simulate the dynamic behaviour of microstructure in polycrystalline materials, yet conventional texture quantification methods are sometimes restricted due to various factors, such as acquisition time, sample environment and complex setup. To address this, a novel approach to extract texture information from single shot Time-Of-Flight neutron diffraction pattern has been developed. Another texture analysis approach based on single shot synchrotron X-ray diffraction has also been demonstrated. The effectiveness of two methods is assessed for polycrystalline Nickel-based superalloy polycrystalline samples possessing different textures. Both methods feature a moderate acquisition time of -10 min and 30 s respectively, as well as a simplified setup which allows adding complex sample environments and the use of additional equipment. Comparison with the referential EBSD texture suggests that both approaches achieve a satisfactory match, though some details of the complex contour profiles in inverse pole figures may be missing. Besides that, a novel metric has been proposed to quantify the matching quality of pole figures. By employing the EPSC modelling approach, it is shown that the texture deviation due to the technique chosen for its evaluation exerts a subtle influence on th macro- and mesoscale simulation results, highlighting the significance of this approach for underpinning robust computational modelling.
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Cross-sectional survey of health management and prevalence of vector-borne diseases, endoparasites and ectoparasites in Samoan dogs. ObjectiveTo determine the prevalence of selected canine vector-borne diseases (Leishmania infantum, Anaplasma spp., Ehrlichia canis, Borrelia burgdorferi and Dirofilaria immitis) and endo- and ectoparasites in Samoan dogs presenting for surgical sterilisation and to report on the general health management of the dogs.ConclusionsThere was a very high prevalence of D. immitis, hookworm and external parasites in Samoan dogs, and prophylactic medication is rarely administered. This is the first report confirming A. platys in Samoa and the South Pacific islands. The public health implications of poor management of the dogs should be considered and investigated further.ResultsThe D. immitis antigen was detected in 46.8% (111/237) of dogs. Seroprevalence of Anaplasma spp. was 8.4% (20/237); A. platys was confirmed by PCR. Prevalence of hookworm was 92.6% (185/205) and Giardia was 29.0% (27/93). Ectoparasites were detected on 210/221 (95.0%) of dogs examined and 228/242 dogs (94.2%) had previously never received any preventative medication.MethodsThis study was a prospective serological cross-sectional survey. Management data were obtained for 242 dogs by interview with their owners. Blood samples were collected from 237 dogs and screened for the canine vector-borne diseases using point-of-care qualitative ELISA assays. Anaplasma spp. positive samples were screened by PCR and sequenced for species identification. Rectal faecal samples were collected from 204 dogs for faecal flotation and immunofluorescent antibody tests were performed for Giardia and Cryptosporidium spp. on a subset of 93 faecal samples. The skin and coat of 221 dogs were examined for presence of ectoparasites.
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0,
10
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Perceptions and evaluations of front-line health workers regarding the Brazilian National Program for Improving Access and Quality to Primary Care (PMAQ): a mixed-method approach. Although it is well known that a successful implementation depends on the front-liners' knowledge and participation, as well as on the organizational capacity of the institutions involved, we still know little about how frontline health workers have been involved in the implementation of the Brazilian National Program for Improving Access and Quality to Primary Care (PMAQ). This paper develops a contingent mixed-method approach to explore the perceptions of front-line health workers-managers, nurses, community health workers, and doctors-regarding the PMAQ (2nd round), and their evaluations concerning health unit organizational capacity. The research is guided by three relevant inter-related concepts from implementation theory: policy knowledge, participation, and organizational capacity. One hundred and twenty-seven health workers from 12 primary health care units in Goiania, Goias State, Brazil, answered semi-structured questionnaires, seeking to collect data on reasons for adherence, forms of participation, perceived impact (open-ended questions), and evaluation of organizational capacity (score between 0-10). Content analyses of qualitative data enabled us to categorize the variables \\'level of perceived impact of PMAQ\\' and \\'reasons for adhering to PMAQ\\'. The calculation and aggregation of the means for the scores given for organizational capacity enabled us to classify distinct levels of organizational capacity. We finally integrated both variables (Perceived-Impact and Organizational-Capacity) through cross-tabulation and the narrative. Results show that nurses are the main type of professional participating. The low organizational capacity and little policy knowledge affected workers participation in and their perceptions of the PMAQ.
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Cell coupling and Cx43 expression in embryonic mouse neural progenitor cells. Embryonic neural progenitors isolated from the mouse striatal germinal zone grow in vitro as floating cell aggregates called neurospheres, which, upon adhesion, can be induced to differentiate into the three main cell types of the central nervous system (CNS), that is, astrocytes, neurons and oligodendrocytes. To study the possible role of connexins and junctional communication during differentiation of neural progenitors, we assessed cell-to-cell communication by microinjecting Lucifer Yellow into neurospheres at various times after adhesion. Cells located in neurospheres were strongly coupled, regardless of the differentiation time. Microinjections performed on the cell layers formed by differentiated cells migrating out of the neurosphere established that only astrocytes were coupled. These observations suggest the existence of at least three distinct communication compartments: coupled proliferating cells located in the sphere, uncoupled cells undergoing neuronal or oligodendrocytic differentiation and coupled differentiating astrocytes. A blockade of junctional communication by 18-beta-glycyrrhetinic acid (PGA) reduced, in a concentration-dependent manner, the viability of undifferentiated neural progenitor cells. This effect appeared to be specific, inasmuch as it was reversible and that cell survival was not affected in the presence of the inactive analog glycyrrhyzic acid. Addition of PGA to adherent neurospheres also decreased cell density and altered the morphology of differentiated cells. Cx43 was strongly expressed in either undifferentiated or differentiated neurospheres, where it was found both within the sphere and in astrocytes, the two cell populations that were dye coupled. Western blot analysis further showed that Cx43 phosphorylation was strongly increased in adherent neurospheres, suggesting a post-translational regulation during differentiation. These results point to a major role of cell-to-cell communication and Cx43 during the differentiation of neural progenitor cells in vitro.
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Effects of 2,2-dimethylchromenes against the feeding behavior of Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki. Precocene I and II are naturally occurring 2,2-dimethylchromenes that have a great influence on various insects. Using phenylboronic acid in acidic conditions, precocenes, natural products octandrenolone, clusiaphenone A, and relatives were prepared. In addition, the effects of synthetic chromene derivatives against Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki were evaluated in a no-chaise test. The results demonstrate that they were able to induce antifeedant activities. It would seem that the precocene skeleton affects termites. (C) Pesticide Science Society of Japan
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