415 research outputs found
A chemical method for the assessment of grapes according to their seed content
Polyphenolic compounds, which are unevenly distributed between seed, pulp and skin, are the basis of a chemical method for the assessment of seedlessness in grapes. Known seedless and seeded grapes were evaluated using this method and a statistic test showed a significant difference between them. The color of the grapes did not interfere with this method. Frozen storage of samples at -20 °C for 3 months did not alter the results of the test. Hybrids of known progenies which were evaluated gave results which generally agree with those of the taste test. This chemical method, compared to assessment by taste, is more reliable, quantitative and relatively easy to perform.Une méthode chimique pour la détermination des raisins selon leur teneur en pépinsUne analyse chimique pour la détermination de l'absence de grains de raisins est décrite. La méthode est basée sur la détermination colorimétrique de composés phénoliques dans les raisins
Motility and morphodynamics of confined cells
We introduce a minimal hydrodynamic model of polarization, migration, and deformation of a biologicalcell confined between two parallel surfaces. In our model, the cell is driven out of equilibrium by an activecytsokeleton force that acts on the membrane. The cell cytoplasm, described as a viscous droplet in the Darcyflow regime, contains a diffusive solute that actively transduces the applied cytoskeleton force. While fairlysimple and analytically tractable, this quasi-two-dimensional model predicts a range of compelling dynamicbehaviours. A linear stability analysis of the system reveals that solute activity first destabilizes a globalpolarization-translation mode, prompting cell motility through spontaneous symmetry breaking. At higheractivity, the system crosses a series of Hopf bifurcations leading to coupled oscillations of droplet shape andsolute concentration profiles. At the nonlinear level, we find traveling-wave solutions associated with uniquepolarized shapes that resemble experimental observations. Altogether, this model offers an analytical paradigmof active deformable systems in which viscous hydrodynamics are coupled to diffusive force transducers
PENINGKATAN KEMAMPUAN KOMPUTER BAGI PERANGKAT BUMDES DESA ABUANG BANGLI
Abuan adalah desa yang berada di kecamatan Susut, Kabupaten Bangli, provinsi Bali. Kepala Desa Abuan menyarankan kegiatan administrasi pada bumdes dilakukan dengan menggunakan media komputer. Sebagai media pendukung kebijakan tersebut, telah diberikan 1 unit komputer kepada Bumdes desa Abuan. Namun, pemanfaatan laptop tersebut belum maksimal dipergunakan, bahkan ada yang belum pernah digunakan untuk kegiatan administrasi seperti mengetik dokumen dan mengolah angka dengan microsoft excell. Kepala desa juga memberikan saran agar Bumdes diberikan pelatihan untuk menunjang kinerja secara online seperti bagaimana membuat email, mengirim email dan mencari informasi pada internet.. Solusi yang diberikan dalam pelaksanaan PKM ini yaitu dengan memberikan pelatihan aplikasi untuk mendukung penyelenggaraan administrasi manajemen data perkantoran, yakni menggunakan aplikasi Microsoft Office dan Pelatihan penggunaan Internet. Target luaran yang direncanakan yaitu petugas administrasi Bumdes mampu menggunakan media komputer dalam urusan administrasi dan menggunakan internet sebagai media komunikasi online yang aman.. Kegiatan pengabdian dibagi menjadi beberapa tahapan kerja yaitu; Perencanaan, Pelaksanaan, Observasi dan Evaluasi. Pada tahap perencanaan dilakukan sosisalisasi PKM kepada mitra, menyusun program dan modul pelatihan. Tahap pelaksanaan dilakukan pelatihan penggunan Ms Office dan Penggunaan internet . Pada tahap evaluasi dilakukan analisis terkait ketercapaian target pengabdian dan respon mitra terhadap pelaksanaan kegiatan. Tahap refleksi kegiatan dilakukan untuk mengetahui kelemahan dan kendala-kendala kegiatan. Hasil kegiatan pengabdian pelatihan yang diberikan menunjukkan bahwa para peserta telah mampu menggunakan ms office dan internet dimana peningkatan pengetahuan peserta sebesar 23% dan dari evaluasi pelatihan bahwa 33% menyatakan pelatihan baik dan 67% Menyatakan Pelatihan ini Sangat Baik.
Meta-Analysis of Cyber Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration and Victimization: Different Types and their Associations with Face-to-Face IPV among Men and Women
Cyber intimate partner violence (C-IPV) is a technology-mediated form of violence. It has been examined only in the last 10 years as a form of violence that can cause psychological damage to its victims. How this phenomenon connects to and differs from face-to-face IPV (F2F-IPV) has been, as yet, little studied. Research has not made clear whether sex differences may impact its use, particularly in light of the fact that no physical coercion is used in C-IPV. Thus, the current research aimed to investigate through a meta-analysis: differences between the average levels of different types of C-IPV victimization and perpetration; the association between C-IPV and F2F-IPV victimization and perpetration; and whether the answers to these questions were dependent on sex. The current meta-analysis drew on 46 studies, within 44 papers, with a total sample of 27,491 participants. Findings from 22 of these studies showed no significant sex differences between the average levels of different types of C-IPV victimization and between different types of C-IPV perpetration. These 22 studies showed positive large effect sizes for the correlation between C-IPV and F2F-IPV perpetration and victimization. Moreover, in both perpetration and victimization, sex did not impact the level of association. The findings suggested that C-IPV and F2F-IPV are highly correlated, and though not the same, they may share similar characteristics. Additionally, the results suggested that sex differences do not impact non-physical aggression, such as C-IPV. The implications for preventive strategies include that IPV interventions should also focus on alleviating instances of C-IPV
Bribeproof mechanisms for two-values domains
Schummer (Journal of Economic Theory 2000) introduced the concept of
bribeproof mechanism which, in a context where monetary transfer between agents
is possible, requires that manipulations through bribes are ruled out.
Unfortunately, in many domains, the only bribeproof mechanisms are the trivial
ones which return a fixed outcome.
This work presents one of the few constructions of non-trivial bribeproof
mechanisms for these quasi-linear environments. Though the suggested
construction applies to rather restricted domains, the results obtained are
tight: For several natural problems, the method yields the only possible
bribeproof mechanism and no such mechanism is possible on more general domains.Comment: Extended abstract accepted to SAGT 2016. This ArXiv version corrects
typos in the proofs of Theorem 7 and Claims 28-29 of prior ArXiv versio
Emergence of Anti-Cancer Drug Resistance: Exploring the Importance of the Microenvironmental Niche via a Spatial Model
Practically, all chemotherapeutic agents lead to drug resistance. Clinically,
it is a challenge to determine whether resistance arises prior to, or as a
result of, cancer therapy. Further, a number of different intracellular and
microenvironmental factors have been correlated with the emergence of drug
resistance. With the goal of better understanding drug resistance and its
connection with the tumor microenvironment, we have developed a hybrid
discrete-continuous mathematical model. In this model, cancer cells described
through a particle-spring approach respond to dynamically changing oxygen and
DNA damaging drug concentrations described through partial differential
equations. We thoroughly explored the behavior of our self-calibrated model
under the following common conditions: a fixed layout of the vasculature, an
identical initial configuration of cancer cells, the same mechanism of drug
action, and one mechanism of cellular response to the drug. We considered one
set of simulations in which drug resistance existed prior to the start of
treatment, and another set in which drug resistance is acquired in response to
treatment. This allows us to compare how both kinds of resistance influence the
spatial and temporal dynamics of the developing tumor, and its clonal
diversity. We show that both pre-existing and acquired resistance can give rise
to three biologically distinct parameter regimes: successful tumor eradication,
reduced effectiveness of drug during the course of treatment (resistance), and
complete treatment failure
Anchoring Bias in Online Voting
Voting online with explicit ratings could largely reflect people's
preferences and objects' qualities, but ratings are always irrational, because
they may be affected by many unpredictable factors like mood, weather, as well
as other people's votes. By analyzing two real systems, this paper reveals a
systematic bias embedding in the individual decision-making processes, namely
people tend to give a low rating after a low rating, as well as a high rating
following a high rating. This so-called \emph{anchoring bias} is validated via
extensive comparisons with null models, and numerically speaking, the extent of
bias decays with interval voting number in a logarithmic form. Our findings
could be applied in the design of recommender systems and considered as
important complementary materials to previous knowledge about anchoring effects
on financial trades, performance judgements, auctions, and so on.Comment: 5 pages, 4 tables, 5 figure
Varespladib and cardiovascular events in patients with an acute coronary syndrome: the VISTA-16 randomized clinical trial
IMPORTANCE: Secretory phospholipase A2(sPLA2) generates bioactive phospholipid products implicated in atherosclerosis. The sPLA2inhibitor varespladib has favorable effects on lipid and inflammatory markers; however, its effect on cardiovascular outcomes is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of sPLA2inhibition with varespladib on cardiovascular outcomes. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A double-blind, randomized, multicenter trial at 362 academic and community hospitals in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, India, and North America of 5145 patients randomized within 96 hours of presentation of an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) to either varespladib (n = 2572) or placebo (n = 2573) with enrollment between June 1, 2010, and March 7, 2012 (study termination on March 9, 2012). INTERVENTIONS: Participants were randomized to receive varespladib (500 mg) or placebo daily for 16 weeks, in addition to atorvastatin and other established therapies. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary efficacy measurewas a composite of cardiovascular mortality, nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI), nonfatal stroke, or unstable angina with evidence of ischemia requiring hospitalization at 16 weeks. Six-month survival status was also evaluated. RESULTS: At a prespecified interim analysis, including 212 primary end point events, the independent data and safety monitoring board recommended termination of the trial for futility and possible harm. The primary end point occurred in 136 patients (6.1%) treated with varespladib compared with 109 patients (5.1%) treated with placebo (hazard ratio [HR], 1.25; 95%CI, 0.97-1.61; log-rank P = .08). Varespladib was associated with a greater risk of MI (78 [3.4%] vs 47 [2.2%]; HR, 1.66; 95%CI, 1.16-2.39; log-rank P = .005). The composite secondary end point of cardiovascular mortality, MI, and stroke was observed in 107 patients (4.6%) in the varespladib group and 79 patients (3.8%) in the placebo group (HR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.02-1.82; P = .04). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In patients with recent ACS, varespladib did not reduce the risk of recurrent cardiovascular events and significantly increased the risk of MI. The sPLA2inhibition with varespladib may be harmful and is not a useful strategy to reduce adverse cardiovascular outcomes after ACS. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01130246. Copyright 2014 American Medical Association. All rights reserved
Selected acute phase CSF factors in ischemic stroke: findings and prognostic value
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Study aimed at investigation of pathogenic role and prognostic value of several selected cerebrospinal fluid acute phase factors that can reflect the severity of ischemic brain damage.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Ninety five acute ischemic stroke patients were investigated. Ischemic region visualized at the twenty fourth hour by conventional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Stroke severity evaluated by National Institute Health Stroke Scale. One month outcome of disease was assessed by Barthel Index. Cerebrospinal fluid was taken at the sixth hour of stroke onset. CSF pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines were studied by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay. Nitric Oxide and Lipoperoxide radical were measured by Electron Paramagnetic Resonance. CSF Nitrate levels were detected using the Griess reagent. Statistics performed by SPSS-11.0.</p> <p><b>Results</b></p> <p>At the sixth hour of stroke onset, cerebrospinal fluid cytokine levels were elevated in patients against controls. Severe stroke patients had increased interleukin-6 content compared to less severe strokes (P < 0.05). Cerebrospinal fluid Electron Paramagnetic Resonance signal of nitric oxide was increased in patients against controls. Severe stroke group had an elevated Electron Paramagnetic Resonance signal of lipoperoxiradical compared to less severe stroke. Cerebrospinal fluid nitrate levels in less severe stroke patients were higher than those for severe stroke and control. Positive correlation was established between the initial interleukin-6 content and ischemic lesion size as well as with National Institute Health Stroke Scale score on the seventh day. Initial interleukin-6 and nitrate levels in cerebrospinal fluid found to be significant for functional outcome of stroke at one month.</p> <p><b>Conclusion</b></p> <p>According to present study the cerebrospinal fluid contents of interleukin-6 and nitrates seem to be the most reliable prognostic factors in acute phase of ischemic stroke.</p
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