Outstanding Family Research Articles

Albert Feng: father, friend, scientist, innovator (1944-2021).

Albert S.-H. Feng was an outstanding family man and brilliant scientist, with a creative mind, a gift for dealing with people of all types, and a warm, personable demeanor. He was blessed with many talents, making him a sought-after colleague and collaborator. His love for people and travel took him to many destinations around the world where he studied the neuroethology of frog and bat communication both in the field and in the lab. He has made many fundamental contributions to our understanding of the vertebrate auditory system. These include characterizing the "delay-tuned" neurons in the bat midbrain underlying target detection, and in discovering several terrestrial amphibians in which the upper limit of hearing extends well into the ultrasonic range, forever changing our long-held perception of frogs as "low-frequency animals".

An efficient and stable lead-free organic–inorganic tin iodide perovskite for photovoltaic device: Progress and challenges

Hybrid halide perovskites are an outstanding family of materials for a wide range of optoelectronic applications due to their unique optical and electrical properties. Lead-based chemicals, which are harmful to the environment, are used to attain high power conversion efficiency. Here, carried out the modeling and simulation for fundamental and photovoltaic analysis of a non-toxic formamidinium tin iodide [HC(NH2)2SnI 3] perovskite, via the first-principles method executed in WIEN-2K code with WC-GGA potential. Direct energy bandgap 1.34 eV (at symmetry point R), Optical (dielectric constants, refractive index, absorption coefficient), Elastic parameters (Pugh ratio B/G ∼ 2.21, anisotropic index A ∼ 0.54) reveals that FASnI 3 have a semiconductor nature and have broader visible absorption spectrum with mechanically stable. For the performance of photovoltaic device simulation, the AMPS-1D (Analysis of Microelectronic and Photonic Structures-one dimensional) have been used. The essential absorbance parameters, such as band gap, defect density, thickness, doping concentration, and operating temperature have been used. Furthermore, Electron transport layer (ETL) and Hole transport layer (HTL) like as, ZnO/ZnTe/ZnSe/ZnS/CdS have been investigated and calculated efficiencies are 25.3/24.2/24.4/18.1/22.5%, respectively. Additionally, for calculation of photovoltaic efficiency, the Spectroscopic Limited maximum Efficiency (SLME) metric has been used and computed efficiency is 28.37% at room temperature with 300 nm thickness. The present research offers a new perspective; which is of great impact as far as enhancement of the quality of crystallization of perovskite-based on the tin and involving the improvement of the performance of non-toxic perovskite solar cells (PSCs).

Recent Advances of Poly(ester amide)s-Based Biomaterials.

Biodegradable and biocompatible biomaterials have offered much more opportunities from an engineering standpoint for treating diseases and maintaining health. Poly(ester amide)s (PEAs), as an outstanding family among such biomaterials, have risen overwhelmingly in the past decades. These synthetic polymers have easily and widely available raw materials and a diversity of synthetic approaches, which have attracted considerable attention. More importantly, combining the superiorities of polyamides and polyesters, PEAs have emerged with better functions. They could have improved biodegradability, biocompatibility, and cell-material interactions. The PEAs derived from α-amino acids even allow the introduction of pendant sites for further modification or functionalization. Meanwhile, it is gradually recognized that the chemical structures are closely related to the physiochemical and biological properties of PEAs so that their properties can be precisely controlled. PEAs therefore become significant materials in the biomedical fields. This review will attempt to summarize the recent progress in the development of PEAs with respect to the preparation materials and methods, structure-property relationships along with their latest biomedical accomplishments, especially for drug delivery and tissue engineering.

Career Profile of the Soviet Scholar: Ričardas Mironas (1908–1979)

The present article gives a survey of R. Mironas academic career based upon archive material kept in the Vilnius university library and in the Martynas Mažvydas National Library. R. Mironas’ egodocuments are published for the first time. They help to understand the contemporary situation in the institutions of high education and the constant ideological constraint felt by the academic staff.R. Mironas is the only one among the Lithuanian classicists whose name is rarely spoken, according to the dictum nil, nisi bene. It is not much written about him untill the present day, in spite of the fact that Mironas was one of of the most gifted and colourful personalities. He is regarded as one of the beginners of the Oriental studies in Lithuania. R. Mironas was born to an outstanding family; none of his colleagues could make a similar boast. After the Russian occupation he did not leave Lithuania like most of the Lithuanian intellectuals and in 1944 started teaching at Kaunas university. He made his choice to become a social climber from the very beginning of the occupation. He made a spectacular academic caree due to his ability to adapt to the ideological requirements and to easily change his creed on demand.

Phytosociological Survey of Sugarcane Crop Weeds in Different Agroecological Areas in Tucumán Province, Argentina

ABSTRACT: Weeds constitute the main constraint on the productivity of sugarcane agroecosystems in Argentina. This work aimed to analyze the floristic and phytosociological composition of sugarcane weed communities in different agroecological areas in Tucumán. Fifteen plots from each area were sampled 60 to 90 days after crop shooting, by throwing a 0.5 m x 0.5 m quadrat metallic frame six times in random directions in each of the plots. Species found within the frame were identified. Later, fresh and dry biomass weight were calculated per quadrat sample and species. Frequency, density, dominance, importance value index, Shannon-Wiener and Simpson species diversity index and Jaccard similarity index were calculated. The unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) was used to interpret similarity. Overall, 35 species were identified, 24 of which were dicotyledons and 11 monocotyledons. Eighteen of them were annual species, versus 17 which were perennial. Considering IVI, the most outstanding families were Poaceae, Cyperaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Amaranthaceae and Asteraceae. The results obtained in all the areas revealed the importance of the species Panicum maximum, Sorghum halepense, Cyperus rotundus, Cynodon dactylon and Euphorbia hyssopifolia. The areas with greater and less diversity were the Depressed Plain-Non-Saline Depressed Plain Subregion and the Subhumid-Humid Chaco-Pampean Plain, respectively. There was a 53% similarity between the Depressed Plain-Saline Depressed Plain and the Depressed Plain-Non-Saline Depressed Plain, and a 47% similarity between the Humid and Perhumid Foothills and the Subhumid-Humid Chaco-Pampean Plain. Hierarchical clustering and Jaccard index led to similar results.

Cacao families and parents selected as resistant to natural infection of Moniliophthora perniciosa

The known sources of resistance to witches' broom (WB), a severe disease of cacao, are limited. Aiming to identify families and parents resistant to Moniliophthora perniciosa, a population of 22 families was evaluated by assessing the number of brooms formed per tree during 10 years under field conditions. The population was established in randomized blocks with three replications of 12 plants each. Significant differences were observed among families. The most outstanding families were NA33 x RB39 and RB39 x P4B, which presented the lowest WB incidence during 10 years. The increase in natural field infection of Scavina clones families and their descendants were clearly demonstrated after 2006. The existence of additive effects for resistance appears clearly for families, which had other source of resistance associated with Scavina. Clones RB39, RB36, P4B, NA33 and CSUL3 are promising parents for pyramiding resistance genes and increasing the stability and durability of resistance to WB.

THOUGHTS AND THEMES FROM THE 2016 ADFM WINTER MEETING

Are we Luddites? How can we “recalibrate”? What is a more pressing need in our Departments than producing outstanding family doctors? How can we bring joy back to clinical practice? These questions are a few among many that stimulated our thinking during ADFM’s 2016 Annual Winter meeting. A

«Угол рая неподалеку от Москвы…» Усадьбы «Боблово», «Шахматово», «Тараканово» в Солнечногорском и Клинском районах

The article is devoted to the professional activities of woman family members of the Beketovs and their contribution to the Russian culture and education. The family owned the estate in the suburbs «Shakhmatovo», which is considered to be the spiritual home of Alexander Blok. It>s a cultural thing, «nest» from which, in the figurative expression ofS. Solovyov (second cousin of the poet), «the swan flew the new Russian poetry». The article describes the legacy left by the descendants of Elizabeth, Ekaterina, Maria Beketovs, Sofya and Alexandra Kublitskaya-Piottukh´s. This article contains information about the epistolary heritage of the family of Alexander Blok and the Beketovs with outstanding Russian scientists and writers.
 
 From the estate of Captain Tarakanov are related important events in the life of Alexander Blok. Here, in the church of the Archangel Michael held his wedding with Lyubov Mendeleeva as reflected in the work of the poet. The article lists the artifacts stored in the estate and nearby museum institutions associated with this outstanding family.

Identificação molecular e fenotípica de bactérias de solo rizosférico com tolerância ao fungicida Mancozeb, em Manaus, Estado do Amazonas, Brasil

A utilizacao de fungicidas na agricultura tem se intensificado, causando grande impacto nos solos e na biota em que eles se encontram. A presenca desses compostos no solo vem acarretando modificacoes no comportamento dos microrganismos, que passaram a adquirir estrategias de sobrevivencia a presenca desses produtos. O Mancozeb e um fungicida do grupo dos carbamatos, cuja acao pelo contato inativa as enzimas essenciais dos fungos. Os objetivos deste trabalho foram: isolar bacterias de solo; caracterizar os isolados com ensaios bioquimicos e ferramentas moleculares; obter o crescimento dos isolados em meio minimo acrescido do fungicida; e estabelecer uma colecao de bacterias com potencial de biorremediacao. As bacterias foram isoladas a partir de tecnicas de isolamento em dois meios de cultura diferentes: meio minimo e meio Bushneel Haas acrescidos de 3,6 gL-1 de Mancozeb. Realizou-se a identificacao por meio da caracterizacao fenotipica, utilizando-se de ensaios bioquimicos para determinar o genero e identificacao molecular pelo emprego do sequenciamento da regiao 16S, com os iniciadores 1492R, 513F, os quais amplificam 1.000 pares de base. Os 11 isolados de bacterias foram identificados em quatro familias, quatro generos e 11 especies. A familia Bacillaceae foi a mais representativa, com 81,81% dos isolados. Esses ensaios permitiram verificar a tolerância das bacterias isoladas em concentracoes superiores as usadas em campo para o controle de pragas. A colecao de microrganismos decorrentes da realizacao dessa pesquisa podera servir para estudos futuros envolvendo a biodegradacao de xenobioticos.

Succession in the Family Business: Challenges for Successors from an Entrepreneurial Perspective

Kronmann Wholesale and Retail is an outstanding family business with more than 300 years of history. This teaching case tells the story of two cousins who follow their fathers into a business full of tradition. The case gives students the opportunity to gain insights into the complex succession process of family businesses, as well as the challenges with which successors are confronted in the course of family business succession.

Monte Carlo methods in diameter-constrained reliability

A classical requirement in the design of communication networks is that all entities must be connected. In a network where links may fail, the connectedness probability is called all-terminal reliability. The model is suitable for FTTH services, where link failures are unpredictable. In real scenarios, terminals must be connected by a limited number of hops. Therefore, we study the Diameter-Constrained Reliability (DCR). We are given a simple graph G=(V,E), a subset K⊆V of terminals, a diameter d and independent failure probabilities q=1−p for each link. The goal is to find the probability RK,Gd that all terminals remain connected by paths composed by d hops or less. The general DCR computation is NP-Hard, and the target probability is a polynomial in p.In this paper we study the DCR metric. It connects reliability with quality, and should be considered in the design of the physical layer in FTTH services together with connectivity requirements. We include a full discussion of the computational complexity of the DCR as a function of the number of terminals k=|K| and diameter d. Then, we find efficient DCR computation for Monma graphs, an outstanding family of topologies from robust network design. The computation suggests corollaries that enrich the subset of instances that accept efficient DCR computation.Inspired in its NP-Hardness, we introduce two approximation algorithms in order to find the DCR in general. The first one estimates the target polynomial counting special subgraphs. The second finds pointwise estimations of the polynomial using conditioned-Monte Carlo, and applies Newton׳s interpolation followed by a rounding stage of the coefficients.The performance of both methods is discussed on the lights of Complete, Harary and Monma graphs. In order to study scalability, we analytically find the diameter-constrained reliability of a series–parallel graph with 44 nodes and 72 links. The results suggest that our counting implementation outperforms the interpolation technique, and is scalable as well. Open problems and trends for future work are included in the conclusions.

Modern methods for genetic improvement of Trifolium pratense.

This review focuses on trends in genetic improvement of a significant representative forage crop, Trifolium pratense (red clover) classified taxonomically into the agronomically outstanding family Fabaceae. Red clover breeding is aimed at improving traits like persistency, resistance to biotic and abiotic factors, forage yield and quality characteristics such as protein quality and stability. Isoflavone content in forage is important for cattle reproduction. Interspecific hybridization of red clover with the related wild species T. medium was used for the introgression of useful traits into red clover. The breeding strategy for the new variety Pramedi included hybrid plants with different DNA contents, repeated backcrosses with red clover, followed by family selection. New techniques of molecular genetics are becoming available to breeders for transferring key and complex traits into improved red clover varieties. Techniques such as marker-assisted selection and candidate gene identification can increase the speed and precision with which traits may be selected. Comparative sequence data analyses helped to identify genes for polyphenol oxidase enzymes and isoflavone synthase in red clover useful for DNA genotyping of individuals and breeding of improved high-quality red clover varieties.

Development of the Family Medicine Milestones

In the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Next Accreditation System (NAS), evaluation of performance on educational Milestones will be used for resident assessment and feedback and will also serve as an indicator of the educational effectiveness of family medicine residency programs. The Family Medicine Milestone Committee developed the Milestones for family medicine with the goal of characterizing the breadth, depth, and integrative functions of the specialty in an understandable and manageable context for both residents and faculty. In developing the Milestones, the committee attempted to minimize duplication across competencies and sought to highlight family physicians' relationships with their patients by integrating the biopsychosocial model, population, and community health and by working in health care teams. The committee also felt it was important to emphasize the fact that family physicians must have the skills to deal with the complexity of patients and the health care system, as well as demonstrate the thinking skills critical to managing both the complexity and often the uncertainty over the course of an illness and over a patient's lifespan, particularly for chronic disease.

Cristianos nuevos de origen ibérico en el Reino de Nápoles en el siglo XVII

In 1541, in the Kingdom of Naples, the Jews were expelled or converted to Christianity resulting in an important community of New Christians that flourished and remained until the mid-17 th . During a process of social assimilation and consequently dissolution, a significant number of the members of the community was subject to the Roman Inquisition. The faith trials reveal how complex the community composition was, linked mainly to two outstanding families: the Vaaz, of Portuguese origin, and the Vargas, natives of the Kingdom of Aragon. These families had acquired feudal properties, nobility titles and preeminent positions in magistracy, attributes which placed them among those who held effective power. But the community included more humble families and individuals as well. Internal conflicts led to a break in solidarity and inquisitors took advantage of lack of protection by judging and imposing severe sentences reserved for the Crypto-Jews.

Plantas daninhas em ilhas de vegetação em processo de regeneração natural

Neste trabalho é apresentada a composição florística e estrutural de ilhas de vegetação de um inselberg do Vale do Moxuara, localizado no município de Cariacica-Espírito Santo, onde avaliou-se a riqueza das ilhas de vegetação está relacionada com seu tamanho e com a profundidade do solo. Foram avaliadas 45 ilhas de vegetação para estimativa dos parâmetros fitossociológicos necessários às análises. Foram encontradas 53 espécies de plantas vasculares, pertencentes a 24 famílias e 48 gêneros. As famílias com maior representatividade foram Poaceae, com sete espécies, seguida de Asteraceae, Malvaceae e Fabaceae, com seis espécies cada. Plantas daninhas representaram 39,6% da flora inventariada e 25,5% da cobertura vegetal das ilhas. As espécies com maior frequência e cobertura relativa foram Selaginella convoluta e Anemia tomentosa. A regressão múltipla não se mostrou significativa, o que foi discutido considerando o papel inibidor de espécies daninhas.

Review of The Epothilones: An Outstanding Family of Anti-Tumor Agents. From Soil to the Clinic

Review of The Epothilones: An Outstanding Family of Anti-Tumor Agents. From Soil to the Clinic

Star Mesogens (Hekates)—Tailor‐Made Molecules for Programming Supramolecular Functionality

This concept article focuses on the simplest branched liquid crystalline (LC) molecules--the three-armed mesogens with arms symmetrically linked to the core. They are basic but fascinating mesogens for the exploration of self-assembling processes into complex, functional, soft materials. Quite a large number of elements of diversity provide the possibility to synthetically program such star-shaped molecules and to control phase formation, if aggregation processes are fully understood. Recently, ABC-cores opened the way to non-symmetric mesogens and, therefore, to the concept of multifunctional materials with defined nanostructures. In the article this outstanding family of mesogens is classified, their peculiar molecular structure and self-assembly are discussed and potential applications are presented, in which this type of mesogen may be beneficial.

Simultaneous observation of families and accompanied air showers at Mt. Chacaltaya.

Simultaneous observations of families and accompanied air showers with emulsion chambers and the air shower array of electronic equipment at Mt. Chacaltaya (5200 m, 540 g/${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$) reveal that families bear the data of nuclear interactions generated deep in the atmosphere. 47 outstanding families with \ensuremath{\Sigma}${\mathit{E}}_{\ensuremath{\gamma}}$\ensuremath{\ge}10 TeV are correlated with the accompanied air showers of the size ${10}^{5}$--${10}^{8}$. A scatter plot of the average family energy versus the size of the relative air shower requires further energy fractionizing process(es) in the propagation of high energy cosmic rays in the atmosphere, such as a larger dissipative mechanism in nuclear interaction, heavier chemical composition of the primary cosmic rays, etc. We reach the conclusion that nuclear interaction changes its features in the energy region ${\mathit{E}}_{0}$\ensuremath{\gtrsim}${10}^{16}$ eV, because the heavier composition, proposed so far, is not sufficient for the required dissipative process. A comparison with the data from the HADRON experiment at a similar altitude with a similar technique shows that no larger deviations are present between both experiments. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.

A graduate programme for academic family physicians.

The paper describes a graduate studies programme designed to prepare outstanding family physicians for academic leadership and reports an evaluation of the programme. The programme aims to produce academic family physicians who exhibit certain qualities: outstanding clinical skills, professional interest in the organization and transmission of knowledge, and a scholarly approach through research and skills of leadership. The course includes clinical and teaching practice, formal course work and a scholarly thesis; the emphasis is on teaching and learning, theoretical foundations of family medicine, whole person medicine, research design and techniques, ethical decision making, and administration of organizations. A survey of the first 30 graduates of the programme indicated that the majority did more clinical teaching, small group teaching, research, writing and administration than before the course. The graduates' opinions of the programme indicated the extent to which the programme goals have been met; to provide a coherent learning experience integrating the art, science and technology of the discipline of family medicine.

Echocardiographic study of Marfan's syndrome.

Based on an echocardiographic study of a series of 52 patients with Marian’s syndrome, we found that the echocardiographic characteristic of Marfan’s syndrome was marked dilatation of aortic root with or without mitral valve prolapse. 48 cases (92.3%) in this series were found to have aortic root enlargement, 11 of which were associated with mitral valve prolapse. This finding suggested that marked dilatation of aortic root should be an important diagnostic picture of Marfan’s syndrome. Echocardiogram enhanced significantly the detection rate of cardiovascular defects, so it is helpful in observation of outstanding family tendency toward involvement of different organ-systems in different families in Marfan’s syndrome.