This investigation intends to establish an experimental test platform for a small vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT), which is installed on the rooftop of a building. The experiment platform designed here is flexible and suitable for executing the systematic performance evaluation on different types of VAWT. By utilizing the data acquisition system (DAQ), all environmental information and power data from sensors and generator on the platform are recorded and transferred to the computer automatically. Later, these analogy signals are transformed to digital format for transmitting into computer. Also, with the aids of a visual software programming within the framework of Labview, the real-time monitoring on the input/output parameters of generator and the wind condition on the rooftop can be accomplished simultaneously. Afterwards, the data processing and in-depth analysis on the experimental outcomes are carried out via the established computer program. Consequently, the on-site performance of the wind turbine generator system is attained in an automatic and systematic manner. Moreover, to ensure for providing sufficient data and its accuracy, statistic concept is enforced to judge whether the test data are qualified or not in the data-processing procedure. Regarding the safety evaluation on this test platform, the numerical models of the wind turbine and platform are analyzed numerically via ANSYS Workbench to obtain the force exerting on the main shaft and blades. This force distribution can be analyzed for checking if they can stand and meet the safety criterion under various wind speeds. In summary, together with the data-acquisition software programmed under the framework of Labview, this experimental system can provide the capability for monitoring, recording, and filtering these test data in an rigor manner, and is appropriate for executing the R&D and performance evaluation on different VAWTs.Copyright © 2010 by ASME


The use of column-like elements for improving both the settlement performance and bearing capacity of foundations constructed over soft soils is well understood for large groups of columns supporting an infinitely wide load, such as embankments and slabs. However, little is still understood for lightly loaded, low-rise structures supported by pad foundations constructed on a finite number of stone columns, particularly when a crust layer is present at the top of the soft soil. In this study, a comprehensive 3D finite element analysis is used to investigate the influence of key design parameters, such as column spacing, column length, footing shape, and the presence of a crust layer, on the settlement behavior of stone columns to support shallow foundations. The results show that the modeling of a well-characterized soft soil profile predicts well the long-term settlement using both drained and undrained analyses. It was found that the presence of a stiff crust layer has a significant influence on the deformational mode of the stone columns which is not captured by laboratory modeling.


Two studies used random sample surveys to test the "contact hypothesis" on intergroup attitudes of Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. In Study 1, archival data from two different surveys in 1989 (N = 310 Catholics, 422 Protestants) and 1991 (N = 319 Catholics, 478 Protestants) showed that contact was positively related to attitudes toward denominational mixing. Study 2 (N = 391 Catholics, 647 Protestants) explored predictors of intergroup forgiveness, and also showed that intergroup contact was positively related to outgroup attitudes, perspective-taking, and trust (even among those who had a worse experience of sectarian conflict). These studies indicate that research in peace psychology can provide a deeper understanding of the conflict in Northern Ireland and, in due course, contribute to its resolution.


The differences of water content and shear force value in different parts muscle meat form different ages Alashan camel were investigated, and compared it with beef, lamb. The direct drying method and the texture analyzer method were mainly used. Water content and shear force value of the forelegs and hind leg muscle meat and longissimus muscle at the age of 3, 5, 8, 11 and 13 years old Alashan Bactrian camel were respectively measured and analyzed. The results show that, shear force value of Alashan Bactrian camel meat was between 5.5~12.8(kg), differences of shear force value between in different ages were significant(P0.05), except differences in 11 years and 13 years old. And meat shear force increases with the growth of the age, the differences of shear force value of the three parts were significant(P0.05), and the shear force value of longissimus muscle were significantly lower than the foreleg and hind leg muscle. Water contents in muscle meat were 68.24%~78.62%, it showed that the older of camel, the lower water content in meat, and the differences of the three parts of the water content were significant(P0.05), water contents of hind leg muscle meat are higher than the hind leg meat, the foreleg muscle were higher than the longissimus muscle meat. Water content and shear force value of 3, 5 and 8 years old camel were compared with 24 months beef and 12 months lamb, The water content of 3 years old camel meat was higher than beef and mutton, and the shear force value is lower, muscle shear force values after the age of 5 are higher than beef and lamb, the differences of shear force values and water content were significant(P0.05).


Al-Quds University won "The most civically engaged campus" prize at Ma'an Second Annual Regional Competition.
This regional competition aims to identify universities across the Arab region that exemplify a dedication to civic responsibility and promote a culture of effective and meaningful giving in the communities in which they exist and serve.
"The most civically engaged university campus" competition acknowledges the efforts and amplify the voices of civil society leaders, providing them with a platform to share their endeavors with specialists in the field.


The objective of this study was to determine the effect on the levels of junior high school students' attitude towards mathematics and technology as well as their mathematics achievement after being exposed to geometry activities using the dynamic software, the Geometer's Sketchpad. Data collected were analyzed using mean, percentage, standard deviation and t-test for paired observations. Results revealed that junior high school students' attitude towards mathematics and technology gained a relative increase as influenced by the usage of the Geometer's Sketchpad. Furthermore, the Geometer's Sketchpad showed a positive impact on students' achievement in Geometry as indicated in the increase of their posttest scores. The researcher then recommends that mathematics teachers may consider utilizing technological tools like the Geometer's Sketchpad in discussing lessons in Geometry and other mathematics subjects to improve not only their students' mathematics achievement but also for students' attitude towards mathematics and technology.


Sentiment analysis plays a key role in prediction systems, data mining systems. Twitter, one of the micro blogging platforms allows a limit of 140 characters to its users. This restriction stimulates users to be very precise about their opinion and twitter has large number of sentiments to analyze. Twitter also provides developer friendly streaming API for data retrieval purpose allowing the analyst to search real time tweets from various users. In this paper, we discuss the state-of-art of the works which are focused on Twitter, the online social network platform, for sentiment analysis. The benefit of using this social networking platform is that it helps the higher authorities or decision making authorities to decide their stand on any topic be it any economic reform or be it any social reform. Social media analysis is a budding field in every IT industry now a days because of tis reason. The paper initially discusses about the different approaches that can be used to perform sentiment analysis followed by some illustrations as evidence for each approach mentioned in the paper. The paper also discusses the different areas where different sentiment analysis approaches can be use followed by the results associated with each of the approaches.


The analogue irregular objects digitizing non-contact method is offered in order to automate virtual models reconstruction. The original Compact Video Digitizing System is described to carry out video digitizing method. Both the irregular objects video digitizing process principle scheme and mathematical modelling are considered too. In order to provide irregular products manufacturing most effective the application of offered video digitizing method is shown in Objects Recursive Creation Computer Technology. This technology is realized by Compact Reverse Engineering System.


Declining nutrient densities of crops in the past 50–70 years have been attributed to unsound agricultural practices and plant breeding focus on yield rather than quality. Few studies have quantified the soil and nutritional quality of grains in organic and conventional farms and reported results are scarce and inconsistent. The Rodale Institute's Farming Systems Trial (FST) was established in 1981 to quantify the effects of long-term organic and conventional grain cropping systems and tillage practices. A 2014 study to quantify effects on the nutrient density of oat grains was integrated into three systems within the long-term trial: organic manure-based (MNR), organic legume-based (LEG), and conventional synthetic input-based (CNV), split between tilled (T) and no-till (NT) practices. Oat grains with hulls removed were analyzed for minerals (n = 24), vitamins (n = 24), amino acids (n = 24) and proteins (n = 24), while soil samples to a depth of 10 cm were analyzed for elemental minerals, and total carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S). Organic systems increased six out ten soil minerals whose concentrations were influenced by cropping systems: aluminum (Al), iron (Fe), chromium (Cr), calcium (Ca), barium (B) and strontium (Sr). All essential amino acids were greater in oat grains under LEG systems compared with other systems except lysine, histidine and methionine. Both LEG systems also increased 12 out of 13 non-essential amino acids in oat grains. Total oat N, C and S required for amino acid synthesis tended to be greater in organic systems. Soil N, C and S were highly correlated with total oat amino acids under organic systems compared to CNV. Organic LEG had significantly greater vitamin B1 than MNR and CNV. These results suggest that nutrient concentrations of oat grains were greater in organic systems compared to CNV systems, and the increase could be partially explained by the long-term soil management differences between the systems.


For a single‐time approximation of the type discussed by Woodcock and Havas [Phys. Rev. D 6, 3422 (1972)] applied to particle‐asymmetric Poincare‐invariant variational principles (VPs) of the Fokker type, a method is presented for expressing approximately relativistic Lagrangians (ARLs) to any order in c−1 in a form such that coefficients of functions of the instantaneous three‐separation rij are either particle symmetric or antisymmetric. These functions of rij are determined solely by the corresponding particle symmetric or antisymmetric parts of the exactly relativistic kernel of the VP describing two‐body interactions of N classical point particles. While the exact kernel involving the particles' four‐separations and four‐velocities is particle asymmetric, the built‐in static Newtonian limit is particle symmetric. Using this method to reformulate previously published ARLs to order c−3 makes it obvious that a sufficient condition for acceleration‐free ARLs to order c−3 is that the kernel of the exact n...


Two adaptive approaches for nonstationary filtering of image sequences are presented and experimentally compared. According to the first approach, a recursive spatio-temporal motion- compensated (MC) estimator is applied to the noisy sequence that adapts to the local spatial and temporal signal activity. A separable 3-D estimator is proposed that consists of three coupled 1-D estimators; its input is the noisy image plus additional signals that contain spatial information provided by a simple edge-detector or temporal information provided by the MC backward difference (registration error). The steady-state gain and the parameters of this separable estimator are computed by closed form formulae, thus allowing a very efficient implementation. According to the second approach, the noisy signal is first decomposed into a stationary and a nonstationary part based on an estimate of its local mean and deviation. A minimum variance estimator of the local mean and deviation of the observed signal is used. After the current mean is subtracted from the observed signal and the signal is normalized by using the current deviation, a relatively simple noise filter is used for filtering the stationary part. The above methods are applied to the filtering of noisy video-conference image sequences for various levels of noise. Both methods show a very satisfactory performance taking into consideration their simplicity and computational efficiency.


ARTICLE INFO A total of 220 random meat samples of different animal species were collected from 50 carcasses consisting 10 carcasses from each of beef, buffalo, camel, sheep and goat, as well20 frozen beef samples. Each carcass represented by four cut samples from neck, shoulder, abdomen and thigh. All samples were collected from random retail and butchers' shops ofBeni-Suef governorate to assess their microbiological status and compare the levels of contamination among animal species and carcass cuts. This study showed and compared the means of counts (CFU/g) of total aerobicbacteria (mesophilic count and psychrophilic count), coliforms,fecal coliforms,Escherichia coli,Staphylococcusaureus in each of beef, buffalo, camel, sheep and goat carcasses and imported frozen beef as well. Beside the incidence of E.coli, Salmonellaspp, and coagulase positive Staphylococcus aureus. The obtained results clarified that the examined beef, buffalo and mutton samples were more contaminated than those of other kinds of meat. The results were discussed from the hygienic point of view and compared with the national and international standards to assess their reliability for consumption. Article history:


Abstract THE egg production and marketing industry is in fair agreement with the user of table eggs in what should be recognized as desirable culinary qualities. Agreement of investigators and the industry is far from good regarding what are desirable qualities in eggs to be used for baking. Some evidence has been presented and, indeed, interpreted to indicate that certain characteristics which seem desirable for eggs for table use are of little value, or even undesirable, in eggs to be used for baking purposes. It is generally recognized that an egg which breaks out with its yolk well centered and embedded in considerable quantities of firm albumen is far more attractive for table purposes than one which lacks these characteristics. Hunt and St. John (1931) have shown that, under the experimental conditions they employed, angel food cakes from the thin portion of egg white were larger in volume than angel food . . .


Industrial automation systems are under evolution that heterogeneous devices are cooperating with each other to provide self-management on the shop floor. The interconnected and intelligence-enabled distributed automation systems form Industrial Cyber-Physical System. In Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems, implementations from various vendors largely reduce reusability and interoperability. A system-level executable modeling language is compulsory for industrial cyber-physical systems for providing rapid design and development. The IEC 61499 standard with common interface function blocks provides a generic system-level modeling language. In this paper, distributed motion control applications are modeled using IEC 61499 function blocks to simplify the design process. TODO.


Kunapipi 21 (1) 1999 Full Version. This full issue is available in Kunapipi: https://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi/vol21/iss1/1 6 6 6 1 l ~ 3 9 W f 1 N I X X 3 W f 1 1 0 A \ 1 / l d l d V N i l > I Kunapipi is a tri-annual arts magazine with special but not exclusive emphasis on the new literatures written in :English. It aims to fulfil the requirements T.S. Eliot believed a journahhould have!.to introduce the work of new or little known writers of talent, to provide criti'cal evaluation of the work of hvmg authors, both famous .and unknown, and to be truly international. It publishes creative material and criticism. Articles and reviews on related historical and sociological topics plus film wjll aJso be included as well as graphics and photographs. l •· '' • ' . • • The editor invites creative and scholarly contributions. The editorial board does not necessarily endorse any political views expressed by its contributors Manuscripts should be double-spaced with footnotes gathered at the end, should conform to the MHRA (Modern Humanities Research Assoctation) Style Sheet. Wherever possible the submission should be on disc (soft-ware preferably Word for Windows, Wordperfect or Macwrite saved for PC on PC formatted disc) and should be accompanied by a hard copy, please include a short biography, address and email contact if available. Kunapipi is an internationally refereed journal of post-colonial literature formally acknowledged by the Australian National Library. Work published in Kunapipi is cited in The journal of Commonwealth Literature's Annual Bibliography (UK), The Year's Work in English Studies (UK), The American journal of African Literature (USA), The Grahamstown Information journal (SA), Australian Literary Studies, The Indian Association for Commonwealth Studies (India), The New Straits Times (Indonesia) & The Australian Public Affairs Information Service (produced by the National Library of Australia). All correspondencemanuscripts, books for review, enquiries -should be sent to: Kunapipi P.O. Box 20, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, HX7 SUZ, UK email: 106071.365@compuserve .com SUBSCRIPTION RATES FOR 1999: Individuals: 1 year: £20 Institutions: 1 year: £45 Please note that if payment is made in currencies other than £ sterling, £5 must be added to cover banking costs. Cheques made payable to Kunapipi. Please address all subscription enquiries to: Kunapipi P.O. Box 20, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, HX7 SUZ, UK email: email@example.com Copyright© 1999 Dangaroo Press This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act no part may be reproduced without written permission. Enquiries should be


3 See "Pages from the Life of Muriel Broadbent" and the two revised stories, "Pages from the Life of Lucy Newcome" (this title is typed on a slip pasted over the printed title, "The Childhood of Lucy Newcome"), on proof sheets for The Savoy, Dec. I896, pp. 51-61, and an unpublished typescript of 26 leaves, numbered 34-59, untitled in this version, in the Princeton Symons Collection; and letters from Symons to John Quinn, e.g. March 6, 1915, in the John Quinn Collection, Manuscript and Archives Division, New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations, to which I am indebted for permission to cite the correspondence.


OBJECTIVE: To prospectively collect and evaluate the safety data on maternal, fetal, and infant outcomes associated with exposure to fingolimod, immediately before and during pregnancy. BACKGROUND: Fingolimod 0.5 mg once daily, the first sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor modulator, approved for the treatment of relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS) has a well characterized safety profile based on a large clinical trial program in MS and post-marketing experience. However, current data on pregnancy outcomes and effects on the fetus are limited. DESIGN/METHODS: Gilenya Pregnancy Registry is an at least 6-year, multinational, observational registry study. Information on pregnant women exposed to fingolimod is provided to the registry prospectively through healthcare providers. Retrospective cases can be enrolled but will be analyzed separately. Pregnancy and maternal outcomes will be collected during and at the end of pregnancy and infants will be followed up to first year of their life. Reference data for comparison will be retrieved from US Centers for Disease Control, European Surveillance of Congenital Anomalies, published medical literature and other MS registries. RESULTS: As of August 2012, 7 patients have been enrolled in the registry. 6 patients were exposed to fingolimod during their 1st trimester and 2 of them up to 2nd trimester. Information is pending for the remaining patient. 2 of the 7 cases were enrolled prospectively. Known outcome are so far 1 healthy baby and 1 elective termination. The most recent data on maternal exposure to fingolimod and pregnancy outcomes from the registry will be presented. CONCLUSIONS: Reliable safety data from the registry will be useful for treating and counseling women with MS who have been or may be exposed to fingolimod during pregnancy. Supported by: Novartis Pharma AG, Basel, Switzerland. Disclosure: Dr. Geissbuhler has received personal compensation for activities with Novartis as an employee. Dr. Butzkueven has received personal compensation for activities with Biogen Idec, Novartis for scientific advisory boards, from Novartis, CSL (Australia) as a speaker, conference travel support from Biogen Idec, Novartis. Dr. Butzkueven has received research support from Merck Serono, Biogen Idec, Novartis. Dr. Hernandez-Diaz provides consultations to Novartis and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals......Dr. Hernandez-Diaz recieved unrestricted training grants from Pfizer Inc and Novartis for pharmacoepidemiology program at Harvard Dr. Koren has received personal compensation for activities with Novartis. Dr. Koren has received personal compensation in an editorial capacity for Therapeutic Drug Monitoring. Dr. MacDonald has received personal compensation for activities with Pfizer, Novartis, Kaiser Permanante, Takeda, Recordati, Servier, Menarini, NiCox and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals. as a consultant and/or speaker. Dr. Tilson has received personal compensation for activities with global pregnancy and disease registries and Federal Drug Administration, Health Resources and Services Administration and the WHO Collaborating Centres on Drug Safety. Dr. Starzyk has received personal compensation for activities with Novartis. Dr. Plana has received personal compensation for activities with Novartis Pharmaceuticals S.A. as an employee. Dr. Cremer has received personal compensation for activities with Novartis. Dr. Von Rosenstiel has received personal compensation for activities with Novartis. Dr. Anand has received personal compensation for activities with Novartis as an employee. Dr. Schlosshauer has received personal compensation for activities with Novartis Pharma AG as an employee. Dr. Yuanyuan has received personal compensation for activities with Novartis. Dr. Hellwig has received personal compensation for activities with Bayer, Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, Teva, and Novartis. Dr. Hellwig has received research support from Bayer, Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, Novartis and Teva/Sanofi Aventis.


The catalytic activity of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) toward peptides and proteins provides an attractive route for the development of nanozymes for applications in biotechnology and proteomics...


sometimes, if the action of the reagents has been only sufficient o fix the animals, they appear in Canada balsam like living animals. The same method, the author says, has given him perfect results with many infusorians, heliozoans and rhizopods, as well as with Hydra and other fresh water forms. With these animals, however, the narcotization is not necessary, hut the osmic acid should be increased.-F. C. KENYON.


As mask feature size decreases, etch bias control during Cr and shifter etch becomes more critical factor in Embedded Phase Shifter Mask (EPSM) mask making processes. Since the etching characteristics of the shifter materials, Molybdenum Silicide (MoSi), are sensitive to etching surface condition, Critical Dimension (CD) performance of the shifter layer strongly depends on incoming surface condition from Cr etch. In this paper, lateral etch component of MoSi etch was investigated as a function of various substrate conditions so that a new in-situ plasma treatment was suggested to control the CD bias during MoSi etch. The CD performance was characterized within the surface treatment plasmas and also correlated with some plasma parameters and substrate temperature. As a result, it was found that plasma surface modification could be an in-situ technique to better control the shifter CD in EPSM process and an essential option for redundancy tools in mask production environment.


Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is recommended to treat intermediate/advanced stage of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the overall survival among initially TACE‐treated patients varies significantly. The clinical characterization of long‐term survival following TACE remains uncertain. We sought to identify clinical parameters and treatment requirements for long‐term survival among patients with hepatitis B‐related HCC who were initially treated with TACE.


1Illinois School of Architecture, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 2Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 3School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 4Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 5Department of Pediatrics, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria 6Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria 7Department of Emergency Medicine, Stanford Medicine, USA, 8OSF Healthcare Children's Hospital of Illinois, USA, 9Jump Simulation Center, USA, 10OSF Healthcare, USA


Layered rocks in Arabia Terra have been the focus of several recent papers. Studies have focused on the layers found in crater basins located in the southwest portion of the region. However, Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) images have identified layered deposits across the region. Terrestrial layered rocks are usually sedimentary, and often deposited in water. Thus extensive layered sequences in Arabia Terra may indicate locations of past, major depositional basins on Mars. Other mechanisms can also create layered rocks, or the appearance of layered rocks, including volcanism (both lava flows and ash falls), wind-blown deposits, and wave-cut terraces at shorelines. By identifying where in the region layers occur, and classifying the layers according to morphology and albedo, past depositional environments may be identified. Arabia Terra is characterized by heavily cratered Noachian plains, as well as a rise from -4000 m in the northwest to 4000 m in the southeast (Mars Orbital Laser Altimeter [MOLA] datum). This slope may have provided a constraint on sediment deposition and thus layer formation. While most of the region is Noachian in age, a significant percentage of the area is identified as Hesperian. Although the history of the Arabia Terra initially seems to be straightforward cratered plains with several younger units atop them analysis of high-resolution imagery may reveal a more complex history.


The effect of a planar reflector on the pulse performance of a small UWB planar monopole is described. Full electromagnetic simulations were performed and their accuracy was validated through measurements. The results show that the effect of a planar reflector is highly dependent on the distance between the reflector and the antenna. The antenna system was assessed in terms of frequency domain performance and fidelity factor. The manufactured antenna exhibits excellent time domain performance in free space and similar performance for short reflector-antenna separation with a fidelity factor greater than 99% at the recorded orientation.


Summary form only given, as follows. The complete presentation was not made available for publication as part of the conference proceedings. Census 2011 classifies more that 5 million people as visually disabled In India. AssisTech (Assistive Technology) group at IIT Delhi aims to develop technological solutions to address their two key challenges; namely independent mobility and access to education. In this tutorial, we will firstly brief about the challenge of mobility and education for visually impaired people. Solutions addressing these challenges could be developed using embedded sensors or with embedded computer vision. Our existing products like SmartCaneTM and OnBoard are embedded system based solutions and are aimed towards facilitating independent mobility. There have been major advances in vision based techniques including possibility of their implementation on low cost embedded platforms. This has encouraged us to visualize a device named MAVI (Mobility Assistant for Visually Impaired). Objective of MAVI is to create a platform that would be able to provide mobility assistance to a visually impaired person in an unstructured infrastructure of developing countries like India. In this tutorial we will discuss specific challenges and various vision techniques used in MAVI to address the requirements of safety, navigation and social inclusion. Designing a complex system like MAVI presents the designer with numerous choices of algorithms as well as platform/hardware resources. We will discuss the challenges in handling system level design complexities and explain our approach towards design space exploration for such systems. Further, we also observe that existing metrics employed in the literature to assess various vision algorithms are inadequate when it comes to complex systems like MAVI. We also propose the need for system level metrics. Finally, we will demonstrate apart from a MAVI prototype, other devices and solutions developed by the AssisTech group.


In recent years, a paradigm shift has occurred in exoplanet science, wherein low-mass stars are increasingly viewed as a foundational pillar of the search for potentially habitable worlds in the solar neighborhood. However, the formation processes of this rapidly accumulating sample of planet systems are still poorly understood. Moreover, it is unclear whether tenuous primordial atmospheres around these Earth analogs could have survived the intense epoch of heightened stellar activity that is typical for low-mass stars. We present new simulations of in situ planet formation across the M-dwarf mass spectrum, and derive leftover debris populations of small bodies that might source delayed volatile delivery. We then follow the evolution of this debris with high-resolution models of real systems of habitable zone planets around low-mass stars such as TRAPPIST-1, Proxima Centauri, and TOI-700. While debris in the radial vicinity of the habitable zone planets is removed rapidly, thus making delayed volatile delivery highly unlikely, we find that material ubiquitously scattered into an exo-asteroid belt region during the planet-formation process represents a potentially lucrative reservoir of icy small bodies. Thus, the presence of external approximately Neptune–Saturn mass planets capable of dynamically perturbing these asteroids would be a sign that habitable zone worlds around low-mass stars might have avoided complete desiccation. However, we also find that such giant planets significantly limit the efficiency of asteroidal implantation during the planet-formation process. In the coming decade, long-baseline radial velocity studies and Roman Space Telescope microlensing observations will undoubtedly further constrain this process.


This study aims to determine the effect of profitability by using the calculation of return on assets and firm size by using the calculation of firm size on the capital structure by using the calculation of debt to equity ratio in manufacturing companies in the pharmaceutical sub-sector on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2017-2019. Meanwhile, the sample to be tested is in accordance with the research criteria that have been determined and the sampling technique is purposive sampling, and the companies that meet the sampling criteria are 8 companies. The data used in this study are secondary data from the annual financial statements of pharmaceutical companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange for the period 2017-2019 which were obtained from www.idx.co.id. The data management method uses multiple linear regression analysis with the help of SPPS 23 analysis tool. The results show that the profitability variable (return on assets) has a significant effect on the capital structure, while the firm size variable does not have a significant effect on the company's capital structure. pharmaceutical manufacturing sub-sector on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2017-2019.


The models in both approaches require similar amounts of effort to build but the first approach is easier to implement on an entire inventory of pipes because this inventory need not be partitioned into homogeneous groups. However, this ease of application comes at a price. The first approach involves two types of implicit assumptions: (a) it assumes covariate independence and ignores interactions between pipe-specific covariates (unless a covariate is explicitly created for a known interaction). (b) it implicitly assumes proportionality for quantitative covariates, for example, if pipe diameter is a covariate with a positive coefficient then the impact on breakage intensity of a 200 mm pipe-diameter is twice as large as a 100 mm diameter, and so forth.


ABCC6 encodes a transmembrane transporter playing a primary role in the efflux of ATP from hepatocytes to the bloodstream. ATP is then cleaved to AMP and inorganic pyrophosphate, a major inhibitor of ectopic calcification. Pathogenic variants of ABCC6 cause pseudoxanthoma elasticum, a multisystemic recessive ectopic calcification disease of variable severity. One of the mechanisms influencing the heterogeneity of a disorder is the penetrance of pathogenic variants. The penetrance of a sequence variant shows the proportion of individuals developing the expected phenotype in the presence of the variant. Incomplete penetrance indicates that the disease does not develop in all the cases when the pathogenic variant is present. Here, we investigated whether incomplete penetrance participates in the heterogeneity of pseudoxanthoma elasticum. By integrating the clinical and genetic data of 590 patients, we created the largest European pseudoxanthoma elasticum cohort. We identified two incomplete penetrant pathogenic variants, p.(V787I) and p.(R391G), based on their allele frequencies in our cohort and in the European reference population of gnomAD. The detailed characterization of the frequent p.(R391G) pathogenic variant suggested only 2% penetrance with an unaltered severity of the clinical phenotype. Based on our biochemical analysis, we hypothesize that the variant becomes deleterious only if an interacting partner is mutated simultaneously. These data point to new molecular mechanisms by revealing the potential existence of the first interacting partner of ABCC6. Our data are important for genetic counseling of pseudoxanthoma elasticum, suggesting a much lower disease heritability of these pathogenic variants.


T ask-based learning (TBL) has been prevalent as a strong form of communicative language learning since the 1980s (Adamson, 2006). A large number of studies have provided empirical evidence of the benefits of tasks implemented in EFL/ESL classes, reporting the EFL/ESL learners' successful use of their target language (TL) within meaningful social interactions in the process of completing their given tasks (for a review, see Ellis, 2003). Past studies, however, have not provided much information on the attributes that sustain TL interaction within TBL projects. I conducted fieldwork research over five years on a TBL project to explore the mechanism of language learners' (LLs') active and also sustaining engagement in TL interactions within a TBL project, specifically focusing on the LLs' agency― "the socioculturGenerating agentive TL interaction in TBL projects


In order for objects to perform personalized or contextual functions based on identity, they must solve what we call the object user identification problem: understanding who is actually using them. In this paper, we propose a new technique that uses data from wearable wrist sensors to perform object user identification. We hypothesize that objects have unique hallmarks that are imprinted in the hand gestures of its users. By detecting the presence of an object's hallmark in the wrist sensor data, we can identify who used the object. We evaluate this concept with a smart home application: recognizing who is using an object or appliance in a multi-person home by combining smart meter data and wearables. We conduct three different studies with 10 participants: 1) a study with scripted object use 2) a study with high-level tasked activities and unscripted object use, and 3) a 5-day in-situ study. These studies indicate that our approach performs object user identification with an average accuracy of 85--90%.


In wireless communication systems, microwave planar bandpass filters are employed in most applications. The broadband and multiband applications are renewing the interest in the design of planar broadband filters with low loss, compact size, high suppression of spurious responses, and improved stopband performances. However, since the ultrawideband (UWB) system covers very wide frequency range of 3.1 to 10.6 GHz and then may be interfered with the existing undesired narrow band from the 5.2 GHz or 5.8 GHz wireless local area network (WLAN) radio signals. Moreover, the WiMAX (3.5 GHz) and RFID (6.8 GHz) communications may interfere with the UWB system within the range defined by the FCC. Therefore, UWB bandpass filters with singleand multi-narrow notched bands are needed to avoid being interfered by the exiting RF signals. In order to obtain operations, several techniques have been reported in literatures based on UWB-bandpass filters with slotted resonators (Meeloon et al., 2007, 2008, 2009), UWB-bandpass filters with slotted resonators and embedded slotted feed (Meeloon et al., 2009, 2011), and UWB-bandpass filters with slotted resonators and embedded fold-slot feed (Meeloon et al., 2010, 2011).


The clinical efficacy of tetracycline lavage (1 mg/ml) in the management of abdominal sepsis has led to advocacy of its use in potentially contaminated cases. Yet at higher concentrations (6 mg/ml), tetracycline is a pleural sclerosant. The possibility of early ultrastructural peritoneal damage and later adhesion formation has been examined in syngeneic female Wag rats.


This paper is resulted from a jetting force measurement experiment. The principle and the mathematical model of a jetting force measurement system are introduced. The characteristics of the measured data and the algorithm of extracting the jetting force are examined. The experimental results verify the algorithm and the theoretical results by use of system identification techniques.


Gao C, Guo W‐J, Wang A‐Y. Significance of decreased apoptosis, role of Bid expression and Bcl‐Xl/Bid ratio in human jejunal stromal tumors. APMIS 2012; 120: 171–81.


The problem of the propagation of steady disturbance in a semi-infinite supersonic stream moving parallel to and bounded on one side by a subsonic stream is discussed and the complete solution obtained for any assumed form of incident disturbance. It is shown that a local initial disturbance generally produces a reflected wave extending to infinity both upstream and downstream of the initial disturbance. A (positive) pressure pulse as an incident wave produces pressure upstream and rarefaction downstream and the magnitude of the effects is calculated in a particular case. Conditions along the axis of symmetry are calculated for the subsonic region in this case.


In Germany in 1690 the French experimenter Denis Papin who had worked for ten years in London, first published the principle of the atmospheric steam engine. From 1698 on he had abandoned it in favour of direct high-pressure operation. In 1707 he sent the Royal Society a monograph describing a design of engine which he had developed on far-sighted high-pressure principles. The following year he returned to London to seek support for his invention. Although Leibniz admired it and suggested refinements, Sir Isaac Newton turned it down and Thomas Savery criticized it most severely, accusing Papin of poaching his ideas. Their remarks accompany a translation of the French text of Papin's monograph and transcripts of his proposals


We have fabricated and tested 10/spl times/10 independently addressable vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser diode arrays. Arrays with 55 /spl mu/m active diameter devices show an average threshold current density of 590 A/cm/sup 2/ and an excellent homogeneity of the output characteristics over the full array size with maximum CW output powers of 12 mW. Broad area laser diodes with active diameters of 75 /spl mu/m reach output powers of 18 mW for CW operation and 180 mW under pulsed conditions. Small-signal modulation bandwidths are beyond 10 and 8 GHz for the 55 and 75 /spl mu/m devices, respectively.<<ETX>>


We present a study of fifteen parallel thinning algorithms, based on the framework of critical kernels. We prove that ten among these fifteen algorithms indeed guarantee topology preservation, and give counter-examples for the five other ones. We also investigate, for some of these algorithms, the relation between the medial axis and the obtained homotopic skeleton.


Background: Osteochondroma is a common benign bone tumour, but its spontaneous regression is a rare occurrence. The first case was reported by Hunter in 1786. And only 30 cases were found in literature to date. Spontaneous regression of osteochondroma usually occurs in paediatric age group prior to skeletal maturation without any sequelae. The exact pathophysiology of its spontaneous regression is still not fully understood. We report a case of spontaneous regression of osteochondroma in a child after a 6-year period of follow up without needing any surgical intervention. International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Vol. 05 No. 03 July'21 Page: 372-374


Simple Summary ScRNA-seq is a powerful tool for investigating the cancer microenvironment, but the cost of analysing every scientific scenario is prohibitive. Fortunately, deconvolution of bulk RNA-seq data with scRNA-seq cell atlas reference datasets provides a cheaper strategy. In this study, we validated the feasibility of deciphering the microenvironment of liver cancer through the estimation of cell fractions with Cibersortx and scRNA-seq atlas reference datasets. Five cell types are associated with patient outcomes, showing that deconvolution is a useful method for characterising the tumour microenvironment. Abstract Liver cancers give rise to a heavy burden on healthcare worldwide. Understanding the tumour microenvironment (TME) underpins the development of precision therapy. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) technology has generated high-quality cell atlases of the TME, but its wider application faces enormous costs for various clinical circumstances. Fortunately, a variety of deconvolution algorithms can instead repurpose bulk RNA-seq data, alleviating the need for generating scRNA-seq datasets. In this study, we reviewed major public omics databases for relevance in this study and utilised eight RNA-seqs and one microarray dataset from clinical studies. To decipher the TME of liver cancer, we estimated the fractions of liver cell components by deconvoluting the samples with Cibersortx using three reference scRNA-seq atlases. We also confirmed that Cibersortx can accurately deconvolute cell types/subtypes of interest. Compared with non-tumorous liver, liver cancers showed multiple decreased cell types forming normal liver microarchitecture, as well as elevated cell types involved in fibrogenesis, abnormal angiogenesis, and disturbed immune responses. Survival analysis shows that the fractions of five cell types/subtypes significantly correlated with patient outcomes, indicating potential therapeutic targets. Therefore, deconvolution of bulk RNA-seq data with scRNA-seq atlas references can be a useful tool to help understand the TME.


During the past thirty years, evidence derived from biologic experimentation in the laboratory has yielded considerable information concerning the nature of the constitutional or hereditary factors which predispose certain animals to cancer and which make others unlikely to develop it. As long ago as 1907-1910, Tyzzer, J. A. Murray and Bashford had pointed out that, in mice, the progeny of females which developed spontaneously cancer of the breast were more apt to form this type of neoplasm than were animals not so descended. Slye in a long series of papers demonstrated, as did Loeb and Lathrop, that different families and strains of mice showed, in each case, a more or less characteristic degree of cancer function. None of these investigators had available for experimentation strains in which genetic homogeneity had been attained. As a result, the genetic variables that were present prevented an exact test of the nature of the


Out in the Field: Reflections of Lesbian and Gay Anthropologists. Ellen Lewin and William L. Leap. eds. Urbana University of Illinois Press, 1996.315 pp.


Background It is unclear whether vaccination of individuals against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) protects members of their households.
Objective Epidemiological evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 transmissibility from fully and incompletely vaccinated index cases with COVID-19 breakthrough infection to initially uninfected family members (secondary attack rate)
Methodology An observational, longitudinal, and prospective study of all families with a primary case of COVID-19 breakthrough infection in fully vaccinated or not fully vaccinated people and at least one COVID-19 secondary case in family members was conducted from February to November 2021 in a general medicine office in Toledo, Spain. Clinical and epidemiological variables were compared between secondary cases of primary cases of COVID-19 breakthrough infection in fully vaccinated people versus secondary cases of primary cases of COVID-19 breakthrough infection in not fully vaccinated people.
Results Twenty-five index cases (25 families; 84 people) were included, 13 fully vaccinated, which gave rise to 20 secondary cases, and 12 not fully vaccinated, which gave rise to 21 secondary cases. The secondary attack rate of exposed family members to fully vaccinated primary cases were 61% (20/33), and the secondary attack rate of exposed family members to not fully vaccinated primaries was 81% (21/33).
Conclusions In the context of general medicine in Toledo (Spain), from February to November 2021 (before omicron), two doses of COVID-19 vaccine vs. only one modestly reduce family transmission but do not eliminate it.


The evolution from conventional to smart grids over the last decades has obliged the grid to be prone to challenges by means of secure and reliable operation. One of the most important facts about smart grids is the communication infrastructure, which is a key factor while maintaining the secure operation of smart grid systems. This paper will focus on the communication techniques used in smart grids and their applications. Communication techniques have a crucial importance to ensure the efficient, flexible, reliable, sustainable, secure and robust features of the smart grids. Long term benefits and challenges of the smart grid communication techniques are elaborated thoroughly. Quantitative and qualitative features of the communication techniques are classified. Existing communication techniques such as ZigBee, WLAN, cellular communication, Power Line Communication (PLC) are compared within the standards and protocols. With the extensive integration of distributed energy resource (DER)s to the smart grid, the communication network infrastructure used in these resources are investigated. Moreover, the future oriented techniques (FoT) are presented for consideration in smart grid applications.


In past two decades, the automation of industrial machines is proliferating. Fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) also focuses on industrial automation and artificial intelligence. As every technology has its ebb and flow, industrial automation also has huge scope in future and its own limitations. One of the major issues is in troubleshooting the virtually controlled machine. The biscuit making and baking machines are controlled using PLC I/O and HMI. The errors are rectified by taking feedback from machine's component connections and supply connections. This helps us in troubleshooting the faults occurring in the connections and components used.


The purpose of this note is to suggest a method for deriving a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of the Stieltjes integral of f(x) as to u(x) from a to b in each of several forms generalizing those frequently employed (see Encyclopidie des sciences mathdmatiques, II, pp. 171-174) in the special case of Cauchy-Riemann integrationwhere u(x) is of bounded variation and f(x) is bounded on the interval (ab), M 2 f(x) > m. Bliss (PROCEEDINGS 3, 1917, pp. 633-637) has obtained one of these forms, perhaps the most satisfying of any; this note closes with his theorem, of which we give a new demonstration. Some of the other theorems stated .(though here derived otherwise) are immediate consequences of the one due to Bliss or are otherwise intimately related to it, as the reader will readily see. Since it is believed that the present treatment will be found useful in connection with that of Bliss, our notation has been made to conform to his; moreover, reference to his paper is given for such isolated steps in the proof as may readily be supplied from it. For a given partition ir of (ab) due to the points xo = a, x1,x2, . . . x._-, x, = b, 0 < xi xi-, < 6, form the sums


Curculigo orchioides Gaertn is an endangered medicinal plant with antioxidant and anticancer properties. The rhizome and tuberous roots of the plant have been used extensively in India in indigenous medicine. Due to its multiple uses, the demand for Curculigo orchioides is constantly on the rise; however, the supply is rather erratic and inadequate. Destructive harvesting, combined with habitat destruction in the form of deforestation has aggravated the problem. The plant is now considered 'endangered' in its natural habitat. Therefore, the need for conservation of this plant is crucial. Here we described an efficient protocol for germination of sodium alginate encapsulated embryoids of Curculigo orchioides. Morphogenic callus was induced on Murashige and Skoog (1962) [16] basal medium (MS) containing 0.5 3 mg/1 of 2, 4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2, 4-D) and 0.5 mg/1 N6 –benzylaminopurine (BAP) from rhizome explants. Transfer of morphogenic calli to MS medium with 1-4 mg/1 BAP resulted in somatic embryogenesis, at high frequencies with an average of 23 ± 0.8 somatic embryos per gram of morphogenic callus on MS medium with BAP (1 mg/l). Further, germination of sodium alginate encapsulated somatic embryoids of Curculigo orchioides were tested on half-strength Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal medium fortified with coconut water (10% v/v). The frequencies of regeneration from encapsulated somatic embryoids were affected significantly by concentration of sodium alginate and the duration of exposure to calcium chloride. Somatic embryoids encapsulated with 2.5% sodium alginate dissolved in MS basal salts solution recorded significantly higher germination than other treatments. A relatively short (5 min) incubation with calcium chloride solution provided uniform encapsulation of somatic embryoids that gave the highest percentage (80%) of germination. Germinated synthetic seeds produced normal plantlets. Based on the present observations an improved protocol may be developed for ex-situ conservation of the endangered species – C. orchioides.


After the military defeat of the Persian Empire in confronting the invasion of the Arabs(633-654 AD), the ancient Persian multicultural and religious...


Newbery Award and Honor books are a representation of children's literature, but family structures portrayed in them have not previously been studied. This prescriptive content analysis considered 87 contemporary realistic fiction Newbery winners and runners-up since the 1930s that portray families in English-speaking, Western settings. The family structures included in these books were compared with the various family structures reported in U.S. Census records. Results showed that the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s did not represent the actual family structures of their time periods. After the Age of New Realism began in the mid 1960s, the family structures in the books more closely matched family structures in the Census. The most recent books include many diverse family structures, but do not include traditional families.


The feasibility of applying microcomputer in seven sections of a community hospital was studied. The areas were :- administration of drugs stock, drugs store control, mobile health team drugs control, out patient record, finance, epidemiological surveillance and immunization record of children. The 60 bed Kratomban Hospital, in Samuthsakorn Province was the selected site of study. The computer programmes was developed on the basis of dbase II language.  The results reveal that using microcomputer decreases the steps of work in all jobs, mostly in administration of drugs stock and lastly in out patient record. The use of microcomputer also decreases working time for all jobs except out patient record. The most decreased working time is in administration of drugs stock and the least, the immunization record of children. The application of microcomputer for increasing the effectiveness of community hospital management is possible and will be more beneficial if the storage capability of microcomputer is not less than 20 mb.


In this paper, we study two terminal value problems (TVPs) for stochastic bi-parabolic equations perturbed by standard Brownian motion and fractional Brownian motion with Hurst parameter h ∈ ( 1 2 , 1 ) separately. For each problem, we provide a representation for the mild solution and find the space where the existence of the solution is guaranteed. Additionally, we show clearly that the solution of each problem is not stable, which leads to the ill-posedness of each problem. Finally, we propose two regularization results for both considered problems by using the filter regularization method.


Auditors risk losing reputation capital when they are suspected of allowing substandard financial reporting, and prior research argues that accounting conservatism acts as a governance mechanism that reduces substandard reporting. Thus, we predict that conservative clients impose lower reputation risk on their auditors, which in turn affects auditor-client contracting and auditor decision-making. Consistent with our predictions, we find that conservative audit clients are less likely to issue accounting restatements; and that auditors charge lower audit fees, issue fewer going concern opinions, and resign less frequently from their conservative clients. In addition, while we also find that client conservatism lowers auditors' litigation risk, its effect on reputation risk is independent of its effect on litigation risk.


Achievements have been made in the studies on bamboo slips of the Qin Dynasty kept in Yuelu Academy.The paper reviews related annotations,county names and laws,which is helpful for further studies.


This paper reports the test results of 12 beam specimens including 8 SCC simple beams and 2 vibrated concrete simple beams and 2 SCC continuous beams under static loading after long-term actions.The test results indicate that the variability of test results for the same group of SCC beams are very small,accounting for good quality of SCC.Casting technique and curing condition of concrete have little effect on the load-deflection relationship,load carrying capacity,mode of failure and distribution of cracks in simple beams.The cracks of perstressed beams are much smaller in width,height and distribution than those of non-prestressed beams.The adoption of structural type of continuous beam can significantly reduce the deflection of beams,while grealtly increase the ultimate load.The existing calculation method can be used to analyse the tested beams. The calculated results are in good agreement with those from the test.


Dihydromyricetin (DMY) is a kind of flavonoids,which has many prominent biological activities,such as antioxidation,scavenging free radicals,antiphlogosis,relieving cough,apophlegmatic,analgesia,bacteriostasis,anti-hypertension,descending fat,anticarcinogenic and protecting liver,etc.. The acute toxicological of DMY and its control effect on alcoholic hepatic injury were studied in this paper,and the results showed that the toxicity of DMY is very low,and the maximum tolerance dose of Wistar mice was 5.0 g/kg; the DMY could effectively prevent the depletion of glutathione (GSH) and the increase of malondialdehyde (MDA) that induced by alcohol,and DMY also could reduce triglyceride (TG) content and lessen hepatic steatosis in vivo of Kunming mice. Therefore,DMY has a better effect on preventing and treatment of alcoholic hepatic injury.


In this talk, a procedure is presented for the development of an artificial neural network model of human annoyance to noise. This model development is based on using available sound quality metrics (loudness, sharpness, fluctuation strength, and roughness) that were calculated using post‐process temporal filtering and numerical formulation operations on measured time‐varying critical band loudness data obtained from a Bruel and Kjaer loudness analyzer. The artificial neural network (ANN) was initially developed to model Zwicker's equation for unbiased annoyance (UBA). Subsequent training of the artificial neural network was done by using a series of 700 noise signals that were evaluated for their annoyance by a pool of normal‐hearing young adult U.S. born subjects in a parameter estimation subjective test procedure. The noise stimuli were varied in seven different properties, which included: peak loudness, modulation frequency, modulation envelope shape, modulation depth, frequency band of modulated nois...


The gate location of an injection mould for an automobile line slot was studied.The simulation analysis of flow process with various gate locations was carried out by us ing Moldflow software,in which different defects were predicted.


Vaccine type and timing are critical issues to prevent unintended infections in those on immunosuppressive therapies. We retrospectively chart reviewed patients at Children's Wisconsin Pediatric Dermatology Clinic on immunosuppressives and immunomodulators between 11/1/2012 and 6/1/2020 and found that approximately 76% of patient encounters do not have documented vaccine counseling in the medical chart before initiation of immunosuppressives and immunomodulators. As age increased, vaccine counseling was less likely to be documented (odds ratio: 0.89; 95% confidence interval: 0.84–0.95, p = .001). In addition, 13 patient encounters (4%) were not up to date with live vaccines before immunosuppressive or immunomodulating therapy. There is an opportunity to improve clinical processes to ensure documentation of vaccination status and vaccine counseling before starting immunosuppressive and immunomodulator medications in a pediatric dermatology clinic.


THE Canadian Space Agency (CSA) as part of its Exploration Surface Mobility (ESM) project has been developing ISRU specific tools including drilling and sample acquisition systems. NORCAT received a contract from CSA to develop a large sample acquisition system as a primary feed system to the NASA RESOLVE (Regolith and Environment Science and Oxygen and Lunar Volatiles Extraction) lunar prospecting system. DESTIN (Drilling Exploration & Sample Technology Integrated) is a drill system that consists of a sample acquisition system capable of developing and capturing a drill sample up to 1metre in length and transferring that sample to a parsing device which separates the core into segments to feed into the NASA analysis suite (OVEN and LAVA). The system can carry up to four tools, including a 50cm augering tool, a push tube for unconsolidated material and a coring auger tool for consolidated material, in an integrated tool handling system, for tool change out to suit the drilling conditions. DESTIN has been designed and built to meet a variety of mechanical, electrical, control, communications, environmental, and capabilities requirements as specified by CSA in conjunction with NASA. Extensive testing conducted focused on meeting those requirements related to the Field Deployment Unit (FDU), while validating the design and hardware for subsequent Technology Readiness Levels (TRL's), specifically the Vacuum Development Unit (VDU) and flight unit. Testing environments included extreme temperatures and vacuum (1x10-2 torr), as well as dust, mud, humidity, and precipitation.


My subject is a familiar manuscript with a familiar scribe: the Harley Lyrics manuscript. (1) London, British Library MS Harley 2253 is filled with an eclectic range of entertainments and edifying matter in French, English, and Latin, copied in the vicinity of Ludlow, England, near the Welsh border, from around 1331 to 1348. Its main scribe is well known, but less well recognized is how his labor is situated sequentially between the work of two others and how on the flyleaves it is conjoined with another scribe's product. (2) The relationship among these four scribes is the focus of this article. To be specific, the different styles of rubrication in Harley 2253 reveal how, in the manuscript proper, successive scribes received and used each other's work. By observing the sequence and mix of hands, we can perceive how two of these scribes did more than write texts: they also read the texts they had inherited from a previous scribe. And we can learn more: upon the flyleaves, which are cut from an old roll, we have the hand of a colleague-scribe whom the main Harley scribe knew personally. The principal scribe, that is, the person responsible for preserving such an important and remarkable array of texts, was a Ludlow-area man who worked as a legal scrivener--a fact we know because of the brilliant detections of Carter Revard, who discovered the scribe's hand at work in forty-one writs, each precisely dated and placed in Ludlow or its environs. The scribe had training in religion and law, to judge from his known library, which survives not just in Harley 2253 but in two other books as well: British Library MSS Harley 273 and Royal 12.C.xii. Scholars think it likely that he served as chaplain for a well-to-do household and that he held among his general duties, besides being spiritual counselor, the education of boys (that is, young heirs in a French-speaking English household) and the planning of entertainments for mixed-gender social events. (3) Two names have been used to designate this anonymous man: he is called, generally, either the "Ludlow scribe" or the "Harley scribe." (4) Most of the critical literature on the Harley 2253 texts has centered on his work alone, and it is his hand that is featured in the EETS facsimile. Specifically excluded from the facsimile are forty-eight folios holding the work of Scribe A, who employs a late-thirteenth- or early-fourteenth-century Anglo-Norman textura to inscribe religious texts. The Ludlow scribe fills out the remainder of the manuscript in his own distinctive anglicana. Here I designate the Ludlow scribe as Scribe B in order to emphasize his chronological place in the making of the manuscript. He is the second scribe but is considered the principal one because when he appended his labor to the matter of Scribe A, his endeavor filled ninety-three more folios/ thereby creating a much larger codex, his own portion being substantial in its own right. Moreover, the whole book seems to have been in his possession through the period of his adding to it, seemingly until his death. An earlier specimen of his hand is present on one side of a single roll that was cut to make the flyleaves, so it would appear that he bound the codex himself. What brings importance to his status as scribe is the extraordinary melange of texts gathered on folios 49 to 140, which display a rare degree of compilational authority, autonomy, and aesthetic discernment. Taken together, the texts found here are revelatory of poetry-making in England before the age of Geoffrey Chaucer. In brief, Harley is a critically significant book because of Scribe B's trilingual activity as a copyist, compiler, and sometime translator. It contains, in English, love lyrics, satires, political poems, proverbs, and religious songs. In Anglo-Norman, there are interludes, fabliaux, courtesy books, debates on women, and a series of Bible stories contrived by the scribe himself. In Latin, one finds saints' lives, moralizations, prayers, and religious instructions. …


Objective: To reflect on the adoption of strategies to be implemented by Higher Educational Institutions that offer courses in the healthcare field to continue their academic activities during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the physical and mental health of their teachers and students. Methods: It is a reflective theoretical study structured in three thematic axes, whose bibliographic survey covered books, official documents from the Ministry of Health of Brazil, national and international scientific articles from the databases of PUBMED/MEDLINE, Web of Science, LILACS and SciELO. The selection was conducted using combinations of keywords related to the issue: "COVID-19", "online teaching", "biosafety", "online learning", "stress", "integrative and complementary healthcare practices". Results: The first axis highlights the adoption of virtual strategies to avoid agglomerations and the risk of contamination by COVID-19; the second, the use of biosafety measures to carry out on-site academic activities; and the third, actions to cope with the emotional stress experienced by teachers and students in this context. Conclusions: It is essential to adopt pedagogical strategies in an attempt to find creative and responsible solutions for Higher Educational Institutions in Health in order to minimize teaching-learning weakening and avoid damage to the physical and mental health of those who are protagonists of this process.


In this article, we investigate the dry etching of GaInP∕GaAs based material system using an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching system. In a view to develop a suitable ICP process for the etching of aluminum-free material, ridge waveguides have been fabricated and the effects of the ICP parameters have been assessed. The coil power and the platen power have been varied at constant pressure and temperature for a chlorine-based process. The surface quality, sidewall profile, and selectivity have been reported. We also demonstrate the optimization of the chlorine-based process for deep etching and its subsequent implementation in photonic band gap device fabrication for 1.55μm optical applications. The optimized process has been shown to provide a high aspect ratio and a good selectivity for 250nm diam holes with a depth of 3μm in the GaInP∕GaAs material system. The influence of the ICP parameters on this material system have been analyzed mainly by scanning electron microscopy with particular attentio...


The word leather worker is mentioned as ASGAB in ideograms in the Hittite cuneiform texts. As the leather workers are only mentioned in few documents and because the cuneiforms yvhich contain these documents are only fragments or their context doesn't lend itselfwell to provide broad Information about them, it has not been possible to determine the importance of leather workers in the Hittite's social and economic life. According to results of research on cuneiform tablets this craft was put into practice in Hittite and other Anatolian towns not only by free men but perhaps by slaves. The leather workers were buying and selling leather besides tanning and processing it. it is clearly understood that this profession, which was passed on from generation to generation by means of a master-apprentice releationship, was taken up by palace staffin the palace as well. Hitit siyasal ve sosyal yaşamına ilişkin bilgiler elde ettiğimiz Hititçe çivi yazılı belgelerde deri sözcüğü bir çok kez karşımıza çıkmakla beraber, deri işiyle uğraşanlarla ilgili kayıtlar çok sınırlıdır. Deri işiyle uğraşan kişiler metinlerde ASGAB ideogramı ile gösterilmektedir. Bu ideogramın karşılığı olarak "derici, deri işçisi" genellikle verilmektedir. Hititçe çivi yazılı belgelere *A.Ü.DTCF, Tarih Bölümü J.Friedrich, Hethitisch.es Wörterbuch, Heidelberg 1952, s.266; F.P.Daddi, Mestleri, professioni e dignita nell' Anatolia ittita, Roma 1982, s.45; Ayrıca M.Stol, "Leder(industrie)," Reallexikon der Assyriologie 8 (1980-83), s.529.


The purpose of this study is to examine discourses about norms and norm criticism regarding sex/gender and sexuality in preschool teachers' and nursery nurses' speech using a post-structuralist per ...


Because of the impossibility of their demonstration otherwise, short of operation or autopsy, diaphragmatic hernias furnish a not very rare field of study for the roentgenologist. Ventral hernias, on the other hand, are seldom referred for X-ray study, since the diagnosis by physical examination is usually quite easy. The case reported here is a good example of the facility with which roentgen diagnosis can still be carried out when hindrances to physical examination are wellnigh insurmountable. Mrs. A. S., aged 37, of Italian descent, whose weight was well over two hundred pounds despite a stature of only five feet three inches, had had a salpingo-oophorectomy through a low midline incision in August, 1923, following which there was drainage through the wound for some weeks, the incision eventually closing over, however. Immediate post-operative recovery had been good, but in the past year the patient's weight had increased somewhat and for about six months there had been periods of right lower quadrant ...


A wind turbine has been developed to a more sophisticated design that take account of many design factors. For example, the effect of wind velocity fluctuation at the installation site is considered to obtain larger wind power from unsteady wind than one from steady wind. This paper describes the performance evaluation of horizontal axis wind turbine in low turbulent intensity natural wind using an original low-cost multi-fan active control turbulence wind tunnel. In particular, this research focuses on the effects of integral scale of turbulence and blade type on wind turbine performance. The performances of original NACA and MEL wind turbine rotors are evaluated in the natural wind of mean velocity 7 m/s, turbulent intensity 2% with varying integral scale 5 m, 10 m and 20 m. As the results, the power coefficient of the MEL rotor in the natural wind with integral scale 20 m is about 1.1 (110%) times as large as one in steady wind. Furthermore, integral scale has larger effect on the MEL rotor than NACA. In addition, we show the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) results of the flow field around the NACA and MEL wind turbine rotors in steady wind of mean velocity 7 m/s and 1800 min-1 (tip speed ratio equals to 2.6) using the commercial software ANSYS CFX.


Purpose: X‐ray image‐guided interventional treatment of vascular pathology such as aneurysms involves precise delivery of devices such as stents and hence may require very high‐resolution imaging capability. We report the first fluoroscopy and angiography phantom studies using a new high‐resolution x‐ray detector that has been developed to address this need. Methods: The Solid State X‐ray Image Intensifier (SSXII) detector is based on Electron‐Multiplying Charge Coupled Device (EMCCD) technology (E2V Technologies, Chelmsford, England). An EMCCD with 13‐ μm pixels and fiber optic window is coupled to a fiber‐optic taper with a taper ratio of 3.3 that views a 300‐μm thick CsI x‐ray scintillator, thus making an effective pixel size of 42.9 μm and a Nyquist frequency of 11.8 lp/mm for this detector. A small aneurysm insert that was part of a flow loop was placed in the base of the brain region of an anthropomorphic head phantom (RS‐230, Supertech, Elkhart, IN) to simulate pathology in the Circle of Willis of a patient and interventional procedures were done with similar attenuation and anatomical characteristics that would be experienced in the clinic. A guidewire was threaded into the aneurysm under fluoroscopic image guidance with the SSXII. Digital Subtraction Angiography(DSA) was performed using a standard contrast injection (iodine 350 mg/ml) into the flow loop and angiographic sequences were recorded with the new detector.Results: The operation of the new SSXII detector in both fluoroscopy and angiography exposure ranges was demonstrated for the first time on human phantoms. The resolution of this detector is substantially higher than current‐state‐of‐the‐art flat panel detectors with 150 to 200 μm pixels. Conclusions: The newly developed high‐resolution EMCCD‐based detector can potentially be used for both fluoroscopy and angiography to address the high‐resolution imaging needs of x‐ray image‐guided neuro‐ vascular interventions. Supported in part by: NIH Grants R01‐EB008425, R01‐EB002873 and an equipment grant from Toshiba Medical Systems Corp.


Rice is the most important staple food crop in India having wide adaptability across diverse agro-ecosystems. A set of recombinant population was developed by hybridizing IR 28 with Pokkali to tag salt tolerant gene(s). Pokkali is a tall, traditional, photosensitive, profuse tillering, lodging susceptible, extremely long duration, low yielding cultivar. It is generally grown in the coastal area of Kerala owing to high degree of tolerance towards salinity. It is being used as international check for salinity tolerance screening trials. This cultivar possesses long, broad, dark and droopy leaves. In contrast, IR 28 is a high yielding, dwarf, medium grained, short duration variety, having extreme sensitivity to salinity. This indica/indica hydridization was designed to combine high yielding ability of IR 28 with high salinity tolerance of Pokkali. Phenotyping of F 3s and parents were done under NaCl (12 dSm -1 ) stressed condition. Genotyping, using random primers, showed ample polymorphism, which revealed that F 3 segregants had high genetic variation and could be very useful as mapping population to tag salt tolerant loci. Further, the study has also revealed that RAPD is an efficient tool to display polymorphism and to tag the targeted gene(s).


End-users, who are the focus of this assessment of performance in respect of Dangote Cement Plc, have been regarded as the most important stakeholder of any business activity. Previous works have not showcased an assessment of performance based on an end-user's perspective which is why this study sets out to resolve the problem concerning how end-users react to market changes when patronizing the Nigeria cement manufacturing industry. Simple regression model was used to test the hypotheses – to show the relationships between the dependent variable - Cement Production Level (CPL) and the independent variables - Annual Average Price per bag of Cement (AAPC) and Turnover (TO). The study found that the explanatory variables portrayed significant positive relationships with CPL. In both cases, this relationships were very strong because the correlation coefficients (R) were above 97% and the adjusted coefficients of determination (adjusted R 2 ) which are the explanatory variables showed that there was more than 62% significance in their relationships with CPL. This means, that over 97% of Dangote Cement Plc's production (supply of cement) succeeded in keeping prices up 62% of the time. The paper found that end-users increasingly continue to patronize products of necessity even when they are produced by a firm quite monopolistic in nature because they have no near substitutes. As a result, there is a policy implication that even though end-users expect quality products, great value, or a compelling brand and would equally avoid products of companies that fail to deliver on customer service, they (end users) may have no succor other than a regulatory regime set by the Government especially where monopolistic goods of necessity (such as cement) are concerned. Accordingly, the study recommends that government (or its agency) should set up minimum production volume benchmarks, regulate margins and establish price ceilings to protect the end-user.


Information Extraction (IE), defined as the activity to extract structured knowledge from unstructured text sources, offers new opportunities for the exploitation of biological information contained in the vast amounts of scientific literature. But while IE technology has received increasing attention in the area of molecular biology, there have not been many examples of IE systems successfully deployed in end-user applications. We describe the development of PASTAWeb, a WWW-based interface to the extraction output of PASTA, an IE system that extracts protein structure information from MEDLINE abstracts. Key characteristics of PASTAWeb are the seamless integration of the PASTA extraction results (templates) with WWW-based technology, the dynamic generation of WWW content from 'static' data and the fusion of information extracted from multiple documents.


Today's web has become a primary source of finding information related to human psychology and behavior because of the abundance of user data available on various data repositories which are mostly freely available to the researchers. Social media has become such a repository of an enormous amount of data because of its popularity and number of users using internet in various forms. Web analytics has emerged as one of the web mining paradigm to extract useful information from this large pool of data. In this paper, data available on YouTube is being analyzed to find some human personality traits. The data is collected with the help of 30 undergraduate students selected randomly, to maintain the integrity of the results, and then the data was processed with the assistance of Weka- a data mining tools. MS-Excel spreadsheet was also used to compile some to the results.


Background and aim: Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is one of the most common gastrointestinal diseases facing society today. Assosciation of bronchial asthma with GERD is a common problem, we tried to evaluate the surgical treatment (reflux surgery) and its results to choose the patients who will get benefit from reflux surgery. Patients and methods: We report the results of surgical repair of gastroesophageal reflux in 32 asthmatic patients who underwent surgery. The severe asthma was associated with clinically evident refiux, and repair was attempted by surgical technique Nissen transabdominalgastropexy and laparoscopic fundoplication. Results: Total cure, eight cases (25%); marked improvement, five (15.6%); moderate improvement, eight (25%); no improvement, 11 (34.4%).Cure was attained in intrinsic asthma with a predominance of nocturnal crises, associated with nocturnal tracheitis and with significant reflux, objective signs of which had appeared before the beginning of the asthma. Other results concerned asthmas complicated secondarily by GER in which it was impossible to determine whether the reflux was only a complication, without effect on the respiratory illness, or exacerbating the asthma. Conclusions: The question of surgery in these patients should be considered with care, being reserved for cases of severe asthma, poorly controlled by antiasthmatic drugs, and complicated by a severe reflux that encompasses ulcerative esophagitis. The majority of patients in most studies seem to improve symptomatically after surgery. However, a small percentage remains unchanged or worsens. The reported studies are so disparate in their methodology that firm conclusions on the role of surgery are difficult. Further studies are needed.


This work presents the highly controlled drug delivery system free from the burst release at an initial stage and equipped with the capability of long term drug release. The nanoporous drug releasing reservoir was combined with porous body resembling cancellous bone. The materials were prepared by the integration of synthesized inorganic hydroxyapatite (HA) and the hybrid gels of bicontinuous sponge-phased L3 silicate and thermo-responsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (L3-PNIPAm gels). The materials were designed to have the three dimensionally interconnected heterogeneous porosity of macro- and mesoporosity, in which the HA has the macroporosity of 150μm to be impregnated the drug into the pores and the L3-PNIPAm gels have mesoporosity of 5 nm to regulate the temperature sensitive drug-release through the pore channels and polymeric network, respectively. Consequently, this bone-mimetic system gave the highly long term drug release over the 60 days without the burst release. The release rate could be controlled with the change of the HA and PNIPAm composition ratios. The structural characterization was achieved by TEM, SEM, XRD, Micro-Raman spectroscopy, BET, and the direct contact cytotoxicity test was also described.


Significance Does wearing a face mask reduce cognitive performance? In a study of international chess players who played millions of chess moves before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, masks substantially reduced the average quality of cognitive decisions. However, the negative effect is short-lived and primarily operates on elite players and in high-incentive contexts, with minimal impact on the broader population of players.


UNLABELLED
San Jose Medical Group, San Jose, Calif.

PROBLEM
A manual referral and authorization process resulting in significant monetary losses.

SOLUTION
Contracting with an application service provider that could provide real-time data on a continual basis.

RESULTS
Timely information on eligibility, referrals and authorizations before the patient leaves the office--patients going to the right doctors for the right services--and an in-depth understanding of associated costs.

KEYS TO SUCCESS
Taking a chance by going with an ASP--a company with little history.


The trial has been developed during a two years period, 2013 and 2014, on tomato cultures, and factorial analysis (Principal Components Analysis) was implemented. The factorial analysis shows that fertilization and humidity has biggest influence on Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis attack degree, while humidity and temperature influences the most Phytophtora infestans and Alternaria solani attack degrees. The Phytophtora infestans attack degree recorded the biggest attack in climatic conditions specific to the experimental site, followed by Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. Michiganensis , and Alternaria solani . Â


Frequent parent–child contact after divorce is generally assumed to be in children's best interests, but findings are mixed. This study extends the small body of research about the conditions under which parent–child contact is more beneficial or less beneficial by examining the role of predivorce parental involvement. It is argued that the more a parent was involved in child rearing in the past, the more important postdivorce parent–child contact is for child well‐being. Data from the Netherlands (N = 3,694) show that when children live with the parent who was not the primary caretaker, child well‐being is lower. Similarly, the more the father used to be involved in child rearing, the more beneficial nonresident father–child contact is for children. These findings suggest that it is not so much the frequency of contact per se that matters for child well‐being but, rather, the extent to which postdivorce residence arrangements reflect predivorce parenting arrangements.


Objective To gain purified platelets for further research of the immune function of platelet.Methods Platelets were purified by positive(MS) and negative(LD) magnetic cell sorting(MACS) separation.The percentage of activated platelets was detected by flow cytometry and nucleated cell clearance was evaluated by white cell count.Results The percentage of activated platelets before separation was(2.39±1.10)%,and increased to(2.56±1.08)% and(16.76±4.04)%,respectively,after MS and LD MACS.The clearances of nucleated cells after MACS MS and LD were(98.44±0.24)% and(98.47±0.18)%,respectively.The recovery rate of purified platelet after MS and LD was(76.50±1.49)% and(79.20±2.61)%.Conclusion MACS LD method was more suitable for the platelet purification.


Across the fields of applied theatre and prison theatre, there appears to be little analysis of aesthetics and aesthetic engagement for participants in prison-based participatory practices. This article presents a pragmatist aesthetic frame that I developed to analyse the experience of a drama programme I ran in a women's prison. This frame evolved alongside the practice, drawing largely from John Dewey's (1934) Art as Experience and a selection of contemporary scholars who, influenced by Dewey, work in the areas of aesthetics, ethics and education – most notably Richard Shusterman (2000, 2008) and David Granger (2006). I also incorporated narrative within this frame as an interpretive and expressive structure for experience, and a key element within my applied theatre practice. I began to conceive aesthetics in terms of an 'art of living', identifying a 'poetics of renewal' that informed the selfand world-creation of participants in the drama. I share this theoretical framework as a possible way to integrate the instrumental and the aesthetic in applied theatre theory and practice, specifically in a prison context.


Introduction: Anaesthetic type plays an important role for patients undergoing endovascular therapy for acute ischemic stroke (AIS). General anaesthesia (GA) offers airway security and immobility but is time-consuming, associated with significant hemodynamic changes, and restricts intraoperative neuromonitoring. Sedation avoids endotracheal intubation, minimizes disruption in cerebral autoregulation, and potentially lowers final infarct volume but is associated with hypoxemia and hypoventilation with an unsecure airway. The SuperNO 2 VA, a novel, no-leak nasal mask, allows for nasal positive pressure generation when connected to the anaesthesia machine and is used to non-invasively maintain upper airway patency and provide ventilatory support to patients under deep sedation. Case Report: A 77-year-old, 60 kg, woman with hypertension and diabetes presented to the hospital with incoherent speech and left arm hemiparesis. She was an ex-smoker with a history of multiple episodes of pneumonias with a current productive cough. Computed tomography showed AIS, tPA was administered, and the patient was transferred to neuroradiology for endovascular therapy. The SuperNO 2 VA, connected to the anaesthesia machine, was used for upper airway maintenance and ventilatory support during propofol sedation to avoid GA and endotracheal intubation. Despite her compromised respiratory status, the patient tolerated deep sedation well with nasal variable positive airway pressure and the intraoperative course was uneventful. The clot in the middle cerebral artery was evacuated, and the patient was transferred to the neuro step down unit. Conclusion: Utilizing a sealed nasal mask connected to the anaesthesia machine, clinicians may provide nasal positive pressure to maintain upper airway patency and provide ventilatory support to patients under deep sedation. Using fresh gas flows of 10 l/ min with a partially closed pop-off valve, this variable positive airway pressure technique provides expiratory pressure equivalent to that set by the pop-off valve with inspiratory pressure achieved passively from the circuit or augmented by manual squeezing of the reservoir bag. This technique may offer clinicians a non-invasive advantage to supplemental oxygen alone during deep sedation, particularly if patients have compromised pulmonary function or are at risk for upper airway collapse.


A novel method of simulating side impact has been developed, resulting in a representative and economical dynamic test, which can be performed various stages in vehicle development programmes. The technique utilizes a conventional HyGe sled test facility, with a set of two purpose built sleds.The first of these,the striking sled, represents a mobile barrier which can be ballasted and carry a deformable face to either the Federal or European specifications. This sled is propelled rapidly and accurately to speed by the HyGe accelerator. The second (struck) sled carries a vehicle bodyshell or representative side structure with trimmed doors, seats and dummies installed. Mounting of the bodyshell is important in ensuring a high degree of correlation with full vehicle crash tests. The sled complete with bodyshell and payload is ballasted to vehicle curb weight, and moves away after impact by the striking sled under simulated tyre friction. The first part of a series of tests being conducted in the development of the S.I.D.E. Procedure is described. A comparison is made between the results and those of full vehicle crash tests conducted on nominally identical vehicles. (A) For the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD 864606.


We assessed the knowledge and awareness of menopausal coping strategies among women in Umuowa community, and we specifically looked at diet, exercise, estrogen replacement and their overall level of knowledge to these coping strategies. Two hundred and thirty-two respondents who had experienced menopausal symptoms responded to a questionnaire. Data collected was presented in tables and described with frequency distributions and percentages. Results showed that the level of awareness of diet, exercise and estrogen replacement as coping strategies for menopause were low. Also the overall knowledge about these strategies was also low among the women. Consequent upon these, we recommend enlightenment campaign and education of women about these strategies to cope with menopause while suggesting further studies on the subject matter.


A MESFET-compatible structure for GaAs capacitive-gate CCDs that eliminates the necessity for submicrometer interelectrode gaps and simplifies device fabrication is presented. This recessed-gap structure solves problems of low gate-channel-gate breakdown and large parasitic gate-to-gate capacitance associated with ultrasmall gaps. Dark current is also reduced. Modeling and experimental results are reported.<<ETX>>

http://ericfossum.com/Publications/Papers/A recessed-gap capacitive-gate GaAs CCD.pdf


For more than two decades the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has known acute violence which has killed millions of people.


2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) was oxidized to CO{sub 2} and water by homogeneous, liquid-phase reaction with ammonium nitrate at temperatures between 250 and 450{degree}F and pressures below 100 psi. N{sub 2} and N{sub 2}O were produced from the thermal decomposition of the ammonium nitrate oxidant. An unexpected maximum in conversion was observed at an intermediate reaction temperature, which was consistent with rapid thermal decomposition of the NH{sub 4}NO{sub 3} oxidant. Postulated reaction pathways consisting of simultaneous oxidation of 2,4-D and decomposition of the oxidant allowed estimation of kinetic constants from best-fit analysis of the data. The proposed reaction model provided a mathematical description of 2,4-D conversion, which allowed extrapolation of the results to reaction conditions and reactor configurations that were not experimentally investigated.


Nitric oxide (NO) is a free oxygen radical with powerful vasodilator properties studied in many tissues. It is produced by NO synthases in endothelial cells upon stimulation by various agents like cytokines and tumor necrosis factor. The end-products of NO are nitrite and nitrate. Their levels are used biochemically to determine NO synthase activity. Evidence is accumulating for the role of NO in the pathophysiology of inflammatory Behcet's disease (BD). Indeed, we first demonstrated that serum NO production is increased in active BD, suggesting a possible new activity marker. More recently, we have reported that pro-inflammatory cytokines, inducers of NO, and lipid peroxidation are increased and associated with decreased antioxidant enzyme activities in BD. Our findings were then supported by four independent investigations, one of which was from the present group. 7 Moreover, aqueous humor NO levels were found to be increased in uveitic BD patients. Furthermore, Salvarani et al . have recently shown that the GluAsp298 polymorphism of endothelial NO synthase gene is associated with BD susceptibility. Therefore, to support our previous studies, this report further investigated for the first time NO levels in red blood cells of BD patients compared with age-matched and sex-matched healthy control volunteers. A total of 20 patients with BD (16 men, four women), with a mean age of 33.4 years, and 15 healthy control subjects (12 men, three women), with a mean age of 32.1 years, were enrolled in this study. Patients with BD had to fulfil the International Study Group criteria for the diagnosis of BD. Fasting whole-blood samples were taken from BD patients and control subjects by venipuncture from an antecubital peripheral vein into heparinised plain tubes to prepare the erythrocyte sediment. The buffy coat on the erythrocyte sediment was carefully separated. The erythrocyte sediment was subsequently washed three times with 10-fold volumes of 0.9% sodium chloride solution to remove the plasma remnants. Following this, the erythrocyte sediment was treated with four-fold volumes of ice-cold deionised water to obtain hemolysate. NO is a labile compound and has a brief half-life, and therefore its detection as the native NO molecule is difficult. It is rapidly converted to the stable end-products nitrate (NO3 ) and nitrite (NO2 ) in typical oxygenated aqueous solutions and tissues. Thus, erythrocyte total nitrite levels were measured as an index of NO production. For total nitrite detection, lysate was treated with copperised cadmium in glycine buffer at pH 9.7 (2.5 /3.0 g of cadmium granules for a 4 ml reaction mixture) to reduce NO3 to NO2 . Measurement of total nitrite was based on the Griess reaction, in which a chromofore with a strong absorbance at 540 nm is formed by the reaction of nitrite with a mixture of sulphanilamide and N -(1Letter


In Poland 6000 people are diagnosed with leukemia every year [1]. Acute leukemias constitute a group of heterogeneous lymphoproliferative disorders characterized by the presence of transformed cells clone that originate from early stages of hemopoesis. According to the schema of ontogenetic development acute leukemias may be di vi ded into two groups: lymphoblastic and non-lymphoblastic (myeloid), and further into different subtypes depending on morphologic and immunologic features altogether with immunocytochemistry of the dominant cell clone [2]. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most common leukemia of the elderly. It covers 80-85% of acute leukemias diagnosed after 20 years of life. Chromosomal instability detected as chromosomal aberrations is a typical feature of many neoplasms of hemopoietic system. Detailed knowledge concerning such alterations is crucial not only for accurate diagnosis but also has significant prognostic and predictive value. That is why the choice of appropriate method of testing that results in data useful for the clinician is very important in diagnostic procedure. In late 90. the new molecular research method was introduced, comparative genomic hybridization (CGH). It enables complex examination of chromosomal aberrations without prior knowledge concerning their presence or genomic localization. The invention of molecular microand macroarrays enabling simultaneous analysis of expression of thousands of genes, and development of methods of preparing such arrays led to generation of oligonucleotide CGH arrays. Those platforms allow for very precise examination of genetic material thank to high resolution of obtained signals [3]. In this paper we present the case of AML patient with complex karyotype aberrations detected with conventional cytogenetic methods. We then assessed the genomic changes by the means of array CGH method.


This article presents the adaptation and the validation of a short self-report questionnaire assessing repetitive thinking, the Mini Cambridge-Exeter Repetitive Thought Scale (Mini-CERTS). This 16 item scale evaluates two dimensions of repetitive thinking: "concrete, experiential thinking" (CET) and "abstract, analytical thinking" (AAT) that may have constructive and unconstructive consequences. A large sample of adult volunteers (n = 247) filled in the Mini-CERTS. Subsamples also responded to depression, anxiety and general symptomatology questionnaires as well as to a concurrent measure, the Ruminative Response Scale. Confirmatory factor analysis ascertained the two-dimension structure of the questionnaire. Correlational analyses evidenced differentiated patterns of relation between CET and AAT and anxiety, depression and general symptomatology scales. AAT was correlated to the brooding scale of the RRS but there was no relation between CET and both scales of the RRS. Preliminary data suggest that the Mini-CERTS is sensitive to clinical status and treatment. © 2012 Canadian Psychological Association.