Theoretical investigations by McIntosh predicted the existence of a high-frequency natural resonance in premixed flames. In this work we examine this phenomenon using numerical techniques and predict the resonance frequency for commonly used hydrocarbon flames. It is found that resonance occurs when the width of the pressure pulse is similar to the the width of the flame region. The resonance frequency is found to increase with the burning velocity and decrease with the burnt temperature.


Glass produced by melting during impact events is called impact glass or impactite. Although impact crate ring produces a great variety of shock metamorphosed rocks, all of which are called impactites by various authors (to a differing extent), we restrict the use of this term here to material completely converted into glass. The degree of metamorphism seen in different classes of impact materials (starting with those showing simple shock effects, shock lithification, shatter cones, diaplectic glasses, coesite, stishovite, lechatelierite, impact breccias, glass) depends on the peak pressure and temperature the rock has experienced. As a result of mixing, brecciation, and similar processes, impact glasses also tend to include fragments of less shocked or less homogeneous metamorphosed rocks. We limit our discussion here, however, to the more homogeneous members of the terrestrial impactite family. [A discussion of lunar impact glasses was given by Delano et al (1981).] Another group of natural glasses are tektites, which at first glance are similar to obsidian. Most tektites are very homogeneous, often aerodynam ically shaped (spherically symmetric) objects that are several centimeters in size and are found in various areas (referred to as tektite strewn fields). In reflected light they are usually black, but in transmitted light they show variations of grey, brown, and green. The surface features (gouges, furrows, grooves, pits, striations) clearly distinguish them from terrestrial volcanic glasses and have probably originated from solution etching and weathering effects on Earth (Baker 1963, LaMarche et a1 1984) and from surface stresses occurring during their cooling. Tektites found in geographically adjacent


A local population survey based on a specially developed questionnaire was conducted to study the local identity of Arkhangelsk and Severodvinsk in the Arkhangelsk region from 2000 till 2015. The data on folklore and speech obtained allow us to analyze the distinctive features of Arkhangelsk and Severodvinsk citizens' local identity. The study leads to the conclusion that Arkhangelsk and Severodvinsk's citizens have developed their own local identity, but with different specific characteristics. Arkhangelsk was founded as a traditional town, Severodvinsk during country's urbanization processes.


Systemic lupus erythematous (SLE) is characterized by the body's lack of distinction between self- and nonself-antigens amounting to hyperactive immune reactions. In most cases, this type of autoimmune disorder has no exact known causal factor and can be caused by both genetic and epigenetic influences. One of the major points of interest in SLE research is understanding the disease biology from a wide landscape involving both the genome and epigenome of SLE patients. Availability of high-throughput gene sequencing, genome-wide association studies, and gene enrichment analysis has facilitated our understanding of the pathogenesis of SLE. However, the correlation of these genetic and epigenetic changes is still poorly understood, and therefore, this review makes a first overarching attempt to bridge the existing gap in the scientific domain.


This paper presents a real-time visualisation of an early architectural design for an amusement park. This commercial project, aimed at generating political support and investor interest for the proposed development, was implemented to strict budgets and deadlines and provides the case study to analyse the limitations of current content creation tools and formulate requirements for further research and development. The architectural design of the amusement park was in its early stages at the beginning of the project. The visualisation team received a series of hand drawings from the architect representing the top-down view of the site including its immediate surroundings and a rough CAD model including building outlines. The development covers an area of roughly 1 km square, which is typical for many similar projects, although the team has previously handled real-time urban visualisations for larger regions of approximately 5 by 3 km. The amusement park is a parkland setting including green zones, transportation, pedestrian areas, large artificial ponds and a range of buildings representing different geographic regions and industries. The modelling team was tasked to visually enhance a basic block model provided by the architect to move away from the abstract look towards a "realistic" experience. This required a degree of guess-work and artistic freedom as the details of the architecture had not been specified at that point. This was a rather unusual project brief, as it required the modellers to make decisions usually left to the architect about the look of buildings. At the same time, it allowed the modellers to take a "game development" approach where design decisions were influenced by the polygon budget. Normally, the modellers are presented with fully specified CAD models that may need optimisation for real-time display. A rendering of the resulting model is shown in Figure 1.


Andersen, B. G. & Borns Jr., H. W. 1994: The Ice Age World (an introduction to Quaternary history and research with emphasis on North America and Northern Europe during the last 2.5 million years). Scandinavian University Press.


Solid malignancies, including GBM, contain small subsets of cells that display stem-like properties (i.e. glioma stem cells or GSCs) and act as key determinants of therapeutic resistance and tumor recurrence. Mechanisms of GSC immune escape are considered fundamental to clinical GBM growth and recurrence. GBM cells escape antitumor immunity by modifying the tumor microenvironment by secreting immune-suppressive factors and recruiting anti-inflammatory/pro-oncogenic cells (e.g. T-regulatory cells, M2-like macrophages). However, whether subsets of GSCs can mimic T-reg-like functions by expressing proteins associated with T-reg immune-suppression remains unknown. Single-cell RNA sequencing analysis of GBM neurospheres revealed a previously unrecognized Oct4/Sox2high/FOXP3− cell subpopulation with high expression of TGFb1, CD39, CD73, PD-L1, and Galectin-1, a gene expression fingerprint typically associated with T-reg cells and their immune suppressive functions within the tumor microenvironment. Bioinformatics analysis of public databases shows that the above-mentioned genes are enriched in the mesenchymal GBM subtype and highly correlated with CD44 and TGFb type II receptor (TGFBR2) expression in both clinical GBM and primary GSCs. Mechanistically, Oct4 and Sox2 were found to directly induce TGFBR2 transcription concurrent with chromatin architectural changes (i.e. heterochromatin-to-euchromatin transition) involving the TGFBR2 gene. Transgenic TGFBR2 expression increased neurosphere cell growth capacity, upregulated expression of T-reg-like effector genes and enriched for CD44+ GSCs. Functionally, neurospheres expressing transgenic Oct4/Sox2 or transgenic TGFBR2 possess increased immunosuppressive capacity, and pharmacological inhibition of TGFBR2 depleted CD44+ GSCs and reduced immunosuppression in T-cell co-cultures. Taken together, we show that reprogramming events initiated by Oct4 and Sox2 induce a CD44+/FOX3P− GSC cell subset with a T-reg-like immunosuppressive transcriptional profile via a TGFBR2-dependent mechanism. This research provides the first description of such neoplastic cells in any malignancy and has high potential translational impact since targeting these tumor cell subsets and their immunosuppressive mechanisms may be critical to the successful development of GBM immunotherapies.
 Citation Format: Amanda Johnson, Jack Korleski, John Laterra, Hernando Lopez-Bertoni. Oct4 and Sox2 induce cellular transition of glioma stem cells to an immune suppressive, regulatory T cell-like state [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on the Evolutionary Dynamics in Carcinogenesis and Response to Therapy; 2022 Mar 14-17. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(10 Suppl):Abstract nr PR013.


The utility model discloses a pressure regulation type air inlet air-conditioner. The connecting means of the pressure regulation type air inlet air-conditioner is as follows: after outdoor fresh air undergoes pressurization and temperature and humidity treatment through a constant temperature and humidity machine, arrives at a main air duct and passes through a first coarse adjustment air valve, a large part of the air passes through a pressurizer tank and an electric air valve which are positioned on a branch pipe and then arrives at an air inlet of an engine, and residual air passes through a second coarse adjustment air valve through a return air duct, returns back to an air inlet of the constant temperature and humidity machine and then mixes with the fresh air to reenter into the air treatment process. Moreover, fine adjustment valves and a decompression fan are arranged, wherein the fine adjustment valves are respectively in parallel connection with the coarse adjustment valves, and the decompression fan is arranged on the return air duct to adjust the air quantity and the pressure of return air. Compared with the prior art, the decompression fan adopts frequency-changing control and the coarse adjustment air valves and the fine adjustment air valves are in parallel connection with each other on the main air duct and a bypass air duct, thereby the pressure regulation type air inlet air-conditioner can quickly adjust the air supply pressure to the set state in the set time; and residual air except test air directly returns back to an air return opening, thereby the pressure regulation type air inlet air-conditioner has the function of energy conservation.


Purpose This study aims to discuss the appropriate treatment strategy for spontaneous esophageal rupture. Methods Clinical data from twenty-one cases were retrospectively analyzed. The parameters included etiology, time interval between onset and treatment, therapy methods, prognosis, and length of stay. Results The ratio of males/females was 17/4, age range was 32–82 years (mean = 43.1), and the time interval between onset and treatment was as follows: <24 h: nine cases (42.8%); 24–48 h: six cases (28.6%); and >72 h: six cases (28.6%). All patients underwent operative treatment, and the following primary healing rates were achieved: <24 h: 88.9%, 24–48 h: 66.7%, and >72 h: 0. No patients died in this study. All patients were discharged with recovery, and the average hospitalization times were 18.1 days (<24 h), 27.8 days (24–48 h), and 51.2 days (>72 h). Conclusions Surgical treatment remains an effective method for treating spontaneous esophageal rupture, and the shorter the time interval between onset and treatment, possibly the better the prognosis.


The paper raises three aspects of teaching reform in the course of fluid mechanics pump and fan.They are the choice and organizing of the course content,and use virtual experiment teaching,and to intensify the equipment teaching aid.The material content of three aspects of the teaching reform and its effect are introduced in the paper.


Introduction Of interest is if factors like maternal diet can influence the risk of hypospadias–affected pregnancy. Increased propionylcarnitine (C3) is regarded as a biomarker of vitamin B12 deficiency. The retrospective study was undertaken to determine whether increased propionylcarnitine and low methionine in newborns are associated with hypospadias. Material and methods 41 newborns with hypospadias and 90 control newborns without congenital anomalies were investigated. Whole blood propionylcarnitine and methionine concentrations were measured using tandem mass spectrometry. Results The mean concentration of propionylcarnitine was higher in newborns with hypospadias compared with newborns without congenital anomalies (p = 0.026). The mean methionine level in cases was insignificantly lower than in controls. Conclusion There appears to be an association between decreased vitamin B12, as indexed by an increase of propionylcarnitine, and hypospadias in the investigated group of patients.


Abstract Despite growing anti-immigrant discourse and radical-right party electoral support, most Western European states include Islam in religious education classes in public schools. What are the conditions that explain these policy changes? Who are the main political allies of Muslims' demands for inclusion in religious education? Based on an original dataset that gathered data on religious education policies in 13 European countries between 1970 and 2010, this article inquires how party ideology and secularisation explain the timing and equal inclusion of Islam. The article shows that, while Left-dominated governments are the main drivers for introducing Islam within curricula, Christian-Democratic parties in power promote equal terms of inclusion, especially in contexts with a secular approach to religious education. These findings enrich our understanding of political parties in secular times by illustrating how the aim of upholding religious influence in education systems motivates Christian Democrats to promote equal rights for Muslims. Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2021.1927546 .


Such was the slogan devised for an AIDS awareness campaign twelve years ago. It has now surreptitiously become the slogan of many screening programs, in some of which the only purpose seems to be to help people to die knowingly. Screening has become the shibboleth of preventive medicine. Just as the Ephraimites' inability correctly to say "Shibboleth" allowed them to be identified and slain by the Gileadites, so now those who question the value of screening programs may metaphorically be put to the sword. A recent victim is Goran Sjonell, a Swedish general practitioner who doubts the value of breast screening. His team found that the number of deaths from breast cancer in Sweden over the last decade was only 0.8 percent less than would be expected without screening, while 100,000 false positives had led to 16,000 biopsies and 4,000 other breast operations.[1] When his findings were reported in the United Kingdom, he was roundly criticized, although the critics had to work hard. Their most common explanation was that it takes at least a decade for radiologists in clinical practice to learn to read mammograms as accurately as their colleagues in research. But what if routine breast screening can never reach the standard achieved in trials? Ignoring the costs and risks of screening programs, however, seems standard practice. A recent paper examining the effect of the English cervical screening program on the incidence of, and mortality from, cervical cancer had not a single mention of any unwanted effects of screening.[2] Yet some critics have long argued that the anxiety and disruption of lives caused by the massively greater number of false than true positives may outweigh the benefit of some lives being saved. Interestingly, the greatest threat to the cervical screening program, now reckoned to save 800 lives each year through the examination of 4.5 million smears, is from the law. There have been widely publicized cases each year of screening centers that have missed a few suspicious smears. In one case, three women sued the health authority for negligence and won: the High Court judge agreed that the women's smears warranted further investigation. In so doing, however, a standard of accuracy was applied that routine screening programs rarely achieve. If upheld on appeal, routine cervical screening in the United Kingdom would have to stop. Given that it costs about $280,000 per life saved, some would argue that the money could in any case be better spent elsewhere. Screening for other cancers remains a hotly debated issue throughout Europe, with interest centering on ovarian and prostate cancers. …


In this paper we address some of the most important aspects in modular self-reconfigurable mobile robotics. Related work indicates that it is not sufficient to just have a flexible, scalable and robust platform but that it is necessary to preserve these capabilities in higher levels of organization to benefit from them. Hence we analyze the way in which similar platforms and the according software are implemented. Then we describe the way our own platform is implemented within the SYMBRION and REPLICATOR projects. Afterwards we show how we manage to preserve the robustness and flexibility for use by other researchers in higher levels of organization. To conclude we provide some measurements that show the general adequacy of our platform architecture to cope with the challenges posed by multi-modular self-reconfigurable robotics.


This work sought to understand the temporary organization of a music festival and its influences on the creative economy of a city. The qualitative methodology was based on a set of techniques, among them: participant observation, field diary, shadowing, interviews, compilation of documents and photographic images. It became evident that the organization of the music festival under study is involved in a creative network of multiple spatial practices, creating a simultaneous space-time chronology. It was observed that this synchrony, when diluting the space-time boundaries, facilitates the emergence of a complex and differentiated network of negotiation and learning practices. On the other hand, the main task of the temporary organization under study is related to the practice of creatively occupying the city, as one of the reasons for the existence of the music festival.


Tracking of inventory and rearrangement of misplaced items are some of the most labor-intensive tasks in a retail environment. While there have been attempts at using vision-based techniques for these tasks, they mostly use planogram compliance for detection of any anomalies, a technique that has been found lacking in robustness and scalability. Moreover, existing systems rely on human intervention to perform corrective actions after detection. In this paper, we present Co-AD, a Concept-based Anomaly Detection approach using a Vision Transformer (ViT) that is able to flag misplaced objects without using a prior knowledge base such as a planogram. It uses an auto-encoder architecture followed by outlier detection in the latent space. Co-AD has a peak success rate of 89.90% on anomaly detection image sets of retail objects drawn from the RP2K dataset, compared to 80.81% on the best-performing baseline of a standard ViT auto-encoder. To demonstrate its utility, we describe a robotic mobile manipulation pipeline to autonomously correct the anomalies flagged by Co-AD. This work is ultimately aimed towards developing autonomous mobile robot solutions that reduce the need for human intervention in retail store management.


1 Cunningham MS, White B, Hollywood D, O Donnell J. Primary thromboprohylaxis for cancer patients with central venous catheters – a reappraisal of the evidence. Br J Cancer 2006; 94: 189–94. 2 Chan A, Lannucci A, Dager WE. Systemic anticoagulant prophylaxis for central catheter-associated venous thrombosis in cancer patients. Ann Pharmacother 2007; 41: 635–41. 3 Dickersin K, Scherer R, Lefebvre C. Identifying relevant studies for systematic reviews. BMJ 1994; 309: 1286–91. 4 Jadad AR, Moore RA, Carroll D, Jenkinson C, Reynolds DJ, Gavaghan DJ, McQuay HJ. Assessing the quality of reports of randomized clinical trials: is blinding necessary? Control Clin Trials 1996; 17: 1–12. 5 Schulz KF, Chalmers I, Hayes RJ, Altman DG. Empirical evidence of bias. JAMA 1995; 273: 408–12. 6 MonrealM,AlastrueA,RullM,MiraX,Muxart J, Rosell R, AbadA. Upper extremity deep vein thrombosis in cancer patients with venous access devices. Prophylaxis with a low molecular weight heparin (Fragmin). Thromb Haemost 1996; 75: 251–3. 7 Verso M, Agnelli G, Bertoglio S, Di Somma FCD, Paoletti F, Ageno W, BazzanM, Parise P, Quintavalla R, Naglieri E, Santoro A, Imberti D, Soraru M, Mosca S. Enoxaparin for the prevention of venous thromboembolism associated with central vein catheter: a doubleblind, placebo-controlled, randomized study in cancer patients. J Clin Oncol 2005; 23: 4057–62. 8 BernMM, Lokich JJ,Wallach SR, Bothe A Jr, Benotti PN, Arkin CF, Greco FA, Huberman M, Moore C. Very low doses of warfarin can prevent thrombosis in central venous catheters. A randomized prospective trial. Ann Intern Med 1990; 112: 423–8. 9 Couban S, Goodyear M, Burnell M, Dolan S, Wasi P, Barnes D, MacLeod D, Burton E, Andreou P, Anderson DR. Randomized placebo-controlled study of low-dose warfarin for the prevention of central venous catheter-associated thrombosis in patients with cancer. J Clin Oncol 2005; 23: 4063–9. 10 Heaton DC, Han DY, Inder A. Minidose (1 mg) warfarin as prophylaxis for central vein catheter thrombosis. Intern Med J 2002; 32: 84–8. 11 Karthaus M, Kretzschmar A, Kroning H, Biakhov M, Irwin D, Marschner N, Slabber C, Fountzilas G, Garin A, Abecasis NGF, Baronius W, Steger GG, Südhoff T, Giorgetti C, Reichardt P. Dalteparin for prevention of catheter-related complications in cancer patients with central venous catheters: final results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled phase III trial. Ann Oncol 2006; 17: 289–96. 12 Young AM, Begum G, Billingham J, Hughes AI, Kerr DJ, Rea D, Stanley A, Sweeney A, Wheatley K, Wilde J. WARP – A multicentre prospective randomized controlled trial of thrombosis prophylaxis with warfarin in cancer patients with central venous catheters. J Clin Oncol 2005; 23: 8004 (Abstract). 13 Pucheu A, Leduc B, Sillet-Bach I, Payen C, Assaf W, Pucheu M. Experimental prevention of deep venous thrombosis with low-molecular-weight heparin using implantable infusion devices. Ann Cardiol Angeiol 1996; 45: 59–63. 14 Boraks P, Seale J, Price J, Bass G, Ethell M, Keeling D, Mahendra P, Baglin T, Marcus R. Prevention of central venous catheter associated thrombosis using minidose warfarin in patients with haematological malignancies. Br J Haematol 1998; 101: 483–6. 15 Nightingale CE, Norman A, Cunningham D, Young J, Webb A, Filshie J. A prospective analysis of 949 long-term central venous access catheters for ambulatory chemotherapy in patients with gastrointestinal malignancy. Eur J Cancer 1997; 33: 398–403. 16 Fagnani D, Franchi R, Porta C, Bertolini A, Duro M, Ardizzoia A, Filipazzi V, Isa l, Vergani C, Milani M, Cimminiello C on behalf of POLONORD group. Thrombosis-related complications and mortality in cancer patients with central venous devices: an observational study on the effect of antithrombotic prophylaxis. Ann Onc 2007; 18: 551–5.


Proton–proton collisions at the LHC will be studied with the ALICE detector, not only as a benchmark for the comparison with heavy-ion reactions, but also as a mean to study important aspects of pp physics in the new energy domain probed by the LHC. A report will be given here on the potentialities of ALICE in the study of the global properties of pp events, and especially of their multiplicity. This will be one of the main issues in pp physics where, because of the special features of its design, ALICE will be competitive with the other LHC experiments.


Due to their flexibility of design and usage, Fresnel lenses are very attractive for THz applications. For example, Fresnel lenses could be used for maneuvering the THz wave front, fabricating THz diffraction optics or lens array for THz image application [1]. In general, Fresnel lenses are also more compact than conventional THz lenses.


Graphics-intensive mobile games place different and varying levels of demand on the associated central processing units (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs). In contrast to the workload variability that characterizes games, the current design of the energy governor employed by mobile systems appears to be outdated. In this paper, we review the energy-saving mechanism implemented in an Android system coupled with graphics-intensive gaming workloads from three perspectives: 1) user perception; 2) application status; and 3) the interplay between the CPU and GPU. We observe that there are information gaps in the current system, which may result in unnecessary energy wastage. To resolve the problem, we propose an online user-centric CPU-GPU governing framework. To bridge the identified information gaps, we classify rendered game frames into redundant/changing frames to satisfy user demand, categorize an application into GPU sensitive/insensitive phases to understand the application's demand, and determine the frequency scaling intents of the CPU and GPU to capture processor demand. In response to the measured demand, we employ a required workload estimator, a unified policy selector, and a frequency-scaling intent communicator in the framework to save energy. The proposed framework was implemented on an LG Nexus 5X smartphone, and extensive experiments with real-world 3-D gaming applications were conducted. According to the experiment results, for an application which is low interactive and infrequent phase changing, the proposed framework can, respectively, reduce energy consumption by 25.3% and 39% compared with our previous work and Android governors while maintaining user experience.


Objective To establish an HPLC method for determination of paeoniflorin in Xiaoyao Mixture.Methods The HPLC conditions consisted of Diamonsil C18(250 mm×4.6 mm,5 μm)chromatographic column with 0.1% triethylamine(pH adjusted to 3.0 with H3PO4)-acetonitrile(85:15) as the mobile phase at the flow rate of 1.0 mL·min-1,the temperature was 30 ℃,the detective wavelength was 230 nm with 10 μL as sample size.Results Paeoniflorin showed a linear relationship at the range of 0.238 0~2.380 0 μg,the average recovery was 100.54%,and the RSD was 1.59%(n=9).Conclusion The method was simple with good specificity and good reproducibility,can control the quality of this preparation.


Considering the influences of occlusions and cluttered background in object segmentation,a Markov random field( MRF) based object segmentation combining edge and shape prior was proposed. In the method,shape prior probability distribution was given,and then the shape alignment problem was solved and edge was extracted directly from image. Both edge information and shape prior were introduced into the energy function,and the whole definition of energy function was provided.Finally,graph cuts method was used to minimize the whole energy function and the final segmentation results were given. The experiment results show that shape prior and edge information can cope with the occlusions and complex background problems in object segmentation efficiently,which improve the segmentation result obviously and reduce the error rate.


Single-layer graphene supported on a metal surface has shown remarkable properties relevant for novel electronic and optoelectronic devices. However, the nature of the electronic states derived from unoccupied surface states and quantum well states, lying in the real-space gap between the graphene and the solid surface, has not been explored and exploited yet. Herein, we use ultraviolet nonlinear angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to unveil the coexistence at the graphene/Cu(111) interface of a highest occupied Shockley surface state (HOSS) and the two lowest unoccupied surface states (LUSS). The experimental results and electronic structure calculations, based on one-dimensional model potential, indicate that the two unoccupied states originate from the hybridization of an n = 1 image potential state with a quantum well state. The hybridized nature of these unoccupied states is benchmarked by a similar experiment done on single-layer graphene grown on copper polycrystalline foil where only the image state survives being the quantum well state at this interface inhibited.


In 1956 Abramov, Schorr, andWolman from Israel described a 2-month-old female infant of PersianJewish extraction, whose parents were first cousins, who died from a lipidosis in which triglycerides and cholesterol were deposited in various tissues, and in whom the adrenals were extensively involved and diffusely calcified. In 1961 they reported an identical disease in two other sisters of the same family. Crocker et al. (1965) reported the first 3 cases of this disorder to be recognized in America. They were not related and were of widely different racial origin. The male patient in their report had a brother who died of an apparently similar disease. In 1966 the first case in Japan was described by Konno et al. in a 2month-old female infant who had 3 sibs, 2 of whom had succumbed after a clinically similar illness. In a review of the literature, Wolman et al. (1961) suggested that single, similarly affected, infants may have been reported as cases ofNiemannPick disease by Alexander (1946) from New Zealand and by Dienst and Hamperl (1927) from Austria. In a discussion on Gaucher's disease reported in the Scandinavian literature, Henschen (1926) described a 7-week-old infant with 'Niemann's' disease in which the adrenals were extensively involved, but calcification was not mentioned. Caffey (1961) illustrates the adrenal calcification in an infant who died of a disease of the 'NiemannPick' type. It seems probable that these are all cases of 'Wolman's' disease. This paper reports two further examples of this disorder; the first patient, a female infant of Irish descent, was diagnosed during life. The diagnosis was made in the second patient, an English boy, after a review of biopsy and necropsy material previously reported as an unclassified lipidosis.


Introduction and Aims: Endovascular renal denervation is a catheter-based treatment for resistant hypertension that reduces afferent and efferent renal sympathetic nerve activity. In chronic kidney disease (CKD), elevated sympathetic activity has been causally linked to disease progression and cardiovascular sequelae. Although a persistent blood pressure-lowering effect post denervation has been demonstrated in a small number of trials in this population, the long-term effect on sympathetic activity remains elusive. We hypothesized that renal denervation in dialysis patients would reduce muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) resulting in reduced blood pressure (BP) and cardiovascular risk. Methods: One hundred and three dialysis patients were screened for uncontrolled BP (office BP > 140/90 mmHg despite clinical euvolaemia, whilst taking two or more anti-hypertensives at maximal tolerated doses). Nine patients were recruited into this proof-of-principle trial. Office and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) were performed at baseline, one, three and twelve months post denervation, along with recordings of supine MSNA. Bioimpedance spectroscopy was also recorded at similar time points to formalise patients' volume status. To assess the mechanistic impact of renal denervation, serum catecholamines, natriuretic peptides, adrenomedullin, renin and aldosterone were recorded. Heart rate variability analysis of 24h ambulatory ECG recordings was also undertaken, as was transthoracic echocardiography. Bilateral endovascular renal denervation with the multi-electrode EnligHTN catheter was then performed as described previously. Results: Office BP reduced from 179±28/90±17mmHg at baseline to 156±24/76 ±13mmHg at one month, 152±25/82±12mmHg at three months and 154±37/81 ±19mmHg by twelve months. The effect on ABPM was attenuated although did improve substantially with time, with a reduction from 173±19/92±11mmHg at baseline to 173 ±23/89±13 mmHg at one month, 165±24/88±11 at three months and 152±31/83±18 by twelve months. The systolic BP change was statistically significant by both measures of assessment (p<0.05). Alongside the observed BP change, there was an associated delayed reduction in MSNA (58.8±12.4 bursts/min at baseline, 58.8±14.9 bursts/min at one month, 58.9±13.2 bursts/min at three months but 53.7±13.0 bursts/min by twelve months), with regression of left ventricular hypertrophy and improvement of diastolic dysfunction and heart rate variability (p<0.05). One patient did however develop a pseudoaneurysm at the site of femoral artery puncture that needed surgical repair; another suffered a myocardial infarction four days post procedure. Conclusions: Renal denervation may offer an as yet unproven benefit to the CKD population, particularly for those on dialysis. Alongside a blood pressure lowering effect, pluripotent cardiovascular benefits seem to ensue, which could well be as a result of reduced afferent sympathetic nerve signalling. These are potentially of prognostic significance. Further larger, sham-controlled studies of this technique are warranted in the CKD population with follow-up continuing to at least 12 months.


Paroxysmal exercise‐induced dystonia (PED) is one of the rarer forms of paroxysmal dyskinesia, and can occur in sporadic or familial forms. We report a family (male index case, mother and maternal grandfather) with autosomal dominant inheritance of paroxysmal exercise‐induced dystonia. The dystonia began in childhood and was only ever induced after many minutes of exercise, and was never present at rest, or on initiation of movements. In addition, family members suffered restless legs syndrome (RLS), depression, and adult‐onset Parkinsonism. The index case had low cerebrospinal fluid neurotransmitters and pterins. The PED and RLS stopped on initiation of l‐Dopa therapy. Both live family members were found to have a nonsense mutation (p.E84X) in exon 1 of the GTP‐cyclohydrolase 1 (GCH‐1) gene. We propose that GCH‐1 mutations should be considered a genetic cause of familial PED, especially if additional clinical features of monoaminergic deficiency are present in affected individuals.


Objective: To improve clinical teaching quality by analyze the quality of the written examination. Methods: A total of 39 nursing students took the examination.The degree of difficulty,degree of distinction,reliability,validity and the comprehensive index on written examination were analyzed. Results: The examination scores were positive skewness distribution.Both degree of distinction and validity of problems,with relatively high degree of difficulty,were lower than the normal level.But the comprehensive index of the examination was quite high. Conclusion: Some problems of the examination need to be amended.The clinical teacher should improve teaching quality on chest injury and coronary artery disease,meanwhile bring up the nursing students' ability of analyzing and solving problems.


The purpose of this paper is to analyse and discuss clinch-nails found at an excavation at terrace II in the Garrison of Birka, on the island of Bjorko in Sweden. This type of clinch-nails is commo ...


We are living in a world where a lot of people maintain constant connectivity through sending and receiving messages and calls. Contemporary research has focused on how smartphones disconnect us from our physical environment. Yet, in a digital disconnect, almost daily, people choose not to respond to certain messages or calls, which can make the sender anxious and adversely affect their communication. The first phase of this project consisted of an interview study of 24 participants which led to publications covering the sender and receiver perspectives. A follow‐up large‐scale survey of 4,001 respondents was carried out to investigate the receiver's reasons for not responding including the role of power, the psychological impact on the sender, and other communication. Theories on information avoidance, power, interpersonal deception, and emotions inform this study. Preliminary findings are shared here. The findings will inform the fields of information science, communication, psychology, and mental health, and should help software designers build tools to help users communicate their context to each other.


RHINOLITHIASIS is an uncommon condition and perforation of the palate as a result of a rhinolith appears to be extremely rare. Key Aberg (1921-22) reviewed the literature of 257 rhinoliths. He mentions one case in which there was an associated palatal perforation, but this was thought to be syphilitic in origin. Polsen (1943) in a review of the literature in 1943 found 396 cases of rhinolith but mentions perforation of the palate only in connection with the case noted by Key-Aberg. Bovil (1886) reported a case of a giant rhinolith in an Indian, which produced depression of the hard palate as well as facial deformity and Vllth nerve palsy. At operation he noted that there was atrophy of the palatal process of the maxilla on the affected side. Knight (1903) and Price Brown (1900) mention perforation of the palate as a complication of rhinolithiasis but give no references. In 1953 Morgan (1957) reported a case in which a perforation of the hard palate was produced by a rhinolith.


Phosphate uptake by plasma membrane vesicles was studied with()~(32)P labeled phosphate and the results indicated that phosphate uptake capacity(V_(max)) of cells of maize(Zea mays L.) mature leaf was enlarged(P0.01) under phosphorus starvation.Local application of()~(32)P labeled phosphate solutions on mature leaf revealed that a close relationship existed between phosphate uptake by leaf cells from the apoplasts and phosphorus export of the leaf.Furthermore,the investigation on variations of phosphorus contents in the xylem saps and phloem exudates of mature leaf during phosphorus starvation showed that phosphorus which was imported to mature leaf through xylem flows decreased markedly,while the phosphorus export of the leaf through phloem was enhanced relatively.It is proposed that enhancement of phosphate uptake capacity of cells of maize mature leaf under phosphorus deficiency might benefit the absorption of phosphate from leaf apoplasts including xylem and P output of mature leaf.


Plasma creatinine, IVP, GFR, and renography were analysed in 53 candidates for unilateral nephrectomy. Renography was used to determine how the function was distributed between the two kidneys. Twelve of 29 patients with normal plasma creatinine had decreased GFR. One-third of 74 individual kidneys showing normal function at IVP had GFR values below 30 ml/min. There was poor agreement between the radiological and renographic estimation of function distribution. In 6 of 14 patients who were not nephrectomized mainly because the other kidney had a reduced function, the kidney scheduled for removal had the major function. GFR and renography were particularly informative in cases with elevated plasma creatinine and normal IVP.


The most northern Eurasian occurrence of Hydroscapha granulum in the Lower Ardeche River (France) is discussed. After a systematical, biogeographical and ecological review, the larva is described and compared to the only previously known larva of//, natans which was found in North America. H. granulum is a rheophilic species, which lives in sandy and cobble substrate and is sensitive to organic pollution.


1. Reference is made to some of the literature relating to placebo response and to suggestibility.

2. The authors' findings with controlled groups receiving intravenous acetyl choline, carbon dioxide inhalation and inert substances are considered in relation to placebo response.

3. Differential factors favoring placebo reaction are discussed.

4. A more critical attitude, both to the use of physical methods and of psychotherapy, is advocated.


An N M R method has been developed to monitor the hydrogenation of various oils used as raw materials in the margarine industry. The method is based on the determination of a monoexponential approximation of the longitudinal relaxation time, T1, which is shown to be highly correlated with the iodine number.


Purpose – The purpose of this study is to evaluate the scientific performance of universities by extending the application of the h‐index from the individual to the institutional level. A ranking of the world's top universities based on their h‐index scores was produced. The geographic distribution of the highly ranked universities by continent and by country was also analysed.Design/approach/methodology – This study uses bibliometric analysis to rank the universities. In order to calculate their h‐index the numbers of papers and citations in each university were gathered from Web of Science, including the Science Citation Index and Social Science Citation Index. Authority control dealing with variations in university names ensured the accuracy of each university's number of published journal papers and the subsequent statistics of their citations.Findings – It was found that a high correlation exists between the h‐index ranking generated in this study and that produced by Shanghai Jiao Tong University. T...


W elcome to ACM Inroads! ACM's computing education magazine is now completing its fourth year of operation. Looking back, the magazine transitioned from humble beginnings to what is a viable and useful publication for computing educators around the globe. While we owe this success to the many authors and volunteers who have contributed admirably toward a common cause, we cannot stop here and must continue shaping the magazine's future. This issue of ACM Inroads contains a special section on "Industry and IT" that highlights perspectives on the way practicing information technology (IT) professionals view computing education. Industry professionals have authored all articles appearing in this special section and in addition to its interest to educators, current students may learn about the workings and IT needs of a wide variety of industries. I thank guest editors, Rob Friedman and Han Reichgelt, for their efforts, and in particular, I congratulate Rob for his unrelenting determination to have contributing authors meet their deadlines. I trust you will enjoy this journey into the real world of information technology. If you have any comments, feel free to contact Rob, Han, or the authors directly. In the 2013 June issue, I published the ACM Inroads "Future Directions" report, developed by a task group led by Lisa Kaczmarczyk. We may consider this report one blueprint for the way the magazine may evolve as it strives for excellence in quality publication in the field of computing education. The "Future Directions" report, which I repeat in part from my message found in the 2013 September issue, has led to new movements for the magazine. A task group is refining the process and understanding of the mission of the magazine and its content. While the magazine promotes and requires validation of statements made by authors, the editorial staff redirects research articles to the ACM Transactions on Computing Education (TOCE) journal. Additionally, a "Reviewer Scorecard" is available to authors and reviewers. This provides the criteria by which the editors evaluate magazine material for publication and authors use first to determine whether their work is appropriate and then to shape their article so it meets the spirit of the magazine. Please be reminded that the submission of manuscripts must now follow the magazine's formatting guidelines. These guidelines appeared in the 2013 September issue of ACM Inroads. They also appear on the ScholarOne Manuscript Central site under Resources, together with a template showing the manner in which an author must submit a manuscript. It appears that the ACM Inroads website is one of those well-kept secrets in the computing education community. Have you visited http://inroads.acm.org/ lately? You will find many goodies there including an active blog on a variety of computing education topics. The web administrator, Joe Kmoch, and his supportive crew welcome you to become more involved with the site and stand by ready to help. Once again, we are grateful to all authors who contribute to the ACM Inroads magazine. Feel free to contact these dedicated individuals who present their views on a variety of topics. Their efforts help make this magazine an outstanding publication.


KEY POINTS
The 2017/18 Canadian federal budget confirmed that $5 billion will be transferred to provincial and territorial governments over the next 10 years to improve access to mental health services.[1][1] This $500 million per year (on average) is a historic first step but falls short of closing


Many researches in the world deal with driving on the road to ensure optimum safety. In this context, several telecommunication technologies are often used to connect the vehicles via continuous wireless communication with the infrastructure, exchange data and information relevant to increase overall road safety and enable cooperative traffic management. These systems are not reliable for all situations and the difficulties encountered by the drivers. We have been proposed the Multi-band Orthogonal Frequency- Division Multiplexing system based on Ultra Wide Band (MB-OFDM UWB) as a good candidate to insure a Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) communication with high data rate and good performances in terms of Bit Error Rate (BER). However, Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI) resulting from Doppler shift phenomenon degrades MB-OFDM UWB system performance and raises a significant challenge in wireless mobile environment. In this study, V2I communication based on the MB-OFDM UWB technology is studied and analyzed for 200 Mbit/s, over multipath channel using the IEEE802.15.4a channel model with Doppler shift for different speeds. The theoretical formulas of BER in Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) and Rayleigh channels are calculated and are compared to the simulation results in MB-OFDM UWB system. The comparison shows that simulation results are consistent with theoretical formulas. The degradation in the performance of the proposed system solution becomes worse with a high speed 250 Km h-1, so it's necessary to use new receiver solutions. The Extended Kalman Filer (EKF) and the Maximum Likelihood (ML) estimation with ZF equalizer have been proposed and have been compared to Zero-Forcing (ZF) in order to combat the ICI effect. For high value of speed (250 Km h-1), the EKF method performs better than the ML method, better than the ZF equalizer and offers much improvement in performance in term of BER.


We develop here a concept of deformed algebras and their related groups through two examples. Deformed algebras are obtained from a fixed algebra by deformation along a family of indexes, through formal series. We show how the example of deformed algebra used in [23] is only an example among others, and how they often give rise to regular Frolicher Lie groups, and sometimes to Frechet Lie groups, that are regular. The first example, indexed by N, is obtained by deformations of the gourp of bounded classical pseudo-differential operators Cl 0, * by algebras of (maybe unbounded) classical pseudo-differential operators. In the second one, the set of indexes is a N−graded groupo¨idgroupo¨id, which is made of manifolds with boundary that are understood as morphisms of cobordisms. Here again, we get regular Lie groups, and we show how this setting applies to a class of examples that are derived of so-called stochastic cosurfaces. MSC(2010): 22E65, 22E66, 58B25, 70G65.


Optically pumped InAs/InGaSb/InAs/AlSb type-II quantum well lasers emitting from 4.1 to 4.36 μm were operated up to 226 K with a characteristic temperature T0 of 30 K. The absorbed threshold pump intensity at 0.98 μm was 0.12 kW/cm2 at 100 K, and 3.25 kW/cm2 at 200 K with a pulse length of 5 μs and a repetition rate of 2 kHz. At 73 K, the peak output power was 250 mW per facet with a pulse length of 10 μs and a repetition rate of 10 kHz. A cw output power of 14.7 mW was observed at 74 K.


Innovation plays a crucial role in ensuring economic growth and competitiveness of national economies, creating conditions for their sustainable development. By focusing on supporting innovation, the EU is particularly helping to accelerate the development of those member states that lag far behind the EU average. This requires the selection of the indicators reflecting the development of innovation that determine the differences between member countries to the greatest extent. Therefore, the aim of the study is to identify the key factors of the innovation gap (FIG) between EU countries based on a comparison of indicators characterizing the national innovation systems (NIS). For this purpose, 22 relative indicators were selected from the indicators included in the Global Innovation Index to form an array of empirical data. At the first stage, the EU countries were divided into four clusters using the k-means method. At the second stage, using the decision tree method, a group of indicators was identified that together distinguish the obtained clusters to the greatest extent and, accordingly, determine the differences between EU countries and can be considered as FIG, namely: "Researchers", "GERD financed by business", "Joint venture/strategic alliance deals", "Software spending", and "High-tech manufacturing". This allows individual member states to prioritize the development of those indicators (i.e. FIG) that most determine their position in the EU and therefore improve their NIS. At the EU level, this will contribute to the complementarity of the NIS, overcome differences between member states and increase the overall level of convergence in innovation.


Objective
To investigate the expression of matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2) in hepatic stellate cells LX-2 induced by IL-32γ and its mechanism.

Methods
Different concentrations (0, 10, 20 μg/L) of IL-32γ protein were co-cultured with LX-2 cells, and the expression level of MMP2 mRNA, MMP2 protein and activated Akt was respectively detected by RT-PCR, ELISA and Human Phospho-Akt Immunoassay kit. Different concentrations (0, 25, 50 μg/L) of recombinant human activated Akt protein were respectively co-cultured with LX-2 cells, and different concentrations (0, 10, 20 μmol/L) of Akt inhibitor Perifosine were respectively co-cultured with IL-32γ and LX-2 cells, and the expression of MMP2 protein was detected by ELISA. The expression levels of Akt, MMP2 mRNA and MMP2 protein among three groups were compared using one-way analysis of variance and LSD-t test.

Results
After the co-culture of different concentrations of IL-32γ protein and LX-2 cells, the expression levels of MMP2 mRNA and MMP2 protein were respectively (0.9±0.4), (5.5±1.4), (12.2±2.6) and (53±13), (234±38), (523±101) μg/L, and appeared as dose-dependent elevation (LSD-t=5.517, 3.952 and 7.855, 4.634; P<0.05). The expression of Akt in LX-2 cells could be induced by IL-32γ, the levels was repectively (86±9), (287±60) and (650±170) RFUs in accordance with the concetrations, which appeared as dose-dependent elevation (LSD-t=5.700, 3.489; P<0.05). The expression of MMP2 in LX-2 cells could be induced by recombinant human activated Akt protein, the levels was repectively (54±14), (277±45) and (550±132) μg/L in accordance with the concetrations, which appeared as dose-dependent elevation (LSD-t=8.155, 3.387; P<0.05). Different concentrations of Perifosine could inhibit the inducing effect of IL-32γ upon the expression of MMP2 in LX-2 cells, the expression level of MMP2 protein was respectively (553±86), (233±28) and (89±12) μg/L in accordance with the concetrations, which appeared as dose-dependent reduction (LSD-t=6.130, 8.083; P<0.05).

Conclusions
IL-32γ may induce the expression of MMP2 in hepatic stellate cells LX-2 via activating the Akt signaling pathway, thereby participating in the incidence and metastasis of hepatic fibrosis and liver cancer.

Key words:
Interleukins; Matrix metalloproteinase 2; LX-2 cells


The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, bullet-pointed answer plans and suggested answers, author commentary, and illustrative diagrams and flowcharts. This chapter presents sample exam questions about the law relating to leases and licences and leasehold agreements. This is an area of law which has been the source of much litigation and the debate on the fundamental distinction between a lease (an interest in land) and a licence (a personal right) remains important (despite changes on the statutory protection of leases) in determining whether rights granted to an occupier bind a third party.


In this study, the time-varying wind stress drag coefficient in the Ekman model was inverted by the cubic spline interpolation scheme based on the adjoint method. Twin experiments were carried out to investigate the influences of several factors on inversion results, and the conclusions were (1) the inverted distributions with the cubic spline interpolation scheme were in good agreement with the prescribed distributions of the wind stress drag coefficients, and the cubic spline interpolation scheme was superior to direct inversion by the model scheme and Cressman interpolation scheme; (2) the cubic spline interpolation scheme was more advantageous than the Cressman interpolation scheme even if there is moderate noise in the observations. The cubic spline interpolation scheme was further validated in practical experiments where Ekman currents and wind speed derived from mooring data of ocean station Papa were assimilated. The results demonstrated that the variation of the time-varying wind stress drag coefficient with time was similar to that of wind speed with time, and a more accurate inversion result could be obtained by the cubic spline interpolation scheme employing appropriate independent points. Overall, this study provides a potential way for efficient estimation of time-varying wind stress drag coefficient.


Steroids are numerous, and produced by different organs with specific functions. The corticoids are produced by adrenal cortex and corresponds to aldosterone, involved in hydric equilibrium, and cortisol, mainly involved in inflammation. Oestrogens and progesterone are produced by the ovary and the placenta, to control sexual cycle, pregnancy and lactation. Testosterone is the male "equivalent", produced mainly by testis to promote growth. Out of these organs, only fibroblasts, neurons and glia are today know to produce steroids too.


Out of the many approaches tested over the past 2 decades, remuscularization by therapeutic addition of exogenously produced cardiomyocytes from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) appears attractive for many reasons. (1) hPSCs (both embryonic [hESC] and induced pluripotent stem cells [hiPSC]) are the only undisputed source of bona fide cardiomyocytes, (2) current multistage differentiation protocols not only generate hundreds of millions of cardiomyocytes at high efficiency and decreasing costs, but also robustly eliminate potentially harmful undifferentiated, pluripotent stem cells, (3) therapeutically delivered hPSC-derived cardiomyocytes can beat in synchrony with the host syncytium, and (4) hPSC-derived cardiomyocytes can form human cardiomyocyte grafts and improve heart function in injured hearts for up to 12 weeks. This said, many key questions remain unresolved. Hurdles towards a clinical application have been discussed elsewhere and will only briefly be summarized here. Improved differentiation and purification protocols delete potentially harmful undifferentiated, pluripotent stem cells, yet it is currently unknown whether these protocols (and tumorigenicity tests before transplantation) are sufficiently effective to completely eliminate the risk of teratomas. Longer follow-up periods are required to assess not only the risk of teratomas but also analyze cell survival, arrhythmogenicity, and long-term effects on left ventricular function. Most reviews conclude that the way forward with hPSC-derived cardiomyocytes will be allogeneic, that is, a patient receives cells that come from a genetically nonidentical human donor. The 2 active clinical programs using hPSC-cardiomyocytes or progenitors and all translational projects towards first-in-men in the cardiac field we are aware of follow this path. Arguments are straightforward. (1) In an allogeneic approach, cardiomyocytes can be made not only from hiPSC, but also from hESC, which are considered by some as advantageous as a less-manipulated natural cell source. (2) Calculations predict that a limited number of hPSC lines with the most frequent combinations of major histocompatibility complexes/human leukocyte antigens would suffice to match a majority of the population. (3) Regulatory issues would be easier with an allogeneic approach because any single line of such an hPSC bank could be rigorously tested (eg, viral contamination and genomic stability) and approved. Large quantities of cardiomyocytes could be produced from all the approved lines, cryopreserved, quality-controlled, and directly used as an off-the-shelf product. (4) Finally and not at last, the allogeneic approach offers immediate opportunities as a business model. It is therefore not surprising that all actively recruiting trials currently found on clinicaltrials.gov are allogeneic applications of hESC-derived cell products. We think it is time to reconsider. The first clinical study in France transplanted a fibrin patch loaded with a small number (mean 8 Mio) of hESC-derived SSEA-1+ (stage-specific embryonic antigen-1; marker of loss of pluripotency) cardiovascular progenitors in an allogeneic, not human leukocyte antigen–matched manner. Immunosuppressant therapy was stopped 4 weeks after transplantation. A trial recently announced to start in Japan applies cell sheets made of allogeneic, hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes on the epicardium of patients with heart disease. This trial will use a number of cardiomyocytes (100 Mio), which could theoretically generate relevant new myocardium, but will also stop immunosuppression. Discontinuation of immunosuppression definitely causes allogeneic cells to disappear. Indeed, the lead investigator of the Japanese trial stated that "cells do not seem to integrate in the myocardium and growth factor release may help to regenerate the damaged myocardium." This raises obvious questions as to the advantage of such an approach over traditional autologous bone marrow or mesenchymal cell therapy with its proposed paracrine mode of action. The answer to this apparent conundrum is likely that regulatory authorities forced the investigators to go this route to prevent harm to patients by the immunosuppressant. This points to a somewhat neglected issue of hPSC-mediated remuscularization, which, as the term implies, requires contractile myocardium beating in synchrony with the host heart. Although a causal relation between new contractile heart muscle and improved function of the entire organ has never been formally proven, it can only work if the grafts The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those of the editors or of the American Heart Association. From the Department of Experimental Pharmacology and Toxicology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany; and German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), partner site Hamburg/Kiel/ Lübeck, Germany. Correspondence to Thomas Eschenhagen, MD, Department of Experimental Pharmacology and Toxicology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, Hamburg 20246, Germany. Email email@example.com Viewpoints


In construction and maintenance of highways in mountainous area,the surface runoff of slope is a common problem,and is more serious during construction of slope.The runoff capacity in value is equal to sand quantity carried in surface flow and includes transition runoff and suspension runoff.This paper,based on the runoff of a southern sand cutting slope as an example,calculates the surface runoff capacity.


Abstract : This report documents research that was sponsored by the Research and Plans Division of the Program Analysis and Evaluation Directorate of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command (USAREC) from May 1993 through September 1994. The goal of this research was to develop a decision-support system to assist in the selection of Regular Army (RA) recruiters. The research approach used the psychological-testing method to measure the sales ability (as a critical characteristic necessary for recruiter success) of recruiters and assemble a database to support the development of a multi-linear-regression model to predict recruiter success by the avoidance of failure. The Measure of Recruiter Effectiveness (MORE) taken for this work was the probability that the recruiter was successful in meeting an assigned quota in any one month.


The aim of this study was to apply a protocol based on the Animal Welfare Indicators (AWIN) protocols for small ruminants in Brazilian Northeast farms to evaluate the welfare of meat goat, comparing animals kept on semi-intensive (S) and extensive (E) farms. Fifteen farms located in the Metropolitan Region of Quixada and Quixeramobim, Ceara, Brazilian Northeast, were recruited. Assessments were performed at group and individual level. Significant differences between S and E farms was set at P<0.05 to all tests. At group level, there was a significant difference between groups, with more goats from E farms affected by heat stress and more animals from S farms presenting oblivion. Resource-based indicators, type of drinkers and access to shelter, differed significantly between S and E systems, with goats on S farms allocated in places with access to water more frequently during night period and protected from wind. Type of facility was more complex for animals on S farms (n=2) than on all E farms due to internal divisions, with S farms presenting feeders, drinking fountains, salt shakers, and slatted or cemented floor. At individual level, abscess and ocular discharge were more frequently observed on S farms and ears lesions were more frequent on E farms, probably due to distinct management of goats. Similarities between results showed that farmers in both production systems faced problems related to heat stress, lack of forage and health issues


Even though there are so many factors that endanger pipeline safety, we can divide into three factors such as corrosion, subsidence, third-party damage. Because the damage due to third-party incidents tends to be reported not immediately, it can grow with time. If that damaged part is laid without repairing, it can lead to the gas explosion due to leakage of gas as causing corrosion. Therefore, the research into the real time monitoring of thirdparty damage in gas pipeline should be carried out. This paper presents propagation model and its experimental results to detect third-party damage on natural gas pipeline using acoustic detection method. The objective is to assist the Korean Gas Cooperation in evaluating, existing system, and developing new technologies for real-time monitoring for the structural condition on natural gas pipelines. Especially, this paper also involves an evaluation activity based on the modeled mathematical equations using the developed monitoring system. The evaluation is directly given by the use of full-scale field tests and it can be applied to the calculation of effective distance between two sensors which will be installed for third-party damage detection before the set-up of developed monitoring system.


Background: Adult attention deficit–hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is underdiagnosed in the primary care setting despite 3% to 6% of adults having ADHD-like symptoms. The Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale-V1.1 (ASRS-V1.1) is a validated, 6-question screen for adult ADHD. Our purpose was to analyze this tool for evaluating patients in a busy primary care setting. Methods: The ASRS-V1.1 was administered to patients in 8 busy primary care practices. All with a positive score and a random sample of those with a negative screening score were asked to complete the Conners' Adult ADHD Rating Scale Self Report–Short Version. Each was administered within the clinic setting during the same session. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive/negative predictive values were calculated. Data were evaluated for site-specific differences. Results: It took an average of 54.3 seconds (range, 22–252 seconds) to complete the ASRS-V1.1. There was an inconsistency-adjusted sensitivity of 1.0, a specificity of 0.71, a positive predictive value of 0.52, and a negative predictive value of 1.0. No site-specific differences were found. Conclusions: Because of its ease of use, short time to administer, high sensitivity, and moderate specificity, the ASRS-V1.1 is an effective adult ADHD screening to guide further evaluations for ADHD.


Epigenetics,the study of inherited alterations in phenotype or gene expression caused by mechanisms other than alterations in the underlying DNA sequence,has become a frontier of bioscience. Cardiovascular diseases( CVDs) such as atherosclerosis and hypertension are common and frequently-occurring disease. The pathogenesis of CVDs is not only associated with polygenic causes,but also affected by multiple environmental factors. The potential role of epigenetic modification by Chinese medicine is increasingly gaining attention. Traditional Chinese medicine theory emphasizing the co-treatment of internal and external causes of a disease has guided the clinical practice of cardiovascular diseases over a long period of time. Recent studies have found that some monomeric components and compound formulas in Chinese medicine regulate methylation,acetylation and microRNA expression of certain key targets of cardiovascular disease. In this paper,we reviewed recent advances in the field and points out potential ways of applying epigenetic techniques for more in-depth research to reveal the molecular mechanisms of Chinese medicine for cardiovascular disease prevention and treatment.


Objective
To value the capability of MRI in assessing invasiveness of intraductal papillary neoplasms of the bile duct(IPNB).

Methods
Thirty-nine patients with pathologically confirmed IPNB, who had upper abdominal MR examination within 6 weeks before complete resection of the tumor, were included in the retrospective study. Patients were divided into noninvasive and invasive groups pathologically. Eighteen cases were noninvasive and 21 were invasive. All had undergone MRI plain scans, MR cholangiopancreatography as well as contrast enhanced scans including arterial, portal and delayed phases. Tumor size, location, biliary dilation, thread signs, lesion morphology, lobe atrophy, cholelithiasis, biliary hemorrhage, vascular invasion and intraperitoneal lymphadenopathy were observed on MRI. ADC values and enhancement level of lesions were also measured. Between invasive and noninvasive groups, laboratory results, enhancement levels and ADC values were compared by t test or Mann-Whitney U test, and categorical variables like location and lesion morphology were compared by χ2 test. The diagnostic accuracy was calculated using receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve analysis.

Results
No difference was found between invasive and noninvasive groups on gender, age, lesion morphology, bile duct diameter, location, existence of thread signs or cholelithiasis(P>0.05). While the differences on serum CA19-9 level, lesion size, ADC value, and lymph nodes/vascular invasion between groups reached statistical significance(P 0.05), CNR and enhancement levels were also statistically different on arterial, portal and delayed phases between both groups(P<0.05). CA199, enhancement level and CNR of portal phase, as well as ADC value exhibited areas under the ROC curve(AUC)of 0.790, 0.891, 0.817 and 0.882 respectively in invasiveness judgment.

Conclusion
MR demonstrated relatively high value in assessing invasiveness of IPNB.

Key words:
Bile duct neoplasms; Magnetic resonance imaging; Comparative study


We present theoretical calculations of the quasi-molecular line profiles for the Lyman (Lyα, Lyβ, Lyγ and Lyδ) and Balmer (Hα, Hβ, Hγ, Hδ, He, H8, H9 and H10) series perturbed by collisions with protons. In all calculations, we include the dependence of the dipole moments as a function of the internuclear distance during the collision. The broadening from ion collisions must be added to the normal electron Stark broadening.


The present article is based on the premise that mind is an emergent property of the processes that produce consciousness. Any scientific understanding must necessarily consider the need of an explanation of consciousness. Instead, the non-sense property of traditional scientific modelling appears to hide the phenomenon. In contrast, the explored hypothesis is based on the assumption that the meaningfulness of natural language is the carrier of consciousness. It is assumed that the structural relations, forming the basis of discovery, are covered by textual surface properties, but are approachable with the introduced novelties of the AaO-model. Further, it is demonstrated that the method has the capacity to reproduce the spaces of a particular verbal statement and to establish its shapes. It has been of crucial importance that a test of the basic experimental space-hypothesis builds on an uncovering of the order parameters that are constraining the production space of a traditional model builder. Finally, it is shown that the presented approach has this capacity and that experimentation with a single statement can be based on the manifestation of the corresponding states of knowing. The significance of the experiment lies in the determination of the involved state attractors of intention and orientation. (Less)


Many micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) are based on the use of resonant mechanical structures. In this paper, we propose scanning electron microscopy techniques that allow a direct characterization of in-plane vibrations of small-size resonators. Implementation and performance of these techniques are illustrated by vacuum quality factor measurements of an electrostatically-driven polysilicon Tang resonator and of a high Q silicon cantilever microbeam excited with an external piezoelectric actuator. These techniques are also expected to be suitable for the dynamical characterization of nanoresonators.


The general and localized corrosion resilience of 2101 LDX duplex stainless steel (2101ST) was assessed in specific concentrations of H2SO4 electrolyte by Potentiodynamic polarization, potentiostatic evaluation, open circuit potential analysis and optical illustration characterization. Data output shows 2010ST exhibited sufficient resistance to general corrosion (0.28 mm/y and 1.01 mm/y) at low concentrations of H2SO4 solution (1M and 2 M H2SO4) whose values correlates to polarization resistance of 42.47 Ω and 19.74 Ω. Further increment in H2SO4 concentration results in substantial increase in degradation rate which culminated at 58.32 mm/y at 6M H2SO4 and polarization resistance of 0.10 Ω. Due to the destructive action of SO42- anions. Corrosion potential shifts indicates dominant anodic dissolution reactions with respect to H2SO4 concentration. Metastable pitting activity was observed on the plot following anodic polarization but prior to passivation of the steel. The metastable pitting current and passivation potential of the steel grew with increase in H2SO4 concentration. This weakened the localized corrosion resistance of the steel at higher H2SO4 solution. This is evident in the decrease in passivation range values plot configuration. Open circuit potential plots depict significant passivation of the steel at 1M H2SO4 solution compared to the plot at 6M H2SO4 which indicates strong tendency to corrode despite its thermodynamic stability. Optical images of 2101ST exterior after corrosion at 1M H2SO4 solution shows mild surface deterioration coupled with miniature corrosion pits. This contrasts the morphology of the steel at 6M H2SO4 which showed the presence of deep and enlarged, corrosion pits, and a badly etched surface showing the grain boundary coupled with a severely degraded exterior.


The Pleistocene climate oscillations have been proven to have profound influences in the evolutionary processes of marine species and left significantly tractable footprints in genomes of marine fauna. However, such history remains unknown for the Japanese grenadier anchovy Coilia nasus, a relatively large fish found in marine, freshwater and brackish water. In order to provide insight into the phylogeographic pattern and historical demography of C. nasus, we employed the mtDNA D-loop and Cyt b as molecular markers to estimate the genetic variation among populations of C. nasus. We took samples from 18 populations throughout the distribution of C. nasus. Partial sequences of mtDNA D-loop (n = 424) and Cyt b (n = 129) were obtained. Four phylogeographic lineages were revealed by the mtDNA D-loop analysis. Frequency changes of the four lineages throughout the species' distribution indicated limited genetic exchange among three major geographic regions. Patterns of isolation-by-distance were detected among the populations. Neutrality test, mismatch distribution, and network analyses consistently showed that all the four lineages had populations with relatively stable over time and then subjected to sudden expansion during the late-Pleistocene era (c. 20,000–75,000 years ago). The phylogeographic and demographic history of C. nasus was highly influenced by climatic fluctuations in the Pleistocene. Geographic isolation resulted from Pleistocene climatic fluctuations might have profound impacts on the distribution pattern of genetic variation of C. nasus. Our result also indicated that the population expansion event for C. nasus occured along with habitat continuous expansion during the inter-glacial period.


Learner corpora are gaining popularity in the Baltic States as well as elsewhere in the world. The aim of the article is to discuss what kinds of annotation have been used in learner corpus research in Latvia and Lithuania so far and to describe which ones of them would be most suitable for the newly created learner corpus of the second Baltic language – Esam . A lot of learner corpus research in Latvia and Lithuania is undertaken without any annotation. The most common types of annotation are the ones based on the theory of levels of language – morphological and syntactic annotation. There is little collaboration between researchers of neighbour countries, but linguists of each country collaborate closely with each other using similar annotation schemes and creating corpora that are comparable in some aspects. The learner corpus of the second Baltic language should try to fit in the picture to some extent. Part of speech annotation and simple syntactic annotation could help in that. However, things that have not yet become so popular in learner corpus research in this region could also be useful. Therefore, error annotation and lemmatization have been chosen to be included in the annotation plan of the corpus Esam as well. DOI:  http://dx.doi.org/10.7220/2335-2027.7.8


The present research is the fundamental study for developing the thermal spray technique using the nanoparticles. In this experiment, the nanoparticle-suspended fuel was used for nanoparticle feeding method. The nanoparticle-suspended fuel was mixed kerosene with the nickel nanoparticles whose size is under 100 ㎚ and the experimental apparatus were consisted with syringe pump and metal needle. At the first experiment, we checked the possibility of transporting the nanoparticles in this study. However, the additional energy source should be needed beside the flame in order to remove the not-evaporated liquid containing the nickel nanoparticles. In this study, the behavior of the single nanoparticle-suspended fuel droplet was investigated by irradiating the Nd-YAG laser. When the 106 mJ energy was induced, the case of the nanoparticle-suspended fuel droplet was broken up while it did not happen in the case of the droplet without nanoparticle. We found that when the droplet was broken up, the surface area to the volume became increased then it had the advantage for phase change of the liquid and metal nanoparticles before impacting on the target substrate.


Organisations offering extension services provide s ervices to farmers which include the provision of relevant and current information perta ining to agriculture. The increased use of mobile technologies is changing the way farmers acc ess information, specifically by using the Internet. This paper focuses on South African (SA) commercial farmers who currently use the Internet to establish their Internet access profile , th devices they utilise for Internet access and the purpose for which they use mobile technologies. An Internet and Mobile Device Usage Survey was conducted in the SA agricultural community. Farmers were found to have embraced mobile technolo gy and in excess of 70% of the farmers who participated in the study indicated that they u se their mobile devices to access the Internet. No brand of mobile phone or tablet computer was fou nd to dominate the agricultural community. Importantly, close to 50% of respondents i dicated that they owned and used a tablet. The primary reason for which mobile devices are used by farmers is for business purposes, including access to information about agr iculture. Agricultural organisations offering extension services could benefit from embracing the technology and exploring new ways to provide information services to their farmer base.


Environment art,whose final state of expression,is the out of visual sense based on fine arts theory.The design of environment has to depend on the law of arts in order to implement its artistry.


6 kWh/day. This data corresponds to the actual heat demand for hot water preparation in the at 7.3 kWh/day. The correlation between daily solar heat gains and solar hot water tank heat losses were also determined. In addition, based on the amount of heat losses, the value of the tank loss coefficient was estimated. The obtained value was compared with the manufacturer's data and reference data.


The massive solid wastes coming from indirect coal liquefaction process of manufacturing oil are seriously harmful to ecological environment and human health.5residue samples induding tar slag,gasification slag,boiler slag,precipitator dust and biochemical sludge were collected from an indirect coal liquefaction factory.The sulfuric and nitric acid method and horizontal vibration method were applied to leach heavy metals in the samples respectively.These leaching solutions were then tested for the 13 heavy metal ion concentrations using inductive coupling plasma emission spectrograph.Meanwhile,PAHs from 5residues were extracted through ultrasonoscope,and GC-MS was adopted to investigate the compositions of 16 PAHs,the different ring distribution of PAHs and BEQ.The results showed that the 13 heavy metal ion concentrations of the ten leaching solutions did not exceed the limitation concentration of national standard.The PAHs concentrations(10-6)of 5residues were in the order:tar slag(41660×10-6) precipitator dust(213.99×10-6)sludge(195.56×10-6) gasification slag(85.33×10-6)boiler slag(6.1×10-6),and the PAHs concentrations were much higher than the maximum limit proposed by of international public health and environment organization.The BEQ of 5residues were in the order:tar slag(1 092.14×10-6)sludge(22.990 04×10-6)precipitator dust(0.231 27×10-6)gasification slag(0.122 41×10-6)boiler slag(0.012 22×10-6),among which tar slag and sludge were potentially more carcinogenic.


Manganese (Mn) is an essential trace element for the normal development of human body. It plays an important role in the regulation of cellular energy level, blood sugar balance, function of immunity


It has been suggested that there is a lack of consensus regarding the conceptual domain of cross‐national studies. That said, the theoretical focus of such scholarly activities has tended to reflect the multidisciplinary nature of the field. By far the most significant contributions to knowledge in the area can be sourced to the international economics, international finance and international business literatures. The proliferation in focuses and the diversity of empirical studies to be found within these literatures, demonstrates the wealth of understanding that can be attributed to the research of cross‐national commercial activities and operations. Attempts to explicate many of the dominant theories within these literatures. Contributions to the macro level of analysis can be found in the form of theories of international trade. Alternatively, micro theories engage the organization as the level of analysis and consideration is given to both the foreign direct investment decision process and pattern pursued by firms in internationalization. Discusses the nature and emphasis of these theories in the form of a critique.


Fractal is employed to describe the roughness of the heating surface for pool boiling. By means of defining boiling dimension, the function relation of active nucleation site of pool boiling with characteristic of heating surface is estiblished. The method proposed here can take acount for the dynamic relation of active nucleation site with the parameters of pool boiling. In the system of stainless steel and water, when superheat degree is less than 2.6℃,the predicted results by fractal model is agreed well with the experimental data.


The thickness dependence of the terahertz absorption in Bi(001) ultrathin films has been investigated. Both the average carrier density and the damping constant of the plasmon increase as the thickness becomes thinner. The results are consistent with the existence of the surface metallic states.


Power loss and flow blockage in turbomachinery such as hydrodynamic torque converter are usually caused by jet flow, second flow and flow separation. In this paper, the velocity vector and the pressure distribution of the internal flow field in hydrodynamic torque converter were reduced by the method of the Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) to find the main flow structures and the energy decomposition in the passages of pump, turbine and stator. In order to find their evolutionary processes and energy decompositions, oil flow visualizations were conducted at different speed ratios from 0 to 0.8, including stall condition and design operating condition.The results showed that the first few modes containing the majority of energy could provide enough accuracy to predict flow behavior and flow structure in flow passages. Especially when the energy percentage of the first mode was majority, its vortex structures could be recognized easily. But the flow patterns of other modes were different from each other and they made the flow more turbulent and complex, which increases the energy loss in the process of power transmission. Besides that, the change of pressure gradient had a direct influence to velocity vector. The results also indicated that the observed fluid pattern of vortex structure became extensive while the influence of secondary flow decreased in the flow passage of pump with the increase of speed ratio. But the situation is just reversed in turbine, that is, the vortex disappeared gradually and the irregular turbulent flow appeared as the increase of speed ratio. In stator, the vortex structure emerged gradually when the speed ratio increased. So the method of snapshots is a very useful way to analyze the complex flow flied in depth and to predict the trend of development.© 2016 ASME


The natural gas resources are not so small, therefore, it should be requested to increase the productinon to help the reconstruct of Japan.


Pam18, the J-protein cochaperone of the Hsp70-based mitochondrial import motor, forms a heterodimer with the structurally related protein Pam16. Genetic and biochemical studies suggest a critical role of this interaction in maintaining Pam18's association with the translocon rather than its previously proposed regulatory role.


A 36-year-old man presented with slowly progressive achalasia, alacrima, motor neuropathy, bulbar palsy, and a remarkable small, spastic, furrowed tongue (figure, A). His sister had similar manifestations and both later developed adrenal abnormalities. This classic group of symptoms was diagnostic of …


Although the Government of Ghana gives considerable attention to technical education to accelerate national development, some graduates remain unemployed for years after graduation. In this study, employability of mechanical engineering graduates from Sunyani Technical University of Ghana is presented. It assessed the employment status and duration of unemployment of the graduates, identified the factors that hinder their employability and the challenges that require attention prior to graduation of students, and made suggestions for improvement. Respondents of the study were 131 graduates from 2014-2017 graduation years, comprising 50% of graduates from each of the Program options in the department. The sampling techniques used were purposive and stratified random sampling techniques. A questionnaire was the research instrument used for data collection and it was administered using e-mails, WhatsApp and phone calls. The results revealed that the employment status of the graduates was about 84% with the duration of unemployment about 29%, 41% and 19% for one, two and three years after their national service respectively. The main factor hindering employability of the graduates was inadequate practical skills since more attention was given to theory at the expense of practical work. The main challenge which requires attention prior to graduation of students was the lack of job-seeking skills. The Department should therefore, focus more on the practical element of the Programs by increasing the practical hours and partner with industry for curriculum development, more internship opportunities and industrial tours, and organise seminars on job acquisition processes prior to graduation of students to enhance employability of the graduates.


Road traffic and conditions in Nanjing are surveyed in which road conditions are classified,and real-time record of light-vehicle's working conditions on roads is made using GPS positioning technology.Speed data from GPS trajectory recorder is analyzed,which gives a general picture of driving cycle in Nanjing.By a comparative study with standard test conditions,and conditions in other cities,features of operation of vehicles are pointed out.


A new feature extraction technique designed specifically for the mass screening problem is presented. It is based on the hypothesis that feature values from the normal class tend to form a cluster while those from the abnormal class fall outside this cluster, or "decluster". While some feature extraction techniques attempt to retain the fidelity of the data from which the features arose, the new technique is designed to enhance the discrimination between the normal and abnormal classes. Results from applying the new algorithm to the mass screening of breast thermograms to detect breast cancer are discussed.


LYMPHOMATOUS tumours have been found to arise from sites where the existence of lymphoid tissue is unknown. Sugarbaker and Craver (1940) reported extranodal sites as the primary foci of such tumours in 33 per cent. of their series of 196 cases of lymphomatous conditions, 65 per cent. of them being in the head and neck. These tumours may be strictly localized, may have multicentric existence anywhere in the body, or may involve the blood stream. Stout (1942) classified them into three different histological types: (1) Lymphocytic Cell Type.-The cells are small and round, the cytoplasm is scanty, and the nuclei take up a dark stain with haematoxylin; (2) Reticulum Cell Type.-The cells are large and pale, and irregular in shape and have vesicular nuclei; (3) Giant Follicular Type.-This is characterized by the formation of large follicles.


Introduction: Periodic paralysis is a group of rare neuromuscular disorders presenting with episodes of painless paralysis often incited by stress such as exercise. Differentiating hypokalemic periodic paralysis (HPP) from secondary hypokalemia can present a challenge. case report: A 26-year-old Hispanic male with no significant past medical history presented with periodic muscular weakness, areflexia, and paralysis. the patient's potassium level on admission was 1.6 mEq/l with no other electrolyte abnormalities or electrocardiogram changes. there was a complete resolution of symptoms with IV and oral potassium. the diagnosis of acquired non-thyrotoxic HPP was given based on the patient's history, his presenting symptoms, ruling out secondary causes of hypokalemia, and resolution with correction of potassium levels. conclusion: Hypokalemic periodic paralysis most commonly affects Asians, and is tightly associated with thyrotoxicosis. treatment of HPP relies on rapid identification and understanding of underlying cause. In an acute disabling attack, as seen in this patient, oral potassium and 24 hour cardiac monitoring for rebound hyperkalemia are recommended. We report an uncommon case Keerthana K. Kumar1, Zuhal Kadhim1, Jagan K. Mohan3 Affiliations: 1Saint James School of Medicine, Bonaire, Netherlands; 2Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA; 3Department of Neurology, Holy Cross Hospital, Chicago, IL. Corresponding Author: Keerthana K. Kumar, Saint James School of Medicine, C/o Human Resource Development Services (HRDS) Inc, 1480 Renaissance Drive, Suite 300, Park Ridge, IL 60068; Email : email@example.com Received: 25 September 2015 Accepted: 19 November 2015 Published: 29 February 2016 of acquired non-thyrotoxic HPP, as indicated by the patient's history, presentation, initial laboratory values, and resolution after potassium correction.


Throughout academia, more and more instructors are spending time in electronic classrooms. Many of them believe that they are overworked and consequently underpaid. At the same time, administrators want instructors to be more active in online discussions. Consequently, instructors feel that they are caught between a rock and a hard place. This exploratory study asked administrators to create a set of expectations with respect to the frequency of content-related postings an instructor should make in an online discussion forum that is part of an online course. It also examined the performance of ten online instructors in the discussion forums of the online classes they were teaching in order to quantify the amount of time they were spending. Finally, the study projected how much time the instructors would have to spend to meet the administrators' expectations. The data indicate that while meeting administrator expectations would on average increase the workload of instructors by 50%, the amount of time actu...


Although pre-service Health and Physical Education (HPE) teachers may be acquainted with media headlines categorizing intersex bodies as "deviant," "non-biological," "different," and/or "non-natural" in their reporting on eligibility testing in women's elite sports, few appear to be familiar with what intersex includes and what these tests were designed to reveal. Drawing on Evan and Rich's advocacy to critically analyse body-policies with strong normative body-pedagogies, this chapter unpacks how athletes marked by this category cannot be understood as separate from the corporeal instructions and 'authorities' that mark and regulate their bodily representation. The chapter inspires and encourages HPE teachers to take the 'risk' of engaging students in disruptive practices which explore the inscription of power onto particular bodies and abilities in sports and how they as both pedagogues and members of society are all ethically implicated in these relations of power.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the incidence, risk factors, outcome, and pathogens of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in a cardiac surgical intensive care unit (ICU).

DESIGN
Prospective study.

SETTING
Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre, New Delhi, India.

PARTICIPANTS
Nine hundred fifty-two consecutive patients undergoing cardiac operations who received intermittent positive-pressure ventilation (IPPV).

INTERVENTIONS
All patients were assigned into VAP (n = 25) and non-VAP (n = 927) groups.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
Risk factors and other variables were analyzed with univariate and multivariate analysis. Of the 952 patients studied, 25 (2.6%) had VAP. On univariate analysis, significant risk factors were emergency surgery, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), reintubation, coma, steroid treatment, intra-aortic balloon counterpulsation (IABC), enteral feedings, tracheostomy, acute physiology, age, and chronic health evaluation (APACHE II) score, prior antibiotics, and IPPV hours. On multivariate analysis, IPPV hours (153.75 +/- 114.44 v 19.65 +/- 7.99; p < 0.001) and steroids (20% v 0%; p < 0.001) were independent predictors of VAP. The most common pathogens isolated were Pseudomonas aeruginosa (22), Escherichia coli (10), Klebsiella pneumoniae (4), Staphylococcus species (4), and Acinetobacter species (2). The mortality rate in VAP was 16% as compared with 0.2% in non-VAP cases (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION
These data suggest that by univariate analysis the risk factors for VAP were emergency surgery, COPD, reintubation, coma, steroid treatment, IABC, enteral feedings, tracheostomy, APACHE II score, prior antibiotics, and IPPV hours. On multivariate analysis, only IPPV hours and steroids were independent predictors of VAP. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the most common pathogen associated with VAP, and the mortality is increased with VAP.


CX3CR1, a G‐protein‐coupled receptor, is involved in various inflammatory processes. Two non‐synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms, V249I (rs3732379) and T280M (rs3732378), are located in the sixth and seventh transmembrane domains of the CX3CR1 protein, respectively. Previous studies have indicated significant associations between T280M and leukocyte functional characteristics, including adhesion, signaling, and chemotaxis, while the function of V249I is unclear. In the brain, microglia are the only proven and widely accepted CX3CR1‐expressing cells. This study aimed to specify whether there were specific brain regions on which these two single nucleotide polymorphisms exert their biological impacts through their functional effects on microglia.


In this paper,we elaborate mathematics view,values and epistemology characteristic about contemporary mathematics educational philosophy and their embodiment in our country's educational practice ——the criterion of new curriculum.All mentioned above are based on the analyzing the foundation viewpoint of modern mathematics philosophy.


The invention More particularly used for particular inflatable sports goods to limit the transmission rate of the base discloses a polyurethane blend or alloy barrier articles to be used in the football. Barrier article, polyurethane, latex rubber


Background this research is the quality of the tile concrete with the added fibers cane.The purpose of this study is to find the influence of the addition of fibers cane against: ( 1 ) larger the burden on pliable, ( 2 ) seepage tile concrete, ( 3 ) the absorption of water, ( 4 ) of the nature of looked tile concrete, ( 5 ) uniformity size tile concrete, ( 6 ) the absorption of heat on tile concrete and quality of tile concrete with the added fibers cane and tile concrete without its added.Analysis of the data been conducted from testing is compared in sni and pubi.The result of this research use of added fibers of the sugar cane by comparison 1 cement: 2 lime mill: 2.5 sand while for the addition of fibers cane different namely the percentage of 0 %; 1 %; 1.5 %; 2 %; 2.5 % of heavy sand used.The results of testing burden pliable averages for each the percentage the addition of and cane 0 % = 103,23 kg; 1 percent = 126,49 kg; 1.5 % = 123,57 kg; 2 % = 106,70 kg; 2.5 = 96,22 kg.The results of testing seepage tile concrete by the addition of fibers cane 0 %; 1 %; 1.5 %; 2 %; 2.5 % they did not happened seepage .The results of testing absorption water the average tile concrete to adding fibers cane 0 % = 6,05 %; 1 percent = 7,53 %; 1.5 % = 8,19 %; 2 % = 9,07 %; 2.5 % = 9,44 % .The results of the nature of looked tile concrete to adding fibers cane 0 %; 1 %; 1.5 % there is no crack , a cavity and defect other while in penambahanan fibers cane 2 % and 2.5 % terdapa crack and cavity .The results of testing size tile concrete p = 420 mm , l = 12.5 mm , thick part flattened = 14.1 mm , thick laying on = 8.5 mm , wide laying on = 78 mm , into a groove = 34,5 mm , long passengers = 420 mm. the results of testing absorption of heat the average to adding fibers cane 0 % = 92,47 %; 1 percent = 95,40 %; 1.5 % = 93,00 %; 2 % = 92,37 %; 2.5 % = 94,00 % .


Graphene and graphene derivatives are among the most studied members of the family of two-dimensional (2D) materials, their physical and chemical properties having been the object of numerous and extensive investigations during the last few years. Their one atom-thick two-dimensional geometry has important consequences on their electronic bands' formation, giving rise to a unique conical-like band structure, converging to a single (Dirac) point, resulting to electrons exhibiting some exotic and unprecedented properties (as e.g. electrons moving with relativistic speed, huge absorption of ~2.3% per one-atom thick layer, flat and unstructured UV-Vis-NIR absorption spectrum implying that optical excitations anywhere from the UV to IR are of resonant character, etc.).In the present work, recent results will be presented concerning the nonlinear optical (NLO) response of some graphene oxide(s) and graphene fluoride(s) having different degrees of oxidation and fluorination respectively and consisting of different number of graphenic layers. In particular, their nonlinear optical properties (i.e. nonlinear absorption coefficient β, nonlinear refractive index parameter γ' and third-order nonlinear susceptibility ${{\mathcal{X}}^{(3)}})$ as determined under nanosecond and picosecond laser excitations will be presented and discussed in detail. The present results can shed more light on the NLO response of graphene derivatives and the operational physical mechanisms while they can provide a guide for the efficient tuning of the NLO properties in view of specific applications in photonics and optoelectronics.