Ab initio density functional theory calculations were used to investigate cohesive, electronic, and structural properties of cagelike and spherical hydrogen terminated nanoparticles of diamond. Unlike cagelike nanodiamond particles, the variation of calculated energies of spherical ones is not monotonic. The variation range of the calculated energies and bond lengths of cagelike nanoparticles is much tighter than the variation range of spherical ones. In contrast to spherical nanodiamond particles, the C-C bond lengths of all cagelike nanoclusters are very similar to the bond length of bulk diamond. The comparison of stability, electronic highest occupied molecular orbital-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy gaps, and structural properties of these two classes of nanodiamonds shows that the effects of spatial symmetry, morphology, and C-H atom ratio are more important than the effect of nanoparticle sizes.


Background & Objective: Sulfasalazine (SASP) is a drug used for the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases. SASP causes testicular damage. The aim of this study was to verify whether or not an additional supply of vitamin E or C or together prevent the toxic effect of SASP on the rat spermatogenesis. Materials & methods: Adult male wistar rats (150-200 gr) were divided into five groups (n=8) control and four experiment al groups. The experimental groups were treated with SASP )600 mg/kg/day by gavage feeding ( for 14 successive days. Additionally the experimental group 2 were treated with the vitamin C )20 mg/kg/body weight/daily(, the experimental group 3 received vitamins E )200 mg/kg body weight/daily( and the experimental group 4 received daily vitamin C and vitamin E 20 and 200 mg/kg body weight, respectively through the same root. At the end of the experimental period the mean body weight growth and the ratio between body and testis weight were calculated and compared with the control groups, Spermatogenesis Parameters such as, daily Sperm count, percent of motility, viability, Daily sperm production )DSP(, testicular histopathology, serum testosterone levels and the level of Malondialehyde )MDA( were evaluated. The data were analyzed using Danken and one way variance test and the P≤ 0.05 were considered significant. Results: Sperm count, percent of motility, viability and DSP were decreased in SASP treated animals. A significant decrease in the number of sertoli cells, Leydig cells, spermatogonia and spermatid were seen in the testis of SASP treated animals. The level of MDA was increased in the SASP treated group. However, Co-administration of vitamin E and C with SASP reduced the level of MDA and deleterious effects of SASP on the sperm parameters and testicular histology. Finally, the Co-administration of vitamin E and C had the most protective effects when compared with the control groups. Conclusion: The results suggested that additional supply of vitamin E and C protect against SASP–induced oxidative stress in the rat testis.


In this paper we discuss ongoing research into applications for multimodal Attentive User Interfaces in hands-free charting during surgical procedures. Although speech recognition has matured enough that it can now be used for some software and hardware control, speech recognition solutions still have trouble filtering ldquocommand speechrdquo from ldquoambient speech.rdquo Our research builds on previous research that couples eye contact sensing with speech recognition to gauge intent. Users enable a voice activation system used for surgical time charting by fixing their gaze on a small camera before speaking command words.


A theory of ersatz impossible worlds is developed to deal with the problem of counterpossible conditionals. Using only tools standardly in the toolbox of possible worlds theorists, it is shown that we can construct a model for counterpossibles. This model is a natural extension of Lewis's semantics for counterfactuals, but instead of using classical logic as its base, it uses the logic LP .


Radio-on-demand wireless sensor networks (WSN) are expected to be expanded the lifetime of sensor nodes because the receiver effectively utilizes the sleep/wake-up control function. The multi-carrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) using modified pseudo orthogonal M-sequence sets (MPOMS) codes have been proposed for radio-on-demand WSN systems. In this paper, the rigorous communication success probability is analyzed and compared with the simulation result. Consequently, the result founds that it is reasonable because it is in good agreement with the computer simulation.


The Process of Buddhist–Christian Dialogue PAUL O. INGRAM, 2011 Cambridge: James Clarke & Co./The Lutterworth Press 149 pp., £18.00 ISBN 978–0227–17369–5 The author states in his "Preface" that his...


Rakushechny Yar site is a floodplain multi-layer archaeological site encompassing strata dated to Early Neolithic – Bronze Age. It is characterized by complex stratigraphy, presence of different deposits, buried soils and cultural layers. Fluvial deposits interlay different settlement strata, which provide an opportunity to elaborate precise chronological scheme and study the successive changes in hydrological regime, climate and vegetation changes along with human occupation phases. A new series of samples, from cultural layers of new excavated areas dated to an interval spanning no more than a few decades, centered around 5600 cal. BC.


The ongoing process of European integration is paying increasing attention to the role of cities in the future of Europe. This article looks at the question of the impact of integration on the governance of European cities by analysing the case of the city of Naples which after 1993 began to participate in EU-sponsored urban programmes. An empirical investigation of major organizational innovations and policy changes is conducted to determine how the public function of city planning in Naples has been affected by the city's participation in the formulation and implementation of European urban programmes.


Concentration fluctuations of specific chemical species in unsteady mixed gas flow were studied by fast Fourier transform (FFT) analysis of Raman intensity. Average concentration and the amplitude and frequency distribution of fluctuations about that average (at a specific Raman shift) can be determined by the FFT/Raman technique. The fluctuation spectra can be modeled to yield information on the lifetimes, periodicity, amplitudes, and the statistical distribution of these in unsteady or turbulent motion. A simple burner with a concentric outer air sheath and inner CH4 jet was used in the preliminary experiments for both cold gas and flame studies. Interference from flame emission (uncorrelated to Raman scattering) was minimized by chopping the Raman exciting beam and observing the FFT signal near the chopper frequency. Peak height at the chopper frequency indicates average concentration, while the sidebands around this frequency contain information on the fluctuations in concentration of the species under observation. With the present system, fluctuations in the frequency range of 0–1 kHz having an amplitude of 5% of the average concentration of certain species whose average partial pressure is as little as 1% of atmospheric pressure could be measured. The fluctuations are observed from sampling volumes as small as ∼10−4 mm3 at any position in the flow. Improvements in the technique and extensions to other systems are discussed.


This paper was generated from findings of a survey that was done involving postgraduate students and lecturers of Bishop Stuart University to find out the status of course progression and completion among Masters and PhD students. The study sought to establish the factors impacting program progression and completion among postgraduate students at Bishop Stuart University. The data for the study was collected through online questionnaires and interviews with Masters and PhD postgraduate students that were registered between the years 2015 and 2018.
The findings indicated that the majority of students spend more than twice the amount of the minimum time allowed for the programs registered for. It was established that after the completion of the first academic year of class work, there is little follow-up on the students. As a result, most students graduate well behind schedule while others drop out. Financial constraints were mentioned by students as the main challenge causing delay in program progression and completion.
Other key challenges mentioned were the Covid-19 induced lockdown, disagreement between supervisors, personal health challenges and inaccessible or unresponsive supervisors that take a very long time to provide feedback when they are given work for review. Some students also mentioned that they were unable to access most online journals that required a subscription.


This paper attempts to analyse the structure and development of marchandise imports into Poland and Estonia, and assess their influence on the respective conditions of catch-up development for the two economies: whilst capital imports constitute an important condition for overcoming the technological backwardness in transition economies, current account deficits effect negatively in the stabilisation of the monetary constitution.


Two-dimensional NMR study on the single-stranded octadeoxynucleotide, d(TT-GGGGTT) is presented. Assignments of the base protons, the H1′, H2′ and H2″ protons were made by two-dimensional Nuclear Overhauser Enhancement Spectroscopy (NOESY) and two-dimensional homonuclear J-correlated Spectroscopy (COSY). The result indicates that the overall structure of the single-stranded d (TTGGGGTT) is a right-handed B-type helix.


Understanding demand-side energy behaviour is critical for making efficiency responses for energy demand management. We worked closely with energy experts and identified the key elements of the energy demand problem including temporal and spatial demand and shifts in spatiotemporal demand. To our knowledge, no previous research has investigated the shifts in spatiotemporal demand. To fill this research gap, we propose a unified visual analytics approach to support exploratory demand analysis; we developed E3, a highly interactive tool that support users in making and verifying hypotheses through human-client-server interactions. A novel potential flow based approach was formalized to model shifts in energy demand and integrated into a server-side engine. Experts then evaluated and affirmed the usefulness of this approach through case studies of real-world electricity data. In the future, we will improve the modelling algorithm, enhance visualisation, and expand the process to support more forms of energy data.


A collection of papers that draws upon the Mobilities Approach to look afresh at notions of sacred where they intersect with people, objects and other things on the move. Considerations of a wide range of spiritual meanings and practices also sheds light on the motivations and experiences associated with particular mobilities.


The present thesis is a detail endeavors of numerical investigation of an Inertance pulse tube refrigerator(IPTR) and Gifford-McMahon (GM) pulse tube followed by corresponding optimization of various geometrical and operating parameters including demonstration of a novel modification in existing GM pulse tube know how by proposing a piston arrangement on the double inlet connecting pipe.
 To start with, a benchmark IPTR model has been analyzed numerically using 2Daxisymmetric model followed by 3D assembly. Subsequently, the parametric optimizations have been carried out to estimate the optimal operating and geometrical parameters, independently followed by in combination, which recommends an optimal IPTR having lowest temperature approximately 22% lower than the initial IPTR under investigation. Next, a benchmark GM pulse tube, which had been experimentally investigated, has been taken for numerical investigation, where the demonstrated numerical result agrees to experimental result adequately, however, a novel numerical scheme based on user define function (UDF) and a sinusoidal temperature profile has been proposed, which reduces the computational overhead significantly and permits to optimize the valve openings, where the observed temperature at cold heat exchanger becomes approximately half with respect to initial one.
 At last, a novel concept has been proposed to enhance the performance of a GM pulse tube by introducing a frictionless piston on the path of double inlet connecting pipe. The
conceptual proof has been investigated using fluid structure interaction, which is first in its own domain, where the lowest temperature at CHX has been observed to be 23.8 K.


The reduviid Notocyrtus vesiculosus Stal mimics workers of the meliponine bee Trigona fulviventris Guerin both structurally and in coloration. It frequents flowers visited by the bee, but the function of the mimicry is unknown. The frequency of elaborate modifications of the pronotum in the reduviid subfamily Harpactorinae has been noted (Miller 1956), but their functions remain obscure. It is suggested here that the expanded pronotum of Notocyrtus vesiculosus Stal contributes to its mimicry of meliponine bees of the genus Trigona. Observations of the mimic and its model were made 20-30 December 1972, near Blancaneaux Lodge 15 km north of Augustine, Cayo District, British Honduras. The model is the worker of Trigona fulviventris Guerin, which is 6.5-7.0 mm in length. The head, thorax, and legs are black; the antennae and eyes are dark-brown. The abdomen is orange-yellow. The wings are transparent but slightly tinted with sepia. The head is large and is slightly wider than the thorax in the transverse axis. The hind tibia, particularly the distal portion, is greatly enlarged and flattened. Imagos of Notocyrtus vesiculosus are 8.5-9.5 mm long, with males being smaller than females. When viewed from more than a few centimeters away, they strongly resemble Trigona fulviventris (Fig. 1). The mimicry is achieved both by structural modifications and by similarity in coloration. The head is small and partly hidden beneath the enormously expanded pronotum that doubles the depth of the thoracic region. In the anterior-posterior axis, the pronotum extends forward over the posterior third of the head and backward over the entire thorax and the anterior third of the abdomen. The pronotal excrescence is hollow and relatively thin-walled. Being black, it effectively suggests the head and thorax of T. fulviventris. The proximal two-thirds of the hind tibia is enlarged, flattened, and densely clothed with short black hairs. This modification and the black to dark-brown color of the legs contributes to the mimetic resemblance. The abdomen is the same shade of yellow as that of T. fulviventris. A row of 3 white spots runs along each side of the abdomen. The spots are external to the cuticle and are made of secreted material. They may function in the mimicry by suggesting the glare spots of reflected sunlight often seen on the abdomen of the bee. The wings of N. vesiculosus are transparent with a sepia tint. Another point of resemblance between the model and mimic is the matte surface of the thorax and legs that is caused in both species by an abundance of small hairs. Species of Notocyrtus often vary geographically in coloration (Champion 1901). This may be a result of mimicking different Trigona species in different localities. Such geographic variation in mimetic characters and models is well


With the rapid evolution of small‐scale devices, the effect of size dependence on elastic deformation becomes more and more obvious. Furthermore, the physical processes usually involve memory and inheritance for some anomalous diffusion that the constitutive relation does not obey the standard gradient rate. Owing to capturing the memory‐dependent effect and the size‐dependent effect, the existing thermoelastic diffusion theories cannot be applicable. To further refine the thermoelastic diffusion model for micro/nano structures, a refined nonlocal thermoelastic diffusion model is developed by combining the fractional‐order dual‐phase‐lag (DPL) heat conduction model and fractional‐order diffusion model in this paper. In addition, the Tempered‐Caputo (TC) definition is an extension of the Caputo definition without the fractional derivative of the singular kernel, which is adopted for the first time to reflect the memory‐dependent effects of heat conduction and stress–strain relationship. Then, this new model is applied to investigating the transient response of an elastic microplate subjected to a sinusoidal thermal loading. The corresponding governing equations are formulated and solved by the Laplace transform method and its numerical inversion. In calculation, the influences of the fractional‐order parameter, the tempered parameter and the nonlocal parameter on the variations of the considered quantities are presented and discussed in detail. It is expected to provide new insights into thermoelastic diffusion behaviors of structures at the micro/nanoscale.


Background: Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a serious cause of nosocomial infection in Malaysia. Sixty-six MRSA isolates recovered from patients from Universiti Malaya Medical Centre, KL over a 4-year period (2003-2007) were studied to determine the clonal relationship of sporadic (year 2004 and 2007) and outbreak and outbreak elated (year 2003) isolates and sulfamethoxazole-trimethroprim- tetracyclineerythromycin (SXT-TE-E) sensitive isolates Methods: Polymerase chain reaction was carried out on the isolates to detect the mecA gene which is primarily responsible for the methicillin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) of SmaI-digested chromosomal DNA and antimicrobial susceptibility tests were carried out. Results: Antimicrobial susceptibility tests generated 34 antibiograms with 100% of isolates being susceptible to vancomycin. Majority of the isolates showed susceptibility towards fusidic acid (89%), clindamycin (81%), vancomycin (100%) and rifampicin (89%), indicating that these antibiotics will be/are effective in treating MRSA infections. A dendrogram based on the clustering of the antibiograms showed two major clusters (AM1 and AM2). Most of the sporadic isolates and all SXT-TE-E susceptible isolates were clustered in AM 2. The majority of outbreak isolates were clustered in AM1. Fiftyeight isolates (88%) were mecA positive while 8 (12%) were mecA negative. These 8 isolates however showed phenotypic resistance to methicillin. Genotyping by PFGE showed 55 profiles, consisting of 13-17 bands. Among the 25 outbreak and outbreak related isolates, 22 PFGE profiles were obtained, suggesting that the outbreak originated from multiple sources or was a multiple subtype outbreak. Majority (93%) of isolates from year 2007 were clustered together. The diversed PFGE profiles obtained from the sporadic isolates indicated that MRSA were genetically diverse (F=0.31-1.00). Isolates susceptible to amikacin, gentamicin, erythromycin, sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim (SXT) and tetracycline gave distinctly different PFGE profiles, and were clustered together. Chi-square or Fishers exact test showed that there was a significant difference (p<0.05) in antimicrobial resistance between sporadic and outbreak and related isolates for SXT, tetracycline, netilmicin and clindamycin. Conclusion: The genetic relatedness of outbreak, sporadic and SXT-TE-E susceptible isolates were 69-100%, 31-100% and 15-100% respectively, indicating that sporadic isolates were genetically more diversed than outbreak isolates. The outbreak was caused by multiple subtypes of MRSA, and not a single subtype. The reemergence of SXT-TE-E susceptible isolates may denote presence of MRSA in the community where such antibiotic exposure is minimal. There were no vancomycin resistant isolates.


Abstract: In this chapter, information is given on the production of bioactive peptides from milk proteins. After defining bioactive peptides, the necessity to release bioactive peptides from the parent protein is discussed. Then, the two main approaches for release, namely enzymatic hydrolysis and microbial fermentation are reviewed. Next, an overview is given of the main unit operations that can be applied for the enrichment and selective isolation of bioactive peptides from the protein hydrolysates, including membrane filtration, chromatography and precipitation. Attention is given mainly to ACE-inhibitory peptides, and to processes that show potential for application in the dairy industry.


The population decline of small villages is a very serious problem for our society. This situation is not easy to reverse. The challenge is to generate consensus among the inhabitants of small villages to develop projects that have both a link with social and cultural heritage and the aid of the regional and local authorities. This framework can be successful when it also has the capability to provide new lines of development growing from this initial seed that can attract new inhabitants. In this paper, we present research that follows these requirements. Our proposal is based on a traditional agriculture resource, which is the art of building dry stone walls. We study the case of Tàrbena (642 inhabitants in the province of Alicante, Spain). Stone artifacts are recovered: some of them are still useful for agriculture, and others are cataloged and transformed into a product for cultural tourism. This project is expected to develop local, manual, and specialized work through the development of workshops, crafts, and small businesses. This will provide more income for the municipality and the private sector and more opportunities to attract new inhabitants.


Question: Line 9: 15% to 28% of the variation .... Variation of what? Answers: It is the percent of total variance accounted for each factor. The expression: "...15 to 28% of the variation..." was changed to "...15 to 28% of the variance..." Question: Line 9: delete sentence in the South, Southeast ... Answers: It's important to keep this sentence because it determines the patterns found in these three regions. Question: What is a mixed pattern? Answers: The mixed pattern was characterized by high factor loadings for many groups of foods, such as: vegetables and leafy vegetables (ex.: lettuces, pumpkin, chayote); potatoes; other tuberous roots (ex.: yam, sweet potatos, beets); fruits; breads; cakes and cookies; milk and dairy; butter and margarine; sweetened beverages (soft drinks; juices and others); and diet and/ or light products. Now the patterns were given a title in the tables that facilitates the reading. Introduction Question: Line 8: obtaining data on food intake ... I do not agree with this sentence, obtaining data using food-frequency questionnaire is rather inexpensive.


The successfulness of a firm is not just determined by its financial metrics. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) lately becomes one major concern in businesses which are indicating whether the company goes well or not. CSR program is the major concern that will be elaborate in this research. The aim of this research is to know if CSR programs of BRI branch Manado impact its customer loyalty and what are the factors that influence. This study is conducted by quantitative technique with associative type of research. Populations in this research are exactly the customers of BRI in Manado. Total of 100 respondents are being sampled. Purposive sampling is used in this research. CSR and customer loyalty theories are the supporting theories in this research. The result shows that CSR significantly impact customer loyalty through three factors that linked between these two variables. BRI management suggested that to develop CSR programs in order to maximizing profit by gaining greater customer loyalty, and also help to improve societal well-being. Keywords : corporate social responsibility, customer loyalty


With the development of our society, Geologic Disasters endanger people's life and property. In the project of the Three Gorges, how to prevent the terrible loss of Geologic Disasters is very important in the whole project. We use the software named "ArcIMS" to diliver the geology information of the Three Gorges reservoir range. This paper analyses the basic conception of ArcIMS and the recent progress in this field, explains the application of information diliver in the project of the Three Gorges reservoir range, designs the scheme of geologic disasters information system. This system can be published in the Internet, do the same job with GIS software. It can analyses the spatial data of geologic disasters veraciously, provide the sustain for the right decision in Geologic Disasters prevention .The Geologic Disasters prevention in the project of the Three Gorges is more and more important, the functions in this system can help geologic disasters prevention do the best work.


The NSLS-II storage ring lattice is comprised of 30 DBA cells arranged in 15 superperiods. There are 15 long straight sections (9.3m) for injection, RF and insertion devices and 15 short straights (6.6m) for insertion devices. In the baseline lattice, the short straights have small horizontal and vertical beta functions but the long straights have large horizontal beta function optimized for injection. In this paper, we explore the possibility of maintaining three long straights with large horizontal beta function while providing the other 12 long straights with smaller horizontal beta function to optimize the brightness of insertion devices. Our study considers the possible linear lattice solutions as well as characterizing the nonlinear dynamics. Results are reported on optimization of dynamic aperture required for good injection efficiency and adequate Touschek lifetime. This paper discusses dynamic aperture optimization for the NSLS-II lattice with alternate high and low horizontal beta function in the long straights, which is proposed for the optimization of the brightness of insertion devices. The linear optics is optimized to meet the requirements of lattice function and source properties. Nonlinear optimization for a lattice with working point at (37.18, 16.2) is performed. Considering the realistic magnets errors and physical apertures,more » we calculate the frequency maps and plot the tune footprint. The results show that the lattice with high-low beta function has adequate dynamic aperture for good injection efficiency and sufficient Touschek lifetime.« less


This article investigates the design, modeling, and fabrication of small-size (150 × 90 × 1.6 mm) broadband printed biconical antenna. The proposed antenna is intended for use a reference antenna for electromagnetic interference measurement inside the EMC chamber. The reflection coefficient (S11-parameter) is verified by modeling the equivalent circuit of the structure in terms of lumped elements. This structure offers a −10 dB impedance bandwidth (from 0.65 GHz to 2.3 GHz) with the tapered balun feeding method. Therefore, it has a high probability of estimating the electromagnetic waves emitted from several applications such as GSM, LTE, UMTS, 3G, Wi-fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee and more. The simulated standard antenna parameters are compatible with the measured parameters results. Furthermore, azimuth omnidirectional radiation pattern and well-realized gain (3.8 dBi) are achieved, reflecting good values of antenna factor compared to the commercial design.


When it comes to active particles, even an ideal gas model in a harmonic potential poses a mathematical challenge. An exception is a run-and-tumble particles (RTP) model in one dimension for which a stationary distribution is known exactly. The case of two dimensions is more complex, but the solution is possible. Incidentally, in both dimensions the stationary distributions correspond to a beta function. In three dimensions, a stationary distribution is not known but simulations indicate that it does not have a beta function form. The current work focuses on the three-dimensional RTP model in a harmonic trap. The main result of this study is the derivation of the recurrence relation for generating moments of a stationary distribution. These moments are then used to recover a stationary distribution using the Fourier–Lagrange expansion.


This paper describes the new resistance bridge based on a cryogenic current comparator which is developed at LNE to measure ratios of resistances having values in the range from <tex>$1 \ \Omega$</tex> up to <tex>$1 \ \mathrm{\pmb{M\Omega}}$</tex>. The target combined standard uncertainty for the calibration of the 100 <tex>$\Omega/(\pmb{R}_{\mathrm{\pmb{K}}}/2)$</tex> ratio <tex>$(\pmb{R}_{\mathrm{\pmb{K}}}$</tex> is the von Klitzing constant) is a few parts in 1010.


Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was applied to diagnose Mycoplasma pulmonis (Mp) infection in rats. The assay was more sensitive than complement fixation test and had about the same sensitivity as isolation of Mp from the respiratory tract except very early stage (1 week) of the infection. Since Mp shared cross-reactive antigen with M. arthritidis (Ma), parallel use of both Mp and Ma antigens was recommended for diagnosis of Mp infection when sonicated antigens were used.


We introduce a support vector machine devoted to the approximation of multi-class discriminant functions. Its training procedure consists in minimizing an expression of the guaranteed risk. This bound is significantly tighter than the former ones, which should make the implementation of the structural risk minimization inductive principle in the context of multi-class discrimination better grounded.


Invariant recognition and motion tracking of 3-D objects under partial object viewing are difficult tasks. In this paper, we introduce a new neural network solution that is robust to noise corruption and partial viewing of objects. This method directly utilizes the acquired range data and requires no feature extraction. In the proposed approach, the object is first parametrically represented by a continuous distance transformation neural network (CDTNN) which is trained by the surface points of the exemplar object. When later presented with the surface points of an unknown object, this parametric representation allows the mismatch information to back-propagate through the CDTNN to gradually determine the best similarity transformation (translation and rotation) of the unknown object. The mismatch can be directly measured in the reconstructed representation domain between the model and the unknown object.


EXPERIMENTAL ocular lesions due to a toxoplasma infection have been described by a number of workers (Levaditi, Schoen and Sanchis-Bayarri, 1928; Hogan, 1951 ; Busacca, Nobrega and Giovanni, 1952 ; Beverley, Beattie and Fry, 1954), but none of these lesions are similar to those that appear to be due to toxoplasma infections in man (Wilder, 1952a, b; Smith, 1954). The only lesions that are in any way comparable are those described by Frenkel (1955) in the golden hamster, and these lesions were not found in every animal. Recently we have had the opportunity of studying a strain isolated from a fatal human infection in which the eyes showed the typical acute choroidoretinitis of toxoplasmosis. Since this strain was not lethal to rabbits, it seemed to be an ideal one with which to study the development of toxoplasma lesions in the eye.


The search of optimal Bayesian network from a database of observations is NP-hard. Nevertheless, several heuristic search strategies have been found to be effective. We present a new population-based algorithm to learn the structure of Bayesian networks without assuming any ordering of nodes and allowing for the presence of both discrete and continuous random variables. Numerical performances of our mixed-genetic algorithm, (M-GA), are investigated on a case study taken from the literature and compared with greedy search


Let M be a Γ-semigroup. For a prime ideal I of M , let σI be the relation on M consisted of the pairs (x, y), where x and y are elements of M such that either both x and y are elements of I or both x and y are not elements of I. Let N be the semilattice congruence on M de ned by xNy if and only if the lters of M generated by x and y coincide. Then the set N is the intersection of the relations σI , where I runs over the prime ideals of M . If R, L, I, H are the Green's relations of M and A the set of right ideals, B the set of left ideals and I the set of ideals of M , then we have H ⊆ R ⊆ I ⊆ N , H ⊆ L ⊆ I ⊆ N and L ◦ R ⊆ I, R = ⋂


The double Diels−Alder cycloaddition between 9-methylanthracene and 1,4-bis(diphenylphosphinoyl)buta-1,3-diyne affords the oxide of the atropos diphosphine, Me-CATPHOS, which has an unusual bicyclic buta-1,3-diene-based architecture. Quantum chemical methods using DTF reveal that the barrier to atropinterconversion in Me-CATPHOS is 130 kJ mol−1, while the corresponding barrier for its unsubstituted counterpart is only 23 kJ mol−1, entirely consistent with the former being an atropos diphosphine while the latter belongs to the tropos class of ligand. rac-Me-CATPHOS can be resolved by fractional crystallization of the diastereoisomeric complexes formed with (2R,3R)-(−)-2,3-O-dibenzoyltartaric acid and reduction of the resulting enantiopure oxide, accomplished by silane reduction in xylene at 130 °C, to afford an operationally straightforward, three-step synthesis of an entirely new class of atropos buta-1,3-diene-based diphosphine. Rhodium complexes of enantiopure Me-CATPHOS catalyze the asymmetric hydrogen...


This paper describes the reacTable*, a novel multi-user electro-acoustic music instrument with a tabletop tangible user interface, which is being developed at the MTG in Barcelona. We first introduce the reacTable* project and some of the concepts behind its design and we then discuss interaction and performance scenarios.


Background: Neuropathic pain (NP) is a common complication during the late phase of spinal cord injury (SCI). The enzyme cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) shown to play a crucial role during the inflammatory early phase of SCI. We report here on the antihyperalgesic effects of three COX inhibitors: celecoxib, indomethacin and meloxicam used individually. Their efficacy and impact on mortality losses following administration of each treatment evaluated in the late phase of chronic NP post SCI. Methods: In two studies, 200 Sprague-Dawley rats (n=80; n=120) received contusion spinal cord injury (cSCI). In study 1, injured rats were administered with either celecoxib (n=20) 12 mg /kg oral gavage (o.g.) or vehicle (saline only) o.g. (n=20); indomethacin (n=20) 5 mg/kg or vehicle (saline only) (n=20) intraperitoneally (i.p.) for 14 days. In study 2, injured rats received meloxicam either 1mg/kg (n=20), 2 mg/kg (n=20) or 4 mg/kg (n=20) i.p. daily for 14 days or vehicle (Saline + DMSO) (n=20) i.p. daily for 14 days. Also in study 2 injured rats received 30μg/kg/day (n=20) or 300μg/kg/day (n=20) intrathecally (i.t.) for 14 days or vehicle (saline + DMSO) alone delivered i.t. for 7 days. Experimental and control rats were tested for increase or decrease in thermal hyperalgesia (TH) on days 21, 28, 35, and 42 after SCI. Results: In study 1, celecoxib prevented the drop in hyperalgesia threshold and increased the nociceptive threshold compared with control. The percentage of TH observed in celecoxib-treated animals 0.0% compared to 22.8% salinevehicle control group. The percentage of TH observed in indomethacin-treated animals was 19.5% as compared with the saline-injected control group showing 8.7%, which while reduced, was not significant (p=0.7574). The rat mortality observed with the treatments of celecoxib o.g. and indomethacin i.p. were 55% and 35%, respectively. The control group mortality for saline o.g. and saline i.p. was 15% and 5%, respectively. In study 2, i.t. delivery of meloxicam, exhibited 30%, 33%, and 67% in TH development in low dose, high dose, and saline group, respectively. Low dose meloxicam was associated with a reduced 50% mortality rate as opposed to the 70% mortality rate for both high dose meloxicam and saline. In study 2, i.p. delivery of Meloxicam exhibited 0%, 14.3%, 47.6%, 61.9% TH development for saline, 1mg/kg, 2mg/kg, and 4mg/kg groups respectively. An ANOVA model showed an overall statistically significance difference among the groups (p=0.0129). Rat mortality observed for meloxicam i.p. was 0%, 14.29%, 47.6% and 61.95% for saline, 1mg/kg, 2mg/kg, and 4mg/kg groups respectively. TH percentages taken as averages from days 21, 28, 35, and 42 following SCI. Conclusion: These results suggest that indomethacin, a nonselective COX inhibitor, given systemically did not statistically decrease pain sensation or increase animal survival. The COX-2 inhibitor, celecoxib, did significantly decrease pain perception in this model when given systemically. However, the mortality percentage increased by celecoxib administration when compared to saline application. This work is integrated into a review of COX use to treat neuropathic pain. Meloxicam in both high dose and low dose applied i.t. reduced pain perception. Although mortality reduced by low dose meloxicam, this decrease compared to high dose meloxicam or saline was not significant. Meloxicam i.p. showed a dose dependent increase in both TH development and mortality. This suggests the effective therapeutic dose is less than 1 mg/kg and research should extend further. It is clear that COX-2 selective agents can decrease pain perception compared to COX-1 blocking agents. However, systemic administration of celecoxib may lead to increased adverse effects. Initial studies with the intrathecal administration of the COX-2 inhibitor meloxicam suggest that further research focused on the variables of treatment doses, route of administration and possible combination of COX-2 blockers with other pain reducing agents is necessary to maximize the therapeutic/adverse effect ratio. Correspondence to: Steven G. Oakes, PhD, University of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy, 777 Highland Ave, Madison, WI 53705-222, USA, E-mail: steven. email@example.com


The circular economy, circular economy of tourism, and the mode of operation of circular economy are analyzed in this article. Lack the concept of tourism circular economy, tourism scenic spot bearing excessive visitors, the tourism resources recycling utilization rate are low, scenic employees have low quality are the main problems of tourism circular economy of Mt.Emei scenic area, and discussed the construction of Mt.Emei tourism circular economy mode of operation.


While there is a significant body of literature regarding the interest in global health experiences (GHEs) for medical students and resident physicians, there is very little published in the scholarly literature regarding whether college/university students who are not in medical school, but are interested in pursuing a medical, health science, or allied health career in their future are also interested in global health. An anonymous electronic survey was sent to students enrolled in the College of Health Sciences and Technology at Rochester Institute of Technology to assess how important these students felt it was for them to learn about global health issues and then determine what types of GHEs they would like to have available to them. The participants were matriculated in the following majors: Biomedical Sciences (BS), Nutrition Management (BS), Diagnostic Medical Sonography (BS), and Physician Assistant (BS/MS). Participants were asked five questions to assess how important they felt it was that GHEs were available to them. For each of the five importance questions, between 89.3% and 93.6% felt these GHEs are either somewhat or very important versus 0.5-1.1% of those who felt that they were either not important at all or minimally important. The survey participants were asked thirteen questions regarding their opinions about what types of GHEs might be of interest to them. The three options that garnered the strongest interest were the ability to participate in a short-term international service project (91.4%), the ability to do international clinical rotations (89.3%), and the ability to participate in international research opportunities (82.5%). Independent t-tests showed that participants that had international travel experience in developing countries, those who were women, or those that were multilingual showed heightened interest in GHEs of various types. One-way ANOVAs showed that Biomedical Science & Physician Assistant students were significantly more interested in GHEs than Diagnostic Medical Sonography / Cardiac Echo students. Younger students were found to be more interested in international research opportunities than older students. INTRODUCTION There is a significant body of literature regarding the growing interest in global health amongst medical students. Many medical schools are beginning to offer global health experiences (GHEs), including clinical rotations in developing nations (also known as lowand middle-income countries) and data has been generated that shows a generally positive impact on these students (Bruno, Imperato, & Szarek, 2013). International GHEs have resulted in a higher percentage of medical school graduates who have decided to stay within a primary care specialty (Bruno et al., 2013). This is vitally important as much of the United States' current healthcare system is built on having an adequate number of primary care providers (Bruno, Imperato, & Szarek, 2013).


The Changing what you eat booklets were developed for use in one-to-one nutrition counselling in the primary health care setting. This paper describes a study to pre-test draft versions of the booklets with patients and practice nurses. Overall the response to both the patient booklet and the guide for professionals was positive. The assessment tool, 'What do you eat?' and the food groups model, 'The healthy food selection guide' were especially liked. There were concerns about the notion of a 'Contract for change'. The need for appropriate training for health professionals was highlighted.


Description: This is the sample implementation of a Markov random field based color image segmentation algorithm described in the publication below. Note that the current demo program implements only a supervised version of the segmentation method described in the referenced paper (i.e. parameter values are learned interactively from representative regions selected by the user). Otherwise, the program implements exactly the color MRF model proposed in the paper. Images are automatically converted from RGB to the perceptually uniform CIE-L*u*v* color space before segmentation.


Fourteen cases of infantile lobar emphysema are reported on. Operation was performed in all cases. No death occurred. The late prognosis was good. On follow‐up examination 1–10 years after operation there was no evidence of emphysema devloping in other lobes. The aetiology, diagnosis and indications for operation are discussed.


Topic modelling has become a highly popular technique for extracting knowledge from texts. It encompasses various method families, including Factorial methods, Probabilistic methods, and Natural Language Processing methods. This paper introduces a unified conceptual framework for Factorial and Probabilistic methods by identifying shared elements and representing them using a homogeneous notation. The paper presents 12 different methods within this framework, enabling easy comparative analysis to assess the flexibility and how realistic the assumptions of each approach are. This establishes the initial stage of a broader analysis aimed at relating all method families to this common framework, comprehensively understanding their strengths and weaknesses, and establishing general application guidelines. Also, an experimental setup reinforces the convenience of having harmonized notational schema. The paper concludes with a discussion on the presented methods and outlines future research directions.


Objective To evaluate the effect of clavicular hook plate in the treatment of dislocation of acromioclavicular joint and fracture of distal clavicle.Methods The clinical data of 63 patients with acromioclavicular joint dislocation or distal clavicle fractures treated with clavicalar hook plate were analyzed retrospectively: 41 suffered from dislocation of acromioclaviculr joint,22 suffered from distal collarbone fractures,and 7 patients had both symptoms.Results All patients got good reduction and fixation.The acromioclavicular joint subluxation,breakage,and loosening of the clavicular hook plate were not observed.The acromioclavicular joint recovered quickly.Redislocation and refracture were not developed when the internal fixation was removed.Conclusion Clavicular hook plate is a good choice for acromioclavicular joint dislocation and distal clavicalar fracture.


A transmission diversity method for an SCH(Synchronization Channel) and a BCH(Broad casting Channel) in an OFDM(Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) cellular system is provided to detect OFDM symbol and frame timings during an initial power-on step, to estimate initial frequency offset, and to use the synchronization channel for coherent demodulation in demodulating the BCH by a mobile station. In an OFDM based cellular system defining an SCH and a BCH at a forward link, a transmission diversity method for the SCH and the BCH includes a step for arranging SCH and BCH symbols(192,193) adjacently to each other if two or more transmission antennas of a base station exist and a step for applying the same transmit diversity to the adjacent SCH and BCH symbols and then transmitting the SCH and BCH symbols through the same antenna.


The basic industry in Pasuruan is developing well. The industry's growth can reach 100 % compared to the previous year. This paper examined and analyzed factors that make Pasuruan's basic industry grow well. This paper tried to give constructive suggestions for industrial development in Pasuruan. Based on our research, there is a need to ensure the economic impact of Pasuruan's industry reaches widely to people. It not only gets more people but also increases the quality of people's lives and sustainable development. Later for the orientation strategy, Pasuruan's target to develop an industrial area will impact greater for the community of Pasuruan.


Cryogenic radiometer is currently the highest accuracy primary standard in the field of optical remote sensing calibration and metrology, its accuracy has no way to be validated by higher accuracy standard, experiment comparison between the highest accuracy primary standards is one of effective methods to evaluate the highest standard measurement accuracy. The first cryogenic radiometer compassion experiment was done in two institutes between Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (AIOFM) and East China Institute of Electronic Measurement Instrument (ECIEMI) in China, the responsivity of silicon trap B detector at the wavelengths of 632.8 and 1064 nm were calibrated by the different type cryogenic radiometer, the selected calibrated power were 200 and 150 μW respectively. The relative errors of absolute spectral responsivity were 6.06×10-5 and 8.49×10-4 respectively. The total combine uncertainties of the compassion results were 0.093786% and 0.105166% respectively. It is validated that the two cryogenic radiometers are the higher steady, higher accuracy and higher reliability.


The mandibular interforaminal region is a preferred area in many oral, dental and maxillofacial surgery protocols, especially in dental implant applications. Case reports in recent years show that many complications can be encountered in the mandibular interforaminal region. The most dangerous and life-threatening of these are lingual artery injuries that can reach up to upper airway obstruction. Avoiding this complication, which can be encountered regardless of experience, is only necessary to have a good knowledge of the vascular anatomy of the mandibular interforaminal region and to perform the necessary radiographic examinations before the procedure. When such a bleeding complication is encountered in cases such as insufficient radiographic examination of the patient or the presence of anatomical variation, the physician should be equipped with the knowledge and equipment to manage the process and the complication. In this study, the anatomical vascular anatomy of the mandibular interforaminal region, the lingual foramen and their frequency, together with the literature on complication avoidance and coping methods are summarized. Thus, it is aimed to refresh the knowledge of dentists about this serious complication.


With the increasing availability of magnetic resonance imaging, there is potentially less emphasis being placed on making a definitive clinical diagnosis. Changes in the undergraduate curriculum have also reduced the emphasis on orthopaedic clinical evaluation. This aim of this study was to evaluate the predictability of clinical examination alone in comparison with arthroscopic findings in 50 consecutive patients presenting for arthroscopy to our service. Four trainees examined each patient; each examiner was blinded to the clinical diagnosis made by their colleagues. All patients were examined in the ward and subsequently underwent examination under anaesthesia and arthroscopy. Of the tests for meniscal injuries joint line tenderness was the most sensitive (77%) and specific (68%). Apley's and McMurray's test while specific (92%, 98%) lacked sensitivity (9%, 30%). Overall the tests for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) disruption were more reliable than the tests for meniscal injuries. The anterior drawer and Lachmann tests had high specificity (90%, 75%) and sensitivity. The pivot shift test also had very high specificity (75%) and sensitivity (98%) for detecting ACL injuries. These data demonstrate that joint line tenderness is the most reliable sign of menis-cal injury. In the absence of joint line tenderness Apley & McMurray's tests have little role in routine clinical examination. Clinical tests and signs of ACL deficiency are consistently reliable in diagnosing ACL rupture.


This paper presents the results of a study of hotels that are certified for
quality management to identify the reasons for seeking quality certification.
The authors analyze whether internal or external drivers for seeking
certification have different impacts on benefits and the use of quality tools in
the hotel industry. The analysis groups hotels according to the importance of
their internal reasons for certification, and uses cluster analysis to identify
the significant differences between groups of hotels. The findings for the 32
hotels analysed show that hotels that pursued certification for internal
reasons develop better quality tools and have increased levels of benefits.


Electrocochleographical studies were performed with the active electrode on the ear-drum. A close correspondence of the thresholds of 8th nerve action potentials (AP) and the subjective hearing thresholds was observed. The input-output curves of AP demonstrated L and H slopes. In persons with complete unilateral hearing losses no responses could be recorded from the deaf ear either to ipsilateral or contralateral sound stimulation. The effects of contralateral stimulation on AP were studied in persons with large interaural threshold differences. Two types of influences were described, the first being inhibitory and the second facilitatory. It has been suggested that the first effect depends on the reflex activity of the middle ear muscles, whereas the second effect should be attributed to the activity of auditory feed-back controlling system.


Innovative personnel is the key to the competition in the knowledge economy of the 21st century. To cultivate good ideological and moral qualifications is the basis to train innovative personnel. At present, moral education in the higher learning institutions is facing new challenges both in concept and content. The countermeasures are to build practical mechanism of moral functionality, create good moral environment and construct a team of qualified teaching staff.


Yacon storage parameters were determined to preserve inulin in amounts similar to that harvested.The variety under study was "Yurac Llajum", collected with 7.5 months of physiological maturity.Storage was carried out for 60 days, in conditioned rooms of temperature, relative humidity and light intensity, each factor in two levels. To obtain responses of the conservation of the inulin content of the yacon, to analyze the analysis of the inulin content at the beginning and end of storage, the results were analyzed by means of a 2 ^ 3 factorial arrangement, which obtained a response surface that the fresh yacon informed us It has obligations at a temperature of 15°C with relative humidity of 50% and a light intensity of 400 lm to obtain a variation of 50.16% in inulin content. Concluding that the fresh yacon storage parameters in a controlled manner allowed a variation of up to 50.16%.


SDS-PAGE were employed to detect the inhibitions of some antioxidants to the degradation of bovine serum albumin induced by AAPH.The result showed that Rosmarinic acid,uric acid,sodium deoxycholate and GSH exhibited inhibitions at low concentration(125μmol/L),but thiourea needs high concentration(250μmol/L).Nicotinicacid and Vc did not show obvious protection even the consistence up to 2000μmol/L.Mannitol's behavior was neither clear no concentration-dependent.Thymol blue bromide,pyrogallic acid and Trolox are the strongest inhibitors.They manifested obvious protections at 62.5μmol/L.


The present study was carried out in the Surguja district of Chhattisgarh state. Data were collected from 120 respondents as 60 beneficiary respondents and 60 non-beneficiary respondents of six selected villages. The results of the study indicate that the major problem of the beneficiary respondents was 'high charges of transportation and poor facilities' and 'misconception about the application of manures' was a very serious problem in non-beneficiary respondents. Whereas sugarcane damaged by non-insect pests viz . rats, beer, elephants, and domestic cattle was the joint problem of both beneficiary and non-beneficiary respondents, and it can also be observed in their suggestive measures of problems of the beneficiary respondents where the sales centre of Raghunathpur should be reopened and the charges of transportation should be fixed by the government to minimize the transportation problems. And "to promote the use of manure, the benefits of manure would have to be demonstrated and given detailed information about it" expressed by non-beneficiary respondents whereas farmers should be made aware of such techniques to deal with rats, beer and elephants as well as to provide compensation of affected farmers were expressed by both beneficiary and non-beneficiary respondents of the study area


The debate between Veit-Wilson and Atherton raises key conceptual questions for the analysis of welfare states. Veit-Wilson, in particular, focuses on the important, but strangely neglected question of when and why a state qualifies as a welfare state. Atherton usefully draws attention to historical debates about the legitimate purposes of state welfare policies and worthy recipients of state benefits, particularly in the Anglo-Saxon countries. His contribution may draw our attention to the shifting meaning of concepts (such as poverty) over time. In this contribution I seek to broaden the debate. First, without underestimating the importance of such criteria, rather than presenting one single (normatively based) "discriminating criterion" defining welfare statehood, I argue that other conceptions of "the welfare state" may be useful as well—so long as analysts are clear and explicit about how they are using the phrase. Second, in the current conjuncture of the perceived "transformation" perhaps even "destruction" of the welfare state, historical and comparative research grounded on clear and explicit concepts is crucial.


Writing is one of the four language skills that have to be achieved by someone who is learning English language. It is a basic skill that is necessary for success on the real world. But, in the educational world, in learning English the students have difficulty in writing. One method to teach in writing skill is Foursquare writing method. Foursquare writing method is a simple graphic organizer to guide students to organize their thought or plan before they write a complete paragraph. The research design in this study was pre-exprerimental design with quantitative approach. The result showed that there were the pretest the lowest score was 60 and the highest score was 88 from 31 students. The mean score was 70,97. In posttest the researcher found the lowest score was 64 and the highest score was 88 from 31 students. the mean score was 77,03. It means that the mean score of posttest was better than pretest. The result of data analysis showed that t-count was 10,977 and t-table at df 30 and level of significant 5% was 2,042. It showed that 10,977 > 2,042. It means that Null Hypothesis (Ho) is rejected and Alternative Hypothesis (Ha) was accepted. So, foursquare writing method was effective toward students achievement in writing narrative text at eight grade of SMPN 1 Ngantru in academic year 2015/2016.


Introduction: Civilizing Projects and the Reaction to themPart I: The Historiography of Ethnic Identity: Scholarly & Official DiscoursesThe Naxi and the Nationalities QuestionThe History of the History of the YiDefining the MiaoMaking HistoriesPere Vial and the Gni-P'a: Orientalist Scholarship and the Christian ProjectVoices of Manchu Identity, 1635-1935Part II: The History of Ethnic Identity: The Process of PeoplesMillenarianism, Christian Movements, & Ethnic Change Among the Miao in Southwest ChinaChinggis Khan: From Imperial Ancestor to Ethnic HeroThe Impact of Urban Ethnic Education on Modern Mognolian Ethnicity, 1940-1966On the Dynamics of Tai/Dai-Lue Ethnicity: An Ethnohistorical AnalysisGlossaryReferencesContributorsIndex


It' s the responsibility of college library to do something with the more and more severe employment situations.College library can carry out a variety of new ideas and career service programs,based on its information and resource advantages.


Investigations of the spin dynamics of the geometrically frustrated pyrochlore (Tb(p)Y(1-p))2Ti2O7, using muon spin relaxation and neutron spin echo, as a function of magnetic coverage p, have been carried out. Our major finding is that paramagnetic fluctuations prevail as T-->0 for all values of p, and that they are sensitive to dilution, indicating a cooperative spin motion. However, the percolation threshold pc is not a critical point for the fluctuations. We also find that the low temperature spectral density has a 1/f behavior, and that dilution slows down the spin fluctuations.


Follow‐up studies have demonstrated that bronchiolitis caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is strongly associated with wheezing in the ensuing years. During the acute infection the immune response may induce long‐lasting detrimental effects, thereby contributing to post‐bronchiolitis wheezing (PBW). Therefore, immune‐modulating drugs like corticosteroids, administered in the acute phase of RSV bronchiolitis, may prevent PBW and asthma. To evaluate this, we performed a controlled prospective follow‐up study after a randomized double‐blind placebo‐controlled intervention in the acute phase with oral prednisolone. Fifty‐four patients under 2 years of age and hospitalized for RSV bronchiolitis between 1992 and 1995 were randomly assigned to prednisolone 1 mg/kg/day for 7 days or placebo. At the mean age of 5 years, 47 patients had completed their follow‐up. Patients were divided into four groups: no wheezing, transient wheezing (wheezing during the first year of life); persistent wheezing (wheezing during the first year of life and asthma at the age of 5); and late‐onset wheezing (no wheezing during the first year of life but asthma at the age of 5). Prevalence of wheezing and asthma were investigated through an interview by telephone, using a standardized questionnaire.


Multiple indicators are of interest in smart cities at different scales and for different stakeholders. In open environments, such as The Web, or when indicator information has to be interchanged across systems, contextual information (e.g., unit of measurement, measurement method) should be transmitted together with the data and the lack of such information might cause undesirable effects. Describing the data by means of ontologies increases interoperability among datasets and applications. However, methodological guidance is crucial during ontology development in order to transform the art of modeling in an engineering activity. In the current paper, we present a methodological approach for modelling data about Key Performance Indicators and their context with an application example of such guidelines.


This essay explores how the trinity of being-knowledge-aesthetics founds the Western culture qua a structure of representation and how globalization bears on the vicissitudes of this trinity. The purpose is to clarify the limitation of this representational structure and to conceptualize the predicament in which globalization finds itself caught up when it desperately attempts to disavow this limitation. The Holocaust has been haunting Europe since the end of WWII and has been taken by critics as embodying the limit of representation. But this unrepresentable event does not seem to affect America, for its total spectacularizaton of life and history amounts to the cancelation of everything unrepresentable. By way of an analysis of this difference as it is revealed in several films on the Holocaust, this essay resorts to the ontological concepts of sin and innocence and looks into the unconscious structure, global knowledge, and related aesthetic issues. Freud and Lacan are brought into discussion in order to explain the homology between representation and the unconscious and to furthermore explicate the difference between classical neurosis and contemporary depression, the binding rupture between lack and excess, and the codependence between sin and transcendent Presence. With regard to globalization, this essay draws on the theories of Lacan, Jean-Luc Nancy, and Jacques Ranciere to elucidate the characteristics of global knowledge, the planarity of global interface aesthetics, and the implications of global aesthetic innocence. The last part of this essay turns to Nancy's elaboration of "ex nihilo" and Giorgio Agamben's concepts of "a-knowledge" and double suspension in order to untangle the aporia of representation and globalization and to arrive at an aesthetics of true innocence which comes ex nihilo ontologically.


Senescence is predicted to be associated with the intensity and timing of reproduction at an earlier age. Here, we examine the phenotypic association between reproduction and post‐reproductive survival in three pre‐industrial human populations that lived in Northern Scandinavia during 1640–1870. In both sexes longevity was independent of the total number of born or adult children, whereas early reproduction was negatively associated with the longevity of females and males. Our results thus do not support the view that reproductive investment as such has a negative impact on longevity, but suggest that survival costs are associated with the scheduling of reproduction. We discuss, however, an alternative point of view suggesting that less intense selection for early reproduction, extended parental care, and social structure allowing kin selection through the effects of close relatives are factors that have selected for the long post‐reproductive life span in humans.


Attention Deficit Disorder is a learning disability that limits attentiveness and increases hyperactivity and impulsivity in affected individuals. On average, more children are diagnosed with this disorder than adults, indicating that the majority of people being treated for this disorder are children. With the recent rise in Attention Deficit Disorder diagnoses in children, more children are being exposed to controlled substances to treat the disorder. Considering the tight restrictions and regulations implemented by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), many question the safety of these medications used to treat children with Attention Deficit Disorder. This research explores the safety and efficacy of the controlled substances used to treat Attention Deficit Disorder in children. Findings indicate that these medications pose no significant danger to children and drug dependence is not likely. Furthermore, findings also show that the medications used to treat the disorder are effective overall.


In this research effort, Isogeometric tools are employed either in the Analog Equation Method (AEM), a boundary element based method, or in the Finite Element Method for the analysis of curved homogenous beams of arbitrary cross section (thinor thickwalled) taking into account nonuniform warping, shear deformation effects (shear lag due to both flexure and torsion) and distortion. A set of distortional (in-plane warping) parameters have been considered and multiplied by the corresponding distortional functions, which constitute together with the warping ones the Navier equations for 2-D elasticity problem. Onedimensional boundary value problems described by second-order differential equations are formulated with respect to the displacement and rotation components as well as to the independent inand out-of-plane warping parameters and solved. The inand out-of-plane warping functions as well as the geometric constants including the additional ones due to warping and distortion (stiffness matrices) are evaluated employing a pure BEM approach. In order to derive the differential equations of motion with respect to the kinematical components, the terms of inertia contributions have to be added in the previous ones and, thus, the spatial mass matrix can be derived. Numerical results are worked out to illustrate the method, designate its efficiency, accuracy and computational cost, as well as verify its integrity comparing with the results of 3-D FEM (Finite Element Method) models. 3892 Available online at www.eccomasproceedia.org Eccomas Proceedia COMPDYN (2017) 3892-3910 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Eccomas Proceedia. Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of COMPDYN 2017. doi: 10.7712/120117.5692.17462 I.N. Tsiptsis and E.J. Sapountzakis


Objective To investigate the significance of T-bet and GATA-3 in the pathogenesis of pityriasis rosea.Methods SYBR Green Ⅰ real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR was performed to detect the expressions of T-bet and GATA-3 mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 17 patients with pityriasis rosea and 20 normal human controls.Results The average delta Ct value of T-bet mRNA and GATA-3 mRNA was 3.33 ± 0.94 and 5.22 ± 0.69 respectively in the patients,4.31 ± 1.11 and 4.36 ± 1.02respectively in the controls.There was a higher expression of T-bet mRNA but a lower expression of GATA-3 mRNA in the patients compared with the controls (both P < 0.05).Conclusions Patients with pityriasis rosea show an increased ratio of T-bet to GATA3 expression and predominant expression of Th1-type cytokines.Abnormal cellular immunity may play an important role in the pathogenesis of pityriasis rosea.


Packaging, a subset of "configuration release management (CRM)", deals with the best techniques for dividing a source base into parts that can be maintained and released independently. Robert Martin proposes six principles in his book Agile Software Development that promise superior results for packaging. In this work we seek empirical validation of his "Stable Dependency Principle" and its benefits.


An explicit adaptive control algorithm based on maximum likelihood estimation of parameters has been designed for NASA's DFBW F-8 aircraft. To avoid iterative calculations, the algorithm uses parallel channels of Kalman filters operating at fixed locations in parameter space. This algorithm has been implemented in NASA/DFRC's Remotely Augmented Vehicle (RAV) facility. Real-time sensor outputs (rate gyro, accelerometer and surface position) are telemetered to a ground computer which sends new gain values to an on-board system. Ground test data and flight records were used to establish design values of noise statistics and to verify the ground-based adaptive software. The software and its performance evaluation based on flight data are described


The recent discrepancy in the measurements of the Hubble Constant (the universe's rate of expansion) between the indirect, early method (+/-67km/s/megaparsec) and the direct, late method (+/- 72km/s/megaparsec) has been characterized as a growing crisis for cosmology. To some, a transitory disagreement of less than 10% may not seem like that much of a concern. What would cause a real crisis, though, is if it were suddenly realized without doubt that universal expansion itself is conceptually impossible in our real nontheoretical world of three actual dimensions. Despite all of its obvious, nontheoretical world of three actual dimensions. Despite all of its obvious, potentially invalidating incongruities, universal expansion's fundamental viability is rarely questioned, if at all.


This research is determine the evolution of the formal discourse of the music video through the assembly and audiovisual production, from its appearance to the real media context with the implementation of digital treatment applied to visual FX. After a long period of cultural hegemony in the 1980s and 1990s, the record industry was affected by a deep crisis coupled with a redefinition of production and distribution conditions. In this context, it begans the resurgence of the music video by the relevant role played on the Internet and, the hosting platforms for videos such as YouTube, favoring an unprecedented expansion of the distribution of audiovisual content by the Network. The study begins with the analysis of rhythm as the elemental discursive basis of the synchronic articulation of image and music to the analysis of the most frequent tendencies in terms of postproduction and visual FX.


It is important to recognize that in TASS, the patient has no pain, episcleral hyperemia, sometimes presents hypopyon, increased intraocular pressure, classically with limbus-to-limbus diffuse corneal edema and cell deposition [2]; While in endophthalmitis there may be pain and marked hyperemia, corneal edema is late, product of elevated intraocular pressure as a result of plugging trabecular by inflammatory membranes (Figure 1). According to the literature to be studied, there are multiple potential causes of TASS including toxic effects from intraocular fluids, medications, lenses, instruments, endotoxins, and sterilization techniques [3].


We fabricated RuO 2 /carbon nanotube (CNT) composites by coating the CNTs with an amorphous RuO x layer using metallorganic chemical vapor deposition followed by postannealing at a relatively low temperature of 350°C. It was found that the kind of gas used during the postannealing process should affect the nanostructure of the RuO 2 /CNT composites quite significantly. Starting with a thin RuO x coating layer, we could obtain relatively uniform-sized spherical and elliptical RuO 2 nanoparticles by using Ar and O 2 gas, respectively, during the postannealing. The growth behaviors of the RuO 2 nanoparticles could be explained in terms of surface self-diffusion. The surface diffusion process can provides a way to fabricate RuO 2 /CNT nanocomposites with a controllable geometrical shape and size, whose process can be used for diverse applications, such as high-performance supercapacitor electrodes, electrocatalysts, gas sensors, and new electrodevices.


In this paper we propose a method to perform manual guidance with humanoid robots. Manual guidance is a general model of physical interaction: here we focus on guiding a humanoid by its hands. The proposed technique can be, however, used also for joint object transportation and other tasks implying human-humanoid physical interaction. Using a measure of the Instantaneous Capture Point, we develop an equilibrium-based interaction technique that does not require force/torque or vision sensors. It is, therefore, particularly suitable for low-cost humanoids and toys. The proposed method has been experimentally validated on the small humanoid NAO.


Introduction: In modern clinical practice, various drug combinations are widely used, especially in cardiological patients. The existing clinical recommendations necessitate using organ protective agents, especially with a patient having a comorbid pathology and with an ineffective monotherapy. In some cases, drug interaction decreases the effectiveness of pharmacotherapy and increases the risk of developing adverse events (AE).
 The purpose of the study was to analyze the modern pharmacotherapy of patients with coronary heart disease (CHD), identify polypharmacy of treatment, evaluate its significance for the treatment process, and determine ways to solve the problem of using a multi-component system of pharmacotherapy risk management.
 Materials and methods: The study involved 156 patients with CHD, among whom 39 received more than 8 drugs at a time.
 Results and discussion: In these patients, the evaluation of drug interactions revealed 580 variants (48 were dangerous, 428 – significant, 104 – insignificant). The administration of a therapy to comorbid patients, taking into account possible changes in the activity of cytochrome P450 isoenzymes, is one of the promising ways to improve the safety of a combined pharmacotherapy.
 Conclusion: It was revealed that with a mutated cytochrome P450 most of processes of drug biotransformation occurs. And there is a greater risk of developing AE against the background of polypragmasia in polymorbid patients, which makes it possible to individually adjust the dose of beta-blockers, thus affecting the frequency of their development. The choice of management measures should be determined considering all the areas of personalized medicine, including pharmacogenetic predictors, pharmacoepidemiological data, pharmacoeconomic effectiveness, the development of adverse reactions, polypragmasia, and medical and social risk factors.


If you want to be a piano mover, that's your right. If you'd rather play it instead, that's your right too. Here in America you are free to choose the kind of job you want and the city you want to work in. And if you can do a better job than the next fellow — you're free to go on up the ladder. It's one of your rights that is guaranteed under the American system. That's not true everywhere in the world. In some countries, everyone is told what job to do, told where to work, told how much he can make — by the government.


# 2007 International Union of Crystallography All rights reserved The title molecule, C6H5ClN2O2, crystallizes with two molecules in the asymmetric unit. Both residues are planar with an intramolecular hydrogen bond between the amino and nitro groups. Two intermolecular hydrogen bonds connect the crystallographically independent molecules into a dimer. Dimers are linked by N—H O hydrogen bonding into a one-dimensional ribbon.


Jiang, Y., J. Tang, X. Yu and J. Camberato. 2013. Growth and Physiological Responses of Diverse Perennial Ryegrass Accessions to Increasing Salinity. 2012 Annu. Rep. Purdue Univ. Turfgrass Sci. Progr. p. 7-11. Summary: Ten diverse accessions of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) were grown in sand culture and exposed to a half-Hoagland solution amended with 0 (control), 50-, 100-, 150-, 200-, and 300 mM NaCl. Across all accessions, decreased plant height, K+ concentration and K+/Na+ and increased concentrations of fructan and Na+ were observed at ≥ 50 mM NaCl, while decreased leaf fresh and dry weight (DW), leaf water content (LWC), chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm), and increased water-soluble carbohydrate concentration (WSC) occurred at ≥ 150 mM NaCl. The maximum separations of salinity tolerance of accessions occurred at 200 to 300 mM NaCl. The results indicated that DW, LWC, Fv/Fm and Na+ could be associated with variability in tolerance of diverse perennial ryegrasses to high salinity stress.


This textbook, facing the realities of contemporary transportation planning, takes into account financial austerity, natural resource limitations, changing demographics of urban populations, inflation, changing functions of cities, new emphasis on rehabilitation and maintenance of existing infrastructure, new transport options, and advances in technology. The basic premise is that effective urban transportation planning must be related to the types of decisions that will be made. There are four major parts. Chapters 1 and 2 describe in detail the major characteristics of urban travel and transportation. Chapters 3 and 4 present an overview of decision-making in the urban transportation environment and discuss the first step of the proposed transportation planning process--data management and diagnosis. Chapters 5 through 9 examine the analysis techniques that can be used in transportation planning. Chapter 10 focuses on the implementation of urban transportation planning, examining the process of project programming, with special emphasis given to its political nature.


ABSTRACT: The study aims to analyze the funding of YAE (Youth and Adult Education), problematizing the limits of Fundeb funding matrix. It sought to answer the following question: why is the Fundeb value per YAE student lower than the minimum established nationwide in a state receiving Federal bonus funds? We conducted a quanti-qualitative documental research, based on studies about education funding and YAE public policies. The research revealed that values lower than the nationally-defined minimum occurred only in the state of Piauí, Brazil, due to the rule that defines that YAE cannot use more than 15% of the total fund. The problem occurred in the last years of Fundeb, from 2017 to 2020, hindering education systems that significantly invested in the increase of YAE enrollments, disregarding local realities, and denying the constitutional principles that guarantee the human right to education.


matics.' They are quite out of place in such a volume: no numismatist cares to hear that thirty or forty third brass of the Antonines were found at such and such a place. On the other hand the information is invaluable to the student of Roman Britain. I would suggest that a list be added to Part 2 of all the coin-finds, indicating simply the place of discovery and the supposed dates. Perhaps it is unnecessary to add that there are a few slips of less importance) such as occur in most books. Thus a Housesteads inscription is printed under Cumberland (p. 26). The references to the Corpus are very often omitted (e.g. pp. 22-24), and are given rather clumsily. One would prefer ' C.I.L. vii. 171' to 'Huebner p. 49.' There are also a few misprints. The conclusion of the whole matter is that the book is very unsatisfactory, but that the defects can be greatly remedied in Part 2. The most disappointing feature is the incompleteness. Mr. Gomme in his preface lays great stress on the value of the work as a contribution to an index of all the Roman remains in England, and it is rather trying to find that so far this contribution is worthless. He complains that the Index Society have been deaf to appeals to undertake the work. I am afraid that, unless Part 2 of the Romano-British Remains is better than Part 1, the Society will continue to be deaf. And yet the work is sorely needed. I suspect, however, that more has been done towards it than Mr. Gomme thinks, and that what is really wanted is unity. At present we are all by ourselves doing the same things and wasting labour. Thus that indefatigable antiquarian, Mr. Thompson Watkin, had indexed the Gentleman's Magazine for his own use long before Mr. Gomme's book was thought of. With division of labour a new Britannia Momana ought to be possible, only the labour must be thorough and scholarly. Absolute completeness may be unattainable, though Mr. Watkin's works on Cheshire and Lancashire, and Hiibner's Corpus, show that one can come very near it. But an imperfect index is as bad as Done, and the contribution now before us is decidedly imperfect. F. HAVERFIELD. highest effects of literary composition take regard ? As well as of many other things they had regard of this—that nature namely did not judge man to be a mean or ungenerous animal, but that introducing us into life, into the universe, as into a great assembly, to be spectators of her contests, and to be keen competitors in their rivalries, she implanted in our souls from the beginning an irrepressible love of whatever was great and nobler than ourselves—rod iieyi\ov KO! &s irpbs fmas Stunoviwripov. And therefore the whole world, even, is not enough to satisfy the speculation and apprehension of human understanding, but ourreflexions often travel beyond the bounds of our environment; and if one consider life in all its aspects, and behold the abundance of greatness and beauty in its sundry spheres, he will soon be aware to what things we are born. And thus it is the guidance of nature that we follow when we admire not small streams, translucent and of service though they be, but admire the Nile, the Danube, the Rhine, and yet more the Ocean. . . . "


Purpose – In preparing managers for the uncertainty, threats and opportunities posed by the challenge of frequent and unexpected changes in organizations and markets, an alternative to a traditional Western viewpoint is a holistic approach that embodies balance and harmony, sees more subtle relationships and avoids the tensions of opposites. The purpose of this paper is to report the derivation and application of six holistic principles for management development (quieting the mind, harmony and balance, relinquishing the desire to control, transcending the ego, centeredness, and the power of softness) derived from a non‐Western philosophy.Design/methodology/approach – The six principles were implemented in a management development program in a small high‐tech company. The reported effects upon the managers' role perceptions and behaviors were captured in immediate and delayed evaluations by means of face‐to‐face interviews.Findings – The analysis of the interview data identified four underlying values tha...


The idea that "a Reader could boost posts when they are from a feed that is not regularly updated" is implemented in Newsblur, my RSS


Southwest is the area that many minorities lives,so contradiction and distinction are existed widely.Cpcc Chi was up nese Communist party against many problems,such as commandeer,battle with bamdit,social reform,development and national independence.Deng Xiaoping took the character of minority area into account,combined the local facts and withhold principle,completed the task of revolution and construction of Southwest.


Human lysozyme is one of the most extensively studied proteins yet its exact physiological functions still remain a mystery. Here, we highlight a hitherto unrecognized role of lysozyme in neuropathic pain and neuronal excitability. Injection of lysozyme alone in healthy rats leads to heightened sensitivity in them towards both mechanical and thermal pain stimuli. Also, in rat models of neuropathic pain, lysozyme is over – expressed and its down – regulation by siRNA or inhibition of its activity by its disaccharide inhibitor ‐ chitobiose relieves pain confirming a causal role of lysozyme in neuropathic pain. Moreover, as the catalytically incompetent lysozyme or its chemically inhibited counterparts fail to provoke pain indicate that it deploys its catalytic site for eliciting pain. Bath application of lysozyme remarkably increased both the spontaneous excitatory potentials and currents (sEPSPs & sEPSCs) and the amplitudes of afferent mediated evoked excitatory synaptic inputs (eFPSPs & eEPSCs) in Aδ fibres in a fibre specific manner in the dorsal horn neurons. It also increased paired pulsed ratio only in the C‐fibres. When complexed with chitobiose it does not lead to any change in neuronal excitability. Thus, lysozyme excites neurons by deploying its catalytic region in a fibre specific manner. Further, we show that it deploys its catalytic site to recruit Annexin A2 to transduce TLR4→NFkβ signaling pathway which may culminate in the fusion of neurotransmitter vesicles at the synapse to manifest neuronal excitability and eventually pain. Thus, glycan inhibitors of lysozyme and antagonists of the pathway recruited by it to inflict pain pave not only the way for novel approaches for dissecting the molecular mechanism of neuropathic pain but also for treating this unmet medical need efficaciously.


This paper concentrates on hierarchical mul-ticast trees and their use in ATM networks. Multicast capabilities of ATM networks are still very limited. It poses many problems for an eecient support of new Internet applications. However, an intensive development and research eeort is being made to enhance PNNI multicast capabilities. The introduction of point-to-multipoint connections and multipoint-to-point connections 1 allows to envisage to build sophisticated multicast services. It becomes possible to build multipoint-to-multipoint connections. In particular, hierarchical multicast trees have been shown to be easily implemented in ATM networks, using the inherent PNNI hierarchy 3]. Hierarchical trees have been introduced recently in the In-ternet community as they represent the most scalable multicast routing solution for use in large networks. Their utilization in ATM networks would allow to better optimize network resources. This paper discusses the implementation of hierarchical multicast trees in ATM networks and analyses their performances. The total cost used by a hierarchical tree is evaluated by simulation as a function of the PNNI hierarchical structure. Simple dimensioning rules can be easily deduced.


This paper describes the design of Jackal, a compiler-driven distributed shared memory implementation of the Java programming language. Our goal is to efficiently execute (unmodified) multithreaded Java programs on a cluster of workstations. Jackal consists of a native Java compiler and a runtime system that implements a distributed shared memory protocol for variable sized memory regions. The Jackal compiler stores Java objects in shared regions and augments the programs it compiles with access checks. These access checks drive the memory consistency protocol. The Jackal compiler implements several optimizations to reduce the overhead of these software access checks. The main contributions of this paper are: techniques to allow a (Java) compiler to target a fine-grained allsoftware DSM using access-checks and compiler optimizations to achieve good efficiency.


In this paper, we propose the stream multiplexing scheme to achieve the high spectral efficiency on OFDM-MIMO system considering (a) the effects of the inter-stream interference suppression techniques, (b) the influence of the quality measurement in the receiver to select the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) and (c) the influence of the signaling overheads to the spectral efficiency. Two kinds of schemes for stream multiplexing, namely Multiple CodeWord (MCW) and Single CodeWord (SCW) are investigated and compared. In the simulations, we assume real channel estimation for SINR measurement for MCS selection and we compare the schemes with the spectral efficiency taking into account overheads. In consequence, it is presented that MCW can achieve the higher efficiency than SCW in the middle to high SINR region. Moreover, in 4 × 4 antenna configuration, a 2CW-MCW scheme where 2 codewords mapped onto 4 streams according to SINR of each streams is proposed. The scheme gives higher throughput by improving the MCS selection in the low SINR region due to increase of data length per a codeword and by reducing the signaling overhead due to the decrease of the number of codewords. As a result, the proposed scheme achieves spectral efficiency improvement in whole SINR region.


Background: Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) has proven antianginal and antiischemic effects in severe coronary artery disease patients, minimizing frequency, intensity, and duration of pain. The mechanism explaining these effects has been detected in a sympathicolytic effect of the SCS. We monitored 30‐minute‐long recordings of the heart rate variability (HRV) and its spectral power parameters to evaluate the influence of SCS on the sympathetic/parasympathetic balance.


Seismo electric phenomenon by considering electro kinetic coupling coefficient as a function of effective charge density, permeability, fluid viscosity and electric conductivity was reported by [3]. The magnitude of seismo electric current depends on porosity, pore size, zeta potential of the pore surfaces, and elastic properties of the matrix was investigated by [4]. The tangent of the ratio of converted electic field to pressure is approximately in inverse proportion to permeability was studied by [5]. Permeability inversion from seismo electric log at low frequency was studied by [6]. They reported that, the tangent of the ratio among electric excitation intensity and pressure field is a function of porosity, fluid viscosity, frequency, tortuosity and fluid density and Dracy permeability. A decrease of seismo electric frequencies with increasing water content was reported by [7]. An increase of seismo electric transfer function with increasing water saturation was studied by [8]. An increase of dynamic seismo electric transfer function with decreasing fluid conductivity was described by [9]. The amplitude of seismo electric signal increases with increasing permeability which means that the seismo electric effects are directly related to the permeability and can be used to study the permeability of the reservoir was illustrated by [10]. Seismo electric coupling is frequency dependent and decreases expontialy when frequency increases was demonstrated by [11]. An increase of permeability with increasing seismo magnetic moment and seismo diffusion coefficiernt fractal dimension was reported by [12, 13]. An increase of, molar enthalpy, work, electro kinetic, bubble pressure and pressure head fractal dimensions with permeability increasing and grain size was described by [14, 15, 16, 17].


DLBCL. Interestingly, ATF3 has been shown before to contribute to the malignant growth of Hodgkin lymphoma cells and selective knockdown of ATF3 by RNA interference suppressed proliferation and decreased viability of Hodgkin cells. On the other hand, ATF3 overexpression resulted in increased apoptosis of solid tumors, as shown in PC3 human prostate cancer cells, HCT-116 human colorectal cancer cells, and others. Therefore, Juilland and colleagues used short hairpin RNA–mediated silencing of individual components of AP-1 complexes, as well as the dominant-negative construct that blocks AP-1 activity, to assess the role of Jun/ATF dimers in ABCDLBCL. They found that depletion of ATF3 reduced the viability of the majority of theABC-type lymphoma cells but had no effect on GCB DLBCL. Interestingly, knockdown of ATF2 also affected cell survival but it simultaneously decreased the expression of ATF3. This effect is consistent with the fact that the transcription of the atf3 gene is regulated by the c-Jun/ATF2 dimer. Thus, data presented in this study indicate that Jun/ATF complexes are important drivers of survival and proliferation of ABC DLBCL. This finding is an important contribution to our understanding the signaling pathways used by lymphoma cells to survive. Conflict-of-interest disclosure: The author declares no competing financial interests. n


The respect for patient autonomy is a bioethical principle that has acquired a compelling degree of prevalence in modern medical practice. While a doctor is ethically and lawfully bound to respect a patient's preference and personal values in administering the requisite treatment, the duty to do so is more intricate in end-of-life care, when most patients are unable to partake in the decision-making process. An advance medical directive thus, provides an assurance that the patient's right to make autonomous decisions is preserved and will not be defeated by any future incapacity. It also serves to alleviate the ethical dilemma faced by doctors and assist them to determine the course of treatment according to the incompetent patient's wishes. In turn, this facilitates healthcare providers to effectuate a more functional allocation of resources, which include costly life-sustaining equipment. In Malaysia, although advance care planning and advance medical directives are fairly novel concepts, there have Ulum Islamiyyah Journal | Vol.32 December 2020 18 been recent calls by certain sectors to increase awareness among the public and incorporate such measures into the delivery of healthcare services. This paper seeks to discuss the viability of integrating advance medical directives into the Malaysian regulatory framework on the provision of healthcare. Accordingly, this will also include a deliberation on the Islamic standpoint with regard to the subject matter, in view of Malaysia's religious demography and the position of Islam as the official religion of the country.


Angiotensin II (Ang II) induces marked, dynamic increases in the permeability of the glomerular filtration barrier (GFB) in rats. After binding to its receptor, Ang II elicits Ca2+ influx into cells, mediated by TRPC5 and TRPC6 (transient receptor potential canonical type 5 and 6). Clemizole and La3+ salts have been shown to block TRPC channels in vitro, and we therefore tested their potential effect on Ang II‐induced glomerular hyperpermeability. Anesthetized male Sprague‐Dawley rats were infused with Ang II (80 ng kg–1 min–1) alone, or together with clemizole or low‐dose La3+ (activates TRPC5, blocks TRPC6) or high‐dose La3+ (blocks both TRPC5 and TRPC6). Plasma and urine samples were taken during baseline and at 5 min after the start of the infusions and analyzed by high‐performance size‐exclusion chromatography for determination of glomerular sieving coefficients for Ficoll 10–80 Å (1–8 nm). Ang II infusion evoked glomerular hyperpermeability to large Ficolls (50–80 Å), which was ameliorated by clemizole, having no significant effect on glomerular filtration rate (GFR) or Ang II‐mediated increase in mean arterial pressure (ΔMAP). In contrast, high‐ and low‐dose La3+ significantly lowered ΔMAP and reduced Ang II‐induced hyperpermeability. Combined, clemizole and low‐dose La3+ were less effective at ameliorating Ang II‐induced glomerular hyperpermeability than low‐dose La3+ alone. In conclusion, our data show that both clemizole and La3+ are effective against Ang II‐induced glomerular hyperpermeability, with differential effects on blood pressure. Further research using more specific blockers of TRPC5 and TRPC6 should be performed to reveal the underlying mechanisms.


What's "too much" alcohol for a person will vary, based on a number of factors. Thinking about the immediate effects of alcohol consumption, the extent to which alcohol impacts health and behavior is directly related to blood alcohol concentration (BAC). A person's BAC varies, depending on the amount of alcohol consumed and how quickly it's metabolized. Metabolism may be affected by such factors as body weight, amount of body fat, and gender. Women naturally have less of the enzyme necessary for alcohol to be broken down in the stomach, which causes more alcohol to go directly into the bloodstream before it is processed.


Simple Summary DNA repair pathways have been implicated in hepatocellular carcinoma outcomes. We found that hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) could be separated into two groups (high and low) based on the overall expression of genes involved in DNA repair. Among the low repair group, there were three subgroups, one of which shared features of the high repair group. Given the important role of liver in metabolism and detoxification and its regenerative capacity, proliferation and DNA damage responses are critical in subdividing major biological categories of liver tumors. High repair samples showed more proliferative and regenerative signatures and had poorer outcomes versus the low repair that were more associated with the genes involved in normal liver biology. These biological groups suggest that dysregulation in endogenous liver processes promotes a pro-tumorigenic microenvironment that may facilitate tumor progression or identify tumors that require more substantial clinical intervention. Abstract DNA repair pathways have been associated with variability in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) clinical outcomes, but the mechanism through which DNA repair varies as a function of liver regeneration and other HCC characteristics is poorly understood. We curated a panel of 199 genes representing 15 DNA repair pathways to identify DNA repair expression classes and evaluate their associations with liver features and clinicopathologic variables in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) HCC study. We identified two groups in HCC, defined by low or high expression across all DNA repair pathways. The low-repair group had lower grade and retained the expression of classical liver markers, whereas the high-repair group had more clinically aggressive features, increased p53 mutant-like gene expression, and high liver regenerative gene expression. These pronounced features overshadowed the variation in the low-repair subset, but when considered separately, the low-repair samples included three subgroups: L1, L2, and L3. L3 had high DNA repair expression with worse progression-free (HR 1.24, 95% CI 0.81–1.91) and overall (HR 1.63, 95% CI 0.98–2.71) survival. High-repair outcomes were also significantly worse compared with the L1 and L2 groups. HCCs vary in DNA repair expression, and a subset of tumors with high regeneration profoundly disrupts liver biology and poor prognosis.