Simple Summary Despite efforts to develop novel treatment strategies, human and canine osteosarcomas continue to have limited overall survival. Spontaneous canine osteosarcoma shares many molecular similarities with humans, and shows the same aggressive disease course, thereby rendering the dog an effective model for the human disease equivalent. In both species, surgery followed by chemotherapy represents the gold standard treatment. Immunotherapy represents a promising treatment modality. A peptide-based anticancer vaccine was administered to 20 dogs with non-metastatic osteosarcoma as an add-on therapy to standard treatment consisting of limb amputation and adjuvant chemotherapy. Endpoints were to evaluate the efficacy and safety of this combined therapeutic approach. By using a bacterial-based strategy for vaccine development, we report an efficacious induction of an immune response, ultimately translating in improved outcome compared with historical controls receiving standard-of-care treatment. The results of this clinical trial provide promising potential for future management in both humans and dogs with osteosarcoma. Abstract Despite efforts to develop novel treatment strategies, human and canine osteosarcomas continue to have poor prognosis and limited overall survival. The aim of this clinical trial was to test the antitumor effect and safety of multiple dermal administrations of a peptide-based anticancer vaccine in dogs with non-metastatic appendicular osteosarcoma undergoing standard of care (SOC), consisting of limb amputation and adjuvant chemotherapy. Salmonella-infected canine osteosarcoma cells were induced to release immunogenic peptides in the extracellular space via Cx43 hemichannels opening; the secretome was collected and constituted the vaccine. Dogs with non-metastatic appendicular osteosarcoma were eligible for recruitment. Following limb amputation and adjuvant carboplatin, dogs were vaccinated on a monthly basis for six times and followed up with serial thoracic radiographs. A population of dogs undergoing SOC treatment (amputation and adjuvant carboplatin) before the vaccine was available served as controls. Primary endpoints were time to metastasis (TTM) and tumor-specific survival (TSS). Secondary endpoints were feasibility, toxicity, T-cell and humoral immune responses. A total of 20 dogs were vaccinated along with SOC and 34 received SOC only. Vaccine-specific humoral and T-cell responses were observed; their amplitude correlated with TSS. Vaccine-associated toxicity was not recorded. TTM and TSS were significantly longer in vaccinated versus unvaccinated dogs (TTM: 308 vs. 240 days, respectively; p = 0.010; TSS: 621 vs. 278 days, respectively; p = 0.002). In dogs with non-metastatic osteosarcoma undergoing SOC, the addition of a bacteria-based vaccination strategy increased TTM, thereby prolonging survival, while maintaining a safe profile. Additionally, vaccinated dogs developed a long-term tumor-specific response, as documented by the immunomonitoring of these patients over time. These results hold promise for future management of canine osteosarcoma.


In this paper, a survey for Data Mining frame work has been done for proposing Data Mining methodologies to engineering materials design applications. An exhaustive literature survey made in this article has covered the modeling systems such as Analytical Model, Numerical Simulation Model and Computer Based Modeling Systems, which were developed and implemented for Polymer Composite processing from the year 1950 to till 2006. Motivation for the present investigation is inspired by the Computer Based Models and is depicted as Mining Frame Work for determining optimal decision making strategies and performing intelligent computational operations associated to advanced Composite materials design applications. Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery has made tremendous progress in Computer Science in the last 15 years. However, a large gap exists between the results of Data Mining and Knowledge Base system that can provide and support proper decision making. Though many Modeling and Simulation Systems have been d...


Seedlings of Buddleja asiatica Lour. were induced with different combinations of colchicine con- centrations (0.02%, 0.04%, 0.08% and 0.16%) ∶dimethyl sulfoxide∶retilachlor = 2 000∶10∶1 (V/V/V) for 1–3 d. The result showed that all the treatments could induce polypoid of B. asiatica. The most effective induction was 0.08% colchicine for 3 d and induction rate of polypoid reached 36.7%.


Long‐term and short‐term temporal variations in seismic velocity have been investigated using seismic interferometry, and significant short‐term changes are typically recognized as velocity reductions caused by large earthquakes. In this study, using a dense network of ocean bottom seismometers (Seafloor Observation Network for Earthquakes and Tsunamis along the Japan Trench: S‐net), we measured temporal variations in seismic velocity at the top of the overriding plate in the region between the Japanese Islands and the Japan Trench. We detected abrupt velocity reductions due to the nearby Mw 7‐class earthquakes in 2016 and 2021, and gradual velocity increases mainly observed near the trench. The sudden velocity reductions due to the shallow earthquake in 2016 within the overriding plate are large above the hypocenter, while those due to the three deep earthquakes in 2021 are large near the trench, although these earthquakes occurred far from the trench. The three earthquakes are located at the top of and within the subducting oceanic crust of the Pacific Plate. The spatial distributions of the velocity reductions for the four earthquakes are consistent with those of the peak ground velocities (PGVs). This indicates that for the three deep earthquakes, seismic waves trapped within the descending Pacific Plate reach to the trench, and the trapped waves induce large PGVs, and hence substantially reducing the velocity. Long‐term variations observed near the trench are possibly caused by the recovery process of coseismic velocity reductions due to large earthquakes and/or fluid migration induced by the tectonic stress field in the region.


Forage legumes form N2-fixing symbioses with rhizobia and may thus make substantial contributions to the N pool in grasslands. However, to optimize their use as sources of N, it is important to elucidate the effects of management factors that influence their N2 fixation rates, and to develop convenient methods for measuring N2 fixation quickly and reliably. An analysis of published data on N2 fixation in the field showed that lucerne (Medicago sativa L.), red clover (Trifolium pratense L.), and white clover (T. repens L.) grown in mixtures with grasses derived most of their N from N2 fixation, irrespective of geographic location and management practices – and despite large inter-annual variations in legume dry matter yield (kg ha-1 year-1). Consequently, there were strong correlations between legume dry matter yield and amounts of N2 fixed (kg N ha-1 year-1), which can be used very simply to obtain estimates of N2 fixation in these legumes. In experimental grassland plots where the species richness of neighbouring vegetation was varied, alsike clover (T. hybridum L.), red clover, and white clover consistently derived at least half of their N from N2 fixation, measured by the 15N natural abundance (NA) method using three different reference plants. This method is sensitive to the degree of discrimination against 15N in the N2-fixing plant (B value) and the choice of reference plant. B values were therefore established for each of the three clover species in symbioses with different Scandinavian Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. trifolii genotypes. In red clover, reductions following cutting in the activity of the N2-fixing enzyme, nitrogenase, and the rate of shoot regrowth were dependent on the cutting height. The recovery in nitrogenase activity after cutting followed the rate of leaf area increment, which confirms the correlation between N2 fixation and growth found in field experiments. The results of the work underlying this thesis show that perennial forage legumes growing in grasslands are highly dependent on N2 fixation. Awareness of this should facilitate the development of resource-efficient management regimes for northern grasslands.


The author addresses the problem of stabilizing an unstable time-invariant discrete-time linear system by means of state feedback when the measurements of the state are quantized. It is found that there is no finite-memory control strategy which stabilizes the system in the traditional sense of making all closed-loop trajectories tend asymptotically to zero. If the system is not excessively unstable, however, one can implement feedback strategies which bring closed-loop trajectories arbitrarily close to zero for an arbitrarily long time. If the system is too unstable to apply these control laws, it is found that when ordinary linear feedback of quantized state measurements is applied, the resulting closed-loop system exhibits qualitative behavior which is chaotic. When the state is one-dimensional, a quantitative statistical analysis of the resulting closed-loop dynamics reveals the existence of an invariant measure on the state space which is absolutely continuous with respect to Lebesgue measure and with respect to which the closed-loop system is ergodic.<<ETX>>


A novel method for 3D visualization with improved image quality and speed has been developed by closely combined use of image processing,ray casting and bounding box technology.The method applied space objects bounding box tracking algorithm to reduce the amount of light,and improved ray casting algorithm to speed up the rendering speed.Good performance speed and 3D display were achieved by a three-dimensional reconstruction experiment with real medical chest CT images,and the effectiveness of the improved lighting projection algorithm for rapid 3D visualization of the chest CT images was confirmed.


License plate detection is an important problem for surveillance systems and traffic applications. This work primarily focuses on feature extraction approaches for extracting candidate car plate regions. For this purpose, we start with restricting our feature extraction regions by use of a hierarchical edge detection method. Edge detection is based on discrete wavelet transform. Performances of Haar and Daubechies filters are compared on that basis. Three different methods are proposed for feature extraction: histogram feature, horizontal profiling on the edge map, and segment features followed by segmentation. The performance of each algorithm is presented by use of tests on ATS images.


In this study, lanthanum aluminosilicate glasses with compositions of 45SiO2–20Al2O3–12.5LaF3–10BaF2–9K2O–1Cr2O3–2.5Yb2O3 (SALBK) were prepared using the conventional melting method and copper–potassium ion exchange process. Influences of the ion exchange process between copper and potassium on the visible, upconversion, and near-infrared luminescence spectra of Cr3+/Yb3+ co-doped under excitations of 343, 490, and 980 nm LD were investigated. The EDS analysis of SALBK glasses was measured to confirm the presence of atoms in the glasses. The values of direct and indirect bandgaps of Cr3+/Yb3+ co-doped SALBK glasses were calculated and analyzed. Besides, the energy exchange processes between Cu+, Cu2+ ions, and Cr3+, Yb3+ ions were also proposed and discussed.


This paper deals with a dual energy source system composed of photovoltaic (PV) generator and storage elements (batteries). In this context, power converters are included to ensure the energy flow management and the permanent supply of the load. For this, a boost converter is associated to the PV generator in order to extract the maximum power, and a bidirectional DC-DC converter is connected to the element storage (batteries) to control the Direct Current (DC) bus. To ensure an alternative current supply and improve the power quality, a three-level Neutral Point Clamping (NPC) power inverter is introduced to the proposed energy system. Moreover, an inductance-capacitors (LC) filter is added also to the inverter to eliminate the high frequency harmonics. Intensive simulations are carried-out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the dual energy source system.


Abstract A high titer cold agglutinin was present in the serum of a patient with an IgA monoclonal protein. Cold agglutinin activity was confined to the IgA fraction of the separated proteins. The IgA cold antibody appears to have specificity within the Pr complex in that it reacts with adult I, adult i and cord i red cells equally strongly but none of these cells react when treated with papain and neuraminidase. Weak reactions were obtained with dog and rat cells, but only if the cells were not treated with papain or neuraminidase. Monkey, sheep, mouse, hamster, rabbit and guinea pig cells did not react. This pattern of reactions is different from any so far described and may indicate either a qualitative difference, suggesting a further antigen in the Pr complex, or a quantitive difference, suggesting that the Pr1 antigen is present in a weak form on the cells of some animals such as the rat and dog.


Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has become an implicit part of a lifestyle industry in the United States. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that at least 41% of the population in the US has used CAM at least once in their lives (WHO 2002). Globalization, an influx of various immigrant cultures, and growing wariness of western allopathic medicine have contributed to a growing CAM industry in the US (Brevoort 1996). CAM in the US consists of a hybrid eclectic mix of several cultural and traditional healing systems from around the globe. Large cities with immigrant populations, such as New York City and San Fransico, offer access to Botanicas and Asian medicine pharmacies. The mainstream population has, however, adopted only some parts of these forms of healing as part of their wellness lifestyle, for example, yoga as a form of exercise and acupuncture for some ailments. Herbal medication is also an aspect of the global healing cultures that has become commercially popular. Consumers are becoming increasingly curious about medicinal plants and often think that their consumption has only negligible side effects.


This article examines how manufacturers marketed and advertised television's uses and benefits to a professional audience of hospital administrators and nurses. The article draws on a variety of archival materials, including advertisements from medical trade journals such as Modern Hospital and the American Journal of Nursing and analyses of healthcare architecture. Extending substantial theoretical work on the relationship between technology and gendered labor forms, it demonstrates that television's entrance into the nondomestic, institutional context of the hospital was contingent upon received notions about nurses' labor and patient comfort. Recognizing the possibilities of television as a new communication medium, the most significant challenge involved the integration of television into the daily operation of the hospital. This article shows that assumptions about the nature of nursing labor influenced the design and implementation of television and its technologies (such as the remote-control, pillow-speaker, and nurse-call features).


The research purpose for this paper is adopt the European Customer Satisfaction Index(ECSI) on a survey performed on library users to measure users` satisfaction and loyalty factors. A questionnaire is designed to integrate measurement into the library`s management system for visual analysis of what users expect from library. Results from the survey show that users expect more improvement in the library environment and collection of printed publications section. Conclusion from the survey. we were able to make the following suggestions to satisfy user expectations: (1) improve library environment (2) increase collections of printed publications and periodical to meet readers` demands (3) offer more fiendly and helpful user service.


Radical species generated on a tube electrode are transported under known conditions of laminar flow from the electrode into the e.s.r. cavity immediately below the electrode; the use of laminar flow allows the solution of the convective diffusion equation describing the transport and hence the e.s.r. signal can be interpreted in terms of the flux of material at the electrode.


A 212 dimensional particle simulation code PLASIM (Plasma and Simulator) is developed with the purpose of studying the interaction of laser and plasma.The algorithm of the code is introduced.A main characteristics of the code is that it can simulate collision effects by adopting β-particle cloud.Another characteristics is that electrons and ions are both relativistic. So the computation results are more believable when incident laser is ultra-intense.


The first case of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) in humans occurred in December 2019 in China. COVID-19 has subsequently spread all over the world. To prevent further spread of this disease, a state of emergency was declared in Hokkaido, February 28th, 2020. This declaration means that the people must work together to avoid infection to themselves and others by implementing basic infection prevention measures, refraining from going out unnecessarily. The legal restrictions were not limited to hospital appointments. To determine the effect of these restrictions on pediatric health care, we investigated changes in pediatric health-care visits. This was a retrospective review of the activity in pediatric outpatient departments in Hokkaido, Japan. We invited possible cooperating institutions in Hokkaido; 17 institutions participated. No clinics were included. We included patients who presented for unscheduled pediatric outpatient visits from January 2020 to July 2020. A comparison of the number of unscheduled visits during this period was performed from January to July for each year from 2016 to 2019. The number of unscheduled outpatient visits in 2020 was corrected by weekday. The mean number of unscheduled outpatient visits from January to July from 2016 to 2019 and the standard deviation (SD) were calculated. A total of 17 institutions participated. Two institutions were excluded due to insufficient data, resulting in 15 institutions contributing data to the final results. There were no reports of complications or serious illness due to refraining from seeing a doctor. We investigated the number of beds, population of the area (including percentage of children), and the number of pediatric physicians to reveal a relevance to the degree of decrease (Table S1). It is difficult to generalize and compare the rate of decline because the scale of institutions, their specialties, and the characteristics of each area are different and the activity of pediatric practice is defined in a complex way. In 2020, the number of unscheduled outpatient visits decreased from March to July compared with the corresponding periods in the previous 4 years (Fig. S1). From March to July, 2020, all units experienced a decrease in unscheduled appointments below lower 2SD from 2016 to 2019, except Rumoi in the northern area in June (Table 1). This significant decrease in visits could have an effect on healthcare policy to support pediatric practices. We suggest that there were two reasons for the reduction in outpatient visits. First, people refrained from visiting hospitals. They were not able to assess which hospitals accepted SARS-CoV-2 patients, and might have avoided any hospital as a potentially risky place for exposure to the disease. The fear from COVID-19 pandemic resulted in delayed diagnosis and higher complication rates in common pediatric medical conditions. Second, the occurrence of other infectious diseases was reduced as the restrictions on normal daily activities curbed their spread. Preventive measures instituted for SARS-CoV-2 such as hand washing, wearing a mask, and avoiding close contact curbed the spread of any infectious disease; social distancing also reduced the spread of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus. The decrease in outpatient visits in January and February varied by regions. We believe that SARS-CoV2-related decrease in outpatient visits occurred since March because the state of emergency was declared on February 28, 2020; almost all regions showed a marked decrease from March. The results of this study may have an effect medical staffs and health policy-makers. An investigation of medical billing by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare found a 50% decrease in medical charges of pediatric departments from February 1 to May 31, 2020 compared with the corresponding periods in the previous 2 years. A decrease in the number of pediatric medical staff may result in scaling back the activities of the pediatric department or even closure of the pediatric clinic. Methods must be found to change the medical care system before collapse occurs. Health policymakers need to take countermeasures and economically support pediatric practices to avoid a collapse in the pediatric community health system. Correspondence: Tomohiro Wakabayashi, MD, Department of Pediatrics, Hakodate Municipal Hospital, 10-Ban 1-Gou 1-Chome Minato-chou Hakodate, Hokkaido, 041-8680, Japan. Email: email@example.com Received 26 September 2020; revised 10 April 2021; accepted 16 April 2021.


In the last twenty years, the evolution of X-Band AESA radars have been stimulated by several key technologies, but the emergence of MICs was the latest and major one. In the last thirty years, research programs have been launched to improve the technology of printed circuits in hyperfrequencies with gallium arsenide. The development of these new skills became a reality through operational programs which made it possible to equip fire control radars with active antennas. The fighter aircraft programs launched in the 90's, like the F-22, the Japanese F-2 and the JSF, are equipped with a radar incorporating an active antenna. At the beginning of 2000's, the United States upgraded their fighters, as the F-15, F-18 and F-16, with new radars with active antenna. Europe also did the same, though several years later, with the Rafale and the Eurofighter. Israel and Russia also propose their radars in international competitions in which the availability of an active antenna constitutes a major stake.


bstract: BMI of a person is a gauge of how healthy they are in relation to their weight. Numerous aspects, including physical health, mental health, and popularity, have been linked to BMI. Accurate height and weight, is frequently necessary for BMI calculations which would need labor-intensive measurement. BMI is a key indicator of diseases that can develop as a result of greater body fat levels and is related to cholesterol and body fat. Governments and businesses can employ large-scale automation of BMI calculation to analyze many facets of society and to make smart decisions. Prior works have only used geometric facial features, disregarding other information, or a data-driven deep learning strategy where the amount of data becomes a limiting factor. From health industry till the social media applications, there are many areas where BMI data is used. Human faces contain a number of cues that are able to be a subject of a study. Hence, face image is used to predict BMI. In this study, a deep network-based BMI predictor tool is designed and its performance is evaluated using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) and Regression.


Not only should management strategies established during organizational changes meet needs of operation and management at organizational layer, but they should also meet wishes and emotional needs of the new generation of employees. For the purpose of solving the above issue, management strategies suitable for the new generation of employees during organizational change, namely strategy of combination and optimization of work, strategy of reasonable incentive design, strategy of improvement in communication mechanism, strategy of career planning and strategy of reconstruction of organizational culture, are put forward in this paper based on reference to existing relevant results. On this basis, method for optimization of management strategies suitable for the new generation of employees is established through reference to a universal multi-layer risk decision-making model on the basis of overall judgment, and finally the specific operation process of the method described in this paper is demonstrated through an example of numerical simulation.


The endodermis maturation process was studied in the primary root of the cork oak (Quercus suber L.) with emphasis on the chemical nature of the cell wall and on the possible role of tannins. Tannins were found in endodermal and adjacent cortical cells in all maturation stages. We discuss our findings in relation to the previous literature in other woody and herbaceous species. The results of the histochemical tests showed differences in the aliphatic compounds of the suberin between the Casparian strip suberin and the suberin layer deposited in state II cells. Plasmodesmata were present in radial and tangential walls during the entire maturation process. The significance of plasmodesmata and of the suberin deposition pattern is discussed in relation to apoplastic and symplastic transport in roots. Key words: Casparian strip, endodermis, primary root, suberin, Quercus suber L.


Distribution: Mexico: States of Guerrero, Puebla, Colima, and Jalisco (Mooser, 1932; Brumpt, Mazzotti and Brumpt, 1939; Mazzotti, 1942). Hosts-Habitats: Neotoma, man, and dogs; also found on a rattlesnake in the Zoo in St. Louis, Missouri. Native houses in Mexico. Feeding time: These ticks feed readily on mice and guinea pigs. Larvae may engorge and detach voluntarily in less than 15 minutes or they may remain attached for several days before completing engorgement. Nymphs and adults completed engorgement in from 15 to 23 minutes. Molting: June 8 to 11, 1942 eighty-five larvae2 completed engorgement on a guinea pig. They were placed separately in shell vials, numbered serially, and accurate records made until all surviving ticks reached the adult stage. This requires individual feeding in all nymphal stages. The ticks were stored at room temperature in humidity jars containing a saturated solution of ammonium chloride. All larvae molted in 9 to 13 days; first nymphs in 8 to 11; second nymphs in 6 to 20; third nymphs in 7 to 14; fourth nymphs in 11 to 39; fifth nymphs in 12 to 48, and 3 sixth nymphs in 21 days. The spread in molting time was greatest in the fourth and fifth nymphal stages and perhaps more nearly approaches conditions in nature as these ticks detach easily when disturbed and the degree of engorgement influences molting time. Nymphal stages: As in several other species of Ornithodoros, the period of the greatest mortality was during the larval molt. In this series 18 ticks died at the time of the larval molt and three at the first nymphal molt. Sixty-four were reared to adults (37 Sc, 27 59). The first adult, a male, appeared 70 days following the larval feeding and the last, a female, at 160 days. Following the fourth nymphal molt there were 31 ce1 and 2 $?; at the fifth, 6 additional males and 22 females, and at the sixth, 3 females. Oviposition: Observations were made on 21 females, 12 of which were reared and 9 as received from Mexico. Data on the preoviposition period-time from the last engorgement to the appearance of the first egg-indicate a definite trend toward a resting period during the summer months. This is in marked contrast to certain northern species which show a similar period of inactivity during the winter months. As a rule, females that engorged in late autumn began egg-laying in a much shorter time than females engorged in the spring. Of 16 females engorged in November, 11 began oviposition in 15 days or less; the shortest interval was 7 days. On the other hand, 3 females engorged, respectively, in April, May, and July began to oviposit in November, November, and December. The periods were accurately observed in 36 instances; these varied from 7 to 233 days.


Purpose – Sal Island has been the object of strong tourism development in the last decades, to the point that Cape Verde is now the African country with the highest relative weight of tourism in employment and economy. This study aims at knowing: the perceptions of Sal residents towards the environmental, cultural, social and economic impacts of tourism activity; the opinion of the people regarding public information and participation; and possible divergences with the "official" discourse present in governmental strategic plans. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was carried out among a sample of residents and descriptive statistics, t-student and Pearson correlation were computed to study the existence of relations between the impacts and the demographic characteristics of the respondents (age, education, gender and years living in the area). The most relevant plans concerning tourism activity were object of content analysis. Findings – Negative social impacts and positive economic ones are well perceived by the residents, especially the improvement of women's situation. There is a lack of public participation in the decision-making processes. In general, the population supports tourism development, but there are wearing signs that ought to be taken into consideration by planners and decision makers. Originality/value – It is the first study about the perception of the resident population concerning the tourism development on Sal Island. The information may be relevant to planners and public policy makers to substantiate future decisions.


Introduction In this chapter, the concepts of entrepreneurship, the entrepreneural teacher and teacher entrepreneur are the focal issues that will be discussed in relation to the contexts of public and private school systems and national development. Ample examples and excerpts from relevant literature will be presented for maximum clarity. The Kauffman Report (2006) on the American entrepreneurship curriculum provides a very useful definition of the nature and goals of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education:


Read this Owner's Manual carefully to learn how to properly operate and service your Dragon X2 Mobile Furnace. This manual should be kept permanently with the unit and remain with the Dragon if you sell it. WARNING! Failure to comply with the instructions and precautions provided in this Owner's Manual can result in death, serious bodily injury, and/or property loss or damage from hazards of fire, explosion, burn, asphyxiation, carbon monoxide poisoning, and/or electrical shock.


Obesity is considered a disease of civilization representing a global health and social problem. Currently, 21% of adult Poles suffer from obesity, so every fifth patient contacted by a doctor is obese. Obesity is a chronic disease, associated with excessive accumulation of adipose tissue, which causes a deterioration in the health and quality of life of an obese patient. It also consequently leads to an increased risk of developing many diseases - including cardiovascular, metabolic and neoplastic diseases. Excessive body weight ranks sixth in importance as a risk factor responsible for the number of deaths worldwide. The mainstay of obesity treatment is lifestyle modification. It includes changing eating habits and increasing physical activity. However, due to the high prevalence of obesity in developed countries, its serious consequences and the unsatisfactory effect of weight loss in some patients with an appropriate diet, pharmacological methods of obesity treatment were searched for. Currently, there are three drugs approved for the treatment of obesity in Poland: orlistat, a combined preparation of naltrexone + bupropion and liraglutide – agonist of a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor. The effectiveness of one of them - liraglutide - is particularly significant, and the effect of this drug in reducing cardiovascular risk is also promising, which is extremely important in obese patients. For this reason, in the latest recommendations of the Polish Obesity Treatment Association, liraglutide is indicated as the drug of first choice for obese or overweight patients with a BMI ≥27 kg / m2, in whom coexisting: pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes, arterial hypertension, polycystic ovary syndrome, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, metabolic syndrome, atherosclerosis or sleep apnea syndrome. Due to the presence of GLP-1 receptors in many organs, the use of liraglutide in the future would probably extend to more diseases than obesity and type 2 diabetes.


Waterlogged disaster is one of the most serious natural disasters in Honghu region, while the study of the vulnerability in a special region plays an important role in defending and reducing disaster. This paper analyzed the factors of waterlogged disaster in Honghu region, and classified the land type in waterlogged region of Honghu region into 6 kinds, such as seasonal flood and waterlogged region of islet in a river, seasonal subsurface waterlogged region of high flat land by alluvium, seasonal subsurface waterlogged region of middle flat land, subsurface waterlogged region of low flat land, waterlogged region of flat land close to lakes, lake regions for retaining water, and weighed to each level of waterlogged region. Then, it constructed the vulnerability of waterlogged disaster system and mathematical model according to rainfall data and economic static data and exercised an overall assessment. The conclusion shows that the vulnerability of Honghu region is high, which distributes differently in every country and the ability of resisting disaster is relatively weak.


The centrality of the police in everyday life means police officers are in position of power to actively support or threaten democratic activities (Sklansky, 2008) for example during protests. In democracies, policing duties should be performed in ways that sustain democratic values, rather than undermine them (Loader, 2006), yet that is not always the reality. Police training is one of the tools for aligning officers' behaviour with societal norms; it is considered a protection against the possibility that police officers abuse the wide-ranging powers they hold (Manning, 2010). Training programs are therefore a basic feature of all police forces' organizational approach. Despite its centrality, training has not received extensive academic attention; there is a pressing need to understand the impact of training on police behaviour and the mechanisms thorough which it operates (Skogan & Frydl, 2004). This thesis attempts to advance the evidence-base of democratic police training following the Medical Research Council's framework for the development and evaluation of complex social interventions (Craig et al., 2008). The Israeli Border Police was chosen as the context to examine the potential of training to advance democratic norms. The three stages of the research project included: theoretical modelling of the existing complex training intervention to assess its alignment with existing evidence; participatory development and piloting of a training curriculum on policing of protests in a democracy that used an Adult Education approach and introduced Procedural Justice-related components; and a pilot quasi-randomised study to evaluate this training. Analysis and reporting are carried out in a way that allows assessment of prospective scale-up and generalisability. Flowing from the empirical work, four strands of theoretical contributions are put forward. First, a theoretical model of police training is proposed, drawing on social psychology constructs. Second, contact theory, which originates in peace education, is proposed as a possible platform for designing both police training and their evaluation studies. Third, four factors limiting the efficacy of Procedural Justice & Legitimacy based training interventions in deeply divided societies are outlined. Fourth, the Border Police case study is used to substantiate the value of participatory research methods for advancing knowledge translation and evidence-based policing.


While the authors model the preclinical duration of lung cancer and mortality rates, they use set overdiagnosis rates. This is peculiar, as a natural history model should be able to derive overdiagnosis through modeling the preclinical detectable phase of the disease and the mortality rates. Moreover, an overdiagnosis estimate ascertained from a clinical trial may not be applicable to a screening program on the population level. Overdiagnosis is subject to different aspects, such as the ages to screen and the population at risk.3 Finally, the authors claim to model an overdiagnosis rate of 18% by assuming overdiagnosis rates of 10% for the first screening and 4% for subsequent screens. However, consider 3 screenings, in which 1000 cancers are detected at the first screening, 600 at the second, and 400 at the third. If one applies the stated overdiagnosis rates, 140 cancers would be overdiagnosed out of 2000 screen-detected cancers: an overdiagnosis rate of 7%.


There is a growing interest to immobilize desired bacteria onto inexpensive materials as bacterial carriers. Bacterial carriers can find wide application, such as additive in order to improve the efficiency of wastewater treatment process. Usage of bacterial carriers in bioreactors can result in a higher cell density and based on this, smaller reactors, shorter retention time or higher flow rates can be employed. Immobilisation of microorganisms has been investigated using different synthetic and natural materials, such as alginate, ceramics and zeolitized tuff [1-7]. Natural zeolite has been shown as a promising material for the immobilisation of microorganisms due to its roughness, large surface area and high porosity.


Firewalls are now an integral part of network security and a variety of architectures have been developed. These architectures, however, are normally static and offer little opportunity to adapt to common attacks or to take account of past behaviour. To date, development in modifiable firewall configurations has been very limited. We propose an extension to the semantics of stateful packet filtering systems that would allow data to be recalled, used and shared amongst packet filtering rules and applications. This new concept of rule adaptation permits management beyond connection tracking, incorporating the overall system state as well as the effects of multiple connections.


The traditional opinion holds that Zhu Yuanzhang was of the Han nationality and the Ming Dynasty was a Han-ruled dynasty, while in 1990s some said he belonged to the Huis, whose evidences were not confirmed. In fact, we can see his identity from his religious belief, life and funeral customs; besides, his ideas and policies before and after the founding of his country all showed that he was of Han nationality.


Clusters with commodity multi-core processors and commodity networking technologies are providing cost-effective solutions for building next generation high-end systems including HPC clusters, servers, parallel file systems and multi-tier data-centers. The talk focus on two emerging networking technologies (InfiniBand and 10 GE/iWARP) and their associated protocols for designing such systems. In this talk, we critically examine the current and future trends of these technologies and their applicability for designing next generation petascale clusters. The talk start with the motivations behind these technologies and then focus on their architectural aspects and applicability to SAN, LAN and WAN-based clusters. Designing next generation clusters with high performance, scalability and RAS (reliability, availability and serviceability) capabilities by using these technologies will be examined. Current and future trends of InfiniBand and iWARP products was highlighted. The emerging OpenFabrics software stack, focusing both these technologies in an integrated manner, was presented. Finally, a set of case studies in designing various clusters with these networking technologies was presented to outline the associated opportunities and challenges.


The impact of age on voting behaviour and political outcomes has become an issue of increasing interest, particularly in the UK. Age divides in voter turnout and political preferences have led to claims that age is the 'new class.' In this article, we contrast existing 'cultural backlash' and political economy explanations of the age divide in politics, and challenge the view that older people are predominantly 'left behind', culturally or economically. We show that older people have distinct material interests, related to housing wealth and pensions' income, that are visible in their political preferences. We argue for the development of a new political economy of age.


Acknowledgements Chapter 1: The Foreign Policy of Germany Inc. Drang Nach Osten Trading State vs Civilian Power Germany as a Reemerging Power Germany as a Geo-Economic Power Adapting Ostpolitik to Globalization Chapter2 : Germans and Russians German Images of Russia Historical Context Contemporary German Public Opinion on Russia The Russian Image in the German Media Germans and Russian Democracy Chapter 3: Who makes Russia policy? The Political Parties and the Bundestag Inside the German Government German Business The Role of German Think Tanks, Political Foundations and Academia Chapter 4: Doing Business with Russia Inc. Dealing with the Devil: German Business in Russia The Costs of Corruption The Case of Siemens AG Gazprom in Germany The Gazprom German Team Implications of the Energy Revolution Chapter 5: Security and Geo-Economics The Geopolitics of Geo-economics Military Force: Nein Danke Defending Germany Inc. The Resource and Markets Imperative The Merkel Doctrine and Arms Exports Drones and German Security Cyber Security and Industrial Espionage Russia and German Security Chapter 6: Germany's Russlandpolitik: Implications for The United States, Poland and Europe Russia as the Centerpiece in the German-American Relationship The Legacy of 1989 in Germany and the United States German and American Publics and Russia Assymetrical Economic Stakes The German-American Strategic Debate Strategic Options for the United States Poland's Resets with Germany and Russia The Role of the European Union In the Wake of the Ukraine Crisis Chapter 7: Conclusions: Germany the Shaping Power Future Scenarios for German-Russian Relations Germany and the Geo-Economic World Germany as a Shaping Power Select Bibliography Index


The economic crisis in East Asia that started in Thailand in July 1997 was indeed a wake-up call for many of these 'Miracle Economies' in East Asia to realise that rapid economic development that is not followed by a more mature institutional infrastructure and economic management system can lead to a disaster. This recent economic crisis has given rise to at least two new thoughts on the ways in which a country develops its economy. One is that, despite the rapid economic growth experienced during the boom years, poverty can return quickly if the crisis results in the collapse of the real sector and the ensuing extensive unemployment. And the other is that problems of income inequality can no longer be ignored and relegated to the background of policy determination during the period of economic prosperity. We have seen in several crisis-hit countries that, in the past few years, poverty incidence fell because average income of the people increased through increased employment brought about mainly by economic growth. But, often, that economic growth came as a result of inappropriate and unsustainable economic activities associated with a bubble economy (such as speculative movements in the stock market and speculative investment in the real estate sector). When the bubble bursts, those economic activities die with it, causing a real reduction in income and welfare, and a real increase in poverty incidence. 1 On the second point, the economic prosperity during the bubble period had overshadowed the concern for economic inequality. ` No one cares if his or her income is lower than others around them as long as their own income kept on rising. But this growing income inequality could be the pretext under which the rich or the top income group were able to engage in inappropriate and unsustainable economic activities as mentioned earlier, which had brought about economic disaster and crisis later.


Studies of Hindu-Muslim clashes in India have been at the forefront of theorizing on the problem of ethnic riots. A longtime scholar of the country and author of two books on violence in India, Paul Brass is synonymous with the topic. Of late he has been joined by two U.S.-based political scientists, Ashutosh Varshney and Steven Wilkinson. Their works draw from a wealth of empirical data and address issues that resonate beyond India. At the same time, each brings a distinctiveness to bear on explanations for the perpetuation of Hindu-Muslim riots. These studies are distinguishable on a number of accounts — methodological, political, and substantive — but one axis of disagreement is especially revealing: which level of analysis best explains the why, how, when, and where of this type of collective violence. To be sure, Brass recognizes the importance of national factors, for he blames the Hindu right for the preponderance of coordinated anti-Muslim attacks for political gain. Yet, it is the specifics of how riots are "produced" in the dense neighborhoods of India's cities, particularly in the north, that most interests him. He proposes that over time a division of labor has materialized, with actors playing the roles he identifies as "rumor mongers," "fire tenders," and "conversion specialists." Meanwhile, spin doctors, journalists, and scholars struggle to control the discursive meanings of the riot after the killings have stopped. The displacing of blame for the bloodshed away from those most responsible — the Hindu right and the complicit police forces, in Brass's estimation — onto other such structural factors as poverty, demographics, or lack of civil society sets the stage for succeeding riots. Brass suggests Hindu-Muslim riots are primarily an urban phenomenon, but Varshney proves the point with the compilation of a comprehensive, fifty-year dataset of such incidents. For Varshney, the explanation for these episodes lies Critical Asian Studies 41:2 (2009), 329–349


This paper shares the findings from a study into issues related to attracting highly qualified specialists into the nation's agricultural sector.


Some high‐grade urothelial carcinomas (UCs) in urine cytology can have jet black, smooth, or glassy chromatin, but to the authors' knowledge, the incidence and criteria for diagnosis are not well described. The current study was performed to define the incidence and appearance of high‐grade UC in urine cytology in cytospin preparations with jet black and smooth or glassy chromatin.


PURPOSE
Various immune mediators are hypothesized to have important roles in the pathogenesis of vitreoretinal B-cell lymphoma, although the exact mechanisms remain unclear. We determined the immune mediator profile in the vitreous of eyes with vitreoretinal B-cell lymphoma.

METHODS
We studied 28 eyes (23 patients) with vitreoretinal B-cell lymphoma, and 27 eyes (27 patients) undergoing vitrectomy for macular hole and epiretinal membrane served as controls. Undiluted vitreous samples were collected, and cytometric bead array and ELISA were used to determine the vitreous concentrations of 38 immune mediators, including 14 interleukins (IL); interferon (IFN)-γ; oncostatin M (OSM); IFN-γ-inducible protein (IP)-10; monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1; macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-1α; MIP-1β, regulated on activation, normal T-cell expressed and secreted (RANTES); monokine induced by IFN-γ (Mig); stromal cell-derived factor (SDF)-1α; B-cell-attracting chemokine (BCA)-1; basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF); Fas ligand; granzyme A; and granzyme B.

RESULTS
Vitreous levels of BCA-1, bFGF, Fas ligand, granzyme A, granzyme B, IFN-γ, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IP-10, MCP-1, Mig, MIP-1α, MIP-1β, OSM, RANTES, and SDF-1α were significantly higher in vitreoretinal B-cell lymphoma patients than in controls. A moderate-to-strong positive correlation was observed between granzyme A and BCA-1, IFN-γ, or MIP-1β; between IFN-γ and Mig or SDF-1α; between IL-6 and IL-8, IL-10, IP-10, or MCP-1; between IL-8 and MCP-1, Mig, or MIP-1β; between IL-10 and MCP-1 or MIP-1α; between Mig and IP-10 or Mig; and between MIP-1α and MIP-1β.

CONCLUSIONS
Our study suggested that elevated vitreous levels of various immune mediators inducing growth, migration, and apoptosis of B-cell lymphoma are involved possibly in the pathophysiology of vitreoretinal B-cell lymphoma.


The objective of this study was to investigate the roles of Angiopoietin‐1 (Ang‐1), a selective endothelial cell (EC) agonist, during breast cancer extravasation. We report for the first time that Ang‐1 modulates extravasation of metastatic breast cancer. We quantified breast cancer extravasation using a trans EC migration assay, where MDA‐MB‐231 cells were plated on a HUVEC monolayer which was pretreated with VEGF, TNF(or solvent. To determine the influence of Ang‐1 on breast cancer extravasation, either cell type was infected with Ang‐1 adenoviruses. Over expression of Ang‐1 in MDA‐MB‐231 cells potently inhibited their extravasation, both in the absence and presence of VEGF or TNF((p(0.05 vs Ad‐Fc‐infected control), an effect possibly mediated through the posttranslational phosphorylation of the MAPK pathway in ECs. Overexpression of Ang‐1 in HUVECs resulted in a significant reduction of MDA‐MB‐231 extravasation in the presence of TNF(or solvent. Interestingly, in contrast to MDA‐MB‐231 cells‐overexpressing Ang‐1, HUVEC‐derived Ang‐1 potentiated VEGF‐induced extravasation (p(0.05). We conclude that Ang‐1, mainly acting in a paracrine manner, is a potent inhibitor of breast cancer extravasation and counteracts the metastatic effects of VEGF and TNF(. Overexpressing Ang‐1 in breast cancer, rather than in endothelial, cells could hence be therapeutically beneficial for breast cancer patients.


Many problems that were considered complex and unsolvable have started to
 solve and new technologies have emerged through to the development of GPU
 technology. Solutions have established for NP-Complete and NP-Hard problems
 with the acceleration of studies in the field of artificial intelligence,
 which are very interesting for both mathematicians and computer scientists.
 The most striking one among such problems is the Traveling Salesman Problem
 in recent years. This problem has solved by artificial intelligence?s
 metaheuristic algorithms such as Genetic algorithm and Ant Colony
 optimization. However, researchers are always looking for a better solution.
 In this study, it is aimed to design a low-cost and optimized algorithm for
 Traveling Salesman Problem by using GPU parallelization, Machine Learning,
 and Artificial Intelligence approaches. In this manner, the proposed algorithm consists of three stages; Cluster the points in the given dataset with
 K-means clustering, find the shortest path with Ant Colony in each of the
 clusters, and connect each cluster at the closest point to the other. These
 three stages were carried out by parallel programming. The most obvious
 difference of the study from those found in the literature is that it
 performs all calculations on the GPU by using Elitist Ant Colony
 Optimization. For the experimental results, examinations were carried out
 on a wide variety of datasets in TSPLIB and it was seen that the proposed
 parallel KMeans-Elitist Ant Colony approach increased the performance by 30%
 compared to its counterparts.


A new planetarium show about Dark Matter is entitled "Phantom of the Universe". Recently completed, it features the exciting story of dark matter, from galaxies to a deep underground experiment to the Large Hadron Collider. It is being distributed for free to planetariums worldwide.


Miracle of the Prophet of Islam, unlike the miracles of other Prophets was the book. This book was sent among people that were known for rhetoric. Rhetorical miracle is one of the miracles of this holy book. This immortals book with particular eloquence tries to explain the facts. Facts that are adorned in the beautiful forms that affects the spirit of the listeners. In this study among the variety of linguistic tropes and structures that should be considered in translation process, we have tried to analyze some aspects of the rhetorical structures. In this regard, some examples from the Quran are provided and with a contrastive linguistic approach in a comparing discussion, we survey translation problems.


In this paper, an event-triggered reinforcement learning-based met-hod is developed for model-based optimal synchronization control of multiple Euler-Lagrange systems (MELSs) under a directed graph. The strategy of event-triggered optimal control is deduced through the establishment of Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation and the triggering condition is then proposed. Event-triggered policy iteration (PI) algorithm is then borrowed from reinforcement learning algorithms to find the optimal solution. One neural network is used to represent the value function to find the analytical solution of the event-triggered HJB equation, weights of which are updated aperiodically. It is proved that both the synchronization error and the weight estimation error are uniformly ultimately bounded (UUB). The Zeno behavior is also excluded in this research. Finally, an example of multiple 2-DOF prototype manipulators is shown to validate the effectiveness of our method.


This study investigates the issue of strategic fit between Advanced Manufacturing Technologies (AMT) investments and Planning and Implementation Activities (PIA), and its impact on performance in Mexico and Costa Rica, with the purpose of gaining insights regarding operations strategy of companies in developing countries. Using survey data collected from 125 manufacturing firms in Mexico and Costa Rica, we examined AMT investments, PIA and performance. The analysis suggests the existence of a second-order factor, namely, 'strategic fit' that explains the alignment of AMT and PIA. The findings have important implications regarding the alignment between technology and infrastructural aspects for companies considering expanding their manufacturing capabilities into developing countries in Latin America.


To estimate the local thermal conductivity of uterine fibroid in vivo at a high temperature range (60–80°C) typically encountered in magnetic resonance imaging‐guided high‐intensity focused ultrasound (MRgHIFU) surgery. The thermal conductivity of uterine fibroids in vivo is unknown and knowledge about tissue thermal conductivity may aid in effective delivery of thermal energy for ablation.


The growth response of the first internode in epiphyllous buds of Bryophyllum tubiflorum to auxin (IAA), gibberellic acid (GA3), kinetin and four antimetabolites, namely, 5-fluorodeoxyuridine (5-FDU), 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), actinomycin D and chloramphenicol under different light conditions has been investigated. It was observed that continuous white light and red light inhibited internodal elongation and that the light-induced inhibition could be reversed by exogenous GA3. The IAA did not show any significant effect when used alone or in combination with GA3 or kinetin. Kinetin inhibited internodal elongation under all light conditions. The 5-FDU and actinomycin D strongly inhibited the elongation, but 5-FU and chloramphenicol did not affect it significantly. The inhibition caused by 5-FDU and actinomycin D could not be eliminated by GA3. It is concluded that the internodal elongation in these buds is under the control of an endogenous gibberellinlike substance(s), and exogenous IAA fails to produce any synergistic or additive effect with GA3. A continuous DNA or DNA-dependent RNA synthesis is necessary for the effectiveness of GA3.


Based on the theory of "vicious cycle of poverty" and "great development" as well as the Lewis-FeiJinghan-Lanis model,this paper provides a "flying" model and expounds the preconditions and approaches for the economic development of the poor minority areas,that is,a social overhead capital investment of 30%~40% to help form the development model of the accumulation of production capital.


The modernization of curriculum is the core of the reform of the further education curriculum for chinese primary and secondary school teachers. According to the present situation, the modernization of further education curriculum should include four sections: the modernization of curriculum's content, the scientificlization of the curriculum system, the humanism of the curriculum cultural background and the diversification of the curriculum's structure.


We often forget the fact that men's power is not men's power alone it is women too. Mostly women power is neglected and the development becomes one side and lop-sided. Here the development thinkers understand the significance of women empowerment as the basis of sustainable development of our nation. The term "Development" not only means economic development but also the upward movement of the entire social system. Micro finance is an effective method to cure the financial illness of rural people and gained concepts of self-reliance, self-sufficiency and self-help as its core. Common men understand microfinance as a system providing to very poor families with very small loans (microcredit) to help them engage in productive activities or grow their tiny businesses. But, microfinance has come to include a broader range of services like credit, savings, insurance, etc. Microfinance clients are poor and vulnerable non-poor who have a relatively stable source of income. The main problems faced by Indian women entrepreneurs are lack of adequate finances, technical knowhow, non-availability of new material, inadequate marketing facilities, lack of technical and managerial skills etc. In this study the researcher focuses to the development of women in rural area and how micro finance and micro credits helped to it. An investigation for getting the required data, the researcher takes the aspects like social and economic status of women, decision making capacity of women, the problems, challenges and suggestions for the better functioning of the micro finance programme. Rural women are facing a lot of social as well as economic problems like lack of sufficient income and adequate standard of living. For the upliftment of rural poor especially rural women government and many NGO's developed special programmes. Functioning of Sandhya Development Society in central Kerala in this area is noteworthy. Sandhya Development Society's microfinance division VICIB is very much active in the development of rural population especially rural women. In a district like Idukki VICIB plays an important role in the overall development of rural women. This study helps us in understanding the role of VICIB in making rural women financially independent and self-reliant.


The invention relates to an electrical fault diagnosis method of an electric machine such as an asynchronous motor, characterized in that it comprises the following steps of: • determining a frequency spectrum of an acoustic signal emitted by an electric machine in operation (34), • check for any predefined characteristic frequencies of an electrical fault (36) • an electrical fault signal (step 40) if at least one predefined frequency characteristic of an electrical fault is detected. The invention also relates to a computer program product adapted for implementing a method as described above. Finally, the invention relates to a diagnostic device comprising computer means adapted to implement a method as described above. Application to the preventive maintenance of electrical machines.


Background: The use of different bioactive materials as coating on dental implant to restore tooth function is a growing trend in modern Dentistry. In the present study, hydroxyapatite and the bioactive glass-coated implants were evaluated for their behavior in osseous tissue following implantation in 14 patients. Materials and Methods: Bioactive glass and hydroxyapatite formulated and prepared for coating on Ti-6Al-4V alloy. Hydroxyapatite coating was applied on the implant surface by air plasma spray technique and bioactive glass coating was applied by vitreous enameling technique. Their outcome was assessed after 6 months in vivo study in human. Results: Hydroxyapatite and bioactive glass coating materials were nontoxic and biocompatible. Uneventful healing was observed with both types of implants. Conclusion: The results showed bioactive glass is a good alternative coating material for dental implant.


Abstract Lecania poeltii v.d. Boom, Alonso & Egea sp. nov. is described from Portugal and northern Africa. The species is characterized by its inconspicuous hairs on thallus and apothecia, in which it differs from the other known species of the genus.


Streptozotocin (STZ) is a broad‐spectrum antibiotic that is toxic to the insulin‐producing beta cells of the pancreatic islets. STZ is currently used clinically for the treatment of metastatic islet cell carcinoma of the pancreas and the induction of diabetes mellitus (DM) in rodents. So far, there has been no previous research to show that STZ injection in rodents causes insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The purpose of this study was to determine if rats (Sprague–Dawley) developed type 2 diabetes mellitus (insulin resistance) after 72 h of intraperitoneal administration of 50 mg/kg STZ. Rats with fasting blood glucose levels above 11.0 mM, 72 h post‐STZ induction, were used. The body weight and plasma glucose levels were measured every week throughout the 60‐day treatment period. The plasma, liver, kidney, pancreas, and smooth muscle cells were harvested for antioxidant, biochemical analysis, histology, and gene expression studies. The results revealed that STZ was able to destroy the pancreatic insulin‐producing beta cell, as evidenced by an increase in plasma glucose level, insulin resistance, and oxidative stress. Biochemical investigation indicates that STZ can generate diabetes complications through hepatocellular damage, elevated HbA1c, kidney damage, hyperlipidemia, cardiovascular damage, and impairment of the insulin‐signaling pathway.


We study the ballistic transmission and the contact resistance (Rc) of a graphite–graphene contact in a top contact geometry from first principles. We find that the calculated Rc's depend on the amount of graphene–graphite overlap, but quickly saturate for transfer lengths of the order of a few tens of Å. For contacts overlapping more than this transfer length, the Rc can be lower than the 100 mark. On the other hand, edge graphite–graphene contacts are expected to have very low contact resistance.


Patients with acute myocardial infarction complicated by cardiogenic shock should be transferred rapidly to a unit capable of undertaking early angiography and revascularisation procedures.


On the basis of measuring PVA's weight loss and the change of dissolution rate of PVA size in water after plasma treatment at atmospheric pressure,a comparison of desizing between the plasma treatment and the traditional H_2O_2 method was made.XPS and FT-IR analyses of PVA films showed that plasma action led to some PVA molecules oxidized into some molecules such as CO_2,H_2O which disappeared in the air and the other part of PVA was oxidized and degraded to ones with shorter chains,thus increasing the swelling and dissolving properties of PVA size.


Background : As you know, high BMI values often lead to type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, it is not clear what factors directly contribute to this transformation of one pathology into another, because many people with high BMI do not develop diabetes. In this regard, it is interesting to consider this pathology from the point of view of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) based on the results of assessing the bioenergetics of such patients using the Akabane test. Methods / Design : In total, the Akabane test and BMI assessment was performed by 338 subjects of whom there were 139 men and 198 women who did not have any pronounced pathologies. The average age of thе participants was 43.52 + _13.26 years old. For comparison, a second group of 475 patients (men -160, women-315) of the same age with a verified diagnosis of T2D was taken, who also underwent this test. Results : The methods of correlation and regression analysis of the relationship of BMI with certain acupuncture channels (AC) were analyzed, as well as the features of the test profiles depending on the age and BMI values. It was found that the most informative in assessing high BMI values is the ratio of the right and left branches of the AC and the degree of symmetry breaking in them. A comparative analysis of different values of BMI and tests in 2 groups of subjects revealed those AC separately in men and women, whose changes against the background of BMI growth lead to the formation of T2D. The mechanisms and boundaries of transitions for such a transformation are identified. Conclusion : the capabilities of this test are shown for effective individual monitoring of BMI at the level of certain organs and body systems. This monitoring system, based on new physical principles, is especially useful for tracking the effect of various treatments, supplements and lifestyle factors on specific metabolic processes in the body. of The Akabane Test to Monitor Excess Body Mass Index and Control Its Transformation into Type 2 Diabetes. Biomed J Sci & Tech


The dependence of the elution volume Ve on the concentration of injected polymer c in gel chromatography is presented for several systems including poly(styrene) and poly(methyl methacrylate) in a number of pure solvents with SiO2-based gels. The linear dependence of Ve on c and Kav on c (where Kav is the distribution coefficient) is confirmed in the region of very low concentration. The slopes k of the straight lines increase with increasing relative molecular masses M of the polymer injected and with increasing thermodynamic nonideality of the system (as expressed by the second virial coefficient A2). The significance of the slope of the GPC calibration curve for meaningful comparison of the concentration effects in various chromatographic systems is pointed out. A recently found correlation between k and (A2M)γ is confirmed with a γ value of about 0.8. A possible theoretical explanation for the deviation of γ from unity is discussed. Finally, the influence of both the polymer concentration and the thermodynamic quality of the eluent on the resolution index of the chromatographic system is evaluated with the conclusion that thermodynamically poor solvents should be preferred for preparative GPC separations with very high loads.


Drop load method was employed to measure the fatigue crack propagation threshold of 2124 alloy under TL orientation stress ratio R=0.1,0.3,0.5,0.7.The C1 and n1 value in the equation da/dN=C1ΔKn1 can be obtained using linear fitting.Bringing C1 and n1 value into the crack propagation rate expression of da/dN-ΔK,and taking ΔK value at the crack propagation rate(da/dN)=10-7 mm/cycle as the fatigue crack propagation threshold ΔKth,the influence of stress ratio on the crack propagation threshold was analyzed.


Ascertain prestress is one of key technology in the manufacture of prestressed heat exchanger.In this paper,combining presently method of manufacture,a new manufacture approach to prestressed heat exchanger is put forward.And based on simulation model of COMOSWORKS,finite element analysis approach to prestress is build up.The working principle of prestressed heat exchanger,feasibility of finite element analysis and an example of analysis are also presented in detail in the paper.


Introduction: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignant disease affecting women around the world. Clinically, the most important BC susceptibility genes are BRCA1 and BRCA2. The objective of our study was to establish the frequencies of 8 mutations in the BRCA1 genes (185delAG, 4153delA, 5382insC, 3819delGTAAA, 3875delGTCT, 300T> G (Cys61Gly), 2080delA mutations) and BRCA2 (6174delT mutation) in patients with BC in the Aktobe region of Western Kazakhstan. Materials and research methods: This study involved 300 women with a confirmed diagnosis of BC, who were observed at the Medical Center of the West Kazakhstan Medical University named after Marat Ospanov in the period 2018-2019. Prior to sampling the material (peripheral whole blood), patients received informed consent to conduct the study. Genotyping was carried out by real-time PCR using the Oncogenetics BRCA kit (NPO DNA Technology) according to the manufacturer's instructions. Results: A total of 300 patients were identified 3 cases. Patient No. 1, 31 years old, Asian race (kazakh), a mutation in the BRCA1 5382insC gene was detected, the hereditary history was burdened. Given the patient's mutation (5382incS), a family history (father died of lung cancer, sibling died of ovarian cancer), work was done on genetic counseling for relatives (mother, brother, sisters and their adult children). Based on the analysis, we revealed a similar mutation of 5382incS in a sibling (42 years old) and his own daughter (17 years old), a second sibling (37 years old). Patient No. 2, 68 years old, Caucasian race, a mutation in the BRCA1 300T> G gene (Cys61Gly) was detected, the hereditary history is not burdened. Patient No. 3, 59 years old, Caucasian race, burdened by heredity. Also, given the patient's mutation (5382incS), a family history (mother and grandmother died of BC), a study was conducted (daughters). According to the result of the analysis, we revealed a similar mutation of 5382incS in the daughter. Thus, the case presented shows the need for a large-scale, in-depth study of this population for further personification of treatment and prophylactic examination of patient families.


We read the interesting paper recently published by Wilhelm et al [1]. Measured blood concentrations of ciclosporin (CsA) reported in Figure 2 seem very high with regards to the daily dose administered. This could be due to the method of blood sampling in some patients. Indeed, the authors mentioned that blood was collected from a peripheral venous cannula or a central venous line. Discarding the first 5 ml seems not to be sufficient to obtain non‐biased CsA measurements from a central venous catheter. Hence, there have been several reports of falsely high CsA concentrations due to the absorption of CsA in the material (PVC, polyurethane or other) of the central venous catheter wall, after the catheter was used for CsA administration [2–4]. Desorption of CsA from catheters and lines may last a long time and CsA can be released several weeks after intravenous administration is stopped [5]. In our experience, patients receiving oral CsA can present with spoiled CsA concentrations even if the catheter receives a lot of others infusions after CsA. In theses conditions, blood concentrations used in the study of Wilheim et al. would not allow the accurate determination of pharmacokinetic parameters values. The authors justify the high AUC values obtained in their study compared with previous published data with the inhibition of the CsA metabolism by fluconazole, used for prophylaxis of fungal infections. Fluconazole was given at 50 mg day−1. As fluconazole is not the most potent inhibitor among azole antifungals and furthermore, because CYP3A4 inhibition by azole antifungals is concentration‐dependent [6,7], this dosage regimen may not to lead to a significant increase in CsA blood concentrations.

The site of blood sampling for CsA measurement in haematopoietic stem cell patients should be carefully selected to avoid false results. This is valuable for studies on CsA administered intravenously, and also orally, as these patients often receive intravenous CsA before being able to swallow capsules.

All authors have completed the Unified Competing Interest form at http://www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf (available on request from the corresponding author) and declare no support from any organization for the submitted work, no financial relationships with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous 3 years and no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.


This research attempts to illustrate Chinese medical services industry developments and explore investment risks in China's health services sector. After reviewing existing literature and conducting in-depth interviews with experienced foreign investors of hospital's managers, the present study analyzes and categorizes risks as follows: policy risk, insufficient information and lack of transparency, law risk, organization system risk, and management risk of joint-venture hospitals and clinics. Additionally, this study outlines some of the main barriers inhibiting trade in health services. Research results recommend that foreign investors interested in the Chinese health services market should understand the regulations for limiting the competition to a degree incommensurate with local Chinese hospitals. Finally, the study discusses implications of these findings for foreign investors, China's medical services industry, and future research


Kinetics of H-spillover over was greatly affected by the amount of residual chlorine differing by calcination temperature. Multifacetted techniques for characterization were dedicated to elucidate the faster reduction of chlorine in the isothermal reduction (ITR) at after calcination. Reduction of residual chlorine over Platinum resulted in opening the more channel of hydrogen pathway into more particles and controlling the kinetics of hydrogen uptake.


Molecular crystals consist of an array of periodically arranged molecules in a three-dimensional space. Although nowadays we can routinely obtain crystal structures at the atomic level, the picture...


Total ion current chromatograms (TICCs) generated by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) are prone to noise from chemical and electronic sources. This noise can severely impact the dete...


Despite several previous studies, little progress has been made in build- ing successful neural systems for image segmentation in digital hardware. Spiking neural networks offer an opportunity to develop models of visual perception with- out any complex structure based on multiple neural maps. Such models use ele- mentary asynchronous computations that have motivated several implementations on analog devices, whereas digital implementations appear as quite unable to han- dle large spiking neural networks, for lack of density. In this work, we consider a model of integrate-and-fire neurons organized according to the standard LEGION architecture to segment grey-level images. Taking advantage of the local and dis- tributed structure of the model, a massively distributed implementation on FPGA using pipelined serial computations is developed. Results show that digital and flexible solutions may efficiently handle large networks of spiking neurons.


Photoredox-catalyzed addition of the difluoromethylradical to unactivated alkenes has been found to trigger neophyl-like aryl and heteroaryl migrations which allowed the construction of a diverse series of difluoromethyl ketones. The reaction featured mild reaction conditions and broad substrate scope.


Biofuels are commonly stored in large stacks that may heat up and self‐ignite from microbiological and chemical heat production. This paper shows how isothermal (heat conduction) calorimetry can be used to measure heat production rates of biofuels at relatively low temperatures close to where self‐heating starts to become a problem. Measurements can be made to assess how the reaction rate is a function of such factors as temperature, extent of reaction, oxygen pressure, water content and the presence of catalytic compounds. In the present paper, measurements on pellets made of wood and bark are presented together with an analysis of how the reaction rate of the bark pellets depends on the oxygen pressure. It is also shown that 1% iron or copper ions increased the reaction rate of wood pellets by a factor of three. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The data are the anonymised results of a survey of UK and overseas HE professionals working in the area of supporting bibliometrics. The questionnaire text is also available to download. The questionnaire's main purpose was to identify the tasks support professionals carry out and build a competency model, differentiating entry level, core and specialist tasks. The work was commissioned by lis-bibliometrics and Elsevier. The results of the study are to be published in the Journal of Library and Information Studies.


Direct wheel drives in electric vehicles are advantageous because the gearbox, mechanical transmission and differential can be eliminated. Two opportunities then arise: (i) mount the drive motor in the road wheel of the vehicle; or (ii) mount the drive motor inboard on the vehicle chassis. The major drawback associated with (i) is the resultant increase in the unsprung mass of the vehicle, whilst the second option introduces a degree of complexity in the mechanical coupling to the road wheel. However the difficulties associated with (i) can be overcome by using a double-sided axial field machine with a central rotor. The stators of the machine can be attached to the chassis of the car whilst the rotor directly drives the road wheel. Perturbation of the rotor while the vehicle is moving will however cause torque fluctuations in the machine. This paper shows that these torque pulsations can be eliminated by the modulation of the input motor current using a signal obtained from the identification of the flux.


We revisit the cold-start task for new users of a recommender system whereby a new user is asked to rate a few items with the aim of discovering the user's preferences. This is a combinatorial stochastic learning task, and so difficult in general. In this paper we propose using Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) to dynamically select the sequence of items presented to a new user. We find that this new MCTS-based cold-start approach is able to consistently quickly identify the preferences of a user with significantly higher accuracy than with either a decision-tree or a state of the art bandit-based approach without incurring higher regret i.e the learning performance is fundamentally superior to that of the state of the art. This boost in recommender accuracy is achieved in a computationally lightweight fashion.


The infraed safety protection system is applied to prevent the employees from injured when machine works.Chip 4068 can control the output of the working memory state of self-locking relay,control machine tool operation and the alarm speaker.Infrared light curtains of infrared sensors may surround the machine,by which the working status of machine tools is controlled.If the infrared light screen is sheltered,the machine will automatically stop and alarm at the same time.The application of infrared machine safety protection system can effectively protect life of employees


Summary A comparative study was carried out on fibre length and microfibril angle in Betula pendula Roth. Fibre length increased and microfibril angle decreased from pith to bark. Microfibril angle remained constant from the 15th annual ring from the pith, to the outermost ring. Fibre length also reached a maximum length at this point although there were some differences at the 30th ring from the pith.


Provided is a multi-layered transmission technique in which a signal indicating that a transmitted data packet has been correctly received by the receiver is provided from one communication layer to another. Based on that signal, the second layer releases the corresponding data from its retransmission buffer. As result, storage requirements for data waiting to be retransmitted, if necessary, often can be significantly reduced.


Power and influence in the democratic process is a controversial area. In an effort to contributeto this is the purpose of this study is to investigate the influence that public officials have in t ...


The aim of this paper was to investigate the impacts of work overload, work-family conflict, familywork conflict and negative affectivity on job emotional exhaustion job embeddedness among medical specialists. Study further investigated the moderating role of coworker support. The study assessed the previously stated connections using simple, multiple and moderating regression. For the analysis of the study a total of 250 specialists were chosen from different hospitals in Pakistan. Results demonstrated substantial influences of work overload, work family-conflict, family-work conflict and negative affectivity towards job embeddedness and emotional exhaustion. Support of coworker moderates relationships of negative affectivity, work overload, work-family conflict and family-work conflict on emotional exhaustion. Notably, employees who have intense workloads and Original Research Article Qaiser et al.; JSRR, 7(1): 75-85, 2015; Article no.JSRR.2015.189 76 not able to make a harmony between work (family) and family (work) parts are candidly depleted. Such employees thus are less installed in their occupations and showcase poor execution in the service delivery process.


The Traditional Long Novels were known to people as works that related to women when they were mostly found out at 'Jangseogak' of Changdug palace in 1966. These works, were read and copied by women, were recognized that it reflects on women life in its contents. However, thereafter this subject has been studied in honest, being of women gradually alienated. The earlier researchers insist that the Traditional Long Novels were written by the poor rural 'Sunbi' or 'Yangban Sadaebu'. Following the works, the Theory of a Family Novel was suggested by another researchers. But they had no interests in watching women's role. So recently a group of young researcher was paying attention to women and raised that the Traditional Long Novels concern women not only inside of article but also outside of article. They remind people that women, both writters and readers, mainly enjoyed the Traditional Long Novels. The researchers insist that ideas and life of women lived in the later period of Joseon Dynasty were expressed in the contents of the book. Accordingly the roles of women should be recognized and also considered that in analyzing articles in the History of Traditional Long Novel.


Radial alignments between pairs of spacecraft is the only way to observationally investigate the turbulent evolution of the solar wind as it expands throughout interplanetary space. On September 2020 Parker Solar Probe (PSP) and Solar Orbiter (SolO) were nearly perfectly radially aligned, with PSP orbiting around its perihelion at 0.1 au (and crossing the nominal Alfvén point) and SolO at 1 au. PSP/SolO joint observations of the same solar wind plasma allow the extraordinary and unprecedented opportunity to study how the turbulence properties of the solar wind evolve in the inner heliosphere over the wide distance of 0.9 au. The radial evolution of (i) the MHD properties (such as radial dependence of low- and high-frequency breaks, compressibility, Alfvénic content of the fluctuations), (ii) the polarization status, (iii) the presence of wave modes at kinetic scale as well as their distribution in the plasma instability-temperature anisotropy plane are just few instances of what can be addressed. Of furthest interest is the study of whether and how the cascade transfer and dissipation rates evolve with the solar distance, since this has great impact on the fundamental plasma physical processes related to the heating of the solar wind. In this talk I will present some of the results obtained by exploiting the PSP/SolO alignment data.


The present invention is a carbon nanotube, metal powder, aqueous dispersion of polyurethane di Spurgeon, solvent, and rheology relates to an electromagnetic wave shielding compositions using carbon nanotubes including a Lodge adjusting agent, a conductive composition of the present invention is inexpensive and electrically conductive even at a low film thickness when forming a thin film conductivity, adhesiveness, and shielding effectiveness is excellent, because it provides a stable significant advantages in heat and salt water as well as interference from the circuit to the internal cross-electromagnetic interference in various types of electronic devices effectively the electromagnetic wave emitted to the outside to be blocked. The electromagnetic wave shielding, carbon nanotubes, conductive, anti-static, water dispersed polyurethane di Spurgeon, solvents, rheology control agents


We prove that each analytic self-map of the open unit disk which interpolates between certain -tuples must have a fixed point.


This study sets out to explore the general principles of structural moves in Chinese sales letters by using a combined approach of genre analysis (Swales, 1990) and contrastive rhetoric (Kaplan, 1966). Data consisting of twenty authentic letters are analyzed in two Steps: (l) a description of structural moves in a twenty-ietter corpus; and (2) a detailed structural analysis of the most successful letter in the corpus identified by native Speakers. The analysis willfocus on the general structure and development of each individual move in the letter. Both ofthese levels of analysis try to determine which style Chinese sales letters follow. Thefindings show that all sales letters in the corpus follow a linear development and that most sales letters follow a direct approach and speak to the point, although some are indirect, providing introductory or transitional sections. This indirectness is basically linear in structural development and is not related to 'circularity'


Human auditory localization performance in the free‐field, over headphones via a simulator and over headphones via a real‐time, head coupled, digital auditory localization cue synthesizer will be described in the presentation. In the headphone conditions, the head position is monitored to update the sound source position relative to the listener's orientation. The synthesizer presents sounds over headphones that are perceived to be outside of the listener's head in the horizontal plane. The performance experiments were designed using a within subject, repeated measure study. The stimuli used were wideband pink noise, male speech bandlimited to 3.5 kHz, female speech bandlimited to 6 kHz and octave band noise from 125 Hz to 8 kHz. The mean magnitude error and mean response time were measured at 72 random points for each stimulus. Five male and five female subjects participated. A 4.8‐deg mean magnitude error and a 4.4‐s mean response time were collected with the synthesizer.


In this paper we prove a complete panel of consistency results for the discrete de Rham (DDR) complex introduced in the companion paper [D. A. Di Pietro and J. Droniou, An arbitrary-order discrete de Rham complex on polyhedral meshes. Part I: Exactness and Poincar\'e inequalities, 2021, submitted], including primal and adjoint consistency for the discrete vector calculus operators, and consistency of the corresponding potentials. The theoretical results are showcased by performing a full convergence analysis for a DDR approximation of a magnetostatics model. Numerical results on three-dimensional polyhedral meshes complete the exposition.


A pit membrane was observed with a cryo‐SEM during the course of dehydration at low temperatures. The freeze‐drying process of sea‐urchin eggs and parenchyma cells of higher plants was also examined with this microscope. Conditions for observation of frozen specimens in the native state were discussed on the basis of morphological studies of alterations such as shrinkage or deformation which appeared during the freeze‐drying process.


A numerical simulation of the laminar flow of an incompressible fluid in a driven radial polar cavity is presented. The computation uses a pressure-based finite volume method for solution of Navier Stokes equations in boundary-fitted curvilinear coordinates. The flow solution algorithm RANS2D has been developed at the CTFD Division, NAL during the last ten years for time accurate calculation of general two-dimensional incompressible turbulent flow in complex configuration. Numerical computation has been carried out using different grid resolution and different convectiveflux discretisation schemes at two different flowReynolds number based on the uniform tangential velocity of the driven inner wall of the polar cavity. The grid-independent computation results for circumferential and radial velocity distribution and the computed particle traces are validated against LDA measurement of velocity field and flow visualization studies on driven polar cavity, reported in unclassified literature.


Multistage, e-beam-pumped, 100 J-class KrF laser installation GARPUN is described with the emphases to high-power laser beam control and target irradiation experiments. The ablation pressures in the megabar range were measured and hydrodynamic flow was investigated both experimentally and by numerical simulations for laser intensities up to 5×10 12 W/cm 2 , pulse duration of 100 ns, and focal spot diameter 150 μm. Graphite-diamond phase transformation under laser loading was observed by dynamic and Raman scattering methods. Some approaches to the fast ignition inertial confinement fusion, using the simultaneous amplification of long and short laser pulses in KrF drivers, are considered.


At a time when student debts are becoming a source of international concern, particularly in OECD countries, this discussion paper examines the costings of the HELP Education Loan program by Australia's Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO). It considers the projected ten-fold increase in the underlying cash balance of the HELP loan over the next decade, with the impacts of interest-rate changes and default risks, as calculated by the PBO. The paper considers lessons for policy costing for other PBOs worldwide as well.


Objective We intended to observe the changes of augmentation index(AIx) of central artery and its influence factors in healthy military pilots,to provide reference for pilot recruitment,and to present references for prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases in active pilots.Methods Using Sphygmocor,the central artery systolic blood pressure(cSBP) and AIx were quantitatively detected in 58 active pilots who were hospitalized or took physical examination for pilot transition.Forty-nine healthy male subjects who were hospitalized for physical examination were randomly selected as control group.There were no differences between two groups regarding age and blood pressure.They had no history of cardiovascular diseases,and had no positive signs during physical examination,and had no abnormal results regarding ECG,chest x-ray,hepatic function,kidney function and biochemistry panel.Results Between the two groups,there were no statistically significant differences regarding clinical data and biochemistry index(P0.05).With regard to AIx value,it was lower in healthy pilot group than that in control group(P0.05).Correlation analysis revealed that AIx was positively correlated with age(pilot group,r=0.367,P0.05).The multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that age,cSBP,systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure were main influencial factors of AIx in healthy pilots.Conclusions In healthy pilots,the AIx value was lower than that in healthy subjects,but it was influenced by age,cSBP,systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure.The AIx value could provided theory references for pilot recruitment and prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases in pilots.


Investigation was carried out with 24 male Large White weanling pigs of 8-9 weeks of age averaging 6.94±0.26 kg to study the haematotoxicity of dietary fumonisin B 1 (FB 1 ) in pigs. The animals were randomly assigned to four treatment diets containing approximately 0.2 (control), 5.0 (diet 1), 10.0 (diet 2) and 15.0 ppm (diet 3) FB 1 in a 6-month feeding trial.  Blood sample was collected from the ear vein of each animal at the end of the feeding trial for haematological analyses.  Dietary FB 1 had significant influence on haematological parameters.  Animals fed diets 2 and 3 suffered significantly (p<0.05) reduced erythrogenesis and concentration of red blood cells, resulting in anaemia, with impaired respiratory capacity.  The animals exposed to diet 3 (containing the highest FB 1 concentration) suffered leukocytosis.  Dietary FB 1 concentration above 5.0 ppm is haematotoxic in pigs. The study suggests that the USFDA recommended maximum level of 10 ppm total fumonisins is above the no observable effect level (NOEL) for swine.


Study Design. Retrospective follow-up study with two cohorts: one treated with reduction and the other with fusion in situ. Objective. To assess the long-term effects of reduction versus fusion in situ on lumbar spine in children and adolescents with severe L5 isthmic spondylolisthesis. Summary of Background Data. Severe isthmic spondylolisthesis is commonly treated with fusion in situ, but modern surgical techniques and instrumentation permit the reduction of a severely slipped fifth lumbar vertebra. Advocates of one or another of these procedures present different claims to defend their choice. However, to our knowledge, no long-term results of the reduction maneuver exist. Methods. Between 1983 and 1991, 22 adolescents with severe (more than 60%) slip were treated surgically. In 11 of them, reduction was performed with a Magerl/Dick transpedicular device, followed by fusion posteriorly from L4 or L5 to S1 and anteriorly from L5 to S1. In the others, fusion was performed in situ posteriorly from L4 (n = 7) or L5 (n = 4) to S1 and anteriorly from L5 to S1. The average age of patients at surgery was 14.7 years (range 10.7–18.5). Radiographs obtained before surgery, after surgery, and at the final follow-up evaluation were assessed for quality of fusion. In addition, magnetic resonance imaging was obtained at the last follow-up visit. Average follow-up time was 14.8 years (range 11.6–18.7). Physical examination, spinal mobility, and nondynamometric trunk strength measurements were used to assess, and Oswestry Disability Index and Scoliosis Research Society scores were used to calculate outcome at the last follow-up visit. Results. In the reduction group, mean Oswestry Disability Index was 7.2 (range 0–20) and in the fusion in situ group, was 1.6 (range 0–4) (P = 0.0096). The Scoliosis Research Society total score averaged 90.0 (range 39–107) in the reduction group and 103.9 (range 93–120) in the fusion in situ group (P = 0.046). At the last follow-up evaluation, mean vertebral slip had decreased from the preoperative value of 90% to 57% in the reduction group but remained the same (80% vs. 78%) in the fusion in situ group (P = 0.04 and 0.013, respectively, for preoperative and postoperative comparison). On magnetic resonance imaging, disc degeneration above the fusion was more common in the reduction group (P = 0.004). None of the patients had spinal stenosis above the fusion. Nerve root canal impingement at the L5–S1 level was more common in the fusion in situ group (P = 0.03), but all patients were free of L5 nerve root symptoms. There was no difference in spinal mobility or trunk strength measurements between the groups. Conclusions. The fusion in situ group seems to perform better in almost all clinical parameters measured. These findings suggest that fusion in situ should be considered as a method of choice in severe L5 isthmic spondylolisthesis.


Due to the suburbanisation process, it is becoming more difficult to properly define rural and urban areas in the Czech Republic. This delimitation problem has been intensively studied in Europe, including the Czech Republic, for decades, but only so-called 'crisp' rules have been set for the categorisation of urban and rural. This is no longer satisfactory because of substantial population movements. Our research focuses on applying fuzzy set theory to the delimitation of rural and urban areas and on the subsequent advanced cartographic visualisation. We used the principles of fuzzy regulation, or fuzzy inference systems, on socio-economic data to show the transitional character of municipalities. The generated Main map is at scale of 1:500,000, whereas secondary maps are at scale of 1:2,500,000. Map visualisation of municipalities in the Czech Republic provides a very unique combination of geographical information science, cartography and modern geo-computational methods. Information perception via a map is an adequate way to analyse geographic information, and the problem of delimiting rural and urban areas can be suitably visualised using these methods.


Abstract : The method of gas-microphone photoacoustic spectroscopy and the related photothermal deflection spectroscopy have been developed for application to chemically active systems. Fourier Transform Infrared Photoacoustic Spectroscopy has been used to study surface reactions on zeolites and photopolymerization reactions in acrylates. In both cases the chemical reactions were initiated in the photoacoustic cell and followed in situ. The catalytic studies were carried out in a cell with a high temperature capability of 400 C and cell design permitted gas flows through the cell during data acquisition. The photopolymerization experiments were conducted at room temperature but employed control of the gas phase above the sample to evaluate the effects of oxygen radicals on surface photopolymerization. Photothermal deflection spectroscopy has been applied to the study of electrode electrolyte interfaces during electrochemical or photoelectrochemical reactions. Surface spectroscopic studies made in situ have enabled corrosion processes to be followed and an extension of the technique using concentration gradient produced signals has permitted charge transfer to electrolyte ions and electrode dissolution processes to be followed.


We propose a novel electrical dispersion compensation (EDC) technique in frequency domain for IMDD-based systems and demonstrate the effectiveness in a transmission experiment of 40 Gbit/s 4-PAM signals over 20 km SMF in C-band.