The development of new types of detectors and the increased performance of the electronics have paved the way for developing advanced systems for the measurement and identification of radioactive material that can be involved, for example, in illicit trafficking. Radioactive isotope identifiers are today commercially available. Nowadays those systems make use of inorganic scintillators as Sodium Iodide (NaI(Tl)) or, for enhanced resolution, Lanthanum Bromide (LaBr3) to identify the gamma emitters through their characteristic gamma lines. The most complete systems usually include an additional 3He proportional counter for neutron detection and counting. The performances of such devices are compliant with standards as the IEC 62327 Hand Held Instruments for the Detection and Identification of Radionuclides. This paper presents a new type of portable radioactive isotope identifier. This device, based on an organic liquid scintillator with excellent Pulse Shape Discrimination (PSD) proprieties for the simultaneous detection of gamma rays and neutrons, detects radioactive source as Special Nuclear Material (SNM), medical, industrial and Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material. The exclusive feature of this instrument is the identification of neutron sources with discrimination between fission sources (like Californium 252Cf) and alpha-n type sources (like Americium Beryllium Am-Be) from Plutonium and Uranium through an innovative dedicated algorithm. Individual thresholds for neutron and gamma counts are calculated to allow detection with 95% detection probability for a dose rate on the front face of the scintillator of at least 50 nSv/h. Alarms are triggered separately when the respective rate exceed these thresholds. The neutron source detection has also been proved in a gamma ray field up to 100 μSv/h. The electronics is equipped with two analog inputs and two high voltage power supplies in a small form factor thus becoming an enabling technology for higher performance yet portable radioactive isotope identifier devices, which can include more detectors and perform data fusion analysis. The addition of a second detector allows to detect a masked neutron source through the PSD algorithm performed by the liquid scintillator detector while the added inorganic scintillator identifies the masking gamma emitters. The inorganic scintillator allows also the calculation of Pu and U enrichment grade through characteristic gamma emission line.


Aim: Educational possibilities in palliative care have been overseen in this part of Europe and therefore this important issue should be addressed to implement current treatment palliative care in Slovenia. This study was the first in Slovenia dealing with the self-rated knowledge and self-efficacy associated with educational programmes attended about palliative medicine at primary health care level. Material and methods: Material for our work was general practitioner (GP) who work in education like tutors. A cross–sectional study was carried out from July to November 2015 with participation of them. For the purpose of the study (self-assessment of knowledge and efficacy), the validated questionnaire Palliative Kompetenztest (PKT) was applied with added some demographical data. 138 of the 250 invited GP answered the questionnaire. Results: Knowledge was averagely assessed with 23.0 ± 4.0 (out of 34) and self-efficacy achieved 38.5 ± 8.6 out of 54 points. Physicians who attended "Step by step" educational model, rated their knowledge (26.2 ± 3.4 (p < 0.001)) and self-efficacy higher (41.9 ± 7.7 (p < 0.010)) in comparison with those who attended conferences and other palliative care related capacity building programmes. Conclusion: When taking into account self-assessed knowledge and efficacy in palliative care, it was shown the capacity-building program "Step by step" to be an effective model for GPs. However, self-perceived efficiency due to past experience was also shown to be associated with the efficiency score, therefore we should be restrained in favouring specific capacity building programme at this time.


The Glucocorticoid Receptor (GR) co-ordinates metabolic and behavioural responses to stressors. We hypothesised that GR influences behaviour by modulating specific epigenetic and transcriptional processes in the brain. Using the zebrafish as a model organism, the brain methylomes of wild-type and grs357 mutant adults were analysed and GR-sensitive, differentially methylated regions (GR-DMRs) were identified. Two genes with GR-DMRs exhibited distinct methylation and transcriptional sensitivities to GR: the widely expressed direct GR target fkbp5 and neuron-specific aplp1. In larvae, neural activity is required for GR-mediated transcription of aplp1, but not for that of fkbp5. GR regulates metabotropic glutamate receptor gene expression, the activities of which also modulated aplp1 expression, implicating synaptic neurotransmission as an effector of GR function upstream of aplp1. Our results identify two distinct routes of GR-regulated transcription in the brain, including a pathway through which GR couples endocrine signalling to synaptic activity-regulated transcription by modulating metabotropic glutamate receptor expression.


: The examination of children in the Far North and moderate zones has revealed essential differences in the formation of humoral antimeasles postvaccinal immunity. After booster immunization with live measles vaccine specific anti-hemolysins are more intensively synthesized than anti-hemagglutinins under the conditions of the Far North. In the moderate climatic zone the repeated injection of live measles vaccine induces more intensive synthesis of specific anti-hemagglutinins, rather than anti-hemolysins. Serological examination made prior to booster immunization is also of great importance, as the most intensive synthesis of antimeasles antibodies is observed among children, seronegative to measles virus and children with low titers of antimeasles antibodies in their blood sera.


This fundamental work deals with the biosorption removal of Co(II) using a Mycobacterium phlei strain. Several variables that have an effect on the capacity of cobalt biosorption from aqueous solution by Mycobacterium phlei were studied. particularly the effects of solution pH, initial Co(II) concentration, contact time and biomass dose. The experimental data were modeled by Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. Langmuir model resulted in the best fit of the adsorption data. The maximum adsorption capacity for Co(II) was 68.22 mg/g. The best correlation was provided by the second-order kinetic model, implying that chemical sorption was the rate-limiting step. The practical implication of this study is the development of an effective and economic technology for Co(II) removal from wastewaters.


PURPOSE
The purpose of the study is to compare the effect in healthy young adults of two resistance training protocols, six-repetition maximum (RM) versus 12RM on maximum strength (1RM).

METHOD
A single-blind, randomized controlled trial was used in the study. Sixty-two healthy physical therapy students, with age (mean [+standard deviation]) 23 (+2.6)  years, weight 67.4 (+11.7)  kg and height 171.7 (+8.4)  cm, of both genders who were recreationally active, but not training systematically, volunteered to participate in the study. They were randomized into two groups (group 1: 24 women and 8 men; group 2: 23 women and 7 men) by a block randomization procedure that ensured equal gender distribution. Sealed envelopes were used to conceal allocation to groups.

INTERVENTIONS
Group 1 did three sets of 6RM of each exercise, and group 2 did three sets of 12RM. Both groups performed the exercises twice per week for 8 weeks with 3 minutes rest between sets and exercises. Primary outcomes were maximum strength defined as one-repetition maximum squat (1RMSq) for lower-body strength and bench press (1RMBp) for upper-body strength. Secondary outcomes were body weight and Uro Kaleva Kekkonen (UKK) Fitness Index.

RESULTS
Both groups increased strength significantly (p < 0.001) in 1RMSq (6RM 13.6%, 12RM 13.5%) and 1RMBp (6RM 9.2%, 12RM 8.4%). There was no significant difference in the change between the two groups, no change in body weight and only a small increase in UKK Fitness Index.

CONCLUSION
Both 6RM and 12RM training protocols improve maximum strength in recreationally active healthy young adults, with no significant difference between the protocols.


Core-level spectra of liquids can be difficult to interpret due to the presence of a range of local environments. We present computational methods for investigating core-level spectra based on the idea that both local structural parameters and the x-ray spectra behave as functions of the local atomic configuration around the absorbing site. We identify correlations between structural parameters and spectral intensities in defined regions of interest, using the oxygen K-edge excitation spectrum of liquid water as a test case. Our results show that this kind of analysis can find the main structure-spectral relationships of ice, liquid water, and supercritical water.


Oseltamivir phosphate (OP, Tamiflu®) is a widely used prodrug for the treatment of influenza viral infections. Orally administered OP is rapidly hydrolyzed by the carboxylesterases in animals to oseltamivir carboxylate (OC), a potent influenza virus neuraminidase inhibitor. The goals of this study were to develop and validate a physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model of OP/OC in rats and humans, and to predict the internal tissue doses for OP and OC in humans after receiving OP orally. To this end, a PBPK model of OP/OC was first developed in the rat, which was then scaled up to humans by replacing the physiological and biochemical parameters with human-specific values. The proposed PBPK model consisted of an OP and an OC sub-models each containing nine first-order, flow-limited tissue/organ compartments. OP metabolism to OC was assumed to carry out mainly by hepatic carboxylesterases although extra-hepatic metabolism also occurred especially in the plasma. The PBPK model was developed and validated by experimental data from our laboratories and from the literature. The proposed PBPK model accurately predicted the pharmacokinetic behavior of OP and OC in humans and rats after receiving a single or multiple doses of OP orally or an OC dose i.v. The PBPK model was used to predict the internal tissue doses of OP and OC in a hypothetical human after receiving the recommended dose of 75 mg/kg OP b.i.d. for 6 days. Steady-state OC concentrations in the plasma and major organs such as the lung and the brain were higher than the minimum in vitro IC50 reported for H1N1 influenza virus neuraminidase, confirming OP is an effective, anti-viral agent. OP side-effects in the gastrointestinal tract and brain of humans were explainable by the tissue doses found in these organs. The PBPK model provides a quantitative tool to evaluate the relationship between an externally applied dose of OP and the internal tissue doses in humans. As such the model can be used to adjust the dose regimens for adult patients in disease states e.g., renal failure and liver damage.


The radio-telemetric technology makes it possible to continuously monitor arterial pressure, heart rate and physical activity as well as their circadian rhythms and their response to therapeutics in unrestrained animals for a longer period of time. This is essential for in vivo cardiovascular research. The primary purpose of the present study was to use telemetry to characterize those physiological parameters in a rat model of heart failure post myocardial infarction. Moreover, some of the neurohormonal alterations and the hemodynamic responses to L-arginine, the substrate for nitric oxide synthase (NOS), and L-NAME that inhibits NOS activity were also evaluated. Rats with moderate and large myocardial infarction are considered to have chronic heart failure (CHF), which displayed decreased systolic and consequently decreased mean blood pressure, blunted diurnal dips in systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressure, narrowed pulse pressure and relatively reduced strength of physical activity. These telemetric alterations were accompanied by increased left ventricular end diastolic pressure, right and left ventricular hypertrophy and elevated plasma norepinephrine and tumor necrosis factor. In CHF rats, L-arginine widened pulse pressure and L-NAME caused attenuated pressor response, suggesting the presence of the general NO deficiency in this model. Thus, telemetry provides some new and unique information about CHF in rats, which is important in exploring the underlying mechanism of heart failure, but cannot be obtained by the conventional approach.


To avoid slag sticking onto the snorkel during CAS-OB ladle refining process, B2O3-CaO(mass ratio equals 1:1) and CaF2-CaO(mass ratio equals 1:1) were respectively employed as modifiers added to decrease the viscosity of ladle slag. The rotary cylinder method was adopted in the viscosity measurements. The results showed that the modifiers could decrease the viscosity of ladle refining slag remarkably. At 1500°C, the viscosity of ladle slag without any modifiers is about 6.0 Pa·s. But by adding more than 10mass% CaO-B2O3 or CaO-CaF2, the slag viscosity at 1500°C could be decreased lower than 1.0 Pa·s. The mechanism of modifiers decreasing the slag viscosity was analyzed.


An important problem in systems biology is to reconstruct gene regulatory networks from experimental data and other a priori information. Based on linear regression techniques and significance tests, in this paper, an identification algorithm is developed using multifactorial perturbation experimental data. Basic ideas behind this algorithm are as follows. The larger the sum of residual squares, the weaker the direct regulatory interaction. Moreover, the higher the significance level of linear regression, the greater the probability of the existence of the direct regulatory interaction. To take both of them into consideration, a weight corresponding to a possible direct regulation is selected as their product. Besides, normalization of these weights have also been discussed, noting that in a gene regulatory network, some genes may be easily regulated by other genes, while regulations on some other genes may need more efforts. A distinguished feature of the algorithm is that the power law has been quantitatively incorporated into estimations, which is one important structure property that most large scale genetic regulatory networks approximately have. Through constructing loss functions and incorporating power law, and solving a 0–1 integer programming problem, direct regulation genes for an arbitrary gene can be estimated. The weight matrix is further adjusted using these estimated direct regulatory relationships. Computation results with the DREAM4 In Silico Size 100 Multifactorial subchallenge show that estimation performances of the suggested algorithm can even outperform the best team. Furthermore, the high precision of the obtained most reliable predictions imply that the suggested algorithm may be very helpful in guiding biological validation experiment designs.


We present here the results obtained during my PhD work. We report the study of the many body localization transition in a spin chain and the breaking of ergodicity measured in terms of return probability in a state evolution. Moreover, we introduce the Richardson model, an exactly solvable model, that turns out to be suitable for investigating the many-body localized phase. Then we turn to the analysis of the quench problem in an ensemble of random matrices. We analyze the thermalization properties and the validity of the Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis for the typical case, where the quench parameter explicitly breaks a Z_2 symmetry.


: Recent studies have explored the seropositivity of Bovine alphaherpesvirus 1 (BoHV-1) in water buffaloes, suggesting the urgency for developing strategies to eradicate the virus involving both cattle and water buffaloes. However, in Europe, the glycoprotein E (gE) deleted marker vaccines against BoHV-1 are commercially available only for the cattle industry. This study, for the first time, evaluated the safety and efficacy of a commercial inactivated gE-deleted marker vaccine in water buffalo. Five animals devoid of BoHV-1-neutralizing antibodies were vaccinated via intramuscular route. Five additional animals served as an unvaccinated control group. Sixty days after the first immunization, all animals were experimentally infected with a virulent BoHV-1via intranasal route. A detectable BoHV-1-humoral immune response was observed in the vaccinated group on post-vaccination day 30, whereas the antibodies appeared on post-challenge day 10 in the control group. Moreover, the vaccinated animals neither show viral shedding nor clinical signs compared to the control upon challenge. However, post-challenge, the BoHV-1-specific humoral and cell-mediated immune responses were significantly more increased in vaccinated animals than the control animals. Overall, the present study provides evidence of both the safety and efficacy of an inactivated gE-deleted marker vaccine against BoHV-1 in water buffaloes.


Miniature organlike three-dimensional cell clusters often called organoids have emerged as a useful tool for both fundamental and applied bioscience studies. However, there is still a great need to improve the quality of organoids to a level where they exhibit similar biological functionality to an organ. To this end, we hypothesized that a decellularized matrix derived from mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) could regulate the phenotypic and metabolic activity of organoids. This hypothesis was examined by culturing cells of interest in the decellularized matrix of MSCs cultured on a 2D substrate at confluency or in the form of spheroids. The decellularized matrix prepared with MSC spheroids showed a 3D porous structure with a higher content of extracellular matrix molecules than the decellularized matrix derived from MSCs cultured on a 2D substrate. HepG2 hepatocarcinoma cells, which retain the metabolic activity of hepatocytes, were cultured in these decellularized matrices. Interestingly, the decellularized matrix from the MSC spheroids served to develop the hepatic cell clusters with higher levels of E-cadherin-mediated cell-cell adhesion and detoxification activity than the decellularized matrix from the MSCs cultured on a 2D substrate. Overall, the results of this study are useful in improving biological functionality of a wide array of organoids.


Background and Purpose: We analyzed and retrospectively compared patients with and without intellectual disability (ID) who underwent oral surgery under general anesthesia at Istanbul University, Faculty of Dentistry, Department of General Anesthesia, between October 2012 and June 2013 with regard to the following categories: Demographic features, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) classification, Mallampati score, type of anesthetic drug used during the operation, type of intubation used, any difficulties with tracheal intubation, presence of systemic diseases, and recovery times after ending general anesthesia. Materials and Methods: A total of 348 patients were selected from the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery and the Department of Pedodontics who underwent surgery with general anesthesia. Medical histories of all patients were taken, and their electrocardiography, chest X-rays, complete blood count, and blood clotting tests were checked during a preoperative assessment. Mallampati evaluations were also performed. Patients were grouped into ASA I, II, or III according to the ASA classification and were treated under general anesthesia. Results: There was no significant difference between normal and intellectually disabled patients in terms of gender, Mallampati scores, intubation difficulties, mean anesthetic period, time to discharge, or postoperative nausea and vomiting. Epilepsy and genetic diseases in intellectually disabled patients were significantly more common than in non-ID (NID) patients. However, the frequency of diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in NID patients was significantly higher than in the intellectually disabled patients. Conclusion: Dental treatment of intellectually disabled patients under general anesthesia can be performed just as safely as that with NID patients.


ML. Ultrasound guidance with nerve stimulation reduces the time necessary for resident peripheral nerve blockade. Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine 2007; 32: 448–54. 4 Loubert C, Williams SR, Helie F, Arcand G. Complication during ultrasound-guided regional block: accidental intravascular injection of local anesthetic. Anesthesiology 2008; 108: 759–60. 5 Russon K, Blanco R. Accidental intraneural injection into the musculocutaneous nerve visualized with ultrasound. Anesthesia and Analgesia 2007; 105: 1504–5. 6 Schafhalter-Zoppoth I, Zeitz ID, Gray AT. Inadvertent femoral nerve impalement and intraneural injection visualized by ultrasound. Anesthesia and Analgesia 2004; 99: 627–8. 7 Zetlaoui PJ, Labbe JP, Benhamou D. Ultrasound guidance for axillary plexus block does not prevent intravascular injection. Anesthesiology 2008; 108: 761. 8 Perlas A, Niazi A, McCartney C, Chan V, Xu D, Abbas S. The sensitivity of motor to nerve stimulation and paresthesia for nerve localization as evaluated by ultrasound. Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine 2006; 31: 445–50. 9 Bigeleisen PE. Nerve puncture and apparent intraneural injection during ultrasound-guided axillary block does not invariably result in neurologic injury. Anesthesiology 2006; 105: 779–83. 10 Tsai TP, Vuckovic I, Dilberovic F, et al. Intensity of the stimulating current may not be a reliable indicator of intraneural needle placement. Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine 2008; 33: 207–10. 11 Chan VW. Applying ultrasound imaging to interscalene brachial plexus block. Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine 2003; 28: 340–6. 12 Brull SJ. Lipid emulsion for the treatment of local anesthetic toxicity: patient safety implications. Anesthesia and Analgesia 2008; 106: 1337–9. 13 Rowlingson JC. Lipid rescue: a step forward in patient safety? Likely so! Anesthesia and Analgesia 2008; 106: 1333–6. A reply We thank Macfarlane et al for their comments on our survey. We were interested to read of their clinical experience in undertaking peripheral nerve blocks and are pleased that our survey has prompted this sharing of information. We agree that the ideal situation is one in which feedback from a cooperative, relaxed, conscious patient serves as the final clinical check in undertaking regional blocks. We did not specifically explore the reasons why anaesthetists in the Oxford region tend to perform peripheral blocks on anaesthetised patients, as we were simply comparing local clinical practice with that seen 5 years earlier. However, we do believe that further examination of the reasons behind current practice is warranted. It is an essential first step in changing the current clinical culture to one in which the default position is to perform blocks on conscious patients. Our study has shown that practice with regard to central blocks has evolved. With further time and exploration of the issues surrounding the practice of peripheral blocks, we believe that this too will evolve.


This study explored the effect of paeoni�orin(PAE) on apoptosis of broblast-like synoviocytes(FLS) mediated by the Wnt1/β -catenin pathway in collagen-induced arthritis(CIA) rats based on the expression of lncRNA MALAT1. Sprague-dawley(SD) rats were randomly divided into control group, CIA model group, PAE low-dose group, PAE medium-dose group and PAE high-dose group. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was then performed to determine the expression of MALAT1 in rat FLS. Next, the apoptosis rate of FLS was detected by terminal-deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated nick end labeling(TUNEL), whereas cell morphology was observed by electron microscopy. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to determine the levels of TNF –α, IL-6, and IL-2 cytokines. The mRNA expressions of Wnt1, β-catenin, Caspase-3, Caspase-9, Bcl-2 and Bax were determined by qPCR, whereas the protein expressions of Wnt1, β-catenin, Caspase-3, Caspase-9, Bcl-2 and Bax were measured by western blot analysis. PAE alleviated arthritis in CIA rats in a dose-dependent manner. In CIA rats, PAE reduced arthritis scores and decreased joint histopathological changes. The expression level of MALAT1 was lower in the CIA group compared with the control group, but the expression was reversed after PAE treatment. The expression levels of Wnt1 and β-catenin in the CIA group were increased compared with the control group, and the levels of cytokine TNF –α, IL-6, and IL-2 were raised compared to the control group. However, treatment with PAE decreased the levels of all these cytokines. Besides, PAE could improve the cell apoptosis rate, and increase the expression levels of Caspase-3, Caspase-9 and Bax, reducing the expression level of Bcl-2. PAE may promote the apoptosis of RA-FLS by up-regulating MALAT1 to inhibit activation of the Wnt1/β -catenin pathway, thereby alleviating arthritis in CIA rats.


Oral Disintegrating Drug Delivery Systems (ODDDS) have the unique property of rapidly disintegrating and/or dissolving and releasing the drug as soon as they come in contact with saliva, thus obviating the requirement of water during administration. Methods to improve patient's compliance have always attracted scientists towards the development of fancy oral drug delivery systems. Among them, oral disintegrating drug delivery systems (ODDDS) have acquired an important position in the market by overcoming previously encountered administration problems and contributing to extension of patient life, which includes dysphagic, bed ridden, psychic, geriatric and pediatric patients. This review describes the various technologies developed for ODTs, different patented technologies and their products, disintegrated employed and their mechanism of action, taste masking methods and evaluation tests.


In-situ Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy observations are presented that assess the influence of undercooling before the initiation of the peritectic transition in a Fe-4.2wt%Ni alloy on the resulting kinetics of the peritectic reaction and transformation. In a series of experiments varying the cooling rate, increasing the cooling rate led to a lower temperature at the L/ interface. The resulting peritectic reaction changed from slow 840m/s - 1500m/s, with limited growth into the  to rapid ~11mm/s with significant growth into . In continuous cooling experiments when the nucleation temperature was low, growth into  was high and the reacting species was observed to propagate along the liquid/delta-ferrite interface at a rate of ~11mm/s. The peritectic reaction rate did not appear to be a function of temperature over a measured nucleation temperature range of 5 K. Conversely, the growth rate of austenite into the delta-ferrite in the first 0.03 seconds was observed to increase from 1.5mm/s to 8mm/s as the measured temperature at nucleation decreased.


Author(s): Sprain, Courtney Jean | Advisor(s): Renne, Paul R | Abstract: Despite decades of study, the exact cause of the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (KPB) mass extinction remains contentious. Hypothesized scenarios center around two main environmental perturbations: voluminous (g10^6 km3) volcanic eruptions from the Deccan Traps in modern-day India, and the large impact recorded by the Chicxulub crater. The impact hypothesis has gained broad support, bolstered by the discoveries of iridium anomalies, shocked quartz, and spherules at the KPB worldwide, which are contemporaneous with the Chicxulub impact structure. However, evidence for protracted extinctions, particularly in non-marine settings, and paleoenvironmental change associated with climatic swings before the KPB, challenge the notion that the impact was the sole cause of the KPB mass extinction. Despite forty years of study, the relative importance of each of these events is unclear, and one key inhibitor is insufficient resolution of existing geochronology.In this dissertation, I present work developing a high-precision global chronologic framework for the KPB that outlines the temporal sequence of biotic changes (both within the terrestrial and marine realms), climatic changes, and proposed perturbations (i.e. impact, volcanic eruptions) using 40Ar/39Ar geochronology and paleomagnetism. This work is focused on two major areas of study: 1) refining the timing and tempo of terrestrial ecosystem change around the KPB, and 2) calibrating the geomagnetic polarity timescale, and particularly the timing and duration of magnetic polarity chron C29r (the KPB falls about halfway into C29r). First I develop a high-precision chronostratigraphic framework for fluvial sediments within the Hell Creek region, in NE Montana, which is one of the best-studied terrestrial KPB sections worldwide. For this work I dated 15 tephra deposits with ± 30 ka precision using 40Ar/39Ar geochronology, ranging in time from ~300 ka before the KPB to 1 Ma after. By tying these results to paleontological records, this work is able to constrain the timing of terrestrial faunal decline and recovery in addition to calibrating late Cretaceous and early Paleocene North American Land Mammal Ages biostratigraphy. To aid in global correlation, I next sought to calibrate the timing and duration of C29r. However, based on discrepancies noticed between a calculated duration for C29r, from new dates collected as part of this dissertation and previously published magnetostratigraphy for the Hell Creek region, and the duration provided within the Geologic Time Scale 2012, it became clear that reliability of sediments from the Hell Creek as paleomagnetic recorders was suspect. To test this claim, a complete characterization of the rock magnetic properties of sediments from the Hell Creek region was undertaken. To aid characterization, a new test to determine the presence of intermediate composition titanohematite (Fe2-yTiyO3; 0.5 ≤ y ≤ 0.7) was developed. Results from rock magnetic characterization show that sediments from the Hell Creek should be reliable paleomagnetic recorders, so long as care is taken to remove goethite (a secondary mineral that previous magnetostratigraphic studies in the Hell Creek did not remove), and to avoid samples that have been heated above ~200oC. With the knowledge that sediments from the Hell Creek region are reliable magnetic recorders, I collected 14 new magnetostratigraphic sections, and 18 new high-precision 40Ar/39Ar dates which together provide constraints on the timing and duration of chron C29r, at unprecedented precision. This work enables correlation of our record in the Hell Creek to other KPB records around the globe, in addition to providing a test of the Paleocene astrochronologic timescale.


Lectin proteins found in medicinal and feed plants can take part in implementation of their general pharmacological potential thanks to their properties as biological response modifiers. They have ability to stimulate the immune system, to regulate proliferation and apoptosis levels of normal and transformed human and animal cells, etc. Legume lectins also stimulate nodulating and symbiotic properties of Rhizobium microsimbionts. We studied lectin activities in more than 80 species of 30 plant families of cultivated and wild European (e.g. Belarus) plants. We identified phytolectins which possessed: 1) immunomodulatory activity for pulmonary macrophages, NKand T-cells; 2) antibacterial properties for pathogenic and conditionally pathogenic microflora of young cattle; 3) the ability to improve intestinal microbiocenoses of calves suffering by enteritis, and to speed up their recovery; 4) antiproliferative effect for human breast cancer cells comparable with cytostatics used in clinical practice. The dose-related effects and individual sensitivity of breast cancer cells to some phytolectins were revealed; 5) the ability to stimulate nodulating and nitrogen-fixing activity of legume-symbiotic Rhisobium bacteria. Thus many European cultural and wild plants can be a valuable source of dietary lectins for medicine, veterinary and agriculture. The most perspective for this purpose are plants of Fabaceae, Papaveraceae, Solanaceae, and Asteraceae families.


During the post-war period, there was consensus among development theorists that industrialization constituted the prime avenue for economic development. Manufacturing was identified as the main engine of economic growth, economic development and social progress. In recent years, however, the role of manufacturing has been challenged and questions have been raised concerning the continued importance of manufacturing for economic development, catch up and poverty reduction in developing countries. Some observers even argue that we live in an era of service-led growth This report assesses the extent to which these challenges are justified, focusing on the role played by manufacturing with regard to the different dimensions of economic development: growth, employment creation and poverty reduction. The main question addressed in this report is whether or not manufacturing plays an important role in the process of economic growth, the creation of new employment and the alleviation of poverty in the least developed economies and in emerging middle-income countries. This report argues that manufacturing continues to be of considerable importance for economic development, employment creation and the reduction of poverty. Manufacturing is not the only sector of importance in developing countries of the present period. But the relative neglect of industrialization and industrial investment in modern policy debates is not justified. It is a sector which deserves special attention from policy makers and the financial community.


The ministry organization as a symbol of Iranian sreaming is the important element in Iranian historiography. Reproduction of many of Iranshahri thoughts teachings in Seljuk's period provided background for note historians to ministry organization. With the domination of Turks on Iran was established ministry s status until free rulers of the art of government benefit of ministry's knowledge. Ravandi was one of the important historians in Seljuk's period. However, he extracted his historical narratives from Saljuknameh, but with the completion of them with other sources and analyzing of dates. His book was changed to an important source with a different style. Ministry organization was HighFrequency concept in Ravandi historiography. His historiography has been set as useful epistle for express reasons. The ministry in his historiography was a symbol of foresight that was a cause of stable government. This article is going to enter a descriptive and analytical methodology to analyzed Ravandi's approach to ministerial organization and answered to these questions what impact of ministry status on Seljuk's period in Ravandi's historiography? And this approach has been influenced by what factors shape?


Driven by the Internet of Things, devices and appliances will be increasingly connected to each other and the people within the home. In order for the communication to be possible a standard for communication is needed. In many cases there are too many standards, and for other cases there may instead be an absence of standard. This thesis provides a contemporary view of future developments of homes and the current standardization progress. Four domains in homes are investigated: the automated home domain, the sustainable home domain, the healthy home domain and the manufacturing home domain. Trends and technologies are identified that drive a change in homes. Services are described that may be provided in homes. The thesis discusses how services from different domains may be integrated, with a further investigation of the networked manufacturing service and its underlying communication infrastructure. Finally standards are identified and analyzed in regard to the communication infrastructure of the networked manufacturing service.The standardization development is progressing for each home domain. However, potential standard gaps are still present for many of the cross domain device communication. No standard has been identified for integration of services and integration of the business ecosystem in the manufacturing home domain. Similarly there is no standard for the software of 3D printing. New standards or further development of existing standards is needed to realize the networked manufacturing service.


Many plant-sucking stinkbugs possess a specialized symbiotic organ with numerous crypts in a posterior region of the midgut. In stinkbugs of the superfamily Pentatomoidea, specific γ-proteobacteria are hosted in the crypt cavities, which are vertically transmitted through host generations and essential for normal growth and survival of the host insects. Here we report the discovery of an exceptional gut symbiotic association in the saw-toothed stinkbug, Megymenum gracilicorne (Hemiptera: Pentatomoidea: Dinidoridae), in which specific γ-proteobacterial symbionts are not transmitted vertically but acquired environmentally. Histological inspection identified a very thin and long midgut symbiotic organ with two rows of tiny crypts whose cavities harbor rod-shaped bacterial cells. Molecular phylogenetic analyses of bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequences from the symbiotic organs of field-collected insects revealed that (i) M. gracilicorne is stably associated with Pantoea-allied γ-proteobacteria within the midgut crypts, (ii) the symbiotic bacteria exhibit a considerable level of diversity across host individuals and populations, (iii) the major symbiotic bacteria represent an environmental bacterial lineage that was reported to be capable of symbiosis with the stinkbug Plautia stali, and (iv) the minor symbiotic bacteria also represent several bacterial lineages that were reported as cultivable symbionts of P. stali and other stinkbugs. The symbiotic bacteria were shown to be generally cultivable. Microbial inspection of ovipositing adult females and their eggs and nymphs uncovered the absence of stable vertical transmission of the symbiotic bacteria. Rearing experiments showed that symbiont-supplemented newborn nymphs exhibit improved survival, suggesting the beneficial nature of the symbiotic association.


Remediating soils contaminated with heavy hydrocarbons (C12–C40) from petrochemical exploration activities is a major environmental challenge across the globe. This study evaluated microwave irradiation in the presence of nano- and macro-scale graphitic additives as a rapid remediation technology for removing heavy hydrocarbons from soil. Adding inert materials (i.e., glass wool fibers or washed silica sand) as controls had no effect on total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) removal upon microwave irradiation. Carbonaceous nanomaterials (i.e., carbon nanotubes, graphene nanosheets, and carbon nanofibers) because of their favorable dielectric properties showed extraordinary heating performances when mixed with soil and microwave irradiated. As a result, adding these carbonaceous nanomaterials to contaminated soils removed more TPH compared with macro-scale carbonaceous additives. TPH concentrations decreased from 11 000 to between 2000 and 6000 mg TPH kg−1 soil within one minute using carbon nanomaterial additives and a 2.45 GHz, 1000 W conventional microwave oven. In separate experiments, this technology decreased TPH from 2500 to 650 mg TPH kg−1 soil from soils containing recalcitrant, non-biodegradable fractions of TPH. Large scale microwave systems are available and hold promise for remediating soils when used in conjunction with carbon nanomaterials.


Healthcare has long been a gendered enterprise, with women taking responsibility for maintaining health and engaging with service providers. Universal healthcare provision notwithstanding, women nonetheless undertake a range of healthcare work, on their own account and on behalf of others, which remains largely invisible. As part of a multi-method comparative European study that looked at access to healthcare in diverse neighbourhoods from the point of view of people's own health priorities, the concept of 'healthcare bricolage' describes the process of mobilizing resources and overcoming constraints to meet particular health needs. Bricolage mediates between different kinds of resources to meet particular challenges and describing these processes makes visible that work which has been unseen, over-looked and naturalised, as part of a gendered caring role. Drawing on 160 semi-structured interviews and a survey with 1,755 residents of highly diverse neighbourhoods in Germany, UK, Sweden and Portugal, this article illustrates the gendered nature of healthcare bricolage. The complex variations of women's bricolage within and beyond the public healthcare system show how gendered caring roles intersect with migration status and social class in the context of particular healthcare systems.


This was a retrospective study analyzing surgical treat-ment of rigid, non-teratologic talipes equinovarus (club foot deformity) in Qatar in the ten year period from 1990 to 1999. Treatment started early (as soon as the patient was referred, usually during the first two - three weeks of de-livery) with serial manipulation and adhesive strapping or plaster of paris casting. When clinically indicated, soft tis-sue release was performed. One hundred and twenty one feet were operated upon in Hamad General Hospital during that period. (73 patients, 46 male, 27 female). Postero-medial release was done in 73 feet; Achilles tendon lengthening in eight feet; posterior release in 32 feet. Most primary soft tissue procedures were performed between two and ten months of age. Primary bony procedures were done for eight feet with late presentation. Posterior release alone resulted in a higher rate of secondary procedures (53%), whereas postero-medial release resulted in only 22%. Therefore we recommend postero-medial release whenever in doubt about the adequacy of posterior release.


The past two decades have witnessed an ongoing search for a more coherent basis for development cooperation and the means to satisfy global needs. The achievement of better relations among developed and developing countries remains an urgent task as the world community seeks to formulate a new and more equitable economic order. Findings in this volume suggest that persistent economic difficulties within industrial countries, especially high unemployment and inflationary tendencies, have made it clear that the rich and poor countries alike must strive for more effective patterns of world economic and development collaboration. Contributors explore cooperation among developing countries as both a means for implementing a new international economic order and a desirable feature of this order. This book provides researchers with much needed knowledge about the different sources of information and data available for the study of the objectives, goals, and methods of development cooperation programs among Third World countries.


This article presents a novel approach to construct Intrinsic Gaussian Processes for regression on unknown manifolds with probabilistic metrics (GPUM) in point clouds. In many real world applications, one often encounters high dimensional data (e.g. point cloud data) centred around some lower dimensional unknown manifolds. The geometry of manifold is in general different from the usual Euclidean geometry. Naively applying traditional smoothing methods such as Euclidean Gaussian Processes (GPs) to manifold valued data and so ignoring the geometry of the space can potentially lead to highly misleading predictions and inferences. A manifold embedded in a high dimensional Euclidean space can be well described by a probabilistic mapping function and the corresponding latent space. We investigate the geometrical structure of the unknown manifolds using the Bayesian Gaussian Processes latent variable models(BGPLVM) and Riemannian geometry. The distribution of the metric tensor is learned using BGPLVM. The boundary of the resulting manifold is defined based on the uncertainty quantification of the mapping. We use the the probabilistic metric tensor to simulate Brownian Motion paths on the unknown manifold. The heat kernel is estimated as the transition density of Brownian Motion and used as the covariance functions of GPUM. The applications of GPUM are illustrated in the simulation studies on the Swiss roll, high dimensional real datasets of WiFi signals and image data examples. Its performance is compared with the Graph Laplacian GP, Graph Matern GP and Euclidean GP.


Language awareness is the key to success in the language classroom. Discover English will help you to understand and explain common problems in English. It suggests motivating and practical activities which lead to learning. It is designed for use both in teacher training seminars and as self study. Exercises in the first part of this book establish basic principles and explore common area of difficulty. A full key in the second part included commentaries on the issues raised by the exercises and insights into teaching.


Introduction. Alcohol consumption is a contentious social topic and is often assumed to have deleterious effects on sexual performance. There is a lack of consensus on whether alcohol consumption may in fact be beneficial to erectile function. Aim. We examined the data from a population-based cross-sectional study of men's health to assess the association between usual alcohol consumption and erectile dysfunction (ED). Method. Reply-paid questionnaires were posted to a randomly selected age-stratified male population sample obtained from the Western Australian (WA) Electoral Roll. Main Outcome Measures. The survey questionnaire included sociodemographic details, self-reported clinical information, and drinking habits. The 5-item International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) was used to assess erectile function. Results. Most (87%) participants were current alcohol drinkers, with binge drinking, as defined by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), reported by 20% of drinkers. Compared with never-drinkers, the age-adjusted odds of ED were lower among current, weekend, and binge drinkers and higher among ex-drinkers. Among current drinkers, the odds were lowest for consumption within the NHMRC guidelines of between 1 and 20 standard drinks a week. On further adjustment for cardiovascular disease (CVD) or for cigarette smoking, age-adjusted odds of ED were reduced by 25-30% among alcohol drinkers. Conclusions. Our findings suggest a modest negative association between alcohol consumption and ED and confounding of the association by CVD and cigarette smoking. The Western Australia Men's Health Study certainly provides no justification for advising men with ED whose drinking habits are consistent with NHMRC guidelines that they should cease or reduce their consumption of alcohol.


The extraction parameters of intracellular polysaccharide (IPS) from Hypsizigus marmoreus SK-01 mycelia were optimized, and the antioxidant activities of IPS were investigated. The optimum conditions of IPS extraction were predicted to be: an ultrasonic treatment time of 618.07 s, an extraction temperature of 84.53 °C, a pH of 7.57, and an IPS yield of ca. 6.84%. The in vitro inhibition effects of IPS on hydroxyl, superoxide anion, and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals were 52.63 ± 3.19%, 68.21 ± 5.09%, and 63.43 ± 5.27%, respectively, and the EC50 values of IPS were 0.85 ± 0.05 g/L, 0.47 ± 0.03 g/L, and 0.62 ± 0.04 g/L, respectively. The activities of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) in mice blood were 2.52 ± 0.02 U/mL, 453.19 ± 38.43 U/mL, and 118.59 ± 9.64 U/mL, respectively. The results provide a reference for large-scale extraction of IPS by H. marmoreus SK-01 in industrial fermentation, suggesting that IPS can be used as a potential antioxidant that enhances adaptive immune responses.


In this paper, we present a fast mode decision algorithm and design its VLSI architecture for H.264 intra-prediction. A regular spatial domain filtering technique is proposed to compute the dominant edge strength (DES) to reduce the possible predictive modes. Experimental results revealed that the proposed fast intra-algorithm reduces 40% computation with slight peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) degradation. The designed DES VLSI engine comprises a zigzag converter, a DES finite-state machine (FSM), and a DES core. The former two units handle memory allocation and control flow while the last performs pseudoblock computation, edge filtering, and dominant edge strength extraction. With semicustom design fabricated by 0.18 mum CMOS single-poly-six-metal technology, the realized die size is roughly 0.15 times 0.15 mm2 and can be operated at 66 MHz.


This paper studied the main cracking reasons for small and medium-span continuous girder bridge with secondary concreting based on ANSYS. Some prevention measures to concrete crack caused by the inelastic subsidence were also proposed. In considering the global deformation of scaffold-beam, the inelastic deformation of scaffold, the hydration heat of cement, and the characteristics of early-age concrete, influence of inelastic subsidence of support foundation on concrete cracking were analyzed by time-varying transient analysis. It can be concluded that the value of inelastic deformation is the decisive factor for the concrete cracking. Field measurement results of several bridges validate the conclusion.


In our presented paper by proposing a optimum routing protocol, in some of Quality of Service achieved improvements in the field of reliability in data sending to destination and load balancing in wireless sensor network. In our proposed protocol, to ensure that a data packet correctly send to the destination, it used of an improved hybrid method based on multipath data sending. The routing decisions in this method are by considering the remaining energy of nodes that are in neighbors of sender nodes. Simulation results shows that release rate of data packets in this method is reduced and reliability in data sending to destination is increased. Also, the energy efficiency of sensor nodes effectively improved and thus increase the overall lifetime of wireless sensor networks.


Increasing demand for renewable fuel sources has stimulated the need for alternative biomass crops. A study was conducted to determine grain, stover, total biomass, and estimated ethanol yields of annual and perennial crops at two locations in Kansas in 2007 and 2008. This study included corn (Zea mays L.) grown continuously and rotated with soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.]; five sorghum cultivars, brown midrib (bmr), photoperiod sensitive, sweet, and two dual-purpose forage varieties; and three perennial warm-season grasses, switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), big bluestem (Andropogongerardii Vitman), and Miscanthus (Miscanthus x giganteus). Corn and sorghum plants were harvested for grain and biomass and sweet sorghum stalks were pressed to extract juices. Perennial grasses were harvested for biomass. Highest grain yields were achieved with corn across both years and locations with yields averaging 10.1 Mg ha -1 . Total biomass yields were greatest for sweet sorghum (32.6 and 28.2 Mg ha -1 in 2007 and 2008, respectively) and photoperiod-sensitive sorghum (26.8 Mg ha -1 in 2007). Sweet sorghum extracted fermentable carbohydrate yields averaged 4.8 Mg ha -1 . Perennial grass biomass yields ranged from 7.7 to 12.8 Mg ha -1 in 2008, the second year after establishment. Highest average estimated ethanol yields were achieved with sweet sorghum (9920 L ha -1 ). These results indicate that the highest total biomass and estimated ethanol yields for renewable fuel production can be achieved from sweet sorghum and that perennial grasses were as productive as annual crops at producing biomass in the first 2 yr after planting.


Nowadays, social media present a valuable source for business decision support and Data Analytics is widely used in many industries and organization to make a better Business decision. By applying analytics to the data the enterprises brings a great change in their way of planning and decision making. Sentiment analysis or opinion mining plays a significant role in our daily decision making process. These decisions may range from purchasing a product such as mobile phone to reviewing the movie to making investments all the decisions will have a huge impact on the daily life. Sentiment Analysis or Opinion analysis is performed to identify the opinion of peoples. It can be performed using Lexicon Based approach or Machine Learning based approach. Some methods are still not efficient in extracting the sentiment features from the given content of text. Naive Bayes, Support Vector Machine are the machine learning algorithms used for sentiment analysis which has only a limited sentiment classification category ranging between positive and negative. Even though the advancement in sentiment Analysis technique there are various issues still to be noticed and make the analysis not accurately and efficiently. So this paper presents the survey on various sentiment Analysis methodologies and approaches. This will be helpful to earn clear knowledge about sentiment analysis methodologies.


The Impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on our life shows that the future will be driven by a new environment that differs substantially from that of the past decades. Some of the features of this new environment are already apparent and provide insight into the new research and development directions that need to be pursued. For instance, the Internet and new communication media provide new possibilities for monitoring an object remotely, or in long-distance learning and computer-based self-tutoring systems. The Internet and computer networks have also proved to be powerful tools for distributed collaborative work. Telehealth and telemedicine are examples of the impacts of ICT on our life. This has brought us new hopes for a better health and medical services to the public, particularly those in rural or distanced locations, and/or at disaster circumstances, and those in ambulances and on ships or other transportation systems. Despite reasonable efforts of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran in last 10 years on developing the infrastructure for Telehealth and telemedicine in Iran, no strong foundation and experiences exist and there is a great deal of efforts to be made on this way. One simple solution could be to ask the Ministry to work on the basic rule and regulations and support the institutions and expert groups to develop and expand typical applications and introduce best practices on this field. After a successful establishment of the first academic e-learning programs in Iran by Shiraz University in 2003, we are heading for a practical and sustainable development of a telemedicine and telehealth systems between Shiraz Mother and Child Hospital as the main centre with three other medical centres as: • Shiraz Shahid Rajaee Hospital (A Trauma Hospital) • Gerash Hospital (Gerash is a city in southwest of Fars Province of Iran with a 350 KM from Shiraz and about 41000 population. • The Iranian Hospital in UAE (in Dubai). A short report of this program and its objectives will be presented. We will also announce our readiness to expand these experiences and services to other cities, institutions and also our neighbouring countries. Though the above report shows the possibility of incorporating ICT in telemedicine and telehealth, we will review some of the challenges already facing us and the public in invoking or expanding such applications. This includes: • The cost and quality of the current communication media (Internet, Intranet, space technology, etc). • The lack of powerful law and regulations and financial supports for developing such applications. • The impact of political international bans on technology export/imports on improving public health and medical services. • The needs for cultural and social programs for better acceptances of new technologies by the expert/public and better understanding of the cost/benefit of such applications. As final remarks, some recommendations for a better collaboration among all the related experts and managers in Iran and abroad toward an expansion of such applications are provided.


Research performed in this thesis studies the growth and evolution of advertising investment in digital media compared to traditional printed media, in particular daily newspapers. By means of advertising inserts in printed newspaper and online newspapers, the study's objective was to confirm that digital media consolidate as an advertising platform. Throughout this study we used different quantitative and qualitative tools to demonstrate the starting hypothesis of this thesis. We used a combined methodology that included: a) joint analysis of printed newspaper "El Mundo" and online newspaper "elmundo.es" advertising content; b) analysis of advertising investment state-of-the-art; c) deep interviews to different media professionals, including advertisers, publicists, media planning, and researchers. A comparative study between the printed newspaper "El Mundo" and the online newspaper "elmundo.es" supported the analysis of contents in a realistic situation. Therefore a deep study of advertising inserts in both the printed and online version of "El Mundo" was performed. The main goal of this work was to show how advertising invesment is moving from traditional printed media to digital media The results of this study reveal that investment in digital media increases, meanwhile investment reduces in traditional media. At the same time, new reading habits along with technological innovation attracts readers to digital platforms. As a consequence, traditional printed newspapers have the immediate need to somehow engage online-newspaper readers into printed platforms. Hence, many advertisers already invest large sums of money in digital media, with marketing strategies and plans focused to online advertising campaigns in Internet. It is also true that in recent years printed and online media stopped "fighting", which lead to the possibility of joint marketing and communication strategies between the aforementioned digital and online media. This research has different implications, one of them is that printed media seems to be a bussiness model which needs to be reinvented to adapt itself to the media's current situation in order to be profitable and not to disappear. On the other hand, digital media must have a well-defined strategy with concrete and viable goals in online investment. Finally, it is important that new readers are taken into account by newspapers, this is: new readers mostly use digital platforms, thus interaction between readers and newspapers is much different than what it used to be when only printed newspapers existed. Media must go and be where the new reader is.


Abstract. The likely manifestations of climate change like flood hazards are prominent topics in public communication. This can be shown by media analysis and questionnaire data. However, in the case of flood risks an information gap remains resulting in misinformed citizens who probably will not perform the necessary protective actions when an emergency occurs. This paper examines more closely a newly developed approach to flood risk communication that takes the heterogeneity of citizens into account and aims to close this gap. The heterogeneity is analysed on the meso level regarding differences in residential situation as well as on the micro level with respect to risk perception and protective actions. Using the city of Bremen as a case study, empirical data from n=831 respondents were used to identify Action Types representing different states of readiness for protective actions in view of flood risks. These subpopulations can be provided with specific information to meet their heterogeneous needs for risk communication. A prototype of a computer-based information system is described that can produce and pass on such tailored information. However, such an approach to risk communication has to be complemented by meso level analysis which takes the social diversity of subpopulations into account. Social vulnerability is the crucial concept for understanding the distribution of resources and capacities among different social groups. We therefore recommend putting forums and organisations into place that can mediate between the state and its citizens.


[1] Two microphone arrays were deployed in California during 2010 to record microbaroms, quasi-continuous atmospheric pressure oscillations with a period of ∼5 s. In this paper a time-progressive, frequency domain beamforming method is developed and used to analyze microbaroms recorded by these and 10 other infrasonic arrays along the North Pacific rim. Common pelagic microbarom sources that move around the North Pacific are observed during the boreal winter. Summertime North Pacific sources are only observed by western Pacific arrays, presumably a result of weaker microbarom radiation and westward stratospheric winds. A well-defined source is resolved ∼2000 km off the coast of California in January 2011 that moves closer to land over several days. The source locations are corrected for deflection by horizontal winds using acoustic ray trace modeling with range-dependent atmospheric specifications provided by ground-to-space models. The observed source locations do not correlate with anomalies in NOAA Wave Watch 3 (NWW3) model field data. However, application of the opposing wave, microbarom source model of Waxler and Gilbert (2006) to the NWW3 directional wave height spectra output at buoy locations within 1100 km of the western North America coastline predicts microbarom radiation in locations that correlate with observed locations. These results suggest that pelagic North Pacific microbarom radiation detected by infrasonic arrays during the boreal winter could be routinely used to validate NWW3 results in regions with poor sensor coverage.


Crack-healing effectiveness of nano-Ni+SiC co-dispersed Al2O3 hybrid materials by heat treatment was studied as well as oxidation behavior. The starting powder mixture was prepared by drying slurry consisting of distilled water, Al2O3, SiC powder and nickel nitrate. After reduction, the powder mixture was densified by pulsed electric current sintering. Cracks were introduced by a Vickers indenter. Specimens were exposed into air at temperature ranging from 1000 and 1300°C for 1 and 48 h. Thickness of oxidized zone in SiC+nano-Ni/Al2O3 thinner than nano-Ni/Al2O3. Cracks of SiC+nano-Ni/Al2O3 disappeared completely, for example, by oxidation at 1200°C for 6 h, as same as nano-Ni/Al2O3. Bending strength of crack-disappeared SiC+nano-Ni/Al2O3 showed 519 MPa and was comparable with that of as-sintered one. SiC+nano-Ni/Al2O3 pocesses crack-healing effectiveness with improved high-temperature oxidation resistance.


Data integration is an important task in medical informatics and highly impacts the gain out of existing health information data. These tasks are using implemented as extract transform and load processes. By introducing HL7 FHIR as an intermediate format, our aim was to integrate heterogeneous data from a German pulmonary hypertension registry into an OMOP Common Data Model. First, domain knowledge experts defined a common parameter set, which was subsequently mapped to standardized terminologies like LOINC or SNOMED-CT. Data was extracted as HL7 FHIR Bundle to be transformed to OMOP CDM by using XSLT. We successfully transformed the majority of data elements to the OMOP CDM in a feasible time.


While food borne diseases remain an important public health problem worldwide, one of the most significant food safety hazards is associated with those from animals. Food borne infections and illnesses are a major international health problem with consequent economic reduction and deaths. Meat is considered the most important source of proteins consumed by humans, yet most perishable. For highly perishable foodstuffs such as fresh red meat, the threat of food poisoning is particularly high since it contains all the nutrients that support bacterial growth. Inappropriate slaughtering and retail operation can compromise food safety and more so, in densely populated areas like informal settlements. In the present study, the microbial quality of meat from slaughterhouse and butcheries supplying residents of Nyagacho, Kericho County was assessed to determine their safety for human consumption and to highlight the potential contamination points. The bacteriological quality of the meat samples were performed using the Total Plate Count (TPC) method, while standard culture methods were used for bacteria isolation and identification. Equipment, walls, floors, hands and clothing of meat personnel were swabbed and analyzed by means of Rodac plates. The results obtained indicated that the meat quality from the butcheries exceeded acceptable range over the study period. The bacteriological load obtained from the study in the slaughterhouse however, was within the acceptable range <3.5 log (HACCP 2002). During the study, the meat sampled from the slaughterhouse was therefore fit for human consumption (ranged between ± 3.20 ±3.50 log). However, butchery isolates recorded high counts exceeding the acceptable maximum limits prescribed by Meat HACCP (Scotland) regulations 2002 No. 234. TPC yielded counts as high as ±6.49 ±7.50 and exceeded the accepted range > 5.0 cfu/g and hence all butchery meat sampled during the study was not fit for consumption. It was established that there was a high significant difference (p=0.000 at p<0.05) of the means from the two sites (slaughterhouse and butcheries). From 27 samples cultured from the slaughterhouse, 15 tested positive for pathogens. Of the 15, 4 (27%) were positive for Staphylococcus aureus, 6 (40%) for Proteus vulgaris and 5 (33%) for Proteus rettgeri. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was not isolated in all the samples of the slaughterhouse. From the 27 samples collected from butcheries, 24 were positive for pathogens. Of the 24, 7(29%) were positive for Staphylococcus aureus, 6 (25%) for Proteus rettgeri, 7 (29%) for Proteus vulgaris and 4 (17%) for Pseudomonas aeruginosa. During the study period, meat from the sampled butcheries was not suitable for human consumption since the counts exceeded the acceptable limits and hence a serious threat to the consumers" and calls for urgent intervention.


This group of methods focuses on community interaction through language. It usually entails many open ended interviews with participants who are members of a group being studied. The researcher strives to learn as much as they can about the history of the community as well as the individuals within it in order to gain a full understanding of how their culture functions. Interviews can take place individually or with focus groups within the community based on age, status, gender, and other factors that contribute to differences within the community.


Auxetic cellular solids in the forms of honeycombs and foams have great potential in a diverse range of applications, including as core material in curved sandwich panel composite components, radome applications, directional pass band filters, adaptive and deployable structures, filters and sieves, seat cushion material, energy absorption components, viscoelastic damping materials and fastening devices etc. In this paper, the characteristic of wave propagation in sandwich panel with auxetic core is analyzed. A three-layer sandwich panel is considered which is discretized in the thickness direction by using semi-analytical finite element method. Wave propagation equations are obtained through some algebraic manipulation and applying standard finite element assembling procedures. The mechanical properties of auxetic core can be described by the geometric parameters of the unit cell and mechanical properties of the virgin core material. The characteristics of wave propagation in sandwich panel with conventional hexagonal honeycomb core and re-entrant auxetic core are discussed, and effects of panel thickness, geometric properties of unit cell on dispersive curves are also discussed. Variations of Poisson's ratio and core density with inclined angle are presented. © 2010 IAU, Arak Branch. All rights reserved.


Data items archived in data warehouses or those that arrive online as streams typically have attributes which take values from multiple hierarchies (e.g., time and geographic location; source and destination IP addresses). Providing an aggregate view of such data is important to summarize, visualize, and analyze. We develop the aggregate view based on certain hierarchically organized sets of large-valued regions ("heavy hitters"). Such Hierarchical Heavy Hitters (HHHs) were previously introduced as a crucial aggregation technique in one dimension. In order to analyze the wider range of data warehousing applications and realistic IP data streams, we generalize this problem to multiple dimensions.We identify and study two variants of HHHs for multi-dimensional data, namely the "overlap" and "split" cases, depending on how an aggregate computed for a child node in the multi-dimensional hierarchy is propagated to its parent element(s). For data warehousing applications, we present offline algorithms that take multiple passes over the data and produce the exact HHHs. For data stream applications, we present online algorithms that find approximate HHHs in one pass, with provable accuracy guarantees.We show experimentally, using real and synthetic data, that our proposed online algorithms yield outputs which are very similar (virtually identical, in many cases) to their offline counterparts. The lattice property of the product of hierarchical dimensions ("diamond") is crucially exploited in our online algorithms to track approximate HHHs using only a small, fixed number of statistics per candidate node, regardless of the number of dimensions.


In trypanosomes the rRNA, PARP and VSG gene promoters mediate alpha-amanitin-resistant transcription of protein coding genes, presumably by RNA polymerase (pol) I. We compared the activity of PARP and VSG promoters integrated at one of the alleles of the largest subunit of pol II genes in insect form trypanosomes. Even though both promoters are roughly equally active in transient transformation assays in insect form trypanosomes, only the PARP promoter functioned effectively when integrated at the pol II largest subunit or other loci. Promoter activity in transient transformation assays is therefore not necessarily predictive of transcriptional activity once integrated into the trypanosome genome. The integrated fully active PARP promoter could upregulate in cis an otherwise poorly active integrated VSG promoter. The PARP promoter nucleotide sequence elements responsible for VSG promoter activation coincided with most of the important PARP promoter elements mapped previously by linker scanning mutagenesis, indicating that it is not a single unique promoter element that was responsible for VSG promoter activation. The data suggest that PARP promoter-mediated activation of the VSG promoter does not result from complementation of the VSG promoter with a single insect form-specific transcription factor whose binding site is missing from the VSG promoter and present in the PARP promoter. We favor a model in which chromatin structure at the locus is altered by the PARP promoter, allowing VSG promoter activation in insect form trypanosomes. We discuss the significance of these observations for the control of VSG promoters in insect form trypanosomes.


Objectives: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease characterized by insulin resistance and high blood glucose level from progressive insulin secretory defect. The rhizome of Atractylodes japonica Koidz. (AJ) has been used for treatment of retention of water in oriental medicine. The aim of this study is to examine the effects of AJ on type 2 diabetes rats. Methods: Type 2 diabetes was induced by 60% high fat diet and low dose streptozotocin. Rats were divided into 4 groups (n = 6); Nor (normal control group), Con (diabetic group treated with vehicle), Met (diabetic group treated with 200 ㎎/㎏ metformin) and AJ (diabetic group treated with 100 ㎎/㎏ AJ). The body weights and food intakes were measured during the treatment period. After 4 weeks treatment, blood glucose level, HOMA-IR, and protein expressions of IRS-1, p-IRS-1, PPAR-γ, and GLUT4 were measured, and histopathological examination of beta cell was performed. Results: Compared with the control group, blood glucose level and HOMA-IR were reduced in rats treated with AJ. Impaired beta cells in pancreas of rats were recovered and phosphorylation of IRS-1 was increased in rats treated with AJ. And also, protein expressions of PPAR-γ and GLUT4 were increased by treatment of AJ. Conclusions: The results suggest that Atractylodes japonica Koidz. may have anti-diabetic effect on type 2 diabetic rats through regulation of blood glucose level and insulin resistance. Therefore Atractylodes japonica Koidz. may have positive effects on patients with type 2 diabetes.


Summary In this study, natural mortality factors of Citrus Leafminer, Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) were investigated under field conditions. The studies were carried out in a lemon orchard in Adana, Turkey during 2007-2008. Ten trees were selected and weekly one shoot from each tree, and a total of ten shoots, were collected randomly during May-November. In the laboratory, the first 15 leaves were checked using a binocular microscope. All biological stages of the pest and the parasitoids, dead or infected individuals, and empty mines, were counted. According to the method and symptoms of predation, the mortality factors of the pest were recorded. In 2007 and 2008, large numbers of larvae were parasitized (46.25% and 48.12%, respectively). The larval parasitoid Citrostichus phyllocnistoides Narayanan (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) was the abundant species in both years. The third instar of the host had the highest percent of parasitized individuals. In the first year, 15.33% of the pest were consumed by spiders, 10.07% by Chrysoperla carnea (Stephens) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) and 3.14% by ants, whereas in the second year these ratios were 16.61%, 8.57% and 3.78%, respectively. Second instar larvae were the most preferred stage for predation. In 2007, in 13.66% of the mines no pests were recorded, whereas the mortality source of 5.19% of the larvae and pupae was not detected. In 2008, these ratios were 10.21% and 6.87%, respectively. It was determined that predators are as effective as the parasitoids in the biological control of the pest.


Purpose To explore students' perceptions of virtual patient use in the clinical clerkship and develop a framework to evaluate effects of different integration strategies on students' satisfaction and perceptions of learning effectiveness with this innovation. Method A prospective, multiinstitutional study was conducted at six schools' pediatric clerkships to assess the impact of integrating Web-based virtual patient cases on students' perceptions of their learning during 2004–2005 and 2005–2006. Integration strategies were designed to meet the needs of each school, and integration was scored for components of virtual patient use and elimination of other teaching methodologies. A student survey was developed, validated, and administered at the end of the clerkship to 611 students. Data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Results A total of 545 students (89%) completed the survey. Overall student satisfaction with the virtual patients was high; students reported that they were more effective than traditional methods. The structural model demonstrated that elimination of other teaching methodologies was directly associated with perceived effectiveness of the integration strategies. A higher use score had a significant negative effect on perceived integration, but a positive effect on perceived knowledge and skills gain. Students' positive perceptions of integration directly affected their satisfaction and perception of the effectiveness of their learning. Conclusions Integration strategies balancing the use of virtual patients with elimination of some other requirements were significantly associated with students' satisfaction and their perceptions of improved knowledge and skills.


The use of blogs to track and comment on real world (political, news, entertainment) events is growing. Similarly, as more individuals start relying on the Web as their primary information source and as more traditional media outlets try reaching consumers through alternative venues, the number of news sites on the Web is also continuously increasing. Content-reuse, whether in the form of extensive quotations or content borrowing across media outlets, is very common in blogs and news entries outlets tracking the same real-world event. Knowledge about which web entries re-use content from which others can be an effective asset when organizing these entries for presentation. On the other hand, this knowledge is not cheap to acquire: considering the size of the related space web entries, it is essential that the techniques developed for identifying re-use are fast and scalable. Furthermore, the dynamic nature of blog and news entries necessitates incremental processing for reuse detection. In this paper, we develop a novel qSign algorithm that efficiently and effectively analyze the blogosphere for quotation and reuse identification. Experiment results show that with qSign processing time gains from 10X to 100X are possible while maintaining reuse detection rates of upto 90%. Furthermore, processing time gains can be pushed multiple orders of magnitude (from 100X to 1000X) for 70% recall.


This study proposes a novel framework for tourism demand forecasting, which combines search queries generated on the Internet, advanced feature selection methods, and machine learning based forecasting technique. This new methodology is applied to forecast tourism demand in two popular destinations in China: Beijing and Haikou. The study evaluates the performances of various feature selection approaches in tourism forecasting. We further show that the random forest feature selection and support vector regression with radial basis function can be extremely useful for the accurate forecasts of tourist volumes. This research highlights the advantage of big data and machine learning algorithms in the tourism forecasting.


Summary form only given. By reducing the diameter of the the cathode opening in hollow cathode discharge geometry to values on the order of 100 micrometers we were able to operate the discharges in argon and xenon in a direct current mode at atmospheric pressure. The micro-discharges have been shown to emit excimer radiation peaking at wavelengths of 130 nm and 170 nm, respectively. We have in this study particularly concentrated on the xenon VUV radiation. The emission from a 100 micrometers microhollow cathode discharge in xenon at pressures between 40 and 760 Torr was measured over the spectral range from 130 nm to 400 nm. At 40 Torr, the 147 nm xenon resonance line dominates the emission spectra. There are some indications of the first continuum which extends from the resonance line towards longer wavelength. The second excimer continuum peaking at 170 nm appears at higher pressures. At pressures greater than 300 Torr, it dominates the emission spectra up to the longest recorded wavelength of 400 nm. In order to determine the absolute values of the excimer radiation the emission was compared to that of calibrated UV sources: a Hg lamp (line emission at 185 nm) and a Deuterium lamp.


Abstract : The Air Force relies on the application of new technologies to support and execute its mission. As new technologies develop, the integration of that technology is studied to determine the costs and benefits it may provide to the war fighter. One such emergent technology is the Bluetooth wireless protocol, used to connect a small number of devices over a short distance. The short distance is a feature that makes using the protocol desirable. However short, there is still a vulnerability to interception. This research identifies ranges at which several commercially available Bluetooth devices are usable. Various combinations of both distance and orientation are varied to determine a 360 degree map of the Bluetooth antenna. The map identifies distances at which certain throughput thresholds are available. This research shows that baseline 1 mW Bluetooth antennas are capable of throughput levels of 100 kbps at over 40 meters, which is four times the minimum distance specified in the protocol standard. The 3Com PC card was the best performing PC card, capable of throughputs at or near 100 kbps out to 40 meters. The other PC Cards tested had similar performance. The Hawking USB dongle was the best USB antenna tested, achieving throughputs of over 200 kbps in three of the four orientation, and over 150 kbps at the fourth. The 3Com dongle was a close second, the Belkin dongle a distant third, while the DLink antenna was not able to achieve 100 kbps at any distance tested.


Retinoic acid (RA) plays important roles in diverse biological processes ranging from germ cell specification to limb patterning. RA ultimately exerts its effect in the nucleus, but how RA levels are being generated and maintained locally is less clear. Here, we have analyzed the zebrafish stocksteif mutant, which exhibits severe over-ossification of the entire vertebral column. stocksteif encodes cyp26b1, a cytochrome P450 member that metabolizes RA. The mutant is completely phenocopied by treating 4 dpf wild-type embryos with either RA or the pharmacological Cyp26 blocker R115866, thus identifying a previously unappreciated role for RA and cyp26b1 in osteogenesis of the vertebral column. Cyp26b1 is expressed within osteoblast cells, demonstrating that RA levels within these cells need to be tightly controlled. Furthermore, we have examined the effect of RA on osteoblasts in vivo. As numbers of osteoblasts do not change upon RA treatment, we suggest that RA causes increased activity of axial osteoblasts, ultimately resulting in defective skeletogenesis.


The melting curves of rhenium and osmium to megabar pressures are obtained from an extensive suite of ab initio quantum molecular dynamics (QMD) simulations using the Z method. In addition, for Re, we combine QMD simulations with total free energy calculations to obtain its phase diagram. Our results indicate that Re, which generally assumes a hexagonal close-packed (hcp) structure, melts from a face-centered cubic (fcc) structure in the pressure range 20–240 GPa. We conclude that the recent DAC data on Re to 50 GPa in fact encompass both the true melting curve and the low-slope hcp-fcc phase boundary above a triple point at (20 GPa, 4240 K). A linear fit to the Re diamond anvil cell (DAC) data then results in a slope that is 2.3 times smaller than that of the actual melting curve. The phase diagram of Re is topologically equivalent to that of Pt calculated by us earlier on. Regularities in the melting curves of Re, Os, and five other 3rd-row transition metals (Ta, W, Ir, Pt, Au) form the 3rd-row transition metal melting systematics. We demonstrate how this systematics can be used to estimate the currently unknown melting curve of the eighth 3rd-row transition metal Hf.


The year 2010 has seen the rise of West Asia with the Arab Spring phenomena. The event has triggered the solidarity of at least 8 countries in the region of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and has seen the ousting of Hosni Mubarak's regime. Malaysia is emotionally attached to Egypt through religion, economy and education which has led Malaysians to track the event. In the meantime, the media is seen as the catalyst towards the rise of the people there. The democratic system depends very much on free, accurate and responsible flow of credible information. The flow of information has brought huge changes in the communications aspect. This article will discuss about the impact of social media as the main source of information channel among Malaysians during the massive uprise in Egypt.


[1] Josef Dufek and Alison Rust each received the Hisashi Kuno Award at the 2010 AGU Fall Meeting, held 13–17 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes "accomplishments of junior scientists who make outstanding contributions to the fields of volcanology, geochemistry, and petrology."


Adolescent health is a growing concern among professionals since it has been shown that the majority of deaths and disabilities that occur in this age group are largely determined by behaviors. Many adolescents engage in risky behaviors such as early sexual promiscuity, substance abuse and violence, which can have long lasting or permanent consequences. In order to significantly reduce the incidence of health disparities in these areas, public health interventions must be innovative, specific and comprehensive in addressing the behaviors that lead to such issues. It is also imperative that existing interventions address barriers many youth face including lack of knowledge and empowerment about the negative effects of risky behavior. Although challenges remain in educating and promoting health services to an ever-changing adolescent population, interventionists should focus on identifying the causes of early initiation of risky behaviors and the rationale behind why they continue. This is of public health significance because there are a number of health issues facing at-risk youth in underserved populations such as early sexual behavior, violence and substance abuse. Interventions will be identified utilizing music as a mechanism to inform youth about healthy behaviors. Adolescents are influenced by music and other forms of media which has a direct effect on their behavior. The influences of hip-hop music and its effects among adolescent behavior will be discussed. A qualitative evaluation strategy is proposed for the KRUNK Movement health initiative for youth located in the greater Pittsburgh area.


Mentheae are the largest tribe in the family Lamiaceae and economically important, including herbs like mint, sage and thyme. The evolutionary history of this tribe was reconstructed based on ITS and trnL-trnF spacer sequence data of 71 species, representing 47 out of 65 genera. The resulting phylogeny was used to analyse the distribution of selected morphological characteristics such as sexine ornamentation of pollen, nutlet shape with existence of abscission scar and its form, and trichome types. Two monophyletic groups are recognized, which largely correspond to the current subtribal circumscription. Subtribe Salviinae is monophyletic, including the genus Melissa which was a genus of uncertain affinity in Mentheae. Subtribe Menthinae is not monophyletic since Cleonia, Horminum, Hyssopus, Lycopus and Prunella are more closely related with subtribe Nepetinae. Although we could not detect any morphological synapomorphies for each clade, morphological variation seems to be correlated with the molecular phylogeny. A circular abscission scar without distinct lateral areole occurred mainly in Salviinae, while the majority of the species of Mentheae and Nepetinae had a clear areole at the abscission scar. In addition, a reticulate sexine ornamentation is rather common in the Menthinae clade.


In this paper, methods are presented for calculating the maximal parameter perturbation bounds under ${\cal H}_2$ performance constraints for a family of uncertain systems and for calculating the average ${\cal H}_2$ performance under such parameter variations. The uncertain systems are described by state space models with nonlinear (polynomial) dependencies on real uncertain parameters. All results obtained are based on necessary and sufficient conditions. As a special virtue of the approach, the proposed algorithms for stability analysis and for performance analysis turn out to have exactly the same algebraic structure. An example illustrates the results and the algorithms.


Worldwide, tuberculosis remains the most frequent and important infectious disease to cause morbidity and death. However, the development of new drugs for the treatment and prophylaxis of TB has been slow. Therefore, novel types of antituberculous drugs, which act on the unique drug targets in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, particularly the drug targts related to the establishment of mycobacterial dormancy and persistency in host macrophages, are urgently needed. In this context, it should be noted that current antituberculous drugs mostly target the metabolic reactions and proteins which are essential for the growth of M. tuberculosis in extracellular milieus. It may also be promising to develop another type of drug that exhibits an inhibitory action against bacterial virulence factors which cross-talk and interfere with signaling pathways of M. tuberculosis-infected host immunocompetent cells such as macrophages and T cells, thereby changing the intracelluar milieus favorable to intramacrophage survival and growth of infected bacilli. In this review article, I will describe recent approaches to identify and establish novel potential drug targets in M. tuberculosis, especially those related to mycobacterial virulence factors interfering with host cytokine networks, particularly those acting upon intracellular signaling pathways of macrophages.


In severe cold area, the exterior layers of envelope usually experience seasonal freezing /thawing due to cold climate in winter. However, it can lead to severe problems especially in the newly-completed building. In order to analyze the drying of envelope on building initial use, the heat and moisture coupled transfer of building envelope in severe cold area Harbin, China was simulated with the modeling method developed. The modeled result was analyzed. It is concluded that the drying rate of the newly-completed building envelope is significantly high in the first year, especially in the first few months. Insulation performance of the wall in the first winter is most serious due to the high initial moisture and freezing ice content in insulation layer. For the simulated envelope, the freezing of the moisture content especially that in insulation layer had notable effect on heat transfer coefficient (thermal resistance), and the maximum of heat transfer coefficient of the modeled envelope in the first year winter is about 7% higher than that in the tenth year, which is taken as final hygral state.


nasal polypi. The thin bony walls of the ethmoidal labyrinth are destroyed by chronic sinusitis. This allows infection through the cribriform plate. I would, however, disagree with the opinion that meningitis rarely occurs in patients with spontaneous C.S.F. rhinorrhoea. I have diagnosed this condition in three of my patients. Two of them developed meningitis. The diagnosis is not difficult provided one bears it in mind. A watery nasal discharge is a very common symptom in an otolaryngological clinic. It is usually due to allergic rhinitis or chronic rhinitis due to nose drops. In C.S.F. rhinorrhoea a sample of the fluid will contain glucose. This never happens in allergic rhinitis. A rapid test is to insert a Clinitest stick into each nostril. It will confirm the presence of glucose and show the side of the C.S.F. leak. Tomography does not help to confirm a bony defect in the cribriform plate. The area is difficult to see clearly by x-rays. Looking for radioactive isotopes in the nose after they have been put into the lumbar theca is an important development. It may help us to diagnose this condition more often.-I am, etc., J. SIEGLER. Liverpool.


Background: The scientific literature does not supply enough information about the effects of postural changes on diffusing lung capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), in particular regarding the prone position. Objectives: We evaluated posture-related changes in DLCO in healthy subjects and in COPD patients in order to especially assess how prone posture affects gas exchange. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, DLCO was measured in 10 healthy subjects and 30 COPD patients in standing, seated, supine and prone positions. Results: In healthy individuals, DLCO tended to improve from the upright to the supine position (21.42 ± 2.90 and 26.07 ± 5.11 ml/min/mm Hg, respectively); in the same group, changing the position from upright to prone also caused significant improvements in DLCO (absolute value, 21.42 ± 2.90 vs. 24.80 ± 4.39 ml/min/mm Hg, p < 0.05, or percent of predicted, 78.58 ± 11.12 vs. 91.44 ± 13.23, p < 0.05) and in DLCO proportional to alveolar volume (DLCO/VA; 4.52 ± 0.57 vs. 5.66 ± 1.48 ml/min/mm Hg/l, p < 0.05). No significant differences in DLCO have been observed in COPD patients from the standing to the prone position. Multivariate linear regression models showed that the posture-related changes in DLCO, DLCO expressed as percent of predicted and in DLCO/VA are directly correlated with the transition from upright/sitting to supine/prone. Conclusions: In healthy subjects, the effect of postural changes on DLCO could be explained by a more homogeneous perfusion, whereas the lack of variations in COPD patients could be attributed to the increased rigidity of lung capillaries, which could represent an early sensitive marker of damage of the alveolar capillary interface in these patients.