Failure of the Scan Line Corrector (SLC) on the Landsat ETM+ sensor has had a major impact on many applications that rely on continuous medium resolution imagery to meet their objectives. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Cropland Data Layer (CDL) program uses Landsat imagery as the primary source of data to produce crop-specific maps for 20 states in the USA. A new method has been developed to fill the image gaps resulting from the SLC failure to support the needs of Landsat users who require coincident spectral data, such as for crop type mapping and monitoring. We tested the new gap-filled method for a CDL crop type mapping project in eastern Nebraska. Scan line gaps were simulated on two Landsat 5 images (spring and late summer 2003) and then gap-filled using landscape boundary models, or segment models, that were derived from 1992 and 2002 Landsat images (used in the gap-fill process). Various date combinations of original and gap-filled images were used to derive crop maps using a supervised classification process. Overall kappa values were slightly higher for crop maps derived from SLC-off gap-filled images compared to crop maps derived from the original imagery (0.3–1.3% higher). Although the age of the segment model used to derive the SLC-off gap-filled product did not negatively impact the overall agreement, differences in individual cover type agreement did increase (−0.8%–1.6% using the 2002 segment model to −5.0–5.1% using the 1992 segment model). Classification agreement also decreased for most of the classes as the size of the segment used in the gap-fill process increased.


Reliable pavement performance prediction models are essential for pavement design and preservation effort. Pavement performance is defined as the serviceability trend of the pavement over a design period of time. Serviceability indicates the ability of the pavement to serve and sustain the demand of the traffic in the existing condition. Pavement condition can be evaluated in four aspects: roughness, surface distress, structural capacity and skid resistance. In the analysis of the results of the road test conducted by American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO), the subjective evaluation of serviceability by users was called the Present Serviceability Rating (PSR). The data used in modelling Pavement Serviceability Index (PSI), as reported by some authors, violate the basic assumptions of linear regression modelling in that it does not follow normal distribution. The objective of this study is to explore the relationship between the subjective Pavement Serviceability Rating (PSR) and objective index called Present Serviceability Index for highway sections in South-East, Nigeria. Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model was used to explore the relationship. The method of rating PSR is based on a five point scale: 0-1 (very good); 1-2 (good); 2-3 (fair); 3-4 (critical) and 4-5 (poor). International roughness Index (IRI) was converted to Slope Variance (SV). The input variables are rut depth, cracking, patching and SV. Back-propagation of ANN models with different activation function and number of hidden layers were trained and tested. The dataset was randomly split into three subsets, namely training (60%), testing (20%) and validation (20%) for the ANN model. The optimal models were evaluated with respect to forecasting error and coefficient of determination. Both Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) for all predictions are plotted. Considering the architecture (4-18-1) with minimum MAE, RMSE and coefficient of determination, the table and figures show that the topology with one hidden layer with hyperbolic transfer function and hyperbolic transfer function for the output layer is the best. Comparison was made with multiple linear regression model which attempts to obtain a relationship between two or more explanatory variables and a response variable by fitting a linear equation to observed data. The results showed that the coefficient of determination for ANN model is 0.90 compared to 0.34 for regression model; ANN has demonstrated its ability to model non-linear data. This result confirms that the input variables are non-linear, and the ANN has shown to forecast with high degree of accuracy over regression analysis.


The present study was designated to evaluate the effect of direct current induced permanent magnetic field (DC-MF) on chemically induced rat colon carcinogenesis. Five experimental groups of male S.D. rats were injected with 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH) subcutaneously, 20 mg/kg b.wt., once a week for four weeks, with exposure to 1 mT DC-MF (12 hours/day) as follows: Before (pre) the carcinogen administration (group 1), simultaneously (group 2), after (post) the carcinogen administration (group 3) and daily from the beginning to the end of the experiment after 12 weeks (group 4). Rats of group 5 served as carcinogen-only treated controls while those of group 6 were non-treated controls. There were no differences in the incidences and multiplicities of colonic aberrant crypt foci (ACF), putative preneoplastic lesions, among all groups except that large foci in group 1 were significantly fewer in numbers than those found in group 5. Proliferating cell nuclear antigen labeling indexes (PCNA-LI) in the colon epithelium were essentially the same in MF-treated and control rats. Histopathological examination showed evident hemorrhage in the pituitary glands of some rats of groups 1-3, and in most rats of group 4. Transmission electron microscopy also revealed ultrastructural changes, but DNA ploidy analysis revealed no carcinogenicity to MF-exposed pituitary glands. Serum levels of AST, ALT, total protein, creatinine, albumin, albumin/globulin ratio and growth hormone levels did not change among the groups. The present study revealed that the action of an artificial MF on rats is not carcinogenic/or cancer-promoting, at least in the present protocol for colon carcinogenesis.


Wildfire is an important system process of the earth that occurs across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. A variety of methods have been used to predict wildfire phenomena during the past century to better our understanding of fire processes and to inform fire and land management decision-making. Statistical methods have an important role in wildfire prediction due to the inherent stochastic nature of fire phenomena at all scales. Predictive models have exploited several sources of data describing fire phenomena. Experimental data are scarce; observational data are dominated by statistics compiled by government fire management agencies, primarily for administrative purposes and increasingly from remote sensing observations. Fires are rare events at many scales. The data describing fire phenomena can be zero-heavy and nonstationary over both space and time. Users of fire modeling methodologies are mainly fire management agencies often working under great time constraints, thus, complex models have to be efficiently estimated. We focus on providing an understanding of some of the information needed for fire management decision-making and of the challenges involved in predicting fire occurrence, growth and frequency at regional, national and global scales.


In sandstones of the Great Valley Sequence of Mesozoic age at Cache Creek, post-depositional albitization of plagioclase and chloritization of biotite are widespread in noncalcareous rocks, but uncommon in rocks with calcareous cement. The degree of alteration increases systematically with age and inferred depth of burial in Upper Cretaceous strata, and is uniformly great in Lower Cretaceous strata that were buried from 20,000 to 30,000 feet. Laumontite is characteristic of thoroughly altered Lower Cretaceous rocks. Other metamorphic assemblages may be widespread at higher and lower horizons.


During the past summer, OSHA requested ABSA's technical support to develop a white paper regarding the concept of infectious dose. ABSA was asked to consider whether infectious doses for organisms could be defined in such a way to potentially develop permissible exposure levels to those infectious agents. The following paper was researched and developed by ABSA's Technical Review Committee and Council in support of the ABSA/OSHA Alliance.


By direct video monitoring of dynamic colloidal self-assembly during solvent evaporation in a sessile drop, we investigated the effect of surface charge on the ordering of colloidal spheres. The in situ observations revealed that the interaction between charged colloidal spheres and substrates affects the mobility of colloidal spheres during convective self-assembly, playing an important role in the colloidal crystal growth process. Both ordered and disordered growth was observed depending on different chemical conditions mediated by surface charge and surfactant additions to the sessile drop system. These different self-assembly behaviors were explained by the Coulombic and hydrophobic interactions between surface-charged colloidal spheres and substrates.


There are a variety of factors which can influence cochlear implantation outcome. Channel interaction is one of the variables responsible for audiological performance deterioration in multichannel implants. Electrode design is – among others – one way to decrease the incidence of channel interaction. At present, electrodes differ in overall length, diameter, contact design and distribution, but none of the electrodes available have a distinct variability in the amount of space between contacts across the length of the electrode. The aim of this study was to investigate whether a new electrode design featuring larger contact spacing in the apical part of deeply inserted electrodes would lead to an increase in speech perception. Eighteen postlingually deafened patients fitted with MedEl Combi 40+ or MedEl Pulsar cochlear implants using the MedEl implementation of continuous interleaved sampling participated in this study. Patients were tested in 6 conditions, in which the channel spacing and distribution of electrode contacts in each patient were artificially varied by activating or deactivating different channels. Performance was tested immediately after each change in setup with a monosyllable and sentence test (Hochmaier, Schultz and Moser). Our results showed that the condition with the highest distance between contacts in the apical part (up to 6.4 mm instead of 2.4 mm) is the most effective for the matched map condition: the results improved statistically significantly for the sentence test from 72% in the standard 12-channel condition to 83.2% and from 40.8 to 50% for the monosyllable test. Based on these findings, we present a new electrode design which can help achieve further increases in speech perception with cochlear implants.


Copyright © 2019 by author(s) and International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development Journal. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0) ABSTRACT Titration is a method of quantitative/chemical analysis which can be used to determine the concentration of a known reactant. Mixed solvency has been widely used to enhance the aqueous solubility of a large number of poorly watersoluble drugs. Various organic solvents like methanol, chloroform, dimethyl formamide and ethanol have been employed for solubilization of poorly watersoluble drugs. Organic solvents because of their higher cost, toxicities and pollution are not used as solvent. In the present investigation a sodium benzoate, sodium citrate, sodium salicylate solution (an economic agent) was employed as a hydrotropic solubilizing agent to solubilize the poorly water-soluble drug aceclofenac for its titrimetric analysis in bulk sample and tablets precluding the use of organic solvent. The proposed method is new, simple, precise and inexpensive. The results of the analysis have been validated statistically. The mean % recoveries were found to be close to 100, indicating the accuracy of the proposed method.


A transient depersonalization syndrome was identified in nearly one third of persons exposed to life-threatening danger (accident victims) and close to 40 per cent of a group of hospitalized psychiatric patients. Although the syndrome was similar in these populations, mental clouding developed more commonly among patients and alertness was more prominent among accident victims. Anxiety was significantly associated with the development of depersonalization among psychiatric patients and was almost certainly a factor in its appearance among accident victims. The findings suggest that this syndrome is a specific response to extreme danger or its associated anxiety.


Abstract Background: Hawkinsinuria is a rare inborn error of tyrosine metabolism. Objectives: To study novel hawkinsinuria cases by monitoring their biochemical profile and conducting a mutation analysis. Subjects and methods: Among 92,519 newborns that underwent expanded newborn screening, two unrelated cases with high tyrosine blood levels were further investigated by chromatographic techniques and via genetic testing for 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPD) gene. Results: Elevated levels were monitored for blood/plasma tyrosine and for the specific diagnostic markers in urine. The two newborns were put on a special low tyrosine diet. Till completion of the 1st year of their life, liver function tests and brain MRI were normal. The mutation A33T was identified in both cases, while one neonate carried an additional novel mutation of HPD gene (V212M). Conclusions: Two mutations of HPD gene, A33T, which are associated with hawkinsinuria and a novel one (V212M) were detected for the 1st time in Greek newborns.


While public and private entities question the utility of privacy preserving means of electronic payments
for individuals other than criminals, discussions are primarily based on anecdotal evidence. Thus, we
address the overall research question of whether pseudonymous cryptocurrencies are primarily used by
criminals. Based on Rational Choice Theory and darknet market design, we build a dynamic research
model. Utilizing panel data of 296,875 unique product and service listings that were available on 19
darknet markets from June 2014 to July 2015 as well as Bitcoin blockchain transactions, we provide
evidence for the co-evolution of Bitcoin and darknet markets. We find that transactions within the Bitcoin
blockchain and the usage of transaction obfuscation services can be related to previous sales on darknet
markets. The temporal lag can be attributed to escrow mechanisms. We contribute to the research stream
of cryptocurrency usage behavior and discussions of regulators, governments and financial services firms.


We construct an endogenous growth intertemporal general equilibrium model with two types of jobs and two types of workers. We allow for job competition between high- and low skilled workers on the low-skilled segment of the labor market and for on-the-job search for high skilled workers. Matching processes are represented by matching functions a la Pissarides. Workers search intensities are endogenous. We distinguish between embodied and disembodied technological progress and endogenize them through a learning by doing process based on capital accumulation. Social returns to capital are imposed to be constant. Biased technological change is introduced via embodied technical progress and new technologies-skill complementarity relationship. The model reproduces quite well the producivity slowdown puzzle, the unemployment rate evolutions and the relative wage stability observed over the last decades. It suggests strong interactions between embodied technological progress, biased technological change, discouragement effects on job competition.


A major question in systems and cognitive neuroscience is to what extent neurostimulation responses are driven by recurrent activity. This question finds sharp relief in the case of TMS-EEG evoked potentials (TEPs). TEPs are spatiotemporal waveform patterns with characteristic inflections at ∼50ms, ∼100ms, and ∼150-200ms following a single TMS pulse that disperse from, and later reconverge to, the primary stimulated regions. What parts of the TEP are due to recurrent activity? And what light might this shed on more general principles of brain organization? We studied this using source-localized TMS-EEG analyses and whole-brain connectome-based computational modelling. Results indicated that recurrent network feedback begins to drive TEP responses from ∼100ms post-stimulation, with earlier TEP components being attributable to local reverberatory activity within the stimulated region. Subject-specific estimation of neurophysiological parameters additionally indicated an important role for inhibitory GABAergic neural populations in scaling cortical excitability levels, as reflected in TEP waveform characteristics.


This paper is based on an empirical study of the relationship between Just-in-Time (JIT) production, automation, cost allocation practices and the relative use of cost information for making and evaluating managerial decisions. The study uses a survey questionnaire to collect data from a random sample of New Zealand-based manufacturing organizations. Hypotheses were tested using bivariate tests and multiple regression analysis. The results indicate that the choice of activity-based cost allocations is negatively associated with the extent to which firms use a JIT approach to manufacturing, but positively associated with increased automation in the factory, as hypothesized. Furthermore, the increased use of JIT production is found to be associated with the decreased use of detailed costing information. The study found some support for the hypothesis that increased automation is associated with the increased use of costing information for managerial decisions.


OBJECTIVE
Objective living situation, subjective quality of life, need for care, and assessment of treatment of long-term hospitalised patients were investigated.

METHODS
237 patients from 6 hospitals were examined using standardised instruments.

RESULTS
Patients' satisfaction was generally relatively high, but varied greatly in subgroups and individuals. Patients were most satisfied with personal safety in the hospital and least satisfied with the expectation to live in the hospital for a long time. Therapists assessed clearly more needs for care in the patients than the patients did themselves. Statistical analysis revealed significant correlations between the subjective quality of life in different domains, the number of needs stated and plausible determining factors.

CONCLUSIONS
Findings reflecting patients' living situation in the hospital are very heterogeneous. In respect of subjective evaluation criteria, there is little space for improvement in the future.


Important functions such as cell adhesion and cell recognition depend on complex carbohydrates (glycans) whose structures are remarkably diverse. Glycans are synthesized by specific glycosyltransferases. Their expression and topogenesis to the proper Golgi subcompartment, availability of sugar nucleotides, and undisturbed intracellular traffic are critical factors of cell-specific glycosylation.


Because of the effectiveness of many interventions with drugs or devices in the primary prevention of cardiovascular events, there is great interest in developing accurate clinical prediction tools to determine in clinical practice who will benefit most from these interventions. This applies to lipid-lowering drugs reducing mortality in high-risk patients and prevention of sudden death using implantable cardioverter-defibrillators. By contrast, there is no such primary prevention strategy for the most common form of sustained arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation (AF).

AF is often underdetected and suboptimally managed, while it is a major cause of cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality, by increasing the incidence of stroke, heart failure, dementia and hospitalisations with highly varying presentations in these events for each individual affected by AF. Regrettably, highly effective preventive therapies have not been identified to date for primary prevention of AF. Initially promising, a range of therapies has been found to be rather ineffective in preventing incident AF or AF recurrences, including statins, fish oil, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin-receptor blockers and various antiarrhythmic agents.1

However, given the multidimensional nature of AF, the concept of integrated care has been promoted to prevent AF incidence, AF recurrences and to improve patient outcomes, with some evidence of success. Integrated care includes stroke prevention and efforts to reduce cardiovascular risk factors as well as broader approaches that include nurse-led interventions, education and lifestyle changes (such as obesity management, exercise and healthy lifestyle efforts).2 Focusing efforts on increasing awareness among clinicians, patients and the general population helps to improve detection and a comprehensive or holistic approach might improve decision-making and approaches to management for patients at risk of AF.

In their  Heart  manuscript, Linker et al …


The genetic structure of the Mari population was studied by genetic markers (ABO, TF, GC, PI, HP, ACP1, PGM1). Nei's GST statistic was 0.0192, showing that 1.92% of the genetic diversity in the Mari population can be attributed to the subdivision effect. Genetic distances between Maris and other Finno-Ugric groups were estimated.


that hypertension is related to endothelial and smooth muscle cell dysfunction. Endothelial dysfunction precedes the manifestation of hypertension and is present with EH. perception of general health was significantly poorer in the latter (p < 0.003). Global life satisfaction was significantly decreased in "asymptomatic" patients compared with normal subjects (p < 0.003). This study suggests that the subjective e V ects of AF on isolated physical aspects or on social and emotional spheres may be sub-tle in patients with little or no symptoms, but the arrhythmia may significantly decrease the overall perception of well being in this popu- lation. Our data are consistent with the results of other studies evaluating QoL in patients with AF. In the Canadian trial of atrial fibrillation, 289 patients with paroxys- mal or persistent AF reported better QoL and had significantly higher scores in physical functioning, vitality, mental health, and role emotional when they perceived themselves to be in sinus rhythm. 3 Complete atrioventricular node ablation in patients with refractory AF resulted in a remarkable improvement in general QoL. An improvement in QoL and a reduction of symptoms after ablation was significantly greater than after atrioventricular node modification, probably because of better control of the rate and regularity of the ventricular response. 4 Although a noticeable increase in QoL has been seen in ablation studies, these usually addressed highly symptomatic patients with poorly controlled AF; only in a small series of patients with perma-nent AF and a normal ventricular rate response, a similar significant improvement in symptom scores and in the perception of general health have also been achieved after atrioventricular node ablation. 5


Freedom choice and simplicity brought about by e-business and knowledge-based customer relationships are creating the next Internet and mobile wave. The Value Web Technology of enterprise interactions has emerged in the consumer centric world. The combination of evolving business drivers (e.g.: globalization, downsizing), changing customers' demands and the evolution of enabling technology is producing e-business applications in the e-marketplace environment. The Internet and mobile technology inform an organization that the network offers an opportunity to establish more personal, efficient and competitive relationships with the customers in a new scenario. This paper focuses on the e-marketplace environment and presents some of the findings within an organization using e-business. This organization focuses on the knowledge-based customer relationship as one of the core competency strategies to gain a competitive advantage at the e-marketplace.


Transarterial chemoembolization represents a first-line non-curative therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), although the biological changes in the remaining cancer after embolization are not completely understood. In the present study, we examined whether transarterial embolization (TAE) enhances the metastatic potential of residual HCC and investigated the mechanisms underlying embolization. The hepatoma cell line McA-RH7777, which is marked by green fluorescent protein (GFP), was used in the study. The invasion of cells cultured under hypoxia and normoxia was observed using the Transwell assay. Twenty male buffalo rats were implanted with GFP transfected McA-RH7777 tumors in the left lateral lobe of the liver. After laparotomy and retrograde placement of a catheter into the gastroduodenal artery (on the 14th day after implantation), TAE using lipiodol (0.2 ml/kg) was performed. Tumor volumes were measured before and after treatment using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Lung metastases were observed using fluorescence imaging, and the molecular changes of residual tumor cells were evaluated by western blotting or immunohistochemistry. The invasion assays indicated that the number of invading hypoxic cells was significantly higher than that of normoxic cells (30.2 ± 2.46 vs. 20.4 ± 1.89, P=0.013). Accompanying an increase in hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) expression, the metastatic potential of tumor cells following hypoxia or TAE was enhanced. This enhanced metastatic potential was indicated by a significant reduction in the expression of E-cadherin and an upregulation of N-cadherin and vimentin expression. The number of lung metastases in the TAE group was 19.20 ± 1.76, whereas this number was 11.30 ± 1.54 in the control group, which represented a statistically significant difference (P=0.003). In conclusion, hypoxia in the residual tumor after TAE can increase the invasiveness and metastatic potential of HCC and may be responsible for the failure of TAE.


The crosstalk analysis among MWCNTs in a complex bundle is performed in the frequency domain in the range up to 100 GHz. Numerical simulations are performed by using both the multiconductor transmission line (MTL) method and reduced-order equivalent models based on the equivalent single conductor (ESC) approach in order to reduce the complexity of the system. Each MWCNT of the bundle is firstly modeled as an ESC; next, the parallel connected ESCs of the bundle are further represented by only one equivalent conductor. The accuracy of the proposed approximation is assessed and discussed.


Vancomycin, the last line of defense antibiotic, depends upon the attachment of the carbohydrate vancosamine to an aglycone skeleton for antibacterial activity. Vancomycin is a naturally occurring secondary metabolite that can be produced by bacterial fermentation. To combat emerging resistance, it has been proposed to genetically engineer bacteria to produce analogues of vancomycin. This requires a detailed understanding of the biochemical steps in the synthesis of vancomycin. Here we report the 1.4 Å structure and biochemical characterization of EvaD, an RmlC-like protein that is required for the C-5′ epimerization during synthesis of dTDP-epivancosamine. EvaD, although clearly belonging to the RmlC class of enzymes, displays very low activity in the archetypal RmlC reaction (double epimerization of dTDP-6-deoxy-4-keto-d-glucose at C-3′ and C-5′). The high resolution structure of EvaD compared with the structures of authentic RmlC enzymes indicates that a subtle change in the enzyme active site repositions a key catalytic Tyr residue. A mutant designed to re-establish the normal position of the Tyr increases the RmlC-like activity of EvaD.


Cardiopulmonary bypass can result in proinflammatory and procoagulant changes that can contribute to morbidity and mortality in heart surgery patients. These responses, many of which are mediated by activation of endothelial cells, normally serve to repair damaged tissue or as defenses against infection. Once activated in the setting of surgery and trauma, these responses may cause unwarranted tissue destruction if they occur inappropriately or too diffusely. The proinflammatory response results in the release of cytokines and subsequent localization of neutrophils, which can disrupt the endothelial barrier and damage underlying tissue. The procoagulant response is characterized by the transcriptional activation of tissue factor, subsequent thrombin generation with subsequent microvascular thrombosis. Techniques to inhibit endothelial cell activation while attempting to preserve the body's anti-infectious and repair mechanisms are being investigated. These include hypothermia, blockade of adhesion molecules, blocking of chemotactic factors such as interleukin-8, and prevention of transcriptional activation by inhibiting the action of nuclear factor kappa-B, which activates genes involved in this process.


The desymmetrization of p-peroxyquinols using a Brønsted acid-catalyzed acetalization/oxa-Michael cascade was achieved in high yields and selectivities for a variety of aliphatic and aryl aldehydes. Mechanistic studies suggest that the reaction proceeds through a dynamic kinetic resolution of the peroxy hemiacetal intermediate. The resulting 1,2,4-trioxane products were derivatized and show potent cancer cell-growth inhibition.


The terms and are central to strategic questions, yet established conceptions relate to technical-tactical, operational, or political/ethical/legal aspects of war. While they are applicable to different levels of strategy, they are not necessarily compatible, and can not serve to classify strategy as a whole. This article proposes a strategic understanding of the two terms, and defines three strategic types of offense (imposition of control, compellence, exhaustion) and defense (repellence, deterrence by punishment, assertive disarmament). Any theory of victory must combine the two, but success for both sides in a conflict is easier to achieve in the defensive than in the offensive aspect.


Background: People above age 65 are growing in many countries. Taiwan will be a super-aged society in 2026 and the utility of health care will increase considerably. Our study was aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the geriatric integrated outpatient clinic on health care utility reduction of the elderly. Methods: This was a retrospective case-control study. The patients with age more than 65 years old in the geriatric outpatient clinic (Geri-OPD) and non-geriatric outpatient clinic (non-Geri OPD) with age and sex-matched in a single medical center were included. The numbers of outpatient clinic visits, emergency department visits, hospitalization, and medical expenditure data were collected in the first year and second year. The subgroup analysis by Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) and older age (age≧80 years old) was done between Geri-OPD and non-Geri OPD. Results: Total 6723 patients were included (3796 women and 2927 men). The mean age was 80.42 ± 6.39 years old. There were 1291 (19.2%) patients from the Geri-OPD and 5432 (80.8%) patients from the non-Geri OPD. After one year regular follow-up, those Geri-OPD patients had significantly reduced 5.62±10.85 kinds of drugs in each prescription and 18.18 ± 48.85 clinic visits per year (P<0.01). After two-year follow-up, the clinic visits, emergent department visits, hospitalizations, and the annual medical cost still decreased in the Geri-OPD patients. The Geri-OPD patients have more co-morbidities and higher health care utility than the non-Geri OPD patients. In the subgroup analysis, the patients with higher comorbidities (CCI≧2) and older age (≧80 years old) have significant health care utility reduction in Geri-OPD. The medical utility difference between the Geri-OPD and non-Geri OPD patients also decreased significantly. Conclusion: The geriatric integrated outpatient clinic reduced the medical cost, drug numbers, and the frequency of outpatient clinic visit, emergency department visit and hospitalization in the complicated elder patients. The effect was even better in the second year.


Efficient deployment of large language models (LLMs) necessitates low-bit quantization to minimize model size and inference cost. While low-bit integer formats (e.g., INT8/INT4) have been the conventional choice, emerging low-bit floating-point formats (e.g., FP8/FP4) offer a compelling alternative and are gaining support from cutting-edge hardware, such as NVIDIA's H100 GPU. However, the superiority of low-bit INT versus FP formats for quantization on LLMs remains unclear. In this study, we conduct a comparative analysis of INT and FP quantization with the same bit-width, revealing that the optimal quantization format varies across different layers due to the complexity and diversity of tensor distribution. Consequently, we advocate the Mixture of Formats Quantization (MoFQ), which selects the optimal format on a layer-wise basis. This simple yet effective approach achieves state-of-the-art results in both weight-only (W-only) and weight-activation (WA) post-training quantization scenarios when tested on LLaMA across various tasks. In 4-bit W-only quantization, MoFQ surpasses GPTQ without complex hyperparameter tuning and with an order of magnitude faster quantization speed. While in 8-bit WA quantization, MoFQ significantly outperforms INT/FP-only methods, achieving performance close to the full precision model. Notably, MoFQ incurs no hardware overhead compared to INT/FP-only quantization, as the bit-width remains unchanged.


The phenomenon of liquefaction can occur in saturated loose sands and is characterized by a large strength or stiffness loss resulting in substantial deformation or a flowslide when subjected to rapid static or cyclic loading. To study this phenomenon, the Canadian geotechnical engineering community has started the Canadian Liquefaction Experiment (CANLEX), which has planned to include a large, controlled liquefaction event in the field. Numerical predictions of the response of this full-scale event will be compared with the field measurements. Centrifuge model tests are being conducted to aid in the design of the field event and to allow for calibration of the numerical models. These tests could serve as a substitute for calibration of numerical models in the event that a dynamic field event is not possible or not conducted at the site. The first of these tests ascertained that a gravitational flowslide event could be induced under undrained static loading. A surcharge dropped on the crest of an equivalent 16-degree submerged 8.8-m-high slope ofloose oil sand tailings caused the slope to liquefy and flow with deep-seated lateral movements throughout the soil slope to an angle of 7 degrees. A finite difference numerical model, calibrated against laboratory element test data, captured the essence of the observed undrained response of the centrifuge test in terms of pore pressure rise and deformation pattern. These modeling techniques will be used to evaluate other triggering mechanisms for the field event.


INTORDUCTION Today is an era of minimum input and maximum output for this every possible work is being done to increase efficiency. Every perspective angle is being thoroughly scrutinized by research and scientists together, so that sportsmen can get maximum biomechanical advantage to improve their performances (Gardiner, 1955). Speed items commonly known as sprinting events have been on the agenda of the modern Olympic Games from the very beginning. Speed plays a vital role in all games and sports but it plays a very dominant role especially for the sprinters. For a sprinter to give good performance he must possess acceleration speed, sprinting speed, speed of movement and reaction time (Arlet, 1975). Earlier athletics did not adopt any sophisticated training means for the development of speed. In the competition the athlete exhibited whatever he gained through daily physical work and whatever speed characteristics he inherited from his parents. In ancient days the saying "Sprinters are never made they are born" used to carry might which is now being modified as sprinter in born with some inherited speed, but he can be shaped in to a better running skill as a result of scientific training ( Arlet, 1975). Each sprinter has individual speed dynamics shown in different combinations of stride frequency and stride length, acceleration capacity, ability to relax etc. These individualities depend largely on genetic differences, as well as physical development and training levels of an athlete. There is no doubt regarding the contribution of acceleration speed, sprinting speed and speed of movement to bring about better performance on the part of sprinters. A thorough analysis shows that results in most of the sports events are achieved by quickly accelerating the body which means the speed per unit time is increased as far as possible. Acceleration is concerned with the attainment of maximum speed in the shortest possible time (Tabaschnic and Sultanor, 1980).


In the information age and complex competitive environment in the world of global competition, the senior managers of organizations and companies require timely and correct decisions in order to maintain the demand-oriented in order to maintain market demandoriented and customer retention and retain customer. Thus, for any decision-making and planning in organizations and companies, we should identify the current situation through investigation of internal and external environmental factors known so that we predict future. The present study aimed to make LARG supply chain management smart and to identify its conditions with management tools of SWOT, BI and RFID technology. This study is applied and its method is descriptive-analytic. Results of studies show that the management of programs and organizational activities are not limited to within the organizations. Therefore, organizations and companies, including manufacturing, services companies, can provide managements goals of LARG supply chain in all manufacturing and service chains that has advantages of lean, agile, resilient, and green approaches to achieve success by identifying internal and external environmental factors using analyzing tool of SWOT along with business intelligence and radio Frequency Identification technology (RFID).


The rewarding effect of habenular stimulation was studied in 65 rats. The animals learned to bar press for electrical stimulation of the medial or lateral habenular nucleus or the fasciculus retroflexus, but not the surrounding thalamic nuclei. The response rates were moderate and steady and not influenced by food or water deprivation. Habenular self-stimulation was significantly facilitated by placing lesions in the ipsilateral anterior part of the medial forebrain bundle (MFB). Similarly, MFB self-stimulation was enhanced by ipsilateral habenular lesions. Lesions centered in the region of median raphe nucleus suppressed habenular self-stimulation for more than 4 wk. Self-stimulation of median raphe was not affected by habenular lesions. The results show that habenular stimulation can produce a rewarding effect by exciting neurons in the region of the raphe nuclei but apparently without requiring the participation of the well-known MFB reward system.


UNLABELLED
Large incisional hernias repair is often challenging for surgeons. Despite the many available methods and technological progress, we still miss the gold standard in the treatment of incisional hernias and the results are disappointing. The aim of study was to evaluate the results of surgical treatment of large incisional hernias with the use of non-adherent mesh.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
This paper presents results from the surgical treatment of large incisional hernias in 34 patients. All procedures were performed with application of non-adherent mesh. Information about patients health was obtained from medical records, interviews and physical examination, and analysis from the follow-up.

RESULTS
The most frequent postoperative complication was hematoma (17.6%), wound infection (8.8%) and respiratory failure (8.8%). Seven of the implanted grafts were removed due to complications in postoperative period. In four patients with removed mesh, hernia recurrence was not observed. In all patients with recurrence, wound infection, abscess or respiratory failure during postoperative period obesity was present.

CONCLUSIONS
Using non-adherent mesh in large incisional hernia repair is an effective method, and often the only possible solution for surgical treatment. During the preoperative period, individual indications and good preparation for the surgery should be included.


Chemoresistance is a major clinical challenge in the management of glioblastoma (GBM) Temozolomide (TMZ) is the chemotherapeutic drug of choice for GBM; however, the therapeutic effect of TMZ is limited due to the development of resistance. Recapitulating GBM chemoresistance in a controlled environment is thus essential in understanding the mechanism of chemoresistance. Herein, we present a hybrid microphysiological model of chemoresistant GBM-on-a-chip (HGoC) by directly co-culturing TMZ-resistant GBM spheroids with healthy neurons to mimic the microenvironment of both the tumor and the surrounding healthy tissue. We characterized the model with proteomics, lipidomics, and secretome assays. The results showed that our artificial model recapitulated the molecular signatures of recurrent GBM in humans. Both showed alterations in vesicular transport and cholesterol pathways, mitotic quiescence, and a switch in metabolism to oxidative phosphorylation associated with a transition from mesenchymal to amoeboid. This is the first report to unravel the interplay of all these molecular changes as a mechanism of chemoresistance in glioblastoma. Moreover, we have shown that the acquisition of resistance increases invasiveness and the presence of neurons decreases this property.


Fluid characterization and mapping in the Greater Burgan field was performed using an extensive database of PVT analysis reports. This enabled an enhanced understanding of the distribution of fluids, in which a lateral compositional gradient was discovered.
 Summary information of 381 samples that had been acquired from 1938 to 2017 was gathered and plotted against both true vertical depth subsea (TVDSS) and spatial directions (northing and easting). Correlations of average fluid characteristics of all these samples against TVDSS and the direction in 15° north-east was determined. The API gravity, oil viscosity and solution gas to oil ratio were parameterised as a function of horizontal direction and depth. The saturation pressure was modelled using a correlation, being a function of the other variables modelled in space. Over 30 correlations published in the literature were ranked, and the best-fitting correlation was selected to predict the saturation pressure distribution spatially. All these properties were mapped by formation.
 This is the first study in which the existence of this lateral gradient is fully described. This work is being used as a reservoir management tool to predict zones close to or below the saturation pressure and reduce the production offtake from those zones and to develop an appropriate sampling plan. This work has also help manage access to the heavy oil zones.


Foreground extraction and moving object detection are often used in human tracking systems. However those methods are not able to produce accurate results when objects are too close or when occlusions happen since the result is generally a single big blob which contains all the different objects. In this paper we propose a novel and efficient moving object detection enhancement method. Indeed, by using the results of the previous iteration tracking we are able to keep a correct number of moving objects by removing useless blobs and by splitting those which contain more than one tracker. The method can also speed up the tracking by creating a link between a tracker and a blob to avoid unnecessary processing in some situations.


patient age at admission and ICD-9 codes indicating ventilator use and permanent tracheostomy. US population and agespecific proportions for each year was estimated using the NIS sample weights. Results: From 2001–2011, there was an estimated fourfold increase in hospital admissions for children dependent upon ventilators in the US: from 1989 to 8040 estimated admissions. The largest increase was in the infant population with a 4.4-fold increase. The age distribution throughout this decade remained essentially unchanged, with about 1⁄4 under the age of 1, the majority (39–50%) age 1–6, and about 1/3 over the age of 6. Conclusions/Significance: Admission frequency for infants and children dependent upon mechanical ventilation has increased fourfold over the first decade of the twenty-first century. This trend may be due to a combination of increased incidence, prevalence, and re-hospitalization; future studies are needed to elucidate this trend. The rapid increase in hospital admissions highlights the need to prioritize this medically complicated population in pediatric healthcare.


Polymyxin B nonapeptide (PMN) is a derivative of polymyxin B, an alpha, gamma-diaminobutyric acid-rich decapeptide from Bacillus polymyxa that displays antimicrobial and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-antagonistic activities. The conformations of PMN in aqueous solution as well as in the LPS-bound state have been studied by 1H two-dimensional nmr methods in conjunction with molecular dynamics techniques. The aqueous structure of the free peptide is characterized by a type II beta-turn centered around D-Phe5 and Leu6, and an inverse -turn at Thr9. The LPS-bound conformation of PMN was studied by transferred nuclear Overhauser effect experiments. The essential features of the cyclic portion of free aqueous PMN are mostly preserved when the peptide is bound to LPS; however, the linear dipeptide fragment as well as the side chains of the heptatpeptide ring show a conformational change and a reduction in mobility. The LPS-bound PMN structure was used to construct a model of the lipid A-polymyxin B (decapeptide) complex, which allows the rationalization of several experimental observations concerning the binding of polymyxin to, and consequent neutralization of, the toxicity of LPS, and may be of value in the rational therapeutic targeting of endotoxin.


This study aimed to investigate the risk factors for oral and maxillofacial benign tumors (OMFBTs). A total of 138 patients diagnosed with OMFBTs between September 2010 and September 2015 were retrospectively analyzed. Clinical data including demographic characteristics, smoking and drinking status, dietary habit, oral hygiene and tumor related family history were collected and compared with 134 cases of healthy people who visited the hospital for physical examination during the same time. Logistic regression analysis was performed for multivariable regression analysis. OMFBTs was associated with smoking more than 20 cigarettes per day, accumulated cigarette consumption more than 30, accumulated cigarette package consumption more than 1000, present smoking and drinking, passive smoking before 18 years old, initial smoking age more than 20 years old and alcohol consumption more than 50 g/d (P < 0.05). Consumption of meat, fish, seafood, fruits and vitamin tablets were associated with lower risk of OMFBTs. Non-conditional logistic regression analyses indicated that the independent risk factors of OMFBTs included accumulated cigarette consumption, passive smoking before the age of 18, meat-free, fish-free, fruit-free, vitamin tablets-free, frequency of tooth brushing lower than once a day, not routinely attending oral examination, wearing denture and drinking alcohol (P < 0.05). Smoking and drinking should be discouraged in dental patients. Keeping a good dietary habit and routinely attending oral examination are highly encouraged.


Three patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) associated with anti-phospholipid antibodies are reported. All three had severe vaso-occlusive disease: the first had an unilateral vaso-occlusive retinopathy, the second an unilateral central retinal venous obstruction, and the third a bilateral ischemic choroidopathy. The association of these occlusive ocular vascular diseases with the presence of the lupus anticoagulant and other associated factors in SLE is discussed.


The role of metabolic activation of carcinogens in fetal tissue as a determinant of sensitivity in transplacental carcinogenesis was investigated in a pharmacogenetic experiment utilizing backcrosses of C57BL/6 (AhbAhb, responsive to induction of aromatic hydrocarbon metabolism) and DBA/2 (AhdAhd, non-responsive) mice. Responsive (C57BL/6 X DBA/2)F1 and non-responsive DBA mothers, all carrying both responsive (AhbAhd) and non-responsive (AhdAhd) fetuses, were given i.p. doses of the carcinogen 3-methylcholanthrene (MC) ranging from 5 to 175 mg/kg on gestation day 17. At 10 months of age the metabolic phenotype of each offspring was determined, and correlated with number of lung and liver tumors. Both male and female AhbAhd (responsive) offspring in most dose groups presented a consistent two- to three-fold higher incidence of lung tumors than did non-responsive AhdAhd littermates. The difference held for offspring of both (C57BL/6 X DBA)F1 and DBA mothers and it was of statistical significance for one or both sexes at most dosage levels. Hepatocellular tumors were also significantly more frequent in responsive male AhbAhd progeny of (C57BL/6 X DBA/2)F1 mothers than in non-responsive AhdAhd littermates. Progeny of the DBA mothers exhibited significantly more liver and lung tumors than did those of the (C57BL/6 X DBA/2)F1 mothers receiving the same dose. These results suggest that in this model system both maternal and fetal genotype for responsiveness to induction of aromatic hydrocarbon metabolism are important factors modulating fetal carcinogenic risk.


Nowadays we see an increasing number of global network attacks. These attacks are realized due to joint efforts of many distributed malicious software components (bots). It is very hard to investigate the effectiveness and efficiency of defense mechanisms against such attacks in practice. However these mechanisms might be simulated with the necessary fidelity. The paper outlines a framework and software tool intended for simulation of the Internet attacks and defense mechanisms against them. They are based on packet-level simulation and agent-oriented approach and intended to evaluate and compare different cooperative distributed defense mechanisms. The paper describes the simulation framework and software tool developed and their usage to analyze cooperative defense mechanisms against DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks. We investigate as mechanisms based on partial cooperation of distributed defense components, including DefCOM (defensive cooperative overlay mesh) and COSSACK (coordinated suppression of simultaneous attacks) as well as the approach based on full cooperation.


Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major human pathogen of global health concern, causing a range of mild to severe infections, including acute otitis media, pneumonia, sepsis, and meningitis. The rapid emergence of antibiotic resistance among S. pneumoniae isolates poses a serious public health problem worldwide. Resistant pneumococcal strains have rendered the mainstay treatment with beta-lactams, fluoroquinolones, and macrolides, ineffective. Antibiotic resistance in S. pneumoniae has spread globally via the emergence of de novo mutations and horizontal transfer of resistance. Fluoroquinolone resistance in S. pneumoniae is an intriguing case because the prevalence of fluoroquinolone resistance does not correlate with increasing usage, as is often the case with other classes of antibiotics. In this study, we demonstrated that deleterious fitness costs constrain the emergence of individual fluoroquinolone resistance mutations in either topoisomerase IV or gyrase A in S. pneumoniae. Generation of double point mutations in the target enzymes in topoisomerase IV and gyrase A conferred high-level fluoroquinolone resistance while restoring fitness comparable to the sensitive wild-type. During an in vivo model of antibiotic resistance evolution, S. pneumoniae was able to circumvent deleterious fitness costs imposed by resistance determinants through development of antibiotic tolerance through metabolic adaptation that reduced the production of reactive oxygen species, an effect that could be recapitulated pharmacologically. The metabolic mutants conferring tolerance resulted in a fitness benefit during infection following antibiotic treatment with fluroquinolones. These data suggest that emergence of fluoroquinolone resistance is tightly constrained in S. pneumoniae by host fitness tradeoffs and that mutational pathways involving metabolic networks to enable tolerance phenotypes may be an important contributor to the evasion of antibiotic mediated killing.


We report the first pedigree of Lynch syndrome bearing a germ-line MSH2 missense mutation c.1808A>T (Asp603Val). Until now, this missense mutation, in exon 12 of MSH2, was identified as a variant of unknown significance in the International Society for Gastrointestinal Hereditary Tumours database. In vitro induction mutagenesis experiments indicated that the MSH2 mutant protein (Asp603Val) is easily degraded in embryonic stem cells, albeit there is no clinical information concerning this mutant. Our pedigree includes four patients with Lynch syndrome-associated malignancies and clinically matches the Amsterdam II criteria. The proband, a female, first had an endometrial cancer at the age of 49 and then mantle cell lymphoma, colonic and gastric adenocarcinomas and neuroendocrine carcinoma, successively. Her mother also had Lynch syndrome-associated malignancies, including colonic, uterine and gastric cancers, and her elder son had rectal cancer. In the germline of the proband and her son, an MSH2 missense mutation c.1808A>T was discovered. Immunohistochemical analyses indicated that the expression of the MSH2 protein was decreased in the tumors, such as gastric cancer and neuroendocrine carcinoma, due to the missense mutation c.1808A>T. This study showed that the MSH2 missense mutation c.1808A>T (Asp603Val) is a likely pathogenic mutation and is responsible for typical Lynch syndrome-associated malignancies, including neuroendocrine carcinoma.


A case of triple-X female with premature ovarian failure was reported. The patient was a 23-year-old, single, Thai woman who presented with primary amenorrhea, incomplete development of the secondary sex characteristics, elevated levels of serum gonadotropins, and decreased estrogen concentration. Immunological abnormalities were not identified by antinuclear antibody, rheumatoid factor, antimicrosomal antibody and antithyroglobulin antibody studies. Cyclic estrogen-progestin was given and withdrawal bleeding occurred. The present case represents the utilization of chromosomal analysis in a patient with delayed sexual development, or primary amenorrhea and elevated serum gonadotropin levels.


Top managers are recognized as important forces in fostering the spread of ethical spirits and responsible behaviors in organizations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of personal ethical values and demographics (age, gender, and education level) on top managers' CSR perceptions in Ethiopia. A quantitative approach involving a structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 294 executive managers of four sectors (floriculture, food, textile, and banks). Multiple linear regressions were employed to analyze the data. The analysis revealed that while some personal demographics, i.e., age and educational level had no impact on Ethiopian managers' CSR perception, gender was positively and significantly correlated with managers' CSR perception. Additionally, the analysis indicated that managers' personal moral values had significantly influenced Ethiopian managers' CSR perception.


We study various aspects of Abelian and non-Abelian gauge field theories in flat spacetime with the topology of ${S}^{1}$\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${R}^{n}$ (n=3,4). We first discuss the effective potential for the electromagnetic field in ${S}^{1}$\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${R}^{3}$ spacetime, with the objective of finding the dependence of coupling constants on the size L of the compactified dimension. It is first necessary to determine the stable vacuum. In particular, a charged scalar field satisfies an effective periodic boundary condition, while a charged spinor field satisfies an effective antiperiodic boundary condition at the stable vacuum. Then we study the effective coupling constants which depend on the size L of the compactified dimension at one-loop level for QED in ${S}^{1}$\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${R}^{3}$ spacetime. In the presence of a charged scalar field, the one-loop correction of one of the effective coupling constants for the lowest Fourier component of the electromagnetic field behaves for small L like 1/L, rather than lnL. This is because the lowest Fourier component of the scalar field is constant in the ${S}^{1}$ direction. The effective coupling constants for higher Fourier components have logarithmic L dependence, but due to collinear singularities (i.e., singularities in self-energy occurring in the limit of zero mass when the virtual particles are on shell and have parallel momenta) the coefficient of the lnL term differs from component to component. We also point out some ambiguities in defining the effective coupling constants. Finally we discuss the effective potential of non-Abelian gauge theories with a charged spinor field in ${S}^{1}$\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${R}^{4}$ spacetime. We find that if periodic boundary conditions are imposed on the spinor field in the beginning, the local gauge symmetry will be spontaneously broken in some cases, and we give an explicit model in which this occurs. This spontaneous symmetry breaking depends on the gauge group and its representations, and does not occur for an Abelian gauge field.


In this paper, the authors examine the field emission performance of stainless steel polished to varying degrees, both before and after being coated with a nitrogen-implanted silicon oxynitride layer. The deposition procedure utilizes the simultaneous sputtering of silicon dioxide from a dielectric quartz window and ion implantation of nitrogen from an RF inductively coupled plasma. Here, the scanning field emission microscopy results indicate that prior to being coated, the number of emission sites increased drastically from 12 to more than 300 as the surface roughness increased from 4 to 64 nm, corresponding to polishing with 1-mum diamond paste to 15-mum (600 grit) silicon carbide paper. However, after being coated with nitrogen-implanted silicon oxynitride, all the samples displayed zero to five emission sites at electric field strengths at least three times higher than the uncoated stainless samples. Thus, neither the roughness of the underlying stainless steel nor that of the top surface of the coating had an effect on suppressing field emission. Depth profiling using Auger electron spectroscopy determined that the 0.24-mum-thick silicon oxynitride coating contained approximately 15% nitrogen. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy of a coated silicon wafer confirmed this stoichiometry and bonding. The technical impact of this work is that coating the large contoured stainless steel surfaces with a nitrogen-implanted silicon oxynitride layer may eliminate the need for expensive labor-intensive polishing procedures currently used in high-voltage electrode structures, such as those found in electron injectors


Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) is a promising candidate technology for the upcoming Sixth Generation (6G) communication system for its ability to manipulate the wireless communication environment by controlling the coefficients of reflection elements (REs). However, since the RIS usually consists of a large number of passive REs, the pilot overhead for channel estimation in the RIS-aided system is prohibitively high. In this paper, the channel estimation problem for a RIS-aided multi-user multiple-input-single-output (MISO) communication system with clustered users is investigated. First, to describe the correlated feature for RIS-user channels, a beam domain channel model is developed for RIS-user channels. Then, a pilot reuse strategy is put forward to reduce the pilot overhead and decompose the channel estimation problem into several subproblems. Finally, by leveraging the correlated nature of RIS-user channels, an eigenspace projection (EP) algorithm is proposed to solve each subproblem respectively. Simulation results show that the proposed EP channel estimation scheme can achieve accurate channel estimation with lower pilot overhead than existing schemes.


Periods of dimming and brightening have been recorded in observational datasets of surface solar radiation (SSR) between the mid‐20th century and present day. Atmospheric components affect SSR, including aerosols and clouds, though studies disagree somewhat about the relative effect of each component in different regions. Current Earth system models (ESMs) are unable to simulate observed trends in SSR. This study includes an investigation into observed SSR variations between 1961 and 2014 and an evaluation of the effects of cloud cover variations and impacts of aerosol extinction, using timeseries of SSR and cloud cover from in‐situ measurements. Historical simulations by 42 ESMs participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 (CMIP6) have also been studied and compared to observations. The observational study indicates that cloud cover has had a dampening effect on the variations of SSR and that emissions of aerosol and aerosol precursors are the main cause of the general trends in observed SSR in four regions—China, Japan, Europe, and the United States—during 1961–2014. The study of simulated SSR in CMIP6 yields the conclusion that current ESMs remain unable to simulate the magnitude of observed dimming and brightening in China, Japan, and the United States, but that the European SSR trends between 1961 and 2014 are fairly well reproduced in the ESMs. A rough quantification of the regional surface radiation extinction efficiency of aerosol and precursor emissions in the simulations is found to agree with observed values in Europe, but not in the other three regions.


Computer Mediated Courseware (CMC) has been developed so far for individual courses considering single or multiple text books. A group of courseware can be developed by using multiple text books and in this case, it is a requirement to cluster the contents of different books to form a generalized clustered content. No work has been found to develop courseware applying generalized clustered content. We have proposed a clustering of content supporting computer mediated courseware development based on data mining techniques to construct a hierarchical general structure of a group of courseware combining the individual structure of a set of books. The clustering will help the courseware developer to dynamically allocate contents to develop different courses using a group of books. We have applied this methodology for different level of courses on database. The methodology is generalized and can be applied to any other courses.


1. Abstract A previous paper introduced the heuristic model of Diffusion Gravity (DG) based on the principle of mass diffusion [1]. That work provided an initial development of an explanation of inertia, acceleration, and gravity from the interaction of mass objects with the active quantum vacuum environment via virtual particle mechanisms. This follow-on article extends the model to incorporate the related dynamics of the virtual particle outflows from mass objects and presents model specifics for inertia, kinetic energy, and orbital motion. Mass Diffusion is the primary active force that drives interactions of the virtual particle agents of the quantum vacuum to produce linear and orbital motion; the active quantum vacuum may be more accurately described as a an agent in gravitation; these aspects of diffusion gravity and other mass-energy considerations are described and discussed in this paper, including derivation and consistency with mass-energy E0=mc. Motion models and their descriptions, which comprise Diffusion Gravity Dynamics (DGD), are added to the Diffusion Gravity theory. The Diffusion Gravity model and theory implies application to other physical phenomena such as relativity, light refraction and the role of virtual particles therein, and the model's scalability to astrophysical phenomena such as flattening of the galactic rotation curves.


Digitally based courses and their online delivery are rapidly expanding access to learning opportunities (Duffy and Kirkley 2004; NRC 2000; Visser and Visser-Valfrey 2008). It is important to ask however: access to what kind of learning opportunities? Weigel (2000) argues that most current attempts to create online learning environments suffer from a "port the classroom to the Web" model. Researchers have noted a similar phenomenon in multiuser virtual environments (MUVEs):


Environmental context Alkyl nitrates are considered to be important intermediates in the atmospheric hydrocarbons–nitrogen oxides–ozone cycle, which significantly determines air quality and nitrogen exchange between the atmosphere and the Earth's surfaces. The present laboratory study investigates reaction products of alkyl nitrates to elucidate their photochemical reaction mechanisms in the atmosphere. The results provide a better understanding of the role played by alkyl nitrates in the atmospheric environment. Abstract Alkyl nitrates (ANs) are important nitrogen-containing organic compounds and are usually considered to be temporary reservoirs of reactive nitrogen NOx (NO2 and NO) in the atmosphere, although their atmospheric fates are incompletely understood. Here a laboratory study of the gas-phase photolysis and OH-initiated reactions of methyl nitrate (CH3ONO2) and ethyl nitrate (C2H5ONO2), as models of atmospheric ANs, is reported with a focus on elucidating the detailed photochemical reaction mechanisms of ANs in the atmosphere. A series of intermediate and end products were well characterised for the first time from the photochemical reactions of methyl and ethyl nitrate conducted under simulated atmospheric conditions. Notably, for both the photolysis and OH-initiated reactions of CH3ONO2 and C2H5ONO2, unexpectedly high yields of HNO3 (photochemically non-reactive nitrogen) were found and also unexpectedly high yields of peroxyacyl nitrates (RC(O)OONO2, where R = H, CH3, CH3CH2,…) (reactive nitrogen) have been found as CH3C(O)OONO2 in the C2H5ONO2 reaction or proposed as HC(O)OONO2 in the CH3ONO2 reaction. Although the yields of HNO3 from the ANs under ambient conditions are likely variable and different from those obtained in the laboratory experiments reported here, the results imply that the ANs could potentially serve as a sink for reactive nitrogen in the atmosphere. The potential for this dual role of organic nitrates in the nitrogen cycle should be considered in the study of air quality and nitrogen exchange between the atmosphere and surface. Finally, an attempt was made to estimate the production of HNO3 and peroxyacyl nitrates derived from NOx by ANs as intermediates in the atmosphere.


Many experimental paradigms in biology aim at studying the response to coordinated stimuli. In dynamic imaging experiments, the observed data is often not straightforward to interpret and not directly measurable in a quantitative fashion. Consequently, the data is typically preprocessed in an ad hoc fashion and the results subjected to a statistical inference at the level of a population. We propose a new framework for analyzing time-lapse images that exploits some a priori knowledge on the type of temporal response and takes advantage of the spatial correlation of the data. This is achieved by processing the data in the wavelet domain and expressing the time course of each wavelet coefficient by a linear model. We end up with a statistical map in the spatial domain for the contrast of interest (i.e., the stimulus response). The feasibility of the method is demonstrated by an example of intrinsic microscopy imaging of mice's brains during coordinated sensory stimulation


Blades of Lessonia vadosa were sequentially extracted with 70% ethanol, followed by 2% CaCl2 solution,, diluted HCl (pH 2), and finally with 2% Na2CO3 solution. D-mannitol was the only low molecular weight carbohydrate obtained from the ethanolic extract. By ion-exhange chromatography of the CaCl2 extract a fraction contaning 36.7% of sulfate group was obtained. Chemical and spectroscopic analysis indicated the presence of a regular polymer of a-L-fucopyranose linked 1AE3 and sulfated at positions O-2 and O-4. The main fraction isolated from the acidic extract by ion-exchange chromatography was shown to be composed of a complex a-L-fucan with 28.9% of sulfate. Alginic acid (17.0% of dry algae) was the major polysaccharide obtained in the sequential extraction


This paper presents two new algorithms for real-time calculation of the wheel angles and speeds of gantry tractor modules. In transport mode, the gantry tractor is, in a sense, a snakelike robot with passive joints and active wheels, with each module having autonomous four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering. The algorithms determine the wheel angles and speeds of each module with the prescription that the four wheels will have the same center of curvature, wheel speeds provide cooperative redundancy, and all hitching points follow the same path, thereby eliminating scuffing and minimizing off-tracking. Details of the analytical algorithm for a predetermined path were presented at the 2009 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology, together with a simulation for a single module. In this paper, we also present the results of a newly developed numerical algorithm which enables the gantry tractor to be steered online by an operator. We also show, by simulation, that this new numerical algorithm gives a good approximation to analytical solutions. The numerical algorithm is then used to calculate wheel angles and speeds for a three-module tractor with the results depicted graphically as functions of time.


Since the cost of building low-volume feeder roads in developing countries is relatively low, it is difficult to justify determining detailed costs and benefits of projects, or undertaking detailed social and environmental impact studies. The consumer surplus method strikes a balance between being rigorous and keeping data collection and analysis requirements simple. In most cases, the requirement will be to rank potential feeder road projects within budget constraints, rather than to determine economic indicators. This simplifies the methodology because only relative values or changes in values need to be determined.


1. Static exposure of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, to three commercial 14C-labelled cationic polymers (EDP, epichlorhydrin-dimethylamine; CYT, polyacrylamide ester; and STK, polyacrylamide amide) resulted in 14C being concentrated only in gill tissue. 2. Depuration studies examining the effect of humic acid (HA) on cationic polymer bound in gill tissue indicate that the binding is reversible with exposure to polymer-free water and polymer-free water with HA for each of the three polymers. 3. Analysis of blood pH, Na+, K+, total NH3 and Cl- after static water exposures to EDP (m.w. 50,000) at 7.5 mg EDP/l revealed a treatment related decrease in blood pH, from 7.1 to 6.6, accompanied by an increase in blood NH3 and evidence of severe impairment of ion regulation. 4. Repeated exposure to the cationic polymers did not result in increases in the 14C concentration in gill tissue suggesting that bioaccumulation of the polymers does not occur. 5. These data suggest that the gill is the site of toxicity for these cationic polymers and that their toxic effects involve gill function and ion regulation rather than systemic actions on internal organs.


The practical assessment of the accuracy of the mariner's astrolabe has been the subject of discussion in The Mariner's Mirror. This article gives further insight on this topic, based on period knowledge and statistical analysis of period and modern data. In addition, reference to more modern studies on this topic is given in an attempt to complete the list previously presented. It will not explore the influence of period tables for refraction and declination and the influence of longitude on the latter as these factors only affect the calculated latitudes, not the observations themselves.


Geochemical characteristics of recently discovered petroleum in Jurassic reservoirs of the Halfah, Yabrin, Dirwazah and Tukhman fields, south of Ghawar field (Saudi Arabia) are different from typical Jurassic crudes in the Abqaiq, Ghawar, Mazalij and other fields. The latter fluids correlate well with the excellent oil-prone source rocks from the Tuwaiq Mountain and Hanifa formations of the Arabian Basin. These classic Ghawar-type mediumgravity oils represent high-sulfur crudes (greater than 1%), have pristane/phytane (Pr/Ph) ratios typically less than 0.8 and contain biomarkers indicating that the oils are derived from source rocks deposited in a marine carbonate environment under anoxic, reducing conditions. Characteristic biomarker parameters that support this interpretation are C29-hopane/C30-hopane ratios that exceed 1.0, relatively low abundances of diasteranes, and dibenzothiophene/phenanthrene (DBT/P) ratios typically exceeding 3.0. The Halfah-Yabrin-Dirwazah-Tukhman crudes, south of Ghawar field, have low-sulfur contents (less than 1.0%), Pr/Ph ratios ≥1.0, C29-hopane/C30-hopane ratios less than 1.0, and relatively high amounts of diasteranes and the C24 tetracyclic terpane. Most of the differences in sterane and hopane biomarker distributions compared to the Ghawar-type fluids appear related to differences in the abundance of clay versus carbonate in the source rocks. These data provide evidence for a source rock organic facies change south of Ghawar field. This presentation discusses recent results related to oil-oil and oil-source rock correlations, genetic relationships, and their implications for exploration in the southern part of the Arabian Basin.


Renowned Middle-East expert Vali Nasr combines historical narrative with contemporary on-the-ground research to introduce a Muslim World we've never seen. Meccanomics takes us behind the news, so dominated by the struggle against extremists and the Taliban, to reveal a new society, one that is being reshaped by an upwardly mobile middle class of entrepreneurs, investors, professionals, and insatiable consumers. His insights into the true situations in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the crucial bright spots of Dubai and Turkey provide a whole new way of thinking about the troubles and prospects in the region. Nasr's groundbreaking analysis offers a powerful reassessment of a region where financial might - not fundamentalism - does the talking.


A 1-month-old, intact female domestic rabbit was presented with a history of acute right hind limb lameness due to a traumatic injury. Physical examination revealed right elbow luxation, varus deviation, and a reduction in antebrachial length. Radiographic imaging of the affected limb revealed lateral right elbow luxation, radial agenesis, right first digit agenesis, and malformation of the right carpal bones and sternum. The patient's diagnosis based on the presenting clinical signs and radiographic evaluation was determined to be right preaxial longitudinal intercalary radial hemimelia, partial adactyly, and multiple bone malformations. Hemimelia is the most common congenital limb malformation in domestic animals. Clinical signs can be variable, ranging from subclinical to severe locomotion problems. Although it has not been reported in pet rabbits, hemimelia should be considered in the young of this species that present with lameness. Early diagnosis is essential to avoid muscle atrophy and worsening of bone deformities, which may adversely affect quality of life of the patient.


1. Lamb growth trials were designed to modify growth and protein content of muscle by diet and also by β-agonist treatment, and to correlate any changes to the activities of calpain proteinases (EC 18.104.22.168) and their inhibitor calpastatin. 2. Wether lambs in a control group were fed on a barley-based diet designed to give a growth rate of 350 g/d; a second group was fed on the same diet but the intake was restricted to give an expected gain of 44 g/d; a third group was fed on the same diet as the first group but the diet included 2 mg clenbuterol/g. At the end of a 6-week trial, longissimus dorsi wet weights were 635 (n6), 377 (n4) and 788 g (n6) (standard error of difference 53.0) in the three groups respectively. 3. Minced L. dorsi was extracted in low-salt buffers and analysed by a fast protein liquid-chromatographic system for calpain I (low calcium-requiring), calpain II (high Ca2+-requiring) and calpastatin activities. No significant changes in the three activities were associated with reduced muscle weight in the restricted-intake group. The inclusion of clenbuterol in the diet, however, led to highly significant increases (P < 0.001) in calpain II and calpastatin to approximately double the control values. 4. The results did not support a direct relation between these activities and muscle growth, except when protein accretion was stimulated by a β-agonist, suggesting a role for this enzyme system in the mechanism by which these agents exert their effect.


Although obesity is known to have an influence on fracture, the relationship between lumbar and femur fractures and weight or waist circumference is controversial. We investigated the incidence of fracture with regards to waist circumference using the customised database of the Korean National Health Insurance Service (NHIS). Among 8,922,940 adults who participated at least twice in the NHIS National Health Check-up Program in South Korea between 2009 and 2011, 1,556,751 subjects (780,074 men and 776,677 women) were extracted. Over a mean follow-up of 6.5 years, multivariate-adjusted logistic regression analysis demonstrated that higher waist circumference was associated with an increased risk of femur fractures in both males and females. Moreover, the incidence of lumbar fractures was also positively associated with an increased waist circumference in males and females. An increased waist circumference showed a positive linear relationship with the risk of lumbar and femur fractures in both males and females.


Samuel Crowe Curran was born in Balleymena on 23 May 1912, where his mother had gone to her ancestral home just a few weeks before so that Sam could be born in Northern Ireland. Soon afterwards she returned with him to her husband and family in Wishaw, Lanarkshire, Scotland, where Sam was to spend the remainder of his childhood and youth. He was essentially in speech and outlook a man of the West of Scotland.


This paper presents performance analysis of Multiple-Input Multiple- Output - Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing Access (MIMO-OFDMA) wireless system using orthogonal space time block code (OSTBC) over Rayleigh fading channel. OSTBC is an efficient code system that achieves the maximum of diversity gain in mobile communication systems and it is very useful in reducing the processing complexity of the wireless communication system. Several MIMO-OFDMA OSTBC models based on different number of antenna constellation (2Tx,2Rx) and ( 4Tx,2Rx) have been analyzed. The relationship between Bit Error Rate (BER) and Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) in Rayleigh fading wireless channel has been studied .The simulation results show the effectiveness and accuracy of the MIMO-OFDMA OSTBC system by decreasing BER for low value of SNR compared with the MIMO-OFDMA system. .


Lithium-ion batteries have been widely used as power supplies for portable electronic devices due to their higher gravimetric and volumetric energy densities compared to other electrochemical energy storage technologies, such as lead-acid, Ni-Cd and Ni-MH batteries. Developing a novel battery chemistry, ''all silicon lithium-ion batteries'', using lithium iron silicate as the cathode and silicon as the anode, is the primary aim of this Ph.D project. This licentiate thesis is focused on improving the performance of the silicon anode via optimization of electrolyte composition and electrode formulation. Fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC) was investigated as an electrolyte additive for silicon composite electrodes, and both the capacity retention as well as coulombic efficiency were significantly improved by introducing 10 wt% FEC into the LP40 electrolyte. This is due to the formation of a stable SEI, which mainly consisted of FEC decomposition products of LiF, -CHFOCO2-, etc. The chemical composition of the SEI was identified by synchrotron radiation based photoelectron spectroscopy. This conformal SEI prevented formation of large amounts of cracks and continues electrolyte decomposition on the silicon electrode. An alternative lithium salt, lithium 4,5dicyano-2-trifluoromethanoimidazole (LiTDI), was studied with the silicon electrode in this thesis. The SEI formation led to a rather low 1 cycle coulombic efficiency of 44.4%, and the SEI layer was found to contain hydrocarbon, ether-type and carbonate-type species. Different to conventional composite silicon electrodes, which require heavy and expensive copper current collector, a flexible silicon electrode, consisted of only silicon nanopowder, Cladophora nanocellulose and carbon nanotube, was facilely prepared via vacuum filtration. The electrode showed good mechanical, long-term cycling as well as rate capability performance.


To investigate the effect of the home use of a disclosing agent on the microbial composition of denture biofilm, by means of a cross-over randomized clinical trial. Two interventions were tested during 7 days each: (I) oral and denture hygiene instructions and (II) instructions associated with the home use of a disclosing agent (1% neutral red). Eleven participants with visible biofilm deposits over their maxillary complete dentures were randomly assigned to one of the two sequences of interventions: (i) I followed by II, and (ii) II followed by I. A washout period of 7 days was established. After each intervention, samples of denture biofilm were evaluated by DNA checkerboard hybridization for the detection of Candida spp. and 17 bacterial species. Counts were low for all the tested species, and no significant difference was found between the tested interventions (Wilcoxon test, P > 0.05). The home use of a disclosing agent does not remarkably change the composition of denture biofilm.


The Δ N formalism, based on the counting of the number of e-folds during inflation in different local patches of the Universe, has been introduced several years ago as a simple and physically intuitive approach to calculate (non-linear) curvature perturbations from inflation on large sales, without resorting to the full machinery of (higher-order) perturbation theory. Later on, it was claimed the equivalence with the results found by introducing a conserved fully non-linear current ζμ, thereby allowing to directly connect perturbations during inflation to late-Universe observables. We discus some issues arising from the choice of the initial hyper-surface in the Δ N formalism. By using a novel exact expression for ζμ, valid for any barotropic fluid, we find that it is not in general related to the standard uniform density curvature perturbation ζ; such a result conflicts with the claimed equivalence with Δ N formalism. Moreover, a similar analysis is done for the proposed non-perturbative generalization ℛμ of the comoving curvature perturbation ℛ.


In this paper, we demonstrate the expressibility of artificial neural networks (ANNs) in quantum many-body physics by showing that a feed-forward neural network with a small number of hidden layers can be trained to approximate with high precision the ground states of some notable quantum many-body systems. We consider the one-dimensional free bosons and fermions, spinless fermions on a square lattice away from half-filling, as well as frustrated quantum magnetism with a rapidly oscillating ground-state characteristic function. In the latter case, an ANN with a standard architecture fails, while that with a slightly modified one successfully learns the frustration-induced complex sign rule in the ground state and approximates the ground states with high precisions. As an example of practical use of our method, we also perform the variational method to explore the ground state of an anti-ferromagnetic $J_1-J_2$ Heisenberg model.


All cells rely on nutrients to supply energy and carbon building blocks to support cellular processes. Over time, eukaryotes have developed increasingly complex systems to integrate information about available nutrients with the internal state of energy stores to activate the necessary processes to meet the immediate and ongoing needs of the cell. One such system is the network of soluble and membrane-associated inositol phosphates that coordinate the cellular responses to nutrient uptake and utilization from growth factor signaling to energy homeostasis. In this review, we discuss the coordinated interactions of the inositol polyphosphates, inositol pyrophosphates, and phosphoinositides in major metabolic signaling pathways to illustrate the central importance of the inositol phosphate signaling network in nutrient responses.


Be true to yourself. So urges the ancient maxim. In contemporary Western societies, this usually translates into the imperative of being in touch with your feelings. But sincerity and emotional authenticity have not always been first principles, and East Asian societies have traditionally subordinated emotion to ritual propriety. In this article, I propose a ritual theory of emotion that acknowledges the importance of codified rules of conduct, stylized modes of expression, and a shared subjunctive world as constitutive of a ritual social order that nonetheless admits of emotional plenitude. Beginning with a recent film about the renowned Peking Opera performer Mei Lanfang, I argue that we moderns have lost the art of presentation epitomized by classical theater and that the representational aesthetic, exemplified by film, has become hegemonic in modern life, from the intimate sphere of the family to the public arena of civic and political engagement. I draw on an emerging body of interdisciplinary scholarship on emotion and cognition as well as the continued, albeit misrecognized, role of ritual and its dialectic with sincerity. I then turn to a 19th-century memoir, Six Records of a Floating Life by Shen Fu, to sketch the outlines of an experimental aesthetic and lifestyle poised precariously yet playfully between presentation and representation, ritual and sincerity.


[1] New estimates of measurement and sampling uncertainties of gridded in situ sea surface temperature anomalies are calculated for 1850 to 2006. The measurement uncertainties account for correlations between errors in observations made by the same ship or buoy due, for example, to miscalibration of the thermometer. Correlations between the errors increase the estimated uncertainties on grid box averages. In grid boxes where there are many observations from only a few ships or drifting buoys, this increase can be large. The correlations also increase uncertainties of regional, hemispheric, and global averages above and beyond the increase arising solely from the inflation of the grid box uncertainties. This is due to correlations in the errors between grid boxes visited by the same ship or drifting buoy. At times when reliable estimates can be made, the uncertainties in global average, Southern Hemisphere, and tropical sea surface temperature anomalies are between 2 and 3 times as large as when calculated assuming the errors are uncorrelated. Uncertainties of Northern Hemisphere averages are approximately double. A new estimate is also made of sampling uncertainties. They are largest in regions of high sea surface temperature variability such as the western boundary currents and along the northern boundary of the Southern Ocean. The sampling uncertainties are generally smaller in the tropics and in the ocean gyres.


Ultrasonography (US) performed in nine patients (two with pancreatic carcinoma, one with hepatomegaly, six with no relevant abdominal disease) showed the pancreas to lie wholly to the left of the aorta. This not uncommon location may give rise to difficulty in demonstrating the pancreas on real-time US scans. The superior mesenteric vessels and splenic vein remain useful landmarks for locating the head of the pancreas in this position.


Biodiesel has become an attractive focus due to its environmental friendliness and benefits. Waste and non-edible raw materials have been employed for producing biodiesel in order to make it competitiveness with the petroleum-based diesel. Waste raw materials can contain substantial amount of free fatty acids (FFAs). Esterification reaction is one of the major routes to produce biodiesel from the raw material with high FFAs. However, the conventional process is facing several problems. Therefore, the development of an efficient continuous process for biodiesel manufacturing is required in which the use of a solid catalyst is highly desirable in order to suppress costly chemical processing steps and waste treatment. In the present study, an innovative esterification process of fatty acids based on reactive distillation was proposed for the biodiesel production. Process simulation was performed to study the feasibility of producing biodiesel using reactive distillation column, to identify the important operating and design factors (reactant ratio, reflux ratio, pressure, distillate-to-feed ratio, number of stages, and catalyst weight), and to propose a suitable configuration of the pilot plant for the biodiesel production. The esterification process was modelled by the esterification of oleic acid with methanol. The reaction was catalysed heterogeneously by sulfonic exchange acid resin. A pragmatic kinetic based on pseudohomogeneous model was incorporated into the reactive distillation model. From the simulation, it was found that it is feasible to produce biodiesel using reactive distillation column. The distillate-to-feed is best suited at 0.4 while the reflux ratio is best-suited in the range of 0.04 to 0.10. Pressure can be up to 3 bar. The changes in catalyst weight apparently contribute to the scale of production for biodiesel. The catalyst weight used is in the range of 250 to 500 gm. Finally, a suitable reactive distillation column configuration was proposed.