Using Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation, the current study determined the surface forces between iron oxide surfaces when immersed in methyl oleate. Condensed-phase Optimized Molecular Potentials for Atomistic Simulation Studies (COMPASS) force field was used to model the methyl oleate molecules. For the nano-confinement simulation, the iron oxide wall was modelled from its crystal structure. The nano-confinement simulation model was setup in a manner where the confined methyl oleate molecules were in contact with the bulk molecules surrounding each side of the iron oxide walls. Through the simulation, the load-separation gap profile was obtained by reducing the separation gap between the ferric oxide walls. When the separation gap was reduced from 2.75 nm to 1.88 nm, the load is shown to increase monotonically. Such increase in load bearing ability of the contact is observed to correspond to a more densely packed methyl oleate molecules, reflected by four well-formed layers across the separation gap. As the gap is dropped from 1.88 nm to 1.63 nm, the load instead reduces, indicating deteriorating load bearing ability of the contact. However, the load bearing ability of the contact is then shown to recover when the gap was further reduced till 1.38 nm. This oscillatory load trend is shown to be as a result of a layer of methyl oleate molecules being squeezed out of contact, corroborated by the density profile change where four well-formed layers were reduced to only three layers from 1.88 nm to 1.38 nm gap. This also indicates that the simulated contact exhibits structural forces, known as solvation forces. Thus, the MD simulation discussed in this study is demonstrated to be capable of providing a foundation to allow for a multi-scale simulation, integrating various force laws at different length scales, to study larger scale tribological contacts.


Based on the finite element program SAP2000, 120 models of eight different piers with different lead-rubber bearings (LRB) are established. The seismic response analyses of piers isolated by LRB in axial direction of the bridge are carried out under the excitations of seven earthquake waves. The calculations of seismic responses of the piers with and without isolation are implemented by using dynamic time-history analysis method, and the comparison of the results is given out. Considering the isolation ratio of the moment at the bottom of pier as observation samples, the variances of the three LRB mechanical parameters are analyzed. Furthermore, the ability of the parameters of LRB to adjust the seismic response of different piers is discussed. The analysis results show that all the mechanical parameters of LRB have significant effect on the isolation ratio of the moment at the bottom of pier, and the parameters of LRB can adjust the seismic forces of the isolated piers whose height difference is less than 30 meters to be almost equal. This paper provides some valuable references for the further study of isolation design for railway bridges.


Seventeen pregnancies were reported from an international tubal sterilization data set comprising 1,862 minilaparotomy cases between 1978 and 1984. Of these 17, seven (41.2%) were diagnosed as luteal phase pregnancies. Of the 10 pregnancies due to sterilization failure, one was an ectopic pregnancy which occurred much later (20 months poststerilization) than the intrauterine pregnancies (10 months or less). Poststerilization pregnancy risk was greater among gravid women (those undergoing sterilization at the time of abortion or soon after childbirth) than among non-gravid women (those undergoing interval sterilization). These findings are, in general, consistent with those of previous studies using a much larger data set of primarily laparoscopic sterilizations. Pregnancies occurred with every type of mechanical tubal occlusion techniques included for study (the tubal ring, the Rocket Clip, the Secuclip and the Filshie Clip), and a frequently reported reason for failure was incorrect placement of the device. No pregnancies occurred in women sterilized with the non-mechanical Pomeroy/modified Pomeroy techniques. Findings of this analysis suggest that in minilaparotomy sterilization, for the mechanical tubal occlusion techniques to be as effective as the Pomeroy/modified Pomeroy techniques, more care and skill are required for the operator.


Background: Spirometry is essential for diagnostics of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) but is not enough to make a comprehensive clinical diagnosis over the time. Aim: To evaluate COPD diagnostics track for a cohort of adults 35-70 years old based on spirometric cut-offs as well as clinical criteria. Methods: The RESearch on the PrEvalence and the diagnosis of COPD and its Tobacco-related aetiology (RESPECT) is a prospective, population-based cohort study. Spirometry before and after a bronchodilator (BD) was performed and airflow limitation (AL) measured by a ratio of FEV 1 /FVC Results: 3133 individuals agreed to participate in the baseline study. Out of the 278 individuals with AL based on both cut-offs before and/or after BD who were invited to the second screening, 177 agreed to participate. Satisfactory quality of spirometry was achieved by 102 and 65 participants after and before BD test, respectively. From those 102 persons with post-BD AL only 63.2% still have AL after the second screening (with clinically confirmed diagnosis: 44 COPD patients, 1 - asthma, 1 with confirmed and 12 with possible asthma-COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS), 2 – tuberculosis and 2 without symptoms of any obstructive diseases). 23.1% from 65 persons with pre-BD AL became post-BD obstructive after the second screening (13 with COPD confirmed diagnosis and 2 with possible ACOS). Conclusion: Spirometry is required for a comprehensive COPD diagnosis but clinical assessment and follow-up should be essential parts to confirm diagnosis.


The sudden drop in estrogen in post-menopausal women can lead to osteoporosis. About one in three women aged more than 50 years experienced an osteoporotic fracture. The aim of this study is to explore function of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) in bone metabolism and osteoporosis in menopausal transition women. 164 cases of women in menopausal transition were included, and which were divided into three groups, including < 40 years group, 40-50 years group and > 50 years group. All of patients must with empty stomach, and 5 ml blood was collected from median cubital vein between second day to ninth day in menstruation period. Examination of FSH and C-terminal cross-linked telopetides of type I collagen (CTx) was performed by using ECLIA assay. The results indicated that CTx levels were distinguished among the different aged group, with the increasing level following with the increased age. FSH level in both of < 40 years and 40-50 years old women were positively correlated with CTx level (P < 0.05). The spearman rank correlation analysis results also showed that there were no significant correlation between CTx level and FSH level in > 50 years old women. There were significant differences for the CTx level between 0-40 mIU/ml group and > 40 40 mIU/ml group in all of the three ages group (P < 0.05). In conclusion, it's clinically significant for the combining examination of FSH and CTx in menopausal transition women, which could observe the bone metabolize changes quickly and sensitively, and prevent or therapy the osteoporosis in a further step.


OF DISSERTATION THE IMPACTS OF FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE ON INTERNATIONAL PORK TRADE – AN EXTENSION OF GRAVITY MODEL Food safety scares affect consumption behavior, and food safety and animal health issues are increasingly impacting international agricultural trade. Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious viral-type disease, and has raised not only the concerns of animal health issue but also food safety issue. Over 58 countries in the world have experienced FMD outbreaks, and pork exports and imports among these countries are largely impacted. This dissertation focuses on how global pork trade is affected by FMD. This dissertation consists of three parts: first, this study specifically focuses on the market of U.S. pork exports. Results show that disease-affected pork importers are potential traders with the U.S., and only importing countries with a vaccination policy are more likely to increase pork imports from the U.S. rather than those importers with a slaughter policy. Second, a further investigation focuses basic hypothesis on import demand of FMD-affected importers by using a gravity model with fixed-effects to show how pork trade is affected by FMD among 186 countries. Results confirm that pork export falls when an exporting country develops FMD. Exporters with a vaccination policy have larger negative impacts than those with a slaughter policy. Further, pork importers that develop FMD and institute a slaughter policy will import more pork, but importers with a vaccination policy import the same level of pork. Third, the findings of part one and two reveal that FMD-free pork exporters face different market opportunities when pork importers have FMD outbreaks. Hence, four major FMD-free pork exporters, such as Canada, U.S., Germany, and Spain, are further investigated. Results confirm that the impacts of foreign FMD have altered pork exporters differently. Germany has gained the most exports during foreign FMD outbreaks in pork importers; the U.S. is second; Spain is third; and Canada is fourth. In sum, this dissertation contributes to the literature of gravity model when endogeneity and heteroskedasticity may coexist, when an extremely large number of zero observations are included, when single commodity for one specific exporter is analyzed, when a spatial econometric approach is compared, and when pork export market has been altered by foreign FMD outbreaks.


Developing an understanding of the public discourse on COVID-19 vaccination on social media is important not only for addressing the current COVID-19 pandemic, but also for future pathogen outbreaks. We examine a Twitter dataset containing 75 million English tweets discussing COVID-19 vaccination from March 2020 to March 2021. We train a stance detection algorithm using natural language processing (NLP) techniques to classify tweets as `anti-vax' or `pro-vax', and examine the main topics of discourse using topic modelling techniques. While pro-vax tweets (37 million) far outnumbered anti-vax tweets (10 million), a majority of tweets from both stances (63% anti-vax and 53% pro-vax tweets) came from dual-stance users who posted both pro- and anti-vax tweets during the observation period. Pro-vax tweets focused mostly on vaccine development, while anti-vax tweets covered a wide range of topics, some of which included genuine concerns, though there was a large dose of falsehoods. A number of topics were common to both stances, though pro- and anti-vax tweets discussed them from opposite viewpoints. Memes and jokes were amongst the most retweeted messages. Whereas concerns about polarisation and online prevalence of anti-vax discourse are unfounded, targeted countering of falsehoods is important.


In the acknowledgments to the English translation of "Cosmological deixis and Amerindian perspectivism," Eduardo Vivieros de Castro (1998: 484) cryptically states that "After this article has reached its present form, I read an essay by Fritz Krause … which advances ideas strikingly similar to some developed here." In this introduction to the first English translation of Krause's "Mask and ancestral figure: The motif of the skin and the principle of form," I sketch what some of these ideas may be and trace how they were addressed in Viveiros de Castro's later writings. I conclude with a brief survey of some other engagements with Krause's work in Amazonian ethnology and suggest why this article has remained largely ignored in the discipline.


In this paper, using the Non-Equilibrium Green Function (NEGF) formalism, we have calculated the electron transport through a silicon nanowire with a rough interface. The nanowire was orientated in the [100] direction. Two different wire diameters, D1 = 2.18 nm and D2 = 3.21 nm, have been used to analyse the effect of the cross section in the transmission coefficients. We used a full-band description of the electron state by using a tight binding formalism to describe the electron Hamiltonian. The calculation makes full use of the recursive algorithm to calculate the transmission. We compare several nanowires that differ in the microscopic realization of interface roughness. The energy shift between the onset of the transmission of the rough and the pristine nanowire are 200 meV and 50 meV for D1 and D2 respectively. Furthermore, the transmissions of some nanowires show resonances due to a resonant cavity created by the interface surface. This is particularly relevant as effective-mass-approximation NEGF simulations of similar nanowire transistors show the same resonances. These resonances play a role in increasing the off-current of nanowire transistors.


A microscopic expression of the pressure tensor using the fast multipole method (FMM) with periodic boundary conditions has been derived. The pressure tensor calculated using this expression has been compared with that obtained using the Ewald method with high accuracy. The precision of the pressure tensor can be controlled as a function of expansion order p of FMM. Using the calculated pressure tensor, the constant pressure molecular dynamics calculation with fully fluctuating cell can be performed for anisotropic systems such as crystals, metals, liquid crystals, glasses, polymers, lipid bilayers, and interfacial regions between two phases. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Royals Kitchen is one of the MSMEs in Malang City which produces yogurt drinks, where these MSMEs have been producing yogurt since 2 3 years ago after obtaining permission from DISPERINDAG Malang City. In a period of time not too long, Royals Kitchen has grown significantly in the level of sales and marketing area. However, there are many problems from the Royal Kitchen UMKM, including: 1). The production process is still manual so that it has the potential to cause product contamination and product failure, 2). The capacity of pasteurization and incubation equipment for production is limited to 5 liters while to meet consumer demand the capacity of the equipment must be at least 20 liters. 3). Product quality is less standard (less consistent), 4). Weak understanding and skills in producing a product according to GMP provisions. For this reason, through this innovative PkM activity, it is hoped that there will be a solution to the problems faced by Royals Kitchen so hat these SMEs can grow well. Some of the solutions that will be provided through these innovative PkM,include: 1). Procurement of pasteurization and incubation equipment capacity of 20-30 liters, 2). HACCP and GMP training, 3). Administrative and financial management training, 4). Promotion through print media (newspapers).The expected outcomes of the solution include: Increased production capacity, improved product quality, improved administrative and financial management systems and increased sales turnover.Some of the results of the PKM activities, include: grants for pasteurization equipment with a capacity of 20 liters, increased knowledge and skills in operating pasteurization equipment, improved knowledge of administration and business finance management.


Rho GTPases regulate cell morphogenesis and motility under the tight control of guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) and GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs). However, the underlying mechanism(s) that coordinate their spatiotemporal activities, whether separately or together, remain unclear. We show that a prometastatic RhoGAP, ARHGAP8/BPGAP1, binds to inactive Rac1 and localizes to lamellipodia. BPGAP1 recruits the RacGEF Vav1 under epidermal growth factor (EGF) stimulation and activates Rac1, leading to polarized cell motility, spreading, invadopodium formation, and cell extravasation and promotes cancer cell migration. Importantly, BPGAP1 down-regulates local RhoA activity, which influences Rac1 binding to BPGAP1 and its subsequent activation by Vav1. Our results highlight the importance of BPGAP1 in recruiting Vav1 and Rac1 to promote Rac1 activation for cell motility. BPGAP1 also serves to control the timing of Rac1 activation with RhoA inactivation via its RhoGAP activity. BPGAP1, therefore, acts as a dual-function scaffold that recruits Vav1 to activate Rac1 while inactivating RhoA to synchronize both Rho and Rac signaling in cell motility. As epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), Vav1, RhoA, Rac1, and BPGAP1 are all associated with cancer metastasis, BPGAP1 could provide a crucial checkpoint for the EGFR-BPGAP1-Vav1-Rac1-RhoA signaling axis for cancer intervention.


Until worldwide eradication of poliomyelitis is achieved, vaccination with poliovirus vaccines is the only means for providing population and individual immunity to polioviruses. The ACIP, AAP, and AAFP support the global poliomyelitis eradication initiative, and have recommended a transition policy that will increase use of IPV and decrease use of OPV during the next 3 to 5 years.


Background Sarcoidosis is a multisystem idiopathic granulomatous disorder characterized by the development of noncaseating infiltrative granulomas in various body organs. The central nervous system (CNS) is one of the sites to be affected by sarcoidosis. We present a case of sarcoidosis with concomitant involvement of lung and CNS with emphasis on neuroimaging findings. Case A 45-year-old Ethiopian male patient was sent to our radiology department at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital for chest computed tomography (CT) and brain Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluation for an indication of panhypopituitarism, nasal congestion, and decreased vision. The chest CT reveals the perilymphatic distribution of multiple soft tissue attenuating pulmonary nodules which is a pattern seen in sarcoidosis. The brain MRI also revealed thickening and gadolinium enhancement of hypothalamus/optic chiasm which is also a common site of involvement in neurosarcoidosis. The nasal biopsy finding of granulomatous inflammation with the above imaging findings supports the diagnosis of sarcoidosis. Conclusion As sarcoidosis is a systemic disease that can affect any organ in the body, multimodality imaging is important in the diagnosis of sarcoidosis. Brain MRI with gadolinium contrast is a preferred imaging modality that can assess different patterns and areas of CNS involvement in sarcoidosis.


Investigating the impact of management on performance in public organizations is a key challenge for public administration. To that end, we apply to a national sample of law enforcement agencies a recently developed formal model of public management. The model frames a set of specific expectations about the management-performance relationship. The study estimates the impacts of both internally- and externally-oriented managerial activities on a salient metric of law enforcement outcomes. In results supportive of the model, the findings indicate that active internal management contributes to higher arrest rates and helps police departments to be less bound by previous performance. The analysis also indicates that departments' externally-oriented activities of networking and community policing improve arrest rates and assist managers in mitigating the impact of environmental constraints on results.


This article analyses the capacity of the current Australian petroleum regulatory framework to encourage sustainable socio-economic extraction of Australia's offshore petroleum resources. First it considers what sustainable development means within the context of non-renewable petroleum resources. After an examination of the petroleum resources and policies of Australia and Norway, this article focuses on the legislative framework that regulates offshore petroleum exploration and extraction. The analysis identifies a number of limitations of the current legislative framework to encourage sustainable petroleum extraction. In an attempt to provide solutions to these legislative limitations the article also analyses the Norwegian offshore petroleum policy and legislative framework, which together have encouraged the sustainable socio-economic extraction of its petroleum resources. By examining the Norwegian legislative framework, it is possible to generate a number of options for sustainable socio-economic development of Australian resources. The article makes several recommendations for Australia to encourage the sustainable development of its offshore petroleum resources.


Background Oxidative stress is increased in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) patients, and contributes to the immune system imbalance, abnormal activation of apoptotic processes, autoantibodies production and the development of serious complications, such as cardiovascular comorbidities. Objectives To evaluate the influence of oxidative stress as an additional factor to the classical cardiovascular risk ones, in SLE patients. Methods Cross-sectional prospective study of SLE patients according to the SLICC-2012 criteria, coming from the Rheumatology Service of Arnau de Vilanova Hospital and La Fe Hospital. In all patients we analyzed the serum concentration of GS-Nem (GSH) and GSSG by UPLC-MS/MS (Acquity UPLC System). We have also taken healthy individuals as negative controls, who had the same blood-test. In patients was also made a complete blood-test, and clinical, treatment and biometric data were collected by personal interview. Biostatistical analysis was performed by the R software version 3.2.3., using a simple, binominal and logistic lineal regression. Results A total of 140 patients were evaluated; (95% women) with 33.39±13.63 year-old average at the diagnosis time with a 10.05± 11.42 year-evolution of SLE. We used GSH/GSSG ratio to assess the oxidative stress rate, being this value higher in patients than in healthy controls (P=0.005). We observed a statistically significant relationship between the presence of oxidative stress and accumulated damage assessed by SLICC-ACR (P<0.0001). No differences according to the disease activity, specific autoimmune profile or by organ or systems affected. However, we found a slight difference in the GSH/GSSG ratio among patients who have had a CVD (1±0.39) and those who have not suffered CVD (1.19±0.55). No differences in the levels of oxidative stress are observed according to treatment with folic acid or the administration of biological therapies. Conclusions We observed increased levels of oxidative stress in our SLE patients compared to healthy controls. Data suggest a rise of oxidative stress in patients with a greater cumulative damage, which is consistent with the presence of severe comorbidities in these patients. It seems to be a slight tendency to increased oxidative stress levels measured with GSH/GSSG ratio in patients with SLE and cardiovascular involvement, but more independent studies are needed to confirm it. Disclosure of Interest None declared


The one-dimensional XY model with n arbitrarily placed interfaces is investigated. The energy spectrum is shown to have a tower structure only for a commensurate configuration of the critical parameters. The interfacial critical exponents in such cases are determined from conformal invariance theory. The underlying algebra generating the conformal spectrum is the shifted SO(4c) Kac-Moody algebra, the central charge is 2c, which is exactly two times of that in the Ising model with the same structure of interfaces.


Describes TLD bracelet that can withstand gas sterilization and surgical scrubbing before and after its use. The bracelet is constructed of 1/4 in. ID surgical tubing coupled at both ends to a transparent plastic cylinder, 1*1/4 in. OD in size, which contains the TLD and the identification tag. The plastic set screw cap makes the cylinder watertight so radioactive or biological contamination on the bracelet does not contaminate the TLD or consequently the TLD reader. The bracelet can be adjusted to any size and is comfortable to wear for an unlimited period of time. This paper discusses the design, calibration and application of this monitoring bracelet along with hand exposures recorded with the bracelet for several diagnostic radiology procedures and radiopharmaceutical preparations.


The application of model predictive control (MPG) to complex, nonlinear processes results in a nonconvex optimization problem for computing the optimal control actions. This optimization problem can be addressed by discrete search techniques, such as the branch-and-bound method, which has been successfully applied to MPG. The discretization, however, introduces a tradeoff between the number of discrete actions (computation time) and the performance. This paper proposes a solution to these problems by using a fuzzy predictive filter to construct the discrete control alternatives. The filter is represented as an adaptive set of control actions multiplied by a gain factor. This keeps the number of necessary alternatives low and increases the performance. Herewith, the problems introduced by the discretization of the control actions are diminished. The proposed MPC method using fuzzy predictive filters is applied by the temperature control of an air-conditioned test room. Simulations and real-time results show the advantages of the proposed method.


Received 24 November 2003; accepted 25 November 2003; electronically published 1 March 2004. Reprints or correspondence: Dr. Didier Raoult, Unité des Rickettsies—CNRS UMR 6020, Faculté de Médecine, 27, boulevard Jean Moulin, Marseille 13385, France (Didier. firstname.lastname@example.com). Clinical Infectious Diseases 2004; 38:812–3 2004 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. 1058-4838/2004/3806-0006$15.00 The article by Paddock et al. [1] in this issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases demonstrates that we must be able to change our minds about traditionally established diseases such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) and tickborne rickettsioses. Paddock et al. [1] report the case of an American patient with fever, rash, and an inoculation eschar. The patient had antibodies to Rickettsia rickettsii and to Rickettsia akari. Culture of the eschar biopsy specimen yielded a rickettsia characterized by molecular biology as Rickettsia parkeri, which was discovered in ticks in the United States 60 years ago. This is the first report of an infection with this agent. In the first part of the 20th century, it was established that a single organism, R. rickettsii, was the agent of RMSF. It was considered the only agent of tickborne rickettsial diseases in America. Any other rickettsia obtained from a tick was considered to be nonpathogenic. Among these were R. parkeri (first identified in 1939), Rickettsia montanensis, Rickettsia canadensis, Rickettsia bellii, and Rickettsia rhipicephali, and other isolates without formal description [2]. Even Coxiella burnetii, the agent of Q fever, was first considered to be a nonpathogenic rickettsia (named Rickettsia diaporica) because it was found first in a tick in the Rocky Mountain Laboratory (Hamilton, MT)[2]. In the rest of the world, the same simplification of causality was also observed, and tickborne rickettsial diseases were considered to be caused only by Rickettsia conorii in Europe, Africa, and Asia, by Rickettsia sibirica in Siberia, and by Rickettsia australis in Australia; a single species was considered the agent of all tickborne rickettioses in a specific geographic area. Therefore, only 4 pathogenic species of tickborne rickettsioses were established. Since World War II, the diagnosis of rickettsioses has been made mainly on the basis of serological testing, and indirect immunofluorescence assay has been the reference technique used [2]. After 1976, immunodetection in skin biopsy specimens was also proposed [3]. However, due to the widespread antigenic crossreactions among tick-associated rickettsia, these techniques cannot discriminate among rickettsioses and are rarely able to formally identify new diseases. More sophisticated serological techniques, including cross-adsorption assays and Western blot testing, can differentiate between 2 identified species. However, serological tests can detect only antibodies to the suspected antigens of identified agents and not antibodies to unknown organisms [4]. Starting in 1991, with the introduction of cell culture and molecular biological testing methods, the spectrum of rickettsioses increased dramatically [5]. Eight new species (or new diseases) have been described since 1991: Rickettsia japonica in Japan, Rickettsia honei on Flinders Island (between Australia and Tasmania), Rickettsia africae in Africa and the West Indies, Rickettsia slovaca in Europe, Rickettsia aeschlimannii in Africa and Europe [6], Rickettsia helvetica in Europe and Asia, Rickettsia heilongjanghensis in Asia, and R. parkeri in the United States. Two new subspecies were also reported: Rickettsia conorii astrakhan in Russia, Africa, and Kosovo, and Rickettsia sibirica mongolotimonae in China, Europe, and Africa. New rickettsial diseases have been found mainly under 3 conditions.


As the popularity of video as an information medium rises, the amount of video content that we produce and archive keeps growing. This creates a demand for shorter representations of videos in order to assist the task of video retrieval. The traditional solution is to let humans watch these videos and write textual summaries based on what they saw. This summarisation process, however, is time-consuming. Moreover, a lot of useful audio-visual information contained in the original video can be lost. Video summarisation aims to turn a full-length video into a more concise version that preserves as much information as possible. The problem of video summarisation is to minimise the trade-off between how concise and how representative a summary is. There are also usability concerns that need to be addressed in a video summarisation scheme. To solve these problems, this research aims to create an automatic video summarisation framework that combines and improves on existing video summarisation techniques, with the focus on practicality and user satisfaction. We also investigate the need for different summarisation strategies in different kinds of videos, for example news, sports, or TV series. Finally, we develop a video summarisation system based on the framework, which is validated by subjective and objective evaluation. The evaluation results shows that the proposed framework is effective for creating video skims, producing high user satisfaction rate and having reasonably low computing requirement. We also demonstrate that the techniques presented in this research can be used for visualising video summaries in the form web pages showing various useful information, both from the video itself and from external sources.


AIM
The aim of this study is to describe the concept added sugar in the context of type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk in adults.

BACKGROUND
Dietary added sugars are associated with a greater risk for T2D; however, it is unclear if added sugars influence T2D risk directly or if their effects are mediated by excess caloric intake and weight gain.

DESIGN
A principle-based concept analysis following the PRISMA guidelines was conducted to clarify the concept of added sugar. A systematic search was conducted using PubMed and Embase. Multidisciplinary, empirical evidence was appraised using four guiding principles outlined by the principle-based concept analysis method.

RESULTS
Thirty-five publications were included in this concept analysis. The concept, added sugar in the context of T2D risk, was found to be epistemologically immature and lacked conceptual clarity.

CONCLUSIONS
Added sugar is an immature concept warranting further refinement for conceptual advancement. To enhance conceptual clarity, the term "added sugar" should be used consistently in the scientific literature when discussing foods or beverages containing added sugars or caloric sweeteners. A clearer delineation of added sugar and its association with T2D risk in adults is critical to advance this concept within the scientific literature.


In this study, wind speed and direction data provided by Meteoblue AG-Switzerland as hourly time-series for 16 years from 2000 to 2015 for selected three cities in Gaza Strip, are used directly to evaluate the wind energy in the three selected sites which are geographically presenting the entire Strip. Jabalia is located in the North of Gaza Strip, Deir-albalah in the Middle and Rafah in the South. The wind rose diagrams have been depicted by using WRPLOT view 7.0.0 (wind rose plots for meteorological data from Lake Environmental, 2011). The statistical analysis of the data shows that; Rafah city is the first candidate to establish a wind farm in the entire Palestinian territory. The reason that, Rafah has the highest wind energy potential than the other sites. The second reason is that Rafah is located on the border crossing to Egypt, which facilitates the transfer of machinery, experts, and reduces transport and communication expanses. In addition to low population density, which increases the economic feasibility of utilizing wind energy at this location for remote area applications. The analysis has been done for a large types of wind turbines types. Gamesa G128-4.5 WT, which is manufactured for classes I and II wind speeds with low cut-in speed, was selected for our project. The estimated annual energy is 15,962 MWh/turbine, with an average utility factor of 40.4%; to cover the shortage of 200 MW we need to 110 WTs. The required area for the wind farm is estimated to be 43 km2.


This paper presents psychological research that can help people make better decisions. Decision analysts typically: 1) elicit outcome probabilities; 2) assess attribute weights; and 3) suggest the option with the highest overall value. Decision analysis can be challenging because of environmental and psychological issues. Fast and frugal methods such as natural frequency formats, frugal multiattribute models, and fast and frugal decision trees can address these issues. Not only are the methods fast and frugal, but they can also produce results that are surprisingly close to or even better than those obtained by more extensive analysis. Apart from raising awareness of these findings among engineers, the authors also call for further research on the application of fast and frugal methods to decision analysis


Hantaan virus (HTNV) causes hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in humans. Cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) plays an important role in the clearance of the virus. Only few CTL epitopes specific for HTNV have been identified to date. We analyzed by ex vivo ELISPOT the anti-HTNV CTL responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from patients with HFRS. Seventy 15-mer overlapping peptides spanning the entire HTNV nucleocapsid protein were screened with PBMCs of HFRS patients in Shaanxi province, China. A total of 22 15-mer epitopes were identified, in which 19 were defined as CTL epitopes. Furthermore, 13 minimized 9-mer CTL epitopes were defined on 8 of 19 15-mer peptides, in which three were found to be restricted by various HLA alleles including A24, A11 and B7. IFN-γ ELISPOT analysis showed that memory CTL specific for these epitopes were present at high frequency in HTNV-immune individuals many years after acute infection. The identified epitopes may be useful for the design of new HTNV vaccine and the understanding of CTL response to HTNV during acute infection. This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.30471625).


For the study of the electric power industry's profitability in China, the paper selected 32 typical power listed companies as the objects to evaluate, selected the 2007 financial data for the research base, Used the information theory of entropy theory to make an objective evaluation of empowerment, use the fuzzy comprehensive methods to evaluate the 32 power of listed companies' profitability. Established the entropy fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model, come to a comprehensive scoring position of the 32 listed companies, compared with the results of the evaluation of the real situation.


Recent learning-based image classification and speech recognition approaches make extensive use of attention mechanisms to achieve state-of-the-art recognition power, which demonstrates the effectiveness of attention mechanisms. Motivated by the fact that the frequency and time information of modulated radio signals are crucial for modulation mode recognition, this paper proposes a frequency-time attention mechanism for a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based modulation recognition framework. The proposed frequency-time attention module is designed to learn which channel, frequency and time information is more meaningful in CNN for modulation recognition. We analyze the effectiveness of the proposed frequency-time attention mechanism and compare the proposed method with two existing learning-based methods. Experiments on an opensource modulation recognition dataset show that the recognition performance of the proposed framework is better than those of the framework without frequency-time attention and existing learning-based methods.


This article explores the Danish Bell Beaker phenomenon by focusing on the meaning of this distinctive pottery and seeking answers to the following questions: Does the pottery reflect social identities with respect to gender, rank, religion and so forth, and is the symbolic meaning of beakers the same all over their wide area of distribution? Furthermore, why are Bell Beakers adopted in some regions but rejected in others? The starting point for this article is a detailed analysis of a comprehensive selection of potsherds comprising not only Bell Beakers, but also different types of coarse ware found at Bejsebakken, a settlement site in northern Jutland. The intra-site distribution of pottery may reflect learning patterns and, consequently, matrimonial traditions. This has wider implications for our understanding of the social organisation of Late Neolithic society. Finally, this article discusses the directions of influence, rejecting a single source of origin, but arguing that the material culture of the Danish Bell Beaker phenomenon was shaped by many-sided influences.


For Muslims, all aspects of human life including politics and leadership are governed by the Holy Qur'ān. One of the well-known verses is QS. An-Nisa [4]: 59 which instructs the Muslims to obey uli'l-amr. The literature, however, shows that the scope of obedience is not absolute. Resultantly, the current research aims to understand the tax compliance in the context of obedience to authority. It provides a contemporary viewpoint from the Islamic boarding school (pesantren) communities in Depok, Indonesia about enrichment. Both quantitative research and field observations have been used to accomplish the research goals. Focusing on the pesantren communities' support for the operation of public services, it highlights the connections between obedience to authority and tax compliance. They confirm several assertions frequently linked to tax compliance based on the responsibility on order to obey the ruler, the legitimacy of tax collection, and the intention to engage in tax (non) compliance. The findings enhance the pesantren environment's support for taxation as a commitment to implement QS. An-Nisa [4]: 59. If the government's ability to collect taxes is constrained, it would remind them to handle this resource efficiently. This study emphasises the importance of taxation for the viability of the state with genuine support for taxation, transcending any political right. Since uli'l-amr is inherent in religious teachings, the government's main goal remains to encourage taxpayer compliance through various means of assistance. In this regard, recommendations for promoting tax compliance through some mechanisms are also presented.


Abstract 3304 Poster Board III-192 Introduction Anti-PDGFRA antibodies (APA) are associated with cGVHD and are hypothesized to stimulate PDGFRA signal transduction resulting in collagen deposition (Svegliati et al. Blood 2007). Imatinib inhibits PDGFRA activation and may reduce clinical manifestations in patients with cGVHD. We conducted a phase 1 dose escalation trial of imatinib in steroid dependent cGVHD and correlated response with measurements of APA. Patients and Methods All 15 subjects had extensive steroid dependent NIH defined cGVHD previously treated with ≥ 2 agents. Median age was 46 years (20-68). Mean time to study enrollment from transplant was 5.1 years and from cGVHD diagnosis was 4.1 years. Steroid dependence was defined as progressive cGVHD refractory to prednisone ≥ 0.5 mg/kg/d for ≥ 1 month or cGVHD requiring prednisone ≥ 0.25 mg/kg/d for ≥ 3 months. Subjects were treated with imatinib for 6 months starting at 200 mg daily with dose escalation to 400 mg after 4 weeks as tolerated and if a complete response did not occur. Steroids and one other immunosuppressant were allowed. Steroids were tapered as tolerated while other immunosuppressant dosing remained constant during the trial. The primary endpoint was safety and tolerability measured by CTCAE v. 3.0 criteria. Secondary endpoints were clinical response, change in daily prednisone requirement, and rate of treatment failure. Clinical assessment by medical providers, change in musculoskeletal function measured by grip strength and joint range of motion, and patient reported symptom burden measured by the Lee cGVHD scale were recorded. Treatment failure (TF) was defined as discontinuation of imatinib due to intolerance or cGVHD progression requiring new therapy. Imatinib was considered safe if no deaths or life threatening adverse events (CTCAE ≥ Grade 4) could be attributed to it. A ≥ 25% response rate was considered promising and worthy of phase 2 investigation. APA were detected by ELISA and immunoblotting against the extracellular PDGFRA domain. Results The study began on 9/24/08 and completed accrual on 8/4/09. Among the 14 subjects evaluable for safety and tolerability, 9 were dose escalated to 400 mg. 3/9 did not tolerate the increased dose and were dose reduced. All but 1 subject tolerated 200 mg. Possibly related grade 1-2 adverse events included edema (10), nausea (7), fatigue (6), LFT elevation (6), diarrhea (4), muscle cramping (4), confusion (3), flatulence (3), fever (2) and LDH elevation, vomiting, weight loss, erythema, heartburn, tachycardia, hypertension, and headache (1 each). Grade 3-4 adverse events were muscle cramping and pulmonary infiltrates (1 each at 400 mg) and vascular insufficiency (1 at 200 mg). One subject on prednisone, cyclosporine, and imatinib 200 mg experienced respiratory failure due to H1N1 infection and died at 16 weeks. 8/15 subjects have completed ≥ 6 months of therapy and are evaluable for clinical response. Seven of these subjects were dose escalated after an average of 87 days (28-160) of treatment at 200 mg. Responses by Hopkins criteria (HC, Jacobsohn et al. JCO 2007) were first observed at the 200 mg dose level in 6 subjects at an average of 47 days (27-110). Response was observed at 400 mg but not 200 mg in 1 subject. One subject failed to respond to both 200 and 400 mg. Some early responses were not durable. Evaluation by HC at 6 months demonstrated 1 major response, 4 minor responses, and 3 progressive disease. Evaluation by NIH criteria (Filipovich et al. BBMT 2005) at 6 months demonstrated 2 partial responses, 3 non-responses, and 3 treatment failures. Musculoskeletal function was improved in 3, unchanged in 3, and worse in 2 subjects. Patient reported Lee cGVHD symptom burden (Lee et al. BBMT 2002) was rated as improved in 2, unchanged in 3, and worse in 3. On average, the daily weight adjusted steroid dose decreased by 20%. APA were detected pre-treatment in 3/8 fully evaluable subjects. Two achieved minor responses, but the 3 rd experienced early progression and was censored. Of the 5 cases without detected APA, 1 had a major response, 2 had minor responses, and 2 had disease progression. Conclusions Imatinib at 200 and 400 mg is safe and appears to be effective in some cGVHD patients. Tolerability is decreased at 400 mg. APA are present in some but not all imatinib responders, suggesting that imatinib exerts its effects through mechanisms in addition to abrogation of PDGFRA signal transduction. Further phase 2 investigation is warranted. Disclosures Chen: Novartis: Research Funding. Off Label Use: Imatinib for chronic graft versus host disease. Otani: Novartis: Research Funding. Miklos: Novartis: Research Funding.


Abstract Objective: Without a supply of blood, health services could not meet their clinical needs. Similarly, organs for transplantation save and transform lives. Donations are acts of generosity that are traditionally seen as altruistic, and accordingly, interventions to recruit and retain blood and organ donors have focused on altruism. We review the predictors, prevalence and correlates of these two behaviours, how effective interventions have been, and draw common themes. Design: Narrative review. Results: We highlight that both recipients and donors benefit, and as such neither blood nor organ donation is purely altruistic. We also highlight health problems associated with both types of donation. In evaluating interventions, we highlight that a move to an opt-out policy for organ donation may not be the simple fix it is believed to be, and propose interventions to enhance the effectiveness of an opt-in policy (e.g. social media updates). We show that incentives, text messaging, feedback and a focus on prosocial emotions (e.g. 'warm-glow', 'gratitude') may be effective interventions for both blood and organ donation. Interventions designed to reduce fainting (e.g. water pre-loading) are also effective for blood donation. Conclusions: We conclude that affect is key to understanding both types of donation and in designing effective interventions.


vention relative to FLL-control (pretest = 2.6 1.0; posttest = 4.5 1.7 for performance; pretest = 2.0 1.0; posttest = 4.6 1.8 for satisfaction). Children in H-HABIT showed greater improvement (pretest = 11.0 5.8; posttest = 15.5 7.8) than children in FLL-control (pretest = 10.2 7.5; posttest = 12.3 6.4) on the Box and Blocks test (for interaction, F = 13.42, p < 0.01). Neither group demonstrated change on the AHA (F = 0.89, p > 0.05) (H-HABIT = 61.0 AHA units 10.1; FLL-Control = 59.0 AHA units 17.4). Conclusions/Significance: Children in H-HABIT made greater improvements on goal performance and dexterity relative to a control group receiving an intervention of equal intensity and duration. This is the first randomized trial to examine the efficacy of intensive bimanual training with caregivers as interventionists—a model which permits intervention at younger ages when there may be greater potential for improving hand function.


We have evaluated the use of genomic coancestry coefficients based on shared segments for the maintenance of genetic diversity through optimal contributions methodology for populations of three different Austrian cattle breeds. This coancestry measure has been compared with the genomic coancestry coefficient calculated on a SNP-by-SNP basis and with pedigree-based coancestry. The regressions of the shared segments coancestry on the other two coefficients suggest that the former mainly reflect Identity By Descent but with the advantage over pedigree-based coancestry of providing the realized Identity By Descent rather than an expectation. The effective population size estimated from the rate of coancestry based on shared segments was very similar to those obtained with the other coefficients and of small magnitude (from 26.24 to 111.90). This result highlights the importance of implementing active management strategies to control the increase of inbreeding and the loss of genetic diversity in livestock breeds, even when the population size is reasonably large. One problem for the implementation of coancestry based on shared segments is the need of estimating the gametic phases of the SNPs which, given the techniques used to obtain the genotypes, are a priori unknown. This study shows, through computer simulations, that using estimates of gametic phases for computing coancestry based on shared segments does not lead to a significant loss in the diversity maintained. This has been shown to be true even when the size of the population is very small as it is usually the case in populations subjected to conservation programmes.


location-based services (LBS) were used in military only. Today, thanks to advance in communication technologies and information technologies, more kinds of location based services have appeared, and they are useful for not only organizations but also individuals. Mobile LBS are services enhanced with positional data, which are provided by mobile apps using GPS, Dmaps, and other techniques. Many mobile apps provide interesting and convenient lbs and functions. The mobile app Yelp recommends nearby shops, restaurants, etc. In the social network mobile app Loopt, the users receive notifications Whenever their friends are nearby. The mobile app Waze reports nearby traffic jams, gas stations and friends. Users can access these services via the desktop, mobile phone, Personal Digital Assistant pager, Web browser , or other devices. Diverse applications include fleet tracking, emergency dispatch, roadside assistance, navigation, and more. The aim of safe tourister application to outsource the location based service (LBS) data from the LBS provider to the cloud and from the cloud to the LBS provider which protects the privacy related issues of the LBS data. Initially LBS user query for a place to the LBS provider, LBS provider in turn upload the details to the cloud but in the form of encrypted text to prevent the cloud from stealing the data. LBS users in turn decrypt the details by the personal password send by the LBS provider to the LBS user. When the query of the LBS user matches the details in the cloud the LBS user will retrieve the details and make use of it. In this application it is shown with the demo of a tourist requesting for tourist places tourist is the LBS user and admin is the LBS provider .With the pervasiveness of smart phones, location based services have received considerable attention and become more popular and vital recently. However, the use of LBS also has a potential threat to user's location privacy. In this paper, aiming at spatial range query, popular LBS providing information About Points of Interest, we present an effective and privacy-preserving LBS solution, called EPLQ. To reduce query latency, we further design a privacy-preserving tree index structure in EPLQ. Detailed security analysis confirms the security properties of EPLQ.


The proposed paper reflects on the relations among the three great world religions confessing one God – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – and their development since Vatican Council II up to the present. It notes that the Council denoted an important turn in the Catholic Church's attitude to the other two religions and exhorted Christians to view them positively. This message is contained especially in the pastoral constitution Gaudium et spes and the declaration Nostra aetate. The paper shows how the legacy of these documents is or is not realized in subsequent practice. It informs of initiatives supporting good relationships in various ways, ensuing from Christians as well as from Moslems. It points out that in the contemporary world, in which the mingling of cultures is increasing, interreligious dialogue is becoming more important and it is necessary to keep striving for it.


The effect of trovafloxacin on Staphylococcus aureus ingested by human granulocytes or monocytes was compared with that on S. aureus in cell-free medium. Maximum growth inhibition (E(R,max)) by the antibiotic was 0.530 log10/h for S. aureus within granulocytes, 0.912 log10/h for S. aureus within monocytes, and 1.830-1.916 log10/h for S. aureus in medium. EC50, the concentration at which 50% of the maximum growth inhibition is achieved, did not differ significantly under the conditions investigated. After inhibition of intracellular killing by granulocytes with sodium fluoride, the intracellular antibacterial activity of trovafloxacin was still less than that in medium. A 3.4 times higher concentration was needed to achieve the same effect on phagocytosed S. aureus as in cell-free medium. Trovafloxacin binds more strongly to granulocytes than to monocytes, the respective cellular concentrations being 10 and four times higher than that in medium. In conclusion, the activity of trovafloxacin against S. aureus ingested by human granulocytes or monocytes is less than that against S. aureus in cell-free medium and is not related to the cell-associated concentration. Intracellular conditions are not favourable for the antibacterial activity of trovafloxacin.


Enabling high practical mobility of MIMO-OFDM systems requires accurate channel estimation under severe frequency and time selective fading channels. Conventional methods rely on non-realistic approximations or result in impractical complexities. In this paper, a new practical training-based MIMO channel estimation scheme is presented. The new pilot bits designed from the 'Paley-Hadamard' matrix allows exploiting its orthogonal and 'Toeplitz-like' structures for minimising its pilot length. Additionally, a novel pilot expansion technique is proposed to estimate the length of the channel impulse response, by flexibly extending its pilot length as required to capture the number of multipath existed within the MIMO channel. The proposed pilot expansion enables to deduce the initial channel variation and its Doppler rate, which can be subsequently applied for MIMO channel tracking using decision feedback Kalman filter during the data payload.


This paper presents a novel and efficient algorithm of ECG compression in real time monitoring systems, updated with each new input signal sample. This algorithm tries to improve the compression ratio of the captured signal by means of an optimal noise threshold in terms of hardware complexity and memory requirements. Threshold estimation is computed, using the instantaneous standard deviation, in order to decrease data sorting and storing resources, and allowing low-cost implementation in portable electronic systems. This method produces the highest number of null samples (more than 88.7%) using a low threshold and signal errors with very acceptable merit figures (99.876% of EPE, and 0.193% of MSE). The quality of the recovered signal is good for the clinical diagnosis, obtaining a superior compression rate in spite of using instantaneously captured ECG signals.


Rosiska Darcy Oliviera Executive Secretary of the Coalition of Brazilian Women from Non-governmental Organizations for Population and Environment stresses the need to view population control as a political problem rather than just a technical problem of demographic organization. At present science technology and capital separate the work in much the same way that the master slave relationship of colonialist times did. The vast majority of the excluded are from developing countries in the South and from a market perspective these outcasts serve no purpose to global processes. Relegated to the margins of society outcasts are often forced to turn to illegal activities such as drug trafficking and prostitution to survive and these behaviors are used to bolster racist ideology. Improving the quality of life for all men and women requires a global alliance to overcome this social apartheid. If women are to exercise their reproductive rights womens health programs must extend their focus beyond contraception to include education that empowers women to make real choices and a material base that permits access to a spectrum of safe methods.


Characteristics of the antinociceptive action of phenylethylamine derivatives, amphetamine, beta-phenylethylamine (PEA) and beta-hydroxyphenylethylamine (OHPEA), were examined. The antinociception induced by PEA derivatives was enhanced by intracisternal injection of norepinephrine or clonidine and attenuated by intracisternal injection of phentolamine or yohimbine, but was not affected by intracisternal injection of prazosin in the mouse hot plate method. PEA derivatives induced a contraction of the rat vas deferens, and this contraction by PEA derivatives was attenuated by the application of phentolamine. The contractions induced by PEA or OHPEA in the reserpinized vas deferens were much smaller than those in the normal one. PEA derivatives inhibited the electrical stimulation-evoked contractions of the vas deferens, and the inhibition by PEA derivatives was reversed by the application of yohimbine. These findings indicate that PEA derivatives may induce the antinociception as a result of stimulating the alpha 2-adrenoceptors. The stimulation of alpha 2-adrenoceptors by PEA derivatives may result from the release of endogenous norepinephrine and/or from direct action on the alpha 2-adrenoceptors.


Ahmadou Kourouma's final (posthumous) novel, Quand on refuse, on dit non, clearly presents the late President Houphouët-Boigny as the vaillain from the modern history of independent Côte d'Ivoire. The goal of this study is to trace the presence of Houphouët in Kourouma's five published novels, from the allusions to a dictatorial president who indulges in arbitrary arrests, torture, and execution (Les soleils des independences), over a rapid history of Côte d'Ivoire from colonization to the 1980s (Monnè, outrages et defies), to the lightly disguised portrait of Houphouët as Tiékoroni (En attendant le vote des bêtes sauvages), to his presumed negotiation with the rebel leader Foday Sankoh of Sierra Leone Allah n'est pas obligé). In the final, uncompleted novel, Quand on refuse, on dit non, the scene is the civil war that broke out in Côte d'Ivoire in September 1992, under the presidency of Laurent Gbagbo. Kourouma clearly states that "the history of Côte d'Ivoire is confounded with the personal history of Houphouët-Boigny." Kourouma is not above the use of unconfirmed legend, blended with historical fact, in composing a broad canvas of Houphouët's "corruption and unscrupulousness."


Population growth and the pressures spawned by increasing demands for energy and resource-intensive goods, foods, and services are driving unsustainable growth in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Recent GHG emission trends are consistent with worst-case scenarios of the previous decade. Dramatic and near-term emission reductions likely will be needed to ameliorate the potential deleterious impacts of climate change. To achieve such reductions, fundamental changes are required in the way that energy is generated and used. New technologies must be developed and deployed at a rapid rate. Advances in carbon capture and storage, renewable, nuclear, and transportation technologies are particularly important; however, global research and development efforts related to these technologies currently appear to fall short relative to needs. Even with a proactive and international mitigation effort, humanity will need to adapt to climate change, but the adaptation needs and damages will be far greater if mitigation activities are not pursued in earnest. In this review, research is highlighted that indicates increasing global and regional temperatures and ties climate changes to increasing GHG emissions. GHG mitigation targets necessary for limiting future global temperature increases are discussed, including how factors such as population growth and the growing energy intensity of the developing world will make these reduction targets more challenging. Potential technological pathways for meeting emission reduction targets are examined, barriers are discussed, and global and U.S. modeling results are presented that suggest that the necessary pathways will require radically transformed electric and mobile sectors. While geoengineering options have been proposed to allow more time for serious emission reductions, these measures are at the conceptual stage with many unanswered cost, environmental, and political issues. Implications: This paper lays out the case that mitigating the potential for catastrophic climate change will be a monumental challenge, requiring the global community to transform its energy system in an aggressive, coordinated, and timely manner. If this challenge is to be met, new technologies will have to be developed and deployed at a rapid rate. Advances in carbon capture and storage, renewable, nuclear, and transportation technologies are particularly important. Even with an aggressive international mitigation effort, humanity will still need to adapt to significant climate change.


The study investigated user education programmes as correlate of information literacy skills among undergraduates in universities in Osun State, Nigeria. The population of the study consisted of undergraduates from three selected universities in Osun State. Questionnaire was used as data collection instrument. A total of 391 copies of the questionnaire were distributed to the respondents. Out of this number, 371 copies were returned and found usable with a response rate of 93.45%. The study revealed that majority of the respondents agreed to the availability of the all listed library user education programmes except for audio-visual aides/short films. Also, the findings revealed that there is a significant relationship between user education programme and levels of library literacy skills among the undergraduates in selected universities in Osun State. Based on the findings, the researchers recommended among others that university management should provide infrastructures such as adequate power supply that would facilitate the delivery of user education course to the students. In addition, facilitators of user educations should integrate audio-visual aides/short films into their method of user education delivery.


Twelve patients who had undergone total hip replacement complicated by aseptic loosening with severe bone loss were included in this study. Eight of these patients had aseptic loosening of more than the second revision and the remaining four patients of the fourth revision total hip replacement. In all patients, the radiographs revealed an extremely thin cortex around the stem of the prosthesis and almost disappearance of one cortex. All patients were treated by revision total hip replacement in conjunction with Mennen plate fixation and bone graft support. The results were satisfactory in ten patients in respect to functional activity, pain, and radiographic evaluation. In two patients who underwent their fifth revision, the results were unsatisfactory but better than that before the operation. Our conclusion is that Mennen plate fixation provides a sufficient and easy operative technique for the correction of aseptic loosening of total hip prostheses accompanied by severe bone loss.


The energy footprint of global data movement has surpassed 100 terawatt hours, costing more than 20 billion US dollars to the world economy. Depending on the number of switches, routers, and hubs between the source and destination nodes, the networking infrastructure consumes 10% - 75% of the total energy during active data transfers, and the rest is consumed by the end systems. Even though there has been extensive research on reducing the power consumption at the networking infrastructure, the work focusing on saving energy at the end systems has been limited to the tuning of a few application level parameters such as parallelism, pipelining, and concurrency. In this paper, we introduce three novel application-level parameter tuning algorithms which employ dynamic CPU frequency and core scaling, combining heuristics and runtime measurements to achieve energy efficient data transfers. Experimental results show that our proposed algorithms outperform the state-of-the-art solutions, achieving up to 48% reduced energy consumption and 80% higher throughput.


We coincidently measure the molecular-frame photoelectron angular distribution and the ion sum-momentum distribution of single and double ionization of CO molecules by using circularly and elliptically polarized femtosecond laser pulses, respectively. The orientation dependent ionization rates for various kinetic energy releases allow us to individually identify the ionizations of multiple orbitals, ranging from the highest occupied to the next two lower-lying molecular orbitals for various channels observed in our experiments. Not only the emission of a single electron, but also the sequential tunneling dynamics of two electrons from multiple orbitals are traced step by step. Our results confirm that the shape of the ionizing orbitals determine the strong laser field tunneling ionization in the CO molecule, whereas the linear Stark effect plays a minor role.


The effectiveness of N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (NG) in inducing mutations in Streptomyces cacaoi was demonstrated with two systems: reversion to prototrophy of an isoleucine-requiring mutant and the induction of forward mutation of a prototrophic strain. An optimal condition for yielding a high frequency mutation was set as follows: Treatment of spores with 1 mg/ml of NG in 0.016 m phosphate buffer, pH 6, at 42°C for 60 min. In Streptmyces cacaoi, the mutagenesis depended highly on the temperature of NG treatment; elevation of the treatment temperature resulted higher frequency of mutation. Only a little dependency on temperature was shown in Escherichia coli, but the dependency was also observed when the Streptomyces was treated with ethyl methanesulfonate. The significance of these results for considering mechanism of NG action was discussed.


Rationale : Sympathetic overstimulation is a marker of chronic heart failure (CHF) and might also be present in advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Inspiratory resistive loading (IRL) can trigger a sympathetically-mediated metaboreflex which increases peripheral vascular resistance, leading to impaired blood flow. Coexistence of COPD and CHF is likely to potentiate these abnormalities. Objective : To investigate the effects of IRL on calf blood flow (CBF) and resistance (CVR) in patients with COPD presenting or not with CHF as a co-morbidity and healthy controls. Methods : Twelve patients with COPD on isolation (FEV1= 42 ± 14 % pred), 10 patients with coexisting COPD-CHF (FEV1= 46 ± 10 % pred, left ventricular ejection fraction < 45%) and 10 age-matched controls breathed through an inspiratory resistance at 60% of maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP) to task failure. CBF was measured by venous occlusion plethysmography. Results : COPD-CHF had significantly lower MIP than COPD and controls (p<0.05). The former group, however, stopped earlier the IRL trials (185 ± 35 s vs. 284 ± 82 s vs. 365 ± 88 s, respectively; p<0.01). COPD-CHF had lower CBF and higher CVR in this former group. In addition, IRL led to greater decrements in CBF and increases CVR in COPD-CHF compared to either COPD or controls (p<0.05). CVR during IRL was inversely related to MIP across the groups (r= -0.66, p<0.01). Conclusions : CHF as a co-morbidity of COPD exacerbates peripheral vasoconstriction induced by inspiratory muscle overloading. This might contribute to further impair muscle blood flow during exercise in this patient sub-population.


In the past years, an important volume of research in Natural Language Processing has concentrated on the development of automatic systems to deal with affect in text. In spite of this interest, the performance of the approaches is still very low. An explanation to this fact is that emotion is most of the times not expressed through specific words, but by evoking situations that have an affective meaning. Dealing with this phenomenon requires automatic systems to have "knowledge"on the situation, the concepts it describes and their interaction. This necessity motivated us to develop the EmotiNet knowledgebase - a resource for the detection of emotion from text based on commonsense knowledge on concepts, their interaction and their affective consequence. In this article, we present an overview of the process undergone to build EmotiNet, propose methods to extend the knowledge it contains and analyze the performance of implicit affect detection using this resource. Additionally, we compare the results obtained with EmotiNet to the use of well-established methods for affect detection. The results of our extensive evaluations show that the approach using EmotiNet is appropriate for capturing and storing the structure of implicitly expressed affect, that the knowledge it contains can be easily extended to improve the results of this task and that methods employing EmotiNet obtain better results than existing methods for emotion detection.


In the centrosymmetric dinuclear title compound, [Pd2(C4H7)2(C16H14N2S2)], the metal atom is η3-coordinated by three C atoms of a crotyl ligand [Pd—C = 2.147 (4), 2.079 (5) and 2.098 (5) Å], the longest distance influenced by the steric interaction with the benzyl substituents of the dibenzyldithiooximidate (DTO) ligand. The Pd—N and Pd—S bonds to this ligand are 2.080 (3) and 2.3148 (9) Å, respectively, completing a square-planar coordination environment for PdII. The benzyl groups are oriented so as to maximize the interaction between a benzylic H atom and an S atom, resulting in a dihedral angle of 77.1 (2)° between the benzene rings and the metal complex plane. In the crystal, no inter-complex hydrogen-bonding interactions are present.


SUMMARY Outbreaks of acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis (AHC) – a rapidly progressing and highly contagious infection – often occur in schools during summer and autumn. We used dynamic modelling to evaluate the efficacy of interventions to control AHC outbreaks in schools. A susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) model was built to simulate AHC outbreaks in Chinese schools, with isolation or school closure added into the model. We used outbreak data from the period 2004–2015 in our models to estimate the effective reproduction number and assess the efficacy of interventions. The median effective reproduction number (uncontrolled) of AHC outbreaks was 7·00 (range 1·77–25·87). The median effective reproduction number (controlled) of AHC outbreaks was 0·16 (range 0·00–2·28). Intervention efficacy is affected by the timing of isolation; earlier isolation is associated with a lower morbidity peak and smaller total attack rate (TAR). School closures were not effective; TARs were almost 100% and did not change even when different school closure durations were adopted. Isolation and school closure as a combined intervention strategy was used to simulate outbreak control, but the efficacy was the same as isolation alone. An isolation programme could be an effective primary intervention during AHC outbreaks in schools. However, school closure is not recommended.


This study seeks to develop a sustainable construction technique based on the introduction of a specific method for improving concrete compressive strength through a proposed multi-vibration compaction method. An experimental program is performed to evaluate the effect of the proposed compaction technique on fresh silica fume concrete undergoing the initial setting. Multi-vibration intends to minimize concrete production cost because it upgrades the compressive strength of the same materials with better utilization of the vibration energy required for compaction. The collected experimental data presented assign relationships among vibration duration, vibration cycles or phases, and compressive strength upgrading of single vibrated, revibrated, and multi-vibrated specimens for analysis and discussion. This study shows that multi-vibration phases, rather than single vibration or revibration techniques, are powerful techniques for improving concrete compressive strength. The results indicated that the existence of an optimum multi-vibration mode was dominated by phase number and vibration duration and confirm the reliability vibration overall time duration recommended by ACI 309 which relates to a single vibration time limit to be considered in the case of multi vibration technique. Multi-vibration Mode 8 (subjected to three vibration phases 10, 20, and 30 sec ) has the best effect for the considered mixtures among the specific vibration modes. The maximum improvement ratio is 1.25, which is associated with the plastic mixture.


Photodynamic therapy (PDT) that uses the second generation photosensitizer, verteporfin (VP), is a developing therapy for pancreatic cancer. The optimal timing of light delivery related to VP uptake and distribution in pancreatic tumors will be important information to obtain to improve treatment for this intractable disease. In this work we examined uptake and distribution of VP in two orthotopic pancreatic tumors with different histological structure. ASPC-1 (fast-growing) and Panc-1 (slower growing) tumors were implanted in SCID mice and studied when tumors were approximately 100mm3. In a pilot study, these tumors had been shown to differ in uptake of VP using lightinduced fluorescence spectroscopy (LIFS) in vivo and fluorescence imaging ex vivo and that work is extended here. In vivo fluorescence mean readings of tumor and liver increased rapidly up to 15 minutes after photosensitizer injection for both tumor types, and then continued to increase up to 60 minutes post injection to a higher level in ASPC-1 than in Panc-1. There was variability among animals with the same tumor type, in both liver and tumor uptake and no selectivity of tumor over liver. In this work we further examined VP uptake at multiple time points in relation to microvascular density and perfusion, using DiOC7 (to mark blood vessels) and VP fluorescence in the same tissue slices. Analysis of DiOC7 fluorescence indicates that AsPC-1 and Panc-1 have different vascular densities but AsPC-1 vasculature is more perfusive. Analysis of colocalized DiOC7 and VP fluorescence showed ASPC-1 with higher accumulation of VP 3 hrs after injection and more VP at a distance from blood vessels compared to Panc-1. This work shows the need for techniques to analyze photosensitizer distribution in order to optimize photodynamic therapy as an effective treatment for pancreatic tumors.


Historians have typically represented James I as a king whose foreign policy was driven by a principled commitment to peace, religious reconciliation, and royal legitimacy that led him to avoid military engagement in confessional conflicts, notably the Thirty Years' War. But his published writings on topics related to international politics and less formal pronouncements of principle in verbal discussions of European affairs have never received close contextual analysis. This essay examines how James deployed theoretical arguments in conducting diplomacy with other European states, especially France, in the period before the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War. It argues that rather than basing policy decisions on principled convictions, he often deployed ideas strategically in efforts to justify and advance his own interests, and sometimes to mislead other statesmen about his true intentions. He did have some deep convictions, especially his abhorrence of theological justifications for rebellion and regicide, but even his efforts to combat such arguments were shaped by practical political calculations as well as purely theoretical concerns. Although he took ideas seriously, a closer examination of his record reveals him as a shrewd, flexible, and sometimes duplicitous royal politician, adept at fashioning high-minded justifications for self-interested maneuvers, rather than an idealistic scholar-statesman.


The running mode is one of the interesting physics options at the International Linear Collider (ILC). The luminosity for collisions is reduced by the beam-beam effects. The resulting beamstrahlung energy loss and beambeam deflection angles as function of the vertical transverse offset are different compared to the collisions. In this paper, the dependence of these observables with the offset for different beam sizes has been analyzed to optimize performances for the mode, taking into account the requirements of the beam-beam deflection based intra-train feedback system. A first study of the implications for the final focus and extraction line optics is also presented for the cases of the 20 mrad and 2 mrad ILC base line crossing angle geometries.


Abstract This study investigated the effects of adding essential oils of garlic, ginger, turmeric, and cinnamon to drinking water on cardiac, hepatic, nephrotic, and splenic oxidative status of broiler chickens. A batch of 200 1-d old Arbo acre broiler chicks was administered with Control (Water: no additive), 30 ml/L of cinnamon, ginger, turmeric, or garlic essential oils in drinking water for 42 d. On day 43, three broiler chickens/replicates were sampled randomly, sacrificed, and eviscerated. The hearts, spleens, kidneys, and livers were excised and assayed for glutathione peroxidase, total antioxidant activity, catalase, superoxide dismutase, and lipid peroxidation using standard protocols. In spleen broiler chickens, all additive essential oils increased (P < 0.05) total antioxidant activity. Catalase, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione peroxidase significantly increased (P < 0.05) in garlic, ginger, and turmeric essential oils except cinnamon. In kidney broiler chickens, lipid peroxidation was significantly reduced (P < 0.05) in all the additive essential oils. Garlic, cinnamon, and ginger essential oils increased (P < 0.05) catalase, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione peroxidase in kidney broiler chickens. In liver broiler chickens, lipid peroxidation, and glutathione peroxidase were higher (P < 0.05) in cinnamon essential oil than other additive essential oils. Superoxide dismutase and catalase were higher (P < 0.05) in turmeric essential oils. In heart broiler chickens, all the additive essential oils significantly decreased (P < 0.05) lipid peroxidation and increased (P < 0.05) total antioxidant activity. In conclusion, oral garlic, turmeric, and ginger essential oils supplementation did not reduce lipid peroxidation in spleen, whereas cinnamon essential oil caused lipid peroxidation in liver of broiler chickens.


Metamorphosed Zn-Pb occurrences (Fable Lake, George, Sito South, Sito Southwest, Sito West, Sito East, Robyn Lake, and Mackie
 Lake) with high Zn:Pb ratios occur in the Foster River area, northern Saskatchewan, on the southeast margin of the Paleoproterozoic
 Wollaston Domain. The Sito East prospect, the largest of these occurrences, contains ~50,000 tonnes of 4.5% Zn, with one drill
 intercept containing 11 m of 4.2% Zn and 0.6% Pb. Most prospects are hosted in a thin, areally extensive metaquartzite within
 a thick sequence of metasiltstones and metaquartzites in the middle of the Paleoproterozoic Wollaston Group. Occurrences in
 metaquartzites and metaarkoses, which locally contain gahnite, spessartine, and/or graphite, are spatially associated with
 metaexhalites (iron formation and quartz garnetite) and strata-bound metamorphosed hydrothermal alteration zones (nodular
 sillimanite rock). Post-Archean Australian shale-normalized rare earth element (REE) patterns of all three rock types are
 characterized by light REE enrichment, positive Ce anomalies, neutral to strongly negative Eu anomalies, and heavy REE depletion,
 consistent with an environment of deposition distinguished by a high (>30 wt %) continental detrital component and formation
 from or interaction with low-temperature (≤250°C), near-neutral pH and high fO2 fluids. Sulfur isotope compositions of sulfides at Foster River are highly enriched in 34S (δ34S = 26.2–38.1‰, n = 20) and resulted from microbial reduction of partially reduced seawater sulfate in a restricted basin.
 The spatial association of spessartine- and gahnite-bearing lithologies and silicate facies iron formation with Paleoproterozoic
 base metal sulfides in a psammopelitic host sequence implies similarities between sulfide mineralization in the Foster River
 area and Broken Hill-type Pb-Zn-Ag deposits. However, the markedly enriched δ34Ssulfide compositions, low Pb/(Pb + Zn) and Ag/(Pb + Zn + Ag) ratios, low Ag contents, and apparent absence of metavolcanic and metavolcaniclastic
 rocks in the dominantly clastic rock sequence hosting the sulfides in the Foster River area suggest that these occurrences
 are part of a metamorphosed sedimentary exhalative system with Broken Hill-type affinities, similar to that associated with
 the formation of the Gamsberg Zn (South Africa), Kanmantoo Group Pb-Zn (South Australia), and Sullivan Pb-Zn (Canada) deposits.


The purpose of this study is to provide a bibliometric analysis of the research on entrepreneurial intentions. A total of 1,393 papers published from the year 2000 to 2018 are analysed. The study attempts to identify the significant journals in this area, years with the maximum publication, most cited papers, important authors and most prolific countries and institutions. Then, the co-authorship network map, inter-country co-authorship network map and keyword co-occurrences network maps are provided.,The Scopus database was used for analysing the large data about various papers included in this study. Then, the VOSviewer software was used for creating a co-authorship network map, inter-country co-authorship network map and keywords co-occurrences network maps.,The results of this study indicate that in the year 2017, the maximum papers have been published, the most significant journal is International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business and the most cited paper is about competing models of entrepreneurial intentions. Furthermore, the most prominent author is Francisco Linan, and the most prolific country and institution are the USA and the University of Seville (Spain), respectively.,This study contributes to the existing literature on entrepreneurial intentions. A much comprehensive and reliable picture of this area is provided using the bibliometric techniques. The results can help in guiding the authors interested in conducting future research on this topic.


In this collection of 29 articles, leading researchers and a generation of new scholars join together in questioning the dominant opposing dichotomy in Eurasian archaeology of the 'steppe and sown,' while forging new approaches which integrate local and global visions of ancient culture and society in the steppe, mountain, desert and maritime coastal regions of Eurasia. This ground-breaking volume demonstrates the success of recently established international research programs and challenges readers with a wide variety of fresh new perspectives. The articles are conveniently divided into four sections on Local and Global Perspectives, Regional Studies, New Directions in Theory and Practice, and Paleoecology and Environment, and cover a broad period from the Copper Age to early Mediaeval times in the Independent States of the former USSR, as well as Turkey, China and Mongolia.


DC motors have been leading the field of adjustable speed drives for a long time due to its excellent control characteristics. This paper addresses a novel speed control application for DC motors gathering the features of Sliding Mode Control (SMC), Fuzzy Inference System (FIS), Neural Networks (NNs) and Genetic Algorithms (GAs). The main goal about combining these techniques is to create a robust speed controller avoiding the main disadvantage of SMC, the chattering. The design of the controller is implemented on a FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) and the steps for carrying out the implementation are described in detail. Finally, the results show a comparison between three different schemes of the designed controller.


The continuous growth of China's economy in the past decades has drawn the world's attention. In the meanwhile, Chinese firms, also supported by the government policy, are seeking international markets by going abroad. However, due to the special characteristic of China economy, e.g., transiting from planned to market economy, Chinese firms have experienced a different path (to most of western countries) in their internationalization. In this thesis, we investigate how Chinese firms, as latecomers from an emerging market, to integrate into the global market during the transitional period, explore the entry modes that Chinese firms have applied to, and look into the fundamental reasons for the phenomena. In this thesis, we discuss two different paths of internationalization for Chinese firms. The first one is the internationalization of staying at home market, which was the initial stage of internationalization. The other is going the global, which has taken place after many years' experience accumulation through the internalization at home market. We have investigated the entry modes: the firms' staying at home market is mainly through contract mode and investment mode, e.g., by contracting productions with foreign partners, by acquiring the advanced technologies, and by attracting inflow foreign direct investments; the firms' going global is mainly through export and investment, such as product export, merging & acquisition, and Greenfield investment. In this thesis, we further investigate the reasons of the special internationalization paths using the qualitative data. We discuss it from macro-, meso-, and micro-perspective, and make the following conclusions: 1) the transition and governance of a planned economy to a market economy is the foundation of Chinese firms' internationalization; 2) institutional and governmental policy is another other important factors that affects the firms' internationalization; 3) As the latecomers, applying the catch up stratigies drives Chinese firms' internalization at both domestic and global markets.


On the basis of the theory of thermoelasticity, the problem of the thermally stressed state of a two-layer fragment of a bridge structure, consisting of a metal base and an asphalt-concrete upper layer, under conditions of a change in the ambient temperature at different values of the coefficients of thermal linear expansion of the layers is considered. Using the finite element method, the fields of thermal stresses, deformations and displacements are constructed for various values of the thermomechanical characteristics of the layers. The analysis of the influence of the values of thermomechanical parameters on the stress-strain state of the system is carried out. It is shown that with an increase in the incompatibility of these characteristics, the intensities of stresses and strains increase. The zones of concentration of these functions are found.
It is recommended to use materials with close values of their thermomechanical parameters when designing bridges to avoid their premature
destruction.


In this paper, we present a work-in-progress towards a perceptual study concerning male and female first impressions of male virtual faces as variations are made in terms of their facial hair (beard) length, colour and the camera viewing angle. Previous studies involving real human faces suggest that these types of variations may impact impressions of trustworthiness and related qualities, such as credibility. This research investigates similar issues, but in the domain of virtual characters, with a view to exploring issues of trustworthiness based on the appearance of virtual faces. This is of great significance to the design of interactive computational social systems.


1. Some kinetic aspects of renal tubular acidification were studied in proximal and distal tubules of the rat kidney by combining stationary microperfusion methods and continuous measurements of luminal pH changes of phosphate or bicarbonate buffers by means of antimony electrodes. The analysis included the measurement of steady‐state pH, steady‐state buffer concentrations and acidification half‐times. From these data, net rates of tubular bicarbonate reabsorption and of H ion secretion were obtained since it was shown that the rate of phosphate acidification provides a realistic estimate of H ion secretion. 2. Experiments were performed in control rats, in animals undergoing metabolic acidosis or alkalosis and in control and acidotic rats receiving the carbonic anydrase inhibitor Diamox. 3. In all experiments, the rates of tubular bicarbonate reabsorption and of phosphate acidification (H ion secretion) were proportional to luminal buffer levels. The changes of luminal acid concentrations followed first‐order kinetics. 4. Steady‐state transepithelial pH differences were reduced in metabolic alkalosis and after diamox but augmented during metabolic acidosis. 5. Acidification half‐times were prolonged in metabolic acidosis and after Diamox but remained similar to control levels in metabolic alkalosis. 6. From the observation that both bicarbonate reabsorption and phosphate acidification are similarly affected by these experimental manoeuvres, it is concluded that H ion secretion plays a key role in both transport processes.


As a typical model-based evolutionary algorithm (EA), estimation of distribution algorithm (EDA) possesses unique characteristics and has been widely applied to global optimization. However, the common-used Gaussian EDA (GEDA) usually suffers from premature convergence which severely limits its search efficiency. This study first systematically analyses the reasons for the deficiency of the traditional GEDA, then tries to enhance its performance by exploiting its evolution direction, and finally develops a new GEDA variant named EDA2. Instead of only utilizing some good solutions produced in the current generation when estimating the Gaussian model, EDA2 preserves a certain number of high-quality solutions generated in previous generations into an archive and takes advantage of these historical solutions to assist estimating the covariance matrix of Gaussian model. By this means, the evolution direction information hidden in the archive is naturally integrated into the estimated model which in turn can guide EDA2 towards more promising solution regions. Moreover, the new estimation method significantly reduces the population size of EDA2 since it needs fewer individuals in the current population for model estimation. As a result, a fast convergence can be achieved. To verify the efficiency of EDA2, we tested it on a variety of benchmark functions and compared it with several state-of-the-art EAs, including IPOP-CMAES, AMaLGaM, three high-powered DE algorithms, and a new PSO algorithm. The experimental results demonstrate that EDA2 is efficient and competitive.


Many intron positions are conserved in varying subsets of eukaryotic genomes and, consequently, comprise a potentially informative class of phylogenetic characters. Roy and Gilbert developed a method of phylogenetic reconstruction using the patterns of intron presence-absence in eukaryotic genes and, applying this method to the analysis of animal phylogeny, obtained support for an Ecdysozoa clade (Roy SW, Gilbert W. 2005. Resolution of a deep animal divergence by the pattern of intron conservation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 102:4403-4408). The critical assumption in the method was the independence of intron loss in different branches of the phylogenetic tree. Here, this assumption is refuted by showing that the branch-specific intron loss rates are strongly correlated. We show that different tree topologies are obtained, in each case with a significant statistical support, when different subsets of intron positions are analyzed. The analysis of the conserved intron positions supports the Coelomata topology, that is, a clade comprised of arthropods and chordates, whereas the analysis of more variable intron positions favors the Ecdysozoa topology, that is, a clade of arthropods and nematodes. We show, however, that the support for Ecdysozoa is fully explained by parallel loss of introns in nematodes and arthropods, a factor that does not contribute to the analysis of the conserved introns. The developed procedure for the identification and analysis of conserved introns and other characters with minimal or no homoplasy is expected to be useful for resolving many hard phylogenetic problems.


BACKGROUND
Human kallikrein 6 (hK6) is significantly increased in serum in many patients with ovarian cancer and may have a role in amyloid precursor processing and Alzheimer disease. The forms of hK6 in biological fluids are poorly characterized.

METHODS
hK6 protein was immunoaffinity-purified and positively identified by Western blotting, N-terminal sequencing, and mass spectrometry. hK6 in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), milk, ascites, and serum was size-fractionated by chromatography and then measured by a highly sensitive and specific immunoassay. Hybrid assays were performed to detect the possible interactions between hK6 and proteinase inhibitors in CSF, milk, ascites fluid, and serum.

RESULTS
N-Terminal sequencing identified hK6 in the proform in both CSF and milk. hK6 exists in two forms in milk and ascites fluid: a free form with a molecular mass of approximately 25 kDa and a higher molecular mass form. Hybrid sandwich assays (capture antibody for hK6 and detection antibody for inhibitors), utilizing a panel of known serine protease inhibitors, indicated that alpha(1)-antichymotrypsin forms a complex with hK6 in milk and ascites fluid. Only the free form of hK6 was detected in CSF and serum.

CONCLUSIONS
hK6 exists mainly as a proenzyme in milk and CSF. A fraction of this enzyme is partially complexed with alpha(1)-antichymotrypsin in milk and ascites fluid of ovarian cancer patients.


The data storage in mobile cloud computing domain is an important subject because of the large amount of data devices can provide. Different kinds of sensors retrieve information and send them to data storages. But the storage location can move even dynamically during their uses. So, these changes must be managed at runtime. In the other part, Android devices are good computers to acquire information and send them to a storage area. These devices are well-known, ergonomic and useful machines sorely used. In this paper, we present a software architecture from Android devices to Cloud storage areas to put down data when the data stores are dynamically moving. The different parts of these distributed applications are built around Android with JSON messages for REST services and moving NoSQL databases in the Google app engine. The exchanges between the cloud and the Android devices use the Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) protocol. Furthermore, even without network access, the saving is made locally in the smartphone. The synchronization with distant databases is automatically made when the network becomes again available.


We have developed a theory of adsorption of polyampholyte chains at a charged planar surface and a charged spherical particle from dilute low salt solutions. The adsorption is due to the polarization of polyampholyte chains in the external electric field created by charged objects. The equilibrium polymer density profile is determined by the balance of the long-range polarization-induced attraction of polyampholytes to the charged object and the monomer−monomer repulsion. We demonstrate that the long-range nature of polyampholyte adsorption leads to an adsorbed layer much thicker than the size of individual chains. Using the self-consistent mean-field and scaling approaches, we obtain the detailed structure of the adsorbed layers.


Full Duplex (FD) in cellular networks is expected to increase the cell spectral efficiency. However, while the downlink (DL) spectral efficiency (SE) increases with FD, the uplink (UL) SE decreases because of the Base Station to Base Station (BS) interference. In this paper, assuming a three-node model, we propose a method based on Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC) to reduce the BS-to-BS interference present in FD cellular networks. The approach consists in coordinating BSs to enable the decoding and the suppression of undesired signals that impair uplink transmissions. We analyze both distributed and Centralized Radio Access Networks (CRAN) architectures. Stochastic geometry is used to derive the coverage probability and mean data rate of the proposed scheme. In the distributed scenario, the FD UL average data rate is increased by 25% with our solution compared to a classical FD network, while our FD scheme still outperforms Half-Duplex (HD) on the DL. In the centralized scenario, our solution outperforms HD by 10% and classical FD by 78% on the UL, while preserving classical FD gains on the DL.


The occurrence of natural estrogens including estrone (E1), 17β-estradiol (E2), and synthetic 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2), which can be excreted by both humans and animals, and can enter the aqueous environment along with the discharge of domestic sewage, is a major concern since this may represent a serious health risk to humans even at extremely trace levels (ng·L−1). Simultaneous degradation of three coexisting steroid estrogens (SEs) in aqueous solutions by coupled ultrasound and KMnO4 systems (KMnO4/ultrasound) were investigated to find out whether there is a competitive degradation of multiple contaminants or not. Results indicate that the degradation ratios of target SEs were all more than 50% after 120 min reaction contact, greatly enhanced when compared with the single KMnO4 (2 mg·L−1) oxidation of E2 (37.0%), EE2 (34.4%), and E1 (34.0%), and the single sonochemical oxidation of E2 (37.1%), EE2 (31.1%), and E1 (29.7%). In the adopted processes, the degradations of SEs fit the first-order kinetic reaction, with different reaction rates. Kinetic parameters revealed there was little difference between coexisting SEs, which means there was almost no competitive degradation. The removal efficiency and degradation rate of SEs in natural water was higher than those in pure water, which suggested that the coupled KMnO4/ultrasound technology had prospective applications in the removal of complex contaminants in actual drinking water treatment.