OBJECTIVES
To test the hypotheses that: the efficiency of carbohydrate absorption in childhood increases with age, and decreased carbohydrate absorption occurs more frequently with juices containing more fructose than glucose and/or sorbitol than with juices which contain equal amounts of fructose and glucose and are sorbitol-free.

METHODS
One hundred and four healthy children were recruited from the Ambulatory Center at Maimonides Children's Center. They were assigned to one of three age groups: approximately 1, 3 and 5 years of age. Each child received one age-specific dose (by randomization) of one of four juices: a) pear juice which contains fructose in excess to glucose and a large amount of sorbitol; b) apple juice which is similar to pear juice in its fructose to glucose ratio but contains four times less sorbitol than pear juice; c) white grape juice or d) purple grape juice both of which contain equal amounts of fructose and glucose and are sorbitol-free. Breath hydrogen excretion (BH2) was utilized as the index of carbohydrate absorption. It was measured in fasting children and at 30-minute intervals for 3 hours after drinking the single serving of juice. Multiple breath hydrogen related parameters were quantified and results were expressed as: BH2 peak, area under the curve, and degree of carbohydrate malabsorption. After the test, parents completed a questionnaire and recorded signs and symptoms of intestinal malabsorption for 24 hours.

RESULTS
Pear juice related BH2 levels were significantly higher among children 1 and 3 years of age as compared to the levels achieved after the other juices. Apple juice related BH2 levels were significantly higher only among the youngest age group of children. There was no significant difference in carbohydrate absorption among the 5 year old children regardless of the juice consumed. Incomplete carbohydrate absorption (BH2 peak above 20 ppm) occurred more frequently after pear juice consumption (84%) than after apple juice (41%) or grape juice (white 20%, purple 24%) [p < 0.05]. Further outcome measures of BH2 excretion did not elicit differences beyond those detected by the above-mentioned parameters. Parents reported diarrhea in six children after pear juice, two after apple juice and two after purple grape juice and these children had the highest BH2 levels in their respective groups. No other symptoms were reported.

CONCLUSIONS
The data show that the efficiency of carbohydrate absorption of one age-specific serving of juice increases with advancing age of children. Decreased carbohydrate absorption occurs more often after ingestion of juices that contain more sorbitol, a nonabsorbable sugar and higher concentrations of fructose over glucose than after ingestion of juices which lack sorbitol and contain equal amounts of fructose and glucose.


Abstract This article gives insight into research on media archaeological reconstruction of media and digital artworks. This experimental approach, illustrated by two practical cases, results in a duplication of the artworks within their original machines and languages. Based on retro-engineering, this approach is becoming a way to investigate the known, unknown and alternative stories by and for the machines, the goal being to produce archives, witnesses of the machines' related history and inherent imaginary.


OBJECTIVE
To document the development of unique opioid-dependence treatment in remote communities that combines First Nations healing strategies and substitution therapy with buprenorphine-naloxone.

DESIGN
Quantitative measurements of community wellness and response to community-based opioid-dependence treatment.

SETTING
Remote First Nations community in northwestern Ontario.

PARTICIPANTS
A total of 140 self-referred opioid-dependent community members.

INTERVENTION
Community-developed program of First Nations healing, addiction treatment, and substitution therapy.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Community-wide measures of wellness: number of criminal charges, addiction-related medical evacuations, child protection agency cases, school attendance, and attendance at community events.

RESULTS
The age-adjusted adult rate of opioid-dependence treatment was 41%. One year after the development of the in-community healing and substitution therapy program for opioid dependence, police criminal charges had fallen by 61.1%, child protection cases had fallen by 58.3%, school attendance had increased by 33.3%, and seasonal influenza immunizations had dramatically gone up by 350.0%. Attendance at community events is now robust, and sales at the local general store have gone up almost 20%.

CONCLUSION
Community-wide wellness measures have undergone dramatic public health changes since the development of a First Nations healing program involving opioid substitution therapy with buprenorphine-naloxone. Funding for such programs is ad hoc and temporary, and this threatens the survival of the described program and other such programs developing in this region, which has been strongly affected by an opioid-dependence epidemic.


The immunoreactivity of p21 was evaluated in normal mucosa and in adenomas and adenocarcinomas of the human large bowel. In normal mucosa, p21 immunoreactivity was seen in the superficial third of the crypts (maturation compartment) and in surface (terminally differentiated) epithelium, and was mutually exclusive with Ki67/MIB1 reactivity. These data show that p21 expression is inversely related to proliferation and directly related to terminal differentiation. In adenomas, p21‐reactive cells were frequently clustered in the superficial areas and were non‐reactive for MIB1. In adenocarcinomas, p21 staining was heterogeneous: high p21 expression (19 cases) was associated with lower stage and lack of p53 overexpression. p21‐reactive cells were devoid of MIB1 immunoreactivity, but no relationship could be found between p21 and MIB1 labelling indices. p21 heterogeneity may be related to alterations in the p53‐dependent induction pathway: high p21 expression was associated with low to absent p53 reactivity, with presumed normal p53 function; low p21 expression was associated with p53 overexpression, with presumed p53 alteration resulting in loss of function.


A Temperature Surveillance System (TSS) developed on technologies of wireless sensor networks (WSN) and embedded systems (ES), to monitor the temperatures of residential environments is presented for blaze detection. The space temperature patters captured by a customized WSN is analyzed by an algorithm named as Determination of Temperature Anomalies (DTA) to evaluate the risk of a possible fire alarm. Once the temperature pattern depicts critical conditions, the TSS issues an alarm through SMS on 2G/3G networks to local and remote users. Thus, TSS will benefit the safety of home environments and the saving of people life as well as property. Furthermore, the cost of social security is also improved by the deployment of such a system.


OBJECTIVES
Exiting the labor force earlier or later than planned is common, with predictable economic consequences. However, the mental health ramifications of such off-time events are not known but are important to promoting well-being in retirement.

METHODS
Using the Health and Retirement Study (1992-2016), we created six groups based on the alignment of expectations about full-time work at age 62 (reported at ages 51-61) with realized labor force status after reaching age 62 (N=10,421). Negative binomial models estimated the adjusted association between unmet expectations about work and depressive symptoms.

RESULTS
Unexpectedly not working was associated with higher depressive symptoms than working as expected after adjusting for sociodemographic, economic, and health factors at the time of expectations (IRR=1.35, 95% CI:1.17, 1.56). Additionally adjusting for health declines and marriage dissolution between expectations and age 62 partially attenuated the association, but unexpectedly not working remained significantly associated with a 1.16 increase in the incidence rate of depressive symptoms. Unexpectedly working at 62 was not associated with depressive symptoms. Race/ethnicity interacted with expectation alignment (F(15,42)=2.44, p=0.0118) in that Hispanic respondents experienced an increase in depressive symptoms when working after unmet and unsure expectations compared to met expectations, whereas white respondents did not.

DISCUSSION
Unlike working longer than expected, unexpectedly not working at 62 was associated with depressive symptoms, even after accounting for health declines. Public and employer policies should assist workers in remaining in the labor force as long as planned and offer mental health supports for unexpected work exits.


We examined a sodium alginate preparation (Alto) to determine its hemostatic effect, in comparison with other topical drugs, on hemorrhages in the uterocervical area. A total of 149 patients with hemorrhage from cervical erosion or after-treatment bleeding of the cervix uteri were subjects in this trial, and 84 (79%) of 106 patients treated with this preparation experienced a hemostatic effect. A significant positive correlation (p < 0.001) was noted between the degree of tissue adhesiveness and the hemostatic effect in all the drugs tested. As for the tissue adhesiveness, Alto was significantly more favorable (p < 0.001) than both Thrombin and Francetin T powder. Because Alto was softened by tissue moisture, its topical adhesiveness could be increased, which suggested that Alto was superior in hemostasis.


Abstract Introduction Halitophobia is also known as false halitosis or psychosomatic halitosis. This pseudo-pathology originates from the somatization of the compulsive idea that the patient has bad breath in the absence of oral pathology. Case Presentation A patient addressed dental surgery complaining of a self-diagnosed halitosis. The dental consultation did not find any dental problem that could cause bad breath. She was referred to a general practitioner for further investigations to rule out a general condition. The investigations revealed a perfectly healthy person, without any chronic ailment that could cause bad breath. The patient refused to consult a psychologist or psychiatrist, considering that she does not have a mental health problem. Conclusions Patients with a suspicion of psychogenic halitosis require psychiatric counseling, and dentists have to be prepared with an efficient strategy for the correct management of these patients.


ABSTRACT Determining the effector populations involved in humoral protection against genital chlamydia infection is crucial to development of an effective chlamydial vaccine. Antibody has been implicated in protection studies in multiple animal models, and we previously showed that the passive transfer of immune serum alone does not confer immunity in the mouse. Using the Chlamydia muridarum model of genital infection, we demonstrate a protective role for both Chlamydia-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) and polymorphonuclear neutrophils and show the importance of an antibody/effector cell interaction in mediating humoral immunity. While neutrophils were found to contribute significantly to antibody-mediated protection in vivo, natural killer (NK) cells were dispensable for protective immunity. Furthermore, gamma interferon (IFN-γ)-stimulated primary peritoneal neutrophils (PPNs) killed chlamydiae in vitro in an antibody-dependent manner. The results from this study support the view that an IFN-γ-activated effector cell population cooperates with antibody to protect against genital chlamydia and establish neutrophils as a key effector cell in this response.


Osteosarcoma (OS) is a prevalent cancer worldwide. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play critical roles in the growth, invasion and carcinogenesis of OS, whereas the underlying mechanisms remain ill-defined. Here, we addressed these questions. We detected significantly higher levels of ZNRF2, a ubiquitin ligase of the RING superfamily, and significantly lower levels of miR-100 in the OS specimens, compared to the paired normal bone tissues. The levels of ZNRF2 and miR-100 inversely correlated in the OS specimens. In addition, low miR-100 levels are associated with poor prognosis of the OS patients. Either ZNRF2 overexpression or miR-100 depletion increased in vitro OS cell growth and improved cell survival at the presence of Doxorubicin. Mechanistically, with the help of bioinformatics analysis and luciferase-reporter assay, we found that miR-100 might bind to the 3'-UTR of ZNRF2 mRNA to prevent its protein translation. Thus, our data suggest that re-expression of miR-100 may inhibit OS cell growth and decrease OS cell chemo-resistance.


Our presentation examines historical changes in the contextualisation of epilepsy by the media. In movies, one may note a particularly long-lasting predominance of traditional complexes of the significance of epilepsy. Epilepsy as an hereditary disease, as a degenerative illness, as a cause of criminality. These are the motifs, established myths, which lived on in movies long beyond the time at which scientific opinion had distanced itself from them. A radical change in the manner of presentation of epilepsy began in the late sixties. From that time on, not only the connotation of epilepsy was altered, but, above all, the presentation of the patient, who henceforth, according to the changing processes of society was shown as a self-aware and active shaper of his life. Thus it is precisely the development during the last fifteen years, in which numerous sensitive motion pictures have tackled the inner perspective of the patient, movies having not only ceased to pass on the established myths, but become promoters of new attitudes toward disease. With this type of representation of disease and patient, due to its direct and broad effect, motion pictures can spread new realities in a manner hardly possible for other media.


The recently developed fluorescence confocal polarizing microscopy (FCPM) imaging technique allows 3D images of the director structure in a liquid crystal cell to be resolved with sub-micron resolution. Results are presented on imaging the response of 5-micron pitch cholesteric liquid crystals to an in-plane electric field applied between two silver electrodes. The results show, in exquisite detail, how the application of an in-plane field causes the cholesteric helix to tilt through 90° either within, or immediately adjacent to, the electrode gap depending on the sign of the dielectric anisotropy of the liquid crystal. Furthermore, imaging the cholesteric material above the silver electrodes reveals a previously unreported optical intensity enhancement. This phenomenon is discussed along with its possible benefits to the existing imaging technique. The effects of the point spread function of the system are discussed and a ray optics model is used to produce model data highlighting the influence of this phenomenon on the recorded results.


Currently, the only medium in which research results can be posted in this society is paper; there are three issues annually. However, the number of posts from members is concentrated overwhelmingly in the Special Issue, leading to a shrinking circulation in both English and Japanese. The impact of this situation on, say, inability to acquire research grant, makes the very survival of the Society uncertain; major changes are needed. As a workaround, the Journal should be utilized as a place to announce research for members and employ a unified application of peer review for it. In this paper, I will raise points about future reforms.


Turkish white cheeses after brine salting were subjected to high pressure processing (HPP) at 50, 100, 200 and 400 MPa for 5 and 15 min and the samples pressurized for 15 min were ripened in brine for 60 days. The effects of HPP on the salt distribution in external, middle and internal zones of cheese after pressurization and on the salt uptake of whole cheese block during ripening were investigated. HPP did not change the values of moisture, salt and salt in moisture in different zones of cheese. Furthermore, pressure holding time had no effect on salt distribution in cheese. The salt contents of un-pressurized and pressurized cheese samples were equilibrated on the 14th day of ripening, and then stabilized, with no high pressure effect. As a result, HPP at pressures up to 400 MPa did not significantly affect neither salt distribution after high pressure processing nor salt uptake during ripening. However, a slight increase in moisture at the pressures of 200-400 MPa on the 60th day of ripening, which was not significant, might warn further increases in moisture of white cheese for longer ripening periods than 60 days. Higher pressure applications may alter all those values in white cheese because of textural changes.


Abstract This is a rejoinder to the challenging comments by Professors James K. Galbraith and William Lazonick on my article "The New Normal: Demand, Secular Stagnation, and the Vanishing Middle Class." Professor Galbraith favors an evolutionary approach to the issue instead of my approach but admittedly not on very convincing grounds. His characterization of actual conditions in the U.S. economy (including his view of what drove voters to Trump) appears to focus more on the current state than on underlying structural trends (which are all more negative than he seems to think). Professor Lazonick usefully extends my macroeconomic analysis by his microeconomic emphasis on the impacts of the change to predatory value extraction under a "downsize-and-distribute" corporate governance regime, legitimated in the name of shareholder-value maximization. However, even when we extend the analysis to include micro-level financialization, it is still insufficient aggregate demand that is underlying the twin diseases—secular stagnation and a growing dualization—afflicting the U.S. economy at the macro level.


This article looks at the position of the drag king in Hungarian lesbian culture. It focuses on Bandage, Socks and Facial Hair (2006), a documentary about a drag king workshop. The film documents the historical moment when the Hungarian workshop participants encounter the drag king as a lesbian tool for parodying and repoliticizing mainstream masculinity. I examine the ways in which the participants interpret their performances of masculinity and the film negotiates heteronormativity. I argue that the political merits of the film can be spelled out by reading the participants' (trans)gender politics from the perspective of the cultural specificities of post-socialist Hungary.


The paper is concerned with the results of a study on the morpho-functional state of the thyroid gland and hypophysis. The research material was obtained during the period of 20 min.--5 hours post mortem. Irrespective of the type of the course of schizophrenia it was characterized by signs of deterioration in the functional activity of the thyroid gland. However, it was established that the morphological picture can also be changed under the influence of acutely developing diseases, previous to death. In these cases the morphological picture corresponds to the sufficiently expressed activation of the glands (according to the type of stress-reactions). The author comes to the conclusion of certain functional traits in the morphological changes found in the thyroid gland and hypophysis in schizophrenia.


The ATP binding cassette transporters ABCG5 (G5) and ABCG8 (G8) limit the accumulation of neutral sterols by restricting sterol uptake from the intestine and promoting sterol excretion into bile. Humans and mice lacking G5 and G8 (G5G8−/−) accumulate plant sterols in the blood and tissues. However, despite impaired biliary cholesterol secretion, plasma and liver cholesterol levels are lower in G5G8−/− mice than in wild-type littermates. To determine whether the observed changes in hepatic sterol metabolism were a direct result of decreased biliary sterol secretion or a metabolic consequence of the accumulation of dietary noncholesterol sterols, we treated G5G8−/− mice with ezetimibe, a drug that reduces the absorption of both plant- and animal-derived sterols. Ezetimibe feeding for 1 month sharply decreased sterol absorption and plasma levels of sitosterol and campesterol but increased cholesterol in both the plasma (from 60.4 to 75.2 mg/dl) and the liver (from 1.1 to 1.87 mg/g) of the ezetimibe-treated G5G8−/− mice. Paradoxically, the increase in hepatic cholesterol was associated with an increase in mRNA levels of HMG-CoA reductase and synthase. Together, these results indicate that pharmacological blockade of sterol absorption can ameliorate the deleterious metabolic effects of plant sterols even in the absence of G5 and G8.


This study attempts to make scenarios for the geochemical effects that the underground excavations in the Olkiluoto bedrock have on naturally occurring fracture mineral buffers. The excavations of underground research facilities and final repository galleries probably cause steep hydraulic gradients in some bedrock fractures. These gradients likely draw surficial waters within the fracture network and activate weathering processes deeper in rock fractures than in the natural undisturbed conditions. The present studies concentrate on the meteoric infiltration in a single rock fracture, and on the selected set of minerals believed to be significant buffers against pH/redox variations in groundwater. The modelling considers the possibility that the infiltrating meteoric water is soil water rich in dissolved inorganic carbon. Calcite, pyrite, quartz, amorphous silica, cordierite, hornblende, albite, K-feldspar, kaolinite, and illite are taken into account as reacting minerals. Simulations are done by varying the flow rate of water from 1 L/h to 100 L/h. The effects of mineral reactions onto porosity and permeability values are monitored as well. In the present study, however, the changes in physical properties of the fracture channel do not affect the flow rate of water. Furthermore, calculations also describe how cation exchange affects the studied fracture channel system. The simulations coupling the hydraulic flow and water-rock interaction were done with TOUGHREACT V1.0 code and with the EQ3/6–database implemented in the code. In part, the simulations were evaluation of the code capabilities, and verification of results to earlier PHREEQC-2 simulation results. The calculation results confirm the assumption that principal buffer against pH changes is calcite. All silicate reactions, with considered reactive surface areas, are by comparison of marginal importance. The only redox buffer in the calculations is pyrite, and consequently significant amounts of oxygen runs through the channel in all studied cases. This condition is unrealistic. In real, there are likely other oxygen consumers as well. With a significant probability no oxygen breakthrough can be detected at the depth of 500 metres with the studied flow rates. The potential redox buffers not taken into account are e.g. matrix diffusion and the microbiological redox processes that dominate within the soil layer and upper parts of bedrock. Cation exchange studies indicate that cation exchange has only a minor effect on the water composition running through the fracture channel. However, there is no experimental cation exchange capacity estimates available from the Olkiluoto fracture clays.


Liver cirrhosis, which is associated with decreased plasma and hepatic glutathione (GSH), has been reported to cause the suppression of NK activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Since low GSH levels in lymphocytes are known to alter lymphocyte function, we examined the correlation between intracellular GSH levels and the cytotoxic activity of liver-associated mononuclear cells (liver MNC). We show here that rat liver contains a highly active population of NK cells (CD3- NKR-P1 + cells) that kill Yac-1 in vitro and that the cytotoxic activity of this NK population is directly proportional to liver MNC GSH. This proportionality is independent of the methods used to alter GSH level. Thus, in vitro treatment of liver MNC with buthionine sulfoximine to lower GSH levels lowers the cytotoxic activity. MNC from cirrhotic liver, in which implanted tumor cells grow faster, have both low GSH levels and low cytotoxicity, and supplementation of cirrhotic liver MNC with N-acetylcysteine raises GSH levels and increases cytotoxicity. These findings suggest a physiologic mechanism, i.e. decreased GSH, may be causally associated with the increased incidence of hepatoma in cirrhotic individuals and the increased growth of hepatoma cells in cirrhotic animals. Thus, we suggest that the GSH is important to the optimal functioning of the hepatic immunity that protects against hepatoma development.


For single-user MIMO channels with partial receiver CSI, we study the difference between inner and outer bounds of the mutual information achieved with Gaussian codebooks, as well as a related difference between capacity inner and outer bounds. In contrast to previous studies, we assume that the channel estimation error statistics are not given a priori, but depend on the parameters of a training routine, in which a pilot sequence is transmitted, and where the channel realization is linearly estimated. Under these conditions, we successively determine analytic upper and lower bounds on the mutual information bound gap. We further study the asymptotic behavior of said bound gaps for high SNR and a large number of antennas. This allows us to prove, for example, that for MISO channels and a certain class of semicorrelated MIMO channels, when the training and transmit power levels are equal, the capacity is approached to within min(N_Tx,N_Rx) bits by the capacity bounds, where N_Tx and N_Rx stand for the number of transmit and receive antennas, respectively.


An important goal in electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) research is to minimize associated cognitive side-effects while maintaining its high efficacy. This study explored the use of a novel approach, right unilateral (RUL) ECT with an ultrabrief pulsewidth (0.3 ms) (RUL-UB), in comparison with standard RUL ECT. Seventy-four depressed in-patients received RUL-UB ECT at six times seizure threshold, and 22 patients received standard RUL ECT (1.0 ms pulsewidth) at five times seizure threshold. Formal, prospective evaluations of mood and cognitive functioning over the treatment course were done by a rater blinded to treatment condition. Efficacy was maintained using the ultrabrief pulsewidth, with equivalent numbers of responders and remitters to the standard RUL ECT group, although the speed of response was slower. Cognitive outcomes were superior in the RUL-UB ECT group, particularly in the retention of verbal and visual information, as well as in retrograde autobiographical memory.


Motion blur is one of the most common causes of image degradation. Restoration of such images is highly dependent on accurate estimation of motion blur parameters. To estimate these parameters, many algorithms have been proposed. These algorithms are different in their performance, time complexity, precision, and robustness in noisy environments. In this paper, we present a novel algorithm to estimate direction and length of motion blur, using Radon transform and fuzzy set concepts. The most important advantage of this algorithm is its robustness and precision in noisy images. This method was tested on a wide range of different types of standard images that were degraded with different directions (between and ) and motion lengths (between and pixels). The results showed that the method works highly satisfactory for SNR dB and supports lower SNR compared with other algorithms.


We extend modern Walrasian economics, and in particular the results on Cournot convergence and dynamics, by focusing on renewable resources in a spatial setting. Building on the harvesting model of Behringer and Upmann (2014) we endogenize prices and investigate the two cases of durable and non-durable renewable commodities. We find that endogenizing prices is sufficient to prevent the full exploitation result and look at how competition affects not only the stock but also the temporal incentives for exploitation. We derive convergence results in static and dynamic settings which suggest that the classical Cournotian outcomes may prevail.


Design is a term that brings many people together. Collectively, we distinguish ourselves from others by the fact that we are designers and members of a design community. But, design is also a term that pushes people apart. The design that some value in the new fashions in the boutiques in Milan is not seen by everyone as design. While some are impressed with the design of a new telephone, not everyone sees this as design. As a community, we believe design is important. But, as a community, we do not have a common definition of what it is. Many views of design have been proposed. Several classifications of design have been proposed. In this paper, we also seek to classify views on design. Unlike earlier efforts, however, we want to find the classification that the global community of designers uses. To this end, we examine the patterns of citations to key authors' works (Author Co-citation Analysis) to uncover this classification and identify seven key author clusters representing identifiable theory groups or schools of thought/practice in design.


Deformable image registration is still a challenge when the considered images have strong variations in appearance and large initial misalignment. A huge performance gap currently remains for fast-moving regions in videos or strong deformations of natural objects. We present a new semantically guided and two-step deep deformation network that is particularly well suited for the estimation of large deformations. We combine a U-Net architecture that is weakly supervised with segmentation information to extract semantically meaningful features with multiple stages of nonrigid spatial transformer networks parameterized with low-dimensional B-spline deformations. Combining alignment loss and semantic loss functions together with a regularization penalty to obtain smooth and plausible deformations, we achieve superior results in terms of alignment quality compared to previous approaches that have only considered a label-driven alignment loss. Our network model advances the state of the art for inter-subject face part alignment and motion tracking in medical cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences in comparison to the FlowNet and Label-Reg, two recent deep-learning registration frameworks. The models are compact, very fast in inference, and demonstrate clear potential for a variety of challenging tracking and/or alignment tasks in computer vision and medical image analysis.


Abstract We aimed to explore the association between antioxidant vitamin intake, oxidative stress related markers and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) by a cross-sectional analysis. A total of 241 non-diabetic participants from a Chinese rural cohort were included. NAFLD was diagnosed by abdominal ultrasound (NAFLD, n = 71; Non-NAFLD, n = 171). Dietary intake was assessed by a 24-h food recall. Plasma oxidative stress related markers superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione reductase (GR) and 8-oxo-2′-deoxyguanosine(8-oxo-dG) were measured. The association between dietary antioxidant vitamin intake, oxidative stress related markers and NAFLD were analysed by Spearman correlation analysis and multiple logistic regression analysis. Mediation models were established to examine whether SOD mediated the association between dietary vitamin A or α-tocopherol intake and NAFLD. Spearman correlation analysis indicated that dietary vitamin A and α-tocopherol intake were positively correlated with SOD (p < .05). Multiple logistic regression analysis found plasma SOD, dietary vitamin A and α-tocopherol intake were inversely associated with NAFLD (all p < .05). Mediation analysis indicated that SOD significantly mediated the indirect effect of dietary α-tocopherol (mediated effect = 13.21% total effect) or vitamin A (mediated effect = 3.12% total effect) intake on NAFLD. Our study indicated that dietary vitamin A and α-tocopherol intake may contribute to protect from NAFLD in Chinese non-diabetics, and the associations were partly mediated by SOD. However, SOD only accounted for a minor percentage of the association between vitamin A intake and NAFLD. Thus, other mechanisms underlying antioxidant vitamin' protective effect on NAFLD need further exploration.


Demographic bias is a significant challenge in practical face recognition systems. Existing methods heavily rely on accurate demographic annotations. However, such annotations are usually unavailable in real scenarios. Moreover, these methods are typically designed for a specific demographic group and are not general enough. In this paper, we propose a false positive rate penalty loss, which mitigates face recognition bias by increasing the consistency of instance False Positive Rate (FPR). Specifically, we first define the instance FPR as the ratio between the number of the non-target similarities above a unified threshold and the total number of the non-target similarities. The unified threshold is estimated for a given total FPR. Then, an additional penalty term, which is in proportion to the ratio of instance FPR overall FPR, is introduced into the denominator of the softmax-based loss. The larger the instance FPR, the larger the penalty. By such unequal penalties, the instance FPRs are supposed to be consistent. Compared with the previous debiasing methods, our method requires no demographic annotations. Thus, it can mitigate the bias among demographic groups divided by various attributes, and these attributes are not needed to be previously predefined during training. Extensive experimental results on popular benchmarks demonstrate the superiority of our method over state-of-the-art competitors. Code and pre-trained models are available at https://github.com/xkx0430/FairnessFR.


ABSTRACT Tian, M.-W.; Yan, S.-R.; Tian, X.-X.; Zeng, X.-M., and Xie, C., 2019. Financial support to marine economy in the big data era. In: Gong, D.; Zhu, H., and Liu, R.(eds.), Selected Topics in Coastal Research: Engineering, Industry, Economy, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 94, pp. 609–612. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. In the big data era, increasing financial support for the marine economy and vigorously developing blue finance have a strong sense of urgency and historical mission, which need a larger macro vision and a more forward-looking strategic layout. Blue finance is related to China's economic and financial security. We must seize the development opportunities of blue finance in the new era and set up a systematic financial thinking of big countries. Only adopting the strategic thinking of innovation and development, can we support the marine economy in the big data era.


The present study does a reflection on the ethics in nursing, considering the context in which it is introduced. The authors approaches it in a broad manner and its historic evolution, going through a discussion inside the health care area, until the nursing related questions emerged, establishing relations between them. The questions and the doubts, much more than answers, are the focus of this study, whose main concern is to contribute to nurse's critical thought necessary to the effective practice of the profession.


Climate change impact in Indonesia is generally characterized by changes in daily temperature, rainfall patterns, and sea level rise. These changes mainly influence agricultural practices for various crops, including garlic (Alium sativum L.).  Current knowledge on climate vulnerability related to agricultural impact in Indonesia is limited. This study aims to identify the level of vulnerability of garlic farmer households to climate change and provide recommendations for adaptation activities for garlic farmers. The household vulnerability profile was assessed using Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) and LVI-IPCC approaches. We carried out interviews for 100 respondents in four villages in Lombok to obtain primary data related to agricultural practices. Relation between climate variables and garlic productivity was determined using linear regression approach. The results showed that rainfall and temperature had a negative correlation with garlic productivity as indicated statistical indicators used, namely R2. According to LVI and LVI-IPCC approach, Sembalun Timba Gading and Sajang have the highest level of vulnerability (0.60) and Sajang Village has the lowest level of vulnerability (0.55) among all villages. The findings suggested that climate information should be considered in agricultural sector for climate change mitigation and adaptation.


Six loci, apoliproprotein B (including Ag(x) antigen), immunoglobulin kappa constant region (IGKC), luteinizing hormone/choriogonadotrophin receptor, avian myelocytomatosis viral related oncogene, neuroblastoma derived, ornithine decarboxylase, and proopiomelanocortin (adrenocorticotropin/beta-lipotropin) (POMC), were newly assigned to sheep chromosome 3p using a chromosomally characterized minipanel of sheep-hamster cell hybrids. Isotopic in situ hybridization of IGKC to sheep chromosome 3p22-p17 is reported, confirming the cell hybrid assignment. As these loci are all known to map to human chromosome 2p, this study demonstrates that this chromosomal segment is extensively conserved in sheep. Only POMC has been previously assigned to cattle chromosome 11, which is the equivalent of sheep chromosome 3p. Therefore, we predict that the other loci assigned in this study to sheep 3p are likely to be located on cattle 11. The provisional assignment of an additional locus, annexin-like to sheep chromosome 3p is also reported.


The quality of control (QoC) of a resource-constrained embedded control system may be jeopardized in dynamic environments with variable workload. This gives rise to the increasing demand of co-design of control and scheduling. To deal with uncertainties in resource availability, a fuzzy feedback scheduling (FFS) scheme is proposed in this paper. Within the framework of feedback scheduling, the sampling periods of control loops are dynamically adjusted using the fuzzy control technique. The feedback scheduler provides QoC guarantees in dynamic environments through maintaining the CPU utilization at a desired level. The framework and design methodology of the proposed FFS scheme are described in detail. A simplified mobile robot target tracking system is investigated as a case study to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed FFS scheme. The scheme is independent of task execution times, robust to measurement noises, and easy to implement, while incurring only a small overhead.


Hydrated lime (HL) has been added to hot mix asphalt pavements over the years to improve the asphalt concrete mixtures in many ways. Although it has been repeatedly shown that the use of hydrated lime in asphalt concrete mixtures is beneficial, confusion still exists about the appropriate methods of adding hydrated lime to the mixtures to achieve the optimum modification of hydrated lime. The reasons why hydrated lime is so effective in asphalt mixtures lie in the strong interactions between the major components such as aggregate and bitumen. In this study, effects of hydrated lime in the asphalt pavements are investigated by performing Marshall Stability test, indirect tensile strength test, moisture susceptibility test and resilient modulus test. It can be concluded that, the addition of hydrated lime generally improved the fatigue properties of the asphalt mixture regardless the method of application to the mixtures. Asphalt mixtures modified with hydrated lime using wet method showed better properties as compared to mixtures modified with hydrated lime using dry or slurry methods. Overall description aids that the wet method is better than dry or slurry methods despite the little effect on Marshall, Moisture Suscepility test results when comparing all the test results and seems to provide better performance for pavement.


Lean is seen as an instrument to increase competitiveness through continuous improvement. According to numerous research papers less than 0, 5% of an organisation's process operations are value adding. Lean principles need to be understood in the context of performance and service delivery and organizations need to adopt a lean mindset and deploy lean approaches for retention, loyalty and customer satisfaction. Key decision makers resolve and dedication is critical for launching an initiative that seeks to modify work place behaviors. Organization therefore requires rational improvement measurement guidelines ensuring a structured approach in helping systems delivery to drive business innovation through measured and continuous improvement of their processes. In short it is fruitless if performance is only measured without improvement made. What should happen is that organizations should (1) empower people to measure, manage, and improve their delivery capabilities (2) adopt measured approach to transformation, (3) focusing on core practices that matter most, (5) describe capability improvements in terms of business value, and (6) accelerate improvement through capable resources. The paper identifies what then must be done to ensure that business improve value adding when implementing Lean. It addresses essential elements required to implement Lean focusing specifically on capability performance measurement techniques to ensure effective Lean Synchronisation.


Background: Patients with moderate-severe inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are commonly treated with long-term immunosuppressive therapies involving immunomodulators such as thiopurines, biologics (anti-TNF and anti-adhesion molecules), or novel small molecules such as Janus kinase inhibitors. Summary: Some infections seen with immunosuppressive therapy in IBD are preventable with vaccines. IBD-specific immunosuppressive therapy is generally initiated by gastroenterologists. Therefore, gastroenterologists should comprehend the appropriate application of vaccines such as hepatitis B, pneumonia, and herpes zoster vaccinations. This review summarizes the current guidance for vaccinations of IBD patients in the United States. Key Message: Gastroenterologists treating IBD patients must be aware of necessary vaccination schedules in the setting of immunosuppressive therapies.


Short-chain cyanoacrylates (SCCA), such as ethyl-2-cyanoacrylate (KrazyGlue, Aron Alpha, Columbus, OH) are commonly used as commercial fast-acting glues. Although once used in clinical medicine as skin adhesives, these products caused tissue toxicity and thus their use in live tissue was discontinued. SCCA were replaced by longer-chain versions (LCCA), such as butyl-cyanoacrylate (Vetbond, 3M, St Paul, Minnesota), which were found to be less toxic than the short-chain formulations. Some researchers prefer to use SCCA due to the belief that they create a stronger bond than do the longer-chain counterparts. In survival surgeries, we compared the bone thickness, bone necrosis, fibrosis, inflammation, and bone regeneration in the calvaria of control (naïve), surgery-only, SCCA-treated, and LCCA-treated mice (n = 20 per group). At 1 and 14 d after surgery, all mice except those treated with SCCA showed statistically similar bone measurements to those of the naive control group. The SCCA group had significantly less bone regeneration than did all other groups. These results suggest that the application of SCCA causes bone damage resulting in the loss of bone regeneration. This finding may assist investigators in choosing a tissue glue for their studies and may support the IACUC in advocating the use of pharmaceutical-grade tissue glues.


The concept of green computing has attracted much attention recently in cluster computing. However, previous local approaches focused on saving the energy cost of the components in a single workstation without a global vision on the whole cluster, so it achieved undesirable power reduction effect. Other cluster-wide energy saving techniques could only be applied to homogeneous workstations and specific applications. This paper describes the design and implementation of a novel approach that uses live migration of virtual machines to transfer load among the nodes on a multilayer ring-based overlay. This scheme can reduce the power consumption greatly by regarding all the cluster nodes as a whole. Plus, it can be applied to both the homogeneous and heterogeneous servers. Experimental measurements show that the new method can reduce the power consumption by 74.8% over base at most with certain adjustably acceptable overhead. The effectiveness and performance insights are also analytically verified.


Aim of the study was to investigate in dynamics peculiarities of hemostasis including platelet aggregation and activity of NADP-dependent dehydrogenases in platelets, as well as prevalence of resistance to aspirin in patients with functional class II-III chronic heart failure (CHF). We determined parameters of vascular thrombocytic and coagulative hemostasis, the state of intracellular metabolism of platelets as assessed by activity of NADP-dependent dehydrogenases in 46 men (age 45 - 72 years) with NYHA class II (n=16) and III (n=30) CHF before and in 12 - 14 days after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). After CABG all patients received aspirin (75 - 150 mg/day). Patients with ischemic CHF had moderate activation of intravascular coagulation, endotheliosis, elevation of fibrinogen and plasminogen levels. These processes were significantly augmented after CABG and were most pronounced in class II CHF. At the background of therapy with aspirin in 36 patients (78.3%) ADP and adrenaline induced platelet aggregation was reduced 2 - 3 times. In 10 patients (21.7%) aggregation remained at initial level or even increased what evidenced for resistance to aspirin. Among patients with functional classes II and III CHF portion of resistant to aspirin was 12.5 and 26.6%, respectively. In these patients most striking changes in intracellular metabolism of platelets were revealed. These changes manifested as derangements of energetic and plastic processes in the cell. Thus aspirin resistant patients with CHF comprise a group with risk of development of atherothrombosis of coronary arteries, arteriovenous grafts and arterial conduits.


In this paper, we take a look at the analysis and parameter identification for control-oriented, dynamic models for the thermal subsystem of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) from the systematized point of view of verification and validation (V&V). First, we give a possible classification of models according to their verification degree which depends, for example, on the kind of arithmetic used for both formulation and simulation. Typical SOFC models, consisting of several coupled differential equations for gas preheaters and the temperature distribution in the stack module, do not have analytical solutions because of spatial nonlinearity. Therefore, in the next part of the paper, we describe in detail two possible ways to simplify such models so that the underlying differential equations can be solved analytically while still being sufficiently accurate to serve as the basis for control synthesis. The simplifying assumption is to approximate the heat capacities of the gases by zero-order polynomials (or first-oder polynomials, respectively) in the temperature. In the last, application-oriented part of the paper, we identify the parameters of these models as well as compare their performance and their ability to reflect the reality with the corresponding characteristics of models in which the heat capacities are represented by quadratic polynomials (the usual case). For this purpose, the framework UniVerMeC (Unified Framework for Verified GeoMetric Computations) is used, which allows us to employ different kinds of arithmetics including the interval one. This latter possibility ensures a high level of reliability of simulations and of the subsequent validation. Besides, it helps to take into account bounded uncertainty in measurements.


The current study aims to investigate the mechanical properties of ten different carbon fiber nonwoven reinforced thermoplastic composites. A design of experiments was carried out by using a Mixture Design methodology in order to produce nonwoven fabrics by carding and pre-needling. Composites were manufactured by compression molding using film stacking method. Tensile properties such as tensile modulus and tensile strength were investigated as function of proportion of fibers in nonwovens and direction of applied load. It was found that the mechanical properties of the composites were much higher in the Cross direction than in the Machine direction. It was observed that the mechanical properties are mainly influenced by fiber properties and orientation of fibers in the nonwovens. The tensile modulus was then modelled by multilinear regression resulting from the design analysis and Rule of Hybrid Mixtures (RoHMs). A good correlation between the experimental and the predicted values is observed.


This study examines Canadian Alcohol and Drug Use Monitoring Survey data to assess substance use prevalence among Chinese (n = 254), South Asians (n = 245), and Caucasians (n = 14,943). South Asians and Chinese reported less current drinking than Caucasians, and South Asians reported less current drinking than Chinese. South Asians and Chinese reported less cannabis use and any illicit drug use than Caucasians. Compared to Caucasians, Chinese reported less cigarette smoking and South Asians reported less use of any pain relievers. Additional research focusing on immigration and acculturation is warranted to further explore substance use patterns of South Asian and Chinese populations in Canada.


Abstract Ronald Coase was a founding father of modern law and economics. Yet, Coase distanced himself from the economic analysis of law, which today dominates the law and economics scholarship, and proposed an alternative research program, which is referred to here as "law and the economy". As market transaction presumes the delineation of rights, which are primarily defined and enforced by law, law obviously anchors the foundation of a market economy. Moreover, changes in the legal system are a main source of institutional change that reassigns rights and redraws constraints under which rights are exercised, thus fundamentally affecting transaction costs and how the economy works. "Law and the economy" recognizes the law as an integral part of the economy and calls for the study of the economic impact of law.


This book gives students everything they need to know about basic criminal procedure principles, presented in a no-nonsense fashion. It includes references to recent, relevant decisions handed down by the United States Supreme Court. In addition, Principles of Criminal Procedure contains helpful study devices such as ""focal points"" at the beginning of each chapter, and "points to remember" at the end of each section. This is a great introduction for students needing to understand basic criminal procedure principles in U.S. law.


Cholesterol is absorbed by rabbits while its stereoisomer, sitosterol, is not resorbed. Cholesterol and sitosterol form nonseparable crystals. When the two sterols were fed simultaneously to rabbits, cholesterol was not absorbed, or was absorbed but partly. The degree of prevention of hypercholesteremia depended upon the amount of sitosterol fed with the cholesterol. A six-fold surplus of plant sterol was required in the experiments because the product employed contained but 75 to 80 per cent of sitosterol and because the supplied sitosterol binds not only exogenous cholesterol but also endogenous cholesterol present in the intestines. In the rabbit, prevention of hypercholesteremia is tantamount to prevention of atherosclerosis induced by cholesterol feeding.


Our journal is now a half century old. ... For those who have been associated with Voprosy filosofii all these years the time, it seems, has passed quickly. I remember how we celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the journal (by then I was already a member of its editorial board) and the plans we made then. It seems that all this happened quite recently. But if one now recalls what happened with our journal and our philosophy in general during these years, one gets the uncanny feeling that we have lived through several lives with Voprosy filosofii, very intense and dramatic lives, each continuing the preceding one and at the same time somehow quite different from it.


Colorectal cancer is the third most common epithelial malignancy worldwide. At some point in the natural course of patients with this disease, up to 50% will develop metastasis to the liver, i.e., colorectal liver metastasis (CLM), which represents one of the most common threats to life. A variety of therapeutic approaches to treat this problematic disease have been attempted that have now resulted in the acceptance of an aggressive strategy even for advanced cases. However, the surgical indications for resection of synchronous metastases and the optimal timing of hepatectomy are still controversial and widely debated. In the present review, chemotherapeutic strategies involving recently developed regimes and/or hepatectomy are proposed based not only on the clinical data but also on biological concepts in which chemotherapy causes hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)-related epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT). Keywords: Colorectal cancer, Epithelial malignancy; Hepatectomy


With the approach presented herein, a large aromatic pi-system is synthesized, which shows extraordinarily high solubility and an effective suppression of aggregation. This was due to a distortion of the aromatic core by bulky tert-butyl groups and the solubilizing effects of alkyl chains in the corona of the aromatic core. Therefore not only the processing and cleaning of the materials with standard laboratory techniques became possible, but moreover the first structure-rich UV/vis and a resolved (1)H NMR spectra for an aromatic system two times larger than hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene were recorded. The bulk properties in an extruded fiber as well as on the surface showed a columnar self-assembly including a phase in which a homeotropic alignment on a substrate was observed, which turns the material into an interesting candidate for future applications in electronic devices.


Studies were undertaken to investigate the site and conversion mechanism of exogenous peptides into high molecular weight (HMW) forms when administered in vivo. Functional nephrectomy reduced the conversion of aprotinin into HMW form in circulation whereas incubation of aprotinin in kidney homogenate in vitro resulted in an increase in HMW component, indicating that the kidney participates in conversion of aprotinin into HMW form. Incubation of aprotinin in rat serum showed that HMW forms can be produced in blood. Analysis of molecular weight of the components produced in vivo and in serum in vitro demonstrated that they consist of heterogeneous mixture and that the components produced in vitro resemble those produced in vivo. Incubation of (Asu1,7)-eel calcitonin, which lacks intramolecular disulfide bonds, in serum did not result in the production of HMW form, whereas incubation of three other peptides having intramolecular disulfide bonds did, suggesting that conversion mechanism of peptide drugs into HMW forms in blood is mainly by thiol-disulfide interchange reaction between peptides and serum protein.


Composting is a robust waste treatment technology. Use of finished compost enables plant nutrient recycling, carbon sequestration, soil structure improvement and mineral fertiliser replacement. However, composting also emits greenhouse gases (GHG) such as methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) with high global warming potential (GWP).

This thesis analysed emissions of CH₄ and N₂O during composting as influenced by management and process conditions and examined how these emissions could be reduced. The GHG emissions from home-scale, large-scale and reactor composting were determined. At small scale, 18 home compost units were analysed over one year. At large scale, the effects of aeration strategies on emissions were studied in 10-20 m long windrow composts. Finally, reactor composting was studied in two sets of experiments under a controlled laboratory environment to investigate the influence of specific process conditions on CH₄ and N₂O emissions.

Methane emissions increased almost 1000-fold when moisture content in the compost substrate increased from about 44% to 66% in the reactor. Moreover, CH₄ emissions increased 100-fold as a result of poor aeration. In home composting CH₄ emissions were low, but increased with temperature, mixing frequency and moisture. In windrow composting, high CH₄ emissions were associated with thermophilic temperatures and large moisture gradients. Moisture content from about 44% to 59% significantly affected N₂O emissions in the reactor studies, with N₂O emissions increasing at lower moisture. The presence of nitrate in the initial substrate resulted in an early N₂O emissions peak in reactor composting. Extended composting period during some reactor runs resulted in higher total GHG emissions due to continued production of both CH₄ and N₂O late in the process, after 50% of initial carbon had been mineralised.

Total direct GHG emissions from home and windrow composting systems, assessed based on their GWP, were similar to or lower than those reported by others, while emissions from most composting reactor runs were lower. To reduce CH₄ emissions, composting at a combination of high moisture and high temperature should be avoided. To reduce N₂O emissions, extremes of moisture content in the compost matrix should be avoided.


The mitochondrial DNA of Apis mellifera, sampled in 105 beehives and 7 geographical zones associate to 14 localities in Colombia have been studied. A fragment of the intergenic region between the RNAt leu and the subunit II of the cytochrome oxidase gene was amplified by PCR and digested with the endonuclease DraI. Thirteen haplotypes were identified: eight belonging to the African lineage A (90,5% for A1, A2, A4, A5, A6, A8, A9 and A13), 4 to European lineage M (7,6% M2, M4, M5 and M7) and 1 to C (C1, 1,9%), of the east European lineage. The presence of eight different A haplotipes, suggests the occurrence of more than one episode of hybridization, introgression and expansion of the africanized phenoma which suggests the presence of other haplotypes in other populations not included in the study. The gradient of distribution of African lineage is represented by the A1 haplotype, to the center of the country from the Caribbean coast with A4 and A6 haplotypes. The european lineages, are not represented significantly on the population studied. Colombia beekeeping activities depend on the africanized honeybee.


Queer geographers have recently begun to examine the lives of transgender persons, a heretofore gap in the literature. This article examines the experiences of incarcerated trans persons in the USA, thus extending this nascent trans geography work by considering a new population in a new space. As some scholarly and activist research has shown over the last decade or so, US trans persons are incarcerated at a disproportionately high rate and face harsh conditions while imprisoned. First-hand accounts of trans prisoners' experiences are, however, limited due to the difficulty of accessing this population for research purposes. Working in cooperation with a Montreal-based organization that facilitates pen-pal communications between queer persons inside and outside penitentiaries in the USA, we conducted qualitative research with 23 trans feminine individuals confined in facilities in several states. Our findings unfortunately corroborate the findings laid out in the small existing literature on trans prisoner issues, demonstrating that they endure harsh conditions of confinement. We detail these conditions here, while also pointing to informant responses that offer insight into the ways in which trans incarcerated persons cope with the hypermasculine and heteronormative environment of the US prison. These results are offered in the spirit of advancing a queer abolitionist politics that centers the knowledge and experiences of trans incarcerated persons.


Modern Unmanned Aerial Vehicles equipped with state of the art artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are opening to a wide plethora of novel and interesting applications. While this field received a strong impact from the recent AI breakthroughs, most of the provided solutions either entirely rely on commercial software or provide a weak integration interface which denies the development of additional techniques. This leads us to propose a novel and efficient framework for the UAV-AI joint technology. Intelligent UAV systems encounter complex challenges to be tackled without human control. One of these complex challenges is to be able to carry out computer vision tasks in real-time use cases. In this paper we focus on this challenge and introduce a multi-layer AI (MLAI) framework to allow easy integration of ad-hoc visual-based AI applications. To show its features and its advantages, we implemented and evaluated different modern visual-based deep learning models for object detection, target tracking and target handover.


order to link itself with precolonial Jewish communities in West Africa. Israel always had an ambiguous relationship with black Jewish communities. It is telling that the first two sections make few references to the Jewish state. It is much more present, however, in the third section on 'Newly invented diasporas', which looks more closely at questions of identity, home, belonging and repatriation. Gellar's chapter surveys the Israeli reaction to the arrival of (non-Jewish) Sudanese and Eritrean asylum seekers in the country, showing how Israel's identity as a Jewish state informed the heated debates around its harsh policies towards them. Lyons explores the trend among Israeli Ethiopian Jews to return to Ethiopia for family visits, business and travel. Such returns, he suggests, are driven by discrimination and marginalization in Israel, and reflect a broader effort to reassert Ethiopian identities and to reconcile them with Israeli ones. Könighofer's final contribution traces the similarities between the African Hebrew Israelites, a predominantly African American group that traces its origins to biblical Israel and established a community in southern Israel in the 1970s, and the Rastafarians, a group that similarly aspires to 'return' to Ethiopia and establish a model community there. In the Shadow of Moses is a diverse collection that deals with a range of historical periods and geographical locations. It sometimes feels too eclectic, and contributions vary in quality and style. Yet what its expansive scope highlights is the richness of the field and the genuine complexities associated with demarcating its boundaries and determining its frame of reference. The book pushes forward existing debates on African Judaism where it presents new empirical material on communities that scholarship has largely ignored until now, and in particular contemporary ones such as the 'internet Jews' of Cameroon. Perhaps future comparative scholarship that situates the recent emergence of Judaic identities within the broader context of new African spiritual movements and their global connections will offer new perspectives for thinking about contemporary black Jewish experiences.


Querying the content of images and video requires expensive content extraction methods. Modern extraction techniques are based on deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and can classify objects within images with astounding accuracy. Unfortunately, these methods are slow: processing a single image can take about 10 milliseconds on modern GPU-based hardware. As massive video libraries become ubiquitous, running a content-based query over millions of video frames is prohibitive. One promising approach to reduce the runtime cost of queries of visual content is to use a hierarchical model, such as a cascade, where simple cases are handled by an inexpensive classifier. Prior work has sought to design cascades that optimize the computational cost of inference by, for example, using smaller CNNs. However, we observe that there are critical factors besides the inference time that dramatically impact the overall query time. Notably, by treating the physical representation of the input image as part of our query optimization—that is, by including image transformations such as resolution scaling or color-depth reduction within the cascade—we can optimize data handling costs and enable drastically more efficient classifier cascades. In this paper, we propose TAHOMA, which generates and evaluates many potential classifier cascades that jointly optimize the CNN architecture and input data representation. Our experiments on a subset of ImageNet show that TAHOMA's input transformations speed up cascades by up to 35 times. We also find up to a 98x speedup over the ResNet50 classifier with no loss in accuracy and a 280x speedup if some accuracy is sacrificed.


Background Lab Tests Online-UK celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2014 and to mark the occasion the first comprehensive survey of website users was undertaken. Methods A pop-up box with a link to Survey Monkey was used to offer website users the chance to participate in the survey, which was live from 4 March 2014 to 11 April 2014. Results Six hundred and sixty-one participants started the questionnaire and 338 completed all of the demographic questions. Although the website is designed and aimed at patients and the public, a significant number of respondents were health-care professionals (47%). The majority of survey participants found the Lab Tests Online-UK website via a search engine and were visiting the site for themselves. The majority of participants found what they were looking for on the website and found the information very easy or fairly easy to understand. The patient respondents were keen to see their laboratory test results (87%), but the majority did not have access (60%) at the time of the survey. Conclusions This survey provides good evidence that the Lab Tests Online-UK website is a useful resource for patients and health-care professionals alike. It comes at a poignant time as the release of results direct to patients starts with access to their medical records. The Lab Tests Online-UK website has a key role in enabling patients to understand their lab test results, and therefore empowering them to take an interest and engage in their own healthcare.


Taking Wuzhen Xishan scenic area as an example, this article aimed at studying the impact scenic area internet comments had on tourists' decision-making. Based on the tourism decision-making reference group theory and tourism decision-making behavior theory, using the experimental method, the author designed a pretest questionnaire and a post-test questionnaire respectively to get to know the changes in tourists' relative decisions before and after reading the internet comments. Through the comparative analysis, we find that internet comments had great impact on tourists' decision. And the main factors include the category of comments, style of comments, content of comments and identity reviewers.


Dendrites of dopaminergic neurons receive and convey synaptic input, support action potential back-propagation and neurotransmitter release. Understanding these fundamental functions will shed light on the information transfer in these neurons. Dendritic patch-clamp recordings provide the possibility to directly examine the electrical properties of dendrites and underlying voltage-gated ion channels. However, these fine structures are not easily accessible to patch pipettes because of their small diameter. This report describes a step-by-step procedure to collect stable and reliable recordings from the dendrites of dopaminergic neurons in acute slices. Electrophysiological measurements are combined with post hoc recovery of cell morphology. Successful experiments rely on improved preparation of slices, solutions and pipettes, adequate adjustment of the optics and stability of the pipette in contact with the recorded structure. Standard principles of somatic patch-clamp recording are applied to dendrites but with a gentler approach of the pipette. These versatile techniques can be implemented to address various questions concerning the excitable properties of dendrites.


Plant-derived metabolites compounds known as phytochemicals which comes from foods such as cereals, beans, botanicals and beverages made from plants such as tea and wine are considered to playa major role in protecting human against diseases. Certain rice varieties contain concentrated pigment such as anthocyanidin or proanthocyanidin in the rice bran layer which contributed to different colors of rice and reported with high antioxidant activity depending on the content of phenolic compounds. In Sarawak, there are over 100 indigenous rice varieties with different colors that were produced by the locals with different colors but less scientific attention has been carried out on its health potential. This study aimed to determine the antioxidant activities, total phenolic content and total flavonoid content of selected Sarawak rice varieties using aqueous-based extraction technique. The rice samples were extracted using distilled water at 60 - 60°C for 6 hours and the rice extracts were analyzed for their antioxidant activity using DPPH radical scavenging and ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP) assays as well as their total phenolic and total flavonoid content. In this study, CU demonstrated the highest scavenging activity (47.37 ± 1.09), followed by BP (22.62 ± 2.41), BR (11.90 ± 0.11), MU (10.92 ± 0.50), WK (10.08 ± 0.75) and BM (4.68 ± 0.38). BR demonstrated the highest ferric reducing antioxidant potential (0.27 ± 0.02), followed by WK (0.17 ± 0.01), MU (0.16 ± 0.01), BM (0.11 ± 0.02), CU (0.11 ± 0.04) and BP (0.05 ± 0.01). The results obtained for both total phenolic and flavonoid content were similar in the following order WK>MU>CU>BM>BP with BR exhibiting the highest total phenolic and flavonoid content (188.33 ± 6.76 and 229.33 ± 16.59 respectively). Pearson's correlation analysis demonstrated that DPPH was weakly correlated with both total phenolic as well as total flavonoid content (r = 0.287 and 0.317, respectively, P < 0.01) whereas significant correlation was seen between FRAP and both total phenolic and flavonoid content (r = 0.932 and 0.966, respectively, P < 0.01). CU and BR rice exhibited significantly higher antioxidant activities and contained higher polyphenolic contents compared to other rice samples used in the study. Significant ferric reducing antioxidant potential activity of BR rice was largely contributed by the total phenolic and total flavonoid contained in the rice. BP rice showed the lowest value for FRAP, total phenolic and total flavonoid contents whereas BM rice showed the lowest value for DPPH assay.


In rat peritoneal mast cells, disodium cromoglycate showed no inhibitory effect on histamine release values if the cells were preincubated with the drug for 40 min prior to stimulation with antigen, compound 48/80 or ATP. If the drug was added simultaneously with antigen or a low dose of compound 48/80, a repression of histamine release occurred. No such effect was noted if ATP was employed as histamine liberator.


Background: Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic, relapsing skin disorder causing physical impairment and severe negative effects on patients' quality of life (QoL). The current study aims to estimate the impairment of QoL in HS and the role of disease advancement as a worsening factor. Patients and Methods: Fifty patients and fifty healthy controls were sex and age matched and completed two questionnaires, the 'Dermatology Life Quality Index' (DLQI) and the 'SF-36v2TM Health Survey' (SF36). Comparisons were carried out between patients of different Hurley stage and between patients and controls' subgroups. The results of both questionnaires were correlated. Results: According to Hurley system,15 patients manifested first-stage HS,13 second-stage HS, while 22 patients exhibited third-stage disease severity. HS patients experienced greater impact on their QoL compared to healthy controls (total mean DLQI score 13.10 ± 1.19 vs.1.44 ± 0.32, p<0.001 and total mean SF36 score 53.13 ± 3.34 vs.79.43 ± 1.38, p<0.001). Elevated score was attributed mainly to bodily pain and embarrassment due to skin disease. Patients with advanced stage of disease (Hurley III) obtained significantly higher score compared to patients with milder stage (Hurley I and II) in both questionnaires (mean DLQI score 18.55 ± 1.51 vs. 8.82 ± 1.3, p<0.001 and mean SF36 score 40.43 ± 4.44 vs.70.26 ± 3.1,p<0.001, respectively). Total DLQI and SF36 scores were excellently correlated (p<0.01, Spearman's correlation coefficient -0.771). Conclusion: Patients with HS suffer a devastating impact on QoL. The phenomenon is greater within advanced disease stages.


Feline idiopathic head-and-neck dermatitis—also named feline idiopathic ulcerative dermatitis (IUD)—is considered as a rare skin disease of unknown origin. It is usually associated with a crusted, non-healing, self-induced ulcer occurring most commonly on the dorsal or lateral neck or between the scapula where self-grooming by scratching occurs. Usually, IUD is diagnosed after exclusion of other causes of pruritus. In feline medicine, self-induced alopecia is recognized as a behavioral disorder (abnormal repetitive behavior) due to excessive licking, which is an amplification of a normal maintenance behavior. Such repetitive behaviors, like self-induced alopecia or self-induced wounds, are named stereotypies and considered as indicators of poor welfare. The objectives of our study were to determine, first, if the repetitive behavior associated with self-induced wounds was related to a poor welfare, and, second, if improving the welfare in the cat's environment would lead to healing, thanks to environmental enrichment. We recruited 13 cats diagnosed with IUD by a dermatologist. These cats were referred to a behaviorist for welfare evaluation. A welfare score was attributed using a new 21-point welfare scale. The median score of the 13 IUD cats was 16, while the median score of 35 healthy cats was 7 (significant difference, p < 0.001). Major modifications of the cat's environment and the human–cat relationship were then recommended for IUD cats. Within 15 days after environment modifications, ulcerative lesions were healed and welfare scores improved significantly (median score of 6, significantly different from the score before environmental modifications), being similar to healthy cats (no significant differences). Only one cat was treated with a psychotropic drug, owners being reluctant to improve environmental modifications. These results suggest that feline IUD is a behavioral disorder indicative of poor welfare and that it requires management by behavior specialists, proposing environmental modifications. We hence propose to rename this affection to "behavioral ulcerative dermatitis," given that welfare scores were significantly different from healthy cats, and that environmental modifications modified welfare scores and lead to successful healing in all cases.


Solving problems of unemployment and developing new materials for buildings requires moving beyond the traditional approaches to more economical, environmentally benign performance models and design properties. New approaches should develop models based on the literature and a full understanding of the root causes of failure, derived from careful failure analysis. One of the main drivers of the development efforts in fibre based composites is the trend towards greater environmental awareness and the health hazards associated with the utilization of asbestos fibres. The key to effectively developing marketable fibre cement composites for use as building materials that can be used for construction of safe and affordable structures is to identify the research and  development and market needs for such products. This paper looks into the empirical production and market opportunities in terms of product performance accruable to locally manufactured fibre cement ceiling boards. KEY WORDS : Fibre Cement Boards, Production, Market Needs, Product Performance


Epoxy resin is one of the most widely used thermosetting polymers and commonly applied in electrical power engineering. The intrinsic properties of epoxy can be improved by the introduction of inorganic filler, thus fabricating a composite material. In this study we investigate the influence of the filler size and its concentration on the complex permittivity and thermal conductivity of epoxy. The filler material that has been used is boron nitride. Boron nitride is a ceramic dielectric material with high electric breakdown strength and high thermal conductivity, while exhibiting a low relative permittivity. Four types of composites were prepared with an average particle size of 70 nm, 0.5 µm, 1.5 µm and 5 µm and a filler concentration of 10 and 20 percent by weight. The surface of the particles was functionalized with a coupling agent in order to see the effect of the modification on the specific properties. Two different techniques were applied to get the particles well dispersed in the matrix: high shear mechanical mixing and ultrasonication. The results of dielectric spectroscopy show, that the relative permittivity of the composite material increases more when introducing particles which have a larger average size. The highest value of thermal conductivity was obtained for the composite containing 20 wt.% inorganic particles with average particle size of 0.5 µm. Explanations are given for the observed behaviour.


This book studies the representation of identity politics in the Indian Tamil film Kannathil Muthamittal, which deals with the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict. Drawing on the influential role of cinema in politics on the Indian subcontinent, and the perceived shared identity of the Tamil communities in Sri Lanka and India, the book researches the film in relation to the conflict. It discusses the differences in conception of the Indian Tamil identity and the Sri Lankan Tamil identity (in the film), and argues that the Indian Tamil is represented as politically and culturally superior and more empowered than the Sri Lankan Tamil. Using existing literature on identity formation and the socio-cultural history of Tamil identities of Sri Lanka and India as a reference point, the representation of the two Tamil identities in the film are analysed.


Thrombosis and the complicating emboli that can result are important causes of illness and death. Thrombosis is of greater overall clinical importance in terms of morbidity and mortality than all of the hemorrhagic disorders combined. Agents such as heparin, low-molecular weight heparin, warfarin, aspirin, ticlopidine, clopidogrel, and tirofiban are used to prevent venous or arterial thrombosis. Patients taking these antithrombotic agents may be at risk for excessive bleeding after invasive dental procedures. The current antithrombotic agents used in medicine are reviewed, and the dental management of patients taking these agents is discussed.


In order to improve high~1ia:nionic generation efficiency, both reducuon of the mxroacnp~c phase rmrmvtching betwen the punp and harmonic waves and inmilie of mei2Euon length are c r u c i ~ ' Wc haw tound that h e phase mitching can bc achieved using hollow fiber by exmining third-i~amiuoc pmai~Uon in il hollow fiber in mom air '. Thc pb;w imalchtng mechanism in the fiber LS that il nonlmcx refrucrwe index change for 1he tondunnlwl pulse coinpcnsaics il dqer\ iun induced by il h e dectrorn Nm demonrUmcd war lhill a b u n qudllity of lhe r h r d hmon ic was ineilily single iriodc when il convcmd in a hollow fiber High-order hilimonics were generaid by hocusing 5-1nl. 790-nm. 8U-fs laserpulrca into U ga-filird hoilow fiber. A 50-cm lcns focused the beilm into d vilcuum cell m which the lioll~iu fiber tnounrcd m the V groove mounter in a g s s cell. nil gar cell has two ISO-pm.dmm%er pin holsa on lhc end of bellow arms. Men the gns cell w85 pressurized wilh Kr. the conducttrice of the holes confined the gas to the cell for several minutes. The surrounding chamher w;ls cvxcu;ltcd io 5 ("Torr for a dl pnirure of 10 Torr. Anommd-incidence spectrograph measured h e lhmmonic rhdintion ( I Ifh 23rd). The harmonic radnrioon was convertpllo visible light by using mcrochannsi plale delector mid photo cathode. and then detected by I-dimensionid chiirged coupled devices. To c ld fy the effect of propagation in tho fiber, sp&tra in free space w3s a e n willi the sum intensity and die s n m giih pressure. Spectral diamibuuoo obtduned with the 3-cm fiber showed II rcmilrk.ible enhancement of lhr Z l r t and higher-order h;monics. Lower-order lhumonics ( I I th a d 13th) converted less rfficienrly in the fiber Hmnorucs Emcrated 11, 1he ilber were hlueshifted conipmcl tu those LR frce splice, indicaung phase-mafchcd propagation in the fxbrr This cui bc undersrood qu rhr f x t (hat phase mismarchmg w o ~ l t i hc iiiiniiniiin mood those spcctr:il wgii 15.45 JThAS (Invited)


Classifier guidance is a recently introduced method to trade off mode coverage and sample fidelity in conditional diffusion models post training, in the same spirit as low temperature sampling or truncation in other types of generative models. Classifier guidance combines the score estimate of a diffusion model with the gradient of an image classifier and thereby requires training an image classifier separate from the diffusion model. It also raises the question of whether guidance can be performed without a classifier. We show that guidance can be indeed performed by a pure generative model without such a classifier: in what we call classifier-free guidance, we jointly train a conditional and an unconditional diffusion model, and we combine the resulting conditional and unconditional score estimates to attain a trade-off between sample quality and diversity similar to that obtained using classifier guidance.


We develop a numerical method for the computation of a minimal convex and compact set, $\mathcal{B}\subset\mathbb{R}^N$, in the sense of mean width. This minimisation is constrained by the requirement that $\max_{b\in\mathcal{B}}\langle b , u\rangle\geq C(u)$ for all unit vectors $u\in S^{N-1}$ given some Lipschitz function $C$. This problem arises in the construction of environmental contours under the assumption of convex failure sets. Environmental contours offer descriptions of extreme environmental conditions commonly applied for reliability analysis in the early design phase of marine structures. Usually, they are applied in order to reduce the number of computationally expensive response analyses needed for reliability estimation. We solve this problem by reformulating it as a linear programming problem. Rigorous convergence analysis is performed, both in terms of convergence of mean widths and in the sense of the Hausdorff metric. Additionally, numerical examples are provided to illustrate the presented methods.


Computer vision needs suitable methods of shape representation and contour reconstruction. One of them, invented by the author and called method of Hurwitz-Radon Matrices (MHR), can be used in representation and reconstruction of shapes of the objects in the plane. Proposed method is based on a family of Hurwitz-Radon (HR) matrices. The matrices are skew-symmetric and possess columns composed of orthogonal vectors. Shape is represented by the set of nodes. It is shown how to create the orthogonal and discrete OHR operator and how to use it in a process of shape representation and reconstruction. MHR method is interpolating the curve point by point without using any formula or function.


Brains vary in characters other than size. We should consider whether Finlay et al.'s argument, that developmental shifts responding to selection for change in one area yield correlated changes across the brain, must be extended from size differences to other neural characters responsible for the circuitry or physiological differences distinguishing vertebrate brains.


Background Mavrilimumab is a high-affinity, fully human immunoglobulin G (IgG) monoclonal antibody that selectively binds to the α subunit of GM-CSF receptor (GM-CSFRα) and is being evaluated for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. GM-CSF signaling is critical to regulate the clearance of surfactant lipids and proteins by the pulmonary alveolar macrophages. In both autoimmune and hereditary PAP, loss of GM-CSF signaling blocks the terminal differentiation of alveolar macrophages in the lungs impairing the ability of alveolar macrophages to catabolize surfactant and perform many host defense functions. The inhibition of GM-CSF by mavrilimumab might affect the regulation of lung homeostasis of pulmonary surfactant by alveolar macrophages (Trapnell and Whitsett, 2002). Surfactant Protein-D (SP-D) is a member of the collagenous subfamily of glycoproteins and calcium-dependent lectins. In the lungs, SP-D participates in the innate response to inhaled microorganisms and organic antigens through host defense functions and may be related to a number of human pulmonary diseases. Krebs von den Lungen-6 (KL-6) is a member of the collagenous subfamily of glycoproteins secreted by type II pneumocytes and has emerged as a potential surrogate biomarker of alveolitis. These two markers may identify changes associated with accumulation of surfactant in alveoli that may be the result of interruption of GM-CSF signaling. Objectives SP-D and KL-6 were monitored in serum as potential pulmonary safety biomarkers for mavrilimumab in clinical study EARTH, "A Phase 2 Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Multiple Ascending Dose Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety, of CAM-3001 in Subjects with rhEumatoid ARTHritis. Methods Levels of SP-D and KL-6 were measured during the 12 week treatment and safety follow-up phase of the study on 182 subjects. Commercially available ELISAs were qualified as a fit-for-purpose method and utilized to analyze serum samples collected at baseline and on Days 29, 85 and 169. Results The results of these analyses showed no changes in serum levels of SP-D and KL-6 in the mavrilimumab-treated subjects and no dose-dependent effects on the concentration of SP-D and KL-6. The results of analysis of the two potential biomarkers are consistent with the safety profile observed for the study. Pulmonary-related adverse events (AEs) reported in the study were generally mild or moderate in intensity; the most common events included decrease in carbon monoxide diffusing capacity (placebo 4 [5.1%]; mavrilimumab 19 [11.9%]), nasopharyngitis (placebo 2 [2.5%]; mavrilimumab 10 [6.3%]) and upper respiratory tract infections (placebo 4 [5.1%]; mavrilimumab 6 [3.8%]). No clinical significant lung problem was detected for DLCO deterioration cases assessed by the pulmonologists. Conclusions These findings indicate that no changes in serum levels of two potential pulmonary safety biomarkers, SP-D and KL-6, that have been reported to be associated with pulmonary diseases, could be detected over the 12 week treatment period with mavrilimumab in the Phase 2 clinical study EARTH. References Trapnell BC, Whitsett JA. GM-CSF regulates pulmonary surfactant homeostasis and alveolar macrophage-mediated innate host defense. Annu Rev Physiol. 2002;64:775-802. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


Background

Hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is a dominantly inherited genetic disorder of blood vessel development characterised by mucocutaneous telangiectasia and arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). There are no recent epidemiological studies of the prevalence of HHT in the UK, and no population-based studies investigating the burden of disease complications and mortality in this country.

Some of the most devastating complications of HHT such as stroke and cerebral abscess arise as a result of AVMs developing in the pulmonary circulation. Current evidence for the management of pulmonary AVMs using percutaneous embolisation derives from relatively small cohorts published by specialist centres worldwide. No studies have attempted to pool this published literature to summarise the complication rates and efficacy of embolisation. Additionally, there is uncertainty as to whether the apparent low mortality associated with treatment of PAVMs (published in the worldwide literature) is also replicated in the experiences of UK centres currently undertaking the procedure.

Methodology

This research project used large-scale, representative primary care (The Health Improvement Network - THIN) and secondary care (Health Episode Statistics - HES) databases to investigate the prevalence, comorbidities and mortality related to HHT, and the mortality related to treatment for pulmonary AVMs. We further used epidemiological methods to summarise the worldwide published literature regarding the safety and efficacy of percutaneous embolisation as a treatment for pulmonary AVMs.

The specific questions addressed in the studies were;
1. What is the current UK prevalence of HHT and how does this vary with respect to sociodemographic factors?

Using a primary care database (THIN), prevalence rates and adjusted prevalence rate ratios were calculated for HHT and pulmonary AVMs stratified for age group, sex, calendar year, socioeconomic status and geographical location.

2. What are the significant complications and comorbidities associated with HHT?

A case-control study using THIN examined the common complications associated with a diagnosis of HHT and looked at commoner cardiovascular and malignant comorbidities that may be associated with a diagnosis of HHT.

3. What is the mortality related to HHT in the UK?

A case-control study in THIN compared mortality between over 600 cases of HHT with age, sex and primary care practice matched controls, analysing mortality trends by age, sex and socioeconomic status.

4. What is the safety and effectiveness of percutaneous embolisation as a treatment for pulmonary arteriovenous malformations?

A systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies worldwide looking at safety and effectiveness of embolisation was undertaken.

5. What are the current mortality trends in England for patients undergoing percutaneous embolisation for treatment of pulmonary arteriovenous malformations?

Using an extract from the HES database linked to Office for National Statistics death data we investigated mortality associated with embolisation for arteriovenous malformation in England over a 15 year period.

Results

1. The minimum prevalence of diagnosed HHT in the UK was calculated to be 1 in 9,400, with the disease more commonly diagnosed in the female sex, those from older age groups, those from higher socioeconomic groups and patients from certain geographical areas of the UK.

2. A variety of haemorrhagic and neurological complications were commoner in HHT than matched controls including stroke (odds ratio (OR) 1.81) , cerebral abscess (OR 30), epistaxis (OR 11.6) and gastrointestinal haemorrhage (OR 6.08). The odds of cardiac failure (OR 2.36) and colon cancer (OR 2.76) were significantly higher in those with HHT when compared to controls.

3. The hazard ratio for death in HHT cases was twice as high as their matched controls. The median age at death in HHT cases was three years younger than their matched controls.

4. Percutaneous embolisation appears to be a safe procedure for embolisation of pulmonary arteriovenous malformations with a major complication in less than 1% of procedures undertaken. It is effective in 84% of patients who undergo embolisation, or in 90% of lesions treated.

5. The mortality associated with percutaneous embolisation between 1997 and 2011 in England is very low and may be zero.

Conclusions

HHT has a UK prevalence in line with that described in studies from other countries worldwide, though as this prevalence is only in those with diagnosed disease, the true prevalence is likely to be significantly higher. HHT is associated with significant haemorrhagic and neurological complications and HHT cases have a higher mortality than their matched controls. Percutaneous embolization appears to be a safe and effective treatment for pulmonary AVMs worldwide and is associated with a very low mortality in England.


Real-time camera tracking is steadily gaining in importance due to the drive from various applications, such as AR(augmented reality), mobile computing, and human-machine interface. In this paper, we describe a real-time camera tracking framework designed to track a monocular camera in a desktop workspace. Basic idea of the proposed scheme is that the camera pose estimation is achieved on the basis of a planar object tracking framework. As the camera pose estimation and scene registration is achieved via a non-iterative process, the proposed method is computationally efficient and very fast, and therefore, it can be directly embedded to AR systems running on mobile device platforms. In addition, our system attempts to detect new features assumed to be present on the reference planar surface, so that the system can be operated even when reference features go out of visible range. The accuracy and robustness of the proposed system are verified on the experimental results of several real-time input video streams.


Background— Suboptimal fetal nutrition may influence early growth and cardiovascular development. We examined whether umbilical and uterine artery resistance indices, as measures of feto-placental and utero-placental vascular function, respectively, are associated with fetal and childhood growth and cardiovascular development. Methods and Results— This study was embedded in a population-based prospective cohort study among 6716 mothers and their children. Umbilical artery pulsatility index and uterine artery resistance index and fetal growth were measured in third trimester. Childhood growth was repeatedly assessed from birth to the age of 6 years. We measured body fat distribution, left ventricular mass, and blood pressure at the age of 6 years. Higher third trimester umbilical and uterine artery vascular resistance were associated with lower fetal length and weight growth in third trimester resulting in a smaller size at birth among boys and girls (P values < 0.05). These differences in length and weight growth became smaller from the age of 6 months onwards, but were still present at the age of 6 years. Higher third trimester umbilical artery vascular resistance, but not uterine artery vascular resistance, was associated with higher childhood body mass index, total fat mass, android/gynoid fat mass ratio, and systolic blood pressure, and with a lower left ventricular mass (P values<0.05). These associations were not explained by birth weight. Stronger associations tended to be present among girls as compared with boys. Conclusions— Higher third trimester feto-placental vascular resistance, but not utero-placental vascular resistance, was associated with slower fetal growth rates and cardiovascular adaptations in childhood.


The establishment background, global targets, design development and materialization process of the construction management model and information management system of large-scale engineering projects are analyzed and described. A versatile management system is established. With the proposed system structure and together with the use of the progressive BPR and relevant supporting techniques, this management system is established with the ability to materialize the project construction management integration, collaboration integration, technical platform integration and data integration. The technical tools used also include the project supply chain management, the collaboration working platform, the non-linear dynamic earned value (EV) method, the intelligent self-describing and self-checking unified coding structure and matrix type material/equipment coding methods based on project decomposition features. The application example of the Three Gorges project management system (TGPMS) is given to illustrate the unique features of the developed large-scale project construction management model and information system in respect of functional field coverage, flow process adaptability, collaboration work and strong support to continual improvement of project management level. This system can be recommended and extended to all kinds of large-scale engineering projects. Keywordsproject management; information management system; management integration; Three Gorges project management system