Background. In the last years, the rate of prematurity has continuously increased worldwide while the survival age of premature babies has been decreased. Among the late complications of prematurity, retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) represents one of the pathologies with most serious and potentialy invalidating consequences (blinding); its ethiology, physiopathological mechanisms and risk factors are not yet completely elucidated. Objective. To identify pre- and postnatal factors which increase the risk of developing ROP in our hospital and to revise the actual ethiological hypotesis comprised in the medical literature. Methods. We performed a 2-year retrospective study (2015-2016) and we analized the data from the medical records of premature babies with gestational age of 34 weeks or below admitted in the Neonatology Department of the Emergency University Hospital in this period; among these patients, those who developed ROP were selected and we analyzed any possible association between the severity of illness and different pre- or postnatal factors. Results. Incidence of ROP in our study was of 16.5% among all premature babies, but higher (35.5%) in the selected group (≤34 weeks of gestation). Risk factors for developing ROP were determined to be the following: small gestational age and weight, prolonged oxygenotherapy, hypoxic or hyeroxic episodes, blood transfusions, intraventricular haemorrhage, corticotherapy, treatment with dopamine, parenteral nutrition; among potential prenatal causes, our study has identified intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) as a risk factor for developing ROP. Conclusions. ROP is a multifactorial disease, influenced by postnatal care, but prenatal conditions and inherent, epigenetic factors seem to have also an important role. The classical theories according to which ROP is considered to be determined by low gestational age and prolonged oxygenotherapy need to be revised and completed with new extended thorough investigations. The results of these invesigations could influence the actual medical practice everywhere.


Home literacy practices reported by parents of preschool children with hearing loss were compared to those reported by parents of their peers with typical hearing. Parents completed a questionnaire from Boudreau, D. (2005. Use of a parent questionnaire in emergent and early literacy assessment of preschool children. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 36, 33-47. doi:10.1044/0161-1461(2005/004)) assessing home literacy practices across areas such as parent facilitation of literacy and time spent reading per week. As part of a larger study, children completed language and emergent literacy assessments. Parents of both groups reported similar amounts of time spent reading to their children and scored similarly on report of parent facilitation of literacy, even though children with hearing loss scored lower on measures of emergent literacy. However, parents of children with typical hearing reported that their children had higher engagement and interest in books than children with hearing loss. Additionally, only child engagement with books was correlated with emergent literacy skills and only for children with hearing loss. The results suggest that parent facilitation of literacy alone is not correlated with emergent literacy scores; children must take an active role in their reading development. Children with hearing loss must be active participants during shared book reading. It is therefore essential to develop ways to actively engage children with hearing loss during reading activities.


The Mre11-Rad50-Xrs2 complex is involved in DNA double-strand break repair, telomere maintenance, and the intra-S phase checkpoint. The Mre11 subunit has nuclease activity in vitro, but the role of the nuclease in DNA repair and telomere maintenance remains controversial. We generated six mre11 alleles with substitutions of conserved residues within the Mre11-phosphoesterase motifs and compared the phenotypes conferred, as well as exonuclease activity and complex formation, by the mutant proteins. Substitutions of Asp16 conferred the most severe DNA repair and telomere length defects. Interactions between Mre11-D16A or Mre11-D16N and Rad50 or Xrs2 were severely compromised, whereas the mre11 alleles with greater DNA repair proficiency also exhibited stable complex formation. At all of the targeted residues, alanine substitution resulted in a more severe defect in DNA repair compared to the more conservative asparagine substitutions, but all of the mutant proteins exhibited <2% of the exonuclease activity observed for wild-type Mre11. Our results show that the structural integrity of the Mre11-Rad50-Xrs2 complex is more important than the catalytic activity of the Mre11 nuclease for the overall functions of the complex in vegetative cells.


This paper presents the development and testing of an open and flexible embedded system applied to positioning and telecontrol (OFESAPO) for outdoor applications. The system is composed of a control center (CC) and a set of remote terminal units (RTUs); the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 60870-5 series has been chosen for communication among them. This is a standard protocol of real-time telecontrol applications. The CC is a personal computer, and the RTUs are based on open hardware and software. The RTU hardware is an embedded system, i.e., a system-on-chip-type design using field-programmable gate array that has been programmed with the open-core LEON running Linux operating system. For prototyping, the GR-XC3S-1500 board has been used. As there is no open source code available for the IEC standard protocols, an open source code has also been implemented. Hence, both the hardware and the software are open source in OFESAPO. Several tests have been made to show the system's limitations and the suitability for real-time applications. A prototype has also been tested in a real environment, where the real position of two moving RTUs was shown by a CC using Google Map.


Cestrum diurnum (Solanaceae: Solanales) is a single or multistemmed shrub that is also known as Day Jasmine. The essential oil of the mature leaves of C. diurnum was analyzed by GLC and GLC-MS and altogether 14 components were detected. The main constituents were palmitic acid (27.62%), stearic acid (4.62%) and oleic acid (3.06%). The essential oil of mature leaves of C. diurnum were evaluated for antimicrobial activity against pathogenic strains of Gram positive ( Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis ) and Gram negative ( Escherichia Coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ) bacteria. The oil showed strong in vitro activity against P. aeruginosa and S. aureus. African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 4 (4), pp. 371-374, 2005


As extreme sports become more popular, related respiratory injury may compromise the athlete's performance and result in morbidity and even mortality. In this article we will discuss different lung injuries in relation to performing different activities in an extreme environment.

The evolution of fish to amphibians, reptiles to endothermic birds and mammals has been accompanied by a progressively thinner pulmonary blood gas barrier, to accommodate the constraint of increased oxygen uptake and carbon dioxide output [1]. Accordingly, pulmonary circulation has evolved as a separate high flow–low pressure system. In humans, mean pulmonary artery pressures (PAP) are 8–20 mmHg, pulmonary wedge pressures are 5–14 mmHg and pulmonary capillary pressures are 8–12 mmHg [2]. A low-pressure regimen preserves the integrity of an alveolar capillary membrane only 0.3 μm thick. However, this structure is vulnerable to increased pressures during strenuous exercise or environmental hypoxic exposure as a cause of stress failure of the pulmonary capillaries and accumulation of extravascular lung water [3]. Reports of lung injury related to extremes of exercise and variations in ambient pressure and altitude confirm this vulnerability. The resulting lung injury takes the form of noncardiogenic pulmonary oedema.

The occurrence of noncardiogenic pulmonary oedema and pulmonary haemorrhage has been described in relation to a variety of disorders related to auto- and exogenous immunological reactions, infections and certain inhalants. However, numerous reports of lung injury manifesting as pulmonary oedema with associated haemorrhage have been described more recently in relation to immersion underwater, swimming, extreme exercise and exposure to altitude. In addition, pulmonary oedema resulting from negative intra-alveolar pressure has been described in the anaesthesia literature and may play a role in exercise- and immersion-induced pulmonary oedema.

A single mechanism responsible for production of noncardiogenic pulmonary oedema related to immersion, altitude and exercise has not …


Indonesia's various types of fruits can be met by the community. Many fruits that contain a source of vitamins are very beneficial to the body, or as an economic source for farmers. It's no wonder that many experts submit discoveries to increase the amount of productivity or just want to experiment with intelligent systems. Intelligent systems are specially designed machines in certain areas to adjust the capabilities made by the creators. This article provides the latest texture classification technique called Speeded up Robust Features (SURF) with the SVM (Support Vector Machine) method. In this concept, the representation of the image data is done by capturing features in the form of keys. SURF uses the determinant of the Hessian matrix to reach the point of interest in which descriptions and classifications are performed. This method delivers superior performance compared to existing methods in terms of processing time, accuracy, and durability. The results showed that the fruit classification by using the extraction of Speeded up Robust Features (SURF) feature and SVM (Support Vector Machine) Classification method is quite maximal and accurate. Result of 3 kinds of classification with SVM kernel function, SVM Gaussian with 72% accuracy, Polynomial SVM with 69.75% accuracy, and Linear SVM with 70.25% accuracy.


OBJECTIVE
To describe experience with a chronic pain management programme in Hong Kong Chinese patients.

DESIGN
Prospective study.

SETTING
Regional hospital, Hong Kong.

PARTICIPANTS
Patients with chronic pain who participated in the first six Comprehensive Out-patient Pain Engagement programmes between 2002 and 2005.

INTERVENTION
Comprehensive Out-patient Pain Engagement is a 14-day structured, multidisciplinary out-patient programme conducted over 6 weeks. It includes pain education, cognitive re-conceptualisation, training in communication skills and coping strategies, graded physical exercises and functional activities training. It aims to improve patient function and quality of life, despite persistent pain.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Changes in scores from baseline values after joining the programme, with respect to several assessment tools. These included the following: visual analogue pain scale, Pain Catastrophizing Scale, Patient Self-efficacy Questionnaire, Canadian Occupational Performance Measure, Medical Outcome Survey-Short Form 36 Questionnaire, and duration of physical tolerances, medication utilisation, and work status records.

RESULTS
Forty-five patients were available for analysis. After the Comprehensive Out-patient Pain Engagement programme, improvements in Medical Outcome Survey-Short Form 36 Questionnaire (role physical and vitality), Pain Catastrophizing Scale, Patient Self-efficacy Questionnaire, and Canadian Occupational Performance Measure were demonstrated (P<0.05). The duration of standing and sitting tolerances increased (P<0.05). An improvement in employment rate was also evident (P=0.01).

CONCLUSION
The initial results of our management programme in Chinese patients with chronic pain are encouraging. This type of programme should be promoted more widely in this group of patients, as it appears to improve physical function, psychological well-being, and productivity.


This paper presents the optimum random access channel (RACH) structure in terms of the number of control signaling bits accommodated and the transmission bandwidth based on the link budget in order to satisfy the coverage requirement for the single-carrier (SC)-FDMA based E-UTRA uplink. First, we propose grouping of the RACH purposes to reduce the number of control signaling bits to be conveyed by the RACH. By employing the proposed purpose-grouping scheme, only a four-bit random ID and a two-bit purpose grouping index for the non-synchronized RACH are required. Simulation evaluations including a system-level simulation show that the non-synchronized RACH comprising a 0.5-msec preamble signature sequence can convey the aforementioned 6-bit control signal at the cell edge when the inter-site distance (ISD) is 500 m under full channel load conditions with one-cell frequency reuse. It is also shown, however, that a RACH longer than one-sub-frame, e.g., 1.0 msec, is necessary to support the ISD of 1732 m assuming the same conditions. We also show that although there is no distinct difference in the transmission bandwidth from 1.25 to 5 MHz from the viewpoint of the misdetection probability, a 1.25-MHz transmission bandwidth for the RACH is suitable from the viewpoints of flexible resource assignment in the time domain and small number of option in the transmission bandwidth.


The aim of the present study is to visualize the dynamics of conceptual clusters, hidden patterns and emerging knowledge of "cybernetics in Middle Eastern countries" subject area in a global scale based on the co-word analysis of scientific outcomes indexed in the Web of Science database. This research is an applied one, performed with the co-word analysis method and analytical approach. The population includes 2280 keywords from 705 records in the cybernetics subject area in Middle Eastern countries, published in 7 journals indexed in the Web of Science database until 2018. To have a coherence set of data and create the co-occurrence matrix, RavarPreMap software applied. Then, using SPSS 16 and VOSViewer, the subjects were clustered and mapped. Specifications of co-word networks such as centrality and density illustrated using UCInet software in the form of a strategic diagram. Thereby, the situation and evolutionary branches of the cybernetics subject area revealed in Middle Eastern countries. The trend of scientific productions in cybernetics in Middle Eastern counties is incremental. Computer science, with 444 records, is the core subject in the mentioned studies. Researchers' intellectual structures are identifiable in 12 clusters. The most significant cluster is the twelfth one, named master data mining algorithms and including 20 keywords. The distribution of clusters in the strategic diagram shows that Clusters 1, 2, and 4 are core issues in the subject area.Furthermore, they are mature and coherent, being studied at the core of the research area, having a core and developable role. The co-word analysis is a proper and powerful method in discovering and visualizing science and knowledge, tracking sciences, studying the trend of conceptual dynamicity, identifying and analyzing researchable fields in the subject area of cybernetics. This strategic approach can drastically help research planners and policy-makers as well as governmental authorities


The neutron-energy dependence of the track-counting sensitivity of fluorescent nuclear track detectors (FNTDs) at two ranges of Mg doping, resulting in different crystal colorations, was investigated. The performance of FNTDs was studied with the following converters: Li-glass for thermal to intermediate-energy neutrons, polyethylene for fast neutrons, and polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon™) for photon- and radon-background subtraction. The irradiations with monoenergetic neutrons were performed at the National Physics Laboratory (NPL), UK. The energy range was varied from 144 keV to 16.5 MeV in the personal dose equivalent range from 1 to 3 mSv. Monte Carlo simulations were performed to model the response of FNTDs to monoenergetic neutrons. A good agreement with the experimental data was observed suggesting the development of a basic model for future MC studies. Further work will focus on increasing FNTD sensitivity to low-energy neutrons and developing a faster imaging technique for scanning larger areas to improve counting statistics.


Debridement, the removal of diseased, nonviable tissue, is critical for clinicians to readily assess wound status and prepare the wound bed for advanced therapeutics or downstream active healing. Removing necrotic slough and eschar through surgical or mechanical methods is less specific and may be painful for patients. Enzymatic debridement agents, such as Clostridial collagenase, selectively and painlessly degrade devitalized tissue. In addition to its debriding activities, highly-purified Clostridial collagenase actively promotes healing, and our past studies reveal that extracellular matrices digested with this enzyme yield peptides that activate cellular migratory, proliferative and angiogenic responses to injury in vitro, and promote wound closure in vivo. Intriguingly, while collagenase Santyl® ointment, a sterile preparation containing Clostridial collagenases and other non-specific proteases, is a well-accepted enzymatic debridement agent, its role as an active healing entity has never been established. Based on our previous studies of pure Clostridial collagenase, we now ask whether the mixture of enzymes contained within Santyl® produces matrix-derived peptides that promote cellular injury responses in vitro and stimulate wound closure in vivo. Here, we identify novel collagen fragments, along with collagen-associated peptides derived from thrombospondin-1, multimerin-1, fibronectin, TGFβ-induced protein ig-h3 and tenascin-C, generated from Santyl® collagenase-digested human dermal capillary endothelial and fibroblastic matrices, which increase cell proliferation and angiogenic remodeling in vitro by 50–100% over controls. Using an established model of impaired healing, we further demonstrate a specific dose of collagenase from Santyl® ointment, as well as the newly-identified and chemically-synthesized ECM-derived peptides significantly increase wound re-epithelialization by 60–100% over saline-treated controls. These results not only confirm and extend our earlier studies using purified collagenase- and matrix-derived peptides to stimulate healing in vitro and in vivo, but these Santyl®-generated, matrix-derived peptides may also represent exciting new opportunities for creating advanced wound healing therapies that are enabled by enzymatic debridement and potentially go beyond debridement.


Let $\Phi:\R\rightarrow\R$ be an arbitrary continuously differentiable deterministic function such that $|\Phi|+|\Phi'|$ is bounded by a polynomial. In this article we consider the class of stochastic volatility models in which ${Z(t)}_{t\in [0,1]}$, the logarithm of the price process, is of the form $Z(t)=\int_{0}^t \Phi(X(s)) dW(s)$, where ${X(s)}_{s\in[0,1]}$ denotes an arbitrary centered Gaussian process whose trajectories are, with probability 1, H\"older continuous functions of an arbitrary order $\alpha\in (1/2,1]$, and where ${W(s)}_{s\in[0,1]}$ is a standard Brownian motion independent on ${X(s)}_{s\in [0,1]}$.
First we show that the critical H\"older regularity of a typical trajectory of ${Z(t)}_{t\in[0,1]}$ is equal to 1/2. Next we provide for such a trajectory an expression as a random series which converges at a geometric rate in any H\"older space of an arbitrary order $\gamma<1/2$; this expression is obtained through the expansion of the random function $s\mapsto \Phi(X(s))$ on the Haar basis. Finally, thanks to it, we give an efficient iterative simulation method for ${Z(t)}_{t\in[0,1]}$.


Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were prepared against different strains of Shigella, following immunization of BALB/c mice with a heat-killed preparation of Shigella. Antibody-producing hybridomas were screened in an indirect enzyme-linked immunoadsorbent assay (ELISA) and epitope specificity determined using chemically defined lipopolysaccharide, lipid, and KDO fragments. Five MAbs were characterized and the following specificities identified: 2C32E6 and 4D64B9 (reactive to S. flexneri and S. boydii), 5E45D8 (reactive with S. flexneri), 4B33D10 and 1B52F10 (all species of Shigella). The properties of 1B52F10 revealed its potential importance in immunological detection of Shigella from unknown samples, as it was able to bind to all strains of Shigella.


The presence of code and design smells can have a severe impact on the quality of a program. Consequently, their detection and correction have drawn the attention of both researchers and practitioners who have proposed various approaches to detect code and design smells in programs. However, none of these approaches handle the inherent uncertainty of the Detection process. First, we present a system-matic process to convert existing state-of-the-art detection rules into a probabilistic model. We illustrate this process by generating a model to detect occurrences of the Blob antipattern. Second, we present results of the validation of the model. Testing is more than just debugging. The purpose of testing can be quality assurance, verification and validation, or reliability estimation. Testing can be used as a generic metric as well. Correctness testing and reliability testing are two major areas of testing. Software testing is a trade-off between budget, time and quality. Code smells are a metaphor to describe patterns that are generally associated with bad design and bad programming practices. Originally, code smells are used to find the places in software that could benefit from refactoring. . Refactoring is a technique to make a computer program more readable and maintainable. A bad smell is an indication of some setback in the code, which requires refactoring to deal with. Many tools are available for detection and removal of these code smells. These tools vary greatly in detection methodologies and acquire different competencies. In this paper, how the quality of code can be automatically assessed by checking for the presence of code smells is and how this approach can contribute to automatic code inspection is investigated


Blue Compact Galaxies (BCGs) are intensely star forming, gas-rich systems and their light is dominated by a young stellar population and nebular emission. Their irregular morphology suggests dwarf galaxy mergers as cause for the onset of the burst in star formation. We use interferometric measurements of the Doppler-shifted H-alpha line in emission to derive the kinematics of a medium sized sample of BCGs with high spatial resolution and coverage. In agreement with previous results, we find disturbed velocity fields in many cases, strengthening the merger hypothesis. In five cases we find the central starburst ionising large regions of the surrounding gas reservoir. After subtracting a model for the rotation of the ionised region, kinematical disturbances at the location of the starburst are revealed and we interpret them as decoupled motions or strong outflows due to feedback. To test whether feedback processes are able to decouple the interstellar medium from the motion of the stars, we use integral field spectroscopy of the near-infrared Ca-triplet to measure the stellar kinematics of BCGs. We find strong evidence for decoupling in Henize 2-10.


Tubulin is involved in several critical cellular functions, including cell division, cell motility and development and maintenance of cell shape. Although microtubule disrupting agents like paclitaxel are highly successful chemotherapeutic agents, these compounds are easily recognized by P-glycoprotein (Pgp) and are pumped out of cancer cells, resulting in resistance to the agent. Thus, these compounds have major limitations against multidrug resistant tumors. Recently, we reported simple, monocyclic pyrimidines with the N-methyl-4′-methoxyaniline moiety at the 4-position. These compounds circumvent some of the important limitations of paclitaxel while preserving its antimitotic activity. To further evaluate the SAR at the 4-position of the pyrimidine scaffold, a series of compounds were designed and synthesized that involved replacing the chloro moiety of the 5-amino-4,6-dichloro-2-methylpyrimidine with various anilines. The replacement of the N-methyl-4′-methoxyaniline moiety of the lead molecule with a conformationally restricted 6′-methoxy-tetrahydroquinoline moiety resulted in potent tubulin assembly inhibition (IC 50 = 3.0 ± 0.03 μM) comparable to that observed with combretastatin A-4 (CSA4, IC 50 = 1.1 ± 0.1 μM), of which the phosphorylated derivative is currently in clinical trials. It is a potent inhibitor of [ 3 H]colchicine binding (65% at 5 μM concentration) indicating that it binds at the colchicine binding site on tubulin similar to CSA4. Similarly, the monocyclic pyrimidine with a conformationally restricted 4-N-methyl 2′,3′-dihydrobenzofuran moiety was also a potent inhibitor of bovine tubulin assembly. Replacement of the 4′-methoxy of the lead with a 4′-thiomethyl retained potency against tubulin assembly (IC 50 = 2.6 ± 0.1 μM). In Pgp overexpressing NCI/ADR-RES cell line, three of the newly synthesized compounds were found to be 1.5-5-fold more potent (IC 50 = 170-630 nM) than in the wild type OVCAR-8 cell line, thus, overcoming an important mechanism associated with clinical resistance to paclitaxel. These attributes of the 4-N-substituted monocyclic pyrimidines provide the impetus for further preclinical development of these compounds. Citation Format: Rishabh Mohan, Aleem Gangjee, Ruoli Bai, Ernest Hamel. Substituted monocyclic pyrimidines as potent tubulin inhibitors that circumvent P-glycoprotein mediated resistance. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 4553. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-4553


We study a model of growing population that competes for resources. At each time step, all existing particles reproduce and the offspring randomly move to neighboring sites. Then at any site with more than one offspring, the particles are annihilated. This is a nonmonotone model, which makes the analysis more difficult. We consider the extinction window of this model in the finite mean-field case, where there are $n$ sites but movement is allowed to any site (the complete graph). We show that although the system survives for exponential time, the extinction window is logarithmic.


This paper presents a novel microstrip antenna design with an enhanced impedance bandwidth and stable radiation characteristics. The presented antenna provides more than 100% impedance bandwidth from 5.7 GHz to 17.3 GHz. This wide bandwidth is realized by using multi-resonance radiators of wideband characteristics. The use of multi-resonators not only improves the bandwidth but also results in stable radiation patterns in the entire operating band


Objective: To evaluate the circulation persistence and organ biodistribution of a freezedried, oxygen carrying resuscitative fluid: liposome‐encapsulated hemoglobin. Design: Randomized, animal studies. Setting: Accredited animal research facilities. Subjects: Normal female Balb/c mice and male New Zealand rabbits. Interventions: Two groups of normal female Balb/c mice were injected in the tail vein with either lyophilized liposome‐encapsulated hemoglobin (n = 9) that was reconstituted just before administration, or with unlyoph ilized liposomeencapsulated hemoglobin (n = 9) as a comparison. Two groups of male New Zealand rabbits were injected in the ear vein with either lyophilized 99mTc‐liposome‐encapsulated hemoglobin (n = 6) or unly oph ilized 99mTc‐liposome‐encapsulated hemoglobin as a comparison (n = 6). After injection, mice were anesthetized by brief inhalation of halothane followed by blood sampling through the retro‐orbital sinus. Rabbits were anesthetized 30 mins before liposome‐encapsulated hemoglobin administration with an intramuscular injection of a 5:1 mixture of ketamine (50 mg/kg) and xylazine (10 mg/kg). Rabbits were then dynamically imaged for 90 mins, housed, and at 20 hrs, imaging again followed by autopsy and tissue sampling to validate imaged organ biodistributions. Measurements: Circulation persistence in the mouse was measured by removing a blood sample at various time points up to 24 hrs after injection. The blood sample was centrifuged in a hematocrit capillary tube and the disappearance of the sedimented liposome‐encapsulated hemoglobin fraction was measured. The change in the sedimented fraction of the liposomes with time was used to generate circulation persistence profiles in mice. The circulation persistence and organ biodistribution of 99mTc‐liposome‐encapsulated hemoglobin was measured by circling regions of interest on computer‐generated gamma camera images. These image intensities were then calculated as a function of total injected dose which was measured from a known volume and activity of 99mTc‐liposomeencapsulated hemoglobin. Actual tissue uptake was estimated from images by subtracting blood pool contribution which was measured by injecting 99mTc‐labeled rabbit red cells. Imaged organ biodistribution was validated at 20 hrs by measuring activity in weighed portions of tissue after autopsy. Main Results: The mean circulation half‐life of liposome‐encapsulated hemoglobin in mice injected at a dose of 1.0 g phospholipid/kg mouse and 1.95 g hemoglobin/kg was approximately 10.4 ± 0.5 (sd) hrs. The circulation half‐life of lyophilized liposome‐encapsulated hemoglobin was 10.7 ± 0.7 hrs. The circulation profiles demonstrate a rapid removal phase over the first 4 hrs after injection, followed by a secondary slow removal measured up to 24 hrs. The rapid removal phase of liposome‐encapsulated hemoglobin and lyophilized liposome‐encapsulated hemoglobin in the rabbit (injected at the same dose) indicated that lyophilized liposome‐encapsulated hemoglobin persists longer than the unlyophilized form in the first 4 hrs after injection. The organ biodistributions of unlyophilized 99mTc‐liposome‐encapsulated hemoglobin and lyophilized 99mTc‐liposome‐encapsulated hemoglobin in the rabbit demonstrate that the reticuloendothelial system is the primary site of removal, with significant uptake of lyophilized 99mTc‐liposome‐encapsulated hemoglobin by the liver (15.6 ± 1.0%), bone marrow (12.6 ± 1.6%), and spleen (9.7 ± 1.1%). The kidneys showed little accumulation of unlyophilized 99mTc‐liposome‐encapsulated hemoglobin or lyophilized 99mTc‐liposome‐encapsulated hemoglobin (1.6 ± 0.2% and 1.8 ± 0.1%, respectively), an important result for the efficacy and safety of this hemoglobin‐based blood substitute. Conclusion: The present results suggest that liposome‐encapsulated hemoglobin (and lyophilized liposome‐encapsulated hemoglobin) have pharmacokinetics that enable oxygen delivery during early treatment for hemorrhagic shock. The organ biodistribution demonstrates that the monocyte phagocytic system is principally involved with the slow removal of liposomeencapsulated hemoglobin (and lyophilized liposome‐encapsulated hemoglobin) over the course of 24 hrs. The lyophilized liposome‐encapsulated hemoglobin has similar pharmacokinetics to freshly prepared liposome‐encapsulated hemoglobin and could be an important storage strategy for the utilization of liposome‐encapsulated hemoglobin in areas where stored blood is unavailable. (Crit Care Med 1994; 22:142‐150)


The SEt Reasoning Facility (SERF) integrates mechanisms for propagating membership propositions, deriving relations between sets, and reasoning about closure and cardinality into an efficient utility package for reasoning about sets. Assertions about relations between sets are compiled into a constraint network defined entirely in terms of union, complement, and emptiness constraints. The constraint network supports multiple modes of inference, such as local propagation of membership propositions and graph search for set relations using a transitivity table. SERF permits closure assertions of the form "all members of set S are known" and utilizes this capability to permit selective applications of closed-world assumptions. Cardinality constraints are handled by a general quantity reasoner. An example from geologic interpretation illustrates the value of mutually constraining sources of information in a typical application of reasoning about sets in commonsense problem-solving.


The author analyzes the theoretical bases of such phenomenon as universal history, defines the borders and semantic filling of the corresponding concept under the modern conditions of its frequent and polysemantic use and considers the complex of factors and preconditions defining the scenarios of the transformation of universal-historical perspective today.


To the Editor. —The fallout from the Acer case in Florida and the newly focused congressional attention on HIV-infected health care workers has heightened the importance of theBehringercase, in which a New Jersey trial court supported a hospital's policy of restricting the surgical privileges of an HIV-infected physician. Dr Orentlicher, in a recentJAMAarticle,1provides a thorough discussion of the decision and its implications for practicing physicians. He notes that theBehringercourt "endorsed practice restrictions that attempt to eliminate all risk of transmission." He rightly points out that such a "standard of 'zero-tolerance' risk permits the kinds of irrational or invidious discrimination that are prohibited by principles of discrimination law." While I agree with the thesis that such a standard is inherently discriminatory to physicians and has potentially harmful implications for future public policy, the evidence does not support his contention that "there is


We have evaluated the prevalence of anti HIV-2 antibodies in a population of 139 individuals at risk for AIDS, attending the center for drug addiction of the Rho hospital. 79.85% of our patients were positive for anti HIV-1 antibodies. 51 patients (36.69%) were positive for anti HIV-2 antibodies in an immunoenzymatic method, but only 16 patient (11.51%) have been confirmed in Western Blot. We stress, therefore, the necessity of confirming the positivity for anti HIV-2 antibodies with the Western Blotting method. 14.41% of our anti HIV-1 positive patients were also anti HIV-2 positive, but no one showed an isolate positivity for anti HIV-2 antibodies.


ABSTRACT The Open University has provided distance learning opportunities for 50 years and succeeds in offering its students many of the attributes of flexible learning. This article is a case study of the development of a highly successful partnership model of academic and pastoral support in mathematics and statistics at The Open University, and its application to flexible learning. The model involved reciprocal governance structures and equal status in the making of curriculum-related decisions. The model is illustrated by three examples throughout the student learning journey before, during and after study. The partnership model is applicable regardless of the curriculum area; hence the article is relevant to all disciplines. Equally, although the model was developed in the context of distance learning, its ethos remains relevant in the face-to-face context, all the more so given the prevalence of flexible learning and the growing number of distance learning courses being offered at traditional Higher Education Institutions across the sector. Abbreviations: OU: Open University; School: School of Mathematics and Statistics; SST: Student Support Team; VLE: Virtual Learning Environment


This Article presents the first empirical study on the way in which irrelevant anchors influence the interpretation of vague legal standards. A large body of psychological research demonstrates that when people make judgments on a continuum, they are often affected by meaningless anchors. Building on this body of work, legal scholars have shown that judicial decisions related to remedies (i.e., damages and penalties) are also influenced by such anchors. This Article extends this insight and hypothesizes that the process of interpreting vague legal norms is subject to an anchoring effect as well. To test this hypothesis, the Article presents a series of stylized experiments that measure and compare participants' interpretation of a vague norm after they have been exposed to irrelevant anchors. Overall, the results confirm the proposed hypothesis and suggest that the content of substantive legal rules might be altered by anchors. This effect is documented in numerous legal settings and across both expert (i.e., experienced lawyers) and non-expert (i.e., students) populations. Furthermore, the effect is shown to exist when participants express judgments about a hypothetical scenario and when they make decisions with ramifications for others. Based on these findings, the Article revisits several long-standing legal debates and reevaluates their conclusions.


Growth of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae deficient as to superoxidedismutase (SOD) genes in the media containing ethanol or glycerol has been investigated. It was shown that the role of the two isoforms of SOD was different under conditions used in this study. The strain which has only mitochondrial Mn-SOD demonstrated higher velocity of culture growth on ethanol compared with the other strains investigated. In contrast to that, cytosolic Cu, Zn-SOD played more important role under growth on glycerol than Mn-SOD. The levels of carbonyl proteins in SOD-deficient strains grown on glycerol and in the cells of strain producing only Cu, Zn-SOD exposed to inhibitor diethyldithiocarbamate were investigated. The strains lacking Mn-SOD and Cu, Zn-SOD demonstrated virtually the same levels of carbonyl proteins. It is supposed that Cu, Zn-SOD can compensate Mn-SOD and vice versa. Nonlinear correlation between SOD activity and the level of carbonyl proteins was found that indicates to the uncertain role of SOD in protein oxidation.


Age and stage of disease at diagnosis are associated with outcome in neuroblastoma. A previous study identified ATRX point mutations and in-frame deletions in older patients with stage 4 disease. To validate the frequency of ATRX mutations and assess the relation of mutations and known prognostic variables, we collaborated with the Children's Oncology Group and sequenced the entire ATRX genomic locus in 475 neuroblastoma tumor samples to validate the frequency of ATRX mutations and assess the relation of mutations and known prognostic variables. Older age at diagnosis, stage 4 disease, and unfavorable histology were significantly associated with mutations in the ATRX gene; MYCN amplification was mutually exclusive from ATRX mutations. To directly test if ATRX mutations and MYCN amplification are incompatible in neuroblastoma, we mutated the ATRX gene in MYCN amplified neuroblastoma cell lines and ectopically expressed MYCN in ATRX mutant neuroblastoma cell lines. Both approaches showed that ATRX and MYCN amplification are incompatible in neuroblastoma in culture and in vivo. To gain a better understanding of the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms of this incompatibility, we performed a series of experiments including telomere analysis, epigenetic profiling, electron microscopic analysis of dying cells, and metabolic profiling. We discovered that induction of MYCN expression in ATRX mutant neuroblastoma cells leads to metabolic reprogramming, mitochondrial dysfunction, increased reactive oxygen species, and replicative stress. We propose that this leads to synthetic lethality in ATRX mutant neuroblastomas because of the underlying replicative stress in those cells as a result of dysfunction of this essential histone chaperone complex. Citation Format: Maged Zeineldin, Sara Federico, Xiang Chen, Beisi Xu, Elizabeth Stewart, Arlene Naranjo, Michael D. Hogarty, Michael A. Dyer. MYCN amplification and ATRX mutations are incompatible in neuroblastoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Pediatric Cancer Research: From Basic Science to the Clinic; 2017 Dec 3-6; Atlanta, Georgia. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(19 Suppl):Abstract nr IA18.


Abstract Ireland has often been seen as marginal in the spread of the Neolithic and of early farming throughout Europe, in part due to the paucity of available data. By integrating and analysing a wealth of evidence from unpublished reports, a much more detailed picture of early arable agriculture has emerged. The improved chronological resolution reveals changing patterns in the exploitation of different plant species during the course of the Neolithic that belie simplistic notions of a steady intensification in farming, juxtaposed with a concomitant decline in foraging. It is possible that here, as in other areas of Europe, cereal cultivation became less important in the later Neolithic.


The paper examines the semantic domain of anti-resultativity (absence of result) as well as lingual means of its rendering in Latin. It has been made explicit that anti-resultativity denoting unreached or cancelled result is verbalized through grammatical and lexical means.

An unsuccessful result can be realized in three directions: temporary cessation of the situation, which does not exclude the possibility of its further continuation (interrupted action); the subject's attempt to achieve the result (a deliberate action); ending the situation at the point that is as close as possible to the finale.

The termination of a situation with its possible continuation and logical ending is expressed solely at the lexical level with the help of phase verbs with termination semantics (desino, desisto, cesso) or circumstantial indices that indicate the absence of a result until a certain moment (nondum). The main role is given to the context.

The means of expressing a deliberate but not realized action is the imperfect (so-called imperfectum de conatu), the conative meaning of which arises due to the interaction of the actional semantics of predicates (mainly telic verbs) and context and can be interpreted as pragmatic implicature. Explicitly intended action is also expressed by syntagmas with verbs of the corresponding semantics (conor, tempto + infinitive).

Termination of a situation at a critical point close to completion is treated in the article as proximity (partial resultativity). It is implemented exclusively at the lexical level with the help of the adverbs paene and, more rarely, prope.

Plusquamperfect is used to express cancelled result.

The anti-resultative meanings of the Latin imperfectum, as well as that of plusquamperfectum, are consequences of the pragmatic implicature that arises under the influence of the context and/or under the influence of the communicative situation. In the first case, the lack of result can be considered as an implication of durativity, if there is no information about reaching the final point, but only the situation is advised towards it. The anti-resultative meaning of the plusquamperfectum is due to the inherent time interval of the time frame and the connection to the secondary reference point.


This paper provides a network analysis of federal lobbying in Canada by the fossil fuel industry over a seven-year period from January 4, 2011 to January 30, 2018, enabling a comparative examination of lobbying under the Harper Conservatives and the Trudeau Liberals. The network we uncover amounts to 'small world' of intense interaction among relatively few lobbyists/firms that control much of this economic sector and the designated public office holders in select centres of state power, who are their targets. In comparing lobbying across the Harper and Trudeau administrations, we find a pattern of continuity-in-change: under Trudeau, the bulk of lobbying has been carried out by the same large firms as under Harper, while the lobbying network has become more focused on fewer state agencies. We argue that the strategic, organized, and sustained lobbying efforts of the fossil fuel sector help to explain the close coupling of federal policy to the needs of carbon extractive corporations.


This chapter focuses on Laos, officially known as Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), which is both land-locked and considered one of the least developed countries in East Asia. It examines the consequences of rising foreign investment in the country, leaving aside details on who the major investing corporations in the country are, and looking instead at how transnational capitalist flows have been felt by some of the most disadvantaged and voiceless communities. To do this, the chapter will draw on ten months of ethnographic analysis and eighty-six interviews with members of the Lao government, employees of international development organizations and residents of Laos. Rather than focusing on key agents of transnational capitalism, the purpose here is to examine some of the social and spatial implications of greater transnational flows and investment. This includes the increasing centralization of development within Laos and the widespread displacement and marginalization of impoverished communities. Put simply, this chapter draws attention to the poverty-inducing consequences of new transnational capitalist flows within Laos.


Long-term hematopoietic stem cells (LT-HSCs) maintain hematopoietic output throughout an animal's lifespan. With age, however, they produce a myeloid-biased output that may lead to poor immune responses to infectious challenge and the development of myeloid leukemias. Here, we show that young and aged LT-HSCs respond differently to inflammatory stress, such that aged LT-HSCs produce a cell-intrinsic, myeloid-biased expression program. Using single-cell RNA-seq, we identify a myeloid-biased subset within the LT-HSC population (mLT-HSCs) that is much more common amongst aged LT-HSCs and is uniquely primed to respond to acute inflammatory challenge. We predict several transcription factors to regulate differentially expressed genes between mLT-HSCs and other LT-HSC subsets. Among these, we show that Klf5, Ikzf1 and Stat3 play important roles in age-related inflammatory myeloid bias. These factors may regulate myeloid versus lymphoid balance with age, and can potentially mitigate the long-term deleterious effects of inflammation that lead to hematopoietic pathologies. Highlights LT-HSCs from young and aged mice have differential responses to acute inflammatory challenge. HSPCs directly sense inflammatory stimuli in vitro and have a robust transcriptional response. Aged LT-HSCs demonstrate a cell-intrinsic myeloid bias during inflammatory challenge. Single-cell RNA-seq unmasked the existence of two subsets within the LT-HSC population that was apparent upon stimulation but not steady-state. One of the LT-HSC subsets is more prevalent in young and the other in aged mice. Klf5, Ikzf1 and Stat3 regulate age‐ and inflammation-related LT-HSC myeloid-bias. One sentence summary Murine hematopoietic stem cells display transcriptional heterogeneity that is quantitatively altered with age and leads to the age-dependent myeloid bias evident after inflammatory challenge.


THE IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH OF ELECTION DAY 2020 offers lessons about the state of American democracy as well as technology's influence on voters, the voting process, and democratic institutions. Whatever the outcome of an election, and despite a polarized society, it is clear that all Americans share a common stake in protecting the integrity and independence of the administration of elections, the declaration of winners and losers, and a peaceful transition of power. Yet other questions persist: How have disinformation campaigns, whether domestic or foreign, affected the electoral process? And what does the future hold in terms of a tech agenda?


Recently scientists have made considerable progress in using optical phase to control physical, chemical and biological processes. In a collaboration between the University of Toronto and the University of Iowa, we have shown how optical phase can be used to control electron density and currents as well as spin density and spin currents in bulk (3-D) or quantum well (2-D) semiconductors as well as carbon nanotube (1-D) systems [1–3]. This type of control is based on quantum interference in optical absorption pathways, such as that associated with single and two-photon absorption of a two color beam, or between pathways associated with orthogonal polarization states associated with a single color beam. We review our most recent results, showing in particular, how emitted THz radiation can be used as a diagnostic of ultrafast transient charge currents, and how the ability to generate and control spin currents permits observation of a spin Hall effect for ballistic carriers.


Korean food is being recognized for its excellence. This paper attempts to provide material for the popularization of Korean cuisine with respect to foreign nationals living in Korea who are vegetarian by studying their Korean cuisine knowledge and preferences. The results of an Importance-Performance Analysis showed that though the importance values of traditional spice use such as garlic and the consideration of ingredient price were high, their performance values were low. Thus, these were areas identified as needing major improvement. Repeated measured data analysis was performed to determine variations in the perception of major factors for the development of Korean cuisine. The results indicated that simplification of seasoning was the most important factor followed by diversification of food ingredients, resale of vegetables in small quantities, ease of obtaining Korean cuisine recipes, and popularization of herbal and temple food, in that order. The least important factor in developing Korean cuisine was determined to be the reduction in levels of salt. Conjoint analysis was performed on the choices affection the selection of Korean cuisine, and price was found to be the most important factor. It was also determined that the effectiveness in the combination of fusion style, health oriented, concurrently served, medium to low price Korean cuisine was highest in preference. The next highest preferred combination was traditional style, health oriented, concurrently served, medium to low price Korean cuisine. The most significant factor to keep in mind in developing Korean dishes for foreign vegetarians was determined to be price. Furthermore, it was important to not simply reduce caloric intake but to use healthy ingredients and cooking methods.


The orientation of the small intestine varies among frames of a cinematic-magnetic resonance imaging (cine-MRI) sequence owing to small intestine peristalsis, which increases the complexity of its contour tracking. There are also leakage problems owing to the presence of low contrast areas in some frames. An improved fast marching method using an anisotropic Gaussian filter and a boundary penalty is presented for the contour tracking of small intestine segments. Experimental results show that the proposed method can track accurate contours of small intestine segments without leakage problems.


A69 Background:
 Overall survival of veterans with lung cancer is inferior to the civilian population despite their universal access to health care services. The primary objective of this study is to assess the effects of imaging-to-diagnosis delays on survival for veterans with lung cancer. Our main hypothesis is that delay between first radiological abnormality and diagnosis is correlated with a worse prognosis.
 Methods:
 The study consisted of a retrospective chart review of 281 incident cases of lung cancer diagnosed at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center between 1998 and 2002. Cases were identified through the Philadelphia VA Tumor Registry Database and evaluated by chart review for age, gender,race, smoking history, lung cancer stage, histology, and patient comorbidities. The longest patient follow-up was five years. Survival was defined as the time from lung cancer tissue diagnosis to death or the last known date that the patient was reported to be alive. Treatment delay was defined as the median time from radiographic abnormality to pathologic diagnosis and treatment.
 Results:
 The median delay between initial abnormal imaging and a pathologic diagnosis was 38 days (mean 85 days, SD 235). For resectable patients, the median delay between initial imaging and surgery was 105 days (SD 122). About a third of all patients experience diagnostic delays of 90 days or greater. Patients with metastatic disease had more expedited workups and shorter treatment delays (mean delay for Stage IV disease was 56 days vs. 115 days for Stage I/II, p=.256) . Patients age 70 and older had the longest imaging-to-diagnosis time intervals with a mean delay of 132 days vs. 59 days for younger patients, ages 45 to 70 (p=.057). African Americans experienced longer delays than their Caucasian counterparts with regional (151 vs. 78 days) and advanced disease (74 vs. 35 days), although these differences were not statistically different. There were no statistical differences in overall survival by race and diagnostic delay when controlling for age and stage of disease. There was a trend for increased mortality in patients with early stage lung cancer who experience diagnostic delays greater than 90 days.
 Conclusion:
 There were no disparities in survival by treatment delay among veterans with lung cancer. Older age, early stage of disease, and race are significant predictors of diagnostic delays. Patients with metastatic disease experience expedited workups with no significant impact on survival. The results from this study will inform future interventions emphasizing early detection and treatment for lung cancer patients at risk for delayed care.


Price spreads for beef and pork are a measure of the gross returns to tne marketing firms involved. Comparison with cost estimates for marketing indicates the general level of the profits realized. Evaluation of cost and returns data provide public information on the efficiency and equity of the meat marketing sector. This report examines tne history of price splau anu cost component estimates, evaluates cue accuracy and adequacy of the data, and suggests some alternative procedures. Available data allow some further improvement in estimating price spreads; but, more data are needed from marketing firms before cost components can be improved.


The paper addresses the  issue of compatibility between the  speaker's intention and the  hearer's expectations in a communicative act as an issue related to what I would like to call "intellectual empathy." The immediate inspiration for the topic is the following quotation from Susan M. Ervin-Tripp (1964: 93): "The possibility of insult and of humor based on linguistic choices means that members agree on the underlying rules of speech and on the social meaning of linguistic features." Langacker's Cognitive Grammar allows us to accommodate the extra-linguistic facets of meaning construction, thus to identify the role of the speaker/hearer's cooperation in the construction and reconstruction of meaning in a particular usage context, the role that is dependent on the degree of intellectual empathy between the speech act participants. English modals have been selected as an aspect of the language illustrating the relevance of linguistic choices resulting from socio-cultural determinants behind intellectual empathy.


Introduction: One of the most detrimental factors influencing development is growing up in poverty. According to the World Health Organization, extreme poverty is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity. Unfortunately, some children encounter more unhealthy and potentially detrimental circumstances than others, increasing their risk for later health problems. Poor perinatal outcomes are more often observed in deprived neighborhoods, with both more perinatal mortality and morbidity (prematurity and small for gestational age) in these neighborhoods. Additionally, growing up in families with a lower socio-economic status exposes children to more unsafe environments, making them more at risk for insecure attachment to their parents, behavioral problems, addiction, mental illnesses, deficits in cognitive development and domestic violence. In sum, children growing up in deprivation are more unhealthy, as a consequence of an increased risk of unfavorable perinatal outcomes in combination with growing up in a multidimensional unforgiving environment. We assume that the poor health status of these children is reflected in higher healthcare expenses, since they require more medical care than their healthy peers. Here, we aim to investigate the effects of deprivation on healthcare costs of young children in the Netherlands. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study, using data from several national registries. All children in the Netherlands, aged zero to three years old in 2014, were included. Healthcare costs included all expenses covered by obligatory basic health insurance. Deprivation was studied using monthly household income per 1000 euro's and neighborhood deprivation scores. The final linear regression model was built for healthcare costs as function of both deprivation variables, perinatal morbidity, ethnicity, a 3-way interaction of household income, perinatal morbidity and ethnicity (including subsequent 2-way interactions) and the 2-way interaction of deprivation index and perinatal morbidity. Results: A total of 583,625 children were included in the analyses. Both household income (β = -4.72, 95% CI [-7.22, -2.23]) and deprivation score (β = 19.31, 95% CI [11.11, 27.51]) were significantly related to healthcare costs. Discussion and conclusion: This research shows that growing up with a lower household income and a higher neighborhood deprivation is significantly associated with higher healthcare costs in early life. These findings support the assumption that children growing up in deprivation have a poorer health status, resulting in (health) inequities already in early childhood. This inequity is particularly detrimental since the gap between poor and rich is widening, not only regarding income disparity, but also in the case of health inequality. Limitations: This research excluded children who died during, or soon after pregnancy, since these children have limited healthcare costs. Nevertheless, this outcome may be of even greater societal relevance when targeting the inequality gap. Suggestions for future research: Future research should focus attention on interventions targeting vulnerable population, before, during and after pregnancy, in order to gain highly necessary knowledge on how to provide an optimal start in life for all children. Lessons learned: More attention should be focused on marginalized populations in order to break through the intergenerational cycle of poor health.


Vision-based feature extraction of a synchronized swimmer doing figures was done in the hopes of correcting and improving a synchronized swimmer's ability to do figures. Extracted feature through image processing techniques plays an important role in understanding the synchronized swimmer's body kinematics and dynamics. In gathering data, two cameras were used to video capture the swimmer's movements. One was stationed at a calculated distance above the water, and the other camera was placed underwater directly above the other camera. In this article only the underwater feature extraction of the three figures synchronized swimming, Porpoise, Neptunus, and Ballerina, and the essential image processing techniques used for the feature extraction were covered. The results showed that empirically extracted threshold limits for the skin region produced smooth feature extracted foregrounds.


Forensic psychiatric evaluations of military personnel in civil litigation are reportedly infrequent. One such case involved former prisoners of war after Operation Desert Storm. These evaluations presented many challenges to the evaluators with regard to resources and time limitations. Discussion of these issues is relevant to forensic evaluations generally.


1. The influence of a d. c. electric field on the direction in which ram and rabbit spermatozoa swim has been investigated. The magnitude of the electrophoretic component is so small in the presence of high salt concentrations (μ = 0.1) that it plays no part in controlling the direction in which the spermatozoa swim. A significant electrophoretic velocity component can, however, be imposed if the spermatozoa are suspended in a diluent (277 mM-fructose) with a low ionic strength (μ < 0.01). In this condition higher field strengths can be applied without any concomitant rise in temperature, and the ζ-potential increases because the gegen-ion concentration is reduced. 2. In a diluent containing 277 mM-fructose and 10 mM-NaCl two types of spermatozoa are seen when the electric field is applied. Their orientation depends on whether they carry a net negative charge in the region of their heads or their tails. 'Head-anode' spermatozoa swim with unusual rapidity towards the anode but immediately decelerate when the field is switched off. 'Tail-anode' spermatozoa have a variable ground speed and may, if the field strength is high, be seen swimming tail first towards the anode. They accelerate away from the anode when the field is switched off. 3. The proportions of the two types of spermatozoa vary with salt concentration at constant pH, and with pH at constant salt (10 mM-NaCl) concentration. 4. If the swimming speed of spermatozoa is reduced by cooling, electrophoresis in the presence of high salt concentration (μ = 0.1) differentiates spermatozoa into two kinds in another way. Both are oriented with their tails pointing towards the anode (tail-anode), but their net ground speed may vary in magnitude and direction according to their inherent swimming speed. Complete immobilization of the spermatozoa resulted in a uniform electrophoretic migration towards the anode, tail first, at all pH's above 3.5. 5. The implications of these findings are discussed with respect to sperm phenotypes and their possible electrophoretic separation.


Background: Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) in patients with dysplasia presents a unique challenge to surgeons. Short-term outcomes are conflicting, while longer term follow-up data are only emerging. Purpose: To quantify midterm (minimum 5-year follow-up) outcomes after the arthroscopic correction of FAI in the presence of lateral rim dysplasia compared with a matched control group with FAI with normal acetabular coverage. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: Prospective outcome data, collected in a consecutive series of patients undergoing arthroscopic FAI correction with lateral rim dysplasia (lateral center-edge angle [LCEA] of 13°-25°), were reviewed (N = 75 cases). An age- and sex-matched control group of 120 cases was also formed (LCEA >25°). Survivorship was defined as the avoidance of total hip replacement and assessed using a Kaplan-Meier curve with the log-rank test. Survival rates and patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) scores (modified Harris Hip Score [mHHS], University of California, Los Angeles [UCLA], 36-Item Short Form Health Survey [SF-36], and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index [WOMAC] preoperatively and at 5 years postoperatively) were compared between the groups. The proportion of patients across groups achieving the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) was compared for each PROM. The dysplasia group was also analyzed independently to identify any factors that may indicate a less favorable outcome using regression analysis. The group was divided into 2 subgroups: borderline dysplasia (LCEA of 20°-25°) and severe dysplasia (LCEA <20°). Results: The survival rate in the dysplasia group was 97%. There was no statistical difference with respect to survival rates or any PROM scores (P > .05 for all) between the groups. There were similar rates of achieving the MCID between the groups for the mHHS, UCLA, and WOMAC. The FAI control group had a higher rate of achieving the MCID for the SF-36 (P = .012; effect size = 0.274 [small]). Subgroup analysis indicated a lower survival rate (78% vs 100%, respectively; P < .001) in female cases in the dysplasia group (n = 9) compared with male cases in the dysplasia group (n = 66). The UCLA score in female cases in the dysplasia group at 5 years was statistically lower compared with that in male cases in the dysplasia group (6 vs 10, respectively; P = .003; effect size = 0.378 [medium]), but no other outcome revealed any differences between the sexes. There were also no variables identified on regression analysis that accurately predicted a poorer outcome in the dysplasia group. When stratified by severity, there was no difference in survivorship or outcomes between those with severe dysplasia (LCEA <20°; n = 11) and those with borderline dysplasia (LCEA of 20°-25°; n = 64). Conclusion: An arthroscopic intervention was a successful treatment option for FAI in the presence of lateral rim dysplasia at midterm follow-up. Irrespective of the severity of dysplasia, patients can expect similar improvements to those in patients with normal femoral head coverage.


Guided rewriting is an operation on formal languages, motivated by RNA editing, replacing substrings by certain guide strings, provided that the strings are letter by letter equivalent. De Vink et al (MeCBIC, 2012) show that regular sets are closed under guided rewriting with finite guide sets. We extend this to regular guide sets, answering an open problem from that paper. Our approach is more general, so that it also applies to "cones", families closed under regular transductions, including context-free languages.


In recent years, the fabrication of Janus materials and their potential applications has been of much interest in Materials Science. Here, we report the fabrication of an entirely novel structure–Janus nanowalls and the phenomenon of lateral buckling in them. Polymeric nanowalls were prepared with the replica molding technique and metal films, of comparable thicknesses, were then deposited on one side of the polymer nanowalls by vacuum process. During the metal deposition, the nanowalls themselves buckle laterally; this buckling is induced by the compressive residual stress in the metal film and geometric confining constraints. The feature of wrinkle patterns resulting from the lateral buckling was theoretically investigated using the scaling analysis. Theoretical results are in good agreement with the experimental observations.


Short wave and microwave equipment are used for treatment purpose in physiotherapy units. Such equipments' stray fields can affect around them in the near field region. This fact has been stressed in current studies. In this way, some "safe operating areas" or safe proximity distances have been recommended. Effects on the health of EM energy, nowadays, have been discussed as topic frequently. Hence, controlled medical aimed radiofrequency energy gained more and more importance at the hospitals. In this study, leakage or stray fields of shortwave diathermy (27.12 MHz) equipments are measured and evaluated in terms of standards and safe proximity or approach distances. Also, placement of various types of treatment equipments is be evaluated in order to avoid over exposure and electromagnetic interference (EMI). A practical measuring method is for new or old equipment in medical units.


We propose a simplified noise-predictive partial response maximum likelihood (NPML) system in conjunction with M-algorithm for dual-layered perpendicular magnetic recording channels. The complexity, which is increased by the construction of noise prediction filter, can be reduced through the M-algorithm. Despite the complexity of the proposed scheme (M=4) is decreased to 1/4 than one of the full NP(12321)ML system, two systems maintain almost the same bit-error rate and the detection performance of the noise-predictive maximum likelihood is better than that of the conventional PRML.


In recent years, the presence of a new type of agricultural-surface tillage used for the sowing of wheat and corn has been observed with increasing frequency. It illustrates less roughly ploughed soils, with a greater quantity of small clods distributed over the soil surface. In this paper, a new description of such rough agricultural surfaces is proposed. It is based on a composite model, including a classical surface represented by an exponential correlation function, together with a random cloddy structure. This description enables volumetric structures to be introduced over the soil's surface. A numerical moment-modeling method, based on integral equations, is used to evaluate the contribution of clods to the radar backscattering behavior of agricultural surfaces. It is found that the presence of clods explains the very small correlation lengths which are often found in cloddy agricultural fields. The classical approach, in which the surface is described by a correlation function only based on two statistical parameters, rms height and correlation length, overestimates the backscattering coefficients when compared with an approach that includes the clods. This overestimation is often observed with real radar data for such fields.


Lontar is a palm-leaf or lontar-based manuscript containing a Balinese script passed down from generation to generation. Lontar is derived from cellulose-rich palm leaf, which can serve as a substrate for the growth of fungi producing cellulase enzymes. Nevertheless, the activity of these fungi could potentially damage the lontar itself. The objective of this study is to identify the fungi that contaminated the Balinese lontar. The fungus was isolated from several Lontar storage areas in Balinese society using swabs. In addition, the fungus was cultivated on PDA media prior to isolation and identification. Seven lontar-degrading fungus isolates, including Penicillium restricum, Aspergillus fumigatus, Mucor racemosus, Candida krusei, A. niger, Fusarium sp., and Rhodotorula mucilaginosa, have been identified as the primary causes of damage to the Balinese lontar. Of these, P. restricum, A. fumigatus, M. racemosus, and A. niger were frequently found fungi at all sampling sites


We present a timely and novel methodology that combines disease estimates from mechanistic models with digital traces, via interpretable machine-learning methodologies, to reliably forecast COVID-19 activity in Chinese provinces in real-time. Specifically, our method is able to produce stable and accurate forecasts 2 days ahead of current time, and uses as inputs (a) official health reports from Chinese Center Disease for Control and Prevention (China CDC), (b) COVID-19-related internet search activity from Baidu, (c) news media activity reported by Media Cloud, and (d) daily forecasts of COVID-19 activity from GLEAM, an agent-based mechanistic model. Our machine-learning methodology uses a clustering technique that enables the exploitation of geo-spatial synchronicities of COVID-19 activity across Chinese provinces, and a data augmentation technique to deal with the small number of historical disease activity observations, characteristic of emerging outbreaks. Our model's predictive power outperforms a collection of baseline models in 27 out of the 32 Chinese provinces, and could be easily extended to other geographies currently affected by the COVID-19 outbreak to help decision makers.


Methods: This retrospective cohort study included patients who underwent thoracentesis for undiagnosed pleural effusion at a single tertiary medical centre between September 2014 and August 2016. The diagnosis was established by two independent physicians who were blinded to the pleural effusion data. A deep learning model was constructed to differentiate MPM from other diseases and evaluated using biomarkers in pleural effusion (carcinoembryonic antigen, cytokeratin 19 fragment, soluble mesothelin-related peptides, lactate dehydrogenase), total protein in pleural effusion, and patient age and sex as input parameters. Missing data were handled by single imputation. The model consisted of three hidden layers and was trained for 4000 steps. The data were divided into a training set and a test data set and processed using TensorFlow 1.7.0 and Python 3.6 software. The performance of the model was evaluated by accuracy and the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUROC).


Gender is the most used word in today's times but at the same time most misunderstood. It is not about one's sex i.e. male or a female but the notions of femininity and masculinity which are attached to a particular sex by the society. Researches are done in the field of gender and education and how to make curricula gender sensitive. When gender is studied in the context of institution; it becomes important to review the whether 'co-educational schooling' which promises a gender- equal environment; is able to fulfil it or not and then researching what happens in Single-sex settings. The article brings in the research done in the three types of schooling i.e. All girls', All boys' and co-educational school where various dimensions are seen related to gender and how gender identities are made in these types of schooling.


In this paper we report on co-design with people with a lived experience of stroke and their caregivers as part of an ongoing mobile health project to provide better support in the transition from hospital to home. This project was situated in the context of a publicly funded healthcare service in Australia. Our co-design approach involved creating collages and sharing of personal experiences to reflect on support and information received. We focus on the collage and the narrative account of a young woman that illustrates the experiences of living with stroke during this transition and "infrastructuring work" to address gaps in information, services, and support. These gaps did not appear within the healthcare service, but rather in the transition between the healthcare service and home, and also in the transition back to work. Based on these insights, we discuss the design directions for a mobile health prototype to better tailor information and to provide timely support.


The research in this thesis aims to assess functional and structural connectivity in schizophrenia using MRI techniques, and to contribute new evidence to elucidate connectivity abnormalities in schizophrenia in relation to symptomology and familial risk for the disorder. The results of chapter 2 and 3 show that schizophrenia patients with AVH have increased spontaneous functional connectivity among auditory cortex and associated brain regions, alongside decreased interhemispheric connectivity in these and other brain regions. As these two studies are based on first-episode, medication-naive patients, our findings likely reflect an integral part of disease pathology, free from confounding factors such as medication and illness progression. Chapter 3 and 4 investigated interhemispheric functional connectivity abnormalities in relation to psychotic symptoms and familial risk for schizophrenia. The results suggest that schizophrenia patients as a group show altered functional connectivity between the two hemispheres, with different areas being implicated in AVH versus non-AVH patients. Moreover, the identified abnormalities seem to be effects of illness manifestation, rather than the expression of familial risk. Chapter 5 examined structural connectivity abnormalities in schizophrenia using the free-water imaging method (Pasternak et al., 2009). The free-water imaging technique was designed to reduce the influence of extracellular free-water in tensor fitting, which is particularly relevant in white matter near the ventricles (Alexander et al., 2001; Pierpaoli and Jones, 2004). Compared to controls, patients showed no significant group-difference of FAt, but exhibited a higher level of FW in three white matter ROIs in the left hemisphere relative to controls and siblings. Siblings did not differ from controls on FW, suggesting that the abnormalities in patients are likely to be disease-related effects rather than a reflection of familial risk for the illness. Global and voxel-wise group-comparisons revealed higher FAt in siblings relative to patients, consistent with a previous study by our group using fiber-based analysis based on a single tensor model in the same dataset (Boos et al., 2013). Moreover, examining the influence of ventricle volume on diffusion measurements, we found that although global FW was positively correlated with ventricle size, correcting for ventricle size in group-comparisons did not change our main results. Our results show that patients have abnormalities in intrinsic functional connectivity patterns such as hemispheric integration and hemispheric specialization. Moreover, these abnormalities appear to differ in patients with and without AVH symptom, emphasizing that different neural mechanisms may exist in patients with distinct clinical profiles. In terms of structural connectivity, we found that schizophrenia patients show extracellular free-water accumulation in several white matter regions. We did not observe significant connectivity abnormalities in siblings in any of the connectivity measurements examined in this thesis. Taken together, using various neuroimaging techniques, we show abnormalities in both functional and structural cortico-cortical interactions in schizophrenia patients, and our findings suggest that these abnormalities are likely to be part of the biological substrate for behavioral symptoms of the illness, and expressions of disease manifestation rather than familial risk for schizophrenia.


Background and Purpose:An esophagectomy has traditionally been performed via a thoracotomy. In recent years, increasing numbers of surgeons are using a minimally invasiveesophagectomy for esophageal cancers. During the past 3 years, we treated 49 esophageal cancers by a thoracotomy or video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). We retrospectively reviewed the medical records for data analysis and outcome assessment of these 2 groups. Materials andMethods:In total, 49 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinomas were enrolled in thestudy. All operations were carried out under general anesthesia. All of the thoracotomy groupunderwent a right-side standard posterolateral thoracotomy. All of the VATS group received4 ports in the right-side chest. Thoracic procedures were performed by a thoracic surgeon.All abdominal procedures used an upper midline laparotomy by a general surgeon. Medicalrecords were retrospectively reviewed for data collection and analysis. Results:There were 33thoracotomies and 16 VATSs. There were no differences in operative time, blood loss, or numbers of removed lymph nodes between the 2 groups. The VATS group had less-advanced T stage (more T2 and fewer T3 cases) than the thoracotomy group. There were signifi cant differences in lengthsof ventilator use, intensive care unit stay, hospital stay and postoperative pain. Conclusions:A VATS esophagectomy was as effective as a thoracotomic esophagectomy in treating resectable esophageal cancers. Signifi cant advantages of VATS were observed in shortening the length of ventilator use, ICU stay, hospital stay, and postoperative pain. (FJJM 2011; 9 (1): 23-29)


Muhammad Fitriyanto, IMPROVING ENGLISH VOCABULARY
MASTERY OF THE FIFTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SDN GURAWAN
SURAKARTA BY USING CONTEXTUAL TEACHING AND LEARNING
(CTL) ( A Classroom Action Research). Thesis, Surakarta: Teacher Training
and Education Faculty, Sebelas Maret University Surakarta, April 2010
This research was carried out to show how Contextual Teaching and
Learning (CTL) is used to improve the students" vocabulary mastery. The
researcher conducted a classroom action research from January to February 2010
at Class 5 SDN Gurawan Surakarta.
The researcher conducted the teaching learning activities in two cycles.
Each cycle consisted of four steps: planning, implementation, observation, and
reflection. In cycle one, the researcher tried to make the students more enjoyable
in doing the activities in the classroom and to make them beco me more interested
with the lesson so that their vocabulary mastery might increase by applying CTL.
In this cycle, the students" vocabulary mastery increased but not optimally yet.
Moreover, there were still problems that arose in this cycle; some students were
still shy and were confused with some of the teacher"s commands. In cycle two,
the researcher tried to solve the previous problems by focusing on the students"
comprehension toward the commands to make the teaching and learning process
more effective and doing the activities in group first before in individually. The
researcher gave more meetings and repetition to ensure that the students were
ready to speak and were not shy anymore. In this cycle, the researcher was able to
solve the problems and the lesson run well.
From the explanation above the researcher concluded that after he
conducted the actions the students" vocabulary mastery increased optimally.
Before he conducted the actions the mean score of the pre-test was 55.4, and after
doing the actions the mean score of the post -test was 81.6.
The result of the research shows that after implementing the CTL, the
students" level of enjoyment in doing the activities in the classroom increased.
The students were not shy any longer and enjoyed in doing the activities. Finally,
their vocabulary mastery improved well.


The traditional source-site-structure model for the calculation of seismic response of underground structures at near-source sites is restricted by the grid scale and the size of the structure. As a result, an excessive number of elements in the model make the numerical solving process difficult. To solve problems such as an inefficient computation and challenging nonlinear simulation, a multiscale analysis method for the calculation of the seismic response of underground structures at near-source sites is developed. The generalized free-field seismic response of the near-source region is obtained by establishing a large-scale calculation model of the source site and is used to simulate the fracture mechanism of faults and the process of seismic wave propagation. Then, using the method of seismic wave input based on artificial boundary substructures, the free-field motion of the wave is transformed into the equivalent seismic load, which is the seismic wave input data for the small-scale region of interest. Finally, with the help of local elements with special shapes to realize the grid transition of different scales, a small-scale model with reasonable soil-underground structure interaction is established, and the seismic response of the overall model can be effectively solved. The calculation and analysis of the seismic response of underground structures in irregular terrain are carried out. Compared with the results obtained directly from the source-site-structure model, the multiscale method has satisfactory accuracy and meets the needs of engineering design. Since the number of elements is fewer and the calculation time is much shorter than those required by the traditional model, the advantages in computational efficiency of the new method are highlighted. In addition, the reflected waves are too weak to have a considerable impact on structures because of the great energy loss at the reflection interface, which further proves the feasibility of the closed artificial boundary substructure method.


Due to the lack of sediment load monitoring system, erosion model calibration is challenging in Rwanda. Based on the reports of parcels boundaries corrections from Rwanda Land Management and Use Authority, there are quite consistent losses of land due to gullies development in Mpazi River watershed. This study analysed the possibility of integrating cadastral information, erosion and hydrological modelling data for identifying potential gullies development in hilly urban area of Mpazi catchment. The orthophoto of 2008 coupled with ancillary data were used to delineate the shifts of parcel boundaries from 2012 to 2016. Hydrological modelling based on DEM was also applied to investigate geo-physical characteristics and potential gullies. The differential GPS was used to locate the potential gullies that were then uploaded into GIS. Gullies intersecting with rectified parcels boundary were measured with tape meter. The gully length was measured using hydrological modelling tools and GPS coordinates captured during the field verification. The results showed that gully system expanded from 7.5 to 20 meters while neighboring parcels shift was between 3 and 12.5 meters. The highest average rate of soil loss ranged between 100 and 150 tons/ha/year. The research findings from this study are salient for policyand decisionmakers who need to review the current land and environment policies and laws so that gully erosion can be assigned appropriate mitigation measures for ecologically sustainable management of hilly urban landscapes within Kigali City. More periodic data are required to feed the model and validating this approach brings the government institutions' responsibility. The developed methodology has the potential to quantify the gully systems in urban context with scarce hydrological, soil and geomorphological data availability and where urban planning and environmental protection are constrained by limited financial and human resources.


Background: Several types of psychotherapy have been proven successful in the treatment of personality disorders in younger age groups, however studies among older patients are lacking. We developed a group schema-focused therapy (SFT) enriched with psychomotor therapy (PMT) for older adults with cluster B and/or C personality disorders. This paper describes the design of a randomized controlled trial (RCT). We will evaluate the (cost-) effectiveness of this therapy protocol in specialized mental health care. We hypothesize that our treatment program is cost-effective and superior to treatment as usual (TAU) in reducing psychological distress and improving quality of life in older adults treated to specialized mental healthcare. Methods: A multicenter RCT with a one-year follow-up comparing group schema-focused therapy enriched with psychomotor therapy (group SFT + PMT) and TAU for adults aged 60 years and older who suffer from either a cluster B and/or C personality disorder. The primary outcome is general psychological distress measured with the 53-item Brief Symptom Inventory. Secondary outcomes are the Schema Mode Inventory (118-item version) and the Young Schema Questionnaire. Cost-effectiveness analysis will be performed from a societal perspective with the EuroQol five dimensions questionnaire and structured cost-interviews. Discussion: This study will add to the knowledge of psychotherapy in later life. The study specifically contributes to the evidence on (cost-) effectiveness of group SFT enriched with PMT adapted to the needs of for older adults with cluster b and/or c personality. Trial registration: Netherlands Trial Register NTR 6621. Registered on 20 August 2017.


This portrayal of one of antiquity's most enigmatic figures offers a vivid and compact assessment of the Apostate's life and reign. Proceeding directly from an evaluation of the ancient sources--the testimony of friends and enemies of Julian as well as the writings of the emperor himself--the author traces Julian's youth, his years as the commander of the Roman forces in Gaul, and his emergence as sole ruler in the course of a dramatic march to Constantinople. In Bowersock's analysis of Julian's religious revolution, the emperor's ardent espousal of a lost cause is seen to have made intolerable demands upon pagans, Jews, and Christians alike.


Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder that mainly affects elderly people. Diagnosing AD on clinical grounds is difficult and based on the measurement of amyloid-beta (Aβ), (phosphorylated)tau-protein in cerebrospinal fluid. The specificity is rather low. Novel diagnostic tools via exhaled breath (EB) have been applied to identify patients with respiratory diseases like electronic nose devices (eNose and ion-mobility spectrometry, (IMS)). In this study, we introduce these techniques to the field of Alzheimer's disease. Methods: AD patients and healthy controls were sampled for EB and EB condensate analysis in two study centers (AD n= 18, 21), (HC n= 19, 16). EB condensate and human lung tissue were analyzed for different Aβ species, tau-protein using ELISA. EB was analyzed for volatile organic compounds (VOC)s by patterns (Cyranose 320, IMS) and by single VOCs (IMS). Results: By Cyranose 320R we could differentiate with the leave-one-out cross-validation between healthy control and AD patients with a sensitivity of 69.8 % and a specificity of 68.7 %. Based on single identified substances with IMS a decision tree was calculated to differentiate between AD and HC (sensitivity 81 %, specificity of 95 %). We identified Aβ species in the lung tissue of healthy controls and within the EB condensate in both groups; however, no significant differences within the groups were detected. Conclusions: These data opens new possibilities in the diagnosis of AD. Interestingly the difference in both groups seems not related to Aβ species and tau-protein. Further research is required to evaluate the significance of these findings in relation to the pathophysiology of AD.


The relationship between tissue oxygen tension (PO2) and blood flow, blood gas tensions, oxygen delivery, and oxygen consumption was investigated in myocutaneous island flaps in 24 pigs. The tissue PO2 was measured by the silicone rubber tonometer technique. Capillary blood flow was increased during the first 3-4 hours after implantation of tonometers and they must, therefore, be implanted 3-4 hours before use. After raising the flap, mean (SEM) total flap blood flow increased from 11.2 (0.8) ml/min to 16.0 (1.3) ml/min within the first three hours. Mean (SEM) subcutaneous tissue PO2 decreased from 9.5 (0.6) kPa to 5.2 (0.7) kPa over six hours after the procedure, whereas muscle PO2, blood oxygen tension, and arteriovenous oxygen difference were unchanged. Hence, both the supply to, and use of oxygen in, the flap increased. Muscular and subcutaneous oxygen tensions were about 3 and 1 kPa, respectively, lower than venous oxygen tension. Tissue PO2 did not correlate with blood flow, blood oxygen tensions, arteriovenous differences in oxygen tension, or with oxygen supply in a cross section of animals. Tissue PO2 seems to reflect accurately the balance between oxygen supply and consumption, which might be the most useful indicator for continuous flap monitoring.


Simulating the world's most popular sport is big business and the most popular titles in the industry are Electronic Arts' FIFA (2015-2019) franchise and Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) (2015-2019). A rivalry that begun in 1995, the last 24 years have seen the games modify, adapt and transform the way sports simulators are made. In the pursuit of digitally recreating the magic from the football pitch, the two titles have garnered extremely loyal fanbases that include some fans whose gaming practices are limited to playing just one of these games. This article aims to analyze the success of FIFA and the decline of PES in the last decade when reviewers of games and industry observers have repeatedly found PES to be the better game. It begins by comparing review scores of the last eleven iterations of the two franchises and then uses a multi-pronged approach to identify the various dimensions that allow FIFA to thrive as a game despite offering a comparatively poor gameplay experience to its players. This paper uses a multipronged approach to identify and analyze the various dimensions that has enabled FIFA as a franchise to create a near monopoly in the simulated football/soccer genre. By close reading streams of players of the game, formally analyzing the last five iterations of the FIFA franchise and then juxtaposing the two frames to examine FIFA as a hybrid cross-media product/service, this paper looks at the various non-play related elements that make it successful. The paper identifies and analyses the various dimensions that make FIFA a service that has allowed the franchise to create a near monopoly in the simulated football/soccer genre.


Abstract. East China is one of the most economically developed and most densely populated areas in the world. Due to its special geographical location and climate, East China is affected by different weather systems like monsoon, shear line, typhoon and extratropical cyclone, in the imminent future the rainfall rate affected by which is difficult to precisely predict. Traditional physics-based methods like Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) tend to perform poorly for the nowcasting problem due to its spinup issue. Meanwhile, various meteorological stations are distributed here, generating a large amount of observation data every day, which has a great potential to be applied to data-driven methods. Thus, it is important to train a data-driven model from scratch that suitable to the specific weather situation of East China. We collect three kinds of data (radar, satellite, precipitation) in flood season from 2017 to 2018 of this area and preprocess them into ndarray (256 × 256) that cover East China with a domain of 12.8 × 12.8°.The Multi-Source Data Model (MSDM) which we developed combines the Optical flow, Random forest and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). It treats the precipitation nowcasting task as an image-to-image problem, which takes radar and satellite data with a interval of 30 minutes as inputs and predicts radar echo intensity at a lead time of 30 minutes. To reduce the smoothing caused by convolution, we use Optical flow to predict satellite data in the following 120 minutes. The predicted radar echo from MSDM together with satellite data from Optical flow are recursively implemented in MSDM to achieve 120 minutes lead time. The predictions from MSDM are comparable to those of other baseline models with a high temporal resolution of 6 minutes. To solve the blurry image problems, we applied a modified SSIM as a loss function. Furthermore, we use Random forest with predicted radar and satellite data to estimate the rainfall rate, the results outperform those of the traditional Z-R relationship. The experiments confirm that machine learning with multi-source data provides more reasonable predictions and reveals a better non-linear relationship between radar echo and precipitation rate. Besides the algorithms will be developed, exploiting the potential of multi-source data will bring more improvements.


Effective thermoelectric materials have a low thermal conductivity and a high electrical conductivity. The performance of the thermoelectric materials and devices is shown by a dimensionless figure of merit, ZT = S2σT/K, where S is the Seebeck coefficient, σ is the electrical conductivity, T is the absolute temperature and K is the thermal conductivity. ZT can be increased by increasing S, increasing σ or decreasing K. MeV ion bombardment caused defects and disorder in the film and the grain boundaries of these nano-scale clusters increase phonon scattering and increase the chance of an inelastic interaction and phonon annihilation. We have prepared 100 alternating layers of Si/Si+Ge nanolayered superlattice films using the ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD). The 5 MeV Si ions bombardments have been performed using the AAMU Pelletron ion beam accelerator to make quantum clusters in the nanolayered superlattice films to decrease the cross plane thermal conductivity, increase the cross plane Seebeck coefficient and cross plane electrical conductivity. We have characterized the thermoelectric thin films before and after Si ion bombardments as we measured the cross-plane Seebeck coefficient, the cross-plane electrical conductivity, and the cross-plane thermal conductivity for different fluences


ABSTRACT

Traffic-related air pollutants (TRAPs) are currently increasing due to the increment of vehicle numbers in Malaysia. The emission of pollutants from these vehicles have genotoxic properties that can potentially induce genetic damage in human. In this study, micronuclei assay is used to determine the potential genotoxic exposure by assessing the presence of micronuclei frequency (MN) in buccal cells. The specific objective of this study is to determine the association between TRAPs and frequency of MN among school children in Klang Valley. A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted among primary school children (9–11 years old) in high-density traffic area (n = 94, Kuala Lumpur) and low-density traffic area (n = 94, Hulu Langat). A questionnaire was distributed to the parents to obtain respiratory symptoms information. Buccal cells were analyzed to determine the frequency of micronuclei. Air quality assessment was carried out in a total of 6 schools (consisted of exposed and comparative groups) by using TSI DustTrak DRX Aerosol Monitor 8534 for measurement of PM2.5 and PM10, LaMotte's Model BD Air Sampling Pump for measurement of Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and Sulphur dioxide (SO2), ppbRAE 3000 for total Volatile Organic Compound (TVOC) and TSI Q-TRAK 7565 for measurement of Carbon dioxide (CO2) and Carbon monoxide (CO). The concentrations of PM10, PM2.5, NO2, SO2, TVOC and CO at exposed schools were significantly higher (p < 0.005). compared to those in comparative schools. All pollutants were significantly associated (p < 0.001) with respiratory symptom phlegm and MN frequency. Additionally, the MN frequency in the exposed group was significantly higher (p < 0.001) than in the comparative group. All in all, this study demonstrated that air pollutants, especially NO2 and CO, have significantly influenced the MN frequency among children in primary schools. This study suggested that exposure to TRAPs among Malaysian school children has increased the risk for respiratory complications with the formation of MN.