1286 We previously found that Id1 mRNA is not expressed in hematopoietic stem cells (HSC), but is increased during the early stages of the myeloid development. Its expression is increased by C/EBPα, which is essential for granulocytic differentiation, suggesting Id1 might regulate myeloid development. Furthermore, over-expression of Id1 promotes increased myelopoiesis in vivo . In this study, we examined Id1-/- mice to clarify the physiological role of Id1 in hematopoiesis. Granulocyte and monocyte counts were increased in the peripheral blood of Id1-/- mice, while B lymphocytes were decreased. Id1-/- bone marrow (BM) also showed increased percentages of myeloid cells, but total BM cellularity was decreased by 25% compared to Id1+/+ mice. Immunophenotypic analysis of BM progenitors showed decreased numbers of Granulocyte Monocyte Progenitors (lin-IL7Rα-cKit+Sca-1-CD34+ Fcγ RII/III+ cells) and more differentiated progenitors, while total HSC (lin-IL7Rα-cKit+Sca1+) numbers are preserved. In addition, the percentage of HSC and, committed progenitors (lin-IL7Rα-cKit+Sca1-) in S phase was increased in Id1-/- BM cells in vivo by BrdU staining. Serial transplantation experiments showed that self-renewal of HSC is preserved in the absence of Id1. Thus, though Id1 is not required for HSC self-renewal, Id1 deletion reduces the size of the myeloid compartment in BM and increases granulocytes in peripheral blood, suggesting accelerated myeloid differentiation. To evaluate if these defects were intrinsic to hematopoietic cells or the result of microenvironmental defects, we performed bone marrow HSC transplantation. Transplantation of Id1-/- BM cells into lethally irradiated Id1+/+ recipients exhibited normal tri-lineage reconstitution and normal BM cellularity. In contrast, transplantation of Id1+/+ BM cells to Id1-/- recipient mice reproduced the hematological features of Id1-/- mice including decreased BM cellularity, increased myelopoiesis, decreased B lymphopoiesis, suggesting the defective BM microenvironment of Id1-/- was responsible for the abnormalities in Id1-/- mice hematopoiesis. Microarray data indicated that Id1-/- BM cells have decreased expression of genes that are essential for BM microenvironment including CSF1, FGF1, TGF-α, EGF, α3 integrin, and α6 integrin. Based on these data, we propose that Id1 is essential to regulate normal hematopoiesis by maintaining proper BM microenvironment, and also provides negative feedback in myeloid differentiation to prevent accelerated granulocytic differentiation. Funded by NCI contract No. N01-CO-12400


Women who have estrogen receptor (ER)‐positive disease with postmenopausal onset and who receive tamoxifen as standard adjuvant treatment constitute the largest subgroup of patients with breast cancer. Recent data from the ATAC ('Arimidex, Tamoxifen Alone or in Combination') randomized trial indicate that anastrozole significantly reduces breast cancer recurrence rates but does not provide any advantage in terms of survival at 4 years posttreatment. Furthermore, anastrozole and tamoxifen were found to have different toxicity profiles. The goals of the current study were to estimate the disease‐free survival (DFS) rates and potential survival benefits associated with anastrozole use and to determine whether the incremental cost‐effectiveness (ICE) was low enough to warrant an immediate switch to the use of this agent, as the long‐term conclusions of the ATAC trial will not be available for several years.


Selection criteria of banks in general and Islamic banks in particular have been given high attention by the marketing researchers nowadays. But this kind of research is still insufficient in numbers especially in the developing countries. Therefore, this study aims to identify the important selection criteria that are considered by customers in selecting Islamic banks in the Kingdom of Bahrain. A 5-Likert scale survey questionnaire and ANOVA were used as the research method. The results indicate that the religious factors were ranked as the most important selection criteria for selecting Islamic banks. The study also found service quality factors as the second important selection criteria. This study is expected to provide Islamic banks in Bahrain with some inputs in setting up their marketing strategies in order to attract new customers and retain their existing customers. This study is also expected to add value to the literature by providing the updated empirical study in the area. DOI: 10.15408/aiq9i2.4635


Backgrond: Asthma is one of the intractable diseases recognized by the world medical community. The current widely used bronchodilators β2-adrenal receptor agonists for asthma have limited therapeutic effects, which make it necessary to develop novel drugs with increased efficacy but fewer side-effects for antiasthma treatments. In this study, we attempted to investigate the relaxing effects and mechanism of an ethyl acetate extract from dandelion (EAED) on mouse airway smooth muscle (ASM). Methods: The effects of EAED on the agonist-induced precontraction in mouse ASM were evaluated with force measurement. Mouse lung slices were conducted to study the effect of EAED on bronchial ASM. Intracellular Ca2+ concentration was measured using calcium imaging system. VDLCCs and NSCCs currents was measured by patch. Lung function of groups of healthy or asthmatic mice was assessed by forced oscillation technique (FOT). Results: EAED inhibits ACH-induced sustained contractions of the whole ASM by inhibiting VDLCC, NSCC and some unknown channels, decreases agonist-induced increasing cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration in ASMCs, blocks VDLCCs and NSCCs currents and relieve respiratory resistance of healthy and asthmatic mice. Conclusions: EAED may have potential beneficial effects on improving asthma attacks.


Assuming dynamical spontaneous breakdown of chiral symmetry for massless gauge theory without scalar fields, we present a method how to construct an effective action of the dynamical Nambu-Goldstone bosons and elemetary fermions by using auxiliary fields. Here dynamical particles are asssumed to be composed of elementary fermions. Various quantities including decay constants are calculated from this effective action. This technique is also applied to gauge symmetry breakdown, SU(5)→ SU(4), to obtain massive gauge fields.


We demonstrate the first PN-type carrier-induced silicon waveguide Bragg grating filter on a SOI wafer. The optical extinction ratio of this kind of filter can be efficiently modulated under both reverse and forward biases. The carrier-induced Bragg grating based on a PN junction is fabricated on the silicon waveguide using litho compensation technology. The measured optical bandwidth and the extinction ratio of the filter are 0.45 nm and 19 dB, respectively. The optical extinction ratio modulation under the reverse bias is more than 11.5 dB and it is more than 10 dB under the forward bias. Only 1-dB optical transmission loss is realized in this Bragg grating under a reverse bias. The shifting rates of the central wavelength under forward and reverse biases are ~-1.25 nm/V and 0.01 nm/V, respectively. The 3-dB modulation bandwidth of this filter is 5.1 GHz at a bias of -10 V.


In step and shoot spot-scanning, a small-diameter proton beam is magnetically swept and varied in energy in order to cover the tumour. Initial estimates of the beam size indicate that additional collimating hardware will be needed for lower energy proton beams in order to achieve a clinically acceptable lateral dose falloff at the edge of the proton beam. In this report, we present dosimetric data from Monte Carlo simulations with a model of a simple multileaf collimator which indicate that such a device may be used to improve the lateral dose falloff. The dosimetric quantities relevant to the clinical usefulness of the device are studied, including lateral penumbra, leaf transmission and scalloping effect. Multileaf collimation is compared with a differential spot-weighting technique of sharpening the lateral dose falloff.


As part of the National Weather Service (NWS) Modernization and Restructuring Program, WSR-88D (NEXRAD) Doppler radar installation has been completed at each Weather Service Office in Florida. Recently, this powerful new tool provided unique opportunities for Jacksonville, Tampa Bay, and Melbourne NEXRAD Weather Service Office personnel to investigate tropical cyclone (TC) rainbands for evidence of tornadogenesis. This study provides a radar-based analysis of known tornadic mesocyclones associated with two mature tropical cyclones that were not landfalling in the vicinity of the tornado occurrence, namely, Tropical Storm Gordon (1994) and Hurricane Allison (1995). Based on successful NEXRAD sampling strategies, detailed analyses of storm-scale reflectivity and velocity signatures are conducted in the context of establishing preliminary critical criteria for use in the tornado detection and warning process. Important characteristics were found to include detection of discrete, small diameter .50 dBZ echos collocated with storm-relative rotational velocities of 6.5‐ 15 ms 2 1. Rotational features, although often subtle, were identifiable for an average of 30 min prior to tornado production, with total durations of 1‐2 h. Near the time of tornado touchdown, the core diameter of the lowlevel circulation couplets contracted to approximately 1.85 km (1 n mi), leading to an associated increase of shear across the circulation to 0.010 s 21 or greater. A comparison between the well-studied Great Plains tornadic supercell and the observed TC-tornado cells revealed a common trait of persistence. While the average depth of rotation associated with the TC-tornado cells (3.5 km) was much more shallow than their midwest counterparts, the ratio of depth of rotation to storm top were comparable. However, the shallow depth and weaker detectable rotation of the TC (tornadic) mesocyclones greatly reduced the detection capability of the current WSR-88D mesocyclone algorithm when compared to identification of traditional supercells. Based upon the analyzed data, the authors offer several recommendations to assist operational radar meteorologists with the challenging task of detecting outer rainband tornadoes. Additionally, the authors propose a new WSR-88D scan strategy (volume coverage pattern, VCP) that would provide additional low-level slices in lieu of several current upper-elevation angles. This new VCP would facilitate improved vertical sampling at lower heights where TC mesoscale circulations are most likely to be detected.


Environmental concerns were raised due to the recent demand increase for energy which resulted in higher CO2 emissions. Hence, it became essential to research a different energy source to meet the increasing demand. Since Photovoltaics (PV) were found to be a promising source, the governments started to support grid connected PV projects. However, grid connected PV systems cause many stability issues. Therefore, controlling methods must be implemented. Several control techniques have been proposed for grid connected applications in the last few decades. The controllers attempt to achieve stability, low harmonic content and fast dynamic response. However, tradeoffs are usually required. In order to understand the potential developments in this field, the paper will present three different current control strategies used in grid connected systems, compare them and recommend the usage of the most suitable. This was achieved by developing a MATLAB/Simulink model of a photovoltaic grid connected system in order to simulate case studies that tests Voltage Oriented Current Control (VOC), Direct Power Control (DPC), and PQ Synchronous Control (PQSC) topologies under different scenarios. The model configuration used ensures realistic simulation conditions in order to study the controllers thoroughly. Case studies are simulated in order to investigate the three controllers' stability and dynamic response under variable irradiance, Single Line to Ground (SLG) fault and three phase fault. Such case studies results can act as benchmarks that can be used by other researchers to compare their controller's performance against a standard system and check for improvements.


In the context of animal protection, the trend of digested coffees such as Kopi Luwak produced by civet cats in captivity should not be endorsed. Previous studies on such coffees may have been flawed by sample selection and misclassification. As wild civets may prefer Coffea liberica beans, due to their higher sugar content, the chemical differences may be caused by the Coffea species difference combined with a careful selection of ripe, defect-free cherries by the animals, rather than changes caused by digestion. This may also explain the observed differences between Kopi Luwak from wild civets (mainly C. liberica) compared to the one from animals in captivity (typically fed with C. arabica and/or C. canephora).


Landscape, defined as a fragment of space characterised by a specific structure and functioning, is a limited exhaustive and non- renewable resource. This means that its rationing is crucial in processes of space management. An element of this allocation is protection of a pool of landscapes preserved in possibly the most natural form, representative for environmental diversity of a given area. Preservation of a complete representation of typological units of landscapes of a different rank within forms of nature protection is the main challenge of contemporary landscape conservation. Protection of landscape beyond the aspect of its physiognomy should link two main streams of nature protection: conservation of biodiversity and protection of geodiversity. Assessment of landscape status is of basic importance for its protection. It may be defined as a situation of a certain typological unit of the landscape (e.g. kames, dunes, frontal moraine elevations, peatbogs, springs, structural escarpments, etc.) in the area limited by natural or anthropogenic boundaries (e.g. in Sudety Mountains, Silesia Lowland, Opole voivodship, Poland). This can be also assessed according to the form (rank) in the landscape system as signed to the unit of landscape of a given type by co -acting forces of nature and anthropo pressure. The status of the unit or a group of units of certain type and rank in a heterogeneous landscape depends upon: – quantity of resources (e.g. the number of sites of occurrence, total surface), – location in relation to other units of the same type and generally in a landscape system, – structural features of the landscape, including size, allocation of each landscape component, types and development of boundaries etc., – stage of landscape transformation (the range of devastation, which should be treated as the primary factor of landscape changes and of degradation – which should be treated as secondary Factor), – role of landscape in spatial development (a potential for development of various functions of space) – the higher potential of development of e.g. agrculture or settlements, the higher threat. This is so according to the rule which states that high potential of development of a given function rises forces that destabilise the landscape and cause changes in its structure and functioning, in consequence – its status. Studies on the structure of kames and eskers in the Silesia Lowland covered a collection of over a hundred of forms, very diverse in structure and genesis. They are concentrated in border are as of the Lowland. Based on assessment of anthropopressure it was shown that the greatest threat to these lands capes are associated with exploitation of natural aggregates, deposition of wastes and agriculture. In one case the senegative factors caused a complete destruction of a kame. A relatively small part of these landscapes remain covered with forest. Assessment of distribution of nature protection forms in the Silesia Lowland indicates that majority of kame and esker landscapes are notcovered with protection.


Studies on the relative bioavailability (RBV) of DL-Methionine (DL-Met) to L-Methionine (L-Met) have produced variable results. An experiment was conducted to determine the RBV of DL to L-Met. A total of 2268 1-day old male chicken were housed in 54 floor pens (42 bird/pen). There were 9 treatments (6 repetitions) including the basal diet (BD). The BD was deficient in Met content with 0.27, 0.26 and 0.25 in the starter, grower and finisher periods respectively. Four levels of experimental diets for each DL-Met and L-Met were created by supplementing 0.05%, 0.10%, 0.15% and 0.20% of DL- or L-Met to the BD. The feeding program consisted of starter (0-14 d, 21% CP and 2900 kcal ME/kg), grower (15 - 28 d, 20% CP and 3000 kcal ME/kg) and finisher period (29 - 37 d, 18.5% CP and 3050 kcal ME/kg). Chickens and feed were weighed at the end of each age period. Regression coefficients of a common plateau asymptotic regression were used to calculate RBV. Birds responded to gradual increase in Met levels, BW, FCR and ADG were significantly (P < 0.05) higher in treatment groups as compared to control. Through the study period (37 d), the RBVs of DL-Met for BW and FCR were 89 and 77 respectively.


The molecular genetic events underlying endometrial tumorigenesis are ill-defined at present. We have identified a region on the short arm of chromosome 1 which is frequently deleted in endometrial cancers. The region of deletion has been localized to bands 1p32-33. Deletion of 1p32-33 is seen more frequently in cancers of the highly aggressive papillary serous type than in cancers of the less-aggressive endometrioid type. These data suggest the presence of a tumor suppressor gene on 1p32-33 which is specifically involved in the development of endometrial cancers with poor outcome.


The degree to which words are phonologically similar to one another has been termed in the literature as neighbourhood density. It has traditionally been operationalized as a single phonemic difference between words, and subsequently used as an experimental variable in a variety of tasks across a variety of languages. However, few studies to date have assessed the validity of such a metric in a language other than English. In the current study, 23 typical Spanish-speaking adults were presented with 100 CVCV nonwords, and asked to name a similar-sounding Spanish real word after each stimulus. Findings revealed that participants modified an average of two segments per word, in contrast to previous work conducted in English. Participants largely relied on substitutions of final segments, while additions and deletions were less frequently used; a similar average number of changes was made to consonants and vowels. Taken together, the results suggest that using a single-segmental metric to index phonological similarity may not adequately capture unique crosslinguistic differences, especially when considering other influential domains of language such as semantics and morphology.


Introduction: Artificial Perspicacity (AI) is transmuting the digital landscape in every field it reaches. The Robotic Process Automation (RPA) revolution goes hand in hand with the advances that Artificial Astuteness is making to transform industries ecumenical. Ultimately, Artificial Perspicacity augments RPA and its implements to surpass prospects. With this already established, it's valid to verbally express that the world is gearing up for the robotic revolution. Albeit we are already experiencing many of its applications, there's still plenty of potentials to tap into. What is RPA precisely? RPA or Robotic Process Automation is software technology, as dictated by business logic and structured inputs, aimed to program applications or robots to perform rudimental tasks, just like humans would, in an automated setting. RPA bots can mimic virtually any human action, emulating and integrating actions with digital systems to execute a business process. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) enables organizations to engender virtual workforces that increase process efficiency, truncate errors, and cut operational costs. However, even when enterprises implement RPA, many are challenged with scaling it across the organization and identifying all the potential business processes that can and should be automated for maximum ROI. This presentation will discuss how companies overcome these challenges utilizing AI powered process revelation. Automation has been transmuting the nature of work for over a decennium. It has superseded labour intensive tasks, undertaken perpetual ones, escalated the haste of engenderment and engendered incipient streams of work. Most organizations are already on RPA journey, which has resulted in productivity amendment, cost savings, process time amelioration with perpetual and rule-predicated processes. The commencement of the peregrination involves POCs, pilots, and initial automations. The next frontier is about scaling the
deployment and adoption of cognitive technologies such as AI, analytics, machine learning that emulate human comportment. The transition involves transformation from running RPA on a few processes to scaling up RPA across the enterprise. This session would deal with strategies & challenges in enterprise wide adoption of Automation - crossing over from RPA to RPA+Cognitive , identifying the right operating model & establishing governance, Leadership & aptitude development , orchestrating stakeholders and board level endorsement. According to Investopedia, Robotic Process Automation is the "software that can be facilely programmed to do rudimentary tasks across applications just as human workers do." Consequentiality of Robotic Process Automation According to insights developed by McKinsey&Company, RPA offers the potential ROI of 30-200% in the first year of avail alone. This staggering figure is met with the verbal expression made by Leslie Willcocks that "RPA takes the robot out of the human." Companies and employees are taking notice, which is why everyone is so agog to invest in robotics and its emerging technologies. In essence, RPA is consequential because it is transforming the way businesses operate by availing automate perpetual tasks that are a component of a quotidian routine with a higher degree of efficiency than if performed by a human. Akin to cognitive automation, chatbots, and artificial perspicacity, RPA performs significantly more expeditious and more cost-efficaciously than human resources. Many fear that RPA implements and technologies can be perilous as they take jobs out of human hands. But you shouldn't authentically worry as there is more to gain than lose when it comes to RPA. To put it into further context, implementing Robotic Process Automation into your workplace can avail with tasks such as monitoring customer activity to discover opportunities to upsell, monitoring client comportment to identify areas of opportunity, truncating cycle times in perpetual tasks to gain competitive advantage, capturing and analyzing bulks of information to provide more expeditious replication times, and more. In a wide range of industries that span healthcare, indemnification, finance, and more, there are many cumbersomely hefty-hitters that have already adopted RPA implements into their processes, including Wal-Mart, Ernst & Puerile, Walgreens, American Express, and more. These early-adopters have benefitted from minimizing staffing costs and human errors with the implementation of RPA technology.


Monobloc type durable rolls of over 10000 kg have been developed by ingot metallurgy for hot rolling mills, and the metallurgy and the manufacturing process of the roll are described. The microstructure of the roll consists of hard primary carbides, mainly vanadium rich MC, embedded in the highly tempered matrix. The characteristics of the roll which relate to the performance expected for a durable roll are also explained.


schistosomiasis and a variety of geohelminths (hookworm, ascaris, trichuris) and a double-blind placebo controlled trial with Albendazole and Praziquantel was organized. Each site examined cohorts of 400 school-aged children (5-16) and included locations in Sudan, two in Kenya, and one each in the People's Republic of China and the Philippines. In addition to acarefulassessmentofthe toxicity associated with simultaneous administration ofthese antiparisitic drugs, the study design included a careful assessment of the impact on morbidity of this 'deworming' strategy. The study design included assessment of feasibility of delivery of these medications by non health care professionals (teachers). This one-year project will be completed in August 1994. Preliminaryresults, reviewed in summer 1993, suggest that the co-administration of Albendazole and Praziquantel is not associated with any increased toxicity over that observed with Praziquantel alone and the side-effects observed might be managed by an appropriately informed teacher using over-the-counter medications. Impact on such important parameters as childhood growth and development, anaemia and cognition is currently in progress. Additional studies to carry this work forward are currently being planned by the Partnership for Child Development. In addition to furthering this important health initiative, this project demonstrated the feasibility of performing identical protocols among diverse populations using a team of collaborative scientists.


Studies of Melatonin in the 1970s and 1980s revealed sedative and hypnotic properties of the compound, which have led to its use in treating sleep disorders. Commonly used for jet lag, melatonin is relatively inexpensive and associated with minimal side effects. Regulation of melatonin secretion appears to be abnormal in children and adults in which pervasive development disorders have been observed. Alteration in melatonin rhythm may be responsible for sleep-onset and maintenance difficulties in autism. A recent review concluded that melatonin primarily acts on the total length of time needed to fall asleep and on the total length of sleep. In addition, melatonin, which does not induce dependence or withdrawal syndromes, may have advantages compared to commonly prescribed benzodiazepines. While there is an enormous amount of anecdotal information available, additional studies are necessary involving melatonin for the treatment of sleep disorders. The condition of these well-controlled studies must be clearly defined, especially in regards to the melatonin formulation and pharmacology of the products used. Various areas remain unclear, such as how the effects of melatonin vary by age, gender, ethnicity, and comorbid conditions of the population, as well as formulation, timing, and duration of melatonin administration. While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not strictly regulate herbs and supplements, based on available studies and clinical use, melatonin is generally regarded as safe in recommended doses when used in the short term. The safety of melatonin when used in the long term remains unclear.


OBJECTIVE
LASS2/TMSG1 gene is a novel tumor metastasis suppressor gene cloned from human prostate cancer cell line PC-3M in 1999 by Department of Pathology,Peking University of Basic Medical Sciences. It was found out that protein encoded by LASS2/TMSG1 could interact with the c subunit of vacuolar-ATPase (ATP6V0C). In this study, we explored the effect of LASS2/TMSG1 and its mutants on proliferation, migration and invasion of human prostate cancer cells and its molecular mechanism.

METHODS
We constructed four LASS2/TMSG1 mutants and stably transfected the variants to human prostate cancer cell line PC-3M-1E8 cell with high metastatic potential. The stable transfectants were identified by qPCR and Western blot through analyzing the expression of LASS2/TMSG1 and ATP6V0C, the cell biology functions of LASS2/TMSG1 and its four mutants were studied using growth curve,MTT assay, soft agar colony formation assay, wound migration assay, Matrigel invasion study and flow cytometry. Furthermore, immunofluorescence was used to analysis the interaction of LASS2/ TMSG1 mutants and ATP6V0C.

RESULTS
LASS2/TMSG1 mRNA and protein in LASS2/TMSG1 group and Mut1-Mut4 groups were higher than that in Vector group; Western blot showed that ATP6V0C protein in LASS2/TMSG1 wild group was lower than that in Vector group, but ATP6V0C protein in LASS2/TMSG1 S248A group was obviously higher than that in Vector group. MTT test and growth curve assay showed growth ability in LASS2/TMSG1 S248A group was increasing compared with other groups from day 5. Soft Agar colony formation experiment showed anchor independent growth ability in LASS2/TMSG1 S248A group was higher than those in the other groups (P<0.05), Cell migrations (from 35.3%±3.2% to 70.3%±3%) in LASS2/TMSG1 S248A group was increasing compared with LASS2/TMSG1 wild group (P<0.01), and more cells passed through Matrigel in LASS2/TMSG1 S248A group compared with LASS2/TMSG1 wild group (from 50±3.2 to 203±6.5, P<0.01), the apoptosis rate in LASS2/TMSG1 S248A group was obviously higher than that in LASS2/TMSG1 wild group (from 7% to 15.1%, P<0.05), and the G0/G1 ratio in LASS2/TMSG1 S248A group was obviously higher than that in LASS2/TMSG1 wild group (from 51.0% to 85.4%). Furthermore, double immunofluorescent staining observed the colocalization between ATP6V0C and LASS2/TMSG1 protein and its mutations, the expression of ATP6V0C in LASS2/TMSG1 S248A group increased significantly compared with the other groups.

CONCLUSION
LASS2/TMSG1 S248A promotes proliferation, migration and invasion of prostate cancer cells through increasing ATP6V0C expression, suggesting that aa248-250 is an important function site for LASS2/TMSG1 in invasion suppression of prostate cancer cells.


Malignant-associated pleural fluid (MAPF) represented an unsolved problem in advanced lung cancer. Our previous work characterized increased pleural angiogenesis in lung adenocarcinoma and the propensity of MAPF on endothelial angiogenesis. This study investigated the combined efficacy of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor (gefitinib) and bevacizumab in opposing MAPF-induced angiogenesis. In lung adenocarcinoma patients with malignant pleural effusion (MPE), Kaplan–Meier analysis revealed the benefit of cotreatment with target therapy and bevacizumab. Increased EGFR expression was observed in the pleural microvessels of patients with lung adenocarcinoma both with and without mutations in EGFR. MAPF was obtained from lung adenocarcinoma patients both wild-type and mutant EGFRs. Total and phosphorylated EGFR were upregulated in HUVEC cultured with MAPF. Treatment with gefitinib as an EGFR inhibitor suppressed MAPF-induced endothelial migration and partially attenuated endothelial proliferation in both wild-type and mutant EGFR lung adenocarcinoma. Cotreatment with gefitinib and bevacizumab produced better inhibition of MAPF-induced endothelial angiogenesis than gefitinib alone in the mutant EGFR subgroup. Protein analysis of MAPF-derived exosomes revealed abundant EGFR and p-EGFR components that implied possible transfer to endothelial cells. Concluding Kaplan–Meier analysis and in vitro studies, the results indicated that the addition of bevacizumab on gefitinib treatment could suppress MAPF-induced angiogenesis in lung adenocarcinoma patients.


The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of dietary cholesterol on biliary lipids in subjects with and without gallstones. Twelve patients with asymptomatic gallstones (six men, six women) were assigned diets containing 500, 750, and 1000 mg cholesterol daily for 3-wk periods in random sequence. Seven healthy women similarly were assigned diets containing 500 and 1000 mg cholesterol daily. With increasing dietary cholesterol in patients with gallstones, biliary saturation indices and molar percents of cholesterol and phospholipids increased significantly while molar percent of biliary bile acids decreased significantly. With increasing dietary cholesterol in healthy women, the biliary saturation index and molar percent of cholesterol increased significantly; the mean saturation index exceeded unity on the diet containing 1000 mg cholesterol daily. In conclusion, augmented dietary cholesterol for brief periods increased biliary cholesterol saturation in subjects with and without gallstones.


Using a panel of American birdwatchers collected in 1997 and 2002, we tested the extent to which birdwatchers progressed over a five-year period. The impact different career contingencies and life course events had on predicting change in birdwatchers' behavior, skill, and commitment was also examined. Findings indicated that although progression characterized some birdwatchers' participation, involvement by others was better characterized by stability or decline, which was true for each of the indicators used to measure specialization. Career contingencies and life course changes had only a moderate influence on predicting change in the specialization indicators over time. Support from family members and retirement were the best predictors of change in specialization.


Activity recognition is an important task in the researches of ambient intelligence and smart environment. In real smart environments, detected signals of monitoring living space come from heterogeneous sensors generally. The intelligent awareness system can automatically provides the proper services to satisfy the requirements of users based on the recognized activity of users sensed by multi-sensor. The high accurate activity recognition is the basis of supporting high-quality service. However, the streaming data generated by multi-sensor are real time, continuous and variable. It is difficult for systems to archive high precise activity recognition from data streams of multiple sensors. The previous models on recognizing sequential data includes Hidden Markov model and Conditional Random Fields. This paper proposed a new activity recognition model for processing sequential data stream based on mining distinguishing sequential patterns. The general sequential patterns are on-line generated and counted first from the data streams and the minimal distinguishing sequential patterns are mined. Then, efficient and effective probabilistic recognizing methods and algorithms are developed for activity recognition. Two datasets, WSU and Kasteren, were used to test the proposed methods. The experimental results show that the proposed models have effective recognition rates in both of the activity level and the time slides level. The proposed model also provides a strong on-line recognition paradigm on multi-sensor data stream.


In order to take full advantage of multi-core resources to enhance the parallel performance, we study the architecture of multi-core processor and point out that the heterogeneous multi-core processor is the mainstream of development. With Amdahl's law, only by developing a new parallel programming model can solve the contradiction between traditional programming model and multi-core parallel structure.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to describe the complications specifically related to orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) with preservation of the inferior vena cava and to their therapeutic management. This preservation technique has considerably influenced the surgical phases of liver transplantation, increasing hepatectomy time and modifying the number of vascular anastomoses.

METHODS
Our retrospective multicentric study, based on data from 1361 adult patients that had undergone orthotopic liver transplantation with preservation of the inferior vena cava in France between 1991 and 1997, analyzed the concomitant surgical complications. Type of cavo-caval anastomosis performed (piggyback, end-to-side, or side-to-side), use of a temporary portacaval anastomosis, technique-related complications, and mortality, were investigated.

RESULTS
Cavo-caval anastomosis was side-to-side in 50.6% of cases (n=689), piggyback in 42.7% (n=582), and end-to-side in 6.6% (n=90). In total, 882 temporary portacaval anastomosis were carried out. Fifty-five patients presented with one or more complications related to the preservation of the inferior vena cava technique; i.e., overall morbidity was 4.1% (55/1361). Overall mortality was 0.7% (10/1361). Mortality rate for patients who presented with surgical complication was 18%. A total of 64 complications were recorded: 57 (89%) were in the perioperative or immediate postoperative period and 7 (11%) were postoperative.

CONCLUSIONS
These retrospective, descriptive results show significant advantages in favor of side-to-side anastomosis in terms of vascular complications. Certain factors should be evaluated specifically at pretransplant assessment to prevent certain serious complications; principally, these are anatomic factors of the recipient (inferior vena cava included in segment I, anatomic abnormalities of the inferior vena cava) and graft size. Depending on these factors, surgeons must be able to adapt the orthotopic liver transplantation, either before or during orthotopic liver transplantation, preferring the standard technique.


Four young laboratory-born Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) looked at the photographs of familiar and unfamiliar persons presented at upright and inverted orientations by pressing the lever under the conjugate schedule of sensory reinforcement (successive preferential looking procedure). Three types of photographs were prepared: photographs with persons taken in front view, those taken in back, and those without persons. The monkeys looked longer when the face was upright than inverted only for the pictures containing unfamiliar person with front view. The other types of photographs did not cause inversion effect. Familiarity weakened the face-specific inversion effect in monkeys. This difference may be due to in part the lower preference for familiar faces and the difference in processing mode between familiar and unfamiliar faces.


Abstract Abstract Rayleigh–Bénard convection in a floating zone held by the surface tension between two supporting disks at different temperatures is considered. Through direct numerical solution of the mixed parabolic–elliptic–hyperbolic set of governing equations in complete time-dependent and nonlinear form, we investigate the still unknown patterns and spatio-temporal states that are produced when the fluid has viscoelastic properties. The following conditions are examined: Prandtl number Pr = 8, aspect ratio (A = length/diameter) in the range 0.17 ≤ A ≤ 1 and different values of the elasticity number (0 ≤ θ ≤ 0.2). It is shown that, in addition to elastic overstability, an important ingredient of the considered dynamics is the existence of multiple solutions i.e. 'attractors' coexisting in the space of phases and differing with respect to the basin of attraction. We categorize the emerging states as modes with dominant vertical or horizontal vorticity and analyse the related waveforms, generally consisting of standing waves with central symmetry or oscillatory modes featuring almost parallel rolls, which periodically break and reform in time with a new orientation in space. In order to characterize the peculiar features of these flows, the notions of disturbance node and the topological concept of 'knot' are used. Azimuthally travelling waves are also possible in certain regions of the space of parameters, though they are generally taken over by convective modes with dominant pulsating nature as the elasticity parameter is increased. The case of an infinite horizontal layer is finally considered as an idealized model to study the asymptotic fluid-dynamic behaviour of the liquid bridge in the limit as its aspect ratio tends to zero.


There are complex ethical dilemmas inherent to medicine teaching, particularly in clinical practice involving actual patients. Questions must be raised on fulfilling medical students' training needs while still respecting patients' fundamental rights to autonomy and privacy. We aimed to assess patients' perspectives regarding medical students' involvement in their medical care. An observational, cross-sectional study was developed, and a questionnaire was applied randomly to patients waiting for a consultation/admitted to three distinct departments: General Surgery, Obstetrics/Gynaecology, and Infectious Diseases. Of the 77% interviewed patients who reported previous experiences with medical students, only 59% stated that they were asked for consent for their participation, and 28% stated that students had adequately introduced themselves. Patients from Gynaecology/Obstetrics were the ones who reported lower rates of these practices and were also the ones who were most bothered by students' presence, stating that they would be more comfortable without the presence of medical students. Male patients received more explanations than female patients regarding the same matters. Thirty-five percent of patients stated that they would feel more comfortable without the medical students' presence. The study shows a need to pay closer attention to fulfilling patients' fundamental rights.


It is proposed that new drug preparations (e.g. fast-dissolving drug formulations [FDDF], liquids, new depots) can improve the low compliance of psychiatric patients. The acceptance of several possible drug formulations (tablet, capsule, FDDF, unflavored and flavored liquid, subcutaneous, intramuscular, intravenous injection, intramuscular depot injection, infusion, etc.) was studied anonymously in 62 inpatients and 96 staff members of a psychiatric hospital. A questionnaire with 6-point scales was used to assess individual acceptance ratings (1=very high, 6=very low) for different drug formulations. Additionally, a question on the most preferred drug formulation was included. No substantial differences emerged between staff members and psychiatric inpatients regarding the acceptance of any single drug formulation. In patients and staff members, conventional tablets received highest acceptance (patients 2.1±1.2, staff 2.2±1.1) and infusion therapy lowest acceptance ratings (patients 4.1±1.6, staff 4.5±1.3). The most preferred drug formulations in both groups were tablets (37%), capsules (22%), and FDDF (11%). We would like to thank all participating patients and colleagues


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Introduction

The tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), imatinib, dramatically improves the prognosis of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) by suppressing the function of BCR-ABL gene. It was shown that imatinib could be discontinued in a proportion of patients with CML who maintained deep molecular response (DMR) for at least 2 years. (Lancet Oncol. 2010; 11:p1029) Treatment with second generation TKI, dasatinib, after imatinib resistance/intolerance could also be discontinued after maintaining DMR for over 1 year in a proportion of patients with CML (Lancet Haematol. 2015; 2:p528). In this Japanese prospective multicenter trial (D-STOP trial by Shimousa Hematology and Kanto CML Study Groups, ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: [NCT01627132][2]), we aimed to discontinue dasatinib in patients with CML who maintained DMR for over 2 years.

Methods:

Chronic phase CML patients treated with TKIs who had undetectable BCR-ABL1 mRNA were enrolled. After confirmation of undetectable BCR-ABL1 mRNA (International Scale <0.01%) using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RQ-PCR) in the central laboratory, the patient received additional dasatinib treatment for another 2 years as consolidation therapy. Patients who maintained DMR during the consolidation therapy proceeded to discontinue dasatinib. BCR-ABL1 mRNA was monitored every month in year 1 and every 3 months in year 2. Molecular relapse was defined as two successive positive RQ-PCRs for BCR-ABL1 within 1 month. The relapsed patients restarted dasatinib. The primary endpoint was treatment-free survival after 12 months of discontinuation. Lymphocyte subsets were analyzed using flow cytometry during and after the consolidation therapy.

Results:

Sixty-five patients received consolidation therapy, and 54 discontinued dasatinib treatment after maintenance of DMR for 2 years. Mean age of the patients was 54.2 (25-82) years, and median follow-up period after cessation of dasatinib was 16.2 (7-30) months. Twenty patients relapsed during the observation period. Using Kaplan-Meier analysis, the estimated overall treatment-free survival (TFS) was 62.9% (48.5-74.2) at 12 months (Fig.1). Most relapses occurred within 6 months after discontinuation of dasatinib. All relapsed patients responded again to dasatinib. There was no significant difference either in estimated TFS between males and females or Sokal scores at diagnosis. During the consolidation therapy, the proportion (%) of CD4+CD8−, CD3−CD56+, CD16+CD56+, and CD57+CD56+ cells among total lymphocytes were monitored using flow cytometry in patients who could discontinue dasatinib during the observation periods (group A) and those who relapsed (group B). At the start of the consolidation therapy, there was no significant difference between groups A and B (CD4+CD8−%: 33.6 vs 34.0, p = 0.89, CD3−CD56+%: 24.3 vs 24.1, p = 0.95; CD16+CD56+%: 22.1 vs 23.9, p = 0.57; CD57+CD56+%: 19.7 vs 21.8, p = 0.51, respectively). In group B, the proportion of CD4+CD8− cells gradually decreased, whereas CD3−CD56+, CD16+CD56+, and CD57+CD56+ cells gradually increased during the consolidation therapy. All four types of cells were relatively stable in group A. At the end of the consolidation therapy, there was a significant group difference in the proportion of these subsets (CD4+CD8−%: 29.6 vs 22.2, p = 0.018*; CD3−CD56+%: 25.9 vs 37.3, p < 0.01*; CD16+CD56+%: 23.2 vs 34.4, p < 0.01*; CD57+CD56+%: 21.9 vs 32.1, p < 0.001*; respectively). We concluded that patients with CD4+CD8− cells ≥23.1%, CD3−CD56+ cells ≤40.1%, CD16+CD56+ ≤35.6% or CD57+CD56+ ≤26.6% at the end of the consolidation therapy had significantly higher estimated overall TFS at 12 months than those without each condition (CD4+CD8−%: 84% vs 32%, p < 0.0001* (Fig.2); CD3−CD56+%: 77% vs 25%, p < 0.001* (Fig.3), CD16+CD56+%: 77% vs 25%, p < 0.0001*; CD57+CD56+%; 84% vs 46%, p < 0.01*, respectively). Although increased large granular lymphocytes and NK cells were reported to be associated with high responses to dasatinib (Int J Hematol. 2014; 99:p41), the unique profiles of lymphocyte subsets could predict successful discontinuation of dasatinib.

Conclusion:

Discontinuation of TKI in patients with chronic phase CML after consolidation therapy with dasatinib for 2 years was feasible with relatively high TFS. The unique profile of lymphocyte subsets might be able to predict successful discontinuation.

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Disclosures Kumagai: Bristol-Myers Squibb: Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Speakers Bureau; Pfizer: Speakers Bureau. Nakaseko: Bristol-Myers Squibb: Honoraria, Research Funding; Novartis: Honoraria; Pfizer: Honoraria, Research Funding. Nishiwaki: Novartis: Research Funding. Yoshida: Bristol-Myers Squibb: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Otsuka Pharmaceutical: Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Pfizer: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau. Morita: Bristol-Myers Squibb: Speakers Bureau. Sakamoto: Takeda Pharmaceutical: Consultancy; Yakult: Other: Remuneration. Inokuchi: Bristol-Myers Squibb: Honoraria, Research Funding; Novartis: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria; Pfizer: Honoraria.

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 [3]: pending:yes


Optimum allocation problem in accelerated degradation tests (ADTs) is an important task for reliability analysts. Several researchers have attempted to address this decision problem, but their results have been based only on specific degradation models. Therefore, they lack a unified approach toward general degradation models. This study proposes a class of exponential dispersion (ED) degradation models to overcome this difficulty. Assuming that the underlying degradation path comes from the ED class, we analytically derive the optimum allocation rules (by minimizing the asymptotic variance of the estimated q quantile of product's lifetime) for two-level and three-level ADT allocation problems whether the testing stress levels are prefixed or not. For a three-level allocation problem, we show that all test units should be allocated into two out of three stresses, depending on certain specific conditions. Two examples are used to illustrate the proposed procedure. Furthermore, the penalties of using nonoptimum allocation rules are also addressed. This study demonstrates that a three-level compromise plan with small proportion allocation in the middle stress, in general, is a good strategy for ADT allocation. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.


We consider a system of balance laws arising in extended irreversible thermodynamics of rigid heat conductors, together with its differential conse- quences, namely the higher-order system obtained by taking into account the time and space derivatives of the original system. We point out some mathematical properties of the differential consequences, with particular attention to the problem of the propagation of thermal perturbations with finite speed. We prove that, under an opportune choice of the initial conditions, a solution of the Cauchy problem for the system of differential consequences is also a solution of the Cauchy problem for the original system. We investigate the thermodynamic compatibility of the system at hand by applying a generalized Coleman–Noll procedure. On the example of a generalized Guyer–Krumhansl heat-transport model, we show that it is possible to get a hyperbolic system of evolution equations even when the state space is non-local.


The relative merits of shareholder versus stakeholder models of corporate governance have long been contested. Liberalisation and globalisation of financial markets resulted in the suggestion of potential convergence along shareholder principles. Research has attempted to justify the supremacy of one system over the other, however empirical evidence is weak. The culturally embedded nature of corporate governance within institutional frameworks suggests that transposition of single features may be inappropriate and may disrupt the overall efficiencies of a national system. The proportionality debate remains a key limiting factor in attempts at alignment. This paper will review the current state of the debate. It will employ comparative analysis to identify the path dependent evolution of corporate governance, contrasting differences within and between specific shareholder and stakeholder models. It will demonstrate alternative national responses to globalising pressures, to consider whether or not the contemporary situation can indeed, be regarded as one: beyond convergence?


The average oxygen utilization coefficient of 26% is calculated from PO2 determinations during the perfusion of the fetal circulation of isolated human term placental lobules. The oxygen consumption approximates 0.4 ml/min/kg placenta when Earle's salt solution is used as a perfusion medium and is equilibrated with a gas mixture containing 5% O2. The oxygen consumption reaches 2 ml/min/kg when the same Earle's solution is equilibrated with a gas mixture containing 95% O2.


Locally harmonious coloring is a relax version of standard harmonious coloring which only needs that the color pairs for adjacent edges are different. In this remark, we introduce the concept of fractional locally harmonious coloring, and present some basic facts for this coloring. Mathematics Subject Classification: 05C15.


To the Editor: I read with interest the article by Aguado et al. (1). I congratulate the authors for their high-quality research and would like to make 2 brief comments.

My first point regards the mechanism by which methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) with reduced susceptibility to vancomycin would also acquire decreased susceptibility to β-lactams. The authors "hypothesize that certain structural modifications might also occur in the cell wall of strains with high vancomycin MIC, including a thicker cell wall as it has been described in MRSA [methicillin-resistant S. aureus]." In addition to cell wall thickening, possible mechanisms could include reduction in autolysis (2,3) and in the cell wall content of penicillin binding protein 4 (PBP4) (3). A study of MSSA isolates has shown a reduction in autolysis and in the bactericidal activity of oxacillin after development of intermediate vancomycin susceptibility (2). Lower content of PBP4 and decreased autolysis were reported in MRSA isolates after reduced susceptibility to vancomycin developed after exposure to this antimicrobial drug (3). Decreased PBP4 has been associated with reduced methicillin susceptibility in S. aureus (4).

Second, knowing whether the authors had the exact vancomycin MIC of the isolates by broth microdilution to compare with the Etest results would be interesting. In the article, they only state that "all 99 MSSA strains were susceptible to vancomycin (MIC <2 μg/mL) by the broth microdilution method." Although difficult to compare (because Etest dilution progression is arithmetic and broth microdilution is performed with a geometric dilution), some authors have found substantial differences between the vancomycin MIC results given by these 2 methods (5). These differences could have major laboratory and clinical implications.


OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to quantify selected features of chronic synovial tissue inflammation by computerised image analysis and to validate the results by comparison with conventional microscopic measurements. METHODS Synovial biopsy samples were obtained from the knee joints of patients with chronic arthritis and prepared for immunohistochemical analysis using standard techniques. Following the development of special software, four parameters of chronic synovial inflammation were evaluated: intimal layer thickness, CD3+ cell infiltration, CD8+ cell infiltration and vascularity. Intimal layer thickness was expressed in microns. The intensity of CD3+ and CD8+ cell infiltration was expressed as the percentage area of the tissue section occupied by positively stained cells. Vascularity was expressed as the percentage area occupied by blood vessels. Conventional quantitative microscopic analysis was also undertaken and the results from both methods compared. RESULTS Seventy eight tissue sections were selected for study. Measurements of intimal layer thickness by both techniques correlated strongly:r = 0.85, p = 0.0006. Measurements of CD8+ cell infiltration, usually widely dispersed, also correlated well: r = 0.64, p = 0.005. Measurements of CD3+ cell infiltration, often densely aggregated, correlated less well:r = 0.55, p = 0.02. Measurements of vascularity demonstrated no statistically significant correlation:r = 0.41, p = 0.07. Proficiency in the use of computerised image analysis was readily acquired. CONCLUSION Computerised image analysis was successfully applied to the measurement of some features of synovial tissue inflammation. Further software development is required to validate measurement of blood vessels of variable size.


To facilitate the development activities, software developers frequently look up external sources for related information. Consulting data available at open source software (OSS) repositories can be considered as their daily routine. Nonetheless, the heterogeneity of resources and their corresponding dependencies are the main obstacles to the effective mining and exploitation of the data. Given the context, the manual search for every single resource to find the most suitable ones is a daunting and inefficient task. Thus, equipping developers with techniques and tools to accelerate the search process as well as to improve the search results will help them enhance the work efficiency. Within the scope of the EU funded CROSSMINER project, advanced techniques and tools are being conceived for providing open software developers with innovative features aiming at obtaining improvements in terms of development effort, cost savings, developer productivity, etc. To this end, cutting-edge technologies are applied, such as information retrieval and recommender systems to solve the problem of mining the rich metadata available at OSS repositories to support software developers. In this paper, we present the main research problems as well the proposed approach together with some preliminary results.


A case of brachial plexus block is presented, following a bee sting in the posterior triangle of the neck. The onset of neurological symptoms was rapid as was their subsequent resolution. Delayed peripheral neurological symptoms believed to have an immunological basis have been reported in response to stings from bees and other Hymenoptera both in the central and peripheral nervous systems (Goldstein et al., 1960; Means et al., 1973; Bachman et al., 1982; Weatherall et al., 1987; Van Antwerpen et al., 1988), but to the authors' knowledge no similar case of immediate peripheral block has been reported.


We can identify a legal vanishing point within neo-materialist and posthumanist approaches—either explicitly, for example, when things are regarded as political actors or contractual partners; or implicitly, when authors hint at the anthropocentric limitations of the granting of rights to human beings. Conversely, "rights of things" appear as a posthumanist approach to law as they decentralize "the human." But do "rights of things" actually surmount the strict divide between humans (persona) and nonhumans (res) within law? By referring to three empirical cases—animal rights, rights of nature, and robot rights—I will argue that "rights of things" do not necessarily push against the anthropocentrism of law. Rather, we can identify a re-centralization of humans within a given milieu. Thus, the critical impact of the concept "rights of things" must be reconsidered; furthermore, we can draw some conclusions for the theoretical approaches of New Materialism and Posthumanism itself.


The effects of Zn-based alloys coating (Zn, Al-Zn and Al-Mg-Zn) on the bondability of steel/aluminum alloy dissimilar metals joints were evaluated, in order to achieve strength in lower welding current. In the joint with Zn-based alloys insert, the oxide film on the aluminum alloy was sufficiently removed through eutectic reaction of Zn-based alloys and aluminum. In the joint with Zn-coated steel (GI), higher welding current is necessary to discharge the zinc coating and the oxide film from the bonding interface sufficiently. The thinner aluminum plate after welding and the thick reaction layer cause the decrease of cross tensile strength in the joints with no coating steel (SPCC) and Al-Zn-coated steel. Using Al-Mg-Zn-coated steel, higher strength was achieved in a lower welding current. This is because Al-Mg-Zn-coating melted at lower temperature than Zn and Al-Zn-coating, and the removal of the coating material and the oxide film on the aluminum alloy were sufficiently performed in the lower welding current.


As a competitor and alternative to mainstream general-purpose CPU (Intel/AMD/etc.), Loongson is a family of general-purpose MIPS-compatible CPUs developed at the ICT of CAS in China. The quad-core Loongson 3A is evaluated in this paper. The performance of the basic OpenMP constructs on Loongson-3A quad-core SMP is obtained by applying the EPCC Micro benchmarks. And then the performance of NAS kernel codes is obtained by applying NAS Parallel Benchmarks (NPB). These benchmarking are carried out for three different OpenMP compilers (and the runtime system), which includes GCC, OMPipth (OMPi with pthread library) and OMPi-psth (OMPi with psthread library). The results show that OMPI-pth's performance is the best and OMPi-psth's performance is the worst. Those test results might help to program the OpenMP codes as well as to select the appropriate compiler and its runtime system. And an Intel core i5 quad-core platform is used for comparison purpose, by running NPB, which implies that Loongson 3A's performance is nearly one tenth of i5's. The NPB results can help to defining a Loongson system's scale when replacing an Intel i5 system for a given problem size.


The experiment was carried out to study how effective the surface active agents for absorption of g-strophanthin and digitoxin administered in the stomach of a frog. The drug absorption from the alimentary tracts was estimated by measuring the time required for the cardiac arrest from the drug administration. The results obtained were as follows: (1) The absorption of g-strophanthin was promoted by Tween 80 and Tween 20 in concentrations under 0.05%, but was inhibited in the higher. (2) Saponin solution (below 0.1%) promoted the absorption of g-strophanthin. The heart was injured by saponin in a higher concentration, so that it was very difficult to judge the effect of saponin for the drug absorption. (3) Emulgen 408 (polyoxyethylen oleylether) and Aerosol IB prolonged the time to the cardiae arrest by g-strophanthin. (4) The absorption of g-stropanthin applied hypodermically was checked by adding Tween 80, Aerosol IB, and Saponin. (5) The absorption of digitoxin given gastrically was also checked by Tween 80 and Emulgen 408. Thus, the effect of Tween 80 to absorption of g-strophanthin by alimentary tracts differs from that of of digitoxin. It seems to be related with the fact that the former is not easily absorbed but latter is absorbed almost 100%. (6) The micellation phenomenon by Tween 80 (Tween 20) plays a role in the mechanism of the absorption of strophanthin, because the critical concentration promoting the drug absorption coincided with the critical micellation concentration (CMC).


The instrument described has been developed through several stages over a period of three years; the detector is based on a rare earth fluorescent screen and the complete instrument is relatively simple to construct. The performance of this instrument has been evaluated, and comparison with an independent assessment of a number of the commercial instruments (Rothenberg and Fleischman, Med. Phys., vol.9, p.613, 1982) has shown that this instrument has a measured performance compatible with those commercial instruments tested.


Steel sheet coated with zinc or 55%Al-Zn is widely used at the civil construction, mainly for roofing and cladding applications. The 55%Al-Zn coated steel shows mechanical properties slightly different from zinc coated steel, even under the same heat cycle processing, due to the higher molten metal temperature and also to the higher strength of the 55%Al-Zn coating. The knowledge of those differences can be used by the final users to evaluate if some of those products are not suitable for any specific application. Although those two coated products are widely used at the civil construction in Brazil, only a limited literature is available on the difference between the mechanical properties of those products. Through tensile tests of commercial grade samples - as coated and after removing the coating - the aim of this paper is to evaluate the mechanical properties (tensile strength, yield strength, total elongation and hardening coefficient) and also how much the coating influences the mechanical properties of the zinc and 55%Al-Zn coated steel. The 55%Al-Zn coated steel showed higher yield and tensile strength and lower total elongation and hardening coefficient compared to zinc coated steel and the coating showed a significant influence on the mechanical properties of both products.


Glomerular hypertrophy is crucial for podocyte damage and proteinuria. Our previous study showed that fructose induced podocyte injury. However, the molecular mechanism underlying podocyte hypertrophy under fructose is unclear. We observed that fructose significantly initiated the hypertrophy in rat glomeruli and cultured differentiated human podocytes (HPCs). Consistently, it induced inflammatory response with the down-regulation of zinc-finger protein tristetraprolin (TTP) and the activation of interleukin-6 (IL-6)/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) signaling in these animal and cell models. Subsequently, high-expression of miR-92a-3p and its target protein cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p57 (P57) down-regulation, representing the abnormal proliferation and apoptosis, were observed in vivo and in vitro. Moreover, fructose increased ketohexokinase-A (KHK-A) in rat glomeruli and HPCs. Animal-free recombinant human IL-6, maslinic acid and TTP siRNA were used to manifest that fructose may decrease TTP to activate IL-6/STAT3 signaling in podocyte overproliferation and apoptosis, causing podocyte hypertrophy. KHK-A siRNA transfection further demonstrated that the inactivation of IL-6/STAT3 to relieve podocyte hypertrophy mediated by inhibiting KHK-A to increase TTP may be a novel strategy for fructose-associated podocyte injury and proteinuria. Graphic Abstract


In a video streaming application, quality of experience for a user can be affected by various factors. The video quality can be improved if the effective throughput can be increased at an acceptable packet loss rate and low latency. To reduce the packet loss rate over error-prone channels, a cross-layer error control scheme is developed for heterogeneous data transmission over wireless channels in this paper. The error control scheme utilizes both link-layer automatic repeat request and application-layer channel coding. The automatic repeat request is served as providing a basic level of loss recovery without introducing intolerable delay, while the application-layer channel coding is based on the previously developed layer-aligned multipriority rateless codes to satisfy a desired packet loss rate at a minimal bandwidth overhead. The cross-layer architecture of the error control scheme will control the retransmission timers based on the channel conditions while the control parameters of the layer-aligned multipriority rateless codes will be determined to fulfill the heterogeneous requirement of overall packet loss rate required by an application at a minimal cost. The improved performance of the developed cross-layer scheme is confirmed with the experiments using a real-world 4G system.


Abstract. This research aims to examine the integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) into the instructional settings in Asia-Pacific countries and states, ranking among the Top 10 in the PISA test. PISA is an OECD's assessment tool which is applied every three years to measure 15-year-olds' ability to use their knowledge in mathematics, science, and reading. PISA was first held in 2000, and it has been observed an increasing number of Asia-Pacific countries and states in the Top 10 over the years. Nowadays, one focus of national education systems is on educational technologies and their impact on teaching processes. Therefore, this study focuses on studies regarding the ICT integration of countries in the Asia-Pacific region and their effects on student performance in the PISA test. The document analysis method was used to examine PISA results and reports, OECD reports, ICT integration projects, and studies on PISA. Successful ICT integration activities of Asia-Pacific countries and states were determined by comparing their efforts for ICT integration across countries. Additionally, studies on ICT integration of the Asia-Pacific countries were compared with the studies conducted in Turkey and inferences were made about the effect of ICT integration studies on the outcomes of PISA.


Brewers' Association in effect said before the war, their aim must be to see that the young people growing up became the mainstay of the public house. It is not enough merely to appreciate these influences, something ought to be done about it. The Advertising Inquiry Council, 49 Cresswell Place, London S.W.10, has for several years past been trying to arouse public opinion. Support is badly needed, and the medical profession is in a position to give valuable leadership. The secretary will be only too pleased to give further information.-I am, etc.,


One of the largest systematic uncertainties affecting neutrino oscillation measurement comes from present limited knowledge of (anti-)neutrino-nucleus interactions. Neutrino scattering understanding is crucial for the interpretation of neutrino oscillation since it affects background estimation and neutrino energy reconstruction. Thus, precise (anti-)neutrino-nucleus cross section measurements are vital for the present and future long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments. The T2K long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment, in addition to its contributions to neutrino oscillation measurement, has a wide program of neutrino interaction cross section measurements using its near detector complex. With multiple targets (hydrocarbon, water, argon, iron), and with onand off-axis detectors which sample different neutrino spectra from the same beamline, T2K is able to investigate atomic number and energy dependent behavior in a single experiment. In this proceeding an overview of the T2K neutrino cross sections, focusing on the latest results is presented.


Consideration is given to the flow of viscous and elastico-viscous liquids contained between two infinite parallel plates which rotate with the same angular velocity Ω about axes normal to the plates but not coincident. In the viscous case, it is shown that a simple exact solution of the relevant equations can be obtained. In the elastico-viscous case, certain formulae are derived which should facilitate the interpretation of experimental results obtained from the Maxwell orthogonal rheometer.


Effective data analysis ideally requires the analyst to have high expertise as well as high knowledge of the data. Even with such familiarity, manually pursuing all potential hypotheses and exploring all possible views is impractical. We present DataSite, a proactive visual analytics system where the burden of selecting and executing appropriate computations is shared by an automatic server-side computation engine. Salient features identified by these automatic background processes are surfaced as notifications in a feed timeline. DataSite effectively turns data analysis into a conversation between analyst and computer, thereby reducing the cognitive load and domain knowledge requirements. We validate the system with a user study comparing it to a recent visualization recommendation system, yielding significant improvement, particularly for complex analyses that existing analytics systems do not support well.


We present a detailed analysis of the electronic couplings that mediate excitation energy transfer (EET) in plasmonic nanoantenna systems using large-scale quantum dynamical calculations. To capture the intricate electronic interactions in these large systems, we utilize a real-time, time-dependent, density functional tight binding (RT-TDDFTB) approach to characterize the quantum-mechanical efficiency of EET in plasmonic nanoparticle chains with subnanometer interparticle spacings. In contrast to classical electrodynamics methods, our quantum dynamical calculations do not predict a monotonic increase in EET efficiency with a decrease in interparticle spacing between the nanoparticles of the nanoantenna. Most notably, we show a sudden drop in EET efficiencies as the interparticle distance approaches subnanometer length scales within the nanoparticle chain. We attribute this drop in EET efficiency to the onset of quantum charge tunneling between the nanoparticles of the chain which, in turn, changes the nature of the electronic couplings between them. We further characterize this abrupt change in EET efficiency through visualizations of both the spatial and time-dependent charge distributions within the nanoantenna, which provide an intuitive classification of the various types of electronic excitations in these plasmonic systems. Finally, while the use of classical electrodynamics methods have long been used to characterize complex plasmonic systems, our findings demonstrate that quantum-mechanical effects can result in qualitatively different (and sometimes completely opposite) results that are essential for accurately calculating EET mechanisms and efficiencies in these systems.


Tanzania cities and towns are rapidly urbanizing. This urbanization is manifest of rural-to-urban migration as well as natural population increase. The perceived lack of opportunities in rural areas has been identified as the main push factors for Tanzanians to move from rural areas to urban cities and towns. Urban management practice will increasingly need to account for direct and indirect impacts of urban growth in Tanzania cities and towns. The objective of this paper is to pinpoint the challenges and opportunities of the urban growth in cities and towns in Tanzania. The discussion of this paper is mainly based on critical review of the literature and original data derived from Baruti settlement in Dar es Salaam City. The review of the documents whether published or not published depended on its status to provide a critical analysis of urban growth challenges and opportunities in Tanzania. The Primary data were gathered using 79 using semi-structured interviews with both open and closed ended questions. The questionnaires were administered by the researcher through face-to-face sessions with the respondents. A purposive sampling technique was adopted in this study. The reason for selecting the purposive sampling technique was based on the respondents' involvement in urban development project. The quantitative data collected through the use of questionnaire to supplement qualitative data were summarized and organized by using spread sheet template for detailed analysis. The critical qualitative analysis was built on both the secondary and primary data sources to addresses the research questions. A descriptive technique for data analysis was adopted where findings were represented in tables, graphs and texts. While unperfected urbanization surpass the way inhabitants interact and live in cities and towns, urban management addresses the social, economical and environmental challenges that emerge with the continued urbanization in Tanzania cities and towns such that human activities could be more socially liable, economically sound and environmentally friendly over a long period of time in the future.


We demonstrate thermalization and Bose-Einstein (BE) distribution of photons in standard erbium-doped fibers (edf) in a broad spectral range up to ~200nm at the 1550nm wavelength regime. Our measurements were done at a room temperature ~300K and 77K. It is a special demonstration of thermalization of photons in fiber cavities and even in open fibers. They are one-dimensional (1D), meters-long, with low finesse, high loss and small capture fraction of the spontaneous emission. Moreover, we find in the edf cavities coexistence of thermal-equilibrium (TE) and thermal lasing without an overall inversion (T-LWI). The experimental results are supported by a theoretical analysis based on the rate equations.


Pigeons' ability to use abstract numerical rules appears identical to that of monkeys. Although many animals are able to discriminate stimuli differing in numerosity, only primates are thought to share our ability to employ abstract numerical rules. Here, we show that this ability is present in pigeons and that their performance is indistinguishable from that displayed by monkeys.


Industry must have good quality for their services or products. One of the things that their have done is how to get the customer's belief in their brand. Quality in every part has become the main case. Most of the companies in industry use metals as material to support their services. When the goods have been processed, it must continue with the testing. This is to prove that the goods have gone through the formation process fill in standard quality which required by the customer. There are two types of testing known as destructive testing and non-destructive testing. There are some of ways of non destructive testing methods on metals inspection has been applied in testing the quality of goods. Such as visual test, magnetic particle test, liquid penetrant, eddy current test, ultrasonic test, radiographic test in metals testing. Nondestructive testing (NDT) is the process of inspecting, testing, or evaluating materials, components or assemblies for discontinuities, or differences in characteristics without destroying the serviceability of the part or system. Radiographic Testing (RT) is a nondestructive examination technique that involves the use of either x-rays or gamma rays to view the internal structure of a component. In the petrochemical industry, Radiographic Testing is often used to inspect machinery, such as pressure vessels and valves, to detect for flaws. RT is also used to inspect weld repairs. Compared to other NDT techniques, radiography has several advantages. It is highly reproducible, can be used on a variety of materials, and the data gathered can be stored for later analysis.


"The overall downward trend in African mortality is interrupted by recurring epidemics. This article investigates the nature of those temporary fluctuations, using cause-of-death data drawn from deaths registered in Bamako [Mali] over an 11-year period. The use of time-series analysis produces findings that can be used in three ways: first, to provide a short-term forecasting tool for public health officials; secondly, to clarify the relationship between the cause of death and exogenous mortality factors, particularly climatic and economic; thirdly, to assist in the analysis of synergies between disease and malnutrition, and intra-household transmission as an aggravating factor contributing to the seriousness of a disease."


The article considers the concept of analytical tools system for the intellectual capital functioning. The author developes methodological support for the analysis of intellectual capital functioning at mezoeconomic level, which includes identification of technological operations of the specified process, decision-makers, input information, output information and diagnostic methods. The diagnosis of intellectual capital functioning is based on the proposed methodological approach to its assessment. The evaluation process of intellectual capital functioning consists of two stages (formation and use), each level of its regulation is multilayered and comprises: generalised intellectual capital indicator, integral indicator of intellectual capital component and partial intellectual capital indicators. Based on the use of cluster analysis, three homogeneous groups of regions in Ukraine are distinguished by the indicators of gross regional product per capita, labor market efficiency, quality of education, infrastructure, commodity market capacity, competitiveness, and innovativeness of the region. The regression analysis between the intellectual capital components and the resultant mesoeconomic level indicator – the gross regional product is carried out. The influence of all intellectual capital components on the gross regional product of the region is proved. For regions with the highest levels of intellectual capital, a significant influence of competence capital on consumer and structural capital has been identified. For informational support of the analysis of the intellectual capital functioning, it is proposed to use a collective decision-making system based on a multiagent system. Ontological models of analysis and decision making on management of intellectual capital mesoeconomic level based on multiagent approach were developed in «Protege» environment.


The antihypertensive effects of both extracts and glycosaminoglycan derived from Isaria sinclairii (IS) were investigated in a spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) model. Groups of rats were treated orally with 30 mg/kg each of: (1) saline control or extracts of (2) water-IS (3) methanol-IS, (4) butanol-IS, (5) ethyl acetate-IS, or (6) captopril as positive control. The 30-mg/kg dose was administered with a standard diet every day for a period of 2 wk. The antihypertensive effects of the individual extracts were in the following order: methanol > water > ethyl acetate > butanol. Glycosaminoglycan (GAG) obtained from IS as a water-soluble alcohol precipitation fraction produced an antihypertensive effect. One month following administration of GAG derived from IS to SHR animals there was a marked decrease in systolic blood pressure from 183 to 105 mm Hg and reduced diastolic blood pressure from 148 to 80 mm Hg compared to untreated control SHR rats. It was found that GAG produced an antihypertensive effect, which was more effective than the positive control captopril. In the SHR animal model a fall of 19% in body weight was observed in the group that received GAG. Data thus indicate that GAG derived from I. sinclairii may be a potent, naturally occurring antihypertensive agent. SHR (Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat); WKY (Wistar Kyoto Rat); glycosaminoglycan (GAG); I. sinclairii (IS); ISMC30: I. sinclairii methanol extract 30 mg/kg; ISG2: I. sinclairii glycosaminoglycan 2 mg/kg; IS GAG: I. sinclairii glycosaminoglycan. This study was supported by the Rural Development Administration, Basic research project Pj006642 (2009–2012).


Many women have diverted from their traditional single role as home makers who are financially dependent on their husbands to the double roles of being home makers and wage earners. In fitting into their second role as wage earners, women are often confronted with their main challenge of balancing work and family. This study looked into the work conditions of employed women, namely time at work, workload, conflicts at work, and the lack of support at work, as well as family conditions such as the number of children, presence of young children and lack of support at home, and workfamily conflict. This study determined the effects of the predictors on employed women's well-being. The participants of this study were limited to women secretaries/clerks who are married with children in the Klang Valley. The research was conducted using the survey method of questionnaire and the data was analysed using the SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). In conclusion, this study found that the above mentioned predictors, namely work conditions, family conditions and workfamily conflict did affect employed women's well-being; these predictors affected them in different ways including psychological distress, physical health symptoms and low job satisfaction.


A generalized formulation of the instantaneous frequency based on the higher order differential energy operator is proposed. The special cases of the general formulation are also presented. The proposed instantaneous frequencies are compared with existing methods in terms of computational requirements and error performance measured in the mean absolute error. The proposed methods are less expensive than the existing ones, but need more data samples to obtain a frequency estimation value. But, the number of data used is independent of the order of the energy operator. In terms of the estimation error performance, the existing DESA I and II algorithm show the best result under noise free situation, but the HODEO with order k=4 produces the best result under noisy situation. And the HODEO with order k=3 shows comparable result. Suitable post-processing like the median filtering may be added to improve further.


The problem of optimally placing data on disks (ODP) to maximize disk-access performance has long been recognized as important. Solutions to this problem have been reported for some widely available disk technologies, such as magnetic CAV and optical CLV disks. However, important new technologies such as multizoned magnetic disks, have been recently introduced. For such technologies no formal solution to the ODP problem has been reported. In this paper, we first identify the fundamental characteristics of disk-device technologies which influence the solution to the ODP problem. We develop a comprehensive solution to the problem that covers all currently available disk technologies. We show how our comprehensive solution can be reduced to the solutions for existing disk technologies, contributing thus a solution to the ODP problem for multizoned disks. Our analytical solution has been validated through simulations and through its reduction to the known solutions for particular disks. Finally, we study how the solution for multizoned disks is affected by the disk and data characteristics.


The coronavirus family member, SARS-CoV-2 has been identified as the causal agent for the outbreak of viral pneumonia disease, COVID-19 which first emerged in mid-December 2019 in the city of Wuhan in central China. As of February 25, 2020 there are 80,994 people infected and 2,760 deaths, and documented human-to-human transmission across multiple continents. At this time, no vaccine is available to control further dissemination of the disease. We have previously developed a synthetic DNA vaccine targeting the MERS coronavirus Spike (S) protein that was deployed in response to the MERS outbreak in South Korea. This vaccine induced potent antibody and CTL responses, and provided protection in a NHP challenge model. In the clinic, the vaccine generated humoral immunity including neutralizing antibody responses, as well as T cell immunity. Here we build on this prior work and report on the rapid development of a synthetic DNA-based vaccine targeting the major surface antigen Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. The engineered construct, INO-4800 induced robust expression of the Spike protein in vitro, and generated antibody and T cell responses following a single immunization in mice and guinea pigs. This preliminary dataset identifies INO-4800 as a potential COVID-19 vaccine candidate, supporting further study for mobilization against this emerging disease threat.


The Data Protection Officer (hereinafter "DPO") is a key figure person of the general data protection reform. The profile required in the General Data Protection Regulation (hereinafter "GDPR") to hold this position is demanding and people having the required competencies and experience are limited. Many companies, especially SMEs, required or simply planning to hire a DPO before May 2018 are a little lost and, sometimes, misled by opportunists leveraging the shortage of suitable candidates. A strong demand for guaranteeing a minimum level of competences to the candidate DPOs is being observed. Many schemes offering to certify a minimum level of knowledge have popped up in the Member States. However, the DPO certification market remains very fragmented and presents many inconsistencies regarding the content and process offered. The experience of certification in other activities has demonstrated that the proliferation of unregulated certification schemes creates inconsistencies in the schemes' content. It also encourages competition between them and raises a risk of a race to the bottom that could undermine trust in this procedure. The GDPR does not provide for any restrictions preventing of regulating the schemes established outside Article 42 even though they are not recognized as possible means to instill accountability. The authorities could mandate the European standardization bodies to design a harmonized DPO standard within the implementation acts and include the accreditation of private certification bodies in the process specified in Article 43.1 of the GDPR. The solution envisioned could offer the opportunity to set up a twofold regulation process for data protection certification, one dedicated to the schemes falling within the scope of Article 42.1 scope and another one for those not falling within this scope.


The production of interferon (IFN) after stimulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells with Sendai virus or phytohemagglutinin was studied in patients with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) or selective IgA deficiency. Cells from CVID patients produced significantly more Sendai virus-induced (alpha) and mitogen-induced (gamma) IFN than cells from healthy control subjects. By contrast, some patients with selective IgA deficiency produced subnormal amounts of IFN-alpha. Neither IFN-alpha nor IFN-gamma was detectable in sera from the two categories of patients using radioimmunoassays with sensitivity limits of 5-10 international units per milliliter. With the aid of a more sensitive bioimmunoassay, however, antiviral activity was detected more frequently in sera from patients with CVID than in sera from control individuals. Acid treatment and absorption with anti-IFN-alpha and anti-IFN-beta sera indicated that the antiviral activity was due to IFN, with no preponderance of any particular IFN type. Determination of beta-2-microglobulin (beta 2M) concentrations revealed that CVID patients had markedly, and IgA-deficient patients moderately increased serum levels of this substance, as compared to healthy blood donors. Since IFN enhances the synthesis of beta 2M the finding of increased levels of this substance in CVID would be consistent with the observed hyperproduction of IFN. The present findings are concordant with earlier observations of increased natural killer cell activity in at least some forms of CVID and suggest that increased activity of the IFN/natural killer cell system provides a mechanism which may compensate for the defective B cell function in these patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


This article reviews the three key concepts of modern microwave-filter synthesis using coupled resonators: coupling matrix (CM), extracted pole (EP), and nonresonating node (NRN). CM synthesis is no doubt the most popular and powerful of the three. EP has been around longer as a circuit-synthesis tool, but it seems to have only limited applications. Both CM and EP were developed before the proliferation of electromagnetic (EM) simulators and fast modern computers. CM is widely used because the simple mapping relationship between the physical dimension of coupling structures and synthesized coupling values is well developed. NRN is the newest concept and has drawn a lot of attention. It is a result of circuit synthesis but can also be expressed using CM/EP.


Background: The clinical outcomes (time to ambulation, length of stay, and home discharge) after proximal femoral nail (PFN) for proximal femoral fractures (PFF) is dependent on successful pain management. Currently, the lumbar erector spinae plane block (LESPB) is in vogue and is associated with favorable outcomes in the postoperative period. Our study aimed to evaluate whether a LESPB provided equivalent analgesia and clinical outcomes as compared to LPB in PFN for PFF. Material and Methods: We compared LPBs [L] with LESPBs [E], with 30 patients in each group, performed from June 2020 to June 2021 for PFN in PFF's. The primary outcome of this study was the average NRS pain scores over 24 hours postoperatively. Secondary outcomes included pain scores at different time points over 24 hours, opioid consumption between the groups at 24 hours postoperatively, time for request of first parenteral analgesia, quadriceps weakness and adverse events. Results: The average pain scores over 24 hours were better in the LESPB group as compared to the LPB group (p = 0.02). Further, only n = 5 (30%) of patients in the LESPB group required opioids, while n = 13 (43.333%) of patients in the LPB group required opioids. Moreover, the median time for request of first parenteral analgesia was 615 (480–975) minutes, weakness of quadriceps function occurred in 2 patients in the L group, which recovered at 3rd and 5th month, respectively, with no incidences of hemodynamic instability and respiratory complications. Conclusions: This trial demonstrated that single bolus LESPB is superior to LPB in terms of analgesic outcomes, has low adverse events, and is an agreeable substitute for patients with PFF undergoing a PFN.


Beside advantages; recent advances, and cost reductions has stimulated interest in fiber optical sensing. So, researchers combined the product outgrowths of fiber optic telecommunications with optoelectronic devices to emerge fiber optic sensors. Numerous researches have been conducted in past decades using fiber optic sensors with different techniques. Intensity, phase, and wavelength based fiber optic sensors are the most widely used sensor types. In this paper, an overview of fiber optic sensors and their applications are presented.


In the present document the idea of building around the SIGNAL language and its environment, a methodology for the evaluation of implementation alternatives, design space exploration and implementation of R/T systems, is investigated. The driving force behind this effort is the desire to exploit the advantage SIGNAL in the domain of functional specification, as well as the numerous tools built around it. A Real-Time co-design methodology is proposed and the basic tools that will assist the user in the development process, are described. Such a methodology intends to bridge the existing gap in the SIGNAL environment between specification and actual implementation.


Employees are the major assets of any organization. Every organizations needs well trained employees to perform the activities effectively and efficiently. It is the continuous process of the organizations that helps to develop skills, knowledge, and abilities. Training and development leads the better performance of employees. The success of the organizations depends on employee performance. In this globalization era training is crucial for the competent and challenging business. It is the nerve that needs to help enhancing the quality of work life of employees and development the organization. Training and development is the crucial factors of enlightening the employee performance in most organizations. The purpose of the study is to find out the impact of training and development on employee performance. The study found out that employees are aware about training; employees are motivated through training; and training and development results into higher performance. The study suggested that training and development of all staff should be dynamically followed and made obligatory and the employer should give compulsory training programs for all employees in order to improve performance. The study decided that there is need for continuous training and development taking into deliberation the opposition, market dynamics, customer satisfaction, and net promoter score among others.


Since the construction in 1979 of a dam in the Logone floodplain in the Sahelo-Sudanian zone of Cameroon, annual inundations have decreased, reducing perennial veg- etation as important grazing source for nomadic herds and wildlife during the dry season. Presently, possibilities exist to release excess water for floodplain rehabilitation. In 1994 a pilot release was executed, reflooding 200 km2, to verify predicted advantages. Vegetation has been studied from 1984 onwards along a transect covering flooded, recently reflooded and desiccated parts of the floodplain. Since 1993, the floristic composition has also been monitored in a grid in the centre of the impact zone. Cover of perennial grasses, most notably Echinochloa pyramidalis and Oryza longistaminata increased from 41 to 61% in the reflooded zone. Vetiveria nigritana, a tussock grass that used to be dominant, disappeared slowly after the dam construction and has not shown a comeback. The cover of annual species, most notably Sorghum arundinaceum, a dominant annual grass only since the mid-1980s, decreased in the reflooded zone from 58% to 34%. If the present conver- sion rate of annual into perennial grassland is extrapolated, recovery towards a 100% perennial state may be reached after the 2003 flooding season. Apart from favourable climatic conditions, recovery might be dependent on the restoration of soil fertility, limiting an approach focusing on flooding depth only.


Pediatric blood and marrow transplantation (BMT) is one of the most challenging allopathic treatments a patient and family can be faced with. A large Midwest academic health center, and leader in pediatric BMT, made the decision in 2013 to incorporate integrative nursing as the care delivery model. Nurses trained in advanced nursing practice and specialized in integrative health and healing performed a deep-dive needs assessment, national benchmarking, a comprehensive review of the literature, and ultimately designed a comprehensive integrative program for pediatric patients and their families undergoing BMT. Four years after implementation, this paper discusses lessons learned, strengths, challenges and next phases of the program, including a research agenda. The authors conclude that it is feasible, acceptable and sustainable to implement a nurse-led integrative program within an academic health center-based pediatric BMT program.