Measuring the vibrating states of an artificial structure is an important approach to monitor the stability of the structure. However, the existing radar vibration measurement methods do not have enough azimuth resolution for measuring the vibrations in a relatively large scene, which contains multiple buildings or a large building. For such application scene, this paper proposes a vibration measurement method based on multiple-input multiple-output imaging radar system, which can achieve high azimuth resolution. Features of the proposed method are threefold: first of all, by utilizing the ability of quickly acquiring imaging data, the proposed method can achieve vibration measurement for the entire area simultaneously; second, in order to detect the positions of vibrating objects and decrease the time of vibration parameter estimation part, this paper proposes vibration similarity index to quantify the similarity between the detected signal and ideal vibration signal; at last, due to the limitations of the hardware performance, this paper adopts multiple signal classification least-squares estimation method to estimate the vibrating frequency and amplitude. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method, ideal point target simulation and vibrating calibrator experiment have been conducted, and the results show that the positions and the vibrating parameters of the vibrating objects fit well with the reference values. In addition, car experiment and bridge experiment have been carried out to verify the ability of the proposed method to measure the vibration of real artificial structures, which cannot be seen as point targets.


To assess the role of dynamic stress test in hypertension three normotensive and ten borderline or mild hypertensive subjects were studied by means of the intraarterial Oxford technique. In all of the subjects the intraarterial monitoring lasted for 12 hours; during the recording a graded maximal bicycle exercise test was performed. Five patients considered hypertensive on the basis of their office blood pressure readings showed normal average 12-hour intraarterial recordings. Systolic blood pressure increase during ergometry ranged from 22 to 57 mmHg; exertional pressure readings were strictly related to average 12 hours intraarterial blood pressure (r = 0.92; p less than 0.001). No correlation was found between resting blood pressure and the exertional pressure taken with the auscultatory method. These data indicate that the level that blood pressure attains during ergometry primarily depends on the resting blood pressure values, and therefore do not justified the separation between normo and hyperreactive subjects as some authors have done. In conclusion, dynamic exercise may be a useful diagnostic test for hypertension but has no predictive value for either the development of high blood pressure or the progression from borderline to more severe forms of hypertension.


Neck paragangliomas are orphan diseases with incidence 1:30 000-1:100 000. Life expectancy is poor in patients with distant metastasis (5-year overall survival 11.8%), whereas 5-year overall survival in patients with regional metastasis is 76.8-82.4%. Meanwhile, there is still no any reliable tool for prediction of malignant potential of paraganglioma. Above-mentioned data indicate an importance of early diagnosis and timely treatment of neck paragangliomas. Total resection of tumor in ablastic conditions is a gold standard of treatment. However, surgery is associated with a high risk of neurovascular complications and requires multidisciplinary approach. Nevertheless, new knowledge dedicated to different aspects of pathogenesis of neck paraganglioma, diagnosis and treatment arise every year. This review is devoted to modern data on neck paragangliomas.


Changes in the elderly due to the aging process caused decrease physical abilities and health conditions. These natural changes may cause depression and lower quality of life in the elderly. Spiritual experience may improve appraisal, reduce depression, and enhance the quality of life. This study aimed to estimate the relationship between spiritual experience, appraisal, depression, and quality of life in the elderly. A randomly selected sample of 100 elderly from 18 villages in Mojokerto East Java. An interview-based questionnaire was used to obtain information about spiritual experience, appraisal, psychological well-being and social relationships. The Index Barthel has used measure activities daily living among elderly. The rate of depression was measured by Geriatric Depression Scale. The relationships among variables were estimated using Structural Equation Model (SEM) run in AMOS program. Spiritual experience had the negative effect of depression (p=0.004). The appraisal was not significantly effected on the level of depression (p=0.13). Depression had the negative effect on quality of life (p=0.03). Spiritual experience had the positive effect on quality of life (p=0.000). Spiritual experience, appraisal, and depression have the positively significant influence on the quality of life, but appraisal was not as the determinant to depression. If the spiritual experience of elderly good, the elderly do not occur depression without any perception of elderly appraisal to a stressor. Keywords: Spiritual experience, Appraisal, Depression, Quality of life, Elderly


Background:
 Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD), is one of the major complications after organ transplantation. The aim of this study is to study the incidence, risk factors especially EBV status, histopathological types, management, and outcomes of PTLD in the pediatric groups.
 Methods:
 Following the PRISMA guideline, we performed a comprehensive literature search on PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and clinicaltrials.gov from the past ten years on May 04, 2020. We used the MeSH terms of organ transplantation and lymphoproliferative disorders. The initial search revealed 1741 articles. We excluded all case reports, case series, pre-clinical trials, review articles, and meta-analysis. We found twenty-eight studies. We extracted the data for baseline characteristics, recipient & donor EBV status, immunosuppression used, type & stage of PTLD, organ system involved, duration between transplant and PTLD diagnosis, treatment, and mortality.
 Results:
 We included 32 studies with a total (n) of 15597 pediatric patients after a solid organ transplant. 1210 (7.75%) patients developed PTLD, out of which 609 (50.33%) were male participants, 453 (37.4%) female, and 148 (12.23%) the gender was unknown. (Table 1) Data from 19 studies showed that among PTLD patients, 115 recipients & 76 donors tested positive for Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV), 187 recipients were seronegative and the rest were unknown at the time of transplant. Immunosuppressive drugs used after organ transplantation included; cyclosporine, tacrolimus, sirolimus, azathioprine, mycophenolate, prednisone, mTOR inhibitors, induction therapy with OKT3, IL-2 inhibitors (basiliximab, daclizumab) and anti-thymocyte/anti-lymphocyte globulin. In two studies, antiviral prophylaxis with ganciclovir/valganciclovir was achieved. Data from nine studies showed the median age at PTLD diagnosis was 6.8 years. L'Huillier et al. stated that the median duration for EBV positive recipients to develop PTLD was 1.92 years (0.35-3.09 years), compared to EBV negative recipients, which was 0.95 years (2.48-2.92 years). Overall, the median duration from organ transplant to the diagnosis of PTLD among 15 studies was 29.1 months, ranging from 0.9 months to 186 months. The histopathology of PTLD was confirmed via biopsy specimen showing predominance in monomorphic type, i.e; 265/1210 (21.9%), followed by polymorphic type with 140/1210 (11.5%), an early lesion with 46/1210 (3.80%), Non-Hodgkin lymphoma 28/1210 (2.3%), Hodgkin lymphoma 33/1210 (2.72%) and mixed type (polymorphic & monomorphic) 4/1210 (0.33%). Histopathological data for 694 patients were not available. Treatment of PTLD was achieved with reduction or complete cessation of immunosuppressive therapy, anti-CD20 antibody (rituximab), antiviral treatment with ganciclovir/valganciclovir, lymphoma treatment with chemotherapeutic agents, radiotherapy, and surgical resection. Gajarski et al. concluded that patients who received induction therapy [OKT3, IL-2 antagonists (basiliximab, daclizumab) and anti-thymocyte globulin] had significantly less PTLD development as compared to those who did not receive induction therapy, i.e., (2.9% vs. 4.9%) among 2374 total patients. According to Hayes Jr. et al., recipient EBV seronegativity continued to be associated with lower mortality hazard (HR 0.715; 95 % CI 0.547, 0.935; p = 0.014). Data from 19 studies showed the mortality rate among 494 PTLD diagnosed patients was 22.7% (112) with an overall survival of 84.2% respectively from three studies. Data from five studies showed that direct PTLD related mortality accounted for 63% (17/27) of deaths in PTLD diagnosed patients.
 Conclusion:
 Our analysis shows that post-transplant EBV positive recipients who undergo multiorgan transplants are more likely to develop PTLD compared to EBV positive recipients with single organ transplantation. The median duration from organ transplants to the diagnosis of PTLD ranged from months to years, however, this duration was reported to be less in EBV negative recipients compared to EBV positive recipients with organ transplants. The most common histological type of PTLD among pediatric groups was monomorphic and the least common was Classic Hodgkin lymphoma. Rituximab use in the treatment of PTLD was associated with a decreased use of alkylating agents and as a result, the side effects associated with these agents were reduced.

 Anwer: Incyte, Seattle Genetics, Acetylon Pharmaceuticals, AbbVie Pharma, Astellas Pharma, Celegene, Millennium Pharmaceuticals.: Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau.


We present a new gauge/gravity duality construction of the Klebanov-Strassler throat which takes corrections to the anomalous mass dimension proposed in [1] into account on the gauge theory side and both the dilaton and the axion run on the gravity side. The corresponding supergravity solutions are found using equations for type IIB flows with N=1 supersymmetry obtained in [2]. We find that magnetic couplings of the axion to D7-branes filling 4-d spacetime and wrapping 4-cycles at locations of duality transitions and invisible Dirac 8-branes whose worldvolume emanates from the worldvolume of the D7-branes are the sources for the runnings of the dilaton and the axion. Our construction provides the first explicit example of a gauge/gravity duality mapping with a running dilaton or a running axion which is an important component towards finding gravity duals to gauge theories with physically more interesting renormalization group flows such as pure confining gauge theories in four dimensions. The D7-branes also serve as gravitational source for Seiberg duality transitions. The supergravity background has distinct features which could be useful for constructing cosmological models and studying possibilities for probing stringy signatures from the early universe.


ABSTRACT Coronavirus disease (COVID) toes are pernio-like skin lesions associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. We observed pernio-like skin findings presenting after a Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, which significantly worsened after an infusion of rituximab. This suggests that the mechanism for COVID toes is interferon activation. Military providers may avoid unnecessary referrals for this self-limiting condition by anticipating this adverse effect.


Proceedings: AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010‐‐ Apr 17‐21, 2010; Washington, DC

Classically oncogenes are found associated with neoplastic diseases. More recently a connection with developmental syndromes has been reported. Here we describe a link between the most prevalent mutant form of B-RAF oncogene (B-RAF V600E) with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) that often precede lung cancer in men. By use of targeted expression of this mutant B-RAF in type II pneumocytes of mice we have developed an animal model for these devastating diseases that are epidemic worldwide. Constitutive expression of B-RAF V600E led to emphysema as early as late embryonic development that is persistent throughout adult life when it is often accompanied by chronic inflammation. Infiltrating immune cells include localized macrophages, mast cells, and leukocytes as in the case of human COPD. Inflammatory cell infiltration does not precede emphysema formation but is a prelude to tumor development. Consistently, ablation of RAG1 alleles did not eliminate emphysema or late tumor development. The oncogene involved in tumor formation is also B-RAF V600E because the most frequent mutations of spontaneous lung adenomas in mice were absent. These data support a model where the regenerative process triggered by continuous emphysema formation is the driving force that converts B-RAF V600E from a latent to an active oncogene in this target cell type. Our data suggest that B-RAF V600E is not a complete oncogene in type II cells and requires promoting conditions that can be provided by emphysema.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3227.


Since decompression from depth is known to produce a fall in platelet count, the effect of altitude decompression and high-altitude exposure on platelets was investigated. Sixteen subjects decompressed without hypoxia to 20,000 ft simulated altitude for two hours showed a significant (P less than 0.01) drop in circulating platelet count of approximately 10% for three days following decompression. Four of five subjects similarly exposed had a shortened autologous platelet survival compared to that prior to exposure. Subjects exposed to 9,800 ft and then 17,600 ft in a mountain environment showed a significant mean decrease in platelet count on day 2 of 7% and 25% respectively, which had returned to control by day 5. Nonhypoxic and hypoxic decompressed rabbits which received homologous chromium-51-labeled platelets had an increase in lung radioactivity compared with sea-level controls. It is postulated that altitude decompression produces platelet reductions similar to these seen after decompression from depth, and that platelets sequester in the pulmonary vascular bed.


INTRODUCTION: With the objective of reducing the rate of readmissions of discharged for COPD exacerbation, our chronic outpatient respiratory care unit (UCCRA) was created. METHODS: Observational study in which we compared data of patient included in UCCRA from January to October 2015 with patients with not home care, and with the patients included in UCCRA in the same period in 2014 with only telephone follow-up. Patients were admitted in UCCRA if they fit our criteria, based on our Readmission Risk Scale (RRS) that incorporates these variables: age, exacerbations (hospitalization or not) in the last year, FEV1, bacterial colonization, chronic bronchitis, Karnofsky index and cardiovascular comorbidity. Patients were included in UCCRA if they had suffered > 2 hospitalizations in the last year or > 7 points in our RRS. RESULTS: We included 399 patients, 234 patients were discharged after an exacerbation of COPD in 2015, with a mean age (MA) of 71.8 years, mean stay (MS) of 7.4 days and 13.3% of readmissions. 108 were included in UCCRA, who had significantly higher MS and previous exacerbations, reduced FEV1 and Karnofsky, and higher percentage of readmissions than not included (22.2 vs 6.3%). Patients with home care in 2015, compared with 2014 with telephone follow-up (165 patients, MA: 72.6, MS: 6.2), had more previous non-hospital exacerbations (p CONCLUSIONS: UCCRA with home care was valid to reduce readmissions in COPD patients, compared with telephone follow-up. Previous hospitalizations was the variable that better predict readmission.


Understanding the regulation and control of the expression of genes encoding metabolic enzymes is crucial for production using microbes. To overcome technical difficulties involved in identifying regulatory network systems, we designed a DNA motif finding procedure combining transcriptome and genome sequence data. Here, we used the ArcAB two-component system of Escherichia coli, which controls genes involved in the TCA cycle and energy metabolism, as a model to identify DNA motifs involved in gene-expression regulation. DNA-array data were used to extract up-regulated genes from ΔarcA and ΔarcB E. coli strains, and the upstream sequences were subjected to DNA-motif finding. Sequence similarity and conserved residues identified the known ArcA-binding motif and a novel DNA-motif candidate that was estimated to be related to YdcI, a putative LysR-type transcriptional regulator. A hypothetical YdcI-binding motif was found upstream of the gltA gene, suggesting that YdcI might control the carbon flux into the TCA cycle. To verify this, l-glutamic-acid production and citrate synthase activity in the ydcI gene-amplified strain were investigated. Our findings suggested that YdcI is a transcription factor that regulates the expression of gltA and other genes, and controls the carbon flux into the TCA cycle.


ABSTRACT Macroautophagy/autophagy is a homeostatic process delivering cytoplasmic targets, including damaged organelles, to lysosomes for degradation; however, it is not completely understood how compromised endomembranes are recognized by the autophagic apparatus. We have described previously that the TRIM family of proteins act as receptors for selective autophagy. In this study we uncovered the property of TRIMs to directly interact with members of the family of cytosolic lectins termed galectins. Galectins patrol the cytoplasm and recognize compromised membranes. We show that TRIM16 uses LGALS3 (galectin 3) to detect damaged lysosomes and phagosomes. TRIM16 assembles the core autophagic machinery and is found in protein complexes with MTOR and TFEB, thus regulating their activity to set in motion endomembrane quality control. The TRIM16-LGALS3 system plays a key role in autophagic homeostasis of lysosomes and in the control of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in vivo.


Three new types of multiple-valued programmable logic arrays (MVPLAs) are proposed. Type 1 MVPLA consists of signed literal generators, a MIN array, and MAX arrays. Type 2 MVPLA consists of signed literal generators, an AND array and an OR array, and signed output encoders. Type 3 MVPLA is a two-level PLA which combines the type 2 MVPLA with a two-valued PLA with signed two-bit decoders. The principle of fast multiple-valued arithmetic operation units (addition, absolute value subtraction, and minimization) are presented, and their design is also discussed.<<ETX>>


The Government wishes to ensure, that the energy companies can continue their excellent work in a liberalized market, in a responsible way. That is the reason for introducing a new Mining Act: to integrate and update the current multitude of regulations; to introduce regulations governing the detrimental effects of soil movements; to formulate regulations for gas storage and the removal of platforms. A new contribution system will be introduced, easing the financial burden for some mining companies and in any case simplifying it for the entire industry.


Female genital mutilation (FGM) consists in a non-therapeutic removal of part or all of the external genitalia and /or injury to the external genitalia. This practice in common in a few African countries and in Middle East. Mass immigration of African women to Europe in the past decade has brought the problems of FGM to these countries. There are four types of FGM. Many early (hemorrhage, infectious) and/or late (uro-gynecologic and obstetric) complications can be associated. The dermoid clitoridia cyst is the most frequently complication. Rigorous obstetrical labor monitoring is not possible. Therefore labor is longer and there are many delivery complications. The treatment is based on Gabbar's deinfibulation surgery which can be proposed when there are uro-gynecologic complications, or during pregnancy and labor. This method can lead to spontaneous vaginal delivery without perineal trauma. The aim of this article was to share our experience and inform obstetrician-gynecologists about FGM.


Author(s): Breslow, Alexander | Advisor(s): Tullsen, Dean M | Abstract: The multicore era has initiated a move to ubiquitous parallelization of software. In the process, cores have scaled out but the memory subsystem resources have not kept up. Memory subsystem contention within and between applications makes it challenging to extract performance scaling that matches the increase in the number of cores. This dissertation explores the diagnosis of memory subsystem contention, identifies associated performance and energy efficiency opportunities, and suggests techniques and optimizations to both precisely measure and reduce the contention. The dissertation begins by exploring contention within a single and between multiple, large-scale, distributed scientific applications and moves to exploring the impact of memory subsystem contention on graphics processing units, accelerators that are seeing increasing usage in both commercial data centers and scientific clusters. The findings of the studies demonstrate that memory subsystem contention is a serious impediment to achieving high performance and energy efficiency but also that relatively simple techniques that control job placement, resource sharing, tuning of parallelism, and algorithmic optimizations at the application level provide significant opportunities to improve performance and energy efficiency.The dissertation comprises four distinct works. (1) It begins by quantifying the performance and energy efficiency opportunities afforded by co-scheduling large-scale distributed scientific applications within a supercomputer. (2) From there, it studies the design of a prototype system for dynamically quantifying inter-application interference between co-located supercomputer jobs and uses those estimates to reform the accounting system to more fairly reflect end-user utility. (3) Next, it explores performance and energy scaling of analytic database workloads on graphics processors and finds that disabling whole compute units can reduce query execution time and reduce energy by throttling back the number of threads at any instant that contend for shared hardware resources. (4) The dissertation ends by describing the Horton table, a hash table that accelerates in-memory data-intensive computing by more efficiently using hardware cache and memory bandwidth.


Purpose: To explore the retinal and choroidal thicknesses (RT, CT), as measured using enhanced depth imaging (EDI) optical coherence tomography (OCT, Spectralis) in highly myopic eyes and its relationship with visual function. Materials and Methods: Prospective, case-control, noninterventional clinical study. CT was measured by EDI-OCT in highly myopic eyes (≥6 dpt) without any macular diseases and age-matched control eyes. A complete ophthalmological examination, visual acuity assessment and MP1 microperimetry were obtained. Results: 38 myopic (15 M/23 F, mean age 51 ± 8.9 years) and 21 control eyes (5 M/16 F, mean age 50 ± 5.4 years) were included. The myopic mean refractive error was -13.3 ± 4.9 dpt and axial length 29.2 ± 2.2 mm. The mean best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was lower in highly myopic than in control eyes (77.3 ± 9.25 vs. 84.8 ± 0.6 letters, p = 0.0001, respectively) as was the mean retinal sensitivity (MRS; 16.32 ± 2.6 vs. 19.9 ± 0.2 dB, p < 0.0001). While RT was similar between groups (291.5 ± 24.2 vs. 283.6 ± 13.9 µm, p = 0.06, respectively), subfoveal CT was thinner in highly myopic compared to control eyes (114.3 ± 78.5 vs. 272.6 ± 110.2 µm, p < 0.0001). A significant relationship was found between subfoveal CT and MRS (R2 = 0.22; p = 0.003) and BCVA (R2 = 0.13; p = 0.027). Conclusions: Macular function is reduced in highly myopic eyes without any visible macular diseases compared to controls, and a significant proportion of the macular function variability seems to be related to a reduced CT.


Abstract By using the embedding techniques for reconstructing chaotic attractors,this paper proposes a macroscopic information entropy approach for identifying the delay in a chaotic time series sampled from a continuous time system.The effectiveness of the proposed approach is illustrated through numerical experiments.


The proximal cecum of 5- and 13-wk-old chickens takes up L-proline (Pro) by two saturable pathways that differ in their requirement of Na+. The kinetic properties of Pro influx in cecal segments incubated in Na(+)-free conditions, have been studied and the effect of HgCl2 on the uptake process has been tested. Experiments were carried out using an in vitro everted-sleeve method. Kinetic parameters were estimated by nonlinear regression analysis. One min Pro fluxes in tissues incubated in presence of HgCl2 fit a straight line, indicating that a Na-independent saturable component was inhibited. Estimated Kd* values are the same in 5- and 13-wk-old chickens, 0.023 +/- 0.001 and 0.027 +/- 0.001 microliters.mg-1 x min-1, respectively. HgCl2-sensitive fluxes fit a Michaelis hyperbola, with similar Km* values, 4.85 +/- 1.86 (5-wk) and 9.47 +/- 3.0 (13-wk) mmol/l. However, Vmax* in 5-wk chickens (0.662 +/- 0.053 nmol.mg-1 x min-1) is higher than in 13-wk birds (0.420 +/- 0.039), in accordance with previous results. The present data give further support to the existence of a Na-independent L-proline carrier in the chicken proximal cecum which is inhibitable by HgCl2.


Edited transcripts are provided of two public meetings sponsored by the Division of Radiation Programs and Earth Sciences of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Occupational Radiation Protection Branch. The first meeting, held on December 3, 1985, included nine presentations covering ultrasensitive techniques for measurement of uranium in biological specimens. Topics included laser-spectrometric techniques for uranium bioassay, correlation of urinary uranium samples with air sampling results in industrial settings, delayed neutron counting, laser-kinetic phosphometry, isotope dilution mass spectrometry, resonance ionization spectroscopy, fission track analysis, laser-induced fluorescence, and costs of sampling and processing. The nine presentations of the second meeting dealt with the nephrotoxicity of uranium. Among the topics presented were the physiology of the kidney, the effects of heavy metals on the kidney, animal studies in uranium nephrotoxicity, comparisons of kidney histology in nine humans, renal effects in uranium mill workers, renal damage from different uranium isotopes, and Canadian studies on uranium toxicity. Discussions following the presentations are included in the edited transcripts. 30 refs., 9 figs., 9 tabs.


The authors consider the problem of multipath exploitation on adaptive radar detection of point-like targets in a multipath environment where a priori information is available. A new approach to exploit multipath returns with knowledge-aided adaptive target-detection regime is proposed. The authors model the received signal as the sum of direct-path and reflected-path return under the assumption of a zero-mean complex circular Gaussian noise with an unknown covariance matrix. The advantage of the proposed method is exploiting multipath returns with a priori knowledge of the reflecting environment, so that it has the knowledge of the reflected steering vector for a known actual direct-path steering vector. A Generalised Likelihood Ratio Test (GLRT) for the corresponding hypothesis testing problem is derived. It is shown that the devised detector also secures the Constant False Alarm Rate (CFAR) property regarding the unknown parameters of the noise. Performance comparison of the proposed detector with the existing well-known adaptive detectors is provided. It is presented that better-detection performance can be achieved by exploiting multipath with knowledge-aided adaptive radar. It is also observed that the devised detector has a small performance degradation in case of weak multipath return.


WDM transmission system capacity growth creates a need to increase EDFA output power. One of the most attractive solutions in this area is the usage of ytterbium doped fiber (EYDF), which ensures low non-linearity, without affecting the amplification efficiency. In this research master-oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) was modelled using different ytterbium co-doped fiber lengths: 10, 15, 20 and 25m and pumping at 975 nm wavelength. Obtained results have shown the usage of 10m and 15m long ytterbium co-doped fibers ensures stable and significantly high output power values up to 4 W with pretty low noise factor which stays is in range of 5 dB.


A mechanistic study of the thermal Garratt-Braverman/[1,5]-H shift of ene-diallene 6 leading to alkenes (E)-8 and (Z)-8 is reported. The product ratio was found to be temperature-independent and does not agree with the computed energy barriers (i.e., TS2E(⧧) and TS2Z(⧧)). On the basis of experimental and DFT computational results, we propose a mechanism that is strongly controlled by nonstatistical dynamic effects.


Assessment of changes in carbon stock from land use and land cover change in necessary for carbon emissions/removals monitoring and enable countries to comply in line with the Good Practice Guidance of IPCC. This study aimed to estimate and map the historical changes in carbon emission and removal from land use and land cover change from 1986 to 2016 in Sudan savannah ecological zone of Ghana. Nested plot design was applied for field measurement, and Random forest algorithm was used to classify images. The zone was stratified into four Districts and each District further stratified into various land use and land cover (LULC) classes. Emission factors were determined for each LULC. Activity data were obtained from the spatial analysis. The overall carbon released from forest degradation and deforestation was found to be 554,684.96 Mg CO2 or 77.19% with 163,956.93 Mg or 31.84% removed. The inter-annual changes exhibited a decrease from 1986 to 1999, 1999 to 2006 and 2006 to 2016 with value being 642,342.79, 545,125.53 and 445,142.17 Mg CO2, respectively. More CO2 was released from forest degradation and in the area where cropland and forest have been converted to shrub/grassland; whereas carbon was removed in the area where shrub/grassland has been converted to cropland and/or forest land. However, more carbon was recorded in cropland compared to forest and shrub/grassland, which explains the difference in emission factor from carbon. Based on this finding reforestation and REDD+ implementation will be an efficient strategy for sustainable development in the Sudan Savannah ecological zone. In addition, farmers should be encouraged to maintain more trees on their farms to compensate for the forest loss.


Introduction and How to Use this Book - Dr Ged Hall and Dr Jo Longman What is a Postgraduate Research Degree? - Professor Stuart Powell and Professor Howard Green (Postgraduate Directions) Section I: Considering Becoming a Postgraduate Research Student in the UK and Securing an Offer Why Do a Postgraduate Research Degree? - Simon P Felton How Much will it cost? - Dr Ged Hall and Dr Jo Longman Where can I get Funding? - Professor Mary Bownes and Robert Lawrie Sources of Information About Where to Do a Postgraduate Research Degree and How to Choose the Best Institution Writing a Research Proposal, Securing an Offer and Applying for Funding - Professor Sharon Monteith and Helen Foster Section II: Getting Your Research Degree The Supervision Process and the Nature of the Research Degree - Dr Lucinda Becker and Professor Pam Denicolo Managing the research process and the supervisory relationship - Dr Lucinda Becker and Professor Pam Denicolo Searching and Reviewing the Literature and Information Skills - Dr Chris Hart Research Ethics - Dr John R Gibbins Getting Started with Writing - Dr Rowena Murray Plagiarism, Intellectual Property Rights and Copyright - Jude Carroll, Chris Luton and Laurence Bebbington Transferable Skills Training and Assessing Your Training Needs - Ellen Pearce Presentation Skills - Dr Helen Lawrence Academic Conference - Dr Martyn Kingsbury and Dr Roberto Di Napoli Teaching as Part of Your Professional Development - Dr Kate Exley Beating the Research Blues - Dr Steve Hutchinson Writing Your Thesis - Dr Joanna Channell Submission and Completion - Dr Fiona Denny The Viva - Dr Penny Tinkler and Dr Carolyn Jackson Section III: Moving on from Your Research Degree What Can Research Students do? - Dr Sara Shinton Identifying and valuing your transferable skills - Clare Jones Staying in academia - Professor Wyn Grant Research Outside Academia - Dr Seema Sharma Leaving academia and research - Sarah Musson Entrepreneurship - Dr Richard Lilley


The coordination chemistry of four enantiopure tetradentate bis(iminoquinoline) ligands with nickel(II) salts is reported. The previously reported ligands CBQ, CPQ, BBQ, and BPQ result from the condensation of (1R,2R)-cyclohexyldiamine or (R)-BINAM with two equivalents of 2-formylbenzo[h]quinoline or 8-isopropyl-2-quinolinecarboxaldehyde {CBQ = (1R,2R)-cyclohexanediamine-N,N'-bis(benzo[h]quinoline-2-ylmethylene), CPQ = (1R,2R)-cyclohexanediamine-N,N'-bis[[(8-isopropyl)-2-quinolinyl]methylene], BBQ = [(R)-1,1'-binaphthalene]-2,2'-diamine-N,N'-bis(benzo[h]quinoline-2-ylmethylene), BPQ = [(R)-1,1'-binaphthalene]-2,2'-diamine-N,N'-bis[[(8-isopropyl)-2-quinolinyl]methylene]}. Reaction of NiI(2) with the (1R,2R)-cyclohexyl ligands gives the mononuclear distorted trigonal-bipyramidal (TBP) complexes [Ni(N(3)-CBQ)I(2)] and [Ni(N(3)-CPQ)I(2)]. Incomplete iodide abstraction from [Ni(N(3)-CPQ)I(2)] with AgOTf leads to partial replacement of the iodide with hydroxide from adventitious water to give [Ni(N(3)-CPQ)I(1.6)(OH)(0.4)] (distorted TBP). The corresponding reaction with [Ni(N(3)-CBQ)I(2)] again fails to remove all of the iodide, resulting instead in conversion to the syn dinuclear [Ni(2)(CBQ)(μ-X)(2)I(2)] (X = Cl(0.925)I(0.075)) complex, where chloride abstraction from the solvent (CH(2)Cl(2)) has resulted in a mixed halide system and the metal centers are square-pyramidal. Reaction of Ni(OTf)(2) with CBQ leads to the isolation of the octahedral cation [Ni(CMBQ)(2)](2+), with CMBQ [(1R,2R)-cyclohexanediamine-mono-N-(benzo[h]quinoline-2-ylmethylene)] being the partial hydrolysis product of CBQ. [Ni(CMBQ)(2)][OTf](2) crystallizes as a 1:1 mixture of P and M helical diastereomers. The coordination of NiI(2) with the (R)-BINAM derived ligands yields the anti dinuclear P-helical complexes [Ni(2)(BBQ)(μ-I)(2)I(2)] and [Ni(2)(BPQ)(μ-I)(2)I(2)]: one nickel ion is coordinated in each bidentate iminoquinoline pocket and the geometry at the metal centers is distorted square-pyramidal. Characterisation by (1)H NMR, UV-Vis, electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectroscopy, combustion analysis, and HRMS is reported in addition to structural and halide abstraction studies.


A field experiment was conducted during zaid season 2022 at the Crop Research Farm, Department of Agronomy, Naini Agricultural Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and sciences. Prayagraj (UP), India. The aim was to study the effect of basal application of sulphur and foliar application of micronutrients on growth and yield of summer sesame. Treatment consisted of application of 10, 20, 30 kg/ha of sulphur and micronutrients as foliar spray (0.5% zinc, 0.5% iron, 0.2% boron). There were 10 treatments, each repeated 3 times. The soil in the experimental plot was sandy-loamy in texture, nearly neutral in soil response (pH 7.8), poor in organic carbon (0.35%), available N (163.42 kg/ha), available P (21.96 kg/ha), kg/ha). And available K (256.48 kg/ha). As a result, sulphur 30 kg/ha + zinc 0.5% (treatment -7), plant height (95.1 cm), plant dry weight (20.48 g/plant), number of capsules/plant (52.9), high number of seeds/ Capsules (63.2), test weight (3.26 g), seed yield (1.41 t/ha), stover yield (6.44 t/ha), Harvest index (17.92%).


Fifty-two dairy calves were blocked by birth date and, within each block, randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatments to investigate the effects of incremental levels of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO(3)) on IgG metabolism. Treatments were (1) colostrum replacer (CR)+0 g of NaHCO(3) (control); (2) CR+15 g of NaHCO(3); (3) CR+30 g of NaHCO(3); or (4) CR+45 g of NaHCO(3). Calves were fed colostrum replacer (>200 g of IgG) in one feeding within 45 min of birth (0 h) and 2 L of milk replacer at 12, 24, 36, and 48 h. Only calves born in calving pens from multiparous cows with no dystocia were used in this study. Blood samples were taken at 0, 6, 12, 24, and 48 h postpartum, and serum was analyzed for IgG using radial immunoassay and bicarbonate using spectrophotometry. Feeding increasing levels of sodium bicarbonate had negative linear effects on IgG concentration, IgG apparent efficiency of absorption, and IgG area under the curve, primarily due to the effect of the highest dose of NaHCO(3) (45 g). Sodium bicarbonate treatments had no effect on serum bicarbonate concentration. However, area under the curve of serum bicarbonate increased linearly with the amount of NaHCO(3) fed.


Losing your keys? Losing your patience? Losing your mind? If you are a midlife woman having difficulties, the solution may be increasing your estrogen level. More and more research studies are showing beneficial effects of hormone replacement on mental functioning. Women taking estrogen showed increased brain activation and reinstated patterns observed in younger subjects performing memory tasks, according to a recent study.


Up to the seventies the surgical treatment of supra- and bicondylar femoral fractures was difficult and showed a lot of complications. In most studies a conservative treatment was recommended. In the least 30 years the clinical outcome after surgical treatment improved. This was a result of the development of new implants and improved surgical techniques. However, today the primary surgical treatment is the therapy of choice. We reviewed from 1986 to 2001 n = 121 distal femoral fractures which were in 32 cases treated with a Condylar Blade Plate and in 10 cases with a less invasive stabilisation system (LISS). The final results after condylar blade plating were rated using the system that was described by Neer. The averaged follow up time was 9 years. Low postoperative infection rates and in 75% excellent and satisfactory results combined with low cost are the reference for the evaluation of the LISS results. While in our owen series according to the literature there were no significant better functional results for the LISS group than for the Condylar Blade Plate group there were only few autologous bone grafts necessary. Due to the angle-stable self-drilling and self-cutting screws and the Internal-Fixater Principle the LISS has some mechanical and biological edge on the condylar blade plate.


1 Ofuji S, Ogino A, Horio T, Ohseko T. Eosinophllic pustular folliculitis. Acta Derm Venereol (Stockh) 1970; 50: 195-203. 2 Malanin G, Helander I. Eosinophllic pustular folliculitis (Ofuji's disease): response to dapsone but not to isotretinoin therapy. / Am Acad Dermatol 1989; 20: 1121. 3 Lee ML. Tham SN, Ng SK. Eosinophilic pustular folliculitis (Ofuji's disease) with response to indomethacin. Dermatx)Iogy 1993; 186: 210-12. 4 Harris DWS, Ostlere L, Buckley C et al. Eosinophilic pustular folliculitis in an HIV-positive man; response to cetirizine. Br J Dermatol 1992; 126: 392-4. 5 Berbis P, Janovici E, Lebreuil G et al. Eosinophilic pustular folliculitis (Ofuji's disease); efficacy of isotretinoin. Dermatologka 1989; 179:214-16. 6 Pomeuf M, Gulllot B. Bameon G. Guilhou JJ. Eosinophilic pustular folliculitis responding to UVB therapy. / Am Acad Dermatol 1993; 29: 259-60. 7 Thomson AW, Milton JI, Aldridge RD et al. Inhibition of drugInduced eosinophiUa by cyclosporin A. Scand J Immunol 1986; 24: 163-70. 8 Shupack JL, Kenny C, Jondreau L et al. Decreased peripheral blood eosinophll counts in severe psoriatic patients treated with lowdose cyclosporin A. Dermatology 1992; 185: 202-4. 9 Andreano ]M, Kantor GR, Bergfeld WF ef al. Eosinophllic cellulitis and eosinophllic pustular folliculitis. /Am Acad Dermatol 1989; 20: 934-6. 10 Horiguchl Y. Mltani T, Ofuji S. The ultrastructural histopathology of eosinophllic pustular folliculitis. / Dermatol 1992; 19: 201-7. to leg ulceration complicating Klinefelter's syndrome, but also occur in association with chronic venoushypertension. Impairment of fibrinolysis in the quiescent phase of venous leg ulceration may indicate that it plays a role in the pathogenesis of the condition, and perhaps sheds further light on the factors involved in the aetiology of this disorder.


Clause and phrase construction is one of the essential components needs to be mastered by English students in order to support their writing. However, this is the problem that students still encounter. The purposes of this study are to figure out students' difficulties and the causes of the difficulties in reducing adjective clauses into participial phrases. 30 students were selected using cluster random sampling technique from a population of 162 second-year English Department students at Universitas Negeri Padang. Data gained from questionnaire were analyzed using quantitative approach and descriptive method. The findings demonstrate that understanding adjective clauses (68.8%), using pronouns (64.6%), and constructing verbs (62.8%) are three aspects students found the most problematic. In addition, using relative pronouns is a bit challenging for them (46.6%). It was also found out that these difficulties are significantly influenced by the instructional method utilized (80%), students' motivation (66.3%), their educational background (65.8%), and learning strategies (63.1%). Indeed, family environment (54.6%) has a fair impact on it as well.


The study of expression of proteins in organisms on exposure to various environmental challenges gives clues for understanding on how these challenges affects and copes with the biological system. A study was undertaken to understand the proteome profile of Clarias magur, exposed to abiotic stress of water temperature, to find how fishes evolve adaptive strategies towards stress induced by unforeseen vagaries of climate change. Specimens of Clarias magur were exposed to high temperature sub-lethal water stress of 37°C for 60 days and the muscle proteome profiling was analysed through Liquid Chromatography –Mass Spectroscopy for qualitative differential profiling . The study provides an understanding of different proteins expressed as adaptative challenge to the environment. This is the first study to see proteome expression in Clarias magur through Liquid Chromatography –Mass Spectroscopy


Abstract Resilience thinking – an approach for understanding and managing change – is increasingly central to climate change adaptation law and policy. Yet the influence of adaptation law and policy on the distribution of climate impacts is often overlooked in studies of socio-ecological resilience to climate change. This article demonstrates how environmental justice scholarship helps to address this gap in the literature relating to adaptation law and resilience. Drawing on existing literature, the article identifies four principles to promote resilience and justice through climate adaptation laws. Climate adaptation laws must (i) prepare for, and respond to, change; (ii) address the distributive effects of climate change and adaptation; (iii) promote participation in adaptation processes; and (iv) cross sectors and scales. Each criterion can be implemented in part through existing legal processes, but might also be further supported by incremental law reform. Developing both resilience and justice dimensions will enhance the effectiveness of adaptation laws in addressing climate impacts.


This paper provides the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) complimentary cumulative distribution function (CCDF) and average data rate of the normalized SNR-based scheduling in an uplink cellular network using stochastic geometry. The uplink analysis is essentially different from the downlink analysis in that the per-user transmit power control is performed and that the interferers are composed of at most one transmitting user in each cell other than the target cell. In addition, as the effect of multi-user diversity varies from cell to cell depending on the number of users involved in the scheduling, the distribution of the number of users is required to obtain the averaged performance of the scheduling. This paper derives the SINR CCDF relative to the typical scheduled user by focusing on two incompatible cases, where the scheduler selects a user from all the users in the corresponding Voronoi cell or does not select users near cell edges. In each case, the SINR CCDF is marginalized over the distribution of the number of users involved in the scheduling, which is asymptotically correct if the BS density is sufficiently large or small. Through the simulations, the accuracies of the analytical results are validated for both cases, and the scheduling gains are evaluated to confirm the multi-user diversity gain.


This paper seeks to present a research findings related to the philosophical foundations of citizenship education in terms of the opinions of two of the most important contemporary philosophers of the post-structuralism school - Derrida and Foucault - from a comparative perspective. The article has six sections: The first section deals with the necessity and purpose of the research. In the second section, a brief overview of the theoretical foundations and background of research topic is explored. The third section briefly explains the research methodology. The fourth section is devoted to the findings of the study, which consists of two parts: The first section presents a rotational evolutionary model of the relationship between philosophical schools, political system, educational system, social education and citizenship education. The researchers then show how Derrida and Foucault - while criticizing authoritarian political systems - view the main dimensions of education systems in the service of citizenship education. The fifth section is concerned with examining the similarities and differences of two philosophers' opinions on citizenship education. The paper ends with a conclusion.


Despite the massive resources and intensified interventions in Kenya desired declines in HIV and AIDS infections have not been achieved. Unfortunately, many studies indicate there is a gap between level of knowledge and practice/behaviour among the youth despite the intensive information campaigns. Successful behaviour change strategies require an in-depth understanding of the factors influencing young people to adopt safe sexual behaviour. The general objective of this study therefore was to explore the persuasive factors that influence the youth in their response to HIV and AIDS preventive messages in Kenya. The preferred theoretical frame work for this study was extended parallel process model (EPPM) which addresses how individuals respond to health risk messages. The sample was drawn from seven public universities in Kenya, where a total of 244 second year students participated. Triangulation was the preferred method for data collection with the three preferred techniques being focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and a survey questionnaire. 244 students filled in the questionnaires ,48 focus group discussions conducted each with an average of five participants and 192 students participated in the in- depth interviews. The results revealed data consistent with the theory in that perceived susceptibility, self-efficacy, response efficacy, were the only significant predictors of condom use among university students utilizing logistic regression techniques. However, for both the abstinence and condom use messages to be adopted by the youth, there is need to eliminate the perceived barriers that hinder behaviour change. Therefore, according to the data analysed, HIV and AIDS prevention campaign messages focused upon the university students should focus on making them feel realistically susceptible to getting infected with HIV and AIDS and also making them believe they are able to easily and feasibly use the preventive measures advocated for by the campaign messages.


This is a review of the more important theoretical and experimental results or intensity-dependent refractive index in relation to self-focusing and nonlinear scattering of light in liquids. The part played within the framework of the molecular-statistical theory of these processes by radial and angular molecular correlations, molecular redistribution, various nonlinear polarizations induced by fluctuations of electric fields of neighboring molecular multipoles, and geometrical shape of the molecules, is discussed. Numerical evaluations of the various contributions are given and compared with the available experimental data. It is found that while investigation of optically induced nonlinearities in gases and rarefied substances yields only values of linear and nonlinear optical polarizabilities of atoms or molecules, work on condensed systems yields information on the values of molecular quadrupoles and octupoles as well as on the functions accounting for molecular correlations of various kinds.


In this paper, a new E-payment system based on quantum blind and group signature is proposed. Existing E-payment systems based on classical cryptography cannot guarantee the security with the emergency of quantum computers. Compared to the existing E-payment system, our quantum E-payment scheme could protect not only the user's anonymity but also the inner structure of customer group. In addition, our system adopts quantum key distribution, one-time pad, and audit mechanism to ensure unconditional security.


A field experiment was conducted at the Agricultural Research Station, Ladol, Gujarat, India, on summer cowpea (Vigna unguiculata [L.] Walp.) to study the Effect of irrigation scheduling and nutrition on yield attributes, yield and economics. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with four replications during summer season (March to June), 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16. The experiment consisted three irrigation treatments viz. IW/CPE ratio 0.8, 1.0 & 1.2 and three fertility levels namely, 100% RDF (25:50:00 NPK kg/ha), 100% RDF + Rhizobium + PSB and 75% RDF + Rhizobium + PSB. Among the different irrigation levels crop irrigated at 1.2 IW/CPE ratio recorded significantly higher pod numbers/plant (~51), pod weight/plant (206.9 g), length of pod (14.2 cm) and pod yield (10.79 t/ha) of cowpea as compared to IW/CPE ratio of 0.8. The increase in green pod yield of cowpea due the application of irrigation water at 1.2 IW/CPE ratio was 31% and 4% higher compared to crop irrigated at 0.8 IW/CPE ratio and 1.0 IW/CPE ratio, respectively. Cowpea fertilized with 100% RDF + Rhizobium + PSB produced the significantly higher yield of green pod (10.34 t/ ha) over 100% RDF (25:50:00 NPK kg/ha) (9.06 t/ha) and remain at par with 75% RDF + Rhizobium + PSB (10.02 t/ha). The pod yield increased with the application of 100% RDF + Rhizobium + PSB was 14% and 3% higher as compared to 100% RDF and 75% RDF + Rhizobium + PSB, respectively. Cowpea irrigated at IW/CPE ratio of 1.0 and fertilized with 100% RDF + Rhizobium + PSB had resulted in highest net benefit: cost ratios of 2.74 and 2.70, respectively.


The present study was conducted to develop an ecofriendly and effective organo-piscicide. Here piscicidal effect of locally available plant Antigonon leptopus (Hook. and Arn.) Against common freshwater air breathing (Bloch,1793)and their behavioral changes were investigated. The test fish was exposed to five different concentrations of fresh leaves aqueous extract (10,20, …50ppm) for toxicity test remaining one a control. Attempts had been made to access the impact of 24h LC 100 of the aqueous extract of A. leptopus leaves on the test fish Chana punctatus . To determine the LC 100 of the leaf extracts, relationship between observed and expected rate of mortalities of the test fish and dose-mortality relationships, Chi-square and ANOVA tests were done. This study indicates that the leaf extract of the plant species may be used as potential organo-piscicide to remove the unwanted weed fish species from the fish culture ponds as an environmentally safe and effective phyto-piscicide necessary for aquaculture management. ANOVA, Chi-square test, Ichthyotoxicants


Scalability is a stringent requirement to every evolving information system. One of the key solutions to the scalability is caching. Most distributed object caching systems to date offer only coarse-grained mechanism in which an entire servant object graph is cached at once. Doing this minimizes cache miss frequency but imposes the long latency of cache miss resolution especially when the servant object graph is large or when the network load is high. Hence, it is preferable to compromise between this pair of performance metrics. Using fine-grained caching approach in which only necessary parts of the servant object graph are cached can satisfy both metrics at the same time. In this paper, we propose a framework that supports the incremental and automatic finegrained caching of Java objects at run time in transparent manner to client. This goal is efficiently achieved by means of proxy and hook mechanisms. Experimental results demonstrate that our framework incurs the latency of cache miss resolution by only one third of a remote invocation latency of Java RMI. Furthermore, the proposed framework can deliver cache hit performance closely to that of Java local invocation's while outperforming Java RMI 1400 times.


Tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIIs) in HER2+ breast cancer (BC) play an important role in treatment with anti-HER2 therapy. However, the precise mechanisms of how TIIs exert anti-tumor activity remain unclear. Neuropilin-1 (NRP-1) on macrophages regulates immune functions in various cancers and thus we explored the role of NRP-1 expressing macrophages in anti-tumor activity in HER2+ BC. We show that NRP-1 on macrophages regulated the migration of and chemokine secretion from macrophages in vitro. Furthermore, in vivo studies using a humanized mouse model showed that NRP-1 knockdown of macrophages in adoptively transferring peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) suppressed anti-tumor activity and infiltration of CD45+ immune cells into tumors. Interestingly, NRP-1 expressing TIIs were mainly CD4+ T cells, despite little expression of NRP-1 on CD4+ T cells in PBMCs. We found that NRP-1 expression on CD4+ T cells was induced by NRP-1 transfer from macrophages to T cells. In HER2+ BC patients, NRP-1 expressing TIIs correlated with better clinical outcomes. These results demonstrate that NRP-1 expressing macrophages are key subsets of immune cells in trastuzumab-mediated anti-tumor activity and may predict better outcomes for HER2+ BC patients. In conclusion, NRP-1 expression is required for differentiation and activation of macrophages. NRP-1 expressing macrophages promote NRP-1 expression on CD4+ T cells by direct interaction and contribute to anti-tumor immune responses in HER2+ BC. Citation Format: Kosuke Kawaguchi, Eiji SUzuki, Masashi Inoue, Isao Kii, Tatsuki R. Karaoke, Masahiro Hiram, Keiko Iwaisako, Pu Fengling, Mariko Niche, Ayane Yamaguchi, Hironori Haga, Masatoshi Hagiwara, Masakazu Toi. Neuropilin-1 expressing macrophages promote neuropilin-1 expression on lymphocytes by direct interaction and exert antitumor activity in HER2 positive breast cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 4154.


The authors present data on sensitivity, accuracy and reliability of analytic methods suitable for mass determination of major microelements in human biologic materials. The findings are that, considering probable microelements content, combination of atomic absorptive analyzers appears optimal.


Abstract In this work, we develop a method for learning interpretable, thermodynamically stable and Galilean invariant partial differential equations (PDEs) based on the conservation-dissipation formalism of irreversible thermodynamics. As governing equations for non-equilibrium flows in one dimension, the learned PDEs are parameterized by fully connected neural networks and satisfy the conservation-dissipation principle automatically. In particular, they are hyperbolic balance laws and Galilean invariant. The training data are generated from a kinetic model with smooth initial data. Numerical results indicate that the learned PDEs can achieve good accuracy in a wide range of Knudsen numbers. Remarkably, the learned dynamics can give satisfactory results with randomly sampled discontinuous initial data and Sod's shock tube problem although it is trained only with smooth initial data.


In this Master's Thesis I will analyse the Hungarian and Slovenian translations of Charles Bukowski's Women. I will focus on the analysis of vulgarisms, swear words and curse words. The book has a bad reputation, as many critics and readers have labelled it as sexist, chauvinistic, and are of the opinion that in general it degrades women. In this thesis we will include some of Simone de Beauvoir's thoughts, furthermore, I will be discussing controversial works from antiquity to contemporary literature that are regarded as 'filthy'. I will touch upon some hot contemporary topics such as Gender Studies. Following the release of 50 Shades of Grey, the taboos of fetishism, BDSM, and other sexual fantasies became quite commercial, and are considered to be a part of everyday life. These types of books were severely censured fifty years ago. My aim is to also explore how erotic novels and their explicit language are accepted by society. In the empirical section I will analyse in detail the translation of swear and curse words. I believe that a translator mirrors the elements into the target audience (in my case into the Hungarian and Slovenian cultures).


As far as jamming and security are concerned, the following types of jamming have been considered: (a) repeater jamming, (b) single tone jamming, (c) multitone jamming, and (d) wideband and partial-band noise jamming. For the purpose of performance evaluation, two channel models are required: a wideband UHF propagation model and a narrowband HF channel model. There is no single jamming waveform that has the same effect on all spread-spectrum systems and there is no single spread-spectrum system that has the same performance for all types of jamming. It is also assumed that the jammer has a priori knowledge of all relevant signalling parameters, with the exception of the hop set sequences.


The success of endodontic treatment is largely dependent on the sealing achieved by root canal obturation. Some endodontically treated teeth require restoration using posts and cores. This involves partial removal of the root canal filling to create adequate space for the retention of the intracanal post. Root canal sealers, such as epoxy and Minerale Trioxide Aggregate (MTA) sealers that have excellent adhesive properties and sealing ability, are commonly used to maintain the obturation seal. The aim of this study was to compare the sealing ability of MTA and epoxy sealers in the apical third of the root canal after post preparation. Root canal preparation was carried out in 40 human teeth using a crown-down technique. Irrigation was performed using 2.5% NaOCl and 17% EDTA, and RC-Prep was used for lubrication. The canals were then filled with gutta percha and root canal sealers (MTA Fillapex or AH Plus) using a cold lateral condensation technique. The teeth were then decalcified using the Robertson technique and examined under a stereomicroscope. Post preparation was performed 7 days after obturation using a peeso reamer. The residual seal was measured by examining the extent of dye leakage, where a score of 1 indicated ink penetration up to 0–0.5 mm, a score of 2 indicated ink penetration up to 0.51–1 mm, and a score of 3 indicated ink penetration of >1 mm. The distribution of dye leakage scores in the SE group was 35%, 30%, and 35% for scores 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The corresponding distribution in the SM group was 25%, 30%, and 45% for scores 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Chi-square test showed no significant differences between the two groups. The extent of dye leakage observed suggested that the both types of root canal sealers (MTA Fillapex or AH Plus) exhibited similar sealability.


A reddening of E(B-V) = 0.12 ± 0.02 has been determined for NGC 330 in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) from spectrophotometry of Β stars in the cluster. This high reddening helps explain many of the anomalous low metallicity estimates for the cluster. Preliminary analysis of Coudé spectra of Κ giants in the cluster indicates a high value of 3.5 to 4.5 km s"1 for the micro-turbulence, and a metallicity near -0.7 dex with respect to the sun.. NGC 330 is the brightest cluster in the SMC. It lies near the centre of the HI distribution in the SMC, along the spine of the stellar distribution, to the NE of the bar and SW of the young stellar groupings of NGC 346 and NGC 371. Colour-magnitude diagrams by Α φ (1959) and Robertson (1974) showed bright blue and red supergiants with some extremely bright stars of intermediate colour; Robertson (1973) suggested the main sequence turn-off to be at 13-15 M 0 (about 1.2xl0 7 yrs). Carney et al. (1985), in an important paper, consider the membership, spectra, photometry and reddening of individual cluster members and discuss the CM diagram and metallicity. They conclude that the reddening is small, E(B-V) = 0.03 ± 0.02, and that the metallicity from several photometric and spectroscopic criteria is very low, probably much less than 1/10 solar, but they caution that the metallicity measures cannot be well quantified because of calibration difficulties. McGregor and Hyland (1984) made photometric observations of CO bands in the red supergiants in NGC 330 and, on the basis of their extreme weakness, suggested a CO deficiency of at least 1/50 solar. Finally, Spite et al. (1986) analysed CASPEC spectra of the brightest red supergiant in the cluster, star A7, and derived an average metallicity of around 1/25 solar. All these data showed that the metallicity of NGC 330 was significantly lower than the -0.65 dex (1/4.5 solar) found for the young field population F and G giants in the SMC (Russell et al. 1988, Russell and Bessell 1989, Spite et al. 1989). How, then, could a young cluster form with a metallicity lower than that of the surrounding field? Coudé échelle spectra with the 3.9m Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) have been obtained for some Β giants and red supergiants in NGC 330, and to estimate effective températures for these stars, CCD spectrophotometry was made with the Siding Spring Observatory (SSO) Im telescope. Blue slitless spectra covering the range 310 653 nm in one exposure were obtained and reduced to an absolute flux scale using brightness standards of Taylor (1984). Spectra were also obtained for galactic Β supergiants in Canis Majoris and Orion. Spectra of individual stars and some representative sky rows from uncrowded regions were extracted from the CCD frames. The raw spectra were divided by the normalised smoothed spectrum of a continuous star to remove the gross curvature of the spectra. This permits more accurate absolute flux calibration to be done using the discrete Taylor 50Â bands which avoid the region of the Balmer Jump. Figure 1 shows


In this paper Quantum Mechanics with Fundamental Length is chosen as Quantum Mechanics at Planck's scale. This is possible due to the presence in the theory of General Uncertainty Relations (GUR). Here Quantum Mechanics with Fundamental Length is obtained as a deformation of Quantum Mechanics. The distinguishing feature of the proposed approach in comparison with previous ones, lies on the fact that here density matrix subjects to deformation whereas so far commutators have been deformed. The density matrix obtained by deformation of quantum-mechanical density one is named throughout this paper density pro-matrix, which at low energy limit turns to the density matrix. This transition corresponds to non-unitary one from Quantum Mechanics with GUR to Quantum mechanics. Below the implications of obtained results are enumerated.New view on the Black Holes Information Paradox are discussed


Abstract The cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27Kip1 (p27) also behaves as a transcriptional repressor. Data showing that the p300/CBP-associated factor (PCAF) acetylates p27 inducing its degradation suggested that PCAF and p27 could collaborate in the regulation of transcription. However, this possibility remained to be explored. We analyzed here the transcriptional programs regulated by PCAF and p27 in the colon cancer cell line HCT116 by chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq). We identified 269 protein-encoding genes that contain both p27 and PCAF binding sites being the majority of these sites different for PCAF and p27. PCAF or p27 knock down revealed that both regulate the expression of these genes, PCAF as an activator and p27 as a repressor. The double knock down of PCAF and p27 strongly reduced their expression indicating that the activating role of PCAF overrides the repressive effect of p27. We also observed that the transcription factor Pax5 interacts with both p27 and PCAF and that the knock down of Pax5 induces the expression of p27/PCAF target genes indicating that it also participates in the transcriptional regulation mediated by p27/PCAF. In summary, we report here a previously unknown mechanism of transcriptional regulation mediated by p27, Pax5 and PCAF.


Abstract Good measurements of visual binary stars (position angle and angular separation) have been made for nearly 200 years. Radial-velocity observers have exhibited less patience; when the orbital periods of late-type stars in the catalogue published in 1978 are sorted into bins half a logarithmic unit wide, the modal bin is the one with periods between 3 and 10 days. The same treatment of the writer's orbits shows the modal bin to be the one between 1000 and 3000 days. Of course the spectroscopists cannot quickly catch up the 200 years that the visual observers have been going, but many spectroscopic orbits with periods of decades, and a few of the order of a century, have been published. Technical developments have also been made in 'visual' orbit determination, and orbits with periods of only a few days have been determined for certain 'visual' binaries. In principle, therefore, the time domains of visual and spectroscopic binaries now largely overlap. Overlap is essential, as it is only by combining both techniques that orbits can be determined in three dimensions, as is necessary for the important objective of determining stellar masses accurately. Nevertheless the actual overlap—objects with accurate measurements by both techniques—remains disappointingly small. There have, however, been unforeseen benefits from the observation of spectroscopic binaries that have unconventionally long orbital periods, not a few of which have proved to be interesting and significant objects in their own right. It has also been shown that binary membership is more common than was once thought (orbits have even been determined for some of the IAU standard radial-velocity stars!); a recent study of the radial velocities of K giants that had been monitored for 45 years found a binary incidence of 30%, whereas a figure of 13.7% was given as recently as 2005 for a similar group.


Orient is correct in suggesting that any elderly American has the right to refuse Medicare Part B. But very few will have the means to make that option viable. The vast majority of Americans over the age of 65years are retired; they are not covered by an employer's group policy. For these people, individual health insurance policies are rarely accessible and even more rarely affordable. Moreover, the benefits are generally limited to the difference between the amount that Medicare would pay and the maximal allowable fee under the terms of the policy, which is usually but a small fraction of the actual expense. Although her argument is clearly valid, it does not appear to us to address the real needs of the overwhelming majority of elderly Americans. While Medicare Part B is a voluntary option, enrollment in Part A is automatic for all eligible Americans. Although physicians whose patients reject


Background
To evaluate the impact of steatosis and/or idiopathic portal inflammation (IPI) in living donor livers on recipients' clinical outcomes.

Methods
We assessed 305 qualified donor liver samples from June 2013 to December 2018. Donors and recipients' clinical characteristics, including follow-up data were retrieved. The graft and overall survival with/without steatosis or portal inflammation were compared by Kaplan-Meier analysis.

Results
For living donors, the medium age of was 31.2 (28, 35.8) years old; liver histopathology showed macrovesicular steatosis: 0-5% 264/305 (86.6%) and 5-30% 41/305 (13.4%), IPI: no 220/305 (72.1%) and mild 85/305 (27.9%). For recipients, the medium age was 1.0 (0.6, 1.5) years old; the median pediatric-end-stage-liver-disease score was 16 (5.0, 26.0) and medium follow-up time was 32.8 (24.8, 52.0) months. Biliary atresia (69.5%) was the main indication for liver transplantation (LT).

Conclusions
The presence of steatosis and portal inflammation of the donor liver did not impact the clinical outcomes including transaminase or bilirubin normalization, short-/long-term complications and recipients' survival. However, recipients with high pediatric-end-stage-liver-disease score (>16) receiving donor liver with portal inflammation, but not steatosis, had trend negative effect on recipients' survival. In conclusion, donor livers with mild steatosis and portal inflammation were qualified for pediatric living donor LT. However, donor liver with mild portal inflammation would better not be allocated to recipients with high pediatric-end-stage-liver-disease score. This study provided new evidence in pediatric living donor liver allocation.


Many changes could occur in a woman's body, both mental and physical, during pregnancy and the postnatal period. The process of childbirth and a changing role as a new mom can be associated with many disturbances of emotions. Besides that, the development of baby blues or postpartum depression may occur in the puerperium period. Depression in post partum occurs in one month after childbirth and may be prolonged to one year. Depressive disorders in a young mother affect the mother and the newborn's health status. That is why it is crucial to identify for factors that could significantly reduce the likelihood of developing depression in this period. The literature review was aimed at describing the relationship of physical activity during pregnancy and postpartum and the development of postnatal depression. It was shown that physical activity during pregnancy and puerperium, or in the postnatal period itself reduces the risk of developing depression in pregnancy and after delivery. Physical activity can be an essential factor in preventing depressive disorders in women in the postnatal period.


Cancer induces immune suppression to overcome its recognition and eradication by the immune system. Cytokines are messengers able to modulate immune response or suppression. There is great interest in the evaluation of their changes during treatment in order to identify their relationship with clinical outcome. We evaluated 18 cytokines in breast cancer patients treated with eribulin before starting treatment (T0) and after four courses of therapy (T1). Longitudinal modifications were considered and cytokine clusters through PCA and HCPC correlated to patients' outcomes were identified. Forty-one metastatic breast cancer patients and fifteen healthy volunteers were included. After clustering, we identified at T0 six patient clusters with different risk of relapse and death. At T1, only four clusters were identified, and three of them accounted for thirty-eight of forty-one patients, suggesting a possible role of treatment in reducing heterogeneity. The cluster with the best survival at T1 was characterized by low levels of IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, CCL-2, CCL-4, and TGF-β. The cluster showing the worst survival encompassed high levels of IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, CCL-2, and IFN-γ. A subgroup of patients with short progression-free survival (PFS) and long overall survival (OS) was comprised in the cluster characterized by low levels of CCL-2, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and IL-12 at T0. Our data support the prognostic significance of longitudinal serum cytokine analysis. This approach may help identify patients for whom early treatment stop avoids needless toxicity or might justify treatment beyond early progression. Further investigations are required to validate this hypothesis.


Sensor nodes in wireless body area networks are placed on the surface of the human skin or embedded inside the human body. When a transmitter sends packets, signals reach the receiver through the human body or skin. However, electric and magnetic field (EMF) radiation generated during packet transmission can lead to a negative influence on human health. The specific absorption rate (SAR) is defined as a measure of the amount of radio frequency energy absorbed by human tissue in units of mass. The higher the human body absorbs the value of the specific absorption rate, the more EMF radiation. Also, the degree of harm to human health is greater. This paper uses the particle swarm optimization algorithm to discover the optimal position of the relay node so that sensor nodes can send packets to the hub via the relay node through a path with the lowest SAR and the success rate of packet transmission thus can be improved.


Recognizing the importance of an outward-oriented policy approach, countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines have liberalized their regulation on foreign direst investment by introducing various guarantees and incentives. The Philippines, however, lagged behind its neighbors. This study identifies the factors that may explain why the Philippines has failed to capture its share of FDIs. Analysis indicates that our trade policy being strongly for import substitution has contributed to the rather unimpressive direct investments. The high level of protection in the manufacturing industry though inappropriate has encouraged the setting-up of local production that resulted to resource misallocation and loss of consumer welfare. In fact, FDI flows in the country have been concentrated in the following highly protected industries: chemicals, processed food, transport equipment, machinery and appliances, textiles and garments, basic metal products and petroleum and coal. Regression results support a positive relationship between FDI and the level of protection, stock of public investment real gross domestic product and real effective exchange rate.


In 2002, a pioneering work on single cell coating with macromolecules through layer-by-layer (LbL) method was published in Langmuir [1]. Yeast cells were alternately coated with cationic and anionic macromolecules. Even after coating, the cells still survived. Inspired by the work, multilayered macromolecules have been used for coating various types of microbial cells and endospores [2]. Although the survival of microbial cells in the artificial coat was interesting of itself, the impact of works was under evaluated in the biomedical fields because the method was limited to microbial cells and the macromolecular coating had no particular roles. The two limitations have been gradually solved by developing functional coating materials and applying the method to mammalian cells. The function of coating materials was mainly improved by shifting from organic macromolecules to inorganic materials, in other words, from soft to hard materials Tang et al. [3-6]. crystalized calcium phosphate on the multilayer-coated yeast cells, leading to rigid artificial shells [7]. Choi et al. synthesized silica on the multilayer-coated yeast cells in a biomimetic manner, which was the first report on coating living cells with covalent bonded inorganic materials [8-10]. And chrollera cells were coated with Titania using catalytic peptides [11].


The analyses of fish for organochlorine residues (OC pesticides, PCBs, PCTs) present some special cleanup problems due mainly to the difficulty of removing coextracted oil. The oil causes erratic elution patterns of the residues from many chromatographic column adsorbents. Our overall approach to the extraction, cleanup, pre-GLC separations and GLC analysis, as well as the quantitation of PCBs are described. The use of deactivated Florisil in our cleanup procedure solved many of the earlier problems, and has given consistently excellent cleanup (less than 0.01 g remains from 0.5 g fat) and recovery (above 90 percent) of residues from fish and other biological tissues. The Florisil adsorption column is designed to tolerate up to 0.5 g of oil or fat, but with the initial Soxhlet extraction, an appropriate aliquot can be subjected to the column cleanup. An additional cleanup step involving Florisil column partitioning is described for coping with much larger fat samples, especially where very low residue levels are to be determined. Our approach to PCB quantitation and the use of reference standards are discussed. The proposed use of a 1:1 mixture of Aroclor 1254 and 1260 as reference for most biological samples is preferred.


Adaptive tree structured clustering (ATSC) is our proposed divisive hierarchical clustering method that recursively
divides a data set into 2 subsets using self-organizing feature map (SOM). In each partition, the data set is quantized by SOM and the quantized data is divided using agglomerative hierarchical clustering. ATSC can divide data sets regardless of data size in feasible time. On the other hand clustering result stability of ATSC is equally unstable as other divisive hierarchical clustering and partitioned clustering methods. In this paper, we apply cluster ensemble for each data partition of ATSC in order to improve stability. Cluster ensemble is a framework for improving partitioned clustering stability. As a result of applying cluster ensemble, ATSC yields unique clustering results that could not be yielded by previous hierarchical clustering methods. This is because a different class distances function is used in each division in ATSC.


The content of an image can be summarized by a set of homogeneous regions in an appropriate feature space. When exact shape is not important, the regions can be represented by simple "blobs". Even for similar images, the blobs in the two images might vary in shape, position, and the represented features. In addition, separate blobs in one image might get merged together in the other image. We present a novel method to compute the dissimilarity of two sets of blobs. Gaussian mixture modeling is used to represent the input images. The Earth Mover's Distance (EMD) is utilized to compute both the dissimilarity of the images and the flow matrix of the blobs between the images. The flow is used to merge blobs such that the dissimilarity between the images gets smaller. Examples are shown on synthetic and natural images.


The results of a complete study of nutlet morphology, anatomy and mixocarpy in two cultivated species of Nepeta genus (Larniaceae, Nepetoideae) are investigated. The cultivated species are represented by Nepeta cataria L. 'Citriodora' and Nepeta grandijlora Bieb. (Sect. Nepeta). Two main types of pericarp pattern, smooth and sculptured, are described. A detailed description of the anatomy, macromorphology and ~nicromorphology of Nepeta's nutlets is presented. The mucilage production (mixocarpy) has also been tested. Original photographs and SEM images for mentioned taxa are provided. A polytomous morpho-anatomical identification key based on the nutlets's characters was made.


A rate dependent constitutive model, the Anand model, was applied to represent the inelastic deformation behavior for a Pb-rich solder 92.5Pb5Sn2.5Ag used in electronic packaging and surface mount technology. This rate dependent model is a unified viscoplastic constitutive model using an internal state variable, the deformation resistance, to describe the averaged isotropic resistance to macroscopic plastic flow. In order to obtain the acquired data for the fitting of the material parameters of this unified model for 92.5Pb5Sn2.5Ag solder, a series of experiments of constant strain rate test and constant load creep test were conducted under isothermal conditions at different temperatures ranged from -65/spl deg/C to 250/spl deg/C. A procedure for the determination of material parameters was proposed in this paper. Model simulations and verifications revealed that there are good agreements between model predictions and experimental data. Moreover, some discussions on using this rate dependent model in the finite element simulation of stress/strain responses of solder joints under thermal fatigue loading were presented.


This paper manifests an A3-coupling strategy assisted by novel hydromagnesite sheets impregnated with cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4-HMS) magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) as an environmentally benign nanocomposite to synthesize imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine scaffolds under ultrasonication. The synthesis of these biologically active derivatives was achieved through A3-coupling employing 2-aminopyridines derivatives, pertinent aryl aldehydes, and phenylacetylene in the presence of polyethylene glycol 400 (PEG 400) as a green solvent under aerobic conditions. Based on its high product yield (up to 94%) in a short reaction time, with a modest catalyst loading, excellent catalyst, and solvent recyclability without substantial loss of operation (up to five synthetic cycles), as demonstrated by the high ecological compatibility and sustainability factors, this strategy follows the principles of green chemistry. The synthesized nanocomposite was characterized via several spectroanalytical techniques, including PXRD, FE-SEM, HR-TEM, EDAX, ICP-AES, FT-IR, Raman spectroscopy, CO2-TPD, TGA-DTA-DTG analyses, magnetic studies, and nitrogen porosimetry. Furthermore, the structures of synthesized compounds were confirmed based on FT-IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, mass spectroscopy, and elemental analysis data.


In the ubiquitous era, for Web services to become a universal communication paradigm, mobile devices enabled with Web services should be considered as an equal participant of the service-oriented architecture. Here, mobile devices play the role of clients, providers, or even brokers. To establish a distributed application framework on a P2P network environment, this paper presents a light-weight framework for hosting Web services on mobile devices. The proposed framework contains several built-in functionalities such as the processing of SOAP messages, the execution and migration of services, the management of context and service directory, and the publishing and discovery of services. To evaluate the performance of the proposed mobile Web service framework, a real-world scenario has been tested on physical devices connected by Bluetooth.


The increasing use of online social networks (OSNs) in emergency situations shows us a promising future of human cooperation through OSNs. Despite this intense interest, a number of fundamental limitations still exist, such as lack of appropriate conceptual models and limitations on cooperation methods and shareable resources. To address existing limitations, we propose Whistle - a cooperation framework for OSN users which can dynamically organize an emergency community with nearby users and guarantee unrestricted cooperation and resource sharing by leveraging the Jitsi communicator and the SocialVPN. To test the feasibility and applicability of Whistle, we present an implemented prototype and demonstrate its applicability to an example use case.


Bacteria and viruses were encapsulated in electrospun polymer nanofibres. The bacteria and viruses were suspended in a solution of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) in water and subjected to an electrostatic field of the order of 1 kV cm−1. Encapsulated bacteria in this work, (Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus albus) and bacterial viruses (T7, T4, λ) managed to survive the electrospinning process while maintaining their viability at fairly high levels. Subsequently the bacteria and viruses remain viable during three months at −20 and −55 °C without a further decrease in number. The present results demonstrate the potential of the electrospinning process for the encapsulation and immobilization of living biological material.


Fundamental natural period of vibration T of the building is an important parameter for evaluation of seismic base shear. Empirical equations given in the Indian seismic code for the calculation of the fundamental period of a framed structure, primarily as a function of height, and do not consider the effect of stiffness of the structure, base dimensions of the structure, number of panels in both the directions, plan are of the building and amount of infill as well as properties of the infill. The fundamental natural period can be evaluated using simplified expressions found in codes, which are based on earthquake recordings in existing buildings, laboratory tests, numerical or analytical computations. These technical codes provide expressions which depend on basic parameters such as building height or number of stories. Building periods predicted by these expressions are widely used in practice although it has been observed that there is a scope for further improvement in these equations, since the height alone is inadequate to explain period variability. It is also known that the period of a RC frame structure differs depending on whether the longitudinal or transverse direction of the structure is considered. The aim of this study is to find the effects of plan area of the building to predict the fundamental natural period of vibration of reinforced concrete buildings with moment resisting frames (MRF). A few examples of dynamic analysis are presented in this study in order to show that the effect of plan area of the structure in calculating the time period of the structure.


Purpose
This paper aims to investigate a fundamental research question of whether the Islamic banking business model makes corporate earnings more uncertain. This question arises because prior research shows that Islamic banks do well in loan performance but incur more operational costs than conventional banks, indicating the systemic limitation of Islamic banks in business risk management.

Design/methodology/approach
The study used a sample of banks to conduct the panel regression analysis with 15 years of data for 532 banks (129 Islamic and 403 conventional) from 23 Muslim countries across the world. The authors estimate earnings uncertainty in two ways: the spread and standard deviation of the country-adjusted return over the sample period and applied the difference-in-difference approach interacting cost to income ratio with the Islamic bank dummy, checking if Islamic bank's high operational costs contribute to more earning uncertainty.

Findings
Islamic banks' returns on assets are significantly more uncertain than conventional banks due to higher operational costs. Consistent with earlier evidence, the study also finds that Islamic banks generally have fewer nonperforming loans than conventional banks. The authors conclude that Islamic banks trade-off between reducing credit risk and escalating business risk.

Originality/value
This study documents that the Islamic banking model helps build a safer asset portfolio but gives rise to the uncertainty of corporate earnings. Therefore, the choice between Islamic and conventional banking models involves a trade-off between credit and business risks. It is a new finding that we add to the literature body on Islamic finance.


PURPOSE
Liposomal anthracyclines are the present standard treatment for advanced AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). No effective therapies have been defined for use after treatment failure of these agents. A phase II trial was thus conducted with paclitaxel in patients with advanced KS to assess safety and antitumor activity.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A regimen of paclitaxel at a dose of 100 mg/m(2) was given every 2 weeks to patients with advanced AIDS-related KS. Patients were treated until complete remission, disease progression, or unacceptable toxicity occurred.

RESULTS
Fifty-six patients with advanced AIDS-related KS were accrued. Tumor-associated edema was present in 70% of patients and visceral involvement in 45%. Forty patients (71%) had received prior systemic therapy; 31 of these were resistant to an anthracycline. The median entry CD4(+) lymphocyte count was 20 cells/mm(3) (range, 0 to 358). A median of 10 cycles (range, 1 to 54+) of paclitaxel was administered. Fifty-nine percent of patients showed complete (n = 1) or partial response (n = 32) to paclitaxel. The median duration of response was 10.4 months (range, 2.8 to 26.7+ months) and the median survival was 15.4 months. The main side effects of therapy were grade 3 or 4 neutropenia in 61% of patients and mild-to-moderate alopecia in 87%.

CONCLUSION
Paclitaxel at 100 mg/m(2) given every 2 weeks is active and well tolerated in the treatment of advanced and previously treated AIDS-related KS. The median duration of response is among the longest observed for any regimen or single agent reported for AIDS-related KS. Paclitaxel at this dosage and schedule is a treatment option for patients with advanced AIDS-related KS, including those who have experienced treatment failure of prior systemic therapy.


A polarization-independent waveguide optical isolator based on nonreciprocal interference is proposed. The design uses simultaneous TE and TM nonreciprocal phase shifts obtained from geometric asymmetry in horizontal and vertical axes of waveguide cross section along with opposing transverse and vertical magnetic fields in interferometer arms. A design to achieve such an isolator is described. Both TE and TM nonreciprocal phase shifts comparable to the theoretical counterparts have also been experimentally observed from a single waveguide.


In Power Supply Capability evaluation, the method based on the interconnections among main transformers produces the exceeding margin. Taking the cause into consideration, this paper proposes a method to correct the load rate matrix of interconnection schemes that is based on the advantages of the former method. Firstly, the minimum load rate of each interconnection scheme is searched and recorded, according to which the same column are corrected. Secondly, the margins produced in the former step are distributed to each main transformer of the same interconnection scheme according to the N-1 guideline. The method completes after the traversal of load rate matrix. Finally, it is demonstrated that this method obtains a more accurate result by the calculation of practical example.


This paper presents a system that automatically recognizes people in video sequences. To that end, audio and video information is used to obtain confidence values that indicate the likelihood that a specific person appears in a video shot. Finally, a post-classifier is used to fuse audio and visual confidence values. The system has been tested on several news sequences and the results indicate that a significant improvement in the recognition rate can be achieved when both modalities are used together.


Soil pollution, influenced by both the natural and anthropogenic factors, significantly reduces environmental quality. This research was carried out in some micro catchments located on Ordu province of Black Sea Region-Turkey in order to determine potential ecological risk index based on heavy metal elements (HMs) for organic farming. For this purpose, 166 soil samples (0-20 cm) were taken from the study area and some physical and chemical and HM concentrations (Cd, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb and Zn) analysis were done. In this study, it was determined; i-) some physical and chemical properties of catchments' soils, ii-) HM contents and the correlation relation between physico-chemical properties of soil and HM concentrations and iii-) potential ecological risk index (PERI). PERI was calculated using the data obtained to evaluate the environmental risks of HMs in the region. The results showed that Cu concentration in 3%, Cr in 0.6% and Ni in 4.8% of the soil samples exceeded the threshold levels whereas, the concentrations of other HMs were lower than the critical values. Statistically, it was also found significantly positive relationships between sand content and Cu of soils whereas, it was determined significantly negative relationships between EC and Cu. In addition, according to the obtained PERI results, while 54% of total soil samples were low while, 42% of them were moderate class. Only 4% of them were classified as significant ecological risk level. Moreover, according to mean potential ecological risk index of these HMs, it can be ordered as Cd>Pb>Cu>Ni> Zn>Cr.


Sustainable forest management requires accurate fine-scale description of wood resources. Stem size distribution (SSD) by species is used by foresters worldwide as a representative overview of forest structure and species composition suitable for informing management decisions at shorter and longer terms. In mixed uneven-aged deciduous forests, tree data required for SSD estimation are most often collected in the field through traditional forest management inventories (FMIs), but these are time-consuming and costly with respect to the sampled area. Combining FMIs with remote sensing methods such as airborne laser scanning (ALS), which has high potential for predicting forest structure and composition, and is becoming increasingly accessible and affordable, could provide cheaper and faster SSD data across large areas. In this study, we developed a method for estimating species-specific SSDs by combining FMIs and dual-wavelength ALS data using neural networks (NNs). The proposed method was tested and validated using 178 FMI plots within 22,000 ha of a mixed uneven-aged deciduous forest in Belgium. The forest canopy was segmented, and metrics were derived from the ALS point cloud. A NN with a custom architecture was set up to simultaneously predict the three components required to compute species-specific SSDs (species, circumference, and number of stems) at segment level. Species-specific SSDs were thereafter estimated at stand level by aggregating the estimates for the segments. A robustness test was set up using fully independent plots to thoroughly assess the method precision at stand-level on a larger area. The global Reynolds index for the species-specific SSDs was 21.2 for the training dataset and 54.0 for the independent dataset. The proposed method does not require allometric models, prior knowledge of the structure, or the predefinition of variables; it is versatile and thus potentially adaptable to other forest types having different structures and compositions.


The Election paradigm can be used as a building block in many practical problems such as group communication, atomic commit and replicated data management where a protocol coordinator might be useful. The problem has been widely studied in the research community since one reason for this wide interest is that many distributed protocols need an election protocol. However, despite its usefulness, to our knowledge there is no work that has been devoted to this problem in a mobile ad hoc computing environment. Mobile ad hoc systems are more prone to failures than conventional distributed systems. Solving election in such an environment requires from a set of mobile nodes to choose a unique node as a leader based on its priority despite failures or disconnections of mobile nodes. In this paper, we describe a solution to the election problem from mobile ad hoc computing systems. This solution is based on the Group Membership Detection algorithm.


Frequency indices of tubulovillous adenoma are higher than the ones of colorectal cancer, and probably, the majority of adenomas are prone to malignancy. It is often impossible to determine which adenoma tends to tumorous neoplasia. However, increase in the adenomas and expressed dysplasia contribute to adenomas malignant transformation. In this regard, the purpose of the study is to evaluate cellular proliferation, apoptosis, beta-catenin in tubulovillous intestinal adenomas with varying degrees of dysplasia. The study used biopsy materials of tubulovillous adenomas obtained from 50 patients who underwent ectomy. After resection the adenomas were cut by the maximum size for the full thickness of tunicae mucosae, muscularis be included into the section. Immunohistochemical reactions used a cellular proliferation marker (Ki-67), that of apoptosis (P-53), of a transcription factor (β-catenin). In tubulovillous adenomas with the low grade dysplasia degree there are low indicators of cellular proliferation and apoptosis, located primarily in basal glandular segments. As dysplasia degree increases, cellular division in the glandular epithelium intensifies and nuclear expression of beta-catenin appears as well. Against the background of a meaningful increase in cellular proliferation, a small number of cells in apoptotic condition are revealed. Thus, increased indicators of Ki-67 and β-catenin in a tubulovillous adenomas in high grade dysplasia contributes to limiting cellular differentiation, violates intercellular contacts.