Activity of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase in human intestines was measured against alpha-naphthylamide and 12 gamma-glutamyl amino acids and peptides as substrate. Distinctly altered activity was found to accompany ontogenetic development. The ratio of the transpeptidase activity tested against monoglutamyl substrates in the intestines of 7-month fetuses, newborns and adults was 15:1:4, whereas the ratio of gamma-glutamyl cyclotransferase activities in the same age groups was 1-0:1-2:1-6. Distinct differences were found in resistance to heating, sensitivity to L-serine plus borate, and other effectors, and electrophoretic mobility, between fetal gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase and the enzyme from adults, which supports the hypothesis of existence of two forms of the enzyme in the human intestines. The results suggest involvement of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase in the pathomechanism of celiakia in children.


A new Schiff base fluorescent chemosensor (L1) and its reduced form (L2) have been designed and synthesized. Nanoparticles of L2 were also prepared by using a nanoprecipitation method. The nano-chemosensor of L2 shows very high selectivity and sensitivity towards Fe3+ and I− ions in aqueous buffer solution. L2 also shows selective detection and discrimination of Fe3+ and Fe2+ in an aqueous environment. The lowest detectable concentration of Fe3+ ions by L2 was found to be 68 nM.


Code generation aims to automatically generate source code from high-level task specifications, which can significantly increase productivity of software engineering. Recently, approaches based on large language models (LLMs) have shown remarkable code generation abilities on simple tasks. However, generate code for more complex tasks, such as competition-level problems, remains challenging. In this paper, we introduce Brainstorm framework for code generation. It leverages a brainstorming step that generates and selects diverse thoughts on the problem to facilitate algorithmic reasoning, where the thoughts are possible blueprint of solving the problem. We demonstrate that Brainstorm significantly enhances the ability of LLMs to solve competition-level programming problems, resulting in a more than 50% increase in the pass@$k$ metrics for ChatGPT on the CodeContests benchmark, achieving state-of-the-art performance. Furthermore, our experiments conducted on LeetCode contests show that our framework boosts the ability of ChatGPT to a level comparable to that of human programmers.


Introduction Despite receiving Western education which described anything that did not conform to European beliefs and values as abhorrent and primitive, Zimbabwean novelist and poet Solomon Mangwiro Mutswairo (1924-2005) emerges out of the school system learned, and endeavours to give a positive portrayal of Shona religion. The time he spent in Canada and the United States of America never changed his understanding and attitude towards indigenous religion and cultural practices. He does not fall into the trap of stereotyping Shona traditional religion as barbaric, like some of the other writers who are professed Christians do. These writers who criticise and distort African religion only imbibed the views and tastes of their teachers; they just received colonial education without getting learned. Mutswairo emerges from the schools system, learned; having realised the limitations and prejudices in the Western school's system. He thus endeavours to project Shona religion in a positive image. In the novels examined in this paper, Feso (1956) and Mweya waNehanda (1988), he demonstrates that Shona religion totally integrates with every aspect of life and that religion is the fulcrum around which Shona life radiates. Even though there are Christian images in his writings, they do not denigrate but help the author to illustrate that Shona religion serves its believers with all their spiritual needs in even more ways than Christianity has done for its followers. Mutswairo's efforts are quite in line with those by Boaduo and Gumbi (2010) who lament the negative influence that colonialism has had on its African victims. The two scholars criticise the classification of indigenous people done by the coloniser, into groups such as black, tribe, coloureds and native. These classes were based on speculations that Europeans had about these people, based on socially constructed and perpetuated beliefs. Such classification was meant to justify the subordination of African people. It also strove to present some races as superior than others; hence anything that fell short of European was considered as primitive and uncivilised, including the indigenous people's religion. It is against this background that Boaduo and Gumbi call for African intellectuals to group together and provide a worldview grounded in the heritage of religion, philosophy, science and art. They stress that African people need to reach back into their wealthy past and take along with them all their works of arts, philosophy and rich customs, traditions and culture and portray them positively to the rest of the world (2010: 47). They furthermore stress that Africans must focus on what is positive so that African people can have a duty to push to the forefront the positive aspects of their indigenous knowledge systems and ways that have been ignored, misinterpreted and misrepresented to bring forth a lot of positives about African humanity. Mutswairo's novel seems to border on the recommendation by these scholars as he digs dip into the Shona past, unearthing rich layers of heritage for the benefit of the contemporary African person. It is stressed in this essay that Mutswairo's marked pre-occupation with Shona religious matters during the colonial and post-colonial settings indicates his deep-rooted desire to contribute towards the development of Zimbabwean nationalism, with its culmination in nationhood and the building of a new nation. With religion being the focal point, and indeed the worldview of the Zimbabwean people, the writer strives to give cultural, historical and national identity to a newly born nation. Shona traditional religion is depicted as highly inspirational to the Shona people. It plays a number of critical functions in Shona society as: a unifying force, a source of vital knowledge for its believers' survival, a promoter of peace, a source of inspiration, a form of entertainment and above all, as powerful and real. …


With respect to data format and data consistency, the spectrum of DDBM ranges from management of relational data in distributed database management systems (DDBMS) to the management of non-relational data in information retrieval systems. On the other hand, in many networked application domains users need to access any type of data, preferably with a single tool. However, DDBM is still a challenging research area that involves bridging syntactic and semantic heterogeneity of data as well as of functionality, especially in the bottom-up design of a new DDB. Since, existing DDBM systems were usually built by focusing on the implementation of some dedicated protocols for DDBM, they are inflexible for major modifications or exchange of the protocols. In addition, their software architecture usually does not comply with well-known design paradigms, which could facilitate the maintenance of the software system. We present an agent-based approach for flexible DDBM, where independent DDBM protocols are modular exchangeable for lest purposes. This capability of the DDBMS provides for flexibility against protocol heterogeneity and enables the DDBMS to communicate with new DBMSs to be included, by combining or adapting its protocols at run time. For instance, different DDB consistency levels are possible for different DDBs with the same DDBMS. In this work, the design of DDBM in form of a multi-agent system of the AgentTeam framework is discussed, particularly the dynamic reconfigurable transaction management model. Furthermore, the CourseMan prototype is described, which is implemented in form of a test-bed that provides a homogeneous environment for testing different DDBM protocols, upon heterogeneous DBMSs.


ABSTRACT Dictyostelium discoideum is a unicellular eukaryote that eats bacteria, and eventually outgrows the bacteria. D. discoideum cells accumulate extracellular polyphosphate (polyP), and the polyP concentration increases as the local cell density increases. At high cell densities, the correspondingly high extracellular polyP concentrations allow cells to sense that they are about to outgrow their food supply and starve, causing the D. discoideum cells to inhibit their proliferation. In this report, we show that high extracellular polyP inhibits exocytosis of undigested or partially digested nutrients. PolyP decreases plasma membrane recycling and apparent cell membrane fluidity, and this requires the G protein-coupled polyP receptor GrlD, the polyphosphate kinase Ppk1 and the inositol hexakisphosphate kinase I6kA. PolyP alters protein contents in detergent-insoluble crude cytoskeletons, but does not significantly affect random cell motility, cell speed or F-actin levels. Together, these data suggest that D. discoideum cells use polyP as a signal to sense their local cell density and reduce cell membrane fluidity and membrane recycling, perhaps as a mechanism to retain ingested food when the cells are about to starve. This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper.


A new experimental approach is presented for studying the charge‐transfer process involved in the chemisorption on polar semiconductors. This approach utilizes the surface piezoelectric effect, contact potential difference measurements, and surface photovoltage spectroscopy. From the study of oxygen adsorption on ZnO it was found that the rate of electron transfer varies exponentially with the surface barrier height and is proportional to the oxygen pressure (from 10−3 to 20 Torr). Furthermore, it was found that the charge transfer is characterized by a thermal activation energy of about 0.72 eV. At room temperature this activation energy constitutes the most significant rate‐limiting factor and is largely responsible for the extremely slow rate of chemisorption. A model for chemisorption was developed in which the thermal activation is treated as an intermediate nonelectronic step involving metastable activated surface states. Upon capturing electrons from the bulk these states become stable surface stat...


Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare and highly malignant skin cancer with neuroendocrine differentiation. We studied the potential value of 18FDG PET in the management of MCC. Eleven patients with MCC were examined by 18FDG PET and PET-CT for staging purpose (n=4) or for detection of recurrence (n=7). Qualitative and quantitative interpretation of PET studies was performed routinely. 18FDG PET observations were compared to clinical and radiological findings. In 6 patients, PET findings were also compared to histology. In 7 patients, the 18FDG tumor uptake was compared to the MCC proliferative activity expressed by the Ki-67 index. 18FDG PET was contributive in 10/11 MCC patients. In 7 patients, 18FDG PET detected focal lesions or a disseminated stage of the disease including dermal, nodal and visceral metastases. In 3 patients, a normal 18FDG PET confirmed complete remission of disease. Most MCC patients exhibited highly 18FDG-avid sites suggestive of increased glucose metabolism. This imaging pattern was related to a high proliferative activity (Ki-67 index >50%). In 1 patient with a weakly proliferative nodal MCC (Ki-67<10%), a false negative result was yielded by metabolic imaging. In 4/11 patients, 18FDG PET revealed an unsuspected second neoplasm in addition to MCC. It is concluded that whole-body 18FDG PET may be useful in the management of MCC patients. However, a normal 18FDG PET aspect cannot rule out MCC with low proliferative activity.


AI planning is a broad research topic, linked with such issues as robotics, control theory, operations research and learning. The purpose of EWSP '93 was twofold. Planning under certainty, or "classical" search-based planning is one direction in the submitted papers, with approaches ranging from the introduction of conditional actions to methods based on statistics and decision theory. The other purpose is reflected in papers dealing with aspects of planning as abstraction, plan recognition, plan modification, knowledge-level planning and learning. Borderline topics such scheduling and resource allocation, temporal reasoning and prediciton and multiple agents are also treated in this volume.


This paper aims at understanding and assessing the main methods proposed by ETSO and EuroPEX [1] to define and allocate interconnection capacities in Europe. We model these methods and evaluate their technical and economic efficiency on a 7-node network. We find first, that, unsurprisingly, the allocation methods are all the more efficient as the Kirchhoff laws are integrated more precisely in the market clearing. Second, and more surprisingly, we find that the zonal vision of the grid considered by all these methods has important consequences on the technical and economic efficiency as it may cause the capacity limits of powerlines to be exceeded.


Companies are sometimes reluctant to implement telework in their teams because managers may lose control over their teleworking employees. The question we try to answer in this paper is: Does telework have an impact on the manager-employee relationship and, if so, what sort of impact is it? We first propose a literature review on this theme. We then restitute the empirical results of a case study realised in a salespeople team of home-based teleworkers. Through the analysis of e-mails, in-depth interviews, and direct observation, we show that: telework reduces formal communication between employees and their direct manager while it develops interpretation bias. It facilitates communication between distant hierarchical levels, reducing the importance of professional and social status. Telework increases employees' autonomy towards their manager. One of the only ways for the manager to evaluate teleworkers is to devote their accountability to results. Overall, telework reduces the importance of the manager in the employee's professional concerns.


Consortium strategy involves an arrangement in which organizations develop, utilize and amalgamate structures, cultures, and operational systems to support competitiveness in delivery of service in a dynamic environment. This study sought to investigate challenges of implementing consortium strategy and measures to mitigate the challenges at ViAgroforestry, Kenya. Through a case study design both primary and secondary data were gathered through personal interviews and analysis of relevant documents respectively. Content analysis was used to analyze data. The study established that, both internal and external factors affected effective consortium strategy implementation at ViAgroforestry. The external factors that affected strategy implementation included social-cultural, political, economic, and technological factors. The internal factor included leadership and management styles, competency of employees among the partner organizations, lack of employee commitment to consortium operation, lack of adequate financial resources, unclear implementation guidelines and inconsistency in deployment of employees to support consortium. The mitigation measures to deal with the challenges include building employee competencies and confidence, setting up and reinforcing clear guidelines for selecting, recruiting and exiting partners in the consortium, mobilization of adequate financial resources, enhanced integration of Information Communication Technology (ICT) within the operating systems, and democratic style of management among partners. It was recommended that ViAgroforestry, Kenya should align organizational structure, provide adequate resources, build employee competencies and set and reinforce clear guidelines for operations while integrating ICT in its operations for effective consortium strategy implementation. In view of the limitations of the study, further research has been suggested on evaluating performance of consortium strategy implementation at ViAgroforestry, Kenya.


The effect of different photoperiod regimes, as well as cover in continuous light (24L/0D) and darkness (OL/24D), on the growth rate of larval Clarias gariepinus was evaluated. In addition, a behavioural study of the effect of light on larval and juvenile C. gariepinus was made. The growth rate of larvae was found to increase with shorter light periods, the highest being recorded in continuous darkness (0L/24D photoperiod). Cover was found to enhance the growth rate of larvae reared under a continuous light period, however, the presence of cover did not affect the growth rates of larvae reared in continuous darkness. The behaviour of larval and juvenile catfish differed markedly in continuous light and darkness. When subject to a continuous light period, a strong negative phototaxis, long rest periods interspersed with disturbed activity, refuge seeking behaviour, and increasing incidence of territorial aggression were observed. In continuous darkness, the fish displayed a high level of active swimming with fewer rest periods, and a lower incidence of disturbed rest activity. The level of territorial aggression among fish in continuous darkness gradually declined and became negligible. Higher levels of browsing and airbreathing activity were observed in continuous darkness than in light. The present results, interpreted together with other ecological and anatomical data, demonstrate this species to be primarily a nocturnally active, tactile feeder, with a distinct diet activity pattern. The refuge seeking behaviour observed in the light is interpreted as an adaptation to avoid predators that rely on sight to detect prey. This behaviour, however, appears to promote intraspecific competition for refuges, resulting in a high degree of territorial aggression, and probably an increase in the rate of cannibalism. With regard to fish culture, it is suggested that the rearing of larvae in conditions of continuous darkness or low light intensity is optimal owing to the higher growth rates and apparent reduction of stress observed under these conditions.


Within the last ten years there have been major changes in the formulation of calf milk replacers in the United States. These have been brought about by changes in the world supply of milk based ingredients, milk processing technology, vegetable protein processing technology and knowledge of the calf's digestive system. Calf milk replacers manufactured in the 1950's and 1960's  contained high levels of skim milk powder as the primary protein source. Skim milk protein consists of approximately 80% casein protein and 20% whey proteins. Provided that the skim milk has not been severely heat treated during the drying process, casein in the milk replacers forms a firm clot or curd in the calf's abomasum. Severely heat treated skim milk does not clot and calves fed milk replacer containing such skim milk suffer from diarrhea and poor performance.
Today's modern milk replacers, in the United States, do not contain significant levels of skim milk powder, but either whey proteins or combinations of whey proteins and vegetable proteins, including isolated soy protein, soy protein concentrate, soy flour, isolated wheat protein or potato protein. These milk replacers do not clot in the abomasum and there has been speculation that such non clotting milk replacers may have a negative impact on calf health and performance.
Milk Specialties Company has undertaken a series of studies to investigate replacement of skim milk protein in calf milk replacers with whey proteins.


This paper introduces a novel deep neural network tracker for robust object tracking. To this end, we employ a ranking loss which provides a fine-tuning of the target object position and returns more precise bounding boxes framing the target object. This is achieved by systematically learning to give higher scores to the candidate regions better framing the target object than the regions that frame the object with less accuracy. As a result, the risk of tracking error accumulation and drifts are largely mitigated, and the object is tracked more successfully. When the proposed network is used with a simple yet effective model update rule, our proposed tracker achieves the state-of-the-art results on all tested challenging tracking datasets. Especially, our results on the OTB (Object Tracking Benchmark) datasets are very promising. The proposed tracker outperforms both deep neural network and correlation filter based trackers, MDNet and ECO, by about 2%, which is a significant improvement over the previous state-of-the-art.


This study describes the dosage of WOVA-FH for induced breeding of Botia histrionic.Synthetic hormone, WOVAFH, was used to induce the species at different doses namely 0.5 ml/kg of body weight as 1st dose, 0.25 ml/kg of body weight as 2nd dose, 0.025ml/Fish as 3rd dose and 0.0125 ml/Fish as 4th dose) in each breeding trial. The higher fertilization, hatching and survival rates were found with fish injected with 0.025 ml/fish. Botia histrionica require very little amount of synthetic hormone for breeding in captivity. The present study confirmed that 0.025 ml/fish of WOVA-FH was optimum for induced breeding of Botia histrionic.


Economic Intelligence is a French conception of organisational sustenance by an improvement of information management. At the end of 1990, this consideration emerged from the concepts of Competitive Intelligence, Business Intelligence and Knowledge Management, notably, being supported by French government. One of these applications is the Regional Economic Intelligence initiatives. The most prominent of these projects is the cluster of competitiveness call. But, it is not the only proposition, many other enterprise clusters initiatives or the Regional Economic Intelligence Devices (REID). Then, in front of this panel of different Territorial Economic Intelligence initiatives, we decided to propose a tool to help any decisionmaker develop a Territorial Economic Intelligence Device. This might help shape the overview of some particular REID and other similar devices and it is associated with a tool to define a composite picture of the project of REID. These composite pictures are realized on the basis of information visualization technique of Chernoff faces. In this sense we have developed a methodology to identify the characteristics of a typical REID in terms of Economic Intelligence actions and other actions connected. We have associated these characteristics with quantification by parameters and these parameters were linked with a particular feature of Chernoff face.


Pointing to an object is a natural behavior in humans. This is usually performed using the second finger of the dominant hand, named index –from the Latin indicare, to indicate. By extension, the term "index" has been used to describe an indirect shortcut derived from and pointing into, a greater volume of values, data, information or knowledge.

This issue of the Annals of Neurology contains two articles describing a JC virus (JCV) antibody index (1, 2). However, despite their similar name, they are inherently quite different. Why try to detect and quantify antibody production to JCV? Indeed, JCV is a ubiquitous polyomavirus, which infects a majority of people without causing any disease. It remains quiescent in the kidneys, and can be found in the urine at any given time in approximately a third of healthy individuals. In the setting of immunosuppression, JCV can reactivate, spill into the bloodstream and reach the central nervous system. There, it can productively infect and destroy oligodendrocytes and astrocytes, leading to a demyelinating disease called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). In addition, JCV variants have been shown to infect cerebellar granule cells or cortical pyramidal neurons, causing JCV granule cell neuronopathy (JCV GCN) or JCV encephalopathy (JCVE) respectively (3). Finally, JCV can also infect meningeal and choroid plexus cells, causing meningitis and hydrocephalus (4).

In immunosuppressed patients with suggestive clinical and neuroradiological findings, the diagnosis of JCV-associated brain disease is usually established by brain biopsy or by detection of JCV DNA in the CSF by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (5). Unlike other common human viruses for which serological tests have been used clinically for a long time, JCV has lagged behind. After its discovery in 1971, it was found that JC virions had the capability to agglutinate type O erythrocytes, leading to the first generation serological test, called hemagglutination inhibition test (HAI)(6). In this test, serial dilutions of plasma samples are mixed in microtiter wells together with live JC virions and type O erythrocytes, and the presence of JCV antibodies in the plasma is surmised by blockade of hemagglutination, which can be visually detected. However, JC virions needed for the assay are tedious to grow in culture, and it is therefore not astonishing that this imprecise and somewhat cumbersome assay was only used in few virology research laboratories. Nevertheless, sero-epidemiologic studies demonstrated that anti-JCV antibodies could be detected in teenagers, and that JCV seroprevalence increased with age, with a range of 30–90% of healthy adults, depending on the population tested (7).

It was also shown that all patients had JCV antibodies in their blood prior to the development of PML, indicating that the disease was caused by a reactivation rather than primary infection, and that the humoral immune response was unable to prevent disease onset and subsequent progression. Since most people are infected by JCV, and since the presence of anti-JCV antibodies was neither diagnostic nor prognostic of PML, development of more modern ELISA tests for JCV was restricted to few research laboratories (8–12), and there was little financial incentive for any company to license or commercialize those assays.

This situation changed, however, when natalizumab, an immunomodulatory medication for multiple sclerosis (MS) and Crohn's disease (CD), was associated with the development of PML in 2005. Natalizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody against α4β1 and α4β7 integrin receptors located on white blood cells, which blocks the egress of leukocytes from the bloodstream into the CNS and gut. In doing so, this medication prevent lymphocytes bent on attacking normal components on the CNS and gut to reach their target organs. Conversely, natalizumab also prevents JCV-specific CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocytes from patroling the CNS, which leads to viral reactivation and resulted in the development of PML in 484 MS and 2 CD patients as of August 6, 2014(13).

How can we predict which natalizumab-treated MS patient will develop PML? Based on the premise that people who have not been exposed to JCV should not be at risk of PML, Gorelik et al. established a JCV ELISA which was used to screen all natalizumab-treated MS patients (14). Risk stratification analyses indicated that the risk of PML ranged from 1/10,000 in seronegative patients, to 1/90 in seropositive patients after 24 months of natalizumab monotherapy, if they had received prior immunosuppressive medications (15).

Building upon those findings, Plavina et al investigated whether anti-JCV serum antibody level could further define the risk of PML.

They used a second generation ELISA test, now commercially available, which includes a cutoff calibrator, consisting of pooled sera from JCV-seropositive healthy volunteers, as well as a positive and negative control. The index value for the patient sample is calculated by dividing the mean optical density (OD) value of the sample by the OD of the cutoff calibrator, to normalize results across plates. An index >0.40 denotes JCV seropositivity, and higher values indicate higher amount of antibodies in the sample. Using serum or plasma samples from 71 natalizumab-associated PML patients and 2,522 JCV-antibody positive patients without PML, including a test dataset and verification dataset, the authors showed that there was a wide overlap in index values between natalizumab-associated PML cases and non-PML JCV seropositive patients. However, they showed an increased JCV-index in PML patients with no prior immunosuppressant medication before natalizumab compared with non-PML JCV seropositive patients, while there was no difference in the index if the PML patients had been treated with immunosuppressant drugs before natalizumab.

More specifically, of 51 PML cases with no prior immunosuppression, only one (2%) had a JCV ab index 1.5. PML risk estimates were approximately 10 times higher with an index >1.5 compared to an index < 1.5.

Interestingly, patients with natalizumab-associated PML often have JC viral load in CSF below 100 copies/ml, which may be below the limit of detection of clinical laboratories. Warnke et al assessed whether concomitant measurement of JCV antibody in CSF and serum could have a complementary value in the diagnosis of PML. Using a different ELISA than the one of Plavina et al, they devised another JCV antibody index (AIJCV), taking into account CSF and serum concentration of JCV antibody, IgG and albumin. An AIJCV > 1.5 was considered as evidence for intra-thecal antibody synthesis. Tested on 37 patients with natalizumab-associated PML and 89 natalizumab-treated MS patients without PML, AIJCV >1.5 had a modest sensitivity at the time of PML diagnosis of 55%, and a specificity of 100%. In a few cases, retrospective analysis showed that AIJCV was elevated before JCV DNA was detectable in CSF by PCR.

What is the take home message of those two studies for natalizumab-treated MS patients and physicians caring for them?

First, these two studies illustrate that although the JCV ELISA methods are conceptually similar, using viral-like particles (VLPs) made of self-assembled JCV VP1 capsid proteins, they are technically different, and so side by side testing in serum samples may occasionally lead to discordant results (16).

Second, all JCV ELISA tests suffer from the shortcoming that JCV primary infection is clinically asymptomatic, and therefore a population of truly seronegative individuals is difficult to identify. This population is required to adequately determine the background "noise" of the assay.

Third, the JCV ELISA tests used in these two studies focus on detection of anti-JCV IgG, and therefore, acute JCV infection, that triggers an IgM response, could be missed.

Fourth, negative serological results do not necessarily mean absence of exposure to JCV. Several studies have found JCV DNA by PCR in urine or blood of JCV seronegative patients using different assays (17, 18).

Fifth, JCV primary infection may occur at any time and a negative serological result does not signify that the person is not at risk of becoming infected with this ubiquitous virus.

In practical terms, the commercially available JCV antibody index has already been widely used, even prior to the publication of the related paper, as an additional tool in PML risk stratification strategy. MS patients and physicians caring for them should remember that it is only valid in natalizumab-treated patients with no prior IS, and should balance the risks of PML with those of MS relapse when switching to different medications.

Finally, we can only hope that these two different indexes, each with an operational threshold of 1.5, will not be confused with each other. For this, we will just have to keep our fingers crossed.


We propose a new multiple-benchmark tracking-error model for the portfolio selection problem. We construct a strategy to track the performance of the highest return from a set of benchmarks, by minimizing a quadratic loss function. The portfolio rule constructed this way retains features of the linear combination rule, with weights mainly determined by the probability that each benchmark portfolio attains the highest return among all the benchmark portfolios considered. We use this approach to deal with the issue of estimation errors in portfolio construction. A common strategy here is to use a re-sampling technique to construct portfolios from the data, and use the average of the portfolio weights as the solution. We can view each portfolio constructed from sampling as a benchmark, and use the tracking error method proposed in this paper to enhance the performance of any portfolio selection method. We perform comprehensive numerical experiments with various empirical data sets to demonstrate that our approach can consistently provide higher net Sharpe ratio (even after accounting for transaction cost), higher net aggregate return, smaller tracking error, and lower turnover rates in out-of-sample performance, compared to twelve different benchmark portfolios proposed in the literature, including the equally weighted portfolio (the 1/n strategy).


Anonymous. 1976. Tree anchors aid large planting project. Grounds Maintenance 11(3): 64, 70. When the town of Radisson, N.Y., decided to have 100 trees transplanted in a long strip of land alongside a new waste water treatment facility, guying problems were a matter of particular concern. Wooden stakes used for guying some 200 trees in an earlier project had been unable to withstand the high prevailing winds and soil conditions. The Radisson officials agreed to change the specifications to allow the use of a special anchor, called Arrowhead Earth Anchors. The arrowhead shape of the metal anchors makes it easy to drive them into any kind of soil with a minimum of ground disturbance. The anchor shaft can be fitted into the driving rod of a pneumatic hammer for easier installation. Manual installation of the anchors is another alternative. As many as three turnbuckles may be attached to one anchor, reducing installation costs and improving appearances.


We study iterated Pieri rules for representations of classical groups. That is, we consider tensor products of a general representation with multiple factors of representations corresponding to one-rowed Young diagrams (or in the case of the general linear group, also the duals of these). We define {\it iterated Pieri algebras}, whose structure encodes the irreducible decompositions of such tensor products. We show that there is a single family of algebras, which we call {\it double Pieri algebras}, and which can be used to describe the iterated Pieri algebras for all three families of classical groups. Furthermore, we show that the double Pieri algebras have flat deformations to Hibi rings on explicitly described posets. As an interesting application, we describe the branching rules for certain unitary highest weight modules.


A relatively small M_L = 4.8 earthquake and its aftershock series on the southern portion of the Elsinore Fault Zone in eastern San Diego County, California, provided a rare opportunity to study an area that has been subjected to variable tectonic interpretations in the past. Within 12 to 26 hours after the main shock, a network of four portable seismograph stations was established around the main event near Agua Caliente Springs to supplement the stations of the Southern California Seismographic Network. Four days after the main shock, seven additional portable seismograph stations were installed. In addition to the main event, 45 subsequent events were studied, ranging in magnitude from about 1.0 to 3.7. Of these, 36 could be termed aftershocks by their close proximity to the main event, whose proper location was determined by analysis of the aftershock series. Of the two branches of the Elsinore Fault in this region, the south branch is associated with the earthquake series. Focal mechanisms are consistent with right-lateral strike-slip along the south branch, with northeast dip at latitude 32°51′N. These conclusions are supported by hypocentral locations. Thrust activity on the two fault branches may be developing a horst between them, accounting for elevation and tilt changes observed near Agua Caliente.


The present invention provides a simple, energy efficient and cost effective process for continuous production of high quality MgB2 based superconducting wires, tapes, bulk bodies and powders with better phase purity, microstructure and superconducting properties by introducing some innovative steps namely processing the reactants in evacuated and sealed metal tubes by electrical self-heating cum hot rolling followed by annealing under electrical self-heating, thereby overcoming various deficiencies and shortcomings associated with the prior art.


An 86-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with headache and acute detarioration of consciousness. Cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) dominated the occipital lobe on the head MRI, revealing white matter lesions. It was accompanied by gadolinium (Gd) imaging effect in the leptomeninges and some CMBs. She was clinically diagnosed with amyloid β-related vasculitis and a good outcome was obtained with steroid therapy. Even when symptoms re-exacerbated, exacerbation of the contrast effect of CMBs was observed, but no white matter lesions appeared, and leptomeningeal enhancement did not change remarkably throughout the entire course.


Excessive use of plastic bags adversely affects health and the environment based on their hard-to-decompose nature. The increase in the number of plastic bag use is strongly influenced by population growth and changes in people's lifestyles, especially in shopping patterns among housewives, besides that government policies related to the Covid pandemic have triggered an increase in the use of plastic bags. This analytical observational research aims to determine the relationship between knowledge and attitudes of housewives towards the use of plastic bags in Pasar Siborongborong Village, North Tapanuli, North Sumatra, with a cross-sectional research design with an accidental sampling method. Interviews were conducted with 95 housewives. Data were analyzed using the Chi-Square test with CI:95%. The results of research on the use of plastic bags by housewives showed that 57.9% of the knowledge level of housewives in the good category, 64.2% of housewives' attitudes in the category were not good and 77.9% of the use of plastic bags in housewives was not good. The results of the Chi-Square test analysis showed that there was no meaningful relationship between the level of knowledge of housewives towards the use of plastic bags. (p.value: 0.864). On the other hand, there is a significant relationship between the attitude of housewives towards the use of plastic bags and the p.value: 0.010. Knowledge about the use and dangers caused by plastic bags can be done through socialization with the public, including through advertisements on television and social media. The implementation of restrictions on the use of plastic bags through the paid plastic bag policy at supermarkets is felt to have not been optimal in an effort to reduce the use of plastic bags.


The objective of this study is to observe the influences that affect the dissemination of social networking media among Generation Z in Indonesia. The country has been dubbed a 'sweet spot' for Internet-based business. However, there are still very few social media companies which have opened their bases in Indonesia. Is it because of the slow pace of technology acceptance in the country? A conceptual model of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is proposed and empirically tested in the context of social networking media usage. Subjective norms were added on as an external factor, since they are said to have an impact on the nature of using social networking media. Structural Equation modeling was used on the survey data from 200 respondents from a particular group (Generation Z, age 11-16) to test the model's fit and the corresponding hypotheses. The results show social norms were not a factor influencing the usage of social media. Usefulness with an indirect influence from ease-of-use were the factors that could encourage the spread of social media.


Metal ceramic restorations have been used extensively for several years. A number of alternative noble and base metal alloys for porcelain have become available in recent years, but all of them have disadvantages. Some methods using titanium as a substrate for metal ceramic restoration have been tried because of the desirable properties such as excellent biocompatibility, mechanical properties, good corrosion resistance and relatively low cost. However, some disadvantages arise because of high reactivity of titanium with certain elements, especially oxygen, which makes good bonding to porcelain difficult.The purpose of this study was to investigate the oxidation on the titanium surface during porcelain firing and to develop better bonding. The heat treatment of the metal in H2 atmosphere before porcelain application had an effect on the bond strength between pure titanium and porcelain. It was considered that the titanium oxide volume should be controlled between the titanium and the porcelain for good bonding.


In the current research, the valorization of olive mill solid waste as beneficial admixture into clay bodies for developing greener ceramic materials with lower thermal conductivity, thus with increased thermal insulation capacity towards energy savings, is investigated. Various clay/waste mixtures were prepared. The raw material mixtures were characterized and subjected to thermal gravimetric analysis, in order to optimize the mineral composition and maintain calcium and magnesium oxides content to a minimum. Test specimens were formed employing extrusion and then sintering procedure at different peak temperatures. Apparent density, water absorption capability, mechanical strength, porosity and thermal conductivity were determined on sintered specimens and examined in relation to the waste percentage and sintering temperature. The experimental results showed that ceramic production from clay/olive-mill solid waste mixtures is feasible. In fact, the mechanical properties are not significantly impacted with the incorporation of the waste in the ceramic body. However, the thermal conductivity decreases significantly, which can be of particular interest for thermal insulating materials development. Furthermore, the shape of the produced ceramics does not appear to change with the sintering temperature increase.


The detection of footprints of natural selection in genetic polymorphism data is fundamental to understanding the genetic basis of adaptation, and has important implications for human health. The standard approach has been to reject neutrality in favor of selection if the pattern of variation at a candidate locus was significantly different from the predictions of the standard neutral model. The problem is that the standard neutral model assumes more than just neutrality, and it is almost always possible to explain the data using an alternative neutral model with more complex demography. Today's wealth of genomic polymorphism data, however, makes it possible to dispense with models altogether by simply comparing the pattern observed at a candidate locus to the genomic pattern, and rejecting neutrality if the pattern is extreme. Here, we utilize this approach on a truly genomic scale, comparing a candidate locus to thousands of alleles throughout the Arabidopsis thaliana genome. We demonstrate that selection has acted to increase the frequency of early-flowering alleles at the vernalization requirement locus FRIGIDA. Selection seems to have occurred during the last several thousand years, possibly in response to the spread of agriculture. We introduce a novel test statistic based on haplotype sharing that embraces the problem of population structure, and so should be widely applicable.


Objective Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease, with a prevalence of insomnia disorders in up to 70%. Patients' experiences of participating in group-based cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) are sparsely explored, and CBT-I has not been evaluated in patients with RA until now. Therefore, the aim was to explore patients' experiences of CBT-I and how the components of CBT-I were incorporated in sleep management. Design We conducted a qualitative study with semi-structured interviews. The interview guide was developed based on CBT-I, with questions that explicitly explored the participants' experiences of sleep education and the behavioural components of CBT-I. Setting Interviews were conducted one-to-one at Center for Rheumatology and Spine Diseases, Copenhagen. Participants Patients with RA who had received CBT-I as intervention in a randomised controlled trial (N=11). The analysis was based on a reflexive thematic method. Results Five themes were identified (1) When knowledge contributes to an altered perception of sleep, referring to the reduced misperception and increased motivation that followed sleep education, (2) Overcoming habits and perceptions to accelerate sleep onset, referring to barriers related to sleep behaviour and how stimulus control enabled them to find meaningful behaviour, (3) The sleep window of challenges in learning how to sleep right referring to that payoff from sleep restriction did not come easily or by magic, and commitment gave them confidence to continue, (4) Relaxation becomes a behavioural habit and goes beyond sleep, referring to a means to achieve a relaxed body and mind and how they thereby coped better with RA-related symptoms and (5) Break the cycle and regain control referring to how trust in one's own accomplishment was crucial to reducing worrying. Conclusion The process towards eliminating insomnia was a bodily experience and involved a changed mindset that resulted in an alteration of behaviour and cognitions.


Water in calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) is one of the key parameters driving the macroscopic behavior of cement materials, for which water vapor partial pressure has a impact on the Young's modulus and the volumic properties. Several samples of C-S-H with bulk Ca/Si ratio ranging between 0.6 and 1.6 were characterized to study their dehydration/hydration behavior under water-controlled conditions, using 29Si NMR, water adsorption volumetry, X-ray diffraction, and Fourier-transform near-infrared diffuse reflectance, under various water pressures. Coherent with several previous studies, it was observed that an increase in the Ca/Si ratio is due to the progressive omission of Si bridging tetrahedra, with the resulting charge being compensated for by interlayer Ca and that water conditioning influences the layer-to-layer distance and the achieved NMR spectral resolution. Water desorption experiments exhibit one step toward low relative pressure, accompanied by a decrease in the layer-to-layer distance. When sufficient energy is provided to the system (T ≥ 40 °C under vacuum) to remove the interlayer water, the shrinkage/swelling is partially reversible in our experimental conditions. A change in layer-to-layer distance of less than 3 Å is measured in the C-S-H between the wet and dried states. When the bridging SiO2 tetrahedra are omitted, interlayer Ca interacts with layer O and water interacts with the cations and potentially with the surfaces. This structural organization is interpreted as a mid-plane monolayer of water in the interlayer space, this latter accounting for about 30 % of the volume of C-S-H particles.


Data imbalance is prevalent in classification problems and tends to bias the classifier towards the majority of classes. This paper proposes a decision tree building method for imbalanced binary classification via deep reinforcement learning. First, the decision tree building process is regarded as a multi-step game and modeled as a Markov decision process. Then, the tree-based convolution is applied to extract state vectors from the tree structure, and each node is abstracted into a parameterized action. Next, the reward function is designed based on a range of evaluation metrics of imbalanced classification. Finally, a popular deep reinforcement learning algorithm called Multi-Pass DQN is employed to find an optimal decision tree building policy. The experiments on more than 15 imbalanced data sets indicate that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art methods.


The field of ornithopter research has reached a point where it has become commonplace for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solvers to have built-in capabilities for rigid solid body motion. This is suitable for micro air vehicles (MAVs) yet is often not flexible enough to model wings with dynamic internal structure, such as the wings of birds and bats. There is currently no program available to perform the surface motion of a wing which has multiple independently moving joints. The code, detailed in this paper, provides the user with this type of capability. The bone lengths, joint angle properties, and thickening parameters are input and the progressive motion of surface points for each desired time is output. Furthermore, an optimized minimal surface solver is included for use with elastic wings. The output of this code has been integrated with OpenFOAM to provide proof-of-concept and verification results. The verification results demonstrate that both the process and code are viable while the 3D surface motion results demonstrate the motion of a pterosaur wing. As a result, this code opens the door to a large region of unexplored behaviors and properties which stem from highly dynamic multi-jointed wings.


Objective The autoinflammatory disease familial Mediterranean fever (FMF), characterized by recurrent attacks of sterile fever, serosal, and/or synovial inflammation, is caused by variants in the Mediterranean fever gene, MEFV, coding for the pyrin inflammasome sensor. The diagnosis of FMF is mainly based on clinical symptoms and confirmed by detection of disease-associated MEFV variants. However, the diagnosis is challenging among patients carrying variants of uncertain clinical significance (VUS). In this study, we aimed to identify potential FMF discriminatory diagnostic markers in a cohort of clinically characterized FMF patients. Method We established a cohort of clinically and MEFV genotype-characterized FMF patients by enrolling patients from major Danish hospitals (n = 91). The secretory profile of pyrin inflammasome-activated monocytes from healthy donors (HDs) and MEFV-characterized FMF patients (n = 28) was assessed by analysing cell supernatants for a custom-designed panel of 23 cytokines, chemokines, and soluble tumour necrosis factor receptors associated with monocyte and macrophage function. Results MEFV genotypes in Danish FMF patients were associated with age at symptom onset (p < 0.05), FMF among relatives (p < 0.01), proportion of patients in colchicine treatment (p < 0.01), and treatment response (p < 0.05). Secretion of chemokines CCL1 and CXCL1 from pyrin-activated FMF monocytes was significantly decreased compared to HDs (p < 0.05), and could discriminate FMF patients with 'non-confirmatory' MEFV genotypes from HDs with 80.0% and 70.0% sensitivity for CCL1 and CXCL1, respectively (p < 0.05). Conclusion Our data suggest that a functional diagnostic assay based on CCL1 or CXCL1 levels in pyrin-activated patient monocytes may contribute to FMF diagnosis in patients with VUS.


Chronic kidney disease of unknown origin (CKDu) is a global burden among the agricultural communities, this is a non-communicable disease (NCD) which is
asymptomatic and irreversible until latter stages of the disease. The disease has no common features unlike chronic kidney diseases (CKD's) making early detection
impossible in the patients. The most recent form of CKDu was reported in India, known as the Indian CKDu in late 2010's.
In Sri Lanka, CKDu is highly prevalent in the north central province of the country with nearly15.1%-22.9% presented with the disease. This region is a dry-zone in which
agricultural and farming activities are carried out as the main occupation. Several studies have been carried out linking CKDu to various factors such as heavy metals in
water, agrochemicals, heat, dehydration and socio-demographics in NCP. Despite several researches being conducted none of them were able to prove the root cause and
causative factors of the disease. Using the available articles online, studies from countries such as India, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka and South America were chosen in which heat
stress, dehydration, heavy metal involvement, agrochemicals were common causative factors reported in these geographical locations.
Several studies analyzed indicate that the affected CKDu population were part of the agricultural community in rural areas with less or no proper high school education and
family history with CKDu. Recent findings do suggest that a combination study involving socio-demographical data and geographical data will help to end the CKDu debate
worldwide and provide new insights into early diagnosis.


The hemodynamic effects of bradykinin, kallidin II, and eledoisin were compared in unrestrained dogs. Bradykinin and kallidin II were found to be short-acting depressors that increased cardiac output and decreased peripheral resistance. The effects of eledoisin were similar with 10 to 20 times less dosage. With increasing dosage, cardiac output was greatly reduced rather than raised and reduction of arterial pressure was prolonged. Eledoisin given intravenously lowered the blood pressure elevated by angiotensin. Its depressor effects were potentiated by tetraethylammonium chloride.


In hierarchical models of gravitational clustering, virialized haloes are biased tracers of the matter distribution. As discussed by Mo & White, this bias is non-linear and stochastic. They developed a model that allows one to write down analytic expressions for the mean of the bias relation, in the initial Lagrangian, and the evolved, Eulerian, spaces. We provide analytic expressions for the higher order moments as well.

In the initial Lagrangian space, each halo occupies a volume that is proportional to its mass. Haloes cannot overlap initially, so this gives rise to volume exclusion effects which can have important consequences for the halo distribution, particularly on scales smaller than that of a typical halo. Our model allows one to include these volume exclusion effects explicitly when computing the mean and higher order statistics of the Lagrangian space halo distribution. As a result of dynamical evolution, the spatial distribution of haloes in the evolved Eulerian space is likely to be different from that in the initial Lagrangian space. When combined with the Mo & White spherical collapse model, the model developed here allows one to quantify the evolution of the mean and scatter of the bias relation. We also show how their approach can be extended to compute the evolution, not just of the haloes, but of the dark matter distribution itself.

Biasing and its evolution depend on the initial power spectrum. Clustering from Poisson and white-noise Gaussian initial conditions is treated in detail, since, in these cases, exact analytical results are available. We conjecture that these results can be easily extended to provide an approximate but accurate model for the biasing associated with clustering from more general Gaussian initial conditions. For all initial power spectra studied here, the model predictions for the Eulerian bias relation are in reasonable agreement with numerical simulations of hierarchical gravitational clustering for haloes of a wide range of masses, whereas the predictions for the corresponding Lagrangian space quantities are accurate only for massive haloes.


Corona virus (COVID-19) outbreaks have severely disrupted the economy, with devastating effects on global trade and it has simultaneously affected households, businesses, financial institution, industrial establishments and infrastructure companies. The economic crisis caused by the virus has hit many more organizations around the world. Similarly, construction and engineering projects around the world have been jeopardize in various way by the COVID-19 pandemic and many projects have closed. As a result, there has been a financial recession in the construction industry in almost all countries and has created unemployment. All in all, this situation has caused great concern, uncertainty and unrest in the construction industry. This paper observes in several countries and describes the global impact of the Corona virus on the construction industry. This paper also explains how it is possible to continue construction work in this situation. If construction work continues, the economic downturn will be reduced and unemployment will be reduced.


Objective: To explore the postoperative clinical characteristics and outcomes of myasthenia gravis with and without thymoma. Methods: Two hundred and forty-three patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) surgically treated in our department from 1978 to 2003 were studied retrospectively. The clinical characteristics, complication, remissions and survival rates were compared between MG with and without thymoma. Results: The patients of MG with thymoma were significantly older (P<0. 01), had shorter duration of symptom(P<0.01), and higher myasthenia crisis rates after operation(P<0.01) than those without thymoma. No difference of Osserman classification was found between the 2 groups. The complete remission rates and partial remission rates of MG with thymoma were significantly lower than those without thymoma at 1 and 3 years(P=0. 049, P=0. 000, P=0. 015, P=0. 010), but no differences at 5 years (P= 0. 457, P= 0. 699). The survival rates were lower in MG with thymoma than without thymoma (Log rank = 18.58,P = 0. 000). Conclusion: The clinical characteristics are different between MG with and without thymoma. The remission of symptom of MG- with thymoma is worse than that of MG without thymoma in the near future, but similar in the long future. In a long-term, the death rate of MG with thymoma is significantly higher than that of MG without thymoma.


We examined the stomach contents of 27 short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) that mass stranded on the North Carolina coast on 15 January 2005. Eleven whales had prey parts in their forestomachs. We used frequency of occurrence and numerical abundance to assess the relative importance of prey. Brachioteuthis riisei (numerical abundance 28%), an oceanic species, was the most important cephalopod prey, but Taonius pavo (12%) and Histioteuthis reversa (9%) also represented a substantial part of the diet. A large number of otoliths belonging to the fish Scopelogadus beanii were present (25%). These results differ from reports of the stomach contents of short-finned pilot whales from the Pacific coast in which neritic species dominate the diet. Our findings also suggest that there is a considerable difference between the diet of short- and long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas )i n the western North Atlantic. The latter feed predominantly on the long-finned squid (Loligo pealei) whereas the former feed on deep-water species. Our results indicate the whales fed primarily off the continental shelf prior to stranding.


The number and the size of the Langerhans islets in the pancreata of most of investigated cases with diabetic foetopathy is increased (polynesia and macronesia). The B endocrine cells are immunoreactive for both insulin and IAPP, the reaction for IAPP being weaker in comparison with the controls. In one of the cases (the mother with long history of treated type 1 diabetes, who died during delivery) no presence of insulin-immunoreactive of PAF positive B cells is discovered. The reactivity for glucagon and somatostatin in the pancreata with diabetic foetopathy is found to be similar to the controls. In the vicinity of some islets lymphoid cell infiltrations are observed.


This study examined the relationship between support by parents and teachers and school attachment and involvement in the first year of middle school for 157 sixth graders in a predominantly African-American urban middle school. Results suggested the importance of parental support in school attachment and involvement during early adolescence. Teachers' support was a significant predictor of overall school attachment (R2 = .03) beyond the variance explained by parental support (R2 = .11).


In 2007, a new formulation of Eltroxin, a medicine used to treat hypothyroidism, was introduced into New Zealand. By the end of September 2008, there were just over 800 reports linking the new formulation to a range of adverse reactions: joint and muscle pain, weight gain and depression, conjunctivitis, skin rash, and visual disturbances. In response to the prevalence of reports of adverse reactions, an alternative medication, Goldshield, was approved and offered to the public at a subsidised rate. This was despite assurances that the new Eltroxin formulation was safe for use: Medsafe, the government agency responsible for regulating therapeutic products in New Zealand, and an independent medicines monitoring group, stated there was no medical or physiological basis for the supposed adverse reactions. Using media coverage, agency press releases, and meeting minutes of the agencies involved, the paper employs an Actor-Network Theory-based (ANT) approach to understand how the controversy arose, how it took the form it did, and how it was ultimately settled. We explored how, during the controversy, actors emerged, delineated themselves, and concurrently prompted other actors to do the same, as they defined and debated the nature of the risk of Eltroxin. By using an ANT approach, it is possible to illustrate how various actors, including the lay-public, collectively shape the activities of apparatuses that regulate and provide medicines. Thus, we believe such an analysis demonstrates the importance of using public controversies about health risk as an analytical focal point for understanding how various forces shape contemporary society.


The equal partitioning of cell mass between daughters is the usual and expected outcome of cytokinesis for self-renewing cells. However, most studies of partitioning during cell division have focused on daughter cell shape symmetry or segregation of chromosomes. Here, we use live cell interferometry (LCI) to quantify the partitioning of daughter cell mass during and following cytokinesis. We use adherent and non-adherent mouse fibroblast and mouse and human lymphocyte cell lines as models and show that, on average, mass asymmetries present at the time of cleavage furrow formation persist through cytokinesis. The addition of multiple cytoskeleton-disrupting agents leads to increased asymmetry in mass partitioning which suggests the absence of active mass partitioning mechanisms after cleavage furrow positioning.


Chapter One: Tom and Gerry? The Cat and Mouse Game of Congressional Redistricting, William J. Miller Chapter Two: Utah: Pizza Slices, Doughnut Holes, and One-Party Dominance, Adam R. Brown Chapter Three: Incumbency, Influence, and Race: Redistricting, South Carolina Style, Christopher N. Lawrence and Scott H. Huffmon Chapter Four: Swimming Against the Tide: Partisan Gridlock and the 2011 Nevada Redistricting, David F. Damore Chapter Five: Redistricting the Peach State, Charles S. Bullock, III Chapter Six: "Fair" Districts in Florida: New Congressional Seats, New Constitutional Standards, Same Old Republican Advantage?, Aubrey Jewett Chapter Seven: Congressional Redistricting in Louisiana: Region, Race, Party, and Incumbents, Pearson Cross Chapter Eight: Redistricting in Massachusetts, Shannon Jenkins and Samantha Pettey Chapter Nine: Michigan: Republican Domination during a Population Exodus, Michael K. Romano, Todd A. Curry and John A. Clark Chapter Ten: Redistricting in Arizona: An Independent Process Challenged by Partisan Politics, Frederic I. Solop and Ajang A. Salkhi Chapter Eleven: Carving Lines in the Cascades: Redistricting Washington, Kevin Pirch Chapter Twelve: Missouri: Show Me...Again and Again!, Rick Althaus, Jeremy D. Walling, and William J. Miller Chapter Thirteen: Congressional Redistricting in New Jersey, Brigid Callahan Harrison Chapter Fourteen: Lone Star Lines: The Battle over Redistricting in Texas, Jason P. Casellas and Alvaro Corral Chapter Fifteen: Redistricting Congressional Districts in Ohio: An Example of a Partisan Process with Long-lasting Consequences, Mark Salling Chapter Sixteen: Raw Political Power, Gerrymandering, and the illusion of fairness: The Pennsylvania Redistricting Process, 2001 and 2011, Harry C. "Neil" Strine IV Chapter Seventeen: Redistricting in Iowa 2011, Timothy M. Hagle Chapter Eighteen: Drawing Congressional Districts in Illinois-Always Political, Not Always Partisan, Kent Redfield Chapter Nineteen: New York Redistricting in Action: Legislative Inaction and Judicial Enaction, Russell C. Weaver and Joshua J. Dyck Chapter Twenty: Why Redistricting Matters: Political Decisions and Policy Impacts, William J. Miller


3 ABSTRACT:The security and traffic management in computer networks is very important topic for many researchers in the area of network engineering. Proxy as principle baseline element in security and traffic management adds advantages to the network control, reducing the threat and improve the security and network performance. This paper is a review paper discusses many concepts in network security and management which adopted by proxy.


Sufficient anchorage of dental implants, defined as mechanical engagement between implant and bone at the time of insertion, has been recommended for positive clinical outcomes, particularly in immediate loading protocols. Accurate measuring and analysis of stress and strain in the bone are imperative to understand anchorage from the biomechanics perspective. However, the stress and strain distributions at the bone-implant interface are impossible to measure in vivo. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop and validate an explicit continuum finite element analysis (FEA) to investigate the stress and strain in a bone surrogate during the insertion of a dental implant: with cutting flute (CF) and without (NCF). Ten dental implants (five with CF and five with NCF) were inserted into ten rigid polyurethane (PU) foam blocks with a prepared pilot hole. During the insertion, a stereo digital image correlation (DIC) system was used to record in-plane deformation on the PU foam surface at a frequency of 1.0 Hz; and, surface von Mises strain, εv_DIC, was calculated (VIC-3D, Correlated Solutions Inc). In parallel, the insertion was simulated using FEA with explicit solver (Abaqus Explicit version 2017, Simulia). The PU foam was defined as an elastic-plastic material with a progressive crushable foam failure behaviour. The surface von Mises strain predicted from FEA, εv_FEA, was compared against εv_DIC. Uncertainty of DIC displacement measurement was 0.6 μm; and the static noise floor for the strain measurement was 500 microstrain (με). Coefficient of determination for εv_DIC and εv_FEA along a horizontal line for the CF and NCF implants were 0.80 and 0.78, respectively, which suggested the overall FEA performance was good. FEA results indicated that the cutting flute reduced the maximum shear stress in the PU foam and axial force which facilitated the insertion with less effort. This study demonstrated the successful combination of mechanical testing and FEA to better understand the mechanics of dental implant insertion.


The formation of MoO(3) and its spontaneous spread over an Au (111) surface have been studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Metallic Mo clusters grown by Mo(CO)(6) chemical vapor deposition (CVD) have a constant size independent of the Mo coverage. Molecular oxygen does not react with low coverage of Mo, probably due to the encapsulation of the Mo clusters by Au. At higher coverage, O(2) reacts with Mo, partially transforming the metallic Mo to Mo(4+). NO(2) can oxidize Mo efficiently to Mo(6+) and Mo(5+) species at all coverages investigated. XPS experiments show that the integrated intensity of the Mo 3d peaks increases by a factor of 2 upon the oxidation, suggesting the spread of the MoO(3) over the surface. The STM study confirms this suggestion and provides the mechanistic details of the spreading. Mo oxide forms ramified two-dimensional islands covering a substantially larger fraction of the Au surface than the metallic Mo. We propose that the morphology change starts with the diffusion of oxide clusters (ramified-cluster-diffusion mechanism), followed by their breakdown to highly disordered two-dimensional islands of molecular MoO(3).


Intelligent, large-scale IoT ecosystems have become possible due to recent advancements in sensing technologies, distributed learning, and low-power inference in embedded devices. In traditional cloud-centric approaches, raw data is transmitted to a central server for training and inference purposes. On the other hand, Federated Learning migrates both tasks closer to the edge nodes and endpoints. This allows for a significant reduction in data exchange while preserving the privacy of users. Trained models, though, may under-perform in dynamic environments due to changes in the data distribution, affecting the model's ability to infer accurately; this is referred to as concept drift. Such drift may also be adversarial in nature. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to detect such behaviours promptly. In order to simultaneously reduce communication traffic and maintain the integrity of inference models, we introduce FLARE, a novel lightweight dual-scheduler FL framework that conditionally transfers training data, and deploys models between edge and sensor endpoints based on observing the model's training behaviour and inference statistics, respectively. We show that FLARE can significantly reduce the amount of data exchanged between edge and sensor nodes compared to fixed-interval scheduling methods (over 5x reduction), is easily scalable to larger systems, and can successfully detect concept drift reactively with at least a 16x reduction in latency.


Background—We used cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) to study normal left ventricular (LV) trabeculation as a basis for differentiation from pathological noncompaction. Methods and Results—The apparent end-diastolic (ED) and end-systolic (ES) thicknesses and thickening of trabeculated and compacted myocardial layers were measured in 120 volunteers using a consistent selection of basal, mid, and apical CMR short-axis slices. All had a visible trabeculated layer in 1 or more segments. The compacted but not the trabeculated layer was thicker in men than in women (P<0.01 at ED and ES). When plotted against age, the trabeculated and compacted layer thicknesses demonstrated opposite changes: an increase of the compact layer after the fourth decade at both ED and ES (P<0.05) but a decrease of the trabeculated layer. There was age-related preservation of total wall thickness at ED but an increase at ES (P<0.05). The compacted layer thickened, whereas the trabeculated layer thinned with systole, but neither change differed between sexes. With age, the most trabeculated LV segments showed significantly greater systolic thinning of trabeculated layers and, conversely, greater thickening of the compact segments (P<0.05). Total wall thickening is neither sex nor age dependent. There were no sex differences in the trabeculated/compacted ratio at ES or ED, but the ES trabeculated/compacted ratio was smaller in older (50 to 79 years) versus younger (20 to 49 years) groups (P<0.05). Conclusions—We demonstrated age- and sex-related morphometric differences in the apparent trabeculated and compacted layer thicknesses and systolic thinning of the visible trabeculated layer that contrasts with compacted myocardial wall thickening.


The crystal structure of a Eu2+-activated SrCaSiAl2O7 phosphor was refined and determined as a tetragonal structure with the refinement converged to Rp = 7.05%, Rwp = 10.67%, and χ2 = 2.637 by Rietveld refinement using a synchrotron light source. By doping different contents of Eu2+, the emission peaks gives a range between 526 nm and 535 nm. The estimated Stokes shifts and Commission International de l'Eclairage (CIE) chromaticity coordinates are 16576–16896 cm−1 and (0.3155, 0.5073) to (0.3685, 0.5284), respectively. By tuning the ratio of phosphors and silicone, the optical properties of the three-band white LEDs could be tuned, changing the CIE chromaticity coordinates from yellow (0.4343, 0.4857) to white-light (0.3311, 0.3460), the correlated color temperature (CCT) between 3599 K and 5558 K, and color rendering index (Ra) in the range 83.1 to 79.1, under a forward bias current of 350 mA.


Among a variety of piezoelectric polymers, PVDF and its copolymer with TrFE exhibit the largest electromechanical coupling coefficient and are, therefore, important for practical applications for soft transducer elements. They also exhibit pyroelectric activities and are, more importantly, ferroelectric polymers undergoing ultrafast polarization switching. The p-PP electret containing oblate ellipsoidal air void is another important piezoelectric polymer characterized by extreme softness. The typical values of their electromechanical properties are summarized in Table I.


Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR) is recognized as one of the possible solutions to harden circuits implemented on SRAM-based FPGAs against soft-errors affecting configuration memory and user memory. Several works already showed cross-section figures confirming the soundness of TMR principle, however some faults still escape the TMR's fault masking mechanism. In this work we analyzed by means of extensive fault-injection experiments the TMR architecture. We identified some of the causes that are responsible for the escaped faults, and we proposed possible solutions. In our analyses we considered both the TMR and one of its enhanced version, the XTMR


Background Queenie's Roadshow is an engagement project targeted at local schools and nurseries. Pupils receive a free presentation from the hospice's Community Fundraiser and our mascot, Queenie. The presentation gives pupils the opportunity to learn about the invaluable work that is carried out by the hospice and their wider services. In July, schools will hold a fundraising activity or event during their Sports Day. This is the first year in which the Roadshow has run, and whilst the focus is on engaging with local schools and nurseries to increase awareness of hospice work, dying and bereavement, it is estimated that there will be an income of approximately £1,000. Aim The aim is engagement with local schools and nurseries to develop long-lasting relationships. This will help build Compassionate Communities and increase fundraising activities. Methods Social media marketing. This reached 1,274 people, 75 of which engaged with the Facebook post. Traditional marketing via written request (to those who had consented) to schools and nurseries did not result in any engagement. Results Results are anecdotal at this point as the campaign is ongoing. Children have been curious and excited to engage and have conversations. This is beginning to increase awareness. To this point, six schools/nurseries are signed up to the campaign. Conclusion We believe that by utilising our mascot effectively we will not only develop long-lasting relationships with our local schools, but we will also raise awareness and knowledge of our hospice in a way that enables conversations about dying and bereavement with young people. We can use these experiences as building blocks within the development of Compassionate Communities as well as benefitting from fundraising activity by each school/nursery.


This study investigates how psychological characteristics influence saving behavior within a sample of 1,380 U.S. preretirees aged 50–70 from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Using the 3M Model of Motivation and Personality as a theoretical basis, structural equation model results revealed that financial self‐efficacy (FSE) directly explains saving behavior and is central to understanding the link between other psychological characteristics and the saving behavior of older adults. Through higher FSE, increased positive affect and reduced negative affect indirectly supported saving behavior. Moreover, the results revealed personality traits indirectly explained saving behavior. Conscientiousness and extroversion indirectly supported saving behavior; whereas openness to experience and neuroticism indirectly undermined saving behavior. This study connects broad personality traits with saving behavior, which provides information about how older adults' psychological composition is related to their saving practices.


Among the conscience of the intrinsic value of the pictorial, it resides a continuum understanding of which is fundamental in the relationships and contradictions of succedaneum poetic acts, and they will be better understood as the better we think as M. Brusatin, in Order to «dedicate ourselves to the painting return». Reminding all that which was symptomatic and repeatedly hidden and deprecated by the draw - «the colour as decorative complement of the narrative allegory of art history», in our interpretation about Storia dei Colori, we follow the painting in its nature-temporal-space, seeing the "colour-image", the "colour-shadow", the "flux to light in white-opacity". We count the intrinsic vitality of bluish life in people's cultures; listening to it in its deepness, also in the singular profession's act, as «once upon a time there was a time again, naturally, the once upon the time of being the Painter» as, for instance, Rafael, Kandinsky, Yves Klein, Mark Rothko and Gerhard Richter.


We recast the soft $S$-matrices on the celestial sphere as correlation functions of certain $2$-dimensional models of topological defects. In pointing out the double copy structure between the soft photon and soft graviton cases, we arrive at a putative classical double copy between the corresponding topological models and a rederivation of gauge invariance and the equivalence principle as Ward identities of the $2$-dimensional theories.


ABSTRACT Clément, J.-B.; Sous, D.; Golay, F. and Ersoy M., 2020. Wave-driven groundwater flows in sandy beaches: A Richards equation-based model. In: Malvárez, G. and Navas, F. (eds.), Global Coastal Issues of 2020. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 95, pp. 1047–1051. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN0749-0208. A groundwater model is developed to simulate flows under the swash zone of sandy beach. Variably saturated beach is described by Richards equation, which is solved by the Rivage code thanks to a discontinuous Galerkin method. The SWASH code is used to simulate wave propagation in nearshore waters and compute suitable boundary conditions at the beachface to force Richards equation. An idealized case is considered to investigate the beach groundwater response to the action of swash cycles associated with long IG-like waves: infiltration/ exfiltration, water table, hydraulic head and pore velocities are outlined. A good qualitative agreement is found with observations from experimental studies in the literature.


Abstract : This monograph examines the nature of operational art during the third and final phase of the Chinese Civil War, 1945-1949. During this period Mao Tse-Tung and the Red Army fought Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist Army for the military and political control of China. The initial portion of the monograph discusses the areas of military strategy and the development of operational art. This area was developed using contemporary monographs, research projects, and professional journal articles. Professional military journals such as Parameters and Military Review publish relevant articles covering these subjects on a recurring basis. The majority of the information covering Mao's thoughts and writings were drawn from The Selected Works of Mao Tse-Tung published in Beijing, China by the Foreign Languages Press. The section dealing with the essence of operational art was developed primarily from James Schneider's theoretical paper; Vulcan's Anvil: The American Civil War and the Emergence of Operational Art. In this paper Schneider identifies, defines, and argues that eight key attributes must exist for the fullest expression of operational art to be manifested. These eight attributes are; the distributed operation, the distributed campaign, a system of continuous logistics, instantaneous command and control, the operationally durable formation, operational vision, the distributed enemy, and distributed deployment. This monograph uses Schneider's eight key attributes of operational art as a measure of effectiveness for evaluating the use of operational art during the Chinese Civil War. This monograph concludes that while Mao Tse-Tung was one-step removed from the operational level of war, the commanders of the Red Army, guided by his theory of protracted war and his controlling strategy, successfully applied operational art to decisively defeat a larger, better equipped, and trained military force in a sequential series of battles and engagements.


The protoplanetary disk around the F-type star HD 135344B (SAO 206462) is in a transition stage and shows many intriguing structures both in scattered light and thermal (sub-)millimeter emission which are possibly related to planet formation processes. We aim to study the morphology and surface brightness of the disk in scattered light to gain insight into the innermost disk regions, the formation of protoplanets, planet-disk interactions traced in the surface and midplane layers, and the dust grain properties of the disk surface. We have carried out high-contrast polarimetric differential imaging (PDI) observations with VLT / SPHERE and obtained polarized scattered light images with ZIMPOL in the R and I bands and with IRDIS in the Y and J bands. The scattered light images and surface brightness profiles are used to study in detail structures in the disk surface and brightness variations. We have constructed a 3D radiative transfer model to support the interpretation of several detected shadow features. The scattered light images reveal with unprecedented angular resolution and sensitivity the spiral arms as well as the 25 au cavity of the disk. Multiple shadow features are discovered on the outer disk with one shadow only being present during the second observation epoch. A positive surface brightness gradient is observed in the stellar irradiation corrected ( r 2 -scaled) images in southwest direction possibly due to an azimuthally asymmetric perturbation of the temperature and / or surface density by the passing spiral arms. The disk integrated polarized flux, normalized to the stellar flux, shows a positive trend towards longer wavelengths which we attribute to large (2 π a (cid:166) λ ) aggregate dust grains in the disk surface. Part of the the non-azimuthal polarization signal in the U φ image of the J band observation can be attributed to multiple scattering in the disk. The detected shadow features and their possible variability have the potential to provide insight into the structure of and processes occurring in the innermost disk regions. Possible explanations for the presence of the shadows include a 22 ◦ misaligned inner disk, a warped disk region that connects the inner disk with the outer disk, and variable or transient phenomena such as a perturbation of the inner disk or an asymmetric accretion flow. The spiral arms are best explained by one or multiple protoplanets in the exterior of the disk although no gap is detected beyond the spiral arms up to 1. 0. discuss the results with a focus on the innermost disk regions, the formation of spiral arms, and Atacama Large Millimeter / submillimeter Array (ALMA) dust continuum observations. In Sect. 4.6, we summarize the main conclusions.


This article investigates the long run relationship between energy consumption and the economic growth in Nigeria from the period of 1985 to 2010. However, the study make use of secondary data analysis of ordinary least square method of Multiple regression analysis and the objectives of the study is to examine whether energy consumption brings economic growth in Nigeria and also to examine the long run effect of energy consumption on growth in Nigeria. Moreover, the results revealed that Petroleum, Electricity are positively related to Nigeria economic growth while coal and Gas shows that there is a negative relationship with Nigerian economic growth. However, the study conclude that that increased energy consumption is a strong determinant of economic growth having an implicit effect in lagged periods and both an implicit and explicit effect on the present period in Nigeria. Thus, the study recommends that the energy sector should be given more relevance even by exploiting the opportunities laden in the sector to increase economic growth.


The biggest environmental problem caused by the construction of tunnels adjacent to high-rise buildings is the settlement of buildings. The paper analyzes the influence of tunnel excavation on the deformation of the superstructure and the deformation mode of the superstructure. It introduces the indicators and standards for the construction control of tunnel adjacent to the building at home and abroad. Combined with the Yuzhong tunnel project under construction in Chongqing, the main monitoring indicators and control standards of the Yuzhong Tunnel passing through the main buildings are given after comprehensive analysis and considerations, which provide a reference for the deformation control indicators of similar urban traffic tunnels adjacent to high-rise buildings.


The Keller-Segel equations are widely used for describing chemotaxis in biology. Recently, a new fully discrete scheme for this model was proposed in [46], mass conservation, positivity and energy decay were proved for the proposed scheme, which are important properties of the original system. In this paper, we establish the error estimates of this scheme. Then, based on the error estimates, we derive the finite-time blowup of nonradial numerical solutions under some conditions on the mass and the moment of the initial data.


New stegosaurian remains have been recently recovered from the Jurassic-Cretaceous transition sandstones of the Villar del Arzobispo Formation (Tithonian-Berriasian) in the Valencia province, eastern Spain. Specimens consist of two partially articulated (or closely associated) postcranial skeletons. The Baldovar specimen is composed of appendicular bones (scapula, femur) and two pairs of dermal tail spines, two of them articulated with two distal caudal vertebrae. The second specimen, unearthed in the vicinity of La Yesa village, consists of dorsal vertebrae and ribs, fragments of caudal centra and an incomplete femur. The new specimens are tentatively referred to the clade Dacentrurinae and may belong to Dacentrurus on the basis of features observed on the dorsal vertebrae and caudal dermal spines. Stegosaurs are represented so far in the Jurassic-Cretaceous transition of Spain by Dacentrurus. The presence of other taxa (Stegosaurus, Miragaia) in Spain, recently documented in the Late Jurassic of Portugal, cannot be attested on the basis of the currently recorded material.


Paramagnetic resonance spectra of the spin-label 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyl-l-oxy have been used to study phase separations in binary mixtures of dimyristoyl-phosphatidylcholine and cardiolipin. Two different samples of cardiolipin were used: (i) One sample contained calcium ions at a mole ratio of calcium:cardiolipin = 1:2; the experimental data support the view that cardiolipin is present in the bilayer membrane as calcium ion linked dimers, (CL)2 Ca2+. (ii) A calcium-free sodium cardiolipin sample yielded remarkable spin-label partition data that were quite different from those obtained in the presence of Ca2+. In both cases the spin-label data provide evidence for compound formation and for fluid-fluid immiscibility in the bilayer membrane.


We suggest a mechanism which leads to 3+1 space-time dimensions. The Universe assumed to have nine spatial dimensions is regarded as a special nonlinear oscillatory system—a kind of Einstein solid. There are p-brane solutions which manifest as phase oscillations separating different phase states. The presence of interactions allows for bifurcations of higher-dimensional spaces to lower-dimensional ones in the form of brane junctions. We argue this is a natural way to select lower dimensions.


This article includes the perspectives of twenty -seven immigrants from fourteen countries on the U.S. healthcare system. The Mandala and Cultural Explanatory models are used as theoretical frameworks. Structured interviews were utilized to obtain information on occupation, education, family structure, satisfaction, strengths and limitations of the U.S. healthcare services. International comparisons of the U.S. healthcare system and approximately ten (10) countries are also included - based on feedback form the respondents.


These three interrelated essays study the central problem of transactional website use from computers located in a public environment. The first essay1 is an exploratory study of determinants of website use in a public environment. This study incorporates an extension of Triandis' modified TRA [1980] and considers Affect, Social Norms and Facilitating Conditions in combination with User Characteristics to begin to answer the question, are people willing to engage in website transactions while using computers located in a public environment. To explore this question, survey data gathered from New York State public library users was tested using structural equation modeling.
The second essay2 considers the external physical environment and the internal virtual environment present in and around publicly located computers that are used for Internet access. The public environment in which a computer is located contains many dimensions that are different from those of a private computer. A public computer is used by a multitude of people and the maintenance of the equipment is the responsibility of others, unknown to the user. This creates a situation in the computer where spyware and tracking software may be present on the machine gathering information about the individual users Internet activities, this is of particular importance when the user inputs information during a web-based transaction. Likewise the physical environment commonly affords little privacy and thus leaves a user susceptible to interruptions and unable to concentrate on web-based transactions. This study focuses solely on the physical and virtual facilitating conditions found in and around a public computer and examines the moderating effect of the individual difference, Individual Need for Privacy, on these relationships. In order to empirically test this model, a moderated partial least squares (PLS) approach is employed using survey data gathered from computer users in public libraries.
The third essay examines the influence of Internet Self-Efficacy in combination with Risk Attitudes on public transactional website use. Grounded in Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory [1986] this essay considers a specific form of self-efficacy relevant to online transactional web-site use, Internet Self-Efficacy, and three categories of expected outcomes in combination with risk perception to attempt to predict public transactional web-site use. The model is empirically tested using a PLS approach using statewide public library computer use survey data and the findings indicate that risk attitudes and concerns about internet transactions are determinants of public transactional website use. The attitudes toward internet risk arise from a perception of risk in the online environment and a perception of risk in being tracked. There was no evidence users are sensitive to the potential risks in the virtual environment of the public computer.
1A prior version of this paper was presented at the 39th Annual Hawaii Conference on Science and Systems, Poipu, Kauai. January 4-7, 2006. 2A previous version of this article was presented at the MISRC/CRITO Symposium on the Digital Divide, Minneapolis MN, Aug 27-28, 2004. The article was invited to revise and resubmit for publication in the Special Edition of the Journal of the Association of Information Systems. The paper has been revised accordingly and appeared in JAIS, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp 19-50.


Despite the significance of fat-rich food/drug interactions, there is an incomplete understanding of the influence of ingested lipids on orally delivered hydrophobic drug bioavailability. In order to determine the impact of lipid and lipid digestion on drug dissolution and absorption, an updated in vitro lipid digestion model has been designed based on knowledge of gastrointestinal contents. The digestion kinetics sensitivity to key parameters, including pH, calcium concentration, and lipid substrate, has been studied. In vitro lipolysis experiments have been coupled with several techniques, such as dynamic light scattering (DLS), and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), to characterize respectively: size and morphology of colloidal particles, and dynamic drug partitioning between phases.


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a major world public problem in the world, with high morbidity and mortality rates. Circular RNA (circRNA) circ_0073181 has been reported to be related to HCC development. However, the mechanism of circ_0073181 in HCC is far from being addressed. Circ_0073181, microRNA-548p (miR-548p) and protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor type E (PTPRE) level were detected by real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). Cell proliferation, migration, invasion and apoptosis were detected by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8), 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine, wound healing, transwell and flow cytometry assay. Protein levels of proliferating cell nuclear antigen, Bcl-2 related X protein (Bax) and PTPRE were examined by western blot assay. The binding relationship between miR-548p and circ_0073181 or PTPRE was predicted by circular RNA interactome and targetScan and then verified by a dual-luciferase reporter and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assays. The biologic role of circ_0073181 on HCC tumor growth was examined by the xenograft tumor model in vivo. Circ_0073181 and PTPRE were upregulated, and miR-548p was decreased in HCC tissues and cells. Furthermore, circ_0073181 knockdown could boost proliferation, migration, invasion and repress apoptosis of HCC cells in vitro. The mechanical analysis suggested that circ_0073181 could regulate PTPRE expression by sponging miR-548p. In addition, circ_0073181 knockdown suppressed cell growth of HCC in vivo. Circ_0073181 silencing could inhibit HCC cell growth and metastasis partly by regulating the miR-548p/ PTPRE axis, providing a promising therapeutic target for the HCC treatment.


A unique approach was used in which polyoxometalate-based ionic liquids (POM-IL) were synthesized and employed for the one-pot dissolution and conversion of biomass. A library of four functional POM-IL compounds was synthesized using two cationic organic groups (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolim and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium) and two anionic POMs (phosphotungstate and tungstosilicate). The POM-IL compound serves a dual-purpose. First, it dissolves approximately 30 wt% of cellulosic biomass in 2 h at 200 °C. Second, analysis using HPLC confirmed that the POM-ILs catalyze conversion of biomass into commodity monosaccharides such as glucose and xylose. All of the prepared POM-IL compounds demonstrated dynamic thermal stabilities exceeding 300 °C and were characterized using IR and thermogravimetric analysis.


OBJECTIVES
To identify the essential competencies for prevention and care related to unintended pregnancy to develop program outcomes for nursing curricula.

DESIGN
Modified Delphi study.

SETTING
National.

PARTICIPANTS
Eighty-five nurse experts, including academic faculty and advanced practice nurses providing sexual and reproductive health care in primary or specialty care settings.

METHODS
Expert panelists completed a three-round Delphi study using an electronic survey.

RESULTS
Eighty-five panelists completed the first round survey, and 72 panelists completed all three rounds. Twenty-seven items achieved consensus of at least 75% of the experts by the third round to comprise the educational competencies.

CONCLUSION
Through an iterative process, experts in prevention and care related to unintended pregnancy reached consensus on 27 core educational competencies for nursing education. The competencies provide a framework for curricular development in an important area of nursing education.


Combination of dynamic and static light scattering experiments gives important information on structural and
 dynamic properties of polymer solutions and colloidal suspensions. However, the analysis of light scattering experiments in turbid media is highly complicated due to the presence of multiple scattering. Recently, a one-beam set-up has been proposed and it could be shown that the cross correlation function leads to the correct hydrodynamic radius. Using standard latex spheres with a diameter of 453 nm we demonstrate that
 the one-beam scattering method can be successfully used to determine the differential cross section from the amplitude of the
 cross correlation function even for highly turbid samples.


In this paper we set out to solve the task of 6-DOF 3D object detection from 2D images, where the only supervision is a geometric representation of the objects we aim to find. In doing so, we remove the need for 6-DOF labels (i.e. position, orientation etc.), allowing our network to be trained on unlabeled images in a self-supervised manner. We achieve this through a neural network which learns an explicit scene parameterization which is subsequently passed into a differentiable renderer. We analyze why analysis-by-synthesis-like losses for supervision of 3D scene structure using differentiable rendering is not practical, as it almost always gets stuck in local minima of visual ambiguities. This can be overcome by a novel form of training, where an additional network is employed to steer the optimization itself to explore the entire parameter space i.e. to be curious, and hence, to resolve those ambiguities and find workable minima.