Executive Summary Applications have two types of parallelism: instruction-level parallelism and thread-level parallelism. Instruction-level parallelism enables a processor to issue multiple instructions in the same cycle. Instruction-level parallelism can be static (discovered by the compiler at compile-time) or dynamic (discovered by the processor at run-time). Thread-level parallelism enables a processor to run multiple threads, processes, or programs at the same time. An Alpha processor will exploit static and dynamic instruction-level parallelism with out-order execution, and thread-level parallelism with simultaneous multithreading. Out-of-order execution has a performance benefit of 1.5-2x over in-order execution. Simultaneous multithreading has benefit of 1.5-3x over single threaded execution. An IA64 processor will only exploit static instruction-level parallelism. It cannot take advantage of dynamic instruction-level parallelism or thread-level parallelism. IA64 defines a set of architectural extensions to permit compilers to identify more instruction-level parallelism. These architectural extensions will make it very difficult for an IA64 processor to implement out-of-order execution or simultaneous multithreading efficiently. For most applications, the small benefit that these architectural extensions give compilers does not equal the performance lost by not using these dynamic techniques. Alpha will be superior to IA64 on commercial applications. Commercial applications are very sensitive to code size. The IA64 instruction encoding increases the code size of a program by at least 33%, and the compiler techniques required by the IA64 introduce many additional instructions. Commercial programs are difficult to analyze at compile-time, and IA64 cannot dynamically adjust to program behavior at run-time. Commercial programs have very low instruction-level parallelism, but they are typically explicitly multithreaded. Each thread is very sequential and includes long delays waiting for memory. The IA64 strategy of searching for instruction-level parallelism cannot find the orders of magnitude improvements available to Alpha through simultaneous multithreading. Alpha will be superior to IA64 in high performance technical computing. Memory bandwidth and the scalability of the system limit the performance of most high performance technical applications. Future Alpha processors are adding a low-latency, high-bandwidth memory interface on chip, together with on-chip support for distributed shared memory. The next generation Alpha processors will have the fastest memory system in the industry. Alpha will be the leader in high performance technical computing.


A series of direct‐current tribovoltaic nanogenerators (TVNGs) with high current density have been developed for energy harvesting and mechanical sensing recently, but the lead wires that need to be connected to two relatively moving parts have greatly restricted the application of TVNG. Herein, a freestanding‐mode TVNG (FTVNG) is proposed based on metal, p‐type silicon (p‐Si), and n‐type silicon (n‐Si). As the freestanding part of metal simultaneously rubs against p‐Si and n‐Si, opposite direct current (DC) outputs can be generated, thus forming a DC output from p‐Si to n‐Si in the external circuit. Resulting from the distinctive structure, FTVNGs are applicable for harvesting energy from moving objects without attached wires. Additionally, by using steel needles to precisely control the actual contact area, the electrical output characteristics and influence laws of the tribovoltaic effect under different working parameters such as area and speed are studied. Moreover, FTVNG is integrated into the traditional rolling bearing as a triboelectric bearing, realizing energy recovery from the rotational motion of mechanical parts and speed sensing, which demonstrates the great application potential of TVNG in basic components and parts.


We have studied the effect of a multipass Fabry-Perot interferometer (FP) on a scattering line. Here we describe a method that we applied to derive a closed-form expression for a line shape obtained with an ideal, multipass FP. The method reduces the convolution problem between the multipass function and the scattering line to the corresponding single-pass problem. We illustrate the method with a Lorentzian and a damped-harmonic-oscillator line passed through a single-, triple-, and quintuple-pass FP. Furthermore we have applied the method to a study of the effect of the collecting pinhole on a sharp line obtained by multipassing. We show how we used these functions to fit the complete spectra obtained with a single- and triple-pass FP.


Several variants of combinations of renewable resources with traditional resources for heating, hot water supply and air-conditioning in housing construction were analyzed. As a result economic feasibility of alternative power supply was detected.


This sordid tale of the runaway monk Ramon de Moranta during the tumultuous reign of King Jaume the Conqueror (1228-76) affords a glimpse into the intersecting worlds of the feudalistic Gregorian Reform, the cresting mendicantism of the doomed Friars of the Sack and the decline of the military orders, the complexities of monastic prisons, the punitive "transfer" of clerical lifestyles, and the staged ritual and rhetoric in the theater of religious life in the medieval Catalan realms. It also illumines the historiographical resources of the king's archives today. King Jaume the Conqueror (1228-76) is the most celebrated ruler of the realms of Arago-Catalonia, a congeries of kingdoms and polities stretching from Southern France down the coast of Mediterranean Spain and overseas. His wide-ranging conquests from Islam, the concomitant mercantile ascendancy and cultural renaissance, the lively proliferation of ecclesiastical institutions, and his several comprehensive law codes all contributed to his rise as a Mediterranean world figure. Today that status is reflected in his administrative archives, notably in the unique registers, volume after volume preserving many thousands of charters on fragile early paper. Lesser collections of the great monarch here include particularly the Pergamins or Parchments, some three thousand disparate charters incised on animal skins. Oddly enough, few of those parchments pertain to the king himself or to his affairs but serve as a grab bag and depository for chance contemporary items. Researchers encounter a given parchment by happenstance; unless that item resonates with the peculiar interests of the rummaging scholar, it is, of course, passed over with only a glance. One such charter from a local Catalan monastery, recovered and reproduced here, is valuable simultaneously on several neglected historiographical fronts.1 On its face, the long document narrates the case of one Ramon de Moranta, a canon regular making amends in 1272 for an appalling fall from grace; at that level, the charter forms part of the monastic and religious order network then expanding under the patronage of King Jaume. At another level, the main story illustrates a dynamic of medieval religious life, the transitus or transfer of a monk from one order into another, and the more important dynamic of shifting a criminal cleric from one order into a monitored and punitive environment. Both topics hold practical and metaphysical pitfalls for the investigator.Their unfolding here also touches on the bizarre practice of monastic prison. At still another level, the principals have drawn a psychological profile of poignant human interest. More exciting, the document incorporates a rare glimpse of the Friars of the Sack, a vital new mendicant order that quickly spread like wildfire until brutally suppressed. For many years, I have been hunting down the scattered survivals of Sacks' archives around the western Mediterranean for just such glimpses of its reputation and inner life. Finally, the parchment as an artifact calls for due attention as a mode of legal procedure with its rhetorical parts, lawyerly boilerplate, dual-letter format, and script peculiarities, necessitating as well a full transcription and translation. The monastery of Santa Maria de l'Estany lay in a small, rainy valley, where a central marshy pond or pool yields the Latin name stagnum, Catalan I'estany. The town itself, including at that time about twentyfive newly arrived families, stands outside Manresa in the diocese of Vic(h), which is north of Barcelona on Catalonia's inland district called El Bages.The remnants of the monastery are a gem of Romanesque architecture, the unique cloister particularly a magnet for tourists. Critical to its role in our tawdry story was its fame as a center of Europe's Gregorian Reform. It had begun life in 1080 as a chapter of Canons Regular under a version of Augustinian rule. By the time of our 1272 episode, a dozen priest-canons served its liturgical life, as well as another dozen associates (beneficiats comensals), with a dozen lay maintenance workers. …


In this paper, we report the characterization of NdTi0.8M0.2O3.4 (M = Ga, Al) ceramics prepared via mixed oxide solid state sintering route. X-ray diffraction analysis of the samples revealed the formation of single phase for NdTi0.8Ga0.2O3.4 sample while secondary phase was formed in the case of NdTi0.8Al0.2O3.4. Microstructural analysis of the sample showed dense packed grains. NdTi0.8M0.2O3.4 with M = Ga and Al exhibited a dielectric constant (r) = 34, quality factor (Q×f) = 9,776 and 10,867 GHz and temperature coefficient of resonance frequency (τf) = -113 and -90 ppm/oC, respectively. Further work is required on tuning the low τf of the samples for possible applications in the GHz frequency range. Keywords: Ceramics; ABO3.4, Perovskites, Microwave dielectric properties.


Author(s): Yan, Ziqi | Advisor(s): Horava, Petr | Abstract: Some of the most fundamental questions in theoretical physics can be formulated as puzzles of naturalness, such as the cosmological constant problem and the Higgs mass hierarchy problem. In condensed matter physics, the interpretation of the linear scaling of resistivity with temperature in the strange metal phase of high-temperature superconductors also arises as a naturalness puzzle. In this thesis, we explore the landscape of naturalness in nonrelativistic quantum field theories that exhibit anisotropic scaling in space and time. Such theories are referred to as the ``Aristotelian quantum field theories." In the simple case with scalars, we find that the constant shift symmetry is extended to a shift by a polynomial in spatial coordinates, which protects the technical naturalness of modes with a higher order dispersion. This discovery leads to a generalization of the relativistic Coleman-Hohenberg-Mermin-Wagner (CHMW) theorem to multicritical cases in lower critical dimension. By breaking the polynomial shift symmetries in a hierarchy, we find novel cascading phenomena with large natural hierarchies between the scales at which the values of z change, leading to an evasion of the "no-go" consequences of the relativistic CHMW theorem. Based on these formal developments, we propose potential applications both to the Higgs mass hierarchy problem and to the problem of linear resistivity in strange metals. Finally, encouraged by these nonrelativistic surprises that already arise in simple systems with scalars, we move on to more complicated systems with gauge symmetries. We study the quantization of Horava gravity in 2+1 dimensions and compute the anomalous dimension of the cosmological constant at one loop. However, nonrelativistic naturalness in gravity is still largely unexplored. Whether or not such nonrelativsitic twists have any implications for important naturalness puzzles, such as the cosmological constant problem, remains as an intriguing question.


Introduction: Definitive diagnosis of pleural disease (particularly malignancy) depends upon histological proof obtained via pleural biopsy. Image-guided sampling is now standard practice. Local anaesthetic thoracoscopy has a high diagnostic yield for pleural disease. Thoracoscopy is not always possible in frail patients, if pleural fluid is heavily loculated, or where lung is adherent to the chest wall. Such cases can be converted "on the table" to cutting-needle biopsy. Aim: The present study was conducted to determine the diagnostic yield of a physician-lead service in both planned biopsies and cases of failed thoracoscopy. Methods: Retrospective review of all ultrasound-guided cutting-needle biopsies performed in the Pleural Unit between January 2010 and November 2012. The histological results were assessed for the yield of pleural tissue. Results: A total of 32 biopsies were undertaken. Overall, 29 (90.6%) successfully obtained sufficient tissue for histological diagnosis. 14 of 32 were biopsies conducted after failed thoracoscopy (6.8% of 205 the attempted thoracoscopies): 12/14 (85.7%) obtained sufficient tissue. 8/29 (27.6%) demonstrated pleural malignancy on histology (despite previous negative cytology), while 21/29 (72.4%) were benign. Of the benign cases, six were pleural tuberculosis (TB), two were pleural sarcoidosis and the remaining thirteen were benign pleural thickening/fibrosis. All were "true negatives" (at an average of 17 months of follow-up). Conclusion: Ultrasound-guided cutting needle pleural biopsy in the hands of physicians obtains pleural tissue successfully in a high proportion of cases, including those of failed thoracoscopy.


The Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus L.) is well-known as "poor man's food" fruit in Bangladesh. It is widely consumed by most of the rural people and it is the national fruit of Bangladesh. The main aim of this review is to document the medicinal significance of jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus L.), major parts and uses of the jackfruit in Bangladesh. This article was based on mostly a literature review. All parts of the fruit and plant are used as human food, animal feed and wood source for furniture. Although jackfruit is the main fruit of the tree, it is used as furniture for its beautiful texture and wood color. Jackfruit contains anti-bacterial, anti-diabetic, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-helminthic properties. The fruit is rich in carbohydrates, minerals, carboxylic acids, dietary fiber, vitamins and minerals. The seed is rich in manganese, magnesium, potassium, calcium iron and lectins and thus meets up nutritional requirements for the rural people. The present study attempted to review the medicinal importance, health-promoting effects of jackfruit and seeds with special emphasis on their applications in the food.


This paper addresses the difficulties brought about by overlapping classes in fuzzy ARTMAP (FAM). Training with such data leads to category proliferation, and classification is made difficult not only by the large number of categories but also the fact that such data can belong to either class. In this paper, changes were proposed to allow more than one class to be predicted during classification, and a number of modifications were explored to reduce the number of categories. The excessive creation of small categories was suppressed with the implementation of the modifications, and the predictive accuracy improved despite the significant reduction in number of categories. No major changes needed to be made to the FAM architecture.


This paper presents an overview of communication of uncertainty in genetic counseling patient letters, and its implications for the design of patient-tailored communication systems. A system designer should take into account the prevalence of uncertainty expressions. Many can be analyzed as giving conditional probabilities. Often, the probability values are qualitative or imprecise. Thus, we discuss use of a hybrid Bayesian/Qualitative probabilistic network domain model for this type of system.


The intense precipitation event over East London, South Africa, on 15–16 August 2002 is investigated using a mesoscale model (MM5) and its sensitivity to sea surface temperature (SST) and topography tested. Over 300 mm of rain fell in 24 h over East London as compared to the August average of 78 mm. The intense precipitation resulted from a cut-off low system aloft and the formation of a low-level jet (LLJ) near the surface. The MM5 control simulation indicated that the intense precipitation was due to the ascent of moist air at the leading edge of the LLJ, which advected warm moist air at low levels onto the coastal mountains and was enhanced by the formation of a meso-beta scale low-pressure system just off the coast. The ascent at the leading edge of the LLJ formed the ascending arm of a convective circulation cell. Sensitivity experiments with MM5 indicated that the warm core of the Agulhas Current contributed to the formation of the meso-beta scale low, while the mesoscale structure of the SST field was important in determining its location and that of the LLJ, and therefore the precipitation in the model. Most of the moisture originated from the Agulhas Current region. The South African topography was found to influence the location of the LLJ via trapping a near-surface warm trough on the eastern side of the Drakensberg mountains. We suggest that deficiencies in the control experiment may have been due to inaccuracies in using a weekly mean SST field to force the model at the lower boundary.


In this paper two graves with Roman bronze vessels, found in the province of Drenthe (the Netherlands), are presented. The first find consists of a bronze bucket of the so-called Ostland-type published by Janssen (1859), but forgotten since. The bucket, which dates from the end of the 2nd or beginning of the 3rd century, was found before 1809 in the vicinity of the village of Anloo. Unfortunately only a drawing of the bucket remains; the object itself has disappeared. Very little is known about the find circumstanees, only that it was at the time filled with 'bones, ashes and charcoal'. This makes it more than likely that it was part of a cremation burial, probably a later interment in an older burial mound. The second grave was also a secondary burial in an early or middle Bronze Age barrow, locally known as the Schoeberg near the village of Diever and excavated in 1931. It consisted of an urn grave, accompanied by the burnt remains of at least one, but possibly two bronze vessel(s), fragments of a glass vessel and possibly a bonecomb. Some of the bronze fragments probably originate from a bronze basin, type Eggers 99-106. On the basis of urn and bronze fragments the burial most likely dates from the 3rd century.


For hand calculations and for the fast computation of direct fire trajectories two analytical solutions of the point mass equation of motion in stationary air are presented, which are based on the power law for the drag coefficient variation with Mach number cD = CMa. The first quadrature solution provides time of flight τ, horizontal downrange distance x and height y as functions of the angle of flight φ. The second closed from solution yields φ (x), τ (x), y (x) and is applicable to weakly curved trajectories. Using a moving co-ordinate system, both analytical solutions can also be applied to situations with wind.


We investigated the light response characteristics of bottom-gate/top-contact organic TFTs fabricated using pentacene and polystyrene as an organic semiconductor and a polymeric insulator, respectively. The pentacene TFT with overlaps (50 μm) between the source and gate electrodes as well as between the drain and gate electrodes exhibited negligible hysteresis in its transfer characteristics upon reversal of the gate voltage sweep direction. When the TFTs were structurally modified to produce an underlap structure between the source and gate electrodes, clockwise hysteresis and a drain-current decrease were observed, which were further augmented by increasing the gate underlap (from 30 μm to 50 μm and 70 μm). Herein, these results are explained in terms of space charge formation and accumulation capacitance reduction. Importantly, we found that space charges formed under the source electrode contributed to the drain currents via light irradiation through the underlap region. Under constant bias conditions, the TFTs with gate underlap structures thus exhibited on-state drain current changes in response to light signals. In our study, an optimal photosensitivity exceeding 11 was achieved by the TFT with a 30 μm gate underlap. Consequently, we suggest that gate underlap structure modification is a viable means of implementing light responsiveness in organic TFTs.


Data from the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey are utilized through facet theory technique seeking to determine the interrelationships between different components, both behavioral and attitudinal, of Jewish identification. For different typologies of Jewish identity, including the "enlarged" Jewish population, "core" Jews, and "Jews by religion," we have found a coherent structure of areas, each of which includes several identificational variables in close proximity one to another. This is manifested in the partition of the space into several regions. Similarly, the structure of American Jewish identification attests to a rather clear distinction between the two major modes of attitudes and behaviors. The different sub-groups within the Jewish population share a common denominator of the total composition of Jewish identification. Identifying the was Jews conceptualize and organize the multivariate array of their group belonging can lay a better foundation for an evaluation and interpretation of trends in Jewish identification and its determinants. We suggest that this methodological approach be applied to other, non-Jewish, groups thus providing a useful insight into the internal structure of their specific identificational components; this will contribute to furthering the understanding of the nature of religiosity and ethnicity in present-day America.


Beginning with the fall 2013 semester, George Mason University began teaching first-semester (PHYS 160) and second-semester (PHYS 260) calculus-based physics courses in an ALT (active learning with technology) environment simultaneously with traditional lectures. Previous results of students' performance comparisons consistently showed that ALT courses were more effective means for students' learning than traditional lecturing. Average final grades as well as the average exam grades in ALT courses regularly surpassed grades in traditional courses by 10-15%. We also cross-compared performance of our students in the PHYS 260 course in all four combinations of students coming from traditional PHYS 160 and cross-compared the ALT course to either style of the PHYS 260 courses. We did our analysis for all available pairs of consecutive semesterss starting from fall 2013 and ending with spring 2015. Results from this analysis clearly indicate that students' performance is greatly improved through the ALT experience.


The University of Connecticut (UConn) Library, in collaboration with the School of Fine Arts and the UConn Humanities Institute and with support from the Andrew W Mellon Foundation, is developing Greenhouse Studios (GS). GS is a scholarly communications research laboratory dedicated to using collaborative models and design principles in the creation of scholarly works. Scholarship laboratories that function as a combination of a scientific research lab and an art studio are a useful means of advancing the methods and outcomes of scholarly communications. We intend to examine whether flattening hierarchies through the GS model is a significant challenge for librarians who work within transactional models of interaction and are closely tied to faculty-driven service models of research support. Other participants typically thought of as supporting faculty are embedded as equal participants in the design process. We will apply qualitative methods to examine whether the GS design process facilitates development of new models of interaction among faculty, librarians, design technologists and other experts. Preliminary experience finds most participants embrace the collaborative model and are energized by the experience. Our assessment will focus on GS techniques as drivers for role and scholarly output changes, how these experiences might translate into changes in library culture or services, and on practical findings related to space, technology usage and administrative hurdles. This paper is the result of a presentation delivered at CNI (the Coalition for Networked Information) in early 2017 1 and encapsulates our thinking then and now (in early 2018) as we refine our assessment tools.


Multiple myeloma (MM) is a neoplastic plasma-cell disorder that characterized by clonal proliferation of malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow microenvironment, monoclonal protein in the blood or urine, and associated organ dysfunction. Survival of patients with MM has improved dramatically since the introduction of stem-cell transplantation and new agents. Indeed, multiple myeloma has seen more remarkable progress in treatment and outcome patients than any other cancer in the last decade. With improvements in survival, a relatively new clinical challenge that has emerged is the risk of second primary malignancies, which does not only increase the difficulty of treatment, but also have a bad influence on the overall survival rate of patients, so second primary malignancy of MM has become a new clinical challenges in MM treatment. In this review, the latest progress of studies on treatment related factors, MM self factors and host self factots are summarized.


The principal focus of this article is to provide an analysis of some of the most significant works by the independent filmmaker Patrick Bokanowski and the methodology he uses to create those animated films. It addresses Bokanowski's technique of filming on various kinds of reflective surfaces as a strategy for transforming the image through optical deformation and thereby expressing his subjective vision in films and animation. He explores the practical application of creating reverberation as visual echoes, as well as the use of unusual reflections that appear in mirrors and other more unstable reflective surfaces, such as liquid mercury, and the refraction occurring in sculpted lenses, glass or water. The aim of this strategy is the pure expression of subjective experience, with the director using a camera as if it were an entirely free-moving paintbrush that inspires creativity and breaks loose from automatic camera movements. Accordingly, this study examines the dynamic, expressive potential of the language of catoptrics, taking as paradigmatic examples two of Bokanowski's short films: La Plage (1992) and Au bord du lac (1994). The authors' analyses of these films are aimed at demonstrating how the artist manages to bring about qualitative, transformative changes of forms and space by reflecting images on mirrors, ripples in mercury and movements of water, and by combining these elements. The system developed by Bokanowski successfully transports us to an ever-changing, poetic universe and breaks new ground in the field of animation.


The present invention provides a suitable novel dry powder inhalation system for transpulmonary administration. Transpulmonary dry powder inhalation system for transpulmonary administration of the present invention, containing an active ingredient of a single dose and also to a: (I) a non-powder cake-like form, (Ii) a disintegration index of 0.05 or more, and (Iii) by receiving an air impact having an air flow rate of the air velocity and at least 17ml / sec of at least 1m / sec, a mean particle size of 10 microns or less or a fine particle fraction of 10% or more is that fine particles A combination of a device with a with a receiving a freeze-dried composition having the properties vessel, means for discharging a means capable of applying an air impact the freeze-dried composition in the vessel, and fine particles freeze-dried composition in a powder form from the container It characterized by that. Transpulmonary administration, a freeze-dried composition, the air jet flow path, discharge flow path, air intake member


Shipping operations are high risk, complex, and uncertain activities. And a ship collision can have catastrophic consequences. The behavior and status of the crew on duty are key factors that affect the navigation safety of the ship. This paper proposes a dynamic probabilistic risk platform of Maritime Accident Dynamics Simulation (MADS) and Information, Decision, and Action in a Crew context cognitive model (IDAC). The platform simulates the cognitive and decision making processes of the crew on duty in maritime incidents and dynamically analyzes the reliability of human decisions. It can predict events and their probability values that may lead to decision failures in knowledge driven task failure scenarios. The effectiveness of the platform is verified through a case study of a ship collision. The results show that the method can simulate dynamic critical scenarios of ship collision avoidance and achieve intelligent decision-making in a human centered system.


On the night of October 29, 1998, a fire broke out in an old warehouse in Gothenburg, where nearly 400 teenagers had gathered for a disco party. More than 200 patients were brought to four different hospitals in the region. Sixty-one people died at the scene due to inhalation of toxic fumes caused by the fire. Another two died later in the hospital due to severe burns. Disaster management in Sweden is based on mobile medical teams consisting of hospital staff supporting ambulance crews in the event of major incidents. Only one team together with a GP was able to be mobilized during this incident. Thus, medical care at the scene was limited. The principle of OEload and go pi was used, placing the major burden of triage on the hospitals. The limited numbers of medical personnel and available supplies caused major stress for the physicians involved at the scene.


This paper aims to discover the determinants of farmers' participation in horticulture-based Education programs in the Western Azerbaijan province, Iran. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), the study also tries to make a comparison between participants and non-participants, who have achieved in this program. A sample of 231 farmers (137 participants and 94 non-participants) was selected based on a stratified random sampling method. Data gathering instrument was a questionnaire that its validity was approved by a group of experts and its reliability was confirmed by calculating Cronbach's alpha (α=0.71). The results showed that, there were significant differences between participants and non-participants in agricultural education programs in terms of all the TPB contexts. Additionally, the results of the regression analysis showed that attitude to how thinking and decision and subjective norms were the best determinants of farmers' participation.


The more flexible structure of the tooth zone of axial Homopolar Inductor Alternators (HIA) facilitate the possibility to achieve technical parameters unattainable in conventional synchronous generators. This article shows how this feature of the HIA can be used to obtain high sinusoidality of the EMF. At the same time, a rectangular shape of the rotor teeth is used, which greatly simplifies the manufacturing process.


A standard is defined as something established by authority, custom, or general consent. Clearly that does not exist for ceramic on ceramic total hip replacement. A better question is: Is there any indication for a ceramic on ceramic total hip. The answer to that question should when possible be based on clinical outcome data including the value added (or not) with this more expansive technology. Ceramic on ceramic has been popularised based on its low wear. Is this clinically relevant? Probably not, based on currently available data. Both metal on highly crosslinked polyethylene and ceramic on highly crosslinked polyethylene have very low clinically documented wear rates with excellent outcomes in multiple studies. In addition, ceramic on ceramic bearings are more sensitive to implant position. Whereas polyethylene may tolerated edge loading and impingement, ceramic bearings are less likely to do so. Dislocation remains one of if not the top reason for early revision. Even with newer ceramics, there are still less options to fine tune hip stability with ceramic on ceramic bearing surfaces. When looking at the overall, risk of revision, Bozic et al concluded that hard bearings provided no benefit in terms of risk reduction of revision. Considering their higher cost, they questioned the use of these products especially in the 65 and older age group. Looking at the Australian Registry, the cumulative percent revision for ceramic-ceramic THA was 5.7% at 11 years compared to 5.1% for metal on crosslinked poly. The hazard ratio (adjusted for age and gender) was 1.09 in favor of ceramic on poly and the difference was highly significant (p=0.012). When one take into account the increased cost of ceramic on ceramic bearings, it is hard to make a case for ceramic on ceramic bearings. Any use of ceramic on ceramic bearings would have to be based on the hypothesis that in the long run in young active patients they may provide an advantage. This is a hypothesis with no data to support it currently.


A mutant of Escherichia coli lacking hydroxyethylthiazole kinase (EC 220.127.116.11) was produced by a further mutation of a temperature-sensitive, auxotrophic mutant for hydroxyethylthiazole. The parent cells possessed two distinct enzymes capable of phosphorylating hydroxyethylthiazole: one was hydroxyethylthiazole kinase, and the other was a phosphotransferase species that required p-nitrophenylphosphate as a phosphoryl donor. Osmotic shock fluid prepared from the mutant cells phosphorylated hydroxyethylthiazole to an extent comparable to that observed with shock fluid from the parent cells, whereas extracts from shocked cells were unable to catalyze the kinase reaction. Shock fluid from a mutant of the other type obtained as a reduced phosphatase activity against p-nitrophenylphosphate did not show any appreciable activity for the phosphotransferase reaction, while extracts from shocked cells showed full kinase activity. The former mutant had lost its ability to grow on hydroxyethylthiazole at high temperature, but the latter mutant still responded to it. It thus appears that the kinase is an enzyme which might play a role in the biosynthesis of thiamine PPi in situ. By conjugation and P1 transduction, a gene governing hydroxyethylthiazole kinase activity, for which we propose the designation thiM, was mapped on the chromosome close to thiD, a gene specifying phosphomethylpyrimidine kinase activity.


We introduce a stochastic control problem associated with automated material handling systems, describe its applications, and outline a method for its solution.


Background: Reproductive tract infections (RTIs) and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) present a huge burden of disease and adversely impact reproductive health of people. They are more common in developing countries than developed.

Objective: (1) To study the awareness, prevalence, and factors associated with RTIs among women aged 15–49 years residing in two slum areas of Bangalore city. (2) To assess the treatment seeking behavior for symptoms suggestive of RTIs in the past 1 year.

Materials and Methods: Using systematic random sampling, 470 women of age group 15–49 years were studied from June 2010 to September 2011. Data were collected using a structured pretested questionnaire at their houses.

Result: A total of 29.15% women had symptom suggestive of RTIs. White discharge was reported by 17.45%, genital skin infections by 14.47%, lower abdominal pain by 9.15%, complain of genital ulcer reported in 0.21%, and none complained of inguinal bubo. Symptoms of RTI were higher in young, Muslim women, those with higher education and poor menstrual hygiene. Only 62 (45.25%) symptomatic women had sought some form of treatment. Private doctors were preferred by 87% of women who sought treatment and only 6.7% went to government doctors. None had adequate knowledge regarding RTIs and 324 (68.93%) women had some knowledge.

Conclusion: About one-third of the women had experienced at least one symptom of RTI in the past 1 year. Women in reproductive age group showed very poor awareness regarding RTI and poor treatment seeking behavior for the same.


Context and setting Our internal medicine residency programme requires 3 months of rotations in an intensive care setting and 5 months of responsibilities for advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) duties while on call in a hospital. Residents require additional training in airway management to fulfil these duties. Why the change was necessary Airway management skills have traditionally been taught by anaesthesiologists. However, procedure skill training by noninternists may be suboptimal for internal medicine residents because of inability to secure dedicated teaching time, competition with other airway learners, or a specialty-specific approach to airway management that differs from the techniques needed by internal medicine residents. We wanted to develop an airway management curriculum specifically targeted at the needs of internal medicine residents for inclusion within our internal medicine residency programme. What was done We assembled a multimodality workshop to fulfil the needs of our residents. We incorporated an interactive lecture, a video demonstration of intubation technique, and demonstration and practice of techniques using airway manikins and equipment. Skills covered included insertion of a Combitube laryngeal mask airway, nasal airway and oral airway. Residents also practised endotracheal intubation using a Miller and Macintosh blade. The course was offered monthly during the first week of a resident's intensive care unit (ICU) rotation. Dedicated faculty members were recruited from critical care and respiratory therapy. Support from residency programme leadership and critical care leadership allowed for full resident participation, in that clinical duties in the ICU were covered by fellows and staff. A written test on both didactic and practical knowledge was given immediately after the workshop for reinforcement. Residents received a laminated pocket card detailing key learning points for future reference. Evaluation of results and impact Learner feedback from 76 participating residents has been very positive. Following the course, 94.7% of the residents reported an increased level of confidence in airway management and 93.2% felt the skills learned would be useful in the ICU. We began to conduct a follow-up survey of participants 4 weeks after the course. The preliminary results of 18 respondents demonstrated subjective retention as good or excellent in 77.8% and objective retention as good or excellent in 83.3%. Participants were also queried on the number of intubations performed alone or assisted, their level of comfort with airway management skills, their degree of understanding of the process, and the correlation of clinical experience with course materials. Data collection is ongoing but preliminary results demonstrate that a multimodality airway management workshop aimed specifically at internal medicine residents improves residents' confidence and leads to subjective and objective retention of knowledge 1 month after the workshop.


The atypical Cu-Ni mineralization in the central part of the Labrador trough is related to gabbro sills but is also slightly enriched in Au-(Co-Zn) and associated with intensely altered rocks along a thrust fault. Thus, it has features which suggest both magmatic and hydrothermal processes.The initial mineralization is of magmatic origin. Along a 13-km length of the Aulneau-Redcliff valley, which has a north-northwest trend parallel to the axis of the trough, are seven sulfide deposits included in seven synvolcanic gabbro sills of the Proterozoic Murdoch Formation. The mineralization is predominantly associated with a pyroxenitic facies of the gabbro.The host gabbro sills are found in a broad deformation zone, interpreted to contain the axial plane of an isoclinal anticline and a thrust fault, both striking north-northwest and dipping northeast. The sulfide deposits are elongate tabular bodies parallel to a well-developed stretching lineation that plunges 45 degrees NE. A part of the sulfide deposits has been remobilized by plastic flow, from the gabbro sills into the adjacent pyroclastic and sedimentary rocks.During the Hudsonian orogeny, hydrothermal Cu-Au mineralization associated with quartz-carbonate veinlets and intense chloritization was deposited in local shear zones cutting the gabbro. It was superimposed on the earlier formed Cu-Ni deposits. A gold-rich facies, associated with stilpnomelane-carbonate alteration, was deposited along contacts between the Cu-Ni sulfides and surrounding host rocks.The magmatic Cu-Ni deposits are interpreted to have been introduced with pyroxenitic gabbro sills, syn- to late volcanic in relation to the basalt of the Murdoch Formation. This mineralization is found at the base of the Murdoch Formation in the study area where it appears in the core of an anticlinal structure. The later hydrothermal Cu-Au mineralization is hosted by structurally competent rocks in the vicinity of the regional thrust and is in part superimposed on the earlier formed Cu-Ni mineralization.


Governments and policymakers play a crucial role in promoting consumer behaviors to mitigate climate change. The research on environmental policies over the past decades has not significantly increased knowledge regarding how effectively these policies help consumers embrace pro-environmental behaviors. Using the motivation–opportunity–ability (MOA) framework, this systematic review reveals that regulatory policies that constrain opportunities are more likely to promote pro-environmental behavior. Furthermore, economic policy instruments that facilitate opportunities are also more likely to promote pro-environmental behaviors. Despite being more commonly employed, informational policy instruments are less effective than regulatory and economic instruments. Although informational policy instruments that target opportunities instead of motivations and abilities can result in better outcomes, behavior change remains a challenge. This systematic review is significant because it clarifies mixed results in the literature regarding the effectiveness of environmental policies in promoting pro-environmental behaviors. Accordingly, a framework of MOA-based policy mix is proposed to help policymakers develop effective instruments that stimulate pro-environmental behaviors.


Program is designed to monitoring of arboretum collections. It has features that take into account the specifics of such collections: a period of survival new plantings, change dendrometric and phytosanitary characteristics of woody plants with age, the need to analyze the causes of mortality. Geobaza includes three magazines to track for living collection, landings and removing plants. Each magazine is represented on the map by three layers: single specimens, hedgerows and groups. Tables of landings and removing plants magazines contain dendrometric and cartographic information for each object. The living collection magazine dendrometric information is stored in separate tables. It allows to save data about changes that occur during the lifetime of plants. Geobaza stores information about date of planting, sapling age, the taxonomic name, the identifier of introduction specimens, the lawn of growth, plant life-form, trunk diameter, plant height, size, crown, decoration, phytosanitary condition, damage by diseases and pests, the date and the age removing. Program's taxonomic dictonary keeps names of families, species, infraspecific taxa and cultivars of plants. It's based on plant taxonomic database "Plant List", which freely accessible at http://www.theplantlist.org. Dictonary allows to edit the name and systematic position of taxon, the conservation status according by IUCN Red Data Book, Red Books Russia and the Krasnodar Territory, allows writing floristic regions, habitats and rank uniqueness at Sochi region. The advantages of using ArcGIS software are visualization, quick search taxons and plants, getting information on the taxonomic and quantitative composition of the collection, tracking taxa remaining in a single copy, printing maps necessary scale. The program allows you to automatically generate a collection catalog, list of lawns, which grows taxon, sheets landings and removing plants, reports on the taxonomic structure of families and other. GIS technology is a perspective direction in the conduct of collections of botanical gardens. They provide new tools for the analysis and monitoring of botanical collections.


This paper puts forward the application of MATLAB image processing technology in sewage monitoring system. The percentage of the bubbles on the surface of the water can be got by using some functions in the image processing toolbox of MATLAB, such as binaryzation, dilating, erosion and so on. The automatic alarm will be raised when the percentage of the bubbles exceeds the setting value. Sewage emission of factories can be controlled by this device effectively.


The objective of this research has been to find out the effect Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) would have on the building of future brands in an organisation. Some beneficiary communities were segmented into focus groups for discussions on the ramifications of CSR. The discussions brought forth three main ramifications (namely; stakeholder expectations, collaborations and research & Development) which eventually led to the discovery of fifteen variables. A questionnaire was then prepared with these variables in mind. A sample of 200 employees from ten organizations was selected as respondents before these questionnaires were administered. The data collected on these variables were then analysed using factor analysis. The analysis revealed that, there exist strong correlations between some of the variables such as OLBS and PIC; CTP and PIC; COO and RCL and others as shown in the correlation matrix table. The analysis further indicated that the variables PIC, RCL, PSE, DVD, TT and OCD with Eigen values greater than 1 reflects a decreasing strength towards brand building as shown in the total variance table. Out of the 15 variables, component 1 with a loading of 10.840 best affects brand building instead of component 2.


Background: The concepts of lateral deviation and lateral inclination of the patella, characterized as shift and tilt, have been applied in combination to evaluate patellar malalignment in patients with patellar dislocation. It is not reasonable, however, to describe the 3-dimensional (3D) positional relation between the patella and the femur according to measurements made on 2-dimensional (2D) images. Purpose: The current study sought to clarify the relation between lateral deviation and inclination of the patella in patients with recurrent dislocation of the patella (RDP) by redefining them via 3D computer models as 3D shift and 3D tilt. Study Design: Descriptive laboratory study. Methods: Altogether, 60 knees from 56 patients with RDP and 15 knees from 10 healthy volunteers were evaluated. 3D shift and tilt of the patella were analyzed with 3D computer models created by magnetic resonance imaging scans obtained at 10° intervals of knee flexion (0°-50°). 3D shift was defined as the spatial distance between the patellar reference point and the midsagittal plane of the femur; it is expressed as a percentage of the interepicondylar width. 3D tilt was defined as the spatial angle between the patellar reference plane and the transepicondylar axis. Correlations between the 2 parameters were assessed with the Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: The patients' mean Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.895 ± 0.186 (range, –0.073 to 0.997; median, 0.965). In all, 56 knees (93%) had coefficients >0.7 (strong correlation); 1 knee (2%), >0.4 (moderate correlation); 2 knees (3%), >0.2 (weak correlation); and 1 knee (2%), <0.2 (no correlation). The mean correlation coefficient of the healthy volunteers was 0.645 ± 0.448 (range, –0.445 to 0.982; median, 0.834). A statistically significant difference was found in the distribution of the correlation coefficients between the patients and the healthy volunteers (P = .0034). When distribution of the correlation coefficients obtained by the 3D analyses was compared with that by the 2D (conventional) analyses, based on the bisect offset index and patellar tilt angle, the 3D analyses showed statistically higher correlations between the lateral deviation and inclination of the patella (P < .01). Conclusion: 3D shift and 3D tilt of the patella were moderately or strongly correlated in 95% of patients with RDP at 0° to 50° of knee flexion. Clinical Relevance: It is not always necessary to use both parameters when evaluating patellar alignment, at least for knees with RDP at 0° to 50° of flexion. Such a description may enable surgeons to describe patellar alignment more simply, leading to a better, easier understanding of the characteristics of each patient with RDP.


A fully relativistic formulation of the concept of a perfectly elastic solid is developed with a view to application to such problems as (a) the interaction of gravitational radiation with planetary type bodies such as the Earth, and (b) the vibrations and deformations of neutron star crusts. For applications of the former kind a low-pressure Hookean idealization (i.e. a theory postulating a linear stress-strain relation) will often be sufficient. A prototype version of a relativistic Hookean theory suitable for this purpose has already been given by Rayner (1963), but it will be shown that Rayner's theory needs minor corrections in order to be strictly self consistent. For applications to neutron stars a purely Hookean theory will in any case be inadequate and to replace it a high-pressure quasi-Hookean idealization is described. This idealization includes the important special case of the perfect (i.e. isotropic) solid in which the elastic properties may be described in term s of just two (nonlinear) functions of state, namely the pressure and the modulus of rigidity. The theory reduces to the familiar perfect fluid idealization in the limit when the modulus of rigidity is zero. The discussion is conceptually based on the use of two distinct manifolds: a fourdimensional manifold of space-time events, with a fundamental pseudo-Riemannian metric, and a three-dimensional manifold X of idealized particles, with a fundam ental measure representing a conserved particle number density. These manifolds are related by a canonical projection which sends world-lines in M onto points in X.


The origin and magnitude of a paramagnetic contribution to the CuO susceptibility at T<150 K are studied by analysing electron paramagnetic resonance and static magnetic susceptibility measurements carried out on a set of CuO single crystals. This has allowed the authors to confirm a previous supposition about the behaviour of the susceptibility for T<150 K. The asymptotic finite value of the susceptibility in the antiferromagnetic phase is also discussed by means of a crystal-field calculation which seems to rule out contributions to the local magnetic moments from incompletely quenched orbital angular moments of the Cu2+ ions. Preliminary magnetization measurements suggest the presence of weak ferromagnetism, which may explain the unusual behaviour of the CuO susceptibility.


Jewish Heritage is currently the focus of many studies, adopting different perspectives and theoretical approaches. Its true nature needs to be investigated also through the conceptual framework of Cultural Geography, dealing with enlightened identity processes that give rise to the multiple meaning of "Jewish Cultural Heritage". Indeed, open or closed settlements and their vestiges, cultural and intercultural regional networks, production and distribution of ancient manuscripts, circulation of people, goods and ideas are all manifestations of the same social processes through different territories and over time.  Cultural Geography can offer an insight to more completely understand the relationships between material and immaterial, visible and invisible goods and values. The material and cultural history of Jewish communities, which has been and continues to be a rewarding field of interdisciplinary studies, is a worthwhile subject from which observations of Cultural Geography has been carried out and is offered in this writing.


Abstract Modes of feedback such as audio or video are thought to foster relationality because they humanise feedback encounters. Few studies have examined teacher feedback literacies for relationality. This knowledge gap is significant as students want to be seen by their teachers and for their teachers to express care within the feedback encounter. Teacher feedback literacies are the knowledges, skills and dispositions needed to enhance and sustain a student-centred feedback process. Using a qualitative approach, our research question centred on what teacher feedback literacies and strategies are required to implement relational technology-enhanced feedback. We interviewed 10 higher education teachers with diverse characteristics and identified three teacher literacies for relational technology-enhanced feedback: socio-affective facilitates an awareness to student attitudes toward feedback and teacher self-expression; design empowers a consciousness of the logical arrangement and purpose of feedback to better prepare and engage students; and communication reflects the construction of a deliberate, empathetic message. The implications are for higher education institutions and teachers to consider how the relational can enable the strengths of feedback that can better support and encourage students' engagement with feedback.


OBJECTIVE
To analyze the correlation of EBV infection with expression of TNF-α-inducing protein 3 gene and A20 protein in Hodgkin lmphoma.

METHODS
The clinical data and pathological specimens of 65 cases of Hodgkin's lymphoma in our hospital were analyzed retrospectively, and the tissue chips were made for the rich area of the tumor cells. The latent membrane protein 1 encoded by EBV was measured by immunohistochemical staining, and the RNA encoded by EBV was measured by in situ hybridization to analyze the infection state. The gene expression of tumor necrosis factor.α-induced protein 3 was detected by fluorescence in situ hybridization, and the expression of A20 protein encoded by EBV was detected by immunohistochemical staining. The obtained data were processed by SPSS 23.0 version statistical software.

RESULTS
The positive rate of latent membrane protein 1 was 26.15% (17/65), the positive rate of EBV encoded RNA was 26.15% (17/65), and the coincidence rate was 100.00%. In 65 patients, A20 protein expression was lost in 18 cases (27.69%), and 14 cases (21.54%) showed homozygous or heterozygous deletion of tumor necrosis factorα protein 3 gene. Only 1 case showed A20 loss combined with homozygous deletion of TNFα inducible protein 3. Correlation analysis showed that EBV infection did not significantly relate with expression loss of A20 protein and the gene deletion of TNF-α inducing protein 3 (P>0.05).

CONCLUSION
The expression loss of A20 protein and gene detection of TNFα inducing protein 3 are found in both EBV negative and positive patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma, however the results of immunohistochemical staining and fluorescence in situ hybridization are not complete consistant, the reason may closely relate with the technical factors.


In this paper, we propose a general cross-layer optimization framework for delay-sensitive applications over single wireless links in which we explicitly consider both the heterogeneous and dynamically changing characteristics (e.g., delay deadlines, dependencies, distortion impacts, etc.) of delay-sensitive applications and the underlying time-varying channel conditions. We first formulate this problem as a nonlinear constrained optimization by assuming complete knowledge of the application characteristics and the underlying channel conditions. This constrained cross-layer optimization is then decomposed into several subproblems, each corresponding to the cross-layer optimization for one DU. The proposed decomposition method explicitly considers how the cross-layer strategies selected for one DU will impact its neighboring DUs as well as the DUs that depend on it through the resource price (associated with the resource constraint) and neighboring impact factors (associated with the scheduling constraints). However, the attributes (e.g., distortion impact, delay deadline, etc.) of future DUs as well as the channel conditions are often unknown in the considered real-time applications. In this case, the cross-layer optimization is formulated as a constrained Markov decision process (MDP) in which the impact of current cross-layer actions on the future DUs can be characterized by a state-value function. We then develop a low-complexity cross-layer optimization algorithm using online learning for each DU transmission. This online optimization utilizes information only about the previous transmitted DUs and past experienced channel conditions, which can be easily implemented in real-time in order to cope with unknown source characteristics, channel dynamics and resource constraints. Our numerical results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed online algorithm.


ABSTRACT
Breast cancer is a malignancy in breast tissue that can originate from the ductal epithelium or lobule. Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in Indonesia. Specific causes of breast cancer are still unknown, but there are many factors that are thought to have an influence on the occurrence of breast cancer including: reproductive factors, hormone use, obesity, fat consumption, radiation, family history and genetic factors, mutation factors
This research is a cross sectional study to determine the relationship of genetic history and obesity with the incidence of breast cancer at Raden Mattaher Jambi Hospital in 2018. Collecting data from medical records. The population in this study were all women who were treated in Raden Mattaher Jambi Hospital as many as 240 people with a sample of 45 people. This research has been carried out on 04 to 19 July 2018 which was held at RSUD Raden Mattaher Jambi. The sampling technique in this study was simple random sampling with a checklist sheet. Data analysis in this study used univariate and bivariate analysis in the form of tables and frequencies.
The results of this study indicate that the results obtained from the genetic history of 45 people there were 23 (51.1%) people, the picture of obesity there were 25 (55.6%) people with obesity. Based on the results of the study obtained an overview of the incidence of breast cancer, from 45 people there were 24 (53.3%) people with breast cancer and 21 (46.7%) did not have breast cancer. There was a correlation between genetic history and breast cancer incidence in Raden Mattaher Jambi Hospital in 2018 with a p value of 0,000. There is a relationship between obesity and the incidence of breast cancer in Raden Mattaher Jambi Hospital in 2018 with a p-value of 0.002.
It is expected that health workers can provide input and information to in formulating a program policy to prevent breast cancer in women Raden Mattaher Jambi Hospital.

Keywords      : Breast Cancer, genetic history, obesity
Reading List : 21 (2005-2018)


Odors are inhaled through the nostrils into two segregated nasal passages and detected by sensory neurons in the bilateral olfactory epithelia. Airflow through the two nasal passages is usually asymmetrical because of alternating changes in nasal mucosal congestion. Here we show that neurons in the anterior olfactory nucleus (AON) of the adult rat olfactory cortex are ordinarily dominated by ipsi-nasal inputs and that binasal neurons in the AON respond to ipsilateral and contralateral nasal inputs with nearly equivalent odorant category selectivity. Deprivation of ipsilateral nasal inputs by unilateral nostril obstruction greatly enhanced the response to contralateral odor stimulation, in a reversible manner, in ∼33% of AON neurons within only several minutes. In 27% of AON neurons that showed spike responses induced by the inspiration of room air, ipsilateral nasal obstruction initially suppressed respiration phase-locked spike discharges and, several minutes later, induced respiration phase-locked discharges with longer delays between inspiration and response. Recordings from AON neurons in rats with anterior commissure (AC) transection indicated that the resumed respiration phase-locked discharges with longer delays were mediated by the contralateral pathway via the AC. The ipsi-nasal occlusion-induced switching of nasal inputs to individual AON neurons shows that a subset of AON neurons in the adult rat has neuronal mechanisms for rapid nostril dominance plasticity, which may enable both right and left olfactory cortices to preserve their responsiveness to the external odor world, despite reciprocal changes in nasal airflow.


In tourism studies, it has been widely recognized that resort-oriented tourism development creates challenges for regional development, mainly due to its enclave nature and lack of regional economic linkages. However, there have been relatively few studies on the destination-scale cooperative networks, although, they are vital in increasing the positive regional economic impacts of tourism development. This paper is an empirical qualitative study exploring the connections between resort-oriented tourism development and tourism business cooperation in the case study area of the Ruka-Kuusamo tourism destination in Northeast Finland. The interest is on how the local cooperative networks of the Ruka tourist resort are spatially constructed within the Ruka-Kuusamo tourism destination. The research data consists of semi-structured interviews conducted for ten tourism actors located in the Ruka resort. The results show that the businesses located in the Ruka resort cooperate at the regional scale mainly in marketing, while their partners in production cooperation are located mostly within the resort, particularly in its very core area. The resort appears to function as a basis for spatial identification for tourism actors, which, in turn, affects entrepreneurs' motivation to cooperate at the local and regional scale. Tourism entrepreneurs operating in the very core of the resort perceive the area as the principal area for their operations, and therefore, they do not particularly engage with the surrounding areas and businesses or with other actors located there. Thus, for smaller enterprises outside the core, it can be difficult to benefit from the resort's core's growth via network relations. This contributes mainly to the development of the core areas alone, creates challenges for sustainable regional economic development in the destination region, and hinders the resort's tourism growth in the long run.


The integration of omics has enormous potential that can be exploited for variant discovery. Several algorithms have been developed to detect somatic variants in an integrated fashion but, to our knowledge, there is still no strategy for germline variant calling. On this basis, we have developed a strategy to identify germline variants by integrating both WES and RNA-seq data. This integrated strategy identifies short variants (SNPs and indels) from raw sequence data, which are classified into six groups to improve variant interpretation: strong-evidence, DNA-only, RNA-only, allele-specific expression (ASE), RNA-editing and RNA-rescue variants. Four samples were analyzed and we show an increase in the number of identified variants without a great effect on performance compared to the exclusive use of WES data, allowing the validation of the variants identified by both types of data (strong-evidence variants), and the identification of RNA-editing and ASE. This integrated strategy provides a method to identify germline SNPs and indels from WES and RNA-seq data taking full advantage of both omics to broaden the range of identified variants and perform variant validation.


In this paper we analyze whether the extent of timely recognition of unrealized losses into earnings shown by firms with a controlling owner depends on (1) the ownership share of the controlling owner and (2) the divergence between the controlling owner's voting and cash flow rights. Our results document a negative relation between both aspects of the ultimate ownership structure and timely loss recognition. Our results are consistent with two possible explanations. First, as the controlling owner's stake in the company increases, a smaller portion of the firm's financing needs will be provided by minority shareholders. Minority shareholders do not have access to the company's private information, but demand timely recognition of losses into earnings to protect their claim. Reducing the role of minority shareholders implies also lower demand for timely loss recognition. Second, the results are consistent with an increase in the ownership stake of the controlling owner or in the divergence between the controlling owner's voting and cash flow rights leading to an increase in managerial incentives to share information with the controlling shareholder, reducing the demand for timely loss recognition for monitoring purposes.


Due to end-users' habit being one of the prominent factors influencing building performance, changing user behavior to encourage energy efficient habits has tremendous potential to facilitate energy savings. Four ongoing European projects, eTeacher, FEEdBACk, InBetween, and UtilitEE, developed ICT solutions achieve this change through triggering mechanisms, informative feedback, gamification, and automation services within a human-centric and context aware framework. This paper provides each project's methodology to enhance end-user engagement of their respective approach, methodology to assess the expected results, technical and legal challenges, and the preliminary results of their ICT solutions, which have also been presented at Sustainable Places 2020 conference.


The effects of global climate change on Peruvian glaciers have brought about several processes of deglaciation during the last few years. The immediate effect is the change of size of lakes and rivers. Public institutions that monitor water resources currently have only recent studies which make up less than 10% of the total. The effects of climate change and the lack of updated information intensify social-economic problems related to water resources in Peru. The objective of this research is to develop a software application to automate the Cadastral Registry of Water Bodies in Peru, using techniques of digital image processing, which would provide tools for detection, record, temporal analysis and visualization of water bodies. The images used are from the satellite Landsat5, which undergo a pre-processing of calibration and correction of the satellite. Detection results are archived into a file that contains location vectors and images of the segmentated bodies of water.


The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the feasibility and outcome of an activity assessment and intervention on a specialized palliative care ward. All patients admitted between May 2017 and April 2018 were screened for basic assessment (Step 1). Whenever possible the Tinetti-mobility test (TT) was performed by a physiotherapist. A comparison between physician and nurse-led assessment and patient report was performed (Step 2), followed by a low-intensity individually adapted activity intervention (Step 3). Physical function and global quality of life was measured at intervention start and at discharge. Home care training adherence was controlled by phone call. In total, 437 patients were admitted in one year. In 248 patients, a basic assessment was done of which 131 performed a TT. In this group, median age was 63 years. Types of cancer were gastrointestinal (n=39), lung (n=27), urogenital (n=20), non-cancer (n=26) and other (n=26). Median length of stay was 13 days. Correlations between assessment methods were low to moderate, the highest between the TT and the nurse led assessment. Six patients started the intervention. Four patients completed the intervention, of which two continued with the home based training. In all four patients, an improvement in outcomes was measured. In conclusion in around a quarter of patients on a palliative care ward a TT could be performed. The TT correlated to most with nurse led mobility assessment. In the few accrued patients, the activity intervention showed an effect.


BACKGROUND
Although many people infected with SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2) experience no or mild symptoms, some individuals can develop severe illness and may die, particularly older people and those with underlying medical problems. Providing evidence-based interventions to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection has become more urgent with the spread of more infectious SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VoC), and the potential psychological toll imposed by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.   Controlling exposures to occupational hazards is the fundamental method of protecting workers. When it comes to the transmission of viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2, workplaces should first consider control measures that can potentially have the most significant impact. According to the hierarchy of controls, one should first consider elimination (and substitution), then engineering controls, administrative controls, and lastly, personal protective equipment (PPE).

OBJECTIVES
To assess the benefits and harms of interventions in non-healthcare-related workplaces to reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection relative to other interventions, or no intervention.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane COVID-19 Study Register, the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS), Clinicaltrials.gov, and the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform to 14 September 2021. We will conduct an update of this review in six months.

SELECTION CRITERIA
We included randomised control trials (RCT) and planned to include non-randomised studies of interventions. We included adult workers, both those who come into close contact with clients or customers (e.g. public-facing employees, such as cashiers or taxi drivers), and those who do not, but who could be infected by co-workers. We excluded studies involving healthcare workers. We included any intervention to prevent or reduce workers' exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in the workplace, defining categories of intervention according to the hierarchy of hazard controls, i.e. elimination; engineering controls; administrative controls; personal protective equipment.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
We used standard Cochrane methods. Our primary outcomes were incidence rate of SARS-CoV-2 infection (or other respiratory viruses), SARS-CoV-2-related mortality, adverse events, and absenteeism from work. Our secondary outcomes were all-cause mortality, quality of life, hospitalisation, and uptake, acceptability, or adherence to strategies. We used the Cochrane RoB 2 tool to assess the risk of bias, and GRADE methods to assess the certainty of evidence for each outcome.

MAIN RESULTS
Elimination of exposure interventions We included one study examining an intervention that focused on elimination of hazards. This study is an open-label, cluster-randomised, non-inferiority trial, conducted in England in 2021. The study compared standard 10-day self-isolation after contact with an infected person to a new strategy of daily rapid antigen testing and staying at work if the test is negative (test-based attendance). The trialists hypothesised that this would lead to a similar rate of infections, but lower COVID-related absence. Staff (N = 11,798) working at 76 schools were assigned to standard isolation, and staff (N = 12,229) at 86 schools to the test-based attendance strategy.  The results between test-based attendance and standard 10-day self-isolation were inconclusive for the rate of symptomatic PCR-positive SARS-COV-2 infection rate ratio ((RR) 1.28, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.74 to 2.21; 1 study, very low-certainty evidence)). The results between test-based attendance and standard 10-day self-isolation were inconclusive for the rate of any PCR-positive SARS-COV-2 infection (RR 1.35, 95% CI 0.82 to 2.21; 1 study, very low-certainty evidence). COVID-related absenteeism rates were 3704 absence days in 566,502 days-at-risk (6.5 per 1000 days at risk) in the control group and 2932 per 539,805 days-at-risk (5.4 per 1000 days at risk) in the intervention group (RR 0.83; 95% CI 0.55 to 1.25). The certainty of the evidence was downgraded to low, due to imprecision. Uptake of the intervention was 71 % in the intervention group, but not reported for the control intervention.  The trial did not measure other outcomes, SARS-CoV-2-related mortality, adverse events, all-cause mortality, quality of life, and hospitalisation. We found one ongoing RCT about screening in schools, using elimination of hazard strategies. Personal protective equipment We found one ongoing non-randomised study on the effects of closed face shields to prevent COVID-19 transmission. Other intervention categories We did not find studies in the other intervention categories.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
We are uncertain whether a test-based attendance policy affects rates of PCR-postive SARS-CoV-2 infection (any infection; symptomatic infection) compared to standard 10-day self-isolation amongst school and college staff. Test-based attendance policy may result in little to no difference in absence rates compared to standard 10-day self-isolation. As a large part of the population is exposed in the case of a pandemic, an apparently small relative effect that would not be worthwhile from the individual perspective may still affect many people, and thus, become an important absolute effect from the enterprise or societal perspective.  The included study did not report on any other primary outcomes of our review, i.e. SARS-CoV-2-related mortality and adverse events. No completed studies were identified on any other interventions specified in this review, but two eligible studies are ongoing. More controlled studies are needed on testing and isolation strategies, and working from home, as these have important implications for work organisations.


Microsatellites are randomly interspersed within eukaryotic genomes. These are also known as SSRs (Simple sequence repeats), STRs (Short tandem repeats), STMs (Sequence tagged microsatellites), and VNTRs (Variable number of tandem repeats), are short 1-8 bp long monomer sequences, which randomly repeated in the DNA sequences. Conservation of the flanking sequence of each microsatellite locus allows the design of primers for PCR amplification. Then amplified products are separated by electrophoresis (either on high resolution agarose or acrylamide gels) to detect the polymorphism in repeat length. These markers don't require the radioactivity for detection and these are extremely robust as well as easily exchanged between the laboratories. Multiplex reactions of SSRs can easily be run to speed up the assay, when the products have non-overlapping size ranges. Microsatellites have emerged as the marker of choice for plant genetic resources and molecular genetic applications due to their abundant and uniform distribution throughout the genome, highly variable nature with regard to repeat number, show codominant inheritance, ease of transferability and reproducibility, and found highly efficient in the DNA fingerprinting analysis, as well as can also be utilized in the pedigree analysis of different plant species. This marker system has been proven beneficial for crop improvement and for breeding applications in many species. These are also found the useful tools to detect the polymorphisms in low level of intraspecific diversity. Consequently, in the present review we have described the various characteristic features and properties of these highly polymorphic microsatellite markers, which found beneficial in several molecular genetic and breeding applications.


Preservice teachers enter programs with beliefs about teaching and learning, constructed from prior schooling experiences. This longitudinal study examines preservice teachers' K–12 memories, their initial educational beliefs, and the changes in those beliefs over their teacher education program. Analysis of questionnaires, interviews, work samples, and observations from six preservice teachers collected over a two-year period revealed that they initially believed that students were similar to themselves, that teaching was simple and autonomous, that students perform uniformly within grade levels, and that teaching ensures learning. At program's end, however, they believed that students differ from one another and from themselves, that teaching is complex, that classroom freedom has limits, that differentiation is essential, and that teaching does not ensure learning. The data suggested a common progression from initial idealism, to cognitive dissonance, to a search for an authentic teaching persona, and finally, to confidence in their new role as teacher.


Increasing photovoltaic (PV) generation in the world's power grid necessitates accurate solar irradiance forecasts to ensure grid stability and reliability. The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) SkyImager was designed as a low cost, edge computing, all-sky imager that provides intra-hour irradiance forecasts. The SkyImager utilizes a single board computer and high-resolution camera with a fisheye lens housed in an all-weather enclosure. General Purpose IO pins allow external sensors to be connected, a unique aspect is the use of only open source software. Code for the SkyImager is written in Python and calls libraries such as OpenCV, Scikit-Learn, SQLite, and Mosquito. The SkyImager was first deployed in 2015 at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) as part of the DOE INTEGRATE project. This effort aggregated renewable resources and loads into microgrids which were then controlled by an Energy Management System using the OpenFMB Reference Architecture. In 2016 a second SkyImager was installed at the CPS Energy microgrid at Joint Base San Antonio. As part of a collaborative effort between CPS Energy, UT San Antonio, ENDESA, and Universidad de La Laguna, two SkyImagers have also been deployed in the Canary Islands that utilize stereoscopic images to determine cloud heights. Deployments at three geographically diverse locations not only provided large amounts of image data, but also operational experience under very different climatic conditions. This resulted in improvements/additions to the original design: weatherproofing techniques, environmental sensors, maintenance schedules, optimal deployment locations, OpenFMB protocols, and offloading data to the cloud. Originally, optical flow followed by ray-tracing was used to predict cumulus cloud shadows. The latter problem is ill-posed and was replaced by a machine learning strategy with impressive results. R2 values for the multi-layer perceptron of 0.95 for 5 moderately cloudy days and 1.00 for 5 clear sky days validate using images to determine irradiance. The SkyImager in a distributed environment with cloud-computing will be an integral part of the command and control for today's SmartGrid and Internet of Things.


The autonomic nervous system, particularly the sympathetic nervous system, plays an important role in initiating or perpetuating cardiac arrhythmias in various animal models and presumably also in man. The parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems interact in a complex manner in regulating the electrophysiologic properties of cardiac tissues. To the extent that a given arrhythmia is influenced by autonomic tone, the alteration in autonomic tone produced by an antiarrhythmic drug will modify the effects of the antiarrhythmic drug. Several antiarrhythmic drugs that are known to have direct electrophysiologic effects on cardiac tissues also reduce efferent sympathetic nerve activity by acting in the CNS. This centrally mediated effect on sympathetic activity likely plays an important role in the antiarrhythmic effects of these drugs. Other antiarrhythmic drugs interact directly with autonomic receptors on cardiac tissues in addition to producing their direct electrophysiological effects. The electrophysiologic effects of such antiarrhythmic drugs that interact with autonomic receptors are qualitatively modified by the magnitude and nature of the prevailing autonomic tone. These interactions between the autonomic nervous system and antiarrhythmic drugs must be kept in mind when the mechanism of action of these drugs is considered.


BACKGROUND
Little is known about the precise morphometric data of the aortic arch at which the transcatheter pressure gradient is relieved in patients with aortic coarctation (CoA).

METHODS AND RESULTS
Twenty-nine morphometric data were obtained from patients with CoA including the body surface area (BSA) adjusted angiographic diameter of the narrowest vessel, the ratio of the angiographic diameter to that of the descending aorta and BSA-adjusted narrowest cross-sectional area (CSA) using intravascular ultrasound imaging. The transcatheter peak-to-peak pressure gradient of the aortic arch was measured using a manometer tipped catheter. A linear regression analysis showed CSA to have the strongest correlation with the pressure gradient (r=0.92, p=0.0002) among any pressure gradient group (n=10). A receiver-operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis was performed to determine the morphometric cut-off point at which the pressure gradient occurs. CSA had the highest areas under the ROC (1.0) and the cut-off point of 81 mm2/m2 showed a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 100% to predict the relief of a pressure gradient.

CONCLUSIONS
In patients with CoA, the vessel size that can relieve a pressure gradient is a CSA of 81 mm2/m2 (10 x BSA0.5 mm in diameter). This data may provide useful information for catheter intervention and surgery.


Estimates of total benefits paid by employer sponsored pension plans seem to vary widely between different data sources and measures. Such discrepancies have been used to support differing conclusions about the effectiveness of the pension system. This article examines several measures of aggregate pension benefits in 1990, a year particularly rich in available data. Exploratory analysis suggests that the greatest source of discrepancy lies in differing treatments of lump-sum distributions, although the study also identifies several other types of payments that are variously, and erroneously, counted as pension income. Age of recipients is an important factor in analyzing different measures of aggregate pension benefits; discrepancies are much smaller among the aged than in the population as a whole. The analysis also provides new evidence about the unequal distribution of pension benefits among the aged, confirming from two data sources that benefits are heavily concentrated among higher income groups.


The effective radial deposition profile of deuterium pellets injected into the Joint European Torus (JET) and the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) has been determined from Thomson scattering diagnostic measurements of electron density taken immediately after pellet injection. The pellet ablation rate deduced from these measurements differs from that predicted by conventional pellet ablation theory. The possibility of enhanced radial transport during the ablation process has been examined to determine whether this can explain the difference between theory and experiment, but no evidence has been found to support such an explanation. The temporal evolution of the Balmer alpha light emitted during pellet ablation is found to be different from the effective pellet ablation rate determined from the density profile measurement. The authors conclude that the shielding mechanisms of conventional pellet ablation models have to be modified in order to predict and reproduce the observed effective ablation rate and penetration depth


A battery-powered artificial heart--designed to replace the diseased heart both physically and functionally--is completing readiness testing in preparation for human trials. The initial goal is for the artificial heart to last 5 years, at which time a donor heart can be transplanted. No immunosuppression will be needed with the total artificial heart, and the recipient's hospital stay will be much shorter, resulting in a tremendous decreases in cost.


Machining proses or metal cutting process is a main activity practised by small and medium metal enterprise by using conventional machines. This machining process is directed to produce the mass products (low variation and high repetition), such as components of machine or another equipments, but often also the macining process is made inappropriately, or even in total false methode, such as false selection of tool, thus the worn-out fastly, over cutting speed, thus surface is rougher, and etc. In this paper, the machinability on cast iron cutting is assessed (the material usually worked in small and medium metal industries), i.e., by making some experiment to obtain the most optimal cutting condition (v, f ,and a) to have the short cutting time, big cutting volume, lower surface roghness and longer tool life .


III-nitride semiconductors and their heterojunctions exhibit intrinsic polarization due to the asymmetry of their wurtzite structure, which determines all the fundamental properties of III-nitride optoelectronics. The intrinsic polarization-induced quantum-confined Stark effect leads to an emission wavelength shift with increasing injection current for III-nitride visible LEDs, forming an insurmountable barrier for the fabrication of a full color display. For instance, a yellow LED designed to produce yellow light emits green or blue light at an elevated current, while a green (blue) LED gives off blue (violet) light with increasing current. This color instability becomes a serious issue for a microdisplay such as the displays for augmented reality (AR)/virtual reality (VR) typically utilized at proximity to the eye, where human eyes are sensitive to a tiny change in light color. It is well-known that an optical mode wavelength for a microcavity is insensitive to injection current. In this work, we have demonstrated an approach to epitaxially integrating microLEDs (green microLEDs as an example, one of the key components for a full color microdisplay) and a microcavity. This allows the emission from the microLEDs to be coupled with the microcavity, leading to a negligible emission wavelength shift with increasing injection current. In contrast, identical microLEDs but without a microcavity show a large emission wavelength shift from 560 nm down to 510 nm, measured under identical conditions. This approach provides a simple solution to resolving the 30-year issue in the field of III-nitride optoelectronics.


This research describes for the first time the complete morphology of the digestive apparatus of rock cavies. Dissection, light microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy were performed. The oral cavity has: the hard palate without palatine wrinkles and the soft palate; the tongue composed by striated musculature, with presence of vallate, foliated, and fungiform papillae with taste buds and filiform papillae with mechanical function; and, 20 teeth of the hypsodonts type. Esophagus, stomach, small intestine (duodenum, jejunum, and ileum), and the large intestine (cecum, colon, and rectum) are found. The anus is present at the end of the alimentary channel. Organs of digestive tube are composed by four tunics: mucosa, submucosa, muscular, and serosa. The duodenum, jejunum and ileum have villi. Jejunum, ileum and cecum present Lieberkühn crypts. The cecum has mucous glands. Colon and rectum are folded and have goblet cells. Anus presents sebaceous glands. As associated glands it is found the liver with six lobes and gallbladder; a lobulated pancreas; and a pair of each major salivary gland (parotid, mandibular, and sublingual). Parotid glands have serous acini and mandibular and sublingual glands have mucous acini. Pancreas has adenomers. The liver has hepatocytes and portal vein, hepatic artery, and bile duct (portal triad), separated by sinusoids. It is concluded that the digestive apparatus of the rock cavy has variations in the dentition, lingual papillae, and acini of the salivary glands when compared to other rodents. Other variations refer to the well‐developed cecum characteristic of herbivorous behavior.


In this work we extend classical molecular dynamics by coupling it with an electron transport model known as the two temperature model. This energy balance between free electrons and phonons was first proposed in 1956 by Kaganov et al. but has recently been utilized as a framework for coupling molecular dynamics to a continuum description of electron transport. Using finite element domain decomposition techniques from our previous work as a basis, we develop a coupling scheme that preserves energy and has local control of temperature and energy flux via a Gaussian isokinetic thermostat. Unlike the previous work on this subject, we employ an efficient, implicit time integrator for the fast electron transport which enables larger stable time steps than the explicit schemes commonly used. A number of example simulations are given that validate the method, including Joule heating of a copper nanowire and laser excitation of a suspended carbon nanotube with its ends embedded in a conducting substrate. Published in 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Abstract The White-naped Brushfinch (Atlapetesalbinucha) comprises up to eight allopatric subspecies mainly identified by the color of the underparts (gray vs. yellow belly). Yellow and gray bellied forms were long considered two different species (A.albinucha and A.gutturalis), but they are presently considered as one polytypic species. Previous studies in the genus Atlapetes have shown that the phylogeny, based on molecular data, is not congruent with characters such as coloration, ecology, or distributional patterns. The phylogeography of A.albinucha was analyzed using two mitochondrial DNA regions from samples including 24 different localities throughout montane areas from eastern Mexico to Colombia. Phylogeographic analyses using Bayesian inference, maximum likelihood and haplotype network revealed incomplete geographic structure. The genetic diversity pattern is congruent with a recent process of expansion, which is also supported by Ecological Niche Models (ENM) constructed for the species and projected into three past scenarios. Overall, the results revealed an incomplete genetic divergence among populations of A.albinucha in spite of the species' ample range, which contrasts with previous results of phylogeographic patterns in other Neotropical montane forest bird species, suggesting idiosyncratic evolutionary histories for different taxa throughout the region.


Possible structures of imidazole, pyrazole, and their semi saturated and fully saturated derivatives have been studied at the DFT and ab initio computational levels. Calculations have been performed using seve ral computational schemes (BLYP, PBE0, CAM-B3LYP, wB97XD, M06, MP2, CBS-QB3, and G4 methods have been employed) and the 6-311++G** basis set. The most stable structures for each group of studied compounds (tautomers of native imidazole and pyrazole, tautomers of their semi saturated derivatives, and fully saturated derivatives) have been determined. In general species with imidazole ring are more stable than those with pyrazole one. The discussion of this phenomenon origin, especially the influence of aromaticity as well as distributions of total charge and energy among atoms are thoroughly discussed.


The effects of 25-OHD3 on renal osteodystrophy have been studied in 6 patients on maintenance haemodialysis. Administration of 25-OHD3, 50 microgram/day, did not improve biochemical data and intestinal absorption of calcium. With a dose of 100 microgram/day in all patients an increase in blood calcium levels eventually reaching hypercalcemic values was observed. In two cases a fall in alkaline phosphatase toward normal values was noted. In the same cases the treatment-induced hyperphosphatemia, uncontrolled by AI(OH)3 supplementation and similarly high iPTH levels were observed. In two cases repeated bone biopsy following 8 months treatment and not show substantial improvement of bone lesions. In one case addition of 1,25-(OH)2D3 to the treatment with 25-OHD3 led to a more rapid improvement in biochemical parameters and iPTH serum levels. Doses of 25-OHD3 capable to correct blood calcium levels and intestinal absorption of calcium, may have minimal benefit on the osteitis fibrosa component of the bone lesion.


EcologyCoastal managers and scientists have struggled to find ways to restore water flow through the wetlands of the Mississippi delta and bring back the sediment, supply of which has been cut in half by humanmade river channels, levees, and dams intended to control the river and save coastal communities from flooding. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened the Morganza spillway during the 2011 Mississippi River floods to divert floodwaters, which offered a rare opportunity to conduct a large-scale natural experiment in real time. The floodwaters did carry enough sediment to help rebuild the wetlands, but that material didn't always stay where it could do the most good. However, researchers gained valuable insights—including ideas about how spillway design can help produce more targeted sediment deposits, and what volume of flow through the spillways might be required for effective wetland rebuilding.


An electron storage ring to be used solely as a synchrotron radiation source has been designed for a maximum energy of 1.5 GeV, expandable to 2 GeV, and a maximum current of 1 A, High field superconducting magnet wigglers to serve as hard radiation ports have been incorporated into the ring to make available a wide range of wavelengths for simultaneous experiments. The regular lattice consists of a series of small achromatic bends forming the arcs. The wiggler magnets are placed in low-ß in the center of insertions separating these arcs. The arrangement minimizes the electron emittances and yields high source brightness. Other machine parameters are dictated by experimental requirements and apparatus as well as by cost constraints.


Androgen signal has been recently suggested to be associated with the progression of bladder cancer. Steroid sulfatase (STS) is a steroid sulfate activation enzyme, considered to be one of the key enzymes in the androgen signaling pathway. However, the role of STS in bladder cancer has not been elucidated. The purpose of the present study was to determine the clinical and functional significance of STS in bladder cancer. Immunohistochemical analysis of surgical specimens obtained by radical cystectomy (n=114) demonstrated that overexpression of STS was associated with the invasion of bladder cancer, as evidenced by the incidence of STS-positive cancers (11.5 and 37.1% in non-muscle invasive and muscle invasive bladder cancers, respectively; P=0.003). STS-positive cancer demonstrated shorter recurrence-free survival and cancer-specific survival (P=0.0027 and 0.0030, respectively). Furthermore, knockdown of STS significantly reduced cell migration and invasion capacities of bladder cancer cells (P<0.001 and P=0.005, respectively), accompanied by the upregulation of E-cadherin and downregulation of vimentin. In summary, the present study demonstrated that STS promotes the invasion capability of bladder cancer via regulation of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and may be a useful marker for predicting the progression of bladder cancers.


Electronic absorption spectra of 2,7,12,17-tetra-tert-butylporphycene (TTPC) have been recorded in low-temperature argon and xenon matrices for various deposition conditions. In the region of the S(0)-S(1) electronic transition, the spectra of TTPC in argon reveal a rich site structure, characterized by a series of more than 30 absorption peaks. Studies of the temperature dependence of the electronic spectra in solid argon demonstrated remarkable spectral changes, resulting in the broadening of all bands with increasing temperature. These temperature-induced spectral changes are, to a large degree, reversible, so lowering of temperature is accompanied by the recovery of the original fine-line spectrum. The absorption spectra in xenon reveal broad bands, on which a rich pattern of lines becomes superimposed at low temperatures. Trapping site distribution and the structure of the microenvironment around the TTPC chromophore, embedded in argon and xenon hosts, have been analyzed using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The MD results show that the trapping of TTPC in rare-gas solids is influenced by favorable embedding of the bulky tert-butyl groups inside the matrix cage. The crucial role of the tert-butyl groups for the thermodynamics and kinetics of matrix deposition is demonstrated by comparing the results with those obtained for the parent, unsubstituted porphycene.


The world is filled with important, but visually subtle signals. A person's pulse, the breathing of an infant, the sag and sway of a bridge---these all create visual patterns, which are too difficult to see with the naked eye. We present Eulerian Video Magnification, a computational technique for visualizing subtle color and motion variations in ordinary videos by making the variations larger. It is a microscope for small changes that are hard or impossible for us to see by ourselves. In addition, these small changes can be quantitatively analyzed and used to recover sounds from vibrations in distant objects, characterize material properties, and remotely measure a person's pulse.