Thiobacillus denitrificans, as a kind of autotrophic facultative bacteria, could oxidize sulfide into elemental sulfurwhen nitrate was adopted as its electron accepter and carbon dioxide as its carbon resource under anaerobic environment.Through this way, nitrate was converted into nitrogen. In addition, Thiobacillus denitrificans has a wide ecological-amplitudeand could accumulate sulfur extracellularly. Based on these special physiological characteristics, an innovative process ofsimultaneous de-sulfide and de-nitrification was developed by authors. Three strains of Thiobacillus denitrificans wereemployed as sulfur-producers in the treatment of wastewater containing sulfide and nitrate in this study. The stoichiometricequations of simultaneous de-sulfide and de-nitrification by Thiobacillus denitrificans was presented. The key factor affectingthis process was investigated through batch tests. The experimental results indicated that the sulfide concentration and theratio of sulfide to nitrate (S2-/ NO3- ratio) in the influent are the key factors. Their suitable level could be controlled at 5/3 and 300mg/L respectively in order to achieve 94% of sulfur conversion rate. If S2-/ NO3- ratio was not over 5/3, sulfurconversion rate will increase with the decrease of S2-/ NO3- ratio.


Azithromycin, an azalide antibiotic, rarely causes ototoxicity. According to the few reports in existence, azithromycin-induced ototoxicity occurred following prolonged high-dose therapy in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and resulted in a reversible sensorineural hearing loss. We present a case of irreversible sensorineural hearing loss due to azithromycin ototoxicity in an otherwise healthy woman following low-dose exposure to azithromycin.


The objective of this article is to critically review the case law on public morals exception in the multilateral trading system and argue against the World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body's exceedingly deferential approach to the meaning and identification of public morals in international trade disputes. Admittedly, the WTO Appellate Body's judicial minimalism approach to trade dispute settlement has so far prevented it from making any broad claims about public morals exception. Nevertheless, I argue that the Appellate Body has already waded into treacherous waters. Going forward, the WTO Appellate Body must be cautious so as not to permit moral imperialism and put the delicately balanced multilateral trading system at grave risk. For this purpose, I propose a more nuanced approach to define public morals as well as manage its extraterritorial application in international trade law.


PANDA is a planned experiment at FAIR (Darmstadt) with a cooled antiproton beam in a range [1.5; 15] GeV/c, allowing a wide physics program in nuclear and particle physics. It is the only experiment worldwide, which combines a solenoid field (B=2T) and a dipole field (B=2Tm) in a spectrometer with a fixed target topology, in that energy regime. The tracking system of PANDA involves the presence of a high performance silicon vertex detector, a GEM detector, a straw-tubes central tracker, a forward tracking system, and a luminosity monitor. The offline tracking algorithm is developed within the PandaRoot framework, which is a part of the FairRoot project. The tool here presented is based on algorithms containing the Kalman Filter equations and a deterministic annealing filter. This general fitting tool (GENFIT2) offers to users also a Runge-Kutta track representation, and interfaces with Millepede II (useful for alignment) and RAVE (vertex finder). It is independent on the detector geometry and the magnetic field map, and written in C++ object-oriented modular code. Several fitting algorithms are available with GENFIT2, with user-adjustable parameters; therefore the tool is of friendly usage. A check on the fit convergence is done by GENFIT2 as well. The KalmanFilter-based algorithms have a wide range of applications; among those in particle physics they can perform extrapolations of track parameters and covariance matrices. The impact of GENFIT2 on physics simulations performed for the PANDA experiment is shown, with the PandaRoot framework: significant improvement is reported for those channels where a good low momentum tracking is required (pT < 400 MeV/c).


Decisions by Australian wool producers were modelled with a technique combining personal construct psychology and hierarchical decision models. Both strategic and tactical approaches were evident in wool producers' responses to the risks associated with producing and marketing their wool. Strategic responses included avoiding short to medium-term response to price changes, diversification, maintaining equity and selling wool at auction in the same sale each year. Producers identified many types of risk, with each engendering a distinctive response. Similarly the context of a decision appeared to have a major influence on the attitude to risk. Simplifying decision rules were apparent that helped producers deal with the physical, information, and processing constraints of an ambiguous decision-making environment. One implication of these results may be that prescriptive advice must recognise the importance of strategy and decision rules as a response to uncertainty and ambiguity. A second is that such advice should also take account of the influence of context on attitude to risk and ambiguity.


Background In recent years it has been found that leptin is not only involved in the nutritional processes of the organism but it is also a modulator of inflammatory and immune response. However the precise nature of its role in inflammatory diseases is unknown (1-4). It has been reported that leptin substitution might have protective effect on bones in septic arthritis (5). Objectives The aim of the study was to assess if there is a correlation between leptin concentrations and radiological progression in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Methods Study population comprised 26 children with JIA (17 girls – 65% and 9 boys – 35%), of whom 16 (62%) had oligoarticular type of the disease, 8 (31%) – polyarticular type and the rest – systemic. The activity of the disease was high in 10 patients, moderate in 4 and low in 12. The level of leptin was evaluated by ELISA method in the blood serum and additionally in 14 patients who had had joint puncture in synovial fluid. The radiological status of a child was scored twice according to the Steinbrocker scale score. Results The mean serum leptin level in our patients was 15.72 ng/mL (range between 0.02 and 81.65 ng/mL), whereas mean synovial fluid leptin concentration was 22.93 ng/mL (range between 1.07 and 80.81 ng/mL). At the baseline 12 out of 26 children (46%) were assessed to have Ist score in the Steinbrocker scale, 7 (27%) - IInd score and 7 (27%) - IIIrd score. After follow-up (mean follow-up period – 28 months), 9 patients (35%) had Ist score in the Steinbrocker scale, 10 (38%) - IInd score, 5 (19%) - IIIrd score and and 2 - IVrd score. The progression in radiological status took place in 7 patients, all of whom had low levels of leptin (0.02-4.24 ng/mL). Two girls had slight improvement in their radiological status, the rest of the group remained at the same Steinbrocker score. None of the children with JIA with leptin level over 15 ng/mL had progression on the radiographs according to the Steinbrocker scale. Conclusions Leptin levels were lower in children with radiological progression of the disease, which might indicate that this molecule has protective influence on joint destruction in children with JIA. References Targonska-Stepniak B, Majdan M, Dryglewska M. Leptin serum levels in rheumatoid arthritis patients: relation to disease duration and activity. Rheumatol Int 2008;28:585-91. Lee SW, Park MC, Park YB, Lee SK. Measurement of the serum leptin level could assist disease activity monitoring in rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatol Int 2007;27:537-40. Popa C, Netea MG, Radstake TR, van Riel PL, Barrera P, van der Meer JW. Markers of inflammation are negatively correlated with serum leptin in rheumatoid arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis 2005; 64:1195-98. Bokarewa M, Bokarew D, Hultgren O, Tarkowski A. Leptin consumption in the inflamed joint of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis 2003; 62:952-56. Hultgren OH, Tarkowski A. Leptin in septic arthritis: decreased levels during infection and amelioration of disease activity upon its administration. Arthritis Res 2001; 3:389-94. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


ABSTRACT Objective This study aimed to determine the thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) reference interval (RI) and to assess the influence of the use of thyroid ultrasonography (TUS) on reference individual selection from a healthy adult population in Fortaleza, Brazil. Subjects and methods This cross-sectional study recruited patients (N = 272; age = 18-50 years) with normal thyroid function (NTF) and placed them in three groups according to their test results: NTF (n = 272; all participants), TUS (n = 170; participants who underwent thyroid US), RI (n = 124; reference individuals with normal TSH levels). TSH, FT4, TT3, TgAb, and TPOAb concentrations were determined by electrochemiluminescence assay. TUS was performed using a 7-12 MHz multifrequency linear transducer by two radiologists. The 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles of the distribution curve corresponded to lower and upper TSH RI levels, respectively. Results The mean TSH level was 1.74 ± 0.96 mIU/L, and TSH range was 0.56-4.45 mIU/L. There was no difference in the TSH concentrations between men and women nor between the groups. TUS did not appear to be an essential tool for the reference group selection. Conclusion The upper limit of TSH was comparable to the reference interval provided by the assay manufacturer (4.45 vs. 4.20 mIU/L) but the lower limit was not (0.56 vs. 0.27 mIU/L). This finding may have a clinical impact since these values may lead to the misdiagnosis of euthyroid patients with subclinical hyperthyroidism.


Kelsea is a female character in a novel written by Erika Johansen entitled The Queen of The Tearling. When she is nineteen years old, she becomes a queen. Although she has the highest status in her kingdom, sometimes underestimated by men because she is a girl. The purpose of this research is to reveal Kelsea's objections against men's stigma in leading a kingdom. This is a qualitative research. The result of this research shows that Kelsea breaks the men's stigma saying women are weak. Kelsea argues with the general of her army because he thinks women are bad in military strategy. Moreover, Kelsea proves that she has power to dismiss her uncle from her castle because he corrupts and takes the freedom of the women who satisfy him. In addition, Kelsea sets herself equal with her Queen Guards to learn how to fight with sword and wear armor because she will do something while those men die for her. As a conclusion, Kelsea acts as a strong woman with dignity.


For sorption heat pumps, a gap often exists between metrics of efficiency provided in the literature (typically COP) and system-level performance expressed according to various national minimum energy performance standards and labeling schemes. Engineers and decision makers would benefit from a convenient, even if approximate, translation between the two. Focusing on fuel-fired heat pump systems, this work bridges the gap through a straightforward analytical model relating cycle COP to system performance, while incorporating practical systemlevel parameters. These parameters include burner efficiency, electrical power consumption, standby losses, cyclic losses, and flue gas heat exchanger effectiveness. Separate translations are provided for water heating and space heating for single and double effect water/LiBr and ammonia/water. The EES&L metric is generally 15-35% lower than the cycle COP. For metrics that are based on primary energy, the electrical consumption of the fuel-fired heat pump is of high importance. The burner efficiency is important in all cases. © 2017 Stichting HPC 2017. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the organizers of the 12th IEA Heat Pump Conference 2017.


A previously fit and well 9-year-old boy developed shortness of breath and chest pain after playing with friends on a building site where bonfire materials were being collected. Firstline investigations failed to explain his symptoms, which worsened over the next 24 hours, necessitating endotracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation. When public health and the police retraced his steps, they found barrels of sodium hypochlorite and red diesel at the bonfire site, which when mixed had the potential to form chlorine gas leading to the diagnosis of a chemical pneumonitis secondary to chlorine gas inhalation. Supportive care was continued, and he was successfully extubated after 48 hours. At 6-week follow-up, he had no ongoing pulmonary symptoms.


The development of light and very thin concrete building structures and demand for extremely thin elements in design are inter alia reasons for the development of composite materials as non-traditional reinforcement. Composite materials are currently used as reinforcement mostly in the form of fiber reinforced polymer bars similar to traditional steel reinforcement bars, but the last decade sees also rise in the use of technical textiles. This article is focused on the interaction between impregnated textile reinforcement and high-performance concrete matrix and its easy determination using originally modified pullout test. The second aim of this article is improvement of interaction conditions between reinforcement and cementitious matrix using fine-grained silica sand applied on the surface of the composite reinforcement similarly to the traditional fiber reinforced polymer reinforcement with commonly used diameters. To investigate an effect of this modification a bending test was performed on small thin concrete slabs with different amounts of reinforcement.


OF THE THESIS Open-Source In-Vitro NeuroMEMS Hardware Platform for Transmission of Neural Signals Recorded Using a Novel ECoG Microsensor Array by Scott Seidman Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering San Diego State University, 2015 Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have become a promising tool in neuroscience for both understanding the brain and increasing quality of life. While the majority of BCIs are designed for clinical use, it is possible to create a custom, open-source BCI system that can perform with relative efficacy using commonly available tools and components if done in a precise and deliberate manner. In this project we set out to explore different hardware combinations based on this outlook, with the goal of creating a functional in-vitro test platform for design and fabrication of our custom electrodes for eventual use in closed-loop BCIs. With better comprehension of the interplay between components, as well as the variability within our own fabrication process, a high-quality functional product can be created for our partners within the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (CSNE).


A TiB2 wettable cathode coating was deposited on a graphite carbon cathode material via atmospheric plasma spraying (APS). The microstructure and phase composition of the TiB2 coating were analyzed via scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The wettability and corrosion resistance of the coating were studied in a molten-aluminum electrolytic system. The results showed that the surface of the TiB2 coating prepared via plasma spraying was flat and that the main phase of the coating was TiB2. The wettability between the TiB2 coating and liquid aluminum was better than that between graphite cathode carbon block and liquid aluminum. The abilities of the TiB2 coating and graphite cathode carbon block to resist sodium (Na) penetration and prevent molten salt corrosion were compared through a corrosion test. The TiB2 coating was found to have better resistance to Na penetration and better refractory cryolite corrosion resistance than graphite cathode carbon block.


Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) involves the study of nuclei immersed in a static magnetic field and exposed to a second oscillating field. Nuclei have two properties; spin properties and charge properties. Pyrolysis oil is created by dry heating biomass in a reactor without oxygen to around 500 degrees Celsius and then cooling it. Pyrolysis oil is a type of tar that includes too much oxygen to be classified as a pure hydrocarbon. One of the most fundamental methods in synthetic chemistry is using NMR to verify chemical structure. In the literature, little attention has been paid to the application of NMR in the authentication of chemical structures. In this study, we present a use case of NMR to characterize pyrolysis oil and authenticate chemical structures. Results show that the elucidation of chemical compositions of bio-oil is essential for the optimization of its processing technology and exploration of its potential application.


Robab Mehdizadeh, Hojjat Eghbali, and Mozafar Sharifi (2018) We simultaneously monitored postnatal growth and vocalization development in a free living population of the long-fingered bat, Myotis capaccinii, in a maternity colony in the Mahidasht cave, western Iran. Length of forearm and body mass of 1-day-old neonates averaged 19.59 ± 1.23 mm and 3.59 ± 0.23 g and followed linear pattern of growth at mean growth rates of 0.74 mm/day and 0.15 g/day until 28 days of age, after which is increased slowly. A similar nonlinear growth pattern was found for ten wing characteristics (wingspan, wing area, handwing length, handwing area, armwing length, armwing area, aspect ratio, wing loading, tip length ratio, and tip area ratio). However, postnatal growth followed a two phase linear pattern of increase-decrease for the epiphyseal-phalangeal gap and decrease- increase for wing loading. At birth, infant bats produced low, short frequency sonar and oral calls in isolation before they could open their eyes. Isolation calls obtained at age 1-4 days old from M. capaccinii pups were frequency modulated shallow calls with longer duration (7.54 ± 1.83 ms) and lower peak frequency (20.07 ± 0.89 kHz) compared to adult female calls (2.35 ± 0.75 ms and 54.02 ± 4.34 kHz). During days 12-16, calls began to resemble adult echolocation calls. Duration of calls increased slightly before 7 days old and then gradually decreased. The peak, start and end frequencies of spontaneous calls increased with age. When the juvenile bats started foraging outside the cave, they only omitted nasal FM calls with 1-2 harmonics. Comparing postnatal changes in body and wing characteristics with those of vocalization, we found that the most positive correlation was between body (forearm length and body mass) and wing features (wing area, wingspan, handwing area, armwing area and aspect ratio) and call parameters (peak, start and end frequency), while wing loading had a significant negative correlation with the call parameters.


This paper discusses the comparative study on machining hybrid aluminium metal matrix composites (Al6061-SiC-Al2O3) and carbon nano tubes (CNT) added hybrid MMCs. The ordinary hybrid composites were fabricated using the liquid metallurgy technique by stir casting method under which wt.6% of particulates SiC and Al2O3 were dispersed in the base matrix. The second CNT-hybrid composite is a woven alumina (Al2O3) fiber cloth with aligned CNTs grown on the surface of the fibers, impregnated with an epoxy, termed herein 'CNT-alumina' composite. Both the obtained cast composites were turned using PCD cutting tool under various cutting conditions and their performances were clearly analyzed individually. The objective was to obtain a comparative study revealing minimum surface roughness of the test materials. The analysis done on the obtained test results reveal that the surface roughness of the CNT-alumina hybrid MMC was very much reduced than the ordinary hybrid MMCs.


Background: The finite element solution estimates have been improving in recent years in biomedical applications. This method provides many advantages to researchers such as specimen force distribution, total deformation, and strain energy. The data obtained after the experimental methods can be examined for the finite element solutions. Aim: Thus, this study aims to a finite element study of total deformation and strain energy on dental material under chewing impact force simulation after experimental study; prediction of maximum and minimum stress distribution. Materials and Methods: In this study, impact wear stress distribution and total deformation analyses were performed on test samples with different geometries. A cylindrical specimen with a diameter of 12 mm and a square geometry specimen with a size of 8 mm was designed for chewing test procedures. The chewing force was applied to the samples over a while and the effect of this force on the wear surface of the sample was investigated through chewing test procedures. Results: In this study obtained data, the chewing force showed a more homogeneous distribution in the cylindrical sample than in the square sample. Conclusion: In addition, it was observed that the concentration of strength mechanism was present at the time of the maximum chewing force of the sample with square geometry.


Method of Observation of Cosmic Very High Energy g-Quants by Means of Registration of Impulses of Extensive Air Showers Coherent Radio Emission


Understanding user needs and preferences is increasingly recognized as a critical component of early stage product development. The large-scale needfinding methods in this series of studies attempt to overcome shortcomings with existing methods, particularly in environments with limited user access. The three studies evaluated three specific types of stimuli to help users describe higher quantities of needs. Users were trained on need statements and then asked to enter as many need statements and optional background stories as possible. One or more stimulus types were presented, including prompts (a type of thought exercise), shared needs, and shared context images. Topics used were general household areas including cooking, cleaning, and trip planning. The results show that users can articulate a large number of needs unaided, and users consistently increased need quantity after viewing a stimulus. A final study collected 1735 needs statements and 1246 stories from 402 individuals in 24 hr. Shared needs and images significantly increased need quantity over other types. User experience (and not expertise) was a significant factor for increasing quantity, but may not warrant exclusive use of high-experience users in practice.


The bifurcation diagram of a single-mode semiconductor laser subject to a delayed optical feedback is examined by using numerical continuation methods. For this, we show how to cope with the special symmetry properties of the equations. As the feedback strength is increased, branches of modes and antimodes appear, and we have found that pairs of modes and antimodes are connected by closed branches of periodic solutions (bifurcation bridges). Such connections seem generically present as new pairs of modes and antimodes appear. We subsequently investigate the behavior of the first connection as a function of the linewidth enhancement factor and the feedback phase. Our results extend and confirm existing results and hypotheses reported in the literature. For large values of the linewidth enhancement factor (alpha=5-6), bridges break through homoclinic orbits. Changing the feedback phase unfolds the bifurcation diagram of the modes and antimodes, allowing different types of connections between modes.


To study some aspects of the relationship between body schema and lateralization, 44 female subjects between 19 and 39 yr. of age were measured using a test of accuracy of perception for the right and left halves of the body. Analysis gave three different groups: subjects with larger indexes of deviation on the left (56%), those with larger indexes of deviation on the right (31%), and others with no difference between right and left halves (11%).


The present study aimed to evaluate the immunomodulatory effect of s-ally cysteine (SAC) on pulmonary fibrosis in CCl4-induced rats. The animals divided into: group (I) served as control and its rats were administered olive oil. Rats of group (II) received SAC. Animals of group (III) were injected with CCl4 to induce pulmonary fibrosis. Rats of group (IV) treated with CCl4+SAC. Lung tissues from CCl4-injected rats revealed thickened alveoli septa, lymphatic nodules, marked increase in collagen fibres. Increase in the expression of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and glutathione S-transferase (GST). Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) showed increase in the apoptotic activity reached 28.9%. CCl4 injection caused augmentation in INF-γ and serum cytokines. SAC administration may became a novel potential treatment for pulmonary fibrosis due to its anti-proliferative activity recorded 11.82%, which is possible mediated by induction of apoptosis, beside its inhibitory effect on GST, cytokines production, which thereby modulates collagen synthesis, and attenuated the pulmonary fibrosis.


Gordon H. Pettengill was honored as the recipient of the Charles A. Whitten Medal at AGU's Spring Meeting in Baltimore on May 28, 1997. The award is given for outstanding achievements in research on the form and dynamics of the Earth and the planets. The citation and Pettengill's response are given here.

"Rock solid" is the best description of Gordon Pettengill's research. Always in the forefront, never trivial, Gordon's publications set the highest standards for scientific content and clarity of presentation. His preparation was equally solid, from an undergraduate physics education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to graduate school in physics at the University of California, Berkeley, with only a brief interlude partly spent in Europe in 1944—1945 settling a certain conflict there.


The outer canopy of a lowland tropical forest has a less buffered microclimate and more seasonal leaf phenology than the understory. Censuses were conducted from a canopy tower on Barro Colorado Island, Panama, to assess the composition and degree of seasonality of the canopy avifauna. The canopy avifauna shares many species with scrubby second growth; many common canopy species were also found frequently in more open areas. The rarest visitors to the canopy were primarily those from lower strata. Most common species were omnivorous, and restricted insectivotes were poorly represented when compared to lower strata. This distribution is correlated with a taxonomic shift from the antbirdwoodcreeper-dominated understory to a tanager-dominated canopy avifauna. A majority of common canopy species was significantly seasonal in abundance; the most seasonal resident species tending to be the omnivores. Two sources of overall fluctuation in birds using the outer canopy were an influx of small omnivorous tanagers in the early dry to early wet season, and the presence of temperate-zone migrants, mainly Dendroica castanea, from late wet through the dry season. THE OUTER CANOPY OF A TROPICAL FOREST is a world distinct from the somber understory it shades. The protective shell formed by the foliage of massive trees receives the full brunt of the weather: wind speeds are higher, solar radiation and rainfall are most intense (Allee 1923), and temperatures average 2-5° C warmer than in the understory only 5 m below (Smithsonian Environmental Sciences Program, unpubl.). The biotic environment also differs markedly; large trees cover areas that might have supported many small plants on the forest floor, creating patches of young leaves, flowers, and fruits on a larger scale in the canopy than in the understory below. Furthermore, canopy trees display more pronounced seasonality in leaf loss than understory shrubs in semideciduous tropical forests (Croat 1978, Leigh and Smyth 1979). As Karr (1976b) argued, birds using different levels of a tropical woodland face radically different seasonal regimes, and the diversity and seasonality of the avifauna of each stratum should differ accordingly. Karr (1976b) showed that in a late scrub community in Panama, the upper strata had a less diverse and more fluctuating bird population than lower strata. Various authors (Orians 1969, Pearson 1971) have noted the taxonomic affinity of canopy and clearing avifaunas and the dissimilarity between canopy and understory birds. These observations suggest that the influence of differences in phenology, microclimate, or foliage structure of different forest strata may be profound. Few data are available on the abundance and seasonality of species in the outer canopy. The major problem in analyzing bird use of a tropical forest canopy is the difficulty of observing birds 25-40 m above ground. This difficulty is exacerbated by the similarity of the high sibilant calls of many small tanagers. One solution to this problem is to census birds from a canopy tower or walkway. Love joy (1975) censused from such a tower in the Brazilian Amazon but did not separate canopy census results in his published analysis. In this paper I present an analysis of census data taken from a 40 m canopy tower in secondary forest of Barro Colorado Island, Panama (BCI). Censuses were conducted to quantify the seasonal use of a small piece of outer canopy.


Objectives: We evaluate visual search performance in both static (nonmoving) and dynamic (moving) search environments with and without spatial (3-D) auditory cues to target location. Additionally, the effects of target trajectory, target location, and practice are assessed. Background: Previous research on aurally aided visual search has shown a significant reduction in response times when 3-D auditory cues are displayed, relative to unaided search. However, the vast majority of this research has examined only searches for static targets in static visual environments. The present experiment was conducted to examine the effect of dynamic stimuli upon aurally aided visual search performance. Method: The 8 participants conducted repeated searches for a single visual target hidden among 15 distracting stimuli. The four main conditions of the experiment consisted of the four possible combinations of 3-D auditory cues (present or absent) and search environment (static or dynamic). Results: The auditory cues were comparably effective at reducing search times in dynamic environments (—25%) as in static environments (—22%). Audio cues helped all participants. The cues were most beneficial when the target appeared at large eccentricities and on the horizontal plane. After a brief initial exposure to 3-D audio, no training or practice effects with 3-D audio were found. Conclusion: We conclude that 3-D audio is as beneficial in environments comprising moving stimuli as in those comprising static stimuli. Application: Operators in dynamic environments, such as aircraft cockpits, ground vehicles, and command-and-control centers, could benefit greatly from 3-D auditory technology when searching their environments for visual targets or other time-critical information.


This article examines the manifestation of love as a private and spontaneous impulse against social restrictions, through the abundant imagery of clothing in Lope de Vega's El caballero de Olmedo. The love relationship between Don Alonso and Doña Inés is frustrated in this tragicomedy, due to its conflictive insertion in a society whose codes and traditions form the background from which the love springs and develops. The signs related to clothing, material full of symbolic value, underline the social tensions within the play, functioning both at the structural and thematic levels. Clothing is, thus, closely connected to the cultural practices and to the ideological systems of the time.


Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a bacterium in the same family as those that cause cholera. It lives in brackish saltwater and cause gastrointestinal in human. When ingested, V. parahaemolyticus causes watery diarrhea with abdominal cramping and vomiting fever. Most people become infected by eating raw or undercooked sea food i.e. shrimps. This organism can cause an infection in the skin when an open wound is exposed to warm seawater. This research investigated V. parahaemolyticus in frozen raw shrimps   which sold at sea food restorants at Pangandaran Beach area. The results showed that no one of frozen raw shripms sample were contaminated by V. parahaemolyticus . But 16 of 20 frozen raw shrimps sample were contaminated by halophilic Vibrio . More attention should be paid to food sanitation at the market place, especially during handling, preparation, and cooking of the oysters.


This paper examines the emerging concept of networked improvisation. In particular it reports on the development of jam2jam software and its associated research projects. These projects offer a proof of concept over a 3-year trail period of the idea of collaborative musical environments on a network and describe the effects on meaningful engagement in music making. The paper follows a structure presented at the practical workshop at MISTEC and highlights the emerging learning opportunities of real-time improvisation using digital instruments connected via electronic networks and the broad range of school and community applications further illustrated by the series of ongoing case studies and its potential as a new concept for music learning.

It is proposed that the concept of networked improvisational musical environments adds a new dimension of online music learning that incorporates the advantages of real time ensemble activity into music technology learning experiences. Furthermore the researchers suggest that the emerging learning opportunities of real-time improvisation using digital instruments connected via electronic networks that use algorithmic musical structures become curriculum structures that frame the musical knowledge and focus and engage the learner in an interactive musical experience.


Complete sets of optical parameters of dry particles sampled on a Nuclepore filter are derived through interpretation of photometric data with an improved inversion technique. The parameters are the volume-extinction and absorption coefficients, the single-scattering albedo, the asymmetry parameter of the volume scattering function, the apparent complex refractive index, and the apparent soot content. They may serve as input data for solar radiation-budget considerations. Results from preliminary measurements taken in Central Europe and Italy show an extreme variability of the optical parameters. Both large regional and temporal variabilities have been observed caused by the fluctuating midlatitude weather systems and human activities.


Two different lithographic techniques have been developed for fabricating magnetic nano-elements on ultra-thin electron-transparent substrates thereby allowing transmission electron microscopy to be used to investigate their properties. Here we describe studies of elements of micropolycrystalline Permalloy and cobalt whose thicknesses lie in the range 20-30 nm. Bright field images show that a high degree of edge acuity is attained and elements with lateral dimensions /spl ap/25 nm have been produced. Lorentz microscopy has provided unique insight into the detailed magnetisation reversal mechanisms in acicular elements with widths in the range 100-300 nm. In cobalt elements a single domain occupies most of the volume with complex domain structures existing very close to the ends; switching fields increase markedly with decreasing element width but are substantially independent of element length. The reversal mechanism is found to involve the propagation of a small "reversing" domain structure along the element length. In Permalloy, extensive domain structures are observed in all but the narrowest elements in the remanent state. The response to applied fields is described.


Dr. med. Ursula Davatz is heading the socio-psychiatric service at the psychiatric clinic of Königsfelden. She has trained as a family therapist according to M. Bowen. Dr. med. Adnan Serce is as turkish speaking physician responsive for the "transcultural" psychiatric domain in this service. The authors describe their experiences and difficulties in treating turkish and kurdish psychiatric patients. The language barrier, a divergent cultural background and the tendency of patients and somatic physicians to ascribe psychic problems to somatic causes or symptoms impede, according to the authors, a timely and adequate psychiatric treatment. A dialogue-oriented introspective therapeutic approach is often met by unsurmountable difficulties. Therapeutic success is, however, not excluded as the following examples demonstrate.


Safety is one of the major concerns in the aviation community for both manned aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The safety issue of manned aircraft, such as commercial aircraft, has drawn great attentions especially after a series of disasters in recent decades. Safety and reliability issues of UAVs have also attracted significant attention due to their highly autonomous feature towards their future civilian applications. Focusing on the improvement of safety and reliability of aircraft, a fault-tolerant control (FTC) system is demanded to utilize the configured redundancy in an effective and efficient manner to increase the survivability of aircraft in the presence of faults/failures.

This thesis aims to develop an effective FTC system to improve the security, reliability, and survivability of the faulty aircraft: manned aircraft and UAVs. In particular, the emphases are focused on improving the on-line fault-tolerant capability and the transient performance between faults occurrence and control re-configuration.

In the existing fault-tolerant literature, several control approaches are developed to possess fault-tolerant capability in recent decades, such as sliding mode control (SMC), model reference adaptive control (MRAC), and model predictive control (MPC), just as examples. Different strategies have their specific benefits and drawbacks in addressing different aspects of fault-tolerant problems. However, there are still open problems in the fault-tolerant performance improvement, the transient behavior management, consideration of the interaction between FTC and fault detection and diagnosis (FDD), etc. For instance, MPC is recognized as a suitable inherent structure in synthesizing a FTC system due to its capability of addressing faults via solving constraints, reforming cost function, and updating model on-line. However, this on-line FTC capability introduces further challenges in terms of fault problem formulation, on-line computation, transient behavior before reconfiguration is triggered, etc. Designing an efficient FDD is also a challenge topic with respect to time response speed, accuracy, and reliability due to its interaction with a fault-tolerant controller.
In the control design framework based on linear quadratic (LQ) cost function formulation, faults can be accommodated in both passive and active way. A passive FTC system is synthesized with a prescribed degree of stability LQ design technique. The state of the post-fault system is obtained through state-augmented extended Kalman filter (SAEKF), which is a combined technique with state and parameter estimation. In terms of reconfiguration capability, MPC is considered as a favorable active FTC strategy. In addition to MPC framework, the improvement of on-line computational efficiency motivates MPC to be used to perform fault-tolerant flight control. Furthermore, a Laguerre-function based MPC (LF-MPC) is presented to enhance the on-line fault-tolerant capability. The modification is based on a series of Laguerre functions to model the control trajectory with fewer parameters. In consequence, the computation load is reduced, which improves the real-time fault-tolerant capability in the framework of MPC. The FTC capability is further improved for accommodating the performance degradation during the transient period before the control reconfiguration. This approach is inspired by exponentially increasing weighting matrix used in linear quadratic regulator (LQR).

Two platforms are used to perform the evaluation of the designed FTC system. A quadrotor UAV, named the Qball-X4, is utilized to test FTC designed with exponentially increasing weighing matrix LQ technique and FDD designed with SAEKF. The evaluation is conducted under the task of trajectory tracking in the presence of loss of control effectiveness (LOE) faults of actuators. The modified MPC is utilized to synthesize an active FTC system to accommodate the elevator stuck fault of a Boeing 747-100/200 benchmark model. The exponentially increasing weighing matrix LQ technique is further implemented in LF-MPC framework to improve the fault-tolerant capability before the control reconfiguration. A time delayed FDD is integrated into the evaluation process to present the effectiveness of the proposed FTC strategies. The designed FTC system is evaluated under the emergency landing task in the event of failure of elevators.


Clinical results in 76 cases of sialolithiasis of the submandibular gland and a case report of multiple parotid sialoliths are presented. Sialolithiasis of the submandibular gland occurred most frequently in the fourth decade of life. There was no sex prevalence. The submandibular duct was the most common site of involvement (67.2%) and sialoliths were found in two or more of the duct, gland and transitional portion in 9. 2% of the cases. As compared to 24. 9 months in patients with sialoliths in the duct, the period from the onset of symptoms to the initial visit in patients with intraglandular sialoliths was longer (96.7 months). The most common chief complaint was a swelling and/or pain of the submandibular region. In patients with intraductal sialoliths, the main symptoms included swelling and/or pain of the submandibular region or of the mouth floor and they often manifested themselves on eating, whereas sialoliths in the gland and transitional portion were associated less frequently with symptoms of the mouth floor and eating episodes. Sialoliths could not be demonstrated in 9 patients with plain radiographs. Sialoliths were removed by intraoral sialolithotomy in 43 of 51 patients with intraductal sialoliths and 7 of 9 patients with sialoliths in the transitional portion, whereas sialoliths were removed by sialoadenectomy of the submandibulr gland in 8 of 9 patients with intraglandular sialoliths and in 2 patients with sialoliths in the transitional portion. A combination of the two procedures was employed in 5 of 7 patients with sialoliths at more than 2 different sites. Six sialoliths evacuated spontaneously and sialolithotomy was not done in 5 patients because of poor systemic condition, or reluctance to receive a treatment probably due to the absence or disappearance of acute symptoms. Two sialoliths were found in the duct and the gland of parotid with CT.


Primary immunodeficiency disorders (PIDs) are caused by 1 or more defects of the immune system. Patients are more likely to experience recurrent and/or severe infections and tend to develop a wide range of complications. Respiratory diseases are the main and initial manifestation in most cases and the most common complication. Pulmonary complications cause significant morbidity and mortality in patients with PIDs. Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment can prevent or at least slow the development of respiratory complications. Since the spectrum of pulmonary complications in PIDs is broad, we divided pulmonary complications into upper respiratory complications (eg, sinusitis, otitis media, and laryngeal angioedema) and lower respiratory complications (eg, pneumonia, bronchitis, bronchiectasis, interstitial lung diseases, organizing pneumonia, pulmonary adenopathies and malignancies, hyperreactive airway diseases, pulmonary dysgenesis, and adverse reactions to treatment). This review covers the main respiratory manifestations in patients with PIDs.


A novel photodetector integrated microfluidic system for chemiluminescence (CL) detection is reported. The system incorporates a polycarbazole/fullerene photodiode whose optical characteristics (i.e. dark current, external quantum efficiency and photosensitivity) are described here. Using a CL immunoassay for detecting the stress hormone cortisol, the integrated photodetector achieved a detection sensitivity of 1.775 pA × nM-1 and a detection limit of less than 0.28 nM. The device would be a powerful low-cost alternative to silicon photodiode and photomultiplier tube for bioanalytical assays, with potentially wide-ranging applications within point-of-care diagnostics.


Background Inflammation and leukocyte infiltration are hallmarks of atherosclerosis. Clinically routine hematology analyzers mostly perform an entire differential blood count by default, irrespective of the requested parameter. We hypothesize that these normally unreported leukocyte characteristics associate with coronary artery disease (CAD) severity and can improve prediction of mortality in coronary angiography patients. Methods We studied coronary angiography patients suspected of CAD (n = 1015) from the Utrecht Coronary Biobank cohort. Leukocyte characteristics were routinely assessed in blood drawn directly prior to angiography using an automated hematology analyzer and extracted from the Utrecht patient oriented database (UPOD) database. Patients were followed up for a median duration of 805 days, during which 65 patients died. We evaluated the association of leukocyte characteristics with synergy between PCI with taxus and cardiac surgery (SYNTAX) score as a measure of CAD severity, all-cause and cardiovascular mortality and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs). In order to determine the improvement of risk prediction, we calculated continuous net reclassification improvement (cNRI) and integrated discrimination improvement (IDI). Results Monocyte percentage showed strong independent predictive value for all-cause mortality (hazard ratio (HR) 1.44 (1.19–1.74), p < 0.001), and the monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio performed best for cardiovascular mortality (HR 1.42 (1.11–1.81), p = 0.005). The cNRIs and IDIs of leukocyte characteristics for all-cause mortality confirmed the improvement in mortality risk prediction. No significantly predictive leukocyte characteristics were found for MACEs. Conclusion Readily available yet unreported leukocyte characteristics from routine hematology analyzers significantly improved prediction of mortality in coronary angiography patients on top of clinical characteristics.


This paper reproduces in detail the debate 'pro-and-con' regarding the use of 100% oxygen or room air in the resuscitation of the asphyxiated newly born infants, celebrated in Oslo at the 2002 European Association of Perinatal Medicine (EAPM) meeting, in which both co-authors participated as featured speakers. The authors describe their arguments which are based on medical tradition, clinical experience, basic science, and prospective randomized and pseudo-randomized clinical studies that have been reported in the past years. Both authors stress the importance of the long-term consequences of the use of high oxygen concentrations in the perinatal period and conclude that there is a need for further research in the way of ample prospective randomized clinical trials.


This paper studies the long-run macroeconomic, distributional and welfare effects of tuition policy and student loans. We therefore form a rich model of risky human capital investment based on the seminal work of Heckman, Lochner and Taber (1998). We extend their original model by variable labor supply, borrowing constraints, idiosyncratic wage risk, uncertain life-span, and multiple schooling decisions. This allows us to build a direct link between students and their parents and make the initial distribution of people over different socio-economic backgrounds endogenous. Our simulation indicate that privatization of tertiary education comes with a vast reduction in the number of students, an increase in the college wage premium and longrun welfare losses of around 5 percent. Surprisingly, we find that from privatization of tertiary education, students are better off compared to workers from other educational classes, since the college wage premium nearly doubles. In addition, our model predicts that income contingent loans on which students don't have to pay interest, improve the college enrolment situation for agents from all kinds of backgrounds.


Objective The present study aimed to explore the effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on the prognosis and neurological function of patients with severe traumatic brain injury. Methods A prospective study was carried out in 88 patients diagnosed with severe brain injury at our hospital and they were enrolled as research participants and randomly assigned to control and experimental groups (n = 44 per group) using a random number table method. Both groups underwent routine treatment. Patients in the experimental group were administered hyperbaric oxygen therapy approximately 1 week after admission when their vital signs had stabilized. Results No significant intergroup differences were observed in the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and U.S. National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores before treatment. However, after oxygen treatment, compared with the control group, the experimental group showed higher GCS and lower NIHSS scores. The GCS score at admission, tracheotomy status, and first hyperbaric oxygen therapy duration were independent prognostic factors in patients with severe traumatic brain injury. Conclusion Hyperbaric oxygen therapy may promote recovery of neurological function and improve the cognitive function and prognosis of patients with severe traumatic brain injury.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the prognostic factors and healing ranges of patients treated for sudden hearing loss (SHL).

PATIENTS AND METHODS
In our study, 33 patients treated for SHL were evaluated between March 1995 and October 2001 retrospectively. After the routine examinations, first audiograms were done. The audiograms were classified as hearing loss in low frequencies, high frequencies, and flat using the Shey and Rubin classification systems. All patients were treated with the same standard regimen. The benefits of treatment were evaluated with the Siegel classification.

RESULTS
Various amounts of hearing gains were obtained in 17 of 21 patients treated in the first 5 days. No gain was obtained in 5 of 12 patients, who re-presented after the first 5 days of SHL. There was a statistically significant difference between the two groups (p =.005). There was hearing gain in all nine patients who had upward-sloping type of audiograms. Hearing gain was obtained in 8 of 12 downward-sloping type and 7 of 12 flat-type audiograms. There was a significant difference between the raising type group and the other groups (p =.04 and p =.014). Also, in 6 of 14 patients with vertigo and in 4 of 12 with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL), there was no gain.

CONCLUSION
The prognosis of SHL is found to be better in patients who present early and mild SNHL and unilateral cases and worse in vertigo, bilaterally severe SNHL, and childhood.


Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can be attributed to genetic conditions and predispositions, among other factors. Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) is a significant risk factor for COPD development and progression, and aggressive screening for all patients with COPD or adult-onset asthma is encouraged.


Ethanol consumption and mental stress activate the sympathetic nervous system, which can adversely affect bone. We compared six groups of 10 young adult rats, three with and three without 2 h daily restraint stress. Two groups consumed food and water ad libitum, two received food and 6% (w/v) ethanol as drinking water, and two received the amount of food consumed by ethanol rats the previous day plus water ad libitum (pairfed). After 6 weeks, rats were killed. Plasma, femurs, lumbar vertebrae, and adrenals were harvested. Femoral dimensions were measured and biomechanical properties were tested by three‐point bending. Plasma osteocalcin, vertebral osteocalcin mRNA levels, and adrenomedullary tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), dopamine beta‐hydroxylase (DBH), and phenylethanolamine N‐methyl transferase (PNMT) mRNA levels were quantified. Daily restraint decreased weight gain and femoral length compared to dietary controls, and appeared to partially preserve bone strength, especially in calorie‐restricted pairfed rats. Femoral strength was significantly affected by treatment in that bones of pairfed controls were weakest, ethanol drinkers were intermediate, and ad libitum restrained were strongest. Femoral yield load, displacement, and work at yield load were negatively correlated with TH and DBH mRNA levels, but not PNMT, suggesting a negative influence of norepinephrine. Plasma osteocalcin and dry weight of lumbar 3–5 vertebrae were unaffected; however, osteocalcin mRNA in second lumbar vertebrae was positively correlated with TH, DBH, and PNMT levels. Ethanol consumption at this level had little effect on femur morphology or strength. In contrast, the data suggested possible stimulation rather than inhibition of vertebral bone formation.


Viral meningitis are the most frequent cause of clear cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) meningitis and are usually benign. The viral nature is suggested by clinical arguments (context, associated manifestations) and particularly the analysis of CSF, typically lymphocytic. However, problems of CSF interpretation may occur during the polymorphonuclear reaction at the beginning of such meningitis and after elevated protein or low glucose concentration. The main differential diagnosis are: partially treated bacterial meningitis, the beginning of meningococcal meningitis, listeriosis or tuberculous meningitis which need and urgent and specific treatment. The most common agents are the enteroviruses. The etiology can only be detected through careful virological investigations. These studies may be useful in outbreaks or in epidemiological studies.


The aim of this study was to functionalize the surface of Ce-TZP/Al2O3 dental ceramic with a nano-structured alumina coating to improve resin bonding. A total of 40 densely sintered disc-shaped specimens (15.5 + 0.03 mm in diameter and 2.6 + 0.03 mm thick) were produced from commercially available NANOZIR blocks and randomly divided into 2 groups of 20. Half of the discs in each group received an alumina coating that was fabricated by exploiting the hydrolysis of aluminum nitride (AlN) powder. The coating was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The shear bond strength of the self-adhesive luting cement G-cem was then studied for the coated and uncoated surfaces before and after thermocycling (TC). The SEM analysis revealed that the application of an alumina coating to Ce-TZP/Al2O3 ceramics created a highly retentive surface for resin penetration. The resin bond strength to the coated groups was significantly higher than to the uncoated groups, both before and after TC (p ≤ 0,05).


This book is based on the presentations and discussions at a conference jointly sponsored by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). The conference topic was Towards the Institutionalization of Monitoring and Evaluation (ME impact evaluation; the Chilean Experience; the Plano Plurianual and ME Colombia's national system for evaluation of management and results; ME key issues from first day of conference; ME institutionalizing Monitoring and Evaluation - issues and experience in OECD countries and in Latin America; country reactions - reflections of the five country presenters, and views of other participants; and closing remarks.


Redox flow batteries (RFBs) have been recognized as a promising option for scalable and dispatchable renewable energy storage (e.g., solar and wind energy). Zinc metal represents a low cost, high capacity anode material to develop high energy density aqueous redox flow batteries. However, the energy storage applications of traditional inorganic Zn halide flow batteries are primarily plagued by the material challenges of traditional halide cathode electrolytes (e.g., bromine), including corrosion, toxicity, and severe crossover. As reported here, we have developed a bipolar Zinc-ferrocene salt compound, Zinc 1,1'-bis(3-sulfonatopropyl)ferrocene, Zn[Fc(SPr)2] (1.80 M solubility or 48.2 Ah/L charge storage capacity) - a robust, energy-dense, bipolar redox-active electrolyte material for high performance Zn organic RFBs. Using a low-cost porous Daramic membrane, the Zn[Fc(SPr)2] aqueous organic redox flow battery (AORFB) has worked in dual-flow and single-flow modes. It has manifested outstanding current, energy, and power performance, specifically operating at high current densities of up to 200 mA/cm2 and delivering an energy efficiency of up to 81.5% and a power density of up to 270.5 mW/cm2. A Zn[Fc(SPr)2] AORFB demonstrated an energy density of 20.2 Wh/L and displayed 100% capacity retention for 2000 cycles (1284 hr or 53.5 days). The Zn[Fc(SPr)2] ionic bipolar electrolyte not only offers record-setting, highly-stable, energy-dense, and the most powerful Zn-organic AORFBs to date, but it also provides a new paradigm to develop even more advanced redox materials for scalable energy storage.


The unexpected diversity of exoplanets includes a growing number of super-Earth planets, i.e., exoplanets with masses of up to several Earth masses and a similar chemical and mineralogical composition as Earth. We present a thermal evolution model for a 10 Earth-mass planet orbiting a star like the Sun. Our model is based on the integrated system approach, which describes the photosynthetic biomass production and takes into account a variety of climatological, biogeochemical, and geodynamical processes. This allows us to identify a so-called photosynthesis-sustaining habitable zone (pHZ), as determined by the limits of biological productivity on the planetary surface. Our model considers solar evolution during the main-sequence stage and along the Red Giant Branch as described by the most recent solar model. We obtain a large set of solutions consistent with the principal possibility of life. The highest likelihood of habitability is found for "water worlds." Only mass-rich water worlds are able to realize pHZ-type habitability beyond the stellar main sequence on the Red Giant Branch.


SUMMARY The interaction of water stress and time from sowing to floral initiation was investigated in the field with pearl millet hybrid BJ 104. Extended daylength was used to delay panicle initiation (PI) and flowering (FL) of crops exposed to single periods of mid-season drought. Growth, yield and yield components were related to the number of days for PI and FL in both irrigated and water-stressed treatments. Delay in PI resulted in more leaves and tillers per plant, and greater leaf area, height and total dry matter. Grain yield, however, was not affected resulting in lower 'harvest index'. There was, however, an increase in the grain yield of main shoots which was offset by a proportional decrease in the grain yield of tillers. Water stress effects were dependent on the physiological stage of the crop at which stress occurred, as a result of the photoperiod treatments. Water stress prior to panicle initiation did not affect the grain yield of the main shoot but increased tiller grain yield, resulting in a higher total (crop) grain yield. Water stress during panicle development reduced the grain yield on the main shoot but this loss was compensated by the grain from the increased number of tiller panicles which reached flowering. Water stress during flowering and grain filling reduced grain yields of both main shoot and tillers, making this the most sensitive stage. Photoperiodic control of floral initiation can provide an escape mechanism to avoid the coincidence of mid-season water stress with sensitive periods of growth.


This paper aims to explore the importance of human resources for the development of enterprises in Indonesia. Analysis in this paper is based on secondary data and desk reviews. Data showed that number of public enterprises in Indonesia has been developed rapidly since the early of pelita I, but it was not followed by improved performance of public enterprises. The empiric facts showed that most public enterprises lose money so they burden on the regional development budget. Many factors were associated with low performance of public enterprises such as human resources as the main factors for the performance of the company. Improving human resources can be made through the procurement function, development, compensation, integration and maintenance. Procurement workforce in the public enterprises should be avoided from corruption, manipulation and nepotism, so public enterprises could recruit competent employees. If these functions run properly, public enterprises would be able to obtain the human resources who are competent to improve the performance of public enterprises. Good performance of public enterprises, such as PDAM in Bogar can be a model of corporate development of other enterprises region in Indonesia. Keywords: human resources, public enterprises, company performance


BACKGROUND
An association between maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and childhood intelligence quotient (IQ) has repeatedly been found but it is unknown if this association is causal or due to confounding caused by genetic or social factors.

METHODS
We used a cohort of 1,783 mothers and their 5-year-old children sampled from the Danish National Birth Cohort. The children participated between 2003 and 2008 in a neuropsychological assessment of cognitive ability including IQ tests taken by both the mother and the child. Linear regression analyses were used to estimate the associations between parental BMI and child IQ adjusted for a comprehensive set of potential confounders. Child IQ was assessed with the Wechsler Primary and Preschool Scales of Intelligence--Revised (WPPSI-R).

RESULTS
The crude association between maternal BMI and child IQ showed that BMI was adversely associated with child IQ with a reduction in IQ of -0.40 point for each one unit increase in BMI. This association was attenuated after adjustment for social factors and maternal IQ to a value of -0.27 (-0.50 to -0.03). After mutual adjustment for the father's BMI and all other factors except maternal IQ, the association between paternal BMI and child IQ yielded a regression coefficient of -0.26 (-0.59 to 0.07), which was comparable to that seen for maternal BMI (-0.20 (-0.44 to 0.04)).

CONCLUSION
Although maternal pre-pregnancy BMI was inversely associated with the IQ of her child, the similar association with paternal BMI suggests that it is not a specific pregnancy related adiposity effect.


The histamine content of tears of healthy sex- and age-matched subjects and patients affected by allergic or nonallergic inflammatory ocular diseases was determined through a new competitive reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. Tear samples from 50 healthy subjects, 30 patients affected by seasonal allergic conjunctivitis, 12 patients with bacterial conjunctivitis associated with Haemophilus influenzae and 8 patients with bacterial conjunctivitis associated with Streptococcus pneumoniae were analyzed for histamine concentration by o-phthaldialdehyde precolumn derivatization-based HPLC. In physiological conditions, the tear histamine content was low (2.26 ng/ml) and did not vary in relation to age and sex. Histamine levels were significantly higher in all the patients studied, to a greater extent in those affected by allergic (23.61 ng/ml) or Haemophilus influenzae-associated (21.53 ng/ml) conjunctivitis.


ABSTRACT Background: Dementia with Lewy body (DLB) is considered to be the second most common form of neurodegenerative disorders after Alzheimer's disease (AD), affecting as many as 100,000 people in the UK and up to 1.3 million in the USA. However, nearly half of patients with DLB remain undiagnosed thus depriving many of them from an early and adequate treatment of their distressing symptoms. Accurate and early diagnosis of DLB is important for both patients and their caregivers, since the neuropsychiatric symptoms require specific management. Methods: In the current study, we review the most recent developments in the field of molecular nuclear imaging to diagnose DLB. Results: The review addresses, the neurotransmitter based (dopaminergic, cholinergic, and glutamatergic) nuclear imaging techniques, role of the autonomic dysfunction and its visualization in DLB with myocardial sympathetic imaging and vesicular catecholamine uptake, as well as the use of amyloid polypeptides and glial markers as molecular imaging probes in the clinical diagnosis of DLB. Conclusions: Most of the above nuclear imaging methods are restricted to highly specialized clinical centers, and thus not applicable to a large number of patients requiring dementia (e.g. DLB) diagnosis in routine clinical setting. Validating them against more readily accessible peripheral biomarkers, e.g. CSF and blood biomarkers linked to the DLB process, may facilitate their use in wider clinical settings.


Influence of Inundation Level Toward The Growth of Pedada Seedling (Sonneratia caseolaris (L.) Engler) in Mangrove Area Tol Sedyatmo Angke Kapuk, North Jakarta. Global warming that causing the melting of iceberg in the pole have an impact on rising of level sea which impact on mangrove forest ecosystems. So that, we need to know the information about species of mangroves that can be adapted to increasing sea level and also species that can support for mangrove rehabilitation. Purpose of this research is to elaborate the effect of inundation on seedling growth and determine the level of inundation that support the good seedling growth. This research used randomized block design with inundation level as a treatment. There were three treatments consisting of inundation until the limit of the root neck, inundation between ¼ stem height and ½ stem height, and inundation between ½ stem height and ¾ stem height. Mangrove species that is used in this research is 2 and 4 months years old seedling of S. caseolaris. The research results showed that the level of inundation of the root neck gives the best effect to seedling growth. However, S. caseolaris can adapt and having good growth at inundation up to ½ stem height. In general, the influence of inundation level give effect to the growth variable responses, except in height, length of internode, and height increment of seedling.


Innovation is a key component in trying new solutions for the students to learn efficiently and in ways that correspond to their own experience, where chatbots are one of these new solutions. One of the main problem that chatbots face today is to mimic human language, where they try to find the best answer to an input, which is not how a human conversation usually works, rather taking into account the previous messages and building onto them. Extreme programming methodology was chosen to use integrate ChatterBot, Pyside2, web scraping and Tampermonkey into Blackboard as a test case. Problems occurred with the bot and more training was needed for the bot to work perfectly, but the integration and web scraping worked, giving us a chatbot that was able to talk with. We showed the plausibility of integrating an AI bot in an educational setting.


This thesis examines the use of kernel methods for non-linear data analysis. In
 particular kernel principal component analysis (kPCA) is used for de-noising. In
 this context, solution of the pre-image problem is a key element to efficient denoising.
 Pre-image estimation is inherently ill-posed for many common choices
 of kernel function. In this thesis it is shown, how many of the often used estimation
 schemes lack stability. A new pre-image estimation method for de-noising
 is proposed, by including input space distance regularization. By extensive experiments
 on handwritten digits from the USPS data set, the new method is
 compared to three of the widely used schemes. Thereby it is shown how the previous
 methods deteriorate when the feature space mapping is very non-linear.
 However, by the new input space distance regularization approach the variability
 is reduced with very limited sacrifice in terms of de-noising efficiency.
 The pre-image methodology has furthermore been successfully applied to real
 world biomedical data analysis. Using data from the Center for Integrated
 Molecular Brain Imaging (Cimbi), it is investigated how kernel PCA de-noising
 enhances personality trait and brain function correlations. The data set include
 regional binding potentials (BPs) of the serotonin receptor subtype 5-HT2A and
 the scores from a NEO-PI-R personality assessment. Finally, it is demonstrated
 how a notable improvement of the correlations between frontolimbic 5-HT2A receptor
 BP and the traits neuroticism, anxiety, and vulnerability can be achieved
 by kernel PCA de-noising.


In the publication, based on the book «The history of forensic medicine» under the editorship of doctor of medical sciences, professor Burkhard Madea, provides detailed information on forensic science in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, shows the story of its origin, highlights the contemporary organizational structure of forensic medicine, the way and the complexity of its development. The organizational problems of the service, both in the past and in the present, are noted. The basic information about obtaining the specialty of forensic medical examination in the UK is given.


In the post-COVID-19 period, social entrepreneurship is becoming extremely important, as it generates employment, and improves economic prosperity and solves various issues for society. Not many studies have attempted to understand the social entrepreneurship phenomena in post-COVID-19 period and its impact on society. Thus, there is a research gap, which this study aims to fill. This paper aims to analyse the impacts of intellectual capital and entrepreneurial ability on social entrepreneurship, and its impact on society in the post-COVID-19 period, moderated by technology capability. By the inputs of literature and lending knowledge from theories, a research model is prepared. It was verified using structural equation modelling with data collected through a survey. The study finds that intellectual capital and entrepreneur ability both significantly and positively impact social entrepreneurship. This study implies that intellectual capital and entrepreneurial ability could impact social entrepreneurship when moderated by technology capability, which in turn has social impact in the post-COVID-19 period. Also, the study highlights the moderating role of technology capability on social entrepreneurship.


The voltage-gated potassium channel Kv3.3 is the causative gene of SCA13 (spinocerebellar ataxia type 13), an autosomal dominant neurological disorder. The four dominant mutations identified to date cause Kv3.3 channels to be non-functional or have altered gating properties in Xenopus oocytes. In the present paper, we report that SCA13 mutations affect functional as well as protein expression of Kv3.3 channels in a mammalian cell line. The reduced protein level of SCA13 mutants is caused by a shorter protein half-life, and blocking the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway increases the total protein of SCA13 mutants more than wild-type. SCA13 mutated amino acids are highly conserved, and the side chains of these residues play a critical role in the stable expression of Kv3.3 proteins. In addition, we show that mutant Kv3.3 protein levels could be partially rescued by treatment with the chemical chaperone TMAO (trimethylamine N-oxide) and to a lesser extent with co-expression of Kv3.1b. Thus our results suggest that amino acid side chains of SCA13 positions affect the protein half-life and/or function of Kv3.3, and the adverse effect on protein expression cannot be fully rescued.


Severe caffeine poisoning is rare but associated with a high mortality. The symptoms are mainly attributable to hyperadrenergic stimulation, are relatively well known and described in the literature. Transient rises in plasma lactate levels may occur but are, however, less well described. We present a case of serious caffeine poisoning with a concomitant rise in lactate treated with a non‐selective β‐blocker and discuss briefly the symptomatology, the management of caffeine poisoning and the association between lactate and metabolic acidosis.


Conventional wisdom is that hand-crafted features are redundant for deep learning models, as they already learn adequate representations of text automatically from corpora. In this work, we test this claim by proposing a new method for exploiting handcrafted features as part of a novel hybrid learning approach, incorporating a feature auto-encoder loss component. We evaluate on the task of named entity recognition (NER), where we show that including manual features for part-of-speech, word shapes and gazetteers can improve the performance of a neural CRF model. We obtain a F 1 of 91.89 for the CoNLL-2003 English shared task, which significantly outperforms a collection of highly competitive baseline models. We also present an ablation study showing the importance of auto-encoding, over using features as either inputs or outputs alone, and moreover, show including the autoencoder components reduces training requirements to 60%, while retaining the same predictive accuracy.


A binuclear Zn(II) complex of formula {[Zn(BCPPO)H2O]·3C2H5OH}n (1) [H2BCPPO = Bis 4-carboxyphenyl phenyl phosphine oxide] has been synthesized and structurally characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Thermogravimetric analysis (TG), Elemental analysis (EA) and Infrared spectroscopy (IR). As revealed by the single crystal X-ray diffraction, in the binuclear Zn(II) complex, two paddle-wheel-type Zn2 units were connected by four BCPPO ligands to form one-dimensional chains. Their antibacterial activity was evaluated by using a minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) benchmark. The binuclear Zn(II) complex shows excellent and long-term antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. In addition, the Photoluminescence properties of the binuclear Zn(II) complex was also investigated.


Purpose: Elevated HER-2 /neu expression in primary breast tumors is associated with frequent relapse and poor prognosis. For this reason, HER-2 /neu has been actively pursued as a target for novel therapeutic agents. Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors, a new class of antitumor drugs, have exhibited the ability to downregulate HER2 through hyperacetylation of heat shock protein 90 (hsp90), an important ATP-dependent chaperone that mediates the stability and maturation of a variety of important oncogenic proteins, including HER2, Akt and ER\#945;. In the present study, we assessed the efficacy of OSU-HDAC42, a novel phenylbutyrate-based HDAC inhibitor, in inducing anti-proliferation and hsp90 down-regulation in both in vitro and in vivo HER2+ breast cancer models. Methods: HDAC42 was tested for effects on the human breast cancer cell lines BT474, SKBR3, MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7. Cell viability (MTT) and cell cycle (flow cytometry) changes were determined. Cellular protein levels of HER2, phospho-HER2, PARP cleavage, Akt1/2, ER\#945;, hsp90, hsp70 and \#946;-actin were detected by immunoblotting. Acetylation of hsp90 was assessed via hsp90 immunoprecipitation and acetyl-lysine immunoblotting. The ATP-agarose pull-down assay tested for cellular hsp90 activity. The in vivo efficacy of OSU-HDAC42 was evaluated in a syngeneic orthotopic HER2+ mammary tumor model, using AIN-76A diets ± OSU-HDAC42 at 208 mg/kg of diet. Tumor volume, mass and gene expression changes served as in vivo endpoints. Results: SKBR3 (HER2+, ER\#945;-) was the most susceptible to the antiproliferative effects of OSU-HDAC42 after 72 hours of treatment (IC 50 = 0.034 \#956;mol/L), followed by BT474 (HER2+, ER\#945;+), MCF-7 (HER2-, ER\#945;+) and MDA-MB-231 (HER2-, ER\#945;-) cells with IC 50 values calculated at 0.16, 0.2 and 0.79 \#956;mol/L, respectively, which correlated with the level of inhibition of Hsp90 client protein expression (HER2, Akt). OSU-HDAC42 not only yields 43- or 65- fold more potent cell killing than suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA; vorinostat) or MS-275, but exerts a more potent suppressive effect on the expression levels of Hsp90 client proteins (HER2, ER\#945; and Akt) and apoptosis induction in HER2+ breast cancer cells. In vivo administration of OSU-HDAC42 resulted in significant reductions of 76% and 82% in NT5 (HER2+,ER-) tumor mass and volume, respectively, which correlated with tubulin hyperacetylation, increased PARP cleavage, decreased pHER2 and pAkt levels in OSU-HDAC42 treated mouse tumors. Conclusions: OSU-HDAC42 is a potent inhibitor of HER-2+ breast cancer, mediated in part through hsp90 downregulation. As an orally bioavailable HDAC inhibitor with greater potency than other clinically available HDACi agents, OSU-HDAC42 warrants evaluation in clinical trials as a novel therapy for HER2+ breast cancer. Citation Information: In: Proc Am Assoc Cancer Res; 2009 Apr 18-22; Denver, CO. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; 2009. Abstract nr LB-207.


ABSTRACT Neonatal Streptococcus agalactiae infections cause significant morbidity and mortality, and antenatal screening is recommended. We compared three U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-cleared nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) to culture using 314 vaginal/rectal swabs after 18 to 24 h (recommended period) and 4 to 8 h (shortened period) of broth enrichment. Agreement of the NAATs with each other was high (97.1% to 98.4%), but culture was less sensitive than all NAATs (67% to 73%). A shortened period of broth culture enrichment resulted in 1 false-negative result in 68 (1.5%). The NAATs performed comparably and were more sensitive than culture.


To understand consciousness we must first describe what we experience accurately. But oddly, current dualist vs reductionist debates characterise experience in ways which do not correspond to ordinary experience. Indeed, there is no other area of enquiry where the phenomenon to be studied has been so systematically misdescribed. Given this, it is hardly surprising that progress towards understanding the nature of consciousness has been limited.


River Variability and Complexity is an attempt by Stanley "Stan" Schumm to capitalize on his broad experience with alluvial rivers to sternly warn against overlooking the inherent heterogeneity of these rivers. No pretense is made concerning novelty; Schumm openly declares that the book draws on existing literature to illustrate "downstream variability in rivers". Theory is avoided in favor of case studies concerning the effect of river change and diversity. Alluvial rivers from throughout the world are discussed but not compared. Instead, discussions focus on river anomalies arising with individual systems. This review addresses primarily the potential applications, depth, and troublesome shortcomings of the new book.

A comprehensive, scholarly summary of natural phenomena contributing to anomalous river behavior is timely. Natural rivers are rapidly becoming scarce, and the discipline of river restoration is growing by leaps and bounds. River managers are in constant need of explanatory or cautionary information related to the ever-changing character of rivers. Simultaneously, design failures plague first-generation, river restoration projects, which is understandable given the intricacies of natural systems. Training river restorers in complexity will, presumably, minimize avoidable design failures.

Schumm approaches his objective of illustrating and cautioning about river variability by breaking the subject into five parts. The core material is separated into four parts, each of which examines a particular type of river control: upstream, fixed local, variable local, and downstream. This material is preceded by a brief review of river classifications and other pertinent facts. Schumm ends the book with a general discussion of our relationship with rivers and a final chapter dedicated to a hypothesis …


Consensus is a server developed to produce high-quality alignments for comparative modeling, and to identify the alignment regions reliable for copying from a given template. This is accomplished even when target-template sequence identity is as low as 5%. Combining the output from five different alignment methods, the server produces a consensus alignment, with a reliability measure indicated for each position and a prediction of the regions suitable for modeling. Models built using the server predictions are typically within 3 A rms deviations from the crystal structure. Users can upload a target protein sequence and specify a template (PDB code); if no template is given, the server will search for one. The method has been validated on a large set of homologous protein structure pairs. The Consensus server should prove useful for modelers for whom the structural reliability of the model is critical in their applications. It is currently available at http://structure.bu.edu/cgi-bin/consensus/consensus.cgi.


We present here a brief description of our efforts to develop optical spectroscopic characterization and classification methods for air-borne biological particles. While the bulk of our experimental investigation has used laser-induced fluorescence in conjunction with incident laser elastic scattering, we have also developed novel methods for generating, handling, interrogating and collecting aerosol particles. A method known as a Structured Trigger Beam (STB) for obtaining optical measurements from individual aerosol particles that are normalized with respect to the instrument response function is described here. Our latest results will be included in our presentation.


Incoherent scattering is discussed in the context of the phenomenon of scattering of radio waves by spatial fluctuations in electron density. A review is given of both theoretical and experimental results. Emphasis is placed on the ideas involved in measuring properties of the upper ionosphere, such as the electron density, temperature, electron drifts, and the strength and direction of the magnetic field.


independence of greater powers, both in and outside of the region. Here the relative emphasis placed on political affairs slights the degree to which East Asia has really become a post-Cold War region, one in which economic security and continuity now play a greater role in shaping political affairs, rather than the other way around. Still, the authors are well qualified to pass judgment, as they are almost all senior established names in U.S. regional studies circles. Each chapter is well crafted; most include varying levels of historical depth, detailed coverage of central contemporary issues, and some form of near-term future speculation. Given the extensive publishing delays so frequently encountered, the volume is quite up to date, taking account of events into 1994 in many cases. It is quite admirably suited to use in courses and, I think, is a good representation of the present state of American thinking on the region. The contributions of this volume to the area of political and security relations are significant, the analysis of economic affairs less so. It is a good balance to the literature, which has focused mainly on the transforming growth and its attendant effects, sometimes forgetting that economic transactions take place only in politically bounded spaces. The texture of those political bonds and boundaries is well explored here.


The influence of thermally induced changes in the lipid core structure on the oxidative resistance of discrete, homogeneous low density lipoprotein (LDL) subspecies (d, 1.0297-1.0327 and 1.0327-1.0358 g/ml) has been evaluated. The thermotropic transition of the LDL lipid core at temperatures between 15 degrees C and 37 degrees C, determined by differential scanning calorimetry, exerted significant effects on the kinetics of copper-mediated LDL oxidation expressed in terms of intrinsic antioxidant efficiency (lag time) and diene production rate. Thus, the temperature coefficients of oxidative resistance and maximum oxidation rate showed break points at the core transition temperature. Temperature-induced changes in copper binding were excluded as the molecular basis of such effects, as the saturation of LDL with copper was identical below and above the core transition. At temperatures below the transition, the elevation in lag time indicated a greater resistance to oxidation, reflecting a higher degree of antioxidant protection. This effect can be explained by higher motional constraints and local antioxidant concentrations, the latter resulting from the freezing out of antioxidants from crystalline domains of cholesteryl esters and triglycerides. Below the transition temperature, the conjugated diene production rate was decreased, a finding that correlated positively with the average size of the cooperative units of neutral lipids estimated from the calorimetric transition width. The reduced accessibility and structural hindrance in the cluster organization of the core lipids therefore inhibits peroxidation. Our findings provide evidence for a distinct effect of the dynamic state of the core lipids on the oxidative susceptibility of LDL and are therefore relevant to the atherogenicity of these cholesterol-rich particles.


The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of damage-control orthopedics (DCO) vs early total care (ETC) in the treatment of borderline high-energy pelvic fractures. Seventy-two patients with borderline high-energy pelvic fractures were retrospectively reviewed; 39 received DCO and 33 received ETC. Demographic data and initial injury severities were comparable between groups, except for Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) head scores and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores. Regarding postoperative complications, the incidence rates of acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome and the mean Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score were significantly lower in the DCO group compared with the ETC group. Similar results were also observed in subgroups stratified by age (younger than 40 years and 40 years and older). Regarding patients with Tile B fractures, there was no significant difference between groups in incidence rates of overall postoperative complications. However, in patients with Tile C fractures, especially in those 40 years and older, the DCO group had a lower incidence rate of ALI and had lower APACHE II scores than did the ETC group. This study's findings indicate that DCO is the most suitable therapeutic option for patients with Tile C fractures, especially for those 40 years and older, whereas ETC is preferred for patients with Tile B fractures, provided that it is possible to avoid a second operation as well as any delays in patient mobilization.


In this paper, we address the epidemiology and morphology questions of breast cancer with special focus on different cell features created by lesions. In addition, we provide an insight into feature extraction and classification schemes in the image analysis pipeline. Based on our conducted research work, a novel feature extraction approach, a modification of Distance Transform on Curved Space (DTOCS), is proposed for analysis and classification of breast cancer images. The first experimental results suggest that the Step-DTOCS-based MLP-network is capable of discriminating different cell structures in a respectable way. The obtained results are presented and analyzed, and further research ideas are discussed.


Proton NMR spectra (250 MHz) of the nitrogenase iron protein from Clostridium pasteurianum (Cp2) were found to display 9 or 10 paramagnetically shifted resonances in the 15-50 ppm range. The most shifted resonances belonged to two approximately equal subsets having temperature dependences of opposite sign. The latter occurrence is consistent with the interaction of the corresponding protons with an antiferromagnetically coupled metal center. The number of proton resonances of Cp2, their positions, and their temperature dependences were similar to those observed in spectra of (4Fe-4S)+ ferredoxins, particularly those of the latter that contain a single tetranuclear cluster, such as the ferredoxin from Bacillus stearothermophilus. The effects of several adenine nucleotides on the paramagnetically shifted proton resonances of Cp2 have been investigated. Whereas MgAMP had no effect at all, MgADP and MgATP were found to induce different modifications, which in both cases involved approximately half only of the shifted proton resonances. These data suggest that nucleotide binding affects mainly one part of the iron-sulfur cluster. A remarkable feature of the spectra of Cp2 in the presence of MgATP is the grouping of the shifted proton resonances in sets of two or four having identical chemical shifts and temperature dependences. A nearly perfect 2-fold symmetry is thus suggested for the arrangement of the cysteine protons around the active site. These observations lend support to the proposal that the (4Fe-4S) cluster is held symmetrically between the two identical subunits and are consistent with the existence of two MgATP binding sites on nitrogenase iron proteins.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Pancreatic malignancies continue to present a huge challenge not only to the surgeon, the gastroenterologist, and the oncologist, but to the radiologist as well. The poorly marginated, invasive nature of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA), the controversies regarding the clinical import of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMN), and the pitfalls introduced by tumor mimics are among the frustrating issues that make caring for affected patients so difficult. Dealing effectively with these tumors requires the highest possible level of imaging protocol optimization and radiologist expertise. Moreover, the patient with a pancreatic malignancy is best served when communication among imagers and clinicians flows freely, allowing for intelligent, effective patient care decisions.


Objective The aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness of disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients treated in MS centres in Poland. Methods Demographic and clinical data of all Polish RRMS patients receiving DMTs were prospectively collected from 2014 to 2018 in electronic files using the Therapeutic Program Monitoring System (SMPT). Results The study included 10,764 RRMS patients treated with DMTs in first-line and 1,042 in second-line programmes. IFNβ more effectively lengthened the times to the first relapse, disability progression, and brain MRI activity than GA. After 2 and 4 years of follow-up, more patients on IFNβ showed no evidence of disease activity (NEDA-3) in comparison to GA (66.3% and 44.3% vs 55.2% and 33.2%, respectively; p<0.001). NAT more effectively reduced brain MRI activity than FTY (p = 0.001). More patients under NAT had NEDA-3 after 2 and 4 years of follow-up compared to FTY (66.2% and 42.1% vs 52.1% and 29.5%, respectively; p = 0.03). In adjusted analysis, a higher baseline Expanded Disability Status Score (EDSS) was a predictor of relapse (p<0.001) and NEDA-3 failure (p = 0.003). Conclusion IFNβ compared to GA and NAT compared to FTY more effectively reduced disease activity in a Polish population of RRMS patients.


ISO/IEC 20000 is an important international standard for IT service providers. Implementation and certification will improve your business processes and practices and will reassure your customers that your company is efficient, reliable and trustworthy. Customers will return because they know from experience that your service is second to none. Potential customers will look for suppliers with ISO/IEC 20000 certification, seeking the reassurance it provides. This book will guide you through implementation and certification, enabling you to streamline your management processes and offer first-class customer service at competitive prices. This newly revised, up-to-date, step-by-step management guide will benefit all who have a role in the implementation and certification process. Written for companies of any size, anywhere, it gives a clear and detailed breakdown of the 2011 edition of the Standard and examines its relationship with other related standards, ITIL, COBIT, Six Sigma, CMMI and ISO/IEC 27000. It offers a considerable amount of practical advice and recommendations on how to prepare for audit and implementation, making your journey to certification as smooth as possible! Michael Kunas is an ISO/IEC 20000 Lead Auditor and ITSM Consultant with over 15 years' experience in all areas of computer science. He has many years' experience as a worldwide consultant, lecturer and conference speaker on the topic of ISO/IEC 20000 and its related frameworks and methods. He has also co-authored a book on Mathcad Software and articles about IT service management, ITIL and ISO/IEC 20000 in Spanish computer newspapers, such as Data TI and Computerworld. A practical guide that will give your company the 'leading edge' in service quality.


The general equations describing facilitated mass transport of metal ions through batch liquid membranes are non-linear and demand complex numerical solution procedures. The authors show that under certain conditions the problem can be cast in a moving boundary formalism and they present the associated transport equations. By exploiting the smallness of a parameter naturally appearing in these equations, they derive a perturbation solution to the problem. Their analytical solution, which contains no fitted parameters, correctly displays all the qualitative features of available experimental data. Furthermore, it provides an easy calculation of the asymptotic limit to the transport rate computed from the general equations. They conclude by showing that the perturbation technique is versatile enough to handle an arbitrary form of the rate expression for the metal-organic complexation reaction, which is the primary source of non-linearity in the general governing equations.


Upland cotton is sensitive to 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), and spray drift from adjacent crops can cause yield loss. The identification of potentially 2,4-D-tolerant cotton chromosome substitution (CS) lines with well-characterized tolerance mechanisms could provide a significant step into the development and genetic improvement of upland cotton. Experiments were conducted to understand the possible mechanism of herbicide tolerance in CS-T04-15, CS-T07, and CS-B15sh, 2,4-D herbicide-tolerant cotton CS lines compared with TM-1, the 2,4-D herbicide-susceptible recurrent parent of the CS line. Using [14C]2,4-D, the percent absorption rate and the translocation patterns of the 14C-labeled herbicide at 6 to 48 h after treatment (HAT) were determined. The tolerant cotton CS lines showed 15%–19% [14C]2,4-D uptake, while TM-1 exhibited a reduced uptake of only 1.4% [14C]2,4-D at 24 HAT. Distribution of the absorbed [14C]2,4-D showed that 2%–5% was translocated outside the treated leaf in the tolerant CS lines. In contrast, 77% of the herbicide was translocated above and below the treated leaf in line TM-1. Interestingly, CS-T04-15 showed a restricted movement of 14C below the treated leaf at 6 to 48 HAT, suggesting novel information on the mechanisms of herbicide tolerance to 2,4-D in cotton. This finding is the first report on upland cotton demonstrating a complex differential uptake and translocation associated with herbicide tolerance for [14C]2,4-D in cotton CS lines.


Type Ia Supernovae (SNe) are excellent distance indicators in the Universe. Observations of distant SNe Ia led to the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe. The most recent analysis of SNe Ia indicates that considering a flat ΛCDM cosmology, the contribution of dark energy in the total density of the Universe is∼70%. Cosmological parameters are estimated from the "luminosity distance-redshift" relation of SNe. Currently a lot of attention is paid to standardization of SNe, i.e. to increase of the accuracy of luminosity distance determination. The uncertainty on the redshift is quite often considered negligible. The redshift most often used corresponds to the one of SN host galaxy relative to CMB frame. In fact the redshift observed on the Earth also includes the contribution from the Doppler effect induced by peculiar velocities related to the Hubble flow. The existing methods to correct redshift for peculiar velocity contribution do not work in clusters of galaxies, the biggest virialized systems in the Universe where peculiar velocities can reach 1000 km s−1. To count for the effect of peculiar velocities in galaxy clusters we studied 145 SNe from the Nearby Supernova Factory and found 11 objects that belong to the clusters. We used the galaxy cluster redshift instead the host galaxy redshift to construct the Hubble diagram. The applied technique allowed to improve the redshift measurements and to decrease the spread on the Hubble diagram. The peculiar velocity correction of galaxies inside galaxy clusters has to be taken into account in future cosmological surveys such as LSST.


We present a new type of cryogenic local velocity probe that operates in liquid helium (1 K < T < 4.2 K) and achieves a spatial resolution of ≈ 0.1 mm. The operating principle is based on the deflection of a micro-machined silicon cantilever which reflects the local fluid velocity. Deflection is probed using a superconducting niobium micro-resonator sputtered on the sensor and used as a strain gauge. We present the working principle and the design of the probe, as well as calibration measurements and velocity spectra obtained in a turbulent helium flow above and below the superfluid transition.