BackgroundConcurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) followed by durvalumab is the standard of care for unresectable locally advanced non-small cell cancer (LA-NSCLC). However, a major concern about the administration of durvalumab after CCRT is whether the incidence of symptomatic radiation pneumonitis (RP) increases. In the present analysis, we report the initial results of CCRT followed by durvalumab in patients with LA-NSCLC in a real-world setting with a focus on predictive factors for symptomatic RP. MethodsPatients who were pathologically diagnosed with NSCLC and initiated treatment with CCRT followed by durvalumab between July 2018 and December 2019 were eligible for this study. Patients were included if they completed the planned CRT course and were administered at least one course of durvalumab. We retrospectively investigated the preliminary survival outcome and incidence and predictive factors for symptomatic RP. ResultsOf the 67 patients who were scheduled to receive CCRT, 63 completed the entire CCRT course. Of these patients, 56 proceeded to consolidation with durvalumab. The median time to eternal discontinuation of durvalumab was 9.7 months. The cumulative proportions of patients who exhibited symptomatic RP were 30, 40 and 44% at 3, 6 and 12 months, respectively. In multivariate analyses, the pulmonary fibrosis score and lung V40 were significant predictive factors for symptomatic RP (p < 0.001, HR: 7.83, 95% CI: 3.38-18.13, and p = 0.034, HR: 3.17, 95% CI: 1.09-9.19, respectively). ConclusionsThe pulmonary fibrosis sore and lung V40 are significant predictive factors for symptomatic RP. We should be cautious about the administration of durvalumab for patients with subclinical pulmonary fibrosis. To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first reports showing the predictive value of high dose volumes to the lung in patients with LA-NSCLC who receive CCRT followed by durvalumab.


We aimed to conduct a meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in patients with post-stroke depression (PSD). Six relevant electronic databases (PubMed, CENTRAL, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL, and PsycINFO) were searched. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared rTMS with control condition for PSD were included. The mean change in depression symptom scores was defined as the primary efficacy outcome. Secondary outcomes included the remission rate of depression, stroke recovery, and cognitive function recovery. In total, 7 RCTs with 351 participants were included. At post-treatment, rTMS was significantly more effective than the control condition, with a standardized mean difference (SMD) of -1.15 (95%CI: -1.62 to -0.69; P<0.001, I2=71%) and remission with an odds ratio (OR) of 3.46 (95%CI: 1.68 to 7.12; P<0.001; I2=11%). As for stroke recovery, rTMS was also better than the control condition (SMD=-0.67, 95%CI: -1.02 to -0.32; P<0.001). However, no significant difference was found for cognitive function recovery between the two groups (SMD=4.07, 95%CI: -1.41 to 9.55; P=0.15). To explore the potential moderators for the primary outcome, a series of subgroup and sensitivity analyses were performed. The results implied that rTMS may be more effective in Asian samples than in North American samples (P=0.03). In conclusion, from the current evidence in this study, rTMS could be an effective treatment for patients with PSD. Further clinical studies with larger sample sizes and clearer subgroup definitions are needed to confirm these outcomes.


The power electronic equipment is very much required when the alternator, capable of providing certain voltage level with a certain frequency, has to supply power to the load that needs voltage level or frequency other than the rated voltage and rated frequency of the alternator. At the same time, the power electronic circuit will also become complex if the alternator is to be provided with multiple outputs of different voltages with different frequencies. Therefore, a hybrid flux permanent magnet alternator (PMA) with multiple outputs is proposed in this study by utilising both radial flux permanent magnet (PM) technology and axial flux PM technology. The utilisation of both radial and axial flux PM technologies in the proposed hybrid flux multiple output PMA increases the power density also compared with that of conventional multiple output PMA. A comparison study is carried out between the conventional PMA and proposed hybrid flux multiple output PMA for the same volume and the same is also validated with finite-element method software and prototype testing.


The title of study is Synthesis and characterization of Total Base Number (TBN) for engine oil. The objectives of my book to synthesize and characterize the Total Base Number (TBN) compounds for engine oil. Calcium oleate detergent was prepared by setting eight batches and calcium sulfonate was prepared by setting six batches. These compounds were prepared by applying same method but different quantities of calcium hydroxide were used in all batches. The products were characterized by three parameters such as Basicity test, solubility in engine oil and base oil,determine the Total Base Number value (TBN). The product of these batches was completely soluble in engine oil and base oil and also the product of these batches had almost same experimental and theoretical Total Base Number (TBN) values. The product of all batches of calcium oleate detergent and calcium sulfonate will show better/highest activity due to Total Base Number values (TBN) which matches with the Total Base Number values (TBN) as mentioned in the literature. Hence, therefore all batches product of calcium oleate detergent and batch product of calcium sulfonate were used as an additive for engine oil.


Most OECD central banks implement monetary policy by supplying reserves to the banking sector with the aim of influencing short-term interbank interest rates.To interpret the monetary policy stance accurately, one needs to be familiar with the mechanism for determining the money market equilibrium.The aim of this study is to deepen our understanding of the various effects of different intervention styles on the short-term money market when monetary policy is implemented with an operational framework similar to that of the European Central Bank (ECB).In the first essay of this study, we model banks' demand for central bank reserves (liquidity) for each day of an n-day reserve maintenance period and analyse liquidity determination under alternative liquidity policy rules that a central bank might apply in fixed rate tenders.It is shown that there is a tradeoff between the central bank's ability to keep a market interest rate close to the tender rate and the stability of liquidity holdings within a maintenance period.The second essay presents a model of a single bank's optimal bidding in the context of fixed rate liquidity tenders.It is shown that banks' bidding crucially depends on the central bank's liquidity policy for tender allotments. This essay also analyses ECB liquidity policy in terms of the model.The final essay models the money market equilibrium and analyses Banks' bidding when the central bank uses variable rate tenders.The liquidity supply is fully endogenised by having the central bank minimise a loss function the includes deviations-from-target of interest rate and liquidity.ECB experiences with variable rate tenders are also studied in this essay. Key words: central bank operational framework, short-term interest rates, money markets, tenders, liquidity policy, bidding.


Analyses were carried out for adsorption of a reactive dye RB5 onto chitin and chitosan under static and dynamic conditions in an air-lift reactor. Assays were conducted for the effect of the type of sorbent and its content in the reactor on adsorption capacity of sorbents examined. The sorbent's concentration under static conditions and in the reactor reached 5 mg d.m./dm3. In all experimental series, the flow rate of dye inflowing to the reactor was constant and reached 1V/h (where V-reactor's volume) and concentration of dye discharged to the reactor accounted for 100 mg/dm3. The solution's reaction reached pH = 3.0 for chitin and pH = 5.0 Investigations demonstrated that running the adsorption process in an air-lift reactor under dynamic conditions had a beneficial effect on the amount of dye adsorbed both onto chitin and chitosan. In the case of chitin, the application of the air-lift reactor affect an increase in the quantity of dye adsorbed by 18%, whereas the quantity of dye adsorbed onto chitosan under dynamic conditions increased by 8%.


Perioperative nurses have developed specific expert nursing care practices. "Counting as caring" is certainly an approach in keeping with the perioperative nurse's guiding principle of beneficence (to do no harm). This article takes a retrospective look, from the first half of the last century through into the late 1960s, at the practice of counting and the influences that have changed it.


We reduce stability robustness analysis for linear, time-invariant, discrete-time systems to a search problem and attack the problem using genetic algorithms. We describe the problem framework and the modifications that needed to be made to the canonical genetic algorithm for successful application to robustness analysis. Our results show that genetic algorithms can successfully test a sufficient condition for instability in uncertain linear systems with nonlinear polynomial structures. Three illustrative examples demonstrate the new approach.


Vascular surgery itself developed for the surgical treatment for the vascular lesions such as occlusion and/or aneurysm. But recently the fine vascular surgical technique has been applied also to the treatment of malignancy affected the abdominal visceral organs. For instance, it is for the curative operation, when the malignant lesion such as bile duct carcinoma involves the main portal system because the resection with reconstruction of the portal vein is nowadays feasible. In this paper I would like to describe the technique of vascular reconstruction for the general surgeons and to report the current status of introduction of vascular surgery into the abdominal surgery in Japan.


In this paper, a novel magnetically levitated coreless planar motor with three-layer orthogonal overlapping windings is shown to have higher power density and higher space utilization compared with other coreless planar motors. In order to achieve maximum forces with minimum cost and minimum space, a multiobjective optimization of the novel planar motor is carried out. In order to reduce the computational resources required for finite-element (FE) analyses, a fast but accurate analytical tool is developed, based on expressions of the flux density of the permanent-magnet array, which are derived from the scalar magnetic potential method. The validity and accuracy is verified by 3-D FE results. Based on the force formulas and the multiobjective function derived from the analytical models, a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is applied to optimize the dimensions of the planar motor. The design and optimization of the planar motor is validated with experimental results, measured on a built prototype, thus proving the validity of the analytical tools.


Androgens have been shown to affect cognitive aspects of spatial memory. Testosterone which is the most important androgen, plays a role in the organization of behavior during development. Also, it has been shown that androgens cause sex related differences in learning and memory especially during neonatal period. In the current study, we assessed the effects of castration and testosterone enanthate (TE) administration on spatial cognition. Multiple doses of testosterone enanthate (20, 40, 80 and 120 mg/Kg) were examined on different groups using Morris water maze. Spatial memory was preserved in castrated rats. There was also no difference among multiple doses and control groups. For control of the level of testosterone in the blood of casterated rats and intact rats, blood samples were collected from intact group and 7, 10, 12, 14, 21 days after casteration. Testosterone levels were measured by Radio-immuno assay (RIA) technique and compared among all groups. The level of testosterone after 7 days in casterated rats were 0 nmol/L and after 21 days were 0.02±0.02 nmol/L while in intact rats were 2.69±0.88 nmol/L. These data suggests that changes in the level of androgen in circulation have no effect on spatial localization, at least after puberty in male rats.


In a market situation, where the products of competing companies are becoming more similar, whether in quality or price, it is still necessary to look for new and new tools that should properly differentiate the various products or services from the competitive company. Undoubtedly one of these tools is the image that has become an essential part of marketing. Image is essentially the idea, symbol, which the consumer associates only at the mention the name of the product or company. Image performs several tasks. First, its role is to eliminate the anonymity between producer and consumer and on the other hand, image subjectively facilitates a customer orientation to market and thus facilitate decision making. Customers are fed up with information on the products and services, and so they replace the lack of objective knowledge by creating their own ideas. Sometimes these ideas may be even stronger motive to buy properties as the actual product.


In this research, we aim to propose an image sharpening method to make it easy to identify concrete cracks from blurred images captured by a moving camera. This study is expected to help realize social infrastructure maintenance using a wide range of robotic technologies, and to solve the future labor shortage and shortage of engineers. In this paper, a method to estimate parameters of motion blur for Point Spread Function (PSF) is mainly discussed, where we assume that there are two main degradation factors caused by the camera, out-of-focus blur and motion blur. A major contribution of this paper is that the parameters can properly be estimated from a sub-image of the object under inspection if the sub-image contains uniform speckled texture. Here, the cepstrum of the sub-image is fully utilized. Then, a filter convoluted PSF which consists of convolution with PSF (motion blur) and PSF (out-of focus blur) can be utilized for deconvolution of the blurred image for sharpening with significant effect. PSF (out-of-focus blur) is a constant function unique to each camera and lens, and can be confirmed before or after shooting. PSF (motion blur), on the other hand, needs to be estimated on a case-by-case basis since the amount and direction of camera movement varies depending on the time of shooting. Previous research papers have sometimes encountered difficulties in estimating the parameters of motion blur because of the emphasis on generality. In this paper, the main object is made of concrete, and on the surface of it there are speckled textures. We hypothesized that we can narrow down the candidates of parameters of motion blur by using these speckled patterns. To verify this hypothesis, we conducted experiments to confirm and examine the following two points using a general-purpose camera used in actual bridge inspections: 1. Influence on the cepstrum when the isolated point-like texture unique to concrete structures is used as a feature point. 2. Selection method of multiple images to narrow down the candidate minima of the cepstrum. It is novel that the parameters of motion blur can be well estimated by using the unique speckled pattern on the surface of the object.


Fluorescein, eosin Y, and rose bengal are dyes used in clinical medicine and considered (photo-)chemically stable. Upon extensive irradiation with visible light in aqueous solutions, we found that these compounds release carbon monoxide (CO) - a bioactive gasotransmitter - in 40-100% yields along with the production of low-mass secondary photoproducts, such as phthalic and formic acids, in a multistep degradation process. Such photochemistry should be considered in applications of these dyes, and they could also be utilized as visible-light activatable CO-releasing molecules (photoCORMs) with biological implications.


This study was undertaken to assess the influence of socioeconomic factors on fertility behavior in the rural Punjab an area where a broad based rural development strategy has led to rapid socioeconomic change in the past 1 1/2 decades. 350 ever married women and their husbands from rural areas of Amritsar Punjab were interviewed in 1977. The number of births was interpreted as a linear function of 9 independent variables: husbands and wifes education per capita calorie intake per capita housing use husbands caste profession per capita income number of years married and husbands and wifes ages at marriage. Average years of education of husbands was 4 years while among wives it was 2 years. The average monthly per capita income of Rs. 146 and average per capita calorie intake of 2784 were significantly above the national averages. Average age at marriage was just over 22 for males and just over 19 for females. The average number of births/couple was 5. Husbands education greater than 10 years and wifes education greater than 8 years maximized the fit and were used in the equations. Because of the strong correlation between husbands education and per capita income 2 alternative regressions were run 1 with the education and 1 with the income variable. In the 1st regression the coefficients for husbands education wifes education per capita calorie intake number of married years and husbands age at marriage were significant at the 1% level the coefficient for wifes age at marriage was significant at the 5% level and that for caste was significant at the 10% level. The F value was 58.75 and over 62% of the variation in the number of births was explained by the independent variables. The coefficients in the 2nd equation were also significant except that for per capita income. The coefficient for housing factors which was not significant in the 1st equation was significant at the 5% level. Per capita calorie intake was the most important single variable; it was estimated that an 11% increase in the per capita calorie intake would lead to about a 33% decline in births.


Little has changed in sexually transmitted infection (STI) epidemiology in Ireland since 2000. Three STIs comprise approximately 90% of notifications; ano-genital warts, Chlamydia trachomatis and non-specific urethritis. Our objective was to compare the risk factors for prevalent STIs in attendees at two genitourinary medicine clinics and examine the incidence of coinfection. Diagnostic, demographic and behavioural information on attendees at two clinics in southwest Ireland were collected from January 1999 to July 2009. Risk factors associated with first episodes of ano-genital warts, genital herpes simplex viral infection, non-specific urethritis and C. trachomatis were investigated. In all, 22,705 STI patients (mean age 27 years) received 26,824 diagnoses; 1628 had more than one infection. Ano-genital warts was most likely to be diagnosed with a coinfection. Having multiple partners was positively associated with a diagnosis of bacterial infection but not viral infection. Our large cohort outlines those at risk in the region, showing age and gender influences the risk and type of infection. Smoking, alcohol and drug use is also common, all regarded as markers of risk-taking behaviour. The younger the age, the higher the risk of acquiring infection, regardless of infection type. Prevention strategies that target youth, bacterial STIs and high-risk behaviour, including sexual, alcohol and drugs, may be effective in reducing STI incidence in Ireland.


Low Indonesian culinary exports indicate that Indonesian cuisine is not well-known internationally. Culinary promotes national identity, multiethnic cultures, and tourism. On the other hand, tourism exposes local culinary practices and can become a country's international brand. Furthermore, culinary relevance to public diplomacy is recognized. Through these connections, Indonesia can utilize gastro diplomacy to capture the global culinary arts market. Indonesia can learn from Thailand and South Korea how to implement the program more effectively by using the policy transfer framework. Thailand programs addressed various elements that must be developed when opening an overseas culinary arts business. They involved governmental and non-governmental agencies because the programs are board. The South Korean program was more formalized than the Thai programs by enacting a specific law and establishing a distinct organization to oversee the program's execution. In addition to the healthy image of South Korean cuisine and the global trend toward healthier lifestyles, South Korea's program rode the Korean pop culture wave, which set the stage for the success of the program. Based on the analysis, the recommended model for Indonesia's program implementation consists of six components in terms of menu and target diners, regulation, responsible organizations and coordination, goals, financing sources, and personnel.


The Center offers a religion and politics minor. This interdisciplinary program combines resources from the Danforth Center on Religion and Politics with relevant offerings from other academic programs, including Religious Studies, Political Science, History, American Culture Studies, African-American Studies, English, and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Designed to complement and contribute to students' major fields of study, the minor also aims to augment the undergraduate education of those considering postgraduate professional programs in public policy, education, law, medicine or social work. The religion and politics minor provides an opportunity for exploring in sustained ways how religion and politics have intersected with American culture, both in historical and contemporary terms.


We evaluate the performance of the GenoType® MTBDRsl (Hain Lifescience Nehren, Germany) for the detection of second-line resistant tuberculosis and we correlate the frequency of mutations to different Mycobacterium tuberculosis genotypes. We tested 175 strains and 59 clinical specimens interpreting the results according to the Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy recommendations. All the strains were also investigated by spoligotyping and Mycobacterial Interspersed Repetitive Units–Variable Number of Tandem Repeats typing. The performances of the MTBDRsl in detecting resistance to fluoroquinolones (FQ), second-line injectable drugs (SLID), and ethambutol (EMB) on clinical isolates were similar (specificity ∼99%, sensitivity ∼70%, and positive predictive value (PPV) ∼99%). Of the 59 respiratory specimens, three samples were classified as "indeterminate". The specificity in detecting resistances was similar for FQs and EMB 100% (95% CI 92.7–100%) and 100% (95% CI 83.9–100%), respectively with a PPV of 100% (95% CI 64.6–100%) and 100% (95% CI 87.9–100%), respectively. Detection of SLID showed a specificity of 89.1% (95% CI 77.0–95.3%) and a PPV of 58.3% (95% CI 32.0–80.7%). Sensitivity for FQ-resistance detection was 100% (95% CI 64.6–100%), whereas for SLID and EMB it was 89.1% (95% CI 77.0-95.3%) and 86.1% (95% CI 71.3-93.9%), respectively. We detected a significant association between mutations in the rrs gene and Beijing lineage. The MTBDRsl can be used to "rule in" extensively drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis in a high risk group; the low sensitivity and negative predicted value (NPV) make confirmation by conventional drug susceptibility testing mandatory when mutations are not identified. NPV for SLID is higher in Beijing strains, showing that the predictive values of the molecular tests are related to the genetic background.


Internet of Thing (IoT) systems have been attracting attention as one of the solutions for new services in the Internet. They usually employ a client-server model due to a difficulty of accessibility in practical networks. However, scalability will be a major issue in IoT systems because billion of IoT devices will be installed around the world in recent years. The authors have been proposed a new IP mobility mechanism called NTMobile (Network Traversal with Mobility) to realize end-to-end communication in IoT systems because endto-end communication can improve system scalability by reducing traffic through servers. Conventional implementation employed a kernel module mechanism for NetFilter because the kernel module implementation is the best way of realizing high throughput performance. On the contrary, the kernel module should be maintained according to changes in NetFilter specifications. This paper designs an application based IP mobility scheme on Linux systems, where the developed IP mobility library can realize the IP mobility function in an application layer on Linux systems. As a result, developers can realize an end-to-end communication model by employing the enhanced IP mobility library. The proposed design ensures compatibility between the development library and the conventional NTMobile. Therefore, developers can select the implementation scheme according to the required performance.


ABSTRACT Five heretical field researchers celebrate human subjectivity in a fractured journey toward St. Augustine Catholic Church in the heart of Tremé in September 2015. They populate their diverse pentagonal thoughts with Mary Douglas' negotiated concepts of purity and pollution, rituals and symbols as a counterweight in their backpacks. Some are inspired by the theatrical mythologies of the guides who take them there, others are stopped in their track by the residual devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Some stop to wonder at Nicolas Cage's future resting place, others line up at food-trucks to add smells and taste to Tremé's mediated precreation. Some frame it as a battle ground of past and present injustice, others acknowledge the strife inside the dirty tourist. The thin-sliced meanings acquired on the boulevards to St. Augustine Catholic Church provide a touch of truthfulness, in the idiosyncratic segments, and the spirited spaces in between.


Forest fires are a major source of ecosystem disturbance. Vegetation reacts to meteorological factors contributing to fire danger by reducing stomatal conductance, thus leading to an increase of canopy temperature. The latter can be detected by remote sensing measurements in the thermal infrared as a deviation of observed land surface temperature (LST) from climatological values, that is as an LST anomaly. A relationship is thus expected between LST anomalies and forest fires burned area and duration. These two characteristics are indeed controlled by a large variety of both static and dynamic factors related to topography, land cover, climate, weather (including those affecting LST) and anthropic activity. To investigate the predicting capability of remote sensing measurements, rather than constructing a comprehensive model, it would be relevant to determine whether anomalies of LST affect the probability distributions of burned area and fire duration. This research approached the outlined knowledge gap through the analysis of a dataset of forest fires in Campania (Italy) covering years 2003–2011 against estimates of LST anomaly. An LST climatology was first computed from time series of daily Aqua-MODIS LST data (product MYD11A1, collection 6) over the longest available sequence of complete annual datasets (2003–2017), through the Harmonic Analysis of Time Series (HANTS) algorithm. HANTS was also used to create individual annual models of LST data, to minimize the effect of varying observation geometry and cloud contamination on LST estimates while retaining its seasonal variation. LST anomalies where thus quantified as the difference between LST annual models and LST climatology. Fire data were intersected with LST anomaly maps to associate each fire with the LST anomaly value observed at its position on the day previous to the event. Further to this step, the closest probability distribution function describing burned area and fire duration were identified against a selection of parametric models through the maximization of the Anderson-Darling goodness-of-fit. Parameters of the identified distributions conditional to LST anomaly where then determined along their confidence intervals. Results show that in the study area log-transformed burned area is described by a normal distribution, whereas log-transformed fire duration is closer to a generalized extreme value (GEV) distribution. The parameters of these distributions conditional to LST anomaly show clear trends with increasing LST anomaly; significance of this observation was verified through a likelihood ratio test. This confirmed that LST anomaly is a covariate of both burned area and fire duration. As a consequence, it was observed that conditional probabilities of extreme events appear to increase with increasing positive deviations of LST from its climatology values. This confirms the stated hypothesis that LST anomalies affect forest fires burned area and duration and highlights the informative content of time series of LST with respect to fire danger.


Antigen (Ag) may be recognized by an immunoglobulin via heavy chain variable domain (VH) alone, light chain variable domain (VL) alone and VH+VL pair. Little is known about relative contribution of VH and/or VL in Ag recognition in the context of virus neutralization function. To understand role of VH and VL, we examined Ag recognition and virus neutralization function of VH, VL and VH+VL of a neutralizing Ab against bovine herpesvirus-1 (BoHV-1), an important cattle pathogen. Monomeric scFv, VH and VL were expressed in Pichia pastoris and purified. The VH alone recognized BoHV-1 in ELISA but VL did not. This is consistent with previous studies that suggested significant role of variable heavy domain in Ag recognition. However, VH alone did not neutralize BoHV-1 in vitro but monomeric scFv, where VH and VL are linked via 18 amino acids, neutralized the virus. Such a divergence in VH and VL effector functions from Ag recognition to virus neutralization reflects fine structural complexities relevant to Ab functions. The VH alone though capable of recognizing the target neutralizing epitope is unable to neutralize BoHV-1 per se. These observations provide novel insight into non-Ag binding functional role of VL where it provides structural and configurational support to VH for accessing the neutralizing viral epitope. To conclude, such subtle differences in VH and VL contributions to Ab effector functions deserve consideration while designing Ab-based anti-viral therapeutics.


Because individuals aged 55-64 face large and uncertain medical expenditures without the guarantee of public insurance coverage provided by Medicare, the availability of post-retirement health insurance could be an important determinant in the retirement decisions of this group. We investigate the effect of health insurance on retirement by focusing on state and federal "continuation of coverage" mandates which grant the retiree the right to continue purchasing health insurance through a previous employer for a specified number of months after leaving the firm. We exploit variation in the timing and generosity of these laws to identify the effect of the availability of continuation coverage on retirement decisions, using data on 55-64 year-old males from the Current Population Survey and the Survey of Income and Program Participation. We find a sizeable and significant effect of continuation coverage on retirement; one year of mandated continuation benefits raises retirement rates by 20%. The effect appears to be uniform at all ages rather that larger near the age of Medicare eligibility. There is also a large increase in the insurance coverage of individuals who would have retired in the absence of continuation benefits. Our findings have important implications for policies which change the insurance coverage of early retirees, such as national health insurance.


Influence of disorder, antisite defects, martensite transition and compositional variation on the magnetic properties and electronic structure of Mn2NiGa and Mn1+xNi2−xGa magnetic shape memory alloys have been studied by using full potential spin-polarized scalar relativistic Korringa–Kohn–Rostocker (FP-SPRKKR) method. Mn2NiGa is ferrimagnetic and its total spin moment increases when disorder in the occupancy of MnNi (Mn atom in Ni position) is considered. The moment further increases when Mn–Ga antisite defect [] is included in the calculation. A reasonable estimate of TC for Mn2NiGa is obtained from the exchange parameters for the disordered structure. Disorder influences the electronic structure of Mn2NiGa through overall broadening of the density of states and a decrease in the exchange splitting. Inclusion of antisite defects marginally broaden the minority spin partial DOS (PDOS), while the majority spin PDOS is hardly affected. For Mn1+xNi2−xGa where 1 ⩾ x ⩾ 0, as x decreases, MnMn moment increases while MnNi moment decreases in both austenite and martensite phases. For x ⩾ 0.25, the total moment of the martensite phase is smaller compared to the austenite phase, which indicates possible occurrence of inverse magnetocaloric effect. We find that the redistribution of Ni 3d- MnNi 3d minority spin electron states close to the Fermi level is primarily responsible for the stability of the martensite phase in Mn–Ni–Ga.


The propagation of nonlinear spherically diverging N-waves in homogeneous air is studied experimentally and theoretically. A spark source is used to generate high amplitude (1.4 kPa) short duration (40 μs) N-waves; acoustic measurements are performed using microphones (3 mm diameter, 150 kHz bandwidth). Numerical modeling with the generalized Burgers equation is used to reveal the relative effects of acoustic nonlinearity, thermoviscous absorption, and oxygen and nitrogen relaxation on the wave propagation. The results of modeling are in a good agreement with the measurements in respect to the wave amplitude and duration. However, the measured rise time of the front shock is ten times longer than the calculated one, which is attributed to the limited bandwidth of the microphone. To better resolve the shock thickness, a focused shadowgraphy technique is used. The recorded optical shadowgrams are compared with shadow patterns predicted by geometrical optics and scalar diffraction model of light propagation. It is shown that the geometrical optics approximation results in overestimation of the shock rise time, while the diffraction model allows to correctly resolve the shock width. A combination of microphone measurements and focused optical shadowgraphy is therefore a reliable way of studying evolution of spark-generated shock waves in air.


During periods of economic uncertainty, journal headlines become more significant. Many will refer to them looking for information; some others will try to predict possible massive social reactions to their content. As the crisis evolves, the main paradigms operating in social sciences in general, and namely in Economics, cautiously start to satisfy the social demand for reliable data analysis, scientific research results, well-documented political proposals, and predictions more reasonable than those appearing in the public sphere. However, from this content and discourse analysis regarding the cover made by the main newspaper, the Spanish press does not always take into account the results of scientific research and, when consulted, it does not present the different formal points of view from concurrent paradigms. This work analyses the news reporting on some milestones of the present 'subprime crisis' in the main Spanish newspaper.


Residents' high medical expenses is the core challenge that needs to be solved urgently in China's medical reform for a long time. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in Chinese Mainland during 2011–2019, we evaluate the impact of China's national comprehensive medical reform pilot policy on residents' medical expenses by using the difference-in-differences model. The results show that the pilot policy was generally conducive to reducing residents' medical expenses, resulting in a reduction of 2.13% in per capita medical expenses for inpatients, but the effect on per capita medical expenses for outpatients was insignificant. Mechanism analysis shows that hospital competition and institutional environment played a moderating role in the effect of the pilot policy on residents' medical expenses reduction. The more intense the hospital competition and the better the institutional environment, the more significant of the reduction effect. In addition, the reduction effect of the pilot policy was greater in the central provinces, the provinces with poor medical infrastructure, and the provinces with strong financial strength. This study provides useful policy insights for deepening medical reform and reducing residents' medical expenses.


The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of sex on the prognosis of high risk acute coronary syndromes treated early with angioplasty. Over a period of two years, 694 consecutive patients (151 female, 543 male) underwent revascularisation within the first 24 hours of an acute coronary syndrome without permanent ST elevation (ST depression (52.5%) or relapse of angina despite medical treatment (47.5%). The females were older than the males (67.9 vs 62.3 years; p < 0.0001), smoked less (7.3 vs. 32.8%; p < 0.001) and had a higher prevalence of hypertension (53 vs. 42.1%; p = 0.017). The angiographic characteristics were equivalent in both sexes, except for a lower frequency of thrombus in the females (6.9 vs. 15.2%; p < 0.0001). All lesions were treated with endoprosthesis implantation. The angiographic success rate was comparable (94 vs. 93.7%) as was the rate of major cardiac events while in hospital (3.8 versus 4%). With an average survival of 2 years, the incidence of major cardiac events remained identical in both sexes (15.4 vs 15.7%: p = 0.43): cardiac mortality (3.2 vs 2%; p = 0.18), myocardial infarction (7.3 vs 6.7%; p = 0.37), further revascularisation (8.3 vs 7.2%; p = 0.47). The survival without major cardiac event was comparable at 1 year (87 +/- 0.1 vs 88 +/- 0.3%) and at 2 years (78 +/- 0.2 vs 83 +/- 0.3%; p = 0.58). In conclusion, the progression both in hospital and at two years with a strategy of early revascularisation for high risk acute coronary syndromes was comparable in males and females.


This study evaluates the feeding behaviour of a group of 57 persons living in a rural community of Bihor county, in 2010, using the method of individual investigation about the food consumed in 24 hours. A caloric and nutritional deficit in the diet of individuals in the selected group could be observed. Qualitatively, the diet proved deficient in vegetable fat and excessive in animal protein. Percentage rations of essential micronutrients were within the recommended limits. The largest part of the diet was made up of meat and meat products, eggs, cheese, cereals derivatives and less milk, vegetable and fruit, animal and vegetable fat than it would be necessary. The calories consumed during the day were improperly distributed on the main meals. Breakfast was eaten by all subjects, but only 28% of them took one or two snacks during the day. The caloric intake of breakfast and lunch were close to recommendations.


Summary In Brazil, there were 14,160 new estimated cases of head and neck cancer for the year of 2008. Smoking and drinking are the main risk factors established in the etiology of this disease. Aim to assess the T → A polymorphism in gene TAX1BP1 (leu306ile) in patients with head and neck cancer and a control population. Series and methods a retrospective study in which we assessed the gender, age, smoking and drinking habits of 191 patients with head and neck cancer and 200 individuals without history of neoplasia. The molecular analysis was carried out after genomic DNA extraction by the PCR-RFLP method. Results there is a predominance of males (84.82%), smokers (91.1%) and drinkers of alcohol (77.49%). Molecular assessment did not show statistically significant differences between the two groups (p =0.32). The analysis of clinical parameters and polymorphisms showed association with oral cavity cancer (OR: 2.38; CI 95%: 1.18-4.78; p = 0.01), the other parameters were not associated with the polymorphism. Conclusion There is evidence of association between TAX1BP1 gene polymorphism and oral cavity cancer. For the remaining parameters analyzed, the results do not suggest association with the TAX1BP1 gene polymorphism.


We report on the observation of a topologically protected edge state at the interface between two topologically distinct domains of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model, which we implement in arrays of evanescently coupled dielectric-loaded surface-plasmon polariton waveguides. Direct evidence of the topological character of the edge state is obtained through several independent experiments: Its spatial localization at the interface as well as the restriction to one sublattice is confirmed by real-space leakage radiation microscopy. The corresponding momentum-resolved spectrum obtained by Fourier imaging reveals the midgap position of the edge state as predicted by theory.


The emergence of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) as important environmental pathogens has stimulated the search for molecular markers to identify NTM sources, determine virulence mechanisms and describe their population structure. The availability of genome sequence data for a number of NTM isolates has permitted a more definitive approach to classification of these organisms based on sequence analysis of polymorphic targets, such as 16S rRNA, hsp65 and the internal transcribed spacer. An alternative approach, based on assessment of conserved inserted and deleted elements, also permits robust branding of clinical and laboratory isolates. Complementary to 'top-down' approaches that classify organisms at the species, subspecies and strain level, 'bottom-up' methods to determine the genetic similarity of pairs or groups of isolates have also been developed and used. Analysis of large restriction fragments by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, restriction fragment length polymorphisms of insertion sequences, repetitive genetic elements, arbitrary primed PCR fragments and multilocus sequencing have largely supplanted phenotypic methods for strain comparison, such as serotyping, biotyping and multilocus enzyme electrophoresis. Together, these two sets of tools can provide an enhanced portrait of the NTM and be useful in epidemiologic investigations of the geographic and ecologic provenance of NTM infections. With further study, it is anticipated that the application of these genetic tools to well-defined collections of organisms will not only lead to an improved understanding of the source of NTM infection, but also help identify clinically relevant bacterial subtypes and eventually uncover genetic markers of bacterial virulence.


Nowadays mobile devices are highly present and well integrated in students' everyday life. People use them for communication, information retrieval and exchange, entertainment, and even for business. But what can be said about learning? This article tries to figure out the importance of mobile devices for students in their learning experience: on one side by giving an insight into current researches in the field of mobile learning, and on the other side by providing data evidence collected in two higher education institutions of Ticino in Switzerland. By analyzing questions such as, which mobile devices do students use for learning, what for, how do they use them and how keen they are to adopt their mobile tools to support their formal learning activities at university. We also explore whether a transfer from informal usage of mobile devices in students' everyday life to more formal applications in learning processes has taken place. So far, this does not seem to be the case. Most students use mobile devices to communicate with peers for learning-related purposes and very little to directly learn through them.


Different types of sugars can affect the growth and metabolism of yeast. There is a gap in knowledge regarding the effect of different concentrations of a sugar on yeast. We created 5 experimental groups with 0.00%, 0.625%, 1.25%, 2.50% and 5.00% concentration of rice sugar in the red yeast growth media, respectively. To account for the sugar's effect, we measured the amount of CO2 produced after placing the red yeast and growth media in a 250 mL respiration chamber for 15 minutes. Upon completion of the experiment we found that our results are inconclusive. Our second trials of each concentration presented results opposite of the first trial. Our results could lead to more research that would determine why we received variations within our data.


We provide novel guaranteed approaches for training feedforward neural networks with sparse connectivity. We leverage on the techniques developed previously for learning linear networks and show that they can also be effectively adopted to learn non-linear networks. We operate on the moments involving label and the score function of the input, and show that their factorization provably yields the weight matrix of the first layer of a deep network under mild conditions. In practice, the output of our method can be employed as effective initializers for gradient descent.


Effects of alloying elements such as Si, Mn, Zn on the fluidity and mechanical properties of high ductility Al-Mg based alloys were investigated. The fluidity of alloys was evaluated using a vacuum suction fluidity test, and Si addition was observed to increase the fluidity of AI-Mg binary alloys substantially while Zn somewhat decreased the fluidity. However, both the strength and ductility were significantly deteriorated by the Si additions. It was observed that a small amount of Mn addition to Al-Mg alloy increased the tensile strength effectively without losing much ductility but the effect of Zn addition on the strength was relatively small.


This article explores the possibilities of the emergence of a genuinely ''post-Western,'' and less Eurocentric, ''critical'' international relations (IR) theory through a brief examination of ''critical'' discourses within two ''non-western'' cosmopolitan traditions: Islam and Sikhism. It is argued that, although critical IR has created space for the articulation of post-western discourses within the discipline, it continues to speak for and to the West. A genuinely ''post-western'' critical IR would seek to go beyond mere mimicry of the ''derivative discourses'' of the modern West by identifying critical discourses on the political from within nonwestern traditions. First, ''Islamist'' discourses on the Umma which are simultaneously critical of the varying forms of ''Kemalism'' and ''neofundamentalism'' prevalent in the Islamic world will be briefly examined. Second, critical perspectives on Sikhism which critique the derivative ''politics of homeland'' and re-assert the sovereignty of the deterritorialized, transnational community of believers, the Khalsa Panth, will be considered. It is argued that, like the Muslim Umma, the Khalsa Panth, offers us an alternative conception of universality—and a potentially more ''solidarist'' conception of international society—than that offered by western Westphalian IR. The inclusion of Islamic and Sikh discourses in the ''House of IR'' [Aganthangelou and Ling, International Studies Review 6 (2004b), 21] will therefore contribute to the creation of a more diverse, less hegemonic, discipline.


We use Very High Resolution Mass Spectrometry for analyses of the soluble fraction of yellow stuff produced in laboratory. Their analyses show that they are composed of molecules with high molecular weight (m/z\textgreater4000). Fragmentations suggest that grafted molecules constitute a part of them. Hexamethylenetetramine derivatives have also been detected. First results and further analytical developments will be presented to facilitate the understanding of the residue composition and of its chemical evolution. Furthermore, we present for the first time the concept of the VAHIIA project which concerns the analysis of volatiles coming from the heating of interstellar ice analogues.


Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major public health problem in correctional settings. HCV treatment is often not possible in U.S. jails due to short lengths of stay. Linkage to care is crucial in these settings, but competing priorities complicate community healthcare engagement and retention after incarceration.

Methods: We conducted a single arm clinical trial to assess the rate and factors associated with linkage to HCV care after incarceration associated with a combined transitional care coordination (TCC) and patient navigation intervention.

Results: During the intervention, n=84 participants returned to the community after their index incarceration. Most participants were male and Hispanic, with a history of mental illness and a mean age of 45 years (SD=12). Of those who returned to the community, 26 (31%) linked to HCV care within a mean of 29 days (SD=25); 17 (20%) initiated HCV treatment, 15 (18%) completed treatment, and 7 (8%) had documentation of sustained virologic response. Expressing a preference to be linked to the participant's existing health system, being on methadone prior to incarceration, and feeling that family or a loved one were concerned about the participant's wellbeing were associated with linkage to HCV care. Reporting drinking alcohol to intoxication prior to incarceration was negatively associated with linkage to HCV care.

Conclusion: We demonstrate that an integrated strategy with combined TCC and patient navigation may be effective in achieving timely linkage to HCV care. Additional multicomponent interventions aimed at treatment of substance use disorders and increasing social support could lead to further improvement.


A retrospective analysis of 141 neck dissections performed at the Royal Melbourne Hospital from 1975 to 1981 has been carried out with a view to identifying the prognostic factors. When a neck dissection is performed, the site of the primary disease did not affect the 5 year survival rate. A conservation neck dissection, especially when performed electively, had the best prognosis. Radiotherapy did not affect the overall survival rate in patients having a neck dissection, while chemotherapy appeared to exert a beneficial effect on patients with advanced disease. While clinical nodal staging was an important prognostic indicator, the number of nodes pathologically involved was not. Histologic differentiation of the tumour was not prognostically significant, whereas extracapsular nodal disease was. Most (70%) treatment failures occurred in the neck, while systemic metastases occurred in 12% of patients.


BACKGROUND Colorectal carcinoma is the most frequently encountered malignancy worldwide. The main cause of mortality associated with colorectal malignancy is tumour invasion and metastasis. The major genomic alteration that has been found in colorectal carcinoma is mutation in the adenomatous polyposis gene. Mutated APC causes unrestricted action of the Wnt signalling pathway which results in accumulation of the β - catenin protein in the nucleus responsible for cell proliferation, differentiation and enhanced survival of colorectal epithelial cells. Role of β - catenin expression as a prognostic marker needs to be studied. It will help in aiding the possibility of the future of anti β - catenin targeted chemotherapy for the treatment of colorectal cancers. METHODS A total of 85 samples from histopathologically proven cases of adenocarcinoma colon were taken. Histomorphological features and their immunohistochemical expression of β - catenin were studied. Data thus obtained was analysed using SPSS version 25. Histopathological diagnosis is considered as the gold standard. RESULTS Among the 85 samples of adenocarcinoma 9 case were stage T1 tumours, 24 were stage T2. 31 cases were stage T3, and 21 colorectal cancers were stage T4. Statistically significant correlation was obtained between tumour stage and β - catenin expression. (P value = < 0.001) With regard to tumour grade 24 out of 85 cases were well differentiated and 45 were moderately differentiated, 16 cases were poorly differentiated. Correlation of tumour grading and β - catenin expression also were statistically significant (P value = < 0.001). 45 out of 85 cases were having no nodal metastasis. 22 cases showed metastasis in 1 to 3 lymph nodes. 18 cases were N2. No statistically significant correlation was obtained between lymph node status and β - catenin expression. (P value = 0.003) CONCLUSIONS In this study the membranous, cytoplasmic and nuclear scores of β - catenin shows the linear progression with the advancing stages of colorectal carcinoma. So β - catenin can be used as a prognostic marker in malignant colorectal neoplasm. KEYWORDS Immunohistochemistry, β – Catenin, Colorectal Carcinoma


Metacognition may be broadly understood as awareness, monitoring, and regulation of an intelligent agent's own internal processing, a "thinking about thinking". The cognitive complexity and self-maintenance value of this introspective skillset has considerable current interest in the study of both biological and artificial intelligence, with intriguing parallels. Study of metacognition in some nonhuman species and Biologically-Inspired Cognitive Architecture (BICA) systems reflect evidence of, at best, an attenuated form of the elaborated human manifestation, with ongoing difficulties in operationalizing metacognitive components and traits. A linked exploration of these "inhuman" forms of metacognition may better clarify the locus of divergence from the human form and illuminate the role of the skill in supporting potentially emergent cognitive traits, from self-recognition to Theory of Mind understanding. The current review will take a comparative approach in assessing metacognitive systems in nonhuman biological and artificial agents in pursuit of clarity for future methodological and conceptual directions.


This study was designed for an oral prophylaxis program to remedy the oral condition of the mentally subnormal patient who required treatment at an open type mental hospital. The subjects consisted of 115 inpatients. The mean age was 45.5 years. The mean number of teeth functioning in mastication was 19.6. In order to improve their oral health they were given guidance and their oral hygiene condition was inspected every month. "STPI" was applied to investigate the toothbrush behavior in these patients. After six months, oral condition improved. Relationship between toothbrush behavior and mental illness was analyzed by principle component analysis and rotated by normal valimax method. Four factors were designed as follows. (1) Depressional state; (2) Personality disorders; (3) Hypochondric factor; (4) Manic state. Dental health of chronically mentally ill patients related to suppressive toothbrush behavior. The other hand the findings of this study showed that it was possible to improve their oral health by improving their living condition.


The Ή and '3C solution-state NMR spectra of the three studied drug molecules (indomethacin, nifedipine and carbamazepine) were fully assigned. This led to the characterisation and assignment of the '3C CPMAS SSNMR spectra of the stable polymorphic forms of these molecules. The signal for the с-СІ carbon of indomethacin has been studied as a function of applied magnetic field, and the observed bandshapes have been simulated. A T(_1)(^H)and T(_1p)(^H) study was undertaken on the crystalline materials, as well as on the quench-cooled amorphous and PVP/drug co-melts. This was done in order to fulfill the aim of this research, i.e. to understand the difference in stability of the amorphous compounds and also to investigate the effect of the presence of PVP on the stability and mobility of the drug. It was shown that, under the conditions of the experiments, amorphous indomethacin did not recrystallise until 110 c, whilst in the case of nifedipine and carbamazepine the recrystallisation occurred at 70 c and 75 c respectively. It was also shown that in the case of the co-melts a transition occurs consistently between 65 c and 85 c for the three materials and this seems to be due to the Tg of the co-melts. The comparison of the T(_1)(^H)and T(_1p)(^H) data for the different states showed that amorphisation increased the mobility of the sample, this being more pronounced for carbamazepine and nifedipine than for indomethacin, and also that the co-melts were more stable and slightly more mobile than the amorphous compounds. The comparison of the relaxation data between the pure compounds showed that amorphous indomethacin was more stable than the other two amorphous drugs as slope changes occurred for the latter at a temperature below Tg, whilst this happens at or around Tg for amorphous indomethacin.


In the article the modern tendencies of scientific researches for competition of PhD scientific degree and problem questions of preparation of young scientists in Ukraine have been considered. It has been proved that the revision of the quality of PhD candidates training will promote the formation of post-graduate students as scientists and scientific and teaching employees. The methodical aspects of attracting postgraduate students to the educational module of the Erasmus + Jean Monet program «Higher Education Quality and Expert Support: Ukraine's movement towards the European Union» have been highlighted.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the possibility and anatomy landmark of the frontal beak approach of endoscopic frontal sinusotomy to the frontal sinus lesions.

METHOD
(1)Twenty cases of frozen cadaveric head underwent spiral computed tomography scans. Then data were transferred into the Mimics image workstation to reorganize CT images in the coronal, sagittal, and axial planes. The anatomic parameters related to surgical approach points were measured, such as the distance between vertical plate of the middle turbinate and lamina papyracea and the thickness of the frontal beak. (2) 3D visual model of the frontal cell and the drainage way of the frontal sinus was produced with the application of Sinuses Trachea I software. (3)The endoscopic frontal sinus surgery were performed on 20 cases of subjects (objects)to find out the anatomy landmarks of the frontal beak approach, measure the parameters such as the distance between middle turbinate and lamina papyracea, and evaluate the potential surgical complications during operation.

RESULT
(1)The frontal beak is a white bony arcs located at the attachment point of middle turbinate front inserted to the skull base. Its position was relatively constant, before frontal sinus above. (2)The distance between the middle turbinate vertical plate and lamina papyracea was (7. 61 ± 1. 34) mm. The thickness of the frontal beak in surgical approach was (3. 27 ± 0. 91) mm. (3) 3D visual structure of the frontal sinus and its ventilation pathway: the shape of unilateral frontal sinus looked like the cone, which was transited by the drainage pathway of the frontal sinus. The front part of the frontal sinus ostium is surrounded by the frontal beak. The upper part the frontal beak connected to the floor of the frontal sinus. (4) Frontal beak can be used as an landmark of frontal beak approach in the endoscopic frontal sinus surgery. But the lateral view of frontal sinus still was limited in the operation.

CONCLUSION
The endoscopic frontal sinus surgery with the approach of the frontal beak is easy to operate and learn. In this area between the double "L", the operation is safe.


Corporations are extremely sensitive to issues such as brand stewardship and product reputation. Traditional brand image and reputation tracking is limited to news wires and contact centres analysis. However, with the emergence of web, Consumer Generated Media (CGM), such as blogs, news forums, message boards, and web pages/sites, is rapidly becoming the "voice of the people". This paper describes a COBRA (COrporate Brand and Reputation Analysis) solution that mines a wide range of CGM contents for brand and reputation analysis. The solution contains a flexible ETL (Extract, Transform, and Load) engine that processes diverse sets of structured and unstructured information, a suite of analytical capabilities that mines CGM content to extract semantic entities and insights out of the data, and an alerting mechanism that utilizes the analytics results to accurately generate brand and reputation alerts. We use a real-world case study to demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.


Children and their families living in poor, inner-city neighborhoods are at high risk for experiencing multiple traumas. This article describes findings from a qualitative study designed to explore the impact of chronic traumas on family life through the voices of primarily African American caregivers coping with urban poverty. Structured interviews are conducted with 16 caregivers of children ages 6 to 9 years who had been exposed to multiple traumas and had symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. Caregivers explain changing daily routines to accommodate child distress and promoting positive family processes such as increased protectiveness. They also describe various roles that religion/spirituality play in their coping with trauma, including finding comfort in the faith that God controls what happens in their lives. These themes are discussed with regard to theory and practical applications for assisting traumatized families.


This study investigated the effects of aspect (north and south) and slope position (top slope: 1100 - 1700 m and bottom slope: 1700 - 2200 m) on Ips typographus (L.) and its major predator Thanasimus formicarius (L.) populations and body length and weight of the pest I. typographus (L.) in oriental spruce [Picea orientalis (L.) Link.], dominated stands in Artvin-Hatila Valley National Park, Turkey for two years (2006- 2007). A total of 120 pheromone traps were used to assess the population levels of both insect species. The results of the study were as follows: 1.) I. typographus (L.) population on each aspect was significantly higher at the top slope stands than the other sites whereas T. formicarius (L.) population was higher at the bottom slope stands on the north-facing site. 2.) There was no correlation between the number of T. formicarius (L.) and I. typographus (L.) caught by pheromone traps. 3.) Body length and weight of I. typographus (L.) were significantly higher on south aspect and at the top slope on each aspect.


Natural killer (NK) cells are essential in shaping immune responses against pathogens, and play an important role during pregnancy. Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) educate the NK cell and determine its activation state. Because of this broad medical relevance, it is important to understand how this gene system has evolved. KIR genes have undergone rapid evolution in primates, as evidenced by extensive copy number variation and allelic diversity. Since KIR diversification appears to be primate species specific and might very well be pathogen driven, the aim of this thesis is to provide more insight into the KIR gene system of the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta). Therefore, this system has been thoroughly characterised on many levels, and one of the main conclusions to be drawn is that different types of selection have led to extensive levels of complexity. In this respect, the naturally occurring KIR in rhesus macaques may model the human situation, as a relatively small cohort of animals may comprise a KIR complexity equal to that observed in all human populations combined.


Proponents of same-sex marriage often defend their view by appealing to the concept of justice. But a significant argument from justice against same-sex marriage can be made also, as follows. Heterosexual union has special social value because it is the indispensable means by which humans come into existence. What has special social value deserves special recognition and sanction. Civil ordinances that recognize same-sex marriage as comparable to heterosexual marriage constitute a rejection of the special social value of heterosexual unions, and to deny such special social value is unjust.


BACKGROUND
To investigate the impact of Computer Aided Diagnostic (CAD) system on the detection rate of prostate cancer (PCa) in a series of fusion prostate biopsy (FPB).

METHODS
Two prospective transperineal FPB series (with or without CAD assistance) were analyzed and PCa detection rates compared with per patient and per target analyses. Chi-Square and Mann-Whitney test were used to compare categorical and continuous variables, respectively. Univariable and multivariable regression analyses were applied to identify predictors of any and clinically-significant (cs) PCa detection. Subgroup analyses were performed after stratifying for PIRADS Score and lesion location.

RESULTS
Out of 183 FPB, 89 were performed with CAD assistance. At per patient analysis the detection rate of any PCa and of cs PCa were 56.3% and 30.6%, respectively; the aid of CAD was negligible for either any PCa or csPCa detection rates (p=0.45 and p=0.99, respectively). Conversely in a per target analysis, CAD-assisted biopsy had significantly higher positive predictive value (PPV) for any PCa versus MRI-only group (58%vs37.8%, p=0.001). PI-RADS Score was the only independent predictor of any and csPCa, either in per patient or per target multivariable regression analysis (all p<0.029). In a subgroup per patient analysis of anterior/transitional zone lesions, csPCa detection rate was significantly higher in the CAD cohort (54.5%vs11.1%, respectively; p=0.028), and CAD assistance was the only predictor of csPCa detection (p=0.013).

CONCLUSIONS
CAD assistance for FPB seems to improve detection of csPCa located in anterior/transitional zone. Enhanced identification and improved contouring of lesions may justify higher diagnostic performance.


A 2.3 year old boy and a 3.7 year old girl, brother and sister, burnt their feet and calves during a bath tub accident. Both had to undergo amputation of their feet and lower thirds of their calves. For this, both needed psychological help. The body was less anxious and ready for confrontation with reality. The girl had to be guided through her denial and rejection of reality towards acceptance of the situation. Only then was she able to express fear and accept help. This practical playtherapeutical intervention could only take place on the basis of absolute trust. Time, empathy, adaptation to the children's state, age and personality and repetetive, active playing of the situation and the anxiety provoking future were necessary. Thus panic provoking anxiety could be diminished to realistic fear.


Drug-eluting stents (DES) were inserted in 180 patients (270 stents), mean age 63 years, and bare-metal stents (BMS) were inserted in 191 patients (301 stents), mean age 63 years, during percutaneous coronary intervention. Baseline characteristics were similar for patients treated with DES or BMS. The average stent length was longer for DES (16.83 mm) versus BMS (15.45 mm) (P = 0.0026). The average stent diameter was shorter for DES (2.89 mm) versus BMS (3.00 mm) (P = 0.00027). In-hospital stent thrombosis occurred in one of 270 DES (0.4%) versus three3 of 301 BMS (1.0%) (P = not significant).


Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC-2s) regulate immune responses to pathogens and maintain tissue homeostasis in response to cytokines. Positive regulation of ILC-2s through ICOS has been recently elucidated. We demonstrate here that PD-1 is an important negative regulator of KLRG1+ ILC-2 function in both mice and humans. Increase in KLRG1+ ILC-2 cell numbers was attributed to an intrinsic defect in PD-1 signaling, which resulted in enhanced STAT5 activation. During Nippostrongylus brasiliensis infection, a significant expansion of KLRG1+ ILC-2 subsets occurred in Pdcd1−/− mice and, upon adoptive transfer, Pdcd1−/− KLRG1+ ILC-2s significantly reduced worm burden. Furthermore, blocking PD-1 with an antibody increased KLRG1+ ILC-2 cell number and reduced disease burden. Therefore, PD-1 is required for maintaining the number, and hence function, of KLRG1+ ILC-2s.


Seismic isolation is a technique that has been used around the world to protect building structures, nonstructural components and content from the damaging effects of earthquake ground shaking. This paper summarizes current practices, describes widely used seismic isolation hardware, chronicles the history and development of modern seismic isolation through shake table testing of isolated buildings, and reviews past efforts to achieve three-dimensional seismic isolation. The review of current practices and past research are synthesized with recent developments from full-scale shake table testing to highlight areas where research is needed to achieve full seismic damage protection of buildings. The emphasis of this paper is on the application of passive seismic isolation for buildings primarily as practiced in the United States, though systems used in other countries will be discussed.


Conditions are given which enable one to decide on the basis of images of point features observed by an imprecisely modeled two-camera stereo vision system, whether or not a prescribed robot positioning task has been accomplished with precision. It is shown that for a stereo vision system whose two-camera model is known only up to a projective transformation, one can decide with the available data whether or not such a positioning task has been accomplished, just in case the function which specifies the task is a projective invariant. It is then shown that, under suitable technical conditions, every task with this property can be constructed from primitive tasks by using only a small number of distinct operations.


Redshift drift is a tool to directly probe the expansion history of the universe. Based on the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker framework, we reconstruct the velocity drift and deceleration factor for several cosmological models using observational H(z) data from the differential ages of galaxies and baryon acoustic oscillation peaks, luminosity distance of Type Ia supernovae, cosmic microwave background shift parameter, and baryon acoustic oscillation distance parameter. They can, for the first time, provide an objective and quantifiable measure of the redshift drift. We find that reconstructed velocity drift with different peak values and corresponding redshifts can potentially provide a method to distinguish the quality of competing dark energy models at low redshifts. Better fitting between models and observational data indicate that current data are insufficient to distinguish the quality of these models. However, by comparing with the simulated velocity drift from Liske et al, we find that the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati model is inconsistent with the data at high redshift, which originally piqued the interest of researchers in the topic of redshift drift. Considering the deceleration factor, we are able to give a stable instantaneous estimation of a transition redshift of zt ∼ 0.7 from joint constraints, which incorporates a more complete set of values than the previous study that used a single data set.


BACKGROUND
Limited health literacy disproportionately affects those with limited English proficiency (LEP). Parents with LEP might rely on their adolescent children to interpret health information. We call this adolescent healthcare brokering. This study uncovers the prevalence of brokering, kinds of tasks, emotional and academic impact, and desired support.

METHODS
We invited 165 students from health classes (in a community in which 29.8% are foreign-born and 53.4% speak another language at home) to complete a survey. We used IBM SPSS to calculate descriptive statistics.

RESULTS
Of the 159 who received parental consent and assented, 54.1% (N = 86) assist with healthcare tasks. When brokering, 80.2% (N = 69) translate. Most common tasks were talking to a doctor, reading prescriptions, and searching on the Internet. Participants were most confident reading prescriptions and talking to a doctor and least confident finding healthcare services. Among brokers, 29.1% (N = 24) missed school; 33.7% did not complete homework. They most wanted to learn about filling out insurance forms and talking to doctors.

CONCLUSIONS
Despite assurances that children are not permitted to interpret, adolescents are acting as healthcare brokers. The impact can be academic and emotional. Findings indicate a need for further research and support for adolescents who want to learn about healthcare tasks.


With the real-time observation data recorded by wind tower in Fengyi,Maoxian County during June 2009 to May 2010,the parameters of wind energy resources in wind farm were calculated and analyzed in detail.In Maoxian County,the wind speed is great throughout the year,the wind direction is stable,the wind starts at regular time,and the wind speed during 12:00 to 20:00 reaches the requirements for construction of wind farm.There are lots of advantages for building wind farm here,as the wind energy resources are rich,which is good complementary to the hydropower,and may conduce less farmland impropriation,less immigration,and less environmental pollution,also has the national policy supports here.The wind in Maoxian County,with the characteristics of gradually changed from the easterly wind in the lower layer to westerly wind in the higher layer,and the wind speed decreases from the bottom up,may course the turbine height for erection of wind power to be relatively low,where only the small or medium sized wind farm,other than large-scale wind farm,is suitable for constructing,and has certain value for development and utilization.


Availability of potable water is a problem especially in developing countries as their water sources are often contaminated biologically as well as by heavy metals. Electrochemical methods are suitable for field application to monitor heavy metal contents. Noble metal electrodes with large surface areas are the subject of intensive development as they can yield an improved signal-to-noise ratio, enhanced sensitivity, and lower limits of detection (LOD). Here, we present a nanostructured Au microelectrode array subsequently modified by selective electrodeposition in lithographically defined circles within a partially cross-linked gelatin layer. This method increased its surface area by a factor of ≈1440 in comparison with an original lithography-based prepared array. The Au surface properties can be tailored by a degree of gelatin layer cross-linking. We used this array for an ultrasensitive detection of the As3+ ions content by stripping voltammetry achieving LOD of ≈0.0212 parts per billion (signal-to-noise ratio = 3.3), 470× below the content limit recommended by the World Health Organization for potable water. These nanostructured arrays were used to detect ions of other metals such as Cr, Cd, Hg, Cu, and Sb. In combination with a portable electrochemical device, we can envision an ultrasensitive heavy metal detection system for field application to monitor heavy metal contamination.


Objective: To investigate the clinical significance of the primary tumor size in patients with endometrial carcinoma (EC). Methods: A total of 385 patients with EC admitted to Peking University People's Hospital from January 2006 to December 2016 with complete follow up data were selected, whose tumor size data before biopsy were retrospectively studied. Results: (1) The mean diameter of the primary tumor was (3.6±1.8) cm (range: 1-15 cm). And 48 cases were 0-<2 cm, 78 cases were 2-<3 cm, 92 cases were 3-<4 cm, 73 cases were 4-<5 cm, 94 cases were ≥5 cm. The diameter of the tumor was associated with age <60 years old, premenopause, CA125≥35 kU/L, non-parturition, poor differentiation, stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ, depth of myometrial infiltration ≥1/2, cervical interstitial involvement, adnexal metastasis and lymph node metastasis (all P<0.05), but not associated with body mass index, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, pathology, lymph-vascular space invasion (all P>0.05). (2) Among the 334 patients underwent lymphadenectomy, 45 (13.5%, 45/334) cases with lymph node metastasis were observed. Stratified analysis showed that lymph node metastasis and recurrence rate of patients with EC gradually increased with the increase of tumor size (P<0.05). Adopting 2, 3, 4 and 5 cm as cut-off values of tumor size, there were significant differences in the rate of lymph node metastasis and recurrence among them observed (P<0.05), except for lymph node metastasis rate and recurrence rate when the cut-off value was 2 cm (P>0.05). (3) An receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that a tumor diameter of 4.25 cm was the cut-off prognostic value to predict lymph node metastasis and recurrence of EC. Conclusions: Tumor diameter is significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis and recurrence in patients with EC. Tumor size should be considered in determining the scope of surgery and adjuvant therapy.


As a first step towards identifying genes involving in the signal transduction pathways mediating rice blast resistance, we isolated 3 mutants lines that showed enhanced susceptibility to rice blast KJ105 (91-033) from a T-DNA insertion library of the japonica rice cultivar, Hwayeong. Since none of the susceptible phenotypes co-segregated with the T-DNA insertion we adapted a map-based cloning strategy to isolate the gene(s) responsible for the enhanced susceptibility of the Hwayeong mutants. A genetic mapping population was produced by crossing the resistant wild type Hwayeong with the susceptible cultivar, Nagdong. Chi-square analysis of the F2 segregating population indicated that resistance in Hwayeong was controlled by a single major gene that we tentatively named Pi-hy. Randomly selected susceptible plants in the F2 population were used to build an initial map of Pi-hy. The SSLP marker RM2265 on chromosome 2 was closely linked to resistance. High resolution mapping using 105 F2 plants revealed that the resistance gene was tightly linked, or identical, to Pib, a resistance gene with a nucleotide binding sequence and leucine-rich repeats (NB-LRR) previously isolated. Sequence analysis of the Pib locus amplified from three susceptible mutants revealed lesions within this gene, demonstrating that the Pi-hy gene is Pib. The Pib mutations in 1D-22-10-13, 1D-54-16-8, and 1C-143-16-1 were, respectively, a missense mutation in the conserved NB domain 3, a nonsense mutation in the 5th LRR, and a nonsense mutation in the C terminus following the LRRs that causes a small deletion of the C terminus. These findings provide evidence that NB domain 3 and the C terminus are required for full activity of the plant R gene. They also suggest that alterations of the resistance gene can cause major differences in pathogen specificity by affecting interactions with an avirulence factor.


The permeability is one of the most important reservoir parameters and its accurate prediction is necessary for reservoir management and enhancement. Although many empirical formulas are derived regarding permeability and porosity in sandstone reservoirs [1], these correlations cannot be modified accurately in carbonate reservoir for the wells which are not cored and there is no welltest data. Therefore estimation of these parameters is a challenge in reservoirs with no coring sample and welltest data. One of the most powerful tools to estimate permeability from well logs is Artificial Neural Network (ANN) whose advantages and disadvantages have been discussed by several authors [2]. In this paper, 767 core data sets and their corresponding well logs were taken from five wells of a reservoir in south west of IRAN. Depth, NPHI, PHOB, DT and total porosity were used as the input data and horizontal permeability obtained by coring was as target data. 60% of these data points were used for training and the remaining for predicting the permeability (validation and test).An ANN was developed and a correlation coefficient of 0.965 was obtained by comparing permeability predictions and the actual measurements. Data sets are well log and core data of a reservoir.


MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNAs that epigenetically regulate gene expression. MiR-200c is a known tumor suppressive microRNA found in many types of cancer, and its high expression has been associated with improved prognosis. However, the association between miR-200c expression and its clinical relevance in gastric cancer (GC) patients remains controversial. Here, we hypothesized that gastric cancer patients with high miR-200c gene expression translated to better overall survival. A total of 372 GC patients from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) were analyzed. The top three quartiles were defined as a high miR-200c expression group. High miR-200c expression was associated with decreased invasion, favorable histological type, and improved overall survival in gastric cancer patients. Unexpectedly, high miR-200c expression GC was also associated with enhanced cell proliferation, shown by MKi67 expression, proliferation score, and enrichment of Hallmark cell proliferation-related gene sets (E2F targets, G2M checkpoints, MYC targets v1 and v2) by gene set enrichment assay (GSEA). High miR-200c GC was also associated with a high mutation rate and homologous recombination deficiency. Despite the association with elevated neoantigens, high miR-200c GC was associated with significantly low infiltration of anti-cancer immune cells, decreased immune response, and with suppressed IL2, TNF-α, and IFN-γ pathways. On the other hand, GC with low miR-200c expression significantly enriched hypoxia, angiogenesis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and TGF-β signaling gene sets, all of which promote cancer progression and metastasis in GSEA. In conclusion, patients with high miR-200c expression GC had better survival despite association with aggressive tumor biology, such as high mutation rates, cell proliferation, and low cancer immunity. Given that low miR-200c GC was associated with hypoxia, angiogenesis, EMT and TGF-β signaling, we cannot help but speculate that the difference in survival by miR-200c expression may be at least partly due to the association between low miR-200c expression and aggressive biology.


The neuroactive steroid, 3a-hydroxy-4-pregnen-20-one (3alphaHP), is a metabolite of progesterone and a precursor of 3alpha-hydroxy-5alpha-pregnan-20-one (5alphaP3alpha; allopregnanolone). In addition to analgesic and anxiolytic effects by interaction with the GABA(A) receptor complex, 3alphaHP regulates pituitary FSH secretion by rapid non-genomic interaction with the Ca2+-driven cell signaling mechanisms. Since gonadectomy and adrenalectomy do not result in elimination of 3alphaHP, and since there is the possibility of paracrine and/or autocrine regulation of FSH release, the capacity of pituitary cells to regulate levels (by synthesis, metabolism, and storage) of 3alphaHP was examined. Anterior pituitaries from random cycling female rats were incubated, either as fragments or as cultured cells, for 1, 4 or 8 h with 3H- or 14C-labeled progesterone. The steroid metabolites were identified by thin-layer chromatography, autoradiography, high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC), derivatization and GC/MS. Pituitary cells actively converted progesterone to 3alphaHP along with 5alphaP3alpha, 5alpha-pregnane-3,20-dione, 20alpha-hydroxy-5alpha-pregnan-3-one, 3beta-hydroxy-5alpha-pregnan-20-one, 5alpha-pregnane-3alpha(beta), 20alpha-diols, 20alpha-hydroxy-4-pregnen-3-one, and 4-pregnene-3alpha(beta), 20alpha-diols. The results indicate the presence of the following steroidogenic enzymes in anterior pituitary cells: 3alpha-hydroxysteroid oxidoreductase (3alpha-HSO), 20alpha-HSO, 3beta-HSO, and 5alpha-reductase. The activities of 5alpha-reductase and 3alpha-HSO were approximately equal and greatly exceeded those of the other enzymes. After 8 h of incubation with 100 ng progesterone per pituitary, about 20% of the progesterone was metabolized and 3.18 ng of 3alphaHP had been formed. The accumulation of 3alphaHP increased approximately linearly with the time of incubation. Metabolism studies using [1,2,6,7-(3)H]3alphaHP showed that pituitary cells convert about 29% and 8% of the 3alphaHP to progesterone and 5alphaP3alpha, respectively, in 2 h. Specific radioimmunoassays determined 11.6 and 7.5 ng of 3alphaHP per pituitary, respectively, in 25- and 40-day-old non-cycling female rats; these concentrations of 3alphaHP were about 2-3-fold greater than those of progesterone in the same pituitaries. In older (80-100 days old) cycling rats, the levels of 3alphaHP were about 9.4 and 18.6 ng/pituitary at 13.00 h and 22.00 h, respectively, on the day of proestrus, while the concomitant circulating levels were 13.7 and 5.4 ng/ml. The results indicate a marked capacity of rat pituitary cells to synthesize the neuroactive and FSH regulating steroid, 3alphaHP, from progesterone, and in turn to metabolize 3alphaHP to the neurosteroid, allopregnanolone, and to progesterone. The studies suggest cyclic biosynthetic and metabolic pathways for 3alphaHP and other steroids in the pituitary. They also indicate that the regulation of FSH secretion by 3alphaHP may be (in part, or in whole) via paracrine or autocrine mechanisms.


Electromagnetic observations of the sky have been the basis for our study of the Universe for millennia, cosmic ray studies are now entering their second century, the first neutrinos from an astrophysical source were identified three decades ago, and gravitational waves were directly detected only four years ago. Detections of these messengers are now common. Astrophysics will undergo a revolution in the 2020s as multimessenger detections become routine. The 8th Astro2020 Thematic Area is Multimessenger Astronomy and Astrophysics, which includes the identification of the sources of gravitational waves, astrophysical and cosmogenic neutrinos, cosmic rays, and gamma-rays, and the coordinated multimessenger and multiwavelength follow-ups. Identifying and characterizing multimessenger sources enables science throughout and beyond astrophysics. Success in the multimessenger era requires: (i) sensitive coverage of the non-electromagnetic messengers, (ii) full coverage of the electromagnetic spectrum, with either fast-response observations or broad and deep high-cadence surveys, and (iii) improved collaboration, communication, and notification platforms.


Previous studies have found gender differences in carpal kinematics, and there are discrepancies in the literature on the location of the flexionextension and radio-ulnar deviation rotation axes of the wrist. It has been postulated that these differences are due to carpal bone size differences rather than gender and that they may be resolved by normalizing the kinematics by carpal size. The purpose of this study was to determine if differences in radio-capitate kinematics are a function of size or gender. We also sought to determine if a best-fit pivot point (PvP) describes the radio-capitate joint as a ball-and-socket articulation. By using an in vivo markerless bone registration technique applied to computed tomography scans of 26 male and 28 female wrists, we applied scaling derived from capitate length to radio-capitate kinematics, characterized by a best-fit PvP. We determined if radio-capitate kinematics behave as a ball-and-socket articulation by examining the error in the best-fit PvP. Scaling PvP location completely removed gender differences (P=0.3). This verifies that differences in radio-capitate kinematics are due to size and not gender. The radio-capitate joint did not behave as a perfect ball and socket because helical axes representing anatomical motions such as flexion-extension, radio-ulnar deviation, dart throwers, and antidart throwers, were located at distances up to 4.5 mm from the PvP. Although the best-fit PvP did not yield a single center of rotation, it was still consistently found within the proximal pole of the capitate, and rms errors of the best-fit PvP calculation were on the order of 2 mm. Therefore, the ball-and-socket model of the wrist joint center using the best-fit PvP is appropriate when considering gross motion of the hand with respect to the forearm such as in optical motion capture models. However, the ball-and-socket model of the wrist is an insufficient description of the complex motion of the capitate with respect to the radius. These findings may aid in the design of wrist external fixation and orthotics.


Dudaim melon (Cucumis melo Group Dudaim) is a unique edible melon for which few postharvest physiology studies have been conducted. To investigate the postharvest behavior of dudaim melon, two cultivars (Zangi-Abad and Kermanshah) were planted, tagged at anthesis, and harvested at two maturity stages: 21 and 28 d after anthesis (DAA). Harvested fruit were stored at 5 or 13 °C for up to 3 weeks and various quality parameters including color, firmness, titratable acidity (TA), total soluble solids (TSS), weight loss, chilling injury (CI), ethylene production, protein content, glucose content, fructose content, sucrose content, and maltose content were assessed during storage. After 3 weeks of storage at 13 °C, early-harvested fruit (21 DAA) had relatively similar color values (L*, lightness; a*, green–red tones; b*, blue–yellow tones) and TA compared with late-harvested fruit (28 DAA); however, some quality traits, such as TSS, were not similar. Ethylene content decreased initially after harvest and then started to increase during storage at 13 °C. For most treatments, glucose and fructose contents decreased whereas sucrose and maltose contents increased with advancing maturity. Increased ethylene production, in concert with color development at 13 °C, similar to ripe fruit, and the changing balance of measured mono- and disaccharide sugars in harvested fruit likely indicates 'Kermanshah' is climacteric. Results for 'Zangi-Abad' were not as definitive. Dudaim melon fruit can be harvested at an optimum stage of maturity, similar to known climacteric melon fruit, and then allowed to ripen at proper storage temperatures before consumption. Based on the results of this study, we recommend that harvest at 21 DAA and storage at a nonchilling temperature such as 13 °C are the optimal stage and temperature for long storage purposes.


Recently experimentally determined individual (fine structure) line strengths for the spectra of NI, FI, and NeII are analysed, searching for regularities resulting from similarities in the structure of these species. Strengths of spectral lines of the prominent 3S-3p and 3p-3d transition arrays are investigated. The absolute scales of these experimentally derived data are based on independently determined lifetimes for excited levels of NI, FI, and NeII. The simple Coulomb approximation method was applied for calculations of the matrix elements for the "jumping" electron in order to obtain an average trend in line strengths of the studied emitters. In the case of the isoelectronic species (FI, NeII), additionally the trend resulting from the perturbation theory is taken for comparison. Except the trend study of the absolute scale, the strengths of individual lines within analogous multiplets (in a relative scale) are investigated and compared with data resulting from LS coupling scheme and with semi-empirical calculations. PACS numbers: 32.30.—r, 32.70.Cs


The excavator is used in a variety of construction environments. There are many kinds of risk like falling rocks or harmful dust. The excavator cabin protects the operator not only from these harmful environments but also provides a comfortable working environment. By the way, the excavator cabin consumes a lot of energy for cabin air conditioner. For this reason, the research is required to reduce energy consumption. This study suggests the air conditioning system for excavator using forced exhaust. First, the forced exhaust system simulated by AMESim tool and surveyed the applicability. Using AMESim simulation, it was investigated the effect of cabin inside temperature by intake flow rate and intake air temperature. The experiment executed using the 1.5 ton excavator and field tested according to the intake flow rate. Finally, verified the applicability on the air conditioning system for excavator using forced exhaust.


The increasing usage in recent years of trendy, but often ill-defined, terms such as 'lifelong learning' (see Edwards, Raggatt, Harrison, McCollum and Calder, 1998), 'the learning society' (for example, National Grid for Learning, http://www.dfee.gov.uk/grid/challenge/ govermhtm), or 'learning country' (for example, Welsh Office, 1998; ETAG, 1999) indicates the importance that both the public and private sectors attach to the establishment of a learning culture. This has included the recognition that, in order to achieve such a culture, access to learning must be made easier and existing barriers removed. Edwards and his coauthors (1998) maintain that most experts see lifelong learning as a rallying cry, rather than a specific policy. This statement holds true for many similar slogans, but what they have in common is 'the power to unite various stakeholders around the need for change, because it has emerged as a response to today's challenges' (Edwards et al, 1998). DOI: 10.1080/0968776000080303


The objective of this report is to know the result of endodontic treatment in primary teeth which is obstructed in one root canal. The patient had the problem with her primary teeth which needed treated to eliminate the infection. The treatment was done in pulp treatment procedure. We found there is root canal obstruction and radiolucency in bifurcation. We prepared the other one following root canal treatment procedure. After few month the radiolucency in bifurcation can be reduced significantly.


Following the coronavirus outbreak, and especially before infl ation became a key factor in this period, several crisis management proposals raised the possibility of a universal basic income, which could be backed by the central bank's money creation. Th e following paper is an essay that seeks to grasp the political economic meaning and implications of the propositions related to helicopter money and basic income. We cannot avoid observing the essence of these proposals, presented fundamentally as a distribution-related issue, in the historical context of value, work and money creation. Helicopter money appears in this light as a new paradigm of extensive growth, which at fi rst glance comes off as a fi nancial innovation, but paradoxically rather bears a relationship with a pre-capitalist conception of value. Moreover, helicopter money is a wage-substitute transfer that does not respond to the social and symbolic void that has replaced work. It appears to be a welfare instrument, while it can only rest on the separation of production and consumption on a global scale. Helicopter money is an extension of quantitative easing by other means, which unveils the motives for money creation. It is an overture to the thought experiments of 'value without work' and 'economy without people'. 1


Objective T o evaluate golimumab's effect on MRI-detected infl ammation and structural damage in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) despite methotrexate (MTX). Methods Patients (n=444) were randomly assigned to placebo plus MTX, golimumab 100 mg plus placebo, golimumab 50 mg plus MTX, or golimumab 100 mg plus MTX (subcutaneous injections every 4 weeks). A subset of 240 patients participated in an MRI substudy. MRIs (1.5T+contrast enhancement) of the dominant wrist and metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints were obtained at baseline and weeks 12 and 24. Images were scored by two independent, blinded readers for synovitis (0–9 wrist only (n=240), 0–21 wrist+MCP (n=223)), bone oedema (osteitis) (0–69) and bone erosions (0–230) using the OMERACT Rheumatoid Arthritis MRI Scoring system. Results Signifi cant improvements in synovitis and bone oedema (osteitis) were observed in the combined golimumab plus MTX groups versus placebo plus MTX at week 12 (−1.77 vs −0.15, p<0.001 wrist+MCP and −2.00 vs 0.19, p=0.003, respectively) and week 24 (−1.91 vs −0.38, p<0.001 wrist+MCP and −1.74 vs 0.71, p=0.004, respectively). Fewer than 10% of patients had a substantial degree of erosive progression (most showed no progression) across all treatment groups (including the control group), precluding adequate evaluation of golimumab's effect on bone erosions. Conclusion Golimumab plus MTX signifi cantly improved MRI-detected synovitis and osteitis (prognosticators of future structural damage) versus placebo plus MTX at weeks 12 and 24. The effect of golimumab on bone erosions could not be determined by semi-quantitative scoring in these RA patients with minimal progression of bone erosions.


In September 1717, King George I of Great Britain and Ireland issued a royal proclamation calling for the suppression of piracy and offered amnesty for those individuals who would abandon their ways. For decades, pirates were the scourge of the Atlantic, committing the most heinous acts of robbery, murder, and terror at sea. The War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1713) resulted in the expansion of the already extensive British Empire, leaving it as the foremost naval power in Europe. With the death of Queen Anne in 1714 and the ascendency of the Hanoverian monarchy, the Whig party established a supremacy over Parliament that would last for almost half a century. However, the Whigs were not without their opponents as Tories, Jacobites, and Catholics remained potential threats to this newly established political monopoly. In an effort to consolidate and extend their power, the Whigs employed a new tactic: utilizing the suppression of piracy in a propaganda campaign to intimidate enemies at home by demonstrating the lengths the government was willing to go to eliminate dissent within the state. This paper will focus on how the British government, under Sir Robert Walpole, publicized its anti-piracy campaign through books and newspapers in the public sphere to secure its grip on power as well as examine the contested use of pirate discourse between the Whig oligarchy and its opposition.