Background: India is heading towards various types of non-communicable diseases, which are also known as modern epidemics. Among these modern epidemics cancer is among the ten commonest cause of mortality in developing countries including India. Oral cancer is a major problem in India and accounts for 50-70% of all the cancers diagnosed. Ninety percent (90%) of oral cancers in South East Asia including India are linked to tobacco chewing and tobacco smoking. Research question: What is the profile of Oral cancer (Oral cavity) cases reported in the hospital? Objective: To study the clinico-epidemiological profile associated with Oral cancer cases. Methods: Study Design: Hospital based, Cross -sectional study. Settings: Shri Siddhivinayak Ganapati Cancer Hospital, Miraj, Maharashtra. Participants and Sample size: As it is a time bound study sample size comprised of all the confirmed cases of oral cancer reported in the hospital during the study period. The study was carried out from 1st March 2005 to 28th February 2006. Study variables included demographic factors, socioeconomic factors, enquiries regarding modifiable risk factors such as tobacco usage, alcohol consumption, site involved (within oral cavity), staging, histopathological examination, treatment modality used. Data entry and statistical analysis was done using Microsoft excel. Data presented in form of percentages and proportions. Results: Out of the total 160 cases, majority of the subjects were above 40 years age. 36 (22%) of subjects were young adults (below 40 years age). 125 (78%) subjects were male. Most of the subjects belonged to upper lower and lower middle socio-economic scale according to modified Kuppuswamy classification. It was observed that 139 (87%) cases consumed tobacco in all forms. Out of these, ninety cases consumed tobacco in chewable form. Tobacco was chewed mainly in the form of gutka. Only ten (10) female subjects chewed tobacco. No female subjects smoked. The most common site for oral cancer was tongue. Histopathologically 52 (32.5%) cases were well differentiated squamous cell carcinoma, 37 (23%) cases were moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinoma and 34 (21%) cases as poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. 37 (23%) cases were diagnosed as Oral Verrucous Carcinoma (a rare variant of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma). 72% cases were in either stage II or stage III. Conclusions: The most common site for oral cancer was tongue and histopathologically majority of the cases were well differentiated squamous cell carcinoma presented in advanced stages of disease. We observed higher proportion of oral cancers among young patients (below 40 years). Proportion of Oral Verrucous Carcinoma (OVC) which is a rare variant of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma was also high in the study.


Symmetry is ubiquitous in nature, in logic and mathematics, and in perception, language, and thought. Although humans are exquisitely sensitive to visual symmetry (e.g., of a butterfly), linguistic symmetry goes far beyond visuospatial properties: Many words refer to abstract, logically symmetrical concepts (e.g., equal, marry). This raises a question: Do representations of symmetry correspond across language and vision, and if so, how? To address this question, we used a cross-modal matching paradigm. On each trial, adult participants observed a visual stimulus (either symmetrical or non-symmetrical) and had to choose between a symmetrical and non-symmetrical English predicate unrelated to the stimulus (e.g., "negotiate" vs. "propose"). In a first study with visual events (symmetrical collision or asymmetrical launch), participants reliably chose the predicate matching the event's symmetry. A second study showed that this "matching" generalized to static objects, and was weakened when the stimuli's binary-relational nature was made less apparent (i.e., one object with a symmetrical contour, rather than two symmetrically configured objects). Taken together, our findings support the existence of an abstract relational concept of symmetry which humans access via both perceptual and linguistic means. More broadly, this work sheds light on the rich, structured nature of the language-cognition interface, and points towards a possible avenue for acquisition of word-to-world mappings for the seemingly inaccessible logical symmetry of linguistic terms.


This special edition contains several of the keynote addresses presented at IEA2012, the 18th Triennial Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA). This was a truly international event with attendees from more than 49 countries. Those of us who attended IEA2012 witnessed an important point in history. This was the first IEA Congress to be held in Latin America, which drew more than 300 attendees from the region. The decision to hold this IEA Congress in this part of the world showed the foresight of the IEA officers and council who made that decision and the courage of the Assocação Brasileira de Ergonomia (ABERGO) for taking on this groundbreaking challenge. The location, representation, and diverse content reflected the current global realities, growth potential, and composition of the IEA.


The objective of the study was to compare the expression of immunohistochemical (IHC) markers of oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) (non-transformed group) to those of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) transformed from OSMF (transformed group). The search for comparative cross-sectional studies was carried out in PubMed and Scopus abiding to the PICO criteria, where expression of IHC markers in OSMF were compared with that of OSCC transformed from OSMF. The cellular distribution, number of positive cases, staining intensity, and mean immunoreactive score (IRS) of each IHC marker were evaluated in both groups. A total of 14 studies were included in the systematic review, in which immunoexpression of 15 epithelial and 4 connective tissue biomarkers were evaluated. Expression of β1-integrin, OCT-3, CD1a, CD207, survivin, Dickkopf-1, COX-2, hTERT, CTGF, MDM2, Ki-67, and α-SMA were increased during transformation of OSMF to OSCC. Conversely, expression of PTEN and lysyl oxidase decreased during transformation of OSMF to OSCC. Expression of a group of epithelial markers, such as COX2, hTERT, CTGF, survivin, MDM2, and p53, was 38 times lower in the non-transformed group cases compared to transformed group cases (95% CI: 58% to 10%; p = 0.01; and I2 = 90%). Meta-analysis of all markers involved in cell metabolism/apoptosis, which included β1-integrin along with the above markers also suggested 42 times lower expression in the non-transformed group as compared to the transformed group (95% CI: 58% to 10%; p = 0.01; and I2 = 90%). Sub-group analyses on cytoplasmic and nuclear epithelial markers were inconclusive. Meta-analysis of connective tissue markers was also inconclusive. No publication bias was found. Instead of delving into numerous markers without a strong basis for their use, it is advisable to further study the markers identified in this study to explore their clinical utility.


When training neural rankers using Large Language Models, it's expected that a practitioner would make use of multiple GPUs to accelerate the training time. By using more devices, deep learning frameworks, like PyTorch, allow the user to drastically increase the available VRAM pool, making larger batches possible when training, therefore shrinking training time. At the same time, one of the most critical processes, that is generally overlooked when running data-hungry models, is how data is managed between disk, main memory and VRAM. Most open source research implementations overlook this memory hierarchy, and instead resort to loading all documents from disk to main memory and then allowing the frame-work (e.g., PyTorch) to handle moving data into VRAM. Therefore, with the increasing sizes of datasets dedicated to IR research, a natural question arises: Is this the optimal solution for optimizing training time? We here study how three different popular approaches to handling documents for IR datasets behave and how they scale with multiple GPUs. Namely, loading documents directly into memory, reading documents directly from text files with a lookup table and using a library for handling IR datasets ( ir_datasets ) differ, both in performance (i.e. samples processed per second) and memory footprint. We show that, when using the most popular libraries for neural ranker research (i.e. PyTorch and Hugging Face's Transform-ers), the practice of loading all documents into main memory is not always the fastest option and is not feasible for setups with more than a couple GPUs. Meanwhile, a good implementation of data streaming from disk can be faster, while being considerably more scalable. We also show how popular techniques for improving loading times, like memory pining, multiple workers, and RAMDISK usage, can reduce the training time further with minor memory overhead.


When publishing research in journals, a number of ethical and practical issues arise that need to be addressed by editors. These issues range from a bias towards including only positive results in articles submitted for publication to a requirement for authors to provide signed statements of financial involvement with commercial organisations.


Introduction: Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), implemented in the United States (US), aim to reduce costs and integrate care by aligning incentives among providers and payers. Canadian governments are interested adopting such models to integrate care, though comparative studies assessing the applicability and transferability of ACOs in Canada are lacking. In this comparative study, we performed a narrative literature review to examine how Canadian health systems could support ACO models. Methods: We reviewed empirical studies (published 2011–2020) that evaluated ACO impacts in the US. Thematic analysis and critical appraisal were performed to identify factors associated with positive ACO impacts. These factors were compared with the Canadian context to assess the applicability and transferability of ACO models within Canada. Findings: Physician-led models, global budgets and financial incentives, and focus on collaborative care may optimize ACO impacts. While reforms towards alternative payments and team-based care are not unprecedented in Canada, significant further reforms to physician remuneration, intersectoral collaboration, and accountability for performance are required to support ACO-like models. Conclusion: This comparative study uncovered several insights on the applicability and transferability of ACOs to the Canadian context. Further comparative research outside the US is needed to infer the essential components of successful ACO models.


This article advances feminist organizational theorizing about embodiment and subjectivity by investigating menopause at work as a temporally constituted phenomenon. We ask how time matters in women's embodied and subjective experiences of menopause at work. Theoretically, we draw on feminist writers McNay and Grosz to explore the relationship between gendered agency and time in a corpus of 48 qualitative interviews conducted with women employed at two Australian universities about their experiences of menopause. Our empirical analysis identifies three temporal modalities – episodic, helical and relational – that show how gendered organizational subjectivities are not simply temporally situated, but created in and through distinct temporal forces. We offer two contributions to feminist organizational theory: first, by illuminating the ontological role played by time in gendered agency; and second, by fleshing out the notion of a 'body politics of surprise' with implications for feminist studies of organizational embodiment, politics and ethics.


Embryotoxicity and effects on the incidence of external malformations of the major potato glycoalkaloid alpha-chaconine (alpha-cha) were studied in rats. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 17) were given a continuous intravenous infusion of alpha-cha via implanted osmotic minipumps (1.7 mg/kg/day), to maintain a stable blood concentration on days 6-13 of gestation. Control animals received physiological saline solution or were left untreated, respectively. Blood serum levels of alpha-cha were monitored at selected time intervals during the treatment using a specific HPLC method. The foetal body weights and the number of resorbed or dead foetuses per litter in the alpha-cha treated group were not significantly different from the control groups. No case of malformation was detected among 143 foetuses inspected in the treated group. The average maternal blood serum concentration of alpha-cha measured during the experiment was 340 ng/ml. This is more than 20 times the average peak serum level previously reported for human volunteers after intake of potatoes with a total glycoalkaloid content at the upper safe limit for acute adverse effects. The results support the view that potato glycoalkaloids, at levels normally found in potatoes, do not present a risk for teratogenicity in humans.


Space-shift keying (SSK) or spatial modulation can provide increased energy-efficiency by using antennas/beam switching to transfer data. Such links are attractive at mm-wave due to small physical size and potential applications in slow-varying short-range channels. Low-power pulsed phased-array mm-wave TX has been demonstrated that maintains energy-efficiency while providing beam switching functionality. In this work, a two-element mm-wave FSK/SSK RX is presented that can concurrently demodulate FSK and SSK by using relative outputs of a two-element combiner to detect angle-of-incidence. A 65-nm CMOS 68 GHz 2-element RX prototype is packaged with aperture-coupled PCB antennas to demonstrate >2 Gb/s data rates while consuming <30 mW across both elements. The first end-to-end CMOS SSK link using CMOS FSK-SSK TX and RX is demonstrated with 2 Gb/s data transfer across ˜6 cm in a reflective channel.


Caching is an important element to tackle performance issues in largely distributed data management. However, caches are efficient only if they are well configured according to the context of use. As a consequence, they are usually built from scratch. Such an approach appears to be expensive and time consuming in grids where the various characteristics lead to many heterogeneous cache requirements. This paper proposes a framework facilitating the construction of sophisticated and dynamically adaptable caches for heterogeneous applications. Such a framework has enabled the evaluation of several configurations for distributed data querying systems and leads us to propose innovative approaches for semantic and cooperative caching. This paper also reports the results obtained in bioinformatics data management on grids showing the relevance of our proposals. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


"Masters and Statesmen" delineates a provocative set of parallels between the proslavery argument, concepts of political representation, dueling, the theory and practice of political parties, and secession in the American South. "Slavery in the antebellum South", Kenneth Greenberg writes, "was intimately connected to a distinct set of political values and practices. Ultimately these...helped shape the form and content of conflict with the North." To assert their honor and their power, Southerners rose up against the Union; secession came to be seen, paradoxically, as the only way for the South to free itself from slavery.


Introduction. Klebsiella pneumoniae is often associated with nosocomial infections, especially in immature pediatric wards and intensive care, where the prolonged hospitalization and invasive procedures increase the risk.In this study we investigated the possibility of using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry for the rapid identification of bacteria and to be able to be used for epidemiological circulation of a particular strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae in a pediatric ward immature at Mercy hospital of Prato and Dolce. Materials and Methods. Twenty Klebsiella pneumoniae strains were isolated and analyzed The isolates were collected from clinical specimens (7 urine, 12 stool samples, 1 skin swab) from 15 patients (9 females and 6 males) of the Department of Pediatrics, Hospital Misericordia and Dolce during the period from May to November 2010. Samples were collected using eSwab containers for urine and swab the skin FecalSwab, for fecal samples, and processed on suitable culture media with theWasp system (Copan Italy Spa distributed by ada Ltd.). Of all isolates were performed identification and susceptibility testing with the automatic Vitek2 (bioMerieux) at the time of isolation, then frozen at -20 °C in Trypticase Soy Broth with 20% Glycerol (Becton Dickinson). Subsequently, the bacterial strains were thawed, subcultured on Columbia Blood Agar with 5% sheep (BioMerieux), typed by means of MALDI-TOF (Shimadzu Axima - Biomerieux) and performed an antibiogram by Kirby-Bauer method (Table 3) on Agar Mueller-Hinton (Liofilchem S.r.l.) and diskettes Bio-Rad. The spectra obtained by MALDI-TOF were analyzed and compared with software-AgnosTec SARAMIS, used in our laboratory, both for the identification of the strains for the construction of a dendrogram. Results.Twenty strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae were studied.They were isolated from clinical specimens (7 urine, 12 stool samples, 1 skin swab) from 15 patients (9 females and 6 males) of the Department of Pediatrics. Of all isolates was performed to identify and sensitivity with automaticVitek2 (bioMerieux) samples from Italian patients and divided stranieri cosi: 570 endocervical swabs (71.2%), 98 urethral swabs (12.2%), 78 seminal fluids (9.8%), and 54 urine (6.8%).The number of female subjects was higher than those of males [629 (78.5%) vs 172 (21.5%)], the average age of females was 38.4 ± 12.2 years while that of males was 47.7 ± 13.3 years. The prevalence of urogenital pathogens was: 13 T.vaginalis positive (1.6%), 52 for M.hominis (6.5%), 64 for M.genitalium (8.8%), 18 for C.trachomatis (2.2%), 2 for N.gonorrheae (0.2%) and 79 for U.urealyticum (9.9%): of all the 18 positive subjects were positive for more than one pathogen, namely: 1 totaled 4 pathogens, pathogens 5 for 3 and 9 for 2 pathogens. Conclusions.This study provides data on the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases in the hospital in Prato.


The perception of certain figures with illusory contours entails a reversal of figure and ground. It is hypothesized that this process occurs in two stages. First, some factor must suggest or cue the reversal. Experiments are described that isolate three such factors, namely, alignment of physically present contours, recognized incompletion of parts of the stimulus array, and set. Once cued, however, other experiments indicate that in a further stage of processing the solution is examined with respect to its compatibility with the stimulus display or with other perceptual properties to which the display gives rise. Only if such compatibility is present will the perception of a figure with illusory contours be maintained.


We study the localization properties of eigenvectors of the Google matrix, generated both from the world wide web and from the Albert-Barabási model of networks. We establish the emergence of a delocalization phase for the PageRank vector when network parameters are changed. For networks with localized PageRank, eigenvalues of the matrix in the complex plane with a modulus above a certain threshold correspond to localized eigenfunctions while eigenvalues below this threshold are associated with delocalized relaxation modes. We argue that, for networks with delocalized PageRank, the efficiency of information retrieval by Google-type search is strongly affected since the PageRank values have no clear hierarchical structure in this case.


The rise of "nudges " has inspired countless efforts to encourage individual choices that maximize personal and collective welfare, with a preference for less restrictive tools such as setting default options or reordering choice sets. As part of this trend, there has been renewed interest in the behavioral impacts of incentives-namely, rewards or penalties for shaping individual choices, including but not limited to financial incentives. Explicit incentives are pervasive in the law, including carrots offered by governments (for example, tax deductions for charitable contributions, rebates for recycling, sentence reductions for prisoners who complete drug rehabilitation programs, and incentives for criminal informants) and statutes or regulations that govern incentives offered by private parties (for example, workplace wellness programs, compensation for blood and organ donation, and pay-for-performance in executive compensation). But despite the intuitive appeal of incentives, legal commentators have expressed increasing alarm about a potential drawback: research in behavioral economics and psychology has come to show many ways in which the use of carrots and sticks may displace other motivations for good behavior, such as altruism, civic duty, or professionalism. In legal scholarship, prevailing views of motivational crowding-out-the process by which incentives can interfere with "intrinsic" motivations for behavior-suggest that this phenomenon is an irremediable response to incentive-based policies. This Article examines a large but neglected body of empirical and theoretical iterature on motivational crowding-out to show that these beliefs may be misguided. Motivational crowding-out is in fact a catch-all term for a diverse set ofcognitive and behavioral processes that range from longterm changes in preferences, to the impairment of self-determination, to a complex set of signals that incentives can send to people about their abilities, social environment, values, and employers. Far from being inevitable, motivational crowding-out is responsive to changes in the way we design


The investigations reported in this study were carried out to determine the feasibility and properties of alucone/Al2O3 hybrid nanolaminate films for thin film encapsulation (TFE) at low temperature, using an integrated molecular layer deposition (MLD) and atomic layer deposition (ALD) process. The combination of alucone (MLD) and Al2O3 (ALD), with O3 serving as the oxidant in place of conventional H2O, has been evaluated experimentally. In our studies, O3-based encapsulation layers were observed to be smoother, displaying an average roughness of 0.342 ± 0.016 nm with three laminate layers. However, H2O-based laminates showed a much higher roughness of 0.843 ± 0.024 nm under identical conditions. Estimates of water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) yielded significantly better results for O3-based laminates, with values decreasing linearly from 3.22 × 10−3 g m−2 per day to 2.37 × 10−5 g m−2 per day as the number of laminate layers increased from one to three, while a gentle decline trend from 1.83 × 10−3 g m−2 per day to 5.92 × 10−4 g m−2 per day was obtained for the H2O-based laminate. This indicates that the hybrid nanolaminates exhibited improved water barrier properties when O3 was used as the oxidant instead of H2O. In particular, the O3-based films did not decrease the performance of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). In fact, the lifetime of OLEDs with O3-based encapsulation was approximately two-fold longer than the H2O-based encapsulation. Thus, we believe that the alucone/Al2O3 hybrid encapsulation film, in which O3 serves as the oxidant, is a promising candidate for use in future OLED applications.


Understanding the relative importance of environmental variables on growth and productivity of macroalgae is key to understanding how they might be influenced by environmental change. This study evaluates spatial and temporal patterns in growth and productivity of the kelp Ecklonia radiata in Marmion Lagoon (Western Australia) and tested how well these patterns could be explained by temperature, light, water movement and nutrient concentrations. Growth rates (thallus extension and productivity, measured as biomass accumulation and massstandardised biomass accumulation) varied between seasons, with the highest rates observed during spring, followed by summer. Temperature and light best explained spatial patterns in growth and productivity of E. radiata. Bottom water velocity and nutrient concentrations typically explained less of the variation, but in some cases they were well-correlated with patterns in productivity. Temperature was the best explanatory variable in summer, when higher water temperatures were associated with lower growth and productivity. Light explained patterns in growth and productivity during winter and spring, when light intensities were lower at some sites, especially at deeper offshore sites, than in summer. The repeated associations between temperature or light and patterns in thallus extension and biomass accumulation suggest that these 2 variables are the most important influences on growth and productivity of E. radiata in Marmion Lagoon. This inference is supported by the knowledge that these 2 variables strongly influence rates of photosynthesis. Our findings suggest that a sustained increase in temperature or reduction in light will reduce growth and productivity of E. radiata.


Cello bowing techniques are classified by applying supervised machine learning methods to sensor data from two inertial sensors called the Orient specks -- one worn on the playing wrist and the other attached to the frog of the bow. Twelve different bowing techniques were considered, including variants on a single string and across multiple strings. Results are presented for the classification of these twelve techniques when played singly, and in combination during improvisational play. The results demonstrated that even when limited to two sensors, classification accuracy in excess of 95% was obtained for the individual bowing styles, with the added advantages of a minimalist approach.


Investigations were carried out to ascertain the incidence of urinary parasitic infections caused by T.vaginalis and S.haematobium among patients attending selected hospitals in Gboko Local Government area of Benue State, Nigeria. Four major hospitals namely Division hospital, Myom hospital, General hospital and Mkar hospital all in Gboko were assessed. A total number of 400 urine samples (100 from each hospital) were aseptically collected for microscopic preparations and analyses. Data were analysed and presented using both descriptive and inferential statistics. In Division Hospital Gboko, 22% of the patients were infected with T.vaginalis while 9% were infected with S.haematobium. In Myom Hospital Gboko, 9% were infected with T.vaginalis while 12% were infected with S.haematobium. Mkar Hospital Gboko recorded 4% cases of infection with T.vaginalis while 6% were infected with S.haematobium with a case of co-infection. General Hospital Gboko recorded the highest number of infection cases with 26% T.vaginalis , 41% S.haematobium and 9% co-infection . Based on occupational status from combined data, farmers recorded the highest prevalence of 8.5% (T.vaginalis) and 6.25% (S.haematobium), followed by students and entrepreneurs Combined data from the four hospitals using a population size of 400 patients in Gboko Local Government, the total prevalence rate of infection caused by T.vaginalis was 15.25% and S.haematobium 17%, co-infection was prevalent at 2.5%. Statistically, there was no significant levels of associations between urinary tract infections and occupational status of patients with 95% confidence limit. This work has therefore revealed that farmers have high incidence rates of infections caused by T.vaginalis and S.haematobium due to their educational background and exposure. Hence, the need for an enlightenment program for this category of people attending different hospitals in Gboko Local Government area.


This paper considers the codebook for low bit-rate speech coding by code-excited linear prediction (CELP) and the mapping table for the channel code. It also proposes an optimization procedure for sequential training based on the structured excitation codebook. In the discussions of structurization of the codebook, the conjugate structure to represent the output by the sum of two vectors, the pitch synchronized processing, rotating use of the codebook, the time-domain sloped gain, and the integrated mapping to the channel code are considered. The distortion measure used in the training is the same closed-loop measure as is used in the coding. In other words, the distortion between the input speech and the synthesized speech at the perceptually weighted filter output is minimized. By training the codebook, the SNR of the coded speech is improved by approximately 1 dB. The improvement in speech quality is also verified. It is also verified that the robustness against bit error can be improved by the training of the mapping table to the channel code, as well as by training based on the distortion measure considering bit error.


bcl-2 protein which protects cells from apoptosis is found to be expressed in several neoplastic and non neoplastic tissues. bcl-2 is consistently expressed in normal thyroid tissue but the regulation of its expression in thyroid tumors derived from the follicular cells remains to be discovered. In this study, we have assessed bcl-2 expression in different samples of non neoplastic and neoplastic thyroid tissues. Sixteen papillary carcinomas (including four papillary carcinomas of follicular variant), eight follicular carcinomas and five undifferentiated carcinomas were selected for this study. The tissues were routinely fixed and paraffin embedded. Four cases of normal thyroid tissue, four cases of Hashimoto's thyroiditis and five cases of thyroid tissue with Graves' disease were also investigated. Immunohistochemistry was performed with an anti-bcl-2 monoclonal antibody on paraffin sections. bcl-2 was highly expressed in normal follicular cells but also in follicles of Hashimoto's thyroiditis and Graves' disease while its expression appeared to be downregulated in papillary (14 cases on 16), in follicular (five cases on eight) and undifferentiated (five cases on five) carcinomas. However, in five carcinoma cases (one papillary, one papillary follicular variant, three of follicular type), bcl-2 expression was similar or higher than in normal tissue. The highest expression of bcl-2 was observed in one case of follicular carcinoma with large amounts of atypical cells. bcl-2 protein seems to play a more important role in non-neoplastic thyroid cells rather than in carcinoma cells. The heterogeneity of its expression in thyroid neoplasms opens the question as to whether bcl-2 detection could serve as a prognostic factor in such tumors. This question could be answered on large series of cases with concomitant analysis of clinical data.


Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2002. 221pp. Euro 63.55. C. Mark McCormick has published his thought-provoking dissertation supervised by John Van Seters with Jack M. Sasson serving on his committee. This book is a study of two cultures: the Neo-Assyrian of the eighth and seventh centuries and the Judahire of the sixth and fifth centuries BCE. The author applies built environment analysis to both of these cultures, specifically focusing on Sennacherib's Palace at Nineveh and Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. McCormick's ideas are revisionist, exciting, and substantive. The book is organized into five chapters that incorporate the nature and interpretation of these subjects. A theoretical overview is tackled in the first chapter, which outlines the author's thesis and concerns his method of architectural and textual studies and its meaning for the built environment. In Chapter 2, McCormick shifts from the theoretical to the application of built environment analysis in a discussion of Sennacherib's Palace. In Chapter 3 the same analysis is applied to Solomon's Temple. Chapter 4 suggests different religio-political approaches for examining each structure, and addresses the issue of why these buildings are considered architectural and verbal icons to be "read" on many levels. Chapter 5 is a short conclusion, but sums up his thesis: "Understanding the temple description as a verbal icon that is related to the architectural icon of Sennacherib's palace is possible because of the application of built environment analysis. The palace of Sennacherib and the Deuteronomistic Historian's Jerusalem temple are human constructs that present the divine-human relationship, icons that embodied the human social behaviors and concepts desired by their creators." This conclusion is followed by indices of authors, subjects and biblical texts. Built environment analysis emerged from psychological and cultural anthropological relationships between the structure and the culture surrounding and influencing it. In other words, a culture creates material objects -- fixed artifacts such as architecture, and features and tools such as decorative elements as well as moveable features. The form of these artifacts is dependent upon cultural, social, and environmental prerogatives that influence them; ergo, environmental factors help to mold or determine culture. McCormick goes on to insist that textual analysis "offer[s] an interpretation of the building based on its role within society." The most important aspect of this study is its success in interpreting built environment studies and verbal icons in a comprehensive manner for which the author works on a high level of abstraction displaying erudition and a clear sense of purpose for his argument. Touchstones of achievement, Sennacherib's Palace in Nineveh and Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem are compared and contrasted in this book as verbal icons and architectural achievements. Sennacherib's Palace is a well-preserved building of the seventh century BCE. Designed as an extraordinary spatial arrangement of portals, courtyards, triple entryways, doorways, columns and walls and unique decorative relief embellishments, the archaeological remains of Sennacherib's Palace and epigraphic evidence stand at the forefront of Assyrian architectural development. …


Interleukin (IL) 10 inhibits endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide; LPS) induced tumor necrosis factor (TNF) production in vivo and in vitro. In turn, IL-10 is induced by LPS and acts as a negative feedback to limit TNF production. We investigated the effects of IL-10 on brain TNF and IL-1 beta production induced by a central LPS administration in mice. Because central LPS also induces peripheral TNF, we also measured the serum TNF levels. A single intracerebroventricular injection of murine recombinant IL-10 (75 ng/mouse) simultaneously with LPS (2.5 micrograms/mouse) almost completely inhibited brain TNF production. The brain IL-1 beta production was also inhibited, as was the serum concentration of the acute-phase protein serum amyloid A. On the other hand, intracerebroventricular administration of an anti-IL-10 monoclonal antibody (JES5-2A5; 60 micrograms/mouse) potentiated brain TNF and IL-1 beta production. Identical results were obtained when the serum TNF levels were measured. IL-10 did not affect the LPS-induced increase of serum corticosterone, the main endogenous inhibitor of TNF production, or the induction of IL-6. These results indicate that LPS-induced IL-10 can act as an important endogenous inhibitor of brain TNF production and suggest an anti-inflammatory role for IL-10 in the central nervous system.


This population-based study is a comprehensive account of county-level child mortality from road traffic accidents in the United States. BrightcoveDefaultPlayer10.1542/6176780482001PEDS-VA_2019-3009 Video Abstract BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Road traffic accidents are a leading cause of child deaths in the United States. Although this has been examined at the national and state levels, there is more value in acquiring information at the county level to guide local policies. We aimed to estimate county-specific child mortality from road traffic accidents in the United States. METHODS: We queried the Fatality Analysis Reporting System database, 2010–2017, for road traffic accidents that resulted in a death within 30 days of the auto crash. We included all children <15 years old who were fatally injured. We estimated county-specific age- and sex-standardized mortality. We evaluated the impact of the availability of trauma centers and urban-rural classification of counties on mortality. RESULTS: We included 9271 child deaths. Among those, 45% died at the scene. The median age was 7 years. The overall mortality was 1.87 deaths per 100 000 children. County-specific mortality ranged between 0.25 and 21.91 deaths per 100 000 children. The availability of a trauma center in a county was associated with decreased mortality (adult trauma center [odds ratio (OR): 0.59; 95% credibility interval (CI), 0.52–0.66]; pediatric trauma center [OR: 0.56; 95% CI, 0.46–0.67]). Less urbanized counties were associated with higher mortality, compared with large central metropolitan counties (noncore counties [OR: 2.33; 95% CI, 1.85–2.91]). CONCLUSIONS: There are marked differences in child mortality from road traffic accidents among US counties. Our findings can guide targeted public health interventions in high-risk counties with excessive child mortality and limited access to trauma care.


This paper is to report the temperature dependent electrical conductivity of single crystals of radical ion salt (RIS) potassium-TCNQ (K-tetracyanoquino- dimethane) in a wide range of temperatures from 30 to 500 K. This RIS is quasi-one-dimensional in nature. These single crystals of K-TCNQ are grown by different methods like electrochemical, solution growth and diffusion method. Activation energy is determined for the sample in different temperature regions and found different values. More than one semiconductor to metal phase transition is observed in the studied samples during electrical measurements below and above room temperature. All the features observed in the studied samples are analyzed in the framework of their molecular structure as well as under different effects like disorder, impurity, Coulomb interaction, charge density wave (CDW), scattering and 3-D effects etc.


This paper suggests an approach to quantitative evaluation of a manufacturing flexibility in automated manufacturing systems. The flexibility of a cell is newly defined and evaluated in use of the environmental change factors which may influence flexibility for satisfying a manufacturing performance objective. The number of machines, the number of operations, machine breakdowns and processing times are considered for this cell flexibility measure. The cell flexibility measures the extent that the cell utilizes the processes to acquire high throughput. Simulation program written in SLAM System was used to help measure cell flexibility. The proposed cell flexibility measure provides a prediction of the influence of the factors on throughput performance, and applies in case of comparison of existing system and a new system, changes in operation conditions of a cell, and comparison of rival machines. Therefore it can be used as decision making criteria for system justification.


ABSTRACT Signaling through the second messenger cyclic di-GMP (c-di-GMP) is central to the life cycle of Vibrio cholerae. However, relatively little is known about the signaling mechanism, including the specific external stimuli that regulate c-di-GMP concentration. Here, we show that the phosphate responsive regulator PhoB regulates an operon, acgAB, which encodes c-di-GMP metabolic enzymes. We show that induction of acgAB by PhoB positively regulates V. cholerae motility in vitro and that PhoB regulates expression of acgAB at late stages during V. cholerae infection in the infant mouse small intestine. These data support a model whereby PhoB becomes activated at a late stage of infection in preparation for dissemination of V. cholerae to the aquatic environment and suggest that the concentration of exogenous phosphate may become limited at late stages of infection.


Aspergillus fumigatus is the most prevalent filamentous fungal pathogen of humans, causing either severe allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis or often fatal invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) in individuals with hyper- or hypo-immune deficiencies, respectively. Disease is primarily initiated upon the inhalation of the ubiquitous airborne conidia—the initial inoculum produced by A. fumigatus—which are complete developmental units with an ability to exploit diverse environments, ranging from agricultural composts to animal lungs. Upon infection, conidia initially rely on their own metabolic processes for survival in the host's lungs, a nutritionally limiting environment. One such nutritional limitation is the availability of aromatic amino acids (AAAs) as animals lack the enzymes to synthesize tryptophan (Trp) and phenylalanine and only produce tyrosine from dietary phenylalanine. However, A. fumigatus produces all three AAAs through the shikimate–chorismate pathway, where they play a critical role in fungal growth and development and in yielding many downstream metabolites. The downstream metabolites of Trp in A. fumigatus include the immunomodulatory kynurenine derived from indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) and toxins such as fumiquinazolines, gliotoxin, and fumitremorgins. Host IDO activity and/or host/microbe-derived kynurenines are increasingly correlated with many Aspergillus diseases including IPA and infections of chronic granulomatous disease patients. In this review, we will describe the potential metabolic cross talk between the host and the pathogen, specifically focusing on Trp metabolism, the implications for therapeutics, and the recent studies on the coevolution of host and microbe IDO activation in regulating inflammation, while controlling infection.


Youth with disabilities face many barriers in making the transition from high school to stable long-term employment. Researchers used case study methodology to examine the career development process and postschool employment outcomes for a sample of individuals with disabilities who were working in living wage occupations 7 to 10 years after exiting high school. Key influences on initial post-high school placement included (a) participation in work experience, (b) transition services and supports, and (c) family support and expectations. Ongoing career advancement was supported by a combination of factors including (a) participation in postsecondary education or training; (b) steady work experiences; and (c) a set of personal attributes, including self-efficacy and persistence. These themes were present across all participants, but specific experiences and outcomes varied by gender.


Within the circulation, the invasive stage of Plasmodium is the merozoite, a small elliptical cell. Electron microscopy shows that the merozoite can attach reversibly to erythrocytes by its adhesive coat, then form a close, irreversible contact by its apical end, triggering secretion from membranous vesicles (rhoptries and micronemes) on to the erythrocyte membrane. This causes the erythrocyte membrane to invaginate and the merozoite then becomes enclosed within a cavity lined by interiorized membrane. In uninfected erythrocytes, the surface membrane consists of a lipid bilayer in which lie various integral membrane proteins and glycoproteins, associated at their cytoplasmic ends with a network of other proteins constituting the membrane skeleton. There is much evidence that during invasion the membrane proteins and skeleton are removed from the invaginated membrane. There are also ultrastructural data suggesting that the rhoptries are able to generate membrane-like materials, which are inserted into the erythrocyte membrane to cause its inward expansion. Further expansion may be induced by the liberation of parasite secretions from another set of organelles (microspheres) released after the first stage of invasion.


This paper explores the urbanization process under Functional Urban Areas (FUAs) definition considering Ecuador as case of study. Analyzing data from 1950 to 2010, we have identified 28 FUAs that confirm that urbanization has rapidly increased in Ecuador since 1962. Then, a slum index, which is constructed using a United Nations methodology, is applied to approach individuals' wellbeing at dwelling level into FUAs for the period 1990 - 2010. We find that the greater improvement in terms of quality of dwelling takes place during the period 1990 - 2001 compared to 2001-2010.


Students' performance depends on the input level they had in a set of key competences before accessing higher education. However, there has not been much research on the relationship between student performance and key competences in this level of education. In the computer engineering studies at the Universidad Polite¿cnica de Madrid we have developed a model to research this relationship. It can be replicated in other environments like other Universities or fields that share common features with computer engineering. This model includes the methodology used for the elaboration of evaluation test of competences and guidelines that facilitate the assessment of the quality of the process. This paper presents evidence about how an evaluation of competences can be undertaken and how it can be used to determine the capabilities of the new coming students. This model has already been tested in 2007-08 with first year students.


Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) provide all types of blood cells during the entire life of the organism. HSCs are mainly quiescent and can eventually enter the cell cycle to differentiate. HSCs are maintained and tightly regulated in a particular environment. The stem cell niche regulates dormancy and awakening. Deregulations of this interplay can lead to hematopoietic failure and diseases. In this paper, we present a Boolean network model that recapitulates HSC regulation in virtue of external signals coming from the niche. This Boolean network integrates and summarizes the current knowledge of HSC regulation and is based on extensive literature research. Furthermore, dynamic simulations suggest a novel systemic regulation of TP53 in homeostasis. Thereby, our model indicates that TP53 activity is balanced depending on external stimulations, engaging a regulatory mechanism involving ROS regulators and RAS activated transcription factors. Finally, we investigated different mouse models and compared them to in silico knockout simulations. Here, the model could recapitulate in vivo observed behaviors and thus sustains our results.


A case is described of congenital incompetence of the cervix associated with pronounced bulging of the fetal membranes through the cervical os. The patient, a primigravida, presented at 25 weeks' gestation without any evidence of uterine activity. She had no past history of cervical surgery or disease. The tip beyond the bulb of a size 22 Foley catheter was removed. We inflated the bulb progressively while applying sustained, gentle pressure to the bag of forewaters. Upon reducing the membranes to within the uterine cavity, we inflated the bulb of the catheter further with saline to a total volume of 25 cc. This procedure maintained the catheter within the uterine cavity and facilitated the insertion of a MacDonald cerclage in the region of the internal cervical os.


An ongoing debate in the philosophy of emotion concerns the relationship between two prima facie aspects of emotional states. The first is affective: felt and/or motivational. The second, which I call object-identifying, represents whatever the emotion is about or directed towards. "Componentialists" – such as R. S. Lazarus, Jesse Prinz, and Antonio Damasio – assume that an emotion's object-identifying aspect can have the same representational content as a nonemotional state's, and that it is psychologically separable or dissociable from the emotion's affective aspect. Some further hold that emotions have no objectidentifying aspects of their own, and can properly be said to be about things only in virtue of their associations with other mental states (such as beliefs or perceptions). By contrast, "blenderists" – such as Peter Goldie, York Gunther, and Matthew Ratcliffe – insist that the two aspects are indissociable, because the affective aspect "infuses" the object-identifying aspect, altering the subject's concept or percept of the object. As a result, an emotion's object-identifying aspect cannot possibly have the same representational content as any nonemotional state's. I argue that the strongest blenderist arguments fail to rule out plausible componentialist alternatives, and that the blenderists' broader motivations are orthogonal to structural issues.


ABSTRACT Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris strains are used globally for the production of fermented dairy products, particularly hard cheeses. Believed to be of plant origin, L. lactis strains that are used as starter cultures have undergone extensive adaptation to the dairy environment, partially through the acquisition of extrachromosomal DNA in the form of plasmids that specify technologically important phenotypic traits. Here, we present a detailed analysis of the eight plasmids of L. lactis UC509.9, an Irish dairy starter strain. Key industrial phenotypes were mapped, and genes that are typically associated with lactococcal plasmids were identified. Four distinct, plasmid-borne bacteriophage resistance systems were identified, including two abortive infection systems, AbiB and AbiD1, thereby supporting the observed phage resistance of L. lactis UC509.9. AbiB escape mutants were generated for phage sk1, which were found to carry mutations in orf6, which encodes the major capsid protein of this phage.


This work presents a multi-dimensional similarity modeling strategy and relevance feedback technique for minimizing the semantic gap intrinsic problem of CBIR systems by allowing users to customize their queries according to their requirements and preferences. We propose a composite strategy using a multi-dimensional, vectorial, spatially clustered, and relevance-ordered approach. Given a set of k features which represents the images in an image database, the similarity measure between a query image and another from the image collection is analyzed in k components, and the images are ranked on a A dimensional space according to their projections over the axis x n , where n = 1,2,... k. System experimentation was executed thoroughly using a test image database containing up to 12,000 pictures. The experimental results have shown that the presented approach can substantially improve the outcome in image retrieval systems.


Abstract. In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have increasingly been used in various application areas, such as in the remote sensing or surveying. For these applications the UAV has to be equipped with a mapping sensor, which is mostly a camera. Furthermore, a georeferencing of the UAV platform and/or the acquired mapping data is required. The most efficient way to realize this georeferencing is the direct georeferencing, which is based on an onboard multi-sensor system. In recent decades, direct georeferencing systems have been researched and used extensively in airborne, ship and land vehicle applications. However, these systems cannot easily be adapted to UAV platforms, which is mainly due to weight and size limitations. In this paper a direct georeferencing system for micro- and mini-sized UAVs is presented, which consists of a dual-frequency geodetic grade OEM GPS board, a low-cost single-frequency GPS chip, a tactical grade IMU and a magnetometer. To allow for cm-level position and sub-degree attitude accuracies, RTK GPS (real-time kinematic) and GPS attitude (GPS compass) determination algorithms are running on this system, as well as a GPS/IMU integration. Beside the direct georeferencing, also the precise time synchronization of the camera, which acts as the main sensor for mobile mapping applications, and the calibration of the lever arm between the camera reference point and the direct georeferencing reference point are explained in this paper. Especially the high accurate time synchronization of the camera is very important, to still allow for high surveying accuracies, when the images are taken during the motion of the UAV. Results of flight tests demonstrate that the developed system, the camera synchronization and the lever arm calibration make directly georeferenced UAV based single point measurements possible, which have cm-level accuracies on the ground.


Anaerobiology has long been an underdeveloped entity in the routine clinical microbiology laboratory. The difficulties and successes in setting up this specialist department in such a laboratory are outlined. It is concluded that specimen quality, technical expertise, taxonomy and identification remain the areas which need most attention.


We reviewed 230 cases of wrist arthroscopy using a volar approach and evaluated its advantage in various wrist disorders. In general, a dorsal approach has been preferred in wrist arthroscopy. The volar approach has been avoided because of the presence of significant structures, such as radial and ulnar arteries, their venae comitantes, median and ulnar nerves, and flexor tendons. However, we can access the wrist joint securely using the volar approach through the tendon sheath of the flexor carpi radialis. Through this approach, we can adequately visualize the dorsal rim fragment of the intra-articular fracture of the distal radius, dorsal synovial proliferation of the rheumatoid wrist, and volar segment tear of the scapholunate and lunotriquetral interosseous ligaments. We had no complications with wrist arthroscopy using the volar approach in 230 patients. The volar approach for wrist arthroscopy is a valuable procedure to evaluate and treat various wrist disorders.


A cost-effective method of on-line measurement of beat-to-beat heart-rate variability is presented. Based on a commercial microcomputer, the data is formatted as a histogram covering up to 500 past events in the form of a moving time window. Analysis of the QRS peak detector used in the instrumentation shows the conditions necessary for 1 ms resolution. The system permits the on-line calculation of statistical parameters, which are presented when a hard copy of the histogram is requested.


S A N F R A N C I S C O — A child with fever of unexplained origin and an abscess in the right thigh ultimately was diagnosed with systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis after tests showed the abscess was sterile, Sara Fitzpatrick said in a poster presentation at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The English medical literature contains no previous reports of systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis ( JIA) presenting with a sterile abscess, said Ms. Fitzpatrick, who worked on the report with Elizabeth C. Chalom, M.D., director of pediatric rheumatology, and other associates at St. Barnabas Medical Center, Livingston, N.J. The most common cause of fever of unknown origin in childhood is infection, she noted, and the abscess and other findings initially misled clinicians into thinking that was the case with this child. The 21-month-old boy entered the hospital with a 3-week history of spiking diurnal fevers ranging from 101.7° to 104.5° F. He was alert but irritable and refused to walk. His past history was unremarkable, he had not traveled, and his immunizations were up to date. Physical exam findings were normal except for shoddy inguinal lymphadenopathy bilaterally, mild synovitis bilaterally in the ankles, slightly decreased extension of the left wrist, and pain with motion of the left ankle or wrist. He had a faint macular rash over his chest, MRI of both ankles showed mild effusion with no significant synovial thickening. Bone marrow aspiration results suggested an acute inflammatory process. Clinicians could find no neoplastic lesions. A gallium scan showed increased uptake in the right distal thigh above the knee joint. A multicystic, loculated lesion consistent with a formed abscess was seen on an MRI of the thigh. Physicians opened and drained the abscess, and the child was treated with antibiotics. The abscess exudates were negative on Gram stain, culture, and acid-fast stain. The pathology specimen was consistent with a simple abscess and reactive inflammation in the muscle and periosteum. There was no direct evidence of infection in either the bone or muscle. Despite extensive antibiotic therapy, the child continued to spike fevers up to 104°F. Viral studies and tuberculosis tests were negative. The persistent fevers, lack of an infectious process, and evidence of joint involvement led clinicians to consider systemic JIA more closely. The child's serum ferritin level increased from 500 ng/mL to 1,583 ng/mL; markedly elevated serum ferritin is a common finding in systemic JIA. When physicians started the NSAID naproxen (Naprosyn), the fevers decreased to around 101°F. Subsequent steroid treatment significantly reduced symptoms, and the fevers resolved. A repeat gallium scan showed mild residual uptake in the right thigh and periosteum, and symmetrical uptake in both ankles. Repeat surgical exploration of the abscess found reaccumulation of purulent material. The patient went home with a diagnosis of systemic JIA and a lower regimen of steroids, and the fevers returned. He currently is being treated with methotrexate and a weaning dose of prednisone. ■ MRI showed a multicystic, loculated lesion along the left side of the bone that was consistent with a formed abscess. The exudates were negative for infection. P H O T O S C O U R T E S Y D R . E L IZ A B E T H C . C H A L O M


Automatic deep parsing is necessary for any NLP applications requiring a certain level of semantic representation. One of the goals of the KNOW project is the development of wide-coverage deep parsing grammars whose outcome will be open to the scientific community. In this article we present a implementation of Spanish, Catalan and English grammars in the FreeLing environment. These three languages, together with Basque, are those we work on in KNOW.


Purpose of review The purpose of this review is to highlight recent advances in our understanding of host genetic determinants of HIV pathogenesis and to provide a theoretical framework for interpreting these studies in the context of our evolving understanding of HIV immunopathogenesis. Recent findings The first genome-wide association analysis of host determinants of HIV pathogenesis and other recent studies evaluating the interaction between killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors and human leukocyte antigen alleles have implicated both adaptive and innate immune responses in the control of HIV replication. Furthermore, genetic variation associated with the expression of CCR5 and its ligand have been strongly associated with both decreased susceptibility to HIV infection and delayed clinical progression, independent of their effects on viral replication, suggesting a potential role for CCR5 inhibitors as immune-based therapies in HIV disease. Summary Host factors associated with the control of HIV replication may help identify important targets for vaccine design, while those associated with delayed clinical progression provide targets for future immune-based therapies against HIV infection.


Modeling transient subsurface flow along the soil-bedrock interface and the subsequent mounding of porewater pressure head in the slope toe zone is key to a successful prediction of rainfall-induced shallow slope failure and debris flow initiation. To this end, finite element analyses are performed on some model slopes subjected to artificial rainfall using calibrated soil-water characteristic curves (SWCCs) and soil permeability functions (SPFs). Analytical results highlighted the importance of lateral subsurface flow in modeling rainfall-induced shallow slope failure, which cannot be adequately simulated using one-dimensional seepage models. Analytical results also revealed that the formation of a saturated zone and an outward subsurface flow over the entire length of the soil-bedrock interface signals rapid slope mass wasting. Results of a comparative study showed that an accurate modeling of time-dependent subsurface water table development requires modifications to the analytical boundary conditions induced by the wash-away of the slope toe. An accurate physical model of shallow slope failures requires further works to address this issue.


Background BAFF is an essential cytokine for autoreactive B-cell activation, survival, and autoantibody secretion. Therapeutic interest of anti-BAFF therapy is under evaluation in primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) with encouraging data in an open clinical trial but it has not been evaluated in an animal model of the disease. In addition, T-lymphocytes, which represent the predominant cell population infiltrating salivary glands, also contribute to its pathogenesis. Targeting T-cells with anti-CD3 antibodies is efficacious to control diabetes in NOD mice, which also represent a relevant animal model of pSS, and in patients with type I diabetes. Objectives We aimed to evaluate the therapeutic effect of anti-CD3 and anti-BAFF antibodies and their potential synergy on dryness and salivary gland infiltrates in the NOD model of pSS. Methods Female NOD mice were studied between 10 and 20 weeks. 8 mice were treated with anti-BAFF antibodies, 8 with isotype control antibodies, 6 with the combination of anti-BAFF and anti-CD3 antibodies, 5 with anti-CD3 antibodies and 12 were not treated. Dryness was assessed by measuring the stimulated salivary flow at 10 and 20 weeks. Focus score was analysed at 20 weeks. Spleen, salivary glands and blood lymphocyte sub-populations were analysed using flow cytometry. Results Only anti-BAFF antibody therapy led to a significant increase in the salivary flow (10.4μL/20 minutes/g ±1.3 with anti-BAFF antibodies, 5.7±2.7 with isotype control antibodies, p=0.003, 5.5±1.7 in non-treated mice, p=0.002) and resulted in the decrease in salivary gland infiltrates (focus score of 1.75±0.5 with anti-BAFF antibodies, 4.0±0 with isotype control antibodies, p=0.028, 4.6±1.14 in non-treated mice, p=0.015). Inhibition of BAFF resulted in a marked decrease of blood, spleen and salivary B-cells (proportion of B-lymphocytes out of total number of lymphocytes in salivary glands: 1.0%±0.9 with anti-BAFF antibodies, 7.6%±2.6 with anti-CD3 antibodies, 0.3%±0.2 with combined treatment and 12.5%±2.3 with isotype control). With anti-BAFF and/or anti-CD3, an increase in salivary glands Foxp3+ regulatory T-cells was observed (proportion of FoxP3+ T cells among total number of CD4+ T cells: 28.7%±5.9 with anti-BAFF antibodies, 27.6%±1.8 with anti-CD3 antibodies, 27.7%±1.9 with combined treatment and 20.7%±1.0 with isotype control). In addition, salivary CD3+CD4-CD8- double negative T-cells markedly increased after anti-BAFF treatment (41.0%±5.5 with anti-BAFF antibodies, 26.4%±7.8 with anti-CD3 antibodies, 37.7%±8.9 with combined treatment and 24.8%±13.5 of T-lymphocytes CD3+ with isotype control). Salivary double negative CD4-CD8- T-cells were inversely correlated with the focus score, which suggests their protective role. Conclusions Anti-CD3 therapy was not efficacious nor synergic with anti-BAFF. Anti-BAFF therapy resulted in a marked improvement of dryness and salivary gland infiltrates in the NOD model of pSS. Interestingly, BAFF inhibition resulted in the increase of regulatory T-lymphocyte populations, which might contribute to the therapeutic effect of this strategy. This study strengthens the rationale to target BAFF in patients with pSS. Disclosure of Interest R. Felten Grant/research support from: Research grant from French Society of Rheumatology, L. Chatenoud: None declared, L. Magne: None declared, M. Sawaf: None declared, C. Seifert: None declared, H. Dumortier: None declared, F. Monneaux: None declared, J. Sibilia: None declared, P. Schneider: None declared, J.-E. Gottenberg: None declared


Flooding is a significant concern across the UK that has caused property damage, economic impact and health and safety concerns. The national climate change risk assessment for the UK projects the risk of flooding to increase in the future, and thus flood risk management is identified as an area that requires serious action. Whilst community level flood protection measures have been and are being put in places where there is an economic case for such intervention, the need for implementing property level flood adaptation (PLFA) is increasingly highlighted. This industry is worth £2.1 billion globally; with a forecasted UK growth at a rate of 7.1% by 2017-18. The aim of this research is to identify the ability of construction managers to provide PLFA advice to homeowners. Interviews were conducted with 10 professionals currently involved in flood adaptation product/service provision to gather their views on construction manager involvement within this niche area. Majority of participants interviewed accepted that construction managers could enter the PLFA industry. However, there has been a lack of evidence that suggest that construction managers have played a key role in this field. The paper suggests that there are several barriers that have resulted in the lack of involvement of construction managers in the PLFA industry. Previous research recognises lack of relevant skills and knowledge required to provide PLFA advice as a key barrier, this is supported by participants interviewed mentioning that the qualification, knowledge and training required were a barrier for construction managers to enter into the PLFA industry.


Ocular light plays a key role in human physiology by transmitting time of day information. The production of the pineal gland hormone melatonin is under the control of the light-dark cycle. Its profile of secretion defines biological night and it has been called the 'darkness hormone'. Light mediates a number of non-visual responses, such as phase shifting the internal circadian clock, increasing alertness, heart rate and pupil constriction. Both exogenous melatonin and light, if appropriately timed, can phase shift the human circadian system. These 'chronobiotic' effects of light and melatonin have been used successfully to alleviate and correct circadian rhythm disorders, such as those experienced following travel across time zones, in night shift work and in circadian sleep disorders. The effectiveness of melatonin and light are currently being optimized in terms of time of administration, light intensity, duration and wavelength, and melatonin dose and formulation. The aim of this review is not to replicate information that has been reported in a number of reviews of the human circadian timing system and the role of melatonin and light, but rather to extract findings relevant to the field of clinical biochemistry.


The article reviews an exhibition featuring paintings by the German artist Charline von Heyl, on view at Friedrich Petzel gallery in New York City.


The topic of this paper is the conceptual organization of polysemous prototypical qualities. This study, based on data collected in 24 languages, makes use of a single notional space composed of 110 notions. This space enables us to separately represent the polysemies observed in each language as well as polysemous patterns observable in several languages in order to contrast the variability specific to each language with the linguistic invariance. The results show that what is common in the language sample is based on recurring polysemies organized in networks. This method will also be useful in explaining how the linguistic variability is built up. Indeed, some of the qualities involved in these networks always take part in polysemous associations specific to only one language. Such qualities, called federative notions, are characterized by the fact that they are regularly involved in polysemous patterns, and across numerous languages.


In this paper, the impacts of global competition on the IC corporate strategies for the semiconductor industries are studied. This research seeks to blend strategic competition with global development by addressing challenges for deterministic attitudes. It also examines critical environmental factors, technological systems and governmental policy on IC companies in the changes of the semiconductor industries. The need for a new strategy paradigm for IC companies, which comes out of new trends of the global competition, are also examined. The impacts of IC corporate strategy for the semiconductor industry are discussed and a hierarchical fuzzy multicriteria decision-making (fuzzy MCDM) method for evaluating the propagating IC companies' strategies is proposed. Finally, an example is provided in order to show the practicability and usefulness of this method. From the results of practical applications in evaluating the IC corporate strategies, the proposed method is appropriate and appears to be ideal for a fuzzy environment.


Abstract. The contribution regards the surveying of two statues of famous contemporary sculptors that have been placed in the central zone of Cosenza, which has been transformed in an open air museum. To realize a 3-D representation of the museum, different methodologies have been used, based on classical surveying (total stations and GNSS), image data and range data. The increasing performances of the new models of Time Of Flight (T.O.F.) laser scanners allow to build accurate models also for medium-size objects; on the other hand, the recent techniques of 3D modeling enable the processing of large amount of data and the effective removal of noises. Thus, if an extreme accuracy is not required, one can think to use the T.O.F. laser scanner, also for the surveying of statues. For the acquisition of the surfaces of the statues, two different types of laser scanning have been used: the Leica Scan StationC10, based on Time Of Flight, and the Minolta VIVID 300 triangulation scanner. In the paper, the comparison between the results obtained by using the different techniques is described.


AIM
To investigate the correlation between rs1568885, rs1813443 and rs4411591 polymorphisms and response to infliximab in a cohort of Greek patients with Crohn's disease (CD).

METHODS
One hundred and twenty-six patients diagnosed with CD based on standard clinical, endoscopic, radiological, and pathological criteria were enrolled in this study at the Gastroenterology Unit of the 2(nd) Department of Surgery and at the Colorectal Unit of the 1st Department of Propaedeutic Surgery. Infliximab at a dose of 5 mg/kg was administered intravenously at weeks 0, 2, 6 and then every 8 wk. Clinical and serological responses were assessed using the Harvey-Bradshaw Index and serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, respectively, and the endoscopic response was evaluated by ileocolonoscopy performed at baseline and after 12-20 wk of therapy. The changes in endoscopic appearance compared to baseline were classified into four categories, and patients were classified as responders and non-responders. Genomic DNA from whole peripheral blood was extracted and genotyping was performed by allele-specific polymerase chain reactions. χ (2) test with Yate's correction based on the S-Plus was used to compare the genotype frequencies.

RESULTS
Eighty patients (63.49%) were classified as complete and 32 (25.39%) as partial responders to infliximab, while 14 (11.11%) were primary non-responders. No correlation was found between response to infliximab and patients' characteristics such as age, gender and disease duration. There was consistency between Harvey-Bradshaw index scores and serum CRP levels. The TT genotype of the rs1568885 polymorphism was significantly related to partial response (P = 0.024) and resistance to infliximab (P = 0.007) while the AT genotype was more frequent in partial responders (P = 0.035) and in primary non-responders (P = 0.032). Regarding rs1813443, the CC genotype was found to be associated with partial response (P = 0.005) and primary resistance (P = 0.002) to infliximab while no association was found between the rs4411591 polymorphism and the clinical response to infliximab.

CONCLUSION
Based on our results, the rs1568885 and rs1813443 polymorphisms are associated with clinical and biochemical response to infliximab in Greek patients with Crohn's disease.


Seed development is a crucial biological process affecting crop yield. Brassionsteroids (BRs) plays essential role in seed development. Although part of genes participated in BR regulate seed development have been cloned in maize, their genetic and mechanisms are still unclear. In the previous experiment, we found that exogenous spray BL promote seed development. Here, RNA-sequence analysis of BL treated seeds revealed that 12 candidate function genes and 62 candidate transcription factors among the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were regulated by BL. Combining with previous QTL and GWAS research results in maize and homologous gene analysis, ZmSLG1 was screened out from 12 candidate function genes for further study. Overexpression of ZmSLG1 displayed round seed and delayed embryo development in maize. Moreover, overexpression of ZmSLG1 decreased BR content and increased expression of BR synthesis related genes in seed. To understand the mechanism of BL regulating ZmSLG1 expression, ZmWRKY82 was identified from 62 candidate transcription factors and examined its function. Transient expression, EMSA and ChIP analysis showed ZmWRKY82 can directly bind to the ZmSLG1 promoter to regulate ZmSLG1 expression. Collectively, exogenous BL regulate the ZmSLG1 gene expression through ZmWRKY82 transcription factor, and ZmSLG1 negatively regulates the endogenous BR contents in seed. Highlight We conclude that ZmWRKY82-ZmSLG1 is required for BR homeostasis and that modification of ZmSLG1 expression to an appropriate level may provide a way to increase yield.


Visual prostheses, used to assist in restoring functional vision to the visually impaired, convert captured external images into corresponding electrical stimulation patterns that are stimulated by implanted microelectrodes to induce phosphenes and eventually visual perception. Detecting and providing useful visual information to the prosthesis wearer under limited artificial vision has been an important concern in the field of visual prosthesis. Along with the development of prosthetic device design and stimulus encoding methods, researchers have explored the possibility of the application of computer vision by simulating visual perception under prosthetic vision. Effective image processing in computer vision is performed to optimize artificial visual information and improve the ability to restore various important visual functions in implant recipients, allowing them to better achieve their daily demands. This paper first reviews the recent clinical implantation of different types of visual prostheses, summarizes the artificial visual perception of implant recipients, and especially focuses on its irregularities, such as dropout and distorted phosphenes. Then, the important aspects of computer vision in the optimization of visual information processing are reviewed, and the possibilities and shortcomings of these solutions are discussed. Ultimately, the development direction and emphasis issues for improving the performance of visual prosthesis devices are summarized.


"Attention" is not a unitary brain process. Evidence from adult studies indicates that distinct neuroanatomical networks perform specific attentional operations and that these are vulnerable to selective damage. Accordingly, characterising attentional disorders requires the use of a variety of tasks that differentially challenge these systems. Here we describe a novel battery, the Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA-Ch), comprising nine subtests adapted from the adult literature. The performance of 293 healthy children between the ages of 6 and 16 is described together with the relationships to IQ, existing measures of attention, and scholastic attainment. This large normative sample also allows us to test the fit of the adult model of functionally separable attention systems to the observed patterns of variance in children's performance. A Structural Equation Modelling approach supports this view. A three-factor model of sustained and selective attention and higher-level "executive" control formed a good fit to the data, even in the youngest children. A single factor model was rejected. There are behavioural and anatomical grounds to believe that Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) is particularly associated with poor self-sustained attention and behavioural control. The TEA-Ch performance of 24 boys diagnosed with ADD presented here is consistent with this view. When performance levels on WISC-III subtests were taken into account, specific deficits in sustained attention were apparent while selective attention performance was within the normal range.


Silicon rich oxide (SRO), or off stoichiometry silicon oxide, has been studied from several perspectives. The SRO is a double phase material formed by silicon islands embedded in a SiO/sub 2/ matrix, whose final characteristics are related to the silicon excess. The silicon excess is determined by the gas precursor ratio, Ro. For Ro higher than 50 a stoichiometric oxide is obtained, while for Ro=3 the excess silicon is around 17%. SRO can also be obtained by silicon implantation into thermal silicon oxide. We have studied the electronic behavior of the Al/SRO/Si structure. With this knowledge, we have proposed new radiation sensors that use the SRO/Si junction. In this paper, we present some details and experimental results of such devices.


BACKGROUND
The majority of patients with stage III-IV epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) relapse after initially responding to platinum-based chemotherapy, and develop resistance. The genomic features involved in drug resistance are unknown. To unravel some of these features, we investigated the mutational profile of genes involved in pathways related to drug sensitivity in a cohort of matched tumors obtained at first surgery (Ft-S) and second surgery (Sd-S).

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Matched biopsies (33) taken at Ft-S and Sd-S were selected from the 'Pandora' tumor tissue collection. DNA libraries for 65 genes were generated using the TruSeq Custom Amplicon kit and sequenced on MiSeq (Illumina). Data were analyzed using a high-performance cluster computing platform (Cloud4CARE project) and independently validated.

RESULTS
A total of 2270 somatic mutations were identified (89.85% base substitutions 8.19% indels, and 1.92% unknown). Homologous recombination (HR) genes and TP53 were mutated in the majority of Ft-S, while ATM, ATR, TOP2A and TOP2B were mutated in the entire dataset. Only 2% of mutations were conserved between matched Ft-S and Sd-S. Mutations detected at second surgery clustered patients in two groups characterized by different mutational profiles in genes associated with HR, PI3K, miRNA biogenesis and signal transduction.

CONCLUSIONS
There was a low level of concordance between Ft-S and Sd-S in terms of mutations in genes involved in key processes of tumor growth and drug resistance. This result suggests the importance of future longitudinal analyses to improve the clinical management of relapsed EOC.


The interest in factors that may trigger in some cases idiopathic headache has increased in recent years. This problem has not been discussed in Polish literature up to now. An analysis of precipitating factors in a group of 116 patients: 70 with migraine, 30 with tension type of headache and 16 with cluster headache was conducted. In these groups: 60 patients (87%) with migraine, 24 patients (80%) with tension type headache and 15 patients (94%) with cluster headache confirmed activity of precipitating factors was shown. Stress was the most frequently cited precipitant in all types of idiopathic headaches (migraine-58%; tension type headache-53%; cluster headache-50%). Weather changes were in the second place. Excessive environmental factors, oversleep, some foods were also prominent factors.


Due to the low communication overhead and robustness to failures, distributed energy management is of paramount importance in smart grids, especially in microgrids, which feature distributed generation (DG). Distributed economic dispatch for a microgrid with renewable penetration and demand-side management operating in the grid-connected mode is considered in this paper. To address the challenge of intrinsically stochastic availability of renewable energy sources (RES), a novel power scheduling approach involving the actual renewable energy as well as the energy traded with the main grid is introduced, effecting the supply-demand balance. Its optimality amounts to minimizing the microgrid net cost, which includes conventional DG cost as well as worst-case transaction cost stemming from the uncertainty in RES. Leveraging the dual decomposition, the optimization problem formulated is solved in a distributed fashion. Numerical results are reported to corroborate the effectiveness of the novel approach.


MCell is a Monte Carlo simulator of cell microphysiology, and the scalable variant can be used to study challenging problems of interest to the biological community. MCell can currently model a single synapse out of thousands on a single cell. Petascale technology will enable significant advances in the ability to treat larger structures involving many synapses, with correspondingly more complex behavior. However, there are significant challenges to scaling MCell across two orders of magnitude in performance: increased communication delays and uneven workload concentrations. We discuss software solutions currently under investigation that will accompany us on the path to petascale cell microphysiology.


The Sirocco File System, a file system for exascale under active development, is designed to allow the storage software to maximize quality of service through increased flexibility and local decision-making. By allowing the storage system to manage a range of storage targets that have varying speeds and capacities, the system can increase the speed and surety of storage to the application. We instrument CTH to use a group of RAM-based Sirocco storage servers allocated within the job as a high-performance storage tier to accept checkpoints, allowing computation to potentially continue asynchronously of checkpoint migration to slower, more permanent storage. The result is a 10-60x speedup in constructing and moving checkpoint data from the compute nodes. This demonstration of early Sirocco functionality shows a significant benefit for a real I/O workload, checkpointing, in a real application, CTH. By running Sirocco storage servers within a job as RAM-only stores, CTH was able to store checkpoints 10-60x faster than storing to PanFS, allowing the job to continue computing sooner. While this prototype did not include automatic data migration, the checkpoint was available to be pushed or pulled to disk-based storage as needed after the compute nodes continued computing. Future developments include the abilitymore » to dynamically spawn Sirocco nodes to absorb checkpoints, expanding this mechanism to other fast tiers of storage like flash memory, and sharing of dynamic Sirocco nodes between multiple jobs as needed.« less


Introduction: There are many available Nickel Titanium (Ni-Ti) rotary systems that are used for canal cleaning and shaping of the permanent teeth. The new emerging concept in pediatric dentistry is the use of rotary files for canal instrumentation in primary teeth. In literature, there are no clinical studies comparing three different rotary systems in primary teeth. The aim of this study was to compare and evaluate the quality of obturation and instrumentation time using three rotary file systems in primary mandibular molars. Materials and Methods: A total of 45 primary mandibular molars were included in the study and were randomly allotted to one of the three groups. Group 1: ProTaper files; Group 2 Kedo-S files and Group 3: RaCe files. Standardized digital radiographs were taken to the assess quality of obturation as underfill, optimal fill and overfill. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS software version 17.0. An intergroup comparison of the quality of obturation and instrumentation time was done using Chi-square test and ANOVA with the level of significance set at 0.05. Results: No significant difference was observed in the quality of obturation among the three groups (P = 0.661). However, a statistically significant was noted in the instrumentation time among the groups (P < 0.05). In Kedo-S files group 80% of the teeth were optimally filled followed by 60% in ProTaper files and 46.67 % in RaCe files group. The instrumentation time was least in RaCe files 31.67 secs followed by ProTaper files 45.93 secs and Kedo-S (78.53 secs). Conclusion: No significant difference was noted with respect to quality of obturation using S2 ProTaper files, Kedo-S files and RaCe files in primary teeth. There was a significant difference in instrumentation time among the three groups with least working time with RaCe files.


Frostbite may result in loss of skin and tissue requiring amputation; it occurs most often on the exposed areas such as extremity digits, ears, etc. The usual treatment is observation for demarcation of the injury before amputation or autoamputation of the dry gangrene that may set in between 1 and 3 weeks. In some instances, tissue viability is assessed by a pyrophosphate nuclear scan. This was a 43-year-old African-American man who developed frostbite of his right foot. He presented 72 hours after injury with hyperemia and cellulitis over the dorsum of the foot and a blistered dorsal surface of the great toe with loss of sensation on all toes and early signs of necrosis. The patient received a 7-day course of ampicillin-sulbactam and a 6-day course of vacuum-assisted closure therapy during a 7-day hospitalization. At the time of discharge, he had re-epithialialization of the dorsal surface of the right toe and healthy granulation tissue with islands of epidermis emerging on the ventral surface of the right toe. Re-epithelialization was complete by 26 days after injury. In the future, this treatment therapy may find a larger application in frostbite injuries because it may accelerate healing. A study of frostbite treatment confirming the usefulness of this modality may be indicated.


Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of cigarette smoking behavior (CSB) in a sample of Indian matriculation students. Methodology: All (N=325) Indian matriculation students, at high schools, in Northern Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa, were included in the study. A questionnaire was administered to assess knowledge, attitudes and practice of CSB. Results and conclusion: The study showed a prevalence of 16.9%. Most smokers (98.2%) had commenced the practice after the age of 10 years. The most common reason given for CSB was experimentation (83.6%). Main influence was family members followed by teachers and advertisements. The association between smoking and lung cancer was well-known by smokers (90.7%). There was very little awareness of anti-smoking programmes or organizations. Alarmingly, there was little formal health education on the dangers of smoking in schools. The implications of these results are discussed and recommendations on decreasing CSB are made.


India is the second most populous country in the world. Although there have been major improvements in public health care sector in since 1950's. The country is passing through demographic and environmental transition which is adding to burden of diseases. And Health care facilities and services in the government hospitals is playing vital role of society and promoting health care service in India. And the most of the people in nilgiris living at rural part of areas and their referring to government hospitals for health check up and various major and minor diseases and health problems. Because of due to economically below poverty. This study has to reveals perception towards service quality in government hospital for their treatments, The problem of this study reveals in government hospitals were insufficient infrastructure facilities, technological aspect and medical equipments, If a response is promised in a certain time, does not happen and responding the client quickly, and insufficient doctors. Data have been collected through interview schedule in Nilgiris district.


Top-N sequential recommendation models each user as a sequence of items interacted in the past and aims to predict top-N ranked items that a user will likely interact in a »near future». The order of interaction implies that sequential patterns play an important role where more recent items in a sequence have a larger impact on the next item. In this paper, we propose a Convolutional Sequence Embedding Recommendation Model »Caser» as a solution to address this requirement. The idea is to embed a sequence of recent items into an »image» in the time and latent spaces and learn sequential patterns as local features of the image using convolutional filters. This approach provides a unified and flexible network structure for capturing both general preferences and sequential patterns. The experiments on public data sets demonstrated that Caser consistently outperforms state-of-the-art sequential recommendation methods on a variety of common evaluation metrics.


Al-Cu-Si (Al2O3)p composite containing 5% Al2O3 with particle size 0.220 μm were fabricated by modified stir casting technique. The addition of Al2O3 in A.384.1, Al Alloy was found to increase hardness, proof stress and ultimate tensile strength. The fabricated composites showed higher peak hardness and lower peak ageing time as compared to the unreinforced Al alloy. In addition, ageing is found to increase the strength, micro and macro-hardness of the fabricated composites. The reinforced composite samples with different particle sizes of Al2O3 i.e. 0.220, 0.106 and 0.053 μm were also fabricated to further investigate the interfacial characteristics. It is observed that the samples with small particle size exhibited clustering, whereas, the larger particles were found to mix up homogeneously in Al alloy matrix.


Differance and signifier are two key concepts frequently used by the deconstructivists in their interrogating the stability of meaning of source text and foregrounding the subjectivity of the translator.Different from alphabetic writing systems,Chinese ideographic writing system does not alter its characters along with sound changes,and the study of Chinese culture can,therefore,follow a synchronic approach.This paper makes a contrastive study of different significance of differance and signifier in the Chinese language and European languages to point out that deconstructive translation theory is biased against literary language.


Misspellings in clinical free text present potential challenges to pharmacovigilance tasks, such as monitoring for potential ineffective treatment of drug-resistant infections. We developed a novel method using Word2Vec, Levenshtein edit distance constraints, and a customized lexicon to identify correct and misspelled pharmaceutical word forms. We processed a large corpus of clinical notes in a real-world pharmacovigilance task, achieving positive predictive values of 0.929 and 0.909 in identifying valid misspellings and correct spellings, respectively, and negative predictive values of 0.994 and 0.333 as assessments where the program did not produce output. In a specific Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus use case, the method identified 9,815 additional instances in the corpus for potential inaffective drug administration inspection. The findings suggest that this method could potentially achieve satisfactory results for other pharmacovigilance tasks.


BACKGROUND
Patients who become anergic after surgery have a very high death rate, mainly due to infectious complications. It has earlier been shown that preoperative skin testing has predictive value for the clinical outcome in gastrointestinal surgery. This study investigated the effect of early postoperative enteral nutrition versus placebo on cell-mediated immunity with the Multitest CMI and correlated the results to the clinical outcome and to the preoperative nutritional status.

METHODS
Sixty patients were randomized to receive either enteral nutrition or placebo. All patients were stratified in accordance with preoperative nutritional status. CMI tests were applied 2 days before surgery and days 1 and 5 postoperatively. All tests were applied and recorded by the same investigator.

RESULTS
No significant differences in the score were seen between the groups. Nine patients were malnourished. No significant difference was seen preoperatively with regard to nutritional status, but the malnourished patients had a lower median value on the 3rd postoperative day. In patients with complications the preoperative median CMI score was 17.0 mm (95% confidence limits, 10.5-24 mm), and in patients without complications 9.5 mm (95% confidence limits, 5.5-16 mm). This result is significant and unexpected. Ten patients were anergic preoperatively, and three of these developed complications (30%). The overall complication rate was 27 of 60 (45%). A change in immunologic status from responding preoperatively to anergy postoperatively was significantly associated with severe complications (P = 0.043).

CONCLUSIONS
Early enteral nutrition does not influence the CMI score. Preoperative anergy was not related to increased mortality/morbidity, whereas the change in CMI response towards anergy was significant.


Transformer models for distribution network harmonic studies based on rated parameters are presented. Results from simulations and measurements on power transformers are compared. Sensitivity studies are carried out to show how the total harmonic distortion of current and voltage behaves as a parameter of the transformer change. A field test involving a transformer as part of a power system feeding a DC motor drive was used to compare simulations and measurements. Both agreed reasonably well. >


Finite element cohesive zone (CZ) fracture methods are used to investigate dynamic crack behavior in oxide fuel pellets during power-up, steady-operation, and power-ramping. Single-pellet models are developed in 2D (axisymmetric and plane strain) and 3D, assuming nonlinear fully-coupled thermomechanical behavior. Cohesive surfaces are placed along potential crack paths, with the path orientation dictated by experimental evidence from irradiated pellets. Cohesive cracks initiate where the maximum principal stress reaches the fracture strength, and open as dictated by a prescribed traction-separation function. Softening behavior in the CZ constitutive law leads to numerical difficulties, requiring viscous regularization to achieve convergence. Sensitivity to meshing, iteration convergence tolerance, and viscous regularization is investigated. Predicted cracking patterns and crack interaction behavior are described. Radial and transverse fracture occurs during initial heating, with further cracking (including circumferential fracture) observed as temperature gradients increase during steady-operation and power-ramping. The stress field is strongly affected by fracture, becoming highly non-uniform after cracking. Results suggest that realistic fuel pellet fracture modeling will likely require a combination of discrete and smeared-crack models.


The method for simulation of medium-induced rescattering and energy loss of hard partons in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions is developed. The model is realized as fast Monte-Carlo tool implemented to modify standard PYTHIA jet event.


The purpose of this study was to determine the validity of using the 1600-m distance run (DR) and the maximal multistage 20-m shuttle run (SR) as predictors of aerobic capacity in active boys 10 to 12 years of age. The influence of weight and maximal sprint running speed on test performance scores were also investigated. Both the DR and SR were found to have concurrent validity in the group studied, correlated to a directly measured VO2max (ml kg−1·min−1) determined through a progressive bicycle ergometer test. However, predicted VO2max values using SR results differed significantly from measured values. Weight was not found to be significantly correlated with either of the predictive methods, whereas maximal sprint running speed, as measured through a 40-m dash, was found to correlate significantly with the results of both the DR and SR. These results suggest that the combined influence of running efficiency and anaerobic energy production significantly influence the performance of both predictive methods.


This study examines the migration experiences of Tongan students and households in Fiji based on two separate surveys. The major findings obtained are summarized as follows. The student survey results elucidate that the decision to migrate for a university education was made on an individual basis, while the role of family and friends in disseminating information about the institution was conspicuous. The destination choice for university was influenced by the availability of scholarships for studying in Fiji. While a majority of students expect to return to Tonga to resume or find employment after completion of their studies, some also anticipated pursuing future graduate studies. The household survey findings confirm the important role of the nuclear family in decisionmaking and reasons for migration while employers funded the migration expenses for most of the individuals. Their highest university degrees were acquired since the 1990s mainly from Fiji and Australian universities. A considerable portion of them are involved in such skilled occupations as education and administrative jobs at major institutions of the South Pacific region, mainly due to their higher educational attainment and work experience prior to migration to Fiji. As a result, they tended to have higher incomes.