The anomalous conductivity at the interface between nominally-insulating polar and non-polar materials, such as LaAlO3/SrTiO3 (LAO/STO), has sparked considerable debate within the oxide community and given rise to multiple hypotheses explaining both the conductivity and the resolution of the polar iscontinuity. A possibility that has been suggested is the unintentional doping of either the film or the substrate, as might be caused by imbalanced cation diffusion across the interface. For instance, there have been indications that the extent of he A- and B-site cation interdiffusion are uneven in the LAO/STO interfaces grown by some groups. The interface between similarly structured LaCrO3 (LCO) and STO is investigated to provide additional insight. Contrary to the case of LAO/STO, the LCO/STO system appears to be thoroughly insulating. The extent of the intermixing at the interface is examined using a combination of high resolution Rutherford backscattering (HRRBS) and cross-sectional electron microscopy, including aberration-corrected high resolution TEM, probe-corrected AADF-STEM, x-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), and chromaticaberration-corrected energy filtered TEM (EFTEM) imaging, both for a range of La/Cr stoichiometries and film thicknesses from 5-125 unit cells. Cross-sectional TEM/STEM provides a far more local measurement than RBS, illuminating the effects of interfacial non-uniformity, the presence of which appears to affect the average interface width, particularly for thicker LCO films. berrationcorrected HAADF-STEM enables the formation of a probe fine enough to sufficiently separate intensities from the A and B-sites, allowing a comparison of the diffusion widths for the two cation sites. LCO/STO is better suited to such analysis than, e.g., LAO/STO, as both the A- and B-site cations are heavier in the film than the substrate. HAADF-STEM analysis suggests roughly equal diffusion for both cation sites, with an interface width that generally increases with film thickness (or growth time). Several analysis methods are considered and,for instance, the full width at a tenth maximum (FWTM) for best-fit curves is for no film thickness less than a few unit cells A- and B-sites in. For all approaches, both the shapes and widths of the profiles are very similar, suggesting even diffusion of A- and B-sitecations, with EDS, EELS, and EFTEM confirming similar trends. The interface width trends are in rough qualitative agreement with HRRBS, but HRRBS is more sensitive to small concentrations La than HAADF-STEM, EELS, or EDS, and shows that there are long diffusion tails of the La into the STO. The results together suggest that while there is significant interdiffusion at this interface, there are nonetheless no conclusive indications that there is an imbalance in A- and B-site cation interdiffusion, as would be expected for insulating interfaces.


The Path Computation Element (PCE) provides functions of path
computation in support of traffic engineering in Multi-Protocol Label
Switching (MPLS) and Generalized MPLS (GMPLS) networks. MPLS and
GMPLS networks may be constructed from layered service networks. It is
advantageous for overall network efficiency to provide end-to-end
traffic engineering across multiple network layers. PCE is a candidate
solution for such requirements. Generic requirements for a
communication protocol between Path Computation Clients (PCCs) and
PCEs are presented in "PCE Communication Protocol Generic
Requirements". This document complements the generic requirements and
presents a detailed set of PCC-PCE communication protocol requirements
for inter-layer traffic engineering.


CORBITT, ALEXIS DANIELLE. Characterization of the Glycemic Index of Raw and Thermally Processed Sweet Potatoes (Ipomea batatas L.) (Under the direction of Dr. Jonathan C. Allen.) Diabetes mellitus is one of the common and serious chronic diseases across the globe. There are 20.8 million children and adults in the United States, or 7% of the population, who have diabetes. While an estimated 14.6 million have been diagnosed, 6.2 million people are unaware that they have the disease. Type-2 diabetes, non insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), formerly adult-onset diabetes, is a disease that occurs when the body produces enough insulin but cannot use it effectively. This form of diabetes has primarily been observed to develop in adults over the age of 40, but is gradually becoming a threat across all age groups. About 90% to 95% of people with diabetes have type 2; of which 80 percent are overweight. Diabetes is a life-long disease, but it can be self-managed if people take responsibility for their daily care. Through diet management, exercise, self-testing of blood glucose and in many cases oral medication and/ or insulin, people with diabetes can assist their bodies to keep blood glucose near normal levels. The objective of our study was to investigate the short term glycemic effect of Beauregard sweet potato (Ipomea batatas L.) in normal subjects through measuring the glucose response of sweet potato with and without skin, and of skin alone, in comparison with the more commonly consumed white potato. The study investigated the decrease in glycemic response of white potato vs. white potato plus Caiapo, an antidiabetic acidic glycoprotein component in a Japanese sweet potato cultivar. The first study focused on C-peptide and insulin analysis via Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA) (ALPCO Diagnostics) from subjects at 0, 60, and 120 minutes after consumption of potato samples. Glucose levels were measured at interval times of 0, 30, 60, 90, 120 minutes post prandially with glucometers (Therasense). These data illustrated that differences in insulin, and C-peptide response due to sweet potato and white potato were constant over time resulting in graph parabola trends similar to glucose response. The comparison of C-peptide, serum insulin, and glucose response showed that the mechanism for the hypoglycemic effect in sweet potato or Caiapo is not due to improved insulin production, response to blood glucose, or increased insulin uptake by target cells. The study suggested that the blood glucose lowering effects occur in the small intestine (duodenum) by retarding absorption of glucose to the bloodstream. The subsequent study investigated the thermo-stability, through cooking, of the low glycemic index effect previously determined in Beauregard sweet potato by measuring the glycemic index after baking at 190 °C for 1 hour, steaming at 100 °C for 45 minutes, dehydration at 40 °C overnight, and microwaving for 5 minutes. Participants consumed 25 g of available carbohydrate, determined through AOAC proximate analysis of lipid, ash, moisture, and total dietary fiber levels in each preparation method. Comparing the heat treatments (steaming, baking, dehydrating, and microwaving) of Beauregard sweet potato skin and flesh illustrated the extent to which cooking affects the glycemic index. Results showed that steamed skin, baked skin, and dehydrated flesh do not have statistically different glycemic indices (p> 0.05) from those of raw sweet potatoes (n=12). Dehydrated sweet potato flesh, along with the aforementioned cooked sweet potatoes, retained the low glycemic index of raw sweet potatoes. The glycemic index of steamed flesh elevated to that of a medium glycemic index food. Baked and microwaved flesh also elicited blood glucose responses equivalent to that of medium glycemic index foods. This information will lead to further understanding of preferred foods for diabetics to assist in blood glucose management. Understanding the glucose response and glycemic index elicited by NC sweet potatoes will improve recommendations for their health promoting properties, such as reducing the risk of diabetes or insulin resistance. CHARACTERIZATION of the GLYCEMIC INDEX of RAW AND THERMALLY PROCESSED SWEET POTATOES (Ipomea batatas L.)


YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7/ nano-bridges with widths ranging from 200 to 800 nm were made using Focused Ion Beam milling. The I-V characteristics of the narrowest nano-bridges show, under microwave irradiation, pronounced Shapiro steps up to the transition temperature. An inductively shunted single layer SQUID, using these nano-bridges, has been realised by a combination of Focused Ion Beam milling and selective epitaxial growth. Flux to voltage modulation up to 82 K was observed, with a maximum modulation depth of 3.7 /spl mu/V at 78 K.<<ETX>>


A methodology for electromagnetic simulation of initially charged structure with a discharge source (ICSWDS) has been investigated. The ICSWDS can be applied to a lot of areas such as high power electromagnetic (HPEM) radiators. As a method of electromagnetically simulating the ICSWDS, converting initially charged structures into equivalent transient structures and modeling discharge sources by using step voltage sources have been found. A Blumlein pulse forming line (PFL) has been simulated, manufactured and tested to validate this approach. A measured waveform from the test has a good agreement with a simulated waveform.


According to the National Research Agenda for Agricultural Education and Communication, preservice agriculture teacher education programs should "prepare and provide an abundance of fully qualified and highly motivated agricultural educators at all levels" (Osborne, 2007, 8). The lack of preparation of entry career agricultural educators is no more apparent than in the curriculum area of agricultural mechanics. Saucier and McKim (2010) stated that all school–based agriculture educators who instruct agricultural mechanics must be technically competent and be able to safely manage the school laboratory for effective student instruction. The model for teacher preparation in agricultural education (Whittington, 2005) served as the conceptual framework. The study sought to determine the essential agricultural mechanics skill areas that Missouri agriculture educators must possess prior to beginning a career in agricultural education. Results of this study identified essential agricultural mechanics skill areas that range from laboratory management to soldering. Teacher educators and state supervisory staff should review these skill areas and plan professional development education for current Missouri agricultural educators who have in–service needs in these skill areas. In conclusion, preservice programs in Missouri should be evaluated to determine if they are indeed effectively preparing teachers in the curriculum area of agricultural mechanics.


Recent experimental work in the physiology of the thymus has cleared up matters in two directions, namely, the relation of the organ to growth and to the condition of the bones, on the one hand, and to the electrical excitability of the nervous system, on the other. When one completely extirpates the thymus of a young dog in the first weeks of life, there occurs as a consequence not only a checking of growth, but a condition in which the bones become softer and more flexible and show a smaller callus after an artificially produced fracture, than is seen in a control animal of the same brood. If one tests the electric stimulation of a young dog over the median nerve or the cerebrum, before and after the extirpation of the thymus, one can demonstrate after extirpation a gradually increasing hyperexcitability, which may be raised to the same degree as


The current study tries to explore language learning strategies (LLSs) of Iranian postgraduate learners and the effect of motivation and attitude on their strategy use. Oxford's classification of language learning strategies is the framework of the current study. Her strategy taxonomy includes six categories as memory, cognitive, metacognitive, compensation, social and affective strategies. 156 Iranian post graduate students in Kerman province were selected according to two-step cluster sampling. Then, translated version of Oxford's strategy inventory for language learning (SILL) was administered to the participants to determine their strategy use. Attitude/motivation test battery (AMTB) was also used to identify the participants' type of attitude and motivation. After collecting and analyzing data, the following results were found: a) Unlike the findings of the majorities of the studies done so far on foreign language learners, Iranian post graduate students of art and science were found to be high strategy users; b) The participants reported the use of compensation, social, metacognitive, and affective strategies in a high level while memory and cognitive strategies were reported to be used at a medium level; c) No significant difference was found between overall strategy use of students with positive and negative attitude; d) No significant difference was found between overall strategy use of students with integrative and instrumental motivation; e) No significant difference was found between overall strategy use of students of art and science. Key words: Language learning strategies; Iranian post graduate students; Learning attitude; Motivation; English learning


Summary form only given. Large-format digital reconnaissance sensors (10k/spl times/10k) will soon operate at rates exceeding 100 Megapixels/sec. Operation of these airborne sensors requires lossy compression prior to real-time recording or transmission to a ground station. Wavelets have been shown to reproduce high quality imagery at both low and high compression ratios while being robust enough to efficiently compress different image classes without modifying algorithms or updating codebooks. One current implementation problem is that a full image frame is too large to compress on-board in real-time. Although parallel hardware implementations increase compression speed, undesirable reconstruction boundary artifacts can be introduced which can adversely affect the desired image analysis. This paper analyzes the effects of reconstruction artifacts on image quality.


The aim of the present research was to study the effects of olive leaf addition (0 and 3%) on the major antioxidants and the antioxidant activity of Neb Jmel and Oueslati olive oils. Olives and leaves of the two Tunisian varieties were harvested during the 2016/2017 crop season. Both leaves and oils were characterised for their concentrations in phenolics, tocopherols and antioxidant power. Other parameters such as free acidity, peroxide value, chlorophyll and carotenoid concentrations were also taken into consideration. Compared to Oueslati, the Neb Jmel oil showed a lower free acidity (50%) and peroxide value (5.6-fold), and higher chlorophyll (1.6-fold), total phenolics (1.3-fold), flavonoid (3-fold) and oleuropein derivative (1.5-fold) concentrations, in addition to an increased antioxidant activity (1.6-fold). Leaf addition promoted a significant increment in total chlorophyll, α-tocopherol and phenolics in both varieties, above all in Oueslati oil, due to a higher abundance of bioactive constituents in the corresponding leaves. In particular, chlorophyll and carotenoid concentrations reached values twice higher than in Neb Jmel leaves, and flavonoids and oleouperin derivatives were three-fold higher. This prevented the oxidation and the formation of peroxides, reducing the peroxide value of the fortified oil to the half. The results provide evidence on the performance of the Tunisian Neb Jmel and Oueslati varieties, showing that their oils present a chemical profile corresponding to the extra virgin olive oil category and that, after leaf addition, their nutritional value was improved.


A partly heuristic attempt at exploring long-run policies aimed at a second-best compromise between ex ante risk-sharing efficiency and ex post productive efficiency. Wage subsidies for low-skilled workers financed by taxes on high wages are advocated, together with improved risk sharing between capital and labour, between generations and between the countries belonging to EMU. The scope of the advocated policies is limited by considerations of moral hazard, time consistency and fiscal competition. Also, estimates of some key economic parameters remain very imprecise. Several avenues of further research are identified. JEL Classification: D80, H20, E60


Background: PIWI-like proteins contribute to the onset and progression of carcinogenesis. Whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the PIWI-like 1 (PIWIL1) gene affect the morbidity and mortality of gastric cancer (GC) remains unclear. To investigate the efficacy of PIWIL1 SNPs genotype on the morbidity and mortality of GC and its interaction within PIWIL1 gene SNPs variation and between elevated plasma glucose. Materials and Methods: We conducted a case-control study that contained 216 GC patients and 204 cancer-free controls to compare differential expression of PIWIL1 SNPs. Results: PIWIL1 gene rs1106042 AA and AG genotypes were associated with significantly reduced GC risk (odds ratio [OR]: 0.15 and 0.26, p < 0.001 and p = 0.016), and rs10773771 CT+CC type significantly increased cancer risk (OR: 1.54 p = 0.037). We observed strong associations between rs10773771 and pathological type (p = 0.012), rs11703684, and invasion depth (p = 0.012). We noticed significant gene-gene interaction between rs1106042 and rs10773771 (p = 0.0107). Interaction between the copresence of rs1106042 GG plus hyperglycemia was also significant (relative excess risk due to interaction: 28.78, attributable proportion due to interaction: 68.2%, synergy index: 3.32). Patients with rs1892723 TT and rs1892722 GG+GA type had better survival (p = 0.030 and p = 0.048). Conclusion: rs10773771 CT+CC was associated with GC risk increase, rs1106042 AA and AG function as a protective factor. rs1892723 CT+TT and rs1892722 AA type may portend a poor prognosis. Elevated fasting plasma glucose will significantly increase the risk of PIWIL gene rs1106042 GG carcinogenesis by multiplicative interaction.


Changes in the effective membrane resistance of the abductor muscle of the dactylopodite of the caryfish were used to indicate changes in the GABA concentration in the synaptic cleft. Following bath application of GABA (10(-5) to 5 X 10(-5) M), the muscle membrane resistance decreased and then increased slowly over the next few minutes. Renewing the solution or stirring the bath restored the GABA effect. Higher GABA concentrations produced a large stable decrease in membrane resistance. An active uptake system for GABA in the junctional region is suggested by the observation that the slow increase in membrane resistance following GABA application was decreased by cooling to 2 degrees C or by the addition of known GABA uptake blockers such as L-DABA, beta-guanidinopropionic acid, or nipecotic acid. The transport inhibitors, PCMBS and chlorpromazine, produced irreversible decreases in muscle membrane resistance, which precluded examining their effects on GABA inactivation. The decrease in GABA effect was not dependent on the external sodium concentration or on the degree of receptor activation. Nipecotic acid, which blocked GABA inactivation, did not affect the decay of the neurally evoked inhibitory junctional potential.


The aim of the study was to answer the question if there are any differences in the central activation of different groups of psychosomatic patients and patients with eating disorders, which was measured by means of Fourier analysis of pupillary oscillations. A total of 132 patients (110 f, 22 m) with a mean age of 29.69 years (standard deviation: 9.9) participated in the study. In anorectic and bulimic patients high central activation was observed. Different groups of psychosomatic patients showed significant differences in their central nervous activation. In the group of subjects with the ICD-10 diagnosis F 41.3 (mixed anxiety disorders) the highest amplitudes was observed not only in the particular frequency bands but also in the total spectrum (power), which reflects high central activation. Reduced activation was found in subjects with somatoform autonomic function disorder of the upper and lower gastrointestinal tract (F 45.3). The measurement of central activation in psychosomatic disorders could have consequences for therapeutic interventions.


• One hundred patients with previously diagnosed cervical neck strain following auto accidents whose litigation on compensation claims had been settled were queried as to their present clinical status. After legal claims for damage were completed, 88% showed recovery, and over half of these had no residual complaints. Many emotional factors, but especially those concerning monetary compensation, greatly confuse proper medical evaluation and appear to be the cause of the wide divergence of professional prognostic opinions relative to this particular injury.


PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore adaptive leadership behavior during a global health crisis in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It discusses the characteristics of adaptive leadership and offers practical steps to help managers lead through tough times.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on an in-depth study of a mid-sized multinational professional service firm where 25 frontline managers were interviewed. Individual stories about the challenges and opportunities of how these managers led their company out of ambiguity contribute to critical insights as discussed in this paper.FindingsFirst, leading adaptively involves a fundamental acknowledgment of your vulnerabilities by turning them into a source of inner strength through the support of others. Second, it is important to harness collective wisdom to accelerate urgent and complex decision-making. Third, experimentation is key to breaking away from status quo and venturing into innovative practices. Fourth, following personal instincts while exercising objective judgment could give you the courage to think and act differently.Originality/valueThis paper offers firsthand insights into the mindsets and behaviors of practicing managers who spontaneously shared their deeper feelings and expectations of their leadership setbacks and foresight of what would be expected of the "new" normal in a post-pandemic era. The perspectives offered here provide a deeper dimension to the current understanding of adaptive leadership.


The trigger wrist identified by an extraosseous "snap" is very rare. The clinical symptoms and the successful treatment of a patient with a trigger wrist are described. Histopathologically a tendon sheath fibroma was found. The clinical and the pathological symptoms of this patient were compared with those published in the literature.


Previous research on attention-seeking problem behavior has focused on individuals who misbehaved under general conditions of low adult attention. In general, no detailed analyses were conducted to determine whether different situations involving low levels of adult attention (such as familiar vs. unfamiliar adults, setting events, or the presence or absence of peers) exacerbated or attenuated problem behavior. The current case study demonstrates that, for one adolescent, all situations involving low levels of adult attention were not equally discriminative for problem behavior. Two functional analyses concerning different situations involving low levels of adult attention were conducted. The first analysis consisted of systematically manipulating antecedent and consequence conditions related to adult attention and task demands. This analysis indicated that low levels of adult attention evoked problem behavior. The second analysis involved two different conditions presenting low levels of adult attention. In one, the adult spoke to another child; in the second, the adult spoke to another adult. This second analysis revealed that, when the adult spoke to another adult, problem behavior resulted. However, when the adult spoke to another child, problem behavior did not occur. On the basis of these functional analyses, a positive intervention was designed to reduce problem behavior. Theoretical implications related to functional analysis are discussed, and applied issues concerning functionally based treatment selection are explored.


Unusual DNA structures were detected by an electrophoretic procedure in which DNA fragments were separated according to size on agarose gels and then by shape on polyacrylamide gels. Fragments from yeast centromeres migrated faster in polyacrylamide than predicted from their base composition and size and this property was attributed to a nonrandom distribution of oligomeric A tracts that exhibited minima at 10-11 base intervals. Fragments from seven loci in 107 kb of DNA migrated anomalously slow and these fragments contained blocks of A2-6 in a 10-11 base periodicity which is indicative of bent DNA. The most pronounced bent sequences were found within yeast ARS1 and centered at 245 and 240 bp from the left and right ends of the adenovirus genome. Each sequence is approximately 150 bp away from a replication origin and the adenovirus sequences are within 50 bp of enhancers. Nuclear matrix attachment sites, which are also adjacent to enhancers, contain sequences characteristic of bent DNA. These results suggest that bent structures reside at the base of DNA loops in chromosomes.


Adventitious rooting is an essential step in vegetative propagation. Currently, the mechanism that regulates adventitious root (AR) development in woody plants is poorly understood. This work demonstrates that Populus tomentosa WUSCHEL-related homeobox 5a (PtoWOX5a) transcription factor is involved in AR development in poplar. PtoWOX5a was specifically expressed in the AR tip and lateral root tip during AR and lateral root regeneration from the stem segment. Phenotypic complementation experiments indicated that the PtoWOX5a can functionally complement AtWOX5 in quiescent center (QC) cells. Overexpression of PtoWOX5a introduces significant developmental phenotypes in roots and leaves, such as increased AR number, decreased AR length, swollen AR tip and lateral root tip, and decreased leaf number and area. The conserved mechanism of D-type cyclins (CYCD) repression mediated by WOX5 was confirmed in poplar. The co-expression network of PtWOX5a was constructed, which provided clues to reveal the molecular mechanism of PtoWOX5a in AR development in poplar. Taken together, our results suggest that the PtoWOX5a is involved in AR development though cooperating with a series of functional genes.


This report summarizes the major activities conducted in the Chemical and Energy Research Section of the Chemical Technology Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) during th eperiod April-June 1998. The section conducts basic and applied research and development in chemical engineering, applied chemistry, and bioprocessing, with an emphasis on energy-driven technologies and advanced chemical separations for nuclear and waste applications.


This paper is the continuation of Part I in which a quasi-Z-source modular cascaded converter (qZS-MCC), comprising front-end isolated qZS half-bridge dc-dc converter submodules (SMs), for dc integration of high-power photovoltaic (PV) systems is proposed. The qZS-MCC-based PV system features modular structure, high-voltage dc collection of PV power, simple control with a unified and constant duty cycle for the front-end isolation converter of all SMs, and low qZS impedance due to no double-line-frequency pulsating power. Here, control scheme of the qZS-MCC PV system integrated into the dc collection grid is investigated. Dynamic model of the system is established for controllers design and time-domain transient simulation. Experimental tests are carried out on the downscaled prototype as a proof-of-concept of the proposed control and modeling, demonstrating the validity of the proposed approaches.


This article examines the order in which people recognize and respond to different levels of structure within a visual display. Certain previous experiments have been interpreted as showing that information about global characteristics of an array is extracted by the visual system before information about local characteristics. Results from a task in which the observer must attend to both global and local information demonstrate that local information has a large influence on reaction time even when information at the global level is sufficient to determine the response. This finding implies that local information becomes available to decision processes with a time course similar to that of global information. Effects previously attributed to the order in which different levels of structure are recognized may result from differential ease of directing attention to these different levels and selecting responses based on them.


This paper demonstrates the harmonic component limiting effects achieved by varying transformer-based dc-dc converter switching device voltage slew rate dV/dt. A solution is realised which is practically feasible to lower the conducted harmonic component emission levels to below -100dBm by reducing the voltage slew rate of a 3W dc-dc converter. Voltage slew rate reduction lowers the harmonic component magnitudes of the trapezoidal waveform at the output of the transformer secondary. A second order LC output filter further reduces harmonic components. The proposed experimental design provides high and low bias voltages to a series of CCD optical arrays for the ESA Gaia satellite. Alternative active gate drive design is also presented to allow adaptive variation of the dV/dt, focusing on higher power level applications.


Trust management is a scalable form of access control that relies heavily on delegation. Different parts of the policy are under the control of different principals in the system. While these two characteristics may be necessary in large or decentralized systems, they make it difficult to anticipate how policy changes made by others will affect whether ones own security objectives are met. Automated analysis tools are needed for assessing this question. The article develops techniques that support the development of tools to solve many analysis problem instances. When an access control policy fails to satisfy desired security objectives, the tools provide information about how and why the failure occurs. Such information can assist policy authors design appropriate policies. The approach to performing the analysis is based on model checking. To assist in making the approach effective, a collection of reduction techniques is introduced. We prove the correctness of these reductions and empirically evaluate their effectiveness. While the class of analysis problem instances we examine is generally intractable, we find that our reduction techniques are often able to reduce some problem instances into a form that can be automatically verified.


The breaking of the vertical mirror symmetry in two-dimensional Janus structures has given rise to many outstanding features that do not exist in the original materials. In this work, we study the structural, mechanical, and electronic properties of Janus GeSnX2 (X = S, Se, Te) single-layers using density functional theory. The stability of the investigated Janus structures has been tested through the analysis of their phonon dispersions and elastic parameters. It is found that, with low in-plane stiffness, Janus GeSnX2 single-layers are more mechanically flexible than other two-dimensional materials and their mechanical properties exhibit very high anisotropy. All three single-layers are semiconductors and their bandgap can be altered easily by strain engineering. Due to the asymmetric structure, a vacuum level difference between the two sides is observed, leading to the difference in work function on the two sides of single-layers. Our findings not only provide necessary information about the physical properties of Janus GeSnX2 single-layers but also provide the impetus for further studies on these interesting materials both theoretically and experimentally.


Extended Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) has recently gained a lot of attention from the industrial and research community for dynamic Internet of Things (IoT) applications. IoT devices broadcast messages for neighbor gateways that deliver the message to the application server through an IP network. Hence, it is required to deploy LoRaWAN gateways, i.e., network planning, and optimization, in an environment while considering Operational Expenditure (OPEX) and Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) along with Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. In this article, we introduced a LoRaWAN gateway placement model for dynamic IoT applications called DPLACE. It divides the IoT devices into groups with some degree of similarity between them to allow for the placement of LoRaWAN gateways that can serve these devices in the best possible way. Specifically, DPLACE computes the number of LoRaWAN gateways based on the Gap statistics method. Afterward, DPLACE uses K-Means and Fuzzy C-means algorithms to calculate the LoRaWAN gateway placement. The simulations' results proved the benefits of DPLACE compared to state-of-the-art LoRaWAN gateway placement models in terms of OPEX, CAPEX, and QoS.


In this paper, a difference expansion based reversible data hiding approach which achieves the low distortion requirement under the same embedding capacity is proposed. An edge-oriented prediction method and a modified overflow/underflow prevention method are proposed to achieve the requirement. For each pixel, the prediction method uses edge information to get a better predicted value in an attempt to reduce the image distortion. Experimental results have demonstrated that the proposed reversible data hiding method yields lower distortion than several well-known expansion-based reversible data hiding methods.


Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL

A phase II randomized clinical study is ongoing in our Institution to prove the clinical efficacy of dacarbazine (DTIC) one day before peptide-vaccination (Melan-A and NY-ESO-1) in the prevention of melanoma relapse in clinically disease-free HLA-A2 patients. In a previous pilot study, this combination therapy (using Melan-A and gp100 peptides) increased the number of tumor-reactive long-lasting effector-memory CD8+ lymphocytes. To identify the mechanisms enhancing the immune response, induced by DTIC combined with peptide-vaccination, we analyzed the endogenous and treatment-induced antigen specific CD8 T-cell response at the clonal level. We analyzed the sequence of the TCR α-chain of these clones and the molecular results were correlated with the expression of CD27/CD28 co-stimulatory molecule, AKT activation and anti-tumor lytic activity. The combination of chemo/immunotherapy elicited in Melan-A-specific, but not in gp100 clones, a renewal of high-avidity/tumor-reactive T-cell clones, with a broadening TCR diversity in long-surviving patients, suggesting that the selection of immune-resistant tumor variants may be circumvented by this combination, and thus prevent tumor recurrence in melanoma. In gp100 clones, AKT activation (pSer473-AKT) canonically correlates with CD28 and/or CD27 expression, independent of the treatment while in Melan-A clones, lacking CD27 and CD28 expression, non-canonical AKT activation was only observed after the combination therapy. The identification of the extracellular stimuli and signaling pathway responsible for DTIC-mediated activation of the AKT signaling are currently under investigation.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4406. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-4406


This study investigates the current state of emergency healthcare delivery in Amman, Jordan. The first of its kind, the study uses a cross-sectional questionnaire, distributed to 40 hospitals in Amman, in order to assess the accessibility of equipment and medication, as well as the structure and function of emergency departments. Results indicate that although emergency departments in Amman are generally well equipped according to World Health Organization guidelines, variability in departmental processes and available equipment as well as staffing, training and overcrowding remain significant challenges. Discussion revealed that many physicians felt that improvements in staff training would improve the delivery of emergency care. Overcrowding of emergency departments and unnecessary use by low acuity patients also interferes with delivery of appropriate care to critical patients and may drive up healthcare costs. Respondents discussed the need for the development of a formal trauma unit, priority triage screening for critical patients and pre-hospital care and coordination. Further studies are needed to explore these and other aspects of emergency care in Jordan.


Objective—To correlate bone scintigraphy and histopathological findings in patients with medial tibial syndrome. Methods—Twenty patients (32 limbs) with a clinical diagnosis of medial tibial syndrome had surgery. Bone scintigraphy before the operation was compared with the histological appearance of bone and periosteal specimens obtained at surgery. Results—Delayed bone scintigraphy showed normal appearance in 11 limbs, characteristic diffuse tubular pattern uptake in 16 limbs, and focal uptake in five. Periosteal histology disclosed fibrous thickening as the most common finding associated with increased vascularity, occasionally with chronic inflammatory cell infiltration, haemosiderin, and acid mucopolysaccharide deposition. Loss of osteocytes was the main finding of bone histology associated with some enlargement of lacunae and lamellar structure disruption. A grading system was used to score normal and abnormal histological appearance. For analysis the findings were regrouped to provide tables using Fisher's exact test. There was no correlation between bone scintigraphy and the histology of bone and periosteum, but two interesting observations were noted. Those cases with periosteal thickening had mostly normal bone scan appearance (p = 0.0028). Those cases with low levels of osteocyte loss had mostly abnormal bone scintigraphy. Conclusion—Abnormal histological appearance of bone and periosteum is a feature of medial tibial syndrome. These histological findings show poor correlation with bone scintigraphy. The exact pathogenesis of this syndrome remains unclear.


Research studies on micronutrient supplementation based on blood group types is gaining popularity with accurate results. Pakistan Government is also spending millions of rupees with the help of world health donors on combating deficiency of calcium through supplementation of calcium in milk. Research studies should be focused on particular deficiencies specific to blood groups as they vary in different regions of the world. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that blood group "AB" individuals are most vulnerable to calcium deficiency. Pakistan has blood groups population as "B" 36%, "O" 33%, "A" 21%, and "AB" 9%. Calcium level was determined by using ultra sound bone densitometer (Sonometer®) in female hostelized students having different blood groups in university of Sargodha, Pakistan. The nutritional status of blood group "AB" was compared with other blood group individuals. Data was subjected to statistical analyses. Results confirmed the hypothesis that blood group "AB" subjects were having lesser calcium levels i.e. t-statistic of (A-AB) was -6.80 highly significant, (O-AB) and (B-AB) were -6.72 and -5.61 respectively, also highly significant. Subjects having blood group "AB" were found to be calcium deficient as compared to other blood groups. It was concluded that major deficiency of calcium is prevailing in population having blood group "AB" and should be taken care for calcium intake. In other blood groups individuals a problem of over load may have deleterious effects on health. Studies also emphasized that diet relevant to blood groups should be promoted.


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer and the leading cause of death from skin cancer. While there are multiple promising new immunotherapeutic and targeted approaches for treating melanoma, not all patients are eligible for these therapies and most of those that are ultimately relapse, highlighting a critical need for improved chemotherapeutics. Temozolomide (TMZ) is an orally administered DNA-alkylating agent used in the treatment of advanced cancers including melanoma. TMZ has shown some advantage in the clinic in terms of preventing central nervous system relapse and patient quality of life. In order to find novel vulnerabilities that may be exploited to sensitize melanoma cells to TMZ, we utilized mRNA expression and TMZ-sensitivity profiling in a panel of 18 melanoma cell lines to develop a classifier of TMZ-sensitivity using the support vector machine (SVM) method. We subsequently applied this classifier to predict the TMZ-sensitivity in 47 independent melanoma cell lines. TMZ sensitivity profiling in smaller set of 22 of these lines resulted in a prediction accuracy of approximately 80%. We analyzed the genes differentiating TMZ-sensitive and -resistant melanoma cells using both microarray data in 40 cell lines, and more recently RNA-sequencing from the original 18 cell line training set. We found no correlation between TMZ sensitivity and expression of the DNA repair gene (MGMT), base excision repair gene (PARP1, PARG, etc.), and DNA mismatch repair gene (MLH1, MSH2, etc.). Instead, analysis using the Ingenuity IPA pathway analysis tool found that upregulation of MITF and a large set of MITF target genes, as well as downregulation TGFB1 and TGFB1 targets were strongly associated with TMZ resistance in melanoma cell line (p = 2.82E-67 and p = 1.17E-52, respectively in the microarray analysis; similar results observed in RNA sequencing data). E-cadherin (CDH1), which is know to play a key role in invasion and transition from radial to vertical growth in melanoma, was found to be one of the genes most significantly correlated with TMZ resistance. Finally, we also analyzed exome-sequencing data from these cell lines (n=55) and found that TMZ-sensitivity did not significantly correlate with the presence or absence of mutations to genes commonly mutated in melanoma. In conclusion, our gene expression data suggest that TMZ resistance in melanoma cells in vitro is likely mediated by large gene regulatory networks governed by MITF and TGFB1.

Citation Format: Tongwu Zhang, Mai Xu, Donald Chow, Chris Sereduk, Jeffrey M. Trent, Hongwei Yin, Kevin M. Brown. Identification of gene regulatory networks mediating melanoma cell resistance to temozolomide. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 3776. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-3776


An investigation of the effects of the S-(+) and R-(-) enantiomers of 5-ethyl-5-phenylhydantoin as hypolipidemic agents was undertaken. The serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels were reduced approximately 40% by either oral or i.p. administration at 20 mg/kg.day of either enantiomer. Both agents blocked activities of enzymes involved in the de novo synthetic pathway of lipids. Lipids removed from the blood compartment were not deposited into tissue, but appeared to be cleared from the body at a more rapid rate. Serum lipoproteins showed a reduction in cholesterol and triglyceride content of very low density (VLDL) and low density (LDL) fractions after two-week administration at 20 mg/kg.day and HDL cholesterol content was elevated particularly with the R-(-) enantiomer. The LD50 values of the enantiomers were 500 mg/kg i.p. or greater.


Abstract The essence of the problem of using criminal law to affect sports injuries caused in sport lies in the fact that the means of criminal law to interfere in sport or not. From this perspective, we talk about two theories: the theory of absolute immunity sports and the theory of strict adherence to the rule of law. These two concepts are supplemented by a number of theories that perspective as an autonomous system that contains its own rules of conduct that regulate internal relations in sports. In the event that disciplinary liability is not sufficient in this case, can be applied liable under civil and administrative law. In the most serious cases, the possibility of protecting the rights and legitimate interests in sport according to the norms of criminal law. The subject of this article is selected aspects of criminal responsibility in different sports, both individual and collective. From individual sports we mainly deal with skiing. The contact sports in this article will be football, hockey and rugby.


The familiar story of King Solomon and the two prostitutes is often assumed to showcase the wise arbitration of King Solomon through the help of the divinely—endowed wisdom of Yahweh. In this standard reading of the passage, there is a quick intellectual fixation to show the relationship between the passage and the preceding divine encounter at Gibeon. Against the limitations of these traditional readings, the paper resituates the ideological/theological importance of the two prostitutes beyond its immediate literary landscape to encompass the entirety of the Deuteronomistic History (DtrH). Through verbal resonance and symbolic connections to the rest of the DtrH, the work underscores that the presence of these two prostitutes, at the opening of the book of Kings, is a significant prelude to the Dtr's narratives on the subsequent demise of the two kingdoms.


A 69-year-old male of effusive-constrictive pericarditis with a symptom of right heart failure was reported. The patient underwent surgery, as the medical treatment had not been effective. Through median spritting, very thickened pericardium and calcified epicardium of the right atrium, the right ventricle and the left ventricle were resected as largely as possible. In the space between the pericardium and epicardium, there existed yellow and thick fluid of about 50 ml which was evacuated. After surgery hemodynamic improvement was observed and the patient experienced a smooth postoperative course. Although pathological examinations revealed no special findings except the increased activity of adenosine deaminase of the yellow and thick fluid, tuberculosis was mostly suspected as the cause of the disease.


Carrier phase measurement is essential for high accuracy positioning in mobile Global Positioning System (GPS) applications. For GPS receiver design, a narrow loop noise bandwidth is desirable to reduce the phase jitter due to thermal noise. However, it deteriorates the capability of tracking loops and may result in cycle slips. Based on an adaptive bandwidth criterion, a new design procedure for intelligent GPS receivers is presented to improve carrier phase tracking in the presence of highly kinematic environments. A fuzzy logic controller (FLC), which uses the carrier phase and frequency errors as input data, is first employed to provide rapid and accurate control of digital phase-locked loops (DPLL) in the transient and steady states. When the phase error or frequency error is large, the intelligent carrier loop increases the loop bandwidth adaptively and performs fast locking. Once the tracking errors are reduced, this tracking loop decreases the loop bandwidth and improves ranging accuracy. By utilising the highest dynamic stress information, the FLC loop is developed to offer several advantages over traditional methods in acquisition limitations, these being: wider lock range (150 Hz) and pull-in range (400 Hz); faster pull-in speed; and larger frequency ramp range (412 Hz/s). Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed fuzzy-based receiver does achieve a shorter settling time and broader acquisition range than conventional tracking loops while preventing the occurrence of cycle skipping.


The design of the Dinoyo Ceramic Village Mascot was carried out as a marketing initiative to support the promotion of ceramic products. Dinoyo Ceramics was a leading player within the Malang City's creative industries. Over time, however, ceramics activities stagnated and finally the factory closed. The closure of the factory caused the loss of many livelihoods, and now there are attempts to use creative branding strategies to increase the productivity and promotion of Dinoyo ceramics. The strategy adopted was to use a mascot a communicator. The design method refers to Alina Wheeler's Branding Design Identity, which determines the steps that must be followed to produce a product. The study began by conducting research and describing the vision, strategy, targets and values in Dinoyo Ceramic Village as a ceramic industry tourist destination in Malang. The second step is to explain the strategy and ensure it fit the brand identity needs of Dinoyo Ceramic Village. The third stage is designing the mascot identity. The fourth step is determining a focus by finalizing the design of identity design. The fifth stage is managing assets. This included building the strategy and launch plan for the mascot, starting with the socialization to the internal party of Dinoyo Ceramic Village, followed by the mascot exhibition to introduce it to the wider public. This design produces several visual communication media, namely: two mascots for Dinoyo Ceramic Village named Oyon and Onid; advertising via Instagram social media; merchandise and advertising media that support Dinoyo ceramic products. The design of the Dinoyo Ceramic Village mascot will serve as a reliable communication tool in the promotional activities of Dinoyo Ceramic Village Keywords: Mascot, Dinoyo Ceramics, Brand Identity


A 5-yr study was conducted to measure the rates of recovery of fish and invertebrate communities following reclamation of a watershed impacted by an abandoned coal surface mine in Southwest Missouri. Quarterly monitoring of water quality information (pH, conductivity, and alkalinity) was conducted at 10 sites. Annual monitoring of biological (benthic invertebrate and fish community structure), physical (substrate grain size), and chemical (metals, pH, conductivity, and alkalinity) variables was conducted at 5 of the 10 sites. Prior to the reclamation effort the stream was nearly devoid of aquatic life above Hwy 2 for a distance of approximately 2 miles due to extremely low pH (<3) and elevated levels of calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, aluminum, copper, strontium, boron, and cobalt. State water quality standards for zinc, copper, and cadmium were exceeded. Fish were present at reference sites (largemouth bass, white crappie, bluegill, minnows, and darters) but were absent at sites impacted by acid mine drainage within the project boundaries. Benthic invertebrates were similarly impacted. Reclamation activities were initiated late in 1991 and continued through 1995. Significant recovery of water quality, fish, and invertebrate communities were observed following the reclamation. Both chemical and biological approaches were useful in monitoring the recovery of the aquatic system following the watershed reclamation.


Heart rate variability (HRV) has been studied in the context of human behavior analysis and many features have been extracted from the inter-beat interval (RR) time series and tested as correlates of constructs such as mental workload, stress and anxiety. Most studies, however, have been conducted in controlled laboratory environments with artificially-induced psychological responses. While this assures that high quality data are collected, the amount of data is limited and the transferability of the findings to more ecologically-appropriate settings (i.e., "in-the-wild") remains unknown. In this paper, we explore the use of motif-based multi-scale HRV features to predict anxiety and stress in-the-wild. To further improve their robustness to artifacts, we propose a quality-aware feature aggregation method. The new quality-aware features are tested on a dataset collected using a wearable biometric sensor from over 200 hospital workers (nurses and staff) during their work shifts. Results show improved stress/anxiety measurement over using conventional time- and frequency-domain HRV measures.


The Hospital Outreach Medication Review (HOMR) service at Monash Health is a pharmacist‐led service that targets patients at high risk of medication misadventure in the immediate post‐discharge period.


Introduction: Contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) is associated with increased risk of in-hospital morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this study was to find out whether continuous venovenous hemofiltration (CVVH) after coronary angiography in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients is associated with a lower incidence of CIN than that reported in the literature.
Methods: All patients with CKD who underwent coronary angiography in the Chest Disease Hospital, Kuwait, between January 2004 and December 2005 were treated by CVVH after the procedure. Renal function was assessed before and after the procedure.
Results: A total of 98 patients were enrolled in the study, 52 (53.1%) of whom were males. Their mean age was 60.7 years. Before the procedure, the mean serum creatinine level was 4.65 mg/dl and the mean creatinine clearance (Cr Cl) was 18.04 ml/min. Patients underwent CVVH for a mean duration of 21.3 hours, after a mean time-interval of 44.3 min. Their mean serum creatinine was 4.57 mg/dl at discharge (within the first week after the procedure) and 4.78 mg/dl at 15 days after the procedure. Mean Cr Cl was 18.52 ml/min at discharge and 17.62 ml/min at 15 days after the procedure. There was no statistically significant difference between the mean serum creatinine and Cr Cl values before and after the procedure. However, one patient (1.02%) developed CIN and ended on regular hemodialysis. The in-hospital mortality was 0%.
Conclusion: Patients with advanced CKD who undergo coronary angiography may be protected from further deterioration in their renal function after exposure to radiological contrast material if the procedure is immediately followed by CVVH. A randomized controlled clinical trial is needed to verify our encouraging results.

Keywords: contrast induced nephropathy, chronic kidney disease, continuous venovenous hemofiltration


ABSTRACT This retrospective study evaluates early semester predictors of whether or not community college students will successfully complete blended or hybrid courses. These predictors are available to faculty by the fourth week of the semester. Success is defined as receiving a grade of C- or higher. Failure is defined as a grade below a C- or a withdrawal. Method: Seven variables available to faculty are considered: gender, degree sought, students' academic level, attendance for the first 4 weeks of face-to-face classes, scores on orientation extra credit assignments, grades on the first quiz, and grades on an early semester reflective essay. Logistic regression is used to evaluate the power of seven variables to predict successful course completion in 15 sections of two business courses: Introduction to Marketing and Marketing Research. Three hundred forty-three students were included in this study. Results show that completion of optional extra credit assignments offered during the first 2 weeks of the semester and performance on the first quiz are significant predictors of successful course completion. These results suggest that students' self-regulation skill or learning presence in the community of inquiry model is a strong predictor of student success. A faculty-based model like the one presented here can help faculty to enhance their students' chances of success by highlighting factors that predict successful course completion early in the semester.


Perineal ultrasound was carried out on a series of 320 primiparous women at their first antenatal visit. The results obtained show that an internal of that was larger than 20 mm was abnormal. A sign of a short cervix (less than 40 mm long on ultrasound) was of not much value but had to be taken notice of. In six cases it was found that clinically the cervix was absolutely normal and on ultrasound was incompetent.


Violence is a serious public health problem and has a high impact on the quality of life of individuals across societies. Evolutionary, genetic, environmental, and cultural factors are closely interconnected as morbid causes. Animal models can be an important tool in the study of aggression. Regrouped Swiss Webster mice were selected based on mobility profile (Hypo, Normal; Hyper), which was defined by the tail suspension test. Our results demonstrate that Hyper mice (anxiety-like behavior) were more aggressive and violent than the other two categories, indicated by a pattern of aggressive behavior with a score 4+ in relation to score 1+ of Normal category. Hyper group, showed a decrease in total testosterone levels (-32.5% in relation to Norm group) and an increase in progesterone levels (+57.6% compared with the Norm group). We also observed a decrease in the weight of the testicles, the seminiferous tubules, Leydig and diploid spermatogenic cells number in hyper aggressive animals. Together, the results indicate an association between testosterone/progesterone and the appearance of highly aggressive behavior in male Swiss Webster mice. CEUA/FIOCRUZ, #LW-5/12.


In the low rainfall, cropping area of Western Australia, massive soil structure due to machinery traffic is common on a range of soil types and is a major obstacle to crop yield improvement. Yield increases on compacted soils have been poor in the last decade compared with those on other soils. An experiment was conducted over 4 years (1997–2000) on a loamy sand soil with massive subsoil structure using a factorial combination of soil ripping to 0.4 m (DR), and application of commercial grade gypsum at 2.5 t/ha (G) to address the soil compaction problem. Complete nutrients, based on soil test each year, were applied to all treatments and regarded as the control treatment. All crop residues were retained after harvest and returned to the soil. The experiment was conducted in a wheat–grain legume (chickpea in 1998, field pea in 2000) rotation at Tammin in Western Australia. The purpose of the experiment was to assess possible improvements in soil properties and grain yields that may result from deep soil disturbance and application of an aggregating agent such as gypsum on a loamy sand soil in a low rainfall cropping system. Soil water infiltration rate, soil strength, porosity, water-stable aggregates, exchangeable Ca and Mg, cation exchange capacity, and grain yields were measured. The results of this experiment on a loamy sand soil are compared and contrasted with those from a similar experiment on another common soil type in the low rainfall zone, a sandy clay loam soil (reported earlier by MA Hamza and WK Anderson). Grain yields were increased slightly more on the loamy sand soil at Tammin than on the sandy clay loam soil at Merredin due to deep ripping and gypsum application, even though the corresponding improvements in soil parameters were not as great on the loamy sand soil. The yield increases of wheat and legumes due to gypsum treatment were significantly lower on both soil types than those due to the combination of gypsum and ripping, whereas ripping alone without gypsum produced a yield decrease in the third and subsequent years after treatment. The main treatment effects on yield were additive, as significant interactions between the treatments on yield were seldom found. Deep ripping and gypsum application (DRG) resulted in the greatest improvement in the soil physical properties as indicated by crop growth on both soil types. The DRG treatment increased soil water infiltration rate by about 90% on the loamy sand soil but by more than 130% on the sandy clay loam soil 4 years after the application of the treatments. Strength and porosity of the topsoil were decreased much more on the sandy clay loam soil. Summer rain stored in the soil prior to seeding was increased almost 3 times in both soils. The increase in water-stable aggregates was only 8% in the loamy sand soil but 46% on the sandy clay loam soil. Cation exchange capacity and exchangeable calcium were also increased more on the clayey than on the sandy soil by the use of DRG. Economic analysis of the yield improvements showed that the DRG treatment produced significantly higher profit than the G or DR treatments alone on both soil types, but was slightly greater on the loamy sand soil type. The combination of soil ripping and gypsum application in the presence of complete nutrients and annual return of crop residues to the soil had somewhat different effects on the soil physical properties and grain yields at a loamy sand soil site compared with the sandy clay loam soil site. However, the effect in both cases was favourable and is suggested to improve crop grain yield and soil physical fertility on both commonly occurring soil types in the low rainfall, cropping zone of Western Australia.


Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) is the most common congenital disorder found in adulthood, accounting for 35% of Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD). In ASD, there is a defect in the septum/wall between right and left atria, resulting in left-to-right shunt which lead to an increase of the right heart volume and pulmonary circulation. If left untreated, increased pulmonary resistance develop to pulmonary hypertension (PH) which results in a progressive decrease in right ventricular function, causing right heart failure and death. Although ASD surgical closure is not a complicated procedure, patients with complication of PH and right heart failure have a high mortality rate if not managed properly. Increase in mortality was mainly due to perioperative pulmonary hypertensive crisis (PH crisis), condition of an acute increase in mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) exceeding mean systemic arterial pressure (MAP). In this case report, we will discuss the management of postoperative adult patients with ASD closure complicated by intraoperative pulmonary hypertensive crisis who are treated in the intensive care unit (ICU).


Alpha lipoic acid (LA) is a natural compound and coenzyme with sufficient safety information for serving as a promising anticancer agent. To further clarify the mechanism of action (MoA), two Ir(iii) complexes with the functionalized α-lipoic acid (N∧N-LA, N∧N, 2,2-bipyridine derivative), namely Ir1 and Ir2, were synthesized, where Ir1 possessed a half-sandwich structure with the formula [Ir(Cp*)(N∧N-LA)Cl]PF6 (Cp* = 1,2,3,4,5-pentamethyl-cyclopentadiene) and Ir2 possessed the cyclometalated structure with the formula [Ir(C∧N)2(N∧N-LA)]PF6 (C∧N = 2-phenylpyridine). Even though both complexes were constructed based on the same N∧N-LA ligand, Ir1 showed no cytotoxicity (IC50 > 200 μM), which was due to its low lipophilicity for hard penetration into the cancer cells, easy hydrolysis, and reaction with GSH. Ir2 exhibited excellent cytotoxicity (IC50 = 3.43–6.74 μM) toward diverse cancer cell lines in vitro and a promising ability to overcome the cisplatin-resistance in A549R cells. The anticancer mechanism of Ir2 in A549 cells was investigated in detail, and it was found it could localize and accumulate in the lysosomes of A549 cells, induce ROS, arrest the cycle at G0/G1, and lead to cell death by autophagy. Comparison with Ir-NH2 ([Ir(C∧N)2(N∧N-NH2)]PF6) demonstrated that introduction of the LA ligand to Ir2 could highly enhance the cytotoxicity and help to overcome the cisplatin-resistance. This study of the half-sandwich and cyclometalated Ir(iii)-based anticancer agents highlighted the different MoAs toward cancer cells and provided new insights for understanding their structure–property relationships.


Among the diverse forms of insect life infesting stored agricultural products in South India those belonging to the Lepidoptera are by no means unimportant. Though no accurate estimates of the annual losses in value of grain, pulses, etc., due to their depredations are available in this country, it has to be admitted that the extent of the damage may occasionally be considerable. It is, therefore, unfortunate that these insects have not attracted sufficient attention at the hands of Economic Entomologists in this country; consequently very little information is available as to the exact identity of the species, their relative importance, or their life-histories. The present investigation was undertaken to make a detailed study of this problem in South India with a view to elucidating the points just raised.


On-line capillary electrophoresis-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (CE-ESMS) has been employed for the analysis of metabolites of the anticancer drug tamoxifen. Nonaqueous (methanol) CE electrolyte provided better resolution and detection sensitivity compared to aqueous systems or highly aqueous water-methanol electrolyte mixtures. Nonaqueous methanol also permitted the use of lower ES voltages presumably owing to its lower surface tension, which facilitated droplet breakup. This decreased the tendency to produce electric discharges, thus improving the stability of electrospray conditions. The relative ease of methanol solvent evaporation may contribute to an improved yield of protonated analytes as compared to highly aqueous solutions. Enhanced CE resolution can be at least partially attributed to the improved solubility of analytes in methanol relative to water. Higher solubility implies less aggregation of hydrophobic analytes, thus improving homogeneity in solution. Moreover, electroosmotic flow toward the detector decreased in methanol relative to water. The reduction of this force pushing all analytes through the capillary, but not aiding in separation, implies that other factors such as slight differences in electrophoretic mobilities are more apt to lead to successful separations. Surfactants were employed as nonaqueous CE-ESMS buffer additives. An SDS concentration of 7 mM lowered the ESMS signal response for N-desmethyltamoxifen by a factor of approximately 3. However, separation of tamoxifen metabolites using 7 mM SDS was augmented relative to the unadulterated methanol electrolyte. This enabled the separation of alpha-hydroxytamoxifen and 4-hydroxytamoxifen, which were not resolvable in methanol electrolyte devoid of SDS. The methanol-surfactant electrolyte system has been successfully used to determine metabolites formed after incubation of tamoxifen with mouse hepatocytes.


The toxicity, as determined by inhibition of phagocytosis, of 60 lots of penicillin sodium from ten manufacturers has been studied to determine the effect of purity on the toxicity of this salt of penicillin. Similar studies have been made of six different salts of penicillin prepared on a pilot plant basis and of seven different salts of penicillin prepared commercially. There is a correlation between the toxicity of penicillin preparations as measured by inhibition of phagocytosis and potency. The toxicity for leucocytes of the penicillin preparations studied is not dependent upon the cation used in their production. The weight of the penicillin preparations studied which completely inhibits phagocytosis appears to be the same, regardless of the type or potency of the salt tested. It is suggested that the inhibition of phagocytosis demonstrated in these studies may be the result of an osmotic pressure effect. The concentrations of crude penicillin necessary to inhibit phagocytosis are not obtained in the ordinary clinical use of this material.


In recent years, a great deal more of the energies and moneys of scientists and institutions interested in cancer have been focusing on leukemia in its variegated forms. This intensified search-for-understanding is undertaken with far-ranging vision. Researchers seek beyond control and cure of human leukemia, searching out paths that will provide insight into other forms of human malignancy. This symposium held in December 1966, under the auspices of the Leukemia Society of America, reflects the intensive pursuit of oncologic knowledge that occupies many scientific disciplines. The symposium opens with a discussion of epidemiological considerations of the leukemia problem. Five papers on various aspects of viral investigation follow. Dutcher initiates the viral section with a chronological review of viral-induced malignancies and concludes with a discussion of problems faced by those trying to show that human leukemia is a viral disease. Dmochowski surveys what part ultrastructural studies are playing in the


As scaling of nanoelectronics may deteriorate dependability, fail-safe design techniques gain attention. We apply the concept of fail-safety to IP core-based system design, making the first step towards dependability-aware reuse methodologies. We introduce a methodology for dependability characterization, which uses informal techniques to identify hazards and employs formal methods to check if the hazards occur. The proposed hazard metrics provide qualitative and quantitative insight into possible core misbehavior. Experimental results on two IP cores show that the approach enables early comparative dependability studies.


It is almost 30 years since Tom Wolfe first 'celebrated' the sinful vanities of greed, class and racism lurking behind Wall Street successes of the 1980s. Since then the excess of city traders and bankers has hardly moderated; nor has the media lost its appetite for reproducing such excess as moralising narratives of avarice, corruption and claims of cynically manipulative practices informing neoliberal market capitalism. Beyond commentary on a culture of high-profile moral posturing set to sell anything and everything as media product, one detects two trenchant and defining insights born of nascent informational capitalism (Castells, 2001). The first relates to the immersion of identity in 'vast incalculable circuits' of connectivity; not merely of the conventional media of Wolfe's era, but of the vast global enterprise of networked society and its computer-mediated worlds where, as predicted, selfdom is indeed experienced as being 'multiple, fluid, and constituted in interaction with machine connections; it is [indeed] made and transformed by language; sexual congress is [indeed] an exchange of signifiers; and understanding [indeed] follows from navigation and tinkering rather than analysis' (Turkle, 1997, p. 15). The second relates to the ongoing explosion of new technologies of reproduction in that the identification of the commodity with its image as media content occurs under conditions governed by the 'systematic production of messages, not from the world, but from the medium itself' (Baudrillard, 1998, p. 125); and that the interplay of connectivity as mediatised sociality animates symbolic circulation to the point where everyday interactivity consists in a 'mass medium at the level of the brand' (Baudrillard, 1998, p. 125). These insights suggest Lury's (2004, p. 51) exposition of the brand as an 'interface: a frame that organises and connects as a site of interactivity with its own recursive logic independent of context'. Indeed, in writing that 'the brand is an image instrument, a medium of translation, a new media object', Lury (2004, p. 49) not only restates the view of Douglas and Isherwood (1980, p. 62) that 'the essential function of consumption is its capacity to make sense', to make meaning, to think with: she anticipates the underlying concern of this special issue that brands function as distributed cultural intermediaries; and that this is most apparent empirically at the level of the celebrity brand.


The effective pair potentials of liquid caesium for a wide range of density are derived from experimental structure factors using the inverse method, which is based on the integral equation theory and the molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The results are discussed in comparison with those obtained previously for liquid rubidium and with those obtained by the pseudopotential perturbation theory. The density dependence of derived for liquid caesium shows features in common with that for liquid rubidium: with decreasing density, the repulsive part of becomes softer, its oscillation becomes smaller and then disappears and the resulting attractive part grows longer ranged. It is shown by comparing the corresponding states with the same scaled densities that the repulsive part of the for caesium is softer than that for rubidium.


In this paper, we study the long wave approximation for quasilinear symmetric hyperbolic systems. Using the technics developed by Joly-Metivier-Rauch for nonlinear geometrical optics, we prove that under suitable assumptions the long wave limit is described by KdV-type systems. The error estimate if the system is coupled appears to be better. We apply formally our technics to Euler equations with free surface and Euler-Poisson systems. This leads to new systems of KdV-type.


In the recent scenario, the communication network become the backbone of every business. The energy consumption is very challenging task for the design the new generation network. As the traffic demand is increasing every second, the power source of the network should be able to handle the traffic load. The upcoming fifth Generation (5G) network in early stage and the different techniques are suggested to reduce the power consumption. The renewable energy also used as energy source of 5G network without degrading the performance of the network. In this article, the 5G network, its energy consumption challenges and sustainable green 5G networks as possible key solution are addressed.


The market for real estate portfolios in Europe will stabilise at a high level over the coming years. Numerous factors are favourably impacting supply and demand and will continue to promote extensive investment. After a short introduction covering the macroeconomic and real estate market environment, the presentation will show the development of the market of portfolio transactions in several European countries, Germany, UK, France, Sweden, Italy, Central Europe [Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia], pan-European transactions - including the number of transactions per year, volumes, types of vendors and purchasers, nationalities of vendors and purchasers utilisation. The analysis covers all transactions from 1997 or later n depending on the country - and includes transactions up to the 3rd quarter of 2006. The energy of the market is the motivation of vendors and purchasers, new financing instruments and exit strategies. These factors will be also highlighted in the presentation. After discussing all of the mentioned dynamic features, we are able to give an informative picture about the future development of the market of portfolio transactions within Europe. The presentation is based on the new report published by Sireo Research in February 2007: iSireo Research 2007 n Portfolio transactions in Europei.


Lithuania and throughout Europe, the apparent complementary and alternative medicine (here in after - PAM) for demand growth, perceived exploitation potential at-regulated jurisdiction. The debate stems from the concept of the PAM, domain definition, emerging services methodologies, so-called standards, professional qualifications, licensing procedures. The aim – to analyse present situation of regulation of the complementary and alternative medicine, problems and perspectives. Methods. Descriptive literature analysis bringing to the light differences in understanding the main concepts of health, human wellness and CAM regulation. The insights are given from today's discussions on the regulation documents and different scenarios of regulation in the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Lithuania. Results. World Health Organization conceptualize understanding of human health as complete physical, social and spiritual wellness in orientation that a concept of health compounds perception of holistic medicine. It is stated in Health strategy of the European Union (third program, 2014-2020) that human healthiness, prevention and recreational health functions are recommended to apply in all sphere politics. Complementary and alternative medicine has a strong background to become an aspect of holistic understanding in medicine via different fields such as recreation, natural (folk) medicine and others. However present situation has not reached a consensus in regulation because of occurring discussions and issues as well as not yet solved questions. The same importance is to highlight integrity between traditional and complementary and alternative medicine. Conclusion. Descriptive literature analysis brought to the light different strategies with/without similarities in regulation complementary and alternative medicine in Europe; the diverse spheres of medical practice is held complementary and alternative medicine in different countries. However, the balance in regulation could be found in linking the ideas of World Health Organization and strategy of European Region Committee of health politics accepted in annual session 2012 "Health 2020" where the concepts of integrity and holistic medicine are emphasized.


Celebrities have gained considerable influence in the last one hundred years or so, but the advent of so-called Web 2.0 technologies has given celebrity culture a new momentum. We are living in a world in which celebrities are striving to curve their place in every niche and hence we have to become more media literate in order to avoid being exploited by celebrity media and culture. We have to be aware that celebrities promote commodities that they will never use, that they are carefully working on their image to become pleasant to us, and that if they do humanitarian work, they are mainly doing it for their reputation, and not for a real and authentic cause.


Corporate social responsibility is a response to outdated understanding of the growth and the obsolete definition of business emphasizing only the dimension of a profit. Original unlimited growth has been replaced by the concept of sustainable development. Current theory of the firm is based on the stakeholder concept replacing the traditional pattern sole responsibility of the owners – shareholders. At the same time company do not resign from its original objective, they are only correcting the way how to achieve a desired profit. Stakeholder analysis is an essential tool for concept of strategic corporate social responsibility. The analysis output is the evaluation of the degree of influence and expectations of stakeholders. Based on results should be optimized resources on communication with stakeholders, and chosen the appropriate communication strategy. The synthesis of various stakeholder analysis methods has been conducted based on available literature search and thus own analysis model created. The basic model outputs are: stakeholder map, matrix of influence and expectations, matrix of engagement and finally comparison of stakeholder importance to the economic strength of the group. This model has been then applied in a case study of Bako Ltd.


The stratification of blubber fatty acids (FAs) is a widely used strategy in marine mammals and can be influenced by many factors, including their diet, environmental temperature, and physiological status. There are three distinct finless porpoise species/subspecies in Chinese coastal and inland waters in a wide range from 20°N to 40°N. The biochemical stratification of the blubbers of finless porpoises in different regions may provide valuable information for understanding their environmental adaptations. The FA compositions of four geographic populations of finless porpoise (FP) collected from the Bohai Gulf, East China Sea, South China Sea and Yangtze River were therefore analyzed and compared. The blubber FA compositions of finless porpoises were dominated by ΣMUFAs, followed by ΣSFAs and ΣPUFAs, and were generally consistent with those of other cetaceans. The blubber of finless porpoises was significantly stratified with increasing levels of ΣMUFAs and decreasing levels of ΣSFAs and ΣPUFAs from the inner to the outer layers. The three marine populations shared more similarities in their FA compositions and stratifications compared to the freshwater porpoises, particularly regarding the PUFAs in the inner layers, which might have been mainly influenced by the diet compositions of marine and freshwater porpoises. Contrary to what was expected, in the three marine populations, the SFA and MUFA levels showed opposite correlations (negative and positive, respectively) with habitat temperatures, possibly indicating an adaptation mechanism in finless porpoises characterized by a trade-off between the insulation and fluidity properties of the blubber through the adjustment of the compositions and gradients of MUFAs and SFAs across the blubber depth in response to environmental temperature/latitude changes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Detarium microcarpum is used by different ethnic groups for treatment of various diseases in Nigeria and several parts of West African. The      phytochemical constituents of the stembark extract of D.microcarpum were analyzed using qualitative methods. The antibacterial activity of the stembark extracts against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were tested using the agar well diffusion method. The phytochemical investigation revealed that presence of tannins, saponin, steroids, flavonoids, glycosides, phenols and terpenoids. The plant extracts exhibited anti bacterial potential against the tested organisms at different concentrations 100 mg/mL , 50mg/mL 25 mg/mL and 12.5 mg/mL )), with S. aureus having the highest zone of inhibition of 21 mm at 100 mg/mL with ethanolic extract. Therefore, this study suggests that D. microcarpum stembark has phytochemical constituents. The antibacterial activity exhibited by the extracts could be as a result of the phytochemicals presents.


Uncertainties in the flow of foreign portfolio investments (FPI) result in unpredictable behaviour of stock returns in Kenya's economy and also at the firm level. The net effect of this is the possibility of financial loss suffered by the banking and non-banking institutions. The objective of the study was to compare the effects of foreign portfolio equity on stock returns of listed banking and non- banking institutions in Kenya. The study used purposive sampling technique and concentrated on 14 banking and non-banking institutions listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. Secondary data was obtained from Central bank of Kenya, Nairobi securities exchange and capital markets authority for the period January 2008 to December 2014. The study used causal research design, and adopted a panel data regression using the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) method where the data included time series and cross-sectional data that was pooled into a panel data set and estimated using panel data regression. Results from panel estimation showed that exchange rate risk had a significant negative coefficient of -0.8371 with a P- value of 0.0020 for banking institution and negative coefficient of -0.6023 with a significant P- Value of 0.0673 for non-banking institutions. The results are statistically significant at one percent level of significance and five percent level of significance for banking and non-banking institutions respectively. Inflation had significant negative coefficient of -1.7550 with a P- value of 0.0210 in relation to stock returns for banking institutions and an insignificant negative coefficient of -0.6875 with a P- value of 0.4569 for non-banking institutions. The results indicate that the stock returns of banking institutions are affected by inflation while inflation has no effect on non-banking stock returns.  The study recommended that policies that would attract foreign portfolio investment should be pursued in order to enhance stock returns.

 Key words: Foreign portfolio equity, banking institutions, non-banking institutions, stock returns, Nairobi securities exchange.


The article presents a functional diagram of image processing in the vision system, reviewed the functions performed by the functional diagram blocks


ABSTRACT Governments repress using different logics. Responsive repression is employed in the aftermath of dissent activities. Preemptive repression is applied in anticipation of challenges to the state's authority. This article brings a novel insight into the mechanism of preemptive repression by giving analytical weight to big data analytics. It is shown that a new type of preemptive repression has emerged in China's Xinjiang region. While targeted repression is generally associated with specific opposition groups, with the use of big data technology, China is now able to apply targeted repression against millions of Muslim minorities by processing data to predict dissent behaviour, which constitutes a radical transformation of preemptive repression. This article defines this mode of repression as 'a techno-panoptic form of repression' in which human behaviour is reduced to data and big data analytics becomes an instrument through which the state gains hyper-agency.


To clarify the combined magnetic behaviour of BaCuO2+x, which contains in the body-centred-cubic unit cell two Cu18O24 spherical clusters, eight Cu6O12 ring clusters, and six CuO4 lone units, we made measurements of magnetization, 63,65Cu nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) near 6 T, and pure quadrupole resonance (PQR) in zero field on samples with well-defined oxygen contents x = 0 and 0.14. Quantitative analyses of Curie–Weiss-like susceptibility data for BaCuO2.00 indicate that Cu spins within the Cu6 clusters go into a ferromagnetically (FM) ordered ground state with a maximum spin Sr = 3 below K, and those within the Cu18 clusters into an FM-like ground state below K with net spin that is less than the maximum possible spin Ss = 9. For BaCuO2.14 the Cu spins within the Cu6 clusters go into an FM ordered ground state at a lower temperature of K, and these clusters exhibit no signature of long-range magnetic ordering down to 2 K. The NMR spectra for BaCuO2.00 observed below K have a trapezoidal structure that is known to be a characteristic of long-range magnetic ordering, and is consistent with the antiferromagnetic ordering of the Cu6 clusters below TN = 15 K predicted previously. On the other hand, the spectrum for BaCuO2.14 observed in a temperature range between 1.2 and K has an electric quadrupole-split powder pattern structure. This provides microscopic evidence that there is no long-range magnetic ordering in BaCuO2.14. The addition of 0.14 moles of oxygen atoms results in a large suppression of some magnetic entities. We find, however, some anomalies in the NMR and PQR data for BaCuO2.14 near K, which could be associated with short-range ordering of the paramagnetic Cu18 clusters.


Twenty-five patients with disseminated cancer (nine with renal cell carcinoma, five with melanoma, three with Hodgkin's lymphoma and chronic myelocytic leukemia [CML], two with soft tissue sarcoma, one each with large-cell lymphoma, breast cancer, and colon cancer), 13 males and 12 females, aged 25 to 68, were treated with recombinant human interleukin-2 (rIL2) by continuous infusion and adoptive transfer of autologous lymphocytes activated in vitro with IL2. Patients underwent leukapheresis on days 1, 8, 15, and 22 of the treatment. Cells, bulk activated for 20 hours in serum-free culture medium with 1,000 U IL2/mL in transfusion transfer packs as culture vessels, were transfused the following day. The infusion of IL2 by continuous infusion for six days started immediately after each adoptive transfer for 4 weekly courses. The dose of IL2 was escalated weekly in each patient; starting doses of IL2 were also escalated in subsequent cohorts of patients until maximally tolerated doses were reached. Nine patients had objective tumor regressions (three with renal cell cancer, two with Hodgkin's lymphoma, and one each with melanoma, sarcoma, breast, and colon cancer). Six responses were partial, two were minor, and one was mixed. Responding patients were maintained with IL2 by continuous infusion for six days every 6 to 8 weeks, without adoptive cell transfer. The median duration of responses was 16 weeks (3 to 60 + weeks). Tumor regression was related to the dose of IL2 (greater than or equal to 3.4 x 10(6) U/m2/d for six days) and to the in vivo lymphoproliferative effects of the lymphokine, but not to the total number of cells adoptively transferred. Side effects of treatment were transient and quickly reversible. Renal, hepatic dysfunction, and dyspnea were directly related to the dose of IL2 and to lymphocytosis. Other toxicities were mild hypotension with mild fluid retention, oral mucositis, anemia, thrombocytopenia, fever, and fatigue.


Digital human modeling is a powerful tool for the design of artifacts, tasks, and environments. The correct use of 3-D human models in engineering design can greatly reduce time and costs in the product development process and allow for proactive design analysis. Their effectiveness as design tools relies on proper posturing, which must realistically represent the interaction between users' bodies and their environment. This thesis aims to assist designers by qualitatively and quantitatively defining a wide range of body and hand postures. A uniform set of joint angles is provided for each in both the saggital and frontal body planes to aid designers in postural analysis. Considerations like physiological constraints, safety, and user comfort further describe the postures and help designers choose the correct positioning for their DHM. This thesis also proposes a deterministic method for successfully creating and using DHMs as design tools. It leads the user through four steps of choosing a DHM bases on target demographics, selecting and modeling a posture, validating the model, and creating a family of DHMs with variable anthropometry. This method prepares designers for further analysis of human factors such as fit, reach, comfort, visibility, and balance.


2-(Trifluoromethyl)methanesulfonanilides substituted in the para position by methylthio, methylsulfinyl or methylsulfonyl groups and horticulturally acceptable salts thereof and composition containing these compounds are useful herbicides.


According to historians, twelve American astronauts explored the surface of the Moon between 1969 and 1972. During their time on the lunar surface each Apollo crew deployed a special flag pole, leaving a total of six American flags on the surface of the Moon. Or did they? Since the 1970s conspiracy theories have emerged which claim that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) faked the moon landings. Much of the evidence used by the conspiracy theorists consists of photographs and films released by NASA during the Apollo Program. Not surprisingly, the flags have played a major role in the argument that the moon landings were an elaborate hoax. This paper will examine the claims of the conspiracy theorists, especially those related to flags, and will provide explanations in support of the historical reality of the Apollo missions.


Objective: To investigate the differences in small airway lesions in patients with different types of idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (IIPs). Methods: A total of 46 patients with IIPs confirmed by video assisted thoracoscopic or open lung biopsy, hospitalized in the Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine of Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital, from Dec. 1998 through Nov. 2007 were studied, including 19 patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF group), 14 with nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP group), and 13 cryptogenic organizing pneumonia (COP group). Pulmonary function and high resolution CT (HRCT) of the patients were examined before lung biopsy, and lung biopsy tissue were stained with hematoxylin-eosin. The abnormality of small airways in pathology, pulmonary function and HRCT were compared among these patients with IIPs. Results: Small airway inflammatory cell infiltration score (53.8±17.7) was significantly higher in the COP group than in the IPF group (38.8±9.7) (P<0.01). The fibrous tissue proliferation score in small airways (42.9±12.1) in the IPF group was significantly higher than that in the NSIP group (31.4±10.5) and the COP group (26.7±16.3) (both P<0.05). In the IPF group, NSIP group and COP group, the small airway function index was significantly reduced, and the maximum expiratory flow rate (V(25%), V(50%)) at 25% and 50% of the lung capacity was<80% predicted, the incidences of small airway dysfunction in the three groups were 63.2%, 69.2%, and 63.6%, respectively. There was no significant difference among the groups (P>0.05). Small airway inflammatory cell infiltration was negatively correlated with V(50%) of small airway function (r=-0.305, P=0.049). The bronchodilation rate in the HRCT of the IPF group (100%) was significantly higher than that of the NSIP group (50.0%) and the COP group (53.8%) (both P<0.01). Conclusion: The patients with IPF, NSIP and COP have abnormal pathologic, physiological and imaging changes of small airways, moreover have different characteristics.


This paper examines how the political slogan of the "Chinese Dream", coined and promoted by China's president, Xi Jinping, was mediatised in the Chinese and the American media. Applying theoretical frameworks in narrative studies and concepts in mediated discourse analysis , it investigates how elements such as context, time, and space played a vital part in the construal and interpretation of the "Chinese Dream" in a nexus of media practices; as such differing characteristics of mediatisation in the Chinese and the American media emerged. These mediatising mechanisms demonstrate a constant "othering" practice of the American media in mediatising the slogan, and the "blind-to-others" practice of the Chinese media. It is suggested the nexus of the mediatising practice be changed by enhancing the mutual understanding between the two cultural systems.


The use of microprocessor-based systems is gaining importance in application domains where safety is a must. For this reason, there is a growing concern about the mitigation of SEU and SET effects. This paper presents a new hybrid technique aimed to protect both the data and the control-flow of embedded applications running on microprocessors. On one hand, the approach is based on software redundancy techniques for correcting errors produced in the data. On the other hand, control-flow errors can be detected by reusing the on-chip debug interface, existing in most modern microprocessors. Experimental results show an important increase in the system reliability even superior to two orders of magnitude, in terms of mitigation of both SEUs and SETs. Furthermore, the overheads incurred by our technique can be perfectly assumable in low-cost systems.


Purpose To assess the visual and refractive outcomes of flexible toric iris claw phakic intraocular lens implantation for correction of moderate to high myopia with astigmatism. Methods In this non-randomized prospective study, 31 eyes of 18 patients including 8 male and 10 female subjects with mean age of 27.62±5.53 (range 19 to 38) years with moderate to high myopia and astigmatism underwent toric Artiflex (Ophtec BV, Groningen, Netherlands) phakic intraocular lens (PIOL) implantation. Uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA) and corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA) were measured in logarithm of minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) notations. Manifest refraction, safety, efficacy, predictability and complications were measured 6 months after surgery. Results Pre-operatively, mean spherical equivalent (SE) refractive error was -9.68±1.92 (range -14.00 to -6.00) diopter (D) and mean cylinder was -2.79±1.06 (range -4.75 to -1.00) D. After a minimum of 6 months, mean SE was -0.38±0.27 (range -0.87 to 0.00) D and mean cylinder was -0.66±0.43 (range -1.50 to 0.00) D. SE was within 0.50 D of emmetropia in 63.8% and within 1.0 D of target refraction in 100% of eyes. UDVA was equal or better than 20/20 in 45.1% of eyes while CDVA was equal or better than 20/20 in 67.7%; 83.8% of eyes gained 1 or more Snellen lines of CDVA after surgery. No serious complications occurred in this series of cases. Conclusions Implantation of the toric Artiflex PIOL is a safe and effective procedure for correction of moderate to high myopia with astigmatism.


—As a result of high-tech companies such as Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft offering free email services, email has become a primary channel of communication. However, email service providers have traditionally offered little in the way of message privacy protection. This has made emails, of which billions are sent around the world on any day, an attractive data source for personal identity information thieves. Google was one of the first companies to provide substantial email privacy protection when they began using the HTTPS always-on option to encrypt messages sent through their email service, Gmail. Unfortunately, Gmail's encryption option does not offer true point-to-point encryption since the encrypted emails are decrypted and stored in plaintext form on Google's servers. This type of approach poses a security vulnerability which is unacceptable to security-minded users such as highly sensitive government agencies and private companies. For these users, true point-to-point encryption is needed. This paper introduces an identity-based one-way group key agreement protocol and describes a point-to-point email encryption scheme based on the protocol. Both the security proofs and the efficiency analysis, with experimental results, of the new scheme are provided.