Over the years wellbore stability in shales has been achieved using oil base muds, however water base muds still plague the industry. Up until now it was not obvious what mechanisms were in operation during such shale/water base mud interactions. The research reported herein discusses the development of swelling pressures when water base muds are in contact with a troublesome North Sea shale. A mechanistic theory is presented that focuses on increases in total pore pressures that are reflected in swelling pressures. The results obtained showed that different mud filtrates produce swelling or shrinking pressures that are related to the type of salt present and its ionic concentration. Fluids tested included deionized water and solutions of CaCl 2 , Potassium Formate, Glycerol, Methyl Glucoside and NaCl/Methyl Glucoside. The range of swelling pressures measured were from +2800 psi (swelling) to -1400 psi (shrinkage). In addition to swelling pressures, the compressive strength of the shales was also measured under downhole insitu stress and conditions after the chemical interactions were complete. Strength reductions as high as 35% were measured for certain fluid systems.


The present paper aims to investigate the effect of different types of clouds on the photovoltaic power generators and electricity distribution network in which they are connected. The developed methodology classifies solar irradiance data according to the GOES-13 satellite image processing, which contain information regarding the types of clouds. The image processing results are then compared with real solar irradiance data in order to analyze the influence of shading and thus classify the measured data as: clear sky, partly cloudy and cloudy. The OpenDSS software is employed for simulating the varying generation and load profiles using the IEEE 34 bus system as a testbed. The result analysis shows the power flow and electrical losses, as well as the generation profiles impact on voltage levels and the operation of voltage regulating equipment. Voltage fluctuations and tap changes are also analyzed considering different tap delays.


This study is to analyse the spatial distribution of leptospirosis and identify its high and low incidence clusters in Sarawak. The annual incidence rate at the district level was calculated using confirmed report of leptospirosis cases from year 2011 to 2018. Empirical Bayes estimation smoothing of relative risks was used to display the spatial distribution of leptospirosis across the study region. Moran's Global Index and Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA) were used to analyse the existence of global and local spatial autocorrelation. Data were analysed using ArcGIS and Geoda software at the district level. The annualised average incidence reported during the study period was 20.83 per 100,000 population, with the highest cases reported in year 2018 (n = 870). The Global Moran's Index revealed spatial clustering of leptospirosis incidence in 2012 (Moran's I : 0.23), 2013 (Moran's I : 0.33), and 2014 (Moran's I : 0.45), while 2011 (Moran's I : -0.01), 2015 and 2016 (Moran's I : 0.09), 2017 (Moran's I : 0.13), and 2018 (Moran's I : 0.04) showed random patterns. High incidence clusters of leptospirosis were primarily congested in the Southeast of Sarawak, involving districts such as Kapit, Belaga, Song, Tatau and Lubok Antu. Spatial and temporal patterns of leptospirosis incidence were heterogeneous across Sarawak. This study facilitates the implementation of targeted interventions and control measures for leptospirosis in Sarawak by identifying spatial cluster and outliers.


This article describes an innovative evaluation plan we employed to capture outcomes of a multiyear beginning farmer program and, specifically, highlights the facilitation technique we used to document short-term and intermediate goals of the program that matched U.S. Department of Agriculture grant requirements and Extension administration priorities. Developing a comprehensive, two-phase evaluation plan based on a well-conceived logic model was a key factor in the success of the New FARM program. Our midterm and end-of-program evaluations addressed often sought, but sometimes difficult to obtain, intermediate goals from the logic model and demonstrated program effectiveness to a variety of funders.


Introduction: This document will provide the reader an understanding of what a prover is, the need for proving meters for accurate measurement uncertainty verification, the equipment deemed acceptable and available for use in the oil and liquefied gas market. It will also define the general terminology used in the industry, general operational aspects for verification devices, and general information utilized by the groups and agencies that govern the meter verification process.


We designed, fabricated, and characterized metamaterial-based RF-microelectromechanical system (RF-MEMS) strain sensors that incorporate multiple split ring resonators (SRRs) in a compact nested architecture to measure strain telemetrically. We also showed biocompatibility of these strain sensors in an animal model. With these devices, our bioimplantable wireless metamaterial sensors are intended, to enable clinicians, to quantitatively evaluate the progression of long-bone fracture healing by monitoring the strain on the implantable fracture fixation hardware in real time. In operation, the transmission spectrum of the metamaterial sensor attached to the implantable fixture is changed when an external load is applied to the fixture, and from this change, the strain is recorded remotely. By employing telemetric characterizations, we reduced the operating frequency and enhanced the sensitivity of our novel nested SRR architecture compared to the conventional SRR structure. The nested SRR structure exhibited a higher sensitivity of 1.09 kHz/kgf operating at lower frequency compared to the classical SRR that demonstrated a sensitivity of 0.72 kHz/kgf. Using soft tissue medium, we achieved the best sensitivity level of 4.00 kHz/kgf with our nested SRR sensor. Ultimately, the laboratory characterization and in vivo biocompatibility studies support further development and characterization of a fracture healing system based on implantable nested SRR.


In the emerging next generation video coding standard Versatile Video Coding (VVC) developed by the Joint Video Exploration Team (JVET), sub-block-based inter-prediction plays a key role in promising coding tools such as Affine Motion Compensation (AMC) and sub-block-based Temporal Motion Vector Prediction (sbTMVP). With sub-block-based inter-prediction, a coding block is divided into sub-blocks, and the motion information of each sub-block is derived individually. Although sub-block-based inter-prediction can provide a higher quality prediction benefiting from a finer motion granularity, it still suffers two problems: uneven prediction quality and boundary discontinuity. In this paper, we present a method of interweaved prediction to further improve sub-block-based inter-prediction. With interweaved prediction, a coding block with AMC or sbTMVP mode is divided into sub-blocks with two different dividing patterns, so that a corner position of a sub-block in one dividing pattern coincides with the central position of a sub-block in the other dividing pattern. Then two auxiliary predictions are generated by AMC or sbTMVP with the two dividing patterns, independently. The final prediction is calculated as a weighted-sum of the two auxiliary predictions. Theoretical analysis and statistical data prove that interweaved prediction can significantly mitigate the two problems in sub-block-based inter-prediction. Simulation results show that the proposed methods can achieve 0.64% BD-rate saving on average with the random access configurations. On sequences with rich affine motions, the average BD-rate saving can be up to 2.54%.


Health management is permanently confronted with decisions to allocate limited resources so as to best cover health needs. Considering that the multiple types of health interventions need more than a few simple mathematical formulas, we suggested a framework methodology which can be adapted to each case by the addition of case-particular elements. Since health policy is primarily evaluated in terms of added value, we chose to measure differential efficiency through a method focused on high-interest social policies with impact on a large number of stakeholders, starting from the formula Ui = ? DEi + ? IEi ? Ci (where Ui ? utility of a certain health action i, DEi ? direct efficiency of that action, IEi ? indirect efficiency and Ci ? the cost of implementing health action i).This framework can be the basis for decision management in the health sector, aiding in the selection of a set of actions with maximal economic efficiency from the complete list of possible actions gathered, which fit in a given expense and investment budget. By weighting the socio-economic losses determined by illness treatment and deaths with the benefits obtained by investing comparable sums in health policies with quantifiable positive results, we find advantages at both individual and national level, through a reduction in national income loss due to states of illness, temporary or permanent work disabilities, or death.With the proposed method, efficiency can be calculated for any health policy so that, under resource constraints, maximum effects are obtained in improving or maintain a given population health state. We deem such an approach extremely useful, because estimates of efficiency can be a primary criterion for the prioritization of action in a set time frame. Considering that the financial resources of the Romanian health system do not allow for the simultaneous initiation and execution of the multiple interventions and policies required to meet WHO objectives, those that generate increased efficiency could be applied first and the less efficient delayed. Besides the economic efficiency of a health policy with extensive population coverage, psychological effects are also obtained, classifiable as effectiveness indicators. Mental comfort and the welfare created by avoiding the illness of a family member are impossible to quantify, but are reflected in better focusing and work capabilities.


We report on a systematic study of the thermal transport characteristics of both as-grown zinc oxide and gallium nitride nanowires (NWs) via the four-point-probe 3-ω method in the temperature range 130–300 K. Both as-grown NWs were synthesized by a vapor–liquid–solid growth mechanism, and show clear n-type semiconducting behavior without any defects, which enables both the NWs to be promising candidates for thermoelectric materials. To measure the thermal conductivities of both NWs with lower heat loss and measurement errors, the suspended structures were formed by a combination of an e-beam lithography process and a random dispersion method. The measured thermal conductivities of both NWs are greatly reduced compared to their bulk materials due to the enhanced phonon scattering via the size effect and dopants (impurities). Furthermore, we observed that the Umklapp peaks of both NWs are shifted to a higher temperature than those of their bulk counterparts, indicating that phonon-boundary scattering dominates over other phonon scattering due to the size effect.


The current generation of networks empowers the use of programmable switches whose behaviour can be defined using languages like P4. Nevertheless, these languages do not support network-wide deployment of stateful real-value functions. This paper presents NetREC, an extension of RMT programmable data planes designed to enable stateful real-value functions computation across multiple switches. NetREC first decomposes the real-value functions into a dependency graph of elementary operations that are distributed among the network. This distribution is carried out by dynamically generating and solving an integer linear program. We deploy a prototype of NetREC on a network of Tofino switches and demonstrate its capability of computing recursive real-value functions like exponential weighted moving average.


This study aims to design folk song metadata based on the OAIS reference model for the folk songs' preservation and permanent use. Thus, the folk songs' general characteristics were investigated by researching literature and related technical standards. The type of records, the methods and standards for long-term storage of records, OAIS reference models, and each package's metadata elements were identified through opinions from the popular songs' creators and researchers. The results awere that first, folk songs were created for social transformation, serving as a cultural heritage different from popular songs given their noncommercial quality. Second, the types of folk song records were identified, and the long-term preservation system suitable for the types of records was based on the OAIS reference model. Third, the metadata were edited, and the OIS reference model was applied such that respect was given to the folk songs' characteristics, context, and original order. Fourth and last, information package metadata elements matching the folk songs' records were derived and applied to the representative Korean folk song, "The March for Being."


support vector machine (SVM) and K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) classifier is a combined classifying method, which has excellent performance for various applications. The purpose of this study is to examine the performance of the SVM-KNN classifier on the diagnosis of breast cancer using tumor dataset. The objective is to classify a tumor as either benign or malignant based on cell descriptions gathered by microscopic examination. The classification performance of SVM-KNN classifier is evaluated and compared to the one that obtained by support vector machine. Experimental results show that SVM-KNN model has achieved a remarkable performance with 98.06% classification accuracy on testing subset.


Image retargeting is the technique to display images via devices with various aspect ratios and sizes. Traditional content-aware retargeting methods rely on low-level features to predict pixel-wise importance and can hardly preserve both the structure lines and salient regions of the source image. To address this problem, we propose a novel adaptive image warping approach which integrates with deep convolutional neural network. In the proposed method, a visual importance map and a foreground mask map are generated by a pre-trained network. The two maps and other constraints guide the warping process to yield retargeted results with less distortions. Extensive experiments in terms of visual quality and a user study are carried out on the widely used RetargetMe dataset. Experimental results show that our method outperforms current state-of-art image retargeting methods.


ABSTARCT:This paper examines the steady state behavior of unreliable server in a batch arrival queue with two phases of heterogeneous service along with Bernoulli schedule and N-policy. The server provides two kinds of services in succession, the first stage service (FSS) followed by second stage service (SSS). As soon as both services are completed, the server may take a vacation or may continue staying in the system. The server may break down during the service; the failure and repair times are assumed to follow a general distribution. By using the maximum entropy method (MEM), the approximate formulae for the probability distributions of the number of customers in the system have been derived, which are further used to obtain various system performance measures. A comparative analysis between approximate results established and exact results has also been performed. It is noticed that the maximum entropy approach provides reasonably good approximate solutions for practical purpose.


The article deals with the historical imagination in the burgher's milieu in the late Renaissance Polish kingdom. The main aim of the article is the investigation of the changes that occurred in the perception of the remote past. The article focuses on the mechanisms of a usable past construction. In 1578, in order to obtain equal economic rights with the dominant Catholic burghers – mostly of German origin – in Lemberg, local Armenians stated that their ancestors were invited by the Galician prince Daniel and were then settled by his son Lev/Leon (1264-1301) in Lviv at the time of the city's foundation. In 1597, in their complaint, Catholics allowed that the statement of the invitation of the Armenian ancestors was a real fact but accused "Armenian warriors" for participating in the hostile incursions led by Prince Daniel or Lev together with the Tatars in the 1250s-1280s against Poland. In this way, the magistrate won the trial in 1600. I argue that for their pseudo-historical argument Catholic patricians creatively reinterpreted some passages from Marcin Cromer's book "On the origins and deeds of the Poles" (1555, 1558, 1562, 1568, 1589). Then, Armenians changed their tactics and stated in 1631 that their noble ancestors took an active part in the wars between Poland and Teutonic Order in late fourteenth – early fifteenth centuries. Thus Armenians converted their ancestors into good patriots of Poland when the Germans were the main enemies. During the trials townspeople perceived changes in their past. It also reflects a level of historical reading in Polish history and the emergence of the Battle of Grunwald battle as part of a Polish national myth. Thus Renaissance book-printing and book-collecting directly influenced the burgher's historical imagination and their judicial argument. City elites "privatized" a book, which had been sacral property of Church, and made it their tool to use for their practical needs. They also privatized and instrumentalized the based-on-books past. The arguments used by both sides during their conflict correlated with the urban elites' aspirations to acquire noble status. It also reflects the process of transmission of high culture models – Sarmatian Renaissance – to the lower estates of the Kingdom.


This article aims to analyze the relations between the difficulty of making career decisions and hope for success. Hope for success may be a factor that modifies the quality of decisions, especially in difficult situations. As a source of moti vation to act and overcome the obstacles encountered, hope for success influences human perception and behavior when making decisions and taking actions. The study was carried out on a grou p f 149 students in the final grade of high schools located in the Mazowieckie voivodeship, Pol and. The participants were 17 to 21 years old (M = 18.64, SD = 0.69). To measure the variables, we used the Care er D cision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire and the Hope for Success Questio nna re. The results indicate statistically significant differences in the severity of the difficult ies in making career decisions in people with diffe rent levels of hope of success.


Oestrus was induced in nine prepubertal and nine adult cats using three different doses (2.5, 10 and 30 iu divided into five daily doses) of an ultra-pure preparation of porcine follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) without any luteinizing hormone activity. After 5 days of treatment, ovulation was induced by two daily injections of human chorionic gonadotrophin and the cats were mated. One week later (on day 12) the ovaries were examined for the number of unovulated follicles and ovulation sites. In eight of the nine prepubertal cats the ovaries had 20-90 large follicles per cat and only two cats ovulated (8-9 corpora lutea). All adults responded and ovulated. Adult cats had 3-40 large follicles and 6-35 corpora lutea each. In each group, ovarian response (and ovulation rate) was related to the dose of FSH. The 79 embryos that could be recovered at days 11-13 after the onset of treatment, using a new technique, were assessed; those of good quality were cultured until complete degeneration. One eight-cell embryo was cultured for 12 days through the blastocyst to the gastrula-somite stage. With the highest FSH dosage there was increased degeneration of embryos. This may be associated with the high oestrogen concentrations that were produced during oestrus induction. Potential culture of feline embryos up to the advanced blastocyst stage in modified phosphate-buffered saline supplemented with fetal calf serum was demonstrated.


Although there are numerous single-channel noise reduction strategies to improve speech perception in a noisy environment, most of them can only improve speech quality but not improve speech intelligibility for normal hearing (NH) or hearing impaired (HI) listeners. Exceptions that can improve speech intelligibility currently are only those that require a priori statistics of speech or noise. Most of the noise reduction algorithms in hearing aids are adopted directly from the algorithms for NH listeners without taking into account of the hearing loss factors within HI listeners. HI listeners suffer more in speech intelligibility than NH listeners in the same noisy environment. Further study of monaural noise reduction algorithms for HI listeners is required. The motivation is to adapt a model-based approach in contrast to the conventional Wiener filtering approach. The model-based algorithm called sparse coding shrinkage (SCS) was proposed to extract key speech information from noisy speech. The SCS algorithm was evaluated by comparison with another state-of-the-art Wiener filtering approach through speech intelligibility and quality tests using 9 NH and 9 HI listeners. The SCS algorithm matched the performance of the Wiener filtering algorithm in speech intelligibility and speech quality. Both algorithms showed some intelligibility improvements for HI listeners but not at all for NH listeners. The algorithms improved speech quality for both HI and NH listeners. Additionally, a physiologically-inspired hearing loss simulation (HLS) model was developed to characterize hearing loss factors and simulate hearing loss consequences. A methodology was proposed to evaluate signal processing strategies for HI listeners with the proposed HLS model and NH subjects. The corresponding experiment was performed by asking NH subjects to listen to unprocessed/enhanced speech with the HLS model. Some of the effects of the algorithms seen in HI listeners are reproduced, at least qualitatively, by using the HLS model with NH listeners. Conclusions: The model-based algorithm SCS is promising for improving performance in stationary noise although no clear difference was seen in the performance of SCS and a competitive Wiener filtering algorithm. Fluctuating noise is more difficult to reduce compared to stationary noise. Noise reduction algorithms may perform better at higher input signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) where HI listeners can get benefit but where NH listeners already reach ceiling performance. The proposed HLS model can save time and cost when evaluating noise reduction algorithms for HI listeners.


Falls are the leading cause of injury-related death and hospitalization of aging people. To clarify this issue, temporal-spatial differences of gait between young people and the aging people with high falling risks are well investigated by many authors. Body acceleration is one of the measures receiving most interests, but major relevant literatures studied it only on one axis - mainly vertical direction. In this paper, we study the triaxial acceleration signals during body moving and find some patterns inside. Based on the patterns, we propose a method to identify walking waveforms within the signal of body acceleration, and derive some measurements for assessing the rhythmicity in walking. The experiments show that our measurements are effective in identifying aging people with walking problems.


ABSTRACT Smartphone peripherals like the Square card reader, Red-Eye mini, and HiJack platform suggest a growing interest in using the headset port for more than just headsets. How-ever, these peripherals only support sporadic activities in an efficient manner. Continuous sensing applications — like monitoring EKG signals — is possible but remains too inefficient for many realistic usage scenarios. We present Au-dioDAQ, a new sensor data acquisition platform. In contrast with prior work, AudioDAQ requires no hardware or software modifications on the phone, uses significantly less power, and allows continuous data capture over extended periods of time. The design is efficient because we draw all necessary power from the microphone bias voltage, and it is general because this voltage is present in every headset port. Data is modulated within the audible range, captured with the built-in voice recording app, and sent to a server for processing and storage. We show the viability of this approach by demonstrating an EKG monitor that can capture data continuously for hours.


BACKGROUND
The primary objective of this retrospective study was to investigate the potential role of East Asian ethnicity or origin in predicting response to gefitinib in advanced-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS
A chart review was done of all patients treated with gefitinib at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center on the Expanded Access Program.

RESULTS
There were 223 patients with advanced-stage NSCLC who were enrolled. Of these, 182 received >or= 1 dose, and 160 were evaluable for response. The partial response rate was 8.8%, and the stable disease rate was 26.3%. Median time to progression was 2.5 months, and median survival was 6.8 months. The 1- and 2-year survival rates were 35.3% and 12.4%, respectively. Partial responses were seen in 7 of 12 patients (58.3%) of East Asian origin compared with 7 of 131 patients who were white (5.3%). This difference was statistically significant when controlling for histology, smoking status, hemoglobin, and diarrhea. Never smoking and diarrhea were also independent predictors of response.

CONCLUSION
For the first time, in a multivariate analysis, we observed a positive relationship between East Asian origin and response to gefitinib. These findings might help determine which patients will likely benefit from gefitinib.


Insulating product based on mineral wool sized with a binder based on a phenol-formaldehyde resin, in which the binder comprises, as a mixture: 60 to 90 parts by weight of a phenol-formaldehyde resol having a free formaldehyde content of less than or equal to 25% by weight with respect to the dry weight of resin and a free phenol content of less than or equal to 2.5% by weight with respect to the dry weight of resin, obtained by condensation in basic medium of phenol (P) and formaldehyde (F) in an F/P molar ratio of around 2.5 to 4 until the condensation product neutralized by Sulphuric acid has a water dilutability of greater than 500% and less than or equal to 1500%; 10 to 40 parts by weight of urea.


The application of crystal growth theory to the formation of smoke particles from the primordial solar nebula indicates that solid particles with filamentary structures would form. Such particles would facilitate successive aggregation into planets, comets, and asteroids. The difficulties associated with the aggregation of spherical smoke particles would thus be avoided.


This article focus on the knowledge management in the interorganizational network scope, since there is a lot of knowledge involved in the interorganizational relationships which can be managed in order to maximize the collective competences. The aim of this research is to conceptualize and discuss the knowledge management in the context of the interorganizational networks. For this a literature review was made to identify plenty of studies related to this theme. The results of the research show that interorganizational network can provide a good place to the knowledge management but there are challenges with regard to the collaborative work that limit the gains in collective processes of knowledge management.


This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between long naming of beverages and its effect on people`s perception by gender. The survey was conducted in the Seoul area from March 10 to May 10, 2010. Approximately 59% of male and 41.8% of the female respondents were randomly selected from university students aged 20 to 29-years. Most (79.8%) of the students responding to the survey showed a preference for beverages. "Long-named beverages with ingredients listed" were considered the most reliable and ranked highest at 3.74, A significant difference was observed between males and females. "Long-named beverage that were made from domestic agricultural products" were regarded as the most healthful and ranked highest at 4.01. A significant difference between males and females was also observed. Long-naming influences a customer`s purchasing tendency. In particular, women were more influenced by a sense of wellbeing when they purchase, because they are more interested in losing weight and being healthy.


The Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) was placed in low-Earth orbit (LEO) in 1984 and recovered 5.7 years later. The LDEF was host to several individual experiments specifically designed to characterize critical aspects of meteoroid and debris environment in LEO. However, it was realized from the beginning that the most efficient use of the satellite would be to examine the entire surface for impact features. In this regard, particular interest centered on common exposed materials that faced in all LDEF pointing directions. Among the most important of these materials was the tray clamps. Therefore, in an effort to better understand the nature of particulates in LEO and their effects on spacecraft hardware, residues found in impact features on LDEF tray clamp surfaces are being analyzed. This catalog presents all data from clamps from Bay B of the LDEF. NASA Technical Memorandum 104759 has cataloged impacts that occurred on Bay B (published March 1993). Subsequent catalogs will include clamps from succeeding bays of the satellite.


Abstract The decrease of the mean square and the variance of reflectivity due to radar beam smoothing and post-detection integration are studied in terms of the autocorrelation function of the field of reflectivity. An exponential form of this function is used to evaluate the results. Applications to the problem of radar beam resolution and design of radar displays are discussed.


STUDY OBJECTIVE The aim of the study is to explain the persistent but puzzling positive correlation of physicians per capita and mortality rates, when income is controlled, which has been reported many times since it was first observed in 1978. The explanation that is proposed and tested is that expanding urban-industrial regions attract an oversupply of doctors. Also, but independently, rural people migrate to urban-industrial areas where they suffer from the stress of adapting to urban-industrial life. Consequently, their death rates rise. SOURCE MATERIAL Using data from the 47 Japanese prefectures, the 3000+ counties of the USA and a set of 29 mostly European countries, the explanation was examined by adding the appropriate test variable to a basic equation linking physicians per capita to mortality, net of income. RESULTS The test variables dissolved or reduced the original correlation in two of the three samples, but the signs did not change from positive to negative, as would be expected on the basis of conventional biomedical theory. The available test variable (refugees) did not reduce the correlation for the 29 countries but a particular subset of countries was identified that did. CONCLUSION The conceptual and empirical analysis exposed the positive correlation as spurious, but the availability of medical specialists had little impact on mortality rates in competition with the social and economic variables that were used as controls.


Neutralizing monoclonal antibody therapies against the spike protein of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) play a significant role both in the prevention and treatment of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this review we discuss the monoclonal antibody therapies that have received preliminary authorization for use in COVID-19 patients by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or the European Medicines Agency. We review here their mechanisms of action, their efficacy in prophylaxis and treatment, their indications for use, and the impact of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern on their activity.


No treatment was established for disseminated M. avium intracellulare (MAC) infection, a common disease of end stage of AIDS. An open study was conducted to assess in 173 AIDS patients, the activity of clarithromycin. Initial bacteriologic eradication from blood was observed in 136/147 evaluable patients (93%). Acquired resistance to clarithromycin associated with relapse appeared to develop after 2 to 7 months of drug treatment in 31/136 patients with initial success. Early bacteriological relapse was associated with clinical deterioration. Side effects of drug treatment were elevated liver enzymes (26%) and impaired hearing (4%). Side effects conducted to stop treatment in 14 cases (8%) to modified treatment in 8 cases (5%). Our study gave new argues for activity of clarithromycin in disseminated MAC infection.


Quantitative analysis using the UNCTAD/FAO ATPSM model suggests that the removal of export subsidies would raise world prices. The major beneficiaries would be EU taxpayers and developing country producers. Since consumers in developing countries probably face higher prices the welfare effects are ambiguous, but most likely only during an initial period until domestic supply capacities can catch up in many of these developing countries. This is because many of them are net importers of wheat, dairy products and beef, and the cheap subsidies imports hinder the production of these products and of substitutes. Although the benefits to some of preferential access to the EU sugar market would also likely be reduced if export subsidy reform led to the reduction of EU domestic sugar prices, increasing world market prices are likely to more than offset the losses. The analysis also points to diverse results regarding specific products for producers and consumers in most countries. This suggests that while longer-term reforms of export subsidies are desirable, the immediate removal of export subsidies is likely to cause some hardships for some developing country consumers, which will need to be addressed with appropriate support mechanisms.


Introduction: Severe sepsis and septic shock, responsible for the high mortality rate in the intensive care unit. Identifying a reliable biomarker able to quickly and acurrately diagnose sepsis is very important in critical care. Aims and objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of procalcitonin as a predictor for bacteremia and prognosis in severe sepsis. Methods: We analyzed the medical records of 148 patients who presented with severe sepsis defined by the American College of Chest Physicians/Society of Critical Care Medicine (ACCP/SCCM) Consensus Conference definitions, at Gangnam Severance Hospital, a tertiary referral medical center in Seoul, Korea. Results: Of 148 patients, 77 patients (52.0%) had bacteremia. The median age was 67.5 years and 94 patients (63.5%) were male. Baseline characteristics and other inflammatory markers including C-reactive protein and delta neutrophil counts showed no significant difference between bacteremia and non-bacteremia groups. Procalcitonin showed no significant difference according to the type of infection. Bacteremia group showed significantly higher procalcitonin level (1.68, range 0.07-100.00) than non-bacteremia group (0.32, range 0.00-107.16) (p=0.032). With a cut-off value of 0.5 ng/ml, procalcitonin was the meaningful predictor for death (OR 2.878 (1.367-6.058), p=0.005), as well as for bacteremia (OR 2.879 (1.459-5.681), p=0.002). Conclusion: Procalcitonin is a useful marker to predict bacteremia and prognosis in severe sepsis.


Multiple myeloma (MM)—a common hematologic malignancy of plasma cells—accounts for substantial mortality and morbidity rates. Due to the advent of novel therapies such as immunomodulatory drugs (IMiDs), proteasome inhibitors (PIs), and monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), response rates were increased and free survival and overall survival have been elevated. However, adverse events including toxicity, neuropathy or continuous relapse are still problems. Thus, development of novel drugs which have less side effects and more effective is needed. This review aims to recapitulate the pharmacologic anti-MM mechanisms of various phytochemicals, elucidating their molecular targets. Keywords related to MM and natural products were searched in PUBMED/MEDLINE. Phytochemicals have been reported to display a variety of anti-MM activities, including apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, antiangiogenesis, and miRNA modulation. Some phytochemicals sensitize the conventional therapies such as dexamethasone. Also, there are clinical trials with phytochemicals such as agaricus, curcumin, and Neovastat regarding MM treatment. Taken together, this review elucidated and categorized the evidences that natural products and their bioactive compounds could be potent drugs in treating MM.


This article examines the complex process by which the Hijaz and its holy cities were partially integrated with the central province of Najd to create the beginning of unity for Saudi Arabia even before the advent of large oil revenues drastically affected the Kingdom. Religion was one of the most important elements in this process as seen in the successful Saudi management of the pilgrimage and the rigorous application of numerous regulations designed to forbid evil and promote good while also securing the rule of the Saudi dynasty. The Najdi ulamā's extreme zeal offended many Hijazis, but it was ameliorated by the ruling family's more lenient implementation of policies intended to lessen the severity of the now-dominant interpretation of Islam. Saudi rule also depended upon such secular factors as military capacity, the lack of viable alternatives, and attempts to unify social customs and identity. By 1939 Hijazis and Najdis still regarded themselves as separate, with Najdi control often resented, but most of the people living in the urban centers had accepted Saudi political rule while still remaining somewhat unconvinced about many of the religious and social changes associated with it.


With the development of semiconductor industry, the polishing method has already became the main stream technique in realizing the global flatness. Because of lacking investigation physical essence of polishing, the prediction power and robustness of today's material removal model is poor. In order to understanding micro-mechanism underlying planarization, the author carried out computer simulation of nanometer polishing aluminum with vacancy using molecular dynamics (MD) method. In this paper, the author investigated mechanical deformation and the machined surface integrity of crystal materials, after that explains the micro-mechanism of nanometer polishing process


The relationship between excess thyroid hormone and bone loss is controversial. To determine whether low TSH levels, indicating excessive thyroid hormone, are associated with low bone mass or accelerated bone loss in older women, we performed a prospective cohort study of 458 women over age 65 yr participating in the multicenter Study of Osteoporotic Fractures. Three hundred and twenty-three women were randomly selected from the entire cohort of 9704; an additional 135 randomly selected thyroid hormone users were studied. Medical history, medication use, and calcaneal bone mineral density (BMD) were assessed at the baseline visit. Serum was collected and stored at -190 C. Hip and spine BMD were measured approximately 2 yr later, and follow-up calcaneal and hip BMD measurements were obtained after mean follow-up periods of 5.7 and 3.5 yr, respectively. TSH levels were determined in baseline serum samples using a third generation chemiluminescent assay. After adjustment for age, weight, previous hyperthyroidism, and use of estrogen, bone loss over 4-6 yr was similar in women with low, normal, or high TSH. For example, femoral neck bone loss was -0.3%/yr (95% confidence interval, -0.8%, 0.3%) among women with low TSH (< or = 0.1 mU/L) and -0.5%/yr (95% confidence interval, -0.7%, -0.3%) in those with normal TSH (0.1-5.5 mU/L). There were no statistically significant differences in baseline bone mass of the calcaneus, spine, or femoral neck or trochanteric hip subregions. Baseline total hip BMD was 6% lower (P = 0.01) in women with low TSH. Similar results were obtained in analyses confined to women not taking estrogens. We found no consistent evidence that low TSH, a sensitive biochemical marker of excess thyroid hormone, was associated with low BMD or accelerated bone loss in older ambulatory women.


This study models the volatility of returns for selected agricultural commodity prices in Ethiopia using the generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) approach. GARCH family models, specifically threshold GARCH and exponential GARCH were employed to analyze the time varying volatility of selected agricultural commodities prices from 2010 to 2021. The data analysis results revealed that, out of the GARCH specifications, the EGARCH model with the normal distributional assumption of residuals was a better fit model for the price volatility of "teff" and "red pepper" in which their return series reacted differently to the "good" and "bad" news. The study indicated the existence of a leverage effect, which implied that the "bad" news could have a larger effect on volatility than the "good" news of the same magnitude, and the asymmetric term was statistically significant.


Office workers spend most of their working time being sedentary, contributing to a sedentary lifestyle that increases the risk of developing disease and disability. A gradual decline in cardiorespiratory fitness among adults, along with increased rate of non-communicable diseases across developed countries, makes the workplace an important opportunity for promoting healthy behaviors. This study aimed to investigate: how office companies in Sweden organize and provide workplace health promotion services related to physical activity; the companies' vision for providing workplace health promotion; and potential facilitators and barriers. Nine informants from eight companies participated in the study, and both qualitative and quantitative data were collected by semi-structured interviews. Informants were selected through purposive sampling in collaboration with eight companies in the office market, including companies that own and develop office buildings, shared workspaces, interior design, sustainable solutions, or consult on issues related to the office sector. The framework method was used to analyze the data in a flexible and systematic way. The results showed that workplace health promotion is implemented to maintain employee health, productivity, and employee branding. Also, a significant number of financial resources, organizational support and office space are devoted to workplace health promotion. Convenience and easy access to storage and fitness facilities are key facilitators. In conclusion, this study highlights the importance of employees' engagement in developing and improving workplace health promotion and addressing work-life balance constraints that hinder a healthy lifestyle. Removing barriers on an organizational level may improve the usage of workplace health promotion related to physical activity among office employees.


QUESTION UNDER STUDY
To determine whether first alcohol intoxication before the age of 15 is associated with risky drinking patterns [Weekly Risky Drinking (WRD) and Binge Drinking (BD)], tobacco use, cannabis use at age 20 and other illicit substance use at somepoint within their lifetime.

METHODS
A survey was conducted among 20-year-old French-speaking Swiss men attending the mandatory army recruitment process, using a self-administered questionnaire on alcohol and other substance use, as well as demographics (age, employment status, education level and living location).

RESULTS
Of the 12'133 men attending the recruitment centre between January 2007 and September 2008, 9'686 were included in the study. Among them, 89% reported been intoxicated from alcohol at least once in the past, 11% reported WRD, 59% reported BD, 50% reported current tobacco use, 30% reported current cannabis use, and 19% reported other illicit substance use at somepoint within their lifetime. Subjects who reported first alcohol intoxication before age 15 were more likely to present current WRD (OR [95%CI]: 3.75[3.27-4.29]), BD (3.14[2.86-3.44]), current tobacco (3.17 [2.89-3.47]) or current cannabis use (3.26[2.97-3.58]), and other illicit drug use at somepoint within their lifetime (4.02[3.61-4.48]), than those who had a first intoxication at age 15 or older, or who had never been intoxicated.

CONCLUSIONS
This study was consistent with the literature, and showed an association between age at first intoxication and future risky alcohol use patterns and other substance use at age 20. Although the results showing an association between age at first intoxication and later risky drinking do not necessarily imply causation, knowing the age of first intoxication may be useful to health care professionals in targeting adolescents and young adults who are at a high risk for developing alcohol and other substance use problems. As such, age at first intoxication may be used to identify vulnerable individuals in a clinical prevention setting.


The main subject of this thesis was query processing of spatiotemporal data in the NoSQL database MongoDB. The definition for spatiotemporal data is as follows: data objects that combine coordinates (latitude, longitude) with a timestamp, which represent when the entity under examination was present at the given time in the given geographical point. In addition to this data, there exists a unique identification (id) for each entity. This data was stored in the MongoDB database, with each document containing the id, latitude, longitude and the related timestamp. The queries answered were the Circle Range query and the Box Range query, regarding finding data in a circle or a rectangle for a specific period of time [t_min, t_max] respectively. Also, the k-Nearest Neighbours query and k-distinct-id-Nearest Neighbours query, regarding finding the closest coordinates, and the closest coordinates that belong to distinct entities near to a specific point (x,y) in a given period [t_min, t_max] respectively. In the experimental part of this thesis, different metrics were used: the time needed to execute the query, the time of algorithm execution in total and the number of the documents accessed for the query to be answered. Regarding the use of indexes, all the queries were processed: without any index, using index in the field coordinates, using index in the field time, and using compound index which combines the fields coordinates and time.


People suffering from depression are more prone to smoking and to nicotine dependence which leads to worse their health. The purpose of this study was to describe the relationship between smoking and depression, and to investigate the role of exercise in this relationship. Two people with depression symptoms participated in an experimental process of an exercise program which examined the effects of exercise on smoking. Participants were tested at two conditions on 30 minutes exercise on cycle-ergometer (medium and high intensity) and in control condition. After completion of the experimental process people with symptoms of depression were interviewed. Both participants acknowledged the experimental procedure as an interesting experience which made them feel more powerful and active. They argued that the exercise reduces the desire to smoke, and that exercising at a high intensity for both is more interesting, but for the future they would prefer to participate in an exercise in moderate intensity. Participants have linked depression symptoms with smoking, observing increased consumption of nicotine over the symptoms and reported on the benefits of exercise on mood, since the participation in the exercise leads to increased selfconfidence and self-esteem.


Caenorhabditis elegans are model organisms that have intestinal lining similar to that of humans. They are transparent and can be easily cultivated in the lab. Nematocida parisii is an intracellular parasitic species of microsporidia that infect the intestines of C. elegans. Similar species cause microsporidiosis in humans. Microsporidiosis can cause severe digestive system symptoms including life-threatening diarrhea in immunocompromised as well as in immunocompetent individuals. Currently available treatments are not always sufficient and can be toxic.
 In this experiment, the effects of different nanoparticles (NPs) on the intestinal lining of C. elegans and N. parisii within are tested. It was reported that NPs can diffuse through cellular membranes and cause oxidative stress, DNA damage, and macrophage activation. Some NPs showed anti-bacterial and anti-fungal effects.
 If the treated C. elegans have a longer lifespan and a larger population density than untreated ones, then NPs can preferentially diffuse through the epithelial cells of the intestines and affect the infection. The number of thrashes of the C. elegans was used as a measure of their response to stimuli. Irritating and disrupting stimuli cause an initial increase in the movements but it is then followed with a sharp drop and the organisms may eventually die. The imaging of C. elegans was done using confocal microscopy with DIC. The preliminary results showed that the quantum dots of 655 nm emission wavelength and at a concentration of 0.8μM showed no significant difference that indicated a harmful effect on the C. elegans. Thus, different concentrations and longer exposure times will be implemented to compare their effects on the microsporidia.


A device is described that monitors the repolarization phase of a cardiac action potential and compares the membrane potential to a voltage selected by the investigator. When the voltages are the same, the device triggers a stimulator that injects the stimulus at the desired membrane potential. The device can stimulate tissue at any membrane potential during the repolarization phase of the action potential between 0 and -100 mV without regard to action potential duration. When it is precisely calibrated, its accuracy is within +or-1.0 mV.<<ETX>>


Import demand for poultry has made it South Africa's fastest growing meat product, while demand for beef, sheep, and goat meat is generally declining. Poultry was found to be a statistically significant substitute for pork and other meat (sheep, goat, and offal), but insignificant with respect to beef. Pork tends to be complementary to beef, though statistically insignificant. The article investigates which of three crucial factors are most affecting South Africa meat imports: (1) changes in consumer tastes and/or meat processing technology, (2) prices, or (3) scales indicating the total size of the imported meat market. Major findings showed that changes in taste-technology had a greater impact on increasing poultry and pork imports than changes in prices, even though poultry prices tended to increase less than the prices of beef, pork, and other meats, making it a better bargain.


© The Author 2017. The relationship between shell form and mode of life in gastropods is important to the interpretation of fossils, but has been little explored owing, in part, to the great diversity of gastropod shells. Infaunal gastropods that actively bury in sand must conform to the demands of moving efficiently and noiselessly through a dense granular medium, but which shell characters reflect these demands and how infaunal gastropods differ from surface-dwelling (epifaunal) species remain incompletely answered questions. Here, I survey infaunal and epifaunal Indo-West Pacific members of four families (Cerithiidae, Mitridae, Costellariidae and Conidae) and consider more broadly the distribution of shell traits that confer streamlining and other potential benefits to infaunal species. Sand-burying cerithiids, mitrids and costellariids (but not conids) have on average slenderer shells than their epifaunal counterparts. The only shell features unique to sand-burying gastropods are terraced axial ribs, spiral cords or sutures, in each of which the trailing edge is steeper than the leading edge in the direction of movement; but not all infaunal gastropods have such features. An angular profile, wide umbilicus, high-relief shell sculpture and limpet-like shell is exclusive to surface-dwelling species. Specializations to the infaunal habit are more common and better expressed in the Indo-West Pacific than in tropical America.


This paper investigates the performance of reduced rank spacetime processors in the context of anti-jam mitigation for an M-code based GPS receiver utilizing a circular array. Several adaptive processing algorithms are discussed utilizing power minimization techniques. It is assumed an INS (inertial navigation system) or direction finding algorithm is incorporated into the receiver for satellite look direction based algorithms. Reduced rank space-time processing is accomplished via the innovative multistage Wiener filter (MSWF). It is demonstrated that the MSWF does not require matrix inversion, thereby reducing computational complexity. The processing algorithms are compared in terms of available degrees of freedom and distortion of the GPS cross correlation function (CCF).


Inverted nipples occur in an estimated 9 to 10 percent of women globally, contributing to the number of women who are not exclusively breastfeeding their infants. Women with inverted nipples may want to breastfeed, but infants may be unable to latch to the breast. Inverted nipples can be corrected, but it is unclear if women know about suitable interventions. This study assessed if pregnant women knew about the available techniques to correct inverted nipples. We conducted individual interviews with nine pregnant women with inverted nipples in a tertiary hospital in South Africa. Data were analysed using an inductive content analysis. Most of the women had very limited knowledge of exclusive breastfeeding or inverted nipples and knew very little about correcting devices. These women thought that their infants would be unable to latch and that exclusive breastfeeding would be impossible. Pregnant women with inverted nipples should be educated about methods to correct their nipples. Keywords: Inverted nipples, correction of inverted nipples, breastfeeding challenges


A 3 6/12-year-old previously healthy girl had intermittent attacks of abdominal pain following a blunt abdominal trauma. At admission to the hospital, she had jaundice and hepatomegaly. Results of laboratory tests indicated an obstructive pattern, and ultrasonography revealed an intraluminal mass in the distal common bile duct. At surgery, the mass was confirmed as the cause of obstruction, and it was removed. Microscopic analysis indicated that the amorphous material was fungi infested. Growth cultures from bile and feces yielded Candida albicans. Postoperative treatment with T-tube drainage and antimycotic drugs led to an uneventful recovery. Clinical, biochemical, and ultrasonographic follow-up have shown no evidence of recurrence. A possible cause and effect relationship between the trauma and the development of biliary obstruction is suggested.


With converter-based renewable energy sources increasingly integrated into power systems and conventional power plants gradually phased out, future power systems will experience reduced short circuit strength. The deployment of synchronous condensers can serve as a potential solution. This paper presents an optimal synchronous condenser allocation method for improving system short circuit ratio at converter point of common coupling using a modified short circuit analysis approach. The total cost of installing new synchronous condensers is minimized while the system short circuit ratios are maintained above a certain level. The presented method is implemented on the simplified western Danish power system for a future scenario.


Background EUMUSC.Net (www.eumusc.net) is a European project supported by the EU and EULAR to develop patient centered Standards of Care (SOC) and Health Care Quality Indicators (HCQIs) for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA) Objectives To develop Health Care Quality Indicators (HCQIs) for health care provision for RA and OA based on existing HCQI literature evidence and SOCs Methods Based on a formal literature search already existing HCQIs for RA and OA were identified. Topics from HCQIs for OA and RA found in the literature were sorted according to SOCs developed within the EUMUSC.Net (OA n=12, RA n=16). During three physical meetings and e-mail contacts with different health professionals and patient representatives topics were added or modified. Repeated Delphi processes were performed to rank the topics, phrase/rephrase suggested HCQIs and to assess Strength of Recommendation (SOR). After an audit process by rheumatology and primary health care units (including academic centres) in December 2011 in UK, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Italy Austria, and Sweden final versions of the HCQIs were presented Results The final set of HCQIs for RA (n=14) include 2 for structure, 11 for process and 1 for outcome. Example structure indicator: "Rheumatology practices should have the facilities to at least annually calculate and record (electronically or on paper) composite scores like DAS 28 or any of its variants CDAI or SDAI, for all patients with RA" Example for process indicator: "If a patient is newly diagnosed with RA, then, he or she should be given individually tailored education by relevant health professionals about the natural history, treatment, and self management of the disease within 3 months". Example outcome indicator: "If a patient is diagnosed with active RA (i.e. DAS 28 over 3.2) then the disease activity should be low (i.e. DAS28 below 3.2) 6 months after treatment has started". The final set for OA (n=12) include 2 for structure, 8 for process and 2 for different outcomes. Example structure indicator: "All professionals managing patients with OA at a primary health care centre should have continuous access to education on important preventive and therapeutic strategies in the management of OA". Example process indicator: "If a patient with OA is overweight (as defined by a BMI >27), then he or she should receive information on weight management and offered referral to a weight management program". Example outcome indicator: "If a patient is diagnosed with symptomatic OA and has functional limitation then an improvement of his/her functional ability by 20% on a patient reported outcome measure should be reached within three months after initiation/change of pharmacological/non pharmacological treatment". Conclusions Using existing guidelines and SOCs a further step is needed to identify corresponding HCQIs to encourage their implementation. We now suggest sets of HCQIs for RA and OA which can be used in quality improvement and bench marking in and between indivudual countries accross Europe. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


Degradation of power quality in a cycloconverter-fed system due to subharmonics/ interharmonics in the output is assessed by suitably defined input/output power quality indices. A simple yet effective method of reduction of subharmonics/low frequency interharmonics in the output of a cycloconverter is described, and the improvement in the power quality is demonstrated through simulation. The hardware implementation of the method is also presented with experimental results on a laboratory prototype of a cycloconverter-fed synchronous motor drive to show the effectiveness of this method.


Objectives

The aim of our study is to present the impact on maternal and perinatal outcomes of the COVID pandemic in our patients.
Methods

 We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of all pregnant women from March to December 2020 in Infanta Leonor Universitary Hospital, in Madrid. Infected women during the 3rd trimester of pregnancy or at delivery time with SARS-CoV2 diagnosis composed infected group, and non-infected women with SARS-CoV2 composed non-infected group. The infection status was determined via RT-PCR of nasopharyngeal swab specimen.
Results

1262 non-infected pregnant women and 86 SARS-CoV2 positive pregnant women were admitted to our clinic during the study period. Within the group of infected pregnant women, they were 49 cases (56.98%) symptomatic and 37 cases (43.02%) asymptomatic. In the group of symptomatic infected women, the majority were mild cases (80.23%). In the group of uninfected pregnant women, the main complication was gestational diabetes 14 (1.09%) We did not find any complications during pregnancy in case group. Cesarean section was performed in 16.67% of the infected pregnant women and in 21.71% of the control group. Mean neonatal birth weight was 3.240 g in case group and 3.210 g in non-infected group. Neonatal admission to NICU was 9.52% in cases while in the control group was 1.19%.
Conclusion

Infection does not worsen the prognosis of pregnancy in terms of low birth weight of the newborn, but is associated with a greater increase in neonatal admission in NICU.


A novel active drain bias termination, allowing automatic gain control, for a 40Gbps optical modulator driver design is presented. The performances of distributed amplifier MMICs using this new termination as well as standard active and passive drain bias terminations are measured and compared. The results confirm the advantages of the new design.


We present the case of a 42-year-old woman with metastatic synovial sarcoma of parotid origin, treated definitively with chemoradiation, who subsequently developed oligometastatic disease limited to the lungs. She underwent multiple left and right lung wedge resections and left lower lobectomy, followed by right lower lobe stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR), 54 Gy in three fractions to a right lower lobe lesion abutting the chest wall. Two years later, she was treated with cryoablation for a separate right upper lobe nodule abutting the chest wall. Two months later, she presented with acute shortness of breath, pleuritic chest pain, decreased peripheral blood O2 saturation, and productive cough. A computed tomography (CT) scan demonstrated severe chest wall necrosis in the area of recent cryoablation that, in retrospect, also received a significant radiation dose from her prior SABR. This case demonstrates that clinicians should exercise caution in using cryoablation when treating lung tumors abutting a previously irradiated chest wall. Note: Drs. Loo and Shah contributed equally as co-senior authors.


AbstractThe development of thermally efficient blocks as wall material to provide a reduction in the heating/cooling load of a building envelope has been investigated by a host of researchers. This paper focuses on the mix design of thermally efficient blocks by using a well-known optimization technique. The method is used to optimize the proportion of the raw materials, i.e., glass powder (GP), palm-oil fly ash (POFA), and oil-palm fibers (OPFs) to achieve minimal thermal conductivity values. Mix proportions were designed as per an orthogonal array with three factors and four levels. Experimental investigations, such as bulk density, water absorption, compressive strength, and thermal conductivity, were conducted. Effects on thermal conductivity caused by control factors were analyzed using signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios and analysis of variance (ANOVA) techniques. The analysis provides percentage contribution of individual control factors and the identification of significant parameters contributing to th...


Various large language models (LLMs) have been proposed in recent years, including closed- and open-source ones, continually setting new records on multiple benchmarks. However, the development of LLMs still faces several issues, such as high cost of training models from scratch, and continual pre-training leading to catastrophic forgetting, etc. Although many such issues are addressed along the line of research on LLMs, an important yet practical limitation is that many studies overly pursue enlarging model sizes without comprehensively analyzing and optimizing the use of pre-training data in their learning process, as well as appropriate organization and leveraging of such data in training LLMs under cost-effective settings. In this work, we propose Ziya2, a model with 13 billion parameters adopting LLaMA2 as the foundation model, and further pre-trained on 700 billion tokens, where we focus on pre-training techniques and use data-centric optimization to enhance the learning process of Ziya2 on different stages. Experiments show that Ziya2 significantly outperforms other models in multiple benchmarks especially with promising results compared to representative open-source ones. Ziya2 (Base) is released at https://huggingface.co/IDEA-CCNL/Ziya2-13B-Base and https://modelscope.cn/models/Fengshenbang/Ziya2-13B-Base/summary.


In radar imaging it is well known that relative motion or deformations of parts of illuminated objects induce additional features in the Doppler frequency spectra. These features are called micro-Doppler effect and appear as sidebands around the central Doppler frequency. They can provide valuable information about the structure of the moving parts and may be used for identification purposes.


A 25-year-old healthy Hispanic male agricultural laborer presented to the emergency department with six weeks of a painless raised lesion on the proximal thumb with occasional drainage of fluid, without history of injury. Over the next several weeks, he developed painless subcutaneous nodules proximally. He denied any systemic symptoms. The patient emigrated from Mexico two years earlier, but had not traveled since. Physical examination showed an ulcerated, raised, dry, crusted lesion on the lateral surface of the left thumb, with four proximal raised, erythematous, subcutaneous nodules, without epitrochlear or axillary lymphadenopathy (Figure 1). Purulent material was aspirated from one of the nodules; gram, fungal and mycobacterial stains showed no organisms. Saturated solution of potassium iodide (SSKI) was prescribed, and the patient was referred to the Infectious Diseases clinic for follow-up. Thirty days later, the fungal culture grew Sporothrix schenkii. The patient was lost to follow-up. Sporotrichosis is caused by infection with Sporothrix schenkii, a dimorphic fungus, found in soil, wood, and plant surfaces. The fungus is mostly found in the tropics of Central and South America, and Africa.1 The largest U.S. outbreak occurred in 1988, involving 84 people in 15 states, and was associated with exposure to sphagnum moss.2 Lymphocutaneous sporotrichosis, the most common form, presents as a small, nontender, erythematous papulonodule at the site of primary injury. This lesion may be smooth or verrucous, often ulcerates, and develops raised red borders. Over days to weeks, proximal subcutaneous nodules form along the lymphatic drainage, and may ulcerate. Fungal cultures and tissue biopsies aid in the diagnosis. The differential diagnosis of sporotrichosis includes: nocardiosis, cutaneous leishmaniasis and atypical mycobacterial infection, especially Mycobacterium marinum.3 The treatment of choice for sporotrichosis is oral itraconazole for 3-6 months with SSKI as an alternative. In severe cases, intravenous amphotericin B is used.


. A modified semantic differential was developed to measure environmental attitudes of sixth-graders. Classes were selected to represent different socioeconomic and residence backgrounds and degrees of previous exposure to structured environmental programs. Results indicate that: exposure to environmental education fosters favorable environmental attitudes; socioeconomic background and exposure to environmental education do not influence attitudes toward familiar, nonwater natural elements; urban students from low socioeconomic neighborhoods are unfamiliar with natural processes involving water resources; attitudes most easily transferred identify man as a contributor to environmental problems; and attitudes most difficult to transfer deal with ecological processes. Results provide a way to measure children's environmental attitudes and suggest a way to develop environmental programs for specific student groups.


Summary: There is an increasing need for rich and dynamic biological data visualizations in bioinformatic web applications. New standards in web technologies, like SVG or Canvas, are now supported by most modern web browsers allowing the blossoming of powerful visualizations in biological data analysis. The exploration of different ways to visualize genomic data is still challenging due to the lack of flexible tools to develop them. Here, I present a set of libraries aimed at creating powerful tree- and track-based visualizations for the web. Its modularity and rich API facilitate the development of many different visualizations ranging from simple species trees to complex visualizations comprising per-node data annotations or even simple genome browsers. Availability and Implementation: The TnT libraries have been written in Javascript, licensed under the APACHE 2.0 license and hosted at https://github.com/tntvis. Contact: email@example.com


Time-reversal symmetry for elastic wave propagation breaks down in a resonant mass-in-mass lattice whose inner-stiffness is weakly modulated in space and in time in a wave-like fashion. Specifically, one-way wave transmission, conversion and amplification as well as unidirectional wave blocking are demonstrated analytically through an asymptotic analysis based on coupled mode theory and numerically thanks to a series of simulations in harmonic and transient regimes. High-amplitude modulations are then explored in the homogenization limit where a non-standard effective mass operator is recovered and shown to take negative values over unusually large frequency bands. These modulated metamaterials, which exhibit either non-reciprocal behaviours or non-standard effective mass operators, offer promise for applications in the field of elastic wave control in general and in one-way conversion/amplification in particular.


Consider the cyclic span of a power of a certain polynomial called alpha-determinant, which is a common generalization of the determinant and permanent, under the action of the universal enveloping algebra of the general linear algebra. We show that the multiplicity of each irreducible component in this cyclic module is given by the rank of a certain associated matrix called transition matrices, whose entries are polynomials in the parameter alpha. We also give several explicit examples of such matrices. In particular, in the case where the size of the matrix for the alpha-determinant is two, the polynomials in the transition matrices are essentially given by Jacobi polynomials.


Purpose
This paper aims to evaluate non-financial reporting (NFR) frameworks insofar as risk reporting is concerned. This is facilitated through analysis of the adequacy of climate- and pandemic-related risk reporting in three industries that are both significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and are at risk from climate change. The pervasiveness of pandemic and climate-change risks have been highlighted in 2020, the hottest year on record and the year the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Stakeholders might reasonably expect reporting on these risks to have prepared them for the consequences.

Design/methodology/approach
The current debate on the "complexity" of sustainability and NFR frameworks/standards is critically analysed in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and calls to "build back better". Context is provided through analysis of risk reporting by the ten largest airlines and the five largest companies in each of the hotel and cruise industries.

Findings
Risk reporting on two significant issues, pandemics and climate change, is woefully inadequate. While very little consideration has been given to pandemic risks, disclosures on climate-related risks focus predominantly on "risks" of increased regulation rather than physical risks, indicating a short-term focus. The disclosures are dispersed across different corporate reporting media and fail to appreciate the long-term consequences or offer solutions. Mindful that a conceptual framework for NFR must address this, the authors propose a new definition of materiality and recommend that sustainable development risks and opportunities be placed at the core of a future framework for connected/integrated reporting.

Research limitations/implications
For sustainable development risks to be perceived as "real" by managers, further research is needed to determine the nature and extent of key sustainable development risks and the most effective mitigation strategies.

Social implications
This paper highlights the importance of recognising the complexity of the issues facing organisations, society and the planet and addressing them by encouraging robust consideration of the interdependencies in evolving approaches to corporate reporting.

Originality/value
This study contributes to the current debate on the future of corporate reporting in light of two significant interconnected crises that threaten business and society – the pandemic and climate change. It provides evidence to support a long-term oriented and holistic approach to risk management and reporting.


Abstract In this study, we describe diet and lifestyle practices of professional jockeys. Participants completed a 59-item nutrition, lifestyle, and health questionnaire (n = 21) and a 7-day estimated food diary (n = 18). Acute weight loss strategies included the use of saunas (86%), exercising to induce sweating (81%), and restricted energy intake (71%). Of the smokers (38%), 56% used smoking to control weight. Most (86%) jockeys reported attaining a 2-kg weight loss for racing (if required) 24–48 h before or on the designated race-day. Mean daily energy intake (1803 ± 564 kcal) was low and appeared to provide an insufficient availability of energy for sustainment of usual daily and metabolic processes. Carbohydrate intake (3.7 ± 1.3 g · kg−1) was below recommendations for athletes. A substantial proportion of jockeys failed to meet the estimated average requirement and lower threshold intake for a number of micronutrients. Jockeys consumed well below (0–2) the recommended five daily servings of fruit and vegetables set by the World Health Organization. Pressures of the jockey lifestyle and rigid weight limits appear to encourage unhealthy weight management practices in this group and may risk long term-health.


Copper sulphate is an important fungicide used in aquaculture. This study aimed to determine the safe and toxicity values of this fungicide to the African catfish ( Clarias gariepinus ) fingerlings. These catfish fingerlings (mean weight 2.5±0.2 g and mean length 8.11±0.2 cm) were exposed to acute concentration of copper sulphate (CuSO4.5H 2 O) for 96 hours. The median lethal concentration (96 hrLC 50 ) values with the lower and upper limits of toxicities were: 2.14 g/L, 3.00 g/L and 4.97 g/L) respectively. The safe level was 2.00 g/L. Statistical analysis of data collected on water quality parameters revealed a significant difference between the 96 hrLC 50 at p2). Temperature, pH and acidity were not significantly different at (p>0.05). During the exposure period, the fish showed such signs as increased opercula movement, darkening of the skin, hyperventilation, secretion of mucus, quick jerky movement and no response to gentle prodding before death finally occurred. The results indicated that even though CuSO 4 .5H 2 O is an important fungicide for aquaculture, it should be applied at the appropriate dose as recommended by manufacturers with caution to avoid environmental consequences. Key Words : Lethal concentration, fungicide, toxicity, fingerlings, Clarias gariepinus


Objective: to describe the reported cases of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) and other neurological manifestations with a history of dengue, chikungunya or Zika virus infections, in the Metropolitan Region of Salvador and in the municipality of Feira de Santana, Brazil. Methods: this is a descriptive study with data of an investigation conducted by the epidemiological surveillance from March to August 2015; to confirm the neurological manifestations, medical diagnosis records were considered, and to prior infection, clinical and laboratory criteria were used. Results: 138 individuals were investigated, 57 reported infectious process up to 31 days before neurological symptoms – 30 possibly due to Zika, 13 to dengue, 8 to chikungunya and 6 were inconclusive –; GBS was the most frequent neurological condition (n=46), with predominance of male sex (n=32) and the median age was 44. Conclusion: most cases reported a clinical picture consistent with acute Zika virus disease, which preceded the occurrence of neurological symptoms.


Cyclic ADP-ribose is an intracellular compound responsible for Ca2+ release in a wide variety of cell types. It may be implicated in releasing Ca2+ from ryanodine-sensitive pools in exocrine acinar cells. A bifunctional enzyme CD38 can synthesize cADP-ribose and we have characterized its properties by applying a technique in which nicotinamide guanine dinucleotide (NGD+) is used as a substrate for the synthesis of fluorescent cyclic GDP-ribose. This reaction mimics the physiologically relevant reaction in which nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) is converted into non-fluorescent cyclic ADP-ribose. Using NGD+ as a substrate, the reaction shows a half maximal rate of synthesis at 2.6 microM and is competitively inhibited by NAD+ with a k(i) of 12.6 microM. This reveals that both NGD+ and NAD+ are converted by CD38 to their cyclic nucleotides. We have used this fluorescence technique to characterize the extent to which parotid acinar cells contain enzymes capable of synthesizing this class of cyclic nucleotides. We found that after treatment of acinar cells with a detergent which releases intracellular enzymes, NGD+ is converted into its fluorescent derivative with a half maximal rate of synthesis at 16 microM. This reaction is also competitively inhibited by NAD+ with a k(i) of 10 microM. The data indicate that parotid acinar cells contain an enzyme capable of synthesizing the Ca2+ releasing compound, cyclic ADP-ribose. This finding suggests that cyclic ADP-ribose could play a role in Ca2+ release processes from internal stores--an important event in stimulus-secretion coupling.


Using micro-level data on the entire population of business loans of a bank-based economy, we empirically test some of the core predictions of the SME financing literature, examining banks' lending specializations in firm size and lending technologies. Rejecting the conventional belief that smaller banks focus more on relationship loans than do larger banks, we find that banks of different sizes dedicate similar proportions of loans to relationship lending. However, supporting the SME finance theories on the organizational advantages of small banks, we find that smaller banks provide more access to relationship loans to small firms, though such loans are usually more expensive.


Among the many endeavours of visualization that took place in fairs and expositions at the time of early cinema, one medium warrants closer attention than it has hitherto received: the scale model. Well suited to pedagogical ideals of overview and visual compression, the model may shed light on the specifically three-dimensional branch of exhibitory items, particularly in instances when it was used in conjunction with moving pictures. Chiefly on the basis of contemporary press sources, this essay explores two occurrences of smaller-scale farm models that were used in exhibitions in a context of multiple other media, including cinema. These instances of model culture reflect two very different aspects of Scandinavian–American relations during the mid-teens: on the one hand, a Swedish government-funded organization used the 1915 Panama–Pacific Exposition for political purposes, attempting to convince Swedish Americans to go back to Sweden and build their own small farms; on the other, a Norwegian official exposition in 1914 instead celebrated the success of Norwegian-American settlers. The essay investigates how the specific uses of the assembled media in each case articulate these aims and refract the more abstract political ideals behind them. It argues that in the media discourse surrounding these cases, the scale model was overwhelmingly favoured, at this point outshining the cinema as a perceived beacon of scientific exactitude and intuitive meaning. Perhaps for this very reason, the miniature in particular seems to have been allowed to invite affective relations with the spectator.


Objective: A medical center in Taiwan established a Holistic Care Unit (HCU) in the emergency department (ED) to care for emergency patients while they wait for admission. Its goal was to prevent patient conditions from worsening, shorten the ED length of stay for admission, reduce complaints and disputes, and raise the quality of care. Design: If emergency physicians suggested that a patient be admitted, the patient was then transferred to the HCU. The 24-hour work day for the HCU was split into three eight-hour shifts during which on-duty physicians continued any unfinished treatments or follow-ups and accepted new patients. Results: The HCU's intervention in the ED and coordination with inpatient care significantly reduced the rate of access block from 55.29% to 50.01% (p<0.01). In addition, the ED length of stay for admission was significantly decreased from 17.06 hours to 14.13 hours (p=0.018). The percentage of patients whose condition improved while waiting for admission to the ED and who could then be released after treatment by the HCU rose from 1.3% to 4.3%. Conclusions: The HCU at this medical center is the first of its kind to combine emergency and inpatient care in Taiwan. Overcrowding was improved after establishment of the HCU at our hospital.


Abstract : This report provides findings from the research conducted under RT-18: Valuing Flexibility project during the first seven month period. The primary goal of this research project is to identify, develop and validate sound quantitative methods, processes, and tools that will enable DoD leadership and program managers to make a convincing case for investments in system flexibility when acquisition decisions are made. The research during this period focused on identifying current quantitative MPTs for valuing flexibility in DoD context, and delivering an initial capability to value investments that provide the flexibility to handle foreseeable sources of change, using easy-to-understand monetizable terms, such as the effect of the investments on total cost of ownership or return on investment. We conducted a critical evaluation of the theoretical foundations underlying current approaches, the dimensions of flexibility, measures of flexibility, value functions, and methods for incorporating flexibility - both at the design phase and the operational phase, to identify strengths and weaknesses of each approach. During this period, we also explored the development of an analytical framework based on sound mathematical constructs. A review of the current state-of-the-art showed that there is little unifying theory or guidance on best approaches to measure flexibility, quantify value of flexibility in a prospective systems acquisition or which MPTs work best in which situations. In fact, the analytical basis for defining and valuing flexibility is missing. Considering this major gap in the current state-of-the-art the primary focus of our research activities is in developing a coherent value based definition of flexibility that is based on an analytical framework that is mathematically consistent, domain independent and applicable under varying information levels.


We prove that over a commutative noetherian ring the three approaches to introducing depth for complexes: via Koszul homology, via Ext modules, and via local cohomology, all yield the same invariant. Using this result, we establish a far reaching generalization of the classical AuslanderBuchsbaum formula for the depth of finitely generated modules of finite projective dimension. We extend also Iversen's amplitude inequality to unbounded complexes. As a corollary we deduce: Given a local homomorphism Q→ R, if there is a non-zero finitely generated R-module that has finite flat dimension both over Q and over R, then the flat dimension of R over Q is finite. This last result yields a module theoretic extension of a characterization of regular local rings in characteristic p due to Kunz and Rodicio


We review a scalable, sub-10-fs precision timing distribution system for next generation accelerator and light source facilities and discuss its extension to sub-femtosecond performance using polarization maintaining dispersion compensated fiber links and integrated waveguide cross-correlators.


The finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD) method is applied to simulate the two-dimensional propagation of electromagnetic TM (S-polarization) mode in atmospheric plasma and in metal layer for strong electron-neutral collisions. Dependence of the wave attenuation on both plasma parameters and incident wave angle are obtained. It is indicated that for a given electron density profile the attenuation depends strongly on the incident angle, the wave frequency, the width of plasma layer, and the collision frequency between electrons and neutrals.


Chronic exposure to volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) in the environment leads to steady-state conditions. The establishment of quantitative relationships between steady-state blood concentrations and molecular structures of VOCs can be potentially useful. The objective of this study was therefore to investigate the relationship between the steady-state arterial blood concentration (Cass) in the rat and the molecular structures of 19 VOCs belonging to multiple chemical families (alkanes, haloalkanes, haloalkenes, and aromatics). The overall approach consisted of developing quantitative relationships between molecular fragments (CH3, CH2, CH, C, C═C, H, Cl, benzene ring, and H in benzene ring structure) in alkanes, haloalkanes, haloethylenes, and aromatic hydrocarbons, as well as their Cass (associated with 1 μ μ mol/L inhalation exposure) according to an additive fragment model. This modeling approach implies that each fragment in the structure of a chemical has an additive and constant contribution to its Cass. A multilinear regression was performed using a commercially available statistical software package, and the results obtained were essentially the contributions associated with each of the nine structural fragments toward Cass in the rat continuously exposed to 1 μ μ mol/L VOC in the air. The resulting model estimated adequately the Cass of VOCs initially used in the calibration (estimated/experimental ratio: 1.04 ± 0.30, mean ± standard deviation [SD]). This molecular structure vs. Cass relationship was then evaluated using an external dataset on Cass for three aliphatic hydrocarbons (octane, 2-methyl octane, and 1-nonene; 100 ppm exposures). The ratio of predicted to experimental Cass for these chemicals ranged from 0.6 to 1.2. The results of this study suggest that steady-state blood concentrations of inhaled VOCs can be predicted using structure-activity type models.


Measurements have been made using a pulse saturation technique at 35 Gc/s of the relaxation times for transitions within the ions of the 'irongroup' of transition metal elements placed in various lattices. A microwave spectrometer has been constructed in which the need for a separate local oscillator source has been overcome. A detailed study of the relaxation times and the texture in ruby single crystals has shown that the relaxation depends on the c-axis misorientation within the crystal, but is independent of the mosaic structure. A study of the temperature dependence of the relaxation times from 1.5 K to 120 K has shown that the chromium ions occupy two types of site within the lattice, one perfect the other distorted. Similar results have been obtained for samples of ruby grown by Verneuil and Gzochralski techniques. The effect of impurities in ruby has been considered and a 'figure of merit' has been empirically devised to describe the effects of cross-relaxation between chromic and ferric ions. X-irradiation of rubies has given indirect evidence for the existence of the Cr(^2+) ion. A brief examination of the relaxation times in chromium doped spinel and rutile has led to an explanation of the frequency dependence of the relaxation times for transitions across the lower Kramer's doublet in terms of an Orbach process. An examination of three alums has supported the suggestion of Kochelaev that the relaxation process in these materials is governed by the vibrations of the water complex surrounding the paramagnetic ion.


In this paper we promote a selective information retrieval process to be applied in the context of repeated queries. The method is based on a training phase in which the meta search system learns the best parameters to use on a per query basis. The training phase uses a sample of annotated documents for which document relevance is known. When an equal-query is submitted to the system, it automatically knows which parameters it should use to treat the query. This Learning to choose method is evaluated using simulated data from TREC campaigns. We show that system performance highly increases in terms of precision (MAP), speci cally for the queries that are di cult to answer, when compared to any unique system con guration applied to all the queries.


A rapid qualitative HPLC-UV-MS method was developed for the detection of huperzine A in Lycopodiaceae species. HPLC coupled with mass spectrometry experiments allowed the identification of the alkaloid and enabled targeted analysis of complex matrices such as herbal extracts. Huperzine A was detected by single ion monitoring of the pseudomolecular ion [M + H]+ at m/z 243.2. The alkaloid was also detected on TLC in a bioautographic enzyme assay with acetylcholinesterase to show the activity of the compound. Four Lycopodiaceae species collected in Switzerland were tested by these methods and Huperzia selago (L.) Bernh. ex Schrank et Martius was the only species found to contain huperzine A.


BACKGROUND
In vivo cartilage deformation has been studied by static magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with in situ loading, but knowledge about strain dynamics after load onset and release is scarce.

PURPOSE
To measure the dynamics of patellofemoral cartilage deformation and recovery in response to in situ loading and unloading by using MRI with prospective motion correction.

STUDY TYPE
Prospective.

SUBJECTS
Ten healthy male volunteers (age: [31.4 ± 3.2] years).

FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE
T1-weighted RF-spoiled 2D gradient-echo sequence with a golden angle radial acquisition scheme, augmented with prospective motion correction, at 3 T.

ASSESSMENT
In situ knee loading was realized with a flexion angle of approximately 40° using an MR-compatible pneumatic loading device. The loading paradigm consisted of 2 minutes of unloaded baseline followed by a 5-minute loading bout with 50% body weight and an unloading period of 38 minutes. The cartilage strain was assessed as the mean distance between patellar and femoral bone-cartilage interfaces as a percentage of the initial (pre-load) distance.

STATISTICAL TESTS
Wilcoxon signed-rank tests (significance level: P < 0.05), Pearson correlation coefficient (r).

RESULTS
The cartilage compression and recovery behavior was characterized by a viscoelastic response. The elastic compression ([-12.5 ± 3.1]%) was significantly larger than the viscous compression ([-7.6 ± 1.5]%) and the elastic recovery ([10.5 ± 2.1]%) was significantly larger than the viscous recovery ([6.1 ± 1.8]%). There was a significant residual offset strain ([-3.6 ± 2.3]%) across the cohort. A significant negative correlation between elastic compression and elastic recovery was observed (r = -0.75).

DATA CONCLUSION
The in vivo cartilage compression and recovery time course in response to loading was successfully measured via dynamic MRI with prospective motion correction. The clinical relevance of the strain characteristics needs to be assessed in larger subject and patient cohorts.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
2 TECHNICAL EFFICACY: Stage 1.


Background: Combined treatment with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and anthracycline-based chemotherapy regimens has remarkably contributed to improve treatment outcomes in patients with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL) patients leading to cure rates above 80%. However, information is lacking on how these patients might recover in the long-term period. Objective: The primary objective of this study was to investigate long-term health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and symptom burden in APL and to examine factors predicting better long-term HRQOL outcomes. Patients and Methods: Patients with APL treated within two large GIMEMA trials (i.e., AIDA0493 and AIDA 2000) were considered. All patients received ATRA plus Idarubicin (AIDA) for induction followed by consolidation that was risk-adapted in AIDA2000 and in most cases, maintenance for 2 years . The main inclusion criterion was having survived the initial diagnosis for more than 5 years and being in complete remission (CR) at the time of study inclusion. The SF-36 was used to assess generic HRQOL. This questionnaire consists of 36 items covering eight generic health status/QoL domains: physical functioning (PF), role limitations due to physical health (RP), bodily pain (BP), general health perceptions (GH), vitality (VT), social functioning (SF), role limitations due to emotional problems (RE) and mental health (MH). Mean SF-36 scores were compared between APL patients and those from general population. To minimize bias, all comparisons were performed between APL patients and corresponding propensity score-matched peers from general population, further adjusting for education, family status and geographical area using a multivariate linear mixed model. For descriptive purposes, a cut-off of 30 years was considered to distinguish between younger and older patients at the time of diagnosis and the corresponding HRQoL profiles were compared using multivariate linear regression analysis to adjust for key potential confounders. Also, M.D. Anderson Symptom Inventory (MDASI) was assessed to investigate the profile and prevalence symptom burden Results: Of the 307 patients, potentially eligible for this analysis and invited to participate in the study, 244 completed a HRQOL questionnaire (compliance 79.5%). No differences were found in the main socio-demographic and clinical characteristics between patients with or without a HRQOL evaluation. Mean age of patients was 52 years (range 20-90) and there were 47% males and 53% females. Median time from diagnosis was 14 years (range: 4-20). There were 81% of patients reporting at least 1 comorbidity at the time of HRQOL evaluation. APL long-term survivors reported a HRQOL profile broadly similar to that of their peers in the general population. However, the RP scale was statistically (P=0.016) and clinically meaningful worse in APL patients. Fatigue was the most prevalent symptom with 70% of patients reporting it with any level of concern, as well the most frequently reported moderate to severe symptom by 29 % of patients. Being distressed and problem with remembering things were the other two most prevalent symptoms reported by 65% and 62% of patients respectively. Being diagnosed at a younger age ( Conclusions APL patients successfully treated with AIDA-like regimens may expect to have broadly similar HRQOL outcomes when compared to their peers witout cancer in the general population. However, significant limitations in work or other daily activities due to physical and emotional problems still persist after many years from diagnosis in the majority of patients. Our results also show that on the long-term period, younger APL patients recover better than older ones in terms of HRQOL outcomes. Disclosures Efficace:TEVA: Consultancy, Research Funding; Seattle Genetics: Consultancy; Bristol Myers Squibb: Consultancy; Lundbeck: Research Funding. Breccia:Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria; Bristol Myers Squibb: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria; Ariad: Honoraria; Pfizer: Honoraria. Angelucci:Novartis oncology, celgene: Honoraria, Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees. Lo Coco:Teva: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Lundbeck: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Consultancy; Baxalta: Consultancy; Pfizer: Consultancy.


This paper presents a simulation-based study for characterizing and analyzing the performance of a commercially available thermoelectric cooler (TEC) as a generator for harvesting heat energy along with a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) power management integrated circuit (PMIC); LTC3108. In this model, the transformation of heat was considered in terms of an electrical circuit simulation perspective, where temperature experienced by TEC on both cold and hot sides was incorporated with voltage supply as Vth and Vtc in the circuit. When it comes to modeling a system in a simulation program with an integrated circuit emphasis (SPICE) like environment, the selection of thermoelectric generator (TEG) and extraction methods are not straightforward as well as the lack of information from manufacturer's datasheets can limit the grip over the analysis parameters of the module. Therefore, it is mandatory to create a prototype before implementing it over a physical system for energy harvesting circuit (EHC) optimization. The major goal was to establish the basis for devising the thermal energy scavenging based Internet of Things (IoT) system with two configurations of voltage settings for the same TEG model. This study measured the data in terms of current, voltage, series of resistive loads and various temperature gradients for generating the required power. These generated power levels from EHC prototype were able to sustain the available IoT component's power requirement, hence it could be considered for the implementation of IoT based applications.