This study uses an 'action evaluation' approach to examine the effects of a national Quality Improvement (QI) initiative, the Productive Ward: Releasing Time to Care™ Programme (PW) on a pilot cohort of ward-based teams in the Irish Health Service Executive (HSE). In particular it measures their 'engagement' and explores their experiences and views in relation to implementation and efficacy. It is one of the first studies to examine the impact of QI activities and interventions on 'work engagement' (WE).
With the researcher–evaluator integrated within the implementation, this study uses an explanatory, sequential, mixed method design (with an experimental test outcome) to gather data through four empirical phases for the purpose of in-depth analysis.
The first phase, a survey, measured work engagement in the PW group and compared the results to a matched control group. The second phase involved a qualitative interview study with participants from the PW group. The third phase was a longitudinal 12-month repeat WE survey. The final phase utilised the improvement performance measure, Direct Patient Care (DPC) times, from the PW group for comparison with corresponding WE scores.
Overall findings established higher WE scores amongst the PW group that were maintained over the 12-month period. In-depth interview analysis identified key determinants from the participants' accounts which impacted implementation, including project management structures, prior preparation, training and negative experiences. Further qualitative analysis also highlighted key outcomes/outputs that the programme had delivered, including many positive experiences which naturally align with the construct of WE.
This study validates previous assertions that QI activities, like PW, can actively 'engage' participating employees. It also identifies a number of key implementation determinants that can help or hinder efficacy and provides guidance for practitioners who are considering introducing the initiative.


The Business Tendency Surveys, performed by ISCO (Institute for Short-Term Economic Studies) for Italy, are part of the Joint Harmonised Business and Consumers Survey (BCS) program of the European Commission which cover manufacturing, construction, retail trade, service sectors and consumers. ISAE (formerly ISCO) is one of the three founder Institutes (with IFO in Germany and INSEE in France) of the project. BCS started to be conducted in manufacturing sector since early 60 th's , progressively enlarging over the years the field of investigation to construction, consumers, investments, retail trade and services. Business Tendency Surveys aim to investigate the "confidence" of the economic operators by asking entrepreneurs and managers opinions on current trends and expectations for the near future, regarding both their own business and the general situation of the economy. Information collected is of a qualitative type, mainly with a three option ordinal scale. Only in some restricted cases, for variables that are not reported in conventional statistics, information collected is quantitative: percentages of capacity utilization or the number of months of production assured. Answers obtained from the survey are aggregated in the form of "balances" (differences between positive and negative answers). Balances are then used to build the confidence indicator as arithmetic mean of selected series, namely for manufacturing: order level, production expectation and stocks (with inverted sign). The time series of the manufacturing confidence indicator often represent a leading indicator of the industrial production and of the GDP. In this chapter, which is part of a more general (and unfortunately out of print) ISCO publication, the first synthetic but precise and organic discussion of all the surveys is presented. The history of the ISCO surveys is presented and all the aspects of carrying out a survey are described starting from universe to the frame list, the sampling design, the lay out of the questionnaire, the data collection technique, the data processing and weighting and the confidence indicators calculation.


Political trends as well as general growth of the transport market set new challenges to railways and particularly to rail infrastructure managers. Rail infrastructure must become more efficient, which is to say that costs must be reduced and the use of capacity optimised, through better timetabling and network adjustments. But above all, rail infrastructure management should tackle strategic issues (on the long-term), hence the need for more adequate planning tools. Nowadays, infrastructure managers tend often to concentrate on operational and short-term problems ; meanwhile, reshaping rail networks requires several years of planning and implementation. In this context , the paper presents a methodology and the bases for the development of an effective decision support system to help infrastructure managers in setting up development strategies for rail corridors or networks. The methodology deals not only with the planning of investments in capacity (timetabling and timetable analyses), but takes also into account the impacts of timetable on the maintenance and renewal policies, in particular through the analysis of interactions between service deteriorations and track possessions. The methodology covers both the analysis of the availability and the reliability of capacity, and the maintainability of the infrastructure as well. The paper shows the importance of the long term planning of rail infrastructures and proposes a way of tackling both the analysis of capacity investments and the elaboration of maintenance and renewal policies. The presented approach is based on two existing software, CAPRES and FASTA, and on a third model, MRPOL, currently under development.


The interest in the application of microdosimetry for assessing the radiation quality of hadrontherapy fields has grown in the last two decades. The reference detector for microdosimetry is the tissue-equivalent proportional counter (TEPC). Novel types of microdosimeters have been developed by the Nuclear Measurement Laboratory of the Politecnico di Milano in collaboration with the INFN National Legnaro Laboratories. This work describes the main features of an avalanche confinement TEPC, capable of simulating sites down to 25 nm and a silicon telescope detector. The main dosimetric and microdosimetric quantities are also given and discussed in the Introduction for the sake of clarity.


Measures of diagnostic accuracy, such as sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, and receiver operating characteristic curves, can often seem like abstract mathematic concepts that have a minimal relationship with clinical decision making or clinical research. The purpose of this article is to provide definitions and examples of these concepts that illustrate their usefulness in specific clinical decision-making tasks. In particular, nine principles are provided to guide the use of these concepts in daily radiology practice, in interpreting clinical literature, and in designing clinical research studies. An understanding of these principles and of the measures of diagnostic accuracy to which they apply is vital to the appropriate evaluation and use of diagnostic imaging examinations.


Glucose and fructose half-lives following intravenous infusion of 1.0 or 0.5 g/body weight invertose solution (200 g/l) were established in six Beagle dogs. The average half-lives measured were 7.8 for glucose (variation between 6.0 and 13.5) and 7.5 for fructose (variation between 4.5 and 11.0), all values given in minutes. Administration of invertose instead of glucose for parenteral energy supply proved favourable in various respects. Infusion of invertose was temporarily followed by rises within physiological limits of lactate and pyruvate in the blood and of insulin concentrations in the blood plasma, whereas the levels of free fatty acids declined. A 25-per-cent fructose solution was infused (0.5 g/kg body weight) to three dogs, and the half-lives then measured were six, nine, and 13 minutes. The insulin concentration rose temporarily, while the free fatty acids went down. The same doses of sorbite gave half-lives of 15.5 or 17 minutes. Infusion was followed by temporary increase of fructose and insulin in the blood plasma.


The palisade cell sizes in leaves of Eucalyptus pauciflora were estimated in paradermal sections of cryo-fixed leaves imaged in the cryo-scanning electron microscope, as a quantity called the cell area fraction (CAF). Cell sizes were measured in detached leaves as a function of leaf water content, in intact leaves in the field during a day"s transpiration as a function of balance pressure of adjacent leaves, and on leaf disks equilibrated with air of relative humidities from 100 to 58%. Values of CAF ranged from 0.82 at saturation to approx. 0.3 in leaves dried to a relative water content (RWC) of 0.5, and in the field to approx. 0.58 at 15 bar (1.5 MPa) balance pressure. At a CAF of 0.58, the moisture content of the cell walls is in equilibrium with air at 90% relative humidity, which is the estimated relative humidity in the intercellular spaces. It is shown that at this moisture content, the cell walls could be exerting a pressure of approx. 50 bar on the cell contents.


This research aims to reveal university students' experiences, expectations, and suggestions regarding synchronous online teaching. For this purpose, the study was conducted in a qualitative research case study design. The study group of the research consists of 24 university students. The research data were collected using a semi-structured interview form and document review technique. The data obtained through the semi-structured interview form were analysed using the descriptive analysis technique through the MAXQDA qualitative data analysis program. Research findings show that students have problems accessing devices and the internet. Students and instructors are not competent in using technology and do not have pedagogical content knowledge. The findings reveal that students do not open their webcams and are unwilling to attend and participate in classes because the strategies used in the learning-teaching process are not suitable for classroom interaction. Additionally, students could easily cheat in online exams and had some problems about self-regulation skills. In line with these findings, it has been proposed self-regulated learning framework, formative and authentic assessments and the "community of inquiry" framework.


The main objective of this work is to gain insight into the rheometry and rheology of concentrated non-colloidal particle suspensions. Among the many questions that have as yet received little answers, we are especially interested in the rheometric problems associated with this type of fluid and in their rheology in the frictional and viscous regimes, as well as the transition between both regimes —a topic that is particularly unclear. To address these issues, we had initially to develop techniques capable of measuring non-invasively the velocity field within these concentrated suspensions. Part of this thesis is dedicated to the development and implementation of an optical visualization technique inside concentrated suspensions, which was developed at the Laboratory of Environmental Hydraulics. This measurement technique combines the development of iso-index fluids and the use of fluorescent particle image velocimetry. On this basis, we could then tackle the real issues of this work, that is, on the one hand, rheometric measurement techniques of these fluids and, on the other hand, the rheologic properties. Among the issues discussed, the following were the main: Is it possible to obtain a reliable flow curve for concentrated particle suspensions from bulk measurement? And this by considering the wide shear range within the gap, the non-homogeneous material and the inversion-technique problems due to the wide gap? What are the main rheological properties of concentrated non-colloidal particle suspensions in the frictional and viscous regimes? What about the transition between these two regimes?


The issue on the acupuncture clinical service mode has been early proposed by the scholars. The acupuncture clinical service mode is still existed as the department of acupuncture in TCM hospital nowadays. But this pattern has brought the inconvenience and issues between physicians and patients. In the study, through reviewing briefly the history of acupuncture hospital since the foundation of the People's Republic of China, the authors explained why taking the Hospital of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences (CACMS) as the object. By integrating the relevant achievements of the scholars on the study of acupuncture hospital, the historical development of acupuncture-moxibustion hospital was reviewed. By comparing with the development mode of TCM hospital, the differences were generalized between the two hospitals in terms of the purpose of hospital establishment, the development mode of treatment, education and research, modernization mode, the relationship with western medicine and the hospital scale. It was analyzed by the authors that the development characteristics of acupuncture-moxibustion hospital were determined by the accidental and the inevitable factors. By the comprehensive analysis, the enlightenments to the future development of acupuncture-moxibustion hospital were explored.


This research aimed to determine CH4 levels and its potential of usage in Klotok Landfill Kediri City. The measurement of CH4 was performed at six points, three points at Klotok I and Klotok II Landfill in each cell. CH4 was measured using portable gas detector with the MQ-04 type of gas sensor. The measurement of CH4 was performed in seven times of observation in the morning and in the evening. The average of CH4 levels at Klotok I Landfill were (1.8±0.71); (62.46±3.19); and (3.07±2.65) %Vol, respectively. The highest CH4 levels at Klotok I Landfill was in Cell 2, which was almost similar to Klotok II Landfill. The CH4 levels in each measurement points in the Klotok II Landfill were (63.21±2.61); (62.46±4.70); and (19.76±17) %Vol, respectively. The highest CH4 levels at Klotok II Landfill was in Point 1. The CH4 levels were affected by environmental condition in terms of soil temperature, soil moisture, and pH of soil, etc; the existence of methanogenic microorganisms, and the composition of waste in the landfill. A high CH4 levels at Klotok Landfill Kediri City can be utilized as an alternative fuel for renewable energy source appropriate with the concept of green technology.


This paper aims to highlight the integral role of Nepali Army towards national security and development. The researcher has applied secondary source of research design to collect the information. The result suggested that the Nepali Army played a major role in the formation as well as the development of Nepal as a strong stable nation–state. For the national security, the Nepali Army had fought many battles. Their contribution was visible from the unification campaign initiated by Prithvi Narayan Shah in 1740 AD to the Nepalese Civil war fought between the Communist Party of Nepal and the government of Nepal from 1996 to 2006. Similarly, for the development of the nation, their role is visible in infrastructure development, building civil military relation, disaster management, nature conservation and so on. Nepali Army along with the national security has been expanding its role in sectors like education, health and recreation with the interest of serving the people.


Green fluorescent protein (GFP) is widely used as a marker in molecular and cell biology. For its use in high-pressure microbiology experiments, its fluorescence under pressure was recently investigated. Changes in fluorescence with pressure were found. To find out whether these are related to structural changes, we investigated the pressure stability of wild-type GFP (wtGFP) and three of its red shift mutants (AFP, GFP(mut1), and GFP(mut2)) using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. For the wt GFP, GFP(mut1), and GFP(mut2) we found that up to 13-14 kbar the secondary structure remains intact, whereas AFP starts unfolding around 10 kbar. The 3-D structure is held responsible for this high-pressure stability. Previously observed changes in fluorescence at low pressure are rationalized in terms of the pressure-induced elastic effect. Above 6 kbar, loss of fluorescence is due to aggregation. Revisiting the temperature stability of GFP, we found that an intermediate state is populated along the unfolding pathway of wtGFP. At higher temperatures, the unfolding resulted in the formation of aggregates of wtGFP and its mutants.


The paper studies how the interaction between the tools offered by information technologies and the definition of our fields of studies in the humanities has evolved over the years, tracing the history of the research and teaching programme Georgian Cities —the authoring of a multidisciplinary website on 18th-century British cities. The primary purpose of the first phase —a CD-ROM started in the mid 1990s and published in 2000— was to show the multidisciplinary potential of the electronic medium, allowing the viewer to relate separate approaches to urban studies, such as cartography, architectural history, social history, cultural history. With the next phase, moving the programme on to the web, made possible by the technical evolution of the early 21st century and completed in 2014, the project allowed for experiments in digital tools; it is accompanied by a course on a learning management system experimenting the "learning by doing" approach. The progression from "digital resources for the humanities" of the 1990s to the closer integration of "digital humanities" of the 2010s was thus followed.


Emerging scholarship indicates that bias crimes are concentrated in particular types of places. Currently, only a small number of studies consider the ecological factors that influence official reports of bias crime. Results from these studies indicate that the community processes and structures associated with the occurrence of non-bias crime may operate differently for bias crime. We use administrative and survey data from approximately 4000 residents living across 148 communities in Brisbane, Queensland to examine the ecological drivers of bias crime. Using multi-level logistic regression, we examine the community and household factors associated with residents' perceptions of bias crime. Here, we focus not only on the structural demographics of the community, but also on the degree to which community cohesion influences whether or not residents perceive bias crime as a problem in their community. We find that poverty and ethnic diversity are positively associated with residents' perceptions of bias crime. Further, residents living in communities with higher levels of community cohesion are less likely to perceive bias crime as a problem in their community. The level of community cohesion fully mediates the impact of ethnic diversity and partially mediates the effect of poverty on residents' perceptions of bias crime.


Bread for the World, Inc. is a 501(c)4 faith-based organization whose purpose is to advocate policymakers to end hunger and poverty. The organization began in the early 1970s, founded by Arthur Simon, who became its first president. Simon's 1975 book, Bread for the World, outlined the vision and scope of the organization, not as a service-delivery entity but as an education, coalition-building, and advocacy organization. David Beckmann, author of Exodus from Hunger: We Are Called to Change the Politics of Hunger, is the organization's president as of 1991. The organization is supported by individuals, local congregations, denominations, and other organizations. Two related affiliates were created to assist in the hunger-ending goal. First, Bread for the World Institute, a 501(c)3 organization, conducts research on domestic and global hunger issues and disseminates reports to those advocating for hunger-ending policy with its Annual Hunger Report. Second, the Alliance to End Hunger, a 501(c)3 organization, brings together a wide range of both faith-based and secular organizations in the fight against hunger.
 Bread for the World has a noteworthy history of advocacy and collaboration. They actively advocated in 2000 for Jubilee 2000, a debt relief and forgiveness program for over 40 countries. They promoted the African Growth and Opportunity Act of 2000 to promote quality of life, human rights, and equitable trade relationships between the United States and African countries. Bread for the World advocated for the Food for Peace Acts and the 2016 Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act to extend foreign aid more quickly and efficiently. They worked with legislators regarding the Head Start programs and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program. Bread for the World used a Feed Our Children letter-writing campaign for individuals to put pressure on legislators to place priority on children's food programs. As winner of the World Food Prize in 2010, David Beckmann stated, "We must talk to real people in power, about concrete issues, and not about big dreams." Bread for the World's goal is the UN's Sustainability Development Goal to eliminate hunger by 2030.


Corman and Excalona's (1969) scales for Object Permanence and Spatial Relationships and the corresponding scales of Uzgiris and Hunt (1975) were administered to 64 severely and prfoundly retarded children. Most of the findings applied equally to both sets of scales: the scoring reliability was very high; the total scores did not vary as a function of subject characteristics (except IQ) or testing conditions; differences in the difficulty of the items did not correspond closely to those reported for nonretarded infants, and the scalability of the items was much lower. Less time was required to administer the two scales constructed by Uzgiris and Hunt, but their Object Permanence scale showed a pronounced ceiling effect and the internal consistency of their Spatial Relationships scale was unacceptably low.


Antepartum administration of corticosteroids induces biochemical and structural maturation of a number of fetal organs which enables the reduction of complications caused by pre-term birth. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of antepartum administration of corticosteroids to the mother on the incidence, time, beginning, degree and death rate from intracranial bleeding in pre-term live-borns. The retrospecive study in the Clinic for Gynaecology and Obstetrisc in Tuzla in the period from 1st January 2002 to 31st December 2005 includes all live-borns with body weight below 2000 grams and gestation age between 28. and 34 weeks, of both sexes, from single pregnancies and without visible anomalies (n=418). The children were then divided into two groups: the study group (sample) whose mothers received antepartum administration of dexametazon (n=279), and the test group whose mothers did not receive antepartum administration of dexametazon (n=139). Multiple ultrasonic examination of the cranium was used to look for intracranial bleeding which was graded according to Papile into four degrees. Intracranial bleeding was found in 203 of 418 pre-terms (48.6%. The incidence of bleeding among 279 examined babies was 108/279 = 38.7%, and in the test group of 139 there were 95/139=68.3% bleedings. The relative risk of bleeding among the sample babies compared to the risk from bleeding in the test group was considerably smaller (29.2%). The increased relative risk for the occurrence of bleeding was found in low body weight(64.2%), and reduced in higher body weight(10.3%). Comparing the time of the beginning of bleeding, the risk for the occurrence of bleeding in the first three days is considerably lower in the study group (20.1%) when compared to the risk of the beginning of bleeding in the test group. Considering the degree of bleeding, the study group shows less profuse bleeding (59.2%) when compared to the test group (49.5%), but the difference is not statistical significant. In the total number of 418 studied preterm babies (both study group and test group) there were 57 lethal outcomes in the studied period, so the mortality was 13.6%. The relative likelihood of survival of all studied patients (with and without bleeding) was 4.69 times higher compared to the likelihood of survival of all babies in the test group. The likelihood of survival of the babies with bleeding is the same as the likelihood of survival of babies with bleeding from the test group [RR = 1,078 (95% CI= 0.501-2.318)] while the likelihood of survival of babies without bleeding from the study group was considerably higher than the ones in the test group [RR=41.75 (95% CI= 13.161-132.433)]. In conclusion antepartum administration of corticosteroids to the mother decreases the risk of intracranial bleeding in pre-term babies compared to the risk of pre-term babies whose mothers were not given antepartum corticosteroids. When bleeding develops in spite of steroids, the risk of the beginning of bleeding moves in prenatally treated pre-term babies compared to test group from the first three days to the period between the 4th and 7th day of life. In preterm baby when bleeding develops in spite of steroids, the likelihood of survival is the same in both groups, which leads to the conclusion that corticosteroids received antepartum do not have any impact on survival. Despite this, our investigation showed that the likelihood of survival of the study group who received antepartum corticosteroids without intracranial bleeding was higher compard with the test group without bleeding, because of corticosteroids received antepartum may have some other good impact for survival apart from stopping bleeding.


Background and aims
While current prognostic tools for breast cancer (BC) provide valuable information on behaviour and outcome, there are growing concerns that these parameters are not sufficient to reflect the degree of heterogeneity or to guide management decisions at individual patient level. Therefore, further refinement of the existing prognostic tools is needed. The advent of multi-parameter gene signatures has increased our hope of refining BC prognostic classification; however, their cost and restricted application to certain subgroups of BC limit their clinical usefulness. Molecular taxonomy of BC using intrinsic gene sets has not only improved our understanding of BC biology, but has also provided important prognostic information. Yet, integration of this molecular classification with the clinical parameters remains a challenging task.

Our group has recently developed a prognostic tool that incorporates the molecular features of BC with the well-established prognostic morphological variables; the Nottingham Prognostic Index Plus (NPI+) that aimed at overcoming the limitations of using different molecular and clinicopathological prognostic parameters separately. However, NPI+ currently has limitations and needs further refinement to be applicable to BC management in routine practice. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate some relevant potential prognostic markers that can improve BC prognostic classification, in the context of combined molecular and morphological prognostic BC taxonomy, and to further refine the NPI+ to improve its prognostic value, while addressing some issues related to its components and performance. The study included four main objectives. The first was the integration of the proliferation biomarker Ki67 and addressing some technical issues related to its prognostic value and application in routine practice. The second was the evaluation of a high-throughput proteomic technique, reverse phase protein array (RPPA), for its potential use as a single-step quantification method of multiple proteins. The third aim proposed to determine the biological relevance of BC expressing low levels of oestrogen receptor (ER) using techniques at both transcriptome and protein levels. The fourth aim was to investigate the incorporation of a novel cancer stem cell (CSC) biomarker as a potential prognostic variable that can refine BC classification.

Methodology
In this study, five large primary invasive BC cohorts were investigated at both transcriptome and protein levels. Tissue microarray (TMA) and whole tissue section (WTS) were used. Molecular techniques used in this study included immunohistochemistry (IHC), western blot (WB), different protein and RNA extraction techniques, laser capture microdissection (LCM), RPPA, real time-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and RNAscope.

Results
Although Ki67 expression can be examined using both WTS and TMA, the assessment of Ki67 in whole sections is preferred and using multiple or larger TMA cores has to be explored as an alternative to WTS. When assessing Ki67 in TMAs in BC, a cut-point of 20% appears to be optimum in concordance with WTS and patients outcome. However, our results support the use of Ki67 as a continuous variable, particularly in the stratification of patients into prognostic groups, either using TMA or WTS assessment (Muftah et al., 2017). Using the MIB-1 clone with different optimisation conditions is associated with cytoplasmic/membranous reactivity. In this regard, it is recommended that different anti-Ki67 clones could be used for clearer staining. The results show that Ki67 can successfully replace mitotic frequency in the updated prognostic index, NPI+.

Unlocking FFPE tissue lysates utilising RPPA is a reliable method for protein quantification. Data produced by this high-throughput technique could be used in concurrent analyses of protein profiles in a large number of clinical cases. Accordingly, RPPA could be consistently used in molecular classification of BC, such as the NPI+ (Negm et al., 2016). Adding Ki67 to the cluster using the RPPA technique improved molecular classification with reassignment of 16% of the unclassified patients.
Investigating ER in BC at both levels (transcriptome and protein) shows that its expression is essentially bimodal (Muftah et al., 2016). Additionally, our results question the advantage of hormonal therapy in the low ER (<10%) subgroup; where, in the study cohort, nearly half (42.2%) of the Core Needle Biopsy (CNB) cases showed WTS negative. There is strong agreement between the IHC and in situ RNAscope results, particularly in focal heterogeneous ER staining areas. This study provides scientific evidence that the actual ER cut-off seems to be 10%. Furthermore, this research supports the clinical importance of B-cell specific Moloney leukaemia virus insertion site-1 (Bmi-1) as a favourable prognostic biomarker in BC and its ability to refine the CD44/CD24 phenotypes as well as slow proliferating tumours into prognostically relevant subgroups.

Conclusion
This study presented data enabling the updating and evaluation of existing prognostic parameters and indices using promising biomarkers and high-throughput techniques, while combining molecular and clinical variables to stratify BC patients into relevant prognostic subgroups. Further investigation of the potential and refinement of the existing BC prognostic parameters is needed in order to allow more precise BC classifications that can predict patient outcomes and potential response to therapy.


For some time, the Colombian legal doctrine has been occupied with the problem of establishing under what conditions a litigation for nullity against administrative acts should take place. This litigation generates particular, concrete, or subjective situations. In addition, because of the need to adjudicate certain real life events, the litigation for nullity creates, modifies or extinguishes a specific and subjective legal relationship. That situation occurs because a person can litigate for nullity against administrative acts of particular and concrete nature. Often, plaintiffs do not consider that the mere nullity implies a restoration of a right. For the prosperity the restoration, people need to check their legitimacy as plaintiffs, their compliance with procedural requirements as the exhaustion of administrative remedies, and the expiration of the litigation for nullity and of the right reinstatement. This article aims to help solve this vicissitude. To this end, I present a qualitative analysis of the framework of the existing Colombian jurisprudential development of a litigation for nullity.


Most resurfacing systems are manufactured from cobalt-chromium alloys with metal-on-metal (MoM) bearing couples. Because the quantity of particulate metal and corrosion products which can be released into the periprosthetic milieu is greater in MoM bearings than in metal-on-polyethylene (MoP) bearings, it is hypothesized that the quantity and distribution of debris released by the MoM components induce a compositional change in the periprosthetic bone. To determine the validity of this claim, nondestructive µ-X-ray fluorescence analysis was carried out on undecalcified histological samples from 13 femoral heads which had undergone surface replacement. These samples were extracted from the patients after gradient time points due to required revision surgery. Samples from nonintervened femoral heads as well as from a MoP resurfaced implant served as controls. Light microscopy and µ-X-ray fluorescence analyses revealed that cobalt debris was found not only in the soft tissue around the prosthesis and the bone marrow, but also in the mineralized bone tissue. Mineralized bone exposed to surface replacements showed significant increases in cobalt concentrations in comparison with control specimens without an implant. A maximum cobalt concentration in mineralized hard tissue of up to 380 ppm was detected as early as 2 years after implantation. Values of this magnitude are not found in implants with a MoP surface bearing until a lifetime of more than 20 years. This study demonstrates that hip resurfacing implants with MoM bearings present a potential long-term health risk due to rapid cobalt ion accumulation in periprosthetic hard tissue. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 105B: 1855-1862, 2017.


Unlike conventional carbon coating strategies which only focus on the macrodimension to enhance electrical conductivity and alleviate volume variation for high-capacity metal oxide anode materials, a hierarchically raspberry-like microstructure embedded with three-dimensional carbon-coated Fe3O4 quantum dots is built for ultrafast rechargeable sodium ion batteries. Taking advantage of using metal organic frameworks (MOFs) as templates, it realizes an in situ quantization process in which Fe3O4 quantum dots are formed and uniformly embedded in microcarbon coating protection. Due to the short diffusion length and integrated hierarchical conductive network, the electrode combines supercapacitor-like rate performance (e.g., less than 6 minutes to full charge/discharge) and battery-like capacity (e.g., maintaining >90% of theoretical capacity). An interesting surface-induced process which imitates pseudocapacitive behaviors in supercapacitors is analyzed in detail. This proof-of-concept study and insightful understanding on sodium storage in this investigation may inherently solve the widely encountered problems existing in high-capacity metal oxide anode materials and point out new directions for the future development of ultrafast rechargeable sodium ion batteries.


A lack of hygiene to which the patient appears indifferent, self-neglect can be a sign of the decompensation of a mental pathology. This article presents the case of a patient who, after several months of stabilisation and a return home to a relatively clean environment, reactivates a delusion of persecution.


This paper introduces the basic structure, operation principle as well as shimming method of an active shimming system, which was developed for 0.2T open-style permanent magnet MRI. In the end, a group of spin-echo images (T1 weighted and T2 weighted) produced by the 0.2T MRI are given to demonstrate the satisfactory shimming performance of this active shimming system.


The problem of similarity searching is nowadays attracting a lot of attention, because upcoming applications process complex data and the traditional exact match searching is not sufficient. There are efficient solutions, but they are tailored for the needs of specific data domains. General solutions, based on the metric space abstraction, are extensible, but they are designed to operate on a single computer only. Therefore, their scalability is limited and they cannot adapt to different performance requirements. In this paper, we propose a distributed access structure which is fully dynamic and exploits a Grid infrastructure. We study properties of this structure in numerous experiments. Besides, the performance tuning is analyzed with respect to user-specific requirements which include the maximum response time and the number of queries executed concurrently.


Control of anxiety-related emotions in anxiety-provoking situations was qualitatively examined for 21 social phobic clients before treatment. A model illustrating the functional coherence of the control processes across those situations was constructed, based on narratives of problematic situations. Results indicated that the model reflects fundamental processes in social phobia, possibly resulting from early attachment. In addition, three groups were identified that differed in respect to control-activity. These results indicate that the differences reflect surface variation of processing, resulting from development and interaction in adolescence and adulthood. Both the coherence and the variation should be taken into account when dealing with and developing treatment procedures for social phobics.


SUMMARY: We present the evolution of pituitary changes in the cases of 2 patients with Sheehan syndrome as assessed by MR imaging. Both patients had severe postpartum hemorrhage, symptoms of pituitary gland apoplexy, and hypopituitarism. Sequential MR imaging demonstrated evidence of ischemic infarct in the pituitary gland with enlargement followed by gradual shrinkage during several months, to pituitary atrophy.


As an emerging discipline, ecolinguistics has been of considerable interest to scholars at home and abroad in different fields, with the deterioration of global ecological situation and the improvement of people's ecological awareness. Ecolinguistics should be concerned not only with the studies on the relationship among human, nature and society, but also with the studies on the language itself, such as sound, form and meaning. Therefore, taking as a theoretical framework attitude system, a subsystem of Appraisal Theory, this paper will analyze how the attitudinal resources are distributed and then reveal the ecological meaning and the hidden ideology embodied in news reports as well as explore how environmental news reports affect human ecological awareness and the ecological environment in terms of environmental news reports selectively collected from China Daily in 2022.


. The paper studies the planktonic algoflora of the Mirozhka and the Pskova Rivers. The research was carried out in the early autumn period of 2019. The taxonomic composition of the Mirozhka River included 107 species and intraspecific taxa of microalgae, the Pskova river – 76 species taxa of algae from 7 phylums: Bacillario-phyta, Cyanobacteria, Chlorophyta, Ochrophyta, Cryptophyta, Euglenozoa, Miozoa. The basis of the floral complex in both rivers were diatoms and green algae. The representatives of the Ochrophyta department also made a visible contribution to the species richness of the algoflora of the Mirozhka River. The degree of floral similarity of phyto-plankton communities of the Mirozhka and Pskova rivers, calculated using the Sorensen-Chekanovsky index, was 55,7% (51 species of microalgae were common to the rivers). The average phytoplankton abundance in the Mirozhka River was 891,9 thousand cells/l, and in the Pskova river – 199,6 thousand cells/l, biomass – 366,9 micrograms/l and 79,6 micrograms/l, respectively. According to ecological and geographical analysis, freshwater widespread planktonic forms of microalgae predominated in both rivers, preferring slightly alkaline waters. Beta-mesosaprobionts pre-vailed in relation to organic matter pollution in rivers (38,5% – the Mirozhka River; 41,8% – the Pskova River), which indicates moderate pollution of the studied watercourses. The average saprobity index of the Mirozhka River and the Pskova River was 2,1 and 1,9, respectively, which makes it possible to attribute the waters of the studied wa-tercourses to the 3 rd class of quality – moderately polluted.


The cost of drilling wells on the Norwegian Continen-tal Shelf are extremely high, and hydrocarbon reservoirs are often located in spatially complex rock formations. Optimized well placement with real-time geosteering is crucial to efficiently produce from such reservoirs and reduce exploration and development costs. Geosteering is commonly assisted by repeated formation evaluation based on the interpretation of well logs while drilling. Thus, reliable computationally efficient and robust work-flows that can interpret well logs and capture uncertain-ties in real time are necessary for successful well place-ment. We present a formation evaluation workflow for geosteering that implements an iterative version of an ensemble-based method, namely the approximate Leven-berg Marquardt form of the Ensemble Randomized Max-imum Likelihood (LM-EnRML). The workflow jointly estimates the petrophysical and geological model param-eters and their uncertainties. In this paper the demon-strate joint estimation of layer-by-layer water saturation, porosity, and layer-boundary locations and inference of layers' resistivities and densities. The parameters are estimated by minimizing the statistical misfit between the simulated and the observed measurements for several logs on different scales simultaneously (i.e., shallow-sensing nuclear density and shallow to extra-deep EM logs). Numerical experiments performed on a synthetic exam-ple verified that the iterative ensemble-based method can estimate multiple petrophysical parameters and decrease their uncertainties in a fraction of time compared to clas-sical Monte Carlo methods. Extra-deep EM measure-ments are known to provide the best reliable informa-tion for geosteering, and we show that they can be in-terpreted within the proposed workflow. However, we also observe that the parameter uncertainties noticeably decrease when deep-sensing EM logs are combined with shallow sensing nuclear density logs. Importantly the es-timation quality increases not only in the proximity of the shallow tool but also extends to the look ahead of the extra-deep EM capabilities. We specifically quantify how shallow data can lead to significant uncertainty re-duction of the boundary positions ahead of bit, which is crucial for geosteering decisions and reservoir mapping.


The development of soft bioelectronic interfaces with accurate compositional and topological control of the supramolecular architecture attracts intense interest in the fast-growing field of bioelectronics and biosensing. The present study explores the recognition-driven layer-by-layer assembly of glycoenzymes onto electrode surfaces. The design of the multi-protein interfacial architecture is based on the multivalent supramolecular carbohydrate-lectin interactions between redox glycoproteins and concanavalin A (Con A) derivatives. Specifically, [Os(bpy)(2)Clpy](2+)-tagged Con A (Os-Con A) and native Con A were used to direct the assembly of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and glucose oxidase (GOx) in a stepwise topologically controlled procedure. In our designed configuration, GOx acts as the biorecognition element to glucose stimulus, while HRP acts as the transducing element. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectroscopy and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) results are combined to give a close representation of the protein surface coverage and the content of water in the protein assembly. The characterization is complemented with in situ atomic force microscopy (AFM) to give a topographical description of the layers assemblage. Electrochemical (EC) techniques were used to characterize the functional features of the spontaneously self-assembled biohybrid architecture, showing that the whole system presents efficient electron transfer and mass transport processes being able to transform micromolar glucose concentration into electrical information. In this way the combination of the electroactive and nonelectroactive Con A provides an efficient strategy to control the position and composition of the protein layers via recognition-driven processes, which defines its sensitivity toward glucose. Furthermore, the incorporation of dextran as a permeable interlayer able to bind Con A promotes the physical separation of the biochemical and transducing processes, thus enhancing the magnitude of the bioelectrochemical signal. We consider that these results are relevant for the nanoconstruction of functional biointerfaces provided that our experimental evidence reveals the possibility of locally addressing recognition, transduction and amplification elements in interfacial ensembles via LbL recognition-driven processes.


impairment, psychosis, alcoholism, or a history of head injury (Harvey, 1986). They were given tests of frontal lobe functions and sub-tests of the Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). Using matched normative data for Nelson's Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (MWCST), the obsessionals were shown to perseverate significantly more than normals (t= 2.80, P=0.01). Their mean percentage perseveration (50%, s.d. = 31) was greater than for patients with gross frontal lobe damage (42%, s.d. = 25).Obsessionals withor withoutsignificant persev eration were comparable on age-scaled sub-tests of the WAIS. Perseveration correlated with degree of obsessionality on the Leyton Obsessional Inventory (Spearman's r=0.50, P=0.Ol), which also corre lated, negatively, with alternating category verbal fluency (ACVF) (r= —¿ 0.62, P=0.002). This latter test and the MWCST assess cognitive set-shifting ability, a specific frontal lobe function. AlthoughOCDcouldaffectcognitive tasks, such as theACVFtest, via impaired performanceefficiency, it seems unlikely that a qualitatively distinctive error, such as perseveration, would occur on this basis. An overall impairment of performance would seem more likely, although this was not evident from the WAIS sub-tests. Whether or not idiopathic OCD is associated with frontal impairment therefore needs to be looked at as a specific issue. It should not be assumed that such impairment necessarily implies the presence of a known brain injury.


A typical proliferating human cell divides on average every 24 h. This division timing allows cells to synchronize with other physiological processes and with the environment. The circadian clock, which orchestrates daily rhythms, directly regulates the cell division cycle and is a major synchronizing factor. There is, however, no evidence that the circadian clock is able to entrain the cell cycle to a 24 h period. We show here, using a computational model for the cell cycle, that cells under circadian control that have an interdivision time close to multiples of 24 h proliferate faster. Moreover, growth of cell populations with a markedly different cell cycle time is impaired. We propose that this resonance effect in cell proliferation has a role to play in efficient normal cell proliferation and suppression of tumor growth.


Different non-steroidal anti- inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are present in the market with different properties. Two NSAIDs with different solubilities have been selected to study the effect of freeze drying technology on them. Aceclofenac, a water insoluble NSAID, and Diclofenac Potassium, a water soluble NSAID, were taken as candidates for enhancement of in-vitro dissolution and in-vivo bioavailability; through formulation of orally disintegrating tablet using freeze drying technology. An aqueous dispersion of Aceclofenac (or Diclofenac Potassium), matrix former, filler (sugar alcohol), and an anti-collapse was adopted to prepare freeze dried tablet formulations. The tablets were evaluated compendial (uniformity of weight, uniformity of content, friability, in-vitro disintegration time and in-vitro dissolution) and non-compendial (wetting time and in-vivo disintegration time). The compendial results showed that both freeze dried tablet formulations of Aceclofenac and also Diclofenac Potassium disintegrated within few seconds and showed significantly faster dissolution rate in comparison with both immediate release tablet formulae Aceclofenac tablet (Bristaflam®) and Diclofenac Potassium tablet (Cataflam®). In-vivo evaluation for the best chosen Aceclofenac and Diclofenac Potassium ODT formulations (LA#10) and (LD#11), respectively was done for determination of the drug pharmacokinetics in comparison with the immediate release tablet formulations. A randomized crossover design was adopted in the comparative bioavailability study done on four healthy volunteers. Statistical analysis revealed significant difference between the Bristaflam immediate release tablet and Aceclofenac ODT (LA#10) regarding the following pharmacokinetic parameters: Cmax, Tmax, t1/2, AUC(0–24), AUC(0-") (p 0.05). The relative bioavailability of the Aceclofenac ODT (LA# 10) was 186.12% relative to the IR tablet (Bristaflam®) taken as reference standard. However, statistical analysis revealed significant difference between the Cataflam immediate release tablet and Diclofenac Potassium ODT (LD#11) regarding the following pharmacokinetic parameters: Cmax and Tmax (p 0.05). The relative bioavailability of the Diclofenac Potassium ODT (LD#11) was 101.09% relative to the immediate release tablet (Cataflam®) taken as reference product. Though a significant decrease in the time of onset of action; however no significant increase in the relative bioavailability was observed. Though, both drugs showed increased rate of absorption, however the insoluble NSAID (Aceclofenac) showed higher bioavailability than the soluble NSAID (Diclofenac Potassium). The impact of the relative solubility factor was highly significant on the bioavailability though using the same technology.


Energy routing has not been feasible in the traditional power grid due to real-time nature of the electrical services. Electricity is generated and used almost in real time where the balance between the two is maintained by regulation services. Additionally, small number of fixed storage units are utilized to store some portion of the generated energy. In the future electricity grids, Mobile Energy Buffers (MEB) together with local energy buffering capabilities, will be the enabler of energy routing. In this paper, we propose an energy routing framework for low and medium voltage electricity distribution systems that house prioritized MEBs, local buffers and Delay-Tolerant electrical Loads (DTL). We model the distribution system as a token-based system where energy transfer between MEBs and local storage units rely on the availability of tokens that are generated by DTLs. Coordination of token advertisement, storage interest and token access is maintained by machine-to-machine communications. The underlying communication technology can be PowerLine Communications (PLC) or a medium-range wireless communication technology. We provide a mathematical analysis of the token-network with DTLs and prioritized MEBs. We show that coordination and prioritization allow lower blocking rates for high priority MEBs. Our analysis provides valuable insights for utility planning decisions.


Spatial discretization errors result from both the numerical order of accuracy of the discretization scheme, and from grid spacing. It is well known that second, or higher, order discretization schemes are potentially able to produce high-quality solutions. In addition, when either the flow is not aligned with the grid, or is complex, it is recommended that the first order discretization scheme not be used for the convection term, if possible. However, the higher-order scheme can also result in convergence difficulties and instabilities at certain flow conditions.In this study, to examine the effect of the numerical order of accuracy of the discretization scheme on the prediction accuracy for the turbulent flow structure inside fuel assembly with the split-type mixing vanes, simulations were conducted with the commercial CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) software, ANSYS CFX R.14. Two different types of the discretization scheme for the convection-terms-of-momentum and -turbulence equations, i.e. 1st order upwind scheme and a high resolution scheme, were used. The predicted results were compared with the measured data from MATiS-H (Measurement and Analysis of Turbulent Mixing in Subchannles-Horizontal) facility, installed in the KAERI (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute).Copyright © 2015 by KSME


Numerous applications of Mossbauer spectroscopy are related to a unique resolution of absorption spectra of resonant radiation in crystals, when the nucleus absorbs a photon without a recoil. However, the narrow nuclear linewidth renders efficient driving of the nuclei challenging, restricting precision spectroscopy, nuclear inelastic scattering and nuclear quantum optics. Moreover, the need for dedicated X-ray optics restricts access to only few isotopes, impeding precision spectroscopy of a wider class of systems. Here, we put forward a novel Mossbauer source, which offers a high resonant photon flux for a large variety of Mossbauer isotopes, based on relativistic electrons moving through a crystal and emitting parametric Mossbauer radiation essentially unattenuated by electronic absorption. As a result, a collimated beam of resonant photons is formed, without the need for additional monochromatization. We envision the extension of high-precision Mossbauer spectroscopy to a wide range of isotopes at accelerator facilities using dumped electron beams.


Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is one of the Internet-of-Things (IoT) paradigms which provide monitoring services for natural disasters such as volcanoes eruption and earthquake which can affect the life of human being. As such, the Quality-of-Service (QoS) of the underlying applications is of important issue in order to ensure its effectiveness and robustness. Besides its undoubtedly services and contributions in monitoring systems, WSN's limited resources can severely degrade the QoS in IoT applications. Congestion in WSN will further reduce the expected QoS of the associated applications. In this case, efficient used of the scarce resources is important to ensure seamless data transmission. The power consumption of a sensor node can be reduced by reducing the rate of packet retransmission which is caused by congestion. In this paper, a selective packet discarding method which is known as Packet Discarding based Node Clustering (PDNC) is introduced. All nodes deployed in the targeted area will be clustered into several groups and a cluster head will be selected at a time. The packet discarding process will then be carried at each node to reduce the number of packets contributing to congestion. Simulation analysis using NS-2 shows that the proposed technique is able to reduce congestion thus improve the overall performance.


The effects of partial replacement of groundnut cake (GNC) with full fat Soya (FFS) on indigenous grower chicks' growth rate, performance efficiency ratio, weight gain and eviscerated weight was carried out. One hundred unselected, unsexed grower chicks with an average weight of 65 ± 0.12gm assigned to 4 treatment groups containing 20.0% GNCIO% RFFS 15% GNC/5% RFFS, 10% GNC/10% RFFS and 5% GNC/15% RFFS levels were used. Results indicated an average daily weight gain of 4.2gm, 4.8gm and 5.5gm for the treatment diets respectively. The 5% GNCI15% RFFS induced higher weight gain and feed conversion efficiency and performance efficiency ratio and carcass weight. Although there was negative correlation between full fat soya levels and the feed conversion efficiency while there was positive correlation between full fat soya level and growth rate performance efficiency and feed intake.


Background: Pediatric obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) has been associated with poorer planning in laboratory, school and home settings. It is unclear whether this impairment is a standalone cognitive issue or the result of OCD symptoms. No study has examined the influence of provoked distress on planning performance and neural correlates in pediatric OCD. Methods: Before and after a symptom provocation task, youth with OCD (n = 23; 9 boys; mean age ± standard deviation 15.1 ± 2.6 years) and matched healthy controls (n = 23) completed the Tower of London task during functional MRI scanning. Results: During planning, participants with OCD recruited the left superior frontal gyrus to a greater extent than healthy controls after symptom provocation (group × time point interaction; t44 = 5.22, p < 0.001). In a seeded, region of interest–constrained, functional connectivity analysis, we identified greater connectivity between the left superior frontal gyrus and the right middle frontal gyrus, left precuneus and left inferior parietal lobule in participants with OCD than healthy controls. We also identified greater connectivity between the right amygdala and right medial frontal gyrus in patients with OCD than healthy controls, but only before symptom provocation. Limitations: The fixed-order design of the study and the number of participants taking medication (n = 20) should be noted. Conclusion: Participants with OCD demonstrated greater amygdalar–cortical connectivity before symptom provocation, while sustaining greater recruitment and connectivity of task-related planning areas throughout the task. These results suggest that brain activity and connectivity is altered after symptom provocation, in the absence of impaired planning performance.


Background. The purpose of this study was to examine the rate and mortality from late onset infection occurring in very low birth weight infants admitted to Malaysian nurseries. Methods. Data on all infants 1500 g or below admitted to the 20 participating Level 3 nurseries were analyzed for late onset infection (clinical infection and positive blood or cerebrospinal fluid culture occurring after 48 h of life). Results. The overall survival of the 962 study infants was 69%. The rate of late onset infection was 19.3%. The mortality in those with late onset infection was 30.8%. The most common infecting organism was Klebsiella pneumoniae, accounting for 38.3% of infections and 46.9% of deaths in infants with infection, followed by coagulase-negative staphylocci, 17.6 and 12.2%, respectively. On logistic regression analysis risk factors for late onset Gram-negative compared with Gram-positive infection were endotracheal intubation at birth and blood transfusion. Hypoglycemia was associated with Gram-positive infection. Conclusion. The late onset infection rate in Malaysian very low birth weight infants does not differ from that reported from developed countries, but the mortality is higher. This could be because of an excess of Gram-negative infections.


In the previous paper we studied Dirac fermions in a non-Abelian random vector potential by using lattice supersymmetry. By the lattice regularization, the system of disordered Dirac fermions is defined without any ambiguities. We showed there that at strong-disorder limit correlation function of the fermion local density of states decays algebraically at the band center. In this paper, we shall reexamine the multi-flavor or multi-species case rather in detail and argue that the correlator at the band center decays {\em exponentially} for the case of a {\em large} number of flavors. This means that a delocalization-localization phase transition occurs as the number of flavors is increased. This discussion is supported by the recent numerical studies on multi-flavor QCD at the strong-coupling limit, which shows that the phase structure of QCD drastically changes depending on the number of flavors. The above behaviour of the correlator of the random Dirac fermions is closely related with how the chiral symmetry is realized in QCD.


Abstract : In a large-scale production of prepackaged radappertized (irradiation sterilized) foods there are advantages in performing the irradiation of filled metal cans or flexible packages while stacked in fiberboard or paperboard shipping containers. This study was performed to determine the effect of electron and gamma radiation on the physical and chemical properties and functional performance of the fiberboard and paperboard materials that are used in the packing of cans and flexible packages of radappertized foods. Electron and gamma radiation caused significant physical and chemical changes in the fiberboard and paperboard materials. Physical property values (puncture, burst, tear, tensile) decreased with increasing radiation dose (1, 3, and 6 megarads) and increasing irradiation temperature (-80 C, - 30 C, and 21 C). Whereas the component testing of fiberboard and paperboard and laboratory drop tests of fiberboard containers indicated that irradiation at a food-sterilization dosage level caused marked reductions in performance of the materials and containers made therefrom, these changes were not great enough to seriously impair the functional performance of the fiberboard and paperboard containers for packing of cans or packages of food during irradiation processing and subsequent shipment and storage.


We report an adult patient with transposition of the great arteries status post‐Mustard procedure in whom three‐dimensional transesophageal echocardiography demonstrated intraatrial baffle obstruction. The baffle could be visualized in both long‐axis and "en face" short‐axis views. (ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY, Volume 20, July 2003)


Fifteen years ago, Pfaffenberger (2006) applied five implicit paradigmatic assumptions identified by Slife of the dominant positivistic medical model paradigm—hedonism, universalism, atomism, materialism, and objectivism—to psychotherapy outcome research and its practice implications. Her applied theoretical essay revealed critical issues involving hidden power and privilege dynamics therein. Furthermore, Levitt et al.'s (2005) research examined nine then-common outcome instruments to determine the extent to which their item content reflected humanistic psychology principles in nine domains derived from the authors' systematic review and thematic analysis of the humanistic literature. Their content analysis revealed that the majority of those domains were inadequately represented. In this article, using thematic discourse analysis (aka latent thematic analysis), I first identify how the philosophical and political assumptions summarized by Pfaffenberger are apparent in three outcome instruments that are commonly used in U.S. community mental health settings today: the Adult Needs and Strengths Assessment, the Ohio Mental Health Consumer Outcomes System, and the DSM-5 assessment measures. As part of my analysis, I contrast paradigmatic assumptions of the medical model with those of humanistic/existential psychology as a basis for contextualizing and understanding the implications of measurement-based care as articulated through the two discourses. Then, second, based on a summative content analysis of the three instruments, I report on the progress that both has been and remains to be made in their item content since Levitt et al. noted the general dearth of humanistic principles in mental health outcome measurement. Suggestions for future research and instrument development are discussed.


People with mental disorders often manifest their extraordinary characters through their speech and behavior, which in turn creates reactionary attitudes in society. In the same manner, health professionals, as members of the society, can express negative attitudes towards psychiatry patients. Since they provide health services and serve as qconsultantsq and qrole modelsq for the well-being of people, their discriminating and stigmatizing attitudes may also preclude the involvement of these patients in medical care. Therefore, attitude researches today primarily focus on to analyze the attitudes of health professionals. While a majority of the studies include psychiatrists, general practitioners, specialists and medical students, only a limited number of studies refer to staff nurses and nursing students. The review of literature in this study, therefore, was limited with the researches carried out in the last decade. The aim of this study was to analyze the attitude researches focused on the attitudes of health professionals, especially those of nursing and nursing students in Turkey, and to clarify the similarities and differences with relevant studies. The results of the review illustrated that the attitudes of health professionals towards psychiatry patients and psychiatric disorders have not changed for the last ten years and remained fundamentally discriminating and refusing. The medical curricula in Turkey should be redesigned so as to raise awareness in the course contents of medicine and nursing schools against the negative attitudes during both undergraduate and postgraduate education. Moreover, a more inclusive review of the factors that may have influenced the attitudes towards mental illnesses should be carried out and specially designed education and research programs should be implemented.


Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most prevalent non-cutaneous cancer of males. According to an estimate from the American Cancer Society, it is expected that approximately 180,890 new cases of PCa will be diagnosed and 26,120 PCa-related deaths will occur in the United States in 2016. Therefore, identification of additional molecular target(s) could be useful in designing novel mechanism-based approaches for the prevention and/or therapy of PCa. PLK4 belongs to the polo-like kinase family of serine/threonine protein kinases that localizes to centrioles and regulates centriole duplication during the cell cycle. Essentially, PLK4 is a low abundance suicidal kinase that is known to auto-phosphorylate itself to promote its own destruction to limit centriole duplication once per cell cycle phase. Since centrosome aberrations are frequently seen in cancer, the central role of PLK4 in centriole duplication suggests its significance as a potential target for cancer management. However, the role and functional relevance of PLK4 in PCa development and progression has not been investigated. In this study, we determined the expression profile of PLK4 in PCa using immunohistochemical analysis of multiple tissue microarrays (TMAs) containing a variety of cancerous and benign human prostate tissues. The TMAs were immunostained for PLK4 and the images were scanned and analyzed for protein levels using Aperio ScanScope at 40x magnification. We found a significant upregulation of PLK4 in PCa, compared to benign prostatic tissues. Further, we found a significant upregulation of PLK4 protein and mRNA in human PCa cells, as assessed by western blot and qRT-PCR analyses, respectively. To further assess the relevance of PLK4 overexpression in PCa, we determined the effect of a small molecule inhibitor of PLK4, centrinone-B, on androgen-responsive 22Rν1 and androgen-independent DU145 human PCa cells. Centrinone-B treatment (0, 50, 100 and 200 nM; for 24 and 48 h) resulted in a marked decrease in growth and viability of PCa cells, as assessed i) by CytoTox-Glo™ cytotoxicity assay, and ii) microscopic evaluation of cells following staining with Nuclear Fast Red and Crystal Violet dyes. Further, centrinone-B treatment resulted in a G1 phase cell cycle arrest of human PCa cells. Taken together, our study provides first direct evidence of a pro-proliferative function of PLK4 in PCa. However, additional studies are required to ascertain the relevance of our in vitro findings to in vivo situations in relevant animal models. Citation Format: Chandra K. Singh, Maria Shabbir, Minakshi Nihal, Kenneth A. Iczkowski, Nihal Ahmad. Polo-like kinase 4: A potential new target for the management of prostate cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-228.


Pondering Payments: Challenges of Reaching All Americans by: June 29, 2020 As the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic has reverberated, the payments system has continued to operate, ensuring that the economy continues to function. Although there have been changes in the ways transactions are occurring, the payments infrastructure that supports them is working well—though perhaps not as fast as some would like. A more pressing issue, however, is how to reach consumers who do not have the ability to receive payments electronically into a bank account.


The purpose of this investigation was to determine if a 9-wk youth soccer program had any effect on cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2max and VO2submax), peak knee torque, and flexibility. Subjects were 20 sixth grade boys, 11 of whom were members of a YMCA soccer team: 9 were normally active boys who were not participating in any organized sport during the study who served as a control group. Mean ages (+/- SD) were 11.8 +/- 0.34 and 11.5 +/- 0.60 yr for the soccer and control group, respectively. Initial VO2max values of 49.83 and 47.42 ml . kg-1 . min-1 for the soccer and the control group, respectively, are similar to those reported in the literature for untrained normal boys of this age. Results indicated that playing soccer three times weekly increased VEmax and reduced VO2 (ml . kg-1 . min-1 and 1 . min-1) at a submaximal running speed (all P's less than 0.05), while no change in VO2max was noted. No significant training effect was observed in peak knee torque or flexibility subsequent to soccer training. It is concluded that the effects of playing soccer in these subjects resulted in no change in cardiorespiratory fitness, peak knee torque, or flexibility.


Plates supported on elastic foundations are encountered in many Engineering applications. Conventionally such systems can be analysed using regular plate bending element plus discrete soil springs. The present work aims at an element formulation suitable for analysis of such systems without the use of explicit discrete soil springs. The scope of the work includes static analysis of an isotropic rectangular plate resting on elastic foundation with various boundary conditions, various types of load applications for varying properties of foundation. In this paper, finite element analysis has been carried out for an isotropic rectangular plate by using a four noded Kirchhoff rectangular element with four degrees of freedom per node, with Winkler model for Elastic foundation. The finite element formulation has been carried out by integrating the properties of the plate with those of elastic foundation using Galerkin's approach instead of the commonly used potential energy approach. Numerical analysis has been carried out by suitable MATLAB code and the results obtained are in good agreement with those reported in earlier studies.


We introduce a general framework for abstractive summarization with factual consistency and distinct modeling of the narrative flow in an output summary. Our work addresses current limitations of models for abstractive summarization that often hallucinate information or generate summaries with coherence issues. To generate abstractive summaries with factual consistency and narrative flow, we propose Cooperative Generator-Discriminator Networks (Co-opNet), a novel transformer-based framework where the generator works with a discriminator architecture to compose coherent long-form summaries. We explore four different discriminator objectives which each capture a different aspect of coherence, including whether salient spans of generated abstracts are hallucinated or appear in the input context, and the likelihood of sentence adjacency in generated abstracts. We measure the ability of Co-opNet to learn these objectives with arXiv scientific papers, using the abstracts as a proxy for gold long-form scientific article summaries. Empirical results from automatic and human evaluations demonstrate that Co-opNet learns to summarize with considerably improved global coherence compared to competitive baselines.


This work has studied the crosswind stability of vehicles under nonstationary wind excitation in various scenarios. Railway vehicles running on curved and straight track with varying vehicle speed are studied. Road vehicles are classified into different categories. For each vehicle class, a corresponding worst-case vehicle model has been built. As the wind excitation on the vehicle is a stochastic process, a risk analysis has to be carried out and failure probabilities are computed and analyzed.


On 6th and 7th of February 2014, 26 researchers attended a workshop in Graz, Austria. The workshop was supported by COLOSS, the University of Graz and the Dean of the Faculty of Science. Pollen is the only source of proteins for honey bee colonies and is needed to feed brood, for organ development of adult honey bees and build-up of reserves to become long lived winter bees. All participants welcomed the initiative and agreed that the pollen nutrition of honey bees is of great importance for colony health and survival, and needs to be adequately studied. A means to study the biodiversity of pollen in the supply of honey bee colonies on a large scale is through the involvement of beekeepers as Citizen Scientists (C.S.). As beekeepers cannot perform full palynological analyses, we have developed a simple estimation of pollen diversity according to the colour of corbicular pollen pellets. This allows us to obtain information on a large number of samples, but also requires standardized protocols in all participating countries. National coordinators from the following countries agreed to conduct a common investigation in 2014 and 2015 using the protocols developed for C.S.I. Pollen in pilot studies in 2013: National coordinators of the following countries were present: Austria, Croatia , Denmark, England, France, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Scotland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Wales. We will re-evaluate the protocols after one year, and also invite other countries to join. As a second step, samples collected by the beekeeper can be analysed to connect pollen diversity derived from colour differentiation of pollen pellets, to the number of plant species identified by palynological analysis. The funding for this second level investigation is to be left to the national coordinators. Traditional melissopalynological methods are not as suitable for the analysis of corbicular pollen pellets compared to honey, so standardized methods for this will be developed. The methods of sub-sampling, storage and transport need to be developed. The first level C.S. Investigations in the different countries will be coordinated and data collected for joint analyses and publication.


A methodology to analyze organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in water samples has been accomplished by using headspace stir bar sorptive extraction (HS-SBSE). The bars were in house coated with a thick film of PDMS in order to properly work in the headspace mode. Sampling was done by a novel HS-SBSE system whereas the analysis was performed by capillary GC coupled mass spectrometric detection (HS-SBSE-GC-MS). The extraction optimization, using different experimental parameters has been established by a standard equilibrium time of 120 min at 85 degrees C. A mixture of ACN/toluene as back extraction solvent promoted a good performance to remove the OCPs sorbed in the bar. Reproducibility between 2.1 and 14.8% and linearity between 0.96 and 1.0 were obtained for pesticides spiked in a linear range between 5 and 17 ng/g in water samples during the bar evaluation.


Appraisal discrimination not only persists, but its influence has actually increased in some housing markets. New studies document how contemporary appraisal methods operate as systemic racism, such as how appraisers select from a narrower set of comparable properties when appraising homes in predominantly Black neighborhoods. Recent events have renewed public attention to appraisal discrimination, from shocking news stories to a new multiagency federal task force. In tandem, a new wave of litigation has emerged. This Article examines litigation as one element of a multifaceted approach to combatting appraisal discrimination. After examining the weaknesses of the regulatory framework governing appraisals, this Article turns to the role of the litigator, offering a primer on effective appraisal discrimination litigation. Drawing on interviews with fair housing litigators, it explores the landscape of these cases and their empirical outcomes, identifies the greatest impediments to successful litigation, and offers concrete strategies for overcoming those challenges.


In this study we compare various way of quantifying high cycle radial fatigue behavior in a percutaneous Mitral repair device using Goodman methods. In order to provide an improved representation of the tissue-device interaction, we use an Ogden hyperelastic model to simulate the native vessel with parameters obtained from pressure-diameter test data of human cadaver heart coronary tissue, and published data presented in previous work. We also examine how the computed peak tensile strains at the surface of this device differ from (a)The values computed at integration points in the 3D and (b) The same integration point values extrapolated to the nodal points and averaged over adjacent elements.


Peer-to-peer video streaming systems are overlay networks used to distribute, among other types of content, live video content to large sets of users by relying on network and computing resources directly provided by users that are receiving the video stream. In this paper, we analyze the impact of two optimization techniques that can be adopted in peer-to-peer video streaming systems, with tree or forest topology, to cope with the negative effects of user's leaves. We carry out a performance analysis of these systems, analyzing their sensitivity to the most critical system parameters, when nearly-permanent nodes, i.e., peers with a smaller-than-average leave rate, are used to optimize the overlay topology.


The microstructure evolution for A357 alloy modified by original Al-10Sr alloy was systematically investigated. The results show that the eutectic silicon phase gets finer and more homogeneous with the increase of Sr content and the modifying temperature. Modification at the performing temperature of 740℃ and with Sr contents of 0.03%-0.05% (mass fraction) turns the microstructure into the finest fibers. And the mechanism of evolution was also investigated based on the TEM observation.


The presence of interconnections between cholinergic and parvalbumin (PARV)‐containing gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic septohippocampal projection neurons is still a matter of debate. To search for contacts of cholinergic collateral axon terminals in the septal‐diagonal band region the immunotoxin 192IgG‐saporin was applied, which was proved to selectively destroy cholinergic basal forebrain neurons. Seven and 10 days after administration of the immunotoxin, choline acetyltransferase immunoreactivity had disappeared, and numerous neuronal somata and dendrites as well as axonal terminals revealed characteristics of electron‐lucent degeneration. Electron‐dense degeneration was never observed in dendrites and synaptic boutons. Degenerating terminals were found in contact with PARV‐immunopositive and PARV‐negative neurons. Because only cholinergic cells were degenerating, the terminals should be collaterals from cholinergic neurons. In addition to such contacts, PARV‐immunoreactive boutons were seen in contact with PARV‐positive and PARV‐negative cells, but were not identified at degenerating postsynaptic profiles. As suggested in other studies, cholinergic boutons contacting GABAergic PARV‐containing septal projection cells may influence hippocampal theta activity. Furthermore, multiple synaptic connections of both neuronal populations forming the septohippocampal pathway may contribute to their high rate of survival after fimbria‐fornix transection. J. Neurosci. Res. 54:248–253, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


I found the first half of this book to be a thorough and useful review of the mathematics and physics of automated visual field testing. The quantitation of what has been largely subjective requires some new understanding for the user. This understanding demands an appreciation of statistical issues that many of us have not used regularly. Automated Visual Field Testing fills this need nicely and for that purpose I would recommend it. "... the first half... a thorough and useful review..." About midway in the book the authors begin to discuss clinical entities and gradually seem to lose their way. I can appreciate the middle section, which deals with the important quantitative aspects of following glaucoma fields, but it seems that most of the pages are only reproductions of visual fields. The principles the authors are trying to transmit to the reader probably could have been stated in print rather than


Following the pattern of the first volume, the second volume of Libraries in the early 21st century: An international perspective extends the range of countries covered. Each chapter covers a different country and describes the modern history, development of libraries and library technology. The careful selection of countries achieves good representation of professional library work on all continents. This two-volume work represents an excellent contribution to international librarianship and allows comparative studies both at graduate and professional level.


Results of combination chemotherapy for malignant lymphoma between 1973 and 1982 were analysed. In this series there were 17 patients with Hodgkin's disease (HD) and 109 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). None of the patients had prior chemotherapy. The two basic treatment programs in this series were BVCP or BCOP (combination of bleomycin, vincristine, cyclophosphafamide and prednisolone) and AVIP(combination of adriamycin, vincristine, ifosfamide and prednisolone). Of the 17 HD patients, 14 (82%) were effectively treated and achieved complete remission(CR). Six of the 14 patients relapsed between 15 and 65 months, while the remaining 8 patients have been disease-free between 8 and 126 months. The projected median CR duration was 65 months. No recurrent disease has occurred among 5 patients who were given AVIP as intensification therapy, suggesting the usefulness of adriamycin in the treatment of HD. Complete responders survived significantly longer than partial responders: 83% of the former survived 5 years, but none of the latter survived that long. Of the 109 patients with NHL, 25 patients had diffuse medium cell type histology(DM) and 43 patients had diffuse large cell type histology(DL). For DM, the CR rate was 64%, and the median response duration was 10 months. Of the 16 CRs, 9 have relapsed so far; however, the remaining 7 have been disease free for 12 to 95 months. For DL, the CR rate was 63% and the median remission duration was 43 months. Of the 27 CRs, 13 have relapsed so far, but the remaining 14 have been disease free for 13 to 115 months. The median survival time was 75 months for DM, and 23 months for DL. Complete responders lived significantly longer than partial or none-responders in DL. Prognostic factors were analysed in DM and DL patients. Among the chemotherapy effect, stage, constitutional symptoms, serum LDH, C-reactive protein (CRP), lymphocyte count of peripheral blood, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR), a CRP over 3+ and ESR over 30mm/hr were defined as poor prognostic factors for DM. Remission induction failure and CRP over 3+ were defined as poor prognostic factors for DL. Sixteen (6 HD and 10 NHL) of 72 complete responders (14 HD and 58 NHL) were disease free for at least 2 years after cessation of all treatment, suggesting that HD as well as NHL is curable by intensive combination chemotherapy.


Abstract The Dresdner Frauenkirche was dedicated on the Day of Reformation, 2005, with great attention from the public world. The Frauenkirche has obtained its symbolical importance from the contrast it embodies between destruction and reconstruction, a ruin and a magnificent building, war and peace. The challenge of preaching in this context is to help the Frauenkirche evolve as a symbol in the context of Christian faith. The essay asks a question that transcends this one, however: How can the preaching succeed in such a way that the church's public character will be realized as central to the basic design of the Protestant church service?


We study the problem of counting the isomorphic occurrences of a k-vertex pattern graph P as a subgraph in an n-vertex host graph G. Our specific interest is on algorithms for subgraph counting that are sensitive to the maximum degree ∆ of the host graph. Assuming that the pattern graph P is connected and admits a vertex balancer of size b, we present an algorithm that counts the occurrences of P in G in O ( (2∆−2) k+b 2 2−b n ∆k 2 logn ) time. We define a balancer as a vertex separator of P that can be represented as an intersection of two equal-size vertex subsets, the union of which is the vertex set of P , and both of which induce connected subgraphs of P . A corollary of our main result is that we can count the number of k-vertex paths in an n-vertex graph in O ( (2∆ − 2)b k2 cnk2 logn ) time, which for all moderately dense graphs with ∆ ≤ n1/3 improves on the recent breakthrough work of Curticapean, Dell, and Marx [STOC 2017], who show how to count the isomorphic occurrences of a q-edge pattern graph as a subgraph in an n-vertex host graph in time O(qqn0.17q) for all large enough q. Another recent result of Brand, Dell, and Husfeldt [STOC 2018] shows that k-vertex paths in a bounded-degree graph can be approximately counted in O(4n) time. Our result shows that the exact count can be recovered at least as fast for ∆ < 10. Our algorithm is based on the principle of inclusion and exclusion, and can be viewed as a sparsity-sensitive version of the "counting in halves"-approach explored by Björklund, Husfeldt, Kaski, and Koivisto [ESA 2009]. 2012 ACM Subject Classification Mathematics of computing → Graph algorithms


BACKGROUND Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4) is associated with cognitive dysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetes. AIM To assess a possible relationship between serum DPP4 and cognitive function in perinatal pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). METHODS The study subjects were divided into three groups: GDM group (n = 81), healthy pregnant (HP) group (n = 85), and control group (n = 51). The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) was used to assess the cognitive status of each group. Venous blood samples were collected to measure blood lipids, glycated hemoglobin, and glucose levels. For each participant, a 3-mL blood sample was collected and centrifuged, and the serum was collected. Blood samples were stored at -80 ℃, and DPP4, interleukin-6 (IL-6), and 8-iso-prostaglandin F2α (8-iso-PGF2α), and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were detected using ELISA. RESULTS The MoCA scores in the GDM and HP groups were significantly different from those in the control group in terms of visuospatial/executive function and attention (P < 0.05); however, the scores were not significantly different between the GDM and HP groups (P > 0.05). In terms of language, the GDM group had significantly different scores from those in the other two groups (P < 0.05). In terms of memory, a significant difference was found between the HP and control groups (P < 0.05), as well as between the GDM and HP groups. The levels of DPP4, IL-6, and 8-iso-PGF2α in the GDM group were significantly higher than those in the HP and control groups (P < 0.05); however, the differences between these levels in the HP and control groups were not significant (P > 0.05). The level of BDNF in the GDM group was significantly lower than that in the HP and control groups (P < 0.05), although the difference in this level between the HP and control groups was not significant (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION Cognitive dysfunction in perinatal pregnant women with GDM mainly manifested as memory loss, which might be associated with elevated DPP4 levels.


This theoretical work discusses consumerism's processes of subjectivation and their psychological consequences. Its regime is studied through its social imaginary and its totalitarian character: the discourse of advertising, as a global hegemon, absorbs all forms of discourse and signification, thereby actualizing capitalism's telos - the colonization of the Lebenswelt under a great imperative: everything must become a commodity, especially the subject. A process of totalization of subjectivity occurs under a commodification logic centered on the representation: every image must be transformed into commodity-signs. Thus the consumption imaginary appears as a totalizing ideology, functioning as archaic representations collectives (Durkheim) and simulating a religious imaginary. It mass-produces subjectivity through participation mystique (Levy-Bruhl) with its commodity-signs (and their fetish) and the whole imaginary. Its subject is defined as a bricolage of consumable commodity-signs, being therefore eternally fluid, performative, and ethereal. Thus it produces an anthropological mutation, the commodity-subject: a disposable, empty, thoroughly commodified self.


The guinea pig maximization test (GPMT) has played a primary rôle in the evaluation the evaluation of potential skin contact sensitizers for 25 years. In the OECD Guideline 406 from 1993, it is specifically suggested that equivocal results from the initial challenge in the GPMT should he evaluated further with a repeated challenge. However, there exist few published rechallenge data and the guideline does not describe how rechallenge data should be interpreted. In this paper, we have used examples from published results to illustrate both the positive value and the limitations of repeated challenges, including cross challenge. Testing with modified concentrations may also help to indicate whether or not the response is allergic in nature, particularly where there has been a low level of skin reaction observed in shamtreated controls, or where a low level of skin reaction is the dominant response in the test animals. In conclusion, the data presented demonstrate that, as a tool for the investigation of skin sensitizing potential, the GPMT can benefit from an experienced scientific evaluation of rechallenge data, but that this information should not be treated in a mechanistic fashion.


This book is the outcome of the CSIRO/UNIDO workshop in wastewater treatment. The papers presented at the workshop and published in this book provide an insight into the characteristics and applicability of the various methods used to treat water and wastewater as well as examples of both the theory and practice of these technologies.

The authors include research scientists, technical consultants and industry practitioners who provide a wide range of views.


A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2007 among 504 drug users who were recruited mainly from detoxification centers in southwest China. About one-third (34.3%) of participants reported recent risky drug use behavior, which was defined as injecting drugs in the past 3 months, and more than one-fifth (21.6%) reported recent risky sexual behavior, or had multiple sexual partners in the past 30 days. Male sex (odds ratio [OR], 1.9; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2-3.2) and more episodes of detoxification (OR, 3.7; 95% CI, 2.3-6.0) were associated with higher odds of risky drug use behavior, while unmarried status (OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.0-2.9), higher personal annual income (OR, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.1-2.8) and history of sexually transmitted infections (OR, 3.7; 95% CI, 2.1-6.6) were associated with higher odds of having risky sexual behavior. Subgroup analyses showed 15% participants who used drugs in the past 3 months also shared needles, and 77% participants who had multiple sexual partners in the past 30 days did not use condoms during sex with non-primary sexual partners. The study findings are useful for developing HIV risk reduction intervention programs among drug users.


Not many Australians know that the first forced removal of children from their mothers in Australia originated in our colonial penal system at the Parramatta Female Factory. Few of us realise the role this intervention played in laying foundational ideologies in the provision of welfare services for women and children. This site in Parramatta is a crucible, where ideas of female immorality, criminality and insanity melded; realised in the hybrid institutional architecture of the Refuge, Workhouse, Asylum, Penitentiary, Orphanage, Girls Industrial School, Girls Training Home, Children's Shelter and Women's Detention Centre.


Kawasaki disease (KD) is an immune‐mediated vasculitis with symptoms that mimic febrile illness; the immune origin has been suggested but never proved. First, cell chip technology was used to screen immune targets cells. With the indirect immunofluorescence assay we found that the HeLa cell chip could be recognized by KD patient serum samples. The target cell proteome was extracted as antigens, and antigen recognition reaction was performed using the patients' serum as antibodies and the detected target protein was detected and identified as phosphoglycerate kinase 1 (PGK1). Then PGK1 was produced and tested with enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), Western blotting, immunoprecipitation and competitive inhibition immunofluorescence assay. Immunoglobulin (Ig)G against PGK1 was detected in 46% (23 of 50) sera of KD patients, 13% (five of 38) sera in febrile non‐KD patients (FC) and 2·6% (one of 38) sera in healthy donors. As an immune target, PGK1 not only helps understanding of the pathogenesis, it also has potential value in facilitating the laboratory diagnosis of KD.


Comparison of uptake between fed and fasted animals indicates that short-term changes in nutritional states significantly affects AA uptake and the effect of testosterone upon uptake. Consequently, the tradition of fasting animals prior to experimental manipulation may obscure not only sex differences but other factors as well. Clearly the experimental data obtained on fasted animals may not be a good model for Western man.


ABSTRACT Huang, D., 2018. Intelligent recognition method of micro image feature recognition in large data environment. In: Liu, Z.L. and Mi, C. (eds.), Advances in Sustainable Port and Ocean Engineering. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 83, pp. 697–705. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The intelligent recognition of features of micro image can effectively improve the recognition rate of the essential features of micro images, which has great significance to the study of micro images in various fields. For the recognition of large data features, we need to fuse the features of the micro images with the same scale and different directions, and then preprocess them completing the intelligent recognition of the micro image features. The traditional method filters the noise of the micro image to get the smooth image, and obtain the features of illumination invariant data of the micro image, but we ignore to preprocess the image, which leads to low recognition accuracy. This paper proposes the intelligent identification method of the features of micro images based on the theory of clonal selection and K nearest neighbor discrimination theory in large environment. Firstly, this method performed Gabor transform on the micro image, and fused features of micro images with the same scale in different directions according to the two fusion rules, and obtained the fusion feature of micro image on the five scales, and used the clonal selection theory to preprocess the fusion feature of micro image, forming antibody library of micro images, and combined with K nearest neighbor discriminant theory to complete the intelligent recognition offeature of micro image to be identified. Experimental results show that the proposed method can effectively improve the average recognition rate of micro image features, and has good robustness.


A single-step solid-state synthetic approach was developed for the synthesis of silicon-coated carbon nanotube (CNT) core/shell structures. This was achieved through laser-induced melting and evaporation of CNT-deposited Si substrates using a continuous wavelength CO2 laser. The synthesis location of the CNT/Si structures was defined by the laser-irradiated spots. The thickness of the coating was controlled by tuning the laser power and synthesis time during the coating process. This laser-based synthetic technique provides a convenient approach for solid-state, controllable, gas-free, simple and cost-effective fabrication of CNT/Si core/shell structures.


This paper argues that Victorian Shakespeare burlesques reveal an alternate literary history a movement away from private, novelistic consciousness toward collaborative performance. Many materialist scholars fault post-Romantic critics for casting Shakespeare as a psychological realist and reading his plays as if they were novels. The burlesque treatment of Hamlet's soliloquies, however, suggests a contrary trajectory, challenging the equation of Shakespearean character with psychological reflection. Rather than inaugurating a tradition of interiority, Hamlet's soliloquies generate social speech in works like Gilbert's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, inviting audience participation. The burlesque imperative also inflects novels like Dickens's Great Expectations, turning the internal debate of the canonical literary self into the public dispute of populist entertainment.