Effective linguistic choices and delivery methods are the basic ingredients to success in classroom teaching/learning, yet the language and style of classroom interaction have enjoyed little scholarly attention. The paper, therefore, investigated the styles and lexical choices in teacher-student classroom interactions to establish the role of language as vehicle of the content and style in teaching/learning. The data consist of 10 teacher-student classroom interactions randomly recorded, transposed to writing and subjected to stylistic and quantitative methods of analysis, with insights from relational semantics, text-linguistic and socio-linguistic stylistics. Two styles were observed in the discourse: evaluative style (used by the teachers) and informative style (used by both the students and teachers). Informative style is indexed by such lexical choices as register, synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, and colloquialism that enter into paradigmatic relations. Evaluative style is characterised by collocation which keys into syntagmatic relation. While collocation (330: 32.1%) is the most prevalent lexical feature in the data, hyponymy (17: 1.7%) is the least. These stylistic features have proved to be the functional indices for underpinning the styles and lexical choices used in classroom interaction. Thus, they are important for effective assessment of teachers' competence, students' learning progress, and designing of school curricula.


The pre-cutting machine is becoming valued due to its ability to effectively prevent surface settlement and reduce vibration in tunnel construction. To obtain the cutting characteristics and layout of pre-cutting machine cutter, the cutting tests by the pre-cutting machine cutter are conducted and the cutting laws are also studied. The research results show that the cutting force rather than normal force and side force is responsible for the rock breaking. With the increase of the cutting depth and cutting spacing, the cutting forces increase generally. But for the little value of cutting spacing, the cutting force can not increase continuously when the cutting depth increase to a relatively large value. Furthermore, for a given cutting depth, the cutting force will keep at an approximate constant rather than continuous increase with the increase of the cutting spacing when the cutting spacing increases to a relatively large value. The specific energy decreases nonlinearly with the increase of cutting depth and the decrease of specific energy is not significant when the cutting depth is more than 12 mm. Moreover, there exists an optimal cutting spacing for a given cutting depth. To maintain a desirable cutting efficiency, the ratio of cutting spacing to cutting depth should be controlled between 1 and 2. Finally, the layout plan of the pre-cutting machine cutter is proposed based on the research results and is applied in the actual manufacturing of the pre-cutting machine.


Multiple dural sac and spinal cord indentations are often observed on MRI in cervical spondylotic myelopathy. However, it is rare that all of the indented levels contribute to clinical symptoms. Pathological changes in cervical compression myelopathy have previously been reported. Still the critical degree of spinal cord compression needed to induce pathologic changes is unknown. To clearfy this matter the relationships between the spinal cord as well as the dural sac indentations, and pathological changes of the cervical spinal cord were investigated in cadavers. Sixty-eight cadavers were used for this study. The dural sac and the spinal cord were observed especially regarding presence of indentations. The spinal cord was removed from the specimens in order to perform histopathological examination. The indentations of the dural sac and the spinal cord were observed at C4/ 5, C5/6, C6/7 and C3/4 intervertebral levels in order of incidence. However, all of the dural sac indentations were not correlated with spinal cord indentations. Pathological changes in the spinal cord were observed in two specimens with less than 30% of the AP compression ratio. One specimen with 20.9% in the AP compression ratio had remarkable histopathological changes. In the other specimen with 29.6% in the AP compression ratio, diffuse demyelination was distributed in the lateral white matter. The results indicate that the critical degree of the AP compression ratio is 30% to induce histopathological changes in the spinal cord. If a spinal cord indentation in the patient with cervical spondylotic myelopathy on imaging, i.e. MRI, show less than 30% in the AP compression ratio, the clinical symptoms, i.e. numbness, tickling and paresthetic pain, may not be improved after the surgery because of some histopathological changes in the spinal cord.


Oxysterol binding protein (OSBP) related proteins (ORPs) constitute a family that has at least 12 members in humans. In the present study we characterize one of the novel OSBP homologs, ORP2, which we show to be expressed ubiquitously in mammalian tissues. The ORP2 cDNA encodes a deduced 55 kDa protein that lacks a pleckstrin homology (PH) domain, a feature found in the other family members. Sucrose gradient centrifugation analysis of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell post-nuclear supernatant demonstrated that ORP2 is distributed in soluble and membrane-bound fractions. Immunofluorescence microscopy of the endogenous and overexpressed ORP2 in CHO cells suggested that the membrane-bound fraction of the protein localizes to the Golgi apparatus. Stably transfected CHO cells that overexpress ORP2 showed an increase in [14C]cholesterol efflux to serum, apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I), and phosphatidyl choline vesicles. The proportion of cellular [14C]cholesterol that is esterified and the ACAT activity measured as [14C]oleyl-CoA conversion into cholesteryl [14C]oleate by the cellular membranes, were markedly decreased in the ORP2 expressing cells. Transient high level overexpression of ORP2 interfered with the clearance of a secretory pathway protein marker from the Golgi complex. The results implicate ORP2 as a novel regulator of cellular sterol homeostasis and intracellular membrane trafficking.


Hollow spheres of anatase TiO2 have been prepared by using titanate butyl as titanium source and yeast as templates based on the surface bio-functionality of the microorganism, in which the yeast templates were calcinated to remove subsequently at 500 oC. The products are characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectrum (FT-IR). The results indicate that the formed TiO2 hollow spheres have a regular spherical morphology with a diameter range from 2.5 to 2.8 μm. These spheres retained the morphology of the original yeast even though the yeast template was removed. Moreover, a possible formation mechanism involving a two-step encapsulation process is proposed. The photocatalytic performance of those hollow spheres for the degradation of CBW wastewater is investigated.


In this study, we present a VAR-BEKK model to investigate the co-movements of long-term interest rates between Turkey and four developed (Germany, Japan, USA and UK) markets . We use weekly rates on the 5-year maturity government bonds for the period of February 10, 2006 to September 12, 2014 containing 448 observations. We empirically document that, while Turkish bond market is only correlated with Japanese and the US markets, there are strong ties between the returns and volatility of developed bond markets. Our findings indicate most of the movements in international government bond markets is a product of global risk factors rather than country specific factors


The paper discusses the role of partial discharge measurement in the conditioning monitoring of power plant. Following a discussion of recent developments in partial discharge detection and measurement technologies, the problems and challenges for the future in the different technologies are analysed and discussed. For those unfamiliar with partial discharge detection as a condition monitoring tool, a brief discussion on its relationship to insulation degradation is presented as an Appendix.


BACKGROUND
Higher life expectancy and higher mean age in general population created growing interest in medical and surgical management of meningiomas in elderly. It is well known that, due to possible complications, pre-operative status and comorbidities, expecially in aged people, should be carefully considerated in the decision-making process. We described our experience with this kind of patients and analized the influence of complications on the outcome.

METHODS
We conducted a monocentric retrospective study to evaluate outcome and complications in elderly patients that underwent intracranial meningioma surgery in our center in a ten year period. Between January 2005 and December 2014, 107 patients - older than 70 years old - were operated for an intracranial meningioma. We excluded patients operated for a recurrent meningioma. We use the Dindo classification modified by Poon to describe complications and the Karnofsky Performance Status Scale and Glasgow Outcome Scale to evaluate the outcome at discharge and after a 6 months period.

RESULTS
84 patients did not have postoperative complications, 10 patients had mild postoperative complications, while 13 patients suffered severe postoperative complications. As a group, patients with mild complications presented, six months after surgery, an average Karnofsky Performance Status better than preoperative one.

CONCLUSIONS
Even though the fragility is considered an important risk factor, surgery for symptomatic intracranial meningiomas should be considered also in elderly patients. The presence of early postoperative mild complications do not seem to worsen the average 6 months- KSP score.


This white paper documents the optimization of a 3D stencil code, "WALLS", developed by the COSMOS supercomputing facility at the University of Cambridge, UK. We demonstrate that straightforward parallel tuning techniques can deliver significant performance improvements on both Intel® Xeon® processors and Intel® Xeon PhiTM coprocessors, while maintaining code readability and platform portability. Our changes accelerate the execution of "WALLS" by factors of 9.3 and 30.1 on processors and coprocessors, respectively, and a single coprocessor is shown to outperform two processor sockets by a factor of 1.3. These results highlight the benefits of tuning software to effectively exploit parallel hardware and demonstrate the utility of Intel® Xeon PhiTM coprocessors for cosmology workloads.


The development of modern electronics was to a large extent related to the advent and popularization of bipolar junction technology. The present work applies science of science concepts and methodologies in order to develop a relatively systematic, quantitative study of the development of electronics from a bipolar-junction-centered perspective. First, we searched the adopted dataset (Microsoft Academic Graph) for entries related to "bipolar junction transistor". Community detection was then applied in order to derive sub-areas, which were tentatively labeled into 10 overall groups. This modular graph was then studied from several perspectives, including topological measurements and time evolution. A number of interesting results are reported, including a good level of thematic coherence within each identified area, as well as the identification of distinct periods along the time evolution including the onset and coming of age of bipolater junction technology and related areas. A particularly surprising result was the verification of stable interrelationship between the identified areas along time.


We propose a new method for k-domain linearization using fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) in a wavelength-swept source for optical coherence tomography (OCT). A wavelength-swept source with a scanning fiber Fabry-Perot tunable filter is constructed using a conventional ring laser cavity. Five FBGs are used to recalibrate the nonlinear response from the wavelength-swept source. We achieved good quality sample imaging using the k-domain linearization algorithm based on FBGs. The sensitivity at 2 mm is improved by more than 10 dB after k-domain linearization.


PURPOSE
Nerve sparing radical prostatectomy may allow preservation of potency but it can increase positive surgical margins. We used intraoperative frozen section (IFS) analysis to monitor the nerve sparing procedure in laparoscopic prostatectomy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 100 patients with localized prostatic carcinoma underwent bilateral intrafascial nerve sparing laparoscopic prostatectomy with IFS. A wedge of tissue was cut from base to apex in the region of the neurovascular bundles (NVBs) and analyzed on frozen section. If carcinoma was detected at the inked margin, the corresponding NVB was resected. Definitive margin status was evaluated after permanent section analysis of IFS prostatectomy specimens and eventually NVB specimens.

RESULTS
IFS analysis was positive in 24 patients, as confirmed in all by permanent section of the wedges. Three of these patients had positive margins in the prostate specimen at another site. Of the 76 tumors with negative IFSs 1 had positive margins on permanent sections of the wedges and 8 had positive margins on the prostate specimen at another site. IFS led to a decrease in the overall positive margin status from 33% to 12% and from 26.1% to 7.9% in pT2 tumors. Tumor was found on NVB resection in 8 cases (33%).

CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that IFS analysis is a reliable method by which to monitor nerve sparing during laparoscopic prostatectomy. IFS could allow the surgeon to offer a nerve sparing procedure more frequently without compromising cancer control.


Internet memes are highly relevant for digital communications but there is not much re-search about their pragmatic uses. Besides being texts, memes are also multimodal speech acts. They are very similar to the speech acts Searle described, but there are some differ-ences. The communicative function of memes is in accord with Keller's principle for social success, which is aimed for by all speakers. It is shown that people on Twitter use memes as speech acts when replying to Donald Trump's Tweets. The difference between meme speech acts and traditional speech acts is their emphasis on the expressive function. While the meme speech acts can take any of Searle's described functions, there is almost always an expressive element to be found.


Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) of M2 phenotype promote tumor proliferation and relate to poor prognosis in patients with gliobrastoma. We screened natural compounds possessing inhibitory effect on M2 polarization in human monocyte-derived macrophages. Among 130 purified natural compounds, some natural compounds such as glycyrrhizin, medicarpin and solasodine significantly inhibited the expression of CD163, one of the phenotypic markers of M2 macrophages, as well as suppressed the secretion of IL-10, one of the anti-inflammatory cytokine preferentially produced by M2 macrophages, thus suggesting that glycyrrhizin, medicarpin and solasodine suppress macrophage polarization towards M2 phenotype. Therefore, glycyrrhizin, medicarpin and solasodine may be potentially useful new strategy for the prevention and therapy of tumor.


structural and biosynthetic studies are closely interrelated. Finally there is brief discussion of the capsular antigens. The last chapter by K. M. Wilbur and K. Simkiss deals with the calcified shells of birds and molluscs. This is hardly one of the most active areas of biochemistry and inevitably much of the material is descriptive. It remains to be seen whether work in this field will prove to be of general interest. In summary, this volume adequately reviews the topics which have been selected. Nevertheless the subjects considered are only of oblique interest to the clinical biochemist, although the second and third chapters contain much which is of interest to the bacteriologist. P. J. R. Phizackerley


Chemical damage to DNA is a key initiator of adverse biological consequences due to disruption of the faithful reading of the genetic code. For example, O6-alkylguanine ( O6-alkylG) DNA adducts are strongly miscoding during DNA replication when the damaged nucleobase is a template for polymerase-mediated translesion DNA synthesis. Thus, mutations derived from O6-alkylG adducts can have severe adverse effects on protein translation and function and are an early event in the initiation of carcinogenesis. However, the low abundance of these adducts places significant limitations on our ability to relate their presence and biological influences with resultant mutations or disease risk. As a consequence, there is a critical need for novel tools to detect and study the biological role of alkylation adducts. Incorporating DNA bases with altered structures that are derived synthetically is a strategy that has been used widely to interrogate biological processes involving DNA. Such synthetic nucleosides have contributed to our understanding of DNA structure, DNA polymerase (Pol) and repair enzyme function, and to the expansion of the genetic alphabet. This Account describes our efforts toward creating and applying synthetic nucleosides directed at DNA adducts. We synthesized a variety of nucleosides with altered base structures that complement the altered hydrogen bonding capacity and hydrophilicity of O6-alkylG adducts. The heterocyclic perimidinone-derived nucleoside Per was the first of such adduct-directed synthetic nucleosides; it specifically stabilized O6-benzylguanine ( O6-BnG) in a DNA duplex. Structural variants of Per were used to determine hydrogen bonding and base-stacking contributions to DNA duplex stability in templates containing O6-BnG as well as O6-methylguanine ( O6-MeG) adducts. We created synthetic probes able to stabilize damaged over undamaged templates and established how altered hydrogen bonding or base-stacking properties impact DNA duplex stability as a function of adduct structures. This knowledge was then applied to devise a hybridization-based detection strategy involving gold nanoparticles that distinguish damaged from undamaged DNA by colorimetric changes. Furthermore, synthetic nucleosides were used as mechanistic tools to understand chemical determinants such as hydrogen bonding, π-stacking, and size and shape deviations that impact the efficiency and fidelity of DNA adduct bypass by DNA Pols. Finally, we reported the first example of amplifying alkylated DNA, accomplished by combining an engineered polymerase and synthetic triphosphate for which incorporation is templated by a DNA adduct. The presence of the synthetic nucleoside in amplicons could serve as a marker for the presence and location of DNA damage at low levels in DNA strands. Adduct-directed synthetic nucleosides have opened new concepts to interrogate the levels, locations, and biological influences of DNA alkylation.


The following changes were observed in canned acidified green bananas during storage at 85° F (29.4° C): The stabilization pH and the fruit pH and acidity suffered no appreciable change; a pink discoloration developed resulting in an increase in Hunter a value and a decrease in b. No change in total and reducing sugars took place. The product hardened during storage with an increase in shear press values. Organoleptic qualities suffered no significant changes during storage. The following processing factors affected the texture of the canned bananas: length of the hot water peeling treatment and temperature of the bath, length of the thermal treatment of the product in boiling water, stage of development of the fruit processed, and storage temperature. Storage of the product at 45° F (7.2° C) resulted in a pronounced hardening of the canned bananas.


The sector wide approach (SWAp) emerged during the 1990s as a mechanism for managing aid from the multiplicity of development partners that operate in the recipient country's health, education or agricultural sectors. Health SWAps aim to give increased control to recipient governments, allowing greater domestic influence over how health aid is allocated and facilitating allocative efficiency gains. This paper assesses whether health SWAps have increased recipient control of health aid via increased general sector-support and have facilitated (re)allocations of health aid across disease areas. Using a uniquely compiled panel data set of countries receiving development assistance for health over the period 1990-2010, we employ fixed effects and dynamic panel models to assess the impact of introducing a health SWAp on levels of general sector-support for health and allocations of health-sector aid across key funding silos (including HIV, 'maternal and child health' and 'sector-support'). Our results suggest that health SWAps have influenced health-sector aid flows in a manner consistent with increased recipient control and improvements in allocative efficiency.


We have used a Monte Carlo method to simulate laser induced chemical vapor deposition processes, assuming that the laser beam photodissociates the parent organometallic molecules in the gas phase. Metal containing fragments formed during the organometallic decomposition may diffuse to the substrate and are assumed to be instantly adsorbed on the surface at the point they hit. The effects of the total gas pressure in the system, the nature of the buffer gas, and the intensity of the laser beam on the shape of the deposited layers and on the deposition kinetics were studied. This model is also applicable to the simulation of electron beam chemical vapor deposition when low pressures are considered.


(VAP) is defined as pneumonia that develops in mechanically ventilated patients after 48 hours or more of
mechanical ventilator support, VAP increases the mortality and morbidity rates of patients and healthcare
costs, This study was a descriptive cross-sectional survey. Sample a total sample of 126 nurses was collected
for the current study,setting and Participants a convenience sample of graduate nurses was obtained from
eight hospitals throughout Babylon. The study was approved by the ethics committees of the Babylon health
department and the participating, Researcher used standard a questionnaire that integrated the assessment of
nurse's knowledge for prevention of VAP from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention questionnaire
was validated by a panel of four specialists in the disciplines of nursing, The questionnaire was administered
to the participants in their hospitals by the principle investigator. Nurses were informed that their completion
of the questionnaire would be considered as consent to participate.SPSS version 22 was used for data
analysis, The study conclude that the mean age of participants in the study was young and female, the
majority of the nurses didn't know that the mechanical ventilator humidifier must be changed weekly to
prevent VAP. Researcher encourage all Iraqihospitals ICUs nurses to involve inclinical training to improve
nurses acquisition and to evaluate the content of the nursing curricula to identify shortcomings in content.
It is imperative that VAP-prevention guidelines be integrated in training and teaching within the nursing
schools, and that the content and teaching strategies of infection control courses are updated.


Within the context of modern cooperative group trials, modification of standard cytotoxic chemotherapy has not improved survival in patients with rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) over the last 30 years. There is need and interest to incorporate novel targeted anticancer agents into the treatment plans for children and adolescents with newly diagnosed RMS; however, targets directly driven by FOXO1 translocation remain elusive, and molecular events driving translocation negative tumors similarly remain ill-defined. Thus, alternate pathways driving the tumors require identification and targeting. Herein, we describe targeted therapies that could be of interest in RMS, but whose inclusion in clinical trials is thus far limited by scientific and regulatory criteria. Sorafenib, pazopanib, crizotinib, TH-302, aurora-kinase inhibitors, and anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)/c-MET inhibitors will be discussed. The current preclinical and clinical data available, as well as limitations and challenges for each, will be outlined.


In inviscid solutions of the forced Burgers equation the matter accumulates in the shock discontinuities. We describe the limit motion of particles everywhere including the shocks as the trajectories of a discontinuous velocity field being a generalization of the gradient of the limit potential. The latter is not differentiable but satisfies some convexity properties which guarantee the existence of the gradient. It turns out that for such discontinuous gradient ordinary differential equations there are natural existence, uniqueness, and continuity theorems. The general results are applied for investigation of formation and motion in plane of massive points which are interpreted as various clusters in the adhesion model of the Universe.


ABSTRACT This article introduces the special issue on 'Material Encounters' by addressing the praxis of materiality across time, disciplines, areas of study, and technologies. We use the metonyms of track and trace and the distinction of objects and things to disentangle ways in which materials and understandings of the material mediate dynamic encounters with specific people or places, particularly in Oceania. These material encounters generate diverse, unstable forms of knowing on all sides, through the uneven flux of human embodiment (in encounters) and embodied materialization (in object, inscription, representation, memorialization). We juxtapose the assumed, if increasingly challenged priority of materials in object-oriented fields such as archaeology and museology; the reflective revival of material culture studies and the 'material turn' in anthropology from around 1990; and the belated recognition of the salience of materials and materialities by historians, whose craft depends on present material traces of the pasts they seek to elucidate. With reference to the agency of persons, places, time, or things, we stress the plurality of materialities and their related ontologies, and the qualities of movement, instability, and incompletion inherent in all encounters.


Complete thoracic (T) spinal cord injury (SCI) above the T6 level typically results in autonomic dysreflexia, an abnormal hypertensive condition commonly triggered by nociceptive stimuli below the level of SCI. Overexpression of nerve growth factor in the lumbosacral spinal cord induces profuse sprouting of nociceptive pelvic visceral afferent fibers that correlates with increased hypertension in response to noxious colorectal distension. After complete T4 SCI, we evaluated the plasticity of propriospinal neurons conveying visceral input rostrally to thoracic sympathetic preganglionic neurons. The anterograde tracer biotinylated dextran amine (BDA) was injected into the lumbosacral dorsal gray commissure (DGC) of injured/nontransected rats immediately after injury (acute) or 2 weeks later (delayed). At 1 or 2 weeks after delayed or acute injections, respectively, a higher density (P < 0.05) of BDA+ fibers was found in thoracic dorsal gray matter of injured vs. nontransected spinal cords. For corroboration, fast blue (FB) or cholera toxin subunit beta (CTb) was injected into the T9 dorsal horns 2 weeks postinjury/nontransection. After 1 week transport, more retrogradely labeled (P < 0.05) DGC propriospinal neurons (T13–S1) were quantified in injured vs. nontransected cords. We also monitored immediate early gene c‐fos expression following colorectal distension and found increased (P < 0.01) c‐Fos+ cell numbers throughout the DGC after injury. Collectively, these results imply that, in conjunction with local primary afferent fiber plasticity, injury‐induced sprouting of DGC neurons may be a key constituent in relaying visceral sensory input to sympathetic preganglionic neurons that elicit autonomic dysreflexia after high thoracic SCI. J. Comp. Neurol. 509:382–399, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


This article critically examines the Austerity policy of European Monetary Union (EMU) implemented in a severe manner also after the 2007 global financial crisis. Ordoliberism is considered the historical starting point of this policy by many economists. Instead my argument starts from the consideration that this policy was widely accomplished only after World War II, when East Germany was divided from West Germany. An important downsides of austerity policies on which I will focus is that it has affected the Maastricht Treaty and the conditions for entering the EU, which were applied generally to all participating countries.


A comprehensive panel of immune parameters was evaluated among 145 lead-exposed workers with a median blood lead level (BLL) of 39 micrograms/dL (range: 15-55 micrograms/dL) and 84 unexposed workers. After adjusting for covariates, we found no major differences in the percentage of CD3+ cells, CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, B cells, or NK cells between lead-exposed and unexposed workers, although the association between lead exposure and the number of CD4+ T cells was modified by age. We also found no differences between exposed and unexposed workers in serum immunoglobulin levels, salivary IgA, C3 complement levels, or lymphoproliferative responses. However, among exposed workers, the percentage and number of B cells were positively associated with current BLL, serum IgG was negatively associated with cumulative lead exposure, and the percentage and number of CD4+/CD45RA+ cells were positively associated with cumulative lead exposure. We found no evidence of a marked immunotoxic effect of lead at the exposure levels studied, although some subtle differences in immunologic parameters were noted.


The paper considers the possibility of generating different non-Gaussian states using the entangled state photon measurement scheme. In the paper, we have proposed a way to explicitly find the wave function and the Wigner function of the output state of this scheme. Moreover, the solutions found are not restricted to any particular case, but have maximum generality (depend on the number of measured photons and on all parameters of the scheme). Such a notation allowed us to carry out a complete analysis of the output states, depending on the scheme parameters. Using explicit expressions, we have analyzed the magnitude of non-Gaussianity of the output states, and we have revealed which particular states can be obtained in the proposed scheme. We have considered in detail a particular case of measurement (single photon measurement) and have shown that using explicit expressions for the output state wave function one can find scheme parameters to obtain states suitable for quantum error correction codes with a large fidelity value and high probability. The Schrodinger cat state with amplitude $\alpha=2$ can be obtained with fidelity $F \approx 0.88$ and probability 18 percent, and the squeezed Schrodinger cat state ($\alpha=0.5$, $R=1$) with fidelity $F \approx 0.98$ and probability 22 percent.


The Mt Sinai School of Medicine of the City University of New York has a retention program for disadvantaged medical students. The program has been functional for two years and was instituted because of multiple course failures among its disadvantaged students. The program consists of a summer enrichment unit and formal tutorials during the academic year. Our two-year experience demonstrates a complete reversal in the academic performance of these students. ( JAMA 228:861, 1974)


Allyl 2-O-benzoyl-4,6-O-benzylidene-alpha-D-glucopyranoside (3), obtained by selective benzoylation of allyl 4,6-O-benzylidene-alpha-D-glucopyranoside (2) with benzoyl chloride-imidazole in anhydrous chloroform, reacted with 2, 3, 4-tri-O-benzoyl-alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl bromide to give a disaccharide derivative (4), and an important intermediate (5) was obtained by cleavage of its acetal. Treatment of 5 with a series of glycopyranosyl bromides, protected by acetyl or benzoyl groups in benzene-nitromethane in the presence of Hg(CN)2 as a catalyst afforded four trisaccharides (6-9). The disaccharide (5) and trisaccharides (6-9) constitute the sugar cores of phenylpropanoid glycosides. A new glycosyl anomeric leaving group, trichloroacetoxy, was employed to prepare the disaccharide (4) and trisaccharides residue (8) efficiently and with high stereoselectivity.


Two new species of freshwater Eutardigrada are described from Sicily: Isohypsibius rusticus sp. nov. and Isohypsibius zappalai sp. nov. The former species has eye spots, ornamented body surface with many, variously sized tubercles; bucco-pharyngeal apparatus of the Isohypsibius type; pharyngeal bulb with apophyses and two rod-shaped macroplacoids; microplacoid absent; claws, of the Isohypsibius type, well developed, with long and thin common basal portion; main branches of all claws without free accessory points; very thin lunules present; cuticular bars on the legs absent. Isohypsibius zappalai sp. nov. has eye spots; entire body surface with small tubercles rounded in shape, fairly uniformly sized and tending to form transverse lines; bucco-pharyngeal apparatus of the Isohypsibius type, pharyngeal bulb with apophyses and two macroplacoids; microplacoid absent; claws of the Isohypsibius type, well developed, with long common basal portion and both main and secondary branches with a wide proximal portion. Main branches of all claws with accessory points; small, flexible lunules present; cuticular bars on the legs absent.


Our paper focuses on the role of arts and culture in Doha. More specifically, we examine literary circles in Doha (both Arab and English speaking) and regard them as 'communities of practice.' According to Etienne Wenger, communities of practice are "groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly." Moreover, such communities are seen as promoting innovation, developing social capital, facilitating and spreading knowledge within a group, and spreading existing knowledge. Recently, there has been a surge of active literary communities presenting their creative work in both English and Arabic attracting a variety of audiences and fans. For instance, young authors such as Kumam Al Maadeed, Eissa Abdullah, Buthaina Al-Janahi and Abdullah Fakhro not only have a huge online following, but they also have a significant fan base attending their events throughout the city. Besides these communities, there are also numerous organizations with which these celebrity authors are associated such as Qalam Hebr, Qatari Forum for Authors, and Outspoken Doha – we argue that such organizations can also be regarded as communities of practice. Our contention is that these ever-growing communities provide a performative space in which poets, singers, authors and artists can experiment with the fluidity of their assigned identities, cultures and traditions.


A guide to scholarly resources of interest to nutrition & dietetics students and staff at the University of Newcastle, Australia


Plant leaf epidermal cells exhibit a jigsaw puzzle–like pattern that is generated by interdigitation of the cell wall during leaf development. The contribution of two ROP GTPases, ROP2 and ROP6, to the cytoskeletal dynamics that regulate epidermal cell wall interdigitation has already been examined; however, how interactions between these molecules result in pattern formation remains to be elucidated. Here, we propose a simple interface equation model that incorporates both the cell wall remodeling activity of ROP GTPases and the diffusible signaling molecules by which they are regulated. This model successfully reproduces pattern formation observed in vivo, and explains the counterintuitive experimental results of decreased cellulose production and increased thickness. Our model also reproduces the dynamics of three-way cell wall junctions. Therefore, this model provides a possible mechanism for cell wall interdigitation formation in vivo.


Traditional approaches to public health messaging suggest successful COVID-19 messages should communicate about the health threat and present effective protective behaviors. However, as the pandemic continues, how individual factors affect audience responses to such messages needs to be explored. We surveyed 224 U.S. residents (equal distribution among age group, education level, and gender) in a 2 (health threat information: high versus low) × 2 (self-efficacy information: present versus absent) × 2 (response efficacy information: present versus absent) experimental design. Variations in message information did not influence mask wearing and handwashing behavioral intentions. Instead, participant responses followed reactance theory predictions. Feelings of fear about COVID-19 and reactance proneness predicted a perceived freedom threat. Perceiving a freedom threat predicted reactance to the COVID-19 message, which was associated with decreased intentions to wear a mask and handwash. Political ideology was also associated with behavioral intentions. The more conservative a person identified, the less likely they were to intend to engage in COVID-19 protection behaviors. Our findings call into question the effectiveness of traditional health messaging during a pandemic and demonstrate the implications of politicizing health behaviors.


Unexpected takeover premiums could be due to the limitations of
traditional discounted cash flow models that do not take into account the
synergetic potential of the valued assets, which should be
acquired by another firm. The author offers a method to value a firm taking
into account potential value sitting outside the firm due to synergetic
potential. The magnitude of this value depends on the scale of potential
synergies, on the willingness of third parties to acquire the firm and the
post-acquisition use of the assets.


Background/Aims: Few data are available on the impact of residual renal function (RRF) on mortality and hospitalization in hemodialysis (HD) patients. The objective of our study was to compare clinical outcomes for HD patients with and without RRF. Methods: In a cohort of 118 incident HD patients with RRF (n = 51) and without RRF (n = 67) who started dialysis in a single center, we recorded demographics, laboratory data, medication, hospitalizations and mortality. Results: Patients without RRF were older (p = 0.007), had lower baseline serum albumin levels (p = 0.002) and spent 18.6 more days in hospital per year than those with RRF (p = 0.055). Mean survival time was significantly lower in patients without RRF (p = 0.027). In a Cox proportional hazards model, only RRF remained as a significant independent predictor. Conclusions: RRF is associated with significantly reduced mortality and hospital days, but does not decrease the hospitalization rate and time to first hospitalization.


Teaching young children key social skills in preschool can increase prosocial behavior and reduce classroom behavior problems. Previous preschool life skills (PLS) programming has taught young children to request teacher assistance and tolerate delays or denials in the delivery of materials, friendship skills, and functional communication skills. The purpose of the current study was to extend the PLS literature by assessing the level of instruction necessary to teach children with autism spectrum disorders and developmental disabilities to respond to their name, request attention and assistance, and tolerate delays and denials. A multiple-baseline across-behaviors design was used to demonstrate the effects of instruction, differential reinforcement, and error-correction procedures that systematically increased in intrusiveness as necessary for participants to acquire skills. Five participants acquired skills using general instructional strategies, and 3 participants required individualized instruction to learn skills. The training required varied across participants and skills. Prebaseline and postmastery probes were conducted in the classroom with adults and peers to test for generalization. In general, participants showed poor generalization of the acquired skills with peers and adults.


The growing importance of production contracts, especially for some livestock species and in certain regions, suggests that contracts confer economic benefits on farmers. This trend has, however, stimulated concerns about the impacts of contracting on farm structure and concentration, and environmental degradation, which have led to efforts by various levels of government to regulate contract production. For example, in the U.S. hog industry, between 1992 and 1998 the portion of feeder pigto-finish hog operations using production contracts increased from 11% to 34%, while the share of output produced under contract increased from 22% to 63% (Key and McBride, McBride and Key). Recent growth in hog contracts have been particularly noteworthy in the upper Midwest, with 2002 contracted production accounting for 47% of the value of total farm production in Iowa and Minnesota, compared to only about 5% in 1996 and virtually none in 1991. Meanwhile, production contract levels in North Carolina, the other center of hog production, have been relatively stable. Production contracts offer several potential advantages over independent production that could explain their increasing prevalence, such as lowering income risk for growers. Contracting may also raise farm productivity by improving the quality of managerial inputs, speeding the transfer of technical information to growers, and facilitating growers' access to credit, thereby permitting the adoption of newer, more efficient technologies. At the same time,


: The anti-counterfeiting traceability system based on blockchain technology can ensure the accuracy and consistency of the data stored by each participating node, protect the legitimacy of the data, ensure the product quality, improve the credibility of enterprises, and enhance consumers' confidence in products. However, due to the low system throughput, high energy consumption and poor data availability, the combination of blockchain and traditional anti-counterfeiting traceability mode has many challenges, such as low efficiency. This paper aims to find an improved consensus mechanism based on contribution proof to improve the mining efficiency of honest miners. And plan to introduce a credit system, give priority to the high credit value of the mining block to package, improve the overall packaging efficiency of the system, to solve the problem of low feedback efficiency of the blockchain anti-counterfeiting system.


1 Sustainable and conventional farming systems use fertilizers that differ in the availability of nitrogen, which may affect plant quality to alter the abundance and performance of potential pest species. 2 We grew brassica plants in several types of fertilizer, including those commonly used in conventional and sustainable farming systems, and an unfertilized control. The effects of fertilizer type on the performance of two aphid species and foliar glucosinolate content were investigated. 3 Both aphid species performed poorly (with reduced fecundity) on the unfertilized treatment compared with those feeding on fertilized host plants. 4 Brevicoryne brassicae, the brassica specialist, performed best on Brassica oleracea plants fertilized with an organic animal manure, with a 72% increase in fecundity and an 18% increase in intrinsic rate of increase compared with plants fertilized with ammonium nitrate. 5 By contrast, the generalist Myzus persicae had an intrinsic rate of increase that was reduced by 15% on plants growing in the animal manure compared with those growing in ammonium nitrate. 6 These results may explain earlier findings on the effects of fertilizer type on aphid populations in the field, and are discussed in the context of pest species' responses to sustainable and conventional agricultural systems.


Taking Monsieur Vénus (1884) as its focus, this article expands upon the limited critical discourse connecting the work of Rachilde (1860-1953) to queer theory. Monsieur Vénus and queer theory are mutually illuminative: Butler's theory of performativity allows us to interpret the unstable bodies in Rachilde's text, while Monsieur Vénus in turn elucidates, or at least exemplifies, some of the questions at the heart of queer studies. For example: can sex exceed the human body? Can a transgender person live a heteronormative life? What is the relationship between queerness and reproduction? In asking such questions, this article grounds a piece of Decadent, fin-de-siècle French literature in the context of queer, feminist and trans studies, and thereby maps the connections between Rachilde's work and these contemporary cultural conversations. As the author of Pourquoi je ne suis pas féministe (1928), Rachilde rejected progressive social movements. I therefore borrow Lisa Downing's notion of the 'proto-queer' (Downing, 'Notes on Rachilde' 16) to guard against the complete recuperation of Rachilde into the queer canon. Regardless of its author's positionality, however, I am seeking to frame Monsieur Vénus as part of our queer literary heritage. Monsieur Vénus is more playful and provocative than it is political, but Rachilde succeeds in 'scrambling' sex and gender in that the two categories become muddled, unfixed and denaturalized.


Sixty-nine cases of placental abruption and placental hemorrhage detected with ultrasonography (US) were reviewed retrospectively to determine whether US findings correlate with fetal outcome. Four patients were lost to follow-up, and in the remaining 65 patients fetal outcome included demise in 12 cases (18%), termination of pregnancy in six (9%), premature delivery of a living infant in 15 (23%), term delivery of an infant who was small for gestational age in four (6%), and normal term delivery in 28 (43%). Fetal mortality correlated best with the estimated percentage of placental detachment, but was also significantly (P less than .01) associated with the location (retroplacental) and size (greater than 60 ml) of hemorrhage. Premature labor was associated (P less than .001) only with gestational age at the time of clinical presentation. No sonographic finding was identified as a risk factor for small-for-gestational-age infants. Sonographic findings of placental abruption correlate with fetal outcome, and this information may be useful for guiding obstetric management.


Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is an incurable neurodegenerative disease that primarily affects motor neurons, causing muscle atrophy, bulbar palsy, and pyramidal tract signs. However, the aetiology and pathogenesis of ALS have not been elucidated to date. In this study, a competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network was constructed by analyzing the expression profiles of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) that were matched by 7 ALS samples and 4 control samples, and then a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed to identify the genes related to ALS. Gene Ontology (GO) was used to study the potential functions of differentially expressed mRNAs (DEmRNAs) in the ceRNA network. For the ALS and control groups, 247177 potential lncRNA-mRNA ceRNA relationship pairs were screened. Analysis of significant relationship pairs demonstrated that the PPI modules formed by the MALAT1-regulated SYNRG, ITSN2, PICALM, AP3B1, and AAK1 genes may play important roles in the pathogenesis of ALS, and these results may help to characterize the pathogenesis of ALS.


AUDIO LIBRARIES Audio and Video Equipment Basics for Libraries. By Jim Farrington. (Music Library Association Basic Manual Series, No. 5.) Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2006. [viii, 144 p. ISBN 0-8108-5716-2; ISBN-13 978-08108-5716-2. $45.] Illustrations, index, bibliography, sources for equipment reviews, glossary. The need for audio and visual playback equipment has existed since libraries began collecting media early in the twentieth century. As streaming media and portable MP3 and video players change how patrons experience music and film, many libraries are reexamining their audiovisual formats, equipment, and listening spaces. Audio and Video Equipment Basics for Libraries, with its focus on past, present, and future playback technologies, offers relevant and insightful information for those involved with or interested in listening and viewing logistics in the library setting. While most books on the market are geared towards the audiophile, sound archivist, or home theater enthusiast, this welcome publication presents information and advice specific to a library's needs, collections, and budgets. Farrington is an eminently qualified author. Formerly the music librarian and director of the World Music Archives at Wesleyan University, he is currently the head of public services of the Sibley Music Library at the Eastman School of Music. He teaches a seminar on the history and aesthetics of sound recordings at the Eastman School of Music and wrote the article "Preventive Maintenance for Audio Discs and Tapes" (Notes 48, no. 2 [December 1991]: 437-45). A past president of the Association of Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC), Farrington remains involved in the association and currently serves as the Music Library Association's liaison to both ARSC and the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA). His writing demonstrates that he is conversant with current trends and practices and possesses a thorough understanding of both audio and video. The breadth of this volume is impressive. It addresses most of the challenges one might encounter when designing or redesigning listening areas, ordering and maintaining equipment, or developing a circulation policy for audio equipment. The book is divided into six chapters on the following topics: the listening environment, source components, video, electronics, sound producers, and miscellaneous. Farrington presents brief histories of the various formats, explains how they function, discusses desirable features in playback equipment, and provides tips to improve sound and prolong equipment life. He reviews all of the current and some older audio and video technologies, as well as some that will appear in the next few years. Farrington mentions commercial streaming audio services such as Naxos and Classical Music Library, but the focus in this volume is clearly on audio and video equipment in the library. …


This paper compares with cash flow simulation real option valuation method the costs of treating diabetes type 1 (T1D) with the commonly used multiple daily injection (MDI) method and the novel method of combining insulin pump and continuous glucose monitoring (CSII + CGM) into a hybrid closed-loop system. Both direct and indirect costs of T1D treatment are considered. Daily basic treatment costs are twice as high with CSII + CGM in comparison with the MDI method. However, overall lifetime costs with CSII + CGM are approximately only one third in comparison with the MDI method. This is due to expensive indirect complication costs related to insufficient therapeutic control of many diabetics using MDI, while advanced CSII+CGM users can avoid these complications nearly completely. At the same time, quality of life of type 1 diabetics improves significantly when using advanced CSII+CGM systems.


Summary 1. The pressor response to an intravenous infusion of 2.1-13.9 μg per minute of 1-nor-epinephrine was studied, using a constant rate infusion apparatus, in 3 patients before and during the administration of ACTH and cortisone. 2. Striking potentiation of the blood pressure response to nor-epinephrine was noted within 24 hours after administration of 90-180 mg ACTH daily or 150-200 mg cortisone daily. The potentiating effect disappeared within 36 hours after the omission of these agents.


ABSTRACT A novel medium, Oxacillin Resistant Screening Agar (ORSA) medium, was evaluated for the screening of specimens for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in the hospital setting. Screening swabs (swabs of the nose, throat, perineum, and infected sites) were inoculated onto the new ORSA medium and into an enrichment broth (Muller-Hinton broth supplemented with NaCl and oxacillin). After 24 h of incubation, the enrichment broth was subcultured onto one ORSA plate and one lipovitellin Chapman salt agar plate. The sensitivities for the detection of MRSA were calculated for each medium alone and for the media in combination. A low sensitivity (74%) was obtained when ORSA medium was used alone as a primary culture, whereas the sensitivity was 88% when a single selective enrichment broth was used. Among the 414 blue colonies observed on ORSA plates, only 47% were found to be MRSA, 40% were coagulase-negative staphylococci, 7% were Enterococcus species, and 2% were methicillin-sensitive S. aureus. The optimal incubation time for the ORSA plates was evaluated. On primary culture, 38% of the blue MRSA colonies were visible only after 48 h of incubation (no blue colonies were not seen after 24 h of incubation), whereas 94% of the colonies were already visible at 24 h when ORSA plates were used for subcultures. In conclusion, the advantage of the novel ORSA medium is the ease of recognition of mannitol-fermenting bacteria, but further identification tests are needed to confirm the identification of S. aureus. An enrichment broth is still needed to ensure a good sensitivity for the recovery of MRSA, and an incubation time of 48 h is required for primary culture on ORSA medium.


Aim:  To compare the impact of recommended intakes of fish and fish oil supplements on the omega-3 index and selected risk factors in patients with coronary heart disease.

Methods:  A 12-week crossover intervention comparing the impact of 1 g/day of long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids from fresh salmon or fish oil capsules on the omega-3 index and cardiovascular risk factors. Eleven patients with coronary heart disease, recruited from St. Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, participated in the study.

Results:  A decrease in blood pressure (>5 mmHg; P < 0.05) was observed after the fish but not the fish oil. The change in waist to hip ratio also favoured the fish intervention. Resting heart rate fell by a similar amount on both interventions, and the omega-3 index increased significantly on both; from 6% to 7–8% (P < 0.01). Blood lipids did not improve on either arm.

Conclusions:  In Australians with coronary heart disease, 1 g/day of long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid from fish or supplements over 12 weeks was effective in increasing the omega-3 index. Fish intake may have additional cardiovascular benefits beyond the omega-3 effect as evidenced by the substantial blood pressure reduction following the fish arm warranting examination in a larger study.


Increasing demographic diversity is one of the major workforce trends but evidence about its effects is conflicting. The possibility of yielding both positive and negative effects led Milliken and Martins [Milliken, F. J., & Martins, L. L. (1996). Searching for common threads: Understanding the multiple effects of diversity in organizational groups. Academy of Management Review , 21, 402–433.] to call diversity a "double-edged sword." In this article, we will focus on age and disability heterogeneity, 2 dimensions of diversity that are on the rise and share important commonalities but have not yet received the attention they deserve. We will outline similarities and differences between age and disability, review the literature on age and disability diversity effects on performance, and ultimately provide a conceptual model with variables that moderate the performance effects of age and disability diversity. We argue that to forge a single-edged sword (i.e., foster positive effects of age and disability diversity while preventing negative effects), organizations should pay specific attention to 3 types of moderators: (a) leadership behavior including leader–member exchange, transformational leadership, health-focused leadership, and top management leadership, (b) organizational climates including diversity climate, climate for inclusion, and age-diversity climate, and (c) human resources practices including diversity-related HR practices, age-specific and age-inclusive HR practices, and the more individual-centered approach of idiosyncratic deals. We conclude with an outlook on future research in the fields of age and disability diversity and practical recommendations for managers and organizations.


In conventional light microscopy, the depth of focus is severely limited. This limitation might be overcome by a light optical scanning procedure. In this procedure, the specimen surface is scanned point for point by a focused laser beam. The image of the specimen surface is generated by an electronic system, similar to the procedure used in the scanning electron microscope. Possibilities to develop a "laser-scanning-microscope" on the basis of available techniques (laser microirradiation, miniprocessors, light detecting systems, automatic focusing, holographic focusing etc.) are discussed. On account of its possibility to form images of high resolution and depth of focus, a laser-scanning-microscope might become a valuable tool in addition to conventional light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy.


Knowledge graph (KG for short) alignment aims at building a complete KG by linking the shared entities across complementary KGs. Existing approaches assume that KGs are static, despite the fact that almost every KG evolves over time. In this paper, we introduce the task of dynamic knowledge graph alignment, the main challenge of which is how to efficiently update entity embeddings for the evolving graph topology. Our key insight is to view the parameter matrix of GCN as a feature transformation operator and decouple the transformation process from the aggregation process. Based on that, we first propose a novel base algorithm (DINGAL-B) with topology-invariant mask gate and highway gate, which consistently outperforms 14 existing knowledge graph alignment methods in the static setting. More importantly, it naturally leads to two effective and efficient algorithms to align dynamic knowledge graph, including (1) DINGAL-O which leverages previous parameter matrices to update the embeddings of affected entities; and (2) DINGAL-U which resorts to newly obtained anchor links to fine-tune parameter matrices. Compared with their static counterpart (DINGAL-B), DINGAL-U and DINGAL-O are 10× and 100× faster respectively, with little alignment accuracy loss.


Henry Shrapnel invented an antipersonnel weapon capable of defragmenting with the explosion of charge. Modern grenades or improvised explosive devices may be seen as an evolution of Shrapnel's ammunition. Starting by analyzing the ballistics of these weapons, it is possible to understand the historical evolution of the management of skull fractures and penetrating brain injuries (PBIs). A circular crack line with a splinter at the center, depressed in bone, was a characteristic feature of fractures due to Shrapnel's bullet. Three longitudinal fissures, one medial and two lateral, may be present due to tangential blows. Craniectomy and/or fracture reduction were almost always necessary in these cases. The first document describing medical examination and therapeutic strategies for head-injured patients dates back to 1600 bc (the Edwin Smith Papyrus). Several doctors from the past century, such as Puppe, Matson, and Cushing, proposed different theories about skull fractures and the management of craniocerebral injuries, paving the way for diagnosing and treating these injuries. Shrapnel fractures required wider craniotomies and in the past surgeons had to deal with more severe injuries. Based on past military experiences during what could be called the postshrapnel age, guidelines for the management of PBIs were introduced in 2001. In these guidelines various concepts were reviewed, such as the importance of antibiotics and seizure prevention; included as well were prognostic factors such as hypotension, coagulopathy, respiratory distress, and Glasgow Coma Scale score. Furthermore, they highlight how it has not been possible to reach a common viewpoint on surgical management. Nevertheless, in contrast with the past, it is preferable to be less aggressive regarding retained fragments if there is no intracranial mass effect. Although military situations were useful in building basic principles for PBI guidelines, civilian PBIs differ noticeably from military ones. Therefore, there is a need to review modern guidelines in order to apply them in every situation.


Tungsten heavy alloys are particle composites; they occupy a unique position in materials because of their combination of high density, strength and ductility. The main focus of this study was to examine the effect of sintering conditions (temperature and time) on the microstructural parameters of tungsten heavy alloys. Alloys composed of 88%, 93% and 95% wt. of tungsten and either Ni: Fe (in the ratio of 7:3) or Ni: Co (in the ratio of 7:3) were consolidated into green compacts. Samples of each of the six resulting alloys were sintered in hydrogen atmosphere at different temperatures for different sintering holding times. The microstructural parameters of both types were found to be roughly similar at each temperature and holding time. At higher sintering temperature and longer sintering holding times there was a matrix gradient and the formation of FeNi intermetallic phases at tungsten matrix interfaces. The microstructural parameters showed that the W-Ni-Co alloys may have some advantage as a result of their small tungsten grains and the lower contiguity.


Because freezing samples decreases calpastatin activity and the application of exogenous calcium activates the calpain proteolytic system, thereby improving tenderness, the objective of this study was to determine whether freezing would enhance the effects of CaCl2 marination on the tenderness of beef steaks. Longissimus steaks were obtained from 10 beef steers 6 d postmortem. One-half of the steaks were frozen at -30 degrees C for 6 wk. The remaining steaks were treated fresh; one-half were subjected to a 150 mM CaCl2 marinade for 48 h. Frozen steaks were thawed and subjected to the same treatment. Treatments consisted of 1) fresh control, 2) fresh marinated, 3) frozen control, and 4) frozen marinated. Samples were taken before and after treatment (6 and 8 d) for calpastatin activity determination and d 8 for SDS-PAGE. Warner-Bratzler shear force values were measured 8 d postmortem. Data were analyzed using a paired comparison t-test procedure. Results showed that freezing and marination significantly decreased calpastatin activity. A .35-kg improvement (P = .07) in Warner-Bratzler shear force was observed with freezing, whereas a .78-kg improvement (P less than .01) in tenderness was observed with marination. However, prior freezing enhanced the effects of marination. Therefore, the decrease in calpastatin activity seemed to allow greater proteolysis by the calpains with the application of Ca2+. The SDS-PAGE of myofibril preparations indicated that more small polypeptide fragments (28 to 32 kDa) appeared and a 95-kDa fragment was more intense in the marinated samples than in control samples, indicating that proteolysis was enhanced.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


NCAA Division I Student Athlete Characteristics as Indicators of Academic Achievement and Graduation from College Bradley David Ridpath The purpose of this study was to determine if NCAA Division I student athlete characteristics of graduation, presented in the literature and previous research, can be generalized to student athletes in the Mid-American Conference using research based conclusions developed from this study. The study identified seven characteristics prominent in the literature and made conclusions to ascertain if information provided on the characteristics, as presented in the literature, can be generalized to the Mid-American Conference. The research population for this study was N=1430. The population represented student athletes at the 13 schools of the MidAmerican Conference. All student athletes represented in the selected population were seniors by NCAA eligibility standards and were within one academic year of receiving a baccalaureate degree. The researcher selected a proportional stratified sample (25%) of the population (n=358) and mailed a research-developed survey instrument, inspired by previous survey instruments and research, to the selected proportion of the population. Data were stored securely and complete anonymity was guaranteed. The analysis of the data indicated that information gleaned from the literature can be applied to student athletes in the Mid-American Conference based upon the research conclusions presented in this study. The characteristics of graduation prominently identified in the literature that formed the basis for this study were student athletes' perception of college coaches' emphasis on academics, the extent of use of specialized academic support services for student athletes, specific sport played in college, ethnicity, gender, NCAA high school core course grade point average, and score attained on SAT or ACT test. The analysis of the data specific to the student athletes in the Mid-American Conference revealed, as in the literature, that the constructs of gender, ethnicity, and sport played can have a significant impact on the academic achievement in the other listed categories and on potential for graduation. Ancillary findings were related to the academic achievement of Caucasian females and women basketball players in the conference.


Use of HLA-mismatched unrelated donors after myeloablative conditioning is an effective treatment of blood disorders when HLA-matched donors are not available. However, the feasibility of HLA-mismatched HCT following nonmyeloablative conditioning is not well established. We previously demonstrated in over 1200 patients (pts) that a nonmyeloablative conditioning regimen consisting of 2 Gy TBI and fludarabine (90 mg/m2) followed by post-grafting immunosuppression with MMF/CSP was an effective approach for HCT from 10/10 HLA-matched donors. Here we report the results of a clinical trial aimed at determining whether stable hematopoietic grafts from HLA-class I mismatched donors could be safely established after nonmyeloablative conditioning. Pts were conditioned with fludarabine and 2 Gy TBI, followed by extended immunosuppression with CSP (day −3 to +180; tapered by +365) and MMF (tid days 0 to +100; tapered by +150). 46 pts ineligible for myeloablative conditioning were enrolled on this multi-institutional study through April/07. 36 unrelated and 3 related donor-recipient pairs were mismatched in both the HVG and GVH vectors. 43 unrelated pairs were mismatched for at least one antigen (AG) (15 at HLA-A, 5 at HLA-B, 22 at HLA-C) except one pt who had two allele mismatches (HLA-A and B). All 3 related pairs were mismatched for one HLA-A AG. 13 pts, in addition to the AG mismatch, had an allelic mismatch (3 at HLA-A, 4 at HLA-B, 6 at HLA-C). All pts were matched for HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1 at the allele level. Diagnoses included NHL (n=17), HD (n=5), AML (n=11), ALL (n=5), CLL (n=3), MM (n=4) and MDS/AML (n=1). The median age of pts was 56 (range 13–69) years and median time from diagnosis to HCT was 32 (range 5–205) months. Disease status at time of HCT included CR (n=23), PR (n=11), stable disease (n=2), and refractory relapse (n=10). Before HCT, pts had received a median of 7 (range 2–15) courses of therapy. 43% had failed myeloablative HCT (autologous n=18; allogeneic n=2). All pts received G-CSF mobilized PBSC containing median doses of 7.3 ×106 CD34 and 2.4 × 108 CD3 cells /kg. 12 pts were not evaluable for the graft rejection outcome (3 early death, 7 mismatched in GVH vector only, 2 tandem auto-allo). The remaining pts showed median percentages of donor peripheral blood T cell, granulocyte and marrow chimerism of 100% at all time points (on days 28, 56, and 84). Two pts experienced graft rejection but had a successful 2nd HCT from the same or an alternative donor. 35 of the 46 pts developed acute GVHD (2 grade I, 21 grade II, 5 grade III, 7 grade IV) and 15 developed chronic GVHD. At 2 years, the cumulative probabilities of relapse/progression and non-relapse mortality were 30% and 45%, respectively. The 2 year Kaplan-Meier estimates of OS and PFS were 27% and 25%. This study demonstrates that nonmyeloablative conditioning using fludarabine and low-dose TBI can be successfully used for grafts from pts with HLA- class I mismatched donors.


PURPOSE
To investigate an Electronic Portal Imaging Device (EPID) coupled to a 2D array dosimeter to provide simultaneous imaging and dose verification.

METHODS
The novel dual detector configuration comprised of a 2D diode array dosimeter, referred to as a Magic Plate (MP) placed directly on a standard EPID. Dose response of the MP was evaluated by measuring the detector's response with respect to off-axis position and field size with 30 cm of solid water (SW) acting as a transit object in the beam. Measurements were performed with 3, 5, 10 and 15 mm SW build-up and compared to 2D ionisation chamber array (ICA) measurements and the PinnacleTM treatment planning system (TPS) at a source to detector distance of 150 cm with a 6 MV beam. Clinical dosimetric performance was evaluated by measuring a number of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) beams in transit geometry. Imaging performance of the EPID was quantified by measuring the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and spatial resolution. Images of a Rando phantom were used for qualitative assessment.

RESULTS
Measured MP off-axis and field size response agreed within 2% of TPS and ICA responses when measured using 15 mm SW build-up. Clinical IMRT beams had gamma pass rates of ≥95% at 3%/3mm criteria. Measured CNR and spatial resolution (f50) were 264.96, 210.6, and 0.41, 0.40 with build-up of 5 and 15 mm respectively for the dual detector configuration. CNR and spatial resolution of 643.9 and 0.41 were measured for standard EPID. CNR was quantitatively worse in the dual detector configuration. Differences in imaging performance were not visible in a qualitative assessment using a Rando phantom.

CONCLUSION
Combining a prototype MP 2D dosimeter with a conventional EPID did not significantly detract from the performance of either device and has the potential for simultaneous on-line patient transit dosimetry and image assessment in radiation therapy. Cancer Institute NSW Australia(Research Equipment Grant 10/REG/1-20) and Cancer Council NSW (Grant ID RG 1-06).


Molecular epidemiological studies of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) have concentrated on characterization of viral strains in tumour biopsy samples from Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) patients, mostly obtained in the United States and Europe. Tumour biopsies are a convenient source of viral DNA, as they have a high viral load compared to peripheral blood. However, sequences obtained from biopsies may not be representative of viral strains in asymptomatic subjects and information on ethnicity is often not available. Here, a population-based approach has been used to study the molecular and seroepidemiology of KSHV in isolated populations in Ecuador and Botswana. Amerindians in Ecuador had a variable prevalence of KSHV and all strains characterized were of subtype E, based on K1 sequencing. All Amerindian strains had predominant (P)-type K15 alleles and had sequences in both T0.7 and ORF 75 that appeared to be characteristic of these strains. The prevalence of KSHV in two ethnic groups in Botswana was extremely high. K1 sequences from both Bantu and San subjects were mostly of subtypes B and A5, which are typical of African KSHV strains, but the sequence from one San subject did not cluster with any known subtype. Considerable heterogeneity was seen in the T0.7 and ORF 75 genes in the San subjects and one had a minor (M)-type K15 allele. The heterogeneity of the KSHV strains found in these subjects from Botswana contrasts with the homogeneity of KSHV strains in Amerindians, reflecting differences in the evolutionary history of these populations.


Objectives: Prenatal and postpartum care for women with substance use is important due to increased risk of poor health outcomes. The influence of substance use on perinatal care utilization is not well characterized, especially postpartum care. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of substance use during pregnancy on prenatal and postpartum care utilization in a nationally representative sample and to identify maternal characteristics associated with inadequate prenatal and postpartum care among women with substance use. Methods: Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System data (2016–2018) from 8 states were used for this study. Logistic regression models adjusted for complex survey weights and confounder variables were used to estimate the odds of not receiving adequate prenatal care and postpartum care. Weighted Rao-Scott chi-square tests were used to examine maternal characteristics associated with care utilization among women who reported substance use during pregnancy. Results: The study included 15,131 women, with 5.3% who reported illicit substance use during pregnancy. In multivariable models, substance use was associated with an increase in the odds of not receiving adequate prenatal care (OR 1.69, CI 1.32, 2.17) and not receiving postpartum care (OR: 1.47, CI 1.10, 1.95). Among women who reported substance use, depression and smoking status were associated with not receiving adequate prenatal or postpartum care. Conclusions: Substance use during pregnancy is independently associated with disparities in prenatal and postpartum care access. Future studies are needed to identify how barriers lead to care inequalities and importantly, to identify strategies to improve care utilization.


Television advertisement is an effective medium that aims to market a product or service, because it combines audio and visuals. therefore television advertisement can effectively influence the audience to buy the product or service. Advertisement nowadays does not only convey promotional messages, but can also be a medium for delivering social messages. That is one form of the function of the media, which is to educate the public. The research entitled Representation of Morality in the Teh Botol Sosro Advertisement "Semeja Bersaudara" version analyzed the morality value in a television advertisement from ready-to-drink tea producers, Teh Botol Sosro entitled "Semeja Bersaudara" which began airing in early 2019. In this study researchers used Charles Sanders Peirce's Semiotics theory with triangular meaning analysis tools in the form of Signs, Objects and Interpretations. In addition, researchers also use representation theory from Stuart Hall in interpreting messages in advertisements. The results of this study found that the "Semeja Bersaudara" version of Teh Botol Sosro advertisement represented a message in the form of morality. There are nine values of morality that can be taken in this advertisement including, friendly attitude, sharing, empathy, help, not prejudice, no discrimination, harmony, tolerance between religious communities and cross-cultural tolerance. The message conveyed in this advertisement is how the general public can understand how every human action in social life has moral values, so that the public can understand and apply moral values in order to live a better life.


The most commonly used security system in the authentication method is the password. The ease of implementation is a major factor in the use of password-based systems and the use of insecure networks is still a threat for some applications, for example on this online ordering website based application. Where the seller must register in advance to be able to place an order. Therefore, it is necessary to have a mechanism to prevent the negative impact of various security attacks, one of which is by implementing a two factor authentication system, it can be built using a combination of username and password and validated ownership with dynamic passwords one time password. One method for generating One Time Password (OTP) is Time-based One Time Password (TOTP), this method generates a dynamic password that changes following a specified time lag. Where the password is generated through the Secure Hash Algorithm 256 (SHA-256) encryption process with the help of a pseudo random number generator that produces a 6-digit hexadecimal value. The results of the system testing at the beginning to the end of the system testing are the application of scenarios that obtain test results in the form of outputs and assessments with a range of values around 95% - 100%. The average results achieved are successful and appropriate based on the design carried out.


Cyproheptadine is a widely prescribed first-generation antihistamine, and due to its unique chemical structure, it has a popular off-label choice for a range of clinical conditions. Its efficacy is widely debated in the literature, but there are reports of hepatotoxicity as a rare adverse effect. Its benefits in migraine prophylaxis and appetite stimulation also underscore a highly overlapping clinical pathway that requires additional assessment and evaluation. The evidence suggests a baseline metabolic profile before initiation and assessment for co-occurring mental health conditions may improve overall response with evidence-based mental health interventions.


We present the BB-Tree, a fast and space-efficient index structure for processing multidimensional workloads in main memory. It uses a k-ary search tree for pruning and searching while keeping all data in leaf nodes. It linearizes the inner search tree and manages it in a cache-optimized array, with occasional re-organizations when data changes. To reduce the frequency of re-organizations, the BB-Tree introduces a novel architecture for leaf nodes, called bubble buckets, which automatically morphs between different representations based on their fill degree and are thus able to buffer large numbers of insertions in-place. We compare the BB-Tree to scanning, main-memory variants of the R^*-tree, the kd-tree, and the VA-file, and the PH-tree using workloads over real and synthetic data. The BB-Tree is the fastest index for range queries up to a selectivity of 20%, and achieves an exact-match query performance similar to that of the best point access method, and is the most space-efficient index structure.


The pediatric brain tumor medulloblastoma shows a characteristic pattern of metastasis, called leptomeningeal dissemination (LMD), in which tumor cells disseminate via the cerebrospinal fluid to the leptomeningeal surfaces of the brain and spinal cord. This pattern distinguishes medulloblastomas from other solid tumors, which metastasize through the bloodstream or lymphatic channels. The invasion-metastasis cascade, a widely accepted paradigm derived from studies of hematogenous spread of carcinomas, is envisioned as a multistep process, governed by three set of genes: initiation, progression, virulence genes. By contrast, our knowledge of the molecular mediators of medulloblastoma LMD is rudimentary. Initial insight into the genetic drivers of LMD came from a transposon insertion mutagenesis study (Wu et al, Nature 482: 529-33, 2012). Mobilizing the Sleeping Beauty transposon in cerebellar neural progenitor cells caused widespread dissemination of typically localized, nonmetastatic medulloblastomas in Patched+/- mice, in which Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) signaling is hyperactive. Candidate LMD genes were identified by sequencing the insertion sites and then mapping these sequences back to the mouse genome. To determine whether genes located at transposon insertion sites directly caused medulloblastomas to disseminate, we overexpressed candidate genes in Nestin+ neural progenitors in the cerebella of mice by retroviral transfer in combination with Shh and examined histological sections of brain and spinal cord during a 4-month observation period. Ectopic expression of the following Sleeping Beauty common insertion site genes shifted the in vivo growth characteristics of Shh-induced medulloblastomas from a localized pattern to a disseminated pattern: Eras (embryonic stem cell-expressed Ras), Lhx1 (LIM homeobox protein), Ccrk (cell cycle-related kinase), Akt (PI3K signaling protein), Arnt (hypoxia-inducible factor-1β), Gdi2 (Rab-GDP dissociation inhibitor), and Smad5 (TGF-β signal transducer). To elucidate the physiological traits conferred by these genes, we overexpressed them in a human medulloblastoma cell line (DAOY) and an immortalized, nontransformed cell line derived from mouse granule neuron precursors (SHH-NPD) and then quantified migration, invasiveness, and anchorage independence, growth characteristics that are closely associated with metastatic competence in carcinomas. Although the effects were quantitatively different in DAOY compared with SHH-NPD, all genes that induced LMD in vivo conferred these traits to cells in culture. We have used the set of genes discovered through Sleeping Beauty mutagenesis to begin constructing an LMD cascade, analogous to the invasion-metastasis cascade. Some LMD driver genes (Eras and Akt) enhanced the growth of the primary tumor, as indicated by shortened animal survival, while others did not. Therefore, we propose a two-category scheme for the LMD cascade, in which genes that increase primary tumor growth (Eras and Akt) are analogous to initiation/progression genes, whereas genes that only promote the growth and survival of disseminating cells (Lhx1, Ccrk, Arnt, Gdi2, and Smad5) are analogous to virulence genes. This simplified scheme will serve as a framework, upon which future research can build more sophisticated versions that better reflect the complexity of LMD. Citation Format: Daniel W. Fults. Functional genomics identifies drivers of medulloblastoma dissemination. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Advances in Brain Cancer Research; May 27-30, 2015; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(23 Suppl):Abstract nr IA27.


Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis (MAP) is the etiological agent of paratuberculosis, a chronic granulomatous enteritis that affects all ruminants worldwide. Some researchers have indicated a possible role of MAP in Crohn's disease. Despite extensive research and large and important advances in the past few decades, the etiology of Crohn's disease remains indefinite. The most probable transmission route of MAP from animals to humans is milk and dairy products. Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis has already been detected in milk samples worldwide, and some studies have reported that MAP is resistant to pasteurization. In Brazil, MAP has been reported in raw milk samples; however, Brazilian retail pasteurized milk has not yet been tested for viable MAP. The aim of this study was to investigate MAP in pasteurized milk in the region of Viçosa (Minas Gerais, Brazil). Thirty-seven samples were collected and processed for culture of MAP. One colony similar to MAP was observed and confirmed by IS900-nested PCR and sequencing. Analysis revealed 97 to 99% identity with the MAP K-10 strain. This study is the first report of the presence of MAP in retail pasteurized whole milk in Brazil.


Planar lightwave circuits based on III-nitride wide-bandgap semiconductors are proposed and the feasibility of developing III-nitride-based novel photonic integrated circuits for applications in fiber-optical communications is discussed. III-nitrides have low attenuation in the near-infrared wavelength region because of their wide bandgaps, while as semiconductors their refractive indexes can be modulated by carrier injection. III-nitrides are also well known for their ability to operate at high temperatures, high power levels and in harsh environments. These characteristics make III-nitrides ideal candidates for tunable optical phased-array (PHASAR) devices for optical communications. We have characterized the optical properties of Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/N epilayers in the 1550-nm wavelength region, including the refractive indexes and the impact of Al concentrations. Single-mode ridged optical waveguide devices using GaN-AlGaN heterostructures have been designed, fabricated and characterized for operation in the 1550-nm wavelength window. The birefringence of wurtzite GaN grown on sapphire substrate has been observed. Refractive indexes were found to be different for signal optical field perpendicular and parallel to the crystal c axis (n/sub /spl perp// /spl ne/ n/sub ///). More importantly, we found an approximately 10% change in the index difference /spl Delta/n=n/sub ///-n/sub /spl perp// with varying the waveguide orientation within the c plane, and a 60/spl deg/ periodicity was clearly observed. This is attributed to the hexagonal structure of the nitride materials. Various functional waveguide devices have been realized, including 2/spl times/2 directional couplers and eight-wavelength array-waveguide gratings. Theoretical predictions of temperature sensitivity and the efficiency of carrier-induced refractive change are provided.


Humanity faces one of its greatest challenges in the move from fossil-fuel based energy sources to alternative sources that do not produce greenhouse gases. New materials design is an important facet of the overall solution, since designed materials have the potential to increase efficiency in areas ranging from solar electricity generation to energy storage and distribution technologies. In that context, it is vital to be able to predict the properties of materials from basic physical principles. While traditional electronic structure techniques such as the ubiquitous density functional theory (DFT) are very important in this goal, there are many cases where current implementations of DFT fail in a design-important way. Among other solutions, quantum Monte Carlo techniques have emerged as a practical way to obtain predictive power for challenging materials. This perspective highlights some recent advances in this field, concentrating in particular on the effect that quantum Monte Carlo methods have and will have on our energy challenge. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Collodaria (Retaria) are important contributors to planktonic communities and biogeochemical processes (e.g. the biologic pump) in oligotrophic oceans. Similarly to corals, Collodaria live in symbiosis with dinoflagellate algae, a relationship that is thought to explain partly their ecological success. In the context of global change, the robustness of the symbiotic interaction and potential subsequent bleaching events are of primary interest for oceanic ecosystems functioning. In the present study, we compared the ultrastructure, morphology, symbiont density, photosynthetic capacities and respiration rates of colonial Collodaria exposed to a range of temperatures corresponding to natural conditions (21°C), moderate (25°C) and high (28°C) thermal stress. We showed that symbiont density immediately decreased when temperature rose to 25°C, while the overall Collodaria holobiont metabolic activity increased. When temperature reached 28°C, the holobiont respiration nearly stopped and the host morphological structure was largely damaged, as if the host tolerance threshold has been crossed. Over the course of the experiment, the photosynthetic capacities of remaining algal symbionts were stable, chloroplasts being the last degraded organelles in the microalgae. These results contribute to a better characterization and understanding of temperature-induced bleaching processes in planktonic photosymbioses.


on the 'Evaluation of the Caloric Test' and 'The Parallel Swing Test' does he show this, but also in the discussion after Dr Francis Fodor's contribution on electronystagmography. Here Jongkees produces a simple, illuminating and warning analogy of the difficulties of instrument flying to the early aviators. Dr William F House shows a film of the surgical removal of VIII nerve tumours by the translabyrinthine approach. He reports no deaths in a series of 45 cases, and a ninety per cent success in the preservation of normal facial nerve function. This is a remarkable achievement and testifies not only to House's personal skill, and his application to this work, but indicates a national difference in the presentation of these tumours. It is rare for an VIII nerve tumour to present in this country at the early stage which House would consider suitable for his operation.


BACKGROUND
Persons with moderate to severe TBI are at increased risk for unintentional injury or harm in the home and community; however, there is currently no standard measure of safety risk they face now and in the future.

OBJECTIVE
To develop comprehensive and content valid scales and item pools for assessing safety and risk for persons with moderate to severe traumatic brain injuries.

METHOD
Qualitative psychometric methods for developing scales and items were used including literature review, item development and revision, focus groups with interdisciplinary rehabilitation staff (n = 26) for rating content validity, and cognitive interviewing of TBI family members (n = 9) for assuring item clarity.

RESULTS
The Safety Assessment Measure is comprised of 6 primary scales - Cognitive Capacity, Visuomotor Capacity, Wheelchair Use, Risk Perception, Self-Regulation, and Compliance Failures with Safety Recommendations - in which family caregivers or clinicians rate the risk for unintentional injury or harm in adults who have sustained moderate or severe TBI. The scale item pools encompass a broad spectrum of everyday activities that pose risk in the home and community and were rated as having excellent levels of content validity.

CONCLUSIONS
The Safety Assessment Measure scales and items cover a broad range of instrumental activities of daily living that can increase the risk of unintentional injuries or harm. Empirical evidence suggests that the Safety Assessment Measure items have excellent content validity. Future research should use modern psychometric methods to examine each scale unidimensionality, model fit, and precision.


As a result of low fertility rates and high life expectancy, the current demographic trends in Sri Lanka include a declining share of children and increasing share of elderly, and (for now) an increasing working age population. Sri Lanka has a unique window of opportunity to take advantage of the high share of working age population to stimulate economic growth, but the other two emerging population issues spur questions on their own. In this context, the report discusses some of the economic implications of demographic transition in Sri Lanka, focusing on employment and productivity related issues on one side; and performance of cash transfer programs aiming to assist the poor and vulnerable groups on the other. This report quantifies Sri Lanka's demographic change by providing updated population projections and by applying National Transfers Accounts methodology documenting how the demographic change and aging contribute to life-cycle deficit and to Sri Lanka's employment and labor market. The challenges and opportunities associated with the upcoming demographic transition are highlighted, focusing on the functioning of the labor markets and the social safety net system. The report discusses different avenues that the country can take to make its labor market more efficient and inclusive, and offset some of the disadvantages faced by the poor and vulnerable households. The analysis in this report suggests that timely policy actions can enable Sri Lanka to effectively cope with its changing demographic structure.


Graph symmetries intervene in diverse applications, from enumeration, to graph structure compression, to the discovery of graph dynamics (e.g., node arrival order inference). Whereas Erdős‐Rényi graphs are typically asymmetric, real networks are highly symmetric. So a natural question is whether preferential attachment graphs, where in each step a new node with m edges is added, exhibit any symmetry. In recent work it was proved that preferential attachment graphs are symmetric for m = 1, and there is some nonnegligible probability of symmetry for m = 2. It was conjectured that these graphs are asymmetric when m ≥ 3. We settle this conjecture in the affirmative, then use it to estimate the structural entropy of the model. To do this, we also give bounds on the number of ways that the given graph structure could have arisen by preferential attachment. These results have further implications for information theoretic problems of interest on preferential attachment graphs.


Introduction: According to the Global TB control report of 2013, "Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major global health problem. In 2012, an estimated 8.6 million people developed TB and 1.3 million died from the disease. Two main sputum smear microscopy techniques are used for TB diagnosis: Fluorescence microscopy and conventional microscopy. Fluorescence microscopy is a more expensive diagnostic method because of the high costs of the microscopy unit and its maintenance. Therefore, conventional microscopy is more appropriate for use in developing countries. Methods: This paper presents a new method for detecting tuberculosis bacillus in conventional sputum smear microscopy. The method consists of two main steps, bacillus segmentation and post-processing. In the fi rst step, the scalar selection technique was used to select input variables for the segmentation classifi ers from four color spaces. Thirty features were used, including the subtractions of the color components of different color spaces. In the post-processing step, three fi lters were used to separate bacilli from artifact: a size fi lter, a geometric fi lter and a Rule-based fi lter that uses the components of the RGB color space. Results: In bacillus identifi cation, an overall sensitivity of 96.80% and an error rate of 3.38% were obtained. An image database with 120-sputum-smear microscopy slices of 12 patients with objects marked as bacillus, agglomerated bacillus and artifact was generated and is now available online. Conclusions: The best results were obtained with a support vector machine in bacillus segmentation associated with the application of the three post-processing fi lters.


This paper investigates the vibrations that occurred on the blisk rotor of a 1.5-stage transonic research compressor designed for aerodynamic performance validation and tested in various configurations at Technische Universitat Darmstadt.During the experimental test campaign self-excited blade vibrations were found near the aerodynamic stability limit of the compressor. The vibration was identified as flutter of the first torsion mode and occurred at design speed as well as in the part-speed region. Numerical investigations of the flutter event at design speed confirmed negative aerodynamic damping for the first torsion mode, but showed a strong dependency of aerodynamic damping on blade tip clearance.In order to experimentally validate the relation between blade tip clearance and aerodynamic damping, the compressor tests were repeated with enlarged blade tip clearance for which stability of the torsion mode was predicted.During this second experimental campaign, strong vibrations of a different mode limited compressor operation. An investigation of this second type of vibration found rotating instabilities to be the source of the vibration. The rotating instabilities first occur as an aerodynamic phenomenon and then develop into self-excited vibration of critical amplitude.In a third experimental campaign, the same compressor was tested with reference blade tip clearance and a non-axisymmetric casing treatment. Performance evaluation of this configuration repeatedly showed a significant gain in operating range and pressure ratio. The gain in operating range means that the casing treatment successfully suppresses the previously encountered flutter onset. The aeroelastic potential of the non-axisymmetric casing treatment is validated by means of the unsteady compressor data.By giving a description of all of above configurations and the corresponding vibratory behavior, this paper contains a comprehensive summary of the different types of blade vibration encountered with a single transonic compressor rotor. By investigating the mechanisms behind the vibrations, this paper contributes to the understanding of flow induced blade vibration. It also gives evidence to the dominant role of the tip clearance vortex in the fluid-structure-interaction of tip critical transonic compressors. The aeroelastic evaluation of the non-axisymmetric casing treatment is beneficial for the design of next generation casing treatments for vibration control.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


Kaposi sarcoma is a multifocal neoplasm that may involve the viscera as well as the skin. It cannot be categorized with certainty and at present must be considered a disease of unknown cause that demonstrates some features of a vascular neoplasm with a malignant potential. Kaposi lesions may undergo malignant change and metastasize. The disease is usually fatal in those patients with multiple visceral lesions. Two patients, one with a rapid course and one with a slow course, had widespread visceral involvement as found at necropsy. There was a great variability in the histopathological appearance of the tumors, but at death most of them appeared to be angiosarcomas. The lesions on the skin were more typical histopathologically of Kaposi hemorrhagic sarcoma, although in patient 1 there was a more anaplastic type of Kaposi sarcoma in the skin.