recognition of the evolution of dogma, these men do not hesitate to affirm that the form, though not the content, of the dogmas has changed in the past and should change today, as, for example, from Thomism to existentialism. This is in contrast to the position of the Catholic Modernists at the beginning of this century who rejected both the form and the content of many dogmas. Berkouwer summarizes the teachings of Pope Pius XI1 in his encyclical Hummi Generis (1950) and its possible application to the "new theology." Finally, Berkouwer takes notice of such irenical efforts as von Balthasar's thesis that "on the issue of natural theology . . . there is no actual difference between Barth and Rome" (page 56), and Hans Kung's effort to show that "there is no difference in principle between the doctrine of justification of the Roman Catholic Church and that of Karl Barth" (page 57). One may ask whether Trent has been revoked! At any rate, Roman Catholic theology is not as static and monolithic as some think. James Leo Garrett


It is shown that the Dirac-nambu-Goto brane can be described as a point particle in an infinite dimensional brane space with a particular metric. This suggests a generalization to brane spaces with arbitrary metric, including the "flat" metric. Then quantization of such a system is straightforward: it is just like quantization of a bunch of non interacting particles. This leads us to a system of a continuous set of scalar fields. For a particular choice of the metric in the space of fields we find that the classical Dirac-Nambu-Goto brane theory arises as an effective theory of such an underlying quantum field theory. Quantization of branes is important for the brane world scenarios, and thus for "quantum gravity".


Therapeutic doses of methylphenidate hydrochloride, given for the minimal cerebral dysfunction syndrome, were found to raise the serum levels of primidone, diphenylhydantoin sodium, and phenobarbital in a child. In this patient, diphenylhydantoin levels rose from therapeutic to toxic levels and ataxia was produced. To explain this apparent inhibition of drug metabolism, experiments in four adult male volunteers were performed. Methylphenidate slowed the rate of disappearance of ethyl biscoumacetate from the serum. This suggests that enhanced anticoagulant action may occur in the presence of methylphenidate.


Spinal cord infarction (SCI) causes acute spinal cord dysfunction with high morbidity. Without an inciting event such as a surgical procedure, a definitive diagnosis may be challenging. Thus, patients with a spontaneous (i e, non-traumatic, non-surgical) SCI are often misdiagnosed and the radiological distinction between SCI and other conditions with similar symptoms is more difficult than in cerebral infarction. Compared to cerebral infarction, SCI is rare and only accounts for approximately 1.2% of all strokes. SCI is usually localized to the anterior spinal artery area, causing the anterior spinal artery syndrome. Misdiagnosis may lead to unnecessary and possibly deleterious treatments as well as missed secondary stroke prevention. In this review, a typical case, an overview of the disease and newly proposed diagnostic criteria are presented.


SAGA is a high-level programming interface which provides the ability to develop distributed applications in aninfrastructure independent way. In an earlier paper, we discussed how SAGA was used to develop a version of MapReduce which provided the user with the ability to control the relative placement of compute and data, whilst utilizing different distributed infrastructure. In this paper, we use the SAGA-based implementation of MapReduce, and demonstrate its interoperability across Clouds and Grids. We discuss how a range of cloud adaptors have beendeveloped for SAGA. The major contribution of this paper isthe demonstration – possibly the first ever, of interoperability between different Clouds and Grids, without any changes to the application. We analyse the performance of SAGA-MapReduce when using multiple, different, heterogeneous infrastructure concurrently for the same problem instance; However, we do not strive to provide a rigorous performance model, but to provide a proof-of-concept of application-level interoperabilityand illustrate its importance


Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) calibrations were developed for the discrimination of Chinese hawthorn (Crataegus pinnatifida Bge. var. major) fruit from three geographical regions as well as for the estimation of the total sugar, total acid, total phenolic content, and total antioxidant activity. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used for the discrimination of the fruit on the basis of their geographical origin. Three pattern recognition methods, linear discriminant analysis, partial least-squares-discriminant analysis, and back-propagation artificial neural networks, were applied to classify and compare these samples. Furthermore, three multivariate calibration models based on the first derivative NIR spectroscopy, partial least-squares regression, back-propagation artificial neural networks, and least-squares-support vector machines, were constructed for quantitative analysis of the four analytes, total sugar, total acid, total phenolic content, and total antioxidant activity, and validated by prediction data sets.


We have derived the transfer functions for two types of six-port quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) modulators and investigated their performances in terms of carrier leakage, Gray mapping, and conversion efficiencies. Our result shows that the carrier leakage is minimized when GammaON = -GammaOFF. In addition, our analysis reveals here that only the parallel six-port QPSK modulator demonstrates a Gray mapping feature. Our analysis further proves that the serial and parallel modulator give a maximum conversion efficiency of 100% and 50%, respectively, but the efficiency of the serial modulator deteriorates faster than the parallel modulator when the terminations are not ideal. We have also shown that the serial modulator requires tighter design tolerances due to its cascaded topology. Our theoretical and measured results show good agreements with the six-port modulators developed for 4.2 GHz.


Background: Standard BRCA genetic testing criteria include young age of diagnosis, family history, and Jewish ancestry. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of these criteria on BRCA test utilization in breast cancer patients. Methods: Breast cancer patients aged 18 to 64 years living in Pennsylvania in 2007 completed a survey on family history of breast and ovarian cancer and BRCA testing (N = 2,213). Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate odds of BRCA testing by patient characteristics, and predicted probabilities of testing were calculated for several clinical scenarios. Results: Young age at diagnosis (<50 years) was strongly associated with BRCA testing, with women diagnosed before age 50 years having nearly five times the odds of receiving BRCA testing compared to women diagnosed at age 50 or older (OR = 4.81; 95% CI, 3.85–6.00; P < 0.001). Despite a similar BRCA mutation prevalence estimate (8–10%), a young Jewish patient <50 years with no family history had markedly higher predicted probability of testing (63%) compared with an older, non-Jewish breast cancer patient with more than one first-degree relative (43%). Conclusion: Age at diagnosis, Jewish ancestry, and both maternal and paternal family history are strongly predictive of BRCA testing. However, among women diagnosed at age 50 or older, family history may be an underused criterion that may benefit from targeted intervention. Impact: Robust methods specific to ascertaining detailed family history, such as through electronic medical records, are needed to accurately identify patients for BRCA testing. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 22(10); 1778–85. ©2013 AACR.


Purpose: This study was conducted to examine differences in health care utilization and related costs between before and after the introduction of the designated doctor system, and to find out factors making the differences. Methods: Data were collected from 200 medical aid beneficiaries having one or more chronic diseases, registered in the designated doctor system during the year of 2012, and the relationship between the use of health services and claimed medical expenses was analyzed through paired t-test and multiple regression analysis using the SPSS 18.0 program. Results: There was a decrease in the number of total benefit days and the number of outpatient and medication days, but some cases showed an increase after the designation of medical institution. In general, hospital stay increased after the introduction of the system. However, the number of medical institutions utilized was reduced in most cases after designation. Conversely, medical expenses increased in most cases after the designation of medical institution. Conclusion: These results suggest that a detailed scheme to designate medical institutions should be made in consideration of the seriousness of illness and classification of medical institutions not only for the beneficiaries' enhanced health but for the effective management of medical aid fund.


The study surveyed wood chipping operations in order to determine the exposure of chipper operators to wood dust and suggest suitable countermeasures. The survey included both industrial and small-scale chipping operations, all located in Central Italy, on the Apennine mountain range. During the survey, 60 samples were collected using standardized methods. For the purpose of the tests, each operator carried a wearable active sampler connected to a suction pump. When operators sat inside an enclosed cab, samples were also collected outside the cab in order to gauge the dust abatement effect of a protected work station. Exposure to dust varied widely with wood conditions and machine productivity, and only occasionally exceeded the 5mg m(-3) legal limit. Operators working inside a cab were three times less exposed than operators working outside, and they were never exposed to concentrations exceeding the legal limit. It is adviceable that people working full-time as chipper operators are positioned inside an enclosed cab, for limiting their exposure to wood dust. Small-scale operators are generally part-timers, which further reduces their long-term exposure.


FDM process is a kind of additive manufacturing method for constructing three-dimensional parts made of semi molten polymer directly by extruding the raw material through a nozzle on the platform in a layer-by-layer fashion. Unique advantages such as simplicity of operation, high production rate and low cost (compared with other methods of AM) makes the process very attractive in recent years. The deviation of the dimensions of the parts from their corresponding CAD models is greatly affected by the process parameters. In this study, the effects of two parameters of contour width and built orientation on the exterior dimensional accuracy were analyzed by a prediction and compensation error model. The results show that the increase in contour width reduces the dimensional accuracy and the built orientation of 45o has the highest dimensional accuracy.


The use of arrays and records in modern hardware-description languages (HDL) allows designs to be modeled at very high levels of abstraction. However, the support for these complex data types in current synthesis tools is very limited. This paper presents a comprehensive scheme to synthesize aggregate data types such as arrays and records, in a very general manner. The approach consists of mapping objects (variables and signals) of aggregate data types onto one-dimensional vectors, and generating specialized addressing/decoding hardware to be able to access any field of the data type. Arrays of multiple dimensions and any level of nesting of arrays and records are supported. This paper describes the whole process, from the language specification to the actual hardware structures created by synthesis.


Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common cancers with increasing rates of incidence. Bone metastasis and drug resistance are the most serious threat faced by patients following a delayed diagnosis of cancer, which might lead to treatment failure and death. The theoretical model of cancer stem cells (CSCs) explains the diverse molecular characteristics of cancer as well as its relapse, metastasis and drug resistance. Prostate cancer involves heterogeneous cells community, including prostate cancer stem cells as an important component. These subtypes of cancer cells are usually monoclonal, expressing specific biomarkers and exhibiting self-renewal and differentiation capacity. Therefore, therapies that target CSCs might be more effective in overcome drug resistance and metastasis. Thus, anti-CSCs therapies differ from the traditional anti-proliferative approach. We focus here on reviewing the effects of prostate CSCs on bone metastasis and resistance to traditional treatment in PCa, and report new clinical strategies that address CSC-based tumorigenesis.


The demand for remote sensing satellites is ever increasing due to their potential applications in many areas such as agriculture, forestry, water resources and so on. One of the key concerns in remote sensing satellite applications is that the accuracy of the attitude and orbit control must be maintained at a high level. In general applications, measurement of the attitude using only one type of sensor is satisfactory. However, in applications where a high precision of attitude control is required, several types of sensor need to be integrated together to ensure high measurement accuracy. In these cases, data fusion is required to process the information collected from different sensors. The least mean square method is commonly used for data fusion. This method is simple to use but not accurate enough. The Kalman filter (KF) is an alternative choice, which produces more accurate results, but a conventional KF fails to ensure error convergence due to limited knowledge of the system's dynamic model and measurement noise. In this paper, a modified KF is proposed to overcome the error divergence problem. The possible decrease in the signal processing results which appears in the classical KF can be avoided. The effectiveness of this approach has been demonstrated through a simulation study of the attitude measurement by the attitude and orbit control system of a remote sensing satellite used by the China Astronautic Board.


Context: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is one of the most dangerous viral diseases that started spreading in China in 2019 and has caused many deaths so far. Therefore, this study aimed to systematically review studies on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of coronavirus in infants and children. Evidence Acquisition: This is a systematic review study conducted in PubMed/Medline, Scopus, Embase, Cochrane Library, Science Direct, and Web of Science (ISI) databases on October 8 2020. Also, we searched Google Scholar to find all in-press articles. To extract data, a checklist was used, which included the author's name, year of publication, purpose, age group of patients under study, and the protocol applied for coronavirus prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. The search was done with AND, OR, NOT strategies. The results of the study were reported in a descriptive manner using Endnote version 8 software. Results: According to the results of the basic search, 120 articles were extracted on the management of coronavirus. Of the articles extracted, 30 were articles related to children, of which only eight developed protocols for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment in infants and children. Of the studies extracted, six were from China, one from Iran, and one from Australia. It should be noted that the protocols for infants were extracted from two studies on infants and four studies on the pediatric group. Conclusions: It is proposed to consider and study this systematic review of coronavirus management in infants and children.


A low surface resistance, Rs, is central to the success of radio-frequency and microwave applications of HTS. The authors show how thick films of YBCO can be processed in such a manner that low Rs films may be prepared over large areas, and on curved surfaces, using inexpensive substrates. This raises the possibility of a range of applications, some of which are described. The frequency dependence of Rs is also discussed.


Moderating Influence as a Design Principle for Human-Swarm Interaction C. Chace Ashcraft Department of Computer Science, BYU Master of Science Robot swarms have recently become of interest in both industry and academia for their potential to perform various difficult or dangerous tasks efficiently. As real robot swarms become more of a possibility, many desire swarms to be controlled or directed by a human, which raises questions regarding how that should be done. Part of the challenge of human-swarm interaction is the difficulty of understanding swarm state and how to drive the swarm to produce emergent behaviors. Human input could inhibit desirable swarm behaviors if their input is poor and has sufficient influence over swarm agents, affecting its overall performance. Thus, with too little influence, human input is useless, but with too much, it can be destructive. We suggest that there is some middle level, or interval, of human influence that allows the swarm to take advantage of useful human input while minimizing the effect of destructive input. Further, we propose that human-swarm interaction schemes can be designed to maintain an appropriate level of human influence over the swarm and maintain or improve swarm performance in the presence of both useful and destructive human input. We test this theory by implementing a piece of software to dynamically moderate influence and then testing it with a simulated honey bee colony performing nest site selection, simulated human input, and actual human input via a user study. The results suggest that moderating influence, as suggested, is important for maintaining high performance in the presence of both useful and destructive human input. However, while our software seems to successfully moderate influence with simulated human input, it fails to do so with actual human input.


The authors show how an 'adiabatic' approximation to the usual coupled-channels equations gives a simple way of calculating and understanding the sub-barrier fusion cross sections in rotational nuclei. The effect of coupling of a 0+ ground state to a low-lying 2+ excited state may be calculated by solving two elastic scattering problems with central potentials differing by an amount related to the coupling strength. The important feature of this method is that the full angular momentum algebra is included rigorously, allowing all S-matrix elements of physical interest to be generated from the two elastic S-matrices obtained from a standard optical-model code. In particular, the inelastic cross section may be obtained in a manner which is numerically simpler than the distorted-wave Born approximation and which is also more accurate for strongly deformed systems. The observed enhancement in sub-barrier fusion cross sections for deformed heavy ions can be understood simply in this approximation and the coupling to excited states leads to a simple phenomenological expression which is an extension of the formula of Wong (1973). For a given deformation the enhancement is shown to be more important for systems with a large Coulomb barrier.


Transmit diversity schemes have been studied for high spectral-efficiency and high bit-rate transmission, such as multi-input multi-output (MIMO) systems. In the MIMO system, forward error correction coding is essential for high quality communications. Recently, low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes have attracted much attention as good error correcting codes like turbo codes. LDPC codes have been applied to MIMO systems, where we refer to the system as the MIMO-LDPC. In this paper, we propose a new MIMO-LDPC system with iterative turbo decoding (MIMO-LDPC-TD) using two LDPC encoders and two LDPC decoders to improve the performance of the MIMO-LDPC. Since each decoder in the MIMO-LDPC-TD is smaller than that in the MIMO-LDPC, the decoding complexity at each decoder in the MIMO-LDPC-TD is less than that in the MIMO-LDPC. We also compare the performance of the MIMO-LDPC with that of the turbo coded MIMO systems (MIMO-turbo) on flat Rayleigh fading channels. We show that the MIMO-LDPC-TD can achieve the good error rate performance with reduced decoding complexity at each decoder on it flat Rayleigh fading channel, particularly on a slow fading channel. We also show that the MIMO-LDPC can achieve the better error rate performance than the MIMO-turbo on a fast Rayleigh fading channel.


An improved image resolution in thermo-transfer duplicating processes is accomplished by means of dispersing a plurality of thermally conductive particles in the dye-wax layer of transfer material used in such processes and applying an electrical or magnetic field to the transfer material layer sufficient to orient and align the particles parallel to the direction of the field. In this way the improved dye-wax layer of transfer material is capable of greater thermal conductivity in the direction transverse to the layer than in the lateral direction of the layer.


This paper presents a new class of quasi-elliptic pass-band filters in substrate-integrated waveguide technology, which exhibits compact size and modular geometry. These filters are based on mushroom-shaped metallic resonators, and they can be easily implemented using a standard dual-layer printed circuit board manufacturing process. The presented filters exploit non-resonating modes to obtain coupling between non-adjacent nodes in the case of in-line geometry. The resulting structure is very compact and capable of transmission zeros. In this work, the singlet configuration is preliminarily investigated, and a parametric study is performed. The design of three-pole, four-pole, and higher-order filters is illustrated with examples and thoroughly discussed. A four-pole filter operating at the frequency of 4 GHz has been manufactured and experimentally verified, to validate the proposed technique.


The article considers the main problems of organization of a car service enterprise and management of already existing enterprise, the main directions of work in improvement of system of regulation of automotive service activity.


High degree of electron spin polarization is of crucial importance in operation of spintronic devices. We study the propagation of spin-polarized electrons through a boundary between two n-type semiconductor regions with different doping levels. We assume that inhomogeneous spin polarization is created/injected locally and driven through the boundary by the electric field. The electric field distribution and spin polarization distribution are calculated within a two-component drift-diffusion transport model. We show that an initially created narrow region of spin polarization can be further compressed and amplified near the boundary. Since the boundary involves variation of doping but no real interface between two semiconductor materials, no significant spin-polarization loss is expected. The proposed mechanism will be therefore useful in designing new spintronic devices.


It has previously been shown that granite workers with heavy exposure to silica had glomerular and proximal tubular dysfunction evidenced by increased urinary excretions of albumin, alpha-1-microglobulin (AMG), and beta-N-acetyl-glucosaminidase (NAG). The investigation was replicated in another group of granite workers to further elucidate the exposure effect relation. The urinary excretion of albumin, alpha-1-microglobulin (AMG), beta-2-microglobulin (BMG), and beta-N-acetyl-glucosaminidase (NAG) was determined in two groups of granite workers with low and high exposure to silica. Low molecular weight proteinuria and enzymuria were significantly correlated with duration of exposure in the high but not the low exposure group. These increases were most pronounced in those with 10 or more years of heavy exposure, and in those with radiological evidence of pulmonary fibrosis, particularly those with rounded small opacities denoting classical silicosis. These results provide further evidence that prolonged and heavy exposure to silica is associated with nephrotoxic effects in granite workers.


In 19 patients with unstable angina pectoris at rest, plasma levels of the platelet-derived proteins β-thromboglobulin and platelet factor 4 were significantly elevated in blood samples obtained during or within 4 hours after episodes of angina, but were usually normal during quiescent intervals. Plasma levels of the arachidonic acid metabolite thromboxane B2 were less clearly related to angina, and there was no association of angina with levels of the coagulation product fibrinopeptide A. This demonstration of an association of platelet activation and secretion with unstable angina pectoris by radioimmunoassay of circulating platelet constituents offers a new approach to assessment of therapy in ischemic heart disease and suggests that agents that alter platelet function should be evaluated in patients with unstable angina.


In recent years, Wireless Powered Communication Network (WPCN) has been a promising technology that can be applied to existing low-power sensor networks and the Internet of Things (IoT). Sensor nodes or IoT devices are usually battery-powered. It is possible to use naturally collectable energy such as solar and wind without using a battery, but this is not a stable supply of energy. Therefore, the idea of operating a sensor network by separately setting a base station that continuously supplies power with radio waves has been presented. ThMris paper proposes an approach for how to combine Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) and Time-Division Multiple Access (TDMA) among various multiple access protocols applicable to wireless powered communication networks. There are some problems using TDMA alone. If a time slot is allocated so that the sum-throughput is maximized, the fairness of nodes is not guaranteed. To cope with these shortcomings, NOMA, which is known as a method to improve fairness, is mixed. Our approach is that cells are divided into sectors so that TDMA is used among sectors while NOMA is used within sectors. In addition, optimization of the sector by sector time allocation for maximum sum-throughput can lead to residual energy in certain sectors. Therefore, a directional digital beamforming adapted to the transmission for each sector is used for efficient energy transmission.
Unlike the previous user clustering, we attempt to generalize the number of nodes for NOMA from the fixed two nodes to any nodes by introducing the sector-based system model. The simulation results show that there is a trade-off between the sum-throughput and fairness because the sum-throughput increases but the fairness decreases as the number of sectors increases. As a result, we can suggest that a balanced range lies in between three and six sectors to satisfy both the sum-throughput and fairness at the same time. Finally, it is proven that our hybrid approach improves fairness significantly with the increasing number of nodes, as compared to the original TDMA only.


Ship license plate recognition is challenging due to the diversity of plate locations and text types. This paper proposes a DCNN-based (deep convolutional neural network) online adaptive real-time ship license plate recognition approach, namely, DRASLPR, which consists of three steps. First, it uses a Single Shot MultiBox Detector (SSD) to detect a ship. Then, it detects the ship license plate with a designed detector. Third, DRASLPR recognizes the ship license plate. The proposed DRASLPR has been deployed at Dongying Port, China and the running results show the effectiveness of DRASLPR.


New scholarly insights about the sculptor and altar builder Antonio Michelazzi (Gradisca d'Isonzo, 1707 – Rijeka, 1771) have revealed him as a far more complex creative personality than it has been known so far. In this paper, the authors have attributed to him the marble statues of St John the Baptist and St Mark on the high altar of the parish church of San Biagio in Cinto Caomaggiore. Michelazzi's authorship of the marble altar of the Holy Cross in the parish church of the Assumption of Mary in Rijeka has also been confirmed, based on a certificate from 1740 on the receipt of 150 gold coins for work on this altar. Besides Michelazzi's statues in Cinto, there is a statue of Faith on the high altar, identified as work of the Venetian sculptor Francesco Cabianca (Venice, 1666-1737). A number of other sculptures have been attributed to him, including two marble angels in the parish church of Preganziol, which have been dated in 1697 and were originally located in the church of San Cristoforo in Udine. Cabianca is the author of four marble statues of the Evangelists (auction house), as well as of sculptural decoration on the high altar of the parish church of Sant'Andrea in Cereda. His catalogue of private commissions has been enriched with five newly attributed marble busts from the second decade of the 18th century. These include the busts of Flora and Apollo in the Winter Garden of Saint Petersburg, a bust of a girl (auction house) and two busts of girls from the convent of San Lazzaro degli Armeni in Venice. The marble relief of Ecce Homo in the church of Il Redentore in Venice and the angels on the altar of the Blessed Sacrament in the church of St Simeon in Zadar have also been attributed to Cabianca. Finally, a terracotta sculpture of St John the Evangelist (auction house) has been identified as the first model for a large marble statue of the same saint at the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista in Venice.


Abstract A novel environmental friendly plasticizer (TPE) derived from tung oil fatty acid with long fatty acid chain and high degree of branching was synthesized. Chemical structure of the obtained TPE was characterized with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and 1H NMR. TPE was used to prepare plasticized PVC blends as main plasticizer. Thermal stability, mechanical properties and migration resistance of poly (vinyl chloride) plasticized with TPE were investigated. The results showed that torque data of plasticized PVC blends reached 12.4 N·m when the mass of the TPE was 50 wt.%. TPE improved the thermal stability of PVC blends obviously than dioctyl phthalate (DOP). The leaching tests showed that PVC plasticized with TPE were with higher migration resistance than that of DOP. The excellent thermal stability and high migration resistance of PVC blends showed high application value for TPE.


We address the multiple-target coverage problem (MTCP) in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). We also propose an energy-efficient sensor-scheduling algorithm for multiple-target coverage (MTC) that considers both the transmitting energy for collected data and overlapped targets. We introduce two algorithms: one optimal, the other heuristic. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithms can contribute to extending the lifetime of network and that the heuristic algorithm is more practical than the optimal algorithm with respect to complexity.


The presence and the ontogeny of class I and class II major histocompatibility (MHC) antigens were investigated on human trophoblast cells in single cell suspensions of collagenase dispersed placentae during the first trimester of pregnancy by using a highly sensitive radioautographic approach. Cells were treated with monoclonal anti-HLA-A,B,C or anti-HLA-DR (or anti-human Ia) antibodies followed by 125I-labeled protein A, normal mouse serum, or medium alone used as negative controls, and monoclonal antibodies against trophoblast specific antigenic markers (anti-Trop 2, NDOG-1, and NDOG-2) used as positive controls for specificity of trophoblast labeling. Tissue controls were provided by Ficoll-paque-separated adult human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL), and placental lymphocytes were used as additional internal controls. Results revealed variable but specific labeling of cytotrophoblast cells for class I but not class II MHC antigens at all gestational stages during the first trimester. The incidence of HLA-A,B,C antigen-bearing cytotrophoblast cells in early gestational (5 to 8 wk) placentae was high (75 to 91%) in the minority, but was low to medium (35 to 66%) in placentae at later gestational intervals (9 to 12 wk). The initial antigen density on the labeled cytotrophoblast cells as reflected by the median silver grain counts per unit area was approximately 75% of that noted on adult PBL or placental lymphocytes at 5 to 7 wk. The density then dropped to 50% of the initial level by the eighth week of gestation with no further change up to 12 wk. Syncytiotrophoblast cells revealed no appreciable labeling for either antigen class. This could not be explained by antigen stripping due to the collagenase dispersion procedure; specific labeling was not detectable on the syncytiotrophoblast cell layer in situ in histologic sections after intact chorionic villi had been directly exposed to 125I-labeled monoclonal anti-class I antibody. These results are qualitatively similar to our findings in the mouse in revealing the presence of class I MHC antigens on a major population of trophoblast cells.


The government failed to provide transparency when hastily awarding billions of pounds worth of contracts during the covid-19 pandemic, the UK's public spending watchdog has concluded.

The National Audit Office (NAO) said that the government had failed to provide adequate documentation showing how some key decisions were reached, including why particular suppliers were chosen or how potential conflicts of interest were handled.

Some contracts were awarded after work had already begun, many were not published in the timeframe they should have been, and some conflicts of interest were not disclosed, a report1 by the auditors found.

The investigation into government procurement during the pandemic found that the government awarded over 8600 contracts worth £18bn (€20bn; $24bn) by 31 …


We discuss some geometrical aspects of the semiclassical quantization of string solutions in type IIB Green–Schwarz action on AdS 5 × S 5 . ?> We concentrate on quadratic fluctuations around classical configurations, expressing the relevant differential operators in terms of (intrinsic and extrinsic) invariants of the background geometry. The aim of our exercise is to present some compact expressions encoding the spectral properties of bosonic and fermionic fluctuations. The appearing of non-trivial structures on the relevant bundles and their role in concrete computations are also considered. We corroborate the presentation of general formulas by working out explicitly a couple of relevant examples, namely the spinning string and the latitude BPS Wilson loop.


This paper presents a robust nonlinear controller for VSC-HVDC transmission link using nonlinear sliding mode control strategy. The sliding mode control offers invariant stability to modeling uncertainties due to converter parameter changes, changes in system frequency and exogenous inputs. Comprehensive computer simulations are carried out to verify the proposed control scheme under several system disturbances like changes in short-circuit ratio, converter parametric changes, and faults on the converter and inverter buses. Based upon the time domain simulations in MATLAB/SIMULINK environment, the proposed controller is tested.


87 Yoga is welcomed world over for its health promoting and wellness creating aspects. Research over three decades both at this university and elsewhere has shown the efficacy of yoga practices including meditation in establishing homeostasis in noncommunicable diseases by reducing stress levels and promoting healthy life style. Interconnectedness of the mind and body and correcting the imbalances have been intensively investigated to provide a holistic framework for the health of individuals.


In the spirit of education rather than obfuscation, here are my reactions to Professor Lerner's reply. Since in the context of the present problem "benefit" can only mean movement from one indifference curve to another, and since "income effects" are defined and measured by such movements, an "incomeeffect induced decrease in purchases" must imply a movement o a lower indifference urve, hence a decrease in "benefits." My figure 2 indicates that x is decidedly not an inferior good because C is to the right of A and B is to the right of D. Lerner's diagram likewise indicates this and, his discussion of relative slopes notwithstanding, is therefore in no way different from mine. I also admit to a total lack of understanding of the second and third sentences of Lerner's reply. ROBERT PIRON


Gastric cancer remains the main cause of cancer death all around the world, and upregulated activation of the nonreceptor tyrosine kinase c-SRC (SRC) is a key player in the development. In this study, we found that expression of Src is also increased in clinical gastric cancer samples, with the protein level increased more significantly than that at the RNA level. Further study revealed that miR34a and miR203, two tumor suppressive miRNAs, inversely correlate with the expression of Src. Restoration of miR34a and miR203 decreased Src expression in gastric cancer cell lines, which in turn inhibited cell growth and cell migration. In summary, our study here revealed that posttranscriptional regulation of Src contributes to the deregulated cell growth and metastasis in gastric cancer, and targeting Src by miR34a or miR203 mimics would be a promising strategy in therapy. [BMB Reports 2013; 46(6): 316-321]


The current study emphasizes the inherent shortcomings of laws and policy approaches that are based on the premise that by increasing wood production, much more emission credits can be achieved by using wood in alternative uses. The article aims to exploit the financing of emission reductions, discuss how carbon sinks held in forest resources can be activated, traded, and financed, and explain how Turkiye's forest carbon potential can be exploited. To make a comparative analysis of the situation of Turkiye at global level, Russian's potential for carbon sequestration and its trade have been dealt with as a comparison by following quantitative research methodology. In this research, the calculation method has been used to determine the number of houses that are likely to be built in rural areas using wood materials, e.g., the construction of 100,000 houses with a construction area of 100 m2 per year. Consequently, the forest carbon generated by alternative scenarios contributes positively to the emission balance sheet, as well as climate change mitigation through carbon emission trade despite all legal and technical constraints. Although both countries have similar shortcomings of obtaining carbon credits and its trade, of course Russia has a promising situation in comparison with Turkiye with respect to the amount of carbon sequestered and the likelihood of its trade potential at global level.


The results of outcome studies in the field of alcoholism have been challenged as not providing clear and definitive demonstrations of the effectiveness of alcoholism treatment. This has not been due to studies showing negative results, or to a lack of studies reporting positive results. The difficulty has been that the studies failed to satisfy the standards of experimentally minded methodologists. Many methodological problems with respect to patient, treatment, and criterion variables were described which will require a great deal of basic research for their solution. Others may not be soluble. Drawing a representative sample of alcoholics may not be feasible. Assigning patients at random to treatments and no treatment who are uninterested, who desire particular treatments, or who are in need of specific treatments is impractical and socially unacceptable. Matching or randomly assigning therapists to provide consistent, measured, and equal amounts of specific therapies is similarly unrealistic. Determining what constitutes a good therapeutic outcome may be more of a philosophic than a scientific issue. Applying experimental standards to human outcome studies is inappropriate. The state of the art with respect to evaluating the effectiveness of alcoholism treatment is not ready for experimental investigations or cost-benefits analyses. Despite all these problems, a review of 384 studies indicates that two-thirds of the patients improve following alcoholism treatment. Research studies are increasingly sophisticated. A great deal has been and is continuing to be learned about patient characteristics, treatment methods, and matching patients to treatments.


In recent years much work has been carried out to design and analyse online investment strategies based on constant rebalanced portfolios. A constant rebalanced portfolio is a sequential investment strategy that maintains fixed through time, trading period by trading period, the wealth distribution among a set of assets. In this framework, Cover proposed the universal portfolio, which is competitive with the best constant rebalanced portfolio determined in hindsight, i.e. the constant rebalanced portfolio obtained by assuming perfect knowledge of future stock prices. However, the constant rebalanced portfolio is designed to deal with the portfolio selection problem in the case where no additional information concerning the stock market, is available. To overcome this limitation, Cover and Ordentlich proposed the state constant rebalanced portfolio, which is capable of appropriately exploiting the available side-information concerning the stock market. In this paper we study and analyse the topic introduced by Cover and Ordentlich and focus our attention on the interplay between constant rebalanced portfolios and side-information. We introduce a mathematical framework to deal with the constant rebalanced portfolio in the case where side-information, concerning the stock market, is available. The mathematical framework defines and analyses the mixture best constant rebalanced portfolio, which we propose as the investment benchmark to be considered in the case where side-information, concerning the stock market, is available. The mixture best constant rebalanced portfolio outperforms the best constant rebalanced portfolio by an exponential factor in terms of the achieved wealth and therefore offers an interesting opportunity for side-information specialized online investment algorithms. We describe a new online investment algorithm that exploits the definition of the mixture best constant rebalanced portfolio and the available side-information. The performance of the proposed online investment algorithm is investigated through a set of numerical experiments concerning four major stock market data sets, namely DJIA, S&P500, TSE and NYSE. The results emphasize the relevance of the proposed online investment strategy and underline the central role of the quality of the side-information in outperforming the best constant rebalanced portfolio.


These essays examine the Europeanization of the political system of the Federal Republic of Germany across the polity, politics and public policy dimensions. The book's 17 chapters focus on three key themes: the challenge to the power of Germany to determine the course of the integrationist project and to shape European public policies; the increasing constraints in the domestic political arena associated with Europeanization; and domestic contestation over both the 'constitutive politics of the EU' and specific policy choices. This volume is essential reading for students of comparative European politics and German studies.


The comprehension of wave run-up is essential to coastal engineering. It is required to obtain an understanding of beach profile changes, beach recovery and the interaction of waves on coastal structures. Several empirical expressions have been defined to predict extreme wave run-up positions through the comparisons of offshore wave parameters, beach slopes and synchronous run-up observations. This paper assesses the accuracy of wave run-up formulae on three Trinidad beaches. Run-up data were collected using Traditional Surveying Techniques and statistically analysed to determine both the maximum run-up and the 2% run-up exceedance. Observed values of wave run-up were compared to values predicted by four (4) field wave run-up models. All models were found to inadequately predict run-up observations with an occurrence of predominantly overestimations. Stockdon et al. [1] provided the best estimation of run-observation with root mean square error and scatter index of 0.15.


The atypical Bacteroides fragilis lipopolysaccharide is chemotactic for polymorphonuclear leukocytes. The chemotactic activity is mediated by complement activated through the alternative pathway. This mediator has been isolated. It is a polypeptide with a molecular weight of 16,000 and is most likely the complement component C5a.


Objectives: This study was performed to investigate the relationship between individual-level social capital and depression. Methods: Data from the 2009 Community Health Survey were analyzed for this study. We used chi-square tests and hierarchical logistic regression analyses to determine the relationship between individual-level social capital and depression. The Korean version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale was used to measure depression. Results: After controlling for socio-demographic factors such as, health behavior and chronic illness morbidity, that are associated with individual-level social capital, trust and informal participation significantly affected depression. Respondents with "be trust"(0.536, 95% CI 0.419-0.685) and who participate in "informal groups"(0.657, 95% CI 0.516-0.836) had significantly lower odds ratios of depression. Conclusions: Considering and introducing measures to increase the social capital of residents, need reduce depression. It is especially necessary to enhance resident empowerment.


The ability of society to respond to global protein demand, prevent food animal disease outbreaks, and protect public health will in part rely on the availability of rural, food animal veterinarians. The rising cost and declining net present value of the DVM degree implies that the ability to supply such veterinarians will rely on an understanding of economic incentives these professions face. The objectives of this study are to identify factors that influence bovine veterinarian income and explain variation in earnings across practitioners. Attributes and characteristics of veterinarians and their practices were collected through a 2015 American Association of Bovine Practitioners survey and then used to explain veterinarian income through statistical analysis. Results indicate that the greatest incentives exist for practice owners, specialists, and in regions with large concentrations of livestock. Additionally, establishment of a strong client base and field experience will serve private practitioners better than pursuing additional education beyond the DVM degree. These variations explain nearly half of the variation in income. Human capital measures should inform future research as the remaining variation is attributed to unobserved ability.


Several powerful forces are gathering to make fundamental and irrevocable changes to the century-old grid. The next-generation grid, often called the 'smart grid,' will feature distributed energy production, vastly more storage, tens of millions of stochastic renewable-energy sources, and the use of communication technologies both to allow precise matching of supply to demand and to incentivize appropriate consumer behaviour. These changes will have the effect of reducing energy waste and reducing the carbon footprint of the grid, making it 'smarter' and 'greener.' In this position paper, we discuss how the concepts and techniques pioneered by the Internet, the fruit of four decades of research in this area, are directly applicable to the design of a smart, green grid. This is because both the Internet and the electrical grid are designed to meet fundamental needs, for information and for energy, respectively, by connecting geographically dispersed suppliers with geographically dispersed consumers. Keeping this and other similarities (and fundamental differences, as well) in mind, we propose several specific areas where Internet concepts and technologies can contribute to the development of a smart, green grid. We also describe some areas where the Internet operations can be improved based on the experience gained in the electrical grid. We hope that our work will initiate a dialogue between the Internet and the smart grid communities.


The adverse side effects of opioids, especially antinociceptive tolerance, limit their clinical application. A recent study reported that platelet‐derived growth factor receptor β (PDGFRβ) blockage selectively inhibited morphine tolerance. Autophagy has been reported to contribute to the cellular and behavioral responses to morphine. However, little is known about the relationship between PDGFRβ and autophagy in the mechanisms of morphine tolerance. In this study, rats were intrathecally administered with morphine twice daily for 7 days to induce antinociceptive tolerance, which was evaluated using a tail‐flick latency test. By administration autophagy inhibitor 3‐Methyladenine, PDGFRβ inhibitor imatinib, p38 mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) inhibitor SB203580 hydrochloride and minocycline hydrochloride, western blot, immunofluorescence, and transmission electron microscopy techniques were used to elucidate the roles of PDGFRβ, autophagy, and related signaling pathways in morphine tolerance. This study demonstrated for the first time that spinal PDGFRβ in microglia promotes autophagy in gamma‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) interneurons through activating p38 MAPK pathway during the development of morphine tolerance, which suggest a potential strategy for preventing the development of morphine tolerance clinically, thereby improving the use of opioids in pain management.


Small family and nonfamily firms are acknowledged to serve as important facilitators of social responsibility within their communities; however, both have received relatively little attention in the literature for these efforts or their motivation for undertaking them. Grounded in Enlightened Self-Interest (ESI) and intentions, we explore motivations for participation in socially responsible behaviors and the moderating effect of family involvement. We develop measures for small business social responsibility (SBSR), ESI, and SBSR intentions. Our analyses indicate positive direct effects exist for both SBSR intentions and ESI on engagement in SBSR. We find that family involvement strengthens the relationship between ESI and participation in civic SBSR, thus suggesting that family firms may be partially motivated to "do good" in visible forms of SBSR to protect their own interests.


We report a simple and efficient method for replacing germanium atoms in deltahedral Ge(9)(4-) clusters with Sb or Bi. While reactions of Ge(9)(4-) with EPh(3) (E = Sb, Bi) at room temperature are known to produce mono- and disubstituted clusters [Ph(2)E-Ge(9)-Ge(9)-EPh(2)](4-) and [Ph(2)E-Ge(9)-EPh(2)](2-), respectively, at elevated temperatures or with sonication they result in exchange of Ge cluster atoms with Sb or Bi. Structurally characterized from such reactions are the novel "n-doped" deltahedral Zintl ions [(EGe(8))-(Ge(8)E)](4-), (Sb(2)Ge(7))(2-), and [(SbGe(8))-SbPh(2)](2-).


Background: Haemorrhagic shock accounts up to 50% of early trauma deaths. Hematopoietic failure has been observed in experimental animals and human following shock and injury. One of the facets of bone marrow failure is multiple organ dysfunction syndrome and is commonly seen in patients recovering from severe trauma and hemorrhagic shock. Bone Marrow (BM) dysfunction is associated with mobilization of hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) into peripheral blood. Present study explored the association of peripheral blood hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) with mortality in trauma haemorrhagic shock patients (T/HS). Materials and Methods: Prospective cohort studies of patients presenting within 8 hrs of injury with T/HS to the Department of Emergency Medicine, Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Center, All India Institute of Medical Sciences were recruited. Peripheral blood samples were collected in each patient for measurement of peripheral blood HPCs. Peripheral blood progenitor cell (PBPC) quantification was performed by measuring HPCs counts using the haematology analyzer (Sysmex XE-2100). Clinical and laboratory data were prospectively collected after consent. Ethical approval was taken and data was analysed by Stata 11.2. Results: 39 patients with trauma hemorrhagic shock and 30 normal healthy controls were recruited. HPCs were significantly higher (P < 0.001) in the T/HS as compared to control. Among study group, 14 patients died within 24 h. at the hospital admission, and found HPCs concentrations were highly significant (<0.001) in non-survivors (n = 14) when compared with survivors (n = 25) among T/HS patients. Conclusions: Our studies suggest the peripheral blood HPCs may be early prognostic marker for mortality among patients who presented with trauma hemorrhagic shock on admission. But the exact molecular mechanism and signalling pathway involved in the change of the behaviour of bone marrow microenvironment is still unclear.


The shared-medium multihop nature of wireless ad hoc networks poses fundamental challenges to the design of effective resource allocation algorithms that are optimal with respect to resource utilization and fair across different network flows. None of the existing resource allocation algorithms in wireless ad hoc networks have realistically considered end-to-end flows spanning multiple hops. Moreover, strategies proposed in wireline networks are not applicable in the context of wireless ad hoc networks, due to their unique characteristics of location-dependent contention. In this paper, we propose a new price-based resource allocation framework in wireless ad hoc networks to achieve optimal resource utilization and fairness among competing end-to-end flows. We build our pricing framework on the notion of maximal cliques in wireless ad hoc networks, as compared to individual links in traditional wide-area wireline networks. Based on such a price-based theoretical framework, we present a two-tier iterative algorithm. Distributed across wireless nodes, the algorithm converges to a global network optimum with respect to resource allocations. We further improve the algorithm toward asynchronous network settings and prove its convergence. Extensive simulations under a variety of network environments have been conducted to validate our theoretical claims.


Research was undertaken to determine if field aligned acceleration of plasma will occur following a High Altitude Nuclear Event (HANE). This report represents the preliminary phase of the research. Particle codes were used to study this nonlinear problem in one and two and one-half dimensions using the electrostatic limit. Examination of beam plasma interaction in one dimension showed the expected diffusion of plasma to high energy consistent with previous research. The two and one-half dimension simulations were performed where a loss cone in the velocity distribution was studied. These simulations indicated that the loss cone distribution does not appear to be energetic enough to accelerate plasma along magnetic field lines with superthermal velocity.


Cross-linking is a fundamental molecular process that is highly important for many applications, in particular, to tune the properties of collagen-based biomaterials. Chemical reagents, the action of enzymes or physical factors such as heat or radiation can facilitate collagen cross-linking. Ionizing radiation has the advantages of being fast, efficient and free from potentially toxic reagents. Collagen cross-linking by ionizing radiation is thought to occur via a water-mediated pathway. In the past, synthesized collagen mimetic peptides have proven to be of great value for understanding the influence of the amino acid sequence on the stability of tertiary (fibrous) as well as secondary (triple helical) structures of collagen. Cross-linking of synthetic collagen mimetic peptides is often used for modifying the properties of biomaterials. In this work, for the first time, we apply radiation-induced cross-linking to synthetic collagen mimetic peptides and present an experimental and theoretical study of peptide hexamers consisting of two noncovalently bound triple helices in the absence of a molecular environment, i.e. in the gas phase. Our results show that X-ray photoabsorption of the hydroxylated hexamer leads to ionization and cross-linking of the two triple helices: thus, we found evidence that cross-linking can be achieved by ionizing radiation, without the presence of any reagent or water. We propose a cross-linking mechanism involving the creation of two radicals on hydroxyproline side-chains and their recombination, ultimately leading to covalent bond formation between the triple helices.


Four groups of 4-week-old spontaneously hypertensive rats were treated during 4 months with the angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor quinapril at 1 mg/kg per day (Q1) or 10 mg/kg per day (Q10), hydralazine at 15 mg/kg per day (H), or placebo (P). In the first set of experiments, blood pressure was measured in conscious rats, and plasma and aortic angiotensin converting enzyme activities were evaluated. In the second set of experiments, histomorphometric parameters of the thoracic aorta were evaluated. Mean blood pressure was lower in the Q10 and H groups (136 +/- 16 and 149 +/- 11 mm Hg) compared with the P group (190 +/- 23 mm Hg) (P < .01). The Q1 group showed mean blood pressure values (171 +/- 15 mm Hg) lower than the P group (P < .05) but significantly higher than the Q10 and H groups (P < .01 and P < .05, respectively). Aortic medial cross-sectional area was significantly lower in the H and Q10 groups (455 +/- 61 and 487 +/- 57 x 10(3) microns 2) than in the P group (636 +/- 72 x 10(3) microns 2) (P < .001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Using a novel dataset that allows us to trace the bank relationships of a sample of mostly unlisted firms, we explore which borrowers are able to benefit from foreign bank presence in emerging markets. Our results suggest that the limits to financial integration are less tight than the static picture of firm-bank relationships implies. Even though foreign banks are more likely to engage large and foreign-owned firms, after an acquisition, a bank is 20% less likely to terminate a relationship with a firm if the acquirer is foreign rather than domestic. Most importantly, within a credit market, firms appear to have the same access to financial loans and ability to invest whether they borrow from a foreign bank or not, while foreign banks benefit all firms by indirectly enhancing credit access.


Piotrowski, J. K. (1971).Brit. J. industr. Med.,28, 172-178. Evaluation of exposure to phenol: absorption of phenol vapour in the lungs and through the skin and excretion of phenol in urine. Volunteers were exposed to phenol vapour (5 to 25 mg/m3) by inhalation and through the skin, respectively, and the excretion of phenol in urine was examined. The retention of vapour in the lungs decreased from about 80 to 70% in the course of exposure. The absorption of vapour through the whole of the skin was approximately proportional to the concentration of vapour used, the absorption rate being somewhat lower than in the lungs. Almost 100% of the phenol was excreted in the urine within one day. The rate of excretion of phenol in the urine may be used as an exposure test which permits the absorbed dose to be estimated with a precision of about ±2 mg.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the expression features of glypican-3 (GPC-3) and its diagnostic and differential values in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

METHODS
Rat hepatoma models were made and the dynamic expression features of GPC-3 protein and its gene were investigated by Western blotting and RT-PCR respectively. Liver specimens from 36 HCC patients were collected by self-control method and the expression and clinicopathological features of GPC-3 were analyzed by immunohistochemistry. Serum GPC-3 levels were quantitatively detected by ELISA and its efficiency for HCC diagnosis was evaluated in patients with liver diseases.

RESULTS
The incidence of GPC-3 was 0% in control, 83.3% in degeneration, 100% in precancerosis and 100% in canceration during dynamic formation of rat hepatoma, respectively. The positive GPC-3 was brown granule- like staining localized in membrane and cytoplasm in human HCC.

CONCLUSIONS
The GPC-3 positive rates were 80.6% in HCC, 41.7% in surrounding tissues and none in distal tissues (P < 0.01), respectively. No positive relationship presented between GPC-3 and differentiation grade or the number of tumor except of tumor size (Z = 2.941, P < 0.01). The incidence of serum GPC-3 was 52.8% in HCC patients except of one patient with cirrhosis. No significant differences were found between GPC-3 and sex, age, AFP, tumor number, Child classification or extrahepatic metastasis except of tumor size (χ² = 6.318, P < 0.05) and HBV infection (χ² = 23.362, P < 0.01). Combined detection of GPC-3 and AFP could rise up diagnosis of HCC. GPC-3 expression closely associated with HCC and might be useful for early diagnosis of HCC.


Biodegradable polymeric materials have become the most attractive research interest in recent years and are gradually widely used in various fields in the case of environmental pollution. In this paper, binary blends, mainly including varying contents of polyglycolic acid (PGA) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), were prepared via a melt compounding strategy. The ethylene-methyl acrylate-glycidyl methacrylate (EMA-GMA) was employed as the compatibilizer to improve the compatibility between the PGA and PVA and the polyolefin elastomer (POE) was used as toughening agent. The anti-compression property and water-soluble ability of the blends were particularly studied to explore their potential application in an oil/gas exploitation field. Special attentions were paid to the evolution of the water-soluble ability of PGAX with the PVA concentration. Furthermore, isothermal shear measurement and thermogravimetric analysis were performed to evaluate the thermal stability of PGA and PGA blends (PGAX) during melt processing. The results showed that the incompatibility between PGA and PVA largely deteriorated the mechanical property, i.e., anti-compression strength, leading to fragile characteristics under a lower compressive load for the PGAX samples with varied contents of PVA. The presence of PVA and EMA-GMA greatly enhanced the viscoelasticity of the PGA melt, showing an increased storage modulus and viscosity at a low shear frequency; however, the thermal instability of PGAX was intensified owing to the greater ease of thermal degradation of PVA than that of PGA. Meanwhile, the water-soluble ability of PGAX was improved due to the high water dissolution of PVA, which played the role as a sacrificial material. The purpose of this work is to pursue an effective modification for PGA processing and application via melt blending.


Fabrication of thin film silicon solar cells on cheap plastics or paper-like substrate requires deposition process at very low substrate temperature, typically ≤ 100 °C. In a chemical vapor deposition process, low growth temperatures lead to materials with low density, high porosity, high disorder and high defect density. This can be partly attributed to the small diffusion length of precursors on the growing surface and to the temperature range below the glass transition temperature of the deposited films. Plasma enhanced deposition technology helps improving material quality at low deposition temperatures by providing extra energy to the growing surface by ion bombardment. In this paper we have explored the gas phase conditions in a very high frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (VHF-PECVD) process at low temperatures. Using a retarding field ion energy analyzer installed on the substrate holder in a deposition system called ATLAS, we measured ion flux and ion energy at various substrate temperatures (39, 100 and 200°C). The pressure was fixed at 0.16 mbar and the silane part (silane/(silane+hydrogen)) at 0.166. We observed that with a decrease in temperature, the ion flux hardly changes, whereas the ion energy decreases. Similar results were obtained from a simulation of a 2D plasma discharge. As the deposition rate does not vary significantly with temperature, we infer that the average ion energy per deposited atom decreases with decreasing temperature. This explains the high porosity of the materials deposited at low temperatures. To obtain device quality material at 100 °C, a lower silane part (0.063) was therefore needed than in the case of 200 °C (silane part of 0.5). We have achieved 5.3% efficiency for an amorphous silicon test cell, deposited at 100 °C on a smooth Ag/ZnO coated stainless steel foil.


Delivering Web services based on data collected from distributed networks of smart devices presents several business and data-integration challenges for providers. Enterprise users need a scalable, standards-based mechanism that lets them run services without becoming experts in the technical aspects of service delivery. The Inside software infrastructure attempts to provide such a solution. Inside uses the Java 2 Enterprise Edition, the Open Services Gateway Initiative, and a suite of mediation components to address issues of scalability, dynamism, and transparency.


Abstract We give an algebro-geometric construction of the Hitchin connection, valid also in positive characteristic (with a few exceptions). A key ingredient is a substitute for the Narasimhan–Atiyah–Bott Kähler form that realizes the Chern class of the determinant-of-cohomology line bundle on the moduli space of bundles on a curve. As replacement we use an explicit realisation of the Atiyah class of this line bundle, based on the theory of the trace complex due to Beilinson–Schechtman and Bloch–Esnault.


Background: The association between primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) and acute pancreatitis (AP) is well known. However, the causal association is disputed. Aims: The present cohort study of PHPT patients was done: (1) to assess the prevalence of AP and (2) to assess the effect of successful parathyroidectomy in preventing further recurrence. Materials and Methods: Case records of patients admitted with AP during the study period were reviewed. Diagnosis of PHPT among this group was based on serum level of corrected calcium and parathyroid hormone. Review of records of patients who were successfully operated for PHPT was done. Records of patients treated with confirmed diagnosis of AP during the study period were reviewed. Variables used for analysis were serum levels of calcium (adjusted to serum albumin), phosphate, intact parathyroid hormone, 25-OH-Vitamin D, alkaline phosphatase, and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). For continuous/numerical variables with two groups, Mann–Whitney U-test was applied. Multivariate regression analysis was done if the univariate analysis showed significance (P < 0.05). Results: There were 13 (7.5%) patients with confirmed diagnosis of AP and serum calcium level significantly elevated in this group. There was a linear association of serum calcium with AP. Successful parathyroidectomy prevented further episodes in 11 (84.6%) of patients. There was 2% prevalence of PHPT among 558 patients with AP. Conclusions: Hypercalcemia in PHPT patients was significantly associated with AP and early parathyroidectomy prevented further recurrence.


Summary: A mutant (D6-13) of Trichoderma reesei that produced low levels of extracellular β-glucosidase was physiologically and biochemically characterized. The mutant was unable to grow and produced very little cellulase activity on Solka-Floc, Avicel, micro-crystalline cellulose and acid-swollen cellulose. Whereas growth was nearly normal on cellobiose, lactose and glucose, cellulase production was slightly decreased on cellobiose and lactose. The mutant produced nearly normal levels of FPA (filter-paper activity) and endoglucanase on sophorose. A distinct lag and a lowered specific sugar consumption rate was observed for the mutant on 0·3% cellobiose; this appeared to be due to lowered wall-bound β-glucosidase activity. The multiplicity and role of different β-glucosidases in T. reesei is discussed.


A prototype near-field virtual environment system is described that incorporates a CrystalEyes stereoscopic display (viewed in a mirror), a PHANToM manipulandum, and a stereo auditory display. The apparatus, which was designed to achieve registration of three sensory modalities (visual, haptic, and auditory), has a wide range of applications and has been used for both psychophysics and training research. Calibrationverification experiments are described in which human subjects positioned a physical probe attached to the manipulandum so that it appeared to coincide with a visual target on the stereoscopic display. The readings from the manipulandum and the calculated positions of the targets corresponded roughly within 60.5 cm over a large volume, although differences greater than 1 cm were observed near the sides of the workspace. The calibration of the manipulandum was tested independently on the z axis (running through the center of the workspace), and the perceived depth of the targets (probe z coordinate) was found to agree with the calculated depth within the accuracy of the measurements (60.4 cm). Some subjects had poorer positioning resolution when the visual target was far from the plane of the display screen (although their mean response was unaffected), and we hypothesize that this may have been caused by the different levels of accommodation that were needed to view the physical probe and the displayed target.


The autonomous underwater glider has attracted enormous interest for underwater activities, especially in long-term and large-scale underwater data collection. In this paper, we focus on the application of gliders gathering data from underwater sensor networks over underwater acoustic channels. However, this application suffers from a rapidly time-varying environment and limited energy. To optimize the performance of data collection and maximize the network lifetime, we propose a distributed, energy-efficient sensor scheduling algorithm based on the multi-armed bandit formulation. Besides, we design an indexable threshold policy to tradeoff between the data quality and the collection delay. Moreover, to reduce the computational complexity, we divide the proposed algorithm into off-line computation and on-line scheduling parts. Simulation results indicate that the proposed policy significantly improves the performance of the data collection and reduces the energy consumption. They prove the effectiveness of the threshold, which could reduce the collection delay by at least 10% while guaranteeing the data quality.


Two new homochiral metal–organic frameworks of Cd(II), [{Cd2(L-glu)2(bpe)3(H2O)}·2H2O] (1) and [{Cd3(L-glu)2(bpe)3(H2O)}·2NO3·H2O] (2) (where, L-glu = L-glutamate dianion, and bpe = 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethylene) have been synthesized solvothermally by employing two different temperatures. Single crystal X-ray diffraction studies revealed that both 1 and 2 are homochiral and possess a 3D pillar-layered framework structure having 4,8- and 8,10-connected binodal nets with vertex symbols of {3^2.4.5^3}{3^4.4^6.5^10.6^8} and {3^11.4^28.5^5.6}2{3^8.4^18.5.6}, respectively. Interestingly, solvothermal synthesis carried out at 100 °C resulted in a 3D framework, 1 which features large rectangular 1D channels with a dimension of ∼10.38 × 4.44 A2 decorated with pendant –NH2 groups. Whereas, increasing the temperature of the reaction to 120 °C led to a non-porous highly connected 3D framework, 2 in which the –NH2 group of the L-glu ligand is coordinated to a Cd(II) node. Gas (N2, CO2, H2 and Ar) uptake studies on the dehydrated framework of 1 revealed excellent selectivity for CO2 over other gases at 273 K with a high isosteric heat of adsorption (Qst) value of 40.8 kJ mol−1. The high selectivity for CO2 gas has been attributed to the stronger interaction of CO2 with the basic –NH2 functionalized pore surface of compound 1. Furthermore, 1 acts as a very good recyclable catalyst for the carbon–carbon bond forming reactions, such as the Knoevenagel condensation and Henry reaction of benzaldehydes. Moreover, the catalyst can be easily separated from the reaction mixture and reused in four consecutive cycles without significant loss of catalytic activity and structural rigidity.


Archaeologists, like other scientists, are experiencing a dataflood in their discipline, fueled by a surge in computing power and devices that enable the creation, collection, storage and transfer of an increasingly complex (and large) amount of data, such as remotely sensed imagery from a multitude of sources. In this paper, we pose the preliminary question if this increasing availability of information actually needs new computerized techniques, and Artificial Intelligence methods, to make new and deeper understanding into archaeological problems. Simply said, while it is a fact that Deep Learning (DL) has become prevalent as a type of machine learning design inspired by the way humans learn, and utilized to perform automatic actions people might describe as intelligent, we want to anticipate, here, a discussion around the subject whether machines, trained following this procedure, can extrapolate, from archaeological data, concepts and meaning in the same way that humans would do. Even prior to getting to technical results, we will start our reflection with a very basic concept: Is a collection of satellite images with notable archaeological sites informative enough to instruct a DL machine to discover new archaeological sites, as well as other potential locations of interest? Further, what if similar results could be reached with less intelligent machines that learn by having people manually program them with rules? Finally: If with barrier of meaning we refer to the extent to which humanlike understanding can be achieved by a machine, where should be posed that barrier in the archaeological data science?


The author presents forty fragments of texts dating from the period between the end of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth which are connected with kamerspelers or kamerspel, i.e. professional, itinerant actors who played in private rooms (kamers) for a fee. They performed alone or in small groups, wearing masks which enabled them to play a variety of double roles. In all these aspects they differed emphatically from the rederijkers, amateur actors in the chambers of rhetoric, who in the course of the sixteenth century gradually distanced themselves from the kamerspelers. During that same period the term kamerspel expanded to embrace other forms of entertainment: juggling, animal training, acrobatics and puppetry, the last of which remained closest to the original activity. On stage short, comical pieces were generally played, as well as adaptations of secular and biblical tales. As the Reformation gained ground, farces showing monks or priests in a derogatory light tended to be regarded as criticism and were likely to get the actors in trouble with the authorities. The article ends by examining a few longer texts: an extract from the inventory of a Delft kamerspeler's effects (I608), a report of a performance given by kamerspelers in Ypres, with dancing, marionettes and a farce (I594), and records of a trial against a husband-and-wife team of puppeteers accused of witchcraft in Eppegem (I60I).


In this Concept Article, we analyze known helicene systems that function as chiroptical photoswitches from a stereochemical perspective and classify them based on the type of transformation of the helicene core that takes place during the switching process. In every case, we inspect the stereodynamics of each of the two forms of the switch and the stereospecificity of their interconversion, and we discuss the chemical working principles and chiroptical responses of the switches. We hope that our analysis will motivate the design of new types of helicene photoswitches to expand the structural diversity of this, at present rare but beautiful, class of compounds.


Summary Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution of caseous lymphadenitis (CLA) among small ruminants in Egypt, identify risk factors associated with its occurrence and to analyze the efficacy of the vaccine for control of CLA. Material and methods: A total of 1206 sheep and 351 goats were examined clinically for CLA. The prevalence and the risk factors of CLA in small ruminant flocks were estimated and identified. Efficacy of the commercial vaccine Case-Bac (Colorado Serum Company, USA) was determined in a field study trial conducted on 15 CLA-free lambs. Follow-up of vaccination immune response was carried out using indirect ELISA. Results: Prevalence of superficial CLA was 6.7%. Clinically, CLA appeared as abscesses in superficial lymph nodes mostly of the head and neck. On the basis of a multivariate analysis which accounted for clustering at herd level, sheep were at risk of getting superficial CLA 3.5 times more than goats (p < 0.0001). Animals of fixed flocks were at risk of getting the superficial CLA 2 times more than animals in fixed-mobile flocks (p < 0.038). Serological follow-up indicated protective antibody titers for 6 months. In vaccinated animals clinical cases were not observed while they occurred among non-vaccinated sheep. Discussion: Prevalence of CLA varied among studied flocks even between those of the same breeding system due to complex and overlapping factors associated with each flock like introduction or culling rate of animals, care of shepherds or owners to deal with opened abscesses in addition to the average age of the animals within each flock. Breeding systems have observable effects on occurrence of CLA: infected sheep can transmit the infection to a large number of animals in a short period under the conditions of close contact and reduced air flow in covered sheds. Conclusion and clinical relevance: Infected small ruminants in fixed flocks represent a risk factor for CLA for healthy ones. The vaccine used in the study provides an effective protection against new in fections. So mass vaccination of small ruminants against CLA in Egypt has to be considered to minimize the disease prevalence.


The organised nanostructure of mesoporous platinum deposited from the H(I) phase of a lyotropic liquid crystal template contains a regular, hexagonal array of uniform nanometre diameter cylindrical pores. This structure is ideally suited to the investigation of the interfacial capacitance and properties of ionic liquids confined within small pores of the type found in the high surface area electrodes favoured for supercapacitors and batteries. Cyclic voltammetry experiments for BMIM-PF(6) show a large capacitance for the mesoporous Pt electrode, confirming that the ionic liquid fills the 2 nm pores. The value of the specific capacitance, normalised to the total surface area, for the ionic liquid within the pores is approximately twice as large as the corresponding value at a flat Pt surface. Impedance measurements, using a small amplitude perturbation, give a value for the capacitance about one order of magnitude less than that from cyclic voltammetry where the amplitude of the perturbation is much larger. The impedance measurements show that the conductivity of the ionic liquid within the pores is at least three orders of magnitude lower than that in the bulk indicating highly restricted mobility for the ions in these narrow pores. The implications of these results for applications in supercapacitors and batteries are discussed.


An effective field theory exists describing a very large clas s of biophysically interesting Coulomb gas systems: the lowest order (mean-field) version of this th eory takes the form of a generalized Poisson-Boltzmann theory. Interaction terms depend on details (finite-size effects, multipole properties, etc). Convergence of the loop expansion holds only if mutual interactions of mobile charges are small compared to their interaction with the fixe d-charge environment, which is frequently not the case. Problems with the strongly-coupled effective theory can be circumvented with an alternative local lattice formulation, with real po sitive action. In realistic situations, with variable dielectric, a determinant of the Poisson operator must be inserted to generate correct electrostatics. Methods adopted from unquenched lattice QCD do this very efficiently.


Invisible disabilities have been severely understudied in the industrial–organizational literature, likely because of the complex, challenging nature of the topic. However, Santuzzi, Waltz, Finkelstein, and Rupp (2014) tackle this formidable subject with finesse. In this commentary, I seek to elaborate on their discussion of challenges faced by individuals with invisible disabilities in the workplace by relating the issue to overarching societal systems of privilege and oppression.


The dietary intake and nutritional status of 162 children in a school with a lunch programme (the feedingprogramme group) and 163 children in a school without a lunch programme (the no-feeding-programme group) in Nyambene District, Kenya, were compared. the relationship between such child growth determinants as income sources, per capita weekly food expenditure and consumption frequency, per capita energy and protein intake, and the nutritional status of the children was also compared between the two groups. Daily caloric consumption in the group with a feeding programme was significantly higher than in the group without a feeding programme: 1,590 kcal, or 86% of the recommended daily allowance (RDA), versus 1,457 kcal, or 76% of the RDA (p < .05). the protein intake was mainly of plant origin. Although not significantly different between the two groups, it was higher for children without a feeding programme (62 g; 238% of the RDA) than for those with a feeding programme (56 g; 216% of the RDA). the prevalence of wasting among children with a feeding programme (9%) was significantly higher than among those without a feeding programme (2%) (p < .05). the level of stunting was about the same in both groups: 24% in the group with a feeding programme and 25% in the group without a feeding programme. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of underweight between the two groups. Overall, the nutritional status of girls was better than that of boys, although the difference was not statistically significant. It is evident that children participating in the feeding programme did not have a nutritional advantage over non-participants. Thus, there is need to evaluate school feeding programmes in Kenya to identify and address the weaknesses that curtail their impact.


We suggest that dark matter is made up of massive quark objects that have survived from the Big Bang, representing the ground state of ``baryonic'' matter. Hence, there was no overall phase transition of the original quark matter, but only a split-up into smaller objects. We speculate that normal hadronic matter comes about through enforced phase transitions when such objects merge or collide, which also gives rise to the cosmic gamma-ray bursts.


ABSTRACT The call for individuals to engage in reflection is increasingly prevalent across much of the world. To aid this, a wealth of practical paper-based manuals, online tutorials and face-to-face training is available to foster participant engagement. However, a noticeable gap in this support is evident when learners and professionals in the workforce are asked to 'self-reflect'. This thoughtpiece seeks to positively address this by offering a literature-based exploration of this critical skill; this is facilitated by asking and answering key questions such as what is self-reflection, why is it important, and how can it be practically undertaken. Efforts to encourage individuals to engage in creative self-reflective activity are fuelled by an explanation of the Self-Reflective Shapes approach that has been developed by the author. Written to be accessible in both content and scope, the discussion offered serves as an introductory 'go-to' that has the potential to help individuals self-reflect as part of their learning and/or professional development with improved clarity, appreciation and confidence.


We study the dynamical arrest in an adhesive hard-sphere colloidal system. We examine a micellar suspension of the Pluronic-L64 surfactant in the temperature (T) and volume fraction (φ) phase diagram. According to mode-coupling theory (MCT), this system is characterized by a cusp-like singularity and two glassy phases: an attractive glass (AG) phase and a repulsive glass (RG) phase. The T - φ phase diagram of this system as confirmed by a previous series of scattering data also exhibits a Percolation Threshold (PT) line, a reentrant behavior (AG-liquid-RG), and a glass-to-glass transition. The AG phase can be generated out of the liquid phase by using T and φ as control parameters. We utilize viscosity and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques. NMR data confirm all the characteristic properties of the colloidal system phase diagram and give evidence of the onset of a fractal-like percolating structure at a precise threshold. The MCT scaling laws used to study the shear viscosity as a function of φ and T show in both cases a fragile-to-strong liquid glass-forming dynamic crossover (FSC) located near the percolation threshold where the clustering process is fully developed. These results suggest a larger thermodynamic generality for this phenomenon, which is usually studied only as a function of the temperature. We also find that the critical values of the control parameters, coincident with the PT line, define the locus of the FSC. In the region between the FSC and the glass transition lines the system dynamics are dominated by clustering effects. We thus demonstrate that it is possible, using the conceptual framework provided by extended mode-coupling theory, to describe the way a system approaches dynamic arrest, taking into account both cage and hopping effects.


Recently, numerous rare de novo mutations have been identified in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, despite the predicted loss-of-function nature of some of these de novo mutations, the affected individuals are heterozygous carriers, which would suggest that most of these candidate genes are haploinsufficient and/or that these mutations lead to expression of dominant-negative forms of the protein. Here, we tested this hypothesis with the gene Nuak1, recently identified as a candidate ASD gene and that we previously identified for its role in the development of cortical connectivity. We report that Nuak1 is happloinsufficient in mice in regard to its function in cortical axon branching in vitro and in vivo. Nuak1+/− mice show a combination of abnormal behavioral traits ranging from defective memory consolidation in a spatial learning task, defects in social novelty (but not social preference) and abnormal sensorimotor gating and prepulse inhibition of the startle response. Overall, our results demonstrate that Nuak1 haploinsufficiency leads to defects in the development of cortical connectivity and a complex array of behavorial deficits compatible with ASD, intellectual disability and schizophrenia.


Defining the composition and properties of manure in livestock production is critical in order to minimise possible environmental impacts stemming from its management. In this study, a nitrogen balance was carried out during two identical fattening periods (Experiments 1 and 2) in growing rabbits from weaning (age 28 d and live weight about 0.6 kg) to slaughter (age 61 d and live weight about 1.8 kg). The breeding conditions were typical for Spanish rabbit production. The objectives were to quantify the total nitrogen excreted by the animals and to estimate the average efficiency in the use of this nutrient, in comparison to other species. Animal weight, feed intake, and the production of faeces and urine were monitored weekly in a set of eight cages with nine rabbits in each, performing weekly analyses for nitrogen content in feed, urine and faeces. The overall nitrogen excretion was 50.2 g N per animal in Experiment 1 and 46.9 g N per animal in Experiment 2, which corresponded to about 58% of the total nitrogen intake. Urine and faeces contributed to overall nitrogen excretion in approximately the same proportions. The nitrogen excretion ratio was 40 grams per kilogram of animal produced. According to this ratio, rabbit breeding is less efficient in the use of nitrogen than raising broilers, but more than fattening pigs.


The connection of tubular members, used as bridge hangers or in 3-D coverings, has been widely researched, both for resistance and for fatigue. Such members are also often used in scaffoldings or as lighter bracings. The connection of the tube to a single bolted or welded plate consists of a circular end plate, covering the tube's cross section on which a perpendicular rectangular plate is welded. No analytical approximation is available to calculate stresses in such a circular plate. Hence, FE-models have to be used for each application. As this is time consuming, a systematic survey of normal and shear stress has been conducted, for 6 unity connection forces of the gusset plate. The latter are normal force, shear in 2 directions, torsion and bending moments in 2 directions. The 3 types of stresses are kept separate, to allow for linear superposition, simulating any kind of real situation. The tube diameter and plate thickness have been varied to allow regression and obtain closed formulas. It appears that larger tube diameters have the capacity to distribute force, albeit the stress should be larger due to the increase of diameter. The former effect seems to overrun the latter and stress conditions are lower for wider tubes, which is rather surprising and may prove to be useful in practice. This is also confirmed by the displacement patterns, which show larger effective width of the higher diameter circular plate.


The stone sculpture has been considered as a diagnostic feature of the Iberian Culture. Nevertheless, recent findings andre-examination of old ones suggest that it was already employed in pre-Iberian times. The kneeling bull from Porcuna ispresented here as an evidence of the orientalizing stone sculpture in Central Andalusia, and a dating around the end ofthe 7th or the beginning of the 6th century BC is proposed. In addition to the iconographic study, the sculpture is also discussedas a workshop product, analyzing the complex skills of design and manufacture displayed, from the stone cutterto the master sculptor. one of the most interesting aspects is the presence of applied elements, probably made of valuablematerials. It is also proposed that the bull was placed on a cult place at the entrance of the ancient town of Porcuna.


In the first decade of the twentieth century two influential researchers attempted to explain the origin and impact of left-handedness in human history. The first, the Turin physician Cesare Lombroso, often referred to as the father of modern criminology, was nearing the end of his long distinguished career. Lombroso tied left-handedness to criminality, insanity, and feeble mindedness. According to Lombroso, these groups shared biological regressions to primitive mentalities that could not be reversed by education or training. The second, French sociologist Robert Hertz, was at the beginning of a career cut short by his death in combat during the First World War. Hertz challenged Lombroso's claims, insisting that the predominance of right-handedness, whatever its biological substrate, was ultimately a cultural artefact driven by a primitive human urge to make sense of the world by dividing it into binary oppositions in which the right was viewed as sacred and the left as profane. Ending discrimination against left-handedness would, according to Hertz, unleash access to both hands and thus both hemispheres. The results, he insisted, would allow repressed talents and creativity to flourish. The conflicting views of Lombroso and Hertz have informed investigations of the causes and consequences of left-handedness until today. While the language of the debate has been reframed in current scientific discourses, left-handedness continues to be portrayed in the contradictory ways first elaborated by Lombroso and Hertz more than a century ago as either the cause of a variety of learning disabilities or as the key that can unlock creativity and talent. The debate also exposed the extent to which other cultural concerns, particularly anti-Semitism, informed theories of handedness.


Proceedings: AACR 106th Annual Meeting 2015; April 18-22, 2015; Philadelphia, PA

The Hippo signalling pathway plays a major role in organ growth regulation and tumorigenesis. By sensing contact inhibition, the central kinase network of the hippo pathway controls nuclear translocation and activity of the YAP transcription factor. Once translocated in the nucleus, YAP interacts with the TEAD family of transcription factors and drives expression of gene involved in cell survival and proliferation. Deregulation of the hippo pathway frequently occurs in cancers and high nuclear expression of YAP has been documented in many tumors including lung, colorectal, ovarian and skin cancers. These data suggest that targeting the hippo pathway is a new therapeutic option for the treatment of a large number of cancers. Several approaches are currently proposed to target the hippo pathway such as inhibition of kinases and GPCRs that are upstream regulators of YAP nuclear translocation. However, because YAP and TEAD are the downstream effectors of the Hippo pathway, we believe that targeting YAP-TEAD interaction is the most promising approach to selectively counteract abnormal activity of the Hippo pathway. We have started a drug discovery program aimed at identifying potent inhibitors of YAP-TEAD interaction, based on a combined FBLD/HTS strategy. Druggability of the TEAD protein was assessed by a fragment screen using NMR and SPR technologies. This approach, conforted by assigned HSQC protein NMR information, provided fragment hits which are used as starting points for the identification of more potent binders. We have also designed a dedicated AlphaScreen assay to validate the ability of our compounds to disrupt the YAP-TEAD interaction. Fifty thousand compounds of the Inventiva's library were screened using the AlphaScreen. Several hits in the micromolar range were identified and further confirmed using SPR. Hits are currently tested for their ability to disrupt YAP-TEAD interaction in a cellular context with a transactivation assay and for their ability to block tumoral cell proliferation.

Citation Format: Claudia Fromond, Laurent Chene, Anne Soude, Martine Barth, Christian Montalbetti, Pierre Broqua. A rational approach for discovery of inhibitors of YAP-TEAD interaction. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 2200. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-2200


Maize has high production potential when compared to any other cereal crop. The productivity of maize is largely dependent on its nutrient management. The crop has high genetic yield potential hence; it is called miracle crop and Queen of cereals . In Andhra Pradesh, though maize is predominantly grown in kharif, irrigated maize is gaining popularity in view of higher productivity. Maize (Zea mays L.) is a heavy feeder of nutrients. Soil test based fertilizer application is still a rare practice in this area. Hence, there is a wide variation in fertilizer application by farmers. This leads to either excess or deficiency of the nutrients which might result in nutrient imbalances in the soil. As a consequence the maize yield islower than the actual yield potential. To stabilize the yields and economy of maize production, balanced nutrition is essential.The uptake of nutrients by a maize crop producing 5 t ha-1 of grain yield was estimated around 105 kg N, 50 kg P2O5 and 75 kg K2Okg ha-1. Keeping the above aspects, Nutrient status of soils in maize growing areas inChittoor district of Andhra Pradesh was undertaken.


Simulations with the NCAR Climate System Model (CSM), a global, coupled ocean‐atmosphere‐sea ice model, for the last glacial‐interglacial cycle reproduce recent estimates, based on alkenones and Mg/Ca ratios, of sea surface temperature (SST) changes and gradients in the tropical Pacific and predict weaker El Niños/La Niñas compared to present for the Holocene and stronger El Niños/La Niñas for the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Changes for the LGM (Holocene) are traced to a weakening (strengthening) of the tropical Pacific zonal SST gradient, wind stresses, and upwelling and a sharpening (weakening) of the tropical thermocline. Results suggest that proxy evidence of weaker precipitation variability in New Guinea and Ecuador are explained not only by changes in El Niño/La Niña but also changes in the atmospheric circulation and hydrologic cycle.