Spring phytoplankton growth in polar marine ecosystems is limited by light availability beneath ice-covered waters, particularly early in the season prior to snowmelt and melt pond formation. Leads of open water increase light transmission to the ice-covered ocean and are sites of air-sea exchange. We explore the role of leads in controlling phytoplankton bloom dynamics within the sea ice zone of the Arctic Ocean. Data are presented from spring measurements in the Chukchi Sea during the Study of Under-ice Blooms In the Chukchi Ecosystem (SUBICE) program in May and June 2014. We observed that fully consolidated sea ice supported modest under-ice blooms, while waters beneath sea ice with leads had significantly lower phytoplankton biomass, despite high nutrient availability. Through an analysis of hydrographic and biological properties, we attribute this counterintuitive finding to springtime convective mixing in refreezing leads of open water. Our results demonstrate that waters beneath loosely consolidated sea ice (84–95% ice concentration) had weak stratification and were frequently mixed below the critical depth (the depth at which depth-integrated production balances depth-integrated respiration). These findings are supported by theoretical model calculations of under-ice light, primary production, and critical depth at varied lead fractions. The model demonstrates that under-ice blooms can form even beneath snow-covered sea ice in the absence of mixing but not in more deeply mixed waters beneath sea ice with refreezing leads. Future estimates of primary production should account for these phytoplankton dynamics in ice-covered waters.


Lévy flights can be described using a Fokker-Planck equation, which involves a fractional derivative operator in the position coordinate. Such an operator has its natural expression in the Fourier domain. Starting with this, we show that the solution of the equation can be written as a Hamiltonian path integral. Though this has been realized in the literature, the method has not found applications as the path integral appears difficult to evaluate. We show that a method in which one integrates over the position coordinates first, after which integration is performed over the momentum coordinates, can be used to evaluate several path integrals that are of interest. Using this, we evaluate the propagators for (a) free particle, (b) particle subjected to a linear potential, and (c) harmonic potential. In all the three cases, we have obtained results for both overdamped and underdamped cases.


This handbook guides lawyers and business people through the benefits and risk of conducting business in the European Union. It focuses on how E.U. competences or authorities affect the typical American company, regulatory issues and specific procedures and practices of the European Union, and key areas of law relevant to the business community. Contact information includes addresses, phone and fax numbers and email addresses of key EU authorities and business- related offices to facilitate further research.


Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is characterized by a minority of neoplastic, Hodgkin, Reed-Sternberg (HRS) cells surrounded by a heterogeneous background of non-neoplastic cells. Previous studies have described a prognostic role of the cellular composition in HL. The aim of the present study was to correlate parameters related to the intratumoral cellular microenvironment with clinicopathological features and prognosis in a cohort of previously untreated HL patients. For this purpose a tissue microarray Array (TMA) consisting of pairs of representative cores (2mm) from each tissue specimen and from positive and negative controls was constructed. Immunohistochemical stains of cellular antigens were assessed and graded. Tissue samples and clinical record data from a total of 87 HL patients were analysed. Histological subtypes were distributed as follows: nodular sclerosis (NS)61 cases (71%), mixed cellularity (MC) 15 (17%), nodular lymphocyte- predominant (NLP) 9 (10%) and lymphocyte depleted 2 (2%). The median age was 36.7 yrs (range 5–83 yrs and the male to female ratio 1.6. 56 had localised (67%) 27 had advanced stage disease (32%). Anaemia and leukocytosis were present in 4 (5%) and 15 (17%) cases, respectively. All patients were treated according to standard guidelines (chemo- radiotherapy for localised disease and ABVD/COPP- based chemotherapy for advanced stage disease). Immunohistichemical stains were used to characterise and quantify the neoplastic and non-neoplastic cells within tumor lesions. Following antigens were studied: CD3, CD20, CD30, CD15, CD10, STAT-6, MUM-2, FAS, p53 and MIB-1. Among histological subtypes NLP HL was, as expected, the one most frequently displaying CD20 positivity, while CD15 and CD30 were more common in classical HL (cHL). A strong CD3 expression in the non-neoplastic by-stander population was inversely correlated with the presence of leukocytosis in the peripheral blood. An opposite pattern was found in cases, mostly cHL, with high expression of STAT-6 in the tumor cell population. In addition to leukocytosis STAT-6 expression also correlated to younger age (60 yrs or less) and presence of B-symptoms. Time-related endpoint analysis was restricted to NS, representing the largest subgroup (n=61). Interestingly, a significant adverse impact on overall survival (OS) was detected in cases with a strong tumor cell expression of STAT-6. Even more marked was the unfavorable prognostic value of low or lacking tumor cell expression of CD30 (p=0.0012) or by-stander cell expression of CD3 (p=0,0133). All these findings were far more evident in younger (≤ 60 yrs) NS-HL patients than in their elderly counterparts. These three parameters where not, or only minimally, influenced by classical clinical prognosticators such as clinical stage, B-symptoms or anemia. Moreover, the adverse prognostic influence of these factors was mutually increased in those cases, where they occurred in combination (high STAT6 + low CD30: p=0.0001; low CD30 + low CD3: p=0.0004; high STAT6 + low CD3: p=0.0017). The role of the STAT family of proteins and that of T-regulatory cells in the pathophysiology of HL should be further elucidated.


Neolithic c 4300/3900 BC to c2450 BC

Some time between 4300 BC and 3900 BC a new way of living, featuring the cultivation of cereals and the management of domesticated animals, appeared in the area. This represents the beginning of what archaeologists call the Neolithic (New Stone Age) period. This new lifestyle also featured a novel technology - pottery making - and other new practices, including the construction of megalithic chamber tombs as communal houses for the dead, which were wholly alien to the lifestyle and beliefs of the indigenous communities who had lived in Argyll for several millennia. There has been much debate about how these novelties came to arrive in Britain and Ireland, with one school of thought arguing that the indigenous hunter-gatherer-fisher groups were the 'prime movers' for the introduction of these novelties, while another attributes the appearance to episodes of immigration by small farming groups from two areas in northern France. Some of the detail of this argument is presented in this section, with the Breton-style closed chamber and simple passage tomb with Breton-style pottery at Achnacreebeag, near Oban, reflecting one of these strands of Neolithisation.

Other Neolithic monuments in Argyll include the cursus monument and stone circles in Kilmartin and there is evidence indicating that rock art (mostly found in the form of cup marks and cup and ring marks, but also including spirals and lozenges) dates to this period. There is plentiful evidence for the existence of links with other parts of Scotland and with Ireland from the Early Neolithic onwards.


Treatment of male Sprague-Dawley rats with a single oral dose of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) has been shown to increase serum adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) and decrease serum corticosterone. The present in vitro study was designed to assess whether TCDD has a direct effect on the anterior pituitary under basal and stimulated conditions. Primary anterior pituitary cell cultures were prepared from normal 180- to 220-g male Sprague-Dawley rats and the cultures treated with 10(-9)-10(-19) M TCDD. Maximal secretion of ACTH occurred between 10(-11) and 10(-15) M TCDD for both medium (2-fold) and intracellular (1.5-fold) concentrations after 24 h TCDD exposure. TCDD treatment also caused an early (6 h) and persistent (10 days) increase in basal medium (1.4- to 2.8-fold) and intracellular (1.1- to 1.7-fold) ACTH concentrations. However, while stimulation with corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) increased intracellular ACTH 1.5- to 1.7-fold in pituitary cells treated for 24 h with 10(-9)-10(-13) M TCDD, ACTH secreted into the media was decreased by 30-50% compared with controls. Lastly, the secretagogue arginine-8-vaso-pressin (AVP), did not increase the amount of ACTH secreted above levels observed with basal TCDD exposure. From this study, it appears that TCDD stimulates in vitro synthesis and secretion of ACTH by the anterior pituitary under basal conditions, but decreases the pituitary's responsiveness to CRH and AVP stimulation.


Bayesian models have been developed for finding ungapped motifs in multiple protein sequences (Liu, Neuwald and Lawrence 1995). In this article we extend the model to allow for deletions and insertions in the motifs. Direct generalization of the ungapped algorithm, based on Gibbs sampling, proves unsuccessful because of the configuration space has become much larger. To alleviate this difficulty, a method called entropy filtering is introduced which allows us to find a better starting point. In addition to Gibbs sampling, we also provide a Metropolis-Hastings algorithm which shows more stable performance. The significance of the alignment is discussed at the end.


This paper examines the predictive power of momentum indicators, a kind of technical trading rules measuring short-term momentum, on three popular US stock market indices, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Standard & Poor's 500 Composite Index, and NASDAQ Composite Index. Generally, the main findings indicate that returns conditional these trading rules are significantly different from unconditional returns. Null models, such as random walk, first-order autocorrelation, and GARCH-M, cannot explain the excess profit made by these rules.


The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission was launched January 31st, 2015. It is designed to measure the soil moisture over land using a combined active / passive L-band system. Due to the Aquarius mission, L-band model functions for ocean winds and salinity are already mature and may be directly applied to the SMAP mission. In contrast to Aquarius, the higher resolution and scanning geometry of SMAP allows for wide-swath ocean winds and salinities to be retrieved. We have found that the SMAP radiometer displays sensitivity all the way up to the most extreme wind speeds, possibly as high as 70 m/s, far beyond what is capable with typical C and Ku-band ocean wind scatterometers. In this work we use the Rapid Scatterometer (RapidScat) and Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR) to further validate these SMAP radiometer-only high-wind speed retrievals.


The tremendous demand for low-cost, low-consumption and high-capacity optical transmitters in data centers challenges the current InP-photonics platform. The use of silicon (Si) photonics platform to fabricate photonic integrated circuits (PICs) is a promising approach for low-cost large-scale fabrication considering the CMOS-technology maturity and scalability. However, Si itself cannot provide an efficient emitting light source due to its indirect bandgap. Therefore, the integration of III-V semiconductors on Si wafers allows us to benefit from the III-V emitting properties combined with benefits offered by the Si photonics platform. Direct epitaxy of InP-based materials on 300 mm Si wafers is the most promising approach to reduce the costs. However, the differences between InP and Si in terms of lattice mismatch, thermal coefficients and polarity inducing defects are challenging issues to overcome. III-V/Si hetero-integration platform by wafer-bonding is the most mature integration scheme. However, no additional epitaxial regrowth steps are implemented after the bonding step. Considering the much larger epitaxial toolkit available in the conventional monolithic InP platform, where several epitaxial steps are often implemented, this represents a significant limitation. In this paper, we review an advanced integration scheme of AlGaInAs-based laser sources on Si wafers by bonding a thin InP seed on which further regrowth steps are implemented. A 3 µm-thick AlGaInAs-based MutiQuantum Wells (MQW) laser structure was grown onto on InP-SiO2/Si (InPoSi) wafer and compared to the same structure grown on InP wafer as a reference. The 400 ppm thermal strain on the structure grown on InPoSi, induced by the difference of coefficient of thermal expansion between InP and Si, was assessed at growth temperature. We also showed that this structure demonstrates laser performance similar to the ones obtained for the same structure grown on InP. Therefore, no material degradation was observed in spite of the thermal strain. Then, we developed the Selective Area Growth (SAG) technique to grow multi-wavelength laser sources from a single growth step on InPoSi. A 155 nm-wide spectral range from 1515 nm to 1670 nm was achieved. Furthermore, an AlGaInAs MQW-based laser source was successfully grown on InP-SOI wafers and efficiently coupled to Si-photonic DBR cavities. Altogether, the regrowth on InP-SOI wafers holds great promises to combine the best from the III-V monolithic platform combined with the possibilities offered by the Si photonics circuitry via efficient light-coupling.


The development of suitable and fast time integration methods for ocean modeling con- stitutes an important challenge. No single time-discretisation works well for all physical processes in a complex marine model, as dierent subsystems have widely dierent charac- teristics in terms of time scales, dynamic behaviour, and accuracy requirements. We believe that building appropriate time stepping strategies for multi-scale computations will enable us to gain an order of magnitude. Indeed, unstructured-mesh generation processes are complex and, even though it is possible to control average element sizes in specic regions of the domain, it is not the case for each element size. The smallest element is usually much more smaller than the criterion that was prescribed a priori and it determines the stable time step for the entire model. Therefore, the computational eciency of explicit time-stepping methods may be drastically low. Multirate schemes represent a class of methods that use various time steps on dierent grid cells. The strategy consists in splitting the domain in a smart way. Grid cells are gathered in dierent groups that satisfy the local CFL stability conditions for a certain range of time steps. Standard explicit Runge- Kutta methods are applied on independent partitions while buer groups have to be introduced between them, with adapted methods, in order to accommodate the transitions between them. These methods are especially suited for the Discontinuous Galerkin spatial discretization. Nevertheless, development of such methods is still challenging. Both, stability requirements and conservation properties should be satised. Two approaches are explored. Constantinescu introduced a conservative 2nd order scheme while Schlegel proposed a 3rd method that is, unfortunately, not conservative. Large-scale applications like the Great Barrier Reef require the use of parallel computers. Some kind of load balancing strategy has to be supplied to accomodate multirate schemes: indeed, small elements have a higher cost than large elements in such a strategy. Moreover, small elements at inter-processor interfaces will require more frequent updates. The key idea consists in creating an optimized mesh partition in a way that the amount of grid cells of the dierent multirate groups is ideally the same on each computer core. However, a compromise should also be found between the eective work on each processor and the amount of communications between them.


The eigen decomposition of covariance matrices is at the core of many data analysis techniques. The study of 2-components or 3-components vector fields typically requires computing numerous eigen decompositions of 2 x 2 or 3 x 3 matrices. This is, for example, the case in the analysis of interferometric or polarimetric SAR images, see MuLoG algorithm (https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01388858). The closed-form expression of eigen-values and eigenvectors then provides a way to derive faster data processing algorithms. This note gives these expressions in the general case (special cases where some coefficients are zero, or the eigenvalues are not separated may not be covered and then require either to introduce a small perturbation of the initial matrix or to derive other expressions).


Objective: The main objective of this study aimed to assess drug–drug interactions (DDIs) in the cardiac care unit (CCU) and cardiac surgery units and the role of a clinical pharmacist in detecting and preventing the expected DDIs. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the CCU Units of Nemazee and Shahid Faghihi Hospitals, two referral hospitals in Shiraz, South of Iran, from August to February 2016. Patients older than 18 years, who were admitted and had received >24 h of inpatient services in these wards with two or more medication orders, were included in this study. All medication orders were evaluated by a pharmacist and DDIs were examined based on the Lexi-Interact™ software. In cases with serious DDIs (D or X), the physicians and nurses were informed, and intervention was conducted by a clinical pharmacist. Findings: A total of 3706 medical orders were evaluated. 6478 DDIs were detected, of which, 446 (6.88%) belonged to Classes D and X, and a total of 43.43% of all hospitalizations had at least one DDI. Factors with the most considerable influence on DDIs included an increased number of prescribed medications and patients underlying disease. The physicians accepted 62% of the interventions. The most frequent drugs responsible for interactions of Classes C, D, and X were aspirin, warfarin, and clopidogrel, respectively. Conclusion: This study shows that a significant number of clinical DDIs exist in hospitalized patients, especially among consumers of warfarin and aspirin. The role of a clinical pharmacist in preventing such interactions and safer pharmacotherapy management for hospitalized patients is essential.


Not everyone needs a genetic test before taking the cancer drug irinotecan, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration should modify its prescription guidelines to say so, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Irinotecan, also known by its brand name Camptosar, is used mainly as a second-line treatment for colorectal cancer. The FDA recommends screening patients for a gene that could make them more susceptible to the harmful side effects of the drug, the most worrisome of which is neutropenia, an abnormally low number of white blood cells. In a paper published in the Aug. 28, 2007 Journal of the National Cancer Institute, UNC researchers analyzed data from nine previous studies of irinotecan. They found that patients who received a medium or high dose of the drug had greater risk of neutropenia if they had two copies of a variation of the gene UGT1A1, known as UGT1A1*28. At lower doses, however, the risk was the same regardless of what UGT1A1 gene the patients had. "Many institutions saw the FDA's recommendation as a mandate to test all patients before treating them with irinotecan even though many clinicians didn't think it was always necessary given that low doses of the drug weren't causing problems," said Howard McLeod, Pharm.D., senior author of the study and director of the UNC Institute for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy. "Our review showed that at low doses the drug is well tolerated and can be taken by most people," McLeod said. "As the dosage increases, genetics become a larger factor in determining what side effects patients experience, and then testing becomes essential." Having a genetic test available for a medicine is valuable, but so is knowing when to use that test, said Dr. Richard Goldberg, a co-author of the study and physician in chief of the North Carolina Cancer Hospital. "There are so many treatment options for cancer patients that the more information we have about matching the right therapy to the patient, the better off we all are," Goldberg said. "Studies like this one give oncologists the tools needed to take better care of patients while avoiding tests and expenses that aren't needed." The authors recommended that the FDA amend the product information for irinotecan to describe the association between irinotecan dose and risk of hematologic toxicity among patients with two UGT1A1*28 genes. McLeod is the Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor at the UNC School of Pharmacy. Goldberg is the associate director of UNC's Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and chief of the UNC School of Medicine's Division of Hematology/Oncology. The other authors of the paper are Janelle Hoskins, Ph.D., of the UNC School of Pharmacy and Pingping Qu, Ph.D., and Joseph Ibrahim, Ph.D., of the UNC School of Public Health. For more information contact: David Etchison (919) 966-7744, email@example.com; Dianne Shaw (919)966-7834, email@example.com; Clinton Colmenares (919) 843-1991, email@example.com


Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a strategy that is used to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. As a result of increased government incentives and maturing carbon markets, CCS is currently experiencing an unprecedented level of public and commercial interest. In the United States, the Appalachian Basin contains abundant hydrocarbon resources and is the location of numerous industrial facilities, making the region a promising target for CCS development. However, the lack of seismic reflection surveys and well data, along with complex geologic structure throughout much of the basin, has limited the commercial interest in CCS development. This study proposes that the thin-skinned fold-and-thrust belt of the Appalachian Basin may contain geology suitable for secure long-term CO2 storage. This region, known as the Valley and Ridge physiographic province, holds complex fold-and-thrust structures that may effectively trap commercial volumes of CO2. We test this idea by developing a suite of kinematically feasible geologic interpretations for the Catawba syncline Pulaski thrust system in southwest Virginia. We then use these geologic models to conduct numerical simulations for CO2 storage within the fold-and-thrust belt structures of the Catawba syncline. Our simulation results indicate that the geometric configuration of fold-and-thrust belt structures may offer commercially viable CO2 traps for CCS projects within the Appalachian Basin and similar geologic settings worldwide.


Introduction: Diagnosis of infections due to Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been recently facilitated with the worldwide implementation of rapid molecular tests. However, the diagnosis of non-TB mycobacteria (NTM) remains a major challenge for laboratories, as this group of bacteria contains over 150 different species with highly variable bacteriological properties. The development and implementation in clinical practice of techniques allowing rapid identification of NTM at the species level is, therefore, important for clinical laboratories. We report the case of an HIV-1 positive patient presenting with severe NTM infection who benefited from a novel rapid diagnostic technique, based on the direct sequencing of the rpoB gene from smear-positive clinical samples. Case Presentation: A 43-year-old HIV-1 positive woman was hospitalized for bicytopenia in the presence of an inflamed supraclavicular lymph node. The diagnosis of disseminated Mycobacterium genavense infection, which involved the bone marrow and several lymph nodes, was missed by conventional mycobacteriological techniques. Identification was obtained by performing direct sequencing of the rpoB gene. Conclusion: We describe a novel technique that allows the rapid diagnosis of NTM infections directly from biological samples. This technique is now implemented in our routine workflow for smear and culture-positive samples, after the exclusion of TB, by rapid molecular assays.


The aim of this study was to evaluate the susceptibility of dogs to develop paracoccidioidomycosis by experimental infection. Puppies were inoculated with Paracoccidioides brasiliensis by an intravenous route and two out of four died 1 week postinoculation, showing, at histopathological analysis, granulomas in the lungs, spleen and liver. P. brasiliensis was isolated from these organs. The animals that survived the infection showed a strong reaction when skin was tested with gp43, a specific antigen of P. brasiliensis. These animals were killed at 1 and 5 months after infection, and no lesions, macroscopic or microscopic, were observed in the lungs, spleen or liver; furthermore no P. brasiliensis culture was obtained from these organs. These results suggest that dogs can develop paracoccidioidomycosis and reinforces the importance of this animal as a sensitive indicator of P. brasiliensis in the environment.


A microculture neutralization test is described for measuring specific antibody levels to the 35 human adenovirus serotypes in Vero cells. The test is read at 5 days by macroscopic observation after staining the uninfected cells with crystal violet. The test is performed with a minimum of manipulations and gives serum titers comparable with those obtained in tube macrocultures of monkey kidney, human embryonic kidney, and Vero cells. The Vero microculture neutralization test measures inhibition of adenovirus toxicity, although selected human adenoviruses serially subpassaged in Vero cells were shown to successfully adapt and replicate in the absence of detectable helper viruses.


Abstract:This paper presents the first detailed audit and analysis of radiocarbon-dated Mesolithic activity in Ireland. This provides a data set of 119 definite or possible sites and nearly 450 dates. This data set is reviewed to understand how changes in the character of archaeological activity and other biasing factors influence the distribution of radiocarbon dates across space and time. We present very different outcomes than previously published reviews, especially regarding the claimed impact of the 8200 cal BP climatic downturn. This is an outcome of the more reliable data set presented here. Some of the patterns identified are a product of sampling strategies, such as a peak in Earlier Mesolithic activity attributable to multiple dates from Mount Sandel. Others relate to restructuring of activity by hunter-gatherers leading to significant changes to the archaeological visibility of that activity at the change from Earlier to Later Mesolithic. Increasing numbers of radiocarbon dates at the end of the period, alongside the changing character of the archaeological evidence, may indicate low levels of population growth.


This article examines the English translation of Italian museum website pages as vehicles of cultural dissemination. Museum communication aims to make information about exhibits accessible to the wider public who will come from different cultural and educational backgrounds and age groups, with different learning styles and interests. The complexity of Museum Communication is compounded by the internationalisation of museum audiences where the use of English as a target language in translation will serve a dual purpose – firstly, to address native speakers and secondly, to act as a lingua franca for many other readers. Not only must the translation deal with textual difficulties (terminology, systemic and rhetorical differences between languages), but also culturespecific pragmatics and contextual factors, especially about readers' expectations. The analysis has been made drawing on Juliane House's Recontexualization Model of Translation (2006) and highlights three areas of interest: the lexicon, 'foreignness', and cross-cultural pragmatics.


The triad of gastric leiomyoblastoma, extra-adrenal paraganglioma, and pulmonary chondroma was first described by Carney in 1977. Fewer than 30 patients with this syndrome have since been reported. In most patients the initial lesion has been a gastric leiomyoblastoma. The patient we describe had recurrences of a gastric leiomyoblastoma 15 and 17 years, respectively, after the initial gastric resection. Subsequently, multiple pulmonary lesions were excised and confirmed to be chondromas, but no evidence of a paraganglioma has yet been identified. Gastric leiomyoblastomas in patients with Carney's triad frequently recur; however, the prognosis is quite favorable in contrast to that of sporadic cases. Whenever a patient with one of the classical lesions of Carney's triad is encountered, the possibility of this unusual syndrome should be considered. The evaluation and follow-up of these patients should include a search for the other two components.


Myiasis is the infestation of live vertebrates with dipterous larvae. Aural myiasis involves infestation of the external ear and/or middle ear. It is a rare clinical state that usually occurs in patients who have mental or physical disabilities. Although myiasis is a self-limiting disease, it can be associated with fatal complications like penetration within the central nervous system. We present a 87-year-old patient suffering from Alzheimer's disease with aural myiasis and also discuss the clinical presentation and efective therapies with a review of the literature.


Despite several significant advances over the last 30 years, guaranteeing the correctly rounded evaluation of elementary functions, such as cos, exp, 3 √ · for instance, is still a difficult issue. This can be formulated as a Diophantine approximation problem, called the Table Maker's Dilemma, which consists in determining points with integer coordinates that are close to a curve. In this article, we propose two algorithmic approaches to tackle this problem, closely related to a celebrated work by Bombieri and Pila and to the so-called Coppersmith's method. We establish the underlying theoretical foundations, prove the algorithms, study their complexity and present practical experiments; we also compare our approach with previously existing ones. In particular, our results show that the development of a correctly rounded mathematical library for the binary128 format is now possible at a much smaller cost than with previously existing approaches.


Indomethacin (NASID) is used as potent anti-inflammatory drug with prompt antipyretic action, mainly used for the treatment of osteoarthritis with half-life of 4.5 hours. The basic objective of present work was to prepare floating delivery system of Indomethacin for once a day formulation using gas formation technique for prolonging the gastric residence time, so that the dosage regimen and gastric irritancy can be reduced. Indomethacin was estimated in the formulation by using UV/Visible spectrophotometer (Shimazdu UV-1700) at 321 nm. Tablets were evaluated for various parameters and it was observed that the formulation having 75 mg of Indomethacin, 34% HPMC K4M, 12% sodium bi-carbonate and 20% of lactose shows better result having 96.37% drug release within 24 hr with floating lag time of 155 seconds and floating time of 22 hr. It was also observed that as the concentration of gas generating and channeling agent increases, the chances of burst release and tablet erosion increases simultaneously. In the present study it was concluded that the floating drug delivery system with reduced floating lag time and sustained drug release of Indomethacin was obtained and could be a promising gastro-retentive drug delivery system.


The Microsoft-based mobile sales management application is a sales force management application that currently running on Windows Mobile 6.5. It handles sales-related activity and cuts down the administrative task of sales representative. Then, Windows launch a new mobile operating system, Windows Phone and stop providing support to Windows Mobile. This has become an obstacle for Windows Mobile development. From time to time, Windows Mobile will be eliminated from the market due to no support provided by Microsoft. Besides that, Windows Mobile application cannot run on Windows Phone mobile operating system due to lack of compatibility. Therefore, applications those run on Windows Mobile need to find a solution addressing this problem. The rise of cloud computing technology in delivering software as a service becomes a solution. The Microsoft-based mobile sales management application delivers a service to run in a web browser, rather than limited by certain type of mobile that run the Windows Mobile operating system. However, there are some security issues need to concern in order to deliver the Microsoft-based mobile application as a service in private cloud computing. Therefore, security model is needed to answer the security issues in private cloud computing. This research is to propose a security model for the Microsoft-based mobile sales management application in private cloud computing. Lastly, a User Acceptance Test (UAT) is carried out to test the compatibility between proposed security model of Microsoft-based mobile sales management application in a private cloud and tablet computers.


A programme of inter-laboratory measurements designed to obtain estimates of the standard deviation of reproducibility associated with sound power level determinations has been carried out. These values of reproducibility uncertainty have been compared with values based on repeatability data, and uncertainty values suitable for inclusion in international standards are proposed. Four Laboratories carried out sound power level determinations using a hemispherical enveloping surface on three noise sources encompassing a wide range of acoustic complexity and covering a Directivity Index range from 0.8 dB to 6.9 dB. Sound power levels were determined using several microphone arrays with differing distribution on the enveloping surface and with between twenty and one measurement positions, and reproducibility uncertainties calculated for each array. The magnitude of reproducibility standard deviations is dependent on the number of microphone positions in the array, the Directivity Index of the noise source and the distribution of the microphone positions. For A-weighted sound power levels, a procedure is proposed that, for a given value of Directivity Index, will enable the user of a sound power standard to easily assess how many microphone positions are required in an array to obtain a required value of reproducibility, or, to assess the reduction in reproducibility that will be achieved by increasing the number of microphone positions. Standard deviations of reproducibility in a form suitable for inclusion in an international standard are proposed. For the purposes of an international standard it is suggested that a 10-microphone array should be specified when considering one-third octave-band sound power levels and that a value of reproducibility standard deviation of 1.5 dB across the frequency range from 50 Hz to 10 kHz should be adopted.


Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the most frequent diseases worldwide. Cigarette smoke is considered the main pathological cause of the disorder, although evidence is growing concerning other etiological factors, such as environmental pollution, biomass combustion, infections, genetic predisposition, which may explain why some individuals develop COPD with no history of smoking. Chronic inflammation and remodeling of the small airways characterize the disease at the cellular level, and oxidative stress is considered the main driving force that stands behind COPD inflammation. Recently, chromatin remodeling and epigenetic changes have been found to underlie disease pathology and progression. In this review, the authors gave a short update on the recent hypothesis and findings that may imply novel approach to pharmacotherapy of the disease, focusing on the role of glucocorticosteroids, theophylline, and antioxidants.


The methods and models of the concurrent engineering taken from the industry domain are unsuitable for the domain of the construction that is characterized by a singular context of cooperation and an adoption of implicit practices. In this context, we find two cooperative approaches: the first one consists of using organisation project tools founded on cooperation between actors (approach based on exchange document model). The second one is based on modelling the building with objects, by using technical data model (approach based on the knowledge). At first we expose, through the analysis of the data exchange model (IFC), the problem of using digital mock-up for cooperation. Then we justify the interest in building a new model of cooperation where the relational organization of the project is taken into account. Finally, we propose to use this new model to propose a management tool of the "Virtual Cooperative Project".


OF THE THESIS Comparison of Mechanical and Piezoelectric Power Extraction from a Speed Bump by Rohit Phalke Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering San Diego State University, 2011 The ability to capture yet untapped resources is critical to the future of energy supply. There were many motivations behind energy harvesting, and the most important is the issue of climate change and global warming. The goal of this research is to theoretically and experimentally investigate the behaviors of an energy harvesting system constructed with a bimorph cantilever built of Lead Zirconate titanate (Pb[ZrxTi1.x]O3) and tungsten proof mass to convert vibration energy into electrical energy and a mechanical system built on a gear reduction mechanism to convert the translational motion into rotational and further into electrical energy. Gear reduction is used in order to maximize the rotational motion out of translational. Based on simulation, it was found that the piezoelectric bimorph cantilever generator can produce up to 8V with the frequency range of 150 Hz and the mechanical system built on a gear reduction mechanism can produce up to 6V.


Energy transfer in the excited state of molecules including quenching, rotational and vibrational energy transfer, and polarization scrambling is one of the major factors which limit the accuracy of laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) measurements. In this contribution, we present time-, wavelength-, and polarization-resolved spectra of OH in a stoichiometric H2/air flame at atmospheric pressure. Emphasis is placed on the investigation of the role of polarization effects and of multi-quantum vibrational energy transfer on fluorescence spectra originating from the OH A2sigma+ state. Results are compared to simulations using a rate-equation model (LASKIN) developed in our group.


A review of the operational performance of the alignment system for the large Antares optical system is presented. The alignment of twenty-four optical channels consisting of two hundred optical elements is verified and established as required prior to each target shot for this CO2 laser fusion test facility. The overall system design included features such as automatic operation, data base driven controls, self calibration, provisions for initial optical alignment set up, and system aided fault location. The system approach employed two alignment stations which sequentially viewed the 24 optical channels (sectors) and could be used for prealignments and calibrations. Closed loop operations via the computer permit rapid mirror alignments. The performance of the applied techniques and devices is evaluated and compared to the required performance specifically from the standpoint of accuracy and shot rate. Overall system performance with verification by actual target shots is presented.


The Eastern Massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus) is a small, grassland-dependent rattlesnake species declining throughout its native range, and is thus a species of high conservation priority. In Illinois, only a single population remains of a once widespread distribution. We documented genetic diversity in this population over a ten-year period and assessed levels of heterozygosity, allelic diversity, inbreeding (FIS), and effective population size (Ne). Neither heterozygosity nor levels of inbreeding differed significantly among periods. We identified 21 alleles that occurred in a single time period, some of which may have been lost from the population given our estimated detection probability of 93%. Effective population size (Ne) was numerically small and showed a decreasing trend through time. Despite small population size and a lack of connectivity, there was no significant decline in genetic diversity over the ten-year study. Aspects of life history, coupled with a preference for a historically patchy habitat, may mitigate the loss of genetic diversity in the species and promote their persistence in the fragmented habitats of the Anthropocene. However, continued genetic monitoring is recommended, and population recovery measures should be implemented as soon as possible to mitigate the deleterious effects of small population size.


The potential of thermoelectric power to reduce energy waste and mitigate climate change has led to renewed interest in "phonon-glass electron-crystal" materials, of which the inorganic clathrates are an archetypal example. In this work we present a detailed first-principles modelling study of the structural dynamics and thermal transport in bulk diamond Si and five framework structures, including the reported Si Clathrate I and II structures and the recently-synthesised oC24 phase, with a view to understanding the relationship between the structure, lattice dynamics, energetic stability and thermal transport. We predict the IR and Raman spectra, including ab initio linewidths, and identify spectral signatures that could be used to confirm the presence of the different phases in material samples. Comparison of the energetics, including the contribution of the phonons to the finite-temperature Helmholtz free energy, shows that the framework structures are metastable, with the energy differences to bulk Si dominated by differences in the lattice energy. Thermal-conductivity calculations within the single-mode relaxation-time approximation show that the framework structures have significantly lower κlatt than bulk Si, which we attribute quantitatively to differences in the phonon group velocities and lifetimes. The lifetimes vary considerably between systems, which can be largely accounted for by differences in the three-phonon interaction strengths. Notably, we predict a very low κlatt for the Clathrate-II structure, in line with previous experiments but contrary to other recent modelling studies, which motivates further exploration of this system.


Theoretical developments in the field of Lagrangian turbulence are made difficult by the fact that equations governing the evolution of lagrangian flows are implicit contrary to eulerian flows. In this article, an {\it exact} explicit equation for incompressible lagrangian fluid flows at high-Reynolds number is constructed. The method to arrive at the equation of motion and the proof that it describes the motion of an incompressible fluid are provided. A truncated version of this new equation is used to show how the lagrangian turbulent spectrum ($E_\mathrm{lag}(\omega)$) could be inferred. This exercise showed a complex interrelation between the stirring force field and the flow itself in the lagrangian turbulence framework whereas the stirring is not affected by the flow in the eulerian point of view. The result is that $E_\mathrm{lag}(\omega)\propto \varepsilon\,\omega^{-2}$ seems independent upon the way the fluid is stirred in the inertial range for a given dissipated power $\varepsilon$. It also showed that $E_\mathrm{lag}(\omega)\sim \omega^{-s}$ with $0\leq s\leq 1/2$ (depending on the stirring) at low-$\omega$ and $\sim\omega^{-4}$ in the viscous range at high-$\omega$.


Antibiotic susceptibility of four Pseudomonas species i.e. P.aeruginosa, P.cepacia, P.mallei and P.pseudomallei was studied under conditions of different temperature and pH of the medium (within the physiologically possible deviations). It was shown that along with the general tendencies (lowered MICs at the medium alkalization) there were obvious species differences in the effect of the physicochemical factors on the Pseudomonas antibiotic resistance. The results of the study may to a certain extent serve as an explanation of the lack of coincidence of the chemotherapy efficacy with the data on the drug in vitro estimation.


Objective: To investigate the types and treatment methods of easily-missed, misdiagnosed intestinal obstruction after radical radiotherapy of cervical cancer. Methods: The clinical data of 21 patients with intestinal obstruction after radical radiotherapy of cervical cancer in our hospital from May 2013 to May 2019 were collected, including the radiation dose, obstruction symptoms, surgical methods and treatment outcomes. The types and treatment methods of intestinal obstruction after radical radiotherapy of cervical cancer were further investigated. Results: The intestinal obstruction occurred in 21 patients with cervical cancer after radical radiotherapy. All patients were initially diagnosed as rectal obstruction and underwent the transverse colostomy. The obstruction symptoms were successfully resolved in 15 patients while failed in other 6 patients who then underwent the re-operation. Four patients with rectal obstruction accompanied by middle or terminal ileum obstruction underwent ileostomy, the other 2 patients with terminal ileum obstruction underwent the transverse ileal anastomosis and partial intestines exclusion surgery. All of the obstruction symptoms were alleviated. Conclusions: Rectal is the major obstruction site of the cervical cancer patients with intestinal obstruction after radical radiotherapy. However, a possibility of obstruction at the middle or end of the ileum also exists. Therefore, it is very important to avoid misdiagnosis and conduct appropriate operative treatment according to the obstruction site.


Using two epochs of observations with HST/WFPC2 we obtain the stellar proper motions for all stars in the field. The proper motion are used to separate the bulge from the cluster stars. The stellar sequences in the resulting colour-magnitude diagram (CMD) are better defined than in any previously published CMD. Using a-enhanced stellar isochrones we find NGC 6528 to have a probable age of 11 +/- 2 Gyrs, this is the first attempt to establish the ab. solute age of NGC 6528. Previous studies have only compared the fiducial ridge line for the cluster to that of other globular clusters of similar metallicities. Mainly the comparisons have been with regards to NGC 6553 and 47 Tuc. With the new metallicity determinations for individual stars in both NGC 6553 and NGC 6528 it is now clear that 47 Tuc (at -0.71 dex) has a significantly lower metallicity than NGC 6528 and NGC 6553 and is thus not a suitable comparison cluster as regards differential age determinations. A comparison with the fiducial line for NGC 6553 confirms results in earlier studies, e.g. Ortolani et al. (1995), that the two clusters indeed have very similar ages. From the measured velocities both the proper motion of the,cluster and the velocity dispersion in the Galactic Bulge are found. NGC 6528 is found to have a proper motion relative to the Galactic Bulge of = 0.006 and = 0.044 arcsec per century. Using stars with similar to 14 < V-555 < 19 (i.e. the red giant branch and horizontal branch) we find, for the Galactic Bulge, sigma(l) = 0.33 +/- 0.03 and sigma(b) = 0.25 +/- 0.02 arcsec per century. This give sigma(l)/sigma(b) = 1.32 +/- 0.16, consistent both with previous proper motion studies of K giants in the Galactic bulge as well as with predictions by models of the kinematics of bulge stars. (Less)


The article is devoted to the automation of scientific events preparation through the information technologies introduction. The authors analyzed the current state of the problem, identified the advantages and disadvantages of some information platforms of scientific conferences, substantiated the advantages of free LMS Moodle. A review of scientific literature is presented, three main directions of using Moodle in the educational process are identified and characterized. It is established that the experience of using Moodle in the preparation and organization of scientific and other events is practically not reflected in the publications. The characteristic of the preparatory work algorithm and the procedures for using Moodle system in the preparation of a scientific event with an undetermined number of participants is given, the stages and content of custom blocks are described in detail on the example of a real event. Much attention is given to the creation of a module for collecting and filling out applications, in which the Moodle element Databases is selected. The problem of protecting the participant's personal data and his intellectual work has been solved with the use of different database blanks for participants and for organizers through the Presets tab. The authors describe the main functions that Moodle can solve for organizing events. You can get acquainted with the implementation of the system considered in the article on the Portal of Scientific Conferences of Vologda State Dairy Farming Academy by N. V. Vereshchagin, located at: https:// moodle.molochnoe.ru/sci/


Background It is estimated that over 250 million children under 5 years of age in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) do not reach their full developmental potential. Poor maternal diet, anemia, and micronutrient deficiencies during pregnancy are associated with suboptimal neurodevelopmental outcomes in children. However, the effect of prenatal macronutrient and micronutrient supplementation on child development in LMIC settings remains unclear due to limited evidence from randomized trials. Methods and findings We conducted a 3-arm cluster-randomized trial (n = 53 clusters) that evaluated the efficacy of (1) prenatal multiple micronutrient supplementation (MMS; n = 18 clusters) and (2) lipid-based nutrient supplementation (LNS; n = 18 clusters) as compared to (3) routine iron–folic acid (IFA) supplementation (n = 17 clusters) among pregnant women in the rural district of Madarounfa, Niger, from March 2015 to August 2019 (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT02145000). Children were followed until 2 years of age, and the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development III (BSID-III) were administered to children every 3 months from 6 to 24 months of age. Maternal report of WHO gross motor milestone achievement was assessed monthly from 3 to 24 months of age. An intention-to-treat analysis was followed. Child BSID-III data were available for 559, 492, and 581 singleton children in the MMS, LNS, and IFA groups, respectively. Child WHO motor milestone data were available for 691, 781, and 753 singleton children in the MMS, LNS, and IFA groups, respectively. Prenatal MMS had no effect on child BSID-III cognitive (standardized mean difference [SMD]: 0.21; 95% CI: −0.20, 0.62; p = 0.32), language (SMD: 0.16; 95% CI: −0.30, 0.61; p = 0.50) or motor scores (SMD: 0.18; 95% CI: −0.39, 0.74; p = 0.54) or on time to achievement of the WHO gross motor milestones as compared to IFA. Prenatal LNS had no effect on child BSID-III cognitive (SMD: 0.17; 95% CI: −0.15, 0.49; p = 0.29), language (SMD: 0.11; 95% CI: −0.22, 0.44; p = 0.53) or motor scores (SMD: −0.04; 95% CI: −0.46, 0.37; p = 0.85) at the 24-month endline visit as compared to IFA. However, the trajectory of BSID-III cognitive scores during the first 2 years of life differed between the groups with children in the LNS group having higher cognitive scores at 18 and 21 months (approximately 0.35 SD) as compared to the IFA group (p-value for difference in trajectory <0.001). Children whose mothers received LNS also had earlier achievement of sitting alone (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.57; 95% CI: 1.10 to 2.24; p = 0.01) and walking alone (1.52; 95% CI: 1.14 to 2.03; p = 0.004) as compared to IFA, but there was no effect on time to achievement of other motor milestones. A limitation of our study is that we assessed child development up to 2 years of age, and, therefore, we may have not captured effects that are easier to detect or emerge at older ages. Conclusions There was no benefit of prenatal MMS on child development outcomes up to 2 years of age as compared to IFA. There was evidence of an apparent positive effect of prenatal LNS on cognitive development trajectory and time to achievement of selected gross motor milestones. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02145000.


This article discusses the administration of educators and education personnel. administration of educators and education staff is an overall process of educator activities which includes planning, organizing, directing, reporting, coordinating, supervising, and financing, using available facilities, both personal, material, and spiritual, to achieve educational goals effectively and efficiently


RNA recognition by the HIV Tat protein is mediated in part by an arginine- and lysine-rich basic subdomain implicated as a signature element in proteins that bind RNA. Relative RNA binding affinities for a 14-residue peptide derived from Tat that spans the basic region are determined using a competition protocol. Binding specificity is compared with complexation by a 38-residue model for the RNA binding domain of Tat using the same approach. Binding strength for the minimal (14 residue) peptide is correlated with that for the longer peptide: both peptides recognize a short, bulged duplex. However, the shorter peptide dissociates more rapidly from the wild-type site and discriminates less well between nonspecific (double-stranded RNA) and specific sites. Relative dissociation constants for 38-residue peptide determined from direct partition and competition assays differ; the former assay consistently predicts stronger discrimination against RNAs with mutations in the stems flanking the bulge. Differences between the two assays are reconciled in terms of contributions from labile binding which is unstable to native gel electrophoresis. Kinetic stability may constitute a major specificity determinant for basic subdomain-mediated recognition of RNA.


In rabbits and rats the excretion via the bile of the highly effective and selective synthetic thrombin inhibitor N alpha-(2-naphthylsulfonylglycyl)-4-amidinophenylalanine piperidide was studied after various routes of administration and varying doses. The concentration in the bile was determined using a biological method, the reliability of which was checked by HPLC-determinations. The compound was excreted in the bile in biologically active unchanged form. Cumulative biliary excretion of the synthetic thrombin inhibitor in rabbits amounted to a high percentage of the administered dose after low doses given either systemically or intraportally. In rats the excretion rates during and after intravenous infusion reached a maximum indicating saturation kinetics. Hepatic uptake and biliary excretion of the highly basic benzamidine derivative essentially contribute to its short plasma half-life.


A new small drifter prototype for measuring current immediately below the free surface in a water basin is proposed in this paper. The drifter dimensions make it useful for shallow water applications. The drifter transmits its GPS location via GSM phone network. The drifter was used to study the trajectory of the surface current in the Muggia bay, the latter containing the industrial harbor of the city of Trieste (Italy). The analysis has been carried out under a wide variety of wind conditions. As regards the behavior of the drifter, the analysis has shown that it is well suited to detect the water current since its motion is marginally affected by the wind. The study has allowed detecting the main features of the surface circulation within the Muggia bay under different meteorological conditions. Also, the study has shown that the trajectory of the surface current within the bay is weakly affected by the Coriolis force.


This article shares my experience as a doctoral student researching within the domain of art and design education. This is a professional doctorate bringing together my experience as an educator and that of researcher where boundaries between education and social science research disciplines cross. My research paradigm is situated within critical theory. It is an interpretive hermeneutic study where I am cast as a participant ethnographer. At the time of writing I wanted to make known the issues and tensions that I encountered with research protocols, such as permissions mechanisms and ethical gatekeepers. These tensions I still perceive as confining, but more significantly, I realise that knowing and understanding research methodology is key to achieving creative and unpredictable research practice. This article is, therefore, focused on my journey to discover a research methodology that enables me to use a creative voice. By this I mean a method by which I can develop a writing style that articulates my practice that enables me in the construction and reporting of my research analysis to fully capitalise on my reflexive self. I have referenced papers produced by others at the time of writing their doctoral thesis and have found this enlightening. This is my contribution.


With the rapid increase of the urban population worldwide, cities nowadays face complex challenges to guarantee a sustainable development and the quality of life of their inhabitants. The concept of "smart cities" is a response to these challenges. This chapter explores how three Italian smart cities have developed a fertile environment for innovative and high-tech projects. In particular, the research describes some of the main projects implemented by Italian smart cities and the impacts on the sustainability pillars. The research is based on a qualitative method and, in particular, on multiple case study analysis, where theory and empirical research are intertwined. This work shows some interesting implications as it contributes to increase the existing literature on smart city and sustainability and it provides ideas for further reflections about the effects of ICT-oriented projects on sustainable development.


At their annual spring meetings in 1933 the three national pediatric societies voted to form the American Board of Pediatrics, to be composed of three members elected from each society. Sufficient time has elapsed for the board to make a comprehensive report to the membership of the three societies. Its work during this time may be roughly divided into two periods, a year of preparation and a year and a half of active work on certification. Almost a year was required for purpose of incorporation, study of the work and methods of similar existing boards, the adoption and putting into effect of standards and requirements for certification and the preparation of application blanks and informative literature. The board was materially aided by the pioneer work and experience of the existing boards in other special fields of practice, to which it is deeply indebted for valuable help and advice. The board


Covalent epigenetic modifications contribute to the regulation of important cellular processes during development and differentiation, and changes in their genomic distribution and frequency are linked to the emergence of genetic disease states. Chemical and enzymatic methods that selectively target the orthogonal chemical functionality of epigenetic markers are central to the study of their distribution and function, and considerable research effort has been focused on the development of nondestructive sequencing approaches which preserve valuable DNA samples. Photoredox catalysis enables transformations with tunable chemoselectivity under mild, biocompatible reaction conditions. We report the reductive decarboxylation of 5-carboxycytosine via a novel iridium-based treatment, which represents the first application of visible-light photochemistry to epigenetic sequencing via direct base conversion. We propose that the reaction involves an oxidative quenching cycle beginning with single-electron reduction of the nucleobase by the photocatalyst, followed by hydrogen atom transfer from a thiol. The saturation of the C5–C6 backbone permits decarboxylation of the nonaromatic intermediate, and hydrolysis of the N4-amine constitutes a conversion from a cytosine derivative to a T-like base. This conversion demonstrates selectivity for 5-carboxycytosine over other canonical or modified nucleoside monomers, and is thereby applied to the sequencing of 5-carboxycytosine within modified oligonucleotides. The photochemistry explored in this study can also be used in conjunction with enzymatic oxidation by TET to profile 5-methylcytosine at single-base resolution. Compared to other base-conversion treatments, the rapid photochemical reaction takes place within minutes, which could provide advantages for high-throughput detection and diagnostic applications.


Saccadic eye movement measurement is reported as potential sensitive biomarker of Huntington's disease (HD), in both pre-manifest and manifest stages. While definitely less specific than imagining techniques, it possess potential for quick, low cost and non invasive quantitative assessment of brain functional status. It is also less prone to neuronal compensation mechanism which continues to conceal the evidence of functional motor impairment, especially when voluntary component is involved in saccadic test paradigm (antisaccade-peripherial-conflict). According to recent findings, the changes of saccadic metrics accompany HD progression and they can be considered as a means of tracking the current patient condition and outcome of new therapeutic interventions. Authors present portable, integrated diagnostic environment, Saccadometer Clinical. The system is designed as minimal-setup for evaluation of saccadic metrics, allowing to establish subjects functional deterioration profile based on the repetitive measurements (status samples) accumulated over the time. The key component is small factor, battery powered, head-mounted intelligent sensor, capable of generating laser dot stimuli for both reflex and volitional decision based saccadic tests, and performing automated eye movement acquisition and classification. Due to portability, ease of use, and build-in telemetry link for wireless communication, the measurement can be carried by patient her/himself in home environment, providing facility for continuous, remote monitoring of patient's functional status. In order to broaden the spectrum of measured parameters, current development efforts aim to include the smooth pursuit and the vestibule-ocular (postural sway) tests within the same miniaturised system, serving as complementary biomarkers of HD.


The virulence of pathogenic bacteria is to some degree dependent on or modified by their environment, and, as the result of experiment, it is known that the virulence of such organisms may be raised by their passage through animals. On the other hand, it has been stated that the virulence of some is lost in a comparatively short time when cultivated on artificial media. 1 Different strains of the same organism may differ to a marked degree in this respect, and conclusions in regard to a class of organisms should not be based on results obtained unless the organisms are from several sources. Bacillus mallei is an organism handled frequently by many laboratory workers; consequently any fallacy in regard to loss of virulence in old cultures should be corrected, since, if one strain has proved virulent, all should be regarded as such unless proved to be otherwise. At the Boston


The coincidence between threshold electrons and ions from Ar2+ was taken to separate the monomer ions and the dimer ions between 790 and 855 AA using synchrotron radiation as a light source. The vibrational structure of the ground state of the Ar2+ ion was clearly observed. The energy of the Ar2+ ionic state is determined to be 116 432+317.2( nu +1/2)-2.5( nu +1/2)2(cm-1) from the zero vibrational state of Ar2.


The aim of this study was to evaluate the insecticidal effect of aqueous, alcoholic, and oil extracts from leaves of eight medicinal plants against Diabrotica speciosa prepared at five concentrations. The extracts that used commercial soybean oil as solvent showed the highest D. speciosa mortality due to the solvent itself, regardless of the used plants and their concentrations. Thus, commercial soybean oil was discarded as solvent since at these volumes it would cause serious phytotoxicity problems. After 24 hours of exposure of the pest to the extracts, the highest D. speciosa mortality values were observed for Copaifera langsdorfii and Chenopodium ambrosioides extracts, both in 5% alcohol, and Artemisia verlotorum, in 10% water. However, in the last mortality assessment (48 h), C. langsdorfii extract in 5% alcohol showed higher mortality of this pest, followed by C. ambrosioides extract in 5% alcohol, compared to the remaining plants.


Cassini Radar is a multimode radar instrument designed to probe the optically inaccessible surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. The individual modes will allow surface imaging at resolutions ranging from a few hundred meters up to 3 kilometers, surface topographic and backscatter measurements, as well as surface temperature measurements. This instrument has incorporated a number of flexible design features to accommodate the geometric variations in the flyby trajectory and to better utilize the spacecraft resources.<<ETX>>


B35 Objectives Cervical cancer accounts for 80% of the total genital cancers in India. The purpose of this study is to examine the correlation between socioeconomic status such as - age, education, age at the time of marriage, income, contraceptive usage, menstrual/obs history, hygiene, diet and the occurrence of pre-cancerous legions of cervix. Method We studied the above SES indicators in 800 female patients between 2002-2005 who undergone pap smear for clinical diagnosis in Zanana hospital, Jaipur, India by filling up perfoma which included their demographic data, past and present history, family, menstrual, marital and OBS history and the details of genetic disorders as well. Results Positive correlation between indicators of decreasing social class and increase incidence of pre-cancerous legions of cervix were seen. Our patient knowledge of cervical cancer was poor. Predictive value positive was found to be 13.33%, which result when the pap smear yields a high proportion of true positives (i.e., > 10%) which also indicates high prevalence of pre clinical disease. The incidence increases at about 35-40 years and reaches maximum in women in there 50's, only 4 out of 88 patients who were tested positive for pap smear were educated up to X grade. Average age at the time of marriage was in between 13-14 years, which in turn reflect early age at first intercourse. Use of OC was noted in 50% of cases. Irregular menstrual history with poor hygiene was seen in 90% of the cases, diet poor in vitamins and limited access to early prevention was seen in almost all patients. Conclusions The lack of effective screening, lack of analysis of cervical disease and ways to prevent the disease, difficulty getting to clinic and hospitals, the need of multiple hospital visit and high cost associated with screening, myths and misconception about the disease also pose barriers to prevention. Educational efforts, the screen and treat approach to prevention and organized health information system will reduce the burden of disease. Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2008;1(7 Suppl):B35.


In wireless communication environment, the time-varying channel and angular spreads caused by multipath fading and the mobility of mobile stations (MS) degrade the performance of the conventional direction-of arrival (DOA) tracking algorithms. On the other hand, although the DOA estimation methods based on the maximum likelihood (MI) principle have higher resolution than the beamforming and the subspace based methods, prohibitively heavy computation limits their practical applications. In this paper, we first propose a new suboptimal DOA estimation algorithm that combines the advantages of the lower complexity of subspace algorithm and the high accuracy of MI based algorithms, and then propose a Kalman filtering based tracking algorithm to model the dynamic property of directional changes for mobile terminals in such a way that the association between the estimates made at different time points is maintained. At each stage during tracking process, the current suboptimal estimates of DOA are treated as measurements, predicted and updated via a Kalman state equation, hence adaptive tracking of moving MS can be carried out without the need to perform unduly heavy computations. Computer simulation results show that this proposed algorithm has better performance of DOA estimation and tracking of MS than the conventional MI or subspace based algorithms in terms of accuracy and robustness.


Hemotypology, which is based on the study of a large number of immunological and enzyme systems in the blood, has shown the extraordinary polymorphism of the human species and the lack of a genetic barrier between groups once considered as separate races. The typological mode of thought predominated in anthropology until the middle of this century. Mankind was divided into races according to a theoretical profile characteristic of each one, the holotype, which all the members of the same race were thought to resemble. Today we tend toward the substitution of population thinking: the human species, like all the other animal or plant species, is made up of populations, reproductive units whose members are more likely to mate within the group than outside it. A population is never totally closed and it is the interpopulational genetic flux which assures the homogeneity of the species. Three factors play a fundamental role in the genetic structure of human populations: 1. An ancestral genetic heritage from the distant past is modified by external contribution such as genetic flux and hybridization; 2. Chance is an especially important factor in very isolated small groups; 3. Natural selection: the majority of all genetic factors are not neutral, as we used to think, but possess a certain selective value. This nonneutrality doubtless explains the maintenance of the hemotypological polymorphism in man, as in the model proposed by A.E. Mourant and J. Ruffié. Following these ideas, sometimes it is possible to find the hemotypological traces of important events, especially of the great migrations of the beginning of the neolithic or the beginning of the historic period. Examples are cited which concern the peopling of sub-Saharan Africa, the western Mediterranean and western Europe, and of the continental Far East and Japan. This conceptual revolution, based on the dynamic idea of populations and not on that of the typological conception of race, has shed new light on the science of anthropology and has bridged the gap between hematology and history.


This study had the purpose of evaluate in vivo the therapeutic effect of neutral fluoride gel (TOP GEL®) and of fluoride varnish (FLUORNIZ®) in the behavior of incipient dental caries (white spot lesion) in children from 7 to 11 years old. The sample was composed by 20 patients that showed 51 active white spot lesion (roughness and opaque enamel surface) in anterior permanent teeth. The children were divided in 2 groups (G1 gel; G2 - varnish) and randomly submitted to 4 or 8 applications th weekly with one of the fluoride products. After to 4 week application was observed for G1 12 total remineralization and 14 partial, for G2 5 total and 14 partial (p> 0.05). At the last evaluation, were found 3 total remineralizations and 7 partial for th G1, and 4 total and 11 partial for G2 (p>0.05). In the 4 week evaluation in G1 10 white spot were presented active and 16 inactive, in G2, 15 active and 10 inactive (p>0.05). At the last evaluation, 5 kept active and 5 were inactive in G1, although in G2, 8 stayed active and 7 kept inactive. It is concluded that neutral gel and fluoride varnish showed similar behavior in relation to therapeutic effect on white spot lesion after 4 or 8 weeks of treatment.


Indonesia is one of the most largest country that is growing and has the potential of creative industries from various fields, one of which is animation and games. The majority of human resources of Indonesia are now advancing animation and games, but is still hampered by the right technology. Stop motion as an animation technique has a difficult position as mastering, this type of animation required technology and craftsmanship, thus it does not attract many people to use this technique. This research will discuss the development of a lowcost stop motion animation with maximum result that aims to support the needs of creative industry in Indonesia. This study is taking a character from 'Abdi Dalem'; a popular fictional comic series. In Order to reach lower production costs, This research is using comparative study method in regards of low-cost materials and experimental method to determine the most economical post-production process


Past research has demonstrated the negative effects of media stereotypes on implicit and explicit attitudes across various forms of media. Because video games are a relatively new form of media, there is almost no research on the influence of video game stereotypes on people's attitudes. The main goal of this study was to test the effects of negative video game stereotypes on implicit and explicit attitudes. The results indicated that negative video game stereotypes are associated with negative implicit attitudes but not negative explicit attitudes. Other results revealed influences of overall media stereotypes, sources of information about groups, direct contact with the stereotyped group, peers' negative attitudes towards the stereotyped group, patriotism, and past negative explicit attitudes on current implicit and explicit attitudes. Implications of media stereotypes, especially in video game are discussed, along with suggestions for future research. vi


Plagiarism is a kind of academic dishonesty which is categorized as a crime. Committing plagiarism for the students can result failing grade, expulsion, or the revocation of an academic degree. Still some students consider plagiarism as an ordinary case that has no effect toward their live. In addition, plagiarism becomes favorite choice for lazy students to get a good mark or just complete their requirement to pass certain course without a significant work.
This research aimed at studying plagiarism practice among the students in completing their academic assignment. This research tried to find out whether the students did plagiarism, the source they plagiarized, and how they plagiarized it.
This research used descriptive research design. The writer took 25 students of English Department academic year 20072008 who joined "Introduction to Literature" class as research population. To collect the data and necessary
information, the writer did documentation of final test assignment word of "Introduction to Literature" class which was tested on January 2009 and interviewed the students.
After analyzing the data, the result of this research showed that only two students committed plagiarism. The factor they did plagiarism was poor time management that lead them to inability to meet the due date set up by the lecturer.
The students plagiarized their friends' work by copying necessary part to be presented in their work by paraphrased it. The type of plagiarism they did was "patchwork plagiarism" since they did some reads and selections before copying.
Moreover, for failing to give credit to their friends, they considered doing "incremental plagiarism", a kind of plagiarism caused by using the others' word or idea without crediting the original source.


This paper presents a summary of several of the various types of percussion mechanisms commonly utilized in the field of musical robotics, with a goal of comparing their effectiveness regarding a number of musical outcomes. A testing system was set up to compare the devices and analyze a number of relevant attributes of their performance, such as maximum speed and volume, consistency and latency. The advantages and disadvantages of each of the types of mechanisms are discussed, and suggestions are offered about which types of mechanisms are suitable for various musical contexts.


Over a hundred years ago, Svante Arrhenius (1896), building on earlier work of the French physicist Joseph Fourier, Tyndall (1861), Langley (1884), and others, was the first to model quantitatively the effects of changes in the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide on climate (Uppenbrink, 1996; Fleming, 1998). A "greenhouse theory", or "hothouse theory" as it was then called (Arrhenius, 1908), thus was born and has stood the test of time pretty well since its 19th-century origins, despite falling out of favor for a brief period between 1900 and 1940 (Fleming, 1998). Quaternary ice-core records, now spanning four complete glacial-interglacial cycles (Petit et al., 1997), have provided the strongest support, to date, for the role of greenhouse gasses as primary drivers of global climate change rather than as mere feedback effects (Shackleton, 2000).

A number of recent publications based on paleontological and geochemical proxy data sets, however, have challenged the notion that climate and atmospheric CO2 have been coupled throughout pre-Quaternary time (Pagani et al., 1999; Pearson and Palmer, 2000; Viezer et al., 2000; Royer et al., 2001). Intervals of extreme global warmth, such as the late Paleocene and early Eocene, appear to be associated with relatively low ambient CO2 concentrations (Royer et al., 2001), invoking alternative or additional mechanisms, such as altered ocean circulation, for high-latitude warmth during this interval. Similarly, the mid-Miocene climatic optimum (∼ 17 to ∼15 Ma), according to some proxy CO2 records, was not associated with high concentrations of greenhouse gasses (Pagani et al., 1999; Pearson and Palmer, 2000), but rather with concentrations lower than today.

An apparent paradox has emerged—the pre-Quaternary history of CO2 and climate interaction, which once appeared to be relatively well coupled based on temporal correlation of …


Aim: The purpose of this study was to compare the antibacterial and antifungal activity of MTA Fillapex with AH 26, AH Plus, and RealSeal root canal sealers. S. aureus, E. faecalis, and C. albicans were used as test microorganisms with the agar-diffusion test (ADT) and the direct contact test (DCT).
Methodology: For the ADT, 48 Mueller-Hinton plates were divided into 3 groups according to the microorganism used. Each group was then divided into 4 subgroups according to root canal sealer. Mueller-Hinton and Sabouraud agar mediums were preferred, and inhibition zones were measured to determine the antimicrobial efficacy at designated intervals. In the DCT, 96-well microtiter plates were used. For each microorganism and each sealer, 8 consecutive wells were prepared vertically on the plate. Microbial suspensions were allowed to directly contact the sealers in each well for 1 hour at 37°C. Subsequently, microbial growth was spectrophotometrically measured at set intervals for the freshly mixed and set forms.
Results: A statistically significant difference was found between the tested root canal sealers for antimicrobial effectiveness (p < 0.05). According to the ADT results, all sealers had antimicrobial activity against the tested microorganisms. MTA Fillapex demonstrated satisfying results in the ADT against all microorganisms. In the DCT, MTA Fillapex inhibited bacterial and fungal growth in all freshly mixed and set forms. However, the set forms of AH 26 and AH Plus began to lose their antimicrobial activity on the tested microorganisms after a while.
Conclusion: The results showed that the MTA-based root canal sealer MTA Fillapex may be a favorable alternative sealer against bacterial and/or fungal species in clinical practice.

How to cite this article:
Turkyilmaz A, Erdemir A. Antibacterial and antifungal activity of MTA-based root canal sealer versus epoxy resin-based and methacrylate resin-based sealers. Int Dent Res 2020;10(3):66-72.
https://doi.org/10.5577/intdentres.2020.vol10.no3.1

Linguistic Revision: The English in this manuscript has been checked by at least two professional editors, both native speakers of English.


Cell culture process conditions including media components and bioreactor operation conditions have a profound impact on recombinant protein quality attributes. Considerable changes in the distribution of galactosylated glycoforms (G0F, G1F, and G2F) were observed across multiple CHO derived recombinant proteins in development at Eli Lilly and Company when switching to a new chemically defined (CD) media platform condition. In the new CD platform, significantly lower G0F percentages and higher G1F and G2F were observed. These changes were of interest as glycosylation heterogeneity can impact the effectiveness of a protein. A systematic investigation was done to understand the root cause of the change and control strategy for galactosylated glycoforms distribution. It was found that changes in asparagine concentration could result in a corresponding change in G0F, G1F, and G2F distribution. A follow‐up study examined a wider range of asparagine concentration and it was found that G0F, G1F, and G2F percentage could be titrated by adjusting asparagine concentration. The observed changes in heterogeneity from changing asparagine concentration are due to resulting changes in ammonium metabolism. Further study ascertained that different integrated ammonium level during the cell culture process could control G0F, G1F, and G2F percentage distribution. A mechanism hypothesis is proposed that integrated ammonium level impacts intracellular pH, which further regulates β‐1, 4 galactosyltransferase activity. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 30:547–553, 2014


Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), systemic scleroderma (SSD) and donors were examined for the blood levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone, hydrocortisone, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, prolactin, estradiol, testosterone, progesterone, thyroid-stimulating hormone, triiodothyronine, thyroxin, and insulin. The corticotropin load test was carried out in 38 SLE patients, 32 SSD patients and 24 donors. The prednisolone test was made in 15 SSD patients and 27 donors. The studies were made with the aid of RIA. The patients with SLE manifested a decline of the basal level of hydrocortisone as well as a reduction of the reserve potentialities of the pituitary-adrenal system. The patients with SSD demonstrated a negligible decrease of the basal level of hydrocortisone with an evident lowering of the reserves of the same system. The treatment of SLE and SSD patients with glucocorticoids was followed by marked hyperinsulinemia.


BACKGROUND
Musculoskeletal (MSK) pain affects over 80% of People with Parkinson's (PD, PwP) and may, in part, be dopaminergic in origin, as dopaminergic medication often leads to its relief.

METHODS
PwP who underwent striatal dopamine transporter visualization with a radiopharmaceutical DaTscan™ (123 I-Ioflupane Injection) using a single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) as a part of their clinical-diagnostic work up were enrolled in the "Non-motor International Longitudinal Study" (NILS; UK National Institute for Health Research Clinical Research Network Number 10084) and included in this cross-sectional analysis. The association between specific DaTscan binding ratios for each striatum, the caudate nucleus and putamen and clinical ratings for MSK pain (assessed using the King's Parkinson's Disease Pain Scale (KPPS)) were analysed.

RESULTS
53 PwP (30.2% female; age: 63.79 ± 11.31 years; disease duration (DD): 3.32 (0.31-14.41) years; Hoehn & Yahr stage (H&Y): 2 (1-4); Levodopa Equivalent Daily Dose (LEDD): 543.08 ± 308.94 mg) were assessed and included in this analysis. MSK pain was highly prevalent (71.7% of all participants, mean KPPS Item 1 score 5.34 ± 4.76) and did not correlate with the motor symptoms burden (SCOPA-Motor total score; p = 0.783) but showed a significant correlation with quality of life (PDQ-8, rs  = 0.290, p = 0.035). z-scores for the caudate nucleus (Exp (B) = 0.367, 95% CI for Exp (B) 0.148-0.910, p = 0.031) and striatum (Exp (B) = 0.338, 95% CI for Exp (B) 0.123-0.931, p = 0.036), adjusted for DD, H&Y and LEDD, were significant determinants of MSK pain.

CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest an association between MSK pain in PwP and the severity of dopaminergic deficiency in the caudate nucleus.

SIGNIFICANCE
In People with Parkinson's, musculoskeletal pain does not arise simply as a direct sequel to motor symptoms-instead, it is linked to the severity of dopaminergic depletion in the caudate nucleus.


Nowadays, most researchers focus on the cavity shedding mechanisms of unsteady cavitating flows over different objects, such as 2D/3D hydrofoils, venturi-type section, axisymmetric bodies with different headforms, and so on. But few of them pay attention to the differences of cavity shedding modality under different cavitation numbers in unsteady cavitating flows over the same object. In the present study, two kinds of shedding patterns are investigated experimentally. A high speed camera system is used to observe the cavitating flows over an axisymmetric blunt body and the velocity fields are measured by a particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique in a water tunnel for different cavitation conditions. The U-type cavitating vortex shedding is observed in unsteady cavitating flows. When the cavitation number is 0.7, there is a large scale cavity rolling up and shedding, which cause the instability and dramatic fluctuation of the flows, while at cavitation number of 0.6, the detached cavities can be conjunct with the attached part to induce the break-off behavior again at the tail of the attached cavity, as a result, the final shedding is in the form of small scale cavity and keeps a relatively steady flow field. It is also found that the interaction between the re-entrant flow and the attached cavity plays an important role in the unsteady cavity shedding modality. When the attached cavity scale is insufficient to overcome the re-entrant flow, it deserves the large cavity rolling up and shedding just as that at cavitation number of 0.7. Otherwise, the re-entrant flow is defeated by large enough cavity to induce the cavity-combined process and small scale cavity vortexes shedding just as that of the cavitation number of 0.6. This research shows the details of two different cavity shedding modalities which is worthful and meaningful for the further study of unsteady cavitation.


Survey sinking migration downward continues the entire surface observed multi‐shot data to the subsurface step by step recursively. Reflected energy from reflectors at current depth appear at zero time and zero offset in the extrapolated wavefield. The data (seismic records) of t > 0 at this depth are equivalent to the data acquired by a survey system deployed at this depth. This is the reason to name the process 'survey sinking'. The records of negative time need not to be further propagated since they carry no information to image structures beneath the new survey system. In this paper, we combine survey sinking with dreamlet migration. The dreamlet migration method decomposes the seismic wavefield and one‐way wave propagator by complete time‐space localized bases. The localization on time gives flexibility on time‐varying operations during depth extrapolation. In dreamlet survey sinking migration, it only keeps the data for imaging the structures beneath the sunk survey system and gets rid of the data already used to image structures above it. The deeper the depth is, the shorter is the valid time records of the remaining data and less computation is needed for one depth step continuation. For data decomposition, in addition to time axis, dreamlet survey sinking also decomposes the data for source and receiver gathers, which is a fully localized decomposition of prestack seismic data. A three‐scatter model is first used to demonstrate the computational feature and principle of this method. Tests on the two‐dimensional SEG/EAGE salt model show that with reduced data sets the proposed method can still obtain good imaging quality on complex geology structures and a strong velocity contrast environment.


syndrome lies in some micro-organism as yet undiscovered. After all, Legionella pneumophila, Borrelia burgdorferi, and Helicobacter pylon were unknown pathogens 15 years ago. The urethral syndrome is common and distressing and causes much unhappiness. It inevitably results in the overuse of antibiotics and proliferation of bacteria resistant to antibiotics. It deserves more thorough investigation than it has received in the past.


This study gives a first qualitative and quantitative record of the parasitic infracommunities in two deep-sea fish species inhabiting the locality of the Juan Fernandez Archipelago, Chile. In December of 2002 a total of 12 individuals of Coelorynchus chilensis and 35 Notacanthus sexspinis was obtained as by-catch of a shrimp Haliporoides diomedeae fishery at around 1000 m depth. The majority of the individuals of both species were infected at least by one parasitic taxon. Forty-five parasites were collected from C. chilensis including larval cestodes, Hepatoxylon trichiuri , Grillotia sp., larval nematodes Anisakis sp., adult digeneans Dinosoma sp., Brachyphallus sp., copepods Protochondia cf. longicauda and myxozoa Myxidium sp. Twenty-two parasitic individuals were collected from N. sexspinis belonging to adult digeneans Lecithochirium sp., and Accacladium sp. (without eggs, immature), larval cestodes Hepatoxylon trichiuri , larval nematodes Anisakis sp. and myxozoa Ceratomyxa sp. Most of the parasites showed a low prevalence and abundance in both host species, except for Myxidium sp., Ceratomyxa sp., Dinosoma sp. and Brachyphallus sp. The parasites Hepatoxylon trichiuri and Anisakis sp. were the only shared taxa. These infracommunities are low in richness, diversity and abundance compared to shallow water fish–parasites communities. Nevertheless the numeric properties of infracommunities are not reliable due to sample size. Given the additional difficulties with reliable sampling of deep-sea fish, these results should not have too much significance attributed to them. The relevance of this study is simply the recognition of parasites that infect the deep-sea fish of the families Macrouridae and Notacanthidae in the southern hemisphere.


In bovine chromaffin granules, an inwardly directed H+-translocating ATPase can create either a transmembrane pH gradient (inside acidic) or a transmembrane difference in electrical potential (inside positive). Both the pH gradient delta pH and the membrane potential delta psi can drive monoamine uptake into chromaffin granule membrane vesicles (ghosts). The monoamine concentration gradient is proportional to the square of the [H+] gradient and to exp(F delta psi/RT). This implies that monoamine uptake occurs via a proton antiport or exchange diffusion mechanism with a stoichiometry of two protons per cationic amine.


During earthquake concrete structures dissipate energy by deforming inelastically. The plastic deformation localized in a small zone namely the plastic hinge zone is critical for flexural members as it governs the load carrying and deformation capacities of the member. Pushover analysis, one method of nonlinear static analysis, is generally used in the assessment of existing buildings. Pushover analysis gives more realistic results when compared to linear analysis methods to achieve seismic performance level of structures. In pushover analysis nonlinear hinge properties of each member should be addressed. The formation of a plastic hinge in structural member depends on both the dynamic characteristic of earthquake and structural member properties such as dimension and material properties. Because of the difficulty and high complexity included, the behavior of plastic hinge of reinforced concrete flexural members has been previously investigated experimentally. Due to the high non-linearity occurs in plastic hinge zone and restrictions by the time and cost especially in large tests, very limited knowledge has been obtained up to date. Moreover past studies showed that none of the existing empirical models is adequate for prediction of plastic hinge length. This study tries to investigate the problem numerically using Nonlinear Finite Element Modeling (FEM) approach by employing software package ABAQUS. To achieve this, a numerical model is generated and verified with existing experimental studies obtained from the literature, by comparing load deflection response and rotational capacity of the test elements. Parametric studies are performed to investigate the plastic hinge length in terms of material properties concrete and dimensions of the member. High performance concrete is selected to be as C50, C60 and C80. With the calibrated FEM model, the extent of the rebar yielding zone and concrete crush zone are examined to define the plastic hinge length.


In a recent paper by Hogan and Trautman (1987) there are a number of misleading statements which could lead to some confusion. These remarks are meant to clarify those statements.


Using data for Japan, the author analyzes "the effect of nuptiality and of marital fertility [on population trends and constructs] a population model in which childbearing occurs only within first marriage....First, we can prove that...we can construct a stable population theory based on nuptiality and marital fertility....Next..., we investigate the effect of [the age shift in first marriage patterns on total fertility rates], since delay of marriage has been thought to be one of [the] major causes for long-term fertility decline in Japan. We conclude that although [the age shift in first marriage patterns] could decrease Japanese fertility, its effect seems to be insufficient to induce such rapid fertility decline as is observed recently in Japan." (SUMMARY IN ENG)


A utility-connected, residential-scale, hybrid renewable energy system consisting of wind turbines and a photovoltaic array was investigated for its effectiveness as distributed generation and demand-side management in an urban setting. The most productive type of wind turbine for this system depended primarily upon the wind regime. The hybrid nature of the system showed that wind and solar resource are complimentary and compatible to each other. The small scale, engineering requirements, and availability of resource would make economic deployment in an urban setting difficult, unless bundled with other methods.


In this study we've evaluated psychodiagnostic description of patients' state with colorectal cancer of 3-4 stages during inpatient care. We've used test of differentiated self-appraisal «CАН», Dembo-Rubinstein's test of self-appraisal, personal anxiety scale MAS, standardized interview Individual conception of state of health. We've discovered that patients, especially women, had anxiety-depression condition before an operation and after it. Women have more self-criticism to state of health, self-appraisal of health and happiness is lower, than in men. The most important factor of health preservation is family, but not financial position.


A lot of progress has been made in the direct determination of nucleon sigma terms. Using similar methods, we consider the sigma terms of the other octet baryons as well. These are determined on CLS gauge field ensembles employing the L\"uscher-Weisz gluon action and the Sheikholeslami-Wohlert fermion action with $N_\mathrm{f} = 2 + 1$. The ensembles have pion masses ranging from ${410}\,\mathrm{MeV}$ down to the physical value and lattice spacings covering a range between ${0.098}\,\mathrm{fm}$ and ${0.039}\,\mathrm{fm}$. We present some preliminary results for the pion and strange sigma terms and compare to indirect determinations. To do so, we discuss multi-state fits to tackle the well-known problem of excited state contamination comparing the ratio and summation methods also including priors.


Despite of an extensive statistical literature showing that discretizing continuous variables results in substantial loss of information, categorization of continuous variables has been a common practice in clinical research and in cancer dose finding (phase I) clinical trials. The objective of this study is to quantify the loss of information incurred by using a discrete set of doses to estimate the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) in phase I trials, instead of a continuous dose support. Escalation With Overdose Control and Continuous Reassessment Method were used because they are model-based designs where dose can be specified either as continuous or as a set of discrete levels. Five equally spaced sets of doses with different interval lengths and three sample sizes with sixteen scenarios were evaluated to compare the operating characteristics between continuous and discrete dose designs by Monte Carlo simulation. Loss of information was quantified by safety and efficiency measures. We conclude that if there is insufficient knowledge about the true MTD value, as commonly happens in phase I clinical trials, a continuous dose scheme minimizes information loss. If one is required to implement a design using discrete doses, then a scheme with 9 to 11 doses may yield similar results to the continuous dose scheme.