OBJECTIVES
To compare taste changes after transoral robotic surgery (TORS) to taste changes in healthy controls.

METHODS
Oropharyngeal cancer patients receiving TORS and healthy controls were recruited. Participants underwent posterolateral and whole-mouth psychophysical taste testing (identification, intensity, and hedonics) at baseline and at 2 weeks postoperatively (patients) or follow-up (controls). Surgeons reported suspension time and glossopharyngeal nerve injury (GNI) based on the identification and sacrifice of the nerve. A Clinical Global Impression (CGI) of taste symptoms was completed at each session ("My sense of taste bothers me" on a 5-point scale from Never [1] to Always [5]). A taste disorder (TD) was a CGI of 3 (Sometimes) or worse. Within-subject changes in CGI and psychophysical scores were computed. "Worsened taste" was a CGI increase by ≥1 point at follow-up.

RESULTS
Of 69 participants, most (33/37 tumor, 31/32 controls) had normal baseline taste (CGI < 3). 14/33 (42%) TORS patients and no controls developed new TDs at follow-up. More smokers (7/9) had worsened taste than nonsmokers (19/60, difference = 46% [95% CI 16%-76%]). More patients without GNI (6/22) than with GNI (0/15) had postoperative phantogeusia (difference = 27% [95% CI 9-45%]). Tumor-ipsilateral taste identification (TI) decreased more in patients (-11.3%) than controls (0.8%, difference = 12.2% [95% CI 5.0-19.3%]). Suspension time was not associated with worsened taste symptoms or psychophysical changes.

CONCLUSIONS
Patient-reported taste changes after TORS are frequent. Compared to healthy controls, TORS patients have decreased tumor-ipsilateral TI. Suspension time and GNI are unlikely to cause symptomatic TDs. Further investigations of the etiology and long-term symptom burden of TORS-associated TDs will aid in the management of oropharyngeal cancer patients.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
Level 3 (non-randomized controlled cohort study) Laryngoscope, 2023.


In order to assess the physical mechanisms at stake when giant gas bubbles burst at the top of a magma conduit, laboratory experiments have been performed. An overpressurized gas cavity is initially closed by a thin liquid film, which suddenly bursts. The acoustic signal produced by the bursting is investigated. The key result is that the amplitude and energy of the acoustic signal strongly depend on the film rupture time. As the rupture time is uncontrolled in the experiments and in the field, the measurement of the acoustic excess pressure in the atmosphere, alone, cannot provide any information on the overpressure inside the bubble before explosion. This could explain the low energy partitioning between infrasound, seismic and explosive dynamics often observed on volcanoes.


A clear increase in the average annual temperature is observed worldwide, and climate changes take place in response to that increase. This affects not only the ecosystem, but also to mankind. Of all those aspects of climate change, people are especially interested in the length of each season, and people acknowledge that the duration of spring and fall has been shortened over the past several years. Still, it is difficult to observe this kind of phenomenon with the simple analysis of dividing the seasons and calculating the duration. Therefore, this study attempted to set up a more intuitive standard which well reflects the current situation. This study also divided the daily climate into 4 states using the daily maximum and minimum temperature. Moreover, using the Hidden Markov Model, this study calculated the duration of each season and analyzed its tendency based on the daily temperature data of the last 53 years (1960~2012). According to the result, the duration of spring and fall showed mild decreasing tendency over the past 53 years, and the duration of fall decreased even more during the past 30 years in the Korean peninsula. After 1960, the start of spring was advanced, which decreased the length of winter for about 11 days. On the other hand, the duration of summer increased for about 25 days, which is consistent with the worldwide tendency of temperature increase.


Variation in avian coloration is produced by coordinated pigmentation of thousands of growing feathers that vary in shape and size. Although the functional consequences of avian coloration are frequently studied, little is known about its developmental basis, and, specifically, the rules that link feather growth to pigment uptake and synthesis. Here, we combine biochemical, modeling, and morphometric techniques to examine the developmental basis of feather pigmentation in house finches (Carpodacus mexicanus)--a species with extensive variation in both growth dynamics of ornamental feathers and their carotenoid pigmentation. We found that the rate of carotenoid uptake was constant across a wide range of feather sizes and shapes, and the relative pigmented area of feathers was independent of the total amount of deposited carotenoids. Analysis of the developmental linkage of feather growth and pigment uptake showed that the mechanisms behind partitioning the feather into pigmented and nonpigmented parts and the mechanisms regulating carotenoid uptake into growing feathers are partially independent. Carotenoid uptake strongly covaried with early elements of feather differentiation (the barb addition rate and diameter), whereas the pigmented area was most closely associated with the rate of feather growth. We suggest that strong effects of carotenoid uptake on genetically integrated mechanisms of feather growth and differentiation provide a likely route for genetic assimilation of diet-dependent coloration.


Metaproterenol (15 mg) and albuterol (5 mg) solutions were each nebulized and delivered to 20 patients with reversible airway obstruction utilizing intermittent positive pressure ventilation in a double-blind comparison. Ten subjects were randomly assigned to each group and they were examined at the start (day 0) and at the end of the study (day 7). There were no significant differences observed between the spirometric responses or the untoward effects of the two groups to either agent. Albuterol and metaproterenol, when administered by intermittent positive pressure ventilation, are essentially equivalent in terms of the magnitude and duration of the response.


Stochastic gradient algorithm is a key ingredient of many machine learning methods, particularly appropriate for large-scale learning.However, a major caveat of large data is their incompleteness.We propose an averaged stochastic gradient algorithm handling missing values in linear models. This approach has the merit to be free from the need of any data distribution modeling and to account for heterogeneous missing this http URL both streaming and finite-sample settings, we prove that this algorithm achieves convergence rate of $\mathcal{O}(\frac{1}{n})$ at the iteration $n$, the same as without missing values. We show the convergence behavior and the relevance of the algorithm not only on synthetic data but also on real data sets, including those collected from medical register.


When five normal subjects were given ceftazidime 2 g iv, antibiotic concentrations in aspirated duodenal fluid increased progressively during 4 h to a value of 21.2 +/- 9.2 mg/l (mean +/- S.E.M.); 0.05% of the dose given was recovered in duodenal fluid. The same dose was given to 12 patients with an external biliary drain. The mean peak ceftazidime concentration of 36.3 +/- 4.0 mg/l was reached in the collected bile during the second hour after administration. The 12-h biliary recovery was 0.21% of the dose. The respective ceftazidime concentrations in choledochal and gallbladder bile sampled peroperatively in ten patients 1 h after ceftazidime 2 g iv were 78.3 +/- 12.0 and 17.9 +/- 7.5 mg/l. These data compare favourably with the results achieved with other beta-lactam compounds.


The ethanol precipitation method has been widely-used for Dendrobium officinale polysaccharides preparation. However, the alcohol-soluble fractions have always been ignored, which causes significant wastes of resources and energies. In this study, the extraction, physicochemical properties, and immune regulation activity of an edible D. officinale polysaccharide (DOPs) isolated from the supernatant after 75% ethanol precipitation were systematically investigated. The structural characteristics determination results showed that DOPs was mainly composed of glucose and mannose at a molar ratio of 1.00:5.78 with an average molecular weight of 4.56 × 103 Da, which was made up of α-(1,3)-Glcp as the main skeleton, and the α-(1,4)-Glcp and β-(1,4)-Manp as the branches. Subsequently, the cyclophosphamide (CTX)-induced immunosuppressive mice model was established, and the results demonstrated that DOPs could dose-dependently protect the immune organs against CTX damage, improve the immune cells activities, and promote the immune-related cytokines (IL-2, IFN-γ and TNF-α) secretions. Furthermore, DOPs treatment also effectively enhanced the antioxidant enzymes levels (SOD, GSH-Px) in sera and livers, therefore weakening the oxidative damage of CTX-treated mice. Considering these above data, DOPs presented great potential to be explored as a natural antioxidant and supplement for functional foods.


The taxonomical characters of 208 strains of glutamic acid-producing bacteria and the base compositions of DNA solated from representative strains were studied.These organisms are, in general, Gram-positive, non-sporulating, non-motile, ellipsoidal spheres to short rods, pleomorphic and require biotin for growth and accumulate aerobically large amounts of L-glutamic acid. Some minor differences are found in physiological characteristics of these strains.All strains examined are considered to belong to a single or very closely related species in genus Corynebacterium. They can beclassifiedphysiologically into 12 types. The guanine plus cytosine (G-C) content of DNA of these strains is varied as represented by three groups, groups I, II and III, G-C contents of which are 53, 56 and 65%, respectively.Group I contains most of the glutamic acid-producing strains and consists of the strains of the physiological types 1 to 10. On the other hand, those strains of groups II and III, which belong to physiological types 11 and 12, are different from those of group I in base composition of DNA. Although it is questionable whether the strains belonging to groups II and III could be assumed to belong to the same species as those belonging to group I, we consider it admittable to name all these organisms Corynebacterium glutamicum laying a stress on their common character of glutamic acid production.


Abstract:  The purpose of this experimental research was examine the creatine monohydrate intervention on the anaerobic power incombined with low intensity resistance exercise among young adults. Forty three inactive students were participated in this study. And there was two independent variable; creatine monohydrate supplement and low intensity resistance exercise. Peak anaerobic power (PAP) was as the dependent variable in this study. Subjects were divided into four groups including control and treatment groups. All the groups were according the block sampling according to the basically information in fitness score to make the equal groups in fitness level. A multivariate repeated measures ANOVA was used to evaluate the effects of creatine  in peak anaerobic power (PAP).  A significant effect was found for creatine timing effect on the PAP within the groups (PAP:  F(1,30)=22.37, p=0.00). And also has been shown a timing effect by the exercise on the peak anaerobic power within the groups (PAP: F(1,30)=4.58, p=0.040).  This data show that there is significant difference PAP between treatment and placebo groups (PAP:  F (1, 30) =1.49, p=0.23). The result of this investigation suggest the coach and athleths to use the creatine for improve their anaerobic performanc.


AIM
Caffeine is one of the most widely consumed behaviorally active substances in the world. Although its effects on the central nervous system and bone metabolism have been documented, as yet there is no report on its effect on tissues in the oral cavity. In this study we analyzed the viability of human gingival fibroblasts (HGF) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) enzyme activity after exposure to different concentrations of caffeine for different exposure time periods.

METHODS
The HGF were cultured with different concentrations of caffeine. Viability of cells exposed to caffeine was analyzed by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazolyl-2)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay to assess mitochondrial dehydrogenase activity. The activity of ALP was analyzed at specific time intervals after caffeine addition.

RESULTS
Our results showed that caffeine of concentrations <1 mm did not affect the viability of HGF and the ALP enzyme activity. Nevertheless, caffeine at 5 and 10 mm dramatically decreased the viability and ALP activity of the cells after 4 days such that, by day 9, the viability of cells declined to near zero in the 10 mm group.

CONCLUSION
These results provided evidence that caffeine in high concentrations can decrease cellular viability and ALP activity in HGF.


Cancer is a disease characterized by genetic aberrations, which lead to widespread deregulation of cell signaling and gene transcription. Over ten years ago, gene transcription profiling of human cancers was found to distinguish distinct intrinsic molecular subtypes of the disease (luminal A/B, HER2, basal, normal-like). TCGA is a large-scale collaborative effort which seeks to comprehensively catalogue the molecular aberrations in various cancers, including breast cancer, at levels of somatic mutation, copy alteration, DNA promoter methylation, protein signaling, and gene and miRNA transcription. Having all of these molecular data on the same set of ∼500 human breast tumors, allows us to construct a more complete molecular portrait of the intrinsic subtypes, along with their candidate molecular drivers. Among other things, integrative analysis of the p53 and PI3K pathways in breast cancer reveal differences in pathway alteration and pathway activity among the subtypes. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2011;71(24 Suppl):Abstract nr SR2-3.


THE LANGUAGE OF LANGUAGE: CORE CONCEPTS IN LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS (2nd ed.). Madalena Cruz-Ferreira and Sunita Anne Abraham. Singapore: Pearson, Prentice Hall, 2006. Pp. iii + 266. $32.00 paper. This 12-chapter volume is intended to introduce the field of linguistics to a student with no previous experience. The chapters are arranged to focus on the various facets of language, with each chapter building on the preceding one. Chapter 1, "Language and Linguistics," and chapter 2, "Language and Languages," offer an introduction to language as a concept. Chapters 3 and 4 have a word-level focus, whereas chapters 5 and 6 focus on sounds. Chapters 7 and 8 synthesize the previous chapters to discuss language on the sentence level. Chapters 9–12 use the discussion of language structure presented in the previous chapters to direct the reader's attention to the meaning of language as a whole. These last four chapters discuss language meaning, discourse, and the relationship between language and humans.


Introduction and aim of the study: Polyoma viruses such as BK virus (BKV), JC virus (JCV) and Merkel Cell Polyoma virus (McPyV) are typically non-oncogenic. The evidence for their role in human cancer remains controversial although they have been detected in a variety of human neoplasms. The aim of this study is to determine the incidence of the most common polyoma viruses in adults McPyV, BKV and JCV in a large non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patient population.

Methods: Real Time PCR and nested PCR were employed to assess the presence of BKV, MCPyV and JCV DNA in tissue biopsies from 100 patients with primary NSCLC as well as lung tissue specimens from macroscopically healthy sites of their lung.

Results: BKV and JCV DNA were not detected in lung tissues biopsies or control specimens. However, ten specimens from lung cancer tissue were found positive for the presence of MCPyV DNA (10/100, 10%), whereas no control sample was tested positive for the virus. The MCPyV positive samples were obtained from male patients in 90% (9/10) of the cases, with a mean age of 64 years and the following histological types: adenocarcinoma 5/10 cases (50%), squamous cell carcinoma 3/10 cases (30%), bronchoalveolar carcinoma 1/10 cases (10%) and undifferentiated large cell lung carcinoma 1/10 cases (10%).

Conclusion: The detected MCPyV prevalence in NSCLC may suggest a pathogenetic role of this virus in NSCLC of the lung. These results may implicate MCPyV mainly with lung adenocarcinoma, while providing evidence of the potential oncogenic role of this virus in NSCLC.


Several new chiral pillar[4]arene[1]quinone derivatives were synthesized by reacting pillar[4]arene[1]quinone (EtP4Q1), containing four 1,4-diethoxybenzene units and one benzoquinone unit, with various chiral amines via Michael addition. Due to the direct introduction of chiral substituents on the rim of pillar[n]arene and the close location of the chiral center to the rim of EtP4Q1, the newly prepared compounds showed unique chiroptical properties without complicated chiral resolution processes, and unprecedented high anisotropy factor of up to −0.018 at the charge transfer absorption band was observed. Intriguingly, the benzene sidearm attached pillar[4]arene[1]quinone derivative 1a showed solvent- and complexation-driven chirality inversion. This work provides a promising potential for absolute asymmetric synthesis of pillararene-based derivatives.


Hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx) has been shown to induce hepatocarcinogenesis by disrupting the functions of intracellular molecules. Cyclin‐dependent kinase inhibitor p21 (Cip1/WAF1), known as a tumour‐suppressor gene, has been reported to have paradoxical function, that is, acting as an oncogene, particularly when expressed in the cytoplasm. The effects of HBx on the expression and function of p21 also remain controversial.


An intracavity Martinez compressor is incorporated into a fiber laser as a dispersion compensator and spectral filter. The Martinez compressor provides tunable dispersion from normal to anomalous. Inserting a mechanically adjustable slit into the compressor enables tunable spectral filtering independent of dispersion compensation. Mode-locking is achieved with laser bandwidths from 1.8 to 49.0 nm and compressor dispersions from +0.008 to -0.072  ps2. The laser generates stable pulses with 0.9 nJ pulse energy, a fundamental repetition rate of 77.5 MHz, and dechirped FWHM pulse widths as short as 82 fs.


The present study was carried out to evaluate and compare the antibacterial susceptibility of Gram-positive and Gramnegative
bacteria to Cyrocin (Ciprofloxacin). The following three bacterial strains were used: Staphyloccocus aureus
[ATCC 25923], Escherichia coli [ATCC 25922] and Pseudomonas aeruginosae [ATCC 27853]. Standard commercial discs
of definite potency are used as reference standard (Ciprofloxacin 5�Ýg [CTO425B - OXOID Ltd. UK]). The test products
were 250 mg and 500 mg tablets of the following brands: Cyrocin (Highnoon Laboratories Limited), Ciproxin (Bayer
Pharma (Pvt) Ltd. iV Pakistan), Mercip (Merck Marker (Pvt.) Ltd., Pakistan) and Axcin (Sandoz - Norvatis Pharma Ltd.,
Pakistan). The media used were: Nutrient Broth (Cat. No. 1.05443, Merck, Germany) and Mueller Hinton Agar [Oxoid].
The study showed no statistically significant difference in the results of different brands


Vocal abuse lesions disturb voice production by increasing the presence of noise in the voice. The harmonic-to-noise ratio (H/N) and spectrography are two different ways to evaluate noise components in the voice. A study was made of 52 patients (32 polyps, 11 Reinke's edema and 9 nodules) who underwent microlaryngeal phonosurgery. The grade of glottic closure was determined by stroboscopy; H/N and the long-term average spectrum (LTAS) at low-frequency (0-2000 Hz) were measured with a CSL-4300 instrument. Stroboscopy and acoustic analysis were made before surgery and two week and one month after surgery. Before surgery, the LTAS revealed weak harmonics, as shown by H/N values. After surgery, H/N values and harmonic energy increased. Preoperative and postoperative differences were significant (p < 0.05). Improved glottic closure after surgery improved the acoustic parameters.


In this paper the results of research on the role of a virtual community during wartime are presented. A virtual community within the Belgrade-based online system, SezamPro, was explored in the periods before, during and after the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. This research found that the community had gone through significant changes during the War, including a) number of participants increased; b) users spent much more time online; and, c) reason for communicating changed dramatically. During war, online efforts focused on information gathering, social interaction and the expression of political opinions. In a period of crisis strong interpersonal relationships were established within the studied online group. Furthermore, in such state of affairs the Internet became an important source of information.


Background: Efavirenz (EFV), a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, and atazanavir (ATV), a protease inhibitor, are drugs widely used in antiretroviral therapy (ART) for people living with HIV. These drugs have shown high interindividual variability in adverse drug reactions (ADRs). UGT1A1*28 and CYP2B6 c.516G>T have been proposed to be related with higher toxicity by ATV and EFV, respectively. Objective: To study the association between genetic polymorphisms and ADRs related to EFV or ATV in patients living with HIV treated at a public hospital in Chile. Methods: Epidemiologic, case–control, retrospective, observational study in 67 adult patients under EFV or ATV treatment was conducted, in the San Juan de Dios Hospital. Data were obtained from patients' medical records. Genotype analyses were performed using rtPCR for rs887829 (indirect identification of UGT1A1*28 allele) and rs3745274 (CYP2B6 c.516G>T), with TaqMan® probes. The association analyses were performed with univariate logistic regression between genetic variants using three inheritance models (codominant, recessive, and dominant). Results: In ATV-treated patients, hyperbilirubinemia (total bilirubin >1.2 mg/dl) had the main incidence (61.11%), and moderate and severe hyperbilirubinemia (total bilirubin >1.9 mg/dl) were statistically associated with UGT1A1*28 in recessive and codominant inheritance models (OR = 16.33, p = 0.028 and OR = 10.82, p = 0.036, respectively). On the other hand, in EFV-treated patients adverse reactions associated with CNS toxicity reached 34.21%. In this respect, nightmares showed significant association with CYP2B6 c.516G>T, in codominant and recessive inheritance models (OR = 12.00, p = 0.031 and OR = 7.14, p = 0.042, respectively). Grouped CNS ADRs (nightmares, insomnia, anxiety, and suicide attempt) also showed a statistically significant association with CYP2B6 c.516G > T in the codominant and recessive models (OR = 30.00, p = 0.011 and OR = 14.99, p = 0.021, respectively). Conclusion: Our findings suggest that after treatment with ATV or EFV, UGT1A1*28 and CYP2B6 c.516G>T influence the appearance of moderate-to-severe hyperbilirubinemia and CNS toxicity, respectively. However, larger prospective studies will be necessary to validate these associations in our population. Without a doubt, improving adherence in patients living with HIV is a critical issue to the success of therapy. Hence, validating and applying international pharmacogenetic recommendations in Latin American countries would improve the precision of ART: a fundamental aspect to achieve the 95–95–95 treatment target proposed by UNAIDS.


This article discusses integrative moral psychology, including moral intuition and moral deliberation, to explain the mechanisms of actual moral behaviors. To this end, we briefly review current models in the field of moral psychology dealing with moral intuition and moral reasoning, after which we present an integrative model based on these earlier ones. Our model focuses on a moral intuitive process, a process of reflection on initial emotional responses, moral reasoning, and moral introspection. We critically examine and discuss recent research from the rapidly growing fields of neuroscience and the natural sciences to strengthen and support this model. In closing, we explore the educational implications of our model and possible educational methods to promote moral development.


Identifying, acquiring, and retaining top sales talent remains a priority in many sales organizations because salesperson turnover remains such an intractable management problem. This paper seeks to encourage and enrich continued research on sales turnover by introducing recent methodological and theoretical advances in psychological, economic, and organizational theory. First, we suggest an examination of sales turnover guided by social network theory. Second, we propose the simultaneous consideration of the interplay between variables within a comprehensive, integrated multilevel framework. Third, in keeping with the shift in research designs initiated in management, our model includes the concept of "shocks"—jarring events that could drive turnover decisions. Finally, we propose to examine sales turnover within an international context. The conceptual framework we present outlines how sales organizations might effectively address sales force turnover and, as a consequence, improve productivity. We conclude by suggesting some specific research questions intended to provide direction for researchers interested in identifying and investigating underresearched linkages.


The concept of micelle-supported electroenzymology is demonstrated using a system consisting of the membrane enzyme Escherichia coli fumarate reductase (FRD), the amphiphilic coenzyme analogue decylubiquinone (DU), the micelle-forming surfactant n-octyl glucoside (OG), and a gold electrode. The OG micelles provide a hydrophobic, membrane mimetic medium for FRD and DU to exchange electrons while the gold electrode serves to regenerate DU. When succinate is presented to the FRD/DU/OG micelle system, electroenzymatic oxidation of succinate to fumarate occurs as evidenced using cyclic voltammetry. DU is shown to be the only electroactive species in the system; and as increasing amounts of succinate are added, the expected increase in the peak anodic (oxidative) current and decrease in the peak cathodic (reductive) current are observed. The peak anodic current approaches a limiting value with succinate concentration in qualitative agreement with simple Michaelis-Menten enzyme kinetics. When the strong competitive inhibitor oxaloacetate is added, enzymatic oxidation of succinate is inhibited as indicated by no change in the peak anodic and cathodic currents with increasing succinate concentration.


Lithium thioborates are promising fast Li-ion conducting materials, with similar properties to their lithium thiophosphate counterparts that have enabled the development of solid-state Li-ion batteries. By comparison, thioborates have scarcely been developed, however, offering new space for materials discovery.  Here we report a new class of lithium thioborate halides that adopt a so-called supertetrahedral adamantoid structure that houses mobile lithium ions and halide anions within interconnected 3D structural channels. Investigation of the structure using single-crystal XRD, neutron powder diffraction, and neutron PDF reveals significant lithium and halide anion disorder. The phases are non-stoichiometric, adopting slightly varying halide contents within the materials. These new superadamantanoid materials exhibit high ionic conductivities up to 1.4 mS·cm -1- , which can be effectively tuned by the polarizability of the halide anion within the channels.


The paper is concerned with the results of x-ray and CT investigations conducted in 62 patients with suspected aneurysm of the thoracic aorta. The diagnosis was confirmed in 56. Of them 38 patients were operated on, 2 died without surgical intervention. X-ray investigations permitted differential diagnosis of mediastinal formations in 91.5% of cases. However in 2 cases when the combined method of intravenous administration of a contrast medium by means of a syringe was not used, aneurysmal aortic dilatation was not detected by CT. This method was found to be effective for diagnosis of complications of aneurysms of the thoracic aorta (calcinosis, aortic wall stratification and thrombosis of aneurysmal cavity).


ABSTRACT Zhang, K.; Shen, C.; Gao, Q.; Zheng, L.; Wang, H., and Li, Z., 2018. Precise positioning system of ship interior based on UWB ultra wideband technology. In: Liu, Z.L. and Mi, C. (eds.), Advances in Sustainable Port and Ocean Engineering. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 83, pp. 908–912. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. A new ship indoor accurate positioning system was proposed. Firstly, the UWB ship indoor positioning system of power module, MCU module, UWB module and chip selection of memory module were given. The hardware design of system label / micro base station was completed. Then, based on the UWB localization algorithm, the time difference of arrival (TDOA) improved algorithm using reference tags auxiliary information was proposed. The software design process of system label / micro base station was completed. Experimental result shows that this system has high positioning accuracy. and the low time delay of receipt signal.


A study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between ophthalmic artery (OA) color Doppler flow imaging (CDFI) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in ischemic cerebrovascular diseases. We examined 32 patients (mean age; 64 years) having ischemic cerebrovascular diseases, who underwent OA CDFI and SPECT within ten days. The OA CDFI findings showed a normal pattern in 3 patients, a sclerotic pattern in 9, a stenotic pattern in 11, and a reversed pattern in 9. SPECT showed severe hypoperfusion in 8 patients, moderate hypoperfusion in 8, mild hypoperfusion in 6, and normal perfusion in 10. Most of the cases with a normal and sclerotic pattern by OA CDFI showed normal or mild hypoperfusion on SPECT. Among the eleven patients showing the stenotic pattern, six (55%) showed normal or mild hypoperfusion on SPECT. The SPECT findings in the nine patients with the reversed pattern were severe or moderate hypoperfusion. Among the ischemic cerebrovascular diseases, the cases showing a normal, sclerotic, and reversed pattern by OA CDFI correlated well with the SPECT findings. OA CDFI should be performed with SPECT for a more precise understanding of intracranial hemodynamics.


The backbone flexibility of a protein has been studied from the standpoint of the susceptibility of amino acid residues to in-source decay (ISD) in matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI MS). Residues more susceptible to MALDI-ISD, namely Xxx-Asp/Asn and Gly-Xxx, were identified from the discontinuous intense peak of c'-ions originating from specific cleavage at N-Cα bonds of the backbone of equine cytochrome c. The identity of the residues susceptible to ISD was consistent with the known flexible backbone amides as estimated by hydrogen/deuterium exchange (HDX) experiments. The identity of these flexible amino acid residues (Asp, Asn, and Gly) is consistent with the fact that these residues are preferred in flexible secondary structure free from intramolecular hydrogen-bonded structures such as α-helix and β-sheet. The MALDI-ISD spectrum of equine cytochrome c gave not only intense N-terminal side c'-ions originating from N-Cα bond cleavage at Xxx-Asp/Asn and Gly-Xxx residues, but also C-terminal side complement z'-ions originating from the same cleavage sites. The present study implies that MALDI-ISD can give information about backbone flexibility of proteins, comparable with the protection factors estimated by HDX.


A mathematical model of the temperature field of a frequency-controlled asynchronous motor rotor is made out on the basis of differential equations of heat conduction. The model developed is approved in the course of experimental research on the motors examined.


Does Romanticism really imply a revolt of the affective dimension of the human being above the intellectual, breaking from the beliefs of previous epochs, or can it be better understood as the culmination of a long term process, which started with the 18th century cult of sensibility? Alternatively, should we interpret it as the rise of an "emotional style", which grew out of the suffering and desperation experienced after the Terror in France and relegated feelings and their expressions to the private, while reason became the virtue cultivated in the public sphere? This three-day conference seeks to discuss to what extent the Romantic celebration of feelings involved continuities and discontinuities in the history of emotions by means of analysing the representations of passions, feelings and sentiments in the production of artistic and scientific knowledge, as well as their role in world politics during the period from 1780 to 1840's. The nostalgia of childhood innocence described by the poet Novalis, the dark melancholy represented in Francisco de Goya's Saturn or the most elegiac feeling praised by John Keats in his poetry, the emotional flow in Schubert's or Chopin's music, the resentment expressed by German, British, Italian and Spanish national communities against French cultural hegemony, the intense blushing that characterised the embarrassment felt by Jane Austen's heroines or romantic love as portrayed in Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther are only a few examples of the most common feelings shaped by different European Romanticisms.


Purpose
To date, insufficient research has been conducted on gender differences in entrepreneurial activity among entrepreneurs in developing countries. This study aims to analyse the influences of formal and informal institutional factors on entrepreneurial activity among men and women in the context of Saudi Arabia.

Design/methodology/approach
This research involves a quantitative analysis of recently collected primary data. Hypotheses are formulated and tested using the Mann–Whitney U test and a binomial logistic regression analysis. Also, the present study draws on institutional economics as a framework to explore how formal and informal institutional factors influence whether Saudi Arabian men and women become entrepreneurs.

Findings
The results revealed that compared to the effects of formal institutional factors, the effects of informal institutional factors are more reliable predictors of women's entrepreneurship behaviour. Specifically, women are more likely than men to be stereotyped and more likely to benefit from networking.

Practical implications
Regarding policy implications, this study suggests several checks for different institutions to increase entrepreneurship among each gender.

Originality/value
The findings presented here advance entrepreneurial research by empirically examining factors that influence men's and women's desires to become entrepreneurs in a fast-growing emerging economy. The findings show a substantial shift in the institutional environment and indicate an extremely collectivist society. This study provides a basis for future studies on factors within the institutional environment and their impacts on whether men and women become entrepreneurs in Eastern nations. Regarding policy implications, this study suggests several ways for different institutions to increase entrepreneurship among each gender.


Results of 1.55- mu m transmission experiments at 140, 280, and 565 Mb/s involving conventional and dispersion-shifted single-mode fibers along the Fabry-Perot laser diode (FP-LD) and distributed-feedback laser diode (DFB-LD) optical sources are discussed. The results show which combination of optical fiber and optical source best meet the requirement of long repeater spacing for each bit rate. The results indicate that to achieve repeater spacing more than 100 km with dispersion-shifted fibers and FP-LD optical sources will impose strict requirements on both the optical fibers and the optical sources even at 280 Mb/s. Alternatively, systems using DFB-LD optical sources will not degrade the transmission performances and will considerably loosen requirements on the fibers and optical sources. A combination of dispersion-shifted fibers and DFB-LD optical sources can further loosen the requirements on the fibers and optical sources in 560-Mb/s systems. >


BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Reinforcing value, an index of motivation for a drug, is commonly measured using behavioral economic purchase tasks. State-oriented purchase tasks are sensitive to phasic manipulations, but with heterogeneous methods and findings. The aim of this meta-analysis was to characterize the literature examining manipulations of reinforcing value, as measured by purchase tasks and multiple-choice procedures, to inform etiological models and treatment approaches.

METHODS
A random effects meta-analysis of published findings in peer-reviewed articles. Following the PRISMA protocol, studies were gathered through searches in PsycINFO and PubMed/MEDLINE (published as of May 22, 2018). Searches returned 34 unique studies (aggregate sample N = 2,402; average sample size = 68.94) yielding 126 effect sizes. Measurements included change (i.e., Cohen's d) in six behavioral economic indices (intensity, breakpoint, Omax , Pmax , elasticity, crossover point) in relation to six experimental manipulations (cue exposure, stress/negative affect, reinforcer magnitude, pharmacotherapy, behavioral interventions, opportunity cost).

RESULTS
Cue exposure (d range = .25 to .44, all ps < .05) and reinforcer magnitude (d = .60; 95% CI = 0.18, 1.01; p < .005) manipulations resulted in significant increases in behavioral economic demand across studies. Stress/negative affect manipulations also resulted in a small, significant increase in Omax (d = .18; 95% CI = 0.01, 0.34; p = .03); all other effect sizes for negative affect/stress were nonsignificant, albeit similar in size (d range = .14 to.18). In contrast, pharmacotherapy (d range = -.37 to -.49; ps < .04), behavioral intervention (d = -.36 to -1.13) and external contingency (d = -1.42; CI = -2.30, -.0.54; p = .002) manipulations resulted in a significant decrease in intensity. Moderators (substance type) explained some of the heterogeneity in findings across meta-analyses.

CONCLUSIONS
In behavioral economic studies, purchase tasks and multiple-choice procedures appear to provide indices that are sensitive to manipulations found to influence motivation to consume addictive substances in field experiments.


. Modern types of social reality require updated ways of comprehending them. The research is devoted to a new analytical form of understanding modernity that has recently emerged — accelerationism, still rarely discussed in Russian philosophy. The representatives of accelerationism call for a radical and rapid acceleration of socio-economic and technological processes in capitalist societies. The article reflects some ideas of the Manifesto for an Accelerationist Politics by Alex Williams and Nick Srnicek, after which the accelerationist trend in philosophy and social sciences intensified and gained clear theoretical guidelines. The Manifesto's ideas about accelerating technological evolution as a means of resolving social conflicts, about unleashing all the latent forces of capitalist production to achieve a state of post-capitalism, denying a return to the Fordist type of production and calling for the restoration of the future as such, are highlighted. The Manifesto and the works of Nick Land, the founder and the most prominent representative of accelerationism, present the position of creating a new program and the very style of thinking with regard to changing the capitalist system along the vector of acceleration. The article pays attention to the interpretation of Gilles Deleuze's and Félix Guattari's concept of "deterritorialization" in Land's works. It emphasizes the focus of accelerationism on the future as a kind of realization of the paradoxical thesis of "looking back from the future." The content of Land's accelerationist theory shows the fundamental concepts of K-space (cyberspace), K-war (cyberwar), time and reality, technocratic future of society as Techno-Capital Singularity, expansion of capital as opposed to its reterritorialization. The meaning of Land's idea of an acceleration of capitalism and the transition to a more progressive future through the collapse of outmoded structures and phenomena of the existing system of capitalism and its technological basis is deduced. deterritorialization, Manifesto for an Accelerationist Politics, Nick Land, Backward from the Future, Prometheus in Politics Современные типы социальной


Firewalls have remained widely deployed on the Internet aimed at securing secludednetworks. A firewall forms each incoming or outbound packet to choose whether to receive or discard the packet based on its policy. Improving firewall policies is critical for improving network presentation. Previous work on firewall optimization emphases on whichever intra-firewall or entombfirewall optimization inside one administrative domain anywhere the privacy of firewall strategies is not aanxiety. This script explores inter-firewall optimization crossways administrative domains for the leading time. The key technical experimentation is that firewall policies cannot be shared across areas because a firewall strategy contains intimate information and even potential security holes, which container be demoralized by aggressors. In this tabloid, we recommend the leading cross-domain privacy-preserving cooperative firewall policy optimization protocol. Unambiguously, for some two neighboring firewalls belonging to two different administrative domains, our procedure can classify in each firewall the instructions that can be removed since of the further firewall. The optimization process involves obliging computation among the two firewalls without any gathering disclosing its policy to the other. We applied our procedure and conducted widespread experiments. The consequences on real firewall strategies show that our procedure can remove as numerous as 49% of the instructions in a firewall while the typical is 19.4%. The announcement cost is fewer than a few hundred KBs. Our procedureexperiences no further online packet dispensationupstairs and the offline dispensation time is less than a few hundred instants.


This work focuses on the low frequency Drude response of bulk-insulating topological insulator (TI) Bi2Se3 films. The frequency and field dependence of the mobility and carrier density are measured simultaneously via time-domain terahertz spectroscopy. These films are grown on buffer layers, capped by Se, and have been exposed in air for months. Under a magnetic field up to 7 Tesla, we observe prominent cyclotron resonances (CRs). We attribute the sharp CR to two different topological surface states from both surfaces of the films. The CR sharpens at high fields due to an electron-impurity scattering. By using magneto-terahertz spectroscopy, we confirm that these films are bulk-insulating, which paves the way to use intrinsic TIs without bulk carriers for applications including topological spintronics and quantum computing.


Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic disease characterized by hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia and complications, including obesity and osteoporosis. Rodents have been widely used to model human T2DM and investigate its effect on the skeleton. We aimed to investigate skeletal alterations in Yellow Kuo Kondo (KK-Ay) diabetic mice displaying high insulin and glucose levels. Bone mineral density (BMD), micro-architecture and bone metabolism-related genes were analyzed. The total femoral areal BMD (aBMD), cortical volumetric BMD (vBMD) and thickness were significantly increased in KK-Ay mice, while the trabecular vBMD and mineralized bone volume/tissue volume (BV/TV), trabecular thickness and number were decreased compared to C57BL mice. The expression of both osteoblast-related genes, such as osteocalcin (OC), bone sialoprotein, Type I Collagen, osteonectin, RUNX2 and OSX, and osteoclast-related genes, such as TRAP and TCIRG, were up-regulated in KK-Ay mice. Correlation analyses showed that serum insulin levels were positively associated with aBMD, cortical vBMD and thickness and negatively associated with trabecular vBMD and micro-architecture. In addition, serum insulin levels were positively related to osteoblast-related and osteoclast-related gene expression. Our data suggest that high insulin levels in KK-Ay diabetic mice may increase cortical bone mass and impair trabecular micro-structure by up-regulating osteoblast-and osteoclast-related gene expression.


Introduction Prophylactic antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) are often prescribed for seizure prophylaxis in patients undergoing surgical treatment of unruptured intracranial aneurysms (UIAs). We aimed to evaluate the benefit of prophylactic AEDs in patients undergoing surgical repair of UIAs. Methods We randomly assigned eligible patients undergoing surgical repair of UIAs to receive levetiracetam for seven days post-operatively or standard care alone. The primary outcome was the evaluation of seizures in the perioperative period (within 4 weeks). We also evaluated seizure occurrence throughout follow-up and assessed functional outcomes using the modified Rankin scale score (mRS). Results 35 patients were randomized to the 'no levetiracetam' group and 41 patients were randomized to receive levetiracetam. The two study groups had similar overall baseline characteristics and the surgical complication rate was similar for both groups (P=0.8). One patient in the 'no levetiracetam' group had a seizure in the perioperative period versus 2 patients in the group randomized to receive levetiracetam (2.9% vs 4.9%, respectively, P=1.00). No patients in the 'no levetiracetam' group had any additional late seizures (mean follow-up of 20.4 months), but three patients in the levetiracetam group had late seizures during follow-up (mean follow-up of 19.1 months) (0% vs 7.3%, P=0.2). mRS score of 0–2 at 90 days and at the latest follow-up were similar between the two groups (P=1.00). Conclusions Perioperative seizure prophylaxis with levetiracetam does not reduce the rate of seizures as compared to controls in patients undergoing surgical repair of UIAs. Disclosures B. Daou: None. K. Holste: None. G. Palmateer: None. B. Thompson: None. C. Lint: None. J. Elenbaas: None. C. Maher: None. A. Pandey: None.


Can active fund managers outperform the passive index in the global emerging-markets equity arena? To answer this question, the author delineates emerging-market fund strategies and applies multifactor approaches to a unique data set, consisting of institutional emerging-market managers' returns from Russell Investments. This analysis produced five major findings from January 1997 to June 2011: 1) product varieties have proliferated in this asset class; 2) active management can work in this asset class, but investors have relied more on research to hire good managers; 3) value managers tend to have higher alphas historically, but the supply of value managers is smaller than that of growth-or market-oriented managers; 4) price momentum, valuation, Asia, and the resources sector are key risk drivers; and 5) active risks from this asset class are still present, so it's important to diversify across multiple strategies and styles to mitigate unwanted risks. Alphas are obtainable, but they are not free.


This article reviews the effects of diet and exercise on insulin sensitivity in patients with type II diabetes (non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, NIDDM). Dietary caloric restriction operative through weight loss decrease the insulin resistance characteristic of the disease by increased glucose transport. The precise localization of this effect is unknown, as is the defect in the insulin signalling pathway in type II diabetes. Inherent problems are the inability to clearly separate obesity and type II diabetes and methodological difficulties in the distinction of dietary effects from exercise-induced effects. The mechanism of exercise-induced insulin sensitivity has gained considerable understanding through the detection of the glucose transporter molecule GLUT-4 in muscle. It is now clear that the presence of insulin is not mandatory and mere electrical stimulation of the muscle produces similar effects through distinct signalling pathways. Exercise-induced increased blood flow and decreased vascular resistance may also play an important role. In contrast to these newer experimental data, clinical studies and feasibility studies aimed to implement exercise as a valuable therapeutic measure in type II diabetes have failed to delineate promising long-lasting effects and can therefore not be generally recommended. Encouraging epidemiological data have recently been found with respect to the prevention of type II diabetes by increased physical activity in patients at risk.


Purpose: To assess chemical degradation of various liquid chemotherapy and opioid drugs in the novel RxDestruct™ instrument. Methods: Intravenous (IV) drug solutions for chemotherapy and pain management were prepared using 0.9% normal saline in Excel® bags to a final volume of 500 mL. We investigated duplicate IV solutions of methotrexate (0.1 mg/mL), etoposide (0.4 mg/mL), doxorubicin (0.25 mg/mL), cladribine (12.4 µg/mL), fentanyl (1.0 µg/mL), and hydromorphone (12.0 µg/mL) in this study. Solutions were poured into an automated instrument to undergo pulsatile chemical treatment (Fenton reactions) for 20 minutes, and then discharged from the instrument through a waste outlet. Extent of intact drug degradation was determined by measuring concentrations of drugs before entry into the instrument and after chemical treatment in the filtrate using high-performance liquid-chromatography with ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV). Results: Following chemical reactions (Fenton processes) in the automated instrument, infusion solutions containing methotrexate, etoposide, doxorubicin, and cladribine had levels below the HPLC-UV limit of quantification (LOQ), indicating <50 ppb of each. This equated to >99.5%, 99.99%, 99.9%, and 99.8% intact drug loss, respectively. Likewise, processed samples of fentanyl and hydromorphone contained levels below the LOQ (78 and 98 ng/mL, respectively), indicating extensive degradation (>92.2% and 99.2% intact drug loss, respectively). Conclusion: The novel instrument was capable of degrading intact chemotherapy and opioid drugs prepared in infusion solutions to undetectable quantities by HPLC-UV. RxDestruct™ is a possible alternative for disposal of aqueous medication waste.


We modified the gluon saturation model by rescaling the momentum fraction according to saturation momentum and introduced the Cooper-Frye hydrodynamic evolution to systematically study the pseudo-rapidity distributions of final charged hadrons at different energies and different centralities for Au-Au collisions in relativistic heavy-ion collisions at BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The features of both gluon saturation and hydrodynamic evolution at different energies and different centralities for Au-Au collisions are investigated in this paper.


Abstract: Linguistic problem which is discussed in this research is about interference, it is error which is caused by first language ( L1 ) to second language ( L 2). sc morphology, vocabulary,and syntax. But in this reseach, it is limited on morphology. This research ains to de scribe Mandailing language interference in Indonesian writing from the word, kinds, and the caused. This research uses qualitative research and used descriptive method . The object of this research is the VIII grade students of MTS Baharuddin writing. The data of this research is the words in sentence which contain of mandailing language morphological  interference in students' writing. The instrument of this research is performance test. The data collection is done by grouping the words which is interferenced into the work analysis table. The result of the research shows that morphological interference of Mandailing in students' Indonesian writing of the VIII grade students of MTS Baharuddin . First, there are Mandailing language interference in Indonesian include 40 words from (1) such as ( nominal, verbal, adjective and conjunction), (2) affixation, (3) reduplication, and (4) composition. Second, productive interfernce, reseptive and psycological interference. Third, factors which caused the interference in students' writing are : (1) the influence of first language, (2) the lack of understanding on the language which is used , and (3) unsuitable language teaching . so that, it can be concluded that based on the data found, the interference which is seen in the students' writing is still fair, it means because the students are influenced by bilingual of the students . Key w ords : sociolinguistic, acguisition, two languages, interference


Immersion-style bilingual school programs have proven to be effective ways for children's acquisition of additional languages. However, such programs seem to be scarce across the world in comparison to the value people attach to bilingual skills and bilingual education. Through a case study of a successful Mandarin bilingual program in western Canada, the study hopes to explore the factors that contribute to the success of such programs in North America. The study points to the importance of government language policy environments, the attitude of local school boards, the commitment and active involvement of parents, and the availability and recruitment of quality teachers as key factors for the success of a bilingual school program.


Recently, a tandem organic light-emitting diode structure, excited electrically in the pulsed domain and confined within a double interferometric configuration, was observed to emit a low-divergence beam (approximately 1.1 times the diffraction limit) with a near-Gaussian spatial distribution. The emission originates from the laser dye Coumarin 545 T used as dopant. It has since been determined that the visibility of the interferograms, from the spatially coherent emission, is V approximately 0.90. This result is compared with the visibility obtained from a known narrow linewidth laser source (V approximately 0.95) and with various published values from the relevant literature. The significance of this result is discussed in addition to an interferometric estimate of the emission linewidth that yields Delta lambda approximately 11 nm. The present interferometric analysis indicates that the spectral component of the spatially coherent radiation is comparable with the spectral characteristics of well-known broadband dye lasers.


A rare case of extracranial internal carotid occlusion with a coexisting ipsilateral internal carotid aneurysm is reported. A 50-year-old male had a sudden onset of severe headache, vomiting and right motor weakness on May 14, 1984. Two days later the patient was transferred to our hospital. On admission he was alert but presented with nuchal rigidity and right moderate hemiparesis. He had an episode of a blunt head injury 12 years previously, but no history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus or cerebral stroke. A computed tomography revealed mild subarachnoid hemorrhage and mild ventricular dilatation. A cerebral angiography did not demonstrate any aneurysms but it revealed occlusion of the right internal carotid artery at the cervical bifurcation. The repeated angiography on May 31 disclosed a saccular aneurysm arising anteromedially at the level of the junction of the right posterior communicating artery and the internal carotid artery. The cervical internal carotid artery remained occluded at the same site. The middle cerebral artery was supplied through the well-developed posterior communicating artery, and the right anterior cerebral artery was supplied through the anterior communicating artery. Clipping of the aneurysm was attempted but it was forcibly trapped because of premature bleeding on June 5. The right V-P shunt was performed for the progressive ventricular dilatation on June 12. The patient was discharged with no paresis on June 20. It has been well known that the uni- or bilateral carotid occlusion, whatever the origins are, are often associated with cerebral aneurysms.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Background: CPI monotherapy provides substantial clinical benefit to patients (pts) in multiple cancers, yet response rates are limited (˜15-30%) and fails to benefit the majority. In these pts there is limited or no ongoing T cell-based immune response. Imprime PGG (Imprime), a novel beta glucan derived from Saccharomyces, may expand the clinical benefit of CPI therapy by stimulating an anti-cancer immune response. Acting as a pathogen-associated molecularpattern (PAMP), Imprime enlists innate immune functions including cytotoxic effector mechanisms, reversal of immunosuppression and cross-talk with the adaptive immune system.Imprime-mediated innate immune activation requires formation of an immune complex with naturally-occurring anti-beta glucan antibodies (ABA); sufficient ABA levels is required for complex formation. Imprime is now being studied in combination with pembrolizumab (KEYTRUDA®,Pembro), a humanized mAb against PD-1 which has been previously studied in TNBC pts. Methods: In this study of patients who previously failed chemotherapy for metastatic TNBC, Imprime is being used in combination with Pembro in a Simon 2 stage design. Asample size of 12 evaluable pts in Stage 1 was planned.Evaluable pts received at least one dose of study treatment (tx), had measurable disease at baseline per RECIST v1.1, had at least one post-baseline scan or discontinued tx as a result of progressive disease, death, or a tx-related adverse event before the first post-baseline scan.Pts received Imprime (4 mg/kg IV days 1, 8, 15 of each 3-week cycle) + Pembro 200 mg on D1 of each cycle. Criteria to advance to Stage 2 were ≤4 grade 3/4 AEs during the first tx cycle (other than infusion reactions) and ≥1 objective response. Study primary endpoints are ORR and safety; secondary endpoints are TTR, CRR, DoR, PFS, and OS. Exploratory endpoints include ORR and PFS per irRECIST. Biopsies and blood samples are being collected to assess tx impact on immune activating events at the tumor site and in the periphery. Results: A review of efficacy and safety data was conducted at the end of Stage 1. Thirteen pts (12 evaluable) were enrolled into Stage 1. Safety review noted 2 grade 3 adverse events that met protocol definition of Stage 1 events (1 pt: cellulitis and 1 pt: pleural infusion; both unrelated to treatment). Two events lead to 2 pts discontinuing treatment (infusion reaction and pancreatitis) and only 1 autoimmune event was observed (pancreatitis). Observed efficacy responses in the evaluable pts included 1 complete response (CR; ongoing) and 2 partial responses (PR; ongoing). Secondary efficacy endpoints have not been assessed. Early translational results support proposed MOA and analysis of Stage 1 translational data is ongoing. Conclusion: The use of Imprime with Pembro was well tolerated and met both safety and efficacy requirements to move forward with Stage 2 of the study. No significant safety concerns were identified in Stage 1. Further investigation is thus warranted and enrollment into Stage 2 is ongoing. Updated data will be presented. Citation Format: O9Day S, Borges V, Chmielowski B, Rao R, Abu-Khalaf M, Stopeck A, Lowe J, Mattson P, Breuer K, Gargano M, Bose N, Uhlik M, Graff J, Chisamore M, Cox J, Osterwalder B. Imprime PGG, a novel innate immune modulator, combined with pembrolizumab in a phase 2 multicenter, open label study in chemotherapy-resistant metastatic triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2018 Dec 4-8; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-09-08.


This research examined the relation between having a body piercing and having engaged in premarital sexual intercourse. Data were gathered from a convenience sample of 450 college students. 72% were women; 85% were ages 18 to 22 years (M = 20.9, SD = 4.5), 80% were Euro-American. Women with piercings reported substantively and significantly greater frequency of sexual activity than college students without piercings. There were no significant differences in sexual experience between men with piercings and those without. These findings differ from previous research comparing the sexual activity of college students with and without tattoos.


Technological advances in recent years have promoted the development of virtual reality systems that have a wide variety of hardware and software characteristics, providing varying degrees of immersion. Immersion is an objective property of the virtual reality system that depends on both its hardware and software characteristics. Virtual reality systems are currently attempting to improve immersion as much as possible. However, there is no metric to measure the level of immersion of a virtual reality system based on its characteristics. To date, the influence of these hardware and software variables on immersion has only been considered individually or in small groups. The way these system variables simultaneously affect immersion has not been analyzed either. In this paper, we propose immersion metrics for virtual reality systems based on their hardware and software variables, as well as the development process that led to their formulation. From the conducted experiment and the obtained data, we followed a methodology to find immersion models based on the variables of the system. The immersion metrics presented in this work offer a useful tool in the area of virtual reality and immersive technologies, not only to measure the immersion of any virtual reality system but also to analyze the relationship and importance of the variables of these systems.


Brain tumour segmentation is a vital process for early tumour detection and diagnosis. Many brain tumour segmentation methods have been presented, enhancing tumour segmentation methods is still challenging because brain tumour MRI images reveal complex characteristics .In this project we proposed a method for automatic heterogeneous brain tumour MR image segmentation performance analysis using LIPC .The system consists of three stages to detect and segment a brain tumor.In the first stage, MR image of brain is acquired and pre-processing is done to remove the noise and to sharpen the image. In the second stage, edges are detected by using Gabor filter. In the third stage, threshold segmentation is done on the sharpened image to segment the brain tumour and the segmented image is post processed by morphological operations and tumour masking in order to remove the false segmented pixels and local independent projection-based classification (LIPC) method is used to classify each voxel into different classes. Key-Words: Median Filter, Gabor filter, LIPC


Bats are one of the most diverse groups of mammals in Peru, and they are also the most feared by the human population, which mostly ignores the qualities and ecological potential governed by their feeding strategies. Therefore, we had the objective of knowing the diversity of these flying mammals in the hill forests of the upper Itaya river basin, in the department of Loreto, Peru. Between 2009 and 2011, we took captures at the understory and middle canopy level in 50 sampling units. The result of the effort of 1800 hours/net 0 registered a species richness ( D) of 47 species, equivalent to 79.6% of the total estimated for this part of the 0 Peruvian Amazon. The D shows significant differences at the stratum level (t = 3.28, p = 0.01), with a greater number of understory species than the middle canopy. In addition, species richness was increased with 17 new records for the area. The frugivorous species Rhinophylla pumilio, Artibeus obscurus and Carollia brevicauda were dominant (λ = 0.94). Likewise, the proportional comparisons made in terms of size, age and food guild, showed significant differences, even when they remained homogeneous at the level of strata 1 (<0.0001). The true diversity ( D) shows an effectiveness of 24.51 species for the hill forests, remaining similar in both strata (t = 0.94, p = 0.24). The diversity of bats recorded in this study could be influenced by the increase in extractive activities during the last decade. We consider it opportune to take measures of political influence to manage in a sustainable way the use of the resources used in this part of the Peruvian Amazon.


Two-dimensional (2D) magnetic materials are the focus of one of the most active areas of nano-materials research. However, most of them contain d electrons in the hosts or dopants which may lead to extrinsic magnetic behavior. Here we report a density functional study on the structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of an AlN monolayer (ML) doped with first-row atoms of X (X = Be, B, and C), which are free of d electrons. The calculations reveal that Be and C dopants, which substitute Al and N atoms respectively, can induce local spin moments, while B (for N) cannot lead to spin polarization in the AlN ML. More importantly, for Be doped AlN ML, a half-metallic ferromagnetism is observed, and the estimated Curie temperature is higher than room temperature. The long-range ferromagnetic coupling between doped Be atoms can be explained by a hole-mediated p–p interaction. Thus, our results provide a promising way toward 2D magnetic materials.


In a cross-sectional study of 237 patients treated with lithium for more than six months, 10 patients had serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) values above 35 mU/l and concomitantly low triiodothyronine (T3) and abnormally low serum thyroxine (T4). Eight patients had TSH values of 10.0-34.9 mU/l, while T3 and T4 were within or close to the normal ranges. Most of the patients had TSH values of 0.9-9.9 mU/l and normal or close to normal T3 and T4 values. Three male patients had TSH below 0.9 mU/l, but normal T3 and T4 values. A retrospective investigation three years later showed that all patients with TSH above 35 mU/l had clinically diagnosed overt hypothyroidism and treated accordingly with either replacement therapy with thyroxine or discontinuation of the lithium treatment. The thyroid parameters normalized spontaneously in 2 out of 3 patients who had their lithium treatment discontinued, while one still needed replacement therapy 1 1/2 years after withdrawal of lithium. Five patients had been put on replacement therapy before the cross-sectional study. The frequency of overt hypothyroidism thus indicated a prevalence about ten times as high as should be expected. An overrepresentation of women was found in the group with TSH values above 10 mU/l, whereas the group with TSH values of 0.9-10.0 mU/l showed no such sex predomination. The age distribution was equal in all groups. TSH appeared to be the most efficient parameter in revealing undetected hypothyroidism in the present investigation of patients in long-term lithium treatment.


Acquired sensory neuronopathies encompass a group of paraneoplastic, dysimmune, toxic or idiopathic disorders characterized by degeneration of peripheral sensory neurons in dorsal root ganglia. As dorsal root ganglia cannot easily be explored, the clinical diagnosis of these disorders may be difficult. The question as to whether there exists a common clinical pattern of sensory neuronopathies, allowing the establishment of validated and easy-to-use diagnostic criteria, has not yet been addressed. In this study, logistic regression was used to construct diagnostic criteria on a retrospective study population of 78 patients with sensory neuronopathies and 56 with other sensory neuropathies. For this, sensory neuronopathy was provisionally considered as unambiguous in 44 patients with paraneoplastic disorder or cisplatin treatment and likely in 34 with a dysimmune or idiopathic setting who may theoretically have another form of neuropathy. To test the homogeneity of the sensory neuronopathy population, likely candidates were compared with unambiguous cases and then the whole population was compared with the other sensory neuropathies population. Criteria accuracy was checked on 37 prospective patients referred for diagnosis of sensory neuropathy. In the study population, sensory neuronopathy showed a common clinical and electrophysiological pattern that was independent of the underlying cause, including unusual forms with only patchy sensory loss, mild electrical motor nerve abnormalities and predominant small fibre or isolated lower limb involvement. Logistic regression allowed the construction of a set of criteria that gave fair results with the following combination: ataxia in the lower or upper limbs + asymmetrical distribution + sensory loss not restricted to the lower limbs + at least one sensory action potential absent or three sensory action potentials <30% of the lower limit of normal in the upper limbs + less than two nerves with abnormal motor nerve conduction study in the lower limbs.


We demonstrate a tunable external cavity laser consisting of a voltage-tuned liquid-crystal cladded subwavelength resonant grating filter placed directly in front of a semiconductor laser gain chip. The filter acts as a tunable wavelength-selective mirror. As the applied voltage to the filter changes from 0 to 22 V, the laser wavelength demonstrates a tuning range of 7 nm, which may be further increased. As the laser has simple cavity design and no moving parts, it can be low cost and easy to fabricate and assemble.


Carcinoma erysipelatodes (inflammatory metastatic carcinoma) is a rare metastatic carcinoma in the skin. It is usually associated with breast carcinoma, and the prognosis is short-termed. It closely resembles an acute infection, such as erysipelas or cellulitis. 2 patients with this syndrome are presented. One of them had carcinoma of portio uteri. The clinical appearance and the histological pathognomony are described, and a review of the literature is given.


Axon regeneration in the injured adult CNS is reportedly inhibited by myelin-derived inhibitory molecules, after binding to a receptor complex comprised of the Nogo-66 receptor (NgR1) and two transmembrane co-receptors p75/TROY and LINGO-1. However, the post-injury expression pattern for LINGO-1 is inconsistent with its proposed function. We demonstrated that AMIGO3 levels were significantly higher acutely than those of LINGO-1 in dorsal column lesions and reduced in models of dorsal root ganglion neuron (DRGN) axon regeneration. Similarly, AMIGO3 levels were raised in the retina immediately after optic nerve crush, whilst levels were suppressed in regenerating optic nerves, induced by intravitreal peripheral nerve implantation. AMIGO3 interacted functionally with NgR1-p75/TROY in non-neuronal cells and in brain lysates, mediating RhoA activation in response to CNS myelin. Knockdown of AMIGO3 in myelin-inhibited adult primary DRG and retinal cultures promoted disinhibited neurite growth when cells were stimulated with appropriate neurotrophic factors. These findings demonstrate that AMIGO3 substitutes for LINGO-1 in the NgR1-p75/TROY inhibitory signalling complex and suggests that the NgR1-p75/TROY-AMIGO3 receptor complex mediates myelin-induced inhibition of axon growth acutely in the CNS. Thus, antagonizing AMIGO3 rather than LINGO-1 immediately after CNS injury is likely to be a more effective therapeutic strategy for promoting CNS axon regeneration when combined with neurotrophic factor administration.


Background: Microscopic colitis is a term used to define some clinical-pathological entities characterized by chronic watery diarrhea, normal radiological and endoscopic appearance, and microscopic abnormalities.
Aim: In this article we report a personal case series of microscopic colitis in patients with different age and sex and symptomatic seriousness to better represent the heterogeneous clinical presentation of this type of disease, and a review of available literature data.
Method:  A definitive diagnosis of microscopic colitis is only possible by histological analysis. Specific histopathological findings, such as morphologically mild or moderate inflammation in the lamina propria, combined with either thickening of the sub-epithelial collagenous or lymphocytic attack on the surface epithelium, can be used to further classify these clinical entities as collagenous colitis (CC), lymphocytic colitis (LC), or other conditions.
Result: We presented a review of the most recents studies about microscopic colitis and we presented a case serie of four lymphocitic colitis and one collagenous colitis in patients with different age and sex and symptomatic seriousness to better represent the heterogeneous clinical presentation of this type of disease, and we also performed a brief review of available literature data analyzing epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical presentation and therapy strategies of these group of colitis.
Discussion: Clinicians should be able to provide elements of clinical suspicion to pathologists that could justify more specific histological evaluation that includes the assessment of the number of intraepithelial cells (IEL), and the thickness of the band of tissue collagen.


"Perception with an Eye for Motion" analyzes the availability and use of visual information from moving objects and by moving observers to conclude that information in our visual environment is sufficiently rich so that perception can occur largely without the help of cognition.The book is unique in several respects. It is interdisciplinary in scope, combining philosophy, history, perceptual science, and research in a sound balance; the problems that philosophers and computer scientists are dealing with are taken up in a way that will appeal to psychologists. It is the first book to treat invariance in perception in a rigorous manner, and it solves the problem of direction finding in optic flow (the motions of objects generated by our own movement through space) by discerning what information is useful and can be relied upon.The first five chapters take up information for vision, delving into philosophical and historical issues, particularly the trustworthiness of perception, and the relation of space and projections of objects as'discussed in art and science. These chapters also cover optics, illusions, picture perception, and more particularly invariance as a term from mathematics applied to perception.Eight chapters present the author's own research, published here for the first time. These include experiments and results concerning the perception of a moving planar surface and the perception of one's direction of movement through an environment. The book concludes by discussing two centuries-old classes of perceptual theory - direct and indirect perception - and a new theory class which the author calls "directed perception."James E. Cutting is Professor of Psychology, Cornell University. A Bradford Book.


Years ago, researchers started spending efforts in carpooling domain leading to many systems. Those systems are either operating or not and even if some of them succeeded, they still need improvement. As optimization and dynamicity are the most lacking aspects, we are interested in setting up an optimized dynamic carpool service. This problem's high complexity constitutes a big handicap through the way to perform efficient process. Consequently, it is here addressed based on a decentralized parallel requests' process and a distributed architecture is adopted. In this context, we propose a subdivision principle in order to decompose the served network and establish a Distributed Dynamic Graph. The latter models the available information about passengers and drivers and helps to establish a distributed parallel process. In addition, the multi-agent concept has been adopted to set up an automated framework where several communicating entities evolve and perform requests' management.


Objectives The aim of this meta-analysis is to perform an up-to-date assessment on short-term and long-term effectiveness of PCI for CTO recanalisation. Despite advances in procedural techniques and expertise, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for chronic total occlusions (CTO) in select patients remains a challenge. Recently, several observational studies which compared successful CTO with PCI versus failed CTO procedures have controversial outcomes. Methods We conducted with a search of PUBMED, ELSEVIER, and CLINICAL.COM and had concluded all of published studies, from January 2000 until July 2012, which compared PCI treatment of successful CTO to failed CTO procedures. Results A total of sixteen observational studies enrolling 10,256 patients (7,320 patients in successful CTO and 2,936 patients in failed CTO group) were included. Compared with failed CTO, successful CTO recanalisation group significantly reduced all-cause death (3.6% vs. 8.2%; P < 0.00001), cardiac death (2.6% vs. 6.0%; P < 0.00001), major adverse cardiac event (MACE; 10.1% vs. 20.6%; P < 0.0001) and subsequence coronary artery bypass surgery (3.4% vs. 17.1%; P < 0.00001) in the overall population, and these benefits were sustained in studies which more than 2 years follow-up. Meanwhile, in the overall population, the risk of myocardial infarction (MI) was reduced in successful CTO group (4.0% vs. 5.9%; P = 0.02), but there was a trend in studies with more than 2 years follow up in successful PCI CTO (P = 0.09). In addition, successful CTO improved quality of life (P = 0.0001), reduced both MACE (P < 0.00001) and mortality (P = 0.004) in patients with multivessel disease, and also resulted in lower rate of death in patients with single vessel disease (SVD; P = 0.02), but had no different MACE events in SAD patients (P = 0.07). However, although successful CTO group had a low rate of repeat revascularisation in studies with more than 2 years follow-up (P = 0.03), it increased the in-hospital revascularisation events (P = 0.007) and there was no difference in overall population (13.6% vs. 16.0%; P = 0.40). Conclusions Base on this meta-analysis, successful PCI recanalisation may be considered a efficacious option for the patients with CTO lesions and should be comfirmed by future randomised trials.


Abstract For much of the past three decades, China has witnessed a dramatic and steady increase in internal migration and thus has a huge population of left-behind children. The impact of childhood left-behind experiences has been carefully studied, but research on the long-term effects of these experiences is generally lacking. Capitalizing on a study of migrant workers conducted in Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions, we extend this line of research by examining how childhood experiences of being left behind by migrant parents affect the behaviors of adults. Our study shows that people with left-behind experiences (1) are more likely to work overtime, which could result from avoidance of close interpersonal interaction after work; (2) spend a larger part of their income on surfing the Internet, indicating that they prefer activities not involving direct contact with other people; and (3) occurring at different stages of life can have varied long-term impacts. This study not only echoes earlier studies on the relationship between family structure and children's behavioral outcomes, but also provides substantial evidence of the long-term negative effect of childhood left-behind experiences on adults.


In this study, the length-weight relationships (LWRs) and condition factors were estimated for 445 specimens belonging to three gobiid species viz. Ponticola bathybius (Kessler, 1877), Neogobius caspius (Eichwald, 1831) and Neogobius pallasi (Berg, 1916) from the Southern Caspian Sea basin. Total length and total weight of the examined specimens ranged 4.9-28.3 cm and 0.64-263.4 g, respectively. The length-weight parameter b of the studied species found between 2.47 (N. caspius) and 3.45 (N. pallasi) with r2 ranging 0.831 to 0.988. LWR and K parameters are reported first time for N. pallasi from the Caspian Sea basin. The condition factor estimated was calculated from 0.94 (N. pallasi) to 0.98 (N. caspius) and 1.00 (P. bathybius). The basic biological information on the LWRs of these three gobies will be useful as baseline information for further biological research in the region.


The Internet is an open, global communications network that connects over thousands of computer networks, over an individual public or private telephone line, its component network is managed by agents from governments, universities, commercial organizations, and volunteers. Teenagers are the largest individual internet users, which the internet has a positive or negative impact or influence. Positive impact we can get information easily. However, the internet can affect the moral development of adolescents, because of the negative impact of the internet itself. Teenagers misuse of the internet, for example teenagers often watch porn on the internet, which will result in an influence on adolescent morale. With regard to the position of the counselor, then the dimensions of internet use that tend to be more widely used by teenagers, internet counseling will be more efficient and effective.


BACKGROUND In recent decades, significant advances have been made in protecting the parathyroid glands and recurrent laryngeal nerves during thyro-idectomy. However, reliable and convenient technical means are still lacking. In this study, the reliability, safety and feasibility of near-infrared (NIR) laparoscopy-assisted thyroid lobectomy with isthmectomy and prophylactic central lymph node dissection (CLND) were reported. CASE SUMMARY A 63-year-old female patient with a free previous medical history, was admitted to our department due to multiple thyroid nodules. Ultrasonic examination suggested diffuse thyroid changes and one thyroid nodule in the right upper lobe with the largest diameter of 1.5 cm adjacent to the trachea and Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System grade 4B. Imaging examination of the neck showed no obvious enlarged lymph nodes. Fine needle aspiration biopsy suggested a papillary thyroid carcinoma. Combined with thyroid function examination, the patient was diagnosed with papillary thyroid carcinoma and Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Considering the risk of invading the capsule and the patient's extreme anxiety, a right thyroid lobectomy with isthmectomy and prophylactic CLND was planned. No significant abnormalities were found during preoperative examinations, except for an increased thyroid stimulating hormone level. The patient underwent NIR laparoscopy-assisted thyroid lobectomy with isthmectomy and prophylactic CLND. During the operation, two right parathyroid glands (PGs) adjacent to the thyroid gland capsule and the right recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) were examined by indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence using a NIR fluorescence camera, and the PGs and RLN were reliably preserved. Considering the ICG-positive PG, prophylactic CLND was performed. The postoperative parathyroid hormone level was in the normal range and no significant hypocalcemia symptoms were observed. CONCLUSION During NIR laparoscopy-assisted thyroidectomy, ICG fluorescence may aid PG identification and protection.


BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES Sustainable practices in foodservice organizations including commercial and noncommercial ones are critical to ensure the protection of the environment for the future. With the rapid growth of the foodservice industry, wiser usage of input sources such as food, utilities, and single use packaging should be reconsidered for future generations. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the customer's perceptions on sustainable practices and to identify the relationship among sustainable practices, social contribution and purchase intention. SUBJECTS/METHODS The study was conducted using content analyses by reviewing articles on sustainable food service practices published domestically and abroad. Thereafter, data were collected with a face-to-face survey using a questionnaire and analyzed with factor analyses and multiple regressions. RESULTS Sustainable practices classified with factor analysis consisted of 6 dimensions of green food material procurement, sustainable food preparation, green packaging, preservation of energy, waste management, and public relations on green activity, with a total of 25 green activities in foodservice operations. Consumers were not very familiar with the green activities implemented in the foodservice unit, with the lowest awareness of "green food material procurement (2.46 out of 5 points)", and the highest awareness of "green packaging (3.74)" and "waste management (3.28). The factors influencing the perception of social contribution by foodservice organizations among 6 sustainable practice dimensions were found to be public relations on green activity (β = 0.154), waste management (β = 0.204) and sustainable food preparation (β = 0.183). Green packaging (β = 0.107) and the social contribution of the foodservice organization (β = 0.761) had strong relationships with the image of the organization. The purchase intentions of customers was affected only by the foodservice image (β = 0.775). CONCLUSIONS The results of this study suggest that sustainable practices by foodservice organization present a good image to customers and increase the awareness of valuable contributions that benefit the customer as well as the community.


Background. The aim of this study was to translate, culturally adapt and validate an Italian version of the Athlete Fear Avoidance Questionnaire (AFAQ-I).Methods. We conducted a cross-sectional evaluation of the psychometric properties of the AFAQ-I in athletes with musculoskeletal injuries, culturally adapting it in accordance with international standards. Psychometric evaluation included exploratory factor analysis, reliability (internal consistency [Cronbach's alpha], inter-item correlation, and test–retest reliability [intra-class correlation coefficient]). To examine construct validity, we compared (Spearman rank correlation) the AFAQ-I with a numerical pain rating scale (NPRS), the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), and the Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire subscales (Physical Activity, FABQ-PA; and Work, FABQ-W). We evaluated sensitivity to change through the minimum detectable change (MDC).Results. The AFAQ-I was administered to 133 university athletes with musculoskeletal injuries (26 females, mean age 25.3 ± 5 years, mean average pain duration 5.6 ± 8.7 months), and resulted acceptable. Factor analysis revealed a 1-factor 10-item solution (explained variance: 53%). Internal consistency was 0.78; average inter-item correlation 0.27; test–retest reliability ICC(2,1) 0.95. As hypothesized a priori, construct validity showed moderate correlations of the AFAQ-I with NPRS (ρ = 0.42), PCS (ρ = 0.59), FABQ-PA (ρ = 0.40) and FABQ-W (ρ = 0.34). The MDC was 4.42 points.Conclusion. The AFAQ-I is a valid Italian translation of AFAQ and demonstrates acceptable psychometric properties. We can recommend its use for clinical and research purposes.


The microstructure and mechanical properties of TiAl3/Al2O3 in situ composite by combustion process are investigated in details. Pure Al powder and TiO2 powder were mechanically milled with a molar ratio of 13 : 3 at 300rpm for 18ks. This milling powder's green compact coldpressed at 200MPa for 0.3ks sintered at 923 to 1173K for 1.8ks under Ar atmosphere. The microstructure of the sintered compact was identified by XRD, SEM and TEM/EDS. Mechanical properties were evaluated by Vickers hardness and indentation fracture toughness tests. The compacts at less than 973K consist of a TiAl3 phase and remained phases of Al and TiO2, while the compact at more than 1023K consist of TiAl3 matrix, dispersed Al2O3 particles and some plate like Ti3Al phase. The compacts at more than 1023K have the higher hardness around 800Hv compared to TiAl3 single phase compact with 450Hv. The fracture toughness of TiAl3/Al2O3 composite is about two times TiAl3 single phase compact. This improvement of hardness and toughness is attributed to the effect of the microstructure formation of dispersed Al2O3 particles and Ti3Al plate like phase in the TiAl3 matrix. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.Y-M2014823]


We report the observation of long-lived quantum beats in the 1LO assisted resonance fluorescence of the lowest A exciton in CdS with the twofold spin-degenerate exciton states split by magnetic fields up to 4 T. Excitation by picosecond laser pulses with small spectral width allows us to selectively probe the relaxation dynamics of exciton polaritons at the transverse exciton energy. In this energy region phonon relaxation processes are greatly reduced at low temperatures (T = 2 K) leading to the observed long relaxation times of the order of 100 ps. The accuracy of the analysis of the beat signals can be improved by applying the method of linear prediction by singular-value decomposition. This scheme allows us to reveal very weak oscillations and to derive the total exciton splitting due to the magnetic field and due to the strain in the sample.


Colloid transport through saturated media is an integral component of predicting the fate and transport of groundwater contaminants. Developing sound predictive capabilities and establishing effective methodologies for remediation relies heavily on our ability to understand the pertinent physical and chemical mechanisms. Traditionally, colloid transport through saturated media has been described by classical colloid filtration theory (CFT), which predicts an exponential decrease in colloid concentration with travel distance. Furthermore, colloid stability as determined by Derjaguin-Landau-Veney-Overbeek (DLVO) theory predicts permanent attachment of unstable particles in a primary energy minimum. However, recent studies show significant deviations from these traditional theories. Deposition in the secondary energy minimum has been suggested as a mechanism by which observed deviations can occur. This work investigates the existence of the secondary energy minimum as predicted by DLVO theory using direct force measurements obtained by Atomic Forces Microscopy. Interaction energy as a function of separation distance between a colloid and a quartz surface in electrolyte solutions of varying ionic strength are obtained. Preliminary force measurements show promise and necessary modifications to the current experimental methodology have been identified. Stringent surface cleaning procedures and the use of high-purity water for all injectant solutions is necessary for the most accurate andmore » precise measurements. Comparisons between direct physical measurements by Atomic Forces Microscopy with theoretical calculations and existing experimental findings will allow the evaluation of the existence or absence of a secondary energy minimum.« less


The current paper presents the results of a research which aimed at establishing the attitude of Croatian L1 students towards the role of English as a global international language. In particular, the focus is to examine whether their perspectives reflect the notion of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) by means of a three-part questionnaire designed to investigate: (a) students ' attitudes towards the role of ELF as a contact language among non-native speakers; (b) their attitudes to English pronunciation; and (c) students ' perspectives on the lexico-grammatical features of ELF. The research was conducted on a sample of 320 undergraduate university students from the Faculty of Economics and Tourism «Dr Mijo Mirković» of the Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, including full-time first- and second-year students (median age 20). The participants largely recognize English as a global language that has far surpassed the needs of a single cultural and linguistic circle, and acknowledge the role of ELF as a useful tool in establishing efficient intercultural communication with other non-native speakers of English. Overall, students are quite pragmatically oriented and liberal towards non-native English accents, while gender and self-assessed English proficiency play a significant role in determining what exactly constitutes the ability to efficiently communicate in ELF contexts. The third part of the survey revealed interesting insights into the participants ' view on ELF lexico-grammar, where a rather weak correlation between students ' evaluation of accuracy (i.e. objective knowledge) and intelligibility (i.e. subjective comprehension) of the eight distinct features of ELF indicates a quite articulate perspective that deviations from the Standard English norm do not necessarily represent a serious impediment to establishing successful ELF communication. The current findings support the idea that domestic students already see themselves as users of ELF, with important practical implications for ESL (English as a Second Language) and EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teaching. Such results can help us better understand the various student profiles and their needs in foreign language acquisition, as well as to deepen our understanding of the relationship between students ' proficiency in English and their views on what is " required " , " proper " or generally defined as desirable in language production. The author discusses potentials of implementing strategies to reflect such insights into English language teaching.


Reverse logistics is an important process that is often misunderstood. Many organizations do not understand what processes and procedures to follow and how to manage reverse logistics efficiently. Though studies have shown the positive impacts of adoption of various reverse logistics practices, the researcher found no research works that specifically shown how adoption of reverse logistics practices could impact on organizational performance in the case of firms in Ethiopian. The objectives of this study were to determine the extent to which EABSC has adopted reverse logistics practices and investigate the relationship between reverse logistics practices and organizational performance. A descriptive cross-sectional survey study was used to provide empirical data to help address the existing research gap. The study sample consisted of 111 employees selected through stratified random sampling. The respondents answered questionnaire items adopted from previous researchers. The inferential relationship was imputed using Pearson correlation analysis. The findings showed that EABSC has adopted reverse logistic practices to appreciable levels. Specifically, it was seen that reuse and recycle reverse logistics practice were found strongly correlated with organizational performance and both reuse & recycle have strong positive correlation with financial and market performance. It is therefore recommended that management of EABSC should look at reverse logistics practice as a strategic method that can be used to achieve organizational performance. Similarly, EABSC should consider outsourcing their reverse logistics function, if they lack the necessary expertise or knowledge.


A new 3D controlled-source electromagnetic finite element (FE) modeling algorithm is presented which is capable of handling local inhomogeneities in the magnetic permeability and electrical conductivity distribution of buried geologic and anthropogenic structures. An ungauged, coupled-potential formulation of the governing electromagnetic vector diffusion and scalar continuity equations is used. The formulation introduces magnetic reluctivity, the inverse of magnetic permeability, to facilitate a separation of secondary and primary potentials. The governing equations are solved using a tetrahedral edge-based FE method. The postprocessing steps to obtain electromagnetic fields are outlined. The code is validated for non-magnetic and permeable conductive structures by comparisons against analytic and previously published numerical solutions. Some limitations of the implementation are explored and directions are proposed for its further development.


ABSTRACT Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the prototypical systemic autoimmune disease in humans and is characterized by the presence of hyperactive immune cells and aberrant antibody responses to nuclear and cytoplasmic antigens, including characteristic anti–double-stranded DNA antibodies. We performed a cross-sectional study in order to determine if an SLE-associated gut dysbiosis exists in patients without active disease. A group of 20 SLE patients in remission, for which there was strict inclusion and exclusion criteria, was recruited, and we used an optimized Ion Torrent 16S rRNA gene-based analysis protocol to decipher the fecal microbial profiles of these patients and compare them with those of 20 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects. We found diversity to be comparable based on Shannon's index. However, we saw a significantly lower Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio in SLE individuals (median ratio, 1.97) than in healthy subjects (median ratio, 4.86; P < 0.002). A lower Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio in SLE individuals was corroborated by quantitative PCR analysis. Notably, a decrease of some Firmicutes families was also detected. This dysbiosis is reflected, based on in silico functional inference, in an overrepresentation of oxidative phosphorylation and glycan utilization pathways in SLE patient microbiota. IMPORTANCE Growing evidence suggests that the gut microbiota might impact symptoms and progression of some autoimmune diseases. However, how and why this microbial community influences SLE remains to be elucidated. This is the first report describing an SLE-associated intestinal dysbiosis, and it contributes to the understanding of the interplay between the intestinal microbiota and the host in autoimmune disorders. Growing evidence suggests that the gut microbiota might impact symptoms and progression of some autoimmune diseases. However, how and why this microbial community influences SLE remains to be elucidated. This is the first report describing an SLE-associated intestinal dysbiosis, and it contributes to the understanding of the interplay between the intestinal microbiota and the host in autoimmune disorders.