Since the early 1970s, multiple drug resistance (MDR) has been known to exist in cancer cells and is thought to be attributable to a membrane-bound, energy-dependent pump protein (P-glycoprotein [P-gp]) capable of extruding various related and unrelated chemotherapeutic drugs. P-gp is coded for by the MDR1 gene, which in the human genome is located on the long arm of chromosome 7 (7q21-31). At the cellular level, the function of P-gp has been extensively investigated in human cancer. Although innumerable reports have been published in which P-gp has been shown to confer MDR to malignant (including leukemia) cells, so far, large-scale studies in the clinical setting have not convincingly proven that MDR1 plays a major role in clinical drug resistance when the influence of other known prognostic factors in human leukemia are taken into account. At present, results from phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the efficiency of inhibiting (or reversing) the function of P-gp in hematologic malignancies are eagerly awaited. Moreover, the horizon of cellular drug resistance in human cancer has during recent years widened dramatically. Thus, an array of different molecules and mechanisms by which resistant cells can escape the cytotoxic effect of anticancer drugs has now been identified. These molecules and mechanisms include apoptosis-related proteins. In this article, we review the different methods for determining MDR and, in particular, methods for determining P-gp/MDR1, with special reference to their potential importance for therapeutic strategies in human acute leukemia.


The anticancer potential of monoamine oxidase (MAO) was observed in pre-clinical assays conducted with cell cultures and animals. L-Deprenyl (DEP) causes apoptosis in melanoma, leukemia and mammary cells. High-dose DEP has shown toxicity in mammary and pituitary cancers, as well as in monoblastic leukemia, in rats. DEP accounts for immune-stimulant effect capable of increasing natural killer cell activity, IL-2 generation, as well as of inhibiting tumor growth. DEP administration in old female rats has increased IL-2 generation and inverted the age-related depletion of IFN-γ generation in the spleen. Co-adjuvant DEP administration helped preventing/mitigating symptoms associated with peripheral neuropathy in cancer treatment. It also enhanced the cytotoxic effects of antineoplastic drugs such as doxorubicin, cisplatin, among others in cancer cells while they protected healthy cells from being damaged. DEP presented effect against dysfunctions such as debilitating hormone imbalance triggered by pituitary gland tumor; this gland produces the stimulatory hormone of adrenocorticotropic hormone which was related to the exacerbation of this disease. Thus, DEP emerges as an excellent potential drug against several cancer types and it also presents low toxicity in Parkinson`s disease patients subjected to long treatment with it.


Building condition assessment (BCA) is an assessment that provides the information of deficiencies of the property to support the decision-making and management of its maintenance and rehabilitation. This paper presents the execution of BCA on heritage building, namely Balai Zaharah in Johor Bharu to obtain its rating. The BCA was conducted based on the structural and architectural elements' maintainability, security, functionality and the sustainability of the construction material's originality. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to identify the rating of each defect according to its condition and maintenance priority. From each defect, the overall rating from 1 to 5 of the building was determined. A systematic recording of the building systems is one of the methods used in this study by visual inspection and technical notes of each defects and deficiencies existed. As for the material suitability, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) was performed on the element samples to identify the chemical composition of the construction materials used so that the originality can be sustained during the rehabilitation and maintenance works. In conclusion, from the building assessment and matrix analysis, it was found that Balai Zaharah was rated to require major maintenance and rehabilitation to reestablish to its original state.


0 false 14 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false Cinephilia – literally "love of cinema" – brings together the notions of an intensive film-going activity and a culture informed by highly subjective responses to film. The cinephile's approach to film entails an idiosyncratic rapport with cinema's temporal and material conditions, expressed through compulsive and fetishistic viewing rituals, as well as appreciations based on the sensorial and emotional impact of films on film spectators. This paper views women's cinephilia as a different way of constructing and theorizing female subjectivity in film. The overall argument is that cinephilia helps to reconceptualize women outside of the passive or marginal positions where classical film forms typically relegate female characters and spectators. The purpose is to theorize cinephilia as an apprehension of film set apart from narrative or formal clues designed to make a film "readable" to an ideal (typically male) film spectator. Cinephilia's stress on the fragmented and perceptual aspects of  films points at new possibilities for feminist theorists to conceive gender-specific types of meaning formation and spectatorship in the cinema.


The design, fabrication and characterisation of 1024-element matrix addressable vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) arrays are described. A strained InGaAs quantum well VCSEL structure was grown by molecular beam epitaxy and an array of 32×32 lasers was defined using a proton implantation process. A matrix addressing architecture was employed, which enables the individual addressing of each of the 1024 lasers using only 64 electrical contacts. All the lasers in the array, measured after the laser definition step, were operating with fairly homogeneous characteristics; threshold current of 6.8 mA and output quantum differential efficiency of about 8%.


Guttate psoriasis is a subgroup of psoriasis that most commonly presents as raindroplike, erythematous, silvery, scaly papules. Guttate psoriatic flares may follow rhinovirus or COVID-19 infection due to dysregulation of the innate immune response. We describe the case of a patient who experienced a moderate psoriatic flare 3 weeks after diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection. We discuss the dysregulation of proinflammatory cytokines that we believe triggered this flare and the treatment regimen for our patient.


The mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus are vectors of arboviruses that cause dengue, zika and chikungunya. Bioactive compounds from plants are environmentally sustainable alternatives to control these vectors and thus the arboviruses transmitted by them. The present study evaluated the larvicidal activity of an acetogenin-rich fraction (ACERF) and its main constituent annonacin obtained from Annona muricata seeds on Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus. The larvicidal assays were performed using different concentrations to calculate the LC50 and LC90 values observed 24 h after exposure to the treatment. Annonacin was more active against Ae. aegypti (LC50 2.65 μg·mL−1) in comparison with Ae. albopictus (LC50 8.34 μg·mL−1). In contrast, the acetogenin-rich fraction was more active against Ae. albopictus (LC50 3.41 μg·mL−1) than Ae. aegypti (LC50 12.41 μg·mL−1). ACERF and annonacin treated larvae of Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus showed significant differences in the inhibition of their metabolic enzymes when compared to untreated larvae. The results demonstrate the relevant larvicidal action of the acetogenin-rich fraction and annonacin showing the potential to develop new products for the control of Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus.


To assess the relative contribution of antiepileptic drugs (AEDS) to occurrence of congenital malformations, we compared two prospective studies. We analyzed data for 14 AEDs for total daily doses (drug score) and eight background factors. From the first study, the drug score and polytherapy--particularly the use of valproate plus carbamazepine--were suspected to be primary factors for increased incidence of congenital malformation. In the other study, the drug score for each case was decreased, and polytherapy--particularly valproate plus carbamazepine--was changed to monotherapy before conception. These changes significantly decreased the incidence of malformations. Among risk factors, only the doses of methylphenobarbital for mothers of infants with malformations were significantly higher than those for mothers of infants without malformations. Statistical differences were seen in drug score, number of AEDs, maternal age at delivery, seizure type, and etiology of epilepsy between the two groups. When data were corrected for seizure type, maternal age at delivery, or etiology of epilepsy, the difference in the incidence of malformations did not disappear, but it did disappear when data were corrected for drug score or number of AEDs. These results support our previous observations that AEDs are primary factors for the increased incidence of congenital malformation in infants of mothers with epilepsy.


In this paper, after considering the law and national thoughts of Paul and Augustine individually, standpoints of these two men are evaluated on various levels like the origin of state power and the issue of limits, the necessity and legitimacy of state power, the duty of national political leaders, and the problem regarding the right of resistance. Paul is a person who explains the justice of God of Jesus Christ the best. Romans chapter 13 section 1 below and First Corinthians chapter 6 section 1 he wrote seem contradictory to each other. However, this is not to support already existing order but to avoid revolutionary means for Paul. In other words, because power is from God, it is saying that there will be judgement when disobeying it. Practically, the power of the state is provisionally needed. This opinion of Paul matches with the statement of Jesus christ saying that the authority of Pilatus is a tool actualizing the will of God and old prophecies with the divine origin. On the other hand, since the state and the power is given by God in order to restrain sins of corrupted humans, people should not only obey its authority and but also avoid defiance despite of the fact that the state itself is like a capital of chaos. He was stringy about accepting the independence and autonomy of justice in the matter of the state, and he thought that it is impossible for the state to exist unless it is based on the justice of the kingdom of God. In fact, it is said that the state is subordinate to the church regrading the matter of justice. In today's state society believing in the separation of church and state, the law and national thoughts of Paul and Augustine are not totally reasonable. However, the community believing in christianity is still feeling the necessity of the state as well as its authority while subjecting to tensions between the kingdom of God and a civil society or the state. That is, it is not necessary to obey a general rule of not only extrinsic but also relative law. Yet, the community of believers knows that the general rule and the system on this earth is based on the eternal kingdom of God and his everlasting righteousness. In this sense, the law and national thoughts of Paul and Augustine are meaningful to the community of christians until these days.


Peripheral nerve injury is a serious clinical problem to be solved. There has been no breakthrough so far and neural tissue engineering offers a promising approach to promote the regeneration of peripheral neural injuries. In this study, emulsion electrospinning technique was introduced as a flexible and promising technique for the fabrication of random (R) and aligned (A) Poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL)-Nerve Growth Factor (NGF)&Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) nanofibrous scaffolds [(R/A)-PCL-NGF&BSA], where NGF and BSA were encapsulated in the core while PCL form the shell. Random and aligned pure PCL, PCL-BSA, and PCL-NGF nanofibers were also produced for comparison. The scaffolds were characterized by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and water contact angle test. Release study showed that, with the addition of stabilizer BSA, a sustained release of NGF from emulsion electrospun PCL nanofibers was observed over 28 days. [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium, inner salt; MTS] assay revealed that (R/A)-PCL-NGF and (R/A)-PCL-NGF&BSA scaffolds favored cell growth and showed no cytotoxicity to PC12 cells. Laser scanning confocal microscope images exhibited that the A-PCL-NGF&BSA scaffold increased the length of neurites and directed neurites extension along the fiber axis, indicating that the A-PCL-NGF&BSA scaffold has a potential for guiding nerve tissue growth and promoting nerve regeneration.


A formalism for quantizing time reparametrization invariant dynamics is considered and applied to systems which contain an `almost ideal clock'. Previously, this formalism was successfully applied to the Bianchi models and, while it contains no fundamental notion of `time' or `evolution', the approach does contain a notion of correlations. Using correlations with the almost ideal clock to introduce a notion of time, we derive the complete formalism of external time quantum mechanics. The explicit relation between the physical Hilbert space and the usual Hilbert space for a system with an external time is also derived and the limit of an ideal clock is found to be closely associated with the Klein - Gordon inner product and the Newton - Wigner formalism.


In order to obtain access to well-developed financial markets, Greek banks need to win and maintain investors' confidence, not only in a symbolic and rules-based approach (complying as closely as possible with international best practices and regulations), but pursue a principlesbased approach in order to achieve the desired goal of effective audit committee. The question that this paper seeks to answer is: "What are the key drivers for an effective audit committee in countries where audit committees are relatively new?" The overall aim of this research is to identify the main drivers which may contribute to the effectiveness of audit committees and provide a framework for their successful operation in the Greek banking institutions.


The test compounds were: SK&F 369 14, SK&F D-39 162, and gold sodium thiomalate. Their formulas appear on page 2. New Zealand White rabbits were acclimated and randomly assigned to control and treatment groups. The animals were housed in air-conditioned rooms at 72'F f 2' and 50% f 5% relative humidity. Alternate 12-hour periods of light and darkness were maintained daily. The animals received PurinaB Rabbit Chow@. Drinking water was constantly available. The females were sequentially mated to males of the same stock (2 consecutive matings, approximately 6 hours apart). Day of mating was designated day 0 of pregnancy. SK&F 36914 and SK&F D-39162 were administered to female rabbits by intubation in volumes of 5 ml/kg of body weight from day 6 through 18 of pregnancy. Gold sodium thiomalate was administered to female rabbits of the same stock by subcutaneous injection in volumes of 2 ml/kg of body weight from day 6 through 18 of pregnancy. Control females received equal volumes of the vehicle during the same period. Body weight records were maintained. All females were killed prior to term and Caesarean section was performed. The uterine horns were examined for implantation, resorption, and placement of fetuses. All fetuses were removed, weighed, and examined for external malformations. Approximately one-half of the live fetuses from each litter were placed in an incubator for observation of their 24-hour survival. Thereafter, every third fetus in each litter was futed in Bouin's solution and examined for visceral abnormalities according to the method of Wilson'. The viscera of the remaining fetuses were excised and examined for gross malformations. About 2/3 of the fetuses from each litter were cleared in a KOH solution containing alizarin red S dye and examined for skeletal abnormalities.


Cyberbullying is a pervasive problem in online communities. To identify cyberbullying cases in large-scale social networks, content moderators depend on machine learning classifiers for automatic cyberbullying detection. However, existing models remain unfit for real-world applications, largely due to a shortage of publicly available training data and a lack of standard criteria for assigning ground truth labels. In this study, we address the need for reliable data using an original annotation framework. Inspired by social sciences research into bullying behavior, we characterize the nuanced problem of cyberbullying using five explicit factors to represent its social and linguistic aspects. We model this behavior using social network and language-based features, which improve classifier performance. These results demonstrate the importance of representing and modeling cyberbullying as a social phenomenon.


The monitoring and automation of power distribution systems has significantly improved with advancements in digital signal processing (DSP) and in computer and Web-based technologies. Power distribution systems could realize benefits from an improved instrumentation and measurement (I&M) configuration for network reconfiguration and meter placement. Drexel University has developed the Reconfigurable Distribution Automation And Control (RDAC) laboratory; it has a power distribution system in which various meter placements and network reconfiguration techniques can be implemented and studied. The authors designed a unique and flexible I&M system consisting of software and hardware instruments to perform network reconfiguration and meter placement studies; it can adapt to power system planning and operating scenarios. This system in the RDAC laboratory is tested and present the results in this paper.


Abstract Purpose To integrate the evidence of gait aid prescription for improving spatiotemporal gait parameters, balance, safety, adherence to gait aid use, and reducing falls in community-dwelling older people. Methods Seven health databases were searched to June 2021. Experimental studies investigating gait aid prescription (provision and instruction for use) for older people, reporting gait parameters, balance, falls, and safety of or adherence to gait aid use was included. Mean differences with 95% confidence intervals of gait and balance outcomes in participants at the program's last follow-up were analyzed. The safety of and adherence to gait aid use were described. Results Eight studies were included (N = 555 older people). No meta-analyses could be performed. Five studies used a single gait aid instruction session. Gait aid prescription had inconsistent effects on gait velocity, and no reported benefits in reducing gait variability in older people with mobility problems or fall risks, including Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease. No study investigated gait aid prescription on falls and balance performance. Effects on safety and adherence to gait aid use were unclear. Conclusion Research is needed to investigate the benefits of extensive gait aid training in older people with mobility problems, including those with dementia or high falls risk. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION There is little evidence currently addressing the benefits of gait aid prescription on gait and associated outcomes in older people with mobility problems or fall risks. Gait aid prescription yielded inconsistent effects on increasing gait velocity and did not appear to reduce gait variability in older people with mobility problems or fall risks, nor in those with Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's disease. Clinicians may consider using a more extensive gait aid training approach to optimize learning of safe gait patterns and gait aid use, which may produce better outcomes.


Factors affecting the durability of reinforced concrete are discussed. The repair process is reviewed considering the structure as a whole and the implications of repairs on the safety of the structure. Structural distress and the visible evidence of distress e.g. excessive cracking, spalling due to steel corrosion and movement are considered. A review of repair products based on Portland cement, polymer modified Portland cement, epoxy resin and polyester resin systems is made, comparing and contrasting their properties. The requirements for protective surface coatings are reviewed followed by a summary of the various repair systems and a table of typical properties. The aims and objectives of FeRFA are stated. (Author/TRRL)


Indirect field-oriented control, direct field-oriented control, and direct torque control are the most widely used instantaneous torque control techniques for the drive system of alternative energy vehicles (AEVs). This paper evaluates three candidate alternating-current machines and investigates the suitability of different control techniques for the drive systems of battery-powered electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, and integrated starter alternators. Accurate flux and torque estimation is the core of any opted control technique for all types of AEV drive systems. Therefore, an accurate closed-loop voltage model flux and torque estimator that is insensitive to stator resistance variation has been designed. This paper also analyzes loss model control and search control (SC) techniques for the drive system's efficiency optimization and proposes an offline SC efficiency optimization technique. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed flux and torque estimator and efficiency optimizer.


Experimental studies of the formation, equilibrium and stability of a linear Extrap Z-pinch are reported. The Z-pinch discharge is generated between electrodes along the Z-axis of a linear octupole field produced by currents in four Z-directed rods. The combined discharge current and rod currents produce a magnetic field having a separatrix with four null X-points which define the corners of a square-shaped region where the high beta plasma discharge is contained. Bounding the pinch discharge with a separatrix produces equilibria which are stable against global kink modes for the 50- mu s duration of the discharge which corresponds to about 100 Alfven transit times. The equilibria, with line densities of about 3*1018 m-1, are consistent in magnitude and scaling with the Bennett relation.


Background TCEs are effective in leukemias but have been challenging in solid tumors due to on-target, off-tumor toxicity. Attempts to circumvent CRS include step-up dosing and/or complex designs but are unsuccessful due to toxicity and/or enhanced immunogenicity. HER2-XPAT, or XTENylated Protease-Activated bispecific T-Cell Engager, is a prodrug TCE that exploits the protease activity present in tumors vs. healthy tissue to expand the therapeutic index (TI). The core of the HER2-XPAT (PAT) consists of 2 tandem scFvs targeting CD3 and HER2. Attached to the core, two unstructured polypeptide masks (XTEN) sterically reduce target engagement and extend T1/2. Protease cleavage sites at the base of the XTEN masks enable proteolytic activation of XPATs in the tumor microenvironment, unleashing a potent TCE with short T1/2, further improving the TI. HER2-XPAT, a tumor protease-activatable prodrug with wide safety margins, can co-opt T-cells regardless of antigenic specificity to induce T-cell killing of HER2+ tumors. Methods Preclinical studies were conducted to characterize the activity of HER2-XPAT, HER2-PAT (cleaved XPAT), and HER2-NonClv (a non-cleavable XPAT) for cytotoxicity in vitro, for anti-tumor efficacy in xenograft models, and for safety in NHPs. Results HER2-PAT demonstrated potent in vitro T-cell cytotoxicity (EC50 1-2pM) and target-dependent T-cell activation and cytokine production by hPBMCs. HER2-XPAT provided up to 14,000-fold protection against killing of HER2 tumor cells and no cytotoxicity against cardiomyocytes up to 1uM. In vivo, HER2-XPAT induced complete tumor regressions in BT-474 tumors with equimolar dosing to HER2-PAT, whereas HER2-NonClv had no efficacy, supporting requirement of protease cleavage for T-cell activity. In NHP, HER2-XPAT has been dose-escalated safely up to 42mg/kg (MTD). HER2-XPAT demonstrated early T-cell margination at 2 mg/kg but largely spared CRS, cytokine production, and tissue toxicity up to 42 mg/kg. PK profiles of HER2-XPAT and HER2-NonClv were comparable, consistent with ex vivo stability for cleavage when incubated in cancer pts plasma for 7 days at 37°C. HER2-PAT by continuous infusion induced lethal CRS and cytokine spikes at 0.3 mg/kg/d but was tolerated at 0.25 mg/kg/d, providing HER2-XPAT with >1300-fold protection in tolerability vs. HER2-PAT, >4 logs over cytotoxicity EC50s for HER2 cell lines, and a 20-fold safety margin over the dose required for pharmacodynamic activity. Conclusions HER2-XPAT is a potent prodrug TCE with no CRS and a wide TI based on NHPs. With XTEN's clinical data demonstrating low immunogenicity, the XPATs are a promising solution. IND studies are ongoing. Additional PK/PD, cytokines, safety, and efficacy data will be presented.


The proliferation of video content demands efficient and flexible neural network based approaches for generating new video content. In this paper, we propose a novel approach that combines zero-shot text-to-video generation with ControlNet to improve the output of these models. Our method takes multiple sketched frames as input and generates video output that matches the flow of these frames, building upon the Text-to-Video Zero architecture and incorporating ControlNet to enable additional input conditions. By first interpolating frames between the inputted sketches and then running Text-to-Video Zero using the new interpolated frames video as the control technique, we leverage the benefits of both zero-shot text-to-video generation and the robust control provided by ControlNet. Experiments demonstrate that our method excels at producing high-quality and remarkably consistent video content that more accurately aligns with the user's intended motion for the subject within the video. We provide a comprehensive resource package, including a demo video, project website, open-source GitHub repository, and a Colab playground to foster further research and application of our proposed method.


OBJECTIVE
The present study aims to review cases of extremely rare primary ovarian tumors and thus, to evaluate the distribution of rare primary ovarian pathologies. Various aspects of the presentation, diagnosis, and treatment of these tumors are discussed.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A retrospective review of women with final pathology of rare primary ovarian tumors, which were managed at the Gynecologic Oncology Department of Zekai Tahir Burak Women's Health Education and Research Hospital, from 1995 to 2010 was undertaken.

RESULTS
Among the 2,210 women treated during the study period, extremely rare ovarian tumors accounted for 1.62% (36/2210) of all cases.

CONCLUSION
It is important to be aware of these rare entities in the pathological diagnosis of ovarian tumors. Intraoperative frozen examination should be performed because rare benign conditions that mimic malignancy may not require radical surgery. The rarity of these tumors renders basic scientific advances more challenging.


The notion of surgical robotics is actively being extended to enable telesurgery, where both the surgeon and patient are remotely located and connected via a public network, which leads to many security risks. Being a safety-critical application, it is highly important to make telesurgery robust and secure against active and passive attacks. In this article, we propose the first complete framework, called SecureSurgiNET, for ensuring security in telesurgery environments. SecureSurgiNET is primarily based on a set of well-established protocols to provide a fool-proof telesurgical robotic system. For increasing the efficiency of secured telesurgery environments, the idea of a telesurgical authority is introduced that ensures the integrity, identity management, authentication policy implementation, and postoperative data security. An analysis is provided describing the security and throughput of Advanced Encryption Standard during the intraoperative phase of SecureSurgiNET. Moreover, we have tabulated the possible attacks on SecureSurgiNET along with the devised defensive measures. Finally, we also present a time complexity analysis of the SecureSurgiNET through simulations.


was performed only on the nonads from the fifth to the eleventh, inclusive, since the first four sums-of-products would have reproduced a part of sl56' and not of r166. (All of the nonads after the sixth were composed entirely of supplied zeros both for N and q156.) The last figures of sl56' were copied on the third line from the bottom of the fifth strip so that by forming the difference between the second and third lines the required value of ru56 came out on the bottom line. This remainder was found on Aug. 11, 1944, to be 118 57508 80382 71696 98184 73569 85091 23773 18030 92037. Since this residue is not zero it follows that M167 is composite and incidentaly that M,7 still retains the position of being the largest known prime number. For every value of k from 8 to 156 the numbers on the three corresponding strips were found to satisfy the relation Sk' = N-qk + rk for each of the moduli 103 + 1, 104 + 1 and 107 + 1. The author desires to announce that he has already begun to investigate M167.


ABSTRACT: Work is a place where many adults devote significant portions of their waking lives, but it is also a place where civil liberties, including freedom of speech, are significantly constrained. I examine the regulation and control of expressive activity in and around the workplace from legal, managerial, and ethical perspectives. The focus of this article is on workplace freedom of expression: the ability to engage in acts of expression at or away from the workplace, on subjects related or unrelated to the workplace, free from the threat of discipline or discharge. I present a taxonomy of workplace-relevant acts of expression, describe the present legal status of workplace expression, review and integrate theoretical perspectives on free speech, drawn mainly from legal theory and philosophy, and critically assess the state of freedom of expression in the workplace, arguing that it is excessively and unnecessarily limited in both law and management practice.


Object-centric learning (OCL) aspires general and compositional understanding of scenes by representing a scene as a collection of object-centric representations. OCL has also been extended to multi-view image and video datasets to apply various data-driven inductive biases by utilizing geometric or temporal information in the multi-image data. Single-view images carry less information about how to disentangle a given scene than videos or multi-view images do. Hence, owing to the difficulty of applying inductive biases, OCL for single-view images remains challenging, resulting in inconsistent learning of object-centric representation. To this end, we introduce a novel OCL framework for single-view images, SLot Attention via SHepherding (SLASH), which consists of two simple- yet-effective modules on top of Slot Attention. The new modules, Attention Refining Kernel (ARK) and Intermediate Point Predictor and Encoder (IPPE), respectively, prevent slots from being distracted by the background noise and indicate locations for slots to focus on to facilitate learning of object-centric representation. We also propose a weak semi-supervision approach for OCL, whilst our proposed framework can be used without any assistant annotation during the inference. Experiments show that our proposed method enables consistent learning of object-centric representation and achieves strong performance across four datasets. Code is available at https://github.com/object-understanding/SLASH.


A system for measurement of permeability of aroma compounds through laminated polymer films was constructed by combining dynamic vapour sorption (DVS) with purge‐and‐trap/fast gas chromatography (P&T–fGC). Data validation was achieved by measuring the permeability of limonene across an HDPE film (film C) and comparing the permeation data with the literature values. The general applicability of this system, as well as its potential for simultaneous measurement of permeability of multiple aroma compounds, was demonstrated by measuring the permeability of limonene and ethyl butyrate as single permeants or as co‐permeants under different environmental conditions (at 25°C, 30°C or 35°C and 0% or 75% RH) through three different multilayer polymer films (film A, HDPE/EVOH/HDPE/HDPE; film B, HDPE/nylon/HDPE/HDPE; film C, HDPE/HDPE). The results showed that the aroma barrier performance of plastic films was determined by the polymer composition and was affected by various factors, such as temperature and the presence of other co‐permeants. Simplicity, speed and accuracy were some of the attractive features of this system, which indicates its potential as a useful tool that could be applied in the food industry for screening or selection of appropriate packaging materials for specific applications. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Abstract Chevkinite/perrierite crystallized from a series of REE-enriched compositions, ranging from basalt through andesite to rhyolite at pressures from 7.5 to 20 kbar and temperatures from 900–1050°C. The Al2O3 content increased with increasing pressure, but no other consistent composition change was observed with pressure and temperature variation in this range. The REE partition pattern consistently favoured light over heavy REE, with a regular decrease in partition coefficients (D) from La through to Lu. D values increase with decreasing temperature and decreasing REE content (i.e. Henry's Law does not apply, as REE are essential structural constituents of chevkinite/perrierite), but appear unaffected by pressure and f o2 . Chevkinite/perrierite may be a significant fractionating phase in evolving silicic magmas, or a residual phase from low degrees of partial melting of granulites. In both these circumstances it will exert a major control on the REE content of derivative liquids.


Kidneys are a pair of retroperitoneal organs supplied by a single renal artery and vein. However, the classic illustration of the renal vasculature, formed by one renal artery and one renal vein, occurs in ≤25% of cases. MDCT angiography is presently the most preferred investigation for assessing prospective renal donors. Aims and Objectives: This study aims to familiarize urologists with the variations found in the renal vascular system, emphasizing prevalence, the adequate, appropriate terms, and the clinical and surgical implications involved. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study in 50 patients clinically indicated to undergo CT Renal angiographic study over 2 years is included in the study. This study was carried out to look for any anatomical variants in renal vasculature. CT examination was performed on a multidetector 16 slice CT Siemens scanner in the department of radiodiagnosis. Once conventional CT is done, the data obtained can produce 3D post-processing images that simulate conventional angiograms. Results: Out of 50 patients, single renal arteries are present in 27, and multiple renal arteries are present in 23 patients. Out of 27 patients with single renal arteries, 22.2 % has perihilar arterial branching. The most common variant was accessory renal arteries, which are found in 56% of individuals, followed by aberrant renal arteries found in 30% of individuals. Double renal arteries are found in 8.7% and triple renal arteries in 4.3% of cases. Out of 50 patients, 48 patients have a single renal vein, whereas two patients have supernumerary veins. The present study found right renal vein duplication in only 2% of patients. Conclusion: Renal arteries and veins show numerous variations in their origin sites, numbers, course, and division patterns. These variants exist in the population with high prevalence and are thus crucial in preoperative and intra-operative analysis for better prognosis and reduced complications. Preoperative CT evaluation of renal vasculature using MDCT angiography helps depict the presence or absence of renal arterial and venous variants.


The three most basic drivers of energy demand are economic activity, population, and technology. Longer-term trends in economic growth for a particular economy depend on underlying demographic and productivity trends, which in turn reflect population growth, labor force participation rate, productivity growth, national savings rate, and capital accumulation (USEIA, 2011). Several historic shifts are likely to fundamentally alter global demographics over the coming decades. First, as developing nations move from poverty to relative affluence, there is a fundamental shift from agriculture to more energy-intensive but much more productive commercial enterprises. Second, labor forces in the developed countries are aging considerably, which has implications on many fronts, including energy use and employment structures. Third, for the first time the majority of the world's population has become urbanized, with the largest urban centers emerging in developing regions where energy access is a serious constraint. All of these will have immense impacts on the level and quality of energy demand and on concerns about energy security. Global energy security and sustainability in the twenty-first century will depend less on the total global population than on incomes and their distribution. This in turn will depend to a large extent on how effectively the lack of energy services, which now limit economic opportunities in the less developed regions, is addressed. In addition, energy security will depend on the ability of countries to maintain reliable sources of energy to meet their needs.


This research aims to understand the number of reservations raw materials banana economically on industrial households sale banana in the city of Palu, to know the right time to reorder  raw materials, and to know the cost of efficient in every time reservations. This study was conducted on industrial households  "Sofie" in the city of Palu, the determination of location is deliberately (purposive) . Research carried out in march until may 2014. The analysis used in this research was descriptive analysis and analysis Economic Order Quantity (EOQ).  The analysis shows that by using the method EOQ the use of raw materials more economical than the use of raw materials uses the company, by using the method EOQ the number of buy raw materials more economical. The average number of the purchase of 245.88 kg, with the frequency of the reservations every month is twice. The total cost issued for supplies stock of Rp.987,566.24, the cost increased because the market demands increaed.


The optical scattering properties of blue and normal sclerae were studied with a fiber optic scattering monitor. The scattering was clearly reduced in two osteogenesis imperfecta patients with blue sclerae, and low normal in one osteogenesis imperfecta patient without blue sclerae.


A wireless sensor network consists of a large number of sensor nodes scattered in the region of the network which have limited energy and limited computational and sensing ability. Data aggregation is important in this kind of network which can make use of the energy of the sensor nodes efficiently, and reduce the traffic in network by utilizing the abilities of the nodes in local computation and storage. Ant Colony Algorithm is a paradigm for designing meta heuristic algorithm for combinatorial optimization problems. An improved Ant Colony Algorithm is studied and applied it into data aggregation in Wireless Sensor Network for a group of source nodes to send data to a single sink node. Moreover, Dijkstra Algorithm is introduced in computing the hop counts for all the nodes to the sink node. Simulation has shown that the amounts of pheromone on the optimal path increase faster than others. At last, we can get the global optimal path


This paper provides an economic explanation of the existing market organization of the poultry industry. The vertical integration and the emergence of contracts with independent farmers is explained by risk sharing, technological progress and innovation dissemination, consumer demand for product reputation and uniform quality, and access to capital. In addition, the sources of growers' discontent with existing contracts are analyzed and the potential need for government regulation is discussed.


This article reports on a survey of young men and women training for Pentecostal ministry. The survey was designed to test the relationship between glossolalia, or speaking in tongues, and personality. Personality theory, briefly outlined below, is complex and divided into several schools. For this reason it is necessary to show how findings derived from one school may be interpreted differently by another. Nevertheless, the general outline of previous work is clear. Most critically important for young men and women preparing for Pentecostal ministry is the fact that some research has questioned the mental health of those who speak in tongues. This article is able to show that, on the contrary, those who speak in tongues in the current sample under study are less neurotic than the general population. In order to demonstrate the validity of this thesis, this article will first outline the optional psychological theories of personality with their explanations of mental health and mental illness, then delineate the findings of various psychological studies of glossolalia, and finally present the results of our study of Pentecostal ministry candidates from a data analysis of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire.


Our intention in this work is to show, by using two different methods, that magnetospheric dynamics reveal low dimensional chaos. In the first method we extend the chaotic analysis for the AE index time series by including singular value decomposition (SVD) analysis in combination with Theiler's test in order to discriminate dynamical chaos from self-affinity or "crinkliness". The estimated fractality of the AE index time series which is obtained belongs to a strange attractor structure with close returns in the reconstructed phase space. In the second method we extend the linear equivalent magnetospheric electric circuit to a nonlinear one, the arithmetic solution of which reveals low dimensional chaotic dynamics. Both methods strongly support the existence of low dimensional magnetospheric chaos.


We investigated the effects of pravastatin, a competitive inhibitor of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase, on interstitial inflammation and fibrosis, using an animal model of chronic cyclosporine A (CsA)-induced nephropathy. Sprague-Dawley rats were maintained on a low-salt diet (0.05% sodium) and treated daily for 1 or 4 wk with vehicle (olive oil; 1 ml/kg sc), CsA (15 mg/kg sc), or both CsA and pravastatin (5 or 20 mg/kg in the drinking water). Anti-inflammatory and antifibrotic effects of pravastatin were studied by evaluating the concentrations of the inflammatory mediators osteopontin (OPN) and C-reactive protein (CRP), of fibrotic cytokine-transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta1, and the presence of ED-1-positive cells (macrophages). In addition, renal function, serum lipid levels, histopathology (arteriolopathy and tubulointerstitial fibrosis), and the expression of the vasoactive factors endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and renin protein were also compared for different treatment groups. Pravastatin induced dose-dependent decreases in the expression of OPN, intrarenal CRP, and TGF-beta1, and in the numbers of ED-1-positive cells at 1 and 4 wk. These were accompanied by a significant attenuation of tubulointerstitial fibrosis at 4 wk. The downregulation of eNOS protein expression in CsA-treated rat kidney was markedly upregulated by pravastatin treatment, although intrarenal renin expression was unaffected. Renal dysfunction induced by CsA significantly improved with administration of pravastatin at a dose of 20 mg/kg. Neither CsA nor pravastatin influenced serum lipid or high-sensitivity CRP levels in the treatment groups. Thus in chronic CsA nephropathy, pravastatin effectively abrogates the progression of tubulointerstitial inflammation and fibrosis. This may support the clinical use of pravastatin.


The authors consider the new direction of cultural diplomacy - gastronomic diplomacy. Gastronomic diplomacy is one of the ways to preserve the ethnocultural identity of modern peoples and ethnic groups. The authors show the possibilities of gastronomic diplomacy for the popularization of national culture. The authors note that many countries are carrying out work aimed at incorporating national culinary traditions into the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List. The authors pay special attention to the national cuisine of the peoples of the extreme North of Russia, especially the preservation of their national culinary traditions. The article notes the importance of preserving and popularizing the culinary traditions of the peoples of the Russian Arctic in order to maintain cultural diversity in the world. The article highlights the importance of gastronomic diplomacy for the development of new forms of cultural diplomacy. KEYWORDS: ethnicity, diplomacy, cultural exchange, gastronomic diplomacy, national cuisine, indigenous peoples of the North Russia, cultural heritage, UNESCO


BACKGROUND
We sought to develop a standardized protocol for ultrasound (US) measurements of plantar fascia (PF) width and cross-sectional area (CSA), which may serve as additional outcome variables during US examinations of both healthy asymptomatic PF and in plantar fasciopathy and determine its interrater and intrarater reliability.

METHODS
Ten healthy individuals (20 feet) were enrolled. Participants were assessed twice by two raters each to determine intrarater and interrater reliability. For each foot, three transverse scans of the central bundle of the PF were taken at its insertion at the medial calcaneal tubercle, identified in real time on the plantar surface of the foot, using a fine wire technique. Reliability was determined using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), standard errors of measurement (SEM), and limits of agreement (LOA) expressed as percentages of the mean. Reliability of PF width and CSA measurements was determined using PF width and CSA measurements from one sonogram measured once and the mean of three measurements from three sonograms each measured once.

RESULTS
Ultrasound measurements of PF width and CSA showed a mean of 18.6 ± 2.0 mm and 69.20 ± 13.6 mm2 respectively. Intra-reliability within both raters showed an ICC > 0.84 for width and ICC > 0.92 for CSA as well as a SEM% and LOA% < 10% for both width and CSA. Inter-rater reliability showed an ICC of 0.82 for width and 0.87 for CSA as well as a SEM% and LOA% < 10% for width and a SEM% < 10% and LOA% < 20% for CSA. Relative and absolute reliability within and between raters were higher when using the mean of three sonographs compared to one sonograph.

CONCLUSIONS
Using this novel technique, PF CSA and width may be determined reliably using measurements from one sonogram or the mean of three sonograms. Measurement of PF CSA and width in addition to already established thickness and echogenicity measurements provides additional information on structural properties of the PF for clinicians and researchers in healthy and pathologic PF.


Thermomagnetic recording is the production of a remanent magnetization in a material by cooling it from a critical temperature in a small magnetic field. The most prominent applications for thermomagnetic recording presently under consideration are high density information storage and tape copying; other applications, e.g., display and magnetic printing, can also be envisioned. In this review of the field, we discuss the proposed applications of thermomagnetic recording, the physical principles of the various magnetic phenomena that can be used for this purpose, and the degree to which specific materials meet the requirements for thermomagnetic recording.


Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) is a non-inflammatory stiffening disease of the vertebral spine due to extensive bone formation, often causing complete bridging of neighbouring intervertebral spaces. Except for the spine, other parts of the skeleton are rarely affected. Although in 78% of all cases the cervical spine is involved, dysphagia is rare (17%), being caused either by mechanical obstruction or by para-oesophageal inflammation due to irritation at the osteophyte processes. The diagnosis may be established by conventional X-ray of the spine, oesophagogram or CT. The paper describes a patient presenting with dysphagia caused by spondylophyte blockage of the cervical spine.


Research performed in many locations over the past decade has shown that radon is an effective tracer for quantifying submarine groundwater discharge (SGD). The technique works because both fresh and saline groundwaters acquire radon from the subterranean environment and display activities that are typically orders of magnitude greater than those found in coastal seawaters. However, some uncertainties and unanswered problems remain. We focus here on three components of the mass balance, each of which has some unresolved issues: (1) End-member radon – what to do if groundwater Rn measurements are highly variable? (2) Atmospheric evasion – do the standard gas exchange equations work under high-energy coastal mixing scenarios? And (3) "mixing" losses – are there other significant radon losses (e.g. recharge of coastal waters into the aquifer) besides those attributed to mixing with lower-activity waters offshore? We address these issues using data sets collected from several different types of coastal environment.


The evolution of silica optical fiber strength aged in cetyltrimethylammonium chloride solution (CTAC) has been investigated. If the solution containing surfactants presents appreciable changes in physical and chemical properties at the critical micelle concentration (CMC), a non negligible mechanical behavior fiber change is observed for silica fiber aged in cationic surfactants as CTAC which can lead to optical fiber reliability questioning. The purpose of this work is to study the mechanical behavior of silica coated and naked optical fibers in contact with CTAC solution at different concentrations. Result analysis proves that the immersion in CTAC drastically decreases the fiber strength and specially near the CMC point. Beyond CMC point, a small increase of fiber strength is analyzed and commented. Keywords—Optical fiber, CMC point, CTAC surfactant, fiber strength.


Abstract In this paper we consider a company including both a forward supply chain producing and supplying products to markets and an after-sales supply chain providing spare parts to fulfill its after-sales commitments. Uncertainty in estimating product demand in the premarkets and spare parts demands in the after-sales markets and qualified outputs of production facilities throughout these two chains are considered in this problem. Stochastic qualified outputs of these facilities are due to their imperfect productions systems. We show that uncertainties propagate and qualified flow depreciates by moving material, components, and products from upstream to the downstream of these supply chains, and these phenomena should be quantified to determine the service levels of this company in the pre- and after-sales markets. At the end, we propose a mathematical model determining the best marketing strategies for this company (i.e., price, warranty length, and service levels) in the markets and their preserving reliable flow dynamics throughout the chains' networks. Finally, the model is tested on a test problem defined in engine industry and some managerial insights are provided by analyzing the results.


Abstract : BURNSIM is an interactive computer model which runs on DEC minicomputers (PDP 11 and VAX), Macintosh and IBM compatible PCs. The model is based on the work of Moritz and Henriques at Harvard, the Surgery Department at University of Rochester; Alice Stoll at Naval Air Development Center and Knox et al. at the U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory. Its development has been funded by the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, and Dr. Knox. The model predicts time to pain and burn depth when bare skin is exposed to any arbitrary time history of heat flux. It predicts burn depth with reasonable accuracy for pig and human skin. A software module to include clothing between the thermal source and the skin has been developed but not integrated with BURNSIM and has not been validated. By using sensors to measure heat flux behind fabric it has been possible to use BURNSIM to evaluate the insulating effect of clothing. BURNSIM has been used in the last several years to assess the burn hazard associated with rocket plumes in side-by-side ejection seats, shoulder launched weapons, nuclear flash and live fire. This manual provides information on model development, its installation and use on a PC.


This paper presents a multiobjective optimization model of wind turbine performance. Three different objectives, wind power output, vibration of drive train, and vibration of tower, are used to evaluate the wind turbine performance. Neural network models are developed to capture dynamic equations modeling wind turbine performance. Due to the complexity and nonlinearity of these models, an evolutionary strategy algorithm is used to solve the multiobjective optimization problem. Data sets at two different frequencies, 10 s and 1 min, are used in this study. Computational results with the two data sets are reported. Analysis of these results points to a reduction of wind turbine vibrations potentially larger than the gains reported in the paper. This is due to the fact that vibrations may occur at frequencies higher than ones reflected in the 10-s data collected according to the standard practice used in the wind industry.


A capacitive Frisch-grid CdZnTe detector with different lengths of the Frisch rings has been fabricated, and the influence of infrared (IR) stimulation on the spectral performance of the detector has been investigated. IR stimulation at a wavelength (940 nm), close to the absorption edge of the CdZnTe, was found to improve the detector's spectral performance significantly. IR radiation was noted to influence the detector's sensitivity, changing the equilibrium between free and trapped carriers and improving the charge collection. The degree of improvement was different for detectors with different lengths of the Frisch rings and depended on the weighting potential distribution and the IR illumination intensity. For example, improvement was obtained in the energy resolution (FWHM) at 662 keV from 3.3% without illumination to 2.3% with a low intensity (120 μW) of IR illumination for the capacitive Frisch-grid CdZnTe detector with an 8-mm-long Frisch ring. Good energy resolution could be obtained even at low operating voltages.


The genetic variability and structure of ten populations of Cryptocarya spp. (Lauraceae) were investigated by means of isozymes. Leaf samples of adult individuals of C. aschersoniana, C. moschata, and Cryptocarya sp., from two regions of São Paulo state, Brazil, were collected. Seeds from 35 families of C. moschata and juveniles of three populations from diaspores dispersed by "muriquis", Brachyteles arachnoides (Primates - Cebidae), were also collected. From twenty loci analysed, the expected average heterozygosity of progenies, juveniles, and adults of C. moschata was respectively 0.313, 0.227, and 0.351, whereas it was 0.258 and 0.393 for C. aschersoniana and Cryptocarya sp., respectively. Results indicated that a greater variability occurred within populations for all categories analysed. For adult populations of C. moschata, the divergence obtained through GST estimates suggests the existence of significant genetic drift and/or natural selection effects between regions. The level of gene differentiation (GST = 0.107) was relatively high, and comparable to what would be expected for groups of plants having a half-sib family structure in a single generation. For juvenile populations, the genetic differentiation was also high (GST = 0.084). This could be explained by differential feeding behaviour of "muriquis" within their home range, allied to the distance among sites of seed dispersion. Nei's average genetic distance (D) between pairs of C. moschata adult populations was 0.07, indicating again a pronounced genetic differentiation. Present values obtained from isozymes support morphological and wood anatomy evidences that C. moschata and C. aschersoniana are closely related species.
Keywords: Cryptocarya aschersoniana, C. moschata, Genetic distance, Genetic structure, Genetic variability, Population differentiation, Lauraceae


Has conducted research on the use of steroids triamsinolon asetonid as pseudo-othematomamedical therapy. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness triamsinolonasetonid. Prevention of the formation of serum in the lesion, so that pseudo-othematomacan be cured without surgery. Surgery and preventing of the formation collagen tissue inthe lesion, so that the pseudo-othematoma can be cured without deformity. It is expectedthe establishment of a pseudo-othematoma practical for health personnel, effective,efficient, safe and comfortable for the patient. This study design is the design of arandomized controled pretest-postest design. In the test group were treated withtriamsinolon asetonid intracutaneus injected in lesion area with the number according tothe percentage of the amount of teraphy effusion before. Then press verban installed. In thecontrol group, only pressing verban installed. From the research results obtained, whishafter the third treatment using the triamsinolon asetonid, pseudo-othematoma diseaselooked very meaningful. Due to its unique histological structure of the ear, then themanipulation of the ear is moe advisable to be careful, to prevent new lession with variousimpacts.


: A normative defense of espionage and counterintelligence activities in the service of foreign policy goals must show at least two things. First, it must show which foreign policy goals, if any, provide a justi fi cation for such activities. Second, it must provide an account of the means that intelligence agencies are morally permitted, indeed morally obliged, to use during those activities. I fi rst discuss Ross Bellaby ' s probing critique of my defense of economic espionage. I then turn to the other four essays, which consider the ethics of the means by which espionage and counter-intelligence activities are conducted.


A function plays a pivotal role when it comes to the improvement of system task information. It is the basis for a guarantee of effectiveness and performance of the system. However, this implies that for the function health to be fully effective its resources need also to be up to par. An antagonistic relationship between the function resource and the function health, wherein the resources are of low standard only brings about downgrade in performance and effectiveness of the function. In this paper, we aim to showcase a study on the relation of functions and resources effectiveness from the data of functions' resource effectiveness matrix and how it can excavate the health relation between resources and functions. In previous studies, most methods focused on designing complex algorithms to extract dense connected resources from one function's resource effectiveness matrix. We propose our own method for the mining of frequent dense resources across multiple discrete-value function-resource effectiveness matrix. It has proven to be better as the experimental results show our algorithm can extract frequent dense resource sets that satisfy the specified conditions in a more efficient way.


EXAFS measurements at the In and Br k edges are reported for InBr3 aqueous solutions at various concentrations. The experimental results are in agreement with the structure of indium complexes proposed on the grounds of X-ray diffraction measurements for a concentrated aqueous solution of indium bromide. The analysis of the Fourier-filtered spectra shows that these complexes persist at least until the 1M concentration has been reached.


The real estate management includes not only the brokerage, property management, development, investment and consulting which are related to real estate handling, but also the human resources who deal with the real estate business. The level of management quality of Korean real estate business is rather poor. This paper deals with management innovation of real estate management using Six Sigma methodology The main focus of this Paper is to develop strategy Planning, and is to select critical success factors for each strategy to make an advanced management system for real estate business. This paper is a case study, and the target company for this innovation is ERA-Korea Company. Seven strategies are proposed, and for each strategy several critical success factors are suggested. Through this case study, the authors hope that a management quality model for real estate business is proposed, and an improved management method can be adopted in the other real estate companies.


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

Purpose: This study aims to identify the novel and potential upregulated genes related to secretionary or membranous proteins for the clinical diagnosis and staging of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).

Methods: By combining microarray-based screening, which contained at least 25,000 DNA oligonucleotide probes, of esophageal tumors from both N-nitrosomethylbenzylamine- and arecoline-induced F344 rats and 17 human ESCC specimens, we further confirmed the potential candidate genes by tissue arrays in 243 cancer tissues and 126 normal tissues of esophagus from Taiwan, Korea, and USA and by ELISA in 78 serum specimens of ESCC patients from Taiwan.

Results: Four candidate genes, including ATP1A1, SPINT2, CMTM8, and AGR2, were chosen due to their up-regulation in more than half of 17 paired tissues from 17 ESCC patients in the microarray-based screening. The four genes were verified by RT-PCR and immunohistochemical (IHC) staining in ESCC tissue specimens and only ATP1A1 (ATPase Na+/K+ transporting alpha 1 polypeptide) expression was consistent and further studied. Among the 243 cancer tissues and 126 normal tissues of esophagus, we found that the positive expressions of ATP1A1 by IHC staining were 207 (85%) of 243 in cancer tissues and 88 (70%) of 126 in normal tissues. After adjusted for age and sex, ATP1A1 overexpression had a 3.2-time (95% CI = 1.8-5.6) to be likely in cancer tissues than in normal tissues. ATP1A1 expression was also correlated to the tumor stage by IHC staining. Using the median level of 1,465.0 pg/mL of serum ATP1A1 protein expression as the cut-off point, we found that patients with stage III-IV had a 2.91-fold (1.12-7.36) likely to have high serum ATP1A1 levels than those with stage I-II after adjusting for age and sex.

Conclusion: ATP1A1 overexpression may serve as a potential noninvasive marker of the clinical diagnosis and staging for ESCC patients.

Note: This abstract was not presented at the meeting.

Citation Format: Ming-Tsang Wu. ATP1A1 overexpression correlates with clinical diagnosis and staging of esophageal cancer: from in vivo to human. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 3913. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-3913


One of the food crops that is considered an essential commodity in Indonesia and has economic value is chilli. Chilli consumption continues to increase, especially red chilli and cayenne pepper, but since the Covid-19 Pandemic, consumption has decreased. Red chilli and cayenne pepper are commodities whose production is seasonal, easily damaged, and uneven throughout Indonesia. The Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia was first on the island of Java, which shook the supply of agricultural products and caused colossal price fluctuations in the market. Since the implementation of large-scale restrictions in Indonesia, it has caused a hampering of product distribution between regions. Fluctuations in the price of red chili and cayenne pepper often impact the high contribution of chilli to inflation. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the price volatility of red chili on Java Island and the price volatility of cayenne pepper on Java Island. The analysis method used is ARCH GARCH modelling to measure volatility. The results showed that the volatility of red chilli on Java Island is high. In contrast, the volatility of cayenne pepper on Java Island is low.


Tephra from Icelandic volcanic eruptions is frequently dispersed to northern Europe, but so far tephra has not been detected in Finnish sedimentary records. We report the first finding of a cryptotephra layer in southern and central Finland. Sediment samples from five lakes and 10 peatlands, most of them located in the tephra fallout zone of the Hekla 1947 eruption, were investigated for the presence of cryptotephra to assess the potential for tephrochronology in Finland. Tephra shards were extracted from their host matrix and electron probe microanalysis was conducted on single shards for geochemical characterization. Our results confirm the presence of Askja 1875 tephra in Finland, thus extending the known dispersal area of the Askja 1875 tephra eastwards. Most of the shards are rhyolitic, but a minor concentration of tephra with dacitic composition forms a narrow dispersal zone extending from Sweden to southern Finland. This zone possibly represents the main dispersal axis of the tephra in the distal area. Our results suggest that Finnish environmental research could benefit greatly from adding tephrochronology to the array of dating methods commonly used. Additionally, the absence of Hekla 1947 tephra in the previously inferred fall‐out zone is an important result indicating the complexity of tephra deposition and preservation.


Nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) is the problem of decomposing a given nonnegative $n \times m$ matrix $M$ into a product of a nonnegative $n \times d$ matrix $W$ and a nonnegative $d \times m$ matrix $H$. A longstanding open question, posed by Cohen and Rothblum in 1993, is whether a rational matrix $M$ always has an NMF of minimal inner dimension $d$ whose factors $W$ and $H$ are also rational. We answer this question negatively, by exhibiting a matrix for which $W$ and $H$ require irrational entries.


Glancing-angle neutron diffraction has been used to study the variation in smectic layer tilt in high- and low-pretilt smectic C cells with distance from the surface. Evidence for varying tilt regions within high-pretilt smectic C cells exists; however, complete analysis is not possible without the appropriate depth-resolved information. Cells containing a liquid crystal and either rubbed polyimide or 5° obliquely evaporated silicon monoxide alignment layers were studied. A partially deuterated liquid crystal was used so that total external reflection could be achieved. Using the D17 diffractometer at the ILL, measurements were made in and around the regime of total external reflection. The tilt angle of the smectic layers was determined from the azimuthal angle of their Bragg reflection on the area detector. Below the critical edge, the penetration depth of the transmitted evanescent wave could be limited to ~ 300 A, thus ensuring surface specificity. Varying penetration depths were achieved by alteration of the angle of incidence. Analysis of the Bragg reflection has shown the surface of the SiO cell to have a layer tilt of about 3° higher than that of the bulk. Negligible difference between surface and bulk chevron arm tilts was encountered for the polyimide cell. In both cases, the degree of surface specificity and the accuracy of the layer tilts obtained is discussed.


Background Gastrointestinal bleeding is a rare but severe complication of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Objective The purpose of this study was to describe the causes and treatments of non-postoperative gastrointestinal bleeding in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, and explore the parameters associated with therapeutic effectiveness. Methods This was a single-centre observational retrospective study (2000–2017) with data collected from the prospectively coded diagnostic hospital's database system including patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma who had a gastrointestinal bleeding episode. Effectiveness of haemostatic treatment was assessed according to transfusion requirements and immediate and long-term haemostatic efficacy; the latter defined as no bleeding recurrence. Results The population included 72 patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma who had 94 episodes of gastrointestinal bleeding. The main causes of gastrointestinal bleeding were gastroduodenal tumour invasion (56.4%) and oesophageal variceal bleeding due to left-sided portal hypertension (19.1%). In cases of gastrointestinal bleeding caused by tumour invasion, the main treatment was therapeutic endoscopy (41.5%). Among patients who had gastrointestinal bleeding by tumour invasion treated by endoscopy or radiation therapy, haemostatic immediate efficacy rates were 70.6% and 100%, respectively. Bleeding recurrence rates were 35.3% and 25.0%, for patients treated by endoscopy or radiation therapy, respectively, for a first episode of gastrointestinal bleeding by tumour invasion. Transfusion requirements, before and after treatment, were not different in patients treated by haemostatic radiation therapy for gastrointestinal bleeding by tumour invasion compared to other treatments (odds ratio 0.3, 95% CI (0.06–1.59); p = 0.16). The median survival after all-cause gastrointestinal bleeding was 2.72 months (1.43–4.01). Conclusion Gastroduodenal tumour invasion was the main cause of gastrointestinal bleeding in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma; haemostatic radiation therapy is a potential interesting option for gastrointestinal bleeding treatment in this context.


Field experiments were conducted during two consecutive rabi seasons of 2007-08 and 2008-09 at All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Safflower, Zonal Agricultural Research Station, Solapur, M. S. (India) with treatment comprising two varieties and the influencing abiotic factors viz., average minimum and maximum ambient temperature, relative humidity and rainfall. The results revealed that the safflower aphid ( Uroleucon compositae Theob.) was active during 47th to 1st SMW on elongation and branching stages of safflower crop, but its appearance on crop totally depends upon prevailing climatic conditions. Low temperature and high humidity were conducive for the multiplication of this pest. Accordingly, aphid population attained a peak of 147.5 aphids/5 cm twig/plant in the 52nd SMW when the mean minimum and maximum temperatures, morning and evening relative humidity were 31.6 0 , 11.4 0 C, 71 and 28%, respectively. Thus, for the effective and efficient control of safflower aphid and producing higher seed yields, two sprayings of recommended 0.005% thiamethxam 25 WG or 0.004% acetamiprid 20 SP at ETL i. e. 40-45 DAS (46th to 47th SMW, min. temp. below 20 o C) and second spray at 55-60 DAS (48th to 49th SMW, min. temp. around 15 o C) are recommended particularly in the safflower growing scarcity zone of Maharashtra (India).


A number of Aspect-Oriented (AO) Requirements, Architecture, and Design approaches have emerged recently. In this report we survey the most significant of these approaches, considering their origins, aims, and contributions. Alongside the AO approaches, we also analyse some of the contemporary non-AO work in order to bring out the differences between two sets of techniques, and to understand the potential contributions of aspect-oriented analysis and design. We also provide some initial insights into processes for AO requirements engineering, analysis and design which may serve as basis for integration of the work of the AOSDEUROPE project partners. We also outline some issues relevant to such integration. Document ID: AOSD-Europe-ULANC-9 Deliverable /Milestone No: D11 Work-package No: WP 6 Type: Survey Status: FINAL Version: 1.0 Date: 18 May 2005 Author(s): Ruzanna Chitchyan, Awais Rashid, Pete Sawyer, Alessandro Garcia (ULANC) Mónica Pinto Alarcon (UMA) Jethro Bakker, Bedir Tekinerdogan (UT) Siobhán Clarke, Andrew Jackson (TCD)


Purpose: Most radioimmunotherapy studies on radiolabeled antibody distribution are based on autoradiographic and radioluminographic data, which provide a lack of detailed information due to low resolution. We used fluorescently labeled anti–carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) antibody (A5B7) to investigate quantitatively the kinetics and microdistribution of antibody in a clinically relevant orthotopic colorectal cancer model (LS174T) using high-resolution digital microscopy. Experimental Design: Nude mice bearing LS174T liver orthotopic tumors received a single i.v. injection of fluorescently labeled A5B7 and were sacrificed at 10 minutes, 1 hour, or 24 hours postinjection. Before sacrifice, mice were injected with the perfusion marker Hoechst 33342. An anti-CD31 antibody was used to detect blood vessel distribution. Cryostat sections were processed with immunofluorescence procedures and analyzed with fluorescence microscopy and image analysis techniques. The fluorescence images were related to morphologic images of the same or adjacent tumor sections. Results: Fluorescently labeled antibody showed rapid, selective uptake into tumor deposits, with a strong negative correlation with tumor size at 10 minutes and 1 hour (P ≤ 0.01). By 24 hours, the correlation was no longer significant. The study showed movement of antibody across the tumor with time and a tendency to localize more uniformly by later time points (24 hours). The rate of antibody motility was similar in small and large tumor metastases, but small deposits showed more rapid antibody localization. Intratumoral vessels were positively related to tumor size (P ≤ 0.001). Conclusion: The obtained data suggest that radioimmunotherapy can be highly efficient in an adjuvant or minimal residual disease setting.


We demonstrate a fully tunable realization of a multistate Fano resonance, in which a pair of remote quantum states experience an effective coupling due to their mutual overlap with a continuum. Our mesoscopic implementation of this system exploits the ability of the semiconductor nanostructures known as quantum point contacts (QPCs) to serve, in the low-density limit close to pinch-off, as an on-demand localized state. By coupling the states formed on two separate QPCs, through a two-dimensional electron gas that serves as a continuum, we observe a robust effective interaction between the QPCs. To explain this result, we develop a theoretical formulation, based on the ideas of the Schrieffer-Wolff transformation, which is able to reproduce our key experimental findings. According to this model, the robust character of the interaction between the two remote states arises from the fact that the interaction is essentially mediated by a large number of degenerate continuum states. While the continuum is often viewed as a source of decoherence, our experiment therefore instead suggests the possibility of using this medium to support the interaction of quantum states, a result that may allow new approaches to coherently couple nanostructures in extended geometries.


The development of methods for predicting NMR chemical shifts with high accuracy and speed is increasingly allowing use of these abundant, readily accessible measurements in determining the structure and dynamics of proteins. For nucleic acids, however, despite the availability of semiempirical methods for predicting (1)H chemical shifts, their use in determining the structure and dynamics has not yet been examined. Here, we show that (1)H chemical shifts offer powerful restraints for RNA structure determination, allowing discrimination of native structure from non-native states to within 2-4 Å, and <3 Å when highly flexible residues are ignored. Theoretical simulations shows that although (1)H chemical shifts can provide valuable information for constructing RNA dynamic ensembles, large uncertainties in the chemical shift predictions and inherent degeneracies lead to higher uncertainties as compared to residual dipolar couplings.


Morphine dependence is a long lasting form of neuronal plasticity. Naloxone-precipitated morphine withdrawal, a model of opioid dependence, induces brain region-specific changes in activator protein-1 (AP-1) transcription factor gene expression. Rapid increases in c-fos, fos-B, jun-B, and c-jun mRNA levels accompany withdrawal, with the relative level of induction correlating with the severity of physical dependence. Altered patterns of c-fos mRNA expression were limited to neuronal circuits mediating stress responses, motivation, and cognition. AP-1 DNA-binding activity and dimer composition also exhibited regulation after withdrawal, presumably as a result of both transcriptional and post-translational events. Thus, morphine dependence results in the alteration of diverse, brain region-specific, signal transcription pathways involving AP-1 transcription factors.


This paper shows NP-completeness for finding Hamiltonian cycles in induced subgraphs of the dual graphs of semi-regular tessilations. It also shows NP-hardness for a new, wide class of graphs called augmented square grids. This work follows up on prior studies of the complexity of finding Hamiltonian cycles in regular and semi-regular grid graphs.


Introduction: The coronavirus disease, nCOV-19 pandemic is exceptional and unprecedented in many aspects and it has shaken the health care system at global level The several studies reported on nCOV-19 suggest that, immunization is the only way to fight against it For this, Ayurveda is the most imperative as it recommends a healthy lifestyle instead of the mere prescription of medicines Methodology: Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy is purposed with developing education, research and propagation of indigenous alternative medicine systems in India (Ministry of AYUSH) The Ministry is headed by a Minister of State, which is currently held by Shripad Yesso Naik and has recommended some measures to be followed in building strength by following the holistic approach of Ayurveda toward Swasthavritta Thus, the present paper focuses on analysing the public perception towards Ayurveda measures using the most popular statistical techniques as ANOVA Results: The analysis of data indicated that, the people are mesmerised by the concept of Ayurveda and are following all the possible precautions to save themselves from the effect of COVID-19 Older generation has a firm believe on the vedic science as compared to the younger generation Conclusion: The classic of Ayurveda 'Charaka Samhita' describes the epidemic management and it defines immunity as the most essential to prevent diseases and arrest its progress The foundation of Ayurveda is to building strength of mind and body to manage with different stressors, including infections The Ayurveda concept of immunity (Bala or strength) is categorized as natural (Sahaja), chronobiologic (Kalaja), and acquired (Yuktikrut) Henceforth, we can achieve the aim of Ayurveda i e the Swasthasya Swasthya Rakshanam and Aturasya Vikar Prashamanam, against nCOV-19 pandemic


Power generation is one of the major industries or businesses globally. Although, at present, a major attention has been paid towards the sustainable energy technologies, both gas and steam turbines are still heavily used in the power generation sector worldwide. Usually, gas turbines are used to drive an electrical power generator in simple systems, or they are used in combined cycle plants together with steam turbines. This paper presents a comprehensive review on modelling of heat transfer and fluid flow in hot section of gas turbines used in the power generation sector. Visibly, heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics directly affect the thermal efficiency and the overall performance of the gas turbines. Hence, existing models relating to heat transfer and fluid flow inside gas turbines are discussed in detail. Primarily, methods relating to the first principle modelling, empirical modelling, and finite element modelling are reviewed comprehensively, and then, a discussion is provided together with a comparison among models in terms of their advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, some existing issues such as the environmental impact are discussed which still remain as challenges to the power generation industry together with some of the possible future directions for improvements.


In dimension one, a certain bounded variation inequality is the key to establishing the existence of absolutely continuous invariant measures for piecewise expanding transformations. In higher dimensions the analogue of the bounded variation inequality is not true for general domains. Even when the inequality is true, the bounded variation argument of Lasota and Yorke (1973) is not a necessary condition for the existence of an absolutely continuous invariant measure. An example is given of a piecewise expanding transformation which has an absolutely continuous invariant measure but for which the standard bounded variation technique fails. However, for domains which do not have cusps, the inequality holds.


Obesity and disorders of the gastrointestinal tract with irritable bowel syndrome led to two
very common diseases, which are an increasingly frequent cause of the patient to the doctor.
It is believed that obesity may be associated with chronic gastro-intestinal ailments
such as irritable bowel syndrome or indigestion. There are relatively large differences in the
prevalence of obesity as well as irritable bowel syndrome between different populations and
regions, which probably can be combined with cultural differences and the different way of
life. Both obesity and irritable bowel syndrome are more prevalent in industrialized Western
countries than in developing countries. Often seek the advice of women than men. Obesity
starts now occur more frequently in children, by a lack of appropriate response is to increase
the problem in the future and the appearance of complications such as hypertension,
diabetes, osteoarthritis. Irritable bowel syndrome occurs in all ages, the most common
detection occurs in young, mostly in people in 3rd and 4th decade of life, practically does
not recognize after 60 years of age. The main role in the pathogenesis of obesity are environmental
factors, they represent more than 70%. These include poor eating habits, reduced
physical activity, stress and emotional disturbance, cultural factors and family traditions.
Hereditary factors are estimated at 30–40%. Pathogenesis of irritable bowel syndrome
is still not fully understood, research is conducted towards the causes of infection, there
are reports of psychological background, is absolutely necessary to exclude organic disease.
Presently there are only registered pharmacological agents to treat obesity or functional
disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. Aim of this study is to draw attention to the
possibility of dietary fiber in the treatment of obesity, as well as in functional disorders of
the gastrointestinal tract next to the implementation of a well-balanced and customized diet
and eliminate the negative impact of psychological factors in medical treatment in obese
people and reported symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome.


Nowadays, users are starting to develop a symbiotic bound with their smartphones. Users continuously carry these devices and use them for daily communication activities and social network interactions. On the other hand, a smartphone is equipped with sensors that can infer not only information about the context (e.g., location), but also about its owner. Since smartphones handle a huge amount of private information, recent techniques rely on those sensing capabilities to authenticate the user, measuring her biometric features. In this paper, we survey the most relevant biometric authentication methods on smartphones proposed in the literature. We categorize such methods by the nature of biometrics used, by their temporal features and by the sensing capabilities they rely on. Moreover, we draw some future directions in this promising research topic.


In 2010, we embarked on a study evaluating the impact of an area-based regeneration intervention on health inequalities in England. The policy initiative in question was called New Deal for Communities – a major programme implemented in 39 disadvantaged neighbourhoods over 10 years from 1999/2000 to 2010/2011. Due to methodological and practical challenges, it was not possible to use an experimental design to assess impacts. Alternatively, we deployed methods that allowed us to evaluate the initiative as a 'natural policy experiment' using innovative approaches to constructing 'comparators'. In this case study, we use our experience of this study to explain what natural policy experiments are and why there is growing interest in these among public health researchers. We pay attention to some specific features that are important to consider in the conduct of evaluations of a natural policy experiment such as ours. This includes how to deal with variation in the implementation of policy initiatives, as well as in the characteristics of the areas where these policy initiatives are rolled out. We also focus on the benefits and limitations of using existing data to assess impacts within the time frame of an intervention as well as longer term.


Connecting scientific databases is a challenging task which can be supported by ontologies describing them on a semantical level. Unfortunately, ontologies for databases are rarely used, because schemas of research databases change rapidly while the ontologies grow as well. Maintaining the connection between both is time consuming manual work. Therefore it is worthwhile to reduce the required work by automating tasks. We propose an approach that allows the database schema and the ontology to change and evolve, without ever losing their connection to each other. This is done by mapping database schemas to ontologies, enriching these ontologies with semantical information and transfering schema changes to the ontology


Background Anxiety and depression are common in people with dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), but there is uncertainty about the effectiveness of both pharmacological and psychological therapies. Aims To evaluate the evidence of effectiveness of psychological treatments in treating depression and anxiety in people with dementia and MCI. Method We carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of psychological treatment versus usual care in people with dementia and MCI. Primary outcomes were symptoms of anxiety and depression. Secondary outcomes were quality of life, ability to perform daily activities, neuropsychiatric symptoms, cognition and caregivers' self-rated depressive symptoms. Results We included six RCTs, involving 439 participants with dementia, which used cognitive–behavioural therapy, interpersonal therapy, counselling or multimodal interventions including a specific psychological therapy. We found beneficial effects for both depression and anxiety. Overall, the quality of the evidence was moderate for depression and low for anxiety, due to the methodological limitations of the studies we identified and the limited number of trials. Conclusions The evidence from six RCTs suggests that psychological treatments are effective in reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety for people with dementia. There is a need for high-quality, multicentre trials including standardised, well-defined interventions. Declarations of interest A.Q., A.S. and M.O. are investigators in one of the included studies.


SUMMARY: The objective of this study is to perform an intertemporal examination of audit fees paid to public accounting firms in association with the presence and subsequent remediation of a Section 404 material weakness. We examine a large sample of Section 404 audit opinions and audit fees over a four-year period (2004–2007) and find that audit fees decline for companies that remediate a material weakness, but show that the corresponding fee reductions do not occur instantaneously. Further, despite these observed fee reductions for remediating companies, we find that audit fees are 19 percent higher three years after the initial remediation as compared to a sample of companies who never report an adverse 404 opinion. We also find that fee premiums are nearly double for companies reporting consecutive adverse 404 opinions. Finally, we note that companies with a more severe company-level weakness pay a premium that is more than twice that of companies with an account-level weakness.


In this work, catalase-like activity of blackberry-shaped nanoparticles composed of giant {Mo72Fe30} clusters in aqueous solution under visible-light irradiation was exploited. The effects of the pH, buffer system, catalyst, H2O2 concentration, and optical conditions as well as morphology and crystallinity on the catalytic activity of the clusters were investigated. Our results under different conditions affirmed the superior catalytic activity of amorphous {Mo72Fe30} to that of its crystalline counterpart. The catalyst proved to be a visible-light-driven photocatalyst based on its narrow band gap (2.12 eV) and desired photoefficiency obtained at different wavelengths. The clusters preserved their integrity during treatment with hydrogen peroxide as evidenced by different spectral data as well as compositional analysis (EDS), providing efficient reusability under experimental conditions of this work. The reaction kinetic study demonstrated a first-order reaction with respect to H2O2 with a rate constant of 3 × 10−4 s−1 at T = 298 K. The activation energy of the reaction was found to be 58.74 kJ mol−1. A turnover frequency (TOF) of 0.03 s−1 and turnover number up to ∼3800 were determined for the hydrogen peroxide decomposition process under visible light. Based on scavenging experiments, a non-radical mechanism for dismutation of hydrogen peroxide on the surface of the clusters was proposed.


Abstract Rhaponticum acaule (L.) DC. is a medicinal plant commonly used for the treatment of some illnesses such as gastrointestinal infections. In this work, we report the composition of different parts of this plant on phenolic compounds, their quantification, and antioxidant activity. The obtained results reported that methanolic extracts of the three parts studied revealed high phenolic contents. For flavonoid contents, the highest contents were reported in organic extracts of leaf part. In addition, results obtained from the study of the antioxidant activity showed that methanolic extract of root presented the highest activity, in DPPH• scavenging ability test with an IC50 of 0.31 ± 0.04 mg/mL and in FRAP test with an EC50 of 1.06 ± 0.02 mg/mL. The RP-HPLC-PDA analysis revealed the presence of five phenolic acids (sinapic, caffeic, chlorogenic, ferulic and syringic acids), one flavanone (naringenin), one flavonol (rutin) and vanillin. Graphical abstract


There are currently three macronutrients recognized within the field of dietetics due to their gram quantity intake and requirement for human health; this includes proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. Dietary Fiber, however, is not considered to be an independent macronutrient despite its gram quantity intake and requirement for human health. Additionally, Dietary Fiber is a net-zero energy yielding nutrient unlike other carbohydrates. Although Dietary Fiber should remain chemically categorized as a carbohydrate, for the purposes of dietetic prescription and education, Dietary Fiber should be redefined as the fourth macronutrient. This definition shift would illustrate both the importance and complexity of this macronutrient and may yield an increase in Dietary Fiber consumption and relevant research.


Every year, health insurance fraud costs taxpayers billions of dollars and puts patient's health and welfare at risk. Existing solutions to detect fraudulent providers (hospitals, physicians, etc.) aim to find unusual pattern at claim level features but fail to harness provider-provider and provider-patient interaction information. We propose a novel framework, Med-Dynamic meta learning (MeDML), that extends the capability of traditional fraud detection by learning patterns from 1) patient-provider interaction using temporal and geo-spatial characteristics 2) provider's treatment using encounter data (e.g. medical codes, mix of attended patients) and 3) referral using underlying provider-provider relationships based on common patient visits within 30 days. To the best of our knowledge, MeDML is first framework that can model fraud using multi-aspect representation of provider.MeDML also encapsulates provider's phantom billing index, which identifies excessive and unnecessary services provided to patients, by segmenting frequently co-occurring diagnosis and procedures in non-fraudulent provider's claims. It uses a novel framework to aggregate the learned representations capturing their task-specific relative importance via attention mechanism. We test the dynamically generated meta embedding using various downstream models and show that it outperforms all baseline algorithms for provider fraud prediction task.


Four hours after intraportal injection of retinoic acid-(14)C into bile duct-cannulated rats, less than 10% of the radioactivity was recovered in the liver, intestine, and kidneys. Within 6 hr, 40% of the radioactivity had appeared in bile. When suspensions of retinol-(14)C or retinal were similarly injected, 25-35% of the dose was excreted in bile within 24 hr and equivalent amounts were deposited in the liver as retinol ester. The isolated perfused liver also produced these bile metabolites and is probably the major site of their formation in vivo. The intestine may metabolize retinoic acid, however, since some metabolites were found in the intestinal wall and lumen, even in bile duct-cannulated rats. The bile metabolites of retinol-(14)C and retinoic acid-(14)C undergo extensive enterohepatic circulation. The bile radioactivity was not volatilized on boiling at acid pH, was not present in digitonin-precipitated sterols, and did not migrate with bile salts on reversed-phase paper chromatography. Anion-exchange chromatography resolved the metabolites of bile into three fractions containing nonionic compounds, acidic substances like retinoic acid, and more polar acidic derivatives.


The Amersham caesium 137 manual afterloading system for treatment of cancer of the uterine cervix and endometrium has been in use at the Royal Free Hospital for more than five years. The system uses permanently loaded flexible source pencils in combination with standard packs of disposable plastic applicators. Both sources and applicators have proved trouble-free in use. The sources are transported in special containers designed and built at the Royal Free Hospital and are inserted and removed on the ward by nursing staff. A set of sources is used in theatre for rectal and bladder dose measurements when the applicators are inserted. Staff radiation doses are low. The system is mainly used to produce pear-shaped dose distributions similar to those of the Manchester system, but simple cylindrical distributions are possible using symmetrically loaded source pencils.


Multiple input multiple output (MIMO) transceivers can potentially increase overall network throughput via spatial reuse of spectrum by allowing multiple simultaneous communications. Efficient use of MIMO technique in wireless ad hoc networks still meets challenges especially for upper layer protocols. In this paper we propose a cross-layer strategy of allowing the data stream and routing control stream transmitting concurrently with different antennas of the MIMO system. Implementing on the ad hoc on-demand distance vector (AODV) protocol, simulation results show that the strategy of queuing different type of packets obviously decreases the duration of route establishment, especially when the network is suffering heavy traffic load.


A two-year storage test using commercial wines confirmed that ethyl carbamate formation is closely related to the urea content. The ethyl carbamate formation rates at 10°C to 40°C were represented by linear equation against urea concentration in wine. Mathematical evaluation of the equations indicated that urea content in wine should be reduced to less than 2 mg/L in order to keep the ethyl carbamate content within the current target levels of the wine industry: 15 µg/L in table wines and 60 µg/L in dessert wines. It was found that, upon storage for six months at 40°C, ethyl carbamate level of the wines treated with acid urease was significantly lower than that of the untreated wines. The activation energy to form ethyl carbamate in wine was found to range between 21 kcal/mol and 28 kcal/mol which is similar to the activation energy level in other systems such as Japanese sake and simulated wine (a model wine system).