The present study investigates silicone transfer occurring during microcontact printing (μCP) of lectins with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) stamps and its impact on the adhesion of cells. Static adhesion assays and single-cell force spectroscopy (SCFS) are used to compare adhesion of nonmalignant (HCV29) and cancer (HT1376) bladder cells, respectively, to high-affinity lectin layers (PHA-L and WGA, respectively) prepared by physical adsorption and μCP. The chemical composition of the μCP lectin patterns was monitored by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). We show that the amount of transferred silicone in the μCP process depends on the preprocessing of the PDMS stamps. It is revealed that silicone contamination within the patterned lectin layers inhibits the adhesion of bladder cells, and the work of adhesion is lower for μCP lectins than for drop-cast lectins. The binding capacity of microcontact printed lectins was larger when the PDMS stamps were treated with UV ozone plasma as compared to sonication in ethanol and deionized water. ToF-SIMS data show that ozone-based treatment of PDMS stamps used for μCP of lectin reduces the silicone contamination in the imprinting protocol regardless of stamp geometry (flat vs microstructured). The role of other possible contributors, such as the lectin conformation and organization of lectin layers, is also discussed.


Bacterial toxins have been shown to modify animal cell proteins in vivo with ADPR. Animal cells also contain endogenous enzymes that can modify proteins. Indirect evidence for the existence in vivo of rat liver proteins modified by ADPR on arginine residues has been reported previously. Presented here is direct evidence for the existence of ADP-ribosylarginine in rat liver proteins. Proteins were subjected to exhaustive protease digestion and ADP-ribosyl amino acids were isolated by boronate chromatography.


Abstract.
 Seasonal variation in food supply may not adequately explain avian breeding phenology in tropical areas with relatively stable climates. In northeastern Thailand the Red-headed Trogon (Harpactes erythrocephalus) and Orange-breasted Trogon (H. oreskios) share similar nest sites, diets, foraging habitats, and foraging techniques but differ in timing of reproduction even though their food supply of insects varies in a similar seasonal pattern, peaking in June for both species. For the Red-headed Trogon, egg laying lasts 5–6 months and peaks in May; nestling provisioning coincides with peak food availability. For the Orange-breasted Trogon, by contrast, egg laying lasts 2–3 months and peaks in February. This nesting period is shorter and earlier than that of most other species of birds at our study site, and nestling provisioning preceded the period of peak food by 4 months. Timing of breeding by the Orange-breasted Trogon may represent a compromise between breeding at the optimal time based on food resources and avoiding competition for nest sites from the larger Red-headed Trogon.


In the domain of high performance computing, software deployment on heterogeneous distributed processing units has been in practice for many years. However, new hardware technologies, increased complexity of software and significant increase of requirements demand new methods that can manage these concerns in an efficient way. In this paper we propose a new optimization framework that in a systematic way addresses a general allocation model, the software and deployment architectures, and, based on the user preferences, provides a software deployment solution regardless of number of quality attributes used. Additionally, we present the input models to the allocation process capable of describing a number of software and hardware configurations, and a two-step allocation algorithm capable of harnessing these models.


Image compression is of utmost importance in data processing, because of the cost savings it offers and because of the large volume of data transferred from one end to the other. The smaller the size of the data the better transmission speed and it also saves time. In communication, transmission of data efficiently, fast and noise free is essential.. Both the LZW and Huffman image compression algorithm are lossless in manner and these methods and some versions of them are very common in use of compressing images. On the average Huffman gives better compression results, while LZW give a better signal-noiseratio and when the compression efficiency gap between the LZW algorithm and its Huffman counterpart is the largest. In this work, Hybrid of LZW and Huffman image compression was developed and used. It gives better compression ratio and SNR than Huffman Encoding and LZW Algorithm. It also provides cheap, reliable and efficient system for image compression in digital communication system. The average result shows that Huffman encoding has 59.46% and LZW has1,99% of compression ratio, whereas the hybrid of Huffman and LZW has compression ratio of 47.61% but has 92.76% of Signal to Noise Ratio that produce better result of the original image.


Despite the tremendous potential demonstrated by miniature aerial vehicles (MAV) in numerous applications, they are currently limited to operations in open air space, far away from obstacles and terrain. To broaden the range of applications for MAVs, methods to enable operation in environments of increased complexity must be developed. In this article, we presented two strategies for obstacle and terrain avoidance that provide a means for avoiding obstacles in the flight path and for staying centered in a winding corridor. Flight tests have validated the feasibility of these approaches and demonstrated promise for further refinement


We treated genetically mast cell-deficient WCB6F1-Sl/Sld mice and the congenic normal (WCB6F1(-)+/+) mice with the c-kit ligand recombinant rat stem cell factor164 (rrSCF164; 100 micrograms/kg per d, subcutaneously) or with vehicle for 21 d, then passively sensitized the mice with anti-dinitrophenol30-40 immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies, and 1 d later measured the changes in heart rate, pulmonary dynamic compliance, and pulmonary conductance, and assessed the death rates associated with intravenous challenge of these animals with specific antigen. rrSCF164 treatment induced the development of mast cells in Sl/Sld mice, and these mice exhibited tachycardia, but not death, after challenge with IgE and antigen. rrSCF164 treatment induced mast cell hyperplasia in +/+ mice, but the cardiopulmonary changes associated with passive anaphylaxis in these mice were virtually indistinguishable from those observed in control +/+ mice treated with vehicle instead of rrSCF164. Moreover, the highest dose of antigen challenge produced significantly fewer fatalities in rrSCF164-treated than in vehicle-treated +/+ mice (1/11 vs. 8/11, respectively, P < 0.01). Thus, in normal mice, chronic treatment with rrSCF164 induces mast cell hyperplasia but does not increase, and in certain respects diminishes, the severity of IgE-dependent anaphylactic reactions.


The human prostate expresses very high concentrations of annexins 1, 4, and 5 and secretes high concentrations of annexins 1 and 5. Although the biological roles of these proteins in prostate secretions are not known, these studies emphasize the need to consider extracellular sites for physiological functions of annexins. The clear demonstration of secretion of proteins that have blocked N-termini and lack hydrophobic signal sequences raises the possibility that novel cellular secretory pathways exist. Preliminary immunohistochemical experiments in collaboration with Dr. James Fallon indicate that both annexins 1 and 4 are expressed in prostate ductal secretory epithelium. Since annexin 1, but not annexin 4, is secreted, a comparison of the cellular fate of these two related proteins in the prostate may provide a useful model system for determining the structural elements that direct the secretion of proteins which lack conventional signal sequences.


In microblogs contexts like Twitter, a large number of users retweet messages by making use of an informal convention such as "RT @user" or "via ©user". However, there are lots of users reintroducing tweets which are similar with the tweets previously posted by other users, but without acknowledgement of a source with an informal convention such as "RT @user" or "via ©user". In this paper, we will infer the relationship of reintroduce in microblogs by the distribution of the time interval and the similarity of two tweets and find the acknowledgement of a source. Experiments were conducted on a real dataset from Twitter containing about 0.26 million users and 2.7 million tweets. Experimental results indicate that out method is effective to infer the relationship of reintroduce.


The Enhanced Naval Warfare Gaming System (ENWGS) is a large scale, computer based, interactive wargaming system. It supports curricula and studies at the Naval War College and Tactical Training Groups. The Air Operations (Airops) subsystem comprises the user interface, models, and data structures for representing the deployment and control of Naval air assets within the wargame. This paper will present a discussion of the overall Airops subsystem design and implementation. In an effort to avoid having to present a detailed view of the ENWGS system, much of this discussion will center on data flow, model control relationships and relationships between functional modules within the Airops subsystem.


PDZ domains are ubiquitous small protein domains that are mediators of numerous protein–protein interactions, and play a pivotal role in protein trafficking, synaptic transmission, and the assembly of signaling‐transduction complexes. In recent years, PDZ domains have emerged as novel and exciting drug targets for diseases (in the brain in particular), so understanding the molecular details of PDZ domain interactions is of fundamental importance. PDZ domains bind to a protein partner at either a C‐terminal peptide or internal peptide motifs. Here, we examined the importance of a conserved Lys/Arg residue in the ligand‐binding site of the second PDZ domain of PSD‐95, by employing a semisynthetic approach. We generated six semisynthetic PDZ domains comprising different proteogenic and nonproteogenic amino acids representing subtle changes of the conserved Lys/Arg residue. These were tested with four peptide interaction partners, representing the two different binding modes. The results highlight the role of a positively charged amino acid in the β1–β2 loop of PDZ domains, and show subtle differences for canonical and noncanonical interaction partners, thus providing additional insight into the mechanism of PDZ/ligand interaction.


A modified inversion approach is presented for the effective separation of sources in marine simultaneous shooting acquisition. The method aims to distribute all energy in the simultaneous shot records by reconstructing the individual shot records at their respective locations. The method is applied to a simulated simultaneous long offset data set, where two sources are used to acquire long offsets with conventional cables. In the second example, the performance is investigated on a data set from Western Australia, where two sources where located within close proximity, with only a small cross line distance between them. Results demonstrate that the individual sources can be separated satisfactory for both simultaneous source configurations.


Protamine, an arginine-rich basic protein, compacts DNAs in sperm nuclei to densities higher than those in somatic cells. The mechanism of this compaction in sperm cells is even less clear than in somatic cells. Even the preferred binding site, if any, of protamine on DNA is not clearly identified. In this work, we carry out fully atomistic (or all-atom) molecular dynamics simulations to estimate the relative stabilities of protamine binding sites on DNA. Free energy calculated with umbrella sampling on a short arginine stretch bound to the major and minor grooves suggests that a short arginine stretch would prefer the DNA major groove as its binding site. Complementary umbrella sampling simulations where an arginine stretch or a whole protamine is transferred from the major to the minor groove also lead to the same conclusion. We find that the protamine located in the major groove better utilizes the DNA backbone as the binding site and represents the best compromise between enthalpy and entropy gain.


Summary: In this work, we present eMolTox, a web server for the prediction of potential toxicity associated with a given molecule. A total of 174 toxicology‐related in vitro/vivo experimental datasets were used for model construction and Mondrian conformal prediction was used to estimate the confidence of the resulting predictions. Toxic substructure analysis is also implemented in eMolTox. eMolTox predicts and displays a wealth of information of potential molecular toxicities for safety analysis in drug development. Availability and implementation: The eMolTox Server is freely available for use on the web at http://xundrug.cn/moltox. Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


An endoscope is a commonly used instrument for performing minimally invasive visual examination of the tissues inside the body. A physician uses the endoscopic video images to identify tissue abnormalities. The images, however, are highly dependent on the optical properties of the endoscope and its orientation and location with respect to the tissue structure. The analysis of endoscopic video images is, therefore, purely subjective. Studies suggest that the fusion of endoscopic video images (providing color and texture information) with virtual endoscopic views (providing structural information) can be useful for assessing various pathologies for several applications: (1) surgical simulation, training, and pedagogy; (2) the creation of a database for pathologies; and (3) the building of patient-specific models. Such fusion requires both geometric and radiometric alignment of endoscopic video images in the texture space. Inconsistent estimates of texture/color of the tissue surface result in seams when multiple endoscopic video images are combined together. This paper (1) identifies the endoscope-dependent variables to be calibrated for objective and consistent estimation of surface texture/color and (2) presents an integrated set of methods to measure them. Results show that the calibration method can be successfully used to estimate objective color/texture values for simple planar scenes, whereas uncalibrated endoscopes performed very poorly for the same tests.


Objective. In recent years, brain–computer interface (BCI) systems based on electroencephalography (EEG) have developed rapidly. However, the decoding of voluntary finger pre-movements from EEG is still a challenge for BCIs. This study aimed to analyze the pre-movement EEG features in time and frequency domains and design an efficient method to decode the movement-related patterns. Approach. In this study, we first investigated the EEG features induced by the intention of left and right finger movements. Specifically, the movement-related cortical potential (MRCP) and event-related desynchronization (ERD) features were extracted using discriminative canonical pattern matching (DCPM) and common spatial patterns (CSP), respectively. Then, the two types of features were classified by two fisher discriminant analysis (FDA) classifiers, respectively. Their decision values were further assembled to facilitate the classification. To verify the validity of the proposed method, a private dataset containing 12 subjects and a public dataset from BCI competition II were used for estimating the classification accuracy. Main results. As a result, for the private dataset, the combination of DCPM and CSP achieved an average accuracy of 80.96%, which was 5.08% higher than the single DCPM method (p   <  0.01) and 10.23% higher than the single CSP method (p   <  0.01). Notably, the highest accuracy could achieve 91.5% for the combination method. The test accuracy of dataset IV of BCI competition II was 90%, which was equal to the best result in the existing literature. Significance. The results demonstrate the MRCP and ERD features of pre-movements contain significantly discriminative information, which are complementary to each other, and thereby could be well recognized by the proposed combination method of DCPM and CSP. Therefore, this study provides a promising approach for the decoding of pre-movement EEG patterns, which is significant for the development of BCIs.


SrTiO3(110) polar surface was treated with repeated cycles of argon ion sputtering and annealing. Three reconstructions, namely (4 × 1), (2 × 8), and (6 × 8), were identified with subsequent scanning tunneling microscopy measurements. Using the evaporation-induced self-assembly method, C60 molecules deposited onto these reconstruction surfaces demonstrated a quasi-close packing growth mode with substantial differences. Influence factors are revealed from the investigation of these differences, such as the substrate structure and topography as well as the intermolecular and molecular-substrate interactions. Our study emphasizes the feasibility of controllable molecular self-assembly through choosing surface reconstructions.


Reduced-order converter models have attracted attention in microgrid applications for being less computationally expensive and simpler to analyze. However, most of the models already developed in the literature only include basic control loops, while control additions such as virtual impedances and the effect of internal control loops are typically neglected. Also, the frequency range in which these models are applicable has not been thoroughly studied. In this paper, a low-order reduced-order model of a droop-controlled converter that includes internal control loops and virtual impedances is derived. The validity of the assumptions used to reduce the model is analyzed and a criterion for deciding the frequency range in which the model can be used is proposed. Differences between transient and quasi-stationary virtual impedances are highlighted by using the proposed modelling method. In particular, it is analytically shown that quasi-stationary virtual impedances have a larger stability region compared to transient virtual impedances. Simulation and experimental results based on a 60 kVA converter are used to validate the main contributions of this work.


It has been postulated that osmotic effects on plant tissue are mediated by abscisic acid (ABA). Hybrid larch (Larix kaempferi (Lambert) Carr. x L. decidua Mill.) plantlets, transformed with the ABA-inducible wheat Em promoter associated with the Gus reporter gene, were axenically inoculated with two ectomycorrhizal fungi: Cenococcum geophilum Fr., considered tolerant to water stress, and Laccaria bicolor (Marie) Orton, considered less tolerant to drought. The mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal transgenic plantlets were subjected to osmotic stress by adding polyethylene glycol (PEG) to the culture medium. In the presence of PEG, L. bicolor and C. geophilum reduced shoot water potential and turgor potential, but increased host osmotic potential. Treatment of plantlets with PEG induced a significant increase in endogenous ABA concentrations. Laccaria bicolor and C. geophilum behaved similarly and significantly decreased the ABA response of plantlets to PEG treatment. Moreover, inoculation with either fungus regulated the ABA response of the plantlets even when the fungus was separated from the host by a cellophane sheet that prevented mycorrhiza formation. Although the wheat Em promoter was inducible in larch plantlets, it was not regulated by endogenous ABA. Induction of the wheat Em promoter in larch plantlets depended on organ type, with maximum induction in the root apex. Induction of the Em promoter was significantly decreased by mycorrhizal inoculation.


Corneal epithelial barrier dysfunction is harmful to corneal health; the pathogenesis is unclear. This study aims to elucidate the mechanism by which tryptase compromises corneal epithelial barrier function. Human corneal epithelial cell line (HCE cells) was cultured into monolayers using as a study platform. Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting were employed to detect the expression of matrix metalloprotenases (MMP)9. The endosome/lysosome fusion was observed by confocal microscopy. The corneal epithelial barrier function was assessed in Transwell system. The results showed that HCE cells expressed proteinase‐activated receptor (PAR)2. Activation of PAR2 by tryptase induced expression of MMP9 in HCE cells, interfered with the fusion of endosome/lysosome, and compromised the epithelial barrier function, which could be prevented by pretreatment with MMP9 inhibitor. We conclude that tryptase can increase the expression of MMP9 in HCE cells and compromise the epithelial barrier function. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The emotion anger is typically associated with increased risk taking. However, anger also produces increased probability estimates that emotionally congruent negative events will occur. This latter finding suggests that the general assumption that anger always increases risky decision making may be subject to caveat. The context of a risk-taking opportunity may dictate whether anger leads to greater or lesser acceptance of risk as a function of which component of the emotional state (i.e., affective or conceptual) is salient. In the experiment reported, participants completed one of two versions of a risk-taking measure that differ according to whether they evoke decisions based on affective feelings or more deliberate reasoning. Results demonstrated that angry participants made riskier decisions than their neutral counterparts under conditions less susceptible to the use of affective information, but made less risky decisions under conditions that favored the use of affective information. The importance of studying emotional states as multifaceted and contextualized phenomenon is discussed.


An anti-human interleukin 5 receptor (hIL-5R) humanized immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1) and an anti-CD20 chimeric IgG1 produced by rat hybridoma YB2/0 cell lines showed more than 50-fold higher antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) using purified human peripheral blood mononuclear cells as effector than those produced by Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lines. Monosaccharide composition and oligosaccharide profiling analysis showed that low fucose (Fuc) content of complex-type oligosaccharides was characteristic in YB2/0-produced IgG1s compared with high Fuc content of CHO-produced IgG1s. YB2/0-produced anti-hIL-5R IgG1 was subjected to Lens culinaris aggulutin affinity column and fractionated based on the contents of Fuc. The lower Fuc IgG1 had higher ADCC than the IgG1 before separation. In contrast, the content of bisecting GlcNAc of the IgG1 affected ADCC much less than that of Fuc. In addition, the correlation between Gal and ADCC was not observed. When the combined effect of Fuc and bisecting GlcNAc was examined in anti-CD20 IgG1, only a severalfold increase of ADCC was observed by the addition of GlcNAc to highly fucosylated IgG1. Quantitative PCR analysis indicated that YB2/0 cells had lower expression level of FUT8 mRNA, which codes α1,6-fucosyltransferase, than CHO cells. Overexpression of FUT8 mRNA in YB2/0 cells led to an increase of fucosylated oligosaccharides and decrease of ADCC of the IgG1. These results indicate that the lack of fucosylation of IgG1 has the most critical role in enhancement of ADCC, although several reports have suggested the importance of Gal or bisecting GlcNAc and provide important information to produce the effective therapeutic antibody.


In this paper, a passive vibration damping concept based on multifunctional materials was studied for thermoplastic composite structures. The synergy between piezoelectric and conductive particles brings a new contribution of energy dissipation based on the local transduction-dissipation phenomenon. While piezoelectric fillers ensure the conversion of mechanical energy into electrical energy (transduction), conductive particles locally dissipate the electric charges created avoiding saturation in the vicinity of piezoelectric particles. Here, the concept has been studied at material and structure scales for laboratory and preindustrial samples in order to bring solid proof of the damping concept. For this purpose, piezoelectric and electrically conductive particles were dispersed into engineering thermoplastics polyamide 12 and poly ether ketone ketone. Damping films were obtained by hot press and embedded in a composite sandwich beam and carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP)-aluminum panels. Dynamic mechanical analysis and vibration tests were performed on bulk nanocomposite samples and in composite sandwich beams. The study of hysteresis loops and frequency response function showed strong nonlinear effects and vibration amplitude decrease up to 50%. Tests on CFRP-aluminum panels highlighted the structural damping increase demonstrating the potential capacity of this multifunctional material for energy dissipation in typical aerospace structures.


Abstract Mountain regions are centers of biodiversity endemism at a global scale but the role of arid‐zone mountain ranges in shaping biodiversity patterns is poorly understood. Focusing on three guilds of taxa from a desert upland refugium in Australia, we sought to determine: (a) the relative extent to which climate, terrain or geological substrate predict endemism, and (b) whether patterns of endemism are complimentary across broad taxonomic guilds. We mapped regional endemism for plants, land snails, and vertebrates using combined Species Distribution Models (SDMs) for all endemic taxa (n = 82). We then modelled predictors of endemism using Generalised Additive Models (GAMs) and geology, terrain, and climate variables. We tested for the presence of inter‐ and intraguild hotspots of endemism. Many individual plant and land snail taxa were tightly linked with geology, corresponding to small distributions. Conversely, most vertebrate taxa were not constrained to specific geological substrates and occurred over larger areas. However, across all three guilds climate was the strongest predictor of regional endemism, particularly for plants wherein discrete hotspots of endemism were buffered from extreme summer temperatures. Land snail and vertebrate endemism peaked in areas with highest precipitation in the driest times of the year. Hotspots of endemism within each guild poorly predicted endemism in other guilds. We found an overarching signal that climatic gradients play a dominant role in the persistence of endemic taxa in an arid‐zone mountain range system. An association with higher rainfall and cooler temperatures indicates that continuing trends toward hotter and drier climates may lead to range contractions in this, and potentially other, arid‐zone mountain biotas. Contrasting patterns of endemism across guilds highlight the need to couple comprehensive regional planning for the protection of climate refugia, with targeted management of more localized and habitat specialist taxa.


The negative charging process and its mechanism caused by low-energy electron beam (e-beam) irradiation have been clarified for an insulating thin film with a grounded conductive substrate. Numerical simulation is performed by considering both electron scattering and electron transport, in combination with the Monte Carlo method and the finite difference method. The internal space charge, leakage current, surface potential and their time-evolution under e-beam irradiation are eventually obtained under different e-beam conditions and for different SiO 2 film parameters. Results show that owing to the drift produced by mobility and diffusion, incident electrons can go beyond the conventional scattering region and arrive at the substrate after a certain transit time, forming negative space charge and leakage current. The transient negative charging process tends to equilibrium as the leakage current increases. In the equilibrium state, the leakage current increases with the energy and intensity of the e-beam. Meanwhile, the amount of net negative charge and the absolute value of surface potential increase with the film thickness, decrease with the increase of electron mobility, and both exhibit a maximum value with variation of the e-beam energy.


These prose pieces develop areas and images encountered elsewhere in Smith's poetry. Some are fictions, some fables, some prose poems, some ill-tempered jokes, some existential romances with mundane reality. As in the game of Chinese Whispers, messages are passed, repeated, misheard, misremembered, delicately tampered with, and fiddled with in the interests of politics, commerce and the pursuit of power. Even the language is suspect, as are our perceptions. Our hero struggles to survive against all the odds, invited apparently to forget all he knows and begin again at the beginning. Or at the end. Smith writes in the radical tradition of Borges, Brautigan, Burroughs, and Buster Keaton.


The Yanbian Peoples Democratic Union (延邊人民民主大同盟, 'YPDU' hereinafter), a social organization comprising of people from Joseon(朝鮮), established at Yanbian, China on November 1945, is known to have had enormous effect towards the people of Joseon residing in Yanbian and towards the Yanbian society after the liberation. This research, by centering on the historical resources of the YPDU"s Yanbian Newspaper(《延邊民報》), which has not been utilized at full-scale, has systematically observed the organization's establishment and activities. The Joseon socialists who had been residing in Yanbian even before the liberation, had put effort in the organization of the public group for the chance of liberation. However, as the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allies(東北抗日聯軍) of the Communist Party of China(中國共産黨, 'CPC' hereinafter) appeared at Yanbian, Joseon socialists were assimilated. Moreover, the federation which had been formed as an organization voluntarily, had reorganized themselves as the YPDU which had been acquiring leadership from the federation. In other words, the decisive factor in the establishment of the YPDU was influenced by the affiliation of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allies of the CPC. Even after the establishment of the YPDU, they were active by directly acknowledging the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allies' situational awareness. The YPDU, which can be claimed to be a 'masterpiece' created by the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allies, had conducted wide activities. However, due to the spread of the Chinese Civil War and the powerful class alignment that followed afterwards, the YPDU slowly entered the dissolution phase in the mid 1946. As the Chinese Civil War spread to the province of Manchu, the YPDU which was active in claiming liberation, could not but force to dissolve. However, the reason to why Yanbian's socialistic reformation could have been finished in time, was due to the Joseon socialists and the YPDU's actions.


The two cyclooxygenase (COX) isoforms, COX-1 and COX-2, both metabolize arachidonic acid to PGH2, the common substrate for thromboxane A2 (TXA2), prostacyclin (PGI2), and PGE2 synthesis. We characterized the synthesis of these prostanoids in HUVECs in relation to COX-1 and COX-2 activity. Untreated HUVEC expressed only COX-1, whereas addition of IL-1β caused induction of COX-2. TXA2 was the predominant COX-1-derived product, and TXA2 synthesis changed little with up-regulation of COX-2 by IL-1β (2-fold increase). By contrast, COX-2 up-regulation was associated with large increases in the synthesis of PGI2 and PGE2 (54- and 84-fold increases, respectively). Addition of the selective COX-2 inhibitor, NS-398, almost completely abolished PGI2 and PGE2 synthesis, but had little effect on TXA2 synthesis. The up-regulation of COX-2 by IL-1β was accompanied by specific up-regulation of PGI synthase and PGE synthase, but not TX synthase. An examination of the substrate concentration dependencies showed that the pathway of TXA2 synthesis was saturated at a 20-fold lower arachidonic acid concentration than that for PGI2 and PGE2 synthesis. In conclusion, endothelial prostanoid synthesis appears to be differentially regulated by the induction of COX-2. The apparent PGI2 and PGE2 linkage with COX-2 activity may be explained by a temporal increase in total COX activity, together with selective up-regulation of PGI synthase and PGE synthase, and different kinetic characteristics of the terminal synthases. These findings have particular importance with regard to the potential for cardiovascular consequences of COX-2 inhibition.


Premature ovarian failure is a heterogeneous disease that brings about several health risks. We must consider that the use of contraception in adolescent girls can mask this disease for a long time. Assisted reproductive technology has brought hope to women with premature ovarian failure to have their own child. Substitution of hormonal deficiency is important for eliminating unpleasant feelings associated with premature ovarian failure as well as for reducing the risk of late effects. Keywords: premature ovarian failure, hypergonadotropic hypogonadism, amenorrhea, gonadal dysgenesis, cryopreservation.


An analysis of the true nature of the wave forms of atmospherics, when they show rapid time variations, can easily be obtained by using cathode-ray oscillographs with very high speed recording. The author describes the arrangement that he has used for recording and analyzing atmospherics, with his relay construction of high voltage cathode-ray oscillographs. These instruments were connected through amplifiers to horizontal aerials having different heights above the ground. A passing atmospheric produced voltage changes across a resistor inserted in the antenna system, which, provided that special precautions were taken, gave the dE/dt variations of the field E. By applying an integration procedure to the records, it was possible to obtain the true field curves E(t) of the corresponding atmospherics. These observations were made at field stations located in the vicinity of the Institute of High Tension Research, University of Uppsala, Sweden. The results of observations made between February and August, 1934, are dealt with in this paper. About 7500 atmospherics were recorded, of which 600 were selected as typical, and have been integrated. The total duration times of individual atmospherics that were most frequently observed lay between 100 and 150 microseconds. When periodic or quasi-periodic variations were observed, about sixty per cent of such atmospherics showed a periodicity of between five and ten kilocycles per second. The atmospherics frequently occurred in groups composed of a number of separate and individual field variations. The time duration of about seventy per cent of such groups was within 5 × 10-2seconds.


Wireless ad-hoc networks have recently gained significant research attention due to their vast potential of applications in numerous fields. Multihop routing is a significantly important aspect which determines, to a large extend, the overall performance of the network. A number of routing protocols have been proposed for routing in wireless ad-hoc networks with focus on optimizing different aspects of the network routing. This report focuses on studying two popular protocols for wireless networks: Ad-hoc On Demand Distance Vector (AODV) and Optimized Link-State Routing (OLSR). The two protocols belong to different classes of routing categorization. AODV is a popular on-demand (reactive) routing protocol whereas the OLSR is a popular link-state based proactive routing protocol. The technical aspects of the two protocols shall be studied while highlighting the differences between the two and simulation based performance comparison of the two protocols shall be carried out under varying traffic and network conditions using the Network Simulator.


Four clinical trials have shown that a history of interpersonal trauma is associated with diminished response to cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for adolescent depression. An efficacious CBT protocol for adolescent depression was modified to address cognitive deficits and distortions associated with interpersonal trauma. Initial feasibility, acceptability, and treatment impact of the modified treatment (m-CBT) were evaluated in a randomized effectiveness trial conducted in community clinics. Clients were 43 referred adolescents with a depressive disorder and a history of interpersonal trauma. Adolescents either received m-CBT or usual care (UC) therapy. Results indicated that m-CBT was delivered with good fidelity by community clinicians, but that number of sessions completed was attenuated in both m-CBT and UC. Adolescents reported high levels of treatment satisfaction and acceptability for the new treatment. There were significant reductions in depressive symptoms over time, but no differences in outcomes between groups. Although the new treatment produced promising results, it did not outperform UC. Implications for treatment development are considered.


In this paper, we propose and experimentally validate a novel sparsity learning deep neural network nonlinear equalization method (SLDNN-NLM) for a 112-Gbps PAM4 signal using a 25-GHz externally modulated laser (EML) to transmit over 40-km standard single-mode fiber (SSMF) in O-band. Our proposed SLDNN-NLM can reduce computation complexity while still maintain the system performance. This method combines the L2-regularization term into the loss function and adapts the deep neural network (DNN) model by distinguishing the significance of each connection. We next prune away insignificant weight connections using the pruning technique without effectively degrading the system performance. In our experimental validation, we compare the system performance and computation complexity of our approach with conventional deep neural network based nonlinear equalizer (CDNN-NLE), L2-regularized Volterra nonlinear equalizer (L2VNLE), sparse CDNN-NLE, and sparse L2VNLE. The experimental findings imply that the proposed method has great potential to deal with nonlinear distortions arisen from the optical transmission systems. Our results show that the proposed SLDNN-NLM with L2-regularization achieves better BER performance than CDNN-NLE at the same complexity level. Moreover, when comparing with L2VNLE, the computation complexity is reduced by 42% at each received optical power (ROP) after 40-km SSMF transmission. Compared with L2VNLE, CDNN-NLE, sparse L2VNLE, and sparse CDNN-NLE, the overall complexity of the proposed SLDNN-NLM after pruning can be reduced by 86%, 75%, 70%, and 61% for BTB at an ROP of −3dBm, and 79%, 63%, 58%, and 57% for 40-km transmission at an ROP of −5 dBm, respectively, without degrading the system performance.


Signal distortions in optical fibre systems arise from dispersive effects such as group velocity dispersion (GVD) and polarization mode dispersion (PMD). Dispersive optical filters offer the opportunity to completely compensate GVD. For PMD, adaptive polarization transformers in addition to 2/spl times/2 polarization-dependent filters are needed. Multi-stage 2/spl times/2 filters incorporating optical all pass filters are discussed that can compensate arbitrary polarization-dependent amplitude and phase responses across a desired bandwidth. To mitigate time-varying dispersion-induced impairments, adaptive filters are required, and control signals are needed to set the filter parameters to achieve the desired performance. Recent results are reviewed for planar waveguide device implementations with applications to tunable chromatic dispersion compensation, compensation of arbitrary phase responses, GVD and PMD monitoring, polarization transformers, and PMD compensation.


A blood substitute, of an extracellular haemoglobin having a molecular weight of approximately 3 to approximately 4 million daltons, comp sing chains of polymerised globins, containing free cysteines capable of binding to NO and/or SNO groups, and having a P50 of approximately 6 to approximately 7 mm Hg, and methods using the blood substitute.


A study was conducted to analyze the heavy metals in some leafy vegetable cultivated by roadside including Talium triangulare, Amaranthus hybridus and Telfairia occidentalis. The vegetables were sampled from different areas of Ojo local goverment. The vegetables were digested using 98% nitric acid (HN03) and analyzed with the aid of Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer(AAS) to determine heavy metals. The mean concentration for each heavy metal in the samples gotten from each sites were calculated and the comparison of these data was done amongst the three differnt locations. These were compared with the permissible levels set by the FAO and WHO. Results showed that the levels of Copper and Cadmium for the leafy vegetables ranged from 0.3944 ± 0.159 to 1.6559 ± 0.919 and from 0.0854 ± 0.043 to 0.2563 ± 0.249mg/kg dry weight respectively. While that of Zinc and Lead was 1.8028 ± 0.111 to 6.2267 ± 1.572 and 0.0856 ± 0.040 to 2.104 ± 1.490mg/kg . When compared with standards, heavy metal levels were found to be within safe limit which is an indicator that the leafy vegetable in Ojo local government area are safe for consumption without the risk of environmental toxicants.


We propose a probabilistic scheme for realizing teleportation of bipartite photonic states using linear optical elements where only requires a two-photon Bell state used as quantum channel. It reduces the requirement of the entanglement of quantum channel, but requires an additional photon and an auxiliary maximally entangled photon pair locally.


Efficiency is one measure of bank performance. The efficiency of a bank is influenced by how management manages risk. This study measures the level of efficiency of conventional banking at PT Bank Pembangunan Daerah Jawa Tengah and the effect of financing risk, operational risk, and liquidity risk on the level of efficiency. Efficiency is measured by the Operational Expenditure method from Operating Income. The results of the calculation seen from the Operational Expenditure financial ratio report data from Operational Income show the level of efficiency of conventional banking at 80.65% in 2015-2019. The data used as the object of this study is the Bank Pembangunan Daerah Jawa Tengah for the period 2015-2019. Based on the results of statistical tests and discussion analysis, it is known that financing risk, operational risk, liquidity risk together have a simultaneous effect on the level of efficiency PT. Bank Pembangunan Daerah  Jawa Tengah. From the results of hypothesis testing it was found that financing risk has a significant positive effect on the level of bank efficiency, operational risk does not have a significant negative effect on efficiency, and liquidity risk does not have a significant positive effect on the level of efficiency at PT Bank Pembangunan Daerah  Jawa Tengah. And this is also reinforced by a significance value of 0.003 <0.05 (numbers are taken from ANOVA), which means that there is a statistically significant influence between financing risk, operational risk, liquidity risk on the level of efficiency


Moving beyond species count data is an essential step to better understand the effects of environmental perturbations on biodiversity and ecosystem functions, and to eventually better predict the strength and direction of those effects. Here, coupling an integrative path analysis approach with data from an extensive countrywide monitoring program, we tested the main spatial, environmental and anthropogenic drivers of change in stream macroinvertebrate trophic structure along the entire Swiss Rhine river catchment. Trophic structure was largely driven by inherent altitudinal variation influencing and cascading to regional scaled factors such as land use change and position in the riverine network, which, in turn, transformed local habitat structure variables. Those cascading effects across scales propagated through the biotic community, first affecting preys and, in turn, predators. Our results illustrate how seemingly less important factors can act as essential transmission belts, propagating through direct and indirect pathways across scales to generate the specific context in which each trophic group will strive or not, leading to characteristic landscape wide variations in trophic community structure.


The dominant design concept describes the evolution from one dominant design to a new one, or in a new industry, the evolution to a set of standards and features that becomes a dominant design for that particular product or sector. Typically the dominant design is used to describe industry trends. This thesis takes the bottom up perspective, i.e. the company's perspective, to identify if, or what parts, of the dominant design model that can be used as an explanatory tool of innovation in the two ERP companies chosen. This thesis has found that some parts of the dominant design model can be used to describe innovation in our two case companies. However, the model has to be altered to fit the particular needs of the software industry and exclude the concept of process innovation, which is a part of the original dominant design model. By considering a company's existing situation, e.g. customers, market share, partnerships etc. and fitting these facts into our altered dominant design model it should be possible to explain actions undertaken by an ERP company.


Abstract Issue addressed In Australia, food sovereignty of traditional landowners has been marginalised by the globalisation of food systems and resulted in limited opportunities for children to experience familiar bush tucker foods as healthy choices, particularly in a school environment. Superhero Foods® themed teaching resources focus on the development of nutrition education materials that included traditional Aboriginal foods together with contemporary foods readily available in regional/remote communities. Methods Consultation with an Aboriginal expert and Aboriginal artist; local, regional/remote teachers and stakeholders informed the development of tailored resources including food cartoon characters, school lesson plans and a storybook. The latter was guided by a resource development model. Users of the resources were surveyed to ascertain the useability, alignment with the Australian Dietary Guidelines, cross‐curricular learnings and cultural relevance. Results Respondents across regional/remote and urban locations completed a lesson plan and food character (clipart) survey (N = 51) and storybook survey (N = 14). Respondents advised the resources were relevant, enjoyable, engaging and culturally appropriate for all students regardless of Aboriginality. The resources provided learning opportunities for all children to enhance knowledge about Aboriginal culture and bush foods. Independent evaluation has further indicated the translation of messaging into student's knowledge and learning. Conclusions Key enablers to the success of the resource included; free online access, the highly engaging nature of the resources and adaptability to be implemented across a number of Aboriginal language groups in WA. Ensuring visual representation of healthy choices was fundamental to reinforcing nutrition messaging. Superhero Foods resources are a positive and important inclusion in the health promotion toolbox for Aboriginal children. So what? Superhero Foods are novel nutrition education resources depicting Aboriginal foods and Aboriginal children. These food literacy resources will engage children's understanding of Aboriginal culture, improve food literacy and strengthen equitable access for regional and remote communities.


Introduction. Our paper is focused on the study of the current trends in educational migration in the context of Finland. We aim at identifying the factors that attract and keep educational immigrants in the host сountry. We suggest that educational immigrants are the most attractive category of immigrants due to their high adaptability and insertion into the labor markets in their resp ective countries of education.Materials and Methods. The research employs traditional methods of empirical analysis such as understanding and interpretation of the contents of documents, methods of graphical presentation of the data, analysis of Russian and foreign scientific literature, as well as the method of comparison of Russian and foreign theory and practice. The empirical basis of this study includes the results of a remote online survey using the Google Forms application. The sample of respondents is represented by the individuals residing in Saint Petersburg (Russia) and having in their profiles on the social media VKontakte a mention of the period of study in Finland.Results. We find that Finland pursues a successful systematic national policy to attract educational immigrants. This approach is designed to compensate for the unfavorable social and demographic situation in the country. Over the past ten years, there has been a tendency in Finland to increase the number of educational immigrants from Asian countries. The majority of foreign students are enrolled in the  undergraduate programs of polytechnic universities and at the Master's programs of classical universities. There is a significant predominance of female immigrants in all areas of study in Finl and.Discussion and Conclusion. Our results are of practical interest for the Russian government structures responsible for developing strategic guidelines for immigration education policy, as well as for organizations responsible for the development of interstate cooperation in the field of education and science. Heads and staff of international cooperation departments of higher education institutions dealing with the social adaptation of educational immigrants might take into account the identified difficulties of students in adaptation. The results of the study might also be of some interest to the representatives of the scientific community involved in educational migration.


Although knowledge flows create value, they are often not priced. We examine "unintended" knowledge flows that result from the cross-border movement of inventors (flows that result from the move but do not go to the hiring firm). We find that the inventor's new country benefits from their arrival above and beyond the knowledge flow benefits enjoyed by the firm that recruited them (National Learning by Immigration). Furthermore, the firm that lost the inventor also gains by receiving increased knowledge flows from that individual's new country and firm (Firm Learning from the Diaspora). Surprisingly, the latter effect is only twice as strong when the mover moves within the same multi-national firm, suggesting that knowledge flows between inventors do not necessarily follow organizational boundaries, thus creating opportunities for public policy and firm strategy.


Lymphoproliferative disorders are one of the most frequent hematological malignancies affecting the blood and lymphatic system. To better stratify patients, an accurate imaging evaluation is needed. Although computed tomography and positron emission tomography are considered the standard methods, these procedures have several clinical drawbacks, such as biological risk and high costs. Ultrasound (US) is a rapid and user-friendly method to evaluate lymph node (LN) and organ enlargements. US imaging provides more sensitive information about LN structure, vascularization, and metabolism and new techniques have increased its specificity, especially in malignant setting. However, validated and standardized criteria for its use are missing, with only several single-center experiences reported. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to review and briefly illustrate the status of the US knowledge and applications in lymphoproliferative workup, particularly concerning malignant LN pathology.


Impossible differential cryptanalysis has been proved to be one of the most powerful techniques to attack block ciphers. Based on the impossible differential paths, we can usually add several rounds before or after to launch the key recovery attack. Impossible differential cryptanalysis is powerful not only because the number of rounds it can break is very competitive compared to other attacks, but also unlike differential attacks which are statistical attacks in the essential, impossible differential analysis does not require many statistical assumptions. In this paper, we investigate the key recovery attack part of the impossible differential cryptanalysis. We point out that when taking the (non-linear) key scheduling algorithm into consideration, we can further derive the redundancy among the subkeys, and thus can filter the wrong key at a rather early stage. This can help us control the time complexity and increase the number of rounds we can attack. As an application, we analyze recently proposed lightweight block cipher LBlock, and as a result, we can break 23 rounds with complexity 2 encryptions without using the whole code block, which is by far the best attack against this cipher.


The La Coipa ore deposit is part of an epithermal precious metal system located in the Tertiary volcanic belt of northern Chile. Two main mineralized zones are present at La Coipa, Ladera-Farellon and Coipa Norte, both hosted by Triassic black shales and sandstones and by late Oligocene to early Miocene tuffs and tuffaceous breccias. Latite dikes and sills and a dacite dome complex are spatially and temporally related to the volcanism that generated the host pyroclastic sequence. K-Ar ages demonstrate that the mineralization process took place during the volcanic event. Mineralization is structurally controlled, mainly by vertical to subvertical, north-south- to northeast-southwest-striking faults and associated fractures. However, the configuration of ore suggests that there was also an important lithologic control. The orebodies have semitabular to mushroom-shaped forms. Farellon and the eastern portion of Coipa Norte possess high gold grades associated mainly with advanced argillic alteration (alunite-kaolinite + or - dickite-quartz) and semitabular forms and are hosted mainly by the Triassic sedimentary rocks. Ladera and western Coipa Norte have high silver/gold ratios and mushroom-shaped forms and are hosted preferentially by the Tertiary pyroclastic unit. Ladera is largely supergene altered (jarosite-goethite + or - gypsum + or - barite) and western Coipa Norte is silicified and supergene altered in its upper parts and advanced argillic altered at depth. The most common precious metal-bearing minerals are cerargyrite, several other silver halides, argentitc, native silver, electrum, and native gold. Sulfides, such as pyrite, chalcopyrite, covellite, tennantite-tetrahedrite, enargite, galena, and sphalerite also have been observed in the unoxidized zone and in isolated patches in the oxidized zone.


With the fast development of wind power, the reliability of power systems becomes more difficult to be evaluated. Grid operators are lacking tools for day-ahead decision making in presence of a high penetration of uncertain generation. Short-term power system reliability evaluation using Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) is not feasible due to its high computation cost. This study proposes to use the First-Order Reliability Method (FORM), coupled with the law of total probability, for short-term reliability assessment of power systems with large amount of wind power. This method is much faster than the MCS and allows us to evaluate the probability of load shedding due to many causes: lack of production, voltage constraints, line congestion, etc. A reliability assessment is implemented on a medium-voltage regional network using day-ahead forecasts. Using the proposed method, the reliability assessment of the power system is done with the same accuracy and with a computing time greatly reduced. Test results of the proposed method are compared with those obtained from the MCS.


the availability of midurethral slings on treatment strategies for stress urinary incontinence: a cost- effectiveness analysis'. 1 Our analysis compared seven treatment pathways for female stress urinary incontinence including no treatment, incontinence pessary, pelvic floor muscle physical therapy, urethral bulking, midurethral sling (retropubic and transobturator), laparoscopic and open Burch colposuspension, and autologous pubovaginal slings.


In this study, we proposed an indoor broadband dual-polarized 2 × 2 MIMO (multipleinput and multiple-output) antenna having dimensions of 240 mm × 200 mm × 40 mm, for application in 5G wireless communication systems. The proposed antenna comprised two vertically polarized circular monopole antennas (CMAs), two horizontally polarized modified rectangular dipole antennas (MRDAs), and a ground plane. The distance between the two MRDAs (MRDA1 and MRDA2) was 70.5 mm and 109.5 mm in the horizontal (x-direction) and 109.5 mm vertical (y-direction) directions, respectively. Conversely, the distance between the two CMAs (CMA1 and CMA2) was 109.5 mm and 70.5 mm in the horizontal (x-direction) and vertical (y-direction) directions, respectively. While the CMAs achieved broadband characteristics owing to the optimal gap between the dielectric and the driven radiator using a parasitic element, the MRDAs achieved broadband owing to the optimal distance between the dipole antennas. The observations in this experiment confirmed that the proposed could operate in the 5G NR n46 (5.15–5.925 GHz), n47 (5.855–5.925 GHz), n77 (3.3–4.2 GHz), n78 (3.3–3.8 GHz), and the n79 (4.4–5 GHz) bands. Moreover, it exhibited a wide impedance bandwidth (dB magnitude of S11) of 101% in the 2.3–7 GHz frequency range, high isolation (dB magnitude of S21), low envelope coefficient correlation (ECC), gain of over 5 dB, and average radiation efficiency of 87.19%, which verified its suitability for application in sub-6 GHz 5G wireless communication systems.


How is a national court to proceed when it finds that a national tax rule conflicts with the EC Treaty provisions on free movement? The answer may seem obvious. Since the Treaty provisions on free movement have direct effect, they prevail over conflicting national legislation, and therefore the court must set aside the conflicting rule. But precisely what is meant by 'setting aside' a tax rule? Does the rule lose all force, and is taxation to take place as if the rule did not exist at all? If so, may one replace the rule with other tax rules or is there quite simply a 'gap'in the rules? Or, when applying the law, is it permissible instead — at least in some cases — to modify the requirements and/or the fiscal consequences prescribed by the conflicting rule so that it may still be applied, but in a manner compatible with EC law? And, if so, how far may judges go without becoming legislators?
These are examples of questions that are raised and discussed in the article. The issues are illustrated by some judgments from, for the most part, Swedish courts in which national tax rules have been appraised in the light of the Treaty.


Small and medium industries including household businesses really need to be developed into businesses that are able to develop independently into businesses to increase community income. Household businesses built by the community must of course take into account the potential that can support business continuity. The study was conducted on household businesses Abon Ikan Tuna "Bunda" in Lumpue Village, West Bacukki District, Parepare City. The purpose of this study is to determine the potential for household business development and formulate development strategies for household businesses. From the results of observations and interviews it can be concluded that this household business has the potential to be seen from the raw material resources, human resources, equipment resources, the environment and finance. Quantitative Analysis in this study uses the Process Hierarchy Analysis Method (AHP) so that the results obtained that an alternative sequence in business development in this household business that can be applied is the addition of marketing experts, strategies to increase product diversity development, increase production volume, conduct promotions broadly, adding equipment units, opening opportunities and expanding market networks and adding transportation equipment.


The cat's mesencephalic raphe, caudally extended to the locus ceruleus and rostrally to the habenulo-interpedunculary area, was reconstructed with foamy-plastic plates in a stereotaxis ensemble of the brainstem. This reconstruction serves as an important reference to the topography and for interpreting the functional background of the stereotaxic lesions accumulated in the last 5 years. The alterations of the lung's alveolar interstitium after the nervous lesions, were classified in different groups of common evolution.


Application of N and P to mid-rotation loblolly pines (Pinus taeda L.) stands is a common silvicultural practice used to increase crop tree production in the Gulf Coastal Plain. Mid-rotation applications of herbicides or combined applications of herbicide and fertilizer are a less common practice. We applied herbicide (1.17 l imazapyr and 0.23 l surfactant/ha) and fertilizer (409 kg-urea and 196 kg-diammonium phosphate/ha) to four mid-rotation stands (17- to 22-years-old) in southern AR and northern LA to evaluate the response of pine and woody competition to each of these treatments as well as a combination of these two treatments. Three years after initial herbicide application 50 to 83 percent of the initial woody competition had died. Mortality of the woody competition from the herbicide application was significantly greater with the addition of fertilizer than without. Net pine basal area and merchantable volume growth was increased. Net basal area growth 2 to 3 years after initial treatment application was 10 to15 percent greater with fertilization than without. Net volume growth was greatest with the combined herbicide and fertilization treatment.


The interaction with novel objects and same-sex conspecifics, known as environmental enrichment (EE), affects neural development, preference, and exploratory behavior. Specifically, EE can impact neural networks associated with spatial memory in adolescent rats. In this study, the influence of EE on neural activation in the hippocampal formation (HF) excitatory pathway was investigated. An object place preference (OPP) task, in which rats interacted with newly placed familiar objects in an open field, was used to stimulate hippocampal activity. A group of non-enriched Long Evans rats (n=14), housed in shoebox cages, underwent an OPP task and 60 minutes of quiet/dark prior to being sacrificed. Enriched rats (n=16), housed similarly, experienced the same task after 18, 90-min EE sessions between postnatal days 25 and 48. Trial 2 of the two-trial OPP task showed how exposure to an environment with consistently and newly placed familiar objects evoked activity within major input and output regions of the HF, including CA1, CA3, dentate gyrus (DG), and subiculum. Brain tissue was processed using immunohistochemistry to visualize c-fos protein expression, a marker of neural activation, and neural densities were quantified via microscopy. Considering the HF as a whole, a history of EE reduced neural activation. In one primary input area, DG (30.9% reduction, p < 0.09), and internal processing area CA3 (-18.0%, p < 0.21), activity change from controls was not statistically significant. However, in both CA1 (-30.6%, p < 0.02) and the subiculum (-34.7%, p < 0.02), a primary output zone, EE did reduce neural activation. The results suggest that an EE history suppresses activation as signal moves sequentially throughout the HF. Because EE rats were routinely exposed to novel placement of familiar objects, habituation to such experience may be responsible for the observed forward moving reduction in neural activity in the HF.


Abstract This study monitors and assesses the effect of battery-manufacturing effluent containing metals Pb, Zn and Cd on endogenous antioxidants. Malonaldehyde (MDA), reduced glutathione sulfyhydryl (GSH) and catalase (CAT) which are known biomarkers of effluent were exposed to 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 90% amendments for 74h on the gills, liver and kidneys of C. punctata. There was more metal Zn accumulation in the gills and GSH contents increased significantly in the gills (P<0.01), liver accumulation of Pb was found to be more (P<0.05), whereas lowest accumulation of Pb was found in kidneys and the highest accumulation of Cd (P<0.05). Over all amendments of the effluents, MDA contents were increased in the gills, liver and kidneys (P<0.01). GSH levels were decreased among the liver and kidneys compared to the gills (P<0.01) at 90% amendment. Effluent exposure caused a significant decrease in the activities of CAT in the gills, liver and kidneys (P<0.01, 0.05 and 0.05) of fish. Increased MDA activity was indicative of the formation of free radicals in the fish with exposure to amendments of battery manufacturing effluent, while increased levels of GSH pointed to the occurrence of a scavenging mechanism of free radicals.


Requirements of integrated photonics and miniaturisation of optical devices demand efficient nonlinear components not constrained by conventional macroscopic nonlinear crystals. Intrinsic nonlinear response of free carriers in plasmonic materials provides opportunities to design both second‐ and third‐order nonlinear optical properties of plasmonic nanostructures and control light with light using Kerr‐type nonlinearities as well as achieve harmonic generation. This review summarises principles of free‐carrier nonlinearities in the hydrodynamic description in both perturbative and non‐perturbative regimes, considering also contribution of nonlocal effects. Engineering of harmonic generation, solitons, nonlinear refraction and ultrafast all‐optical switching in plasmonic nanostructures and metamaterials are discussed. The full hydrodynamic consideration of nonlinear dynamics of free carriers reveals key contributions to the nonlinear effects defined by the interplay between a topology of the nanostructure and nonlinear response of the fermionic gas at the nanoscale, allowing design of high effective nonlinearities in a desired spectral range. Flexibility and unique features of free‐electron nonlinearities are important for nonlinear plasmonic applications in free‐space as well as integrated and quantum nanophotonic technologies.


Sizes of birds are invariably given by length because this has been the only practical way. While it gives some idea of size it runs up against the problem of bulky feathers and, in particular, tail length. Also, the length can be measured in several different ways (from top of head, tip of beak, etc.). For example, the size of the same small bird (a Solitaire) varied from 6.5"/ 16.5 cm to 8.75"/ 22 cm in several different field guides. A more accurate and useful method is weight. It should not be an overwhelming task to eventually compile a weight list of the relatively few kinds of birds kept in captivity. Of course, there is variation to be found. Some factors to be considered are: Breeding Indoors or out: cage or aviary Migrating Molting Sex Subspecies/ geographic origin Season/ climate Well fed/ starving: established/ newly imported (these categories often coincide). Birds are almost always heavier when kept out of doors, especially in winter (in northern climes, anyway), as they are in the breeding season or at migrating time, even if they are not going anywhere. A small bird can easily increase in weight by five percent after eating, and a hungry, newly imported Miniver ate 32 percent of its weight in mealworms per day, for several weeks. Birds of prey, with their feast-orfamine eating pattern, normally experience a much wider fluctuation than small passerines. A Screech Owl (Otus asia) that was found in midwinter, frozen and starving, promptly gained 44 percent or, if you like, started at 69.S percent of its usual weight. This was 30.5 percent down and almost at the fatal limit for Shamas (see below). The anomaly lies in whether you use the higher or lower weight to calculate the percentage. Even larger gains are common in fisheaters. An immature Bald Eagle regularly increased by 10 percent each meal (that was all it was givenl). A Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodius), lighter than the eagle, ate even more. Thin as a coathanger, it was found frozen to a branch beside a dead companion. An enterprising Humane Society officer brought it to me, branch and all! For the rest of the winter, this four foot bird regularly ate between 20 and 25 percent of its weight in fish per meal and still found the time to stab at my eyes every time it was fed. An injured, hungry Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) gulped down 40 percent of its weight in fish, all at once! So for consistency, all these birds should be weighed before meals. . In a number of cases, birds can be sexed by weight (see table) and these numbers will grow with the weighing of more species. Also, weight is a useful guide in grouping birds to be housed together. This is a notoriously difficult problem for the average softbill-keeper with limited space. It will be found that birds can be kept together with less risk if they are the same weight than if they look the same apparent size. The tables can be used as a health guide by comparing the weight of a bird to the expected average and for many years I have used this as an aid to prognosis. Often, weight loss - the traditional "going light" - is the sole sympton of impending trouble. Before a sick bird dies, it invariably loses weight and this is especially rapid in the final few days. For example, on the day it died, a softbill chick lost 13 percent of its previous day's weight. Birds that are below a certain minimum weight when obtained cannot be expected to survive. Shamas, which averaged 31g - and showed the greatest variation of all the birds in this study - did not survive if they were one third or more below normal, i.e. under 20.Sg for males or 19g for females. After taking the above into account, birds in this study - all softbills - have been quite consistent and random weighings have been remarkably close. Abbreviations used in the table: b = breeding condition i =indoors m =molting o = outdoors Weights are of normal, healthy adults, unless noted otherwise. •


This paper studies the foundations of information-flow security for interactive programs. Previous research assumes that the environment is total, that is, it must always be ready to feed new inputs into programs. However, programs secure under this assumption can leak the presence of input. Such leaks can be magnified to whole-secret leaks in the concurrent setting. We propose a framework that generalizes previous research along two dimensions: first, the framework breaks away from the totality of the environment and, second, the framework features fine-grained security types for communication channels, where we distinguish between the security level of message presence and message content. We show that the generalized framework features appealing compositionality properties: parallel composition of secure program results in a secure thread pool. We also show that modeling environments as strategies leads to strong compositionality: various types of composition (with and without scoping) follow from our general compositionality result. Further, we propose a type system that supports enforcement of security via fine-grained security types.


Fatty infiltration of the liver is a familiar feature of numerous diseases and has been recognized for many years as frequently seen post mortem in persons with tuberculosis. Curiously, the subject has received little attention, even though the development of hepatomegaly in tuberculous patients often presents diagnostic difficulties. At autopsy the demonstration of a huge fatty liver is always impressive and frequently not anticipated. In the past such changes in the livers of tuberculous patients have been attributed to toxemia and anoxemia. Recently attention has been drawn to the development of fatty liver in a variety of conditions characterized by disordered metabolism. Numerous experimental studies have established this relationship and have served to heighten interest in its clinical application. The subject of fatty liver in tuberculous patients, accordingly, assumes new significance from the viewpoint of both therapy and pathogenesis. The present study was stimulated by the observation of a group


CONTEXT
The evidence regarding risk factors for recurrent urinary tract infection (UTI) and the risks and benefits of antimicrobial prophylaxis in children is scant.

OBJECTIVES
To identify risk factors for recurrent UTI in a pediatric primary care cohort, to determine the association between antimicrobial prophylaxis and recurrent UTI, and to identify the risk factors for resistance among recurrent UTIs.

DESIGN, PATIENTS, AND SETTING
From a network of 27 primary care pediatric practices in urban, suburban, and semirural areas spanning 3 states, a cohort of children aged 6 years or younger who were diagnosed with first UTI between July 1, 2001, and May 31, 2006, was assembled. Time-to-event analysis was used to determine risk factors for recurrent UTI and the association between antimicrobial prophylaxis and recurrent UTI, and a nested case-control study was performed among children with recurrent UTI to identify risk factors for resistant infections.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Time to recurrent UTI and antimicrobial resistance of recurrent UTI pathogens.

RESULTS
Among 74 974 children in the network, 611 (0.007 per person-year) had a first UTI and 83 (0.12 per person-year after first UTI) had a recurrent UTI. In multivariable Cox time-to-event models, factors associated with increased risk of recurrent UTI included white race (0.17 per person-year; hazard ratio [HR], 1.97; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.22-3.16), age 3 to 4 years (0.22 per person-year; HR, 2.75; 95% CI, 1.37-5.51), age 4 to 5 years (0.19 per person-year; HR, 2.47; 95% CI, 1.19-5.12), and grade 4 to 5 vesicoureteral reflux (0.60 per person-year; HR, 4.38; 95% CI, 1.26-15.29). Sex and grade 1 to 3 vesicoureteral reflux were not associated with risk of recurrence. Antimicrobial prophylaxis was not associated with decreased risk of recurrent UTI (HR, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.50-2.02), even after adjusting for propensity to receive prophylaxis, but was a risk factor for antibimicrobial resistance among children with recurrent UTI (HR, 7.50; 95% CI, 1.60-35.17).

CONCLUSION
Among the children in this study, antimicrobial prophylaxis was not associated with decreased risk of recurrent UTI, but was associated with increased risk of resistant infections.


Research Tools for Political Science Find books on your topic, and the best places to browse the shelves for your subject area.


We study the problem of fairly allocating a divisible resource in the form of a graph, also known as graphical cake cutting. Unlike for the canonical interval cake, a connected envy-free allocation is not guaranteed to exist for a graphical cake. We focus on the existence and computation of connected allocations with low envy. For general graphs, we show that there is always a 1/2-additive-envy-free allocation and, if the agents' valuations are identical, a (2+\epsilon)-multiplicative-envy-free allocation for any \epsilon > 0. In the case of star graphs, we obtain a multiplicative factor of 3+\epsilon for arbitrary valuations and 2 for identical valuations. We also derive guarantees when each agent can receive more than one connected piece. All of our results come with efficient algorithms for computing the respective allocations.


Is described a clinical case of ischemic stroke in a child of 7years old. Are detailed the changes identified in neuroimaging studies, the survey data of the cardiovascular system and hemostasis system. Is presented an analysis of the gene polymorphism of the coagulation system with the identified changes that led to cardiovascular disease, type thromboembolism.


In this technical note, a controller ensuring exponential exact tracking in the presence of matched and unmatched disturbances for the nonlinear systems in the block controllable form is proposed. The controller is designed using the backstepping procedure and combines the feedback linearization technique with the high-order sliding-modes. The matched and unmatched disturbances are compensated by the injection of a continuous term generated by the robust exact high-order sliding-modes differentiator. The obtained control law is differentiable and can be applied directly to the system. Simulations verify the performance of the proposed controller.


Controlling algorithm of different alpha-rhythm generating models in respect to the real mechanism of specific EEG is described. The algorithm is based on known statistical dynamics regulations and specifically upon Gaussian correlation theory of narrow band noise, its envelope and phase.


The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) has an Article III problem. Under § 702 of the 2008 FISA Amendments Act (FAA), which brought the Bush administration's Terrorist Surveillance Program under the rule of law, the FISC typically proceeds ex parte, hearing only from one party: the government. FISC proceedings under § 702 therefore lack the benefit of adverse parties clarifying the issues, which the Supreme Court has linked with sound adjudication and judicial self-governance. The FISC's § 702 role does not fit neatly into the established categories of cases, such as search warrants, where ex parte proceedings are permissible. The broad surveillance practices that the FISC reviews under § 702 lack the individualized facts of warrant requests or a direct link to criminal prosecutions. Under Article III, the FISC's § 702 role may be neither fish nor fowl. Closer examination reveals that although the FISC's role under § 702 is novel, it fits within Article III's space for the exercise of judgment by independent courts. This Article makes that case via the congruency test that the Supreme Court invoked in Morrison v. Olson to uphold a statute passed in the wake of the Watergate scandal that provided for judicial appointment of an independent counsel to investigate allegations of executive misconduct. Building on Morrison, it argues that the test for compliance of statutes with Article III must be pragmatic, affording Congress a measure of flexibility. Two Article III cases from October Term 2015 – Bank Markazi v. Peterson and Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins – demonstrate that Congress is entitled to deference when it seeks to promote operational values such as speed and accuracy in dynamic domains such as national security, foreign relations, and emergent technology. The importance of timely responses to cyber threats fits the FAA within that rubric. The FISC's § 702 role also serves important structural values, by deterring executive branch surveillance abuses. Moreover, in the USA Freedom Act, passed after Edward Snowden's disclosures about NSA surveillance, Congress established a panel of amici curiae to assist the FISC. Robust arguments by amici curiae, possibly augmented by a public advocate opposing government surveillance requests, can replicate most of the virtues of adversarial combat. Combining the virtues of adversarial argument with the operational and structural benefits of the FAA demonstrates the statute's congruence with the history and practice of federal courts.


Tremendous amounts of data are processed by relatively small and cheap processors nowadays. Consider the radio waves arriving at a cell phone's antenna and the light intensities on a DVD player's lens. These are digitized into a stream of bits, which is then filtered, demodulated and decoded into an clear audio or video stream fit for the human senses. My research is about these so-called stream processing systems, i.e., systems that perform relatively simple computations on a large stream of data. Research into these systems is necessary because their data rates have been growing at a faster rate than the speed of our processors. So, if this trend continues we will face a shortage of processing power. The solution to this problem is parallelism. By using multiple processing elements it is possible to achieve the same data rate, or throughput, as one very fast processor. Ideally the throughput obtained in this manner is proportional to the number of processing elements, i.e., the throughput scales linearly with the amount of hardware used. Linear scalability makes it possible to avoid the shortage of processing power; it makes it possible to achieve a higher throughput by simply using more, instead of faster, hardware. Is it possible to achieve linear scalability in every case? Amdahl's law, or the law of diminishing returns, seems to indicate that linear scalability is not possible for systems in which even a small fraction of the computation is sequential. This seems to indicate that it is impossible to obtain linear scalability for every stream processing system, since many of them contain some kind of sequential computation, consider recursive filters or Viterbi decoders for example. It turns out, however, that there is actually no theoretical limit on the throughput of any stream processing system. It is possible to obtain any throughput by using block processing algorithms. Block processing algorithms process, as their name implies, blocks of data instead of single data elements. A block processing algorithm achieves linear scalability by balancing, in the correct manner, the block size, the computation time per block and the number of processing elements needed for implementation. Existing and new methods for devising such algorithms are described in this thesis. The few existing methods with linear scalability produce algorithms that have to be implemented as dedicated hardware. The new ones, however, are also suited for implementation on SIMD processors. In this thesis I present the theory and design methods required to design a block processing algorithm with linear scalability for any stream processing system. Additionally, I show how these methods can benefit the implementation of various specific systems like the moving sum, recursive filters and rank order filters. All of these can be implemented on a SIMD processor, like the NXP Embedded Vector Processor (EVP), such that the throughput scales linearly with the number of processing elements.


The main objective of the current research was comparison of severe thunderstorm rainfalls with TRMM data when flash flooding events observed in the Sydney Metropolitan Area (SMA) located in NSW, Australia. Severe Thunderstorm Rainfall Events have been first extracted from the severe storm archive of the Australian BOM, by induction of specific criteria. The corresponded derived dataset includes 15 major events which occurred during the past 16 years throughout the study area. A "climatologically oriented GIS" was intently applied by introducing a range of spatial analysis and geostatistical tools, mainly for comparing and mapping of existing spatial associations among data layers. To achieve the entire accessible associations among data layers 3 different methods of General QuantileQuantile Plot, Cross-covariance Index and a Bivariate - Pearson Correlation Coefficient tool were increasingly applied. The resulting indexes have established various different spatial correlated patterns inside the SMA, for sampled events. These indicate some agreements in dissimilar distributions, several spatial shifting for symmetric agreements and diverse overall correlation values among exiting datasets respectively. Despite the significant variations in spatial-crosscorrelating models, final spatial indexes clearly demonstrate tolerable, but, positive relationships among several layers at 0.95 significance levels.


The Cobas-Bact (Roche Diagnostics, Basel, Switzerland) new rotor for the identification (ID) in 4 h 20 min of 33 members of the family Enterobacteriaceae to genus and species level was evaluated by testing 444 strains of which 398 belonged to common species and 46 belonged to rare species of Enterobacteriaceae. Each strain was identified by the API 20E system (Analytab Products, Plainview, N.Y.), and additional discriminating tests were set up if necessary. Only first-choice ID were considered in this study and were classified either as high-confidence ID (normalized likelihood, greater than or equal to 80%) or as low-confidence ID (normalized likelihood, less than 80%) requiring additional tests for confirmation. The data were analyzed by two versions of Cobas-Bact software. With the first version of the software (SW8446), the overall accuracy of Cobas-Bact was 95.5% (424 correct ID of 444). When restricted to high-confidence ID it rose to 99.4% (350 of 352) for the common species and 96.9% (31 of 32) for the rare species. Only three strains of the high-confidence group were misidentified. Sixty ID were considered unacceptable because of their low confidence. Using the first software version (SW8446) they represented 12% (46 of 398) of the common species (17 typical strains, 10 Shigella species, 10 inactive Escherichia coli strains, and 9 rare biotypes) and 30% (14 of 46) of the rare species. The same data analyzed by the new version (SW8524) of the Cobas-Bact software resulted in an overall accuracy of 93.9% (417 correct ID). The number of high-confidence ID rose to 401, of which 392 (97.7%) were accurate. The decrease in low-confidence ID (43 versus 60) was mainly due to the Shigella species. In conclusion the accuracy of Cobas-Bact identification system was very good when restricted to high-confidence ID. The Cobas-Bact performance for rare species ID was poorer, but the small number of strains tested does not allow definitive conclusions.


This work extends PneumoCAD, a Computer-Aided Diagnosis system for detecting pneumonia in infants using radiographic images [1], with the aim of improving the system's accuracy and robustness. We implement and compare five con-temporary machine learning classifiers, namely: Naïve Bayes, K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN), Support Vector Machines (SVM), Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) and Decision Tree, combined with three dimensionality reduction algorithms: Sequential Forward Selection (SFS), Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Kernel Principal Component Analysis (KPCA). Current results demonstrate that Naïve Bayes classifier combined with KPCA produces the best overall results.


The (PZT 53/47) and (PZT 20/80) films deposited on substrates by RF magnetron sputtering are single-phase epitaxial films. In order to prevent large thermal stresses being induced in the films during the preparation process, the PZT films were cooled slowly through the Curie temperature. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that the PZT 53/47 film had a pyramid structure on its surface, whereas the PZT 20/80 film had a smooth surface without any observable features. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations showed similar features: the PZT 53/47 film had a coarse columnar structure, whereas the PZT 20/80 film had a fine crystalline structure; this is due to the better lattice matching in the latter.


We design and fabricate a 320 nm slot for an electro-optic (E-O) polymer infiltrated silicon photonic crystal waveguide. Because of the large slot width, the poling efficiency of the infiltrated E-O polymer (AJCKL1/amorphous polycarbonate) is significantly improved. When coupled with the slow light effect from the silicon photonic crystal waveguide, an effective in-device r(33) of 735 pm/V, which to our knowledge is a record high, is demonstrated, which is ten times higher than the E-O coefficient achieved in thin film material. Because of this ultrahigh E-O efficiency, the V(π)L of the device is only 0.44 V mm, which is to our knowledge the best result of all E-O polymer modulators.


Depending on their use, electrodes must have a certain size and design so as not to compromise their electrical characteristics. It is fundamental to be aware of all dependences on external factors that vary the electrochemical characteristics of the electrodes. When using implantable electrodes, the maximum charge injection capacity (CIC) is the total amount of charge that can be injected into the tissue in a reversible way. It is fundamental to know the relations between the characteristics of the microelectrode itself and its maximum CIC in order to develop microelectrodes that will be used in biomedical applications. CIC is a very complex measure that depends on many factors: material, size (geometric and effectiveness area), and shape of the implantable microelectrode and long-term behavior, composition, and temperature of the electrolyte. In this paper, our previously proposed measurement setup and automated calculation method are used to characterize a graphene microelectrode and to measure the behavior of a set of microelectrodes that have been developed in the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering (IBMT) labs. We provide an electrochemical evaluation of CIC for these microelectrodes by examining the role of the following variables: pulse width of the stimulation signal, electrode geometry and size, roughness factor, solution, and long-term behavior. We hope the results presented in this paper will be useful for future studies and for the manufacture of advanced implantable microelectrodes.


Linepipe steels for sour, arctic and offshore applications, form a class of material by themselves. These linepipes are originated in the need to fulfill several special characteristics like adequacy for induction bending, toughness requirement at very low temperature to prevent a unstable crack propagation, and hydrogen induced cracking resistance. These kind of linepipes are produced through clean steel practice, resulting in a low residuals content and a low non metallic inclusions rating. It is also very important to get a fine and uniform microstructure to guarantee good performance under sour environments, arctic and offshore conditions. In the present paper, a practical test to assess fitness for service of special linepipes is presented. Two linepipes with diameters between 219 and 273 mm and Diameter/thickness (D/t) ratios from 10 to 20, intended for arctic service were studied. While linepipe of both large Diameter and D/t (above 50), have been studied, there has been very little work done for diameters below 420 mm and D/t ratios in the range of 10--20. Full scale burst tests at {minus}40 C and {minus}60 C were carried out under controlled conditions. Actual crack propagation speed during burst tests at temperatures below {minus}60 C, was tracked through anmore » oscilloscope-computer data acquisition system. Weldability and hydrogen induced cracking performances were also studied.« less


A combination of computational methods has been used to evaluate the interaction between the pi face of a benzene molecule and the monovalent cations of lithium, sodium, potassium, and rubidium. In the gas phase, the ions are strongly bound, and the affinity for benzene follows the expected electrostatic trend (lithium, largest; rubidium, smallest). However, in an aqueous environment, a reordering occurs such that the potassium ion is preferred over all the other ions for 2:1 benzene:ion complexes. The selectivity sequence parallels that seen in voltage-gated potassium channels. Given that several conserved aromatic residues are present in the pore region of such channels, these results suggest that the cation-pi interaction may be responsible for the ion selectivity in potassium channels.


We extend the standard distorted wave Born approximation (DWBA) to include the second-order Born amplitude in order to describe the multiple interactions between a projectile and an atomic target. Both the first- and second- order DWBA models are used to calculate triply differential cross sections (TDCS) of coplanar (e, 2e) on atomic argon with the scattered electron energy fixed at 500 eV, the scattering angle at 6° and the ejected electron energies at 37, 74 and 205 eV. Overall agreements with experimental measurements have been obtained in shape, and the second-order DWBA model improves the calculations as expected, especially for recoil peak of TDCS.


Kinetic facades are dynamic building surfaces that manage light, ventilation, energy, or information. The programming of Kinetic facades require a vast technical expertise of building systems, materials and computer devices and constant alteration of models to examine till the desire purpose of the kinetic façade is achieved. There heavy dependence alterations to physical scale models to understand the systems performance. This paper focuses on a building a mechanical building skin that adjust to the sun path to harness solar energy while shading the building and considering unpredictable weather changes which is an inspiration from biomimicry architecture concepts derived from how leaves react to sunlight in nature rather the conventional fixed photovoltaic panels. Using rhino grasshopper plugin we design and find geometric forms representing panels that can optimally harness sunlight at different times of the day without disrupting sunlight from accessing the interior space though a radiation analysis that measures kilowatt hours per meter squared (Khpm2). The collection changes in panel elements of the façade in various position, orientation generated from Rhino grasshopper are then compiled into a sequence through unreal engines animation tool that can be triggered to move in relation to another object and function in the virtual world which simulates the animation of the system in relation to the suns position and intensity which becomes a virtual animated model. This animated virtual model created in the game engine can constantly be edited to improve performance through immersive experiential design and alterations of the forms generated in grasshopper. The task of simulating and designing models that are performance based is challenging and requires constant Adjustments. We explore the possibility of using a virtual reality model as a potential alternative for physical simulation models that require constant alterations to reach the desired design properties for complex kinetic motion


Summary. In a spherically symmetric, isotropic earth model the duality between seismic rays and modes can be established completely by application of the principle of stationary phase to the summed normal-mode representation of the time signal. The requirement of stationary phase must be applied not only on the sum over the angular order but also over the radial-order summation. This approach is illustrated by using asymptotic approximations to the equations for toroidal oscillations. In this way the travel-time formulae for rays from a surface source in a sufficiently smooth earth model are easily derived, and the distribution ofmodes between the different rays can be found. The result may be used as a selection criterion to reduce the number of modes that must be summed to construct synthetic seismograms at a certain distance and within a certain time window.


Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a heterogeneous, autoimmune disease. Being female is a significant, baseline risk factor for developing lupus. The mechanisms responsible for enhanced risk remain unknown. The nuclear hormone receptor and key transcription factor, estrogen receptor alpha (ERα), has a number of immune gene targets; yet, understanding of its regulation of the immune response is incomplete. Lupus prone mice, expressing a truncated functional ERα knockout, survived longer and had reduced renal disease. However, a complete knockout of ERα was not protective. Our goal is to identify the molecular mechanisms utilized by ERα in regulating the immune response in lupus B cells. We identified ERα associated genes and determined expression differences in B cells isolated from female African American (AA) lupus patients. RNA-seq analysis indicates that 60% of ERα target genes were deferentially expressed and 82% of these genes were upregulated in patients compared to controls. To understand ERα function, full-length ERα and an isoform, ERα46 (lacking the AF-1 activation domain), were transfected into an EBV transformed SLE B cell line and the expression of ERα gene targets, including inflammatory cytokines (IL1β and IL6) examined. Transfection results varied by gene and suggest the interaction between ERα isoforms is complex. The effect of epigenetic modifying agents on ERα protein expression in transfected SLE B cells was also studied. Evidence suggests that an increase in DNA methylation leads to increased protein expression of ERα isoforms. The regulatory role of ERα in lupus B cells is complex, involves epigenetic changes and interplay between isoforms. Results support a role for ERα in the pathogenesis of SLE.


It is known that every fuzzy number has a unique Mare\v{s} core and can be decomposed in a unique way as the sum of a skew fuzzy number, given by its Mare\v{s} core, and a symmetric fuzzy number. The aim of this paper is to provide a negative answer to the existence of an $n$-dimensional version of the above theorem. By applying several key tools from convex geometry, we establish a representation theorem of fuzzy vectors through support functions, in which a necessary and sufficient condition for a function to be the support function of a fuzzy vector is provided. Futhermore, symmetric and skew fuzzy vectors are postulated, based on which a Mare\v{s} core of each fuzzy vector is constructed through convex bodies and support functions. It is shown that every fuzzy vector over the $n$-dimensional Euclidean space has a unique Mare\v{s} core if, and only if, the dimension $n=1$.


We propose speaker clustering methods based on the vocaltract-size related articulatory parameters associated with individual speakers. Two parameters characterizing gross vocal-tract dimensions are first derived from formants of speaker-specific Japanese vowels, and are then used tc cluster a total of 148 male Japanese speakers. The resultant speaker clusters are found to be significantly different from the speaker clusters obtained by conventional acoustic criteria. Japanese phoneme recognition experiments are carried out using speaker-clustered tied-state HMMs(HMNets) trained for each cluster. Compared with the baseline gender dependent model, 5.7% of recognition error reduction has been achieved based on the clustering method using vocal-tract parameters.