Most companies choose portal technologies to create a user interface of the information system. One of the most important and significant on Java platform is the Liferay Portal solution based on JSR-168 standard. In Jun 2008 the JSR-286 was established as a successor of JSR-168 standard. However most applications are developed under JSR-168 standard and there is no easy way to switch between these standards. The first part of the paper describes what the portal technology is and how it is connected to service oriented architecture (SOA). We mentioned some other example of the portal implementation and we introduced the typical portlet implementation. We also identify the most common errors in architecture of the JSR-168 standard. Second part of the paper introduces a new methodology focused on migration from information system based on the JSR-168 standard to portal solution build on the JSR-286 standard. We formalize the proposed methodology using the UML activity diagram. The last part of the paper verifies of the proposal on the real example of the portal application and concludes achieved results. Keywords: SOA, portlet, JSR-168, JSR-286, portal.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the expression of gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor (GnRH-R) mRNA in the endometrium of normal and endometrial cancer uterus.

METHODS
In situ hybridization was used to detect the expression of GnRH-R mRNA in 23 cases of normal endometrium in hyperplasic phase, 30 cases of normal endometrium in secretory phase, and 30 cases of endometrium from endometrial cancer.

RESULTS
The results showed that GnRH-R mRNA was expressed in the cytoplasm of endometrium of normal and endometrial cancer uterus. There was no expression in the nuclei. There was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in the expression rate between the hyperplasic phase (17%, 4/23) and the secretory phase (17%, 5/30) in normal uterus. The expression rate in endometrial cancer was 40% (12/30), which was significantly higher than normal endometrium (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
The data demonstrates that GnRH may act directly on endometrium. GnRH-R is highly expressed in the endometrium of endometrial cancer.


Received: December 17, 2020 Accepted: February 10, 2021 Volume: 3 Issue: 2 DOI: 10.32996/jweep.2021.3.2.6 Learning EFL vocabulary is a difficult task so that teachers try as much as possible to facilitate it for their learners. One of the best strategies that can be used is educational games strategy. The goal of this research is to check the effectiveness of using the educational games strategy in enhancing English vocabulary acquisition and retention at the First stage of basic education pupils. The study adopted the quasi-experimental pre-post test control / experimental group design. The study sample consisted of 40 pupils in sixth elementary grade and was equally divided into two groups: an experimental group and a control one. Students of the experimental group learnt vocabulary through the educational game strategy, while students in the control group received regular instruction. Tools of the study included a pre-post vocabulary achievement test and a text course for grade six named Get Ready 6. The students submitted to a pre-post vocabulary achievement test and the results indicates that there is a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group in the pre/ post-test of English vocabulary achievement in favor of the experimental group. KEYWORDS


The metabolism and acute toxicity of thioacetanilide was studied in the rat. Following intragastric dosage (100 mg/kg), over 90% dose was excreted in urine, predominantly as conjugated metabolites: less than 7% was recovered in the faeces, consisting of unchanged thioacetanilide. N-Acetyl-4-aminophenol sulphate was the major urinary metabolite, with smaller amounts of conjugated 4-hydroxythioacetanilide and unmetabolized thioacetanilide. Biliary excretion amounted to only 3.4% and was N-acetyl-4-aminophenol glucuronide. Although desulphuration was a major metabolic pathway in the rat, no hepatic toxicity (shown by serum enzymes, plasma bilirubin, hepatic glutathione and cytochrome P-450 levels) occurred up to doses of 500 mg/kg. Combination of rapid 4-hydroxylation, absence of sulphoxide formation, and the structural tautomerism exhibited by thioacetanilide may be, in part, responsible for these findings.


This paper presents an on-chip folded dipole antenna array with 100-120-GHz pulse transmitter for imaging applications in the millimeter wave (mm-wave) regime. The damping pulse generator is implemented using an on-chip transformer, a capacitor, and an NMOS transistor operated with 100-MHz clock to produce mm-wave pulses which are fed into on-chip antennas. Also, a new CMOS programmable delay circuit controller is developed for pulse beamformability. This array antenna transmitter has been designed and fabricated as a 4.2-mm×4.2-mm chip in 65-nm CMOS technology with 100 on-chip antennas and also 100 corresponding integrated pulse generating circuits.


Bacteriological examinations were done with 38 Indian patients from the Surui and 58 patients from the Karitiana groups, in the State of Rondonia, Brazil. Among the Surui, S. aureus was isolated in 10 (26.3%) individuals and S. epidermidis in 25 (65,8%). In the Karitiana population, S. aureus was recorded from 21 (36.2%) patients and S. epidermidis from 42 (72.4%). Sensibility tests to different drugs were done with all strains of S. aureus isolated. The Authors discuss the role of assymptomatic carriers of these bacteria in the oral and nasal cavities, as well as some aspects related to its transmission and the prevalence of pyoderma infections within Indian population.


There is a limited amount of information available on stock farmers' exposure to airborne bacteria and fungi. In this study, the authors measured the airborne bacteria and fungi concentrations 46 times inside two swine sheds and four poultry sheds. Aspergillus, Cladosporium, and Penicillium were the most prevalent fungal genera, as most of the fungi belonged to these groups. Many microbial concentrations exceeded the Korean indoor bioaerosol guideline 800 CFU M-3 (ie, colony-forming units per cubic meter of air). This finding suggests the need for a strategy to reduce stock farmers' occupational exposure to the microorganisms in swine and poultry sheds, and the necessity of performing a longitudinal survey to better examine farmer exposure levels and their variability. Another finding was that the use of a sanitary mask may reduce stock farmers' exposure to bioaerosols.


Foreign language students may face difficulties in developing speaking skills due tothe reasons of lacking the opportunity to speak, the inhibition or enxity, and lacking the motivation to study.This study aimed to investigate the implementation of Experiential Learning Method as an effort to solve such problems. Thus, there were two objectives in this study which were to examine the difference of speaking achievement on the use of Experiential Learning Method and to find out the students' response toward the method. The sample was taken by using random sampling from the population of the first grade students at SMAN1 Banda Aceh in the 2019/2020 academic year. Two classes were taken as the sample, each for experimental class and control class. The data were analyzed by using t-test through SPSS for speaking test and percentage for questionnaire. The result showed that Experiential Learning Method was more effective than conventional method (teacher centred) to teach speaking. Also, the students have a quite positive response to the use of Experiential Learning Method in their speaking class. It can be concluded that the Experiential Learning Method provides a positive contribution for the development of the students' speaking performance.


Abstract Multiple myeloma (MM) is a common malignancy that often results in many kinds of kidney injuries for the abnormal monoclonal immunoglobulin. Here, we present an IgG-kappa type MM case accompanied by renal IgA deposition combined with IgG-kappa. The patient was treated with prednisone plus mycophenolate mofetil, and got a satisfactory remission. Although it cannot be determined whether the IgA deposition was secondary to MM, this was the first report of coexisting mesangial proliferative nephritis with IgA deposition and IgG-kappa type MM.


This article presents the results of a research dealing with the effectiveness of the use of new technologies in Greek high schools. The purpose of the research was to examine the extent to which blended teaching - i.e. the combination of traditional forms of teaching (teaching through lectures, etc.) and teaching economics courses with the use of computers - influences the effectiveness of learning when compared to teaching with traditional methods alone. The methodology followed is based on former research studies in this field, the overall results of which are presented in the first section of this article. To be more specific, the research discussed in the present article has to do with the teaching of the course "Principles of Economics" in the first form of senior high school with the support of computers and the Internet. The research took place at the 2 nd Lyceum in Thessaloniki. Based on a post-research test that students took, we attempted to examine if there was a significant difference in the learning outcomes of students that were in the blended teaching group compared to a second group of students to which the same teacher taught the same material without the use of computers. The basic conclusions reached were the following: with regard to the computer course, no statistical significance was found to support a difference in learning outcomes between students that were in the blended teaching group and those that were in the traditional teaching group. With regard to the students, evidence was found (62,2%) to support the hypothesis that most students feel comfortable with the use of technology.


Currently, the leather industry has to deal with very high costs for waste treatment and disposal. As a result, it is recommended to subject the organic protein waste from tanning to biochemical treatments for recycling in the industry. The degree of novelty lies primarily in the fact that the starting point of the promoted technologies is obtaining new complex products by processing organic waste and using it in tanneries. The lime fleshings resulting from the hide fleshing operation represents the highest amount of reusable leather material of approx. 25%. This paper presents an innovative process for the biochemical degradation of hide waste resulting from hide fleshing in order to obtain a retanning/filling agent used in leather processing.


Semiconductor billiards are often considered as ideal systems for studying dynamical chaos in the quantum mechanical limit. In the traditional picture, once the electron's mean free path, as determined by the mobility, becomes larger than the device, disorder is negligible and electron trajectories are shaped by specular reflection from the billiard walls alone. Experimental insight into the electron dynamics is normally obtained by magnetoconductance measurements. A number of recent experimental studies have shown these measurements to be largely independent of the billiard's exact shape, and highly dependent on sample‐to‐sample variations in disorder. In this paper, we discuss these more recent findings within the full historical context of work on semiconductor billiards, and offer strong evidence that small‐angle scattering at the sub‐100 nm length‐scale dominates transport in these devices. This has important implications for the role these devices can play for experimental tests of ideas in quantum chaos.


In this paper, an evolved discrete harmony search (EDHS) is proposed. Firstly, a job-permutation-based encoding scheme is applied to enable the continuous harmony search algorithm to be used in all sequencing problems. Additional, a new method is proposed to generate new solutions, while an efficient approach is developed to update the archive set of the non-dominated solutions during the search process. Finally, computational simulation results based on the well-known benchmarks show that the proposed EDHS algorithm is superior to hybrid differential evolution algorithm in terms of searching quality, diversity level and efficiency. j h p h p p e


This note describes a method of testing software for response to malicious data streams. Systems that process data streams obtained from an external source such as the Internet are vulnerable to security issues if malicious data is not processed correctly. This note describes a testing method that creates malicious data streams, applies them to a software application and checks the appropriateness of the application response.The note begins with a description of the problem: inade-quate testing of software response to malicious data streams. I present a method of testing the response to malicious data streams and introduce the concepts of lexical, syntactic and semantic data stream deformation. I provide a description of a system that produces and applies such tests. This descrip-tion divides the testing system into components and provides some detail about each component. This system applied to Adobe Acrobat Reader version 5.0.1 provides a case study. The study applied 141,306 unique test cases and revealed 11 distinct indications of buffer overrun, numerous program lock-ups, and four steganographic possibilities.Research is on-going in the following areas: generalized buffer overrun exploitation, maliciously testing protocols and testing with encoded or encrypted data streams.


The influence exerted by objectifiable factors on the therapeutic result of temporo-mandibular joint disorders was analyzed in follow-ups carried out in 73 patients. As the most frequent cause of still existing complaints occlusal interferences, especially balance contact, were found. The majority of these balance contacts had developed after termination of our therapy, as a result of occlusal surfaces having an unfavorable shape with regard to masticatory function or as a result of spaces in the dentition that had not been treated prosthetically. It was possible to demonstrate that lasting therapeutic success is mainly due to the consistent securing of an interference-free centric and eccentric occlusion. Function controls should also be carried out as a routine measure in people with healthy temporo-mandibular joints, in order to guarantee improved prophylaxis of disorders in the stomatognathic system.


A study using live rabbits, with subsequent analysis of excised corneas stained with trypan blue/alizarin red, showing simulated swirling lenticular debris may contribute significantly to corneal endothelium damage during phacoemulsification. Purpose: To evaluate mechanical damage of simulated lenticular debris on corneal endothelial cells during phacoemulsification. Setting: University setting, Salt Lake City, Utah. Design: Experimental study. Methods: 12 New Zealand rabbits underwent bilateral surgery. After incision, 10 1.0 mm beads were injected into the anterior chamber of test eyes to simulate lenticular debris. A balanced salt solution was injected into the contralateral eyes with the same injector. The Intrepid Balanced Tip of the Centurion Ozil handpiece was inserted into the anterior chamber, and 60% torsional ultrasound was applied for 20 seconds with 50 mL/min flow, 70 mm Hg intraocular pressure, and 600 mm Hg vacuum. Cumulative dissipated energy (CDE) was noted. After euthanasia and enucleation, the corneas were removed, stained with trypan blue/alizarin red, and photographed in a standardized manner (×400 photographs from 5 specific areas and 1 overview photograph from each corneal button). The ImageJ program was used to evaluate cell damage and loss in the photographs. Results: CDE was 4.64 ± 0.19 for test eyes with beads and 4.66 ± 0.17 for control eyes without beads (P = .58). The percentage of intact cells was statistically higher in the control group (P = .0005), whereas the percentages of damaged and lost cells were statistically higher in the test group (P = .0010 and .0005, respectively). This was observed in the analysis of the ×400 photographs and overview photographs. Conclusions: This study suggests that lenticular debris swirling around the anterior chamber may cause significant damage to the corneal endothelium, providing further insight on mechanisms of damage during phacoemulsification.


This paper proposes a narrative-based group counseling model for postsecondary students preparing to graduate and transition out of university life. The challenges associated with this transition are both psychological and career-related in nature. The author utilizes multiple transition frameworks to provide a conceptualization of the graduation transition, and offers an overview of narrative therapy, its use in transition counseling, and its use in groupwork. The proposed intervention calls for two facilitators and between six and eight members. An intervention overview is provided that includes recruitment and prescreening instructions as well as content for eight sessions.


[1] The variable oceanic exchanges between the Nordic seas and the Atlantic proper have been investigated using an isopycnic coordinate ocean model for the period 1948–2007. Observed and simulated time series of volume transports in the Denmark Strait (DS), between Iceland and the Faroe Islands, and in the Faroe-Shetland Channel (FSC) are used to evaluate the model, and the model captures much of the variability. The inflow of Atlantic Water in the FSC and the outflow of light Polar Water in the DS and of dense Overflow Water in both FSC and DS are all found to covary with an atmospheric pattern resembling the North Atlantic Oscillation. An increase in the FSC inflow is associated with a decrease in the FSC overflow and an increase in the DS overflow. The exchanges' response to the atmospheric forcing is mainly of a barotropic nature, but they are also influenced by baroclinic processes. The modeled antiphase between FSC inflow and overflow is connected to a vertical displacement of the isopycnal separating the two water masses in the channel and along the path of the Norwegian Atlantic Slope Current, consistent with hydraulic control of the FSC exchanges.


es the contralateral degree of ICAS as independent predictor of pre- but not peri- or postoperative ipsilateral stroke. This associated preoperative stroke risk signifi cantly ex- ceeds postoperative cardiovascular mortality in patients with ipsilateral ICAS. Therefore, these patients might rather benefi t from elec- tive carotid surgery and intensive postoperative medical care. Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate long-term results of interventional therapy in patients with infrarenal aortic occlusive disease. non-stented part of the abdominal aorta (conservative therapy). Five patients required further surgical or endovascular reconstruction PAD progression distal to the aorta. Conclusion Endovascular stent implantation is a safe and long term effective strategy for the treatment of infrarenal aortic occlusive disease. Recurrence of symptoms was mainly due to atherosclerosis progression distal to the aorta but not to aortic in-stent stenosis. aortic aneurysms an effi cient di- agnostic a target for actual lipid-lower-ing therapies, in future randomized con- trolled Background Dihydropyridine calcium-channel blockers (CCBs) inhibit cytochrome 3A4 and could therefore interfere with the con-version of clopidogrel to its active form. The impact of CCBs on the antiplatelet effect of clopidogrel has not been studied with as-says directly capturing platelet activation to adenosine diphosphate (ADP), so far. We therefore sought to investigate platelet activation in response to ADP by fl ow cytometry in clopidogrel-treated patients without and with CCBs. Materials and Methods Platelet surface P-selectin expression and activated glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa in response to ADP were deter-mined by fl ow cytometry in 302 patients on dual antiplatelet therapy with aspirin and clopidogrel after successful angioplasty with stent implantation. Results Ninety-two patients (30.5%) received CCBs. Patients with concomitant CCB therapy showed signifi cantly higher platelet surface expressions of P-selectin and activated GPIIb/IIIa in response to ADP than patients without CCBs (both p  0.03). Moreover, the fold increase of P-selectin and activated GPIIb/IIIa in response to ADP was signifi canly more pronounced in patients taking CCBs (both p  0.03). The associations of ADP-inducible activated GPIIb/IIIa and fold increase of activated GPIIb/IIIa after the addition of ADP with CCB therapy remained signifi cant after adjustment for differences in patient characteristics by multivariate linear regression analyses (both p < 0.05). High levels of ADP-inducible P-selectin and acti- vated GPIIb/IIIa were seen signifi cantly more frequent in patients with CCBs than in patients without CCB therapy (high P-selectin: 34.8% vs 21%; p = 0.01; high activated GPIIb/IIIa: 35.9% vs. 21.4%; p = 0.008). Conclusion Dihydropyridine CCBs attenuate the effect of clopido- grel on ADP-inducible platelet activation in patients undergoing angioplasty and stenting for cardiovascular disease. better survival than those who were not (p = 0.017). There were no reported incidences of aortic aneurysm as cause of death. Conclusion Several factors were associated with mortality in GCA: older age at diagnosis, cranial manifestation of GCA, presence of ocular manifestations, history of stroke, lack of use of statins and a pos- itive biopsy result. The results are comparable to the literature and may highlight particular patient types with higher risk for compli- cations. Objectives Retrospective analysis of the role of imaging in the di- agnosis and long-term follow-up of surgical treatment of aorto-iliac prosthetic vascular grafts. 23/23). One patient died prior to surgical reconstruc- tion. In 14 patients autologous material was used for reconstruction, in the remaining eight patients heterologous material was used. The overall 5-year survival rate after surgical treatment of prosthetic vascular graft infection was 38.33%. Conclusions Clinical presentation and CT imaging are the basis for diagnosing prosthetic vascular graft infections. PET is an additional diagnostic procedure with high specifi city. Long-term survival af- ter surgical treatment of prosthetic vascular graft infection is good. Der mittlere Nachbeobachtungszeitraum war 2,93 Jahre vs 2,18 Jahre für Gruppe-A- und -B-Patienten (p = 0,08). Primäre Offenheitsraten waren 88 % vs. 87 % und 73 % vs. 75 % (p = 0,19), sekundäre Offenheitsraten waren 88 % vs. 90 % und 77 % vs. 84 % (p = 0,76) für Gruppe-A- und -B-Patienten nach einem und zwei Jahren. Re-Eingriffsraten waren 22 % vs. 14 % (p = 0,17). Wir beobachteten acht vs. sieben Bypassverschlüsse (p = 0,74) bei Grup- pe-A- und -B-Patienten. Bei der univariaten Analyse korrelierten proximale In-graft-Stenose (p = 0,041) and Redobypass (p = 0,0001) signifi kant mit der sekundären Bypass-Offenheitsrate. Hämodynamische und klinische Verbesserungsraten waren 88 % vs. 86 % und 70 % vs. 73 % für Gruppe-A- und -B-Patienten. Wir beobachteten drei vs. ein Major-Amputationen (p = 0,36) und acht vs. sieben To- desfälle (p = 0,78) in Gruppe A und B. Schlussfolgerungen Paclitaxel-beschichtete und unbeschichtete PTA von hochgradigen infrainguinalen Bypassstenosen zeigten weder einen signifi kanten Unterschied bezüglich klinischer und hämodyna- mischer Verbesserung noch hinsichtlich primärer und sekundärer By-passoffenheit. Background Patients with intermittent claudication carry a high risk for cardiovascular complications. Historical data presented fi ve years mortality rates of up to 30%, the majority of these patients dying due to circulatory causes. We followed the question if the natural course of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) changed over the past years. Methods The CAVASIC Study enrolled 255 male PAD patients and prospectively followed them for a median period of 7 years. During follow-up, cardiovascular events, overall and vascular mortality rates were assessed. Of the investigated patients, 72 suffered from a concomitant coronary artery disease (CAD) at baseline. Results PAD patients were still undertreated in terms of statin use (34%) and angiotensine converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors (26%) compared to patients with PAD and additional CAD (statin use 67%, and ACE inhibitors 46%, respectively). Incident cardiovascular events were observed among 70 patients (27.5%). There was no signifi cant difference in event rates between patients with prevalent CAD (n = 25, 36%) and those only suffering from PAD at baseline (n = 47, 25%, p = 0.10). The Body mass index was the only signifi cant predictor for cardiovascular complications among all patients (age adjusted HR 1.09, 95-%-CI: 1.01–1.17, p = 0.04). Overall mortality rates reached 16.1% (n = 41). Most of We report a case of a 55-year-old male who developed a deep vein thrombosis in the presence of an idiopathically acquired, asymptomatic factor V inhibitor (2.65 Bethesda Units; factor V activity < 8%) which was diagnosed seven months before during a routine preoperative coagulation testing. The was successfully steroids fac- V weeks. After seven months of the testing again clearly indicate if substantial inhibition exists, thromboembolic events must be considered in such patients.


Apocrine glands are most frequent in the axillae, groin, external auditory canal, eyelids and on the nipple. Apocrine hidrocystomas are benign adenomatous cystic proliferations derived from apocrine sweat glands, often occuring as solitary translucent cystic lesions, most commonly on the head and neck, especially in periocular tissues (on both the upper and lower eyelids). They have also been reported to occur on the ears, scalp, chest and shoulders. Rarely, they occur on the penis, the vulva, in the axillae and in the anal region. Histologically, the epithelium in apocrine hidrocystoma is lined by a row of columnar secretory cells with apocrine characteristics. Peripheral to this is a layer of myoepithelial cells.1,2

We report a case of bilateral multiple axillary apocrine hidrocystomas associated with apocrine gland …


The introduction into large scale commerce of frozen precooked foods with all their attendant potential bacteriological hazards has focused attention on the problems of detecting fecal contamination of foods. There is much evidence in the literature that the methods commonly applied for the detection of fecal indicator organisms in water and milk are unsatisfactory when applied to foodstuffs (Larkin, Litsky, and Fuller, 1956; Zaborowski, Huber, and Rayman, 1958; Kereluk and Gunderson, 1959). This is true even in the case of shellfish where such methods have been used for many years (Kelly, 1960). It is widely recognized that coliform most probable number (MPN) count has a very limited usefulness in this respect because of the diverse origin of the organisms included in the coliform group, many of which derive from nonhuman sources and may normally be expected to be present on raw or manufactured food products. Considerable attention has been paid therefore to the estimation of the socalled truly fecal organism, Escherichia coli type I. The EC (44.5 C) confirmation test of Hajna and Perry (1943) has been widely utilized to isolate this organism. The value of this test in assessing the sanitary quality of potable waters has been generally recognized and its extension to shellfish and frozen foods has been advocated. Nevertheless, several workers have reported results which cast doubt on the specificity of the EC test itself, particularly when the strains of E. coli are in a minority in the total coliform flora (Tennant, Reid, and Bynoe, 1960). In the course of a general study of the bacteriological quality of frozen precooked seafoods in which we attempted initially to apply the recommended procedures, we encountered results which were inconsistent and erratic. This led us to consider the validity of the test procedures and the work reported in this paper constitutes an evaluation of the EC (44.5 C) confirmation test when applied to certain frozen seafoods.


Background: The mental health of college students in the U.S. has become an undeniable concern to university administrators, service providers, and the higher education community at large. While universities seek to educate future great minds, their current policies and infrastructure do not unanimously prioritize mental health, thus, they often cannot meet the holistic needs of students and struggle to uphold their central mission. Aim: To outline the literature surrounding mental health in postsecondary education and the holistic needs of university students in order to target the national discussion of mental health toward actionable system change. Methods: A comprehensive review of the literature on college student mental health in the U.S. Results: The literature demonstrates that policy change is necessary to fully support students with psychiatric disabilities and mental health concerns. Conclusions: Mental health is a critical issue for young adults, and college presents a prime developmental context to equip students with the skills for a lifetime of mental health and wellbeing. Further research is needed to explore the impact of implementing innovative programs, curricular changes and supported education programs to support college students.


We report the entrapment of Pulmonary Vein Ablation Catheter (Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN, USA) and its guidewire within the right pulmonary veins in two patients. The catheters could be retrieved without complications but they were disabled in both cases. This nondescribed incident should be recognized by PVAC users since it may be a source of potential severe complications during pulmonary vein isolation procedures.


This thesis reports on a study conducted to investigate the relationship between the integration of mobile telephony services into micro-business processes and perceived enhanced business performance in a developing economy context, with detailed evidence drawn from a sample of 210 micro-businesses in Afghanistan and Cameroon. The research conceptualises, operationalises, and empirically tests an eclectic research model which integrates theory from the literature on the adoption and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), on information economics, on strategic management, on entrepreneurship, and on small business growth and business performance.
The research data was collected through a questionnaire, and call data extracted from the mobile phone activity-logs of micro-business owner-managers. This data was supplemented by the use of carefully-chosen photographs. The collected data was analysed using Structural Equation Modelling Techniques (SEM) with the help of AMOS 17 and SPSS statistical packages. The study also used Latent Visual Data Analysis (LVDA) to corroborate the statistical outcomes of this analysis.
The results of this study identified the 'integration of mobile telephony services into micro-business operations', the 'entrepreneurial competence of micro-business owner-managers' and the 'micro-business environment' as having a direct influence on perceived enhanced business performance because of their potential to enable substantial cost savings, provide greater integration of the internal and external environments of the business, increase operational flexibility and reduce information asymmetries. The results also identified that 'micro-business environments' in Afghanistan and Cameroon tend to have a negative relationship with enhanced business performance if not moderated by the use of mobile telephony services.
Finally, given the importance of micro-businesses in stimulating economic growth in developing economies and their relatively high failure rates, and because of the fact that many micro-businesses perceive that the cost of mobile telephony services are 'high-to-very high', this research provides greater opportunity for a discussion of the kinds of intervention strategies that could be used to improve the business integration of mobile telephony services and could therefore enhanced business performance.


Recent work has attempted to interpret residual networks (ResNets) as one step of a forward Euler discretization of an ordinary differential equation, focusing mainly on syntactic algebraic similarities between the two systems. Discrete dynamical integrators of continuous dynamical systems, however, have a much richer structure. We first show that ResNets fail to be meaningful dynamical integrators in this richer sense. We then demonstrate that neural network models can learn to represent continuous dynamical systems, with this richer structure and properties, by embedding them into higher-order numerical integration schemes, such as the Runge Kutta schemes. Based on these insights, we introduce ContinuousNet as a continuous-in-depth generalization of ResNet architectures. ContinuousNets exhibit an invariance to the particular computational graph manifestation. That is, the continuous-in-depth model can be evaluated with different discrete time step sizes, which changes the number of layers, and different numerical integration schemes, which changes the graph connectivity. We show that this can be used to develop an incremental-in-depth training scheme that improves model quality, while significantly decreasing training time. We also show that, once trained, the number of units in the computational graph can even be decreased, for faster inference with little-to-no accuracy drop.


Image captioning generates text that describes scenes from input images. It has been developed for high-quality images taken in clear weather. However, in bad weather conditions, such as heavy rain, snow, and dense fog, poor visibility as a result of rain streaks, rain accumulation, and snowflakes causes a serious degradation of image quality. This hinders the extraction of useful visual features and results in deteriorated image captioning performance. To address practical issues, this study introduces a new encoder for captioning heavy rain images. The central idea is to transform output features extracted from heavy rain input images into semantic visual features associated with words and sentence context. To achieve this, a target encoder is initially trained in an encoder–decoder framework to associate visual features with semantic words. Subsequently, the objects in a heavy rain image are rendered visible by using an initial reconstruction subnetwork (IRS) based on a heavy rain model. The IRS is then combined with another semantic visual feature matching subnetwork (SVFMS) to match the output features of the IRS with the semantic visual features of the pretrained target encoder. The proposed encoder is based on the joint learning of the IRS and SVFMS. It is trained in an end-to-end manner, and then connected to the pretrained decoder for image captioning. It is experimentally demonstrated that the proposed encoder can generate semantic visual features associated with words even from heavy rain images, thereby increasing the accuracy of the generated captions.


A metallurgical zirconium nitride (ZrN) layer was fabricated using glow metallurgy using nitriding with zirconiuming prior treatment of the Ti6Al4V alloy. The microstructure, composition and microhardness of the corresponding layer were studied. The influence of this treatment on fretting wear (FW) and fretting fatigue (FF) behavior of the Ti6Al4V alloy was studied. The composite layer consisted of an 8-μm-thick ZrN compound layer and a 50-μm-thick nitrogen-rich Zr–Ti solid solution layer. The surface microhardness of the composite layer is 1775 HK0.1. A gradient in cross-sectional microhardness distribution exists in the layer. The plasma ZrN metallurgical layer improves the FW resistance of the Ti6Al4V alloy, but reduces the base FF resistance. This occurs because the improvement in surface hardness results in lowering of the toughness and increasing in the notch sensitivity. Compared with shot peening treatment, plasma ZrN metallurgy and shot peening composite treatment improves the FW resistance and enhances the FF resistance of the Ti6Al4V alloy. This is attributed to the introduction of a compressive stress field. The combination of toughness, strength, FW resistance and fatigue resistance enhance the FF resistance for titanium alloy.


Ubiquitous computing and networking have been fertile grounds for innovation while presenting the challenge of realizing a superior user experience and a viable business model. Unassumingly exploring both the difficult task of innovation and the user experience design, this short contribution will briefly document the emergent trend of combining science and engineering with fields of studies that are considered non-science and non-engineering such as design, fashion and visual arts. The thesis of this work is that ubiquitous computing and networking could substantially benefit from such integrative approach.


There are two suitable methods for estimating the ventilatory response to CO2: the steady state or the Read method. The latter is usually applied because of its shorter duration and its stimulus, near to tissue PCO2. From recent studies on a physiological model but also on the dynamics of the ventilatory CO2 response (G liters min-1 kPa-1), it can be shown, both theoretically and experimentally, that the Read method markedly overestimates the steady-state estimate of the ventilatory CO2 response (Gss). We have, therefore, applied two ramp approaches: one with an initial end-tidal PCO2 (PetCO2) step of 0.5 kPa and a mean PetCO2 ramp slope of 0.41 kPa/min (step-ramp method, SR) and one without an initial step and a mean ramp slope of 0.21 kPa/min (ramp method; R). As predicted by theory, the ventilatory CO2 response from the R method (GR) during the second 4-min interval of the 8-min procedure and the ventilatory CO2 response from the SR method (GSR) from the whole 6-min procedure, except for the first 30 s, should yield a good approximation of Gss. In a group of 12 normal volunteers we indeed found no differences between these estimates, and, as predicted by theory, we found both estimates to be larger than GR from the first 4-min interval. From the interindividual spread, only the difference with respect to GSR was significant (p less than 0.02). The volunteers preferred the R approach because of the lower PetCO2 attained and the smaller ventilation increase.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


This paper reports on our investigations of the glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) (hyaluronic acid, chondroitin-6-sulfate, and keratan sulfate) of 13 adjacent zones of normal and scoliotic discs obtained at necropsy. The isolation and separation of these GAGs on the microgram scale was achieved using the different solubilities of the calcium and cetyl pyridinium chloride complexes. In normal discs the distribution of these GAGs is symmetric about the nucleus pulposus where their concentration is highest, and lowest in the outer annulus regions. A shift in this distribution profile was observed for the GAGs of the scoliotic discs, particularly at the apex of the curve. On the concave side of this disc the chondroitin-6- sulfate was elevated relative to discs at a lower level. In those annulus zones on the convex side of the curve, the keratan sulfate and hyaluronic acid levels were elevated and chondroitin sulfate depressed. These results suggest the presence in these respective regions of at least two different species of proteoglycans accompanied by elevated hyaluronate levels.


Several points may be stressed. (1)When in doubt, perform joint aspiration and look for crystals of micro-organisms. A joint tap is nearly always indicated. (2)Do not rely on a coincidental elevated serum uric acid level. Question the patient regarding drug therapy and other causes of secondary hyperuricemia. (3)Examine all of the patient, looking for tophi (gout), skin lesions (gonococcal infection, psoriasis), erythema nodosum (allergic reactions, fungal infections), and other clues. (4)Monoarticular rheumatoid arthritis is a rare cause of a single hot joint, but it is much more common that the real rarities (e.g., pigmented willondular synovitis). (5)Anky-losing spondylitis and Reiter's syndrome are common, yet frequently overlooked. (6)Radiologic examination is usually not helpful. (7)Having ruled out infection, crystal synovitis, and hemorrhage, it is sufficient to introduce symptomatic treatment and await the natural development of the joint disease. Follow-up in four to six weeks and simple blood studies often reveal the definitive diagnosis. Most of the time, natural healing processes are effective , and reward the patience of the conservative physician. Blind management must always be avoided.


This article argues that feminist critiques of pornography—conversations initiated in the feminist "sex wars"—merge with post-Fordist work ethics to make the performance of authenticity a central component of porn work. Echoing antiporn feminist critiques that posit commercial sexuality as a danger and authentic sexuality its cure, porn managers describe authentic desire—in contrast to economic motivation—as a key feature of what makes a good worker. In turn, workers describe conjuring authenticity as central to the work of porn. Grounded in ethnographic fieldwork and in interviews with workers and managers in the US porn industry, this article explores authenticity at the point of production. It investigates the emotional management strategies workers deploy in manufacturing authenticity, including workers' strategies for negotiating work-life boundaries, relationships with coworkers, and the politics of payment in a work atmosphere in which part of the job is performing leisure. The demands of authenticity are particularly high in feminist and amateur porn, two genres explicitly marketed as "less manufactured" and ostensibly organized around greater worker control over production practices. But worker control as it exists in "less manufactured" productions can create new areas of strain, even as it alleviates others. Workers laboring "authentically" tend to give more time and energy for less pay. In contrast, workers in mainstream porn describe playing a role (defined as separate from the self) for a defined wage as something that protects them from emotional strain.


Abstract. Calcite and dolomite are the two most common minerals in carbonate-bearing faults and shear zones. Motivated by observations of exhumed seismogenic faults in the Italian Central Apennines, we used a rotary-shear apparatus to investigate the frictional and microstructural evolution of ca. 3 mm thick gouge layers consisting of 50 wt % calcite and 50 wt % dolomite. The gouges were sheared at a range of slip rates (30  µ m s −1 –1 m s −1 ), displacements (0.05–0.4 m), and a normal load of 17.5 MPa under both room-humidity and water-dampened conditions. The frictional behaviour and microstructural evolution of the gouges were strongly influenced by the presence of water. At room humidity, slip strengthening was observed up to slip rates of 0.01 m s −1 , which was associated with gouge dilation and the development of a 500–900  µ m wide slip zone cut by Y-, R-, and R 1 -shear bands. Above a slip rate of 0.1 m s −1 , dynamic weakening accompanied the development of a localised  100  µ m thick principal slip zone preserving microstructural evidence for calcite recrystallisation and dolomite decarbonation, while the bulk gouges developed a well-defined foliation consisting of organised domains of heavily fractured calcite and dolomite. In water-dampened conditions, evidence of gouge fluidisation within a fine-grained principal slip zone was observed at a range of slip rates from 30  µ m s −1 to 0.1 m s −1 , suggesting that caution is needed when relating fluidisation textures to seismic slip in natural fault zones. Dynamic weakening in water-dampened conditions was observed at 1 m s −1 , where the principal slip zone was characterised by patches of recrystallised calcite. However, local fragmentation and reworking of recrystallised calcite suggests a cyclic process involving formation and destruction of a heterogeneous slip zone. Our microstructural data show that development of well-defined gouge foliation under the tested experimental conditions is limited to high velocities ( >0.1  m s −1 ) and room humidity, supporting the notion that some foliated gouges and cataclasites may form during seismic slip in natural carbonate-bearing faults.


Abstract We propose a calorimetric method based on the van't Hoff model of depression of the freezing temperature to investigate slow kinetics involving lipid vesicles (liposomes) and drug–β-cyclodextrin (Cyd) complexes. Some nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) were examined and standard phospholipid liposomes were used in our experiments. Three different kinetic processes were investigated: (a)9Transfer of drugs from water-soluble Cyd-complexes to void liposomes. (b)9Uptake of drugs from the surface of liposomes by free Cyd dissolved in the aqueous phase. (c)9Exchange of drugs from loaded to void vesicles, and the effect of free Cyd in enhancing such a transfer. Most experiments were performed both below and above the main transition (melting) temperature of the liposome bilayer. The results show that our technique can be used to follow slow kinetics in such complex systems and is sensitive enough to detect small changes related to chemical structure modifications of the investigated drugs.


Abstract Questions: 1. How many traits associated with persistence and regeneration are necessary to predict the response of plants to soil fertility and disturbance? 2. Are correlated changes in trait expressions linked to the response of functional groups to fertility and disturbance? Location: Lower Frankonia, Germany. Methods: On 120 plots located in managed and abandoned grasslands, fields, and vineyards, we recorded species composition, disturbance intensity, soil water and nutrients, and ten candidate traits for 75 species. We used a novel method which is based on three steps: (1) logistic regression to separate responsive from non-responsive species; (2) iterative clustering of all possible combinations of the candidate traits including regression of each cluster in response to the environmental variables; (3) selection of the trait combination that performed best with respect to goodness of fit of all clusters from this combination. Bivariate trait relationships across functional groups were analysed with reduced major axis regression (RMA). Results: The parsimonious trait combination consisted of life span, specific leaf area (SLA), canopy height, and seed number. The 'acquisitive' functional groups in terms of SLA and height were linked to higher fertility and earlier disturbance, while the 'retentive' groups related to lower fertility and later disturbance. Investment in reproduction, however, displayed a reverse relation. SLA and canopy height showed correlated shifts in two pairs of co-occurring functional groups. Conclusions: A small number of traits is sufficient to predict the response of species. Plants need a higher increment in SLA to reach the same height, if start of disturbance is earlier. Linkages between traits shift from generative to vegetative with increasing fertility and earlier start of disturbance. Functional groups enable shifts in scaling relationships between traits to be analysed, in contrast to the analysis of single traits. Nomenclature: Rothmaler (1994).


A simple charge modulation approach has been developed to stabilize naked Au clusters on a nanoporous conjugated organic network. Through engineering pore walls with regulated charges, the controllable growth of Au nanoclusters has been realized. The resulting supported catalyst exhibits excellent performance in the aerobic oxidation of alcohols.


From 2012 to 2014, 18 New Zealand general and rural medical practitioners worked in the Cook Islands on a visiting programme to achieve the following objectives: (1) assess and assist with the capacity of the Cook Islands medical workforce; (2) assist with the infrastructure to improve clinical records and audit; (3) assist with developing a General Practice training programme for the Cook Islands; and (4) develop a training post for the Division of Rural Hospital Medicine in the Cook Islands. Each visiting doctor spent a minimum of 4 weeks in the Cook Islands. This study presents the results of a questionnaire undertaken to evaluate their experiences. There were challenges, but for most, the experience was overwhelmingly positive. There were synergies with rural practice in New Zealand. Working alongside local clinicians and being immersed in the Cook Islands health system led to better understanding of the Cook Islands perspective of rural and remote medicine. The findings provide insight into the early phase of an ongoing programme between the Cook Islands Ministry of Health and New Zealand, which has led to the development of a reciprocal training programme for generalist doctors.


This paper explores the driving of low-level hydrodynamical activity in protoplanetary-disc dead zones. A small adverse radial entropy gradient, ordinarily stabilised by rotation, excites oscillatory convection (`convective overstability') when thermal diffusion, or cooling, is neither too strong nor too weak. I revisit the linear theory of the instability, discuss its prevalence in protoplanetary discs, and show that unstable modes are exact nonlinear solutions in the local Boussinesq limit. Overstable modes cannot grow indefinitely, however, as they are subject to a secondary parametric instability that limits their amplitudes to relatively low levels. If parasites set the saturation level of the ensuing turbulence then the convective overstability is probably too weak to drive significant angular momentum transport or to generate vortices. But I also discuss an alternative, and far more vigorous, saturation route that generates radial `layers' or `zonal flows' (witnessed also in semiconvection). Numerical simulations are required to determine which outcome is favoured in realistic discs, and consequently how important the instability is for disc dynamics.


We analyze problems of high schools selection committees causing by an enactment of new legislative and standard base for introduction of the Unified State Exam in a regular mode and for organizations of students selection. Situation development is forecasted, the recommendations are made for solving some of the revealed problems.


OBJECTIVE
To study the values, beliefs, and lived experiences of 8 teenage mothers who participated in unprotected sex at the time their babies were conceived, in order to enhance understanding of adolescent sexual behavior from a nursing science perspective.

DESIGN
A qualitative, heuristic approach that subscribed to the basic tenets of descriptive phenomenology, in which teenagers were allowed to discuss in their own words the sentiments, opinions, ideologies, and intentions that affected their sexual decision-making.

SETTING
Data collection consisted of a series of audiotaped interviews conducted by the researcher in the participants' homes over an 8-week period from November 1997 through January 1998.

PARTICIPANTS
A convenience sample of 8 teenage mothers who met the inclusion criteria for having participated in unprotected sex at the time of conception, recruited from a facility specializing in education, support, and intervention for teenage parents.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Thematic analysis of transcribed text began once the first interview was completed and continued throughout the data collection process. The process included open coding of key words and phrases, bracketing out conventional knowledge, and immersion in the data in order to identify prevalent and recurring themes.

RESULTS
Results are reported in terms of the six prevalent themes that emerged from the interview data relevant to factors which contributed to the teenagers' participation in unprotected sexual intercourse: Desiring Pregnancy, Handing It Over to Fate, Lacking a Plan, Doubting the Chances, Fearing Harm, and Fearing Loss.

CONCLUSIONS
Key themes identified in this study represent a foundational step in achieving a more cogent view of the issues involved in adolescent sexual decision-making. Awareness of these experiences and intentions can be used to enhance meaningful interaction between adolescents and the health care system as well as to serve as a resource in the development and implementation of programs designed to prevent adolescent pregnancy. Further studies are required before specific practice applications can be identified.


Cardiac computed tomography (CCT) is now considered a first-line diagnostic test for suspected coronary artery disease (CAD) providing a non-invasive, qualitative, and quantitative assessment of the coronary arteries and pericoronary regions. CCT assesses vascular calcification and coronary lumen narrowing, measures total plaque burden, identifies plaque composition and high-risk plaque features and can even assist with hemodynamic evaluation of coronary lesions. Recent research focuses on computing coronary endothelial shear stress, a potent modulator in the development and progression of atherosclerosis, as well as differentiating an inflammatory from a non-inflammatory pericoronary artery environment using the simple measurement of pericoronary fat attenuation index. In the present review, we discuss the role of the above in the diagnosis of coronary atherosclerosis and the prediction of adverse cardiovascular events. Additionally, we review the current limitations of cardiac computed tomography as an imaging modality and highlight how rapid technological advancements can boost its capacity in predicting cardiovascular risk and guiding clinical decision-making.


Directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) have had a major impact on the field of epidemiology by providing straightforward graphical rules for determining when estimates are expected to lack causally interpretable internal validity. Much less attention has been paid, however, to what DAGs can tell researchers about effect measure modification and external validity. In this work, we describe two rules based on DAGs related to effect measure modification. Rule 1 states that if a variable, $P$, is conditionally independent of an outcome, $Y$, within levels of a treatment,$X$, then $P$ is not an effect measure modifier for the effect of $X$ on $Y$ on any scale. Rule 2 states that if $P$ is not conditionally independent of $Y$ within levels of $X$, and there are open causal paths from $X$ to $Y$ within levels of $P$, then $P$ is an effect measure modifier for the effect of $X$ on $Y$ on at least one scale (given no exact cancellation of associations). We then show how Rule 1 can be used to identify sufficient adjustment sets to generalize nested trials studying the effect of $X$ on $Y$ to the total source population or to those who did not participate in the trial.


To model the behavior of a distributed system, analysts often use two types of languages: Sequence Diagrams and State Diagrams. The former presents a bird's eye view on objects interactions, whereas the latter describes the complete local behavior of every object. Many algorithms translating scenarios to state machines have been devised. All these algorithms work at instance-level, i.e. for a fixed finite number of objects. Real-world objectoriented systems often contain arbitrarily many objects. Modeling languages and synthesis algorithms need to be adapted to this situation. We propose to add universal and existential quantifiers. After defining the syntax and semantics of the two extended languages, we extend also a state of the art algorithm by a novel instantiation step to cope with quantifiers. As the base algorithm, our correction is weak since it allows implied behaviors.


INTRODUCTION
Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) have progressive immunodeficiency and infection is the commonest cause of death. This review seeks to identify the extent of the abnormality, its cause, clinical significance and any possible remedy.

SOURCES OF DATA
TJH has studied CLL for the past 40 years and has scanned or read every paper he could find published on the topic since 1970 and most of those of historical importance published before that date. He has read around the subject, covering relevant articles on immunology, cell biology, oncology and genetics. Furthermore, he has attended most major meetings dealing with CLL in this time and has written many reviews to update the state of knowledge about the topic. He receives weekly updates of papers published on CLL from PubMed and Science Direct with the keywords 'chronic lymphocytic leukaemia'.

AREAS OF AGREEMENT
The immunodeficiency chiefly manifests as hypogammaglobulinaemia but involves all elements of the immune system. It is caused by the interpolation of tumour cells among immunological cells and mediated by bi-directional cell contact and secretion of cytokines, which both sustain and invigorate the tumour and suppress immunity. CLL treatment generally makes the immunodeficiency worse. Intravenous immunoglobulin is clinically effective but not cost-effective, while prophylactic antibiotics are useful in appropriate circumstances. Vaccination against infectious disease is usually ineffective.

AREAS OF CONTROVERSY
Exactly how the presence of tumour cells in the immune organs renders the patient immunodeficient is controversial as is the clinical significance of minor degrees of immunodeficiency in early or indolent cases. The immunosuppressive effect of most forms of treatment is agreed, but how much this should figure in the choice of treatment is a matter of dispute.

GROWING POINTS
The study of tumour-stromal interactions is an area of intense research.

AREAS TIMELY FOR DEVELOPING RESEARCH
There has been little done to develop better vaccination strategies in patients with CLL, and although effective antimicrobials have been developed to protect against opportunistic infections, many are both expensive and inconvenient. More work is necessary to define precisely which patients should be offered them and when.


The steady-state pharmacokinetics of tamoxifen and its metabolites was studied in sixteen patients with advanced mammary cancer. Patients were randomized to receive tamoxifen given as Tamofen®, Leiras, or as Nolvadex®, ICI, 20 mg twice daily for 16 weeks in a cross-over study. Plasma and urine samples were analyzed during one dose interval (12 h) after treatment for 8 and 16 weeks. The concentrations of tamoxifen, N-desmethyltamoxifen, N,N-desdimethyltamoxifen, and metabolite Y were determined in plasma and the areas under the plasma level curves were calculated. 4-Hydroxytamoxifen was not found in plasma. In urine samples only tamoxifen and N-desmethyltamoxifen were above the detection limits even though metabolite Y was also analyzed after acid hydrolysis. There were no statistically significant differences in the concentrations of tamoxifen and its metabolites between the two preparations. The results of nonresponders did not differ from those of responders. Liver metastases had no effect on the metabolism of tamoxifen.


: Our paper presents the results of preclinical evaluation of the mitigating effect of Metrop GP on the acute toxicity and hepatotoxicity induced by paclitaxel and doxorubicin treatment using functional samples and biochemical and morphological techniques.


BACKGROUND
Published reports about treatment of comminuted subtrochanteric fractures in young patients are few. This study compared the effectiveness of biologic plating and intramedullary nailing in the treatment of such fractures.

METHODS
A prospective, randomized, and nonblinded study was conducted. Closed reduction and fracture osteosynthesis were performed with either a dynamic condylar screw (DCS) or a Russell-Taylor reconstruction nail (RTRN) in all 66 patients. The average age of the patients was 36.1 years. The average follow-up period was 28.1 months.

RESULTS
All but two patients had uneventful bone union and the average time to union was 15.1 weeks. One implant failure in the RTRN group and one delayed union in the DCS group required additional surgery to achieve bone union. Shorter fluoroscopic time, reduced blood loss, and fewer patients requiring blood transfusion were found in the DCS group, though the DCS group had a higher hip pain score 2 years postoperatively. Otherwise, the surgical results and functional outcomes were comparable between groups.

CONCLUSIONS
With the enhanced fixation properties demonstrated in the present study, the DCS proved to be a feasible fixation device for comminuted subtrochanteric fractures in young patients. Our results indicated that intramedullary nailing by a RTRN revealed no advantages over biologic plating by a DCS for treatment of such fractures.


One big challenge for Industry 4.0 is leveraging the large amount of data that remain unused after collection. A variety of commercial data marketplaces have emerged in recent years to tackle this task. Despite their different business models and target markets, such marketplaces share a number of common issues that slow the growth of the industry, including data discovery, transparency, data privacy and data valuation. Many academic designs have been proposed to address these issues, yet most of them remain unimplemented, due to complexity or inefficiency. We argue that these issues can be addressed with a combination of blockchain-based infrastructure, privacy-preserving computing and machine learning-based valuation metrics. Furthermore, we discuss key enabling technologies in each of these areas that are feasible to deploy at scale and could thus be implemented in real-world marketplaces in the near future. We select such technologies based on their current maturity and their industrial prominence.


The ability of vitamin A and its derivatives to induce differentiation in certain target tissues has been appreciated for nearly a century. Recently, oral all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), a vitamin A metabolite, has been shown to induce terminal differentiation of leukemic cells in patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Complete remissions are obtained and normal hematopoiesis is established in an outpatient setting with minimal side effects in the majority of cases. Although remissions are not durable, disseminated intravascular coagulation, a frequent complication of remission induction in APL, is avoided by oral ATRA prior to definitive chemotherapy. The molecular basis for the efficacy of ATRA in APL appears to be the involvement of the retinoic acid receptor alpha locus in the t(15;17) translocation breakpoint characteristic of APL.


SUMMARY The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of dietary neutral detergent fibre (NDF) : crude protein (CP) ratio on duodenal microbial crude protein (MCP) flow and nitrogen (N) losses. The study was completed in a 5 × 5 Latin square design with five lactating Holstein dairy cows and 5 high-concentrate total mixed rations (TMR) with different forage combinations, typical for Northern China. The rations with a fixed forage-to-concentrate ratio (39 : 61) resulted in different dietary NDF : CP ratios: TMR1 3·03 : 1 (428·2 g NDF/kg : 141·4 g CP/kg); TMR2 2·74 : 1 (392·7 g NDF/kg : 143·2 g CP/kg); TMR3 2·55 : 1 (368·3 g NDF/kg : 144·4 g CP/kg); TMR4 1·84 : 1 (304·8 g NDF/kg : 165·8 g CP/kg); TMR5 1·60 : 1 (285·0 g NDF/kg : 178·0 g CP/kg). Rumen content, milk, blood, urine and faeces were sampled on the last 3 days of five 18-day periods. Purine derivatives in the urine samples were determined to estimate rumen MCP flow into the small intestine. Milk yield and milk protein yield increased linearly with decreasing dietary NDF : CP ratio although slight differences in dry matter intake were observed due to feed intake restriction. Diurnal ammonia N in the rumen and duodenal MCP flow increased linearly, but blood urea N, urinary N and faecal N linearly decreased with decreasing dietary NDF : CP ratio. The enhanced N utilization in the maize-silage-based TMRs (TMR4–5) in comparison with maize-stover-based TMRs (TMR1–3) increased milk yield and the synthesis of milk protein instead of milk fat in the lactating cows, probably due to high transfer of ammonia N into rumen MCP with a considerable increase of dietary non-fibre carbohydrate content and the decrease of NDF : CP ratio. The present results indicate that not only increasing dietary non-structural carbohydrate content but also adjusting the ratio of structural carbohydrate to CP ratio are important diet formulation strategies for mitigating N losses in lactating cows.


Ineffectiveness or discomfort from graduated elastic compression stockings (GES) in patients with chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) and/or varicose veins of the lower limbs (VVLL) can depend of inappropriate counter pressure applied. Counter pressure was calculated by Doppler venous pressure index (VPI). The aim of this study was to verify the value VPI in the choice of GES. A total of 1212 LL of 606 patients subjected to VPI measurements VPI correlated with the various sites of reflux (R) and C of Clinical-Etiology-Anatomy-Pathophysiology (CEAP) classification. The difference between standing VPI the and normal values=counter pressure to be applied by GES. Questionnaire to 96 patients with CVI/VVLL wearing GES. Mean VPI values: greater saphenous (GSV)>smaller saphenous; GSV with isolated venous reflux (R) at the leg>GSV at the thigh; additional R in perforators increases VPI in all the districts; superficial R increases VPI in PT. Relation between VPI/C of CEAP: P<0.05-0.0001; 81/83/96 (97.5%) patients improved; 0 complained. R in GSV at the leg and in perforators increases VPI in deep veins. Few discrepancies VPI/CEAP can be expected. Standing VPI is highly predictive. The best choice of GES can be based on the VPI measurement.


ASIBOT is an assistive climbing robot that is capable of aiding in daily tasks from fixed docking stations in the environment. A task-oriented design process was applied to improve the robot kinematic structure, which was based on the grid method. Twelve different robot designs were optimized for typical kitchen scenarios, followed by a quantitative comparison.


Midsize companies need to think small--before the big ones do. Pharmaceutical companies dream of blockbusters: drugs that quickly run up sales of more than $1 billion. But developing and marketing such drugs has become so expensive that only the largest companies can afford to do so; hence, the recent string of mergers within the industry. Notwithstanding such high-profile combinations as those between Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham and between Pfizer and Warner-Lambert, the pharmaceuticals industry hasn't consolidated very much: the 20 biggest competitors combined still have less than 60 percent of the global market. The next SO or so companies, with revenues of $500 million to $3 billion, increasingly look like candidates for acquisition, mainly because their performance trails that of the leaders. If current trends continue, the global market share of midsize companies could shrink from 20 percent in 1999 to just 10 percent by 2010 (Exhibit 1, on the next page). Yet the midsize pharmaceutical companies do have a shot at reviving themselves. A clutch of emerging technologies would make it rewarding for them to develop and market drugs that tackle the less prevalent diseases big companies tend to overlook. At the same time, it will become easier--and more profitable--for midsize companies to in-license drugs developed by other companies for small-scale markets and to out-license potential blockbusters to big companies, which can market them more effectively. Over time, of course, these developments should affect the economics of big companies too. They might respond by moving into the new territory of the midsize companies, which must therefore stake claims before the rush. Blockbusters: Out of their league In recent years, midsize pharmaceutical companies, on average, have had smaller operating margins and produced lower total returns to shareholders than have their larger counterparts. Although the individual situations of midsize pharma companies differ considerably, they do have a common predicament: an inability to play today's blockbuster game. If you include the cost of projects that fail during development, researching and developing a new drug costs, on average, $700 million--three times what it did 15 years ago. The number of participants in clinical trials has tripled in 20 years. And the cost of launching a blockbuster has more than quintupled in only six years, from $75 million in 1993 to $400 million in 1999. Today, for a midsize pharma company, financing a full-scale blockbuster means betting the business. Not surprisingly, the attempts of midsize pharmaceutical companies to launch their own blockbusters on the cheap have fared rather poorly: their drugs for depression and ulcers won only a few points of market share--not enough to recoup even a relatively meager investment. Midsize companies that happen to own a leading drug in a large and growing disease area now find themselves threatened by big companies attracted to the area's potential profits. But big pharmaceutical companies too are in a fix. The investment community has punishing expectations of their future earnings growth, as the sector's high multiples indicate, and their R&D costs are spiraling upward. Competitors' products can reproduce the effects of newly launched drugs within six months, instead of the two years it took to catch up a decade ago. And as soon as a patent on a drug from a big company expires, generic-drug manufacturers swamp its markets with cheap copies. Only the revenues and profits from a steady flow of blockbusters can alleviate all of these pressures simultaneously. Consequently, blockbusters are increasingly the focus of big companies. The share of total pharmaceutical-industry revenues attributable to them grew from 6 percent in 1991 to 16 percent in 1998, and for some big pharmaceutical companies that share has reached more than 50 percent. …


In this study, we report an investigation of a panel of clonally-derived Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lines exhibiting variability in the proportion of full-length IgG4 Fc-fusion protein produced. The recombinant protein was found to be degraded during cell culture into four shorter "clipped" species (three of the four cleavage sites occurred at arginine residues) and preliminary analyses suggested that a host cell enzyme was responsible for proteolysis. To identify the specific enzyme responsible, RNA sequencing was used to identify gene expression differences between the cell lines with a "high" and "low" clipping phenotype. From this analysis, six protease-encoding genes were found to be significantly upregulated in those cell lines yielding the lowest proportion of full-length IgG4 Fc-fusion protein. Four of these protease candidates were deprioritized after examination of their cleavage site specificity. The remaining enzymes, Adam19 and Furin, were found to be capable of cleavage at arginine residues, and inhibitors for both proteases were added to cell-free media to determine if the product degradation could be reduced. While the Adam19 inhibitor had no impact, Furin inhibitor I (specific for the proprotein convertase family of enzymes) was found to result in a 33-39% increase in complete IgG4 Fc-fusion protein when compared with untreated samples.


The pathways from the hippocampal formation to the nucleus accumbens and the prefrontal cortex are likely to play a role in several aspects of learning and memory. In the present study we addressed the question of how plastic changes in these structures may occur simultaneously. This question can be studied in an appropriate way in the hippocampaVfornix‐fimbria to prefrontal cortexhucleus accumbens system, since electrical stimulation of the fornix‐fimbria fibre bundle evokes characteristic field potentials in the two target areas simultaneously. First, we examined the termination field in the nucleus accumbens (medial shell and core region with an extension into the ventro‐medial caudate‐putamen) and the prefrontal cortex (deeper layers of the ventral prelimbic and ventral infralimbic areas) by recording single unit activity evoked by stimulation of fornix‐fimbria fibres in halothane anaesthetized rats. Second, we studied short‐term plasticity, namely paired pulse facilitation, in these two areas upon stimulation of the fornix‐fimbria fibres. In the nucleus accumbens, paired pulse facilitation was encountered for double pulse intervals between 25 and 500 ms, peaking around 100 ms. In the medial prefrontal cortex it was confined to intervals between 25 and 200 ms, with a peak around 75 ms. Third, we investigated whether LTP could be elicited simultaneously in the two target structures by a single tetanic stimulation (50 Hz, 2 s) of the fornix‐fimbria fibres. LTP that was sustained for more than 90 min in the medial prefrontal cortex, reached levels of 130% of control values. In the nucleus accumbens, however, only a transient form of potentiation was found which lasted no more than 60 min. These data show that synaptic weights can be changed in several target structures of the hippocampal formation, simultaneously, in a distributed way.


The gastrointestinal tract shows a wide spectrum of endocrine cells diffusely distributed along the mucosa, interspersed among the exocrine cells. These cells share several features such as the capacity to produce a series of peptides. Despite the development of digestive endocrinology, especially in the last decade and with respect to the biochemical knowledge and cellular localization of gastrointestinal regulatory peptides, their functional significance and their role in digestive phisiopathology remain partially unknown. This review represents a summary of the principal information about morphological and histochemical features, embryologic origin, historical data, methods of identification and types of endocrine cells, of gastrointestinal tract.


[1] We digitized teleseismic and regional records of the 1944 Tonankai earthquake. We used the multiple time window method to invert these records for the spatial and temporal distribution of slip and rake. We assume a 220 × 140 km fault with a spacing of 20 × 20 km and a maximum rupture velocity of 2.5 km/s. The inversion resolved an asperity along the accretionary wedge and under the Shima and Atsumi Peninsulas. The rupture propagated from southwest to northeast, and there was little slip near the hypocenter, consistent with the absence of uplift in the overlying submarine forearc basin. The peak slip is 2.3 m, and the total seismic moment is 2.4 × 1028 dyn cm (Mw 8.2). We compared the predicted and observed vertical geodetic displacements and inferred that the limit of rupture is consistent with the change from subsidence to uplift west of the Atsumi Peninsula. This suggested that the earthquake did not rupture the plate interface in the Tokai gap. We modeled the tsunami using sea-bottom displacements generated from this slip model. The tide gauge amplitudes and frequency content are consistent with those predicted. Resolution tests from inverting synthetic seismograms computed using a simplified slip model indicated that the combination of teleseismic and regional data sets best recovers the asperity locations and peak slips given similar station geometry and degrees of freedom. An inversion of the synthetic regional data set indicates that slip artifacts can occur early in the rupture process due to many clipped records while the inversion of synthetic teleseismic data set had less resolution and recovered only 50% of the peak slip.


This paper traces the development of the South African government's postapartheid approach to African peace and stability, including the evolution of its policy on peacekeeping. It then explores the challenges and opportunities facing South Africa as a member of the United Nations Security Council and African Union Peace and Security Council. It offers an analysis of the sustainability of South Africa's current and future peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peace building efforts on the continent and concludes that it needs to further develop, implement, and manage an integrated and long-term foreign and security policy to the benefit of the country and the continent.


Gene inactivation via creating in-frame deletion mutations in Fusobacterium nucleatum is time-consuming, and most fusobacterial strains are genetically intractable. Addressing these problems, we introduced a riboswitch-based inducible CRISPRi system. This system employs the nuclease-inactive Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 protein (dCas9), specifically guided to the gene of interest by a constantly expressed single guide RNA (sgRNA). Mechanistically, this dCas9-sgRNA complex serves as an insurmountable roadblock for RNA polymerase, thus repressing the target gene transcription. Leveraging this system, we first examined two non-essential genes, ftsX, and radD, pivotal for fusobacterial cytokinesis and coaggregation. Upon adding the inducer, theophylline, ftsX suppression caused filamentous cell formation akin to chromosomal ftsX deletion, while targeting radD significantly reduced RadD protein levels, abolishing coaggregation. The system was then extended to probe essential genes bamA and ftsZ, vital for outer membrane biogenesis and cell division. Impressively, bamA suppression disrupted membrane integrity and bacterial separation, stalling growth, while ftsZ-targeting yielded elongated cells in broth with compromised agar growth. Further studies on F. nucleatum clinical strain CTI-2 and Fusobacterium periodonticum revealed reduced indole synthesis when targeting tnaA. Moreover, silencing clpB in F. periodonticum decreased ClpB, increasing thermal sensitivity. In summary, our CRISPRi system streamlines gene inactivation across various fusobacterial strains. IMPORTANCE How can we effectively investigate the gene functions in Fusobacterium nucleatum, given the dual challenges of gene inactivation and the inherent genetic resistance of many strains? Traditional methods have been cumbersome and often inadequate. Addressing this, our work introduces a novel inducible CRISPRi system in which dCas9 expression is controlled at the translation level by a theophylline-responsive riboswitch unit, and sgRNA expression is driven by the robust, constitutive rpsJ promoter. This approach simplifies gene inactivation in the model organism (ATCC 23726) and extends its application to previously considered resistant strains like CTI-2 and Fusobacterium periodontium. With CRISPRi's potential, it is a pivotal tool for in-depth genetic studies into fusobacterial pathogenesis, potentially unlocking targeted therapeutic strategies.


Background Infusion of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) to the distal colon beneficially affects human substrate and energy metabolism. Here, we hypothesized that the combination of 2′-fucosyllactose (2′-FL) with resistant starch (RS) increases distal colonic SCFA production and improves metabolic parameters. Methods In this randomized, crossover study, 10 lean (BMI 20–24.9 kg/m2) and nine men with prediabetes and overweight/obesity (BMI 25–35 kg/m2) were supplemented with either 2′-FL, 2′-FL+RS, or placebo one day before a clinical investigation day (CID). During the CID, blood samples were collected after a overnight fast and after intake of a liquid high-fat mixed meal to determine plasma SCFA (primary outcomes). Secondary outcomes were fasting and postprandial plasma insulin, glucose, free fatty acid (FFA), glucagon-like peptide-1, and peptide YY concentrations. In addition, fecal SCFA and microbiota composition, energy expenditure and substrate oxidation (indirect calorimetry), and breath hydrogen excretion were determined. Results In lean men, supplementation with 2′-FL increased postprandial plasma acetate (P = 0.017) and fasting H2 excretion (P = 0.041) compared to placebo. Postprandial plasma butyrate concentration increased after 2′-FL and 2′-FL+RS as compared to placebo (P < 0.05) in lean men and men with prediabetes and overweight/obesity. Additionally, 2′-FL+RS decreased fasting and postprandial plasma FFA concentrations compared to placebo (P < 0.05) in lean men. Conclusion Supplementation of 2′-FL with/without RS the day before investigation increased systemic butyrate concentrations in lean men as well as in men with prediabetes and obesity, while acetate only increased in lean men. The combination of 2′-FL with RS showed a putatively beneficial metabolic effect by lowering plasma FFA in lean men, indicating a phenotype-specific effect. Clinical trial registration nr. NCT04795804.


In this work, we present fabrication and measurement of sidewall Bragg gratings in chalcogenide arsenic tri-sulfide (As2S3) on titanium-diffused lithium niobate (Ti:LiNbO3) channel waveguides. The transfer matrix method was used to analyze the temporal and spectral response of the sidewall gratings in the mid-infrared. The waveguide sidewall Bragg gratings were fabricated by electron-beam lithography (EBL), metal liftoff and subsequent reactive-ion etching (RIE). Insertion loss of the mid-infrared Ti:LiNbO3 optical waveguides were measured at ~2 dB and the propagation loss was estimated to be 0.45 dB/cm. Configuration of an optical low-coherence interferometer that is capable of characterizing the mid-infrared sidewall grating-based devices was experimentally implemented and preliminary results from fiber Bragg gratings are presented.


We examine the picture of emergent gravity arising from a mas s deformed matrix model. Due to the mass deformation, a vacuum geometry turns out to be a co nstant curvature spacetime such as d-dimensional sphere and (anti-)de Sitter spaces. We show th at the mass deformed matrix model giving rise to the constant curvature spacetime can be derived f rom thed-dimensional Snyder algebra. The emergent gravity beautifully confirms all the rationale inf rred from the algebraic point of view that thed-dimensional Snyder algebra is equivalent to the Lorentz al gebra in(d + 1)-dimensional flat spacetime. For example, a vacuum geometry of the mass deform d matrix model is completely described by aG-invariant metric of coset manifolds G/H defined by the Snyder algebra. We also discuss a nonlinear deformation of the Snyder algebra. PACS numbers: 11.10.Nx, 02.40.Gh, 04.50.+h


In this paper, we investigate the effect of enhancing lexical embeddings in LSTM language models (LM) with syntactic and semantic representations. We evaluate the language models using perplexity, and we evaluate the performance of the models on the task of predicting human sentence acceptability judgments. We train LSTM language models on sentences automatically annotated with universal syntactic dependency roles (Nivre, 2016), dependency depth and universal semantic tags (Abzianidze et al., 2017) to predict sentence acceptability judgments. Our experiments indicate that syntactic tags lower perplexity, while semantic tags increase it. Our experiments also show that neither syntactic nor semantic tags improve the performance of LSTM language models on the task of predicting sentence acceptability judgments.


The Einstein rate coefficients for magnetic dipole (M1), electric quadrupole (E2) and magnetic quadrupole (M2) transitions between all of the 2s2, 2s2p and 2p2 states are calculated for a number of Be-like ions from B II to Kr XXXIII. The Einstein rate coefficients were calculated using two sets of configuration-interaction wavefunctions. The CIV3 code is used to generate both sets of wavefunctions, one calculation uses only 60 configurations, the other much larger calculation uses almost 5000 configurations. In both calculations relativistic effects were included using the Breit-Pauli approximation. Where possible the results are compared with earlier calculations. For some transitions there are considerable differences between our calculations and earlier calculations, particularly at low values of the nuclear charge Z.


Abstract The Acambay earthquake of 1912 ( M ∼7.0), which occurred in the central Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (CTMVB) about 100 km west–northwest of Mexico City, has been thought to be a critical scenario event in the estimation of seismic hazard of the city. We use seismograms of two small earthquakes located near Actopan (15 December 2003; 18 May 2010) and recorded at station CUIG, a hill-zone site in Mexico City, as empirical Green's functions (EGFs) for the Acambay region. Because Actopan, like Acambay, is situated in the CTMVB and both are located at about the same distance from CUIG, the use of the recordings of the Actopan earthquakes as EGFs is partly justified. We first analyze data of the two small earthquakes at a local station, DHIG, to estimate their seismic moment and stress drop. As there is considerable uncertainty in the estimated stress drops of the two events, we choose a reasonable range of values for them and apply a technique of random summation of EGFs to simulate ground motion at CUIG from a postulated M w  7 earthquake. The estimated geometric mean horizontal peak ground acceleration (PGA) and peak ground velocity (PGV) at CUIG range from 2.7 to 9.7 cm/s 2 and from 1.1 to 3.0 cm/s, respectively. Ground-motion maps for the entire city are presented using a simulated trace at CUIG and the known transfer functions of many sites within the city. The results are consistent with reported seismic intensities in Mexico City, and PGA and peak ground displacement (PGD) at a 2-s period at the seismic station of Tacubaya during the Acambay earthquake. Estimated ground motions suggest that a repeat of the event does not present significant hazard to Mexico City.


is a good Objectives: Sodium disorders, the most common electrolyte disorders in hospitalized patients, are common in hospitalized patients with pneumonia. Numerous studies have shown that sodium abnormalities are independent risk factors for mortality, medical intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and prolonged hospital stay. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of dysnatremia and the effect of dysnatremia on prognosis and mortality in critically ill COVID-19 patients. Methods: This retrospective study was performed between June 1, 2021, and July 30, 2021, in COVID-19 ICUs. 149 critically ill, laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU were included in the study. The collected data included demographic data, comorbidities, severity of illness, and laboratory tests (serum C-reactive protein, lymphocyte, ferritin, sodium, chloride, and potassium levels). The prognosis was evaluated in terms of mortality, need for mechanical ventilation, and length of ICU stay. Results: At ICU admission, hyponatremia was present in 33 (22.1%) patients, whereas hypernatremia was detected in 14 (9.5%) patients. 102 (68.4%) patients had normal sodium levels. The mortality rate for normonatremic, hypona-tremic, and hypernatremic patients was 50.0%, 57.7%, and 78.6%, respectively. These results indicated a statistically significantly higher mortality rate in patients with baseline hypernatremia (p=0.05). Conclusion: Among critically ill COVID-19 patients in the ICU, dysnatremia was common at admission and hyponatremia was more common than hypernatremia. Hypernatremia was related to mortality. Admission sodium levels can be a predictor of mortality in COVID-19 patients who are critically ill.


The TRMM-LBA field campaign was held during the austral summer of 1999 in southwestern Amazonia. Among the major objectives, was the identification and description of the diurnal variability of rainfall in the region, associated with the different rain producing weather systems that occurred during the January-February season. By using a network of 40 digital rain gauges implemented in the state of Rondonia, and together with observations and analyses of circulation and convection, it was possible to identify details of the diurnal cycle of rainfall and the associated rainfall mechanisms. Rainfall episodes were characterized by regimes of "low-level easterly" and "westerly" winds in the context of the large-scale circulation. The westerly regime is related to an enhanced South Atlantic Convergence Zone (SACZ) and an intense and/or wide Low Level Jet (LLJ) east of the Andes, which can extend eastward towards Rondonia, even though some westerly regime episodes also show a LLJ that remains close to the foothill of the Andes. The easterly regime is related to easterly propagating systems (e.g. squall-lines) with possible weakened or less frequent LLJs and a suppressed SACZ. Diurnal variability of rainfall during westerly surface wind regime shows a characteristic maximum at late afternoon followed by a relatively weaker second maximum at early evening (2100 Local Standard Time LST). The easterly regime composite shows an early morning maximum followed by an even stronger maximum in the afternoon.


The syntheses of chirally pure (5R)- and (5S)-[5-2H1]-D-ribose and (5R)-(5-2H1)-3-C-methyl-D-ribose and the syntheses of chirally pure (5'R)- and (5'S)-[5-2H1]-adenosine and (5'R)-[5'-2H1]-3'-C-methyladenosine are described. The 1H-NMR characteristics of these nucleosides and the mechanism of the reaction of adenosine and thionyl chloride-hexamethyl phosphoric triamide (HMPA) are also described. The stereospecific presence of deuterium in these nucleosides permits specific assignments for the resonances of 5'-protons. From the observed spin-spin coupling between H5' and H4', the estimates have been made of the rotamer population of the exocyclic 5'-carbinol groups of these nucleosides. It is shown that these nucleosides exist in gauche-gauche rotamer (ca. 70%) in aqueous solution. The SN2 mechanism of the chlorination reaction is suggested.


Kentucky homeowners requesting radon test kits through the Kentucky Radon Program and randomly selected homeowners (N = 129) completed a survey assessing factors related to their radon testing intentions and perceived severity of radon exposure, including social influence, perceived susceptibility, synergistic risk perception, and tobacco use. Perceived severity, social influence, and current smoking were the strongest predictors of radon testing intentions. Those with higher perceived severity were nearly eight times more likely to plan to test. Perceived severity was highest among females and those rating combined radon and tobacco smoke exposure as much riskier than tobacco smoke alone. Knowing someone who had tested for radon was associated with seven times greater likelihood of planning to test for radon. Current smokers were over six times more likely to plan to test than nonsmokers. The findings have implications for targeting interventions to improve residential radon testing and decrease lung cancer risk.


Under the sponsorship of the US Department of Energy`s Office of Utility Technologies, the Energy Storage Systems Analysis and Development Department at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) contracted Frost and Sullivan to conduct a market feasibility study of energy storage systems. The study was designed specifically to quantify the battery energy storage market for utility applications. This study was based on the SNL Opportunities Analysis performed earlier. Many of the groups surveyed, which included electricity providers, battery energy storage vendors, regulators, consultants, and technology advocates, viewed battery storage as an important technology to enable increased use of renewable energy and as a means to solve power quality and asset utilization issues. There are two versions of the document available, an expanded version (approximately 200 pages, SAND97-1275/2) and a short version (approximately 25 pages, SAND97-1275/1).


In order to know whether polychaetes could be used as an appropriate organism for the detection of genotoxicity, DNA strand breaks were evaluated in blood cells of a nereidae worm (Perinereis aibuhitensis) exposed to various aquatic chemical pollutants (e.g. Cd, Pb, Pyrene, Benzo[a]pyrene). Hydrogen peroxide increased DNA strand breaks up to the highest concentration (10 μM). Higher concentration than 0.1 μM showed a significantly more DNA damage than control. Cadmium and lead also showed higher DNA damage than control, over 1.0 and 1 ㎍/L, respectively. In case of pyrene, DNA damage was detected even at 0.001 ㎍/L. However, DNA damage decreased due to apoptosis at the highest concentration of pyrene and Pb. This study suggested that the polychaetous blood cells could be used effectively for screening genotoxic contaminants in the environment.


OBJECTIVES
Determine the strengths and weakness of a symptomatic screening for COVID-19 in pregnant women. Analyze the clinical presentation, management, and outcomes.

DESIGN
Descriptive retrospective observational study.

SETTING
Mancha-Centro Hospital (Spain).

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Population: Symptomatic pregnant women with confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19. Between the 12th of March and 17th of April 2020, all the symptomatic pregnancies were screened with diagnostic test for SARS-CoV-2. Data collection was done by reviewing the medical records and telephone interviews.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Clinical characteristics, management, treatment, and obstetric and neonatal outcomes.

RESULTS
Twenty patients with positive COVID-19 diagnostic test out of thirty-four suspected. The most common symptoms were fever (70%), cough (65%) and myalgia (35%). A unique symptom of presentation in 20% of cases. COVID-19 pneumonia was diagnosed in 30% by chest X-ray and one case had pulmonary embolism associated diagnosed by CT-Scan. Thromboprophylaxis was indicated in 16 out of 20 patients. Eight women finished their pregnancy during the observation period. Type of birth: 25% natural birth, 12.5% assisted vaginal delivery and 62.5% caesarean section. We had three severe cases, two of them with intensive care support. All neonates had negative test for COVID 19 infection.

CONCLUSIONS
We recommend universal screening of all pregnant woman for COVID-19 during the pandemic because of the limits of the symptomatic screening seen in this studio and the ratio of asymptomatic pregnancies with positive test for COVID-19 recently published.


Alien addition lines are important for transferring useful genes from alien species into common wheat. Rye is an important and valuable gene resource for improving wheat disease resistance, yield, and environment adaptation. A new wheat-rye addition line, N9436B, was developed from the progeny of the cross of common wheat (Triticum aestivum L., 2n = 6x = 42, AABBDD) cultivar Shaanmai 611 and rye (Secale cereal L., 2n = 2x = 14, RR) accession Austrian rye. We characterized this new line by cytology, genomic in situ hybridization (GISH), fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), molecular markers, and disease resistance screening. N9436B was stable in morphology and cytology, with a chromosome composition of 2n = 42 + 2t = 22II. GISH investigations showed that this line contained two rye chromosomes. GISH, FISH, and molecular maker identification suggested that the introduced R chromosome and the missing wheat chromosome arms were 1R chromosome and 2DL chromosome arm, respectively. N9436B exhibited 30-37 spikelets per spike and a high level of resistance to powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici, Bgt) isolate E09 at the seedling stage. N9436B was cytologically stable, had the trait of multiple spikelets, and was resistant to powdery mildew; this line should thus be useful in wheat improvement.


Drilling operation in Malaysia are typically from offshore, thus offshore weather condition does contributed to the success or delay of a drilling operation. Wait on Weather (WOW) especially during monsoon season in Malaysia has impacted Operator's drilling operation, thus incurring additional cost to Operator. Monsoon season in Malaysia is typically from November to February every year. This paper will discuss and share the statistics of actual WOW happening from 2008 to 2019 in Malaysia water especially for jack-up rig (JUR) and tender assisted drilling rig (TADR) which are two common rigs in Malaysia water. The data was collected from one of the drilling operator in Malaysia. These data will be of assistance to Operator in better planning and executing drilling operation with the actual statistics as the risk factor. WOW is considered as non-productive time (NPT), thus NPT data gathering from Operators in Malaysia water were conducted. Data was then filtered to achieve the WOW data. WOW data was segregated between region in Malaysia which are Peninsular Malaysia (PM), Sabah (SB) and Sarawak (SK) as well as rig type, which are JUR and TADR. Distribution analysis were made to calculate the average and observe the maximum numbers of actual WOW occurrence. Further analysis was made to zoom into monsoon season in Malaysia which typically in November to February. 11 years data is generally good coverage for the analysis since it covers the up and down of oil and gas industry. Analysis was also done for both mob/demob and operation stage where it can be observed that WOW for mob/demob stage during monsoon season is significantly higher compared to operation stage. At the end of the analysis, the average or maximum numbers of WOW will be shared, and it will be used as recommendation for future projects to consider these figures as WOW risk factor and embed in the planning stage. This paper will help not only Operators in Malaysia water but the host authority on understanding the WOW risk factor during monsoon season. As WOW is not something that can be predicted, utilizing the standard results from actual statistic data for the past 11 years will assist engineers to incorporate the WOW risk factor during planning and execution stage. Rig and project sequencing can be optimized with understanding of WOW impact thus reducing the value leakage during operation due to WOW.